Ephesus, The Gateway
In ancient times, long before the birth of Christ, Greek leaders chose Ephesus as their gateway city into Asia Minor. At the mouth of the Cayster River they built a harbor for ships of war and trade. Roads ran eastward from the ports of Ephesus and Miletus to connect Greek businesses with their trading partners in Asia. Many families moved to the city of Ephesus and prospered there. But Ephesus had not yet welcomed the most important family of all, the family of God.
In Ephesus the Greeks built a temple to their many-breasted goddess, an idol called Artemis. (Romans called it Diana.) This temple, begun in the seventh century B.C., was re-built seven times. By the first century it was the largest building in the known world, about four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens. The very symbol of Ephesus, its magnificence made it one of the “Seven Wonders of the World.” But the true temple, the temple of the living God, had not yet been built in Ephesus.
Romans eventually conquered that part of the world. They made Ephesus a capital for the province they called “Asia” (today’s Western Turkey). They gave Ephesus the title, “First and Greatest Metropolis of Asia.” Leading Ephesians called themselves “citizens of Rome.” But they were not citizens of the greatest kingdom, the kingdom of God.
How did the family of God come to Ephesus? How did the true God build His temple there? How did God’s kingdom bring life and hope? All three questions refer to the same event, which happened in a way that people then failed to recognize. (It still takes people by surprise today.)
Mainly it happened through three strangers who came to town. Two were refugees driven from Rome by Claudius Caesar. One was a traveler passing through on his way home. These three strangers were, in fact, three children of God. Their arrival in Ephesus opened a door of salvation for Asia.
Their arrival also opens a door of understanding for us. We learn the meaning of God’s kingdom. We too grow into God’s temple. We take our place in the greatest family of all, the family of God.
Pictures:
- Map of Greece and Asia Minor, showing the locations for Athens, Corinth and Ephesus.
- The Parthenon is the most famous ancient temple in Athens, Greece. It helps us to imagine what the temple of Artemis, in Ephesus, must have looked like. The difference is that the temple of Artemis was four times larger, the largest building in the Greek and Roman world.