Search
Scripture Reading: Matt. 11:18-19, 25-30; 12:1-14, 38-42
We have seen the matter of the Bridegroom with four new things in Matthew 9. Now we come to chapters 11 and 12. The bridegroom is the most pleasant person that anyone could deal with. How pleasant it is to deal with our Bridegroom! That is our enjoyment. Chapter 9 tells us how to be pleasant, while here in chapters 11 and 12 we learn how to obtain genuine rest.
All the passages in Matthew 11 and 12 are closely connected. Notice the words At that time in 11:25. Throughout the entire Bible little words like these are very significant. God’s Word is very economical — there are no wasted words. Let us consider the words in 11:25, At that time. At what time? At the time Jesus said that John came neither eating nor drinking. The religious people said that John had a demon, and that the Son of Man, because He came both eating and drinking, was a gluttonous man and a drunkard (vv. 18-19). Then “at that time” Christ sounded out His call: “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (v. 28).
Following chapter 11, in the first verse of chapter 12, we again encounter the same three words, At that time. At what time? At the time Jesus sounded His call, at the time Jesus invited people to come to Him and rest.
Following this passage at the beginning of chapter 12, we come to verse 38, which opens with a little word, Then. All these little words join all the portions in these two chapters together. We may say, therefore, that these two chapters are one whole, showing us one thing — how to find rest.
Would we find full enjoyment? Would we be pleasant? Then be in the presence of the pleasant One; be in the presence of the Bridegroom. As long as we have our Lord Jesus, our Bridegroom, with us, we cannot but rejoice. Now from all these portions in chapters 11 and 12, we see something more — we see how to find rest.
Christians are accustomed to quoting Matthew 11:28: “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened,” but they usually quote and use these verses in an isolated way. We need to put all the passages of these two chapters together in order to find the way to rest.
John came neither eating nor drinking. He behaved utterly contrary to religion and human culture, and because of this the Pharisees and scribes, the religious people, said that he had a demon. John was indeed a strange person. They could not understand him, so they said he had a demon. Then Jesus came both eating and drinking, and the religious people said, “Look, this man seems to know nothing but eating and drinking.”
If any regulation is made saying that we should not eat or drink, it becomes a heavy burden. On the other hand, if any rule is made saying that we must eat and drink large amounts of food and liquid, this also becomes a heavy burden. But to us, the children of wisdom, it is not a matter of abstaining from food and drink, neither is it a matter of eating and drinking, but absolutely a matter of life. Notice the Lord’s words in Luke’s account of the same story: “Wisdom is justified by all her children” (7:35). We need to be impressed with the word children. This is a matter of life. We are not students of wisdom but children of wisdom. We do not care so much for the knowledge of wisdom, but we care very much for the life of wisdom. What is wisdom? Christ is wisdom. We are the children of Christ; we have the life of Christ; so we have the life of wisdom. To us it is not a matter of regulations — do this and do that. It is not a matter today of so many dos and don’ts, but entirely a matter of life. If I am thirsty, I may drink: I may drink little by little, or I may drink a quantity of liquid at once. There is no regulation. It all depends on life. Do not ask me why I drink — my answer is only that I am thirsty. When I am thirsty, do not give me any regulation that I should not drink, and when I am not thirsty, do not command me to drink. Do not ask me why I eat so much — it is because I am hungry. Neither ask me why I do not eat — it is because I am not hungry. What is this? This is life. This is the way to find rest. Regulations and rules are a heavy burden, and Jesus said, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Hallelujah, there are no regulations! Are you hungry? Then eat! Are you thirsty? Drink! If you are not hungry or thirsty, do not eat or drink. You see, as long as we do not have any regulations, we are free; we have rest.
All the regulations of religion are just the heavy burden of Matthew 11:28. This is why the Lord Jesus exclaimed, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened.” There is no need for you to toil. Forget about regulations: eating or not eating, drinking or not drinking — forget them all. When it is convenient, I will eat, and when it is not convenient, I will not eat. When I am thirsty, I will drink, and when I am not thirsty, I will not drink. Hallelujah, there are no regulations! This is Christ versus religion. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy” (v. 30). In the Greek the meaning of the word easy is “kindly” or “gentle.” In other words, Jesus said, “My yoke is flexible.” When you are hungry, you eat, and when you are not hungry, you do not eat. His yoke is flexible; His yoke is gentle; His yoke is not unbending.
