Binding the Strong Man

When the Pharisees attributed Jesus' exorcisms to Beelzebub, prince of demons, they committed a blasphemy so severe that Christ interrupted His ministry to refute it at length. Their accusation revealed their spiritual blindness, but Jesus' response revealed the cosmic significance of His deliverance ministry. He exposed their illogic with devastating simplicity: 'If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?' A kingdom at war with itself falls; Satan would not undermine his own dominion. The Pharisees' explanation collapsed under the weight of its own contradiction.

Jesus then pressed them further: 'If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?' Jewish exorcists of that era practiced deliverance with varied success; the Pharisees did not accuse them of satanic power. Their selective accusation against Jesus revealed malice, not logic. But Christ moved beyond refutation to revelation: 'If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.' Every demon expelled was evidence of God's kingdom breaking into Satan's territory, every liberation a proof that the Messianic age had dawned. The exorcisms were not merely compassionate acts but eschatological signs—the strong man was being plundered.

Jesus then unveiled the true explanation through a parable of profound import: 'How can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.' The strong man is Satan; his house is this fallen world; his goods are the souls he holds captive. Before anyone can liberate Satan's prisoners, the captor himself must be bound. Jesus was that One stronger than Satan who bound him, entering his domain with authority and plundering his kingdom. Every demon cast out was a trophy of war, every delivered person a prisoner of war set free, every healing a reversal of Satan's destructive work.

Luke records an expanded version emphasizing force: 'When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.' Satan armed himself, fortified his palace, guarded his possessions—but One stronger came. Christ overpowered him, stripped him of his weapons, and distributed the spoils. This binding reached its climax at the cross where, through death, Christ destroyed 'him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.' John declares: 'For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.' Every exorcism was a skirmish in a larger war, every deliverance a foretaste of the decisive victory purchased at Calvary.