Setting the Captives Free

I believe one of the greatest needs in the church today is believers receiving a pure revelation of God's Word as to, Who they are in Christ; Who Christ is in them and how the Father truly sees them. In other words, believers must come to truly know and believe what it means to be a new creation in Christ, that is, their new identification in Christ. Once believers have a solid understanding of their identification in Christ, they will then know that they can stand in the Father presence without guilt, condemnation, unworthiness, shame or inferiority as well as stand and face Satan and his evil forces as triumphant victors; as more than conquerors. They will come to know the authority that has been given them to uphold and enforce what the Father accomplished through Christ.

With this revelation knowledge believers will no long confess failure, weakness, doubt, fear or unbelief, but humbly stand by grace through faith in the power of His might in the face of any circumstance no matter how large or small it may seem. The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews tells us, "Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23) Therefore, living in the light of what God’s Word reveals as the believers new and true identification, we see that it is based upon their faith in the integrity of God’s Word or put another way, not simply knowing facts about God, but  knowing God Himself. To know God is to know His will, and to know His will is to know His Word for they are one and the same. (John 1:1; 1 John 5:7)

One of the greatest examples of an ordinary man who flat out believed God was Abraham, "Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." (Romans 4:20-21) Keep in mind that Abraham did not have God's Word written in what we call the Bible available to him, but, we see in this scripture that Abraham completely apprehended the will of God. There was no question concerning God’s will. Two things arise from this; First, Abraham's faith prevented doubt, fear and unbelief to find place; second, this caused Abraham to be completely obedient to God. Therefore, when believers truly apprehend their identity with Christ, doubt, fear and unbelief fade away, obedience is normal and exercising true authority exists. So, what is the authority that every believer has the right to in Christ?

It is God’s sovereign right to give commands, make decisions, have jurisdiction, have control, to take charge, or to rule over that which opposes or is contrary to His Will, that is His Word. God’s throne is established on His authority, therefore, all of His acts issue from His throne. All physical laws of the universe are maintained by His authority. We see this revealed in Hebrews, "God in these last days has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power." (Hebrews 1:2-3) God’s Word is His power from which emanates His authority. Therefore, God's authority represents God Himself and His power is revealed by His acts, "Then God said...and it was so." (Genesis 1)

We also see God's authority released through the earth ministry of Jesus as the Son of Man, "for Jesus taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matthew 7:29) God alone is authority in al1 things. We also see this revealed in the affairs of man on earth, "...For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.." (Romans 13:1) Here we see that all the authorities of the earth are instituted by God. Because God’s authority is such a tremendous thing in the universe, we need to understand that absolutely nothing overshadows it. Therefore it is imperative for us who desire to serve God to know the authority of God. Why?

For the sake of time, I am not going to read the account of Lucifer’s fall in Isaiah 14 or the account of the king of Tyre (the law of double reference used for Lucifer) in Ezekiel 28 but will comment on the accounts. Isaiah 14:12-15 deals with Satan violating God’s authority while Ezekiel 28:13-17 emphasizes his trespassing against God's holiness. To offend God's authority is a rebellion far more serious than that of offending God's holiness. Offending God’s holiness or sinning is a matter of conduct, whereas offending God’s authority is a matter of principle. Jesus said it this way, "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." (Matthew 12:31-32 )

In context with this passage, Jesus was casting out demons by the authority vested in Him through the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees rejected this and said that Jesus’ authority was through Beelzebub, that is Satan. The first part of the passage above is sin against God’s Holiness the latter is rebellion against God’s authority. So, Isaiah reports that is Satan's intent of setting his throne above the throne of God was a violation against God's authority. So, it was not the act of sinning that caused Satan's fall, it was his act of rebellion against God’s authority. It was rebellion which God condemned. This brings us to the controversy of the universe. Who has the authority? Although believers have the authority over Satan and all of his forces, any conflict that we may have with Satan is the direct result of our attributing all authority to God. With this in mind, we can look back to the Garden of Eden and see Satan’s approach to the first man and woman and see that Satan's attack on believers is the same as it was in the Garden of Eden. He makes his appeal to the flesh, that is, the five senses, trying to turn believers from the truth that all authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and earth, which has been given to the church, all believers.  (Mark 16:17-18; Ephesians 1:22-23)

With that said, let us remember this. Satan is not afraid of believers who preach God’s Word. His greatest fear is those who are completely subject to God’s authority. God has purposed to manifest His authority to the world through the church, through each and every believer. God uses His power to maintain His authority, therefore, His authority is the hardest thing to come up against. So, as long as we continue living on planet earth, let us humbly remember, as members of the Body of Christ, we can exercise our authority in Christ in the same manner as He did, "For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." (Mark 1:27) In doing so, we are setting the captives free through the authority vested in us by Jesus Himself.