We sometimes come to crossroads in our lives, where we have to make decisions with far-reaching consequences. Decisions such as the choice of a career and a life-partner affect our entire future. How are we to decide at such times? We know nothing of the dangers and the hidden pitfalls along each path. We know nothing of the snares Satan has laid for us. And yet - we have to decide which path to take.
It would therefore be not only desirable but necessary for us to have someone beside us at such times whom we can trust fully, who knows the entire future. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we have just such a Person, and He is more than eager to guide us along the safest and best path.
The Bible teaches that God has a specific plan for each of our lives (Ephesians 2:10). He has planned a career for us, chosen a life-partner for us and even planned where we should live and what we should do each day. In every case, His choice must be the best, for He knows us so well and He takes every factor into consideration. It is wisest then to seek His will in all matters - major as well as minor.
It is not only foolish but dangerous to follow the reasoning of our limited intellects and the dictates of our emotions alone. Unless we are gripped by the conviction that God's plan is indeed the best, we are not likely to be in earnest about seeking it.
Many have made shipwreck of their lives by failing to seek the will of God right from their youth. It is indeed "good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth" (Lamentations 3:27). In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites us to take His yoke upon us. What does it mean to take the yoke? Oxen that are used to plough fields are kept together by a yoke upon their necks.
When a new ox is to be trained to plough, it is yoked together with an experienced ox. The new one is thus compelled to walk in the same direction and at the same speed as the older ox.This is what it means to take the yoke of Jesus upon us. We shall have to walk with Jesus in the path that pleases Him, never rushing ahead to do anything without His leading, nor lagging behind when He calls to some new step of obedience. Few understand this meaning of the yoke. Fewer still are willing to accept it. The ox is forced by its owner to take the yoke upon its neck. But Jesus invites us. There is no compulsion here. How foolish we are to reject this invitation! We would rather take the heavy yoke of our own self-will with its accompanying frustrations, defeats, and regrets, than the light yoke of Jesus that brings true liberty and deep rest!
"Come to Me and I will give you rest - all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear My yoke.....and let Me teach you (as the older ox teaches the inexperienced one).... and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only light burdens"
(Matthew 11:28-30 TLB).
We read of Enoch that he "walked with God" (Genesis 5:22) - i.e., he did not rush ahead nor lag behind, but walked in God's appointed path as one under the yoke - for three hundred years. As a result, God testified that He was pleased with Enoch's life (Hebrews 11:5). This is the only way that we please God - by living and moving under His yoke, in His perfect will. Only thus shall we be able to stand before Him without regret when He comes again.
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ReplyDeleteخَربَل
ReplyDeleteHow can I say this? It is not fitting, brother, to say that the yoke that Christ is referring to here is the Holy Spirit. Why not?
Because the Holy Spirit is the person of God Himself, proceeding from the Father alone. It is not fitting to compare the Lord and Creator of Life, the Holy Spirit, to a thing. A yoke is a thing, not a person. We must always take care not to disrespect the Holy Spirit by calling Him a thing.
The interpreation given by Pastor Zac Poonen in his homily is the correct and Orthodox one, the one which is in accordance with holy and divine scripture.
"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Matthew 16:6)
There are some teachers today who lead many astray by this selfsame yeast, or leaven, thinking to make the bread that is the Body of Christ rise, when it should rather be unleavened.
Holy apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)
The so-called pentecostals abuse the heavenly Lord by masquerading in false gifts that they say come from the Holy Spirit. Do not let yourself be deceived by these, but stay close to the Word of God, to Jesus, who says that if any man makes His Word his home, He will come and live with him.
Let this mind, which is in Christ Jesus, be also in you.
Go with God.
Thanks for your comment on the matter! I didn’t mean to say the Holy Spirit is a thing! Sorry if I gave that impression. The comparison of the yoke is symbolic principally in terms of its function to Bind, Guide, direct and depict allegiance; in the Old testament the Holy Spirit was Symbolical depicted in many forms such as Oil, pillar of cloud, fire, and in the new as a Dove, tongue of fire, etc that doesn’t make Him any of those things. He is our Helper, Teacher, Guide, councilor, and more. We are bound to Him United in Him As a yoke. "He will take of what is mine and make it known to you". I’ll like to hear your view on this explanation thank you.
ReplyDeleteKharbal,
ReplyDeleteYou should not have erased your first comment. It's hard for me to explain things to you without knowing who you are, where you are coming from. Are you a follower of Jesus? Do you belong to a church, and if so, which one? We cannot honestly dialog when we do not know the other person.
From the Orthodox point of view, there are just some things that we do not say. The plain meaning of scripture always takes precedence over the allegorical or symbolic. That's why I pointed out that Pastor Zac Poonen had explained the text rightly, because though he does not identify with the Orthodox Church, his method of understanding the scriptures is sound and Orthodox on the points he made about the yoke of Christ…
"This is what it means to take the yoke of Jesus upon us. We shall have to walk with Jesus in the path that pleases Him, never rushing ahead to do anything without His leading, nor lagging behind when He calls to some new step of obedience."
Jesus does not speak of the Holy Spirit in this saying; He speaks to us of the yoke, of His yoke. We do not read into Jesus' words something He does not place there.
In the Old Testament, we cannot say what you are saying, that "the Holy Spirit was Symbolical depicted in many forms such as Oil, pillar of cloud, fire." This is why I would need to know where you are coming from to know how best to respond to this idea that you put forth. Who were your teachers? Where did you hear these things? Holy apostle Paul tells his disciple Timothy, "Remember who your teachers were" (2 Timothy 3:14). This is important and not mere advice; it is an apostolic injunction to us even down to modern times.
The Holy Spirit "spoke by the prophets" as it is declared in the Symbol of Nicæa. There is a close relationship between anointing oil and the Holy Spirit, but that is only made known under the New Covenant. As for the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire that accompanied the people of Israel, that is the Angel of Yahweh, usually understood to be the pre-incarnation divine Logos, the Word of God, in other words, He who later was born as the man Jesus, called the Christ.
The Holy Spirit never takes a physical or visible form, nor is the dove at the baptism of Jesus by John a symbolical depiction of Him; neither are the tongues of fire distributed at Pentecost a symbolical depiction of Him. Both are visible signs that accompany His Presence and Activity.
Again, this is why it is difficult to understand what exactly you mean in your comment, since I don't know who you are or where you are coming from. It could be that this is just a semantic mismatch, and that you mean nothing that is not held to be true by most Christians, but that your expressions are strange to us.
I'm not sure that I have done what you requested when you wrote, "I’ll like to hear your view on this explanation thank you." The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and nothing and no one else. What is to be avoided is the heresy of the century old pentecostal cults. We thought they were harmless, but as we get closer to the last Day, we are finding that they are in fact precursors of the antichrist, even while they think they are on fire with God's Spirit.
Be careful.