Acts 19:13-17 (ESV Strong's)
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.
Jesus Self-Extolls
The title of the book these above verses are taken from is the “Acts of the Apostles.” We simply refer to the book as “Acts.” It is a recording of the spread of the Gospel of Christ through the ministry of the twelve apostles appointment by Christ to carry out that divine work. In almost every nook and corner of the book we see the Spirit of God spread the message of the resurrection of the Son of God by the servants of God. Except in the above group of verses. Yes, this happened in the city of Ephesus (the fourth largest city in Greece) where Paul was preaching the Gospel. Yet, in this case, Paul is not even around. These seven “itinerant Jewish exorcists” had observed Paul casting out demons. So, on their own they thought they would give it a whirl. The text explains their plight. Christ chooses to use His apostles and us to speak His message. But, He does not need us. In the above text we see that He magnifies Himself in the world through the lust, greed and desire for power by mankind. God can and does use us. We should count that as a blessing. But, He does not need us. He can and, often does, extol Himself in the eyes of the world. These “exorcists” were attacked by the demons, stripped naked and forced to flea in fear. God can do that at anytime. With or without our help.
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