THE THIRD TRUMPET

Note: Brethren have come up with a number of seemingly viable explanations for the symbols in this Trumpet. It is altogether possible that more than one explanation works and is correct. When measuring the tabernacle with the standard 18-inch cubit, one set of excellent truths is discovered; when measuring it with the pyramid (25-inch) cubit, another set of excellent data results. It is hardly beyond God to have a number of correct and meaningful interpretations possible in any prophecy. To restrict ourselves would be a mistake. Here, however, we present the explanation which seems best to meet most of the facts of history.

Revelation Chapter 8

VERSE 10 “Then 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 water.”

THEN THE THIRD ANGEL SOUNDED: The third angel was of course Arius.

AND A GREAT STAR: This is most likely Arius also. Rev 1:20 points out that each of the Church angels was a star. Arius was, in every sense, a GREAT star — great enough that the false church tends to record him as the greatest heretic of all time.

FELL FROM HEAVEN:

He is the first messenger to the Church to suffer outright rejection FROM the majority of professing Christians. His influence was so very strong that he had to be forcibly evicted from the “heaven” (the ecclesiastical heavens) of his day. This he had peculiarly in common with the fifth messenger (Wycliffe) who shares a common description in this prophecy — see Rev 9:1.

He was out of favor in the new dominantly apostate heaven mainly because his views were antagonistic to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans: he couldn’t tolerate lordship in the Church.

But how could the new apostasy grow without lordship?

It is altogether possible that his anti-trinitarian views would not have been so heretical had he been in favor of a Church hierarchy.

BURNING LIKE A TORCH:

Arius shone brightly as he defended God’s Word — the LAMP unto our feet.

He was a great light in the Christian community until his “disgrace” at Niece. While the meanings are opposite, there is an interesting parallel of this text in Luke 10:18.

*FELL ON A THIRD OF THE RIVERS AND THE SPRINGS OF WATERS:

Rivers are both sources of water (truth) and the people who support those truths. (Compare Rev 16:12 and 22:1) Springs of water are the sources from which the water (truths) emanates. (John 4:14) We are again faced with the necessity of defining which three sources exist. Two seem obvious:

(1) There was the newly empowered apostate source as symbolized in the Nicene Creed:

(2) There was the scriptural source as represented in the arguments of Arius and his followers. By this time, however, there had returned an OLD SOURCE.

(3) Judaism had been nearly out of the picture since the fall of Jerusalem. But the Diaspora was now showing up in European centers. Communities of Jews who had been driven out of Israel were now becoming recognizable (though not accepted) parts of European cities. The THIRD source of religious truth and authority is probably Judaism.

*Note on Rev 8:10

“FELL ON” The star falling on a third of the rivers seems to indicate that these waters were affected by the fall of the star. There is no implication that it is a good or bad effect. That seems to be determined by point of view. The fall of Arius from favor had a direct effect on the way his teachings were accepted in the eyes of many.

It turned his teachings (waters) into Wormwood (bitterness.) – Not that it spoiled them, but that it made them distasteful to those who might otherwise have drunk them.

On which third does the star fall?

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.

VERSE 11 “The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.”

The answer to the above question is found in the statement of this verse. Let us reason on the symbols:

WORMWOOD has the characteristic of BITTERNESS.

Since the STAR is named Wormwood, it is logical to assume that the name is given to the star by the apostasy, NOT by the followers of the star. Therefore, for consistency, it is also logical to assume that the waters becoming wormwood is IN THE SIGHT OF THE APOSTATE CHURCH, not in the sight of those who believed and drank these waters.

Thus, the third of the waters named seems to be the TRUE WATERS — the doctrines expounded by Arius and his followers; the waters even possibly INCLUDE the followers who, in the sight of “orthodoxy” were contaminated with heresies.

MEN represent Christians.

DEATH represents the end of a condition.

The interpretation then seems to be:

THE NAME OF THE STAR IS CALLED WORMWOOD:

IMPORTANT: Notice, it does not say that the name of the star IS Wormwood, but that it is CALLED Wormwood.

God did not name His messenger BITTERNESS — someone else decided it was a good title! As before mentioned, Arius went down in history as the chief among history’s heretics! The newly powerful apostate element of Christianity succeeded in branding Arius as an untouchable.

AND A THIRD OF THE WATERS BECAME WORMWOOD:

This third is the TRUE third — the doctrine emanating from Arius and his followers. They DID BECOME bitter — undrinkable — BECAUSE the emperor and bishops so pronounced them. All of the evil things said about Arius and his doctrine made Christians beware of the message.

AND MANY MEN DIED FROM THE WATERS BECAUSE THEY WERE MADE BITTER:

Men are Christians. They lost their spiritual lives.

But note carefully: they did not lose their spiritual lives BECAUSE THEY DRANK the water.

No, they lost them BECAUSE THEY DID NOT DRINK THE WATER. They were convinced by the apostate church that they should NOT LISTEN to the voice of the Pergamos Angel.

An alternate interpretation is quite possible: If Christians DID follow Arius; (DID drink of the water from this source), they may yet have fallen from grace when the persecutions against Arians tested their sincerity. Thus, the bitterness (the proclaimed heresy qualities) of the water would have eventually made faithfulness against the majority the “host” (the apostate church) not possible for them.

The first interpretation seems better. The stigma against Arian doctrine made it less and less possible for men to consider drinking of it. This is why the apostasy was so successful during this period. It successfully heaped calumnies upon its opponents until the abomination was “set up.”

Its fornication with the powers of the state made it a nearly-impregnable fortress — thus its name, PERGAMOS, Earthly Elevation.

We move on to the Forth Church and its angel in our next post.