What does God’s authority symbolize? Does it symbolize the identity of God Himself? Does it symbolize the power of God Himself? Does it symbolize the unique status of God Himself? Amongst all things, in what have you seen the authority of God? How did you see it? In terms of the four seasons experienced by man, can anyone change the law of the interchange between spring, summer, autumn and winter? In spring, the trees bud and bloom; in summer they are covered with leaves; in autumn they bear fruit, and in winter the leaves fall. Is anyone able to alter this law? Does this reflect one aspect of God’s authority? God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. Does this light still exist? What does it exist because of? It exists because of the words of God, of course, and because of the authority of God. Does the air created by God still exist? Does the air that man breathes come from God? Can anyone take away the things that come from God? Can anyone alter their substance and function? Is anyone able to discomfit the night and day allocated by God, and the law of night and day ordered by God? Can Satan do such a thing? Even if you don’t sleep at night, and take night as day, then it is still nighttime; you may change your daily routine, but you are incapable of changing the law of the interchange between night and day—and this fact is unalterable by any person, is it not? Is anyone capable of making a lion plough the land like an ox? Is anyone capable of changing an elephant into a donkey? Is anyone capable of making a chicken soar through the air like an eagle? Is anyone capable of making a wolf eat grass like a sheep? Is anyone capable of making the fish in the water live on dry land? And why not? Because God commanded them to live in water, and so they live in water. On land they wouldn’t be able to survive, and would die; they are unable to transgress the limits of God’s command. All things have a law and limit to their existence, and they each have their own instincts. These are ordained by the Creator, and are unalterable and unsurpassable by any man. For example, the lion will always live in the wild, at a distance from the communities of man, and could never be as docile and faithful as the ox that lives together with, and works for man. Although elephants and donkeys are both animals, and both have four legs, and are creatures that breathe air, they are different species, for they were divided into different types by God, they each have their own instincts, and so they will never be interchangeable. Although the chicken has two legs, and wings just like an eagle, it will never be able to fly in the air; at most it can only fly into a tree—and this is determined by its instinct. Needless to say, this is all because of the commands of the authority of God.

In the development of mankind today, the science of mankind can be said to be flourishing, and the achievements of man’s scientific exploration can be described as impressive. Man’s ability, it must be said, is growing ever greater, but there is one scientific breakthrough that mankind has been unable to make: Mankind has made airplanes, aircraft carriers, and the atomic bomb, mankind has gone into space, walked on the moon, invented the Internet, and lived the hi-tech lifestyle, yet mankind is incapable of creating a living, breathing thing. The instincts of every living creature and the laws by which they live, and the cycle of life and death of every kind of living thing—all these are impossible and uncontrollable by the science of mankind. At this point, it must be said that no matter what great heights are attained by the science of man, it is incomparable to any of the thoughts of the Creator, and is incapable of discerning the miraculousness of the Creator’s creation, and the might of His authority. There are so many oceans upon the earth, yet they have never transgressed their limits and come upon land at will, and that is because God set boundaries for each of them; they stayed wherever He commanded them, and without God’s permission they cannot move around freely. Without God’s permission, they may not infringe upon each other, and can only move when God says so, and where they go and stay is determined by the authority of God.

To put it plainly, “the authority of God” means that it is up to God. God has the right to decide how to do something, and it is done in whatever way He wishes. The law of all things is up to God, and not up to man; neither can it be altered by man. It cannot be moved by the will of man, but is instead changed by the thoughts of God, and the wisdom of God, and the orders of God, and this is a fact that is undeniable to any man. The heavens and earth and all things, the universe, the starry sky, the four seasons of the year, that which is visible and invisible to man—they all exist, function, and change, without the slightest error, under the authority of God, according to the orders of God, according to the commandments of God, and according to the laws of the beginning of creation. Not a single person or object can change their laws, or change the inherent course by which they function; they came into being because of the authority of God, and perish because of the authority of God. This is the very authority of God. Now that this much has been said, can you feel that the authority of God is a symbol of the identity and status of God? Can the authority of God be possessed by any created or non-created being? Can it be imitated, impersonated, or replaced by any person, thing, or object?

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique I