What does the Bible teach about vengeance? "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" – says the LORD.
I think sometimes we hear that as "vengeance is bad!"
But if vengeance belongs to the LORD – then vengeance is not bad! Rather, we are very bad at vengeance!
The story is told of a monk in the Egyptian desert who was furious at how he had been treated. He visited an older monk and explained that he had been wronged and could not rest until he had vengeance. So the older monk said to him, "My brother, let us pray." Raising up his hands, he prayed, "God, we don't need you. We can avenge ourselves." The younger man fell on his face and begged forgiveness, realizing that "vengeance presupposes a godless world." (Harmless, 236)
Our problem is that when we take vengeance we overdo it. And sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes we convict the innocent. And sometimes we let the guilty get away with murder.
When you ask God to take care of vengeance – you may be certain that he will do it properly!
That's why we need Jesus to come with glory to judge both the living and the dead! Certainly we should do justice as far as we can in this life. After all, Psalm 94 condemns wicked rulers for their failure to do justice!!
But Psalm 94 recognizes that only the God of vengeance is able to make right all wrongs!
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