Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #33 of Revelation chapter 18 and we are going to read Revelation 18:22-23:

And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

I will stop reading there.  Last time we were looking at verse 22 and we saw that the voice of harpers, musicians, pipers and trumpeters had to do with the Gospel.  God uses this figure in the Bible and likens the Gospel to the playing of music.  That is why He speaks of “prophesying upon the harp” in 1Chronicles, chapter 25.  It is why the people of God that had gotten the victory over the beast are said to be “harping with harps,” in Revelation, chapter 15.

So, here, when God says, “And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee,” we know it means there will be no more “hearing” of the Gospel.  It does not mean there is no more Bible.  It does not mean that no one is preaching or teaching from the Bible or that there is no Scripture reading.  You can find these things being done both inside the churches and outside the churches.  You can hear the Bible almost anywhere, even on the internet, but the one thing that is necessary and must be present in order for there to be salvation is the Spirit of God to open the ears: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  This requires God’s Spirit to affect salvation.  Spiritual eyes and ears must be given to the one that is to become saved and then they can hear the voice of Christ, the Word of God, for the first time.

But this is not happening any longer in Babylon or in the world.  It “shall be heard no more at all in thee,” and that means that what happened on May 21, 2011 is the permanent condition of this world.  It will not be taken back; God did not shut the door and then plan to open it at a later date.  What God has shut no man can open.  And God is certainly not going to open it.  That is why when the professed Christians comes to the door (and Christ is the door) and they say, “Lord, lord, open to us,” He responds, “Depart from me, ye that work iniquity,” and then He says He never knew them.  There is no opening of the door.  The salvation program of God has ended.

Alright, let us continue in Revelation 18:22:

… and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

We discussed the “millstone” back in verse 21.  With the millstone, you grind the meal for flour and it relates to the preparation of the Gospel and the food, which points to Christ who is the meat of the Gospel.  The “sound of a millstone” being heard no more at all is the same thing as the musical instruments not being heard any more at all. There is no more “hearing” of the Gospel, as there is a famine of hearing in the land because the Holy Spirit is not operating to save anyone. 

But, what does it mean when it refers to the craftsman?  It says, “and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee.”  What does it mean by the “craftsman”?  The word “craftsman” can relate to those that make idols.  We find this idea both in the New Testament and the Old Testament.  It says in Acts 19:24-25:

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

He is talking about the making of an idol, the goddess Diana, who was the goddess of the Ephesians.  The Apostle Paul had brought them the true Gospel, saying that there was One God, not made with hands, and that was why they were upset.  The word “craftsman” related to the building of the idol, but there is a lamenting over the lack of “craftsman” in view in Revelation, chapter 18.  It is presented as a terrible thing that there is “no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be.”  Of course, if you could not find those that build false idols, whether they are physical idols or false doctrines carved of the minds of men, then that would be a positive and good thing.  So it cannot mean that and God is not referring to that.  But, what else could be in view?  Well, the “craftsman” is God Himself.  God is called a “craftsman,” even though that English word is not used, but the Greek word translated as “craftsman” in Revelation 18 and Acts 19 is also used in Hebrews, chapter 11, where it is translated another way.  It says in Hebrew 11:10:

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

The English word “builder” is a translation of the Greek word translated as “craftsman.”  So we could read it this way: “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose craftsman and maker is God.”   God is the “craftsman” of the heavenly city Jerusalem and we know that city is a spiritual city comprised of all of God’s elect.  Remember, New Jerusalem comes down as a bride prepared for her husband, later on in the Book of Revelation, so New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ.  God is the craftsman and we are the “house,” as it says in Hebrews 3:6: “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we.”  He is the designer and the maker of it and He is the one that has constructed the house and formed it.  He made the pattern and He followed the pattern and He is the craftsman that built the spiritual house and the city of God.  It is that craftsman that will not be found any more, as it says: “and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be.”  By the way, in the Old Testament, the word “craftsman” is translated a couple of different ways.  The Hebrew word is Strong’s #2796 and it is translated as “artificer,” “smith,” “craftsman” and “carpenter.”  A carpenter is a craftsman and that also helps us to understand that Jesus is a craftsman, because of what we read concerning Christ’s occupation in Mark 6:3:

