Month: February 2022

The Discipline of the Lord – Part 4 (Hebrews 12:5-11)

THE PASSAGE – HEBREWS 12:5-11

INTRODUCTION. Hebrews 12:5-11 is the classic passage in the Bible about “the discipline of the Lord.” This is the fourth post in a series of studies covering this section of Scripture. We have been seeking to understand concretely what this discipline of the Lord is, but I wanted to take a brief aside to explore two ways we can incorrectly respond to the discipline of the Lord. We will be looking at Hebrews 12:5-6.

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

TWO WARNINGS

The Lord brings His discipline to His children so that the children can share His holiness (12:10) and so that they can yield the fruit of righteousness (12:11). Therefore, the discipline of the Lord is a display of the Lord’s grace toward those who have placed their faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus. But because of the distorting effects of the fall and because of incomplete sanctification in the disciple, the child of God can misunderstand and misinterpret the Lord’s discipline. For this reason, the author of Hebrews issues two warnings about wrong responses.

Warning #1: “Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.”

What does it mean to “regard lightly”? This means to respond in a way that ignores or despises the magnitude of the gesture. In this case, the Lord of the universe, by His providence, has ordained that His sanctifying, loving discipline is to be applied to one of His children at this specific time in human history. Imagine the immensity of this gesture! Imagine the condescension of the One bringing the discipline! The Lord has perceived in this specific disciple something that is hindering the disciple’s holiness. There is an obstacle to sanctification that the Lord not only sees, but that also moves the Lord to action. Now the Lord is going to bring the perfect discipline to bear on this disciple’s life so that the disciple will bear more of the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Such a spectacular gesture deserves a spectacular response. But to respond requires that the disciple perceive that the Lord is bringing His discipline. For this reason, every disciple should be alert for the presence of the discipline of the Lord in their life (ACTION ITEM). Then, once the disciple senses that the Lord is bringing His discipline to bear on his life, he needs to “lean into” the discipline so that it will have its full effect (ACTION ITEM). Give thanks to the Lord for His gracious care for you in sending His “scourging” discipline (ACTION ITEM). The opposite of “regard lightly” would be “make much of,” so the disciple should recognize this form of the Lord’s grace and praise Him loudly for His good instruction (ACTION ITEM). Taking these actions will help you avoid “regarding lightly” the discipline of the Lord.

Warning #2: “Nor faint when you are reproved by Him.”

The first warning cautioned the disciple not to regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, but this second warning tells us not to make too much of the Lord’s reproof. What I mean is this, that the Lord’s discipline is a perfect discipline. Like He sends His word to accomplish all that He intends and desires (see Isaiah 55:11), so the Lord brings His precise discipline to accomplish His precise ends. We know that His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3), and we can be assured that His discipline is likewise not onerous. The purpose of the Lord’s discipline is, by applying heat and affliction, to burn off the dross of remaining ungodliness and leave the disciple more conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). As Job said when he was undergoing the Lord’s severe discipline, “He (the LORD) knows the way I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Again, the Lord’s discipline is sent at the exact time needed to affect the change He desires. Although Paul was speaking of the persecution he faced because he faithfully proclaimed the gospel, the idea is similar with the Lord’s discipline: “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing” (2 Cor. 4:8). The Lord brings enough affliction to affect change and to spur greater holiness, but not so much that it crushes the spirit and brings despair.

The discipline of the Lord comes with heat and affliction, and there can be a response of “shrinking back” (Hebrews 10:38-39) and a temptation to faint under the stress. This warning #2 comes as an urgent exhortation to those who do not expect the Lord to test them and who therefore can feel the temptation to quit or to surrender to relieve the stress of the Lord’s discipline.

What is the right response when we are experiencing the affliction and the heat of the Lord’s discipline? Rather than faint, we resolve to endure (ACTION ITEM). Endurance and perseverance mark out our course because it is the enduring of the discipline that brings greater holiness and the fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:10, 11). This is key: It is the enduring of the discipline and the persevering through the pain that brings the spiritual fruit. The Lord sends His perfect discipline, but if the disciple faints or takes shortcuts, then even the perfect discipline of the Lord will not have its intended results.

SUMMARY. When the Lord chooses to bring His discipline into the life of the believer, the believer is not to regard lightly this discipline, but is to receive it as a gift from his perfect heavenly Father and is to allow the discipline to work its full work. Even when the discipline of the Lord feels withering, the believer is not to faint, but is to continue with an attitude of endurance and perseverance.

SDG                 rmb                 2/23/2022                   #493

The Discipline of the Lord – Part 3 (Hebrews 12:5-11)

THE PASSAGE – HEBREWS 12:5-11

INTRODUCTION. Hebrews 12:5-11 is the classic passage in the Bible about “the discipline of the Lord.” This is the third post in a series of studies covering this section of Scripture, and we are now seeking to understand concretely what this discipline of the Lord is. We have found out what it does, but now we are seeking to discover what form it takes when the Lord administers His discipline on us, His children. In the last post we looked carefully at the passage itself to see what the passage taught us about the nature of this “discipline.” Now we are going to turn to dictionary meanings of the Greek words to see if we can gain more definition from them.

THE GREEK WORDS FOR “DISCIPLINE”

For this part of our study, we will look at the Greek noun for “discipline” and the Greek verb for “to discipline.”

First, the noun.

παιδεία (paideia)

1) the whole training and education of children (which relates to the cultivation of mind and morals, and employs for this purpose now commands and admonitions, now reproof and punishment) It also includes the training and care of the body; 2) whatever in adults also cultivates the soul, esp. by correcting mistakes and curbing passions. 2a) instruction which aims at increasing virtue; 2b) chastisement, chastening, (of the evils with which God visits men for their amendment) 

EXAMINATION. As we examine these definitions, meaning 1) applies to children and so can be ignored. Meaning 2) brings us better results, for the author of Hebrews is certainly speaking to and about adults in our study passage. “Whatever cultivates the soul by correcting mistakes and curbing passions.” This seems to strike pretty close to the target. So, a possible definition might be, “Discipline cultivates the soul by correcting (moral) mistakes and curbing (fleshly) passions.”

Going farther, meaning 2a) says “discipline is instruction that increases virtue.” Meaning 2b) may be the best definition of all. My own rendering of this meaning would be “God bringing (“visiting”) difficulties and trials (“evils”) upon His children for the purpose of chastening.”

Here, then, are the definitions of “discipline.”

“Discipline cultivates the soul by correcting (moral) mistakes and curbing (fleshly) passions.”

“Discipline is instruction that increases virtue.”

“God bringing (“visiting”) difficulties and trials (“evils”) upon His children for the purpose of chastening.”

Blending these together, I would propose this as a good definition:

The discipline of the Lord is when God brings difficulties and afflictions into the life of His child for the purpose of correcting behavioral mistakes and curbing fleshly passions.

Now we want to take a look at the Greek verb for “to discipline.”

παιδεύω (paidyoo-o)
1) to train children – 1a) to be instructed or taught or learn; 1b) to cause one to learn; 2) to chastise; 2a) to chastise or castigate with words, to correct; 2a1) of those who are moulding the character of others by reproof and admonition; 2b) of God – 2b1) to chasten by the affliction of evils and calamities; 2c) to chastise with blows, to scourge; 2c1) of a father punishing his son; 2c2) of a judge ordering one to be scourged 

EXAMINATION. Definition 1) involves the training of children and so does not apply to the context of Hebrews 12:5-11. Under definition 2) we move immediately to 2b) because this talks about the chastising of God (close parallel to the “discipline of the Lord”). (Notice that the three other definitions under 2b) do not fit the context of Heb. 12:5-11, because God does not administer chastisement either by blows or by a scourge, He does not punish us, and He is not a judge ordering someone to be scourged.) Drilling down more into 2b1), we could render this definition as,

The Lord disciplines His children by bringing into their lives the affliction of evils and calamities.

