REST FROM YOUR LABOUR
Indeed,
it is a burden and a labour to want to keep the laws of Moses. You will work
your head out only to discover that you cannot obey all of them. When you think
you are doing pretty good you will all of a sudden discover that you have
faulted one law. You will need to start all over again because the one you faulted
nullifies all the other ones you’ve kept. You keep repeating this cycle and you
never attain perfection. You are working so hard and never becoming righteous
in God’s eyes. The laws and all its rituals is a yoke and a burden that needs
to be broken from off our shoulders and necks.
5 But there rose up
certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was
needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
6 And the apostles
and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
7 And when there
had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren,
ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles
by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which
knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he
did unto us;
10 Now therefore why
tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as
they.{ Acts 10:5-11}
The
people of old couldn’t bear that yoke of rule-keeping neither were the
disciples of Jesus’ day able to handle the burden of the laws. They laboured,
all to no avail.
You were not designed to work forever. Even God rested from
all His work. That means that we also are supposed to rest from our labour. The
children of Israel struggled so much, labouring to be righteous in God’s sight
by keeping the laws of Moses but they were wearied out and still didn’t achieve
righteousness. They needed rest just as God rested from His own work.
And so the whole universe was completed. 2 By the seventh day God finished what he had been
doing and stopped working. 3 He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a
special day, because by that day he had completed his creation[a] and
stopped working. 4 And that is how the universe was created. {Genesis
2:1-4 GNT}
The word rest in the original Hebrew is Shabbat which means to cease or stop, to bring to an end. It doesn’t mean to relax
because of tiredness to resume again. God being omnipotent could not possibly
have been wearied or tired. His resting on the seventh day as described by
other translations is therefore not out of weariness but because He needed to
bring to an end the creation process. He had finished creating the universe and
had to stop working.
Just as God stopped working so also has He
desired us to stop working. He then commanded Moses to tell the children of
Israel to set aside a day called the Sabbath day in which they will not work
but focus on God alone. That day was to be dedicated to God alone. That means
that the seventh day will take their attention from themselves and focus it on
God. They would all look unto Jesus on the Sabbath day.
8 “Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. 9 You have six days in which to do your work, 10 but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to
me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your
animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. 11 In six days I, the Lord, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and
everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the Lord, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. {Exodus
20:8-11}
12 “Work for six days and rest the seventh so your ox and donkey
may rest and your servant and migrant workers may have time to get their needed
rest.{Exodus 23:12 MSG}
The verses
above show two types of rest, one means to stop or finish and it is the Hebrew
word Shabbat while the other means to just take a break in order to rest and it
is the Hebrew word Nuach or Naphash.
Therefore
the Sabbath day is Holy and dedicated to God but most importantly it is for the
benefit of man. The Sabbath was made for the good of man and for man. The
Sabbath is all about Jesus who is the Lord of the Sabbath and the people for
which He made the Sabbath. Jesus confirmed this when He said:
27 And Jesus
concluded, “The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not
made for the Sabbath. 28 So
the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”{Mark 2:27-28 GNT}
What
exactly is the meaning of the Sabbath to man, The Sabbath was just a shadow of
something which was to come. That was a day which God will give Humans rest
from all their struggles. They will cease labouring to become righteous. His
desire is to give rest to His people Israel but they did not understand what
the Sabbath meant. He wanted them to be righteous without labouring for it. He
wanted to help them achieve that which they've laboured in
vain for years to
achieve but could not achieve.
The only criteria needed for them to enter that rest and become righteous was their FAITH.
Unfortunately
when the Lord of the Sabbath finally showed up in Human form to help them enter
into rest, they lacked faith and didn’t believe in Him. They were even accusing
Him of working on the Sabbath day. They started quoting the Law of Moses to
Him. Little did they know that the same God who gave the laws to Moses was
standing before their very eyes in Human form. They didn’t know He was the One
the Law and the prophets bore witness to.
23 Jesus was walking
through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. As his disciples walked along with him,
they began to pick the heads of wheat. 24 So the Pharisees
said to Jesus, “Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do that on
the Sabbath!”
25 Jesus answered,
“Have you never read what David did that time when he needed something to eat?
He and his men were hungry, 26 so
he went into the house of God and ate the bread offered to God. This happened
when Abiathar was the High Priest. According to our Law only the priests may
eat this bread—but David ate it and even gave it to his men.”
27 And Jesus
concluded, “The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not
made for the Sabbath. 28 So
the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”{Mark 2:23-28 GNT}
The same
law from whose burdens he had come to rescue them and give them rest from was
what they quoted against Him. They are holding tenaciously to what they need to
let go in order to have rest. They didn’t know the true meaning of the Sabbath.
Look at this scenario in Luke chapter 13:
10 One Sabbath Jesus
was teaching in a synagogue. 11 A
woman there had an evil spirit that had kept her sick for eighteen years; she
was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw
her, he called out to her, “Woman, you are free from your sickness!” 13 He placed his
hands on her, and at once she straightened herself up and praised God.
14 The official of
the synagogue was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, so he spoke up
and said to the people, “There are six days in which we should work; so come
during those days and be healed, but not on the Sabbath!”
15 The Lord answered
him, “You hypocrites! Any one of you would untie your ox or your donkey from
the stall and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath.16 Now
here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen
years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?” 17 His answer made
his enemies ashamed of themselves, while the people rejoiced over all the
wonderful things that he did. {Luke 13:10-17 GNT}
Did you notice that these hypocrites are trying to be more
righteous than the one who is righteousness personified? They want to uphold
the law even when the one who gave them the law is asking them to let go and
embrace rest. That is the problem with self- righteous people, hypocrisy. They
pretend outwardly that all is fine but inwardly they are heavy laden and
burdened.
One of the most interesting scenes in the gospels was when the
Pharisees brought the woman that was caught in the very act of adultery. They
said Moses in his laws commanded that she should be stoned. Jesus responded: he
that is without sin let him cast the first stone. The bible recorded that they
all began to leave from the oldest to the youngest. That shows that they were
all guilty of sin despite their pretence to be keeping the laws of Moses.
They
wanted to condemn a woman to death for the same sin they were guilty of. Jesus
came to release them from the yoke of the law that they’ve carried for years
making them bent over like the woman who was bent over. The woman was healed
and she straightened up but the Jews have refused to be straightened up from
the yoke and labour of the law. Jesus is the only one who can give us rest He
is the Lord of the Sabbath and if we can come to Him, we would surely get that
rest.
28 “Come
to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you
rest. 29 Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I
am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. 30 For
the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is
light.”{Matthew 11:28-30 GNT}
If you read the preceding verses of Matthew chapter11, you would
find out that Jesus made this statement after pouring out His denunciation on
the unbelieving cities where He did most of His miracles. The people didn’t
believe Him despite all the miracles He did. They were priding themselves in
their religion, shrugging their shoulders and going their own way. Little did
they know that religion was a yoke on their neck that they needed to get rest
from. The message translation made it easier to understand.
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out
on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll
show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do
it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or
ill-fitting on you. Keep Company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and
lightly.”{Matthew 11:28-30 MSG}
What can you and I do today to receive this rest from
all our labour?..........To be continued
