Chastened for our peace

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The book of Hebrews helps to explain the chastening that we experience as Christians. We are encouraged that ‘whom the Lord loves He chastens’. Heb 12:6. In fact, the writer to the Hebrews instructed us to view chastening as an entirely positive experience because it is the evidence that God is engaged in our life. When we view chastening in this way, we realise that it is not an unpleasant by-product of walking with the Lord; rather, we persevere with the Lord for chastening! Heb 12:7. Chastening, although unpleasant in the moment, yields ‘the peaceable fruit of righteousness’. Heb 12:11. Jesus described this fruit as being our growth as sons of God. Luk 8:14.

When Isaiah prophesied about Christ’s offering and death, he wrote, ‘The chastisement for our peace was on Him’. Isa 53:5. We need to consider how the chastening that we experience from the hand of the Father is received through our participation in Christ’s offering. This is how the Father deals with our immaturity and helps to direct us to the works that He has prepared for us. The chastening that Jesus received for our peace occurred in the court of Caiaphas and was the third wound that He experienced in His journey from Gethsemane to Calvary. 2Sa 7:12‑14. Mat 26:67.

If our fellowship in Christ’s second wound exposes the iniquity of our fallen perspectives, then our fellowship in His third wound reveals the death associated with proceeding in the way of self‑righteousness. King Solomon described the way of self‑righteousness, when he wrote, ‘There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death’. Pro 14:12. When our flesh engages and reacts to the world around us, our other law decides what is ‘good and evil’ from a self‑centred perspective. Even a considered and calculated decision made on this basis will cause us to proceed ‘our own way’, which is the way of sin, separation from God, and death.

Further Study :
	Hebrews 12