Psalms 118

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior, my God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7)

What is Jesus able to do with this authority?

Jesus has authority to forgive sins. 

In Mark 2 Jesus in Capernaum preaching about the kingdom of God and many people in that city are desperate to hear from him about who God is and the inheritance that he has for believers. Mark 2 shares that some men carried a man who was paralyzed to where Jesus was but could not get in to the place “because of the crowd, so they dug through the roof and lowered him on a mat in front of Jesus (Mark 2:4). Mark 2:5 says that Jesus says to the man, “son, your sins are forgiven.” 

Jesus has authority to heal disease.

Jesus then says to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all (Mark 2:11-12). Mark 2:9-11 is saying that Jesus, has authority over situations that paralyze and that Jesus has authority over every disorder in heaven, on earth and among humanity. Jesus can speak order and health into the lives of people who believe in him with the authority he has been given over heaven and earth. When Jesus said, “I tell you”, he was confirming before them all that the I AM has the authority to speak healing into every situation that binds because of the authority God has given to him over heaven and earth. 

Jesus has authority to save people from God’s wrath. 

King Josiah came to power when he was eight years old (2 Kings 22:1). In the eighteenth year of his reign King Josiah took notice of the temple of God that had been neglected and he asks his secretary to tell the priests to repair the temple of the Lord (2 Kings 22:3-7). The temple had been torn down by his predecessors who were no longer interested in serving God (2 Kings 21). 

He had in his heart to honor God by rebuilding a place of worship for the people of Judah to worship God, because at this time they had no place to go and were worshipping idols and the gods of the people around them. 

While work was being done to restore the temple, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law and gave it to the king’s secretary to read to him (2 Kings 22:8-10). This Book of the Law are the collections of scriptures of the historic bible and were God’s commandments for his people. When King Josiah heard what was written he realized that all of Judah had been in opposition to what God required; and none of the law was followed (2 Kings 22:11). 

When he heard the law being read 2 Kings 22:11-13 says that he understood that he and all of Judah were subject to Gods wrath and he immediately called all of his palace leadership as well as priests to find out what could be done, what God requires of him and what God has to say about their negligence to following his law. 

God speaks through a prophet named Huldah and says that although the king’s heart is responsive to my law and what I require the hearts of the people of Judah are not (2 Kings 22:15-20). They have completely forsaken me and have no interest in returning to me, because of this God says through the prophet “I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read” (2 Kings 22:16). But the king, the prophet said, would not live to see the disaster; that God would give the kingdom peace under his reign for his humility and desire to please God (2 Kings 22:20). 

The prophet Huldah said that God told her all of the people of Judah are deserving of my wrath but because this one king prayed for mercy God heard and granted mercy and compassion on his people (2 Kings 22:18-20). If the actions of one man and obedience of one man brings the compassion of God and stalled his wrath, how much more does God himself through Jesus have the power to forgive, heal and save anyone who returns to him. 

Jesus is the word of God that brings salvation in any situation. Jesus is the compassion and mercy of God. God’s word says that this new covenant that he has made through Jesus, with all who believe, will bring peace and salvation. The promise is that through this one man’s act of obedience to God all of God’s commandments are fulfilled and the new command to receive God’s power to forgive, heal and save is to believe in Jesus, who God has chosen to give all authority in heaven and on earth to. 

Lamentations 3:22-26 says “because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

2 Samuel 14:14 says “like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” 

Ezekiel 18:22 says “Repent and live! For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone declares the Sovereign Lord.” 

In Jeremiah 18 God tells Jeremiah to visit the potter’s house and “there I will give you my message” (Jeremiah 18:1). So Jeremiah goes and sees “him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him” (Jeremiah 18:4). 

God speaks to Jeremiah and tells him that as creator he has formed everyone and has plans for good for everything that he creates. God wants his creation to be connected to him because he is one who has given life to everyone and makes plans to bless them and not to curse. God is saying to Jeremiah that outside of his will people are marred like clay but in the potter’s hands he is able to correct imperfections by his perfect plan. His plan was realized through Jesus, his perfect plan of salvation. Through Jesus everyone God has created can become blameless before him and to be connected to him. 

God says in Ezekiel 18:13-15 that it is out of the natural state of human being to be separated from their creator. Separation from God is a design that leads to destruction. Jesus is the plan God devised to put back into alignment everyone that is out of this natural state of human being, which is connection to God. Jesus brings all who believe in him back to God. Jesus gathers all who believe in him to the source of their life. Family is not the source, mother and father are not the source, wealth and economic provision are not the source, food and necessities are not the source. God says he is the source of life for everything that lives. So everything and everyone who acknowledges this structure lives and everyone outside of this structure is liable to disasters. 

Jesus has authority to give the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit is the power of God (Acts 1:8) that allows people who believe in Jesus to declare the wonders of God (Acts 2:11) in a way that fulfills God’s word that through the testimony and work of Jesus all people will be brought into his kingdom. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God that allows people to prophesy, to speak things that will be and they happen, and to have prophetic dreams and visions (Acts 2:17). The Holy Spirit gives people filled with God’s spirit the power to perform signs and wonders on earth (Acts 2:19). The Holy Spirit is God’s power to save, the power that raised Jesus from the dead and brings us back into relationship with God. The blood of Jesus atones for our sins and the Spirit of God saves. The Holy Spirit allows people to believe in God and to speak boldly about who he is. The Holy Spirit is the power of God that removes our inability to have faith in God with God’s ability to reveal who he is through his spirit and his word, Jesus, so that we can repent and believe.

“Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish”  (Luke 13:1-5).