When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He taught as One having authority (Matt. 7:28-29). Mark 1:22 says, “They were astounded at His teaching, for He taught them as One having authority and not like the scribes.” The self-appointed scribes, teaching vain knowledge by themselves, had no authority and no power. But the Lord Jesus, as the God-authorized Teacher, teaching realities by God, had not only spiritual power to subdue people but also divine authority to subject them to the divine ruling.
As the great Teacher authorized by God, the Lord Jesus taught the things of life concerning the kingdom of the heavens. In Matthew 7:14 He said, “Narrow is the gate and constricted is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” Here life refers to the ever-blessed condition of the kingdom, which is filled with the eternal life of God. This life is in the reality of the kingdom today and will be in the manifestation of the kingdom in the coming age (19:29; Luke 18:30).
In Matthew 7:21 the Lord speaks a word concerning the kingdom of the heavens. “Not every one who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he who does the will of My Father who is in the heavens.” To enter into the kingdom of the heavens we need to do two things: call on the Lord and do the will of the heavenly Father. To call on the Lord suffices for us to be saved (Rom. 10:13), but to enter into the kingdom of the heavens we also need to do the will of the heavenly Father. Since entering into the kingdom of the heavens also requires doing the will of the heavenly Father, it is clearly different from entering into the kingdom of God by being regenerated (John 3:3, 5). This latter is by the birth of the divine life; the former is by the living of that life.
In Matthew 8:8-10 and 13 we see that the Lord Jesus is the One who has authority. The Gentile centurion said to Him, “I also am a man under authority, having 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” (v. 9). This indicates that the centurion recognized the authority of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord’s authority is exercised mainly in His word. When the Lord told the centurion that He would come and heal his servant, the centurion said to Him, “Lord, I am not fit for You to enter under my roof; but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed” (v. 8). The Gentile centurion realized that the Lord’s word was with healing authority. Thus, he believed, not only in the Lord but also in His word, asking Him not to go personally but only to send His word.
On the one hand, regarding the Lord, His authority is exercised in His word. On the other hand, regarding us, the Lord’s authority is exercised through faith infused into us by Him. When we see the Lord and listen to Him, His being, His very character, infuses into us the ability to believe. This believing ability is something that comes from Him. As we behold the Lord in His beauty and in the excellency of His virtues, He infuses a living element into us, and this infused element becomes our faith, our believing ability. This is why the Lord Jesus is called the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2). The centurion had such faith infused into him by the Lord Jesus. The Lord marveled at the centurion’s faith, saying, “Truly I say to you, With no one in Israel have I found such great faith” (Matt. 8:10). Then He said to the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, so be it done to you” (v. 13).
In Matthew 8:23-27 the Lord Jesus is revealed as the One ruling over the winds and the sea. This is not an ordinary authority; on the contrary, it must be counted as an extraordinary authority.
As we follow the Lord, we will often find ourselves on a stormy sea. During the storm we need to turn to Him as the One who rules over the winds and the sea. We need to experience and enjoy Christ as such a One.
The Lord Jesus rules over the winds and the sea through His word. “He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, What kind of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (vv. 26b-27). The Lord Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea because in the winds were the fallen angels of Satan (Eph. 6:12), and in the sea were the demons (Matt. 8:32). Therefore, actually it was not the winds and the sea but the fallen angels above the winds and the demons under the sea that obeyed the Lord’s word of authority.
As the One who rules over the winds and the sea, the Lord Jesus trains us in faith. In Matthew 8:26a He said to the disciples, “Why are you cowardly, you of little faith?” Faith comes from and depends upon the word of the Lord (Rom. 10:17). In Matthew 8:18 the Lord had given the disciples the word “to depart to the other side.” If they had believed that word, they would not have needed to pray as they did in verse 25: “Lord, save us; we are perishing!” Their realization of the Lord’s word was not in full; thus, their faith was “little.”
We today need to believe in the Lord Jesus as the King, as the divine Administrator of the entire universe. He rules over all things. May we all learn to experience and enjoy Christ as such a One.
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