His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): The fall of commercial Babylon and the reaction of the leaders and merchants, next on His Perfect Love. This is His perfect love, the work of God. It’s what real love looks like in truth and spirit. This is His perfect love.

Jesus encouraged his followers that while they were in the world, they were not to be of the world. And I think you would agree that has proved to be a challenge for many in the world as we know it. Well, today on His Perfect Love, Pastor Matt VanderVen tells us about commercial Babylon and its end. It's a reminder to us of what living for the things of this earth leads to and where the world is headed. So join us in Revelation chapter 18 as we are nearing the end of the Great Tribulation. This is His perfect love.

Matt VanderVen: Just for those that maybe weren't with us last week, here is a really quick recap. We are in that section in chapter 17 where we started to look at religious Babylon and the one-world government for all nations, tongues, peoples, and tribes that will come and will be put in place. It will be a form of religion but certainly an alternate gospel that will not have Jesus Christ at the center of that. That's the important part. Galatians 1:6 says, "How soon you so quickly have begun to believe an alternate doctrine."

This happened 2,000 years ago when Paul was speaking to the church of Galatia. It's not a new thing, but it's going to be on steroids during the Great Tribulation, that seven-year period, because it will be a humanist movement, a humanist religion where humans have placed themselves in the very place that only Jesus Christ belongs. They've made themselves gods.

So chapter 18, as we started that, we know that the focus now in chapter 18 is certainly on the economic, political, and commercial aspects of Babylon. We read through the first eight verses and we began to see the arrogance and the pride. The declaration, "I am a queen, I sit as no widow," showing an unwillingness to receive conviction or to repent from sin. They are just absolutely confident in the stench of the pride that has now been lifted up to heaven.

And then that brings us to verse 9 where we are this morning, and this point is really the mourning of the kings. The kings are the leadership at that time, those that will make an unholy pact with the Antichrist, that will essentially come in. Whether this is a revived Roman Empire, it doesn't say that specifically. We understand as we were in Daniel why we can help make some of those connections to possibly an empire like Rome because the last empire that was on the scene was the Roman Empire. Thereafter there will be a kingdom that will not be as strong. It will be this mix of iron and clay.

That iron refers to a Roman Empire that was at the time John was given this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he was on the island of Patmos, around 80 or 90 to 95 AD when this book was given to us. But then he said afterwards there would be a kingdom that would come, and in that kingdom there would be this clay that got mingled with iron. He talks about how that iron was strong, but then there's some kind of metallurgy. If you start taking clay and metal and you start mixing them, you get an amalgamation of something weaker.

This next kingdom that's going to come in could be in our lifetime, it could be in the Great Tribulation, we don't know, but it's going to come in and be a weaker form of what the Roman Empire was. So that's why people use the term the revived Roman Empire, just so you understand where that came from in scripture. It's an additional appendage, you might say, people do it and speak it for understandability.

But as we get here in verse 9, I'm going to read through this section and then we'll go line by line and we'll see what the Lord is telling us about exactly how far, to what extent this commercial, materialistic, and political Babylon is going to go. Remember who's the source behind it. Certainly Antichrist is at the helm at this point. We're in the three to three-and-a-half-year period at this point in the Great Tribulation when these things have happened, but we know it's the dragon. It's Satan that's breathing this source of power and strength, creating this unholy trinity.

"The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.' Please underline that: one hour. We're going to come back to that.

"And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her for no one buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of the most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. Underline that portion: the souls of men.

"The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things who became rich by her will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, 'Alas, alas, the great city which was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.'

"Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What is like this great city?' They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, 'Alas, alas, the great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.'

"Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her! Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a millstone and threw it into the sea saying, 'Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore. The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of the millstone shall not be heard in you anymore.

"The light of the lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, and for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and the saints and all who were slain on the earth.'"

That is a heavy passage. There is a lot going on. This chapter, if you're looking on the timeline, we know that in Revelation chapter 19, that is the second coming or advent of Jesus Christ when he physically comes back to terra firma on this earth. So this is the leading-up passage and chapter to Christ's second coming. It will culminate at the end of the great seven-year tribulation. But he has some things that he wants us to know about exactly how this is going to end for the commercial Babylon, for the commercial, materialistic Babylon, for those that are living for all the earthly luxuries and all the things of this precious earth.

Before anybody misinterprets or misapplies the scripture here this morning, God is not saying that you can't have a home, a car, or nice things, but you don't worship them. They're not idols. They're not things to be worshipped. They're simply tools. They're vehicles. They're things that help and enable you to do the work of the Lord. Amen? And our resources and the things that we have, we are accountable. I know we don't like that word accountability. It's become a bad word in our modern age here today. Accountability and responsibility: do you understand the difference between the two?

