Spiritual Warfare: Authority

Two weeks, Gentle Readers. This is a post that has taken two solid weeks to write.

Why?

Because “Authority” is a critical key, not only in and to all of Christian life, but particularly regarding Spiritual Warfare. Read anything on the topic, and you will find a great deal of focus on this element. Why all this attention? Why this apparent myopic focus?

Because the task of “casting out” demons or unclean spirits pits the will of the Believer, into direct conflict with a Dark Other. It comes down to a confrontation between one party saying, “Get out of here!” while the opposing party responds, “No! Who’s gonna make me?” or “Why should I?”

Therein lies the critical element. Two quick scriptural portraits clearly highlight this contrast.

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. [Acts 19:11-17]

There is the first incident I would consider, extremely briefly and superficially. There’s lots of material there for consideration, and bear in mind that the entire context of the passage has to do with extraordinary phenomena… both the signs and miracles of Christian witness, contrasted with magic and dark arts practices.We may consider this passage again later about those matters, but for now I only want to direct our notice to the apparent “authority” of the sons of Sceva. They “attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus”. They correctly “identify” Jesus, as “the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Nonetheless, the evil spirit was not only unaffected, but motivated the suffering man to overcome the SEVEN of them, that they fled wounded and naked. Being careful not to read into scripture, or take our reasoning beyond the text, I would posit that these exorcists lacked the authority to remove the evil spirit.

By contrast, consider Jesus’ appointment of even His novice disciples…

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs 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; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you… The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”

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 on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” [Luke 10:1-6, 16-22]

This is a long-ish passage, yes. But right here scripture brings together three of the critical elements we are discussing:

• This is a direct “commissioning” and “sending forth” of disciples who are NOT of the 12 Companion Disciples (so there is no issue of “only apostles” stuff here).
• “Authority” is directly granted to these commissioned disciples, with specific instructions for a specific purpose.
• The “qualifications” for such commission and authority are clearly specified, and has nothing to do with theological sophistication, religious fervor, or strength.

There are lots and lots of scriptural referents to “authority”, 102 in the New Testament in fact. The Greek word ἐξουσία (exousia) appears everywhere from the faith of the Roman Centurion (Matthew 8:9) to the final declaration of Babylon the Great’s fall (Revelation 18:1). The topic is so important and so vast that it can swallow one up. So many ways of looking at it… there’s authority based on rank, on age, on role… there’s authority based in power, or in truth… there’s authority based in relationship, respect, and love.

I could not get a grip on how to deal with authority as it related to spiritual warfare, since all of these perspectives are meaningful and seemed important. So the post would just grow beyond bounds.

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I waited, listened, tried to see the right way through this seeming maze… and two things, two critical scriptural passages just seemed to rise to the surface of it all. They are simple and seem to overarch all other considerations. When I would try to explore nooks and crannies, rejecting this simplicity and sensing the more convoluted and complicated, these two passages would just seem to gather up all my objections and swallow them.

The first has to do with the authority of Jesus and His relationship with demons, unclean spirits, or spirits of darkness:

And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district. [Luke 4:31-37]

The point I want to make here is that Jesus never had to state a thing about asserting His authority. Neither He, nor the suffering person, opened the conversation. The demon did. The demon recognized Jesus in the fullness of His authority all on his own, and he opened the encounter of the exorcism. (This sort of thing happened several times throughout the Gospels.)

The second passage, a direct teaching of Jesus addressing us through the teachings of His disciples-now-friends, is from the Garden of Gethsemane following the Last Supper:

“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” [John 16:23-28].

I don’t want to take the space here, but I strongly recommend you go on and read through Chapter 17 of the Gospel of John. This same theme, Jesus’ empowerment and continuity through the lives of the disciples and those who believe because of their words, continues with a divine strength that is simply breathtaking.

The critical phrase in the passage there, though, seems to be this… “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”

This is the phrase that God returned me to, again and again, as explaining not only “authority”, but EVERYTHING. “In that day” may be thought of in terms of Indwelling, though it may be seen as including other epiphanies as well. But throughout this entire discourse (John 13-17), Jesus has described how the Father has invested ALL into Him, and that He as Son reflects and refracts all from the Father. Then Jesus goes on to impel all of that into His disciples and all those who believe because of their words.

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Bottom Line: I have long thought of “authority” in traditional, legalistic, military, parental, political terms… “power is delegated from ‘higher’ authority down into ‘lower’ authorities, by virtue of duty, fidelity, preparation… etc.” This pits the resistance of a demon against the degree of authority held by the believer, subject to their strength of faith or worthiness. This may not be a “bad” view, but it can make every encounter a bit of an adventure, if we approach the moment with questions of how strong our faith, faithfulness or preparation. (The sons of Sceva had a distinctly bad day.)

But what it seems God is teaching me here is that true authority has nothing to do with any of that. It’s not a matter of “white magic” or “saying the right words”… “in the Name of Jesus, I abjure you…” etc., etc. But rather, that Jesus has already imbued us with the fullness of His own authority… through His relationship with the Father and what He has asked of the Father… and through the “feelings” the Father has for us simply because we believe Jesus came from Him to earth and we love Jesus.

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So…

Question: How much of Jesus’ authority do you have?

Well…      Do you love Jesus?               Do you believe He came forth from the Father?

Answer: If both of those are “yes”, then you have “all of it”. Jesus does not “repeat your requests” to the Father when you pray. The Father Himself hears and answers them exactly as He would hear and answer Jesus.

And, if this is so, then spirits of darkness recognize the Jesus in you, and the authority of Jesus in you, as clearly as they did when Jesus walked.

“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” [1 John 4:4]

Um… yeah. And there’s how Jesus brought that about.