Who Are You?

by Pastor Peter Baugh

"And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know: but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." (Acts 19: 11-20)

"Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" What an intriguing question. "Who are ye?" We find it posed by the devil-possessed man to the seven sons of Sceva who were attempting to perform an exorcism. "Who are ye?" We can almost hear the sneer in the voice of this deranged demoniac. We can almost see the snarl, the lip curled in derision, the leering grin of a madman. "Who are ye?"

Contextually, this confrontation took place at Ephesus, during the two-year ministry of the Apostle Paul in that city. From Scripture, we know that this city was a cesspool of occult activity. A C Gaebelien described it like this:

"Ephesus was a stronghold of Satan. Here many evil things both superstitious and satanic were practiced. Books containing formula for sorcery and other ungodly and forbidden arts were plentiful in that city. The Jews themselves were contaminated with these practices."

Thus it becomes obvious that this two-year ministry of the Apostle Paul represented an ongoing spiritual warfare. Ephesus was a battlefield. On the one side stood arrayed the hosts of Satan. On the other side stood Paul and a growing body of believers who had rejected the occult activity that festered there, a small band led by an apostle, under the captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Over the course of the campaign for Ephesus, numerous conflicts took place. Scripture makes it clear that the cause of Christ emerged victorious in verse 20:

"And so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."

However, we do notice that this word "prevailed" appears more than once in this passage. It occurs the first time in verse 16:

"And the man in whom the unclean spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed..."

This is the only instance in this inspired record that indicates a victory of any kind for the hosts of darkness at Ephesus. It therefore stands as a sobering warning for Christians of every age afterwards of the dangers involved in spiritual warfare. It ought to be duly considered, and taken much to heart.