In these days the subject of authority is always very important. Satan has emphasized power, and there was a time when power was an issue.
Just before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1:8).
There are two distinct commissions—one to preach the gospel concerning the Church, and the other to preach the gospel of the Kingdom. When the Church first started, power was the issue. When the Kingdom comes, authority is the issue.
When the Church started, it was given a specific commission. Mark 16:15–20 records the resurrection commission that Jesus gave the disciples. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.
Notice also Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” In a sense, power has been very important in the course of the Church age. But as we come into the next age, the manifestation of Christ’s authority is more important than the manifestation of power.
In Mark, the commission was to preach the gospel to the whole creation; whoever believed would be saved, and those who did not believe would be damned. The believers were to cast out devils and heal the sick, and the signs would follow them.
The commission in Matthew talks about making disciples of all the nations. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (note the objective in this commission), teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18–20.
Mark 16 is a commission to go and preach the gospel and the signs will follow. Notice that the commission in Matthew 28 is a completely different kind of commission. Jesus said, “All authority is given to Me. You go, therefore,” implying that because of His authority His disciples were to make disciples of all the nations.
According to Revelation 11:15 everything ends with the kingdoms of the world becoming the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Everything must come under His authority, and ultimately there will be no kingdom but His.
Everything else is to be swallowed up in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, Jesus said, “All authority has been given unto Me.” Power and authority are quite different, as we see in Luke 10.
Luke 10 gives us an illustration of true Kingdom ministry. Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your ways; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. And whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you.” Luke 10:1–6.
And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Luke 10:17–20.
When the seventy were rejoicing that even the devils were subject to them, the Lord answered, “Do not rejoice that the devils are subject to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” In other words, rejoice that you are subject to the Lord. I wonder how many people have really understood why the Lord said that.
The fact that the devils are subject to you is only a by-product; the real issue is the fact that your names are written as being citizens of His Kingdom. You are submissive to the King and to the Lord. You are His servants, and your submission to Him is the key of the devils’ subjection to you.
James 4:7 tells us, Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. The devil hates authority. He has power, but he has no authority. Therefore, when the disciples were sent forth, they were sent forth in complete submission and subjection to the Lord, with nothing to depend on except the authority and the commission under which they went. That is the reason they did not take a purse, extra clothes, or anything else with them; they traveled simply. They had to be completely and absolutely submissive to the Lord. They were not dependent upon anything but His authority over them.
We can depend on money and influence; we can depend upon power or our own abilities, but all these things have failed and will continue to fail. However, when we are moving in submission to the Lord, under His authority, the promise, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18) becomes applicable, because we have that authority over us and we are submissive to it.
When we depend upon nothing else, then this authority becomes operative in our lives. So the Lord said, in effect, “Rejoice that your names are written as the subjects of heaven. That is the real reason the demons are subject to you.”
Verse 19: “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.” Here is authority over power. This is the immunity that we really need.
We need to walk immune from the assaults of the enemy. We are still too open to being hit in spiritual warfare. I am praying that we will enter into a new phase where we will have no reaction to this warfare on a physical level. I would like to break into this level of authority.
What is the secret of obtaining authority? If the devil is hitting us, it is obvious that he is not fleeing from us. We would resist him and he would flee from us if we had obeyed the first part of James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to the Lord.”
In our submission to Him, His authority can flow through us. When Satan finds that authority, and we resist him, he flees. It is not that we have much power, but that we have become weak, yet very effective channels for the Lord’s authority to come forth and cause Satan to confront Christ Himself in our submission. When we submit ourselves wholly to the Lord, then that authority comes through us completely. Actually, people do not yet see how essential it is to be meek and humble.
Jesus was very meek. He said, “I am meek and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). He could have said, “These are My credentials. This proves that I am the Christ. But He said the Father has laid all authority upon Me because I am meek and lowly in heart,” It was the humility in which Christ walked that was the key to the unlimited authority that flowed through Him.
When we understand the scriptural principle of authority through submission, we will never again feel that we are inadequate servants of the Lord as we look at our own strength and ability.
We will know the secret found in this Scripture: Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. Philippians 2:5–10. In His humility and complete submission, Christ became the channel of unlimited authority.
Does God want us to be humble? I am continually concerned about our walking in humility. Ministers must not react as professionals, concerned about a ministerial dignity. That attitude puts them in a defensive position.
I want to be a spiritual man, but not a religious man. I do not want to be a professional minister; I want to be God’s servant. I want to be one who has humbled himself and will do whatever God tells him to do; I want the Lordship of Christ over me to mean everything. I want to be His bond-servant.
That is the reason Paul could say of himself, “Paul, an apostle, and” (more important) “a bond-servant of Jesus Christ”; the two are linked together.
The apostleship was not as great a role as that of the bond-servant. As we humble ourselves and we become His love slaves in humility, that turns loose the authority that makes the apostolic ministry, the prophet’s ministry, or any other ministry function.
