We left off with the Trumpet Judgments being ready to be sounded with Revelation 8:6 saying, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.” So, they are now ready to do that.
Look at Revelation 8:7, “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.” We are going to catch this theme of a third going through these trumpet judgments - where a third of things are destroyed as a result of these particular judgments. The first one is on the earth itself. We find that the earth itself has a third of its trees and vegetation burned up. Corruption of sin is the responsibility of human beings when Adam and Eve failed, and they sinned in the garden. Therefore, we now have the corruption that is not only on humanity but on all of creation, and creation groans as a result. Now, we see here that the creation itself is caught up in the collateral damage that is going on as God brings judgment on the earth. So, a third of these things are burnt up.
In Revelation 8:8 we read, “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 and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.” We now judgment on the oceans themselves. Further, we have not only the oceans affected, but all the things in the ocean so that a third of them died. Could you imagine the pollution and the stench and the awfulness of having a third of the creatures in the sea die?
In Revelation 8:10 it says, “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.” The fresh water supply is being affected by this third judgment.
In Revelation 8:11 we read, “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.” Wormwood means bitterness. We find that it is not simply a bitterness of taste here, but a bitterness of pollution so that whoever drinks of these waters that had been judged will die. As a result, we find people dying from drinking of these polluted waters.
In Revelation 8:12 it says, “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.” Now we have the atmosphere of the stars, the sun, and the moon being affected. The effect here is the darkening of these things. Exactly what that looks like or how it takes place we are not told, but there is a diminishing of light at this time. Whether it is a timetable, like a third of the day is dark like an eclipse or whether it is simply a diminishing of the light of the sun and moon and so forth, we are not really told. What we know is that there is a diminishment of some extent. A third of this light is turned to darkness during this time. We all know what it’s like to live in a perpetual haze or dark period here in Illinois. We experience quite a bit of that in the wintertime especially, and it’s depressing and it’s difficult to live with. This would be far more intense than that is. People live in this utter darkness. We think back to the plagues in Egypt. Some of these plagues are kind of similar and kind of overlapping. One of the plagues there was darkness. Darkness there that just overwhelmed. That’s probably what’s going on here as well . . .
