Loosed for Jesus' Use
“Why are you loosing it?” (Luke 19:31).It’s the question Jesus knows His disciples will have to answer when securing the colt for His triumphal entry. As I read the passage in church this morning, my thoughts went to Matthew 16:19, when Jesus talks about loosing and binding:
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Clearly, there are things that are loosed and bound on earth as they are in heaven for kingdom purposes! And just like Jesus needed the donkey loosed “because the Lord has need of it,” so He will loose things in our lives that He has need of!Notice what Jesus does (see John 19:28-38 in the NKJV):
He sends two disciples.
The Father could have compelled the colt’s owner to “randomly” walk by Jesus at the exact time Jesus needed the colt. The colt could have been grazing in a field, and Jesus could have “stumbled” upon it. It could have happened any one of a million ways, including appearing from thin air at His command, but Jesus uses His disciples to secure the colt.
Jesus may use us to loose things He has need of for His kingdom purposes.
Jesus gives His disciples four instructions.
“Go.”
Being a disciple of Jesus is not a couch assignment. We don’t stay; we go. And when we go, He may use us to loose what He has need of for His kingdom purposes.
Loosing requires going.
“Enter.”
It isn’t enough for them to go; they have to enter “the village opposite you” (verse 30). They can’t linger on the fringes and remain where it might be more comfortable, waiting for something to happen instead of taking that next step of entering. And they have to enter the opposite.
It’s not enough for us to go; He will ask us enter places opposite what we might think or want!
“Find.”
It isn’t enough for them to go and enter, they have to search for exactly what Jesus tells them to find. When Jesus uses us for kingdom purposes, we must follow His exact instructions exactly to find things exactly as He says they will be, including His every promise to us.
To find things as Jesus promises us they will be, we must obey.
“Loose.”
The disciples are sent to literally unloose the colt; we might be sent to break up, destroy, dissolve, melt or put off something Jesus needs freed for kingdom use. Again, it might be a person, and someone might be sent to loose us. And it will require using our hands.
Loosing is hands on.
"Bring.”
I love this word bring, especially in context of bringing something loosed to Jesus. Bring.
Bring what has been bound and is now free to Jesus for His use!
They “found it just as He had said to them” (verse 32).
When we do exactly what Jesus tells us we will find things exactly as He says they will be.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Jesus fulfills prophecy (Zechariah 9:9).
Jesus is who scripture says He is: then and now. He has and is and will fulfill every prophecy on the pages of scripture. We can count on it, and we can count on Him.
Did you notice in number one above that Jesus only sent two disciples? Look what scripture says in verse 37 after Jesus mounts the colt and nears the descent of the Mount of Olives:
the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen.
When a disciple obeys and brings what’s loosed to Jesus for kingdom use, the multitude of disciples rejoices and praises God! We don’t just praise when we obey and see things happen exactly as Jesus says they will; we praise and rejoice when others obey and see things happen just as Jesus says they will. To be the one doing or the one witnessing has no bearing on the fact that we are all in this together as rejoicers and praisers!So today, on Palm Sunday, let us all lay our branches before Jesus and shout:
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
If we’re not among the two sent today, we might be among the two sent tomorrow.Isn’t it thrilling to know that we have a multitude of disciples around and among us rejoicing and praising Jesus for what He is doing?Is there something Jesus needs to loose in you so you can be brought to Him? He has need of you! Not in the sense that He can’t do what He needs done in His own self-contained sovereignty and might! But He has need of you because it is how He has chosen to accomplish His plans and His purposes.You are loved.He is Lord.He is risen.