Humble yourselves under the hand of God; He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). There are many Christians who do not understand this principle. They seek God, and there are prophecies over them; but every time they start to move, God resists them, and they do not understand the reason.
God does not use a proud channel; He uses a humble one, He identifies His authority through the humble channel. He identifies and shares His possession of all things with those who are not arrogant and possessive, but meek and sacrificing by nature. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:5, 3.
This is what God must do with your life. When you are looking for your own place, it is a sure sign that if you do get it, you will not walk in it very effectively. You must submit yourself completely to the Lord and walk before Him in humility. Your only desire must be to be His servant. This is an important truth.
Jesus said to the humble seventy He sent out, “Do not take anything with you. Just be humble men. Walk humbly. My authority rests upon you, and I am giving you authority over all the power of the enemy.” (Notice: authority over the power.) “Nothing will hurt you; you have immunity because you have authority over that which comes against you. It can come in like a flood, but the authority is yours; you bind it, you resist it, and it has to flee from you.”
The commission that Christ gives us is based upon this authority. Since the principles of the Kingdom are emphasized in the book of Matthew, it is fitting that at the end of his gospel, Matthew brings that aspect of the commission which relates to the Kingdom.
If the gospel of the Kingdom is to be preached in all the world and then shall the end come, it is natural for us in this end time to be more concerned with Matthew’s commission than with the commission in Mark. There is actually only one commission, but it deals with two different phases. One speaks of power to go out and witness; the other deals with authority.
Which is more important—power or authority? In the spirit realm, authority is far more important. The devils may be much more powerful than we are, but we have authority over all the power of the enemy.
It will please God, through His manifold wisdom, to manifest to principalities and powers His wisdom through the Church (Ephesians 3:10). This must take place. Ephesians 3 describes this as something that was in the heart of God from ages and ages past. What significance is there in the difference between authority and power? Just enough that we do not have to worry about our inadequacy as far as power or ability is concerned. Changes will be wrought by authority, not by power. This is a concept we must recognize.
There are other sources of power besides Christ. Any time the devil comes at us, there is power in it; but he does not have authority over us. He has no right to harass us, though he does have power to do so; and if we are stupid enough to let him, he will.
At this time, God is allowing the force and the raging of Satan to come against the saints to teach them a good lesson. Either they are going to believe the commission of authority to use His name, or they will be continually harassed.
When we begin to move in the authority of Christ, Satan will not be able to touch us, because we will be taking dominion over his activity. Daniel’s prophecy describes the way Satan’s forces come against the saints of the Most High and prevail over them for a time, until authority is given to the saints and they possess the Kingdom (Daniel 7:21, 22). When the authority is given to them, then they can stop the enemy.
In the spirit world, rank is measured by authority, not by power. The Word does not say that when the Father raised Christ from the dead and set Him at His own right hand, that He gave Him all power; it says He gave Him all authority. He sits there, henceforth expecting until His enemies be made the footstool of His feet (Hebrews 10:13).
We can still see those enemies refusing to submit, raging in their power. With the exercise of Christ’s authority, they have to come under—every one of them. Every demon power must come under Christ’s authority. He will reign until His enemies are the footstool of His feet. Everything is going to come into submission to the Lord.
Our coming into submission to His authority is the key to our moving in authority, to bind all the powers of darkness. When we come into submission to His authority, we have the key of the delegation of authority to us to bring all the powers of darkness under control.
When Christ ministered in the flesh, He did not minister with power—that is, in Himself. He said quite frankly, “I can of Myself do nothing” (John 5:30). He emphasized the fact that the Church was never to know a position where they had enough power to prevail. He said, “Abide in Me, for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4, 5).
When we complain and bemoan the fact that we seem to be helpless, that we do not have enough of an inner reserve, we are complaining against the very condition that God wants us to be in. He chooses the weak things to confound the mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27). This does not mean that He takes the weak thing and throws it at the mighty and knocks him over. He takes the weak thing and lays upon it His authority. He takes the meek and makes him inherit the earth. We never overcome by our power.
1 John 5:4 tells us, … this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. There must be an acceptance of His authority, a faith in it, and a submission to it. God did not intend for us to be powerful enough to overcome the enemy; He intended that we should be submissive enough to Him so that He could give us His authority.
The word of God must be preached with authority. It must never be an attempt to convince people of anything. A minister is never supposed to be a salesman. He is to preach a word which he believes is God’s word; and as he speaks, that word becomes a creative force.
As a man of God moves forward in submission in the Lord, there is authority in the word that he speaks. Such a word will change you; it will create in you; it will impart to you. Your mind may not realize what is happening to you; but it is happening just the same. Your mind will understand later.
Expose yourself to the word even when you do not understand it. Understand as much as you can, and the Lord will give you understanding; but even if you do not understand it all, you will change anyway.
