God's Destroying Army

John the Baptist preached repentance and ate locusts for lunch.

Our God has destroying armies that he has prepared to bring his people to repentance. In the Bible these armies are referred to as "locusts". The locusts are destroyers that take away our earthly possessions and leave us desolated and desperate for help.

Locusts may come in the form of actual armies, or in the form of actual locusts. They may be financial disasters or natural disasters brought upon us by divine appointment. They are intended to strip us of our worldly ambitions and turn our eyes upon Jesus. Locusts are commanded by God because of sin, and are defeated by repentance and cleansing from sin.

The plagues of locusts and darkness were the last two plagues on Egypt before the destroying angel took the firstborn of Egypt, and the precursors to armies in the book of Revelation.

In the book of Exodus, the plagues of hail and locusts each brought Pharaoh to confession of sin and repentance though not for long.

In the prophecy of Nahum the Assyrian armies are compared to an army of locusts.

In II Chronicles 7 God promises Solomon that if He sends drought or locusts or pestilence on the land because of sin, and the people humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, that He would hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. Forgiveness corresponds to the removal of the destroying locusts.

In the final apostasy described in Revelation 9, the locusts of the destroying angel inflict pain on those who have rejected God. The armies that follow them destroy 1/3 of mankind, but the people who remain still do not repent. This is the last time repentance is offered before the final trumpet blast.

In the prophecy of Joel there are four waves of locusts (destroying armies) that successively destroy the land of Israel. The last destroyer (Rome) leaves Jerusalem completely desolate, but those with understanding find the greatest gift of God written on their hearts.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

            “Return to Me with all your heart,

            And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

      And rend your heart and not your garments.”

            Now return to the LORD your God,

            For He is gracious and compassionate,

            Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness

            And relenting of evil.

Joel 2:12-13 NASB

Guide to Apocalyptic Scriptures

After years of study, I put together this timeline that I have used to understand biblical prophecy related to the end times.  I have intentionally put aside the many teachings I have had on this subject and mainly used the Bible as my guideline, checking what I learn from the Bible and the Spirit against those teachings when necessary and fruitful.  I once again must thank the publishers of the Biblehub website for the enormous benefit of having so much information easily available online.

Click image to expand to readable size

I would just add a few notes.  One is my mapping of the "Great Tribulation" to the entire time period from the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 until the Day of the Lord at the final trumpet.  I did not set out to take such an unconventional view of this term (the "thlipsis megale" in Greek), however after cross-referencing the synoptic accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke, I came to the conclusion that the "Olivet Discourse" is mostly referring to the end of the Jewish kingdom and the desecration of the temple by the Roman Emperor. After all, this is what the disciples asked about (the destruction of the temple) and what they would be most concerned about in their lifetimes.  This drove me to review the prophecies of Daniel regarding the abomination of desolation and the cessation of the regular sacrifice which were fulfilled at that time and are not mentioned in Revelation.  The tribulation in my view, is great not only in intensity, but also in its breadth (worldwide) and duration over the centuries.  This trying of our souls involves not only endurance through persecution, but also endurance through false prophecy and the mocking wisdom of man.

Of course, Jesus also talks about His second coming after the great tribulation so we cannot take a "post millennial" viewpoint; the balance of scripture still indicates much to come before the great day of judgment.

If you study end time teachings over the years, you will discover that commonly accepted teachings come and go, and change greatly over time.  This is natural, because nobody really knows when the things yet to come will happen, or exactly how.  That part is up to God.  I may change my own view of some of these events, but I have tried diligently to respect the entire teaching of the Bible and only use the tools available to consolidate wisdom and knowledge from the Bible and present it here in a very broad summary.

I hope you enjoy using this for reference, and consider it prayerfully before commenting below!

Seven Shofars and a Shout

In the last few days I learned something about shofars (trumpets made from ram's horns).  In the Bible they are used to lead people into battle.  Sometimes these are spiritual battles, as when the priests blew the shofars to gather the people for fasting and prayer.

In one particular battle, priests blew their shofars once a day for six days to warn the enemy of the coming judgment of God.  The city under siege was Jericho, and the commander of the invading army was Joshua.  On the seventh day, the army marched around Jericho seven times, then blew their shofars seven times, and then when the people shouted God brought down the walls of Jericho by the power of His word.

So it is in the end of time, that the blast of the angel's shofars will pronounce doom on the city of Babylon, which is the dominion of Satan.  Six times the shofars will sound the solemn warnings, and after the seventh blast, with the shout of a great multitude of believers and angels, the Lord will bring down the walls of Satan's kingdom by a great earthquake and by the power of His word.

Indeed, our entry into the eternal kingdom must be preceded by this great battle, in which the promised land is cleansed from all the powers of sin and darkness.  It was an inspiration to me to see this prototyped in the battle of Jericho, to demonstrate the power of God when His people enter the promised land.  Get ready to shout, people of God, and watch the gates of Hell come down!