Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light
(Matthew 11:28-30 KJV).
(I)
Rev. Herman Hoeksema
Under
discussion here is especially the first verse of this section. [It is often
thought] that we may not here limit “ye that labor and are heavy laden,” but
that this refers to all men without distinction.
Now
we may remark, first of all, that even though we would concede to [this
opinion] that the laboring and heavy
laden mentioned in the text are all men, [the general, well-meant offer
advocate] would still be not one step farther with his proof for a general
offer. The case is simply this … there is in this text not only no general
offer, but no offer whatsoever. What we have [here] … is a calling and a
promise; and the promise is not to all without distinction, but only to those
who heed and obey the calling. The calling is: “Come unto me!” The promise is: “I
will give you rest.” If therefore we cast the text in the form of a dogmatic
declaration, then we get this: Christ promises all who come to Him rest of
soul. Thus the Canons have it also,
in III/IV:8.
…
[The] promise pertains only to those who come to Christ. And this coming to
Christ is an act of faith. Coming to Jesus is by no means as simple as it is
presented to be in many Methodistic revival meetings and in street preaching,
or as it is presented to be in many corrupt hymns. It implies, in the first
place, that he who comes to Jesus has knowledge, spiritual knowledge, of his
own sin and misery, and has come to acknowledge before the Lord that all his
righteousnesses are filthy rags, so that his own works cannot serve as
righteousness before God. He is lost in himself. He is a poor sinner. He is
empty. There is in him no righteousness and holiness, no wisdom and no
knowledge; nothing but guilt and sin and corruption, nothing but foolishness
and darkness and enmity against God. It implies, in the second place, that he
has learned to know Christ in all the fullness of His salvation, of
righteousness and holiness, of wisdom and knowledge of God, and complete
redemption: has learned to know not merely in the sense of knowing about Him,
but in the spiritual sense, which becomes manifest in the longing to possess
Him, in order that His fullness may fill his own emptiness. All that is of
Christ has become altogether desirable. This coming to Jesus includes, in the
third place, that one completely casts away his own work, in order to cast
himself at the feet of the Savior, trusting only in His suffering and death and
resurrection, with the plea, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!” And it implies, in
the fourth place, finally, that a man embraces Him through faith, becomes
conscious that he belongs to Him, and now is a partaker of all His benefits.
Now
to those who thus come to Jesus, in order to abandon themselves upon Him alone,
the Savior promises rest: rest of soul, consisting in this, that the soul
enters into the finished work that has come to light through the resurrection
of Christ and the everlasting rest that remaineth for the people of God. And
thus understood, [it can no longer be maintained] that we have here a general
offer of grace and salvation, but … that we have to do with a very particular
promise … [The] Savior Himself very plainly teaches us that those who come are
the elect. For: “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” And also: “Therefore said I unto you,
that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John
6:37, 65). And again: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent
me draw him” (v. 34). [If we wish] to explain Scripture in its own light …
simply bring these words of the Savior in connection with Matthew 11:28, and [it
can be seen that the] assertion that we have in the latter passage a general
offer of grace and salvation is not valid. The Savior promises rest. To whom?
To those who come to Him. Who are those who come to Him? They who are given Him
by the Father, they who are drawn by the Father. And who are drawn by the
Father? The elect. There is no escaping it. Also Matthew 11:28 is thoroughly
particular. And the particular character of the text does not for a moment
depend upon a certain explanation of ‘laboring and heavy laden’ …
Furthermore,
we do not concede … that “laboring and heavy laden” are all men. And we also
deem it important that the text should not be explained in that general sense,
because precisely those to whom the promise pertains would lose the comfort and
encouragement which is in this word for them, through such an explanation. And
this may not be. The bread of the children may not be cast before the dogs. [We
are placed before the following question]: in what sense does the Savior mean
laboring and heavy laden here? Someone can be weary and heavy laden in the
physical sense of the word … Men can also be weary of soul in the natural sense
of the word. They can be bowed down under the burdens of life, burdens of every
sort. And also such men are not meant by the Savior. About this there is no
dispute. No; this weariness belongs to the same category as the rest which the
Savior promises. And therefore it must be understood in the spiritual sense.
