“And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?” – Hebrews 12:5-7
Of the many truths that are important for you to know and have comfort and joy about regarding your knowing God and being known by Him, of the many ways God gives you assurance in the Scriptures regarding your knowing that you know Him, here is another piece of gold for you that fuels peace and thankfulness in your heart. You can know that you know Him as you are the recipient of God’s divine chastening. For God loves those He is chastening as a father does a son.
This is why the writer exhorts you to fight the temptation to become discouraged when He rebukes you. This is why the writer calls you to not despise God’s chastening of you. For you need to understand and never forget the reason He does so being that because of His great love for you, you have been bought with a price and brought into, you have been received into the family of God as His adopted sons and daughters. God’s plan to bring many sons, to bring you to glory involved making the captain of your salvation, His Son, Jesus Christ, perfect through suffering. (Hebrews 2:10) What does the writer mean by Jesus being made perfect through suffering? He is, always has been, and always will be the perfect, sinless Son of God. (Hebrews 4:15) This is true! The writer doesn’t mean that Jesus finally became sinless. No, rather that He finished the course of suffering that the Father set before Him, including His sacrificial death. Having done so, Christ was completely qualified to serve as your uniquely effective High Priest. Praise the Lord!
Therefore, you can better understand as you are united to Christ and His beloved sons and daughters who love and follow Him, that God would call you to suffer in this life as He prepares you for your inheritance with painful discipline. He does so that you may be partakers of His holiness. Saying this, remember that your whole life involves discipline. Your life as a follower of Christ is one of discipleship, where you are being molded and shaped into the image of Christ through both instruction and correction. Again, praise the Lord! Note the severity of the language of “scourging” the writer uses in verse 6 above. This is the strongest verb used regarding God’s discipline. It’s also used to speak of the sufferings of Christ and His apostles. (Matthew 20:19, Matthew 10:17)
Another aspect of your assurance is found in your endurance in divine chastening. As the writer goes on to say in verse 7 of Hebrews 12, “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?” If you patiently endure affliction, this itself is evidence that God is bestowing grace that only His children know, upon you. And yet, the writer also gives a warning in verse 8. “But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” There’s danger in not be chastened by God, for those who lack discipline, lack sonship.
Speaking of the discipline of our earthly fathers, and the connected benefits in being trained by God, the writer says in verses 10-11, “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. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” The glorious lesson for you is that though divine discipline isn’t full of joy to endure, if by God’s grace you seek to learn and profit from it, it will yield wonderful fruit for Christ’s sake and for His glory.
Are you being chastened by God? If so, take comfort today, Beloved, that you know Jesus, know the Father, and are in His beloved family, being trained and refined by your heavenly Father by the work of the Spirit.