Page 92 - The Christian Life and the Church Life_Government of God

Living under Authority and Representing God 91

nothing to do with really knowing authority, this is your culture. This brings
us to something quite enlightening—the only human being who ever truly
lived under authority was the Lord Jesus. And there are two portions in the
New Testament that testify of this.
In Matthew 8, a centurion sent a message to Jesus that his servant was
very sick and would soon die. He asked the Lord to heal his servant, and the
Lord was willing to come. Then the centurion indicated, “I’m not worthy
for you to come to my house, simply speak a word and my servant would be
healed.” And then the centurion said this, “I also am a man under authority.”
He could direct soldiers under him because he himself was under authority,
and he recognized that the God-man Jesus was a man under authority. Because
of that, His words spoken would be words of authority. But the main point
here is Christ, and Christ alone, as the God-man, is the only person who ever
walked on this earth—who outwardly, and inwardly, and essentially—lived
under authority, which is God Himself.
Then the other portion is Philippians 2, where Christ laid aside the
outward splendor or His deity and became a man, then He humbled Himself
to be a slave, and He was obedient unto death. Brother Nee in the book
Authority and Submission has a wonderful chapter on the submission of
Christ. He points out the Lord was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, He established submission—He established obedience. He was
under authority, obeying the will of God, obeying the word of the Father,
no matter what it was, until the end; therefore, God highly exalted Him and
gave Him a name above every name. I believe with my whole being the day
is coming when every knee will bow, in heaven, and on earth, and under the
earth, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord! He is the pattern
of living under authority, doing the will of God, being obedient unto death.
Then in resurrection, He appeared to His disciples in Matthew 28—and this
word He spoke needs to be written on our heart. He said, “All authority in
heaven and on earth, has been given to Me, the Son of Man.” All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to Him by God Himself. Because God
is authority, authority only issues from Him, and He bestowed this on His
crucified, resurrected, ascended, enthroned Son of Man. Brothers, we need
to see what this statement implies—It implies no one in this room has any
authority at all! And we never will because all the authority is with the Son