"The devil took [Jesus] up into an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And said unto him, 'All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.'" (Matthew 4:8-9)
All of the Jewish laws in the Old Testament center upon the 10 Commandments, and we could obey each of them if only we could keep the command to fear God and serve Him only. Satan hoped to receive worship from he who he believed to be God's first new creation, born through baptism (Deuteronomy 6:13). Satan did not understand John's baptism, and he asked Christ in verses 3 and 6 to prove that He was "a son of God," yet Christ refused. Perhaps Satan took this as a sign that He was not capable of performing tasks that a son of God could perform and therefore thought that he might entice Him to worship.
The Watchtower Society nearly exalts Satan above Christ here in believing that Jesus was merely a weak creature who could be swayed by Satan's offer to receive worship from the world through him. Satan's belief that Christ was capable of sin has no bearing on reality and certainly should not sway readers to believe that Christ felt any persuasion by his efforts. What did Satan know? (See, "Temptation in the Desert")
The Society questions whether the offer of Satan would have been a legitimate temptation if he was not rightfully the ruler of these kingdoms,[1] though the error in this assumption is evident within a previous temptation. Satan told Eve that she would not surely die if she ate the fruit of the forbidden tree; he promised Eve something that he could not offer (Genesis 2:17). Though this was a real and true temptation, an attempt to persuade Eve to disobey God, he tempted her with a lie. In the desert, he attempted to convince Christ to worship him, although he did not rightfully have the world to offer as promised in return. Yet still, “how can he offer the world,” the witnesses will ask, “if it is not his to offer”? On the contrary, the Society clearly teaches:
“The Gospel account at Matthew 4:1-11 tells of Jesus’ being tempted by ‘the Devil,’ a Greek term meaning ‘false accuser, misrepresenter, slanderer.’”[2]
In fact, What Does the Bible Really Teach? states that Satan is a "liar,"[3] though just two paragraphs later they use this very passage to show that the world truly was Satan's to offer because he said so. This claim of authority over the world is a claim made by the “false accuser, misrepresenter,” and “slanderer,” logically the claim alone holds no water. “But,” they say:
“Jesus never doubted that Satan is the ruler of this world…Jesus did not deny that all these worldly governments were Satan’s. Surely, Jesus would have done that if Satan was not the power behind them.”[4]
However, the fact that Christ did not deny Satan’s claim proves nothing of the sort. In fact, in an article explaining how Jehovah’s witnesses are to be “cautious as serpents,” the Watchtower Society acknowledges that:
"Jesus did not always disclose the full truth, especially when revealing all the facts could have brought unnecessary harm to himself or his disciples. Still, even at such times, he did not lie. Instead, he chose either to say nothing or to divert the conversation in another direction."[5]
Christ did just as the Society relays; in the very next verse, He ordered Satan to go away and quoted Scripture to reveal that God alone is to be worshiped. Once again, when discussing Matthew 7:6 where we find Christ instructing not to toss your pearls (spiritual wisdom) before swine (the unclean), the Society elaborates that “one should not further endeavor to share spiritual thoughts and teachings with [the ungodly].”[6] Hence, Satan’s claim clearly did not demand an answer. John 12:31 confirms that in some form Satan was indeed ruler over the ungodly, but Satan has no power unless it is granted to him. On the contrary, to claim that the world was Satan's to give is a mockery of God's claim:
"And now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. (Exodus 19:5; Cf. Psalm 24:1)"
The "whole earth" belongs to God, “everything under heaven” belongs to Him (Job 41:5); Psalm 22:28 declares that "the kingship belongs to Jehovah; He rules over the nations." In Matthew 28:18, we read that Christ maintains all authority in heaven and on earth and that it was given to Him by God the Father. The Father must have possessed it Himself in order to give it to His Son, therefore Christ was able to speak of His Father as “Lord of heaven and earth” (Matt 11:25; Luke 10:21, emphasis added); "the earth and everything in it" belongs to the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:26). Satan has no authority outside of God's jurisdiction.
