We return to Matthew's Gospel and to a fascinating portion of Scripture. The central point of what we are to look at this morning is a valuable reminder. You see, we forget about that out-of-sight war in this world, a war that helps explain our own wars, misery, grief and even sin. It is that spiritual war of powers, one waged since Satan, that fallen angel of God, was cast from heaven at the beginning.

After the fall, God permitted Satan, to take a kind of dominion over the world. So, if we are to have a right view of the world, we must understand what effect God's work in Christ has had on this war. Is it now over? Has it now intensified? Who has the upper hand?

So, in this passage, we get a glimpse into a war of spiritual kingdoms. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 6:12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." The greatest enemy to the gospel is not man himself; it is he who stands behind it to confirm and encourage every blasphemy against Christ and every evil way of man. He is the serpent of old, as he is called, that fallen angel, Satan himself.

He is the one who, for reasons known only to the wisdom and intent of God, has been permitted to play the role of the antagonist. So, in the ministry of Jesus Christ, a critical juncture was reached. Christ came to bring the kingdom of heaven, but there is a rival kingdom that must first be undone. One must yield to another. One must be bound and subjected to the other, diminished in some way so that the other may increase.

My friends, in the kingdom coming through the proclamation of the gospel, this is precisely what God has done. Christ has seized the devil by the jugular at last and severed, for this present age, his ability to deceive and blind the nations and arrange them against the church in a mass attack.

These are some of the things we shall develop in this time, as Christ declares in Matthew 12, with proof that he has plundered Satan's house. So says John in 1 John 3:8: "the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."

So the great teaching point I want to draw out for you and apply is this: Jesus, the Messiah, has bound Satan, so that his domain and influence are now greatly limited, in order that Christ may establish his own kingdom through the gospel. Jesus' kingdom is here; it is the age of his heavenly enthronement, it has come; it is now advancing as men and women are being pulled from the clutches of sin, death and the devil. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26: "For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death."

Rejoice, for the deliverer has come and, with a mighty, outstretched arm, is freeing prisoners from their bondage. Our great foe, you see, is indeed a strong man, but Christ is stronger.

A Deliverance

A first heading I have for you is "A Deliverance". So, read here again in Matthew 12:22-23: "Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, 'This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?'"

The first detail I draw your attention to is to take note of this miserable man brought to Jesus. Have you ever heard of such a state as this? He was demon-possessed, and by consequence, both blind and mute. He was a true example of one in the clutches of evil. But see that he was brought to Jesus. Perhaps this man had opened himself up to demonic influence; we do not know. But the point we should perhaps take away here is that we have a responsibility to do the same for the unbelieving world. People must be brought to Jesus.

If men and women are to escape their bondage to the darkness, their blindness towards Jesus and their unyielding hearts, then they too must be brought to the Saviour. God has chosen that we be the means of his service, you know. The church is commissioned accordingly: "Bring them to me," Jesus says. Your family members who do not know him, your Rotary or Lions Club friends, your colleagues, bring them to the one in whom is everlasting life.

People always try to dodge the facts about Jesus. They say, "Oh well, scholars are still trying to find the real Jesus; we cannot know for certain." Nonsense! Was this man whom the eyewitnesses saw really the Son of God? That is the question, my dear friends. And Jesus plainly performs what can only be done by the power of God.

Are you in any doubt as to who Jesus is this morning? Well, I urge you to go to the eyewitnesses this day. In the Scripture, come to the one whose power is greater than that by which you are enslaved. He will heal with a word. Those shackles around your ankles and hands that perhaps you did not realise were keeping you from the light will shatter immediately, and you will be free to see Jesus for the first time and to speak well of him as you never have before.

I have imagined the face of this man. Perhaps he had been blind all his life, or for a long while, and had forgotten what it was even to see. His sight is restored, and the first face he sees is that of Christ. What a picture that must have been. I wonder how he could ever look away. "I once was blind, but now I see," John Newton said of what Christ had done to him.

Another detail presents itself, however: the crowds are quick to see what the Pharisees soon will deny. Look at what they say: "This cannot be the Son of David, can it?" We can still sense a degree of doubt in their words. They are wondering how it could be possible that this man, Jesus, before them could be the Messiah. It is like when you meet someone for the first time and they are different from how you had conceived of them, or when you do not recognise someone at all. It is like when Queen Elizabeth II at a private retreat was out walking in the countryside and encountered two American tourists. They were talking to the Queen of England, and they did not know it. So the hearts of the people here are burning, though they are not yet certain that the man before them is this promised greater David, the Messiah.