It was “at that time,” after speaking in this way, that Jesus went with His disciples on the Sabbath day through the grainfields. The disciples saw all the ears of grain, and because they were hungry, they all began to help themselves and eat. The Pharisees, however, saw it and said, “Behold, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath” (12:2). You see, to keep the Sabbath day in such a way is really a heavy burden. Jesus said, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened.” Any regulation, any rule, is a kind of burden. But with Christ there are no regulations, no rules. Consider the situation: the Lord Jesus took the hungry ones out of the synagogue, perhaps; out of something religious, and into the grainfields. Do you think He did this without meaning? I tell you, the Lord Jesus did this intentionally with a purpose. He deliberately broke the observation of the Sabbath day in order to satisfy those who were hungry. Religion burdened them; the Lord Jesus satisfied them.
Religious people are always like this. They are always putting burdens upon others and not allowing others to eat. They are always saying it is not lawful, it is not fundamental, it is not according to the Scriptures. But the Lord Jesus said, “Have you not read?” He said in effect, “You are so fundamental; you are so scriptural. Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, and those who were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, except for the priests only? Have you not read that, you Pharisees? According to your law, it was not lawful for David or his followers to eat, but they ate.” Those scriptural people, those fundamental people, were shut up. It is very meaningful.
Christ is everything versus religion. There was indeed such a regulation in the law, saying that only the priests were allowed to eat the bread of the Presence in the house of God. Yet in the same Bible which records this regulation is a record telling how David entered the house of God and together with his followers ate the bread of the Presence. God did not condemn them. The Lord Jesus in so speaking was telling the Pharisees, “I am the real David, and My disciples are the real followers of the real David. If in the ancient time David and his followers ate the bread of the Presence, which they were not allowed to eat, and were not condemned, how can you condemn Me? You must realize that David was only a type, a shadow, a figure — I am the real David. If whatever David did was lawful, then whatever I do must be lawful. If you go into the house of God by yourself, without David, and eat the bread of the Presence, you will be condemned. It is by David being with you, it is by being in the presence of David, that whatever you do is lawful. It is not a matter of the law but a matter of David.”
Now in this present day, it is not a matter of the law but wholly a matter of Christ. As long as Christ is with you, as long as you do something in the presence of Christ, it is all right, because Christ today is the present, instant, and up-to-date Lawgiver. Hallelujah! Christ is today’s real David, and we are His followers. We have Him with us, and we are doing things in His presence.
There are no regulations today, but Christ. There are no regulations, but the real David. As long as I am following my David today, as long as I am one with my Christ, whatever I do in His presence is all right. Could you say this? Do you have the vision to say this?
Then the Lord Jesus said something more. He said, “Have you not read...?” (v. 5). Do not think that you understand the Bible more than the Lord Jesus. Again the Lord Jesus checked with them, “Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?” It was even legal for the priests to break the Sabbath. As long as they were in the temple, there was no bondage; they were free from the law. If they were outside the temple, they had to keep the Sabbath, but if they were in the temple, they were liberated. The temple was their emancipation. The Lord Jesus said, “I say to you that something greater than the temple is here” (v. 6). The Lord Jesus was saying in effect to the Pharisees, “My disciples were eating in the temple. They were breaking the Sabbath in Me, in today’s greater temple. As long as they are in Me, whatever they do is right. What have you got to say? Do you really think that you know the Bible? I tell you, Pharisees, you know just a little. You really do not know the Bible so well. Have you not read? The priests were allowed to profane the Sabbath in the temple. Now I am the greater temple, and all My disciples are the priests in Me. Whatever they do, even if it is against the law, it is not actually against the law because they are in the temple. So they are free.”
If you are outside the temple, you are bound, but if you are in the temple, you are free. If you are outside Christ, you are under bondage, but if you are in Christ, you are free. It is marvelous! Christ is not only the temple today but the greater temple. Is this not good? You can never beat the Lord Jesus. Do not come to Him to try to win your case. Strictly speaking, you do not have a case. Do not say that you have lost your case — you never had a case. Jesus has all the cases. Have you not read about David? Have you not read about the priests in the temple?
The Pharisees said that it was not lawful to eat the grain because it was the Sabbath. Eventually, the Lord Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (v. 8). The Lord Jesus said in effect, “I had the right in the ancient time to establish the Sabbath, and today I have the right to do away with the Sabbath. What is wrong with that?” On my left wrist I have a watch. It is my watch. In the morning I put it on. Now suppose I feel like taking it off. What can you say? It is my watch; I do what I want with it. I am the lord of the watch. If I want to put it on, I put it on; if I want to take it off, I take it off. Even so, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath.” He said by implication, “I am Lord not only of the Sabbath but of you too.” Hallelujah!
