REST FROM YOUR LABOUR

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;

⁹ And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

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.

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. {Colossians 2:16-17 NIV}

⁴ Even that question wouldn’t have come up except for some so-called “Christians” there—false ones, really—who came to spy on us and see what freedom we enjoyed in Christ Jesus, as to whether we obeyed the Jewish laws or not. They tried to get us all tied up in their rules, like slaves in chains. ⁵ But we did not listen to them for a single moment, for we did not want to confuse you into thinking that salvation can be earned by being circumcised and by obeying Jewish laws.{Galatians 2:4-5 TLB}

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}