Holy Boldness

rience. To learn from Jesus, who alone has the authority and insight to reveal the deepest heart of the Father God, is an extraordinary privilege. Jesus invited the people to come under the yoke of His unique insight so as to find rest for their souls. “Coming under a yoke” is an interesting metaphor that Jesus proposes for coming into rest. It seems rather counter-intuitive. But Jesus promises that His yoke is easy and light and therefore submitting to His teaching would bring people into rest and not weariness. How could He make such a claim? Because as the Son he had a unique insight into the nature of the Father. Because He had personal experience of learning from God and He offered His yoke to all who would come. His burden was easy and His load was light. He was meek and lowly of heart and therefore He could and would sympathize with people’s weaknesses. Through this invitation Jesus once again makes an extraordinary claim to authority. Jesus declares Himself to be the unique Son to the Heavenly Fa ther, who alone holds the keys to a true understanding of what God wants from His people. He invited the world to come under His teaching and His personal tutelage to see for themselves how deep rest could be experienced. Indeed rest is the truest sign of fruitfulness for every person’s heart remains restless until it finds its rest in God. Rest is more than ceasing from labor. Rest is a state of mind. It is find ing one’s true identity and purpose and stepping into that identity unentangled by the world. It is the freest expression one can find to simply become what one is created to be. This rest is only found through an intimate discipleship relationship with Jesus who leads all His followers into a deep and profound understanding of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is where the rest is found because the fear of the Lord is about doing things for the father’s approval who alone knows the true sons. To become a son of God like Jesus, to know the Father as Jesus knows the Father, is the goal of submitting to the yoke of Christ. The yoke is the fear of the Lord and it truly is the only way into rest. I realize that I am making rather large claim for the significance of the fear of the Lord. But it is truly the plumb line of Jesus’ entire teaching about aligning oneself in a place of agreement with God. It is through the fear of the Lord that every person discovers their identity of sonship status and destiny as a co-heir with Christ. It is through the fear Rest: A Great reward

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