The Call Of Christ - Part 3

Arthur Pink

The honorable Capernaum is then compared with the dishonorable Sodom, which, because of its enormities, God had destroyed with fire and brimstone. It was in Capernaum that the Lord Jesus had chiefly resided upon entry into His public ministry, and where so many of His miracles of healing had been wrought. Yet so obdurate were its inhabitants, so wedded to their sins—that they refused to apply unto Him for the healing of their souls. Had such mighty works been done by Him in Sodom—its people would have been duly affected thereby and their city would have remained as a lasting monument of Divine mercy.

"But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you" (v. 24). Yes, my reader, though you may hear nothing about it from the flesh-pleasing pulpit of this degenerate age, nevertheless there is a "Day of judgment" awaiting the whole world. It is "the Day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds; it is the Day "when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel" (Romans 2:6, 7, 16). "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good—or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:14). "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the Day of judgment to be punished" (2 Peter 2:9). 

The punishment which shall then be meted out—will be proportioned to the opportunities given and despised, the privileges vouchsafed and scorned, the light granted and quenched. Most intolerable of all—will be the doom of those who have abused the greatest advancements Heavenwards. "At that time Jesus said—I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children" (Matthew 11:25). The connection between this and the preceding verses, is most blessed and instructive. There the Lord Jesus intimates that the majority of His mighty works had produced no good effect upon those who saw them, that their beholders remained impenitent—so little influence had His holy and gracious presence exerted upon Capernaum, wherein He spent much of His time, that its fate would be worse than that of Sodom. But here Christ looks away from earth to Heaven—and finds consolation in the high sovereignty of God and the absolute security of His covenant. From upbraiding the impenitence of men, Christ turned to the rendering of thanks unto the Father.

A word of warning is needed, perhaps, at this point, for we are such creatures of extremes. In earlier paragraphs we referred to those who have substituted a sentimental Christ for the true Christ—yet the reader must not infer from this that the writer believes in a stoical Christ—hard, cold, devoid of feeling. Not so, the Christ of Scripture is perfect Man as well as God the Son, possessed therefore of human sensibilities, yes, capable of much deeper feeling than any of us, whose faculties are corrupted and blunted by sin. It must not be thought, then, that the Lord Jesus was unaffected by grief, when He pronounced the doom of those cities—or that He viewed them with fatalistic indifference as He found comfort in the sovereignty of God. Scripture must be compared with Scripture: He who wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) would not be unmoved as He foresaw the intolerable portion awaiting Capernaum—the very fact that He was "the Man of sorrows" utterly precludes any such concept.

A similar warning is needed by hyper-Calvinists with fatalistic stoicism. "It seems plain then, that those who are indifferent about the spreading of the Gospel, who satisfy themselves with this thought, that the elect shall be saved, and feel no concern for unawakened sinners, make a wrong inference from a true doctrine, and know not what spirit they are of. Jesus wept for those who perished in their sins. Paul had great grief and sorrow of heart for the Jews, though he gave them this character, 'that they pleased not God, and were contrary to all men.' It well befits us, while we admire distinguishing grace to ourselves, to mourn over others. And inasmuch as secret things belong to the Lord, and we know not but some of whom we have at present but little hopes, may at last be brought to the knowledge of the Truth, we should be patient and forbearing after the pattern of our heavenly Father, and endeavor by every proper and prudent means, to stir them up to repentance, remembering that they cannot be more distant from God than by nature—than we were once ourselves" (John Newton.)

As perfect Man, the Lord Jesus felt acutely any lack of response to and the little measure of success which attended His gracious and arduous efforts: this is clear from His lament: "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing" (Isaiah 49:4). Striking it is to observe how Christ comforted Himself: "Yet I leave it all in the Lord's hand; I will trust God for my reward" (Isaiah 49:4). Thus, both in the language of prophecy and here in Matthew 11:25, 26, we find the Lord Jesus seeking relief from the discouragements and disappointments of the Gospel—by retreating into the Divine sovereignty. "We may take great encouragement in looking upward to God, when round about us we see nothing but what is discouraging. It is sad to see how heedless most men are of their own happiness, it is comfortable to think that the wise and faithful God will, however, effectually secure the interests of His own glory" (Matthew Henry).

