10”This continued for two years, so that all the inhabitants of [the province of] Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, heard the Word of the Lord [concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God].
11And God did unusual and extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.
12So that handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried away and put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirts came out of them.
13Then some of the traveling Jewish exorcists (men who adjure evil spirits) also undertook to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I solemnly implore and charge you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches!
14Seven sons of a certain Jewish chief priest named Sceva were doing this.
15But [one] evil spirit retorted, Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?
16Then the man in whom the evil spirit dwelt leaped upon them, mastering two of them, and was so violent against them that they dashed out of that house [in fear], stripped naked and wounded.
17This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and alarm and terror fell upon them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled and magnified.” AMPC
We have come to some exciting times in the Kingdom. Times of restoration and of seeing many souls be ripe for salvation. Society as a whole is now taking a paradigm shift that as the spirit of Elijah continues to work to restore families and seek the lost, many will see the effects of their labor of love unto God and love for their neighbor as they love themselves. Now these will go behind the doors of increased anointings, mantles, and rewards with the groom they chose to love and follow even in hard times of testing and trials.
But there is also a group that has lived presumptuously and with a divided heart towards God and the Kingdom. These have refused to leave the ways of the world and allow God to do a deep work in them that may seem risky to them. They have forgotten that in order to live a life where you sow into eternity, you will be asked of God many times to take risks.
Their failure to trust God and relinquish control of their lives to Him have left them behaving like the foolish virgins. Their wrong thinking and behaving have kept them going from one disobedience to another. This in turn caused them to loose authority in the Kingdom until, like the seven sons of Sceva mentioned in the Scripture above, could come to a catalyst incident, that proves that what they had sown into was not eternity, but works of the flesh.
God demonstrated through the Apostle Paul what it means to work in partnership with Him in order to save a society that was infested with idolatry, national pride, and loving gain for selfish ambition like Ephesus, where the doctrine presented by Paul continued to be rejected and prejudiced against because it did not fit their philosophy and contamination with paganism.1
However, because of the depth of the stronghold that demonstrated such things in the natural, God knew that it would take the supernatural to get the attention of those God wanted to touch through the Apostle Paul in that region.
But the sons of Sceva, a chief priest and respected member of their society, presumed that their father’s influence would be enough to cast out devils out of the oppressed without having a wholesome relationship with God and a walk of continual obedience and trust in Him.
Verse 13 of the passage shows that for a while it seemed like what they were doing had some type of effect, but not like Paul’s in changing the hearts of the people back to God because they were casting out demons in the name of the God of Paul. This reveals that they had been in a process that was not yet completed, and their level of authority in the spirit realm was not the same as Paul’s. It also verifies that their rank in the spirit was not as high as the Apostle’s.
The other
thing the sons of Sceva did that proved detrimental for them was that they went
outside of their sphere of influence and authority given by God. This also showed
their lack of understanding of staying faithfully within the confines of the
metron given by God to operate in (group of people assigned by God to influence
and area to have authority over in the spirit realm).
When God has
enlarged our territory, He will prove that by the ease in which doors open for
us to establish the Kingdom of God and we see how He backs us up in the battles
over those territories. The opposite happens when we are not operating in our
assigned sphere of influence and authority.
One other
thing the sons of Sceva should have guarded against was covetousness and
jealousy of Paul’s gifts and anointing to win the lost, as well as his mantle
to see supernatural manifestations of the creative power of God to influence
the people of the region and win their hearts. This means that we need to be
careful to not do things just because we like or want what others have and
presume to do them without inquiring of the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) to see if
this is something we need to be doing.
It is
dangerous to act out of covetousness and jealousy of what others have because
where there is no authority to operate, there is no protection and the people
are wide open to unnecessary warfare that can result in overwhelming damages to
them and those they are connected to.
We can see in
verse 16 how two of the sons of Sceva received devastating blows at the hand of
someone that was oppressed by a demon for which they had not yet paid the price
to be able to overcome. That is because we cannot cast out of others what is still
influencing us (Matthew 7:3-5).
Matthew 25:5-13 says,
“5 While the bridegroom lingered and was slow in coming, they all began nodding their heads, and they fell asleep.
6 But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom! Go out to meet him!
7 Then all those virgins got up and put their own lamps in order.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.
9 But the wise replied, There will not be enough for us and for you; go instead to the dealers and buy for yourselves.
10 But while they were going away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were prepared went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.
11 Later the other virgins also came and said, Lord, Lord, open [the door] to us!
12 But He replied, I solemnly declare to you, I do not know you [I am not acquainted with you].
13 Watch therefore [give strict attention and be cautious and active], for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come.” AMPC
Verse nine of
this passage conveys how it is necessary for us to preoccupy ourselves with
completing every step of the journey towards our destiny more than the destiny
itself. When we reach our destiny, we would have reached the necessary level of
authority in the spirit realm that will help us be recognized like Paul and
Jesus were. Verse twelve attests to this as Jesus acknowledged to the foolish
virgins that they had no recognition in the spirit. That is because to be
recognized by heaven or hell it is necessary to obtain the results we look for of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). For this, we must
pay the price of keeping the supply of the oil of our lamps continually
accessible to us through intimacy and obedience.
What the
foolish virgins found instead was time in the wilderness of testing and trials
designed to help them reach the necessary levels of authority and delegated
power from heaven to destroy the works of the enemy at every level of their
journey. No one that calls himself a believer of Jesus can escape this process
if they want to be counted among those who are world changers and Kingdom
advancers for the glory of God. Those who escaped this process before will be
sent to do it again until they complete what God wants to get out of them in
the wilderness while being mindful of their journey on behalf of the many souls
that will benefit from their obedience.
To Him alone be all the glory.▪
Endnote: Paul at Ephesus
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