Matthew 12:29

Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

In some real sense, Satan was "bound," else the Lord could not have cast out demons. Satan is still "bound." All the evil on earth seems, at first, to negate this view; but, when it is considered that things might be infinitely worse than they are, and when certain passages of the word of God are taken into consideration, it appears certain that Satan is limited and restrained by divinely imposed boundaries encompassing all infernal activity: (1) Satan cannot tempt a child of God more than is possible to bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). (2) He could not enter even a herd of swine without our Lord's permission (Matthew 8:32). (3) God's specific permission was necessary in the satanic harassment of the patriarch Job (Job 1:12). (4) Satan sifted Peter only after the Lord allowed it (Luke 22:31). (5) Satan and his angels are reserved "in chains of darkness" until the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:4). (6) He sowed tares in the wheat, but could do so only "while men slept" (Matthew 13:25). (7) He snatches the word of God from men's hearts, but he can do so only when hearts are hardened (Matthew 13:4). From these and countless other implications in the Scriptures, it may be positively concluded that Satan does not share control of the universe with God. Whatever Satan may do, it is always under God's permissive will; and all that he does will finally serve the eternal purpose.