Satan ruled earth?

[Tellyontellyon]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

 

[HTacianas]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

I've never heard that before. But Satan is called "the ruler of this world" several times in the book of John. But it seems more like he is the "leader" of this world, as in "follow the leader". People choose to follow him rather than do good.

 

[d taylor]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

-
​

Yes it is taught by many Biblical teachers.
https://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/doctrine/satanfal.PDF

 

[Dave G.]

Satan still is the ruler of this world, through lusts of the flesh. He works with restrictions placed on him by God. The book of Job is quite an eye opener in those first couple of chapters, how he roams to deceive and destroy though on a tether from God. He is called The Prince of the power of the air. People readily fall prey to him. Thus we need a savior, Jesus Christ. Without Jesus we have nothing, Hell is our eternal destination along with Satan. Ultimately, through Christ we are set free.

 

[d taylor]

-​

“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.

“By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of God;
And I destroyed you, O covering cherub,
From the midst of the fiery stones.

 

[lanceleo]

Yes, at that point in time Satan actually had dominion and authority over the kingdoms of this earth. It was the authority which he took from Adam when he disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve submitted themselves to the lies of the devil, they came under his authority and gave up their own.

It was this authority and dominion which Jesus came to regain for the true worshippers of the one true God. Jesus knew that — and Satan did too. God had told Satan this back in the Garden of Eden. Since that time, the devil had sought to destroy the line from which that royal Seed would come.

Although Satan is the "god of this age” and the "prince of the power of the air,” he is located beneath the feet of Jesus and must submit to the authority of the exalted Christ. Did not Christ, in His atoning death, spoil principalities and powers and make a public victory parade of them (Col 2:15)? Did He not defeat Satan and his hosts by shedding His blood and rising from the domination of death with the keys of authority in His hand? This same Christ is today seated on the throne of universal dominion with all authority given unto Him.

One proof that Satan obtained this dominion is found in the temptation of Christ.

Matthew 4:8-9
King James Version
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

For this to be a valid temptation, the devil had to make a valid offer. If Satan did not have the dominion (the kingdoms of the world) to offer Jesus, there would have been no temptation. It is obvious Satan did have the dominion — and he offered it to Jesus.

 

[Laodicean60]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

If you look around the devil's system is in place and it feels that his spirit is getting stronger every year.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

We are in the flesh while in this world. The flesh is weak therefore Satan can and will tempt the flesh into sin. Though Jesus Christ of Nazareth is King of the Heavens and the earth, Satan can only excercise his power of temptation here on earth. That is why he has been given the label of " ruler" of the flesh and not King of the Kingdom. It's important to know that God is still in control. He allows Satan to have some authority in the world for his own purposes.
Blessings.

 

[PloverWing]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

There is a great deal of folklore about Satan that goes way beyond what we are told in the books of the Bible that are accepted as canonical by the Protestant and Catholic churches. Some of these ideas and stories are quite old, going back to early Christian or pre-Christian Hebrew writings. As I understand it, some of the stories are in the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees, both of which are in the canon used by one church in Ethiopia. I have not read either of these books myself, so I cannot comment further on them.

One of these days, I should do a proper study of the development of stories about Satan in Christian and Jewish thought. But I have not yet done that study.

I am not familiar with Porter Barrington, so I can't say how good his commentary is. But I would say that any Bible commentary, from any source, should be read with a critical eye. If anything in the commentary seems strange, read a second or third commentary to get alternative points of view.

Note that this quote:

“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
...

is preceded in Ezekiel 28 by the words "Moreover the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God". So, we can interpret this figuratively to apply to Satan if we like, but Ezekiel thought he was describing the king of Tyre.

 

[Tellyontellyon]

Yes, at that point in time Satan actually had dominion and authority over the kingdoms of this earth. It was the authority which he took from Adam when he disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve submitted themselves to the lies of the devil, they came under his authority and gave up their own.

It was this authority and dominion which Jesus came to regain for the true worshippers of the one true God. Jesus knew that — and Satan did too. God had told Satan this back in the Garden of Eden. Since that time, the devil had sought to destroy the line from which that royal Seed would come.

