Thursday, April 13, 2017

Resurrection Authority

"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 (NKJV)

Several years ago, I went to a lawyer to have the necessary papers drawn up to give my mother power of attorney for me.  The main reason I did this was because there are times when I am in Europe that something needs to be done for me in the USA.  With the power of attorney, my mother can sign documents for me and take care of things that concern me while I am in Europe as if I were present in the USA.  Although I may not be physically located where the work needs to be done, my mother can do those things for me because of the authority granted her through the power of attorney.

When we talk about what we celebrate at Easter, most people know about Jesus being crucified, placed in a tomb, and then resurrected on the third day by the power of God.  But what most people don't realize is that just as Jesus was taken up and placed at the right hand of God, we too were spiritually placed in the same position with Him.  What does this mean for us?  To put it simply, Jesus defeated the devil and gave us the right and ability to enforce the devil's defeat.  Because of the resurrection of Jesus, Satan no longer has any right to hold us down in life and to defeat us.

Because Adam disobeyed God, sin entered the world and sin separates man from God.  Until the death and resurrection of Jesus, Satan had a legal right, because of Adam's disobedience, to enforce the penalty of sin on mankind.  But Jesus raised us up above all that by paying the ultimate price for our sin and by being the perfect sacrifice.  This means that we can live victoriously in every area of our lives.  Sadly, most Christians never grasp this concept and live defeated lives.  But thank God, through Jesus, we have authority and we are more than conquerors; today we have resurrection authority!

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