0:00:00 - 0:00:34 Before the birth of Jesus. His coming was announced through visitation by the angel Gabriel to his mother Mary. And um also through visitation to Joseph when they were in Bethlehem, we read in Luke chapter two that an angel appeared to shepherds outside of the city to tell them what was about to happen 0:00:33 - 0:01:01 . The angel said for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ, the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and 0:01:01 - 0:01:44 saying glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace, good will toward men. Having experienced what this multitude of the heavenly host is like and what they sound like when they praise God and sing. Um I can imagine what these shepherds were feeling. This story is frequently shared in celebration 0:01:43 - 0:02:20 of this time of year in celebration of the birth of the Lord. One thing that is not commonly um contemplated is the juxtaposition between the multitude of angels that came announcing His birth and the winnowing ministry of angels during his life. The presumption is that during his life, he was attended 0:02:19 - 0:02:56 to by angels uh as a common course that this was something that, that occurred regularly throughout his life. Um I don't suppose it's quite necessary for the purposes of this video to correct that understanding. But when the gospel record picks up again, um it does so around the time of his baptism when 0:02:56 - 0:03:31 he was in the wilderness facing um significant temptation. And it says that after that temptation was complete and he had conquered Satan, that angels ministered to him. After that, the next time we have the description of an angelic ministration to Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. At that time 0:03:30 - 0:04:00 , it's not a multitude of angels that minister to him or even a plurality of angels as it was at his birth and at the conclusion of his wilderness temptation respectively, it is one angel interestingly to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus brought Peter James and John, but all three of them fell asleep 0:03:59 - 0:04:30 multiple times through the experience. The description of the experience is not interrupted though. And this begs the question of how Peter or James or John came to know what occurred while they were asleep. Like all gospel questions, this has an answer and like most gospel questions, it's important 0:04:29 - 0:05:28 . One question to ask is who was this angel? And what did he or she do in John six um sorry, I lost my place here. Um We, we do read what, what happened there. Um I lost my note. Um But here it is sorry for that delay. In Luke 22 we read there appeared an angel unto him, Jesus from heaven, strengthening 0:05:27 - 0:06:02 him. So here's another important question. What exactly could any angel do to help Jesus? What is it that this angel did or said that provided him with strength? If an angel were to come to you and that angel had more light than you, they would be able to strengthen you quite easily through conveying 0:06:01 - 0:06:27 to you greater faith through their greater knowledge, familiarity with God, with God's will and with the power of the pronouncement of what they know and how they know it, it'd be a palpable power that you wouldn't just have to rely on your ears to perceive it would be something you could feel. It'd 0:06:27 - 0:06:58 be something that you could not deny. However, how could an angel necessarily with less light than Jesus? How could an angel, any angel strengthen him? This is an important question and it's one that has an answer and that answer is also very important. But none of these questions are the subject, the 0:06:58 - 0:07:29 direct subject of this video. The following question is, where were the angels at this time? Why was there only one? Where were the multitudes that appeared prior to his birth? Where was uh the angel that announced his birth to Mary, where was the angel that came with the multitudes? Since there was 0:07:29 - 0:07:56 one angel in Gethsemane. It is possible just going off of the record that the angel that visited Mary who was Gabriel was also the unnamed angel that appeared to the shepherds and also the angel that appeared in get semi um that is possible going off of the record, but it doesn't explain why there weren't 0:07:56 - 0:08:26 more angels. We know that there were more than one in the wilderness after that temptation. So why the difference? Here's my point with this as we share this story of his birth and as we celebrate for those of you who do his birth at Christmas time, we should all ask, where were the angels at the time 0:08:26 - 0:08:58 of his greatest need? They did not provide support or um but we'll just leave it at that. They weren't there to support him at the time of his greatest need. So why not? Why were they there to celebrate his birth but not to help support him in his death? So what's the