Revelation 16:21

And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent
and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

This judgment is staggering. Hail falls from heaven, and each stone weighs about a talent, around a hundred pounds. Whether one thinks in terms of supernatural judgment directly from the hand of God, or whether there are secondary means involved that help explain how such a thing could happen, the point is the same. The plague is exceeding great. Heaven is striking the earth with terrifying force.

And still, men blaspheme.

That is the part that ought to stop us. Even while being crushed beneath the judgment of God, they still use their breath to curse Him. They do not soften. They do not break. They do not repent. They blaspheme.

And that brings an interesting connection to mind. In the Old Testament, the punishment for blasphemy was stoning according to Leviticus 24:16. Here in Revelation, what is happening? Men who blaspheme God are, in effect, being stoned from heaven itself. Only now the stones are not in human hands. They are hailstones weighing a hundred pounds each.

That is sobering.

The very sin they cling to is the sin being answered. The mouths that curse God call down judgment on themselves. The blasphemer is being stoned by the consequence of his own rebellion.

That is always the madness of sin. It does not merely offend God. It destroys the sinner. Men think rebellion is freedom, but in the end it becomes its own ruin. The same hard heart that refuses mercy is the heart that leaves a man exposed to judgment.

And once again we see the same terrible truth. Judgment by itself does not change the heart. Men under the hail still blaspheme. Men under the plague still curse. Apart from grace, the human heart does not naturally run to God. It runs from Him, even while being crushed by the results of its own defiance.

That is why salvation is such a miracle.

If you ever turned to the Lord, if you ever repented, if you ever cried out for mercy, it was because God in His kindness moved toward you first. Left to ourselves, we would have been no different. We too would have hardened. We too would have resisted. We too would have found some way to curse rather than bow.

So this verse is severe, but it is also clarifying. Sin is no light thing. Blasphemy is no small matter. And grace is no cheap gift. If heaven must answer rebellion this way, then the Cross must mean more than we have yet understood.

Beloved, do not play with sin. Do not excuse hard heartedness. Do not admire defiance. Run to Christ while mercy is still open. Because there is only one safe place from the judgment of heaven, and that is under the blood of the Son.