Authority Questioned

 Have you ever had a pet wonder off, get so worried about it as you frantically looked for it that you prayed God would bring it back, and it showed up or you thought to look in the obscure place it was hiding?  For me, that was probably a hamster or a rabbit.  Having gotten loose and being so small, a hamster wondering the rather large house I grew up in meant that it could, like a mouse, find many hiding spots, and be anywhere from the basement to the upstairs bedrooms.  Yet, somehow, it would show up where I could catch it.  The same thing has happened for my kids with little blue-lined skinks.  Small creatures, that could be gone in a house.

Now, a bit ashamedly I admit this, though when these little creatures showed back up we praised God with relief, it was a quickly dismissed matter:  amazing as it was.  

Did you ever really think through God's miracles, Jesus' prophecies and the fulfillment of them as not just "He knew because He was God", as amazing as that is in itself, but also that He has authority over the creatures, even plants to make them do something?

Here's a few examples, that I had thought of in the way of "He knew," and now, "He had the authority to make it so."

Matthew 17:24-27:  After Jesus had been questioned about paying the temple tax, He didn't just reach into His pocket to pull out a coin, but He showed His authority by first placing a coin in a fish's mouth (without actually physically moving from His place), then commanding that fish to go to just the place that when Peter would cast his line he would catch it.  He could not only tell Peter to "go fish", but He could tell that fish to take the line, it had a coin to deliver.

Luke 5:1-11, and John 21:1-14:  Jesus twice commands a whole school of fish into the nets of men.  In Luke, it is to get their attention and He calls them to follow Him and become fisher's of men.  In John, it is to encourage their faith and commission them, after He has died and rose again.  

Matthew 26:34, and 69-75:  Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me 3 times."  That very night, Peter denied Jesus 3 times, and "Immediately a rooster crowed.  Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken:  "Before the rooster Crows, you will disown me three times."  And he went outside and wept bitterly."

In the past, I thought only of the timing, and that Jesus knew it would happen because He's God.  But would you consider that He was actually aware of each denial and that at that 3rd one He cringed, bowed His head, and hit the "cock a doodle do" button on the rooster?  That He gave that rooster a poke, and said, "it's time, Peter did it and he must know that every word Jesus said is true, make your noise!"  Sit on that for a moment.

Mark 11:12-14, and 20-25.  In one day, we see the result of Jesus cursing a fig tree and it withering.  This is not just a bush, small shrub, or weed: it is a fig tree.  I had the opportunity to pick figs from a neighbor's tree once.  The tree was overwhelmingly large: maybe 15 foot tall and at least as wide (and I just looked up how big a fig tree can get: up to 30 foot tall and wide!).  Further, the root system is no joke:  "Fig tree roots are generally shallow and wide, with most feeder roots in the top 3 feet, but they can grow deep (even 20+ feet) in ideal, deep, permeable soil, seeking water and nutrients, and spreading far out, sometimes exceeding the canopy's width. Their system is vigorous and adaptable, forming a dense, fibrous network. (Figboss.com) That was no small thing that got parched by the sun!

We see that before Jesus did this "miracle", he had entered Jerusalem in the evening (His "triumphal entry"), saw the state of the temple, and left it to return the next morning.  In the morning He is looking for fruit on the fig tree:  was He just hungry, already frustrated with what He had seen the day before, and took out His frustration or anger on the tree?  Or is this also a time for us to reflect on the importance of bearing fruit?  As the reason He was frustrated was that the people who had been given authority in the temple were not conducting it as He would desire:  the message He brought as he turned the tables.  The fruit they were bearing was not good for His people to eat.  

He brings this message home as he walks with His disciples the next morning and they see the withered tree.  
"Rabbi, look!  The fig tree you cursed has withered!"

"Have faith in God,"  Jesus answered.  I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'go throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

This is how we bear good fruit:  believing God, praying in agreement with Him to move the mountains He would move, and being full of forgiveness.

With all authority He governs the universe, and yet, we are the only piece of it that He gives the ability to agree with Him or resist. He has given us the ability to come in agreement with Him and experience the same power that is in Him.  Not only does God have authority over the plants and the animals, and all of creation including where the rocks lay and the water flows, but over Satan and the spiritual realm.  Even when we are struggling in the deepest places, or see that someone else is in bondage, He exercises His authority in our agreement.  He said we can call on Him, and in His name....  We've studied that previously, but as I close, I want you to have confidence in this!  He can and He will.  When you call, His desire is to answer you with things that are good for you and His creation.  

Yesterday we did something that I wasn't looking forward to, but was necessary:  we killed our non-laying chickens.  It was a real lesson in "so that I could live, something must die."  When we pick something up at the store, there's such a disconnect.  Even in reading that Christ came to die that I might live, there's a bit of a disconnect.  But He really did.  The first time it connected for me I was maybe 7.  The intern children's pastor asked us to consider bringing our pet to make sacrifice for our sins.  I could not imagine bringing my hamster, and later when I had a favored dog, I could not imagine bringing it, looking in it's eyes, and ending it's life that I might have life.  It made me consider my walk as well, that I would have the "freedom to walk in sin" by the blood of the sacrifice of an innocent animal, let alone the perfect Son of God, just did not agree with me.  I had looked into the eyes of sweet animals, and knew the love of people.

Jesus was an actual person, that lived, loved, was passionate about people, and bled and died a gruesome death for me and you and all the people who have ever lived. I have been blessed to never see someone get killed, or die a violent death, but that is what God sent His Son, who willingly said "yes," to do for me.  He not only did that, but went to fight the spiritual forces to claim victory for all of eternity and for me over the power that Satan and death has over me.  He went through painful flogging, shed His blood, endured death on the cross, fought in the depth of Satan's realms, and returned with His arms open wide, welcoming me, only asking I repent from my selfish ways and accept Him and His ways.  

As we prepare for the Celebration of Christ with us, I am thankful, and I want to rest in those awesome open arms.  I want to run without reservation or resistance the race He has set before me, that I would meet Him in glory and be able to look back and see what He did in and through me.  How I will celebrate and worship Him for the prayers I prayed that He answered with authority and the lives He touched because I gave Him authority over me.  What a beautiful relationship He offers us, what a good, good Father.