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Glory · God the Father
God's discipline comes from the heart of a Father who loves His child and aims at repentance and restoration; the devil's accusation comes from an enemy who wants to destroy and drive to despair. One says 'turn, turn from your evil ways,' the other says 'you're finished.' The distinguishing mark is what each does with our sin: discipline calls us to confess and return, accusation tries to convince us there is no return. The Father's voice restores; the accuser's voice condemns, and in Christ the accuser is silenced.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-gods-discipline-and-the-devils-accusation · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Zechariah 3:1-7
As you read: Satan stands at Joshua's right hand to accuse him, and the Lord rebukes the accuser and clothes Joshua.
1He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
2Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”
3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.
4He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off of him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”
5I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.” So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and Yahweh’s angel was standing by.
6Yahweh’s angel protested to Joshua, saying,
7“Thus says Yahweh of Armies: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by.
Revelation 12:7-12
As you read: The accuser of the brothers, who accuses them day and night, is cast out and overcome by the Lamb's blood.
7There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war.
8They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven.
9The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
10I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
11They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.
12Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.”
Hebrews 12:1-11
As you read: Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
1Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;
5and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
Psalms 32:1-7
As you read: Unconfessed sin weighs heavy; confession brings forgiveness and a hiding place.
1Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.
5I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.
7You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Revelation names his work: 'the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.' In Zechariah, 'Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary' accuses Joshua the high priest. Jesus calls him 'a murderer from the beginning' and 'a liar, and its father.' His goal is not to make you holy but to make you hopeless: he takes true sins and uses them to convince you that God could never want you.
“I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.”Revelation 12:10
“He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.”Zechariah 3:1
“You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.”John 8:44
“Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.”Zechariah 3:3
God's correction never leaves you without a way back. 'For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives,' and the risen Christ says, 'As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.' The discipline of Psalm 32 is bounded: 'I acknowledged my sin to you... and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.' The Father's word is always, turn and live, because discipline is for restoration, not destruction.
“For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.””Hebrews 12:6
“As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.”Revelation 3:19
“I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”Psalm 32:5
“for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.”Proverbs 3:12
The difference is in the direction of the voice. Godly sorrow 'works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret,' and it moves you toward confession and change; the sorrow of the world 'works death,' and it moves you toward despair and giving up. God's discipline exposes sin to fix it; the accuser exposes sin to trap you in it. One produces brokenness that repents; the other produces shame that hides. The true test is which of the two is driving you.
“For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death.”2 Corinthians 7:10
“When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah.”Psalm 32:3-4
“I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”Psalm 32:5
“He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off of him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.””Zechariah 3:4
Paul closes the door on the accuser with a question: 'Who could bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.' Revelation says the saints 'overcame him because of the Lamb's blood, and because of the word of their testimony.' Whatever the accuser says is answered by the blood of Christ and the One who pleads for us.
“Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”Romans 8:33-34
“They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.”Revelation 12:11
“Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?””Zechariah 3:2
“My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.”1 John 2:1
God's discipline leads you to say, 'I have sinned; forgive me and restore me,' as David did, and it ends in the Father cleansing and re-clothing you, as Joshua was given 'rich clothing.' The accuser's voice leads you to say, 'God could never forgive someone like me,' and it ends in hiding. So respond to the convicting of the Holy Spirit, take your sin to the Father and confess it, and greet the accuser's lies with the word: 'there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.' The Father disciplines to restore; the enemy accuses to destroy; you know a Father's voice from an enemy's.
“Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.”Psalm 51:1
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.”Psalms 51:12
“He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off of him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.””Zechariah 3:4
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”Romans 8:1