Mystery Babylon Study - Part 7 – Rev 18:8-16

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• published: 09 Nov 2011
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http://versebyversebibleteaching.com/?p=355 (Rev 18:8) Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day: This therefore is here to connect this verse to the previous verse which showed the woman saying “and [I] shall see no sorrow. “ So it’s contrasting her belief that she will not see any sorrow, or her perceived security with her husband the beast, with the actual fact that she will be judged in just one day. This is also why it is said later for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her, it is saying that even though she thinks that no harm can come to her or the beast, God will do it very easily. one day The idea that her destruction comes suddenly is a consistent one. We see this explicitly mentioned in various ways, phrases like “One day” or “one hour” are used to describe the suddenness of its judgment. We know from the last bowl judgment that an earthquake will be involved in splitting the city into three parts, so this would seem support the idea of a very quick judgment. death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: These things will all play some role in her destruction as well. I think that the destruction has at least two phases. First, whatever the “10 kings” do, It says in Rev 17:16 that they will “eat her flesh and burn her with fire” and second, whatever is done to her via the last bowl judgment with the earthquake and great hail. Words like Fire and burning as well as ideas like people seeing the smoke of her burning are mentioned several times in relation to Mystery Babylon’s destruction so I feel that fire is the primary agent of destruction, or at least it is the result of the judgment. (Rev 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, And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her I have already mentioned how this shows that although the kings of the earth commit the same religious fornication with her, it is the “AND lived deliciously” part that is the reason for they are mourning here. We will see the same lamenting coming from the merchants later who also are said to have lived “deliciously” with her. when they shall see the smoke of her burning, This phrase is more evidence that the 10 kings or 10 horns which the antichrist uses to burn Mystery Babylon are not necessarily the “kings of the earth” mentioned here. If they are the ones that burned her down, they probably would not be lamenting when they see her burning. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment This suggests that the cities destruction is not something people want to get too close to for some reason, It could be as simple as the fact that it is on fire but it could be something more significant we are not told. saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. The Kings note again the quickness of her destruction, in happens “One hour” they say. Again this is contrasting their previous view of its perceived might and sustainability with its lightning fast destruction. What they thought was strong was in actuality, quite weak. They differ here from the previous similar statement from the voice from heaven in that they do not add to it that “God is strong”, they only are astonished that this event has happened to Mystery Babylon. (Rev 18:11) And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: Ok so here we see the merchants are also upset about this. We are told why they are upset as well, That is that “no man buyeth their merchandise any more” Now in the next two verses we are going to spend a lot of time on the specific items that these merchants used to sell to the capital city of antichrist. You should take note that these are not just any merchants. Revelation 18:15 which we will see later tells us that the merchants are the merchants of “THESE things” that is the particular items that we are about to study in depth. They are not, as so many teach, all the merchants of the world, or symbolically representative of the world economy. I believe the primary reason we are told of the specific items that are sold to Mystery Babylon is so we can be absolutely sure of who she is and what she is doing during the time of her unfaithfulness. So lets begin our study of these items. (Rev 18:12) 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