Jan 12, 2020 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John
Are You Riding Your Donkey?
I like animals; I’m so glad God uses animals to accomplish His will. The donkey is central to Old Testament ministries and the ministry of Jesus Christ, and the donkey is an animal of burden—a pack animal, that has no significant place in mother nature other than carrying freight.
But if your own a donkey you know that donkey can be used to protect other animals that cannot defend themselves, like sheep or goats. It can drive off and even kill mountain lions or coyotes. A donkey seems docile but there is a part of its nature that confronts that which is potentially harmful or dangerous.
In the Old Testament’s judges and prophets rode donkeys and in the New Testament; it was the donkey that brought Jesus to Bethlehem to be born and at the end of His ministry into Jerusalem to be crucified. The donkey is God’s sign and symbol of His judgement. Show me a donkey and I will show you God’s Hand of Judgment. Jesus stated this at the beginning of His ministry: Luke 4:18-19 says: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Jesus quotes this scripture which come from Isaiah 61:1-2, but He leaves out the final phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God”. Why? He leaves His judgment for what follows after His Crucifixion. Christ leaves His judgment to the Church—what is prophesied by Isaiah to what will happen after His resurrection. Christ does not ignore His judgment but leaves it for us and the working of the Holy Spirit in the years up to His Second Coming.
Why is this important? He leaves what He is to do to us, to fulfil His purposes and will. Jesus states and cries over Jerusalem that destruction will come because Israel has rejected His message and crucified Him. (Destruction came to Israel by the armies of the Roman Empire in 70 A.D.)
There are always consequences for rejecting Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. It is inevitable. Jesus came to proclaim peace but rejecting His peace means only judgment. Christ’s judgment comes through His Church. We are to place all things under the feet of Christ. All things must be in subjection to Him. We are to exercise God’s Judgement upon the powers of darkness. We are called to battle against Satan and all that he does.
This is your calling—to ride a donkey. We are to usher in the judgment of God. Christ came riding upon a donkey and left this world riding a donkey—this was His sign to all of us to fulfill God’s judgment— “and the day of vengeance of our God.”
We are called to battle darkness.
We are called to destroy the works of the devil.
We are called to dress ourselves with the armor of God.
We are called to be light in darkness—Christ’s light in us dispels darkness.
We are called to ride our donkey, just as Christ gave us the example to ride.
If judgment and the warnings of judgement is not part of your message of Jesus Christ, you are failing what God, Jesus, told us to do. Billy Graham often spoke of God’s judgement when preaching salvation. Every minister of the Grace of Christ speaks to the Judgment of Christ.
The offer of mercy requires the consequences of judgment if mercy is rejected. So, let’s ride our donkeys and speak of judgment while destroying the powers of darkness in this world. This is our calling—this is what Jesus would want us to do.
WWJWMTD
What would Jesus want me to do?
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