Coronavirus and ChristSample

The Sweetness of His Reign

Why should we receive the news of God’s sovereignty over the coronavirus, and over our lives, as a sweet teaching? The secret is knowing that the same sovereignty that could stop the coronavirus, yet doesn’t, is the very sovereignty that sustains the soul in it. 

In other words, if we try to rescue God from his sovereignty over suffering, we sacrifice his sovereignty to turn all things for good. 

Good News: God Reigns

The very sovereignty that rules in sickness is the sovereignty that sustains in loss. The very sovereignty that takes life is the sovereignty that conquered death and brings believers home to heaven and Christ. It is not sweet to think that Satan, sickness, sabotage, fate, or chance has the last say in my life. That is not good news. 

That God reigns is good news. Why? Because God is holy and righteous and good. And he is infinitely wise. Nothing surprises him, confuses him, or baffles him. His infinite power rests in the hands of infinite holiness and righteousness and goodness—and wisdom. And all of that stands in the service of those who trust his Son, Jesus Christ.

What God did in sending Jesus to die for sinners has everything to do with the coronavirus. 

‘All Things’ for Us

Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” God’s willingness to send his Son to be crucified in our place is his declaration and validation that he will use all his sovereignty to “give us all things.” It is guaranteed by the blood of his Son. 

And what are these “all things”? They are the things we need to do his will, glorify his name, and make it safely into his joyful presence. 

Three verses later, Paul explains how it works in real life—in the coronavirus pandemic. What does it look like when God’s infinite, blood-certified commitment to give us “all things” meets the coronavirus?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom. 8:35–37) 

Don’t miss these painful and amazing words: “We are being killed all the day long.” That means that the “all things” God will give to us, because he did not spare his Son, includes bringing us safely through death. Or, as he says in Romans 8:38–39, “I am sure that neither death nor life . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”