Matthew 11:28 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Come unto me, &c.— Our Saviour here shews to whom he is pleased to reveal these things. Warmed with the most ardent love to men, he graciously invites all who are weary of the slavery of sin, and desire to be in a state of reconciliation with God, to come unto him or to believe in him: not because he expected any advantage from them, but because he both knew how to give them relief, and was willing to do it, upon no other motive whatever, but merely to satisfy the immense desire he had to do them good. In this invitation our Lord seems to have had his eye on Isaiah 50:4 where the Messiah is introduced, saying, The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary, for, his having all things delivered to him of the Father, is parallel to the Lord's giving him the tongue of the learned; and his inviting all who labour and are heavy laden, is the end mentioned by the prophet for which the tongue of the learned was given him; and this, possibly, is the reason why many critics, by rest offered in this invitation, understand that freedom from the burdensome services of the law which Christ has granted to men, through the promulgation of the gospel, termed in the prophesy speaking a word in season to him that is weary; and it must be owned that this interpretation is favoured by the subsequent clause, in which men are invited to take on them Christ's yoke, from the consideration that it is easy, in comparison of Moses's yoke; and his burden, from the consideration that it is light, in comparison of the ceremonial precepts of the law. There is no reason, however, for confining the rest of the soul here offered, to that particular privilege of the Christian religion; it is more natural to think that it comprehends therewith all the blessings whatsoever of the gospel. Dr. Doddridge has well paraphrased it, "All ye that labour and are heavy-burdened, whether with the distresses of life, or with the sense of guilt, (See Psalms 32:4.) or with the load of ceremonial observances." It has been well observed, that Christianity, accompanied with the power of divine grace, gives rest to the soul, because, 1st, it clearly informs the judgment concerning the most important points, removing all doubts concerning them; because 2nd, it settles the will in the choice of what is for its happiness; because 3rdly, it directs the passions aright, and so keeps them under good government. See the Reflection