application of this? Uh It doesn't 0:08:58 - 0:09:29 do much good criticizing angels. The question is, do we do the same thing? So the apostles themselves, they abandoned Jesus in his greatest hour of need. Interestingly, the Lord's mission began and ended in places that were named Bethany. He was baptized by John and Bethany uh by Jordan and he ended 0:09:28 - 0:10:00 his ministry by Bethany. That was near Jerusalem. It is right by the Mount of Olives. Bethany is a, a word that uh in Hebrew, it means um house of figs. Interestingly around that time when Jesus was, was going to Jerusalem in the end, uh he passed a fig tree, it says he was very hungry and he passed 0:10:00 - 0:10:27 a fig tree and the fig tree had no fruit and he cursed it and it withered and died. The fig is one of the two most fruitful fruits in the sense of the greatest number of seeds. The other is the pomegranate. And if you look at uh temple symbology, there were pomegranates all over the place in the ancient 0:10:26 - 0:10:56 temples. So this fruitfulness is obviously a very important theme in the gospel. A very important idea. Interestingly, both pomegranates and figs are red figs are very sweet and pomegranates are bitter. So there's a lot of important imagery here. Um again, not the focus of this video, but um I bring 0:10:56 - 0:11:23 this up because origin the ancient uh Christian scholar, he had a, a different idea about the meaning of Bethany. And I believe he said it meant the house of obedience and whether he was right or wrong. It is interesting to think about how Jesus began and ended his ministry with obedience to specific 0:11:23 - 0:11:58 commandments from the Father to uh begin his public life as the Son of God at his baptism and to end it on the cross. So as we try to apply. Well as we try to worship God in this season and all year and every year of our lives, it's quite important to not just think about Jesus in the manger, but also 0:11:58 - 0:12:28 Jesus on the cross and Jesus in the garden in particular, because it's not just about celebrating the fact that he came, it's about living according to how he lived and if need be dying according to how he died, inform if not literally in the same way, this idea of total subjection to the will of the 0:12:28 - 0:12:53 father from start to finish. Without exception, this idea of a journey, you can actually trace his path through Israel during this uh ministry. And not very exactly because the gospels don't provide uh uh sufficient information or concordant information to be able to do that. But there is some, some 0:12:52 - 0:13:20 , some very interesting. Um there are interesting facets uh and patterns in that in his transit up and down. Um whether that be north and south east or west or changes in elevation cities, he came from cities, he went to, it's all very interesting. But um zooming out the point is from start to finish 0:13:19 - 0:13:51 . His ministry was about obedience to the father, no matter what it cost him. And so um to wrap this up, I want to share um a King James passage of scripture and then I want to share my own reflection on this and there might be one other thing that I will share. Um I shall start with the other thing 0:13:51 - 0:14:17 just as with the angels, it's a lot easier to find people who are willing to celebrate the birth of Jesus than the suffering and death of Jesus. And you might counter that by saying, yeah, but Easter, um I don't see a lot of people applying the message of Easter to their lives in the way that I'm describing 0:14:16 - 0:14:50 um celebrating by emulating rather than this detached recognition. So the one way of doing this, the detached recognition, what I'm calling that is more like um rehashing a story even in, in great gratitude for something that was done for you versus going and doing likewise and doing for others. What 0:14:49 - 0:15:22 has been done for you and that is what the gospel is all about. There's tremendous value in the one, but there's much greater value in the other. So as we think about the um the sparsity of these angels in the end, we should think about the sparsity of supposed Christians who uh it's hard to find long 0:15:21 - 0:15:53 lines of Christians who are waiting for the opportunity to live and die like Jesus in full obedience to the Father. In one of his uh later sermons, the Lord in John six who gives a fantastic, extremely rich sermon about being the bread of life. The result of this sermon was that he lost a significant 0:15:52 - 0:16:19 number of followers, it needed to be said. But it was a very painful thing to go through. And he knew what would happen in saying the things that he did. Some of the things he said during this sermon were the following verse 38. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him 0:16:19 - 0:16:51 that sent me um verse 33 for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Verse 29 I'll read 28 and 29. Then said, Dan, to Him, what shall we do that? We might work the works of God. