Chastisement of God:

What is ‘chastisement’?

Job 5:17-18: Job’s comforter speaks truly by false accusation of Job:
17) “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastisement of the Almighty:

(You may say that a lot of the forms of punishment are also the chastisement of the Almighty God.)

18) “For He maketh sore, and bindeth (bandages) up: He wounded, and his hands make whole (again).

Hosea 6:1: This prophecy is for the Church:
1) “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn (apart), and He will heal us; He hath smitten (us), and He will bind us up (together again).”

And this is one of the ways we shall return unto the Lord, and the conditions which shall prevail upon that recovery of us by the Lord:

Jeremiah 30:11: God dealt with Israel as He deals with us:
11) “ ‘For I am with thee’, saith the Lord, ‘to save (deliver, recover) thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.’.”

Depending on the judgment as to the departure from God, or the ways of God, there will be some consequences, though God will receive us when we return unto Him:

II Chronicles 7:14: This is the pattern of God for our return unto Him:
14) “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways (repent); then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (habitation: specifically, Israel, and the Church of Jesus Christ, for it is the principle of God).”

When Israel was come up from Egypt, it would have been about a six days’ journey across the plains, to the land of promise. So, why did Israel take forty years to get there?

Israel was a nation of complainers, and a disobedient people.
(Deuteronomy 31:26-27)

They complained about Moses being forty days on the mountain (Sinai) at Horeb; they complained about not having any ‘leeks’ to flavor their food. The complained about having only ‘manna’ to eat.

Once, God heard them complain about not having any meat to eat, so God shooed in flock after flock of dove, so that they would have more than they wanted, and more than they could eat. Then the dove died all around their camp; and started to stink, insomuch that they had to move their camp, it stank so badly. That was chastisement.

They didn’t think that they were now a free people, for God had delivered them with a demonstrative and spectacular deliverance, from four hundred years of murderous slavery. And they didn’t take notice that, when they washed their clothes, they were not wearing out, or getting ragged. And they wore the same shoes for forty years.

They didn’t realize that they weren’t being attacked by rival tribes, or vandals, or thieves and robbers. And they forgot that everyone that came out of Egypt was walking on their own; even older ones.

So God led them on a forty year trek through the plains; for that is the approximate duration of one generation. And when they died off in that forty years, the next, the younger, generation would then go into the land which God promised Abraham, which they took from evil and degenerate peoples, who were at the lowest level to which their flesh could fall.

Consider Israel’s commandments from the Lord, that they shall not do after the character and the nature of these people whom God commanded Israel to eliminate from the earth, as both God’s commandments and the iniquities of the nations which God sent Israel to destroy, to eliminate their wickedness, which is also written in the accounts in these scriptures:

Leviticus 18:1-30: The Lord God commands Israel by Moses:
1) “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2) “Speak unto the children if Israel, and say unto them, ‘I am the Lord your God.
3) “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
4) “Ye shall do My judgments, and keep Mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God.
5) “Ye shall therefore keep My statutes, and My judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.
6) “None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.
7) “The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
8) “The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.
9) “The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she is born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
10) “The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.
11) “The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
12) “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.
13) “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.
14) “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.
15) “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
16) “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.
17) “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.
18) “Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.
19) “Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.
20) “Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.
21) “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed (children) pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.
22) “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
23) “Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.
24) “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
25) “And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants.
26) “Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourned among you:
27) “(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
28) “That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
29) “For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
30) “Therefore shall ye keep Mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 20:1-25: God again commands Moses to command Israel:
1) “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2) “Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, ‘Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3) “And I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile My sanctuary, and to profane My holy name.
4) “And if the people of the land do any ways hide their from the man (refuse to witness his wickedness), when hedgiest of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:
5) “Then I will set My face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
6) “And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
7) “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.
8) “And ye shall keep My statues, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you.
9) “For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
10) “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adultress shall surely be put to death.
11) “And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
12) “And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.
13) “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
14) “And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
15) “And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.
16) “And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
17) “And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
18) “And if a man shall be with a woman having her (menstrual)
sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
19) “And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovered his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.
20) “And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall be childless.
21) “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.
22) “Ye shall therefore keep all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them: that the land whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out (as it spued out the inhabitants before you, as I purged the land of the wicked and their wickedness, destroying that people by you, that you may inhabit the land which I give unto you).
23) “And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.
24) “But I have said unto you, ‘Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey’: I am the Lord your God, Which have separated you from (all) other people (Gentiles).
25) “Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean (in your diet), and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shalt not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean (according to the prescribed diet, which God had declared that they should or should not eat: ‘clean’ living things represent God’s people, and ‘unclean’ living things represent Gentiles, that is, all peoples that are not Jews of Israel:
Deuteronomy 14:3-21; Acts 10:9-16)

So God abhors those who are indulging in sexual misbehavior, which He has clearly defined in the above accounts, and it is an obvious principle of God to purge His earth from all wickedness, and those who are evil. In those times, the punishment and the chastisement was immediate, and physical. And all of His ways of punishment and chastisement are not only physical, but spiritual, and eternal, today.

