“Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18)
Our Lord gave to us a very powerful and a very positive promise in Matthew 18:18. When we read that verse, we automatically become aware that the Lord didn't offer any room for doubt at all. He twice used the word shall to emphasize that it would be done.
The Greek word for “bind” is deo, which means “to tie in knots; to put in bands.” The Greek word for “loose” is luo, which means “to dissolve, melt off, or break off.” By looking at these two original words, we understand that the original Greek here is telling us that binding means “to tie up” and to loose “means to take off.” During the time of Jesus on earth the idea of binding and loosing was well known in the synagogue. The council of the synagogue knew that to bind meant “to forbid something to be done” and to loose meant “to allow something to be done.” The question is, what were they binding and loosing? What exactly did Jesus mean in this scripture?
Jesus was giving the Church absolute authority and power over the enemy. What Jesus said here wasn’t to just a small group of men, no, He was talking about the Church having the authority. Read what the Word of God says in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go into my Father.” That is a powerful promise. We have been given power and authority over the devil and all his minions. So much so, that the Bible says, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.”
This concept of binding and loosing is very interesting. The two Greek words I mentioned previously deo and luo, in the Greek language, are both passive participles. What does that mean to you and me? In the original Greek it reads as “having been bound” and as “having been loosed already” in the heavens. The believers on earth only confirm what is already taking place in heaven. Literally, whatever we bind on earth has already been bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth has already been loosed in heaven. The authority has been given to us and we shall not be defeated.
I want you to pay particular attention, though, in Matthew 18:18 that Jesus said “whatsoever” and not “whosoever.” The Greek implication is the binding of things, not persons. Those things are the acts of persons or of spiritual powers. In other words, Jesus has given the Church the authority to bind or loose actions, either good or evil. We can bind evil and we can loose good.
In Luke 13, a woman was bound by a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. Jesus came along one day and said to this woman, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” Just as soon as He said it, Jesus felt a controversy coming from some men in the crowd. Jesus looked at them, and said, “Ought not this woman, whose Satan hath bound, be loosed from this infirmity?” Jesus told them point blank who had bound this woman, Satan. Jesus loosed this woman from a bondage. A spirit of infirmity had a hold of her, but Jesus loosed her from this spirit of sickness. See, she was bound with this thing of sickness, but she was loosed by the power of God. There may be some reading this right now that you have been bound so long it's hard to even remember what freedom feels like. Well, just hold on, because you're getting ready to be set free and loosed from your bondage.
In Mark 7:35 a young child was bound by a dumb and deaf spirit. Jesus commanded his ears to be opened and immediately the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plain. The Greek word here for “string” is desmos and means “a band or chain.” It is the same word found in Luke 13:16 referring to satan binding that woman with a spirit of infirmity. Spirits were in the business of binding people with sickness and infirmities, but Jesus was in the loosing business. In 1 John 3:8 we are told that Jesus came “to destroy the works of the devil.” Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and he did just that. Jesus completely destroyed satan on the cross of Calvary. Satan is now just a defeated foe. He has no power over us at all. But we've got power over him. We've got the power in the Name of Jesus.
I want you to understand that when we speak about binding the powers of the enemy or binding the devil, we are saying that through the authority in Jesus Name, we forbid the acts of satan to continue in the lives of God's people or the Church. The devil won't leave unless he's cast out. It's time we get tired of his mess once and for all, pick him up and throw him out of our lives.
There may be those reading this though right now who say, “Well, that's just not for me. This thing of binding and loosing sounds too violent and forceful for me. I'm just not that kind of person.” Well friend, you had better learn how to be if you plan on making heaven your home. Matthew 11:12 says, “the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.” This is no game. This is deadly serious. The forces of the enemy have been binding humans, binding their souls, binding their minds, binding their bodies, binding their finances, and on and on. Well, you and I have been given the authority to bind those spirits, and it's about time we start living in that authority.
We have to be violent with the forces of the enemy. No army has ever won a war by asking their enemy “Pretty please, would you give up?” No! They forcibly defeated their enemy. Well, the same is true in the spiritual realm. No demon of darkness is going to give up and leave voluntarily. We must move and act in the authority of the Holy Spirit and cast it out.
In Matthew 12:19 Jesus said, “How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will spoil his goods.” Through Jesus's work on the cross, he spoiled principalities and powers then made a show of them, openly triumphing over them in it. When Jesus gave His last breath on the cross, He had won. The devils of darkness didn't know it yet, but the victory celebration was on. Jesus marched down the corridors of hell and took the keys of death, hell and the grave away, walked over to paradise and preached a Holy Ghost message, and then arose!