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Mal 3:6-18  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me – Part 2

[Study Aired January 11, 2024]

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 
Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? 
Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 
Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 
Mal 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 
Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Mal 3:13  Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
Mal 3:14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Last week we were talking about how John the baptist was the messenger of God in Malachi 3:1 who understood there was a change coming, and was used by God to point to that change, a change described in this manner: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:21, Luk 16:16, Joh 1:17). The elect, unlike John, have God’s spirit within them (Rom 8:9), and as a result are able to  prepare the way of the Lord before Christ’s second coming by becoming mature sons, as John was witnessing to in a type and shadow manner (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 1:12). The natural life of John which was dedicated to God’s service, led to his being beheaded, which also represents how we must lose our first Adamic mind in order to take on the mind of Christ, makes it possible for us to be prepared for the return of the bridegroom (Rev 19:7). John’s natural relationship with Jesus on the earth was the physical relationship that preceded the spiritual one that would begin with the body of Christ on Pentecost (1Co 15:46). In both relationships Christ reveals the encouragement and strength He will always bring us through our sojourn as His servants (Mat 28:20, Luk 7:22-23, Luk 13:32, 1Co 10:13). 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; [John and Christ] and afterward that which is spiritual [Body of Christ being prepared, Christ returning in power and might].

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The glorious event of seeing our Lord and King come back in power and in might will be fulfilled at the first resurrection in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye (Rev 19:7, Rev 1:6-8, 1Co 15:52). Until that time we are to “Occupy till I come” (Luk 19:13, 1Pe 1:13) by doing what John did, the difference being that John’s preaching “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” in the wilderness is a type as well of the fiery baptism of God’s word into which we are baptized as we die daily and are baptized into Christ’s death (Rom 6:3). Neither the baptism John was administering in the flesh nor only knowing Christ in the flesh, can save us. However, when we are baptized into His death by a relationship that is made possible with the holy spirit within (Joh 16:7), then we are able to be raised in heavenly places and know the Father and the son in the spirit, which is what eternal life is (Mar 1:4, Col 1:28-29, Mat 24:14, Joh 17:3).

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

We are experiencing this relationship today in earnest, in downpayment form, as we are washed by the blood of the lamb, so those wedding garments can remain in a state that is acceptable to God through Christ being without spot (Mat 26:29, Mat 22:11-12, Rev 19:8, Eph 5:27, 1Ti 6:14, Heb 9:14, 1Pe 1:19, 2Pe 3:14).

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

1Ti 6:14  That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Heb 9:14   How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

1Pe 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19   But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, 

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The blessings that become ours are a result of being refined by God in this age through fiery judgment that removes all those spots (1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17). “For our God is a consuming fire“, and the fruit of His workmanship produced through that judgment is the main theme of what we’ll be looking at in this last section of Malachi chapter 3 (Mal 3:6-18).

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Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29), and it is for that reason that “ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” What God consumes or destroys are those things with which we naturally defile the temple (1Co 3:17-19). The way He accomplishes this is by grace through faith, which is a gift of God (Eph 2:8), that will save us if we are given that honor to endure that judgment today and be made ready as the bride of Christ (Tit 2:11-12, Heb 12:6, Rev 19:6). 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

We are not consumed, “For I am the LORD, I change not“, meaning with God there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas 1:17-18). “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num 23:19, Rom 3:4, Heb 6:18-19) So all His promises are true including the promise that all men will be saved by putting off this corrupt flesh which cannot inherit the kingdom of God, each man in his own order (1Co 15:22, Luk 12:5). The corrupt flesh is connected to a corrupt heart that is either judged in this life or in the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:15).

Mal 3:7  Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, WhereinH4100  shall we return? 

In Genesis 12:18 we see the same Hebrew word ‘wherein‘^H4100 used as the word “what” and “why”. God is showing us that He does not change and what He has always desired is obedience, but He was always aware mankind would not naturally obey unless dragged to him, “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them.”

Gen 12:18  And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What^H4100 is this that thou hast done unto me? why^H4100 didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

The desire of God has always been for all the world to “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts“, but the reality is that our fleshly carnal hearts, without a miraculous gift of being spiritually healed, cannot return to God and keep his “ordinances.” So we reply unto God, “But ye said, Wherein shall we return?” Return to what? Why? What value is there in serving the Lord?  We say all this at first if we are not being dragged to Christ and continuing on in the truth to become disciples indeed who are granted to overcome and witness Christ make war against the beast within that we otherwise could not (Isa 4:1, Mat 7:1, Luk 6:46, Joh 8:31-32, Rev 13:4).

