October 4
Bible Reading: Acts 19:28-41
Acts 19:29, “So the city was filled with the confusion.”
Life in Ephesus revolved around a mythical goddess. They prayed to her, appealed to her, and did what they could to appease her, so that she might bless them. And some made a profit from her. There were craftsmen, like Demetrius, who worked “to make silver shrines of Artemis” (Acts 19:24). There was money to be made in the selling of little Diana’s, so Demetrius understood what was at stake in Paul’s preaching of the gospel. Life in the city revolved around the worship of their mythical god, but, as Demetrius presciently realized, Paul had worked to turn many away from idol worship (Acts 19:26). Artemis was no god. She had no ears to hear, no hands to bless. She was a devilish invention of sin that worked to hold the people in bondage to a futile way of life.
A riot ensued when the people realized the threat to their adored but mythical deity. Demetrius was concerned lest, “the great goddess Artemis…be counted as nothing, and…may even be deposed from her magnificence, who whom all Asia and the world worship” (Acts 19:27). The enraged people heeded his concern and cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:28). “The city was filled with confusion” (Acts 19:29). Most didn’t have any idea what was going on (Acts 19:32). Alexander attempted to speak, but “for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:34). But she wasn’t great. She didn’t even exist.
The town clerk eventually came forward and quieted the crowd. He assured them that the city would do everything necessary to protect the goddess and her sacred stone. But Demetrius and the Artemis worshippers had a legitimate reason for concern. Artemis was but a myth and her grandiose temple was just an edifice to an illusion.
Sin and its associated idols are not easily pried from the hearts of lost sinners. The Apostle Paul would ultimately spend three years in Ephesus (Acts 20:31), preaching the powerful-to-save gospel in the shadow of the great but idolatrous temple (Romans 1:16). Paul spoke of the true God who sent His Son who died for sins and rose from the dead to save lost sinners (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Some ultimately abandoned Diana to find true salvation in the “living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Nothing but ruins remain at the site of the temple of Artemis, but the powerful-to-save gospel is being preached to this day. Artemis has long since lost her appeal, but the glorious gospel—a true wonder in this world—shines on.
The gospel alone has the power to save from the worship of vain things that we might know and worship the true and living God!
GOD AND GOD ALONE
God and God alone,
Created all these things we call our own;
From the mighty to the small,
The glory in them all
Is God’s and God’s alone.
God and God alone
Reveals the truth of all we call unknown.
And the best and worst of man,
Won’t change the Master’s plan,
It’s God’s and God’s alone.
God and God alone
Is fit to take the universe’s throne.
Let everything that lives,
Reserves its truest praise
For God and God alone.
God and God alone
Will be the joy of our eternal home.
He will be our one desire,
Our hearts will never tire,
Of God and God alone.
Let everything that lives,
Reserves its truest praise
For God and God alone.
Steve Green; Copyrighted by Sparrow Records and Universal Music Group; Lyrics by Phill McHugh
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