Text: “And certain of them that stood there said unto them, ‘What do ye, loosing the colt?’”
Mark 11:5.
Good morning, once wild Christian! Once you were the wildest child in your community; now you are gloriously at peace. Once you were trammelled by ambition, gambling, violence and lust – now, you are unfettered within and at rest. What Person and power has made this great and evident difference? Who has dared to ‘…loose the colt…’ of your old carnal nature and set you Spiritually free? Praise God, only One Person can - Jesus, the risen Christ. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
“Neither is there Salvation in any other; for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
However, knowing Who it was that ‘…loosed the colt…’ of our old natural passions, lusts and sin still doesn’t fully answer the question initially posed by the owners of this young, frisky, unbroken horse in today’s Bible reading: ‘… ‘What do ye, loosing the colt?’ (V5)
Verse six of our selected Bible passage gives us the answer: “And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.”
Praise God. We Christians and mankind in general have all the questions. But God’s Word alone holds all the correct answers.
The young, frisky, unbroken colt horse, ‘…whereon yet never man sat…’, was loosed and brought to Jesus because the Lord had need of it.
We unbroken, wild sinners were also ‘…loosed…’ by the Spirit of God in order that the Lord Jesus might use us in His service.
“And you hath He quickened, who were DEAD in trespasses and sins…Even when we were DEAD (Spiritually dead) in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1;5-6) (Ephesians 2:10)
What a privileged calling to service this is, my friend! We are chosen of God Himself, saved and sanctified, and made fit to serve His Son, Christ Jesus. Now, this is something for us to get excited about! Bless the Lord oh my soul! Thanks be to God, amen.
“Ye have not chosen Me (the Lord
God), but I have chosen you (once wild sinners), and ordained you (loosed
you?), that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name (the Name of
Jesus), He may give it you.” (John 15:16)
Glory to God Almighty!
From the very moment we Hell-deserving sinners are Spiritually regenerated by the grace of God, ‘…loosed…’ from the bondage of our natural and inherited sin - we are inspired and empowered by God the Spirit to commence a life of Christian service.
There are no secret Christians in Christ’s Kingdom. There are none saved by God that are not immediately called to be soldiers in the Spiritual Battle. We are saved to serve the risen Christ.
“Then said He (the Lord God) unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain (dead in sin), that they may live. So, I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great Army.” (Ezekiel 37:9-10)
“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men/women, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man/woman that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he/she may please Him (Christ Jesus) Who hath chosen him/her to be a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:1-4)
To the question posed, ‘What do ye loosing the colt?’, we can now clearly see the answer Christ gave His disciples to impart – “…Because the Lord hath need of him.” (Luke 19:31)
J.C. Ryle Comments:
“Let us observe…in this passage, the voluntary poverty which our Lord underwent, when He was upon earth. How did He enter Jerusalem when He came to it on this remarkable occasion? Did He come in a royal chariot, with horses, soldiers, and a retinue around Him, like the kings of this world? We are told nothing of the kind. We read that He borrowed the colt of an ass for the occasion, and sat upon the garments of His disciples for lack of a saddle. This was in perfect keeping with all the tenor of His ministry. He never had any of the riches of this world. When He crossed the sea of Galilee, it was in a borrowed boat. When He rode into the holy city, it was on a borrowed beast. When He was buried, it was in a borrowed tomb.” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark.)
The Lord Jesus Christ loosed you and I, Christian, to permit us the utter privilege of serving Him and furthering His Spiritual Kingdom, He borrowed us from the world, the flesh, and the Devil – and re-created us ‘new creatures’ in Himself, in order that we might take a stand for Him. What are you and I actually doing for Christ today? Are we serving Him at all? Ladies and gentlemen of the true Bible-believing Christian faith, we are at Spiritual war! Let us acquit ourselves bravely in every Spiritual encounter. The Ultimate Victory is already won at the place called Calvary. Glory to the Lamb Who has ‘…loosed…’ our sinful souls!
Thought: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…” - Christ has wrought the Victory. All glory to the King of all kings!