1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,040 Hello friends, thanks for joining us again on The Methodist Voice. 2 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:21,400 We're currently in a series called Primeval where we're walking through the first eleven 3 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,960 chapters of the Book of Genesis together. 4 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:31,040 These chapters provide us with the foundational information upon which the rest of the entire 5 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,340 Bible is built. 6 00:00:34,340 --> 00:00:39,560 Because they're so ancient or primeval, they're very hard to understand. 7 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:47,840 Hence, we're now in our tenth episode of this series and we're just now starting with Genesis 8 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,440 chapter two, which is what we're going to be covering today. 9 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:58,840 So let's jump in, Genesis chapter two verse one, we'll start reading. 10 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:05,720 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 11 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:12,640 And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh 12 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,700 day from all His work that He had done. 13 00:01:16,700 --> 00:01:22,840 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His 14 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,400 work that He had done in creation. 15 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:34,280 Now the word used for rest here is the Hebrew word Shabbat, from which we derive the word 16 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,840 we use Sabbath. 17 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:42,520 So obviously that's a big topic in scripture as it's included in the Ten Commandments, 18 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:43,520 right? 19 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:50,280 It's designating Saturday as a day of rest from labor for the Jewish people. 20 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:56,920 So let's start with parsing the word translated rest, Shabbat, what it means. 21 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:04,520 Some people take it to mean that after God's work of creation He needed a nap, or somehow 22 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:10,640 that a grandfatherly God entered into some permanent retirement, letting God the Son 23 00:02:10,640 --> 00:02:13,640 and God the Holy Spirit do all the work from here on out. 24 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:17,260 Just let the kids do their work. 25 00:02:17,260 --> 00:02:22,840 And then He sat down on the couch and binge watched Fox News for the rest of all eternity. 26 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,920 Obviously that's not what it means, right? 27 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:31,120 So let's look at Strong's definition for the Hebrew word Shabbat. 28 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:42,200 It means first to cease, to desist, to rest, as in to set down your instrument after you've 29 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:43,320 finished playing it. 30 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:47,040 I'm going to rest my instrument. 31 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,080 It doesn't mean God needs a nap. 32 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,280 God doesn't get tired. 33 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:58,400 Psalm 121,4 says, Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither sleep nor slumber. 34 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:04,680 God doesn't need to take a rest in that sense. 35 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,720 It simply means that God was finished. 36 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:15,860 God was finished and so He ceased from the particular work of creating the physical universe. 37 00:03:15,860 --> 00:03:19,440 God created everything that He was going to create and it was good. 38 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,220 It was complete, completed project. 39 00:03:23,220 --> 00:03:25,400 That's it. 40 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:30,120 Obviously it doesn't mean that God's going into retirement because He immediately gets 41 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:37,260 very busy right here in chapter 2 and He relentlessly works on the redemption of humanity for the 42 00:03:37,260 --> 00:03:41,800 entirety of Scripture even to this day. 43 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,320 And we're all grateful for that. 44 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:51,000 So that's important to remember because when we look at the idea of Sabbath and what that 45 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:56,960 means for us here and now, it really has more to do about redemption than it is about kicking 46 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,160 back and taking it easy. 47 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:07,060 And so let's start in kind of unpacking this with the idea of the concept of Eden which 48 00:04:07,060 --> 00:04:09,380 is going to be introduced here in chapter 2. 49 00:04:09,380 --> 00:04:10,380 So let's continue reading. 50 00:04:10,380 --> 00:04:15,000 Let's get down to verse 8 of Genesis chapter 2. 51 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:21,760 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and there He put the man whom 52 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:28,520 He had formed and out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant 53 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,520 in the sight and good for food. 54 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,880 And the tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good 55 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,000 and evil. 56 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,680 So just real quick, God Himself made the food spring up. 57 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:44,800 Humans didn't have to work for their food. 58 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:46,200 That was provided. 59 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,240 And not only were they good for food, they were beautiful to look at. 60 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,680 So the environment provided for all of their needs. 61 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:52,680 It was beautiful. 62 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:54,060 It was luxurious. 63 00:04:54,060 --> 00:05:01,480 The tree of life there which is symbolic of human beings having access to eternal life. 64 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,940 They would never die. 65 00:05:03,940 --> 00:05:09,520 And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which represents a choice. 66 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:15,800 Human beings can remain obedient to God or they can choose to be disobedient to God and 67 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:21,520 go and do their own thing and they can learn about the consequences of evil. 68 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:28,160 So I'm going to speak to you from John Walton's book on Genesis chapter 1. 69 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:33,000 John Walton is an Old Testament scholar and professor at Wheaton College. 