When the strong [man] armed keeps his own house, his goods are in peace;
Jesus had just freed a man who could not speak, and some said He did it by Beelzebub's power. His answer was a picture from ordinary life — an armed man guarding his own house — and it raises one question: who is stronger?
Notice who made the charge, and what Jesus set out to show.
The Lord spoke this parable in especially solemn circumstances. The Lord had just cast a demon out of a man. His observers, instead of praising God for the act of mercy, went so far in their wickedness as to credit His power to Beelzebub. It was not the uneducated crowd who did this, but the religious leaders of the people. He gave the parable to show the true state of affairs between the Lord Jesus and the great enemy. The strong man is Satan. In every age he has proved himself too strong for his victims.
The picture names a palace and the goods inside it. Both stand for something real.
The strong one is Satan; the stronger than he is the Son of God. Satan's "palace" is the world as it is now; "his goods" are the men and women who live in it. The position is a terrible one, and no less so because most people have no idea of it. Man's revolt from God has not given him the independence he wanted; it has reduced him to slavery under Satan instead.
Older translations end the verse "his goods are in peace," and commentators build on that word. The calm is real, but where does it come from?
False peace. "When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace" (Luke 11:21). This is the devil's peace; he rocks men in the cradle of security; he cries Peace, peace, when men are on the edge of hell. The seeming peace a sinner has does not come from knowing he is happy, but from not knowing he is in danger.
The devil works to keep that calm in place, and religion can serve him in it.
He will hold some with the wine-cup. Others he will trap with a pack of cards. Others he will entangle with the theatre, or a novel, or the love of money, or the power of lust, or the appeal of knowledge, or something of that sort… That is a false peace. It is the devil's lullaby for souls deceived by sin, and a Christless religion often helps them on toward hell. Thank God if you are troubled now about your sins and your lost condition.
The next verse says the stronger One takes away the armour the strong man relied on. One writer identifies that armour with the enemy's confidence that no one could resist him.
In Luke chapter 11 we read, "When a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him all his armour in which he trusted." What was the armour he trusted in? It was the certainty that every man of Adam's race would fall to one or all of these three temptations. That was the armour Satan trusted, and the Lord took it away.
The whole point of the picture is that the guard has been overpowered, and the evidence was standing in front of them.
For a long time the strong one had used his ruinous, withering influence; for a long time his goods were in peace. Now the stronger than he had come and had conquered him. His power was broken before the Seed of the woman; he could no longer keep what he held. Demons, even a legion of them, were cast out. Blind saw, lame walked, lepers were cleansed, deaf heard, mute spoke, and dead were raised.
The same writer is careful about the limits of what the verse describes. Christ's power over Satan during His life was real deliverance, but it was not the whole answer.
If Satan was the strong man in the picture, Jesus was now stripping him of his goods and dividing his spoils. The whole ministry of Jesus was proof of a power greater than Satan's in the world. It is true that this did not finally deliver, because it did not touch the judgment of God. It was present and not eternal deliverance. It was the overthrow of Satan, not the satisfaction of God. Sin could not yet be abolished, and judgment still remained. No grace, no power, no ministry can take away sin — nothing but the sacrifice of Himself.
Turn the picture around. Where the quiet is broken, something has changed.
Satan does not tempt God's children because they have sin in them, but because they have grace in them. If they had no grace he would not disturb them, for where he keeps possession all is in peace (Luke 11:21). A thief will not break into an empty house, but where he thinks there is treasure.
- Palace — The house is this world. The "goods" are the people in it. Revolt against God won no freedom; it only changed owners.
- Peace — The quiet in that house is not safety. It is not knowing the danger — a lullaby of pleasures and even religion.
- Stronger — Someone stronger walked in and overpowered the guard: demons cast out, blind seeing, dead raised.
- Cross — That victory set people free now, but not for eternity. Only His sacrifice settled sin and judgment.
but when the stronger than he coming upon [him] overcomes him, he takes away his panoply in which he trusted, and he will divide the spoil [he has taken] from him.
Jesus had just cast a demon out of a man, and His critics said He did it by the power of Beelzebul. His reply pictures a strong man guarding his house, with his goods at peace, until someone stronger overpowers him and takes everything.
One writer names each figure in the picture.
Some suggested that the Son of God worked in this world by the power of Beelzebub. The suggestion was as absurd as it was blasphemous. But it gave the Saviour a chance to show where the fall has left man in relation to Satan. It also showed His own relation to the enemy: He had come from heaven for man's deliverance and blessing. The strong one is Satan. The one stronger than he is the Son of God. Satan's "palace" is the world as it is now; "his goods" are the men and women who live in it. The position is a terrible one, and no less so because most people have no idea they are in it.
Satan's confidence rested on a record that had never once been broken.
In Luke chapter 11 we read, "when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted." What was his armour in which he trusted? It was that every man of Adam's race would fall to one or all of these three temptations. That was the armour in which Satan trusted, and the Lord took it away.
The word for "armour" means a full suit of equipment, and it appears again in Ephesians.
One stronger than Satan takes away all his "armour," Luke 11:22. The Christian is urged to put on the "whole armour of God," the panoply. This is so that he can stand in the evil day, in his conflict with the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenly places, Ephesians 6:11, 13.
The victory came not by force, but by obedience.
He might have said, "I am God." Then no rebel creature would have stood up against Him. But there would have been no example for us. He overcame by keeping the place He had taken as man, and that was to obey. Blessed, perfect obedience! Even with bread in view, He would not take it for Himself without the word from God's mouth. Man was to live by that word, and not by bread alone. So it was written: that was enough for Him. And Satan had to change his ground.
One writer traces the victory from the wilderness to the cross to the resurrection.
Before there could be deliverance, He had to meet the strong man and overcome him. In the wilderness He bound him; at the cross He bruised him. By submitting to death for a brief moment, He annulled Satan's power. His resurrection is the glorious proof of His complete triumph over all the might of the enemy. Deliverance is, as a result, available for all. Nobody needs to stay a single hour under the dominion of the strong man.
The plunder is not property. It is people.
How well we know that awful peace! We were once the strong man's goods, held fast, until the stronger one came and overcame him. We are spoils of that victory, now at the disposal of the Victor.
He fought alone, but He refuses to celebrate alone.
But He was Conqueror for us, and so He comes straight out with the spoils of that day, to lay them at our feet. He had been alone in the conflict, but would not be alone in the victory... Jesus, the Son of God, comes out from the wilderness to publish peace and to heal disease. He meets every need of those who were the captives of this enemy. He lets them know that He had conquered for them.
One writer marks what this victory did not reach.
If Satan was the strong man in the figure, Jesus was now stripping him of his goods and dividing his spoils. The whole ministry of Jesus was the evidence of a power greater than Satan's in the world. It is true that this did not finally deliver, because it did not touch the judgment of God. It was present and not eternal deliverance. It was the overthrow of Satan, not the satisfaction of God. Sin could not yet have been abolished, and judgment must still have remained. No grace, no power, no ministry can take away sin — nothing but the sacrifice of Himself. That infinitely deeper question was settled not in the life of Jesus, but in His atoning death on the cross.
- The strong man — Satan holds the world as his house and its people as his goods. That quiet is captivity, not safety.
- His armour — he trusted that no son of Adam could pass his testing. The Lord broke that record.
- The stronger — Christ won as man, by obedience and by what is written, not by sheer force.
- The spoils — believers are the plunder. He fought alone, then came out to share the victory with the captives He freed.
- The limit — this power broke Satan's grip in this life. Only the sacrifice of Himself dealt with sin before God.