[Darris McNeely] We are in Acts Chapter 19 and we last left our hero in trouble. He's in dire straits. A riot is beginning to form in the city of Ephesus, where Paul has been for a better part of three years, and his preaching and ministry has been so effective that is has cut into the trade of the silversmiths who make idols through the goddess Diana. I have on the screen here, a statue of a, this is actual full-size statue of the Ephesian Artemis. Now what they were selling were small miniatures out of silver, something about just a few inches tall.

And what people would do with those is they would create a shrine in their home. And they would have, in this case, Artemis. They might have little symbols of other gods or goddesses. A typical Roman home of the day would also have probably the masks and images of their deceased family. And here's the way it was set up. It was right in the front doorway of, let's say, a typical Roman home of any means. And before anybody left the home, the husband, the father, children, and when they would come in, first thing, and the last thing they would do before leaving, the first thing they would do before coming in, would be to pay homage to their ancestors and to their particular gods or goddesses. And they'd have little niches in the wall. What do we have inside our front doors? We have a hat rack, maybe a closet for coats, things like that. Typical Roman home had a shrine. And that's where they would put these images. And Artemis was a very popular one, obviously, in Ephesus.

I showed you last class the reconstructions of the temple at Artemis, which was one of the wonders of the ancient world. There were seven buildings and edifices in the ancient world that had the distinction of the wonders of the ancient world. This all came later on. I think Herodotus did this, a Greek historian. I can't remember exactly. But the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. And there were many Temples of Artemis throughout Asia Minor.

And I've seen, what, two others in my travels there and on our trip to Turkey here in just a few days, those of us that go will see the site where this one was. And there's not much let of that. I think I've got a picture here of that. I showed it last time. This is the site of the remains of that temple today. One lone column that's been kind of cobbled together from ruins and just a bunch of rocks laying around in a field. But at one time, something like this stood there and it was, you know, a wonder of the world. I showed you a little video that I took and inside was this image to the goddess like this. It would be brought out a couple of times a year, paraded through the streets in a great ceremony. And everybody would do homage to it. It was a fertility goddess.

I told you the story of how the temple was burned by a maniac on the night that Alexander the Great was born. And then, when he came back through Ephesus in his day, as he was conquering the lands, he wanted to give money to rebuild the temple and they wouldn't take it. One god should not rebuild the temple of another god, they said. So the Ephesian city fathers rebuilt it themselves, and that stood until the middle of the 3rd century AD. And when the Goths finally destroyed it and bits and pieces of it wound up in various Churches, and when we go into the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, there are columns from the Temple of Artemis in that particular, now, mosque. It was originally a Christian Church, mosque, national shrine. Now it's back, the Turks turned it back into a mosque couple of years ago. And so, what Paul's ministry did was actually cut into the livelihood of these silversmiths who were selling this to pilgrims who would come to Ephesus. And so, as we pick this story up in Verse 23.

Acts 19:23 It says, “About that time, there arose a great commotion about the way.”

I'm backtracking a bit from the previous class. And again, this is what Paul taught was the way of life. The Church was early, in the early days it was referred to as the way. As I said the other day, that's an interesting way to approach or to describe Christianity in its earliest days as the way. And we talk about God's way of life and Christianity being a way of life. And it impacts our way of life on a regular, daily, weekly, yearly basis. Everything we plan our lives around, the Sabbath, the Holy Days and our walk with God. And so, it is a way of life.

And so, a great commotion arose about this, where a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana. Diana was the Roman name of the goddess Artemis. All right? Put that on the board. Diana and Artemis. Artemis, being the Greek name and Diana being the Roman name. So she's usually as Diana, pictured as a goddess of the hunt. There'll be a dog with her. She'll have a bow. But there's also usually associated with that type of imagery, a sheathe of wheat or corn or something like that, again, showing fertility. And as I mentioned, looking at this particular shrine, the fact that scholars today, several of them, they don't believe this is not the female mammary gland that's hanging off of her, it's bull testicles, is what they think. And again, I mentioned the other day that the Greeks didn't know how to carve a statue of a woman. That's testified by ample evidence to that. And so, there's some credibility to looking at it this way for what it was.

