Ecclesiastes #6

Introduction:

Connection:

At one point in LOTR, Frodo is so overwhelmed and saddened by the burden of being the ring-carrier, and is almost at despair—wishing that he never had to go through such things, wishing that he didn’t have to toil through this painful journey, wishing that the ring never came to him.

Gandalf comforts him by saying: “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil”

To which Ecclesiastes concurs: “Yes, even in the pain, God has made everything beautiful in its time.”

This should make us hopeful and humble, and it should propel us to long for the coming judgment unto eternity when God will make all things right—when Jesus returns.

Theme:

Beauty, Humility, Judgment, and Eternity

Need:

We need to be refreshed in God’s beautiful goodness, and filled with reverence in view of God’s dreadful holiness and eternity.

Purpose:

To humble God’s people in our smallness, to exhort God’s people to enjoy God’s beautiful gifts, to encourage God’s people to trust in God’s sovereignty, to remind God’s people of the coming judgement, and to comfort God’s people in God’s good, perfect, and eternal gifts in Christ Jesus our Redeemer.

Recap:

Last time we were in the book of Ecclesiastes we learned about work, joy, and time. We saw that working for human gain is sorrow and vexation, we saw that to receive the gift of God is the beginning to true happiness, and we saw God’s sovereignty over time and our necessary stewardship of it. Here we come to reflect on similar themes with an angle toward the temporal and the eternal. Life is gift, not gain.

Open your Bibles:

Eccl. 3:9-22 ESV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

(1) We ought to Humbly Enjoy God’s Beautiful Works - v. 9-13

Ecclesiastes 3:9–13 ESV

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

(1) We ought to Humbly Enjoy God’s Beautiful Works - v. 9-15

Solomon continues his question, what gain has the worker from his toil? (v. 9) The same question from 1:3: “what does man gain by all the oil at which he toils under the sun?”. He’s shown us that novelty and legacy cannot bring lasting gain, that wisdom and pleasure cannot bring lasting gain, that self-indulgence and self-exaltation cannot bring lasting gain, that wise living and hard work cannot bring lasting gain—and he showed us that instead of trying to reap abiding profit from such things, we are to enjoy them as God’s good, though fleeting gifts. Last time we saw that enjoyment of God’s creation, with thankfulness and faith, is the key to happiness in God’s fallen world.

Here Solomon makes a similar point. He goes again to his original question, and he reflects again on the business that God has given mankind to be busy with (v. 10). Living in this fallen world, with the sweat of our brow, under the heavy burden of sin and the curse. He has seen it all! But he doesn’t stop here. In the first part of Chapter 3 Solomon showed us that God is sovereign over all the times and seasons under the sun, and that we are to steward that time for His glory. And here Solomon brings another conclusion to the frustration of life under the sun—He has made everything beautiful in its time (V. 11)

From birth to death, from weeping to laughing, from love to hate, from war to peace—God Almighty, our Sovereign Lord, the King of Providence, and the Ruler of the Nations—Our Father in Jesus Christ—He has made everything beautiful in its time. Though we cannot see the tapestry of God’s beautiful plan, though we cannot make sense of it all—we are told by the Spirit of God that his sovereign plan, in pleasure and pain, is beautiful. In pain and prosperity, our faithful God makes all things beautiful—in sorrow and sadness, our loving God makes all things beautiful—in happiness and joy, our glorious God makes all things beautiful—in health and sickness, our powerful God makes all things beautiful.

Truly he has “made everything for its purpose” (Prov. 16:4). Truly it is from the mouth of the Most Hight hat good and bad come” (Lam. 3:38). Truly he does “work all things together for good” (Ro. 8:28). Truly the “Lord our God the Almighty reigns” (Rev. 19:6).

