The Terrors of the Trumpets (Revelation 8:6–13) | Coronation (Part 17)

Transcript

JRNT 516
The Terrors of the Trumpets
Revelation 8:6-13
11/16/2025
Jesse Randolph

As we get back into our regular Sunday evening series through the book of Revelation, where we last left off by way of reminder, was the opening of the seven seals. That’s where we left off the last time, I was up here on a Sunday night. The opening of the seven seals and we left off last time with the opening of the seal number seven after those 30 minutes of silence in heaven at the beginning of Revelation 8. As we’re going to see now as we turn deeper into Revelation 8, we’re going to be in verses 6-13 tonight, we’re going to see how judgment on this sin cursed unrepentant planet during the time of the Tribulation is now going to come through different means. Namely the blowing, the blaring, the blasting of seven trumpets of judgment.

Before we get there though to Revelation 8:6 which is where we’re going to start tonight, take a look back with me at verse 2 of Revelation 8, where we were last time. John there says, “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.” So, what John saw at this point in his vision was these “seven angels” in formation, in their ready position, holding these trumpets which they will one day blow. And they’ll do so as God brings even greater judgment through these succeeding blasts of the trumpets as the Tribulation period proceeds. But as we turn to our text this evening, starting in Revelation 8:6, what we’re going to see is John’s vision, John’s witnessing these angels moving from being in “ready position” now to action.

Let’s go ahead and read our text as a whole and then we’ll read through this verse by verse and then eventually trumpet by trumpet. Revelation 8:6-13. It says, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. And the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea, those which had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe, woe’ to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’”

Let’s pick it up right away in verse 6 with this first expression of John of this vision he took in where he says, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.” So again, we’ve moved ahead here in John’s vision. We’ve moved ahead from what he saw in terms of these seals of judgment which were being opened during the Tribulation, to now when these trumpets of judgment being blown later in the Tribulation. As I mentioned last time, I do take the position that the three waves of judgment recorded in Revelation 6 through 19 during the Tribulation, the seals, and the trumpets, and the bowls; I take them as being not parallel or simultaneous. Rather, they’re sequential, they’re successive with one happening after the other, with different forms of judgment being meted out through each wave of judgment. Then as you go from seals to trumpets to bowls as we’ll see, greater and greater intensity is being meted out on the planet, as God judges the earth during the Tribulation.

So, in this earlier part of the seven-year Tribulation period, we saw last time and the last two times that these seals were going to be broken, and these seals were going to be opened with these judgments that we’ve already studied. Then at a later part of the Tribulation, most likely in the second half of the Tribulation as I’ll mention in just a moment, these seven judgments of these trumpet judgments will blow, the first four of which we’ll study tonight. And then near the end of the Tribulation as Christ’s return gets nearer and nearer, as He prepares to return on His white horse, the seven bowls of judgment will be poured out on the earth, and the severity of those bowls eclipses the severity of the seals and of the trumpets.

So, in other words there’ll be these three successive clusters of judgment during the seven years of Tribulation. Seals followed by trumpets, followed by bowls. Now, for most of those who take a futuristic interpretation of Revelation, as we do, they would see that the seven seal judgments, those we’ve already studied, occurring earlier in the first half of the Tribulation. And then what they’ll do is they will take that third group of judgments, the bowl judgments, and they’ll place those at the end of the Tribulation right before the Second Coming of Christ. That corresponds nicely with what Christ would say in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse about these various signs and wonders that are happening before those who are living at the end of the Tribulation “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” He says. Matthew 24:30

So that doesn’t answer the question, what about the judgments that come between? Between the seals, and between the bowls, we have the trumpets. So where do we place those trumpet judgments. Do they go in the first half of the Tribulation or do they go in the second half of the Tribulation?

On that question I side with men like Mark Hitchcock. I place the seven trumpet judgments in the second half of the Tribulation. And I do so for one basic reason, their severity. The severity of those judgments.

We’ve already seen that the fourth seal judgment, that was referenced back in Revelation 6:8, that’s going to kill a quarter of earth’s population. And we’re going to see later as we study the sixth trumpet judgment, through that judgment a full one-third of the earth’s population who are left at that time, they will be killed. And when you put those two figures together, that would total over one-half of the earth’s total population being killed.

