THE CHRISTIAN'S REST AND RELATIONSHIP
THE CHRISTIAN’S REST AND RELATIONSHIP
Matthew 11: 20 - 30; Matthew 17: 24 - 27
The christian’s rest and relationship are brought before us in these scriptures. Both are known in companionship with Jesus. Jesus says, “Come to me ... and I will give you rest”. You can hardly conceive anything greater. Several things come out in connection with the scene here and it is in coming to Him in the character in which He is here presented that He gives us rest.
We see a Man on earth who could praise God for His sovereignty. The Lord turned from everything — for all spoke of failure — and turned to His Father. We do not make any headway until we do the same. It is the first element of rest. If I see what I am I realize that there is no hope or help in anything but the sovereignty of God. The soul is brought to the psalmist’s expression, “Upon God alone, O my soul, rest peacefully”, Psalm 62:5. The sovereignty of God is a very sweeping thing. It sweeps away all the pretension of man, his wisdom and his prudence. Both Egyptian and Philistine need to be slain. If we come to the Man of our chapter, we really come to what marks Him. We have the character of the “babe”.
The Lord says, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father”. First we have God alone before us, our hope in Him; then we see that all things have been put into the hands of the Son, hands that can hold all perfectly. You are now in the presence, not of deficiency but of sufficiency. Everything is fully secured in Him who is so great that only the Father knows Him. Think of the things that have been given into the hands of the Son as Man: redemption, a foundation for the recovery of all for God; revelation [p. 193] has been committed to Him. All the secrets are out: man’s blessing, all the promises, all the purposes of God. All are held secure by Him. That is the Person who says, “Come to me”.
Then we have a blessed Man on earth who knows the Father. He knew God perfectly. He had personal experience of all that God could be for a man down here. He says to us, ‘I will tell you all about it’. He is One of the Godhead. We do not question that, but He became a Man and as such He knew the Father. He knew fully what God’s care was as meeting necessities, and all the wonderful favour of God which is beyond all need. He knew it all and all the Father’s thoughts as well; they were His joy and delight. He says, ‘I will not keep it to Myself; I will reveal it to you’. He wants each one of us to be in personal contact with Himself and He will give us to know the Father as He knew Him.
The first rest is a given rest. It is connected with what is found in a Person. It is objective. If there is labour, or we are burdened it is a sure sign that we have not come to Him.
The second rest is a found rest. It is a matter of the state of soul. It is subjective. In verse 20 the Lord changes His position and takes a place on our side and invites us to take His yoke. The yoke must be companionship. On our side the Lord is the meek and lowly One and we have to learn to be like Him. He says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. Ah! He was the true Hebrew servant. He could say, “I love”. That made the yoke easy. He said also, “To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight”. The burden was light. How can we come into this? He says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me”. The yoke is His Spirit and we become like Him. We find the yoke easy and the burden light. We are thus vitally linked with Him and find rest to our souls. So we see that if we [p. 194] come to Him we shall have the benefit of the revelation which He gives of the Father and the benefit of having His Spirit as the Spirit of the One who responds to that revelation.
In chapter 17 we have sonship. Rest has to do with a scene of turmoil and confusion and it is blessed. It is in contrast to unrest. Sonship is not connected with this scene of unrest but with another scene altogether. In this scripture we have the thought of association with the Son in sonship. If Peter had understood the glory of the Son he would not have answered as he did to the enquiry as to paying the didrachmas; he would have said, ‘No; He is the Son’. But the Lord submits and in doing so associates Peter with Himself in all the blessedness of sonship with the words, “Take that and give it to them for me and thee”. We are brought in, in companionship with the Son, to the circle of God’s own love. First we are companions with the Son in rest, then with Him in the affections and love that fill the Father’s house. One is our place below; the other our place above: ‘As sons like Him, with Him to be in Thine own house’ (88:1).