The outbreak of the Omicron variant that is now spreading rapidly across the UK has brought new restrictions on our freedom of movement. Masks must be worn at indoor meeting places, including churches, and proof of vaccination in other places. One question being put to scientists and medical experts is “Will the Covid virus be with us for ever?” It is a question that no one is capable of answering, although there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that it is likely to last for a very long time as it mutates from one variant to another.

We have clearly reached a point where human beings are no longer in control. The devastation of whole towns in America last week from violent tornadoes surely says something to us. The strange thing is that no one, including prominent church leaders, is asking the very simple question, “Where is God in all this?” Is there any divine wisdom to show us what is happening in the world today? The very fact that the question is not being asked publicly, even by God’s official representatives, shows how far we have gone in contemporary society away from any understanding of the God of Creation. We have airbrushed God out of existence.

We have clearly reached a point where human beings are no longer in control.

Throughout the record of God’s dealings with his people recorded in the Bible he either spoke directly with those who were listening to him or sent signs that were seen and interpreted by men or women of spiritual insight. For the people of Israel who were in a covenant relationship with God, very clear warnings were given of the consequences of breaking that divinely established relationship.

The Sword, Famine, and Plague

In Deuteronomy 28 Moses spelled out the disasters that would come upon the people if they turned to other gods and rejected the teaching that had been given by God through him. He spelled out the social and economic effects of the disasters that would come upon them and would engulf the nation, such as confusion among leaders, failure of harvests, trade disruption and plagues with unknown diseases. These show us the primary weapons God uses in exercising judgement: ‘the sword, famine, and plague’ which can also be understood as ‘war, drought, and disease’ or even ‘human conflict, climate crisis and sickness’ – all of which we are seeing in the news today!

Three times during Jeremiah’s ministry he was told by God to stop praying for the well-being of the nation because they had reached the point of no return where their behaviour brought the inevitability of judgement. One such occasion is recorded in Jeremiah 14:11-12, “Then the Lord said to me, do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

Idolatry and Shedding Innocent Blood

What causes God to release judgement upon the nations? The two major charges that God brought against the people of Israel were that they worshipped other gods and they shed innocent blood. Many times, these sins are mentioned in the writings of the prophets. In one dramatic gesture Jeremiah bought a new clay jar from the potter and took some of the elders of the people out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom where both the sins of idolatry and shedding innocent blood were taking place. When smashing the jar symbolising the disaster that was going to come upon the nation, he said that God was saying, “For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent” (Jer 19:4).

These two sins – idolatry and shedding innocent blood – the things that God hates – are major features of life in Britain and all the Western nations that have known the word of God for centuries.

These two sins – idolatry and shedding innocent blood – the things that God hates – are major features of life in Britain and all the Western nations that have known the word of God for centuries. Idolatry is practised as part of everyday life whereby we worship the things our human hands have made; and we discard as worthless the word of God. The terrible wars of the 20th century resulted in the shedding of the blood of countless millions of young men and women. In Europe the land is soaked with the blood of the innocent, and we continue to pollute the land every day through abortion and the shedding of blood of millions of unborn babies torn from their mother’s wombs as sacrifices on the altar of pleasure.

These same terrible sins were practised by the Amorites, the tribe whom Israel were told to have no fellowship with when they entered the land of Canaan. There is a significant statement in Genesis 15:16 indicating that full judgement was being delayed but would come later, “For the sins of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure”. The sins of the Amorites were particularly condemned because they included perverted sexual activities and the sacrifice of infants as part of their idolatrous practices.

He is now removing his cover of protection, allowing judgement to be released upon the nations, and we see the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse beginning to gallop across the nations.

Yet we do all these things today as an acceptable part of our Western culture. It may be that our ‘sins of the Amorites’ have now reached the tipping point that God can no longer tolerate. He is now removing his cover of protection, allowing judgement to be released upon the nations, and we see the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rev 6:1-8) beginning to gallop across the nations. Inevitably when judgement is released, the innocent and the guilty suffer which is what we are seeing today across all nations as the pandemic spreads.

Is there anything we human beings can do to end the plague? There is only one answer and that is to stop the blatant sins that are directly offensive to God – our idolatry and the shedding of innocent blood.

Repentance and change are the only hope for the future of humanity – honouring the Name of the God of Creation and ceasing the burning of our babies in the fire.

How do we get this message across to people who are blinded by secular humanism, false news, lies and deceit? Surely Christmas gives us the ideal opportunity to speak about the love and mercy of God our Father who so loved the world that he sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! Let us give thanks that Mary did not do what so many young mothers do today when they find themselves unexpectedly pregnant! Thank God for Mary’s humility and willingness to be the servant of the Lord. Read again the story you’ve heard many times of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth who was carrying John the Baptist in her womb, and he leaped as the two women greeted each other. Luke says that “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” at that moment (Luke 1:41). Jesus was already doing the work of the Kingdom even before he was born!

Surely Christmas gives us the ideal opportunity to speak about the love and mercy of God our Father who so loved the world that he sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ!

This Christmas, when we are in the middle of a plague created by sinful humanity and allowed by our God for a purpose – we each of us need to take time to think carefully about the meaning of Advent – why did God come to dwell among us human beings as John tells us? “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Even if we cannot ‘party’ this Christmas as we would like to do – we can surely revisit the stable at Bethlehem in our prayer times and ask the Lord for deeper revelation of the significance of his word – “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5).

This is the greatest tragedy of our humanity – we have not understood God’s purposes – perhaps we can each find some quiet time this Christmas to ask the Lord what he is doing today and what is the witness that he requires from each one of us as we meet with others in our family or friends who do not yet have a close relationship with Jesus. What a great Christmas present that would be if they came to faith!!!