God and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Situation
- Did God make viruses? Why?
-
Is the Coronavirus
pandemic the
wrath of God
being poured out from
heaven? Why?
-
Is God really in control? Explain.
-
What should be
our
response at this time?
- Did God make viruses? Why?
- Yes, God made the virus,
but not to harm us. After
Fall or sin entered, virus also
get affected and it
harms humanity.
- Following taken from Answers In Genesis in
Why Did God Make Viruses? article.
- If God created everything good and with a purpose, why are there disease-causing bacteria and viruses in the world?
- It is true that we first learned about bacteria and viruses because of the problems they cause.
- Bacteria have been studied in considerable detail and are
now recognized to be mainly helpful and absolutely essential for life on Earth; bacteria that
cause disease (which developed as a result of the Fall) are the exceptions, not the rule.4
- But what about viruses: what purpose could they possibly have?
- What Is a Virus?
- Viruses are a bit of an
enigma (a person or thing that is
mysterious,
puzzling, or
difficult to understand).
- They contain DNA or RNA that are found in all living things.
- This is
packaged in a protein coat.
- Despite this, viruses are
not usually considered living because they are
not made up of cells and cannot reproduce by themselves.
- Instead, the
virus will inject the DNA or RNA into a living cell, and
- the cell will make copies of the virus and assemble them so they can spread.5
- Given our current knowledge of viruses, it is quite reasonable to believe that
disease-causing viruses are descended from viruses that were
once not harmful.6
- It has been suggested that they have
played an important role in maintaining life on Earth—somewhat similar to the way
bacteria do.7
- ... ...
-
Is the Coronavirus
pandemic the
wrath of God
being poured out from
heaven? Why?
- No, this Coronovirus
pandemic is not the wrath of God,
read through the following and
find out why it is not.
- Before Jesus Christ,
God poured out His wrath or
fierce anger only when His people disobey Him:
- God also warned His people of the
consequences of disobedience, including plagues
(Leviticus
26:21, 25).
- On two occasions, God destroyed
14,700 people
and 24,000 people for various acts of
disobedience (Numbers
16:49 and 25:9).
- After giving the Mosaic Law, God commanded the
people to obey it or suffer many evils,
including something that sounds like
Ebola: “The
Lord will strike you with wasting disease (causing a
person or a part
of the body to
become
progressively
weaker and more
abnormally thin), with
fever and inflammation
. . . which will
plague
you until you perish” (Deuteronomy
28:22). These are just a few examples
of many plagues and diseases God caused.
- It’s sometimes
hard to imagine our loving
and merciful God displaying such wrath and anger
toward His people. But God’s punishments always
have the goal of repentance and restoration.
- God said to
Solomon in
- 2 Chro 7:13-14 - 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
- Here we see God using disaster to draw His people to Himself, to bring about repentance and
the desire to come to Him as children to their
heavenly Father.
- In all these
plagues, only disobedient
people died and
these plagues
did not affect His
believers who
obey Him.
- God so loved this
world and out of His grace He
sent His Jesus Christ to save
the world and not to condemn the
world:
- John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
- In gospel
God
revealed two
things:
- Gospel reveals the Righteousness of God:
- Romans 1:17 - For in it [gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
- Gospel reveals the Wrath of God:
- Romans 1:18 - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness
- Jesus came
- to preach the gospel, to heal, set the captives free, ... :
- Luke 4:16-21 - 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
- to give the righteousness of God to those who put their faith in Him:
- Romans 3:22 - 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
- NIV: Romans 3:22 - This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
- We are now in a grace period.
- But Jesus did not
come to
condemn/judge
the world or to
pour out the
wrath of God:
- John 3:17 - For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
- Believers are
not appointed
for His wrath.
- 1 Thes 5:9 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Romans 5:9 - Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
- God
will
rapture
the believers
to heaven before
God
pours out His
wrath:
- 1 Thes 1:10 - 9 For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
- How will God deliver us from the wrath?
- God will rapture (taken-up) the believers to heaven before He pours out His wrath.
- 1 Thes 4:16-17 - 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
- God has
rserved
last seven years before the
second coming of Jesus Christ
to pour out His
vengeance or wrath
which is called
the Great
Tribulation
- Is 61:2 -
1 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the
day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn
... ... ... 4
And they shall
rebuild
the old ruins,
They shall raise
up the former
desolations, And
they shall
repair
the ruined
cities,
The desolations
of many
generations.
- During this time
...
- The
Antichrist will
rule the world
and at the
middle
of 7 year, he
claims
himself as God:
- NLT: Dan 9:27 - The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven [years], but after half this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and offerings. And as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration, until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him.”
- 2 Thes 2:4 - 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
- The wrath of
Jesus Christ
and
the wrath of God
will be poured
out for last
seven years
before the
second coming of
Jesus Christ:
- Rev 6:16,17 - 12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. ... ... ... 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
- Rev 14:10 - 9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
- Rev 11:18; Rev 16:19; Rev 19:15
- Most
of the judgment
during this
Great
Tribulation
happens all over
the world and
everyone in the
world will be
affected and the
death toll be
very high:
- During fourth seal judgment one fourth of the world population at that time will be dead:
- Rev 6:8 - So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
- The world’s population during 2020 is approximately 7.8 billion people.
If it happens now ≈1.95 billion people will die in this judgment.
- When
God pours out
His wrath He
will
protect the
believers
(as He protected
His obedient
believers in Old
Testament times):
- Rev 9:4 - 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
- After every
plague/judgments
God looked for the
repentance of
any left behind
people:
- Rev 9:20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
- Not only they are repenting but they will blasphemed God
- Rev 16:21 - 17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, .... ... ... 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great.
- After pouring out
His wrath and judging the people who
rebelled
against Him, He will rule the world for
1000 years.
- Rev 20:4
- And I saw thrones,
and they sat on
them, and
judgment
was committed to
them.
Then I saw the
souls
of those
who had been
beheaded for
their witness to
Jesus
and for the word
of God, who had
not worshiped
the beast or his
image, and had
not received his
mark on their
foreheads or on
their hands. And
they
lived and
reigned with
Christ for a
thousand years.
- After this
dead
non-believers will come back to
life and God in
the white throne will will judge
these according to their sinful
deeds and thrown into lake of fire
(Hell) - Rev
20:11-15
- After this
God will
create new heaven and new earth
and new Jerusalem and
all believers will live with God
almighty and His son Jesus
Christ and the God Holy Spirit
forever and ever - Rev 21,22
- Since God
reserved
the last seven years
before His second coming to
pour out His wrath, so
this
coronavirus pandemic is not
wrath of God.
-
Is God really in control?
Explain.
- Yes, God is
in control because our God is
Omniscient i.e
all knowing God. He
knows what is
going to come in future.
- NLT:
Romans
11:33-36 - 33
Oh, how great
are God’s riches
and wisdom and
knowledge!
- How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!
- 34 For who can know the LORD ’s thoughts?
- Who knows enough to give him advice?
- 35 And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?
- 36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen
-
Nothing will
happen without
the knowledge of
God.
So, God allowed this Pandemic to happen
- It may be happened like natural disaster
- Without any evil intent this virus may be from bird or animal. It affected
one person and then spread to many and due to carelessness or selfish reason it spread all over the world.
- or it may be due to evil people who purposefully used this virus as a bio-weapon and spread the
virus to affect all in the world
- God didn't create everyone as robot but He created with freewill. So, God respects the freewill of every human being and this include both good and evil people,
- For example, king Saul tried his level best to kill David for 15 years due to his evil heart and fear of loosing his kingship.
- God didn't interfere with Saul's freewill and so He didn't force him to stop harming David but allowed all the evil schemes of Saul to kill David.
- At the same time
- God waited patiently i.e. given more time to Saul to repent from his sin.
- God used this situation/trial to mold and shape David and made David as a man after His own heart.
- We can see this in this following verses:
- Mat 13:24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' 29 But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' "
- God gave this parable to demonstrate that, by allowing evil people (tares) to live with believers in Christ (wheat) God is expecting those evil people to repent.
- God is also expecting believers to show His love to this evil people.
- God showed His grace to these evil people because He wants everyone to be saved.
- 1 Tim 2:4 - who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- We do not know exactly why God allowed this to happen and
how He is going to solve this issue.
- God
works in a ways
that we cannot
easily identify
or predict:
- NLT: Is 45:15 - Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in mysterious ways.
- Is 55:8,0 - 8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
- But we know for sure
that God
is using this to
bring good out
of it, especially
for those
who love
God and
serve
according to His
purpose.
Romans 8:28
- And we know
that all
things work
together for
good to those
who love God,
to those
who are the
called according
to His purpose.
- He is reviving all the believers in
Christ by drawing them close to Him
especially making us to pray
- He has proved that no one or any great country can solve this issue unless He gives wisdom to find vaccine.
- Now even immature believers in Christ know that
we need help from God.
- This situation may make
non-believers to realize their
inability to do anything to solve this issue.
