7 Things the Coronavirus Hasn’t Changed by STEPHEN WITMER for The Gospel Coalition
Like an earthquake, coronavirus has shaken the ground beneath our feet. Things we assumed we could count on (meals together with friends, graduation ceremonies, the Major League Baseball season) have been canceled or postponed.
We’re doing some things we could never have imagined (washing the packaging on the groceries we bring home, standing six feet from friends), and we’re not doing many things we expected always to be doing (gathering in person for church, visiting our grandmothers, commuting to work). Soaring retirement accounts have plummeted. Secure jobs have disappeared. Education has shifted to homes. Loved ones have been hospitalized, and some have died.
Earthquakes are scary and dangerous because they shake what we assumed was strong and stable. Coronavirus has shaken our assumptions, and many of us are struggling to find our feet. We’re off-balance, disoriented, uncertain, lonely, grieving.
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So, in this time, it’s particularly important and especially precious to consider and celebrate the things coronavirus can’t touch; the unchanging, unshakeable realities that haven’t changed, because, according to the Bible, they cannot and will never change.
These things were true before coronavirus and will remain true long after (and forever). They are massive pillars sunk deep down into eternal bedrock, and we can stand on them when much else we relied on has been shaken.
Consider seven things that haven’t changed.
1. God
The triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is unchanging in holiness, righteousness, and glory. God declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega . . . who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8), and James tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). That’s true for God the Son as well: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). And the Holy Spirit is called “the eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14).
Our God will outlast the heavens: “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment” (Ps. 102:26).
2. God’s Word
Coronavirus doesn’t call into question God’s truthfulness or trustworthiness. His Word is as sure and firm now as it has ever been. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8). “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Ps. 119:89). God’s Word is living and abiding and imperishable (1 Pet. 1:23).