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that ye believe on 0:16:50 - 0:17:34 Him whom he hath sent. And then finally, if I can find it, then Jesus said, um this is ver starting in verse 53 I'll read a few few of these. Then Jesus said unto them verily verily, I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. Ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my 0:17:34 - 0:17:58 flesh and bringeth my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and bringeth my blood dwelleth in me and I in Him. And as the living father hath sent me and I live by the father. So he that eateth 0:17:58 - 0:18:26 me even he shall live by me and then skipping down to verse 60. Many therefore of his disciples. When they heard this said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? And then it says that um from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. So one question is why was this so 0:18:26 - 0:18:50 hard to hear? What about this was so difficult? Why did this cause so many of his disciples to stop following him? They had been through a lot with him by this point, many of them at least, and the others seemed full of great enthusiasm to follow him. So why did they turn away from this? Um As I've discussed 0:18:49 - 0:19:15 this with people, some people uh believe that it, it was because the the teaching involved him mentioning eating a person or drinking a person's blood. And um that's not the case. They knew what he was saying. It might be hard for us. Other people say, well, it's confusing and that's not true either 0:19:15 - 0:19:38 . It might be hard for us to see how this was a very plain teaching. But it's because we're in a very different time and place and culture. They knew what he was saying. The people at that time, just like the people at this time were very happy to entertain someone who comes claiming that they are special 0:19:38 - 0:20:08 and because they are special, the people that profess to believe what they're saying are also special without any necessity for change. That was never jesus' message from day one. He preached that in order to be better, you had to actually be better at the tail end of his ministry. After demonstrating 0:20:07 - 0:20:36 again and again and again, how the father was through how he was Jesus was. He is now punctuating this message by saying I have come down from heaven to show you how the father is so that you can also be like him so that you can change and forsake the things that you understand are not according to how 0:20:36 - 0:21:03 he is and choose to act as he does just as I have done. And this is what offended them. This is what caused them to turn away because they weren't interested in that. That's not what they wanted to hear. Now, this was before he publicly suffered and died. But already that was too much. They weren't interested 0:21:02 - 0:00:00 in that. They weren't interested in laying aside their lives and taking up his cross. And they didn't even know the full scope of what that cross entailed yet. But already it was just too much and they weren't interested. So with that, I'm going to wrap up by reading um this passage from Matthew 11. 0:00:00 - 0:21:57 He says, uh in verse tw starting in verse 28 come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest that's appealing for people to hear because it's like giving them free loaves and fishes, which Jesus did. And many people followed him after that happened because people want free 0:21:57 - 0:22:21 bread and free fish. But what they're not interested in is the power that produces the bread and the fish. They're, they'll be interested in it. If you tell them that someone can hand it to you or that you magically get it just by believing in the right person. But that isn't jesus' message. The powers 0:22:21 - 0:22:58 of heaven only operate through people who are like God in character and it works and it's a continuous thing. It's by degrees. So he did not come just to give the fruits of who he was. He came to illustrate the path to be like he is. And that is what we would do well to celebrate at Christmas and Easter 0:22:58 - 0:23:27 and everywhere in between and to live that message. So he says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy and I will give you rest. And then the very next verse he says how this works because it's not the way people think it works. