In Matthew 12:29 and Mark 3:27 Jesus made the following statement,
“No one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.”
In the verses leading up to this one, Jesus had spoken to the Pharisees about the kingdom of Satan. Then in Matthew 12:28 He told them
“If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Jesus was teaching a powerful insight into the knowledge concerning spiritual warfare. In His illustration the kingdom of Satan is established on the earth, and the Kingdom of God is advancing against it.
Jesus makes it clear in this passage that in order to enter a strong man’s house and carry off his property one must first “bind” or somehow overpower the “strong man.” It is a reference to whoever is the “head” of that house. Once the strong man is bound, there will be no resistance, and his house can be “plundered.”
It is clear from the context that the “house” Jesus is referring to is Satan's kingdom (here on the planet earth), and the “strong man” is Satan himself. In other words, before Jesus could “plunder” Satan's kingdom and “carry off his property” He first had to overpower Satan. In Luke 11:21-22 Jesus said it like this
“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 strength in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.”
Prior to the coming of Jesus, Satan was, in a very real sense, the “head” of the house on earth-having been given authority over all the earth. (See Luke 4:5-6)
But when Jesus (“someone stronger”) came, he “overpowered” and dethroned Satan (John 12:31), “took away all the strength in which he trusted, and then plundered his house by delivering mankind from Satan's kingdom into God’s kingdom. (Ephesians 4:8 and Colossians 1:13)
This same terminology is used in Luke 12:39, where Satan is again referred to as the “head of the house” and Jesus is pictured as a thief who broke into Satan's house and plundered it.
But there is another way to understand this passage, and that is to view yourself as the “strong man” and Satan as the thief who has plundered your house.
For example, in 1 Peter 5:8 we are told that Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” And in John 10:10 Jesus described Satan as a thief whose goal is to “steal, kill and destroy.”
But according to Jesus, before Satan can break into someone’s house and plunder it, he must first “bind” the “strongman” or head of that house.
One of the clearest examples of how Satan works to bind the strong man and plunder his house is the story of Samson. Once Satan discovered Samson’s weakness, he targeted that weakness and used it to lure Samson into a trap, and ultimately to “bind the strong man.”
Satan uses this same, simple strategy against every individual and family. Proverbs 5:22 says,
“His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin.”
Satan’s goal is to somehow bind, or otherwise render powerless every human. He specifically targets men because they are the God-ordained heads of the households, and he knows that if he can bind the head of the house, he can plunder the entire house.
It is for this reason that we are admonished to “be on the alert” with regard to Satan’s schemes. (1 Peter 5:8) But as long as we are living by the Spirit we have no reason to fear, for …
“Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Each day we must bind the strong man. Each day the mercy of the Lord is at hand but the enemy is stalking nonetheless. Paul the apostle was well aware of this our predicament when he wrote …
“I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one that wants to do good.” Romans 7:21
So let us “put on the strength of the Lord and we “will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
And with the “Stronger one” in us, let us bind Satan in our lives and the lives of others, and continue to plunder his house!
Binding Satan and connecting is by identifying with the death of Jesus. It is through His death daily we bind the strong man and plunder the principle of evil in us. (as noted in Romans 7:22)
We are at war with an invisible adversary.