70 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,080 Here's what he says about Genesis chapter 1 and then we'll follow that up with some 71 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:41,960 more comments from Dr. Heiser, Dr. Michael Heiser and his book from the Unseen Realm. 72 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:48,040 Just kind of unpacking what this idea of Eden represents, what it means in the text. 73 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:56,400 Remember this is ancient text written thousands of years after the events actually happened. 74 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:01,520 And so these are stories being told with mythological language. 75 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:08,120 Genesis 1 is describing the creation of the heavens and earth in the same mode, this is 76 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:16,040 John Walton speaking here, in the same mode as the building and sanctifying of a temple. 77 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,560 Because that's what God's temple is. 78 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:21,480 It's on earth. 79 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:23,600 It's in Eden. 80 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:29,440 This is where the creation episode ends because God has now taken up his residence on the 81 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:34,320 earth in his temple, which is Eden. 82 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:42,620 The cosmic mountain, the dwelling place, the divine council, Yahweh's abode. 83 00:06:42,620 --> 00:06:49,880 And that became the template idea for rest, for temple, for God's dwelling, for the place 84 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:51,680 where God runs his affairs. 85 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:57,920 It's tied into creation and it's tied into his establishment of the temple, the reestablishment 86 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:05,680 of the place where God will come to earth and will dwell with human beings. 87 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:12,560 So now let's take a more extensive look from Dr. Michael Heiser, his book The Unseen Realm. 88 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,800 I'm going to read to you from chapter 6. 89 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,500 The title of the chapter is Gardens and Mountains. 90 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:26,360 His point is that Eden is referred to in scripture, again, as the place where God dwells. 91 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,960 Sometimes it's referred to as a garden. 92 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:33,960 Sometimes it's referred to as a mountain, like Mount Zion, the mountain of God. 93 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:40,480 And so I'll begin reading from chapter 6 of The Unseen Realm. 94 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,720 Eden was God's home on earth. 95 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,200 It was his residence. 96 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,060 And where the king lives, his council meets. 97 00:07:50,060 --> 00:07:56,900 As modern readers, we don't see how that thinking is telegraphed in the biblical text. 98 00:07:56,900 --> 00:08:00,560 Ancient readers couldn't miss it. 99 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:05,640 Eden can only be properly understood in light of the worldview of the biblical that the 100 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:12,320 biblical writers shared with other people of the ancient Near East. 101 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:18,680 Like Israel, the people of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, for example, also believed in 102 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:24,080 an unseen spiritual world that was governed by a divine council. 103 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:30,620 The divine abodes of gods, the places they lived and where they met for governing the 104 00:08:30,620 --> 00:08:32,920 affairs of the human world. 105 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:35,400 They were portrayed in several ways. 106 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:40,400 Two of the most common were gardens and mountains. 107 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,180 Eden is described as both in the Old Testament. 108 00:08:43,180 --> 00:08:47,800 Ancient people thought of their gods living in luxuriant gardens or mountains for simple 109 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:48,840 reasons. 110 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:57,360 It made sense that the gods would have the best lifestyle because, well, they're gods. 111 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:02,040 Cosmic celebrities can't possibly live like we do. 112 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:07,160 The ancient Near East was primarily an agrarian culture where most people subsisted day to 113 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,420 day, hand to mouth. 114 00:09:09,420 --> 00:09:13,360 The few who didn't live that way were kings or priests. 115 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:19,000 In thinking as the ancients did, those few had been chosen for that elevated status by 116 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:20,520 the gods. 117 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,040 The environment was hot and arid. 118 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,400 Life depended on finding water and harnessing its power. 119 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:31,320 That's why the world's first civilizations were founded along rivers, the Nile, the Tigris, 120 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,440 the Euphrates. 121 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:38,560 Surely the gods lived in a place where water was abundant, where life-sustaining vegetation 122 00:09:38,560 --> 00:09:44,760 and fruit grew everywhere, where an abundance of animals were nourished to fatness. 123 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:49,160 The gods lived in places where there was no conceivable lack. 124 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,520 Paradise. 125 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,500 Mountain peaks were the domain of gods because no humans lived there. 126 00:09:55,500 --> 00:09:58,560 Ancient times were not like modern times. 127 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:02,000 People didn't recreationally climb mountains. 128 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,160 They had no equipment with which to get very far if they tried. 129 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:12,220 Mountains were remote and forbidding, the perfect places for gods to get away from pesky 130 00:10:12,220 --> 00:10:14,720 humans. 131 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,920 Mountain peaks touched the heavens, which was obviously the domain of the gods. 132 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:24,840 This sort of thinking in part explains why Egypt's temples are carved and painted with 133 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:33,560 the imagery of luxurious gardens, or why pyramids and ziggurats were built. 134 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:42,240 These structures were mountains made by human hands, which served as gateways to the spiritual 135 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:46,700 world, the realm of the gods. 136 00:10:46,700 --> 00:10:52,040 In life or in death, they were metaphors in stone. 