| The Divine Avenger |
by David A. DePra |
| Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto |
| wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. |
| It is amazing how many scriptures we read wrongly. I don't |
| mean that we read the wrong words, or that the translation is |
| wrong (even though sometimes it is) -- but I mean we read a |
| verse or passage from a wrong point of view. We read it from the |
| perspective of our bias, or from that of our self-will. Or from that |
| of our hurt. We translate it emotionally and end up receiving the |
| words in an entirely wrong spirit. |
| Such is often the case with Romans 12:19. It sure sounds like |
| God is promising us that He will punish our enemies for us. It |
| sounds as if there will come a day of reckoning when people are |
| going to be sorry for all they have done to us. All we have to do is |
| put aside our wrath, and wait for the day when God will pour out |
| His wrath upon the unjust -- especially the unjust who have hurt |
| US. |
| Gladly, however, this scripture isn't saying that at all. It is, in |
| fact, of an entirely other spirit. A quick check of the Greek word |
| which is translated "avenge" tells us this. The words means, "to |
| work that which is right." So God is really saying, "Don't YOU try |
| to set things right. You can't fix sin. Instead, give it into My hands. |
| Vengence, the working of what is right, is MINE. I will see to it that |
| whatever is right comes to pass -- in My time and in My way." |
| Notice the big difference in this interpretation, and the |
| traditional way of reading the verse. Instead of a promise from |
| God that He will PUNISH people for the wrong they have done, He |
| is saying that He will "work what is right" in their lives, and in any |
| situation. This carries the thought of a God who is no respector of |
| persons, and who is not on anyone's side. He simply promises to |
| "work what is right," He promises to JUDGE with perfect justice. |
| The point is this: God WILL work what is right. But not |
| necessarily "right" according to US. He will "work what is right" |
| according to HIM. Our forgiveness of others is simply our |
| acknowledgement that WE are not the judge of that. He is. We |
| must step aside and allow God to decide what is right and just |
| regarding another person. |
That Which is Right |
| If God promises to "work that which is right," it doesn't mean |
| that those upon whom He "works that which is right" are going to |
| LIKE it. In fact, what is right, for them, may be quite unpleasant. |
| Yet because God loves them, He must chastise them. |
| The Bible shows God to be our Father. And it says that He |
| will CHASTISE us. Now the word "chastise" is much different than |
| the word "punish." And we need to see the difference. |
| If we were to go through the Bible and pull out every verse |
| which contains the English word "punish," and then look up the |
| word in the original language, we might be surprised. In almost |
| every case, the words carry the sense of "chastisement" -- never |
| revenge or punitive punishment. The most often used words in |
| both Hebrew and Greek speak of God intervening for the the |
| purpose of BETTERING the one He is "punishing" or "chastising." |
| God is a Redemptive God. He always seeks to restore and help. |
| Thus, we see the difference between "punish" and "chastise." |
| To "punish" means to punitively inflict pain. It means to pay back |
| someone out of the motive of bitterness and revenge. There is no |
| thought at all of bettering the one you are punishing. But "chastise" |
| is much different. It always carries the idea of betterment. It is for |
| the good of the one being chastised. The motive behind it is love. |
| God promises us He will chastise us -- because He loves us. |
| But God NEVER punishes us as defined above. There is never |
| any motive of revenge or of "getting back" at someone with God. |
| ALL that God does is redemptive in nature. All of it is. That's |
| because God is love. |
| The idea of God "chastising" us is, of course, in harmony with |
| His role as our Heavenly Father. Indeed, He tells us this outright in |
| the epistle to the Hebrews. |
| My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint |
| when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he |
| chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye |
| endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what |
| son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without |
| chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and |
| not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which |
| corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much |
| rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they |
| verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he |
| for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no |
| chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: |
| nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of |
| righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. |
| This verse, of course, is speaking of God's dealing with those |
| who are in Christ. But there is also an overall application to the |
| entirety of humankind. God is our Father, and He always works |
| redemptively. He chastises for the purpose of bettering the one |
| whom He is chastising. There is never vindictiveness with God. |
| God is the Avenger. He "works that which is right." In the end, |
| He is going to "work that which is right" -- His will -- in all things. No |
| exceptions. God WILL judge all things -- all of us -- in Jesus Christ. |
The Wrath of God |
| Once we understand God's motives in chastising us, and what |
| God really means when He says, "Vengence is Mine," then the real |
| meaning of the "wrath of God" becomes clear. God's "wrath" is His |
| "working that which is right" upon those who oppose Him. |
| This fits perfectly into God as our Heavenly Father. There are |
| times in the life of every child when they perceive the actions of |
| their parent as "wrath," when it is actually love. How many of us |