- Jesus also warned about this when he lists what will happen during end times i.e. before the rapture and the Great tribulation.
- Luke 21:11 - And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.
- In a way this is foretaste of Great Tribulation time
for those people who left behind experience after rapture of believers.
- We believers may watch this from heaven. But I doubt because we will be enjoying exploring the heaven.
- In His time he will solve this problem.
-
What should be
our
response at this time?
- Do
not fear, panic, afraid,
be anxious, ... God is always
there to help us
because He is our
refuge.
- God
is in control He
will take care
of us.
- There are
300
verses in the
Bible that talks
about do not
fear, afraid,
be anxious, ...
- God is always
available for you, no matter how
much of a worst sinner you are,
or if you are not sure
that you will go to heaven when
you die or you
were backslidden and not walking
with God:
-
Repent
from your sins
by turning to
God and
accept Jesus as
your Lord and
Savior
because
Jesus died for
your sins.
- Romans 10:9-11,13 - 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." ... ... 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
-
Surrender your
life to Jesus
totally, renew
your mind by
reading His word
in the Bible
and He
will transform
you by
filling
you with His
Holy Spirit:
- NLT: Romans 12:1,2 - 1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
- Abide to the
local authorities instructions.
- Social
distancing.
- Stay at
home.
- Attend the
church via
online.
- Have
fellowship via
phone or video
calls,
- ...
- Continue to pray to God.
- Ask God
to reduce the time of this
pandemic for believer's sake
- Matt 24:21,22
- 21
For then there will be great tribulation [7 year before Jesus 2nd
coming] , such as
has not been since the beginning
of the world until this time,
no, nor ever shall be. 22 And
unless those days were shortened, no
flesh would be saved;
but for the elect's sake
those days will be shortened.
- Ask God
to miraculously solve this
issue by not spreading and
healing
all those who
have this virus.
- Ask God
to give wisdom to
people to find vaccine/medicine to solve this
issue
- Ask God
to give
wisdom to
Christian
doctors,
Christian
Medical care
organizations
such as Samaritan's
Purse
to find
a vaccine
and glorify God.
All glory needs to go to almighty God Jesus
Christ.
- For Ebola virus Billy Graham's son's Franklin Graham's association Samaritan purse mainly supported and missionary doctors went from USA and helped resolve the issue.
- Ask God
to leads us to reach out and
touch those who are in need at this
time.
- Ask God
to protect us from
this pandemic.
- Ask God
to protect our
job.
- Ask God
to put the burden at this time to be
generous to those who are in need.
- Ask God
to put the
burden to pray for those who
are sick, the first responders, leaders, ...
- Ask God
to draw all to come closer to Him.
- Do whatever He leads
us to do:
- God
is looking for
man and women after
His own heart.
- NIV: Acts 13:22 - After removing Saul, he [God] made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
- If
you are ready
and open to do
whatever God
wants to do then He
will use you by
giving you the tasks to do.
Summary:
- Did God make viruses? Why?
- Yes, God made the virus,
but not to harm us. After
Fall or sin entered, virus also
get affected and it
harms humanity.
-
Is the Coronavirus
pandemic the
wrath of God
being poured out from
heaven? Why?
- No, this Coronovirus
pandemic is not the wrath of God,
because God has reserved
the last seven years before His
second coming to pour out His
wrath.
-
Is God really in control? Explain.
- Yes, God is
in control because our God is
Omniscient i.e
all knowing God. He
knows what is
going to come in future.
- Nothing will
happen without
the knowledge of
God. So,
God allowed this Pandemic to happen.
- We do not know exactly why God allowed this to happen and
how He is going to solve this issue.
- God
works in a ways
that we cannot
easily identify
or predict.
- But we know for sure
that God
is using this to
bring good out
of it especially
for those
who love
God and
serve
according to His
purpose.
In His time he will solves this problem.
-
What should be
our
response at this time?
- Do
not fear, panic, afraid,
be anxious, ... God is always
there to help us
because He is our
refuge.
- God is always
available for you, no matter how
much of a worst sinner you are,
or if you are not sure
that you will go to heaven when
you die or you
were backslidden and not walking
with God:
-
Repent
from your sins
by turning to
God and
accept Jesus as
your Lord and
Savior
because
Jesus died for
your sins.
-
Surrender your
life to Jesus
totally, renew
your mind by
reading His word
in the Bible
and He
will transform
you by
filling
you with His
Holy Spirit:
- Abide to the
local authorities instructions.
- Continue to pray to God.
- Do whatever He leads
us to do..
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