Walk

342. Authority

The wall is finished, but what about the gates?

Chapter 6 of Nehemiah takes place when the walls are finished but the gates are not yet rebuilt. The primary emphasis in this chapter is how the enemy, Sanballat in their case, or Satan and his army in our case, goes to extreme means to come against rebuilding our gates, or our authority.

Gates represent authority.

Gates always stand for authority. In Eden, after the fall of man, angels guarded the gates to the Tree of Life. Authority infers “right” to something. It is like the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. In Revelation chapter 21 there is a picture of twelve gates through which only the righteous enter in. They drink of the stream and eat of the Tree of Life. This is the reversal of the curse back in Genesis when the gates to the Tree of Life were closed to man.

In Hebrew Scripture and history, gates represented much more than a door that swung on hinges. They were the place of commerce and government of the culture. They had rooms and offices. It would be like combining city hall and the major office building in a major city.

In Genesis chapter 23 Abraham was seeking to purchase a tomb for Sarah. He went to the gates of the city to make the deal (Genesis 23:10, 18). In Ruth chapter 4 Boaz goes to the gate of the city in order to confirm his right to marry Ruth. It was like a civil court proceeding. This depicted the right of entry and authority.

Nehemiah’s people were going between home and work by going back and forth through the breaches in the wall. However, under the best of circumstances we are supposed to go through the gates, those areas of authority. The Lord defended them when they went back and forth through the broken places in the wall. Now it was time to use the ordained method of passage, the gates. God has a mission to rebuild authority in our lives in many ways.

In Nehemiah chapter 3 all the gates are listed and named; there are10 gates. Ten stands for human government. Twelve stands for God’s government, the Kingdom of God.

Here comes the enemy again.

In previous chapters Nehemiah and his people sustained the words of the enemy, overcame the weariness caused by the enemy, now we see the wiles of the enemy. He often uses fear as he did in this case. The entire Kingdom of God is based upon authority. Everything God does has authority as an underlying principle. That is why Satan is so intent upon attacking proper authority. Many believers do not walk in overcoming power because they do not understand authority and its multi-faceted aspects.

Nehemiah 6:1-9 says, “Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, ‘Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.’ But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?’ But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner.

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together.

Then I sent to him, saying, ‘No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.’ For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, ‘Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.’ Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.”

The wiles of the enemy are going to come against us. This is when the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to fight for us when we are weak. However, we must cooperate and give the Holy Spirit the resources that He needs from us. What are they? In this lesson we are going to focus on respect for authority and forgiveness.

Satan sent a letter. Nehemiah answered.

“So I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3).

“But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner” (Nehemiah 6:4). Sanballat didn’t give up quickly. He sent a fifth letter (verse 5-8). In this letter he beseeched Nehemiah to consult with him and reason with him. Do not let carnal reasoning get in the way of the Holy Spirit’s voice!

Satan is a liar.

Nehemiah answered as we should, “Then I sent to him, saying, ‘No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart’” (Nehemiah 6:8).

Satan uses people in the church.

He sent secret informers and false prophets to meet Nehemiah in an attempt to deceive and cause fear. The Holy Spirit can protect you in this area.

Nehemiah said, “Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me. My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid” (Nehemiah 6:12-14).

My wife and I have had several encounters with such people within the church community. This is real!

Why is Satan making all the fuss about authority?

It is because if believers do not understand and respect authority, God is limited in their lives. Notice the Centurion in Matthew chapter 8. He stated that he was a man under authority, and had been entrusted with authority over others. He told Jesus that he respected the authority of His Word so much that he would believe whatever Jesus said in order to have his servant healed. Jesus marvelled and called this “Great faith.” The servant was healed. The centurion had submitted his life to all delegated authorities, and he was loving those under his authority.

This is a big deal to God! I guarantee you that this “law of authority” will work for and against you!

Authority applies three ways.

First, we must learn to be under authority.

We submit to God’s authority through the delegated authorities that God gives us and through the Word and the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul (Saul) obtained a real vision of authority when he was slain by the light of Jesus on his way to Damascus.

“As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So he, trembling and astonished, said, ‘Lord, what do You want me to do?’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’ And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus” (Acts 9:3-8).

Notice Saul said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” I pray that the light of the Glorious Jesus slay you and that you would say the same thing!