Now, if the trumpet judgments are placed in the first half of the Tribulation along with the seals, that would mean that one-half of the people on earth are dead before the Great Tribulation even begins. And that would seem to go against what Jesus said in Matthew 24:21, where He says that the final half of the Tribulation, what he calls the “Great Tribulation” is going to be one of the worst periods in human history. He says in Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be a Great Tribulation, such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

So, in light of that statement, by Jesus in Matthew 24, it’s a place. The trumpet judgments in this second half of the Tribulation, where there’s more of the earth’s living population experiencing those terrible trumpet blasts that those judgments will bring; I think that makes more sense. Putting the trumpets in the first half of the Tribulation, frontloads too much of that judgment into that first phase whereby over half of the world’s population has already died and therefore has been spared the Great Tribulation.

So that’s my somewhat convoluted, hopefully somewhat understandable, way of explaining why I think the trumpets appear in the second part of the Tribulation.

Back to our text. Revelation 8:6 again it says, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.” With that language we are now on the front door of this next wave of judgment which will mark this second part of the Tribulation with the blowing of these trumpets.

Note there are these seven trumpet judgments in total, just like there’ll be seven seals which will break and seven bowls which will pour out. Four of those trumpets are mentioned here in Revelation 8. Two more will appear in Revelation 9 and the final trumpet is blown at the end of Revelation 11. As we’ll see as each trumpet blows, the corresponding judgments are going to increase in their severity.

These are judgments as we’re soon going to see which will start by afflicting natural objects like the land of the earth and its trees and its grass. The water of the earth, its seas, its rivers, its springs, and then the celestial bodies above the earth like the sun, the moon and the stars. And like the seal judgments these trumpet judgments will be poured out on the earth. They will be poured out earth not only to remind the earth’s inhabitants of their sin against God, but to again open their eyes to their need for repentance.

So, back to verse 6. These seven angels “prepared themselves” we’re told to sound the trumpets. Apparently these seven angels had been waiting in readiness up to this point as John had been watching this whole scene unfold in his vision. At the close of Revelation 6, this was a few weeks ago now, you’ll recall that there were those who were alive during that part of the Tribulation how they get to that point from kings on down to slaves, where they are hiding under rocks. They are begging for the rocks to fall on them. They are begging for it all to end. But as time goes by, including that thirty minutes of silence in heaven that we saw last time in Revelation 8:1, it’s possible that those who are living in the Tribulation those who survived the seal judgments, will be under this false impression that the pains and the sorrows of the first series of judgments, the seal judgments, had somehow exhausted God’s outpouring of His divine wrath.

But they’re going to be so very wrong and painfully so. Because God’s judgment on this sinful planet at this point of the Tribulation will still be gaining momentum. It will still be gaining steam. This will be relatively speaking only the beginning of the sorrows and the terrors that will fall upon the earth. Once the trumpets are placed upon the lips of these seven angels and their sound goes forth, they are going to be signaled into action. This host of heaven is going to go now about purging and purifying the earth.

When the trumpets sound these angels will be triggering the most violent physical upheaval that this earth has experienced since the days of Noah’s Flood. With each trumpet blast, a different part of the world is going to come under siege. First the land, then the seas, and then the fresh water and springs and then the heavenly bodies. Each trumpet judgment during the Tribulation is going to further pummel this already-pummeled earth, as God gives this painful prelude to the end of all things.

With that, let’s get to the blowing of the first four trumpets and these first four judgments. We’ll start with trumpet one here in verse 7. It says, “And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

Now as we’re going to see this evening as we go through each of these trumpet judgments, you’ll find those from other theological camps who will try to explain these judgments away, these trumpet judgments away as being merely symbolic. They read this passage, and they don’t believe it’s recording actual literal events which will take place in the future. They’ll read this passage, and they won’t believe that literal “hail” and literal “fire” mixed with literal “blood” will be cast down on this earth.

Instead, they’ll say that a passage like this one in verse 7 of Revelation 8, that this is somehow a poetic way for God to describe His displeasure with the earth and that’s it.

Now one problem with that approach is that to take that position with respect to this text is effectively and truly to stand in judgment over the text, refusing to read it as what it is saying. Refusing to acknowledge what it’s saying by the reading of the plain language. Insisting on coming up with some alternative spiritual meaning, which John, if you were to share that meaning with him, John the one who actually experienced this vision, he would be completely thrown off by.

Another problem with the non-literal or the symbolic approach is that we have these obvious parallels between the trumpet judgments that we are going to go through tonight in Revelation 8, and the various plagues that rained down on Egypt during the days of the Exodus. Those who will hold to this symbolic interpretation, they’ll typically acknowledge that those were actual plagues. Actual hail, actual fire, actual rain. But you come to Revelation and that can’t be literal.

