Occasionally, people say, are we really in the last days? How do we know? Does it matter one way or another? We will try to answer these questions and many others in this study. But the most important question may be, how can we reach others with hope in these changing times? One part of prophecy is often emphasized over another, causing us to lose perspective and miss the blessing and beauty of prophecy in scripture. I have taken the information in this study from many authors and teachers who have their lives studying God's word. I have added some insight that the Holy Spirit taught me. With God's help, I have endeavored to keep the whole counsel of the word of God in full view to give us an accurate picture of Christ and His great love for a lost world. I pray that this will challenge you and cause you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it has me preparing it. Let's begin!
A yoke is not just an old farming tool; it’s a picture of what’s directing your life right now. The Word challenges us to look honestly at the weight we’ve been carrying and asks a simple question with huge consequences: are we walking under the yoke of bondage, or are we walking side by side with Jesus under a yoke that is easy and light?
We unpack what Scripture says about spiritual oppression and spiritual rest, starting with Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11 and moving to Isaiah’s promise that a burden can be lifted and a yoke broken. Russ explains how believers can drift without noticing, slowing down in prayer, stepping away from the Word, and trying to live on a label instead of a living relationship. That’s often when the enemy’s yoke “fits” again. But Isaiah 10:27 points to a different outcome: anointing built through closeness with God becomes so strong the yoke no longer fits at all.
Then we step into Isaiah 11 and the coming peace of Christ’s reign, where creation itself changes under the fullness of Jesus. The key verse ties it all together: the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Russ ends with a personal dream of overwhelming joy and the peace that passes understanding, a reminder that the world can offer distractions but never true peace. Subscribe, share this with someone who feels weighed down, and leave a review telling us what helps you stay close to Jesus.
Welcome everyone. This is Russ Scalzo, Chronicles of the End Times. Thank you for being with me today. This is episode 280. Today we're going to talk about two different types of yokes. And those of you who have ever watched any films of the old time farmers with the yokes around the oxen and the horses pulling a plow know what a yoke is. It was used to control the animals and to guide them in a direction that the owner wanted them to go. But there are two different types of yokes that the Bible talks about. It talks about a yoke of bondage, which is the enemy and the flesh that keeps us going in the way the enemy wants us to go, the way our flesh wants to go. And then there's the yoke that Jesus talked about in the eleventh chapter of Matthew. Jesus tells us to take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And if you carry the yoke of Jesus, he promised that you would learn of him and find rest for your souls.
When we yoke with Jesus, that means several things. One is that we're close to him. That intimacy, that close relationship is only had when his yoke that is easy and light and brings joy to our hearts and learning to our souls and peace to our souls can only happen when we're that close with him, side by side with his yoke upon us. But sometimes as Christians, we don't follow through with our relationship with Christ. And the enemy is quick to put his yoke back upon us. And I've seen it many times. And you might say to yourself, Well, I'm a Christian, I can never have that happen to me. Well you can. We can move away from God, we can begin to live our own lives away from him, stop reading the word, stop praying, and just wear the title of Christian, and that's all we have. Jesus told us, and he even warned us, he said, Through me you can do anything, but without me you can do nothing. Sometimes we forget that part. Jesus said, as long as you abide in the vine, I abide in you, you abide in me, all things are possible. That's when we take the yoke of Christ and walk beside him in this life. He's there for us every second of the day. I've been working in church work almost since the day I was saved. That's going back fifty-two years now. The Christians do slide back, and when they do, the yoke of oppression gets put back on
them because they've walked away from the presence of God. So how do we get back? You might be in a place where you don't feel that you've done that, but you may not feel you're where you're supposed to be. They are the first steps of going the wrong way. I want to tie two scriptures together today that may not seem to go together. We're going to look into Isaiah chapter 11, which talks about the millennial reign. It talks about the peace of God, the knowledge of God. And then Isaiah chapter 10, verse 27, that talks about breaking the yoke of bondage that the enemy puts on us. So let's look into it a little bit. God is talking about two different things here. One is a message to Israel concerning their bondage to Assyria and their enemies around them. But this has a far greater meaning for us today. Verse twenty seven says, In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders. Who's they? The enemy, your enemy. It will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because you have grown so
fat. It means the anointing of God was so great on them that the yoke could not be put back on. That comes from walking close with Jesus. The anointing of God I like to call the scent of God. Some people, you know, you give them a hug, say hello to them, and if they're wearing a strong cologne or perfume, it comes right off on you. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not. But when you're walking close with God, you have the scent of God on you, the anointing of God, the touch of God, the presence of God. So many ways to put it. So when we're walking where we need to be, the enemy cannot put that yoke back on you. It no longer fits. The power of God, the presence of God, you're walking with him. That yoke, you cannot have that put back on. The enemy is not capable of doing it because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of God.
In the next chapter, in Isaiah chapter eleven, the Lord is describing through Isaiah the prophet the millennial reign, the time when he comes back to the earth after the battle of Armageddon, and peace comes upon the earth. The scripture is talking about Jesus. I think it's important that we read these eight or nine verses. Very, very important. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From his roots a branch will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, nor decide what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt, and faithfulness the sash around his waist. This is talking about Jesus. It's talking about his first coming and his second coming, because these attributes also apply to his first coming. But the second piece is more focused on his second coming. In his righteousness when he takes back the earth that he made, the presence of God will be so thick and so heavy, his presence will cover the entire earth. It goes on to say in verse six that the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Wow, what a scene. It goes on to say so much more, and I encourage you to read it. And what causes this is in verse nine. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Wow. That's the key verse for you and me
today. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. That's the key to our life, folks. When the knowledge of the Lord is so in us, when we're reading the word we're praying, and that anointing is building on our lives. We are free from the yoke of bondage from the enemy. These two scriptures tell us so much. Isaiah twenty seven talks about the lifting of the burden off of us, the yoke of bondage will be broken from our necks because we have grown so fat, we've grown so close to the Lord, the anointing has built upon us in such a way that the enemy can't put that back on us. We are free from his bondage completely. And then this scripture here talking about Jesus, how amazing Jesus is, that his fullness when it comes upon the earth will be so great, his glory will be so great that the whole earth will be at peace. Children will be walking with lions, the animals that used to eat meat will be eating grass. The peace of Jesus Christ will come upon the earth in such a way that there will be no more violence.
I'm gonna end with this. I had a dream four or five days ago, very short. I was going through a lot of things of my own life, just praying through some things, trying to figure some things out. And I had this dream. And it was someone with me, but I don't know who it was. But there was a laughter, it was a joyous laughter, the kind of laughter that comes upon you when you've been told you're totally free of a disease or your problems have been solved. But so much greater was this peace, and this joy was overwhelming. I can't put it into words. The Bible says it's a peace that passes understanding. And that's exactly what this was. I couldn't explain it. The peace was so great and it was so real, and it actually stayed with me for hours after I woke up. It was a gift from God the way I look at it, for the things that I was thinking about and going through in my mind. But it reminded me how precious the peace of God is. This world has lots of things it can offer us, but it cannot offer us peace, and it is starving for peace today. And that peace comes through what? The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into a relationship with Him. Just as this scripture says, the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea, that's what needs to happen in us. The knowledge of the Lord is so great that it keeps the yoke of bondage to the enemy off of us, and it gives us the peace that passes understanding.
I hope this has been a blessing to you. I know the Holy Spirit wanted me to share this with you today. So may the Lord continue to bless you and touch you and keep you. This is Russ Scalzo for Chronicles of the End Times. Keep looking up. The King is coming.
