taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his

spoils' (Luke 11:21,22).

The context makes it clear that Beelzebub is the 'strong man armed' and

Beelzebub is a title of the Devil.  Because Satan is called 'the Prince of

this world', the world and its rulers are included:

'In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have

overcome the world' (John 16:33).

'And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that

had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his

mark, and over the number of his name' (Rev. 15:2).

Here is the special victory of the day of the Lord, a victory over Satan and

the antichristian powers at the time of the end.

General principles (and very strange ones, judged by the world's point

of view) are given in the first occurrence of nikos (Matt. 12:20), while the

remaining references in 1 Corinthians 15 deal with the conquest of the enemy

-- Death.  The super -conquerors are those who triumph over seen and unseen

foes, the conquest residing chiefly in the fact that nothing can separate

them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  While this

survey has touched the salient points, we have not dwelt upon the conflict

itself, its methods, its weapons and its prosecution.  To this consideration

we now proceed.

Essentials to Victory (Matt. 12:19,20)

The one occurrence of the word 'victory' in the Gospels, will upon

examination cover a great deal of the various aspects of the subject that it

is essential that all should know at the commencement.

We must consider the following features:

The place where and the time when this reference

occurs, and the

bearing that the context has upon the subject of

The passage of the Old Testament that is quoted,

observing both

the context of the Old Testament passage and the

change that is

made by Matthew in the wording of Isaiah.

The qualities that make victory sure.

We now consider the first of these three features, and observe that the

word 'victory' comes in Matthew 12:20.  Matthew is the Gospel of the earthly

kingdom, so we are prepared to find the kingdom aspect of victory prominent.

That will not minimize the importance of the subject for those of us who have

a very different calling from that of the earthly kingdom, for the underlying

principles are the same.  At the twelfth chapter of this Gospel we reach a

crisis.  In chapter 11, the rejection of the Saviour becomes evident.  The

cities that had seen His mighty works and had not repented were the subject

of a dreadful pronouncement of woe.  The rejection made evident in chapter 11

is further emphasized in chapter 12.  There we read:

'But I say unto you, That in this place is One greater than the Temple'

(Matt. 12:6).

'And, behold, a greater than Jonas is here' (Matt. 12:41).

'And, behold, a greater than Solomon is here' (Matt. 12:42).