How should we view natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, plague and other calamities? We have already read that God is the one who brings prosperity and creates disaster (Isa 45:7). We can accept this as being a consequence of his sovereignty. But should these events always be called judgements? Smaller scale traumas suffered by a group or an individual can pose the same question. Stuff happens in life. Is God judging that nation? Is God judging that family? Is he judging me? Without God, we have no choice but to live with it or mitigate it as best we can. But now that we know about God, and especially that he is good, how should we interpret these events? We cannot deny that they occur. By judgement, I mean it here in the negative sense, a deliberate punishment inflicted by God because of sin.
To examine this question I will first review some examples of judgement that we find in the Bible. Yes, there have been judgements, but we can also often discern an element of mercy in that judgement.
Adam and Cain
Adam and Eve where expelled from the Garden of Eden for their sin, into a world of pain, hard labour, and death. Nevertheless, we can see the mercy of God even here. He made them garments of skins, indicating his promise of a sacrifice for the atonement of sins. His promise that Eve's seed would bruise the serpent's heel is another promise, that of victory over Satan.
Cain was made a wanderer on the earth, yet was given protection by God (Gen 4:15).
The Flood
The Flood was a massive judgement. Peter tells us that after his death Jesus
went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built
(1 Pet 3:19,20).
The word used here for preach in Greek [kerusso] means
proclaim
.
Peter does not tell us what Jesus proclaimed, but at the end of the passage he states that the resurrection demonstrates the authority of Jesus over
angels, authorities and powers
(v22).
So one interpretation is that the spirits in prison are fallen angels, and that Jesus didn't preach in the normal sense of that word, but rather went to proclaim his victory over these imprisoned fallen angels, which are described in the [non-canonical] Book of Enoch.
But the word kerusso is the same word as that used for example in
preaching the good news of the kingdom
(Matt 4:23).
So another possibility is that Peter uses the word in the same sense, and that these spirits are those of all humanity lost in the flood. Peter goes on to talk about people and the gospel, saying that only eight people were saved through the flood, and that the water of the flood itself is a picture of baptism. Under this scenario it could be that Jesus presented his own death as a means of redemption for all who would humble themselves and accept it. This message of the gospel is one that angels [so even good angels]
long to look
(1 Pet 1:12),
and, by implication, cannot fully grasp. If we accept that these are human spirits, then this passage tells us that they have a second chance. That shows the mercy of God where it matters most.
Sodom & Nineveh
Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed. This was a severe punishment, but before it took place, God was willing to suspend his threat of destruction for the sake of 10 righteous people (Gen 18:32). Nineveh was threatened with being overthrown, also a severe threat. But God restrained his judgement at their repentance. In fact he declared his concern for that city and its inhabitants (Jonah 4:11).
The severest judgement of all is yet to come. There will be a
day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men
(2 Pet 3:7).
So consider which is worse: to die naturally; or to be condemned to hell forever? Concerning the people of Sodom and Nineveh, Jesus had some remarkable things to say about them, as recorded in consecutive chapters in Matthew:
If anyone will not welcome you [disciples] ... it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town (Matt 10:14-15).
If the miracles that were performed in you [Capernaum] had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day (Matt 11:23).
The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here (Matt 12:41).
See how Jesus went out of his way to stress that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah and Nineveh are not written off when it comes to the last judgement. They will get a second chance, just as those who perished in the Flood will.
But God did kill them in the flesh, or threaten to in the case of Nineveh. Why? Notice how Jesus, referring to Nineveh, said that they repented at the preaching of Jonah. He did not say they repented at the threat of destruction, even though that was Jonah's sole message (Jonah 3:4). It is as if Jesus wanted to de-emphasize the content of the message, the fact that it was a threat, because that message is no longer the ideal one to use.
Jonah could not preach the perfect message, the gospel, because Jesus had not yet died! God wanted to send a preacher to them, but the gospel, the message of the cross [which is the power of God according to Paul (1 Cor 1:18)] was not yet available. Dilemma! So out of his great mercy, he sent the warning of destruction, which brought about repentance, and also their improved status in Jesus' eyes when it comes to the final judgement. It was an inferior message to the Gospel, but it was the best message available at the time, and effective.
In the case of Sodom, we can learn quite a lot from the conversation between Abraham and the Lord. Abraham said
Far be it from you to do such a thing - to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?
(Gen 18:25).
God had the opportunity to put Abraham straight here. He could have replied something like this:
I know you mean well, Abraham, but you always get collateral damage in situations like this. You have to consider the greater good
.
