Jesus offers release from the yoke of sin, even though he does not say this in so many words. All of Scripture shows sin as like a yoke that one cannot remove by oneself. Jesus will lift it from the shoulders of all who accept the invitation. The burdens imposed by the Pharisees did not free anyone from sin (Matthew 23:4; see Acts 15:10 on the law of Moses), but Jesus truly gives rest from the effects of sin. The burden of labour and being heavy laden links to the fall into sin related in Genesis 3:1–24, by which human existence lies under the curse of death, and life is marked by thorns, thistles, pain, and grief. God’s good law in Israel shows that people cannot, even with its aid, live rightly on earth or regain true rest. To be bent beneath the burden of the law shows humanity’s general impotence in this cursed world. Matthew 11:28 is thus for all people, showing both the failure of people to redeem themselves through the law and the plight of the many sick and demon-oppressed who were brought to Jesus. No one finds true rest and freedom apart from Christ. The wise and learned can not restore paradise on earth. Only the Son knows the way back to the Father. The rest he offers is the Father’s sabbath rest, bringing both liberation from the laws’s curse of the law and deliverance from the brokenness of life under God’s wrath
When Jesus speaks of labouring and being heavy laden he is referring to the yoke of sin, even though he does not say this in so many words. This much is taught throughout all of Scripture. Sin presses down like a yoke that one cannot remove by oneself. Jesus can and wants to lift it from the shoulders of those who accept the invitation. The burdens imposed by the Pharisees did not free anyone from sin (Matthew 23:4; see also Acts 15:10 regarding the law of Moses), and Jesus truly gives rest from the destructive effects of wickedness.1
The burden of labour and being heavy laden ties directly to the reality introduced in Genesis 3:1–24. Because of the fall, human existence lies under the sentence of death, and life is marked by thorns, thistles, pain, and grief. The good law of God in Israel demonstrates that people cannot, even with its aid, raise themselves up to live rightly on earth or to regain true rest. To be bent beneath the burden of the law is, in fact, a vivid illustration of humanity’s general impotence in this cursed world.
Matthew 11:28 must therefore be read as an address directed to all people, describing the very condition of human existence on earth. That condition includes not only the failure of people to redeem themselves through the law, but also the plight of the many sick and demon-oppressed who were brought to Jesus. Yet within that broken existence lies a broader promise: no one knows God apart from the Son, and likewise no one finds true rest and freedom apart from Christ. Through the centuries, the wise and learned have not restored paradise on earth. Only the Son knows the way back to the Father. And in his light, it becomes evident that all humanity is stooped, burdened, and helpless upon the earth. The rest that Jesus offers is nothing less than the Father’s sabbath rest—a rest that brings both liberation from the curse of the law and deliverance from the impotence of life under God’s wrath.2
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.