Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26, 31—2:2; Matt. 11:28-30; Exo. 31:12-17

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 5　DAY 1　»

　　Matt. 11:28-30 Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

　　In Matthew 11:28 the Lord…seemed to be saying, “All of you who toil and are burdened, come to Me and rest. All of you religious people and all of you worldly people who are toiling and are burdened, come to Me, and I will give you rest.” What a gracious word! The toil mentioned in verse 28 refers not only to the toil of striving to keep the commandments of the law and religious regulations but also to the toil of struggling to be successful in any work. Whoever toils thus is always heavily burdened. After the Lord extolled the Father, acknowledging the Father’s way and declaring the divine economy, He called this kind of people to come to Him for rest. Rest refers not only to being set free from the toil and burden under the law or religion or under any work or responsibility but also to perfect peace and full satisfaction. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 371-372)

　　In Matthew 11:29 and 30 we have the way to rest…To take the Lord’s yoke is to take the will of the Father. It is not to be regulated or controlled by any obligations of the law or religion or to be enslaved by any work but to be constrained by the will of the Father. The Lord lived such a life, caring for nothing but the will of His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). He submitted Himself fully to the Father’s will (Matt. 26:39, 42). Hence, He asks us to learn from Him. God’s will is our yoke. Thus, we are not free to do as we please; rather, we are yoked. Young people, do not think that you are so free or liberated. In the Lord’s recovery we all have been yoked. How good it is to be yoked! The Lord’s yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Lord’s yoke is the Father’s will, and His burden is the work to carry out the Father’s will. Such a yoke is easy, not bitter, and such a burden is light, not heavy. The Greek word rendered “easy” means “fit for use”; hence, good, kindly, mild, gentle, easy, pleasant, in contrast to hard, harsh, sharp, and bitter.

　　If we are opposed as we minister, and we resist, we will not have peace. But if instead of resisting we submit to the will of the Father, testifying that the opposition is of the Father, we will have rest in our souls. John the Baptist did not regard his imprisonment as of the Father; therefore, he was not at rest. If he had realized that his imprisonment was due to the Father’s will, he would have been at rest, even in prison. Christ, the heavenly King, always submitted to the Father’s will, taking God’s will as His portion and not resisting anything. Hence, He was always at rest. We must learn of Him and also take this view. If we do, we will have rest in our souls. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 372-373)

　　The believers copy the Lord in their spirit by taking His yoke—God’s will— and toiling for God’s economy according to His model (Matt. 11:29a; 1 Pet. 2:21). The Lord told us to learn from Him. To learn from Him is to copy Him, not to imitate Him outwardly. In this way we become His duplication and mass production. The first requirement in learning from Him is to take His yoke, which is God’s will. God’s will has to yoke us, and we have to put our neck into this yoke. Seventy years ago as a young man, I took the yoke of Jesus. That yoke has protected me for the past seventy years.

　　We also need to be those who toil for God’s economy. All the worldly people are toiling and are burdened in many things. They are very busy. The Lord is calling those who are toiling, who are burdened, and who have no rest or satisfaction to come to Him so that He can give them the real rest with satisfaction. The rest without satisfaction is not the real rest. We take His yoke and toil for God’s economy according to His model, following Him in His footsteps. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” p. 557)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 31; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” chs. 12—13

«　WEEK 5　DAY 2　»

　　Eph. 4:20-21 But you did not so learn Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him as the reality is in Jesus.

　　In Matthew 11:29 the Lord told us to learn from Him. He is meek and lowly in heart. To be meek, or gentle, means not to resist any opposition, and to be lowly means not to esteem oneself highly. Throughout all the opposition the Lord was meek, and throughout all the rejection He was lowly in heart. He submitted Himself fully to the will of His Father, not wanting to do anything for Himself or expecting to gain something for Himself. Hence, regardless of the situation He had rest in His heart; He was fully satisfied with His Father’s will.

　　The Lord said that if we take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, we will find rest for our souls. The rest we find by taking the Lord’s yoke and learning from Him is for our souls. It is an inward rest; it is not anything merely outward in nature. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 372-373)

　　Christ is not only life to us but also an example (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:21). In His life on earth He set up a pattern, as revealed in the Gospels. Then He was crucified and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit that He might enter into us to be our life. We learn from Him (Matt. 11:29) according to His example, not by our natural life but by Him as our life in resurrection. To learn Christ is simply to be molded into the pattern of Christ, that is, to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3426)

　　The rest from the Lord…is an inward rest, not something merely outward in nature. The harassment and the troubles are in our soul. Paul tells us to be anxious in nothing and to tell the Lord all our requests. Then the peace of God will guard our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).

