And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
Jesus sent two disciples to bring a donkey and its unridden colt for His ride into Jerusalem, telling them to answer any question by saying that the Lord had need of them, upon which the owner would send them at once without delay. When they were asked why they were untying the colt they gave that answer and the animals were released to them, and they laid their garments on the colt for Jesus to sit upon. In this He fulfilled the prophecy of the promised lowly King riding as Israel's kings had ridden, and was welcomed as Messiah and King with garments spread in His path and cries of Hosanna to the Son of David. The entry was His deliberate public presentation as Redeemer to direct attention to His coming sacrifice as the antitypical Lamb at Passover, while it also pointed to Jerusalem's coming doom and foreshadowed His future coming in glory with angels and rejoicing saints. That the Lord has need means He still has need of people for His service and of what they have for His work, calling them to overcome self-pleasing, surrender themselves, release what is asked, and respond immediately.
Obtaining the Animals
The verse belongs to the account of Christ's triumphal ride into Jerusalem, when Jesus sent two disciples to bring a donkey and colt, the foal of an ass, for His entry. The colt was to be used for His humble, prophetic entry as King as He approached Jerusalem. If any man questioned them about taking the animals, they were to answer that the Lord had need of them, and the owner would then send them straightway, at once and without delay. The entry thus unfolded according to the Lord's direction.
The instruction was fulfilled exactly as given. When people asked why the disciples were untying the colt, they gave the commanded answer and the animals were released to them. The colt selected for His use had never been ridden. The disciples placed their garments on it and seated Jesus upon it, and the crowd's homage followed as He entered Jerusalem.
The disciples were puzzled by the direction because Jesus had usually traveled on foot. His precise directions revealed His divinity. Yet though all the cattle on a thousand hills were His, He depended on a stranger's kindness for the colt on which He entered Jerusalem, and this plea was readily granted.
King's Prophetic Entry
The entry fulfills the prophecy of the promised lowly King coming riding on a donkey. He rode the colt as Israel's kings had ridden, and in doing so was identified as the promised heir to David's throne coming as Messiah and King. The colt chosen for His use had never been ridden, and the disciples placed their garments upon it and seated Him upon it for the public entry.
He was welcomed into Jerusalem as Messiah and King amid praise and rejoicing. A joyful crowd surrounded Him and spread their garments in His path as He entered the city. People flocked from all the region around, crying Hosanna to the Son of David, until the slopes of the Mount of Olives echoed with the joyful shouts of the triumphant multitude. When priests and elders wanted the multitude stilled, the answer was that if they held their peace even the stones would cry out, for prophecy must be fulfilled.
The disciples and followers honored Him as their King but wrongly expected a temporal kingdom. They expected Him to be crowned king and to reign on David's throne, to take that throne and deliver Israel from its oppressors by overthrowing Roman rule and restoring the nation's independence. Within a few days those same disciples saw their beloved Master stretched upon the cruel cross above mocking Pharisees, with the darkness of death closing about them, and their high hopes were disappointed. That disappointment was greater than any later disappointment over unfulfilled hope, yet their hopes revived when He rose and appeared to them, showing Him true to His promises, with sweet consolation to His people and rich reward for the true and faithful.
Sacrifice and Judgment
The entry was His deliberate public presentation as Redeemer, meant to turn attention toward His coming sacrifice for the sins of the world. At Passover He presented Himself as the antitypical Lamb, voluntarily setting Himself apart as an offering for the world. He did so while remaining in the humble way that characterized His life, accepting a humble human life rather than appearing with heavenly pomp. The public events surrounding the entry were to direct people to that sacrifice.
Those public events came before His trial and death, with the slopes of the Mount of Olives echoing the joyful shouts of the triumphant crowd as He rode into the city. Afterward they would be considered alongside His trial and death, when searching the prophecies would show that He was the Messiah. That searching would reveal One who gave His life for the world rather than coming with outward display.
The same triumphal entrance pointed to the doom of Jerusalem and to its coming destruction. It came just before He cleansed the temple, and it sets the scene for the fig tree as a symbol of that destruction. The journey to Jerusalem for the entry is thus taught together with the riding into the city and with the barren, fruitless fig tree. That tree warns that professed service to God without a life bearing fruit does not bring glory to Him. The triumphal ride also foreshadowed His future coming in glory with angels and rejoicing saints.
The Lord's Present Need
The Lord hath need means He has need of people for His service. He has need of people and He provides for what is needed for His work. That need calls people to overcome self-pleasing and to devote their lives to serving God and glorifying their Redeemer. A sense that the Lord has need of a person may mean God is calling that person to a needed work, to seek God's will and consecrate self in order to know whether called to help at the Office, with assurance that if God calls, He will strengthen and sustain in the work.
The Lord's need is reason to release what is requested. Money previously invested for missionary work is to be called for and used to support the work of building a meetinghouse in Stanmore. The Lord has need of what is His, and of the person himself, while the person has need of the Lord, so surrender to Christ should be straightway rather than delayed.
The account of riding into Jerusalem calls hearers to let the word take hold upon souls. Setting forth that entry exalts Jesus and lifts Him up, showing that salvation is not by law but by Jesus, and moves hearers to accept Him, be baptized, and unite with the church. Taught together with the barren fig tree, the entry shows the Son of God came to our world to draw all men unto Him, coming not to send peace but a sword. Everyone is urged to do their part well with faithfulness and to walk in the light of His glorious example without questioning the cost in labor and trial and suffering, with a work for each and all to maintain the truth in its purity and push the triumphs of His cross and extend His kingdom. Faithfulness now matters so as to stand acquitted in the day of final accounts when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened and everyone's account is balanced, pressing the solemn question of who will be saved through the words spoken.