Our work has yielded two definitions in which the Lord brings difficulties, afflictions, and calamities into the life of His child for the purpose of driving out remaining unrighteousness and increasing the child’s holiness. The Lord brings pain and affliction into His child’s life so that the child can be buffed and honed into an evident godliness. The discipline of the Lord is the Lord’s intentional shaping and sanctifying of His children through the means of painful affliction.

We will refine our study still more in the next post and see how others have understood this concept of “the discipline of the Lord.”

SDG                 rmb                 2/21/2022                   #492

The 42 months* of Revelation: a crucial end times concept

INTRODUCTION. The book of Revelation is the source of almost all of the Bible’s teaching about the 42 months*. (NOTE: The 42 months* is the name that I give to the time period of forty-two months’ duration that falls between the “thousand years” and the Last Day in the Bible’s end times timeline. It is figurative in duration, meaning that the 42 months* lasts approximately three-and-a-half years. The 42 months* appears five times in Revelation 11-13 in three expressions: forty-two months, time and times and half a time, and 1,260 days.) This post explores how to grasp the concept of the 42 months* and thus how to gain a better understanding of Revelation and the flow of the end times.

THE FLOW OF THE LAST DAYS

First, it is necessary to grasp the flow of the last days. (Much of this material is better understood by referring to my book on the end times called The Last Act of the Drama, available from Amazon.) Because of much well-intentioned but incorrect teaching on the end times in general and on the book of Revelation specifically, many (most?) Bible students are confused by both. To remedy that situation takes some work, but that work begins by understanding the general flow of the last days.

The three recognizable components of the last days are the “thousand years,” the 42 months*, and the Last Day, also known as “the day of the LORD” and “that day.” The “thousand years” (Rev. 20:1-6) begins with Christ’s ascension (Acts 1:9) and is the time when Christ’s church is gathered in as the gospel is proclaimed. This “relatively literal” time period (not literally one thousand years, but rather a very long time) ends with the release of Satan from the abyss (Revelation 20:3, 7). This begins the period of the 42 months*, which is a period of intense eschatological activity that prepares the world for the return of Jesus. Whereas the purpose of the “thousand years” was the ingathering of the elect into the church, the purpose of the 42 months* is to purify and cleanse the gathered church by persecution. The duration of the 42 months* is also “relatively literal,” meaning that it is not a long time like a thousand years, but is rather only a few years, probably less than a decade. The 42 months* ends when the forces of wickedness under the leadership of the beast attempt to annihilate the church at Armageddon (Rev. 16:16). This initiates the Last Day. The events of the Last Day are relatively easy to discern from the Scriptures. Once the Resurrection, the return of Christ, and the temporal destruction of all the unrighteous occur, The wicked are then judged finally and forever at the Great White Throne. This ushers in the new heaven and the new earth when time is no more and the righteous are forever with the Lord in heaven (Rev. 7:9).

THE LAST DAY IN SCRIPTURE

The Last Day (“that day”, “the day of the LORD”) is presented literally and figuratively in many places in the Bible, in both Old Testament and New. The final presentation of the Last Day in Revelation (19:11-21, etc.) serves mainly to fill in the final blanks and to put the last threads in the tapestry and to paint the last paint-by-number voids so that the whole effect is felt.

THE “THOUSAND YEARS” IN SCRIPTURE

The “thousand years” is the normal state of most of the time between Christ’s ascension and His Second Coming. This is the long time of the great ingathering of those who have been chosen for salvation (Ephesians 1:4), the time when the church rides out with the bow of the gospel, conquering and to conquer (Rev. 6:1-2). The Great Commission has been issued by the King (Matthew 28:19-20) and Jesus has also defined the church’s task (Acts 1:8), so that the work is clear. Most of the Bible’s instruction is intended for this “thousand years” as the church is built up and sanctified through the ordinary means of grace.

BUT THE 42 MONTHS* . . .