　　The Lord assured the disciples that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30)…The yoke of God’s economy is like this. Everything in God’s economy is not a heavy burden but an enjoyment. People lose sleep because their soul is bothered. The rest that we find by taking the Lord’s yoke and learning from Him is for our soul. We share in our soul His rest in satisfaction (Matt. 11:28b, 29b, 30). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” pp. 550, 557)

　　Who are the ones that are the most heavily burdened? It is the wise and intelligent ones, the religious ones, and the cultured ones. The kingdom people, on the contrary, are the unloaded ones…If you will be simple and single instead of religiously wise and intelligent, you will be unloaded, and you will have rest. The yoke you bear will be very light. This is the kingdom life. The kingdom life is a life of feasting, a life of enjoyment, and a life of rest.

　　Whenever you lose your rest, it is an indication that you are not experiencing the kingdom life. Whenever you are not in the kingdom life, you will certainly be heavily burdened. Your yoke will be the yoke of slavery. However, when you exercise the principle of forsaking your religious wisdom and intelligence and of being simple, you will be immediately unburdened. You will be released and emancipated and completely at rest.

　　Sometimes people come to me and say, “Brother Lee, you have many burdens. How can you bear them?” I answer, “Brothers, I have no burdens. I only know how to do a little work. After working, I go home and rest.” This is the kingdom life—some work but no burden. There is a yoke, but the yoke is not heavy. Actually, the yoke is also a kind of rest because without it we might depart from the Lord’s way. If we would attempt to depart from the Lord’s way, we would find that the yoke is there. This is the kingdom life.

　　We do not care what other people say about us. We only care for the rest in Christ. When we are heavily burdened, Satan is happy; but when we are resting, he trembles. This is the kingdom life. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” pp. 194-195)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” ch. 22

«　WEEK 5　DAY 3　»

　　Exo. 31:13 Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.

　　Gen. 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

　　In Exodus 31:12-17, after a long record concerning the building up of God’s dwelling place, there is a repetition of the commandment to keep the Sabbath… We need to find why…[it] is repeated after the record concerning the full revelation of God’s dwelling place…When Jehovah called Moses to go up to the mountain, Jehovah first gave Moses the law. Then He gave Moses the revelation concerning the building up of His dwelling place on earth. In this section we see the design of the tabernacle and its furniture and a full revelation regarding the priesthood. There is also a record concerning the builders of the tabernacle. After all of this, Jehovah repeated the requirement related to keeping the Sabbath.

　　The fact that this insertion concerning the Sabbath follows the charge for the building work of the tabernacle indicates that Jehovah was telling these builders, these workers, to learn how to rest with Him. They should not work and forget about resting with the Lord. Therefore, in charging them to do the work of building His dwelling place, Jehovah reminded them that as they worked for Him, they should learn how to rest with Him. If we only know how to work for the Lord but do not know how to rest with Him, we are acting contrary to the divine principle. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1759-1760)

　　The principle of the Sabbath is not a matter of the day on which it is observed. The principle of the Sabbath is that working with the Lord requires that we learn how to rest with Him. Some may think that the significance of the Sabbath is merely to cease from work. This is not the real meaning of the Sabbath in the Bible. The Bible emphasizes the fact that God rested on the seventh day [Gen. 2:2].

　　According to the book of Genesis, to God the Sabbath is the seventh day, but to man it is the first day. In six days God created the heavens, the earth, and everything necessary for man to exist for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. After all things were made, man was created on the sixth day. This means that as soon as man came forth from the creating hand of God, his first day, which was God’s seventh day, was about to begin. Thus, what was the seventh day to God was the first day to man. The significance of this is that to God the Sabbath was rest after work, but to man it was rest first and then work. God first worked for six days and then He rested on the seventh day. But man rested on his first day and then began to work.

　　In Exodus 31:12-17 we see that the builders of the tabernacle were charged not to begin working until they had rested with Jehovah and had been refreshed. Then they could work for Him and with Him. However, this work would not go on continuously. Rather, it would be a work in intervals of six days of labor and one day of rest. With every interval, the beginning is a day of rest, followed by six days of work. Then there would be another interval beginning with rest and continuing with work. We have emphasized that to God the Sabbath is the seventh day and to man, the first day; that God worked for man’s enjoyment and rest; and that man enjoys what God has accomplished in His work in order to work with God. Man in his first day enjoyed what God accomplished in the previous six days. Then in the following six days man worked with God. After six days’ work, man again first enjoyed what God had accomplished, and then he worked again the following six days. This proceeds as a cycle. This cycle is a sign that we are one with God. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1760, 1766)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172

«　WEEK 5　DAY 4　»

　　Exo. 31:15 Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to Jehovah; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.

