Great Authority
(Rev 13:1-10)
A year has passed since the Constitutional Court impeached a president for the first time in Korean history. With great authority falsely given to them, Taemin Choi, a fake pastor and his daughter had wielded their power over Korean society. Lets think about what this great authority is.
1. Its the power given by Satan. Just as the dragon tries to copy God, the beast copies Christ. We often cant tell Christs power from the beasts. We constantly misuse our little worldly power from Satan as if it were our own, mistaking it for the authority from God. However, this power is a limited one subject to Gods judgment. No matter how great it is, all authority without God is from Satan. The greater the power a man has without knowing God, the more dangerous he is. The best way to fight against the great power of Satan is filling up our body with Christs trials as Gods people. Recently, the Me-too movement surprises us. As Jesus said, this world is evil and adulterous. Its high time for us to pray that these people will meet Jesus, repent of their sins, and go with us to the heavenly kingdom.
2. Its the power of the Antichrist, that is fake peace. Anti-Christ gives us fake authority and temporary peace without Jesus. However, people chase them and worship the beast that the Anti-Christ sent by idolizing its authority, heads, and crowns. We cater to world authority, lest we should lose peoples recognition of us, which we regard as the result of our hard earning. We worship the winners in spite of ourselves while being swayed by misgivings. The more we desire, the easier we become prey of Anti-Christ. We chase all sorts of prosperity such as prophecy, healing, and blessing even though we cast doubts on them. In short, we have our own private messiah. They can be our school background, business, healing of disease, marriage, and appearance. Thus the beasts of the Anti-Christ are dwelling right within us.
3. Its Satans blasphemous authority to be exercised for 42 months. This authority is time-limited. Our earthly life is fleeting no matter how tough it might be. The world torrents of ideology like communism, capitalism, and democracy became the blasphemous power that slanders Christ. Lets give it a second thought. Did democracy, its freedom, and capitalism lead us to the heavenly kingdom? Theyve rather driven us to a whirlpool of materialism we can hardly escape from. The grimace of conservatism and progressivism is our vivid portrait. There is no special life on earth. Without God, theres no true conservatism or progressivism. The model of the most beautiful church on earth is ironically the underground church of North Korea. Gods supreme authority is for the Christians living in the toughest circumstances. Our church is also indebted to that one praying person suffering in the midst of tough circumstances. Without the healing power of the Holy Spirit, we fall prey to the power of sin, which drives us to addiction, apathetic to our sinful nature till we cant escape from it on our own. Thus it is the desire, reason, and emotion of our spiritually dead focus on self-worshiping narcissism rather than on glorifying God that makes Satan the most happy. The affairs of leaders sexual-violence are evil deeds committed in the abuse of their dominant position. Isnt it like worshiping the beast which has authority?
4. The true authority is Christians faith and perseverance. 'If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.'says todays passage. Notice the double blade of this passage, which advises us to endure the persecution of worldly authority till the time when those who caught us go into captivity. We cant defeat Satan by waging the war of flesh and blood, The greatest authority comes from our endurance with repentance. The key to authority is not being afraid of humans, but revering God as He is. Satan is ready to devour us, prowling around like a roaring lion. To this, heres no master solution. Everything should be united whether through our morning prayer or a tithe offering. We need to face trials with all of our mind, heart, and will, checking our own spiritual level and life-story. When we struggle to be spiritually awake and to live for others through our meditation, training, and prayer, yet lament over our inability, God feels for us and sends us His Spirit. We need patience and faith. We need to win this battle of self-denial. The authority of Satan around us is what God permitted to come upon us. Yet its also the mark of Gods love for us to train us to be qualified for His greatest authority. In 1914, Ernest Shackleton, and his 27 crew members were caught in ice right before their Antarctic destination. After two and half years, they were all safely rescued. How could they have waged their war if they had not been spiritually awake? However, when Shackleton returned to his old comfortable life, he began to live a prodigal life, enjoying his reputation till he lost his family and went back to sea. On the day when he started his voyage, however, he had a heart-attack and passed away. No one is perfect on earth. Whether we have our memory of victories, Satan is ready to attack us at every opportunity. Without patience and faith, we fall.
We see an example of Gods greatest authority dwelling in our small group meeting, where both a defender and an offender of sexual affairs weep together, sharing their bitterness. We are all 100% sinners, whether an offender or a defender. The recent Me-too movement was caused by the offenders, who mistook their temporary authority for their own. Yet, driven by the power of Satan again, some of them committed suicide because of shame. There is a big difference between Absaloms authority, given by Satan and Davids great authority based on his patience and faith. The same incident can be a judgment to one person while it can be a salvation to another. May God bless us to share our sins together and pray for the human rights of North Korea, where Gods supreme authority lurks in the patience and faith of its godly people!
And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name (Rev 13:1).
