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Friday 29 March 2024

Acts 19:23-29 - There arose a great disturbance

19:23-27

We have seen that the gospel had a great effect, with the burning of many scrolls. However, this would eventually produce a backlash, for people were losing money! We need to recognise that there are many people who make money out of evil. So a “disturbance” arises. Demetrius made silver shrines for Artemis, and so made money out of this. However, now that people were turning away from the false gods, he was losing trade. And it wasn’t just one man who was losing money, So he called together the craftsmen and other workers in related trades and got them to organise against Paul. The real cause of their grievance was that they were losing money, but he also sought to add a veneer of virtue to their cause by saying the “great temple of Artemis” would be discredited. She (for this was a female god, Diana was the Roman equivalent) would “be robbed of her majesty”. This “great” god was utterly dependent on man for her existence. Luke is mocking the false god here.


19:28,29

The people were whipped up into a frenzy, offended that their “great” god Artemis was being insulted. We see a similar phenomena when some Muslims are whipped up into a frenzy when Mohammed is supposedly insulted. We need to be aware of the deep hold that idols and false gods can have on people. So the crowds shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”. So the whole city was in uproar. 


Thursday 28 March 2024

Judges 18:7-17 - The five men spied out the land

18:7

The five spies left and came to Laish. They found the people living securely, and were prosperous. They were also distant from the Sidonians, so they could not receive assistance quickly. The way it is put the people of Laish are portrayed as innocent victims, and the Danites as taking advantage of them. They were not following the instructions of the Lord.


18:8-10

The spies returned Zorah and Eshtaol and gave their report. So the Danites saw a chance and wanted to seize it quickly while the chance was there. The report of these spies is rather different from that of the ten spies who reported to Israel. They also say that God has given the land into their hands. Whether this has any spiritual value is debatable. They could be putting a spiritual gloss on their own plans, rather than obediently following God’s plans.


18:11-17

So six hundred armed men set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. They camped in Judah and then went on to the hill country of Ephraim, arriving at Micah’s house. The five spies told the others about the little temple that Micah and his personal priest had set up. They then took the various “religious” objects and were going to make off with them. The six hundred men stood at the entrance. It must have been quite a sight to have a six hundred storing army at the gate to your house!


Acts 19:19-22 - The word of the Lord spread widely

19:19,20

Some had practised sorcery, and so had various scrolls relating to their sorcery. So they decided to get rid of the scrolls, burning them publicly. They were open about their new faith. These scrolls had great value, the total coming to fifty thousand drachmas, that is fifty thousand days wages. We can despair when we look at the state of our society, but here we see a large-scale refutation of their society’s ways. If we are faithful to the Lord, and present the gospel clearly and boldly, we should not be surprised if similar things happen in our day. We then read that the “word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power”. May a similar thing happen in our day!


19:21,22

Paul now decided to go to Jerusalem. After that he intended to go to Rome. He would eventually reach Rome, but the route there was far from simple, and definitely not free of incident. On the way to Jerusalem he would pass through Macedonia and Achaia. However, he would stay in Ephesus for a while longer, and Timothy and Erastus were sent ahead to Macedonia.


Wednesday 27 March 2024

Judges 18:1-6 - Israel had no king

18:1,2

The story of Micah now morphs into a wider tale involving the tribe of Dan. This tribe had been the slowest at gaining their allotted territory. They had originally failed to take the land allocated to them (Josh 19:40-47; Judges 1:34-36). The chapter begins with yet another reminder that “in those days Israel had no king”.  The Danites were “seeking a place of their own”. They sent spies into the land they intended to take, somewhat reminiscent of Moses sending out spies.


18:3-6

The spies went out and ended up near Micah’s house. Somehow they knew the young Levite who Micah had hired, recognising him by his voice. They asked him what he was doing here. The Levite explains that he had been hired by Micah as a priest. So the Danite spies asked him to “inquire of God whether our journey will be successful”. The Levite replies “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s favour” (NIV). This puts a rather favourable gloss on his words, the ESV has “The journey on which you go is under the eye of God”. This puts a more ambiguous slant on things.


Acts 19:16-18 - They openly confessed

19:16

The demon demonstrated its disdain for the so-called exorcists in a very real manner, by causing the man to jump on them, beating them up, and sending them out of the house running naked. There are several things to learn from this. One is that demons are real. Not every illness, physical or mental, are demon related, but some are. The second is that it is faith and obedience that count, and the third is that casting demons out is a normal part of Christian ministry.


19:17,18

The Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus learnt of what had happened and were seized with fear. So they honoured the name of Jesus, but for some this honouring was purely superficial, but for others it went deeper. This latter group came and confessed their sins. Repentance and confession of sins is a real sign of faith, indeed an essential sign. The gospel is Christ centred. It is Christ centred in terms of meaning all the benefits of the gospel come through Christ, but is also Christ centred in that it turns us towards Christ, we submit to Him. If all we are interested in are the benefits, then we have not grasped the gospel. Moreover, being devoted to Christ as our Lord is itself an enormous benefit.


Tuesday 26 March 2024

Judges 17:6-13 - Now I know that the Lord will be good

17:6

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit”, or “everyone did what was right in their own eyes”. We see in Judges the sad state of the nation that is not following God. Very soon we will see the state of the nation under various kings. There are some good points, but the state of the nation is no better, and ends up with Israel (Judah) being turfed out of Jerusalem and sent into exile. Even the good kings end in failure. So what are we to learn? The nation needs leadership, but it must be godly leadership. They need God as their king. In the churches we see all sorts of models of organisation, from fairly freewheeling models, to very formal ones. The precise nature of the organisation and leadership is not the key issue. What matters is is Jesus head of the church, or is it doing what “seems right in its own eyes”?


17:7-13

A young Levite comes sling looking for somewhere to stay . Micah invites him in, and because of his being a Levits, he invites him to be his priest. So we see the sad state of affairs. A veneer of godliness has been added, some token obedience to the Law, having a Levite as priest. The Law said the Levites were the priestly tribe, so surely God  would bless them now? In today’s church something using the same words as we find in the Bible may be added, with the intention of making people think it is now godly. But is is heart obedience, true faith, that counts.


Acts 19:13-15 - But who are you?

19:13

The concept of evil spirits being driven out was not alien to the Jews, and there were some Jews who tried to drive out evil spirits. It seems that they were not overly successful, so when they saw how effective Paul was being, they thought that they could increase their success rate by invoking the name of the Lord Jesus. That they did not know Jesus is shown by the “formula” that they used “in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out”.


19:14,15

Seven sons of a Jewish High Priest were trying to carry out exorcisms. They relied on the “right” ceremonies and words. One day they were doing this with their new found formula, an evil spirit did not take too kindly to this, and had no respect for them. The evil spirit spoke to them saying “Jesus I know about, but who are you?” We need to be careful, for we can think that it is important to have the right words, or to think that if only we use the right words we will be successful. This is not true, it is faith and obedience that count, and knowing God.