Vengeance

Isaiah 35:4 (Young’s)
Say to the hastened of heart,`Be strong, fear not, lo, your God; vengeance cometh, The recompence of God, He Himself doth come and save you.'

I’m not really sure why it is that we tend to find joy in idea of vengeance. People seem to anticipate vengeance, retribution, karma, justice, whatever you want to call it, the same way a 3 year old anticipates Christmas morning. And when vengeance isn’t served up, people get mad! Don’t believe me? Just look at the recent Casey Anthony story for an example. Countless men and women lined the streets waiting for a guilty verdict; when it didn’t come, they were outraged!

When the Prophet Isaiah said these words he was seeing outside of time through the eyes of God. What did he see? I believe that he saw the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross. I believe he saw the miracles that Christ performed while He walked the streets of Jerusalem, and I believe he saw the fullness of God’s grace extended to the generations to come.

But what about the vengeance? When is God going to get His payback? I knew you were going to ask, so I prepared this next little bit just for you.

A look at this verse tells us exactly what we want to know. First off, God acknowledges the fear and fatigue present in the hearts of man from ages of running from sin and from punishment in that He calls to those “hastened of heart,” that is to say, with a quick heartbeat. He then calms that fear with some of His favorite words, “Be strong, fear not...” (Isaiah 41:10, Luke 8:50, Matthew 28:10, Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:6)

After setting the mind and heart at ease God says what is going to happen, “lo, your God; vengeance cometh, The recompence of God, He Himself doth come and save you.” I realize that this is some old school English, so I’ll translate: “Behold [look here and see] your God; vengeance has come, the benefit of God, He Himself has come to save you.”

And what does all that mean? This: fear not, be strong, don’t worry, stop running, look up at your God, Jesus Christ. See Him on the cross? He Himself has come to save you. He has borne the full vengeance of God for the sins of man once and for all.

So, back to our beginning: vengeance. Why are we all so caught up with it? Because we don’t truly understand that it’s already been dealt out. We can’t get it through our heads that Christ bore the vengeance of God and the sins of man when He hung on the cross. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” It certainly is; His to deal out, and to bear.