137 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,320 Now that's important to remember. 138 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:59,600 That's the end of the excerpt from chapter 6 that we're going to read. 139 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:06,520 But that's important to keep in mind when we get to Genesis chapter 11, the idea that 140 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:14,000 pyramid building functioned as metaphors for a gateway to the gods. 141 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,840 So I'm going to read another excerpt from Dr. Heiser. 142 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:18,320 This is from chapter 7. 143 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:25,240 The title of this chapter is Eden, Like No Place on Earth. 144 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,920 Here's what Dr. Heiser says. 145 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:36,280 In Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 through 27, God made humankind as his imagers, his representatives 146 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:39,300 in this new domain. 147 00:11:39,300 --> 00:11:44,800 This functional view of the image becomes clear in the commands of verse 28. 148 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:50,800 And God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth 149 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:52,440 and subdue it. 150 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,920 Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every animal that moves 151 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,920 upon the earth. 152 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:06,800 Notice that verse 28 says that the earth needed filling. 153 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,920 This does not refer to Eden. 154 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,960 Eden has not even appeared yet in the Genesis story. 155 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,180 Its first mention comes in Genesis 2, 8. 156 00:12:17,180 --> 00:12:22,160 And Yahweh planted a garden in Eden in the east and there he put the man whom he had 157 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:23,160 formed. 158 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,880 The garden of Eden is said to be in the east. 159 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:33,120 The directional word informs us that there were other parts of the earth. 160 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,360 God planted this garden. 161 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:41,980 We know from Genesis 1 that the dry land called earth already existed. 162 00:12:41,980 --> 00:12:47,200 It had to in order for God to plant a garden in it in the east. 163 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,440 Genesis 2, 15 is also of interest. 164 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:56,440 The man God has made is put in the garden for a reason and Yahweh took the man and set 165 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:02,520 him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. 166 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,920 The man's job is to take care of the garden. 167 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:12,100 Earlier in Genesis 1, 28 his job was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and 168 00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:15,260 subdue it and rule. 169 00:13:15,260 --> 00:13:18,000 Of course the man needs a woman for that. 170 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:24,640 But she hasn't even been created yet in Genesis 2 when God puts the man in the garden. 171 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:31,360 Cultivation of the garden and subduing the earth are not the same tasks. 172 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:37,160 Genesis 1 and 2 aren't intended to be chronological in their relationship. 173 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:45,200 What they reveal is that man's original task was to care for the garden where he lived. 174 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:51,380 After he gets a partner, God says to both of them, the commands are plural in Hebrew, 175 00:13:51,380 --> 00:13:59,760 to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to subdue it and to rule over its creatures. 176 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,640 We can see that the tasks of humanity taken in tandem with the earlier observations that 177 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:13,060 require Eden and earth to be distinct, distinguish Eden and the earth, it makes no sense to subdue 178 00:14:13,060 --> 00:14:14,480 the garden of God. 179 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,440 It's already what God wants it to be. 180 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:18,320 There's no place on earth like it. 181 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:22,380 If it needed subjugation, that word would imply imperfection. 182 00:14:22,380 --> 00:14:25,360 That's something that cannot be said about Eden. 183 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,120 But it's true of the rest of the world. 184 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,120 For sure, God was happy with the whole of creation. 185 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,840 He pronounced it very good. 186 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,040 But very good is not perfect. 187 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:46,000 Lastly, Eden and earth must be distinct since after the fall, Adam and Eve are expelled 188 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,600 from it and have to live somewhere else. 189 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:54,800 Unless you believe that they were sent into outer space, you must acknowledge Eden and 190 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,560 earth are distinct. 191 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:02,000 Observing this distinction affects a range of biblical concepts and provides solutions 192 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,580 to a few thorny theological problems. 193 00:15:04,580 --> 00:15:07,360 But I'm only concerned with one issue here. 194 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:12,800 The distinction helps us to see the original task of humanity was to make the entire earth 195 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,400 like Eden. 196 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:17,880 Adam and Eve lived in the garden. 197 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,180 They cared for it. 198 00:15:20,180 --> 00:15:22,560 But the rest of the earth needed subduing. 199 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:23,560 It wasn't awful. 200 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:27,320 In fact, Genesis one tells us that it was habitable. 201 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,320 But it wasn't quite what Eden was. 202 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:34,040 The whole world needs to be like God's home. 203 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:39,640 He could do the job himself, but he chose to create human imagers to do it for him and 204 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,160 I would add with him. 205 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,440 He issued the decree. 206 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,100 They were supposed to make it happen. 