Christ alluded here to the sovereignty of God under three details:

First, by owning His Father as "Lord of Heaven and earth," that is, as sole Proprietor and Disposer thereof. It is well for us to remember, especially in seasons when it appears as though Satan is complete master of this lower sphere, that God not only "does as he pleases with the powers of heaven," but also "among the inhabitants of the earth," so that "none can stay His hand" (Dan. 4:35).

Second, by affirming, "You have hid these things from the wise and prudent": that is, the things pertaining to salvation are concealed from the apprehension of the self-sufficient and self-complacent, God leaving them in nature's darkness.

Third, by declaring, "and have revealed them unto babes"—by the effectual operations of the Holy Spirit a Divine discovery is made to the hearts of those who are made little and helpless in their own esteem. "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Your sight" expressed the Savior's perfect acquiescence in the whole.

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). This verse supplies the immediate connecting link between the sovereignty of Divine grace mentioned in verses 25 and 26—and the offer and communication of that grace through Christ in verses 28-30. The settlements of Divine grace were made and secured in the Everlasting Covenant: the communication of the same is by and through Christ as the Mediator of that covenant.

First, we have here the grand commission which the Mediator received from the Father: all things necessary to the administration of the covenant were delivered unto Christ (compare Matthew 28:18, John 5:22, 17:2).

Second, we have here the inconceivable dignity of the Son: lest a false inference be drawn from the preceding clause, the essential and absolute Deity of Christ is affirmed. Inferior in office, Christ's nature and dignity is the same as the Father's. As Mediator Christ receives all from the Father—but as God the Son He is, in every way, equal to the Father in His incomprehensible and glorious Person.

Third, the work of the Mediator is here summed up in one grand item: that of revealing the Father unto those given to Him.

Thus the context of Matthew 11:28 reveals Christ in the following characters:
as the Upbraider of the impenitent; 
as the Pronouncer of solemn "woe" upon those who were unaffected by His mighty works; 
as the Announcer of the Day of judgment, declaring that the punishment awaiting those who scorned Gospel mercies should be more intolerable than that meted out to Sodom;
as the Affirmer of the high sovereignty of God who conceals and reveals the things pertaining to salvation as seems good in His sight; 
as the Mediator of the covenant; 
as the Son co-equal with the Father, and 
as the Revealer of the Father.

The Call Of Christ - Part 2

Arthur Pink

"Come unto Me." Who is it that issues this call? Christ, you reply. True—but Christ in what particular character? Some may ask, "Exactly what do you mean by that?" This—was Christ here speaking as King, commanding His subjects; as Creator, addressing His creatures; as the Physician, inviting the sick; or as Lord, instructing His servants? Does someone reply, "Such distinctions confuse, are beyond me; sufficient for me, to regard this as the Savior offering rest unto poor sinners." But do you not yourself draw a distinction in your mind, between the Person of Christ and the Office of Christ? and do you not distinguish sharply between His office as Prophet, as Priest, and as King? And have you not found such distinctions both necessary and helpful? Then why complain if we are seeking to call attention to the varied relations which our Lord sustains, and the importance of noting which of these relations He is acting in, at any given time. It is attention to such details as this, which often makes all the difference between a right and wrong understanding of a passage.

In order to answer our query—In what particular character did Christ here issue this call "Come unto Me"; it is necessary for us to look at the verses preceding. Attention to the context, is one of the very first concerns for those who would carefully ponder any particular passage. Matthew 11 opens with mention of John the Baptist having been cast into prison, from which he sent messengers unto Christ acquainting Him with his perplexity (vv. 2, 3). Thereupon our Lord publicly vindicated His forerunner and magnified his unique office (vv. 4-15). Having praised the Baptist and his ministry, Christ went on to reprove those who had been privileged to enjoy both it and that of His own ministry—because they did not profit from either ministry; yes, had despised and rejected both the one and the other. So depraved were the people of that day, they accused John of being demon possessed, and charged Christ with being a glutton and a drunkard! (vv. 16-19).

