Sunken Dreams

If you’d like to spend some big money, you could dish out $1.6 million for a magnetic floating bed. Or how about $12 million for a dead shark encased in formaldehyde? Of course, you could be more practical and get a car, like a gold-plated Bugatti—for only $10 million.

The large number of trade items, 28 in all, listed in yesterday’s and today’s texts is unusual. What’s the point? Some have wondered at a hidden meaning in the merchandise, but the poetic nature of the chapter suggests that Babylon is not a small, off-the-beaten-path trade route.

The extensive commercial interests of the apostate church are worldwide. And the Greek words for “rich and splendid” (“dainty and goodly” in the King James) literally mean “the fat things and the splendid things.”

Evidence of Babylon’s shamelessly excessive lifestyle, wanton living at the expense of others, is clear from the previous chapter. “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication” (Revelation 17:4).

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). As the wise man wrote, “I must leave [all my labor] to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool?” (Ecclesiastes 2:18, 19). We may pile up material possessions in this life, but what eternal value is it to us?

“Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death” (Proverbs 10:2). Riches may perish, but those who have put on the righteousness of Christ will endure. If that is so, then what is really important in life? Is it not seeking “first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and then seeking to impart those riches of Christ to others?

Jesus, may I find complete rest in You. May the riches of Your mercy motivate me to always put You first in my life.

For Further Study: Jeremiah 51:26; Ezekiel 27:3–25, 33; Matthew 6:20

Key Bible Texts

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. (Revelation 18:13 KJV)