Comparing 9-11 and the Destruction of Commercial Babylon
I had the great privilege of fellowshipping with the wonderful people of Heritage Baptist Church in Manhattan on this 20th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. One of the church’s ministries is a live radio broadcast on Sunday evening. The subject of our on-air discussion last night was the destruction of Commercial Babylon in Revelation 18 and its similarities to the 9-11 attacks.
No one in the discussion was making the assertion that the 9-11 tragedy was somehow the fulfillment of the Revelation 18 prophecy, but rather that the attacks show us just how such a future event might come to pass.
It will be the great commercial city of the world.
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 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. (Revelation 18:11-13)
In the end times, this great city will be one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Its leaders will not only heap themselves great profits, but they will also enrich merchants around the world that do business with her. The picture painted in this chapter describes a level of wealth unimaginable in our world until the last 50 years or so.
Yes, it will be the type of city that New York has become, but I highly doubt it will actually be New York. It will probably be some Middle Eastern City that springs to unimaginable wealth almost overnight—more like Dubai, a desert city far from landlocked with its towering pointless skyscrapers built for no greater purpose than to show of ostentatious wealth and the arrogance of humanity.
Its wealth is the product of immoral business practices including drug peddling and human trafficking.
Verse 13 clearly indicates that human trafficking will be one of the income streams of this great city. The last part of verse 23 says
For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.
It is now completely conceivable to imagine a great future city built on the back of human trafficking and the drug trade. The legalization of recreational drugs has now made destructive addictions a lucrative legal business.
Our own opioid crisis brings the apocalyptic picture into vivid reality as I drive to work in the morning in Phoenix past the encampments of the homeless that have sprung up quickly in the last few years. The legalization of recreational drugs in the US was not about freedom or law enforcement. The ballot initiatives were driven by business consortiums poised to turn a profit on the misery of the masses—just like Revelation 18 describes it.
Its destruction will occur in an hour.
The imagery in Revelation 18 that reminds New Yorkers, and many others, of the fall of the World Trade Center, is the suddenness of the fall of the city. It happens in an hour. The time between the impact of the plane on the South Tower and its collapse was 56 minutes and like described in Revelation 18 the smoke and smell permeated the city for months.
Mourning will be over the loss of income not loss of life.
Although the 9-11 Attacks cost our nation billions of dollars in negative economic impact, rarely does anyone speak of it. The focus has always been on the loss of life and the attack on our national sovereignty. However, when Commercial Babylon falls it will be all about the money lost. The merchants do not mourn the people who will do doubt be destroyed in the destruction of such a great city. Why would they? They will build their wealth off of the misery of people.
I am NOT against business or the free market. Socialism is not biblical in any sense, but there is also predatory materialism that the Bible severely and universally condemns.
The great men of the world in that future day will be the world’s business leaders.
For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. (Revelation 18:23).
The world’s great men will no longer be Kings or military leaders. The great men of the earth will be wealthy businessmen who wield great power.
The middle ages had great men who worked behind the scenes as bankers to kings and countries. The industrial barons of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century also exerted great influence. However anti-trust laws brought them into line somewhat. However, our present bunch–Bezos, Page, Brin, Zuckerberg, Dorsey, and others—are on a different level. These might not be the great men who will run the show in that day, but it will be men who exert influence like they do.
After 20 years, the 9-11 tragedy reminds us how truly vulnerable we are as human beings. In a moment all of life can change. It does not matter how rich or poor you are. 19 terrorists with box cutters turned the world upside down. Our nation has spent 20 years and trillions of dollars at war and we are no more secure today than we were on September 10, 2001.
People look to all sorts of things to provide for their own security—money, military, and when that fails they try to medicate away their fears. It is a mirage. Our security is only found in the grace and mercy of God—not just believers but everyone. If there is any lesson to learn from Commercial Babylon or 9-11 it is this,
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Psalm 2:12.