At Christmas time, we celebrate what Jesus Christ has done for us and given to us by His miraculous incarnation. While we sometimes remember the wise men coming and bringing gifts to Jesus, what really happened is that Jesus brought gifts to us! Our task for today—and for the future—is to see what those gifts are and how to use them.
What Man Lost to Sin, Jesus Restored
In the beginning, when man sinned, he lost his rulership over the earth; he gained death—eternal separation from God. Man had become the slave of Satan. But neither death nor Satan was to have the last word. Why? The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus changed all that.
In his children’s book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis tells the meaning of Jesus’s death in this way:
In the story, Jesus is represented as a lion whose name is Aslan. The White Witch had tricked a young human boy, Edmund (Susan’s brother), into being a traitor. Aslan agreed to trade his life for Edmund’s. Susan watched as the White Witch cruelly killed Aslan on the great stone table. After spending the night in great grief, Susan watched in great wonder as Aslan rose from the dead at the break of dawn. Susan asks what it means that Aslan has risen from the dead.
“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and darkness before time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.”
Death Rolls Backwards
That is exactly what happened when Jesus died on the cross and then rose from the dead! Death has indeed begun to work backwards. God is restoring us to the rulership that Satan stole from us. Paul describes what God has done for us in the gift of Jesus.
“…He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26 NIV)
“God shows and clearly proves His own love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ … died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV)
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more surely will those who receive God’s overflowing grace and unmerited favor and the free gift of righteousness reign as kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ …” (Romans 5:17 NIV)
These are the words of Paul that describe what happens when death starts working backwards and all the treachery and evil schemes of Satan begin to unravel. Our power and authority as the rightful rulers of this world are being returned to us, and we are beginning to reign as kings in life.
If this is true, why are so many people out of work? Why does sickness still ravage our families? Why are so many farmers going under, and why do others have their backs against the wall? Why do the hard, cold facts of life seem to say that we are still the victims of Satan’s evil schemes? Why aren’t we reigning?
Paul answers these questions by comparing us to babies. We are babes in Christ.
“Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual men…but as to mere infants in Christ…I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it.” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2 NKJV)
We must first learn to crawl, then to stand, then walk, and only then do we learn to run. During this time of learning, we fall down, we get bruised, we stumble, and we fall. Even experienced runners trip and fall. But we can learn to run, because that is our birthright. We were created to run.
“God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV)
Reigning as Kings in Life
If God has set us free to reign as kings in life, how do we do it? First, we must discover exactly what power and authority we have in Christ. Secondly, we must learn how to use that power and authority, and what is required of us to use it.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a noted English Baptist preacher, told of this personal experience. He was called to the home of an elderly woman who was bedridden. Malnutrition was about to take her physical life. During his visit, Spurgeon noticed a framed document on the wall. He asked the woman if it was hers.
She said it was and explained that she had worked as a maid in the household of some English nobility. “Before Lady So-and-So died,” the woman said, “she gave that to me. I served her for nearly half a century. I’ve been so proud of it because she gave it to me. I had it framed, and it’s been hanging on the wall ever since she died ten years ago.”
Mr. Spurgeon asked, “Would you allow me to take it and have it examined more closely?”
“Oh, yes,” said the woman, who had never learned to read. “Just be sure I get it back.”
Spurgeon took it to the authorities. They had been looking for it. It was a bequest. The English noblewoman had left her maid a home and money.
She was living in a little one-room house built out of wooden boxes and was starving to death, yet she had hanging on her wall a document that authorized her to be well cared for and to live in a fine house. The money was still gathering interest. It belonged to her. Spurgeon helped her get it, but it didn’t do her as much good as it could have, had she known about it earlier.
This is a modern parable of what has happened to much of the church world today. We live in a little rundown shanty, spiritually speaking, while lying on the table somewhere is the New Covenant—the New Agreement, the New Disposition of Property by Will. We’re proud of it, but we’ve never taken the time to find out what it says belongs to us.
What Belongs to Us in Christ Jesus
“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer, at three in the afternoon. Now, a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said: ‘Look at us!’ So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
“Then Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God.”
Peter knew that what he had was the power of attorney to use the authority of the name of Jesus. Peter did not heal the man. Peter told the crowd that it was “by faith in the name of Jesus” that this man was healed.
Some will still argue that Peter and John were apostles—that the apostles had that kind of power to get the Church started, but when the last apostle died, all that ceased. That is the most ridiculous thing anyone could say! There is not one single word of Scripture to back up such a statement.
Authority Belongs to the Church
The devil has hoodwinked the Church. He doesn’t want people to find out about the name of Jesus. He’s afraid of the name of Jesus. He knows Jesus conquered him. He knows that death has started working backwards. He knows that the name of Jesus is just as powerful as Jesus the person.
If we are going to learn how to reign as kings in this life, the first step must be to discover what we have in the name of Jesus.
E.W. Kenyon, in his book The Wonderful Name of Jesus, gives this personal account:
“One afternoon, while giving an address on ‘The Name of Jesus,’ a lawyer interrupted me, asking, ‘Do you mean to say that Jesus gave us the Power of Attorney—the legal right to use His name?’
I said to him, ‘Brother, you are a lawyer, and I am a layman. Tell me—did Jesus give us the Power of Attorney?’
He said, ‘If language means anything, then yes, Jesus gave the Church the Power of Attorney.’
Then I asked him, ‘What is the value of this Power of Attorney?’
He answered, ‘It depends on how much there is back of it—how much authority, how much power this name represents.’’”
All the power—all the authority—that Jesus had (and has) is invested in His Name! The question is: Do we have the power of attorney to use His name?
Using the Name of Jesus
The Word of God teaches that we do. Jesus said that we could use His name in prayer. He said we could use His name in dealing with demons. He said we could use His name in ministering and healing.
This delegation of authority is first given in Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV):
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
In Mark 16:17-18 (NIV), Jesus describes some of the things that are to be done using His name:
“These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Mark concludes his gospel with these words:
“And the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it.”
The first step in learning how to reign as kings in life is to learn about the power and authority that we have in the name of Jesus. The sooner we discover what we have and how to use it, the sooner we can begin to release that power and authority into our own life situations. Just think what it will mean to apply that authority to your economic problems, your family relationships, your physical life, and your emotional life.
Will You Use What God Has Given You?
I challenge you to read the Book of Acts and the Letters of Paul, and the Letter to the Hebrews. Make notes of how the name of Jesus is used. You will discover that the name of Jesus, rightly used, is the answer for every problem and every need you have—economic, emotional, family, health—whatever the need you have, the name of Jesus will work.
As the old gospel song says:
“There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.”
Live every day expecting that wonder-working power to be released in your life in the mighty name of Jesus.
