Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12. This is a promise from God, that refers not only to your happiness and life here on earth, but also your life in the heavenly Canaan. God was talking about your days being forever.
God asks us a question in Malachi 1:6: “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is my reverence? Says the Lord of Hosts to you priests who despise My name.”
Just as we are to honor our parents, we are to honor our Heavenly Father. What is the basis of the honor, the respect, which we give to our parents or to God? Honor runs parallel with obedience, for the Bible says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1.
When you obey and honor someone, it is because they have authority, and you respect them. God has authority—authority above everyone else. In this article we will study to discern what God’s authority is based upon. This is vital because the devil has deliberately confused a large portion of the world on this question.
First of all let us look at the oppose question. What is the authority of the devil based upon? What is authority in this world based upon? Jesus said: “Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.” Matthew 20:25. Authority here on earth is based on the fact that the lords or rulers have power—they “lord it over them.” God’s authority is not like that. His authority is not based on power, unreasoning submission or control. Nevertheless, the devil would like people to believe that God somehow tells you what to do, and you have to do it because He is more powerful than you are.
It is amazing how many Christians believe the devil’s lie and ascribe to God the character traits of the devil. “From the beginning it has been Satan’s studied plan to cause men to forget God, that he might secure them to himself. Hence he has sought to misrepresent the character of God, to lead them to cherish a false conception of Him. The Creator has been presented to their minds as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil himself, as arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 738. [All emphasis supplied.]
The devil has presented God as clothed with the attributes of the prince of evil—arbitrary, severe, and unforgiving. He created the theory of eternal hellfire just to support that. He wanted men to believe that God would punish someone eternally for what they did in their seventy or eighty years of life. This is an example of just how severe a picture Satan has painted of God.
The first character trait the devil applies to God is that He is arbitrary. God has never in all eternity done one arbitrary thing. Look in the Bible account. It is completely against His character. God never asks anyone to do anything, “just because He said so.”
If God never exercises arbitrary authority, would God give me arbitrary authority? No! However, it seems that many today feel He has. This is one of the main reasons we are losing our young people today. Is it any wonder that youth have no interest in religion when they have been taught that God is arbitrary, or we have shown them an example of arbitrary authority? We turn our children away for, “arbitrary words and actions stir up the worst passions of the human heart.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 134.
We ask, If God is not arbitrary and He never exercises arbitrary authority, what kind of authority does He have? God clearly defined it in Deuteronomy 6:24: “And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always.” Our young people need to understand this, and we need to demonstrate it in all of our dealings with other human beings.
All God’s commandments are given for our good always. When the Lord said, Do not commit adultery or do not steal, there was a reason. For every command He has a reason in mind. You and I may not always understand His reason, but that does not mean it is not there. Eve could not figure out why God told her not to eat the forbidden fruit. So she decided to try it. People have been trying it ever since. God says not to do something, and they decide to see what will happen if they do. Sooner or later they find out, and suffer the consequences.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good.” Deuteronomy 10:12, 13.
God Exercises Only Moral Authority
All the authority that God exercises is moral authority—never arbitrary, never severe or unforgiving. What does the word moral mean? It has to do with right and wrong. Something moral is right; something immoral is wrong. In other words, God’s authority is based on a principle of right or wrong.
Abraham understood this and he questioned the Lord about it. “And Abraham came near and said, ‘Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? . . . 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 be right?’” Genesis 18:23, 25.
Abraham knew that God was just, and would not let the righteous die with the wicked. So God promised Abraham, if He could find ten righteous people in the city of Sodom, he would spare the city. Sadly, there were not even ten righteous in Sodom, but God in His justice, spared as many righteous people as He could find, taking them out of the city before it was destroyed.
Moses said about God: “He is the rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” Deuteronomy 32:4.
We need this firmly fixed in our minds. God’s Word is not a list of “do’s” and “do nots.”Following it is the only true road to happiness. We are doing the greatest injury to ourselves when we think or act contrary to the will of God. We need to teach our children this from the time they are little babies, so that when they grow up, they realize that anything God says to do is for their good.
Absolute Authority
In addition to being moral, God’s authority is absolute. God has the right to have absolute authority first of all because He has infinite knowledge. The Bible says that very clearly. “In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3. Because He has infinite knowledge, He never makes a mistake, and He will never err in any of His judgments.
God also has infinite love. He loves those whom He has created, and He will never use His authority or His power in a way that will hurt them. “All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God.” Maranatha, 77. Because His knowledge, wisdom and love are infinite, He alone has the right to absolute authority.
All genuine authority is derived from the authority of God. At times God delegates authority to others. Before John the Baptist was born, God sent the angel Gabriel to talk to Zacharias. He told Him that he and his wife were going to have a son. Gabriel had authority because he was delivering a message from God.
When Zacharias did not believe, the angel said to him, I am Gabriel and I stand in the presence of God and I have come to deliver this message to you. Because you do not believe, you will be dumb until the child is born. Gabriel had authority. He did not have absolute, infinite authority as God has, but when God sent him on an errand, the message he delivered had divine authority.
God delegates His authority, not only to the angels, but also to His people. The church hasP> authority, and His ministers have authority. Where does their authority come from? It comes from the Bible. Paul said to Timothy, “Preach the Word.” 2 Timothy 4:2. If I preach the Word of God to you, that message has divine authority.
