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2nd September 2024
MondayReflection
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John Piper says
founder and teacher of desiringGod.com
"Do Not Avenge Yourselves, but Give Place to Wrath"
Romans 12:16-20
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How to Mingle Mercy and Justice
The great challenge for us is to learn how they mingle in human life and history.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,
"Never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, I will take revenge, I will pay back, says the Lord. Instead, as the scripture says: If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them a drink; for by doing this you will make them burn with shame."
.....Romans 12.19-20
Do you see both mercy and justice here?
You who are mistreated do not take justice into your hands.
Do not seek vengeance.
Does that mean there will be no justice?
Does it mean there is no vengeance?
No. Verse 19 says, "Leave it to the wrath of God."
There is vengeance. There is justice. All things will be set right.
Either your adversary will pay his debt in hell.
Or he will repent, and trust Christ, so that his debt was paid on the cross.
All wrongs will be punished.
In God's universe forgiveness does not mean that some crimes receive no punishment.
It means that some crimes are punished in the suffering of a substitute.
"The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).
We will see our worst adversary in heaven, if he repents and believes in Jesus.
Oh, let us not nurse hatred for such adversaries.
But what about those who have wronged us terribly - killed our father and our brothers - and do not repent and believe?
Their sins - their penalty - is not suffered by Jesus.
They have rejected their substitute.
They will have to suffer the wrath of God on themselves.
Jesus absorbed the wrath of God for all who are in him.
But these who have turned away from Jesus will bear their own guilt.
And oh, what a dreadful thing that is!
Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:35: "Vengeance is mine."
God has the sole prerogative of vengeance in the universe.
He is the sole rightful judge, jailor, and executioner.
If anyone else has this responsibility it will be because God - and only because God - has given it to him.
He is God's servant for your good.
But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.
For he is the servant of God, an avenger [there's the word from verse 19, vengeance] who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
In other words, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, and I share it in various ways and measures with certain institutions that I have ordained."
Don't miss how profound this is - that vengeance belongs to God.
It means that woven into the fabric of reality - the fabric of the universe and this world - is God's absolute commitment that justice be done.
This ultimate commitment to bring vengeance on all sin flows from God's very being.
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
(Nahum 1:2)
In Revelation 6:10, the martyrs in heaven -cry out, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will . . . avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
And Revelation 19:2 says, "His judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants."
So it is coming. Oh, how certainly and terribly it is coming.
><(((°>
John Piper
is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy.
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