18:17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’
“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.
This verse is split into two parts: the first part belongs to the merchants discussion, and the second part begins the seafaring discussion.
In one hour such GREAT WEALTH has been brought to ruin!’
Again, as we has seen before in our discussions of time, the Revelation is very precise in time, ONE HOUR. If GREAT WEALTH is the expression for the global economy, then this worldwide economy collapses in ONE HOUR. This is about the time it would take for a total global failure of the Internet, for example. Or for a rapid devaluation of currencies to ripple throughout the financial markets. What is amazing to me is the Revelation was written nearly 2000 years ago, and way before our "modern high technology" world.
Symbolically, if GREAT WEALTH are the souls of men (see verse 13), then we could say evangelism will cease. The cause is unclear. Perhaps because of the intertwining of information sources, the radio/TV/newsprint resources are shutdown due to loss of Internet or satellite feeds. Christ warns us about putting too much emphasis on material things (even to augment ministry) if that emphasis detracts from the searching for souls (Mark 8:31-38).
“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.
During the three laments (verses 9-19), we have had kings, merchants, and now SHIPMASTERS and humans aboard the ships. Since the collapse of the global economy is what the fall of Babylon is all about, then a good argument could be made that kings = economic policies; merchants = manufacturing sector; and seafarers = service economy. Without goods from manufacturing, the distribution and support industries are idled. Likewise, the cash flow back from the service sector dwindles to a trickle and keeps manufacturing stifled. Both sink together.
Previously, in Revelation 17:15, we have seen that the harlot sits on many waters (SEA?), and that the many waters are really every living being with a soul. So from a spiritual sense (kings = religious leaders/orgs; merchants = evangelism; and seafarers = disciplerers), those people who derive income from believer discipleship will be just standing there. That is to say, the "departments of Christian education" that are a part of most religious organizations cease to function. In scripture, however, discipleship and training is a generational matter (Deuteronomy 4:1-9-14, Deuteronomy 6:1-7-9, Proverbs 22:4-6, and Ephesians 6:4). It is done in a very low tech way, by word of mouth! Of course, implied in those references, the parents and grandparents know what they are teaching about.
Sadly, the oldsters amongst us including this author have by and large failed to take on this responsibility and have left this process to someone else or some audio/visual CD to do. This is a partial explanation why the younger generation seems to have a poor understanding of moral bounds. They either haven't taken the time to learn morals and ethics or don't want to learn (chalk one up to the devil's deception...."you're a good person" syndrome).