Discipline
“The LORD disciplines those that He loves.” Hebrews12:6
When does that discipline occur? Ephesians 2:1 states “Once you were dead in trespasses and sins”. . . So, my question is were we ever alive? The implication is we are truly alive when we study Torah. When we were born, we entered a life that began in the womb where we were protected and kept safe for a little while and then we were birthed into a world where mistakes or sins were prevalent, a world of judgements. That “stage one” world, in the womb, is for very immature beings called babies that are destined eventually to enter a “stage two” world through the birthing process. It is in this stage two world that we move along, living our lives in the maturation process into adulthood. When does that maturation come to a end? It happens at the time of physical death when the body we took on in the womb no longer continues to prosper, but that is still not the end.
The writer of Ephesians indicates, somehow, we died much earlier when we failed to mature mentally by not entering into the next stage of development called the acquisition of Torah, or the acceptance of Yeshua, stage. In this stage two process of maturing, we were subjected to an alien illness brought on by exposure to serpentile dysfunction of the mind called the sin nature. Our minds were attacked and our behavior became so unrestrained that the “insane thinking” became rampant.
Torah knowledge is the only known antidote to the “Serpents’ speak” or twisted thinking. With Torah knowledge, comes a change of heart and a willingness to repent of what are called the “sins of the flesh.” To those that do not come to Torah revelation, one becomes hopelessly entwined in the muck and mire of total depravity. This is the type of reasoning, which is so prevalent in much of the immature thinking in society today and is what Torah calls “heathen rage.” (Psalms 2) So, mature thinking comes only through developing our mind to the point that we move from the reasoning of this world, which is below the cloud to a spiritual awakening, which is an “above the cloud mentality” where we can achieve spiritual maturity.
While we were subject to the insane, worldly type of thinking, we made poor choices which brought about discipline from the LORD. If you do not have Torah wisdom to rely on, you will write off the discipline as simply being “bad things” that happen those who live in this world. In other words, bad karma! But it is not bad karma, but rather, discipline is something designed to wake you up to the fact that you are about to die in your trespasses and sins. If you acknowledge the discipline then you will prosper but the discipline may continue to follow you as a reminder not to fall backward into the pit you were dug from. It is BS (bad stuff) to think our Creator does not ever want us to suffer. That is what discipline is for. Discipline comes from the LORD. Without the pain, from discipline, there is no gain. You would simply ignore the correction and never be changed, Torah states “Do not despise the discipline of the LORD.” (Proverbs3:12) There is plenty of time in the place called “above the cloud” which is also called the “World to Come” to be healed and to live without any further suffering.
But what about all this discussion about death? It must be important, but first we must define death of what. Torah is not all that concerned with the death of the body, but rather, it is more expressly concerned with the death of the soul. (Matthew 10:28) Death comes to take you and there is nothing you can do but to accept it. Our God has given you hope in the resurrection of the dead body but there is no hope for a dead soul that died in trespasses and sin.