Divine Chastisement # 2

Divine Chastisement # 2

Now it is most instructive and blessed to see how the Apostle met the unbelieving reasoning of their hearts. He appealed to their own Scriptures! He reminded them of an exhortation found in Proverbs 3:11-12, and applied it to their case. Notice, first, the words we place in italics: You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you." This shows that the exhortations of the Old Testament were not restricted to those who lived under the old covenant: they apply with equal force and directness to those of us living under the new covenant. Let us not forget that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable" (2 Tim. 3:16). The Old Testament equally as much as the New Testament was written for our learning and admonition.

Second, mark the tense of the verb in our opening text: "You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks." The Apostle quoted a sentence of the Word written one thousand years previously, yet he does not say "which has spoken," but "which speaks". The same principle is illustrated in that sevenfold "He who an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says (not "said") unto the churches" of Revelation 2 and 3. The Holy Scriptures are a living Word in which God is speaking today!

Consider now the words "You have forgotten." It was not that these Hebrew Christians were unacquainted with Proverbs 3:11 and 12 - but they had let them slip. They had forgotten the Fatherhood of God and their relation of Him as His dear children. In consequence they misinterpreted both the manner and design of God's present dealings with them, they viewed His dispensation not in the light of His love, but regarded them as signs of His displeasure or as proofs of his forgetfulness. Consequently, instead of cheerful submission, there was despondency and despair. Here is a most important lesson for us - we must not interpret the mysterious providences of God not by reason or observation, but by the Word. How often we "forget" the exhortation which speaks unto us as unto children, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him."

Unhappily there is no word in the English language which is capable of doing justice to the Greek term here. "Paideia" which is rendered "chastening", being the tender word that was employed by the Saviour in John 21:5 and Hebrews 2:13. One can see at a glance the direct connection which exists between the words "disciple" and "discipline"; equally close in the Greek is the relation between "children" and "chastening." Son-training would be better. It has reference to God's education, nurture and discipline of His children. It is the Father's wise and loving discipline which is in view.

Chastisement is by no means always the scourging of His refractive  sons. Some of the saintliest  of God's people, some of the most obedient of His children, have been and are the greatest sufferers. Oftentimes, God's chastenings instead of being retributive are corrective. They are sent to empty us of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness: they are given to discover to us hidden transgressions, and to teach us the plague of our own hearts. Or again, chastisements are sent to strengthen our faith, to raise us to higher levels of experience, to bring us into a condition of usefulness. Still again, Divine chastisement is sent as a preventative, to keep under pride, to save us from being unduly elated over success in God's service. Let us consider, briefly, four entirely different examples.

David. In his case the rod was laid upon him for grievous sins, for open wickedness. His fall was occasioned by self-confidence and self-righteousness. If the reader will diligently compare the two Songs of David recorded in 2 Samuel 22 and 23, the one written near the beginning of his life, the other near the end, he will be struck by the great difference of spirit manifested by the writer in each. Read 2 Samuel 22:22-25 and you will not be surprised that God allowed him to have such a fall. Then turn to chapter 23, and mark the blessed change. At the beginning of verse 5 there is a heart-broken confession of failure. In verses 10-12 there is a God-glorifying confession, attributing victory unto the Lord. The severe scourging of David was not in vain.

Job. Probably he tasted of every kind of suffering which falls to man's lot: family bereavements, loss of property, grievous bodily afflictions came fast, one on top of another. But God's end in it all was that Job should benefit therefrom, and be a greater partaker of His holiness. There was not a little of self-satisfaction and self-righteousness in Job at the beginning. But at the end, when He was brought face to face with the thrice Holy One, he "abhorred himself" (42:6). In David's case the chastisement was retributive, in Job's corrective.

Abraham. In him we see an illustration of an entirely different aspect of chastening. Most of the trials to which he was subjected were neither because of open sins nor for the correction of inward faults. Rather were they sent for the development of spiritual graces. Abraham was sorely tried in various ways, but it was in order that faith might be strengthened and that patience might have its perfect work in him. Abraham was weaned from the things of this world, that he might enjoy closer fellowship with Jehovah and become the "friend' of God.

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 3)