It is the same Word that gives the church divine authority. This was lost sight of by many during the Dark Ages. The Roman Church said, The Church produced the Word, therefore we have ultimate authority. If you study the history of the martyrs, you will find that they had debates on this question many times.
The relationship between the Church and the Bible is found in the Bible itself. The following is a text that the Protestant Apologists used in their debates against the Roman Catholic theologians: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth.” James 1:18.
The church did not produce the Word. The Word produced the church. The commandment says that it is the father who is to be honored, not the child. In the same way, the Bible is to be honored above the church, because the Bible was parented, or produced by the Word. Therefore, if we are going to keep the fifth commandment, the church has to honor the Word which brought it forth.
God not only gave authority to His church or to His ministers, but He also gave authority to parents over their children as revealed in the fifth commandment. What kind of authority do parents have over their children? We have just studied that it is not to be arbitrary, but instead authority that is in subjection to God’s Word.
Consider this. In some countries, if a child becomes a Christian against the parent’s wishes, the child could lose his life. Should that child become a Christian? Yes, he should, and he might, if necessary, need to flee from home to have liberty to follow God. A child is only to obey His parents in the Lord. He has a higher power to obey.
Moral authority always has a moral reason. I am amazed that the God of heaven, when dealing with sinful people, condescends to say to us, “Come now, and let us reason together.” Isaiah 1:18. The God of heaven does not exercise authority over His children in an arbitrary, severe, unforgiving manner.
If you want your children to open up their hearts to religion and Jesus, help them to understand this. It will completely change their religious experience. There are homes, churches, organizations and schools all over the world that tell our young people, “You do this because I said so.” That is Satanic. The devil is the one who is arbitrary. Arbitrary commands, with no moral reason, are part of the antichrist power.
Arbitrary authority is one of the reasons why so many marriages break up. As a pastor, people come to me constantly, seeking counsel because their marriages are breaking up. You ought to hear the stories that I hear. It has become clear to me that one of the reasons for this is because we are arbitrary with each other. Remember, arbitrary words and actions arouse the worst passions of the human heart.
When Jesus came to earth, he came to a world where arbitrary authority reigned. The people were accustomed to leaders like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, who came with an army and you did what they said or else! Husbands ruled their wives this way, and parents their children. When Jesus came to the people, He did not come with an army, a dagger. When Jesus came, He said, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am meek [gentle] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30. The authority of Jesus was only exercised with love and kindness.
Where is our love, our spirit of compassion? How many times has our wife or our child done something, and we have become angry and said “that’s it.” Consider God’s longsuffering with you. How many times has He forgiven you? We must learn the lesson found in Luke 6:37, 38: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Do not let the devil deceive you about God’s character, or about what your character must be like to enter heaven.
Kindness to Sinners
It is tragic the way Adventists treat each other. If God treated us the way we are treating one another, we would all be lost. I am astounded at how ready we are to condemn our brothers and sisters. And when someone stops to help these sinners, the report spreads all over the country. “This man is too easy on sin.” Was Jesus easy on sin? Jesus said to the woman who had been involved in prostitution, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11. He forgave all of her past sins and gave her the power to live a new life.
I have preached the gospel to rapists, murderers and others who are in prison for committing terrible crimes. I came to them in Jesus’ name, and told them Jesus could take away all their guilt. That He could give them the power to live a new life and that they could have eternal life. Some were converted and baptized from these prisons. Did I make a mistake? Should I have turned away because they were sinners?
Jesus had the same problem in His day. He got in trouble for preaching the gospel to people condemned by the Pharisees. Jesus said to the paralytic man, “Your sins be forgiven you.” This man had been to the priests and the Pharisees. They condemned him to hell, and told him that because of his sin there was no hope for him. But Jesus said, I forgive you, and I offer you eternal life.
Recently, a lady in California told me her experience. She was working with some people who had been involved in drugs. She told me of the miracles that happened in their lives. She started studying the gospel of John with them, and they gave their hearts to the Lord. Within a few days they wanted to go to church with her. So she took them to church. But there was a problem. They had just come off the street. They did not have a suit or tie, or a nice dress shirt. They were wearing jeans and T-shirts. It was obvious when they arrived at the church that they were not welcome. Nobody was friendly to them. They were from the wrong side of the tracks, the wrong part of society.
The cry of my own heart is, “Lord, I want to be all done with Pharisaism. I no longer want to be arbitrary or severe. Please make me gentle and lowly in heart and give me a forgiving spirit.” If we allow the Lord to make these changes in our hearts, our homes will be like a little heaven here on earth. When our homes become like heaven, our churches will become like heaven. When people come in wearing blue jeans and with long hair, they will see that we do have something that they do not have, and they will want it. Then our churches will become evangelistic centers. When we have put away variance, strife and fighting and arbitrary authority, God will be able to pour His Holy Spirit out on us.
Do you want it to happen? Are you willing to pray, “Lord, help me to give up all this arbitrariness, severity and unforgiving spirit and help me to wear the yoke of Christ and have His spirit and character”? We must pray about this day by day. God wants to give it to us. He has been waiting to deliver us from everything that is Satanic and put His own character into our spirit, life and homes.