Latest / Reformed Thinking / Beautiful in His Time: The Joy of a Fleeting Life under Gods Sovereign Hand (Ecclesiastes 3:1-15)

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Beautiful in His Time: The Joy of a Fleeting Life under Gods Sovereign Hand (Ecclesiastes 3:1-15) · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to reform thinking. Have you ever like, tried to
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catch fog in a glass jar? Oh man, that is quite the mental
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image. Right, just picture yourself
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standing out in a field on a chilly, damp autumn morning, OK?
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I'm. There.
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So the mist is thick all around you.
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You can see it rolling over the grass.
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You can, you know, feel the chill of it clinging to your
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jacket. Yeah, it feels super physical.
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Yes, it seems so incredibly physical you feel like you can
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just grab a handful of it. So you hold out your glass jar,
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you scoop the air in front of you, and you slam the lid shut
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as fast as you can. Let me guess, there's nothing in
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there? Nothing.
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The second you hold that jar up to the morning light, expecting
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to see your captured price swirling around inside, there is
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absolutely nothing there. Just empty space.
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Yeah, because the moment you try to grasp it, you know to bend
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that vapor to your own will and put it on a shelf to examine it.
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It slips right through your fingers.
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That is such a frustrating feeling to imagine.
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It really is. And welcome to our deep dive for
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today, because today we are looking directly at the hidden
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bubbling anxiety you likely feel every single time you attempt to
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plan your life. Oh wow, yeah, we are going right
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for the throat today. We really are, because you, the
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listener, you have this intense, burning desire for control.
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We all do. Right, we have a desperate need
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to hold the glass jar and dictate what goes inside it.
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Exactly. Well, I mean spot on, but that
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desire is constantly colliding with the sudden uncontrollable
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changes that happen daily. Like a sudden phone call from a
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doctor. Yes.
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Or a massive shift in the global economy.
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Or just, you know, a weird e-mail from your boss.
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Yeah, the stuff that just derails your whole week.
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Right. And we try to comfort ourselves
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with that secular platitude. Everything happens for a reason.
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Oh, people say that all the time.
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All the time we say it to smooth over the chaos, to put a
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Band-Aid on the anxiety. But in this conversation, we're
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going to look at the staggering theological reality hiding
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behind that phrase. So what is our mission for
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today's Deep Dive? Our mission today is to examine
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a specific ancient text based on a massive stack of sources we
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brought into the studio. We have theological
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commentaries, historical analysis, and aesthetical notes
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all focused on Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses one through
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15. OK, so the time for everything
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passes. Yeah, but we are moving far past
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the common sentimental use of that poem.
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You know, you hear it at high school graduations.
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Or at funerals. Right.
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It's usually printed on a nice sunset background as a
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comforting little thought, but instead the sources we are
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looking at today force us to confront the unyielding reality
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of divine sovereignty over every single second of human history.
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Wow. OK, that image of the fog in the
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class jar is actually the perfect starting point for the
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material we are reviewing. How so?
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Well, because it captures the precise literal meaning of the
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Hebrew word hebel. Hebel OK, spell it out for us.
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HEBEL, that specific word is used 38 times in the book of
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Ecclesiastes, and if you translate it directly it means
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vapor or breath. Vapor.
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So literally the fog in the jar. Right.
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The core argument running through our sources is that
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life, when evaluated strictly from a horizontal earthly
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perspective, is completely ungraspable.
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It's just fog, yes. The book of Ecclesiastes gives
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us an unvarnished look at what happens when human beings try to
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manufacture their own control over the universe.
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So we are analyzing a text that basically systematically
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dismantles human arrogance. Spot on.
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The commentaries we're looking at demonstrate that true joy in
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a fleeting world is found not in deciphering some secret
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blueprint, but in humbly bowing before a sovereign Creator.
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And resting in a perfectly timed plan, right?
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I want to break this down from the very beginning because to
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understand the weight of what is being said, we have to establish
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who is saying. It.
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Oh, absolutely. The perspective of the author
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carries massive historical weight here.
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Yeah, if we miss who is writing this text, we miss the entire
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thrust of the argument. So our historical sources
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identify the author as Solomon. Writing during the United
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Monarchy in the 10th century BC. Right.
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But I know there's a lot of debate about that in academic
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circles. Oh, a ton of debate.
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Yes, the historical context provides the necessary grounding
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for the theology we are about to unpack.
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The text identifies the speaker as Kohelith.
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Kohelith, which means what? It translates to the preacher or
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the assembler, and it identifies him as the son of David, King in
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Jerusalem. Oh, Solomon.
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Right, but we need to be very clear about how our sources
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handle this. The commentaries we are using
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strictly reject the attempts by liberal theology to late date
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this book. Wait.
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Stop right there and explain what that means.
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What is liberal theology in this context and why would they want
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to change the date of when the book was written?
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So in biblical scholarship there is a critical school of thought
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that often assumes a naturalistic view of history.
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They look at the text of Ecclesiastes and argue that
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Solomon could not have written it in the 10th century BC.
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Why not? They try to place the writing of
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the book hundreds of years later in the post exilic or
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Hellenistic periods. So that would be long after
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Israel returned from Babylonian captivity.
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Yeah, closer to the time of the Greek Empire.
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Their argument is largely based on linguistic theories.
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Like the actual words being used.
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Right, they point to certain Hebrew words and claim they are
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Persian loanwords or Aramaic expressions that just, you know,
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would not have existed in the Solomon's vocabulary.
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So the assumption is that someone else wrote it and just
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use the persona of Solomon as a literary device.
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You got it. So they are saying it is a piece
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of historical fiction pretending to be solemn.
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Correct. But the historical analysis we
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are reviewing push back on that heavily.
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Good, because that completely changes how you read the book.
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Right. They argue that those linguistic
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theories fall apart under intense scrutiny.
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The language used is entirely consistent with a highly
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educated international monarch living in the 10th century BC.
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Someone who had trade relations across the known world.
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Exactly, I mean he would have known those foreign loan words.
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So the Solstice stand firmly on the historical reality of
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Solomonic authorship. And that authorship matters
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immensely to the actual argument of the book.
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Oh, absolutely. Solomon possessed a level of
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wealth, geopolitical influence, and intellect that was
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completely unmatched in the ancient Near East.
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He was considered the wisest man on earth.
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Yeah, and he had the unlimited resources to fund literally any
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experiment his mind could conceive.
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If anyone had the budget to try and fill the glass jar with fog,
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it was Solomon. 100% he had no financial or political
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limitations whatsoever. Right.
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And when you read the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes, it
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reads like a grueling empirical experiment.
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It really does. He systematically tests
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everything the material world has to offer.
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He tries madness. He tries folly.
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He tries wine. Then he moves on to massive
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architectural projects. Oh, huge ones.
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We're talking about building sprawling houses, planting
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vineyards, creating entire gardens and parks.
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With complex irrigation systems, right?
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He accumulates literal mountains of silver and gold.
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He acquires singers and concubines.
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He throws his unmatched genius level intellect into human
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wisdom. And he is searching for one
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specific thing. Yes, he wants permanent game
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sources. Use a specific Hebrew word for
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that right. Yeah, the Hebrew word is yitron.
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Yitron. It translates to a surplus, an
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advantage, something leftover that you get to keep
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permanently. Like a cosmic compound interest
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that survives the grave. That is a brilliant way to put
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it. Solomon wants a return on his
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investment that death cannot touch.
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He wants to know that all his sweat, all his building, all his
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thinking actually amounted to a permanent notch on the universe.
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Right, but his conclusion, after running all these massive
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experiments is that life under the sun is entirely Hebel.
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It is absurdity. It is vapor.
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Let us clarify that phrase under the sun, because the sources
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lean on it heavily. What does that mean practically?
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So under the sun is Solomon's specific phrase for evaluating
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existence from a purely horizontal, earthly perspective.
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Meaning completely divorced from divine revelation.
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Right. It is looking at life locked
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inside the physical universe with no thought of heaven or
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God's perspective. And when you look at life only
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through that lens, his conclusion is that everything is
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vapor. He realizes A devastating,
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inescapable truth. Even the wisest man on Earth
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dies exactly like the fool. Wow.
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Yeah, the man who builds an empire, who sets up trusts and
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foundations and legacy projects. Eventually he just stops
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breathing. He dies and he leaves all his
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wealth to someone who might be an absolute.
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Fool someone who did not work for it and might squander it in
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a week. Right.
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All the humans driving in the world cannot secure a permanent
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advantage over death. And the exegetical notes we have
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insist that we must ground this realization in Genesis chapter
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3. Oh yes, that is a critical
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connection. Because Solomon had unimaginable
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resources. I mean, he was taking in
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hundreds of talents of gold a year.
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But even he could not reverse the curse of Eden.
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Right back in Genesis, God pronounced a curse on the
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ground. Thorns, thistles, and painful
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toil became the baseline human condition.
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Solomon could build the most beautiful, exotic vineyard in
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the world, importing plants from across the globe.
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But he still had to deal with the sweat of his brow.
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Yeah, he still had to deal with weeds, decay and the fact that
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his own body was breaking down. But this brings me to a question
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regarding Solomon's own spiritual state.
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I am looking at Solomon's life and I am honestly I'm confused.
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OK, what's the confusion? This guy had literal divine
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wisdom given to him, but we know from the historical books like
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Kings that he ended up worshipping idols.
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He did. He married hundreds of foreign
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wives. He brought their false gods into
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Israel and he built altars for them.
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So how can we trust a book about the meaning of life from a guy
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who clearly lost his way? So badly does his personal
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failure completely discredit the text.
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It's a valid question, but the commentaries argue that his
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failure actually amplifies the brutal honesty of the text.
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Really. How so?
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It proves the very point he is making.
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The book of Ecclesiastes is read as the retrospective reflection
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of a repentant monarch at the end of his life.
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OK, so he's looking back. Right.
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He chased autonomy and self rule to its absolute.
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For this limit, he tasted everything the world offered,
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including the dark, forbidden, idolatrous things, and he found
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it tasting like ash in his mouth.
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He had all the covenantal advantages of Israel.
