Acts 19:19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totalled fifty thousand pieces of silver.
When God gets hold of a person’s heart, there is real change. The Lord had used the Apostle Paul to bring about some unique and unusual miracles. Acts. 19:11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul. To me, this is a strange comment, as all miracles are in themselves unusual, but there was a move of God, and the Lord was getting the people’s attention through the miraculous. Acts 19:12 So that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. Yes, that would be classified as unusual.
Something similar was happening to the Apostle Peter. There was fervent faith in the hearts of the people that when Peter’s shadow crossed over a person, they would be healed. Acts 5:14 Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord—large numbers of both men and women. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.
The real revival in Ephesus and demonstration of faith happened because of the results of the people seeing the seven sons of Sceva get beaten up and stripped naked by a demon-possessed man, because the sons had used the name of Jesus as an incantation and not with authority through a personal relationship with Christ. Acts 19:16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. The seven sons of Sceva were being religious and using the name of the Lord in vain. The people of Ephesus who saw the men beaten and injured realized that the name of Jesus, which Paul was ministering, was powerful, because Paul used the Lord’s name to heal and bring salvation with a devoted heart to God. In contrast, the seven sons of Sceva used the Lord’s name with the intent of building up their egos.
This demonstration of God’s power and grace working through Paul caused the Ephesians to get real in their hearts. Acts 19:17 The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honoured. The transformation was significant because the people responded to the Lord by burning all their expensive books on witchcraft, which contained the incantations, curses, and formulas of the times. Acts 19:18 Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Fifty thousand pieces of silver in today’s value is about 5 to 11 million dollars’ worth, depending on the world’s stock markets. This is how you know that God had entered the hearts of the people, because they gave up what was once valuable to them as a reliable source of living. Once the Lord had washed their sins and iniquities away, they knew exactly what to do because the voice of the Lord was speaking His love within their hearts, and that love felt nothing like the bondage that came from witchcraft. What an amazing display of pure metanoia and commitment to their Lord. Someone might have watched the books on fire and said, “That’s a lot of faith going up in flames.”
All the books that were burned represented a lot of different kinds of faiths and beliefs. Sometimes God will impress upon us to get rid of something that is or will be detrimental to our faith and relationship with our Lord. I was looking at some books on my shelf and had a strong sense of throwing one of them away. I said out loud, “I should just put this book in the neighbourhood library box.” I heard an immediate “No” in my heart. Then I heard, “Throw it away!” I realized as I ripped the book in half while throwing it in the rubbish that the peace of obedience was well worth the cost of the book. Saints, it is always the little foxes that ruin the vine of our relationship with our Lord. Song 2:15a Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards. If the Lord asks you to get rid of a relationship, an unhealthy practise, or an item of idolatry, then do it before your vineyard is spoiled.
Amazing information and devotion! Thank you Sir Norm