The Authority Stands Behind The Name

Pastor Glen Stead – Prince Albert Family Church

”And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,”    (Eph 1:19-20 NKJV)

There are five words in the New Testament that have to do with power which I would like to share with you.

The first two are…

Dunamis – Inherent power or power stored up in something.

Energeia – Outward or overt power (a display of dunamis).

To see the difference between dunamis and energeia we can look at a strong man who has spent hours in the gym building muscles.  When you see him you can say, “He has power”… that’s dunamis, but when he uses that power to put his fist through the wall that’s energeia.  The first is an inherent power you can see on him.  The second is when you see that power being displayed.

The next three are…

Kratos – Ruling power (democratic – the rule of the people).

Ischus – Endued power (King takes a throne – office).

Exeusia – Often translated power but is better translated “authority”.

Verse 19 of Ephesians Chapter 1 has four of these words that have to do with power in it.  You could say that it is the most powerful verse in the whole New Testament.  “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power (dunamis) to us who believe, according to the working (energeia) of His mighty (kratos) power (ischus).”  What does this verse mean?  There was a day in the universe when all of God’s ruling power, and all of God’s inherent power, was put into the form of energy.  And that day was the day Jesus was raised from the dead.  More power was displayed that one day than had ever been displayed before.

Psalms 8:3 tells us that God created the stars and the universe with His fingers.  Hebrews 1:10 tells us that when God created the earth, He used his hands.  Yet when we read in Isaiah 53:1, commonly called, “the redemption chapter”, we find that the arm of the Lord brought us salvation.  It took more power from God to release us from our sin than it did to create the earth and the entire universe.  It was… “the exceeding greatness of His power.”  The reason it took that much power is shown in Coll. 2:15 where we find that all hell came against God and His plan of redemption.  But even when all hell broke out against Him, His arm was enough to defeat them.

Now let’s look back to Ephesians Chapter 1 and verse 21…

“Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”    (Eph 1:21 NKJV)

Through the work of Jesus on the Cross, we have been given authority over the devil.  We have that authority through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18 NKJV)  The name of Jesus outranks, in authority, the name of any sickness, disease, problem, world leader, or crisis the world has ever known or will ever know.  There is nothing that can come against the church or an individual believer that is higher in authority than the name of Jesus.  And the right to use that name has been given to us.

Let’s look one more time to Ephesians Chapter 1, this time at verse 22…

“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,”    (Eph 1:22 NKJV)

If Jesus is far above satan’s kingdom and satan is under His feet, then what is in between?  What’s between Jesus and satan is the church.  Jesus is not said to be the head of the devil, but the head of the church.  Who then is the head of the devil?  We are… The Church!!  The church has a place of authority over satan and his kingdom.  We have the name of Jesus.

To see this more clearly, we can look at the example of the policeman.  If you have ever seen a policeman at the scene of an accident directing traffic, you can see this principle in action.  As the officer stands in the street and holds up his hand to traffic the traffic stops.  The reason it stops is not because of his “dunamis” power, but rather, because of his “exeusia” authority.  When he holds a hand up to oncoming traffic, they stop because he has been given “exeusia” authority by the municipality to do so.  The reason people stop is because, if they don’t, all the “dunamis” power of the municipality will come against them.  The same is true for the church when we use the (exeusia) authority of the name of Jesus all the (dunamis) power of heaven stands behind that name.  When the church stands in its rightful place, we are able to stop the devil in his tracks.  He has no choice but to stop and cease from moving forward when he comes into contact with those standing in the authority of the name of Jesus.

Jesus conquered satan through the work of the cross and resurrection, and then He gave us the rightful authority to use His name and see the devil run from us.  Thank God —- Jesus is ALIVE!!!