Sermon Tone Analysis

The sovereign God set the times forever so that people will stand in awe before him.

How many of you have a device that tells time on your person, right now? Why?

Because, in our present society, you’ve got to know what time it is.

The Teacher from Ecclesiastes recognized the need to know what time it was, and deeply, passionately, achingly wanted the Israelite audience he was preaching to to understand time…and where it came from.

These words were written thousands of years ago, but they resonate with us today.

Let’s hear them, together.

Know the Time

an intentionality and understanding of "time” is needed, for times are different.

(v1-11)

Illustration:

Application:

Know Who Made Time

God works so that people will be in awe of him (v14)

“That God, not mortal beings, controls the ‘times’ is a fundamental biblical conviction.

Thus the biblical account of Israel’s past does not focus primarily on the social and political forces that drive history or on the great heroes who are said to shape its direction.

It portrays the past, rather, as an entity shaped by God, who acts in grace and judgment, in the midst of all the actions of its human and other participants.”

One can trace this theme of God controlling the times in the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi29 and on into the New Testament

Application: rejoice and enjoy the good life.

It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.

(Martin Luther would be good to quote, here.)

Know the Fullness of Time

Jesus Christ’s coming is the fullness of time

At the appointed time, also called “the fullness of time,” God sent his Son Jesus to this world.

Paul writes, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children” (Gal 4:4–5).

Jesus began his ministry by preaching, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15).

When the authorities tried to arrest Jesus, John reports that “no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come” (John 7:30).

But Jesus’ time soon came: “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father” (John 13:1).

Jesus told his disciples to “go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples’ ” (Matt 26:18).

Later Paul writes, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6).

Jesus rose from the dead, promised to come again, and ascended into heaven.

He had predicted that before his Second Coming there would be a time of great tribulation: “at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”

But “immediately after the suffering of those days.…

the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and … [people] will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt 24:21, 29–31).

While we live in these in-between times, Paul urges us, “In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim 6:13–15).