IT'S NOT WORTH IT: REBELLION part one

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Dearly beloved, I welcome you to the month of July. I hope you are increasing in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This month I will be sharing with you on what I titled ‘REBELLION.’

Rebellion is simply resisting authority or any kind of control. It is opposition to authority. God does not condone rebellion of any kind. He frowns at rebellion to parents (spiritual or physical), rebellion to authority (government, work, church) etc. When a fellow rebels against an authority the fellow is rebelling against God who is the author of that authority. Romans 13:1-4, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damanation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”
People rarely get away with rebellion against human authority but the one you cannot afford to rebel against is the most high. Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” When a fellow rebels against God, everything God created begins to work against such fellow. In Jonah 1:1-7, God told Jonah to go and witness to the people of Nineveh. Jonah refused and boarded a ship to Tarshish. On his way everything God created began to work against him. First it was the great wind on the sea; this wind almost broke the ship into two. When the men on-board found that Jonah was the source of the problem, they bundled him and threw him into the sea. As if that was not enough, a big fish swallowed him and tried to digest Jonah. It was while he was in the belly of the fish he came back to his senses, he repented and asked for mercy.

Note this, rebellion against God’s authority was humanity’s first sin (Genesis 3) and continues to be the downfall of the man. The sinful nature does not want to bow to the authority of another not even God. Such a nature wants to be its own boss, and that rebellion in the human heart is the root of all sin (Romans 3:23).

The clearest demonstration in the Bible of rebellion and its consequences is found in 1st Samuel 15, king Saul chosen by God to lead Israel, got too big. He thought he knew better than God of what God wanted from him, so he disobeyed God’s direct instruction (1st Samuel 15:3) and substituted his own idea. Instead of following God’s directive to destroy all the plunder from the enemy’s camp, Saul kept the best of the livestock. And instead of killing he wicked king Agag as God had commanded, Saul brought him back as a prisoner. Both these acts were in rebellion against God’s orders, yet Saul was pleased with his initiative and tried to justify his disobedience – the animals were to be sacrificed to the Lord, “And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God and the rest we have utterly destroyed". (1st Samuel 15:13).

Rebellion against proper authority is a serious matter in God’s eyes. The Prophet Samuel confronted king Saul with these words, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hath rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1st Samuel 15:22-23)

Rebellion is linked to pride in this passage and both sins are equated with witchcraft, Because of Saul’s persistent rebellion against God, he lost the throne and his royal dynasty was cut short. God gave the kingdom to a shepherd by name David (1st Samuel 13:14)

Continue from next month’s edition. God bless you

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