A few days ago I read the story about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11). Something about it really captured my heart. I felt a fresh excitement for it. Perhaps it was seeing how Jesus prophesied the instructions, or how His disciples obeyed. Perhaps it was seeing how a whole crowd of people began to go along with prophecy and the will of God - like some kind of holy flash mob - a viral, Spirit-led movement; a beautiful partnership between the sovereign power of God and the submission of mankind.
The story stayed on my heart and lingered in my imagination. A few mornings later I read the story again, asking God to show me why it's caught me. As God was applying the Word to my spirit I felt to ask Him, "What is the colt?" The colt carried Jesus into the town. The colt was prophetically acquired. The colt was the vehicle for Jesus, the one that He chose to enter the city on. The colt was an instrument to help many people respond to Jesus and worship Him.
At that moment, and in answer to my question, God brought to mind an idea that had been hanging around in my head, an idea that I had been praying about. God used this story to encourage me and bring some confirmation that He wants to use this idea to be a vehicle for many men to come to know Him. And, I am encouraged to believe that He could use it virally, that it could spread out for His glory - somehow like it did that day. I would so love to see this in my city.
What's the colt? Has God given you a prophetic idea that He can ride into your town?
It's an interesting passage that becomes more interesting when we take Matthew's account of the same story, and the account of a similar story in Maccabees.
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Jesus, according to Matthew rode a donkey. The same scene of jubilation, praise and adoration, but for a humble man, a peacemaker. Not riding to his victory on a war horse, (though we know it now to be the greatest victory in the history of the world,) but to his death on the back of a donkey.
And I think it important to highlight the history and the differences. Because Jesus is the message being carried on the donkey, or being carried by us. He is the most important part of this. A mob can worship Maccabees or they can worship Jesus. Both can call themselves the children of God, but only one reflect the Gospel of Jesus.