The All-Inclusive Christ as Revealed in Matthew
Message Five
Christ as the One Who Gives Us Rest
THE EXTRACT OF THE OUTLINES
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light—Matt. 11:28-30.
……You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you—Exo. 31:13.
Word of Appetizer
After the long section regarding the building of God’s habitation, Exodus 31:12-17 reiterates the commandment to keep the Sabbath. Why was it necessary to reiterate this particular commandment?
The insertion of the word concerning the Sabbath after the charge for the work of building the tabernacle indicates that the Lord charged the builders, the workers, to learn how to rest with the Lord in their work for Him. If we know only how to work for the Lord but not how to rest with Him, we violate a divine principle.
Keeping the Sabbath is also a perpetual covenant, an eternal agreement, assuring God that we are one with Him by first enjoying Him and being filled with Him and then by working for Him, with Him, and as one with Him.
Spiritual Burden
If we take the Lord’s yoke (the Father’s will) and learn from Him, we will find rest in our souls. The yoke of God’s economy is like this. In God’s economy everything is not a burden but an enjoyment.
The work of building the tabernacle with all its utensils (a type of the Lord’s work to build the church) should begin with the enjoyment of God and should continue with the refreshment that comes from enjoying Him. This indicates that we work for God not by our own strength but by enjoying Him and being one with Him. This is the principle of keeping the Sabbath by taking Christ as our inner rest in our spirit.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
“Come to Me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
After a long section concerning the building of God’s habitation, Exodus 31:12-17 reiterates the commandment to keep the Sabbath. According to Colossians 2:16-17, Christ is the reality of the Sabbath rest. He is our completion, rest, peace, and full satisfaction.
The Experience of Life
It is God who operates in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure, that we may carry out His will. God works in us for His good pleasure, that we may will and may work. We learn from the Lord by following His pattern not in our natural life but by His life in us in resurrection.
Man was created not first to work but to be satisfied with God and to rest with God. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. To God, the seventh day was a day of rest and refreshment. However, to man, God’s companion, the day of rest and refreshment was the first day. Man’s first day was a day of enjoyment.
Practice and Application
Christ is the first God-man, and we are the many God-men. We must learn from Him in His absolute submission to God and His perfect satisfaction with God.
In doing the divine work of God to build up the church (typified by the work of building the tabernacle), we must bear a sign indicating that we are God’s people and that we need Him. Then we will be able to work not only for God but also with God as one. He will be our strength for working and the power for our labor.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Come to Me, All You Who Labor and Are Encumbered, and I Will Give You Rest (Matt. 11:28-29)
(Please illustrate what the inner significance of rest is.)
T2 To Take the Lord’s Yoke Is to Accept the Father’s Will (Matt. 11:29-30)
(Please illustrate what the way to get rest is.)
Day 2
T1 Christ Is Not Only Life to Us but Also a Pattern (John 13:15; Eph. 4:20)
(Please illustrate that to have learned Christ is to be conformed to the image of Christ in the mold of Christ as the pattern.)
T2 The Kingdom Life—Having Some Work but No Encumbrance (Eph. 4:20-21; Rom. 8:29)
(Please illustrate that the life of the kingdom is a life of feasting, a life of enjoyment, and a life of rest.)
Day 3
T1 We Should Not Work and Forget to Rest with the Lord (Exo. 31:13; Gen. 2:2)
(What is indicated by the insertion of the word concerning the Sabbath after the charge for the work of building the tabernacle?)
T2 When We Co-work with the Lord, We Must Learn How to Rest with Him (Gen. 2:2)
(Please illustrate what the principle of the Sabbath is.)
Day 4
T1 God Saw the Man He Had Created and Was Rested and Refreshed (Exo. 31:17)
(Please illustrate what refreshed God.)
T2 It Is Not Good for the Man to Be Alone; I Will Make Him a Helper as His Counterpart (Gen. 2:18; Exo. 31:17)
(Please illustrate what the typical significance of Genesis 2:18 indicates.)
Day 5
T1 If We Do Not Know How to Enjoy God and Be Filled with God, We Will Not Know How to Co-work with Him (Exo. 31:13; Acts 2:4)
(Please illustrate what the way is to co-work with God, to work by being one with Him.)
T2 Man’s First Day Was God’s Seventh Day (Exo. 31:13; Acts 2:4)
(Please illustrate that man’s Sabbath was after the completion of God’s work.)
Day 6
T1 You Shall Surely Keep My Sabbaths (Exo. 31:13-14, 16)
(Please illustrate that to work for the Lord by ourselves, without praying to Him and trusting in Him, is a serious matter.)
T2 The Tabernacle and Its Utensils Lead Us to Enjoy What God Has Purposed and Accomplished (Exo. 31:13-14, 16)
(Giving examples of how the tabernacle and all its utensils lead us to rest.)
