THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD AND ITS RESULTS
[p. 241] THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD AND ITS RESULTS
Hebrews 12: 5 - 11; Job 42: 10 - 17
I have in mind to speak, as you will readily perceive from the scriptures read, of the discipline of God and its results. God always works with results in view and He never gives up until these results are attained. This is particularly so in regard to His discipline, and inasmuch as we are all partakers of it, the subject, although familiar, should be of great interest, especially if we are in the light of the family of God, for discipline has in view that we should know how to take our place in that family. God would have each of us to know not only the relationship in which he is set, but how to correspond with it in the way of holiness and affection.
I read these two passages because they are clearly linked together in the most intimate way as dealing with the same subject, and I would remark as regards the book of Job that it stands out as an independent witness. We have been speaking this afternoon of the Lord moving out into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon; He had previously sent out His apostles, and had listened to the reports of their labours, and then invited them into the desert to rest awhile, but He by Himself and of Himself — as far as the record goes — rose up and went away thence into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, that is, He reserved the right of His sovereignty in His labours. He was not limited to those whom He had chosen and whom He had ordained, and whom indeed He had found effective in their service. He would place Himself within the range of the Gentiles. And so, too, in taking up Abraham of old, God shows in other and independent witnesses that He was then acting in sovereignty. Abraham had been called out and the God of glory [p. 242] had appeared to him, and God would not withdraw His hand until that glory should find its full answer and full expression in the seed of Abraham; nevertheless God was not limited to Abraham. He had in those days not only a righteous man in Abraham but a king of righteousness. God is never at a loss, beloved, in regard of a testimony to His operations. He had a king of righteousness and a king of peace in Melchisedec. In that man He had the elements for the establishment of a world suited to Himself, not in weakness but in power, for a king suggests power. And so correspondingly God had His Job. We do not know who Melchisedec was, but we know whom he represented, thank God! and what a witness, too; what a conservation of the rights of God As men in lawlessness pulled away from God, and eliminated Him from their knowledge, a king of righteousness would maintain the rights of God, as the Possessor of heaven and earth. God is about to give a bit of the earth to Abraham, and indeed promised it to him, but here was a man who being a king of righteousness was king of peace, the priest of the most high God, the Possessor of heaven and earth. He would conserve the rights of God in regard of the heaven and the earth, and, dear brethren, we must never forget that God not only asserts His rights as Owner, but also as Possessor; there are those who own things and they do not possess them. In Melchisedec’s day God owned the heavens and the earth, but He also possessed them, whatever men might do, and He will not limit the sphere of His operations. If He is pleased to select Canaan, and Abraham and the promised seed, He reserves His rights as the Possessor of heaven and earth. He has got in the heavens His throne and the earth is His footstool, and He is not going to give up either. No one nation can be His footstool, the earth is His footstool, and if He is operating now in the light of [p. 243] Christ in heaven — the Son of man who is in heaven — He is operating in all the earth, and in the light of heaven, so we must not for a moment limit God, for He is sovereign. In Abraham’s day He had Melchisedec and His Job, and we must ever remember and make room for such witnesses.
Now if Melchisedec represents God’s rights, Job represents the patience of God in His love, working in discipline, so that Job should be blessed in his latter end; and that is a principle of God’s dealings with every one of us, and what is so remarkable is that while Melchisedec is in an official position, Job is seen in connection with the family of God. The family is a primary thought with God, and we see how it comes into evidence in this remarkable book — Job — just as it does in the passage in Hebrews. We read that there was a day in which the sons of God came to appear before Him. We may speculate as to their identity, but let us just leave the word in its own dignity as it stands. God had His sons, God has His sons, and God will have His sons for ever. He reminds Job of them in speaking to him; almost the first word that is addressed to Job is in regard of the foundations of the earth, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy — mark, all of them. Thus God intimates at once to His child with whom He was dealing and whom He is about to bring into this great dignity in principle, that all His sons were sympathetic with Him at the beginning. It was as if He said to Job, You are not in sympathy. It may be there are many like that here, they are not in sympathy. God is a Father and a father yearns for sons and for sons’ affections. We read of Him naming every family in the heavens and in the earth. What a domain, what circles of affection there will be! all in their measure answering to God. He has accorded that place to us and addresses us in the light of sonship. “Ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”. “Ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons”. God addresses us right at the top, so to speak. Sonship is a matter of light, it is the mind of God for us, but the enjoyment of it, beloved, can only be by the Spirit in holiness, intelligence and affection.
Hence, while addressing us in the full height of our dignity, He would have us to accept that the realisation of that depends on chastisement. “If ye endure for chastening, God conducts himself towards you as towards sons; for who is the son that the father chastens not? But if ye are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons”. And so God reminds Job that at the beginning of His operations, all the sons were in sympathy. Not only were they in sympathy secretly, but they shouted, they “shouted for joy”, He says. What a remarkable witness that is to the wonderful sympathy of the sons of God in what He was about to do, and so He would bring us now into sympathy as sons with the great work He is carrying on in this world.
