His Strange Act.

It is common today to hear about God's desire to save. It is almost a given, that a preacher will tell any person: "God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life." Of course, the key is in permitting God to have His desire, without which, God will be less than satisfied and probably eternally frustrated as we would not oblige Him His deepest desires!

How different is this massive and popular appeal to the verities of God's Word when studied and scrutinized carefully. The Bible far from presenting a god with mere hopes for the future, and with unfulfilled desires, speaks of the triumph of the true and living God in every facet of His work. In Isaiah the prophet speaks of a determined work, a strange work, His awesome work, and this is nothing short of a determined destruction upon the whole earth. Far from being frustrated at the lack of response from those He would otherwise save, God instructs the people that He will be a crown of glory for His remnant (28:5). There is no uncertainty about their future. His people will be recipients of a full and free salvation.

There are others, however. For those who hear His word as line upon line and precept upon precept, the goal was "that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught" (28:13). These people are destined to destruction. We plainly see that God is certain in His work of both salvation and condemnation. Indeed, His judging and coming wrath has been eclipsed by the myth of a universal goal of salvation and a universal desire for the salvation of all but it is ignored to our peril. God repeatedly states that judgment is coming. It may be His strange act, but it is nevertheless a deed of determined destruction.