But he didn't do that. He acquiesced to Abraham's plea, and in so doing confirmed that Abraham's estimation of God was correct. God does not treat the righteous and the wicked alike. The fallen world might; Satan might; but God doesn't. If we see sin in a nation, or in a nation's leaders, then we should ponder this point before concluding that God is going to judge the whole nation. Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Nevertheless, Sodom was destroyed. We discover from the rest of the story that there must have been less than 10 righteous people in the city. Lot's extended family accounts for at least six of them [there may have been sons too (v12)], and God had a rescue plan for them. He didn't want the righteous to suffer the same fate as the wicked. Abraham was right about that. So he sent, not a preacher, but two angels with a message of deliverance. Notice how the angels were prepared to spend the night in the square, making themselves available to the inhabitants (Gen 19:2). But the response they received was only threats of abuse. So the message didn't get very far. It even failed to convince the sons-in-law (Gen 19:14). There was a way of escape available, but their hearts were so hard that they could not hear it.
Why were the wicked in Sodom killed? As with Nineveh, there was no gospel message to give them. In the absence of the Gospel message, the kindest act that God could do was to send warnings to these cities. In the case of Sodom, I suggest it was the mercy of God to destroy them, before they became even worse than they were. As we know from the words of Jesus, they will be heard when they give their account of themselves on the Day of Judgement (Rom 14:12), and will have their second chance.
The Nation of Israel
The Old Covenant with Israel had the threat of judgement built in. Provided the nation of Israel obeyed all the laws, they would be blessed. But if not, then curses would follow them. The Law is very clear:
Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out
(Deut 27:26).
According to Deuteronomy chapter 28, this included defeat (v25),
and fearful plagues, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses (v59).
Eventually they could be scattered among the nations (v64).
God was patient, however
(as in 2 Pet 3:9),
revealing his
heart
of grace, even in the midst of judgement. He revealed as much to Moses:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed,
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation
(Ex 34:6,7 ESV).
God showed that mercy by sending prophets to Israel again and again, to get them to turn back to Him, but the people did not listen (Jer 26:5). Eventually, as with the flood, God showed his absolute right to do as he thought fit. In this case, it was to finally invoke the terms of his covenant, and bring to pass defeat, famine, and the Exile. So the judgements against Israel can be seen as a product of the Covenant.
Throughout their history, when Israel was disobedient, they suffered defeat at the hands of their enemies. The reverse was true when Israel was obedient. Then, when any nation occupied their Promised Land, or attacked them, it came under judgement. This happened to the Egyptians, Amalekites, Amorites, Canaanites, Midianites, Philistines, and so on. When such nations were not a threat, they were spared. This is borne out by the occasion when Josiah king of Judah went to fight Neco king of Egypt (2 Chron 35:20-24). Josiah died then, and the Egyptians were not punished, but the reason is made clear. Neco was not intending to attack Judah.
On another occasion the king of Israel, Joram son of Ahab, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went to war against Moab (2 Kings 3).
This time, Moab was defeated - until there came a moment when the king of Moab sacrificed his firstborn son. Immediately
the fury against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land
(v27).
Why did Israel and Judah suffer this reversal? First of all, Joram was evil in his deeds (v2).
So although Jehoshaphat was a good king of Judah, and therefore blessed, this alliance was a mixture of good and bad. This situation created the potential for failure. The defining moment came when the son was sacrificed. Even though the king of Moab did not recognise or worship God, God took notice. Why? I would say it was because the sacrifice reminded God of the sacrifice of his son, Jesus. The Father loves the Son so much that this reminder was sufficient to trigger God to tipping the balance of the war.
In the light of the history of Israel we can therefore perhaps distil the general principle, that when any people attack the people of God, they expose themselves to God's judgement. God protects his people:
Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm
(Ps 105:15).
David was aware of this principle, which is why he didn't hurt Saul himself.
The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord
(1 Sam 24:6).
Summary
In summary, judgements of God in the Old Testament have the following characteristics:
they are a result of sin in general;
or of sin against God's people in particular;
they are usually a last resort;
and have an element of mercy.
But these features, except for mercy, are without the benefits and availability of the New Covenant.
The New Covenant
The Old Covenant had
curses and sworn judgments
,
as Daniel confirmed in his prayer of confession (Dan 9:11).
The New Covenant has brought change. Believers are no longer under the curse. In fact
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us
(Gal 3:13).
In becoming that curse, he bore all the wrath of God that should have fallen on us. That curse, including all the judgements for breaking the Law, has fallen on Christ.
So the believer does not need to pray that God would not bring any more curses or judgements on him. It would be similar to postdiluvian man praying that there be no more global floods. Yes, there have been curses, and yes, there was a flood, but God has made new covenants which annul the former position. To pray that prayer not only denies the New Covenant, but also denies the work of Jesus on the cross, counting it as ineffective.
