THE YOKE OF CHRIST by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 15, 1905

THE YOKE OF CHRIST.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

A YOKE is a symbol of service. When one is in bondage he is said to be under a yoke. Jeremiah was told to make yokes and send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyrus, and Zidon, and tell them that these were to indicate that they should be subject to the king of Babylon. The prophet was also to wear one himself, and to give one to the king of Judah. The sinner is reckoned as being under a yoke of bondage, for sin reigns over him until he is converted to Christ.

The gracious invitation of our Saviour is: "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." The ox-yoke, which is taken for the symbol, is made so that two can work together. So when one takes Christ's yoke upon him, he is to work side by side with Christ. Now that would not be an easy position if he were expected to do as much work as Christ. He is simply attached to the Lord by the yoke of love, and the Lord does the work. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." This is what makes the yoke easy, and the burden light.

But we must remember that it is the burden of soul that is made light, and this is because of a consciousness that sin is forgiven. The promise is not of an easy time in the world; it is not designed to encourage laziness in the work; for the slothful man, the sluggard, "shall beg in harvest, and have nothing." Why?—Because he is too dilatory to plow when it is cold. He prefers an easy, comfortable time to the prospect of a good harvest of souls.

God's people are also to reckon themselves as yoked together—"yoke fellows" (Phil. 4:3) "under the yoke" (1 Tim. 6:1). Thus we are "laborers together with God" (1 Cor. 3:9). If therefore there be a lack of harmony, the yoke will be made hard and galling, and the service of doubtful character. It behooves us, then, to "do all things without murmurings and disputings," that we may "stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel." Otherwise being yoked together must be a very uncomfortable position.

Being yoked with Christ implies walking as He walked (1 John 2:6), and He "did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." As "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4), and He did no sin, He was faithful in the observance of the law which shows what sin is—which law is shown in Rom. 7:7 to be the law of Ten Commandments.

He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," and the law of God is the truth (Ps. 119:142). In Christ is eternal life (1 John 5:11, 12), and in keeping the law is life (Luke 10:25-28).

It seems clear, then, that walking in the yoke of Christ, walking "even as He walked," is to walk in the way of His commandments. So the scripture says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: "Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." And this is the duty that confronts us in the judgment; for when this duty is presented to us, there is coupled with it the reason for the announcement: "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:13, 14. Then the law of God, the transgression of which is sin, is the standard in the judgment. It is wisdom, therefore, to be yoked together with a Mediator who is blameless before the law, and in whose righteousness alone we can stand (Rom. 3:23-26; Phil. 3:8, 9); for no man can keep the infallible law of God excepting in the faith and by the help of Christ. G.