　　17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

　　Both Genesis and Exodus tell us that God rested on the seventh day. But in Exodus 31:17 the words and was refreshed are added. This reveals that even God needs to be refreshed. To rest is one thing, but to be refreshed is something further. For us to rest we do not need anything in particular. It is sufficient either to sit down or to lie down. But to be refreshed we need something to eat or drink. We often refer to food and drink as refreshment. The point here is that if we would be refreshed, we need something to be a refreshment to us. The same is true of God. God needs something to refresh Him…What is it that refreshes God? (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., p. 1761)

　　Perhaps you have read Exodus 31a number of times without ever being impressed by the fact that God needs to be refreshed…The Bible reveals that after God’s work of creation was completed, He rested and was refreshed. On what did God rest? He rested on His creation. To illustrate, suppose a craftsman spends a long time making a very special chair. When his work is finished, he may rest on the very chair he has made, enjoying it and thinking about it… When I have finished writing something, I may sit back, look at what I have written, and enjoy it. I particularly enjoy the light I have received from the Lord through His Word. Likewise, sisters who make their own clothing may enjoy a good rest after they have finished making a particular garment. In the same principle, after God created man, He rested. He could look upon His handiwork, at the heavens, the earth, and all the living things, especially at man, and say, “Very good!” Then God could rest and be refreshed. With what was God refreshed? God was refreshed with man. Man was God’s refreshment. God loved man. He created him in His own image with a spirit so that man could have fellowship with Him. Man, therefore, was God’s refreshment.

　　God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart” [Gen. 2:18]. This word has a significance in typology and indicates that it was not good for God to be alone. Before God created man, God could be compared to a bachelor. Some may criticize us for using the word bachelor to speak of our holy God. But I believe that God is happy to hear this word used with respect to Himself. Perhaps God would say, “My child, this word touches My heart. I truly was a bachelor before I created mankind.” The Bible reveals that in eternity past God was a “bachelor.” But in eternity future He will have a wife, the New Jerusalem, which is called the Lamb’s wife (Rev. 21:9-10). Therefore, according to the revelation of the Bible that the New Jerusalem is the wife of the Lamb, I have the boldness to use the word bachelor with respect to God.

　　When God saw the man created by Him, He could rest and be refreshed. Man was like a refreshing drink to quench God’s thirst and satisfy Him. When God ended His work and began to rest, He had man as His companion. To God, the seventh day was a day of rest and refreshment. However, to man, God’s companion, the day of rest and refreshment was the first day. Man’s first day was a day of enjoyment.

　　It is a divine principle that God does not ask us to work until we have had enjoyment. God first supplies us with enjoyment. Then after a full enjoyment with Him and of Him, we may work together with Him. If we do not know how to have enjoyment with God and how to enjoy God Himself, we will not know how to work with Him. We will not know how to be one with God in His divine work. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1761-1762)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172

«　WEEK 5　DAY 5　»

　　Exo. 31:13 …You shall surely keep My Sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.

　　Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, even as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth.

　　We need to be one with God in His work. This requires that we enjoy Him. If we do not know how to enjoy God and be filled with God, we will not know how to work with Him, how to be one with Him in His work.

　　The New Testament ministry of the apostles began with the enjoyment they had on the day of Pentecost. The disciples did not work for six days and then enjoy the Lord on the day of Pentecost. The actual situation was that the Lord had told them to wait until the Spirit came upon them to fill them…They were filled with the enjoyment of the Lord. Because they were filled with the Spirit, others thought that they were drunk with wine. Actually, they were filled with the enjoyment of the heavenly wine. Only after they had been filled with this enjoyment did they begin to work with God. This is the way to work with God, the way to work in oneness with Him. When Peter stood up with the apostles to preach the gospel and thereby do a work for God, they all were one with God in His work. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1762-1763)

　　Pentecost denotes the fiftieth day after a period of seven weeks, or forty- nine days…Pentecost was the first day of the eighth week. Therefore, concerning the day of Pentecost, we see the principle of the first day. According to the Old Testament Sabbath, the day of man’s rest was his first day…According to the New Testament, the eighth day, the day of rest for man, was also the first day.

　　According to the principle in the Old Testament, man’s day of rest is a day that comes after God’s work has been completed. Man does not rest after his own work is finished; he rests after the completion of God’s work and enjoys it. God works, and man enjoys. Man enjoys what God has accomplished in His work.