Jesus sent two disciples to bring a donkey and its unridden colt for His ride into Jerusalem, telling them to answer any question by saying that the Lord had need of them, upon which the owner would send them at once without delay. When they were asked why they were untying the colt they gave that answer and the animals were released to them, and they laid their garments on the colt for Jesus to sit upon. In this He fulfilled the prophecy of the promised lowly King riding as Israel's kings had ridden, and was welcomed as Messiah and King with garments spread in His path and cries of Hosanna to the Son of David. The entry was His deliberate public presentation as Redeemer to direct attention to His coming sacrifice as the antitypical Lamb at Passover, while it also pointed to Jerusalem's coming doom and foreshadowed His future coming in glory with angels and rejoicing saints. That the Lord has need means He still has need of people for His service and of what they have for His work, calling them to overcome self-pleasing, surrender themselves, release what is asked, and respond immediately.
Obtaining the Animals
The verse belongs to the account of Christ's triumphal ride into Jerusalem, when Jesus sent two disciples to bring a donkey and colt, the foal of an ass, for His entry. The colt was to be used for His humble, prophetic entry as King as He approached Jerusalem. If any man questioned them about taking the animals, they were to answer that the Lord had need of them, and the owner would then send them straightway, at once and without delay. The entry thus unfolded according to the Lord's direction.
The instruction was fulfilled exactly as given. When people asked why the disciples were untying the colt, they gave the commanded answer and the animals were released to them. The colt selected for His use had never been ridden. The disciples placed their garments on it and seated Jesus upon it, and the crowd's homage followed as He entered Jerusalem.
The disciples were puzzled by the direction because Jesus had usually traveled on foot. His precise directions revealed His divinity. Yet though all the cattle on a thousand hills were His, He depended on a stranger's kindness for the colt on which He entered Jerusalem, and this plea was readily granted.
King's Prophetic Entry
The entry fulfills the prophecy of the promised lowly King coming riding on a donkey. He rode the colt as Israel's kings had ridden, and in doing so was identified as the promised heir to David's throne coming as Messiah and King. The colt chosen for His use had never been ridden, and the disciples placed their garments upon it and seated Him upon it for the public entry.
He was welcomed into Jerusalem as Messiah and King amid praise and rejoicing. A joyful crowd surrounded Him and spread their garments in His path as He entered the city. People flocked from all the region around, crying Hosanna to the Son of David, until the slopes of the Mount of Olives echoed with the joyful shouts of the triumphant multitude. When priests and elders wanted the multitude stilled, the answer was that if they held their peace even the stones would cry out, for prophecy must be fulfilled.
The disciples and followers honored Him as their King but wrongly expected a temporal kingdom. They expected Him to be crowned king and to reign on David's throne, to take that throne and deliver Israel from its oppressors by overthrowing Roman rule and restoring the nation's independence. Within a few days those same disciples saw their beloved Master stretched upon the cruel cross above mocking Pharisees, with the darkness of death closing about them, and their high hopes were disappointed. That disappointment was greater than any later disappointment over unfulfilled hope, yet their hopes revived when He rose and appeared to them, showing Him true to His promises, with sweet consolation to His people and rich reward for the true and faithful.
Sacrifice and Judgment
The entry was His deliberate public presentation as Redeemer, meant to turn attention toward His coming sacrifice for the sins of the world. At Passover He presented Himself as the antitypical Lamb, voluntarily setting Himself apart as an offering for the world. He did so while remaining in the humble way that characterized His life, accepting a humble human life rather than appearing with heavenly pomp. The public events surrounding the entry were to direct people to that sacrifice.
Those public events came before His trial and death, with the slopes of the Mount of Olives echoing the joyful shouts of the triumphant crowd as He rode into the city. Afterward they would be considered alongside His trial and death, when searching the prophecies would show that He was the Messiah. That searching would reveal One who gave His life for the world rather than coming with outward display.
The same triumphal entrance pointed to the doom of Jerusalem and to its coming destruction. It came just before He cleansed the temple, and it sets the scene for the fig tree as a symbol of that destruction. The journey to Jerusalem for the entry is thus taught together with the riding into the city and with the barren, fruitless fig tree. That tree warns that professed service to God without a life bearing fruit does not bring glory to Him. The triumphal ride also foreshadowed His future coming in glory with angels and rejoicing saints.
The Lord's Present Need
The Lord hath need means He has need of people for His service. He has need of people and He provides for what is needed for His work. That need calls people to overcome self-pleasing and to devote their lives to serving God and glorifying their Redeemer. A sense that the Lord has need of a person may mean God is calling that person to a needed work, to seek God's will and consecrate self in order to know whether called to help at the Office, with assurance that if God calls, He will strengthen and sustain in the work.
The Lord's need is reason to release what is requested. Money previously invested for missionary work is to be called for and used to support the work of building a meetinghouse in Stanmore. The Lord has need of what is His, and of the person himself, while the person has need of the Lord, so surrender to Christ should be straightway rather than delayed.
The account of riding into Jerusalem calls hearers to let the word take hold upon souls. Setting forth that entry exalts Jesus and lifts Him up, showing that salvation is not by law but by Jesus, and moves hearers to accept Him, be baptized, and unite with the church. Taught together with the barren fig tree, the entry shows the Son of God came to our world to draw all men unto Him, coming not to send peace but a sword. Everyone is urged to do their part well with faithfulness and to walk in the light of His glorious example without questioning the cost in labor and trial and suffering, with a work for each and all to maintain the truth in its purity and push the triumphs of His cross and extend His kingdom. Faithfulness now matters so as to stand acquitted in the day of final accounts when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened and everyone's account is balanced, pressing the solemn question of who will be saved through the words spoken.