A creature that carries meaning
The Locust
The locust is a small insect with terrifying power, able to darken the sky and strip a land bare in hours. Scripture uses it as a picture of devastating judgment, and then, remarkably, as the setting for one of the Bible's most hopeful promises of restoration.
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”Joel 2:25
The creature in Scripture
The creature in Scripture. Locusts are swarming insects, a kind of grasshopper, whose vast migrating clouds could destroy an entire harvest, one of the ancient world's most feared disasters. In Egypt, the eighth plague is a locust swarm so dense that "they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land" (Exodus 10:15), leaving nothing green. The prophet Joel describes a locust invasion in layered waves: "That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten" (Joel 1:4), a picture of total ruin that he reads as a call to repentance. Locusts also appear as ordinary creatures of the land; they were among the few insects Israel was permitted to eat (Leviticus 11:22), and John the Baptist's wilderness diet was "locusts and wild honey" (Matthew 3:4). Proverbs marvels that though "the locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands" (Proverbs 30:27). In Revelation, locust-like creatures figure among the visions of judgment (Revelation 9:3). The locust was a genuine and dreaded agricultural threat, small in size but overwhelming in number.
What it comes to mean
What it comes to mean. The locust comes to mean devouring judgment, loss that strips life bare, but it is bound in Joel to an astonishing promise of restoration. The devastation itself is a summons to return to God; Joel calls the people to "rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God" (Joel 2:13). Then, on the far side of judgment, God pledges to give back what was lost: "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you" (Joel 2:25). This is the locust's most enduring meaning, stated in the text: not only ruin but the God who can repay the very years devastation stole. The locust thus holds together two truths, that sin and judgment lay life waste, and that God is able to restore beyond what was lost. It becomes a symbol of wasted years redeemed.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The locust points to Christ through the pattern of judgment answered by restoration that finds its fulfillment in Him. Joel's promise to "restore the years that the locust hath eaten" reaches its deepest answer in the salvation Christ brings, for He is the one who redeems wasted lives and gives back more than sin destroyed. Notably, the same prophecy of Joel that promises restoration also promises the outpouring of God's Spirit, "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28), which Peter declares fulfilled at Pentecost through the risen Christ (Acts 2:16-17). So the restoration after the locust and the gift of the Spirit belong together, both flowing from Jesus. In Christ the devouring years of guilt and loss are not merely mourned but redeemed; He makes all things new and restores what the long famine of sin consumed. The locust's ruin is real, but the last word belongs to the Lord who repays the years, and that Lord is revealed in Christ, who came that His people "might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
Questions people ask
What does "restore the years the locust hath eaten" mean?
In Joel 2:25 God promises to give back the harvests and years that locust swarms devoured as judgment. It means that God can restore what devastation and sin destroyed, repaying the very seasons that were lost when His people return to Him.
Why are locusts used as a picture of judgment?
Locust swarms could strip an entire land bare, one of the ancient world's worst disasters. Scripture uses them for the eighth plague on Egypt (Exodus 10) and Joel's devouring invasion (Joel 1:4), making them a vivid image of judgment that lays life waste.
How does the locust connect to Christ and the Spirit?
Joel's promise to restore the locust years is joined to God's pledge to pour out His Spirit (Joel 2:28), which Peter said was fulfilled through the risen Christ at Pentecost (Acts 2:16-17). Restoration after the locust and the gift of the Spirit both flow from Jesus.