　　When man came forth from God’s creating hand, his first day was God’s seventh day. Therefore, he had enjoyment with God, he lived with God, he walked with God, and eventually, he was ready to work with God. God had put him into the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it (Gen. 2:15). Perhaps after enjoying rest with God on his first day, Adam worked to care for the garden for another six days. Then on what was his eighth day, another first day, he again rested with God. This is a cycle that would continue again and again with intervals of resting and working. With God it is a matter of working and resting; with man, a matter of resting and working.

　　After God gave the revelation concerning the tabernacle and the furniture, and after God selected the builders and gave Moses a charge regarding them, He went on to speak again of the Sabbath. It seems as if God were saying, “Do not forget My Sabbath…You should not think that because you are working to build My dwelling place, you can work every day continually. No, even in doing My divine work, the work of building the tabernacle, you must still bear a sign to indicate that you are My people and you need Me. Therefore, you need to enjoy Me first. Then you will be able to work not only for Me but also with Me and by being one with Me. I will be your strength to work and your energy to labor…You must do the work of building My dwelling place with Me, by Me, and in oneness with Me… You are My people, and you should bear a sign that you need Me to be your enjoyment, strength, and energy. You need Me to be your everything so that you may be able to work for Me. By working in this way, you honor Me and glorify Me. This is to bear a sign indicating that you are My people.” (Life- study of Exodus, pp. 1763-1764)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172

«　WEEK 5　DAY 6　»

　　Exo. 31:13-14 …You shall surely keep My Sabbaths;…that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you…Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you… Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

　　16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

　　When we begin to keep the Sabbath, this indicates that we have signed an agreement, a contract, that assures God that we will be one with Him in this way. We would be one with Him by first enjoying Him and then by working for Him, with Him, and in oneness with Him. This is an eternal covenant. It is not merely for one age, dispensation, or generation. It is an eternal agreement between us and God.

　　It is a serious matter to work for the Lord by ourselves without praying to Him and without trusting in Him. Actually,…we need…to take Him in and enjoy Him by eating Him. On the day of Pentecost Peter was not only trusting in the Lord; he was filled with the Lord, even drinking Him…While Peter was preaching Jesus, inwardly, he was partaking of Jesus…He preached what he had been eating. He testified what he had been enjoying. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1766-1767)

　　The Sabbath day sanctifies us, designates us, marks us out. When we enjoy the Lord and then work with Him, for Him, and by being one with Him, spontaneously, we are sanctified. We become holy, separated from what is common.

　　[Exodus 31:14-15 says] clearly that if anyone did not keep the Sabbath, bear the sign, and honor the covenant in order to be sanctified, that one would be put to death. This signifies the suffering of spiritual death. The principle applies in our experience today. If I do not speak in oneness with the Lord, I will suffer death in my speaking, and I will be cut off from God’s people. To be cut off from God’s people is to be cut off from fellowship.

　　In the church life we may do many things without first enjoying the Lord and without serving with the Lord and by being one with the Lord. That kind of service results in the suffering of spiritual death…Whenever we serve in that way, we cut ourselves off from the fellowship in the Body.

　　All the tabernacle and its furniture lead to the Sabbath of God,…to the enjoyment of what God has purposed and done. This means that the tabernacle and all its furniture lead us into rest. The offerings are for us to rest. If we do not come to the altar of burnt offering to experience Christ as the offerings, we will not have rest. Instead, we will have condemnation and accusation. Likewise, if we do not come to the table of the bread of the Presence, we will be hungry and not have satisfaction. This is another indication that we do not have rest. If we do not come to the lampstand, we will not have any light. We will be in darkness, and darkness will not give us rest…If we do not come to the Ark within the veil and to the incense altar, we will not have rest. Everything related to God’s dwelling place leads us to one matter—to the Sabbath with its rest and refreshment of the Lord. Therefore, the tabernacle with its furniture leads us to the enjoyment of what God has purposed and done. Hallelujah, in the church life we are in the tabernacle, and the tabernacle leads us to rest, to the enjoyment of God’s purpose and of what He has done!

　　The building work of the tabernacle and all its furniture should begin with the enjoyment of God and continue in intervals with the refreshment by enjoying God. This will indicate that we do not work for God by our own strength but by the enjoyment of Him and by being one with Him. This is the meaning of the Sabbath, and this is the reason that a word about the Sabbath immediately follows the word concerning the building up of God’s dwelling place on earth. May we all see this matter and be impressed with it. (Life-study of Exodus, 2nd ed., pp. 1767-1769)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 172