“And the fourth one poured out his bowl upon the sun; and to the sun it was granted to scorch the men with fire.

Revelation 16:8,

12. What is this world’s “sun,” and what is granted to this symbolic sun?

¹² Today, at the conclusion of the system of things, Jesus’ spiritual brothers “shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:40, 43) Jesus himself is “the sun of righteousness.” (Malachi 4:2) Mankind, though, has its own “sun,” its own rulers who try to shine in opposition to God’s Kingdom. The fourth trumpet blast proclaimed that the ‘sun, moon, and stars’ in Christendom’s heavens are really sources of darkness, not light. (Revelation 8:12) The fourth bowl of God’s anger now shows that the world’s “sun” would get unbearably hot. Those looked to as sunlike leaders would “scorch” mankind. This would be granted to the symbolic sun. In other words, Jehovah would allow this as part of his fiery judgment on mankind. In what way has this scorching taken place?

13. In what way have sunlike rulers of this world “scorched” mankind?

¹³ After the first world war, the rulers of this world formed the League of Nations in an effort to solve the problem of world security, but this failed. So other experimental types of rulership were tried, such as Fascism and Nazism. Communism continued to expand. Rather than improve mankind’s lot, the sunlike rulers in these systems began to ‘scorch mankind with great heat.’ Local wars in Spain, Ethiopia, and Manchuria led up to the second world war. Modern history records that Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin as dictators became responsible directly and indirectly for the deaths of tens of millions, including many of their own nationals. More recently, international or civil conflicts have “scorched” the people of countries such as Vietnam, Kampuchea, Iran, Lebanon, and Ireland, as well as countries in Latin America and Africa. Add to this the ongoing struggle between the superpowers, whose horrendous nuclear weapons are capable of incinerating all mankind. In these last days, humanity has surely been exposed to a scorching “sun,” its unrighteous rulers. The pouring out of the fourth bowl of God’s anger has pinpointed these historic facts, and God’s people have proclaimed them throughout the earth.