Because the King is Coming, we must become a Bride who has made herself ready, and it begins with the breaking off of all yokes that are weighing us down, and governing our lives.
Yokes in Biblical days were used in farming, yoking together two oxen so that together they would till up the soil for planting. Spiritually, a yoke is a belief system; specifically, a belief system that is not aligned to God's truth.
Galatians 5:1 says that "it is for freedom that Christ set you free"! Therefore, Jesus has already set you free. However, the very next verse says not to allow yourself to get back into bondage. That tells us that the world, the flesh, and the devil, have yokes that they would love to put on our shoulders, deceiving us into believing that they are true and allowing them to govern our lives.
Isaiah 9:4 says, "You have shattered the yoke that burden them; the bar across their shoulders." In verse 6 it says, "For unto us a Child is born, a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This is prophecy of Jesus!
You see, God had me write the FREE book so that yokes would be broken off of us, so that the only One we are yoked to is Jesus!
One yoke in particular that is talked about in Isaiah 14:24-25 is the yoke of the Assyrians. As I dug deeper to find out what belief system accompanied this yoke, I found that this yoke is "selfish reasoning". We have all selfishly reasoned with ourselves, justifying why our bad behavior was warranted. What we justify, we buy. SO we will say things like "Because this was done to me, I have the right to act the way I do, or to say the things I say." This is a lie that we have bought into.
Jesus said there is one yoke...His. "Come unto Me all you who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble and you will find rest for your soul; for my burden is easy and my burden light." Matthew 11:28-30
"Rest" is two different words in these verses. The first "rest" means "immediate relief" and the second "rest" means "peace for the long haul". So, if you are not experiencing rest in your soul, then there may just be a bad yoke weighing on your shoulders that doesn't belong there.
An Insufficiency of Rest Indicates an Inaccurate Yoke
2 Corinthians 6:14-16 causes us to ask this question: "What are you unequally yoked to?"
True Freedom is shattering the yokes that are holding you back from the abundant life that Jesus came to give you. Let's break those yokes so that we can become the Bride who has made herself ready, because the King is coming!!!
Yes! Me too!
So thankful for His yoke that gives me rest, physically, spiritually and mentally-real freedom!