No Right To Vengeance

Revenge

She [Eleanor Roosevelt] got even in a way that was almost cruel. She forgave them.

Ralph McGill

Deut 32:34-36
'Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries? 'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.' "For the LORD will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, NASU

In the OT we find our first hint as to whom vengeance belongs, and if that isn’t enough we find again in Heb 10:30 and also in Rom 12:19, a reminder as to who holds the authority and right of vengeance, and it is not us. In Ps 50:12 we are put on notice by the most important fact when God says, “For the world is Mine, and all it contains.”

Now that is an important fact to remember when we are dealing with those around us. We must remember that we are not their judge, we did not create them, and we do not own them. If we can remember this, then we will let their true owner deal with them as “He” wishes, and save ourselves from judgment and pain. For us to act on our own authority against the children of God is to take ownership over someone over whom we do not have a deed to, only Christ.

God’s Word tells us that we are not our own, but we were bought with a price, who paid that price? Jesus, and we all belong to Him and the way that He deals with us all is with Grace, and with mercy. God knew what we were and how we got in trouble and removed us as a problem in our redemption. But, we have a habit of trying to do things for Him, or to act on His behalf thinking we have a better plan, and it is what got us into this fix that we are in now.

Juvenal, a Roman Poet (AD.55-AD.130, said this of revenge, “Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.” This is true, and it is as many have said before us, when planning revenge, dig two graves, one for your enemy and one for yourself. Scripture backs this up some ways, for God says for us to forgive, is to be forgiven and if we choose judgment, we choose also wrath for ourselves.

It’s time for Christians to be known as a people of peace again, peacemakers and a people who trust fully in the Judgment and authority of their God… He is in control, and if we will leave Him room to work, as He says in Romans 12, things would workout so much better for our world, and ourselves…God Bless.

Pastor William