We have talked about listening to God’s direct authority. Now we move on to God’s delegated authority. We start off with a scripture:
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves.” (Rom 13:1-2)
Now, let’s find out what those governing authorities consist of.
In the text Paul is making reference to civil or governmental authorities, but the words of exhortation encompass other delegated authority. Therefore what we learn from it, we should apply to all delegated authority.
The New Testament talks of four areas or divisions of delegated authority: Civil, Church, Family, and Social. Social being employers, teachers, and bosses.
Back to the scripture, it begins, “Let every soul”. This means everyone, no exceptions. It also shows a command, not a suggestion.
The scripture continues, “Let every soul be ‘subject’ to the governing authorities.” The Greek word for ‘subject’ is ‘hupotasso’. It is a Greek military term meaning “to arrange (troop divisions) in a military fashion under the command of a leader.” Or for the non-military, “a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden.”
This word is calling us to voluntarily put ourselves under the submission of authorities with the full intent of obeying them.
How many know that the origin of all authority is found in God?
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are ‘appointed’ by God.”
This word ‘appointed’ in the Greek is the word ‘tasso’, which means “to assign, ordain, or set.” So you can see it doesn’t have room for “by chance, got lucky, or fell into.” It implies a well thought out decision.
Since God has appointed all authorities, then if we choose to not submit to a leaders authority then we are refusing to submit to the authority behind that person. That being God. So, when we go against God’s delegated authority, we are in actuality going against God Himself!!
When we have contact with those who are in authority over us, we must see beyond the personality and honor the position. We obey men in authority because God’s authority is upon them. Whether we think they have a good personality or not, whether we think they belong in that position or not, whether we think they are making right decisions with that authority, we are to honor them.
If we believe and profess that we are in submission to God, and yet cannot submit to the authorities that God has placed over us, then we are only deceiving ourselves.
Are there times that we must choose between God’s direct authority and God’s delegated authority? Yes! But not as often as you might think. This question will be discussed in great detail in another study.
If we are disobedient to delegated authority, we are being disobedient to God. And if we are disobedient to God, we are going to bring on severe consequences, as we learned about last week. Not only can disobedience bring judgment, but it also grants legal access to demonic powers. If we want to remain in obedience to God, we have one choice, and that is to be submissive and obedient to delegated authority.
What about Evil authorities, are they appointed by God?
Let’s address this.
Often when we hear that we must submit to ALL authority, we think, “I know leaders who are harsh and downright evil. How can you tell me they were appointed by God?”
Well, who would say that Hitler and Stalin were harsh leaders?
Ok, How many would say that Pharaoh would be in the same category?
Under Pharaoh’s leadership, Israel was brutally treated. He enslaved and impoverished the people. He physically and mentally abused them. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he murdered many in cold blood. He was defiant and arrogant and had no regard for human life or the Lord Himself. Where did his authority come from? How did God’s people end up under him?
In Ex. 9:16, God told Pharaoh through Moses, “I have raised you up.” Paul confirmed this in Rom 9:17. “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP”
From this we can see that God put Pharaoh to rule over Israel. It wasn’t Satan, and it wasn’t an accident.
How did the children of Israel end up under this man’s authority?
Let’s go back a bit.
God appeared to Abraham when he was 75 and told him he would make a great nation out of him if he obeyed. Abraham did, and his obedience pleased God so much that he is called the “father of faith” (Rom 4:11-12).
In response to Abraham’s obedience, God made a covenant with him. In the covenant God said, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be ‘enslaved’ and ‘mistreated’ four hundred years.” (Gen 15:13)
In another translation the word ‘afflicted’ is used in place of ‘mistreated’. Wow! What a difficult thing to hear! Doesn’t sound like a word of comfort does it? To know that future generations of yours would be headed to be slaves and to be mistreated. Yet we just heard that God was pleased with Abraham for his obedience.
One might think, “The Lord told Abraham this in advance because his descendants would be disobedient and would therefore be placed under Pharaoh as punishment for bad behavior, yet God would never actually plan this for them!”
Lets see if this is a possibility. First let’s look at how they came under the leadership of Pharaoh.
Abraham’s son, Isaac, was a God-fearing man who lived in obedience and holiness. He and his wife Rebekah, had two sons: Esau and Jacob. Esau and Jacob were very different people. God shared how he felt about the boys before their birth, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated” (Rom 9:13).
Though Jacob started out as a deviant, he later had a radical encounter with God at Peniel (Gen 32). The encounter established God’s covenant of blessing in his life, and his name was changed to Israel, which means “Prince of God.” And after that a strong devoted lifestyle. He commanded his family to turn from idolatry and to remain pure before God.
Israel had 12 sons, the 11th being Joseph. Joseph had prophetic dreams showing that he would be a great leader. His brothers were upset with this, and plotted a way to stop it. They ended up selling him to be a slave in Egypt. Through this Joseph remained faithful. After serving faithfully for 10 yrs, there came a false accusation that put him back into prison for more than 2 yrs. Again, through this, he remained faithful and loyal.
