By Steven J. Hogan
~ A Saturday Morning Post #167 ~
How are you thinking and feeling about what’s been happening with regard to COVID-19, the coronavirus? These past 6 weeks have been like none I have ever seen before, and I am 66 years old. There’s talk about sickness, death, mitigation, masks, ventilators, vaccines, and herd immunity. There’s talk about jobs, unemployment, financial stimulus, protests, and inflation. There are the different thoughts and emotions of people trying to deal with this. Anxious, frightened, nervous, scared, unsettled, worried. Aggravated, angry, annoyed, mad, upset. Alarming, difficult, disruptive, frustrating, inconvenient, stressful. Bored. Confused. Depressed. Lonely. Questioning. Tired. There is no doubt that people have been affected by this sickening little virus that has spread to 184 different countries. But how are you feeling? How are you thinking? How are you doing?
I cannot help but think that you have been tested by this most unusual trial. I hope you are not thinking and feeling like the people I described in the previous paragraph. As a Christian, God is your heavenly Father, the only One who perfectly loves and cares for you. At times like this, it’s important to look to Him and stay close to Him. Think how He is sovereign and in complete control. Think how He is holy, loving, merciful, faithful, wise, good, compassionate, purposeful, righteous, and truthful. Only as you truly know God will you be delivered from fear, loneliness, anger, stress, and boredom, and be given all the grace and peace you need. Ephesians 1:2
Now that we live in the end-times, you will continue to need this grace and peace. As Christians, we are blessed and privileged to be alive at this time, in the last years of this church age. It is a period marked by “birth pains,” by events and conditions occurring around the world, God-ordained signs designed to wake us up to the soon coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And this plague, this pandemic, is one of the birth pains, along with wars, famines, great earthquakes, and financial problems. Matt. 24:4-8, Luke 21:8-11, Rev. 6:1-8
I must admit, this pandemic, this present birth pain, has personally affected me. For the first time ever, I feel like I have an idea of what it’s like to go through an end-times’ birth pain. Like an expectant mother literally experiences and feels her birth pains, I am literally experiencing and feeling the effects of this pandemic. Here in Florida, we have not had wars, great earthquakes, or famines. But now there is this pandemic, this plague, affecting our country, my county, my church, and my wife and I – and God is using it to sober us up, to get our attention. These birth pains, these earthly problems, are planned by God to get our attention, to get our eyes off ourselves, and to be living for Him. 2 Chron. 15:1-12, Phil. 1:21
What can we say about these birth-pains, which include this pandemic?
1. These birth pains will continue and will increase in frequency and intensity. This present pandemic will come to an end, but there will be more of them. As much as we would like to say this won’t happen again, Christians must know that these plagues, along with wars, famines, and earthquakes, will continue to take place in the years ahead, leading to the end of this age and the “birth” of Christ, which means the coming of Christ and the rapture of the church.
2. These birth pains will not continually be taking place, just like a mother does not have continuous birth pains, one right after another. They will be happening now and then.
3. These birth pains occur in various places around the world. For example, wars won’t be taking place in every single country. Great earthquakes usually happen in certain areas (“The Ring of Fire”). Famines most often occur in poorer parts of the world. Matt. 24:6 tells us we will be hearing that these birth pains are happening. For example, I do not know anyone who has died from this coronavirus, but I have heard that many have died.
4. We are living in the beginning stages of the end-times (Matt 24:6, 8; Luke 21:9), a time during which these birth pains are occurring, but not intensely so. I personally believe they will go on for about 10, 20, 30 years or more, and then Christ will return to rapture His church.
5. I do not believe, as some say, that the birth pains start at the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week. I cannot see how you can fit all these famines, wars, earthquakes, and plagues into a few short years. The very nature of these events, with the exception of earthquakes, is that they occur over an elongated period of time. I believe they have been going on for many years.
6. These birth pains will affect both believers and unbelievers, the saved and the lost.
7. These birth pains will be distressing, disruptive, and death-producing. Revelation 6:8 says that up to one-fourth of the world will die because of them. This sad and sobering state of the world is also described in Matt. 24:28 – “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
8. These birth pains are distinct from God’s wrath, for His wrath will only be poured out upon the unbelievers. Rev. 6:1-8 – birth pains; Rev. 7:9-14 – rapture; Rev 8-9 – God’s wrath.
I have written a number of blogs instructing us how we need to live during these end-times when this pandemic, in particular, and these birth pains, in general, are taking place. Take time to read them if you have not yet done so. Here is a summary of the main themes:
– You are not to be afraid or worried but are to trust God and keep doing His work. Psalm 37:3
– This pandemic is a spiritual alarm clock, and is to wake up Christians so they draw close to God, and realize that His Son is returning soon. Rom. 13:11-12, Heb. 10:37
– This pandemic is designed by God to teach you, but is also part of His plan to reconfigure countries and economies, leading us to globalism and the coming of the Antichrist. Dan. 2:21
– It is important for you to see how this pandemic fits in with the big picture, and will be followed by more birth pains, Daniel’s 70th week, and the coming of Christ. Matt. 24:4-14
– As a Christian, don’t love the fun, food, and games of the world, especially now that we are living in the end-times and can see that Christ is coming soon. Use your spiritual gift, work with your church, help “make disciples of all the nations,” and remember Jesus’s promise, “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 24:14, 25:14-23, 28:19-20
P.S. I wrote this post because many Christians don’t think right and, therefore, don’t feel right. (“As a man thinks, so he is” – Prov. 23:7). Your response to this Coronvirus Pandemic relates directly to your thinking about God and your understanding of the end-times. The article (#45) I just put up is an expansion of this post. Also, make sure you read my recent posts on this subject, particularly “From the Coronvirus to Christ’s Coming and the Rapture,” and “The Coronavirus – Fear and Panic, or Faith and Peace.”