“Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? . . . Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee,” Job 22:5, 21

Our title, I suggest, is a good summary of the book of Job. The two verses I have quoted give us some idea of how the three companions of God saw his condition and that which would be the means of his deliverance if he but heeded them!

Eliphaz the Temanite, whose words these are, was one of the three companions of Job who had come to commiserate with him on hearing of the calamities that had overtaken him.

In Job chapters 1 and 2, we read of the catastrophic events that followed the Lord permitting the devil to test Job.

His livestock were stolen and those caring for them slaughtered (1:14-15); his sheep and their shepherds were destroyed by fire that fell down upon them (1:16); raiders stole his camels and killed his servants (1:17).

This was compounded by the fact that the tragic incidents happened on the same day.

It did not end there. We read in 2:7, “So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.”

As if that was not enough, his wife turned on him: “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die,” Job 2:9.

I. JOB’S RESPONSE WAS MOST COMMENDABLE.

When the terrible events were reported to him by his servants, he reacted thus: “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD,” Job 1:20-2:1.

When he became the direct subject of Satan’s cruelty, again he responded well to bodily afflictions and the taunts of his wife.

“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips,” Job 2:10. (more…)

“ . . . for thy (Babylon) merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (the administering of drugs) were all nations deceived,” Revelation 18:23.

The Greek words underlying the English word “sorceries” and “witchcraft” in Galatians 5:20 and Revelation 9:21, 18:23 and 21:8, are the words from which we get ‘pharmacy’ or ‘pharmacist’.

It is a reference to the distribution and administering of drugs by which there is a bewitching and deceiving of those who partake of them.

Revelation 18 refers to the “merchants” who were “the great men of the earth,” verse 23. It serves to show us that ‘commerce and trade’ and those who are engaged in such, will become ‘great’ and likely become more important and influential than political leaders.

At the present time there are commercial conglomerates whose annual monetary turn over is great than the Gross Domestic Product of many nations! Their Chief Executive Officers are treated as ‘royalty’ wherever they go! ‘Red carpet treatment’ is the order of the day when they come visiting!

The recent activities of the American President, Donald Trump, with his employment of tariff ‘missiles’ as a means of dominating and subduing any nation that might disagree with his notions, are considered by many of his own nation as evidence that he is suffering from psychosis. Psychotic or not,  he knows the power of commerce and trade!

Merchants

Revelation 18 indicates that the ‘administering of drugs’ will be used by the merchants of the latter-day Babylon, the seat of the Antichrist, to spread the dominance of his short-lived empire.

At the overthrowing of Babylon, the ‘merchants’, the princes of this federation of anti-God kingdoms, are amongst those who mourn most bitterly at her judgment.

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 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, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 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, And cinnamon, and odours, 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.

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. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate,” Revelation 18:1-19.

I have highlighted those who in particular mourn the judgment and destruction of Babylon and her network of inquiry.

Surely any Christian with the least measure of discernment and understanding of the Bible’s prophecies of the closing days of this age, will readily see the shift in the emphasis within the attitude of the general public world-wide to the commodities featured in the above verses! Much less of this world’s goods satisfied folk a generation ago but this no longer so! (more…)