You know that while in prison he interpreted the dreams of two people who had worked for Pharaoh. One of them was killed, while the other restored. Later, when Pharaoh had a dream that troubled him, Joseph was remembered.
He warned the Pharaoh of a famine that was coming, and when asked, advised a plan to keep the people from running out of food during this famine. Joseph was elevated in his position to second in command and was the overseer of all that Pharaoh ruled. Pharaoh was the only one over him.
Ok, now, back home was Joseph’s godly father, Israel, who knew nothing of what was to happen. God didn’t reveal it to him. This was the very thing that would transport all Abraham’s descendants to Egypt.
Two years into the famine, Israel sent his sons to buy grain in Egypt. Without it they would die. Egypt was the place where they were prepared for this famine. God had made this nation rich as a result of what He revealed to Joseph. He was working Egypt into becoming the most powerful and influential of nations, and He did this for a purpose.
When the brothers went to Joseph about buying the grain, they did not realize it was him. When they did find out, they were scared. Here was their brother, who they sold into slavery, and they are coming to him for food. If he was angry with them, not only could he deny them food, he could have them killed, and Pharaoh wouldn’t care.
But initially, Joseph kept his identity hidden from the brothers. Instead of being angry and doing harm to the brothers, he blessed them with free food. But he also found a way to keep one of the brothers with him to cause the entire family to come there to Egypt. It was after they were all together that he revealed himself.
Although the brothers were scared at this revelation, Joseph said this to them, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Gen 45:4-8)
Joseph comforted them by letting them know it wasn’t them that brought him to where he was, but that it was God who caused it.
Joseph comforted them by letting them know it wasn’t them that brought him to where he was, but that it was God who caused it.
Ps 105:16-19, “Moreover He [God ] called for a famine in the land; He destroyed all the provision of bread. He sent a man before them – Joseph – who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.”
Wow! So Joseph really did see that through all that he went through, that God had His hand on it and in it. That God laid this all out for Joseph to go through. All the hardship he went through was a time of learning for him. For testing and preparing him for what was in store.
Is this showing us that even good people can go through harsh treatment by authority? And that it can be as a result of the hand of God? Gods plan and provision?
Lets look some more. Joseph said to his family, through divine inspiration, “And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Gen 45:7-8)
Great Deliverance! So, it was not the disobedience of Abraham’s descendants that brought them under the rule of Pharaoh, but God’s plan. God also knew that shortly after Joseph’s death, another Pharaoh would rise up and treat Israel with cruelty. (Ex. 1:8-14) God told Abraham that his descendants would be afflicted for four hundred years.
So lets ask this question, “Why didn’t God give the Israelites the wisdom to overcome the famine instead of the Egyptians, knowing that the Israelites would end up under a harsh ruler?” Joseph and all the Israelites could have avoided all kinds of suffering had God done things differently.
Truth is, God wanted them under Pharaoh. It was His plan. But Pharaoh was like an early day Hitler. He murdered people and put them under extreme hardship. So, why would God put them under such a man?
Here is the answer: God’s priority is not for us to have the comforts and enjoyments of this world – His priority is redemption!
Remember what God spoke to Pharaoh? “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (Ex 9:16).
Before this took place, the only ones who knew about God, were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. That is why when Moses went before Pharaoh, Pharaoh did not know who God was and said, “who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go” (Ex 5:2). Pharaoh and all of Egypt did not know who God was. When God sent plagues and showed signs to let His people go, this was kind of an introduction to the people. Now everyone would know who God was.
We also know through scripture that after a few plagues, some of the Egyptians were beginning to believe God and His word. “He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.” (Ex 9:20) They heard what was coming and they believed it to where they took shelter. This was right before the hail came. Then they would go to Pharaoh, “Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord.” (Ex 10:7). Even the magicians were seeing it, “This is the finger of God.” (Ex 8:19)
Look at this: “Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people” (Ex 11:3). Why? Because they saw that this man who was acting on God’s behalf as a messenger, that he not only spoke what God wanted him to, but that things happened. This was very different from the gods they were accustomed to. This God was real!
We continue to see the evidence of God being revealed to the people, and the people’s eyes being open here in two more scriptures. In Ex 12:35-36, “the Israelites did what Moses told them to do and asked their Egyptian neighbors for things made of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord caused the Egyptians to think well of them, and the Egyptians gave the people everything they asked for. So the Israelites took rich gifts from them.”
And even Pharaoh could not deny God. “the Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked” (Ex 9:27). Now, all Egypt knew whom the living God was.
God had brought Joseph to Egypt, which positioned Egypt to be the greatest – only to be defeated by Israelite slaves. The fact that the slaves defeated this nation was more impacting because Egypt was such a big and powerful nation. This caused word to spread beyond the nation of Egypt.
The impact of this revelation of who God was, impacted beyond that generation. We know this from when Joshua sent spies into Jericho. They were met by Rahab who said this, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of your has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt… And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (Josh. 2:9-11).
The name of God had spread as well as His power. God was not only known for His glory, but for His redemption. This resulted in the salvation of Rahab, a harlot, and the salvation of her family. Even more significant then the salvation of Rahab, is the fact that she was the great grandmother of King David and the lineage of Jesus Christ.