Let me read to you Exodus 9:18-26, begins this way. This is Yahweh speaking. He says “Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will rain down very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. So now, send, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, the hail will come down on them, and they will die.’ The one among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of Yahweh made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses; but he who did not consider in his heart the word of Yahweh left his servants and his livestock in the field. Now Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.’ So, Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and Yahweh gave forth thunder and hail, and fire went down to the earth. And Yahweh rained down hail on the land of Egypt. So, there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, from man to beast; the hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field.”

So, you hear it there, literal hail, literal fire. Not symbolic hail or symbolic fire was raining down on Egypt during the days of the Exodus. Egypt was also plagued with literal frogs, literal locusts, literal darkness, literal water turning into literal blood and the literal death of all the first-born males in Egypt. Again, it would be very odd and hermeneutically inconsistent, and I would say dishonest, irresponsible, to allow for the plagues of Egypt in Moses’ day to be literal but then when we look ahead to the future, the book of Revelation to then ditch that literal reading and now adopt some sort of spiritualized meaning or some allegorical meaning.

So here in Revelation 8:7, this angel is described by John as blowing that first trumpet and we’re to take that literally. These trumpet judgments are actual, literal, physical events which will one day have an enormous impact on this planet. It starts with this first judgment we see here in verse 7 with “hail and fire mixed with blood” being “thrown to the earth.”

Now we shouldn’t be caught off guard by this. This is familiar language. Not just in Exodus but in other places in the Old Testament. That hail and fire are being rained down in judgment. We think of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. That’s hail, fire, and brimstone came down on those two wicked cities. We know that God has treasured up not only hail, but snow believe it or not, for a future day of judgment as He says in Job 38:22,23. It says “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of war and battle?” We know that in the Tribulation as God is destroying the wicked from the face of the planet, He will, as it says in Psalm 11:6, “rain snares upon the wicked; fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.”

In other words what John saw here in this vision in Revelation 8:7 with the blowing of the first trumpet of “hail and fire” being “thrown to the earth,” there’s significant Biblical precedent for what he was witnessing here. Now what is new is the next thing that John reports where he says he saw “hail and fire” being “mixed with blood.” That’s new. That’s different. So, what’s going on there? As John saw “hail and fire, mixed with blood” being “thrown to the earth,” what’s he referring to? I actually think he is pulling from the prophecy of Joel. Joel that Old Testament prophet as he’s describing the Day of the Lord, he records Yahweh as saying this in Joel 2:30. These are the Words of God. “And I will put wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke.”

So given these parallels between this first trumpet judgment and the plagues involving “hail” and “fire” in the days of Egypt, during Moses’ time and that language I just read to you from Joel, a plain and literal reading of this first trumpet judgment in Revelation 8:7 is the one that makes the most sense. The judgments which will accompany the blast of this first trumpet and for that matter, the remaining six trumpets are going to be literal blasts with literal judgments which will literally be God-ordained. As God uses different elements of nature. Hail, fire, and blood to carry out His judgment. And we just have to take a step back and think about how terrifying that’s going to be for those who witness that. For those who see that storm cloud gather in the first place. To see this massive storm cloud approaching. Who knows how large it is. Who knows how much territory it covers. But then to see it break open as hail and fire and blood pour down on this planet. I don’t know what weather man can prepare anybody for such an event.

Then this storm will not only present a scene, but it is also going to bring consequences. Look at the rest of verse 7, which says that “a third of the earth was burned up, this is a result of the hail, fire and blood, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.” Again, there are many as I read this passage all week long, who are ashamed of taking this text at its face value. They are unwilling to accept it on its literal terms, and they’ve twisted themselves in knots trying to allegorize or to spiritualize this very language. That some have mentioned that the “third of the earth” here is referring to the devastation of the third of the nations at this time. That the “trees” are referring to the world leaders at that time and the “grass” is referring to the world’s population at this time. Others have said that the “trees” here are references to princes and great men during this time while the “grass” is referring to men’s power and glory. Others who allegorize or spiritualize say the trees are referring to fortified cities while the “grass” is referring to unwalled villages. And others have said that the “trees” are referring to apostles while the “grass” is referring to common ordinary, Christians like you and me.

