Question – What is the “yoke of bondage”?

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).

“There are many whose hearts are aching under a load of care because they seek to reach the world’s standard. They have chosen its service, accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Thus their character is marred and their life made a weariness. The continual worry is wearing out the life forces. Our Lord desires them to lay aside this yoke of bondage. He invites them to accept His yoke; He says, ‘My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.’ Worry is blind and cannot discern the future; but Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty He has His way prepared to bring relief. ‘No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly’ (Matthew 11:30; Psalm 84:11).” Help in Daily Living, 21.

“Esau had no love for devotion, no inclination to a religious life. The requirements that accompanied the spiritual birthright were an unwelcome and even hateful restraint to him. The law of God, which was the condition of the divine covenant with Abraham, was regarded by Esau as a yoke of bondage. Bent on self-indulgence, he desired nothing so much as liberty to do as he pleased. To him power and riches, feasting and reveling, were happiness. He gloried in the unrestrained freedom of his wild, roving life.” Conflict and Courage, 61.

“As soon as the seeker for truth opens the Bible to read the utterances of God with reverence, possessing an earnest desire to know ‘what saith the Lord,’ light and grace will be given him, and he will see wondrous things out of God’s law. He will not regard the law of Jehovah as a yoke of bondage, but as the gracious commands of One who is all-wise and full of compassion. He will make haste to fulfill His requirements.”  Counsels on Sabbath School Work, 34, 35.

“Never will evil again be manifest. Says the word of God: ‘Affliction shall not rise up the second time’ (Nahum 1:9). The law of God, which Satan has reproached as the yoke of bondage, will be honored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation will never again be turned from allegiance to Him whose character has been fully manifested before them as fathomless love and infinite wisdom.” The Great Controversy, 504.

“ ‘But,’ one says, ‘I thought the commandments were a yoke of bondage.’ It is those only who break the law that find it a yoke of bondage. To those who keep the law it is life and joy and peace and happiness.” Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 130.