25”Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Mt. 12.25-28
So, as Jesus has indicated in this scripture, Satan has a kingdom. A lot of Christians, I think, find it difficult to understand that, but here it is clearly stated. Many who do know something of Satan’s kingdom have little understanding not only of his plans and goals, but also of the sheer size of this kingdom in terms of numbers and geographical extent. In actuality, the whole of the earth is enveloped by this dark kingdom, as it is written, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” 1 Jn. 5.19 Today, it is 8 billion souls. Its presence is everywhere one treads.
Thus, all mankind may be divided into one of two spiritual kingdoms; that which belongs to God and that which belongs to the “wicked one,” who is Satan. True believers belong to God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ: they are of God, and from God, and to Him and for Him. They are all under the sway of God; while the rest, by far the greater number, are under the power and influence of Satan; they even unknowingly do his works and support his causes in the earth. This includes all unbelievers, whatever their profession, religious affiliation, or situation in life.
Jesus also mentions of the other kingdom, the Kingdom of God. So here are two invisible spiritual kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, both vying for the souls of all mankind. Jesus said, ‘it (meaning the Kingdom of God) has come upon you, it has arrived!” Jesus’s presence was the initial foothold of the Kingdom of God on planet earth. The invasion of Satan’s kingdom had begun in the coming of the person of Jesus Christ, the solo beacon of light in a sea of darkness.
Two Trees – Looking back to the start of all things: in the Garden of Eden.
Garden of Eden was in paradise. The geographic location of Eden is described in Genesis 2.10-14 as the source of four tributaries; in the vicinity of present-day Iraq and Iran, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea. Spiritually, it was an isolated place where the newly created man was placed where he could exercise his free will—a will when exercised would determine the fate of generations of mankind to follow. The Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden in spiritual reality, Christ, who is life; and eating of this fruit is entrance into the eternal kingdom of God. The second tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, also present in the Garden, is in spiritual reality Satan, and eating of this fruit means selling out one’s soul and planet earth to his ill-gotten kingdom.
The Fall of Lucifer – Let’s now trace the beginnings of Satan. Note the “I wills” of Satan.
12“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!
13For 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;14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. Is. 14. 12-15
So Satan’s ambition was to elevate himself to a position of equality with God. He was motivated because he was so wise and so beautiful and so glorious that he said to himself: I will be like the Most High. This is important, he has not lost that ambition.
Satan’s spiritual cohorts
As a result of this heinous sin against God, Lucifer was banished from living in heaven, 12“How you are fallen from heaven.” Isaiah 14:12. He became corrupt, and his name changed from Lucifer (“morning star”) to Satan (“adversary”). His power became completely perverted and inverted: [from light to darkness; righteousness to wickedness; life to death; love to egotism—becoming inwardly, self-centered His ultimate destiny, following the second coming of Christ, will be thrown into the lake of fire (Matthew 25:31-34; 41).
At this time of judgment, Christ “will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
The entourage of Satan—fallen angels
We read in Rev. 12 of the vision of a fiery red dragon (Satan) drawing with His tail a third (1/3) of the stars (angels) of heaven and threw them to the earth. (Astronomers estimate there exist roughly 10,000 stars for each grain of sand on Earth.—that would represent a lot of fallen angels). The passage goes on to read that Michael and his angels prevailed over the dragon (who is the Devil and Satan– who deceives the whole world) and his angels and they were thrown out of heaven and cast to the earth. Thus Satan, his kingdom and its government was established in the earth. The earth is the domain of Satan and his fallen angels; these are the demons that roam the earth and report to Satan to this day. Satan has a hierarchy of authority, with himself as the head, much like Christ is the Head of the Church; but unlike the Church there is a substratum or levels of authority beneath him; like the chain of command in an army. As it is written,
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Eph. 6.12
Satan’s earthly puppets
Ez. 28 speaks of two individuals: the prince of Tyre (vss. 1-10,) and the King of Tyre.(vss. 11-19)
1The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, 2“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,’ Yet you are a man, and not a god,
11Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12“Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13You 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. 14“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. 15You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
You’ll find that the “prince” of Tyre was a human being. It is very clearly stated “you are a man,“ even though he claimed or wanted to be god. On the other hand, it is very obvious that when we read the description of the “king” of Tyre that he was no human being [Anointed Cherub]. And we have here a little interesting picture of how Satan’s kingdom operates. We have the human ruler, the prince of Tyre, but behind him in the unseen realm we have the satanic ruler, the king of Tyre. And in a sense the human ruler is really not much more than a puppet who moves as the strings from the unseen realm dictate his moves. When you begin to see these truths, world history and politics take on a very different meaning. There is the eternal plan of God for His creation, and there is the eternal plan and devise of Satan to rule the kingdoms of the earth. I think many, many of the so-called great men of history were simply satanic puppets who were moved by invisible strings from the kingdom of Satan to do the things they did—some acts seeming noble in the eyes of man, some obviously wicked.
