Trumpet 3
The
third
angel sounded, and a great star fell
from the sky, burning like a torch,
and it fell on one third
of the rivers,
and on the springs of the waters.
The name
of the star is called "Wormwood."
One third
of the waters became wormwood.
Many people died
from the waters, because they were made bitter.
(Revelation 8:10-11)
This is strikingly parallel to what we just saw in the previous
trumpet.
The
second angel sounded, and something like a great burning
mountain was thrown into the sea.
(Revelation 8:8)
Could
this be two perspectives
of possibly the
same thing?
In trumpet 2 we view this as happening from above
the sea of glass
while in this one it is witnessed from under
the sea of glass
on earth. That is one possibility but there's sure to be much more
involved. But for sure there is burning involved and there is water
involved and affected.
I
saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire,
and those who overcame
the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing
on the sea of glass,
having harps of God.
(Revelation 15:2)
An evil man is snared by his sin,
but the righteous can sing and be glad.
(Proverbs 29:6)
a
great
star fell
from the sky,
burning
like a torch
The
stars of the sky fell to the earth,
like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great
wind.
(Revelation 6:13)
The
fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky
which had fallen to the earth.
The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.
(Revelation 9:1)
His tail drew one third of the
stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth.
The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so
that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
(Revelation 12:4)
You
also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the
star of your god, which
you made for yourselves.
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,"
says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies.
(Amos 5:26-27)
You
took up the tent of Moloch, the star of your god
Rephan, the figures
which you made to worship.
I will carry you away beyond Babylon.' (Acts
7:43)
wild
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering
stars, for whom the
blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
(Jude 1:13)
The
seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are
subject to us in your name!" He said to them, "I
saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.
Behold, I give you authority
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the
enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you. Nevertheless, don't rejoice
in this, that the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
(Luke 10:17-20)
How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the
dawn! How you are cut down
to the ground, who laid the nations low!
(Isaiah 14:12)
Burning
like
a torch
This is another case that may well involve the concept of something
being like This is true of nearly all symbols, but contains an
inherent warning to be cautious on how one chooses to interpret it.
Whenever this appears we should be very careful how we view the
meaning of it since there may well be a counterfeit involved. The
very nature of a counterfeit is that it appears to be like something
else of value but inherently contains less or no value within itself.
He
said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as
foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They
will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation,
whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,
but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a
good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for
the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full." It came to pass
that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,
behold, a smoking
furnace, and a
flaming torch passed between these pieces.
In that day Yahweh made a covenant
with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from
the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
(Genesis 15:13-18)
He
divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into
the hands of all of them trumpets,
and empty pitchers, with torches within the
pitchers.
(Judges 7:16)
The
three companies blew the trumpets,
and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in
their left hands, and
the trumpets in their right hands
with which to blow; and they cried, The sword of Yahweh and of
Gideon.
(Judges 7:20)
His
sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the
morning. Out of his mouth go burning torches.
Sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a
boiling pot over a fire of reeds. His breath kindles coals. A flame
goes forth from his mouth. There is strength in his neck. Terror
dances before him.
(Job 41:18-22)
For
Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will
not rest, until her righteousness go forth as brightness, and her
salvation as a lamp that burns.
(Isaiah 62:1)
As
for the likeness of the living creatures, their
appearance was like burning coals of fire,
like the appearance of torches:
the fire went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire
was bright, and out of
the fire went forth lightning.
(Ezekiel 1:13)
I
lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen,
whose thighs were girded with pure gold of Uphaz: his body also was
like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his
eyes as flaming torches,
and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his
words like the voice of a multitude. I, Daniel, alone saw the vision;
for the men who were with me didn't see the vision; but a great
quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.
(Daniel 10:5-7)
He
who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress!
Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!
For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of
Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine
branches. The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men
are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his
preparation, and the pine spears are brandished. The chariots rage in
the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their
appearance is like torches.
They run like the lightnings. He summons his picked troops. They
stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective
shield is put in place. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the
palace is dissolved. It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried
away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on
their breasts. But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water,
yet they flee away. "Stop! Stop!" they cry, but no one
looks back.
(Nahum 2:1-8)
In
that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among
wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves;
and they will devour
all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and
Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.
