Bible Questions Answered:
“In Hebrews 12, Paul talks about
God's chastisement, but I don't see why even the young have to be
chastised with sickness...”
Corey/ Guelph, Ontario Canada
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Hebrews 12:1-13 NLT (God’s
Discipline Proves His Love)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip
off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so
easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has
set before us.
2 We do this by keeping our eyes on
Jesus, The Champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of
the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame.
Now He is seated in
the place of honor beside God’s
throne.
3 Think of all the hostility He
endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give
up.
4 After all, you have not yet given
your lives in your struggle against sin.
5 And have you forgotten the
encouraging words God spoke to you as His children? He said, “My
child, don’t make light of The Lord’s discipline, and don’t
give up when He corrects you.
6 For The Lord disciplines those He
loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.”
6 For whom The Lord loveth He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. (KJV)
7 As you endure this divine
discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children.
Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
8 If God doesn’t discipline you as
He does all of His children, it means that you are
illegitimate and are not really His children at all.
9 Since we respected our earthly
fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the
discipline of The Father of our spirits, and live forever?
10 For our earthly fathers
disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But
God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in
His holiness.
11 No discipline is enjoyable while
it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a
peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this
way.
12 So take a new grip with your
tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight
path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall
but become strong.
Question:
Are all Christian people sick? Remember vs. 8 God disciplines “all
His children.”
Answer: No!
Well, then that is
“not,” the way of God's discipline (for His children).
What are God's
means of chastisement?
The Holy Spirit,
convicts, may rebuke or reprove one of sin, these are God's means
of discipline.
John 16:5-11 NLT
(The Work of The Holy Spirit)
5 “But now I am going away to The
One who sent Me, and not one of you is asking where I am going.
6 Instead, you grieve because of
what I’ve told you.
7 But in fact, it is best for you
that I go away, because if I don’t,
The Advocate (The Holy Spirit) won’t
come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you.
8 And when He comes, He will convict
the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming
judgment.
9 The world’s sin is that it
refuses to believe in Me.
10 Righteousness is available
because I go to The Father, and you will see Me no more.
11 Judgment will come because the
ruler of this world has already been judged.
Revelation 3:19
KJV (Christ warned the church of Laodicea.)
As many as I love, I rebuke
and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Does God send
sickness as chastisement upon His children? No.
Psalm 3:8 KJV
Salvation
belongeth unto The Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
Proverbs 10:22
KJV
The blessing of The Lord, it maketh
rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.
Jeremiah 29:11
KJV
For I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, saith The Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
to give you an expected end.
Jeremiah 29:11
NLT
For I know the plans I have for
you,” says The Lord. “They are plans for good and not for
disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Yet this not to
say, that The Living God, can and may send whatever He wishes upon
sinners who refuse to obey Him!
Deuteronomy
28:58-62 NLT
58 “If you refuse to obey all the
words of instruction that are written in this Book, and if you do not
fear the glorious and awesome name of The Lord your God,
59 then The Lord will overwhelm you
and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be
intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick.
60 He will afflict you with all the
diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no
relief.
61 The Lord will afflict you with
every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this
Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed.
62 Though you become as numerous as
the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not
listen to The Lord your God.
Psalm 107:17 KJV
Fools because of their
transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Now again,
sickness on God's children, does not come from The Lord!
Matthew 10:1 KJV
And when He had called unto Him His
twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to
cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease.
John 10:10 KJV
The thief cometh not, but for to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might
have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Acts 10:38 KJV
"...God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with The Holy Ghost and with power: who went about
doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of
the devil; for God was with Him.
1 John 3:8 KJV
He that committeth sin is of the
devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose
The Son Of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the
devil.
The
Work Of The Devil:
Job 2:1-7 KJV
1 Again there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before The Lord, and Satan
came also among them to present himself before The Lord.
2 And The Lord said unto Satan, From
whence comest thou? And Satan answered The Lord, and said, From going
to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3 And The Lord said unto Satan, Hast
thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the
earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and
escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although
thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4 And Satan answered The Lord, and
said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his
life.
5 But put forth thine hand now, and
touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6 And The Lord said unto Satan,
Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7 So went Satan forth from the
presence of The Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of
his foot unto his crown.
Luke 9:37-43 KJV
37 And it came to pass, that on the
next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met
Him.
38 And, behold, a man of the company
cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he
is mine only child.
39 And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and
he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and
bruising him hardly departeth from him.
40 And I besought thy disciples to
cast him out; and they could not.
41 And Jesus answering said, O
faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and
suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
42 And as he was yet a coming,
the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the
unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him
again to his father.
43 And they were all amazed at the
mighty power of God...”
A child of The
Lord, receives chastisement, through conviction of sin, or we may be
rebuked or reproved, by The Holy Spirit.
Anything other than
this, is the work of the devil and we know that....
I John 3:8 KJV
“...For
this purpose The Son Of God was manifested, that He might destroy the
works of the devil.
I John 4:4 KJV
Ye are of God, little children, and
have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he
that is in the world.
