“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them
power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent
them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1-2)
One of these days the Lord God will shake the heavens and the earth. In the first century Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to village to village to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and to heal the people. It shook the earth that Herod the tetrarch was perplexed because some said John was raised from the dead. The power of Jesus Christ was released through the sent disciples. People in the mundane world think that they control and change the civilization and culture of history. But it is not true.
Behind the government and authority, there is an invisible and superior authority above all else. All power and authority is coming from God. Jesus said so to Pontius Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:11)
What does people cause to fear? It is God the Lord of hosts who reign and rule. King Herod killed John the Baptist who rebuked the king for he took his brother’s wife, Herodias. He thought that he could do anything he wanted to do. But when the handful of fishermen went to village to village, proclaiming the kingdom of God, healing the sick, and driving out all demons, he was greatly troubled and distressed. Although he didn’t believe any supernatural things, he wanted to see the risen John.
How true it is that the king was afraid of God who was invisible! Nevertheless, he was completely blinded and darkened not to see where that power and authority came from. It is known only to the disciples of Jesus who gives them power and authority. Our Lord Jesus knew that the Father had given Him all power. “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” (John 13:3)
That’s what our Lord Jesus is. Everything is under His feet and in Him. Nothing happens and exists without Him. Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. Nevertheless, our Lord Jesus emptied Himself, giving up the rights to be honored and glorified and offered His body to the Father to the point of death, a death on the cross. Then, the Father in heaven exalted His name of Jesus Christ above all names in heaven and on earth and under the earth by raising the Son crucified and buried from the dead (Philippians 2:6-9).
That marvelous power of resurrection has been given to the believers in Christ Jesus. Apostle Paul expounded the unsearchable riches and incomparably great power of the resurrection from the dead in the Epistle of Ephesians. We are His body of church whose head is Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus sent His Twelve in the first century, so also He sanctified every believer in Him in every corner of the earth to manifest His power in obedience and submission to Him. Whether in school, office, driving, or whatever we may do, we in Christ have been appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ 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 name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” (Ephesians 1:18-23)
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