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Our Mission: Revelation 14:6-12
If I Were Told the Future - Lesson 85
Men
Scorched by the Sun
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Let's pray together:
Father,
As we progress in our study of the seven bowls, we better understand the reasons for Your
great wrath, and how it will show itself.
Please help us to deepen this knowledge today, so that we may learn to better know, love,
and serve You and Your perfect justice.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
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Revelation 15:1; 16:1
Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven
angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. (...)
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels,
«Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.»
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After the close of probation, the wrath of God will be revealed
by the pouring out of seven bowls, containing seven plagues which will strike unrepentant
men.
Now, let's study the fourth bowl.
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Revelation 16:8,9
Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power
was given to him to scorch men with fire.
And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power
over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
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After the third bowl, which has turned the rivers and springs of
water into blood and deprived men of drinkable water, the fourth bowl is poured out.
This plague greatly intensifies the sufferings of unrepentant men, as it increases the
strength of the sun, and makes it more scorching.
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Revelation 8:12
Then the fourth angel sounded.
And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars.
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The correlation between the judgments of the trumpets and those
of the seven bowls is still obvious here.
In fact, the fourth trumpet and the fourth bowl both strike the sun.
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Revelation 8:12
Then the fourth angel sounded.
And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that
a third of them were darkened; and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the
night.
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Revelation 16:8,9
Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power
was given to him to scorch men with fire.
And men were scorched with great heat.
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Again the impact of the bowl is far greater than that of the
trumpet.
Indeed, whereas the fourth trumpet struck only «a third of the sun», the fourth bowl
strikes «the sun», and greatly increases its strength.
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Luke 21:25-27
And there will be signs in the sun (...).
And on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming
on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
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Jesus confirms that, shortly before His return, as the nations of
the earth are plunged into great distress, the sun will display special signs.
One of these signs appears at the pouring out of the fourth bowl.
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The fourth bowl will bring about drought and famine as never before:
«Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall
come as destruction from the Almighty.
Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The
seed grain shrivels under the clods, storehouses are in shambles; barns are broken down,
for the grain has withered.
How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture; even
the flocks of sheep suffer your punishment. (...)
For fire has devoured the open pastures, and a flame has burned all the trees of the
field. The beasts of the field also cry out to You, for the water brooks are dried up, and
fire has devoured the open pastures.» (JOEL 1:15-20)
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Revelation 16:9
And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
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After the second bowl, men wanted to appease the wrath of God,
and, to do so, had issued a death decree against all those who refused to keep Sunday as
the day of rest.
But, seeing that the plagues continue to fall on them, they now understand that they are
fighting against God.
Since the Holy Spirit has withdrawn from the earth, they are unable to repent, so they
blaspheme the name of God.
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Isaiah 26:9-11
For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness.
Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of
uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.
Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed for
their envy of people; yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.
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Realizing that God is punishing their refusal to repent, and yet being unable to repent, the wicked will be filled with absolutely unbearable feelings.
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Jeremiah 5:3
You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have
consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.
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Jeremiah 6:28,29
They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers.
They are bronze and iron, they are all corrupters; the bellows blow fiercely, the lead is
consumed by the fire; the smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off.
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The fourth bowl will therefore create a furnace which won't purify stubborn rebellious men.
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1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.
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Zechariah 13:9
I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as
silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, «This is My people»; and
each one will say, «The Lord is my God.»
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This furnace will be in direct contrast to the one which God uses to refine the character of His people and to eliminate their imperfections.
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1 Peter 1:6,7
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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In fact, the furnace of trial allows the believer to strengthen his faith and bring it to perfection, so that, whatever situation he may go through, he will remain faithful to God until the end.
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Matthew 13:3-6
Behold, a sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang
up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and
because they had no root they withered away.
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Jesus also uses the picture of the sun scorching the plant to
illustrate the effect of the furnace of trial on the faith of the believer.
In fact, through lack of sufficiently deep roots, the plant dies under the heat of the
sun.
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Matthew 13:20,21
But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who
hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but
endures only for a while.
For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
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The furnace of trial must strengthen our faith in God, before the
coming of the great upheavals which will shake the world.
As for the scorching sun of the fourth bowl, it will simply bring out the absence of root
in unrepentant men.
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Deuteronomy 17:2,3
If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing His covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded (...).
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The punishment of the fourth bowl is also a judgment pronounced against the worshippers of the sun, showing them that their false god has now become for them a curse and a source of suffering.
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Psalm 74:16
The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun.
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Matthew 5:45
Your Father in heaven (...) makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good.
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Sun-worship is all the more absurd since God is the Creator of this sun, and yet men refuse to worship the Creator Himself!
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Romans 1:18,24,25
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (...).
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor
their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped
and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
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Having chosen to «worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator», the worshippers of the sun provoke the wrath of God.
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Ezekiel 8:15,16
Then He said to me, «Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn
again, you will see greater abominations than these.»
So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house; and there, at the door of the
temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their
backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were
worshiping the sun toward the east.
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How will unrepentant men make themselves guilty of worshiping the
sun?
To understand, let's study this passage in the book of Ezekiel.
