A conditional promise from Jesus: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid John 14:27. In other words, meet the Lord’s conditions and this promise is forthcoming. What conditions must one meet? Believe. Trust. Obey. “If only I could,” someone says. Well, to believe, trust and obey are simply choices; there’s no need for argument, no need for debate. If you get caught up in those, you forfeit the promises. Lack of belief, trust and obedience in the Lord’s promises is the primary reason the entire world is riddled with fear right now, but it’s also the primary reason why many Christians are in the same boat!
Instead of trusting and resting in the promises of God during this current global coronavirus pandemic for example, I’m noticing Christians running all over the Internet seeking peace from You Tube gurus. “This is the work of the devil! This is the work of the anti-Christ! Bill Gates is behind this! 5G is the real cause of coronavirus! Pope Francis says it’s because we’ve been ignoring the harsh consequences of climate change.” Guess what, my fellow Christians? Keep that practice up and you’ll forfeit the Lord’s peace; nothing is more surer. Who cares what the gurus say! The only thing that should matter for Christians is what God says. And that, is to be found only in the Scriptures of the Bible – nowhere else!
What if God Almighty Himself brought this about? Whether He did or did not, God is in control of it all, not those people and certainly not the devil! It’s a wake-up call in any case, I believe, both for the world and for the church. For the world, God is giving unbelievers the opportunity to humble themselves and turn to Jesus Christ before His judgments come down upon them in earnest. For the church, He’s giving us the opportunity to humble ourselves, get released from lukewarmness, denominational, doctrinal and spiritual pride plus the arrogance accompanying these, and get serious before Him. For this generation, maybe the days of playing sneaky little religious games with the Lord God are coming to an end.
One obvious lesson God desires the entire world to learn from this global pandemic: not one person is in control of his or her personal life and destiny and never has been! If it were otherwise, how many would choose unemployment, social distancing, supermarket queuing, societal lock-down, sickness and an untimely death – all at the one time? Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth Proverbs 27:1. How many people have spent much of their adult life to date boasting about their tomorrows? Certainly it is wise to make plans for our tomorrows but it is unwise to take them for granted and most foolish to boast about them. That’s one grand reason why Jesus has told us to put God first in our life Matthew 6:33.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil James 4:13-16. How many business men and women around the world has God stopped in their tracks right now as a result of this pandemic? How many non-business people with similar intentions – overseas tourist travel for example? The latter was the intention of my dear wife and myself for this year.
We’re very glad we didn’t boast about it though, having sought the mind of the Lord during the planning. Have the plans been cancelled? No, they’ve been suspended and we’ll go when God re-opens the door. In the meantime we bask in His peace. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven Matthew 6:10. That which is not God’s will for us is not our will for us either! Having said that, this would not have been possible for either of us had the Lord not granted the power plus the desire to believe, trust and obey His promises when we first set out to follow Him many years ago. It’s important to note that; whatever God calls anyone to do, He gives the power and desire to do. We don’t do it under stress or duress!
A conditional promise from Jesus: I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life John 8:12. What’s the condition? Follow Him. If we think of the word darkness as ‘confusion’ ‘uncertainty’ ‘panic’ – that’s what the entire world is saturated in right now over coronavirus, but so too are the above-mentioned Christians running all over the Internet seeking light on the matter. It would seem Jesus is not sufficient enough for them to follow. It would appear they’ll follow anyone who tells them what they want to hear! Yet under normal circumstances one could be forgiven for thinking they were committed Christians with a firm spiritual foundation. Not so, until they take Christ at His word and reject everyone else’s.
There is a strong belief among Christians on “social” media that God will use this pandemic to turn multitudes of unbelievers to Jesus Christ. Possibly so; but as He does, it can be certain He will go to work on Internet-running Christians and others similar to them. He will sort out who’s for real and who’s for lip service by bringing each one face to face with Himself, spiritually speaking. He will strip them of everything they believe they are and believe they know. In that process some will very soon turn away and follow Him no more. That’s what they did when He was here on the earth and they’ve done it down through church history. The biblical church has always only ever been a remnant.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father in heaven Matthew 7:21. In context, Jesus is speaking here of false prophets and similar wolves in sheep’s clothing. But those who spend the bulk of their time following such charlatans instead of following the Lord Himself are in mortal danger of ending up being tossed from His presence as well when they stand before Him. In addition, it doesn’t take unbelieving people long to sort out which Christians are the real deal versus those who are phony, when they spend reasonable time in their presence. More of the real deal is what they’re looking for!
A conditional promise from Jesus: Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest Matthew 11:28. What’s the condition? Come to Jesus. The primary reason people are riddled with fear over this pandemic is because they know if they catch it and die, they have a God in heaven they must face. They know that intuitively. It matters nothing that they deny this to us; they don’t deny it to themselves when lying awake at 3 o’clock in the morning. Quote: “For such there is relief. Christ tells them to come to Him, to believe in Him, and to trust Him, and Him only, for salvation. Doing this, He will give them rest – rest from their sins, from the alarms of conscience,….. from the fears of eternal death.” – Albert Barnes.
People are asking if this global pandemic is a sign of the end of this age? Yes, it’s one sign, but the end of this age began with Jesus’ resurrection from death and His ascension to heaven; and, although this age has a shelf life, only God knows its use-by date. In the meantime, in the New Testament Book of Acts 2, we read of the Day of Pentecost. That Day was the beginning of the church age, commonly spoken of as the age of grace, the age whereby Jesus commanded that His gospel be proclaimed to every part of the globe by the church. For what reason? He desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth 1 Timothy 2:4. When that mission is completed, God’s grace age ends and God’s judgment age begins.
A conditional promise from Jesus: Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life John 5:24. The conditions are underlined. A grand promise indeed! But it’s applicable for this age only. If you reject the promise this side of the judgment you will not get a second chance on the other side; God will have hardened your heart. Only those living in the judgment age who had never heard the gospel whilst living in the grace age will be the beneficiaries. Reject the words of the Internet gurus. Reject the words of every man and woman whose words do not line up with the words of Jesus. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life John 6:63.