Now, I need not go into details, but I want to show you the results as briefly as possible, how that God turned the [p. 245] captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. It is an important thing to have friends, but we are in danger if we have only three. Job had three according to their own profession. They came each from his own place by appointment, to condole with Job and to comfort him, but they had no power to condole and no power to comfort. Ability to criticise and to impute motives, to say right things in a wrong way and with a wrong application, they had in abundance. Such may our professed friends be: but we see how God Himself took up the work which the friends were incapable of accomplishing; and the Spirit of God tells us that God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. One thanks God for the fact that Christians are friends; we should regard each other, beloved, in that light; it is a poor thing if we cannot befriend each other, but then there are those in that position who, alas! are unable to do the part of friends; as I said, they can criticise and speak eloquently and at length, and say right things with a wrong application, but this is sure to induce resentment, and it tests us as to how we can regard them when they prove otherwise than we expected. No one can comfort us, no one can mourn rightly with us save one who knows the compassions of God. The compassions of God found expression in Christ in His death, and as one who desired to comfort the saints tells us, he had been brought down to death itself, despairing even of life (2 Corinthians 1), but he trusted in God, who raises the dead, and the comfort accruing from God Himself in “so great a death”, as he calls it, enabled him to comfort others. He was truly a friend of the Corinthians, although he said, “The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved”. They had a friend in him who was closer than a brother; and so, as I said, Job’s misplaced confidence in his friends arouses resentment, and we see the results of it. But later Job prays for them, and that is a great moral victory, that is worth knowing. All of us are in the school of God, the school of His discipline, and we cannot get on together unless we learn to overcome evil with good. It is the knowledge of God and of His compassions, as seen in Christ, that enables us to overcome evil with good. Job is true to this, for it says he prayed for his three friends, and God took note of that. There may be those who have betrayed my confidence and who instead of yielding love have yielded hatred and criticism. How do I regard them? Job prayed for his three friends. What a word that is! I do not know of any greater service that any [p. 246] of us can render to the saints than to pray for them, especially if there has been criticism or imputation of motives which arouse resentment. If you pray for a brother, you may rest assured that you will gain power with him. God will give you power with him if you pray for him; if you have power with God you will have power with your brother. So God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his three friends.
Now leading on from that I want to show how Job being restored was brought into fellowship, as we speak. It says that the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before; he is not coming back in poverty; as his captivity is turned he is enriched, he has got substance. In Proverbs wisdom says, “I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance”. A truly restored person is enriched divinely and he shows it. He is not demanding of others now, he is not complaining, he has got enough and to spare, he has twice as much as he had before. Thus we read, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house ... every one also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold”, or as it is more properly rendered, “a golden ring”, Job 42: 10, 11. Think of that, dear brethren. There can be nothing lost; the way of love ensures that, and if there be any one here who is in this case, in any special way, I would urge you to be patient and look out for your brethren; they are going to come; you will be tested, for they have been with God about you, but they are going to come to you. Job had already shown that he was learning the great lesson [p. 247] of overcoming evil with good in that he was able to pray for his three friends, but now his brethren, his sisters, and his acquaintances are coming, how is he to receive them? What a test that is, a test as to our dignity — for the reception of our brethren to our houses is a test as to what we have gained and where we shall be found as the result of this wonderful service of love — the discipline of God.
And then each one of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The word ‘earring’ is more correctly read a gold ring. He has now to learn how to receive. God had already enriched him with double what he had lost. I have now to receive a little from each of my brothers and sisters and my acquaintances, for they are all rich. The family of God are all rich and each one would extend a token of his regard for the other — a piece of money; it is not a question of the great value of it literally, but if my brother, or sister, or my acquaintance, has given it to me, I look at it in the light of the giver. God, beloved, would have us in the region of gift; if we live in the region of gift we become givers, and giving induces affection and respect. It is not giving to meet need here, but an expression of respect and regard, and affection. Every one of them gave something; they were working with God for the reinstatement of this man, that he should be without a jar in all his new surroundings, perfectly free and perfectly happy; he thus would know what every one of them felt in regard of him. Each of them gave him something; and then it says, every one gave him a golden ring. Beloved, I want you to note that. I never thought of it until today — a gold ring given to me as a restored man, by every brother and every sister and every acquaintance — what a token! It is as if each said, “I love you” — it is an eternal bond. We read in the epistle to Hebrews of the everlasting covenant. As I understand what that [p. 248] means it is the everlasting possession of the love of God; it is an everlasting love. Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep has come out of death in the power of the blood of the everlasting covenant. What a bond that is for our souls! Every one who is in the knowledge of that bond can give a gold ring, and I would inquire of those of us who, in a special way, may be in this case, as to whether that is true of us? whether the brethren have given us the rings? If we get the rings from the brethren, we are linked up with them for ever. I think of Job looking at those rings as he had them, how he would treasure them. We are not told how many he got, but he got one from each of them. We know how the father in Luke 15 directed that the ring should be put on the prodigal, but here the rings are given by those who now would truly condole with and comfort Job, for they give him the token and evidence of the love that lay behind it. Where do we learn that love? In the death of Christ. Only there could we learn it. “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”. If I show that I can lay down my life for the brethren I have given a ring to every one of them. It is an everlasting love. Love is stronger than death, it survives death. The bond that we know as in the school of God’s discipline is an eternal bond, and a personal bond. We would not have it otherwise — so that Colossians speaks of being quickened together — quickened together with Christ, and Ephesians speaks of being raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ. Love would have that.