I don’t think so. I mean, can’t the text just mean what it says? Can’t we just read it and have confidence that grass means grass and trees mean trees and so on and so on? Yes, there is symbolism used in Revelation at different times, but there’s no indication that this language is symbolic. It’s better to take this language, it’s more responsible to take this language, plainly and literally describing the destruction of these large swaths of the earth’s vegetation.

Not merely large swaths but note the precision. He refers to a third of the earth being burned up, and a third of the trees being burned up, and all the green grass being burned up. Then down in verses 9-12, that one third idea is communicated over and over again, which suggests that these aren’t just random natural events that are being described, but these are carefully designed. God ordained, divine judgments that He's meted out in a specific measure for a specific purpose.

Up to this point in the Tribulation, before verse 7, there will still be apparently plenty of trees and green grass. But after the blasting of this first trumpet and the judgment that it brings that will no longer be the case as vegetation and greenery on the earth goes away. Dissipates, burns. As trees and green grace are decimated. A third of them. Gone in an instant.

A third of the trees that once provided fruit will no longer be there. The grass, which was feeding animals, cattle, livestock will no longer be there. A third of every green thing from trees down to grass will be destroyed. The oxygen of those trees and that grass once produced will no longer be breathable and available. The Lorax will be very upset. The Sierra Club will be very mad. The Earth Day revelers will not be pleased with what’s happening on the earth at this time. It will be quite the disturbing series of events for those who reject God. For those who worship the creature rather than the creator as they’re called out by Paul in Romans 1:25. It will be quite the upsetting series of events for those who worship Mother Nature rather than God the Father.

None of their policies or their programs or their political platforms will be able to stop or slow down the massive destruction that the Lord of creation will bring upon His creation in His own time. There will at this point be no more talk of the ozone layer or recycling or pollution or the rainforests or endangered species or global warning. Earth Day will be no more when God rains judgment on what He made on what He rightfully owns and what is rightfully His. So that’s the first trumpet, sounded by this first angel which John saw in this vision.

Now, in verses 8 and 9 we see the second trumpet blown. Take a look at verses 8 and 9. It says “And the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea those which had life died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

Now right away let’s note that there’s something unique happening here linguistically speaking. I’ve already hammered on a point that it is important to maintain and retain our commitment to a literal interpretation of Scripture. Words mean words. Tree means tree. Grass means grass and so on. That’s true even when we’re reading futuristic prophetic works like the book of Revelation. Hail means hail, fire means fire, blood means blood. Right? Now there are exceptions. Limited exceptions but there are exceptions like one that we have here, the human author himself uses language which suggests something other than a wooden literal reading.

Note John’s language from his vision here at the beginning of verse 8. He says that “the second angel sounded” meaning the angel sounded his trumpet. And then note what comes next, “and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.” Now, John here is using a literary device known as simile. That’s that form of expression. Do you remember simile is metaphors from third grade English class. That’s that form of expression where the one doing the communicating, here John, is making an indirect comparison between two things, typically with the use of the word either “like” or as.

That’s what John’s doing here. In this vision of the second angel blowing this second trumpet he says he saw “something like a great mountain burning with fire.” That “something” whatever it is, you see it there, was being “thrown into the sea.” Now as is the case with the other trumpet judgments, there are those who will take John’s use of simile and run with it in a very extreme direction. Those who are prone to spiritualize the text of Revelation. Another prophetic works will take that language and run crazy with it. And they will say that work like here means that maybe what John is referring to is some kingdom or political entity being thrown to the ground. It’s Babylon being thrown down or Zion being thrown down or Rome being thrown down or some other religious group being thrown down.

But that’s not the context here. That’s not the setting here. He’s still describing a physical object. That’s still the literalism that we must engage in. John’s not speaking metaphorically or allegorically here. He’s still speaking literally. But what appears to be happening is he’s still human. And he’s running out of words to describe exactly what that thing is that object is that he sees being thrown into the sea in this futuristic vision. So, what he does is that he uses this comparative language to get his point across to paint the picture of whatever it was he saw in this vision. It wasn’t an actual “great mountain,” that’s what he’s saying, but instead it was some sort of physical object which resembled a great mountain. It looked like a great mountain. It was some sort of large burning mass which, to the naked eye, looked like it was a mountain on fire. Many have said and I would tend to agree from my reading that what John was witnessing here was some sort of massive meteoric chunk on fire, hurling through space headed for the sea.
While he is unable with exactitude use a term that allows him not to use simile here, he is able to specify the effect of this judgment as this object, like a great mountain was thrown into the sea. Look at the end of verse 8 where he says, “and a third of the sea became blood.”

Once again, what John saw in this vision is recounting a similar phenomenon going back to the days the Israelites’ exodus out of Egypt. This time I’m going to read to you from Exodus 7:19-20. That’s our passage or a cross reference. It says “then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. So, Moses and Aaron did thus, as Yahweh had commanded. And he raised up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood.”

Now this occasion of course was this major moment in Israel’s history. It was actually accounted more than a few times later in the Old Testament, this moment when the Nile turned into blood. Psalm 78:40-44, “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the wasteland! Again and again, they tested God and pained the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power, the day when He redeemed them from the adversary, when He performed His signs in Egypt and His miracles in the field of Zoan, and turned their rivers to blood, and their streams, they could not drink.”

Or Psalm 105:26-29 says of God, “He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron, whom He had chosen. They set forth the words of His signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; and they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood.” Something very similar is going to happen in the future during the days of Tribulation recorded here in Revelation 8 as the sea becomes blood.

Now of course, there are those yet again, having that highly naturalistic bent who have a really hard time embracing what the Bible teaches that the seas in the future will turn into literal blood. So, they will scramble to find all sorts of alternative explanations for what’s being described here. For instance, the possibility of this being a “red tide.” That is a certain type alga that turns red, will turn this sea red at that time. The only problem with that interpretation, or the only problem with that naturalistic explanation, is that the text doesn’t say that the “sea became red, like blood.” Instead, it says “a third of the sea became blood.” Strange? Yes. Odd? Sure. Not what we’re used to? Absolutely. Hard to explain to your unsaved aunt or cousin at Thanksgiving? Probably.

So what? You can tell them “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” Stand strong and stand firm on the truth of God’s Word. Don’t apologize for it. Don’t back down from it. Embrace it. Even if it makes you look like the odd guy or the odd man out. It says the sea became blood and that means the sea became blood. The sea will become blood on a future day, namely the Tribulation.

Reading on in verse 9, we see that as a result of this second trumpet judgment as this mountain-like object strikes the sea and a third of the sea becomes blood, even more consequences come. Both on marine life and on the mariners. Verse 9, it says, “and a third of the creatures which were in the sea those which had life died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.” So, this giant mass makes its impact with the sea turns the water into blood, the sea into blood. And then two things we’re told are going to happen. First, a third of the world’s sea creatures will die and then second, a third of the world’s ships will be destroyed.

We’ll take those in turn starting with the killing of a third of the world’s sea creatures. Yet again, an offense to nature lovers, but it’s what God’s Word says. This means that Dolphins and Whales and Fish and Sharks and Starfish and Turtles are dying by the millions at this point. They’re going belly up as the water which once passed through their gills giving them life, turns into blood.

Again, there’s a parallel back to the Exodus once more. Something similar is reported in Exodus 7:21, where we learn of water turning to blood. In that case, the water being the Nile River and the marine life dying in that scene. This is Exodus 7:21, “And the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt.”

There are also certain Old Testament prophecies which, speaking of future events like those mentioned in the book of Revelation, refer to destruction of the fish in the sea during these very times of judgment. This is from Zephaniah 1:2-3 where God says, “‘I will completely end all things from the face of the ground,’ (declares Yahweh.) ‘I will end man and beast; I will end the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea.”

Make no mistake, the destruction of this amount of sea life is going to be of no small consequence. Let’s put all this together and put some of these pieces together. Not only will animals on land be dying off as grass and vegetation is being burned up and decimated, but now we’re being told that creatures in the sea are going to be killed off as well. And all of its going to cause this tremendous upheaval to the food chain. No more steak, no more salad, no more sushi, no more Walleye at Culver’s in the spring. It’s all going to be gone. It’s going to be dying off at this point. The price of man’s sin, in other words, is going to be steep. The cost will be worldwide hunger as global food supplies will be drastically depleted.

Not only that though, as God brings this havoc on the sea by causing the waters to turn into blood and by causing a third of the sea life to die off, there’s more. As we read on in verse 9, we see that with this putrid smell of death that’s hovering over the nation’s oceans, the world’s oceans at that time. Look at the end of verse 9 which says that “a third of the ships were destroyed.”