(Zechariah 12:6)
But
it happened after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson
visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife
into the chamber. But her father wouldn't allow him to go in. Her
father said, I most certainly thought that you had utterly hated her;
therefore I gave her to your companion: isn't her younger sister more
beautiful than she? Please take her, instead. Samson said to them,
This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I
do them a mischief. Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and
took firebrands,
and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the
midst between every two tails.
When he had set the brands on fire, he let them go
into the standing grain
of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing
grain, and also the olive groves.
(Judges 15:1-5)
You
have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. But the
testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these
things that you may be saved. He was the burning and
shining lamp, and you
were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the
testimony which I have is greater than that of John,
for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works
that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me. The Father
himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard
his voice at any time, nor seen his form. You don't have his word
living in you; because you don't believe him whom he sent. "You
search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have
eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
(John 5:33-39)
it
fell on one third
of the rivers,
and on the springs of
the waters
The
third poured out his bowl into the rivers and
springs of water, and
they became blood.
(Revelation 16:4)
Moses
and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and
struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh,
and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters
that were in the river were turned to blood.
The fish that were in the river died; and the river
became foul, and the
Egyptians couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was
throughout all the land of Egypt.
(Exodus 7:20-21)
The
men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, we pray you, the situation of
this city is pleasant, as my lord sees: but the
water is bad, and the
land miscarries.
He said, Bring me a new jar,
and put salt
therein. They brought it to him. He went forth to the
spring of the waters, and cast salt therein,
and said, Thus says Yahweh, I have healed these
waters; there shall not
be from there any more death or miscarrying. So the
waters were healed to this day,
according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
(2 Kings 2:19-22)
Though
he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath
of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his
spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up.
He will plunder the storehouse of treasure. Samaria will bear her
guilt; for she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces,
and their pregnant women will be ripped open.
(Hosea 13:15-16)
These are wells without water,
clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been
reserved forever.
(2 Peter 2:17)
He
said with a loud voice, "Fear the Lord, and give him glory; for
the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who
made the heaven, the
earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!"
(Revelation 14:7)
A river went out of Eden to water
the garden; and from
there it was parted, and became four heads. The name of the first is
Pishon: this is the one which flows through the whole land of
Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good.
There is aromatic resin and the onyx stone. The name of the second
river is Gihon: the same river that flows through the whole land of
Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel: this is the one which
flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
(Genesis 2:10-14)
Jesus
answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst
again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will
never thirst again; but the water that I will give
him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
(John 4:13-14)
Now
on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out,
"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
drink! He who believes
in me, as the Scripture
has said, from within him will flow rivers of living
water."
(John 7:37-38)
They
will never be hungry, neither thirsty any more; neither will the sun
beat on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb
who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them, and leads
them to springs of waters of life.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
(Revelation 7:16-17)
Remember that the most important thing to keep in mind here is the
reality to which these symbols direct our attention.
The
name of the star
is called "Wormwood." One third
of the waters became wormwood
Neither
with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him who
stands here with us this day before Yahweh our God, and also with him
who is not here with us this day (for you know how we lived in the
land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations
through which you passed; and you have seen their abominations, and
their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them);
lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe,
whose heart turns away this day from Yahweh our God,
to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among
you a root that bears gall and wormwood;
and it happen, when he hears the words of this
curse, that he bless himself in his heart,
saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the
stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.
Yahweh will not pardon him,
but then the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy will smoke against that
man, and all the curse that is written in this book
shall lie on him, and
Yahweh will blot out his name
from under the sky. Yahweh will set him apart to evil out of all the
tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the
covenant that is written
in this book of the law.
(Deuteronomy 29:14-21)
My
son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve
knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress
drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil, But in
the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
(Proverbs 5:1-4)
therefore
thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I
will feed them, even
this people, with wormwood, and give them water of
gall to drink.
(Jeremiah 9:15)
In
the prophets of Jerusalem
also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit
adultery, and walk in lies;
and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers,
so that none does return from his wickedness: they are all of them
become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah.
Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the prophets: Behold,
I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink
the water of gall; for
from the prophets of Jerusalem is ungodliness gone forth into all the
land.
(Jeremiah 23:14-15)
I
am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day. He
has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me
with ashes. You have removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot
prosperity. I said, My strength is perished, and my expectation from
Yahweh. Remember my affliction and my misery, the
wormwood and the gall.
