2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, (4) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul refers to Satan as the god of this age, thus confirming the truth to us that Satan is indeed the god of this world, for the word translated “age” in this passage can also be translated “world”. Nevertheless the word translated “age” also reveals to us that there is a time limit to Satan’s rule in the earth, for God is the one who decrees when an age begins and when it ends, and this age is very rapidly coming to an end. There are two more spiritual truths that we learn from this passage. The first truth we learn is that Satan exercises his authority over those who are perishing i.e. unbelievers, thus implying that believers do not fall under his authority. So what prohibits Satan from exercising his authority over believers? The reason is because although believers are in this world, they are not of this world and are therefore not subject to the god of this world. The second truth we learn from this passage is the method that Satan uses to exercise his authority over unbelievers, for the scripture states that He blinds their minds so that they cannot see the light or truth of the gospel. However, not only does Satan have the ability to prevent unbelievers from seeing the truth of the gospel, he also has the ability to prevent them from seeing any other truth as well. And so he is able to deceive those who are perishing into believing whatever lie he chooses, and because people always act on that which they believe, Satan is therefore able to influence people’s behaviour by deceiving them into believing the lies he tells them.
1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
We have seen in the previous scripture that the method Satan uses to exercise his authority over unbelievers is to blind their minds to the truth, thus ensuring that they will believe the lie. And because people act on that which they believe, Satan is therefore able to influence their behaviour. The above quoted passage of scripture confirms that truth for us, because in this passage the apostle John teaches us that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. In other words Satan has the ability to influence the behaviour of the whole world through his lies, which they believe are the truth. In this passage John also confirms the same truth as taught by the apostle Paul, i.e. that Satan has no authority over the saints and he only has authority over those who are of this world i.e. the unbelievers. For in this passage John differentiates between the saints and the rest of the world by stating that we are of God, and it is only those of this world over which the devil holds sway.
Revelation 20:1-3 “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; (3) and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.”
As revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture there is coming a time when Satan will be removed from this world. That event will occur when our Lord Jesus returns to the earth to begin His millennial reign. At that time Satan and all of his cohorts will be removed from the earth to be locked up in the bottomless pit. But I want you to notice that this passage also declares one of the reasons why Satan will be removed from the earth, i.e. so that he can no longer deceive the nations. So how does Satan deceive the nations of the world? He is able to deceive them because as the god of this world, he has blinded their minds to the truth, and more specifically to the truth of God’s word. And so, just as Satan deceived Eve into believing that God’s word was untrue and that she would not die when she ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, even so Satan is able to deceive the nations of the world into believing that God’s word is untrue while Satan’s lies are the real truth.
Michael E.B. Maher
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