One of the most often-cited complaints of the prophets against. the Israelites was that they were rebels against their God. Moses  rebuked the Israelites about the conduct at Kadesh-barnea and said "Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God " (Dent 1:26). He characterized the entire wilderness wandering period in the same way when he said "from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD" (Dent 9:7) and "You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day I knew you" (v 24). When Israel demanded a king, Samuel warned them saying "If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers" (I Sam 12:15). Sadly, Samuel's warning went unheeded. Isaiah said of the people of Judah in his day "For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD" (Isa 30:9) and Jeremiah later complained of them that "this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and departed" (Jer 5:23). Hosea had earlier said to the northern kingdom of Israel: "Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of  the LORD, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law" (Hos 8:1). Nehemiah acknowledged in his prayer of national confession to God that the previous generations of Israelites "became disobedient and rebelled against You, and cast Your law behind their backs and killed Your prophets who had admonished them" (Neb 9:26).

The ancient Israelites were certainly not the only society in history characterized by rebellion. The early Christians lived in a similar society. Paul said that part of the wickedness of Gentile society in his day consisted of people who were "insolent, arrogant, boastful, inven- tors of evil, disobedient to parents" (Rom 1 :30), and used the same language in 2 Tim 3;1 to warn Timothy about what was coming. Peter and J ude spoke of   false teachers who "rail at dignities" (2 Pet 2:10 and Jude 8). Paul warned Titus that even in the church "there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain" (Titus 1:10-11).

Our society today is no different, with perhaps one significant exception. Our society glorifies rebels. The heroes in movies are, consistently, people who break the rules. Much of modern  pop music is rebellious to the core, praising everything from violence against the police to illicit sex. The recent firing of Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight unleashed a storm of protest against that institution, basically defending Knight's rebellious, undisciplined manners. Our children are led to believe through all of these things, and through the pressure of their peers, that it is "cool" to be a rebel.

How different is the NT picture of a Christian. The consistent message of the NT is one of humble submission to authority. Christians become Christians by submitting in faith to the Lordship of Jesus. Christians are, by definition, submissive people. The church is subject to Christ (Eph 5:24). And not only are we to submit to the gospel, the law of liberty (Jam 1 :25), we are also to submit to the laws of the land to the fullest extent possible. Paul told the church in Rome "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authori- ties. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.. ..Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection ... Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor" (13:1-2, 5- 7), and he said that to a church where the government   was becom ing increasingly hostile against Christians. Jewish Christians had already been expelled from Rome once by the emperor Claudius in 54 AD (c. Acts 18:2) by the time Paul wrote his letter to the Christians there. Peter similarly said to a group of persecuted Christians: "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution" (2 Pet 2: 13). Sure, "we must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29) if the government ever demands that we do something wrong, but that is a far cry from a license to rebellion. It is instead commitment to subjection to a higher authority, Jesus. That is, even if we had to disobey the government, it is proof that we are a people characterized by subjection (to Jesus).

We are also to have a submissive attitude even to those who mistreat us. Jesus said "do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you" (Matt 5:39-42).

Within the church we are subject to each other. Paul said "be subject to one another in the fear of Christ" (Eph 5:21). He told the Corinthians to be in subjection to people such as Stephanus who labored in the Lord (I Cor 16:16), and the author of Hebrews extorted his readers to submit themselves to the elders among them (Heb 13: 17). The younger are to be subject to the older (I Pet 5:5). All down the line, every relationship we have is to be characterized by subjection on our part.

All of this teaching on subjection stems directly from the example of Jesus, who subjected Himself to the will of the Father and in that mode died on the cross for us. Paul says "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ...Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who ...emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ...humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:3ff). The hero of the NT is not a rebel, but One who humbly submitted to God and in that submission gave up His life for the sake of obedience and conformity to God's demand.

Even more important for us to remember is that because Jesus submitted to the will of God, "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil 2:9-11). "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you" (Jam. 4:10). The world glorifies rebellion, but God glorifies submission. It becomes, then, a question of  whose glory we would rather have.