ALL Authority

ALL Authority

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18 This means ALL authority does it not? Paul also writes, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

It struck me today what this really means for us today. I read it somewhere and the truth of it hit me as I thought about what was written.

- The name of Jesus is the authority to cast out demons. As Jesus Name is above all names and all of Satan’s armies are operating in Satan’s name, then the Name of Jesus supersedes the name of Satan. That means that we can cast him or any of his minions out of our world back into the depths of hell where they came from. Jesus cast out many demons and the all obeyed Him because they knew who He is and they knew His authority.

- The name of Jesus is the authority to heal the sick. Jesus spent much time healing ALL who were sick – it is stated at least seven times in the gospels. Why do we even permit sickness in God’s people when Jesus Himself gave us His authority to get rid of it.

- The name of Jesus is the authority to bind and loose. Demons submitted to Jesus. In the Gospels they submitted to Him almost as many times as healing was mentioned. He either cast them out or He bound them – there is a time for both. Binding is one thing, loosing is entirely another. Binding is for demons while, in my opinion, loosing is for Holy Spirit as we loose Him into a situation.

- The name of Jesus is the authority to forgive sins. Now here is a controversial theologically fraught statement! The churches, traditionally, reserved the pronouncement of forgiveness of sins solely for clergy use. However, since the Bible was not available to the first church and they had very few theological hang-ups, there is no particular restraint. There is a modern tendency, during communion, to use the word “us” rather than “you” when pronouncing forgiveness, and often the congregation speaks it out together. But the point remains that Jesus is the authority with which we can forgive sins.

- The name of Jesus is the authority to destroy the works of the devil. WOW this is getting almost scary. Yet it is true – the Name of Jesus, being above ALL names, is our authority to tear down strongholds, to destroy anything the enemy puts up in front of us. We have the authority to tear down principalities and powers, and to wreak havoc in all the enemies works. Any battle we fight in spiritual high places has already been won at Calvary. All we are doing is enforcing the victory because Satan always tries to enforce his will by ignoring his defeat. But beware, he is like a prowling lion seeking to rob, kill, and destroy – and he will if we let him.

- All authority in heaven and earth is contained in the name of Jesus. What an emphatic statement this is. We have all the same power Jesus had when He was here on earth. We have the same power that God the Father used when He said, “Let there be . . . . “ Jesus told us this when He said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”

What promises we have. Why do we not use them much more than we do? Do we doubt? Do we simply shy away, not believing that we can do it because Jesus said we could? He gave us the armour too in Ephesians 6:10-18

Jesus has given us the weapons and the armour – let’s go into battle today !!!