I wish you would read the story about 5 young missionary men who were killed by the Auca Indians of Ecuador on January 8, 1956. I was just 12 years old when it happened. Yesterday was the 63rd anniversary of that event. I have been deeply impacted by it all—still am—particularly the famous quote by one of those men killed—Jim Elliott: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Did Jesus really have authority?—or did He just sound like He had authority? I know some preaching sounds very authoritative, but it can play out to be little more than a bunch of noise. If Jesus had authority, how much did He have? Following the resurrection, Jesus emphatically makes this claim: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). Wow! You have to admit, ALL AUTHORITY is a lot of authority! An awful lot! And “heaven and earth” is a very big all-encompassing territory!
The measure of Jesus’ authority is profoundly described by Paul in Colossians 1:15-20. Let’s review it again. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
I believe that the Jesus of the Bible is anything but short on authority. And I choose to be long on submitting to His authority.