A Book's Treasures: "Coronavirus and Christ" by John Piper

Copyright © 2020 by Desiring God Foundation. Published by Crossway®  (Wheaton, IL).You can download the book in the form of e-book or audiobook here.

This post may be the first of its kind in this blog, but this "chest of treasures" is not my first. Ever since my first book reading group (on Timothy Keller's Jesus the King) introduced to me the practice of compiling core/insightful sentences from a book for future references, I have been collecting the "treasures" from the books I read whenever my time and resources allow. Not all books I have read receive such special treatment. The subject(s) a book discusses must be compelling, contextual, and comprehensive enough for me to sacrifice my time and effort in compelling its points. Why are these 3Cs important? Because I want others who have not the time and energy to read these books to be able to benefit from them albeit in a much shorter and often discrete form, and hopefully read the books for themselves when they finally have the time and energy.

The book of this post is especially compelling, contextual, and comprehensive enough for me to put up efforts to collect its treasures within only a few hours after reading it. Why so? Here's my review of the book in Goodreads:

With his usual compelling literary style and exposition, [Coronavirus and Christ] doesn’t sound that it’s written by Piper only the end of last month. As expected from the Christian Hedonist himself, the pages are filled with reflections that put the coronavirus into its appropriate place in the framework of Biblical story of "Creation – Fall – Redemption – Consummation". Those who seek to know and get a foretaste of what Christianity has to say about the COVID-19 pandemic would find themselves satisfied by this short yet powerful book.

I pray that after reading the treasures I have stored below, you will not only want to read the book yourself but also sing together with me of this sure and firm foundation, On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand!

The more complete, Google Slides version of this collection of quotes is available here.

To read my own take of this topic, see my post here.

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Part 1 - The God Who Reigns Over the Coronavirus

Chapter 1: Come to the Rock

“The Rock I am talking about is under my feet now. I could say that the Rock is under my feet now just because hope beyond the grave is present hope. The object of hope is future. The experience of hope is present. And that present experience is powerful.”

Chapter 2: A Solid Foundation

“The secret of “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” is this: knowing that the same sovereignty that could stop the coronavirus, yet doesn’t, is the very sovereignty that sustains the soul in it.”

“It’s called faith not because it has no foundation. It’s called faith because it involves trust.”

Chapter 3: The Rock is Righteous

“The very thing that a global pandemic shakes is our confidence that God is righteous, holy, good. If God is not righteous in the midst of it, we have no Rock.”

Chapter 4: Sovereign over All

“His sovereignty means that he can do, and in fact does do, all that he decisively wills to do. I say decisively because God, in a sense, wills things he does not carry through. ... there is no force outside himself that can thwart or frustrate his will.”

“The coronavirus was sent, therefore, by God. This is not a season for sentimental views of God. It is a bitter season. And God ordained it. God governs it. He will end it. No part of it is outside his sway. Life and death are in his hand.”

Chapter 5: The Sweetness of His Reign

“What God did in sending Jesus to die for sinners has everything to do with the coronavirus. Here's the connection. It's Romans 8:32 ... [The "all things" in Romans 8:32] are the things we need to do his will, glorify his name, and make it safely into his joyful presence.”

“God’s meticulous sovereignty—whether we live or die—serves his holiness and righteousness and goodness and wisdom. In Christ we are not his dispensable pawns. We are his valued children. “You are of more value than many sparrows.” [Matthew 10:31]"

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Part 2 - What is God Doing through the Coronavirus?

Preliminary Thoughts

“The coronavirus demands hard reality, not easy imaginings. ... My aim is to hear what God has said, and affirm rather than imagine. ... Yours is to judge what is right.”

Chapter 6: Picturing Moral Horror

“God is giving the world in the coronavirus outbreak, as in all other calamities, a physical picture of the moral horror and spiritual ugliness of God-belittling sin.”

“Physical pain is God’s trumpet blast to tell us that something is dreadfully wrong in the world. Disease and deformity are God’s pictures in the physical realm of what sin is like in the spiritual realm. ... They are warnings. They are wake-up calls to see the moral horror and spiritual ugliness of sin against God."

Chapter 7: Sending Specific Divine Judgments

“Some people will be infected with the coronavirus as a specific judgment from God because of their sinful attitudes and actions.”

"The coronavirus is, therefore, never a clear and simple punishment on any person. ... But it is fitting that every one of us search our own heart to discern if our suffering is God's judgment on the way we live."

Chapter 8: Awakening Us for the Second Coming

"The coronavirus is a God-given wake-up call to be ready for the second coming of Christ."

"The message is clear. Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay awake ... the coronavirus is a merciful wake-up call to be ready. The way to be ready is to come to Jesus Christ, receive forgiveness for sins, and walk in his light."

Chapter 9: Realigning Us with the Infinite Worth of Christ

“The coronavirus is God’s thunderclap call for all of us to repent and realign our lives with the infinite worth of Christ.”

“This is the message of the coronavirus: Stop relying on yourselves and turn to God. ... The coronavirus calls us to make God the all-important, pervasive reality in our lives. Our lives depend on him more than they depend on breath. And sometimes God takes our breath in order to throw us onto himself.”

Chapter 10: Creating Good Works in Danger

“The coronavirus is God’s call to his people to overcome self-pity and fear, and with courageous joy, to do the good works of love that glorify God.”

“There is no contradiction between seeing the coronavirus as God’s act and calling Christians to take risks to alleviate the suffering that it causes. ... God himself came into the world in Jesus Christ to rescue people from his own just judgment (Romans 5:9). That is what the cross of Christ means.”

Chapter 11: Loosening Roots to Reach the Nations

"In the coronavirus God is loosening the roots of settled Christians, all over the world, to make them free for something new and radical and to send them with the gospel of Christ to the unreached peoples of the world.”

“God’s ways often include apparent setbacks that result in great advances. ... This is often God’s way. The global scope and seriousness of the coronavirus is too great for God to waste. It will serve his invincible global purpose of world evangelization. Christ has not shed his blood in vain. And Revelation 5:9 says that by that blood he ransomed “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” He will have the reward of his suffering. And even pandemics will serve to complete the Great Commission.”

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Lord Jesus blesses you, soli Deo gloria.