Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Chastening of the Lord

Does the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) every afflict His children with sickness?

When I was young I occasionally did somethings that I knew that my father did not want me to do.  Sometimes I was not caught right away and it appeared that I was getting away with it.  Sometimes I would realize that I was lucky that I wasn't caught and never did it again.  Other times I kept it up and I would invariably get caught by my father.  When that happened it was never pleasant.

Sometimes I would plead with my father by promising to not to do it again.   My father always seems to know if that was true or not and could not be fooled by any of his children.  If we were sincere then our punishment would be lessened or maybe even forgotten.  We dared not repeat an offense that was forgiven or that we had been chastised less than we deserved because we knew that if we did then we would get double punishment the next time.  However, if we were not sincere my father could always tell and off came the belt.  When he was done we knew that we would never do that same thing again.  He made Hell real to us because he loved us and we respected him for it.

Do not get me wrong.  I am not talking about abuse where a father might strike a child in a fit of rage and beats them senseless.  When this happens the father often feels bad about the incident and the child resents their father for his unfair treatment of them.  When a father does this it brings disrespect to him, not respect.  I am not talking about where a child is ignorant of the will of their father and the father punishes the child instead of instructing the child.  This unfair treatment of the child also brings disrespect to their father.   These show a lack of self control and a lack concern for the long term good of the child by the father.  I am talking about where I knew what my father wanted and I decided to do the opposite.  I am talking about either a lack of self control on my behalf or outright rebellion against the instructions of my father.

For example, when I was seven my uncle Tim was hiding in cable spool and firing bottle rockets at me. He hit my face with one.  I was terrified and swatted it away just before it exploded.  Then I was overwhelmed with uncontrollable rage.  I grabbed a can of gasoline from the porch and ran towards the cable spool that he was hiding in.  Once he realized what I was doing it was too late to escape from the cable spool in time.  Now he was terrified and was frantically trying to put out anything that might ignite the gasoline in the two seconds that he left before I began pouring the gasoline.  Just as I was in position to pour the gasoline I heard a sound that put terror in my soul.  It was my father telling me to stop.  I felt like a dead man walking.  My father asked us both what we were doing.  We both knew better than to try to do serious hurt to each other.  My father gave us both a sound whipping that we have not forgotten.  We never tried to do serious harm to a family member since.  We respected my father for his chastening us when we deserved it.

Years later, when we visiting my uncle Terry his neighbor kids started throwing rocks at us.  Again, I lost my temper and began throwing rocks back.  I'm not talking about gravel here.  I'm talking about the kind of rocks that could break bones.  Soon, my uncle Tim, myself , my brother and my sisters were all throwing rocks at the neighbor kids.  Again, my father showed up before anyone was seriously hurt.  He did not buy our self defense argument because we could have went to the trailer and told him.  He and uncle Terry would have talked to those kids parents and put a stop to it.  But instead I had lost my temper and had taken matters into my own hands.  All of seven us got a sound whipping for trying to cause other people serious harm.  He started with the oldest and ended with the youngest because the oldest were the most responsible.  We knew when he was done that we were not to try to seriously harm people when we could avoid it.  We respected my father for his chastening us when we deserved it.

You see my father knew that I had a terrible temper and if I did not learn to control it then I was going to one day seriously hurt or kill someone.  When that happened I would be truly sorry but it would be too late.  My father knew that I had to learn to master my temper or it would ruin my life.  That is why the punish was so harsh and certain when I let my temper overcome my better judgment.  It was never pleasant being chastised.  In fact it was like being in Hell for a few minutes.  Every painful moment seemed like an eternity.  The wounds were very painful but they healed in a few days.  On the other hand, the lessons stayed with me for a life time and have kept me from ruining my life.  He chastised me because he was looking out for my long term good.  My father loved me so he had to chastise me.  I respect him greatly to this day for it.

The Book of Truth (The Bible) tells us that the Father of Truth is the same way.  The Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) often acts as on older brother in administering the chastisement on behalf of his Father just as my father did when he chastised my uncle Tim.

