Authority
The
Elastic Jesus
Authority - Righteous or Wicked
Rejoicing or Mourning
"I am the light of the
world" John 8:12
The Elastic Jesus
Why do people so consistently attack the
biblical record and the plain truth about Jesus and His
claims? In a word, its all about
authority.
People don't want to accept the Jesus of the Bible - His
deity, virgin birth, sinless life, teaching, miracles,
death, and resurrection - because if they do, they are
forced to deal with the staggering implications.
If Jesus is God, you can't just live any way you want.
If Jesus is God, He is going to restrict and restrain you.
You can't have your immorality, materialism, pride, and
hatred. No more apathy toward divine truth, authority, and
eternal punishment.
And the best way to divest yourself of your spiritual
obligations is to undermine what the Bible teaches about
Christ. You wage an assault on the credibility of Scripture,
cloaking the attack in pious, scholarly robes. Instead of
dealing with Jesus for who He is, you put Him on trial. You
turn Him into the subject of an academic research project.
Instead of THE Jesus, its MY Jesus and who He is TO ME.
The elastic Jesus bends and stretches
to your specifications, never making any hard demands on
your life or lifestyle.
- John MacArthur, (from a Grace to You
newsletter)
Authority -
Righteous vs. Wicked
When the righteous are in authority, the
people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people
mourn.
- Proverbs 29:2
When the righteous are in authority,
or "are increased"; either in number or in riches, or in
power and dominion; are set in high places, and have the
exercise of civil government and the execution of the laws
in their hands; for the protection of good men in their
civil and religious privileges, and for the punishment of
evil men; for the encouraging of all that is good, and for
the discouraging of everything that is bad;
the people rejoice; the whole body of the people,
because of the public good; a state is happy under such an
administration; everyone feels and enjoys the advantage of
it; see #1Ki 4:20;
but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn; or
"groan," or "will groan," under their tyranny and
oppression, and because of the sad state of things; the
number of good men is lessened, being cut off, or obliged to
flee; wicked men and wickedness are encouraged and promoted;
heavy taxes are laid upon them, and exorbitant demands made
and cruelty, injustice, and arbitrary power exercised; and
no man’s person and property safe; see Proverbs 10:11;
28:12,28.
- John Gill, John Gill's Expositor
Rejoicing or Mourning
When the righteous are in authority, the
people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people
mourn.
- Proverbs 29:2
The people
will have cause to rejoice or mourn according as their rulers
are righteous or wicked; for, if the righteous be in authority,
sin will be punished and restrained, religion and virtue will be
supported and kept in reputation; but, if the wicked get power
in their hands, wickedness will abound, religion and religious
people will be persecuted, and so the ends of government will be
perverted.
The people will actually rejoice or mourn according as their
rulers are righteous or wicked. Such a conviction are even
the common people under of the excellency of virtue and religion
that they will rejoice when they see them preferred and
countenanced; and, on the contrary, let men have ever so much
honour or power, if they be wicked and vicious, and use it ill,
they make themselves contemptible and base before all the people
(as those priests, #Mal 2:9) and subjects will think themselves
miserable under such a government.
- Matthew Henry, Matthew
Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible
