Sunday 22 March 2020

God Can Stop Covid-19

Scripture:  1 Chronicles 21 v 8 - 14: "And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
9  And the LORD spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying,
10  Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 
11  So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee 
12  Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13  And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. 
14  So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men."

Today two articles on Covid-19 and how it is turning this whole world upside down, were sent to me.  I have been in deep thought and listening to the Lord these past few weeks, to try figure out what God is doing, what the devil is doing and what we are doing.

In the above passage, David had disobeyed the Lord and the Lord offered him a choice of 3 punishments.  Either 3 years of famine, or 3 months war with defeat, or 3 days of plague.  David chose plague! The first two were controlled by man but the third was in God's control.

So lets hope and pray that this has come from God and that He has a timer on it!  Let us discover what we have done to displeasure Him that He would need to get our attention.

Let us remember the ten plagues of Egypt and Who controlled every one of them! From start to end, to get the attention of one man, Pharoah!  The plague had to eventually hit his home and heart, the death of his son from plague, before he capitulated and released Israel from slavery and let them return home, and worship their God.

During the exodus another group rebelled against Moses, when Joshua and Caleb returned from scouting out the Promised Land.  Only Joshua and Caleb brought back a great report, the others with them only negativity against the land God chose for them.

Numbers 14 v 34 - 37:  "After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 
35  I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36  And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
37  Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD."

Herein lies a clue.  God loves Israel, the land, the people, everything about them.  They are His chosen people living in His chosen land.  In the passage above, because the Hebrews listened to and reacted negatively to the reports about Israel, they will never see it.  They will die out.

A journey of mere days now became forty years, until every person who murmured against His great plan had died in the wilderness.  Right now there is growing anti-semitism, i.e. hatred of the Jews, across the globe.  Why do they hate them like this?  Why have they always tried to wipe them out?

Why may they not live in their own homeland, even what they have today is a fragment of what God originally gave them.  Those who fight against them, like Syria, not a pretty picture.  Iran?  Another bad situation.  Or even the football clubs in the UK and Europe, no footie for any right now.

Who is helping the Palestinians curb the plague of Covid-19 right now?  Only Israel!  And the Palestinians want them wiped out!  Something has to change or God the Almighty will keep this plague going until He knows His people are safe from having their crops burned, their nation attacked with missiles, continual war footing.  Fear and fright all the time.  The time for the seven year peace with all Arabs treaty is now.

Do we know the mind of Jesus Christ?  Those who are born again and filled with the Holy Spirit have this opportunity to receive truth, guidance, healing, foreknowledge, peace.  We do not always avail ourselves of it.  We have our own thoughts, opinions theories, contradictions or arguments.

We need to take this time of isolation in our own homes to seek God for salvation for His covenant includes protection from diseases.  We need to be on His side for starters.  We need to read the Bible and pray.   We need to repent of every sin, and make sure our attitude towards Israel and its people is in harmony with His.

Why does Satan want to destroy Israel?  Some of you have heard me say this a number of times. 

Revelation 21 v 9 - 12: "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11  Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12  And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:"

There is a teaching throughout the church that the Bride of Christ is the Church.  That the Rapture is Jesus fetching His Bride.  That the Church has replaced Israel because the Jews crucified Him.

The scripture above says the Bride, the Lamb's wife, is made up of the 12 tribes, the New Jerusalem.  The Bride is Israel whom Satan wants to destroy because she stops his plans to rule the universe.  Her marriage to the Son of God is his lake of fire moment.  He is desperate.

The Church is the Body of Christ.  Colossians 1 v 18: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."  Jesus is the Head, the actual from the neck up with hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears.  And a brain.

We are His body.  In the Rapture, He receives His Body and the head and body are rejoined to become The Bridegroom.  As John the Baptist said in John 3 v 29: "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."

Behold the Lamb of God, the Baptist said to Israel.  He is your bridegroom.  But they could not grasp it.  We need to know it to understand why Jesus loves Israel so much and comes down hard on those who want to destroy her.  With plagues.

Read Revelation 21 v 9 again in the verse about the Lamb's wife, the Bride, the Angel revealing this has seven last plagues.  Let the significance sink in.  These seven last plagues, of which, no doubt, we are having the first, is all about His Bride.  His beloved, chosen, precious Bride and He will fight this world to the last human to protect her.

And His Body.  The believers who will soon be raptured to meet Him in the air above Earth.  To get the marriage feast started.  In ancient Jewish weddings, the party started and continued for seven days.  At some point in that time the Bridegroom left to fetch his bride to have the wedding ceremony.  

So the seven years of tribulation happens on Earth and the Feast starts in the heavens above Earth.  Then the Rapture occurs in the middle.  This ends first half of tribulation called The Beginning of Sorrows.  This has started.  It will bring world wide revival or the rest of the Body to be saved.  

The second half is the Wrath of the Lamb against those who rejected His salvation.  Satan has gone into the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt Temple, as the Antichrist, and declared himself God.  The Jews have their eyes opened and flee into the mountains of Petra.

144,000 Jewish boys are given a song only they can sing and are sent into all the world to gather the remnants of the Bride and bring them to Israel.  The armies of the world unite for the battle of Armageddon.  Satan's last throw if the dice.  He loses when Jesus and all His Body arrive on the battlefield and two thirds of that army of 200 million are killed by one word out of His mouth.  The rest flee.  Israel, the Bride is rescued and the wedding feast continues. 

This is the whole scenario in the smallest nutshell I can put it in.  If we turn to God and stop bashing Israel He will stop this plague.  Otherwise it will run its course which could mean lock down for many more months.  

Every mention of plague in the Bible has the discipline of God written all over it.  I have been to the Passion Play in Oberammergau, in Bavaria.  It is performed by villagers every ten years to thank God for sparing their town from bubonic plague in 1600's. They promised to perform it to remember His mercy.

Perhaps we need to make some unbreakable promises to Him too.  Tomorrow I will share how and why the Head of Jesus is separated from His Body.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father we have a big need and we acknowledge that many have strayed from You into false religions or even false doctrines in Christian churches.  Show us as groups and individuals what we need to do to get right with You.  We are listening hard now.
We repent of everything that is out of line with Your Word and ask for true direction and guidance.  We promise to share truth with family, friends and neighbours, whether they accept or reject it.  
We love You o Lord and understand Your need to reset this world to Your standards and truth.
In Jesus' name. Amen.