Devotional 06 March 2025

Revelation 8:10-11 (ESV): “The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing 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 people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.”

When the third trumpet sounds, a blazing star—Wormwood—falls from the sky, turning the waters bitter and deadly. We know this isn’t an actual star. If an actual star to fall from heaven the entire solar system would be destroyed not just a third of the waters on earth.

The Old Testament repeatedly uses wormwood as a symbol of divine judgment. In Jeremiah 9:15, God declares, “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.” Again, in Lamentations 3:19, wormwood is tied to suffering and affliction. It is the taste of judgment, the bitterness of rebellion’s consequences. (Deuteronomy 29:18, Proverbs 5:4, Jeremiah 23:15) What they thought would give them joy and life—the water that the world gives—becomes a source of bitterness and death.

This trumpet judgment echoes the fiery destruction that has preceded it. The star blazes like a torch as it falls, a terrifying reminder of God’s consuming wrath. The bitter waters reflect the corruption of those who have rejected Him—instead of living water they would drink death. (Romans 1:18-32)

Jesus offers living water. (John 4:14) The water of this world is a deadly poison—but the water Jesus gives brings the dead to life.

This passage is a warning. This trumpet blast reveals the cost of rejecting Christ. The world chases after its own desires, drinking deeply from wells that can only kill them.

Will we drink from the bitter waters of this world, or will we come to Christ and drink deeply from the well of salvation? “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Revelation 22:17)