This would not have happened if God had not declared throughout the whole earth His name through humbling Pharaoh.
A few hundred years after the exodus from Egypt, there was still evidence of the fear of God. During the time of Eli, Israel was in a battle with the Philistines and suffered a loss the first day. The next day the Israelites brought the ark into the war camp.
1 Sam 4:5, “When the Ark of the Covenant came into the camp, all the Israelites gave a great shout of joy that made the ground shake.” The Philistines heard the noise, and wasn’t sure what happened. Then when they realized that the Ark had been brought into the camp, this was how they responded, “The Philistines were afraid, for they said, God [Hebrew, elohiym] is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods [elohiym]? These are the Gods [elohiym] that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues. (1 Sam 4:7-8 KJV)
The Hebrew word used for “Gods” is elohiym. This word is used almost two thousand times in the Old Testament to identify the Lord God we serve. It is written 32 times in the first chapter of Genesis alone, identifying our God and Creator. Therefore, it could have been accurately translated “God” instead of “Gods.” Hundreds of years later, the Philistines were still afraid of this very God. Even though they did not serve Him, they KNEW who He was.
Wicked leaders like Pharaoh do not catch God off-guard. Rom 13:1. “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” Any and all authority, good or bad, has been put there by God. Each one has been put in that position for a specific reason.
But what good could have come out of leaders such as Stalin or Hitler? Lets find the answer in the scriptures.
“Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden…. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Rom 9:18; 11:33-34)
How can we know any better what God has in store? Or what good has been a result of the leaders He has put in their positions. Just as the Israelites being under harsh rule proclaimed God for who He is and for the power he has, it also lined things up so He could do His work. How could Jesus have come through the bloodline He did, had God not shown who He was?
Paul also says, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Rom 9:20) Think about it. Are we in a position to question God??
God showed us in scripture how he used Pharaoh for a greater good, but God does not always explain or show His reasoning. He wants us to trust His reasoning, to trust His goodness and faithfulness.
God never allows suffering without a purpose. He can always turn suffering for His redemptive purposes, even if we never see it. He doesn’t allow harm to come to us within the realm of eternity.
Many were killed for the sake of Christ, many of them in harsh and cruel ways, but they did not die for nothing. Don’t their stories and the things they lived and died for still speak to us today?
There are ways that we can affect leaders and that is through humility, obedience, and prayer. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks by made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good an acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” (1 Tim 2:1-3)
Prayer and obedience and humility can make changes in our leaders, but there are exceptions. The apostles and saints frequently dealt with harsh rulers who treated them cruelly.
They did not suffer because they lived ungodly lives or because they weren’t in prayer. Sometimes harsh leaders play a role in something bigger God is doing.
Lets look at one such leader, Herod Agrippa I. The name Herod was used to identify many Roman rulers before the birth of Jesus. Herod came to power in 37 A.D., after the resurrection of Jesus. He was a clever man, and used opportunities he saw to promote himself toward leadership.
A primary political maneuver after the Roman emperor Caligula was murdered was to help Claudius gain the throne. Claudius rewarded his shrewd political move, and he confirmed Agrippa in his present position and added the territories of Judea and Samaria. He became ruler of a kingdom as large as that of his grandfather, Herod the Great.
During his rule, Herod Agrippa I was forced to side in the struggle between Judaism and the Christian sect. Without hesitation he assumed the role of the Christians’ bitter persecutor. We read in the Book of Acts, “Now about that time Herod [Agrippa I] the king stretched out his had to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also” (12:1-3)
The ruler was harsh with the believers because it served his political purposes and gained him favor with the Jews. He’d killed James, one of Jesus’ three closest apostles, and he intended to kill Peter.
We must ask, “Where did Agrippa’s authority come from?” Even though it appeared his maneuvers gained him power, he did not get into his position of authority without God’s knowledge and appointment.
Peter, who had suffered at the hands of Agrippa, told believers to “fear God, honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:17) What? Honor the king who had murdered James? Why would God appoint such a harsh leader over the very land in which so many of His children dwelled and then tell them to “honor him”? Part of our answer is found as we continue in Scripture: “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12:5). As a result, God sent an angel who miraculously delivered Peter from the dungeon to the safety of a home prayer meeting. If the believers had not honored the king, but had rebelled against God’s command as it relates to delegated authority, they would not have seen God’s hand miraculously move.
Agrippa’s plans to kill Peter had been intercepted because of obedience and prayer in the church. In turn, that strengthened the believers. Again, God had used a harsh leader for His redemptive work. And the evidence of the work done: “But the word of God grew and multiplied” (Acts 12:24).
Further obedience and prayer on the part of the believers made a major impact in the life of Agrippa. Later in scripture we read, Herod set a day in which he came before the people, sat on his throne, and gave a public address: “And the people kept shouting, ‘the voice of a god and not of a man!’ then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died” (Acts 12:22-23).
Judgment did come, but not because the people brought it. God brought the judgment. We will learn how God is the one who judges leaders. We are commanded to pray for leadership, to honor and submit to their authority. And if judgment needs to come, we need to make room for that. Sometimes that means getting out of the way.