In contrast with the “thousand years” and the Last Day, the 42 months* are rarely mentioned in the Scriptures and when these events do appear, they are often not recognized due to a poor understanding of the teaching about the 42 months* in Revelation. For example, if the believer does not understand Armageddon from Revelation 16, 19, and 20, then he will not perceive that Ezekiel 38 and 39 foreshadow that event. Another example is the beast who rises from the sea in Revelation 13. If you do not understand the events of Revelation 13, then you will not see that the figures presented in Daniel 7, 8, 9, and 11 are types of the beast and thus foreshadow his activity.

So, to repeat, the book of Revelation contains almost all the Bible’s teaching on the 42 months*. But unless the Bible student grasps that the 42 months* exists as a distinct time period of the end times and unless the student has a general idea of the events of the 42 months*, the book of Revelation is likely to be very confusing.

HOW TO GAIN AN ACCURATE VIEW

The question, then, is, “How is the Bible student to gain an accurate understanding of the end times as presented in the Bible?” In my opinion, this involves a two-step process.

The first step is the more difficult and involves setting aside one’s current understanding of end times and of the book of Revelation. Of course, “your current understanding” is the result of years of Bible reading and so is hard to relinquish, but it is flaws in your current understanding that have produced your confusion about these passages. Rather than trying to correct your current view, the easiest thing to do is to set aside the whole thing for the moment and explore an entirely different view.

The second step is easier, but is not easy, and that is to carefully read through my book on the end times, The Last Act of the Drama. Starting with definitions of key end-times concepts, the book establishes a foundation for how to view the flow of the end times and then explores many key passages to show how the pieces fit together and form a beautiful and integrated whole. Special attention is given to the interpretation of Revelation so that the Bible student can confidently explain what the major passages mean and can see the sequence of their occurrence. Thus, the end times events are made clear.

SDG                 rmb                 2/21/2022                   #491

Learning to lament: a basic discipleship tool

INTRODUCTION. This post begins a (planned) series of articles on the subject of lamenting. “Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7), so the disciple of the Lord Jesus is wise to search the Scriptures and prepare themselves to lament when the weight of the world begins to crush their spirit.

This morning I had just finished my regular phone call with my friend, Dan. I had related to him some of the burdens that were heavy on me, and as I ended the call, I began to reflect more on the sorrows and the disappointments that were currently on my radar screen. And so, my mind turned to the subject of lamenting, and I began to pour my heart out to the Lord.

THE GRACE OF GOD IN THE LAMENT

Ours is a broken world. This is not a profound statement to anyone who has lived two or three decades and who has reflected at all on life. Our world is broken and we ourselves are broken, and the evidence for this brokenness increases daily. The follower of Jesus has a ready explanation for the fractures in the world. A Christian worldview acknowledges that, when Adam sinned and ate the forbidden fruit and rebelled against the Lord God, sin entered the world, and the “very good” creation was immediately and entirely polluted by sin. Death and sweat and pain and failure and malice and conflict and disappointment and fear rushed into the world through the hole ripped by sin, and the world has continued to accumulate sin and the effects of sin ever since. So, the Christian explains the evil and pain in the world as the consequences of sin entering the world when man rebelled against God.

But even though man has rebelled against God, and even though man’s “heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9); even though “there is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10) and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), God is gracious toward mankind. “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Man has willfully rebelled against the Lord of the universe, yet God has responded with grace in many different ways. One of the ways that God has responded with grace is by giving believers the gift of the lament.

This may seem like an unusual way to refer to lamentation. How can a lament be a gift of God’s grace? After all, isn’t a lament a cry to God, a prayer to God basically complaining about the difficulty and the sorrow of this life in His world? No, this is an overly simple view of a lament. In fact, in a lament the Lord of the universe gives His creature the privilege of calling out to Him and of pouring out his emotions to his God. The Lord is aware of man’s weakness and his inability. “He is mindful that we are but dust” (Psalm 103:14). And knowing that man is fearful and frail, our God has given us the lament so that we can confess our fears and failures and frailty to Him and feel the strong arms of His comfort and consolation. “The LORD is with me like a dread champion” (Jeremiah 20:11). But His presence does not only give us confidence in combat, but in lament, His presence surrounds us with compassion and comfort. (See 2 Cor. 1:3-5.)

