Act 19:1-20  Jesus I Know, and Paul I Know, but Who are You?

[Study Aired July 9, 2023]

Act 19:1  And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Act 19:2  He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Act 19:3  And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Act 19:4  Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Act 19:5  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 19:6  And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Act 19:7  And all the men were about twelve.
Act 19:8  And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Act 19:9  But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
Act 19:10  And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Act 19:11  And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
Act 19:12  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.
Act 19:13  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.
Act 19:14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16  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.
Act 19:17  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.
Act 19:18  And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
Act 19:19  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 thousand pieces of silver.
Act 19:20  So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

The last words about Paul in the previous chapter tell us that he had ended his second missionary journey by going up to the church in Jerusalem, saluting the brothers there and returning to Antioch. He began his third journey when he left Antioch:

Act 18:22  And when he had [sailed from Ephesus he] landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church [at Jerusalem], he went down to Antioch.
Act 18:23  And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

Phrygia and Galatia are where Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch are located. In Lystra they met Timothy and took him with them on their journey.

Chapter 18 ended with our introduction to Apollos and his interactions with Aquilla and Priscilla and the church at Ephesus. From Ephesus, Apollos went to water the church Paul had established in Corinth:

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Act 19:1  And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

Here is a map of this third journey which helps us to see that in this journey the holy spirit does not forbid Paul from preaching the gospel in Asia, so he goes straight from Antioch in Pisidia to Ephesus:

Timelines of Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

“The upper coasts” certainly included “all the countries of Galatia and Phrygia” mention in Acts 18:23. On this third journey, Paul goes straight from Antioch in Pisidia and returned to Ephesus, as he had promised he would if the Lord permitted it to be so:

Act 18:19  And he came to Ephesus, and left them there [Aquilla and Priscilla]: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
Act 18:20  When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;
Act 18:21  But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.

These “certain disciples” whom Paul met at Ephesus were like Apollos before he was instructed by Aquilla and Priscilla. They also knew only “the baptism of John.” What that means is that they knew John had proclaimed Christ to be the Messiah, but they were not familiar with the giving of the holy ghost on the day of Pentecost.

Act 19:2  He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Act 19:3  And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
Act 19:4  Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Act 19:5  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Paul did not baptize them “in the name of the Father and the Son and the holy ghost”. He baptized them “in the name of Jesus” as the apostles had done on the day of Pentecost when the holy spirit was first given:

Act 2:38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The Catholic Encyclopedia admits that the formula of baptizing “in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy ghost” was added by the Catholic church and was not in the original Greek manuscripts. For any who are not familiar with this fact, be sure to read Is God A Trinity at this link:

Is God a Trinity?

Act 19:6  And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Act 19:7  And all the men were about twelve.

This is the third time the gift of speaking in other languages is mentioned in relation to receiving the holy spirit. This first occurred on the day of Pentecost when the spirit was given to the 120 people in the upper room. It next occurred at the home of Cornelius, the Roman centurion when Peter was the first apostle to take the gospel to the Gentiles, and it happened the third time here at Ephesus with these 12 disciples who are also given the gift of languages when they receive the holy spirit.

In the recounting of those three events were we told anywhere that the gift of tongues is always given to those who receive the holy spirit??? Were we told that if you do not speak with other languages, then you have not yet been given the gift of the holy spirit?

No, of course not! Nevertheless, that doctrine is taught to many “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3”1-4), whose “zeal for godliness, but not according to knowledge” has led them to accept a very poor counterfeit for the real languages which were spoken, “every man in his own tongue” in Acts 2.

Act 2:4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Act 2:6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
Act 2:7  And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Act 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

These verses demonstrate the very purpose for the gift of speaking in their own language… “every man in our own tongue wherein we were born.”

Here is the purpose for which this gift of languages is given:

1Co 14:22  Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

There were people present of the day of Pentecost who were “them that believe not”, and this miraculous gift was a very powerful witness to them of the Truth of the gospel. Based upon the purpose for the gift of languages, it is not adding to the Word to say there were unbelievers present when these 12 men were also given the gift of languages at the same time they were given the gift of the holy spirit.

That is the exact opposite of the doctrinal statement of several Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations of men which state “the gift of unknown tongues is the initial evidence of the receiving of the holy ghost.” I, for one, agree with the inspired Word of God that the gift of languages is not given to prove the gift to other believers who have the holy spirit. Rather, the gift of the holy spirit is given to all who know the voice of the True Shepherd:

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

The apostle Paul addresses this idea, that the holy spirit is not given unless one speaks in tongues, directly when he poses this series of questions:

1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, [and last of all] diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29  Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30  Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Co 12:31  But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

The answer to every one of those questions is a resounding, No! Not everyone is an apostle… not everyone has the gift of healing, and not everyone speaks with tongues. In many modern-day Pentecostal and Charismatic churches the “workers of miracles [and] gifts of healing” are far more important than being an apostle, prophet, or teacher.

