Come to me

Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

The invitation to simply come to Lord Yshua seems to simple. Sometimes people who are very ready to serve God may be expecting something great to accomplish or something challenging from the outset. So this simple command to come may be difficult to accept. On the other hand, people with still some evil strongholds in their life may be resisting this invitation to come to the perfect Lord. Yet we have our part to play, and that is to surrender in obedience when the Holy Spirit tells us to drop our worries and just Come to Yshua.

And I will give you rest

Matthew 11:28
.... and I will give you rest.

We may be faced with many things from time to time that causes unrest in our body, soul and spirit. If this is allowed to go on undealt with it could damage us physically as well as spiritually. Sometimes we simply can solve the particular problem or sometimes it is us who are stuck at the problem. Only the Lord can give us rest. He may comfort us through the Holy Spirit and / or take us above the problem so we can see things from His point of view instead of ours.

Come to Me

Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

A simple invitation from our Lord Yshua. A simple action from us to obey and give our troubles to Him, will be truly beneficial for us. But there are many things holding us back from taking up this simple request - thought it does not need to be that way. Firstly, to respond, one would naturally be a believer in Yshua, or believe from that instant on. Secondly, we need to believe in Him enough to take hold of this particular kind of promise. Thirdly, He is trustworthy, so we will be rested when we respond to Him.

For we who have believed do enter that rest

There is a warning that although many heard the gospel that was preached, not everyone will enter into the gospel's promised rest if there is no faith in the hearers. A link is made of God's rest as being the same rest in which God rested on the seventh day after the Creation. God's creation is finished and so too is God's work of salvation, and then God rested. But only through faith can the hearers of the Word enter into His rest.

From history, the rest that God promised has not yet been fulfilled since people were disobedient. This refers to the Israelites from after the exodus from Egypt. So there is another opportunity to enter into God's rest through Messiah.

Believers need to continue in obedience to God through His Word, in order to enter into His rest. There is nothing that can be hidden from God. Although this may seem as if no one may qualify but the chapter reminds us that is why there is the need to rely on the mercy and grace of God by coming to the throne of Christ who is our High Priest.





Hebrews 4
The Promise of Rest

1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them,[a] not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’”[b]
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; [c] 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”[d]

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”[e]
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

The Word Discovers Our Condition

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Our Compassionate High Priest

14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.