Such is the slowness of the mind to grasp spiritual things that thousands read the following passage in Matthew hundreds of times before noticing that it speaks of two rests for the soul: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The reader notices that the word "rest" occurs twice, but hastily supposes it to be a mere repetition; that the same fact or blessing is twice stated. A closer scrutiny reveals the mistake. There are two rests in the spiritual life, obtained in different ways and at different times.
The First Rest.--This rest is offered to the unconverted. The expression "all ye that labor and are heavy laden" evidently refers to the sinner. The word "come" unmistakably teaches the fact of moral distance. This first rest is given. "Come unto me, and I will give you rest." This is what is experienced by the repenting and believing soul in its first interview and communion with Christ.
Rest has been freely given. The first rest is obtained by coming to Christ. This is the condition laid down in the passage, and is the very condition of receiving pardon. Nothing is exacted of the penitent sinner but to come to Christ. There is not a word about consecration or duties taken up, but the simple invitation "come."
The Second Rest.--This blessing appears in the twenty-ninth verse, and is what Mr. Wesley calls the "second blessing" and what his brother Charles termed in his hymns the "second rest."
Let us all in Thee inherit, Let us find the second rest.
This is the same rest that Paul speaks so much about in the fourth and fifth chapters of Hebrews.
About it we notice, as taught in the word of Matthew, several very interesting things that completely differentiate it from the rest mentioned in the preceding verse. It is not the rest of heaven as we once thought it meant, but a soul rest that the Christian is privileged to receive as a second blessing. It is promised to Christians. The language teaches that the recipients of this blessing have been with Christ and have engaged in his service before receiving the grace. The same people were addressed, but they are told of two blessings that come at very different times and under very different circumstances. It is not those that labor and are heavy laden that are promised the second rest, but those that bear Christ's yoke and have taken him as their teacher.
This second rest is found; the first was given. The two cannot possibly be made to agree. A gift is one thing; something found is another. The passage teaches that while people are in the service of God the second rest is suddenly realized or found. This is the teaching of the Bible, and harmonizes with the experience of a vast number who in this age and in other centuries have received the second rest or blessing. They obtained it while in the service of God. While walking in
the light as he is in the light they found themselves, in a moment, cleansed from all sin, suddenly, while keeping his word, the love of God was perfected within them. They found the second rest in the Christian life.
It is obtained by consecration and faith. Christ makes the way to the blessing clear. "Take my yoke upon you." The yoke stands for his doctrines--for all of them--and for the most unpopular of them as well. It stands for his service--for a complete surrender to his will and work. No figure or symbol scarcely could be stronger to convey the idea of a complete and irrevocable consecration than that of the yoke. When the ox has it placed upon his neck, the bow slipped into the hole, and the key put in place, he is then fastened. He is, so to speak, a fixture. In just such a way the man seeking sanctification must accept the yoke, bow, and key, and be finally and forever given up and over to God. Like the love slave nailed to the door, he is pinned to Christ's yoke or nailed to the cross, just as you please. He can no more go here or there as it may please him. There is no more going ahead or lagging behind or wandering out on the side of the road according to vagaries of mind and heart, but he is fastened to the symbol wagon. He bears the yoke as the Lord once bore the cross. He is the Lord's man from this time.
A second thing to do Christ adds in the words "learn of me." Here is humility, docility, obedience, and faith all taught in one sentence. "Learn of me." Would that all doubters of sanctification would go to Christ instead of one another for information! How soon they would rejoice in soul rest! "Learn of me!" he said. Don't go to men, don't take the dictum of preachers. Surely the man who denies the experience can know nothing about it. A preacher went to another who outranked him officially, and desired to know whether there was a second blessing or work of grace. He received a negative answer and gave up the search. He should have gone to Christ instead of man, and then he would today be rejoicing in the second rest instead of being its ridiculer and condemner. If we go to Christ, sit at his feet, and learn of him, we will soon find that he is able, willing, and ready to make the soul pure and let it find a heaven on earth in its entrance upon and enjoyment of the second rest.
The same passage in Matthew tells what happens after the gracious obtainment. The yoke becomes easy. It is not so to the regenerated. There is much chafing and fretting in the Christian life.
The doctrines hurt, the service galls, and so there is fretfulness and complaint. Christ has a blessing that makes the yoke delightful to bear. The blessing of holiness fits the yoke, and adjusts it so perfectly to the soul that there is no chafing and galling, and hence no complaining. Sanctification is religion made easy. It becomes a joy and luxury to serve Christ. The yoke is transformed into a wing.
The "burden is light." That is, anything that Christ places upon you, or allows to come upon you, is light. There was a time, before the reception of the blessing of holiness, when every burden that came in the Christian life was heart-depressing and paralyzing. But after entering into the second rest the burdens that saddened and bore the soul down to the earth became feather weights. The ridicule, opposition, and persecution of the world you can throw upon your shoulders, as did Samson the brazen gates of Gaza, and bear them away to a certain gray hill called Calvary, and there leave them with praises of tongue and rejoicings of spirit. Christ's burden, all that he places upon you, or allows the Church or world to cast upon you, shall in the "second rest" become light.
And now notice the third result: "And ye shall find rest unto your souls." What a blessed sentence this is! What a life of spiritual calm and heart rest it describes! "Rest unto your souls." Rest away down in your soul, all through the soul, and all the time in the soul. Repose is seen in the manner, serenity in the face, and an unfathomable rest gathers and settles in the eyes. The man was never busier for Christ, but goes to his work and returns from it with this inward rest always abiding in the heart. He found it under the yoke and while learning at the feet of Christ.
THE SECOND BLESSING IN SYMBOL By Beverly Carradine
Chapter 18