(Joel 2:4-6, 25; Revelation 9:4-11)
The prophet Joel described the end-time plague of Satan as a plague of locusts, saying, “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like the swift steeds they so run, with a noise of chariots…. Before them the people writhe in pain, and all their faces are drained in color.”1Joel 2:4-6 Indeed, the faces of locusts do look like horses. In fact, the Italian word for locust means “little horse.”
Like the plagues in Egypt, this plague of locusts will not harm the children of God. It will harm only those who do not have the seal of the living God on their foreheads. It is therefore a plague on those who are not in the Sanctified Church. Revelation 9:4 says, “They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
In verse 11, we learn that these locusts have Satan as their king. He is called “the angel of the abyss.” The name of Satan is given as Abaddon—in Greek, Apolluón, meaning “destroyer.” In John 10, Jesus tells us that the thief comes to “kill and destroy” but He came “that they may have life and may have it abundantly.”2John 10:10 Satan will deceive men as a thief. He will use false religion to steal their salvation. He does not need to lure men into places of prostitution or gambling halls; he only needs to lure them into places of false religion, where they will have no power over the weakness of the flesh.
John told us that the locusts are not permitted to kill anyone but only to torment with their sting for five months.3Rev 9:5 These five months can only be 150 years—five months of 30 days each. Throughout the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel, days have been shown to represent years. And here, we can see it again.
References