Glancing in the rearview mirror, my heart skipped a beat as I saw the police car’s flashing lights. A quick look at the dashboard showed that I wasn’t speeding before I eased the car onto the shoulder. I’d been taking a shift behind the wheel as my husband and I made the 1700-mile drive to our son’s college halfway across the country.
Leaning into the passenger side window, the officer scanned my license and registration and asked where we were from and where we were going. His heavy boots crunched in the roadside gravel as he returned to his police cruiser to check my information. There was nothing we could do but wait. He had total authority over the situation. Eventually he returned and explained I hadn’t been following a driving law that was unique to his state. Thankfully, he let me off with a warning. (But not before my husband snapped a photo in the sideview mirror to rat me out to our son…)
I hadn’t even realized I was doing something wrong because the rules of the road are different where I live. Nonetheless, the police officer had authority over me as I drove through his jurisdiction.
It may sound strange, but that incident came to mind as I was reading Genesis 1 & 2 recently. God created the world and then gave Adam and Eve authority to rule over it. (Their authority and “jurisdiction” were a bit more significant than the officer who pulled me over.) God gave them free will, allowing them to choose His way or to follow their own path.
Everything He had given them was good, but it wasn’t long before Satan came in the form of a serpent and enticed Eve to doubt God. By tempting her to disobey Him and eat the forbidden fruit, the enemy implied her Creator might be withholding something desirable from her. He mocked the Lord’s warning that eating from the tree would lead to death:
“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Genesis 3:4-6, NIV)
By choosing to disobey, Adam and Eve unknowingly relinquished the authority God had given them at creation. They were too naïve to understand that everything under their authority would fall when they fell. Their actions brought a curse on all of creation and gave Satan authority over all that God had given them. The world would be under his jurisdiction from that point forward.
Because of this, Satan could legitimately claim authority over the earth when he tempted Jesus many years later: “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4:5-7, NIV). Fortunately, Jesus refused the enemy’s temptation and succeeded in obeying His Father where Adam and Eve had failed. During Christ’s life on earth, He set aside His nature as God and lived as a human so He could pay the penalty for the sins of humankind:
“[Jesus] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8, NIV)
When God resurrected Jesus from death, Satan was defeated and stripped of his authority: “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 24-25, NIV).
Jesus commands ultimate authority and respect and, as His followers, we have access to that same authority. Jesus said to His disciples: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:18-19, NIV). He returned us to the original place of authority for which we were created. He also gave us the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us (see Acts 2:38-39).
We have jurisdiction over the earth– it is ours to reclaim, if only we will recognize this and act upon it. Satan was defeated at the cross, but he will continue to wreak havoc on the earth until Jesus returns. There’s no need to fear, however, because we know how the story ends: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Romans 16:20, NIV).
Do you understand the authority God has given you? Are you using it to combat the enemy and to expand the Lord’s kingdom in your spheres of influence?
If you want to learn more about these concepts, consider reading Charles Kraft’s book I Give You Authority, which provided the inspiration for this post. The information here is only a brief overview of this weighty topic.
Jen Wilkin, God of Creation: A Study of Genesis 1-11, Lifeway Press 2017