THURSDAY April 4, 2024
The City of Ephesus
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:1-2
Ephesus is located on the west coast of Turkey and was a Roman, provincial capital of Asia Minor. It was a busy port city located by the Aegean Sea. Ephesus was one of the most used, wealthy, commercial centers of the time. It has been said that the port was known to be “the Gate by which the West visited the East.”
The city of Ephesus was incredible. Many of its streets and temple columns were made from pure marble. The surrounding areas had fountains, monuments and statues. People went to the Great Theatre that was enlarged to seat 25,000 people and to see the architectural genius of the Celsus Library.
Interestingly, there were three main roads from Ephesus: one led south to the Meander Valley; another east toward Babylon via Laodicea; and the road north to Smyrna. At this time, the population stood at an estimated 250,000, making it the second largest city in the Roman world. It was home for Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Jews, and Gentiles.
Paul had previously visited Ephesus for a short period of time. He was there for only about three months. He had traveled to the city with two of his loyal friends, Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18-21). The planting of the church in Ephesus was attributed to Paul. He returned to the city on his third missionary journey and stayed there for almost 3½ years. The church flourished.
In the book of Acts, we see that Paul had encountered twelve men who knew only the baptism of John the Baptist. He prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). There was a great revival due to God working miracles through the Apostle. He healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. People repented and burned their books of magic. The Word of God grew mightily (Acts 19:11-20).
Pray that God would bring revival to our cities!
If we want revivals, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God.
~C. H. Spurgeon~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!
