The whole world today is utterly helpless as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to pose a threat to humanity. Although experts never stop conducting clinical trials and research aimed at finding the right medicine and vaccine for this disease, it seems that the global health crisis is still yet to end, at least, not in the nearest future.
As there is a limit to what humans can do, there is no question that what we need now is God’s divine intervention. There are things that are beyond the control of man but they can be controlled by God; and there are things that are beyond human capacity but they could easily be handled by the Almighty God.
In numberless occasions, God has proven His might and power to both believers and nonbelievers. For instance, during the time of Moses, many marvelous acts of God were witnessed by the Egyptians, who were then nonbelievers. When the pharaoh refused to set the Israelites free, God sent swarms of flies in the land of Egypt which filled the house of every Egyptian, including the pharaoh’s. The pharaoh called on Moses and requested him to entreat God to drive away the flies. Moses agreed on the condition that the pharaoh would liberate the Israelites at once.
Exodus 8:31 (KJV) says,
And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.
Considering how powerful a nation Egypt was at that time, yet, it was not able to do anything to drive away the swarms of flies. But when Moses prayed to God, all the flies were driven away and not a single fly was left.
Flies are among the creations of God. As the Creator of all living creatures, God has absolute control over all of them. Thus, He drove away not only the flies but even the locusts that went up over all of the lands of Egypt when the pharaoh continued to break his promise of freeing the Israelites.
Exodus 10:19 (KJV) says,
And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.
With a simple command coming from God, a mighty strong west wind blew and drove away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea, and not one of them was left.
Undoubtedly, by God’s infinite power, He can also do the same with this new coronavirus that infests the world today; He can also drive it away, and cast it into another planet, perhaps. And why not? All viruses are too minute to resist the power of God.
However, let us first show God our genuine repentance for our transgressions and our willingness to accept and abide by His teachings. And when He sees our sincerity, He will surely grant us mercy and save us from this pestilence.
Plagues and pestilences come as consequences of man’s sinfulness. That is why our sincere repentance can be a factor for God to consider in putting an end to this plague. If we can only emulate what the people of Nineveh did, undoubtedly, we will also merit God’s mercy the way they did.
When they learned from the prophet Jonah that God was going to bring them destruction, the people of Nineveh wasted no time — they repented for their wrongdoings, they fasted, they turned away from their evil ways, and they fervently prayed to God. When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, from the king down to the lowliest of citizens, He withheld the destruction that was supposed to befall them, thus, the whole Nineveh was saved.
This is the reason why I am constantly appealing to everyone to pray unceasingly. Let us invoke God’s mercy as He is the most powerful and the mightiest of all. Only He can save us from this pandemic; only He has the power to drive away and even eradicate the deadly coronavirus.
At present, the number of fatalities still number in the thousands per day, and there are places where those who died of Covid-19 were no longer being given a proper burial.
Actually, this is not really the first time that such a thing has happened. Even the Bible mentions that there are dead people who were no longer buried anymore and their loved ones were not given the chance to lament and mourn for their deaths.
Jeremiah 25:32-33 (KJV) says,
32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Humanity had already experienced this during the previous pestilences, specifically, during the onslaught of the Spanish flu and the bubonic plague, when they buried all the dead in a mass grave without giving them traditional funeral or burial ceremonies. Families were likewise not given the chance to lament and mourn for their loved ones who passed away. And there is a very great possibility that the same thing will happen again in our generation.
As it is written in Ecclesiastes 3:15 (KJV),
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.
What had happened in the past will happen again — there is a possibility that the good or bad things that had happened in the past will happen again to people. It all depends on our attitude toward our Creator and how we regard Him. If we are hard-hearted and rebellious to God, then bad things will be repeated; but if we return to God and show Him our genuine repentance and our desire to follow Him, then, good things will be repeated.
We can see that the world today is desperate in finding the vaccine that could fight Covid-19. But while there is still none, the best thing that we can do is to pray, aside from religiously observing the health protocols imposed by the government. Let us pray that we’ll be able to overcome this very difficult chapter of our existence, that is, if it is God’s will that we survive this pandemic. But if God wills it otherwise, we wholeheartedly accept it because our lives are in His hands. Besides, the Almighty God knows what is good for His servants.
As it is written in Romans 8:28 (KJV),
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
God can turn all things for the good of those who love Him; to love God is to obey His commandments, and one of which is to love our fellowmen.
Many nations have made it compulsory for all those who died of Covid-19 be cremated. Probably not everyone wants to have their loved ones who passed away be cremated but, nonetheless, they have to yield to the directive of health experts since it is one way to help stop the contagion. Because if they insist in observing their traditional burial rites, there is a great possibility that the family members and all of the people who would condole with them, will get infected.
Actually, the practice of cremation or the burning of a deceased body dates back to the time of the Old Testament. However, it was done under a different circumstance. If today, the Covid-19 victims are cremated to prevent the virus from infecting more people, during the time of the Israelites, to be burned with fire was God’s punishment to those who committed a vile or a wicked act.
Leviticus 20:14 (KJV) says,
And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
A man taking both mother and her daughter to become his wives is an abomination to God. Hence, the three of them – the man, the mother and her daughter – are punished with death by being burned with fire.
Giving this kind of punishment was God’s way of deterring the Israelites from committing any abominable act, and for them to develop fear in God.
However, not all dead were burnt; there were also cases wherein the body of the dead was buried, like what they did to King Asa.
2 Chronicles 16:12, 14 (KJV) says,
12 And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.
14 And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.
Lazarus, also, whom the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected, was also interred in a tomb.
In our present situation, cremation of people who died because of COVID-19 seems to be both a logical and noble thing to do. If you care about the welfare of other people, if you truly love them, you will sacrifice personal sentiments in favor of the safety of many.
We have a biblical basis in doing that.
1 Corinthians 13:3 (NKJV) says,
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.
If, because of your love to your fellowmen, you give your body to be burned because you do not want to infect others, you are doing something very heroic. It is, in fact, a gesture of love.
There are instances when people were burned because they stood by their faith and principle. Like what happened to the 300,000 people, mostly Christians, who were burned because they refused to embrace the Catholic faith.
In fact, before Pope John Paul II died, he begged forgiveness for the cruelty that the Catholic Church had committed against those people. It was published in the Foreign Post, March 16-20, 2000; Volume 8, No. 370.
“PLEASE FORGIVE US. THE VATICAN — Pope John Paul II, embracing the Crucifix in Saint Peter’s Basilica in penance — in a public confession unprecedented in the history of the Roman Catholic Church — begged forgiveness on Sunday for the sins of the church over the past 2000 years. The pontiff referred specifically to the Crusades and to the 300,000 people who were burned at the stake in the Inquisition.”