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He had the law of Moses, He had the promises of God.
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He was sitting on the throne of the Davidic lineage.
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Yet he tried to find satisfaction outside of
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covenantal obedience. And his personal failure proves
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that intellectual brilliance without the fear of God is a
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dead end. So when he sits down to write
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chapter 3, he is writing as a man who knows first hand that
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trying to master the universe and act like your own God is a
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crushing, impossible burden. Absolutely.
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So for the listener who is stressing out right now because
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they did not get that promotion or their five year plan just
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fell apart, they are feeling that exact same crushing burden.
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Oh, for sure. If life is a vapor we cannot
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grasp, the text naturally moves to answer the question, who is
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actually holding the jar? Right.
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Who is in control of the timeline?
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And that brings us to the famous poem in chapter 3, verses one
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through 8. It starts with for everything
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there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.
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And then he launches into these 14 couplets.
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Right. A time to be born and a time to
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die. Time to plant and a time to
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pluck up what is planted. A time to kill and a time to
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heal. A time to break down and a time
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to build up. Those verses give us 28 polar
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opposites. The literary term for this is a
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merism. Right.
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Yes, the sources point out that this is a rhetorical device
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where an author states 2 extreme opposite points to encompass
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absolutely everything that falls in between them.
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Explain how Amerism works in everyday language so we can
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really grasp it. A common example is when someone
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says I searched high and low for my lost keys.
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Right, they do not mean they only look at the ceiling and
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then only looked at the floorboard.
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No, they mean they looked everywhere.
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High and low are the brackets that contain the entire room.
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So when Solomon says a time to be born and a time to die, he is
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putting brackets around the entirety of human existence.
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From your first breath to your last breath and every single
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moment in between. From war to peace, from planting
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to uprooting, these couplets cover the entire spectrum of
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human life. And the linguistic breakdown
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provided in the exegetical notes is fascinating.
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Here the author uses 2 distinct Hebrew words for time in verse
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one. OK, let's hear them.
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First he uses zemon, which refers to a fixed, predetermined
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epoch or a blueprint in the heavens, Zeman.
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Then he uses the word ET, which refers to the actual occurrence
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or event playing out on Earth. I want to make sure I understand
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the distinction. So Zemon is the master schedule
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written out in the architect's office, and ET is the actual
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swinging of the hammer on the construction site down on the
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ground. That is a very accurate way to
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conceptualize it, the commentaries argue.
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There is a fixed decree established in heaven, the
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Zeeman, which is then Florida State executed as a specific
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event in the flow of history, the ETS.
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And the grammar of these verses drives this point home
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aggressively. The poem is a relentless
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sequence of infinitive constructs.
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To be born, to die, to weep, to laugh.
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Notice what is deliberately missing from that structure.
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There are no explicit human subjects in any of these
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clauses. Right, he doesn't say a time for
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a man to choose the day he's born.
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Well, I mean spot on. The syntactic structure shifts
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the locus of control away from the human creature and places it
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entirely somewhere else. Think about the agricultural
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couplet a time to plant and a time to pluck up.
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A farmer can choose the day he puts the seed in the dirt.
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But he does not control the rain.
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He does not control the soil temperature or the swarm of
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locusts that might come over the hill, or the amount of sunshine.
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He is participating in a season he did not orchestrate.
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And certainly no human being chooses the hour of their own
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natural death. We are participants in a decree
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we did not write. Let us get into the heavy
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theological frameworks that our sources used to interpret this,
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because this is where the debate gets intense.
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Very intense. The theological commentaries we
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are reading view this text through the lens of Reformed
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theology, specifically referencing the the Westminster
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Confession of Faith. Right, Chapter 3 of that
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confession states that God from all eternity did freely and
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unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.
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And they use this exact passage in Ecclesiastes to argue that
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God is the sovereign architect of history.
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Yes, the sources claim this crushes two other major
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theological viewpoints, open theism and Arminianism.
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I need you to explain what those two terms mean, because we
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cannot just throw out jargon. What does an open theist
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actually believe about time in the future?
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OK, so open theism is the belief that God does not possess
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exhaustive, definite foreknowledge of the future free
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choices of human beings. Wait.
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Really. Not at all.
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Right. The argument is that if human
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beings have genuine free will, the future must be open and
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unknowable, even to God. Oh wow.
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In this video, God is moving through time alongside us,
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reacting to our choices and adjusting his plans on the fly.
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OK. And Arminianism is slightly
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different. Yes, classical Arminianism
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affirms that God knows the future perfectly, but it argues
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that God's decrees are based on his foresight of what humans
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will freely choose to do. Meaning what practically?
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It envisions a God who looks down the corridor of time, sees
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that a person will make a certain choice, and then bases
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his plan around that foreseen choice.
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So to use a chess analogy, open theism says God is grandmaster
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playing a match, but he literally does not know what
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move you were going to make until you touched the piece.
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Right. He's just so smart, he can
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always outmaneuver you. And Arminianism says God already
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watched the tape of the chess match, so he knows your moves
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and plans his strategy based on what he saw you do.
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That's a great way to summarize it.
