A few days before preaching the end of Joel 3, I told my 6-year-old son Johnny that I would be preaching about God as our avenger. His eyes lit up with unusual interest. I naively thought to myself, You never know what Scriptures will capture the attention of children. Then he asked excitedly, “You mean like the Hulk?” To which I responded, “No. Not that kind of Avenger. They’re posers. Jesus is the ultimate avenger.”
I should confess that I too probably thought more about the Hulk and Ironman as avengers than the Lord as my great avenger. Joel 3 ends with Yahweh saying, “I will avenge their blood, blood I have not avenged.” The idea of an avenger is tied to the six cities of refuge God created throughout Israel to ensure a fair trial for manslayers and protection for those who accidently killed someone. At that time, the family sent an avenger to repay the “innocent blood,” usually the closest of kin, to repay life for life. The manslayer who fled to the city of refuge received God’s protection from the avenger. If he proved the death was accidental, he could live in the city of refuge until the high priest died, at which time the avenger no longer had a right to kill him.
Maybe this background hits your modern ears as a an antiquated, brutish, or angry system of justice irrelevant to our culture. We pride ourselves on national defense, police, judges, and lawyers set in place to ensure the right to a fair trial founded on the basic belief that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. Yet, in Romans 12:19-21, Paul encourages all those who have placed their faith in Christ that God is their avenger too, saying.... Read more
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