Spiritual Hierarchy & Authority, Part 9

 

 

December 15, 2017

 

One of the things you will hear me say repeatedly – and I will say it again and again throughout this series – is that God’s people do not understand the level of authority that we have in Christ.  When we finish this series, I want to do some Coffee Breaks on the subject of the Spirit of Poverty.  The Spirit of Poverty affects people’s attitudes towards finance, to be sure, but this spirit affects the way we see ourselves in the light of God’s Word.

 

The Spirit of Poverty causes God’s people to put Him in a box – and to put themselves in a box.  This spirit convinces folks that there is no way they can ever operate in the authority and power of God to the level that Jesus did.

 

Consider what Jesus said:

 

John 14:12-14: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

 

What is it about Jesus’ statement that we don’t get?  My objective in sharing in this series is to make it clear that no matter where and how the Enemy operates, he cannot hide from us, and he is subject to the onoma of the Lord Jesus Christ in us.  Furthermore, it isn’t simply the name, the character, the makeup, the essence of the Lord Jesus Christ operating in us, it is the fact that we are in Him!  He is the one operating through us with His full authority and the backing of Father!  We cannot make it any simpler than that.

 

That said, let’s get on with our continuing study.

 

Before we continue with our discussion on the hierarchy of the spiritual world — and particularly, the demonic realm — let’s go back and take a look at something Jesus said.  Of all the things that He said which clearly define the objectives of all the demonic realm, this spells it out precisely.

 

John 10:10: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

 

First of all, the Enemy — no matter at what level he operates — is clearly marked as a thief.

 

What is it that the thief comes to steal?  Go back to the Garden.  What got stolen from Adam and Eve?

 

The answer is clear!  They lost their eternal relationship, their intimate relationship with God.  The second thing they lost was their ability to live without any threat of death hanging over them.  Sin brought the curse of death upon them — and by extension, the human race.

 

It may seem the logical follow-on that the Enemy — the thief — comes also to kill, but it is more than simply enacting a death sentence upon the human race.  If we believe the decree of Genesis 6:3, we believe that even under the curse, man’s days should be 120 years.  How many folks do you know who have lived to be 120 years of age?  The simple answer is, very, very few!

 

Even in my own family, my great grandfather lived to be 104.  His father before him made it to 106.  And both of them were preachers of the Gospel!

 

What happened?  In my great-grandfather’s biography (written by my great-grandmother), it was clear that Satan repeatedly tried to take his life.  Alfred Edwin Capener kept rising above every single attack and overcoming disease, accidents and effort after effort of the Enemy to destroy him.  He finally succumbed to the last attack.

My great-grandmother made it clear that he simply refused to accept that Satan had a right to take his life.  He kept refusing death.  He continued to refuse sickness, and he continued to refuse the effects of injury, rising above it each time.  Over the 104 years that he lived, however, the repeated attacks on his life, his health and welfare finally wore him down.

 

Alfred Capener believed that he had 120 years to live and continued in that belief until the Enemy finally did him in.  What he never did come to understand, or have revelation of, was Jesus’ promise of eternity NOW!

 

John 11:26: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

 

Sadly, this has been taught and believed by most Christians as referring to eternity AFTER we die.  That’s not what Jesus said, and that’s not what the Greek text says.  The Greek word for “die” in this case is the word, apothnesko — a term used for dying physically, or to slowly die off, to decay physically until death takes you.

 

Four separate Greek words are strung together when Jesus says, “never.”  The effect of what Jesus was saying was, “never, no never, not ever, not in this world, and not for eternity.”  Because we’ve been so programmed with the lie of the Enemy that we must die, and that he has a right to take our lives in this present age, we accept death as inevitable and go along with his lie.

 

Hebrews 9:27 and 28 have been taken out of context by preachers for centuries to add to the belief that death is inevitable in this life.  Let’s put those verses in their true context and take a look at what Paul really said!

