As we interact within the Christian community, many times we have heard people say, “Well, we all know that the Bible says that the Devil is the god of this world”! Most of the time many will reply, “Yeah, you’re right” or just give a nod of the head in the positive direction. We seem to just accept that statement as correct. Why is that?
Well, we have all heard that verse quoted in sermons and teachings or church or Sunday school classes or by ministries and those who we love and admire. So our mind will judge those statements as true and accept them into our mind’s data bank for further use in our understanding and conversations.
This would be a good time to challenge our self, pertaining to what we believe! Are we able to instantly go to the chapter and verse that states the Devil is god of this world? Yes or no?
Well, let’s challenge ourselves again! Have we not heard that Jesus, the Word, created all things and without Him was not anything made that was made? Have we not also heard that Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords and that He is the only true Potentate and that there is no one above Him? Have we not heard that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof? Have we not heard that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Also, after Jesus rose from the dead, have we not heard that all authority in heaven and earth was given to Him?
Well, that should jerk a knot in our thinking! There seems to be double mindedness in the above challenge. It would seem that those contrasting statements pertaining to the Devil and Jesus couldn’t both be true. However at this time, our mind is still recalling that which we have heard spoken by our Elders and trying to recall the scriptures that seem to state that both of the above statements are from the Bible and are true. Might be a good time to search the scriptures! Is the Devil the god of this world?
Is there a scripture verse or passage that states Satan or the Devil is the god of this world? If we do a Strongs Concordance search, we find no such scripture verse. However, there is one passage that seems to fit into how the forming of this teaching may have come about to some degree.
2 Cor 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 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.
One might say, “Well, there you go!” Who else would try to hide the gospel and blind the minds of people so the light of the glorious gospel should not enlighten them? This has got to be Satan, that old Devil, with his mind blinding spirits scheme. Right? Seems pretty clear doesn’t it? Well this where the plot thickens!
The word for “world” in this passage is Greek #165 aion (ahee-ohn'); properly, an age; by extension, perpetuity (also past); by implication, the world; specially (Jewish) a Messianic period (present or future):
The KJV translators did a poor job in bringing this word “aion” into the English. It should have been translated “age” not “world!” Well, one might ask, “What difference does that make? Satan is certainly trying to blind the minds of the people of this “age” to the gospel isn’t he?
Our answer to this question is probably, “Of course it’s the Devil!” However, if we look at the titles of the Devil in the scriptures, we see he is a liar and a murderer. He is a deceiver. He is a slander and an accuser of the brethren. Even in the Garden of Eden, the Devil did not try to blind the mind of Eve. In fact he tried to open her mind with lies to things she did not know as of yet i.e. the knowledge of good and evil.
If we do a deeper search on the word “blinded” or “blinded the” in the scriptures, we see the attributes of “blinding” are not assigned to, nor specifically attributed to the Devil.
This would seem to be a good place to challenge our denominational mindset and then search the scriptures and see if these things are so. (Acts 17:11)
In the OT, the Lord is the one who instructed Isaiah to prophesy and make those people blind. In the NT, it is the Lord Jesus who is doing the blinding. That rattles the mind doesn’t it?
Is it possible that Paul is bringing the OT prophecies and the parables of Jesus into the light here in 2 Cor 4: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them, which believe not?
First, let’s examine the beginning of the use of “parables” by Jesus. If we study the scriptures, we find that John the Baptist, Jesus and His disciples all preached, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Where did Jesus first send the disciples to preach that message?
Matt 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
The gospel of the kingdom was first preached only to the children of Israel. Did they receive the gospel? No! According to John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Do we have an OT prophecy pertaining to a similar rejection of the Lord? How about Isaiah?
Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he (the Lord) said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Wow! Heavy stuff! The Lord told Isaiah to prophesy deafness, blindness and lack of understanding over those rebellious children of Israel lest they be converted and be healed.
We have been taught that parables were a teaching tool of Jesus. Parable is a compound word in the Greek and English did not have a good equivalent so it is a transliteration of the Greek into English. “Para” means to cast down beside or lay along side. This is similar to our use of parallel. “Bole” is a story. Therefore Jesus would take a story that we can understand with our natural mind and lay it along side a spiritual principal so we could get a good understanding of how the spiritual principal applies to us from the understanding of the natural realm. That sounds really cool but that is not what we will find to be true.
If we recall the scriptures, Jesus preached to the tribes of Israel through the first 12 chapters of Matthew. Then something changed drastically.
Matt 13:1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
At this point, Jesus left the house of Israel and turned to the sea of humanity or the Gentiles. He had not spoken in parables to the house of Israel. This got the attention to the disciples. Notice the question they asked Jesus.
