Articles
God's Rights are Greater Than Yours
Have you ever considered “God’s Rights?”
Society is in turmoil: riots, shootings, protests, and general discontent is common. Organizations protest for: freedom of the press, Black Lives Matter, right to life, Planned Parenthood, Indigenous Rights, whether or not the Ten Commandments should be placed on the court house lawn, or a southern flag be displayed…anywhere, and numerous who knows what protest to start. There are continual debates over who has the right to do what: one person has the right to do whatever they wish, while at the same time the person doing what they wish are forcing others to kow-tow to their wants, and attempting to force the world to accept it, embrace it, and respect it, with no regard for the rights of Jehovah to settle the matter.
When the Jews considered their state of affairs the following discussion ensued, “Thou will say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?” The potter’s right (Jehovah’s right) over the clay was a well-established principle in Israel’s history: “Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of
When man considers, as the Hebrew writer affirmed, “It is for chastening (to educate, instruct, or train), that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not? But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye illegitimate, and not sons. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?” (Hebrews 12:7-9). What man needs to understand is God has rights also, and God has the right to rule over his creation.
God’s rights include, but are not limited to (1) the right to establish divine law: When religious men and women add to or take away from God’s divine laws, they challenge God’s right to make those laws. (2) the right to control religious life: The Apostle Paul revealed, “And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). What part of “whatsoever” does man fail to understand? And doing so “in the name of Lord Jesus,” involves more than just attaching “in Jesus name” to the “whatsoever.” If the Lord has not authorized it, then no manner of an utterance of “Jesus name” will make it holy. That is actually the import of the law, i.e., “Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exod. 20:7). When an individual, or group of individuals, devise some doctrine and think that attributing the name of God to it will make it holy, is doing exactly what Jehovah condemns. (3) the right to control man’s moral life: The Apostle Paul put it this way, “Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
Remember the words of the Apostle Paul, saying, “for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28). ret
- Gods_Rights_are_Greater_than_Yours.pdf (42.20 kB)
