October 14, 2020

The Colt
 
Exodus 34:20; Luke 19:28-40
 
The lowly Donkey is mentioned more than a hundred forty times in Scripture. The first mention is in connection with Abraham who,  when told by God to go to Mount Moriah and there offer up his well-beloved son, immediately saddled his beast and prepared for the journey. Then there was the Good Samaritan’s donkey, and what about Balaam’s donkey, which rebuked the madness of the prophet? But surely the donkey that heads the list is the one mentioned in the Gospels, the one that helped the Lord Jesus fulfill an ancient prophecy (Zech. 9:9).
 
There are three things worth noting about this donkey. First, it had to be The Law of Moses pronounced the donkey an unclean animal. It did not chew the cud, and it did not have a cloven hoof: so it was doubly cursed. Inside and out, it was declared to be unclean: and the Law demanded that any firstborn donkey should be put to death. But the Law also made provision for the condemned beast to be redeemed. A lamb could die in its stead. It could live because a substitute had taken Its place and died.
 
The application is to us. We are born unclean, condemned by God’s law, and sentenced to death. A Lamb (the Lord Jesus) has died so that we might go free. For, like that donkey of old, we needed to be redeemed. How grateful we should be to the Lord of glory, who took our place and died that we might live. Truly we now live the life of another, even of Him who interposed His precious blood and paid our debt and gave us His life!
 
But this colt needed not only to be redeemed, but also it had to be released. “Ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat,” Jesus told His disciples. “Loose him, and bring him hither” (Luke 19:30). It had life, thanks to the lamb, but it did not have liberty. That colt may have stood alongside the post to which it was tied and dreamed about being set free. The grass on the hills looked so green. The brook down the hill looked so refreshing. The other animals seemed to be roaming at will But he was tied to a pose. It was set free by the word of Christ and by means of His authority.
 
Again, the application is to us. Many have new life in Christ but are still in bondage to old habits and sins. They need to hear the Word of the Lord: “Loose him! Bring him to Me.” How grateful that little colt must have been when the Lord’s disciples undid the knots that bound him to that post He kicked up his heels. He was free.
 
But there was something else. It had to be ruled. This was a colt upon which “yet never man set. It was an unbroken colt, full of the pride of life and self-will. But the Lord had not set it free to please itself but to serve Him. “Bring him to Me,” He said.
 
Then a wonderful thing happened. The Master enthroned Himself upon the colt as Lord of its life. All rebellion had fled. All fear vanished. The colt was transformed from a wild, untamed creature into an obedient, submissive instrument of the Master’s will. Its one duty now was to lift up the Lord Jesus, And so it did. As a result the people saw Christ and shouted His praise. All eyes were on Jesus, not on the donkey; and that, of course, is the way it ought to be.
 
100 Devotions for Leaders – 2008 by John Phillips – Published by Regal Publications Grand Rapids, Michigan
 
Pastor Lee’s Thoughts: What an amazing illustration that God placed right into the Word of God to show us our need for Salvation and Redemption and then our responsibility after salvation. I am amazed the nuggets of truth that are put into the Word of God to continue to give us hope and direction in our everyday lives!

Leave a Reply