Power of Attorney

POWER OF ATTORNEY

by Bertrand L. Comparet

Taken From Your Heritage

Prepared into a PDF file by:

Clifton A. Emahiser’s Teaching Ministries

Plus Critical Notes

 

If you are going away for a long time and you have business which must be taken care of while you are gone, you can give someone authority to act for you in your absence, by a document called a Power of Attorney. It usually begins with these words, Know all men by these present, that I do hereby empower John Doe, in my place and my name, to do whatever you want him to do. Being myself an Attorney at Law, I have often had occasion to draft such documents for clients.

In the Bible I find similar documents. When Yahshua went away for a time, He gave us Power of Attorney to carry on His works, in His name until He returns. In John 14:12-14 He said, “Verily I say unto you: He that believeth in Me, the works that I do he shall do also: and greater works than these shall he do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

Here there are two elements of a Power of Attorney. First the power to act and second, the authority must be exercised in the name of the one who gave it. We are commanded to act in Yahshua’s name and in His place, until He returns. He also said in John 15:16, 16-24, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He may give to you. Hither ye have asked nothing in My name: ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

The history of our nation began with just such a Power of Attorney given unto Moses, when Yahweh spoke to him out of the burning bush, as stated in Exodus chapter 3. Most of the translators have so badly garbled this and have taken the name of our God Yahweh out of it, substituting for it the phrase, the Lord, that I will read it from Rotherham’s translation, so you get the full meaning of it. “Then said Yahweh, I have seen the humiliation of My people who are in Egypt and their outcry have I heard by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their pains; therefore have I come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians. Now therefore, come thou that I may send thee unto Pharaoh and bring forth My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Lo! As surely as I go unto the sons of Israel and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me unto you, so surely they will say unto me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them? And God said yet further unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Yahweh, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is My name to time age abiding and thus My memorial to generation after generation. So they will hearken unto thy voice.” Here is a true Power of Attorney, authority given to act, but the acts must be done in the name of the one who gave that power.

Look what Moses did with this power of attorney. Moses went before the most powerful king of that day, speaking in the name of Yahweh, to demand the release of Israel. By the power given him in that name, he worked miracles. Moses turned his rod into a serpent, he struck the water of the Nile with his rod and turned the water into blood. Then he held his rod over the river and frogs covered the land, he struck the dust with his rod and lice overran the land. He proclaims a plague on the cattle and it occurred, he threw a handful of ashes into the air before Pharaoh and the infection of boils spread among all the Egyptians. He held up his rod toward heaven and the terrible hail fell, he held out his rod and the plague of locusts came. He held up his hand toward heaven and darkness covered the land for three days. Moses then announced the plague of death to come at midnight and it came.

Even after this, Moses found it hard to believe he was authorized to exercise Yahweh’s power. When the Israelites found themselves trapped between the pursuing Egyptian army behind them and the Red Sea in front, Moses lost confidence and prayed for help. Then Yahweh reminded him that he had been given Power of Attorney to do whatever was needed saying in Exodus 14:15-16, “Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward: but lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground in the midst of the sea.” With his courage thus restored Moses did so, and Yahweh’s power divided the Red Sea for them to cross.

Moses’ successor Joshua, received a similar Power of Attorney, when Yahweh said unto him in Joshua 1:1-9, “As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not fail thee; nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swore unto their fathers to give them. Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for Yahweh thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.” What did he do with it? He led the people into the promised land. He dried up the Jordan river long enough for the people to cross. He led the Israelites marching around the city of Jericho and its walls collapsed. He conquered the land and divided it among the tribes of Israel.

Gideon received a similar Power of Attorney. Yahweh told Gideon in Judges 6:14-16, “Go in this thy might and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent thee? And he said unto Him, Oh Yahweh, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh and I am the least in my father’s house. And Yahweh said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” Judges 6:14-16. Gideon believed Yahweh, so he did it, with only 300 men he destroyed a vast army of the Midianites.

These men believed Yahweh, took him at his word, then acted under His Power of Attorney and changed the world’s history. So can we today, Yahshua’s disciples did so. Matthew chapter 10 tells us some of this. “And when He had called unto Him his 12 disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases.” Luke 10:1, 17, 19 continues, “After these things, Yahshua appointed another seventy also, and sent them, two and two, before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come. ... And the seventy returned again, with joy, saying, Yahshua, even the devils are subject to us through Thy name. And He said unto them ... Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Remember, Yahshua gave you this same Power of Attorney when He said, “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do he shall do also.” This is no time for weaklings and compromisers. Here is the man who can stand the test today. “He holds no parley with unmanly fears; where duty bids he confidently steers, faces a thousand dangers at her call and trusting in his God, surmounts them all.”

Why do we cringe in the comer while the forces of evil boastfully advance? Our power is a million times theirs. What are we waiting for, let’s go!! This is your Father’s world and He gave it to you! Why do you let the wicked take it away from you? The great men Moses, Gideon and Yahshua’s disciples didn’t stop with merely believing, they acted upon their belief in Yahweh. You also believe but you also must act. Don’t just talk among yourselves, let your voices be heard by kings and councils, by governors and presidents. Our nation is in its present state of trouble because our major churches are all failures. They are wasting all their energy trying to save some gin soaked skid row bum, until they have nothing left with which to save the nation. We have drifted into danger because the churches fail to speak out boldly on the great issues. When the ministers speak out at all, it is of trifling things which waste their strength and their prestige for nothing.

Yahweh’s work is still to be done, His word still to be spoken. Where others have failed their trust, you can take their place. Speak up now, on all the great issues. You have Yahweh’s Power of Attorney, His mighty power is available to you, if you will only take it and use it, as did the great men of old.

Critical note by Clifton A. Emahiser: I am aware that Bertrand L. Comparet was an attorney at law, and what he says here has much merit. I am also aware that Yahweh gave his servants authority, both in the Old and New Testaments, to carry out certain tasks. I am also aware that Yahshua also gave special instruction to certain things we shouldn’t do, and to presumptively decide to take matters into one’s own hands could be catastrophic. For instance, Christ made it quite clear in His parable of the wheat and tares that it wasn’t yet time to “gather up” the tares. Further, much of the instruction and power of attorney which Christ gave to His disciples and the seventy were peculiar to, and on behalf of their particular time.

There is one command which Yahshua instructed and gave power of attorney for all of us to do at Mark 13:35-37: 34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” This command is important for it was the last instruction which He gave before His crucifixion, and we should heed it. Before one becomes overconfident of his own pretentious ability, it might be well to read Deuteronomy 32:36, 39, 41: “For Yahweh shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. ... See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. ... If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.”

One simply doesn’t start off to war without first gathering information on the enemy. Its called “intelligence”! Our people today have no idea who the enemy is, and most are backing the wrong side by claiming the enemy is our best friend! A watchman’s job it to identify the enemy and then report it to the people. So why don’t we obey the words: “... what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch”? Yes, we need Yahshua’s power of attorney, but we must use it wisely!