Although Israel were before Jehovah on the ground of law there was always grace available for all who sought Him, and, indeed, no man was ever blessed of God on any other ground than that of God’s sovereign grace. The principle on which man received the blessing was faith in God, and this is clearly shown in both the Old and New Testaments. It was ever the desire of God to bless His creature, and no matter how great was his sin, if there was an answer from man to the pleadings of God His blessing was assured. In Isaiah 1 we hear God pleading with Israel to come and reason with Him regarding their sins, for He desired to cleanse them. Even the mocking Dumah, in Isaiah 21 is invited to “inquire, return, come;” and in Isaiah 55 four times over the word to God’s people is “come.”
“Come . . . I will give you rest”
The opening of Matthew 11 tells of the imprisonment of John Baptist the forerunner of Jesus, and if this is the way John was treated we could hardly expect His Master to be treated differently, and so it was, for the Lord had to “upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not” (verse 20). There was no response to the wondrous grace of God from the hearts of the inhabitants of the important cities of Galilee in spite of all that had been manifested in the works of mighty power in their midst. With sorrowful heart the Lord is compelled to speak of the judgment that would come upon Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum for having rejected God’s testimony and Him who brought it.
Against the dark background of the rejection of the Son of God by the cities of Galilee is the wonderful revelations that are given by Jesus to His disciples, for it is recorded, “At that time,” at the very time when He is rejected, the Lord turns to His Father, saying, “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (verse 25). The great of Israel, the wise and prudent religious leaders of the chosen race, had rejected the Son of God, and with Him all the rich blessings that God would have given them.
The disciples were but babes in the reckoning of the wise and prudent of this world, but they were also children of God, and it was to them that the Father made the wonderful revelations concerning Himself and His things. What had taken place in Galilee would soon be ratified in Jerusalem with the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, all the wise and prudent of the nation involved in refusing Him whom God had sent, the long promised Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham and Son of God. With all their religious pretension, and boasted light, Israel’s leaders were the willing servants of the god of this world, utterly blind to the divine light shining in the Son.
This hiding the most precious things of divine revelation from the wise men of this world, and revealing them to those whom the great despised is altogether contrary to the ways of men. What men consider of the greatest value is held by the great in the eyes of men, the philosophers, the scientists, the great religious and political leaders, but these are the very classes from whom God has withheld His great revelations. He made these wonderful things known to those of no account to the men of this world, and it is the sovereign pleasure of the Father to do this. God’s treasures cannot be acquired in any other way than by relying on the sovereign goodness of God. The Apostle Paul presents another aspect of this in relation to God’s wisdom, in 1 Corinthians 1.
Little did the great men of the cities of Galilee imagine that the One they had rejected was God’s Son into whose hands the Father had delivered all things. The vast resources of the universe had been given to the Son, and not only would He yet have the throne and kingdom refused by Israel, He would yet be set as Head and centre of a vast universe of bliss, and as Lord of all. If Israel rejected Him, others would accept Him, and in accepting Him would share with Him far greater things than belonged to an earthly kingdom.
In relation to this wider sphere there was a new revelation of God in the Person of the Son. With regard to the Son, though a Man before the eyes of men, “no man knows the Son, but the Father.” The Son had not come to reveal Himself, for there is a divine mystery about the Son that is only known to the Father, and this should deter anyone speculating about the Person of the Son. There is that which can be known of Him, and that which is unknowable. The Son had come to make the Father known, not to all men, but “to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.” So that the Father revealed His things to the babes, and the Son revealed the Father to whom He pleased.
Having made known these great things the Son said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (verse 28). The divine invitation is to all. There were those in Israel who were labouring for divine blessing, vainly attempting to keep the law, and they found the law to be a very heavy burden upon their hearts and consciences because of their own weakness and inability to answer to the righteous requirements of the law. Man had been tested under law, and had been proved incapable of keeping it, but now the Son of God had come to offer blessing in an entirely different way.
Before the eyes of those who were so burdened the Son of God stood, inviting them to come to Himself. The law could not give rest to the troubled heart, but Jesus could, He had come with grace from the Father, and all that man needed to do to receive rest of conscience was to come to Him in whom were all the divine resources that had been given to Him by the Father. All that was required was reliance on the Person of the Son. The work of the cross was not yet accomplished, but the Person was there who was about to complete that great work, and faith in Him would bring rest to the troubled and weary heart.
