Revelation 5:3

no one . . . was able
All men, except one, are “born of Adam” and are lost in sin, and are therefore unqualified to bring about redemption (1K. 1K. 8:46; 2Chr. 2Chr. 6:36; Job Job 15:14; Pr. Pr. 20:9; Ecc. Ecc. 7:20; Isa. Isa. 64:6; Rom. Rom. 3:9, Rom. 3:19-23; Gal. Gal. 3:22; 1Jn. 1Jn. 1:8-10).

And what, indeed, have been all the endeavours of unsanctified men, in politics, in science, and in all the arts of civilization, improvement, philosophy, and even religion, but to work out this problem of successful repossession of what was lost in Adam, to attain to that forfeited perfection and supreme good which has ever danced before their imaginations.¹

When Adam forfeited dominion in the Fall, all men born of the line of Adam fell with him (Rom. Rom. 5:12; Acts Acts 17:26). Having inherited the sin of Adam, none is able to prevail. Herein lies the need for the virgin birth of Christ. For Christ is the only man for which the truism “Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” does not hold.

Throughout history there have been many pretenders to earth’s throne who have sought to conquer and rule the world. The first and most powerful and notorious usurper was Satan. After his rebellion against God was crushed, he and his angelic followers were thrown out of heaven (Luke Luke 10:18; Rev. Rev. 12:3-4+), and he became the “god of this world” (2Cor. 2Cor. 4:4). He inspired a host of humans to try their hand at conquest, men such as Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, the emperors of Rome, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler. In the future will come the most powerful Satan-possessed human conqueror of all, the final Antichrist. All of those men, and a host of lesser lights, have one thing in common: they failed. Only one individual has the right, the power, and the authority to rule the earth: the Lord Jesus Christ.²

---

Notes

¹ J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), 118.

² John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), 162.