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart 0:23:26 - 0:23:51 and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. There's a lot of confusion about these verses. People misunderstand what rest means and where it comes from and what it costs they misunderstand what Jesus meant when he said I am meek and lowly in heart. He was not a 0:23:51 - 0:24:22 pushover. He was not someone that um just withheld what he could have done. That's another definition of meekness is having power but not using it to be restrained. That's not what he meant. He was meek and lowly in heart because he was submissive in all things to the father. So he is the lamb of who 0:24:22 - 0:24:56 God, not the lamb of you or me. He does not cower to you or me. He submits to the father. And that is his power. That is the source of his power because it's the source of all heavenly power. And that is where rest comes from total submission to the father. And so if you want that rest, it doesn't come 0:24:55 - 0:25:23 from sitting on your bum and pretending that God doesn't exist till the moment when it's convenient to believe in Him or when you really need something and all of your efforts to obtain it have failed. It is a lifestyle. It is consummate, it is everything all the time. So when he says my yoke is easy 0:25:22 - 0:25:54 and my burden is light. It is a yoke and it is a burden. It is consummate. It is meant to envelop us to be sealed, is to be wrapped in an envelope and have a, a wax seal pressed on the part that opens so that it stays shut. If you envelope yourself in his will. That is how you will find rest. But that 0:25:53 - 0:26:14 rest. He said I give you peace. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. It's the same with his rest. It's not what you think of. When you hear the word, the good news is it's much better than that. But if you don't understand that it's obtained in a completely different way and it looks and feels and 0:26:14 - 0:26:40 smells different than everything you expect from the natural perspective. You're gonna miss it when it comes your way and you have the opportunity to, to obtain it, you're gonna miss it. It is a yoke and it is a burden and why it's easy and light, not in the mind of the carnal man. It isn't with respect 0:26:39 - 0:27:10 to reality. It is according to everything that God knows about how things really are and will be and the true cost and benefit of all things. It is the lightest burden there is, it is the easiest yoke there is. So you can reread verses 28 to 30 of Matthew 11. I want to share a reflection that I wrote 0:27:09 - 0:27:41 on these passages. This passage, these verses starting in verse 28. Come to me, all those who are cumbered by the burdens of this world and I will free you from them, make my burden your own and in me, you will find freedom from the burdens of this world I seek and do the father's will in all things 0:00:00 - 0:00:34 Before the birth of Jesus. His coming was announced through visitation by the angel Gabriel to his mother Mary. And um also through visitation to Joseph when they were in Bethlehem, we read in Luke chapter two that an angel appeared to shepherds outside of the city to tell them what was about to happen 0:00:33 - 0:01:01 . The angel said for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ, the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and 0:01:01 - 0:01:44 saying glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace, good will toward men. Having experienced what this multitude of the heavenly host is like and what they sound like when they praise God and sing. Um I can imagine what these shepherds were feeling. This story is frequently shared in celebration 0:01:43 - 0:02:20 of this time of year in celebration of the birth of the Lord. One thing that is not commonly um contemplated is the juxtaposition between the multitude of angels that came announcing His birth and the winnowing ministry of angels during his life. The presumption is that during his life, he was attended 0:02:19 - 0:02:56 to by angels uh as a common course that this was something that, that occurred regularly throughout his life. Um I don't suppose it's quite necessary for the purposes of this video to correct that understanding. But when the gospel record picks up again, um it does so around the time of his baptism when 0:02:56 - 0:03:31 he was in the wilderness facing um significant temptation. And it says that after that temptation was complete and he had conquered Satan, that angels ministered to him. After that, the next time we have the description of an angelic ministration to Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. At that time 0:03:30 - 0:04:00 , it's not a multitude of angels that minister to him or even a plurality of angels as it was at his birth and at the conclusion of his wilderness temptation respectively, it is one angel interestingly to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus brought Peter James and John, but all three of them fell asleep 0:03:59 - 0:04:30 multiple times through the experience. The description of the experience is not interrupted though. And this begs the question of how Peter or James or John came to know what occurred while they were asleep. Like all gospel questions, this has an answer and like most gospel questions, it's important 0:04:29 - 0:05:28 . One question to ask is who was this angel? And what did he or she do in John six um sorry, I lost my place here. Um We, we do read