Revelation 18:17
17 For [hoti] in one [mia] hour [hora] so great [tosoutos] riches [ploutos] is come to nought. [eremoo] And [kai] every [pas] shipmaster, [kubernetes] and [kai] all [pas] the company [homilos] in [epi] ships, [ploion] and [kai] sailors, [nautes] and [kai] as many as [hosos] trade [ergazomai] by sea, [thalassa] stood [histemi] afar [makrothen] off, [apo] KJV-Interlinear
17 for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!' And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, NASB
And the last groups addressed are identified here as those who haul freight and passengers.
Back in Johns day, ships were a mode of public transportation, but mostly they hauled freight over long distances.
And here, the phrase is repeated, ‘one hour,’ referring to the fall of Babylon, referring to the fall of all commerce, for that is the subject of this chapter, commerce. And more specifically the commerce policies that were invented by Satan, long ago, and placed into public action by humanity over the course of human history culminating with the policies finalized in the Tribulation.
We have already seen how the oceans will die, during the Tribulation, and here is the reference to shipping by means of the sea that will die along with the oceans. But this is more than just the ocean going vessel activity, it is a reference to all transportation and all freight shipping.
And the people employed by freight companies, and the people who travel by any means, will all look on as the economy of the world collapses all around them.
They are not looking at a specific city, or at a specific thing. They are looking at the world in general, at life all around them in their local setting wherever they live. The entire world will collapse and all business and trade, and manufacturing and transportation and so forth, will come to a halt.
Just as the policies of the anti-christ will try to prevent Christians and Jews and everyone from engaging in commerce unless they bow down to him, so then God will prevent all commerce for anyone and everyone who does bow down to the anti-christ.
But as the anti-christ takes proactive action in bringing about his policies of control, God on the other hand will stand back and let those same anti-christ policies destroy themselves.
In trying to control life, the wicked of the world will bring about their own destruction. And, all that they will be able to do is stand back in total helplessness and watch life fall apart. And, it will fall apart rapidly, very rapidly.
Beginning immediately after the Rapture, the world will begin a slow disintegration process, which will grow rapidly in speed until the last year of the Tribulation, when the entire worlds systems of activities will totally collapse.
And as we have already seen, the entire world, hopeless, helpless, starving and terrified, will begin the process of blaming one another, and violence will rise on scales that no one could possibly imagine.
Remember the seven thunders from our earlier study. They were so terrible that they could not be mentioned or revealed in the scriptures. Well, this scenario is probably the reflection and result of the terrible atrocities and events that those thunders address, with billions of people around the world struggling to hold on to life and things.
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