His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Next on His Perfect Love, we'll learn all about the third trumpet judgment and the death and destruction that follows.

Guest (Male): This is His Perfect Love. This is His Perfect Love. This is His Perfect Love.

Guest (Male): It is hard to imagine one half of the world's population destroyed in the short period of time. But that will be the case during the tribulation period. Today on His Perfect Love, we'll tell you about the third trumpet judgment when a great star named Wormwood falls from the sky and turns a third of the water bitter, leading to many deaths. Pastor Matt Vander Ven says this Wormwood is spoken of elsewhere in the Bible. Here he is with today's message from Revelation chapter 8.

Guest (Male): This is His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: Let's look at 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. 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. Then the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so the third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.

And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. So they're talking about the next three trumpet judgments that will precede the fourth trumpet judgment. He's saying even more intense. Woe, woe, woe. So as we look here, again, beginning in verse 10, it says, then the third angel sounded. Remember, there were seven angels that were gathered. So so far we've seen two angels pick up their trumpets.

They've blown their trumpets that way. While the first one, we saw the vegetation shrunk. Remember, it was mingled with blood, thrown to the earth, and a third of the trees were burned up, and the green grass was burned up, and just all the ecological effects, including the breathing and everything. We talked all about that. Then we saw the second trumpet where the ocean, that word sea, it's talking predominantly about salt water. Okay? So you think about the oceans and how much of the oceans on this earth or even just the water, amount of water content on this earth, it's actually predominantly salt water really.

When you look at the bodies of water, almost 97% of the water that is on earth is in some capacity or another salt water. Okay? Just so you have that kind of data. So when you think about that, he's saying that 97% of the waters, a third of that, okay, is going to basically be turned in such a way that it's going to cause such sea life to die, the fish, the whole thing, and the stench is going to rise up, the bacteria. It's going to cause massive problems, okay, on this earth for those that would be here and alive during the great tribulation.

It's sort of alarming to the point of when you step back and just I can't imagine a human being alive on that. You know, and the reality of friends as we're gathered, we can speak transparently to each other. When you're talking about the population, if it was to happen in our generation of 8 billion people, 2 billion during the fourth seal judgment, that means it would be 6 billion, a third that are going to possibly die out of 6 billion. That's another 2 billion. You're talking 4 billion out of 8 billion people. That is half of the population of the world right now.

That means that as we are gathered in this room soberly this morning, that means that more than likely we know someone, whether it's a prodigal, whether it's a family member, or a friend that is going to go through the great tribulation because they have denied Jesus Christ. And so everyone of us in here, this is not something that we're just reading over and going, well, boy, I don't know anybody that's going to go through this. No. This just touches the heart string for every human being in here right now because I assure you you know someone that as it stands right now and Jesus was to come right now and rapture us up, there would be somebody you have crossed paths with, somebody you know, maybe even somebody that is in your home that would be going through the great tribulation right now.

And so let it touch that kind of a string in your heart, that kind of wow, this isn't just abstract. This is affecting people I love and know in a lost and dying world. And it brings it right home here. Okay? So when we look at verse 10, he says, then a 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. And the name of the star is Wormwood. He actually gives it a name. And he says, a third of the waters became Wormwood.

And that's important because he says not only is that the name, but it's also a character description. In the Hebrew, I know this is Greek, but in the Hebrew often when you would give a name to a person, it much was a pointer to their character. That's why the name for Jesus, we see so many character attributes and so many different He's the Ancient of Days. He's the Great I Am. All of these point to the character, and that was very tied to the Hebrew mind and culture of that day. So it makes sense that Jesus would say the star's Wormwood.

Why? What is Wormwood? Wait. Well, we're going to look at that in scripture. It's bitterness. It means bitterness. It means death. And so here he comes and he sees this star and he's sending it and it becomes Wormwood. He says it even became that. And many men died from the water because it it was made bitter. Okay? So now he's talking about and it is similar sort of to the second trumpet, but but now it's now affecting the fresh water system of the world. Okay? So I want you to think of the lakes, the rivers instead of the oceans.