 

Hebrew 9:15-28: And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

 

Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

 

It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 

Have you seen the picture, yet?  Do you understand exactly what was taking place?  Why did Jesus shed His blood?  Why did He die on the Cross in our place?

 

Paul quotes an expression which repeats throughout the Word when he says, without shedding of blood is no remission.

 

That word, remission, is the Greek aphesis, which comes from, aphiemi.  That word, aphiemi, is one we have discussed on numerous occasions in the past, and it literally means to eradicate from existence, to blot out as though it had never happened.

 

OK?  So what got blotted out?  What got canceled and eradicated with the shedding of Jesus’ blood and His death on the Cross?

 

Sin?  Absolutely — at least for those who accept and acknowledge Jesus sacrifice on their part.

 

But there was more than that.  Jesus canceled the sentence of death.  If He eradicated the sin that was the cause for death in the first place, then it follows (and Paul makes it clear in Hebrews 9) that the sentence of death was also canceled.  Thus, the thief who comes to steal, to kill and to destroy has lost his power over us.

 

The only way that power continues is if we accept his lie and believe that he still has the power of death over us.

 

The final part of Jesus’ statement concerning the thief is that he comes to destroy.  Ever consider what it is that he is out to destroy?

 

The most obvious is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  But how does he do that?  The simple answer is that if he can get us to question the Word in any way, or get it to mean something that waters down or diminishes in any way the power and authority of what He has said — and is saying — our relationship and trust in the Lord begin to decay.

 

If Satan can get us to believe for even a minute that any promise or statement in the Word is only for the past — that it has no application to us, or that it was “something that died out with the apostles,” etc., etc., etc., he has just succeeded in destroying a dimension of our life that makes us a threat to his existence, along with our ability to exercise the real authority we have in Christ over him.

 

There’s a whole lot more to this discussion, but let’s move on and see if we can wrap up that portion that deals with the hierarchy of the demonic realm.

 

Continuing with our discussion on “principalities and powers, the rulers of this world darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places,” let’s take a look at the kings of Syria – most notably Hadad and his son, Ben-Hadad.

 

First, a little etymology or word-study of the names: Hadad, and Ben-Hadad.

 

Archaeologists and historians tell us that the word or term “Hadad” applies to the chief demon or “demonic prince” over the nation of Syria.

 

The term or title of Hadad comes from a Chaldean root – Hed – which means: to shout, to thunder, to make a noise for the purpose of getting attention.  We see this term – Hed – applied in Hadad as: “The Thunderer.”  In other words, “one who makes a lot of loud crashing noises.”

 

The prefix “Ben” always means “the son of.”  Ben-Hadad, therefore, is simply, “the son of Hadad.”  That is to say, he is the offspring – the seed of – the demon, Hadad, The Thunderer.

 

In II Samuel 8 and I Kings 11, we have the stories of a Syrian king who went by the identification of “Hadad-ezer.”  Here, we see the demonic power of Hadad manifested in the name which means, “Hadad is his help.”  Again in Zechariah 11 we have Hadad-rimmon, whose name means, “belonging to (or pertaining to) Hadad.”

 

In reviewing the chronology of the sons and generations of Esau (otherwise referred to as Edom), we see that the very first Hadad is some three generations removed from Esau – that is to say, a great-grandson.

 

Our very first revelation of Hadad comes in I Kings 11 where we read the following:

I Kings 11:14:  And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s seed in Edom.

 

The KJV leaves you little clue of the revelation that exists in this single sentence, but it comes in the Hebrew text.  The word translated “adversary” in Hebrew is actually Satan ((ïèÇNÜ: sñaòtÖan: the adversary, the accuser, the attacker).  Thus, “the Lord stirred up Satan against Solomon [operating in the person of] Hadad, the Edomite.”

Next we read the following:

 

I Kings 11:23-25:  And God stirred him up another adversary, Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah: And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a band, when David slew them of Zobah: and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria.

 

This picture expands again and again.  Today’s Coffee Break would become extra-long if I were to pick up the next part of this, so let’s save that for next week.

 

 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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CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.