The “Great” Pandemic

The coronavirus (COVID-19) which was first identified in Wuhan, China back in December 2019, and quickly spread throughout other nations in the world, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020.  A pandemic is a disease outbreak that spreads across countries or continents, infecting large numbers of people resulting in high rates of death.

The origin of the disease, or “patient zero”, are only speculative at this time.  The disease is passed primarily person to person when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.

As of today, over four million people worldwide have been infected with the disease, and almost three hundred thousand have died, with both rates expected to climb significantly over the next few months as there is presently no vaccine or cure for the virus.  The outbreak has had a significant impact on societal behavior and personal and corporate finances and is expected to continue to do so until a vaccine or cure is developed.

There have been a number of horrific pandemics that have been recorded throughout human history. The most significant was the Bubonic plague or “Black Death” which ravaged Europe, Asia and Africa, first appearing from 541 to 542 AD, and reappearing from 1346-1353 AD.  Death toll for these two occurrences totaled almost 200 million.

More recently we have had the Spanish Flu pandemic which killed over thirty million people worldwide between 1918-1920; the Asian Flu, which killed over two million people between 1956-1958, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic that killed 36 million between 2005 to 2012.

However, none of these pandemics and the diseases that produce them compare in scope and impact to the greatest pandemic of all, namely that of sin.  Sin throughout the centuries has brought exponentially more misery and suffering and death into the human experience than all the pandemics above added together. Although a moral rather than medical condition, sin infects all mankind bringing misery within all domains of life including medical. In fact, all other pandemics are only the inherent consequence of this one great pandemic called sin.

Sin is the term used in the Bible by God to describe mankind’s rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives. Symptoms of this condition include the suppression of the knowledge of  God’s glorious person; disdain for His truth; transgression of His righteous laws and commandments; ingratitude for His goodness and grace; and rejection of Him as the object of our deepest love and source of our greatest joy.

We are told in the Bible that all of mankind is guilty of sin and have brought upon ourselves the penalty for sin, namely death; being cut off from the glorious life with God for which we were created, which in turn has resulted in all of the social and biological miseries that have afflicted the human race, culminating in physical death, which separates us forever from this world.

Brian Tabb in writing a related article for The Gospel Coalition titled Theological Reflections on the Pandemic, writes, “Sin is the ultimate pandemic, infecting every son of Adam and daughter of Eve.” He quotes theologian Ian Campbell who refers to sin as “a deep, universal and fatal illness. . . Its working is lethal and toxic, and we all carry the germ.”  Tabb rightly notes, “There is no political solution, scientific remedy, or educational program that can cure or contain the pandemic of human sin. Yet many, if not most, people do not recognize their (spiritually) cancerous condition or grasp its deadly diagnosis.”

We are told in the Bible that patient zero for this pandemic is Adam (Romans 5:12-14), who we are introduced to in the Bible in Genesis 2 along with his wife Eve.  Created as image bearers of God to know and love and be loved by God under His rightful authority as creator, they rejected that authority, and in doing so brought upon themselves and the race that would proceed from them (us), God’s promised judgment of death. The horrific consequences of Adam’s sin have been passed down to all who have been born into this world, even corrupting nature itself.  (Romans 8:18-22)

The only cure/the only rescue from this indomitable disease ironically is death; the death of Jesus Christ and our death in Him.  I will have more to say about this in my next post.

Grace and Peace ×