If God’s words can sometimes lead us to wrongly suppose we’ve been rejected, an even easier to make but way off-the-mark presumption is to suppose that God’s discipline or punishment implies his rejection or lack of love. Over and over Scripture stresses the very opposite. It insists that God’s punishment is proof of his love for us, and confirmation that we are genuine children of God.
Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, (6) because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” (7) . . . God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? (8) If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. (9) Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! (10) Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. (11) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
And there are many similar Scriptures.
Correctly administered, parental discipline is short-term discomfort that protects loved ones from long-term pain. It should be an act of parental care provided for their loved one’s safety and well-being. As implied in the above Scripture, parents often get it wrong, but God never gets it wrong.
We all die. To “save” someone’s life is merely to delay their death for what, relative to eternity, is an infinitesimal speck of time. So if, when it is a matter of life or death, severe action is sometimes required, how much more must this be so when one’s eternal destiny is at stake!
God’s punishment is temporary unpleasantness tailored to maximize our eternal pleasure. It is a loving act designed to nurture and protect and train.
To mistake this act of love for rejection would cause enormous confusion and needless distress.
The loving necessity of punishment when one’s eternity is in danger is something we need to understand, not just when we ourselves are being punished, but also when reading in Scripture of God punishing people. For God to strike someone dead means that person did wrong and a strong warning needs to be sent to his or her contemporaries and perhaps even subsequent generations but it usually says little about that person’s eternity.
Of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, the Bible says:
1 Corinthians 10:9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did – and were killed by snakes. (10) And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel. (11) These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
In Scripture we see people losing a ministry, or even dying prematurely, through God’s judgment, but this does not necessarily mean those people were sent to hell.
What might send thunderous shockwaves on earth – God striking a Christian dead – might hardly rate as a ripple in that person’s eternity. In stark contrast, the peaceful passing of an elderly person destined for hell is a cataclysmic event for that person and can lull observers into a dangerous spiritual complacency.
To be punished by God might be most unpleasant now but when viewed from eternity it is one of life’s greatest blessings.
It is our God-given opportunity to come to our senses, learn from our mistakes and find God’s forgiveness while we still have time. If a person’s eternity is at stake, after death is too late. God’s punishment in this life is a manifestation of his love and grace. In contrast, the greatest conceivable horror would be the Lord letting people go in blissful ignorance of their fate as they drift towards everlasting disaster.
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