Devotional Guide
For the week of October 24, 2004
SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT
When vengeance is right
To Read: Song of Solomon 1-3
To Know:
"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God;
for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'" (Rm
12:19)
Can Christians defend God against the charge that by substituting
Christ for sinners he manifests an "evil thirst for revenge?" That charge
was leveled against a statement in a recent devotional guide. The responder
said that the God of the Bible, by being thirsty for revenge, is demonic.
A Bible dictionary points the reader looking up revenge to the word
vengeance. God is the "God of vengeance." The Lord says, "Vengeance is mine,
and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of
their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly." (Deut. 32:35) On
whom does God take vengeance? Moses continues, "Praise his people, O you
nations; for he avenges the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on
his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his people." (32:43)
God's vengeance is actually justice. The Lord spoke against Babylon by the
mouth of Jeremiah the prophet. He said, "Raise a shout against her round
about, she has surrendered; her bulwarks have fallen, her walls are thrown
down. For this is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance on her, do to
her as she has done." (50:15)
"Vengeance, when it is the Lord's doing, is the defense of justice.
God's vengeance asserts the moral order of the world, vindication, truth,
right and goodness against all that is corrupt, false and evil." 1 The
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology says that vengeance is actually justice.
"For this divine justice, because in time words change their nuances,
vengeance is probably no longer the appropriate term." 2 At the end of time
God will vindicate his truth and he will justify those who have trusted him
with their eternity.
1 Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, pp. 1137,1138
2 ibid. 1138
10274$-10274
.
|
