In light of all that is going on in the world, in our country, and in our state, many people are going through very difficult and dark times whether it be physically, financially or both. The coronavirus pandemic has brought enormous changes to our daily lives, habits, and freedoms and many people are experiencing not only great anxiety and fear concerning the future, but are looking to God and asking, “Why?” When we examine our world, in present times and past times, and consider the numerous wars, sicknesses, diseases, deaths and so many other evils, there is something within us that cries out “This is not how it should be!”
These are troubled times indeed, but God, in His Word, has given us answers. He has told us that we will go through difficult times and He not only tells us the purpose for it, but He gives His children hope for the future. But to understand these things, we need to go back to His Word to remind ourselves of the beginning and why He created us.
In the beginning, God created a perfect world and made two sinless human beings in His own image, Adam and Eve. He provided all their needs and gave them a beautiful environment to live in. He gave them only one command, to not eat the fruit of one tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that if he was to eat this forbidden fruit, he would die. God had given Adam the ability and freedom to choose what was right and pleasing to his Creator, however, Adam chose to exalt himself above God by trusting and following his own wisdom. Adam was the representative head of the entire human race and his decision to sin against God is the same decision that each one of us would have made if given the opportunity.
Even though God had promised death to Adam and Eve for breaking this command, He showed them mercy. Instead of immediate death, they were banished from the garden and allowed to live for a period of time. However, Adam and Eve would eventually die, as we all will. The Bible says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)
Adam’s rebellion brought the human race and the entire creation under a curse. The reason we live in this fallen world full of evil, wars, sickness, and death, is because of sin. Perhaps you think, “That’s not fair!” You’re right! “Fair” would have been immediate death for Adam and Eve, resulting in the extinction of the human race. That would have been just. The very fact that you’re alive to even question the justice of God proves His great mercy.
Consider the mercy and grace of God in how He provides for us - everything that we don’t deserve: the food we eat, the water we drink, the rain for the crops, the air we breath, bodies that heal, medicines that cure, rivers to fish in, mountains to explore, families to love…the list is infinite, for EVERY good thing is a gift from God. Yet, how many people truly recognize His kindness and mercy that He shows to all people on a daily basis? We should be so grateful and thankful, praising God continually, but instead we get angry and even curse God when life isn’t going the way we think it ought.
Something else happened when Adam fell from God’s grace and sin entered the world. Not only did Adam eventually die physically, he immediately died spiritually. He was cut-off from perfect communion with his Creator. Adam’s sin spread to the entire human race so that we are born with a sin nature that is inherent to our very being. David writes in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” He’s not talking about his mother’s sin or the way he was conceived. He’s talking about the sin nature he was born with. Psalm 58:3 says, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.” We are enemies of God from birth, and apart from God’s mercy, we will remain in this state.
We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners; and because we are sinners, we are also cut-off from our Creator. We are cut-off from fellowship with God because He is holy and we are not. We are all corrupt and have failed to obey and honor God perfectly as He has commanded and as He deserves. When asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” None of us have kept these commandments perfectly. We fail to worship and serve God. We put ourselves before others and God. We lie. We steal. We covet. We are guilty. Our sin has separated us from God.
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with You.
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. (Psalm 5:4-6)
Not only are we separated in our relationship with God, but God’s wrath and just punishment is deserved by all.
Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:3-5)
God’s wrath is deserved by all and it is coming soon. The “great and terrible” Day of the Lord is coming when God will judge all people. All will stand before His throne and He will pay them the wages their sin has earned. This is terrible news for mankind. While we go about our days, living our lives for ourselves, following our passions and desires and not giving thought to tomorrow or what eternity will bring, we are storing up wrath for ourselves.
Is there anything we can do? Is there any hope for us? The answer to the first question is “NO.” The answer to the second is, “Praise the LORD, YES!” No, there is nothing we can do to remedy our situation. There is no act of penance. There is no offering or sacrifice we can give. There is no amount of pleading with God for mercy. There are no satisfactory acts of kindness or good works we can present to appease the God we have offended. No prayer will save us. No baptism will save us. No church or denomination will save us. No walk down an aisle will save us. No commitment to God will save us. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we can do to save ourselves from the just wrath of God and eternal punishment in hell.
So where is the hope? Our hope lies in the mercy of God. God’s plan from the foundation of the world has been to demonstrate His glory to His creation. This is why we have been created. His plan for this creation is to show all mankind His power, His love, His mercy, His goodness, His holiness, His justice, and even His perfect, righteous wrath. His plan has always been to provide a Savior who would eradicate sin from the hearts of His people and from this cursed world by creating new heavens and a new earth.
This is the good news! God has sent a Savior: His only begotten Son, born of a virgin and therefore free from corruption of Adam’s original sin. Jesus Christ, whose birth, life, and death, were prophesied hundreds of times in the Old Testament, fulfilled ALL of these prophesies. The Bible teaches that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated, Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. God the Son added a human nature to His divine nature at His incarnation. He entered into His creation to bring us light, to bring us to the Father, and to show us the way of reconciliation and restoration to God. Jesus lived a sinless, righteous life, pleasing to the Father. He lived the life we could never live. He offered his life as a sacrifice for sin. While He hung on the Roman cross, God poured out His holy wrath on the Son who became the substitute for sinners. Jesus was raised back to life on the third day - proving God’s acceptance of the Son’s sacrifice, proclaiming Jesus’ victory over death, and prefiguring the resurrection of all God’s redeemed. This is the promise and hope God has given to sinners: God has placed the sin of His people upon His Son and has poured out His wrath upon His Son who died in the place of sinners. The wrath of God has been satisfied in Christ’s blood that was shed on the cross. Anyone who recognizes their sin and turns from it (repents) and trusts in Christ alone for their salvation will be saved! Believe and be saved!
We can only be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Through faith we are justified. Not only is Christ our substitute in death, He is our substitute in life. He died in our place and lived in our place. His death was our death and His life, our life, when we are in Christ. Our sin was imputed (credited) to Him and His righteous life is imputed to us. All of this is the free gift of God. What love! What mercy! What kindness!
Do you believe this? If you do, then know that even your belief, faith, and trust are not the result of your own inherent wisdom or goodness. For even the faith to believe the good news of the gospel is a gift from God. That is why our only hope lies in God’s mercy, for there is NOTHING we can do in and of ourselves to merit or earn His mercy and forgiveness.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9)
So what does this good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ have to do with our current situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic? This plague is in the complete control of Almighty God and He is using it to accomplish His just and good purposes.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
He is using this situation to bring His people to stronger faith and reliance on Him. He is using it to call sinners to repent and trust in Christ. He is also using it to judge the wicked. God’s word tells us that we are in the last days and that we’ve been in the last days ever since Christ’s first coming. We have been promised that there will be trials and tribulations. The prophetic book of Revelation uses symbolism to show us what these end times will be like and what will happen between Christ’s first and second coming. Revelation shows us not a chronological order of events that will unfold, but a series of visions that explain the same events in a given time period but each from a different vantage point. Over and over, we see that as Jesus is reigning now on the throne; he is directing all of human history to its decreed end. He is breaking the seals and opening the scroll and is sovereign over all the happenings of this earth.
Nations and kingdoms rise and fall, all as God has purposed. Wars, earthquakes, plagues, and famines destroy the wicked, and yet God’s children are preserved through it, for even in death, they have victory!
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)
The only hope that any of us have is found in Jesus Christ, the only Savior. One day you will pass from this life to the next. One day, this earth will pass away as well. These times we live in are temporary, but God is building His eternal kingdom even now.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