If I have Christ, I have the real David. If I have Christ, I have the greater temple. Hallelujah! If I have Christ, I have the Lord of the Sabbath. It is really good. His name is “I am.” What can we say but, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”
Have you seen that Christ is versus religion? But listen, this is just the first Sabbath. Following this, there is another Sabbath in chapter 12. After the first Sabbath was over, the Lord Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, where there was a man with a withered hand. The religious people then took the opportunity to trouble the Lord Jesus again by asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (v. 10). Here was a case of a man with a withered hand — not a case of a whole man but a case of a member of the body, a hand. It is quite meaningful. On the first Sabbath the Lord Jesus took care of Himself as the Head of the Body. Now on the second Sabbath the Lord needs to take care of His members. Here is a withered hand, a withered member nearly dead. The Lord answered the Pharisees, “What man will there be among you who will have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep!” (vv. 11-12). He said, in other words, “What is wrong then if I heal this withered member?” The hand is a member of the body, and the sheep is a member of the flock. Have you seen this? On this Sabbath the Lord indicated that He would do anything for the healing of His members, for the rescue of His fallen sheep. Sabbath or no Sabbath, the Lord is interested in healing the dead members of His Body. Regulations do not matter to the Lord, but the rescue of His fallen sheep means very much to the Lord. The lesson from the first Sabbath is that the Head is everything, Christ is everything — Christ is David, the greater temple, and the Lord of the Sabbath. But on the second Sabbath the lesson is that the Lord Jesus does not care for anything but His withered members, His fallen sheep. It is very meaningful.
Christianity today cares for regulations — they do not care for Christ, the Head. Christians today care for their formalities, doctrines, and rules — they do not care for the withered members of the Body of Christ; they do not care for the sheep of the flock.
In the beginning of 1968 something really happened in Los Angeles — the burial. It was the time of the New Year conference, and I had no intention of encouraging people to be buried. But at the closing of one meeting, one said, “I want to be buried.” Then others followed until many brothers and sisters in the church were buried. They were all so deeply moved to testify by this act that they were burying all their oldness, and by doing this, they became alive. I was really surprised by this move to be buried. I was trying, in fact, to say some word to stop it, but I was checked by the Spirit within. Who was I to stop something of the Holy Spirit? I said not a word until the third day, when I predicted that the church in Los Angeles would certainly be criticized by the religious people for this act. It was not more than ten days before the criticism came. “There is heresy in Los Angeles,” they said. “Believers who are already properly baptized are being baptized again. Where is the scriptural ground for a believer to be baptized again after being properly baptized already?” I do not like to argue, but I wish to tell you that so many withered “hands” were healed. Not only did this occur in Los Angeles, but following this in many places, many dead ones through this kind of burial came alive. What can we say?
Poor Christianity! They do not care if you are withered or alive as long as you keep the regulations. If you keep the “Sabbath” with a withered hand, they do not care. But where is the rest? There is no rest for a withered member. The Lord Jesus said in effect, “I do not care for the Sabbath; I just care for My members, My fallen sheep.” The religious people say, “Look, we are so sound; we are so scriptural; we have everything in order.” But the Lord Jesus would say, “I’ll have none of it. I only care to heal My members and rescue My sheep.” The Lord Jesus did not care for all the regulations. What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? Nothing. But to heal a withered hand really means something. To lift the fallen sheep out of the pit really means something. If so many hundreds of people were made alive by being buried, what can you say?
Some say that our meetings are too noisy. They cannot bear our shouting and praising. But look at the fruit. Today, if you go to the so-called Christian churches in America on Sunday morning, it is rather difficult to find many under the age of thirty. They are mostly all old people. But most of us here are under the age of thirty. We have so many young people who have sold themselves for the Lord’s recovery. They care for nothing but Christ as the Head and the church with all the members as the Body. If so, what would you say? Oh, bury the old dead religion! You have been in it for years as a withered member.
The Lord does not care if people are noisy. A number of times the Psalms say to make a joyful noise to God (66:1; 81:1; 95:1-2; 98:4, 6; 100:1). God is a God of the living, not of the dead. Living ones must be noisy; only the dead ones are quiet. There is no need to command the dead to be quiet; they are quiet because they are dead. Today is not the age of formalities; today is not the age of religion. Today is the age of the living Christ and the living members, not the Christ in teachings and doctrines but the Christ in life, the Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Look at all these young people who are sold out for Christ and the church. They will burn the whole country for the Lord.
