Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

Welcome back. We're in Revelation chapter 18. I'm gonna be reading from verse 11. And we're at this funeral, this kind of funeral, and and we hear 3 different voices at this funeral. We've heard the first 1 already.

We're gonna hear the second and third ones now. So from verse 11, chapter 18. The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over because no 1 buys their cargoes anymore. Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls, finding purple, silk, and scarlet cloth, every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble. Cargoes of cinnamon and spice of incense, myrrh and frankincense of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat cattle, and sheep, horses, and carriages, and human beings, sold as slaves.

They will say, the fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and Splend that have vanished never to be recovered. The merchants who solve these things and gain their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified. At her torment. It will weep and mourn and cry out.

Woe, woe to you, great city, dressed in finely in purple, Scarlet. And glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls in 1 hour, such great wealth has been brought to ruin. Every sea captain and all who traveled by ship the sailors and all who earn their living from the sea will stand far off. And they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, was there ever a city like this great city. They will throw dust on their heads and with weeping in morning cry out.

Whoa woe to you, great city. Where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth. In 1 hour, she has been brought to ruin. Rejoice over her you heavens. Rejoice you people of God, rejoice apostles and prophets for God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.

Yeah. So as you say, we're at the we're at the funeral of Babylon. And last time, we heard the voice of the kings. And the kings in verse 9 and 10 are are lamenting the fact that Babylon has fallen. And this specific contribution to the funeral is that we're kings and we've got power.

Babylon was the great powerhouse, and yet the mightiness has come down. But here, we're focusing less on power and more on luxury and wealth and rotation really. Yeah. And I think that's why John goes to such great length to describe what the merchants and the sailors do and what they trade in. This is like the the first century's equivalent of of a of a rich a rich list, you know.

So we work we might have a champagne and caviar and truffles, you know. That's the things they do. It's like the the richest most expensive fare of the day. Yep. And and yet, it would be wrong to just come away from this and thinking, well, John is just condemning business.

Yes. Or he's condemning companies that do very well. All merchants everywhere. All merchants everywhere. Yeah.

What what is in view here is exploitation. They have made themselves rich -- Mhmm. -- whilst pushing the poor or the face of the poor deeper into the mud and treading on their backs on the way to the bank. You know, that kind of thing. Yeah.

And he has he kinda just lays it on, doesn't he? I mean, Visibly in this in this in the passage, you just see line after line -- Yeah. -- the line but -- Yeah. -- but he is just laying it on thick like it's this is not just kind of, you know, a good, honest, hard working business -- Yes. -- this is extravagant -- Yeah.

-- luxurious, gluttonous, just yes. Yeah. Ritches that. And also that little bit sort of slips in at the end of verse 13. Human being sold as slaves.

Yeah. Because you could you could kind of get up to that point and go, well, you know what? They're just really successful. Yeah. But then that shows you their heart.

It does. Yeah. And it's something that the old testament prophets condemn all the time. You know, you think of you think of Amos, particularly, is having a go at the the the kind of fat cat ruling classes who sit on their beads of marble while the poor are just being decimated, you know, in the in the courtyards below them. Mhmm.

And they're claiming that that is a right a slight living, but absolutely, it it isn't. And that that's what's going on here. And, you know, these these exploiters are being confronted with the fall of Babylon. And the reason they're mourning and crying out, which they are in verse 15, and they they are in verse 19 that the c traders is really because their their opportunities to make more money of stopped, I'm gonna think. And so, again, this is not the weeping of a repentant group.

This is, oh, no. How am I gonna -- Yep. -- how am I gonna keep living in luxury, you know? My my the the system which kept me rich, It's gone. You know, where am I gonna Yeah.

When am I gonna make money? Yeah. And the fact that it's gone in such a short period of time as well. In 1 hour. Yeah.

Because these things often, I mean, to have to have amassed this wealth, you know, you imagine like sort of skyscrapers don't you in the middle of a great city. Mhmm. But in 1 hour -- Mhmm. -- brought to ruin. So it's kind of but it's like paper thin in a sense.

It's it's all it's all there's no substance -- Yeah. -- to its richness really. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It's not lasting richness, is it? No. And I think there's a, you know, there is a warning here for us, isn't there not not to be enticed by the riches of Babylon. Mean, I I often quite don't watch them very much, but I often quite like those programs where they they're they're documentary programs and they'll they'll take you in to the most luxury lot yachts and aeroplanes, you know, or empty with cribs. Yeah.

It used to be. I don't know if that's still easy and still longer. And it's quite fun, isn't it? Looking at the, you know, looking at what they've got and stuff. And for most of us, that is just That isn't really the sort of thing we crave because it's so beyond our reach that it's just impossible to imagine.

But But the seeds of it are in our hearts, aren't they? If I just had a little bit more, you know, if I was just able to get this to have a bit more security, a bit more wealth, better holidays, better, you know, the the same enticement is is there, isn't it? Yeah. And, you know, Jesus More than anyone else really warns about the deceptive danger of of wealth. It's that it's the hole that can never be filled and it blinds us to watch truly precious.

And so we ought to we ought to learn from the fate of these merchants, you know, don't don't invest in the same way they did. Yeah. Yeah. You're right. We've got the parable of the the seeds being sown and that the seed does grow around the thorns, doesn't it?

But it's the deceitfulness of words. Yes, deceitful. That that kind of steals the life from it. So definitely a warning there. Yeah.

Mhmm. And then the third voice, we've had the kings and the merchants, and the third voice is is actually a summons to the people of God. To rejoice, which is not something you find at funerals very often, you know, they don't often end with a with a call to rejoice. But Here, there is a call, isn't there? Rejoice, you heavens.

Rejoice. People have got rejoice, apostles, and prophets for. God has judged her. With the judgment she imposed on you. Mhmm.

And this is not saying then that they ought to rejoice because it's lovely to see punishment inflicted on Babylon. But because the people of God were among those who were exploited you know, they were trodden down so that the empire could get rich. Yeah. And there is a vindication here like the judgment that they imposed has been reversed. There's been a great reverse all.

And we should rejoice because God is the holy judge and he has he has brought justice for his people. Think back also to the saints under phrased. Yeah. How long we've got until you, you know, deal with this. And then here we have it.

Finally, you can rejoice people of God because the judgment has come. And we've seen throughout revelation that this judgment is a good thing -- Mhmm. -- that it is it's it's God's goodness in his character. And his justice to to to to bring this. So it's not a a god who enjoys sort of punishing for no reason, but it is perfect in righteous judgment.

Absolutely. So that is something that we can rejoice in. That the holiness and the judgment of God and but let us also heed the warning to beware of of the enticement of of wealth. Join us tomorrow and we'll be starting in the last part of chapter 18.