Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and *I* will give you rest.
この節の注解
The Setting of the Invitation
Matthew 11:28 falls in a chapter where the Lord, rejected by the cities of Israel, turns from public testimony and opens His heart with the most tender gospel call ever spoken. After thanking the Father that things hidden from the wise have been revealed to babes, He flings wide the door to every burdened soul — declaring His full authority as Son and then offering Himself as the rest the law could never give.
Who Are the Labouring and Heavy Laden?
The Lord is not addressing the careless or indifferent, but the awakened conscience. The "babes" He just spoke of are these very souls — simple ones who took God's law to heart and were crushed under its demands.
F. B. HoleThe "babes" of whom the Lord spoke were doubtless just these simple souls who listened to the holy law of God, applied it to themselves, and consequently became burdened. They laboured to keep the law, and were constantly convicted of failure. It was to just these that the Lord Jesus opened wide the arms of His invitation, bidding them come to Him that He might give them rest. There was no rest in the law nor in themselves. There was rest in Himself and in the work He was about to accomplish.
MagazinesWhen the Lord Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28), He was addressing those who were labouring to find divine blessing on the ground of law, and who felt the oppression with which the law burdened them... The law burdened the spirit with its demands, and sin, which the law could not take away, burdened the conscience.
The Rest That Christ Gives
This first rest is rest of conscience — the burden of guilt lifted by the finished work of the Saviour. It is purely a gift; nothing is asked of the comer except to come.
W. W. FeredayFirst, our Lord says, "Come to Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is manifestly rest of conscience. Many labour under the burden of realised guilt; others groan under the yoke of religious ordinances by means of which they hope ultimately to obtain salvation. To all these the Saviour offers rest as a gracious gift. His atoning sacrifice has so perfectly satisfied all the claims of divine holiness in regard to sin that none need carry the burden of guilt for a single hour... Believers having been purged once for all have "no more conscience of sins" (Heb. 10:2).
The Giving God Revealed in Christ
The verse marks a great turning point: God is no longer seen demanding, but giving. While the scribes piled burdens on men, Christ came to lift them off.
MagazinesHere was One who was able to remove the heavy load, and was willing to do it, to set the heart at rest from the burden upon the conscience, and to give rest in the knowledge of what He had brought of the Father's grace. God was no longer demanding from men; He was seen in Jesus as a giving God. The Scribes bound "heavy burdens and grievous to be borne" upon the shoulders of Israel, and would not move them with one of their fingers (Matt. 23:4), but the Lord Jesus came to relieve men, and to remove the heavy burden.
The Heart of Christ in the Invitation
Notice that the One who issues this call has just declared, "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father" — the Lord of heaven and earth stoops down to call the weary. Only because He Himself rests in the Father's will can He give rest to others.
Frederick W GrantHe who rests, amid all contradiction of men, in perfect satisfaction with the Father's will, — He can show to others the way of rest. And He who treads the path of obedience to the "Lord of heaven and earth" has all put into His own hand, as Lord of all.
W. T. P. WolstonResting Himself in the Father's perfect love, He calls every labouring, laden, restless soul to come to Him, undertaking to introduce the newcomer, whoever he may be, or whatever he may have been, to the same sphere of restful delight which He Himself had in the Father's love... Never from His blessed lips fell there words more God-revealing, soul-need-meeting, love-begetting, and heart-breaking than these.
Summary
- Two rests. Verse 28 gives rest of conscience as a free gift; verse 29 ("take My yoke… and ye shall find rest") gives the further rest of heart found in obedient discipleship.
- The audience. The call is aimed at those whom the law has awakened — souls labouring to please God and crushed by guilt, not the careless.
- The ground. The rest stands on Christ's atoning sacrifice, which has fully met every claim of divine holiness, so the believer carries no guilt and has "no more conscience of sins."
- A giving God. In Christ, God stops demanding and begins giving; the heavy burdens loaded by religious teachers are lifted off by the Saviour Himself.
- The Speaker. It is the Lord of heaven and earth, resting in the Father's love, who alone has authority and tenderness enough to give rest to every weary soul that comes.