Revelation 18

Revelation 18: 12 -14 - cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men. "They will say, 'The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.'


I pray and hope that many would be able to begin to apply this verse to their walks TODAY. "The fruit you longed for is one from you.” Worldly man is controlled by his appetites for sin but God intended that we be controlled by our minds and hearts. He wants us to think things through. He said, "Come now, let us reason together said the Lord." Paul speaks of presenting your body unto God as a living sacrifice which is your service to the Kingdom. Man is often controlled by his lusts, does not stop to reason things through. Paul tells us that the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of them that believe not.

Go back to verse 12 and consider the things their hearts were lusting after. Gold, silver and precious stones or expensive jewelry. How many people do we know that lust after fancy jewelry, fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet - the fancy colorful clothes? Including fancy and costly furniture, expensive perfumes, gourmet foods, fancy sport cars or horses and chariots, which were the sports cars of that day? Not to mention slaves and the souls of men… a few more lusts.


What will happen to all these material things…how will you lose them? In that last days when the judgments of God come upon the earth and millions of people are starving to death. A starving man can become a beast, history attests to this fact. With the great desolation that will come as the result of the cataclysmic upheavals of nature, your jewelry and fancy clothes and furniture will be of no great comfort to you. It will be like the movie Titanic (or Alive), as the ship was going down, that is the last thing that they were thinking about. The one driving issue was survival.


All your riches and splendor have banished, NEVER to be recovered. If you have put all of your life and investments in material things, what will you have to show the Lord when He comes? NADA! Jesus gave a parable concerning those who have laid up treasures for themselves and are not rich toward God. Imagine all of the labor, effort and striving one have endured or will endure building your fortune. It will all be gone forever in just a moment of time. Think of how many rich people have died of heart attacks from the pressure of amassing their wealth. You spend your whole life amassing a nest egg so that you might retire and enjoy your senior years, and die within the first year of your retirement.


What does our soul desire after today? The basic folly of man is to think that he can satisfy that emptiness in his soul with things. This is what comes under the judgment of God in chapter 18 of the book of Revelation. Jesus said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses." True riches are not found in material things, but in eternal things. James wrote, James 2:5 – Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?


I would much rather be poor in this world and rich in faith, than rich in this world and poor in faith.