"Everything in Time"

Intro: Quote by Zach Eswine about the ideas of time. “Some neighbors will feel that “all I have is time”; some will cherish this feeling while others will struggle to overcome boredom in order to feel useful. Other neighbors will feel awe or loss (“Where did time go?”), or frustrated fatigue (“There aren’t enough hours in the day.”) or purposed urgency (“I’ve got to make the most of my time.”), or grateful anticipation (“I’ve been waiting for this time to come!”) or painful regret (“I wasted all of those years.”) or restless waiting (“When will my time come?”) or cautious fear (“I Don’t want this time to arrive.”) or wonderful memory (“Do you remember that time we...?”).

Yet time marches on, without any hesitation. Without mercy. Time comes and goes. We can feel left behind. We can even feel it’s pressure. We mourn its passing, desire more of it, yet we know that can’t be had or done. And people absolutely bemoan and live in fear of it. Yet we see today in this text, that time isn’t something to bemoan. It is in the hands of God:

CTS: Time is sovereignly controlled and redeemed by God, and this prepares us for all things, good and bad.

I. The Rhythm of Time (1-8)

This is one of the most well-known passages in Scripture. Even secular culture takes this poem of verse 1-8 and uses it for their songs. The Byrds wrote a song that many of you might now called “Turn Turn Turn” that literally takes the poem of the Preacher and puts it to song. It is often used as a New Years sermon to advise us to make good choices about our time. But here, as we have seen, the Preacher wants to prepare us and to remind us the rhythms of time. These rhythms are 14 statements, 7 + and 7 -s. Alistair Begg rightly points out that when you do the simple math, it all ends up as nothing. But these are the ebbs and flows of life, and the Preacher in poetic form wants to remind us of what life entails, a necessary preparation and explanation needed when we experience this life

Verse 1 is the introduction, a double emphatic to give us a summation of the coming poem. There is a season for everything. What do the set times of our lives bring?

A. Glimpses of Eden

First, we see that there are these positives that are then set beside a negative. I’ve called these positive glimpses of Eden. Birth. Planting. Healing. Building up. Laughing. Dancing. Gathering stones together. Embracing. Seeking. Keeping. Sewing. Speaking. Love. Peace. We see here much of the ideal of Eden, the ideal life of positives, of building and community. Joy and life abound in these areas. And life is full of these moments, yet only glimpses of what was. These are things we cherish, but not the whole picture of life. We know that though good, that these positives are not always the case. With each positive, we often experience the opposites, the negatives.

And this is the reality of life. Not everything is always good. Not everything is always easy. Not everything is always happiness, sunshine and rainbows. There’s an ebb and flow to life, the ups and downs.

B. Glimpses of Hell

And each line comes with it the negative, a glimpse of and experience of the exile. The purging of Adam and Eve from Eden brought about difficulty and strain. Their sin broke the world, and broke us. We all have inherited this original sin nature. We are inclined to rebel. We are inclined to experience the brokenness of the world, and these are glimpses of Hell, the eternal separation of ourselves from God. Death. Plucking. Killing. Breaking down creation. Weeping. Mourning. Casting stones away. Refraining from embracing. Losing. Casting away. Tearing. Silence. Hate. War.

We must acknowledge that yes, this is life. This is what truly happens to all people. To the wicked and the unrighteous. To the good and righteous believers. No matter. We experience these seasons. We experience the beauty of life, the beauty of birth of children and grandchildren. We then soon experience the pain of death and losing a loved one. We plant and watch things grow, and then everything is torn down in a moment when we lose that job. We embrace so readily, and then COVID hits and we must refrain what we were created for. What seems like a time of peace abruptly ends when a new war begins. Love, no matter how much we tell one another to do, turns into hate. Much of these things are out of our control.

Jeremiah 1:9-10 says: “Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.10  See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,to pluck up and to break down,to destroy and to overthrow,to build and to plant.”

We do a disservice to ourselves and to others when we do not acknowledge this. When we don’t prepare ourselves, these glimpses of hell can seem like God isn’t there, that He isn’t in control and that He cannot be trusted. Why would God allow these seasons? Why do bad things happen to good people? When faith is relegated to only good things happen to Christians and to people of faith, when the negatives of life happen, when tragedy strikes, when cancer gets diagnosed, when you lose your job, when the person you looked up to fails you, when your pastor or your church family disappoints you…despair will come and you’ll wonder if God really cares and is really there at all. You’ll question His goodness, His control, and whether He can be trusted at all because you have been convinced that only good things and prosperity happen for those that love God. And that promise is never made in Scripture. The Preacher makes this clear with these rhythms.

II. The Reality of Eternity (9-13)

The Question (9): Toil is not just work, but the result of all of life. What does my toil actually bring? Is this all worth it? To work so hard, so I can eat, so I can go to bed, so I can then go back to work? And then experience some glimpses of good, and then experience these terrible things of life?

