In regards to bringing in and establishing the kingdom of God, in Matt. 12 we see that we need to bind the strong man and plunder his house, praying one with the Lord to bind Satan and release the fallen people from under his usurpation.
The Lord Jesus came as the incarnated God to establish the kingdom of God, that is, to establish a realm in which God can carry out His purpose through the exercise of His authority.
On the one hand such a realm is a realm of love, life, and light, but on the other, for this realm to come into being there is the need of spiritual fighting.
Satan is the ruler of this world, illegally usurping all mankind and using them for his evil purpose; for God’s kingdom to come in, there is the need for spiritual warfare.
When we preach the gospel we not only proclaim the good news but we also advance into the territory of the kingdom of darkness to pluck some out from this evil kingdom and transfer them into the kingdom of God and of light.
The gospel of the kingdom releases the power of the kingdom to subdue rebellion and to transfer our dear fellow human beings out from under the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
In Matt. 12 in particular we saw how the Lord Jesus worked, how He cast out a demon by first binding the strong man and plundering his house.
After He cast out a demon, the religionists said that He did this by Beelzebub; if they call the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they say concerning the members of His household! Even today, many call us names, many go online and say all kinds of things concerning us…but praise the Lord, we want to be one with the Lord Jesus, the King of the heavenly kingdom, to stand one with Him in the church and bind the strong man and plunder his house!
If Satan casts out Satan, his kingdom will not stand, but the Lord by the Spirit of God cast out demons, so the kingdom of God came! Hallelujah!
The Lord Jesus directly engaged with Satan’s kingdom, but He didn’t act by Himself. Yes, it was Jesus Christ who cast out the demon, but He did this by the Spirit of God, and the result was that the kingdom of God (implying the Father) came in; the entire Triune God was involved.
May we see the principles of the spiritual fighting to bring in the kingdom of God, and may we be one with the Lord, standing in the Body, to bind the strong man and plunder his house for the bringing in of the kingdom of God.
The Lord cast out demons by the Spirit of God so that the Kingdom of God might come
In Matt. 12:28, after being accused by the religionists that He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the Lord revealed that He casts out demons by the Spirit of God so that the kingdom of God may come.
As the Lord cast out demons, He was fighting; He was destroying Satan’s kingdom, and He was bringing in the kingdom of God (see Mark 3:23-28; Luke 9:1).
The principle of a demon is rebellion; today we may not cast out a demon, but we clearly see the principle of a demon at work, for wherever we look there’s rebellion. In society, at home, at school, on the street, and everywhere, people are full of rebellion.
The Lord wants to cast out the factor of rebellion. This involves fighting.
The Lord Jesus was fighting for victory, and He did obtain the victory; now we as the church must continue the fight, and we are fighting from victory. As Song of Songs 4 says, we have soft armor – we don’t need to fight great battles with heavy armor, for the victory has been won, and we fight to apply, maintain, and announce the victory. Hallelujah!
The Spirit of God is the power of the kingdom of God; where the Spirit of God is in power, there the kingdom of God is, and the demons have no ground (Matt. 12:28).
When we announce the gospel, we are engaged in a spiritual warfare; for such a fight we need more than the essential Spirit for our life and life supply.
If we simply go to preach the gospel by abiding in the vine, this is wonderful if we want to bear fruit and have some gospel friends; but if we preach the gospel of the kingdom, we need the power of the Spirit.
The Lord Jesus Himself, who already had the Spirit as the essence of His divine nature, had to experience the economical Spirit before He started His ministry.
We need to have the proper understanding of this, and we need to know when to claim this.
The truth concerning baptism of the Holy Spirit is clear in the word of God; today we don’t need to pray to be baptised in the Holy Spirit, for the entire Body of Christ has already been baptised in the Spirit (on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius).
The baptism of the Holy Spirit has already been accomplished. What we need is to be one with the Body and claim this power as we need it.
We may have a good heart in our gospel preaching, but as we go forth to speak we may be oblivious of the spiritual warfare going on; but hallelujah, the Spirit of God is the power of the kingdom of God.
Where the Spirit of God exercises authority over opposition and rebellion against God, that is the kingdom of God.
What would happen at big universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cambridge, Oxford, etc if we go there not to outsmart people but in the power of the Spirit bring in the kingdom of God! When we go somewhere in the power of the kingdom of God, the enemy who has been usurping the people will be defeated!
Lord Jesus, may we see the spiritual warfare going on as we preach the gospel of the kingdom, and may we be one with You to be filled within and clothed without with the Spirit! Hallelujah, we preach the gospel of the kingdom not only to save people but to bring in the kingdom of God! Praise the Lord, the victory has been won, and now we stand and speak from victory, applying the victory of Christ to the enemy. Lord, the Spirit of God is the power of the kingdom of God; we claim the power of the Spirit, we stand one with You and one with the Body, and we go forth to preach the gospel of the kingdom to bring in the kingdom of God on earth!
Praying to Bind the strong man and Release those Usurped by him to bring in God’s Kingdom
Matt. 12:29 reveals that Satan is the strong man usurping the God-created people, and for us to bring people out of his usurping hand, we need to bind him. This is the secret of spiritual fighting, as taught by the Lord Himself.
