Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me…..Mat 11:29

From the objective way…to the subjective way

The Lord Jesus, while He was here, could only put the learning of Him in and objective way because the subjective time had not yet arrived.  So He said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me."

It was not until after our Savior Jesus rose again to Heaven the subjective time came.  The Apostle Paul, in a slightly different form of words, gives us what Jesus meant.  "Ye did not so learn Christ" Eph 4:20.  

Leaving out one very little word makes all the difference and gives the true sense.  When the Holy Spirit came, the apostle would be lead to leave out the 'of', and say instead, 'learn Christ'.  This seems to be a flaw in a very great deal of popular Christianity today….a kind of objective imitation of Jesus which gets nowhere, rather than the subjective learning Jesus which gets everywhere. 

The Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit is the great Teacher and Interpreter.  And when we become disciples of Christ the very first thing the Holy Spirit does for us is to show us in a comprehensive way what it is that we have to learn, to present to us the great object of our education.

God's method with His people, in order to secure a full expression of His thought, is first of all to present the perfect object….and this He did when at the Jordan He rent the heavens and said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased".  He presented and attested that which was the full, comprehensive and detailed expression of His thought for His people. 

 Now the Apostle Paul, in words familiar to us, expressly voices the fact, "Whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed in the image of his Son". Rom 8:29

"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" ……."Conformed to the image of his Son".  There is the presentation and the attestation and the declaration of Divine purpose in relation to Him.

So, again, I say….the Holy Spirit's first object is to acquaint us with what is in view in our spiritual education; namely, to reveal Christ in us and then afterward to get to work to conform us to Christ.  To learn Christ we must first see Christ.  

So then……what would be the pre-eminent mark of a life governed by the Spirit?