The Answer is in the Yoke…but is a yoke one of bondage or freedom?
In the last post, the times of the Prophet Jeremiah were referenced and the weighing in the balance of Belshazzar, who was found WANTING or EMPTY.
The scales of balance can also refer to the yoke with which we are yoked to Messiah and serve to ensure we too are not disrespecting the Holy things of the Lord. The Temple Menorah which Balthazzar was using to light his festivities, was the very thing that illuminated the handwriting on the palace wall declaring Gods’ judgment of his sin! The line was drawn and his mockery was short-lived, sin only runs for a season then comes the inevitable consequences.
We are in a time now where the refiners fire is here and 1 Peter 4:17 indicates
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
The history of God’s people indicates that judgment always begins within the covenant community.
The dross is being skimmed off the top so we will come forth as gold Job 1:3
Change, was, and still is, the word for this season; we have a lull before the next wave of the storm breaks, just enough time to refill those lamps.
It is a cautionary example for all of us not to be found wanting/empty.
The solution to not having to see the writing on the wall, to not being found wanting/empty is being yoked to Our Heavenly Father with Messiah Jesus/Yeshua. In being yoked to Jesus/Yeshua it means that we are
in Complete Surrender
to His Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit.
However, if the answer is the yoke, is it a yoke of bondage or freedom?
How can it be both?
Why was Jeremiah wearing a Yoke?
What is its purpose and why did Jesus/Yeshua use the reference as a picture?
What can we learn from this image and the pictograph letters, that will enhance our walk along the WAY with Him?
We are familiar with such Scriptures as, the anointing breaks the yoke.
Isaiah 10:27
It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be DESTROYED because of the anointing oil.
Yokes are often like burdens we carry around.
Yokes are bondages that need to be broken off in order for us to be free.
Because of Jesus the Messiah, it is not simply broken but the yoke has been DESTROYED!
This is what we are to remember every day and especially at this season of the Spring Appointed Times. This is what we are celebrating and remembering the scope of what He fulfilled perfectly.
Another reference to yoke is in
2Cor.6:14 be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, and Amos 3:3 can two walk together except they be agreed?
There is also the Jeremiah connection.
In Jeremiah 27 This chapter gives us another illustrated prophecy of Jeremiah’s to the rulers of his day, (and the Yoke of Christ/The Anointed). In this case, it involves not only the king of Judah, but the ambassadors of several small surrounding nations as well.
Jeremiah was known for his dramatic object lessons. For example, when emissaries from surrounding nations came to Judah asking the nation to join a rebellion against Babylon, Jeremiah put a yoke on his neck and went about urging the nations to submit to the yoke of Babylon and live (Jeremiah 27:2-11).
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23).
As we have already seen, God’s prophets preached not only through words but also through object lessons.
At times the prophets had to live out the messages; it was another way to get the point across. Thus, Jeremiah again was called to “live out” the words he was to deliver.
First, he had to wear a wooden yoke. “Thus saith the Lord to me; make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck” (Jer. 27:2).
A hard job, and it became harder because a false prophet challenged what Jeremiah said.
Today the history of nations speaks to us because God has assigned a place in His plan for each nation and each individual. Both people and nations are being tested weighed in the balance and measured by the plum line in the hand of the One who makes no mistakes. All are deciding their destiny by their own choice, and above all God is sovereign overruling every decision for the accomplishment of His plans purposes and final outcome.
No one would break (iron yoke) Gods message about Babylon.
It seemed a strange directive, but it was for the peoples good in the end even though it did not seem to be at the time. Similar parallel to Messiahs day, they wanted a King to free them from the bondage to Rome…. But
Jesus/Yeshua came to serve. (Luke 22:27 but I am among you as he that serveth.)
and submitted Himself to the authorities at the time.
(Mark 12:17. When Yeshua/Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” He was drawing a sharp distinction between two kingdoms.
There is a kingdom of this world, and Caesar holds power over it. But there is another kingdom, not of this world, and Yeshua/Jesus is King of that one. (John 18:36).
Temporarily we are part of both kingdoms.
