Scripture Reading: Joel 1:4; 2:28-32; 3:9-21
In this message I have the burden to give a further word on the prophecy concerning the four kinds of locusts in the book of Joel.
In the interpretation of the prophecies of the Bible, Joel’s prophecy is more controlling than Daniel’s. It is true to say that Daniel’s prophecy is the controlling factor for us to understand and interpret the prophecies in the Bible. However, the controlling factors in Daniel are on the surface, whereas the factors in Joel are hidden, concealed, in a mysterious way. For this reason, if we would understand the book of Joel, we must have insight.
The first factor in Joel is the locusts in four stages: the cutting locust, symbolizing Babylon; the swarming locust, symbolizing Medo-Persia; the licking locust, symbolizing Greece; and the consuming locust, symbolizing the Roman Empire (1:4). These four kinds of locusts denote the four sections of the entire human government on earth signified by the great human image in Daniel 2. After these four sections of human government, which will end with Antichrist, the last Caesar of the Roman Empire, human government will be brought to an end.
These four kinds of locusts are related to the small nation of Israel. In a sense, God sent the four sections of the human government as locusts to consume Israel.
The four kinds of locusts, corresponding to the four sections of human government, will occupy a long period of time in human history, from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the time of Antichrist. This period will last for at least twenty-seven centuries. Between the times of Nebuchadnezzar and Antichrist, there will be a long time in which the Jews will have no nation, no kings, no priests, no prophets, and no temple as the God-ordained center where they can worship God. Today the Jews are still being consumed by the locusts of the human, Gentile government.
The final stage of God’s sending of the locusts is the Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire was chastising rebellious Israel, God did something silently and mysteriously. God used the Roman Empire to keep the region around the Mediterranean Sea — the center of human habitation — in a peaceful order. Highways were built, shipping routes were established on the sea, and a common language, Greek, was spoken by all the peoples. It was at that time that God came to be incarnated by being born of a virgin in a small city, Bethlehem, and eventually lived in Nazareth. For thirty-three and a half years the God of everlasting love lived on the earth in His humanity as a man. After this He went to the cross and died the death of a criminal under the Roman form of capital punishment. Although the worldlings did not realize it, Christ died a vicarious, all-inclusive death. After three days He resurrected. On the same day, in the morning of His resurrection, He ascended to the Father and descended again to the earth to meet with His disciples. Forty days later, in the presence of His disciples, He ascended to the heavens. After ten more days, on the day of Pentecost, He came down again by being poured out as the Spirit upon three thousand of His believers, making each of the three thousand the same as He is in life and nature. The issue of that outpouring of the Spirit was a corporate Christ, which is the manifestation of Christ.
From this we see that it was through the Roman locusts that both God’s redemption and the preaching of the gospel were carried out. First, the gospel was spread throughout the Roman Empire and then, as a result of Roman imperialism, to other parts of the world. The Romans invented imperialism, and all the Western powers are parts of the Roman Empire. After Britain defeated Spain to become the world power, for more than two centuries the gospel was spread to every corner of the earth through Roman imperialism.
Today three things are taking place on earth: the consuming by the Roman locusts, the suffering of Israel, and the manifestation of Christ. We are joined neither to the consuming of the Roman locusts nor to the suffering of Israel but to the manifestation of Christ. Little of Christ is manifested in the Roman Catholic Church and in the denominations, but Christ is manifested in His recovery. Today we are in the line in which Christ is being manifested. The line of the manifestation of Christ will eventually bring us into the fuller manifestation of Christ in the age of restoration. This fuller manifestation of Christ will consummate in the fullest manifestation of Christ in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. This is the proper eschatology. This is the best, the clearest, and the most inclusive eschatology.
God is real. If God were not real, there could not be such a book as the Bible. The Bible tells us beforehand concerning world history. The Bible is the only book that predicts human history so accurately and all-inclusively. Therefore, we believe not only that our God is real but also that the Bible is real.
We all need to have a clear view of the age in which we are living, of where we are, and of what our goal should be.
We are living in an age, the continuation of the preceding ages, in which our God is still moving. He is working among the Jews and by the nations to perform His economy in the building up of the organism of the Body of Christ.
We need to see that today we, the believers in Christ, are in the Body of Christ. We all are members of the Body of Christ, which is the organism of the Triune God. As members of the Body, we should aspire to be overcomers, the mighty ones (Joel 3:11) who will return with Christ to deal with Antichrist at the battle of Armageddon and who will be His co-kings in the millennium.
Furthermore, we should be clear concerning our goal as members of the Body. Our goal is to enlarge the manifestation of Christ intrinsically. We do not care for a mere outward enlargement. We do not appreciate a good outward appearance, and we do not want any kind of façade. On the contrary, we desire to see the intrinsic enlargement of the manifestation of Christ in the Spirit of the processed Triune God and by the life of our Father, the eternal, almighty divine Being.
I hope that we all will take not the ordinary Christian way but the overcoming way to be the mighty ones who can match the unique mighty One. Christ is now on the throne in the heavens, waiting for us to be perfected and matured. Eventually the time will be ripe for Him to come back to deal with the nations, to save the remnant of Israel, and to complete God’s economy with us. Then the age of restoration will be ushered in. That age will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation of God’s expression in Christ.