(Lamentations 3:14-19)
You who turn justice to wormwood,
and cast down righteousness to the earth:
seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of
death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls
for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the
earth, Yahweh is his name, who brings sudden destruction on the
strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.
(Amos 5:7-9)
I want to re-analyze the potential meaning of these thirds and
entertain another idea that may or may not prove out with further
study. Look at the pattern we find here in the trumpets.
Trumpet
1: One third
of the earth
was burnt up,
one third
of the trees
were burnt up,
all green grass
was burnt up
Trumpet
2: One third
of the sea
became blood,
one
third of the living
creatures which were in
the sea
died.
One
third of the ships
were destroyed.
Trumpet
3: One third
of the rivers,
and the springs
of the waters.
One
third of the waters
became wormwood.
Trumpet
4: One third
of the sun
was struck,
one
third of the moon,
one
third of the stars;
one
third of them would be
darkened,
one
third of the day
wouldn't shine,
the
night
in the same way.
There
are no more thirds
in the rest of the trumpets,
making these first
four
especially important as they are tied together by this repeated
use of one third.
I think this is something very important for us to think about and
allow the clues to inform us as to why this is.
Also
note the effects
and how they differ
from trumpet to trumpet in this set of four, as well as the fact that
there are four.
Numbers are very important in Revelation and must not be ignored or
overlooked. Look at the pattern of the effects.
Trumpet 1: things (various symbols of people) are burnt up.
Trumpet 2: blood, death and destruction.
Trumpet 3: Wormwood and bitterness.
Trumpet 4: Major sources of natural light are struck and darkened.
What seems to be emerging to my thinking is that this very well may
apply to a group of people who are major players in this war, people
who honestly believe they are doing the will of God and keeping His
rules but whose hearts are not synchronized with the Lamb's heart.
The trumpets are a clarion call to worship the real God, the true
God, the God of heaven who is like the Lamb, not like Baal. The
difference is not as clear as one might imagine, for the description
of Baal strikingly resembles what we have been taught about Jesus.
But the one notable and stark contrast that many find difficult to
accept is that Baal operates under the principles of the trading
system while the Lamb reveals heaven's true economy of selfless love,
forgiveness, kindness, humility and is entirely free of coercive
methods for overcoming evil.
Baal encourages selfish motives by offering blessings in exchange for
allegiance.
Jesus demonstrates selfless love by forgiving His enemies
unconditionally.
Baal demands blood sacrifices of worth commensurate to the level of
offenses needing dissolution.
Jesus seeks at-one-ment in restored relationships of trust and
admiration of God's sterling character.
Consider
the description of Baal condensed from historical records in the
accompanying document.
Why does this fit into the interpretation for understanding the
meaning of these trumpets?
While first four trumpets can readily apply to professed God
followers but who are exposed by the heart-searching truths released
through the clear message of the trumpets, we see a clear transition
happening moving into trumpet 5 where the messages more directly
impact all who dwell on the earth.
I
saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud
voice, "Woe! Woe! Woe for those who dwell on
the earth, because of
the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to
sound!"
(Revelation 8:13)
This alerts us that there may be a significant difference between the
first 4 trumpets in contrast to the last 3 which may indicate a
movement from judgment expanding beyond its initial phase of
separating the wheat from the tares, the wise virgins from the
foolish.
For
the time has come for judgment to begin with the
household of God. If it
begins first with us,
what will happen to those who don't obey the Good
News of God?
(1 Peter 4:17)
Examining the symbols utilized in the first 4 trumpets from this
perspective makes them resonate strongly, at least for myself. I am
beginning to see this group of people that Jesus spoke of frequently
as a major issue in Revelation that I had not picked up on
previously.
If this is valid, then this reference to one third repeated in all 4
trumpets not only means that Satan is directly involved in some way
but that this involves the most subtle working of Satan, masquerading
as righteousness while in fact deceiving those who imagine they are
the very elect. This is the nature of religion as I see it today. It
is extremely easy to imagine that we are God's chosen messengers on
earth while failing to take seriously the message of the humble Lamb
who is the hero of Revelation. This takes us back to the very first
key we insist on using in the very first words of this book.
This
is the Revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must
happen soon....
(Revelation 1:1)
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