In this episode, dive deep into the biblical perspective on authority as host David Hawking explores Ecclesiastes chapter 8. Discover how earthly authority is both flawed and temporary and learn to navigate its complexities with God’s wisdom. As David underscores the importance of submission to God’s authority, he provides guidance on how to balance respect for human laws with the ultimate allegiance to divine commands.
when I think of the problem of earthly authority, the sum total of the matter is, am I submitted to the authority of God? Have I bowed the knee to the authority of God in my life? That will make my attitudes different towards human authority, surely. But that whole issue is fundamental to my future. Have I submitted to God? Have I surrendered everything to Him and said, Lord, You’re the Master and the Sovereign and the Lord of my life, and I will not question You. I will submit to You. Whatever You want me to do, Lord, that’s what I want. Is that true? That’s the fundamental question.
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This is Hope for Today. Power always promises order. Control always promises security. And authority? Authority always claims it knows what’s best. But Ecclesiastes reminds us that human authority is, in a word, flawed, temporary, and often misused. Today, Bible teacher David Hawking brings us day two of his message called The Problem of Authority from Ecclesiastes chapter 8 as God’s word cuts through the confusion and shows us what happens when authority is separated from the fear of the Lord. Our study time begins in mere moments. First, I want to quickly tell you about the Hope for Today ministry letter. Listen, this is a great way to stay connected with what God is doing through Hope for Today. Each letter includes ministry updates, special offers, and prayer requests so you can stay informed and pray with us as this work continues. Get in touch and ask for the Hope for Today ministry letter at davidhawking.org. or call us at 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE. In Canada, Bible is 242-53. Less promised. Here’s David with day two of The Problem of Authority, found in Ecclesiastes, chapter 8, verses 1 through 9.
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Respect the presence of that sovereign. That’s a part of what the sovereignty of that position means. And secondly, you’re to refuse to do any evil. Look please at this in verse 3 again. Do not take your stand for an evil thing. If he says it’s wrong, then you’re to obey it. You say, but wait a minute, how does this relate to our submission to God? Hang on, we’ll talk about that in just a moment. But supposing all things are right, and the issue is not involved with scriptural authority, and the king tells you to do something, then what he’s saying is, don’t oppose it. Unless you can really prove that’s an issue with God and his word, don’t oppose it. Accept it. Submit to it. Submit to every ordinance. Well, what if I think it’s wrong? If it’s a law of the land, if he said so, you submit to it. Refuse to do any evil. In other words, refuse to disobey the law. If the stop sign is there, don’t run through it and say, I do not believe in those stop signs because I’ve never liked the color red. I like blue. And I wish it were blue. And because it’s not blue, I am going to run every stop sign I see. Now, when a policeman stops you and says, you cannot do that, you will now be fined. I will not pay this fine. I do not believe in red stop signs. I like blue. Well, fella, it’s not the color. It says stop. That’s the law. You’ve got to stop. Well, I’m not stopping. Well, then, hey, you’ve got to pay this fine or go to jail. Okay, I’m not going to do that. I’m not even going to go. Oh, yes, you are. Now we’ve got a real struggle. I’m not going to jail. You can’t make me go. son, you’re going. I mean, now we’ve got a real struggle. You know, when you get into jail and say, I’m not going to stay here. I mean, they got you there. What are you going to do? I’ve seen people show rebellion and stubbornness all the way down to the point of it being ridiculous. But it shows me the depth of depravity also in our hearts. We don’t want anybody telling us what to do. That’s the truth. Thank God if you have been raised in an environment and a home where you were taught to respect authority. You ought to thank God for that. I believe the amount of influence and authority that anyone exercises in his life is in direct proportion to his ability to submit to authority. I think one of the reasons why a lot of us aren’t leading as we should in our realms of society is because we have not submitted to authority. And that’s a tough one. Refuse to do anything against what he says. And there’s a third matter related to sovereignty. Respect his presence or his position. Refuse to do any evil against him. And third is to realize the power of his authority. I read here in verse 4, where the word of a king is, there is power. And who may say to him, what are you doing? What makes us think we have a right to question the person who has been placed in the authority? And even in a democratic society, it seems to me that one of our problems is that we put somebody in power, we vote them into office, and then we don’t respect that position or their right to make those decisions. Even if they disagree with mine, I should respect his right to make it. You say, well, what do you do if you don’t like it? Hey, vote for somebody else and get him out of office. That we can do in a democratic society, but what if you’re not in a democratic society? What do you do about a king who’s making decisions that you don’t like? God says because he is a king, you have no right to question it. You can’t say to him, what are you doing? Interesting, God applies that to himself too. Nebuchadnezzar, head of Babylon, said in Daniel 4.35, no one can say to him, God, what have you done? In Job 9.12, one of Job’s advisors said, who can say to him, God, what are you doing? It’s the exact same phrase. How can we say… to somebody God has established as an authority, what do you think you’re doing? And the answer to the scripture is, I’m doing whatever I please, because I am in this position