‘And the fourth poured out his bowl on the sun and it was given to it 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 to give him glory.'
This bowl is in deliberate contrast to what happens to the people of God of whom it was promised ‘the sun will not light on them or any heat' (Revelation 7:17). The people of God will enjoy God's protection. But in contrast the enemies of God will not find any shelter from the sun. Rather they will endure the judgments of God. The scorching of the sun may thus be symbolic of judgment as a whole. But many men through the ages have literally died through scorching heat, so that there is a literal fulfilment. These words carry even greater significance now that man's greed and selfishness is thinning the ozone layer, and the world is slowly getting warmer.
Man's reaction to this judgment reveals the state of their hearts. Instead of giving them cause to stop and think they curse and blaspheme God and blame Him for their suffering, a suffering which in the light of the thinning ozone layer they have certainly brought on themselves. The Scripture constantly suggests that fire and heat will be a sore instrument of judgment and in the end will cause the final destruction of all things (see Isaiah 24:6; Isaiah 42:25; Micah 1:4; Malachi 4:1; 2 Peter 3:10)