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Abandoning Authority

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Jesus, as victor over death by resurrection, ascended to His throne in heaven at the right hand of God (Acts 2:30-36). Just prior to this ascension, Jesus appeared to His disciples and said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Mt. 28:18). Jesus is Lord! He is “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15).

Photo by Keyur Nandaniya on Unsplash
Photo by Keyur Nandaniya on Unsplash

Entrance into the everlasting kingdom of heaven is supplied by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:11). If Jesus is to be our Savior, He must first be our Lord. Jesus asked, “why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (Lk. 6:46). Indeed, many call Him Lord and say that they know Him while in reality they do not keep His commandments. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 Jn. 2:3). Those who claim Jesus is their Lord without operating under His authority (by actually following His commands) are in for a rude awakening. Jesus warned:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Mt. 7:21-23.)

One of the major problems in our society is a lack of respect for authority. No doubt authority has been abused by wicked men in the past, but that does not warrant abandonment of all authority. Certainly, Jesus has not abused His authority. His authority ought to be respected. Today, many have the concept that they are the exception to the rule. As in the days of the judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Jdgs. 21:25).

Sadly, this thinking has also permeated some circles in the church. Instead of regarding the will of King Jesus revealed in the New Testament as authoritative over our lives, some live how they please as if there is no law by which our King expects us to live. If we want to see Jesus in heaven, a place pure from the defilement of sin (Rev. 21:27), then we must continue the process of rooting sin out of our lives to become more and more holy and pure as Jesus is holy and pure (1 Jn. 3:3). God helps us in our sanctification if we will be sensitive to His word (Acts 20:32).

However, sin is a transgression of God’s word; it is lawlessness—acting as if one is a law unto himself and disregarding the laws and commands of God (1 Jn. 3:4). Children of God do not continue the practice of sin (1 Jn. 3:5). They have been delivered from the bondage of sin (Jn. 8:34-36; Rom. 6:5-19). To go back to the defilements of sin would mean an abandonment of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who set the Christian free in the first place, and would result in a worse end than the beginning (2 Pet. 2:20-22). Do not be duped by religious teaching that promises a false freedom in the form of disregarding the authority Jesus has over our lives; instead of true freedom, this thinking results in the bondage of corruption (2 Pet. 2:19).

-Mark Day

The Last Day

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This Lord’s day is the last day of the year on our calendar for 2023. What will be the last Sunday in your life and mine? We don’t know. I do not know when my last day on earth will be (Ecc. 7:14; 8:6-8; 9:2-10). However, I do know there will be a last day for the earth and all the works in it. There will be a last day of all time. I do not know when it will be, nor do you (Mt. 24:35, 36). I don’t know if it will be a Sunday, but I do know it will be the “day of the Lord” and will come unexpectedly “as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10).

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Timothy Eberly on Unsplash ” width=”2560″ height=”1707″> Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

Sometimes in the Bible the day of the Lord refers to a judgment on a particular nation (Isa. 13:6, 9), but, looking at the context of the “day of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians, it becomes apparent that this final day will be the day when the dead in Christ are raised (1 Thess. 4:16). Jesus spoke of resurrection on the last day. He said, “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6:39-40). He further explained that imbibing of His instructions and following them would lead to eternal life including resurrection on the last day: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6:54). In the previous chapter, Jesus had spoken of giving life and said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (Jn. 5:28, 29).

Martha believed her brother Lazarus would rise again in the resurrection on the last day (Jn. 11:24). In reply to Martha, Jesus said just before He raised Lazarus from the grave, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (Jn. 11:25). The apostle Paul believed in the resurrection on the final day even after he became a Christian, a truth the Pharisees recognized but the Sadducees rejected (Acts 23:8; Lk. 20:27-40). His upbringing as a Pharisee taught him of the hope of the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5). He then met the resurrected Lord Jesus (Acts 9:3-6; 22:6-10; 26:13-231 Cor. 9:1; 15:8).

Paul spent the rest of his days looking forward to the victory Christians will have over death on that final day of resurrection (1 Cor. 15). Paul by inspiration expressed his confidence that he will receive a reward in the final judgment on that day when Jesus judges the living and the dead (2 Tim. 4:1, 8). He wrote his epistles preparing people to meet the Lord in judgment on the final day and give an account of the deeds done in their bodies (Rom. 14:8-12; 2 Cor. 5:10). He instructed Corinth to withdraw from the fornicator in their midst so that he would repent and his spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 5:5). He further instructed that “the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power” (1 Cor. 6:13, 14). To the persecuted Thessalonians, he assured them that the Lord Jesus would be revealed from heaven would repay their persecutors in flaming fire on that final day, the day when the Lord would be glorified and admired among them who believe (2 Thess. 1:6-10). We should likewise live in view of that final day.