SWS TOPIC - JOSHUA GENERATION WORLDWIDE MINISTRIES, INC.

APRIL 09, 2017

FOLLOW THE MAN ON THE COLT
Ptr. Tommy Tenny
(VML Magazine - December 2016)

I. INTRODUCTION
There is an innate desire in humanity for authority and power. That is what makes loving and passive one
year olds turn into "terrible twos" they suddenly discover their will. They want to exercise some authority.

HUMILITY
People in general are interested in walking in authority and power. What we fail to realize is that the path to
power often leads through humility. Jesus said if you want to be great, you become a servant (Matt. 20:26). Of His
cousin, John the Baptist, He said: "Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John
the Baptist..." (Luke 7:28).
John had a revelation about where and how authority really flows. When he saw Jesus, he said: "He must
increase but I must decrease" (John 3:30). The greatest man, according to Jesus, John the Baptist, discovered the
secret of the greatest authority that was a decrease of himself (humility) that he might obtain an increase of
God. We are so interested in gaining authority and power that sometimes we don't want to go to the school that is
necessary to learn how to properly obtain them. We would like to take a shortcut. But the path is still the same: HE
MUST INCREASE AND YOU MUST DECREASE (John 3:30).

CRAWL BEFORE YOU WALK

The saying is true that you have to crawl before you walk, before you run. I would add more: you have to
crawl before you walk, before you run, before you ride. There are a lot of people who would like to skip steps in
that process. They want to "ride" in authority and power before they have ever crawled or walked.
In the first argument that I had with my wife, I felt I had to prove my point. Some people are so intent on
proving a point that they destroy relationship in the process. The first point that I had to prove in our house was, of
course, a very crucial matter - that we eat Miracle Whip and not mayonnaise. It went from there to crunchy peanut
butter, not creamy. We are on our honeymoon and did a little grocery shopping. My new bride had the audacity to
pick out "processed cheese food." They legally cannot even call the stuff cheese! In my house I was forthright
we were going to eat cheese, not "cheese food."
I almost ruined our honeymoon trying to prove a ridiculous point. Guess what? We have not been married
twenty-two years, not due to any wisdom on my part, but much patience on her part. Things have progressed from
"crunchy to smooth." Some things, such as marriage, are too important to attempt authoritarian decisions.
We don't understand what authority is all about and frequently we try to exercise more authority that we
really have. Only Jesus could say: "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt. 28:18). The longer
you assume you have authority and power that you don't really have, the more dangerous you are if you ever get
your hands on it.
Years ago, my secretary's son had gone into the sanctuary and he was playing with things that were off
limits. I walked up and said, "You know you are not supposed to be doing that. Come down and dont play with
that." Just as solemnly as he could, he pulled out his toy pistol and he shot me with it. Fortunately, it wasn't a real
gun. Had it been a real gun with the authority and power of a real run, I would have been "real dead."
Authority and power do not belong in the hands of the immature. The route of maturity is to crawl before
you walk, before you run, before you ride.

II. BODY
JESUS UNDERSTOOD TRUE AUTHORITY
Jesus' life gives us a beautiful example of true authority. Let's examine an interesting incident described in
Matthew: "And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethpage, unto the mount of Olives; then
sent Jesus two disciples. Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an

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ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto Me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say,
The Lord hath need of them: and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophet saying, Tell ye daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting
upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them. And brought
the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes; and they set Him thereon. And a very great multitude spread
their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way. And the
multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is He that
cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. And when He was come, into Jerusalem, all the city was
moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitudes said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." - Matthew
21:1-17
Jesus was leaving Bethany on His way to Jerusalem at this point in time. Earlier He has set His face toward
Jerusalem (Luke 9:53). He knew what was going to happen when He got there. He probably stopped at Bethany to
stay with His friends, Mary and Martha.
The Mount of Olives is somewhat taller than Mount Zion and Bethany is against one side of it. When you
leave Bethany, you come around the bend in the road on the Mount of Olives, and suddenly you see the city of
Jerusalem on top of Mount Zion. You can look down from there on the ancient city of Jerusalem and the eastern
gate, which is presently blockaded.
Between the Mount of Olives and Old Jerusalem is the Kidron Valley, with the Kidron brook flowing
through it. This valley is a very rocky, rough place. Imagine Jesus leaving Bethany, headed toward Jerusalem. He
rounds the corner and He sees Jerusalem, the first sight of it on this trip. His heart is moved with emotion. He
stops. The sight of Jerusalem could bring tears to His eyes. Luke said that when He approached the city, he wept
over it (Luke 19:41).
I believed it dawned on Him afresh that as he entered that city that day He would trigger a process that
would immediately culminate His murder. I believed He remembered the poignant words He had spoke earlier and
would again state later (Matt. 23:37) concerning the city: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and
stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather
her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" - Luke 13:34
When He said, "which killest the prophets," it is equivalent to Him saying, "Add My name to this list,
because when I go in those gates, it is over." With eyes full of mercy and grace, knowing that this was the city that
would crucify Him, I believe He began to think in love about how, as mentioned in 2 Samuel 14:14, He could
devise and walk through a means so that they would not be charged with what He knew they were going to do.
That is love! Romans says: But God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us (Romans 5:8).

