“Reading
the Signs of the
Times”
Under this headline, we
want to occasionally publish articles, book
reviews and other material which have a
prophetic orientation: reading the signs of
the times and trying to understand what the
Lord is telling us, or has already told us,
as the Sword of the Spirit. He has called us
to be a prophetic people and to “build a
bulwark against the tide of evil” – for
this, we should learn to understand what the
evil tides are and how we can be equipped to
counter them.
April 2020:
COVID-19 – A Sign of the Times?
by Bruce
Yocum
We are today faced with what appears to be a
pandemic unprecedented in the rapidity of its
spread. Daily we hear new and disquieting reports
of the number of known infections and deaths, the
lack of medical facilities to treat those infected
– or even those who are most at risk. Daily we are
subjected to differing but always alarming
projections of the growth of the pandemic and its
potentially catastrophic effects on the world
economy. Predictions are common of a financial
crisis to rival the Great Depression.
What are we as Christians supposed to make of all
this? Is this – or in what sense is this – one of
the “signs of the times” that we are supposed to
look for? Is this a sign of the end times?
Let me say very clearly at the beginning that I am
no expert on anything medical. I certainly do not
know anything about COVID-19. My comments are only
on what Scripture has to say about a question like
this.
C.S. Lewis’s essay “On Living in an Atomic Age,”
written in 1948, just after the end of World War
II, has, in the mad swirl of Corona virus
concerns, been quoted and re-quoted on the
internet by many Christians. Lewis said:
In one way we think a great deal too
much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in
an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as
you would have lived in the sixteenth century
when the plague visited London almost every
year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age
when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut
your throat any night; or indeed, as you are
already living in an age of cancer, an age of
syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air
raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of
motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by
exaggerating the novelty of our situation.1
Lewis was certainly not trying to say that the
threat of nuclear war was no serious threat. He
certainly knew that it was, and so he said “in one
way” we think too much about it. He was instead
trying to put it in perspective and context. The
perspective is historical, the context is the
Gospel. Similarly, I am in no way trying to
minimize the threat of COVID-19, but rather to put
it in historical perspective and situate it
properly in the context of the gospel.
First, the historical perspective of COVID-19. It
is most certainly a serious health threat to very
many, and deserves to be taken seriously. But it
is only one of many fatal threats we live with
daily. In 2018 about 10 million fell ill with
tuberculosis worldwide, and 1.5 million died of
it.2 In the Philippines alone
there were an estimated 591,000 cases of TB in
that year.3 As of this writing
(30 March 2020) The World Health Organization
reports that as of 29 March 2,191have died of the
COVID-19 virus in the United States.4
From 2016 – 2019 an average of nearly 40,000
annually have died in auto accidents in the USA,
and 4.4 million were injured seriously enough to
require medical attention in 2019.5
There were an estimated 562,500 cases of breast
cancer in Europe in 2018.6 The
flu in its various forms (not COVID-19) kills
between 291,000 and 646,000 annually.7
Pandemics appear to occur about three times every
century. “Medical historians tell us there have
been nine influenza pandemics in the past 300
years. So one in every 30 to 35 years or so, or
roughly three per century, is everybody's best
guess about the future frequency of influenza
pandemics.” 8
Such an historical perspective can help us
understand Lewis’s advice “…do not let us begin by
exaggerating the novelty of our situation.” Of
course, I am not advocating quiescence or social
irresponsibility. We must take this pandemic
seriously and we must offer a good witness as
responsible, even exemplary citizens. That’s a
given. But we also need perspective.
Second, the context of the Gospel teaches us that
these sorts of disasters are not “special” or
extraordinary warnings, but rather what we can
expect always.
And when you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must
take place, but the end is not yet. For nation
will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various
places, there will be famines; this is but the
beginning of the birth-pangs - Mark
13:7-8.
These are warnings, but they are not “special”
warnings. They are the ordinary warnings that we
can always expect, warnings addressed, not to
those who have received the Gospel, but to those
who have not.
There were some present at that
very time who told him of the Galileans whose
blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you
think that these Galileans were worse sinners
than all the other Galileans, because they
suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you
repent you will all likewise perish. Or those
eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell
and killed them, do you think that they were
worse offenders than all the others who dwelt
in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you
repent you will all likewise perish" -
Luke 13:1-5.
