Why Did God Let This Happen? What Are We Still Missing?
During the days of this coronavirus pandemic, my main concern, as a teacher and preacher of the Gospel, is that there is some spiritual deception and spiritual neglect happening. The Bible is very clear that as the time of the antichrist comes closer and closer, people will be greatly given over to spiritual deception, to the point that God will allow people to be deceived because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
I think today, the problem is not that we don’t have the truth, it’s that we don’t love the truth. The problem is not that we don’t sometimes look at the Bible or do personal devotions or hear a sermon now and again; but the problem is that we don’t love the truth. The Bible is the written Word of God, the truth, but it reveals to us the living Word of God, who is Jesus. Unless He is our one true love, our passion, our desire; then we open ourselves up for deception.
We are definitely living in the last days, and we know that. I could share many things with you about how we see the birth pains of the end times coming to be, especially through the coronavirus, through global technology, through a move toward a one-world government, and through increased government control. There are so many things that are happening that fulfill Scripture, including pandemics and natural disasters. Nonetheless, spiritual deception is one of the biggest end times situations of which God warns through His Word.
What I want you to understand about spiritual deception is something that Jesus describes in Matthew chapter 24. He tells us clearly that during the second wave of the birth pains of the end times, one of things that will happen is that we will have false prophecy within the church. We won’t simply have false religions or false Messiahs, but we will have false preachers, false pastors, and false teachers within the church.
I’m telling you that it’s not so much what is being said, but what is being neglected to be said that has me disturbed. We are talking about wanting to comfort everyone and tell everyone that everything is going to be okay. We give the impression that we want people to live fearlessly, but that’s really not what the Bible prescribes. The Bible actually tells us that we have to have one, particular fear in order to be set free from all other anxieties. The Bible doesn’t tell us that we should live glibly or fearlessly, but rather that we should unite our hearts under one fear, and that one fear will set us free.
We shouldn’t give false comfort to people that do not know Christ Jesus as Lord. Jesus died on the cross two thousand years ago for our sins. He died, because I am a sinner. I am a sinner by nature and I commit sin on an ongoing basis; the blood of Jesus is the only thing that can set me free from that sin. People need saved. We should not give false comfort to people who have not come under alignment of a proper fear of God. We as Christians should be taking this opportunity and this time to share the breadth and depth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We begin with the fact that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve became sinners. Redemption is necessary. The birth pains of the end times will lead to the return of Jesus Christ. Eventually, we will see that every single person will die once and then stand in judgment before God. (Hebrews 9:27) We need to preach the entire Gospel. You see, whatever the devil is trying to use to destroy us, God is using to bring people to salvation, or to bring us closer to Himself if we are already saved.
We need to have a proper fear of God. We should not fear the coronavirus, and we should not fear the economic disaster, but we must fear God. For those who do not call upon Him as Savior, there is much reason to be afraid, because the most vital thing in the universe is to be right with God.
I want to take you to a passage of Scripture, where Jesus is with His disciples. He had been teaching, and the Bible tells us that when evening came, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go across to the other side [of the sea].” (Mark 4:35) Let’s be clear that according to Scripture, it was Jesus’ idea to send Himself and His disciples out on the Sea of Galilee. The Word goes on to say, “And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.” (Mark 4:36-37)
Before we go any further, I want you to understand that Jesus is the one who told the disciples to get into the boat and go to the other side. Jesus is God. Jesus is omniscient; He knows everything. He knew that this storm would be whipping up. Yet He is the one who tells them to get into the boat and go to the other side. Jesus is the one who sailed the disciples into the storm.
Listen, we are in a storm. In America, and in the world, we are in a storm. God is sovereign. The Bible is clear that God is in control. He has allowed this to happen so that the outcome might be that those who are not saved would be saved, and that those of us who are Christians would be drawn closer to Christ.
As we go back to the text, we see that the windstorm had already come and the boat was filling with water, “But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And [the disciples] woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” (Mark 4:38) This was a real storm. On the Sea of Galilee storms can brew that are deadly. These guys were in genuine fear for their lives. I believe they shook Jesus by the shoulders and yelled, “Why don’t you care?” The Bible says that “He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’” (Mark 4:39-40)
Jesus calms the storm. The reason for the disciples’ fear is now gone. Jesus looks at them and asks them why they are afraid. The word in the Greek for “fear” here means timid. Jesus is essentially saying, “Why are you still timid or anxious? You’ve seen who I am. You know what I’m about, but you still don’t trust me.” But what I want to point out is that the reason for the disciples’ immediate fear is now gone. Their lives are no longer in danger, so you would think their fear would be gone. But, Mark 4:41 says, “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”
Do you hear this? The storm is over, but now they are filled with great fear! The word here for fear in the Greek means “to put to flight by terror,” so this is a much larger fear than the disciples had regarding the storm. They are more fearful now than they were when they thought they were dying in the boat, but it’s a different kind of fear. They are now standing and asking themselves, “Who is this, that the wind and sea obey Him?”
Jesus is trying to teach the disciples through the storm that He doesn’t want us to be afraid of circumstances, or what the world can do to us, but He wants us to fear God, who holds our destiny in His hands! Jesus is God, and He wants us to know that He is in control, whether there is a storm or whether it’s peaceful. We answer to Him!
At this point, the disciples are in awe of Jesus, which is what God desires for us. Psalm 33:8 proclaims, “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” You see, God doesn’t want you to be fearless; He wants you to have proper fear. He wants us to have honest reverence for Him, understanding that He holds the world in His hands. He desires that we know that without salvation through Jesus Christ, which God has clearly outlined in the Bible, we are eternally lost. There is something that is even greater than physical death, and that is spiritual death. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus is sending out his disciples, knowing that they will be persecuted and killed. Yet, Jesus declares, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” My friend, when the devil and all the people that he works through try to destroy you for preaching the Gospel, remember that Jesus said we should not fear the devil and his minions. They can only hurt the body, but they cannot kill the soul.
Notice, however, that Jesus does not call us to fearlessness. Rather, He says, “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) Jesus is not talking about the devil here, because the devil is not in charge of Hell; He will be one of the first victims of the lake of fire! God, who created your body and created your soul, is in charge of your body and your soul. Disease, pandemic, death, trials, and tribulations – they can only work on our body and our emotions. God’s in charge of our soul. Jesus tells us not to fear those who can harm the body, but do fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
We need to get things in order. We need to prioritize. God is to be number one in our lives. He is to be feared. We need to understand that what He said is true. Without the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross two thousand years ago, there is no hope for any of us. But I fear God, and I love His truth, and I believe what He said. While I’m not fearless, I have one fear – I’ve united my heart and my mind under one fear – that sets me free from all the other fears.
God is in control. He knew that this was going to happen. He let us come into this. The question is, “How will we respond?” Will we quote Bible verses that we don’t even understand? Will we glibly declare that everything is going to be alright because God loves us all? Or will we understand that Jesus sailed His disciples into the storm that they might know who He really is. Maybe, after all this pandemic is over, you will know Jesus in a way you never did before. Perhaps you will see Him for who He truly is.
I’m praying that you call on Him as Savior and Lord. If you’re a Christian, I’m praying that you will use this time to let God get you into the Word of God and get you down on your knees, that you might know Him as you have never known Him before. I pray that you can truly stand every day – in days of pandemic and in days of peace – and honestly say that you are in awe of God.
Let’s tell people the truth. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
– Shelli Prindle