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A study of Revelation 16. This is book 6 of an 8 part book series.
Category - Bible Commentaries
Revelation 16:8, 9 says,
8 And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory.
The sun represents civil and religious leadership. This fourth bowl of judgment (wine) is directed at civil and religious leadership. We noted this earlier in our study of the fourth trumpet in Rev. 8:12. but it is plain from verse 9 above that they will not repent at the time the bowl is poured out. Even so, God’s hand of judgment begins to bring them into accountability for their sins. According to my personal revelation, the All Consuming Breath Angel is the one pouring out the fourth bowl of wine.
When the fourth bowls of water and wine were poured out at the altar on the fourth day of the feast of Tabernacles, the priests sang Psalm 94:16-23. Verses 20 and 21 speak of unrighteous thrones—that is, unrighteous leaders and their laws:
20 Can a throne of destruction be allied with Thee, one which devises mischief by decree? 21 They band themselves together against the life of the righteous, and condemn the innocent to death.
Lawless men hypocritically appeal to God for support when they declare unrighteous wars, because religious people require prayer to make them think that God is on their side, whether or not their wars are justified. But the psalmist concludes that their wickedness will come back to haunt them. Psalm 94:23 says,
23 And He has brought back their wickedness upon them, and will destroy them in their evil; the Lord our God will destroy them.
This, then, is the prophecy given at the time of the fourth bowl of wine poured out at the feast of Tabernacles.
On October 14-17, 2003, we held a Tabernacles conference in Chandler, Arizona just south of Phoenix in the “Valley of the Sun.” On the final afternoon (Oct. 17) the group of about 80-90 people gathered in a nearby shopping mall parking lot to pour out the fourth bowls of wine and water upon the ground. Before we could do so, a few guards from the mall swooped down upon us in a threatening manner, telling us that we were on private property and could not gather here.
I did not argue with them or challenge their authority but asked if I could have just 15 seconds. They agreed. That was all the time it took to complete our work. The head guard then showed up (a woman), and some of the people explained to her our purpose. We told her that we were just gathering for the Feast of Tabernacles, and that our purpose was to pray a blessing upon this area. She then apologized for the over-zealous guards, who had assumed that we were coming to cause a riot.
I found it significant that in pouring out the bowls upon the “sun” (leadership), we would be challenged by the guards (authority figures). But when it came right down to it, they allowed us to carry out our witness on the earth, and we then left peaceably.
Almost immediately after the angel poured out the bowl upon the sun, scientists began to see huge solar flares (“sunspots”). The first was seen October 22, and its effects hit the earth on the 24th. On the 28th, the third largest solar flare ever recorded was seen, and it struck the earth the following day. Its solar wind speed was 5.6 million miles per hour, more than twice as fast as any solar storm recorded in the past 40 years.
The Washington Post ran an article about this on Oct. 30, saying,
“A second huge magnetic solar storm hit the Earth on Thursday, just a day after an earlier one hurtled into the planet in what one astronomer called an unprecedented one-two punch.
“It’s like the Earth is looking right down the barrel of a giant gun pointed at us by the sun . . . and it’s taken two big shots at us, said John Kohl . . .
“Kohl, the lead investigator for an instrument aboard NASA’s sun-watching SOHO spacecraft, said the probability of two huge flares aimed directly at Earth coming so close together, as they have this week, was ‘unprecedented’ … so low that it is a statistical anomaly.
“The Northern Lights were seen as far south as El Paso, Texas on the Mexico border.”
Two weeks later, on November 2 and 3 there were three more “extreme” solar flares. Senior science writer, Robert Roy Britt, said,
“… astronomers have never witnessed such a string of activity like this.”
He also quotes Paul Brekke, deputy project manager of the SOHO spacecraft, as saying,
“I think the last week will go into the history books as one of the most dramatic periods of solar activity we have seen in modern times.”
Then on November 4, a huge solar flare was measured and recorded as a Category X-20. This was by far the largest ever recorded, and the scientists were relieved that it did not flare directly toward the earth. Later, as they were able to analyze it, this was upgraded to an X-40, twice as large as originally thought.
All of this was so unusual that National Geographic’s Spring issue featured these solar flares on its front cover and had a large full-color, fold-out chart to go with it. There is no question that the scientists were quite impressed with God’s solar show.
