By what power, or in what name, have ye done this?
Acts 4:7
Jesus said something just after His resurrection that used to confuse me. He said that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to Him. He was apparently saying He had authority after the resurrection that He did not have before. What bothered me was that I knew that Jesus has had authority over all things as the Son of God from eternity. What could He possibly mean? I finally understood it when it dawned on me what had changed. The Son of God had become the Son of Man. He gained authority over all things as a man by His death and resurrection. He had conquered sin, hell, death, and the grave. But here is the best part, He did that as a representative for me (and all mankind) giving us authority to act in His Name. We can now pray and act in the Name that has authority over all things. Here is how Watchman Nee explains it.
“Our eyes must be opened to see the mighty change wrought by the ascension. The name of Jesus certainly establishes the identity of the One in the throne with the Carpenter of Nazareth, but it goes further than that. It represents the power and dominion before which every knee in heaven and earth and beneath the earth must bow. Even the Jewish leaders recognized that there could be this kind of significance in a mere name, when they asked this question of the disciples concerning the lame man’s healing. Today the name tells us that God has committed all authority to His Son, so that in the very name itself there is power. But further, not only is it His, but it is “given among men.” He has placed that authority in our hands for us to use. In three passages in His last discourse, the Lord Jesus repeats the words “ask in my name.” What confidence He must place in us to say “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do”!”
This is one of those too good to be true promises from the Lord. I can preach in His Name, heal the sick in His Name, cast out devils in His Name, and pray and receive whatever I ask in His Name. Do you belong to Jesus? Have your sins been washed away in His precious blood? If so, you too can pray and live in the power of the Name of Jesus.