of authority. The end of verse 3. It’s interesting, and a lot of us will hear that right now, because of the way we have grown up, we already don’t like anything that I have said so far. Isn’t that interesting? You can’t even respond to it. You say, well, he should be concerned about what others think and he should care about the people. We always go on the narcissistic side. We always talk about our needs and we don’t want to offend anybody and the rights of people. And you got to be able to. Hey, wait a minute. Let’s come back to some basic principles. Authority is authority because God established it. And according to God, Christians, believers who say they are submissive to God have no right to question authority. We are to submit to it. You say, but what if they’re wrong? We’ll talk about that in a moment. But even if they are wrong, if you can’t prove it from the scriptures, you have no biblical base, you are not to question it, you’re not to go against it. That’s what God says. Strong stuff. Seems strange to our ears. So the first principle we’re learning is the demands of authority are to be obeyed. Now let’s talk about the problem. What if… The authority that you’re talking about asks you to do something that’s in direct violation of God’s word. What do you do? I have a little phrase that kind of helps me in a lot of situations. I don’t always follow it, but I think it’s really helpful. I believe in being sweetly firm. You know what I mean? Sometimes you can be right as right can be, but you’re wrong in your spirit. Sometimes people don’t understand that even when they refuse to obey something because of a higher authority, namely God’s, that their spirit gets all messed up. And their spirit is rebellious towards the position of the king. And it’s not simply what they’re saying, but how they’re saying it. And that is a crucial issue. So we need to understand that. Now let’s talk about a situation that’s in the New Testament. Take your Bibles and turn to Acts, please. The book of Acts. What do you do… When something is being said to you by authority, you’re being asked to do something that is not the teaching of the Bible. It’s in direct violation of something God has said. What do you do? I got to thinking, for instance, of the many kids I know whose parents are not believers and are often pressuring them to do things that are in direct violation of the Word of God. Not counting the fact that sometimes Christian parents do it. We tell our kids to lie. They answer the phone. They say, tell them mom’s not here. But you are here. Well, tell them I’m sick. But you’re not sick. Tell them that I’m on my way out. Then some of us run outside in order for them to be honest. She’s not in the house. We don’t say right now that she just was and just walked out. You know, there are all kinds of things. He’s sleeping. Tell him I’m sleeping. But you’re not sleeping. You know, whatever you have to do, see? And people act like, well, these things are not big issues. Really. The Bible tells us not to lie. Had a teenager come to me about a problem of stealing. He was asked to literally steal in a situation for his father. What do you do? You do what I told you to do, son. I don’t care if you are a Christian. What do you do? This is going on and so I’m just giving a few illustrations. These can be multiplied in business. Just multiplied over and over again. The things that are being asked of people to do. Now what do you do? These are authorities. What do you do? Here’s a classic illustration of Peter and John. In Acts chapter 5. And they were told not to preach anymore in the name of the Lord Jesus. That’s from chapter 4, verse 18. They were commanded not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. In verse 19 of chapter 4, Peter and John said, Whether it’s right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. But we cannot but speak to things which we’ve seen and heard. Well, they let him go. Couldn’t find any reason to punish him. We come to chapter 5 and we’ve got another problem again. Let’s pick it up at verse 22. When the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported. Indeed, we found the prison shut securely, the guards standing outside before the doors. When we opened them, we found no one inside. Now, when the high priest, the captain of the temple, the chief priest heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. Then one came and told him, saying, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. They’re doing exactly what they told them not to do. Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest asked them, saying, Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man’s blood on us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, Well, we’re deeply sorry, and we promise not to do this again. Is that what it says? It says we ought to obey God rather than men. Now, they didn’t get off as easy this time. Verse 40, they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, and daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. They still didn’t obey him. There are lots of issues like this in society, people. The issue of authority is critical. The demands have to be obeyed, but the decisions must also be evaluated. Let’s go back to Ecclesiastes and look at chapter 8, verses 5 to 8. What we have set up for you in our little discussion here is that you do have to evaluate the decisions of government, and for two reasons. One, because our lives are affected by their decisions. That’s verses 5 and 6. Our lives are really affected. Look at chapter 8 verse 5. He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful. Romans 13 3 says the same thing. You see, the laws of government are supposedly to protect the individuals. And most of the time, our lives are deeply affected when we decide not to obey something that the government has said, simply in terms of protection. He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful. That’s what the Bible says. Proverbs 22 says, Proverbs 20, verse 2. But our lives are affected not only in terms of protection, but in terms of God’s plan and purpose as to why this is all happening. Look at this at the end of verse 5. A wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment. New International says procedure. Because for every matter, there’s a time and judgment. There’s a time, folks, in which… Proper procedure can voice a protest, and the king’s heart can be changed. The whole point of this is God’s timing. For every matter, there’s a time, there’s a procedure, there’s a judgment, and a wise man will discern it. In 1 Samuel 19, when Saul told all of his people that they should kill King David, Jonathan heard the edict, and Jonathan went to his father and pleaded the case. He said, David has done nothing wrong against you. He has never sinned against you. Then why are you sinning against him? And the Bible tells us in that passage in 1 Samuel 19, 4-7, that Saul changed his mind. Change the commitment he had already made. Change the vow he’d already made. Why? Because David pled with him properly, or Jonathan pled with him properly. There is a time, there’s a procedure. God’s purpose and plan is at stake. But look at the end, please, of verse 6. It says, though the misery of man increases greatly. What does that mean? New International says a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. Most writers say this is referring to all the futility and frustrations of life about which Solomon has been continually speaking in this book. What he’s saying is that even though there are a lot of frustrating situations, we still are to carefully evaluate and submit to those demands. Make sure, make sure that what you are deciding to do is truly what you ought to do. It’s not only because of the fact that our lives are affected by authority that we need to evaluate their decisions, but also because of the limitations of authority. There are certain things that authority, human authority, cannot do. There are four of them listed here. Look at verse 7. He does not know what will happen, so who can tell him when it will occur? Wouldn’t you like to know what the Soviet Union is planning? Wouldn’t you like to know, if you were in politics, about who’s going to do what in the next election? Wouldn’t you like to know how it’s going to turn out next November? You can’t comprehend what is coming. And that’s a limitation on human authority. They don’t know what God knows. That’s why we have to evaluate their decision. Here’s another limitation. Not only can they not comprehend what is to come, they cannot contain the Spirit or the wind. What an interesting thing. Verse 8, no one has power over the Spirit or the wind to retain the wind. That’s an interesting concept. The New International translates here, no man has power over the wind to contain it. Proverbs 30 verse 4 says, who has gathered the wind in his fists? Amos says it’s created by God. Naaman 1.3 says it’s a symbol of God’s power. The whole point of this is that you can’t control the wind. The word wind and spirit exactly the same in Hebrew. Probably the wind belongs here. You can’t control it. You can’t contain it. You can’t predict its courses. And neither can authority predict or control or contain all that God is doing. Third, another limitation is you can’t control the day of death. Verse 8 says, and no one has power in the day of death. Authority, human authority is limited. They can’t do anything in the day of death. And it’s also limited in the sense it can’t conquer the bondage of sin. Only God can do that. In verse 8, it says, There’s no discharge or release or furlough in that war, and wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it. That’s probably a proverb. Let me state it a different way, right out of New International, who I think has done a good job in this passage. It says, As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. Why do I need to evaluate carefully the decisions of human authority? Because they can never help me in my problems of sin. They can make all kinds of laws and all kinds of rules and regulations, but they can’t free me and release me. Just like you can’t release a man once he’s already drafted into the war. You can’t release a man from the bondage of sin. Government can’t do that, but God can. There are certain limitations of government. Therefore, I have to evaluate it carefully. One final thing. We’ve said that the demands are to be obeyed. And we’ve said that their decisions are to be evaluated. But in verse 9, there are certain dangers that need to be understood. Government can hurt you. God says in his word, Solomon speaking, all this I have seen. He had good observation. and applied my heart, there was evaluation, to every work, what a perspective, everything that is done under the sun, he was limited to what’s on earth. There’s a time, here’s his conclusion, in which one man rules over another to his own hurt. You see, the truth is that human authority does not always do what is right, does it? And I look at this whole passage and the problem of authority and I say, what is Solomon’s point? His point has to be seen in the context of Ecclesiastes. There are a lot of frustrating things in life, things that we just can’t explain. There are a lot of troubles in life, intentions in life, like authority. And I’ve got to submit to God. And I’m also to submit to human authority. And sometimes what they tell me to do is in violation of what God tells me to do. There’s a lot of frustrations. There’s a lot of problems. But Solomon’s ultimate conclusion in the book of Ecclesiastes is one thing, and that’s to remember our accountability to God, to fear God, for this is the sum total of the matter. That’s how he concludes the book. And when I think of the problem of earthly authority, the sum total of the matter is, am I submitted to the authority of God? Have I bowed the knee to the authority of God in my life? That will make my attitudes different towards human authority, surely. But that whole issue is fundamental to my future. Have I submitted to God? Have I surrendered everything to him and said, Lord, you’re the master and the sovereign and the Lord of my life, and I will not question you. I will submit to you. Whatever you want me to do, Lord, that’s what I want. Is that true? That’s the fundamental question that Solomon ultimately comes to as he even looks at human authority. Do we fear God?
