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A 17-year-old wears a hazmat suit, gas mask, boots, and gloves as he walks under cherry blossom trees in full bloom along the tidal basin
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Plagues,
the End Times, and Trusting in God's Protection: 'You Will Hear Us and
Rescue Us'.
no one knows when the end will come or
how close we are to Christ's return, but Jesus made it clear that we can read
the signs of the times to know when it's getting closer - the Word of God
ensures us that we can find refuge in Him and freedom from the fear and anxiety
that plagues our world in the age of coronavirus and beyond
Benjamin Gill
The term
"apocalypse" is being tossed around these days in connection with the
coronavirus pandemic as people seek the right words to express the trauma
we're feeling on a global scale.
There's a ton of
fear in our world right now for obvious reasons since this COVID-19 virus is
quite contagious, leading to concerns that it could overwhelm our medical
system with deadly force.
So this question
seems to be floating in the air: Is the coronavirus some sort of sign that the
end is getting closer? The Bible has quite a bit to say about all this.
Just to start with
a little historical perspective, I have a hunch that people enduring the
Bubonic Plagues or Hitler's Nazi death machine were facing some intense
evidence that the end of the world might be getting near.
Yet, we're all
still here centuries after those plagues and many decades after WWII.
To be clear, I'm
not belittling our current predicament or what it tells us about the End Times.
In fact, when the
entire world is literally facing a lockdown, people are dying around the globe,
and economies are being undermined, I think that's some serious evidence that
God wants us to pay close attention to His Word.
In Luke 21:9-11,
Jesus explains that before the end of time, we will see escalations in all
types of calamities in our world, including plagues:
"When
you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must
take place first, but the end does not follow immediately."
Then He continued by saying to them, "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against
kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and
famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven."
Our world has certainly experienced all of those things in
some measure, and they seem to be escalating, from tsunamis to massive
earthquakes, from wars to global Islamic terrorism, from plagues of
locusts and disease to blood moons and other signs in
the heavens, it's all been happening around us in recent
history.
But several excerpts from that passage caught my eye.
Consider the phrase "the end does not follow
immediately".
I'm
not an expert on eschatology,
but to me, that phrase means the traumatic events unfolding in our world –
including the coronavirus pandemic – indicate that a conclusion is on the
horizon, but we can't read these specific signs to mean that the conclusion
will be immediate.
The other phrase that caught my eye was "do not be
terrified."
Throughout scripture, God tells us "do not be
afraid."
Jesus continues in Luke 21:25-28:
"There
will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations,
in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear
and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the
powers of the heavens will be shaken.
“Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with
power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up
and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Jesus offers true hope by stating, "Your
redemption is drawing near."
While
plagues are prophesied throughout Scripture and were a part of the
traumatic events Jesus predicted would precede His return, mercy is also
clearly the heart of our heavenly Father.
His
desire as a protective Father is to shield His children.
Author Joel
Rosenberg explains that there are multiple passages throughout
the Bible where God explains that in His mercy, "He will shake
individuals and nations in a desire to get our attention and draw us to
Him."
In Amos 9:9, the Lord God says, “I will
shake the house of Israel among all nations," and in
Haggai 2:7 He says, “I will shake all the nations.”
Also, Hebrews 12:26 said, “And His voice shook the earth
then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE
EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.”
His people Israel understood that concept quite well.
In
this passage from 2 Chronicles 20:9,
the Israelites place their faith in God to protect them from plagues:
"They
said, 'Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, plague, or famine,
we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is
honored. We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue
us.'"
Another often-cited passage from Chronicles deals with the
issue of God's protection and power to deliver.
Most
people cite verse 14 of
2 Chronicles 7, but they don't always mention the portion in verse
13 that talks about plagues.
"13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if
I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My
people,
"14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves
and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
God calls us to humility and repentance in order to
receive His healing, and now is the perfect time in history for all people to
cry out to Him for salvation.
If
we ask for His forgiveness through
Jesus Christ, He will grant it. If we ask for His shelter, He will provide it.
Psalm 91 also makes that clear.
"Those
who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the
Almighty. This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of
safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
“For
he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will
cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful
promises are your armor and protection.
“Do
not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes
at midday...
“If
you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil
will conquer you; no plague will come near your home."
The Word of God ensures us that we can find refuge in Him
and freedom from the fear and anxiety that plagues our world in the age of
coronavirus and beyond.
Benjamin
Gill -
Multimedia Manager
Benjamin
Gill is the Multimedia Manager for CBNNews.com. He serves as web content
manager and has been on staff with CBN News since 2000. You can follow him on
Twitter @BenGillCBN.
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