Page 44 - Laying Down the Law

Christ’s life, death and resurrection accomplished the desire of the Father.
Through Christ, Yahweh obtained for Himself a people who would fully become His
possession. This possession is not in part, as under the Law of Moses, but in whole.
A man could be partaker of the Mosaic Covenant and give to God a tithe, but no man
can be Christ’s disciple apart from giving up all he possesses.
Consider this pattern of shadow and substance in another Law, that of Sabbath
rest. The Law of Moses required all of God’s people to rest one day of the week, and
to perform no laborious work in it. The substance that the Christian is called to walk
in is far more substantial. The substance of Sabbath rest is realized as a man ceases
entirely from all works that arise from his soul.

Hebrews 4:10-11
For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God
did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest...

This Sabbath rest was first revealed to the world through the life of Yahshua. No
man prior to Christ ever walked in the substance of Sabbath rest. Yahshua
demonstrated true Sabbath rest in the following words:

John 5:30
"I can do NOTHING on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My
judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him
who sent Me.”

John 8:28-29
So Yahshua said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I
am He, and I do NOTHING on My own initiative, but I speak these things
as the Father instructed Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left
Me alone, for I ALWAYS do the things that are pleasing to Him."

Christ had entered so fully into the will of His Father that there was no action in
His life that was initiated from within His own soul. He did not even speak a word of
His own initiative. He only spoke those things the Father commanded Him to speak.
People of God, this is the difference between the shadow of the Law and the
substance found in Christ. The Law truly made nothing perfect, but in Christ
perfection is attained.
There are many believers today who have written to me to declare how very
zealous they are for observing the shadow of the Sabbath as found in the Law. My
heart is burdened for them, knowing that as long as they focus on shadows they will
never attain to the perfect will of God. Indeed, keeping the shadow affords them a
sense of self-righteousness as they measure themselves against what was commanded
by Moses. Their self-satisfaction keeps them from any serious consideration that
there is anything more Yahweh would require of them. They fall far short of giving to