All authority has been given to Jesus Christ in heaven and on earth

by Mike Ratliff

13 I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”’” 1 Chronicles 17:13-14 (NASB) 

God is Sovereign. He is at no one’s beck and call. He is not subject to anyone. Men may indeed insist that God must follow their ideas of who He is and what He will or won’t do, but these things come from flawed Human reason. Men are arrogant creatures who have been trying to usurp God’s place on His throne since the fall in Genesis 3. Most people do not correctly understand God’s revelation of Himself that we find in the Bible, therefore, their doctrines are more man based than God centered.

One of the most important teachings about our Lord Jesus Christ that is missed by so many professing Christians and their leaders is that all of creation is really all about Him. He created it for Himself, that He would be glorified in it. After His resurrection just prior to His ascension He told His disciples and us something we would best not forget.

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:18 (NASB) 

He is Lord over all. His people are those whom are saved from the penalty for their sins by the grace of God, through His blood, which He shed for them. Because of His victory at the cross, our enemy, Satan, is bound. He cannot keep the elect from hearing the Gospel or believing in it. He has lost his authority that was given to him at the fall. He is subject to the will of God. Believers would do well to understand that our enemy cannot move against us without God’s permission. Even then, God will allow Him to affect us for our best and for His glory.

Believers serve a risen and victorious Saviour. His reign is forever. Therefore let us stop listening to those who are going all out to change Christianity from its proper God-centeredness into a man-centered counterfeit. Why? They are serving a different Jesus, one of their own making.

13 I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”’” 1 Chronicles 17:13-14 (NASB) 

“Human reason objects to this passage. Considering itself ten times wiser than God, reason asks, “How can God give his eternal power to someone else? What would he be keeping for himself?” Now, it’s true that God has said, “I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8). It would be especially difficult for God to give his glory to a mere human being, who was born in time and not eternal. But Christians do acknowledge that Jesus was a human being. He was Mary’s son and David’s descendant. He was born and he died.”

“Furthermore, people of other religions deduce that God can’t have a son because he doesn’t have a wife. Why do these people think they can contain the incomprehensible nature of God in the nutshell of their human reason? Shame on you, Satan, as well as all others who are students of blind foolish, miserable human reason. No one can fully understand these lofty matters, but God alone. All we know about them is what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us through Scripture.”

“Christians can answer these objections correctly, clearly, and accurately because they have insight from the New Testament. God’s Son has two natures in one inseparable person. He is one Christ, not two Christs. The Father gave Christ, his Son, eternal divinity, not in time, but from all eternity. The Father gave his divinity to Christ completely and fully, just as the Father himself possessed divinity from eternity. When he gave it to Christ, the Father didn’t lose any divinity himself. Rather, he gave to the Son the same power, which he still retains in eternity. There are not two deities. Rather, God the Father and Christ are united in one deity.” – Martin Luther

Human reason is not capable of understanding God fully. Our puny attempts at trying to explain the Holy Trinity always have holes and problems and come up far short. What we must do is simply believe our Lord, obey Him as we accept that He is reigning now and will do so forever.

Soli Deo Gloria!