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But the reformed perspective from our sources says what?
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The sources argue that Ecclesiastes rejects both of
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those views entirely. They argue that God did not
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watch a tape of the future. He wrote the Script.
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He wrote the script. God, from all eternity, freely
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and unchangeably ordained the moves on the board, the seasons
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of life, the tragedies, the triumphs, the weeping, the
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dancing. They are not the product of
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blind chance, and they are not God reacting to human surprises.
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They are. Pointed, they are decreed.
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The sources point out that this is where the modern mind
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completely revolts. Because the modern mind demands
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absolute autonomy. Absolutely.
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And this is where I have to push back hard on behalf of the
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listener because a massive question comes up anytime you
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talk about a God who ordains absolutely everything.
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Let's hear it. Look at verse 3, it says there
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is a time to kill. Look at verse 8.
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It says there is a time to hate. If God writes the script and
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ordains whatsoever comes to pass, does the text give moral
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approval to all human actions just because they fall in the
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divine calendar? That is a very common objection.
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Are our sources arguing that God approves of a murder just
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because it happened on a Tuesday at the exact time he decreed it?
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The sources anticipate that exact objection.
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They draw a very strict, impenetrable line between
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providential seasons and moral permissions.
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OK, unpack that. Scripture as a whole absolutely
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forbids murder, and it forbids sinful, malicious hatred.
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The commentators argue that Kohelith is not giving us a
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grocery list of morally approved activities.
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He is simply recognizing that in a fallen, cursed world, there
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are providential seasons that will include war, defensive
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killing, judicial execution, and the tearing down of corrupt
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nations. Right, so God can decrease
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something to happen without giving a thumbs up to the sin
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involved. Yes, the Westminster Confession
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is careful to state that while God ordains whatsoever comes to
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pass, he is not the author of sin, nor does he force the will
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of the creatures. What's a heavy distinction?
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It is God's sovereignty includes hard, agonizing providences.
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He can decree that an event will occur without giving moral
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approval to the sinful human agents who carry it out.
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Do the sources give an example of this from scripture?
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They frequently point to the story of Joseph in the book of
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Genesis as the ultimate case study for.
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This Oh yeah, his brothers threw him in a pit and sold him into
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slavery. And that was a wicked, sinful,
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morally reprehensible act. But decades later, Joseph tells
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his brothers, You meant evil against me, but God meant it for
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good to bring it about, that many people should be kept
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alive. God governed the timeline and
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the ultimate outcome. Wait, sorry, the final outcome.
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Yes, but the brothers acted out of their own sinful desires and
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were fully morally culpable for their actions.
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So the poem establishes this ironclad divine calendar, and
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because life is a vapor we cannot grasp, and God is the one
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holding the jar, the text moves to a very dark psychological
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place. It really does shift gears.
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We arrive at verse 9, which shifts the entire tone of the
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chapter. Solomon asks what gain has the
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worker from his toil. We move from a poetic
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observation of the seasons straight into the philosophical
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agony. Right, because wait, if God has
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this ironclad calendar and I cannot change it, why should I
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even get out of bed to work? Yeah, what's the point?
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The text has to address this psychological burden.
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And that question in verse 9 acts as a hinge for the entire
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chapter. It connects the objective
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reality of God's timing to the subjective, heavy psychological
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burden it places on humanity. So what does verse 10 say?
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It says I've seen the business that God has given to the
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children of man to be busy with. The Hebrew word for business
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there implies a heavy, exhausting task, doesn't it?
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Yes, we are burdened by the reality of this calendar we
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cannot control. And then we hit verse 11, which
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the commentaries identify as the theological peak of the entire
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passage. Let's look at verse 11.
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It says 2 very distinct, almost contradictory things.
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First, it says he has made everything beautiful in its
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time. Let's look at the word beautiful
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there. Yeah, because when I think of
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war or death or uprooting, beautiful is not the word that
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comes to mind. The Hebrew word used there is
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yafe. It does not mean pretty in a
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sentimental way. So what does it mean?
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It denotes an aesthetic perfection or a fitting harmony.
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It means God's providential timing is never arbitrary.
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Even when it looks chaotic or jagged to us.
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Exactly. It possesses A moral and
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structural perfection, even when it looks painful to our severely
20:50
limited vision. Everything fits perfectly into
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the master design. And the second part of verse 11
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is where the psychological tension really ratchets up.
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It says also, he has put eternity into man's heart.
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Let's break that down. The Hebrew word for eternity is
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olam, which refers to everlasting duration, or
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antiquity. The commentators argue this is a
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description of the imago dei, the image of God in man.
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We possess an innate ontological awareness that our lives are
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part of a grand, sweeping narrative.
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We know instinctively that there is a past before us and a future
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after us. Right.
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We are not beasts of the field. Think about it.
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An ox does not pause in the middle of plowing the field to
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ponder the meaning of its existence.
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True, an ox is completely satisfied by immediate physical
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appetites. It wants grass, it wants water,
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it wants shade. Give an ox those things and it
21:42
is content. But human beings are burdened
21:44
with the longing for the whole story.
21:46
We want to know how the tiny, fragmented events of our Tuesday
21:49
morning fit into the grand design of the cosmos.
21:51
We demand to know why things happen.
21:53
Yes, but then the verse drops the hammer.
21:55
It continues yet so that he cannot find out what God has
21:59
done from the beginning to the end.
22:00
The exegetical notes point out a specific Hebrew conjunction
22:03
there mibley Asher it translates to yet so that not.
22:07
It acts as a hard divine restriction, right?
22:11
God gives us the desire for eternity, but He actively
22:16
suppresses the exhaustive knowledge of His plan.
22:21
It makes me think of an analogy. Well, let's hear it.
22:23
Imagine you are staring at the back of a complex cross stitch
22:27
project. OK, you see all these messy
22:29
threads, jagged knots, chaotic colors just overlapping each
22:33
other and what looks like total random nonsense.
22:36
Right, it looks like a disaster from the back.
22:38
It does, but you know because of the eternity placed in your in
22:41
your heart that a flawless, beautiful picture exists on the
22:44
front of that canvas. Oh, that's good.
22:46
The absolute agony of human existence is that God explicitly
22:50
forbids you from turning the canvas around to look at the
22:53
front. That is a highly effective
22:55
illustration of the exact tension Solomon is describing in
22:57
verse 11. We see the knots, we see the
23:00
pain, the seemingly random events, the time to weep, the
23:03
time to lose, the unfairness of the world.
23:05
We know instinctively there is a master artist.
23:07
But we are denied the comprehensive view of his work,
23:10
the modern demand to know exactly why God allows a
23:12
specific tragedy. Like why did I lose my job?
23:14
Why did my friend get sick? Is essentially a demand to flip
23:18
the canvas over. It is a demand for divine
23:21
omniscience. And God says no, the secret
23:23
things belong to the Lord. Right.
23:26
The burden of the infinite resides within a finite human
23:29
mind, and it causes massive existential frustration when we
23:32
try to operate independently of divine revelation.
23:35
So for the listener right now, who is looking at the back of
23:38
the canvas, looking at the messy knots of their own life, the
23:42
obvious question is how are we supposed to live?
23:45
Yeah, what do we do? If we cannot flip the canvas
23:48
around to see the full picture, how do we survive the messy,
23:52
confusing present? Do we just sit around and
23:54
despair and wait to die? This is where the commentaries
23:56
point out a major transition to practical wisdom.
23:59
Because man cannot master the eternal decree, because we
24:03
cannot hack the system to see the future.
24:05
The logical inference in the text is to embrace temporal
24:08
gifts. Verses 12 and 13 I perceive that
24:12
there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good
24:15
as long as they live. Also that everyone should eat
24:17
and drink and take pleasure in all his toil.
24:19
This is God's gift to man. Here we see the transition to
24:22
what the source is called the good portion.
24:24
Since you cannot grasp the eternal decree, you must receive
24:28
the temporal reality. But we need to spend some time
24:31
clarifying the stark difference between biblical joy and worldly
24:35
indulgence. Yeah, because when Solomon says
24:38
to eat, drink and find pleasure in your work, he is not
24:41
advocating for Epicurean escapism.
24:44
Right, he isn't saying eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow
24:46
we die, so nothing matters. No, that is nihilism
24:50
masquerading as a dinner party. Exactly what Solomon is teaching
24:53
is submissive covenantal gratitude.
24:56
Godly wisdom receives the created physical gifts, things
25:00
like your daily bread, a cup of coffee, a faithful spouse,
25:04
honest labor in your mundane vocation.
25:07
And receives them with Thanksgiving.
25:08
Right. The critical difference is that
25:10
we receive them without demanding they function as our
25:13
saviors. They are gifts from God, not
25:15
Gods themselves. I want to push back on this
25:17
conclusion because I can hear the modern listener raising a
25:20
huge objection right now. Doesn't settling for just
25:24
eating, drinking and doing your daily work feel like throwing in
25:27
the towel? Well, think about the culture we
25:29
live in. We are constantly told we need
25:30
to be hustling. We are told we should be
25:33
striving to leave a massive legacy, to make our mark on the
25:37
universe, to build a company or a movement that will outlast us.
25:42
Sitting down to just enjoy a simple meal and go to work the
25:45
next day sounds like absolute defeat to a culture obsessed
25:48
with greatness. So how did the sources address
25:51
this modern mindset? They address it directly.
25:55
They argue it only sounds like defeat if your main goal is to
25:58
usurp the throne of God. Wow.
26:00
The frantic, exhausting striving for a permanent legacy is, at
26:04
its core, an attempt to achieve deity.
26:06
It is an attempt to create your own Yatron, your own permanent
26:09
advantage against the wiping away of time.
26:11
But the harsh reality of Ecclesiastes is that time will
26:14
eventually erase your legacy. The buildings you put your name
26:17
on will crumble or be renamed. The companies you build will be
26:20
bought out and dismantled. In three generations, your own
26:23
descendants likely will not even remember your first name.
