Matthew 11

Matthew 11:2

CHRIST’S WITNESS TO JOHN.–Matthew 11:2-15. GOLDEN TEXT.–He was a burning and a shining light.–John 5:35. TIME.–A. D. 27. In the second year of Christ’s ministry. PLACE.–Jesus in Galilee; John in the prison fortress of Machærus near the Dead Sea. HELPFUL .–Luke 7:19-28; Matthew 3:1-17; Mark 6:14-29. LESSON .–1. John’s Messengers; 2. Christ’s Message; 3. More than a Prophet.. On the brink of a great precipice, above the steaming hot fountains of Callirrhoe, and facing the Dead Sea, is the lonely fortress of Machærus. Here, in the midst of a scene of most remarkable desolation, John the Baptist was imprisoned until be met his death.–W.

M. Thomson. The great and noble prophet had, indeed, for the moment found a stumbling block to his faith in what he heard about the Christ. And is this unnatural? Is it an indecision which any one who knows anything of the human heart will venture for a moment to condemn? Though all men flocked in multitudes to listen to the fiery preacher of the wilderness, the real effect on the mind of the nation had been neither permanent nor deep.

Though his friend and his Savior was living, was at no great distance from him, Was in the full tide of his influence, and was daily working the miracles of love which attested his mission, yet John saw that friend and Savior on earth no more. He seemed to be neglected not only by God above, but by the living Son of God on earth. Among so many words of mercy and tenderness might not some be vouchsafed to him who had uttered that voice in the Wilderness? What wonder if the eye of the caged eagle began to film?–Farrar.I. JOHN’S MESSAGE.— 2. Now when John heard in prison. John had now been a year in prison, and Josephus states that Machærus, east of the Dead Sea, one of the strong fortresses built by the elder Herod, was the place of his imprisonment. In that case the disciples must have come upward of fifty miles to visit Jesus at Capernaum.–Kitto. He sent his disciples. Two of them according to Luke.

Matthew 11:3

3. Art thou he that should come? Here is no doubt a reference to Malachi 3:1, where it is said: “Jehovah whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple.” The slowness of our Lord to develop the glory of his kingdom seemed to John not to agree with the suddenness ascribed to the Messiah.–Whedon. John had himself been inspired to proclaim the “One coming after him,” and had heard the Father acknowledge the Son, seen the Holy Spirit descend, and had pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God. But he, like the Jews, had expected a speedier and more striking manifestation of the kingdom. As Jesus did not unfurl his standard, proclaim his kingdom, overthrow Pilate and Herod, and break open his own prison, John, in the gloom of long confinement, began to ask himself whether. Jesus was really the long-expected Messiah, or only another but greater prophet than himself. It would appear probable, from this inquiry, that our Lord had hitherto abstained from making any distinct public assertion of his being the Son of God; though certainly he had preached the Gospel to the poor in a more general manner, he had not yet formally presented himself to the Jewish Church and people as their expected Messiah.

See Mark 1:14.–J. Ford. Look we for another? John here seems to be running in the same train of reasoning as that which induced the later Jews to adopt the theory of two Messiahs, one of whom (called by them the Son of Joseph) should fulfill the humiliations described by the prophets as belonging to the Messiah, and the other (whom they called the Son of David) should fulfill the glorious part of the prophecies. I do not mean that John adopted or was acquainted with this Jewish theory, but that the same idea (namely, the contrast lying between the humble, suffering Messiah and the glorious Messiah, prince of the kingdom of God) which prompted that theory prompted his question.–Whedon. Not the Savior’s person, but his mode of action, is to John a riddle. Matters move too slowly for him, especially as he himself is now condemned to involuntary inactivity. In vain does he wait for a speedy and public declaration of the Lord in respect to his Messianic dignity. It annoys him that the Savior speaks more by deeds than by words.

Since these deeds are not miracles of punishment, like those of the old prophets, but benefits, which perhaps did not so well correspond with the expectation of the Lord of the threshing-floor with his fan in his hand. Matthew 3:11-12.–Van Oosterzee.

Matthew 11:4

II. CHRIST’S MESSAGE.— 4. Jesus answered and said. Luke states that at that same hour he cured many of their infirmities. After permitting the messengers to see his work, he pointed to it as his answer. Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see. The words plainly show that it is John, not his disciples, who is to be taught the truth. To John’s question Jesus gives no direct reply. There is something severe in the whole of our Lord’s demeanor and language, as if reproving this shaking of John’s higher faith in God. Just so at a time when the firmness of Elijah’s faith was shaken (1 Kings 19), the Lord rebukes him, and instructs him with signs and miracles.–Whedon.

Matthew 11:5

5. The blind receive their sight. As the article is wanting in each of these clauses, the sense would be better perceived by the English reader thus, though scarcely tuneful enough: “Blind persons are seeing, lame people are walking, leprous persons are getting cleansed, deaf people are hearing, dead persons are being raised.”–D. Brown. It must not be forgotten that the words here used by our Lord have an inner and spiritual sense, as betokening the blessings and miracles of divine grace on the souls of men, of which his outward and visible miracles were symbolical. The words are mostly cited from Isaiah 35:5, where the same spiritual meaning is conveyed by them.–Alford. Dead are raised. In Luke, the raising of the widow’s son at Nain immediately precedes this message; and in this Gospel we have had the ruler’s daughter raised. These miracles might be referred to by our Lord under the words the dead are raised up; for it is to be observed that he bade them tell John not only what things they saw, but what things they had heard.–Alford. Malice itself cannot find reason to suspect a collusion when prophecies and miracles thus unite their testimony, and proclaim Jesus to be the Messiah.–Bishop Horne. The poor have the gospel preached to them. It adds to the force of this testimony that the poor had always been overlooked by Pharisees and the Jewish doctors. The ancient philosophers and theologians had no gospel for those who could not pay for it. The climax is preaching the gospel to the poor.

Matthew 11:6

6. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Shall not find an occasion for stumbling in me. This is suggested by John’s seeming to have stumbled, not fallen, because Christ had not publicly declared his mission. The Lord does not upbraid, but gives in this way a tender rebuke, implying that he knew best what to do with reference to his kingdom.

Matthew 11:7

III. GREATER THAN A PROPHET.— 7. What went ye out into the wilderness to see? An allusion to John’s ministry in the wilderness, which had been attended by most of Christ’s disciples. A reed shaken with the wind. The reed of Egypt and Palestine is a very tall cane, growing twelve feet high, with a magnificent particle of blossom at the top, and so slender and yielding that it will lie perfectly flat under a gust of wind, and immediately resume its upright position. It grows in great canebrakes in many parts of Palestine, especially on the west side of the Dead Sea, where, nourished by the warm springs, it lines the shore for several miles with an impenetrable fringe, the lair of wild boars and wild leopards, to the exclusion of all other kind of vegetation. On the banks of the Jordan it occurs in great patches, but is not so lofty.–H. B. Tristam. Did you expect, what John now appears to you, a trembling vacillator, shivering in every breeze of doubt and difficulty?

Such is not John’s true character. When the wind of popular applause, on the one hand, blew fresh and fair, on the other hand, grew fierce and blustering, John was still the same, the same in all weathers.

Matthew 11:8

8. A man clothed in soft raiment.— Were you attracted into the wilderness of Judea to see an effeminate courtier, who could not bear the severities of a desert or of a prison, as John now perhaps appears? Certainly not. The very direction you took shows the reverse. You would not have gone to the wilderness, but to the palace of a king, perhaps to Herod’s, to fine those who were delicately appareled. John with his camel’s hair and leathern girdle, was far from being clothed like a courtier.

