Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #27 of Revelation, chapter 18, and we are going to read Revelation 18:15-19:

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, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

I will stop reading there.  As we have been going through Revelation, chapter 18, we have seen that God is describing the judgment of Babylon at the end of time.  It is the judgment upon this world and the kingdom of Satan.

In these verses God is giving an illustration of those that witness Babylon’s destruction.  He spoke of the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth and He also speaks of shipmasters.  There are three groups that are witnessing it and the number “three” points to God’s purpose.  Also, three times the statement is made “in one hour,” and this indicates God’s purpose, too.  It is also said three times, “Alas, alas,” and that is the same as saying, “Woe, woe,” which we saw back in Revelation 8, when God was transitioning judgment from the churches to the world and He said, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth.”  The final three trumpets identify with each of the “woes,” so the three woes pointed to the judgment of the world that would be outlined in Revelation, chapter 9, and following.  It is also three woes that are “doubled,” because one of the things emphasized in this chapter indicated, “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works.”  It was a double measure of judgment that was given to Babylon and we discussed this previously.  It was the judgment on the “two thirds,” after judgment on the “one third,” and the “two thirds” was “666,” the number of man.  So the three illustrations God gives are really one, with each one describing the same thing and that is why there is similar language; they are looking at the fall of Babylon in the day of God’s wrath, which began on May 21, 2011, immediately after the Tribulation.

We read in Revelation 18:17:

For in one hour so great riches is come to nought…

We spent some time in the last couple of studies looking at how God views mankind and the wealth that people treasure up in their hearts against the day of wrath, because they are going to have to pay for their sins: “The wages of sin is death.”  It is the loss of their earthly inheritance and God does speak in the Bible of an inheritance for every human being.  The elect receive an eternal inheritance which is eternal life in the new heaven and new earth and a glorious future with God for evermore.

But God also speaks of unsaved people as receiving an inheritance and, yet, their inheritance is given to them in this world and they have wasted their substance; they have wasted their inheritance on the pleasures of sin and earthly things.  They stored up their riches in a very dangerous location, which is in this world.  They are earthly valuables – houses and cars and money in the bank – and they are all gone when a man dies or when the end of the world comes.  They have gone after the things of the world that God warned against when He said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,” because, “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.”  So God told mankind, “Do not be a fool.  Do not be deceived and go after the present satisfaction and enjoyment of things.  Do not cast off the reward of your future inheritance of eternal life for the sorrowful and pitiful inheritance of living in sin for a season.  That was the sin of Esau.  Remember that earlier he had sold his birthright.  He came in from the field and he was hungry; Jacob was making some red pottage and for the present fulfillment of a bowl of soup Esau sold his birthright.  We might think, “What a terrible deal that was,” but it is actually an excellent illustration of what mankind does with their birthright.  We were created in the image of God, but we give up that eternal inheritance by going after temporary earthly things and by forsaking eternal things. 

Now it is the end and this is the time we are in, as we are living in the Day of Judgment.  Here, in Revelation 18, God is showing us a picture of unsaved people witnessing the loss of their earthly inheritance, their riches and the treasures they had stored up, as it says in Revelation 18:17:

For in one hour so great riches is come to nought…

Literally, this reads: “Because in one hour was desolated great riches.”  Again, notice it is in the “past tense.”  The phrase “come to nought” should be translated “desolated,” which is a word that is in the “past tense.”  It is the same word that is found in Revelation 18:19:

And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

The word translated as “desolate” is the same word and notice that the word “made” indicates a past action, so it agrees with the statement back in Revelation 18:10: “For in one hour has thy judgment come,” or “was came.”  It focuses on the end of the “hour,” which points to the Great Tribulation.  The “hour” has elapsed, the period of the greatest rule for Satan and his kingdom of Babylon.  It was that last “hour” of the Great Tribulation and then came the conclusion of the hour, the end of the Great Tribulation and all the riches Babylon immediately “come to nought” or Babylon is “made desolate.”  The word “desolate” is Strong’s #2049 and it is related to #2048, which is translated often as “wilderness” or “desert.”  When God left the world and completed His salvation period, the Gospel dried up and the world instantly became a barren wasteland – it was “made desolate.”

