Why We Can Rejoice In Dark Days
Christians must rejoice that Christ has restrained Satan. Moreover, it is especially vital that we confess this truth in the midst of dark times. When things look grim and the darkness seems to loom large, it is vital that Christians confidently affirm that Satan is restrained—despite the darkness of the day. Failing to affirm this biblical truth threatens to lead us into error, hopelessness, and despair. If we do so, we may well believe that the darkness is what is growing and triumphing, and not the light. We may well be robbed of the glory of Christ’s triumphant victory over the evil one. Quite simply, we may well live as if we are in the wrong story, and that delusion will cripple kingdom work in this world.
Christ has restrained Satan, and this has been true for the two millennia since Christ died, rose, and ascended. This may seem like quite a bold statement, and it is undoubtedly one with which many Christians may disagree. After all, Satan’s restraint is a topic within the realm of eschatology (the study of the last or final things), and there are surely few topics that are as consistently divisive among Christians as eschatology. Yet it is my contention that one of the clearest explanations that comes from the mouth of Christ to explain His victory in this world is the emphatic affirmation that He has restrained Satan. Further, the restraint of Satan is not some esoteric doctrine that only floats around in the clouds or lies hidden in theology textbooks. For Christians, the conviction that Satan is currently restrained actually forms the contours of a truly optimistic eschatology.
When pressed on their eschatological convictions, many readers of Scripture might quickly flip to the Revelation to find support for their views. Yet long before we reach that final book in the canon, we find that the Gospels paint a clear and compelling picture of what Christ has accomplished. Some of those Gospel passages are worth careful consideration: John’s Gospel records Christ testifying that the evil ruler of this world has been cast down (12:31–32), and that the evil ruler who has no rightful claim on Christ (14:30) has been already judged (16:11). And while it is true that the black letters of Scripture are certainly just as inspired as the red letters, it is particularly helpful to consider Christ’s own description of these cosmic events—particularly His account of how Satan has been restrained.
One of the clearest passages that speaks of this victory is the “Strong Man” passage found in the Gospels, a portion that is also referred to as the “Beelzebul Controversy.” This passage can be found in all three Synoptic Gospels, detailed in the accounts of Matthew (12:22–30), Mark (3:22–27), and Luke (11:14–23). In the setting, a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute had been brought to Christ, and Christ promptly healed the afflicted man. The Pharisees proceeded blaspheme by accusing Christ of being in league with Beelzebul, at which point Christ responded by clarifying how the demonized man had been exorcised.
In Christ’s description, He declares that the kingdom of God is at hand, and that the Spirit of God is at work. Further, Christ gives an intriguing illustration to describe the advance of His kingdom, comparing it to a strong man having been restrained so that his house may be entered and plundered. First the strong man was restrained, and only then could his abode be taken from him and its contents claimed. Christ is describing a cosmological victory in this moment: Satan (the strong man) had previously enjoyed a great degree of freedom in this world (the house), yet Christ’s work was to enter that house and restrain him from his previous activities.
So then, are we to understand that the strong man is dead or gone? The passage certainly makes no such claims that the strong man is dead, and in fact that would miss the point by a significant margin. The strong man is not dead, nor is he devoid of any ongoing influence, nor has he faced his final judgment. The strong man is not gone—but what is evidently true is that the strong man has been decisively restrained.* Christ describes this as the ruler of this world having been cast out, the same term that was used to describe the exorcism of the demons which came before.* It is not without cause that Christ took this moment following a demonic exorcism to speak of the greater exorcism that was at hand.
But if Satan is not dead or forever gone, what is the nature of his binding? We should observe that Scripture gives various indications of how this develops. In the Old Testament, there are those times when Satan can be seen coming into the presence of the Lord (Job 1–2), or other times when Satan stood before the angel of the Lord to accuse the people (Zech 3). There are those times during the wilderness temptations where Satan claimed to have authority over the nations of the world—a claim which Jesus did not dispute (Matt 4 // Mark 1 // Luke 4). But the purpose of Christ’s coming has been to curtail this power of the strong man, to restrain him, and to plunder the territory that he formerly occupied. This is the great reversal—that although Adam had been successfully tempted in the Garden and succumbed to sin, Christ has come to resist temptation and bring about the new creation!
The question is not if Satan is restrained, but only how is he restrained. The language that the Gospel writer used to describe this binding of the strong man is strong.* For example, he is bound in the same way Matthew described Herod binding John the Baptist, the donkey being bound by a rope which His disciples found, and Christ Himself being bound when He was brought before Herod.* This is the violent language of conquest and military victory, emphasizing Christ’s mighty restraint of the evil one. It should be little surprise, then, that Christ ties these victories over the strong man and his minions to the militaristic advance of the kingdom: “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt 12:28b).
Why is this vital for Christians to confess in dark days? It is vital because there is a perennial temptation for Christians to gauge the world by our own calculations. We are tempted to determine the state of things in this world by our own experiences and understandings. News headlines tell us how well the world is doing, and social media tells us how we should feel about it—and all of this forms our basic presupposition when we approach Scripture. We presume that in dark days, it must actually be Satan who exercises authority in this world.
But the story of Scripture informs us that Christ has, indeed, decisively bound the strong man, which is one of the hallmarks of Christ’s victory. Further, the strong man is bound so that his house and its goods are on longer his to control—the binding actually matters. Christ has restrained Satan so that His will would be accomplished, and He accordingly instructs us to pray that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:9–13). Satan previously claimed authority in this world, yet Christ announced that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matt 28:18). The strong man is bound, and the world belongs to Christ. It is vital to confess this truth precisely because it is true—particularly so in dark days.
* Foonotes in order
- The narrative describes the strong man as being restrained; the same Greek root (deō) used to describe Satan’s binding in Revelation 20:2.
- The term for “cast out” (ekballō) is applied to both the demonic exorcism as well as to the casting out of Satan (cf. John 12:31). See Joshua P. Howard, The Exorcism of Satan: The Binding of the Strong Man by Christ the King (Conway: Free Grace Press, 2022).
- deō, see Matt 13:30, 16:19, 18:18.
- deō; Matt 14:3; 21:2; 27:2.