Episode 50 – Victory over the Virus Part 3

Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script: (Bible quotes from the New Living Translation and others)

For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

“Be strong and courageous...

Joshua, Chapter 1, verses 5 and 6, New Living Translation

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah, Chapter 41, verse 10, New Living Translation

We know that suffering creates endurance, endurance creates character, and character creates confidence.

Romans, Chapter 5, verses 3 and 4, God’s Word Translation

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VK: Good Morning. I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books. As we had announced in a previous episode we had planned to start a new series on Anchored by Truth to focus on one of the strongest lines of evidence for the Bible’s inspiration: fulfilled prophecy. But, as important as that topic is, given all that’s going on in our community and nation right now we thought that we should set that aside for a moment. We wanted to take some time to meditate on some of what the Bible says to us about how we as a nation, a community, and as individuals can achieve victory over the virus. RD, care to make some introductory comments?

RD: Absolutely. As those listeners who were able to join us on our last couple of shows know the first topic we addressed in this series was the assurance that we find in the Bible that God, who is omnipotent, has promised us that He will never leave us or forsakes us.

VK: And for anyone who wasn’t able to join us, those episodes are now available by podcast through all major podcast apps.

RD: Great point. And on our second Victory episode we talked about how we can cultivate personal qualities that we all need at times like this: wisdom, strength, and contentment.

VK: Right. Just as a brief summary wisdom starts by us acknowledging God for who He is and having a reverent respect for him. But when we need more wisdom we’re promised that if we pray to receive it that God will provide it. Strength comes from connecting personally to Jesus and finding our joy in Him. And contentment comes from trusting in Jesus in all circumstances and demonstrating that trust by expressing gratitude to Him – nor gratitude for the difficulties but gratitude for the sustaining grace He gives us in the middle of our difficulties.

RD: And to build on those observations today we want to take a look at how we can be sure that, when the Bible was written, the Lord was just as concerned about us as He was for the original audience who first heard God’s word spoken to them. You know, it’s one thing for us to read the Bible and even study it, but it’s another thing to believe that it is still speaking to us today – individually and personally. But the truth is - that it is. God had us in mind when he first spoke through His prophets and representatives even though He gave those revelations over 2000 years ago.

VK: I sense this is another one of those cases where the news is going to be really, really good news. But it may be so good that it is going to be mind-bogglingly good, literally. Oh well. Before we get going, just like last week, let’s make this a double prayer episode. This time since our government leaders are playing such a critical role in helping our nation and communities with this crisis let’s pray that they receive an extra big helping of wisdom and strength.

---- Prayer for Government Leaders to help bring Victory over the Virus

VK: That’s a great prayer and I hope many people will either take it upon themselves to pray for their local and national government leaders as well as continue to pray for doctors, nurses, and police. I know you like to pray for specific leaders by name. How do you decide who to pray for?

RD: I try to remember the admonition in 1 Timothy 2:1 that we are commanded first of all to pray for governing officials and those in authority. So, naturally, I start with the names of well-known leaders like the President or Governor. But then I also pray for government leaders that come to my attention often by seeing them on a news show or in an internet story. Remember that God is not only omnipotent and omniscient but also omnipresent. So, he can bring the officials to our attention that He wants us to pray for – IF we are open to His leading.

VK: And that is another one of those concepts that can quickly give you headaches. God can and does inspire the prayers in our hearts and minds that HE wants us to pray. And then He turns around and responds to those prayers. Like I say, head spinning stuff.

RD: Someday I want to do a show or two just on prayer but for that observation is a great lead-in to the point that I really want to discuss in today’s episode. The Bible is a marvelous, wonderful book – completely unique among all the world’s book because its source, its origin, is God himself. Now let’s think about that for just a second. The first thing the Bible tells us is that God spoke the universe into existence. God used His word to create the heavens and the earth which is just an idiomatic way of saying He created everything. Think of the power then in God’s words…

VK: That’s part of what’s doing the mind-boggling and head spinning. God used His words to bring 50 million plus galaxies into existence and each of those galaxies contains 50 to 100 billion stars.

RD: Exactly. And then that God uses words to bring His special revelation to us. So when we read the Bible we are seeing the direct communication that the omnipotent creator of everything sovereignly chose to give to us. And that’s the point. God didn’t just give His revelation to the first audience that heard the word. He gave it to every single one of us who, as Romans 8:28 says, “love Him and are called according to His purpose.” So, again, meditate on that for just a second and then take that thought to its logical conclusion. When God first gave His revelation, let’s say to Moses for instance. At the time He spoke to Moses He still knew that one day, in the fullness of time, you or me or anyone in the Anchored by Truth audience, or anyone around the world would read those words. God spoke His words with us just as much in mind as when He gave them to Moses. That, to me, is what makes His promises so powerful when we face times of trial and testing like today.

VK: That can be so hard to understand, much less absorb. You’re saying that when God handed the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai He had you and me in mind just as much as He did Moses. That really will make your head buzz. I mean how can that be possible?