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

They knew him.  They knew the work that He did.  He was a carpenter.  Can you imagine?  I am sure He was not the typical carpenter, but He was outstanding at what He did and, yet, it was a typical occupation.  What other men are carpenters and smiths, and so forth?  They are just craftsmen and this craftsman is going about healing people and performing miracles, so they are wondering: “We know his mother.  We know his brothers.  We know his sisters.  We know what sort of work he does.”  Christ responded to them, “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”  They just could not believe it.  “Someone who is a carpenter cannot be the Messiah.”  And, yet, that was the case.  The Lord Jesus Christ, the carpenter and craftsman, was Eternal God in the flesh and the Messiah.  What a perfect occupation it was for him because, again, it said in Hebrew 3:6: “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we.”  He is the one that built the spiritual house.  He laid the foundation in Himself and then He laid the spiritual “stones,” one after another as He saved His people throughout the history of the world.  In so doing, He spiritually performed the task of a “craftsman” as He built His own house.

It is also interesting what it says in a parallel statement in Matthew 13:54-55:

And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Did you catch the difference?  It says here that “this is the carpenter’s son.”  It does not say Jesus is the carpenter, but the carpenter’s son.  This is exactly how God wrote the Bible.  It is a trap and a snare for the ungodly, unsaved individual that wants to deny that the Bible is the Word of God.  If they want to find fault, this is another instance where they can go to a couple of verses and say, “See, the Bible has error.  There is a mistake.”  But the Bible has no mistake of any kind.  There are no errors.  It is simply that God emphasized that Christ worked as a carpenter, in the Book of Mark and God is also emphasizing that Jesus’ earthly father Joseph was also a carpenter, in Matthew, chapter 13; it is fairly typical that a father teaches his son a craft like carpentry.  I know families today that do the very same thing; the father teaches the son and the father may be a carpenter and his son will be a carpenter.  Likewise, in the historical sense, Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus was a carpenter.  Spiritually, Christ is the craftsman or carpenter and so is God, as it says in Hebrews 11:10.  God is the builder or the craftsman of the city of God.  So the Father is a carpenter and the Lord Jesus Christ is a carpenter, spiritually. 

Therefore, Revelation 18 makes a horrible statement as it says, “and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be.”  It is the same judgment that came upon the churches and congregations when the Lord Jesus abandoned them and departed out.  As a result, you could not find Christ or the Father or the Holy Spirit within the congregations.  It does not mean that God was not still “everywhere” or that He did not know what was happening, but it was true in the sense that God no longer worked in the churches to bless the Word within the hearts of the people of the congregations in all the world.  God was still fully knowledgeable of every word, thought and deed of every individual in the churches; He did not leave in that sense.  But as far as the work of salvation as He would open the ears of the hearers to perform the building of the house of God, it was no longer taking place in the churches and congregations of the world.  And that is exactly what God did on May 21, 2011.  He finished His house and He completed that spiritual structure of the house of God.  All the elect were found.  All the lost sheep of the house of Israel had been found and all the living stones were placed in the spiritual house. 

But at some point, the builder of the city completes the task He was given and that is what the Lord Jesus did.  He finished the work during the twelve hour day when a “man” works and then “the night cometh when no man can work,” according to John, chapter 9.  The Lord Jesus, who is the “craftsman,” went about His occupation as He worked in the day of salvation while it was day, but then the night came when the work was completed.  The work has been finished and now no man can work.  We could say that Christ, in a sense, has put down His tools of construction because He had ended His building project.  It is complete and, therefore, there is no more work to be done.