Crowns have always been a symbol of authority. Charlemagne wore an octagonal crown. Each of the eight sides was a plaque of gold, and each plaque was studded with emeralds, sapphires, and pearls. Richard the Lionheart had a crown so heavy that two earls had to stand on either side to hold his head. The crown that Queen Elizabeth wears is worth over $20 million.¹

Kings and queens wear their crowns as a symbol of their authority. Though their crowns are luxurious the authority they symbolize is limited. Their authority is regional. It only affects those in their kingdom. Their authority is temporal. When they die, their crown and authority will be given to someone else. Their authority is positional. Whoever wears the crown has the authority. Their authority is limited to what they know and can do as a human.

Jesus’ authority, on the other hand, is far greater. His authority is universal not regional. Everyone is subject to His authority. His authority is eternal not temporal. He will never die. His authority is personal not positional. He alone is, and always will be, the Son of God. Jesus’ authority is limitless, not limited, for He knows everything and can do anything. He is God.

Since Jesus’ authority is so comprehensive, it makes Him attractive. Today, when you are in need you call to Him. When you are confused, you run to Him. When you feel helpless, you cry out to Him, and when you are guilt-ridden over sin, you plea to Him. Jesus continues to draw a crowd because the crowd knows that He alone has the authority to meet every need. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus still draws a crowd today because His all-inclusive authority enables him to do the following.

Authority to Know

Jesus’ authority allows Him to know everything. For a period of time, my brother was the electrical engineer in charge of communications for the President’s plane, Air Force One. I asked him one day, “What did you do today?” Smugly, he answered, “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” He chuckled, then asked me, “What did you do today?” I laughed back and said, “Chuck, I’d tell you, but then God would have to kill you.” Before Chuck could begin working on Air Force One, he had to go through a battery of background checks. He would be given authority to know information others would not, but others with more authority knew information he could not. Yet, God gave Jesus the authority to know everything.

God has given Jesus the authority to have comprehensive information. 1 John 3:20 says “he knows everything.” Jesus has also been given the authority to maintain continual observation. Job 28:24 says he “sees everything.” And God gave Jesus the authority to possess complete intuition. 1 Kings 8:39 states that He alone knows “the hearts of all men.” Jesus exhibits this authority when talking to a woman at a well outside the city of Sychar.

In John 4, a woman comes to the well where Jesus was resting. He tells her that He knows of a well that would cause her to never thirst again. Of course He was referring to spiritual thirst. When she questioned Him, He told her about the five husbands she once had and that she was now living with a man. After hearing all this, look at her reaction in verses 28-30.

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

You would think she would be afraid of all Jesus knew about her. Sure, Jesus knew her sin. But He also knew the reason for her sin. She was looking for fulfillment in life through physical relationships with men. Therefore, Jesus told her that fulfillment she was looking for would only come through a spiritual relationship with Him.

God has given Jesus the authority to know everything. We should not be afraid of His authority but thankful for it. This woman learned that Jesus used His knowledge to help her, not hurt her. Jesus knows everything you have ever done, every word you have ever said, and every thought you have ever had. Yet, He has never abandoned you. He is always available for you because He wants to help you, not hurt you. When you realize this, you will be drawn to Him more and more because He alone knows everything.

Authority to Teach

Because Jesus knows everything, you will want to listen to Him when He speaks. Like the people hearing Jesus deliver His Sermon on the Mount, you will be amazed at His authority to teach. Matthew 7:28-29 records their reaction,

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

There was a difference between Jesus’ teaching and that of the teachers of the law. The teachers of the law quoted other rabbis as authorities. They quoted others’ opinions about the law. Jesus taught as though He personally knew God’s view. He taught as “the authority” because He was.

It has been said that if you read one subject for thirty minutes a day for ten years you will have the equivalent of a PhD in that subject. You will be an authority. Jesus has had an eternity to know, see, and do everything. Therefore He has “the authority” to teach about anything, especially truth. Jesus said, in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

If you have a heart problem, you do not want a surgeon who quotes from a book on open heart surgery. You want the one who wrote the book. If you are lost in the woods, you do not want someone who can read a map. You want the one who made the path. When you want truth, you do not want someone who has an opinion about it. You want the one who knows it, lives it, and teaches it. You want the One who is Truth. He is “the authority.” That is why the teachings of Jesus still amaze us. That is why His teachings still draw a crowd.

Authority to Act

Jesus’ authority was not only heard in His powerful message, it was seen in the miracles He performed. This combination of message and miracles gave Him an authoritative presence like none other in history.

Jesus’ life and ministry is labeled with the word “authority” over thirty times in the Gospels. The Greek word for authority is “exousia,” and all its references can fall under one of two categories. One category refers to the authority or “ability” to act. This was seen in the thirty-five separate miracles performed by Jesus in the Gospels. His extreme ability gives Him exclusive authority. Only Jesus could feed 15,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. Only Jesus could heal those blind and lame from birth. Only Jesus could raise Himself and others from the dead. Only Jesus had the authority and ability to do this.

Jesus pointed to His greatest miracle of all as evidence of His authority and ability. After driving the merchants and money-changers from the temple, the religious leaders challenged Jesus in John 2:18-19,

18 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

Jesus was talking about His body, not a building. He was talking about His resurrection, not a reconstruction. The ultimate example of Jesus’ authority is seen in what only He was able to do – raise Himself from the dead.