Now Paul's preaching got into their pocketbooks, and there's nothing that's going to get someone upset about anything that is new or disruptive than something that's going to disrupt the economy. And this is what is happening here because people were not buying these silver shrines. Demetrius calls together the workers of similar occupations in Verse 25.

Acts 19:25 And he said, “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade.”

We got mortgages. We got kids going to college. We got bills to pay, credit card debt and all of this stuff. We've got to keep all this manufacturing going. A lot of people depend on this and it's a business. What does that tell you? What does that tell you about the religious worship of this goddess? That it was a business. And keep that in mind. You know, Churches grow big, even in the modern time, Churches grow big. And they become more than a place where people go to worship. They become a business. They have to be, in the sense, the bigger they become, the more business practices have to be applied. Think of the Roman Catholic Church. They have their own bank, Vatican Bank. They own a lot of property all over the world. They are a big business as well as being the largest obvious Christian Church in the world, and the oldest and they're huge. It's RCC Incorporated.

And, you know, back it down, Greek Orthodox, same thing. Southern Baptist Convention in America. And Churches that grow big become conferences, become dioceses, become international in scope and it has to, you know, the flow of money has to be carefully managed. I mean, even in our operation in the United Church of God, we have sizable flows of money that have to be properly managed and accounted for. And all of that has to be done in a right way, godly way with honesty and integrity. We certainly strive to do that in United.

If you look at a lot of the scandals out in the larger religious world through time and even in modern times, unfortunately, scandal gets associated with religion. Some evangelist, some personality gets a little bit too big and money corrupts and problems happen. And that's always a temptation. But this trade in the images of Diana, was now creating a fever pitch and a boiling point and a tipping point. So he called them together, Verse 26, he goes on.

Acts 19:26 “Moreover, you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul,” so he gets real specific, “has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.”

That is a phrase here in Verse 26 that you should note however you're taking your nice little colored note-taking in your bibles. This is a statement about idolatry that is kind of bedrock. Paul persuades and turns away many people saying that they are not gods, which are made with hands. They are not gods. I mean, this is the dirty little secret that Paul preached wherever he went. They're not gods. Guess what? She's not a goddess. Guess what? Zeus doesn't exist. Guess what? Apollos doesn't exist. Guess what? Mother Mary is dead and in the grave and should not be worshipped. Guess what? There are no dead saints in heaven making intercession for sinners on this earth. Guess what? That's the pulling the curtain back. That's "The Wizard of Oz" moment. Don't pay any attention to the little man behind the curtain moment. We've all seen "The Wizard of Oz," right? Tell me that. Even all of us here who've seen that, that one movie and the classic scene that actually is the one of the great reveals of life, is that the curtains pull back and the Great Oz is nothing but a little man trying to pull cranks and levers in the movie.

And that's what Paul is telling people as he preaches and the idolatrous systems of the ancient world, they're not gods. They're not gods. Guess what? But let me show you and tell you about the true God. And then, he begins to talk about that. And if we would do it that way today, we'd turn to John 1:1. We'd turn to Genesis 1:1. We would begin to talk about that pre-Adamic scenes that the Bible gives us little peeks in, that tells us about God and His purpose, and that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And He lived and He died and He was resurrected.

I did a bible study Friday night late to a group of people in Myanmar that are brand new people. They're not members of UCG, but they have come in contact with us. And about 25 people in a room in Yangon, Myanmar. And I went through the fundamental belief of the sacrifice of Christ with them. And they are believers. I don't know all the details of their way of life and what they're doing. But they've come in contact with us and they want to know what we are all about. And Sage's father, David Benzinger, has been working with them, so I gave them a study on the sacrifice of Christ. And of course, in Myanmar and Thailand, places like that in Asia, idolatry never died and it's still alive and well. The temples to Buddha and all of the eastern gods are very much a part of the everyday life over there in these Asian countries. And so, for a group of people to come to us, looking for something different, I was reading them John 1:1 so that they understand about the true God. Well, going on here, Verse 27.