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COLT

Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would ride in on a colt (Zech. 9:9), but what was the significance of
this? Have you ever considered that Jesus performed a miracle for the disciples to get the colt?
He told them to go procure a colt and its mother (Matt. 21:1-11). Why get the mother too? Was it so she
wouldn't be fretful about what was happening to her offspring? Perhaps He was thinking how His earthly mother
would feel in the near future. Some historians tell us the disciples thought He was going to ride on the mother and
they were surprised when He actually got on the colt instead.
If you know anything about horses, you know that a colt needs to be of certain age before it is ridden. Add
to the fact that the colt had never been ridden, and the miraculous begins to appear. Besides that, riding on a short
donkey colt would be a humiliating position. Why would He choose to do those things?
It was miraculous that Jesus acquired the colt by simply saying "Just tell the owner that the Master has need
of it" and the owner let his colt be taken.
What would you do if your car were parked with the keys in it and two burly, bearded gentlemen started
driving off in it? When you said "Stop!" and they said, "Our boss needs it for a while. We will bring it back."
Would you simply say, "Okay"?
Jesus was doing this on purpose. It was not that there was nothing else to ride on, or that He was weary, or
even that it was too far. Biblically speaking, it was only a Sabbath's day journey - about a 30-minute walk. It's
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obvious that He was making a statement. Whenever you see Jesus doing odd things, there is actually a point behind
it worth studying. I believe I found the reason why Jesus rode the colt into Jerusalem. He was only going from the
top of the Mount of Olives down through the Kidron Valley and back up the other side. Again, this is not far a
Sabbath's day journey.
As He straddled the colt and began to ride into the city of Jerusalem, something supernatural began to take
place. People started sensing the anointing and they started doing the things following Him, taking off their outer
garments and throwing them in the road, waving palm branches, and crying, "Hosanna!" They were following the
Man on the colt.
Just what was significant of the colt? The colt becomes the symbol of prearranged forgiveness. I think that
in the mind of God, He foresaw a way to arrange forgiveness before the inhabitants of Jerusalem had even done the
deed that was soon to follow. That is equivalent to Him arranging for our release from prison before His murder
was committed! (Romans 5:8)

THE MURDER OF AN INNOCENT MAN

I believe Jesus was well acquainted with the passage in Deuteronomy wherein God outlined the sacrifice
for the murder of an innocent man (Deut. 21:1-9). If they did not have any idea who had committed the murder,
they would make the assumption that the murderer came from the closest city. So that no curse would be placed on
that city and its inhabitants, the elders of that city would go to the nearest rough valley, taking a heifer that had
never been worked. There they would cut off its head. Many translations of the Bible, such as NKJV, RSV, NAS,
refer to a rough valley where there is a stream of flowing water. That is where they would cut off the heifer's head.
To recapitulate, when they found a man murdered and they were not sure who was responsible, the elders
from the city nearest the murder was committed would take a heifer into a rough valley, flowing with water that
have never been plowed, where nothing had ever been planted, and where there had never been a harvest. Some
rabbinical teachings further enlighten us that they would cut the heifer's neck and let it bleed into that flowing
water. Downstream they would wash their hands' in the blood and the water mixture. Then they would stand before
the Levites and pray essentially like this: "Our eyes didn't see this. Our hands didn't do this. Forgive us, O Lord.
Don't hold it against our city." And forgiveness would come.
When Jesus stood on the side of the Mount of Olives and He looked at Jerusalem, I believe His love was so
great that He wanted to make arrangements for their future forgiveness. The Father had already conceived of the
sacrifice in His logos thinking, but the Son had to act out the love of the Father in the rhema. The word logos is
found the first time in the Gospel of John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1
The Word here is logos. The beginning was the logos.
It actually means the conceptual thought and the idea of God. It is best understood in our terminology as
the blueprint. In John's world, it was originally a theatrical term like saying, in the beginning was "the script." John
1:14 says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory), the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
That was when the blueprint or the script began to be acted out as a live drama God's plan of redemption
being lived out in the humanity of Jesus! It had been accomplished in the mind of God, but Jesus had not yet died
on the tree.
Jesus was familiar with the sacrifice called for by the law for the murder of an innocent man. He also knew
that no one but Him would think of lifting the coming curse for Jerusalem as the city nearest His soon-to- come-
murderous death. But bringing a heifer to sacrifice would not work, because He knew that He was the sacrifice, as
well as the innocent man about to be slain. So He asked for a colt.
Colts, horses, donkeys and mules are unclean beasts; they have round hooves. According to the Levitical
law, they could not be eaten or sacrificed, as could a calf, sheep, and other clean animals with cloven hooves. The
heifer would be a clean beast and it could be sacrificed and eaten, but when He called for a colt,that was an unclean
animal. He specifically said a colt that had never been ridden, as the heifer was to be one that had never been
worked. Miraculously it was given!

