The Church must Allow God’s Authority have a Free Way and Defeat Satan’s Rebellion

We need to see that in this universe there are two kingdoms – the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, and there’s God’s authority and Satan’s rebellion against God’s authority; God will not let Satan’s rebellion continue, for He will establish His kingdom the earth and we cooperate with Him by being submissive to Him! Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, The Kingdom as the Subduing of Rebellion and as the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus.

What God is after today is to gain His kingdom, a realm in which He can rule and reign.

When God gains His kingdom, He can carry out His will and He will accomplish His purpose.

This kingdom, however, is not something outward, something that is manifested outwardly; the kingdom of God is a person, the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When He came, God’s kingdom came, and when He came into us, the kingdom of God came into us.

Regarding the matter of the kingdom, we need to seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33).

We seek many things and we want and need to accomplish many things, but first of all, we need to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

When we make decisions concerning big things or small things, we need to seek first the kingdom of God.

However, in our daily living it seems that the Lord’s kingdom is usually second, for what we seek and want is first. Oh, Lord.

Decision after decision, situation after situation, conversation after conversation, we put the Lord second, when we remember Him, and we are first.

May we realize that Christ as the kingdom of God is in us, and may we give Him the first place in our being.

May we learn to turn to Him, enthrone Him in us, and allow Him to have the first word and the last word in us.

The kingdom of God is Christ Himself, and Christ is indwelling us right now.

He is making His home in our hearts right now.

This means that the kingdom of God is within us, for the person of Christ is the kingdom of God.

When we enjoy and experience Christ, turning to Him again and again in all things, we will come to realize the kingdom of God, for God’s kingdom is the person of Christ in us.

Thank the Lord for delivering us out of the authority of darkness and bringing us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love for us to enjoy Christ, be under God’s authority, and live as kingdom people today.

May we be delivered from any rebellion against God and may we be brought under His authority more and more so that we may cooperate with Him for His kingdom to come on the earth today!

Seeing God’s Authority and Satan’s Rebellion and being Delivered from Rebellion

We need to see that in this universe there are two principles: God’s authority and Satan’s rebellion.

On the one hand, God is the Creator and sustainer of all things and persons in this universe, and He has His kingdom.

On the other hand, one of His creatures, an archangel who was leading the whole universe in worship of God, rebelled against God, and now there is Satan’s rebellion.

When the gospel is being preached, we believe in the Lord and are saved; on the other hand, we come under God’s authority.

The Bible says that sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). When we commit sin we don’t just make a mistake; we are lawless, we commit lawlessness, and we are in rebellion against God.

Even after we are saved, that is, after we repent and believe into the Lord Jesus, we still may take the way of rebellion by not submitting to God’s authority.

To be lawless is to disregard the authority of God. We cannot serve God on the one hand while taking the way of rebellion with a spirit of rebellion on the other hand.

We need to realize that God wants to open our eyes, turn us from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, so that we may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ (Acts 26:18). Amen!

May we daily come to the Lord to contact Him, enjoy Him, and enthrone Him.

May we see God’s authority and Satan’s rebellion and be delivered from being rebellious against God.

It is possible that we are rebellious against God when we preach for the Lord and do things for Him. Wow!

When some preach in this way, Satan laughs, for the principle of Satan is there in the preaching.

To serve God in spirit is to serve Him by being under God’s authority.

We need to know God’s authority and meet His authority, and we need to be enlightened concerning God’s authority and Satan’s rebellion.

When we are smitten by God’s authority and realize that Satan is rebellious, and this rebellious one is in us, even in our very flesh, we will be enlightened and we will come to the Lord to place ourselves under His authority.

In Isa. 14:13 we see how Satan wanted to exalt his throne to be equal with God.

Satan, a creature of God, intended to violate God’s sovereignty, usurp God’s authority, and overthrow God’s throne.

He wants to establish his own kingdom in rebellion to God’s authority in this universe.

In Matt. 12 the Lord Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God (v. 28) and the kingdom of Satan (v. 26).

God has a kingdom to exercise His authority and dispense the riches of His being into His people to make them His corporate expression to exercise His dominion on the earth.

Satan also has a kingdom, and his unique and expressed purpose is to overthrow God’s throne and set up his own authority.

We see this from the very beginning of the Bible, in Gen. 1:26 when God created man; He gave man to have dominion over everything so that man would not only express God with His image but also exercise God’s authority over the enemy.

But Satan came in and stole man away from God by seducing man to rebel against God and usurp God’s authority. Oh, Lord Jesus!

When man fell, he did not just do something out of curiosity, that is, take the forbidden fruit; rather, he revolted against God and rebelled against God’s authority.

Man denied God’s authority and rejected God’s rule, thus joining himself with Satan, God’s enemy, to rebel against God. Oh, Lord Jesus!

First, it was Satan with a third of the angels that rebelled against God, and then, Satan deceived man to join him in his rebellion.

May we see that today man is born not only in sin but also in rebellion against God, and may we realize that Satan in our flesh is always rebelling against God.

May we come to the Lord to be delivered from Satan’s rebellion and place ourselves under God’s authority.

Thank the Lord that, in His mercy and grace, He has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1:13).

