Summary of Bible references on the Rapture
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Ezekiel 43:7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. 8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. 9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. 10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
What "Take My Yoke" Really Means in Matthew 11
The picture is being yoked to the Lord Jesus. It is a perspective on being a disciple of Jesus.
My yoke is easy should be translated "My yoke is suitable". In other words the Lord's yoke is suitable to each of us. For one person preaching the gospel on the street to 1,000 people is suitable. To another spending four hours a day in the word of God is suitable.
Trying to serve the Lord like someone else can be burdensome, it can be crushing and it is slavery. Paul referred to Jews trying to make the Christians keep ceremonies as a "yoke of slavery". For example, consider the example of some churches. They have a "trunk or treat" event so kids won't feel left out of Halloween. This event takes a few days to set up, prepare for, and then to carry out. After that you have Christmas, which is a really big event. Some will spend months preparing a Christmas play and they might actually have two, a children's play and an adult play. Same thing with Resurrection Sunday (to avoid the worship of Easter, the Babylonian god of prostitution). Each event seems like a small thing, but taken together it is never ending slavery. While you are so busy decorating, preparing, serving, cleaning up, and then getting ready for the next you have no time to actually consider your commission to be a witness for the Lord.
Suppose you aren't good with decorating, this yoke would not be suitable for you.
Everyone has an opinion about these holidays and whether or not Churches should celebrate them and if so how so.
I would hope everyone could step aside from all those opinions and simply ask "what is the fruit?" A good tree brings forth good fruit. If the celebration or non celebration or whatever is the tree, what has been the fruit from that tree?
I was in a church for 20 years that did not celebrate Christmas. Instead they used the vacation time to spend ten days studying the word of God in a national conference called "a training". There was a lot of fruit from that, children understood, and the adults grew in grace and in the word of God.
I was in another church for 20 years that went all out for Christmas. They had a tremendous Christmas play with animals in the sanctuary. Although it always included a manger scene each year they had a new play relating how the modern world has become disenfranchised from the Lord. About 100 members would spend months preparing for this event. Many were in the play, many others were in the choir or the band. Still others served backstage or in the sound or audio visual. These events cost the church a lot of money. After 20 years I did not see any fruit. I did not know a single person whose testimony was that they came into the church because of the play. I did not find the plays edifying. The first one was very impressive, but year after year the theme and message was the same even though the script had been altered.
Anyway that is my very limited experience. I think it is valuable to reflect on the things we do to determine if they are bearing fruit, and if they are to be open to the Lord pruning them to bear more fruit, and if they aren't to be open to the Lord taking them away.