Revelation 8 – Water and Wormwood

Revelation 8:10-11
10 The third angel sounded [his trumpet], and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch [flashing across the sky], and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of [fresh] waters.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters, because they had become bitter (toxic).

Have you ever considered the meaning of this verse? Yes. We see a star falling from heaven. We see it falling on the rivers and the springs of water. We see that this star has a name. Its name is Wormwood. We see that people die because of the waters because they become toxic. But what does that all mean? Of course, we can see the literal sense of what it is saying, but scripture defines these words which provides a much broader understanding of what is occurring here.

We see water for example in the following scriptures:

John 4:14
14 But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for Yahuwah] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”

Here the water is a teaching. It is the providing of information to another person. In this case, it is saying that the water Yahushua provides will stop the thirst for any other water, and will result in that person welling up with water for others to see.

When we look at Noah and the flood, what was it which killed the people? It was water.

Genesis 7:17-18
17 The flood [the great downpour of rain] was forty days and nights on the earth; and the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it floated [high] above the land.
18 The waters became mighty and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.

Again. The Father taught Noah, but the people would not listen. Noah accepted the Father’s word and did not face the wrath. The people, however, faced the waters of the Father and drowned in it for they did not listen.

Water represents the word of Yahuwah. It lifts us up, but buy it we are also condemned. The word cleanses us from sin, such that we do not have to be condemned, but can have eternal life in purity with him as water is pure.

When we look at the verse above however we see that the waters have come toxic. They become toxic through the wormwood. Would it interest you if I told you that wormwood is an alcohol?

As we know Alcohol can be toxic to those who drink too much of it. It can be addictive. It confuses the mind and causes bad decisions to be made. When people have had too much alcohol, they cannot think straight, and when presented with the truth, the drunk do not see it. In fact, they normally push it aside and forget it very quickly.

We read in Revelation 17 how it is the wine which is an alcohol, makes not a couple of people drunk, but rather makes the entire world drunk. The scripture says it makes them drunk with immorality.

Revelation 17
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment and doom of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters [influencing nations],
2 she with whom the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality, and the inhabitants of the earth have become intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”

Many see the “waters” here as land, and no doubt it is. But the water here in Revelation 8:10 is also His word. In Revelation 17  the wine is intoxicating, making the people drunk.

If water is His word, then sitting upon many waters also means sitting upon many doctrines which are not all of Him, but are of the harlot.

Above we read that the waters,  that is the word being provided to them, has become toxic. It kills them. It tells us that the waters (the word) become bitter because of the wormwood.

What is wormwood in His scriptures?

We are told in scripture that wormwood was like a poisonous fruit, and came from idolatry, from those who did not obey the covenant. That is – the law.

What actually is wormwood as we know it today?

Wormwood – Artemisia absinthium, has been used for centuries as a moth repellent, general pesticide and as a tea/spray to repel slugs and snails. Before its toxicity was known it was used as the name implies: a worming medicine for people and animals.

You may have also heard of the alcoholic drink “absinthe” a green coloured beverage that is illegal in some countries. Absinthe has a history in Eastern Europe and France; it was used as a stimulant mainly by artists, for example painter Vincent van Gogh. The story goes that he was imbibing of absinthe when he lopped off his ear.

The name of this plant occurs in many old writings; Egyptian, Roman and Christian. It’s sometimes called a poison, sometimes a medicinal herb of value. Its Latin name, Artemisa absinthium, tells us that it was named after the goddess Artemis, who was the goddess of the hunt in Greek mythology.

The intensely bitter, tonic and stimulant qualities have caused wormwood not only to be an ingredient in traditional medicinal preparations but also to be used in various liqueurs, of which absinthe is the chief. The basis of absinthe being absinthol, extracted from wormwood. Wormwood, as employed in making this liqueur, bears also the name ‘Wermuth’ – preserver of the mind – from its medicinal virtues as a nervine and mental restorative. It was about twice the strength of any other spirit (more than two-thirds alcohol). And the wormwood in it not only provided part of its green colour and a characteristic bitter taste, but also thujone, an hallucinogen that is a relative of the active ingredients in cannabis. No wonder there was being told that it drove people mad and it was banned in many countries early this century. Inferior absinthe is generally adulterated with copper, which produces the characteristic green colour.

When you understand what wormwood is and what it does, it becomes clear wat the scriptures above are speaking of. But to be certain we should take this information and look to his word to see how wormwood is used within it, as it is not just used in Revelation.

Deuteronomy 29:14-21
14 “It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath,
15 but with those [future Israelites] who are not here with us today, as well as with those who stand here with us today in the presence of Yahuwah thy Elohim
16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the nations along the way;
17 and you have seen their detestable acts and their [repulsive] idols of wood and stone, [lifeless images] of silver and gold, which they had with them),
18 so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yahuwah thy Elohm, to go and serve the [false] gods of these nations; so that there will not be among you a root [of idolatry] bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood (bitterness).
19 It will happen that when he (a renegade) hears the words of this oath, and he imagines himself as blessed, saying, ‘I will have peace and safety even though I walk within the stubbornness of my heart [rejecting Yahuwah and His law], in order that the watered land dwindles away along with the dry [destroying everything],’
20 then Yahuwah will not be willing to forgive him, but then the anger of Yahuwah and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him; then Yahuwah will blot out his name from under heaven.
21 Then Yahuwah will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel [making an example of him], according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law.