Matthew 11:9

9. What went ye out for to see? The third question brings before them the real object of their pilgrimage in his holy office, and amplifies that office itself. So that the great forerunner is made to rise gradually and sublimely into his personality, and thus his preaching of repentance is revived in their minds.–Alford. More than a prophet. John was more than a prophet, because he did not write of, but saw and pointed out, the object of his prophecy, and because of his proximity to the kingdom of God. He was, moreover, more than a prophet, because he himself was the subject, as well as the vehicle, of prophecy.–Alford. He was more than a prophet, because he was a reformer, forerunner and way-preparer, as well as prophet. No other prophet ever had so honored an office.

Matthew 11:10

10. This is he, of whom it is written. Of whom Malachi prophesied.

Matthew 11:11

11. Among them that are born of women. Among mankind in general. Christ was “born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4), but this differs from the phrase here used, as “Son of man” does from men.–Schaff. The world thinks that kings, generals, and statesmen are the greatest of men. But God measures differently. The divine Head of Christ is the loftiest of all men’s heads, and his nearest servant’s is next.–Whedon. He that is least in the kingdom of heaven. This shows, (1) That John was not in the kingdom of God. (2) That, as none greater than John had been born of women, no one had yet entered the kingdom. (3) That therefore it had not yet been set up, but as John himself, Jesus, and the Twelve under the first commission, preached, was “at hand.” (4) All in the kingdom, even the humblest, had a superior station to John. Quoting Alford: “John, not inferior to any born of women–but these, even the least of them, are born of another birth (John 1:12; John 1:33; John 3:5). John, the nearest to the king and the kingdom, standing on the threshold, but never having himself entered; these “in the kingdom,” subjects and citizens and indwellers of the realm, whose citizenship is in heaven. He, the friend of the Bridegroom; they, however weak and unworthy members, his body and his spouse.”

Matthew 11:12

12. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. The idea is that from the time when John began preaching, men of violence were trying to force their way into the kingdom. It is compared to a walled city that men try to storm and enter. The multitudes that rushed out to John and those who sought to make Jesus a king by force were all trying to press their way into a kingdom that was then still future.

Matthew 11:13

13. The prophets and the law prophesied until John. For the full meaning we must turn to Luke 16:16, where the same words occur with the addition, “since that time the kingdom of heaven is preached.” Then first began the announcement that John was the way-preparer, the forerunner of the king, that the kingdom was at hand, that the old dispensation was about to close.

Matthew 11:14

14. This is Elias, who was to come. Malachi predicted that Elijah would come to prepare the way for the Lord. Christ explains that this was fulfilled in John, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, one in dress, habits, preaching and sternness of purpose, a second Elijah. He was not the literal, but a spiritual Elijah.

Matthew 11:15

15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. A formula used by Christ to give especial emphasis. The truths announced were of great moment to those who could hear and understand. He had declared John’s mission and exalted place, and in doing this, had really declared that he was himself the one spoken of by Malachi before whom the messenger should go. He had thus, to those who understood it, made a striking revelation of himself. AND . Doubts come often from inactivity: John working beside the Jordan bears testimony to his faith; but shut up in the prison begins to doubt. Doubts may arise from incomplete knowledge: John can only judge of Christ’s works from the partial and prejudiced accounts of visitors to his prison. There is no better way to be relieved of doubts than to tell them fully to Christ. The best answer is, not In words, but in deeds. The words of Jesus demonstrate him to be the Christ. Christianity has also an answer in words. It connects its deeds with the worker and the result. “Tell John.” Its words illuminate its deeds by the expanse of the underlying law, force, and aim of its activity. “To the poor the gospel is preached.” This explains the miracles. There appears all the divine origin of the gospel; there is illustrated the divine intent of the gospel; there blossoms the divine method of the gospel. THE SIX .–By six works of mercy Christ wrought miracles upon the body, and by those six also doth he work miracles upon the soul. Blindness is ignorance and error; lameness is infirmity and waywardness of will; the leprosy is concupiscence of the flesh; deafness is obduration of the heart; the separation of grace from the soul is death; poverty is the defect, or want of the knowledge of God, the power to receive the gospel.–Sutton.NOT A REED.–Our light is like a candle; every wind of vain doctrine blows it out, or spends the wax, or makes the light tremulous; but the lights of heaven are fixed, and bright and shine forever. John 5:35; Ephesians 4:14.–Bishop J. Taylor.JOHN THE BAPTIST.–Thirty long years of preparation; then a brief and wonderful success, brimful of promise; that success suddenly arrested; all means and opportunities of active service plucked out of his hand. Then the idle months in prison, and then the felon’s death! Mysterious, inexplicable, as such a life might look to the eyes of sense, how looked it to the eyes of God?

