“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19). I think when we hear the Lord say, “vengeance is mine”, we assume that what He means is that He will take on the role of avenger and get revenge on those who have done wrong. But I'm not sure that's right. Christ paid the price for our sins. That means that if there is some imbalance of Cosmic Justice, then Jesus paid the price to set things right. But Christ did not merely settle our accounts with God or the universe. When we do someone harm, there is a price that we owe to them individually. By all the principles of justice and fairness, they have a right to extract that price of vengeance from us. When the Lord says that vengeance is His, He is inviting us to transfer the personal debts we owe each other for the harms that we have done to each other over to Him. If there are grapes of wrath that we are holding onto, then He is telling us to give them to Him. “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.” (Isaiah 63:2-5). If there is hate in our heart, then Christ wants us to give it to Him. If there is bitterness, He will drink it up. Jesus doesn't want to get revenge on anyone, but He loves us enough to be our object of revenge if we are finding it hard to forgive. Christ took upon Himself every single one of our pains and afflictions. That means when we have vengeance burning a hole in our hearts, He took upon Himself that pain and well. So if we really love the Savior, then we will spare Him that pain by sparing ourselves that pain as we love one another, even and especially our enemies and those who deserve our vengeance. Let us give our vengeance to the Lord for He has claimed it. He will repay all of our debts so that all that is left is for us to forgive one another, even as He has forgiven us.
