Spiritual Hierarchy & Authority, Part 15

 

 

January 26, 2018

 

I’m going to run extra long today in order to complete this part of the discussion, so bear with me.

 

Let’s see if we can summarize this picture of the keys little more specifically.

 

1.  Everything is rooted and grounded in the fact that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God.  That is His onoma.

 

2.  For the keys of the Kingdom to work, the revelation of Jesus as the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God, MUST come from the Father (and the Father gives that revelation to us by and through the Holy Spirit).  (Simon went from being simply one who heard the Word to one who had revelation break forth in his being.  That revelation changed him forever.)

 

3.  Upon the foundation of Jesus being the Anointed One, THE Son of the Living God, the Ekklesia began to be built – and it is being built today!

 

4.  Because the Ekklesia is built on THE ROCK, Christ Jesus, it is immovable and so grounded in Christ Jesus that the governing powers of Hell can neither overpower nor move it from its place of absolute authority.  (Note the similes that Jesus uses in His illustration.)

 

5.  With the foundation of Heaven’s authority established in us comes the ability, the authority and the power to lock up or unlock Heaven in order to bind or restrict, or break up and dissolve the powers of Hell on earth.

 

6.  With that same authority comes the empowerment to enact the Will and divine purposes of God the Father – as well as His heart’s desire – in the earth in the same way that it already exists in Heaven.

 

7.  Put more simply, this is the authority and power to lock up or unlock Heaven’s resources – in accordance with the Father’s Will – so that Earth once again becomes a mirror image of Heaven.

 

What this means is that these “keys” are substantive: they are not metaphorical, and they are not imaginary.

 

A common misconception is that these “keys” are “the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” instead of being the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

 

These are not keys that open up doors for us in Heaven.  These are “keys” of Heaven’s authority, power and resources put into our hands!

 

They are put into our hands because we are part of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are a part of The Ekklesia.  We are “called and chosen and faithful.”

 

Before we get too far along in this study, it is important to go back once again and look at Jesus’ particular phrasing as He speaks to Peter.

 

“It is upon that rock (of which you are a part) that I will build my Ekklesia – my called out and chosen and prepared body of people;

 

“And the gates of Hell [all the powers and governance of Hell] will not ever overpower or prevail in battle against it [my Ekklesia].

 

“And I will give you the authority and power…..”

 

Do you see it?

 

He didn’t say, “I have given you the authority and power”; He said “I will give...” meaning that this was a process to unfold over a period following the revelation of Jesus Christ in the believer.

 

I don’t want to belabor this point, but once again, this is not – as Simon Barjona was – just one who hears (or has heard) the Word.  This is one who receives the revelation of Jesus Christ from the Father – and that revelation can only come in His presence!

 

Allow me to pause and point out something here that gets missed in our picture of what is taking place as Jesus is speaking to the disciples.  This is not something peripheral to what Jesus is saying.  In fact, it is my conviction that this whole event was orchestrated by Holy Spirit without the disciples being aware of what was unfolding before them.

 

We opened up with the description of this event from Matthew 16 where it describes this as happening in the coasts of Caesarea Philippi.  That won’t mean a lot to most folks unless they understand the significance of this.  Caesarea Philippi is situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, which is the highest peak in Israel (9232 feet above sea level).

 

In the Book of Enoch, we are told that Mount Hermon was the site at which the fallen angels — the Nephilim — came to Earth, seized the daughters of Adam and produced offspring — giants — who ruled the earth with terror.  It was their portal into the Earth and time itself.  These fallen angels did not realize that this portal was going to also be their opening into a prison where they would be held in chains until the end.

 

In Jude’s epistle, verse 6, he makes the following statement:

 

And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

 

I know there are those who may disagree with this, but what I saw when I traveled back and forth in time from the Garden to the destruction of the Earth as it now exists and the creation of “new heavens and a new earth” was that time is nothing more than an envelope.  Time is specifically designed to contain sin and to keep it from populating eternity.  The fallen angels are, therefore, kept in chains — in time — until the judgment day.

 

FYI, the word, “darkness” which appears in the KJV, is a translation of the Greek word, zophos, which actually better translates to “clouds of doom.”

 

The “ancient ones” referred to Mount Hermon as “the gates of Hell” because of this event.  Consider, then, the fact that this is where Jesus makes it abundantly clear that “the gates of Hell will not prevail” against those who operate with Heaven’s authority.  Add to that the fact that this is the very place, later in Jesus’ ministry, where the transfiguration takes place and Father God makes it absolutely clear that Jesus IS THE AUTHORITY!!

 

Let me add one more perspective for your consideration.  The fallen angels, the demons, the evil spirits, all of whom are held in metaphorical chains, captive in time itself, are really powerless against us as faith-filled, Word-of-God speaking believers.  We are not contained by time!  We are eternity-based!

