Read with Me
Revelation 18:11-17 (HCSB)
The merchants of the earth will also weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their merchandise any longer—merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine fabrics of linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine wheat flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves and human lives.
The fruit you craved has left you.
All your splendid and glamorous things are gone;
they will never find them again.
The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying:
Woe, woe, the great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet,
adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls,
for in a single hour
such fabulous wealth was destroyed!
Listen with Me
After John was shown the grief of the puppet kings mourning the disintegration of the Roman Empire, he was shown the grief of the merchants who had grown fat on the rich tastes of those in power. At the height of the empire’s power, personal wealth for the elites had been very high. But instead of helping the poor or using their wealth to make things better and more secure for everyone, those at the top of the pyramid had used their wealth to indulge their taste for every expensive thing.
The list of goods sold to the wealthy of Rome is impressive. All of the items in this list are luxury items, not necessities, including the food items. (The wheat listed here is a special high-grade form of the grain affordable only for the wealthy.)
The last item on the list, human lives, literally “the bodies and souls of men”, speaks of the slave trade, which not only imprisoned the bodies of people in bondage, but which left them hopeless, crushing their souls as any future hopes were reduced to mere survival under an endless yoke of servitude.
Like the puppet kings, the mourning merchants are depicted as standing far away, so as not to get swept up in the judgment being poured out on the city and its satellites. They recognized that all Rome’s wealth and all its glory in splendor could not save it from the complete ruin that had overtaken it. But what they could not see is that all this had taken place not as happenstance, but because God was actively punishing the leaders for the persecution of His people, and all the nobles for their complicity in that persecution, turning a blind eye to it in order to preserve the perks of their position.
Pray with Me
Father, I don’t have to look too hard to see an alarming parallel to today in America, where our conspicuous consumption, even among those who profess faith in Jesus, rivals that of the Roman Empire at its height. We really like our luxuries, even to the point of not caring much at all about the oppressed people who produce much of it, receiving in exchange only the bare amount necessary to hold body and soul together. And there are many who see injustice and oppression in our communities, in our nation, and around the world, but who won’t speak out for fear of being persecuted, being canceled, and losing influence, position, or our precious “stuff”. Forgive us, Lord, for being less than we should be in these times, and for doing less than we are called to do, but instead simply enjoying the perks of living in a wealthy, though increasingly corrupt, country. Amen.