157 The Believer’s Authority in the Old Testament

Authority and Power

In the natural, if a person has authority, it means that they have a legal right to do something, but it may not mean they have the power to do it. The key to authority is that it means you have a legal right or it is allowable. However, having authority alone is not enough to accomplish what needs to be accomplished, and you also need power to go with the authority. For example, a person may have the right or authority to build a home on their own property, but if they don’t have the resources or equipment to build a house, they are powerless to build it. 

When king Saul was pursuing the future king David in the book of 1 Samuel, Saul was using his authority as king to hunt and destroy David. However, Saul did not have the power to destroy David because the Lord was on David’s side.

Throughout the ages, God has given authority to men and women to act as His agents or ambassadors to accomplish His will. However, when God gives authority, He also provides power, which comes through the Holy Spirit of God!

Old Testament View of the Holy Spirit

In Old Testament times, the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit would fall upon a person for a time for a particular purpose; in other words, the Holy Spirit would come and go. The Spirit of God would fall upon prophets, priests, and kings. Today as believers in Jesus Christ, we must embrace the truth that the Holy Spirit lives in us and He will never leave us nor forsake us; therefore, the Holy Spirit’s authority is always available to us. Here is a key truth, spiritual authority is available to fulfill the will and purposes of God. Spiritual authority is not available to us for our own wishes to do what we want. We are the vessels, but the power and authority are the Lord’s! Before we go further, we need to visit the doctrine of the Trinity.

Triune Nature of God

As Christians, we believe that we serve one God in three separate persons. I like to think of it as God the Father who initiates all things, Jesus Christ, the Word of God in the flesh, who came to earth to die for our sins and give us eternal life, and the Holy Spirit, who is often neglected, as the agent of change. The Holy Spirit makes things happen in the supernatural realm. The Holy Spirit is the power that crosses from the spiritual to the natural realm and makes things happen.  

The Holy Spirit takes what God the father says through the son Jesus Christ and makes it happen. What is important to understand is that the Holy Spirit it’s the one who makes the supernatural available to us. He is our connection to the supernatural realm of God, but here’s the important thing He is a person! He is not simply a force or power or energy, He is a person; he is God. Just as Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God, three persons in one. To reject the Holy Spirit is to reject God. 

The triune nature of God is a difficult concept for us as human beings to understand. We live in a place of time and space; however, God lives outside of time and space, he is a creator of all things, and nothing that was created or will be created exists outside of his will. The Trinity is a truth that the human mind can’t understand fully, which is why the Lord has given us a measure of faith to believe. Faith or trust is not needed if we understand; faith is needed when we don’t understand and still put our faith in God. We may not fully understand the Three in One concept of God, but we believe it.

There are at least three characteristics that God has; God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. 

1. Omniscient means God knows everything. There is nothing that He does not know. He is not like us; God does not learn; he simply knows. Past, present, and future it is all the same to Him.
2. Omnipresent means that God can be everywhere at the same time, and he hears all our prayers, worship, and praise and knows the motives and intentions of our hearts.
3. Omnipotent means that He is all-powerful. Nothing or no one can stand against Him. Satan, the greatest enemy of our Lord, is but a flea to God. God does not strain or stress, and nothing is too difficult for our Lord.

As you search the scriptures, you will see that Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit share in all these attributes. This is why we believe in one God in three persons.

In the Beginning, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

At the very beginning of Genesis, we know that God created the heavens and earth. An important point that we must see is in verse two “the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the deep.” It is clear that the Holy Spirit was present with God the Father, and we know God spoke the Word and created everything by His Word. Then in John chapter one, we see that the Word became flesh. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” I say all of this to make the point that Jesus and the Holy Spirit existed with God from the beginning.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon or rested upon.

In Old Testament times, the spirit of the Lord would fall upon or rest upon specific individuals, prophets, priests, and kings. The Lord chose these individuals to work through for the sake of His people Israel. the Lord would take ordinary people and place his spirit upon them so that they became extraordinary people. We can see many wonderous works of God through the lives of many biblical characters. 

Here is a list of 14 Old Testament individuals that God used by placing His Spirit upon them:

1. Moses in Exodus 3:12, the burning bush experience where he received from the Lord the commission to be an instrument to set the people of Israel free from Egyptian bondage.
2. The 70 Elders chosen by Moses to help with the administration of God’s people.
3. The Judge Othniel in Judges 3:20
4. The Judge Gideon in Judges 6:34
5. The Judge Jephthah in Judges 11:29
6. The Judge Samson in Judges 13:25
7. King Saul in 1 Samuel 10:6 
8. King David in 1 Samuel 16:13
9. Joshua in Numbers 27:18 and Deuteronomy 34:9
10. The prophet Elijah in 2 Chronicles 20:14
11. The prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 2:15
12. The priest Jahaziel in Chronicles 20:14
13. The prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 24:20
14. The prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 11:5

The examples I have chosen show the Spirit of God falling upon individuals. However, there is a particular case of the Spirit of God being removed from an individual because of disobedience. We see this when the “Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul” in Samuel 16:14. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. 

Faith

All these Biblical characters who were filled with the Spirit of God, or we could say were anointed by God, had to act by faith. Faith that the Lord would do what He promised and work through them to do the mighty works of God. They may have experienced fear and doubt at times, but when they had to act, they did not waver in unbelief. David, who was anointed to become king, was filled with the Spirit, yet the Psalms clearly show that David experienced times of despair and hopelessness; however, David never quit or gave up. Listen to Daniel 11:32, “… but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” The lesson here is that when we become discouraged or defeated, we turn to our God and draw strength from our relationship with Him and hold on tightly to the promises of God. God never, never fails!

When we read about the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11, we see the names of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, and Joseph. Then we see the faith of Moses, Joshua, and Rahab; some of the names of the Judges of Israel are also included, and then, of course, David. However, Hebrews 11 doesn’t stop with the well-known names found in the Bible. Hebrews 11 states that there were countless numbers of people who suffered persecution and even death because they believed that the Lord had anointed them to be used to fulfill His purpose. Again, I want to remind you that the Lord uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

All those whom the Lord fills with the Spirit and follow through by faith receive the crown. Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

As new covenant Believers, Jesus has granted us authority and power to represent Him. Because of the New Covenant or Testament, we have better promises made to us than all of the Old Covenant or Testament characters in the Bible. Jesus promised us a helper, which is the Holy Spirit who comes in power. As New Covenant Believers, we have authority as a result of the new birth or being born-again. As born-again Believers, we have spiritual authority, but have we learned to release the Holy Spirit’s power resident in us? That is the subject of my next episode: The Believer’s Spiritual Authority and Power.

A Better Covenant, based upon better promises. 

Let me close with a couple of scriptures from the book of Hebrews that reinforce the truth that we have a better covenant than the Old Testament believers.

• Hebrews 7:22, “by so much more Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant.”
• Hebrews 8:6, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, since He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.so much more Jesus has become a guarantee of a better covenant.”

The Book of Hebrews was written based on the superiority of Christ over the Law of Moses. Christ is better than the angels, for they worship Him. He is better than Moses, for He created him. He is better than the Hebrew priesthood, for Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all time. Jesus is better than the law, for He mediates a better covenant. In short, there is more to be gained in Christ than to be lost in Judaism. Pressing on in Christ and His Holy Spirit produces tested faith, self-discipline, and a visible love seen in good works. We can’t do any of this without the power of the Holy Spirit leading us.