First, notice where His power came from. Second, this is power over all flesh. "All means all and that is all it means." There is not much more that can be said about this point. In this is total control of all histroy through His divine providence. Third, this power was His from all eternity past. Christ had this power while He was here, Mat. 11:27. Fourth, this power is shown by His ability to give life to whomever He will. This is interesting.

Humanistic man does not identify power as the ability to give life, but as the ability to control others, even to take life. Included in this is the temporal power, to enforce our will upon others. The Lord said, The love of money is the root of all evil. Why does sinful man love money so much? (It gives him power over others, enables him to enforce his will upon others.)

Therefore, we have a difficult time identifying the incarnate Christ here on earth with total power because He did not go around enforcing His will upon others.

Total power would be total control of life and death. Men can claim this power and, at times do, but their power is far short. All they have is the power to kill, John 8:44. Sinful man desires to exercise total power over life and death. This is the motive behind a lot of the research we see today. Science is desperately seeking the power "to make alive," which would give them the power of life.

The next logical conclusion would be to put to death those who will not be in total subjection to the elite, leaving only those they made alive. How far the Lord Jesus will allow the efforts to create life go, only He knows. We do know these efforts and money which are being expended to `create life,' is to rebel against God and the order He has established.

This power which belongs to the Lord Jesus is total. It is power over life. He proved this many times while He was here by raising the dead.

Jn.1:4; 5:25; 11:25; 14:6, tells us that Jesus is life, which means that He is total and complete power. His power includes power over the soul, Mat. 10:28. He alone can lay claim to this power.

It is interesting that the devil is given power by God over in Rev. 13:15, to bring life to the beast, but notice the use of this power; it is to be able to cause death to whomever he pleases. It is not power to bring life so that people could worship the beast. This beast was given power by God to cause others to join him in his rebellion against God, and to cause death if they didn't.

The application here is so obvious that it shouldn't even need repeating. Christ always brings life. If His offer of life is refused or usurped for the wrong purpose, death follows.

The Christian who is following the Lord brings life wherever he goes, he leaves life after him when he leaves. He will always leave the situation better in relationship to God's word than when he came upon the scene.

Total power is not the power to enforce our will on others. Thus, Christ does not have to have everyone bowing before Him to have total power, although the time will come when He will have His power manifested in this way. He had total power while here among us, because He had the total power of life. Christ (godly power), brings life because He is life. The devil only has power to kill and destroy.

5. Notice that this power which Christ had was not the ability to do even as He pleases. He only gave life to as many as had been given to Him, Jn. 5:21; 6:39, 40 (Lk. 7:12-17).

This causes as much turmoil today for humanistic man as it did when He was here. Man does not like to admit that he does not control God and who God selects for life. Humanistic man desires to have God at his control and to be able to command eternal life as he desires.

Christ has total power, but He does not give life to everyone. That life is only given according to God's eternal purpose, Eph. 1:4-11. We hear many explanations of this passage trying to make it say something other than what it says.

6. Getting a little ahead of ourselves, His power was also to keep those He has been given and to raise them up in the last day, Jn. 6:37-40; 17:12.

We may have the power or the ability to do something, but that doesn't mean we should do it. Thus, we see that having the power or ability to do something doesn't necessarily mean that God is in it.

Any ability or power we might have must be used as the Father directs in His word.

7. Another thing the power of Christ is used for is to reveal the Father to those the Father chooses, and to reveal that life is through the Son, vv. 3, 6. Thus, nothing can prevent the power of Christ from working.

8. One day this power will be manifested in the form of all people subdued to where they honor Jesus as King, but for present, it isn't, 1 Cor. 15:24-28.

Therefore, even though we do not see all knees bowed to Him at this time, this in no way says that He is not as powerful today as when He created the heavens and the earth or as He was while He walked here on this earth. His power is shown in His revealing of the Father to His people, the giving of life and the keeping of His people.