Wednesday, 17 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
27 “But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
nor be dismayed, O Israel,
for behold, I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
28 Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the LORD,
for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
to which I have driven you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”
In the midst of a prophesy of what will come upon Egypt, God graciously gives this wonderful promise to His people. He gives them this word of encouragement that they not lose heart. Yes, they are facing difficult times, as their nation is destroyed and the people are sent into exile. And yes, other nations are facing difficult times as well. Egypt that has been spared to this point will be conquered as Israel has already been. The whole world that they knew will be in turmoil.
But there is a huge difference between Israel and Egypt: God claims Israel as His own and promises they will be restored. Israel faces God’s discipline, not God’s punishment. What they suffer is to bring them back to God and restore them, not to destroy them.
The other nations have no such hope.
What do we learn from this?
The Church is the people of God in all ages, and so in the same way as we see that God works to discipline His people Israel in the Old Testament, we can expect that He will also discipline His people the Church today.
The circumstances the Church will face might be quite harsh, and the circumstances for people outside the Church might be just as bad. But we know there is a difference. God will discipline His people, as a father disciplines his child.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
And so we should look to God in our difficulties. Not every problem we face comes to us because of our sin. But as children of God, everything that comes into our lives is an opportunity for us to draw closer to our Father.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Christians are children of God. We have been adopted into God’s family. As we are children of God, Christ is our elder Brother.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
