John 19:1-18, Luke 23:21-23,1 Corinthians 1:18,1 Corinthians 1:23-24,1 Corinthians 2:14

Summary: Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), the assassination of President Kennedy (November 22, 1963), and the terrorist act upon America (September 11, 2001) are all considered “infamous” days. The true “day of infamy” was 2,000 years ago when we attempted to kill God Incarnate.

The central theme of the Gospel is that the Lord Jesus was placed upon the cross for the redemption of our sins. It was an act of mercy, love, grace, and salvation that we did not deserve (Romans 5:6-11). It was also the day that rebellious humanity shook its fist at God Almighty, and the creature, in an act of futility, tried to kill its Creator. It was the day when the devil and his demons shouted with joy over the fact that their enemy was about to be put to death, and the curse that God had inflicted upon Satan (Genesis 3:15) would not come to pass. It was the day when the mortal enemies of Christ, disguised in robes of religious piety and ceremony, looked upon the King of Kings with contempt and mockery and a sense of vindication for the woes He decreed upon them for their acts of hypocrisy and pettiness a few days earlier (Matthew 23:1-36; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47).

Jesus had declared Himself to be the true Temple of God when He drove out the money changers and others who were using the House of God as a marketplace and a “den of thieves” (Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-22). These actions infuriated the Pharisees and Sadducees, who saw their “business” torn apart by the preacher of Galilee.

In all of their collective eyes and thoughts, the sight of this troublemaker, wrongly accused and illegally tried, was getting the punishment He deserved, and they thought it would be a means of eradicating His memory for all time. If the world, the flesh, and the devil had their way, the name and work of Jesus of Nazareth would be wiped away into the dustbin of historical oblivion.

Even today, there are people walking around and making noises who say that Jesus never existed or was a “cult” thought up by a bunch of fanatics, or a story conceived by those who had followed Him to keep His ideas alive, and a seemingly never-ending host of fanciful tales told to gullible and ignorant masses who don’t bother to check the facts for themselves. Instead, they allow others to do their thinking for them. The enemies of Jesus Christ, in hoping that He would die and rot in the grave, were and still are today harboring the greatest case of wishful thinking ever conceived.

On that infamous day long ago, it certainly looked as if their wishes were about to come true, and all the apostles could do at that time was to watch in horror and fear, bearing the seeds of disillusionment and sorrow, or remain in hiding, afraid that they would be the next in line for crucifixion as well.

John 19:2-3 tells of the scourging, mocking, and humiliation placed upon the Lord Jesus, shoving on His sacred head the crown of thorns, which only added to the pain He was enduring. The religious men (19:4-7,15) had tried and then sentenced the LORD to death, later mocking Him as He slowly died the agonizing death of a criminal by a means so brutal that no Roman citizen was to be put to death in such a manner. The governing powers of Pilate and Herod (19:6-15) both had the authority to stop the entire procedure. They had both judged that Jesus had done no wrong, yet cowardly gave in to the bloodthirstiness of the Pharisees, who were guilty of blasphemy when they declared to have no king but Caesar (19:14-15).

When Jesus was nailed to the cross and hoisted between two thieves, who had been sentenced to die that day, they also took turns blaspheming and mocking Him (Luke 23:39). However, the thief on His right saw the error of his ways, rebuked the other thief, and asked Jesus simply to remember Him (Luke 23:42). Jesus graciously told this dying criminal that he would be with Him in Paradise (v.43). This man’s simple request was graciously answered.

Alister Begg, a preacher from Scotland, presented the scene as a drama where this thief found himself in the portals of heaven. The angels asked him how he had gotten there. He had not been baptized, nor confirmed, nor had been instructed in the confessions of the faith, or anything of that matter. This man who was at the edge of hell just moments before told them that “the Man on the cross said I could come in.” Is that not the true essence of following Jesus?

If God asked you at the end of your life, “By what right do you have to enter My heaven?” the answer does not rely upon degrees in theology, or complicated diagrams of biblical interpretation, or a knowledge of Greek or Hebrew, nor ordination, nor licensure, or anything we accumulate in the name of religion or how we define faith. It all boils down to telling God, “At one time, I was a sinner. I trusted Jesus to save me, and He said I could come in.”

