God
expects our loving respect and obedience – as any parent would.
The Parable might be something like: A
father disciplines his 3 disobedient children, by confining them to
their room until he gives permission to come out. His warning is also
that if they go elsewhere than their room, the discipline will be
much worse. And if they remain firm where they stand, the discipline
will be far more severe.
The result in this parable is that one
child obediently goes to his room, the second goes to the living room
and plays with some computer toy. The third child is totally defiant
to the father, continuing to do just what (s)he was doing, right
where (s)he was. The father disciplined each, according to their
actions.
The actual events in Bible history, are
found mostly in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah. “their room”
would be comparable to Babylon; “living room” to Egypt, and
“right where they were” to Jerusalem. God sent His nation of
Israel into captivity in Babylon because they had for many years
continued to disobey observing the offerings and commands from God.
So God gave them the “go to your room” opportunity to get back on
the right track. The Jews that obeyed God and 'willingly' went into
captivity would be allowed to have vineyards, cattle and growing
families. And, best of all, they were promised they'd someday be able
to return to their homeland. Jeremiah 23:3-4.
But many of the Jews showed they were
staying on their downhill disobedient course of living. While in
Egypt, the women burned incense to other gods, the men knew it, and
allowed it. But also, they all should have been in Babylon, in
“God's” captivity.
As we daily feed on God's word, we
first see His JUSTICE, in the Garden of Eden and the forbidden tree.
This begins a thread that continues through the Old Testament. God is
just and He expects us to obey Him, because He knows what is best for
us. He also knows obedience often takes time to grow. In this His
LONGSUFFERING toward us is evident all along the way. Almost in a
contradiction in terms, God adds to His JUSTICE and LONGSUFFERING,
His LOVE and FORGIVENESS.
It takes a daily feeding of these
attributes from His word that builds in us a strong spiritual
backbone to mentor others and fight off Satan’s fiery arrows.
Scripture says we should forgive seven times seventy. And seven times
a day if necessary. (Luke 17:4; Matthew 18:22) But God's justice
eventually calls into account that sinful stiffnecked disobedient
life. God's timing has run out. They all (but a small remnant) were
destroyed. Jeremiah 44:26-29. True to His promise – most of those
who went to Egypt were destroyed.
But what about those who were totally
disobedient that never left Jerusalem at all? And do we see much of
the same defiance in our own family members?
The next segment covers a topic that
needs discretion in sharing with younger children.
