“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19
Have you ever been driving along the road and come across a police officer raising his hand for you to stop? What was your immediate reaction? Most of us will have stopped the car long before the thought of stopping actually reached our foot! We know from the law of physics that a 14 stone fragile body does not have the power to stop a 2 tonne car travelling at speed. So, if the police officer does not have the physical power to stop us, what does the officer have that makes us stop? AUTHORITY!
You see the officer acts on behalf of the government to enforce the law of the land. Governments make legislation (the law) and empower agencies to carry out the duties that have been laid down in the law. So, when the officer raises their hand, or shows their badge, they are acting under the authority of the government.
Do you know that you have been given the authority of heaven? Jesus has given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Keys symbolise authority. They have the power to bind and loose, to open heaven’s windows and close the gates of the enemy. Everything Jesus did was on the authority of His Father in heaven. When he wanted His disciples to do the same works that He was doing, He gave them ‘authority to drive out demons and to cure diseases’ (Luke 9:1). The chief priests asked Him “By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you the authority to do them?” (Mark 11:28). When Jesus was raised from the dead, He said “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me” (Matt 28:18) and then, He sent us forth, with His authority, to do the same works (see Mark 16:17-18).
So how do we exercise this God-given authority? By declaring the Word of God over our situations and circumstances.
In Matthew 8, a centurion’s servant was dying from an illness. Jesus was going to go to the centurion’s house, but the centurion sent word to Jesus saying, “speak the word only, and my servant will be healed.” The centurion knew what it was like to be “under authority.” When the centurion spoke, his soldiers did what he said. He knew that when Jesus spoke it would be done as Jesus said. The police officer must exercise authority to bring to pass the will of the government they serve. Today, we can exercise our God-given authority to bring the will of our Father in heaven to pass in our earthly situations. So speak forth His Word today and see Him change the world around you.
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Who Do You Say I Am Series – Exchange Church Belfast 2020