THE STRANGE ACT OF GOD


A. "FOR THE LORD SHALL RISE UP AS IN MOUNT PERAZIM, HE SHALL BE WROTH AS IN THE VALLEY OF GIBEON, THAT HE MAY DO HIS WORK, HIS STRANGE WORK; AND BRING TO PASS HIS ACT, HIS STRANGE ACT." - Isa. 28:21
  1. This is, we must confess, a very unusual text:
    1. God is love - 1 John 4:8, that is His nature; and it is not strange to us.
    2. God is longsuffering - Ex. 34:6; and that is not strange because that is His nature.
    3. He is merciful and very gracious - that is His name - Ex. 34:6
  2. But what is the strange work He has to do, the strange act that He will bring to pass?
    1. He seeks to save sinners - John 3:16; Matt. 18:11; Luke 19:10
    2. He made Him sin that knew no sin, that we may become righteous - 2 Cor. 5:21
B. THE STRANGE ACT OF GOD
  1. He will destroy men that had been created for His glory:
    1. That is very strange for God who is love.
    2. He will cast them that are wicked into the lake of fire and destroy them - Mal. 4:1-3; Matt. 3:12
    3. He will leave them neither root nor branch, but they shall be turned into ashes - Mal. 4:1-3
  2. Why is this act by God so strange?
    1. Hell-fire was never intended for any man, but for the devil and his angels - Matt. 25:41
    2. Man had been created for the glory of God - Rev. 4:11
  3. We must keep in mind the following facts:
    1. God did everything he could to save men.
    2. He set in motion all the power in the universe to seek and to save the lost, including the gift of His only Son - John 3:16
  4. There are other points or reasons which make the destruction of the wicked so strange:
    1. God is love, and it seems strange for love to destroy.
    2. God gave the very best He had, and that shows that it was very unnatural for Him to destroy that which He had sought to save.
C. LET US TAKE A BRIEF LOOK AT THE NATURE OF THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED
  1. The Bible says, "the wages of sin is death": Rom. 6:23
    1. In the book of Revelation we read about "the second death" - Rev. 2:11; 20:6, 14
    2. This is in sharp contrast to the popular theory of eternal punishing.
  2. Three special facts to keep in mind:
    1. The place of the punishment is on the earth - Prov. 11:31; 2 Pet. 3:1-10. This old earth will pass away and will not come into remembrance - Rev. 21:1
    2. That being true, it is clear that the hell-fire in which the wicked will be punished will come to an end when this earth will pass away. All the wicked shall be turned into ashes - Mal. 4:1-3; Matt. 3:12
    3. God will make a new heaven and a new earth and it will be the home of the redeemed forever and ever - Isa. 65:17; 66:22, 23
  3. Summary:
    1. God's strange act will be when He will have to destroy men that He had made to live to His glory.
    2. He will do this act in spite of His effort to keep from doing it.
    3. When men will suffer eternal hell-fire, it will be their own fault; they, and not God, choose to suffer the punishment intended for the devil and his angels.
    4. How wonderful it is to know that none of us need to suffer punishment in hell.
    5. Why choose death and not life?
    6. God help us to find the soul-saving answer to this question.


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