Jesus said:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
God wants to give us rest. This desire has marked his relationship with us since the dawn of creation when he gives us the sabbath as a day of rest (cf. Gen. 2:2).
Moses prefigures Jesus in leading the people of Israel out from the yoke of Egypt to the rest of the promised land just as Jesus leads us out from the yoke of sin and death into the true promised land of heaven.
The children of Israel follow Moses because he reveals the Father to them. They already stand in relationship to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But Moses reveals something deeper. He reveals something heretofore unknown.
if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.”
The name of God is revealed. And not just his name, something of the very essence of God is revealed. He isn't one thing existing alongside others. He is existence itself. Everything else that exists does so only because it receives its existence from him.
This revelation is revolutionary and fundamental. Without this the people will remain enslaved, scattered, and separate. Knowing this helps them enter deeper relationship with God. It alters their worldview in such a way that they have a deeper source of unity and strength. They are in relationship with the one who is! Who can stand in their way?
“Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go
unless he is forced.
I will stretch out my hand, therefore,
and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there.
After that he will send you away.”
Many will try to prevent the Israelites from entering into God's rest for them. But how laughable that is. He is the source of all things. If only they learn to trust this revelation they will enter into "a land flowing with milk and honey."
The people of Israel often express discontent with the yoke of God. There are two things they are forgetting at such times. The first is who God has revealed himself to be. The second is how much worse the yoke of Egypt is. We are similar. Jesus frees us from the yoke of sin for his yoke, which is easy and light.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
And yet we sometimes complain that his yoke is hard. But that isn't the experience he says we should have. Perhaps we have allowed the world to yoke us again. It is a much harsher master. Let us come back to the yoke of Jesus. His yoke is freedom. He came to set us free. If we hold fast to the truth of who he is we will be free indeed (cf. Joh 8:36). We are free under his yoke. Apart from it there is only slavery to the world. We have to remember who he is. We have to remember who he has been.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
He is trustworthy. His yoke is easy. He tells us so. Let us come to him. Let us take his yoke upon ourselves. There remains a rest for us at the end of this pilgrimage (cf. Heb 4:9). Let us enter that rest!
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