Christ and Our Authority

These are the three insights I found helpful from Joe McIntyre’s videos: First, McIntyre correlates Christ’s death with our substitutional atonement, Christ’s resurrection with our union with Him, and Christ’s enthronement with our authority in Him help explain the stages of spiritual development and progression. Second, McIntyre quipped, “God gave us the written word to reveal the Living Word,” which help makes a linguistic and cognitive connection between the written and revealed forms of the Word. Lastly, McIntyre’s statement, “The glorification of the believer is the fruit of beholding the Christ enthroned,” puts in proper perspective that the exaltation of Jesus is the aim and pursuit of every believer to be salt and light of the world.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. (1Cor 1:30)

The juxtaposition of the knowledge of being in Christ and abiding in Christ is an abyss that requires the leap of faith. According to the scripture, we understand that if we are in Christ, the Lord is not only our healing and deliverance He is also our righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom 14:17). If we are in Christ, then “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17); Jesus needed not to be healed from diseases nor delivered from demons, He is our Healer and our Deliverer (Ex 15:26; Ps 107:20). When the Lord commissioned the disciples, He declared, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Mt 28:18) and sent the disciples to minister in His name to heal the sick and cast out devils (Mark 16:17-18). When we understand our position and authority in Christ, we are set free from the lies that bind us to the weakness of this mortality and walk in liberty (1Cor 15:53-54; 2Cor 5:4; Ps 119:45). The question remains, how do I know I’m abiding in Christ? The Lord’s response to our prayers is the affirmation of Christ in us, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (Jn 15:7).