THE LIVING CHURCH
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IN OUR imagination, let us seek to place ourselves into the experience of Gaius and Aristarchus as they were seized by this angry crowd. It must have been a terrifying ordeal as physical and verbal abuse was heaped on them. The passion and frenzy of the crowd must have been terribly unnerving. Here were two servants of Jesus having to suffer for Christ's sake. As the world hated Jesus, so it hates those who are followers of Jesus. Satan does not stand idle when his kingdom is being assaulted as it was here. Thank God that, in England at least, believers do not have such awful experiences, although it has been like this in the past, but the hate of the world is still there, and we must be ready to suffer for Christ's sake. We need also to lift up in prayer our fellow believers in countries where persecution is severe, and ask God's love and protection upon them.
Assurance is in this incident, in the midst of the terror. Gaius and Aristarchus both came out of the experience unharmed, as far as we can judge from the record. Frightened, Yes!, but not harmed. Also they had their character and integrity vindicated by the city clerk, who upheld their exemplary character. The Lord was with them, and brought them through safely. The Lord is always there to protect and save, and though suffering and death is sadly inflicted upon God's people sometimes, yet God has not forsaken them, and the suffering of this life cannot be compared with the glory that we shall know in the life to come. (Romans 8:18).
Notice how Satan and evil expose themselves. Demetrius, the silversmith, talks grandly about defending the honour of the Greek idol, Artemis; yet the real reason for his anger and the riot he instigated was greed and his own profit and gain. Evil is often dressed up in a self-righteous cloak. We learn from this that such is the nature of human corruption, that it is so easy to pretend to ourselves and dress up wrong in false righteousness.
Artemis was extensively worshipped in Ephesus and Greece at the time. Human beings are created to be dependent on God, and we have a compulsion and in-built desire for worship. We need to have a god to worship, and when we reject the Lord, then we turn to idols of some sort, even though it may be an ideal. We are only fulfilled when we worship and adore the Lord. How precious is Christ, our God, who has reconciled us to himself by his blood, so we can know him and worship him in spirit and truth. There is no rest for the human soul except in worship of the one and only true God, the Lord of heaven and earth. It is only through Jesus that we can be reconciled to God, and so enter the experience of true worship which fulfils the soul.
It is often so difficult for us to know what is best to do. Paul was in this dilemma. He saw his friends and fellow-workers in the gospel suffering and in danger. His heart went out to them. He felt responsible for them. He cared for them and wanted to be there for them, so he tried to go to their aid in the crowd. Was this the right thing to do? and would this be the best help for them? It is not easy to stand back when a friend is in need, yet in this case it was the best thing to do. It would have been unwise for Paul to rush into the arena. He would have not been able to do anything for them. The crowd would not have listened to him. He would have only angered the crowd more. It was better to pray and trust in the Lord, though this was in one sense harder to do. Caring is best done sometimes in a way that is not the most obvious or seeming to be best.
There is a lesson to be learnt from reading about this crowd. The people were whipped up into a frenzy so quickly. In the fenzy the people were ready to do harm to other human beings. People were being carried along in the emotion of the moment for we read in verse 32 that most did not know why they were there or what they were doing. Christians must always be on their guard against being carried along in the emotion of the moment, and allowing their reason and control to be overcome. We may imagine that this sort of thing could never happen to us, but even in church life, emotions can get out of hand, and causes espoused which are not of the Lord, and things done which as contrary to the life and love of Christ.
Lastly, we can learn from this bit of history that, although Satan is very very powerful and extremely clever, he is not always wise even in pursuing his own agenda. In the end, this riot achieved nothing for the cause of evil and selfishness. It did not change anything. The trade of the silversmiths was not helped. Rather than helping their cause they probably harmed it and cast a bad light over the whole worship of Artemis. In fact they brought themselves under the discipline of the law. Persecution of Christians in the end is counter productive. Persecution seems to strengthen the church, and cause believers to turn to the Lord more closely. The church comes through stronger and more alive. Satan does not seem to learn this lesson. Persecution is very hard to bear, but Jesus promised to be with us in those times and to bring us though safely.