Last month we considered Christ’s reference to Satan as “the strong man armed”, using his armour to keep his goods in peace (Lk 11:21). In particular he uses unbelief as a means of defending his kingdom, and the souls who are still in it, from anything that would make them wish to leave it. We noted how Satan promotes unbelief in six areas which are particularly relevant to today’s spiritual situation: that God has created all things, that He has given a revelation in Scripture, that He has given commandments (in particular, the Seventh), that He calls sinners to repentance, that there will be a judgement at the end of the world, and that all religions are fundamentally the same. There are many other aspects to the armour that Satan uses, but these are some that the enemy of souls uses most effectively in today’s spiritual situation.
But the Saviour went on to speak of “a stronger than he” who “shall come upon him and overcome him”. Christ, of course, is the One who is infinitely stronger than Satan and will yet very obviously have the victory over him. And a great part of that victory will be Christ rescuing multitudes of sinners from Satan’s kingdom, in spite of the strength of the armour and the effectiveness with which the evil one makes use of it.
Yet people may accept that God is the Creator, that He has spoken in the Bible, that all God’s commandments are binding on everyone, that in Scripture there is a call to repent and believe the gospel, that all must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, and that Christianity is the one true religion. They would not argue against any of these points, but they do not take seriously God’s authority over them, as their Creator; they do not feel their responsibility to listen to what He is telling them in the Bible; they do not repent or wholeheartedly receive the good news about Christ coming into the world to save sinners; they are not seriously preparing for appearing at the final judgement; their Christianity is only outward, not inward. Satan still holds them securely in his kingdom; unbelief still reigns in their hearts. Where that is so, Christ has not yet so overcome the devil on the battlefield of that soul as to take all his armour from him, rescue the sinner from the power of sin and set him on the path to eternal safety. But to say this does not in any way imply that Christ lacks the power to do so.
During the time of the Apostles, unbelief took various forms that are different from today. Very few people, for instance, would then have imagined that everything came into existence quite apart from God’s power, but by a long series of random changes over a huge period of time. Yet their generation and ours, have this much in common: they are under the power of unbelief, believing what God has not revealed and ready to reject what He has made known. Sinners, both now and then, need the One who is infinitely stronger than Satan to come and take away Satan’s armour, making them willing and able to receive Christ as the Saviour of sinners.
Yet that is what did happen to significant numbers in Thessalonica, for example; they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Th 1:9). Christ came among them, through His ambassadors: Paul, Silas and Timothy. They preached the gospel – that the Son of God had taken human nature that He might suffer and die, the Just One in the place of unholy sinners, so “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16). There is hope for sinners in spite of the power of Satan, and there is hope for this generation of sinners, in particular, in spite of his vast capacity to devise armour which will keep sinners from escaping from his kingdom.
Yet even when the gospel was preached in Thessalonica, it could do no good if only human power was involved. But, in fact, the gospel was accompanied by divine power. Paul reminded believers in that city of what took place during his visit there: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost” (1 Th 1:5). Paul and his companions proclaimed the gospel, but more than human power was involved, infinitely more. The Holy Spirit worked powerfully in the hearts of many Thessalonians, applying the Word. As a result, they believed in the Saviour. If Paul and the other ambassadors, speaking in the name of Christ, repeated His words, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28), that call – or something similar – was made effective in the hearts of many of those who heard it.
That was why these people turned from idols and from all the false gods that the idols supposedly represented; that was why they came to Christ – why they believed in Him to the saving of their souls (Heb 10:39) – that was why they began to serve the one true God, the only God who actually exists. There would be no possibility of any of these believing Thessalonians taking part in any kind of multi-faith worship, for instance.
The needs of sinners today are fundamentally the same as they were in the age of the Apostles. The people of our generation need to hear the gospel preached; they need to hear about the Saviour that Paul proclaimed. “We preach Christ crucified”, he wrote to the Corinthians. And he provided the Galatians with this summary of the gospel: “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (4:4,5). But if sinners today are to hear about Christ crucified, the Lord must send out labourers to proclaim the same message. Christ’s direction still applies: “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest” (Lk 10:2).
Yet it is not enough to hear the gospel, for people today are no more able to save themselves, even when listening to the gospel, than those to whom Paul preached; they too need the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts to deliver them from the power of the evil one and to make them willing and able to come to Christ. They need to be convinced, by the Spirit, of their sin and misery, to have their minds enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, to have their wills renewed, and to be persuaded and enabled to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to them in the gospel (see Shorter Catechism, Ans 31, on effectual calling).
Matthew Henry (on Lk 10:22) comments, “The conversion of a soul to God is Christ’s victory over the devil and his power in that soul, restoring the soul to its liberty, and restoring His own interest in it and dominion over it.” We should be thankful that this work of conversion still continues, but we should be sad that there are far fewer conversions than we would wish. Yet in each conversion, Christ is demonstrating that His power to rescue sinners from Satan’s kingdom is unchanged. Christ remains, and always will remain, infinitely stronger than the “strong man armed”. Accordingly we should not be discouraged from praying to God for His blessing on His Word whenever it is preached, so that sinners might be rescued from Satan’s snare and set free to serve God in this world, acknowledging Christ as the One who has supreme authority over all things.
We are not to think that Satan will be allowed to go on strengthening his kingdom on earth. David was inspired to sing, “All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy name. For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things” (Ps 86:9,10). Not just individuals but nations – not just nations but all nations – will yet worship God. Yes, this is something great, a wondrous matter; but God has told us that He will do so. Nothing is too hard for Him. “Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Num 23:19).