Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
In last week’s “My Yoke is Easy, My Burden is Light Part I” message, we spoke about Jesus communicating to us The Blessing of God (Proverbs 10:22) in Matthew 11:28-30. God’s deepest desire is to reconnect His children to The Blessing He spoke into the ear of Adam in Genesis 1:28. It is The Blessing that enriches Believer’s lives Spiritually, physically, financially, and materially. Sadly, we have many Believers who never hear this, or never learn it, or never believe it, largely because of religious, doctrinal dogma.
In the following, we will break down The Words of Jesus in these three verses to see Jesus’ message to us. When you study and meditate The Word of God, you find out there is significantly more revelation IN The Word than seen on the surface of viewing the verses.
COME UNTO ME
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life: no man cometh unto The Father, but by Me.
To begin a relationship with God, we must come to Jesus Christ. He is the visible revelation of the invisible God. It’s through Him that we see Who God is. Through Jesus we can know God personally.
A Believer also grows in faith by coming to Christ daily. Christ is the source of all of God’s good gifts—all God’s spiritual riches and materiel blessings are found in Him.
ALL YE THAT LABOR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN
Luke 4:18-19
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of The Lord.
Jesus’ promise of rest is to the sick, the poor, the despised, and the afflicted. He is the friend of sinners, those weighed down by their inner struggles. We may at first think that we don’t fit into any of these groups. But all of us have been at least one of these, and maybe even all.
Life can get difficult at times. The burdens we carry can get too heavy to bear: illness, conflicts with people, job loss, marital problems, and just the many problems of living life day-to-day. We all need God’s strength and support to make it through life.
AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST
Hebrews 4:10-11
10 For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
God is kind and gracious. He delights in giving good gifts to His people, especially those who trust [fully believe His Word] Him. We have the strong hands of The Savior to lift and support us. And knowing this, we can trust Him to take our heavy loads and give us rest.
The rest that He promises is a gift—we can’t earn it and we don’t deserve it. He is the source, and He gives it freely. This is the meaning of grace. But we need to accept it from Him to enjoy it.
TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU
II Corinthians 5:15
And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him Which died for them, and rose again.
Taking His yoke upon us means complete dependence and unreserved submission to Him. And it’s a yoke we place on ourselves. It’s not put on us by someone else. It’s a conscious act of submission and surrender to Christ. Those yoked to Christ are yielding to Him as their Lord. He’s the One Whose hand is on the plow, guiding us through the fields.
Wearing Christ’s yoke is a great privilege. In doing so, we place ourselves under His care and safety. By wearing the yoke of Christ, we learn how to live and grow in Christ. But just as yoked farm animals don’t work for themselves, but for their owner, we now live for him, not ourselves. We owe our lives to Christ.
When we take His yoke upon us, we don’t follow our own path and direction, but His. And the fields we are working in are the fields of the Lord, not our own. We’re working to extend His kingdom and rule on this earth. We’re plowing His land to produce crops that He will harvest. The harvest (those who come into the kingdom) belongs to Him, but we share in its blessing.
AND LEARN OF ME
John 6:63
It is The Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: The Words that I speak unto you, They are Spirit, and They are Life.
Let’s consider the context of Jesus’ words. Two oxen are chosen to share a yoke. The first is an older seasoned ox. He is trained and hardy from years of routine. The second is a new young ox. He has potential but is inexperienced. By sharing the same yoke with a veteran workhorse, the elder trains the young. Not only this, but the experienced one draws harder to bear the majority of the load. Since the older one leads, the younger ox does not have to wonder what to do. He learns from his mentor and gains the knowledge and skill to teach others.
FOR I AM MEEK
II Corinthians 10:1
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
Christ’s yoke is not burdensome. That’s because He’s gentle. He’s not a slave driver but a loving Savior. Some Bible translations use the word “meek“ instead of gentle. A meek person is one who is strong, but whose strength is under control. They can rule their own spirit, control their anger, and not retaliate when wronged. The apostle Paul referred to “the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:1).” Jesus was strong, but gentle. And still today He is gentle with the sinner, with the desperate, and with us, His people.
It’s amazing to see that Christ, the King of kings, the rightful owner of the universe, bent His neck to this yoke that we wear. He identified with us in our humanity and is now working alongside us, going through the common sufferings with us. It’s more than a fair trade: He shared in our humanity, and we share in His rest and His Kingdom work.
