“Acts 19:11-20”

Friday, February 05, 2016

“God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.’ Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, ‘I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”

---End of Scripture verses---

This, indeed, was a time of “extraordinary miracles” (verse 11). I find this term to be an extremely interesting one. A miracle, by definition, is an act that defies the laws of physical nature, thereby making a miracle an extraordinary thing in and of itself. So the miracles that God was performing by the “hands” of Paul were doubly extraordinary. Just touching a handkerchief that had been on his body could heal a disease or cast out a demon (verse 12). I am reminded of the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus’ cloak and was healed of an “incurable” disease (Luke 8:43-44); and the many others who were healed by doing the same thing (Mark 6:56).

So why all these extraordinary miracles? It is obvious from today’s reading that Ephesus was a center for sorcery and the “black arts”. This was a culture steeped in the occult, in so-called magic and superstition; and it seems that God took extreme measures to counteract these dark and false practices and the excessiveness of their spiritual wickedness. When certain traveling “Jewish exorcists” attempted to emulate Paul by invoking the name of Jesus to cast out a demon, their attempts backfired and the fury of the demon was turned against them (verses 13-16). The demon “recognized” Jesus and Paul because they taught and worked by God’s authority, but not the sons of Sceva because they were phonies and had no real power (verse 15).

What was the result of these extraordinary miracles? The people of Ephesus had witnessed and experienced real supernatural power for the very first time in their lives when the Apostle Paul arrived in their city. They recognized that all of their magicians and exorcists and the like were all imposters, and the genuine power of God actually prompted them to repent and make changes. “Fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified” (verse 17). Many people were believing in Jesus and confessing their sins (verse 18). And many of the actual “practitioners” of magic piled their magic books together and made a huge expensive bonfire out of them (verse 19).

“So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (verse 20). There is great power in God’s inspired word. Yes these people actually witnessed astounding miracles, but it was all to magnify the word of the Lord and to help it proliferate. The miracles were performed to direct them toward the word and open their ears to the Gospel message of truth and salvation. Miracles were used to grab people’s attention, but only the word of God has the power to truly transform people’s lives and place them on the pathway that leads to heaven. When we open up our Bibles and read about these amazing acts, it causes the word to grow mightily within our hearts and minds and prevail within our lives.

“Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Please read Acts 19:21-41 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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