"and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth,  and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (see Genesis 1:26).

 

The Lord is the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is, therefore, a part of the image of God for man to rule over "all the earth." However, because most of mankind has listened to the devil more than to God for so long, the things that we still have the power to do, such as rule over the earth, we often do more like the devil than like God. Evil authority thinks that all they rule over exists for them. Godlike authority exists for the sake of those over which they rule. Godly authority is not a privilege, but a responsibility.

 

Romans 6:16 explains a basic principle of authority: "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?" It is a principle that we become slaves to the one whom we obey. When Adam obeyed Satan by eating the forbidden fruit, he became a slave to Satan along with the domain that had been entrusted to him. The result is declared in I John 5:19: "and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

 

When the image of God was marred in man by the fall, the definition of our purpose was also twisted. As we are redeemed and begin to recover the image of God, we will also recover the proper exercise of authority. Our nature is to "rule," but if we rule before we have been restored in the image of God, it will be a perversion of authority. If we seek to be like Him more than we seek authority, we can be trusted with more authority. Only as we keep Christ-likeness as our primary goal, will we stay on the path to recovering His rule over the earth, which is the coming of His kingdom. As we do this, we will exercise authority as He does, for the sake of and service to those who are ruled over, as we read in Matthew 20:25-28:
 

 

       But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,

       and their great men exercise authority over them.
 

       "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

       and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

       just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
 

 

Jesus is the "last Adam" (see I Corinthians 15:45). He had to become a man to recover what was lost by man. As we see the theme repeated throughout the New Testament, Jesus did not come just to redeem man, but to redeem the world, or everything that was under Adam's domain. The kingdom of God is the place where the authority of Jesus is recognized. Our calling is to proclaim the message of the kingdom, that the earth has been redeemed. When the message has been fully proclaimed, the King will come and take the authority that He purchased with His own life. However, we can only be ambassadors for the kingdom if we are citizens of the kingdom ourselves. We must live under the authority of Jesus now, if we are to proclaim His kingdom.

 

We read in Matthew 8:8-10 the story of the centurion with great faith. We see that understanding authority is also basic to walking in faith:

 
 

       But the centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof,

       but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
 

       "For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me;

       and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it."
 

       Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were following,

       "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel."

 

Faith is the basis of authority for miracles. We will only have true authority to the degree that we are under the authority of the King. True faith is the result of being obedient to Him. When we are fully under His authority, He will then be able to trust us with full authority.