The horse-like locusts. “ And the shapes of the locusts were like the shapes of horses prepared for battle"--9:7. Shapes like horses: The composite appearance of the locusts-shape of horses for battle, heads as gold crowns, faces of men--shows this symbolism to be that of the rulers with their armies of destruction. The locusts were seen as horses “ prepared for battle,” as the horses in cavalry battalions. Heads as crowns: The heads of the locusts were seen as “ crowns like gold” signifying that they were the armies of the Roman generals Vespasian and Titus, both of whom were given imperial crowns, in connection with their invasions of Judea and the siege of Jerusalem. Faces as faces of men: The faces of the locusts, as men, identifies the symbolism with the imperial armies invading “ the holy land” as swarms of locusts. It is not a new form of apocalypse at all. The prophetic vision in Joe 1:1-6; Joe 2:1-4 was the description of the invasion of the land of Judea by the armies of the north (1:6; 2:20), as a baneful swarm of locusts, having both animal-like and humanlike forms-“ The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen so shall they run.” These visions of Joel, and of other pre-exile prophets, foretold the fall of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar, having besieged the city, shut its inhabitants within the walls, inflicting upon them all the horrors of famine, pestilence and war, eventually burning the temple and its buildings, razing the walls, and reducing the city to rubbish and ruin--all the dreadful horrors of which were depicted by both Jeremiah and Joel. As the prophet Joel’ s apocalypse of the invasion of locusts concerned the Jerusalem of about B. C. 600, this vision of John’ s apocalypse concerned the Jerusalem of A. D. 70, when Vespasian and Titus executed the imperial orders of Nero to besiege and destroy the city, the miseries of which exceeded all of its calamitous history before and after. “ And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that desolation is near . . . for these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” Luke 21:20; Luke 21:22. “ For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matthew 24:22. “ For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall be.” Mark 13:19. The cumulative evidence is preponderant that John’ s visions encompass the invasion of Judea and the fall of Jerusalem described by Jesus in the records of Matthew, Mark and Luke.