Dear Explorer,
Read Matthew 11:25-27
Here Matthew records a prayer prayed by Jesus. Do you think He was talking about little children or babies, or do you think He was talking about spiritually immature people?
Then He explains that He is a servant to His Father. His Father tells Him what to do and when to do it. God alone knew all about Jesus, just as God alone knows all about you!
Then Jesus says that no one knows God except Himself and those that He chooses to reveal Him.
Some people use this verse to teach “pre-election or pre-destination”. That's a belief that certain people are selected to be followers of Jesus before they are born, and others are selected to remain empty. This disagrees with many other verses that teach “whosoever will” may come to God through Jesus.
My belief is that Jesus is simply stating that no one can come to God except through belief in Himself. Jesus is the only way to get to know God. I believe that Jesus gladly reveals the Father to anyone who chooses to follow Him.
Read Matthew 11:28-30
These are precious, often memorized verses.
Who does this Scripture say can come to Jesus?
All!
What will Jesus give them?
Spiritual rest (and sometimes physical rest, too!)
What is a yoke?
If you've never seen one, you should “google” picture of a yoke and look at it. It is a heavy, usually wooden bar that is placed over the neck of an animal (like an ox, or horse, or mule). Then things can be attached to it for the animal to pull – such as wagons or plows, etc. The people of Jesus' day saw and used them all the time.
Now, some yokes are double yokes where you could place two animals side-by-side and they would equally share the load. Many people interpret this passage to mean that Jesus is saying “Come and share this yoke with me and I'll help you pull the load.” I can see that, but I don't believe that's what this passage says.
I think Jesus is saying He has a yoke for us to pull. And I believe He is contrasting that yoke with the one that the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of that time, were putting on the people. Their yoke was filled with rules upon rules upon rules. Their yoke required the people to jump through many hoops to be “right” with God. But what does Jesus say about His yoke?
I have chosen Him as my Master and have gladly taken His yoke – all He asks me to do is to be obedient as He guides me and equips me.
His yoke is not only easy, but when we invite Him into our core, He removes all the accumulated sins, and guilt and shame and pain that is associated with the old yoke of sin that is heavy and hard. His yoke is indeed light.
In His service, dale
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