Pandemics and Calamities: their place in biblical prophecy (COVID-19 in Context)?
The topic above has occupied humankind both believers and non-believers in God for as long as human beings have been in existence. In recent history since November, 2019 when COVID-19 emerged, the topic has once again been rekindled in the hearts of many. Often, the immediate response within christendom has been that calamities and pandemics are natural consequences of sin. That being said, what is God’s role in all this? Does God work through these natural calamities to impose judgement on sinful humankind? Could it be that God simply allows the natural consequences of man’s original sin to flow unchecked? These are open questions we all must embrace and confront.
Then there is the question of whether or not pandemics are a sign of the time of the end preceding the Second Advent of Christ. A panel discussion presented by a group affiliated with Andrews University on April 25, 2020 attempted to answer some of these questions and I would encourage all to watch it at: www.facebook.com/lakeunionherald/The Church and the Coronavirus: Natural Disaster, Human Folly, or Divine Judgement?
Be it as it may, pandemics are a sure sign of the times of the end. In the book Prophets and Kings (p. 277), the author elaborates that prior to the Second Advent of Christ, pandemics and other calamities shall follow each other in rapid succession. In the wake of those days, human beings shall be perplexed by the rate at which these pandemics shall follow each other. It shall be that while many are perplexed by one calamity in one place, more calamities shall strike with even more gravity than the previous ones in other places.
With regard to COVID-19, there is no question that it qualifies to be characterized not only as a pandemic, but a calamity as well. Are we likely to see more similar pandemics follow Covid-19 in rapid succession as it was earlier alluded to? We don’t know for a fact, but being a virus characteristic of mutating, it would not be surprising if it keeps resurfacing in different forms that will continue to pose a challenge for researchers and healthcare professionals.
As an update to the above (I’m writing this paragraph in December 2020), a variant of COVID-19 known as B117 was detected in the United Kingdom in November, 2020. Perhaps even more interesting in the context of the present discussion is the fact that the new variant is estimated to be transmissible at 56% more than the one that has been circulating around the world hitherto. Furthermore, by early 2021 yet another variant, Delta, coded B.1.617.2 emerged in India. Delta has been characterized as the most dominant and contagious variant than all its predecessors and has thus far been reported in almost every country on the globe. In November 2021, a new Covid variant named Omicron was detected in Southern Africa. It was reported to be very contagious, although health professionals argued it had not yet been determined whether or not it was more dangerous than its predecessors.
In light of all the above, could this be a fulfilment of what the author of Prophets and Kings prophesied, who stated that calamities will follow each other in rapid succession prior to Christ’s return? Could we be living in the days preceding Christ’s imminent return under the Covid-19 pandemic, or is it just one of those passing phases in earth’s history? Time shall tell!