Meaning of 'His strange work'

"Nahum is really a forward-looking book to the tribulation with Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and the Antichrist. You see Christ is there pouring out His vengeance in chapter 1:

[5] The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
[6] Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

"The books of Jonah and Nahum, when you put them together, tell you something about God's wrath and judgment. In Isaiah 28 He calls judgment 'his strange work':

[21] 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.
[22] Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

"That means it's something that doesn't really fit into what He wants to do; He's got other desires. He wants to see people change their mind and believe. So, He extends mercy," explains Richard Jordan.

"Sometimes you get the idea God's just going around looking for someone to whack in the head and it's just the opposite of that in the Bible. 

"When you see these books filled with judgment and the wrath of God being poured out you need to understand God doesn't resort to that until ample time's been given to see whether the person is going to have a change of heart.

"He did that with Nineveh in Jonah and they responded immediately. In Nahum, though, they've gone way beyond that. Nahum doesn't just show up out of nowhere. It's written to a bunch of people who had God's message, responded positively to it and then apostasized from it and returned to their rebellion and rejection.

"That's why it says in Nahum1:3: [3] The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

"Judgment is like the last resort with God. Here's what sin leads to and He's left to no other choice but that. This is the common theme throughout Scripture.

Isaiah 30:18: [18] And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

"He's waiting that He may be gracious. He's waiting to see if there's a change of heart and they would respond positively.

II Peter 3:3: [3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

"They say, 'You said He's coming, He's going to pour His wrath out and He hasn't done it. Where is He?! After all this . . . '

[4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

"Now, we're talking in the last days, future from where we are. They're going to say, 'Look, two thousand years ago you were saying this and He hasn't come yet.'

"You ever hear anybody say that? 'You guys talk about the Second Coming of Christ; you been talking about that for two millenniums and He ain't here yet.'

"Scoffers, and then they make a mistake. They're arguing, 'All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'

"In geology they call that uniformitarianism: 'He's never poured His wrath out yet.' Now this they are willingly ignorant of because He did pour His wrath out.

[5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

"God did destroy the earth. He has judged the world. The world hasn't gone on from the creation the way it is. But people are willingly ignorant. You see, it isn't that they couldn't know; it's that they don't want to know.

"You have to remember that when you're dealing with people about creation and the gospel, it's never a head problem. When they make it that, that's an alibi. They're trying to use these arguments, these reasonings, in order to get around and have an alibi to do what they want to do.

[6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

"After the Flood, God said He would never destroy the world again with water. He said, 'Next time I do it, I'll just do it with fire.' You see, He already did it once. Destroyed everybody but Noah and his family, eight of them, in an ark. Eight's the number of new beginning in the Bible.

"Next time, He's going to have an ark, the Little Flock in Israel, and He's going to destroy it with fire That's what you read about in Nahum; about Him coming and melting the earth.

[7] But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

[8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

"Verse 8's interpreted a lot of different ways that are kind of hokey, but it's saying, 'Look, if God said something today, or a thousand years from now, time doesn't make any difference. If He said it, He'll do it. Time is not an issue. He's not going to change His mind no matter how long it is that He waits. After a thousand years it's like He just said it yesterday.'

"The point is the passage of time isn't going to lessen the severity of His judgment. His attitude about judgment isn't going to be mitigated at all. As Nahum 1:3 says, [3] The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

"So why does He wait? Why does He make it a thousand years instead of a day?

[9] The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
[10] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

"He's not procrastinating because He just doesn't care. Somebody makes a promise and doesn't keep it, well, they're just not true to their word. That's not God. But He is longsuffering, 'not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.'

"That's like that verse in I Timothy 2 when Paul says that God's will is that 'all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.'

"God knows they aren't all going to come to repentance, but His desire is to give them a little longer to do it. He wants to treat them like Jonah treated Nineveh. God's desire is to have the message of Jonah and to have the response of Nineveh like in Jonah, so He waits."

(new article tomorrow for certain. sure glad to be feeling better, especially since i'm only half a work week away from leaving Monday for the Bible conference in Chicago.)