The Lord has opened the seventh seal on the scroll and now we are about to study what is called "the trumpet judgments". Today we are going to take a look at what happens when the first four of the seven angels blow their trumpets.
"Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up." (Revelation 8:6-7) This is reminiscent of something that happened in the book of Exodus, when Pharaoh closed his ears to the word of God spoken to him through God's servants Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh stubbornly refused to repent of the mistreatment he had heaped upon the Hebrew people in the land of Egypt. Because he would not relent and let them go free, God sent a hailstorm so severe that it destroyed everything growing in the fields and stripped the trees bare. The Bible tells us this hailstorm was "the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation". (Exodus 9:24)
The hailstorm in Revelation 8 will be the worst storm in all the world since the world was created. This storm comes because, although they've been given opportunities to repent, many citizens of earth have closed their ears to the word of God spoken to them by His servants. This storm comes because so many inhabitants of the world are stubbornly refusing to repent, even though they know that the disasters they've witnessed prior to Chapter 8 were sent from God. Just like Pharaoh of Egypt, who didn't want to budge an inch even though he'd already witnessed plagues prior to the hailstorm, many people of earth in those days will continue to defy the living God.
"The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." (Revelation 8:8-9) There is some disagreement among Bible scholars as to whether "the sea" means all the oceans of the world or whether it means the Mediterranean Sea. In the Apostle John's day, "the sea" was a term generally used to indicate the Mediterranean Sea. Either way, this event will certainly get people's attention. The object that falls into the sea, which looks like "a huge mountain, all ablaze", may describe a major meteor strike. The earth has been pelted by large meteors and asteroids in the past, and the earth bears the resulting scars in the form of craters.
In the book of Exodus, one of the plagues of Egypt was that the Nile River and the other water sources of the land turned to blood. This plague was sent right after one of Pharaoh's refusals to listen to Moses and his brother Aaron. The Bible tells us, "Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them." (Exodus 7:13) The hearts of the people of earth have become hard by the time John sees the burning mountain fall into the sea and turn the water to blood. They've resisted the call to repentance for a long time, in spite of how much God has spoken to them and tried to reason with them. But each time a person refuses to heed the voice of God, his heart grows a little harder. Each time a person closes his ears to the voice of God, his spiritual hearing gets a little duller. Eventually only the harshest of conditions is capable of cracking the tough shell around his heart, and for some people no amount of tribulation will compel them to honor and worship the living God. Just as the Lord turned the waters of Egypt to blood, He turns a third of the waters in the sea to blood in Revelation 8 in an effort to shock the hard-hearted out of their complacency, but even then some will still resist the Lord's offer of mercy and forgiveness. They will be like Pharoah, who witnessed the bloody waters and didn't repent. Instead, "He turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart." (Exodus 7:23)
"The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water---the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter." (Revelation 8:10-11) It could be that this "star" is a nuclear weapon that pollutes a third of the fresh water sources on the earth. Or it may be another meteor or asteroid strike, only this time it affects fresh water instead of salt water. Since one object as large as a mountain has already struck the earth, this could be a piece of the original object that broke off when the object entered the atmosphere. John describes it as a falling star because that's what it looks like to him.
The word "wormwood" means "bitter". Quite a few theologians and experts in Biblical prophecy have drawn a comparison between the object known as Wormwood in Revelation to the now abandoned city in the Ukraine that was called Chernobyl. The Russian word "chernobyl" actually means "wormwood", and the city of Chernobyl was once the site of a nuclear power plant. Due to an accident at the power plant which occurred while conducting a test, radioactive contaminants were released into the air for nine days, and over 100,000 people from that city and the surrounding areas had to be evacuated. This is why some Bible scholars think a nuclear weapon (or nuclear accident) will be to blame for the bitterness of the waters and the death in verses 10 and 11 of our study today.
Although these scholars make a compelling case, we discussed earlier in the week the fact that the events which happen following the opening of the final three seals are acts of judgment from heaven. The events which occurred following the opening of the first four seals appeared to be acts of man, such as tyranny, war, and the price inflation and famine and death that often follow war. So I tend to think that this object called "wormwood" which makes water bitter is not a manmade object but something that enters the earth's atmosphere from outer space---from "the heavens". I think this because words such as "bitterness" and "wormwood" were used in the Old Testament as symbols for sin and for the judgment for sin.
The Lord compared the sin of idolatry to a bitter poison because idolatry brings nothing but harm on the person who participates in it. (Deuteronomy 29:18) King Solomon warned about the dangers of sexual sins such as adultery, saying that though an immoral woman speaks sweet words, she is actually as bitter as wormwood. (Proverbs 5:2-5) In Lamentations 3:15,19 the prophet Jeremiah speaks of how bitter the judgment is for his people's idolatry, comparing the bitterness of Judah's defeat and exile to the bitterness of wormwood. Jeremiah also said to his people in the book that bears his name, "Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces the heart!" (Jeremiah 4:18) The prophet Amos compared unrighteousness to wormwood in Amos 5:17 and Amos 6:12 because unrighteous conduct brings bitterness into a person's life. The prophet Zephaniah foresaw the judgment of the Great Tribulation---often referred to in the Scriptures as "the day of the Lord"---and he said of it, "The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts His battle cry." (Zephaniah 1:14) So we see that the bitter "star" known as Wormwood likely represents the judgment of God on a world that continues to reject righteousness. If Jeremiah or any of these other prophets were in the world during the end times, they could say to its citizens, "Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces the heart!"
"The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned black. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night." (Revelation 8:12) What could cause such a thing? What could reduce the amount of hours of daylight? We don't know, but this isn't the first time God has brought darkness on the land. In Exodus 10:21-29 the Lord sent a plague of darkness upon the land of Egypt for three days because Pharaoh was still too hard-hearted to let the Hebrew people go, even though many other plagues had preceded the plague of darkness. This darkness was so deep that the Bible says it was a "darkness that can be felt". (Exodus 10:21) As he had several times before, Pharoah promised to allow the Lord's people to go, but he wanted to keep all their livestock. When Moses insisted that his people were to take their livestock with them (saying that "not a hoof is to be left behind"), Pharaoh became angry and ordered Moses out of his sight. He threatened Moses that if he ever saw his face again he would kill him. Moses agreed, telling him, "Just as you say." In other words, "Have it your way." Following the plague of darkness, the worst plague to strike Egypt was about to come, and that was the plague of the firstborn in which the firstborn males of the people of Egypt and the firstborn males of all the flocks of the Egyptians would die.
A large portion of the remaining population of the world will still not repent following the plague of darkness in Revelation. They will be as hard-hearted as Pharaoh of Egypt. Because they persist in their stubbornness, the Lord will say to them what Moses said to Pharaoh, "Just as you say." Just as the worst plague was still ahead of Pharaoh when he refused to repent during the plague of darkness, the worst days of the Great Tribulation are still ahead of the world when its citizens refuse to repent during the plague of darkness. This is why John hears these words spoken: "As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: 'Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!'" (Revelation 8:13)
I want to conclude by pointing out something that we mustn't miss. Just as the Lord would have stopped sending plagues on Egypt if Pharaoh had repented following any of them, the Lord would stop sending plagues on the world in the end times if, following any of the plagues, the people of the world repented and turned to Him. God doesn't want to send the disasters we are reading about on the pages of Revelation. But so often it seems like disasters are the only way to get the attention of a hard-hearted person. The Lord's kindness and mercy has had no effect on them. His patience with their continual sin and rebellion means nothing to them. The only way He will be able to get through to some of the earth's citizens in the last days is to get their attention with hardships and disasters. And even then, as we will see as we go on, many will not repent but will curse His name instead.
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