Time, Eternity, and God's Work
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.
What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?
I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives,
and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.
That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.
I. A Time for Everything
I. A Time for Everything
The 28 items are arranged in pairs of desirable and undesirable things.
This is not a roadmap for getting the desirable things, but a statement that they all are appointed to us by God.
He is not concerned here about the ethical questions -
when is it right to kill? Gen 9:6
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
Is there a just war? God commanded Israel to fight at times; at others he delivered them by helping them win battles
when is it right to hate? Prov 8:13
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
There are a wide range of diverse things - issues of life/death (born/die; plant/pluck; kill/heal; war/peace); feelings and its expression (weep/laugh; mourn/dance; embrace/not embrace; love/hate; silence/speak); building and making (break down/build up; cast away stones/gather stones; tear/sew); acquiring or investing (seek/lose; keep/cast away).
Some items are things you can sometimes choose to do or not do - e.g. silence/speak; other items are entirely outside of your control - born/die.
The point, then, is that God has ordained both pleasant and unpleasant things; whether they happen to you or you have to choose them, sometimes you’ll be experiencing things you like, sometimes you’ll be doing things you dislike. The point is that there’s no way to avoid both, since God has ordained it.
Remember, there’s coming a day when this will no longer be true Rev 21:4. In the meantime, you can avoid some unpleasantness by doing the will of God, however, you cannot avoid all of it. Eccl 8:13
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
The addition of eternity allows James to observe that God has ordained trials, but to have a much more cheerful spin on the same events James 1:2-4.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Similarly, v.11 “He made everything beautiful in its time.” That is, all things, good and bad have their appropriate place in God’s program Prov 16:4; Rom 9:22; Rom 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
The Lord has made all for Himself, Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.
What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
II. Eternity in our Hearts
II. Eternity in our Hearts
Restatement of the primary question
Gain = profit, lasting advantage.
Business of earning a living is imposed by God
Working the Garden was pre-fall Gen 2:15. It is therefore to be done in perpetuity, never to be finished. The world’s oldest profession, therefore is farming. However, this task would have been very much easier - fruit trees that grew by themselves meant that food was already abundant; no need for clothing or shelter meant that this was quite enough.
However, the fall made this task very much more arduous Gen 3:17-19. Now the task is exhausting, and a bad year can nullify all your work, placing your survival at risk. The Industrial revolution has eliminated famine in the developed countries, but the need to work hard has not and cannot vanish.
Thus, the cycle of working for a living was originally something to bless mankind. Bless how? Now planting/uprooting is simply part of tending a garden. No weeds would have made this process much easier, but it would still exist. There would be much less work for much greater output, but plants still grow and would need to be pruned in some fashion. So why busy man with this task? originally it was to bless man, to give him something enjoyable to do that would allow him to shape Eden to fit the way he wanted it to be. That is, God intended that man should enjoy producing things.
Though post-fall we now must work to survive, to struggle against nature, so now work is hard. again, why? Not only to punish man, but this would also restrain the evil of his heart - idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.
Some form of work will continue to exist forever Rev 22:3-5
There’s a difference here - not merely be joyful, but to do good. There’s more of an emphasis on this as God’s gift to man.
Secondly, God has put Eternity in man’s heart, yet he cannot discover what God has done. What does this mean?
We were built for eternity, that is, we weren’t supposed to die. It is normal for people to plan their daily lives as if they will live always, until, of course, impending old age makes itself known. Eternity is indeed our future.
Also, we long to know the big picture, where God is going in all this. Since Solomon’s day God has indeed told us a great deal more about what he will do, but it’s not about how much God has told us. Solomon’s point is that we can’t predict what God is going to do unless he tells us.
III. The Work of God
III. The Work of God
Whatever God does will stand forever. So what sorts of things are we talking
God-created institutions stand forever; human invented ones do not.
Marriage was created at the beginning of time; it still exists all over the world even in non-Christian cultures. However, individual marriages, which are created by the will of man, can obviously only last until death do us part.
Government was created after the Flood; despite its flaws, it continues to exist in all places everywhere. However, individual civilizations and governments have come and gone; most are fundamentally altered in a thousand years or less.
The Church was created just after the Resurrection. It still exists and is going strong two thousand years later. Individual churches, however, usually cease to exist somewhere between a few decades and a few centuries. Individual churches are the creation of man, even if at God’s approval.
Companies are human-invented social structures to produce business. Most are bought out and cease to exist within twenty years. A few still exist after a couple of hundred or more, but they too will probably fail eventually.
Nothing can be added or taken away.
Similar to Biblical prohibitions to not add to or take away from the Scriptures Deut 12:32; Prov 30:5-6; Rev 22:18-19
“Taking away”
would happen when you don’t believe the Scriptures 2 Pet 3:3-4
would happen when you fail to recognize God at work Jer 44:15-18
“adding to” the Scriptures
Could be to bolster your own authority Ezek 13:6-7
is legalism, which may be well intentioned. Acts 15:1
God does indeed respond to human actions, but this is not the same thing.
God told Saul he could have reigned forever if he had obeyed
God changed his mind about destroying Nineveh.
God initially cursed the sons of Levi, but changed the curse into a blessing when they followed the Lord and stopped the plague by killing those from their own tribe.
However, when correctly understood, God’s initial promises always come to pass; “changes” to God’s promises are clarifications in light of human action.
God establishes his work forever so men should fear him. The desire to be independent like God is the beginning of evil Gen 3:5; Isa 14:13-14
Things of the present and of the future have already existed.
Now he again isn’t positing a cyclical view of history (see v.15c, 17). Rather, he is stating that the fundamental realities of life don’t actually change. He stated this earlier (1:9), where the emphasis was on the constant repetition of actions. Here the emphasis is that things don’t change because God fixes his purpose, and though he is going somewhere, since the character of God doesn’t change, he keeps doing the same kinds of things throughout history. Mankind can try to change the immutable declarations of God almighty; many people have attempted to do so mightily. None have succeeded and none ever will.