Deuteronomy 21

"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

(Deu 21:18-21)

This passage here is pretty hardcore. The rebellious child was to be stoned, YIKES!!! Look at the progression in the life of this “rebellious and stubborn” child.

1. He won’t obey the voice of his father and mother – The Bible tells us over and over that the wise man will take head to the warnings and corrections he is given, but a fool won’t even listen after a beating. The difference between the WISEMAN and the FOOL is there attitude towards God. The wise man has a reverential fear and respect for the LORD, the fool lives like God doesn’t exist. If you are wise, understand that disobeying your parents is = to disobeying God. The Lord’s will for your life is that you would listen to what your parents say, and do it without complaining and grumbling.

2. Even when they have chastened him, he won’t change – This word chastened means to “discipline or punish with the purpose of instructing”. These parents were taking active steps to show their children the consequences of rebelling against them and God. They were disciplining them, a way of allowing them to reap what they had sown, and teaching them how to avoid that discipline in the future. Part of the indictment against this child was that he was STUBBORN. He refused to change, to alter his course… this resulted in bringing God’s judgement upon him.

The Lord wants us to stay in a place where we are teachable, He doesn’t want us to follow this path to destruction. If we listen to Him, and to those in authority in our lives, we can avoid CHASTENING altogether. The Lord wants to instruct us with His voice, He only uses other means when we won’t listen. If we continue to rebel against God and authority, it will eventually end in our death. We need to take the Lord’s correction in our lives seriously, (that includes when it comes through your parents) He is only trying to make us into the people we were created to be.