The Wormwood Star

As we open Chapter 8 of The Revelation we are still observing events in heaven. The Lamb is opening the seventh and final seal and the seven angels prepare to blow the seven trumpets as the prayers of the saints rise before God with much incense. What does it mean that thunder, lightning and earthquakes now rage upon the earth as the censer is thrown down?

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. - Rev 8:1-5 ESV

Great destruction and death now follow as one trumpet after the other is blown by an angel. The earth is scorched and burned, a third of the sea creatures die and a third of the ships on the sea are destroyed. Then a great star falls from heaven, blazing like a torch to fall on a third of the rivers and springs. And the name of the star is Wormwood! What is wormwood?

Solomon warns his son about the lips of a strange, forbidden women. Oh be discrete and guard your lips, he urges. Her lips drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood and sharp as a two-edged sword (Pro 5:1-6). Wormwood? Like hemlock, wormwood is poisonous, noxious and bitter (Deut 29:18; Jer 9:15; 23:15; Lam 3:15, 19, Amos 5:7).

C.S. Lewis' well-known The Screwtape Letters, has a senior demon named Screwtape write 31 letters to his nephew, Wormwood. This demon is young and inexperienced. He must be guided in his work of tempting his assignee toward "Our Father Below" (Satan) and away from "the Enemy" (God). Thus Wormwood is used symbolically by Lewis. For us as well,  it is wise to avoid assigning a literal meaning to the star falling from heaven. Some have tried, obviously to pinpoint Wormwood with the Huns' campaign in Europe or the heretics Arius or Pelagius. In modern times various scenarios of comets about to crash on the earth are supposedly confirmed by NASA, etc. Such attempts confirm nothing other than to remind us that the spiritual enemies of the Lamb are able to cause much sorrow, bitterness and death on the earth. They will not prevail.

In my next post we'll move on to what happens when the next four angels blow their trumpets. In the meantime be very cautions about knowing precisely what the Wormwood Prophecy means, as reported on various YouTube or Apocalyptic websites.