Great is Jesus, the King of Heaven and Earth!

There's No God Like Jehovah

(Acts 19:28-34, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 24, 2013)

[28] When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” [29] So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. [30] But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. [31] And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

Demetrius and the silversmiths of Ephesus were defensive for the glory of Artemis of the Ephesians. Their loyalty to their own version of this fertility goddess provoked them even to rage against Paul and the growing Christian movement in Ephesus and in the larger province of Asia.

This Roman province in what is today western Turkey was the place to which Paul had originally desired to travel in order to bring the message of Christ. Remember that he had been prohibited by God to enter the province of Asia, and was sent over to Macedonia (northern Greece) instead. Then he went to southern Greece and back up to western Turkey. He kept on circling around until the Lord opened a door for the Word in Ephesus, where Paul ended up preaching and teaching for more than two years.

As the God of the Jews, our God, brought fruit to Paul's ministry, more and more people in the province of Asia were confronted with the exclusive claims of Yahweh, Jehovah, the great I-AM. Though He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even in the Hebrew Scriptures He calls out to all the people groups of the earth to worship Him. 'May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!”' (Psalm 70:4)

But some were not willing to call upon the Name of the Lord. Some kept on clinging to the old gods that they imagined to be their strength and their life. They didn't take kindly to their gods being deposed right on home territory. This was what led to such rage against Paul and his companions.

[32] Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.

Not that what took place in the theater in Ephesus was anything close to a reasoned presentation of the truth. This assembly was a mob of confusion. They had passion. But many of the people did not even know why they were there. If they were not yelling out “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians,” they probably could not have agreed on much.

They may have thought that they had perfect clarity and that what they were doing was standing up for their city in the face of a vicious Jewish attack. Yet sometimes even a solitary individual may consider that he possesses perfect clarity only to discover a different moment later in life that he was very confused. Consider the younger brother in Luke 15. He had to find himself eating with pigs before he had any clarity at all. Even then, he needed to hear the voice of his father before he even knew how much his father loved and accepted him as a son, despite his obvious disrespect and flagrant sin. If that kind of confusion masquerading as clarity can happen in the life of a single individual, how much more might a whole city of Artemis worshipers be very confused about whether their goddess or the God of the Jews is actually the source of life?

[33] Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. [34] But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

There were actually two things that this crowd did seem to agree upon. The first was that they would not consent to be addressed by a Jew. They knew that Jews did not worship Artemis, so they would have none of that.

On the subject of Judaism, they were extremely confused. They put all the Jews together in their anger, and they did not understand that at this very moment in history a great divide was taking place in Judaism that was destined to change the whole course of human history. Some Jews had rejected what Paul taught: that Jesus of Nazareth had come in fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, and that He was the Messiah not only for the Jews, but for all who would call upon His Name from all the people groups of the earth. They did not believe that Jesus died as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. They did not believe that He had risen from the dead. They did not believe that His Name would be preached all over the earth until people everywhere worshiped the God of heaven through Jesus, His only-begotten Son.

But there was another group of Jews who not only affirmed all that Paul taught from the Old Testament concerning Jesus, they were actually signing up to follow Him as the King of the Resurrection. They were willing to suffer for His Name, and they were being joined now by many others, non-Jews, Gentiles, Ephesians, residents of Asia, who also had become followers of Jesus Christ. All Jews believed that gods made with hands were not gods, but not all Jews believed that Jehovah was the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. They did not all believe what Jesus had said about Himself, that “I and the Father are one.”

So the mob in the theater were quite wrong in thinking that they could not learn from the Jews. They were also quite wrong on the second thing that seemed so clear to them: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” If you are thinking that an object that you make with your hands can be a true god, your god is way too small. If you think that your god can be deposed from his or her glory, then you need to find out who that god's boss is.

There is a God who reigns from the heights of heaven. He is the one eternal God. He not only calls us to assent to His existence. He calls us to follow His Son.

It is of critical importance here today, that this assembly, God's church in our place and together with all throughout the world who call on God the Father in the Name of Jesus the Son, find clarity. We do not want to be an angry idolatrous mob that simply substitutes the name of Jesus with Artemis, but is still utterly confused as we shout out “Great is Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus is Nazareth is great because He is the eternal God who became a man forever in order to save people. He lives and reigns forever. He is the Lord of glory. His Name means Jehovah is salvation. That is who Jesus is, the Jehovah who is forever our salvation. There is simply no god like Jehovah. But “Jehovah is salvation” died on a cross for us and rose from the dead. He gives bounty to all who seek Him. Artemis is nothing but a fake trying to make people hate the God of the Jews. Jesus is supremely great and good to all who call upon Him. Even though His followers may be called to suffer for Him, they have not made an error in receiving His love.

Old Testament Passage: Psalm 70 – May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!”

Gospel Passage: Luke 9:51-56 – The Samaritans reject the King of the Jews

Sermon Text: Acts 19:28-34 – An angry mob asserts the greatness of a Gentile goddess and will not even allow a Jew to speak

Sermon Point: Contests will come between Israel's God and the gods of the nations, but only Jehovah is supremely great and good to all who seek Him.