Now I want this also to be something that we would read this. Here we are in United States of America. Yes, I understand we're in South Central Pennsylvania, so we're landlocked. All right? I get that. But if we go 2 and 1/2 hours or 3 hours to our east, we can get to an ocean or a body of water. We can go into Maryland. We can go to different We can get to bodies of water. I grew up in Rochester, New York, which I was founded by Lake Ontario and smaller like Lake, you know, Canandaigua Lake and all kinds of different lakes, bodies of water, very common.

This is written inspired through the human author, right, inspired by the Holy Spirit, given to the human author John who's on an island of Patmos, surrounded like a little dot in the middle of this great big body of water. But besides that, before he was sent to Patmos, which is this penal island or penal colony, he lived where? Well, he spent a great deal and a great bit of time in Israel, obviously Jerusalem to be more specific. Last I checked, it's an arid climate, and it's a what? Desert. Throughout centuries and generations, those that live in the Middle East have grown up with the understanding of the need and significance of fresh water.

Here you are. You just got to the third trumpet, and you just said the springs are going to be afflicted. They're going to be because of punishment. Wormwood is going to come, bitterness and death, and a third of the fresh water is going to be contaminated in a way that is unusable or undrinkable. Already living in a desert climate, what are you thinking? Oh my. How is anybody going to survive this especially in that area? Right? So I just want us to put on that Jewish mindset for a moment and understanding those were the original many of them, the original readers of this book, and it was meant to wake them what?

Up. And it's meant to wake us up today even though we have comfort and we have water sources more ample around us. But if you lived out west, even in Vegas or, you know, parts as you move into Oregon and different areas, the water also Nevada is a big deal. There's water shortages. Often they have to pump water in. Okay? So much of the world doesn't isn't spoiled like we are where we have these fresh water sources. Right? The star is, like I mentioned, given this name Wormwood. It speaks to the bitterness and that people are going to die.

In botany, Wormwood is Artemisia. And I hope I'm saying this right. Absinthium, right? It's a shrub or a plant that's noted for extreme bitterness, and it's also known for being poisonous. See, we think of Wormwood as just bitter as in like bitter to the taste, but it's also very well understood as a poisonous plant or has poisonous properties. Now the imagery that that we're getting or God's wanting to convey here is this powerful message about severe consequences of sin and certainly the idea of wide spread destruction because although we can look at some of this in the past and we can think about, okay, well, in Exodus we know waters were turned to blood and different things.

Please remember that was regional. We have never seen this worldwide. So this is this is a whole new thing on a worldwide stage where a third of the waters and it's all again because of God's judgment. So taking that into context, we have to understand that Wormwood, it's it's symbolizing and it's giving us additional meaning that this catastrophic event, okay, it's going to bring bitterness and death. That's what he's really trying to communicate to us. And and it's also meant to highlight the seriousness here of God's judgment. He wants us to understand. Okay? Now some of you probably going to get tired of me saying this here, but the best commentary for the Bible is the Bible.

That's right. Right? It's not a book that you're going to have on your shelf that was written by a man. While I appreciate all the commentaries of men, those were given at a specific time by the Holy Spirit, understanding for a group of people that were to meant to be read and read those at those times. Certainly can benefit us today, but I'll tell you something that I know to be factual, and that is the word of God never returns void. And I know that the best commentary I have when I want to understand the application of something or the interpretation of something is to go to the word of God and let the word of God speak and teach me the things I need to understand.

In the book of Revelation, you remember when we started this book, I opened it, and one of the first things I shared or taught you all was that there were how many verses? There were 404 verses. Remember that when we talked about it right in my introduction to this book? And I also pointed out that out of 404 verses in the book of Revelation, 278 of them directly and specifically talk or reference Old Testament scriptures. Right? And I wasn't wasting your time. I promise. The reason I was sharing that is because so much of what we need to understand in the application of what he's showing here, we can get proper exhortation or understanding by going to the Old Testament scriptures.

