A Preacher's comments on covid 19

How many times in your life have you heard someone, particularly a preacher, identify some event as a sign of the end or that God was giving mankind some message of doom? Now, there have been times when God sent a prophet to warn His people of something, including some coming judgment for their sins and that they should repent. Isaiah was such a prophet, just read Isaiah 1 and 6 and you’ll get the picture pretty quickly. There are also examples of God sending a prophet from Israel to some foreign land to warn them of coming judgment unless they repent; such is the case with Jonah.

Does that mean that every preacher or prophet in modern times, who says some crisis is a sign of God’s impending judgment is to be believed? What about those who predicted that World War I indicated the end of time was near, or World War II, or the immanent destruction of the Earth by a nuclear war during the Cold War? What about those who say a particular natural disaster like a hurricane, wildfire, tsunami, earthquake, famine or even a plague is some specific warning from God? Haven’t such things been fairly common for a long time? I looked up a list of epidemics and pandemics and was amazed at how many there have been just since 1800! In 1899-1923 more than 800,000 people died in Europe, Asia and Africa from the sixth cholera pandemic. Between 1915 and 1926 1.5 million people died worldwide from Encephalitis lethargica. The Spanish flu killed between 17 and 100 million people worldwide between 1918 and 1920. Between 1877 and 1977 500,000,000 people died of smallpox. According to worldmeters.info/coronavirus the number of deaths from covid19 as of April 10, 2020 was 102,594. So do all of these epidemics and pandemics signal the end or are they some specific warning from God?

I think we must consider Jesus’ comments about end times in Matthew 24. Jesus’ disciples asked Him about the sign of His Coming and the end of the age. Jesus responded, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes, but all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs” (Matthew 24:4-8). Jesus was saying that during the period between His first coming as the sacrificial Lamb of God, when He went to the Cross and three days later rose again, and His second coming as King of Kings, that there would be wars, famines and earthquakes, all kinds of trouble. But His followers were not to fear for “all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet” (Mt 24:6).

I know some Christian brothers and sisters will disagree, and some make predictions about Jesus coming back because some natural disaster takes place, some war breaks out, some famine hits, or some pandemic spreads internationally. When I hear such things I think of Deuteronomy 18:22, “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has NOT spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” Similarly, in Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah was confronting a false prophet who said the Lord would bring peace when Jeremiah and many before him said there would not be peace. In Jeremiah 29:9 we read, “As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one who the Lord has truly sent.” The idea is the same, if it happens, you know it was from the Lord, if not, the “prophet” was not speaking from the Lord.

At this point and from a spiritual perspective we don’t know why this coronavirus outbreak is happening any more than previous ones. If you pronounce this to be God’s judgment and it isn’t, you’ve made it obvious that you did not represent the Lord when you spoke. If you say it isn’t and it is, same thing. What we do know is that every time some human tragedy strikes, whether it’s a hurricane, a fire, a war, or a plague, someone claims God is taking vengeance upon mankind for something. Look, God is the righteous Judge and He will one day pour out His wrath upon those who have rejected His mercy and grace. That mercy and grace is powerfully demonstrated in His sending His Son Jesus Christ as the One and only way of forgiveness of our sin. We will all stand before Him someday and give account of ourselves, the main issue being did we accept or reject salvation from sin though Jesus (Rev 20). But to claim any particular event during this age as God’s judgment is precarious at best. We must be careful about pointing to any particular thing, such as covid19, and saying with all certainty that it is the wrath of God. Some crisis situations are the result of human sin taking its course of hardship and death. God will judge all sin one day, but that might not be today. God is gracious and gives us time to repent, even when we are in open rebellion. That time will eventually run out, but only God knows when that will be for any individual and for all of humanity. You can have forgiveness right now. Through faith in Jesus Christ, your sin debt is paid and the wrath of God satisfied; through Jesus’ Blood you are accepted and united to God.

Jesus, who is the Prophet, eternal High Priest, and King of Kings, said that there are going to be many troubles, but this is not yet the end. What we can say for sure is that Jesus could return anytime and thus we need to be ready all the time. We need to be living for Him and spreading the Good News of His mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, and unity to those around us.

God will judge sin, and He does lovingly discipline His children like any good father (Read Hebrews 12:3-11). How do we know if some crisis is the End? The End will come. In the mean time, trust in Jesus for your forgiveness, redemption and salvation and then love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then you have no reason to fear.

May the Lord watch over you, protect you, and keep you close to Him.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mark