But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 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 (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
At different times in scripture, the devil was described as “the prince of this world” and “the god of this world.” As much as these two sound alike, they mean different things. The term, “world,” used in both phrases, was translated from two separate Greek words: “Cosmos” and “Aion.” Cosmos refers to everything in the world and its physical arrangement; all the beauty of the world and everything in it. Aion, on the other hand means “a dispensation of time; an age in which certain things happen,” for example, the Stone Age or the Ice Age. It also refers to the way of doing things in a period of time.
The devil became the prince or ruler of this world when Adam committed high treason and handed over the cosmos to him. But when Jesus—the second and last Adam came, He dispossessed satan of his authority by virtue of His death, burial and resurrection, and gave us the victory! That was why He told His disciples: “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:31-32).
Thus, satan doesn’t have any right over this physical world anymore; he only has a right over the age (the aion or the system of this world) which includes the world’s economy, fashion, arts, sciences, and so on, because he authored it. This explains why many of these things are in a mess; it’s because satan is the god of the age.
We’re however not of this age; we belong in God’s Kingdom and operate by a different set of rules. We don’t depend on the social, financial, economic and health systems of this world, because they are programmed to fail! We depend only on the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and we operate by the principles of God’s Kingdom. We’re not of this world.
Prayer
Dear Father, I thank you for showing me today that I’m not of this world. Its systems don’t apply to me because I operate by the higher principles of your Kingdom. I refuse to be bound by the limitations that exist in the world today, for greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Amen.
Further Study
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
(Taken by permission from Christ Embassy Church , aka Believer’s LoveWorld Ministries , Lagos, Nigeria. www.ChristEmbassy.org )