That's why on Wednesdays we're in We choose the book on Wednesday Ecclesiastes or for God has us. We're in the Old Testament scriptures. Everyone of you I I get it. We all get busy. Everyone of us should be in the Old Testament reading the entire council of God. I want to encourage you all to come out for that. I know some of you work. I'm tired. I promise you God will turn around and bring that renewed strength when you come in and humble yourself before his word. He will renew your strength because he wants you to be able to read these things and understand these things.

So you know what I'm going to say next. Open your Bibles and turn to the Old Testament scriptures, specifically the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 5. Okay? We're going to look at Proverbs chapter 5 here this morning, and we 're going to try to understand this Wormwood and bitterness and how is it been used in scripture. And we're going to go to the Old Testament to do that. So please open your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 5 verses 3 through 5. Proverbs chapter 5, that's in your Old Testament, and we're going to be looking at verses 3 through 5.

And let's look at it just, I don't know, three or four, maybe five scriptures this morning just to see in context how God has used this idea of Wormwood and what he was communicating through the prophets or through others at that time so we could maybe understand what does he mean in the book of Revelation by that. You with me? So he says in Proverbs chapter 5 verses 3 through 5, for the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is what? Bitter as Wormwood.

So we know that he's pointing out to bitterness, and not just any kind of bitterness, but he's talking about the depth of the bitterness, super bitterness. And how do we know that it's really really bitter and it's going to lead to death? Because look here in the rest of the passage. He says sharp as a two-edged sword. Sword is normally an instrument of what? Death, destruction. Right? And then he goes on, her feet go down to death. Just in case somebody missed that and was all bitterness, does that mean death? He's connecting it here. And then he goes on and say her steps lay hold of what?

Hell. So he's talking about something that supersedes just the temporal, but it ultimately affects also the eternal. So this bitterness, this judgment that's coming, well, that makes sense in Revelation because who is it coming to? Is it coming to the bride of Christ? Absolutely not. The bride of Christ is enraptured off the earth by this time. It's coming to those that have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ. It coming to those that will unless they turn to Jesus Christ and receive him as Lord and Savior just like you and I had to do, they they will be what?

Eternally separated from God and sent to a place called what? Hell. So you see it right here, and it 's connected for us, and it's how he's used it in the past. As Solomon would say, nothing new under the sun. Turn to Lamentations chapter 3 verse 15. So this word connotes not just this terrible destruction here on earth, but even an eternal consequence because of it. You You with me? That's what he's saying when he's using Wormwood, and I named it Wormwood, and it became Wormwood. Okay? Lamentations chapter 3 verse 15, he says, he has filled me with bitterness.

He has made me drink Wormwood. Once again, tying back to that idea of bitterness and Wormwood, and he's helping us understand that. Since you're already in the book of Lamentations, just stay in chapter 3. Please turn to verse 19, just a few verses down there. Okay? And look at this with me. He says, remember my affliction and roaming the Wormwood and the gall. Now he ties this to something else, this gall and what the idea of gall is. And we'll see more about that in a little bit. But he's he's expanded our understanding and knowledge here that that not only is it bitterness, but just like what?

And gall, gall. You know, he's telling us that it it's an extreme kind of bitterness that even to the taste, even to something that would be a sensed, it would be just so decrepit to us or so bitter that way. Now turn to the book of Amos, please. Let's look at the prophet Amos. Amos twice refers to this word Wormwood. Okay? In Amos chapter 5 verse 7, if you could turn to Amos chapter 5 verse 7. Your poor little fingers are getting a workout this morning. But I promise you it's worth it. Amos chapter 5 verse 7 in your in your scriptures.

Look what he says here. I I love this. This is where we're picking up again. Remember, we're in the Old Testament scriptures. So we know that God uses different modalities in the Hebrew to communicate. Sometimes he uses poetry. Right? We've seen him use an acrostic as part of that poet. We've seen him use different modalities. There's another modality that often the Hebrew mind understood and and so does the Gentile mind quite frankly, and that is comparison and contrast. Right? You don't we teach our little ones when they come to kindergarten or first or second grade?

