One night this week I got home late from an exhausting day of ministry and I just wanted to wind down by watching a half hour of television before I went to bed. As usual I flipped a few channels and felt frustrated because I didn’t see anything of interest—American idol is finished for this year. So, I went with the best option I could find—a PBS documentary of the explosion of Krakatoa, which is a massive volcano on a small island in Indonesia. I have always been intrigued by volcanos, so when I heard about the explosion on August 26–27, 1883, which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern and recorded history, my interest was piqued.
It was facinating to learn that the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT—about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb that devastated Hiroshima, Japan during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear device ever detonated.
The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 21 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice. The cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Western Australia, about 1,930 miles away, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles away. Near Krakatoa, according to official records, 165 villages and towns were destroyed and 132 seriously damaged, some 40,000 people died, and many thousands were injured by the eruption, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa.
The explosion of Krakatoa was one of the world’s greatest displays of natural power in the history of the world! God displays his incredible power through what we call natural phenomenon all the time. We see it in volcanic eruptions, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and avalanches, and the like. God displays his power over and through the natural world all the time!
But what about the spiritual world? How does God display his power in and through our spiritual lives? Luke answers that question for us in this morning’s passage. As he describes Paul’s ministry in the city of Ephesus he highlights four ways in which God displays his mighty power spiritually. They are all seen in the context of ministry: the baptism of the Holy Spirit, preaching, healing, and exorcism. Let’s take a closer look!
1.) God’s Power is Revealed through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (1-7)
As Paul embarked upon his third missionary journey, he crossed through Cilicia, Lyconium, and Asia visiting and encouraging the churches that he planted on previous journeys until he reached the city of Ephesus. After briefly preaching here on his way home from his second missionary journey, he made good on his promise to return “if it is the Lord’s will”. Apollos had already left Ephesus and landed in Corinth.
Upon entering Ephesus he encountered 12 men who were disciples of John the Baptist. Discerning that they had some kind of knowledge about Jesus, he asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. They did not even know that the Holy Spirit had been made available.
This response compelled Paul to dig deeper into their spiritual background by asking what baptism they received and they affirmed that they had only received John’s preparatory baptism of repentance. Hence, Paul filled them in on all of the works of Jesus, gave them a more robust explanation of the gospel, including the events of Pentecost. When they gained a fuller understanding of the Christian faith, they believed and Paul baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus. God’s power is clearly displayed when Paul lays his hands on them; they received the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal fashion, where they immediately spoke in tongues and prophesied. Through baptism and the laying on of hands, God’s incredible power was manifested by tongues and prophecy.
Just as he did on the day of Pentecost and here with these 12 men, today God baptizes people with the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion. When we truly become a Christian, the Holy Spirit begins to live inside of us, gives us at least one spiritual gift, and supernaturally empowers us to carry on Jesus’ work in this world. Water baptism is an outward symbol of the internal baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now I have some Pentecostal friends who say that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is always followed by speaking in tongues, prophesying, or some other charismatic manifestation, but I don’t believe this is true. Sure, we saw the crowd on the day of Pentecost speak in tongues and the men here and it is an incredible display of God’s power, but if you read through the whole book of Acts, the only pattern you see in reference to speaking in tongues is that there is no pattern. So, today when we put our faith in Christ and are baptized by the Holy Spirit, some people will experience these manifestations and others will not.
Either way, God’s power is displayed when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and works in our lives. Have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit? Have you truly committed your life to Jesus Christ?
2.) God’s Power is Revealed through Preaching (8-10)
After this initial encounter with the 12 men, he eventually begins his ministry in customary fashion by preaching in the synagogue. For a period of three months he labored to persuade them of the truth about the kingdom of God—that is to say, all that is implied in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the crowd at the synagogue became obstinate and refused to put their faith in Jesus, he decided to leave their open ridicule, took the people who did believe, and set up shop in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
Tyrannus is usually supposed to have been a lecturer who regularly taught there, but it is possible that he was the owner of the building who rented it to Paul in the afternoon when it wasn’t used for its regular function. Paul most likely spent his mornings and evenings doing his trade of leatherwork and spent his afternoons preaching the gospel to anyone who would listen.
In verse 10 Luke presents an astonishing detail. For two whole years Paul carried on his preaching ministry in Ephesus, and God revealed his power through it in that everyone in the province of Asia, including both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. God displayed his power through Paul’s preaching! From Ephesus, the word of the Lord spread all over the area. Most likely all seven churches of Asia addressed in the book of Revelation were founded at this time. This province was intensively evangelized, and remained one of the leading centers of Christianity for many centuries. (Bruce 366)
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon written by the Congregationalist preacher Jonathan Edwards, first preached on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards was not considered a charismatic orator. He read his sermons, and when he looked up at all it was to stare at the rope for the church bell on the back wall. He knew that in order for lost sinners to come to Christ, their only hope for salvation, they must first be brought to the realization of the desperate state they were in and the horrendous eternal consequences of it. He brought many of his listeners to that realization this day with “remarkable effect.” Such was the power and passion of his words that moans and groans filled the sanctuary and people fainted as he spoke.
This was one of the key sermons that sparked the First Great Awakening, a massive movement of Christian conversions, all across northeastern America in the 1740’s. Just as with Paul, God’s power was displayed through the preaching of Jonathan Edwards!
Yes, even today God displays his awesome power through preaching. God even uses the worst preachers, which I am one, to get his word across, and he uses it to transform people’s lives. Think about it! The reason why we are hear this morning is because someone told us about the love of God and the grace of Jesus Christ.
3.) God’s Power is Revealed through Healing (11-12)
In verses 11-12 Luke summarizes how God displayed his power through Paul’s ministry of healing. Notice that Luke attributes these extraordinary miracles to God, not Paul. If it hadn’t been for God’s divine power, he wouldn’t have been able to heal the sick or drive out demons. The extraordinary character of these miracles is seen in the fact that Paul wasn’t even present for some of the healings. Simple handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched Paul proved effective in curing the sick. God’s power was greater than anything that the people of Ephesus had ever encountered before. Their own magicians and sorcerers could not conjure up any displays of this magnitude. This whole scene is reminiscent of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and was instantly cured when she touched the edge of his cloak. Similarly, God’s power is again displayed through healing.
Today all over the world we continue to read about and personally witness miraculous healings. Sure, many times God uses doctors and medication to heal people, but there are many other times where he steps in, defies the laws of logic and science, and heals people from all sorts of physical and psychological ailments. He continues to display his power through healing!
4.) God’s Power is Revealed through Exorcism (13-22)
At the end of verse 12 Luke alludes to the fact that Paul was performing exorcisms and delivering people from demonic spirits throughout Ephesus. In verses 13-20 he gives us a more detailed glimpse of how God’s power is displayed through exorcism. There were seven brothers, all sons of Sceva the chief priest, who no doubt witnessed some of Paul’s exorcisms. Even though they did not believe his message or become followers of Christ, they were impressed by his spiritual power. They went around trying to exorcise evil spirits, imitating Paul by invoking the name of the Lord Jesus.
One day the brothers tried to exorcise a demon from a man by this method, but the demon answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” the demon exposed them for the impostors that they were and the possessed man jumped on the seven brothers and beat them to a naked bloody pulp. They were lucky to escape the house with their lives; the demon supplied supernatural strength to be able to pummel seven men.
When news of this event spread throughout the city, everyone was gripped with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus gained more respect and credibility. This prompted a massive event of public confession and many of those who practiced sorcery and magic publicly burned their scrolls and spells. When they calculated the value of all of these scrolls, it added up to about fifty thousand drachmas. A drachma was the equivalent to a day’s wages. This would be more than four million dollars in today’s currency.
Luke marks this incredible display of power with a summary statement in verse 20. As a result of God’s power being displayed through exorcism, the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. Sometime after this, Paul decides to return to Jerusalem before he goes on to Rome.
On July 31, 1838, the people of Mottlingen, a small town on the outskirts of Germany’s Black Forest, turned out to welcome their new pastor. A zealous thirty-three-year-old, Johann Christoph Blumhardt had spent years preparing for such a position, and was now looking forward to marrying his fiancé Doris, raising a family, and shepherding his church. But he could never have anticipated the events that he was about to encounter.
For four years his work followed the same course as that of any rural pastor until he came in touch with a girl by the name of Gottliebin Dittus. Gottliebin suffered from an illness that was reminiscent of demonic possession as described in the New Testament. For months pastor Blumhardt watched with distress the increasing suffering and torment of this young woman. Feeling something dark at work in her, he finally took up the fight with the power of darkness. In the year in which his son Christoph was born, in 1842, he exclaimed: “We have seen enough of what the devil can do. Let us now see the power of the Lord Jesus.” The fight against the demonic stronghold commenced and lasted two years. The dark power was finally broken and conquered, and the evil spirits driven out. Gottliebin was completely healed of all bodily and spiritual misery. The fight ended in victory with the words from her lips, “Jesus is victor! Jesus is victor!”
As a consequence of this victory a movement of repentance swelled, taking hold of Blumhardt’s whole parish and extending to the neighboring towns and villages. From all sides people streamed to pastor Blumhardt. The inbreaking of kingdom power transformed the entire village of Möttlingen. There were healings, confessions, and numerous conversions. Marriages were saved and enemies were reconciled. A strange new manifestation of God’s world took sway. From this time on, pastor Blumhardt’s rallying cry was “Jesus is victor!”
Pleased don’t be fooled into believing that demons don’t exist or that they don’t possess people today. Likewise, don’t be fooled into believing that we are helpless in the face of demonic attack. God displays his power over Satan and the demonic through exorcism.
Paul’s ministry in Ephesus is one of the great Krakatoas of the Bible. We have seen God’s power clearly displayed over the spiritual world through four means of ministry. I hope these pictures of God’s mighty power will shock our sensibilities, grow our faith, increase our love, and deepen our commitment to the Great Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!