But accountability is very important because we are accountable for our resources. What are we doing with our time and our money? We talked about our tax dollars and how we can even affect that. What are we doing with the resources that we have? How are we being good stewards, kingdom-focused? What are you investing in? And that's exactly the question that everyone will answer one day when you think about it through this mystery Babylon, which is why the "alas, alas." They're all complaining, they're all turning around and they're mourning and heartbroken because all the things that mattered to them, in how many hours did it say? One hour.

Everything they spent their whole lives chasing, everything they spent their whole lives building, all of it came to nothing because it meant nothing and it has no eternal consequence of anything apart from what it does to fuel, invest in, and empower the kingdom of God. And that's just very sobering when we read that. So again, back to verse 9: "The kings of the earth who committed fornication." We're talking about spiritual fornication. We're talking about the idea of sexual immorality. We understand lived luxuriously and what's the sin here? This is important: they lived luxuriously with her and will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning.

Why? They're saddened that their wicked commercial, political, and materialistic agenda has come to an end. The smoke of her burning causes the mourning. They're upset and sad about that because that's what they put all their eggs in. Have you ever heard of "all the eggs in one basket"? They put all their eggs, all their energy in it, and to see it all destroyed in one hour—if that's your god, you're going to be coming away very depleted, very depressed, very sad because it's destroyed like this.

In verse 10: "Standing at a distance for fear of her torment." Interesting. Saying, "Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour the judgment has come." The kings must stand at a distance. Please understand that. The leaders, all of those that are empowered that way. Why? Because they're afraid to get involved. They simply say, "Let it go." But they also say it was so quick. It was good while it lasted, but just let it go. Do you notice that? No loyalty. What do these kings do? They just move on. They just move on.

It's something I've been thinking about. Sin is not an investment, nor does it provide a long-lasting return on investment. Sin is all about using and abusing and leaving desolate or destitute. That's exactly what comes from sin. It's not stuff. How many people have gone to a church—please don't raise your hand, I don't want to know—how many people have gone to a church where they don't even use the word "sin" anymore? They call it "stuff" or they call it something like "your thing." No, it's sin. It's missing the mark with God. We need that. I need that. I need to be reminded of those things. I need to understand God's heart on the matter and my heart, and where the two don't meet, I need to change because I'm being conformed into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ.

I'm blood-bought. You're blood-bought. It makes sense. Mystery Babylon isn't understanding or even processing that because it's never been about Jesus Christ. It's been about self, which is why I often refer to it as the humanist movement. It is the religion of the day. It's taught in the ivory towers, it's in every single silo of society: medical, financial, commercial. The underpinnings of the philosophy and psychology go back to: I'm man or I'm woman, hear me roar. What have I done? Look at the innovations I've made. Never giving credit to the God that inspired any of it or allowed it.

All of creation testifies. I love that joke when God says to the scientist that's so bright and smart, "Hey, let's have the experiment." Okay, and they start to do the experiment, and then the scientist grabs sand and God goes, "Get your own sand. I created that." *Bara ex nihilo*, right, in the Hebrew. Created something out of nothing. You want to be like God? Create something out of nothing. Nobody has ever been able to do that, only an eternal God. *Bara ex nihilo*. It's just simple Hebrew, but it says so much.

Look at verses 11 through 13: "And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her." The merchants, those that are selling the wares, for no one buys their merchandise anymore. Their whole purpose was to sell goods, but there was nothing behind it. They weren't trying to help other people, it wasn't providing—no, that was their existence, and they're saddened. And they talk about what the merchandise is: gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of ivory.

We all see this list here. These are precious items. These aren't needs; these are wants. These are items of royalty or luxury. These are things of Egypt, the world. These are not common things like a buggy or a vehicle or a safe home or something. This is nothing like that. These are extravagant things. "Every kind of object most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble." And then he goes on to even the herbs: the cinnamon, the incense, which at that time, these are very things that are for the well-to-do; fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep—back in an agrarian society, that's how you measured wealth—horses and chariots, and this one: the bodies and souls of men. Slavery and enslavement of people.

So the merchants are lamenting here, verses 11 through 13. Their merchandise, this long list needs really little explanation except to know that these are all luxuries, not necessities. It's plain that mourning is rooted in self-interest. Why? Because we read it. It says, "for no one buys their merchandise anymore." And I think that's ironic because these merchants belonged to a system that denied the right to buy and sell, didn't they, to anyone who did not accept the mark of the beast.