Satan expands his kingdom
A parable: WWII — Hitler’s German army spread out from the city of Berlin in quest to dominate the world…it was powerful, overcoming, it began in Poland, a foothold was gained, then his war machine moved quickly into Belgium, the Netherlands and France. His kingdom quickly expanded covering much of Europe. The expansion of Satan’s domain was in similar manner. First the foothold: It all began in the Garden of Eden where Satan convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden tree. He said,”in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. First Eve, then Adam, then all the Garden, then ALL the generations to follow on the earth—billions of souls.
The FALL OF ADAM was great, not only yielding to Satan his authority over the earth, but also becoming his puppet to Satan rather than being a man chosen of God for Godly purposes by eating of the Tree of Life. In addition, Adam passed on to all generations the same propensity for sin, and by coming into allegiance to Satan, thereby mankind continuing to this day to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As it is, the inhabitants of the earth stand in condemnation… without doing anything, good or bad. It is as Jesus said in John 3,
16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
To get an appreciation of magnitude: 8 billion people on this planet. A bushel of wheat contains 1 million kernels. 8 billion kernels = 8000 bushels, placed side by side = 3 miles long of bushels. The immensity of it all is mind boggling.
The Ominous Truth
So Satan, fallen from being Lucifer, having set up his rival rebellious kingdom in the heavenlies, now rules there over a host of rebellious angels. However, we are also talking now, not only of Satan’s kingdom in the heavenlies, but about those over whom he rules on this earth; of the 8 billion people we rub shoulders with in passing every day, those who lead and supervise us, those who govern and police the world, who teach and oversee corporations.
Ephesians chapter 2—speaks of the “living dead”:
1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, [spiritual region of the soul and mind] the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, [condemnation] just as the others. Eph. 2.1-3
Is it not frightful to us who sit in in the light and life of the Gospel that we were once, living, but at the same time “dead in trespasses and sins, that we walked as puppets to the authority of Satan. We were rebels to the Kingdom of God, resisting His authority to rule in our lives. Christian must take care to not be religious in church attendance and services but at the same time resist the “inner workings” of God, where is the chief battleground. Thinking themselves wise, unbelievers are, according to Eph. 4.18, “alienated from the life of God”—they live in darkness and ignorance. Presently in the earth, the 8 billion souls outside of Christ are “alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them” and remain under the bondage of sin and death. Ominous.
Kingdom of God—Jesus told His judge Pontius Pilate that He is a king, over a kingdom that was not of this world. (Jn. 18.36) His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. He told the Pharisees that His kingdom will come but not with observation, For indeed, the kingdom of God is within (in your midst—GK. within, inside) you.” Lk. 17.21
Within you, in your spirit. Ye ought not to look to times for the kingdom—how many speculate on the second coming and hope the coming Kingdom, or perhaps the time of the resurrection, etc.; they are future but the Kingdom is now! Many look for places for the Kingdom—the holy place of the temple, places of revivals or spiritual movements, at certain places of this earth— but, the kingdom of God is within you. How? Even as the Spirit of God resides in your heart. The Kingdom is within as contrasted to “religion” which is “without.” It is by a new birth that one enters the Kingdom.
New Birth. What must happen first to enter the Kingdom of God? What must precede everything else is that one must be born again (John 3:3); that is when and where you will find the Kingdom.
3Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
MUST – means absolutely necessary. It is the law of regeneration, the new birth is the miracle when the spirit comes alive and attuned to the Kingdom of God. The spirit of man comes under the power of the Holy Spirit, and his soul rises to a new life of communion with God; this power that works “within” him to put off the lower natural life with its affections, feelings, and desires, and that the whole man thus becomes spiritual, bringing forth the good “fruits” of the Spirit.
It is not a matter of what one must doto enter the Kingdom, but what one must become…a child of God.
THRESHOLD OF THE KINGDOM. The threshold of a building or room is the bottom of the doorway, or you can think of the whole of the doorway itself. It is the point beyond which something entered into is true or something will take place, and short of it, something is not experienced or will not happen. The absolute threshold of the Kingdom of God is the new birth, regeneration. This is the threshold of the Kingdom, now progression into the Kingdom begins.
The threshold of salvation is believing and receiving: Not just believing with the mind by agreeing with the truth, but also receiving a spiritual impartation:
Acts 2.38 “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Once entered into, the threshold crossed, the Spirit now works in the heart of all true believers preparing and transforming the soul for eternal fellowship with God. We may now eat of the Tree of Life.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor. 5.17
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, Col. 1.13
Moment of truth. It is of utmost importance that we do not leave this message as simply having gained some knowledge of the Kingdom of God but have never truly acted upon it; first by believing with all your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and then by faith, receiving the Spirit of Christ into your heart—thus being translated into the Kingdom of God and becoming an entirely new creation, a child of God, having been born again from the seed of Christ.
