The Call of Christ. 3

Whom Did Christ Call?

"Come unto Me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Having examined at some length the context of these words, that we might the better perceive their connection and the particular characters in which Christ is there portrayed, we turn now to consider the people here addressed, the ones who were invited to come to the Rest-Giver. On this point, there has been some difference among the commentators, some giving a narrower scope to this call of Christ—and some a wider. It is to be noted however, that all of the leading men among the earlier expositors united in restricting this particular call to a special class. Let us quote several of the principal ones:

"He now kindly invites to Himself those whom He acknowledges to be fit for becoming His disciples. Though He is ready to reveal the Father to all—yet the great part are careless about coming to Him, because they are not affected by a conviction of their necessities. Hypocrites give themselves no concern about Christ because they are intoxicated with their own righteousness, and neither hunger nor thirst after His grace. Those who are devoted to the world set no value on a heavenly life. It would be vain therefore for Christ to invite either of these classes, and therefore He turns to the wretched and afflicted. He speaks of them as 'laboring' or being under a 'burden,' and does not mean generally those who are oppressed with griefs and vexations—but those who are overwhelmed by their sins, who are filled with alarm at the wrath of God and are ready to sink under so weighty a burden" (John Calvin)

"The character of the people invited: all that labor and are heavy laden. This is a word in season to him that is weary (Isaiah 50:4). Those who complain of the burden of the ceremonial law, which was an intolerable yoke, and was made much more so by the tradition of the elders (Luke 11:46); let them come to Christ and they shall be made easy . . . this is to be understood of the burden of sin, both the guilt and the power of it. All those, and those only, are invited to rest in Christ—who are sensible of sin as a burden and groan under it, who are not only convicted of the evil of sin—their own sin—but are contrite in soul for it; who are really sick of sin, weary of the service of the world and the flesh, who see their state sad and dangerous by reason of sin, and are in pain and fear about it: as Ephraim (Jer. 31:18-20), the prodigal (Luke 15:17), the publican (Luke 18:13), Peter's hearers (Acts 2:37), Paul (Acts 9), the jailer (Acts 16:29, 30). This is a necessary preparative for pardon and peace" (Matthew Henry).

"Who are the people here invited? They are those who 'labor' (the Greek expresses toil with weariness) and are 'heavy laden.' This must here be limited to spiritual concerns, otherwise it will take in all mankind, even the most hardened and obstinate opposers of Christ and the Gospel." Referring to the self-righteous religionists, this writer went on to say, "You avoid gross sins, you have perhaps a form of godliness. The worst you think that can be said of you is, that you employ all your thoughts and every means that will not bring you under the lash of the law—to heap up money, to join house to house and field to field; or you spend your days in a complete indolence, walking in the way of your own hearts and looking no further: and here you will say you find pleasure, and insist on it, that you are neither weary nor heavy laden . . . then it is plain that you are not the people whom Christ here invites to partake of His rest" (John Newton).

"The people invited are not 'all' the inhabitants of mankind—but with a restriction: 'all you who labor and are heavy laden,' meaning not those who labor in the service of sin and Satan, are laden with iniquity and insensible of it: those are not weary of sin nor burdened with it, nor do they want or desire any rest for their souls; but only such who groan, being burdened with the guilt of sin on their consciences and are pressed down with the unsupportable yoke of the Law and the load of their trespasses, and have been laboring until they are weary, in order to obtain peace of conscience and rest for their soul by the observance of these things—but in vain. These are encouraged to come to Him, lay down their burdens at His feet and look to Him, and lay hold by faith on His person, blood and righteousness" (John Gill).

In more recent times the majority of preachers have dealt with our text as though the Lord Jesus was issuing an indefinite invitation, regarding His terms as being sufficiently general and wide in their scope as to include sinners of every grade and type. They supposed that the words, "you who labor and are heavy laden" refer to the misery and bondage which the Fall has brought upon the whole human race, as its unhappy subjects vainly seek satisfaction in the things of time and sense, endeavoring to find happiness in the pleasures of sin. They are laboring for contentment by gratifying their lusts, only to add to their miseries by becoming more and more the burdened slaves of sin.