The further point here is that the crowd's response is set against the Pharisees' clear unbelief. The crowds are saying the quiet part aloud. They are murmuring what it should have been up to the Pharisees to discern, the Messiah's presence, but they did not. Their hearts were blind and their judgement clouded. This exposes the Pharisees' unbelief: Jesus' works plainly backed up his claims. Of course, this is the Son of David. But sin blinds our judgement, you see. They were not born-again men.

Jesus has already told us earlier in Matthew that the kingdom of heaven and the truth of God cannot be reasoned to. Why? Because of sin. Sin bends the will away from God, you see; it puts us in the dark. So we see here how inadequately they respond to Jesus. What I am pointing out is the kind of wilful hardness we are capable of when we are shown to be wrong. Read the Gospels, and you will see this in the people's response to Jesus. In fact, it is still the same.

You tell someone that the Christian message, to be received rightly, requires you to acknowledge yourself as a damned sinner, with no righteousness in yourself to bring to God; and man is offended. He does not want to think so negatively about himself, and so he resists. He thinks himself essentially good by nature, as I heard one of our politicians muse in an interview this past week.

So do not miss this, friends: believe what you must about Christ without delay. The gospel lays out for you all that is required to believe, and then you must draw the conclusion of the crowd: they murmured it and surmised it. You must believe; you must come and confess it to be true, that you may receive Christ and his benefits, and taste of his good gift to man for our souls.

A Division

Now, moving to our second heading, we have a division. See the following in Matthew 12:24: "But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, 'This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.'"

This is the first detail here: the Pharisees' objection is outlined. We have encountered this term, translated "Beelzebul", earlier in Matthew 10. It refers, I understand, to Satan by another name. And what is alarming here, something that Christ does not miss, is that, instead of denying Jesus' miracles, they attribute his miracles to power granted by this Beelzebul, Satan. A shocking demonstration of the hardness of their hearts. The point is that they attributed the work of God to the works of Satan, the works of the one most holy to the works of the one most foul and unholy.

This has always been the way those in opposition to God have maligned those who speak the truth, accusing them of evil. I think of that great godly man, Athanasius, who defended the deity of Christ against those seeking to redefine his person. His opponents sought to discredit him with accusations of murder, sorcery and corruption. This will often be the lot of those who follow and defend the truth of the gospel. So J. C. Ryle says, "The early heretics used language of this kind about Athanasius. The Roman Catholics spread reports of this sort about Martin Luther. Such things will be said as long as the world stands."

I think the brief but obvious application is this: if Christ was misunderstood and maligned while he performed the works of God, then you must not be alarmed when you are confronted with opposition to the faith. Do not fear when you are tarnished for his name.

Again, to quote Ryle, "When the Christian's arguments cannot be answered, and the Christian's works cannot be denied, the last resource of the wicked is to try to blacken the Christian's character."

The next detail here is Jesus' response to the Pharisees. We continue with Matthew 12:25-27: "And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, 'Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.'"

Jesus attacks the logic of the Pharisees. What benefit would Satan have from using his power to defeat himself? It would be like a great empire supplying its best troops to the enemy to help it attack itself. What a foolish notion!

Jesus then teaches about the source and meaning of his power. Matthew 12:28-29: "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house."

This is the material point: Christ says that the kingdom of God has come, and the miracle he performs to free this demoniac is symbolic of that fact. The age of promise, the age foretold by the prophets of old, is now breaking with morning sunlight piercing the dark: that is his reply. Jesus' power demonstrates that a decisive historical moment has arrived: the kingdom of God has broken in.

Think about this. What is he saying? He is saying that his person and presence requires immediate adaptation to and recognition of. God has sent the Son into the world, and history will now pivot and adjust accordingly. To illustrate, it is comparable to what happens when outstanding minds enter this world and invent or create new technologies that benefit the whole of civilisation. Something happens; a whole new paradigm of technology changes the moment. Those who adapt survive, while those who resist will find themselves left behind. The analogy has its limitations, but the truth of Christ's first coming has had such an effect as this.

But follow me into this final verse here, as we come to a close. You see, how we understand what Jesus means by "the kingdom of God has come upon you" largely depends on how we understand Matthew 12:29. Jesus tells a parable of sorts, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. He says what is obvious: if you wish to rob, that is, steal or plunder, from a strong man's house, you had better be prepared to subdue the strong man first, or you will have no ability to take what is his.

