{"id":32369,"date":"2021-02-21T09:49:47","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T15:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=32369"},"modified":"2021-02-21T09:49:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T15:49:47","slug":"great-merchants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/great-merchants\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Merchants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n

Revelation 18:21-24 gives three reasons for the fall of Babylon:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Merchants were great men, “nobility of the earth.”<\/li>\n
  2. “Nations were deceived by your sorcery<\/em>,” (Revelation 18:23), and<\/li>\n
  3. “In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth<\/em>” (Revelation 18:24).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Points 2 and 3 are understandable, but why 1? Why would merchants being “great men” be a cause for judgment?<\/p>\n

    \"\"I believe this is in direct contrast to the way they saw God: the men were great (cf. Isaiah 23:8); God was not. Their own success and glory were great; God was pushed aside. Yet Revelation stresses the greatness of God (Revelation 4:11; 5:12-13; 7:12; 15:3-4; 16:9; 19:1,7), demonstrating that our purpose is to glorify Him. Only God is truly great and awesome, so describing the city as “great” in this context is showing its own hubris (Daniel 4:30; Revelation 11:8; 14:8; 16:19; 17:5,18; 18:2,10,16,19,21,23). The merchants may have been “great” or “men of renown” who controlled their economy (so they thought), but they perverted their purpose and instead of glorifying God, they were glorifying self. That never ends well. When we diminish God in favor of ourselves, we will fall.<\/p>\n

    Glorify God today. He alone is worthy of our worship.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Doy Moyer Revelation 18:21-24 gives three reasons for the fall of Babylon: Merchants were great men, “nobility of the earth.” “Nations were deceived by your sorcery,” (Revelation 18:23), and “In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth” (Revelation 18:24). Points 2 and 3 are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[126,102],"class_list":["post-32369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-pride","tag-revelation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":83900,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-can-stand\/","url_meta":{"origin":32369,"position":0},"title":"Who Can Stand?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ryan Boyer In Revelation 6, Jesus (the Lamb) is opening the scroll's seals one by one. The first four are the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse. These are not only punishments against people who have persecuted God's people but also wake-up calls and opportunities to repent (like the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85315,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-revelation-show-that-there-are-animals-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":32369,"position":1},"title":"Doesn’t Revelation show that there are animals in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean\" (Revelation 19:14). Does this literally mean that there are a lot of horses in Heaven waiting to be used for the second coming? The sin curse is lifted at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-were-the-four-angels-placed-at-the-euphrates-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":32369,"position":2},"title":"When were the four angels placed at the Euphrates River?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When were the four angels placed at the Euphrates River? Answer: \"One saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.' And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-plagues-in-revelation-literal\/","url_meta":{"origin":32369,"position":3},"title":"Are the plagues in Revelation literal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: While much is figurative in Revelation, are the plagues that John sees in his visions literal? Did those things actually happen at some point? Answer: A better question is why select the plagues to be literal in a book filled with symbolism and figurative language? What indications are there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-books-opened-in-revelation-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":32369,"position":4},"title":"What are the books opened in Revelation 20:12?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. I have an argument with a Catholic defender on social media about Sola Scriptura. I used Revelation 20:12 that the written word will judge us in the last days. But he said that the books opened are not the Bible but the record of men's deeds. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3324,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-mistranslation-of-jesus-is-the-666-in-revelation\/","url_meta":{"origin":32369,"position":5},"title":"The mistranslation of “Jesus” is the 666 in Revelation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does it mean that the verb \"count\" in\u00a0Revelation 13:18\u00a0must be ignored? Does it mean that the counting operation in\u00a0Revelation 13:18\u00a0leads to no result at all? 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