207 00:15:47,100 --> 00:15:51,920 They were to do that by multiplying and following God's direction. 208 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:56,240 Eden is where the idea of the kingdom of God begins. 209 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:03,920 And it's no coincidence that the Bible ends with the vision of a new Edenic earth. 210 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,720 In Revelation 21 and 22. 211 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:15,560 That's the end of the excerpt from Heiser's book, the unseen realm chapter seven. 212 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:22,640 So we can deduce a few things about the original rest of God and the rest that humans enjoyed 213 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:27,560 in their untarnished relationship with God. 214 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:33,760 Eden functions as a metaphor for the particular place in the physical universe where God 215 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:38,440 decides to live with his human family members on the earth. 216 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:43,920 And a home is where one ought to be most at ease from the stresses and pressures of the 217 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:46,240 outside world. 218 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:51,760 It's where one can let their hair down, so to speak, and feel totally free to be yourself 219 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,640 without fear of negative judgment from others. 220 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,400 Not that you won't receive negative judgment from your family members. 221 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,600 We do all the time, don't we? 222 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:04,880 It's just that you don't have fear of negative judgment because who cares what your big sister 223 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,080 thinks, right? 224 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:15,680 And so God was at rest, a particular rest, from an adversarial relationship with his 225 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:18,480 human and non-human children. 226 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:20,840 That's very important. 227 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,720 There is a particular rest represented here. 228 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:33,920 It is a rest from an adversarial relationship with both his human and non-human children. 229 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:38,240 Everyone enjoyed being on good terms with one another. 230 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:45,080 They all enjoyed the unlimited provision afforded with being family members of a royal household 231 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:52,360 and what that would entail, which is in this instance, it included not only luxurious material 232 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,400 provisions but also eternal life. 233 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:03,160 What the rest described clearly does not mean is that both God and his family members were 234 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,440 somehow inactive. 235 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,800 There's lots of activity going on in this scenario. 236 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:16,580 God's rounding up animals and trotting them before Adam and he gives Adam the responsibility 237 00:18:16,580 --> 00:18:19,760 of naming the animals. 238 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:24,840 In addition to God's mandate to fill the rest of the earth and subdue it, Adam had to use 239 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:33,280 his God-given creative energy and creative will to produce something as an assignment 240 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,400 from God. 241 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:42,160 All of this is very important because it provides us with a clue as to what God has in mind 242 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:49,680 in the eternal state, which is described throughout scripture as a new heaven and a new earth. 243 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:58,600 Just like we've stated in previous episodes, there is no plan B. As we close out this topic, 244 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:05,680 it's important to keep in mind when we interpret some passages from the New Testament in particular 245 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:11,120 that refer back to this concept of rest, like Hebrews chapter 4. 246 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:16,200 The entire book of Hebrews describes entering into the rest of God through believing faith 247 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,840 in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 248 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:26,320 Jesus Christ provides the particular finished work, just like God was finished on the seventh 249 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:31,960 day with creating the physical universe, Jesus Christ was finished at his resurrection from 250 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,480 the dead with making peace between God and man. 251 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:43,640 Jesus Christ provides the particular finished work of being at rest from an adversarial 252 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,180 relationship with God. 253 00:19:47,180 --> 00:19:50,680 We are at peace or at rest with God. 254 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:55,880 We don't have to earn our way into his favor through the works of the Old Testament law 255 00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:01,600 anymore, which never worked anyway. 256 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:06,800 It does not mean that God intends life here and now, nor in the future, to be some permanent 257 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:07,800 vacation. 258 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:08,840 That is not what it means. 259 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,360 It can't mean that because it never meant that. 260 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:19,240 So let's look at this statement from Jesus himself, just to wind things up. 261 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:24,400 This is from Matthew chapter 11, starting in verse 27. 262 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,080 Now think about what's being said here. 263 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:35,160 All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except 264 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,160 to the father. 265 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:44,040 And no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal 266 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:45,440 him. 267 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:47,480 So there it is. 268 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,120 We come into a relationship with God. 269 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:54,200 We're at peace with God through the person of Jesus Christ. 270 00:20:54,200 --> 00:21:03,340 Then verse 28, and you'll know this passage, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, 271 00:21:03,340 --> 00:21:07,960 and I will give you what? 272 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:08,960 Rest. 273 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:12,520 And then Jesus is going to describe what that means. 