Posted on Facebook recently
is a suggested connection between the recent fires in Australia, the current
Covid 19 pandemic and verses from 2 Chronicles 7: 11-16.
Please consider the
following.
Review of 2 Chronicles 7: 11-16
Context:
Solomon has completed the Temple
It looks like God is providing a promise
that when the Israelites stray away (as they had a habit of doing) and then
turn back to him, he will accept their sacrifices and all will be well. The
more faithful reading and context of this passage is that God, in mercy, by
accepting the Temple
It does not appear to be an end-times
prophecy. This Scripture is most faithfully read as applying to the Israelites,
the Temple
I remind you of the Book of Job… Job was
completely innocent and yet seriously bad things happened to him. Just because
we suffer a flood, a tornado, a drought, does not indicate that God is
punishing us or making a display of anger.
Transition
to the new Covenant of Jesus…
Matthew 26: 27 Then he
took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink
from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
We are not under the sacrificial system
which applied to the Israelites and the Temple
Jesus
is our ultimate and fully sufficient sacrifice.
To claim that God uses natural disasters as He
did with the Israelites during Old Testament times as a means of disciplining
us today is to make the sacrifice and reconciliation of Jesus of no effect.
The church, rather than natural disaster, is
the means by which God provides for confession and reconciliation today. The
church continues to pray in confession and as intercession for everyone around
the world.