God’s grace is manifested in the lament by giving the child of God a God-approved means of expressing to the Lord emotions of sorrow and loss and discouragement and disappointment with the knowledge that the Lord is fully engaged in the communication. The child of God lifts up a lament and pours out his emotions and sorrows, and God hears and empathizes. You see, there are two participants in the lament. The disciple of Jesus lifts his cry to the Lord, and the Lord actively hears and actively receives the disciple’s cry. The child of God is not complaining to no one. He is not trying to vent his emotions to no one, like some psychological trick. No! Rather, the child of God cries out to his Abba Father of the burdens of life. Knowing that the God who permits the lament is the God who hears the lament and who feels the emotions of His child’s lament, gives great emotional power to the lament.

In Psalm 6, David is in the midst of a lament. We see the telltale words “How long?” in verse 3. So, David pours out his complaint to the LORD, knowing that the LORD hears his cry. And then, toward the end of the psalm, the answer comes.

8 Depart from me, all you who do iniquity,
For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication,
The LORD receives my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed;
They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed.

“The LORD has heard, the Lord has heard, the LORD receives my prayer.” Here we see the beauty and the grace of the lament as the LORD hears His child. And in the same way that the Lord heard David’s lament, so the Lord will hear the lament of any of His children. The believer has committed his life to follow the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, through this vale of tears, and the Lord has graciously granted the believer the blessing of the lament that allows the believer to cry out to his God and persevere through this world until the Lord calls him home.

SDG                 rmb                 2/18/2022                   #490

The Discipline of the Lord – Part 2 (Hebrews 12:5-11)

THE PASSAGE – HEBREWS 12:5-11

Hebrews 12:5-11 is the classic passage in the Bible about “the discipline of the Lord.” This is the second post in a series of studies covering this section of Scripture. The last post established a basic interpretation of the passage, but also revealed that there is still work to do to see how this interpretation works itself out in life. What I mean is that we understand what the discipline of the Lord does, but we have not yet made clear what the discipline of the Lord is. This part of our study will dig deeper into the meaning of the passage.

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. – Hebrews 12:5-11

WHAT IS THIS “DISCIPLINE”?

What is the “discipline” in the discipline of the Lord? This is a crucial question for understanding this teaching, and so we will take some time to consider the meaning and the definition of this “discipline.” Here is our approach:

  1. What can we learn about “discipline” from the passage itself?
  2. Find dictionary definitions for the Greek and English words.
  3. How is “discipline” been understood by other Christians?

WHAT DOES THE PASSAGE ITSELF TEACH US ABOUT “DISCIPLINE”?

By carefully reading these verses, we can learn a lot about what “discipline” is and what it is not.

  • The Lord loves those whom He disciplines (12:6). We can therefore conclude that the Lord does not discipline in anger and that the Lord’s discipline is not intended to punish. (See 1 John 4:18.)
  • All believers will receive the discipline of the Lord as evidence that they are His children (12:6, 7, 8). But if all the Lord’s children receive His discipline, then the discipline of the Lord is not sent to correct or punish specific occurrences of sin or misbehavior in particular believers. Instead, the Lord’s discipline is sent, at the Lord’s discretion and providence, upon all believers universally to bring about the same result in all; namely, that they would share the Lord’s holiness (12:10) and would produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness (12:11).
  • Discipline is “sorrowful” (12:11). The disciple must “endure” the discipline of the Lord (12:7). The quote from Proverbs tells us “not to faint” and declares that the Lord “scourges” (The Greek word is understood figuratively, but literally means “beat with a whip.”) every son He receives. Thus, we conclude that the discipline of the Lord involves pain and affliction and suffering.
  • The discipline of the Lord has a purpose. The Lord “disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” (12:10). This discipline is for training in holiness and has no retributive component.