26:25
Recognizing that reality is not throwing in the towel, it is
26:29
waking up from a delusion, The commentators suggest that
26:33
receiving the ordinary means of grace, enjoying your dinner,
26:37
loving your family, doing honest work without needing to be
26:40
famous. Is the actual cure for
26:42
intellectual idolatry? Yes, it is the realization that
26:45
the ordinary moments are divine gifts meant to be experienced
26:49
right now rather than sacrificed on the altar of an anxious
26:52
striving for an unknown future. It is a radical shift in
26:55
perspective. You stop trying to build a tower
26:58
to heaven and you start thanking God for the bricks he gave you
27:00
to build a small house today. That's a great way to think
27:03
about. It and the reason a person can
27:04
actually rest in these simple gifts of today is found in the
27:08
next two verses. We can rest in the micro level
27:10
because the macro level plan is entirely secure.
27:13
Look at verse 14. I perceive that whatever God
27:17
does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it nor
27:21
anything taken from it. The language used there is
27:23
absolute and uncompromising. God's work is forever.
27:26
Human works are vaporous, but the divine decree is immovable.
27:30
You cannot add a single second to your appointed time to die.
27:33
And you cannot subtract a single moment of sorrow that God has
27:37
ordained for your sanctification.
27:39
This truth cuts in two directions.
27:41
It humbles the rebel who wants to escape God's will because he
27:44
cannot. And it humbles the religious
27:46
pragmatist who thinks they can improve upon God's plan through
27:49
their own cleverness or strategy.
27:52
And the text gives a stated motive for why God operates this
27:55
way. It says He does it so that
27:57
people fear before Him. I think we need to define the
28:00
fear of the Lord because that is a phrase that gets thrown around
28:03
a lot but is rarely explained. The fear of the Lord is a
28:06
concept we have drastically watered down in modern theology.
28:10
The sources clarify that it is not a servile panic.
28:12
It is not like a slave cowering in the corner before an
28:16
unpredictable, abusive tyrant who might lash out at any
28:19
second. So what is it?
28:21
It is a reverential awe that forces you to bow the knee.
28:24
It is the trembling recognition of divine majesty and absolute
28:28
sovereignty. When you realize that God's
28:30
decrees are unchangeable and perfect, the only rational
28:34
posture for a created being is submission.
28:36
Right. The frustration we feel at our
28:38
lack of control is actually a grace designed to humble us.
28:42
It brings us to the end of our cells.
28:43
So we will stop trusting our own intellect and fall upon His
28:46
mercy. That brings us to verse 15,
28:49
which contains A cryptic yet incredibly impactful phrase.
28:53
That which is already has been. That which is to be already has
28:56
been, and God seeks what has been driven away.
28:59
The Hebrew phrase there is Eva Quesch at Nerdoff.
29:02
Let's talk about divine record keeping.
29:05
Because time devours human memory.
29:07
We forget things. Documents vanish in fires.
29:11
Witnesses died. And sinners flatter themselves
29:13
that their old secret transgressions have just
29:16
dissolved into the mist of time. But God is the ultimate flawless
29:19
record keeper. God seeks what has been driven
29:22
away. The commentaries explain that he
29:24
brings the forgotten past to his tribunal.
29:26
He is the Lord of history who ensures that no event, no matter
29:29
how fleeting or hidden, escapes his sovereign Ledger.
29:32
This means that human history might seem novel and surprising
29:35
to us, but it is never novel to God.
29:38
What has been and what will be our ever present before His
29:40
eyes? I want to highlight the dual
29:42
nature of this reality because it strikes in 2 completely
29:45
opposite directions depending on who is listening.
29:47
Yeah, let's look at that. For the unrepentant person, the
29:50
person who thinks they got away with their secret sins, this is
29:54
absolute terror. Right, because time does not
29:57
atone for sin. You cannot just wait out the
29:59
clock on God's justice. He will drag every hidden thing
30:03
into the light. But for the oppressed, for the
30:06
wronged, for the person whose faithful, quiet work went
30:09
completely unnoticed by the world, verse 15 is a massive
30:13
comfort. The judge of all the earth will
30:16
do right. Your tears are not forgotten.
30:18
Precisely. It is a guarantee of perfect
30:20
justice. The oppressor may think his deed
30:23
is buried in the past, covered up by bribes or intimidation,
30:26
but God retrieves what time has swept from human sight.
30:29
The sources point out that this prepares the soul to trust God
30:33
even when earthly justice systems completely fail.
30:36
So we have covered the Old Testament context, but where
30:40
does this ancient, sobering wisdom land in the scope of
30:43
redemptive history? We cannot just leave this in the
30:47
Old Testament. As we look at the whole Canon of
30:49
Scripture, the theological sources point this directly to
30:52
the New Testament. It points to the Christological
30:55
fulfilment of time. The commentators argue that if
30:57
we preach Ecclesiastes basically as practical advice for a
31:01
vaporous life, if we just say life is short.
31:04
So enjoy your coffee. We are delivering A truncated
31:07
moralistic message that falls entirely short of the gospel.
