Always remember, Satan's only a prince

The mere fact Satan is referred to as a prince in the Bible makes clear he’s not running things and is accountable to a higher authority.

“Genesis 3 tells you the fallen angels can be referred to as ‘sons of god,’ and one of the definitions of a prince is ‘the son of a king,’ ” explains David Reid, a preacher from Columbus, Ohio. “So is it reasonable to refer to an angel as a prince? That’s a completely legitimate use of the word.

“Daniel 6:1 says, ‘It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom.’

“My point is a prince is a meaningful role, but it’s nothing like a king. In fact, in that kingdom there in Daniel, how many princes were there? At least 120 and there’s a lot more than that in the heavenly kingdom God has.

“Daniel 9:25 talks of ‘the Messiah the Prince,’ which is Jesus Christ. Is He maybe different from other princes? He’s the Prince of princes. He’s the King of kings. He’s the Lord of lords. When it says there that He’s ‘the Messiah the Prince’ with a capital ‘P,’ He’s a prince like no other.

"Verse 26 says: [26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

“What you have in verses 25-26 is the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan and they’re both princes but they’re different.

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“Because II Corinthians 4 says ‘Satan is the god of this world,’ people get the idea, ‘Well, if Satan’s the god of this world, then he’s obviously running things.’ That’s a misunderstanding of what the word ‘god’ is.

“Philippians 3:18-19 says, [18] (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
[19] Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

“That means people’s bellies are gods. That doesn’t mean their bellies are running the universe. The word ‘god’ is a reference to the fact of something being worshipped. People make gods out of wood, stone and so on, but they don’t do anything.

“Satan doesn’t own the earth because ‘the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.’ What it means is the world worships him. That’s entirely different. The world worships a lot of things it shouldn’t worship, that may or may not have any power.

“So what about the fact the Bible says Satan has kingdoms? Come to Daniel 10. Daniel prays and he doesn’t get an answer for a period of time. Three weeks pass and then Gabriel shows up and describes to Daniel what happened to him.

“Gabriel tells Daniel in Daniel 10:13, ‘But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.’

“The prince of Persia is not a man; that’s an angelic authority who says, ‘I don’t authorize you to pass; your papers are not in order,’ and so Gabriel’s stuck there and can’t get through. So Michael, one of the chief princes, comes over and says, ‘Hey, we got a problem here; do I need to straighten this out?’ and the prince of Persia responds, ‘Oh, okay, you can go.’  He got overruled.

“That tells you the prince of Persia’s inferior to Michael. He had authority to say to Gabriel, ‘You can’t come in,’ but then Gabriel went to his supervisor, speaking in earthly terms.

“My point is that with these angelic princes, or devilish princes as the case may be, have some authority but it’s a limited authority and can be overruled.

“From Daniel 10:20, we know there’s some satanic authority responsible for the prince of Persia but what happens to that devil’s authority? The Persian kingdom ends up conquered by Greece and then the prince of Grecia has the authority the prince of Persia once had.

“You’ve heard of the phrase, ‘The power behind the throne,’ and there’s earthly kingdoms with human rulers that go on, but there are devils that have influence over those kingdoms.

“Notice in Daniel 10:21, Gabriel says, [21] But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

“What does it mean when he says, ‘Michael is your prince’? Daniel 12:1 says, [1] And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

“He was called a ‘chief prince’ in Daniel 10 and a ‘great prince’ in Daniel 12. Isn’t that interesting? I don’t know how this all worked out, but what God did is He obviously made a decision that Michael was going to be the prince corresponding with the people of Israel and that he has authority he can exercise on their behalf as the chief prince and the great prince. He has greater authority than that of the prince of Persia.

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“Here’s what I think that tells you. When Satan says to Jesus Christ that he has the kingdoms of this world, well, he’s right in a fashion. In other words, did the prince of Persia report to Satan? Yes, he did. So did the prince of Grecia.

“Satan influenced those kingdoms because what God did was delegate authority in the universe so there were principalities and powers that had authorities over them. And when Satan offers those to the Lord Jesus Christ, he can offer them in the sense that Satan currently has influence over those kingdoms.

“The bottom line, though, folks, is that authority he has, No. 1 he’s still accountable to God and No.  2, when Jesus Christ wants those kingdoms, what’s He going to do? He’s going to take them and He’s not going to ask for permission!

“God says in Job 41:11 that ‘whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.’ He has all things, it’s all His, it will never stop being His.

“Remember when we looked at dominion, it talked about man having dominion over animals. Well, if man’s dominion is transferred to Satan, then Satan would have dominion over animals, right? If that was true.

“God says in Psalm 50, [10] For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
[11] I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
[12] If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

“When Adam sinned, just to be clear, God still had control over all the universe, over all the beasts of the field; they belonged to Him.

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“II Chronicles 36:23 says, [23] Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

“Where did Cyrus get kingdoms from the earth? From God the Father. Even though Satan has, again, these middle managers, these folks that have intermediate authority, who is the one determining when kingdoms rise and fall? God the Father.

“Even Satan’s influence over kingdoms is limited because God decides what kingdoms are going to be in place at a given time. He decides the extent of their authority and how long they last. God has the earth, everything under heaven and all beasts. He gives kingdoms and He takes kingdoms away. All beings are accountable to God and there are no rogue traders.”