What is the meaning of Revelation 16:21? And great hailstones • Scripture presents hail as a tool of divine judgment—Exodus 9:22-26 rained fiery hail on Egypt, Joshua 10:11 tells of “large hailstones from heaven” that struck the Amorites, and Isaiah 28:17 warns that “hail will sweep away the refuge of lies.” • Here, during the seventh bowl (Revelation 16:17-21), the scale is unprecedented. God is decisively intervening from heaven, showing that His power over creation remains absolute (Job 38:22-23). weighing almost a hundred pounds each • A “talent” (about 100 lb) underscores literal, crushing severity. Nothing in human experience can deflect stones of this size; the judgment is both physical and unmistakable. • Revelation 11:19 already previewed “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm,” but the final bowl magnifies that preview, signaling the climax of wrath (Revelation 15:1). rained down on them from above • The hail descends from heaven, leaving no doubt about its origin. “The LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah” (Genesis 19:24) and will again “pour down torrents of rain, hailstones, and burning sulfur” against Gog (Ezekiel 38:22). • No shelter exists when judgment comes from above; Psalm 91:1-8 contrasts the safety of the righteous with the downfall of the wicked. And men cursed God • Instead of repentance, humanity repeats the hard-heartedness seen in the earlier bowls: “They blasphemed the name of God…yet they did not repent” (Revelation 16:9, 11). • Pharaoh’s stubborn response to the Egyptian plagues (Exodus 9:27-30) and Romans 1:21-25 foreshadow this final rebellion: knowing God, they refuse to honor Him. for the plague of hail • People recognize the source—God—but resent Him for it. The “first trumpet” already brought hail mixed with fire (Revelation 8:7), yet mercy lingered; now mercy is past, and the final plague falls. • Psalm 18:12 depicts hail as part of God’s arsenal; here He wields it one last time to vindicate holiness and punish entrenched rebellion. because it was so horrendous • The unparalleled weight and extent of the storm make it “so horrendous.” Revelation 6:17 asked, “Who can withstand it?”—the answer is clear: none who remain opposed to God. • 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 speaks of “relief… when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven… in blazing fire,” mirroring the end-time terror that leads the unredeemed not to surrender but to rage. summary Revelation 16:21 records the final, literal bowl of wrath: God unleashes hundred-pound hailstones from heaven, a tangible, inescapable judgment that fulfills previous biblical patterns of hail as a sign of His power. Instead of bowing in repentance, hardened humanity curses Him, proving that the issue is not evidence but the willful rejection of the Creator. The verse underscores both the severity of divine justice and the tragedy of unrepentant hearts as history races toward Christ’s visible return. |
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