Is Covid-19 the fulfilment of prophecy in the book of Joel from the Bible?

Many are asking why Covid-19 pandemic is not prophecied in the bible and why God had to keep this away from mankind. We don’t know the reasons for this but it is fair to say God has revealed enough for the mankind to prepare for the endtimes. We don’t need to know every bit of detail as God is sovereign and he determines what we need to know and what we dont have to know.

But what if Covid-19 is prophecied in the bible but we are not aware of it? Could Joel chapter 1 be the actual prophecy for Covid 19. I am not a bible scholar to accurately confirm that this is the prophecy. But there are many close similarities to what we are facing and it is wise not to ignore such warnings but carefully study what the bible says.

Let’s see what Joel 1 says:

“Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your ancestors? 3Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. 4What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts a have eaten.”

English bibles may not always give an accurate meaning of the original hebrew word in which the old testament was written.

Pulpit commentary says, some interpreters consider, that the prophet enumerates in this verse four different species of locusts. The common or general name is arbeh, from rabhah, to be many; the gazam, or palmer-worm, is the gnawer, or biter, from a root (guzam) which signifies “to gnaw, bite, or cut off;” the yeleq, or canker-worm, is the licker, from yalaqlaqaq, to lick, or lick off; the chasil, or caterpillar, is the devourer, from chasal, to cut off. Thus we have the locust, or multitudinous one, the gnawer, the licker, and the devourer, either as (1) four different species of locust; or (2) the gnawer, licker, and devourer are poetical epithets of the locust, or multitudinous one.

Many english bibles will have a footnote saying, “The precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.” So what if these 4 different locusts are actually the allegory for the 4 different waves of Covid-19 pandemic or even 4 different pandemics the mankind will face near the end?

There are more reasons to consider that these “locusts” could actually be the pandemic we are currently facing.

Joel 1 continues like this:

“Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. 6A nation has invaded my land, a mighty army without number;”

Indeed the coronavirus has invaded every land as a mighty army without number. These viruses are so small and are multiplying rapidly in all countries. It has appeared so suddenly like an army invading our land when people are so comfortable and enjoying their way of life.

“it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees.”

Again in this verse we need to look at the original hebrew word for the correct meaning. The original hebrew word used is also called ivory or a cliff or a tooth.

This is the same word used to describe “something very sharp” elsewhere in the bible.

When you use an electron microscope to image the coronavirus – which measures 125 billionths of a metre across – you can see why the coronavirus gets its name: there’s a crown-like haze around the particles which consists of the spikes that it uses to latch on to human cells, the first step required for the virus to invade them. (SOURCE: https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/coronavirus-the-spike/)

So what if the “teeth and fang” mentioned in verse 6 is the description of the spikes of the virus itself?

Let’s see what else Joel prophecies.

“It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.”

Covid-19 is a cruel disease as it completely destroys the lungs for some people. Many xrays show the lungs of the infected patient turning white due to the infection like this picture. Joel talks about the “locusts having sharp teeth leaving their branches white” does strike a good similarity to the infection caused by the Coronavirus.

If this is true, then the remaining verses in Joel talks about the destruction brought by this pandemic.

“Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the Lord. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the Lord.”

The churches remain closed because of the pandemic.

“The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the olive oil fails. 11Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. 12The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple b tree— all the trees of the field—are dried up. Surely the people’s joy is withered away.”

These verses could be allegorical for the effects of lockdown on various nations. Surely the people’s joy is withered away because of this pandemic!

Joel gives a special call for all the elders and people of the land to declare a fast and cry out to the Lord.

“Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.”

So what next?

‘“Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand— 2a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come….. Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 11The Lord thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?”

Joel 2 takes a dramatic shift to the “Day of the Lord” which possibly proceeds soon after these events. It talks about an “army of locusts” and the dreadful events that will happen during the day of the Lord which is also recorded in the book of Daniel, Revelation and the gospels. These events in chapter 2 are possibly the next events in the calendar of endtimes but we dont know when these will happen.

The rapture

The later part of Joel 2 also talk about the Lord redeeming those who call on him which is believed to be the rapture of the church.

“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls. ”

So if these are true, we are not in the last days but in the last minutes! But we don’t have to be dependant on prophecies or speculations to be ready to meet the Lord. Hebrews 9:27 says “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:“. You and I could die tomorrow and face the Lord. So the question is are you ready to meet your creator?

C.T Studd said,

“Only one life, twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done; Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgement seat; “

Let us make every effort to redeem the time and live a life worth of the calling we have received.