“If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Further, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” Hebrews 12:7-10.
“Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:22-24.
Marriage is the first thing instituted by God and it was perhaps given within days or weeks of the creation of Adam.
It is an institution recognized by God whether the marriage is done by a Buddhist monk, a voodoo witch doctor, or an atheist clerk in the town hall.
Marriage is limited to a man and a woman, and it is a vow before God, God takes vows seriously.
“When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed. It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay.” Ecclesiastes 5:4-5.
Things like divorce, adultery, abandonment, and contempt towards the spouse break those vows and take peace away from the ones who do them.
When either spouse breaks their vows of marriage, expect chastening!
“… the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. “For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.” Malachi 2:14b-16.
God gives us a powerful reason for a man and woman becoming one in the passage above, not only is marriage meant for love and companionship, “And why one? He seeks godly offspring.”
It is quite unlikely that children will become godly offspring when their parents divorce. It is quite likely that they will be raised by a stepfather or mother who does not love them or care for them, and many are molested by a perverted stepparent.
Notice also that, “they shall become one flesh” Genesis 2-24. One flesh is a more literal relationship than one would think.
“So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.” Ephesians 5:28-29.
Married couples are considered one flesh, this means they should be able to trust each other, physically care for one another, and share the burdens as well as the hopes.
This is serious stuff; it is not up for experimentation, or interpretation by arrogant social engineers.
You will notice that the words “if you want to” are not in the passage quoted from Genesis 2:22-24. This means that these verses are not open to loose interpretation.
Scripture tells us that God’s chastening is, “…for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” Oddly enough, it is mainly through trials that we become holy.
Holiness is not something that we can gain by being good, for when man sinned he lost all vestiges of holiness and there is no way of getting the toothpaste back into the tube.
Holiness can only be imputed to us by God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross; it is this holiness that we gain.
Outward holiness, which is seen by others through our actions and heart’s intents and responses, is something that occurs upon the change of the heart through trials and a determination to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit within us.
Outside of Christ there is no such thing as a holy man; whether Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or any other false religion, they are all in rebellion against God and reject His Son.
So while they have an outward appearance of holiness, and many are very good by man’s standards, but they are still no better than the Pharisees the Lord was speaking to when He said the following.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:27-28.
Christians too, fall into this trap when they try to act holy in their own strength while continuing to behave like the unsaved people around them, accomplishing nothing more than appearing holier than thou to others.
Until their heart is changed by the reading of and meditation on Scripture and through trials, it will remain what it is, acting, hypocrisy.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24.
The word mammon is Aramaic for riches.
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:13-16.
Chastening is so we may “be partakers”, which is to take part in or to share in His holiness.
Upon our acceptance of Jesus as our Savior, God sees us as sinless in Jesus, yet we do not cease to sin.
Our fleshly desires must be reckoned with and put away: things like lying, chronic profanity, jealousy, and various lusts, to name a few. God deals with these things through various trials.
On our part God wants us to confess our sins when we recognize them and forsake them.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior holiness is imputed to us in the same manner as we became sinless in God’s sight through His Son Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to put away sin.
We are seen as holy in God’s sight, yet we do not act holy. This again for most of us takes time as we grow in Jesus and put away our sins. The more we grow in the Lord, the more we put away our sins and mirror the beauty of Jesus.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Holiness can take two stages. The imputed holiness which we strive to mirror in the manner shown above. And having put away the sin which so easily ensnares us and by this show the world the face of Jesus Christ by our actions.
The second stage comes when we become “partakers of His holiness”.
In the first case above holiness exhibits the characteristics of Jesus in a heartfelt and unhypocritical way even when forgiving a wrong done to them, yet sometimes the offense lingers in their heart, spoiling the joy that they might have had.
When someone becomes a “partaker” of God’s holiness they are like the person above only they have gone one step further, they have the mindset of Jesus Christ, wherein their hearts are so filled with the love of Christ that they respond to an offense and forgive and forget as if had been cast into the sea.
Now this cannot be a bad thing, for holiness has many advantages; holiness draws people to it and opens them up to listen to you when you speak of Jesus.
A holy life is a more peaceful life.
“When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Proverbs16:7.
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6.
A holy life also prepares us to come before God.
“And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13.
God tells us it is for our profit that we are chastened to partake of His holiness. Focus on that thought, “…for our profit”. The following verse admits that chastening is no fun, yet we must not blame God for something we will have brought upon ourselves. Even as our own children benefit from chastening, so it is, “…for our profit” Hebrews 12:10b.
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11.
In the same manner as an oyster which has a grain of sand or some other irritant find a way into its shell, a process begins to rid itself of the aggravation by coating the foreign particle with nacre.
Coat after coat of this substance soon turns the irritant into a pearl, something of great value throughout the world.
For the Christian the pearl is the “peaceable fruit of righteousness”, something of far greater value than pearls in a violent and unrighteous world.
End of Part 2 of 3 parts.
Chastening, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 10-14-15 updated on 6-20-24 ck.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.