The Seven Calls of the Lord Jesus Christ (3) – The Third Call: Take My Yoke upon You and Learn from Me!

The Seven Calls of the Lord Jesus Christ
The Third Call: Take My Yoke upon You and Learn from Me!

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All the Bible verses quoted in this article are from the King James Version.

The Third Call: Take My Yoke upon You and Learn from Me!

“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” (Matthew 11:29-30).

After we respond to the Lord’s calls to “Repent” and “Come unto Me,” we need to answer His call to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him.

We come to the Lord not just to have Him lift all our physical and spiritual burdens, but also to work alongside Him and learn from Him. He has given us the roles of kings and priests to serve His Father, *God. He has commanded us to preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. *God will grant us the authority to reign with Him in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, God’s people need to work with the Lord and learn from Him while we are still in this life.

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me” is the call of the Lord Jesus Christ to God’s people to enter a training environment, preparing them for the work of preaching the Gospel on earth, doing the good works that *God has prepared, and reigning with Him in the Kingdom of God.

In all agricultural settings that use animals for plowing and pulling carts, people are familiar with the yoke. There are single yokes for one animal and double yokes for two animals at a time. It is a wooden tool placed over the animal’s neck, making them pull plows, harrows, or carts. Typically, when an animal reaches maturity, the owner will yoke it together with an experienced animal to teach it to work under the owner’s guidance.

In the Bible, a single yoke is used as a symbolic image of burdens and hardships, such as the yoke of slavery or the yoke of sin. A double yoke symbolizes mutual support and co-laboring for a common purpose, such as being yoked together with unbelievers or taking on the Lord’s yoke.

Taking on the Lord’s yoke means working alongside Him to learn from Him and follow *God’s will. This primarily means that we must fully keep *God’s commandments, just as the Lord Jesus Christ did. When we consider the thoughts in 1 John 2:4-6, we see that following the Lord Jesus Christ means keeping the commandments of *God.

“He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of *God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”

And keeping the commandments of *God is never a burden. The Holy Spirit Himself has affirmed:

“…and His commandments are not grievous” (I John 5:3).

This is why the Lord Jesus Christ said, “For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Anyone who finds keeping *God’s commandments burdensome and unpleasant has not truly repented of their sins and loved the Lord. A person who has not genuinely repented and turned away from sin cannot be forgiven by the Lord, cleansed from sin, reborn, and given His Holy Spirit to live joyfully in holiness, righteousness, and love by obeying *God’s commandments.

Taking the Lord’s yoke also means acting according to the Lord’s will in all things, rather than our own will. There are many aspects of our lives that are not sinful, but we have the choice to act according to our will or the Lord’s will. When we choose to follow the Lord’s will, we are accepting His yoke. If we choose to follow our own will, that action can become a burden to us and may even lead us to sin.

The image of bearing the yoke with the Lord is truly vivid and full of meaning. We are close to the Lord, living each day with Him to fulfill the good works that *God has prepared for us. When the work is too difficult and burdensome, the Lord Himself bears those difficulties and burdens, and we only need to obediently follow Him. We will learn from the Lord’s meekness and humility so that we become like Him. Through meekness and humility, we can obey *God, even unto death. By bearing the yoke with the Lord, we participate in all His works, and all the good works that *God has prepared for us are done with the Lord’s cooperation. What greater joy is there than working together with the Lord?

The Apostle Paul speaks of bearing the Lord’s yoke as follows: “For we are labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9). This means that the entire Triune God works together with those who are willing to bear the Lord’s yoke.

*God prepares and directs our work.
The Lord Jesus works with us.
The Holy Spirit empowers our work to yield good results and preserves those results for eternity.

If we do not take up the Lord’s yoke and learn from Him, we will not find rest, because the burden of following our own will weighs heavily on our souls and leads us to sin. Without taking up the Lord’s yoke, we cannot learn from Him and will not be ready for the tasks *God entrusts to us. Not responding to the call to take up the Lord’s yoke and learn from Him is an act of pride and disobedience, which is sinful!

If someone repents and comes to the Lord, receives His forgiveness, and is cleansed of sin but does not take up the Lord’s yoke and learn from Him, that person cannot respond to the next call of the Lord, which is: “Follow Me!” Such a person will sooner or later collapse under the burden of working alone, following their own will; they will lose direction in life and easily fall into all kinds of temptations, especially the temptation to give up obeying *God’s commandments.

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
04/19/2014