Coronavirus

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is making a huge impact on the world. 

  • Every country in the world is affected
  • Normal life is disrupted,
  • People are fearful and suffering
  • There are huge numbers of cases and deaths
  • The economies of most countries are badly battered.

What does it mean for us?  Why is it happening?  What does the Bible say about Coronavirus?  What should you and I be doing about it? 

2020 has been dominated by the COVID-19 Coronavirus Crisis which has been spreading around the world and has now killed large numbers of people and infected a much larger number of people.  Governments have reacted by placing restrictions on the movements and mixing of people to try to slow the spread of the disease.  Some other people are not so fearful and instead resent the restrictions, because they think that if they can’t go anywhere, what’s the point of living.

The Coronavirus restrictions have slowed the previous frantic pace of life right down.  Many people are stuck at home with little to do.  It’s an opportunity to take stock of our lives and think about where we are going in life, and perhaps think more deeply about life and death.

Despite the large death toll from Coronavirus, there are tragically millions of people that die from other things:

  • 10 million people die every year from cancer.
  • 8 million people die from cardiovascular diseases each year.
  • 8 million people die from smoking every year.

A lot of money and effort is put into curing these diseases, but when someone dies in their old age from other health issues, why is there not the same level of concern? Sadly, many people live their life trying to not think about the fact that one day life will be over.

Coronavirus is a reminder that we are all mortal and that one day we will all die.  But the Bible does have a solution to this.

Resurrection is God’s solution to death

The solution to death given in the Bible is resurrection.  (Where resurrection means the making alive again of people that have died.) 

Jesus promised that he would raise those that faithfully followed him: 

John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his (Jesus’) voice,   And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (condemnation).

Sometime after this Jesus resurrected a man called Lazarus from the grave to life again. Before raising Lazarus to life he told his sister Martha:

John 11:25 I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Jesus went to the tomb where Lazarus was (John 11:38) and after praying to God he then:

John 11:43-44  … cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Later in the New Testament it states that the people who have followed Jesus in their life, will be raised back to life at the time when Jesus Christ returns to this earth.

1Thess 4:13-17  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.   For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep (are dead) in Jesus will God bring with him…  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

For more information about the return of Jesus Christ see our Return of Jesus Christ page.  There are many Bible Prophecies that identify that Jesus Christ will return soon.  For example see our Brexit page and our Russia in Syria page.

When Jesus Christ returns to the earth and has raised his faithful followers from death, he will give them eternal life and then the Kingdom of God will commence.  This will be an amazing time of peace and happiness.  For more information on this see our Kingdom of God page.

Why is the Coronavirus pandemic happening?

The Bible doesn’t give a specific prophecy about the Coronavirus.  However the Bible reveals that God has used epidemics and pandemics in the past.  In the Bible they are termed “pestilence”.  He has used pestilence to warn people and to administer judgements when they have disobeyed him.

After the Jewish people left Egypt (around 1500BC and before they came into the land of Israel God gave to their leader Moses a prophecy of what would happen to them after they had taken possession of the land.  God told the Jewish people that in time they would turn away from him and as a result he would use pestilence to judge them and he would remove them from the land of Israel (which happened progressively from 740- 586BC). 

Deuteronomy 28:21 (ESV)

The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it

When God was pouring out those judgments on the Jewish people, he spoke through the Prophet Amos:

Amos 4:10

“I have sent among you the pestilence”

War and famine and Pestilence

God used pestilence together with war and famine as judgments.  For example, when God judged Israel for their evil ways and sent them into captivity (600BC) he also judged other nations using the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. 

Jeremiah 27:8 (ESV)

But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword (war), with famine, and with pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand

Before the Jewish people crucified the son of God, Jesus Christ in about 30AD, he prophesied of the judgments that would come upon them for doing this evil.  In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 Jesus prophesied of troubles coming on the Jewish nation leading up to 70AD when the Romans would come and destroy Jerusalem and send all the Jews into captivity in other nations.  So in the lead up to this final judgement on the Jews, Jesus said that part of the judgements would be pestilences:

Matthew 24:7 (NKJV)

“And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”. 

Jesus went on to say in v8 (ESV)

“All these are but the beginning of the birth pains”

As all mothers would know, when the time of birth comes, the contractions become more frequent and the birth pains more intense the closer to delivery.  This is what happened in the lead up to AD70.  The trouble came more frequently and with more severity.

Jesus said that there would be similar things happen in the lead up to his return to the earth.  (He refers to himself as “the Son of man”.)

Luke 21:25-27 (KJV)

And there shall be signs … distress of nations, with perplexity.  Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

So a sign of Jesus Christ’s return will be people being very fearful of what is happening in the world.  Coronavirus is certainly causing fear now.  At the same time other causes of fear have come about.  Tensions between China and Australia & the USA have flared up.  The protests in the USA around the Black Lives Matter Movement have caused fear. In all there is much fear in the world.  However these are signs of Christs coming to bring in a much happier era on the earth.  You too can participate in the coming Kingdom of God, but you need to believe the truth of the Bible and be baptised.