I am concerned by what seems to be a growing trend among sincere
Christians to rebuke, try to remove and even to bind Satan. Sometimes
in a prayer to Almighty God, a person will break off and speak directly
to Satan or a demon and issue a command related to rebuking, removing
or binding. This disturbs me because there is no Scriptural basis for
it. We know that Satan wants worship and he'll take it in any form of
attention he can get -- fear, useless commands of rebuking and/or
binding, preoccupation with him, energy focused on him, etc.
All power and authority is in God. How can we rebuke, remove or bind
Satan or demons when they may have God's permission to be where they
are?
(Job 1:6-10) Satan went into Heaven to ask permission to attack Job and
God said, "All that he has is in your power." Even if Job had known
what was going on, it would have accomplished nothing for him to rebuke
Satan.
(Luke 22:31) Satan asked and received permission to sift Peter.
(1 Samuel 16:14) An evil spirit FROM THE LORD troubled Saul.
(When Saul made a choice to disobey, the Holy Spirit was withdrawn
and this left a vacuum within him. When he made a choice not to
repent an evil spirit moved into that space.)
(1 Kings 22:22) The Lord said to a lying spirit, "you shall entice him and
succeed also; go forth and do it."
(Jude 9) Satan was the highest of all created beings, even above the
archangel Michael. In a dispute about the body of Moses, this mighty
archangel did not presume to condemn or rebuke Satan but simply said,
"The Lord rebuke you."
Luke 4:1-14) Jesus went into the wilderness temptation filled with the
Holy Spirit and came out in the power of the Holy Spirit. He was
trusted with the power because He had stood the test.
e.g. Regarding reputation, Satan said, "If You are the Son of God
nobody knows; Your only reputation is as a Carpenter. Jump off the
temple and God will send angels to gently float You down; the news will
spread like wildfire and Your reputation will be made." Jesus made
Himself of no reputation. Of course He had one, everybody does; but He
never worried about it or tried to live up to the opinion of others.
He trusted God in this test and God trusted Him when the mockers said,
"Prove it to us, come down from the Cross and we'll believe You."
Jesus didn't say, "I'll shown you Who I Am;" -- He died. Now God has
given Him a Name above every name; every knee will bow to Him and every
tongue confess Who He is. Jesus trusted God to take care of His
reputation. But through all the temptations Jesus did not rebuke Satan
or tell him he had no right to be there.
Satan tests us in order to weaken us.
God allows the testing in order to strengthen us.
We are never told to rebuke, remove or bind Satan. Scripture indicates
that we should respect him. But we are definitely told to resist him
(James 4:7) -- resist him as Jesus did -- by the Word of God; the
specific Word which fits the particular case.
It has been well said that if Satan and all demons died tonight, we
would probably sin tomorrow. More and more I'm aware that in my flesh
dwells no good thing. I can do much damage with no help at all from
Satan. It must be "not I but Christ."
(Mark 3:22-27) Beelzebub is probably the second-in-command in Satan's
hierarchy and his goods/treasures are the souls of human beings.
The Lord has said (Isaiah 49:25) "The captives of the mighty shall be
taken away for I will contend with him." There is only One Who can
bind the strong man and release the souls of men. Jesus disarmed all
the principalities and powers ranged against us (Colossians 2:15) and
triumphed over them in the Cross. God set us free from the control of
darkness (Colossians 1:13) and translated us into the Kingdom of His Son.
When the Light of the Gospel floods in and the spirit of error and
deception is exposed, if a person rejects the true Light, his latter
condition is even worse than his first (Matthew 12:44, Luke 11:25).
There is a day coming (Revelation 20:1-6) at the end of the Tribulation, just
before Christ ushers in His millennial Kingdom. God sends a mighty
angel to do what no man could ever do; he comes with a great chain and
at last Satan will be bound.
There are some things we cannot understand now and we need to be
careful about trying to pry too deeply into the unknown. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God.
When Christ comes to reign there will no longer be mystery but
manifestation. (Isaiah 11:9) The earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord. What is the great mystery, what has puzzled everyone
including the most trusting Christians at times? Isn't it the seeming
silence of God in the face of prevailing wickedness? Why did God
permit Satan to have his own way and sin? Why the struggle between
good and evil? Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous get trodden
underfoot? There are times when the most earnest Christians are
baffled by questions like these. This mystery is regarding truth
concerning God Himself which has not been fully revealed. The
revelation of this mystery is related to the full manifestation of
Divine power, the establishment of Christ's millennium Kingdom.
Then everyone will know (Jeremiah 31:34) the important facts about the Lord.
(Colossians 1:13) The Father has delivered us out of the control and dominion
of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His
love. (1 Peter 3:22) ALL angels, authorities and powers are subservient
to Jesus Christ. Because of Calvary we have nothing to fear and we do
not pray FOR victory but FROM victory.
So our part is to trust and obey. To seek God's enabling to be so
trustworthy in tests, trials and temptations that God can trust us.
Our focus must be always Jesus and only Jesus.
Worthy is the Lamb to receive all our attention.
Frank Buchanan June 6,2020