The word Coronavirus comes from the Latin word “crown” which symbolizes authority, power and dominion. The Bible says in Matthew 28:18 KJV,
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”. In other words Jesus Christ has the power to override the effect and contamination of Coronavirus or any other pathogen.
Jesus said “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28, NIV).
Most people fear Coronavirus more than they fear the living God. The world trembled when they heard the news about Coronavirus more than they do when they hear the Word of God. The Bible says in Isaiah 66:2 NIV,
“These are the ones I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word”. The book of Malachi 4:2 the Bible says “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”.
We live in a world where the Word of God is considered as an ordinary book. A world which rejects the Word of God but embrace mediocrity. We live in a world where the church is more of a business and a corporation rather than a spiritual mechanism.
The church is not a building, the church is the believers within the building. Therefore, when the government decreed that church gatherings of people over 10 to 50 should be cancelled to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, the church must comply and honour the law of the land according to Romans 13:1-2. It is important the church uses other means such as social media to re-connect and minister the Word by speaking faith in to the hearts of all believers.
The day coronavirus was declared a pandemic, the stock market crumbled drastically, most businesses made plans to close temporarily and most churches locked their front doors on the sabbath day (a day of worship, prayer and Ministering of the Word). The modern-day church lives in fear and hides itself because the modern-day church is a type of Adam who hides in the garden when sin entered his heart.
What is the difference between the church and the world? The world dwells in darkness, a place controlled by fear and dominated by sin while the church on the other hand functions through faith and dwells in light according to Mathew 4:14-15. A proven faith is a faith that has been tested during troubling times such as global pandemics (coronavirus). The Bible says in 1 Peter 1:7 KJV,
“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ”
The world panicked in fear on the day coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. The fear was not from the coronavirus itself. The fear was from the media which propagated and spread the news through social media, television and radio air waves which control the minds of the masses. Remember the Bible says in Romans 10: 17, “faith comes by hearing”. The opposite of faith is fear, if faith comes by hearing then fear also comes by hearing.
The church proclaimed Christ with their mouth, a typology of the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, who confessed to stand with Christ until the Roman soldiers came to arrest Him as they fled and hid themselves, trembling in fear the day of adversity.
There are two kinds of fear; there is reverential fear which comes from a specific sense of respect, awe, and submission to the Almighty God as a deity. And then there is another type of fear which can also be translated as “being afraid” according to Genesis 3:10. The Bible says,
“And he (being Adam) said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).
The world lives in fear, the church lives by faith, the world lives in sin, the church lives in righteousness, the world lives in darkness, the church lives in light. The world runs and hides during adversities, the church functions in wisdom, love and faith during turmoil.
Jesus said in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
The coronavirus is a test of faith, it’s a shadow of things to come because the world which we live in is not going to get any better before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the church is panicking now, closing its doors on the day of Worship, Prayers, and the Ministering of the Words, then how will it function when this world system begins to break down.
I pray that the church will function in boldness and in confidence awaiting the return of the Lord. I pray that we will not be a light that hides under a bushel in the day of adversity but rather we will be a light that is set on the hill that illuminates the world which lays in darkness.
Author: Andrew A. Osei
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