① 即便世人有再强的力量，也不能解决罪所引发的问题。不管是埃及、亚述、巴比伦、希腊、罗马等，一个个都败落了。世界最厉害的政权，最高明的医生，最聪明的哲学家，最虔诚的宗教家都不能解除罪的问题和其后果；
② 属于主的人快速来到神面前，教会也越来越纯净。圣经历史告诉我们神的子民转向神、教会复兴，都不是在世界繁荣的日子，乃是在苦难的日子。不管是在埃及里为奴的以色列人，被掳掠的犹大，或是因司提反殉道的初代教会信徒都是在患难时复兴的；
③ 在患难中不信的人越来越刚硬。《启9:20-21》说：其余未曾被这些灾所杀的人仍旧不悔改自己手所做的，还是去拜鬼魔和那些不能看、不能听、不能走，金、银、铜、木、石的偶像，又不悔改他们那些凶杀、邪术、奸淫、偷窃的事。因此，我们不要稀奇。每当这世界经过一些苦难，而那些不靠神而暂时脱颖而出的人会更加的刚硬。他们会更有魄力地引诱这世界。
但属神的子民却是越来越谦卑，且将盼望放在主荣耀的显现。因此，我们可以说神许可灾难时必有三个功用：
第一，是证明的功用（证明世人不能解决世界的问题）；
第二，是快速拯救的功用（拯救神余剩的子民）；
第三，是快速审判的功用（让不信的世人罪恶满盈，而最后遭受终极的审判）。
When a person encounters suffering, he will definitely ask two questions:
(1) What is the cause of suffering?
(2) When will the suffering end?
In particular, when a global calamity strikes, these two questions will be in the minds of people.
As the novel coronavirus spreads, more and more people get infected and die from the virus, the medical facilities of various countries are in crisis, the economy continues to greatly decline, the question people continue to ask is where exactly did the virus originate from? Is it from man? Or from bat to man? Everyone makes various speculations here.
However, as people gradually accept their fate as well as the fact of the virus, the question people ask is how long will it take for the pandemic to end?
Indeed, humans are created differently from animals. Regardless of the suffering animals are in, they do not look for the cause and the end. But the creation of humans has a beginning and an end, so people also seek to know the cause and the end when looking at things. Not only with this virus, no matter what kind of suffering we encounter in our lives, we also seek the cause, and at the same time anticipate the end of the problem. For example, those who have gone through broken marriages would have constantly asked themselves why the marriage reached that stage. Whose fault was it? What caused it?
In addition, those in this situation would constantly ask themselves how long it would take to get out of such pain. Therefore, “Where does the problem come from? When does the problem end?” are answers we all seek in our suffering. But one of the biggest problems when we are separated from God is that we cannot fully know the cause of the problem and when it will end.
Apart from God, no one can fully grasp all things and time. We can only guess the cause or predict when it may end. In this situation of the novel coronavirus, we see that people can know almost everything - how many people die each day, how harmful the virus is, how the virus harms the human body, and the decision-making of different countries, etc.
But the only thing humans cannot unravel fully is the cause of the problem and when it will end. If humans can do so, it is no longer a problem. But the fact is, we can only know the process within the problem and the many consequences of that problem. In particular, when we see more and more negative consequences, but cannot understand the cause of the problem and the way to solve it, we will fall into greater fear and helplessness. We may even make wrong explanations because of fear and helplessness, or convey fake news and information.
In fact, God does not hide the real cause and conclusion from man. God Himself is the answer to the beginning and the end. After man is separated from God, God in His righteousness, executes judgment on the world, hence the world has various sufferings. But at the same time, God in His loving kindness, also extends His salvation to the world. Therefore, in the history of mankind, various calamities came about after the fall of man, calamities such as floods, wars, plagues, famine, etc., continue to happen but God did not allow these calamities to destroy humans. On the contrary, He continues to preserve mankind, giving them the opportunity to repent.
But in the midst of the start and end to every calamity, we must see a few very important truths:
(1) Even if the people of this world have great power, they cannot solve the problems stemmed from sin. Whether it is Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, etc., all of them were defeated and failed. The most powerful regime in the world, the most renowned doctor, the most intelligent philosopher, the most devout religious man cannot resolve the problem of sin and its consequences;
(2) those who belong to the Lord come quickly before God, and the church becomes more and more purified. Biblical history tells us that God's people turning toward God and church revival did not happen in days of prosperity in the world, but in days of suffering. Whether it was the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt, Judah who was in captivity, or the martyrdom of Stephen among the early church believers, they were all revived during suffering;
(3) non-believers in suffering become more and more hardened in heart. 《Rev 9:20-21》says, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood---idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” Therefore, we should not be surprised. Whenever the world goes through some suffering, those who do not rely on God yet temporarily stand out among the crowd will become more hardened. They will have greater daring resolution to entice the world.
But the people of God become more and more humble, and put their hope in the Lord’s glorious appearance. Therefore, we can say that God allows calamities to serve three functions.：
The first is the function to prove (to prove that people of this world cannot solve the problems of the world);
The second is the function to save quickly (to save the remaining people of God);
The third is the function to judge swiftly (to eventually give the ultimate judgement to the unbelieving world when they have reached the fullness of their sins).
