This week, we continue in our Luke series by reflecting on Luke 11:14-28. Today, let’s consider what is meant by the binding of Satan in order to plunder his kingdom.
'"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder."'(Luke 11:21-22)
‘"Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house."' (Matthew 12:29)
Lesson: Jesus is the ‘stronger man’ and the one who binds Satan as He works through His church to plunder the Kingdom of darkness.
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I remember early on in my Christian experience that I would regularly hear people praying things like, “I bind you Satan….” and I would feel a little uncomfortable because I didn’t really understand what this meant. What does it mean to overcome the ‘strong man’ or to ‘bind the strong man’ as Matthew puts it? We all want to see more success in our lives - we want the ‘plunder’ and gain the ‘possessions’ that are promised and so what does it mean for us to overcome and bind the strong man?
The strong man is the devil
This text is directly linked to what we read previously about Jesus driving out demons. Satan, ‘the lord of demons’ is likened to a strong and well-armed man who guards a house that’s full of treasure. This description would have summoned images of the mansions of the wealthy and influential, which would have been full of wealth extorted from the people and guarded by a retinue of armed soldiers. Satan is stronger than any human being, and so it would seem that we can have no impact upon him, his possessions and His evil plans. It seems that those under His power have no hope of release!
The stronger man is Jesus
However, Jesus claims to be the ‘stronger man’ who has the authority and power to set people free and overcome Satan. Jesus makes it clear that He has authority and power overwhelm Satan, we read:
‘[Jesus is] far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church…’ (Ephesians 1:21-22)
We are not to fear Satan and His forces because Jesus is greater - He’s the ‘stronger man - and He is in us and with us in spiritual warfare. He assures us:
‘You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.’ (1 John 4:4)
Jesus has bound and is binding Satan
Our texts teach that Jesus has ‘overpowered’ and has ‘bound’ Satan. This means at least two things:
i. Overpowering, binding and plundering Satan happened as Jesus, in his life of earth, carried out individual acts of healing, leading people to the gospel and freeing people from demons. Each of these battles was Jesus overcoming Satan by His greater power and authority. This is seen in Jesus’ words:
‘But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.’ (Luke 11:20)
Jesus’ driving out demons was an example of Him binding and overpowering Satan.
To bring it home, your salvation - your being freed from the Kingdom of darkness - was the work of Jesus’ greater power over Satan, from which you and I could never have escaped!
ii. More broadly, Jesus is continuing His ministry of extending the Kingdom during The Last Days before He comes and finally overthrows Satan. As we go on mission, helping people to enter the Kingdom and be set free from the effects of demonic power, it is Jesus, not us, who is binding the strong man, on our behalf. He is our strength and hope of victory. The role of the church is to go forward in confident mission, knowing that they will plunder the Kingdom of darkness - setting many captives free - because Jesus is the ‘stronger man’!
Response
Jesus is the ‘stronger man’ and the one who binds Satan as He works through His church to plunder the Kingdom of darkness. The subject of this devotional is vast and requires much more thought, however, do you trust that Christ is stronger, He has bound the devil (in measure), and wants to work through His church to plunder the kingdom of darkness? As an application, one of the greatest expressions of plundering the kingdom of Satan through the ‘binding’ and greater power of Christ is our involvement in The Great Commission:
‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”’ (Matthew 28:18-20)
COMMUNITY GROUP NOTES AND STUDY
1. Notices
It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.
Please ensure that the members of your group are aware and familiar with using the daily devotionals, which are accessed in Church News, the Teaching button on the website and are now available on the major podcast platforms.
2. Icebreaker
How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week and how has this helped you?
3. Worship together
Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.
4. Study and pray together
Our message from our series in Luke on Sunday, based upon Jesus’ teaching from Luke 11:14-28. Here, we continue to see hostility toward Jesus continue to grow as they accuse Jesus of doing His miracles by the power of the devil.
Please read Luke 11:1-13, and discuss:
Did God speak to you about anything specifically from Sunday’s message?
Read Luke 11:14-22. How is Jesus’ greater strength and power over demons revealed in His ministry? How are we to continue, in Jesus’ strength, to ‘plunder’ the kingdom of darkness?
Read Luke 11:23. Who is this aimed at, and how are we to be ‘with’ and ‘gather’ with Jesus?
Read Luke 11:24-26. Here, Jesus is warning against allowing the influence of demons back into our lives. One can be set free from demons or the teaching of demons only to go back and become worse off than before! To protect ourselves, those who are cleansed must be filled; In what ways are we to fill the ‘house’ that is our minds, souls and lives?
Read Luke 11:27-28. Jesus responds to this woman’s praise with a correction about obeying God’s Word. How does this relate to our previous point about filling the ‘house’ of our mind? And how are you doing on this theme (of hearing and obeying Jesus) that has been repeated throughout Luke?
SIV - What does this section teach us about how we may be treated as we seek to share the gospel?
SIV- What promise of success does this section give us regarding the mission of Jesus?
SIV - Do we have any stories of how we have ‘Served, Invested, and inVited’ recently?
Let’s pray together that, this week, we will have opportunities to SIV; and pray for anything else that's come out of our time in God’s Word.