11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their 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. 20 So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. ~ Acts 19:11-20
The men that confessed their practices and burned their magic arts books were already believers, but they didn’t dispose of their magic arts books. They didn’t dispose of the darkness they previously had. Why? Because they had extreme power. They heard the stories of Paul and probably even witnessed a few healings and deliverances by the handkerchiefs that had touched Paul’s skin. So, they knew the name of Jesus was powerful, but they thought that they could continue in their old darkness as well because what’s the harm, right? Paul’s Jesus had power, and their witchcraft had power, so if they kept the power from the witchcraft and added to the power from the name of Jesus, they’d have double the power. It wasn’t until seven sons of the Jewish high priest named Sceva tried invoking the name of Jesus and ended up getting beaten mercilessly by the man with an evil spirit.
I guarantee it wasn’t their first exorcism. I’m sure they had succeeded many times before. Why? Because they were called Jewish exorcists. And these believers who had magic arts books probably witnessed the seven sons of Sceva successfully invoking the name of Jesus without being a follower, or at least a full follower of Christ. They just believed in the power of the name. This is why when they saw these seven sons of Sceva get beaten and run away naked, a light clicked in their brains, and they no longer wanted anything to do with the darkness.
See, these ex-magicians understood power. They understood the power of the name of Jesus, but they also understood the power of the enemy. So, when they understood where the power Paul had possessed came from and how he received it, they took action. They understood that invoking the name of Jesus alone without the Holy as a seal could only do so much. They understood that they needed a relationship with God Himself with the man who owned that name. And that meant truly confessing their sins, repenting, and wholly following Jesus in the light.
Back then, people fled darkness for the power of the light because they understood nothing could compare. Today, people are leaving the light in droves because the darkness is seemingly the only one that has power. The Church no longer walks in power; in fact, we preach against it. What would happen if we sought the power promised to us over 2000 years ago? Maybe we’d see true deliverance, freedom, and the Word of the LORD increase and prevail mightily in our day and age.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek The Power of The Light.
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