Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #8 of Revelation, chapter 18, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 18:3:

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

This is referring to Babylon.  The nations of the world have drunk of the wine of her fornication.  We have seen similar language in previous chapters in the Book of Revelation.  It says in Revelation 14:8:

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Also, it said in Revelation 17:2:

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Then it says in Revelation 17:4:

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

It is the cup of her fornication that the nations of the world drank from and in their drinking of that cup of her fornication God has prepared the world for the final judgment.  In loosing Satan, God is the one that set these things in motion and, at the same time, God lifted His hand of restraint, to a great degree, from the hearts of men, which allowed them to go after their sinful desires which they had always wanted to do.  But now they were unrestrained and they went after sin in full force and we find ourselves living in a world where Sunday is like any other day of the week.  It is no longer recognized by the people of the world as a day set apart.  We find ourselves living in a world where men marry men and women marry women, as if it were fine, but it is completely contrary to the Law of God.  And there are many other sinful activities the world is doing that they were not as prone to do in generations past, but now at the time of the end through the loosing of Satan, God allowed Satan to receive worship from the churches and from the world.  As people serve sin, they also serve Satan to a higher degree. 

We read in Jeremiah 51:7-8:

Babylon hath been a golden cup in the JEHOVAH'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

Again, just as in Revelation 14:8, Babylon is fallen and then God mentions the golden cup that Babylon has caused the nations to drink of and it identifies with Satan’s rule during the 23-year Great Tribulation period when he was called the beast and he received great glory from the nations of the world and all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  This has prepared the unsaved people for the final judgment and that is where we find ourselves now.  The world has drunk from the cup of fornication.  The world is “mad,” as it said in Jeremiah 51:7: “the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.”  In Jeremiah 50 God uses this same word “mad” in Jeremiah 50:38:

A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

Concerning “idolatry,” God said they are “mad” in doing service to their idols.  This is all related to their having drunk of the cup of fornication out of Babylon’s hand and the world has been given over to idolatry.  Remember, God calls “covetousness” idolatry; that would be the spiritual aspect of idolatry.  A person does not have to carve a tree and deck it with gold and silver and set it on their mantle and bow down to it, but “covetousness” or “lusting” after things of the world can be just as idolatrous.  That is more the nature of idolatry today with mankind.  It is an idol that is within their hearts and in their minds, as they crave and lust after the things of the world.  It is one of the reasons why God says in our verse in Revelation 18:3:

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

It is not just the “kings of the earth,” but the merchants of the earth.  Actually, once we get deeper into this chapter, we are going to see that there are “woes” pronounced.  The word “woe” is translated “alas” and it is found three times and is “doubled” each time: “Alas, alas,” or “Woe, woe!”  It is just like Revelation 8, verse 13, when God made the transition from the judgment on the churches to the judgment on the world, it said, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth.”   Three “woes” were pronounced and then it went into chapter 9 and following, and the “three woes” dealt with Judgment Day.  In a sense, there are three woes that are recorded here in Revelation 18 and each “woe” is doubled.  Just like when it says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” it says, “Alas, alas,” and God addresses certain groups of people before He pronounces the “woe.”  Actually, there is pretty much a pattern established, if we look at Revelation 18:9:

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

This was addressed to the kings of the earth and they were also mentioned in our verse 3.  But then notice what it says in Revelation 18:11-17:

And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

So there are three groups: the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth and the shipmasters and companies in ships.  Each one stands afar off and they wail and mourn and they cry, “Alas, alas.”  After addressing each of them, it says things like “For in one hour is thy judgment come.”  It is a pattern that God repeats three times as He addresses these three different groups and He is speaking of Babylon, the kingdom of Satan, which are the kingdoms of this world.  It is unsaved people of the world and God is addressing them and identifying them as merchants of the earth.  We wonder why God addresses the people of the world as “merchants of the earth.” 

