Breaking Satan’s Legal Rights: Courts of Heaven Strategies to Overthrow the Adversary
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).
Jesus, in speaking to Peter who would become a chief apostle, talks about the church He would build.
This church would be given and granted Kingdom authority and power. If we are to fully embrace this truth, we need to recognize what this church is that Jesus said He would build. The word church is the Greek word ecclesia. This word means to call out. If, however, we look at the word as it is applied in culture, it means the called-out ones for governmental purposes.
An ecclesia was a group of people who functioned governmentally on behalf of a culture. We can see this in Acts 19:38-41. Demetrius has a legal complaint against Paul. They are upset because of the effect Paul is having in turning people away from the worship of Diana. Diana was a name given to the demonic entity that would be known as the Queen of Heaven. The result of Paul and his team’s ministry was a massive converting of people in Ephesus to Jesus and Christianity. This caused people to forsake the worship of Diana and stop purchasing the images reflecting this demonic god. Demetrius isn’t so much loyal to Diana as he is concerned about losing money. The religious piece is more a smoke screen. However, this causes a legal battle to ensue concerning Paul and his ministry.
“Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. For we are in danger of being called in question for today’s uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.” And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly (Acts 19:38-41 NKJV).
The word assembly in these Scriptures is the Greek word ecclesia. Clearly it is about legal, governmental, and legislative issues. Ecclesias were gathered for the purpose of deciding legal things. This is what Jesus said He would build. He would construct what had legislative and governmental authority to determine life within a culture.
The disciples must have been amazed as good Jewish men for Jesus to have used such words. They probably thought He would have talked about the temple or synagogue or even a house. Jesus however chose the word ecclesia to express what He would build. This word had two different governmental meanings for Roman and Greek cultures. The Greek culture understood the ecclesia to be a governmental people who met at the city gates. This was a group of leaders who gathered to consider legal matters. Their decisions determined and set precedence in individual lives and cultural issues. It was not uncommon for a town crier to announce the gathering of the ecclesia at the city gates. There would be recognized elders at these gates, but also whoever bothered to show up was also part of the ecclesia. The truth is that the church is to be the ecclesia within a culture. When it gathers, it isn’t to just sing some songs and hear a message. It is to be a gathering of a governmental people who render legal decisions within a culture. We are to shift things in the unseen world so that life changes within a culture. This is so that our cities, states, nations, and cultures can look more like Heaven than like hell.
This, by the way, requires the present-day church/ecclesia to function in the Courts of Heaven. We as His church, are a legal entity that should be recognized in Heaven. As a result, we can present cases that the Courts of Heaven will rule on. This is why we are given the authority to bind and loose. The word bind is the Greek word deo. It means to bring into bondage or to arrest. You can only arrest something that has broken the law.
I had a situation where I was prophetically warned of an interruption that the devil was planning in a gathering I was leading. This prophetic warning came from a couple of different prophetic sources. I knew that the enemy intended to usurp my authority in the matter and seek to cause confusion. I was also confident of what the source of this uproar was going to be. As I prayed, I felt the Lord tell me to ask for a bench warrant from His court. In the American judicial system a bench warrant is when a judge issues a warrant for someone’s arrest. This gives law enforcement the right to arrest and detain a person.
The Lord told me to request from His courts this bench warrant. Once this was rendered, the Holy Spirit and the angels had the legal right to arrest the person/spirit who would seek to disrupt the meeting and gatherings. After requesting this and releasing the Holy Spirit and angels to enforce it, this person cut their attendance short and lost any ability to cause the trouble.
The meeting was a booming success and set the tone for even greater things in the future. I am convinced, however, that if I had not sought and secured a bench warrant from the Court of Heaven, the outcome would have been completely different. Chaos would have happened, and the purposes of God would have been disrupted. This good result occurred because I knew how to operate as an apostle in the authority afforded us in the Kingdom of God. As one set by God in His ecclesia, I could use the authority given us to advance His Kingdom.