The lips that never flattered have said to John, that, of those that have been born of women, there hath not arisen a greater; his greatness mainly due to his peculiar connection with Christ, but not unsupported by his personal character, for he is one of the few prominent figures in the sacred page upon which not a single stain is seen to rest. And, though they buried him in some obscure grave, yet for that tomb the pen that never traced a line of falsehood, has written the brief but pregnant epitaph: “John fulfilled his course.”–Hanna. POINTS FOR . 1. Bring out the former relation of John to Christ, his prediction of the one coming after, the Baptism; the Spirit and the Father’s Voice, the Witness of John to his Disciples. 2. Point out the Position of John now, long a Prisoner exposed to Death, his Expectation of Christ as a Temporal King. 3. Show why he was Disappointed and in the Dungeon losing heart, hope and trust in Jesus. Why the messengers are sent. 4. Point to Jesus when they come, at work, Healing, Helping, Teaching. 5.

Bring out the Reply of Christ; Not an answer of Words but of Deeds; What Points in It; the Last and Greatest; contrast that with the way of Jewish Rabbis, Scribes and the Heathen Philosophers; With that of such men as Ingersoll. 6. Note Christ’s Testimony of John; not a Reed, not a Courtier, more than a Prophet; none Born, Greater. Show why. 7. Who are Greater. Show why. 8. Show Logical Sequence.

John, not in kingdom, not set up, when set up. Show how John was the Elias to come. 10. Deduce the inestimable privilege of Being in the Kingdom. Who is in it. (Matthew 7:21.) Are you in it?

Matthew 11:20

AND MERCY.–Matthew 11:20-30. GOLDEN TEXT.–Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.–Matthew 11:28. TIME.–Same as the date of the last lesson. PLACE.–Somewhere in Galilee. HELPFUL .–Matthew 11:16-19; Luke 10:6-13. LESSON .–1. Judgment Pronounced; 2. The Father’s Revelation; 3. Rest for the Heavy Laden.. The judgment pronounced upon these cities of Galilee is recorded by Matthew and Luke. It has been thought that the record of Luk 10:6-13, belongs to a later period, when his ministry was withdrawn from them, or when the seventy disciples were sent forth. Concerning the cities denounced Schaff says: “The woe has been fearfully fulfilled. Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum have utterly disappeared, and their very sites are disputed. The shores of the lake of Genessareth, once flourishing as a garden, are a wilderness with only two miserable places, Tiberias and Mejdel (the ancient Magdala), remaining. On the lake once white with sails there only remain a few rough fishing-boats.” The very generation that rejected Christ was doomed to see, in bitter agony, these very words fulfilled. It was not thirty years before the Romans swept in over those beautiful cities, leaving them only heaps of ruins. Any one who reads in the Jewish War of Josephus the sickening details of the slaughter and destruction which fell upon the whole district of Galilee will not wonder that the Jewish historian Josephus, himself exclaimed, “It was God who brought the Romans to punish the Galileans.” I. .— 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities. The cities in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee had, thus far, heard and seen the most of the Lord and had the least excuse for rejecting him. “In all the reproofs of Jesus there is an exaltation and a calmness which renders them more terrible than if they were the outburst of sudden passion. It is not angered ambition, but repulsed kindness that speaks. There is sadness in the severity. The very denunciations seem to mourn.” Wherein most of his mighty works were done. We know of a number of miracles which had been wrought in these cities, the healing of the centurion’s servant, of the son of the nobleman, of the diseased woman, of two blind men, and the raising of the daughter of Jairus. The Scriptures assure us that these were only a very small part of the mighty works he did. See Matthew 9:35. Because they repented not. The object of his teaching and miracles was to produce faith, and faith was sought as an essential to repentance. The great end proposed by the gospel is repentance and a new life. Faith must lead to these, or it is dead.

Matthew 11:21

21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Chorazin has long been extinct and its site is not certainly known. It is named only here and in Luke 10:13. Jerome, who lived within about 400 years of when these words were uttered, says that it was only about two miles distant from Capernaum. Situated about two miles from the ruins of Tel-Hum, thought to be Capernaum, there are ruins now called Kerazeh, including a synagogue, columns and walls of buildings. These are supposed by the best archæologists to mark the site of Chorazin. Others place it on the shore of the lake. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. The word means, “House of fish,” and the name would imply that it was a fishing town, and it was the home of the fishermen Peter, Andrew and Philip (John 1:44). Its locality is in dispute. Three views are named by Schaff: 1. The ancient view, which held that there was only one place of that name, on the west coast of the lake. Mark 6:45, seems to present a difficulty. 2. The usual modern view that there were two Bethsaidas, “Bethsaida, of Galilee” (John 12:21) on the western shore, and “Bethsaida Julias” on the eastern shore. 3. The latest and best view: Only one place, at the north end of the lake where the Jordan emptied, on both sides of the river, hence partly in Galilee and partly in Gaulonitis. For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon. These were rich Phœnician trading cities on the east shore of the Mediterranean. Tyre was long the chief commercial city of the world; it founded Carthage, the great rival of Rome; was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years and the land city taken, but a new city was built on an Island half a mile from shore; was taken again by Alexander the Great after a siege of six months. Hiram, King of Tyre, was the friend of David and Solomon. These cities were denounced by the prophets for their pride and their sins (Isaiah 23:9; Amos 1:9). These cities were still in existence at the time the Savior spoke, and he perhaps meant that their Gentile inhabitants would have received the gospel if they had had the opportunities of the cities of Galilee. They would have repented. History tells us that when the gospel was offered to the Gentiles they did repent. Tyre became a Christian city; Chorazin and Bethsaida were destroyed thirty years later, but Tiberias, also on the lake, was permitted to remain, and not only did not receive the gospel, but became the center of Judaism after the fall of Jerusalem. In sackcloth and ashes. The symbols of mourning and repentance. See Jonah 3:5, on the repentance of Nineveh. The costume of mourners was a garment like a sack with holes for the arms, and it was usual to strew ashes on the head. Sackcloth was a kind of coarse cloth, woven of camel’s hair.

Matthew 11:22

22. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment. These solemn words teach: 1. That there will be a day of judgment for all, cities, nations and men. 2. That men will be judged according to their opportunities; that those who have had and neglected fine opportunities will be held most guilty. 3. That there will be different degrees of future punishment, according to guilt and opportunities; that those whose opportunities have been greatest will receive the greater punishment, if these are neglected. Every man will be judged and punished according to his opportunities and works. The idea of a hell of the same severity for all the unsaved is nowhere taught by Christ.

