Understanding God - 11

Beloved of God,

Greetings to you and yours in the Name of our Lord Jesus. We bring you another instalment of our series on “Understanding God”. In exploring this, we began to consider “The Sovereignty of God”, which, in turn, has led us to an exploration on “The Place of Satan” and “Understanding Tribulation”.

In furtherance of our exploration on “The Sovereignty of God”, we have been considering the place of Satan in the scheme of things. We have confirmed from the Scriptures that Satan exists and operates only by God’s permission. This has led us to a focus on tribulation and a consideration of the roles played by God, man and Satan in the tribulation ‘ring’. Thus far, we have explored different types of tribulation, namely tests of faith, temptations, persecutions and the fiery darts of the wicked. In this study, we are focusing on the chastisement.

(5) Chastisement or discipline. Along with tests of faith (highlighted previously), this is administered by the LORD. Hebrews 12:5-11 says it all: "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons…Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence…For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness…”

The following rods are at God’s disposal, and may be used to correct His children, as He deems fit:

(a) Rod of rebuke (verbal correction). Examples of such may be found in the messages of Christ to the seven churches, as recorded in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation. In addition, Paul says to Titus, “Rebuke with all authority” (Tit.2:15). Also, he says, of some people in the church: “Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Tit.1:13).
(b) Rod of men. The LORD promised to correct Solomon with the rod of men, and He kept His promise (2 Sam.7:14, 1 Ki.11:14, 23, 26-37). Proverbs 16:7 says “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him”. The implication is that, when our ways are not pleasing to Him, peace will continue to elude us. This must not be adopted as a ready-made diagnosis for all problems associated with relationships. As we can see, this is one of several possible angles of interpretation. When we seek God, He is able to make things clear.
(c) Rod of affliction. When every other thing fails, the LORD may use affliction to get our attention or to correct us. To many people, that sounds like Old Testament thinking. But in Revelation 2:22-23, Jesus speaks of Jezebel, a backslidden prophetess in The Church in Thyatira: “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds…and I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know…and I will give unto EVERYONE of you according to your works”. Likewise, Paul instructed The Church in Corinth concerning a
brother who had committed gross immorality to “deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor.5:5). The same rod was used of God to whip into line The Church in Corinth when some ate the communion in an unworthy manner:" For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Cor.11:30). Response to chastisement? Repent and refocus.