Acts 19:27 “So not only is this trait of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed.”

Here's her magnificence right here. To me, that doesn't look that attractive, but I guess to an ancient mind, steeped in the traditions of the cult of Artemis, that is magnificent. But, you know, Demetrius is saying all of this is about to go up and whom all Asia and the world worshipped.

Artemis or Diana got around. I showed you last time the pictures of the various representations of what, you know, the Cybele and the permutations of this ancient fertility goddess among the Hittites, Cybele, looking like this, and then she kind of changes and morphs until she becomes this. But all Asia, which means all of Asia Minor and frankly back to as far as Babylon, Assyria, and their chief female deities, Ishtar in Egypt, Isis, she's lived through the centuries and the generations, but she, what's the term, she shape-shifts. She morphs according to the culture and the time. And that's what happened.

And frankly, we see it today when you drive down the street and you see a representation of Mary worshipped by the Catholics as the mother of God, standing in front of a Catholic Church, standing in some concrete statuary place that's going to sell relics or these forms to people of faith, the Catholic faith. I was driving downtown Milford here the other day and there's a statuary place, all kinds of concrete statuary, and here's two big statues of Mary with arms out that people of Catholic faith revere that. And that's the latest permutation of this and admittedly looks a little better, but it still is a god that is no god. It's a being that Mary existed. She was the mother of Jesus. But she died and she does not make intercession for the people today. Demetrius' work stirs people up, in Verse 28.

Acts 19:28 “When they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out saying, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’”

Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And this chant begins to build. Thousands of people begin to pour out of their shops and the buildings and the streets of Ephesus, and they begin to make their way to this particular facility, which is the amphitheater that is still today in the city of Ephesus and held probably 20,000 people in its day and has been, you know, is still there.

Acts 19:29 “The whole city was filled with confusion, and they rushed into the theater.”

This is the theater right here. And you can see it to this day. And it's gone under reconstruction. Here's another view of it right here from the ground level. Here's a little closer look at the seating inside. It's still in use actually today. They've used it for concerts. I think Elton John has given concerts in this theater and Billy Joel and others through the years have given big concerts in this particular theater. The acoustics are great. You can stand down in the stage and somebody can be up at the very top nosebleed row, and you can just talk, you know, whisper and the voice carries right up here. These Roman amphitheaters were built acoustically very, very well, with just marble and stone, concrete and everything else. But to this day, the acoustics are quite good.

Acts 19:29 And so, “They rush with one accord, having ceased Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions.”

Where's Macedonia? It's a part of Greece, remember. Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, we're in the region of Macedonia. And of course, Alexander the Great came from Macedonia. He's the most famous of the Macedonians in history. But these two, Gaius and Aristarchus, were with Paul at this particular time, they seized him. I don't have a picture. I didn't bring a picture in of the agora, but maybe this one can at least give you a little bit of an idea. If you look to the right of this picture where my pointer is over in here, this is the agora. And this is where Paul himself probably had a shop for his tent-making trade. And there were shops in here of the silversmith's and everything else. It was quite a large area full of shops, multi-level in some parts of it, and it's right next to the theater.

So this is where it began and people came out onto the street that runs along here and they came into the theater. And so, this huge commotion arises and thousands of people are pouring out. They're upset about the charge of Diana being disrespected and they're pouring into the theater. And in Verse 30, wherever Paul is, was he in the school of Tyrannus teaching? Was he still working? We're not told. But the whole city becomes part of an uproar.

Acts 19:30-31 And he says, “When Paul wanted to go into the people, the disciples would not allow him.” So Paul actually wanted to go into the theater here and he wanted to kind of make an address, make his defense, make his explanation. “He wanted to go into the people, the disciples would not allow him. Then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater.”

