Jehovah's Plagues on Christendom - Identifying the "Third"

Identifying the "Third"

As we shall see, when the first four trumpets are blown, plagues are inflicted on "a third" of the earth, of the sea, of the rivers and fountains of waters, and of the earth's sources of light.  (Revelation 8:7-12) A third is a considerable part of something but not the whole.  (Compare Isaiah  19:24; Ezekiel 5:2; Zechariah 13:8, 9) So which "third" would  be most deserving of these plagues? The vast majority of mankind has been blinded  and corrupted by Satan and his seed.  (Genesis 3:15; 2 Corinthians 4:4) The situation is as described by David: "They have all turned aside, they are all alike corrupt; there is not one doing good, not even one."  (Psalm 14:3)  Yes, the whole of mankind is in danger of receiving an adverse judgment.  But one section thereof is particularly guilty.  One part -"a third" -should have known better!  What is that "third"? 

It is Christendom!  In the 1920's  here realm embraced one third of mankind.  Her religion is the fruit of the great apostasy from true Christianity-the apostasy that Jesus and his disciples foretold.  (Matthew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Thessalonians 2:3;  2 Peter 2:1-3)  The clergy of Christendom claim to be in God's temple and have represented themselves as teachers of Christianity.  But their doctrines are far removed from Bible truth, and they continually bring God's name into disrepute.  Aptly represented by the symbolic third.  Christendom receives  potent, plaguing messages from Jehovah.  That third of mankind merits no divine favor whatsoever!

 In line with there being a sequence of trumpet blasts, special resolutions were  featured at seven conventions from 1922 to 1928. But the trumpeting has not been confined to those years.  The powerful exposing of Christendom's  wicked ways has been continuous, ongoing, as the Lord's day  progresses.  Jehovah's judgments must be proclaimed universally, to all nations, despite international  hatred and persecutions.  Only then does the end of Satan's system come. (Mark 13:10, 13) Happily, the great crowd has now added its voice to that of the John class in making those thunderous pronouncements of worldwide importance.

Next time: Jehovah's Plagues on Christendom - A Third of the Earth Burned Up

From the Book of Revelation