God’s Thunderclap

lightningSome have called the current situation the Corona Quake. At christianpost.com John Piper, in a discussion on making biblical sense of the coronavirus, said all natural disasters are a “thunderclap of divine mercy in the midst of judgment, calling all people everywhere to repent and realign their lives, by grace, with the infinite worth of the glory of God.”

After Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord, the Lord responded:

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (Chronicles 7:13,14)

Jesus put it a different way: … those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13:4–5)

Piper concluded, “That is the message of Jesus to the world at this moment in history, under the coronavirus — a message to every single human being, … saying, “Repent.”

Isaiah did just that. The Lord said to Isaiah, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The next line is very familiar to us. Isaiah says, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.’” (Isaiah 6:7-8)

Start the conversation to explore what that might look like for you at missionnext.org. It is free and you can opt out at any time.

Nelson Malwitz, Founder

Nelson Malwitz, Founder

Nelson Malwitz, Founder

Nelson was raised in the C&MA and attended Urbana in college. A Chemical Engineer worked in R&D positions 33 years. with formal training in methods of creative problem-solving. He was a founding elder at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, CT (1982) in what is now one of the largest Evangelical churches in New England. In 1998 Nelson founded the Finishers Project, now MissionNext, and serves on the Board. He has been in 45 countries to work with leaders of leaders and see multiple cultures first hand.

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