In verses 20-24, we have one of the most solemn passages to be found in Holy Writ, recording as it does, some of the most fearful words which ever fell from the lips of the incarnate Son of God. He unbraided the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, and that, because "they repented not" (v. 20). Let it be duly noted by those who seem to delight in picturing our Lord as a spineless and effeminate person, who was incapable of uttering a syllable that would hurt the feelings of anyone—a caricature of maudlin sentimentality manufactured by Romanists—but since fostered increasingly by many in the ranks of Protestantism—that the Christ of Scripture refused to gloss over the perversity of the people, instead, charging them with their sins. And let Antinomians also observe that, so far from the Christ of God ignoring human responsibility or excusing men's spiritual impotency—He held them strictly accountable and blamed them for their impenitency.

"Willful impenitency is the great damning sin of multitudes who enjoy the Gospel, and which (more than any other) sinners will be upbraided with, to eternity. The great doctrine that both John the Baptist, Christ Himself, and the Apostles preached, was repentance; the great thing designed both in the 'playing the flute' and in the 'mourning' was to prevail with people to change their minds and ways, to leave their sins and turn to God; but this they would not be brought to. He does not say, because they believed not—for some kind of faith many of them had, that Christ was a 'Teacher come from God'—but because they 'repented not'—their faith did not prevail to the transforming of their hearts and the reforming of their lives. Christ reproved them for their other sins—that He might lead them to repentance—but when they repented not, He upbraided them with that as their refusal to be healed. He upbraided them with it, that they might upbraid themselves, and might at length see the folly of it, as that which alone makes the sad case a desperate one and the wound incurable" (Matthew Henry).

The particular sin for which Christ upbraided them, was that of impenitency, the special aggravation of their sin was that they had witnessed most of Christ's miraculous works, for it was in those cities that the Lord had for some time been residing, and where many of His miracles of healing had been performed. Now there are some places which enjoy the means of grace more plentifully and powerfully than others. As certain parts of the earth receive a much heavier rainfall than others—so certain countries and particular towns in them have been favored with purer Gospel preaching and more outpourings of the Spirit than others, for God is sovereign in the distribution of His gifts both natural and spiritual. And "unto whoever much is given, of him shall much be required" (Luke 12:48). The greater our privileges and opportunities—the greater our obligations, and the stronger the inducements we have to repent—the more heinous is impenitency, and the heavier will the reckoning be. Christ keeps note of His "mighty works" done among us—and will yet hold us to an account of them.

"Woe unto you, Chorazin! woe unto you, Bethsaida!" (Matthew 11:21). Christ came into the world in order to dispense blessing—but if His person is despised, His authority rejected, and His mercies slighted—then He has woes in reserve—and His woes are of all, the most dreadful. But how many who attend church, now hear anything at all about this? O the treachery of the modern pulpit, its abounding unfaithfulness! It has deliberately taken the line of least resistance, and sought only to please the pew—guiltily withholding what is unpalatable and unpopular. How often was this writer told, even twenty years ago, "our people would not tolerate such plain speaking" and, "preaching of that kind would empty our church," to which we replied, "far better close your church altogether, than keep it open for the purpose of deceiving souls!" And souls are deceived if a sentimental Christ is substituted for the Scriptural Christ; if His "Beatitudes" of Matthew 5 are emphasized, and His "Woes" of Matthew 23 be ignored.

In still further aggravation of their sin of impenitency, our Lord affirmed that the citizens of Chorazin and Bethsaida were worse at heart, than the Gentiles they despised, asserting that had Tyre and Sidon enjoyed such privileges as had been theirs, they had "repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Some of the blessings which Christendom despises would be welcomed in many parts of heathendom.

It is to be noted on the one hand, that this passage does not stand alone—see Ezekiel 3:6, 7; and on the other that the repentance here spoken of by Christ is not necessarily one which leads to eternal salvation. Still more solemn, are the solemn words of Christ recorded in Matthew 11:23, 24. There He announces the doom of highly-favored Capernaum. Because of the unspeakable privileges vouchsafed its inhabitants, they had been lifted Heavenwards—but because their hearts were so earth-bound, they scorned such blessings, and therefore they would be "brought down to Hell." The greater the advantages enjoyed—the more fearful the doom of those who abuse them; the higher the elevation—the more fatal the fall from it.

