Page 95 - The Christian Life and the Church Life_Government of God

Living under Authority and Representing God 94

GOD BEING THE SUPREME AUTHORITY AND
HIS HAVING ALL AUTHORITY

God is the supreme authority; He has all authority (Rom. 9:21-22).
God’s Authority Representing God Himself;
God’s Power Only Representing God’s Works
God’s authority represents God Himself; God’s power only represents
God’s works (Acts 17:24).
God’s Authority Being Actually God Himself;
Authority Issuing Out from God’s Own Being
God’s authority is actually God Himself; authority issues out from God’s
own being (Rev. 22:1). The Greek word for the noun authority is exousia.
Ousia means one’s being—one’s essential being. And ex means out from.
Authority has its source in the inner being of God and when this flows out, that
is authority. No angel, no apostle, no elder, no person on the earth dare say,
“I am the authority. I have authority and it will now come out of me.” That is
a Satanic substitute. That is the uttermost of rebellion. That is replacing God
with His authority by the self. In Revelation 22, we all know there is a throne
of God and of the Lamb and the river of water of life is flowing. And we have
a hymn that has this main thought that the river is flowing bringing God’s
authority wherever it flows.
All Authority—Spiritual, Positional,
and Governmental—Deriving from God
All authority—spiritual, positional, and governmental—derives from
God (2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10; John 19:10-11; Gen. 9:6). When we come to two
points on the outline, we will read the word “delegated authority” and later
we will read “deputy authority”. They are the same. There is no such thing as
a class of persons—and it is usually workers who assume this; they say, “We
are the deputy authority and the leading ones and elders whom we appoint
are delegated under authority.” Those who do that have just now established
a hierarchy, “We are the deputy authority! The ones we appoint are delegated,
so they are under us and then we, for any reason that we want to, can dismiss
you!” This happened throughout a whole continent, not just in one city or
one country—the whole continent! One defined himself as an apostle, even
changed his name to John — “I’m the Apostle John!”— “He has authority.”