01.08. The Extent of This Authority

We shall turn again to chapter I, and consider in detail the powers and things that have been made subject to our Lord, in His exaltation to the Father’s right hand. As we meditate on the completeness of His authority, let us remember that He is there as the Representative (Hebrews 2:5-9) of redeemed humanity. And "may the eyes of our understanding be enlightened" by the Holy Spirit so that we may believe, without any doubt or shrinking, that the wisdom and will of the Father have made us sharers of this same authority, and that He verily intends that we should exercise it day by day in growing comprehension and apprehension.

We notice, first of all, that the Risen Christ has been "Made to Sit" The act of sitting indicates that, for the time being, certain aspects of His work are in abeyance. Later, the Lord will again "rise up to the prey." But, just now, with "all authority" delivered unto Him, He is awaiting the Father’s time, and meanwhile exercising the powers placed in His hands for the working out of the redemption purchased for mankind on Calvary. His session is "Far Above" "all principality, and power, and might, and dominion." The great princes and authorities, of whom we have previously spoken, are subject to Him. So are the lesser ones: He is far above all "might" (dunameos, a word used usually in the New Testament of spiritual power). This refers to that working of Satanic energy which is becoming increasingly manifest, directed as it is against the bodies and minds of the children of God. The inroads that are being made into Christian communities are appalling, but few in the Church are as yet awake to the fact that fresh powers from the unseen world are flooding in upon us. Nor is the cause of this hard to trace. In the parts of the heathen world, where the Word of God energized by the Spirit of God has penetrated, the powers of the air have fallen back. Demon-possession ever retires before an aggressive evangelism, and its manifestations become less frequent. But, in our so-called Christian lands, the authority of the Word is now called in question by the great leaders of the churches, and there are few theological institutions where it is recognized as the very Word of God. In like manner, the Spirit of God is dishonored firstly, by this very denial of the Word which He has inspired, and secondly, by the disregard paid to His Person and authority. Thus, there is a reversion to heathen conditions spiritually, and as the great Agents for the overthrow of demoniacal powers (the Word of God and the Spirit of God) are discredited, these powers are pressing in again upon our country and people. One single evidence of this fact is the tremendous advance that spiritism is making among all classes; while, as another proof, the very doctrines of the Church, depleted, as they are becoming, of their vital spiritual force, are showing undoubted marks of those "teachings of demons" of which the great Apostle bade his hearers beware.

Christ sits also far above all "dominion" (kuriotetos, lordship). This term is closely allied with the preceding, much as "principalities and powers" are grouped together, the second term in each case signifying similar action on a somewhat lower plane. In Colossians 1:16, we find "dominion" connected with "thrones," which throws light upon the relative term "might." In this passage and in that quoted from Colossians, both terms refer directly to spiritual powers, whereas in 2 Peter 2:10 and Jude 1:8, the only two other occasions of the use of the word in the New Testament, the primary reference is to earthly dignities.