However, God offers each person the opportunity to become His people, even though they may have been deeply involved in those things which were done, as described in Leviticus 18 and 20, as well as in many other passages of scripture in the Bible. And that opportunity is through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation from those past sins, and the impending eternal penalty that awaits all who do not acknowledge their sins, and come to God by Christ Jesus, the Lord, Who is the only begotten Son of the only true and living God, Jehovah.

John 3:16: Jesus gives the pattern of God unto salvation of the soul:
16) “For God so loved (each and every person in) the world, that He gave (for the sacrifice for our sins: Isaiah 53:6) His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ), that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish (as a sinner damned to hell, and then, the everlasting lake of fire: Revelation 20:11-15), but (receive remission, the taking away of, their past sins and) have everlasting life (in the new heaven and the new earth, which God will make for all who believe: His sons; family).”

Has America departed from God? Are not those things above (in the book of Leviticus, chapter 18 and 20) going to be our downfall, and eventual destruction? Is not this nation spiraling downward into sin, as those nations and peoples which God sent Israel to destroy, and to inhabit their land, living as God had commanded Israel to live in His sight? Do we not fear the anger of the Lord any more as a nation? Have we not many ‘gods’? Do not even some worship themselves? And their money? And their education? And their job? And their profession? And their religion, or denial of religion? And the list of gods goes on. For whatever we put in our lives in the place of God, that is our god.

And when some say that God is their god, and do not search the scriptures, until they find His truth, but interpret the letter of the word only, as did the Jews under the law, by their own personal and carnal, natural abilities, determine their own way of ‘serving’ Him, does that not make their organization or denomination their religion, instead of being ‘family’ with other believers in Christ, who are still searching for the truth? Is that not a type of ‘departure’ from the true God?

When Israel ‘departed’ from God, and from God’s ways, did not God send in other ‘heathen’ nations to make war with them, to take their goods, and their flocks, and their cattle, and try to destroy them, or to put them to slavery to the victors over Israel?

Many times. And it went like this, for one example:

Judges 2:7-10: summarized as follows:

After Joshua died, the generation also who had seen all the great works of the Lord, who had served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the elders that outlived Joshua, all died off.

And there arose another generation after them, which knew not (were not adequately informed of the ways of) the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel, specifically, and did not fear the Lord.

Judges 2:11-15: So what happened among those not taught of God?
11) “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served (the god of that area) Baalim:
12) “And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which (God) brought them out of the land of (bondage) Egypt, and followed other gods (idols, things of worship which they could see), of the gods of the people that were round about them (influenced by the gods of this world, things that are worshipped), and bowed themselves unto them (sought good from them by giving themselves wholly to them), and provoked the Lord to anger.
13) “And they forsook the Lord (and His ways, and teachings which may still have been circulated among them to some extent), and served Baal and Ashtaroth (according to the customs of the lands round about them).
14) “And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of the spoilers (robbers and destroyers) that spoiled them, and He sold them (did not preserve them from) into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies (for they did not have the protection of the Lord which they had when the Lord was their God).
15) “Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil (to come upon them), as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them (by the elders, and by Joshua, and by the former generation before them): and they were greatly distressed (or perplexed, or confused, and chastened, and punished).”

Is not that becoming the situation that is similar throughout the world today? Is there not a ‘nation’ (either one, or more) arising, which will do evil against the Jews and the Christians?

Are they a basic threat to the ‘Buddhists’, or the ‘Hindus’, or the ‘hare krsnas’, or the other historical religions (which are not of God)?

No. For Satan is not challenged by ‘religions’, but only those people which God raised up unto Himself were, and are, somewhat, and could be, a threat to the devil and his work, and will be, when we ‘return unto God’ (Hosea 6:1), in these last days, the days of the great harvest of souls, just prior to the taking away of the Church out of the world.

Where have we forsaken the elders, and God, and His ways, that He is ready to chastise us moreso than He has already, by dividing us into multiple hundreds of denominations, so that we are no longer keeping all the commandments of Jesus (Matthew 22:37-40; John 13:34-35; John 14:15-17; John 14:21-24) and by that departure from God in those transgressions, neither do we conform to the pattern of God for the Church that Jesus built:

　
Where did we first go wrong?

Even while the ‘New Testament’ was being written, there were many who had already begun to divide, and separate into smaller groups (denominations), as Paul acknowledged in his first Corinthian letter.

Copy all of my writings, and make yourself a book of sorts, using them as a study guide to truth, as you further submit yourself to the Lord in the steps to the truth, as I have outlined them in these unedited pages I am writing.

I write the truth, and will not contend with any, nor will I debate what I write, because the principles and the doctrines which I write are truth the first time I write them, and will be further refined to declare them in greater detail than they are in current format.

I do not condemn others who do not believe these truths. I do not judge; I merely declare and support fact without fiction.

God loves you, and I love you, too, as nearly as I can to the same way that God loves you: and that’s very close to the same measure.

I want you to live in the same new heaven and new earth in which I shall live, with God my Father, and with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for ever, without end.

This life is but a vapor, which appeared for a little time, and then vanishes away. But if you believe in Jesus, you have a real destiny.

If you don’t believe in Jesus, then you have an everlasting fate:
Revelation 20:11-15.

And I tell you that, in hope that you, too will believe in Christ, and be saved from that fate, to live for ever in the destiny, of which I list a scripture that will describe it: Revelation 21:1-7.
www.foreversettledintheheavens.blogspot.com

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