The Lord cares for Himself as the Head, and He also cares for all His members. He will cure the withered members; He will rescue the fallen sheep. He will make a living church, not a formal church. Hallelujah, the hungry disciples were fed, and the man with the withered hand found rest, the sheep fallen into the pit was rescued. “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” This means negatively that He will take away all the regulations, and positively that He will give us food, healing, rescue, and rest. He is the only way for us to find rest. Rest is not in anything religious; religion burdens us. Christ is our rest. His yoke is gentle, and His burden is light because it is a matter of life. Anything of life is so gentle and easy to bear.
Now in chapter 12 again another religious matter is presented to the Lord Jesus. “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from You” (v. 38). A sign is a miracle; it is something accomplished miraculously. The Lord Jesus, of course, performed a good number of miracles while He was on this earth. But when the religious people came and asked Him to perform some miracle, He would not do it. This means that the Lord Jesus never performs any miracle in a religious way. Humanly speaking, all people like to see miracles. To have this kind of disposition or inclination is entirely natural and religious. If today the Lord would perform a miracle in our midst, we would all be excited — that is wholly a natural and religious reaction. When the scribes and Pharisees asked the Lord for a miracle, He answered, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (vv. 39-40). The Lord said that He would not do any miracle for them; He just referred them to the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish and eventually came out — that was undoubtedly a kind of miracle, but it was not a miracle accomplished in a religious way. Jonah’s miracle was a miracle wrought in the way of resurrection — a picture of the resurrected Christ. Christ was put into the heart of the earth, even deeper than the belly of the great fish. After three days and three nights He emerged in resurrection. This resurrection is Christ; this Christ in resurrection is the unique miracle for today.
The natural and religious thought of man is that if we could perform miracles, we could certainly build a good church. Never. Through the miracles which the Lord performed while He walked on earth, multitudes were attracted to Him. But eventually, following the Lord’s ascension, there were only one hundred twenty together in the upper room (Acts 1:15). I believe that represented less than one out of a thousand of those who flocked around the Lord in the Judean and Galilean villages and countryside. At just one miracle of His, five thousand besides the women and children were fed (Matt. 14:21). Even after the Lord’s resurrection, He appeared at one time to five hundred brothers (1 Cor. 15:6). Yet, after His ascension, only one hundred twenty were gathered together. Where were the others? Only those who really had some experience of the resurrected Christ as their life were the steadfast ones. The only thing that can build us into the church is not a miracle but resurrected life, the resurrected Christ.
Here we have a case of people coming to the Lord and asking for a sign. But the Lord Jesus answers that there will be no sign, no miracle. The unique sign is that of resurrection, the resurrected Christ. We all must know, experience, possess, and be possessed by the resurrected Christ. Even Paul, near the end of his journey, expressed his longing to know Christ and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10), not the miracles. He himself had performed quite a number of miracles during his lifetime, but he did not count on that. He only wanted to know Christ and His resurrection power. It is not an outward miraculous matter but an inward resurrection matter. It is not a matter of signs, wonders, and miracles, but a matter of the powerful, resurrected Christ. We need to see the resurrected Christ.
Following the Lord’s reference to Jonah, He spoke of Solomon. According to historical sequence, Solomon preceded Jonah. But here, according to spiritual sequence, Jonah precedes Solomon. What Jonah typifies of the Lord Jesus comes first; what Solomon typifies of the Lord Jesus follows. Jonah typifies Christ as the resurrected One; Solomon typifies Christ as the One in resurrection with wisdom to accomplish God’s eternal purpose, to build up God’s house, the temple, and to rule over God’s kingdom. Our Christ is first today’s Jonah and second today’s Solomon. He is the resurrected One, and He is the One in resurrection with wisdom to build God’s house and rule over God’s kingdom, thus accomplishing God’s economy. What we need is not signs or miraculous things, but the resurrected Christ as our resurrection life to build up God’s house, to fulfill God’s purpose, and to accomplish God’s economy.
I am really happy with the Lord’s grace shown in the church in Los Angeles. Some dear ones have come to our meetings and after staying for some time have made the following comment: “It is really strange — you people do not speak in tongues, yet your meetings are more living than the meetings of those who speak in tongues.” They never believed that people who do not speak in tongues could have such living meetings. One dear one who made such an observation in Los Angeles also made the same observation in the church in Houston. “Even we who speak in tongues,” he said, “do not have such meetings.” The Lord Jesus never cares for any forms, ways, or traditions — the Lord Jesus only cares for Himself.