Paul says this about his own life in Acts 20:24 regarding how we ought to think about our own day to day dealings with the world (Luk 6:38), knowing that through Christ we can be preferring others before ourselves (Php 2:4, 1Ti 5:21, Rom 12:10) that we “might finish my course with joy” by losing our life for His sake, presenting it a living sacrifice wherever we are led of the Lord (Mat 10:39, Rom 8:14-16). This all ties in with the verses we are looking at tonight which tell us to bring “all the tithe” into the temple (Mal 3:10), all our lives committed to our Father as unto a faithful Creator (1Pe 4:18-19).

Act 20:24  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

The disciples all had the same question about being a living sacrifice, and questioned the Lord himself about all that they had given up to follow Him (Mat 19:27-29). They matured into a conviction of seeing there is nothing to hold onto in this life (Php 1:23-24), and that with the mind of Christ we ought to be doing only one thing with the earnest of our inheritance within (Php 3:13-15, Rom 12:1-2).

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

Mal 3:8  Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 
Mal 3:9  Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 

“This whole nation” is cursed, meaning our whole land is cursed, which land represents our cursed flesh in the earth going the way that seems right to us but leading to death (Pro 14:12) because of our thoughts and actions that are not yet in accord with the will of God at this point (1Jn 2:15-17). 

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

It is only when we are blessed to have our old man cursed, by hanging on a tree, which symbolizes our dying daily process (Deu 21:23, Gal 3:13), that we are then able to mortify the deeds of the flesh as we live by the faith of Christ (Gal 2:20). What begins as a curse when we see our wretchedness in these bodies of death leads to life, as we’re given victory over the giants of our land through Christ, little and by little (Deu 7:22), taking away that curse in the land so we no longer rob or defraud God of our lives that belong to Him (Isa 43:1).

Isa 43:1  But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

We first rob ourselves of the blessing He has now given to us to see, “the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (of verse 10) (Gen 13:15, Mat 19:28-29).

Gen 13:15  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

The carnal mind also asks the same question as in verse 7: “wherein‘^H4100 have we robbed thee?” We do not see our blindness which is the curse Christ has pronounced upon all the world and will remain until the eyes of humanity are opened by Christ, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation” (2Co 4:4). It is when our eyes are open that we can then confess our blindness that naturally questions God’s motives with questions like, “Wherein^H4100 have we robbed thee?” and “Wherein^H4100 shall we return?” of  verses 8 and 9 (Joh 9:39). All the world has been blinded by Satan (2Co 4:4), and it is all to the glory of God, “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him”  (Joh 9:2-3, Rom 9:20).

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

Mal 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

The key point to be realized in this verse is the word “all“. God does not play second fiddle to our flesh that is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9), so how are we actually going to bring “all” our life, represented by the ‘tenth’, the “tithe”, “into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house?” There’s only one way, and that way is through Christ (Rom 7:24-25).

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

God knows our hearts perfectly and makes His strength perfect through the weakness of our flesh so that we do seek Him with all our hearts and consequently find Him (Jer 29:13, Heb 11:6,  Php 2:12-13). He knows our doubting hearts can’t imagine how we can make war against the beasts that we are (Rev 13:4) and yet challenges us over and over as His children: “and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.“

The reality is that everything is of God, our blindness which He causes, our bringing our life as a living sacrifice into the storehouse, our doubting of what He can do through us, and then ultimately the victory He brings us when we are brought to our wits’ end and dragged to our safe haven in Jesus Christ. That is when He “pour[s] you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” and that blessing that is poured out is the life of Christ within each of us being shared, being poured out for each other as a joint that supplies in love (Psa 107:27-31, Eph 4:16).

Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. 
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Mal 3:11  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:12  And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

The “delightsome land” represents our bodies that are the Lord’s (Rom 12:1), and He will fight our battles for us. “For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2Ch 20:15), and we will be victorious, “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” That victory is all predicated on whether we bring “all the tithe” into the storehouse which represents the throne of God, where the body of Christ resides (Heb 10:25). No man can come to Christ unless the Father drags us to him, so “what can we say to these things?” If God is for us, who can be against us (Joh 6:44, Rom 8:31-39)? Clearly there is no room for boasting in the life of a Christian who is living by the faith of Christ and being dragged to Him to accomplish predestined works of our Father (Luk 17:10).

“Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time^H7921 in the field, saith the LORD of hosts” is another way of saying that with Christ in us as our hope of glory, our spiritual fruit will come to maturity, and we will provide spiritual meat in due season as this is what God has ordained from the foundation of the world will happen within the body of Christ (Eph 2:10). 

H7921 shâkôl  shaw-kole’   A primitive root; properly to miscarry, that is, suffer abortion; by analogy to bereave (literally or figuratively): – bereave (of children), barren, cast calf (fruit, young), be (make) childless, deprive, destroy, X expect, lose children, miscarry, rob of children, spoil.  Total KJV occurrences: 23

Isa 66:9  [In the same way,] I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born.” (ERV)

It is not just in the body of Christ in this age that God is working, but also the work that God will continue to do throughout the thousand-year reign of the saints, which is a symbolic number identifying that the elect will be judging all the world and preaching to all nations at an ordained time “in the field” which field represents the world (Mat 13:38). The inward application of this verse is revealed in how God’s church is blessed today to receive the word and be washed with that word in our heavens so we can overcome all the sin of the world that is within us, and that field belongs to the Husbandman who has an “early and latter rain” representing all of humanity, each man in his own order (1Jn 2:16-17, Jas 5:7).

We are always a “blessed” and “delightsome land” when we can fulfill the will of our Father, and that is what God is going to be accomplish in all men in time, bringing all the land into subjection, which is the ultimate goal of our great Father in heaven who is likened to a patient husbandman (1Co 15:28, Eph 1:23, 1Co 12:6, Jas 5:7-8). 

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 
Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Mal 3:13  Your words have been stout^H2388 against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 
Mal 3:14  Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
Mal 3:15  And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. 

These three verses do not demonstrate the converted mind that becomes as a child of Matthew 18:3 but rather a  stout^H2388 (self-willed stubborn, obstinate, hardened) heart that replies back to the Creator, “What have we spoken so much against thee?” This self-willed child says, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?” Not seeing the value in all God’s words is a curse, and not seeing the need to die daily and to walk “mournfully before the LORD of hosts” is also a curse (Ecc 7:2-4), and produces the fruits of that cursed ground, as mentioned in these terms, “now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.” This is the spiritual condition of the world we live in today, and David contemplated this supposed stability in the earth (that we all were in our appointed time), and He concluded, as we can through Christ, that they were all, the “now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” on slippery ground. David says it is better to be in the house of mourning being judged by the Lord than to align oneself with those who were prospering in the earth (Psa 84:10-12, Psa 37:1-11)

Psa 84:10  For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 
Psa 84:11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 
Psa 84:12  O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

Psa 37:10  For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be [Mal 3:18].
Psa 37:11  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace [Mal 3:12].

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

The way to deal with the wickedness of this world and the iniquity that is abounding more and more in this time as evil men wax worse and worse at the end of the age is to not forsake the assembling of ourselves (Heb 10:25) which commandment is being related to us in these words, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” When we fear the LORD and think upon His name, we are blessed and given peace that passes all understanding (Php 4:7). Thinking on things pure, honest and just (Php 4:8) is also what brings us peace. It is in the confines of this healthy relationship of thinking that “a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” Christ is the author and finisher of that book representing those who have kept the commandments of God and are ready now to judge the rest of the books of humanity in the great white throne judgment (Rev 20:12).

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Php 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Php 4:9  Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

It is our Father in heaven who tells us that we are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) in this manner, “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” He has shown great mercy to us and given us great riches and honor to be judged first in this life, to be spared from the plagues to come upon all the world (having gone through them already), and as such we are called God’s spiritual jewels, being formed through fiery trials, sore pressed on every side at times, just as physical jewels are formed over time with great heat and pressure in the earth (Rev 15:8, Rev 18:4, Rom 8:18, Heb 11:25-26).

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

It is when we are judged and go through much tribulation in this life (Rev 3:18) that we begin to “discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Heb 5:14).

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Our being dragged to Christ is for the express purpose of purifying us (Heb 12:6) so we can become discerning sons and daughters of God being spared, “and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (1Jn 3:1-2).

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. “and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him“.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.