It is Jesus’ unparalleled ability to act that that makes His authority so attractive. When you face a circumstance you can’t change, you want to go to someone with the authority and ability to change it. When our oldest son John Mark was born with premature lungs and a hole in his heart, Loree and I were helpless but not hopeless. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer and we were told he had one month to live, we powerless but not prayerless. On both occasions, we went to Jesus in prayer. He changed John Mark’s condition. Now, he is healthy and whole. Jesus did exactly what we asked. Jesus also changed Dad’s condition. Dad is now healthy and whole with Him in heaven. Though that is not exactly what we asked, though we would still rather have Dad with us here, Jesus is changing us so we can handle this new condition.

Because life is full of circumstances beyond our control, because feeling helpless will often be followed by feeling powerless, Jesus will continue to draw a crowd. For, when circumstances are beyond our abilities, they will never be beyond His. He alone has the authority to act on our behalf.

Authority to Forgive

I mentioned earlier that the Greek word for authority is “exousia,” and that all its references can fall under one of two categories. One of the categories refers to the authority or “ability” to act. The other category refers to one’s authority or “right” to act. The authority of Jesus is not only seen in what He is able to do, but it is also seen in what He alone has the right to do. He alone has the right and authority to forgive sins.

Jesus had just healed a lame man by saying, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” The religious leaders in the crowd were offended by this statement. Because of His authority to know everything, Jesus knew what they were thinking and responded to them in Luke 5:22-25,

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.

Jesus said what He said to make the point that He alone has the authority to forgive sins.

Thirty years ago, comedian Jay Leno was suspended for three days for speeding (literally “burning rubber”) through the school parking lot. Now host of The Tonight Show, Leno has donated $250,000 worth of Microsoft computer software to his school to have his sin expunged from his school record.² I am sure that Leno has given generous contributions to other agencies or programs but none of those gifts cleared his school record. He had to deal directly with the school. Only the school had the right to remove his sin, because he had sinned against the school.

Because you have sinned against Jesus Christ, only Jesus Christ has the right to forgive your sins. Jesus is God, and He alone has the authority to forgive you. No one likes living with sin on their record. No one likes living with a rift in their relationship with God. For that reason, Jesus still draws a crowd. Because your sins are against Jesus, only He can forgive you of your sins. Only He can clear your record with God. Only He can allow you to have the relationship with God you long to have. However, you need to reconcile with Jesus now. Not only does He have the authority to forgive, He also has the authority to judge.

Authority to Judge

Again, the Greek word for “authority” is “exousia,” which basically means “out of being.” Jesus’ authority did not come because of what He did. What Jesus did came out of who He was. This is explained in John 5:24-27,

24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

Jesus has the authority to know, teach, act, and forgive because He alone is the Son of Man.

You may be confused by the number of times Jesus’ title changes in the New Testament. Forty times He is called the Son of God, while eighty-six times he is called, the Son of Man. He is called both to emphasize that in Jesus alone you have both God and man. The title Son of God emphasizes His deity, while the label Son of Man stresses His humanity.

As the Son of Man, God gave Jesus the authority to judge mankind for two reasons. One reason was because Jesus lived as a man. He was tested by Satan but did not succumb. He was tempted by sin, but did not surrender. He lived and never lowered God’s standards. This would make Him a fair judge. He would understand our trials. The second reason for His authority as a judge was that Jesus died as a man. Jesus gave His life for our sins. He was killed for our crime. This would make Him a firm judge. Though he would understand our trials, He would not break the law that cost His life.

Established as fair but firm Judge, God has now given Jesus the authority to determine those who will go to heaven and those who will go to hell. Matthew 25:31-33 states,

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

The heaven bound are the sheep, the hell bound are the goats. Jesus has been given the authority by God to judge and separate. He has bee given the authority by God to be your fair, firm, and final judge.

Responding to Authority

In his last statement on earth, Jesus said that He had been given “all authority in heaven and on earth.” In my lifetime, I have noticed that people respond to authority in one of two ways. They either argue it or accept it.

Arguing Jesus Authority
Many argue openly against Jesus and think they have succeeded. What they fail to understand is that Jesus is the final judge, and that every day they are building a case against themselves. Many more argue privately against Jesus’ total authority. They do not argue that He is a God, or even that He was God in flesh. They just argue about having to do everything the Bible says. Tragically, what they forget is that a private crime is just as condemning as a public one.

Accepting Jesus’ Authority
Then you have the few who accept Jesus’ complete authority. It does not mean they always understand it, but they accept it and experience peace because of it.

There is peace in knowing that Jesus has the authority to

• … know everything. When you tell Him where and why you hurt, He already knows.
• … teach everything. When you don’t understand, He can teach you.
• … do anything. There is nothing you ask that He is not able to do.
• … forgive everything. There is no single sin or amount of sin He cannot forgive.
• … judge everyone. If you have been pardoned on earth, you already know His judgment in heaven.

For these reasons Jesus’ authority gives peace.

Therefore, you are left with a choice. You can either argue Jesus’ authority or you can accept it. If you argue it you will be frustrated, for His authority will never change. If you accept it, you will change and experience peace. Whichever you decide, it will be a decision that affects you now and forever. So, weigh it out – frustration or peace, frustration or peace. Seen in this light, the decision should be quite easy.