The second part of Jesus’ authority is authority over spiritual forces. Jesus’ claim to have been given all authority in heaven probably extends also to what in other passages are described as principalities and powers, that is, all spiritual forces, including those that are demonic. Paul wrote about these in Ephesians 6 in his classic description of the Christian’s warfare: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (v. 12).
In that great challenge to evangelism just before his ascension, the Great Commission, Jesus commanded that his disciples disciple others. They were to lead them to faith through the preaching of the gospel, bring them into the fellowship of the church through the initiatory rite of baptism, and then, within that fellowship, continue to teach them all that Jesus had commanded them. He promised that he would be with them always as they did this. What a great promise! The disciples were to live for Jesus in a hostile environment. They were to serve as his witnesses, striving to bring others to faith and help them grow in it. But they were not to do this alone.
Christ’s words to the disciples in Mark 10:29-30 are not just an encouragement to trust him through difficult times. We can hardly escape this point since the Lord links his promise of blessings to the phrase "and with them, persecutions," thereby indicating that although he undertakes to bless us abundantly with homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and even fields, we will not enjoy these without the persecutions that inevitably come to any true follower of Christ. We will continue to have hardships until we come to possess our full inheritance in the presence of Jesus himself in heaven.
Another encouragement to serve God in Christ’s service is that blessings are certain. It is not only the greatness of the blessings promised by Jesus that encourages us in his service. Their security encourages us too. The young man turned away from Christ because he was unwilling to part with his possessions, but it is an irony of the story that he turned from possessions that were certain to possessions that were at best uncertain. Maybe he lost those possessions before the year was out. Maybe his gold was stolen. His lands could have been taken. As in the prodigal’s case, his friends could have grown cold and abandoned him.
Moses, you are another of God's choice servants. You forsook Egypt with its pleasures and wealth to obey God in leading a nation of slaves through the desert. You died in the desert. Wouldn't you say that you had made a bad bargain? Moses answers, "A bad bargain? Not at all! It is true that I left Egypt, regarding 'disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt,' but I did so because I was 'looking ahead to [my] reward,' as the author of Hebrews says (Heb. 11:26)..."
