20, Burden and Yoke Removed
Isaiah 10:27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
God promises: the burden and the yoke shall be taken off the shoulder and neck. Jesus promises: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest….My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We carry a heavy burden: the burden is sin; it keeps us from walking and leaping and praising God. We wear a hard yoke: the yoke is the devil; he leads us where he wants with fears and worries, with sin and guilt, with doubt and despair.
“In That Day,” the day of the Messiah, the Lord will take the burden away and lift the yoke off. Sin is a heavier burden than we even realize, for we tend to think that that is just the way it goes, that life is tough, and that depression is normal. But we have never experienced life without a burden, and we do not know how exhilarating, joyful, and glorious life could be. The devil is a harder yoke than we realize also, for we have never experienced life without him around. With the burden lifted and the yoke not pressing we begin to enjoy life as God meant it to be.
Then Jesus comes with His gracious invitation: Come to me, and take my yoke upon you. Jesus removes the burden and lifts the yoke, and then He replaces them with His burden and yoke. The new burden is the forgiveness of sins, and the new yoke is the Holy Spirit. The anointing is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that destroys the hard yoke. Now we are led by the gentle leading of the Spirit; He is so gentle that we seldom notice Him or what He is doing. But He gives the faith to trust Him to always be good, to be gentle and lowly, to lead us in the right way, and to grant life and love and peace and joy in all things. The presence of the Holy Spirit, who comes upon us through the Gospel, breaks the yoke and carries our burdens. We need this promise since we don’t always see life this way. With Jesus, life is easy, and life is good.