And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
Comment: For the next week or so we are going back into the book of Acts. You may remember that Paul has set out on his third missionary trip and is now in Ephesus. Ephesus was an important city with people coming from overseas and the surrounding area. It was a good place to get the gospel spread as people heard, some believed and spread the gospel message over a much wider area. We are told several things.
- The ministry was associated with many miraculous healings. This must have made people sit up and take notice!
- A group of family exorcists tried to magically use the name of Jesus, the Jesus in whom they didn’t trust, to be successful exorcists. Jesus wasn’t to be used as a magic tool and the evil spirits, knowing the truth, dealt with them harshly.
- Books of magic were seen as false tools and a huge number scattered throughout the local society were brought out and burned.
- The church grew and was established.
Prayer: Thank You for seasons of real church growth – growth in both numbers and understanding,
As I read it! 