what, what happened there. Um I lost my note. Um But here it is sorry for that delay. In Luke 22 we read there appeared an angel unto him, Jesus from heaven, strengthening 0:05:27 - 0:06:02 him. So here's another important question. What exactly could any angel do to help Jesus? What is it that this angel did or said that provided him with strength? If an angel were to come to you and that angel had more light than you, they would be able to strengthen you quite easily through conveying 0:06:01 - 0:06:27 to you greater faith through their greater knowledge, familiarity with God, with God's will and with the power of the pronouncement of what they know and how they know it, it'd be a palpable power that you wouldn't just have to rely on your ears to perceive it would be something you could feel. It'd 0:06:27 - 0:06:58 be something that you could not deny. However, how could an angel necessarily with less light than Jesus? How could an angel, any angel strengthen him? This is an important question and it's one that has an answer and that answer is also very important. But none of these questions are the subject, the 0:06:58 - 0:07:29 direct subject of this video. The following question is, where were the angels at this time? Why was there only one? Where were the multitudes that appeared prior to his birth? Where was uh the angel that announced his birth to Mary, where was the angel that came with the multitudes? Since there was 0:07:29 - 0:07:56 one angel in Gethsemane. It is possible just going off of the record that the angel that visited Mary who was Gabriel was also the unnamed angel that appeared to the shepherds and also the angel that appeared in get semi um that is possible going off of the record, but it doesn't explain why there weren't 0:07:56 - 0:08:26 more angels. We know that there were more than one in the wilderness after that temptation. So why the difference? Here's my point with this as we share this story of his birth and as we celebrate for those of you who do his birth at Christmas time, we should all ask, where were the angels at the time 0:08:26 - 0:08:58 of his greatest need? They did not provide support or um but we'll just leave it at that. They weren't there to support him at the time of his greatest need. So why not? Why were they there to celebrate his birth but not to help support him in his death? So what's the application of this? Uh It doesn't 0:08:58 - 0:09:29 do much good criticizing angels. The question is, do we do the same thing? So the apostles themselves, they abandoned Jesus in his greatest hour of need. Interestingly, the Lord's mission began and ended in places that were named Bethany. He was baptized by John and Bethany uh by Jordan and he ended 0:09:28 - 0:10:00 his ministry by Bethany. That was near Jerusalem. It is right by the Mount of Olives. Bethany is a, a word that uh in Hebrew, it means um house of figs. Interestingly around that time when Jesus was, was going to Jerusalem in the end, uh he passed a fig tree, it says he was very hungry and he passed 0:10:00 - 0:10:27 a fig tree and the fig tree had no fruit and he cursed it and it withered and died. The fig is one of the two most fruitful fruits in the sense of the greatest number of seeds. The other is the pomegranate. And if you look at uh temple symbology, there were pomegranates all over the place in the ancient 0:10:26 - 0:10:56 temples. So this fruitfulness is obviously a very important theme in the gospel. A very important idea. Interestingly, both pomegranates and figs are red figs are very sweet and pomegranates are bitter. So there's a lot of important imagery here. Um again, not the focus of this video, but um I bring 0:10:56 - 0:11:23 this up because origin the ancient uh Christian scholar, he had a, a different idea about the meaning of Bethany. And I believe he said it meant the house of obedience and whether he was right or wrong. It is interesting to think about how Jesus began and ended his ministry with obedience to specific 0:11:23 - 0:11:58 commandments from the Father to uh begin his public life as the Son of God at his baptism and to end it on the cross. So as we try to apply. Well as we try to worship God in this season and all year and every year of our lives, it's quite important to not just think about Jesus in the manger, but also 0:11:58 - 0:12:28 Jesus on the cross and Jesus in the garden in particular, because it's not just about celebrating the fact that he came, it's about living according to how he lived and if need be dying according to how he died, inform if not literally in the same way, this idea of total subjection to the will of the 0:12:28 - 0:12:53 father from start to finish. Without exception, this idea of a journey, you can actually trace his path through Israel during this uh ministry. And not very exactly because the gospels don't provide uh uh sufficient information or concordant information to be able to do that. But there is some, some 