The word ‘unknown’ is not in the Greek and was never intended to be understood as the unintelligible syllables which pass for ‘the gift of tongues’ in many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches today.

Concerning those “best gifts” Paul specifically contrasts the gift of speaking in languages with the much greater gift of prophesying in a language which everyone present understands:

1Co 14:3  But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
1Co 14:4  He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
1Co 14:5  I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

That is the holy spirit telling us that “he that speaks unto men to edification, and exhortation and comfort” is greater that “he that speaks with tongues.” If  the doctrine that ‘speaking with tongues is the initial evidence of the gift of the holy spirit’ were true, and ‘if we have not the spirit of Christ then we are none of His’, then anyone speaking to men to edification, and exhortation and comfort, would have to have the gift of tongues before he could prophesy and speak to men to edification and  exhortation and comfort, and yet Paul tells us that those who have these various gifts do not necessarily have the gift of tongues or languages. Let’s read those verses in 1 Corinthians 12 again:

1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, [and last of all] diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29  Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30  Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

The answer to every question in those verses is an obvious and emphatic, “No!” The inference is that each member of “the body of Christ” has a different function, and it is obvious that not all possess all the gifts of the spirit, and yet they all do possess the gift of the holy spirit if anyone is Christ’s.

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

For a more in-depth treatment of the false doctrine of speaking in unknown tongues read this article:

Speaking in Unknown Tongues

Paul spent a year and six months ministering in Corinth during his second journey:

Act 18:11  And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

He spent even more time ministering in Ephesus on His third journey beginning with three months preaching in the synagogue.

Act 19:8  And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

This “space of three months… [going] into the synagogue disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God” was just the beginning of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. When different men “were hardened, and believed not”, Paul stopped preaching in the synagogue and started preaching daily “in the school of one Tyrannus”:

Act 19:9  But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
Act 19:10  And this [disputing daily in the school of… Tyrannus] continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia [including “the seven churches of Asia” (Rev 1:4)] heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

Besides the three months spent preaching in the synagogue, he spent “the space of two years” preaching there “daily in the school of one Tyrannus.”

In the next chapter, Paul informs us that in total he spent “three years… [in the area of Ephesus, Act 20:17] warning everyone night and day with tears” of a coming apostasy from the Truth of the gospel:

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Act 19:11  And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
Act 19:12  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.

Inwardly and spiritually “special miracles” are still taking place as they were physically and outwardly here in this case with the apostle Paul. No one performed more ‘special miracles, healed more sick people or cast out more devils than Christ:

Joh 21:25  And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Yet Christ Himself revealed that not even His own apostles were converted while He was still here on earth in a body of flesh. Therefore, while Christ performed so many physical miracles and healings, He did not convert one single soul during His entire earthly ministry. Not even His own apostles. This is what He told Peter on the night He was apprehended by the Jews to be crucified:

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Luk 22:34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

Christ performed so many miracles and healings that the world could not contain the books if they were all recorded for us to read, yet He had not converted one single soul at that time. The fact that He did not convert one single soul, and yet we do convert sinners from the errors of their ways (Jas 5:20), is what He meant when He told us this:

Joh 14:12  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

The “greater things” that we perform is the “saving of souls”:

Jas 5:20  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

The only thing any of the apostles did which was “greater works than” Jesus did was and still is the conversion of the souls of mankind. Physical miracles are wonderful, but they are temporal. Spiritual conversion brings “life eternal”, and that is defined by Christ Himself as you and I making Christ and His Father known to a dying world:

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2  As thou [the Father] hast given him [Christ] power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Every time the Lord uses any of His saints to open the eyes and ears of another person, He is spiritually healing that person of their spiritual afflictions and spiritual diseases while also casting out the “evil spirits” which “many false prophets” have brought into the unsuspecting lives of “carnal… babes in Christ” who are not yet capable of “trying the spirits [to see] whether they are of God”:

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit [every doctrine], but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Job chapters one and two demonstrate that the devil’s ‘hand’ is nothing less than the Lord’s hand:

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

According to Job, the works of Satan are “the hand” of the Lord. It was the Lord Himself whose hand “formed the crooked serpent” for the very purpose of serving the Lord as His adversary. As such a tool in the Lord’s hand, that “crooked serpent” does nothing more or less than what the Lord sends him to perform… ‘take all he has “only upon himself put not forth thine hand… he is in thine hand; but save his life.”