There are men who are weary because they seek after righteousness, but can find
nothing else but sin. Men who say of their sins that as a heavy burden they are
too heavy to them. And this can simply not be said of all men. Although
therefore we freely concede that there are all sorts of burdens borne, also all
sorts of weariness in the world and that apart from the text under discussion
it certainly can be said that all men are weary and heavy laden, nevertheless
we maintain that they are not weary and heavy laden in the sense in which the
Savior promises them rest, that is, in the true spiritual sense of the word.
Although therefore this call of the Savior indeed comes to all who hear the
Gospel, nevertheless every hearer of this call demonstrates by coming or not
coming whether he is weary of sin or whether he loves sin. Through the calling
separation comes about. And through the calling the Savior mentions His own by
name. They come and receive the rest which remains for the people of God.
Finally,
this altogether particular character of the text is very plainly confirmed by
both the broader and the immediate context. In the broader context the Savior
speaks of two sons of men from the viewpoint of their attitude over against the
preaching of the kingdom of heaven. The one class is the violent, who since the
days of John the Baptist already take the kingdom of heaven by force. It makes
no difference to them who proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. They certainly
enter in. They have waited long for that kingdom. And now John proclaims that
it is at hand, and as it were through his preaching sets the door of that
kingdom ajar and they press to enter in. And also when Jesus comes and
proclaims the same Gospel, they manifest themselves as the same violent who are
desirous to enter in. But over against that spiritually strong generation there
is also another generation which the Savior compares with children sitting in
the markets, and calling unto their fellows: “We have piped unto you, and ye
have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.” They
always stand wrong over against the kingdom of heaven and never enter in. They
always find an excuse for their refusal to enter in. In the case of John they
piped, and wanted him to dance; but John the Baptist was a Nazarite and could
not dance. He came neither eating nor drinking. And when John did not dance to
their piping, they said of him that he had a devil. Who can endure it in the
desert, with locusts and wild honey? But then came Jesus, Who was no Nazarite,
who could not be conquered by the world, but came in order to overcome the
world, who therefore came eating and drinking. But when He came, they mourned
unto Him and wanted Him to lament. And when Jesus continued to eat and to
drink, they said of Him that He was a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. Meanwhile, neither upon the preaching of John, nor at
that of Jesus, did they enter in. And then follows the pronouncement of
judgment upon that miserable generation as it came to manifestation especially
under the preaching of Jesus and under His many works at Capernaum, at
Chorazin, and at Bethsaida. And as far as the immediate context is concerned,
there the Savior resumes as it were that twofold effect of His preaching,
revealing and hiding, and with it turns in thanksgiving to the Father, to Whom
He ascribes that twofold fruit. It is all according to the good pleasure of the
Father: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.” In the light of this
context … the very possibility of suddenly thinking in verse 28 of a general,
well-meant offer of grace and salvation fails.
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(II)
Prof. Herman Hanko
“In
this text,” asks a reader, “is Jesus inviting us or commanding us to come to
Him?”
The
text in question is often (though wrongly) cited by the defenders of a gracious
and well-meant gospel offer to everybody. Jesus’ words are interpreted to mean
that Christ is inviting all men to come to Him. The text, then, is not a
command, but an invitation. It is an invitation in which Christ graciously
expresses His desire that all men head for head will come to Him to receive
salvation. That interpretation teaches that, because the text is an invitation,
the coming to Christ is the work of man who chooses to come. An invitation can
be accepted or rejected, after all.
The
gracious and well-meant gospel offer is contrary to Scripture. Jesus is most emphatically not inviting
all men to come to Him. He has just prayed to His Father, “I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it
seemed good in thy sight” (vv. 25-26). Is it even remotely possible that Jesus
would thank God for hiding the truth from some and revealing it to others and
then turn around and beg every man to come to Him? A man is not thinking
straight if he talks that kind of language.
Moreover,
after concluding this prayer to His Father, Jesus goes on to say, “All things
are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will [i.e., desires to] reveal him” (v. 27).
Jesus
makes it abundantly clear that while it is God’s will to hide spiritual truths
from the wise and reveal these same truths unto babes, He, who alone knows the
Father, is commissioned to accomplish His Father’s will. Those who teach a
gracious and well-meant offer want us to believe that Christ, who carries out
the will of His Father in hiding and revealing, now suddenly turns around and
tells everyone to whom He preaches that both He and God earnestly desire that
everyone head for head be saved.
It
is preposterous! Nor will it help to scurry away from the text and hide behind
the bush of “apparent contradiction.” That is a coward’s escape.
No
wonder Jesus tells the multitude in Capernaum, “All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John
6:37). Christ assures His disciples and all who hear Him that all the elect,
given Him by the Father, will and do, in fact, come to Him. Therefore, not only
is it certain that all the elect will come to Him, but it is also certain that only the elect will come to Him; no one
else. Is it not, therefore, preposterous to say that Jesus, in spite of this
fact, still pleads with everyone to come to Him? It will not work to take
refuge in the crumbling tower of “apparent contradiction.”
Nor
does Scripture leave room for man’s free will, something the defenders of the
well-meant offer cunningly do. Christ says, “No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day”
(John 6:44).
There
is no safety from the clear words of Scripture in the lame excuse of “apparent
contradiction.” Nor does the arrow, shot from a broken bow, hit anything by
calling those who deny this “apparent contradiction” and the gracious
well-meant offer “rationalists.” Name-calling can never successfully defend the
lie.
Matthew
11:28 is a beautiful text. Briefly, its beauty lies in the fact that Jesus is
not calling all men, but only His beloved people. Those who “labour and are
heavy laden” are, in the first instance, those, still in the old dispensation,
who heard the demands of the law and knew in their hearts they could not keep
that law. The law had become to them a burden too great to bear and it
confronted them with an obligation that they knew they could never accomplish.
Jesus
words are beautiful: “In the law there is no peace and the burden to keep it is
too great to carry. Come to Me; My yoke is easy and My burden light.” It is the
call to every sin-crushed sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, whether in the first
or twenty-first century, who has tried to save himself, but finds God’s demand
forever beyond him.
Those
who know this are those who are given to Christ by God, that is, the elect. The
Spirit of Christ has begun His work, for the only way to Christ is the way of
sorrow for sin, shame that fills the soul of the child of God with horror, and
a deep longing to escape the consequences of not doing what he knows he must
do, but cannot.
Is
this an invitation of Christ? Well, only if you understand that an invitation
from the King of kings comes as a command. An invitation to a birthday party of
a friend you may accept or reject. An invitation from the Lord of heaven and
earth is a command that you had better obey—or lose your life!
It
is, therefore, a command, without doubt. But it is couched in a way that, in
the Lord’s command to come to Him with the burden of sin, He speaks tenderly
and with infinite love, for He woos God’s elect to Him by sweet words. He knows
how great the burden of the sin of His people can be. He knows how, crushed
beneath their sin, they wonder whether God can possibly ever receive them. He
knows that they are so ashamed that to come to Christ seems a boldness too
great for an unworthy sinner.
The
words are calculated to give us courage, courage in Christ’s love for us, a
love that is too great for us to comprehend. The Lord does not say to you and
me, “Come to Me—or else.” His voice is not harsh and threatening. He comes in
His love for poor, chastised, frightened sinners who know their sins make them
unworthy even for Christ to take a quick glance in their direction. “Come to Me
... I fulfilled the law for you who cannot keep it. I will give you rest—rest
in salvation by grace alone!”
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(III)
Rev. Herman Hoeksema
[The
natural man] is weary, to be sure, but not of sin. He is weary of unrest, of
war, of destruction, of bloodshed, of sickness, of sorrow, of death. And he
labors and toils to improve his condition, to establish peace and happiness, to
make a better world. But he does not acknowledge that his burden is his sin,
and that all his unrest finds its cause in the fact that he has forsaken God.
