1 Kings 8:37

“If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;”

Comment: The health of a people, or the health of a land, is conditioned upon a people by how they respond to God, and to the BOOK of God.

Now notice next, the plague is visited upon the people by the LORD, HIMSELF.

1 Chronicles 21:12

“Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.”

Comment:  David deliberately chose the plague from the hand of God rather than fall into the hands of men.  Now, why is this so? It is so because the unrighteous are so cruel and have no mercy in their judgments.

Psalm 71:4: “Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, from out of the hand of the unrighteous, and cruel man.”

Then, why fall into the hands of God?  Well, because it is God WHO tends to mercy in all HIS judgments. 

Bottom-line: It is far better to fall into the hands of a merciful God.

1 Chronicles 21:14

“So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.”

Comment: The pestilence indeed came, and seventy thousand men died, all because of David’s sin. 

Conclusion: Sin has a horrible price - Death.

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Chronicles 6:28

“If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:”

Truth: The presence of the pestilence indicates the presence of the judgment of God.

2 Chronicles 7:13

“If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;”

See my earlier comment for 1 Kings 8:37.

2 Chronicles 20:9

“If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.”

Comment: Jehoshaphat rehearsed the greatness of God before God in his prayer. 

This prayer showed his humility in that Jehoshaphat trusted in the mercy of the God of Israel.

Psalm 78:50

“He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;”

Comment:  God’s wrath is executed or dispensed through the use of the pestilence.

Psalm 91:

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“Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.”

Comment: This person: The person who fears God is found to be the very same person who loves God.  The person who trusts in Jesus Christ is the very person who is found to be hidden under the wings of God ALMIGHTY.  This place is the place of total safety.

  Psalm 91:4: “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”  

Also, in Ruth 2:12: “The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.” 

Trust in those wings!

Psalm 91:6

“Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”

Comment: God is able to protect the soul that trusts in HIM in the day of judgement. 

Just like HE did for Lot!

2 Peter 2:7:  “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:”

He is able to deliver you!

Jeremiah 14:12

“When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

Comment: When we refuse to hearken to the LORD, then the LORD will use the pestilence as one of the instruments in the judgment of our sin. 

Warning: The pestilence causes death to come to any people that refuse to get right with the LORD.

Jeremiah 21:6

“And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.”

Comment: Over and over again, we see this truth: It is God that brings the pestilence.

Jeremiah 21:7

“And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.”

Comment: The prophet Jeremiah, in God’s judgment, commanded King Zedekiah to surrender to Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon.

Please, Zedekiah OBEY!

But Zedekiah rebelled, thus here the LORD used the pestilence to get his attention.  

Notice here: God initiated the pestilence and then, God stopped the pestilence.  The LORD controls the whole thing from the start to the finish, and all according to HIS will.

Now, see verse nine.

Jeremiah 21:9

“He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.

Comment: The LORD in HIS mercy provided a way of escape from the sword, and from the famine, and from the pestilence.  They could live, if only they would obey the voice of the prophet.

But they would not obey the God of the Heaven and of the earth!  As a consequence, the results were tragic.

Jeremiah 24:10

“And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.”

Comment: The LORD had determined to take them out of THE LAND. 

The notice of eviction had been served by the prophet to the king, Zedekiah, and all the people.  The pestilence came because they had refused to obey the prophet, and go out to the Babylonians in the exile to Babylon.

Bottom-line: This is what we are seeing in this passage: The pestilence is one of the means to achieve the eviction of the people from out of THE LAND in the display of the judgment of God.

Jeremiah 27:8

“And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.”

Comment:  One of the consequences of disobeying God is to suffer the pestilence. 

Lesson: When the pestilence comes we need to recognize the hand of God is in it.

Jeremiah 27:13

“Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?”

Comment: It is far better for us to obey God than to suffer the pestilence.

Jeremiah 28:8

“The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.”

Comment:  God deals, not just with Israel, but HE deals with all the nations with war and with the pestilence.  Look around you! 

Warning: Learn from history of this truth!

Jeremiah 29:17

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.”

Comment: Here was what the eye would see in this scene if we were there: We would see the flesh of both the men and the women alike in Jerusalem as like rotten figs.  

Now, the pestilence begins with the swellings of the flesh in the groin, or under the armpits, and waxing bigger and bigger till the size of an apple, some more and some less, in very painful boils. 

We would see the blood and pus seeping out of those strange swellings, and those boils, followed by a multitude of other symptoms—fever, chills, vomiting, diarrhea, terrible aches and pains—and then, in short order, and finally, comes death.

Thus, it is with the pestilence. 

Lesson: It would have gone far better for them to hearken to Jeremiah the true prophet of God than to hearken to the false prophets of the Devil.  They should have gone out to Nebuchadnezzar’s army and surrendered.

