Exercising the Authority of Christ

(Overcomer Wu)

"Thus says the Lord... concerning the work of My hands, you command Me!" --Isaiah 45:11

I have the burden to continue the topic that I wrote on two weeks ago about the exercise of our spiritual authority as we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, because this is not a topic touched upon often in our midst. Perhaps it is due to some Christians in other circle who have abused or overused this authority to the point where they see the need to cast out the demon of this practice or of that mishap, when in fact at times things do happen just as the natural order of things and the natural consequence of our own mistakes. Yet we need to recognize the need to properly exercise this spiritual authority where needed to bind the enemy and to fight the fierce spiritual battle we're engaged in whether we want to face it or not. We cannot get away from the conviction that the exercise of the authority of faith in Christ's finished work and His position on the throne, as unequivocally revealed and emphasized in the Bible (Eph 1:19-22), is almost a lost practice in many churches of Christ today.

We see in the four Gospels in the Bible the Lord Jesus Christ always displayed this authority whenever needed and whatever the circumstance. It was constantly remarked upon as the characteristic of His teaching and action in healing the sick, in calming the storm, in multiplying the bread to feed the hungry, etc. . The Lord's authoritative Word was the obvious driving force behind His actions. Every miracle was the outcome of His command. To the leprous, He said, "Be clean;" to the blind, He said, "Receive your sight;" to the raging storm and wind, He said, "be still;" To the demon-possessed, He said, “Come out of him." The centurion, through personal observation of this fact, summed it up in his message to the Master, "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."

Yet it is at this very point that we begin to succumb to the lies of the enemy that we can never wield such authority. The enemy would say that we are not holy and perfectly righteous like Christ; thus the Lord would never sanction our exercise of His authority granted to us in the Church. The fact of the matter is that none of us are perfect, though we are being perfected. And the exercise of the authority of Christ vested in the Church is in a way independent of us, because it rests upon the authority of Christ on the throne and the Word of God as we have shown in the above paragraph. Look at how miserably the apostle Peter failed by denying the Lord three times and yet the Lord still released His great Word through Him to save 3000 men on the day of Pentecost just 53 days after his betrayal. And then in Act chapter three again, he and John was able to give the authoritative word of Christ in healing the lame man. The Lord Jesus Himself substantiated that the source of His power is the Father's Words in Him and spoken through Him, when He says, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father Who dwells in Me, He does the works" (Jn 14:10).

Then concerning His disciples He says exactly the same thing. "It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you" (Matt 10:20). Thus, the Lord Jesus puts Himself and His brethren on exactly the same level so far as speaking the word of authority is concerned. Therefore, we can say that when we uttered the authoritative Word of Christ as led by the Spirit independent of us and our weaknesses, the Lord will honor His own Words and carry out the supernatural intervention that's needed whether to bind the enemy's destructive work or to heal the sick or to meet some other exigencies.

Before feeding the 5,000 men in John chapter six (not counting the women and children), He told the disciples to give them something to eat. Needless to say, this command is an impossible task for man, but He wanted to test His disciples and see if the truth of they have learnt to employ the unlimited resources of God at their disposal. Then in casting out the demon from the lad, He rebuked the unbelief of His followers who had failed to effect the deliverance. In causing the instant withering of the fig tree by a word, the Lord Jesus went on to tell His disciples to have exactly the same quality of faith and to move mountains by the word of command; then in sending out His disciples, He said in nor uncertain terms that : "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19). Nothing could be clearer than this, and it was proved to be so by the authoritative words of the apostle Paul when he said, "You child of the devil... you shall be blind" (Acts 13:10,11); and in many other instances.

Another common lie of the enemy or perhaps out of our own concept or humility is that we have made a distinction in our minds between the manifestation of power by the Christ Jesus as seen in the gospels and the disciples of those days as well as disciples of Christ in any age with ourselves included. We regard the outflow of power through the word of authority from Christ Jesus as something altogether out of the reach of a "poor sinner, saved by grace." We deemed that kind of authority to be only the prerogative of the risen Christ Himself, who at best might only on very rare occasions move Himself within some special servant of His to speak forth some such commanding word. Yet the Lord Jesus said in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do...” We've read this verse many times over, and yet I believe that we deemed that to be the prerogative of only a few great servants of the Lord. In the back of our mind, we just ignore this verse as one that is not applicable to us.

Oh, this false sense of humility, how it grieves the heart of our Father, who sent His Son expressly to "reconcile us unto Himself," in order that we might know our oneness with Him and to share the blessed position of Christ as His many sons! Yet we must realize of course that for us to properly exercise this authority of Christ for the furtherance of His great divine purpose, we are to remain abiding in Him. Thus, we shall have the mind of Christ and allow Him to ceaselessly operate through us "to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Phi 2:13). Therefore, the basic necessity to the exercise of this authority of the Throne of Christ is – Not I (that live) but Christ (that) lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Yes, though I did mention earlier that the exercise of this authority is sometimes independent of our condition and our oneness with the mind of Christ, yet we certainly we do not to be in that category of people on the judgment day as the Lord Himself recounted: “Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not ... in Your Name cast out demons, and in Your Name do many works of power? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, workers of lawlessness” (Matt 7:22-23). Yet as we abide in Him, we are no longer carrying out our own will and works, but as "sons of God." and as those who share the throne-position with Christ (Eph 2:6), exercising the divine authority according to the counsel of His will and for His good pleasure.

By faith and in the authority of the enthroned Christ, we can declare on the basis of Mark 11:23: "This mountain ceases to be. Be ... cast into the sea." Of course, we do so on matters of practical need, not just to demonstrate the spiritual authority vested in us through Christ for the sake of display and showmanship. Do not try and see and examine how these things will come to pass. Leave the "how" to God. God works in unexpected ways. But persist in believing and in affirming your faith, and acting as one who has received--for it is said of the Author and Finisher of our faith that He "calls those things which do not exists as though they did" (Rom 4:17). Hebrew 1:2 tells us that it was through Him that God made the world and immediately the following verse shows us the position of Christ and the authority vested upon Him and at the disposal of the Church: “... sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.”

God Himself implore us: "Thus says the Lord... concerning the work of My hands, you command Me!" (Isaiah 45:11). We need to learn to exercise this great divine privilege in oneness with the Lord and the gates of Hades shall tremble! Job 22:28 says, "You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established for you!" When we feel weak, Just declare persistently the word of God, "Christ is my life and Strength," "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me!" (Col 3:4; Phi 4:13). Praise the Lord! We can “be strong in the Lord and in the might of His Strength” (Gal 6:10)!