“TAKE MY YOKE”
Cathy Hargett, Highway To Zion
As I was studying the words of Yeshua in Matthew 11:28-30, the Holy Spirit showed me that I have only fully “heard” part of these verses. I have heard His compassion and His love and His caring in that He desires to give us “rest for our souls”.
But this time I heard more. I heard about the level of devotion that He is requiring of those who follow Him. I learned about the “Transcendent Torah” and what it means to take His yoke upon us.
Like He always does, He transforms us with His Word. It is so amazingly breathtaking to see the intricacies of what He speaks. God decided to humble Himself and to take on the form of a man and to enter history as a Jewish man in the culture of Israel.
Using every Word of Torah, He revealed Himself as Elohim, the God of Israel, the Father, Son, and Ruach ha Kodesh. He lived the Word in perfection, explaining Himself in ways that His chosen ones would understand.
Many times, He spoke in parables and with idioms that they would have known and understood to be Messianic. He was clear about the Truth. He showed them that He is Torah. He is the Living Word. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
He said this –
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)
Yeshua was acknowledged as a rabbi, a rabbi who had authority. He was recognized as a rabbi by His disciples, lawyers, scribes, the common people, and even by the leaders of the Pharisees.
The issue for the Pharisees was, “by whose authority?” was He recognized as a rabbi? Yeshua told them plainly that His authority was not the authority of men.
“My teaching is not My own. It comes from the One who sent Me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own.”
(John 7:16)
There was a system of education among the Jewish people. It was the highest priority of the people of Israel to educate their children. Even though there are passages in the Bible that shed an unflattering light on the people who lived in the Galilee as being “unlearned”, the historical evidence reveals that this was an area of conscientious learning and following of Torah, the Word of God.
The youngest children, from age five or so until about age ten went to Beit Sefer, the House of the Book and these little ones, even the girls, were taught Torah. In fact, they were tasked with memorizing the entire Torah.
The next level (the girls didn’t go to this level) was the House of Learning, where from about age ten to about age fourteen, the students memorized what we know today as the prophets and the writings. If a student excelled, they could be eligible to go to the next level, which is the study to become a rabbi.
It is thought that most students made it through the first level. So even the first-level students had memorized all of Torah! After that, there was a filtering-out process. Only the very best students would make it to the level of actually taking on the “yoke of a rabbi”.
When a disciple took on the yoke of a rabbi, it meant much more than sitting in a classroom learning. In order to be eligible to follow the rabbi, the rabbi would have to deem a student capable of learning and following him to the point that they would be exactly like him.
They were expected to think like him, walk like him, speak like him, live like him, act like him, and to imitate him perfectly. This was a highly selective process.
This is the meaning of “take my yoke upon you”. It means “be like me” in all your ways. At some point, those who followed the rabbi could become rabbis themselves.
A person who was given this authority would then be able to teach his own interpretations of the Word, and his disciples would then follow him.
It was into this culture that our Messiah Yeshua, the Son of God, the Son of Man, lived His life on earth. He was a Rabbi like no other. His teaching came directly from God. His students were like no other – and this, my friends, is still true today!
The ones He selected were those that He knew would be able to hear Him and to follow Him, and to take His yoke upon them. These were those who would seek to be just like Him. Do we really understand that Yeshua chose us for Himself and that He believes we are capable of following Him by the power of the Holy Spirit?
What a humbling privilege to be chosen by Him to take on His yoke.
And this is where I find my total amazement today, at this very moment – this is the level of life with Him that He is requiring of me, and of you, if we profess to be His disciples. Yeshua wants us to live like Him, walk like Him, talk like Him, think like Him, love like Him, heal like Him, and to do the things He does.
He is not asking us to follow a rule book or live a legalistic life of ritual obedience. He is requiring much more than that. He is telling us to take on His yoke, which far surpasses rules, regulations, and following the traditions of men. God, in His mercy, saw it was impossible for man to do this.
He came Himself to make a way for us to do even more than this! His burden that is easy and His yoke that is light requires of us this one thing – love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself. He says that “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40).
And He, through his sinless life, receives you into Himself to live. You live in Him. You live in His heart. You are alive inside of the “Transcendent Torah”, the perfect One, the sinless One, the Savior of your soul, the Living Word.
Yeshua quoted vast truth from the passage in Jeremiah 6:16 when He gave us the words of Matthew 11:28-30. Compare those Scriptures and you will see. Here’s Jeremiah 6:16:
“This is what the Lord says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls..”
(Jeremiah 6:16)
Yeshua revealed so much with these few words. He said that He is the Ancient Way. He is the Way. He is the One of Whom the prophets spoke. He is the Messiah of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In the Torah/the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets, He is revealed. He is God. He is the God of Israel. He has fulfilled every requirement to reconcile man back to God. We learn of Him from following the Ancient Way. We see Him as the revelation of the Living Word, the Transcendent Torah. Without Torah, we do not see or comprehend the “real Jesus”.
“..This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
(Luke 24:44)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.”
(Matthew 5:17)
This yoke He is giving us is easy, and this burden is light because He has paid the price to mark you as one who has fulfilled Torah. We are counted as righteous and justified as if we, ourselves, had perfectly kept all of Torah.
Wearing the yoke of this Rabbi means that you are looked upon as having fulfilled all the requirements of Torah because you are marked with the blood of the covenant of Messiah Yeshua.
You have now been accepted, you take on Yeshua, you clothe yourself with Him. You die with Him and you live with Him – your whole life is His. There is nothing more important, more significant, more intimate, more desirable than this one thing, not your family, not your vocation, and not your personal desires.
You leave all these things to follow Him. He is above all and in all. In this way, we find rest for our souls.
Cathy Hargett, Highway to Zion Ministries
http://www.highwaytozion.org
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