Now I offer this interpretation: Jesus is saying the reason the kingdom now is, is because the ruler of this world, the strong man Satan, is now bound. Hamstrung. Christ is now plundering the enemy's camp.

Satan's domain is under assault by a King whose power cannot be matched, whose light will shine in the darkest of nights.

Now the question must be raised: in what way does Christ mean he has bound the strong man?

It cannot be taken in an absolute manner. For example, the apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 5:8: "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." That doesn't sound like he is bound at all, but very much on the loose.

So in what way does Jesus mean that he has bound the strong man?

It is to be understood as meaning that he is leashed, subdued and in some critical way limited and curtailed in his power. G. K. Beale says, "This binding of Satan does not refer to a complete cessation of his activities.... Satan is still active, but now must operate subject to Christ's authority."

Or listen to how Jesus says it in John 12:31: "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out." See, it is the same. And this occurred definitively when Jesus died on the cross for sinners. There, victory over spiritual forces was declared.

You see, friends, when Jesus died on the cross for his people, the claim of Satan upon you was broken. Outside of Christ, though image-bearers of God, that image is darkened, and instead the Scripture calls us children of the devil. But now, in Jesus, listen to what the author of Hebrews says. Hebrews 2:14-15: "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."

Hear it from another angle. How many people in the world today know God through Christ's gospel? The answer is really an innumerable multitude from a vast array of nations, tribes and languages.

But now think back, way back. Transport yourself back millennia before Christ. How many knew God? How many died in hope of the Messiah coming and fulfilling his promises? At one point, it was a single family in Noah's time, in all the world. In Abraham's day, it seemed few as well, with pockets of people here and there.

Satan had his way with the nations, you see, and God let the people be. Few knew God, and the Bible frames the world as given over to its devices, while he nurtured a covenant line, especially through the nation of Abraham's seed, Israel.

But things are different now that Jesus has come, aren't they? People of all nations know God. It is in this way that the strong man is bound.

Now, to drive home this point, we need to allude to the apostle John in Revelation 20. Turn with me there for a moment, if you would like; let us get eyes on the text.

Briefly recall that I have said before that the book of Revelation is structured in seven cycles describing the time from the birth of Christ through to the second coming of Christ from seven different points of view. Revelation 19 contains the end of the sixth cycle. So we find content analogous to the second coming of Jesus and the final judgement.

Revelation 19:15: "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty." This marks the end of the sixth cycle. One of the reasons we know this is because no unbelieving person remains. Judgement has finally come. Revelation 19:21 says: "And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh."

So John starts a new cycle in Revelation 20. The seventh and final cycle returns us to the first coming of Christ again. The words "Then I saw" signify this.

So listen here now to Revelation 20:1-3: "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time."

Now, you will see here the obvious connection to the teaching of Christ, in figurative language of John. The key point is in the words "so that he would not deceive the nations any longer". For the Messianic age, this present time between the two comings of Christ, Satan has been bound so that he would not deceive the nations any longer. This seems to align with Jesus speaking of binding the strong man.

What does it mean, then? Well, listen to Paul in Colossians 2.

Colossians 2:14-15: Speaking of the cross, Paul says, "when He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him."

Christ declared a victory on the cross. By his work of substitutionary atonement, he declared before the demonic realm that he had secured the rights of redemption of a people, and that a great multitude can never be denied access to the grace and forgiveness of God. It means that those who died in hope of this promise would receive what was promised all along.

Christ has fulfilled what was prophetically declared through the lips of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 49:24-25: "Can the prey be taken from the mighty man, Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? Surely, thus says the LORD, 'Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued; For I will contend with the one who contends with you, And I will save your sons.'"

When a person does not belong to Christ, they are in a way Satan's prey. John 8:44: "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father." He has a claim over them; they, like him, are fallen in rebellion against God.

But Christ is he who contends with the strong man on our behalf. He conquered death and so rendered Satan powerless over God's elect.

I close with the words of Sam Storms who write this: "Although Satan may and will do much in this present age (as the epistles clearly indicate), there is one thing of which John assures us: Satan will never be permitted to incite and organise the unbelieving nations of the world in a final, catastrophic assault against the church until such time as God in his providence so determines. That event, which the Lord will immediately terminate with the fiery breath of his mouth (Rev. 20:9), will come only at the end of this age."

Let us pray.