Studies In The Kingdom Of God

Volume 1: Chapter 11: The Yoke Of Jesus Is The Kingdom Of God

"...no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  Matthew 11:27-30 (emphasis mine)

In Matthew 11:1-19, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus in order to ask Him if He is the promised Messiah or if they should watch for another who would come. Jesus replied by telling them to consider the nature of the words and works they witnessed in Him and His ministry. According to the scriptures, these are the Kingdom words and works the Messiah was to display when He came. He then warned them not to be offended by Him as the Jewish leaders were because He, and the words and activities He spoke and conducted, may not be what they had expected to see and hear in the coming Messiah.

After John's disciples left Jesus to return to John, Jesus spoke to His own disciples about the wisdom and plan of God being exhibited and conducted through John's ministry and His own ministry. Jesus tells His disciples that if some of the evilest cities and peoples of ancient times had seen and heard what this generation was seeing and hearing from John and Jesus, they would have repented from their wickedness. Jesus uses this teaching on the nature and character of God and His Kingdom activities, to prepare His disciples for what He was going to say to them, next.

Jesus goes on to say to His disciples in Matthew 11:27; "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." The Father had revealed Himself to Jesus and Jesus had come to know and understand the nature, character and activities of the Father, before Jesus entered into His ministry. The words Jesus spoke throughout His ministry were given to Him by the Father and the works Jesus performed throughout His ministry were the Father's works, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew the Father – His nature, character, purposes and Kingdom activities. One of the reasons Jesus was sent to the earth was to reveal the nature, character and purposes of the Father to us and to reveal and demonstrate God's Kingdom activities to us.

Today, since Jesus is not physically on the earth with us, He gives direct revelation of Himself and the Father to us through the prophetic activity of the Holy Spirit. We can know some things about God through what He has made but we cannot know Him and His true nature, character, purposes and activities unless they are directly revealed to us through the Spirit of Christ – the Holy Spirit. This raises the question, "How does the Spirit of Christ – the Holy Spirit, directly reveal Jesus and the Father to us 2000 years after Jesus left the earth to return to heaven?" Jesus goes on to answer that question in Matthew 11, where He tells us; 1) God and His Kingdom are continually and dynamically moving forward, and those who wish to take hold of Him and His Kingdom must do so, passionately, as a precious prize; 2) Jesus is calling all of humanity to come to Him and in so doing, we WILL find rest for our souls; 3) we are to take upon ourselves the yoke of Christ and learn from Him.

This third point is very unfamiliar to us in today's western culture. When we think of a yoke, today, we generally think of a wooden pole with two leather harnesses attached that, when worn, allow two oxen or other large animals to pull a load together, much easier than they could if they were not "yoked together" – pulling separately and not in unity. Even though there is a good lesson we can learn using this interpretation of a yoke, it is not what Jesus was communicating to His disciples. This interpretation isdoes not fit the context in which Jesus was speaking and it does not take into account what He had previously said to His disciples about knowing and understanding the Kingdom of God.