CAN A PANDEMIC BE A DIVINE JUDGMENT?

The following guest post is contributed by my brother-in-law, Clyde F. Bowie, Jr., a retired pastor.

Scripture emphatically proclaims a God who is the summit and measure of all good. He is a loving God whose love transcends all our imagination in its depth and height. His love is revealed most powerfully in the incarnation and cross (Philippians 2:5-11; Romans 5:8). The suffering and sacrifice endured by Christ was God’s will as it was poignantly depicted in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will” (Matt.26:39). To emphasize the emphatic nature of God’s will to this end God’s Word in essence repeats itself in verse 42: “Again, for the second time he went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.'” His will was done the next day when His Son cruelly died for the sins of the world, paying their price upon suffering the penalty of death on the cross. Never was, or will, such an injustice ever be committed again. No other pain or suffering can compare. Yet, it was the will of God. His will for good over evil, for life over death. Consequently, to declare that God would never will or send calamities on earth to effect His good contradicts the cross; for He is so committed to doing His good to eradicate evil and so committed to His love which He wants to give and express through each of us (who, by the way, in sin are His woefully deserving enemies), that He inflicted the worst calamity ever, the punishment for our sins, upon Jesus, the pure lamb who was slain to seal the best blessing ever for all who will come! On Calvary, through Jesus, His loving, merciful good gloriously triumphed over hateful evil and death.

In the Old Testament, God clearly sends plagues and destruction on the earth for the good of His righteous judgment, in fulfillment of His eternal love. In Genesis 6-9 we have the account of the Flood when God destroyed all mankind and creatures on earth with the exception of the remnant saved on the Ark, which was a type of salvation to come in Christ. Judgment, destruction, yet hope of salvation in God’s merciful provisions on the ark is a precursor of Christ. In Genesis 11 we have God confusing mankind through dividing him through languages which, due to sin, is an act of incalculable, devastating consequences we still suffer from – for this division, because of our sin, has contributed wars, prejudice, xenophobia etc. – but also an act that leads us to Christ. In the end of Genesis 11 we are introduced to Abraham. Through the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12 Christ would come! God’s good always triumphing over evil. In Exodus 3-13 we have God sending plagues on Egypt virtually destroying an entire nation for the good of punishing their evil and saving us all through Israel and through Christ, who would come out of Israel. On and on I could go. Be sure to consider Job and read the Prophets in which God promises to judge through unleashing many pestilences, famines and the swords upon the nations and His people for their idolatry and sin, all the while being available to save anyone (including wicked Nineveh!!) who would turn to Him through repentance and faith.

In the New Testament, Jesus frequently warns of destruction and judgment in the Gospels, through His woes against the Pharisees and Scribes, Olivet Discourses and certain parables such as The Parable of the Wicked Tenants and The Parable of the Marriage Feast (Matthew 21-22; 24-25). In the Book of Revelation, God pours out His wrath upon the earth in the accounts of the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls among other things (Revelation 5; 6, 8-11; 15-16), like the two witnesses in Rev. 11:5, “And if anyone would harm them, fire pours out of their mouth and consumes their foes; if anyone would harm them, thus he is doomed to be killed.”

Does all this make God cruel and evil? No, no, no!! for God is merely justly punishing mankind for sins, but always at the same time He is mercifully, lovingly, offering the alternative of salvation through confession, repentance and forgiveness in Christ, even in the days of Noah through the ark, or the days of Moses and Israel through the Covenant – the types of Christ ! As Paul says in Romans 3:23, “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all guilty and deserving of His punishment and death, but “God shows His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). This is good news!! Good news indeed!!

In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus says, “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, unto the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.” If ever we have seen a day like Noah’s, is it not ours? Our world is wicked beyond comparison. Yes, many good and noble sheep remain, but the times overwhelmingly merit God’s judgment. Certainly it is a very strong possibility that the world outbreak of this pandemic is such a judgment. Not the final judgment we deserve, but a warning, which calls us to greater repentance and faith in God’s love in Christ Jesus! Through it God is mercifully extending His forgiveness and salvation to all who will come. Therefore, the only evil concerning whether God is judging us through coronavirus is in those of us who choose to ignore Him, preferring ourselves and the world drowning in sin.