October 30, 2024
"Is God an Avenging God?"
What kind of a God do you think the Almighty is? Do you think he's a God who likes to punish people or save people? How do you think God responds to any slights to his honor, disrespect to his person, or malignment of his character? There are lots of Christians who have these kinds of questions in the back of their minds, and they often express to me their belief that they just have to live with them. Whether they believe we'll understand when Jesus returns (so we must wait for the answers to these questions) or they're afraid they might not like the answers (as if it will turn out that God is a horrifying fiend), many people aren't sure what to do with any of these questions and worry that even considering them might be bad or evil.
But did you know that the Bible takes these questions seriously and provides a response to them in the humanity of Jesus? Hebrews 10:29 says, "How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (NIV). This passage is filled with violence, but the violence doesn't come from God. The NIV translation makes it sound as if punishment is what God is after. Here is a more literal translation: "By how much, do you think, he/she will be counted worthy of worse avenging, who trampled down/rejected with disdain the Son of God, and who judged/esteemed as a common thing the blood of the covenant in which he/she was sanctified, and who abused/insulted the Spirit of grace?"
Hebrews 10:29 uses the word "avenging" to talk about God's activity. The word in Greek means "the activity of vindicating" - basically, what you're doing to defend yourself and clear your name and reputation. And what God needs to defend himself from is all the violence those heap on him who do not want Jesus to save them: who trample all over Jesus (which can also be translated as a disdainful rejection), who judge his blood as being a common thing - something disposable and to be thrown away, and who insult and abuse the Holy Spirit and the grace he gives us through Jesus' death on the cross.
Friends, according to Hebrews 10:29, God is not a monster. In fact, he has acted gently by saving us through Jesus' humanity: his human suffering and blood, his human crucifixion and death, and his human burial for us. Let us not act monstrously toward God for all that he has done for us in Jesus.
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God bless,
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
