The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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In the previous post, we explored Jesus’ words in John 12:31 as he refers to Satan as “the ruler of this world.” Moving on to John 14, Jesus calls Satan “the ruler of the world.” The Savior tells his disciples:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful. You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me. Get up; let’s leave this place” (John 14:27-31, emphasis added). 

Jesus’ followers are troubled because he has repeatedly announced his imminent departure (John 14:2-4, 12, 18-19). They are worried, despite the Lord’s assurances they will do even greater works than he has done. He promises to answer their prayers and send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be with them and in them (vv. 12-17). Jesus also pledges to bequeath them peace – not a hollow worldly peace but an enduring one. 

Indeed, the world is powerless to give peace because sinful and fallen people are unable to overcome their own pride, greed, hatred, malice, and fear. But the transcendent peace Jesus promises comes through his pending death, in which he absorbs the sins of mankind and introduces the promised messianic peace in a way no one thought possible. 

The Romans maintained Pax Romana through the sword, and many Jewish people expected the Messiah to wield even greater military and political clout. But instead, through his humble obedience to the Father, Jesus brings a deeper, more stable, more lasting tranquility – first, to the hearts of believers, and ultimately to the entire world. 

Jesus gently rebukes his followers, telling them if they truly loved him, they would rejoice in his return to the Father. His departure ensures they will be with him forever. 

And then, Jesus makes a statement that often is misunderstood, or even is twisted to deny his deity: “the Father is greater than I.” The tension comes when John clearly proclaims Jesus’ equality with God (John 1:1, 18; 5:16-18; 10:30; 20:28), while at the same time revealing Jesus’ obedience to the Father and his dependence upon him (John 4:34; 5:19-30; 8:29; 12:48-49). 

It is wrong to play one truth against the other. That is, it is wrong to say either that Jesus is human and therefore cannot be divine, or to say that Jesus is divine and therefore cannot be human. But the immediate context resolves this difficulty. Jesus’ statement, “the Father is greater than I,” cannot mean Jesus is not God, for he clearly claims deity throughout Scripture. Nor can it mean Jesus is a lesser god, for Jewish monotheism considered such thinking anathema.

So, how should we understand this hard saying? It seems best to connect “the Father is greater than I” with the main clause, “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father.” D. A. Carson notes that if Jesus’ disciples truly loved him, they would be glad he is returning to the Father – to the sphere where he belongs, to the glory he had with the Father before the world began, and to the place where the Father is undiminished in glory and unquestionably greater than the Son in his incarnate state. Carson further writes:

To this point the disciples have responded emotionally entirely according to their perception of their own gain or loss. If they had loved Jesus, they would have perceived that his departure to his own “home” was his gain and rejoiced with him at the prospect. As it is, their grief is an index of their self-centeredness.

All of this serves as a backdrop for Jesus’ statement, “the ruler of this world is coming” (John 14:30). No doubt, the disciples understand this as a reference to Satan, whom Jesus acknowledges as the leader of the kosmosalienated from God and in rebellion against him. But in what way is Satan coming? 

The evil one often works directly in his own behalf, as in the garden of Eden with Eve (Gen. 3:1-7) and in the wilderness with Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). Quite often, however, Satan employs demonic or human agents to do his bidding. We see this throughout Scripture as demons harass people and, in some cases, cause illnesses (e.g., Mark 1:21-27; 9:14-29; Luke 8:26-39; Eph. 6:12; 1 Tim. 4:1-2).

At the same time, Satan occasionally uses people to exercise his authority in the world. For example, Jesus tells unbelieving Jews they are of their father, the devil, and therefore want to carry out his desires (John 8:42-47). In the context of the passage currently under study (John 14:27-31), Jesus has Judas Iscariot in mind as the agent of Satan’s work. 

Whatever role Judas plays in the death of Jesus, Satan is the one pulling the strings. Recall what Jesus tells the disciples in John 6:70, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” John explains, “He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, one of the Twelve, because he was going to betray him” (v. 71).

That becomes even more clear when Jesus and the disciples observe the Passover meal on the evening before Jesus’ death. After Jesus washes the disciples’ feet and promises blessings for those who follow his example, he states: 

“I’m not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: The one who eats my bread has raised his heel against me. I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am he. Truly I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives me receives him who sent me” (John 13:18-20; cf. Ps. 41:9). 

Immediately after this, Jesus is troubled in his spirit and says, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me” (John 13:21).

