The Bible says the Evil One is dominating the world. People tend to look at the world with rose-colored glasses are ignoring the very fact that it isn’t rosy here on planet Earth. In fact it’s downright degraded and disgusting from a spiritual point of view. We live in a spiritual war zone if you haven’t heard.
I John 5:19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies under the control of the evil one.
Is this a negative attitude? It is offensive to you? I hope not, because it’s not an attitude — it’s reality. Nobody needs a lesson on how much evil is going on in this world, they can see it every day on the news, in the streets and in their own homes and neighborhoods. Evil is running rampant, only subdued by civil government, which itself is corrupt and evil.
Why is this the case? Who is this ‘evil one’ who is swaying the world toward evil? What can be done about it if anything?
These are good questions, and there are many more that can be asked. Let me state explicitly that the Bible, God’s Word, has the answer to these questions and more. If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, you already know the answers to these questions because I’ve covered them at least in partial detail.
We live in a fallen world. The devil is the evil one. Man followed the devil’s lead and severed his spiritual relationship with his Creator. Ever since, man’s been trying to find God and the evil one has been happy to help, supplying pseudo-truth and downright lies regarding God, God’s nature and truth itself. He’s supplied substitutes in all forms and is now in the process of bringing about the greatest deception of all time.
I John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
The epistle of I John is about the believer’s relationship with God and the risen Christ. In it the Greek word ‘nikeo’ is used 6 times. In the Bible, six is the number of man and the number of evil in the world; it is one short of 7 which is spiritual perfection. The word ‘nikeo’ means to ‘overcome.’
Each of these 6 uses of ‘nikeo’ in I John tell us we’ve overcome something. We’ve overcome the evil one himself, his spirits and the world. We’ve overcome his antichrist system as well because we believe the truth about God’s only begotten son. The evil one cannot touch us unless we allow him to. That’s quite a statement, but it’s true. We are God’s property. Hands off!
We have overcome the world which is under the dominance of the evil one. When we allow the world to dominate us, we are not exercising our God-given spiritual rights. Through Christ we are more than conquerors (Romans 8) when we walk by the spirit of God. The opposite of walking by the spirit is to walk by the flesh. There are only two alternatives. Which do you prefer?
To walk by the spirit results in life and peace. To walk by the flesh produces death and bondage. These are two very opposite sides of life. While we are still mortal, we can’t help but walk by the flesh at times, but we can catch it as soon as it starts and put it to the truth of God’s Word and overcome it. Back to walking by the spirit. Back to fellowship with God. Back to being over-comers in every situation.
The Christian walk is a power-filled walk. We must choose to learn to walk by the spirit and with God as Father, he definitely knows how to lead us by the spirit so we can be more than conquerors in every situation.
The whole world lies under the sway, the dominance, the control of the wicked one, but we who are of God have overcome all things including the evil one because we believe what God said about his son Jesus. Exercise your dominion. Walk by the spirit. Go conquer in Christ!