A Mighty Fortress is our God
Text: Psalm 91:1-16
Well, I have to say, that I was going to have us go back to John’s Gospel this morning, but a lot has happened since last Sunday. You all know about the Coronavirus that’s sweeping across the world, that’s why our numbers are down this morning, and it’s caused us to change things up a little here at the Church. It seems like new developments come out every hour about this virus, and we’re getting a lot of information, and a lot of misinformation, and it’s difficult to sort through it all. As of Saturday (March 21, 2020), there are 275,434 confirmed cases of Coronavirus world-wide, and 11,399 deaths. That’s nowhere near what we saw with H1N1 in 2009. In just the U.S. alone, there were over 60 million confirmed cases of H1N1, and more than 200,000 died world-wide from that virus. And really; it’s not even up to the levels of Influenza yet… Every year the flu – Influenza claims between 20,000 – 60,000 lives. And the reason I’m giving you those numbers (which by the way are coming from John’s Hopkins University, the CDC, and the WHO), is because I want you to get things into perspective.
As Christians; we are NOT to be people who are prone to panic, hysteria, or knee jerk reactions. Instead; we as Christians are people who serve an almighty God, who is in control of everything throughout all of creation. Our God is Almighty, He is Sovereign, and He loves His people with an everlasting love. As Christians; THAT has to be the lens we look through first. And that doesn’t mean that as Christians we will somehow miraculously be immune to COVID-19, or that if we did catch it, it won’t make us sick, or that we wouldn’t die from it. What it means is that we trust in God’s good plan. And you all have heard me say this many times before. The old African proverb – “If God is not finished with me I cannot die!” And that is true! Even though it tends to drive the more fearful among us crazy when I say it, it’s true.
So what I want to do this morning, is lay out for you all a few examples of how we can face this as followers of Christ, who trust in our Good and loving God, and who trust in His unchanging Word. We’re first going to look at a couple of examples of how God’s people have dealt with things similar to this, and then we’re going to go directly to God’s Word.
So… let’s go back in time to the year 420 AD, and the barbarians have invaded the City of Rome. The Roman Empire is on its heels. The entire civilized world at the time was collapsing, and falling apart. If you had been alive at this time, everything that you would have known was being turned upside down, and destroyed. And the fall of Rome is going to eventually lead to the Dark Ages, and a long period of just horrible, horrible times. And during this time – in 420 AD. There were two Church Fathers who were very influential. One was Jerome. He’s the guy who had written the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible… and the other guy was Augustine. And as the Barbarian’s stormed the city of Rome, Jerome, was so distraught, and so upset, and so beside himself, he went into isolation in a cave, and basically died of depression. Because society, civilization, and culture as he knew it, was basically over. He fell into deep depression, and despair, and basically gave up. The other Church Father, Augustine, wrote a little book… 900+ pages, called City of God, and in that book he takes an entirely different perspective than Jerome. Augustine basically says, “There is the City of Man, which is shifting and changing all throughout human history. Empires rise and fall, economies grow large and robust, and then collapse; time marches on, but the City of God endures forever. It is eternal, and it’s the goal of every believer.” Augustine went on to live for 10 more years, before dying at the age of 75. He went on teaching, preaching, evangelizing, writing books, and making a difference for the Kingdom of God here on earth.
The difference between Jerome and Augustine was their perspective, and their view of God and His sovereignty and goodness. And the main difference between the two men was where they had placed their hope.
Fast forward to the 1500’s. The Bubonic Plague was spreading across Europe. Before it was finished, it would end up killing close to 60 million people, and wiping out nearly 2/3rds of Europe’s population. And around 1527 or so, it hit Germany. People knew it was coming, and they began to panic. And they began to flee in mass. Hysteria, fear, panic, concern… it was all very real during this time, and… let’s be honest… it was justified. Nearly 60 million dead, with no cure in sight. I mean… if you caught the Black Plague, you were a goner within a week or two. And so; like I said, people were in a panic, and they began to flee in mass… almost like a stampede. Now… there’s a World Heritage Site in Alberta Canada called “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”, and it’s a pretty interesting place from what I’ve read about it. It was a slaughter site for the Blackfoot Indian Tribe. And basically what would happen is that on a nice day, a group of Blackfoot on horseback, would come riding into a buffalo herd, whooping and hollering, and they’d get the herd to panic. As the buffalo began to run, the Blackfoot would direct those few bulls that were in the lead, toward a cliff – “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump”. And it’s interesting, because they only had to direct the few buffalo that were in the front of the stampede. The rest just blindly followed, and all they could see was the buffalo in-front of them. And you can probably figure out what happened. Over the side of the cliff they went. It was a hugely successful hunting strategy for the Blackfoot… not so good for the buffalo though.