Let us continue in Revelation 18:17:

… And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

God has already told us about the kings of the earth and the merchants of the earth watching this occur and now He is directing our attention to the “sea,” to those involved in the merchant marines; each one of the jobs listed has to do with sailing or shipping.  The word “shipmaster” is only found one other place, in Acts, chapter 27, where the Apostle Paul travels on a ship that will be shipwrecked.  It says in Acts 27:11:

Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

The word “master” is the same word translated as “shipmaster” in our verse.  Then it refers to “the company in ships.”  The word “company” is only used in this verse, but it has to do with people that are on board the ship, we can say, as well as “sailors.”  The word “sailors” is also translated as “shipmen” a couple of times in Acts, chapter 27.  For instance, it says in Acts 27:27:

But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;

The word “shipmen” is the same word as “sailors.”  The shipmaster is the master of the ship and the company in ships are passengers, we could say, and the sailors or shipmen and, finally, it also says “”and as many as trade by sea.”   The word “trade” is the same word translated as “work,” as when people labor.  Everything in the verse has to do with ships.  Normally, we would think that a “ship” relates to the churches and the ship in Acts, chapter 27, is a type and figure of the New Testament churches.  When it became shipwreck, it was a picture of the end of the church age.  Paul and the entire company on board, which numbered 276 souls, made it safely to land to the island of Malta.  They represent God’s elect within the churches at the point of the end of the church age and at the end of the church age they are all safely delivered from the shipwreck and they make it to the island of Malta.  Once on the island, they take sail again and it was a ship that had the sign of Castor and Pollux but it is a ship that does not identify with the churches and the congregations, but with the world.  So that means a ship can represent the churches or it can have relationship with the world, as does the ship in Acts 28.

We also went back to Ezekiel 27 in our last study and we saw that Tyrus was deeply involved as merchants upon the sea, as it says in Ezekiel 27:26-32:

Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots. And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land; And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes: And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?

We can show from Ezekiel 28 that God says the king of Tyrus was in the Garden of Eden and he was called the “anointed cherub,” and he was, therefore, a representation of mankind.  In Ezekiel 27 it is the day of Tyrus’ ruin.  We need to make one important point regarding both Ezekiel 27 and Revelation 18, since we saw some language that directed us to Acts, chapter 27, and we might get the idea that it was referring to the end of the church age.  But, no, it is not.  In Acts 27 it is the ship that is destroyed, but in Revelation 18 it is Babylon that is destroyed and it says, “And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning.”  If the language here was of weeping and crying because the ships were destroyed and burning, then we might think it was the judgment on the churches, but it is not the ships that burn.  It is the city of Babylon.  It is not the ships in Ezekiel 27, but it is the city of Tyrus that is being ruined.  It is the destination for the ships or where they sailed to and from, as they are merchants of the sea and they trade by sea, so they go to Tyrus or they travel to Babylon.  But now it is Babylon.  We could understand that the shipmen and the earlier reference to the kings of the earth could relate to those within the corporate churches and it is as though they are witnessing the destruction of the one they have committed spiritual fornication with (Babylon) and they were involved in trading with her.  They had become a part of the Babylon of this world and they are sorrowing at the destruction of Satan’s kingdom.  We could understand it that way, but it can also be the unsaved people of the earth as God speaks also of them, in Ezekiel 27, as having relationship to ships.  We could also relate it to those that sailed in a ship that had the sign of Castor and Pollux. 

Again, these four groups (the shipmasters, all the companies in ships, the sailors and those that trade by sea) are pictured because the number “four” points to universality or the worldwide nature of the judgment. 

It goes on to say in Revelation 18:18-19:

And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

This is basically reiterating the same thing, as God often does in the Bible.  He makes a point and He drives the point home and then He further emphasizes the point because this is the purpose of God concerning the judgment of this world; it has come.  It is the time of the end.