A tremendous question was asked recently concerning the meaning of the term “God of this World“. I wrote this short article to explain the Biblical meaning of this term and how to apply it to the present condition of the world.
A question: Who owns the earth? Originally it belonged to God, because He created it, it was his
Genesis 1:1“In the beginning God created the heavens and earth”
God gave it to man. Adam was to be a steward over it.
Genesis 1:28“Then God Blessed Them And God Said To Them, Be Fruitful And Multiply; Fill The Earth And Subdue It, Have Dominion Over The Fish Of The Sea, The Birds Of The Air, And Over Every Living Thing That Moves On The Earth.”
Man lost control of the earth to satan in Genesis 3:4-24
Genesis 3:24 So The Lord drove out the man from the garden; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life
When Jesus went into the wilderness to fast for 40 days and nights, at the end of the 40 days, when He was at His weakest, that is when satan came to Jesus to try and persuade Him to take a short cut and not go to the Cross…
Matthew 4 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up,Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him
Essentially, what satan was saying to Jesus is, I have dominion over all the kingdoms of this world, I can give them to whomever I desire, I will give them to you Jesus, if you just fall down and worship and serve me. You don’t have to go to the Cross Jesus, Here is a short cut…
Notice that Jesus never disputes the fact that satan has this dominion over the kingdoms of this world., just the fact that worship should only be given to God.
There are many places in the New Testament where dominion of the earth is spoken of as presently belonging to satan.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
John 14:30I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
John 16:11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The Greek word for “Ruler” here is: “Archon”, “First in Rank”, It is the same word used to describe Jesus as He is Ruler over us as His Kings and Priests.
2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this world 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.
Ephesians 2:2
in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Jesus came to redeem not only the Human population of earth in his death and resurrection. Jesus came to redeem the Physical earth.The actual claiming of the earth is delayed until chapter 5 of the book of Revelation.
In Revelation chapter 5, we see Jesus taking back possession of the earth.
This is why it is wrong to blame God for all of the suffering in the world.
Suffering, pain and death in the earth is the results of man loosing control of the earth to satan. The reason that terrible things happen here upon the earth, is that we gave dominion of the earth over to satan. Essentially, in the garden, we told the Lord that we did not want Him to rule over us, we wanted to rule over ourselves. The Majority of people on the earth today, continue to not want the Lord to Rule over the earth. The chaos, brutality and cruelty of the earth today, is the results of mans rule and satan’s dominion of the earth. You can’t blame God for all of the terrible things that happen in life, you can blame us, and you can blame satan.
This is the world that we asked for…a World without God.
When Jesus returns to earth at the end of 7 year Tribulation Period, and He finally established His kingdom over the earth, no one will hurt or kill again on the earth…
Isaiah 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
So, if you have been mad at God for something that has happened to you in your life, it isn’t His fault, it is our fault, this is the world that we asked for, when we told God not to rule over us.
What a glorious day it will be when the text of Revelation Chapter 5 comes to pass as Jesus steps forward to the throne of God and takes the title deed to the earth back and then comes to redeem it once and for all.
Remember that although Jesus did redeem us at the Cross and has already won the right to redeem all creation, that complete redemption has been delayed until the Return of the Lord to the Earth as described in Revelation 5 and 19.
It is also important to remember that although dominion over this present world has been given to satan, it is a very limited dominion, for a very short period of time. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have not lost their rulership over the universe, they have never ceased to reign over all. We do however see in the Bible that satan is given certain moments of time when he seems to have a period of rulership, in which the Lord uses for His own good purposes. Ultimately and permanently, satan and all his angels will find their rightful place in the Lake of Fire where they will never again have dominion over anything.
Rob Robinson
