Sometimes the weight of a problem rests so heavily on us that it feels like an overpowering force is bearing down on our necks, much like the heavy wooden crosspiece of a yoke pressing down on a pair of oxen as they pull a plow. They cannot escape the constraints of the yoke unless their master releases them.
Perhaps you are feeling the entrapment of a yoke right now—an unyielding, troubling situation in your life, a long-standing unanswered prayer, a feeling of directionlessness, a chronic illness or addiction. It’s as though chains are wrapped around you, and there is no way to break free.
Jesus understands the yoke problem. In Matthew 11:28-30 (NASU), He said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden [burdened by cares], and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."
He was tempted in every way we are. He experienced hunger, rejection, ridicule, betrayal, pain, physical torture, emotional and physical abuse, and death. There was no yoke of suffering He did not understand, including yours.
One night as I laid my head on the pillow hoping to drift off to sleep, I placed a troubling concern in the Lord’s hands, wondering/hoping/praying He would have a solution to free me from the weight of the problem. As I closed my eyes, the phrase, “the anointing breaks the yoke,” popped into my mind. Instantly I felt hope and was determined to study the phrase and understand its meaning. I was eager to get the yoke off my neck!
Jesus is the Christ, which means “Anointed One.” Another of His titles is “Messiah, the Christos, the Anointed." “Christ” and “Messiah” mean the same; they come from two different languages. The implication is that Jesus was anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, from which He received the power and authority of God, the Father, as the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him.
In the Old Testament, when kings were chosen, they were anointed with oil, as David was, and God’s power was released in the king to enable him to rule rightly. Peter says, in Acts 10:38 (NASB), You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.
When the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, the Christos, sees us suffering under the weight of a yoke, He not only removes the yoke but also breaks it into pieces so it cannot be placed back on us. How wondrously final! Isaiah 10:27 (NKJV) explains how “the anointing breaks the yoke”: It shall come to pass in that day that His burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and His yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed [broken]because of the anointing oil. Remove it, then smash it into pieces—that’s Jesus, the Anointed One’s solution to the chains that bind us and the yokes that crush us.
As my good friend, Dick Leggatt, from Derek Prince Ministries, says, “It is not a something that breaks yokes and chains—it’s a Someone. It is the Anointed One, our Messiah, who is anointed by the Holy Spirit of God. It is Jesus Christ who absolutely delights in removing and breaking any chains that bind us.”
Jesus said this of Himself in Luke 4:18 (NKJV), "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. In this verse, five yokes are addressed and broken by our Anointed One. The anointing breaks the yoke.
If you are under a yoke of bondage and heaviness, Dick leads us in meaningful prayer, asking the Lord to release us:
Lord, first and foremost, I want to recognize and honor you as my Messiah—the Anointed One who has forgiven me, released me from captivity, and chosen me to be used for Your purposes. Thank You, Lord, for pouring out Your grace upon me and making me Your very own. I commit myself afresh to You with this prayer. Now I want to confess that there are some areas of my life in which I am burdened by a yoke. No one else but You knows how bound up I am, and I need Your help to get free. Lord, please remove these bondages from me that hamper me and hinder me. I also ask You to destroy them completely. Break their hold over me from this point forward.
Thank You, Lord, for bringing complete freedom to me. I give You all praise and all honor. Help me in the days ahead to step into the new liberty You have provided for me. I want to walk in a way that has eluded me until this moment of freedom which You have provided. Thank You for removing and breaking the yoke that has weighed me down. Amen.
As you pray that prayer, know that the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, has removed and broken the yoke that has burdened you. The Master has fully released you.
© 2023, Chris Werre