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 He rode on it, precariously balancing Himself through the rough valley and up the other side unto the
eastern gate. Why? By clean sacrifice riding the unclean and unbroken beast, He identified Himself as the sacrifice
for the murder of the most innocent man who ever lived.
So He who was the sacrifice rode on an unclean beast to identify with the Old Testament requirement for
the forgiveness of the crime of murder and in this instance, before it ever took place!
How far did He ride that colt? If you would allow me the poeting license, He rode that colt all the way to
the place where the blood and the water flowed, to make arrangements for forgiveness.
Pilate, with his ignorant insensitivity, picked up on this, yet the knowledge-filled Pharisees never saw the
prophetic significance. As He stood before him in innocence, Pilate essentially said, "I don't know why I feel like
doing this, but bring me some water." He plunged his hands into the water and almost verbatim, repeated the
prayer of the city elders. "I am not guilty of this; I don't want this laid to my charge" (Matt. 27:24-25). Pilate was a
little early there was no blood in that water yet.
The cry of the crowd that stood before him that day, when they said, "Let His blood be upon us," is the
antithesis of the prayer that they were supposed to pray for the murder of an innocent man, "Lift this blood off of
us." As a result of them accepting the curse for His murder, instead of the curse being lifted, it was placed and hung
heavy over the city.
Jerusalem is the most trodden-down city in the entire world, having been taken over militaristically more
than any other city and is still nothing but an embattled war zone. Why? Because of the blood. They wouldn't
accept the sacrifice He made for their forgiveness.

HUMILITY THROUGH THE ROUGH VALLEY

So Jesus rode the colt of humility through the rough valley, past the place of no harvest. The Kidron Valley
is too rough and rocky for any crops to be planted and harvested there.
If you ever want to have any authority, if ever you want to ride, you first have to crawl and then walk.
You've got to follow the Man on the colt. If God would not spare His own Son from the lesson of maturity and
humility (Rom. 8:52), just who do you think we are? We must follow His trail-blazing path and walk, or crawl, if
necessary the rough road of humility.
Sometimes following Jesus leads you through rough valleys valleys where nothing has ever been
planted and you can't even plough the ground. There will always be rough valleys on the walk of humility tough
times, but as someone said, Tough times never last, but tough people do.
You have also got to follow the Man on the colt past the place of no harvest. Perhaps this speaks of times of
financial leanness. Nothing can be harvested where nothing can be planted.
How long is that time of "no harvest" going to last? I don't know. I wish I could wave a magic wand and tell
everybody, "Everything is always alright,' but if God is a God of material prosperity only, then Haiti has no God.
Be as prosperous as you want to be, but don't be married to your prosperity. Be married to your God and His
purpose. Be willing to say, "I DON'T CARE WHETHER IT'S GOOD OR BAD. I AM GOING THROUGH THE
PROCESS."
If you follow the Man on the colt through the rough valley and past the place of no harvest, then you enter
inside the city, through the eastern gates. What a wondrous time that is supposed to be. We call it "Palm Sunday"
and His "triumphant entry", but if you would ask Him about it, I suspect it wasn't so triumphant more like the
Sunday of rejection! Because just inside that eastern gate that He entered, which is closest to the temple area, they
were praying inside the temple for the Messiah to come, while He was passing by outside.
I can imagine them asking someone to check on what the disturbance was. Perhaps he was told by
somebody in the crowd. "Oh, it was Jesus." "Well, where is He?" "You can hardly see Him, because He was riding
on a little colt. He is somewhere over there where all the commotion is." Maybe this messenger went back in to
report to the high priest who might have declared, "We issued no parade permits for today! How dare they? Who is
it? ...He is nothing. If He were really somebody, He would have made a triumphant entry on a dashing white
stallion. We can easily stop the ragtag group and its Nazarene leader. We've had trouble from Him before."
Because Jesus entered the city in humility on a colt, the prophet Zechariah said, "Tell Zion when He
comes" (Matt. 21:5). He was not coming like they were expecting Him to come, in power and authority. He was