Of course, the literal sun show was only a sign in the heavens to bear witness to the fourth bowl poured out upon the sun. It bore witness to the fact that this was indeed the timing of the fourth bowl in Rev. 16:8, 9.
As for its actual meaning, which is far more important, it was a heavenly call for leaders—including President George W. Bush—to repent on behalf of the nation for its unrighteous wars.
We were led to pour out the fourth bowls of water and wine in October of 2003. Earlier that year the United States and its “coalition forces” had invaded Iraq on the pretense that Saddam Hussein was attempting to construct nuclear weapons. That excuse, of course, turned out to be a blatant lie. So a second excuse was given to justify the war: to export Western Democracy to the Middle East.
However, General Wesley Clark testified in many speeches that the real plan was to overthrow seven Mideast nations in five years, and no one in the Pentagon seemed to know why, other than that the plan was to “destabilize the Middle East.” Iraq was only one of the five. Egypt and Syria were other major powers slated for destabilization.
By 2015 the hidden purpose for this destabilization was finally revealed, though some may argue that this was an “unintended consequence.” Either way, this war policy flooded Europe and America with countless Muslim refugees fleeing the violence and disruption, causing chaos and a complete breakdown of any immigration controls that had been in place. Certainly, the intelligence agencies knew what problems this would cause, but those power brokers of Babylon who rule in secret fully intend to arouse resentment and anger in the West in order to spark World War III.
The top power brokers of Babylon are Satanists and Luciferians. The visible world leaders must do as they are told, or their own indiscretions will be leaked to the press. Some have been assassinated. These leaders know that the people themselves are too ignorant of the truth to support them in any attempt to stand against these hidden Satanist leaders. The people have been dumbed down in the schools, and their morals have been corrupted.
These Satanists understand biblical law better than most Christians do. They know that if they can increase the sin in a nation, then divine judgment will allow these Babylonian oligarchs to continue ruling the world. The one thing they fear most—with good reason—is a genuine national repentance that is brought about by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is something that is beyond their control, but they do everything in their power to prevent this by giving people the freedom to sin and even causing the people to think that sin is good.
So Rev. 16:9 says “they did not repent, so as to give Him glory.” Repentance results in God receiving glory. In part, true repentance comes when men acknowledge Jesus Christ as the One having the right to rule as King of creation. In other words, men need to respect His laws and commands, rather than ignore them.
Secondly, we should understand that men are incapable of repentance apart from a sovereign act of God. Paul tells us in Rom. 2:4, “the kindness of God leads you to repentance.” The flesh is helpless apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. God initiates, and man responds. We love, because He first loved us,” says 1 John 4:19. The psalmist prays in Psalm 80:17-19,
17 Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom Thou didst make strong for Thyself, 18 then we shall not turn back from Thee; revive us, and we will call upon Thy name. 19 O Lord God of hosts, restore us; cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.
It seems that in the providence of God’s plan for the nation, we must be brought down to the depths of degradation and sin in order to know by experience the results of going down that path. But at some point God will turn our hearts, so that we may be restored. Then the people will gladly accept Jesus Christ as King.
The bowls of wine, then, are accompanied by the bowls of water. These appeal to the divine court, not only for judgment upon Babylon and its unrighteous kingdom, but also for divine intervention by the Holy Spirit, so that the Kingdom of God may be established in the earth. Hence, when we poured out the bowls from 2000-2006, we appealed to the divine court not only to overthrow Babylon, but also to send the rain of His Spirit to cause men to repent.
John the Baptist, the “Elijah” of his time, prophesied of the Holy Spirit that would come through the Messiah. In Matt. 3:11, 12 he said,
11 … He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 And His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
The Holy Spirit is pictured as an all-consuming fire because it consumes chaff, which is “the flesh.” The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which is also “breath.” When the Holy Spirit descends upon us, the breath of God consumes the impurities of the flesh and gives the breath of life at the same time. This changes us from the inside, writing His laws upon our heart, so that we may go beyond obedience and into agreement with the nature and word of God.
Hence, the All Consuming Breath Angel is sent in the fourth set of bowls of water and wine in order to cause the nations to repent.