Matt 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them (those who received Him not) it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath (ears to hear), to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not (ears to hear), from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Wow! This is some heavy stuff! When the disciples asked Jesus about His use of parables, they got a totally different answer than we get from our Elders. Jesus said that He spoke in parables so those who had hardened their heart, closed their eyes, and closed their ears to the gospel of the kingdom would be blinded and they would not be able to understand and be converted and be healed! Heavy stuff! Jesus pronounced over the house of Israel in His day the same that Isaiah pronounced over the children of Israel in his day.
If we go all the way back to Genesis 6, we find a statement by the Lord God that many quote but maybe they do not remember that this was said before the LORD flooded the earth and wiped out all of mankind except Noah and his family.
Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
For a hundred years Noah preached righteousness unto the people of his day and they laughed him to scorn. It had never even rained on the earth before the flood. God reached His limit with unrepentant man and He shut the door on the ark. Then the rain came and swept them all away.
By the same token, we see the same limit take place with the house of Israel with the preaching of Jesus. Jesus reached His limit and He left the house of Israel and went to the Gentiles. Notice that Jesus quotes Isaiah 6: in Matt 13.
Matt 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
If we back up and read Isaiah before chapter 6, we find the children of Israel in a bad way.
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
In the days of Isaiah, God had done every thing He could to get His people, the children of Israel, to receive Him as their God and follow Him. They just rebelled the more and became more harden in their heart.
Fulfilling many OT prophecies, Jesus came and ministered only to the tribes of Israel and they treated Jesus with rebellion just like their forefathers, as we find in Isaiah. If we examine chapter 12 of Matthew we find the people rejecting Jesus. Here is a sampling of chapter 12.
Matt 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.
12:14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
At this point Jesus left the house of Israel and did not strive with them any longer. Jesus cut them off from His preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and blinded them! That is a bad place to be. How bad? Jesus said that He spoke in parables so they seeing could not see and hearing they could not hear lest they should understand with their heart and be converted and He should heal them. Jesus was saying that He would not spend any more time on them pursuing them with His time and Truth. Their hardened heart had blinded them to the arrival of their promised Messiah.
It seems our mindset in the body of Christ is to just keeping on keeping on with those who have rejected the gospel and have chosen to serve the Devil and his wicked kingdom of darkness. Never give up could be our motto. Jesus was just the opposite with the people of His day.
In the OT we see that if was the Lord who commanded the blindness on the children of Israel. In the NT we see that it was Jesus that blinded the house of Israel of His day. The day that Jesus rode into town on the donkey we see that it was Jesus who blinded the nation of Israel.
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
The apostle Paul, who wrote 2 Cor 4:4 also wrote the book of Romans and he expounds upon the blindness of Israel. Chapters 9 through 11 are set to explain the nation of Israel and he mentions the blindness of Israel. Notice who did the blindness!
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
It would seem that we have been taught wrong as to who is the “god” of this world and to the one who is doing the “blinding.” It seems clear that the Lord Jesus is the God of this world and the Lord Jesus is the one who is doing the blinding.
2 Cor 2:4 is the only place in the scriptures where the phrase “god of this world” is used. It is clear that the verse itself does not name the “god” of this world. The lower case “g” in god has probably been a factor in our misunderstanding. We as believers have just been taught that it is the Devil and we believed it.
Maybe another verse containing the word “blind” would apply here. We must all judge.
Luke 6:39 And he spoke a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?
Jesus also made another major statement in the scriptures concerning light and darkness.
Matt 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
This is highly important in the area of learning and understanding. Jesus is saying that if anyone has a doctrinal understanding of the scriptures, believing it to be of the kingdom light, but it is actually a deception from the kingdom of darkness, then that is great darkness. Why, because we will not do anything to change what we believe. We believe we already have the truth.
If we trust in our belief system, that we have been taught correctly by our Elders, and we hold on to a wrong teaching as truth and we are not be willing to be challenged by the Word of God or by anyone else because we believe we already have the truth, that is great darkness.
David and Paul agree in their doctrine as to who is the God of this world?
Ps 24:1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
1 Cor 10:26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.
One of the areas that the Devil seems to excel in is the realm of confusion. This can be seen in the fact that we have hundreds of denominations using the same bible all teaching different doctrines. How does that happen?
1 Cor 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The body of Christ believing that the Devil is the god of this world (age) seems to be more like an abdication of the authority, which Jesus gave us over all the power of the Devil and his kingdom of darkness.
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power (authority) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Grace and Peace multiplied in the name of Jesus.
Compiled by Jerry Thomas 12/04/2024
All scripture references are (KJV) unless otherwise denoted.
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