Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry
heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
What did He mean? The burden of
the law was upon the people, indeed, it was a heavy burden for them. The
Pharisees gave more than two thousand interpretations to the law of Moses, and
said: "The law of Moses does not mean that you have only to keep ten
commandments; it means that you have to keep two thousand." There was not
a point in all their human life where this law was not applied and made their
lives difficult. And all this was gathered up into the Sabbath: "You must
not make your bed on the Sabbath! You must not carry your bed on the Sabbath!
You must not poke your fire on the Sabbath! You must do nothing on the Sabbath
– you may not even walk more than three miles." Two thousand regulations
for their lives! The one thing that they were meeting every day, and especially
on the Sabbath, was "You may not."
"Come
unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"
(Matthew 11:28). What has
happened? Jesus has appropriated the Sabbath to Himself. It is no longer a day
of the week – it is a divine Person. (If the Seventh Day Adventists saw that,
the whole of their system would go in five minutes!) No, Jesus is God's
Sabbath. He is the end of God's works, and in Him God has entered into His
rest. This is the "rest which remains for the children of God" – not
a day of the week or on the calendar, but a divine Person, the Son of God. In
Him we come to rest, and that which was our bondage is now our servant. In Him,
that against which we were always struggling is now our victory. Oh yes, Jesus
is the Sabbath, and if we live in Him we shall not spoil the Sabbath. Every day
should be a day of rest to our souls. Oh, this is a mighty thing that the Lord
Jesus has done!
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