Jeremiah 29:18

“And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:”

Comment: This all happened.  History records it all!

Jeremiah 32:24

“Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.”

Comment: And all of it has come to pass!

Jeremiah 32:36

“And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;”

Comment: Israel as a nation in THE LAND would cease, and would be no more till seventy years would lapse according to the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:10: “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.”

This was understood by the prophet Daniel by studying the books:

Daniel 9:2: “In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”

Next: for the prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 34:17

“Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.”

Comment: The price for disobedience to the LORD is to be inflicted with the pestilence.  This thing is seen over and over again.

Jeremiah 38:2

“Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.”

Comment: To live and escape the pestilence, one needs to obey the Spirit of God, and go outside the city.

They were to leave; just as it was told to them!

Jeremiah 42:17

“So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.”

Comment:  We have the opposite situation here.  The command is from the LORD to the remnant of the people: It is the sword, the famine, the pestilence if you decide not to remain in THE LAND. 

Now, what did the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest choose to do?

They chose to leave THE LAND, and go to Egypt.  This was to be to their death.

Jeremiah 42:22

“Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.”

Comment: They died by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. 

Conclusion: Men do things that make no sense at all.

Jeremiah 44:13

“For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:”

Comment: We repeat: One of the punishments from God is the pestilence.

Ezekiel 5:12

“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.”

Comment: The prophet Ezekiel pronounces judgment upon Jerusalem, because Jerusalem had changed God’s judgments into wickedness.  See Ezekiel, chapter five, verse six for this.

Ezekiel 5:17

“So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee.   I the LORD have spoken it.”

Comment: So, all this trouble hovered over the people of Jerusalem to destroy them.  It was for their SIN!

Ezekiel 6:11

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

Comment: Sin has its consequences.  The roof of their house came down upon them.  Notice: God brings the sword.  God brings the famine.  God brings the pestilence.

When will we ever learn?

Ezekiel 6:12

“He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.”

Comment: Pay day always comes!  God’s wrath devoured them.

Ezekiel 7:15

“The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.”

Comment: There is nowhere to run, and there is nowhere to hide.  You will be devoured!

Ezekiel 12:16

“But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Comment:  The LORD allows by HIS grace a few souls to escape the judgment, in order to create a wave of evangelists that will preach the word of God to all the other nations of the earth.

Ezekiel 14:19

“Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:”

Comment: These men of Jerusalem had set up idols in their heart.  For that sin, they would get the pestilence.  It is the pestilence that corrupts the blood of the living.   Corrupted blood always results in death.

Ezekiel 14:21

“For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?”

Comment: After the pestilence corrupts the blood of the living, they will die.  It is DEATH that will claim the victory!

Ezekiel 28:23

“For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Comment: Now, Tyrus will take the hit.  The king of Tyrus will get the pestilence.  He will be judged for his sins.

Now, the king of Tyrus is [in type] “the anointed cherub that covereth”.  This is none other, but Lucifer, or Satan.

Ezekiel 33:27

“Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.”

Comment: The land of Israel was in desolation during those seventy years that the people of Israel were out of THE LAND in the Babylonian captivity.

During those seventy years, the pestilence would continue to destroy the people remaining in THE LAND.

Ezekiel 38:22

“And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”

Comment: Chronologically: This is the last war that will be fought on this earth, and is identified in two books of the Bible. First, in the book of Ezekiel, chapter thirty-eight, and, lastly, in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, in chapter twenty, in verses seven and eight:  

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” [Revelation 20:7-8]

Habakkuk 3:5

“Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.”

Comment: This passage refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ when HE comes back to this earth.

The Son of God is coming to Mount Zion [the city of Jerusalem of Israel] to establish the one-thousand-year Kingdom of Heaven.

The route [or path] Jesus Christ takes to establish the throne in Zion [Jerusalem on Planet Earth] starts in Zion of “the sides of the north” [Zion in Heaven], then in “a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” transits to the planet Earth to “the wilderness of Sinai” [Exodus 19:1], then next, to “the wilderness of Paran”, then to Teman, and to Bozrah of Edom [Seir], and finally, to Jerusalem, the geographical center of the Earth.

Please note this.  The pestilence will be present. Jesus Christ in route will tread in the winepress of the wrath of God [and simultaneously] will deliver the people of Israel in the wilderness with a mighty salvation: “that she [or the people of Israel] might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” [Revelation 12:14]

 The redeemer is coming to redeem that which has been purchased. See Exodus 15:16, and Ruth 4:10: 

“Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.” [Psalm 74:2]

The “arm” of the redeemer will set at liberty those who were the captives. The “year of my redeemed is come” to this earth.