come to Jesus

adequately present the gospel, the kerygma.

The Messianic Herald of Salvation

²⁵ At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. ²⁶ Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. ²⁷ All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

—Matthew 11:25–30

This is one of the rare occasions in the Gospels that gives us one of Jesus’ prayers. Tasker says, “Here recorded is one of the most precious pieces of spiritual autobiography to be found in the synoptic Gospels. It shows that the dominant characteristic of His Incarnate life was obedience to His Father’s will.” In contrast to the unbelief which He judged in the preceding section, Jesus now affirms the nature of His messiahship and of His relationship to the Father. In verse 25 the word translated “thank” is the same word which is translated “confess,” as is used of people confessing their sins. It means to “speak the same thing out of,” a word which means that Jesus was in “full agreement with the Father” (see Luke 10:21–22).

There are basically three sayings in this passage dealing with (1) Jesus’ reverence for God, vv. 25–26; (2) Jesus’ relationship to God, v. 27; and (3) Jesus’ rest in the will of God, vv. 28–30. Jesus interpreted His messianic role by His unique relation to the Father as God’s Son. This is Jesus’ first public mention of God as His Father, the reference in 10:32 having been made privately to His disciples. It is also one of the most striking claims to His Sonship found in this Gospel. On an occasion when I spoke in a high school assembly, I was asked by a young man, “Why all of this emphasis on confessing Christ? Aren’t there other ways to get to God?” In response I asked of him, “And when you get to God whom do you expect to see?” And to his limited response I answered, “You will be meeting Jesus Himself!”

Also, in Matthew’s account there is a significant identification of Jesus with Wisdom, as found in passages like Proverbs 8 where Wisdom speaks in the first person, or as the Logos, the Truth of God personified in Jesus, John 1:1–3. The heart of the passage is the unique gem of verse 27, asserting the disclosure of God in the Son and the Son’s relationship with the Father. This should be compared with the great Christological passage of Philippians 2:5–11, Paul’s expression of the remarkable nature of the Incarnation.

Three aspects of the passage may be further developed thematically. First, Jesus’ prayer is a word of praise to God that He has shared the mysteries of knowledge about Himself and His grace in a manner which opens them to the unlearned. This is literally to the “immature,” a contrast between His disciples and the learned people who were stumbling at His ministry. Second, God’s pleasure is to reveal Himself in His Son, and what is promised to “the poor in spirit” in the Sermon on the Mount is here fulfilled as fact. Knowledge is not primarily an intellectual process (Amos 3:2; Gal. 4:9; 1 Cor. 8:2–3), for we only know God as He knows us. The Old Testament looks forward to the knowledge of God in the eschaton (Is. 11:9; 52:6) as God reveals His own righteousness (Is. 52:10; 56:1; Rom. 1:16–17). Jesus believed that, when the Baptist questioned and the people of His hometown doubted, only the Father truly knew His identity. And third, Jesus’ rest is a yoke of wisdom that unites persons with Himself. He offers rest, for He is not only the bearer of the wisdom of God, He is that Wisdom. Such rest, as interpreted in Hebrews 4:1–11, is the singleness of relationship with Christ, the rest of knowing His provision as a completed salvation. Discipleship is thereby kept from being a legalistic striving and is instead a joyous fellowship.

There is a legend that Jesus, in the carpenter shop in Galilee, made the best yokes in all of Galilee. The yoke was tailor-made to fit each ox. Above the door may have been a sign which read, “My yokes fit well.” And now, according to this legend, Jesus could have been illustrating from the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth to say, “My yoke fits well.” In this passage Jesus is saying, “Yoke yourself with me, for my task for you is shared and made easy and the burden is light.” Handel incorporated this in the immortalized Messiah in a great chorus of praise, “His yoke is easy, His burden is light.” This is the joyous word of salvation in contrast to a legalism that obscured the mercy of God.

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It is interesting that, precisely at the point where Jesus is reflecting on those who have rebelled against his ministry, he says, ‘Thank you, Father.’ We are (rightly) thankful when people do believe; Jesus is thankful even when they remain stubborn and rebellious. The source of his thankfulness is the fact that God is sovereignly in control of all these matters.

This passage is profoundly important for our understanding of the effectiveness of the gospel, as well as for our approach to gospel evangelism. On the one hand, Jesus emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God in the matter of salvation. No one can be saved apart from God revealing himself to sinners. And God reveals himself only to those sinners whom he chooses. It may be a difficult doctrine but it is unmistakeably part of the gospel of Jesus: ‘no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him’ (v. 27). Jesus’ choice of us precedes our choice of him.

Yet no one is saved without choosing Christ. That is why, on the other hand, the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in salvation is to be taken hand in hand with the full and free offer of the gospel, written so majestically in these words: ‘Come to me’ (v. 28). Jesus offers himself and promises rest. He promises freedom from sin’s burden under his own yoke. His call is not to the strong and self-sufficient, but to the weak and the weary. These are the twin themes of all our gospel work: the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. These are not equally final: we must always give the priority in the work of the gospel to God’s absolute sovereignty. But we must do so in a way that also does justice to the responsibility of each one of us to respond to the voice of the King.

This language is in contrast to what has preceded it in this chapter. It is like coming out of a blizzard into the warmth of a spring day, like passing from a storm into a calm, like going from darkness into light. This is a new message from Jesus. He turns from the corporate nation to the individual. It is no longer the national announcement about a kingdom but a personal invitation to find the “rest” of salvation.