These warnings are not addressed to those who have
received the Gospel: they do not need them.
They have already been warned.
"Tell us, when will this be, and
what will be the sign when these things are
all to be accomplished?" And Jesus began to
say to them, "Take heed that no one
leads you astray. Many will come in my
name, saying, 'I am he!' and they will lead
many astray. And when you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, do not be alarmed;
this must take place, but the end is not yet”
- Mark 13:4-7.
Jesus tells his followers that if they listen (if
they “take heed”) to what he teaches, they need
not be alarmed when all these things take place.
He repeats his initial exhortation of verse 5 to
“take heed”: in verse 9 “take heed to yourselves,”
in verse 23 where he also tells them that they
already know what they need to know, “But take
heed; I have told you all things beforehand.”
Finally, is this a sign of the end times, of the
imminence of the Second Coming? Here let me echo
Lewis – “in one way” yes, and in another way no.
In one way yes, because Christ has already told
his disciples that in this age there will be
constant warnings, many reasons to be alarmed if
they (we) are not ready.
… the Lord knows how to rescue the
godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous
under punishment until the day of judgment -
2 Peter 2:9.
That verse sounds harsh unless we recall what
Peter also says a short while later:
The Lord is not slow about his
promise as some count slowness, but is
forbearing toward you, not wishing that
any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance - 2 Peter 3:9.
So yes, in one sense trials like the current
pandemic are signs of the Second Coming, but signs
for those who do not know the Gospel. And there
are many, many such “signs.” As Lewis implied in
his essay, it is all too easy for us to imagine
that “the world has never seen anything like this
before.” But throughout history there have been
cataclysmic events that seem unprecedented. Just a
few recent examples as reminders.
- The eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883
which is estimated to have killed more than
36,000 people, and threw so much pulverized
rock and dirt into the atmosphere that the
weather and appearance of the sky were altered
for at least three years.
- World War I, which claimed an estimated 40
million casualties and untold suffering for
many millions more.
- At the very end of that war the Spanish Flu
hit. “It is estimated that about 500 million
people or one-third of the world’s population
became infected with this virus. The number of
deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million
worldwide…” 9
Yet in another important sense these signs are not
signs for Christians, not signs that those who
have received the Gospel should change their lives
if they are living faithfully as disciples.
Christians are told always to be alert, always
ready for the Second Coming, for the Master’s
return.
Take heed, watch; for you do not
know when the time will come. It is like a man
going on a journey, when he leaves home and
puts his servants in charge, each with his
work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the
watch. Watch therefore – for you do not know
when the master of the house will come, in the
evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in
the morning – lest he come suddenly and find
you asleep. And what I say to you I say to
all: Watch" - Mark 13:33-37.
Once again, Jesus tells his followers to take heed
and to watch. Take heed precisely because “you do
not know when the time will come.” Christ has
already told them “But of that day or that hour no
one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father” Mark 13:32. The point
here is that our need is not to try to determine
when the Second Coming will be, but precisely
because we do not and cannot know, we must take
heed and watch all the time. We must faithfully
live out Christ’s commands to love God above all,
and our neighbor as ourselves, in whatever
circumstances we find ourselves. In the passage
referred to earlier, Peter tells us this in the
context of the return of the Lord.
But the day of the Lord will come
like a thief, and then the heavens will pass
away with a loud noise, and the elements will
be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the
works that are upon it will be burned up.
Since all these things are thus to be
dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to
be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting
for and hastening the coming of the day of
God, because of which the heavens will be
kindled and dissolved, and the elements will
melt with fire! But according to his promise
we wait for new heavens and a new earth in
which righteousness dwells. Therefore,
beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous
to be found by him without spot or blemish,
and at peace - 2 Peter 3:10-14.
This surely is what Lewis meant when he said “…as
you would have lived in the sixteenth century…” We
ought always to be living as those who expect the
Master’s imminent return and are therefore awake,
alert and doing what the Master assigned them to
do..
