SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/19/2018
8:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Causes of the Riot”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
19:23-27
Message of the
verses: “23 About that time there
occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius,
a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little
business to the craftsmen; 25 these he gathered together with the workmen of
similar trades, and said, "Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon
this business. 26 "You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in
almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable
number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. 27 “Not
only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that
the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she
whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her
magnificence."”
When Luke writes “About that time” he is referring to the
time before Paul left Ephesus as he planned (cf. vv. 21-22). He goes on to write “there arose no small
disturbance concerning the Way.” Now we
have gone over before that when we see these words “The Way” that the Christian
church is being spoken of. I don’t know
if it came from what John wrote that Jesus said in John 14:6 where we read “Jesus
said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father but through Me.” If this is
where it comes from then we know that it is speaking of those who follow the
Way, or Jesus Christ.
Now we read in Acts 19:20 “20 So the word of the Lord was
growing mightily and prevailing.” It
does not take a great imagination to see that this was upsetting to Satan, and
so he begins to do his dirty work and he does it through a man named Demetrius
who was a silversmith. John MacArthur
answers a question that I have when he writes “Demetrius was a common name, and
there is no reason to assume that he is the individual mentioned in 2 John
12. His business was making silver
shrines of the goddess Artemis (probably depicting her seated in the
temple). The shrines served as household
idols and were presented at the temple as votive offerings. Archaeologists have unearthed numerous terra
cotta shrines, but no silver ones. The
latter were most likely melted down for their silver content, probably even by
the temple priests.”
Perhaps Demetrius as the head of the silver guild at this
time and I suppose humaningly speaking he was only trying to take care of his
business along with those who were working for him, and yet as mentioned this
was from Satan as he used these men to stop the work that Paul was doing for
the Lord, but we must remember that it is the Lord who is in control, and it is
the Lord who works things out for our good, and also for His glory. The worship of the goddess Artemis was
widespread throughout the Roman Empire which meant that this was worth a lot of
money for Demetrius and those who worked for him.
The problem was that because of the widespread of Christianity
showing that idols were worthless, and that there was only One God, and
salvation came through His Son, Jesus Christ, thus there business was certainly
going downhill.
We see Demetrius begins by saying “Men, you know that our
prosperity depends upon this business,” speaking of idol making business. He goes on to say “You see and hear that not
only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned
away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no
gods at all.” Now as I look at this
phrase “but in almost all of Asia,” it makes me think of Acts 19:10 “This took
place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord,
both Jews and Greeks.” This verse makes
me want to praise the Lord as Paul had a large influence for the gospel in all
of Asia, which is actually modern day Turkey today. However this was not good news for Satan.
We will continue looking at the cause for the riot in
Ephesus in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Even though I go
through a lot of temptation, and I believe it is because I am trying to be
faithful in my writing of these Spiritual Diaries that go around the world on
my blogs, I realize that God is in control and will keep me from stopping the
writing of these Spiritual Diaries even though at times the temptation is
great.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to seek strength from the Lord to
write these Spiritual Diaries.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Elijah” (1 Kings 18:17).
Today’s Bible
question: “How many judges are
referenced in the book of Judges?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/19/2018 9:03 AM
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