Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #10 of Revelation, chapter 8, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 8:7:
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
As we have been looking at this verse in the last couple of studies, we have seen that this is signaling the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the time that judgment began at the house of God. God ties together the judgment on the churches with the judgment of the plagues which came upon Egypt.
Also, we spent some time looking at the phrase “third part,” and we saw that in three places in the Old Testament (in 2nd Samuel 8:1-2, in 2nd Kings, chapter 1 and in Zechariah 13:8-9) that the “third part” identifies with God’s elect. It was the “third part,” or the captain and his fifty, that were spared and the other captains and their fifties were burned up. It was two full lines that were put to death (of Moabites) and one full line that was spared and lived to be servants of David. It was “two thirds” that were cut off in the land and “one third” that was brought through the fire and they were the people of God.
So we had all kinds of Biblical support that the “third part” relates to God’s elect and, therefore, we do not understand what is going on here in Revelation 8:7, where it says that “the third part of trees was burnt up;” or in verse 8, where it says that “the third part of the sea became blood; or in verse 9, where it says “the third part of the creatures that was in the sea and had life died,” and so on. Eleven times we read of the “third part” in Revelation, chapter 8, and we cannot say in any of these instances that it is something positive or something good – where we could think that God’s elect are in view.
As a matter of fact, we are certain there is no possibility that God’s elect could be in view, based upon this language of destruction: the third part of trees was burned up. That is quite different than the “third part” that goes through the fire and endures, or it is different than the captain and his fifty that were not burned up (as the other two captains and their fifties were burned up when fire fell from heaven). So we are very clear that the “third part” in Revelation 8 is not telling us anything about God’s elect. How can we understand this then?
We can understand this by the realization that during the 1,955 years of the church age (from 33 A.D. until 1988 A.D.), God’s elect that identify with the “third part” were found within the churches and congregations. If you wanted to find God’s elect, you would find them in the churches of the world. Therefore, the corporate church began to take on that same identification as the “third part,” and God, here, is letting us know that when the church age ends and judgment begins upon the people called by His name (the place that the “third part” had been found, historically), it is now the place of judgment. It is the judgment on the churches.
It is also true that God’s elect were within the churches during the first several years of the judgment upon the churches, but they themselves were not “harmed” or injured at all. You cannot injure someone that has eternal life and God’s elect are never being punished because they have already paid the price for their sins in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But God is using the figure that He had used to relate only to His people in the Old Testament here in Revelation 8 to identify those that were “closely related” to the true believers – the professed believers or professed Christians found in the churches and congregations of the world.
We see in the second part of the verse in Revelation 8:7:
…and the third part of trees was burnt up.
Let us look at “trees” and see what could be in view. Why is God telling us that “the third part of trees” was burnt up”? We read something in Joel, chapter 1, which is a chapter that describes the judgment upon the churches; in Joel, chapter 2, we read of a devouring army that goes forth and enter in at the windows like a thief and this is describing Judgment Day. Joel, chapter 1, focuses on the judgment that begins at the house of God and Joel, chapter 2 (in the first eleven or twelve verses) describes the transition of that judgment to the world. It says in Joel 1:6-7:
For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
Now this is referring to the assault of the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar, when they came against Judah. God is relating Judah to a fig tree and this, in turn, spiritually describes Satan’s assault against the corporate church at the time of the end. Therefore, the churches also would be identified with the “fig tree.” It goes on to say in Joel 1:10-12:
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
In these verses, God is describing the ruined harvest that is found within the churches as the Great Tribulation began and the time of famine struck the churches of the world – not a famine of “bread and water,” but a famine of hearing the word of God. This is using the language of harvesting and fruit in order to teach us about the spiritual harvest that is ruined within the churches and congregations at the time of the end: “The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth… all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” Why would the taking away of “joy” have anything to do with a literal harvest? Why would joy being “withered away from the sons of men” mean that trees and plants had withered away, literally? Well, it would have nothing to do with it, but once we understand that God is likening the spiritual “crop” of salvation in the churches to the joy of the sons of men withering away, then it makes perfect sense. According to the Bible, “joy” has to do with salvation. There is joy in heaven when a single sinner repents. Joy relates to salvation and when joy is “withered away from the sons of men,” that indicates there is no salvation. There is no fruit that is being brought in, spiritually speaking, and no sinners are becoming saved.
In Joel, chapter 2, God gives us further information and He is going to describe His program of times and seasons. It says in Joel 2:22-24:
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in JEHOVAH your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Here, God is talking about a plentiful harvest and that is in contrast to what we read in Joel 1, and the reason is that God is describing the harvest of the churches in Joel, chapter 1. In Joel 2, when God speaks of the “latter rain,” He is describing the harvest that will take place outside of the churches in the world, as God saves a great multitude “out of great tribulation.” That is why we can read, on the one hand, of a harvest that is withered and destroyed and, on the other hand, in the next chapter God says the “floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil,” and this was an abundant harvest. These two things are exactly what happened during the Great Tribulation: there was the corporate church harvest that brought forth nothing and there was no one being saved within any church in the world, and then there was a harvest outside of the churches (during about the last 17 years of this period when the “latter rain” was being poured out) that brought in much harvest.
So we can see what God is saying here, but as far as our verse in Revelation 8, we are interesting in “trees” because it said “the third part of trees” was burned up. We know that Revelation 8:7 is describing the judgment on the churches, the “third part,” at the beginning of the Great Tribulation and that judgment would continue throughout the period of Judgment Day. Likewise, Joel 1 is describing the same thing (the judgment that begins at the house of God), and Joel 1:12 also speaks of trees:
The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
All the “trees are withered” is basically a way of saying they are all burned up. In either case, they are not going to produce fruit. If the “third part” of trees (which identifies with all trees) is burnt up, then you will have no fruit from those trees and if all the trees are withered, as Joel 1:12 is saying, they are dried up and they, likewise, have no fruit; there is no salvation that is taking place.
We also have an interesting verse in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 21, which draws from the verse in Joel, concerning the trees. This is the chapter that is parallel to Matthew 24 and it is the response to the question posed to Christ: “What is the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?” It says in Luke 21:29:
And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
Notice it says “and all the trees,” and that is something a little different that we do not read in Matthew 24 or in Mark 13. What I mean is that it says it differently in Matthew 24:32:
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Here, it just mentions the “fig tree” and not “all the trees.” And it is the same thing in Mark 13. We only read of the fig tree, so, naturally, we understand that Israel identifies with the fig tree and, therefore, we can see how Israel being “in leaf” or becoming a nation again amongst the nations of the world (after almost 2,000 years of being scattered, Israel became a nation in 1948 and still exists as a nation in the Middle East), must be what God has in view when He speaks of the fig tree being in leaf.
But there is an additional statement given us in Luke 21:29-30:
Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.”
Notice it is “plural,” when it says, “When they now shoot forth.” So it is not just the fig tree, but it is the apple tree and the pomegranate tree and all the trees of the field, as we read back in Joel. These trees identify with Israel of old and with the New Testament church. The fig tree and all the trees can identify with Israel and God is giving us a great signal in the Bible when HE speaks of the fig tree being in leaf and then we see that Israel did become a nation again. Something like this is almost unheard of. Nations that are scattered for nearly two millennium normally do not form as a nation again. I do not know if that has ever happened before, so that is certainly a big indicator.
But just as Israel, in the Bible, represents the church, we can understand the reference to the fig tree being in leaf as being a reference to the New Testament churches as well. Just as Israel is without fruit (they are in leaf, but there is no fruit on the tree; they have not turned to the Lord Jesus Christ), likewise, when we get to the point that the New Testament churches and congregations fall away and they become apostate; and when the “man of sin” takes his seat in the temple showing himself that he is God, that is also a big sign from the Word of God that “summer is nigh.” Summer identifies with harvest and harvest identifies with the end of the world, so the “fig tree and all the trees” is directing us back to Joel 1 where we can see in that context that it is referring to the assault of the Babylonians and it is referring to the judgment that came out of the north and that, in turn, identifies with the assault of the beast (Satan) that rises out of the sea at the time of the end; it is describing God’s judgment upon the churches.
Therefore, when you “Behold the fig tree,” and you learn from the sign of Israel, take note and when this occurs keep your (spiritual) eyes open, as we are very close. But once the fig tree, and all the trees shoot forth, then “ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand;” in other words, when the churches are also without fruit and the congregations no longer have any fruit within them, then the end of the world is right there and we are right at the end.
We can see what God is saying by the “third part of the trees” and why He is referring to them: “and the third part of trees was burnt up.” Let us look at this word “burnt” in a couple of places. In Matthew 13, the same Greek word is used and this is in the parable of the wheat and the tares. It says in Matthew 13:24-30:
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Here, we find that the wheat and the tares were to grow together. This is referring to the entire church age. They were not to be gathered up the, but in the time of harvest the tares were to be bound in bundles to burn them. That is what we are reading in Revelation 8:7 about the “third part of the trees.” Remember, the trees are indicators of the summer being near and the summer is a synonym for harvest. In explaining this parable, Christ says, in Matthew 13:37-42:
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The process of separating the wheat from the tares got under way during the time of the Great Tribulation. That is when God opened up the Scriptures to reveal that the church age was over and that His people were to depart out of the congregations and to leave their churches behind. This began the bundling process, but it would not be until the end of the Great Tribulation that it could be determined those that were officially tares, because anyone could have left their church up to May 21, 2011, when the Great Tribulation period ended. But on that date, after the Great Tribulation came to a close, then it was determined; the process of separating the wheat from the tares was complete and the tares could be cast into the fire and the “third part” could be burned.
So when we read in Revelation 8:7 that “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up,” this is really describing something that began to take effect prior to Judgment Day, but would not be completed until Judgment Day came and then the “third part” could, finally, be destroyed.