In this sermon, the preacher discusses the eighth plague that God sent upon Egypt, which was a swarm of locusts. Unlike the previous plagues, the locusts did not appear miraculously, but their impact on the land and people was devastating. Pharaoh, for the first time, admits his sin and asks Moses and Aaron to intercede with God to remove the locusts. God answers their prayer and sends a strong west wind that blows the locusts into the Red Sea. However, Pharaoh's heart remains hardened, and he refuses to let the Israelites go.

Now we have the next plague that's coming up. "...And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, And the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night. And when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt. Very grievous were they. Before them there was no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. And they covered the face of the whole earth, that is, in Egypt, so that the land was darkened. And they did eat every herb of the land, all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. And there remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field through all the land of Egypt." Now there are several things here that are revealed in this judgment. The judgment is that of the locusts. And you'll notice first of all that they were not caused to appear miraculously, and actually does not seem to be a miracle like some of the others are described to us. But they're not any less miraculous. The east wind brought them from somewhere else. Obviously this east wind that had come up brought them, if you'll notice, from somewhere over in Asia. And they certainly were common over in that area. And they'd been brought over a wide expanse of desert. And I guess they were pretty hungry when they got into the Green Nile Valley. And they absolutely stripped everything. Now the locust was probably the worst plague that they've had so far. Because the locust is used in Scripture as a picture definitely of judgment. You have a great locust plague that Joel describes. And these locust plagues of the past are a picture of the judgment that is yet to come. And you will find that that is mentioned in the Word of God as you get over to the book of Revelation. The great locust plagues that are coming upon the land in Joel's prophecy. You have the great judgment of the locusts in the past, which is a matter of history. And then Joel moves on to say that there's coming that kind of a judgment. And locusts therefore are used as instruments of judgment. And that's what you have here. So they've come over the land and they probably have had the greatest effect upon the land than anything else that has come upon that land in that day. Now I'm going to drop down here in verse 16. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, I've sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now this is the first time Pharaoh has made any kind of admission like this at all. You see, it took the plague of locusts. And you'll notice that there is method in the manner in which God is dealing with these people and that land and with Pharaoh in that day. The judgments are given in a systematic, orderly way, directed first at the different idols in the land of Egypt against Zoalatry. Now he's beginning to direct these as definite plagues that are working a tremendous hardship upon the people to convince Pharaoh. And this last one, the locust one, has certainly had its effect. He's called for Aaron and Moses to come in and he's made a confession. He says, forgive my sin only this once and entreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh and treated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind which took away the locusts, cast them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Now this man, Pharaoh, the minute that the plague is removed, why he changes his mind and he goes back to his original position. And God's going to force him, you know, to let the children of Israel go. So after the locusts, why there are actually to be only two more plagues.