“But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis [Diana] of the Ephesians!” –Acts 19:34
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” –Psalm 145:3
Reading: Acts 19:23-41; Psalm 145
In the large theater of Ephesus, the devotees of Diana…confessed with one voice, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” The cries of their loyalty expressed the esteem that many had in that day for the crude goddess whose worship centered in the magnificent temple that was one of the seven wonders of the world. If insistent and emphatic affirmation could establish falsehood as true, the cries of faith that were uttered in the theater of Ephesus should have established forever the excellence and magnificence of Diana.
The centuries have passed, however, and the worshipers of Diana have gone; the great city of Ephesus has fallen into ruins; the temple of Diana has been destroyed, and now a stagnant frog pond is found at its site. Today, instead of cries of devotion to Diana one hears the croaking of thousands of frogs.
Ephesus is dead and Diana is dead. With other discredited and abandoned deities of antiquity, Diana has perished—and her followers have been replaced by frogs in a stagnant pond. But the Gospel that Paul preached in Ephesus is not dead and will not die. And the God to whom Paul testified in Ephesus still lives and reigns and will live and reign forever. For He is the One who alone is great and is greatly to be praised, and whose greatness is unsearchable.
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