Bowing Under God's Persevering Rod

11 MAY

Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath toward me. How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation. Daniel 4:1-3

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Luke 15:3-7

Nebuchadnezzar here predicts the magnificence and might of His own monarchy, sending His announcement to all peoples and nations and languages that dwell on the earth. No doubt the king believes He has sufficiently paid the penalty of His former ingratitude and now ascribes glory to the one true God. Yet we also know how often he relapsed into his own superstitions and never really said farewell to them. We also see how often king Nebuchadnezzar had to be chastised before he profited by the rod of the Almighty.

Likewise, we need not be surprised if God often strikes us with His hand, since experience usually proves us to be dull, and even utterly slothful. When God, therefore, wishes to lead us to repentance, He may be compelled to continually repeat His blows, either because we are not moved when He chastises us with His hand, or we seem roused for a time, then return again to our former dullness. He is therefore compelled to redouble His blows.

We see ourselves in this story of Nebuchadnezzar as in a mirror. But the singular benefit is that, after God repeatedly chastised the king, he finally yielded. We do now know whether this confession proceeded from true and genuine repentance. I must leave that undecided. Yet without the slightest doubt, Daniel cited this edict of the king to show that the king was eventually so subdued that he confessed the God of Israel as the only God and bore witness to this among all people under his rule.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION:

We are now learners and should not be angry with God when He perseveres in chastening us to repentance. If He were not so patient and insistent, we all would have wandered far from Him long ago. Is He chastising you today? What lesson can you learn from it?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Inciting God’s Wrath

6 MAY

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 15:6

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Matthew 3:7-12

As often as we are favored with God’s gifts, by which we approach Him and overcome the world, we ought also to remember what we were before God took us up. Acknowledging our original condition will erode all arrogance and prevent us from being ungrateful to God.

But that is not sufficient; we must also recognize that not only has God’s free grace raised us to such a height, but it also sustains us. Thus our continued state of grace is not because of our efforts but depends only on His will. Remembering our origin ought to humble us but also impress on us the sense of our infirmity. From this we learn that we cannot persevere unless God daily, yes, even momentarily, strengthens us and follows us  with His favor.

Finally, if God afflicts or chastises us with His rod, we should know that He chooses this means to beat out of us the foolish confidence by which we deceive ourselves. We thus ought to diligently weigh the meaning of the phrase “the wood of the vine is useless when it is torn up,” especially when dry. For although profane nations perish, yet it is not surprising that God’s judgments will be even more severe toward the reprobate who are members of the church and have been enriched with spiritual gifts, yet who persist in unbelief.

The punishment of such ingratitude will make us an example to others, so that whole world may be astonished at such dreadful signs of God’s anger. The Jews will become such objects of God’s wrath that they will cause hissing and abhorrence in the nations around them. They will be an astonishment and curse to the profane nations.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION:

The judgments that God will exact on those who belong to His church but are not true members are a terrifying prospect! The discipline that He uses to humble our pride is to be welcomed. It may be painful, but it reminds us that we owe everything to God’s grace.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke

Lovingkindness in Punishment

5 MARCH

Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor my suffer faithfulness to fail. Psalm 89:32-33

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Hebrews 12: 3-13

God does not adopt us as His children to encourage us to commit sin with greater boldness. We read here of the chastisement that God uses to show us that He hates sin. In this, He warns us of what we deserve when we offend Him. He also invites and exhorts us to repent of our sins. His fatherly chastisement then, which operates as medicine, holds the line between undue indulgence, which encourages sin, and extreme severity, which pushes people to destruction. 

Whenever God punishes the sins of true believers, He does so with wholesome moderation. It is therefore our duty to take the punishment that He inflicts upon us as medicine for us. For God has nothing else in view than to correct the vices of His children so that, having thoroughly purged them of sin, He may restore them anew to His favor and friendship. According to the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:32, the faithful "are chastened of the Lord, that [they] should not be condemned with the world." Lest they be overwhelmed with the weight of chastisement, God restrains His hand and makes considerate allowance for their infirmity.

Thus God's promise is fulfilled, that my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from [them], even when He is angry with His children. For while God is correcting them for their profit and salvation, He does not cease to love them.

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: Believers will never experience the wrath of God that they deserve. Though they do feel His discipline, such discipline is the act of a loving Father, not an angry Judge. The rod and stripes may be terribly painful, but they are used with love. God's lovingkindness is not taken away from those who believe. How does this comfort you?

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke