Rev 8:10-11 Part 2 – The Third Trumpet Upon The Rivers and Fountains
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Rev 8:10-11 Part 2 – The Third Trumpet Upon The Rivers and Fountains
[Study Aired July 21, 2024]
Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
The Hebrew word G3939, ‘Laahnah’ appears eight times in the Old Testament. The word ‘wormwood’ appears eight time in the scriptures. It appears once in the New Testament, then it appears another seven times in the Old Testament. It appears a ninth time as ‘hemlock’ in Amos 6:12. We paused our last study after examining the first four Old Testament entries of this word wormwood. We begin our study today with the fifth Old Testament entry of this two-edged word, ‘wormwood’:
5) Lam 3:15 with context.
Lam 3:15 He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
Lam 3:16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
Lam 3:17 And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
Lam 3:18 And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
Until we learn that we have no strength of our own “[our] hope is perished from the Lord.” As soon as we acknowledge that the bitterness and gall of wormwood is destroying the kingdom of our old man then we begin to appreciate the Lord’s judgments and our new man begins to grow within us.
6) Lamentations 3:19 with the following two verses give us hope in the blessing produced by this bitter “experience of evil” which we must all endure before we can be humbled and used by the Lord to His glory.
Lam 3:19 Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
Lam 3:20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
Lam 3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
Lamentations 3:20 proves that the goal and purpose necessitating that we all experience the evil of drinking wormwood is for a very good purpose… to humble us. Therefore it is our pride and iniquity which necessitates this “experience of evil” which we all must endure:
Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it. (CLV)
Put these verses together with the following verses, and we are given great hope that our Lord will finish the work He has begun:
Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
7) Amo 5:7 – Fiery judgment begins at the house of God when we acknowledge the chastening function of wormwood. Only then will we begin to understand that “the grace of God… chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts” and we will continue to “turn judgment into wormwood.”
Amo 5:6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
Amo 5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood [H3939: ‘Laanah’], and leave off righteousness in the earth,Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [Greek: paideuo, G3811, ‘chastening’] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Our heavenly Father chastens “every son” He receives because He loves us:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [G3811: paideuo], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
8) Amo 6:12 – Here the translators chose to use the English word ‘hemlock’ to show how deadly to our old man this thing called wormwood is. The Hebrew word in all seven entries is H3939, ‘Laanah’].
Amo 6:12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one] plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
Amo 6:13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?
Amo 6:14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
So it is with all of these seven trumpets. They are all about fiery judgment upon the people of God, “the house of God first;” upon all, even His elect.
Let’s go back to Ezekiel 31 and see how these same waters of life can be made bitter and bring death.
Eze 31:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 31:2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
Eze 31:3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
Eze 31:4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
Eze 31:5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
Consider that the “multitude of waters” on which the great harlot sits are peoples and nations, but it is peoples and nations who subscribe to the words of God as they have been presented to our old man by that great harlot. That is what is meant when we are told that there is gold, silver and precious stones in great abundance in great Babylon. There are also rivers and fountains of waters in Babylon, but the ship masters and ministers of Babylon the great within us have deceived us. They have taken and used God’s gold and silver to cover the idols of their Babylonian hearts. They did not use God’s gold, His Word, to cover the various implements of the true house of God. They use God’s own words to deceive us, and we, too, through their tutelage, have used God’s gold to cover and to justify our own false lying doctrines and idols of our hearts, and in using God’s gold to cover our idols, we have also made the rivers and fountains of waters bitter as wormwood.
Eze 16:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
We do exactly the same thing with the rivers and fountains of waters of God’s Word. We have all been guilty of turning them into lies that fit our doctrines and not the doctrines of Christ. It is a day of bitterness and dying within when we begin to see that all of our heart’s idols are being destroyed by the Truth that we have so long rejected in favor of the idols of our Babylonian hearts.
So what exactly does…
”The third part of the waters became wormwood” mean?
Rev 8:11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
We do not see why our fountains of waters are become bitter all at once. It actually takes many years, and we continue to be confronted by the lies of Babylon all of our lives. So it is only “the third part of the waters” that become bitter at first. Our salvation is a little by little process.
Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
Deu 7:22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
These Old Testament statements are mere shadows of these New Testament Truths.
Luk 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
That again is the meaning of ” the third part of the waters became wormwood.” Like the first Adam himself, drinking and dying from drinking ‘wormwood’ is an essential evil which we all must experience before we can become ‘a new vessel of clay in the Potter’s hand’:
Jer 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Jer 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
We must pay very close attention to the fact that our marred condition in which we first find ourselves was at ‘the hand of the Potter’ and not of our own free will.
