COVID-19 and the Christian
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I. God told us these things would multiply.
I. God told us these things would multiply.
While the specific strain of COVID-19 was not foreseen, world problems should be foreseen. Prophetic passages are difficult for some to apply correctly - what applied to the Jews of Jesus’ day, the the tribulation age, or our age today.
In any regard, we know that the farther mankind stays from God’s Word, the more the consequences will pile up. COVID-19 is just that: a consequence of sin. We ought not to be surprised!
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Matthew 24.4-
Again, the specific prophetic time of the Mount Olivet discourse is not the issue. The point is, these things would increase.
For a Christian to be shocked at this betrays a lack of study of the Bible and of confidence in the Word of God. We need to heed what the Lord has told us will come.
The Lord’s first disciples had a similar issue. Repeatly, the Lord told them that He would be delivered up, put to death, and die again. Yet, when it actually happened, they were surprised, shocked, and scattered.
Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
The disciples had different agendas than Jesus’ agenda. But in the end, only the Lord’s agenda mattered - the salvation of the world - and only His agenda came to pass.
Today, believers have a multitude of agendas. We fill our days and our lives with pursuits that we justify and accept as being important. And then a Coronavirus comes along and knocks those pursuits off course. Retirement savings plummet; family getaways get canceled, ministry projects are in limbo.
Can you hear the Lord saying:
Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, And Israel had walked in my ways!
Psalm
The Lord is not only busy building lives, families, and ministries. Sure, He is doing that powerfully. But overarching our little lives, His truth is marching on. He is brining to pass things which He entrusted to us in Scripture centuries ago. Let us not be suprised like the first disciples were when the Lord’s words actually came to pass before their very eyes.
II. What a mighty God we serve.
II. What a mighty God we serve.
Throughout history, we have seen God bring reminders of His power in ways that man did not foresee. In our pride, we are humans want to build great things apart from God. And every now and then, God reminds us of our frailty and of the fact that anything we build is built so long as He allows it to be.
In , mankind decided to build a big city with a tower that would allow them to reach Heaven. Yet, the Lord said, “No, you won’t” and confounded their language.
In , humanity was carrying on until one family of 8 was told to get into the Ark. The next days were eventful, to say the least.
Today, man operates as if God does not exist. Science is their god, and they believe that their fate is their hands. The call good evil and evil good (), they call light darkness and they call darkness light. Their foolish heart is darkened, and they profess themselves to be wise, even thought they are biblical fools. They have no fear of God, and therefore no wisdom.
Yet, they build, and build, and built. God watches, and God sees. And God reminds the world of how fragile their house of cards.
God can bring the world systems down with a microscopic organism that the eye cannot see. Economies, multi-billion dollar sports and entertainment industries, international travel, all that continues as long as God allows it to. If He wants it to stop, it stops. All it takes is a bug they didn’t know existed.
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Man’s plans, personal or international are just that: plans. God’s plans are eternal.
III. If our Gospel be hid because of fear, it is hid to those who are lost.
III. If our Gospel be hid because of fear, it is hid to those who are lost.
This week, as I saw the exponentional spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not help but be reminded of the illustrations of how quickly the Gospel could reach around the world if each Christian just told another Christian who told another, who told another, and so on.
While a virus spreads faster than the Gospel, the point remains. Our fear of transmitting the virus should not be greater than our desire to transmit the Gospel.
Most Christians that we talk to these days speak exactly like the unsaved. “This is so scary!” “This is terrible!” “I hope I don’t get it!” Those feelings are normal to an extent, but it is tragic when there is no difference between the speech of those who don’t know Christ and the speech of those who do know Christ.
Believers in many generations had every reason to stay hidden. Yet, they did not. They spoke, proclaimed, won souls, and were mightily used of God. History books abound with testimonies of the difference that the pagans saw in Christians, in the midst of terrible times.
I am not saying that you should live and act as if there is no Coronavirus. It’s a poor testimony to act like it’s not real. But it’s also a bad testimony to act like God is off the throne.
How is your response different than that of those who don’t even acknowledge the existence of God, let alone know him personally?
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
I am not saying to ignore quarantines. I am not saying to anger other people by making them feel like you don’t care about them or their health. I am not saying to disobey the government. But I am saying that if there is a time that the Gospel should be heard, it is now.
