Revelation 16:21, commentary and pictures

Revelation 16:21 describes the final plague in which enormous hailstones weighing about a talent fall upon men with exceeding greatness, and the stricken blaspheme God with no deliverance but destruction. It belongs to the seven last plagues under the seventh vial, poured out after Christ finishes His priestly intercession and lays off His priestly attire, in the closing scenes just before His coming. The hail lays low the cities and proud palaces amid voices and thunders and lightnings and a mighty earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth. It falls upon the ungodly who have no shelter, while God's people are given a covering and preserved through the trouble as Noah was preserved in the Flood. It is therefore a solemn warning of imminent decisive crisis, calling all to become sanctified through truth and hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast.

Hail's Size and Severity

The verse describes hail of extraordinary size falling upon men as the final plague, with every stone about the weight of a talent, immense and enormous. That enormous hail brings destruction upon the earth and lays the proud cities and palaces low in ruin as part of God's wrath at the time His people are delivered from bondage. It comes shortly before Christ's coming amid greater wonders on earth and in heaven, including a mighty earthquake and extraordinary earth-shaking signs. It falls on the wicked as part of widespread divine destruction, accompanied by lightning, volcanic fire and lava, earthquakes and other upheavals, while the saints are preserved as Noah was during the Flood.

The plague thereof is exceeding great and more terrible than anything yet beheld, witnessed at the second advent of Christ as part of the final destruction. It will be far larger and more terrible than the stones in the storm that struck Brother Belden, striking those who refuse to care for and obey God, insult Him, and despise His mercies. It comes together with voices and thunders and lightnings and a mighty earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, with every island fleeing away and the mountains not found. Lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, the mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities, seething molten masses thrown into rivers cause the waters to boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence scattering broken fragments upon the land, rivers are dried up, and the earth is convulsed everywhere with dreadful earthquakes and eruptions.

Men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail, responding to the exceptionally severe hail and earth-shaking events with blasphemy. The great hail stands among the seven last plagues, God's terrible judgments on those who have no shelter and remain ungodly, and for its victims the plagues bring no deliverance but end in destruction. Transgressing God's law and trampling on the Sabbath are connected with these judgments, and the warning calls people to search God's word and escape them by refusing to worship the beast and its image or receive its mark. After mercy has ended the wicked curse God as the judgments come upon the earth, while those who rejected salvation can no longer escape the consequences or receive help from the saints.

Timing in Last Plagues

The great hail is one of the seven last plagues, the final plague under the seventh vial, one of the vials of God's wrath poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth. It belongs to the solemn events yet to come surrounding Armageddon, when Providence takes part in the battle. It falls in the closing scenes of earth's history shortly before Christ's coming and second advent, after the great voice out of the temple of heaven announces It is done. It is one of the former plagues that may already have swept away some of the wicked before the final earthquake and the appearing of Christ. At that time manifestations more terrible than ever yet beheld will be witnessed, with voices and thunders and lightnings and a mighty earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, every island fleeing away and the mountains not found.

The plagues fall after Jesus finishes His interceding priestly work in the most holy place, lays off His priestly attire and puts on the garments of vengeance, stepping out from between the Father and man, after which God keeps silent no longer. They come when the angel of mercy leaves the world and the four angels release the four winds they had held until that work was done, marking the end of patience and mercy amid sin, shame, sorrow and darkness. When the sequence was explained, Michael had not yet stood up and the time of trouble such as never was had not yet commenced, with the anger of the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead as separate events following one after another. Honest people are first called out of the fallen churches to join the remnant, and then the plagues are poured out. Some people then living will experience the seven last plagues, while others will be translated at Jesus' coming.

These plagues are judgments on the living wicked, containing the full measure of wrath, and are not the final execution of judgment, which takes place at the second death. The seventh vial falls during the final conflict at Armageddon, in the last great final contest when evil angels unite their powers with evil men for a desperate struggle, with all the world on one side or the other and armies mustering for battle. The opening of the vials brings pestilence, famine and death, with men's hearts failing for fear, the earth moved out of its place, mountains carried into the sea, and waves roaring and troubled. When the angel of Revelation 18 lights the earth with glory, religious forces both good and evil awaken, the armies of the living God take the field, and the Captain of the Lord's host stands at the head of heaven's angels to direct the battle.

At that final judgment scene graves are opened and a special resurrection occurs: those who died in the faith of the third angel's message rise glorified, while mockers of Christ and the fiercest opponents of His truth and people rise to see His glory and the honor given to the loyal and obedient. Disasters by sea and land already falling — destructive fires, earthquakes burying cities and villages, railway accidents, tornadoes, floods such as Johnstown, vitiated air, pestilences, cholera, diphtheria and other diseases — are only drops and sprinklings from the vials let fall upon land and sea and the elements of the air. Unusually destructive fires, terrible accidents by land, vessels hurled into eternity without warning by sea, fire consuming hoarded riches and sweeping away costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven, with greater mortality, crimes, weeping and woe in 1889 and 1890, are but faint representations of the exceeding greatness to come when the plagues fall in fullness in the near future at the end of all things, with greater earthquakes, rent crust, outbursts from within, ruined palaces, swept-away wealth, and a terribly shaken religious world.

