8.50 The New Covenant is a rest from the works of the law

If the Old Covenant is based on works of the law, then the New Covenant is a complete REST from the works of the law – because Jesus fulfilled it. To come to Jesus is to enter His rest. We rest in His finished work on the cross.

This is what Jesus said to Israel who had been under the works of the law for 1,500 years:

(Matt 11:28-30)
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will GIVE YOU REST. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Israel was heavy laden under the yoke of the law, and they could not keep it. When the Judaizers wanted the early Christians to come back under the law, Peter said in Acts 15:10, “Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” What a statement! Israel couldn’t fulfill it and it was a heavy yoke.

In another passage in Gal 5:1-4, Paul admonished the Christians to, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Paul referred to keeping the works of the law as coming under the yoke of bondage. Paul said that Christ has liberated us into freedom from the works of the law – as the basis of our relationship with Him.

Jesus does not want us to labor and be heavy laden. He wants us to cease form our works in order to enter into FAITH. He wants us to come to Him, to believe in Him and to depend on Him. He wants to give us rest.

(Hebrews 4:9-10, 3)
There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

For we who have believed do enter that rest…

Jesus said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Why is this so? This is because when we depend on Him, He performs through us. He is our strength and life. Though we seem to be doing it, it is actually Him who is carrying the weight. This is the Christian life in Christ. This is why Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It is a paradox. The more we rest in Him by FAITH, the more we experience the power of His anointing from within, and experience the promises of His New Covenant.