The world wide pandemic caused by Corona virus, known as
COVID 19 has raised in many people, Christians and others, fears about the
future. Is this the end-times, and if so, what does the Bible say about it,
especially as there are many prophecies about the end of the world in the
Bible, especially in the Apocalypse,
the Revelation, the last book of the New Testament? Jesus in his Olivet
discourse to his disciples prophesies many incidents that will happen when the
world is approaching the final days. How does this Corona Pandemic fit into all
these? Many false alarms and doom-say prophecies are abounding these days in
the wake of this pandemic. What is the truth? What is biblical? We need to
know. So, let’s examine the biblical picture, especially in the New Testament,
in some detail to find about the matter.
First let’s see what Jesus Christ says about the end-time
events. When his disciples come and ask him while they were seated on the Mount
of Olives, opposite to the Temple of Jerusalem, when these things relating to
the end-times will happen and what the signs are, Jesus offers this discourse. His
predictions could be grouped into three sets of prophecies:
Group I:
1.
Many will come in
Jesus’ name and declare himself as the Messiah and lead people astray.
2.
You will hear of
wars and rumors of wars, but do not fear, for the end is still to come. Nation
will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
3.
There will be
earthquakes in various places.
4.
There will be
famines
But, Jesus warns his listeners that these are only the
beginnings of birth pangs. Before the present world is destroyed by God and a
new heaven and new earth are formed by Him, these sufferings will happen, but
are like the birth pangs to deliver the new world.
Group II:
- .The disciples and followers of Jesus will be handed over to councils, synagogues, brought before Governors and kings because of Jesus Christ. They will be hated by all because of his name and be persecuted. Family members will betray the believers in Christ and hand them over to the authorities. But one needs to persevere till the end.
- Through these the Good News, the Gospel of Christ will be proclaimed to all nations.
- Love will grow cold among people and lawlessness will increase all over the world.
- The Desolating Sacrilege, the Antichrist will arise, and set himself as God in the Temple on the Mount of Zion at Jerusalem and this will be a great time of persecution of God’s people in Jerusalem.
- False Messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to lead many people astray.
Jesus refers to these days as the days of suffering, when
there will be untold suffering, such as has never been seen since the beginning
of the world and never will be. We are to remain alert and not get carried away
by false teachings and wonders wrought by the false prophets.
Group III:
1. After that suffering, sun will be
darkened; moon will not give light, stars will fall from heaven.
2. Powers in the heavens will be shaken.
3. Then people will see the Son of Man
coming in clouds with great power and glory with his angels.
4. He will send out his angels and
gather his elect, the people who believed in him and had accepted him as the
Messiah, the Son of God, their Lord and Savior.
Regarding the timing of these happenings Jesus told his
disciples that no one knows when these things will happen. It will come on
people as a thief would unannounced and when they least expected it. But when
we see the fig tree putting forth tender leaves, we know that summer is near, and
when the above mentioned events happen one should guess that the time has come
and that it is at the very gates.[1]
In all these, Corona virus becoming a pandemic and devouring
such a large number of human beings all around the globe is not mentioned, but
it could be one of the sufferings the world will experience before the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The events of the first group have been happening,
may be since the beginning of civilization, starting with Alexander the Great
and his world conquest; then the Roman Empire, the Islamic Sultanates, British
Empire and finally the great wars of World War I and World War II. These are all
just birth pangs.
Events of Group II have been going on since the incarnation
of Jesus, his death on the cross and his resurrection, some 2000 years back.
His disciples died at the hands of Roman authorities or perished in Jewish
persecutions. Every century since then persecutions of Christians have been going
on in the world through some sects or the other, lastly by Muslims, which is
still going on. The Gospel is preached all over the world. Any number of false
prophets and false Messiahs have arisen claiming to be the Saviors of the
world and predicting the end of the world. Nothing really has happened to their
prophecies and the world still goes on.
What is frightening is the increasing intensity of the
destruction unleashed onto the world, be it a tsunami or earthquakes or forest
fires or pandemics. Tsunamis have been known for ages, but the one that caused
maximum damage and touched many continents was the tsunami of 2004, which
started off because of an earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia on 26th
December, 2004, and claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people across 14
countries. It is the first world-wide calamity to strike the earth, the
beginning, I would say of our sufferings. Thereafter there has been an increase
in such calamities around the world, tsunamis and tornado in USA, forest fires
in Spain and California, the devastating bush fires in Australia from June 2019
to February 2020; SARS Corona-virus in Hongkong in 2002-2004; MERS Corona-virus
in the Middle East in 2017 and now COVID 19 Corona-virus, affecting as on today
some 486,863 persons and killing 22,024 people in 198 countries of the world.
What normally is a localized and restricted to a geographical
area, these natural calamities have morphed into worldwide calamities. It is as
if the world is hurtling towards its destruction, not at the speed of a
passenger train or even an express train, but as a bullet train. It is a sure
indication of the approach of last days, and that the end is almost at the
gates. But the Antichrist who will elevate himself to be a god is still to
arise in the world. Thereafter the world is definitely at its end and time for
the Second Coming of Christ, ushering in the events of the 3rd
group.
Briefly touching the teachings in the Revelation or
Apocalypse, there are three phases, the seven seals, followed by the seven
trumpets and the seven bowls judgments. The seal judgments are the beginnings
and affect one fourth of the world, killing people by sword, famine, and pestilence.
These are suffered both by the believers and the non-believers. Before the next
series of judgments, the Trumpets, God’s people, believers in Christ are sealed
by God’s angels to protect them from the dangers in the ensuing calamities. The
Trumpet judgments affect one third of the population of the world, through hail
with fire and blood, sea turning blood and rivers and water springs turning
blood killing one third of the sea and water creatures. One third of sun, moon
and stars get affected. Supernatural pestilence through locusts afflicts human
beings and supernatural cavalry kills one third of human beings.
The last seven plagues are the bowl judgments and these fall
on the unrepentant human beings who do not accept the True One God as their God,
but continue to worship the false gods in the form of idols or power or
position or money or possessions. They do not repent and so perish in these
calamities. Painful sores break on their bodies, sea becomes blood red and all
sea creatures die, fresh water bodies turn to blood and all creatures die; sun
scorches people and the kingdom of Antichrist is plunged into darkness, who
assembles his troops at Armageddon to fight God. Christ comes riding a white
horse with his angels and defeats the enemy and enemy’s army. Then judgment
follows.[2]
Now correlating the Apocalypse with the predictions of Jesus
Christ regarding end time events, maybe we are only in the stage of seal
judgments; or not even that, for no calamity has brought down one third of the
population of the earth as of today. Trumpet and Bowl Judgments are definitely
not on the earth as of now. But can we afford to relax? No, I don’t think so.
We need to scrutinize our lives, repent for the wrong things we have done in
our lives, in faith seek forgiveness from Jesus Christ, the only One, who
declared that he has the power to forgive sins and lead a righteous life.
Anyone who is outside this circle of believers in Christ will get swept away as
in a tsunami when the sufferings start to intensify in the world. There is not
much time left, for the world is hurtling towards the end and calamities are
increasing in their intensity and coverage and are becoming more frequent. Sings
that show that the end is almost there.
We better be prepared and be ready to face the Son of God as
he will come in power and glory in the clouds along with his angels to judge
the world. It will be good if you are found on his side, when he comes.
[1]
These have been taken from Mark 13:3-37 and some from
Matthew 24:3-44
[2] Very
brief account only of the judgments of seal, trumpet and bowls are given here. Details,
may be in another blog, if there is demand from the readers.
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