Now likely this is the product of this giant burning mass striking the sea, causing these giant waves to swell up, tsunami-like waves, and the result’s going to be the capsizing of these huge ocean liners and ocean-going vessels and the destroying of naval fleets at the time, and the swamping of ports and the eradication of various coastal cities. Farewell Boston, farewell Miami, farewell Los Angeles. The food chain is going to be broken with both animals on land and animals in the sea dying off. But further, there’s going to be this radical disruption of commerce and transportation, plunging this world at this time into further economic chaos. Whatever commerce exists at this point in the Tribulation is going to be severely clogged.

The bottom line is life, as people have known up to this point in the Tribulation, is going to be disrupted beyond recognition. It will all be the outworking of God’s perfect divine justice. It will all be deserved. God’s judgment on the sea as He pours out His righteous wrath on this wicked planet is ultimately going to be not just judgment on the sea but judgment on man ultimately for his unrepentant sin.

That takes us to the third trumpet judgment described in verses 10 and 11. It says, “And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

So, in this vision, this third trumpet blows, and when it sounds John sees another object falling from heaven. This time he sees this “great star” one that’s “burning like a torch.” Note what this “great star” does. Whereas the object that resembled “the great mountain,” the thing that was like a great mountain, fell into the sea in connection with the second trumpet. This “great star” falls into the earth’s freshwater sources namely, “rivers” and “springs of water.”

And again, folks who do not want to contend with what the text actually says, have attempted to make this symbolic or figurative or metaphorical. To assign some non-literal meaning to what’s being said here by this great star. Some have said that the great star must be Antichrist or must be Satan himself or some other angel or some false religious leader. While the “rivers” and the “waters” are symbolic of the peoples of the earth.

Again, though I don’t think there’s any real exegetical reason, no sound Biblical reason to take this judgment, like the other judgments, as being anything other than literal. The “star” here appears to be referring to some sort of heavenly body or mass from the heavens, that is coming down. Literal star or a meteor.

In fact, that phrase “burning like a torch,” the word for torch there is “lampas” in Greek and in certain ancient Greek writings it’s translated as meteor. This very well could be the object that John is seeing here. Some sort of star or meteor falling from the sky. And as it passes from heaven to earth and enters through the earth’s atmosphere, the sparks are flying as it comes into our orbit and that makes it look like its “burning like a torch.” As it lands this object this “star,” that we note here will contaminate the rivers and the springs, the waters of the earth. It will spew some sort of fiery, poisonous debris. As it does so, that will get into the earth’s water systems. It’s freshwater systems, polluting them and polluting the source of drinking water for those who remains on the earth at this point. And that’s going to cause even more people it says to die.

Again, no surprise here, there’s a link back to the Exodus. Exodus 7:21 we learn that “the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile.” We know from Jesus’ own writings or His own statements captured in the Gospels, that there will be stars falling from heaven in the last days. Matthew 24:29, our Lord says, “but immediately after the Tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Mark 13:24-25, Jesus says “but in those days, after that Tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.”

We looked a few sermons ago from Revelation 6:13 involving the opening of the sixth seal where John says, “then I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth.” But this description here in Revelation 8 is the most detailed description of a falling star given yet.

We are even given the name of the star in verse 11. It says, “and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.” So, the star that John saw burning like a torch falling from heaven had a name, “Wormwood.” Now that word alone “Wormwood” has a very interesting history in the Bible. The plant, Artemisia absinthium, that’s the wormwood plant, it’s a strong-smelling plant with white or yellowish bulbs or flowers. It produces a bitter, dark green oil that’s also called “wormwood.” It was given that name because in ancient times it was used medicinally to kill intestinal worms. That’s how powerful the stuff is. It has alcoholic properties that can lead to drunkenness. But not only that when used without control it can make a person sick. There are accounts of people taking Wormwood and having convulsions, or paralysis, or even dying.

Well, those are the physical properties of Wormwood. What you also need to know is that in the Old Testament in particular, there were certain spiritual properties associated with Wormwood. For instance, Wormwood is described in these words of warning about idolatry, in Deuteronomy 29:18. God here says, “lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.”

Wormwood is also used in spiritual sense to describe the fruit of unrighteousness. For instance, in the warning in Proverbs 5:1-4 against adulterous woman. “My son, pay attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my discernment; that you may keep discretion and that your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a strange woman drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; but her end is bitter as wormwood.”

Wormwood is also used in connection with divine punishment. Lamentations 3:15, Jeremiah here speaking of God says that “He has saturated me with bitterness; He has sated me with wormwood.” Speaking of Jeremiah, in the Book of Jeremiah we see that prophet reference Wormwood in describing God’s judgment on His wicked and apostate people, the people of Judah. This is Jeremiah 9:13-15, “Yahweh said, ‘Because they have forsaken My law, which I set before them, and have not listened to My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart (and after the Baals,) as their fathers taught them,’ therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.’”

