Plagues: Who Causes Them?
While Covid-19 continues to infect and kill thousands of people all over the world, many heads of countries have already expressed their fear over a possible second wave because, should that happen, it is going to be worse.
Biblically speaking, there is really a possibility that a plague may recur. Meaning, it could have its second wave, or third, or even more.
REVELATION 11:6 (KJV) says,
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
The occurrence of plagues, pestilences, or curses is relative to our obedience — or disobedience — to God.
The Bible speaks of so many kinds of curses or plagues that mankind may experience.
DEUTERONOMY 28:15-22 (KJV) says,
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee,
and overtake thee:
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
21 The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
One of the plagues mentioned in Verse 22 is with blasting. A blast, or a gust of wind, can be a medium or vehicle of plagues. Health experts say that Covid-19 can be transmitted through droplets that come from an infected person when he sneezes, coughs, or talks. That is why to prevent the spread of the virus, one of the recommendations given to the public is to strictly observe physical distancing. Although they say that this virus is not airborne, it cannot be denied that wind or air plays a part in its transmission. And according to research, this coronavirus remains detectable in the air even after several hours.
Covid-19, which started in China, was able to penetrate practically all of the countries of the world in a matter of weeks up to a couple of months. Presently, the U.S. has the highest number of Covid-19 positive cases. Because of this, many Americans, especially the New Yorkers are very furious at their president, Donald Trump, for his failure — according to them — to prepare for this pandemic. I think that is ridiculous! In the first place, who was ever prepared for it? Even China, where this virus originated, was unprepared!
This pandemic is already beyond the control of any head of state. Isn’t it that even Prince Charles had tested positive for Covid-19? And they couldn’t trace how he acquired the virus even after they conducted contact tracing. It is because there are really viruses that are carried by air.
If we are going to refer to biblical declarations, aside from man’s gross wickedness and disobedience to God, another contributory factor to the occurrence of plagues is the practice of many pastors and religious leaders of adding to, and deducting from, what had been written in the Bible.
As it is written in REVELATION 22:18 (KJV),
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
Examples of such plagues are consumption or a wasting disease like tuberculosis; and fever, burning fever, like typhoid fever. But if man’s wickedness further intensifies, more plagues which were not written in the Bible are bound to be experienced by mankind.
It is not surprising why today, we have the Ebola virus, avian flu, MERS-COV, swine flu, SARS, and now Covid-19, which were not known to previous generations. It is because man has become more evil.
DEUTERONOMY 28:59-64 (KJV) says,
59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
63 And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.
64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
Let it be understood that the word “wonderful” in Verse 59 (“Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful . . .”) conveys something negative. The word “wonderful” there implies something remarkably strange and gruesome; something that is extraordinary. Meaning, there would really be plagues that could be extraordinarily gruesome and scary, and they are described as “great” and “of long continuance.” And because of that, they are likely to cause great, damaging impact.
Looking back, the world had experienced deaths of 40,000,000 to 100,000,000 people due to influenza or the Spanish flu, and the bubonic plague sometime in 1918. That was more or less 100 years after the Covid-19 came about.
My fear is that if this plague persists much longer, many people will die. As stated in Verse 61, “Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.”
This plague can be looked at from two perspectives. First, it may come from God because man has become so evil and He wants him to repent, to realize his follies, and to serve as a wake-up call; or, second, it may come from God’s enemy, the horseman riding the pale horse, whose desire is to wreak havoc to mankind.
If this plague comes from God, if it is a consequence of man’s sinfulness and outright defiance to His commandments, then, many are bound to fall. It might cause a very great loss of human lives. But if this plague is caused by God’s enemy, the horseman in the pale horse, there is a chance that it can be stopped.
Whichever might be the cause of the plague, the Almighty God has the power to put an end to it if we will repent and turn back to Him. Remember, Nineveh was about to be destroyed by God because of their wickedness. However, they were spared from the destruction that was about to befall them when all of its inhabitants repented and turned back to God.
What happened to Nineveh may also happen to us. If they obtained God’s mercy and were saved from destruction, we may also be saved from this Covid-19 pandemic if we will just do what the people of Nineveh did — if we will repent, turn away from our wicked ways, and submit ourselves to God’s jurisdiction.
Deep in my heart i believe that God is a merciful God if we can just turn back to him and acknowledge our sins. Thanks be to God
ReplyDeleteAll of the perils written in the Bible is here in our times, it is our best choice to side and trust in God!
ReplyDeleteTo God be the Glory!
Good point. God is sovereign. we need to change for God's will.
ReplyDeleteThanks to God, brother. This article is very informative and reliable source of information base from the Holy scriptures.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a horrifying truth. Thanks GOD for this message Bro. Eli.
ReplyDeleteVery well explained, to God be the glory forever.
ReplyDeleteThanks be to GOD for this awesome information. Glory to GOD!
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteWe are hoping for God's mercy to humanity.
Thanks be unto God for this inspirational and informative blog.