In Proverbs, we read again of an immoral woman – the harlot which we read of in Revelation. Everything she says seems to be sweet, but she is bitter like —> wormwood.

Proverbs 5:1-5
1 My son, be attentive to my wisdom [godly wisdom learned by costly experience],
Incline your ear to my understanding;
2  That you may exercise discrimination and discretion (good judgment),
And your lips may reserve knowledge and answer wisely [to temptation].
3  For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey [like a honeycomb]
And her speech is smoother than oil;
4  But in the end she is bitter like [the extract of] WORMWOOD,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
Her steps take hold of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),

This sharp two-edged sword is described as His word in Hebrews 4:12.

Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of Yahuwah is living and active and full of power. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Jeremiah 9 tells us that wormwood is fed to the people who would not believe the word of Yahuwah.

Jeremiah 9:12-16
12 Who is the wise man who may understand this [without any doubt]? To whom has the mouth of Yahuwah spoken, so that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?

13 Then Yahuwah said, “Because they have turned away from My law which I set before them, and have not listened to and obeyed My voice nor walked in accordance with it,
14 but have walked stubbornly after their [own] heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,”
15 therefore thus says Yahuwah of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with WORMWOOD and give them bitter and poisonous water to drink.
16 “I will [also] scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them.”

Jeremiah 23 speaks again to the woman. Here the woman is referred to as a shepherd who are destroying the sheep of His Pasture. But He tells us that He will bring His people back to Israel from where ever He has driven them,

Jeremiah 3:1-15
1 “Woe to the shepherds (civil leaders, rulers) who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” says Yahuwah.
2 Therefore thus says Yahuwah, the Elohim of Israel, in regard to the shepherds who care for and feed My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; hear this, I am about to visit and attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” says Yahuwah.
3 “Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries to which I have driven them and bring them back to their folds and pastures; and they will be fruitful and multiply.
4 I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” says Yahuwah.
5  “Behold (listen closely), the days are coming,” says Yahuwah,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as King and act wisely
And will do [those things that accomplish] justice and righteousness in the land.
6 “In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called;
‘Yahuwah Our Righteousness.’
7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says Yahuwah, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Yahuwah lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but [they will say], ‘As Yahuwah lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries to which I had driven them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”

Then he tells us about the wine which has intoxicated the people. These shepherds (leaders) are described again as adulterers.

9  Concerning the prophets:
My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me,
All my bones shake;
I have become like a drunken man,
A man whom wine has overcome,
Because of Yahuwah
And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders].
10  For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to Yahuwah);
The land mourns because of the curse [of Yahuwah upon it].
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;
And their power is not right.
11 “For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted);
Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahuwah.
12  “Therefore their way will be to them like slippery paths
In the dark; they will be pushed and fall into them;
For I will bring disaster on them,
In the year of their punishment,” says Yahuwah.
13  “And I have seen a foolish and an offensive thing in the prophets of Samaria:
They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to go astray.

And now He speaks again of Wormwood.

14 “Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become like Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus says Yahuwah of hosts in regard to the prophets,
‘Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] WORMWOOD
And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall],
For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem
Profaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.’”

He tells us again in Amos 5 that wormwood represents the worship of other gods.

Amos 5
4 For thus says Yahuwah to the house of Israel,
“Seek Me [search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food] so that you may live.
5 “But do not resort to Bethel [to worship the golden calf]
Nor enter [idolatrous] Gilgal,
Nor cross over to Beersheba [and its idols];
For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity and exile,
And Bethel will come to nothing.
6 “Seek Yahuwah [search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need] so that you may live,
Or He will rush down like a [devouring] fire, O house of Joseph,
And there will be no one to quench the flame for [idolatrous] Bethel,
7  “For those [shall be consumed] who turn justice into WORMWOOD (bitterness)
And cast righteousness down to the earth.”

So with this we can now understand better what is meant by Revelation 8:10-11

Revelation 8:10-11
10 The third angel sounded [his trumpet], and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch [flashing across the sky], and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of [fresh] waters.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters, because they had become bitter (toxic).

The star is poison. It kills the people through false teaching. It makes them drunk and they cannot see. and many shall die for they never listened to Yahuwah, but instead listened only to man and not what the Father teaches. That star is spoken of In Isaiah 14:12.

Isaiah 14:12-14
12 “How you have fallen from heaven,
O star of the morning [light-bringer], son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
You who have weakened the nations [king of Babylon]!
13  “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of Elohim;
I will sit on the mount of the appointed times
In the remote parts of the north.
14  ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’

This great star is Lucifer.  The great star is associated with wormwood – not obeying His Law – and he makes the waters (his word) bitter as a result, causing many to die due to the consumption of this word (water).

There is even more in these two verses. But this should get you thinking.

Yahuwah Bless.