It would be a similar situation if a sinner had come to Jesus in his time on Earth and, conscious of his own sinfulness, said
Please, please, do not put leprosy on me
.
Does that sound ridiculous? It may do to us, given all we now know about Jesus, but, according to the Law, such a curse could come on anyone violating the Law. Indeed at one stage early on Simon Peter was afraid of Jesus:
Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!
(Luke 5:8).
Jesus' response:
Don't be afraid
.
No, Jesus had not come to enforce the Old Covenant curses on Simon or any of the people. On the contrary, he healed all who asked him. He also declared that seeing him was like seeing the Father (John 14:9),
showing us that the Father and the Son are like-minded. It is therefore evident that Jesus was ushering in a new regime where the old punishments and curses did not apply. Contrast his ministry with that of Samuel, who brought thunder and rain at the time of wheat harvest
(1 Sam 12:16-18).
Jesus himself was fulfilling the whole Law, so that he could bring grace to the world (John 1:17).
This was a
change,
and the people sensed this when they saw him. They came to him in droves, rather than being scared of God's representative among them.
So for the believer, the nature of his covenant with God, as expounded by Paul, together with the nature of the ministry of Jesus himself as described in the Gospels, both demonstrate that he is not under judgement. Jesus said:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life
(John 5:24 ESV).
It is important therefore, when we read the Old Testament and read about curses and sworn judgements, to remember the New Covenant we are under. This is especially so whenever we have encountered trouble of any kind. Such trouble is not to be considered as judgement. Jesus has borne all our judgement upon himself.
The World
What about the world in general? Is God judging today? When hearing about troubles coming to other people or groups, it is easy to assume it is because of the judgement of God. There is often no shortage of sin which can be invoked as the cause if such were the case. So it is a fairly common reaction, especially among religious people, to draw this conclusion. Indeed, the people on Malta did it when Paul was shipwrecked there. He was attacked by a snake and their immediate response was
This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live
(Acts 28:4).
This shows that the islanders did have a moral code of some sort, but their conclusion was wrong. Others did it when a tower fell on some people. Jesus had to correct the notion and explain it was not due to their being worse sinners [hence not a judgement picking on them in particular]
(Luke 13:4-5).
They were wrong. The disciples did it when they pondered the question of a man born blind. Who sinned to bring such a judgement? Jesus had to correct them (John 9:3).
The disciples were wrong. These examples demonstrate at the very least that not all disasters, accidents, sickness and the like befalling disparate groups are judgements from God.
On the other hand we can see, whenever we read the news, that there is much evil in the world, evil that to us deserves judgement, but seems to be going unpunished. Ecclesiastes expresses the same sentiment:
I saw the tears of the oppressed - and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors - and they have no comforter
(Ecc 4:1).
We might agree that some judgement would be an apt solution. So, are there any circumstances which bring judgement today?
In the Old Testament Elijah called fire down from heaven on men who had come to arrest him, sent by the king of Samaria, Ahaziah son of Ahab. It consumed them (2 Kings 1:10). James and John wanted to do the same to a Samaritan village who did not welcome Jesus, but Jesus would not allow it (Luke 9:55). He did not want his disciples to believe that his method of promoting his ministry included judgements on the people.
Another example is when the prophet Agabus predicted a famine across the entire Roman world, which occurred during the reign of Claudius. What did the disciples do? Change their message, and start preaching that the judgement of God was upon the entire Empire? I'm sure that the Roman Empire was not the epitome of virtue at the time, so there would have been just cause to speculate that it was a judgement. They might have drawn the conclusion that God wanted them to use this disaster as a warning to the Empire to repent. But no! They did nothing of the sort. Instead, they organised some famine relief for the brothers in Judea (Acts 11:27-30).
The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus spread throughout the world in 2020. There can be few communities that avoided it. It even reached Antarctica. Was this pandemic a judgement on humanity? If so, then it would not seem right to pray for someone to be healed. That might be going against the will of God. This has a parallel in the time of Jesus. There were many lepers in Israel then. Is that because of a judgement on them? It's possible, under the curse of the Law, and bystanders might say so. Yet Jesus healed ten of them in one encounter (Luke 17:14).
If God was judging them, it would not seem right for Jesus to heal them. That would put Jesus against God, and, according to Jesus,
Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined
(Matt 12:25).
So, yes, just as Jesus healed the lepers, so the Church can minister to and pray for those affected by Covid, and do so confident that that is not against the will of God.
If Covid-19 was a judgement, it was more a judgement on the elderly and on those with certain pre-existing conditions, i.e. the sick. These were some of the people, we were told, that were more likely to die from this virus. If it
was
a judgement, then what becomes of the Gospel? If God
wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth
(1 Tim 2:4),
then what would our message be? It would need to be something like this:
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, and to make sure you really do repent he is killing the elderly and the sick as we speak
.