Satan said that God had put a hedge around Job and requested that He take away Job's blessings (Job 1:6-12). God then permitted Satan to afflict Job to a limited degree. Initially, Satan could not touch Job's body. Later, however, God did allow Satan to afflict Job physically, yet forbade Satan to kill him (Job 2:5-6). Satan is not free to do anything he wants. He couldn't touch Job's possessions until God permitted him. He couldn't steal Job's health until God permitted him. He couldn't kill Job because God would not allow it.
The truth is, as Matthew Henry once put it, "the devil reigns where Christ does not."[7] While Satan did attempt to rule over Job, Job did not allow it. Teaching that Satan is the ruler (Cf. John 12:31) is evidence that he has some persuasion over their lives, but teaching that the world belongs to Satan eliminates the choice not to be ruled by him.
In Luke 22:31, Satan asked to sift the disciples; he still had to ask God's permission. Permission was granted for Satan to try, but Jesus warned the disciples that they needed to pray that they won't fall into the temptation (Matthew 6:13; 26:41). When they sat with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, they didn't pray but fell asleep (Matthew 26:36-46); they did not heed Christ's instructions, they did succumb to temptation and Peter denied Christ three times (Matthew 26:69-75), though just hours earlier he swore that he would walk with Him to His death before ever denying Him (Matthew 26:35). While the Watchtower Society teaches that Satan owns the world, they can, therefore, petrify their believers and solidify their adherence to the organization through the fear which they instill of the world outside of it. Satan is not to be feared. He is bound and powerless unless you invite him to rule over you. The Watchtower Society does not offer protection; Jesus does.
In an uncanny turn of events, Satan had lowered himself into a position which could have been his downfall from the very beginning of mankind when collapsing to his belly and slithering into the dominion of Adam. On the sixth day of creation:
“God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27; NAB)
He created man in His image and effectively, He “created [him] to rule the world because of his resemblance to the universal King.”[8] Adam was to rule not only over the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, but “over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” At this time, Satan was God’s most beautiful angel, the most honored and glorious of them all (Ezekiel 28:12-14). While Satan had witnessed and even cherished God’s sovereignty over all of the former creation, now he must watch as God’s newest creation is granted with sovereign rule over the entire new land and commissioned with the task of naming all that is in it. He can’t bear it, his jealousy rages inside of him, and suddenly he presents God’s prized possessions with temptation; the knowledge that they may choose their own will over that of God. Due to Satan’s irreverence and disobedience, he is sentenced to spend the rest of his days upon his belly, eating the dust of the earth; the domain of God’s son, Adam (i.e., Luke 3:38).
God did not transfer Adam’s dominion to Satan. Though this is essentially what the Watchtower Society would have you believe, this would necessitate that God rewarded the authority, which He had beforehand granted to Adam, to Satan as a consequence of Adam’s rebellion. Any power which Satan has is not from the gift which God gave to man; his power exists only through man’s weakness. God is the only One with true dominion:
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all" (1 Chronicles 29:11; NASB Cf. Psalm 24:1, 103:22, Ephesians 1:19-21).
He patiently endured thousands of years, continuously attempting to secure His dominion over the earth through man. After consistent failures of man to overcome evil, He sent the man who could successfully rule “over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it,” including that old serpent called the devil; He sent His Son, Jesus Christ “to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:11). Though Satan set himself up as the prince of this world (Cf. John 14:30), God has dominion, and through the work of His perfect Son we have received the strength to “resist the devil, and he will flee” (James 4:7).
[1] “What Does the Bible Really Teach?”, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 2005, pp. 31-32
[2] “Awake!”, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, October 22, 1974, p. 7
[3] "What Does the Bible Really Teach", Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 2005, p. 31
[4] “What Does the Bible Really Teach?”, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 2005, pp. 31-32
[5] “Awake!”, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, February 8, 2000, p. 21
[6] “Insight on the Scriptures”, Volume II, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1988, p. 594
[7] "Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary”, 1706; 1 Corinthians 5:3
[8] Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On the Creation of Man, 4; Genesis 1-11 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament I), edited by Andrew Louth; April 2, 2016, IVP Academic, p. 34
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