The Father of Truth does not chastise us with the Word of Truth.  He rebukes us with his Word.  His public rebuke is better than a love that does nothing when we are wrong (Proverbs 27:5-6).   He rebukes the Children of Truth (those that follow the Man of Truth) with the Word of Truth often through his more mature children  (2 Timothy 4:1-2).

Sometimes words are simply not enough to keep people from destruction (Proverbs 29:1).  The Man of Truth not only rebukes those that will not repent but he also chastises them because he loves them (Revelation 3:19).

Sometimes the only way for the Father of Truth to get rebellion out of His Children is chastise them with a rod (Proverbs 22:15). [Note: The Hebrew word translated as "foolishness" literally means "rebellion" not silliness or ignorance.]   He will not spare the rod when your actions deserve it because He loves you (Proverbs 13:24). It may seem like you are in Hell when you are being chastised but He will not stop beating you with his rod until the rebellion is gone because He is saving you from being in Hell forever (Proverbs 23:13-14).  He rebukes you for sin and uses his rod to cause you to make wise choices (Proverbs 29:15).    This Good Father will literally beat the Hell out of you to save you from yourself. 

The chastening of the Lord is a blessing to the Children of Truth for it keeps them in obedience to the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) and out of Hell (Psalm 94:12-13).  The chastening of the Lord will not cause them to die in their sins even if they feel like they are going to die (Psalm 118:17-18). They are not to despise the chastening of the Lord because the Father of Truth does it for their long term good (Proverbs 3:11-12).  Those that despise His commandments will die (Proverbs 19:16).  This Good Father will not stop His chastening for your crying while there is still hope for you to repent (Proverbs 19:18).  This chastening is brought upon His Children to keep them from being condemned to Hell with everyone else (1 Corinthians 11:30-32).

The Father of Truth chastises the Children of Truth for their disobedience because they are part of His family (Hebrews 12:5-8).  This Good Father chastises them so that they will respect Him and obey Him so that they can live (Hebrews 12:9). This Good Father chastises His Children so that they can profit from being like their Father in their character (Hebrews 12:10).  This Good Father will make Hell real to them for a while so that they can enjoy being with Him for eternity (Hebrews 12:11).

What is the chastening of the Lord?  What is His rod?

The Father of Truth has several rods that He chastens His children with when they will not be reformed by His rebukes and one of them is sickness (pestilence) (Leviticus 26:23-25).  The chastening of the Lord can bring pain to the body and soul of His Children (Psalm 6:1-3).  When His children foolishly rebel against His commandments then they bring sickness on themselves (Psalm 107:17-18).  The chastening of the Lord can be a rod of physical sickness that creates pain like a woman going through childbirth (Isaiah 26:16-17).  This physical sickness that people bring on themselves can be beyond the ability of medical science to cure (Jeremiah 30:13-15).  Many of His Children are sick and die prematurely because they have not repented (1 Corinthians 11:28-30).  The Chastening of the Lord can make a man so weak from sickness that his hands hang down and his knees are weak (Hebrews 12:12).  The Man of Truth will sometimes cast the Children of Truth that refuse to repent into a bed of sickness (Revelation 2:21-22).
 
The point of this sickness is to bring His Children to repentance to save them from Hell (Job 33:18-20).  The chastening of the Lord is bring His children to a place of repentance (Job 34:31-32).  It is better that they should lose part of their body than to go to Hell (Matthew 5:29-30).  This sickness is to bring them to repentance so that they will be able to be live with the Father of Truth for all eternity (Hebrews 12:12-14).   His children are never getting a way with anything when they seem to not be suffering for their rebellion but are instead being given an opportunity to repent without suffering first (Revelation 2:20-21).

It is better that a few of the Children of Truth die from sickness than all of them to die in Hell (John 11:50). The Father of Truth cannot allow some of His Children to get keep getting away with rebellion unpunished or it will spread throughout their congregation causing many to go to Hell (1 Corinthians 5:6).  The Good Shepherd, the Man of Truth, will kill a few of the sheep with sickness to prevent the entire flock from being destroyed in Hell (Revelation 2:23).

