A War for Worshippers
David W Palmer
(2 Corinthians 4:4 EMTV) “Among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine on them.”
In this passage, the Holy Spirit calls Satan “the god of this age.” This is because after the rebellion of Lucifer, and after the creation of Adam, he successfully tempted Adam and Eve into subservience to him; and thus he received their worship.
At the fall of Adam, the satanic nature entered man, and he has controlled unborn-again people ever since. Because of this individual control, he has been able to control the whole world system. By becoming their spiritual father, Satan has been able to birth his dreams, goals, and plans into the earth—thus his kingdom dominates the world system.
However, through God’s covenants with various people and through the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has been able to challenge Satan’s control and to bring in the Kingdom of God. This is why God ardently seeks worshippers who will worship him in spirit and in truth, as this is the way he can bring his kingdom to dominance, dispelling Satan’s rule. Thus there is a war for worshippers. We see this clearly in Satan’s cleverly designed inducement for Jesus’s worship:
(Luke 4:5–8 NKJV) Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. {6} And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. {7} Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” {8} And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
The devil was successful in his strategy to win Adam’s worship. Adam was God’s created son (Luke 3:38); but he succumbed, and imitated the serpent’s vision for him—thus becoming Satan’s son. The devil tried the same ploy on Jesus. However, Jesus resisted the temptation and fought him off by standing on God’s word.
We see in this passage that one of Satan’s direct temptations involved receiving Jesus’s worship in exchange for “authority” and “glory.” Jesus resisted, reserving his worship for God alone—the true and legitimate spiritual Father. In the process, he revealed that worship and serving go hand in hand.
Since the one worshipped is the one served, and since the earth is man’s domain (Psalm 115:16), both spiritual fathers want worshippers so their kingdom can rule. We know that God is infinitely more powerful than Satan. Yet this war is a reality where we are concerned. This is because the dominance of either kingdom is not dependent on a direct head-to-head combat between Satan and God; it is focused on us. It depends entirely on which spiritual father men serve, and this depends on the one they choose to worship. The war is over our worship. We see this early in the gospels where Satan tried to tempt Jesus to worship him. We also see it in the book of Revelation where worshippers of the beast refuse to worship God:
(Revelation 16:9 AMP) “People were [severely] burned by the great heat; and they reviled the name of God who has power over these plagues, but they did not repent [of their sin] and glorify Him.”
(Revelation 13:4 LITV) "And they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast; who is able to make war with it?”
Our war today?
God seeks worshippers—they will be the ones that serve him as Jesus did
Satan is still trying to take God’s worship and kingdom for himself
Satan tempts us to worship him so he can rule through us
We are in very serious danger apart from the grace of God
In the book of Daniel, we read of Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue (Dan 3): he wanted people to worship him when they heard the music. Who do you worship when you hear music? We must understand that this is one of the main areas of Satan’s attack, temptation, and inducement today. We have a responsibility to use God’s word to fight and protect each other and ourselves from it.
What must you do? Let’s remember that Satan is coming after your worship. He will tempt you with wrong authority and fake glory in exchange for it. Today, I encourage you to set your heart on the worship of God alone—and to serving only him. Resist all other temptation with God’s word just as Jesus did. Our war to resist the worship of the beast is in full swing now; in Jesus, we can overcome.
(James 4:7 NKJV) “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
(Luke 4:8 NKJV) And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”