We hear it all the time: Satan is the god of the Underworld. He runs and rules hell. He has a throne down there and goes around jabbing people with a pitchfork.

But did you know the Bible says nothing like that? Those ideas are assumptions, superstitions, myths and even lies.

The good news is that the Bible is abundantly clear about where Satan’s dominion lies- and the limits of his power. The bad news is that his dominion is right here with you, in the earthly realm. It goes back to the curse pronounced upon the serpent in Genesis 3.

The curse on the serpent

Genesis 3 opens with these words:

Genesis 3:1 – Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

If you know your Bible, you know what happens next. This is the chapter where the snake tempts Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, and sin is brought into the world.

Some will question whether this serpent is supposed to actually be the devil himself. It’s true that Genesis 3 never calls the serpent “the devil.” But a few passages in Revelation shed more light on his identity.

Revelation 12:9 – …the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

The ancient serpent. Revelation connects the dots. The devil didn’t make Eve do it, but he planted the idea in her head. So when God returns to the scene, he says to the serpent:

Genesis 3:14-15 – Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 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.

The church has typically understood verse 15 as being about Jesus and the cross. The devil thought he was defeating Jesus, but Jesus pulled an Uno Reverse Card on him and came back to life and redeemed the world. That’s where I line up, too. Today I want to pick apart verse 14.

What does it mean to say Satan is cursed above all the “beasts of the field”? Look back at verse 1. The serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field. When we read that, we understand the serpent is not a mere snake but a spiritual being. So why wouldn’t “beasts of the field” mean spiritual beings as well?

Genesis 1 describes God creating three tiers of the physical world (sky, land and sea), but these words are also describing three tiers of the spiritual realm: heaven, earth, and the underworld. God populated each of those with spiritual beings. Of all the spiritual entities God made, Satan was the craftiest; and when he beguiled Eve, God cursed him above them all.

Then: “On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat.” Satan had a previous status as a heavenly realm spirit. He had rights, or a presence, within heaven itself. Because of what he did in Genesis 3, he was cast out of heaven and downgraded to an earthly realm spirit. That’s what it means that he’s in the dust now. He lost his place in the heavenly realm, and he has to live down here.

Notice what the curse does not say. It doesn’t send him to the Underworld.

The ruler of this world

Scripture bears this out extremely consistently. When we run into Satan after Genesis 3, his confinement to this world is highlighted. And not just his confinement here, but his dominance here.

Jesus says in John 14:30, “…the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me.” See also John 12:31 and 16:11, where Satan is also called “the ruler of this world.”

In Luke 4, the devil takes Jesus up and shows him all the kingdoms of the world. He says, “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.” Satan claims to own the world, essentially, and Jesus doesn’t disagree with that assertion.

Ephesians 2:2 calls him “the prince of the power of the air.” That doesn’t mean heaven. It just means the skies of earth.

I John 5:19 – We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

See, he doesn’t reign over hell. This world is his domain.

We never see similar language saying that Satan rules the Underworld. We only see it said that he rules this one.

Can Satan visit heaven?

Scripture shows that he can, but he doesn’t live there. In Job 1:6-7, the sons of God (members of the Divine Council) come to present themselves before the Lord, “and Satan also came among them.” When God asks where he’s come from, Satan says, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

It’s kind of like how I’m an American, but I can visit other countries. Spirits can go from one realm to another, even if it’s not their domain. Satan can visit heaven, but he needs a visitor pass. I don’t know exactly how it works, and I suspect he needs some kind of spiritual gate or portal to get there.

Where does hell fit in?

So could Satan travel down to the Underworld? I think he may have the option to visit if he wants to, but I don’t see any reason to believe he wants to be there.

In fact, the Bible describes the Underworld as a punishment for him.

Revelation 20:2-3 – ² And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, ³ and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

That pit is the Abyss, a compartment of the Underworld. It’s not somewhere Satan wants to be, and it hasn’t happened yet. Today he is confined to the earthly realm. (This is one reason I’m premillennial. Satan is clearly an earthly realm spirit right now, and in the Millennium he’s bound in the Underworld.)

We see a similar trajectory with the Watchers, the heavenly beings who came down to marry women. Jude 6 says they left their proper domain. They were heavenly realm spirits who chose to live as earthly realm spirits, and their punishment was confinement to the Underworld. It’s the same path Satan will follow for his rebellion.

I think a lot of people are misled about this by John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which gives us the famous line, “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” But that’s a work of fiction. In the Bible itself, Satan has nothing to do with ruling the Underworld.

That said, I do see some evidence that Satan wants to partner with Underworld realm spirits. Jesus spoke of the gates of hell, and I believe occult activity and pagan idolatry open spiritual portals that release evil spirits from there. Satan is very much involved with that, even though he’s not an Underworld spirit himself. The Underworld is the chaos realm (Job 10:22, 26:5-6), and Satan wants to unleash chaos.

Why this matters

Don’t let it freak you out that Scripture says Satan rules this world. That might sound like a high privilege, but it’s actually part of his curse, because it’s the best gig he’ll ever get.

If you are in Christ, you are a heavenly realm being. Your home, your domain, is in heaven. Ephesians 2 says God “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Even though we live in this earthly domain in the physical, we are creatures of heaven in the spiritual.

Satan can have the world. You’re a being of a higher authority, and Romans 16:20 says Satan will be crushed under our feet.

As Jesus said (in Mark 8:36), “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his soul?” That’s actually the deal Satan got. And you got a better one.

To learn more about the three spiritual realms of God’s creation, check out this episode of the Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast: