An important principle lies here, and inattention to this principle has caused hundreds of children of God to go astray. The passage speaks of the unequal yoke. Lev. 11:33Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. (Leviticus 11:3) teaches that an ox is a clean animal, and is thus a type of a true believer who is made clean through the precious Word (John 15:33Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (John 15:3)). The ass, being an unclean beast, typifies an unbeliever, as we read in Job 11:1212For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt. (Job 11:12); "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt." In Exod. 13:1313And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. (Exodus 13:13) too we find that the first-born son and the firstling of an ass must alike be redeemed with a lamb, for the unregenerate sinner is as stiff-necked, stubborn, and rebellious as this brute beast.
The children of Israel had been separated from the nations by God. Four times Balaam sought to curse them, and when this failed he succeeded in getting them to mingle with the Moabites, and to join themselves to Baal-peor (see Numb. 22-25), and thus ruined the people who had been called out to be a living witness to the one true God.
Many Christians who once were bright, earnest, separated, and devoted children of God, have been ensnared by Satan, formed an unequal yoke, had their testimony spoiled, and they are today total wrecks, and a danger to all who come near. Satan ever seeks to get the thin edge of the wedge in first, and few see where it all leads until too late.
You, my true fellow believer, have been marked off from the world and bound with indissoluble ties to every child of God, but as surely separated from the unbeliever as Israel was from the nations. Christ has won your heart, and you can only know this world as the place where He was crucified. Grace has taught you that you no more belong to it than does your rejected Lord; and to be a friend of the world is to be false to Christ. An unbeliever has taken his side with the world and against Christ, for "he that is not with Me is against Me."
Of all the evils, the saddest consequences come from the unequal yoke. Young Christians sometimes become engaged to unconverted persons, and often deceive themselves by the fact that they are very moral and upright, and thus seek to persuade themselves that they are not doing wrong; but the truth is that in such a union the child of God is being joined to an enemy of God, a hater of Christ, and a child of wrath. There is no middle path, and the bitterest sorrow is the only harvest that can be reaped; for "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Useful lives have been ruined, and much dishonor has been brought upon the name of the Lord Jesus through this unequal yoke. It is neither faithfulness to Christ, love to them, nor justice to yourself to continue for another moment in such an unholy path. Oh, "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil." Pro. 4:26, 2726Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:26‑27).
The enemy may also allure the Christian by many clubs where the unequal yoke is formed under the plea that 1) Recreation is needed; 2) What harm is there in this? 3) May I not by joining be an influence for good?
Then again there are religious associations where believers and unbelievers are joined together; some even go so far as to include every parishioner, regardless of new birth; and oftentimes immoral persons are allowed to take the sacrament professedly in remembrance of the Lord's death. This is the very worst kind of evil. How can they remember a person they know not? God says to His own people who thus mix with what is so false, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 2 Cor. 6:1717Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2 Corinthians 6:17). Again, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins." Rev. 18:44And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4).
Dear fellow believer, ponder these things well. They are not small and insignificant matters. Not only your blessing, but the glory of Christ is at stake. The unequal yoke includes every association, religious, commercial, or otherwise, where believers and unbelievers are joined together by common ties. Ye are not your own "for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. 6:19, 2019What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19‑20).