The promise of eternal life, victory over death, peace with God, freedom from the bondage of sin, and the final judgment of evil was accomplished by what Jesus did on the cross that day. The powers of evil, both the demons and the deviant individuals who had believed that their malevolent deed succeeded, did not know that this infamous day had been planned and put into place by God Almighty before the foundations of creation (1 Corinthians 2:7-9; Ephesians 1:4; Revelation 13:8). Nothing and no one can ever catch the Sovereign LORD by surprise or unawares.

Because of the physical, emotional, and spiritual agony Jesus suffered on the cross on what we call “Good Friday,” the glorious event of the Resurrection became a reality and confirmation that the work of Christ was complete, never to be repeated, and sufficient to redeem us from our sins. If Jesus Christ were still in a tomb, then any talk of redemption, salvation, or the promises of God would be of no merit or use, and we would still be dead in our sins without hope (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

For those of you reading this message and are uncertain of where you stand before Christ and the fact of death and judgment (Luke 12:13-21; John 5:28-29; Hebrews 9:27), this promise of salvation and peace is for you as well. The path to your redemption is not complicated. It is as simple as admitting you’re a sinner, just like everyone else, believe that Jesus Christ is LORD, that God has raised Him from the dead, and call on Him to save you (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23, 6:23,10:9-10). The work has already been done by Jesus on your behalf. All you need to do is ask Him if you can come home. It worked for the thief and countless others throughout history. You’re no exception.

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

My book The Scope of Biblical Prophecy is now available at: www.parsonsporch.com. It is a general look at the role and importance of Bible prophecy, the importance of correct interpretation of the Scriptures, the varied ways of how the last days events are to occur, and that in the end, Jesus wins.

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Donald was born and reared in the authentic “Cajun Country” of southern Louisiana. He is a graduate of Louisiana College (B.A. in History Education/ Biblical Studies, 1984), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. In Christian Education, 1994), and Andersonville Baptist Seminary (Doctor of Ministry, Biblical Exposition, 2000). He has been in the Gospel ministry since 1986, serving as an evangelist, interim and supply pastor, hospital and rescue mission chaplain, high school and college teacher, and pastor in churches in Louisiana and Oklahoma.

In 2018, he began to devote his time to the rich field of internet and social media evangelism and outreach. In 2021 he became a member of the Oklahoma Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, using his skills as a writer to contribute articles and sermons to websites such as Rapture Ready, Sermon Central, and Inspirational Christian Blogs. He also writes Bible studies and curricula for churches in southeast and central Asia and Africa, the locations of which are anonymous. He can be contacted at: donaldwhitchard@gmail.com for inquiries, information, and speaking/preaching engagements. A copy of his resume is also available upon request.

Viruses have been with us for a long time. They live in many different environments and can inhabit insects to humans. They are not parasites; typically, they are predators. They seek out a host whereby they can replicate and spread, and most viruses don’t kill the creature they inhabit. There are those, however, which are so virile and toxic that they leave a trail of destruction wherever they go.

Lately, I’ve been reading books by Richard Preston that explore the deadliest viruses in the world. I started with The Demon in the Freezer and went backward in the series to The Cobra Event, and am now reading The Hot Zone. The books are – to put it mildly – frightening as all get out. Preston does not spare the reader in describing the horrific symptoms accompanying the onset of virus infections in the human body. I gave an example of this in my recent article: Monkeying with Monkeypox.

Demon was primarily about Smallpox with some Anthrax thrown in; Cobra was a fictional account of a truly awful cannibalistic brainpox based on a rare disease called Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome; and Hot Zone details the quest to understand and find the origins of the hemorrhagic afflictions of Ebola and Marburg. Preston has a couple more books in his virus series, so I’ll likely continue learning and freaking out about these most terrible of organisms.

The last couple of years has brought viruses to our attention. We’re told that COVID is a virus that jumped from bats to humans. That’s highly suspect. Although there are plenty of deadly natural viruses, it seems that man can’t leave well enough alone. Our sin nature has a propensity to find things which are natural that are bad, and to make them worse for our own purposes. It has indisputably been shown that COVID was weaponized with gain-of-function research for the express purpose of introducing the “vaccines,” which have shown themselves to be much worse than the disease they’re supposedly intended to alleviate.

There is no known cure for virus infections. They can be vaccinated against, but with the worst of the virus illnesses, it’s usually a downhill journey to an awful death. Read the Preston books, and you’ll see what I mean.