One of the first things we begin to teach them in elementary education or homeschool or anything like that is we start teaching them to compare and contrast. Some of these things are not like the other, but some of these things are Yeah. We all grew up with that. Some of you were that come from Come on. Sesame Street, back when Sesame Street was Sesame Street. I don't know where it is anymore. I don't know what street it's on. But anyway, the point I 'm getting at is that Hebrew used a modality of of comparison. Okay?

And so what he's doing here in Amos is first of all in chapter 5 verse 7 he's going to build on this, but in chapter 6 verse 12 he's going to use this comparison modality for us. So in chapter 5 of Amos 5 verse 7 he says, you who turn justice to Wormwood. Oh my. So now he's taken it a step level and he's expounded on this. So he's saying that you have taken justice, just and the righteousness and the right thing, who you who've made that bitter or destructive. Okay? So he's he's giving us a comparison here.

And lay righteousness to rest in the earth. Now he's saying, what you did by doing that is you you you basically gave up righteousness. You put it to rest. You You don't even acknowledge it or walk in it or search it out or do anything. When you put something to rest, what is it? It means it's not operational at that moment. It's rest. It's not engaged. It's not moving. It's not dynamic. It's stopped. It's halted. It's It's stopped. So he says, look, you who turn justice to bitterness or death or destruction and lay righteousness because they're not mutually exclusive, that's exactly what happens when you bring bitterness or you bring destruction, you are comparably you are not walking in righteousness.

When you bring sin, you're not walking in a right living. Okay? It's a way we would understand it in our New Testament vernacular, but that's what he's saying here. He says here righteous. And what does he do? He contrasts Wormwood and bitterness with righteousness. So he's expanding our understanding of how he uses this word. Now go a page over in your Bibles to Amos chapter 6 and let's look at verse 12 because he's now going to continue to do this. Again, he's using this idea of contrast and he's teaching us in verse relationship. So if you're if you're Wormwood yourself or you're bitter, you're you're contrasted or inverse to you not being righteous.

Righteous bitterness. That's why we How many of you heard the old saying, when you get older, we either get what? Bitter or better. You've heard that. I've used that many a time. We get bitter or better. They have a what? Inverse relationship, a contrast. Okay? Again, the Hebrew, it's very important. Amos chapter 6 verse 12. Now how many of you have written horses in here? Anybody written a horse ever? Oh wow. I like Yeah, we're You're We're going to I'm going to follow you when he Jesus Revelation 19 and we come back on the horses with the bride of Christ.

Just put me behind your horse and guide me a little bit. Well, he says in Amos chapter 6 verse 12, he says, do horses run on rocks? Any of you that have written horses, would you try to take a horse on rocks? Wouldn't that create an unstable to the point of the horse would what? Fall, and you being on the horse, you're going to what? Fall with them. Right? Okay? So horses Do horses run on rocks? No, of course not. Does one plow there with their ox? Okay. So what is the idea here? Plow We We not may may not bring out our ox, but maybe some of you get on your John Deere.

Okay? Would you bring your John Deere out to a gland or a piece of ground and all of it is full of rocks? Would you bring a implement out there that you're going to go and tow behind that John Deere to to, you know, help me here? What am I trying to do? Dig up the earth or whatever the right word Till the earth may be better term for it. I don't have any other word Till the earth. If you're going to do You're going to try to do that in a in a a patch of rocks or a rock garden?

Is that the place you want to do that? No. Why? What's that going to do to the implement? It's going to dull it. It's going to break it or it 's going to It's not fit. Right? So it makes sense. Does one plow there where there's ox? Of course not. Yet you have turned justice in the gall. He says the same idea. He says, when you turn around and you take justice and then he uses the word gall, which he already introduced to us. You remember that when we were back in Lamentations 3:19 we read that word.