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Well, thank you, David. And this is Hope for Today. David will be back in a few to close out our study time for today, so do stay tuned for that. First, Matt and I have a resource that’s going to take you even deeper into this wonderful, powerful Old Testament writing, the book of Ecclesiastes.
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We need clear, inspiring, ready-at-hand teaching from God’s Word to understand not only the emptiness of life without God, but also the deep peace of a life centered on Him and lived in the light of eternity. Matt Ecclesiastes leads us to this conclusion. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Ecclesiastes 12, 13. Yeah, because Jim, life is indeed worth living, but when it’s rooted in a reverent relationship with God and focused on our coming King. As the signs of the Lord’s return become clearer. Folks, let’s be encouraged that life really is worth living. And let’s be prepared to share that biblical encouragement with those in our circle. Amen. Amen. And Matt, you see this. I see this. Folks, you see this. So many around us are downbeaten, angry, and confused in today’s world. And the Hope for Today is Life Worth Living Ecclesiastes resource package is the perfect tool. This contains David’s book on Ecclesiastes titled, Is Life Worth Living?
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Plus…
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all of the audio messages in our current radio series through Ecclesiastes. Yeah, the complete package is just $40 and you can purchase it online or you can give us a quick call. Your purchase today will not only bless you, it will also help us to continue proclaiming truth
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Please prayerfully consider standing with this ministry so that together we can watch, warn, and encourage believers to live faithfully, purposefully, and with quiet confidence, knowing that our hope rests not in this world, but in the sure promises of Christ.
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If you want your copy of this incredible addition to our radio study in Ecclesiastes, it’s the Is Life Worth Living? Ecclesiastes bundle. Well, there’s a couple of ways to get it. You can call 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. If you’re in Canada, call 888-75-BIBLE. Bible is 242- If you want to click and get it, go to our website davidhawking.org. That’s davidhawking.org, and you can make the purchase right away. Also, make sure to take a moment while you’re on the website to look at all the other great study resources we have for you. Wow, so many there, so many things there for you. That’s davidhawking.org. And if you’d like to help this ministry in a financial way by sending in a check for any amount, you can write to us in the United States at Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford. Abbotsford is spelled A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D. That’s in B.C. V2S HP1, your gift, no matter the size, helps keep Hope for Today on the air and online, covering the cost of airtime and production and keeping our website on the air and making it possible for God’s Word to continue going out clearly and without compromise to people who need truth and hope. And that’s all of us, isn’t it? By the way, you can also give online at davidhawking.org or by phone at 875-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And thank you. Thank you for standing with us and for helping make Hope for Today possible. Let’s go back to David, this time for a very special time of prayer.
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Father, you know whether it’s true in our hearts that we are submissive to you and your authority. And sometimes we demonstrate that it’s not true by our rebellion and stubbornness to parents, to authority figures in our life. God, I pray that you’d give us a new understanding of our submission to you. God, help us to see that you are the one that establishes authority. You give the right to someone to say what is right and wrong because of your word and your revelation to us. God, give us discernment in these days when authority issues are confusing. When people in positions of authority have shaken our confidence because of the way they have lived. Because of things we see in their lives, we often wonder who really can be trusted and depended upon. But God, I thank you that you’re the one in charge. And our submission is to you. And we submit to the ordinances that do not conflict with your will. because we are honoring you in our lives. Because we’re not citizens of this world, we’re citizens of heaven. We’re to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. God, for those in our audience that have never really bowed the knee to your authority, have never realized it until they receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Until they confess him as Lord and bow the knee to him, there is no hope of eternal salvation.
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It is His authority to which we surrender. Some of us need to give up the struggle in our hearts and to submit to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name we pray.
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Amen. Well, next time on the program, Solomon asks a practical question. How do you find joy in what you do when life doesn’t seem fair? Well, don’t miss How to Enjoy What You Do from Ecclesiastes 8, 10 through 17. Next time on Hope for Today. Hope for Today.
