Vengeance is God's

What is love without anger?

Suffering both public and secret plagues our world every single day. For every triumph, there seem to be two tragedies. For every happy ending there is another injustice. The cheaters, liars, abusers, and thieves seem to get ahead, and where is God to make it right? As Eugene Peterson paraphrased Psalm 94:3 in The Message, "God, the wicked get away with murder - how long will you let this go on?"

The common perception of God's love is that it is toothless. He'll swaddle and comfort us, but because Jesus is gentle and humble, he doesn't actually have the capacity to get angry. To punish people. To rough them up like they deserve, like they've done to others. It must be, we think, within his nature to let things go and to not get his shirt dirty. And, because of that, we have to advocate for ourselves for justice to be served to our offenders.

In his recent song "Jesus Loves You", country singer Cody Johnson sings about a home invasion that ended with the burglar being apprehended and jailed. The chorus begins with a surprisingly sound presentation of the gospel:

Jesus loves you, He'll forgive you for your sins. And He'll be there waitin' for you when your time on this earth ends. Yeah, Jesus loves you. Lordy, all it takes is faith...

And it ends like this:

And if you come near me and mine again, you're gonna meet Him face to face.

Jesus' job, according to the song, is to "love" - to forgive, wait, and stand away from the suffering and injustice that has taken place. In other words, you're better off looking out for yourself, because God won't. Jesus only advocates for the offender and not the offended.

One verse says it this way:

Our house is on the market 'cause my little girls can't sleep. My friends all said they'd have shot you dead if they woulda been me. They all call you lucky, ha, but I don't believe in luck. The good Lord was lookin' out for you 'cause my gun was in my truck.

We don't like to talk about them much, but the Bible is littered with imprecatory Psalms, or Psalms that pray for or wish harm on the Psalmist's enemies. (Psalm 69, Psalm 109, etc.) As believers in Jesus, we have a hard time reconciling these Psalms with the rest of Scripture. How can we be Christlike and also want justice?

In short? Because of the cross.

The world today knows Jesus as a talented teacher and an extraordinarily good person. Like Buddha or Mohammad, he had a vision for a better world and was unique in his presentation, but he was just a man. We know that this could not be further from the truth because of the cross. It was not just the means by which he died, it was the means by which he paid for your sin.

People have wanted to take the lyric "and on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied" out of the Getty classic "In Christ Alone" because they presume God's love contradicts his wrath. But the truth is the opposite. Just as you would do anything to save your family from a burglar, God did everything to save you. He took out his full wrath, his full vengeance, his full anger, his full strength, his full retribution against your sin and wrongdoing on Jesus on the cross. The sin that separated you from God was paid for by Jesus on the cross.

But, you may ask, does that actually change anything? Jesus helped God take care of some heavenly paperwork, but he still doesn't seem to be present in your daily suffering. People still disregard God, take advantage of people, and get away with it.

Romans 12:17-19 gives us the answer: "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord."

If you are in Christ, you have the full backing of God's wrath and justice behind you because you fully have Jesus, who paid for your sin and resurrected from the dead, advocating for you and living in you. Those who are against God may get away with it for now, but there is a day coming where Jesus will make his grand return. For you, if you are in Christ, that will mean that you will conquer.

When Jesus returns, he won't put up with "no" as an answer anymore. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. That means every person who abuses children or scams the elderly. Every person who verbally abuses their spouse. Every person who laughs at God. Every person who wrongs another or lies. Every person who sins and does not claim the blood of Jesus as their payment. Why? For the sake of those sinned against and, ultimately, for the sake of God's complete holiness and glory.

God's anger is a different kind of anger than human anger. It is a complete, Godly anger. A complete, Godly wrath. He is wrathful for your good and his glory. If you, inpatient with God, take out justice as you perceive it on someone who has sinned against you, it will always be incomplete. Why? Because it will not have love. It will be selfish and godless and unfulfilling and incomplete, and it will hurt you as much as it will hurt them.

Those who mock God and wrong the innocent will one day face that same wrath that Jesus faced on the cross. Rest assured that no one can stand against God, and wait for him to serve justice in a way that you cannot.

Forgive those who sin against you because the forgiveness you have received from Jesus.

And, take heart that, in Christ, God has already spent on Christ his wrath that would have been yours for the times you've unjustly wronged God and others. Forgiveness is God's because vengeance is God's.

God is love, and he is wrathful.