The Call of Christ - Part 1

Arthur Pink

"Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden—and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Familiar as is the sound of those words unto professing Christians—yet there is a pressing need for their careful examination, for there are few portions of God's Word which have received such superficial treatment at the hands of preachers generally, as has the above. That these verses, like all others in the Sacred Volume, call for prayerful meditation, some will formally allow—but that such a "simple passage" demands protracted study, few seem to realize. It is at this very point, that so much damage has been wrought. Many took it for granted they already understood the meaning of such a passage, and hence no diligent inquiry into the significance of its terms was undertaken. The mere fact that a verse is so frequently quoted that we are thoroughly familiar with its language, is no proof that we really perceive its purpose: yes, the fact that such familiarity has precluded careful examination renders it far more likely that we do not rightly apprehend it.

There is a vast difference between being acquainted with the sound of a verse of Holy Writ, and entering into the sense of it. 

The sad fact is that today there are thousands of unqualified "evangelists" and self-appointed open-air "speakers" who glibly quote snippets from the Word of God—yet no more understand the spiritual significance of the words uttered by their lips, than the telegraph wires understand the messages which pass over them. Nor is this to be wondered at. Ours is an age which is more and more marked by industrial loafing and mental slackness; when work is detested, when how quickly a task may be disposed of—rather than how well it may be done—is the order of the day. And the same dilatory spirit and slipshod methods mark the products both of the pulpit and the printed page. Hence the superficial treatment which the above passage commonly receives—no regard is paid to its context, no laborious attempt assayed to ascertain its coherence (the relation of one clause to another), no painstaking examination and exposition of its terms.

If ever a passage of Scripture was mutilated and mangled by preachers, its meaning perverted and wrested, it is the one quoted above. Nineteen times out of twenty only a mere fragment of it is quoted—that part which is most unpalatable to the flesh, being omitted. A particular call is twisted into a promiscuous invitation, by deliberately ignoring the qualifying terms there used by the Savior. Even where the opening clause is quoted, no attempt is made to show what is signified by and involved in "come to Christ," so that the hearer is left to assume that he already understands the meaning of that expression. The special offices in which the Son of God is there portrayed, namely, as Lord and Master, as Prince and Prophet, are ignored; and another is substituted in their place. The conditional promise here made by Christ is falsified by making it an unconditional one, as though His "rest" could be obtained without our taking His "yoke" upon us and without our "learning" of Him who is meek and lowly in heart.

We are well aware that such charges and strictures as we have just made, would be bitterly resented by a large class of church-goers, who do not wish to hear anyone or anything criticized. But it is not for them we write: if they are pleased to remain "at ease in Zion," if they are content whether they are deceived or not, if they have such confidence in men that they are willing to receive the most valuable and vital things of all second hand, if they refuse to examine their foundations and search their hearts, then we must "let them alone" (Matthew 15:14). But there are still a few left on earth who prize their souls so highly, that they consider no effort too great in order to ascertain whether or not they possess a saving knowledge of God's truth, whether or not they truly understand the terms of God's salvation, whether or not they are building on an unshakable foundation; and it is in the hope that the Lord may deign to bless these writings unto them, that we are penning the same.

But let us now take a closer look at our passage. It opens with "Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest," and virtually closes with, "and you shall find rest unto your souls." Now it is not (as some have strangely supposed) two different rests which are here spoken of—but the same in both cases, namely, spiritual rest, saving rest. Nor is it two different aspects of this rest which are here portrayed—but rather the one rest is viewed from two distinct viewpoints. In the former, Divine sovereignty is in view: "I will give"; in the latter, human responsibility is being enforced: "you shall find." In the opening clause, Christ makes the bare affirmation that He is the Giver of rest: in what follows, He specifies the terms upon which He dispenses rest; or to express it in another way, the conditions which must be met by us if we are to obtain the same. The rest is freely given—yet only to those who comply with the revealed requirements of its Bestower.