Solomon was a believer in the sovereign decree of God, who is in control of all the times, who has decreed every molecule, every minute, and every month. He has decreed “the end from the beginning” (Isa. 46:11). But Solomon of all people knew very well that though we confess to believe in the great, historic, biblical, and reformed doctrine of God’s sovereignty, that doesn’t mean that we have the capacity to make sense of the mystery of God’s plan over frustration, suffering, and brokenness in his fallen world. Though we believe it, we cannot understand it—this is a divine mystery. God is making all things beautiful even when all things look ugly in our sight.

After this he adds: He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (v. 11).

With faith we trust our Father who is in heaven, and we know that His will shall be done—we know that he makes everything beautiful, even in the ashes of suffering—we have eternity put in our hearts, we know that only the Eternal God, His Word, His Ways, His Works, and His Glory can satisfy us, we know that He has an Eternal Plan, we know that all things have a purpose from the mouth of God—yet we cannot find out what God has done! This can be frustrating, and oh is it ever humbling. We cannot plumb the depths of the decree of God. Oh this is a great lesson for us indeed. “Truly there is a time to keep silent, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7).

We are not called to study the secret things of God, but we must rest content in what He has revealed to us in Scripture. We are not called to be masters of his providence, but students of His Word. We are not called to be speculative thinkers, but humble learners.

We must learn the first lesson of humility, with the fear of God—that when God ceases to speak, that when God chooses not to include something in the Scriptures regarding faith and obedience, that we ought to with Job put our hands to our mouths and stop speaking “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth” (Job 40:4). We with the Psalmist must exclaim: “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Ps. 131:1). Not all the mysteries of God’s attributes, and God’s ways are meant to be unravelled on this side of glory—here we see but dimly through a glass. And this is God’s grace, because if we saw the fullness of his glory, and the fullness of his secret plan now—we would be consumed in our mortal flesh.

Bridges says: “If we cannot alter the works of God, let us set ourselves down to the more profitable work of altering our judgement of them. A murmuring spirit subdued to quietness will be much to the honour of God. We shall soon pronounce our verdict—that all the paths of the lord are mercy and truth (Ps. 25:10)—all as they ought to be—all as we could wish them to have been—when we shall look back upon them in the clear light of eternity. [Then we shall sing: he has done all things well].”

So… instead of being master philosophers, instead of being arrogant theologians, instead of being prideful spokesmen—we recognize that in our finite humanity we cannot find out the depths of what God has done beyond what He has revealed in His Word—so we humbly submit to His Word, we trust that He is making all things beautiful ……. and then we mope for all of our days? NO! ……. Solomon says that instead of trying to unravel the hidden things of God, we have the gift of the good life to live—glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.

He continues: I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man (v. 12-13).

So, with faith in the Lord who knows all things, we say what was said of Christ our Lord: “He does all things well” (Mark 7:37). We don’t understand why or how he is doing such tings, we don’t understand why he has decreed our pain and brokenness, we don’t understand why he has permitted this sin or that death, we don’t understand. But He has given us the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all, salvation and eternal life—and “how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8:32). So we stop trying to understand, we know he is making all things beautiful, for He is our beautiful God and Redeemer—and we enjoy His good world, His good gifts, good food, good drink, holy pleasure—and a holy life.

The good life is one of receiving the good and perfect gifts from come down from the Father of lights (Jas. 1:17)—the chiefest of which is Jesus Christ our Saviour—and then out of gratitude for salvation from sin, living the blessed life of obedience, communion with God, as we hope in Him for the inheritance of the new creation. By grace through faith we are saved, and with enjoyment and humility we live in our Father’s world.

Enjoying the sweet and savory food, enjoying the cold and crisp drinks, enjoying the reward of our hands in our toil—this is God’s gift to man. And as we take delight in the work of God’s beautiful hands, we will begin to take delight in the work of our hands—by his grace, and for his glory. And we have hope, because though this world is stained by vanity and vapor, God isn’t. Though the labours of our hands will perish, nothing that God does will ever perish. Solomon continues:

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away (v. 14-15).

