The judgment falls upon the THIRD PART of trees and ALL green grass. Trees seem to imply man in his pride and lofty exaltation. In Isaiah 2:12,12For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: (Isaiah 2:12) speaking of the day of the Lord, the very day that in Revelation is being introduced, the proud and lofty and lifted up ones are to be brought low; these are the cedars of Lebanon and oaks of Bashan—the loftiness of man, and the haughtiness of man.
In Isaiah 37:24-28,24By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 25I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. 26Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. 27Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 28But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. (Isaiah 37:24‑28) we get similar figures used, the tall cedars and choice fir trees being the great men, the dignitaries, whereas the grass shows us the masses, the common people. This trumpet affects specially the lower classes, though there is a commencement of the collapse about to come upon the governing classes—the THIRD PART of trees and ALL green grass.
It is well-known that the next war will be a war from the air, and a war of extermination of the civil and non-combatant classes. Communists are today using every effort to spread sedition amongst the military and naval forces by means of propaganda and lying pamphlets. Even if they were to succeed in their nefarious efforts, this would not prevent the destruction of life that every intelligent and loyal leader of the government plainly foresees and rightly dreads, for it will not be a case of Infantry and Cavalry and Dreadnoughts, etc., but poison gas and bombs from the sky. This we believe may be what is likely to fulfill the conditions described under the first trumpet.
The Third Part.
Added to the above interpretation, and by no means contradictory thereto, it has often been suggested that a very precise meaning attaches to this fraction so frequently repeated. It is often taken to mean the Roman Empire in its Western portion. The Roman Empire in the past extended far wider than many suppose; it had an Eastern portion (Syria, Arabia, Egypt), a Central (Greece, Illyricum), and a Western (Italy, Britain, Spain, etc.). It is this Western portion that is yet to revive, and this it is that appears to be the thought in the third part, viz., the European portion.
The Eastern portion of the ancient Roman Empire will be included in the Assyrian of prophecy which will extend to the Far East. The Beast (Rev. 13 and 17) and the Assyrian will be opposed to one another.
A Burning Mountain.
“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;” And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (vs. 8. 9).
That the dissolution of government hinted at in the first trumpet should lead to revolution need not surprise us. This agitation and unrest amongst men is implied by the use of the symbol of the sea. The great mountain burning with fire, implies some great earthly power in volcanic eruption. Babylon of old was such a power (Jer. 51:2525Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. (Jeremiah 51:25)), and in a coming day history will repeat itself in an aggravated degree.
The history of the French Revolution gives us a little picture of what it will be. Some great European power which seemed firmly established and as solid and secure as a mountain, will suddenly be overthrown. Already do we see revolt against monarchy and government generally. These fires of revolution will presently burst forth in a quarter least expected because of its apparently secure and powerful condition. A reign of terror will ensue, and trade and commerce will be paralyzed.
We have an object lesson in RUSSIA today. Bad as that is, we believe worse is to come after the removal of the Holy Spirit when the saints are caught up. What would be the effect upon humanity if ENGLAND were to collapse? Every thoughtful man is well aware of the efforts now being made by advanced Socialists and communists to bring this about. Moscow is using all her hellish designs against Great Britain. The Strike as everybody knows was engineered by the Soviets for this end, and India is being set aflame to bring about the downfall of England.
Whether it be England or not that will fulfill the conditions described by the great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea, the result will be disastrous to all the nations in anywise connected therewith.
Fall of a Great Star.
“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: “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” (vss. 10,11).
In this we see the fall of some great ruling power. By comparing the passages in Old and New Testaments where “stars” are symbolically used we are led to think that a ruler in a spiritual sense is here implied. Under the second trumpet we get the collapse of civil government, here it is the strong delusion of apostasy.
Whatever interpretation of this star may be given along historicist lines we are persuaded that the final fulfillment is not yet. Some have thought it may be the first appearance of Antichrist. Certainly, all the principles that will reach their climax in the Man of sin are actively at work around us. Socialism and Atheism are closely linked together today. Under the third trumpet some great spiritual leader will apostatize, and bring about by his fall the embitterment of the springs and streams of human happiness. Still further, moral distance from God is the result. Apostasy will plunge men into mental and spiritual anguish. Oh, that men today would learn what an evil and bitter thing it is to turn away from the living God and His living Word! The cross of Christ makes bitter waters sweet (cf. Ex. 15:2525And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, (Exodus 15:25)). Apostasy will turn all into bitterness “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” (vs. 12).
The apostasy begun under the third trumpet, increases under the fourth, until all the spiritual powers become darkened under God’s judgment throughout Europe.
If the interpretation of the “third part” we have hinted at be correct, the first four trumpets would seem to affect the Western nations of Europe. The next two, as we shall see, have specially to do with the East.
“And I beheld, and heard an eagle (R.V.) 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” (8:13).
How vividly is here depicted the rapid course of events that follows upon the fourth trumpet. The eagle is a symbol of rapidity of motion, swooping down upon the prey, for “eagle” here it should be instead of “angel.”