October 26: LOCUSTS! (part 2)

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Revelation 9:3 (KJV)

We continue to look into the first woe (also the fifth trumpet). The locusts that issued forth from the smoke of idolatry symbolize God’s judgement upon apostasy, a word that means departure or divorce. After Jesus ascended to His role in heaven as our High Priest, the church went forth into the world with purity in the power of the Holy Spirit. But during the early centuries that followed, some began to depart from one truth after another, compromising with paganism (1 John 2:17-19). These departures, in spite of being warned about (Revelation 2:12-3:4), were mostly accepted by the church at large. However, an uncorrupted remnant was preserved. God’s judgements are not only meant for the correction of waywardness; they also demonstrate how He spares those who hold fast to Him in faithfulness.

God brought locusts out of the smoke as punishment for idolatry among His people. In the Muslim religion, rule number one is “no idols.” The worship of images and statues is strictly prohibited. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads (v.4). The Muslim hordes that rode across the lands where false Christianity had established itself were ultimately under God’s control. He protected His true ones (any green thing). The prophet Joel makes it even more clear: The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it? (Joel 2:11 NKJV) Those with the seal of God in their foreheads can stand through tribulations. This will still be true in the last great conflagration.

Bible scholars who study the history of the Dark Ages have commented that God used a false religion (Islam) as a severe instrument of punishment against His apostate people: professing Christians who misrepresent God and His Son by rejecting the divine instructions.

It is more than just a sidenote that the lands encompassed and overrun by ancient Babylon are today the lands overrun by Islam. In the days of the early church, the Roman Empire was cryptically referred to by faithful Christians as Babylon (1 Peter 5:13), demonstrating believers’ understanding of the religious confusion that results from the worship of idols. The smoke symbolizing idol worship that ushered in the Dark Ages is still darkening the sun and the air today. Pagan statues that were carried into the church back then and introduced as saints to pray to, having been renamed with Christian names, are still in Roman Catholic churches all over the world. Idolatry has also taken many other forms in today’s world. Yes, the statues remain, but many other practices (Mark 7:6-9) in the Protestant world are just as idolatrous. God’s faithful ones have nothing to fear for the future, unless they forget how God has led His people in the past.

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11  

For further study: Deuteronomy 8:14-19; Isaiah 33:4; Jeremiah 17:7-8; Joel 2:12-13; Revelation 6:17-7:17