TAKE THAT, DIANA!

“Paul then went straight to the meeting place. He had the run of the place for three months, doing his best to make the things of the kingdom of God real and convincing to them. But then resistance began to form as some of them began spreading evil rumours through the congregation about the Christian way of life. So Paul left taking the disciples with him, and set up shop in the school of Tyrannus, holding class there daily. He did this for two years, giving everyone in the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, ample opportunity to hear the Message of the Master,” Acts 19:8-10 (The Message).

Like Athens, Ephesus was a hotbed of idolatry, especially the worship of Diana (Roman) or Artemis (Greek), a powerful goddess whose image supposedly fell from the sky. It was in the atmosphere of her power and influence that Paul carried on his ministry there for at least two years.

He ministered in the Jewish synagogue for three months before the poisonous rumours spread by his opponents began to undermine his ministry. Rather than remain and face increasing opposition, he moved his venue to a nearby “school”, probably a meeting place where men gathered during their “leisure” time, between 11am and 4pm, to discuss the philosophies of the day. This would have given him time to carry out his tent-making during “working hours” as well as preach and teach in the middle of the day,

Paul took advantage of this practice to share the message of Jesus with the people who gathered there every day with such power that the whole of the province of Asia came under his influence. As we will see later, this had dire consequences for him and his associates as the life-transforming power of Jesus began to take effect, undermining the worship of Diana.

“God did powerful things through Paul, things quite out of the ordinary. The word got around and people started taking pieces of clothing — handkerchiefs, scarves and the like — that had touched Paul’s skin, and then touching the sick with them. The touch did it — they were healed and whole.” Acts 19:11-12 (The Message).

This is a phenomenon that appears more than once in Scripture. God did many miracles when He rescued His people from Egypt. He supernaturally destroyed the whole of Egypt, including their military might, to show Pharaoh and the Egyptian people that their gods were powerless against the God of Israel. Likewise God did miracles through the prophets Elijah and Elisha during the time of the reign of Ahab and Jezebel in Israel when Baal-worship predominated.

Paul’s ministry in Ephesus coincided with the powerful influence of Diana and it would seem that God was confirming the truth of His Word by the signs and miracles that He did through Paul. He was as much revealing His power over Diana as He was healing the afflicted in Ephesus.

The effect on the Ephesian people was electrifying, (as we shall read in the next section of Acts), and produced a counter-attack from the enemy conducted by those who were more concerned about losing business than they were about Diana’s “divine majesty” being threatened!

What does this tell us about God and His ministry through Paul? God is always about revealing His glory. Where Satan’s intention was to oppose and rival God through the zeal and energy of misguided people, He exposed his deception through acts of power that proved without doubt the He alone is God.

God does heal out of compassion for His people but He also intervenes miraculously in times of idolatry and unbelief to put Himself on display so that there can never be any doubt about who is Lord.