The Fourth Trumpet and Fourth Bowl

The Fourth Trumpet - Light Sources Smitten

   The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, 
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. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. 
And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”8:11-13 

   The Signs^^, erroneously says that the Wormwood of 8:11 represents Satan and that the fountains of water of 8:10 represent the sources of spiritual life.  The Signs stated that Satan hindered the word of Christ to such an extent after the third “trumpet blast” that the dark ages (the striking of the sun) ensued with the sounding of the fourth trumpet.  

   The following prophetic Bible verses do not allow for that interpretation.  When the fourth angel sounds its trumpet, the world will not become 33 percent darker but it will become darker for thirty three percent of the time.

a) to the end that the day might not be illuminated for a third part of its duration and in like manner the night. Wuest#

b)  "It shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, "That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight." Amos 8:9

   These texts distinctly say that one third of the day will not be enlightened. They do not say that all of the day and all of the night will be 33 percent darker like it would be if this had reference to the dark ages.

   And I looked, and I heard an angel.  The Greek text, Wuest and The American Standard have translated the word angel as eagle.  This might be referring to the fourth creature around the throne, which was like a flying eagle. 4:7

I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” 

•  The three woes that follow are not separate from the three trumpet blasts that have not yet sounded.  
• The three woes are inherent in the remaining trumpet blasts.  
• The three woes that follow are not part of the fourth trumpet blast (as some teach).  This fact is specifically stated in 9:12; One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.  
• Even though the first four trumpet blasts heralded negative events they were not in the same magnitude of destruction as the following three will be.  Therefore, the last three trumpet blasts are called woes. 8:13  

The Fourth Bowl - Light Sources Smitten

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. 16:8-9 

   The striking similarity between the fourth trumpet and the fourth bowl is that both affected the sun.

   The word him is a personification of the sun and does not refer to the angel, for it is the sun, and not the angel that is doing the scorching.  Environmentalists tell us that because the ozone layer is being depleted, the human race will be experiencing more direct rays of the sun and more sunburns.   In 16:8 we read about that grief in these words, The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun…and men were scorched with great heat, perhaps because of the thinning ozone layer.

   Christ had predicted that just before the last days, earthquakes would increase.  The word earthquake is used six times in The Apocalypse.  That is twice as often as it is used in all the rest of the New Testament.

   We are hearing now that due to climate change, the world will be experiencing more violent and more frequent tornadoes.   In 7:1-3, we learned that the four angels, who hold the four winds, were not given permission to wreak their havoc until after the sealing of the 144,000.  They were sealed when the sixth seal was opened.  After that the typhoons and windstorms are free to blow more fiercely and produce greater devastation than before, probably because of the climate changes.

They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. 16:11.  How much more can Jehovah do?   He has pleaded, He has waited, He has corrected in patience, and He has sent his son to a sin-riddled world as the redeemer.   Finally, He severely punishes mankind, thereby, trusting to gain repentance, but the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jer. 17:9.  Humankind still does not repent of their sins even though it is The Lord, the one who wants to forgive, that has power over these plagues and He could stop them if there were to be genuine repentance.

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^^ Signs of the Times Magazines: What the Revelation says about. March 1998. David C. James

# An Expanded Translation, K.W. Wuest.