“And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of all the land.” vs20-23

God will make a determined end of our enemy. Let us rejoice and trust in Him. We have nothing to fear, though difficulties are strong and chastisement runs deep. He is a loving God who keeps covenant, and you are elect - the remnant that He saves - if you believe the gospel.

Faith is what God gives us, and it is HOW WE KNOW. I spoke to someone who’s struggled for many years. First, she struggled in hypocrisy, as a church goer doing evil. Now, she’s been struggling to know God. Her hypocrisy burdens her, but she misunderstood the gospel. She was looking to herself and the greatness of her sins, instead of looking to Christ by faith. He that believes on Him is not condemned, and we call God a liar, if we say differently [1 John 5:9-13]. Faith is enough because Christ did the work. Believing means that we have all of salvation from sanctification to redemption. We have the entirety of God’s grace.

Do you believe? Then rejoice. This breaking of the yoke is for you, and you will endure by faith. He will never forsake, though He corrects. He will chasten, but He won’t take away His love.

Secondly, the anointing breaks the yoke, and this is the Holy Spirit [vs27]! “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 because of the anointing.”

The Spirit is the One who shows us Christ. He is God coming from God because of the work that Christ accomplished. He is given to the elect as a covenant mercy, and He is the CHIEF BLESSING of our life, because He shows us Christ, in whom we have salvation. He shows us the pardon of sins, and He alone gives us power over them. There is no power in sinful man. By the Spirit, Christ casts out Satan, sets up His throne in the heart, and gives us the ability to obey God [Matt 12:28]. He makes us clean on the inside by subduing our lusts and temptations. He is the hope of new life.

In Romans 6 the doctrine of new life is explained. In Romans 7, we see the struggle. In Romans 8, the power of the Spirit is given, and He is life and peace [Rom 8:6]. We overcome by believing on Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit to do what we cannot, which is put down temptations and obey. He gives the peace of following Christ, and He is enjoyed by believing the gospel, and then by believing and believing and believing, until the gospel is lived and the joy is real. Christ said that He’d come to us, and He does by the Spirit, who is Christ in you, the hope of glory. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things [1 John 2:20].”

Give up on self-effort and the tactics of Satan. The Spirit hasn’t come for fake tongues and fake miracles! He comes so we can walk by faith. If you have the Spirit, then you know the boldness of walking with God. You can do anything through Him strengthening you.

Thirdly, when God has humbled the pride of man, Jesus Christ shall spring up [Isa 11:1]! “And a Rod has come out from the stock of Jesse, and a Branch is fruitful from his roots.” This is the chief work of the Holy Spirit - to hide pride from man and show us Christ.

There is such a contradiction between the gospel and the natural man that it takes a work of humiliation to get us to believe. We must be emptied of vain pride and self-confidence, until we’re cast on Christ with nothing else: then, He arises. It is God’s purpose of grace to wound and then heal. The Assyrian shall get to the door of Jerusalem, before it is broken [Isa 10:28-32]. “Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will lop off the bough with terror; Those of high stature will be hewn down, and the haughty will be humbled. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One [vs33-34].” Paul said that he had a SENTENCE OF DEATH in Himself, so that he could trust God [2 Cor 1:9]. He had so much self confidence that he had to get near death for greater faith, so that he could serve the church, so he was given extreme trials to humble his pride.

It is the same with us. Pride must be abased, so trouble gets to the neck, and then Christ rises with comfort. He’s the Savior of the sinner and the binder of the broken heart. He’s needed in the place where we cannot go, where our wisdom can’t attain, our righteousness can’t avail, and our strength is no more. He is in the realm of faith beyond ourselves.