The other word Jesus uses to describe Kingdom authority is the word loose. This is the Greek word luo, which means “to dissolve a contract and/or decree a divorce.” This too is a legal term or used in legal settings. Many times the devil is claiming a legal right to devour because of covenants or agreements made with him. This may have occurred in our own lives or most likely in our bloodline. When we loose something, we are setting legal things in place to dissolve and undo these covenants, contracts, and agreements. This nullifies the devil’s rights to operate against us. This is important because this is the way satan gains opportunity. First Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil is our legal opponent:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
The word adversary is the Greek word antidikos, which means “one who brings a lawsuit or our legal opposition.” The devil searches for legal agreements that allow his devouring power against us and our families. If we are to see this devouring work of the devil stopped, we must loose or undo the agreements that allow it. This is why it is so important for us to understand the Courts of Heaven. It is in this dimension of the Spirit where these things are accomplished. The ecclesia has the authority to do this on behalf of the culture it is part of. This is what God was looking for when He sought to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18:16-21, we see the Lord deciding to tell Abraham a secret no one knew:
Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
Notice that Abraham’s heart for the generations to come is what caused God to decide to share the secret with Abraham. When we have a heart for God’s will now and for generations to come, God will trust us with His secrets. There is something about a person who desires God’s will from generation to generation that impresses God. Daniel 4:3 tells us the power and importance of generational allegiance to God:
How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.
Notice that the Kingdom is eternal and everlasting. The dominion of that Kingdom, or the functional authority, is from generations to generation. In other words, it requires each generation fulfilling the mandate of God for a full expression of the Kingdom of God to be seen. This is why it is imperative for us to empower the coming generations. They will take whatever level of dominion we have established and further it. Each generation is to have a greater impact than the previous one. This is how we will see the full effect of the Kingdom of God on earth! This is the heart God found in Abraham that caused Him to trust him with His secret.
The secret God told Abraham was His intent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The moment God told Abraham what He was going to do, Abraham began to intercede. Genesis 18:22-26 gives us a glimpse into Abraham’s intercession in behalf of this region:
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
Notice that Abraham still stood before the Lord. This was actually a place in the spirit world called the counsel of the Lord. Jeremiah 23:18 refers to this dimension of the spirit realm. In this place Abraham is contending with the Lord for mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah:
For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?
Jeremiah is making this statement in regard to the false prophets of his day. His point was that only real prophets had access into this spiritual realm called the counsel of the Lord. In this place, the word of the Lord was heard and understood. Jeremiah was letting it be known that the false prophets might pretend to hear and pronounce the word of God, but only real prophets stood in the counsel. This is where Abraham is standing. He positions himself to intercede in this place for Sodom and Gomorrah.
It should be noted that the Lord never asks Abraham to do this. There is no record that God told Abraham he should pray and intercede to spare this wicked place. However, this is exactly what Abraham did. Abraham understood that when God shares a secret it’s not just for someone’s information. Abraham knew that when God shared a secret, it was actually an assignment being given! This is why Abraham began to contend with the Lord for mercy to be given.
We know the process of Abraham in finality persuading God to agree to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if there were ten righteous people. I have heard people my entire life say that Abraham stopped prematurely. That he should have asked the Lord to spare it for one. However this is incorrect. Within Jewish culture there is something called the beit din. This is a Hebrew word that means a house of government. It is a legal body of ten judges. There are three chief judges and seven lesser who make up this body.
When these ten make a judicial decision, there is no appealing it. This is what Abraham was bargaining for on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. These ten whom he requested would have been the equivalent of the beit din. They would have been able to give God the legal right to show mercy to Sodom and Gomorrah and spare it. There are two chief things we should know about the ten who could give God the right to spare this place. First they had to be righteous. Genesis 18:24-26 declares that they had to be righteous people who could give God the legal right to spare the region:
“Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
It couldn’t just be people who attended church. It couldn’t be those who had an affinity for God. It had to be those who were righteous before the Lord. They alone would have the right to appeal to God for mercy. God literally said He would spare it for their sakes. It is righteousness that grants us authority before the Lord. Ezekiel 14:14 speaks of the righteousness of Job, Noah, and Daniel. It actually says that these three righteous people before the Lord would have had enough righteousness to deliver the city and nation.
