Opponents of Christianity often point out how bloody the Old Testament is. There’s no getting around it: it is. (For that matter, the New Testament isn’t as serene as most people assume.) Israel often participated in and celebrated the victory of God over other nations, victory that usually meant military conquest. As Deborah says, “So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength” (Judges 5:31). Israel savored the stories of God’s deliverance—even God’s vengeance—like a fine wine, sip by sip.
Celebrating God’s vengeance seems out of place to most modern readers. In my experience, stories like this draw out two different objections.
Objection 1: We don’t always see justice served.
Like the end of many action movies today, the violent conclusion to Old Testament stories were meant to illustrate just retribution. The “bad guys” get what’s coming to them, and all the wrongs are righted.
But that’s not the experience of most people. We certainly long for God to right every wrong, but there are simply too many stories out there without happy endings. Not every rapist or murderer is brought to justice. The corrupt seem to frequently get off scot free, while the innocent suffer.
As long as our measure is limited to this life, the issue of justice will always be an unresolved problem. Yes, the guilty often go unpunished. Yes, the weak are trampled by the strong. But that doesn’t mean the discussion is over. This life isn’t all there is, and the Christian confession is that in eternity God settles all scores. We see glimpses of that eternal justice in this life, but they’re only ever glimpses.
The cross gives us the power to endure imperfect injustice in this life. When the Roman and Jewish officials put Jesus in the grave, under the icy grip of death, they thought the story was over. Everyone did. But God’s power shattered the ice of death with the strength of resurrection life. The story that everyone knew had ended with injustice was only halfway told; the end of the story was still to come.
So for those of us in Christ, we can endure oppression and injustice now, knowing that the sun of God’s love and life will rise on us in strength. If God wasn’t finished even when death had claimed his Son, then he isn’t finished in the darkness of our lives.
Objection 2: Believing in a God of vengeance will make us vengeful.
Many people assume that stories of God’s vengeance inherently make God’s people vengeful. Violence begets violence, after all. But if you understand what God is up to, God’s vengeance will actually do the exact opposite.
The Apostle Paul commands us to never take vengeance into our own hands. Why? Because God will one day repay (Romans 12:19). This is the irony: if you don’t believe that God exists, or that he will one day serve out justice, who bears the burden of ensuring that justice is served? You do. You seethe under injustice until it eats you alive…or until you avenge yourself. Taking a vengeful God out of the equation actually makes you more vengeful, hateful, and fearful.
But if you truly believe that God will restore justice, the burden is off. You don’t have to take vengeance. You don’t have to ensure that the “bad guys” get their just desserts. You may still work for justice, but you won’t bear the burden on your shoulders. You’ll finally be able to step down off the judgment seat of the world and let God sit there. It was too big for you anyway.
It’s one thing to tell yourself that “God will repay.” It’s another to know it and have seen it. And that’s what happened at the cross. Jesus’ death reminds each of us that we are numbered among the wicked. But it also reminds us that God will right every wrong. As Isaiah says, “The Lord laid on him the sins of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). So I can release myself from the frenetic need to pursue vengeance. And as one who has been shown grace and mercy and forgiveness at the cross, I can extend grace and mercy and forgiveness to others.
