Friday, January 1, 2016

Revelation 18:9-14

Revelation 18 -

VERSE 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,  10.   Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city BabyIon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.  11.   And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more.

(Excerpt taken from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911 Editions)

p 720 -- A Fitting Retribution. - The infliction of the very first plague must result in a complete suspension of traffic in those articles of luxury for which Babylon is noted. And when the merchants of these things, who are to a great extent citizens of this symbolic city, and who have been made rich by their traffic in these things, suddenly find themselves and their neighbors smitten with putrefying sores, their traffic suspended, and vast stores of merchandise on hand, but none to buy them, they lift up their voices in lamentation for the fate of this great city; for if there is anything which will draw from the men of this generation a sincere cry of distress, it is that which touches their treasures. And there is a fitness in this retribution. They who but a short time before had issued a decree that the saints of God should neither buy nor sell, now find themselves put under the same restriction by a far more effectual process.

The question may arise how persons involved in the same calamity can stand afar off and lament, etc.; but it must be remembered that this desolation is brought to view under a figure, and the figure is that of a city visited with destruction. Should calamity come upon a literal city, it would be natural for its inhabitants to flee from that city if they had opportunity, and standing afar off, lament its fall; and just in proportion to their terror and amazement at the evil impending, would be the distance at which they would stand from their devoted city. Now the figure the apostle uses would not be complete without a feature of this kind; and so he uses it, not to imply that people would literally flee from the symbolic city, which would be impossible, but to denote their terror and amazement at the descending judgments.

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VERSE 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 marble,  13.   And cinnamon, and odors, 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.

Babylon's Merchandise. - In these verses we have an enumeration of great Babylon's merchandise, which includes everything
p 721 -- pertaining to luxurious living, pomp, and worldly display. All kinds of merchantile traffic are brought to view. The declaration concerning "slaves and souls of men" may pertain more particularly to the spiritual domain, and have reference to slavery of conscience by the creeds of these bodies, which in some cases is more oppressive than physical bondage.

VERSE 14. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 

Gluttony Rebuked. - The fruits here mentioned are, according to the original, "autumnal fruits;" and in this we find a prophecy that the "delicacies of the season," upon which the luxurious gormand so sets his pampered appetite, will be suddenly cut off. This, of course, is the work of the famine, which is the result of the fourth vial. Chapter 16:8. And we may be even now having a premonition of this destruction in the phylloxera of the vineyards, the "scales" and moths, and other recent enemies to vegetation.

In this connection we can hardly forbear glancing at the general aspect of the times in respect to the remarkable physical phenomena everywhere manifesting themselves as they seem so plainly to indicate that all the courses of nature are disturbed, and that the earth itself is waxing old in anticipation of the time when it shall vanish away.

Within a few years past, how many unnatural visitations of earthquake and fire, storm and flood, have wrought ruin in different localities, and awakened forebodings of fear in the hearts of men in general. Witness the Chicago fire, the Baltimore fire, the Toronto fire, and the destruction by earthquake and fire of San Francisco, Valparaiso, and Kingston; the floods of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and other Western rivers; the devastating floods of Europe; the famines of China and Russia and the plague in India; the cyclones and tidal waves, sweeping away the proudest works of man, and hurling thousands of human beings into untimely graves.

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And how many, many more of these tragedies have befallen us all the way up to 2016.  Today as I write this there are flood waters here in the USA that are overwhelming. Storms have killed men, women, and children. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates near Iran there was an awful high rise fire just last night. We have out of control fires and they made this headline- 'Australia fires: Bushfires rage in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia'.  And this-  'Expect floods, storms, and famine: El Niño is poised to wreak havoc in 2016 A strong El Niño is being blamed for all sorts of extreme weather in South America, Europe, and the United States this year.' 

Things have not gotten better, nor will they. Some blame the worsening conditions on something called climate change, which is our abuse through pollution and disregard for nature that has altered the world's climate and this supposedly has initiated the bizarre weather worldwide. Science wants to explain things away and they will. Knowing that the worse things get the closer it is to our Savior's return brings me hope.

All I can say is, 'Come, Lord Jesus, come!'  

In His name always!

Amen. 

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