One
in authority has the right to command, direct, and enforce obedience. He
also has the right to administer punishment to the disobedient. When the
one having ultimate authority empowers others to act upon his will, then
in that manner he authorizes action. One who assumes authority not
granted by the one who has the right to empower acts with presumption
and flaunts all authority.
In divine
matters, as they relate to man, authority springs from the creation. "In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"
(Gen. 1:1).
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them"
(Gen. 1:27).
If there is no divine creator, then there is no creation, the universe
is the product of chance, man himself is an accident of nature and there
is no basis for moral or spiritual authority. This is the very premise
from which the secular humanist works. He boldly proclaims "There is no
God" and "Man is the measure of himself."
Order in the Universe
But if God
created the universe, then order flows from his power to make whatever
exists. In God's speech to Job he asked, Where wast thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Hast thou entered into the treasures of the
snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved
against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? By what
way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way
for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth, where no
man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; to satisfy the
desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to
spring forth? Hath the rain a father or who hath begotten the drops of
dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who
hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of
the deep is frozen. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or
loose the bands of Orion?
(Job 38:4, 22-31).
Start with
the premise that "God is" and the existence and order in the universe
makes sense. If God made it all and it functions according to his power,
then we are spared all the hand wringing about global cooling, global
warming, depleting the ozone, running out of water, running out of wood,
running out of food, and all the anxieties concocted in the humanist
mind. That is not to say that man should not be a good steward of the
world God made for us. But he did make it for us! The God who made it is
still in charge. The unbeliever with all his vaunted wisdom and arrogant
self-assurance cannot form one drop of dew on the ground, cannot make it
rain, nor stay the terrifying rumble of an earthquake, nor stop the
force of a hurricane. The authority of the Almighty rules in the
universe.
Order in the Moral Realm
Because God
made man, man is subject to divine law. If there is no God, then there
is no basis for moral order. Much of the chaos which is evidenced by all
forms of crime and immorality grows out of a disrespect for divine
authority. If man has evolved by chance then he has no standard for
moral behavior except whatever he imposes upon him-self. This is the
spring from which situation ethics flows. But if God made us, he has the
right to determine what is moral conduct and to call us to account for
disregarding his authority over us.
This point
was forcefully driven home by Paul on Mars Hill in his speech to the
Athenian philosophers. Read
Acts 17:24-31.
Go on, and read it. Notice
verse 24:
"God that made the world and all things therein." Then look at
verse 26:
"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation." Look at
verse 28:
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being."
Verse 30
informs us
that "God commands all men everywhere to repent." Why is that? Now look
at
verse 31:
"Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
Do you see
the progression? God made the world and all things therein. In him we
live and move and have our being. Therefore, God calls upon us to
repent. Why is that?
He has
appointed a day of judgment. God made us, expects something of us, and
will call us to account for that responsibility. The Creator has
authority over the creature. Paul's question to the Romans is pertinent.
"Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me
thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor"
(Rom. 9:20-21)?
With
notable exceptions, the morals of this nation are a shambles. How did we
come to such a sad state of affairs? The creature has scorned his
Creator. We have fallen into the same pit into which the Gentile nations
plunged as described by Paul in
Romans 1:18-32.
When they knew God, they did not glorify him as God
(v. 21).
Did they have abundant evidence of his power and majesty? Oh yes! They
had the whole universe as testimony to the existence and power of the
Almighty
(v. 20).
But they became ungrateful, filled with vanity and arrogance. While they
boasted of their great wisdom they in reality became fools. As their
hearts became darker and darker they made idols to satisfy man's innate
desire to worship something. The end result of all that was moral chaos.
Everything from homosexuality to murder followed. How and why did this
happen? The creature lost respect for the Creator. As in the world at
large, even so among those who claim to follow Christ, moral looseness
grows out of waning respect for the authority of God to rule in our
hearts and direct the affairs of life. Happy is the one who seeks the
Lord, gropes after him and finds him, though he is not far from every
one of us
(Acts 17:27).
Guardian of Truth - December 21, 1995