(4) The smitten sun that scorched blasphemous men with fire: “ And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire"--16:8. This plague was the symbol of the punishment inflicted on the persecutors who had blasphemed God in the assumption of the powers and prerogatives of God by compelling the worship of the emperor’ s image; and had thus branded the mark in the hands and on the foreheads of all who bowed in submission. This symbol portended the end of the activities of the emperor and his colleagues.