The elephant in the realm

As the “prince of this world,” a title used by Jesus Himself in John 14:30, Satan is the one who controls the political systems of this world; the government of this world. They’re his.

“Satan and his angels are the ones behind the idolatry of the nations,” writes Keith Blades in his classic book, Satan and His Plan of Evil. “The ‘course of this world’ is the issue of this world’s onward movement and the path that it is following as it proceeds on . . . Paul says not only was a ‘course’ of open rebelliousness and unrighteousness charted by (Satan), but included in it was also the issue of appalling ungodliness that would see man transferring to Satan himself the worship and service that rightfully only belonged to God.”

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:2, [2] Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

“The prince is the chief ruler and ‘the prince of the power’ is the governmental authority, but the air is the invisible realm,” explains Jordan. “He’s not only the prince of this world that you can see out there in the government, he’s ‘the prince of the power,’ or the governmental authority in the invisible realm. He’s the chief ruler of the governmental authority in the invisible realm, too. He controls the government in the heavenly places. He’s the one who has usurped that position and sits as the head of the government in the heavens. That was Satan’s ORIGINAL plan; his original plot.

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“Isaiah 14 informs, [12] How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
[13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
[14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

“Here’s the plan he developed that resulted in his fall. Notice, Satan has a throne; a position of governmental authority that belongs to him. He said, ‘I’m going to rule those guys.’

“The ‘mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north,’ is a place where the worship of God takes place in the universe. There’s this mountain, this planet in the universe out there, where the angelic creation comes and the congregation is gathered together to give account of their stewardship of their position and their responsibility.

“You remember what happened to Job? That time when the angels of God came to appear before God and Satan came with them? With this mount of the congregation, Satan said, ‘I’m going to take that thing over. I’m going to exalt myself above the angels and have them follow me, take orders from me; I’m going to sit in judgment of them. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I’m going to go up there and let them worship me.’

“His desire is to take over all the positions of God in the government out there. That word power there has to do with delegated authority. Satan says, ‘I have power to do this.’ It’s government. It’s about having underlings to do the jobs and to carry on the activities for the throne.

“We forget that God has a government in the heavens just like he has a government on the earth and he uses terminology about ‘thrones, dominions, principalities,’ that describe the government in such a way that we can understand them.

“God created an earthly and a heavenly governmental structure. If you can understand the ones on the earth and that there’s a correspondence to the heavens, you can understand how it works up there. We know the one in the heaven is the same way because He uses exactly the same terminology to describe it.

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“Paul writes in Colossians 1:20, 'And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.'

“The Greek word for reconcile is ‘katallasso’ and it means to change somebody’s status; to change their state. ‘Oppo katallasso’ is the word used in Colossians and it means to ‘change their state in more than one way.’

“What Paul’s talking about in verse 20 is when God goes out and reconciles the system; it’s that future reconciliation of the SYSTEM of government. He’s going to reconcile them in two ways.

“No. 1, as Revelation 12 says, God’s going to go up there and take Satan and his angels and cast them out and the verse says that neither was their place, meaning their position, ‘found any more in heaven.’ He casts them down and they don’t have any more authority, no more right to fill the positions in heaven anymore.

“No. 2, He’s going to put some new people in those positions. That’s what He formed the Body of Christ for, folks! You see, if He just wanted to save you and keep you out of hell, He didn’t have to form the Body of Christ to do that.”

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As Blades writes, “The revelation of the ‘mystery of Christ’ has not only taken Satan by surprise in declaring that God will repossess the heavenly places as well as the earth, but it has also declared how God will even reconcile the heavenly places unto Himself first.

“Therefore, what Satan never thought he could lose, not only will be taken from him, but it will be taken from him first, before the earthly realm is repossessed.

“The reconciliation of the heavenly places will likewise involve the Lord personally entering into the heavenly places arrayed for the battle. The Lord will have armies with Him, which will follow Him and be utilized by Him, both in the battle and the eviction. Michael, the archangel, as the head of the Lord’s angelic host, will lead the Lord’s armies into the battle.

“‘War in heaven’ is just what takes place as the Lord ’s Day of reconciliation commences. Upon Satan and his angels’ eviction, as John states, ‘neither was their place found any more in heaven.’

“They will be banished and have no more place there because God will have reconciled that realm unto Himself. He will have installed His ‘new creation,’ the church the Body of Christ, into the governmental positions of principalities, mights, thrones, and dominions that exist there. Hence, their place truly will be found no more.”