274 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:17,800 Verse 29, take my yoke upon you. 275 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:19,400 Now let me ask you a question. 276 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,240 Let's stop there. 277 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,120 What is a yoke? 278 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:27,720 What does a yoke function to do? 279 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,360 Most of you will know this in case you don't. 280 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:40,480 A yoke in the olden days is a tool with which they would harness an animal, usually an ox. 281 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,400 The horses could also take a yoke. 282 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:50,640 You would put it on an animal so that the animal could do what? 283 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,440 Work for you. 284 00:21:54,440 --> 00:22:00,120 Jesus is saying take my yoke upon you. 285 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:03,920 Jesus has work for you to do. 286 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:04,920 That's what that means. 287 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:06,560 It can't mean anything else. 288 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,280 I've got work for you to do. 289 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:14,680 He says take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and 290 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:19,700 you will find rest for what? 291 00:22:19,700 --> 00:22:22,700 Your souls. 292 00:22:22,700 --> 00:22:25,940 The rest isn't for your mind and body. 293 00:22:25,940 --> 00:22:28,300 It's for your soul. 294 00:22:28,300 --> 00:22:33,680 You will find rest from an adversarial relationship with God. 295 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:46,680 Verse 30, for my yoke, the work that I have for you is easy and my burden, my burden is 296 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,260 light. 297 00:22:48,260 --> 00:22:49,680 So God has a yoke for you. 298 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,560 He has work for you just like he gave Adam responsibility. 299 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:59,760 He intends to give you responsibility but the responsibility isn't burdensome like life 300 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,280 under the hot sun in this world. 301 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:11,000 God intends for us to receive a yoke of responsibility which will carry for all eternity but it's 302 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,680 going to be light. 303 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:14,400 It's going to be life giving. 304 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:15,860 It's going to be joy giving. 305 00:23:15,860 --> 00:23:19,060 It's going to be meaning giving. 306 00:23:19,060 --> 00:23:20,680 It's a good plan. 307 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:27,680 It isn't like life under this cursed world which is under the curse of sin and death 308 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:28,680 right now. 309 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:29,680 It's not like that. 310 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,080 It's going to be something completely different. 311 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:36,200 So the idea of rest is a particular rest. 312 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:41,640 It is rest from an adversarial relationship with God through faith in the work and person 313 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,600 of Jesus Christ. 314 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:48,920 The work of bringing peace between God and man was finished just like God's work was 315 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,080 finished of creating the physical universe on the seventh day. 316 00:23:53,080 --> 00:24:00,200 Jesus' work of creating peace between God and man was finished at his resurrection from 317 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,560 the dead. 318 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:09,120 By the way, I'm not going to belabor this point but this is why Saturday is technically 319 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:17,800 the seventh day, the Sabbath, but Christians worship God on Sunday which is typically the 320 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:23,200 day which church tradition holds Jesus was raised from the dead. 321 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:28,420 I'm not interested in getting into the debate about whether or not Jesus was raised on Saturday 322 00:24:28,420 --> 00:24:29,420 or Sunday. 323 00:24:29,420 --> 00:24:30,760 I don't care. 324 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:37,240 The apostle Paul says in Colossians 2, 16, let no one judge you by what you eat or drink 325 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:43,840 with regard to a feast, a new moon, or a Sabbath because these are a shadow of the things to 326 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,120 come but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. 327 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:50,080 Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. 328 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:56,880 I'm in a permanent Sabbath rest through faith in the work and person of Jesus Christ. 329 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:06,440 And so I'm free from all those rules and laws and regulations and I'm grateful for that 330 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:07,960 and you ought to be as well. 331 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:14,440 And all of this that we're reading is really pointing to the person and the work of Jesus 332 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:23,800 Christ through whom through faith in him and loyalty to him we are in a permanent rest 333 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:29,480 in a relationship with God and we look forward to a new Eden that God is going to establish 334 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:35,840 on the earth where we will be resurrected and placed to do the exact same thing that 335 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,480 God mandated to Adam and Eve. 336 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,500 So we have that to look forward to. 337 00:25:40,500 --> 00:25:41,880 It's going to be amazing. 338 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:49,600 This message ought to inspire us with great hope and confidence in what we're about here 339 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:50,600 on the earth here now. 340 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:57,680 We are here training in godliness to assume that role at some point in the future as a 341 00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,440 member of God's family. 342 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,680 So with that being said, thanks for joining us. 343 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:09,200 We will continue our study next week and hope to see you there. 344 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:10,200 Be blessed. 345 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,200 God bless.