“Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘ It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”  Romans 12:19

If we know our history, most of us are familiar with the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.  But many are not familiar with another catastrophic event in that city’s history.  Christian missionaries entered Japan in the sixteenth century and found some Christians already there, descendants from believers who had come from China and Korea.  As the missionaries preached, many people returned to the Lord with all their hearts and it sparked a revival in which large numbers of Japanese came to Christ.

The Tokugawa shogunate and the emperor ruled the country and they took a dim view of the Christians with their western “religion.”  The shoguns were afraid Europeans would conquer the country bringing Christianity, similar to what happened in the Philippines.  So, they responded by launching a series of persecutions that lasted 250 years.  No one knows how many people died, but estimates placed it as more than one million.   In one village alone, 70 villagers were arrested and beheaded.  Their crime was they converted to Christianity.  The converts had a choice, either renounce their faith or practice it in secret.

It all began on February 5, 1597, on a hill in Nagasaki where twenty-six Christians were nailed to twenty-six crude crosses.  The oldest martyr was sixty-four.  The youngest was a twelve-year-old boy named Ibaragi Kun.  As the torture began, a government official begged the boy to recant his faith.  The youth replied, “Sir, it would be better if you became a Christian and could go to heaven where I am going.”  Then he asked, “Sir, which is my cross?”

The stunned official pointed to the smallest cross on the hill, and the boy knelt in front of it.  On those crosses, the “Twenty-Six Martyrs of Nagasaki” died for their faith.  When I heard this story, I thought of the verse, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge.’”  The Japanese martyrs had to wait 300 years for the Lord to avenge them.  Even now, vengeance is God’s work, not ours.

In our GriefShare group, we were discussing the topic of “Forgiveness” and how it applies to forgiving people who have perhaps taken the life of a loved one in murder, automobile accidents, medical malpractice or natural disasters.  We can easily become angry and bitter over these events and unhealthy emotions will block the healing process, shaping us into a person we don’t want to become.  Our attempts to take revenge never ultimately satisfy.  God is a God of Justice and He will take care of it.  Forgiveness is a powerful weapon for the Christian, our “secret” weapon!  We can forgive them through the power of the Holy Spirit just as Christ forgave us.  “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”  Colossians 3:13.   Vengeance is God’s work!  Forgiving does not mean you’re letting the other person off the hook.  It’s entrusting God to take care of the situation for you.  Nor is it reconciliation.  Reconciliation requires genuine repentance on the part of the person who wronged you.  Forgiveness is a choice you choose that frees you from a life of bitterness, anger and resentment.  “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins…who could stand?  But with You there is forgiveness.”  Psalm 130:3-4

Your friend, Jean