God Reigns

I have a Bible that includes some commentary from a well known pastor. In Psalm 97 this commentary says this Psalm is written anticipating the day the Lord will return and reign over the earth. I respect this pastor, but I completely disagree. 

There are numerous Psalms as well as other passages that anticipate that day and they often employ the future tense, speaking of when He will come. I tend to take God's word at face value unless the statements cannot be understood to mean what they say. This Psalm states things as they are currently, and by extension, as they always are... continually. The statement is not "The Lord will reign", but "The Lord reigns." The statements are definitive and present. They do not look forward to some state that does not currently exist. They speak of a state that currently is and always will be. They describe the present. They exhort us to rejoice now, not later. 

"The heavens declare His righteousness." When? Do they not currently do so? Have they not been doing so since the beginning? Yes! The Lord reigns now, and always.

This idea that Satan reigns over the earth right now is hog wash! The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof! All things are in His hand.

Sometimes it is said that Satan took control of creation when Adam sinned. Some have said he was able to offer Jesus the kingdoms of the world during His temptation because they are his to give.

What's to stop the devil from offering what he cannot give, or what he does not control? He is the father of lies, the deceiver, the tempter! It is his nature to do just that.

"And the fullness thereof!"

All that is in the world is God's. Satan didn't become the landlord of creation at the fall. He was cursed along with Adam and Even by THE LORD, the One who reigns and retained the authority to punish.

In the Revelation it is written that the Lamb is the only one who is worthy to take the scroll. From whom does He take it? The devil? No. Some pastors teach that the scroll is the title deed to creation. And who is it that possesses it?

God!

It seems that we are receiving conflicting teaching in this area. On the one hand we are told that Satan is the ruler of the world and that Jesus won't reign until the millennium  But we are also taught that Satan cannot do anything without the expressed permission of God. These cannot both be true. Either Satan reigns or God does. And I don't know of a single scripture that says the devil reigns in the earth.

The Lord reigns,
Let the earth rejoice;
Let the multitude of Isles be glad!