The Connection between the 3rd and the 4th Trumpet

The Third Trumpet

Revelation 8:10-11

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.

As the star enters our atmosphere, it begins to burn, to break up, affecting a very large area of land and especially the lakes, rivers and streams. This will cause a chemical change making the waters bitter. The star is called “wormwood.” Wormwood was a type of wood growing in the Middle East that had a very strong and bitter taste. The star is called wormwood because of the affect the star has on the water. It makes the water like wormwood, bitter, but it appears that while the wormwood is not poisonous, this star will poison the water because those who drink this water die. Thus one-third of the fresh water supply of the Earth is made unfit for human consumption.

The reference to wormwood seems to draw the parallel of the experience of the children of Israel at the waters of Mariah (Exodus 15:23-25). There the tree cast into the bitter waters made them sweet. Here the wormwood cast into the sweet water made it bitter. Such also is the contrast between Christ on the cross atoning for sin and making that, which is bitter sweet, and Christ coming in judgment which turns the vain hopes and ambitions of men into bitterness and despair.

If a big asteroid does hit our earth's atmosphere and parts of it fall on the springs of the existing rivers, then this will have a great impact on the rotation of the earth. Hitting the earth at a right angle would speed up the rotation of the earth and the days would be shortened. The current rotation speed of our earth is 465 m/sec which gives us a 24 hour day. If the earth does speed up as a result of the impact of an asteroid and speeds up to 696 m/sec then we will have a 16 hour day.

The Fourth Trumpet   
Revelation 8:12 
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.

In contrast to the first three trumpet judgments against the land, sea, rivers, and fountains of water, the fourth trumpet is aimed against the heavens. It is interesting that it was on the fourth day that God created and made visible to the Earth the sun, the moon and the stars.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:22: " And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."
The point is that God strikes one-third of the light-bearing bodies of the universe that hinders their light-giving capacity in some way. The statement, “so that one-third of them might be darkened,” focuses our attention on both God’s purpose or design and the result. The rest of the verse gives us the result.

“And the day might not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.” The daylight hours are reduced by one-third and even the light of the night from the moon and stars will likewise be eclipsed for one-third of the night.

If the day does not shine for a third then normally the night will be longer. But it says in the same bible verse that also the night will likewise be eclipsed for one third. That means that day and night will be shortened by a third and that means that one day will be only 16 hours instead of 24 hours. The fourth trumpet will happen just before the Great Tribulation and there will be 1260 days until the coming of the Lord in power and glory but this time will be actually 10.080 hours shorter than our current time. I believe that this is what the Lord was talking about in Matthew 24:22.