The Sabbath: A Journey Toward Rest
Photo by Elias Ehmann on Unsplash
So, the process of rest begins when we are ready to be freed from the old yoke. We approach Him and allow Him to remove this heavy yoke that we have been burdened under, a yoke that has become increasingly heavier on both our shoulders and upon our souls. We trade this yoke for His. As we place His yoke upon our shoulders it is, at first, unfamiliar and uncomfortable. This is why He says that we must learn from Him, learn to bear His yoke. What does this mean? It means learning to walk in faith–to no longer just see and interact with the world as it is, but also as it will be. The beauty of God’s word, His Torah, is that it gives us practical wisdom for engaging the world as it is today, but its power and its mystery lie in the fact that it is a window into the future, into the reality that is drawing near. This is why Paul calls us to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth”(Colossians 3:1-2). This is why the yoke is, at first, unfamiliar because we are not accustomed to seeing, thinking, and living in this manner. This was the example set from the beginning, when God called our forefathers.
Hebrews 11:8-10
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going . By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, their heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Like Abraham, we are called to leave, to go out from the place in which we have been dwelling. Our journey is toward this new country, this heavenly city. It is when Christ removes the old yoke and places His upon us that our journey begins, for we cannot take the old with us, and we cannot begin without the new. Along the way we learn, just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did, how to bear His yoke, the yoke of faith. In Romans, Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Faith is a journey that is traveled more so with the ears than with the eyes. It is vital that we understand this. It was by hearing the word of God, that Abraham was able to travel, not knowing where he was headed, yet remain assured that he was on the right path. It was by hearing that he dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, strangers in the land of promise, yet fully assured that he was exactly where God destined him to be. Had he been looking with his eyes only, then there would have been much cause for doubt and confusion. For when he arrived in the land, there were many trials, such as barrenness and famine, yet he pressed forward. This is why many struggle with faith, struggle to bear His yoke, because they are trying to understand with their eyes and with their own understanding. Not Abraham. Though the land looked desolate and unpromising, by hearing the word of God, he knew he was standing in the midst of the city which has foundations, and whose builder and maker is God. God was speaking it to him, and because he was listening, he was able to “see” it. Our journey of faith requires the same–that we learn to travel by what we hear and not always by what we see, because what we perceive with the eyes will, at times, contradict what we hear. This is the journey of faith; this is what it means to take His yoke upon us and to learn from the One who demonstrated how to live in this world but not of it.
This was the purpose of Israel’s journey from Egypt toward the land of their inheritance, to learn how to hear. God delivered Israel from the oppressive yoke of Egypt and attempted to place His yoke of freedom upon them, this yoke of faith. It was indeed lighter, but the people didn’t know how to bear it. Therefore, God needed to teach them. For forty years they wandered and struggled because they refused to learn. They became overwhelmed by what they were seeing with their eyes–the vastness of the wilderness seemed more like certain death than it did an opportunity for freedom. Not only that, but they became embittered by the grumbling of their stomachs and the dryness of their throats. Thus, the yoke that was intended to be light became more of a burden than the previous one. This is why there was a part of them that always yearned and cried out for the old yoke:
Numbers 11:4-6
“Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”
The people quickly became disheartened by what they physically lacked instead of understanding what they were spiritually gaining. Had they understood, they would have turned in faith to the One who could provide what they physically needed. Even more, instead of fixing their eyes forward toward that city whose builder and maker is God, they opted to look back in longing for the city of their captivity and oppression. They yearned to exchange the the yoke of freedom for the heavy yoke of oppression. Hebrews tells us that because of their lack of faith, this generation came up short: “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as them; but the word which they hearddid not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it”(4:2). From the beginning, the issue has always been about faith. It begins with hearing, but hearing must be accompanied by believing, and believing must produce obedience. This is the process of faith. God spoke of a kingdom not seen with the eyes, and He promised Abraham a multitude that had yet been born. Abraham heard, and though he did not see it with his eyes, he perceived it by faith. What does this mean? In Paul’s words, Abraham was “fully convinced that what He (God) had promised He was able to perform”(Romans 4:21). Because he was convinced of those things that had yet to come, he set out after them. He followed what he heard, “not having received the promises, but having seen them, afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth”(Hebrews 11:13). Our journey from here to the kingdom holds the same purpose as Abraham’s journey to Canaan and Israel’s journey through the wilderness. It is a process of developing faith, a faith that hears, believes, and responds to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. As faith develops and comes to maturity, we not only perceive the coming kingdom with more clarity, but we also, like Abraham, bring the kingdom closer to this world… we close the gap between who we are and who we are destined to be.
What role, then, does Sabbath play in this process? The road to Sabbath is our weekly journey, just as our days upon this earth are a journey to His ultimate rest. Six days a week we travel the road of faith as strangers and pilgrims toward the destination God established from the beginning: rest. On the seventh day, we arrive at our destination and cross over into His rest, into His appointed time of restoration and sanctification. During each of the six days, we do not wander aimlessly, rather we set out into the so-called wilderness to learn, to seek, to be tested, and to mature in faith. Daily, we exercise our faith by listening for His voice, attuning our ears and hearts to His word in a sea of noise and distraction. Six days a week, we experience hunger and thirst, loneliness and fear, fatigue and temptation, just as Israel did on their journey. When these come upon us, we, too, long for our thirst to be satisfied, we crave companionship, and we yearn for comfort and assurance. The world offers various alternatives to satisfy all of these needs–bread and water of sorts–but the question is, will we seek rest in all that the world offers, or will we continue on toward the promise of His rest? This is the purpose of the journey–our life journey, and our weekly journey–God wants to know and reveal what is in our hearts, if we will live by every word that comes from His mouth or not. If we will trust that these words will carry us to His destination and sustain us along the way. Will we keep our eyes set on the destination, His determined rest, or will we follow our own intuition? Will we travel by the dictates of our own hearts, concede to our feelings, conform to those around us, allow our hearts to turn back from where we came? This is the purpose of our lives–to reach the rest that He has prepared for us at the end of the age. Every week, we are given the opportunity to travel and experience the same journey.
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