The disciples could not succeed in attempting to cast out a demon, so they asked the Lord why this was so. In His answer to their question, He trained them that they should pray with faith (17:19-20). In the early years in China among us, there were a number of cases of casting out demons, but not in recent years. If we try to cast out demons, they will condemn us. When they condemn us, we can lose our assurance, causing us to pray without faith. This is why we have to declare, “Satan, you are defeated. You are the defeated enemy, and the Lord Jesus crossed you out on the cross. We have the blood of the Lamb that covers us and that overcomes your accusation.” This is the word of our testimony which defeats the devil (see Rev. 12:11 and note 3). This gives us the assurance to pray with faith.
The Lord also said that we need to pray with fasting (Matt. 17:21). Sometimes the demons are very persistent to struggle and not go away. This is why we need to pray with faith and also with fasting. These two things—faith and fasting—put down our natural being, our flesh. If we are in the flesh, we can neither have faith nor fast in a genuine way. To pray with faith is to contact God and to be saturated with God, resulting in having faith in God for the exaltation of God, and to fast is to deal with the self, putting down ourselves.
In dealing with one who is disobedient to the church, the Lord trained His disciples to bind the disobedient one with their heavenly authority by two or three of them meeting together to pray for the disobedient one in harmony (18:18-20). Matthew 18:15-22 describes the case of a brother who is disobedient first to someone who wants to shepherd him. Because he will not listen, this shepherding one takes one or two more with him. If he still rebels, they tell it to the church. If he will not hear the church, he will lose the fellowship of the church and will be like the Gentile and the tax collector, those who are outside the fellowship of the church.
The Lord Jesus told the disciples to bind such rebellious ones with the authority from the heavens. What we bind will be bound in heaven. The elders especially have to learn how to bind the rebellious ones. We should not bind someone outwardly in a fleshly way. We have to bind with the authority of the heavens by two or three coming together in the principle of the Body, not by ourselves. Two or three represent the cooperation of the Body.
These two or three do not come together to discuss things but to pray in harmony. There is the need of the harmony among men to have the heavenly authority. To pray in harmony is as musical sounds are in harmony. Whatever we say in binding a rebellious one must be like music to God and also to the enemy Satan for him to be defeated. If we are inwardly opinionated and dissenting, the devil knows our hearts. It is very difficult for husbands and wives to be in harmony. Even in the church life, it can be the same among the saints. As long as the elders are not in harmony, the eldership is lost. They will not be able to exercise the Lord’s authority.
Whoever is not in harmony to the extent that he rebels in the church life will suffer loss. The Lord Jesus set up an example which is a real shame to Satan, who is the great rebel. In the universe there is one person by the name of Jesus Christ who submitted Himself absolutely and continuously to His Father, standing in His own position to keep the harmony among the Trinity.
Matthew 18:21 and 22 say, “Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven.” According to the context of these verses, the offending one might be the disobedient one in the previous section. It might be that Peter was offended at a disobedient brother. Because he was strong and outspoken, Peter asked the Lord how many times he should forgive his brother. The Lord said that if we are going to forgive a disobedient brother, we have to forgive him seventy times seven, that is, 490 times. To bind is easy; to forgive is hard. The wives and the husbands should not bind each other, but forgive each other. The ones who live the kingdom life in the heavens do not have the feeling of being offended. The more we live in the kingdom, the less we feel that some have offended us, even though they may have done many wrong things to us.
People brought their children to the Lord that He might lay His hands on them and pray, but His disciples rebuked them (Matt. 19:13-15).
The Lord trained the disciples by correcting them not to prevent the little children but to allow them to come to Him, indicating that the kingdom of the heavens is of such (v. 14). All the kingdom people should be like children. For the disciples to rebuke the children coming to the Lord indicates that they felt that they were mature and special. We should never be proud in this way. We should never reject the weaker ones, the fallen ones, the mistaken and backsliding ones, or the ones whom we feel are not growing. In the service of the Lord, we have to take care of such ones. Paul in Galatians 6 charged us to recover in a spirit of meekness the ones overtaken by sin (v. 1).
The Lord also trained the disciples by laying His hands on the little children (Matt. 19:15). The Lord’s blessing goes with His hand. His laying His hands on the little ones indicates that He would never reject any weaker ones, mistaken ones, or defeated ones, who are like children. The Lord would not forget them; He would still give them the blessing. All these points are very instructive and show us how we should deal with people and be among them for the Lord’s interests.