RD: Well, of course, for you and me it’s not possible because we’re finite, limited. But God is not. God is infinite in all his dimensions: power, knowledge, presence, holiness, whatever. God is not, indeed cannot, be limited. Saying that God is infinite is a way of saying what God is not. God is not limited. So He maintains a galaxy’s spin with no more effort, for him, that you or I turning the page of a book. So, while, no human, or angel for that matter, could have known when He handed the ten commandments to Moses that one day you or I would read them – God knew it. So, naturally, that same principle extends to each and every word in the Bible – including the parts we need to rely on when we walk through our own valleys in the shadow of death.

VK: All right, let’s take a look at a specific promise that can help us as we are all dealing with this terrible virus that’s threatening our land and communities. Let’s take our opening scripture, Joshua, chapter 1, verses 5 and 6. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. “Be strong and courageous... “ You’re saying that God absolutely wants us to be able to relay on that promise. That He will be with us just as much as He was with Joshua.

RD: Absolutely. Probably more than anything else that’s the power that the Bible gives to God’s people in difficult trials. Without a doubt, there are some parts of the Bible that had more immediate relevance to their original audience – like when Isaiah promised Hezekiah in 2 Kings, chapter 19, that the Assyrian army would not conquer Jerusalem or even be able to shoot an arrow into it. Obviously, that assurance brought, or should have brought, a more immediate sense of relief to Hezekiah and Isaiah than it does to us. In other words it had a different sense of immediate importance to them than for us.

VK: But you’re saying that the general principle still applies to us. When Hezekiah saw his city being threatened he immediately went to God and pled for help and God immediately gave Isaiah a word of reassurance to give to Hezekiah. So today, when we’re faced with trouble and threats we can do exactly what Hezekiah did – go to God in prayer. But how can we receive our answer?

RD: Well, part of the way we receive our answers today is the same, through God’s word. It’s just that today God’s word, His revelation, comes to us through the Bible rather than through a currently living prophet. Now I know that sometimes people might wish that we still had such prophets, but think about his for a second. We have a much fuller revelation than either Hezekiah or even Isaiah had, because we live on the other side of the resurrection. We have seen that many of the prophecies that Isaiah made, for instance about the virgin birth of the Messiah, have actually come true. So, we are not somehow second-class citizens when it comes to hearing from God. We possess God’s complete revelation where as they possessed only part of it.

VK: I see where you’re going with all this, but again absorbing all this really can be overwhelming. God gave His word, His revelation, to dozens of people over a period of 1,500 years. But you’re saying that each and every time He did that He was fully aware that one day you and I would be turning to that revelation in our own time of need? That’s such an amazing thought. And when you think that God wanted to reassure us, just as much as He did Joshua, that really starts to make your knees buckle.

RD: Well, when our knees are buckling, the easiest thing to do is drop down and pray on them. It’s so easy to let ourselves drift into thinking that Bible is a historical book because it contains so much history. And indeed, the Bible’s historical reliability that we’ve often discussed on Anchored by Truth is one of the strong lines of evidence that the Bible has a supernatural origin. But the Bible isn’t just a historical book. It’s God’s special revelation that He intended to serve all of His people – regardless of where they live or when they live.

VK: That’s such an important point. As we’ve been discussing in the last few episodes the Bible contains a lot of reassuring promises but those promises will hold far less meaning or comfort if we don’t believe that God really did intend for them to apply to us. But the good news is that He really did intend for them to apply to us. In fact, God knew they would apply to us – if we will let them – because He already knew about us when He first uttered His revelation, regardless of where on the human calendar that fell.

RD: Exactly. Remember that Ephesians 1:4 says that we were chosen before the foundation of the world. But I think that sometimes we take those kind of observations poetically or allegorically rather than literally. Well, of course the Bible contains poetry and allegory but plain factual statements like that should be taken as that – plain and factual.

VK: That’s so hard to wrap your head around. God know about us, knew about this virus, before He ever spoke the universe into existence. And from the moment He began giving His revelation He knew that someday some of us would be turning to it, looking for hope and help and strength.

RD: Yes. And that’s the big reason we labor so hard on Anchored by Truth to help people understand one basic truth: the Bible is trustworthy. After all, how can a promise like that of Isaiah 41:10…

VK: The second of our opening scriptures.

RD: Yes – how can that be of any value to someone who 1) doesn’t know about it or 2) knows about it but believes its part of a collection or fairy tales or 3) knows about it and believes its true but thinks it’s not intended for them?

VK: It can’t. And that’s a terrible thing because it means when people confront trials like dealing with the virus their sources for help and comfort shrink dramatically. I mean we all have friends – at least I hope everyone does. But even if we have lots of human friends we know that ultimately all of them are just like us – finite and in many ways frail and fully capable of failure. But God is none of those things. He’s not limited. He’s not frail and He’s definitely not capable of failure. So, when He says that we don’t need to be afraid because He promises to be with us, we can trust that promise. Even better, according to Isaiah 41:10, He promises to not only be with us but strengthen us and help us and uphold us with His victorious right hand. And since God is omnipotent He cannot fail when He makes a pledge to His people.

RD: That’s what makes His reassurances so comforting during difficult times. We can and will fail but God will not. And even beyond knowing that He is with us and upholds us at the worst of times He had made another promise to us. And that is that the trials and tribulations that we endure ultimately increase the confidence that we have in the Lord.