So, Wormwood is a bitter plant producing a very bitter drink. But as we encounter the name of this star “Wormwood” here in Revelation 8:11, we learn that what John saw here in this vision was the bitterness and destruction and ultimately, the death that God would bring upon this earth by causing this specific star, this physical star, to fall into the “rivers” and its “springs” and sources of fresh water sustenance during these day. Look at verse 11 again where it says, “and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

Now we should just pause for a moment and picture this scene. A third of the earth’s surface has been burned up, scorched with fire. The planet’s oceans are reeking with blood and death. Coastlines are littered with carcasses of sea creatures. They’re littered with wrecked sea vessels. The economy is ruined. The food chain is a mess. The food supplies are depleted. And to make matters even worse, clean water, drinking water, is now impossible to find as the rivers and the waters are giving off this bitter taste of wormwood.

Well, it’s about to get worse. As now in quick succession with the first three, we have the sounding of the fourth trumpet. Look at verse 12, “And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.”

Again, this judgment associated with this trumpet has parallels back to the Exodus account and the plagues that were delivered upon Egypt during that period of Israel’s history. Exodus 10:21-22, “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.’ So, Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.”

Not only that but the prophet Amos called the Day of the Lord a day of darkness. Amos 5:18, “Woe, you who are longing for the day of Yahweh, for what purpose will the day of Yahweh be to you? It will be darkness and not light.” What John saw in this fourth vision with the blaring of that fourth trumpet was in fulfillment of what Amos declared about the coming Day of the Lord. Note the impact that the judgment associated with this trumpet’s going to have when this fourth trumpet sounds. When this fourth judgment arrives. It’s going to impact the sun, the moon, and the stars. Look again at verse 12, “A third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck.”

So, with the first three judgments, various familiar aspects of our natural world are going to be impacted. Aspects that we are walking around just living life, generally take for granted. Trees and grass and the sea and rivers and springs. None of them, after judgments one two and three, are going to look the same. But now, with this fourth judgment, this fourth trumpet judgment, it is going to be the heavens above which are impacted.

The sun, and the moon, and the stars which God put in the sky at creation which provide light and warmth which illuminate the dark skies, which mark off the seasons. They are going to be the next target of God’s judgment during the Tribulation. God’s original handiwork in the heavens which, Psalm 19:1 says, tell of His glory. They declare His glory. The “expanse,” the work of His hands, His created cosmos, which Romans 1:20 says, testify to “His invisible attributes.” He’s going to undo them.

A “third of the sun” and “a third of the moon” and “a third of the stars will be struck.” Then look at what it says, “so that a third of them (still in verse 12 here) would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.”

What this is saying fundamentally, is that God is going to bring down His divine dimmer switch on His creation at this point of the Tribulation. He’s going to darken the earth and not like the way we think about it in November. The God that said and declared, “Let there be light” in Genesis 1, is at this point gong to enshroud this planet in darkness. It’s going to cause a drop in the earth’s temperatures. It’s going to produce severe changes in weather patterns, chaotic changes in our planet’s ecology and its environment.

All of this will come yet again as a sign to this unrepentant generation of people living at this point in the Tribulation. That the earth, the planet that they found comfort in, which they thought was their home, is actually not going to provide them with any comfort. The God they’ve rejected is the God of all creation. He’s the God of all nature. It is His world, and it is His creation. Forget global warming and forget global cooling and forget daylight saving. He’s going to bring all about; the warming and cooling and illumination and darkening, when He deems right and when He sees fit.

It is going to be this generation, that generation living during this point of the Tribulation, who will be staring down these terrifying realities. In his Gospel, Luke gives an account of how Jesus would describe these future events. This is Luke 21:25-26, These are the words of our Lord. He says, “and there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” And then Amos writing hundreds of years before Jesus, wrote of this very scene here in Revelation, of this aspect of God’s future judgment and His darkening of the earth. This is Amos 8:19, “And it will be in that day,” declares Lord Yahweh, that I will make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight.” Joel prophesied of the same day in Joel 2:10, “The heavens quake; the sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.”

