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When did SATAN become 'The God Of This World'?
Think of this: Rev. 7, the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude—especially the great innumerable multitude, from every nation, kindred, tongue and language.
Remember that at the beginning of the Tribulation, you have the three-angels' messages come first.
FEAR GOD
PREACHING THE GOSPEL
WARNING ABOUT THE MARK OF THE BEAST
When should you warn about the mark of the beast? Before it's implemented by force? or After it's implemented? Obviously, before!
The great innumerable multitude and the 144,000 of Rev. 7 are about two years into the last three and a half of the Tribulation. The Tribulation is seven years long, half peace, half the trauma and the Tribulation.
Let's get into the topic:
When did Satan become 'the god of this world'?
The question is asked supposing the context that there was a time he wasn't.
Yes, we'll find out that there was a time he wasn't!
Was it at the time of creation? Was it when Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord?…. …Was it at the crucifixion of the Messiah? Was it when Paul was alive? Could there be some other Biblical authority to tell us?
We will answer all of those by Scripture.
First of all the place to begin is in the beginning. A proper reading of the first verse is very important. Then we will get other Scriptures that will pinpoint for us when Satan rebelled and when he became 'god of this world.'
Those are two different events.
Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God…"— That means God was there before anything else. How do we understand that? We don't, because that's at a level that God understands!
"…created the heavens…" (v 1)— That means there's an indeterminable period of when God created the heavens.
"…and the earth" (v 1). That came after creating the heavens!
The earth is considerably older than the 6,000 years that many of the Protestants like to claim, because they fail to put the Scriptures together to determine how old the earth is. You can't determine exactly how old the earth is.
Verse 2: "And the earth was… [or became] …without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep…" There was already a flood by v 2!
How did that flood come about?
Did God create the earth in chaos and confusion and covered with the flood?
We will see here the flow of creation:
GOD
HEAVENS
EARTH
But between heavens being created and earth being created, we will see that the angels were created. So, you've got:
HEAVEN
ANGELS
EARTH
REBELLION
FIRST FLOOD
MAN
It doesn't give us any number of days, years, eons or anything like this. Let's see heavens being created, and think about this for just a minute: If God created everything 6,000 years ago and He lives forever, what was He doing up to time of 6,000 years ago? Nothing? We will see that the proposition of only a 6,000-year-old universe and earth is not true, and we will see why.
Job 38 will tell us some very important things. Remember when Job said, 'Oh, that the Lord would answer me.'
Job 38:1: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 'Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?'" (vs 1-2).
Note: It's hard for people to understand what Job's sin was. He was righteous, like he said. All of it was righteousness that came from God, which is true. But his sin was he took all credit for it rather than giving God the credit. That's a summary as to why none of his three friends were able to find out what it was that he did because he was righteous.
Verse 3: "Now gird up your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?.… [there was a time when God laid the foundations to create the earth] …Declare it if you have understanding! Who has determined its measurements if you know? Or who has stretched the line upon it? On what are the foundations fastened to? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (vs 4-7).
Morning stars and sons of God are two classifications of angels. We will see before Satan sinned he was called the morning star.
What does this show at this point about the earth? All the angels were in agreement with what God did. They shouted for joy because that was to be their habitation. As we will see later, they left it! We will see why they left it.
We find that there was a time that the one (Satan) who was called 'the anointed cherub that covers,' and 'the morning star' (Isa. 14), that there was no sin.
What caused them to sin?
Where can we find it in the Bible?
It is there!
It's interesting that the phrase 'son of man' is used of Ezekiel almost exclusively all the way through Ezekiel.
Note: Jesus called himself the Son of man, especially when He was in Judea, because of all of the religious leaders there. There were a couple of times that He called Himself the Son of God. Then they came after Him with 'all barrels blazing' as it were.
Ezekiel 28:12: "Son of man, lift up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "You seal up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You have been in Eden the garden of God…"'" (vs 12-13).
Stop and think here! Who was in the Garden of Eden? Adam, Eve, the Lord and later Satan! After they sinned, only God was in the Garden of Eden and He put the cherubim with the swords to keep the way so they couldn't come to the Tree of Life or come into the Garden of Eden.
The Garden of Eden was destroyed at the Flood.
"…every precious stone was your covering… (v 14): You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I set you so; you were upon the Holy mountain of God… [that's where the throne of God is] …you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire" (vs 13-14)—because it's all like sapphire stone and the fire is probably the reflection of the glory of God's creation.
Verse 15: "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created…" First of all God created the heavens, then the angels, then the earth!
"…until iniquity was found in you" (v 15). When was iniquity found in him?
This also shows that it was a choice. He chose to do so. When did that occur? Isn't it interesting that this question could not be possibly answered for nearly 4,000 years in the writings of the Bible? But here in the very last book, the book of Revelation, God gives us a vision of what happened and why Satan rebelled.
Remember that God said He laid the foundation of the earth and the 'morning stars and the sons of God sang for joy.'
Revelation 12:1: "Then there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."
Note: This woman represents in Rev. 12: Israel, and Mary, and because the woman had the man-Child who was to rule all nations, Christ.
Verse 2: "And being with child, she cried in travail, and was in pain to deliver. And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads" (vs 2-3).
Verse 3: "And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads; and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth…." (vs 3-4).
