The God of Plagues and Pestilence
“For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.” - Psalm 90:7-9
It’s an unpopular notion. God is angry. Whenever a natural evil befalls mankind, like a tornado, earthquake, or pandemic virus, we are quick to draw a distinction between natural evil and moral evil. And this distinction is right. It’s wrong for us to draw a causal connection between Hurricane Katrina and the licentiousness of New Orleans, or to draw a causal connection between a man born blind and his or his parent’s sin. The reason it is wrong for us to make that connection is because we are not God and God does not reveal all of his purposes to us. We must not make presumptuous judgments, but that doesn’t mean that what we see is not still a sign of judgment. All natural evil is God’s judgment, the curse of sin. And no man stands on his own before God innocently and without deserving judgment. God rightly sends any and all judgment upon mankind for his sin. God is right to be angry, and we are wise to tremble before him.
Covid-19 has struck the world and the world seems surprised. For most people denial was the first response (although that may have more to do with the untrustworthiness of media). But when faced with this pandemic, it appears that for many our memory is short and our future prospects too naively optimistic. We can seem shocked by judgment and discipline, and we assume that life should move on swimmingly without a hitch. And the reason for our cognitive dissonance in the face of pandemic disaster is that we ignore the holiness of God, and we are surprised that God in his anger takes his holiness more seriously than we do.
Pandemics and natural disasters should not surprise us though, especially if we take note of their frequency in the Bible. As sin entered the world, so death entered through sin (Rom. 5:12). And ever since, the creation has been subjected to futility and groaning as in the pains of childbirth (Rom. 8:20-22). But keep in mind that God himself has subjected the creation because of God’s plan. This frustrating chaos is not out of God’s control. It in fact plays a role in God’s plan. God has purposefully subjected the creation to this futility.
And over and over again in scripture we see God doing this. The flood at the time of Noah is the archetype of all futility subjection. God’s judgment was poured out upon the wickedness of man’s sin and the whole creation suffers the consequences. But with that judgment comes the hope of a promise. God will never again bring about a world-wide flood. And yet, the flood did not solve the sin and death problem. It wasn’t final, it wasn’t complete, it was merely a shadow of what was yet to come. It promised that through complete and total judgment would come a new earth, a new creation: perfect subjection on the other side of futility.
Famine and pestilence is spotted throughout the Genesis narrative. It drives Jacob’s family to move to Egypt and Joseph to ascend to power. And through God’s chosen rejected servant, God would save the world from the famine. And yet, the world and Israel with them forgot about God, and Pharaoh forgot about Joseph, subjecting Israel to futile labor. And how does God save his people? Through plague and pestilence and a chosen servant rejected by man. God’s anger raged against sin and he poured out his wrath on Egypt, like he had poured out his wrath on the world in the flood. And again, another rejected servant saves God’s people from plague. And the greatest plague of all, the death of the firstborn son, would now be the birthday of God’s people. And Israel would celebrate this plague at their yearly Passover, and they would be reminded of the plague of death at every sacrifice ever made from then on. So much death, so much judgment.
By some counts there are at least 13 plagues referenced in scripture, including at the time of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, during the judges, at the time of David, Elijah, Elisha, Zedekiah, Nehemiah, and in the Roman empire during the days of Claudius. Thorns and thistles, disease and death mark the human existence ever since Eden. And in the final judgment of the world, a pale horse, whose rider’s name is Death rides rampant in the world, given authority over a fourth of the earth “to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.” (Rev. 6:8) The pale horse rode from WuHan this year.
And why? Because God is angry. Be assured, Covid-19 is evidence of the anger of God. Our right response is to tremble before his holiness and repent of our sins for we are deserving of such a pestilence and far worse. No man can say that it’s not fair that they have succumbed to a disease like this. The injustice we face is not the presence of the pestilence, it’s the sickness of our sin. The pestilence is the due punishment we deserve, it is part of justice not injustice. We cannot not put our hope in politics to plan and prepare, for nothing can stop the coming onslaught of God. We cannot put our hope in medicine for a cure, for the disease resides in our heart rebellion against God. Though we should still plan, prepare and cure, we need to hope in God who brings both the death and new life.
When this disease first broke out, one Chinese pastor from WuHan called for Christians to faithfully preach the gospel in this time with love and prayer. He wrote back in January that “Christ has already given us his peace, but his peace is not to remove us from disaster and death, but rather to have peace in the midst of disaster and death, because Christ has already overcome these things.”
We have a choice about how we respond. We can either be angry and rage against the Creator who has brought this plague upon us, or we can repent in humility and praise the savior who saves us through the pandemic but not from experiencing it. God has brought all things in subjection under the feet of Jesus Christ, by raising him from the dead. And the last enemy to be defeated is death, an enemy already conquered through the resurrection of Jesus. We too are saved from sin and death as we pass through the valley of the shadow. And because He is with us, we will fear no evil. Even the rod of Covid-19 can comfort us.
“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:9
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/theological-reflections-pandemic/
https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/chinese-church-voices/wuhan-pastor-pray-with-us