Vengeance Is Mine
by Terry Wane Benton
God said that we are not to take vengeance into our own hands. Vengeance is the Lord’s.
"Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them" (Deuteronomy 32:35 NKJV).
God is long-suffering, but in His time, people who earn vengeance will get it. Sometimes it happens in this life, and sometimes it awaits the Judgment Day (Acts 17:30,31; II Corinthians 5:10). At times God allowed a system of government to work with the sword to execute wrath on evil doers (Romans 13:4). Many times the government is corrupt and fails in its role to do what God ordained it to do. Vengeance is still the Lord’s. He will repay.
Nobody gets away with sin. It will either be covered by the blood of Christ in a person’s conversion to Him, or it will be punished in hardship in this world, or be punished in the wrath of eternal fire. “Their foot will slip in due time.” Leave it to God to decide when that time is right.
Calamity is always “at hand.” Death is always at hand. The rich man learned how “at hand” his calamity was (Luke 16:19ff). As a nation, this warning to Israel was fulfilled on several occasions. In the period of the Judges, Israel was oppressed by surrounding nations. They were whipped back to repentance by God using those nations to punish Israel and get them to repent. Those were days of the vengeance of God.
The ten tribes of Israel experienced God’s vengeance through the Assyrians until they were consumed, while Judah, the southern tribe, was maintained until God used the Babylonians as the instrument of God’s vengeance. Lamentations reflects the experience of the vengeance of God and His coming in wrath upon the Jews. Vengeance belonged to God, and in due time their foot slipped.
They suffered God’s vengeance again in the Roman period. The time of AD 67-70 was the time of God’s vengeance upon the corrupt city and its corrupt leadership (Luke 21:20-22). The “armies” God used were the Roman armies, and then later God brought down Rome as “the beast” that fought against God’s people. The days of vengeance are God’s.
All the many days of vengeance seen through history will pale in comparison to the last day, when Jesus comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and who do not obey the gospel (II Thessalonians 1:7-11). These will go away into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:33ff). All the injustice of this world will receive the “due reward.”
Leave vengeance in God’s hands. He will repay, and He will do it right! On our end, we are instructed, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). Instead of trying to take vengeance matters into our own hands, He instructs us to “overcome evil with good.” Then he explains the government's role as “ministers of God” who attend to matters of justice and recompense that require attention. So, leave the “repaying” to the proper hands, with appropriate procedures and timing. Vengeance is not your authorized role. Your role is to return good for evil. Let God hold the matters of justice and vengeance.
