The Lord said to me…”I will
test my people with a Plumbline, Amos 7:8 (TLB)
Discovering Rest
Matthew 11:29 (TLB)
Wear my yoke—for it fits perfectly—and
let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your
souls;
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| Clayt Sheridan, II |
When
a man carried a yoke he would carry it on his shoulders (cf., e.g., Jeremiah
27:2); Judaism applied this image of subjection to obedience. Jewish people
spoke of carrying the yoke of God’s law and the yoke of his kingdom, which one
accepted by acknowledging that God was one and by keeping his commandments.
Matthew intends Jesus’ words about rest as a contrast with Pharisaic Sabbath
rules in the following passage (Matthew 12:1-14): the promise of “rest for your
souls” comes from Jeremiah 6:16, where God promises to stay his wrath if the
people turn to him instead of to the words of the false religious leaders
(Matthew 6:13-14, 20).
Greek
literature praised meekness in the sense of gentleness and leniency but not in
the sense of self-abasement; aristocrats disdained humility as a virtue, except
for the lowly. Jesus, however, identifies with those of low social status, a
value more prominent in Jewish piety.
Here
He declared that true discipleship can be enjoyed only by those who come to Him
in childlike faith. God in His good pleasure (cf. Eph. 1:5) had hidden the
great mysteries of His wise dealings from the wise and learned (the leaders of
that day) but had revealed them to little children. This was possible because
God the Son and God the Father know each other perfectly in the intimacy of the
Trinity (Matt. 11:27). (“Father” occurs five times in vv. 25-27.) Hence the
only ones who can know the Father and the things He has revealed are those whom
the Son chooses (cf. John 6:37).
Hebrews 4:3 (NKJV)
For we who
have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath,
'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world.
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