Isn't the irony of that in chapter 18 here? Those who once applied a rule, a law that said unless you have the mark of the beast, the Antichrist, the mark of Satan, unless you have that mark, chapter 13, verse 17, you cannot commerce. You cannot buy, sell, or trade. Now that whole judgment being brought back on them is: no one is buying, selling, or trading their wares. What you measure out will be what's measured back onto you. Do we ever see anything contrary to the Word of God that way?

You see, they were used—they were the merchants—they were used and then they were abused as well. The enemy, God has been telling us this for the longest time, sin—Satan doesn't care. Jesus is the one that cares for your soul. But Satan will use you, the world, the flesh will use you, and then it'll leave you broken. He doesn't care. He doesn't really care about you. And until we start understanding that, we're going to be chasing this world system only to realize that it's like an addict. It's like a drug, and that drug doesn't love you. That drug doesn't love you.

Legal drugs—it's not like somebody's better for it. I've never seen somebody that's a heroin or coke addict that comes to me and goes, "You know, it's really improved my whole life. My family, my network, my system is so much better now. My employment and my ethics and morality have really gotten sharpened. It's been amazing. My work ethic, I'm staying longer, working harder, I've become a better human and a better individual. I've become a better worshiper of God."

I have never in all my life, and I've counseled a lot of people that have struggled with addiction, I have never heard anyone—what I have heard is actually the counter to that. That what started simply, even if it was marijuana or a gateway drug, then led to something that required more for that same type of high or feeling to the point of where it's consuming them. They're robbing and stealing from their spouse, their family, their parents, their loved ones only to turn around and go—once they get clean and clear, they turn around—"I cannot believe that I did that."

What state of mind—and I always say what state of heart? Because it's not just a mental aspect; there is a heart behind that that is broken. Many addicts, please have a sensitivity to that, they're not going out and generally saying, "I want to just do this." Most of the time, it's a coping mechanism for something in their lives that is greater than just simply "I want to get high." And trying to find the root of what that is missing and drawing them to Jesus Christ who can fill that void, that hole that every one of us came to one way or another.

It might not have been drugs. Maybe you're sitting here and saying, "I've never done drugs." And praise the Lord, that's great. Many of us would say yes, we have. But maybe some of you are sitting here saying, "I've never went that route. That was not my thing." Maybe you never struggled with alcohol. There was something in your life that got your attention, though. There was someone in your life, Jesus, that got your attention and says, "I love you more than anything on this earth and I can do more for you than anything on this earth."

You see, these merchants are denied. And as we look at the list of items in verses 12 and 13, again, we see this list here, also the list of the merchandise. It reminds me of a similar list that I've read in scripture, and maybe some of you have read, in Ezekiel chapter 26 and 27 when it's describing Tyre's destruction. Specifically, Ezekiel chapter 27, verses 12 through 24, where 15 of the 28, 29 items we see here is on this list. And it's interesting, these lists can be divided into seven categories. Seven in the Hebrew means completeness, wholeness. It's trying to describe the entirety of it.

But it can be broken down into seven, if you're taking notes. The first one is precious wares: gold, silver, precious stones, pearls. The second: materials of rich attire: fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet. The third: materials of costly furniture: wood and vessels of ivory and precious wood and brass or iron and marble. The fourth: precious spices: cinnamon, incense, ointment, frankincense. Even articles of food: wine, oil, fine flour, wheat. It's pretty much talking about every category in humanity. The sixth: merchandise for agriculture, domestic usages: cattle, sheep, horses, chariots. Seven: the traffic in men, bodies and women, traffic in men and women, bodies of souls of men.

You know, the prophets of commercial Babylon have come through cruelty in using others. They sold the bodies of the souls of men. It's something I've underlined in my scripture, it's a constant reminder to me. I just think of today's widespread pornography, prostitution, and sex trafficking. It'll be even worse in the Great Tribulation. It's a multi-billion dollar industry now, pornography.

I just went to DHS, Department of Homeland Services, and just looked up some of the recent statistics since 2024 because I like quantitative data. Data matters. The research, it matters to me because the numbers speak. Certainly I like the qualitative or mixed methodology, but listen to these numbers. 2024: 24,000 people estimated alone that fell victim to this demonic crime in 2024. 24,000 people in the United States of America fell in some type of sex trafficking or some type of prostitution or something like that as a demonic crime. 24,000 people, that's somebody that you or I could know.

It's an estimate that when you start looking worldwide, the numbers 49.6 million people are in what I would call modern-day slavery with—and this is hard to hear, I know this is going to be hard to hear for you this morning—12 million of them are children that are being sold into the sex trafficking. I mean, that's 12 million children, it's young people that are being stole. They send them out internationally, they bring them here, it's a whole gender break.