Although Satan is the "god of this age” and the "prince of the power of the air,” he is located beneath the feet of Jesus and must submit to the authority of the exalted Christ. Did not Christ, in His atoning death, spoil principalities and powers and make a public victory parade of them (Col 2:15)? Did He not defeat Satan and his hosts by shedding His blood and rising from the domination of death with the keys of authority in His hand? This same Christ is today seated on the throne of universal dominion with all authority given unto Him.

One proof that Satan obtained this dominion is found in the temptation of Christ.

Matthew 4:8-9
King James Version
8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

For this to be a valid temptation, the devil had to make a valid offer. If Satan did not have the dominion (the kingdoms of the world) to offer Jesus, there would have been no temptation. It is obvious Satan did have the dominion — and he offered it to Jesus.

It's not really proof of a 'valid temptation' if, as you stated, Satan tells lies... he may not have had the power to give anything.

Where are the decisive statements in the Bible that make it clear that before the fall, Lucifer was the ruler of earth?
TIA

 

[johansen]

John 12:31..

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out

 

[eleos1954]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

According to Genesis ... God created and gave Adam and Eve dominion (rulership) over the earth. When they sinned then dominion was usurped by satan (dominion given to him). When this happened (satan given dominion) the earth was in absolute perfect created condition.

A cross reference to Jude 1:6 is

2 Peter 2:4
For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

Revelation 12:7-9​

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

God placed the fallen angels in darkness after they sinned.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Hi, I was reading in the 'Christian Life New Testament, with master outlines and study notes' that:

"It is believed that Satan when first created, was the ruler of this earth, at at his fall, the earth 'was without form, and void'".

I believe these study notes are by Porter Barrington.
Now, I've never come across this story before... that Satan was the ruler of earth before the fall. The reference given is Gen 1:1...?
Anybody heard of this before?
Should Porter Barrington be avoided.
The study note is given in reference to Jude 6.

That's not something I have ever heard anyone, from any Christian tradition or denomination say.

I've no idea who Porter Barrington is.

John 12:31 says that judgment has come to the world and the "ruler of this world shall be cast out"

What often gets lost in translation is that the Greek word kosmos, usually translated as "world" in English is a fairly complex concept.

It is helpful to know that the primary meaning of kosmos is actually "order" or "arrangement". When the ancient Greek philosophers were doing all that complicated asking questions stuff, like "what is all this anyway?" It appeared that everything they observed and experienced was an ordered one, it was the kosmos. The ground under their feet, the stars in the nigh sky, the plants, animals, the rivers and so forth. It all was ordered, arranged in a certain way. This is still why we use "cosmos" in English to talk about the universe at large, hence words like cosmology and cosmogeny which are studies of the universe and of the universe's origins respectively

So this word kosmos, "order" or "arrangement" can mean "world" in the sense of our universe, it could also mean "world" in the sense of this terrestrial sphere we inhabit, or it could mean "world" in the sense of the systems of power, governments and so forth, which organize society. And more.

This is why we get what could be seen as conflicting language about "the world" in the New Testament. On the one hand we read in John 3:16 that "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son", God so loved the kosmos in the original Greek. And on the other hand 1 John 2:15 says "Do not love the world nor the things of the world. If anyone loves the world than the love of the Father is not in him."

What gives, is the world lovable or not lovable? The same Greek word occurs in both passages for all instances of "world", it is kosmos.

And even more, just going further up in 1 John 2:2 we just read that Christ was the atonement not only for our sins, but "the sins of the whole world", again kosmos is here used.

So God loves the world, God is going to save the world, and yet the world is evil and should be rejected, and so on and so forth. It all sounds weird.

The answer is that these are different uses of the word kosmos, conveying different ideas.

So "the world"--kosmos--can refer to the natural order, creation, the heavens and the earth, aka the universe. It can refer to populace--the people, humanity--which inhabits this down-here stuff. Those are positive uses of kosmos. The negative use of kosmos, I'd argue, is the idea that the order of things, the way things are the way they are in the world, the greed, the oppression, the violence, the murder, death, disease, suffering, that order of how things are here--that's bad. The powers and principalities of this world--kings, princes, emperors, tyrants, etc--are partake and contribute--collaborate--with that system of death and sin through doing evil. So that the temporal kingdoms, the temporal powers are often contributing and collaborating with sin and death through systemitized sin. But it's not these temporal kingdoms that are, themselves, the problem--St. Paul says in Ephesians ch. 6 "our struggle is not with flesh and blood" but points to the spiritual powers of oppression "in heavenly realms". It is not the temporal powers that we should be most concerned with, but with the spiritual powers that are, in a sense, behind those temporal powers that are our real enemy.