“I will give you rest” is literally “I will rest you.” When He speaks of being “heavy laden,” He is referring to being burdened with sin. This same figure is used by Isaiah and the psalmist: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isa. 1:4). “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Ps. 38:4).

My friend, sin is too heavy for you to carry—you’ll really get a hernia if you try to carry your load of sin! The only place in the world to put that burden is at the Cross of Christ. He bore it for you, and He invites you to come and bring your burden of sin to Him. He can forgive you because on the cross He bore the burden of your sin.

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” refers to the salvation of the sinner through Jesus Christ. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” refers to the practical sanctification of the believer. There is a rest which Jesus gives, and it is the rest of redemption. There is also a rest which the believer experiences, and it comes through commitment and consecration to Christ. You don’t have to worry about being recognized; you don’t have to jockey for position if you are committed to Christ. Frankly, I quit joining organizations because I got so tired of watching ambitious men trying to be chairman of something or trying to be president of something. If you are committed to Christ, you don’t have to worry about that. He will put you exactly where He wants you when you are yoked up to Him.²

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Invitation (vv. 25–30). Why did the religious leaders rebel against John and Jesus? Because they (the leaders) were intellectually and spiritually proud and would not become little babes in humility and honesty. There is a vast difference between the spoiled children of the parable (Matt. 11:16–19) and the submissive children of this statement of praise. The Father reveals Himself to the Son, and the Son reveals Himself and the Father to those who are willing to come to the Son in faith. These verses indicate both the sovereignty of the Father and the responsibility of the sinner. Three commands summarize this invitation.

“Come.” The Pharisees all said “Do!” and tried to make the people follow Moses and the traditions. But true salvation is found only in a Person, Jesus Christ. To come to Him means to trust Him. This invitation is open to those who are exhausted and burdened down. That is exactly how the people felt under the yoke of pharisaical legalism (Matt. 23:4; Acts 15:10).

“Take.” This is a deeper experience. When we come to Christ by faith, He gives us rest. When we take His yoke and learn, we find rest, that deeper rest of surrender and obedience. The first is “peace with God” (Rom. 5:1); the second is “the peace of God” (Phil. 4:6–8). To “take a yoke” in that day meant to become a disciple. When we submit to Christ, we are yoked to Him. The word “easy” means “well-fitting”; He has just the yoke that is tailor-made for our lives and needs. The burden of doing His will is not a heavy one (1 John 5:3).

“Learn.” The first two commands represent a crisis as we come and yield to Christ; but this step is into a process. As we learn more about Him, we find a deeper peace, because we trust Him more. Life is simplified and unified around the person of Christ. This invitation is for “all”—not just the people of Israel (Matt. 10:5–6).³

11:28–30 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden. There is an echo of the first beatitude (5:3) in this passage. Note that this is an open invitation to all who hear—but phrased in such a way that the only ones who will respond to the invitation are those who are burdened by their own spiritual bankruptcy and the weight of trying to save themselves by keeping the law. The stubbornness of humanity’s sinful rebellion is such that without a sovereignly-bestowed spiritual awakening, all sinners refuse to acknowledge the depth of their spiritual poverty. That is why, as Jesus says in v. 27, our salvation is the sovereign work of God. But the truth of divine election in v. 27 is not incompatible with the free offer to all in vv. 28–30.

11:29 you will find rest. I.e., from the endless, fruitless effort to save oneself by the works of the law (cf. Heb 4:1–3, 6, 9–11). This speaks of a permanent respite in the grace of God which is apart from works (v. 30).⁴

1:27 handed over to me. Jesus makes extraordinary claims. He claims that God’s sovereign disposition of all things has been committed to Him. As in Dan. 7, the Son of Man has received all power and dominion (anticipating Matt. 28:18). He alone knows the Father and can reveal the Father to others (John 14:6). The Father alone knows Him, so Peter’s later confession that Jesus is the Christ can only be through the Father’s revelation of the Son (Matt. 16:16, 17). Jesus’ knowledge is equal to the Father’s, and His sonship is unique.

11:28 Come to me. Echoing personified wisdom in Prov. 9:1–5 and intertestamental wisdom literature, Jesus invites the weary to find rest and refreshment in Him. He does not extend His invitation to those who are naturally intelligent but to little children (v. 25), not to the strong but to the weary and heavy-laden. Both Jesus and John convey God’s wisdom (v. 19 note), but Jesus transcends His forerunner, for He Himself is the incarnate wisdom of God.

11:29, 30 Take my yoke … my yoke is easy. The yoke, placed on the shoulders of beasts and humans who pull plows and wagons, symbolizes submission and slavery (Gen. 27:40; Is. 10:27; Hos. 11:4). Jewish sources spoke of the yoke of the law and of wisdom. Though the law was God’s good gift to His people, the scribes’ oral traditions and the spiritual disability of sinful humanity turned the law into an unbearable burden (12:2 note; 15:2; 23:2–4; Acts 15:10). When the law was understood as a way of meriting salvation, it became a “yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). By contrast, the yoke of Jesus, while demanding, is “easy” because it is from one who is “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt. 12:19, 20). He has fulfilled the law’s righteous demand perfectly for His people (Matt. 3:15; Gal. 4:4, 5; 2 Cor. 5:21), and His Spirit empowers their grateful obedience (Rom. 8:2–4). Therefore, He alone can provide true rest for the soul.⁵

1 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

2 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 1-13) (electronic ed., Vol. 34, pp. 160–161). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

3 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 41). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

4 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Mt 11:28–29). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

5 Sproul, R. C. (Ed.). (2015). The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (p. 1691). Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust.