The people of Ephesus were almost all of them “worshipers” of a goddess, whom they called Diana, or Artemis; and they used to say “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” But God sent Paul to that dark city, given up to idolatry; and through his preaching, and the “special miracles” God wrought by his hands, many were brought to know that there was One who was greater than Diana, even “the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” When His holy name was taken in vain by wicked Jews, who had no faith in Him, God used even the power of an unclean spirit, to punish them, and to bring glory to Christ (ver. 13, 17). So it was felt to be such a real thing to have the power of the risen Jesus, put forth in their midst by His servant Paul, that it says, “fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” He was now seen to be the “great” One, and Diana was but a “dumb idol.” Many of those who thus believed in Jesus came and confessed what sinners they had been; they “showed their deeds.” Having learned now in their consciences what was displeasing to God, they no longer covered up their sins, but confessed and declared what they had been doing (ver. 18). Others again did even more. They had been magicians, or sorcerers, and had used “books” of darkness, telling them how to “bewitch” the people, and get their money from them, by doing strange things that they could not understand. Now they were brought to God, who is “light,” and in whom is “no darkness at all”; so they could not go on with these “hidden things of shame.” And the “books” they had used they would keep no longer. They could not have any more to do with them themselves, and they would not sell them to others; so they made a great fire of them, “before all men.” It was not that they were books which had cost them nothing. They were worth more than $7,500 of our money! They “counted the price” of them, but they counted them only worthy of the flames. They had spent much to get them, but they could not now keep them and have a good conscience before God; so they reckoned it would be not loss but gain to get rid of them, and they burned them in some open part of the city.
But what a proof it was that they had found in the Lord Jesus what was “far better,” was it not? We do not read that Paul told them they must make this great sacrifice. Perhaps he did not even know they had these books: but God knew, and they knew; and they counted them all worthless for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord. Dear reader, has the world ever seen any proof that the Lord Jesus is a treasure to us that He was not once? He does not want us to say that we are Christians, and believe in Him, if our hearts are still at home in the world that would not have Him. But it is very sweet to Him to find that without our saying much, we give proof by our ways of how dear He is to us. We do not read of anything Mary said in John 12; but “the house was filled with the odor of the ointment” she spent upon Jesus, and He took her part when she was found fault with! He was pleased with that love to Him of which the “precious ointment” was so fragrant a proof. If we say we are His and He is ours, what proof do we give that it is so? What do your companions see in your ways, that convinces them that you are not now what you once were, and that now you belong to One you used to care very little about? He was nailed to the cross, and bore the judgment of a sin-hating God for such as you. There was no sorrow “like unto” His sorrow, which He passed through in the garden and on the cross. Is it nothing to you? Will you say, How can I “give up” my pleasures, and my company, and my parties to be a “Christian indeed”? “I should not like to be lost forever; but while I am in this world I must enjoy myself all I can.” Did He enjoy Himself when He came to seek your poor soul? Did He “give up” nothing, when He “gave Himself” for you, to make you “His own,” and that He might give you eternal life and glory? Was it no denial to Him, when He came not to reign as a king, but to give His “back to the smiters”? What have you to give up, compared with what he did give up? Do you say, “He only gave it up for a very little while, and soon went back to it all again?” Dear young reader, you who are not yet quite sure that Jesus, and the enjoyment of His love, are better than all beside, let me ask you, for how long do you think we can “give up” anything for the Lord who loves us? Where will all those be in a very “little while” who have followed Jesus below? Is it not in glory, in that “place” with Himself, which He is “gone to prepare, for all who are washed and forgiven?” Is it not worthwhile to be “a pilgrim and a stranger” for a few days, committing our full joy “unto Him, against that day,” that time of full, and unmixed, and eternal happiness (2 Tim. 1:1212For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:12))? We may not have “books” in our possession, worth “fifty thousand pieces of silver,” to burn before all men, and show that we have “turned to God,” but there are many little things every day in which we may “give up” our will, or our pleasure, or our gain, for the sake of Him who has so loved us. Let us be neither slow nor unwilling to do it!
“O let us in His footsteps haste,
Counting for Him all else but dross;
For how will recompense His smile
The sufferings of this “little while!”
And if you know of anyone who “cares for none of these things,” who values his “books,” or his sins, or pleasures, more than all that is to be found in that blessed Lord Jesus, then remind him that there will be a greater fire one day than those converted men made at Ephesus. “The earth also and the works that are therein,” shall be burned up (2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)). Better burn the books ourselves, than for God to have to do it, and to cast into a “lake of fire” those who would have their sins rather than the Saviour!