The Pastor’s Cut: Every sermon leaves something behind. Time runs out, but insight remains. The Pastor’s Cut is where those hidden pieces come to light. Each week, I revisit a passage I preached and share a truth, angle, or application that didn’t make it into Sunday’s message. Sometimes it is a deeper theological thread. Sometimes it is a pastoral word that presses closer to the heart. Always, it is something worth seeing. If you have ever wondered what was left unsaid, this is your invitation to lean in, look again, and discover more of what God’s Word is doing beneath the surface.
On Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching on what is one of the most debated passages in all scripture, Revelation 20:1-10. In keeping with the genre of Revelation, the Apostle John uses extraordinary images to tell the story of God’s program for history. In the sermon I demonstrated how this passage laid out four essential movements that are consistent not only with the rest of the book of Revelation, but also with the rest of the New Testament. This program is outlined in simple format below.
- Satan is bound (Rev. 20:1-3): In John’s description of the binding of Satan, he is describing how Satan was defeated at the cross. See also John 12:31-33 and Colossians 2:15.
- The 1,000 Year Period (Rev 20:4-6): The millennium is simply John’s symbolic metaphor for the long period of time, that we are still living in today, between Christ’s first and second coming.
- Satan’s Release (Rev. 20:7-9a): At the end of this Church Age, just before Christ returns, Satan will inspire a terrible war upon Christians.
- Satan’s Final Defeat (Rev. 20:9b-10): Before Satan can fulfill his hopes for destroying the Church, Christ will return to usher in the Final Judgment.
We spent considerable time discussing what it means for Satan to be bound right now. Of course, we know that Satan is not utterly bound. The rest of the New Testament paints a vivid picture of the reality of spiritual warfare, and our need to be prepared for Satan’s attacks. The “binding of Satan” depicted in Revelation 20:1-3 is a metaphor describing Christ’s victory over Satan at the cross. In a very real way, Satan has been “bound” from deceiving the nations any longer. In the Old Testament days, Satan had a much stronger grip over the nations, but since the events of the cross and resurrection, the gospel of Jesus Christ has continually gone forth into the whole world. Praise God! Our Church is the fruit of the binding of Satan.
One passage I did not discuss in my discourse on Satan’s binding is Mark 3:23-27. In this passage Jesus has just been accused by the religious leaders of being possessed by Beelzebul. Jesus responds to this accusation with the following parable.
23 ...“How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
Many, when reading this passage, disconnect verse 27 from it previous context. But if you read verse 27 in light of the discussion of Satan in the preceding verses, it becomes immediately clear that the “strong man” Jesus references is Satan. Jesus is making the case that he did not cast out Satan by Satan, rather he had bound Satan and was plundering his house. Every miracle that pointed to God’s glory was a disruption to Satan’s schemes. Every healing and every exorcism was a threat to the Devil’s hold.
Verse 27 very specifically uses the exact same word as our passage in Revelation 20 uses to speak of the “binding” of Satan. And this is no coincidence. During Christ’s earthly ministry, he had already begun to “bind” Satan. Demons were cast out, the deaf heard, the blind saw, the lame walked, and the dead were raised to life. But through the cross and resurrection, something drastic changed in the authority the Devil previously held in this world. Colossians 2:15 says that Christ “disarmed the rulers and authority and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” This “triumphing” over the Devil is precisely what is being described by the Apostle John in Revelation 20 when he says that Satan was bound at the start of the Church Age.
Moreover, if we understand Christ’s parable in Mark 3:23-27, then we understand that Christ has bound the strong man, and that we are now living in the days of the plundering of his house. This world that the Devil once ruled over as if it were his home, is now being plundered in Christ’s name. The nations are hearing the gospel and believing in Christ as Lord and Savior. Churches are being planted around the globe. The gospel is being faithfully preached where once not a single person knew of the one true and living God.
We are living in the days of the plundering of Satan’s house. So, let us take all that he thought belonged to him. Let us ransack his dominion and take it all for Christ. Let us not hold back as if the strong man may oppose us and hinder us, for Christ has already bound him. He may bark and bite, but his power to blind the nations from hearing the precious gospel of salvation is forever broken. Plunder away fellow Christians!
