THE YOKE OF BONDAGE by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 4, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 23.

“THE YOKE OF BONDAGE.”

By G.

WE are sometimes told that the law of God is a yoke of bondage; but the Word of God shows very clearly that this is not true. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He said to them, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Then He immediately rehearsed to them His law, which they were henceforth to observe. Now did God bring His people “out of the house of” His law, when He brought them out of Egypt?—No, He brought them out of bondage in a land where His law was rejected. Wherefore did He bring them out?—That they might serve Him. Ex. 8:1.

Was it, then, a bondage to serve God? What did Moses say of the deliverance from Egypt?—“I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation.” Ch. 15:1, 2. It was salvation, liberty, to be brought out of Egypt, and to be placed where they might be free to obey the law of God. It was Christ that brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and He it is that says, “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.” Matt. 11:29, 30. And of the law He said to an inquirer, “This do, and thou shalt live.” Luke 10:28.

It is endeavoring to keep the law of God in one’s own strength—making one’s own works a means of salvation—that is a yoke of bondage; it is not the law itself that is a bondage. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Ps. 19:7. When we let the Word of God into the heart by faith, then “it is God which worketh” in us “both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” When the Spirit of Christ is in the heart of an individual, he will walk in the law of his God, as Christ Himself did; and “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Cor. 3:17.

The typical or ceremonial service of the Levitical dispensation became a burdensome yoke when, after its purpose had been served, the people still clung to it as an essential to salvation. All that was a mere figure pointing forward to Christ and His work. To depend upon the shadow instead of the substance, was to make salvation a matter of works; and a grievous yoke indeed is the effort to save one’s self by dead works. So when some Judaizing Christians continued to urge upon Gentile converts the ceremony of circumcision, and other merely typical services, the apostles characterized it as a “yoke.” Peter said, “Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” This yoke the Jews had placed upon themselves, when they sought salvation by works. That salvation by works was the yoke to which Peter referred, is shown in the next verse: “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.” See Acts 15:5-11.

The difference between the work of the Spirit (or work of faith) and the work of the flesh, is shown by Paul in the comparison of Sarah and Hagar. Sarah was a free woman, and her son, Isaac, was a child of promise, a child of faith, begotten of the Spirit. Hagar was a bondwoman, and her offspring could not be other than bondmen. Abraham was told that in Isaac, the son of the free woman, his seed should be called. “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” Gal. 4:31.

Abraham’s marriage with Hagar, and the consequent birth of Ishmael, was an attempt on the part of Abraham and Sarah to obtain the promised seed by their own works—by means of their own devising. But God repudiated it all. “What saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” This act of Abraham and Sarah’s was contrary to the law of God, therefore it could only lead to bondage. The whole human race is in bondage because of disobedience. Every work of man that is not in harmony with the law of God “gendereth to bondage.” “Sin is the transgression of the law.” The continuation of the typical services after the death of Christ was sin, because it was a lack of faith in Christ. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” and sin is bondage. So the apostle says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ

hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Gal. 5:1.

“If ye be circumcised [in the fleshly ceremony], Christ shall profit you nothing.” Verse 2. “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” 1 Cor. 7:19. The law of God, then, is something important as compared with dead works. There is also a circumcision that is important, and that is the circumcision of the heart, in the spirit (Rom. 2:28, 29), and every one that is thus circumcised is debtor to keep the whole law (Gal. 5:3); for Christ’s whole mediatorial work is designed to bring sinners into harmony with the law of God through faith in Him. It is designed to bring them out of the house of bondage, that they may serve God.

This is not to say that they are justified by the law; for they are not so justified, and can not be. It is a perfect, unchangeable law; it is a just law, and therefore can not justify the breach of its holy precepts. But God has provided that sinners may be justified by faith in Christ; that is, they may be pardoned through faith, and made free from the condemnation of the law. Rom. 8:1-5. When they are thus set free, and accounted righteous, the law no longer condemns them; for the law justifies the righteous. Ch. 3:13. Rom. 10:4, 5. “Christ is the end [object] of the law.” His whole Gospel purpose is to help sinners break off the yoke of bondage, and become subject to the law of God—a condition to which the carnal mind can not attain. Rom. 8:7. G.