The disciples are stunned. They look at one another in confusion as to which of the Twelve is the betrayer. Peter urges John to get more details. So, John leans back against Jesus and asks, “Lord, who is it?” (v. 25). 

Jesus replies, “He’s the one I give the piece of bread to after I have dipped it.” 

Then, Jesus dips the bread and offers it to Judas Iscariot (v. 26). After Judas eats the morsel of food, John records, “Satan entered him.” Jesus tells Judas, “What you’re doing, do quickly” (v. 27).

This is a rare biblical instance of Satan entering, or taking complete control of, a human being. Demons often control persons in what we commonly call demon possession, but what is more accurately translated demonization. That is, demons don’t actually own human beings – only God possesses saved people as his adopted children, and only Satan owns lost people and enslaves them in darkness – but demons can and do enter human spirits and exert varying degrees of control over them. 

In the case of Judas Iscariot, Satan already owns him in that Judas is not a true follower of Jesus. However, rather than influence Judas through temptation – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions (1 John 2:16) – he now commands Judas’ thoughts and deeds from within. 

There is one other possible satanic proprietorship in Scripture. Paul warns about a coming man of lawlessness, whom we know more commonly as the antichrist. The apostle describes him as one who “opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God” (2 Thess. 2:4, emphasis added). As Jesus is God incarnate, Satan comes as the ultimate counterfeit Christ, inhabiting the spirit of a willing human deceiver and proclaiming himself God in human flesh. While Paul does not say the evil one enters or possesses the man of lawlessness, it appears Satan controls the antichrist in much the same way he controlled Judas Iscariot.

Through Judas, Satan attains his goal of Jesus’ betrayal, which leads to the Savior’s arrest, condemnation, and crucifixion. Yet the evil one is self-deceived, as Jesus makes clear. He tells his disciples that the ruler of the world “has no power over me. On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me” (John 14:30-31). Jesus’ words recall a Jewish idiom frequently used in legal contexts. When Jesus says Satan has no power over him, it means the evil one has no claim on Jesus, nothing with which to legitimately condemn him. 

How true this is. Jesus is not of this world (John 8:23), nor has he ever sinned (John 8:46). Satan could only wield power over Jesus if there were justifiable charges to be leveled against him. There are none. This is the clearest case in history of a frivolous lawsuit.

And Jesus wants his disciples to understand this. Far from a defeat at the hands of Satan and his human agent, Judas, Jesus’ imminent death is the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan. Jesus came into this world – both the physical realm and the evil system under Satan’s control – to die (John 18:36; 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 John 4:10; Rev. 13:8). He lays down the challenge to Satan in the foothills of Mount Hermon, declaring that his church is about to storm the gates of hades. Then, he sets his eyes on Jerusalem, where he is to suffer, die, and rise from the dead (Matt. 16:13-23). 

All of this is according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge (Acts 2:22 ff.). Jesus’ obedience to the Father flows out of love for him. This love and obedience are supremely displayed in Jesus’ willingness to lay down his life (John 10:17-18). And Jesus challenges his disciples to model the same love and obedience with respect to him as they keep his commandments (John 14:15, 21, 23).

As John MacArthur notes:

Jesus came to earth, of course, to reveal God to mankind. He came to teach truth. He came to fulfill the Law. He came to offer His kingdom. He came to show us how to live. He came to reveal God’s love. He came to bring peace. He came to heal the sick. He came to minister to the needy.

But all those reasons are incidental to His ultimate purpose. He could have done them all without being born as a human. He could have simply appeared – like the angel of the Lord often did in the Old Testament – and accomplished everything in the list above, without actually becoming a man. But He had one more reason for coming: He came to die.

The ruler of this world is coming to carry out his murderous schemes through Judas Iscariot, and through the Jewish leaders to whom Jesus is betrayed. Because of this, Jesus’ time with his disciples is short. Yet, this is not a defeat for the Son of Man. Quite the contrary. The evil one has no power over the sinless Son of God, who voluntarily lays down his life, only to take it up again on the third day after his crucifixion. Jesus’ death on the cross displays God’s love for the world (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8) and Jesus’ special love for believers (John 15:13; Gal. 2:20). But it’s more than that. It’s a declaration to the world of Jesus’ supreme love for his Father. 

As Rodney Whitacre notes, “The cross is both God’s judgment and his evangelism, and both are expressions of his love.”

Next: The ruler of this world (concluded)