Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened; Come — not to sect services that claim he is there, not to prayer meetings, not to altar calls, not to read the Bible — but directly to him, by silently waiting on him, listening for his voiced commands and teachings. Come all of you who labor against sin; all of you who are heavy burdened with your sins. (Blessed are those who know they are poor in Holy Spirit; Blessed are those who mourn under their burden of sin.) The order, (not just to the Jews then, but to all of us who suffer with our sins) is to come to me, and learn from me. How? You must go to him. You must wait on him - listen silently, with the humility of a sinner in need of his changing power - grace. Seek, listen, obey..seek, listen, obey.....seek, listen, obey. Do this persistently, staying obedient to all the commands you are told to do, and you will experience all the promises of God, including the rest.
I will give you rest, and you will find rest for your souls. So that we enter what rest? To cease from your own labors. To cease even from your own thoughts. Since the carnal mind is enmity with God, it is destroyed by grace on the inward cross of self-denial and replaced with the mind of Christ, supplying the thoughts, the words and deeds. So that we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), 2 Cor 10:5. So that we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart, 1 Cor 2:16. So you can Strip yourselves of your former nature that controlled your conduct, which corrupts itself through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the newly created nature [of Christ], which is created in God's image of true righteousness and holiness. Eph 4:22-24.
When the carnal mind is destroyed, man's thoughts and labors cease; he enters into the rest of God, with God supplying the power and energy, direction, promptings, and knowledge. Man no longer works for his food. The restored man's works are powered and prompted by the Spirit of God:
This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing; yet they would not hear. Isa 28:12
Therefore, since a promise of entering into his rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of you should come short of it. Heb 4:1
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Mat 11:29
For he who has entered His rest, has himself also ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Heb 4:10
George Fox described the Sabbath rest of the Christian, being a rest into Christ Jesus, saying: "Think not your own thoughts, for in Christ we are atop that nature where evil thoughts are, that nature [having been] taken away by Christ. So you should not think your own thoughts, do your own works, [or] speak your own words." The blood of Jesus is sprinkled on your conscience to purge you of dead works (you own will's works), so that you do works prompted by and energized by God. This blood is to be witnessed, (as in experienced); it is one of the three witnesses on earth.
Jesus said: Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? Mat 6:27. Until Jesus Christ controls our words, actions, and thoughts, he is not our Lord - we can call him Lord, but that doesn't mean he rules us as our Lord, or that we obey him as his servant. Remember Jesus said: Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, John 8:34. If we are a slave to sin, he can't be our Lord and Master because a man cannot serve two masters; he must hate one, to serve the other.
This rest is like the Sabbath rest, a mere shadow of the Christian's glorious rest, which Hebrews severely warns us against failing to enter: Since a promise is left us of entering into his rest, let us fear, lest any of you should seem to come short of it. Heb 4:1. This rest is what Jesus promised: Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Mat 11:29. This is the rest with which you cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isa 28:12. This is a serious warning to all who name themselves Christians: to avoid losing your soul and being banned from heaven, as the Jews were killed in the desert and banned from entering the promise land because of unbelief in God's promises, you must zealously labor in faith to attain the promised rest of the spiritual Sabbath, which is union with God and entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, within you and around you.
We sit down with Christ in the heavens to enter the rest, to enter the rest from fighting our enemies; like Israel entered the rest from fighting and purging their land of the surrounding heathen peoples. Only our enemies are spiritual: lust, rage, pride, selfishness, envy, greed, covetousness, jealousy, lying, cheating, stealing, sexual immorality, profane language, and evil thoughts, etc. Salvation is to be delivered from sin and be protected from evil, (sanctified), from our enemies of sin. But you who would be a Christian and to be freed from sin — you must believe in, hope for, and strive to realize God's promise to set the captives free, to become free of sin; otherwise, you too will perish in the spiritual wilderness without ever entering the promise land - heaven. Don't be like the Jews who said they could not conquer the giants and refused to cross the Jordan to do battle, even with God fighting for them; don't say sin can't be conquered, even with God's promised help; don't say who can war with the beast? Because victory over sin, our enemies within our heart, is the promised salvation.
That he would grant unto us,
that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. Luke 1:74-5
2 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; What yoke? The yoke of obedience, and the humility of learning, which requires waiting, silently, listening for his voice — which your brain does not want to do and will tell you you are wasting your time. But do not be discouraged if you don't hear for some time. Even your waiting is to your credit: Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping on you. Psalms 33:22. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God beside you, who acts for the one who waits for him. Isa 64:4.
You will eventually hear. Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. Proverbs 8:34, Luke 11:28.
His burden is light, his yoke is easy, with no blood loss like his.