AND LOWLY IN HEART
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Messiah Jesus came in humility. Five hundred years before He came to earth, the prophet Zechariah prophesied about the Messiah.
In his first appearance, Messiah would not come in glory, but in humility. He came as The Lamb of God not The Lion of Judah. He was not to be austere, dignified, and demanding. He was to be lowly and humble in heart. At Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He rode on a donkey, not a horse. Most people didn’t recognize Him as their Messiah, as they were expecting someone more impressive from a worldly view.
During His life, Jesus submitted to the most inhumane treatment by His enemies. And He was rejected by all at the end—even His own disciples. Why would He come this manner at first instead of coming in conquering power? The answer is to show us Who God really is and to die for us to save us from sin. He bore it all for His Father and also us for whom He died.
AND YE SHALL FIND REST UNTO YOUR SOULS
I Peter 5:6-7
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
When life gets hard and we can’t go any further, we need to remember Jesus offers us His yoke. When we wear the yoke of Christ, we’re not pulling alone. We could even say Jesus is pulling right beside us. And when we get too tired to pull, He takes over and pulls the heavy load for us. We can rest our souls in Him. His yoke releases us from our cares. The Apostle Peter wrote:
When life gets too heavy to bear, we can give all of our burdens to the Lord, Who cares for us. He will take them upon Himself and give us rest in exchange.
FOR MY YOKE IS EASY
Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
The yoke in ancient times was sometimes used as a metaphor for oppression or a heavy burden. It could also be used to describe the weight a conquering nation put over the people they conquered. Applying this spiritually, sin is a heavy load people carry as it leads to slavery and death. The yoke that obligates us to pull this load is harsh and heavy. But those who follow Jesus Christ are yoked to Him. Compared to the yokes other people wear, Jesus’ yoke is indeed easy. As we enter a relationship with Him, He releases us from the penalty of sin, and He becomes our Lord. To wear the yoke of Christ, we have to drop the heavy load we’re carrying and take off the old yoke. Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters.” We must first get rid of the things that now weigh us down: the sins, habits, addictions, and worldliness and the false religions with its burdensome requirements.
So, let’s throw off our unneeded burdens and live in the liberty in which Christ has given us. After we do, we find that by comparison Christ’s yoke is indeed easy—it releases us from slavery into true freedom. And as we continue to walk with Him, we are being delivered from the power of sin.
At first, wearing His yoke may seem strange and even uncomfortable. But after a while, when we have learned of Christ, we discover His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. We are blessed if we continue to wear it regularly. In doing so, we become accustomed to it. Serving the Lord and working in His fields becomes second nature.
AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT
Psalm 55:10
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses were harsh taskmasters. They interpreted the Law in the most strict and unreasonable way. And they added many other things to the Law, adding to the burdens that the people carried. Their teaching was not light, but heavy, legalistic, and burdensome. The people began to see God as harsh and demanding, not kind and loving. Jesus confronted this and brought the true nature of God to light in His teaching and ministry. Jesus knew God gave His law to protect and bless, not to burden us.
This was certainly good news to the Jewish people of the first century, who were used to hearing mostly about God’s demands and not his love. Jesus knew the heart of God. And He knew that those who wanted to know God could know Him because God wants people to know Him. He doesn’t want people to think the path to Him is obstructed and difficult. Jesus taught that God doesn’t hinder us from coming to Him but welcomes us into His presence with open arms. Think of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-31).
But still, there’s work to be done for Christ. Believers in Christ are yoked to Him in His life, ministry, and death. We are co-laborers with Him in His Kingdom work. So, we need to be serious about carrying His yoke. But His burden is light—it doesn’t weigh us down. And working in His fields is truly a delight. In closing, it is God’s desire to have us walk in His Blessing every moment of every day.
My prayer is Matthew 11:28-30 will take on deeper Spiritual significance in your life. Why bear satan’s bondage through his yoke and burden? When we choose to do things “our” way, we’re choosing to yoke ourselves to satan in the particular matter and operate from a position of bondage and fear. This is why The Holy Spirit, through Paul, tells us in Hebrews 4:10-11 to stop trying to do things in our wisdom, strength, and power (cease from your own work) and to labor to enter into Christ’s rest. The “labor” is us doing what Romans 12:2 and Romans 10:17 tells us to do: be not conformed to the world but transformed into Christ’s thinking, speaking, and acting by the renewing of our minds by meditating The Word of God until it becomes faith in us.
Much love in Jesus Christ,
Larry