Deliverance from COVID

 How are we ever going to see this virus stop plaguing us? Is this a spiritual issue?

In an age where what we see is much more prominent than what we don’t see we may be missing the spiritual story behind the narratives of today. The scripture consistently points out Israel’s relationship with the God of creation, which was a spiritual reality. He was a God who did not want them to mingle with people who did not know Him. He was concerned that they would lose their focus on Him and become “worldly.” That meant that they would ally with evil and be stained through their inability to stay separate from the tribes and their religion surrounding them.

Today we are steeped in multiculturalism. Wrong or evil is defined by the culture we live in, not necessarily by the God of the Bible.  It is a cultural sin to not be inclusive or to be “judgmental” of different cultures. However, believers whether Jews or Christians were to be first of all loyal to their God, whether that was offensive or not. To be used by God meant they had to separate from worldliness and “Be holy as [God] is holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) The objection today is that isolation is not loving, and Christians are called to be loving. That is very true! If a believer can’t be godly when around others who are practicing ungodliness they are bringing sin into the camp like Israel did and there will be negative consequences if that is not recognized and confessed and repented of, as Phinehas did, which stopped the plague on Israel (Numbers 25:1-13).

In the Old Testament God’s judgment fell on Israel when they ignored their God and what He required of them. Plagues were a part of that judgment and eliminated when Israel turned back to God.  Often these stories were very hard and even harsh in relationship to the judgment of God. It is easy to see why we today stay away from the narratives of God’s judgment. Plus, people use these stories to justify judging others harshly. But do they tell us something that can help us solve problems like the plague of Covid-19? God is a loving God and sent His son to die for our sins, so how could there be judgment? The Old Testament says that the land gets polluted from the sins of the people (Psalm 106:38). It also says that Israel was destroyed by their own sins (Psalms 106:43).  Could it be that the Church today has slipped into being too worldly and ignoring God in ways that bring His judgment or even a plague like Covid? Perhaps our sin is being too religious as the nation of Israel was when the prophets began their critiques of them before they went into captivity with Babylon (Isaiah 58). They isolated from human need and ignored God’s imperatives to care for the poor. They were not salt and light as Jesus called His kingdom to be and the religious leaders were too isolated from sinners who needed to know a loving God. As a part of the Church I know I have fallen short and been too worldly and brought shame on the Kingdom. What if there was a corporate repentance in the Kingdom of God, in the Church? Would the plague lift from our nation, from our world? We as believers know that there is grace in the New Testament because of what Christ did for us, but that may not stop judgment from falling on unrepentant sinners. “That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way…” (1 Corinthians 11:29-31) The scriptures say that God brings plagues on people, not all the time, but sometimes (Psalm 106:15). The Old Testament accounts can be as I have said harsh, but I think that is to help us to see the gravity of sin and why Christ had to die for our sins. God’s desire is not to be punitive, but to love us. “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his (their) ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23) He does require us to turn and be separate from worldly sins. “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)