Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not . . . .”
2Corinthians 4:4
If in the Bible demons are called “gods”, then it is not surprising that we should also find that Satan is referred to as a god. Paul calls Satan “the god of this world”, but he became “the god of this world” by deceiving the world into acting as if his thoughts were good and his ways were right. In Revelation 12:9, we are told that “the great dragon also was cast down, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the entire world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Satan became a god to some of the angels in heaven when they believed his lie and began to think and act as he did. Likewise, he became “the god of this world” when Adam believed his lie, turned from obedient faith in God and did as the serpent had suggested that he and Eve should do.
Satan is a “god” to mankind because mankind lives according to his wicked influence; they follow his lead. The Devil’s wisdom is superior to man’s wisdom; his knowledge of God and of many other things is superior to man’s knowledge. He is, as Ezekiel said, “perfect in beauty”, and every nation on earth is impressed by him and is under his sway.
Socrates, an ancient philosopher from Athens, observed rightly that “whatever deceives, bewitches.” This world is bewitched because it is deceived. All the earth is under Satan’s spell. From the time that Adam surrendered his dominion on the earth to Satan’s lie and disobeyed God, the human race has behaved as if Satan were God. This is why Paul described Satan as “the god of this world.”
None of this contradicts the truth David spoke (Ps. 24:1): “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” The earth is most certainly the Lord’s because He created it. That is the unalterable truth of the matter. But the world does not know the truth, and so, Satan reigns in their hearts and minds as if he were God.
It is only when individuals in the world are called by God “out of darkness, into his marvelous light” that Satan ceases to be god-like to that person, and his wicked spell is finally broken. This breaking of the Devil’s spell happened to Paul on the road to Damascus, and from that time, throughout the rest of his life, Paul gave “thanks unto the Father . . . who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.”
Jesus, the Lamb of God suffered and died to deliver us from the power of darkness, the darkness that covers the entire earth with a thick veil of ignorance, pride, and ungodly lusts. We serve God, and love Him, and trust Him because that spiritual darkness has been driven out of our hearts by His “light of life”. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Cor. 4:6).