THE BELIEVER'S AUTHORITY
IMAGE SOURCE: thankgodquotes.com
The word authority means power or right to give orders and make sure they are obeyed. We say that a person has authority when he has the ability, power or right to control and command others and they obey him.
When God created Adam He gave him authority to rule the earth. But Adam lost this privilege to satan through disobedience and since then, satan has been using this power to terrorize human beings.
Christ has restored this lost authority. According to the book of 1 Corinthians 15:45-47, the incarnate Christ is a perfect picture of Adam, before he sinned. And we saw Jesus controlling satan, demons and nature when He was here on earth, which shows that Adam had the same magnitude of power but he never made use of it.
On two occasions, He called His disciples and gave them power over demons and to cure diseases and sent them to go and preach the kingdom of God. His disciples were surprised to see demons obeying them and sicknesses departing from people.
And in His response, Jesus said, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you”.
After resurrection, He came back and told them that all authority has been given to Him and officially delegated this authority not only on the few disciples with Him, but to everyone that believes the gospel through their preaching.
Every believer has this authority over satan, demons and the nature. We have no reason for not using it against our enemy because
a. Jesus had defeated him for us through His cross and made a show of him publicly.
b. He is always with us to make sure satan, demons and nature obey us as we use His name to command them. You have authority over satan, demons and including nature. Rely on God and make use of them every day.
The long ending in Mark isn't in the better manuscripts. Surely anyone with common sense would know that Christians can't safely drink poison or trample on snakes.