We understand when it comes to the Gospel that God likens Himself to a merchantman.  As He says in that wonderful verse in Isaiah 55, to come without money and buy because He freely gives the Gospel and, yet, He uses the language of a merchant dealing in the Gospel.  The Gospel merchandise is part of Babylon because Babylon conquered Judah or Satan conquered the churches and the churches became another province of Babylon, just as Judah became one of the conquered nations that Babylon ruled over and the corporate church became another kingdom that Satan ruled.  He had ruled over the nations and then he added the entire corporate church and, finally, he was the sole ruler over the churches and congregations of the world.  So there was “buying and selling” and “merchandising of the gospel” going on in the churches and that does relate to the language in Revelation, where it said they dealt in “souls of men.” 

But there is more to it.  It is not just the churches, but it is the world that is involved heavily in “merchandising.”  For instance, if we go back to Ezekiel, chapter 27, we read of Tyrus and Tyrus is a picture of mankind or of the world.  It says in Ezekiel 27:2-4:

Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.

When you read Ezekiel 27, you will see, again, and again, the context describes the involvement of Tyrus with “merchants.  For instance, it says in Ezekiel 27:8-9:

The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.

Then it says in Ezekiel 27:12-22:

Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.

And it goes on from there.  Then it says in Ezekiel 27:24-25:

These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.

This is like a business report.  It is speaking of Tyrus involved with this nation and that nation, and so forth: “They were thy merchants.”  It seemed that Tyrus with involved in trading and merchandising with all the nations and that is because Tyrus points to mankind.  We know this from Ezekiel, chapter 28.   It says in Ezekiel 28:2-5:

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

The word “traffic” is a translation of the same Hebrew word translated as “merchandise.”  The heart of man is lifted up because of his “merchandise.”   Just to prove this is man, it says in Ezekiel 28:12-13:

Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

So “Tyrus” was in the Garden of Eden and was created and then God says in Ezekiel 28:14:

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Only man qualifies to be called the “anointed cherub,” as God is likened to cherubims and the cherub identifies with God and mankind was created in the image of God.  It can only be either Satan or mankind and Satan is not the “anointed cherub.”  He was not created in God’s image.

Then it goes on to say in Ezekiel 28:15-16:

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

And God did judge mankind because of their sin, even though they were created “good.”  God cast man out of the kingdom and that is why it is through salvation that a man or woman can be translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.  It is because mankind was outside of the kingdom of God due to the fall.  So we see that “Tyrus” was in the Garden of Eden; he was created; he fell into sin; he is called the anointed cherub.   So it must be man who had an intimate and personal relationship with God, just as the corporate church did, but this was the initial relationship between mankind and God.  Then that relationship was broken.

In speaking of mankind or “Tyrus” as a merchant that deals with all manner of wares with the nations of the world, God is putting His finger on the problem of mankind: his covetous nature and his lust and desire for the things of the world.  God warns us to love not the world or the things of the world, as it says in 1John 2:16-17:

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

That is basically the image that God is presenting in Revelation 18 when He speaks of the merchants of the earth and all the merchandise they deal in, all the wonderful things of the world.  They love the world and the things of the world.  But now has come the fall of Babylon.  Now has come Judgment Day and now comes the removal of these things.  Their merchandise will be taken away and there will the destruction of all of her earthly treasures and the sinful pleasures of mankind.

Just think of the world we live in and the world we are familiar with, if you are having trouble seeing Babylon and the merchants of the earth as representing mankind.  Just think of how important the stock market is to this world or think of the malls and stores that are everywhere and they are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Even on the Lord’s Day, they are open and operating and ready for business.  Think of the TV and radio commercials that constantly bombard the viewers and listeners with advertising.  What is advertising?  It is merchandising and it urges you: “Buy this and buy that!  We are offering a discount.  We have a sale going on.”  What about the holidays?  There is “Black Friday,” a time of great merchandising and the Christmas holiday season is a time to go shopping and buy, buy, buy!  It is the constant theme of the world: buying and selling.  It is merchandising in cars and houses and clothing.  It is money that allows you to operate in the world in order to buy these things.  Yes, the world is full of “merchants.”