This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, The Conquering Christ.
God made Adam and Eve, and God set them in a garden.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion…” (Genesis 1:26a, Emphasis added).
Man was given rule over this Earth, to control and master its resources. If God made Man to have dominion, what has gone wrong, and what can be done about it?
In order for you to get back to where you ought to be, you have to know truth.
At one time, Satan was an angel whose name was Lucifer—which means “light bearer.” He was indescribably beautiful, the most superb creature God crafted.
But one day he said to himself, “I am too beautiful, too wise, and too powerful to be anything less than God.” (See Isaiah 14:12-15.) A third of the angels followed Lucifer in his rebellion to overthrow the throne of God. Lucifer, the son of the morning, became Satan, the father of the night.
But no sooner had he unsheathed his sword of rebellion than the thunders of Almighty God rolled. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18b).
Satan said, in effect, “I will go down and achieve on Earth what I failed to achieve in Heaven.” So, he lied to Adam and Eve in the garden, and they signed over their dominion to him.
God was dethroned in Adam’s heart, and in Eve’s. But Adam and Eve did not enthrone themselves—they enthroned Satan.
Why didn’t God just take everything back?
God is Almighty, but He is also holy. God runs this Universe righteously, according to His own laws. God cannot just snatch Adam’s lost dominion back. It was legally lost. It had to be legally regained. This is the righteousness of God.
When Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Satan showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of this world. “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. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours’” (Luke 4:6-7).
Jesus did not say, “Satan, they are not yours.” Adam had yielded the domain to Satan.
Jehovah God is over and above this, and ultimately all things belong to Him. But Satan is the god of this world. (See 2 Corinthians 4:4).
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
What was the God’s purpose for the Incarnation? Why did the Son of God step out of Heaven, walk the shores of Galilee, sweat blood in Gethsemane, and die in agony? This was God’s plan to legally regain what Adam had legally lost.
God is always true to His principles of righteousness and justice. Dominion was given to, and lost by, a man. It must be regained by a man.
But He must be a member of Adam’s race on whom Satan has no claim. When Adam chose to follow Satan, he became Satan’s slave. (See Romans 6:16.) The children of slaves are slaves, also. Therefore, the man to regain dominion cannot be a son of Adam. That is the reason why God became a man.
For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
Jesus had the anointing of the spirit, and the authority of the Word of God, and with that He came against Satan. He used the same weapons that Adam should have used.
Knowing that He would soon go to the cross, Jesus went to Gethsemane to weep. “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39a). That “cup” was all the sin of the sons of Adam.
But the silence from Heaven said, “There is no other way.” And Jesus said, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39b).
Satan did not understand Calvary—so he hounded Jesus to the cross. Satan made a tactical error there.
They stretched out the darling Son of God on that hellish cross. A Roman crucifixion was meant to strike terror in those who saw it. But Christ’s was no ordinary crucifixion: the sins of the world were upon Him. Not only was He forsaken by God the Father; He became the object of the Father’s wrath. Jesus took our Hell, our suffering, and our separation.
And then He said, “Tetelestai”—meaning, “It is finished!” (See John 19:30) It is paid in full. Adam, I have redeemed you.
The Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the delighted demons all said, “He is dead, and in the tomb.”
But “it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24b).
On the third day, on Easter morning, the Son of God arose, in absolute control.
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death (Revelation 1:18).
But He also ascended for us. That is what Paul is talking about, when he prays this for the Ephesian church:
…That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him….and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come (Ephesians 1:17,19-21).
This dominion was legally lost. It has been righteously regained. And God gloriously gives it back to those who will receive it.
God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Satan was taken captive when Jesus ascended. (See Ephesians 4:8.)
Now a new thing has happened.
For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30).
Do not think of His Church, the bride of Christ, as an organization with Christ as the president. The Church is a body, with Christ as the Head, and what is true about the Lord Jesus Christ is true about you. We have been co-executed, co-risen, co-exalted, and co-enthroned with Christ.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:18-19a).
Does Jesus have authority over Satan? As a member of the Body of Christ, so do you. Are demons subject to Jesus? Yes, and they are also subject to Christ in you. Satan hopes you never learn this. So, Paul prayed, “Oh God, open their understanding! Give them spiritual wisdom to know the power of God.” (Read Ephesians 1:15-23.)
Ephesians 1:15-23, 2:6, 4:8, 5:30, 6:12; Genesis 1:26; Isaiah 14:12-15; Luke 4:6-7, 10:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 6:16; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Matthew 26:39, 28:18-19; John 19:30; Acts 2:24; Revelation 1:18
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many (Romans 5:14-15).
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God (Romans 6:8-10).
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit... (1 Peter 3:18).