Make no mistake, the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil) is the one that actually oppresses people with sickness (Job 2:7). The Father of Truth only turns His children over to him for the destruction of their flesh with sickness so that they will repent and be saved from Hell (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).

The Father of Truth is the one that heals His children when they repent (Exodus 15:26).  This Good Father looks for His Children to repent so He can heal them (Isaiah 57:17-19).

The Father of Truth that chastises His children with sickness will heal them when they repent (Job 5:17-18). He will smite Egypt and then heal them when they repent (Isaiah 19:22). The same One that chastised you with sickness when you have sinned will heal you if you repent (Hosea 6:1).

There is no better example of the Father of Truth using sickness to bring repentance than King David.  King David was made king because he was a man that was in pursuit of pleasing the Father of Truth (1 Samuel 13:14).  This Child of Truth then despised the commandments of His Father when he sinned (1 Samuel 12:9).  This Good Father could not let him go unpunished even though King David admitted that he had sinned (1 Samuel 12:13-14).  Part of the chastisement of the Lord was sickness that lead to the death of the child that had been conceived as a result of his sin despite the tearful pleadings of King David (1 Samuel 12:15-19).  King David was chastised with the rod of a terribly painful sickness for his sin as well (Psalms 38:1-4).  This Child of Truth was afflicted with a terrible venereal disease for his adultery (Psalms 38:5-7).  This sickness got so bad that he was on the verge of death (Psalms 38:8-11).  King David finally repented from the heart for his disobedience so he asked to be forgiven and healed (Psalms 38:18-22).  This Good Father ended His chastisement and healed this Child of Truth when He knew that King David had repented and would be saved from Hell (Psalm 30:1-3).

You do not have to remain sick if you have sinned.  You can be healed of any disease.  Even if you have brought it on yourself by rebelling against Him.  This Good Father has provided for your healing.

The Father of Truth sent His Word to heal His Children when they cry out in repentance for their foolishly rebelling against Him (Psalm 107:17-20).  This Good Father promised to send the Man of Truth to endure stripes in the place of the sickness that the Children of Truth had brought upon themselves (Isaiah 53:5).  The Man of Truth is willing to heal you (Mark 1:40-41).  He only came to do the will of His Father so you can be sure that this Good Father wants you healed (John 5:30).  The Man of Truth was sent to heal all that have been oppressed with sickness by the Father of Lies even if it was they brought it on themselves (Acts 10:38).  The Man of Truth endured incredible pain so that you could repent and be healed (1 Peter 2:24-25).  He came to destroy every work of the Father of Lies including sickness (1 John 3:8).

The Great Physician, the Man of Truth, has left the Children of Truth to bring his healing power to you while he is in Heaven (Mark 16:17-19).  When these interns act in his name then the Great Physician works through them to bring about healing in your body (Acts 4:10).  They can bring his healing power through the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) just like the Great Physician did (1 Corinthians 12:9).  As the Great Physician is in Heaven so are the Children of Truth in this world (1 John 4:17).

The Father of Truth longs for you to repent so that he can stop His chastisement (Jeremiah 31:18-20).   He wants to come to you with peace instead of a rod for chastising you but it is your choice (1 Corinthians 4:21).  If we will judge ourselves when we do wrong and repent then He will not judge us by chastening us (1 Corinthians 11:31).  If we will repent after we have been chastised then He will heal us (Hebrews 12:12-13).  If you have wronged another Child of Truth then you will have to tell them and ask for their forgiveness as part of your repentance so that you can be healed from your sickness (James 5:16).

Of course, we need to come into the House of Truth because the same Father of Truth that can chastise us with sickness to bring us to repentance can also cast us into Hell if we refuse to repent (Matthew 10:28).   You need to come into the House of Truth so you can obey from the heart (Romans 6:17). You need to end your rebellion against the rule of the Man of Truth and come into the House of Truth because you believe that this Good Father raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).   You need to repent from the heart and come into the House of Truth to do the will of this Good Father (Ephesians 6:5-7).   You can both be healed from sickness and escape Hell if you will come into the House of Truth (1 Peter 2:24).

Come into the House of Truth.

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