31:11
Right. The New Testament declares that
31:12
the climactic answer to the agony of Ecclesiastes is Jesus
31:16
Christ. They point specifically to
31:18
Galatians chapter 4 verse 4. Which says, But when the
31:21
fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of
31:24
woman, born under the law. Notice the explicit language of
31:28
time. The eternal Son of God who
31:30
transcends time completely, voluntarily subjected himself to
31:34
the vapor of Hebel. He entered the timeline.
31:36
He stepped into the glass jar. Jesus, the second Adam,
31:39
subjected himself to the time to be born in Bethlehem and the
31:42
time to die on Calvary. And when you look at the cross,
31:45
the sources argue, you see the highest resolution of all his
31:48
extreme opposites, those merisms in Chapter 3.
31:51
The cross is the absolute focal point of God, making everything
31:55
beautiful in its time. Think about the couplets we
31:58
discussed. A time to kill and a time to
32:01
heal. A time to break down and a time
32:03
to build up. The sources explained that at
32:06
the cross, the Father was pleased to crush the Son,
32:08
executing the righteous wrath due to our sins, so that by His
32:11
wounds we might be healed. The tearing down of his physical
32:15
body was the building up of the church.
32:17
Romans chapter 5 tells us that at the right time, Christ died
32:21
for the ungodly. The crucifixion was not an
32:24
accident of Roman politics. It was not a tragedy caused by
32:27
Jewish hostility spinning out of control.
32:29
Though both the Romans and the religious leaders were morally
32:32
responsible for their wicked actions.
32:34
Yes, but the Cross was the perfectly timed, unchangeable
32:38
decree of the Father. It is an incredible irony.
32:42
The ugliest, most unjust deed in all of human history, the
32:47
crucifixion of the sinless Son of God, became the absolute
32:50
pinnacle of God, making everything beautiful in its
32:52
time. He overruled the greatest evil
32:55
for the holiest purpose. And the incarnation of Christ
32:58
answers that agonizing tension we saw back in verse 11.
33:02
Yes, the tension of having eternity in our hearts but not
33:05
being able to see the full picture on the front of the
33:07
canvas. The commentaries assert that in
33:09
Christ the exact imprint of God's nature is revealed.
33:13
We no longer have to stare blindly at the messy back of the
33:16
cross stitch canvas, wandering in the dark, wondering if God is
33:19
actually good. He has given us the definitive
33:22
historical proof of His goodness in the substitutionary atonement
33:25
of his son. Now the sources we are using
33:27
operate from a specific theological framework regarding
33:30
the end times. They operate from a
33:32
premillennial and dispensational framework.
33:35
We need to neutrally report on what that means and how it
33:38
connects to Christ's authority over time.
33:40
Yeah, explain that framework for the listener.
33:42
The premillennial and dispensational view held by
33:45
these authors teaches that God has distinct administrative eras
33:49
or dispensations in history. They believe that Christ's
33:52
authority over time guarantees the literal future fulfillment
33:56
of covenant promises made to both the nation of Israel and
33:58
the Church. They argue that Jesus Christ is
34:01
the Lord of time and His sovereignty guarantees that he
34:04
will return physically to earth at his appointed season.
34:07
In this framework, he will establish A literal thousand
34:10
year Kingdom, permanently reversing the curse of Eden on
34:14
the earth itself. The time to wheat will be turned
34:17
into an everlasting time to laugh.
34:20
This view suggests that history is moving toward a concrete
34:23
geopolitical demonstration that God's timing is flawless.
34:27
Right? OK, we need to take all this
34:28
rigorous theology and apply it forcefully to the immediate
34:31
cultural moment and the personal struggles of a listener.
34:35
Our sources refer to this as utilizing the third use of the
34:38
law, which is a theological concept that means using the law
34:42
to guide the believers grateful obedience in everyday life.
34:45
The sources use Ecclesiastes to dismantle several modern
34:48
cultural movements in theologies.
34:51
First on the chopping block is the prosperity gospel.
34:54
Let's report on how the authors critique it.
34:56
The sources offer an aggressive, systematic critique of the
35:00
prosperity gospel. They view this teaching as
35:03
entirely contradictory to the text of Ecclesiastes.
35:06
The prosperity gospel, often associated with the Word of
35:09
Faith movement promises believers that through positive
35:12
confession, having enough faith, or sowing a financial seed into
35:16
a ministry, they can command the universe to give them health and
35:20
wealth. Right.
35:21
It teaches that you can entirely avoid the time to weep and the
35:24
time to lose. The commentators argue that this
35:26
is a crossless Christianity. How does Ecclesiastes
35:30
specifically dismantle that? What are the mechanics of the
35:32
argument? Well.
35:33
Ecclesiastes dismantles it by showing that suffering, loss and
35:37
death are sovereignly ordained seasons for everyone, including
35:40
the righteous. You cannot positively confess
35:43
your way out of a time to die or a time to mourn.
35:46
The prosperity gospel attempts to hand man the steering wheel
35:49
of the universe. It tells you that your words
35:52
control reality. The sources argue this always
35:55
ends in bitter disillusionment when tragedy inevitably strikes
35:59
because the believer assumes they just did not have enough
36:01
faith, rather than resting in the sovereignty of God.
