True Authority
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The world is shifting faster than we can seemingly adjust today. Tempers are flaring, opposition is rising, battles are erupting over everything it seems. Peace is allusive, but silence is plenty in isolation. Safety is desired, but what is safe? We desire for things to go back to normal, for that is where we will find our peace, our safety; but the question is, which normal? As it was before or as it once was? A short time ago, or a long time ago. In the world, or not of the world? Under who’s authority, by who’s authority? What is authority? The world right now is bananas! What’s up? What’s down? What’s right? What’s wrong? The world seems to be like a ship with no anchor, it is a ship with the wrong anchor. How do you navigate in a world that seems rutterless, or is being steered over a cliff?
A follower of Christ knows that Jesus is the answer, the only answer; but what about the world? The world’s answer is science or the scientific method based on experts and technocrats. More tech will make us safe, more science will bring us peace. Utopia will be established upon tech and science, employed by experts, who will solve all the worlds problems. How is this working for us? How does tech and science solve the delimma of the depravity of the human soul? The need to have a purpose and feel valued, of importance? To answer the question as to why I am here? Why do I live? Why was I born? Science can give us theory and fact about the universe, but not as to why it exists and how it came into existence. Science and tech cannot answer why some people are good, and some are bad. They cannot answer why we feel we have to rule and be in authority over one another and the reason to bring war to bear upon one another. Why does man have to rule over one another? To establish peace? Safety? To survive? For whom? For what? From what? From whom?
Seemingly, man has a built in desire to build kingdom and to rule. In Genesis 11, we are told that all of humanity gathered and built a tower to the heavens to establish a name for themselves, a kingdom of man (v.4). Why? Because we were created, in the image of God, to rule, to have dominion and to have authority over this world. We were created, to create, to rule and to worship. The question is by whom, for whom and to whom? The Bible tells us for God and to God. The problem is man rebelled against the program, God’s design, and we are still doing so to this day, employing any and all other methods, except God’s. And when God came to give redemption in having His Son submit to death on a cross, we still choose death and the Devil to be our authority. That’s why we have the world that we have today; we belive Satan has greater authority than God and he would give us what we wanted - autonomy and authority, god-ness, kingdom.
The problem is, it was a lie.
I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me. On the contrary, I am going away so that the world may know that I love the Father. Just as the Father commanded Me, so I do. “Get up; let’s leave this place.
Jesus had to die and go to the Father so that He could restore and enforce the given inheritance of man’s rule upon the earth, for God, that we lost when Satan tempted man to abandon God’s authority and rulership.
God, in Genesis gave man rule and authority over all His creation. Man was given the right to rule over God’s domain, the earth, in His name, in God’s image, as God ruled heaven.
God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 3:14-20 speaks of the lost authority and rule of man in perverted relationships. Man would dominate his wife, instead of cherishing her. The woman would expereince pain in child birth instead of the joy and ease of giving birth. The ground is cursed producing thornes and thistles, food production will be a matter of sweat labor and pain instead of a joy in collecting bounty. Hostility and mutual inmety between man and the animal kindgom will flourish; not to mention man vs. man.
Peace was taken from the earth by man falling to their desire and Satan’s lie to be like God.
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The fallacy in all of this is that God would share His glory with His creation. God has made clear that He will not, never, share His glory with any other (Isaiah 42:8). It is like the employee demanding of the business owner, who has invested and taken all the risk, pay me the same as you, give me the same benefits you enjoy. Or the sluggard sitting at home, doing nothing, pursuing nothing, but expecting to receive their share from others hard work. This is the “universal utopia” where everyone gets to be God, gets the glory, regardless of their work, or lack of it. Collectivism - the good of the whole outweights the rights of the individual.
Satan became the god of this Age because Adam and Ever gave him spiritual access. 1 Corinthians 4:4 affirms this fact:
In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
As Dr. Rob Reimer in his book Spiritual Authority states,
“We are spiritual beings in a spiritual world; we are always giving away spiritual access....we don’t get to choose if we give away spiritual access, we only get to choose to whom we give away spiritual access” (Dr. Rob Reimer, Spiritual Authority: Partnering with God to Release the Kingdom, p.94).
Man lost our inheritance as ruler and authority over the earth when we gave spiritual access to the Devil. Access means clearance, permission, enterance, authority. We gave our position away to Satan and as a result we have the world we do today. We gave up a kingdom.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
The Good News!
The Good News is that Jesus went to the Father! That, even though Jesus, would be, was, put to death, Satan had/has no power, no claim over Him! (John 14:30). Jesus would lay His life down, not because it was forcefully taken from Him, but because He was obeying the Father.
I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me. On the contrary, I am going away so that the world may know that I love the Father. Just as the Father commanded Me, so I do. “Get up; let’s leave this place.
Jesus retained His spiritual authority because He only gave access to the Father. As a result, Jesus took back the keys to the kingdom, given to man, lost in the Fall.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven.”
To Peter, and summarily, all persons who would preach the gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, are given the authority, to give access to the Kingdom of God, through the preaching of the salvation of Jesus Christ. Man gave up the keys to the kingdom when we rebelled against the rule of God. Man has once again received the keys, to the Kingdom of God, spiritual authority and access, through the perfect sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is Jesus the only God and great God, because He is the only one who gave His life and defeated death, setting man free to be free. This is called grace, unmerrited, undeserved favor. What so called ‘gods’ of this age has ever done that? None.
What has Satan given to man? A false bill of goods, blindness, emptiness of things, temptations, schemes, hinderance, opposition, lies, sin and death. What has man given to Satan? Control. The Bible tells us that those who resist the love and truth of Christ are controlled by the Devil, blinded (2 Cor. 4:4).
Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word. You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
Why is this discussion on authority so important today? Because in the world we are experiencing today, we can live as defeated soldiers of Christ. Am I living as a defeated soldier of Christ? We think our battle is against flesh, regulations and unjust, corrupt decisions. Our battle is not against political opponents, racial injustice, gender bias or drugs and alcohol.
Our battle is against the god we put in place…Satan. We gave him the keys to the kingdom we were to govern. His power and authority rules over this age, but for a limited time…because Jesus holds the keys to life (Jn 11:25-26) and to death and hell (Rev 1:18).
For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever. Do you believe this?”
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. He laid His right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Satan is a defeated foe, he has no power over Christ, therefore He has no power over the follower of Christ. The servant is like the Master, who follows and obeys the Master (Mt. 10:24-25). Our identity is tied up in the person of Christ Jesus, our identity is Christ, if we have believed upon and accepted His lordship. When you pull out your drivers license, to present it as to affirm who you are, the picture and information is Jesus Christ. If we believe upon and accept Jesus as our Lord, everything is under our feet, because we are in and of Christ. The apostle Paul, in affirming a believers identity in Christ, writes to the Ephesian church,
He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens — far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.
Am I rooted in my identity in Christ? That identity is only realized and strengthened in intimacy with Christ. Intimacy is loving time with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. It is loving the Word, exercising the Word and praying the Word. It is walking and breathing as the Word would, by the Holy Spirit. Authority is only realized and developed as I realize and walk in my identity and intimacy with Christ. As a result, the Devil then has no power, no access, no claim over me.
Authority comes from the word ‘author’. The author is the source. Authority only comes from the source. The source of what? The source of power, might, strength, rulership. When Satan is refered to as “ruler of this age”, the word is archon. Archon means “one who temporarily acts as a leader”. This temporary rulership is given; given by someone; bestowed by someone of authority, the source of authority (didomi 1325). Jesus said to Ceasar,
“You would have no authority over Me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.”
In the 40 day wilderness temptation of our Lord and Savior, Satan offers the kingdoms of the world to Jesus if only He would bow down and worship him. The nations are Satan’s to give because he has been given authority over the world of men who refuse to believe in and deny the authority and lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Devil said to Him, “I will give You their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me, and I can give it to anyone I want. If You, then, will worship me, all will be Yours.”
Satan only has authority and access in the age because we gave it to Him and God the Father allowed it and gave it. Nothing happens without God’s knowledge, nor allowance, nor issuance (Lamentations 3:37). So why then do we live in fear and defeat? Why do we hope in our prayers instead of pray with confidence and boldness? If we are indeed seated in the heavenly realms with Christ, how is it that we sit at the footstool of the Devil?
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Just as Jesus is seated above all powers, rulers and demonic entities, we are, by grace, seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. This means authority to rule over darkness. We have been saved, sealed and seated in the heavenly realms to have power and authority over the earthly realm, as well as the kingdom of darkness. Satan does have given power and authority, by God, but so do we, through Jesus the Son.
John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven.
Jesus is the achegos (747), He is the author, the source of authority, who has the inherited right to lead in having given His life on the cross, redeeming men, reclaiming the keys of life and death, restoring man to dominion, power and authority, in His name, in His image, and in His power. Hebrews 2:10 says all things exist for Jesus and through Him. Jesus is the source, the author, the authority of all life and salvation who makes everything peaceful, safe and perfect. Jesus is the One and only who sits at the right hand of God the Father’s throne and to whom only man will answer at the judgment, at the end of this age of darkness (Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:11-15).
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
The follower of Christ’s battle is this world is to enforce the victory of Christ, by keeping our eyes on Christ. Do we believe that there is power in prayer? Do we confess sins, seek forgiveness and strive to be pure and holy as Christ so that we can be a useful vessel in this dark world that Jesus can work through? The apostle James encourages us to confess our sins to one another, and pray for one another because the prayers of a righteous person accomplish much (James 5:16-17). Jesus has prayed for all believers, you and me, that the love of the Father would be in us as God the Father was in Christ and that “I may be in them” (John 17:26). Jesus is in you and me by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17; 16:13-15). If Jesus is in us, and with us, then what power can stand against us? Nothing! We need to understand out identity, through intimacy, act in faith and exercise our authority over the darkness of this world and it’s ruler, the Devil.
Pastor Rob Reimer tells the story of his church being under attack with division, fear and instability. Everything that they, the leadership, were working towards was in danger of being lost. One night, his wife had a dream of a group of leaders at their church property gathered around a bonfire. Little demons were running around starting fires all around the property. The leaders began to move all around the property stamping out these little fires. Then a voice from out of the bonfire said, “In fighting the fires, you forfeit the Flame.” (Spiritual Authority, p.99).
In fighting fires, be careful not to forfeit the Flame. Do not focus on the work of the enemy, but instead on the presense of God. Only give access to God, not the Devil. For the kingdom of darkness cannot withstand a follower of Christ who knows his indentity in Christ, is intimate with Christ and is faithful to Christ. Our authority is rooted in Christ and in Christ, no power, no opposer, nor any ruler, no Devil has power over me. Jesus said to them,
He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash. Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; nothing will ever harm you.
Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!
Spiritual Authority is:
Established in identity
Understood in intimacy
Activated in faith
Applied in pray by purity
We will have true peace and safety when we understand and apply our identity in Christ and realize the authority we have in Him and through Him, to impact this world for the glory and Kingdom of Jesus Christ our King.
Amen