By David Green

“... And a great burning star, like a torch, fell out of heaven. And it fell onto the third part of the rivers, and onto the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became changed into wormwood. And many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

Revelation 8:10 and 11 is a revelation of a great nation which was to fall from power with great violence and massive destruction, in punishment for her sins. Its judgment was according to God’s Law, and the terminology used to describe it’s punishment was based on the Law and the Prophets. The nation of this passage was rebellious Israel of Christ’s day, and its end came shortly after the cross as a result of murdering the Lord Jesus, as well as all the prophets (Matt. 21:38; Lk. 13:33; and I Thess. 2:14-16). From this passage, and others like it in the book of Revelation, we learn of the seriousness of being covenanted to the Almighty God – and especially the seriousness of breaking His Covenant.

“And a great burning star, like a torch, fell out of heaven”

In the book of Isaiah, is a prophecy of a great star falling out of heaven: “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth...” (Isaiah 14:12). Isaiah’s prophecy of the falling star had first reference to the fall of Babylon and its king to the Medes in 539 B.C. Our present passage, Revelation 8:10 and 11, was also a prophecy of the fall of Babylon; however, “Babylon” in the book of Revelation is not literally Babylon, but is symbolic of Jerusalem under the Pharisees (Compare Lk. 11:50; Matt. 23:35-37; and Rev. 18:24).

“Stars” are often used to symbolize “powers and authorities” in the Bible. In Jude 13, first-century apostate teachers were called “wandering stars”. In Rev. 1:16-20, the seven stars symbolized the seven messengers, or angels, of the seven churches in Asia Minor. In Rev. 2:28 and 22:16, Jesus is called the Morning Star. In Num. 24:17, He is called a Star out of Jacob. And in Gen. 37:9, the eleven stars of Joseph’s dream symbolized his brothers, the remaining eleven patriarchs of Israel.

In Bible prophecy, when a star or stars are said to fall or lose their light, it means that a power or an authority, such as a person or a nation or city, has fallen (as was the case in Isaiah 14:12).

In Isaiah 13:10, the day of Babylon’s destruction is described as a day that the stars of heaven and their constellations did not show their light. In Ezek. 32:7 and 8, God warned Pharaoh king of ancient Egypt of his fall, saying, “When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land”.

In Daniel 8:10, the “little horn” (Dan. 8:9) was described as one who would become great, “even to the host of heaven”, and was going to “cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground”, and trample upon them. In Joel 2:10, and 3:15, it says that when Israel was to be judged, it would be a time when the heavens would tremble; the sun and the moon would be dark, and the stars were going to withdraw their shining. In Matt. 24:29, and Mk. 13:25, when Jesus was prophesying the fall of Jerusalem He, like the prophets before Him, described it as a time when the sun would be darkened, and the moon would not give her light, and the stars were going to fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens would be shaken. The same language is found in Rev. 6:12-14, “...the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together...” (cf. Rev. 9:1 and 2; and 12:1-4).

“and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters”

In Rev. 16:4 and 5, an angel poured a vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, turning them into blood (See also Rev. 11:6). In this way, it was said that God gave Israel blood to drink (16:6). The blood they drank was of their own destruction (Rev. 17:15); and likewise, the bitter water they drank in this verse was the bitterness of their own hearts.

“And the name of the star is called Wormwood”

“Wormwood” is a bitter tasting plant. As a symbol, it is taken from the Old Testament: In Deut. 29:18, God called a rebellious heart a “root that bears gall and wormwood” (“gall” also denotes “bitterness”). In Prov. 5:4, it is said that an adulteress is bitter as wormwood. In Jer. 9:15, and 23:15, God told Israel and its prophets that He would feed them with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. In Lam. 3:15, Jeremiah complained that God had filled him with bitterness, and had made him drunken with wormwood. In Amos 5:7, God said of Israel, “Ye who turn judgement to wormwood....” And in 6:12 of Amos: “Ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood”.

“...many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

In Numbers 5:11-31 is an example from the Law of Moses, of God punishing the unrighteous by making them drink “bitter water”: If a man suspected his wife of being unfaithful, he was to bring her to the priest. The priest would then take holy water in a vessel, take dust from the floor of the tabernacle, and put the dust into the water. God called this mixture of water and dust “the bitter water that causes the curse”. The woman drank the water, and if she was guilty of adultery, the bitter water would cause her belly to swell and her thighs to rot, and she would then be a curse among the people.

The curse which fell on those who drank the bitter water in the book of Revelation was not much different; they were scorched with the sun, and they gnawed their tongues in agony because of their pains and sores (Rev. 9; 16:8-10).

The bitterness of the waters may be seen as that bitterness of heart which accompanies rebellion and spiritual death: In Rev. 16:9, 11, and 21, the objects of God’s wrath -those who drank the poisoned water- cursed the name of the God of Heaven, and refused to repent and glorify Him (Rev. 16:8-10). See also Jer. 2:19: “...it is and evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God”; and Jer. 4:18: “Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart”. The antichrists of the apostolic era were, in the end, bitter to the core. Forever resisting the Holy Spirit just as their fathers did before them (Acts 7:51), and turning their backs on the One that bought them (II Peter 2:1), they incurred the wrath of God upon themselves to the utmost. Incredibly, they justified themselves all the while, bringing about the taking away of both their Place and their Nation (John 11:48). Today, they remain as examples of God’s fierce indignation (Isa. 66:24).

In conclusion, the present passage is a prophecy of doom on biblical Israel. It found its consummation when the Kingdom was juridically taken from the Pharisees and Sadducees, and was given eternally to God’s heavenly nation, that founded on the holy apostles and prophets – the church (Matt. 21:43). The message for today is clear: Fear God and give Him glory. Worship Him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.