Coronavirus and Christ
By John Piper
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“This is a time when the fragile form of this world is felt. The seemingly solid foundations are shaking. The question we should be asking is, Do we have a Rock under our feet? A Rock that cannot be shaken—ever?”
—John Piper
On January 11, 2020, a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) reportedly claimed its first victim in the Hubei province of China. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization had declared a global pandemic. In the midst of this fear and uncertainty, it is natural to wonder what God is doing.
In Coronavirus and Christ, John Piper invites readers around the world to stand on the solid Rock, who is Jesus Christ, in whom our souls can be sustained by the sovereign God who ordains, governs, and reigns over all things to accomplish his wise and good purposes for those who trust in him. What is God doing through the coronavirus? Piper offers six biblical answers to that question, showing us that God is at work in this moment in history.
John Piper
John Piper is founder and lead teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He served for thirty-three years as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the author of more than fifty books, including Desiring God; Don’t Waste Your Life; and Providence.
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Reviews for Coronavirus and Christ
38 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very timely book in this season of pandemic! Great delivery of questions and answer scripturally! Great read! :)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible and amazing book! God bless you pastor John Piper.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reflecting About God’s Agency Brief and well based reflection about God’s agency in our world. John Piper gives his interpretation of the coronavirus outbreak and its meaning in light of the Scriptures. Must read, specially by those who believe in God’s word and in his mastering of history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is very amazing. It gives a new perspective into the current times we are at. I’m blessed
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rated: C+Always like Piper's perspective on things. Simple read on why bad things can happen -- whether allowed by God or sent by God.> The object of hope is future. The experience of hope is present.> For believers, God says: "Live or die, you will be with me.">The biblical view of faith is not a leap in the dark.
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Coronavirus and Christ - John Piper
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Coronavirus
and
Christ
Other books by John Piper
The Dangerous Duty of Delight
Desiring God
Don’t Waste Your Life
Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
God Is the Gospel
A Hunger for God
Let the Nations Be Glad!
The Pleasures of God
Reading the Bible Supernaturally
Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ
Spectacular Sins
A Sweet and Bitter Providence
What Jesus Demands from the World
When I Don’t Desire God
Why I Love the Apostle Paul
Coronavirus
and
Christ
John Piper
Coronavirus and Christ
Copyright © 2020 by Desiring God Foundation
Published by Crossway
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.
Cover design: Jordan Singer
First printing 2020
Printed in the United States of America
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.
Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7359-0
ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7362-0
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7360-6
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7361-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936307
Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
2020-05-08 11:53:30 AM
Contents
The Occasion: Coronavirus
Part 1: The God Who Reigns over the Coronavirus
1 Come to the Rock
2 A Solid Foundation
3 The Rock Is Righteous
4 Sovereign over All
5 The Sweetness of His Reign
Part 2: What Is God Doing through the Coronavirus?
Preliminary Thoughts: Seeing and Pointing
6 Picturing Moral Horror
7 Sending Specific Divine Judgments
8 Awakening Us for the Second Coming
9 Realigning Us with the Infinite Worth of Christ
10 Creating Good Works in Danger
11 Loosening Roots to Reach the Nations
A Closing Prayer
Notes
Scripture Index
Desiring God Note on Resources
The Occasion:
Coronavirus
I am writing this little book in the last days of March 2020, on the front end of the global pandemic known as the coronavirus, or technically, coronavirus disease 2019
(abbreviated COVID-19). The virus affects the lungs, and in the worst cases kills by suffocation.
The first death by the virus was reported in China on January 11, 2020. Today as I write, there are hundreds of thousands of cases of infection worldwide, with tens of thousands of deaths. There is no known cure—yet.
By the time you read this, you will know far better than I how things will develop. So I need not detail the measures being taken to slow the spread of the virus or the economic toll being exacted. Social mingling, travel, conferences, church gatherings, theaters, restaurants, sporting events, and businesses are nearing a standstill.
This is not unprecedented—either globally or in America. In the global influenza epidemic of 1918 (to use the estimates of the Centers for Disease Control), fifty million people around the world died.¹ Over five hundred thousand of those were in the United States. People felt symptoms in the morning and were dead by nightfall. Bodies were picked up from front porches to be carted away to graves dug by steam shovels. A man was shot for not wearing a mask. Schools were closed. Ministers spoke of Armageddon.
Of course precedents prove nothing. The past is warning, not fate. Nevertheless, this is a time when the fragile form of this world is felt. The seemingly solid foundations are shaking. The question we should be asking is, Do we have a Rock under our feet? A Rock that cannot be shaken—ever?
Part 1
The God Who Reigns over the Coronavirus
Chapter 1
Come to the Rock
I am moved to write because playing the odds is a fragile place to put your hope. Odds like 3 percent versus 10 percent, youth versus old age, compromised health versus no history of disease, rural versus urban, self-isolated versus home meeting with friends. Playing the odds provides little hope. It is not a firm place to stand.
There is a better way. There is a better place to stand: a Rock of certainty rather than the sand of probabilities.
When Cancer Came
I recall being told on December 21, 2005, that I had prostate cancer. For the next several weeks, all the talk was about odds. Odds with waiting to see.