Catastrophe and the Kingdom

If you have been keeping up with the news at all recently, then you know about the earthquake in Asia and the mudslides from Tropical Storm Stan in Guatemala. The earthquake is estimated to have killed an alarming 20,000 to 30,000 people (many of whom were children) in Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. The mudslides in Guatemala killed more than 500 people.

Amidst such disasters, destruction, and loss of life, the same questions always arise. Is there a god? Is this deity the Christian God? Why did God allow this to happen? Could God have stopped it or is God helpless? Why do bad things like this happen to innocent people?

I believe that I have sufficiently answered those questions in previous posts, and so I will not deal in length with them here. Rather, I am going to look at these “catastrophes” from an entirely different light: Prayer, the Advancement of Kingdom, and God’s Sovereignty. I write this in light of our Sunday School lesson delivered by Steve Mattucci in Dr. Ware’s absence.

More than likely, most, if not all of the people who were killed in these disasters were not Christians. If this is the case, upon the return of Christ, when they face Him as their judge at the resurrection (cf. John 5:19ff), they will be found without a mediator, condemned in their own sins because they did not embrace the Son of God (John 3:16-18) but rather dwelt in darkness—but their deeds will be exposed at the judgment (John 3:19-21, Romans 2:12-16).

How should Christians respond to this? We should all be familiar with our mission: Because “all authority has been given” to Christ, “in heaven and on earth,” we are to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that [Christ] commanded you; and lo, [Christ is] with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). The mission is to bring people under the lordship of Christ—that is, into the kingdom of God—from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation (Revelation 5:9). Why? Because Christ, as the exalted Son of Man, has received dominion, glory and an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14)—for He has purchased with His blood men and women from every such group of distinction, and so they belong to Him: they are His sheep (cf. Revelation 5:9-10, John 10:14-16).

Disasters such as these should awaken us Christians from our slumbering in the light. This is an opportunity. The church should arise, proclaim Jesus as Lord to the world, and help those who are in need—weeping with those who weep, rejoicing with those who rejoice. These are a people to whom the gospel must go.

But the thought arises: God will not lose any of His elect, will He? Is God not sovereign? Those whom Christ purchased by His blood will not be forever lost, will they?

The biblical answer is more complex than simple doctrinal affirmations. Certainly God is sovereign. Certainly those whom Christ purchased by His blood, the elect, shall be saved. However, the question that must arise in our minds is, “How is God accomplishing this?”

The Christian God is not a fatalistic deity. Actually, if you try to push God’s sovereignty to the point where human actions and choices do not affect reality, you are a Hyper-Calvinist and a Deist. Our role and mandate must be subjected to the clear biblical teaching of the sovereignty of God in all things and the unthwartability of His decrees and purposes. However, our God is a God of means. Thus, we will be held accountable for our actions. This paradox must be held together for us to be healthy Christians.

To consider this in more detail, I think it is appropriate to look at Matthew 9:36-38.

Seeing the people, [Jesus] felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Without a doubt, the people in Asia and Guatemala who are not Christians are just that, “distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd,” especially in wake of these disasters. Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism (the predominant religions, at least in Asia) do not offer much counsel or relief in the face of such disasters. These people are rightly distressed and dispirited. They are rightly aimless. Only Christianity truly offers a grounded hope and gives answers and relevant peace.

First of all, I think that the only natural response of Christians (that is, unhindered by the sinfulness that still remains in our flesh) is to respond to the lost as Jesus, our Lord responds—since we have His Spirit (cf. Romans 8:1-17). Out of compassion, a deep and heartfelt love for those who are lost—because they are fellow humans created in the image of God, and we too were once among the perishing masses (cf. Ephesians 2:1-10)—we Christians ought to obey Jesus’ command.

God is the “Lord of the harvest,” the one who owns the farm and whose name is at stake in the crop that it produces. The harvest is plentiful. Among the nations are millions of sheep (to use another analogy) who are waiting for their Shepherd to call them into His fold. He already knows their names, and will call them by name (John 10:3-5). He will not lose one (cf. Matthew 18:12-14). As Jesus said—the harvest is plentiful: there are many who will be brought into the kingdom, and He has sheep from other flocks besides just Israel. Thus, God’s election should encourage evangelism rather than either discouraging it by leading us to despair over the impossibility of people responding to the free offer of the gospel (some will come to Christ) or by thinking that God will bring in the elect without our participation.

The sad fact is, just as it was true in Jesus’ day, “the workers are few.” While Jesus has in mind here those who actually spread the message of the kingdom, this is true today even in terms of those who are willing to really fight for the purposes of the kingdom—that is, those who give abundantly, those who teach truthfully, and those who pray unceasingly. Disasters like these should bring Christians to realize: There are many out there who have never heard, and these people are dying daily without Christ and entering into eternal punishment. Workers are needed. Until repentance for the forgiveness of sins is preached throughout the nations, the parousia will be delayed (though we do not know when this is complete).

How are we to respond? Some are to go. Some are to stay and support those who go. But all are to “beseech,” or as the ESV puts it “pray earnestly” to God to raise up and send out laborers. Merriam-Webster’s defines earnest as “characterized by or proceeding from an intense and serious state of mind.” Earnest prayer is marked by both the sobriety of the task and request and the confidence that the desired answer will be given (cf. John 14:12-14). Beseeching God is means “to beg for urgently or anxiously.” We should be anxious both for the glory of God and for the salvation of the lost. We should beg and plea with God for their salvation.

Why? If God is sovereign, what is the point in praying? Actually, in reality, if God is not sovereign, there is little to no point in praying. Because of God’s sovereignty, we can trust that our prayers will be heard and answered. God can and will do something! He is a God of means—our prayers are the means by which He acts in carrying out His purposes. God ordains prayer so that HE GETS THE CREDIT, not us. This way we know that He acted, and it is not our own craftiness and design. God brings in His elect, those for whom Christ died, by the means of fervent prayer by His people. God is sovereign, and thus when we pray for the conversion of the lost, we can have confidence that God will save, at least some. God is not thwarted by the hardness of people’s hearts and their stubborn wills. Rather, He gives people a new heart, thus their desire is to respond to Him in faith (cf. Jeremiah 31:31ff).

This is not true of salvation only, but also of raising up laborers to go into the field. If God is not sovereign over people’s hearts, both in salvation and in calling and gifting, then praying as Jesus commanded is almost pointless. For one, in salvation, God has done all that He possibly could—He sent Christ to die for sins…. What more could God do? Could He persuade people? He probably could, but in light of Wesleyen prevenient grace, has He not already done this? Why pray? There is little reason under that system. Why ask Him to raise up laborers if He is not sovereign? All that He can do is beg people and try to convince them.

This is not the picture Jesus paints. Rather, the picture Jesus gives us is of the Father being completely in control. In effect, Jesus is saying, “Ask the Father and He will raise up the people to go.” God will bring people to faith, and of some of them and of some who already believe He will put it upon their hearts to go. Thus, implore Him. God will raise up the laborers. He will send them out. He will save the lost and bring in a bountiful harvest, and the kingdom will flourish under the lordship of Christ.