The current global economic crisis has the nations of the world searching for answers. Christians too are not immune to the present financial turmoil. For some, such upheavals are signs of the End-time and many have turned to the book of Revelation for answers. John, the author of Revelation records some of the most remarkable and astounding images of the Bible. John was given to see many disturbing and troubling visions. John’s end-time vision of the world is a mixture of sweet and bitter (Rev 10), sweet in that it predicts the coming kingdom of God and a blissful eternity with God for the believers (Rev 19-21), but bitter in that on earth believers will suffer many tribulations, persecutions and even martyrdom (Rev 13, 17) and bitter also for the unbelieving world as the wrath of God and the Lamb are meted out to sinners (cf. seven bowls of Rev 16).
One of the most striking visions that John saw is the fall of Babylon, first announced in Rev 14:8 and narrated in detail in Rev 17-18. In John’s vision, Babylon the Great is visualized as a “Woman dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls” (17:4) whom John labels as a prostitute – “the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth” (17:5). This Woman-harlot is also depicted as a Queen “seated” on many waters/nations (17:1, 15; 18:7) and is accused of getting the world drunk with the wine of her fornication (17:2). The “fornication” of the Woman-Harlot with the kings of the earth is not literal sexual immorality but such heightened sexually degrading imagery is a metaphor for international maritime trade carried out for the benefit of the Woman identified by John as “that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (17:18). Yet, this great city is not a literal city (cf. 11:8; 16:19) but a symbol for an economic system that exploits the weak, persecutes the saints (17:6; 18:20, 24), traffics in human slaves (17:13) and exults in the accumulation of great riches and the abundance of luxury (18:3). Most scholars think that through this Woman-harlot image John condemns the economic exploitation of the late first-century Roman Empire and its control over the nations of the Mediterranean world. For all these, says John, God’s judgment will come on Babylon in one hour and she will be burned up and completely destroyed (18:8-24).
What has John’s vision on the destruction of this oppressive economic system to do with the current global economic crisis? We have to be careful how we interpret the book of Revelation to fit the current economic climate of the 21st century C.E. Though it is my view that Revelation is indeed prophetic and speaks of End-time events, it is best to exercise caution in how we equate the specific verses and passages of Revelation with current political and economic developments in the world. I would think that the present economic crisis does not bear much resemblance to what is described by John in Rev 17-18. Though there are certainly lessons to be learnt and principles to be garnered from John’s vision, it is far-fetched to argue that the world economic system at present is exactly the kind of exploitative system that John describes in Rev 17-18.
First, the success of the world economy in the past two or three decades has brought many Third World and developing countries out of poverty. For example, though there are still many poor people in China, India and Indonesia, yet significant sections of these countries’ populations have experienced prosperity and economic well-being. It is a prosperity shared by many nations in the world, though inequality and inequitable distribution of wealth exist in the many parts of the world. Second, there is no large scale persecution of the believers in the world today as a result of international trade as envisaged by John to happen in the End-time. Many Christians living in different nations of the world take part in trade that are morally legitimate and as a result rightly share in the economic prosperity. Third, at present there is no one dominant economic power or centre in the world though many would consider America as fulfilling that role in some measure, being by far the biggest economy in the world. Yet with the financial crisis engulfing America today, we see that the American economy is just as much dependent not only on the economies of the developed world like the European Union and Japan but also on the emergent economic powers like China and to a lesser extent India, Brazil and ASEAN.
Nevertheless, I would want to suggest that John’s vision of Rev 17-18 is relevant and offers many insights into the global economic situation today and how it might emerge in the future. First, world trade today is mainly driven to obtain great riches (cf. 18:17). While seeking profit is not wrong in the New Testament, even in John’s Revelation, but profiteering, i.e., the excessive drive for larger profits without ethical controls is surely one of the causes of the economic crisis today. When CEOs of Corporations, Banks and International Investment companies pay themselves and their senior staff huge sums (billions in US$) in bonuses while their companies face bankruptcy or seek government bail-out, something is very wrong somewhere. Put simply, it is greed. Greed or covetousness is condemned as idolatry elsewhere in the Bible (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5). Second, a significant amount of international trade is driven by the love of luxury which is denounced by John (Rev 18:3, 9). The materialistic world loves nothing better than gold, silver, pearls, fine clothing, and all kinds of citron wood for branded furniture, bronze, iron and marble and fine foods (18:12-13). As Christians, we need be watchful that though we live in the world, we do not become like the world in seeking after pleasures and abundant luxury. We should not confuse our needs with our wants and fall into the temptation to engage in questionable trading practices in order to obtain wealth and luxury. Third, we also see a world that seems unable to redress the severe imbalances and inequality between rich and poor countries. Two-thirds of the world’s population lives in (relative) poverty while the rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. Trade imbalances and injustices occur when dominant economic powers that set the rules for international trade and control the international institutions seek to benefit themselves and as a consequence oppress or marginalize the poorer nations. Fourth, in recent years we have seen a rise in human trafficking around the world where human bodies and souls are traded as slaves to work as sex slaves or workers at sweat shops with no or minimal pay and thus suffer unthinkable oppression and harm to their human dignity in every sense of the word.
If these exploitative trading practices and inhumane values become more and more entrenched in the current (and future) international economic system, Christians will find it increasingly difficult to engage in trade without compromising their faith. God’s people are left with two options. First, we must continue to engage the world by becoming the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt 5:13-14). We will seek to transform the world’s values with the Gospel of Christ and our testimony of God’s power and righteousness in every aspect of life. As Christian traders we will seek to uphold ethical commercial practices in our business dealings at all times and refuse to compromise our Christian standards. We will seek to uphold and advance the rule of law that facilitates fair trade practices and promotes equitable distribution of wealth between nations so that the forces of injustice and lawlessness are kept at bay. But if having done all, the economic system of the world should one day become like Babylon of Rev 17-18, then Revelation’s call to the Church is clear: “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (18:4).
- Dr Tony Siew is a lecturer in New Testament, Trinity Theological College, Singapore. He is the author of “The War between the Two Beasts and the Two Witnesses: A Chiastic Reading of Rev 11:1-14:5″ (LSNT 283; London & New York: T & T Clark, 2005). He had read law and theology at the University of Canterbury (LLB), University of Auckland (BTheol), and University of Otago (PhD). He was Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (1987), Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Borneo (1988); He is an ordained minister of the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Sabah, Malaysia. He is also an avid blogger at Revelation is Real.