Truth Seeker - Divine Discipline

Divine Discipline – a reality

Jesus himself says,

Revelation 3:14,And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Webster)

Revelation 3:19, I, as many as I tenderly love, I convict and put under discipline: be zealous, therefore, and repent. (Rotherham)

Revelation 2:9, Behold, the devil will cast [some] of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful to death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Webster)

Revelation 2:22-23, Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he who searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give to every one of you according to your works. (Webster)

Paul teaches,

1 Corinthians 11:32, But being judged, we are disciplined of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. (Darby)

2 Corinthians 6:9, as unknown, and well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not put to death; (ACV)

2 Corinthians 8:2, That in much experience of tribulation, they have had abundance of joy; and their very deep poverty hath abounded unto the riches of their simplicity. (DRC)

Colossians 3:25, And he who does wrong will be recompensed what he did wrong, and there is no partiality. (ACV)
Romans 12:19, . . . not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is for me, I will repay, says Lord. (ACV) (See Deuteronomy 32:35)

Since the last scripture is a quote from the OT, the Lord referred to is God, not Christ. As such, God shall function as our avenger; this is not an empty assurance by the Lord. No, it is a certainty that repayment will occur.

A succinct example is found in Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 11:28-31 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. 30Therefore are there many inform and weak among you, and many sleep (DRC) (sleep in death - is what is meant)

Just as in Israel of old, spiritual Israelites are blessed and cursed by their compliance or noncompliance to be obedient to Christ's commandments and to the revelations by the twelve, plus Paul. Christ and God do discipline, as much as is needed, even by death. The next scripture in Hebrews tell us why we are disciplined.

Hebrews 12:4-6, For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: 5And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him. 6For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with his sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct? (DRC)

Hebrews 12:11, Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield, to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice. (DRC)

Some OT references:

Job 5:17-22, Lo! how happy is the man whom God correcteth! Therefore, the chastening of the Almighty, do not thou refuse; 18For, he, woundeth that he may bind up, He smiteth through, that, his own hands, may heal. 19In six troubles, he will rescue thee, and, in seven, there shall smite thee no misfortune: 20In famine, he will ransom thee from death, and in battle from the power of the sword; 21During the scourge of the tongue, shalt thou be hid, neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh; 22At destruction and at hunger, shalt thou laugh, and, of the wild beast of the earth, be not thou afraid; (Rotherham)

The scripture in Job 36:21 tells the Christian to suffer without going off the deep end and take matters into his own hands. Striking back at one's persecutors is wrong; however, removing oneself from harm's way is not; this is how our Lord and only owner, Jesus Christ, proceeded.

Job 36:21, Be on your guard that you do not turn to what is hurtful, For this you have chosen rather than affliction. (NW)

Some ways that God uses to discipline with:

Psalm 62:12, Also to thee, O LORD, belongs loving kindness, for thou render to every man according to his work. (ACV)

It is loving kindness on God's part to avenge our evil deeds upon ourselves. It frees the wronged person from having to sully his hands with evil deeds that most likely avenge too much or too little what was done by the offending party. It permits the wronged person to dismiss the problem from their spirit totally and focus on positive, holy things – being fully confident that God shall handle the problem better than they ever are able to themselves.

Proverbs 11:31, Behold, a righteous man shall be recompensed in the earth, how much more the wicked man and the sinner! (ACV)

Psalm 39:11, When, by rebukes for iniquity, thou hast corrected a man, Then hast thou consumed, as a moth, all that was delightful within him, Surely, a breath, are all men. Selah (Rotherham)

Psalm 50:21-22, These things, hast thou done, and I have kept silence, Thou thoughtest that I should really be like thyself, I will convict thee, yea I will set thine offences in order before thine eyes. 22Understand this, I pray you, ye forgetters of GOD, Lest I tear in pieces, and there be none to deliver (Rotherham)

Psalm 107:17, Those who were foolish, due to the way of their transgression And due to their errors, finally caused themselves affliction. (NW)

How discipline really helps the Christian:

Psalm 119:67, Before I was afflicted, I myself was going astray, but, now, thy word, have I kept. (Rotherham)

Proverbs 3:11-12, The, chastening of Yahweh, my son, do not reject, nor loathe his rebuke; 12For, whom Yahweh loveth, he correcteth, he causeth pain to the son in whom he delighteth. (Rotherham)

The discipline is painful and hard, but Jehovah binds up our sores if we endure.

Isaiah 26:15-17, Thou hast increased the nation, Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified. Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. 16Jehovah, in trouble they sought thee; they poured out their whispered prayer when thy chastening was upon them. 17As a woman with child, that draweth near her delivery, is in travail, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been before thee, Jehovah. 18We have been with child, we have been in travail, we have as it were brought forth wind (Darby)

Isaiah 48:10, Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction (Darby)

Before concluding this page, pay heed that the children that are loved are disciplined.

The ones that aren't children of God do not receive this discipline.

Once a person has become disapproved, he belongs to these and shall perhaps no longer receive divine discipline. Such ones will after their cup of sin is full be rewarded in accordance with their dealings, be struck by some disaster/s and perish forever. Please check other pages for further scriptural evidence of this.

Those that do not accept discipline become disapproved:

Jeremiah 2:30, In vain have I smitten your children; you have not received correction. A sword has devoured your prophets as a destroying lion; yet you feared not. (AB)

Jeremiah 6:29,30, The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed. The silversmith works at his trade in vain; their wickedness is not consumed. 30Call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has rejected them. (AB)

Jeremiah 17:13, The hope of Israel is Jehovah, All forsaking Thee are ashamed, And `My apostates' in the earth are written, For they have forsaken Jehovah, A fountain of living waters.

Jeremiah 25:31-33, A noise shall come [even] to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them [that are] wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. 32Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised from the borders of the earth. 33And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.

Matthew 7:2, Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Webster)

1 John 2:3-5, And by this we know that we have known him, if we keep his commandments. 4He who saith that he knoweth him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But he that keepeth his word, in him in very deed the charity of God is perfected; and by this we know that we are in him. (DRC)

The ones unable to be refined become apostates from God (not from some denomination) after they have undergone some refinement process. This causes them to leave Jehovah who will write them into the earth forever – there they shall sleep a never ending sleep. In the end, these are of course no different than the wicked who never became God's servants.