Many do not understand delegated authority. God delegates humans to be in authority here on earth. His power and Kingdom is so keenly based upon authority that He even honors evil authority, to a point, of course. We are to respect and submit to our governmental leaders, our law enforcement servants, our teachers, parents, bosses at work, our pastors, wives and husbands, and the list goes on.

When we violate these authorities, we are dishonoring God and disobeying Him. His response is not always immediate, but we can see how He feels about it in an exemplary way. In Numbers chapter 12 Miriam became leprous when she came against Moses.

Look how the Lord felt when the people murmured against Moses and Aaron. “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.’ And they fell on their faces” (Numbers 16:44-45). A horrible plague followed.

When Korah came against Moses in Numbers chapter 16 the Lord opened up a hole in the earth and swallowed up Korah and his group. “‘But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD.’ Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly” (Numbers 16:30-33).

Second, the authority in our soul is restored.

The Holy Spirit wants to rebuild your internal authority. He does not want life, circumstances, other people, and demonic forces to run over your rubble and through your broken gates. He wants the Kingdom of God to be established as your gates so that you can be a whole person, no longer subject to the penetration of unauthorized attacks. Will attacks come? Yes. However, when your gates are standing, that cannot harm you. They may hurt, but hurt and harm are not the same.

Third, we take authority over Satan’s realm.

After restoration, we go out to battle to take the enemies gates. Now we storm the enemy’s gates instead of him always storming ours.

We will receive the keys of the Kingdom. When our soul authority is restored and we submit to proper authorities, we take the gates of the enemy. We are blessed to be a blessing. The gates of Hell will not prevail. The government is restored to humans. Not only for their own souls, but also for all the kingdoms of the earth, as Jesus was tempted with in Luke 4.

Peter learned about submitting to authority, and the result of it was the Keys to the Kingdom.

“Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Matthew 16:16). Peter received a supernatural revelation of who Jesus was. He knew to bow his knee to this Christ!

Jesus replied, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).

The “rock” was the revelation of who Jesus was, the revealed Word, and a mere man submitted to Him. The result is that the gates of Hades cannot prevail against this package, i.e., a revelation of who Jesus is, and our obedience and submission to Him.

When our internal gates are restored, when we are submitted to God’s Word, the voice of the Holy Spirit and God’s delegated authorities, then we can be used by God to take ground from the kingdom of darkness for the Kingdom of God.

In Genesis 22 Abraham was promised that the Messiah would posses the gates of His enemies. “Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies” (Genesis 22:15-17).

God wants His people to represent Him in taking ground from Satan. This can only be done by God’s anointing, or His power working through us. He will entrust that authority to us when we cooperate with Him in those practical areas of our lives.

Forgive as you have been forgiven.

Nehemiah chapter 5 shows another area that the Holy Spirit wants to work on in our lives. It has to do with becoming impoverished by unforgiveness. The text speaks about actual debt and property, but the application is definitely spiritual. The people became their own worst enemies. They became indebted to one another.

“And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. For there were those who said, ‘We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.’ There were also some who said, ‘We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine’” (Nehemiah 5:1-3).

Forgiveness sets you free. Unforgiveness keeps you in prison.

Unforgiveness gives license to demons to act in your life and to keep you impoverished in your spirit, soul, body and circumstances.

Most believers are aware of forgiving for major issues, but are you exacting of others repayment for offenses and misunderstandings?

To forgive does not mean to excuse. The Greek word for forgive means to cut away, as in a surgery, it even infers death. The only way for a human to truly forgive is to cut the sin off of the offender and put it on Jesus. He bore everybody’s sin that is the only place it can go without harming another human.

It is not an emotional act, it is an act of faith. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

Receiving forgiveness and forgiving others will make you free!

“‘Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.’ So they said, ‘We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.’ Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, ‘So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied.’ And all the assembly said, ‘Amen!’ and praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise” (Nehemiah 5:11-13).

Larry Chkoreff – November 2002.

Many portions of this lesson are taken from the audio tape series by Pastor Jack Hayford, “Restoring Wholeness to the Personality,” tape 8. Living Way Ministries, Van Nuys, CA. (800) 776-8180.

However, the author wants to point out that a great deal of the content herein has been written for a Bible class and does not necessarily represent the opinion or teachings of Pastor Jack Hayford.

This lesson is the sole property of ISOB. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this lesson must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright (C) 1998 by ISOB."). This lesson may not be used without the permission of ISOB for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold.