Bible Gem 2355 – It’s Not Personal; It’s Just Business (Revelation 18:1-24)

¹After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendour. ²He gave a mighty shout: “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. ³For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.”

Revelation 18:1-3

⁴Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. ⁵For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds. ⁶Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her. ⁷She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’

⁸Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.” ⁹And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. ¹⁰They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.” ¹¹The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods.

¹²She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood; and bronze, iron, and marble. ¹³She also bought cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies—that is, human slaves. ¹⁴“The fancy things you loved so much are gone,” they cry. “All your luxuries and splendour are gone forever, never to be yours again.” ¹⁵The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out, ¹⁶“How terrible, how terrible for that great city! She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls! ¹⁷In a single moment all the wealth of the city is gone!” And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance. ¹⁸They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as this?” ¹⁹And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for that great city! The shipowners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas. In a single moment it is all gone.”

Revelation 18:4-19

²⁰Rejoice over her fate, O heaven and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for your sakes. ²¹Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again. ²²The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again. ²³The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries. ²⁴In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”

Revelation 18:20-24

If you remember I suggested in the last Gem that you ponder these things for yourself before I released this Gem. To help you do just that:

I gave you nine repetitions to ponder.

Nine Repetitions

• Babylon is fallen; the nations have fallen [18:2]
• desires for extravagant luxury / lived in luxury / enjoy great luxury ⁺ [18:3,7,9,14]
• merchants grow rich, weep – no buyers, became wealthy, all wealth gone [18:3,11,15,17]
• double her penalty / do to her as she has done / brew twice as much for her [18:6^3x]
• terror / torment / terrified / terrible [18:7,10,15,16,19]
• in a single day [18:8,10,17,9]
• stand at a distance [18:10,15,17]
• no none left to buy, all wealth gone, [18:11,17]
• gone, gone forever, never to be yours again [18:14⁽²⁾,17,19]

Along with . . . Two Angels and Four Categories of Players

• Two Angelic Messengers from heaven
• The Queen of the City
• The Kings of the World
• The Merchants of the World
• The Ship Captains, Passengers and Crews

Each highly significant and carefully structured. In addition to that I gave you the words and lyrics of Ray Stevens’ song Mr Businessman. I didn’t give you that song for entertainment or to fill in time or space. I felt that song came to mind as inspiration from God. The song is highly relevant to Revelation Chapter 18, the nine repetitions and the alignment of players in the end time drama. As Gordon Fee suggested, “this is narrative art at it finest”. I trust you have pondered it long and hard enough; I certainly have. I did tell you there was more to come. It might pay you to listen to the song again and think about what John has arranged for us.

Yes us, together with the people of God in the seven churches at the end of the First Century. What lines from the song struck you? Do you see the relevance of such lines to the situation in the First Century and for us today?

• Do you have doubt disturbing doubts about religion?
• Are your morals exempting you from guilt and shame? “Heaven knows you’re not to blame.”
• In actuality, all of heaven does know the degree of culpability you and I bear.
• Are you prepared to get down to the real business with God before it’s too late?
• Or is the limit of your senses only to survive, like the merchants of the First Century?
• Are you placing value on the worthless, disregarding priceless wealth?
• Do you wheel and deal and steal with impunity?

[’86 proof anesthetic’ refers to 86 proof alcoholic drink containing 43% alcohol by volume or 86 parts alcohol to 200 ml of drink. In other words high alcohol content.] Will that help you assuage your guilt? Do you have a fake smile and ulcers?

• Are you ready to take that final inventory Mr or Mrs Business person?
• As such an important individual, is your autograph going to be your epitaph?

All in this chapter are indicted by the degree to which they immersed themselves in a life of luxury at the expense of others. Pay heed to Micah 6:8 which contains the human, personal characteristics God wants you to demonstrate:

• to do what is just and right
• to love mercy and give grace
• to walk humbly with God.

or

• Do you shun what is just and fair?
• Love to dish out harsh judgement mercilessly?
• Walk proud and haughty because you think you’re privileged?

Each of these people in focus, kings, religionists, merchants and distributers of luxury items conformed to the public expectation, the attitude of the majority. The major players in this case were all weighed in the balance and found wanting. Yet all stood on the sideline and tried to distance themselves from guilt, pleading “heaven knows I was not like that”. Do you realise when you are fixated on wealth and living the life of luxury, you are complicit in adding to the plight of the poor and downtrodden? Read again Exodus 22:21-27, Amos 2:6-8 and this time add Matthew 25:40-43. You will not be able to stand at a distance and plead ignorance. You will be implicated by association. None of the statements these people made held any grain of truth. In reality they were judged by what they did not do in their choice to plead “heaven knows I was not like that!” The verdict of the angels was that Babylon and Rome (worldly systems) were filled with foul spirit, every foul bird and every foul and dreadful animal. All symbols of depravity and doomed for judgement.

All the red statements are “self confessions” in their defence which are all baseless and merely expressed self-interest. None were concerned for the city but were concerned only for the fact that now they had lost their business and their customers. They were pleading that now “the wealth of the city” {read “their wealth and the luxury products they enjoyed”} were no more. They were not concerned about the city, only themselves.

Now it is time to address the length of the section related to the merchants and the fact that John listed pedantically 28 different luxury items, two of which stand out as curious or noteworthy. Are you aware of which two stand out? All of these “products” were imported. As usual, this Gem has grown longer than intended, but it has been necessary to draw your attention to all chapter 18 contains. So I am going to leave it for you at this point having pointed out the significance of the inclusion of John’s exhaustive list. It’s like he has listed these 28 luxuries to highlight what he saw and heard which heightens the nature of the sin of the Roman world.

• Take some more time to ponder the length of the merchants portion.
• Why is it twice as long as all the other sections?
• Why belabour the role of the merchants?
• Which two items in the list of 28 stand out? It is quite brilliant what John has done.

I will highlight John’s brilliance and uncover “the fineness of his narrative art” in the next Gem, titled Let’s Look at the List. If you can’t wait that long, then write to me either by email [email protected] or via the Comments Section at the bottom of this Gem telling me which two items in the list of 28 you think stand out. If you want to know before the release of the next Gem ask me to send you the two standout items ahead of time. I will, but to your email or What’s App or Messenger account so I don’t spoil it for others who want to work it out for themselves.

I promise the next Gem will be earlier than recent ones have been. We are in the midst of the process of selling our house, hoping to move into a retirement home. Wednesday is the auction, so my time won’t be taken up with downsizing and house sales issues. But then the move needs to happen.

Don’t complain about me teasing you with identifying which two items in the list are significant. I know there are numbers of you who love the fact that I hint at elements in the text for you to find for yourselves. I know you love it. And even if you don’t, you should! The Bible is like that; there are hidden layers to be discovered.

Have fun!

Passion and devotion grow when you begin to understand the big picture or understand how to understand.  Or learn for the first time that there are little hidden gems in the Bible text waiting for you to discover them.

Ian

Your character is defined by what you do repeatedly and habitually. So if you want to improve your character, change your habits.

Rick Warren

We all make mistakes. The wise admit & learn from them. The insecure deny them. The foolish repeat them. The godly forgive them.

Rick Warren

Every step of obedience will bring you closer to God’s desired destination.

Jeffrey Rachmat

Take some time now to see if you can spot the two items in the list which beg for attention. Go on do it. I dare you. The list is found in Revelation 18:11-13.

Ian