{"id":1121,"date":"2020-08-16T09:21:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T13:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2020-08-17T11:04:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T15:04:51","slug":"the-gospel-observer-277","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomastedwards.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/08\/16\/the-gospel-observer-277\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB).
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Contents:

1) “The Ruler of This World” (Kyle Pope)
2) Some Things to Remember . . . (Bill Crews)
3) News & Notes
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-1-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Ruler of This World”  <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kyle Pope

When Satan tempted Jesus by offering Him rule over the earth if He would worship him, Luke 4:6 records Satan\u2019s bold claim \u201call this authority . . . has been delivered to me\u201d <\/strong>(NKJV). This is echoed in John 16:11 where Jesus confirms his claim identifying Satan as \u201cthe ruler of this world.\u201d <\/strong>While these statements declare Satan\u2019s rule<\/em> over this world, little is revealed about the nature of this rule or the circumstances under which it came to him.

Some connect Satan\u2019s rule with his fall. We actually know very little about the fall of Satan. The infamous Lucifer <\/em>passage of Isaiah 14:12 has been improperly used to describe Satan\u2019s fall, but the context makes it clear it is talking about the king of Babylon, not Satan (see 14:3). Jesus declared, \u201cI saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven,\u201d<\/strong> but He does so in the context of His disciples casting out demons (Luke 10:18). Was Jesus talking about a past fall or what happened in the work of His disciples (i.e. Satan\u2019s power being taken away)? In Revelation 12:7-12 it describes Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven, but it does so in the context of Christ\u2019s victory over sin by His blood. Whatever power Satan had at the temptation of Christ in Luke 4:6 would predate this. If the book of Revelation is understood in terms of cycles that describe the same tribulation-deliverance pattern in different ways, the binding of Satan in Revelation 20:1-3 describes the same fall as 12:7-12. In either case, neither of these gives us an account of Satan being granted authority over the earth.

What we know about Satan\u2019s fall comes more from inference than from direct statement. For example, in the qualifications for elders given in 1 Timothy 3:6, Paul warns that if a novice was appointed, he could be \u201cpuffed up with pride\u201d<\/strong> leading him to \u201cfall into the same condemnation as the devil.\u201d  <\/strong>At the very least this implies that in some way Satan\u2019s pride led to his downfall and condemnation. What is clear is that Satan has \u201csinned from the beginning\u201d <\/strong>(1 John 3:8) which likely refers to the beginning of this creation. He deceived the woman in the garden and even still he \u201cdeceives the whole world\u201d <\/strong>(Rev. 12:9).  In the parable of the wheat and the tares it is Satan who sows tares in the world (Matt. 13:39). So, Satan in one sense is responsible for sin, even though each of us individually is responsible when we give in to sin (Jas, 1:14).

The real questions that we wrestle with regarding Satan\u2019s rule is what authority does Satan actually possesses and in what sense was that authority \u201cdelivered over\u201d to him by God? If we go so far as to say that any sinful influence (or authority) was established by God, it would make God the cause of sin (or temptation). That is clearly not what the Bible teaches (Jas. 1:13). On the other hand, delivering something over to Satan does not have to express assent, agreement, or approval. For example, in 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul \u201cdelivered\u201d Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan (i.e. he gave them over to their desire to follow Satan in their blasphemous behavior). The same is said of the man who had his father\u2019s wife, from whom the church in Corinth had to withdraw. Paul described this as the man being delivered \u201cto Satan\u201d<\/strong> (1 Cor. 5:5). For God to allow Satan to tempt, deceive, and control the world through sin, does not make God complicit in this temptation, it is simply allowing Satan to exercise this type of influence. This may be the sense in which Satan\u2019s power was \u201cdelivered\u201d to Him.

Yet, what power (or authority) does Satan actually possess? In the temptation, Satan offered Jesus rule over all kingdoms. Did he really have that power and if so to what extent? It is true that often hardships of the flesh are attributed to Satan. The woman with the flow of blood was said to be \u201cbound by Satan\u201d <\/strong>(Luke 13:16). Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh is called a \u201cmessenger of Satan\u201d<\/strong> (2 Cor. 12:7). Yet, it is unclear how directly these things should be understood. It may be that Satan is allowed to exercise some negative influence over nature. On the other hand, it may be that the fact that Satan\u2019s influence over man in the garden, which led to a world of sickness, death, hardship, and decay, means that all natural hardship could be said to trace back to Satan as its cause. Most of the \u201cpower\u201d that Satan seems to possess concerns man\u2019s spiritual state. We know that when one follows the desires of Satan, he becomes a child of Satan rather than a child of God (John 8:44). In 1 Timothy 5:15 Paul speaks of those turning to sin as having \u201cturned aside after Satan.\u201d<\/strong>  This is a personal choice and not compulsion, but having followed Satan rather than God puts one in obedience to Satan rather than under the rule of God. It yields to Satan\u2019s rule. Hebrews 2:14 says that Satan had the \u201cpower of death,\u201d <\/strong>and Jesus conquered this in His death. Obedience to the gospel allows one deliverance from the \u201cpower <\/strong>(or authority\u2014exousia<\/em>) of Satan\u201d<\/strong> (Acts 26:18). If this is understood, we can see that Satan\u2019s authority is much like the sense in which we in Christ are part of His kingdom\u2014it is dependent upon the assent of the governed. When I submit myself to the reign of Christ, I am under His rule. When I submit myself to the reign of Satan, I am under his rule.

One final point should be observed from Satan\u2019s very name. Satan <\/em>means \u201cadversary.\u201d In Revelation 12:10 Satan is called \u201cthe accuser of our brethren\u201d<\/strong> who accuses them before God \u201cday and night.\u201d<\/strong> This comes in the context of the description of his fall. This may give us more information about what God has allowed Satan to do. To some extent Satan was granted the right to \u201caccuse\u201d human beings before God. In Job 1:6-7 Satan appears in this role of the \u201caccuser\u201d with some right to roam \u201cto and fro\u201d<\/strong> over the earth. In addition to Satan\u2019s rule over man through sin and death, it may be that this role of \u201caccuser\u201d is a power<\/em> which God has granted Satan. Yet, Christ\u2019s death robs him of that power because it offers the atonement for sin whereby the repentant Christian can no longer properly be accused of sin.

— Via Faithful Sayings,<\/em> Volume 22, Issue 26 (June 28, 2020)
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-2-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Things to Remember . . .<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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