Our final symbol is…
Many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Who are these “many men who die because of the waters being made bitter?”
We will never understand how we are to “keep the things written therein” until we can accept the fact that the “stone cut out of the mountain without hands” is Christ. If ever our Lord opens our eyes to see that, then we will understand what Christ meant when He said that “the kingdom of God is within you.”
Here is God’s spirit showing us through the pen of Daniel what Christ is doing within us:
Dan 2:31 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
Dan 2:32 This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
Dan 2:33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
Dan 2:34 Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Dan 2:36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
Dan 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
Dan 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art] this head of gold.
Dan 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42 And [as] the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Dan 2:45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream [ is] certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
King Nebuchadnezzar signifies all of mankind in our original carnal conception. This is how the holy spirit perceives us in our original “marred” (Jer 18:4) condition:
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen [in the Potter’s hand (Jer 18:4)] in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
All four of the kingdoms of Daniel 2 signify the whole of mankind in their original rebellious, carnal-minded, marred condition and composition. The same four kingdoms of Daniel 2 are signified as four beasts in Daniel 7:
Dan 7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Dan 7:3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, [The same four beasts as those in the one composite beast of Revelation 13] diverse one from another.
Dan 7:4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
Dan 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
Dan 7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Dan 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly [the dragon of Revelation 13:2], and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it [the dragon] was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
These beasts and these kingdoms are all within us. The four elements that make up the great image of this 2nd chapter of Daniel are the same kingdoms represented by the four beasts of the four kingdoms of Daniel 7. According to Revelation 13, those exact same four beasts are signified by one composite beast within us.
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
We will not bother to demonstrate this fact at this point. We will do so when we come to Revelation 13. For now let us just observe that all the kingdoms which “fill the whole earth” are destroyed by “the stone that is cut out of the mountain without hands.” Both the stone and the rock, we are told, is Christ, and it is He who is “the kingdom of God within you.”
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Now if we can accept the fact that it is Christ who destroys all the nations of the earth, and if we can accept the truth that the earth signifies us as God’s own people (Jer 22:29), then it should be very clear that it is Christ in us who destroys all of “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man” within us, as we “keep the things which are written therein” (Rev 1:3).
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
This seventh seal, which is these seven trumpets, is nothing less than the carrying out of that prophecy of the sixth seal. “Hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb.” These seven trumpets are “the great day of [the wrath of The Lamb]” being poured out incrementally upon the throne of the beast which I am and which all of mankind is. They are “the wrath of the Lamb… [and] the great day of His wrath [which] is come,” and which no one will be “able to stand” or resist. It will be only a few who are given to even remember that we are commanded to “keep the things which are written therein for the time is at hand” to keep the words of this prophecy.
Summary
1) “A great star fell from heaven.” We have seen that the scriptures reveal that this “great star” is a great angel of the Lord bringing us the Words of our Lord for the seven churches.
2) We have seen that this great star, which is an angel with God’s message to us, “burns as a lamp.” We have taken note that this burning lamp again is the very same Words of God which are the burning words of the “fire mingled with blood” in the first trumpet and “a great mountain burning with fire” in the second trumpet.
3) This great message from this great angel falls upon a third part of the rivers and fountains of water because ‘the third’ signifies the process which the light of this ‘lamp’ begins to work within us. We saw that this star “burning as a lamp… falls upon the rivers and fountains of water,” and we saw many verses of God’s word which make clear that these rivers and fountains of waters are themselves another symbols of the Words of God.
4) “The name of the star is called wormwood” because we have perverted the Lord’s words, which are signified as “rivers and fountains of waters”, into lies and false doctrines. When those perverted lies and false doctrines pollute our rivers and fountains of waters, those waters become deadly. Those bitter and deadly doctrines are signified as ‘wormwood’ and ‘hemlock’. We saw all the many verses in the Old Testament which show that ‘wormwood’ signifies the judgment upon us if we are God’s people.
5) “The third part of the waters become wormwood.” We saw once again that all these things are done in thirds simply to tell us that this judgment is little by little, a life-long process which “begins first at the house of God.”
6) “Many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. We saw that the scriptures reveal that ‘many’ signifies all men, and that it is all men who must “each in his own order” (1Co 15:22-23) be “crucified with Christ” and that, as is always the case, all these things and all these events which sound so dire to the natural man are in reality our salvation, and it is only those who lose their lives for Christ who will find their lives in Christ.
Next week, Lord willing, we will continue looking behind us [Rev 1:12] at the incremental burning judgment in the Words of our Lord revealed to us in the fourth trumpet.
Rev 8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
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