Authority

 

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

—Matthew 28:18

Within our school system, she had authority. “She” was the Assistant Superintendent and she served at our elementary school as principal for a year during the search for a new principal.

We enjoyed having her as much as she seemed to relish being with us. And, if we needed something—a new piece of equipment or a change in schedule, or a quick response to a question—all we needed to do was prove our need to her and she made it happen! Under her authority, we knew we had special favor.

But, this Assistant Superintendant had an authority over her, who had an authority over him, who had authority over them, and so on.

What would you say about someone who declared that He had authority over everything? Well, Jesus made just such a claim. And, He proved it to those who watched Him and followed Him.

If Jesus spoke peace to a storm, it happened. If He touched a sick man for healing, it happened. If demons tormented a little boy and Jesus cast them out, they were gone!

According to Scripture, Jesus wants all of us who claim His name to know “His incomparably great power to us who believe.” Here’s what Paul said about that powerful authority, as recorded in Ephesians 1:19-21:

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

The Greek word for the English word authority,—exousia—means “privilege, force, capacity, competence, freedom, liberty, jurisdiction, right, or strength.” God gives that kind of authority to us, in Christ, when we come into the covenant of His love.

How do we use that authority? By praying in Jesus’ name and claiming His “all authority.”

Such responsibility should give us great care when we pray and keep us from asking Him for wrong things. When we come to God in prayer and ask that He help us in our prayers, we can be assured that we will ask Him, in accordance to His word and nature, for only those things which we believe He would will to happen.

Even in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed for God’s will, as recorded in Mark 14:36:

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Jesus rested in God’s will, and under God’s authority. Let us pray, therefore, and live as those who have the authority of Christ in our lives, so that we can go out as His ambassadors to a world dying in sin that needs the Savior.