A. Implanted in our Hearts (10-11)

The Preacher has seen everything, the business that God gives us to be busy with. This is a perspective that he desires for the people of God to grasp, to understand something about ourselves and about God is to let go.

He has made everything: Here is the undeniable truth that puts all of this into perspective. God is sovereign over time. He has made everything beautiful. The glimpses of Eden, and even the glimpses of hell. This is to remind us that in His sovereign goodness, he allowed the freedom of Adam and Eve to choose. He allowed Eden to be broken. But in that brokenness, it is a reminder of hell, a glimpse of life without Him. It is a burden that we carry, a broken world we live in. He has allowed the consequences, the brokenness, and the darkness to exist to remind humanity of what life looks like without Him, what life looks like under the sun without God.

He put eternity into our hearts: That in turn drives us to God, for God has not left us to our own devices, though He could have. Instead, He implanted into our hearts eternity, a divine imprint that we all carry since we are image-bearers of God, that there is something beyond this life. The question is, what do we do with that implantation? Romans 1:19-23 tells us this: 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Regardless of whether we believe or suppress it, we have the knowledge of God.

Yet this knowledge also reminds us that we are not God, that this life really is insignificant in regards to eternity.

B. A Taste of God’s Good Gifts (12-13)

That doesn’t mean our lives are not important, but it puts us into the perspective that rightly orients our hearts toward eternity, rather than the things of the world. Glimpses of Eden become signposts to God rather than waypoints of idolatry toward hell.

When life is put into the perspective of eternity, that this is all under the sovereign hand of God, we can then truly enjoy the toil of life as it was intended, as God’s gifts to enjoy rather than to worship.

III. The Revelation of Sovereignty (14-15)

This new perspective, one that is driven by eternity brings forth to bear verses 14-15, that God is the driver of history, the Lord over time. What God does has purpose. Even what seemingly doesn’t make sense. These verses in Isaiah remind us of this: Isaiah 46:8-11 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9  remember the former things of old; or I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10  declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11  calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

God on the throne, carrying out His will and purpose, includes the positives and the negatives. That doesn’t make sense to us now, but we see it even in Scripture. Joseph makes it clear at the end of Genesis when he tells his brothers after they had sold him to slavery because of their hatred of him (a time to hate) and how he lost everything he had ever known, was meant for good by God. Paul understood this too, and even points us to the fact that even their suffering, the negatives that He and the apostles experienced were to one glorious end: that the gospel would be spread:

2 Cor 6:1-12

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

What is that gospel? God is seeking what has been driven away. This is a confusing phrase in the Hebrew, but here’s where I believe the Preacher is pointing us to.

God is seeking to restore Eden. And He does this in the most incredible way possible. He becomes man. The Son of God made flesh. And here’s what’s so incredible about it. He subjects Himself to this life, this rhythm of time found in verses 1-8. All of these things, Jesus has enjoyed yet suffered.

He was born to die, so that would bring new birth. He was killed to heal others. He broke down the walls of legalism and idolatry to build up a new temple, a new people. He wept at death, yet laughed in its face as He rose again. He mourned over sin and death, yet he celebrated in victory with a dance over its grave. He was rejected of any embrace as He took on our sin so we could embrace Him in new life. He tore the veil of the temple so that we could be sewn to God in relationship with Him. He kept silent when others accused him, yet spoke up for the exiles and outcasts. He loved the unlovable, and hated self-righteousness. He made war on our sin and Satan to give us peace through Himself, the Prince of Peace.

Conclusion: And with this, we are then able to rest, to enjoy, to know that life, even in its most mundane, even in its highs and lows, means something. Because God’s plan is to restore us, to bring us back to where we were created to be. To be in perfect relationship to Him. All of time. Even in our suffering and even through the difficulties in which we face, we can hold confident that we haven’t lost God.

Rom 8:38-39 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

No, as a matter of fact, He’s closer than ever. He’s there, walking with us, because He walked the same path.

So when you’re sitting sad on your chair, in your living room, the message for you is that Jesus knew the times. He too cried as you cry. He too has been abandoned, the way some of you have been abandoned. He too has overcome the way many of you have overcome. He too has sung with poetry, in the brokenness of betrayal like some of you. He too has died, as we all will. But in him, the sting of death has died.

Eden would describe only one side of the Preacher’s poem. Eden was a place of birth, a place of planting, of healing, a place of building up, a place of laughter, a place of dancing, a place of embracing, of seeking, of keeping, of sowing. Heaven foreshadowed!

But under the sun, we foretaste the absence of God. Hellish foreshadowings tend the presence of death, of plucking up, of killing, of breaking down, of weeping, or mourning, of casting away, of losing, of tearing, of silence, of war. Jesus entered once-Eden to recover what was lost, to foreshadow what comes, the heavenly kingdom that awaits. - Zack Eswine

This is why we can trust in the sovereign Lord of time, for He entered time to redeem it and He rules over it with great purpose: that His kingdom would come.