Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #28 of Revelation, chapter 18, and before we get into our regular study, I would like to mention that during our Sunday online question and answer program, a caller had some insight into the statement we find back in Revelation 18:11-13:

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.

The caller suggested that in verse 11, when it says, “for no man buyeth their merchandise any more,” the word “buyeth” is the Greek word that is also translated as “redeemeth,” and, therefore, the “man” could be Christ.  After checking this out, I think it is correct.  For instance, we know that several times in the Bible it speaks of Jesus as a “man,” without any further identification.  For example, let us go back to Jeremiah 5:1:

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Here, the Lord is speaking to Jerusalem, a type and figure of the New Testament corporate church, and He is saying, “Search all your congregations throughout the entire church world and if you can find the Spirit of Christ anywhere in the midst of these churches and congregations, then I will not bring the judgment that begins at the house of God, but I will pardon it.”  But the judgment was that Christ had departed out, so there was no “man,” or no Spirit of God, within the churches of the world. 

We also saw that same idea in Jeremiah, chapter 50, as we went through it and it is a chapter that is focused on the judgment of Babylon, just as our chapter in Revelation 18.  The Lord said in Jeremiah 50:40:

As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith JEHOVAH; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.

The reference to no man abiding in Babylon is, without question, a reference to Christ.  Just to make sure we do not miss it, God restates it using the familiar name “son of man,” as He says, “so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.”  Of course, one of Jesus’ names, again, and again, in the Gospel accounts is the “Son of man,” so we are on very safe ground to understand this reference to a man in Revelation 18 to be referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us read it, again, in Revelation 18:11:

And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

Now when we look at the merchandise, we see the first items listed are “gold, silver, precious stones.”  What does God use “gold, silver, precious stones” to represent?  According to 1Corinthians, chapter 3, they represent true believers and they go through the fire and are purified and come out the other side, as compared to the “wood, hay, stubble” that are burned up.  Babylon is under judgment and, therefore, Christ no longer buys or “redeems” the merchandise any more; that is, He is not going to be involved in the merchandise of “gold, silver, precious stones,” and other familiar items like “wine, oil, fine flower and wheat” that also involve the Gospel.  Christ is not going to evangelize Babylon, the world.  He is not going to “redeem” anyone from Babylon any longer.  Again, the word “buyeth” is also translated as “redeemeth” a couple of times.   In Revelation, chapter 14, it speaks of the 144,000 that typify those saved during the church age and it says in Revelation 14:3-4:

And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

These were “redeemed” or “bought” from the earth or from among men.  Here, the very same word is clearly being used by the Lord to refer to His redemptive salvation program.  The Bible says, “Know ye not that ye are bought with a price?”  Christ purchased each one He saved.  As it says in Revelation 14:3, the 144,000 were “redeemed from the earth,” or they were “bought from the earth.”  In our verse in Revelation 18:11, the focus is on the merchants of the earth and no man buys or redeems their merchandise any more.  Christ had redeemed the 144,000 from earth, but now He is no longer in the market to buy the souls of men.  It is over and done and there is no more because God has saved His elect people and they were the only ones God had ever planned to saved.  He has found them all and they are safe and secure and their lives are hidden in Christ with God.  Now Christ is no longer involved in “buying and selling,” and this is what is being described in these verses.  I think it makes perfect sense and it harmonizes with what is being said here.

Let us go back to where we are currently studying and look at Revelation 18:20.  Let me just remind everyone that from verse 8 through verse 19 God pictures Babylon burning and the smoke of her burning was rising.  The kings of the earth and the merchants of the earth and the all those that trade by sea were watching Babylon burn and crying, “Woe, woe.”  Again, the merchants were weeping and mourning over her because no man redeems their merchandise any more and this fits perfectly with everything God did on May 21, 2011; He shut the door of heaven and ended His salvation program.  In a sense, God is giving “eyes” to the blind of the world because the world did witness God’s judgment on that day and since that day and, yet, without understanding.  So they “see,” but they “see not,” and God typifies the unsaved of the world (including those in the churches) as if they do comprehend and they are seeing the destruction of the riches of the world. 

Really, the true riches of the world was the true Gospel and the reference to “one hour” has to do with the completion of the Great Tribulation, for in one hour has thy judgment came.  It is in the past tense in all three places we find this term “one hour” used, because the “hour” has elapsed; it is the end of the “hour,” or the end of the Great Tribulation.  It is the time God turns His attention against the instrument of judgment, as the Lord had loosed Satan and used him and his emissaries as an instrument of destruction against the churches and congregations of the world.  Now God’s full attention is turned against Satan, typified by the king of Babylon, and Satan’s kingdom, typified by Babylon itself.  So we read in Revelation 18:20:

Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

It says, “Rejoice over her,” and it is something we do not like to think of, but God pictures Judgment Day and He is saying, “I have taken vengeance for my people,” as He also says a couple of time in Jeremiah 50 and 51.  His judgment upon Babylon is a result of His taking vengeance for His temple because she dared to stretch forth her hand against God’s anointed, the corporate churches.  Now God is judging those that judged the churches.  God is indicating who should be rejoicing: “Thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets.” 