So, Solomon says, we recognize that God’s work does abide and endure forever, his decree in unchanging, no one can change his will or plan—no one can add to it, or take away from it—it is fixed, it is sure, it is complete—our God is in the heavens, and he does all that he pleases (Ps. 115:3). So we “bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps. 115:18). We fear him and his beautiful but mysterious works (Prov. 1:7). We trust that the past, the present, and the future are in his hands (Ps. 31:15). And we trust that nothing escapes his sight, all deeds will be brought into the light on the last day, all things will be made right, and true peace and shalom shall fill the earth at last as King Jesus reigns from his throne (Rev. 21-22).

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:34). Let us break our bread together with gladness, enjoy our beautiful God, his World and his Word, live the good life—holy and happy on mission for Him.

(1) We ought to Humbly Enjoy God’s Beautiful Works - v. 9-15

This brings us to our second point:

(2) We ought to Painfully Trust God’s Coming Judgement - v. 16-17

Ecclesiastes 3:16–17 ESV

Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.

(2) We ought to Painfully Trust God’s Coming Judgement - v. 16-17

Secondly, Solomon reminds us not only of the depths of the mysteries of God and the enjoyment of the gifts of God—but also of the seriousness of the coming judgment of God. Solomon in seeing all that is done under the sun, and in examining his own heart, knows very well that this world is under the curse of sin. The wages of sin is death. Sin is lawlessness. Sin deserves the punishment of the Lawgiver. “The Judge of all the Earth will do what is Right!” (Gen. 18:25). “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezk. 18:4). “All are dead in their sins and trespasses” (Eph. 2:1). And because of this sinful guilt and corruption of our natures, we infect God’s good creation with the poison of wickedness where there should be justice (v. 16a); and wickedness where there should be righteousness (v16b).

In the courtroom, where the law of the land (based upon the law of God) is supposed to sentence criminals to punishment and protect the innocent—the innocent are condemned as guilty, and the guilty are let go unjustly.

Laws are put in place by our government to murder innocent children in the name of freedom. Laws are put in place by our government to euthanize those who choose to end their lives, thinking that we have the authority over life and death. Laws are put in place by our government to oppress the poor, needy, homeless, widows, and orphans—instead of caring for them with true justice and equity as Psalm 82 reminds us.

In the public and private square, where the society should be in harmony with God’s law and righteousness, there is sin abounding and autonomy leading men to suppress the truth, live for self, and call evil good, and good evil, and our world becomes a stench in God’s nostrils as the smoke of our rebellion rises up to the heavens.

Our schools, universities, businesses and homes have rebelled against the living God. Trying to teach knowledge while rejecting the knowledge of God. Trying to teach morality while rejecting the God of morality. Trying to teach order in a world of Chaos, while rejecting the God of peace. Trying to teach and train children while rejecting the God of life. Trying to manufacture marriages around principles of selfishness rather than sacrifice, exemplified by Jesus our Saviour in his life, death, and resurrection.

The very place where justice should be magnified, the very places where righteousness should be exalted—injustice abounds, wickedness abounds—and this causes pain within our hearts. For not only do we look outward with pointing fingers to such sin—we look inwards into our own church, into our own homes, into our own hearts—and we see and cry out with brokenness: “Wretched man, wretched women, wretched people we are!” (Rom. 7). The holy, just, and good law of God brings the sentence for our sin: “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom. 2:5). Judgment is coming!

Here Solomon says: God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work (v. 17).

Solomon knows that nothing escapes the Almighty, he knows that true justice will come when the Lord drops the gavel on this world of sin. He knows that there is a time appointed for every work, and thus there is a time appointed for the judgment of the world. There will be a day when we all stand before King Jesus, the Lord of Lords, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Godman—all judgment is commited to Him by the Father (John 5). Every single sin, every thought, every word, every deed, every desire, every choice, every feeling will be brought into the light of God’s infinite holiness and dreadful majesty—and he will give the verdict: some will “go away into eternal punishment, but some into eternal life” (Matt. 24:46).