| can recall times when we thought our parents were just plain |
| mean to us, only to later discover that they were "working that |
| which is right?" Sure. If I am in rebellion against God, and God |
| comes into my life for the purpose of "working that which is right," |
| I'm going to perceive Him as "mean." I'm going to consider His |
| intention of "bettering me" as "wrath" -- because His intervention |
| will usually result in consequences I don't like. |
| We see this in Romans: |
| For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all |
| ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in |
| unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is |
| manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them....Because |
| that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither |
| were thankful. (Romans 1:18-19) |
| Here we see HOW to view God as wrathful: Be ungodly and |
| unrighteous. Refuse to submit to Him AS God. Then, Paul says, |
| the "wrath of God is revealed from heaven." You will see God as |
| an enemy; as someone who opposes you on every front. |
| This is basic self-will. By definition, the chastisement of God is |
| going to clash with my will. And when it does, to me, God's |
| chastisement will be as "wrath." I'll think of it as "punishment," or |
| as God being "mean" to me. In reality, however, God is "working |
| what is right." He is loving me and trying to bring me back to |
| Himself. |
| The fact is, WE are wrong. WE are rebellious. WE need help. |
| So when God "works what is right" in our lives, and we persist in |
| our wrong, we will perceive God's love as wrath. We will see Him |
| as an enemy. To us, He'll be the a very negative Divine Avenger. |
| There will come a day in eternity, if we will yield to God by faith, |
| when we are going to see that He was perfectly right and just in all |
| that He did and all He allowed. Indeed, we will fall down in utter |
| worship, marvelling at how we doubted Him. God knows exactly |
| what He is doing. He is, right now, "working that which is right" in |
| each one of our lives. He is the Divine Avenger -- FOR us; unto |
| our redemption. |
The Judgment of God for Sin |
| The Bible makes it perfectly clear that God is going to judge |
| humankind for sin. But what does that mean? Does it mean that |
| God is going to "punish" us for sin? Or does God intend to judge us |
| in the sense of "avenging" for sin -- that is -- "working that which is |
| right" regarding sin? And what IS that "right?" |
| As incredible as it may seem, God never punishes for sin. Not |
| in the sense of punitive punishment, revenge, or in rage and anger. |
| But once we say that, we must then explain why redemption is |
| necessary? Afterall, didn't Adam die because God punished him |
| for sin? And didn't Jesus Christ bear that punishment for us? |
| The Truth is, death is not God's "punishment" for sin. Death is |
| the wage sin earns. And there is a big difference between the two. |
| God did not put Adam to death because he sinned. Rather, Adam |
| died as the consequence of his sin. |
| What this means is that sin kills. Not God. But the fact that sin |
| kills, and not God, does not mean that God is divorced from the |
| consequences of sin. It does not mean that God is merely a |
| by-stander to sin, and a by-stander to the death which follows. |
| No. Indeed, sin kills BECAUSE it is against God. Death is the |
| judgment of God which sin carries. It is immediate and automatic. |
| God does not have to come down and put to death the sinner. The |
| wages of sin is death. Every time and all the time. And it's because |
| sin is against God. |
| God created man to be completely dependent upon Him. In |
| God only does man have life. But Adam chose to reject God. He |
| was therefore rejecting his only source of life. It was impossible that |
| anything but death could be the consequence. |
| Now notice something. If death was the result of Adam's sin, then |
| God didn't have to come down and "add" the "punishment" of death. |
| God didn't have to come down and take Adam's life. No. Adam |
| died because he sinned against God. This was judgment. |
| This is easily proven. Imagine if death WAS a punishment which |
| God "added" to Adam. That would mean that sin itself does not |
| result in death. Not until God "adds" it. And if that is the case, then |
| sin isn't all that bad. There is nothing morally deadly in it. God |
| must introduce death to us if we are to die for our sin. |
| This is error. The Truth is, sin results in death because sin is |
| against God. Death IS the judgment, or divine consequence |
| which rejecting God carries. It is, in fact, a judgment built into the |
| very fabric of our being. We were made for God. So if we sin and |
| reject Him, death is the consequence. THAT is judgment. It must |
| be so if God is God. |
Jesus Christ |
| Now we come to Christ. Some teaching suggests that on the |
| Cross Jesus bore our punishment at the hand of God. But this is |
| also error. In Truth, Jesus bore our SIN. And because He bore our |
| sin, He also bore God's judgment for sin: Death. |
| What this means is that our sin, and not God, killed Jesus Christ. |
| It means that because Jesus Christ bore the fullness of sin for us, |
| that He likewise bore the fullness of God's judgment for sin: Death. |
| This satisfied God's justice, and His judgment upon the sinner. |
| But this is a universe apart from the notion that Jesus bore our |
| "punishment." God did not pour out His angry wrath upon Jesus |
| Christ. No. In fact, in Christ, God was AVENGING Himself. He was |
| "working that which is right" for all eternity. |
| Do we realize that in Jesus Christ God cancelled all debts for all |
| eternity? Do we realize that there is no sin, no matter how deep |
| or continuous, that Jesus did not bear? And that's because Jesus |
| bore the fullness of God's judgment of death, that there is no |
| judgment left for us to bear? We can live in newness of life. |
| God is indeed the Divine Avenger. He has "worked that which |
| is right" through His Son. And He continues to "work that which is |
| right" through Jesus in our hearts and lives today. |