Reflections from the Second Sunday after Pentecost, June 10th, 2012: Satan Bound By Christ (Mark 3:20-35)

Dear Christian Friends,

If Satan has lost his power to Christ — and He has! —  then what would you expect him to do? Answer: You should expect him to desperately try to convince you otherwise. You should expect him to try to convince you that he is still empowered and in this way achieve a kind of spiritual placebo effect upon you. And this is what he does. He tries to convince you that you are bound by him, trapped in your sin, helpless to your weakness and beaten. But remember dear Christian, you are being lied to! In Mark 3, no one could deny the fact that Jesus was exuding great power and conducting miraculous deeds. So what recourse was left for those against them? Lies had to ensue. All the enemies of Christ could do was falsely accuse the LORD: “He is possessed by Beelzebul…by the prince of demons he casts out demons.” (Mark 3:22)

The Lord, however, answered brilliantly by using a sanctified logic, namely in this case, reductio ad absurdum: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 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.” (Mark 3:23-27)

Jesus spoke with authority, because He knew the truth. In fact He had proclaimed during his earthly ministry, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven.” (Luke 10:18) And we need to know in what way the defeat of the evil one became fact. Jesus Himself described it above: “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.” (Mark 3:27) And this is exactly what has occurred. Jesus entered into the devil’s lair and “plundered him!”

When? It started in what was proclaimed in Genesis 3:15 when the LORD proclaimed that Christ would crush the devil’s head (utterly defeat him, Genesis 3;15); and it was evidenced in the LORD overcoming Satan’s temptations in the wilderness (Mark 1:12-13), but it was absolutely sealed on the cross when the LORD proclaimed, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). When this occurred, the devil was plundered…all of those he was holding captive in his dark power were released. Jesus robbed Satan of souls! Jesus robbed Satan of us! We were set free; released from the devil’s prison!

Thus later in this Gospel Jesus is clear about the results of His victory: “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man…(Mark 3:28).” Soak that in: your every sin has been forgiven. No sin can withstand the victory of Jesus; His powerful release of the captives! The one and only exception to this rule is referred to in this text against the one who “blasphemes against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29),” but this is only committed by a person who knows the Word is true, but chooses to speak against and to attack the truth of the Gospel even while dragging others down through their malicious misrepresentation. Needless to say dear Christian, if are even remotely concerned that you’ve done this, don’t worry, you haven’t. The one who commits this singular sin of rebellion is dead-set against the LORD. It is clear that if you are reading this article, then it because you are concerned about faith, not rebellion!

But the main point here is know your freedom; know the victory of Jesus; know the looting and plundering of the devil that Jesus conducted for you. You cannot be held back from knowing Christ’s freedom; you cannot be denied the inheritance of a child of God! Rejoice dear Christian and live in the consequences of the holy plundering that took place for you!

In Your Service and To Christ’s Glory,

Dr. Espinosa

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