In my reading of these accounts of the men and women who have worked tirelessly against these viral diseases, it also brought to mind the people who likewise labor in this field but do so in the attempt to reduce the human population. There is some suggestion in the books about this purposeful effort, but again, this reality has come to the fore lately as we’ve observed COVID, the people behind it, and the narrative which advocates that all of humanity must be vaccinated for our protection – which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Thinking beyond our current situation made me reflect on Richard Preston’s description of the origins of viruses. There’s no indication that he’s a Bible-believing Christian. He speaks of evolution and the earth being billions of years old. From this perspective, he believes that lethal viruses are older than mankind. For those of us who read the Bible literally, this is an impossibility. In that case, where did these deadly viruses come from in the first place – even before man started tinkering with them and making them worse?

Obviously, since all that God made was good, He didn’t introduce them into the world. We attribute all the bad things to the consequences of sin, and that would be true. But that still doesn’t help us really understand the basis for their existence.

I have a theory.

Satan tempted Eve and Adam with the possibility of being like God. All they had to do was partake of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Notice, the knowledge therein wasn’t just about good things. In some way, this tree contained the means to achieve all evil. It’s like the fullness of God and what He knew was contained in this repository of all divine understanding. God didn’t unleash evil, but being aware of it, He seems to have maintained knowledge of it in this one place.

This Tree was in the Garden of Eden. The Garden was on the holy mountain of God. Because we see no surprise on Eve’s part in encountering the serpent (nachash in Hebrew, meaning serpent and shining one, i.e., literally one of the holy ones of God), we can presume that many entities inhabiting God’s Kingdom made their appearances there. Seeing and interacting with a divine being wasn’t out of the ordinary for her. Just as God walked in the Garden in the cool of the day, nothing in Scripture tells us that it was off limits to the rest of the heavenly realm.

We also have no indication that these other spiritual inhabitants of the Kingdom didn’t eat of that fruit. In fact, they were immortal beings and perhaps had no instructions not to consume it. (Or, is immortality gained even by spiritual beings by eating of the Tree of Life?) Satan certainly seemed to have the knowledge of evil that would have come from the Tree of Knowledge. Why not other such holy beings?

From Genesis 4:21-22, we see that mankind, after the Fall, suddenly acquires certain expertise:

“His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.”

The book of 1 Enoch confirms that this occurred when the sons of God, a.k.a. Watchers, lusted after human women and traded such knowledge for sex. They gave all sorts of secrets to mankind, including sorcery, astrology, cosmetic arts for seduction, and the like. Genesis 6:5 informs us that following this traversing of their heavenly boundaries by the bene Elohim, and “marrying” these women with the resulting abomination of the race of Nephilim being birthed, that the following happened:

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

The consequences resulting from the evil in man’s heart were a direct result of the fall of the sons of God.

During this antediluvian era when wickedness and abomination rose to such great heights – or should I say that goodness was eradicated and all on the earth fell to the lowest depths? – perhaps other kinds of evil were seeded into the planet that weren’t killed off by the flood. Could it be that these deadly viruses – the understanding of which was obtained by these divine entities from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – were planted throughout the globe to be unleashed at certain times and in specific ways?

After all, Satan and these various demonic spirits wanted nothing more than to harm mankind in every possible way. This would seem to be one more arrow in their quiver to destroy all that God called good.

In the Tribulation, Revelation 16:2 describes the following judgment:

“So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.”

Is it possible that God uses one of the viruses that evil men have manipulated for their own purposes and turns it around to plague those who hate Him? Wouldn’t that be ironic and a just reward?

We’re all aware that none of the events occurring today, or what will happen tomorrow, catch God by surprise. If my hypothesis of where these viruses originated is correct, He was well aware that His rebellious sons would corrupt His good earth with these evil organisms. In order to bring deliverance to a fallen people – us! – God had to allow this wickedness to percolate and grow.

But a time is coming. It will soon be at hand. Genesis 50:20 shows us the Lord’s mercy through these things:

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The wickedness and lawlessness of the world bring us to the realization of our great need for God. Lethal viruses and their effects can be truly awful. Yet, God is already victorious. When we turn to Him and place our faith and trust in Christ, none of this matters. He has a better way and will soon redeem us from this alien and very hostile place.

Give glory to God and sing His praises. It won’t be long before He brings us home.

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Gary Ritter website: books & blog

http://garyritter.com/

Kindle Vella story: Tribulation Rising

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099Z462WD