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Ezekiel 8:15,16
«You will see greater abominations than these.»
So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house; and there, at the door of the
temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their
backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were
worshiping the sun toward the east.
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This passage presents a scene which is described as an
abomination: men are standing as close as humanly possible to the temple of God, yet they
have turned their backs on it to worship the sun.
So God decides to punish these men who are trying to serve both Him and the sun at the
same time.
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Ezekiel 9:3,4
And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's
inkhorn at his side; and the Lord said to him,
«Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the
foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.»
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Before carrying out His judgment on Jerusalem, in which dwells a
people who claims to serve Him, God acknowledges that there are faithful believers in the
city, «who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it».
To protect them from the coming destruction, God puts His mark on their foreheads...
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Ezekiel 9:5,6
To the others He said in my hearing,
«Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity.
Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come
near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.»
So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
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Destruction is aimed at those who worship the sun; those who are
mainly responsible for this abomination are «the elders before the temple», that is,
religious leaders who claim to serve God.
But the mark of God will protect His true servants.
Doesn't that remind us of something?
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Revelation 14:9,10,12
If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark
on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of
God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. (...)
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and
the faith of Jesus.
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As we have seen in the lesson «The
Mark of the Beast», a false day of rest, Sunday, the day of the sun, will soon be
imposed by the worldwide religious coalition led by the papacy.
This mark of the beast will be put on all those who won't keep the commandments of God.
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Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things;
they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the
difference between the unclean and the clean.
And they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
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Similar to the prophecy of Ezekiel, religious leaders claiming to
serve God will be at the source of this sun-worship, that is, the worldwide promulgation
of Sunday as the official day of rest.
By taking up this false day of rest, they defile the Sabbath of God's fourth commandment.
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Obedience to the commandments of God drives away sun-worship:
«The king [Josiah] stood by a pillar and made a covenant before
the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His
statutes, with all his heart and all his soul. (...) Then he removed (...) those who
burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the
host of heaven.» (2 KINGS 23:3,5)
«And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God: for he took
away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars, and hewed down
the Asherim, and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the
law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places
and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.» (2 CHRONICLES 14:2-5, American
Standard Version)
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Ezekiel 9:4
Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.
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Revelation 18:2,4
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen! (...)
Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her
plagues.
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God knows that some sincere believers are still to be found
within Babylon, the worshipper of the sun.
So He calls these sincere believers to come out of Babylon right here and now.
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Very soon, God will punish and destroy those who worship the sun:
«And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your
sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall
abhor you.» (LEVITICUS 26:30 - American Standard Version)
«In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be
desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be
broken and cease, and your sun-images may be hewn down, and your works may be abolished.
And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.»
(EZEKIEL 6:6,7 - American Standard Version)
«"At that time," says the Lord, "they shall bring out the bones of the
kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones
of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. They
shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have
loved and which they have served, and after which they have walked, which they have sought
and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like
refuse on the face of the earth."» (JEREMIAH 8:1,2)
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Deuteronomy 4:19,20
And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you
see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship
them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole
heaven as a heritage.
But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be
His people, His inheritance, as you are this day.
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On the other hand, God will protect His faithful people and save them from the furnace of the fourth bowl, just as He did for the Hebrews in Egypt.
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Isaiah 49:10
They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water He will guide them.
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Protected from the first three plagues, the people of God will suffer from neither the effects of the scorching sun, nor the thirst and hunger brought about by the great heat and drought.
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God will protect His people from the scorching sun of the fourth bowl:
«These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (...) And He who sits on
the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat.» (REVELATION 7:14-16)
«I will lift up my eyes to the hills - From whence comes my help? My help comes from the
Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you
will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is
your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by
day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve
your soul.» (PSALM 121:1-7)
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Malachi 4:1,2
«For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all
the proud, yes, all who do wickedly, will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall
burn them up,» says the Lord of hosts, «that will leave them neither root nor branch.
But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His
wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.»
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At the end of the seven plagues, Jesus Christ, «the Sun of Righteousness», the only Sun worthy of our worship, will arise and come to gather His people who await Him on the earth.
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Matthew 13:40-43
Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it
will be at the end of this age.
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all
things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the
furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
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As unrepentant men are destroyed in the furnace of fire, each faithful believer «will shine forth as the sun» in the kingdom of God.
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Revelation 21:23-25
And [the New Jerusalem] had no need of the sun or of the moon to
shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light.
And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth
bring their glory and honor into it.
Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).
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Finally, the scorching sun of the fourth bowl will never again come to the minds of the redeemed on the New Earth, for the glory of the Father and the Lamb will be the new source of light, for all eternity.
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Let's thank God:
Lord,
It is written: «For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the
grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will
fade away in his pursuits.» (James 1:11)
The scorching sun of the fourth bowl reminds us that we really must develop deep and
strong roots, to avoid succumbing to Satan's deceptions.
It is only by nurturing a close and trusting relationship with You that we will strengthen
our faith in You.
Every time and everywhere, may You always be our God, our only God. In Jesus Christ we
pray.
Amen.
The test of Lesson 85 is waiting for you!