He cast out demons by the Spirit of God, and before He did this, He entered into the house of the strong man and bound him, and then He plundered his house.
When the Lord cast out the demon from a man, He was plundering the house of the strong man; He was recovering some who have been usurped by Satan.
Before He did that, before He did anything outwardly, He did something inwardly – He realised that He entered the kingdom of Satan, that Satan is the strong man, and that there are many vessels – the human beings usurped by Satan – that need to be released.
So the Lord first secretly and inwardly prayed to bind the strong man and plunder his house, and then He cast out the demon.
We may see many such vessels being usurped by Satan, and we may care for them and contact them, but if we want them to be plucked out of Satan’s kingdom, we need to realise that Satan as the strong man is stronger than us, so we should pray to bind the strong man and release these ones.
We need to learn from the Lord what it is to bind the strong man, and we should do this before we go to preach the gospel. The secret of the spiritual fighting is to first bind the strong man.
Satan as the strong man occupies people’s mind; we need to bind the strong man in the mind of the persons we speak to.
Especially as we preach the gospel on the college campuses, meeting smart, brilliant, even genius people, we need to realise that their mind is under the control of Satan, who is in their flesh, and before we can share something with them for them to have a change of mind, there has to be a binding of the strong man in the mind of the people.
In 2 Cor. 4:3-4 Paul said that the gospel is veiled in those who are perishing, in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.
As those who have been beholding the Lord and are filled with Him, having the Spirit within and clothing us without, we are ready to shine; the entrance to a tripartite being is the mind, for the enemy blinds the thoughts of people, so we pray one with the Lord and standing in the Body to bind the strong man and release those under his usurpation.
When the mind of people is released from the satanic control, the human vessel is open, and the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ can shine into them.
We should not try to out-smart people or convince them; rather, we need to remain one with the Lord in the Body and let the Lord shine. When the God of glory shines, He can turn an idolater into His seeking one, for He infuses the believing ability into him.
We all need to learn this together; we need to learn by doing, learn to pray to bind the strong man and plunder his house.
The builded church has the authority to bind the strong man. The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful before God for the overthrowing of strongholds, as we overthrow reasonings and every high thing rising up against the knowledge of God, taking captive every thought unto the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
On one hand we need to pray for the Lord to bind the strong man; on the other hand, as the builded church, we can bind the strong man by being one with the Lord.
None of us is a hero in this, none of us can be a super-warrior or super-spiritual Christian to bind the strong man by himself; but if we live, serve, and work in the Body, we are built in the Body, and the authority to bind the strong man and release those usurped by him is given to the Body!
The “house” in Matthew 12:29 refers to the kingdom of Satan, and “his goods” refers to the fallen people, who are under Satan, who are his vessels, his instruments, and who are kept in his house for his use.
And he uses many people including Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and so many aggressive atheists today; Satan uses these smart and articulate ones for his interest, and these “smart” ones are so dumb not to believe that Satan is, so he makes full use of them. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we see that if we would establish the kingdom of God and take fallen human beings out of Satan’s kingdom, we must first bind the strong man, and the way to do this is by prayer (Mark 9:25-29).
We need to pray and fast; we need to have a praying and fasting spirit, realising that the source of the problem is the enemy, the strong man; if the strong man is bound, the human vessel is released.
Human vessels want to be released; unbelievers want to be saved, and people desire salvation, but the enemy holds them; it is time for the church to rise up and bind the strong man, exercising the Lord’s authority to bind the strong man and plunder his house!
This is the fighting of the spiritual battle for establishing the kingdom of God.
Lord Jesus, we stand one with You and in the Body to bind the strong man that blinds the thoughts of the unbelievers. Amen, Lord, it is time for the kingdom of God to advance. We agree with You, Lord, and we stand in Your authority as the built-up church. May this be our experience in the church life, Lord, until we bring in Your kingdom and we bring You back. We want to shine You forth, Lord, so that You may remove any veils and bring the divine life into man to bring man into Your kingdom. Amen, Lord Jesus, bind the blinding work of the god of this age, release his captives, and release the vessels usurped by him to be citizens in the kingdom of God!
Read this article / this sharing in the Romanian language – citiți acest articol / această împărtășire și în limba română via, Să ne rugăm ca să-l legăm pe omul tare, să-i eliberăm pe cei uzurpați de el și să aducem împărăția lui Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 33 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 6, The Conflict of the Two Kingdoms and the Work and Responsibility of the Church.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Teach us to pray that we may cause / The enemy to flee, / That we his evil pow’r may bind, / His prisoners to free. / Teach us to pray and firmly stand / Upon the battleground, / To fight and break the stronghold down, / The enemy confound. (Hymns #767)
# Keep on wrestling in the Body, / Mighty vict’ry you will see, / Bind and loose, God’s will fulfilling, / And the foes your food will be. (Hymns #885)
# On Thyself the Church is builded, / And though many storms assail, / till it stands erect, for ‘gainst it / Gates of hell cannot prevail. / Thine authority possessing, / It doth bind and loose in Thee, / Bringing men into Thy kingdom, / Satan’s captives setting free. (Hymns #834)
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