Destruction Accompanying Hail

The hail lays the proud cities of the earth low and in ruin, destroying cities and bringing proud palaces to ruin at the time of the deliverance of God's people. It falls amid voices and thunders and lightnings, with peal upon peal of loudest thunder while black heavens are lit only by blazing glory from heaven. With it comes a mighty earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, shaking the foundations of the earth and convulsing the whole earth in terrible commotion. Every island flees away and the mountains are not found, carried into the midst of the sea, the earth is moved out of its place, and men's hearts fail for fear amid mustering armies, roaring troubled waves, pestilence, famine and death.

Lightnings from heaven unite with fire in the earth, and the mountains burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities. Seething molten masses thrown into rivers cause the waters to boil and hurl massive rocks with indescribable violence, scattering broken fragments upon the land, rivers are dried up, the sea boils like a pot, and everywhere are dreadful earthquakes, eruptions, volcanic fire and upheavals from within the earth with the crust rent. Buildings totter and fall with a terrible crash, and the most costly structures are swept away as if by a breath of fire from heaven. Riches hoarded and accumulated by oppression of the poor are consumed by fire, ruined palaces and swept-away wealth mark the end of all things, and awful calamities by sea hurl vessels into eternity without warning while accidents by land destroy life and property. The withering plagues fall upon all alike, kings and nobles, rich and poor, to bring down the loftiness of man and humble human pride.

Fate of Wicked and Righteous

The talent-weight hail strikes the wicked, the ungodly and the godless world left with no shelter. It falls on those who refuse to care for and obey God, who insult Him and despise His mercies, who transgress His law and trample the Sabbath, and who worship the beast and its image and receive its mark. The plagues bring their victims no deliverance but end in destruction, and the warning is to search God's word and escape them by refusal of that worship and mark.

God's people have first received a covering that shelters them from wrath in the plagues. As Noah was preserved through the Flood, so the saints are preserved through the time of trouble. Their captivity is turned by God's voice from His holy habitation, which they know with solemn awe to be deliverance while the wicked hear the voice without understanding its words and fear and tremble while the saints rejoice.

That deliverance comes in the time of Jacob's trouble, when the saints, refusing to disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and honor the first day or an institution of the Papacy even under a decree of death, cry and agonize day and night as Jesus agonized in the garden while Satan's host and wicked men surround them and exult as if escape were impossible. Then God utters His voice, glory is conferred on those who honored His holy law, their faces are lighted up reflecting the image of Jesus, and the 144,000 triumph. Those eager to destroy them cannot endure that glory but fall like dead men, and Satan and evil angels flee from the glorified saints with their power to annoy them gone forever.

The plagues enrage the wicked against the righteous, for the wicked think the saints brought God's judgments down and that if the earth could be rid of them the plagues would be stayed. So they blame the saints for the judgments, exult over seeming power to destroy them, and try to destroy them. These judgments are poured out after Jesus finishes His interceding work in the most holy place, lays off priestly attire and puts on the garments of vengeance, upon those who have rejected His truth.

In that same hour the wicked also turn on one another with bitter reproach, blaming family members and ministers for keeping them from the truth or failing to warn them. Those who opposed the faithful reproach them, and the faithful faint at heart. The plagues continue until God's purposes are fully accomplished, until false shepherds acknowledge that God loves the saints because they held fast to the truth and kept His commandments, and until all the unrighteous are destroyed from the earth.

The withering plagues fall upon all alike, kings and nobles, rich and poor, to bring down human loftiness and humble human pride. Covetous, selfish Sabbath-keepers who love money and the world, who call God's lent means their own and hoard instead of sacrificing and denying self for the truth, will perish with the world under those plagues as surely as Achan perished unless covetousness is rooted out by renewing and keeping covenant. When God's prospering hand is removed, all hoarded gain will be snatched away in a moment.

Justice and Vindication of God

The hail is the full measure of God's wrath against the living wicked, poured out after mercy has ended and intercession for Israel in the most holy place is finished. Then the High Priest lays off priestly attire, clothes Himself with the garments of vengeance, steps out from between the Father and man, and keeps silent no longer but pours out wrath on those who rejected truth. The angel of mercy leaves the world, the four angels who hold the four winds until that work is done release them, and when punishment of transgressors begins there is no period of respite until the end. The anger of the nations, the wrath of God, and the time to judge the dead are separate events following one after another, and at the time the sequence was explained Michael had not yet stood up and the time of trouble such as never was had not yet commenced. The plagues are still future when viewed from that standpoint, falling after the priestly work when He comes as King to execute judgment, before the first resurrection and the second advent, and only those sanctified through truth in the love of God will stand, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast, while those who rejected salvation curse God and can no longer escape the consequences or receive help from the saints.

