And the devil took (Jesus) up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘to you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’  (Luke 4:5-7)

‘Authority’ is ἐξουσία exousia and it means licensed power, the right to act, to have charge of, or dominion over.

In Jesus’ encounter with the faithful centurion, the Roman explains how authority is exercised:

‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority (exousia), with soldiers under me. And I say to one, “go’, and he goes, and to another, “come’, and he comes, and to my servant, “do this”, and he does it.’ (Matthew 8:7-9)

Yet we learn that Satan obtained such power, so that he had authority over the world? Of course, such authority could only be ‘delivered to’ Satan by God.  But how could that happen?  When Adam relinquished it by holding Satan to be a greater authority than God, that’s how! 

In Eden, first God gave Adam dominion:

Then God said, ‘let us make man (the Hebrew is Adam) in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ (Genesis 1:26)

Now the Hebrew word אָדָם Adam, can mean humankind, and this could explain that dominion is given to ‘them’ not him – to this we will return.  But as Adam stands before God, the sole representative of humanity, it is to unequivocally to him that all authority over the world and its creatures is granted.

It is ‘the woman’, Adam’s helpmeet created from his own flesh, who is directly beguiled:

And the woman said to the serpent, ‘we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ 

But the serpent said to the woman, ‘you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’  (ibid 3:2-4)

While the woman exaggerated God’s injunction – the forbidden fruit was not to be eaten, He said nothing about touching it – nonetheless, in handling, plucking and eating the fruit, she believed Satan over God, and in turn, by taking the proffered fruit and also eating, Adam believed his wife.  Either way, creatures believed other creatures rather than their creator.

From that moment, humankind ‘worshipped’ Satan rather than God and in expelling Adam and Eve from Eden (and His presence), God does nothing to change this arrangement, at least not then!  God says to the serpent:

‘I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.’  (ibid 3:15)

This says that Satan’s dominion will be strife-ridden but also temporary; and that while ‘the woman’ was instrumental in humanity’s humbling, so from womankind will come one who right this great wrong.  Born of woman would be a man who would ‘bruise the head’, that is destroy Satan, but at a cost, (bruise the heel is a euphemism that means to suffer great harm).

Known as the protoevangelium, meaning the first gospel, God is telling Satan his dominion is limited and always remains in God’s gift, not Satan’s, but also humanity (along with the rest of creation) will be redeemed and authority returned to humankind – noting that Jesus although divine and a spiritual being, is always corporeal and, moreover, emphatically human.  When Jesus is raised from the dead, it is Luke, the man of ‘science’, who records the proof of Jesus’ continued humanity:

And while (the disciples) still disbelieved for joy and were marvelling, he said to them, ‘have you anything here to eat?’ 

They gave him a piece of broiled fish,and he took it and ate before them.

(Luke 24:41-43)

And now we are in a position to understand the plurality of God’s initial bestowal of dominion. Of course, Adam was never the intended man to hold this dominion but Christ, that is God’s anointed from among humankind.  And when Satan tempts Jesus, the one whom Jesus calls ‘the father of lies’ (John 8:44), he does so with the full knowledge of all that occurred and was said in Eden.

But this authority is only taken up by Jesus after the cost is paid.  Observing her son dying on the cross, Mary, Eve’s blessed offspring, might have thought that Satan has bruised Jesus’ head not his heel; but with the resurrection from the dead, Jesus displays the bruise though considerable was not final, again Jesus appearing to his chosen disciples.  Without forsaking his human form, he had transcended death, even though the marks of the crucifixion remained on his hands and feet.

Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, ‘peace to you!’ 

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, ‘why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ 

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.  (ibid 24:36-40)

In his last words before his ascension spoken to those same men, the apostles, Jesus says this:

‘All authority (exousia) in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20)

The age (αἰών or aeon) is as span of time, is of course a new era, where Jesus has dominion, yet Satan is not yet restrained.  His destruction is yet to come, so evil still abounds, for a little while, at least.

Jesus will return in human form, but when he does so, it will be to exercise his right to have dominion and Satan – and all wickedness that humanity has done wittingly or unwittingly in Satan’s name – will be utterly defeated.  John sees this in his vision of the future:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.  He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.  And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.  (Revelation 19:11-16)