Now we are in God’s kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and we are being delivered from any rebellion in our being, in our thinking, in our attitude, in our work, and in every aspect of our daily life.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see God’s authority and Satan’s rebellion. May we realize that we believers in Christ have been transferred out of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Hallelujah, we have been delivered and we are being delivered from Satan’s authority to be kingdom people, those living in the kingdom of God! Amen, Lord, we open to You today. We give ourselves to You. Deliver us a little more from the authority of darkness. Release us from any bondage of death, sin, and Satan. We stand on Your side. We reject Satan and his schemes. Save us from being deceived by Satan today to remain in rebellion against God. Oh Lord Jesus, may we be those who see God’s authority, are smitten by it, and are enlightened to see and be under God’s authority today! We exercise our spirit to be one spirit with You and we reject any rebellion in our being today. We want to live in the reality of the kingdom of God under God’s authority rejecting and being delivered from any form of Satan’s rebellion!

The Church must Allow God’s Authority to have a Free Way and Manifest His Kingdom through Submission

The whole world is in rebellion against God today, for men deny God’s authority and reject God’s rule.

This is due to Satan, the enemy of God, who was originally an archangel created by God but due to pride uplifted himself and became God’s adversary (see Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:2-19; Matt. 12:26).

Satan violated the sovereignty of God, rebelled against God, became the adversary of God, and established his kingdom.

Furthermore, Satan deceived man and man sinned; by disobeying God and partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man rebelled against God, denied God’s authority, and rejected God’s rule.

Furthermore, at Babel men rebelled collectively against God and tried to abolish God’s authority from the earth (Gen. 3:1-6; 11:1-9).

God created both Lucifer (who later became Satan, God’s adversary) and man (who later became the flesh, in full rebellion against God), and He desires His creatures to accept His authority.

God would call back His presence from man when man disobeys Him and offends Him, but He can never call back His authority.

Though there is Satan’s rebellion, God’s authority still stands.

Even more, although Satan rebelled against God’s authority and although man violates His authority by rebelling against Him, God will not let this rebellion continue.

He will establish His kingdom on the earth (Rev. 11:15).

God can call back His presence, but He can never call back His system of authority. He maintains His system of authority and He establishes His kingdom.

Yes, man violates God’s authority, and yes, Satan rebels against God’s authority, but God will not let this continue.

He will establish His kingdom.

He will establish the kingdom of the heavens on the earth and the enemy in the air will also be subdued; even the adversary in the heavens will be defeated (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15).

The angels in the heavens rebelled, men on earth violate God’s authority, and even in the waters, demons are there in rebellion; everywhere we turn, there is rebellion – Satan’s rebellion.

But we today as believers in Christ are part of the church which has been gained by Christ to be one with Him for the establishing of the kingdom of God on the earth.

When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He established the kingdom of God not by outward display of power and authority but by being submissive to the Father and His authority in everything He did.

In all things He did, said, and worked, Christ never opposed God’s authority but rather, submitted Himself to the Father in all things.

He was in perfect cooperation with the authority of God, being fully submissive to the Father in all things.

He didn’t do His own work neither did He go where He wanted to go; He always was one with the Father, obeying the Father, and doing the Father’s will.

We as the church today need to do the same; we need to allow God’s authority to have a free way and manifest his kingdom through submission.

Like the Lord Jesus, we are learning submission and obedience through the things we suffer, and we have Christ in us.

The Christ who lives in us is submissive to God’s authority and imparts His life of submission to us so that we may submit to God’s authority.

May the Lord have a free way and manifest His kingdom through submission, through our submission to Him.

Lord, may Your kingdom come on the earth and may Your will be done on the earth even as in heaven! Amen, Lord, we love You, we worship You, and we submit to You. You are our Lord and our King. We do not want to violate God’s authority. We open to You to be saved from any rebellion. We want to live under God’s authority and reject anything of Satan’s rebellion. Amen, Lord Jesus, we stand on Your side and we pray for the kingdom of God to come on the earth! We are one with You to submit ourselves to God’s authority. Grant us that we would never oppose God’s authority but always take the position of submission before God. Amen, Lord, may the church today allow God’s authority to have a free way and manifest His kingdom through submission! Praise the Lord, God will not allow the rebellion to continue: He will establish His kingdom on the earth, and we as the church stand one with Him!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” pp. 115-148, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 4, The Kingdom as the Subduing of Rebellion and as the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The kingdom of God versus the kingdom of Satan, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
  – A Testimony: Enjoying Crystallization Studies I and II of the Book of Numbers to Work out the Kingdom of God on Earth Today, via, Living to Him.
  – Words That Spread Death and How to Stop Them, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Why Read the Bible? To Slay God’s Adversary! More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – That we might be made God, article by Kerry S. Robichaux in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Prayer and God’s enemy, a portion from, Lessons on Prayer, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
  – No Sweat, No Thorns, in New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Satan’s rebellion and corruption, a portion from, Life-Study of Genesis, Chapter 2.
  – The word of righteousness: the kingdom of the heavens, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Submitted to God’s ruling, / All virtue thus will win; / Rebellion to His Headship / Is but the root of sin. / The evil aim of Satan— / God’s throne to overthrow; / Our aim and goal is ever / His rule to fully know. (Hymns #941 stanza 4)
  – From the beachhead in our spirit / To our mind, emotion, will. / Christ will spread through all our being / And our vessel wholly fill. / He will cast out all rebellion, / Change our darkness into light. / Satan’s kingdom will be swallowed, / And Christ will reign with might. / This is the Lord’s recovery, / This is His very best! / Brothers, give the Lord the ground in you / Till His kingdom’s manifest. (Hymns #1297)
  – Christ comes for His kingdom too; / Heav’nly reign we must pursue, / Let His rule our self subdue— / Yield in time! / Rebel self must be dethroned, / Lessons must not be postponed, / Quickly yield to Christ enthroned— / Yield in time! (Hymns #1304 stanza 6)