0:12:52 - 0:13:20 , some very interesting. Um there are interesting facets uh and patterns in that in his transit up and down. Um whether that be north and south east or west or changes in elevation cities, he came from cities, he went to, it's all very interesting. But um zooming out the point is from start to finish 0:13:19 - 0:13:51 . His ministry was about obedience to the father, no matter what it cost him. And so um to wrap this up, I want to share um a King James passage of scripture and then I want to share my own reflection on this and there might be one other thing that I will share. Um I shall start with the other thing 0:13:51 - 0:14:17 just as with the angels, it's a lot easier to find people who are willing to celebrate the birth of Jesus than the suffering and death of Jesus. And you might counter that by saying, yeah, but Easter, um I don't see a lot of people applying the message of Easter to their lives in the way that I'm describing 0:14:16 - 0:14:50 um celebrating by emulating rather than this detached recognition. So the one way of doing this, the detached recognition, what I'm calling that is more like um rehashing a story even in, in great gratitude for something that was done for you versus going and doing likewise and doing for others. What 0:14:49 - 0:15:22 has been done for you and that is what the gospel is all about. There's tremendous value in the one, but there's much greater value in the other. So as we think about the um the sparsity of these angels in the end, we should think about the sparsity of supposed Christians who uh it's hard to find long 0:15:21 - 0:15:53 lines of Christians who are waiting for the opportunity to live and die like Jesus in full obedience to the Father. In one of his uh later sermons, the Lord in John six who gives a fantastic, extremely rich sermon about being the bread of life. The result of this sermon was that he lost a significant 0:15:52 - 0:16:19 number of followers, it needed to be said. But it was a very painful thing to go through. And he knew what would happen in saying the things that he did. Some of the things he said during this sermon were the following verse 38. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him 0:16:19 - 0:16:51 that sent me um verse 33 for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Verse 29 I'll read 28 and 29. Then said, Dan, to Him, what shall we do that? We might work the works of God. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that ye believe on 0:16:50 - 0:17:34 Him whom he hath sent. And then finally, if I can find it, then Jesus said, um this is ver starting in verse 53 I'll read a few few of these. Then Jesus said unto them verily verily, I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. Ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my 0:17:34 - 0:17:58 flesh and bringeth my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and bringeth my blood dwelleth in me and I in Him. And as the living father hath sent me and I live by the father. So he that eateth 0:17:58 - 0:18:26 me even he shall live by me and then skipping down to verse 60. Many therefore of his disciples. When they heard this said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? And then it says that um from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. So one question is why was this so 0:18:26 - 0:18:50 hard to hear? What about this was so difficult? Why did this cause so many of his disciples to stop following him? They had been through a lot with him by this point, many of them at least, and the others seemed full of great enthusiasm to follow him. So why did they turn away from this? Um As I've discussed 0:18:49 - 0:19:15 this with people, some people uh believe that it, it was because the the teaching involved him mentioning eating a person or drinking a person's blood. And um that's not the case. They knew what he was saying. It might be hard for us. Other people say, well, it's confusing and that's not true either 0:19:15 - 0:19:38 . It might be hard for us to see how this was a very plain teaching. But it's because we're in a very different time and place and culture. They knew what he was saying. The people at that time, just like the people at this time were very happy to entertain someone who comes claiming that they are special 0:19:38 - 0:20:08 and because they are special, the people that profess to believe what they're saying are also special without any necessity for change. That was never jesus' message from day one. He preached that in order to be better, you had to actually be better at the tail end of his ministry. After demonstrating 0:20:07 - 0:20:36 again and again and again, how the father was through how he was Jesus was. He is now punctuating this message by saying I have come down from heaven to show you how the father is so that you can also be like him so that you can change and forsake the things that you understand are not according to how 0:20:36 - 0:21:03 he is and choose to act as he does just as I have done. And this is what offended them. This is what caused them to turn away because they weren't interested in that. That's not what they wanted to hear. Now, this was before he publicly suffered and died. But already that was too much. They weren't interested 0:21:02 - 0:00:00 in that. They weren't interested in laying aside their lives and taking up his cross. And they didn't even know the full scope of what that cross entailed yet. But already it was just too much and they weren't interested. So with that, I'm going to wrap up by reading um this passage from Matthew 11. 