Chapter 33—The Rulership Forfeited
The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he will.
Daniel 4:17
.
Among the lower creatures Adam had stood as king ...; but when he
transgressed, this dominion was forfeited. The spirit of rebellion, to which
he himself had given entrance, extended throughout the animal creation.
Thus not only the life of man, but the nature of the beasts, the trees of the
forest, the grass of the field, the very air he breathed, all told the sad lesson
of the knowledge of evil.
Not only man but the earth had by sin come under the power of the
wicked one.... At his creation Adam was placed in dominion over the earth.
But by yielding to temptation, he was brought under the power of Satan.
“Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (
2
Peter 2:19
). When man became Satan’s captive, the dominion which he
held, passed to his conqueror. Thus Satan became “the god of this world” (
2
Corinthians 4:4
). He had usurped that dominion over the earth which had
been originally given to Adam.
When Satan declared to Christ, The kingdom and the glory of the world
are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it, he stated what was
true only in part, and he declared it to serve his own purpose of deception.
Satan’s dominion was that wrested from Adam, but Adam was the vicegerent
of the Creator. His was not an independent rule. The earth is God’s, and
He has committed all things to His Son. Adam was to reign subject to
Christ. When Adam betrayed his sovereignty into Satan’s hands, Christ still
remained the rightful king....
By the one who had revolted in heaven the kingdoms of this world were
offered Christ, to buy His homage to the principles of evil; but He would not
be bought....
Jesus gained the victory through submission and faith in God, and by the
apostle He says to us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil,
and he will flee from you” ... (
James 4:7, 8
). We cannot save ourselves from
the tempter’s power; he has conquered humanity ...; but “the name of the
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