Come to Me, all you who labour 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” (Matt 11:28-30).
A yoke is a harness which is used by two animals (mostly oxen) to pull a cart or other implements like a plough. When animals are not equally yoked, they are not working together but working at odds with each other. When scripture speaks of being unequally yoked, it is making the statement and comparison that not having the same beliefs, values or even morals, makes people work against each other. There is also a human yoke which is a frame fitted to a person’s shoulders to carry a load/burden in two equal portions. This human yoke is used to carry a bigger burden than being able to carry by hand.
There is also the metaphorical meaning that a yoke is something that causes people to be treated unfairly, and sometimes even cruelly, especially by limiting or even taking away their freedom. In ancient culture, and even not so ancient, a yoke is viewed and experienced to be descriptive of servitude, submission and hard labour.
There was in the Old testament already the promise to Israel, (including all of creation) for relief. “It shall come to pass on that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil” (Isaiah 10:27). This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God; That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;” (Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17a). The anointing oil representing the Holy Spirit. This underlines that we are set free from this burden of felonious servitude and submission. We are set free when we are able to accept and walk in this revelation. Scripture is speaking of the challenge of being set free and becoming equally yoked with Christ and to serve and follow Him, rather than “be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14). If we will not accept the freedom that we already have, we will continue to walk with this heavy yoke that we ourselves keep on carrying.
In reality when reading Matt 11:28-30 in today’s terms, it would go something like this: Come to Me, all you who are struggling under the heavy load/burden of the artificial, ceremonial and irrelevant demands of the Law, and of past and present teachers (Pharisees). This being intolerable because of all those man-made traditions of the so called ‘leaders’. Christ came to set the past, present and future church/believers/mankind free from this yoke/burden of the deception of not being good enough, of not being worthy, of not being in God’s image. Satan made it look like God told a lie (Gen 3:5) and could not be trusted. The result was that Adam and Eve believed Satan and surrendered their authority and allegiance to him rather than God, and as such put themselves under the yoke of satan. Since the Cross, our eyes have been opened by Jesus, and we are set free from the lie of not being God’s children and not being created in His image. Even before the cross, since the beginning of creation, God has been and is continually proving that He is trustworthy, there is no longer a reason for humanity to believe the lie of Satan that we cannot trust God.
So to accept the yoke that Christ is offering, is to know that we are set free and can walk in that freedom, acknowledging that we are God’s creation and are in His image without fault or blame. Our burdens have been taken away, we are forgiven. Christ came to set the captives free (Luke 4:18-19). If we continue to walk under the heavy load of not being worthy, we continue to burden ourselves under a heavy yoke that we no longer need to carry. “Do not submit to a yoke of slavery again” (Gal 5:1). So, it is time to walk in our God given authority with the confidence that we are set free.