They come when the swellings of unrighteousness reach a fearful pass, when men exceed the bounds God prescribed, trample His holy law under foot, make human laws supreme, and outrun the limits of His grace after centuries of forbearance with stubborn guilt. God will not long delay but will interfere to vindicate His honor and make His power known, destroying the wicked amid enormous hail, world-shaking earthquake, disappearing islands and mountains, and fiery upheavals at Christ's coming. The Lord will not interfere to protect the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample His Sabbath by accepting a spurious rest day in its place, much of whose wealth was accumulated by oppression of the poor. The wrath works because He does not restrain the powers of darkness from carrying forward their deadly work of vitiating the air and destroying life and property, sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven, hurling vessels into eternity without warning by sea and consuming hoarded riches by fire on land. Drops and sprinklings from the vials were already falling in 1889 and 1890 in disasters by sea and land, unusually destructive fires, earthquakes burying cities and villages, terrible railway accidents, tornadoes and floods such as Johnstown, vitiated air, pestilences, cholera and unexplainable diseases, and diphtheria taking children, only faint representations of the full outpouring with greater earthquakes, rent crust, outbursts from within the earth, ruined palaces, swept-away wealth, and a terribly shaken religious world to come at the end of all things.

God permits these judgments to come so that professing Christians come to their senses, the world takes heed, and sinners are afraid and tremble before Him, proving the end of all things is at hand. The judgment shows creation under the control of the Creator, for God at His own will summons the forces of nature to overthrow the might of His enemies, bringing forth the weapons of His indignation reserved against the time of trouble and the day of battle and war. In this all who exalt nature above the God of nature stand rebuked, while Satan seeks to conceal divine agency in the physical world and to keep out of sight the unwearied working of the first great cause.

It displays the same power of Israel's God seen when the sun stood still upon Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon. As He interposed for Israel by casting down great stones from heaven upon the Amorites when they set themselves to resist His purposes, so after the great voice out of the temple of heaven announces It is done He summons nature's forces for a greater battle in the closing scenes of earth's history. As the plagues of Egypt came just before and at Israel's deliverance from bondage, the final plagues come upon the wicked just before and at the saints' deliverance, with immense hailstones each about a talent in weight falling on the wicked amid lightning, volcanic fire and lava, earthquakes and other upheavals, while the saints are preserved as Noah was during the Flood.

Call to Escape Preparation

This hail is part of the final events of earth's history and stands as a solemn warning from God that calls for attention in the last days. It belongs to the portrayal of a decisive, imminent crisis in which divine wrath brings terrifying judgments and desolation upon the earth, with the universe preparing for the great crisis. It belongs to the prophecy of the vials of God's wrath to be poured out upon the world as prophecy rapidly fulfills. The seven last plagues are soon to be poured out after the angel of mercy leaves the world, while sin, shame, sorrow and darkness cover every side, the storm is gathering and the bolts of wrath are soon to fall, and when punishment of transgressors begins there will be no period of respite until the end. It is part of the judgments revealed from beginning to end in Revelation that show how fast the last great crisis is approaching.

The word of God shows how to escape these plagues by becoming a perfect Christian. Only those sanctified through the truth in the love of God will stand, hid with Christ in God until the desolation is overpast. Understanding Revelation's symbols and figures is essential so people can shape their course of action and avoid receiving the plagues coming upon the world. This warning about plagues coming must be understood so people can shape action to avoid receiving them. Those who fail to recognize the signs of the times in a wicked generation will perish under the plagues poured from the vials of God's wrath.

Escape requires searching God's word and refusing to worship the beast and its image or receive its mark, for transgressing God's law and trampling on the Sabbath are connected with these judgments. The plagues bring no deliverance to their victims and end in destruction for those who have no shelter and remain ungodly. Many of God's professed people will come up to the falling of the plagues without a shelter and unready. When the plagues begin to fall they will wring their hands in distress, and the hour to get ready will then be too late, so the call is to get ready now and to receive the Holy Ghost before the plagues fall.

These are solemn events yet to transpire, scenes of stupendous interest right upon us, coming as vials poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth in the last great final contest when evil angels unite with evil men for a desperate struggle, with all the world on one side or the other and the battle of Armageddon to be fought. They are sure indications of the presence of Him who has directed every aggressive movement and accompanied the march of His cause through all the ages, who has pledged to be with His people in all conflicts to the end of the world, who will vindicate His truth and cause it to triumph, and who is ready to supply His faithful ones with motives and power of purpose, hope and courage and valor in increased activity as the time is at hand. That day must find none sleeping but wide awake as wise virgins having oil in vessels with lamps, which is grace and the power of the Holy Ghost upon them, sustained by the power of God with the Captain of the Lord's host standing at the head of the angels of heaven to direct the battle.

Before they fall God still holds out to every soul the precious privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, and sin for righteousness, though patience and mercy will not always wait amid sin, shame, sorrow and darkness on every side. These judgments the Lord is now sending upon the earth carry special meaning. Those who claim there is no special meaning in them will soon be forced to understand what they now choose not to understand. In light of this plague and the other judgments, time should be spent less in strife and contention and more in thinking about the nearness of the final crisis.