Find a way. Go ask your neighbor if they need toilet paper, and witness to them. Post on Facebook (not in lieu of personal witness). Phone a coworker. Call someone who is quarantined. Find a way to speak the Gospel into this frenzied panic!
IV. The biggest tragedy of Coronavirus is the eternal damnation of those who die.
IV. The biggest tragedy of Coronavirus is the eternal damnation of those who die.
This should be obvious, but if you read the news too much and don’t read the Bible enough, you might forget. COVID-19 is propelling people into eternity. They all spend eternity somewhere. Either it’s Heaven, but for the vast majority it is Hell.
Pray for your missionaries, and not just for their proection from COVID-19. Pray for open doors. Pray for opportunities for witness. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of the lost, both far and near.
Remember that Coronavirus has raised people’s chances of dying by 0%. Everyone will die and after this the judgment. This life is given us to trust of reject Christ. COVID-19 is one way to die, and it is terrible. But everyone will pass from this world and face the Lord.
Tragedies that rock people’s daily realities have always been around. And people have often panicked and often had many questions, just like today. One day, people came to Jesus to discuss social events:
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luke 13.1-
The Lord Jesus always brings worldly realities to spiritual realities. Mass murders, falling towers, and everything else is a message from God. That message is that physical death is the passage to eternal death unless one repents of sin and trusts Christ as Saviour.
V. If your life is Christ’s, let Him have it, no matter the viruses that are out there.
V. If your life is Christ’s, let Him have it, no matter the viruses that are out there.
I belong to Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, you belong to Him too.
VI. If you can’t trust God with this, when can you trust Him?
VI. If you can’t trust God with this, when can you trust Him?
We speak of faith, but we don’t always live by faith. I am reminded of an event in the life of the disciples. It’s an event of which I would not have wanted to be a part, to be honest. They were with Christ in a boat, and they were in trouble. They did not have the advantage of hindsight that we have as we read the passage.
And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Trusting Jesus when my bank account is full, my mutual funds are growing like weeds, my family is healthy and playing at the park…that’s not much trust. You can turn a light on outside at noon and nobody will notice it. Light is seen is darkness, and faith is seen in times of uncertainty.
The disicples revealed that they were not yet Spirit-filled. They didn’t trust very much. They were panicked. And Jesus said to them that the moral of the story was they had no faith in Him. Praise the Lord that 11 of them went on to be filled and transformed after .
But what about us? Is COVID-19 a reality? Surely. Should be be prudent? Sure. Should be panic? Absolutely not.
If you can’t trust Jesus in March 2020, then you can never trust. But if Jesus is who He claims to be and who the Bible reveals Him to be (and He is!), then you can trust Him with COVID-19 too.
I know one thing: I would not want the Spirit to convict me inside: “How is that you ye have no faith!”. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Let’s have that faith - trust Him with this.
VII. Be a good steward, but don’t stop worshiping and serving.
VII. Be a good steward, but don’t stop worshiping and serving.
What do we do with the government reommendations? I find that they fall into two categories, and I believe that the Scripture speaks to both:
Common sense
Exceptional measures
Common sense includes washing hands, staying home if you have symptoms, getting checked, and other such things. If I believe that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, why would I not want to do that? My body is not mine to put at risk. In short, don’t panic, but be a good steward too.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Use the Purell. Replace handshakes with foot kicks if you want to. But don’t panic. Be sensitive to the Spirit and seek to walk the line between prudence and faith. Don’t panic but be wise. It’s not a good testimony to the lost to act like we don’t care, but it’s not a good testimony either to act as if our trust is in hand sanitizer rather than the Saviour.
Exceptional measures would be quarantines, travel restrictions, closed work places, canceled sports leagues, etc. What should we do with that? I will confess to thinking that after a while, it’s a bit much. But as I prayed and thought about it, these verses came to my mind.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Yes, we must obey God rather than man. And if the governement were to try to use this to remove our religious freedoms that would be one thing. But that is not what they are doing. We can agree or disagree with the decisions, find them fair or exagerated. But the Bible tells Christians to obey the government in matters that do not contradict the Word of God.
If I disobey the governement without a Bible verse that directly defends my action, what message does that send to the one who is watching my life and considering Christ? What message does it send to babes in the faith?
Worship and serve to the full extent of your ability. But as much as in you is, do so in accordance with the authorities’ measures. Unless there is a contradiction between Scripture and laws, let us obey both!