Why Nothing Can Stop the Kingdom of God from Permeating, Filling and Ruling Planet Earth
One of the most misunderstood scriptures as it relates to the battle for planet earth is the one where it says refers to Satan being the god of this world in 2 Corinthians 4:4.
We’ll get into what that means in a moment, but let’s first look at what the Bible teaches about who owns the earth and who has authority over it. Here’s a few scriptures that are very clear on the matter.
Genesis 14:19
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
1 Chronicles 29:11
Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Deuteronomy 10:14
Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.
This is reiterated in the New Testament. Jesus said this:
Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
That was pre-resurrection. Post-resurrection He said this:
Matthew 28:18
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
There is absolutely no power anyone has in heaven then earth that what Jesus has; that includes Satan. He has it all.
God of this world
One of the problems many people have with that above phrase is they wrongly think it terms of the world being another word for the earth, when it fact it literally has nothing to do with the planet in and of itself, and all the fulness included with it (Psalm 24:1, 1 Corinthians 10:26,28).
I recently wrote about the meaning of the word world in 2 Cor. 4:4. I’m including part of it below.
There is a lot of misunderstanding concerning the phrase “god of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4:4, as some don’t know it’s not a reference to the planet, but is rather the word for age (αἰών). Not only that, but it’s not primarily a reference to a duration of time, but rather a season marked by spiritual or moral characteristics.
Vines says this:
The force attached to the word is not so much that of the actual length of a period, but that of a period marked by spiritual or moral characteristics.”
The Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament describes it this way:
It refers to all that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations at any time in the current world.”
As for the word “blinded,” it points to Satan undermining their thoughts, thinking and ability to reason, according to The Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament. Vines describes it as a “dulling of the intellect” by Satan.
A major reason for mentioning this scripture is it has been wrongly used to assign Satan far more power and authority in this age than he actually has. He is not the god of this world if you mean by that planet earth. The Bible is very clear that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1, 1 Corinthians 10:26,28).
Nothing of it is Satan’s. Sometimes people have not only wrongly identified the word age here, but have also assumed the word translated as ‘world’ is another way of saying earth. It’s simply not true. Other parts of the Bible the word ‘world’ and ‘earth’ are used interchangeably, but this isn’t one of them.
What’s important to take into consideration is what the word world in the verse mentioned above means.
Earth and its kingdoms
Not only is God the Lord of heaven and earth, by extension, He alone, is also God of all the kingdoms of the earth.
2 Kings 19:15
And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
Joshua 2: 9-11
9 And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
Take note that the giving of the land was associated with the Lord being God of heaven above, and the earth beneath. After the resurrection and ascension into heaven of Jesus Christ, the sending of the Spirit on Pentecost began in earnest the conquest of planet earth through His people.
The difference is this time it would be done through teaching and persuading the nations to learn and obey the laws and commands of God given through Jesus Christ the Lord. That’s part of Great Commission given by Jesus to His people.
Those that think it was something only the twelve were given to do, need to understand that while they received an initial global calling, it was something given for the church to locally for all of this age.
Solomon pointed this out when talking about the house of God.
2 Chronicles 6:32-34
32 Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;
33 Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.
Delegated purpose and authority
God had what is called the eternal purpose from before creation, and that was that His people would be conformed to His image. The result of that transformation is the building of Christian civilization that fills the whole earth.
When the scriptures talk about God’s glory filling the earth, it’s not primarily a reference to Him being everywhere, because by His very essence that is already the case. What it’s really talking about in its fulness is God wants His glory to fill the earth by His people bearing His image.
That’s one of the reason Adam and Eve were given the command to be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth. This was before sin, and God expected them to have children and walk in obedience to His commands. The end result would have been the earth being filled with a people bearing the image of God, without the taint of sin.
The point being that God’s purpose and authority were delegated to mankind, and the glory was to be they were living in alignment with His image in all the earth, having dominion over it. God’s Lordship isn’t delegated, but His authority is.
That purpose has never changed, albeit the way the earth would have been if Adam hadn’t sinned will never be achieved. Now the wheat and the tares will grow together. That doesn’t suggest the tares will ultimately dominate, because they won’t. It only means they’ll grow to the fullest expression of their evil and worldview. So will the believers and followers of Jesus Christ.
There will be an extraordinary period of God ruling the earth through His people, and that will bring about the kingdom of God to come and will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven, as Jesus taught us to pray for.
Conclusion
Satan isn’t the god of planet earth, Jesus Christ is. All power and heaven and earth have been given to Him by the Father, and He will rule from heaven though His people by the work and empowerment of the Holy Spirit in and through them.
Our major job in relationship to warfare are described in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6.
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
The things we are to cast down are those identified in regard to the god of this world or age. The age, remember, is something referring to that which is filled with “… all that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations at any time in the current world.”
We are to measure our these ideas against the word of God, and bring our thoughts into captivity to the Holy Scriptures, or obedience to Christ. When that is done, we live out our lives in conjunction with the truth, ultimately having dominion and executing justice on planet earth once we are walking in obedience to God’s purpose and laws, i.e. bearing His image everywhere on the earth.
This is the heritage of the followers of Jesus Christ in this age.
