Obedience — Disobedience Order—Disorder

The plague, which today plagues almost all nations throughout the world, is disorder. The worm gnawing at the roots of that which keeps human society together is disorder in various forms and degrees. The main reason for the mix-up, confusion, and turmoil confronting us in our days is that an opinion regarding obedience to authorities, which is contrary to that which God’s Word teaches us, is getting the mastery of mankind.

In His wisdom, the Lord gave Adam authority over Eve, parents over their children, principals and magistrates over persons subject to them. It pleased, and still pleases, the Lord to govern us by those who are given authority over us. Authority originates from God, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the world. Although fathers, mothers, principals, presidents, and all authorities are people with weaknesses and infirmities, yet they have to exercise the authority given unto them, and we are bound to honor, love, and obey them. We must submit ourselves to their instruction and correction, unless they require us to do things contrary to God’s Word.

The principle that authority originates from God is the opposite of another, which is false. This false principle states that authority originates from man, and that it is necessary to obey authorities only in so far and so long as they are serving the interests and doing the will of those who gave them their authority. If they do something which we do not like, or if they fail to do something that we wish them to do, then we have the right to oppose them and to disobey their will. If we are honest with ourselves, then we must admit that the last-mentioned principle has the agreement of our flesh and blood. Yet it is rebellion— rebellion against God who commanded us: “honor our father and our mother,” which implies obedience to all persons in authority over us.

Rejection of the true principle and resistance against the above command is not a new thing. Since Adam disobeyed God, disobedience is very common in Adam’s children. We want to be served by father, mother, and all others, but —to serve them —that is something which we do not like too well. Obedience brings order…disobedience causes disorder. The only way to come out of the disorder is to join the battle against disobedience. The only way to come to order is to bow in obedience to the Lord and His will. We read in Psalm 81, “Oh that Israel had hearkened unto Me, and had walked in My ways, instead of walking in their own counsels and in their own ways....’Their time should have endured for ever, and all kinds of prosperity, peace, and rest would have been their portion.

The remedy for all kinds of disorder and revolution is the old message: to the law and to the testimony; otherwise disorder will continue and increase to such an extent that a complete chaos will destroy everything which has been built up in the previous ages as a gift of God to enable men to exist. I know, young people (and perhaps fathers and mothers who also read this), it is called “old-fashioned” to write and to speak so as to stimulate one another to listen to and live according to the rules given in God’s Word. We can see in the history of Israel and in the lives of those who feared the Lord, that when there was a filial obedience to the Lord’s will — order and peace prospered; but when God’s law was forsaken, God’s statutes broken, and His commandments disobeyed—then bitter adversities were the results.

The latter we can see in our days also. Instead of the practice of “No God and no master”— may the attitude of bowing before the Lord and obeying Him and His servants in home, church, and state become our practice and also of others. True conversion is the only way to come into order with the Lord, and obedience to His will the only way out of this day’s turmoil. Being unwilling and unable to attain such an attitude of ourselves, that our constant prayer may be: “Lord, cleanse me from my iniquities by Christ’s blood and Spirit; O that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes.”

Rev. A. Elshout is pastor of the Gereformeerde Gemeente (Netherlands Reformed Congregation) at Scheveningen, the Netherlands.

When presenting young children with a Bible, a minister wrote inside the front cover—

“Either the world will keep you
from this Book—
Or this Book will keep you
from the world.”

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