A STRONG MAN’S HOUSE … THE STRONG MAN

This is a turning point in the gospel. Up to this point the Lord had spoken to the people openly. As chapter 13 of the gospel opens, the Lord ‘spake many things unto them in parables’, 13. 3. This metaphor is the Lord’s answer to the thoughts of the Pharisees when confronted with the healing and deliverance of one that was blind and dumb. Such is human nature. That which men cannot explain they seek to ‘rubbish’ and reject.

The solution they offered to those who proclaimed the Lord as ‘the son of David’, v. 23, was to suggest that the power under which the Lord operated was not His own but belonged to ‘Beel­zebub the prince of the devils’, v. 24. They could not deny the reality of the man’s change - he ‘both spake and saw’, v. 22. Their desperation is displayed in the poverty of their argument.

The answer that the Lord gives in His own defence is three-fold. First, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation’, v. 25. It is impossible for two from the same kingdom to be acting in opposition. Such a proposition would not bring victory but defeat! Second, ‘if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out?’ v. 27. The disciples of the Lord and the seventy had been active in the Lord’s service and had also cast out demons. Were they to be similarly accused? Third, ‘how can one enter into a strong man’s house … except he first bind the strong man’, v. 29. How could the strong man, Satan, be defeated and bound by himself? How could he allow his own ‘goods’ to be spoiled by one acting under his control and power? The thought is absurd!

Though we may be saddened by the Lord’s rejection in this chapter there is a message of hope and glory here. The Lord has ‘spoiled principalities and powers’ and ‘made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them’ in His cross, Col. 2. 15. Similarly, the Lord in His death rendered powerless, ‘him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver(ed) them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage’, Heb. 2. 14, 15. The victory of the Lord is compre­hensive and complete. The strong man has been bound. His house has been spoiled!