Coronavirus, What to Do Pt. 1
Biblical Restoration of the Church for the Last Days
As we enter into this teaching, if a child of God is afflicted with an illness or suffers the consequences of sinful choices made by the church or nation, does not mean that person is being punished, it is time for building faith and trust in the Lord. It is like this: When a bomb goes off there is always collateral damage – the innocent are hurt, they need to seek God’s help, comfort and direction. If a contractor does not follow the engineering plans in the construction of a building and the building collapses, the innocent are affected. They need to seek God, through Jesus Christ for comfort, help and guidance. The Bible says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:2-5)
The Greek word for trials (pe??asµ?? peirasmós) can refer to “a state of trial in which God brings His people through adversity and afflictions in order to encourage and improve their faith and confidence in Him.” (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.)
The point must be made clear – just because an individual gets a current pestilence does not mean he/she are being punished or chastised; it is opportunity to grow our faith in the Lord.
When considering what to do in any pestilence (Coronavirus), along with seeing God turning our nation over to leadership making decisions which: 1.) Breaks God’s heart. 2.) Completely disregards His will, or 3.) Defiantly going against His laws, degrees and precepts. We need to become real children of God and ask the modern-day born-again theologians of God’s Word who are appointed by Christ (Ephesians 4:12) real heart-searching questions like: “What is God trying to tell us?” What do we need to do in order to enjoy God’s intervention, protection and blessings?
In order to get a Biblical foundation on why we need to ask, there is the heart of the people in Ezekiel’s day, when they saw God had given their prophet instructions to act indifferently toward his wife’s death. When they observed how Ezekiel was acting not the way a husband would normally respond. Their question to Ezekiel was, “will you not tell us what these things mean for us…” (Ezekiel 24:19)
Regarding nations the Psalmist writes, “Dose He who disciplines nations not punish….” (Psalm 94:10a) Regard the chastisements of God’s people for disobedience, Jesus spoke words to the beloved John while he was on the Island of Patmos, the epistles addressed sins and good things about seven different churches. It is interesting, this truth is spoken by Jesus to the seven churches, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelations 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:8, 13, 22) The warnings and exhortations of Jesus to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 have applications to us as a local church today. The churches then was to shine for God, like the modern-day Body of Christ is suppose today shine for God amid a world view blinded by Satan’s deceptions. (Vincent, M. R. (1887). Word studies in the New Testament (Vol. 2, p. 435). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.; Beasley-Murray, G. R. (1994). Revelation. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1426). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.; MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 2355). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
The churches written about by the beloved John gives a consecutive preview of the history of Christendom. Like the churches written about by John – is like the churches of today having some good truths the believers lived by, but are told by the Lord, churches have some sin issues that must be taken care of. (MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 2355). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
It is imperative, God hands out chastisements to the disobedient church of God and punishments to the ungodly. When God’s people are going through pestilence and being thrown under national leadership which disregards the Lord’s laws, decrees and precepts. It is a good time start getting a Biblical evaluation done.
God is always dealing with different heart issues of mankind through afflictions, punishments, trials, conflicts and consequences of wrong choices. Any born-again theologian interpreting the whole of Scripture using proper exegesis can tell you, God is chastising the church and punishing this nation for their sins. When pestilence is sent as a chastisement for the disobedience of God’s people and/or because national rulers refuse to surrender to God’s guidance, there is a Biblical solution to be lived out so we may enjoy God’s forgiveness and intervention.
Simply, Coronavirus is a prototype of what has happen in the past, what is now in presence time and what is to come in a later date. A “prototype (s???c, ??) is a foreshadow of things to come. (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 592). New York: United Bible Societies.) Through the COVID 19 Pandemic, a real pestilence, Satan is laying a foundation for control of which people are surrendering to. Please Note: The church is not changing or stopping a prototype – but as we see things begin to evolve toward the end days, we can point people to the teaching of God’s Word and of Jesus Christ. Giving them an opportunity to consider a relationship with Jesus, fore He is the one to trust in as we see the last days approach.
What to Do?
The Book of Psalms gives us a foundation to lay hold of as we hear of all the news about Coronavirus, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust a prince.” (Psalm 118:8-9) The Hebrew word for to take refuge (????? - ?asâ) can mean to confide in. (Wiseman, D. J. (1999). 700 ?????. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 307). Chicago: Moody Press.)
How do We Confide
First: We are to confided in God’s Word by seeking the Lord’s help and pray, “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law. …do not hide your commandments from me.” (Psalm 119:18-19b) We need modern day people of God who have Holy Spirit enlightenment of the whole counsel of God’s Word, to go and tell those in government and the church, “this is what the Word of God says about the issues of these days.”
Second: We seek God to reveal Jesus Christ to everyone and draw all to make a clear choice of Whom they may serve. Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last days.” (John 6:44) Our deliverance, protection, and guidance lays at the foundation of wanting people to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. We need to rest in God’s peace over the choices this country and the churches make. John did and so did Joshua.
Joshua gave the people he was addressing the key option above all choices, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom will serve.” (Joshua 24:15) Twice after this verse Joshua mentions, “god’s” – referring to the gods their ancestors served and the gods of the land they were now living in. (Joshua 24:15) In Joshua 24:14 we read of Joshua saying, “Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the god’s your ancestors worshiped.”
The preoccupy in the NIV Bible of these Scriptures says, The Covenant Renewed. Never in America’s history as now does our founding father’s covenant needs to be renewed with the Lord. In Joshua’s message are key words which need to be examined.
The “Lord” (??????? yehowah) a noun meaning God, (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 426). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.) our Father who gave His one only Son so we may have eternal life, meaning to have life in Christ now in a relationship which is meaningful, peaceful and everlasting. Joshua calls on them and us to declare in a public and solemn manner, whether they would and we will be faithful and obedient to God, (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 157). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) the Father of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ
Other “gods:” “Joshua’s implication was the nation had never truly rid themselves of false worship, and he was urging the people in the strongest terms to do so now” (Howard, D. M., Jr. (1998). Joshua (Vol. 5, p. 435). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.) It must be understood, it is not what is set up to worship is the issue of false gods – false worship is the sin, not meeting the mark of true worship of God our Farther, to Jesus, His Son under the enabling of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.
In “faithfulness:” (????? ?eme?) meaning to walk in truth is to conduct oneself according to God’s Holy standards. To live reliably, dependably and in trustworthiness to the Lord “Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 74). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
Joshua was a servant to Moses and later replaced him. It is interesting that Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent out to explore Canaan (Numbers 13:16) In that Biblical account, 10 spies returned with a bad report, only Joshua and Caleb said they could take the land. According to the Bible the ten men who spread a bad report died by a “plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua and Caleb survived.” (Numbers 14:37-38) The Hebrew word plague (???????? maggep_ah) refers to a deadly pestilence. (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 569). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.)
We need those who have the apportioned gifts of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16) to equip the Body of Christ with the written Word of God to address the issues of the day – exhorting our government to repent of their many sins and challenge the modern-day church be healed of the cancers of traditionalism, legalism, denominationalism and faddism. Applying the truths of this message lays down a solid foundation toward battling for the souls of mankind, maturing Christians, and enlightening to spiritual blind.