The devil, in this way, is called "ruler of this world" and even gets called "god of this world" by Paul. The devil isn't a god, obviously; and the devil does not have ownership over God's creation. But the devil is a spiritual tyrant, who according to the Epistle to the Hebrews has wielded the power of death against us. And so Christ by His death and resurrection has defeated death, defeated the tyrant who wielded it against us--the devil--has destroyed death's domain (Hades), and crushed the power of sin so that in Him we might share of His life, be reconciled to God, and made holy and just out of God's love and grace for us. That we should no longer be slaves of our passions, no longer held captive to death or the devil, but free, free to live with God in His love, and free to love His creatures--our neighbor and all which God so wonderfully made. We now have the opportunity, as free people, to cooperate with God in loving others, bringing good news to others, and living out our calling and salvation and faith in this present world gripped by fear of death, broken and hurting because of sin, and remains estranged from God. In order that the light of Christ might make its way to all.

So to be "lovers of this world" as a negative means to partake in that system of evil that is at work--by indulging our dark passions, by clinging to temporal glories--like riches, power. By ourselves becoming collaborators with death and sin and the devil by turning away from Christ and going back to the darkness. Do not desire the glories of this life, but the good of that is our hope in Christ. Do not collaborate with sin and death, do not exchange the hope of eternal glory with the empty promises of this present world and its vain things.

The devil does not own God's good creation. The devil can only ever be a thief, a liar, and a murderer. But as a thief, a liar, and a murderer he terrorizes us with death, and our own passions betray us and place under his despotism--and so we need freedom, and it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. In freedom be devoted to love, in freedom resist the devil and he must flee; in freedom hope in Christ, trust in the promises of God, and take up cross and follow Jesus. For in this world there will be trouble, but Christ has conquered the world.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[RonJohnSilver]

Not much about him recently ... Porter L. Barrington (1907-2000). Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hollywood, California and director of the Hollywood Serviceman’s Center. Early leader in the Youth for Christ movement and supporter of Billy Graham’s 1949 Christ for Greater Los Angeles campaign. Spoke just before the offering was taken at the 1945 Memorial Day Rally.

 

[lanceleo]

It's not really proof of a 'valid temptation' if, as you stated, Satan tells lies... he may not have had the power to give anything.

Where are the decisive statements in the Bible that make it clear that before the fall, Lucifer was the ruler of earth?
TIA

He can tell lies but he can't fool Lord Jesus. My post was about the dominion of Satan after the fall.

 

[Tellyontellyon]

He can tell lies but he can't fool Lord Jesus. My post was about the dominion of Satan after the fall.

But if he knows he can't fool lord Jesus, why would he even attempt to get God the Son to bow to him?

 

[Hawkins]

Today's planet earth is not lying inside God's dwelling realm, ever since Adam and Eve are driven out of Eden. In contrary, Eden is lying inside God's dwelling realm.

Wherever outside of God's dwelling realm will decay. Worse is, the most evil and the most powerful will naturally and finally rule. This happens to be Satan.

Isaiah 14:16-17
Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?

Satan has turned this world into a wilderness. The nature of a wilderness is that the weak will fall victim while the most evil and the most powerful will rule.

Earth is not yet a hell simply because God has an unfinished job to do, which is to save His sheep (scattered in such a wilderness).

 

[lanceleo]

But if he knows he can't fool lord Jesus, why would he even attempt to get God the Son to bow to him?

Because he had dominion of the world and hoped that Jesus would take the shortcut to success by accepting his offer.

 

[Michael Snow]

. ... So, we can interpret this figuratively to apply to Satan if we like, but

"...no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20).​

A basic principle of Scripture violated by Christians again and again...
Of Ponds and Pitfalls

 

[Laodicean60]

But if he knows he can't fool lord Jesus, why would he even attempt to get God the Son to bow to him?

I think because The Father had to test this man for fallibility. Of course, Jesus passed with flying colors.