Panacea. A cure-all. A solution to all problems. A universal remedy. Is there any such thing? The notorious COVID-19 says otherwise. This particular coronavirus is a novel virus, which means it is new, thus, unknown. Unknown to epidemiologists, and unknown to the human body. Ergo, there is not a known cure. No panacea exists, else there would be no pandemics.
Why has this virus taken the world hostage? What about the other pandemics in human history? How long until COVID-19 is just another dark page in the annals of the world, and no longer a present affliction? We cannot know.
Yet, the eyes of faith see rays of hope clearly in the distance. There is sunshine pouring over the mountain of COVID-19, but it is also engulfing the mountain range of which it is a part. Scientifically, this virus is novel. Biblically, “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Murphy’s law states that anything which can go wrong will go wrong, and there is a myriad of problems on the globe – some at the surface, and some waiting to break through. Truly, the virus is but a blip on the radar of human history. While it demands respect and attention, it cries out for perspective.
Perspective. If not COVID-19 something else would rob many of their joy, peace, and security. When the virus is gone it is only a matter of time before the next problem arises. The physical realm has no shortage of problems, and time and chance have never seen defeat (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:11). Yet, there have been those of all ages who have faced times of uncertainty with grace, and serenity. There are those in this present distress doing the same. They have the proper perspective.
The coronavirus has only further confirmed to them what they already knew – this terrestrial ball is not meant as a permanent dwelling. This realm is filled with beauty that takes the breath from our lungs, but it is encumbered with monstrosities which do the same. Those blessed with heavenly perspective know the former is not the substance, but mere evidence of what is truly flawless beauty. They know the latter is not from the same as the former but is the work of an uninvited guest set on wreaking havoc beyond this temporal existence. The virus is one of his many ways of distracting the masses from the great pandemic introduced with a bite of forbidden fruit, and influentially spread to all through their own ill-advised decisions – “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).
Although the adversary seeks to announce differently, the virus tells us there is more to life than what we see, and sin is trying to keep us from it. COVID-19 currently keeps us from each other, but sin keeps us from God (cf. Isaiah 59:1-2). The virus could run its course on its own and we would recover, but sin left alone ends in eternal death – separation from God (cf. Romans 6:23; James 1:15). Is there a cure? Better yet, there is the Panacea.
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus became the sacrifice for sin the world desperately needed that those who submit to His gospel could obtain the “righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). Those who have their garments washed in His blood are afforded access to God, and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, [which guards their] hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). A peace which not even COVID-19 can disrupt.