The nations seem to face one crippling distress followed by another crippling distress Their capacity to provide relief is overwhelmed. The coronavirus is yet one more example of what Jesus called, “…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity.” Luke 21:25 However, while God permits the disease, God is not sending diseases, God does not enjoy suffering.
Sometimes people think the seven plagues in Revelation 16 are literal. If the seven plagues were literal, not a single one is a respiratory coronavirus! But Revelation is a book of symbolic visions and is not literal. These plagues symbolize conditions and events. Revelation 1:1 (NKJV), "The Revelation of Jesus Christ…And He sent and signified it by His angel…” To “signify” is to use signs or pictures to teach things.
God told Israel that they would experience diseases as a part of His punishments if they disobeyed His law. Leviticus 26:14-16 (NIV), "if you (Israel)…violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength." But God has not made a covenant with our world nations. The coronavirus is not sent from God as a punishment.
We are in the “end times.” Scriptural indications include: 1) Daniel 12:1-4, there will be a great increase in knowledge and in travel. Haven’t we seen this? 2) Israel will be re-established as a nation, Ezekiel 38. We have also witnessed this. 3) People will not recognize the importance of world events. Matthew 24:37,38, “…as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.”
We are promised that the end of this present world order is the fulfillment of God’s law, “what you sow, you shall reap.” Proverbs 22:8 (HNV), “He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and…will be destroyed.”
We are seeing the processes of destroying the old in order that God’s kingdom of righteousness may be set up. Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
So, what should believers do during these end times? Zephaniah 2:3 (RSV), “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the LORD.” Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”
For a more in-depth study about God's judgments, and the blessings of the Judgment Day, download the free PDF: "The Day of Judgment"
Related Questions
February 26th 2015 | 38634 views Please explain 1 Peter 4:6 (NKJV), "For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (Togo)
April 07th 2021 | 94648 views Please explain 2 Peter 3:16: "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction."
July 29th 2014 | 38346 views Do you mean to say that the spirit of the Thief, who died upon the cross when the Lord Jesus was crucified, remained in the grave with his body? If so, do the spirits of our dear friends, who turned to Christ in this life, remain with their bodies in the grave until the return of our Lord?
August 18th 2014 | 39128 views Why are we told to pray for enemies and then the Bible talks about having our enemies crushed under our feet?
December 18th 2017 | 38676 views Please explain 1 Peter 4: 5,6. Who are the living and the dead? What is the gospel preached and why?
March 10th 2018 | 39210 views Can a preacher continue to preach to a congregation when he has said something bad to cause chaos with people outside of his church?
December 08th 2016 | 38225 views Upon what are we judged on Judgment Day?
October 23rd 2015 | 38352 views