Rev 8:7-13, Part 1  "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. 8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. 10 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; 11 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. 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. 13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" 

The above passage of scripture has numerous signs which we will look at individually in this essay and then attempt to bring together in the next essay to get the main theme.  The first sign is the "hail and fire mingled with blood."  There are seven verses of scripture in which hail and fire are mentioned and the context of these passages suggests they are associated with the judgment of God: 

          1.  Ex. 9:23 "And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt."

          2.  Ex. 9:24 "So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation."

          3.  Ps. 18:12 "At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire."

          4.  Ps. 18:13 "The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire."

          5.  Ps. 105:32 "He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land."

          6.  Ps. 148:8 "Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:"

          7.  Rev. 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." 

Blood of course is a symbol of war and of death. 

Trees are used in the scripture as a sign of life: 

 Deu. 20:19 "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege:" 

Green grass also has association with life.  Green as we have previously shown is the color associated with life.  Man is also compared to the grass of the field: 

          1.  2 Kings 19:26 "Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up."

          2.  Job 5:25 "Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth."

          3.  Ps. 92:7 "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:"

          4.  Ps. 103:15 "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth."

          5.  Is. 37:27 "Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up."

          6.  Is. 40:6 "The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

          7.  1 Pet. 1:24 "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:" 

The mountain burning with fire has reference to Mount Sinai where God established the covenant of the law with the children of Israel: 

Deu. 4:11 "And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." 

The word, "wormwood," is used in seven verses of scripture other than our text, often with gall, and means a poisonous curse: 

          1.  Deu. 29:18 "Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; 19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: 20 The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven."

          2.  Pro. 5:4 "But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword."

          3.  Jer. 9:15 "Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink."

          4.  Jer. 23:15 "Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land."

          5.  Lam. 3:15 "He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood."

          6.  Lam. 3:19 "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall."

          7.  Amos 5:7 "Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth." 

While the word, wormwood, was not used in Ex. 15:23 yet that is what is implied: "And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah."         

The geological features are used from creation and throughout the scriptures.  When God had finished creating the natural universe the scriptures refer to this creation as "heaven and earth:" Gen 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 

Similarly, the scriptures use the phrase "heaven and earth" to refer to the covenant kingdoms God has established.  There are three such kingdoms: 

          1.  2 Cor. 12:2 "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

          2.  Rev. 21:1 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." 

We can conclude from the above that the first heaven is the law kingdom God established with Israel.  The second heaven is the Kingdom of God that we now worship and serve God under here in this gospel day.  The third heaven is Paradise or the glory world. 

In the old law heaven the Sun was used to represent the law: 

          1.  Ps. 136:8 "The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:"

          2.  Eccl. 3:16 "And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there."

          3.  Song 1:6 "Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept."

          4.  Jer. 31:35 "Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:" 

As can be seen also in Ref. 4 above the moon represented the ordinances that God gave to Israel.

The stars represented the children of Israel: 

          1.  Gen. 37:9 "And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."

          2.  Deu. 1:10 "The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude."

          3.  Deu. 10:22 "Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude."

          4.  Deu. 28:62 "And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God."

          5.  1 Chr. 27:23 "But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens."

          6.  Neh. 9:23 "Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it."         

The sea was a sign of the sea of humanity outside of the nation of Israel: 

          1.  Is. 60:5 "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee."

          2.  Matt. 4:15 "The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;"

          3.  Rev. 20:8 "And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

          4.  Rev. 13:1 "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."

          5.  Rev. 17:15 "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

The use of the words, day and night, is defined for us in the first chapter of Genesis:  Gen. 1:3 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."  Thus the word, day, is used to represent that which is good and by comparison the word, night, represents that which is evil. 

Rivers are flowing bodies of water and are used to represent such things as love, and the gospel, and the spirit, and the word: 

          1.  Ps. 46:4 "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High."

          2.  John 7:38 "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"

          3.  Rev. 22:1 "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

          4.  Eze. 47:5 "Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen." 

Fountains of waters are standing bodies of water that are used for drinking: 

          1.  Gen. 16:7 "And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur."

          2.  Num. 33:9 "And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim: and in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there."

          3.  Ps. 36:9 "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light."

          4.  Pro. 5:16 "Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets."

          5.  Pro. 13:14 "The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death."

          6.  Pro. 14:27 "The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death."

          7.  Jer. 2:13 "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." 

The earth is spoken of sometimes in the scriptures as the place of possession of the children of Israel: 

          1.  Deu. 4:26 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed."

          2.  Deu. 12:1 "These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth."

          3.  Is. 49:8 "Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages."

Ships are used in the scriptures in association with trade or commerce, transportation, and warfare: 

          1.  Num. 24:24 "And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever."

          2.  1 Kings 9:26 "And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom."

          3.  2 Chr. 9:21 "For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks."

          4.  Ps. 107:23 "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters."

          5.  Pro. 31:14 "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar."

          6.  Is. 60:9 "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee."

          7.  Jon. 1:3 "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD."

The creature is used in the scriptures in association with God's born again children:

           1.  Mk. 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

          2.  2 Cor. 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

          3.  Gal. 6:15 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."

          4.  Col. 1:15 "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:"

          5.  Col. 1:"23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;"

          6.  James 1:18 "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."

          7.  Eph. 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."