The Prince of this World

Who is in charge of the world? Who is controlling it? The Scriptures talk about "the prince of this world", and the Lord refers to him three times in John's gospel:

• Now is the time for judgement on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. (John 12:31)
• I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me.… (John 14:30)
• When he (the Counsellor) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment .... in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:8,11)

These verses do not tell us much about him, but from them we learn that he is in opposition to God, and that he is condemned by God.

Other names
John's first letter refers to him again, but calls him by his other names: the devil, the one who is in the world, and the evil one.

• He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (1 John 3:8)
• You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
• We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)

In this last verse we are told that the whole world is under his control. Is it any surprise therefore, that we find so much evil in the world?

Whenever we are tempted to compare our current society with those in the past, or with other societies in other parts of the world, we should remember that this was written 2000 years ago, in a different part of the world, and yet it is as relevant today as it was then, and as relevant in our society as it was in theirs. The devil is the same now as he was then.

Activities
Further information as to his activities is given in 2 Corinthians 4:4:

• The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

We may sometimes wonder why the gospel seems so clear and desirable to us, and yet unbelievers around us remain unconvinced and uninterested. This verse goes some way towards an explanation. Because of the truth of this verse, we should be even more thankful that our own eyes were not blinded permanently, and that we do see the light of the gospel.