Acts 19:11-20 (ESV)

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 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. 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.” Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 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. 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. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 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. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Everyone’s impressed with all the extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so imitators are sure to try to get in on the action. This time they get a little more action than they bargained for.

Seven brothers try to cast out an evil spirit. But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 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.

Now that’s what I call an attitude adjustment.

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.

Now everyone gets it. This isn’t a bunch of parlor tricks; it’s the lordship of Christ in action. Paul’s not healing the sick and casting out evil spirits with incantations; it’s the power of God. The creepy failure of the seven brothers horrifies everyone and calls to mind scripture’s strong condemnation of magic.

There shall not be found among you … anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes … or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium … for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. – Deuteronomy 18:10-12

So they publicly burn all their magic books.

This was a strange revival, but a revival none the less. It wasn’t all that unlike what a revival today should be. People need to suddenly get it – to see themselves truthfully and be shocked by it.

Revival doesn’t come from clever preaching; it comes from God. The way to get revival is to pray for one. Don’t focus on a particular way it might happen – that’s likely to surprise us anyway – just ask the Lord to call people to Himself. Pray for mercy and that He will be glorified.

The weekly study guides, which include discussion questions, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies