The triumphal entry of our Lord Jesus into the city of Jerusalem occurred a few days before His crucifixion and is described in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, Luke 19:28-48, and John 12:12-19. For the meditation of this blog, we will focus on Matthew 21:1-3, Mark 11:1-6, and Luke 19:28-34. Specifically, in Luke 19:28-34 we read:
Luke 19:28 And having said these things, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, Go into the village ahead; in which entering you will find a colt tied, on which no any man ever yet sat; loose it, and bring it. 31 And if anyone asks you, What for do you untie it? Thus will you say, Because the Lord has need of it. 32 And they that were sent went away, and found exactly as He had said to them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, the owners said to them, Why untie you the colt? 34 And they said, The Lord has need of it.
In this passage of Scripture, the Lord Jesus instructs two of His disciples to go into a village and bring a colt to Him so He might ride the colt into Jerusalem city. The Lord Jesus saw the colt and its mother, and He knew about the situation —that the owners would provide the colt and its mother to Him. In Luke 19:31,34, Matthew 21:3, and Mark 11:3, the Lord Jesus instructs the disciples to say to the owners of the colt when they are questioned about them taking the colt that “The Lord has need of it.”
Here, at this time, we see that the Lord Jesus needed this colt. The Lord used this colt to ride into Jerusalem, where He was later crucified. Then, we can ask ourselves the question: does the Lord need me? What can I do to be used by the Lord in His work? Now, the Lord Jesus doesn’t need to ride into Jerusalem anymore; however, the Lord needs us to spread the Good News of the Gospel and what He accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Moreover, the Bible tells us that this colt had owners in this world who held it bound and used it, but by the Lord’s will, they released the colt to be used by the Lord. So, then, one should ask themselves, what spiritual owners and masters do they have in this world that hold them down and stop them from being used by the Lord. If there are such spiritual owners, one needs to say to them, “The Lord has need of me, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to let me free; the Lord has need of me.”
We find ourselves many times bound by various worldly spiritual masters, such as riches of this world, pride, entertainment, immorality, and others, without realizing that the Lord needs us, and for the Lord to use us, we need to become loosed from these worldly spiritual masters and become free in the name of the Lord Jesus. Faith in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, and the Word of the Lord has the power to set us free from any bondage. The Lord Jesus tells us the truth about our salvation and that truth will set us free. In John 8:31-36, the Lord Jesus tells us that everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin, and thus, they are not free in the spiritual world.
John 18:31 Jesus, therefore, said to those Jews who had believed Him, If you abide in My word, truly you are My disciples,
As the verse says, listening is not enough; you must also abide in His word. All true believers should know this deep in their souls: the beloved Son’s word, every word has meaning. He did not speak useless words at all during His life in human form on earth.
“If you abide.” Belief is only in the mind, but abide is deep to the soul; the soul will follow according to the teaching of the beloved Son of God; when the soul has done that, both mind and soul will obey every word the beloved Son of God has taught. In those times, the beloved Son of God was with them, but now He has given the Holy Bible to all humans. Now, it is easy to find the Holy Bible, but not everyone does that. In the past, they did not have the Holy Bible to read, but they had the Holy Son to listen to. Human hearts now and then are stubborn, in the same way; when you have the Holy Word, abide in the Holy Word: read, meditate, and follow all that has been written, and that is when you can say you are a true believer of God.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
When you have believed in His word, meditate and follow, and the truth in His word will set you free, as the verse tells.
“The truth will set you free.” The truth of the Word will set you free from the hand of the dark. If you have the Word in your soul, the dark cannot put a hold on you; the Word of the beloved Son will be the shield for protection to your soul.
33 They answered to Him, We are Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to anyone. How do Thou say, You will be set free?
His people thought only about Abraham’s children; they considered themselves to be the descendants of Abraham himself, but when the beloved Son of God told them that “you will be set free,” He did not talk about physical freedom but about the slave of the soul to the dark, instead of being the slave to the light through the Holy Word.
34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone committing sin is a slave of sin.
The beloved Son of God has told them here that when anyone is sinning, they have surrendered their soul to the dark, and that is why they become in bondage to the dark side, and the dark will use them as slaves according to the dark side’s will.
35 But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
“But the slave does not remain …” The slave abides according to the slave master’s will, but when the slave master does not see any benefit from the slave, they will not be kind to them but torture them deep in their own soul itself. But that slave will not abide in the slave house forever if that slave, at any moment, has realized that he is a sinner and comes begging for mercy from the beloved Son of God with deep, true repentance in their soul; this way, they will find the way to break through from that slave house.
“The son abides forever.” In this part of the verse, the beloved Son of God is talking about the true believers in Him; all of them will become children of God, and they all will abide with Him forever in heaven, not with bondage but with joy to receive the position of slave to serve the God Almighty.
36 If therefore the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
As the verse tells us, when the beloved Son of God has taken you in as His brethren, you will never again be a slave to the dark as long as you truly abide in His teaching. So, when the Son of God has set you free and taken you to be by His side, that is free as He is free from all.
Therefore, we, as followers of the Lord Jesus, should come to the Lord Jesus and sincerely, from the deep of our hearts, ask Him to set our souls free from being slaves to the worldly spiritual masters and make us His slaves and serve Him forever. Furthermore, while serving the Lord Jesus on this earth, we should pray to the Lord of the harvest to use us in His harvest, as encouraged by the Lord Himself in Matthew 9:36-38.
Matthew 9:36 Now having seen the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and cast aside, as sheep not having a shepherd.
37 Then He says to His disciples, The harvest indeed is plentiful, however, the laborers are few.
“The harvest indeed is plentiful” means that there are many lost souls.
“The laborers” are the ones who are willing to leave everything and work for the Lord; the pay given to them will be according to their commitment.
38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He sends out laborers into His harvest.
“The Lord of the harvest” is the Father, and “His harvest” refers to the lost souls in the world.
Let us all pray to the Trinity of God (God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit) in the name of the Lord Jesus to guide us by the Holy Spirit and find our call in serving the Trinity of God while on this earth.
Meditation Tasks:
- Meditate on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and seek it so that we feel deeply in our souls the call the Lord has for us in serving Him.