What Do Today’s Epidemics Mean for the Future?

Covered from head to toe in protective clothing, doctors and nurses move slowly from patient to patient, tending those who need help. All the while they carefully avoid flesh-to-flesh contact with their patients.

Why would medical professionals take such precautions? Because for some very deadly pathogens, contact with blood and other bodily fluids can transmit the infection. Ebola, with an average case fatality rate of 50 percent, is one of those diseases.

Airborne pathogens are even more troubling because they are generally more contagious than blood-borne pathogens. Potential victims need only breathe contaminated air to become infected, rather than needing to come into contact with the bodily fluids of infected people.

Some of these airborne pathogens also have high fatality rates. For instance, MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, has a case fatality rate of 37 percent.

What do today’s epidemics mean for the future?

Ebola, MERS and a host of other diseases occupy the time of health-care officials around the world. They continually look for outbreaks, hoping to contain them before they become impossible to control. Any one of these diseases could become a nightmare epidemic.

Unfortunately, the risk of a devastating global pandemic continues to rise. There are a number of factors that make the world vulnerable, generally linked to our growing global interdependence and increasing international travel, which open the door for the rapid spread of pathogens.

Another risk factor, particularly in developing nations, is deforestation. This disruption of the natural environment puts humans and their livestock into close proximity with wildlife that may carry disease.

Animal-based diseases that spread to humans are called zoonotic diseases. These pathogens, though already existing among animal populations, become new pathogens in humans.

A third factor is global urbanization, which crowds the poor into unhygienic conditions, often with little or no access to health care. Together, these factors are a recipe for the swift spread of disease.

Today’s world is vulnerable, far more vulnerable than we might imagine. In fact, the structure of modern society has increased the chances of global pandemics, in spite of medical advances.

Is a pandemic inevitable?

In light of the potential for animal diseases to infect humans, it’s not surprising that 50 new pathogens were identified during the four decades between 1967 and 2007 (according to a 2008 article on the website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine).

Most important, however, is having a real, committed relationship with God. If you obey Him and trust Him, He will be there for you and with you. That’s more than one new disease each year. The frequency of emerging diseases led epidemiologists to coin the term Disease X to refer to any future disease that has the potential to cause a serious epidemic or pandemic.

Experts believe it is only a matter of time before the world faces a truly devastating pandemic. In 2019 the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board included this statement in its annual report:

“If it is true to say ‘what’s past is prologue,’ then there is a very real threat of a rapidly moving, highly lethal pandemic of a respiratory pathogen killing 50 to 80 million people and wiping out nearly 5% of the world’s economy. A global pandemic on that scale would be catastrophic, creating widespread havoc, instability and insecurity. The world is not prepared.”

If this statement is true, we are faced with another question. Why would a loving God allow such a horrible pandemic? For that matter, why has He allowed the epidemics and pandemics of the past?

Why does God allow pandemics?

The book of Deuteronomy includes a chapter that lays out the potential blessings in store for those who obey God. It also describes the dreadful consequences of disobedience.

Through Moses, God warned His people that disobedience to His law would result in “plague.” They would be stricken “with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever” (Deuteronomy 28:21-22).

In some cases, as this passage indicates, God Himself strikes people with deadly epidemics. This happened four times during the 40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness (Numbers 11:31-34; 14:36-37; 16:46-50; 25:8-9).

At other times, disease is the natural consequence of sin. Humanity brings diseases on itself by disobeying God’s clear instructions about such things as what meats may be eaten, how to dispose of human waste and when to quarantine the sick.

It’s important to recognize that individuals do not always suffer illness because of their own sins. Many of the diseases in our modern world are the result of countless generations of people failing to be good stewards of the earth, as God intended (Genesis 1:28).

What does the Bible say about future epidemics?

The most chilling prophecy about disease in the end times is in the book of Revelation. The passage describes four horses, each a different color (Revelation 6:1-8).

The fourth is yellowish-green (Greek chlōros), described by Expositor’s Bible Commentary as “the paleness of a sick person” (Vol. 12, p. 474). Disease, together with war (the second horse), famine (the third horse) and beasts of the earth, will kill a fourth of the world’s population (verse 8).

Based on the world’s current population, more than 2 billion people will die when the fearsome riders of these horses set out! Disease will be a major contributor to the death toll.

This prophecy fits perfectly into what we know of the link between war, famine and disease. Famine and disease often follow in the footsteps of war.

Does this mean we’re closer to the latter days?

We cannot look at an isolated outbreak and declare conclusively that we are now entering the troubling times prophesied in Scripture. On the other hand, we should realize that disease will be one of the major causes of death in the end times.

The fact that new pathogens seem to arise so frequently and that the world is so interconnected certainly indicates that we are approaching that frightening time.

When we reach those days, the prophesied epidemic pictured by the “yellowish-green” horse will conform to the pattern provided in the book of Revelation. Remember that Death, the rider, is the fourth horseman, following false religion, war and famine.

If the end-time pandemic follows the historical pattern, disease might end up being the leading cause of deaths attributed to the four horsemen of Revelation 6. The Spanish flu, following on the heels of World War I, killed three times as many people as the war itself.

Is the world prepared for the next epidemic?

The modern world’s most recent experience with a global pandemic occurred when COVID-19 burst onto the scene. How the world responded to that outbreak is both enlightening and sobering.

The first cases appeared in China at the end of 2019, but the general public in much of the world was unaware of the disease until January 2020.

As widespread globally as COVID was, it was not as deadly as the worst epidemics in history.

There is a way that COVID-19 will make future pandemics more challenging, however. Nations refused to cooperate with other nations in curbing the outbreak. Controversy among science, medicine, governments and corporations fueled distrust and animosity.

What this suggests for the future is disturbing. It’s difficult to see our world coming together in a timely fashion to combat any future pandemic. In fact, what we are seeing in humanity today is reminiscent of what the apostle Paul declared about the last days: “For men will be lovers of themselves” (2 Timothy 3:2).

Can you personally do anything to prepare for epidemics?

Even though there is so much selfishness, distrust and anger among people, you don’t have to fear. There are steps you can take to be better prepared in the event of disease epidemics.

You should begin by following biblical health principles, including eating the type of diet that will contribute to your overall health, enhancing your body’s ability to protect itself. For instance, Scripture specifies which meats are appropriate for consumption (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14).

Another important health principle mentioned in Scripture is sanitation (Deuteronomy 23:12-14). By practicing good hygiene, you will go a long way toward protecting yourself from pathogens.

Most important, however, is having a real, committed relationship with God. If you obey Him and trust Him, He will be there for you and with you. As the apostle Peter wrote, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Peter 2:9, English Standard Version).

Learn more about what Bible prophecy predicts and how God wants us to respond in our free booklet How to Understand Prophecy.