"Coronavirus and Christ" is a print book of 112 pages and an audio book of two hours
and six minutes. It's the first audio book I've ever recorded. I wrote the book
in 2020 when the coronavirus was exploding in certain
places in the United States and when I wrote it I was carried along by two
concerns I was weighed down by two burdens. One of them was that I wanted to
provide a Bible saturated God centered Christ exalting a rock a solid place to
stand in the midst of such fragile times. The other burden was that I wanted to
summon the whole world including the church to repentance because I think
that's what God is doing. And what I mean by repentance is experience a
transformation experiencing a transformation of our thinking and our
feeling and our living that reflects brings our lives into alignment with the
infinite value of Jesus Christ. So the book has two parts
that correspond to those two burdens one part is called who is this God who rules
over the coronavirus? And the other part is called what is this God doing through
the coronavirus? In the first part I celebrate the sweetness and it is a
sweet thing the sweetness of experiencing the sovereignty and
righteousness and holiness and goodness and wisdom of God in this global
pandemic and in the second part I build on the conviction that God is not
silent he hasn't left us without a word in the scriptures concerning his
purposes for suffering that is both global and personal and so based on that
conviction I tried to show that God is doing at least six things I know he's
doing a billion things but we can see in the scriptures six things and more about
what he's up to what he's trying to achieve and will achieve through this
coronavirus. Those of us who are in Christ and I'm inviting everybody into
Christ those of us who are in Christ by grace through faith can hear the trumpet
sound of God over our lives in this moment from 1st Thessalonians chapter 5
as he says, "I have not destined you for wrath but to obtain salvation through
your Lord Jesus Christ who died for you so that whether you wake or sleep you
might live with him." Wake or sleep live or die you will live with him this is a
serious book because these are serious times. It's a book about reality not
sentimental imaginations that's not what we need that's not what our kids need
that's not what we need we don't need sentimental substitutes for reality. We
need reality. God is real death is real life is real Jesus Christ crucified and
risen and reigning is real salvation is real eternal joy is real. Oh we have a
rock there is a rock to stand on in these days Jesus Christ sovereign savior
of the universe. So if you choose to read this book my
prayer for you is that you would be filled with faith and hope and
invincible joy and radical risk-taking love for suffering people so that in
your life the superior worth the infinite worth of Jesus Christ would shine.