0:00:00 - 0:21:57 He says, uh in verse tw starting in verse 28 come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest that's appealing for people to hear because it's like giving them free loaves and fishes, which Jesus did. And many people followed him after that happened because people want free 0:21:57 - 0:22:21 bread and free fish. But what they're not interested in is the power that produces the bread and the fish. They're, they'll be interested in it. If you tell them that someone can hand it to you or that you magically get it just by believing in the right person. But that isn't jesus' message. The powers 0:22:21 - 0:22:58 of heaven only operate through people who are like God in character and it works and it's a continuous thing. It's by degrees. So he did not come just to give the fruits of who he was. He came to illustrate the path to be like he is. And that is what we would do well to celebrate at Christmas and Easter 0:22:58 - 0:23:27 and everywhere in between and to live that message. So he says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy and I will give you rest. And then the very next verse he says how this works because it's not the way people think it works. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart 0:23:26 - 0:23:51 and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. There's a lot of confusion about these verses. People misunderstand what rest means and where it comes from and what it costs they misunderstand what Jesus meant when he said I am meek and lowly in heart. He was not a 0:23:51 - 0:24:22 pushover. He was not someone that um just withheld what he could have done. That's another definition of meekness is having power but not using it to be restrained. That's not what he meant. He was meek and lowly in heart because he was submissive in all things to the father. So he is the lamb of who 0:24:22 - 0:24:56 God, not the lamb of you or me. He does not cower to you or me. He submits to the father. And that is his power. That is the source of his power because it's the source of all heavenly power. And that is where rest comes from total submission to the father. And so if you want that rest, it doesn't come 0:24:55 - 0:25:23 from sitting on your bum and pretending that God doesn't exist till the moment when it's convenient to believe in Him or when you really need something and all of your efforts to obtain it have failed. It is a lifestyle. It is consummate, it is everything all the time. So when he says my yoke is easy 0:25:22 - 0:25:54 and my burden is light. It is a yoke and it is a burden. It is consummate. It is meant to envelop us to be sealed, is to be wrapped in an envelope and have a, a wax seal pressed on the part that opens so that it stays shut. If you envelope yourself in his will. That is how you will find rest. But that 0:25:53 - 0:26:14 rest. He said I give you peace. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. It's the same with his rest. It's not what you think of. When you hear the word, the good news is it's much better than that. But if you don't understand that it's obtained in a completely different way and it looks and feels and 0:26:14 - 0:26:40 smells different than everything you expect from the natural perspective. You're gonna miss it when it comes your way and you have the opportunity to, to obtain it, you're gonna miss it. It is a yoke and it is a burden and why it's easy and light, not in the mind of the carnal man. It isn't with respect 0:26:39 - 0:27:10 to reality. It is according to everything that God knows about how things really are and will be and the true cost and benefit of all things. It is the lightest burden there is, it is the easiest yoke there is. So you can reread verses 28 to 30 of Matthew 11. I want to share a reflection that I wrote 0:27:09 - 0:27:41 on these passages. This passage, these verses starting in verse 28. Come to me, all those who are cumbered by the burdens of this world and I will free you from them, make my burden your own and in me, you will find freedom from the burdens of this world I seek and do the father's will in all things 0:27:40 - 0:28:06 . He teaches me more of how he is. And in him, I overcome the world live as you understand me to be. And I will teach you more about myself and the truth will make you free Merry Christmas.