He does not want to cease from sin. He does not seek after God. He seeks rest
in the sphere of sin. Speaking beautiful words of peace, he makes war, boasting
of righteousness he hates the righteousness of God, claiming to labor for a
better world, he destroys it. And he does not will to enter into the rest of
God, and to come to Christ.
But
[in Matthew 11:28] Christ speaks: Come! And when He speaks, who can still resist? Ah, when I speak, when mere man
speaks, when a preacher begs and calls and persuades, it is of no avail. You
hear with the natural ear, you see with your natural eye, you understand the
meaning of the gospel, but you refuse to come, you reject the Christ, you only
prove that you are blind, and deaf, and very corrupt, and aggravate your guilt.
But Christ speaks! He that once stood at the open grave of Lazarus, calling: “Lazarus,
come forth,” and he came out, speaks. He speaks by his Spirit and Word. And through
the power of His almighty Word you receive eyes to see, ears to hear, an
enlightened understanding to know your misery, the longing to be delivered and
to enter into the rest of God, the will to come to Christ!
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(IV)
Rev. Herman Hoeksema
[Source: A
Power of God Unto Salvation, Or, Grace Not An Offer, p. 76]
If I preach in my congregation: I promise ten
dollars to all who have no work and are in need, if they come to me, then that
is a general proclamation of a particular promise. The proclamation is general,
the promise is particular. It is a particular offer … When God says: To all
those who labor and are heavy laden, who come to Me, I will give rest, then
that is indeed a general proclamation, but the promise is particular … And
since it is God Himself who must work the true labouring … it is as plain as
day that all these passages basically concern only the elect.
----------------------------------------------
(V)
John
Knox
[Source: On Predestination, in Answer to the Cavillations by an Anabaptist [1560], p. 118; (spelling
and punctuation modernized)]
And
wonder it is, that in the words of the prophet and in the words of our master
Christ Jesus also, you see not a plain difference made, for the prophet calls
not all indifferently to drink of these waters but such as do thirst [Isa.
55:1-3]. And Christ restrains his generality to such as did travail and were
burdened with sin [Matt. 11:28]; such, I say, he confesses himself to call to
repentance, but to such as were just and whole, he affirms that he was not sent
[Mark 2:17].
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(VI)
Pierre du Moulin
[Source: Anatomie of Arminianism, pp. 321-322]
They
[i.e., the Arminians] scatter some little motives [i.e., appeal to certain
texts?], as that Isaiah 55:1. They that thirst are invited by God, that is,
those that are desirous of reconciliation with God, and of salvation. And that
Matthew 11:28. They that are heavy laden are called, Come unto me ye that are
weary and heavy laden: By those that are laden, are noted out, those that are
pressed down with the conscience of their sins, and sighing under the burden of
them: Therefore (say they [i.e., the Arminians]) they were already desirous of
salvation, and were pressed down with the conscience of their sins, before they
were [externally] called, and regeneration is after calling: And therefore in
the unregenerate there may be a saving grief, and a desire of remission of
sins; but I affirm that those men so thirsting, and so laden, were not
unregenerate: For that very desire of salvation and the grace of God, and the
sighs of the conscience, panting under the weight of sin, by which we are
compelled to fly to Christ, is a part of regeneration: And that beginning of
fear (if it be acceptable to God) is an effect of the Holy Spirit moving the
heart: For what hinders, that he who thirsts after the grace of God, hath not
already tasted of it, and as it were licked it with his lips? What hinders that
he who is commanded to come to Christ, should not already move himself and
begin to go, although with a slow pace? Doth Christ as often as he commands men
to believe in him, speak only to unbelievers? Yea, this exhortation to believe
and to come to him, doth especially belong to them, whose faith being new bred,
and weak, doth strive with the doubtings of the flesh.
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(VII)
More to come! (DV)
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