Tuesday: The Ruler of This World
“And the Lord said unto Satan, ‘Whence comest thou?’ Then Satan answered the
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Lord, and said, ‘From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it’ “ (Job 1:7).
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”(1 Pet. 5:8).
As we have seen, the world belongs to God, both by Creation and by Redemption. But we mustn’t forget, either, the reality of Satan, the reality of the great controversy, and the reality of Satan’s attempt to wrest control over all that he possibly can. Even though, after the Cross, his defeat was made certain, he’s not going down quietly or gently. His wrath and destructive power, though limited to a degree by God in ways that we certainly don’t understand now, must never be underestimated. We mustn’t forget, either, that however often issues may come to us in shades of gray, the ultimate battle boils down to only two forces: Christ and Satan. There is no middle ground. And, as we know, so much of this world falls under the banner of the wrong side. Is it any wonder, then, that the world is so damaged?
Read John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11, Ephesians 2:2, 6:12. What important truth about the reality and power of the evil one is found in these texts?
In the book of Job, some of the veil that hides the reality of the great controversy is pulled back, and we can see that Satan does have the ability to cause great destruction in the natural world. Whatever the phrase “the prince of this world” entails, it’s clear that in this role Satan still exerts a powerful and destructive influence on the earth. This truth gives us all the more reason to realize that the natural world has been greatly damaged, and we need to be very careful about the lessons that we draw from it regarding God. After all, look at how badly Darwin misinterpreted the state of the world.
In what ways can you see, clearly, the destructive influence of Satan in your own life? Why is the Cross and the promises found in it your hope?
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Satan's dominion over this world is not unlimited. For example, he is very limited in exercising dominion over those who make the Lord Jesus Christ their trust. "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run into it, and is safe." Proverbs 18:10. The Lord has set a hedge around those who follow Him. "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." Proverbs 34:7. Even Satan himself acknowledged that the Lord set a hedge around Job and his family and all that he possessed. He had to get the Lord's permission to afflict Job, and even that was with restrictions! But the really good news about the cross of Christ is that no matter what the devil throws at us, he was dealt a death blow at Calvary, and in the final analysis, love triumphs over evil. God's love conquers all.
Can we say then that Satan has power only over people that does not fear God and that he has dominion over matters that regards material aspects only? And let`s say, a non-believer comes to me and say : "If God is so good, why does he let all these things happen (war, poverty, pain, natural disaster etc.), am I to say that God does not have ultimate power over this world because of sin?
We don't always know why that even some good and God fearing people suffer. Except to say that we live in a world that has been turned upside down by sin. We all suffer the degradation that thousands of years of sin have produced. God's people often have to endure cancer and other forms of disease that afflict others. Did God go on vacation for these folks? Fortunately God has given us some health guidelines that do help us attenuate, postpone or in some cases eliminate some of these problems. Spiritually God puts a hedge around us. But if God always put a hedge around us physically we would likely serve him for wrong reasons. We would become the proverbial "rice Christian".
I know that we do not always know why things happen and are not supposed to question things but at times I have a hard time understanding why bad things have to happen to innocent children. For example, the Newtown shooting or when children are abducted. I just wish all children could be protected from evil.
Satan is sometimes referred to as the god of this world and is said to have blinded the minds of those which believe not. 2 Corinthians 4:4.
This is a planet in rebellion.
Hebrews 13:14, For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Colossians 3:2, Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
God created the earth and now satan claims rulership of this world.
JESUS referred to the temple in Jerusalem as His house, Matthew 21:13. When they rejected and rebelled against him it ceased to be His house. Matthew 22:38, says, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Now CHRIST referred to it as their house not his house.
After rebelling against GOD, satan now claims ownership of the earth claiming to be the god and owner of the earth...
Yes, satan is the prince of the air and he know's that he has but a short time. He is widening the belly of hell, for many choose to follow him. Satan attempted to tempt Jesus, surely he will try and tempt the world. Yet, praise be to God for His Son, Jesus Christ! As brother Fred mentioned, there is a hedge around those that follow Jesus. Stay strong in the faith sisters and brothers and let's continue to pray for the lost.
I believe that God protects us. How about those who go to African Traditional Doctors who use concoctions and may be some herbs for protection against evil or witches? Does the power to protect them if any come from God?
yes! there are rays of light which shines on the face of every saint
The devil took the ownership of this world at Eden when Adam fell.He rules hia & that's why in Luke 4:5-6,the devil dares God the son-JESUS.However,we shouldn't freeze at these facts.we should be sobber,obeying God truly and we shall win-James 4:7,1 peter 5:9
And what a daily battle it is to be a follower of Christ. The devil tries and put doubt in our mind every minute of our life's. Only through his Word can we hope to stay strong.