Rendering to Caesar is limited and defined by rendering to God. What is Caesar’s is determined by the fact that everything is God’s first, and only becomes Caesar’s by God’s permission and design.
Then, finally bearing upon Himself the yoke of bondage that had imprisoned the people under the heavy burden of the law of sin and death and the overwhelming physical laws imposed by the Pharisees which were impossible to keep.
This is why
…because He came to break that YOKE of bondage to their religious doctrines and dogmas, not by doing away with Gods’ original covenant commandments but by fulfilling them and bringing deliverance and freedom to all who would accept His WAY, restoring things to how Our Heavenly Father intended it to be.
Maybe some of us older readers remember what a yoke is.
A yoke is a farming tool used to accomplish a task – it is a beam of wood placed on a couple of oxen, cows/bulls, horses or donkeys, which are then used to plow a field.
A yoke can be a shaped length of wood placed on human shoulders to help in carrying a heavy load; for example, two buckets of water so fewer trips to the well would be necessary. This only works efficiently if they are balanced!
The Yoke of Messiah was the cross beam used for His crucifixion, the tool that accomplished the work of our salvation. Symbolic of Him breaking the Yoke of bondage.
When Jesus/Yeshua says take My yoke upon you He is saying…
Take up the cross, the yoke and walk with Me, but because My yoke is for two not one, I’ll carry the most weight, the bulk of the burden.
The closer we get to Jesus/Yeshua, the nearer we stay as we walk along His Way, even as pressures increase, He carries the greater burden… always but, if we move away we begin to feel the weight.
By the cross Jesus/Yeshua has accomplished the work of defeating all that burdens us in this life. Yet, we are invited to share in His sacrifice, with the knowledge that the hard work pays off in the end! Because our part of His sacrifice, in union with Jesus/Yeshua is a sharing in the salvation of the world that He accomplished through the yoke placed on His shoulders like a beast of burden.
His yoke, is also the cross of this life’s suffering, the cross of sacrificing ourselves for the sake of family and friends and those in need and it isn’t too heavy to carry because Jesus/Yeshua carried it for us, already. Jesus/Yeshua promises those who voluntarily yoke themselves to Him that, together, His strength will be there to get us through anything that comes our way.
This is the rest, the shalom, the peace of mind and heart He promises.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Hebrews 3:14
It is this rest into which the ancient Israelites failed to enter, for “My rest ” is God’s rest, God’s Sabbath rest. This is the rest some failed to enter, but which remains available to us today, a rest received by faith (4:3-6).
We who have believed enter that rest. There is one door/dalet to the safe, peaceful, happy rest of God and it’s the door of faith and Jesus is the door to enter in by. Anyone who puts faith in God’s promises bought for us by the blood of Jesus/Yeshua, and is diligent not to discard that faith, is a part of the ecclesia, His Bride.
His reference to, being as a child, is because the majority of children understand this concept naturally, in that, they trust that parents will love, provide for, and protect them. Most children don’t get too concerned with the details of how parents are going to provide meals or give them a place to live, they just simply trust that they will.
Our Heavenly Father is the divine parent who will do what it takes out of love. Because He knows what is best for us. Jesus/Yeshua called Him Father, giving us that concept in that we need to trust with the same instinctive love that a child has for parents.
In His taking up His yoke/the cross, Jesus/Yeshua trusted His Father; and it is the proof that God will do whatever it takes to get us to that place of peace/shalom and contentment and that we will not let anything defeat us.
Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one. John 18:9 & 17:12 Those whom thou hast given me I have guarded, and none of them is lost,
Messiah didn’t demand of His Father, to achieve the goal some other way. Instead He said in all humility, not my will but your will be done. He knew that His Father would take Him through because the Father could be trusted even if in His humanness, He didn’t know how the Father would make things work for His good.
Even when He asked If it were possible let this cup pass, He still took up His cross believing that even the worst thing that could happen to a person would not defeat Him.
In ancient culture, the word yoke was a term that was used to describe submission. So when someone was described as being yoked to someone or something, it was communicating the idea that he or she was in submission to that person or thing.
So to be yoked to Jesus/Yeshua is to serve and obey Him.
The people in Jesus/Yeshua’s day were using the yoke of the law to pull their life and everything in it along. It left them tired, worn out, and burned out on religion. The yoke of grace Messiah offered was contrary to the yoke of the law. It was a move from depending on one’s own efforts and ability to depending on God’s grace and power.
Jesus/Yeshua encourages those who are “heavy laden” to take His yoke upon them, and in so doing they will find rest for their souls. The yoke of Jesus is light and easy to carry because it is the yoke of repentance and faith followed by a singular commitment to follow Him continually.
The yoke to which Messiah invited people to accept, when borne as a co-laborer with Him, is no burden at all. It is a source of rest, satisfaction, joy, and contentment, true shalom because He is our life and strength. When we are yoked to Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, the joy of the true disciple is in whatever He requires of us to do.
Coming to Jesus/Yeshua, taking His yoke, and learning from Him can all be summed up in one word—trust. Just as we trust Him for our salvation, so we entrust Him with our burdens and rely on His teaching. Jesus/Yeshua assures us that we will find rest for our souls and in that shalom all uncertainty, fears, anxieties, and despair will be dispelled.
Jesus/Yeshua called His WAY being yoked and once we become His followers, it’s up to us to choose whether we are yoked to slavery or freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Apparently as rabbis began to interpret the Torah for their students they emphasized different things in the law: e.g. care for the poor, correct worship, personal piety. It did not mean that they abandoned parts of the given law by God but rather in similar fashion as the gospel writers did, in that they paid attention to the community and culture, etc. of those to whom they were speaking and taught what was most needed for the people and those who were their disciples.
Their interpretation came to be called their yoke.
It would seem logical that when Jesus/Yeshua spoke of His yoke being easy and His burden light, He was calling us to the Way of love and to what He came to reveal of the Kingdom of God.
It is clear that for whosoever truly embraces His teaching; it’s the inner motivation and intention that allow a vision and path of light rather than life’s outer experiences being the deciding factor which we consider as being either easy or difficult.
This doesn’t mean that we’ll never feel burdened, but that in the light of the WAY Jesus/Yeshua revealed to us, we will be able to withstand our tests and trials because of the ONE who came to share His light “yoke” with us.
A Double Yoke
As we read this description think in terms of our relationship to Jesus/Yeshua.
The Purpose: To harness a pair of animals so that together they can pull a load as efficiently as possible. It us used most often with oxen for plowing soil.
How a Yoke is made: A beam carved from a single piece of wood is fitted specifically to the shoulders of an ox, this maximizes both the animals pulling force and comfort. The strap or bow around the neck is attached to pegs to secure the yoke. The hitch point connects the yoke to what’s being pulled.
How a Yoke works: The beam rests in front of the shoulder hump (or withers), distributing weight and enabling natural and comfortable movement. Custom fitting each side allows oxen of unequal size or strength to pull together without one being dragged by the other.
A Yoke is :
Designed to carry burdens. We dont need to drag the heavy weight of sin around because when we repent and come to Messiah, He takes away that burden and gives us His shalom/peace and healing. (Isaiah 5:18).
A Yoke is intended to help get work done. With the Messiah’s yoke, we can do His work because He works with us. It may still be work, however in it we find rest for our souls.
A Yoke is Custom fitted. It’s His yoke we take upon us—the one best suited for us, because His ways help us live in harmony with Him and because He knows us individually. Every hair on our heads is counted and as we lose many of those every day, it indicates He is in constant touch with us always knowing every detail about our lives.
When we come to Messiah to be yoked with Him and His power, that is so we are not the one pulling life’s load by ourselves, but instead pulling it yoked with the Savior and Redeemer of the world, When we do, then our problems, no matter how serious they are, become lighter.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30.
The yoke of bondage to sin and death is typified in Egyptian slavery. Egypt being a type of the worlds system, and we all know who is the god of this world, which is why we should not be yoked together with the world or love the things of it or what it offers to us. It all belongs to the prince of this world and we should refuse it just as Messiah did in Matthew 4:1-11.
It’s not the broad and seemingly easy WAY we are to follow it’s the narrow WAY.
So why did Jesus/Yeshua say Matthew 11:29 Take My Yoke
What is the yoke of Jesus/Yeshua and why did He say is it easy?
This is an invitation to the marriage covenant with Jesus/Yeshua; to become yoked to Him in love, voluntarily through love, not compulsion or fear and enforced slavery. ( As in Song of Solomon 8:6) see https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-secret-hidden-in-a-kings-song-shir-hamelech/
Here Jesus/Yeshua is inviting His followers to take on themselves the yoke of the marriage covenant which is the New, Renewed or Everlasting Covenant of Jer 31:31, 33 and Heb 8:8); that is, we are to accept Him as our heavenly and everlasting spiritual Bridegroom.
This is the yoke of the bondservant to which all the writers made reference in scripture, when they called themselves the bond servant of Jesus/Yeshua.
We only have two choices: Be a bond servant to Satan/Adversary or to Jesus/Yeshua.
The former leads to judgment against sin which is death, while the latter leads to mercies and forgiveness, deliverance from death and sin through Jesus/Yeshua resulting in eternal life/ never having to be separated from the Father.
See https://www.minimannamoments.com/what-has-a-flower-got-to-do-with-a-servant-heart-salvation-and-a-bridegroom/
The marriage covenant or New/Renewed/Everlasting covenant isn’t one of compulsion based on the fear of death, but rather based on voluntary servitude, a choice of our freewill. Love can’t exist under an atmosphere of compulsion, but only when there’s freewill choice.
It is a Yoke of Love.
This is what we are remembering this week!!! The Bridegroom gave Himself up for His Bride!
Acts 15 shows this freewill choice to take upon themselves the yoke of Torah. When the apostles made a decision in regards to the Gentiles being included into covenantal relationship with Jesus/Yeshua; that being the one that He had already established with the rest of the Jewish believers.
This was because the Pharisee believers were compelling the Gentiles to follow the Torah as a prerequisite for salvation and inclusion into the community of believers Acts 15:1
So, the apostles made it clear that as far as they were concerned, only certain minimum requirements be imposed on the Gentiles to be granted entrance into the community of believers. They believed the Gentiles needed to be drawn into the Torah covenants through invitation and freewill choice based on love, not by compulsion or fear.
In Acts 15:21 The apostles further state that based on this, the Gentiles will learn to take on the yoke of Torah a little at a time out of love not fear for Avinu/Father and Jesus/Yeshua their Bridegroom.
My Yoke is easy and a look at the pictographs are concluded in PART 2..coming soon!
This may not seem to be a timely message yet it is during times of testing that we should make certain that we are securely yoked to Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.
As this season is all about His Blood shed for us…
Oh the blood of Jesus Oh the blood of Jesus Oh the blood of Jesus It washes white as snow.
Ho damo shel Yeshua Ho damo shel Yeshua Ho damo shel Yeshua K’sheleg malbeen.
הו דמו של ישוע הו דמו של ישוע הו דמו של ישוע זה שוטף לבן כמו שלג
Because of His Blood
Because of The Sacrifice Lamb!
There are several previous posts relating to this week of Appointed Times…
Links below:
https://www.minimannamoments.com/palm-sunday-nisan-the-appointed-time-of-the-lamb/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/more-than-one-palm/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/not-passing-over-passover-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/unleavened-bread-matzot-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-secrets-of-the-seder-plate/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/13-for-supper-and-only-4-cups/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/first-fruits/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lot-can-happen-in-a-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/even-more-can-happen-in-and-around-the-same-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/what-did-john-see-that-we-missed/
Chag Pesach sameach Mishpachah’
Happy Passover Family!
שפחה
Mish-pa-KHa
in Hebrew you literally say “holiday passover happy”
chag Pesach kasher vesame’ach
pronounced: CHAG PEH-sach kah-SHER ve-sah-MAY-ach).
וְשָׂמֵחַ כָּשֵׁר חַג
