Gloria Copeland — Perfection Equals Patience
James 1:4 tells us that, if we will let
patience have her perfect work, we will be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing. A patient
man is a stable man. He is a constant man. He
is a single-minded man. He doesn’t have to ask
himself, Who is my enemy? Is God my problem or
is Satan? Is there a shady area between the two?
This poses another question many
Christians are asking today. Does God use Satan
to discipline His family? What is the chastisement
of the Lord? Does it mean the same in the
New Testament as it does in the Old?
To answer these questions, you must know
how to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
Where do you rightly divide the Word? At the
cross and resurrection of Jesus. One side is a
promise—the other side is a fact.
Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of Jesus, the
Messiah. Isaiah is prophesying here and is
speaking of the things that are to be laid on
Jesus. Notice verse 5:
But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with
his stripes we are healed.
The English dictionary defines chastisement
as “punishment by inflicting pain.” Jesus bore
our sins so that we don’t have to bear them. He
bore our sicknesses so that we don’t have to
bear them. He bore our punishing chastisement
so that we don’t have to bear it. Praise God!
