Sometimes the audacity of the ignorant amazes me. I am speaking of the incidence in Acts 19:13-17. Demons are not funny, nor are they safe. Lost men trying to cast out demons present showmanship on the part of the enemy. In order to deceive the spiritually discerned an imp may pretend to follow the instructions of an unbeknown ally. People would automatically bestow power to the caster-outer, which would please the caster-outee.
In the story today the cast is comprised of
1. Seven vagabond Jews
2. The possessed
3. The evil spirits
4. Paul by inference
5. Jesus by proclamation
6. The Jews and Greeks at Ephesus
The vagabond Jews were religious and probably used to lots of spiritual hucksters. They were not impressed with Paul’s preaching but were by his power. They mistakenly deduced that the power was in a religious formula, which included Jesus Name; “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth”.
They may even have had success casting out demons. It would please evil spirits to give lost men spiritual power. Anything to keep them from the truth was grist for the mill. The problem, I think, was the demons were shaken by the name of Jesus. They knew the sons of Sceva had no right to use that name but the name bothered them nonetheless. It enraged them. I would imagine there was some frustration among the ranks of the demon at their impotence in any confrontation with people who actually knew the Son of God and had the right to speak His Holy name.
The darker side of my personality wonders what the seven sons of Sceva thought when the demons answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”
The final verse in question gives the reason God allowed this to happen. God gets the Glory, Christians fear the LORD, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Again I hope the LORD has an instant replay feature in my mansion. For those reading this please take my last comment as an un-important bit of whimsy. But...
No comments:
Post a Comment