(124) – THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD

124 – THE  PRINCE  OF  THIS  WORLD

 

What is a prince? A prince is one who belongs to a family of sovereigns. He is a noble in a given state. The prince is the son of the king and heir to the throne and the kingdom. Jesus declares that the prince of this world existed before his incarnation, already. “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). Jesus did not say a prince,but the prince. If he had said a prince of this world, he would leave room for us to conclude that there were many princes; but when he said the prince, he was making it clear that this world has only one heir. Now, Jesus, before he was crucified, was not a prince, for God the Father made him a prince only after the resurrection. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:30-31). In Job 14:30, Jesus revealed that the prince and heir of this world has nothing to do with Him, neither with the Father, neither with Jesus’ plan of salvation. The Lord said: “And he has nothing in Me”, that is, the prince of this world is totally strange to Jesus and to the Father, but as a heir of this world, he is the heir of Jehovah, for David, beloved of Jehovah, declared: “THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S AND ALL IT CONTAINS, THE WORLD, AND THOSE WHO DWELL IN IT” (Ps.24:1). Moses also declares the same: “Behold, to Jehovah your God belong the heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it” (Deut.10:14). The very Jehovah calls himself the owner of this world. “FOR THE LORD MOST HIGH IS TO BE FEARED, A GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH” (Ps.47:2). As the Ps.82:8 says that all the nations of this world belong to him, we also read in the Ps.47:8 that Jehovah rules over all the nations. Being so, Jehovah ruled over the nations that he himself destroyed in the flood. He ruled also in Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim (Deut.29:23). He ruled over the seven nations that he told Israel to totally destroy (Josh.11:20). We can understand, now, why Jehovah called Nebuchanezzar “MY SERVANT” (Jer.25:9; 43:10). Jehovah ruled with Pharaoh over Egypt, and it is obvious that he ruled together with Osiris, the god of the dead, with the ox Apis, with Bel and Milita, Babylonian gods, and ruled in Mount Olympus, of the Greek, together with Jupiter, or Zeus, which stole the kingdom from his father Saturn. Here are some more verses that prove that Jehovah rules over this world (Ps.22:28; 99:1; 96:10; Jer.10:7; 1 Chr.16:30-31, etc).

The Prince of this world is the heir of the kingdoms of this world and all their glory, which the devil showed to Jesus (Luke 4:5-8). But Jesus said to Pilates, “My kingdom is not of this world”.Therefore, Jesus is not the heir of Jehovah (John 18:36). The prince of this world is the prince of Jehovah, which existed before the Father constituted Jesus as prince. Satan presented himself to Jesus as the ruler of this world, and declared that he had received all the kingdoms and could give them as he wished. Jehovah was the one who gave everything to Satan as a legitimate heir. Nobody had the authority to give the world of Jehovah to the devil. Jesus said to the disciples: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). What surprises us is that Jehovah is the owner of this world and rules over it, and for Jesus to say that he is not of this world, and that his kingdom is not of this world either.

Jesus also said, “I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). The ones who believed in Jehovah were in darkness, and the ones who believe in Jesus leave the darkness. Israel, the private kingdom of Jehovah, dwelt in darkness until Jesus Christ appeared (Is.9:2; Matt.4:12-17). Paul reveals which is the work of Jesus Christ: “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). Jehovah blinded the people (Is.6:10); Jehovah closed their eyes and their ears, and hardened their hearts; and Jesus delivers from Satan? It is strange!! Jehovah says that the Israelites are his children, and Jesus said that the Pharisees had the devil for father? (John 8:44; Deut.14:1-2; 32:19-20; Is.1:2; 30:9, etc.). If the Jews worshipped and served Jehovah, Jesus could have never called them sons of the devil, but today, Christians are carnal, worldly, run after money and politics, a great many are adulterous, another many are fornicators; there is a Church of gays and no one calls them sons of the devil. The Pharisees were zealous of the Law, and Paul was one of them (Phil.3:5).When Jesus calls them sons of the devil, it was not because of their actions, but because they did not know the Father, but Jehovah. Jesus told them: “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also” (John 8:19; 8:54-55; 15:21).

Jehovah said: “Thus says Jehovah God, ‘On the day when I chose Israel and swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt” (Ezek.20:5). If Jehovah says that he was known, we do not have the right to affirm that Jehovah revealed himself, but the people was blind and did not know him, for this reason Jesus said that they did not know the Father (John 8:19). 

To finish this study, a fallen angel is not a prince, and if it was, it is a demon, now. When we read that there is an heir prince of Jehovah, we should believe it; this prince is the prince of the powers of the air, whose spirit works in the sons of disobedience (Eph.2:2).

The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub, prince of the demons (Matt.12:24).In his answer, Jesus declared that such prince was not Beelzebub, but Satan (Matt.12:25-26). By this answer Jesus revealed that Satan is the prince of this world.

Jesus was made prince by the Father, but not prince of this world. Jesus does not accept to inherit the hell. He is the heir of the kingdom of heaven, and we, Christians, will inherit it with him, when we are taken up from this abysm (1 Thess.4:16-17).

 

by Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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