Ezekiel Chapter 27, Part 5

VERSE 27 “Your riches, wares, and merchandise (teachings, doctrines), your mariners and pilots (teachers, leaders, the clergy), your caulkers (older more experienced leaders) and merchandisers (the “kings of the earth” rulers both civil and ecclesiastical), All your men of war (supporters) who are in you, and the entire company which is in your midst (those who bare the mark of the beast or the number of his name), will fall into the midst of the seas (will be overwhelmed by the raging anarchist masses, the sea class) on the day of your ruin.”

“…Thus with violence (in the anarchy of the great time of trouble) the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore.” (Rev 18:21)

The New Living Translation sums it up best, viz.

“EVERYTHING IS LOST–your riches and wares, your sailors and pilots, your ship builders, merchants, and warriors (the whole system). On the day of your ruin, everyone on board sinks into the depths of the sea.”

“Everyone on board” will go down with the ship, that is to say everyone still in the system, still in Great Babylon, who felled to heed the Lord’s injunction to come out of her at the appropriate time. This includes the “entire company”, all who may or may not be active members but who are nevertheless believers, supporters and proliferators of the doctrines of Papacy (Catholicism) all of whom bare the mark of the beast and or the number of his name.

Some of these are merely believers in the doctrines of the church, who have made a public profession but who are not active in supporting the church or in propagating its doctrines, thus they bare the mark only upon the forehead (which represents intellectual consent to the teachings and doctrines of the church), others who take a more active role, giving support with their influence and means are marked both in the forehead and upon the right hand (the right hand of cooperation, with our hands we render service, the right hand representing our best efforts).

A mark is a seal or sign of allegiance, and all who bare the mark of the beast or the number of his name will share not only in her sins, but will receive of her plagues, her sufferings, “torment and sorrow” (Rev 18:4, 7) on the day of her ruin.

VERSE 28 “The common-land will shake at the sound of the cry of your pilots.”

The “common-land” (the “field” mentioned in Chapter 26 Verse 6) represents the nominal Christian world (Luke 17:31, 36). Waves and ripples (repercussions) will extend out to the common-land and to her (the Mother of Harlots) “daughter villages” the Protestant churches.

“And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” (Ezek 26:6)

Protestantism will not escape what is coming; it is just as guilty as Papacy and will likewise be destroyed in the great storm which is coming. Having followed suit and copied the first beast who committed fornication with the kings of the earth, Protestantism set itself up as an image of the beast and in so doing “caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads” (Rev 13:16) just as those who were members of the first beast (Papacy) were required to do.

VERSE 29 “All who handle the oar (who have propelled and supported the great nominal church systems), the mariners (seamen: crew-members of one denomination or another), and all the pilots of the sea (teachers, leaders those who steer the ship) will come down from (abandon, disembark) their ships (various denominations) and stand on the shore.”

Having been cast out of their ships in which heretofore they had prided themselves all the various leaders and teachers in Babylon will stand at a distance and “weep and wail” when they see the smoke of their once prized system, Babylon the Great burning. “…Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.” Rev 18:10

VERSE 30-32 “They will make their voice heard because of you; they will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads; they will roll about in ashes. They will shave themselves completely bald because of you, Gird themselves with sackcloth, and weep for you with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing. In their wailing for you they will take up a lamentation, and lament for you: ‘what city is like Tyre, Destroyed in the midst of the sea?”

Verses 30–32 prophetically describe the wailing and mourning that took place when the city of Tyre was destroyed. The antitype will be similar. In regard to the fall of literal Babylon, Cyrus and his army entered the city through the dry bed of the river that had been the source of revenue, protection, and commerce. Thus the very river that had enriched Babylon was the means of its downfall. The principle was the same with Tyre. Moral deterioration occurred because of affluence; riches corrupted the system.

When mystic Babylon (Papacy) falls, the people will desert the system. The desertion is shown by the continued symbolism of ships. All of the rowers and pilots on the ships deserted their posts. Those on board came up on deck and raced for land as fast as possible.

Note in Revelation how they are all found “standing at a distance for fear of her torment”, attempting to distance themselves from the very corrupt system in which they themselves supported and or directed.

“They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all (the “pilots” the various leaders and teachers in Christendom) who had ships (commerce, specifically religious commerce, individual religious groups, denominations and etc.) on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.’” Rev 18:19

VERSE 33 “When your wares went out by sea, you satisfied many people; you enriched the kings of the earth with your many luxury goods and your merchandise.”

As the fall of literal Tyre adversely affected many from an economic standpoint, so it will be with the fall of Papacy. (Once again compare with Rev 18:9-19)

VERSE 34-36 “But you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and the entire company will fall in your midst. All the inhabitants of the isles will be astonished at you; their kings will be greatly afraid, and their countenance will be troubled. The merchants among the peoples will hiss at you; you will become a horror, and be no more forever.”

Tyre will “be no more forever.” Likewise, Papacy will go down like a millstone never to rise again (Rev. 18:21). By a comparison with its days of former glory, the Tyre of today is nothing; its power and opulence are gone.

“Their kings” will not just mourn—they will be “greatly afraid.” Moreover, “their countenance will be troubled.” The wording indicates the picture is changing to the antitype. Not only will riches be endangered, but more than that, the “kings” class associated with Papacy (the clergy) will realize their destruction is next. After the religious systems fall, the civil governments will go down.

“The merchants among the people shall hiss at you.” The very merchants who were employed by the Church will turn and “hiss” at it. The lamentation will turn to bitterness. “They will make their voice heard because of you…” (Verse 30) They will be heard complaining and blaming their troubles on the religious leaders.

The international system will go down, taking all the wealth and employment with it: corporations, real estate, builders, etc. Verse 34 is a reminder of Samson. The Temple of Dagon was supported by two pillars, picturing the two divisions of the religious world: Papacy and Protestantism. When Samson pulled down the two pillars, the house collapsed. When Roman Catholicism and her daughters go down, all of Christendom will fall.

Thus we conclude Chapter 27 and will move on to Chapter 28 with our next post.