Just see how people are exploiting natural and human resources.
Should we more advocate for those that are oppressed?
I am thankful for God's promises and the knowledge that He and His love always win--that they have already won. I need to spend so much more thought time on this theme.
Amen Bro Fred, sometimes we forget the power of the risen savior , who remains the King of kings and Lord of lords...not just a prince.
many times in our lives Satan make attempts to have us doubt God by attacking our love ones. By causing them to get themselves into situations only God can get them out of. Other times, he attack our schools, jobs, and health in ways that we may feel the need to look else where for a responds. But we know that the only friend, savior, judge, lawyer, boss we have is God because he controls everything. We just need to leave it all up to him and put it in his hands. I know it's easier said than done but with enough practice and prayer and with the help of the holy spirit we can overcome. Satan taken a toll in this world causing natural disasters that will have people think it's God. But after reading Job we can clearly see that Satan is capable of inflicting these type of disasters on us just to drive a wedge between us and God.
2 cor 4:4
whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
The liar is the ruler of this world he/she even took Jesus to mountain top and asked him to worship him so that he can give him the whole world.
Brethren we must be firm or else we may end up being offered the world but miss eternal life.
We have to put all our trust in our Savior Jesus Christ who is the lord of lords.
Thanks Brother Fred for you comment! God's love does conquer all!
Satan is allowed temporary ownership of this world. Hence the reason he must seek God's permittinon to hurt God's people. To those who seek not Christ as their Saviour he has total control. Because of the Cross his reign is for a while. Thank God he is a dethrone king.
listening to a sermon from Pastor,Dr A L Ewoo ,he denoted that ,God is the giver of wisdom which is found in he bible .therefore knowledge of this world is limited and remains here.however the main point is Satan is nothing when it comes to GOD because he has been defeated on the cross.
Am happy cause God abandoned his punishment and promised that no cussing of the earth any more and remains to us to follow God's steps and remain in touch with Him always
It is God who cursed the world . He is the one who stopped cursing .He is all powerful .He requires your allegience for him .
But sometimes I wonder does Satan still has the time to repent to God for what he did?
Oluoch, there are two texts that tell me that there is no possibility of repentance left for Satan. "the ruler of this world is judged" (Jn. 16:11 NKJV) and "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41 NKJV).
To me it isn't that God wants a created being of His to die but rather that Satan will not change his mind. He will not accept the gift of God except on his own terms and will never conform his life to the law of love. In fact I don't think he is able to "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7 NKJV). In my view the same condition will exist at the end of time for all those that stubbornly cling to sin (Rev 22:11).
That is what the unpardonable sin is all about. It is a point that we reach where we have absolutely no desire whatsoever to change our attitude toward God and His law. Only God knows when that point is reached which is why He is the judge and not us.
Our individual probation closes the moment we die. Satan's probation closed when Christ died. At that very moment, his fate was sealed... forever.
We are going to defeat Satan by the blood of Jesus that God gave for us on Calvary.
Hebrews 13:6 said that we have the helper and this help is Jesus. Fear not Satan world's ruler
I find comfort in the fact that, "...our God's hand of protection is on those who worship Him..." Ezra 8:22.
Truly as we have seen, the world belongs to God, both by creation and by redemption. Even though we are faced with temptation and trials which is a testing, one day which will be soon God himself she descend from Heaven and that day shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that is shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Hi Janet. I just wanted to encourage you with regard to your concern about bad things happening to innocent children. We serve a God of love, who has a soft spot for little children. In fact He says that those who would enter into the Kingdom of Heaven need to be like little children. Someone commented that the devil needed permission to inflict Job because God had put a hedge about him. And even God granted permission, He granted him limited access to afflict Job. He did this not because He (God) was curious but because He knew what Job could and could not withstand. Were this not the case then surely God would have placed no limitation on the Devil's power to hurt Job. We read in the bible many accounts of children who feared the Lord, who knew God, who were used by God (Samuel is a great example there are the 3hebrew boys, David, Jesus Christ Himself who studied and understood God's Word at the age of 12). " No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful,who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. " - 1Corinthians 10:13. Job, through his affliction, was being tempted to curse, reject, deny God. Though it may hurt as a parent or an adult to see these things happening to innocent children, even this verse applies to them.