VK: You’re thinking of our third scripture today which comes from Romans where the Apostle Paul told us that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces confidence. So what you’re getting to is that Christians never need to struggle or suffer without reaping benefits.

RD: Right. Without wanting to be too graphic about it there is something that is worse than suffering and that is suffering that brings no benefit or hope to ourselves or others. Well, if we don’t know that there is an almighty, everlasting, and eternal God who is vitally concerned with our lives and futures there is no sound intellectual basis for retaining hope in the midst of trials. After all, if all life resulted from the random collision of molecules in some “warm little pond” what different would it make whether some random collection of those molecules down-the-road experience discomfort? In fact, what difference would it make whether the virus wins or we do?

VK: Wow. That’s a pretty stark distinction isn’t it?

RD: Yes, but the situation changes instantly when we recognize that the random-collision falls apart in the face of a focused look at the evidence. Scientific evidence, as we demonstrated in our Truth in Genesis series, supports the Biblical account of creation. And we can move on from there to demonstrate that the entire Bible can be supported as an authentic revelation of a supernatural God. And from that revelation we learn that God is both transcendent and immanent and both of those qualities are exceedingly important to us at times of struggle like this.

VK: God’s transcendence means that He is not subject to the limits or boundaries of His own creation. He is outside, over and above if you will, of all of creation’s limits including time. So because God is outside time He knew from before the foundation of the earth exactly what would be going on at this time in history and even in our lives individually. So when we say that God had us in mind when He gave the promises to the Bible writers we know that that is a statement that is grounded in the ultimate characteristics of God himself.

RD: Exactly. And God’s immanence, His ability to be present within His creation at any place and at any time means that He is not just some distant removed deity who set everything in motion but now just kind of watches to see how it all turns out. God is present with us. That’s what one of Jesus’ names, Emmanuel, means: God with us. So, we can rely on the fact that God’s transcendence guarantees us that He can provide for us, protect us, and uphold us because of all of His creation, including viruses, is subject to His sovereignty. But His immanence guarantees us that He is never indifferent to the experiences that we are having in any moment. Some commentators have counted at least 365 times in the Bible, like in Joshua, where God tells His people not to be afraid or to have courage.

VK: So there’s one for every day of the year. Well, obviously if God put encouragement in that many places within His revelation it’s because He knew His people would need it. Once again, that shows that God really does want to encourage His people even in the difficult times.

RD: I would never want to minimize the troubles that we experience especially at time like this. Suffering and struggle are real. It is foolish to pretend they aren’t or to try to gloss over them with simple platitudes.

VK: Such as?

RD: I don’t want to mention specific ones but I think we all have well-meaning friends who will sometimes try to comfort people but do so in a way that is almost dismissive of the real pain that people are experiencing. The Bible tells us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing but to weep with those who are weeping. Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb. Pain and heartache are real. But just as it is foolish to dismiss the reality of pain and suffering it is equally foolish to dismiss Jesus’ willingness to be, as Psalm 46:1 puts it, a “very present help in our time of trouble.” At times like this we need to really mediate on the promises the Bible has made and seek to draw them in to our daily experiences.

VK: In short, this is a time for us to run to the foot of the cross and to begin to build a deeper relationship with Jesus.

RD: I don’t want to be too mystical about it but this will probably be a Lenten period like none we’ve ever experienced. I liked the sign I saw on one church that said, “I hadn’t planned to give up quite this much for Lent.” I think that’s a great sign. It recognizes the reality of what’s going on, but it turns our eyes upward to the approaching dawn of Easter. I don’t know that all of our current struggles will be over by Easter but I do know that, even if they’re not, that doesn’t mean that Jesus didn’t rise on that day. Jesus rose out of the grave and when He did He made it possible for all of us to rise with Him. Our ultimate hope is what He did and does not in what happens in this life. Those who put their trust in what happened that Easter morn will experience an ultimate victory that cannot be denied and will never end.

VK: I like that message. Jesus gained the victory over death by His perfect life and He didn’t just obtain a victory for Himself. He gained it for all of us. This has been a tough Lent. No doubt about it. But even in the midst of the difficulties Jesus has given us His promise that He is with us and that He will sustain us. And someday He will bring us to the Father’s side to enjoy an eternal feast that will have no end. It’s like you said, “if you suffer with no hope that’s real suffering. But if we have to suffer we have the guarantee of eternal glory we can bear up and continue to press forward to the high calling of what we have in Jesus.” Sounds like a great time for a prayer. Since Easter Sunday is this Sunday, today let us celebrate all that our Savior accomplished for us when He sovereignly cast off the wrappings in the tomb and walked out surrounded by clouds of angelic witnesses.

---- PRAYER FOR EASTER

VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”

(Opening Bible Quotes from the New Living Translation and others)

Joshua, Chapter 1, verses 5 and 6, New Living Translation

Isaiah, Chapter 41, verse 10, New Living Translation

Romans, Chapter 5, verses 3 and 4, God’s Word Translation

https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/03/14/coronavirus-christianity-history-and-faith/