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coming in humility and meekness. So Zechariah said, tell them so they don't miss Him! He passed by the very site
of the place they were supposedly praying for Him to come, the temple!
Sometimes I am afraid that the modern church is likewise inside praying for Him to come, while He was
passing by just outside. At times there is more of God outside of churches than there is inside. We are so occupied
with our own religiosity that we fail to realize that the very thing that we are praying for is passing right by us!
They rejected Him. If you follow the Man on the colt, sometimes you go through the rough valley, past the
place of no harvest. Other times, you go past the place of rejection. How ironic what we call His triumphant
entry, He might call His ultimate rejection. He was rejected by the religious system that was supposedly waiting
His announced arrival.
How far do you have to follow the Man on the colt? All the way to the place where the blood and the water
flows, until you love not your life even unto death.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their testimony; and they loved not
their lives unto the death. - Revelation 12:11
You are going to be rejected by some and go through tough times. I encourage you to let the purpose of
your life be focused on pursuing Christ, on finding out what God is doing and doing it with Him.

III. CONCLUSION
ELIGIBLE RIDE
If you follow the Man on the colt through the rough valley, past the place of no harvest, past the place of
rejection, then you are eligible to ride behind the Man on stallion. There is going to come a day when Jesus will
arise from the throne in heaven and He will appear on a white stallion. Revelation 19 says: And I saw heaven
opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He
doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, and He had a name
written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is
called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine
linen, white and clean. Rev. 19:11-14
The first time Jesus came in humility to show us that the path of power and authority is through humility
and meekness. But of His return, it says, His eyes are a flame of fire. He is qualified to ride that stallion, because
he first rode the colt of humility.
He will be clothed in a robe dipped in blood the blood He shed when He was the sacrifice. The crowns
of His head are a symbol of authority over nations. All of heaven will begin to tremble, because for the first time
He will display all the authority in the world that is rightfully His.
The first time He came in humility and they didn't accept Him. This time He will be coming in power and
authority and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11).
Then comes the exciting part, after humility: If we have followed the Man on the colt through humility,
struggle and rejection, all the way to the place where blood and water flows which is the ultimate sacrifice of
Calvary and His speared side then He will put the white robe on us and He will say, "Come ride with Me. You have
walked with Me in humility and meekness, now you can ride with Me in authority and power."
He will not put His white robe on you, unless you have taken off your garment of pride and laid it before
Him in humility. There are too many of us who want Him to robe us in authority, but we have never followed Him,
stripping ourselves of our own fleshly pride, laying it down before Him for it is to be trampled. You need to make
your pride a doormat for your brothers, your sisters and your God.
He is going to retrace the exact path He took on that day riding a colt, this time riding the white stallion.
When His foot touches the Mount of Olives, the whole earth is going to shake with the awareness that He is here!
When He puts His foot back on this earth that was created by Him, in authority and power with the crowns on His
head, everyone will know, the Father of all creation Abba Father is home!
When He starts riding that white stallion with the saints on their white horses, retracing the path of
humility, down through the rough valley, it will not be so rough anymore. He has made the crooked ways straight
(Isa. 40:3-4; 35:1); He has made the desert bloom like a rose. He will not be riding on a colt this time; He will be
returning on a stallion with authority and power.

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 I want to be riding with Him, wearing white robe, on my white horse, because I was willing to follow the
Man on the colt through the rough valley, past the place of no harvest, past the place of rejection, so that I am
eligible to ride with Him in authority and power.
If you are wanting authority and power in your life, you must first be willing to follow Him in humility, so
that you can reign with Him in authority.
I don't want to see any three-year-olds with loaded guns; I want to see mature Christians who can speak in
the authority of Christ and diseases be healed. I am not looking for childish, undisciplined disciples who will call
down fire and lightning on villages for the wrong reasons. I want to see maturity.
Think of the Father who could always outrun His little boy, but who chose to lose the race, because he
didn't have to prove the point of how macho he was. Never trust with authority anybody who always has to be
right, who has to win every game. Trust the person who has learned to follow the Man on the colt. Trust humility
and meekness.
I don't have to walk through rough valleys, but I am going to follow Him, as a choice I will make. I don't
have to endure rejection; that's also a choice. If standing up for the things of God makes people not like you, you
have a choice to make. The
people who are willing to endure rejection are those who are going to change the world. They have followed the
Man on the colt. They know what it means to be humble, and now they cdn be trusted with authority and power.
If you really want He has for you, are you ready to follow Jesus no matter where it takes you? Your
authority level is never going to exceed your ability to follow.
That is what Paul understood when he said, "Follow me as I follow Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). God is tired of
whiners and complainers. He wants people who are willing to follow the Man on the colt.
Father, we humbly stand before You, not in pride nor arrogance, but just as servants. We want to follow
You, Lord. Put within us the desire and the courage to follow You through rough valleys, past places of no harvest
and times of rejection. We are not concerned about the scoreboard; we are interested in the destination. We will
follow whenever You lead.

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