FROM THE PASSAGE ITSELF

Just by studying the passage carefully we have gained a good understanding of what this discipline of the Lord is. The Lord disciplines in love all believers so that they will be trained to walk in greater holiness and to produce the fruit of righteousness. Nevertheless, this discipline of the Lord requires endurance (or “perseverance”) because it is administered by the Lord through suffering and pain and affliction.

FIND DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS FOR GREEK AND ENGLISH WORDS

Now that we have grasped the meaning of “discipline” from the context of the passage, our next task will be to learn what we can from dictionary definitions for the Greek and English words. That will be tomorrow’s post.

SDG                 rmb                 2/17/2022                   #489

The Discipline of the Lord – Part 1 (Hebrews 12:5-11)

THE PASSAGE – HEBREWS 12:5-11

Hebrews 12:5-11 is the classic passage in the Bible about “the discipline of the Lord.” In this post, we will give an overview of these verses and will make several comments before explaining how to understand and apply this passage. The two key words are “discipline” (both the noun and the verb) and “endure.”

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. – Hebrews 12:5-11

The author of Hebrews begins by making clear (12:5-6, a quote from Proverbs 3:11-12) the universality of this “discipline of the Lord.” The exhortation is addressed to all those who are considered as ‘sons.’ (Obviously, this is not limited to the male children of the Lord. Of course, this includes all the children of the Lord, meaning all those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ.) So, all the children of the Lord are not to regard the Lord’s discipline lightly. The writer goes on to make clear that the discipline of the Lord comes universally to all “whom the Lord loves” and that the Lord “scourges every son (child) whom He receives.” Therefore, if you are loved by the Lord and if the Lord has received you into His household based on your faith in His Son, then you can expect to experience His discipline.

“It is for discipline that you endure” (12:7a). “Discipline” is used here as a noun and “endure” is a verb. Discipline describes the positive outcome of endurance. To endure means to willingly experience pain, stress, difficulty, or suffering because there is something valuable to be gained by the experience. And so, the child of God endures the Lord’s discipline.

The author then draws a parallel between the discipline we received from our earthly fathers and the discipline that all the children of the Lord receive from the Lord (12:7b-10). Every responsible earthly father diligently trains his children using whatever means he has at his disposal. Thus, all legitimate children receive their father’s discipline (training). We subjected ourselves to our earthly father’s imperfect discipline, so should we not subject ourselves to our heavenly Father’s perfect discipline, especially since the outcome of God’s training is that we “share in His holiness” (12:10)?

From 12:11, we learn that “discipline seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful.” Once again it is clear that the author intends for “discipline” to be understood as a painful experience that the disciple (“trainee”) willingly endures because the one bringing the “discipline” can be trusted to use the pain and the suffering and the trial of the discipline to produce a greater good. In this verse, we observe that those who have been trained by the discipline of the Lord obtain “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

SUMMARY OF THE TEACHING OF THIS PASSAGE.

All the children of the Lord are going to receive “the discipline of the Lord” as evidence that they are, indeed, the Lord’s legitimate children. Discipline is to be endured because the pain of the Lord’s discipline produces spiritual fruit. As we subjected ourselves to our earthly father’s imperfect discipline, so now we subject ourselves to our heavenly Father’s perfect discipline, especially since the outcome of God’s training is that we “share in His holiness” (12:10). The disciple who will endure the pain and suffering of “the discipline of the Lord” and be trained it will obtain “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

BUT WHAT EXACTLY IS “DISCIPLINE”?

In this post, we have established a basic interpretation of this passage, but there is still work to do to see how this interpretation works itself out in life. What I mean is that we understand what the discipline of the Lord does, but we have not yet made clear what the discipline of the Lord is. How do we recognize when we ourselves are experiencing this discipline? What prompts the Lord to bring His discipline into our life? What circumstances cause me to experience this discipline? Is this discipline sent as retribution for my misbehavior? Is the discipline like punishment? Is the discipline a good thing or is it a bad thing? What should be my response if I sense that the Lord has brought discipline into my life? These are some of the questions we will tackle in the next post.

SDG                 rmb                 2/16/2022                   #488