TO TWO of His disciples the Lord Jesus gave the command, “Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find there in a place where two ways meet, an ass with a colt tied (or ‘tethered') there, loose it and bring them to Me.”
This true story should be of much interest to all of you young folks, for it is a picture of many in our day, in fact, of all of us at one time.
This colt was with its mother, and the Bible tells us we are all by nature like a wild ass’s colt (Job 11: 12), — not a very flattering description but a true one, whether we like it or not.
Then this colt was tied, or tethered, at a place outside, where “two ways meet,” which is just where sinners are now. The two ways are the “way to heaven” and the “way to hell.” To be found tethered there is a terrible description of those who are not converted.
But the Lord said, “Loose them and bring them to Me.” That’s what the Lord Jesus is seeking to do now — “give deliverance to the captives” and bring them to Himself (Luke 4:18). And if any one asks why, I reply in the words of the Lord Jesus, “The Lord hath need of him” (Mark 11:3). Yes, the Lord needs all you boys and girls, and older ones too. It is better to be freed and in that liberty wherewith Christ makes us free (Gal. 5:1), than to be standing “tethered” to sin at a place outside, where the ways meet that lead to heaven or hell. For if you continue to stand there, there is nothing more certain than that “you will die in your sins” (John 8:24), and where Christ is you cannot be.
So they loosed the colt. This is liberty, and then the Lord Himself took control of it, and thus claimed it for His own blessed service.
And this is what He will do to you, dear reader, the moment you surrender yourself to Him as your Deliverer and confess Him as your Lord (Rom. 10:9). When Jesus mounted the “delivered” colt others could see the difference; they judged no doubt that it had changed owners, and as they saw the Lord riding up to Jerusalem on that colt they could see what had happened. And all your friends and neighbors where you live will know you have been converted. They will see you are serving under a new Master, when they see the Lord controlling your life, and that you are no longer “tethered” to a place “outside,” but singing the new song of redemption (Psalm 40:3) as those who saw the Lord’s royal entrance into Jerusalem that day sang “Hosannah':
ML-06/10/1973