Right from the beginning of man’s history, it is clear that Satan has been heavily involved with this world and with mankind. He was there very shortly after Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, ready to deceive them and thus bring sin into this world. After that, he was surely instrumental in exciting the lusts of man, thus manipulating him into every kind of evil. After the flood of Noah, he was doubtless somewhat staggered at the power of God unleashed in the flood and the awful judgment it brought upon man. But then, as we read in Romans 1, he introduced false religion and idolatry into the world, all the while standing behind the idols, and using his limited power to deceive man into thinking that it was God’s power. As a result, we read that “God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” (Rom. 1:24), and He also “gave them up unto vile affections” (vs. 26). Finally, we read that “God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (vs. 28), filling the earth once again with every kind of evil. This he did for thousands of years.
The Great Crime
But Satan was not finished yet; there was one more crime that he would instigate, greater than all the others. God knew beforehand all about the sin of man and Satan’s part in it. He had already provided the remedy, and He “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” (Heb. 1:2). We also read that “when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son” (Gal. 4:4). After thousands of years of sin, God was prepared to magnify His grace and said, as Lord of the vineyard (according to the story in Luke 20), “What shall I do? I will send My beloved Son: it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him” (Luke 20:13). But man, energized by Satan, plotted the arrest, mock trial, and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
Had Satan won? For the moment it appeared so, for the Lord Jesus died and was buried, and the world gloated over its victory. Of course, we know that all this was in the purposes of God, that “through death He [the Lord Jesus] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15). In the very act of trying to get rid of the Son of God, man only fulfilled God’s purposes. We read in Acts 4:27-28, “Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.” The Lord Jesus rose from the dead and after forty days ascended to heaven. Now “repentance and remission of sins” can be “preached in His name among all nations” (Luke 24:47).
The World’s God and Prince
But what of Satan in all this? Since the rejection of the Lord Jesus by this world, Scripture refers to Satan as both the god and the prince of this world. Three times he is spoken of as the prince of this world, and once as the god of this world. Let us look at these four scriptures.
First of all, we find the Lord’s words when He contemplated the cross, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The Lord Jesus was about to glorify the Father’s name by submitting to all that was before Him, first from the hand of man, and then, during the three hours of darkness, from the hand of God. Our blessed Lord recognized that in rejecting Him, the world had sealed its doom. God could have nothing more to say to it, except in judgment. Together with this, Satan, whom the Lord now recognized as the prince of this world, would be cast out. For the moment Satan might seem to have triumphed, but his doom too was sealed. In a coming day he will first be cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12), then bound in the bottomless pit for the 1000 years of the millennium (Rev. 20:1-3), and finally cast into the lake of fire forever (Rev. 20:10). During this present time he acts in his capacity as the prince of this world politically, but he knows that his days are numbered.
No Control of Him
Second, we read in John 14:30, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” Satan might be the prince of this world, manipulating man by his lusts, as he has done for thousands of years. But there was one Man who came into this world in whom the prince of this world had nothing. Satan found that out during the temptations of the Lord in the wilderness, where none of the things that normally tempt fallen man could tempt the Lord Jesus or make Him leave the path of dependence and obedience. Satan might harass the Lord Jesus and force upon Him all kinds of suffering and humiliation, but still the devil had nothing in Him — no control of Him.
The Prince Judged
Third, we find the Lord Jesus saying in John 16:8,11, “When He [the Comforter] is come, He will reprove the world of ... judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” If Satan has usurped the place belonging to the Lord Jesus and called himself the prince of this world, there is another at work in this world too — the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convinces this world of sin, righteousness and judgment — all because the Lord Jesus is rejected. But the judging of the prince of this world in this passage is not the same thought as in John 12:31. In that scripture, the prince of this world shall be cast out; here in John 16:11, he is judged. It is the moral victory that the Lord Jesus won over Satan at the cross, for although He submitted to suffering and death, He rose again and is now seated at the Father’s right hand. The presence of the Holy Spirit down here is the witness of this, for the Holy Spirit could not come down until the Lord Jesus was glorified (John 7:39). The Holy Spirit is stronger than Satan, for “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Satan has been judged; all his wiles against man and God have been exposed, and he has been defeated.
The Eyes Blinded
Finally, we find in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world 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.” Religiously, Satan now takes the place as god of this world, for the world has rejected the one true God. The Lord Jesus came in grace to reveal the Father, and the world would not have Him. Now they must suffer the consequences of their choice and have Satan as their god. Awful thought! His work as god of this world is to blind men’s minds, not so much to the fact that man is a lost sinner, although true; rather, he primarily blinds men to the glory of Christ. Since Christ has died, God has proclaimed the gospel, and not merely a gospel of salvation from coming judgment, although true. But something far more glorious has been revealed — God’s purposes in His beloved Son. These were hidden in God until revealed to Paul, who was the instrument chosen of God to announce them. But for the believer, we can be thankful that “God ... hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
We must recognize the position Satan holds today, for he is both the god and the prince of this world for the moment. To be aware of his position and actions is to be on guard, as in the common saying, “Forewarned is forearmed.” But on the other hand, we can rest in the fact that “he hath but a short time” (Rev. 12:12), for the dispensation of God’s grace is almost over, and our Lord’s coming is near. The crown of righteousness will be awarded to those who love, not His coming for us, but His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8). In that day our blessed Lord and Saviour will have His rightful place, and He will claim His place in this world as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16).
W. J. Prost