Well… when the Black Plague swept into Germany, the people acted an awful lot like those herds of buffalo. They stampeded. Not knowing where they were going, or how they would survive away from their farms and jobs, and livelihood. But the great Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther and his wife Katherine, after spending a lot of time in prayer, decided that they would stay. And they decided to stay, not because they were trying to stick it to the “man” or anything like that. But they saw a huge opportunity for ministry, and service for Christ. They turned their home into a hospital, and began ministering to shut-in’s and everyone affected by the Plague. It’s also during that time that Luther wrote the hymn – “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”
It’s in our hymnal… “A mighty Fortress is our God, a Bulwark never failing. Our Helper He amid the flood, of mortal ills prevailing…” It’s a great song about God’s sovereign power and protection, when the world around you is going crazy!
Jump ahead to 1918, when the Spanish Flu killed more than 50 million people, and more than 600,000 here in America. I was actually able to pull some headlines off the internet from that time period that are pretty interesting…
In Buffalo NY, the mayor ordered all places of worship be closed, churches just met in open air meetings, outside, and held services. In Alexandria Louisiana a pastor named Dr. W.S. Black explained to the local paper that he could not in good conscience keep his church closed, despite an order from the mayor, when pool halls and grocery stores remained open, and many more people would congregate in those places than at his small country church. In San Francisco California, the Reverend John Quincy Adam’s Henry, the pastor at SF FBC held open air services in-front of his church building because the building itself had been closed by the city. In Baltimore Maryland, Christians were being arrested because they refused to not attend services. And the mayor in Dallas actually allowed churches to remain open.
So what does all of this mean for you and me today? When we look back at Christians who have gone on before us, and who were dealing with pandemics that are FAR WORSE than anything we’re dealing with today – what we see is men and women, who stood in faith on God’s Word. We see men and women, who understood that there were real, and serious risks involved, but who also understood that ultimately God is in control! What we see is men and women, who; instead of giving into fear, or a herd mentality, saw things like this as opportunities to give a questioning world answers that only the Word of God is going to give. The secular world out there, can’t offer any real hope. They can’t explain to you why things like this happen… sure they can tell you X+Y=Z, but they can’t give you the deeper, philosophical, and theological meaning behind why horrible plagues, and pestilence, and outbreaks, and viruses happen. But God’s Word addresses things like this, and it explains to us, how things like this happen and why they happen, and why they’ll continue to happen with more and more frequency, and get worse and worse. But God’s Word also gives hope, and security, and peace, and comfort. It gives you an understanding of the “what”, “how”, and “why”? of it all.
So let’s go ahead and open our Bibles this morning, to Psalm 91:1-16 (READ).
I don’t know about you all, but as I read that, God fills me with comfort, and joy, and peace. It puts me at ease, and reminds me that our God is BIG! It reminds me that He is in control. It reminds me that He is able to deliver me, and protect me, and keep me safe. It should remind us that “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4). It reminds me that if “God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). And it should remind us, that our lives, and our well-being, are in His hands. He is our refuge and our fortress. What that means is that God is our rest, and our protection… our security. He is our deliverer, and He alone can keep us well, healthy, safe and sound.
And so I want to encourage you this morning… put your theology on display for a world that is in fear. Let your light shine out to a world that is walking in darkness, and that’s asking questions, and looking for answers… and looking for hope. Because who knows whether or not we have come into the Kingdom for such a time as this? So please, take courage in God, and in the strength of His might! Take the opportunity to share the Gospel with others, and call them to repent. Take the opportunity to give a reason for the hope that is within you.
Things like the Coronavirus are birth pains and they will continue in frequency and severity. And we know that these things are pointing us to the return of Christ. Pestilence and plagues, crazy locust swarms in Africa, massive wildfires… we know that God’s Word tells us that 1/3 of the earth will burn… we see the wars and rumors of wars. None of those things; however, cause our hearts to melt with fear, because our God is a MIGHTY FORTRESS, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has promised us – He will be with us, even to the end of the age.
CLOSING