Matthew 11:23

23. And thou, Capernaum. Capernaum was at that time a city of 30,000 inhabitants. Its site also is disputed. Some locate it on the lake shore, and others about three miles north of the ruins of Tell-Hum. It enjoyed signal advantages as being the Galilean home of Christ, who taught in its streets, houses and synagogue and worked many miracles there. Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? The Revision, which follows the best MSS., makes this a question. It had been highly exalted in privileges; after its rejection of the gospel would it be still further exalted? The question implies a negative answer. Shalt be brought down to hell. Not Gehenna, but Hades, in the Greek; the abode of the dead, rather than the place of future punishment. This implies ruin, desolation, death, as Hades was the place of the dead. In about thirty years the place was overthrown and made desolate by the Romans, and has been extinct ever since. The country around where it once stood is a picture of entire desolation at this day, and is overgrown with thorns and thistles. If . . . had been done in Sodom. Sodom had been destroyed for its sins, and its name is a synonym for wickedness, but had it enjoyed such exalted opportunities as Capernaum it would have repented. And remained until this day. Note the inference. 1. Sodom was destroyed for its sins. 2. Had it not been sinful it would have “remained.” 3. Therefore it is sins that destroy cities and nations. Jerusalem, Babylon, Sodom, Capernaum, and other extinct ancient cities have perished on account of their sins. 4. Modern cities which scoff at God and revel in iniquity will “be brought down to Hades” also. Permanent temporal prosperity depends on righteousness.

Matthew 11:24

24. More tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment. Sodom had fallen two thousand years before Christ and had been extinct ever since, yet the Lord speaks of a future day of judgment for both Sodom and Capernaum. Therefore, 1. There is a judgment after death. 2. Temporal punishment for wickedness does not satisfy eternal justice. The Sodomites were held to a future judgment. 3. The inhabitants of Sodom had not been annihilated, but were alive, waiting the judgment.

Matthew 11:25

II. THE FATHER’S .— 25. At that time. Immediately after this judgment upon the impenitent cities was denounced. O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Christ addresses God as his Father, not as his Lord. The obedience he yields is that of a Son, not of a subject. Four more times, in deep emotion, Christ thus addresses the Father (John 11:41; John 12:28; John 17:1; Luke 23:34). Here the cause of the emotion was the impenitence of his own people in contrast with the devout, childlike faith of the believers. That thou didst hide these things from the wise and prudent. From the worldly wise Pharisees and Jews. God had hid these things from this latter class through the natural operation of their own corrupted hearts and perverted minds, and he had revealed them to the former class through their more teachable mental and moral condition; the same light shining on both alike.–McGarvey. God “revealed” and “hid” by the laws of our being, of which he is the author. By these laws the spiritually proud and worldly wise have such trust in themselves that they are blinded to the simple truths of the gospel, while those who are simple, childlike and humble, are in the condition to become believers. Why should the Lord be thankful for this? Because if the “wise and prudent” had received the gospel they would at once have perverted it, as they did three hundred years later; while the “babes” would not be wise enough in their own conceits to change and corrupt it.

Matthew 11:26

26. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good, etc. “Even so” is better rendered “Yea.” Yea, I thank thee, that it seemeth good “to hide these things from the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes.”

Matthew 11:27

27. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father. The Lord speaks, in part, in anticipation. It was the divine purpose, in sending the Son, to deliver “all things,” the gospel, salvation, judgment, the rule of heaven and earth, to him. When he had “finished” his work on the cross and risen from the dead, “all power in heaven and earth was given” to the Son. Who does not feel that such words as these could hot fall from the lips of a sinful man, but only from one whose nature and life lay far above all human imperfection? . . . Who would think of claiming the stately dignity of sole representative of the Unseen God, and who could speak of God as his Father in the same way as Jesus? And who would dare to link himself with the Eternal in a communion so awful, and a relation so absolute? It makes us feel, as we listen, that we are face to face with the incarnate divine.–Geikie. No one knoweth the Father but the Son. He only is in the secret of the Divine counsels. And he to whom the Son willeth to reveal him. Christ is the revelation of God to man. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Those who “know” Christ by humble obedience and docility learn to know the Father also, for the “Father is in me and I in him.”

Matthew 11:28

III. REST FOR THE HEAVY LADEN:– 28. Come unto me. This is one of the sweetest passages in the New Testament. It shows the willingness of the Lord. The kings of earth and the great are usually difficult of access, while Jesus is not only willing but invites us to come to him. Note how gracious is the invitation! 1. It is the Lord who speaks. 2. He invites to come to him. 3.

The invitation is to those who labor and are heavy laden. 4. He promises to all these weary ones who come, rest. No mere man, unless impiously presumptive, or a lunatic, could ever have given such an invitation, accompanied by such a promise. As all the world admits that Jesus was neither of these, it follows that he was not a mere man, but a divine being, who spoke. In the mouth of our Lord such words seem natural. To hear a man like ourselves use such language would seem blasphemous. All ye that labor and are heavy laden. This describes a large class; all who have sorrow, anxiety, the burden of sin, or are oppressed by the yoke that superstition has imposed upon them. All who feel their burdens are invited to come for rest. I will give you rest. This is what men want. Nowhere else is it found. Some seek it in pleasure, or in religious forms, or in philosophy, but these leave an aching void unfilled; leave the soul ill at ease and full of anxiety. The weary toilers, the sorrowing ones, the sin-sick souls, all ask for rest, and Christ says, “I will give it to all who come unto me.” Can he? Does he? There are millions who have put him to the test. Where is one who has come in his appointed way that has failed to find it? It is like God to offer rest; it is a demonstration of Godlike power that he does give it.

Matthew 11:29

29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He has first asked us to come, and made a gracious promise. He next shows us how to come. Many would like to come who are blind as to the way. Hence he states again what is needful in order to find rest. We are to come by taking his yoke upon us. Taking on the yoke is a symbol of submission. To take Christ’s yoke is to obey him, live under his authority and leadership; in other words, to take him as King. This is the first step; the second is to learn of Christ, or to become his disciple. The two steps by which we come, and secure the promise of “rest unto our souls” are then, 1. Submission to Christ. 2. Becoming his disciple.

Matthew 11:30

30. For my yoke is easy. The yoke that sin imposes is heavy, and bearing it brings no rest. So too the yoke of false or corrupted religion is burdensome; but Christ’s yoke is easy. It is not hard to bear it because it is borne in love. His burden, even if it be the cross, is light, because he helps us to bear it. AND . Faithful preaching makes those who reject the message still more guilty. Those who have the Bible, Sunday-schools, churches, and yet neglect duty, will have a fearful account. Our privileges are not less than those of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. If we do not repent it will be more tolerable for those of Sodom in the day of judgment than for us. There is a future Judgment, a judgment beyond the grave. Men will be judged according to their opportunities and punished according to their degree of guilt. One must “be converted and become as a little child” in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is childlike spirits which are open to spiritual light and truth. Christ invites us to come. Men can either accept or reject the invitation. All who accept it will hear Christ say again, in the judgment, “Come, ye blessed of my Father.” All who reject it will be rejected of Christ in that day. Christ’s yoke is easy because we love him. A little girl ironing clothes was asked by a visitor if it was not hard to do such work. “Ah,” said she, “it is not hard to do something for my mother.” POINTS FOR . 1. Note the opportunities that the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had enjoyed; Christ’s presence, his example, his teaching, his miracles. 2. Note the difference in the opportunities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom; no gospel, few opportunities. 3. Observe the judgment pronounced upon the Galilean cities, and the ground of that judgment. 4. Point out the proofs here that the wicked inhabitants of Sodom were not annihilated; that there is a future judgment, that men will be judged and punished according to opportunity, that the fate of cities and nations depends on their moral condition. 5. Show how the Lord’s “woe” upon these three cities has been fulfilled; that their sin was the rejection of Christ, that some present in the class may be guilty of the same sin. 6.

Show that the proud, the great, the puffed up, the worldly wise are blind to the revelation of divine truth, and why? Why, too, it is revealed unto babes. 7. Bring out the full meaning of the Gracious Invitation. We do not have to beg to come; nor is he indifferent; he invites. 8. Note who invites. It is the Lord, the Divine One.

It is the weary and the heavy laden who are invited. 9. Note that they are invited to come to him, and told how to come; by taking his yoke, and by learning of him. 10. Observe the promise; REST, rest to the soul.