Matthew 4:10-11

I think that in this short section we see a simple and proper use of spiritual authority.  In verse 10, Jesus tells the devil straightforwardly, "Be gone."  And in verse 11 it tells us that the devil left.

We sometimes think that spiritual warfare has to be a power encounter -a clashing of the kingdom of darkness with the Kingdom of God in which one kingdom eventually overpowers the other kingdom.  This is not the case.  This is not spiritual reality.

I remember years ago pastor and author, Tony Evans, spoke at a conference about the realtionship between power and authority.  He used NFL football as an analogy.  NFL football players are very large, very athletic, very strong, very powerful men.  If they were allowed to exert their brute force they could pretty much demand their own way all of the time in every situation.  The NFL referees, on the other hand are often small, unathletic men.  Nevertheless, on the field these smaller, less powerful men always get their own way.  The powerful men submit to the less powerful because the referees have authority.

In Jesus' case, He could have actually overpowered the devil if He had chosen to use His God power.  Instead, He exercised spiritual authority -the same spiritual authority that we who are in Christ now have -and simply told the devil to leave.  And the devil left.  He had no choice. 

There was no big display of power.  There was no big confrontation.  There was not even a big clashing of kingdoms.  This is spiritual reality.  Authority trumps power.

I'm thinking of the verse from the book of James that says, "Resist the devil and he will flee."  Sometimes when we are tempted -whatever form temptation takes -our very best defense is a simple use of authority.  "Devil, be gone."