The prophet Jeremiah acted out what he saw in the spirit. He put a yoke on his neck and told the people of God that they would carry the yoke of the enemy if they do not obey God. They refused to listen and had to face the consequences. They were sold into slavery. But this was for our education. The same prophet foretold that the period of captivity would only be seventy years. Daniel discovered this written prophecy and earthed it by constant prayer and even faced the lions in the lions den because he prayed to God and refused to worship an earthly idol of a king. But God protected him and Nehemiah and Ezra saw the fulfilment of the return of God's people to their land. Jesus came to announce that we do not have to be slaves of sin, but that his anointing would break the yoke of sin and sickness and slavery in our lives. He asks us to take his yoke upon ourselves and to learn from him in order to find rest for our souls.His yoke is easy
Harvester Church
2005.01.30

Andre Pelser

Compared to the burdens of sin and corruption, the yoke of Christ is easy. The yoke of rebellion and stubbornness pays the same price as idolatry and witchcraft. The final penalty of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through his son, Jesus Christ. Here are several instances to prove that his yoke is easy.

1. He asks us to believe
2. He asks us to obey
3. He asks us to use weak things
4. He asks us to do what we can
5. He asks us to use what we have
6. He asks us to do what is natural
7. He asks us to confess our faith
8. He asks us to take what he offers
9. He asks us to build our faith up

When we take his yoke upon our shoulders we find rest for our souls. The wicked have no rest. The world will never know the kind of peace and joy Jesus provides.

1. He asks us to believe
He asked Abraham to walk before him and to be perfect or mature. He asks him to believe he will become a great nation before he has his first son at the age of 99. Then he tests him to see if he would give his son of promise back to God. He asks him to sacrifice him and then provides a ram for the offering in the place of sacrifice. Faith without works is dead. Faith is not faith until it is tested. When the world asks you to sacrifice there is no substitute. You are it! World Wars have claimed the lives of millions of young men and only replaced them with more young men.
2. He asks us to obey
When Moses faced the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army was hot on his heals, he asked him to stretch out his rod over the sea. God’s voice parts the water and he sends a great east wind to dry the path through the sea. He does the impossible. He makes a path in the sea for his chosen people. Then when they are on the other side he tells Moses to do exactly the same and the sea closes in on the pursuing army who assumed they could walk where the people of God walked: in the miraculous realm! They did not have faith in God so it could not work for them. As we walk by faith we experience the supernatural.
3. He asks us to use weak things
He tells Gideon to break the pitchers containing flaming torches and to blow on the priests ram’s horns. It brought confusion in the camp of the enemy and they destroyed each other in the dark. Three hundred men defeated a giant army! All they used where weak pitchers, weak torches and ram’s horns. God uses the weak things of the earth to astound the strong ones. He does this so that we will learn to rely on his strength in all situations instead of our own. In the world it is just the opposite: they always show off their strength and boast in their strength.
4. He asks us to do what we can
David could not fight in Saul’s armor because he was used to his slingshot. All he had to do when he faced the giant was to do what he could: the stone sunk into the forehead of the giant and he used the giant’s own great sword to cut his head off! When Mary washed Jesus’ feet with a rare ointment, others condemned her for wasting such valuable perfume when she could have used water. Jesus defended and honored her by rebuking her accusers and saying: ‘leave her alone. She did what she could. What she has done is for my burial and wherever this Gospel is preached she will be remembered.’ Mary’s act of faith became an eternal memorial to her! In the world you are required to attempt what you cannot do before you are honored! But they crown you today and crucify you tomorrow.
5. He asks us to use what we have
When Jesus fed 5 000 men he used a schoolboy’s lunch that was offered to him: five barley loaves and two fishes. He prayed and broke the bread and the fish and asked his disciplined ones to hand it out to the crowd who were sitting in 500 groups of 50. Notice that both the crowd and the disciples had to obey instructions before the miracle happened. God is a God of order. He does things in an orderly way. If we do what he tells us to do he will multiply what we have! In the world the consumer society uses up everything and then complain about the crisis they have caused.
6. He asks us to do the natural
If we are willing to obey him in the natural he will do the supernatural. At the wedding in Cana the wine was finished. He asked the servants to fill 6 water pots with water and to draw some out and give it to the master of the feast. It is easy to do that. But when they obeyed explicitly he turned the water into wine. If we do the natural according to his instructions he will do the supernatural.
Peter and the disciples tried to catch fish all night but were unsuccessful. Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast the net out on the other side of the boat and they had a net-breaking catch! They had to obey and do what came naturally to fishermen and he did the supernatural miracle.
In the world every comic book hero is always trying to do supernatural things in his super powers. Every hero in movies and books are always showing off their super powers. That is why even the children’s bible illustrators draw Samson as a man with great muscles. Delilah and the Philistines continually asked him where his strength lay. They could not figure it out. That means he must have looked quite ordinary, otherwise they would not have asked.
7. He asks us to confess our faith
Romans 10 tells us that faith comes from the heart and it has to be spoken by the mouth in order to bring about the result. Jesus taught his disciples to speak to things and to situations. If you faith the size of a mustard seed you will speak to the mountain of problems you are facing and it will remove itself. Faith is released by words and actions. The world tells you that religion is a private matter and that you should not speak about it. Jesus told us just the opposite. If we do not confess him before people he will not confess us before the angels in heaven. What we say down here has an effect up there. He is the high priest of our confession. What we say down here is administered in the eternal tabernacle up there. Our words carry more weight than what we ever could believe.
8. He asks us to take what he gives
He offers us salvation, healing, deliverance from evil, protection, provision for the rest of our lives on earth. All we have to do is to believe and confess it and to keep on obeying his word. It is an easy yoke compared to what the world demands from us. The world cannot offer salvation. To go to hospital costs a fortune. Medical schemes often fold and cannot provide financial assistance to masses as they promise to do. Prisons and mental homes are full of patients because the world has no answer against people who are controlled by evil forces. But Jesus said to his disciples: you shall cast out demons in my name.
God offers protection an