Verse 2: “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.” If we, as individuals, let ourselves be ruled by evil, we will fall, our mind having become “the cage of every unclean and hateful bird”.
Verse 4: “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.
5: For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.”
Each of us is responsible for “cleaning our cage”. If we don’t, our destruction is assured.
Verse 11-16: “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12: 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,
13: 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.
14: 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.
15: The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16: 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!”
We may see the above passages as applying to each of us, as well as to corrupted nations. “The merchants of the earth” will “weep and mourn” if we go bankrupt and can’t buy their goods, we see that the things we “lusted after” are the things that will take to earthly,as well as spiritual, destruction.
The “merchant who shall weep and mourn” over their lost customers are also worried about their own, now over-valued inventory. Those from whom they borrowed to buy their goods will be demanding payments they can’t make.
Providing such temptations is a way of encouraging others to procure false idols. Everyone involved in the process, in the modern parlance, “takes a haircut”.
