The Third Trumpet 8:10-11 10The 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. 11The 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.
Subsequent to the judgment on the earth came the disasters on the sea. Now John reveals the third category to be divinely afflicted: the rivers and the inland bodies of water.
10The 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.
God punishes His foes by causing a huge star to fall from heaven; it is a ball of fire that upon its descent pollutes the inland waters, bringing death to anyone drinking from them.
God makes a star to fall from heaven and people can watch it approaching the earth. This is an incredible sight that can only be explained as a divinely ordained occurrence that is designed to call the wicked to repent from their sin and turn to God.
The name of the star is called Wormwood. This word wormwood appears only twice in the New Testament, both times in this verse.
Wormwood, therefore, exemplified in adversity and grief symbolizes damnation and justice.
And a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
The repetitive “a third” shows divine patience with the unbelievers. Not everyone suffers because of the water, for only a third part is affected by the plague and the rest of it is drinkable.Those people who died were a warning to the survivors to fear God and turn to Him, for He will have mercy and freely pardon.
The Fourth Trumpet 8:12 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.
What John sees here can only be explained as a supernatural intervention into the natural courses of these heavenly bodies.
When light is turned into darkness, there is a disruption of the cosmic order and termination of creation.
John writes that “a third part of them became dark and a third part of the day did not shine and likewise a third part of the night.” He is not talking about eclipses that block the light of the sun or moon for less than an hour.
Here we have a mystery that can only be interpreted and understood as a sign of divine judgment on a world that is immersed in sin.
The symbolism of periods of darkness is meant to bring people to repentance and to declare their faith in God. These signs in nature, therefore, are expressions of God’s grace and mercy by which he shows the coming of the Day of the Lord.
If unbelievers ignore these signs in nature, they will face eternal darkness by being forever cut off from God the source of light. They may feel free to ignore the admonitions and scoff at the warnings concerning the Day of the Lord, but they will suffer the consequences.
An Intermittent Warning – The Three Woes
8:13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, 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!”
Here we see nature itself coming in the form of an eagle warning God’s enemies to pay attention to these signs impending judgment. The three trumpets that follow announce judgments that are even harsher than the four preceding ones. Demonic powers arise to attack human beings not merely physically but mentally and spiritually: people want to die but are unable to do so.
Therefore, an eagle in the sky sounds the alarm in uttering a threefold woe to those inhabitants of the earth who have willfully ignored the first four trumpets.
Again we have to interpret the loud call of the eagle in terms of God’s compassion and mercy. He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked and gives them every opportunity to repent and turn to Him for mercy. Thus, the unbeliever will never be able to accuse God of having given insufficient warnings.
The Sixth Trumpet 9:1-12
The Abyss and Demonic Forces 1-61Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. 3Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. 6And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
Scholars interpret the expression star symbolically here and identity this fallen star as Satan who after His rebellion against God was thrown down to the earth. This is supported by Isaiah 14:12-14
Isaiah 14:12-14: How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless you will be thrust down to the earth, to the depths of the pit.
The tense of the verb had fallen indicates that time had elapsed since its occurrence. Jesus says in Luke 10:18 that he “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” And John writes later in chapter 12 verse 9 that Satan “was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
The fifth angel blowing the trumpet presents a parallel to the fifth angel pouring out his bowl on the throne of the beast, whose kingdom was turned into darkness in chapter 16 verse ten. Here the pit of the Abyss is the residence of a fallen star, namely, Satan; there his place of residence is the throne of the beast that occupies it in his name. But the king of this kingdom plunged into darkness is Satan himself, who aims to destroy God’s kingdom.
If we identify this star with Satan we need to understand that God is in complete control. God allows Satan temporary freedom to do his destructive deeds that are described in the succeeding verses of this chapter. God assigns the countless fallen angels to the Abyss, where they are awaiting the Judgment Day.
God decrees the time of opening and closing of Abyss. He is the sovereign. Thus, it is God who owns the key to the Abyss and He gives it at times to Satan to fulfill His divine purposes.
The expression Abyss in the New Testament refers to the place of the evil spirits with the exception of Romans 10:6–7, where Paul uses the concept for the place of the dead.
In Revelation the word Abyss consistently signifies the place where Satan and his followers remain. After the judgment, they are cast into the lake of burning fire where they are tormented forever. The demons whom Jesus cast out of the man called Legion beg him not to send them into the Abyss, because it is their prison (Luke 8:31).
Evil is like a dense cloud that turns the world into darkness and suffocates all those who are breathing its polluted air. But evil itself functions only with divine permission. It arises, arises, increases, and opposes all that is true, pure, good, and admirable. Evil never succeeds in conquering God’s kingdom, because God not only permits but also controls its effect.
3Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
These creatures coming forth from hell are demonic in appearance and action. But they can function only when God grants them power to sting like scorpions, and they must do what God tells them, namely, to attack those people who lack his seal on their foreheads.
Not Satan but God is in charge, for he grants authority and sets its limits, and at the same time he protects his own people from spiritual harm.
5And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. 6And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
God set limits to Satan’s power. Not God but Satan is the author of the evil in this world; yet God uses Satan’s wickedness to punish sinners and call them to repentance.
The agony that people endure when they are stricken by a scorpion is so intense that they long to die but are prevented from doing so. Day after day they long for death to end their physical and mental misery; instead they see that death escapes them.
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