LOVE, REBUKE AND CHASTENING
(week 48/17)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Revelation 3:19 KJV: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Proverbs 27:5 KJV: Open rebuke is better than secret love.
1John 5:16 KJV: If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
These scriptures show that God rebukes (strict verbal correction) and chastens (by allowing bodily and or circumstantial afflictions) because He loves us: trusting that the rebuke and chastening will cause godly sorrow that will break our pride and lead us to repentance.
2Corinthians 7:10 KJV: For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Ecclesiastes 7:3 KJV: Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better and gains gladness.
Leviticus 26:18-19 AMP: And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins. (19) And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain] and your earth [as sterile] as brass. [1Kings 17:1]
Proverbs 20:30: Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.
However, the scripture instructs us NOT TO REBUKE ELDERS:
1Timothy 5:1 KJV: Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
We should love them SECRETLY by praying for and asking life for them according to 1 Jn. 5.16 above.
We are also instructed NOT TO REBUKE SCORNERS: those who will get into strife and quarrel with you because you rebuked and corrected them:
Proverbs 9:7-8 KJV: He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot. (8) Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Again we are to love them secretly: ask for life and pray for them in private.
So God rebukes and chastens us BECAUSE HE LOVES US and when He rebukes and chastens us and WE REPENT and so avoid DESTRUCTION (premature physical death (1 Cor.5.5) or in some extreme cases going to hell (Matt.10.28)).
Proverbs 3:11-12 KJV: My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: (12) For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
1Corinthians 11:31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (32) But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
So we should use the blood (Heb.13.20-21), the Word (1 Jn.2.5; 2 Pet. 1.4-10) and the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Jn.4.12-13; Rom.8.11-13) to avoid and overcome sin especially sexual sin, which affects the environment and brings destruction.
Leviticus 18:1-25 NIV: The LORD said to Moses, (2) “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. (3) You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. (4) You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. (5) Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD. (6) “‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD. (7) “‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her. (8) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father. (9) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere. (10) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you. (11) “‘Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister. (12) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative. (13) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative. (14) “‘Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt. (15) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her. (16) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother. (17) “‘Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness. (18) “‘Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living. (19) “‘Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period. (20) “‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her. (21) ”’Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. (22) “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. (23) “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion. (24) “‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. (25) Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
Sin affects the physical environment and causes the land to ‘vomit’ out the inhabitants that practice sin habitually. This vomiting can be by famine, war, natural disasters etc.
2Samuel 21:1 NIV: During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
So, like the people of Nineveh (Jon. 1.1-2; 3.5,6,10) the men of our generation (like the men of Nineveh who did not know God, but knew sin was wrong by their conscience (Rom. 2.14-15)) should repent of, avoid and overcome all sin especially sexual sin by responding to this prophetic Word of love , rebuke and chastening!
Selah!
