Relating to Relevant Authority

Now, God possesses supreme authority for certain reasons.

He su- su- he, he possesses supreme authority because of his eternity.

You see, God was before all authorities.

I do not say that there are not authorities.

I well know that there are.

There are authorities, but God was before all authorities.

Lords and kings and emperors and potentates have certain authority.

Kings and emperors and potentates have certainly.

But, uh, those, that authority is late in time, and their authority is borrowed from God, and therefore is temporary.

And whatever is temporary can't be final and supreme.

The old Persian poet wrote about a king called Jamshid.

He said, "They say the lion and the lizard keep the courts where Jamshid gloried and drank deep.

And Bahram," another great man, Persian, "Bahram, that great hunter: while the wild ass stamps o'er his head but cannot break his sleep." That is a very sad and beautiful way of saying that even if you're King Jamshid, still there will be a day when the lion and the lizard will crawl and roar in the courts where you used to hold sway.

And even if you're Bahram, the great hunter, there will be a day when the wild ass that you used to hunt will snort and stamp over the grave where you lie sleeping.

The kings and the emperors and the presidents and ministers and potentates, they have a certain amount of authority, but it's late in time and it's temporary.

But God Almighty, being the eternal God, is before all authorities.

And then there are another kind of, uh, there's another kind of authority, prophets and apostles and popes and bishops and religious sages.

Now, if they are good, they borrowed their authority, and if they are bad, they usurped it.

They have it all right.

Nobody can doubt it.

There are bishops and they have authority.

They can say, "Don't you do so-and-so," and the little preacher doesn't dare do it.

Then there are popes and there were apostles and there were prophets.

Now, I say again, if they were good men, they borrowed their authority from God.

And if they were bad men, they usurped it from God.

Now, God possesses supreme authority for certain reasons.

He su- su- he, he possesses supreme authority because of his eternity.

You see, God was before all authorities.

I do not say that there are not authorities.

I well know that there are.

There are authorities, but God was before all authorities.

Lords and kings and emperors and potentates have certain authority.

Kings and emperors and potentates have certainly.

But, uh, those, that authority is late in time, and their authority is borrowed from God, and therefore is temporary.

And whatever is temporary can't be final and supreme.

The old Persian poet wrote about a king called Jamshid.

He said, "They say the lion and the lizard keep the courts where Jamshid gloried and drank deep.

And Bahram," another great man, Persian, "Bahram, that great hunter: while the wild ass stamps o'er his head but cannot break his sleep." That is a very sad and beautiful way of saying that even if you're King Jamshid, still there will be a day when the lion and the lizard will crawl and roar in the courts where you used to hold sway.

And even if you're Bahram, the great hunter, there will be a day when the wild ass that you used to hunt will snort and stamp over the grave where you lie sleeping.

The kings and the emperors and the presidents and ministers and potentates, they have a certain amount of authority, but it's late in time and it's temporary.

But God Almighty, being the eternal God, is before all authorities.

And then there are another kind of, uh, there's another kind of authority, prophets and apostles and popes and bishops and religious sages.

Now, if they are good, they borrowed their authority, and if they are bad, they usurped it.

They have it all right.

Nobody can doubt it.

There are bishops and they have authority.

They can say, "Don't you do so-and-so," and the little preacher doesn't dare do it.

Then there are popes and there were apostles and there were prophets.

Now, I say again, if they were good men, they borrowed their authority from God.

And if they were bad men, they usurped it from God.