Revelation 18:20

Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

Just as the kings and rulers before them, so here the merchants bewail the fall of the anti-Christian kingdom, which has always offered them such a lucrative trade: The traders in these things, that have grown rich from her, stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe and alas, the great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet goods, and ornamented with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour has been made desolate such great wealth. All this is not due to mere outward sympathy, but they are included in the bankruptcy of the great harlot. They furnished the goods for her sinful and godless traffic and are therefore bound to be included in the damage that results to her. At the same time their selfishness causes them to keep their distance, lest someone identify them with her whose desolation has become so apparent.

They are finally joined in their wailing by another class of people that has grown rich from the traffic of Rome: And every shipmaster and all sea-faring people and sailors, and all whose business takes them on the sea, stood at a distance and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, Who is like to the great city? And they threw dust on their heads, and they cried, weeping and lamenting, saying, Woe and alas, the great city, in which grew rich all that have ships on the sea from her expensive habits! For in one hour she has become desolate. This scene reminds one strongly of the destruction of the great commercial city Tyre, Ezekiel 27:32, since anti-Christian Rome is also pictured as sitting upon great waters and doing a big business in all parts of the world. No wonder that shipmasters and sailors, and all whose business is on the sea, feel the loss of business very keenly when the power of Rome declines, that they give way to the utmost protestations of grief and lament the fall of her whose luxurious tendencies and expensive habits were a source of great gain to them.

In sharp contrast to these selfish wailings and lamentings is the triumphant cry which is here inserted: Rejoice over her, O heaven and saints and apostles and prophets, for God has judged her with your judgment. The victory always rests with the Lord and with all those that are faithful to Him, and so heaven celebrates the triumph over the great harlot, over the kingdom of Anti-Christ. And not only God and all the host of heaven are here called upon to rejoice, but also the apostles and prophets, since their earnest teaching and warning was directed against all antichristian doctrine and activity as it finally came to a head in the empire of Anti-Christ. By the fall of Rome they have been avenged, they have been vindicated, they have been given justice by God's vengeance upon the great harlot.