Recall what Jesus said in John 3:19 during His First Coming. When He first came and was among His people. He says, “and this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” Well, the reality is men have loved darkness since Adam’s fall. And in the future days of the Tribulation, they are going to get their wish. In that future day, God is going to dim the lights as He causes mankind, those who have been worshiping the creature rather than the Creator, to scramble around, stumble around, confused in the darkness, the darkness of His judgment.

So, John here in this vision he received from Patmos, is seeing wave after wave of future judgment that will come to this earth during this future period of Tribulation. Judgment on the land, with trees and grass. Judgment on the seas with marine life and commerce. Judgment on man’s water supply with rivers and springs. Judgment now on the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and the stars. Again, life on this planet, at this point is going to be radically altered and changed. This will be truly a miserable place to dwell.

But even then, as we transition from verse 12 to 13, we see that as terrifying as these judgments will be with the blowing of these first four trumpets. They aren’t even close to the even more severe dealings that God is going to bring to this earth in the remaining trumpet judgments. Verse 13, John says, “Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’”

Now once again, as you can imagine, the liberals have a field day with this passage. Why? Well because for well-educated twenty-first century types like us, those who have libraries and books and the Discovery Channel and Netflix and Netgeo. We know that eagles can’t talk. Right? We know that eagles can fly but we also know naturalistically eagles don’t talk. In fact, it’s that sort of attitude that has led even certain Bible translation committees to change that word eagle, which is very clearly the word eagle in Greek, to angel, because they are not comfortable with that language. Angels can talk not eagles. We’re not good with that.

Have they forgotten the story of Balaam in Numbers? I’m pretty good with that account, aren’t you? If God has declared that animals have talked in different times in history as He did back in Numbers, He can certainly make it happen again with an eagle as we see here, flying across the sky and declaring these three woes.

That’s exactly what’s being depicted here. This lone eagle, this solitary eagle “flying it says in midheaven.” That means the highest point in the sky, from man’s vantage point. When you look as high as you can and in noon day sun, that’s what mid heaven refers to there. And then look at what this eagle is doing. This eagle is forewarning those who are still alive at this point, they’re still breathing God’s air. They’re still unrepentant and they’re still living on this now-darkened planet. He’s warning them of the doom to come. He’s saying it says with a loud voice, “‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’”

Now you’ll remember that there were thirty minutes of silence in heaven, that terrifying pause that we saw the last time we went through this book, before the blast of the first trumpet. That’s in Revelation 8:1. Well now what’s being implied is this additional pause. This eagle has declared these three woes of these trumpets that will still come. They are going to make these four trumpet judgments that we’ve looked at this evening, look like a cake walk in comparison to what’s about to come. They are going to pale in severity to what is going to be revealed in the coming three trumpet judgments. We’ll cover those, the next three trumpet judgments, or at least we’ll start to get into them, when we get to Revelation 9. That will be next time. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You this evening for a chance yet again to study Your Word and to get into the book of Revelation. It’s a fascinating study. It’s an encouraging study. It’s a terrifying study in certain ways. It’s encouraging in a sense of course that for we who have believed on the name of Jesus, that we will not be here for these events. We will have been Raptured. We will have been taken out of the world. We will be around Your throne, and we will be taken by the glory and worship of the Lamb. But God we fear that there are some today in our midst who are going to face judgment if they don’t repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

And even looking ahead to this phase of history in the Tribulation, it breaks our hearts to think of those who will yet be unrepentant though they see judgment after judgment after judgment, falling upon the earth. They still white knuckle it. They still hold on to their sin. They still refuse to bend the knee to Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. God it’s such a heartbreaking picture of wicked hearts. God, we don’t look at that with pride. We know that we too have wicked hearts. But because of Your grace and because of Your mercy, You have transformed us. You have given us new hearts. You’ve replaced our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. You’ve given us hearts or worship that seek You and pursue You and want to honor You with our lives.

God, I do pray that our study of Revelation and our study of the Tribulation period specifically will anchor us in a commitment to warning those in this time in history, the church age, to flee from the wrath that is to come. We see clearly from Your Word, the book of Revelation specifically, that wrath is coming upon this planet. God it is our good and noble service to warn those who are unrepentant to come to faith. To come to Christ. To come to the end of themselves as they put their faith in the world’s one Savior.

God if there’s anyone here tonight that has not put their faith in Jesus, I pray that You would do a work in their heart, that Your Spirit would convict them, that they would be drawn to You and that You would give them hearts of faith. God, we love You. We thank You for this day of worship. We pray that we would be honoring You in all that we do this week. In Jesus’ name, Amen.