King of kings and Lord of lords
In Matthew 28:18–the next-to-next to last verse in the gospel–Jesus says,”All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth.” It is not recorded that any of His witnesses objected. No one said, “Except for the power of the Emperor in Rome.”
And when John and Peter were forbidden by the Temple authorities to preach Jesus, what did they reply? “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
I bring this up because we, all of us, are always looking for exceptions to this rule: we don’t like to think that “all power” means “all,” without exception. We inherit Original Sin; that’s why we seek exceptions. But there aren’t any.
This should take care of those who think the Epistle to the Romans, particularly in Chapter 13, teaches us to obey all worldly authorities, all the time. There are people who call themselves Christians but seem to believe that there are times when Caesar outranks Christ. Is it really necessary to say they’re wrong? But it gives them an excuse–they think–to go along with abortion, transgender, same-sex “marriage,” and other public policies that contradict God’s commandments.
You know who they are.
No matter what they think, or wny, they will hear the truth at the Judgement Seat.
Absolute power! The Bible was the most influential book in early America and Benjamin Rush said it should be required to be studied in every school. John Adams wrote a book on how eight year olds could read through the Bible.
It is true, we are to obey those in authority. But only when they follow the law of God. Any rule or law which disregards God’s, laws is unlawful authority. Just think of Daniel, he prayed to God, when the “law” demanded he couldn’t.
Worship song suggestion for tomorrow: Through It All and there are several good versions on youtube.