Here's a little interesting tidbit of information Luke gives us without a lot of explanation. Officials of Asia, who were his friends. The technical term for this is Asiarchs, Asiarchs. And they were the town councilmen, the city fathers. They ran the city. They kept things orderly and they knew Paul. Says they were his friends. So they were prominent people in the community and they wanted this riot stopped. And they didn't want it to get out of hand and they didn't want Paul to be harmed. In fact, what happened is very likely the upper part of the city, we're here in the upper right of this particular photo is where this Curetes Street comes down and it was up in there in the civic agora, the place where the civic buildings were located, much like we see in any major city today, there will be a place with the federal courthouse, the county courthouse, all the business offices of the cities are usually located in a building or set of buildings in a central downtown area. Same thing there. They started coming out too and they made their way down the street here toward the theater. And this is what we're reading about.

Acts 19:31-32“But they sent to Paul, they got word to him saying, ‘Don't go into the theater.’ Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused. And most of them did not know why they had come together.”

Isn't that a typical mob reaction? Let's go loot the Walmart. Yeah? Let's go downtown Portland and let's loot whatever store's there, or Minneapolis or wherever, things in recent years have taken place. And people, they don't care about what may have been the germ of the complaint of injustice, right or wrong, whatever. It's party time. It's time, you know, let's go and get some Air Jordan's and let's loot the tennis shoes and carry out the TVs and carry out those things, and you see that unfortunately. Well, that's kind of what was happening here. People got caught up in this moment and they didn't know why they had come together. You got to understand, this was entertainment for many people in the Ancient world. They didn't have their 56-inch television screens to go home to and it was kind of a simple life in some cases. And you had different forms of entertainment that would be used at that time. And so, now a big tumult, a big riot and the opportunity for a little bit of excitement to get caught up in something. And probably the beer vendors were setting up shop along the way and passing out diluted wine or their beer or whatever. Hey, it's their opportunity. It's going on for a long time that day and just picture a carnival atmosphere. And so, they didn't know why they had come together.

Acts 19:33-34 “They drew Alexander out of the multitude and the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his defense to the people.” Obviously, a disciple of Paul. And the Jews, kind of being willing maybe to put him forward as a sacrifice maybe. “But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for another two hours, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’”

And this just keeps going on two hours plus whatever has transpired up to this point. And you imagine this theater full of people and the shouts can be heard throughout the city, and people keep coming and going, coming and going through there.

Acts 19:35 “Eventually, when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, ‘Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus.’”

So we're given a little bit more information here. Ephesus was the temple guardian and this was a prestigious role. As I said, there were more than one temple to Artemis or Diana throughout Asia and the other cities. The city of Sardis, where we had one of the Churches. Sardis had a huge temple to Artemis. Not too far from Ephesus in a place called Magnesia, there was also a large temple to Artemis as well. You can see the ruins of both of those in those two locations today.

But the one at Ephesus had the distinction of being the temple guardian and that was looked to as kind of the most prestigious and the biggest, the best and all. And there was some image that had fallen from down, they said, from Zeus. It was a common teaching among the pagan world that, say, if a stone, probably a meteorite is what is felt to be, some meteorite that fell down made its way to earth, they would take that as a sign from the gods and it would become something of worship. And so, it seems that as a part of what is stored in this temple was some image out of a rock that had fallen. They attributed it as coming from Zeus. And, you know, this was a common thing that was believed. There was a movie made 40, 50 years ago called The Gift of the Gods or something. Anybody ever watch that? It was set in Africa.

[Man] Oh, "The Gods Must Be Crazy."

[Darris McNeely] "The Gods Must Be Crazy." And was that a Coke bottle that falls?

[Man] Yeah.

[Darris McNeely] Yeah, it was a Coke bottle that fell. And the whole thing is that this native finds this and thinks that it's from the god. It's been years since I've seen that, so it's the same idea. But this is what is depicted here. So another piece of movie trivia that you'll never hear again anywhere else, but you heard it here, folks, on this particular presentation here. And this was all part of this.