The day of God’s perfect fury and burning anger will explode, and on that day the rush of great waters will overcome all those who remain in their sins, the holy justice of God Almighty will overcome everyone, from the least of them to the greatest, and we will all answer for our lives. God will judge the righteous and the wicked. This is bad news—for there is “no one righteous, no not one” (Rom. 3:19). And the prophet Nahum says: “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty” (Nah. 1:2-3).

So what shall we do? There is only one thing to do. To heed the command of the only Mediator between God and Man, to heed the call of the Gospel by Jesus Christ our Lord: “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark. 1:15). Turn from your sins, change your mind about your condition—we are not good, and we are not righteous, we are sinful and we stand condemned. And trust in Jesus Christ, in his free and sufficient grace and offer of salvation—by his perfect life, his painful death, and his powerful resurrection—he has accomplished salvation for all who believe. The righteous shall live by faith in Jesus! (Rom. 1:16). He is the power of God unto salvation, and all those who rest in Him by faith find peace with God (Rom. 5:1). The very law of God, and God of the law that shall sentence us guilty and condemned—shall be overturned by the mercy of Jesus Christ, who satisfied the condemnation of our guilt on the Cross of Calvary, who paid the ultimate price—so that when we believe we hear those blessed words: “There is therefore now no condemnation for you who believe” (Rom. 8:1). No sin is too great for the precious blood of Jesus to wash away. Come to the Fountain of Life, the Fountain of Blood—cast your sins into the sea of his mercies—there is hope this day for all who hear this Good News!

The law is satisfied, justice is appeased, mercy is secured, and grace is outpoured! Oh what kindness Jesus has shown us, Jesus who saves not the righteous, but sinners. Come to Him, rest in Him, trust in Him, cling to Him—and you will find salvation. You will find peace with God, and a beautiful relationship with our beautiful Saviour, who is altogether lovely. We who have been born of the Spirit, and washed in His blood by his grace—we shall be saved from the coming judgment. We who have walked with God, and hoped in the Lamb, need not fear that fearsome day.

Rescued by our Father, Ransomed by Jesus Christ, Renewed by the Spirit—we rejoice in the hope of glory, we fear God in a life of obedience, and we live the good life as we journey through this life of hebel, this life of brokenness—with Christ in us, the hope of glory—as we share the Gospel will those around us, that they too might be saved—that the Gospel might go to the ends of the earth, to every nation, tribe, and tongue (Rev. 5:9; 7:9). As we live in this world of sin, it is painful. But we trust in Jesus for salvation, and we trust in the coming day of wrath for our vindication. Therefore, says Paul: “I do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Cor. 4:4-5).

Gibson says: Will there ever be a time for justice? The answer is yes. God will retrieve every single injustice, and every single time, and every single activity. Every single deed that has ever broken his holy law and tarnished his beautiful world and damaged his image bearers—every one of those moments will be answerable to God. Every tear and every sighing sorrow for my wrongs, whether through things I have done or had done to me—each one will be sought out by the God who is perfect justice, truth, mercy, and love!”

(2) We ought to Painfully Trust God’s Coming Judgement - v. 16-17

This brings us to our final point for this morning:

(3) We ought to Joyfully Obey God’s Eternal Eyes - v. 18-22

Ecclesiastes 3:18–22 ESV

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

(3) We ought to Joyfully Obey God’s Eternal Eyes - v. 18-22

Though we have refuge on the day of God’s wrath in union with Jesus Christ by faith—we still must face the scorching heat of life in this fallen world as we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of our great God and Saviour (Tit. 2:13). We remember, during this life of dust to dust, that we are not yet in the promised land. We are in the wilderness, and God is leading us by day and by night, guiding us to his holy abode in the heavenly Zion (Heb. 12). We are still in the time of testing. Solomon adds:

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity, [all is vapor] (v. 18-19).

God is testing us, God is sifting us, God is pruning us—to humble us in our creatureliness, to humble us in our fallen state, and to remind us that we in our flesh are no better than the beasts and animals of this world. In our sin, we have become more like animals than like image bearers of God. So says the Psalmist: “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beast that perishes” (Ps. 49:20). We are like the beast in that we become irrational, we become brutish, we become mad, and we return again to the dust. Sin ruins the dignity of our humanity, and it leaves us bound for the grave. We all have the same air that we breath, and because life is but a breath, both man and animal return to the dust—for all is fleeting. Moses says: “You return man to dust, and say, ‘return O children of man’ … you sweep them away as with a flood” (Ps. 90:3;5).

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to the dust all return.

Under the sight of God’s everlasting and testing eyes, we ought to live humbly. Not boasting in our flesh. Not boasting in our goodness. Not boasting in our achievements. But remembering that we are the clay, and He is the Potter. We are the creature, He is the Creator. We are the work of His hands, and we must remember that our lives are a fleeting vapor in this fallen world—and then “we fly away” to our eternal dwelling place (Ps. 90:10).

Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? (v. 21).

Here Solomon is bewailing the fact that though our lives our fleeting, that barely anyone gives attention to the eternity of our souls! Our bodies go again to rot in the ground, but our souls live forever—either in eternal life or eternal death. He is not agnostic about heaven in this text, he is bewailing the fact that it seems that nobody knows! Later in Eccl. he affirms that the spirit goes back to God (Eccl. 12:7)—here he is lamenting the fact that so many around him are willfully ignorant—living for the vanities of this world, while an eternal hellfire awaits them, an eternal separation from the altogether lovely Christ. Nations, tribes, peoples, tongues, are all perishing in their sin—without God and without hope in this world (Eph. 3). Nobody cares about where the spirit of man is going after death—after death comes judgment—and after death seals our destiny. We must get right with God while we have time, we must be reconciled to God before it is too late (2 Cor. 3). We must take the Gospel to our neighbours, we must take the Gospel to the nations, and we must support those who do (2 John). The pain of a world that has become numb to the things of eternity should cause us to ache—did Christ over sinners weep, and shall we not shed a tear?

Oh Calvary—Let us walk in the light of His Word and Spirit, with eternity stamped on our eyes, with a clear sight of the Gospel and the glories and terrors to come—that we might seek first His Kingdom, live for the Great Commission—and live for the salvation of the souls of men and women who pass by us each day. Lamenting the realities of sin—living to share the light of Christ—Solomon gives us one last exhortation to live the good life, holy and happy, working for God, and living on mission:

So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him (v. 22).

Live with tears in your eyes, weeping over the lost—and with joy in your heart, enjoying God’s good gifts. Lament over sin, and Rejoice in our work that God has given us. This is our lot, this is our portion. It is fleeting, so don’t make it your god—but enjoy it from the hand of God. Life is gift, not gain. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, so fear God and keep his commandments, live for His Kingdom, and don’t waste your breath. Follow Jesus, hope in His promises, and live in light of eternity—for God is testing the children of men—how will you respond to his test?

O’Donnel says: Solomon has helped us to see the answer. The sight of wickedness in unlikely places might help us, as “frail children of dust,” to turn in faith and hope to God, who will rightly judge at the right time. And the sight of our own mortality motivates us to work with joy.

(3) We ought to Joyfully Obey God’s Eternal Eyes - v. 18-22

This takes us to our conclusion:

(C) Our Beautiful Creator has given us Pleasure and Joy and Our Holy God will bring Judgement unto Eternity.

So trust in Him, rejoice in Him, submit to Him, obey Him, fear Him, and know that He will make all things right, when Jesus returns to make all things new. Our God will vindicate his saints, and our God will vindicate his Name.

Philippians 4:8–9 ESV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Under the sunlight of God’s [beautiful] sovereignty, [and eternal realities], we should be holy and happy. Rejoice in the Lord. Obey Christ’s commands. Do good to others. [Live on Mission]. Eat your roast-beef sandwich. Sip your [favourite drink]. And smile, God loves you—seriously.

Colossians 3:1–2 ESV

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

(C) Our Beautiful Creator has given us Pleasure and Joy and Our Holy God will bring Judgment unto Eternity.

Amen, let’s pray.