珥一4 “剪蝗剩下的，群蝗来吃；群蝗剩下的，舔蝗来吃；舔蝗剩下的，毁蝗来吃。”

　　　三11 “四围的列国啊，你们要速速地来，一同聚集。耶和华啊，求你使你的大能者在那里降临！”

　　约珥书一章四节用四个辞说到蝗虫，可能指一种蝗虫不同的生长阶段。这一种蝗虫的四个阶段，指残害以色列的列国，就是四个相继的帝国：巴比伦、玛代波斯、希腊和罗马，包括罗马帝国末一位该撒，就是敌基督。（启十七8~11。）这四个帝国的军队好像蝗虫，（珥二25，）来对以色列大肆残害，将其全然销毁，吞灭以色列的百姓、土地、田地、出产、食物和酒，并断绝他们的供物。这四个帝国相当于但以理二章之大人像的四个部分、七章的四兽、以及撒迦利亚一章的四角。它们要被基督征服并了结；基督要在复兴时代设立国度，且在得救的以色列人中间掌权。（圣经恢复本，珥一4注1。）

　　Joel 1:4 What the cutting locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the licking locust has eaten; and what the licking locust has left, the consuming locust has eaten.

　　3:11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and be gathered. There cause Your mighty ones to descend, O Jehovah!

　　Four words for locust are used in Joel 1:4, probably referring to one kind of locust in various stages of growth. The four stages of this one kind of locust refer to the nations that devastated Israel in four consecutive empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, including Antichrist, who will be the last Caesar of the Roman Empire (Rev. 17:8-11). The armies of these empires were like locusts (Joel 2:25) coming to devastate and consume Israel totally, devouring her people, land, fields, produce, food, and drink and cutting off her offerings. These empires correspond to the four sections of the great human image in Daniel 2, to the four beasts in Daniel 7, and to the four horns in Zechariah 1. They will be overcome and terminated by Christ, who will set up the kingdom and reign among the saved Israel in the age of restoration. (Joel 1:4, footnote 1)

　　以色列在蝗虫的剪切、群拥、舔噬、毁坏下受苦二十七个世纪之久。…神使用犹太人的受苦带进神成肉体这前所未有的事，把神带进人里面，使神与人调和为一。不仅如此，神也使用蝗虫，在环境中提供一切必要的措施，为要完成祂的定旨。罗马帝国是四个帝国的集大成，提供一切的所需，使这位成为肉体的神能在地上生活、行动并工作。罗马帝国也提供一种刑法，使基督得以被钉十字架，以完成神的救赎；（约十八31~32；）提供一种局面，使那灵作为经过过程并终极完成的三一神，得以浇灌在一切属肉体的人身上，以产生召会作基督生机的身体；（徒二；）并提供种种措施，使福音便捷的传布到整个居人之地。（太二八19，徒一8。）

　　圣经记载两个历史：人的历史（属人的历史）和神的历史（神圣的历史）。前者如同外壳，后者如同外壳里面的核仁。小申言者书对属人历史有清楚地说明，由约珥书一章四节所提的四种蝗虫所表征；也相当详细的启示了在属人历史里的神圣历史。神圣的历史是三一神在人性里的神圣奥秘，开始于已过永远里永远的神和祂永远的经纶；（弥五2下，提前一4，弗一4~5，9~11；）继续于基督的成为肉体；（弥五2上；）祂的死、埋葬和复活，使神的救赎和救恩传布给地上的万民；（拿一17，二10；）祂将终极完成的灵浇灌下来，以产生召会，作三一神团体的彰显；（珥二28~32；）祂要第二次来临，作万国所羡慕的（该二7上）和公义的日头；（玛四2上；）祂要带着作祂军队的得胜者同来，击败敌基督和他的军队；（珥三1~15；）祂也要在千年国里在锡安掌权。（16~21，弥四7。）至终，国度要终极完成于新天新地里的新耶路撒冷，直到永远。新耶路撒冷将是神的历史终极完成的一步。（圣经恢复本，珥一4注1。）

　　我们需要清楚看见这两个历史—物质的人类历史和奥秘的神圣历史。我希望我们都有这样的看见。人的历史，世界的历史，是外在的。神圣的历史，就是神同着人并在人里的历史，是内里的。这个历史是在人性里之三一神的神圣奥秘。（约珥书生命读经，二五一页。）

　　参读：约珥书生命读经，第四至五篇。

　　Israel has been suffering the cutting, swarming, licking, and consuming of the locusts for twenty-seven centuries…. God used the suffering of the Jews to bring in the incarnation, an unprecedented event that brought God into man and mingled God and man as one. Furthermore, God has used the locusts to afford all the necessary facilities in the environment for the carrying out of His purpose. The Roman Empire, the aggregate of the four empires, afforded everything necessary for the incarnated God to live and move and work on earth. It also provided the means for Christ to be crucified for the accomplishing of God’s redemption (John 18:31-32), the occasion for the pouring out of the Spirit as the processed and consummated Triune God upon all flesh to produce the church as the organic Body of Christ (Acts 2), and the facilities for the spreading of the gospel to the entire inhabited earth (Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8).

　　The Bible is a record of two histories: the history of man, the human history, and the history of God, the divine history. The former is like an outward shell, and the latter, like the kernel within the shell. In the Minor Prophets the human history is clearly defined and is signified by the four kinds of locusts mentioned in Joel 1:4. The divine history within the human history is also revealed in considerable detail. The divine history, as the divine mystery of the Triune God in humanity, began in eternity past with the eternal God and His eternal economy (Micah 5:2c; 1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:4-5, 9-11). It continues with Christ’s incarnation (Micah 5:2a); His death, burial, and resurrection for the spreading of God’s redemption and salvation to all the nations on earth (Jonah 1:17; 2:10); His pouring out of the consummated Spirit to produce the church as the corporate expression of the Triune God (Joel 2:28-32); His second coming as the Desire of nations (Hag. 2:7a) and as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2a); His coming with His overcomers as His army to defeat Antichrist and his army (Joel 3:1-15); and His reigning in Zion in the thousand-year kingdom (3:16-21; Micah 4:7). Eventually, the kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate, the consummate, step of God’s history. (Joel 1:4, footnote 1)

　　We need to have a clear view of these two histories—the physical human history and the mysterious divine history—and I hope that we all will have such a view. The history of man, the history of the world, is outward. The divine history, the history of God in and with humanity, is inward. This history is a matter of the divine mystery of the Triune God in humanity. (Life-study of Joel, pp. 35-36)

　　Further Reading: Life-study Joel, msgs. 4-5