The temple in Artemis, there's so many different stories about that, I was just preparing for our trip here in a few days now to Turkey. And I was reading that right in the city of Ephesus, and actually it's not here, but it's where the Curates Street comes down and you'll turn right to go to the theater, there's the temple of Celsus is there, or Library of Celsus. But tucked away in the corner is the remnants of a grave that is still there. And I want to be sure and point that out to our group this year if I can identify that. There is the remnant, there was a grave there at the time of Paul, where the remains of a woman named Arsinoe was laid. Arsinoe was the sister of Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies. The last queen of the south in this case. And she had come to Artemis because she was a big threat to her sister, Cleopatra, and a lot of other things. But she had been given refuge in the temple of Artemis.

Now another thing about the temple of Artemis is, it was a place of refuge. You read the scriptures, the Bible about cities of refuge that God set up in Israel. Well, that idea was prevalent throughout the pagan world, various temples were places of refuge that were inviolent. And if you lived there or were kept there, you could not be arrested, drug out, killed. Arsinoe, the sister of Cleopatra, because she was a threat to Cleopatra while she was cavorting with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, she was kept at the temple of Arsinoe. But Cleopatra persuaded Mark Antony, who at that time was so enraptured in love with her, to have her killed.

And so, his soldiers went into the precincts of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, killed Arsinoe, the sister of Cleopatra, and her remains were buried there. She was highly respected. It upset the Ephesians greatly but they couldn't overcome the power of Mark Antony in Rome at the time. But they buried her at a very prominent spot in the city and the remains of even that crypt, I was reading, is still there. But this is, again, just showing you how the temple of Artemis played to the culture and was so intertwined there within Ephesus.

Acts 19:36-37 “Therefore, since these things cannot be denied,” they said, “you ought to be quiet and do nothing rationally.” This is the city clerk quieting the crowd. Let's get this back in order, “for you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples, nor blasphemers of your goddess.”

Well, I don't know. Is saying that Artemis is not a god, is that not blaspheme? For some reason, this is what they say, but Paul's teaching clearly contradicted the rational for worshipping and holding this deity high. And that's what this is all about.

Acts 19:38 “Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsman have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.”

So in other words, if you've got a charge, lay it out and take it to court. Take it to the Roman authority, the proconsul, who would be the chief magistrate, and do it that way.

Acts 19:39 “But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly.”

And there was a place, and we actually see a building that probably was the place where a lawful assembly would have been conducted in Ephesus. And so, this is his defense to get the crowd to quiet down.

Acts 19:40-41 “‘For we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar. There being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.’ And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.”

And so, he was able to bring this huge crowd into a sense of order. You have to imagine that his words had an effect, but also after two plus hours of shouting, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians,” how tired would you be? How worn out, you know, the sun of the day, and hey, time for a pizza. You know? Let's go get a cold beer. Okay, Paul's gone. They can't tear Paul from limb to limb. And so, you know, just as quickly as it arose, it seems, oh, okay, well, let's go down the street and we'll gather down there and go home, call it a day type of thing. Mob activity can be fickle and people, who get worked up at times, can sometimes with the riot words or rationale, be backed down. And so, it stops, we go right into Chapter 20 and Verse 1.

Acts 20:1 “After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia.”

Now Paul leaves and he, according to the text here, he's ready to move on. Macedonia, again, puts him back up here in the area of Greece. He's down here at Ephesus. And the way it is written here gives the indication that it was shortly after the uproar ceased. What does that mean? The next day? A week later? Two weeks later? It's after he calls and he embraced them and he leaves.

Now I want to interject something here at this point, as to how some of the commentators look at what happens next. There's nothing that is said in Acts about this except that Paul goes to Macedonia. But there is a line of thought and it's a possible thought, that Paul is actually imprisoned in Ephesus at this moment or after this. And that he is imprisoned and it's while he's here, whether for a few days or a few weeks, this is when he writes what we call the "Prison Epistles," the Philippians and Colossians, to those there and even the letter of Philemon. And then, he is released and goes to Macedonia and visits those congregations. Now this is an idea that is not held by every new testament commentator. I was reading one here in preparation for this class who puts it as a plausible possibility. I'm just putting it out here. I'm sure that when we're taught Epistles, you were taught that Paul wrote Philippians Colossians from Rome, the Roman prison. And that could very well be too. That has been a traditional teaching and held by scholars. But some hold this other view.