Let your loins be girded and your
lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting
for their master to come home from the
marriage feast, so that they may open to him
at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are
those servants whom the master finds awake
when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will
gird himself and have them sit at table, and
he will come and serve them - Luke
12:35-37.
If we are not living “lives of holiness and
godliness” then we ought to take these disasters
as a call to wake up, to take heed, to carry
out our duties faithfully, to love God and our
neighbor – but not to be alarmed.
As I was writing this, my brother John pointed out
that this can also be a graced opportunity for
mission. Recalling sociologist Rodney Stark’s book
The Rise of Christianity,10 John
said,
Plagues and natural disasters were a
major cause of depopulation. Stark agrees with
some ancient Church Fathers that epidemics and
plagues were a major contributing cause to the
success of early Christianity. Such events cause
a great deal of social dislocation, opening up
new avenues to faith. Here he argues that the
content of the Christian faith and the way they
cared for one another was a major reason for the
success of their mission:
“Thus, at a time when all other
faiths were called into question, Christianity
offered explanation and comfort. Even more
important, Christian doctrine provided a prescription
for action. That is, the Christian way
appeared to work.” (p. 82)
Urban chaos in the Roman world also
played into the hands of Christians. Stark
paints a devastating picture of the state of
Roman cities, with populations averaging what
Calcutta is today in terms of density—and even
worse in terms of cleanliness and disease:
“Given limited water and means of
sanitation, and the incredible density of
humans and animals, most people in Greco-Roman
cities must have lived in filth beyond our
imagining” (p. 153).
“Let me merely suggest here that Christianity
revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by
providing new norms and new kinds of social
relationships able to cope with many
urgent urban problems. To cities filled
with the homeless and impoverished,
Christianity offered charity as well as hope.
To cities filled with newcomers and strangers,
Christianity offered an immediate basis for
attachments. To cities filled with orphans and
widows, Christianity provided a new and
expanded sense of family. To cities torn by
violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a
new basis for social solidarity. And to cities
faced with epidemics, fires and earthquakes,
Christianity offered effective nursing
services” (p. 161).
The coronavirus pandemic is unquestionably a
tragedy, not only by sickening and killing many,
but by the enormous burden it has put on health
care services, the social dislocation it is
causing and the economic chaos and financial
stress it has brought. Surely it is a dark time.
But Christ called His followers to be the light of
the world. Who needs light if it is not dark? In
the midst of this crisis let us not turn
protectively in on ourselves. Christian community
life and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit
provide us with resources for mission, for
comforting those in sorrow, for bringing hope to
the hopeless, for sharing our material resources
with those in need. Let us do that now.
I have not directly addressed a burning question
that comes up for many Christians: Is this or in
what sense is this one of the “signs of the times”
that we are supposed to look for? I will be
writing about that subject in the following issue
of Living Bulwark.
(c) copyright 2020 Bruce T. Yocum
Notes:
[1]
C. S. Lewis, Present
Concerns, Ed. Walter
Hooper, London, Harcourt
Inc. 1986, p. 73
[2] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis
[3] https://extranet.who.int/sree/Reports?op=Replet&name=/WHO
_HQ_Reports/G2/PROD/EXT/TBCountryProfile&ISO2=PH&outtype=pdf
[4] https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu
[5] https://www.nsc.org/road-safety/safety-topics/fatality-estimates
[6]
https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&as_q=annual+deaths+from+breast+cancer+in+Europe&as_
epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=
[7] https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
[8] http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2007/02/severe-pandemic-not-overdue-its-not-when-if
[9] https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html
[10] Rodney Stark, The Rise of
Christianity, 1996, Princeton
University Press
Bruce Yocum is the
author of Prophecy: Exercising the
Prophetic Gifts of the Holy Spirit in
the Church Today, 1976, 1993.
Bruce has been involved in leadership
and teaching in the charismatic renewal
and covenant communities movement from
its earliest years(late 1960s - early
'70s), and has traveled widely
throughout the Sword of the Spirit to
train and equip leaders in North
America, Europe and the Middle East,
Latin America and the South Pacific. He
was Presiding Elder of the Servants of
the Word for thirteen years. He is
currently based with the Servants of the
Word in London, UK.
photo
above: New York city coronavirus
pandemic, image from France24 News video
footage
|