We maybe even some of you circled it. He says, but when you take justice and you mix it with gall, it's as foolish as going and bringing a John Deere, an implement, to go and till up a rock garden. He says it's just as foolish as that. And the fruit Now he starts to expound something even beyond just what we see. He starts talking about fruit. Jesus had a lot to say about fruit, didn't he? You shall know them by their fruit. But he said something interesting. I I'll never forget when he said in the Gospels that he was at a distance and he sees this bush, and he goes up to it and expectation in the morning, maybe a little breakfast, he was going to take some fruit off that bush.

Remember he actually cursed that bush. Remember that? But he goes to take some fruit off the bush, but he goes up to it and and I'm going to paraphrase here. What does he basically say? He says you're all leaves and no what? Fruit. You're all leaves and no fruit. And that had a bigger spiritual significance of what he was saying in that parable because who is he really talking about? Israel. He was saying from a distance, oh man, you look all put together, but really you're like a whitewashed tomb. You might be white on the outside, but inside dirty, filthy.

And so he's he's he's explaining this. Well, fruit. He says, and the fruit of righteousness. He says you're taking what should have been in right living. There's a purpose there. And what have you done? You have turned it into Wormwood, bitterness, destruction, which was supposed to be fruit that was supposed to grow and ripen and be wonderful feet a nation. But instead because of the compromise of justice or righteousness, what comes from that and the fruit of that sin is bitterness and destruction. It always works this way if I can say it like a mathematical formula or theological formula.

A little 11 11's the whole lump. We understand We We know some of these scriptures. Okay. So throughout the Old Testament and we we could keep going, but throughout the Old Testament Wormwood here, it obviously represents bitterness. We saw it also can represent death, and it can highlight the consequences of sin and unrighteousness because he connected those two things to justice and righteousness or the lack of justice and righteousness and the presence of uh Wormwood or bitterness. So it's also important for us because those, thinking about our passage in in chapter 8 here, those that are in the great tribulation are walking in sin.

They're walking in depravity. How do How can I make such a statement like that so so uh just loosely. Right? How can I say that? Doesn't that sound stereotypical of the great tribulation that I would say something? Am I stereotyping human beings at that time? I mean, today it would be very stereotypical to say that. But during the great tribulation, the people that are there are there because they did what? They refused or rejected Jesus Christ and the offer of salvation. Are you with me? So it's not wrong to say that. Now that Now I'm not saying that people won't get saved.

We all read Revelation chapter 7, but they'll be martyred very quickly thereafter. So those that do receive Jesus Christ in the great tribulation will pay for it with their lives. So it won't be like they're living, you know, during the 7 years for multiple years. It's pretty clear here.

Guest (Male): This is His Perfect Love.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Matt Vander Ven on His Perfect Love. You can hear the study from Revelation again when you visit His Perfect Love. .org. That's His Perfect Love .org. We've expanded our podcast, too. Look for us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms. The Calvary Chapel Harrisburg mobile app is another great way to listen to Pastor Matt's messages shortly after they're delivered. We can help you get started when you visit His Perfect Love .org. We're thankful for the listeners that come alongside of us with their prayers and financial support. If you're interested in supporting this radio ministry, there's a place to do that at His Perfect Love .org.

Together we can reach people with the love and truth of God in these last days. Pastor Matt loves to hear from his listeners. Even just a quick hello telling him where did you hear the program and how you're blessed by it means a lot. Email us there at the website His Perfect Love .org. And whether you live in or around Mechanicsburg, PA or will be visiting the area soon, we'd love to have you join us for a service at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service, too, Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.

You'll find us at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to cc harrisburg.org for more information. Well, that'll do it for today, but come back next time when Pastor Matt will again study the book of Revelation with us here on His Perfect Love.

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Guest (Male): Let the word go out, the perfect love of Christ to shine. Our lives will shout. I am my beloved's, and He is mine. Every heart is in His hands. We'll never stop reaching out. This is His Perfect Love. The world goes out. This is what real love looks like in truth and grace. This is His Perfect Love.