Job 26:13  By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Here now is a story which demonstrates How the Lord uses ‘His hand’, the adversary, to make manifest who is His true servant and who are not His true servants:

Act 19:13  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.

The Greek word translated as ‘vagabond’ is:

G4022
περιέρχομαι
perierchomai
per-ee-er’-khom-ahee

From G4012 and G2064 (including its alternate); to come all around, that is, stroll, vacillate, veer: – fetch a compass, vagabond, wandering about.

This Greek word appears in the New Testament with both a positive and a negative application. This 13^th verse of Acts 19 is one example of its negative application. Another example of its negative application is:

1Ti 5:13  And withal they [young widows (1Ti 5:11)] learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house [G4022: perierchomai, stroll, to go about]; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

It is used in its positive application in ‘the faith chapter’, Hebrews 11, to refer to those who travel about serving the Lord and preaching the gospel, as the apostle Paul and those who traveled with him did:

Heb 11:36  And others [of faith] had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about [G4022: perierchomai] in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

These seven son of Sceva were traveling Jews, the sons of the “chief of the priests” who made a show of their exorcisms before those who followed them. There are those who do the same to this day glorifying themselves instead of the Lord.

Act 19:14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

According to James Strong, the name ‘Sceva’ means ‘left-handed’. No offense is meant toward those whom the Lord has caused to be left-handed, my wife being one such person, but the negative, spiritual Biblical symbolism is to be on the wrong side of God in this age:

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

The positive spiritual symbolism of being left-handed is spot on accuracy in battling the enemies of God with His slings and arrows:

Jdg 20:15  And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and six thousand men that drew sword, beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
Jdg 20:16  Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

The symbolism of seven sons of a Jew who is “chief of the priests” signifies the complement, the completed apostasy, of the religious leaders who oppose Christ and His doctrine in this age.

Act 19:15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

The question posed by this evil spirit is, “Who are we when we are still in Babylon, to think we can teach all the false doctrines of Babylon and still have the power of Christ and His Christ over the powers and principalities of this age?” Here is another way of asking this same question. This verse reveals the personal application of, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?”

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Act 19:16  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.

This is a perfect description of what the Lord does to us while we continue to live as a part of Babylon in this world while claiming His name and His power. Like these seven sons of a Jewish chief of the priests, our arrows, our words, are cut in pieces and work against us:

Psa 58:7  Let them [the wicked] melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

That is what happens to all of us when we claim the Lord’s name and His power, but we refuse to do the things He tells us to do:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Using the Lord’s name while refusing to eat His bread and wear His apparel will place us with the seven sons of Sceva and the seven women of Isaiah 4 – on the Lord’s ‘left hand’.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Contrast this story of the seven sons of Sceva with the stories of Paul casting the spirit of divination out of the damsel in Philippi, or calling blindness down on Elymas, another Jewish false prophet, in Paphos…

Act 13:6  And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: [Greek: son of Jesus “another Jesus” (2Co 11:4)]
Act 13:7  Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Act 13:8  But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
Act 13:9  Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
Act 13:10  And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Act 13:11  And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
Act 13:12  Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.

…with the damsel at Philippi on Paul’s second journey:

Act 16:16  And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
Act 16:17  The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Act 16:18  And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit [of devination], I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

This evil spirit knew who Jesus was, and it knew who Paul was, but it was not at all subject to the false spirit in the seven sons of Sceva, and this event, like the blindness of Elymas, also made everyone who heard what happened to “be astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”

Act 19:17  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.

Paul and his company gave all the credit for what was done to the Lord to whom all credit belongs.

Act 19:18  And [as a consequence of the 12 men being given the ability to speak in languages and as a consequence of this one demon possessed man overpowering the seven sons of Sceva, after acknowledging that it knew Jesus and Paul] many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

Confessing and showing their deeds are two ways of saying the same thing. They confessed their sins and demonstrated their repentance:

Mat 3:5  Then went out to him [John] Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
Mat 3:6  And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Act 19:19  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 thousand pieces of silver.
Act 19:20  So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

The word ‘pieces’ you will notice is in italics, signifying that it is not in the Greek. All the scholars agree that this verse refers to the most common silver coin in the Roman empire at that time, which was a ‘dinarius’. A ‘piece of silver’ was called a dinari, which was a day’s wages for a common laborer. The ‘penny’ given the laborers in the Lord’s vineyard was a dinari:

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny [G1220: denarion] a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Several commentaries agree that “fifty thousand” day’s wages in today’s money would be 5.5 million U.S. dollars. That book burning in Ephesus had to have been one of the most expensive deliberate book burnings of all time.

Spiritually it signifies the burning out of all the false doctrines in our heavens as we are given to repent of believing those lies while they are being burned out by the fiery words of God:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The sooner the better!

2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.