Easy Yoke

Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grapes
Give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away!



Song of Songs 2:10-13




Dedication:

  
This booklet is dedicated to You, Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath! May my words simply be breadcrumbs leading people to You, the Bread of Life. May all who read it experience Your rest here on earth as it is in heaven.

Daniel Faerber

“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”

Psalm 37:7

Forward:

  We live in a day and age where often the spiritual seems far separated from the practical. The words of God in the Bible are made to seem outdated at best and hate literature at worst. Yet, for some reason, our hearts still tell us there is truth to be found in its pages, one of these truths being the promise of rest.
  Everywhere we look in the world, we see this promise falsely advertised. We come home from a long day of work and the options for entertainment and recreation are endless. More and more, these superficial pastimes leave us tired as we realize that even our rest is a commodity to be bought and sold. In a lot of ways (even literal), we dig our own graves waiting for death to give us this final Rest in Peace. But what if God’s idea of rest is more than all this? What would it look like? This booklet will search the Bible to find out that:      
  
“the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”
(Mark 2:27-28)


 Chapter 1: Rest For The Body

  “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
(Genesis 2:1-3)

  The first thing we need to realize is that God himself rested. The Creator of the universe took a break. So the first reason we rest is because God did! Remember, this was before Adam fell, before the Curse. God wanted man to enjoy a day set apart from the other six not just to recuperate from them. He wanted a day where He could be the sole enjoyment of mankind. The other six could be spent on whatever projects man wanted to do but on the seventh day, it was relationship time! We see a glimpse of this in Genesis 3:8-9 when God was walking through the garden in the cool of the day looking for Adam and his wife.
  He desires our fellowship not just once a week but even in the cool (translated from the Hebrew word 'ruwach' meaning breath) of everyday. Personally, lots of my prayers are spent asking God to bless my projects. Through observing God’s idea of rest, I am learning to just be with God. It’s not all about me… at all. It’s all about God! We all need time, everyday, where we take a deep breath and look at God. This is such a high priority for God that after the Curse, He gave this in the form of a command:

  "Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

  The Lord also gave His people a day of rest to set them apart from the nations around them. As they were leaving Egypt and approaching the promise land, God’s chosen people needed this reminder. They had grown used to slavery, working day in and day out for a nation that was not their own. But now, God was taking ownership of them. Under His rule, even the animals, servants and strangers were to be given rest!

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
 ‘You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
 ‘Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
 ‘Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ‘It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’” (Exodus 31:13-17)

 One of my favourite passages in the Old Testament was when God chided Jonah the prophet for his indifference to Nineveh’s fate:

  "You have had pity on the plant for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left--and much livestock?" (Jonah 4:10-11)

  A lot of times, we get so caught up in things to enhance our life (food and clothing) that we forget what actually matters. While Jonah was worried about a gourd plant that had given him shade but then withered, God was concerned about people and even their cattle! He even spared Jonah from certain drowning so that He could use him to save others. How much more applicable is this to us who know the words of Jesus:

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:31-34)

God wants us to seek first His kingdom and its expansion not ours. He wants to transform us into the image of His Son who - knowing His royal position in God - made Himself of no reputation to reach a lost and broken world. But He cannot do that in us unless we set apart time to be with Him! We must know our royal position in Christ if we desire to bring that royal kingdom from heaven to earth! He wants us to be a royal priesthood and a peculiar people to the people around us (1 Peter 2:9)!

There is a promise and warning towards this end in the book of Jeremiah 17:24-27:

 “And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully,” says the Lord, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.  And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”’

Likewise, the prophet Ezekiel prophecies about a future kingdom where the priests "shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths." Ezekiel 44:23-24

To experience rest, we must know we are God's not our own...

Practical: Take some time this week to thank God for the body and health He has given you. Thank Him that it is sufficient for the tasks He would have you do!

Chapter 2: Rest For The Land

  “And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
  What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land-- all its produce shall be for food.
  'And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.
  That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.
  'In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbour or buy from your neighbour's hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbour, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.
  'So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety. And if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?" Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
  'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.”  (Leviticus 25:1-23)

  Herein lies a truth that, although given under the Mosaic covenant, will help us see God’s heart for rest, restoration and relationship. When God’s people entered the promise land, they were to remember not only to rest themselves and their livestock but also the land every seventh year. He commanded this to remind them that the land belongs to God and they were just passing through. As if anticipating the frailty of their faith, He promised them that if they obeyed this command, He would reward them with the blessing of safety and provision.

  We also see here that debt was never God’s idea but was supposed to be loosed every 50 years in the Jubilee year. God knew the tendency of man towards greed and hoarding and set the year of Jubilee as a standard against that tendency. How wrong we are to think anything we use, whether time or space, is ours to own. All of us are stewards at best. Leviticus 26 goes on to show us God’s blessing for obedience versus His punishment for disobedience:

  “You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord. 'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
  Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land.
  You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
  'For I will look on you favourably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you. You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.
  'But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
  I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. 'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
  'Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.
  'And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.  And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
  'And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you. I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
  Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall rest-- for the time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it.” (Leviticus 26:1-35)

  Knowing the land belongs to God isn’t enough. Under the new covenant, I would also argue that God's sanctuary in this passage means our bodies or more correctly, His body: "Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid... know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:15,19-20)" We must acknowledge this truth by giving it a Sabbath year in some shape or form or else God will have to remind us Himself (which is possibly why so many of us our sick in the body of Christ). We are always striving to do more for God when God is all the while telling us to rest so He can have His way with us. It is in times of resting that God will speak to us to be separate from the slavish customs of the nations around us. Farmers to this day know the wisdom of letting land lie fallow every so often. Again, we see God has other reasons for letting the land rest. In Exodus 23:10-12, God says:

  "Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.”

  Just like the 50th year was to cancel debts and level the playing field, the 7th year was to evenly distribute wealth and remind us where riches truly come from. To show that God kept His word to punish those who didn’t take His rest 2 Chronicles 36:15-21 records the following:

  “And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.
  Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or