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Saintuary

 

 

Family and corporate authority blended

Abraham

Up to now we have been looking at the family authority that exists and affects every one of us. There was no corporate authority except that which revolves around the family unit. At the time of Abraham God begins to change this family authority to a corporate one that is neither exclusively corporate nor family but a mix and blend of the two. We will see in this section that family is still the basis for establishing authority in the world but not exclusively.

 

Abraham is called by God to be the patriarch of this family corporate group. All great moves of God are preceded by someone who is able to hear the voice of God and willing to obey it. If we are resistant to listening and obeying God when He speaks then we will never stand in a position like Abraham or any other great man or woman of God. This is the first thing we need to understand as born again Christians. If we hear his voice we should not harden our hearts!

 

Abraham is called out of his home land and from his family into following this voice of God. With no confirmation or support from those more spiritual than him, he is confronted with the call to follow and forsake all he was familiar with. Armed with a few promises about how great God would make him, he moves out not knowing where he was going but that God himself would lead and guide him. There was no way for Abraham to know what the results of his obedience would be. I don’t even know if Abraham could have been 100% sure that he was following the voice of God. Knowing that satan attempts to deceive us at every turn and tries to imitate God’s voice so we miss the way, I am in awe of Abraham’s relationship with his creator. Abraham doesn’t seem to struggle with the decision to follow and thus aligns his future family for generations in a Godly direction.

 

We see Abraham not understanding the spiritual position that he is standing in and thus puts other people at risk of receiving God’s wrath. Abraham instructs his wife Sarah to tell the Egyptians that she is not his wife but sister. Abraham is afraid that the Egyptians will kill him and take his wife.  Based on Abraham’s relationship to God and his obedience to the call of God, he is standing under God’s protection as an authority to God as well as over Sarah his wife. Sarah agrees to do as her husband suggests and is taken into Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh had no idea that he was transgressing Abraham’s authority. GEN 12:17 “But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife”. The power of authority is great and it operates when we are obedient to God. Abraham didn’t have to fight the fight, God fights for His people in authority. God was striking Pharaoh’s house with great plagues which caused him to question why these plagues were coming against him. Once Pharaoh realized that Sarah was Abraham’s wife he confronts Abraham saying, GEN 12:18..."What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? v19 "Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife?”  

 

What was happening here? Who was Abraham to Pharaoh? Pharaoh, as we know, was the title of the ruler in Egypt. What physical place of authority did Abraham have? All we know is that Abraham went to Egypt because of a severe famine. In the world, Pharaoh did not even have to acknowledge Abraham. Pharaoh had the power and the ability to kill Abraham and not give anyone a reason for it. This is why Abraham was afraid and asked Sarah to say she was his sister. Having spiritual authority is the highest form of authority. People who have a physical position but do not have any understanding of spiritual authority or have not been established as a spiritual authority by God have very limited authority. First and foremost authority needs to be spiritual, then physical. This does not imply that we should not have to submit to worldly authority because they are not spiritual. Spiritual authority trumps physical authority but we have a duty to obey physical authority provided the laws do not oppose spiritual truth.

 

Some years later Abraham settled his family between Kadesh and Shur and he again tells a king that Sarah is his sister and not his wife. Abimelech king of Gerar, based on what Abraham said, just takes Sarah. Instead of inflicting plagues on Abimelech and his people, God comes to him in a dream to warn him. GEN 20:3 “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married." While God inflicted plagues upon the Egyptians because of Pharaoh taking Sara as his wife here He is threatening to kill Abimelech. By this time in Abraham’s life he has increased in spiritual authority to the point of being a territorial leader before God as well as being the first person to be called a prophet which may account for the more direct and severe judgment. Let’s look at the discourse between Abimelech and God. GEN 20:4 “Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "Lord, wilt Thou slay a nation, even though blameless? v5 "Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this." v6 Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. v7 "Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours."  This is a serious situation that Abimelech finds himself in. Thankfully God doesn’t disregard people who do not have an intimate relationship with him. We see that God can talk to any of us.

 

Abimelech is innocent in his actions toward Sarah and God intervenes in order to save him and his family from harm. God tells Abimelech that He prevented him from touching Sarah and if he would restore Sarah to Abraham, that Abraham would pray for him and he and his family would live. Notice God doesn’t declare life upon Abimelech but that is left up to Abraham to do. God declares death upon Abimelech and his family if he is rebellious to the voice of God but life is granted through the prayers of Abraham. Abimelech already transgressed the spiritual authority that Abraham has and as such God is enforcing that authority, but God cannot pardon the transgression. Abraham is Sara’s authority and as such it’s up to him to pardon or forgive Abimelech’s sin. This is no different than when Jesus told the apostles, JOH 20:23 "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained." We have the same authority before God. God will defend our position of spiritual authority but we must forgive those who transgress in order for them to be forgiven.