| “The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). |
| Yesterday we spoke about the importance of being saved now, but how often people do not want to believe. In today’s verse we read how that Satan has blinded them so that they do not see the “gospel of the glory of Christ” (JND translation). |
| Satan is now the god of this world, and controls men’s minds by appealing to their lusts (their sinful desires). The world system of which Satan is the god began a long time ago with a man named Cain, who was the first son of Adam and Eve. You may remember how that when he and his brother Abel brought sacrifices to the Lord, Cain offered to God things that he had grown in his garden. God could not accept this sacrifice, but his brother Abel offered a sacrifice of a lamb that God could accept. No doubt Cain brought his very best things from his garden, but the Bible tells us, “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). God required a blood sacrifice, because it speaks of the Lord Jesus, whose blood is the only thing that can wash away our sins. Because God did not accept his sacrifice, Cain hated his brother and murdered him when they were out in the field together. |
| Later we read that when the Lord spoke to Cain about what he had done, Cain first of all lied about it, and then, when he realized that the Lord was going to punish him, tried to pretend that the Lord was being too hard on him. (God had pronounced a curse on him. From that time on, his garden would not produce as well as before, and he would be a “fugitive and a vagabond” (wanderer) in the earth. This means that he would always be afraid that someone would come after him, and that people would look upon him as a bad man.) There were four things that described Cain, and they are the same things that describe Satan’s world today. First of all, Cain never repented of his sin. Second, he complained about his punishment, instead of being sorry for what he had done. Third, “He went out from the presence of the Lord” (Genesis 4:16). He did not want anything to do with God. Fourth, he built a city, and surrounded himself with everything that might make him happy, but leaving God out. For these reasons, the Bible tells us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). |
| We must live and work in the world as it is today, but the Lord Jesus says that those who are saved are IN the world, but not OF the world. You may read this in John 17:11, 14. This means that even though we live in the world, we do not belong here. Our real home is in heaven, and we are just passing through this world. But we are to use the opportunities given to us to tell others about the Lord Jesus, so that they may be saved too. |
