When God created man in the beginning, God gave man authority to have dominion over all the creatures in the sea, in the air, and upon earth. At that time, man was submitting to God’s authority; hence, God’s authority was with him, and all creatures were made to submit to man. But once man fell and rebelled against God, unwilling as he was to submit to God’s authority, he then lost the authority of God. As a result, all the creatures under man were no longer in subjection to man’s authority. Therefore, not only can the poisonous snakes and wild beasts harm us today; even the tiny mosquitoes and fleas can bite us. This indicates that the entire fallen universe is full of the creatures’ rebelliousness and insubordination.

But in this rebellious and confused universe, whenever there is one who is still willing to accept God’s authority, God’s authority will be manifested upon him that he may be able to reign. Moses was an example. He was a man who submitted to authority and thereby reigned for God. Nearly every time he was confronted with the rebellion and quarreling of the Israelites, he submitted himself to God’s authority. Especially at the time Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and those with them rebelled and assembled themselves together against him, he behaved even more in this way. They attacked Moses and Aaron, saying, “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the assembly of Jehovah?” (Num. 16:3). Their word touched the matter of Moses’ authority; their intention was to overthrow his authority. At that time, Moses did not consider himself as the authority and seek to solve the problem himself. On the contrary, he fell upon his face before God and let God vindicate him. His falling upon his face before God was his keeping the position of order. He knew that authority rested not in him, but in God. His submission to God’s authority caused others also to submit to him. Therefore, the result of his behaving each time in this way manifested even more clearly that God’s authority was upon him.

Let us consider David. In his entire life, David submitted not only to God’s authority, but also, in an absolute way, to the authority of order. He recognized that Saul was God’s anointed one, that Saul was in the position of king, and that Saul was arranged by God to be his authority. He realized that he was only a subject of Saul. Therefore, no matter how Saul persecuted and hated him as an enemy, he never dared to rebel against him. In this way, he always kept the position of order and was a man who submitted to authority. Consequently, the day came when God also anointed him king, that he might reign for God in the nation of Israel.

Nevertheless, these men who submitted to God’s authority had their own blemishes and weaknesses. It was not until the Lord Jesus came as the Word become flesh that there was in this rebellious universe a man who submitted absolutely to God’s authority. In the life of the Lord Jesus, every word and action, every move and cessation, were in accordance with God’s will and in subjection to God’s authority. Philippians 2 says, “He humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.” Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, that every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth should bow to Him and every tongue should call Him Lord-all in submission to His authority (vv. 8-11). Because the Lord Jesus submitted to the authority of God the Father and kept the position of order, He obtained authority and was able to reign for God.

The Lord has also given this authority now to His church, that is, to us. Therefore, we also need to submit to God’s authority as the Lord did. Furthermore, each one of us must submit to the order of authority established by God, that is, to the representative authority of God. Then we, the church, can exercise this authority of the Lord to rule all things and reign for God. Today in this rebellious and confused universe, we are to succeed the Lord to be a testimony of submission to authority, with the younger ones submitting to the elderly ones, those who are being taught to those who teach, and all of us submitting one to another; thus we are submitting to God’s authority. When we stand in our respective position of order, God’s authority will be made manifest in our midst; thus, we will be able to reign for God. Therefore, the authority in the church is neither self-obtained nor self-assumed, but it comes through submission. For example, the elders must not continually think of themselves as being more mature and older than others; if so, they will frequently make use of their position and title in dealing with the brothers and sisters or in their administration. They should be like Moses. Whenever anything occurs among the brothers and sisters, they must immediately fall on their faces before God, submitting to the position of order. By their submission to God’s authority, God’s authority will be with them, and they will be able to reign and rule for God over all things. If they themselves do not submit to God’s authority, but assume the position of eldership, demanding that others submit to them, this is the breaking out of the flesh, not reigning. It will be difficult for others to submit to them.

In conclusion, in order to gain the experience of reigning, we must first solve the problem of position. We must know and keep the position of ascension, and we must also know and keep the position of order. Knowing the position of ascension is the experience of knowing the ascension, which has previously been mentioned. Knowing the position of order is the experience of knowing the Body, which has also been mentioned. We must know and experience these two aspects before we can reign for God. We must know the position of ascension, which He has caused us to obtain in His salvation, and the position of order, which He has arranged for us in His Body, before we can exercise His authority and reign for God. Simply speaking, we must be in the position of ascension and in the position of order in the Body before we can have the experience of reigning.
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