The burdened were also invited to take the yoke of the Lord upon them, that is to be under His control in service, and to learn of Him. Although so great, the Son of God was serving in this world, and we are to learn from Him so that we can serve Him aright. How different were His traits to those of the men of this world, He was “meek and lowly in heart,” and we are to learn from Him so as to come out like Him in these lovely features of grace. Likeness to Jesus will bring to us the rest of soul that marked Him, as we seek to serve Him who perfectly served His God and Father here. His yoke is not burdensome, but rather a delight to those who in coming to Him have learned something of His deep perfections.
“Come unto me and drink”
In John 7 the Son of God had gone up to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles. This was the last of the feasts of Jehovah given in Leviticus 23, and was to be marked by rest, joy and gladness. Alas! the feast of Jehovah had degenerated into “the Jews’ feast of tabernacles,” and no true and lasting satisfaction was to be had from it. There will yet be a true keeping of the feast of tabernacles, in the millennium, when the nation of Israel will be re-established in the land in the goodness of God, and under the new covenant, which rests on the groundwork of the blood of Jesus. The nation will be brought through the awful judgments of the great tribulation, the rebels having been purged out, and under Messiah the people of God on earth will find rest and gladness in His kingdom.
All the empty ceremony of the feast of the Jews did not bring true blessing to them, and on the last and great day of the feast, when all should have been satisfied and full of joy, the Lord “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink” (verse 37). Had there been satisfaction in the feast of the Jews there would have been no need for Jesus thus to cry, but not all the religious ceremony of Judaism or of Christendom can meet the deep need of the human heart. This need can only be met by Jesus, for the One who can give rest of conscience to the troubled can also satisfy every true longing of the heart.
What a great discovery awaits those who truly thirst after God and His things; they will find that God’s own Son can meet their deep need, refreshing the spirit and bringing His own joy into the heart. Only by hearing Jesus say “Come unto me,” and by coming to Him in faith is the divine blessing secured. This was made plain when Jesus said, “He that believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (verse 38). Then as now it was faith in a rejected Christ that brought the blessing, a blessing borne witness to in the tenor of the Old Testament Scriptures.
The fulness of the blessing waited the glory of the Son of God after accomplishing the work of the cross, for only then could the Holy Spirit be given. Already the Lord had spoken to the woman of Sychar of the living water (John 4), a well of water within that rises up to God in worship. It is divine life through the indwelling Spirit of God that gives the true knowledge of God within, rises up to the Father in worship, and that flows out in testimony for God in the lives of His people. Only those who believe on the Son of God have within them the indwelling Spirit of God. Neither the ceremonies of the Jew or of the professing Christian can communicate the Spirit of God, or give the divine life with all its blessings and privileges.
“Let him that is athirst come”
It was in Galilee that the Lord Jesus said, “Come unto me…and I will give you rest,” and it was in Jerusalem that Jesus cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink,” but it is from heaven that Jesus is now saying, “And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). Of old to Israel He had cried “Come ye to the waters,” desiring that the longings of the hearts of His people might be met, and the cry was essentially the same when the Lord was on earth, and now from Heaven the glorified Son of God calls to the thirsty heart, yea, to whosoever will.
In Revelation 21 and 22 we have brought before us the eternal day and the millennial day, and Jesus comes before us towards the close of chapter 22 as “The bright and morning star,” the harbinger of the day so soon to dawn. The coming of the Lord is shown to be immanent for thrice He speaks of coming quickly, and entering into the spirit of this the bride of Christ, with the Holy Spirit, invites the Lord to “Come,” This last invitation to those who are athirst will soon cease to be heard, but it is still going out, and surely manifests what is in the heart of the Son of God.
The invitation in Isaiah 55 was to come to the waters, in John 7 it was to believe in the Son to receive the rivers of living waters, here in Revelation 22 it is “take of the water of life freely. Man could never procure this living water, this water of life, from any other source than the Son of God, water that brings the joys of eternal life into the soul now, and that assures the heart of eternal joys with Jesus in the heavenly paradise brought before us in the passage considered, joys that those who know Jesus, as having come to Him, will share with Him for evermore.
R. 11.12.69