SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/21/2018
8:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1
“The Characteristics of the Riot”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Acts 19:28-34
Message of the
verses: “28 When they heard this and
were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is Artemis of
the Ephesians!" 29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed
with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s
traveling companions from Macedonia. 30 And when Paul wanted to go into the
assembly, the disciples would not let him. 31 Also some of the Asiarchs who
were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into
the theater. 32 So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the
assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they
had come together. 33 Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the
Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was
intending to make a defense to the assembly. 34 But when they recognized that
he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two
hours, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"”
In our last SD we mentioned three things that got these
men worked up, their financial disaster, the thought of losing their religious beliefs
and the threat of their civic pride, and all of these were too much for the
crowd to bear as seen in verse 28 “When they heard this and were filled with
rage, they began crying out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the
Ephesians!"” It was for sure that
Demetrius had accomplished his goal, that is to whip the crowd into a frenzy as
we can see in our verses for today.
These men, not sure how many Demetrius was talking to, left the place where
this meeting occurred and then began to move through the streets shouting about
the greatness of Artemis, and by doing this they gained in strength. What we see here and this is not the first
time we have seen this in Acts is that this was the first stage of a riot. In the 7th chapter of Acts we saw
the death of Stephen as a result of a riot.
In Acts 16:22-23 we saw the crowd rise up against Paul and Silas, and in
the future, Acts 21:27b-21 we will see a large crowd become a riot and in that
case would have killed Paul if not for the Roman army protecting him.
What was the real cause for these riots? Well the gospel makes people angry because
unless one’s heart is opened to the truth of the gospel by the Holy Spirit it
is very offensive. To have someone tell
you that you were born a sinner and unless you repent of your sins and accept
in your heart what Christ has done for you you will end up in hell, burning for
all eternity. That is the truth of the
gospel, but many people cannot take it and so when riots like these occur they
are proving that these people are indeed sinners.
The next characteristic of a riot is confusion: “The city was filled with the confusion, and
they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and
Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia (Verse 29).” John MacArthur writes about these two
men: “According to Acts 20:4, Aristarchus
was from Thessalonica, a city in Macedonia.
The same verse, however lists Gaius’s hometown as Derbe, a city of
Galatia. It may be, as some commentators
argue, that the plural genitive Makedonas
(‘from Macedonia’) was originally a singular.
In that case, it would describe only Aristarchus. However Caius was a beloved companion of
Paul, who would accompany him on his ill-fated voyage to Rome (Acts 27:2) and
share his imprisonment in that city (Col. 4:10). He was a Jewish believer, since Paul describes
him, along with ‘Barnabas’ cousin Mark’ and ‘Jesus who is called Justus’ as ‘fellow
workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision’ (Col. 4:10-11).” It was in the theater where this riot ended
up can be seen today as the ruins are remarkably preserved. This was the normal place for the town
meetings, and in this case it turned into a riot.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Even though I
know that the gospel is offensive I have to trust the Lord to be able to tell
others about Jesus Christ and when He did for them.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will be with all of us
who are helping my father-in-law move from one nursing home to another. I suppose it is not too many people who are
over 100 years of age that get to set out on a new adventure, and for that we
are thankful.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “By having Moses cut down a
tree and throw it into the water” (Exodus 15:24-25).
Today’s Bible
question: “How had the chief captain who
talked with Paul become a Roman citizen?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/21/2018 9:07 AM
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