The Kingdom of this Earth

The Kingdom of this earth belongs to us as the children of God. It is ours in the first place. It was made for us by God.

Man gave the keys of dominion of this world to Satan through rebellion and through willful disobedience to God's revealed and direct will.

Before the creation of man, Satan was known as Lucifer and was one of the highest ranking angels in heaven. He became so puffed up in his power, and because of his beauty that he decided he would exalt himself, and make himself like God.

Isaiah said, "For you have said in your heart:'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High'" (Isaiah 14:13, 14, NKJV).

Satan led a rebellion in heaven which involved a third of the angels that had been created.

"His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and drew them to the earth ...." (Rev. 12:14, emphasis added).

Notice that sometimes angels are called "stars" in Scripture.

God is God. He is almighty, invinecible, and invulnerable. There was no way for Satan to overcome God in heaven. Instead, God punished Satan for his pride and rebellion by casting him out of heaven as temporary judgment. His ultimate end is eternal punishment in a lake of fire.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground. You who weakened the nations" (Isaiah 14:12)!

"And He (Jesus) said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven'" (luke 10:18).

"Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit" (Isaiah 14:15).

"The devil, who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev. 20:10).

I have heard some Bible teachers teach that when God cast Satan out of heaven, He cast him down to the earth to rule here. In my opinion, that is totally, completely false.

God made the earth for man

God made the earth for man which was His crowning creation. He gave to man total dominion. God told man to rule here:

"Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' And God said, 'See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food'" (Gen. 1:28, 29).

When Satan gained the kingdom of earth, he did so as an usurper. Adam actually took the keys of the kingdom of this world that God had given to him and by his disobedience willfully handed those keys to Satan.

Satan was able to accomplish on earth what he could not accomplish in heaven because Adam chose to yield his will to Satan and he handed the dominion of this world to him.

God never meant for it to be that way. Even as He punished Adam and Eve for their disobedience, at the same time He pronounced His judgment, He promised a Deliverer Who would come and defeat Satan and give the dominion of this world back to man.

"And I will put enmity between you and this woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen. 3.15).

Jesus Christ was and is that Deliverer. By His life and death. He has purchased back for us all the rights and privileges man enjoyed as God's heir before Adam's transgression and subsequent punishment.

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us ..." (Gal. 3:13).

Jesus came to this world for a purpose - to destroy the power of the Devil.

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

Jesus Christ had done just that. He completely fulfilled His purpose.

The kingdom is not the Devil's. It is ours. It belongs to us: it does not belong to the Devil. We just let him have it willingly!

Satan is defeated

Satan already has been defeated by Jesus Christ.

Satan thought he had won when Jesus was crucified on the cross and put in a grave. No doubt there was a huge celebration at Satan's headquarters when this took place - a spiritual orgy. We can just see the Devil taking his place on his throne in the abyss of the dark sprit world with all the demons of hell coming to worship him.

For three days the demons worshipped the Devil. They thought the Devil had won. They thought the Son of God was dead. But on the third day a light began to flicker in the dark abyss. It got brighter and brighter.

There is ordinarily no light in that underground abyss, but there was that day.

What was that light? It was the light of the Son of God!

On the third day He rose from the grave. The Devil could not hold Him! Satan could not keep Him victim.

I can just see Jesus walked right down the very center of Satan's stronghold. In my mind's eye I can see the Devil rose up. I can hear Jesus said, "Satan, Lucifer, your hour is not yet come. I have not yet come to bind you; I have come to take from you the keys of the kingdom and to lead God's sons into glory."

The Spirit of the Lord God was upon Jesus as He took from the Devil's hands the very keys of the kingdom of the world.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ..." (Isaiah 61:1).

I believe Jesus went to where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the Old Testament saints where waiting for the redemption of their bodies. They, who by obedience, had looked forward to their redemption. Jesus put the keys of dominion in the prison door and He set captivity free. He took the souls of the righteous dead from the habitaiton where they had been waiting and He transferred them to a place of glory in the very Presence of God.

"When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, ..." (Eph. 4:8).

There is a great resurrection. The great host of patriarches who had died before the the death of Jesus now are led as sons unto glory!

Can you imagine the Devil's face as he saw this great host going to glory, all of the righteous who died before Jesus, who had led lives of faith and obedience and it was accounted unto them for righteousness, who were waiting for the redemption of their bodies?

As Jesus sprung from the bowels of the earth to ascend on high, I believe Satan was tempted to lift himself against the Son of God one more time. I can see him reach out and grab the heels of Jesus.

Bruising the serpent's head

You can spiritualize what happens as the Master takes His heel and bruises the head of the serpent and He continues His ascension.

"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed: He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen 3:15).

Every time the Devil attemps to thwart the works of God in the ministry or in the lives of God's people I think of this. I believe there is a scar right across the front of the Devil's face where he was bruised by Jesus' heel!


Every time the Devil lifts up his head, every time the Devil comes against us, we can visualize the scar that graphically denotes that Satan is defeated, that he is destroyed.


Jesus Christ came here for a purpose, to destroy the works of the Devil. Given all power, under God's authority He met and defeated the enemy Satan before He ascended back to the Father.


He left with us this promise:


"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).


Now, what would you think of Jesus, knowing the enemy's strength, if He gave us the commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel and did not give us the necessary weapons of our warfare?


But thank God, He did not do that. We have the same authority He had, passed on by Him to assure our victory over every aspect of Satan.


The keys of dominion


Jesus took those keys of dominion and He turned them back to man.


He said the following:


"Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 10:8),


"Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatwver you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).


"If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matt. 17:20).


"As the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21).


Of the disciples, it was written:


"And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs" (Mark 16:20).


Jesus had given you the keys to work the works of God. You know how to locate your enemy. You know how to assess his strength. You know what the weapons of your warfare are (2 Cor. 10:4).


You go forth, not in your own strength, nor in your own power, but you go forth as Jesus did. He had God's authority in Him! We now have Christ's authority working through us.


When Jesus wrested from the Devil the keys of the kingdom, He did not take them back to heaven, He left them here on earth - for us!


"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19).


God's Word in your mouth


There is no principality, there is no power, there is no work of Satan, there is no stronghold of the enemy in our cities, there is no prince of the power of the air that sits upon the thrones of our towns and villages; there is no power over our unsaved loved ones and there is no power in our rebellious youth. Ther is also no power in our sicknesses, diseases and problems.


God's Word and God's Authority is fire in your mouth:


Thus says the Lord: "Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire ..." (Jer. 5:14).


As disciples of Jesus Christ we need to rise up, empowered, and spiritually equipped to take this world for Jesus Christ.


Jesus said, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8).