We are going to look at the word “rejoice” and see how it is used in a few other places.  For instance, if we go the parable of the prodigal son, it says in Luke 15:22-24:

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

The word “merry” is found twice in these verses and it is the same word as “rejoice.”  It was a cause for rejoicing and a wonderful occasion, as the son who had wasted his inheritance with riotous living had returned.  He had been looked upon as being “dead,” but was alive again.  You can imagine the tremendous joy and merriment that took place in the father’s household. 

Also, we read in Revelation 12:9:

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

When was Satan cast out of heaven?  It was when Jesus went to the cross in 33 AD.  Prior to that, Satan had access to heaven.  We know that from the Book of Job.  But at the cross he was bound and there was a big change concerning that access he had been allowed, but now he was cast out.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 12:10-11:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.

It is the kingdom of heaven and the people of God in heaven that rejoice and make merry because it is the time of Satan’s judgment and his defeat at the cross and it was at that point that he was bound for the figurative “thousand years,” or an actual 1,955 years.  During that time God established His Word in the churches of the world and saved the “firstfruits.”  So it was a tremendous victory for the kingdom of heaven and, therefore, it was said, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.”

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 12:12:Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

We know that Satan continued to go about as a roaring lion seeking those whom he would devour.  But the word “rejoice” is used in Luke 15 in the case of the prodigal son to express the joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth and it is also used in Revelation 12 to express the joy during the time in God’s salvation program when Satan was bound. 

There is one other passage I would like to look at in Revelation 11 at the time when the two witnesses were killed and that identifies with the beginning of the Great Tribulation at the end of the church age.  It says in Revelation 11:9-10:

And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

The word “rejoice” is not our word, but the word “merry” is our word.  The people of the world that are spiritually a part of Babylon “saw” (without physically seeing) the dead church and they rejoiced.  It was a judgment on the corporate churches and at that point, Satan was the winner and he was triumphant; he had gotten the victory and they rejoiced. 

As I mentioned earlier, now God has turned it around.  Their little season of victory was over.  The triumph of the wicked is short.  The Great Tribulation concluded after exactly 23 years or 8,400 days and now the period of Satan’s overcoming of the saints had come to an end.  Then God turned His full attention to Babylon, the world, and the cup that had been given first to the city called by God’s name is now given to the kingdom of Babylon, all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  As the Bible says, “they shall not be utterly unpunished” and they must now drink of the cup of the wrath of God.  Then God says to all His kingdom of heaven, in Revelation 18:20:

Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets…

The holy apostles and prophets are names for God’s holy people, because the word “prophets” means “to be sent.”  The word translated as “apostles” is translated as “sent,” as when Jesus said in John 13 that the one “sent” is not greater than the one who sent him.  It is the same word that is translated as “apostle.”  (It is also translated as “messengers,” but it is not the typical word translated that way.)  It is like saying, “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy sent ones.”  God had sent forth His people as His messengers in the Day of Judgment.  They were sent with the seven vials of the seven last plagues of the wrath of God.  It also says “prophets,” because we were called upon, in Revelation 10, to prophesy once again to the nations of the world, so the Lord is addressing all His people, whether they are in heaven or whether they are still alive and remaining on the earth. 

Let us go to Ephesians, chapter 3, and we will see both the terms “apostles” and “prophets” together.  It says in Ephesians 3:2-6:

If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

Here, the Lord discusses the “mystery” of the Gentiles that had been written about in the Old Testament many times.  They would be fellow heirs of salvation, but it was “hidden” and it was not known by the people of God until God opened the eyes of the Apostle Paul.  Paul shared this “mystery” and others had their eyes opened, so it is now revealed unto His “holy apostles and prophets” by the spirit.  It has been revealed to the people of God – they now understand the mystery.  That is what Matthew 13 tells us regarding parables, in Matthew 13:11: “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.”  The holy apostles and prophets represent God’s people that possess understanding of the mysteries that God reveals. 

This is exactly what is happening in our time, in the Day of Judgment, because God speaks of the “day of wrath and righteous revelation of the judgment of God.”  The mystery had been in effect throughout all previous history until the time of the Great Tribulation when God opened the seals of His Word to reveal information and increase knowledge concerning the “times and seasons” of His Gospel program.  That mystery was revealed to the Lord’s people and we learned much during the Great Tribulation and now we are learning much more during the Day of Judgment.  By using these titles to address the people of God on the earth, the Lord is also indicating that they are recipients of revelation concerning His mysteries.