Luk 19:28-38 | KingComments | STEP | After pointing out in the parable the characteristics of the kingdom in the time of His absence, the Lord is going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. The journey to the distant country to receive the kingdom ( ) goes for Him via Calvary near Jerusalem. He comes near the mount that is called Olivet, the mountain that reminds us of the future after His rejection and death. When He is risen, He will go from there to heaven ( ) and return there ( ). The olive is the fruit that produces the olive oil. Oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. From heaven the Lord Jesus will first give the Holy Spirit. This fruit is found in the villages of Bethphage and Bethany which are close to Mount Olivet. Bethphage means ‘house of the figs’ and Bethany means ‘house of the afflicted’. These are places that by their names point to a remnant of the people who receive Him. This remnant is formed by the righteous, of which figs are a picture (cf. ), because they have acknowledged their affliction before God. These places are the last stops before the final destination of His journey on earth. God will still provide an appropriate testimony for His Son by working in the hearts of the crowd. In preparation for this, the Lord Jesus sends out two disciples. This mission follows the parable of the minas. It is about executing a command that corresponds to acting with the entrusted minas. Later they get another command, that is to prepare the Passover ( ). They now have to go to the village opposite Mount Olivet. He tells them what they will find there and what to do with it. They will find a colt tied up. He also knows that it is a colt on which no one yet has ever sat. They have to untie it and bring it to Him. In this command lies a similarity that shows how grace frees a person from all the slavery of the law. The colt is a picture of man ( ) who is bound by the law and therefore not free. To be used by the Lord in His service, it must be untied (cf. ). If a person is delivered from bondage through teaching from God’s Word by the Lord’s servants, he can ‘carry’ the Lord around. The Lord can only commit Himself to something that has never served under any other yoke. New life has never been subject to the law. The Lord knows that there are people who will ask why they untie the colt. He gives His disciples the answer to that question in the mouth. They can simply say that the Lord needs it. That is enough. He, Who does not need to be served by anyone because everything belongs to Him, says of the colt He needs it. This proves His great grace when we think of the picture that is presented to us in this colt, that of the bound human being. He wants to use such people and commit them to His work. He needs them for that. That is an encouragement for each of us. Obedient, the two disciples set off. They find it “as He had told them”. So it is with every mission by Him whereby He gives specific directions. It will then go as He has said. It is understandable that the owners of the colt ask the disciples why they untie the colt. They give the answer which the Lord has put in their mouth. Then there are no more objections, for Christ has worked in the hearts of the owners the willingness to give the colt to Him. The colt is brought to the Lord Jesus. Under the working of God’s Spirit, the disciples spontaneously throw their coats on the colt and put Him on it. It is an act of homage to Him. They subject their coats – which speak of their outer behavior, the deeds people see – to Him, they make themselves available to Him. Then they exalt Him by putting Him on the colt and on their coats. Thus, this act has a rich symbolic meaning for our lives. Do we subject our lives to Him so that He may have authority over it and the people around us may see Him? They throw their coats not only on the colt, but also on the road. The whole road is covered with coats over which He, seated on the colt, goes forth. Not only our deeds, but also our walk should be subject to Him. He desires that we give our path of life to Him so that He can use it to reach His purpose with our lives. If we only remember that the world will reject us if we surrender our way of life to Him.

‏ Luke 19:28-38

The Lord Has Need of It

After pointing out in the parable the characteristics of the kingdom in the time of His absence, the Lord is going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. The journey to the distant country to receive the kingdom (Lk 19:12) goes for Him via Calvary near Jerusalem. He comes near the mount that is called Olivet, the mountain that reminds us of the future after His rejection and death. When He is risen, He will go from there to heaven (Acts 1:9-12) and return there (Zec 14:4). The olive is the fruit that produces the olive oil. Oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. From heaven the Lord Jesus will first give the Holy Spirit.

This fruit is found in the villages of Bethphage and Bethany which are close to Mount Olivet. Bethphage means ‘house of the figs’ and Bethany means ‘house of the afflicted’. These are places that by their names point to a remnant of the people who receive Him. This remnant is formed by the righteous, of which figs are a picture (cf. Jer 24:5-7), because they have acknowledged their affliction before God. These places are the last stops before the final destination of His journey on earth.

God will still provide an appropriate testimony for His Son by working in the hearts of the crowd. In preparation for this, the Lord Jesus sends out two disciples. This mission follows the parable of the minas. It is about executing a command that corresponds to acting with the entrusted minas. Later they get another command, that is to prepare the Passover (Lk 22:8).

They now have to go to the village opposite Mount Olivet. He tells them what they will find there and what to do with it. They will find a colt tied up. He also knows that it is a colt on which no one yet has ever sat. They have to untie it and bring it to Him.

In this command lies a similarity that shows how grace frees a person from all the slavery of the law. The colt is a picture of man (Exo 13:13) who is bound by the law and therefore not free. To be used by the Lord in His service, it must be untied (cf. Lk 13:16). If a person is delivered from bondage through teaching from God’s Word by the Lord’s servants, he can ‘carry’ the Lord around. The Lord can only commit Himself to something that has never served under any other yoke. New life has never been subject to the law.

The Lord knows that there are people who will ask why they untie the colt. He gives His disciples the answer to that question in the mouth. They can simply say that the Lord needs it. That is enough. He, Who does not need to be served by anyone because everything belongs to Him, says of the colt He needs it. This proves His great grace when we think of the picture that is presented to us in this colt, that of the bound human being. He wants to use such people and commit them to His work. He needs them for that. That is an encouragement for each of us.

Obedient, the two disciples set off. They find it “as He had told them”. So it is with every mission by Him whereby He gives specific directions. It will then go as He has said.

It is understandable that the owners of the colt ask the disciples why they untie the colt. They give the answer which the Lord has put in their mouth. Then there are no more objections, for Christ has worked in the hearts of the owners the willingness to give the colt to Him. The colt is brought to the Lord Jesus.

Under the working of God’s Spirit, the disciples spontaneously throw their coats on the colt and put Him on it. It is an act of homage to Him. They subject their coats – which speak of their outer behavior, the deeds people see – to Him, they make themselves available to Him. Then they exalt Him by putting Him on the colt and on their coats. Thus, this act has a rich symbolic meaning for our lives. Do we subject our lives to Him so that He may have authority over it and the people around us may see Him?

They throw their coats not only on the colt, but also on the road. The whole road is covered with coats over which He, seated on the colt, goes forth. Not only our deeds, but also our walk should be subject to Him. He desires that we give our path of life to Him so that He can use it to reach His purpose with our lives. If we only remember that the world will reject us if we surrender our way of life to Him.

The Lord Jesus Is Praised

The disciples who follow Him massively know nothing about what is going to happen to Him in Jerusalem. They think He is going to Jerusalem to reign. On the way to that glorious accession to the throne, they would like to submit themselves to Him. They start to praise God with joy and a loud voice. They have seen so many miracles, i.e. works of power, that this must be the Messiah of God.

Unfortunately, these are only outward impressions of Who the Lord is. For His message of grace they are and remain deaf. Yet God uses them to glorify the Name of His Son. Touched by God’s Spirit, the crowd praises the Lord Jesus as the Blessed, the Highly Praised, as the King Who comes in the Name of the LORD, Yahweh. That He is indeed to the full.

When they speak of peace in heaven, they say more than they realize. It is indeed so that the kingdom depends for its establishment on earth on a peace established in the highest heavens. This indicates the place which He will take in heaven, exalted as the Son of Man and as the Conqueror of satan. The kingdom of peace and justice that will be established on earth is only a consequence of the glory that grace has already established in heaven since His coming into the distant country to which He is here on His way.

When He was born as Man, the angels spoke of “peace on earth” (Lk 2:14) because the Man on Whom the good pleasure of God rested had appeared. They glorified the full scope of His work. By now it has become clear that death awaits Him and that His rejection results in a period that will be anything but peace. But the heavens will be the stage of peace. There He will go after accomplishing the work on the cross. There He will receive the honor of God to which He is entitled (Jn 13:32). There is peace in heaven because He entered there as Conqueror and there is peace in the hearts of those who have received Him (Col 1:20-23; Eph 2:14 ; 17).

The Pharisees are not part of the praising crowd. As declared opponents of the Lord, they are very disturbed by what is happening. They have the nature of the older son who was also annoyed by the feast for his returned brother (Lk 15:25-30). In doing so, they have closed themselves for every work of the Spirit. What they see, is unacceptable in their eyes and must be stopped.

In their approach to the Lord, they call Him “Teacher”. To them He is nothing more than an itinerant rabbi who, in their eyes, has far too much of a following and receives far too much honor. This is at the expense of the honor they claim for themselves. In their religious zeal they see that what the crowd calls can only apply to the Messiah.

Their conclusion is correct, only to them He is not the Messiah because their eyes are darkened too much by hatred to see even a glimpse of Divine glory in Him. They say to Him to rebuke His disciples. He gives a short answer which is therefore significant. God wants to give a testimony about His Son as the Blessed. He can work the hearts of people who have recognized something of God in the actions of His Son. He is even able to make dead stones bear a similar testimony. The fact that the Pharisees do not recognize anything of God in Him and therefore do not give Him any honor, but rather oppose Him, shows how dead and hardened they are.