It is quite true that the unregenerate "labor in the very fire" and that they "weary themselves for the very vanity" (Hab. 2:13). It is quite true that they "labor in vain" (Jer. 51:58), and "what profit has he who has labored for the wind?" (Eccl. 5:16). It is quite true that they "spend money for that which is not bread" and "labor for that which satisfies not" (Isaiah 55:2), for "the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing" (Eccl. 1:8). It is equally true that the unregenerate are heavy laden, "a people laden with iniquity" (Isaiah 1:4)—yet are they totally insensible of their dreadful state: "the labor of the foolish wearies them" (Eccl. 10:15). Moreover, "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:20, 21). That is, they have neither peace of conscience nor rest of heart.

But it is quite another matter to affirm that these are the characters which Christ invited to come unto Him for rest. Personally we much prefer the view taken by the older writers, for with rare exceptions their expositions are much sounder than those furnished in more recent days. As far back as a century ago a latitudinarian spirit had begun to creep in, and even the most orthodox were often, unconsciously, to some degree affected thereby. The pew was more and more inclined to chafe against what they regarded as the "rigidity" and "narrowness" of their fathers, and those in the pulpit had to tone down those aspects of the Truth which were most repellent to the carnal mind if they were to retain their popularity. Side by side with modern discoveries and inventions, the increased means for travel and the dissemination of news, came in what was termed "a broader outlook" and "a more charitable spirit," and posing as an angel of light Satan succeeded in Arminianising many places of Truth, and even where this was not accomplished, high Calvinism was whittled down to moderate Calvinism.

That to which we have just alluded, is no distorted conception of ours, issuing from an extreme theology—but a solemn fact which no honest student of church history can deny. Christendom, my reader, has not got into the unspeakably dreadful condition it is now in, all of a sudden: rather is its present state the outcome of a steady and long deterioration. The deadly poison of error was introduced here a little and there a little, the quantity being increased as less opposition was made against it. As "missionary" activities absorbed more and more the attention and strength of the Church, the standard of doctrine was lowered, sentiment displaced biblical convictions, fleshly methods were introduced, until in a comparatively short time nine tenths of those sent out to "the foreign field" were rank Arminians, preaching "another Gospel." This reacted upon the homelands and soon the interpretations of Scripture given out by its pulpits were brought into line with the "new spirit" which had captivated Christendom.

While we are far from affirming that everything modern is evil—or that everything ancient was excellent—yet there is no doubt whatever in our own mind, that by far the greater part of the boasted "progress" of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a progress downward and not upward, away from God and not toward Him, into the darkness and not the light. And therefore it behooves us to examine with double care and caution, any religious views or ways which deviated from the common teachings and practices of the godly Reformers and Puritans. This writer sincerely trusts that he is not a worshiper of antiquity as such, nor does he desire to call any man "father," yet in view of the awful corruption of the Truth and departure from vital godliness, we are compelled to regard with suspicion those "broader" interpretations of God's Word which have become so popular in recent times.

It behooves us now to point out one or two of the reasons we do not believe that Christ was here making a broadcast invitation, issuedpromiscuously to the light-headed, gay-hearted, pleasure-crazy, masses which have no appetite for the Gospel and no concern for their eternal interests: that this call was not addressed to the godless, careless, giddy and worldly multitudes—but rather unto those who were burdened with a sense of sin and longed for relief of conscience.

First because the Lord Jesus had received no commission from Heaven to bestow rest of soul upon all and sundry—but only upon the elect of God. Said He, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day" (John 6:38, 39), and that, necessarily, regulated all His ministry.

Second, because the Lord Jesus ever practiced what He preached. Unto His disciples He said, "Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces" (Matthew 7:6). Can we, then, conceive of our holy Lord inviting the unconcerned to come unto Him—for that which their hearts abhorred? Has He set His ministers such an example? Surely, the word He would have them press upon the pleasure-intoxicated members of our rising generation is, "Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment!" (Eccl. 11:9).

Third, because the immediate context is entirely out of harmony with the wider interpretation. There we find Christ pronouncing most solemn "woes" upon those who despised and rejected Him (Matthew 11:20-24), drawing consolation from the sovereignty of God and thanking Him because He had hidden from the wise and prudent, those things which belonged unto their eternal peace—but had revealed them unto babes (vv. 25, 26), and it is these "babes" He here invites unto Himself; and there we find Him presented as the One commissioned by the Father and as the Revealer of Him. (v. 27).

Next Part The Call of Christ. 4

Back to Arthur Pink