Have you ever seen a pair of oxen, or perhaps some other animal, with a yoke around their neck? An old-fashioned yoke is made of heavy, strong wood that goes around the neck and shoulders of beasts of burden. They keep the animal under the control of the human master, and are used when a heavy burden must be moved. Even an animal much bigger and stronger than the human is unable to do what he might want when a yoke is put on them. Do you feel like a yoke is on you? In our Scripture passage today from the Prophet Isaiah, we will see what God says about being under a yoke, and what He promises to those who follow Him.
Throughout the history of the people of Israel and Judah during the days of the Old Testament, many nations came against them to put them in subjection. Prior to the time of King David, many nations, particularly the Philistines and Moabites, periodically kept the people under oppression. Years later, during the time of the Kings of Israel and Judah, the nation of Assyria came against them numerous times, putting them under tribute, and eventually taking the northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity.
In ancient times when a stronger country would conquer, or threaten to conquer another country, the stronger country would exact tribute from the other in exchange for allowing them partial self-rule. This tribute would often be in money or other riches, food supplies, and often slave labor or soldiers for their armies. This was usually a very heavy burden for the country to bear, but they would have no choice. The heavy yoke was put upon them. When a country was taken captive, the people had no choice but to be carried off captive if they wanted to live, and usually be put into slavery, an even heavier yoke of bondage.
Isaiah speaks in our Scripture passage about the nation of Assyria coming against the people. God allowed this to happen as punishment because of their unfaithfulness to Him by worshipping the false gods of the people around them. However, God promised that if the people would be faithful in their worship of Him, His punishment would not last forever (vs. 25). The yoke that the enemy put upon them would be broken, would be destroyed because of the anointing (vs. 27).
Has the enemy come upon you, and put you under his burden, under his heavy yoke? We may think that our enemy might be a domineering boss, a neighbor who is nasty to us, even someone in our family. We may think that the burden or yoke we bear is some financial difficulty, some persistent illness, or problem in our house or family. However, who is behind every yoke or burden we have? Satan! He is our true enemy. He is the one behind every burden of sin we have in our life. He is the cause of the fallen world that we live in. Just like the Assyrian, he is exacting tribute from us, and putting us under his yoke of bondage.
We do not need to stay under his yoke, though. When we turn to God in repentance, accepting the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ on our behalf, and taking Him as our Savior and Lord, we are set free from Satan’s power. The anointing is the manifestation of God’s power, which destroys every yoke, every bondage in every area of our life.
The anointing of God comes from the throne of heaven. It comes full of power, full of energy to root up, to pull down, and to destroy every yoke of bondage the devil tries to put on us. God’s anointing should be desirable to us. Elisha wanted a double portion of the anointing that Elijah had when he took over Elijah’s ministry (II Kings 2:9-14).
Do we want the power of God’s anointing in our life, like Elisha did? God’s anointing will not happen unless we surrender to God, return to His sovereignty, and declare Him the center of our life. He, alone, has the power to set us free. No yoke of bondage can withstand God’s presence and power. The anointing of God’s presence is what will set us free as we seek Him. God's anointing will break the yoke!
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