Now the age of the doctrines and gifts is over. We do not mean that today we do not have the doctrines or the gifts. We all know that the Lord’s recovery began with Martin Luther. The unique item of the Lord’s recovery at that time was the matter of justification by faith. We can say now — and I believe we are all clear concerning this — that the age of the recovery of justification by faith is over. This does not mean that we do not need justification by faith. Following Martin Luther, the matter of sanctification by faith was also recovered. If you read the history of the Lord’s recovery, you will realize that at a certain period many of the Lord’s servants, including John Wesley, paid their full attention to the matter of holiness. The matter of sanctification, or holiness, was fully recovered. A little later, the matter of the inner life was also recovered. These are all various stages or ages of the Lord’s recovery. The first stage of His recovery was that of justification by faith. This was followed by item after item, age after age. It was at the end of the last century and the beginning of this century that the Pentecostal experience was also recovered. It is difficult to trace its origin: some say it began with the Welsh revival in 1903 and 1904; others say it began earlier than this. In any case, the Lord accomplished a definite recovery through the so-called Pentecostal movement. To some, the term Pentecostal does not have a good connotation. But it is a scriptural term, a good term; it is something of the Lord’s recovery. In that recovery there were undoubtedly many genuine miraculous manifestations. But we all must realize that just as the stage of justification by faith is over, so also is the age of the recovery of the Pentecostal movement over. This does not mean, however, that we do not need the Pentecostal experience or the things related to it. What we mean is that the Lord is going on to accomplish a further recovery — a recovery of Christ, the Spirit, and the church life. This is the age of such a recovery.
We are not saying that we do not need all the previous items. Hallelujah, we have inherited all the foregoing matters! In the church life we have justification by faith, in the church life we have sanctification by faith, and in the church life we also have the other items of the Lord’s recovery, including the Pentecostal experience. What I mean is this: if we put our stress on any one of these things, we are wrong. If today we are only stressing and emphasizing the matter of justification by faith, we are four or five hundred years behind the time. If we are so preoccupied with the age of the Pentecostal movement, we are at least three quarters of a century out of date. Please do not misunderstand and think that we are opposing justification by faith or any other items of the Lord’s past recovery. We are not against the genuine speaking in tongues or the Pentecostal gifts. No, not at all. We are just for the church, the all-inclusive church, not the denominations, not the sects founded on particular items. The Lutheran Church was founded on the doctrine of justification by faith. The Holiness churches were founded on the doctrine of holiness. The so-called Pentecostal churches were founded on the Pentecostal experience. But the church is founded on none of these things. The church is founded on the all-inclusive, unique oneness of all believers.
The age of the Lord’s recovery today is the age of Christ as life, as the life-giving Spirit, and the church life. By experience we can say that there is no other way that the local churches could be built up solidly and livingly but by Christ as life in our spirit. What we should be experiencing now day by day is the greater Jonah and the greater Solomon: the greater Jonah to be our resurrection life, and the greater Solomon to accomplish God’s eternal purpose by building up His house and then His kingdom. Hallelujah, today we have Christ as the greater Jonah and the greater Solomon!
In this wonderful portion of Matthew, we have Christ as (1) today’s David, (2) the greater temple, (3) the Lord of the Sabbath, (4) the greater Jonah, and (5) the greater Solomon. If we have Christ as all these items, we will have rest. The Lord Jesus said, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest...My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” He said, in other words, “Just come to Me; I am your David who can afford you full satisfaction, I am the greater temple in which you may be free from all kinds of bondage and regulations, I am the Lord of the Sabbath who can give you rest and who is your rest, I am the greater Jonah who affords you something of resurrection, and I am the greater Solomon, continually accomplishing God’s economy in you, through you, and among you.” Where else could we find rest? This is the only way.
I know of some evangelists, missionaries, and Christian workers who work strenuously day by day in their evangelistic work. Yet while they are working, they do not have rest. I am not criticizing; I am stating the fact. If they would honestly reveal their experience, they would admit that they are not at rest. Then you may turn the question to me: “What about you, brother?” I can tell you by the Lord’s grace that I work very much, but all the day I am resting. I am so happy, so very happy. I have the greater Jonah with the greater Solomon. I have Christ as my resurrection life, and I am in the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy. Hallelujah, there is nothing better than this!
