"TOOKEST VENGEANCE OF THEIR INVENTIONS."
By T.
Thou answeredest them, O Lord our God; Thou wast a God that forgavest them, tho Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions." Ps. 99:8. There is a wonderfully consoling truth in this verse of Scripture. First the statement is made that the Lord answers, so that we can call upon Him with the assurance that He hears. Then the verse tells us that the Lord forgives us. What a blessed assurance this is! Following this statement of God’s forgiveness come the words, “Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.” Observe particularly that it is the “inventions” of sinful men that God takes “vengeance” upon. These inventions are things that they have devised that are wrong. The Lord does not want to destroy the men who do wrong. He wishes them to learn how to do right. So He forgives the individual, but takes vengeance on the evils that he has done. The Lord does everything in His power to save the sinner by separating him from the wrong that he has done. But in order to rid His universe of evil, it is perfectly evident that the Lord will be under the necessity of destroying those who persist in being so absorbed in wrong-doing that they are in themselves full of wickedness. Every right-minded person should be and is interested in seeing evil destroyed. And we should therefore rejoice as much in the fact that our God taketh “vengeance” on the evil inventions of men as we do in the truth that He forgives them of their iniquities. Our heavenly Father not only forgives, but He separates the sin from us, and then takes vengeance on the sin, so as to have it completely destroyed. How soul-satisfying is the knowledge of this great truth! Have you ever felt an indescribable sense of awe and fear at the thought that the Lord would take vengeance upon the sinner? If so, be comforted by the knowledge that His vengeance is against sin, and that He desires to destroy the sin, so that we may be truly happy. No one can be perfectly happy while a single vestige of wrong remains, and it is indeed a cause of rejoicing that the Lord is taking vengeance upon evil. We may see the stroke of the Lord against the wrong, and thru a superficial consideration of the matter think that He is taking vengeance on the sinner himself. But look at the subject in its true light, and see that the Lord destroys the sinner along with his sins, only as a last resort. After every effort of divine love has been exhausted to save the sinner, then, and not till then, the Lord reluctantly visits His destruction upon him—the destruction that He prepared to visit upon sin only. “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God; and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” “Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Eze. 18:23, 31, 32. “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Eze. 33:11. T.