“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take My yoke upon you and lean from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls,”  Matthew 13:28-29

Along with verse 30 these have been a great blessing to me.  Hopefully they are to you as well.

The verbs COME, TAKE, LEARN and REST are the words that first catch our attention.  Let’s see what Scripture opens up to us as we  look into each word.

COME
Come to a place of safety:
“Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.”  Genesis 7:1

Come for personal cleansing:
“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD,
 ‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
  They shall be white as snow;
  Though they are red like crimson,
  They shall be as wool.’”  Isaiah 1:18

Come for a satisfying portion:
“Ho!  Everyone who thirsts,
 Come to the waters;
 And you who have no money,
 Come, buy and eat.
 Yes, come, buy wine and milk
 Without money and without price.”  Isaiah 55:1

Come rest your soul:
See our opening verse 28 

Come at the king’s urgent invitation:
“Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, ‘See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding,’”  Matthew 22:4

Come at the threefold call:
“And the Spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’  And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’  And let him who thirsts come.  And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.:  Revelation 22:17

TAKE
Here let’s look at Christ’s gifts.  To be ours we must receive.  What is a gift if we do not take what is given?  Here are seven gifts.

There is the rest in our opening verse Matthew 28.
“…I will give you rest.”

The keys of the kingdom:
“And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what ever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Matthew 16:19

Power over evil spirits:
Jesus speaking to the 70 who returned from their mission, He tells them,
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”  Luke 10 19-20

Living water:
Jesus words with the Samaritan woman,
“But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.  But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life,”  John 4:14

Bread of heaven:
At the last supper with His disciples, Jesus said,
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”  John 6:51

Eternal life:
Jesus speaking concerning His sheep says,
“And I will give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”  John 10:28-29

The legacy of peace:
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  John:14:27

Thank you Most Gracious, Merciful, Loving God!  We long to know You  and love You more and more!  Amen

(We’ll take up the other two verbs next time.)