“IT IS MY RIGHT TO PUNISH; I WILL REPAY,” SAYS THE LORD
Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote to me about a disagreement they had regarding our Lord’s justice, as follows:
“Someone has a disagreement with me. I believe that God deals with people who wrong His children. According to this person, God is not like that, because to them it sounds aggressive, and God is not like that. I disagree with this statement. According to my Bible, God will stand up for me if He sees that someone wrongs me.”
This, then, is how I look at this matter:
To begin with, I must realize that our Lord is God Almighty.
For example, I cannot bribe Him, as many people believe, in my opinion.
You know the idea: If I want to become rich, it’s simple — “I must give more, then our Lord will give me even more.”
Or, if I want to escape hell, I just need to “make sure I go to church regularly and live a respectable life.”
Our Lord is God Almighty, who can see into the furthest corners of my heart and cannot be misled.
Because our Lord is God Almighty, He is also not at my service — someone I can send this way or that to do something for me just because I ask it as His child.
For example, to go and sort out someone who has wronged me.
That said, I also want to say: Yes, I firmly believe that our Lord does deal with people, as you put it, who commit injustice against me.
After all, I am His child, and if I would step in when someone wrongs my child, how much more will my Father in heaven do so when someone wrongs me?
On the other hand, I must truly not think that because I am a child of our Lord, I can now wrong someone else and that our Lord will simply look the other way just because I am His child.
For me, a good example to demonstrate what I am saying is the historical account of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah.
You can read about it from 2 Samuel 11:2 onward.
How should I respond when someone wrongs me?
In what I am about to say, I am not speaking about situations where someone breaks the law. In that case, I believe justice must take its course.
I am mainly speaking about interpersonal human relationships — between myself and my neighbor. And for me, my neighbor is every person I come into contact with whom our Lord places along my path.
Go and read the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37 to see why I say this.
The first thing I, as a child of our Lord, must remember regarding my opponents or enemies is that I must pray for the person.
Matthew 5:43–45
“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR (fellow man) and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].”
Jesus, our Lord, who tells us this, even prayed for them after they had nailed Him to a cross:
Luke 23:33–34
“And when they came to the place which is called The Skull [Latin: Calvary; Hebrew: Golgotha], there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
And Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots, dividing His clothes among themselves.”
You see, I must remember that if I harbor hatred, bitterness, or anger in my heart toward someone else, I am doing something even more wrong than the one who wronged me.
They wrong me — but I do what is deeply wrong in the eyes of our Lord.
In other words, I wrong our Lord.
Jesus says the following in this regard:
Mark 11:25
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions and wrongdoings [against Him and others].”
Matthew 5:23–24
“So if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and while there you remember that your brother has something [such as a grievance or legitimate complaint] against you, leave your offering there at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come and present your offering.”
Conclusion: God’s role and our obedience
To summarize, then, regarding our Lord interceding for us against those who wrong us:
He expects you and me to be obedient to what He says to us in His Word, and then to leave the rest to His righteous judgment.
He will intercede on our behalf when someone wrongs us, according to what is right in His judgment. This is also written as follows:
Romans 12:17–19
“Never repay anyone evil for evil. Take thought for what is right and gracious and proper in the sight of everyone. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for God’s wrath [and His judicial righteousness]; for it is written [in Scripture],
‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.”
Groete,
Sakkie