And I will say that there's a rational for thinking that he may have been imprisoned for this time, because what he does is he write, for instance, he writes to, at this particular time, he writes to, and it's not on here, putting my marker about right here, he writes a letter called Philemon. Have you studied Philemon yet? You have.

Philemon is a member of the Church in the city of Colossae. Colossae is about 100 miles east of Ephesus. It can be seen from Laodicea. In fact, we'll walk up on the mound, you can walk up on the mound of Colossae. It has not been excavated. And there's this huge tell or hill that marks the spot. You see where the remains of an amphitheater there and a few stones, but nothing really has been done. And that's where the city of Colossae sat.

Philemon was a wealthy person who the Church met in his home, he was a member. He could have been converted after being in Ephesus, hearing about Paul and being converted. And he goes back to the Ephesus and he, himself, as a disciple, creates and starts a house Church in Colossae. And then, he's got this slave called Onesimus who runs away, maybe takes some money as he runs away. And he goes to Paul. Does he go to Paul and Ephesus or does he go to Paul in Rome? Again, part of the thought is it would have been much easier for a runaway slave to go 100 miles to Ephesus at that time, rather than to get on a boat in Ephesus, let's say, and then go all the way to Rome and finds Paul in prison. It's a possibility.

And then, at the end of Colossians, Paul says to Onesimus, “Save me room. I'm coming.” Oh. Did he then get out of jail in Ephesus and then he goes 100 miles down to Colossae at that time and then up to Macedonia? Again, possibilities. It's not, you know, hard and fast. But it shows you the, let's say, the flux, the ebb and flow of scholarship and the differences of opinion held by people who study the text, study the story, look at things and come to certain conclusions that may or may not be true. But obviously, when you read Philippians and you read Colossians, Paul's in prison. He says he is. So the traditional view is he's in Rome writing this at the end of the story of Acts, when he's left there, when we'll see that he will be left there for a period of time under arrest in Rome. And that's plausible too. But I guess I'm bringing it up because I see that there's at least a line of thought to consider the fact that he does this at this time. Then when he leaves, then he is written to the Philippians, he goes up to see them, as well as the Colossians. And it's during this period that he writes 2 Corinthians as well.

During Paul's time at Ephesus, he's gone back over to Corinth, by the way we put together the statements that he makes in 2 Corinthians, he refers to having come to them and they didn't accept him. And there were some big problems. And he goes back to Ephesus and finishes up his time there. But then, he's going to make his way back to Corinth and it's going to be a bit better of a visit this time than the one in between what would be his third trip to Corinth. And I am going to assume that that was explained when you went through 2 Corinthians. But as he goes up here and he's making his way to Corinth is when he writes this letter of 2 Corinthians, anticipating coming to them.

And the reason part for it is obviously to look into the care of the Church, but also when you read 2 Corinthians, he's mentioned this offering that he's wanting to collect that has been taken up where the Church is in Judea. So that is actually what is working here at this time and that's what he's now, what it says here in Chapter 20, that in Verse 2.

Acts 20:2 “That when he had gone over that region of Macedonia, Philippi, Thessalonica,” Berea likely, and then on down to Greece, he came to Greece and stayed three months. And so, he comes back down then to Greece and that would be Corinth. He doesn't have a Church in Athens, so it's not going to be Athens. He comes into Corinth and his intent, as we read from 2 Corinthians, of picking up this offering that is there and “he stays three months.”

And so, I think we'll just leave it there for this class and we'll pick it up in next class with Paul then making this return journey that will take him back near Ephesus, what we read about in Chapter 20, and then onto Jerusalem. And Chapter 20 is one of those stories that is so poignant when you look at the life of Paul and his time in Asia. So we'll save that for next time. So we'll pick it up with the next class.