Translation
Then the fourth one poured out his bowl
upon
the sun;
Go to footnote numberand it was granted to it to scorch men with fire;
Paraphrase
Then the fourth one set in motion the consequences demanded by the evidence, directing them at the source of life and comfort,
which was granted the freedom to
stop delivering life and comfort but rather to bring severe punishment on men and take away life,
Footnotes
1: “the sun”
We all know that God is the true source of life; that is not being questioned here. However, in symbolism there were several things that came to represent the source of life and at least three of them are used in this passage. When reading portions of Scripture that are highly symbolic, we need to turn our sensitivity level down so that our theology doesn’t get offended, and so we don’t miss the power and meaning of the symbolism.