October 28 - Real Authority

 Read today’s texts first: Job 19; Mark 1,2

 MAXIMize YOUR DAY

You can’t make an arrest by reading a policing manual -
real authority is conferred. 

Real authority is conferred. We could study and even memorize a policing manual but still not be able to make an arrest. We could do the same with law books and never be able to enter a courtroom to pass judgment. Real authority isn’t transferred from writings; it is conferred in person from a recognized authority.

Job knew that, which is why he could dismiss the judgments of his so-called friends. The only one he feared was God, because He is the Source of all authority (19:1-6). Even in the soliloquy of complaints that follow, Job prophetically promised his redemption: As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God (19:25,26). Job, inspired by the Spirit of God, predicted the coming Messiah and the hope of the resurrection He will bring to all of us!

Fast forward to our Mark readings, which coincidentally connect to this theme of Divine authority (1:7,8,11,22,27,34; 2:10,28). Jesus, the Redeemer Job prophesied about, had real authority; the book-smart scribes didn’t, for the reasons stated above (1:22). We know now that Jesus set aside His innate rights as God when he became a man (Philippians 2:7), but then He modeled for all of us what we can do to have real authority: He humbled Himself and became obedient to His Father who conferred that authority back to Him.

That is why His water baptism by John, His subsequent baptism in the Spirit, and the acknowledgement of His Sonship by the Father preceded His public ministry (1:9-11). That authority was challenged and proven in His battle with Satan in the wilderness (12,13) and then witnessed by the people through His teachings, healings and deliverance (27). The scribes and other religious leaders lacked this authority, not because they didn’t know the letter of the law, but because they didn’t personally know the Author, the Authority behind the law!

“Lord, as I study Your Word each day, it is not just because I just want to know what You’ve said – I want to know You, the Source of all authority!”