HOW GOD USES PESTILENCE

When God created the earth and all life about 6,000 years ago, it was perfect. There was no disease, no pain, and no death. But when Adam sinned, the world was cursed and pestilence came into being.

So God has used this pestilence in six ways throughout history: 1. as a warning for obedience; 2. for judging disobedience; 3. as a demonstration of His power; 4. as an appeal for repentance; 5. to show protection and comfort; and 6. to prophesy Christ’s return.

1.   WARNING

The warnings in scripture were first used toward and for the Israelites, both before and after the Exodus, and then again around the time of their captivity. The warning comes prior to any action taken by the people in order to dissuade them from error and sin. God says if or when you are going to behave a certain way, then I will deal with you accordingly.

The first warning was shared with Pharaoh, so he would let the Israelites go and worship in the desert so that they could avoid pestilence.

Exodus 5:1-3 (NKJV) ^5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.' “² And Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go." ³ So they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."

Next came a warning to Pharaoh himself.

Exodus 9:1-3 (NKJV) ^9:1  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: "Let My people go, that they may serve Me.²  For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold them, ³  behold, the hand of the LORD will be on your cattle in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep--a very severe pestilence.

We are well aware of the subsequent plagues that God used to persuade Pharaoh to release His people. He was warned, but failed to believe that all these things would happen to Egypt. And once the Israelites were on their way to the Promised land, they also needed some warnings. Here God seems to be giving them four chances to be obedient.

Leviticus 26:14-25 (NKJV) ^26:14 ‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, ¹⁵ and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, ¹⁶ I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸ ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. ²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹  'Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.²² I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.

²³  'And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, ²⁴  then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

So, about 800 years later Israel was delivered into the hand of the Babylonians, where Ezekiel wrote these warnings. But they end with a comforting note as well.

Ezekiel 14:12-23 (NKJV) ^14:12  The word of the LORD came again to me, saying: ¹³  "Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. ¹⁴ Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness," says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵ “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even though these three men were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.

¹⁷  "Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, 'Sword, go through the land,' and I cut off man and beast from it, ¹⁸  even though these three men were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered.

¹⁹  "Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰  even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness." ²¹ For thus says the Lord GOD: "How much more it shall be when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem--the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence--to cut off man and beast from it?

²² Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. ²³ And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it," says the LORD GOD.

2.   JUDGEMENT

Prior to the capture by Babylon, Ezekiel declared this judgment on Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 5:11-12 (NKJV) ^5:11  Therefore, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. ¹² One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

Jeremiah likewise proclaimed this judgment on Judah.

Jeremiah 24:8-10 (NKJV) ^24:8  'And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad'--surely thus says the LORD--'so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹ I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.' "

3.   DEMONSTRATION

God demonstrates His purpose, His power, His lessons and His glory in these verses.

Exodus 9:15-16 (NKJV) ^9:15 Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.
¹⁶ But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

Ezekiel 5:15-17 (NKJV) ^5:15  So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken.
¹⁶ When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. ¹⁷ So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.' "

4.   APPEAL

Solomon had finished the Temple in Jerusalem and brought the Ark into the Most Holy Place. The people worshiped the Lord and Solomon appealed to them to turn to the Lord when problems arose in the land. And he prayed for the Lord’s help for those who prayed.

1 Kings 8:37-40 (NKJV) ^8:37  "When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; ³⁸  whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple:
³⁹  then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), ⁴⁰  that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.

Following the dedication of the Temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and offered this appeal, promising that He will hear, forgive, and heal.

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (NKJV) ^7:13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,
¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will 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.

When the people of Moab and Ammon and others came to war against Judah, Jehoshaphat recalled the words from the dedication and prayed to the Lord.

2 Chronicles 20:7-9 (NKJV) ^20:7  Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? ⁸  And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ⁹  'If disaster comes upon us--sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine--we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.'

5.   COMFORT

God promises deliverance from pestilence and, more importantly, from the fear of pestilence and other perilous events.

Psalm 91:1-3 (NKJV) ^91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." ³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.

Psalm 91:4-7 (NKJV) ^91:4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. ⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, ⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.

6.   PROPHESY

Jesus told us that in the last days prior to His return, there will be pestilences and many other destructive signs.

Luke 21:7-11 (NKJV)
^21:7 So they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?" ⁸ And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near.' Therefore do not go after them. ⁹ But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately." ¹⁰ Then He said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

Jesus finishes this chapter with these words of hope!

²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON