"Our Father who art in Heaven ... forgive us our sins."--Luke
11:1-4.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins."--1 John 1:9.
"Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
sons. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor
faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he
whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastening,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and
we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection
under the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few
days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness."--Heb. 12:5-10.
"Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the
earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant
shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure
forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children
forsake my law and walk not in my judgements; if they break my
statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their
transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him,
nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn
by my holiness that I will not lie unto David."--Ps. 89:27-35.
In coming to the question of God's plan concerning the lives of men
redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeemed from all
iniquity (Titus 2:14), from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and adopted as
God's sons (Gal. 4:4-7), let the reader keep in mind that it is not
concerning the sins of unredeemed men, whether professing Christians
or not. God's plan with the sins of unredeemed men has been shown in
Chapter I. Hence it is not a question of the sins of hypocrites, or
other professing Christians who are not really God's children.
It has been shown in Chapter IV that when men are redeemed from the
curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), they are
no longer under the law; "Ye are not under the law."--Rom. 6:14. God's
word lays down a principle recognized and endorsed by all enlightened
nations,--"Sin is not reckoned [imputed] when there is no law."--Rom.
5:13. Those who have been redeemed from under the law are adopted as
God's children,--"God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons."--Gal. 4:4, 5. God thenceforth deals with them
as father with children, and not as judge with transgressors of law.
Earthly children commit two kinds of sins against their earthly
fathers; they sin under temptation and are penitent, and confess their
sins and are forgiven. Second, they sin wilfully and are chastised.
God's children sin in like manner; they sin under temptation, are
penitent, confess their sins and are forgiven. Second, they become
backsliders, sin wilfully and are chastised. Let us consider the two
classes of sins of God's children and _God's plan with men_ for them.
Our Saviour taught His disciples, God's children, to pray "Our Father
... forgive us our sins,"--Luke 11:1-4; Paul and Silas taught the
jailer, a man under the law, unredeemed, not a child of God, "Believe
on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."--Acts 16:31. John
taught the believers (1 John 5:13), those who were redeemed from the
curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and were God's children (1 John 3:1, 2),
"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins,"--1 John 1:9; Paul taught the unredeemed, those who were
not God's children, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that _justifieth the ungodly_, his faith is counted for
righteousness."--Rom. 4:5.
Many believe and teach that if any one, the unredeemed man as well as
the son of God, confesses his sins, God will be faithful and just to
forgive his sins. A Mohammedan, a Jew, a Christian Scientist, a
Unitarian, a Universalist, confess their sins,--are they forgiven? To
these and all others under the law, God has said, "Apart from shedding
of blood there is no remission."--Heb. 9:22. "Till heaven and earth
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled."--Matt. 5:18. John is writing to believers only (1
John 5:13), to those who are God's children (1 John 3:1, 2), and to
_them_ he says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins."--1 John 1:9. Men unredeemed, under the law, can
never get rid of their sins by confession. To them God has one
message,--"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so _must_ the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have everlasting life."--John 3:14-16.
The Saviour taught the _disciples_ to pray, "Our Father, ... forgive
us our sins"; but so widespread is the misconception that it applies
to all, redeemed and unredeemed, that all over the world vast
multitudes of the unredeemed kneel down every night and say, "Our
Father, ... forgive us our sins," and lie down to sleep deluded with
the thought that they are forgiven. If they are forgiven, why was
there any need of Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3)? But the
real child of God can pray, "Our Father, ... forgive us our sins," and
he is really forgiven. Why the difference? With the unredeemed, those
yet under the law (Rom. 3:19), God is dealing as judge with violators
of law, and law knows no forgiveness. With the redeemed, those who
have been adopted as God's children (Gal. 4:4-7), God is dealing as
father with son. Let those who are redeemed, who are really God's
children, realize the blessed fact that "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins."--1 John 1:9.
But there is another class of sins committed by God's children, "If
his children _forsake_ my law" (Ps. 89:30), wilful sins. For these God
chastises His children, just as an earthly father chastises his wilful
and disobedient children. "Ye have forgotten the exhortation which
speaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons,
for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be
without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards
and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who
corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be
in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for
a few days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our
profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."--Heb. 12:5-10.
Chastisement or punishment of God's children is for correction; "for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" (Heb. 12:10);
punishment of the unredeemed is to carry out law, for justice: "that
he might be _just_" (Rom. 3:26); "every transgression received a
_just_ recompense of reward."--Heb. 2:2. The unredeemed, those under
the law (Rom. 3:19), are punished beyond this life, in the Day of
Judgment,--"verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom and Gomorrah _in the day of judgment_, than for that
city."--Matt. 10:15; God's children receive their chastisements in
this life,--"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons."--Heb. 12:7. Professing Christians who are not redeemed, not
really God's children, do not receive chastisements; hence, they are
punished in the day of judgment with the other unredeemed. "But if ye
be without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards
and not sons."--Heb. 12:8.
He has observed to little purpose who has not noticed that redeemed
people, God's children, suffer more in this life than the unredeemed.
God says that His children endure chastenings and others who are not
His children do not. The difference can be easily seen by any one who
will observe closely. The Psalmist observed it and was greatly
disturbed by it until he understood the cause of the difference.
"Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh
slipped. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength
is firm. _They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they
plagued like other men._ Therefore pride compasseth them about as a
chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with
fatness, they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and
speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set
their mouths against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the
earth. Therefore, his people return hither, and waters of a full cup
are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? And is there
knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper
in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart
in vain and washed my hands in innocency. For _all the day long have I
been plagued, and chastened every morning_. If I say, I will speak
thus: behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; _until I went
into the sanctuary of God: then understood I their end_. Surely, thou
didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into
destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment?
They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh;
so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. For my
heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I,
and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am
continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou
shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to
glory."--Ps. 73:1-24.
That chastisement in this life for wilful sins is God's plan with
redeemed men, His real children, is clearly revealed even in the Old
Testament. God swore by His holiness to David that this would be His
plan with redeemed men:--"Also, I will make him my firstborn, higher
than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore,
and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make
to endure forever and his throne as the days of Heaven. If his
children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break
my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their
transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor
suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor
alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my
holiness that I will not lie unto David."--Ps. 89:27-35. David himself
was a case in point. After his terrible sin, God sent word to him by
the prophet Nathan, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of
the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain
him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword
shall never depart from thine house."--2 Sam. 12:9, 10. "And David
said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said
unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not
die."--2 Sam. 12:13. God has but one way of putting away sin. "Apart
from shedding of blood is no remission."--Heb. 9:22. "For the life of
the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh
an atonement for the soul."--Lev. 17:11. But God does not stop there.
"Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the
enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto
thee shall surely die."--1 Sam. 12:14. (Let the reader notice that
God, foreseeing that people would ridicule the idea of God saving
David, calls it blasphemy and calls those who do it "the enemies of
the Lord.") David fasted and prayed for the child. On the seventh day
the child died, "But when David saw that his servants whispered, David
perceived that the child was dead; therefore David said unto his
servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David
arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself, and changed his
apparel, and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped: then he
came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him
and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this
that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it
was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I
said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child
may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring
him back again? _I shall go to him._"--2 Sam. 12:19-23. How could
David be thus sure? He had God's word on which to rest, "The life of
the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it upon the altar to make
atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul."--Lev. 17:11. But because of his sin God chastened him
as long as he lived. "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from
thine house."
Solomon is another case in point. Concerning Solomon God said to
David, "I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit
iniquity, I will chastise him with the rod of men, and with the
stripes of the children of men; but my mercy shall not depart away
from him."--2 Sam. 7:14, 15.
In chastening, God uses as a rod loss of loved ones (2 Sam. 12:14;
Amos 4:10), loss of property (Amos 4:6-9), loss of health (1 Cor.
11:30), death (1 Cor. 11:30; Amos 4:11; Deut. 32:48-52). Consider the
case of Moses and Aaron: God told them to speak to the rock that it
might bring forth water for the children of Israel. But they wilfully
disobeyed, and instead of speaking to the rock, struck it in anger.
For this wilful sin, as a chastisement, God said to Moses, "Get thee
up into this mountain Abarim, unto Mt. Nebo, which is in the land of
Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan,
which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in
the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as
Aaron thy brother died in Mt. Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
_because ye trespassed against me_ among the children of Israel at
the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin."--Deut.
32:49-52. Though Moses was thus severely chastened for his wilful sin,
he was not lost, for he was with Elijah on the mountain at the
transfiguration of the Saviour (Matt. 17:1-3).
The lesson needs to be learned by God's children that as certainly as
a redeemed man sins wilfully, whether the sin be great or small, the
chastening rod is sure to fall. "If his children _forsake my law ...
then will_ I visit their transgressions with the rod and their
iniquity with stripes."--Ps. 89:30-32. But God does not send the
chastening in wrath, nor in justice. "Whom the Lord _loveth_ he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."--Heb. 12:6.
There are many who profess to be redeemed, to be God's children,
professed Christians, church members, who sin wilfully, and God never
sends chastisements to them; but God explains about them, "But if ye
be without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye
bastards, and not sons."--Heb. 12:8. He does not chasten this class;
in Hell they will receive their punishment, but it will be just. God
will treat no human being wrong. With some it may seem severe that God
should chasten and scourge His children. That is not as severe as to
send them to Hell for their wilful disobedience after they become His
children, and that is the belief of many. There are but three plans
that God could have for those who have been redeemed from the curse of
law (Gal. 3:13) and adopted as His children (Gal. 4:4-7), and
afterward sin wilfully:--
First, beyond this life punish them in the judgment (Matt. 10:15) for
their sins, send them to Hell. That would mean, (1) if Christ redeemed
them from _all_ iniquity (Titus 2:14), that God would force the same
debt to be paid twice. "Shall not the judge of all the earth do
right?" (2) That would mean that God would punish, by law, those who
have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and who are
not under the law (Rom. 6:14), and would violate God's own principle,
"Sin is not reckoned [imputed] when there is no law" (Rom. 5:13). (3)
That would mean a child of God, redeemed and adopted (Gal. 4:4-7), and
born again (1 Peter 1:23), born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8), sent to
Hell. (4) That would mean to make the Saviour unreliable and
untruthful in His statements. "Many will say unto me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out demons? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I _never_ knew you."--Matt. 7:22, 23. These
are the professing Christians at the judgment who are lost, and Jesus
says, "I never knew you," that not one of them was ever really
redeemed and adopted as a child of God. (5) It would mean for God to
violate His own oath (Ps. 89: 27-35).
Second, the second plan possible to God in dealing with those who sin
wilfully after they have been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14),
from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and adopted as God's children
(Gal. 4:4-7), would be to let them continue to sin wilfully, and
neither punish them beyond this life, at the judgment, in Hell, nor
chastise them in this life. That would mean for some of them to
eventually develop characters most fearfully warped by sin.
Third, there is but one other possible plan left for God with redeemed
men, redeemed from the law and adopted as His children (Gal. 4:7), who
sin wilfully; and that is to chasten, chastise them in this life. That
is God's plan with the redeemed, His own children; and however severe
the chastening, He does it in love. In love He planned to adopt us as
His children. "Having _in love_ predestinated us for the adoption as
sons through Jesus Christ to himself."--Eph. 1:5 (1911 Bible), and in
love He chastises. "Whom the Lord _loveth_, he chasteneth and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."--Heb. 12:6.
Reader, the issue is before you: shall you remain under the law (Rom.
3:19) to be punished justly in the judgment (Matt. 11:22-24) and to
continue to sin in Hell (Rev. 22:11, R. V.), or will you accept
redemption through Christ the Saviour from the curse of the law (Gal.
3:13), be adopted as a child of God forever (Gal. 4:4-7), to be
forgiven when you sin against your Father in Heaven and confess your
sin (1 John 1:9); to be chastened when you sin wilfully (Ps.
89:27-34), and to spend eternity in Heaven with Him who loved you and
gave Himself for you (John 14:1-3; Gal. 2:20), free forever from sin
(Rev. 21:24-27; Rev. 22:3)? You do not intend, reader, to be wrapped
in a Christless shroud, to be laid away in a Christless grave, to
spend eternity in a Christless Hell. Decide _now_.
_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--The teaching that God interposes in human
affairs to chastise His disobedient children (Heb. 12:5-8; Ps.
89:27-34), to chasten with the rod of the children of men (2 Sam.
7:14, 15; 1 Cor. 11:30), will frighten, or arouse the contempt of,
"the modern mind" with its self-inflated wisdom, which _just knows_
that "the laws of nature are immutable laws." Is there a being called
"Nature" who made these laws? Who revealed to "the modern mind" that
these laws were immutable? Where did "the modern mind" get its
authority (it takes for granted that it has the power) to drive God
from His universe, or to make Him powerless, or inactive? Can "the
modern mind" prove absolutely that because God's law of gravitation
causes objects to fall toward the earth, He has no right and no power
to make Elijah's body go up instead of down (2 Kings 2:11)? Does "the
modern mind" absolutely know that God is now inactive and must remain
inactive? "Dr. Mason Goode observes that worlds and systems of worlds
are perpetually disappearing, that within the period of the last
century no less than thirteen in different constellations seem to have
perished and _ten new ones have been created_."--_"Origin of the
Globe."_ If God is active out in space, who shall deny Him the right
or the power to be active on this planet? And if active on this planet
at all, then in the individual lives of His children? And in His word,
backed up by fulfilled prophecies, to prove that He _is_ dealing with
us, He tells us that He is. Is "the modern mind" too scholarly, too
self-opinionated, to consider the following words from Prof. James Orr
in his "The Resurrection of Jesus" ("the modern mind" is very careful
not to attempt a thorough reply to Professor Orr's "Problem of the
Old Testament," nor his "Resurrection of Jesus"--for obvious reasons)?
"The question is not, Do natural causes operate uniformly? But _are
natural causes the only causes that exist or operate_? For miracle, as
has frequently been pointed out, is precisely the assertion of the
interposition of a _new_ cause; one, besides, which the theist must
admit to be a _vera causa_."
If when we become God's children, we are no longer under the law (Rom.
6:14), we are redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), we are no more
servants but sons (Gal. 4:7), the question arises, why pray to Our
Father in Heaven to be forgiven? The child does not ask his father's
forgiveness in order to be his child, but to have the disturbed
fellowship restored. The unforgiven child is still a child, but will
be chastened. It is fellowship of the Heavenly Father with the child
that is restored by forgiveness, and is sought in forgiveness, and not
a destroyed relationship. On this point hear James Denny in his "The
Death of Christ": "Christ died for sins once for all, and the man who
believes in Christ and in His death has his relations to God once for
all determined not by sin but by the Atonement. The sin for which a
Christian has daily to seek forgiveness is not sin which annuls his
acceptance with God."
There needs to be kept in mind, in considering that God chastens His
children, the distinction that while chastenings are sufferings, all
sufferings are not chastisements. The expression, "whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth" (Heb. 12:6), has been widely misused and sadly
misapplied. Because David's babe was taken from him as a chastisement
(2 Sam. 12:14), many thoughtlessly conclude that every babe's death is
meant for a chastisement for the father and mother; and many apply
"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" to all of the sorrows and
sufferings of God's children. But there is another purpose
accomplished by some sufferings, in "that the trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ."--1 Peter 1:7. "And he shall sit as a
purifier and refiner of silver."--Matt. 3:3. The silver is not to
blame for the dross; nevertheless, it needs to be burned out. A child
stole a piece of bread; the father chastised the child for it. That
chastening was suffering. But the same child was born a cripple. In
straightening the foot, the father forced many weeks of fearful
suffering on the child, but the suffering was not chastisement.
Chastisements are sufferings of God's children for wrongdoing to
correct them; but there are sufferings that are not chastisements for
wrongdoing, but are to take out of us defects, or to develop us.
Hence, to say to some one who is suffering from sorrow or affliction,
"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth," is often cruel and untrue.