As soon as children are old enough to be quiet in church, they should be listening, whether consciously or unconsciously. Even when they are too young to talk or understand words, there is an impartation which comes in the name of the Lord because there is authority which brings all things into submission to Christ.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, in bringing the thoughts and imaginations of men’s hearts into captivity and making them subject to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4, 5).
In the authority of the Kingdom, His word through us becomes effective. It is not necessary to have national coverage or any type of promotion to advertise the word. All we need to do is speak the word that God gives, because God has a way of speaking a living word to each individual through the word of authority. Let all flesh stand aside; let none glory in the presence of the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:29). Let this authority come forth according to God’s Word.
There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God will with the temptation make a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). You may sometimes get the idea that you are tempted above what you are able to bear. Yes, in the light of your own ability and your own power, you are always tempted above what you are able to bear.
Every man is drawn away by his own lusts, and he is overcome thereby (James 1:14, 15). How then can the Word say that you are not tempted above what you can bear?
Because God makes a way of escape through His victory, through His authority; otherwise, the devils would overwhelm you. He intends for you to be just a little less than capable of handling a situation, for then you will reach into His authority. Otherwise He does not get the glory. No flesh is going to glory in His presence, and that is the reason He takes the weak things to confound the mighty and the foolish things to confound the wise. He does not intend that it be by might or by power, but by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). This authority, which He lays upon you, becomes the key of your being an overcomer.
As we walk in this submission to our Lord and submission to divine order, we are moving into the key of overcoming principalities and powers. Submission is the key to everything.
If this is true, then Christ must have gone through the same process. He emptied Himself and became weak, so helpless that He said, “I can of My own self do nothing.” Then what was the key of all that He did? “I do always those things that please the Father” (John 8:28, 29). It was His total submission to the Father that brought the delegation of all authority in heaven and on earth.
In this day God has to minimize power in your sight. He has to minimize, in your sight, human ability. Otherwise, when you look at Babylon with her huge corporations and her great structures, you will not have any confidence at all in the meager resources of a simple walk in the Spirit. You will wonder how can you deal with that.
Jehoshaphat must have felt that way when the enemy invasion came against him. He said, “We have no might to withstand this great multitude, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee” (2 Chronicles 20:12). God brought the victory as the singers went out before the army, singing and praising the Lord.
The Lord took care of them because there was authority vested there, authority resting upon the submissive. It is the rebellious who must fight their battles in their own strength. It is the submissive who have the authority. All authority in heaven and on earth is behind the submissive person.
The ministers who want to go their independent ways will find themselves ineffective and boxed in by demonic harassment. But those who link themselves to the divine order, in complete submission one to another, in a true submission and in a true humility, will be very effective.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7. How can you resist the devil and make him flee when his power is greater than your power? It is not just that you resist him, and then he will go away. First, you must submit yourself to the Lord. Then all that authority in heaven and earth is yours. And how the devil hates authority, because He has none! None! Jesus won the victory. He sat down at the right hand of the Father, the place of authority and rule. All authority is His. His name is above every name.
Wherever authority has been committed, Satan is very much concerned to reach in and take it. Satan will try to take over a prophet in order to produce in him a false prophet. Almost every false prophet was at some time a prophet truly moving in God. We find Balaam listed as one of the principal false prophets of all time, but we still remember the words of his prophecy: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent.… Numbers 23:19. Balaam’s prophecies were right. He was a man of God until greed and rebellion entered into his heart; and then Satan usurped his authority. Satan is always looking for an opportunity to take over.
As you submit to the Lord and humble yourself before Him, you are virtually removing the limitations that your unbelief has imposed upon you, and you are loosing yourself from any power Satan could have over you.
You also are loosing yourself from the limitations that God imposed upon your carnal state. Then you are able to move and to minister in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not a time for confidence in the flesh, but it is a time to humble yourself before the Lord and see if He does not bless you. Wait before the Lord.
This will loose you from the oppressions in your life that seem to leave you spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere. Humble yourself before the Lord; and when you partake of His Body and His Blood in Communion, do so with a deep humility of heart. Examine yourself. The carnal mind is very arrogant and constantly looks for areas of self-confidence. This is the rule of the world. “But we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).
Are you willing to humble yourself? That is what repentance really is—a humbling of yourself before the Lord. If something of the old flesh is hanging on and you want to be rid of it, if you are following the Lord too far off, if you are on the outer edge of the camp, murmuring and complaining, this is a good time to be loosed. If the old things of the flesh are still making their bid, remember that when you humble yourself, the flesh will die. A man can never think about the things of the flesh without tending to glamorize and exalt them.
The day that he humbles himself, God will then, in that humility, give him the attitude toward the weakness of the flesh that He has toward it. When you come to hate it and despise it, you will walk away from it, free.
If you need real victory right now, humble yourself before the Lord. Whatever is in your heart, whether it be some sin, some habit, some form of lust, withdrawal, criticism, or rebellion, humble yourself before the Lord, and by faith you will be free. God will cut it out with the sword of the Spirit.