 

The authority we have in Christ Jesus so far supersedes Satan and his angels, that it almost makes the contrast hilarious!  They are virtual nothings by comparison!  They do not have the power of creative speech.  They were not created in the image of God with His attributes and the power of creative speech.  They have zero power and zero ability to accomplish anything UNLESS we give it to them.

 

We have to cease believing that Satan is almost as powerful as God.  We have to get a grip on the fact that Satan IS SUBJECT TO US!!

 

The apostle Paul clearly understood this and emphasized it as he wrote to the Ephesians.  He sums up this picture about as clearly as you could ever have it:

 

Ephesians 1:15-23:   Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

 

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

 

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,  Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

 

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

 

Now do you see it?  Are you seeing the pattern of Matthew 16 here?

 

Take another look.

 

1.  The “Father of Glory” releases the revelation of Jesus Christ through and by the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation.

 

2.  That revelation first brings us an understanding of Jesus’ calling — that His calling is IN US.

 

3.  The next part of the revelation is to grasp the full perspective of the wealth (ploutos) and stupendous glory which are in His inheritance IN US.

 

4.  The full revelation of Jesus Christ MUST incorporate the unfathomable (huperballo) greatness of Father’s power to those of us who believe.

 

5.  Along with that comes our understanding that this is the same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead!

 

6.  But the revelation continues.  Now it encompasses the very fact that Jesus has been seated at the right hand of Father.

 

7.  With that seating and placement in and with the Father comes absolute authority over every name, every power, every dominion, every ruler of darkness and every effort of Satan — whether that effort is exercised here on earth, in the heavenlies, or in Hell (Hades) itself.

 

8.  But there’s more.  Jesus’ authority and power extend beyond time and this world’s realm to the future and to eternity.

 

9.  All things, all events, all spiritual forces — angelic or demonic — have been placed under Jesus’ feet and, by virtue of the fact that we are the body of Christ, under our feet; so much so that Father has given us the responsibility of working together with Him and through Jesus Christ to subdue all things and bring them under His authority.

 

10.  The final revelation of Jesus Christ is that we are His body — that we complete Him.  He is the Head.  All commands come from Him.  Without His instruction, we do nothing, but with His instruction and commands, there is absolutely nothing impossible to us, and nothing withheld in any way, shape or form.  We are the body, the arms, the legs, the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

With that revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Father, we now understand our position.  We now understand His position!

 

This is the essence of the revelation that Peter received!  Maybe I should say that this is where the revelation of Jesus  began in Peter.  Because the Day of Pentecost had not yet arrived and Peter was not yet filled with the Spirit, much of what He saw would not be understood or realized until that day.

 

Peter saw Jesus first as the Anointed One – The One in whom the Holy Spirit rested, The One with the empowerment of Heaven dwelling in Him.

 

He saw (though he didn’t fully understand at the time) the greatness and richness of the anointing of the Anointed One in us and toward us.

 

Peter would not yet have the revelation of the power of the resurrection – not until the Day of Pentecost – but when He had been baptized with the Holy Spirit, it would so explode in his being that in one day, he would see 3000 people accept and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Anointed One; and the One Who had paid the price for their redemption from the curse of the Law and the curse of death.  That same anointing that brought the revelation in Peter of who Jesus really was would flow from his lips as he preached Jesus to the multitudes.

 

The revelation of Jesus – as it is made available to us today – includes the revelation of the power of the resurrection.

 

It is the revelation of being seated with Jesus in Heavenly places.

 

It is the revelation that Jesus’ onoma – operating in us and with us as Jesus’ heirs and joint-heirs – exceeds and sits above in authority and power every name, every onoma, every character and personality and every being – whether in earth or in Heaven or under the earth.

 

It is the revelation of power over death, disease and destruction.

 

It is the revelation of the purposes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, made in absolute agreement and harmony with one another before the very first words of Creation were uttered.

 

It is the revelation of the Family of God in Heaven and Earth.

 

It is the revelation of agape — Father’s Love — a dimension of love that exceeds the natural understanding of man.

 

It is the revelation of the power of Creation.

 

It is the revelation of God’s Glory.

 

THAT, folks, is the authority and power to lock up and unlock Heaven’s authority, power and resources as God the Father commands here on earth.

 

Ephesians 3:14-19:  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

 

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

 

The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the release of that  authority and power; and that authority and power are “the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven!”

 

For those of you who’ve participated during the past three years in our Monday night Healing Prayer Conference Call, this is just a reminder that the calls have resumed on a once-a-month basis, the first Monday of each month.  If you have a need for healing, or you have friends in need of healing, here is the number to call: (712) 775-7035.  The Access Code is: 323859#.  For Canadians who have difficulty getting in to this number, you can call (559) 546-1400.   If someone answers and asks what your original call-in number was, you can give them the 712 number and access code.

 

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#.  We are now making these gatherings available by Skype.  If you wish to participate by video on Skype, my Skype ID is regner.capener.  If you miss the live voice call, you can dial (712) 770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later.  The video call, of course, is not recorded – not yet, anyway.

 

Blessings on you!

 

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES

RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504

Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com

 

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