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Trials & Disciplines

CHASTISEMENT.

The purposes of chastisement are many but may be classified under the following seven heads:

Ⅰ. Illuminative. To discover faults and failings. “ I speak not with your children which have not known and which have not seen the chastisement” (Deut.11:2).

Ⅱ. Preventative. To keep from failure and self exaltation. “ God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands and rebuked (chastened) thee yesternight” (Gen.31:42).

Ⅲ. Instructive. To cause us to know His way and will. “ The prophecy his mother taught him” (Prov.31:1)

Ⅳ. Curative. To prevent us from failing where we have failed before. “Behold I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver……thus she was reproved” (Gen.20:16).

Ⅴ. Corrective. To drive away that which is not helpful. “ Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov.22:15).

Ⅵ. Illustrative. To let others see the divine grace and patience exemplified in us. “ Happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty” (Job 5:17).

Ⅶ. Punitive. To punish for misdeed or disobedience. “ To deliver such an one unto Satan” (1.Cor.5:5).

── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》