The Chastening - Revelation 3:19
THE CHASTENING
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent (Revelation 3:19).
Christ has a special love for His church (believers), but He also loves the unredeemed (unbelievers) (Mark 10:21; John 3:16).
Rebuke and chasten – To rebuke (reprove) means to expose and convict. It is God dealing with sinners (John 3:18-20, 16:8; 1 Corinthians 14:24; Titus 1:9; Jude 15). Chasten (discipline) refers to punishment (Luke 23:16, 22) and speaks of God’s convicting of unbelievers (2 Timothy 2:25; Ezekiel 18:30-32, 33:11).
Be zealous and repent – This is the attitude of mourning over sin and hungering and thirsting for righteousness of which Jesus spoke (Matthew 5:4-6). In repentance, the sinner turns from his sin to serve God (1 Thessalonians 1:9).
Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile sinner in the presence of God, that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God that you are hell-bound – D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
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