Based on the following scriptures we will see that after
Jesus ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He delegated
or transferred His authority to the church. "The Father has put all things under Christ’s feet and
has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship
exercised throughout the church], Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who
fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Christ Who makes
everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself]." (Ephesians 1:22-23 AMP) "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us
sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6) "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones." (Ephesians 5:30) "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are
complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:9-10)
Jesus is the supreme head of the church; we sit with Him on His throne of triumph; we are members of His body; the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him; we are complete in Him; all believers have received His abundance of grace and truth. If all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth, which it has, and we are His body, which we are, then it stands to reason that everything He is, we are, which agrees with the Word, "…because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17) To take this a little further, Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) and, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6: 17) We have oneness with Christ. I am not making light of the cross, yes, we need to come to the cross for salvation, but we are not to remain there. We need to preach and teach the cross to the unsaved but to the believer we need to preach and teach that the throne is where the believer is, not the cross. The throne is the seat of authority and triumph, not the cross.
Believers exercising their authority hangs on their revelation of knowing God's immense power, "and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 1: 19-20) and, "God raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) Notice that not only is Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, which is the highest place of authority, He sits there far above all the powers. Believers sit with Christ also far above all the powers in the same seat of authority. It is revelation of these truths, not intellectual knowledge that will give believers the assured confidence in their authority.
Before we go any further, think about this. Where God's knowledge and revelation is obscure, the devil will establish a stronghold. The strongholds could be fear, doubt, unbelief, disobedience, believing a lie and rejecting truth and so on. The devil does not want believers to know their authority. The very thing that Adam could have used to defeat the Satan in the garden, his authority over creation, was the very thing that Satan went after and unfortunately was able to have Adam relinquish.
Next, notice from the above scripture in Ephesians, "...the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe…" This does not simply refer to God’s power in regeneration, but as the entire series of His acts of power toward Christians from the moment they become born again until they are received in glory. Scripture reveals, "The demons cried out, Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God!" (Mark 1:24) and "Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits…And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? (Acts 19:13, 15) Notice, the demons recognize not only Jesus’ authority but also Paul’s and every believer who know without question, that all authority is in Jesus and we sit with Him on His throne of authority.
Believer have the authority to uphold and enforce the victory over Satan and all his forces that Jesus accomplished, because we have the authority as well as a mandate to do so, "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18) The Church is not to pray to God the Father about what to do with the devil. The Church is to exercise the authority that belongs to it as we see here in Mark 16:17-18. Of course this must come by revelation of our authority and not by-way-of intellectual knowledge. It is obvious that the itinerant Jewish exorcists were not born again and therefore limited and could only use the intellectual knowledge they had in their attempt to cast out demons which failed.
To live and operate in the authority that is vested in every believer through Christ, has absolutely nothing to do with how long a person has been saved. The least member of the Body of Christ has just as much authority over the devil as anyone else. The reality is, unless believers stand on God’s Word and know without doubt, fear, unbelief, and without a sense of unworthiness, shame, guilt, condemnation and or inferiority and do something about the devil, nothing will be done in many areas of their life and the lives of others who seek deliverance. So, let us rise up in our generation, infiltrate the culture and bring the power of God down on the works of darkness, setting the captives free in the wonderful Name of Jesus. Amen?
Jesus is the supreme head of the church; we sit with Him on His throne of triumph; we are members of His body; the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him; we are complete in Him; all believers have received His abundance of grace and truth. If all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth, which it has, and we are His body, which we are, then it stands to reason that everything He is, we are, which agrees with the Word, "…because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17) To take this a little further, Jesus says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) and, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6: 17) We have oneness with Christ. I am not making light of the cross, yes, we need to come to the cross for salvation, but we are not to remain there. We need to preach and teach the cross to the unsaved but to the believer we need to preach and teach that the throne is where the believer is, not the cross. The throne is the seat of authority and triumph, not the cross.
Believers exercising their authority hangs on their revelation of knowing God's immense power, "and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 1: 19-20) and, "God raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:6) Notice that not only is Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, which is the highest place of authority, He sits there far above all the powers. Believers sit with Christ also far above all the powers in the same seat of authority. It is revelation of these truths, not intellectual knowledge that will give believers the assured confidence in their authority.
Before we go any further, think about this. Where God's knowledge and revelation is obscure, the devil will establish a stronghold. The strongholds could be fear, doubt, unbelief, disobedience, believing a lie and rejecting truth and so on. The devil does not want believers to know their authority. The very thing that Adam could have used to defeat the Satan in the garden, his authority over creation, was the very thing that Satan went after and unfortunately was able to have Adam relinquish.
Next, notice from the above scripture in Ephesians, "...the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe…" This does not simply refer to God’s power in regeneration, but as the entire series of His acts of power toward Christians from the moment they become born again until they are received in glory. Scripture reveals, "The demons cried out, Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God!" (Mark 1:24) and "Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits…And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? (Acts 19:13, 15) Notice, the demons recognize not only Jesus’ authority but also Paul’s and every believer who know without question, that all authority is in Jesus and we sit with Him on His throne of authority.
Believer have the authority to uphold and enforce the victory over Satan and all his forces that Jesus accomplished, because we have the authority as well as a mandate to do so, "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18) The Church is not to pray to God the Father about what to do with the devil. The Church is to exercise the authority that belongs to it as we see here in Mark 16:17-18. Of course this must come by revelation of our authority and not by-way-of intellectual knowledge. It is obvious that the itinerant Jewish exorcists were not born again and therefore limited and could only use the intellectual knowledge they had in their attempt to cast out demons which failed.
To live and operate in the authority that is vested in every believer through Christ, has absolutely nothing to do with how long a person has been saved. The least member of the Body of Christ has just as much authority over the devil as anyone else. The reality is, unless believers stand on God’s Word and know without doubt, fear, unbelief, and without a sense of unworthiness, shame, guilt, condemnation and or inferiority and do something about the devil, nothing will be done in many areas of their life and the lives of others who seek deliverance. So, let us rise up in our generation, infiltrate the culture and bring the power of God down on the works of darkness, setting the captives free in the wonderful Name of Jesus. Amen?
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