The town is Ephesus – a town well-known for magicians, wandering priests, and wizards who attempted to exercise power over the forces of darkness. A man named Paul preached about a God who had unbelievable power; One who gave incredible ability to the apostles to do miracles in order to verify that they represented God, and that the gospel they preached was from heaven. And Paul’s God was at work – displaying unusual miracles of healing and exorcising demons out of people of Ephesus.
Exorcism was a common practice ~
Many people became convinced of the mighty power of this Jesus. Some of the itinerant priests even tried to harness this power by using the name of the Lord Jesus to cast out evil spirits. “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches,” they commanded. But to no avail.
Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who thought they could cast out demons. When they tried to cast out demons, they were astounded at the reaction of the one who was being exorcised.
An evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Obviously the seven sons did not know Jesus, but spoke to the evil spirit as though they had the authority over it.
The Incredible Happens ~
Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on the seven sons of Sceva, overpowered them and beat them, so they ran out of that house naked and beaten.
Word of this bazaar incident spread to Jews and Greeks alike throughout Ephesus. Great fear mushroomed, but the name of Jesus was magnified more. And the words, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” echoed in the minds of the seven sons and haunted them.
After reading this account recorded in Acts 19, I wondered: Would I want to be know by the enemy for work I do for the kingdom of God, or to be unknown by the evil one because I have done nothing for the glory of God? What does it reveal about me if the evil one asks me, “Who are you?” Hmm.
How about you? Does the evil one know you by name or would he ask, “Who are you?”