Questions of faith and coronavirus disease

What is the right Biblical thinking on the coronavirus disease? In last week’s column we discussed the following two questions: First, “will God protect us?” Second, “why is this happening?” We continue with three more questions.

Thirdly, “is coronavirus God’s judgement?” God’s original intention was peace between all things – but this is not how we’re living. He created a world in which everything is connected, and there are natural consequences when those connections are broken.  

This doesn’t necessarily mean that God ‘caused’ or ‘willed’ the pandemic – it is to recognise that the brokenness of creation ultimately causes us harm.

In some cultures, misfortune is seen as directly linked to that person’s sin. But biblically, these links may not exist or be as simple as that.
For example, in the story of Job, Job’s suffering is not a result of his sin, but of the existence and work of Satan. In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus is told about Pilate’s massacre of some Galileans who were in the process of offering sacrifices.

He responds by pointing out that those who were killed were not greater sinners than those who were not killed. And he makes the same point about the people who were killed when the tower in Siloam collapsed.

Jesus is clear that the existence of disasters doesn’t mean that those who are affected by them are worse people than anybody else. Plagues and disasters should never be an invitation to judge others.

God's ultimate nature is love (1 John 4:16). He is a God of infinite grace, compassion and mercy. God cares deeply about humanity, and about you as an individual - so much so that he gave up his Son for you.

We cannot rush to say that coronavirus is some kind of divine judgement. God does judge sin in a life of a person or a rebellious nation, even with a plague (see the Phinehas story in Numbers 25; and Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 7:12&13).

The Lord Jesus will at His Second Coming judge sinfully and cast unrepentant people to the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15; Matthew 25:41)
Fourthly, “Does sin cause illness?” In John 9:1-5 Jesus meets a man who was blind from birth. The disciples ask about the sins that have caused this blindness – was it his sin or that of his parents? But Jesus tells them that his blindness has nothing to do with sin.

Not only that, but it provides an opportunity ‘that the works of God might be displayed in him’. That is not to say that there are no links between spiritual and physical healing.

As we have seen above, the Bible does present links between sin and suffering in the world: our physical suffering is part of that whole chain of sin from Genesis 3 onwards.

And, there are lifestyle choices we can make that either promote neglect of our health and wellbeing.

The Bible indicates there can be times when a person’s sickness is the result of personal sin, but, if and when people fall ill, there is no biblical reason for automatically linking that with a person’s sin and we must never use that as a basis for stigmatisation and rejection.

The Pharisees did that – Jesus did not. His message was one of acceptance, and compassion for all.

Fifthly, “Are these the end times?” Widespread conflict in the Middle East. A plague of locusts spreading across Africa. Flooding around the world. Surely, these are signs of the end times?

If there’s one thing that we can say for certain, it’s that no one can know for certain. If Jesus himself did not know when the end would be (Matthew 24:36), who are we to try and say?

It is important to keep a wider perspective throughout all of this. Christians have been trying (and failing) to predict the end of the world since the early days of the church.

Although the word ‘unprecedented’ keeps being brought up, this is not the first crisis of this scale – indeed, there have been far, far darker times in human history.

The great plague of the 14th century is estimated to have wiped out nearly two- thirds of Europe’s population. I’m sure they were convinced that the end times were upon them too.

War, disease, natural disasters – these are, sadly, nothing new. Jesus said His return would be sudden and unexpected. And He said we were to ignore anyone who thought they knew about specific dates and times, likening people who look for bizzare stories to vultures (Matthew 24:28).

The answer is that there is no clear answer; and that we should ignore those who think they have one.
 The Lord Jesus will certainly come again. Are you ready for Him? In Jesus we have hope, not fear!

(The author is the President of Africa Bible Centre for Disciple-making; an International Conference Speaker and former CEO of Scripture Union. sughanaho@gmail.com)