Such a message is a confusing one to the outsider. Is that how God operates, even under the Old Covenant? Does he not rather defend the weak and vulnerable? In fact, on examining the evidence, is not this much more like the activity of Satan, to prey on the weak?
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour
(1 Pet 5:8).
A lion stalking a herd of wildebeest will target the straggler, the weak one, the one which can't kick back. The devil does the same. And that's exactly what we see with Covid-19. If the Covid-19 virus or pandemic had a supernatural origin then it has all the hallmarks of being an attack of Satan.
The New Message
God said to Jonah
Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it
the message I give you
(Jonah 3:2).
The message was that Nineveh would be overthrown in forty days. It was a message of judgement. Jesus has likewise given the Church a message to preach to all nations. But it is a different message. There has been a change! When God changes the message, we should not revert to an obsolete one! The new message is that Jesus bore all our judgement on the Cross. Paul said it like this:
we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles
(1 Cor 1:23);
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified
(1 Cor 2:2).
Nothing else! It is the Good News, the Gospel, which was not available before the Cross. The Father too had a message for the disciples on the mountain of the transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus:
This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him
(Luke 9:35).
The message of the Son supersedes that of Moses and the Law he received. It supersedes that of Elijah and the fire he brought down from heaven on to the soldiers. It supersedes every other message. It's about His Son! What did Moses and Elijah talk to Jesus about?
They spoke about his departure
(v31).
What a conversation! They spoke of the Cross, though it hadn't happened yet. What else could they talk about? This was to be the supreme event in all history which would reconcile the world to God (2 Cor 5:19).
Jesus has now entrusted his Church with this message of reconciliation, not an immediate threat of earthly destruction, and it would be wrong to change or confuse the message that Jesus has ordained.
God desires his Church to take this new message to the world. In this world we can see many regions where Christians are persecuted for their faith, yet we do not see God punishing the persecutors. On the other hand we do see various disasters taking place: earthquakes, tropical storms and epidemics. But these are like the falling tower that Jesus spoke of - those affected are not worse sinners than the rest. It is therefore plausible to consider that God is no longer judging and punishing peoples in this age, even those persecuting the saints. Judgement has been suspended, because God really does want all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4).
There was a point at the beginning of his ministry when Jesus himself gave a description of what his message was. He was given the scroll of Isaiah. He looked through till he found the passage he wanted, and quoted it:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
preach good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down
(Luke 4:18-20).
If we look at the original in Isaiah, the passage continues with further blessings: comfort for all who mourn, a crown of beauty instead of ashes; the oil of gladness and a garment of praise (Isa 61:2‑3). He could have carried on to cover these blessings. But he stopped. He closed the scroll. He did not even finish the sentence. What were the next words? They were:
and the day of vengeance of our God (Isa 61:2).
Why stop? The people in the synagogue were about to try to throw Jesus over a cliff! It would certainly have been an apt warning to talk to them of the vengeance of God. He could have told them as a parting shot, but he didn't [some of us might have]. He just
walked right through the crowd and went on his way
(Luke 4:30).
The reason that he didn't read further was that Jesus
had
come to preach good news. That was his mission, not bringing the vengeance of God. He said
Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing
(v21).
Here is our answer. The scripture about God's vengeance was
not
fulfilled then. So Jesus had to stop where he did because he wanted to read only the scripture that was fulfilled that day. The vengeance part will come to pass in due course, but not until the events surrounding the Second Coming of Christ. To Isaiah, all these events were in the distant future, and got merged together, to the confusion of those waiting for the prophecies to be fulfilled. But it is Jesus who is giving the correct interpretation of the prophesy for his hearers, by closing the scroll where he did.
Paul, quoting a scripture about the time of God's favour, declared that that time is
now (2 Cor 6:2).
We are living in the time of God's favour, not his wrath. The book Revelation recounts a future time of tribulation and punishment. But this book is a prophesy (Rev 22:18),
and these punishments are in the future. They are not how God is acting today. In John's vision he saw the souls of martyrs asking
How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?
(Rev 6:10).
They were told to wait a little longer. In other words, such judgements have to wait for their time. One day in the future a new scroll will be opened, and on that day the message will change again. The new message will include the wrath of the Lord, and summon in the Day of Vengeance of our God. The details will be found in that scroll which only the Lion of the Tribe of Judah can open (Rev 5:5).
So yes, there is a hell for evildoers, and yes, there will be a time of God's wrath on Earth according to Revelation, but it would be unwise to want to open that particular scroll before the due time.