This is the rebellion of Satan and one-third of the angels. This is when the rebellion took place; this is when, maybe not the thought of sin, but the action of rebellion against God by his thoughts of vanity and sin that he had there in Ezek. 28 were manifested.
Then it projects forward to the coming of the Messiah, which was first prophesied about to Adam and Eve right after they sinned. Satan wanted to kill the child (Matt. 3) with the three wise men and Herod, etc., but God intervened.
We will see all the way through that Satan wants to supplant God and Christ. Here is the rebellion that took place; this is when he sinned. Was it when he found that God had another plan before He created the angels, that He didn't tell them about until He laid the foundation of the earth? We have to put the Scriptures together to get the story flow. It's not all in one place.
"…in order that we might be Holy and blameless before Him in love" (v 4). We'll just short-circuit the rest of that: We would become the sons and daughters of God and be over the angels.
Didn't Paul say we will judge angels?
Doesn't the superior judge the inferior? Yes, indeed!
Is that when Satan rebelled?
When Satan found out the plan that God had and, instead of being the super-ruler that he thought he was, now he was going to be a servant to human beings, less than he was, and that they would have the privilege and destiny greater than his, as he was only a covering cherub, an angel. Human beings were destined to become after the God Family, after the God-kind.
You think about human situations. In human situations when someone finds out that this lowly person is going to be promoted over you, there would be rebellion. That's exactly what happened!
How long were the angels on the earth before the rebellion took place?
Before God revealed to the angels what His plans for human beings would be?
How that they would be made after the likeness and image of God and the angels weren't?
What happened?
Jude 6: "And the angels who did not keep their own original domain… [on the earth] …but deserted their habitation…" in rebellion against God to ascend to heaven to make war against God (Isa. 14), where Satan said, 'I will be like the Most High. (Thinking I don't like His plan. I'm going to get rid of Him and I'm going to set up mine.)'
"…He is holding in eternal bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the Great Day" (v 6).
Satan is called the one who is the power of darkness! So, he is in darkness and has no light in him. He's also the father of lies. Then we'll see some of the powers that Satan has with people.
When Paul was knocked to the ground, Acts 26:15: "And I said, "Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.'"
Isn't that interesting? If you persecute the children of God, you're persecuting Jesus. God will take vengeance on them accordingly.
Verse 16: "Now arise, and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a minister and a witness both of what you have seen and what I shall reveal to you. I am personally selecting you from among the people and the Gentiles, to whom I now send you to open their eyes…" (vs 16-18)—to the Truth!
What did Satan tell Adam and Eve? 'I will open your eyes and you can decide.' What really happened was that their eyes were closed to the truth, but open to see evil. In other words, their minds were closed to the good of God, and blinded.
Would not God have known that Satan was going to rebel? If you give free choice, God does not intervene with free choice. I am sure that Satan had free choice. If he were a robot, then he would have been made a robot to be righteous only. But since Satan had choice, there was always the possibility that he could sin, but there was always the possibility that he would choose not to sin. Same thing with us, we have to choose.
He sinned because they—Satan and the angels with him—left their first estate. The first estate must have been fantastic and beautiful. Whether that was the age of the dinosaurs or not, I don't know. But it probably was.
Verse 18: "To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified through faith in Me."
When did Satan change from being Lucifer? or the morning star? or the covering cherub? When he began to form his rebellion! How long that was we don't know. How did he get a third of the angels to go with him? Probably promising them positions if they could overthrow God, then they would set the agenda for the whole universe.
When did he become 'god of this world'? He became 'god of this world' after it was re-created for man to live on and Adam and Eve sinned by listening to the serpent, instead of God! At that point he became 'god of this world,' or this age, the age of mankind. That's when he became that.
Note these Scriptures regarding Satan:
the devil means the adversary. Satan is only used once in the Old Testament (1-Chron. 21).
destroyer/Apollyon: "…the angel of the abyss…" (Rev. 9:11).
In other words, wherever all the angels are imprisoned, he is the one who is over them. A lot of them are not allowed on the earth, and they won't be until that fifth seal is opened.
One of the first things God is going to do is get rid of the unclean spirits in the land (Zech. 13). That tells us when Satan is bound, the demons will be bound with him also.
deceiver of the world (Rev. 12:9)
the prince or ruler of this world (John 12:31)
the prince or ruler of darkness (Eph. 6:12)
a roaring lion (1-Pet. 5:8)
You have the true Lion, which is Jesus (Rev. 5), the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Then you also have the counterfeit, the lion Satan the devil.
Beelzebub, prince of the demons (Matt. 12:24)
the dragon (Rev. 12:7)
the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10)
that ancient serpent (Rev. 20:2)
a liar from the beginning, the father of lies (John 8:44)
Verse 17: "Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name.'" Notice how the demons and Satan are connected together, just like they were in Rev. 12.
Verse 18: "And He said to them, 'I was watching when Satan fell from heaven like lightning.'" It is as he was falling from heaven, cast back down to the earth!
Everything that the angels had on the earth was destroyed, covered with a flood. How long the earth was in that condition, we don't know. How old the earth actually is, it is probably as old as they can calculate the age of the earth really is.
Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, like one of a giant television screen, like today.
Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said, 'All of these I will give you.' The reason he said that is because he knew that Christ was going to take them anyway. He said, 'I'll give them to you now IF you will bow down and worship me.'
So, Satan became 'god of this age' when Adam and Eve sinned.