Binding satan: Plundering his House

‘No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.’ – Mark 3:27 (NIV)

Mark shows that Jesus has bound satan and is plundering his house.

From the moment the Holy Spirit comes on him, Jesus engages satan and defeats him (Mark 1:12-13). This happens immediately after his baptism when Jesus engages satan in the desert. Very soon afterwards, we see the sheer authority of Jesus’ teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum – the evil spirit is exposed, silenced and expelled.

In this incident in the Capernaum synagogue (Mark 1:23-26), and the later stories of the deliverance of Legion (Mark 5:1-20), the Syro-Phenecian woman’s daughter (Mark 7:24-30), and the demonized boy (Mark 9:14-29), as well as the more general accounts in Mark 1:34 and 39, we watch Jesus plundering satan’s house, (‘Beelzebul’, means ‘Lord of the House’, Mark 3:22).

The presence of evil can neither hide nor stand in the presence of Messiah Jesus and his proclamation of the kingdom. The terrified unclean spirits are driven out by the Holy One of God.

Besides these deliverances, Mark also records five nature-miracle stories and many healing stories to make the same point; Jesus, the Son of Man, is not only establishing his kingdom and plundering satan’s house, but he is driving out sickness, sin, sadness, suffering and death. He is restoring humanity into the Father’s good order and perfect will.

The healings, the deliverances, the miracles are all signs that the Son of Man is establishing the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

And we see this authority extended to the twelve disciples he appoints as Apostles when he gives them authority to be with him, preach the kingdom and drive out demons. The final two verses of Mark summarise what then happened: ‘The disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it’ (Mark 16:19-20-NIV).

It is the same today in 2025. The miraculous is most often seen on the frontier of mission (which is exactly what the Lord commissioned the apostles to do in Mark 6:7-13). The most rapidly growing church today is in Iran, and it is from that country that we hear many reports of miracles. But healings and deliverances do not only take place on the frontier of mission. Miracles continue within the body of Christ worldwide as signs that the kingdom of God is here on earth now.

We live and wait in the ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ of the kingdom.

QQQ We need to ask how we can recognise the features and signs of the presence of evil today?