36:05
It is a theological tragedy that leaves people devastated when
36:08
the time to mourn arrives. And connected to this intense
36:12
desire for control is the epidemic of clinical anxiety we
36:15
see today. The sources make a direct
36:18
connection between trying to play God and having severe
36:21
anxiety. The argument is that a massive
36:23
portion of modern anxiety is rooted in the idolatrous desire
36:27
to be sovereign over our own lives.
36:29
We are finite creatures trying to carry the weight of
36:32
omniscience on our shoulders. We want to know all the
36:34
variables, we try to mitigate all the risks and we attempt to
36:36
guarantee our own safety and the safety of our children.
36:39
But you cannot carry that weight.
36:40
Your shoulders were not built for it.
36:42
The sources suggest that anxiety is often the natural fruit of
36:45
demanding to be God. The commentaries also present
36:48
some very strong cultural critiques that we should report
36:51
neutrally to understand the breadth of their application.
36:54
They argue that trusting God's perfect justice, as seen in
36:57
verse 15, where God seeks what is driven away, means society
37:01
must reject certain modern ideologies.
37:03
Specifically, they call out critical race theory and systems
37:06
built on perpetual grievance. What is their argument there?
37:09
The argument drawn from the text is that human vengeance and
37:12
societal division based on historical grievances are
37:15
attempts to force justice on our own timeline and by our own
37:19
metrics. The authors argue that because
37:22
God is the ultimate record keeper who guarantees perfect
37:25
justice, believers do not need to adopt secular theories of
37:28
class warfare or racial grievance.
37:31
The sources favor a return to strict biblical justice.
37:35
They advocate for complementarian roles within the
37:37
family and church. And they focus on finding quiet,
37:40
faithful contentment in the station God has placed you,
37:43
rather than being swept up in egalitarian movements or endless
37:46
cultural crusades. And there is one more
37:48
theological stance in these sources we need to cover.
37:51
They mentioned a strict cessationist viewpoint when
37:53
dealing with Providence. Let's explain what cessationism
37:56
is and how it relates to Ecclesiastes.
37:59
Cessationism is the theological view that the miraculous gifts
38:03
of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy, speaking in tongues,
38:06
and instantaneous healing, ceased with the end of the
38:10
Apostolic age in the closing of the biblical Canon.
38:13
In relation to Providence, the cessationist commentators argue
38:16
that the heavens are not yielding new private prophecies
38:20
to help you decode your personal tragedies.
38:22
Meaning you don't need a secret word of knowledge from a
38:25
self-proclaimed prophet to figure out why you lost your
38:27
job. Correct.
38:29
The cessationist view argues that the closed Canon of
38:32
Scripture is entirely sufficient for the believer.
38:34
You must trust the revealed character of God in the Bible
38:38
rather than demanding secret mystical knowledge to explain
38:41
the providential events of your life.
38:43
They argue that looking for signs and new revelations is
38:45
another way of trying to flip the cross stitch canvas over.
38:48
To bring this all together into a practical mindset for the
38:51
listener, there is an analogy in the sources pointing to Psalm
38:54
131. It compares the anxious modern
38:57
mind, a mind constantly demanding answers, constantly
39:01
trying to decode Providence, constantly terrified of the
39:04
future, to an unweaned child. Imagine a baby who is hungry.
39:09
They scream, they thrash, they turn red in the face.
39:11
Yeah, they are completely agitated because they are not
39:14
getting what they want immediately.
39:16
But contrast that with a weaned child.
39:18
A weaned child rests quietly against its mother's chest.
39:22
The child is completely content just to be held.
39:25
The child trusts the parent without demanding an explanation
39:28
for every single movement the mother makes.
39:30
That is the highest posture of holy contentment.
39:33
The Wean child has learned through experience that the
39:35
parent is good and provides what is needed at the right time.
39:39
The commentators argue that the mature believer must reach a
39:42
point where they can say my times are in your hands.
39:45
I do not understand why this specific painful season has
39:47
arrived, but I know you are good and I will rest in your arms
39:51
without demanding an audit of your decisions.
39:53
We have covered a massive amount of ground today.
39:55
We have looked at how life is fleeting and vaporous.
39:58
We have looked at how God Florida State orchestrates the
40:01
calendar of human events down to the second.
40:03
We have seen how He deliberately hides the full picture to crush
40:06
our pride and how He offers daily joy and Christ's finished
40:10
work on the cross as our true rest.
40:13
The overall message from these sources is clear.
40:15
Do not waste your breath fighting the Sovereign decree.
40:18
You cannot edit his timeline, you cannot add to it, and you
40:21
cannot subtract from it. Your greatest wisdom is found in
40:24
reverent fear and humble joy in the present moment.
40:27
So I want to leave you, the listener, with a final
40:30
provocative thought. I want you to identify one
40:33
painful, confusing, or frustrating season in your life
40:36
right now. Look at your life.
40:38
Maybe it is a major career set back.
40:41
Maybe it is a chronic health issue that will not go away.
40:44
Maybe it is a severely strained relationship with a family
40:46
member. You have probably been trying to
40:48
rush past it. You've been trying to manipulate
40:50
it or constantly decode exactly why it is happening to you.
40:54
I challenge you to wake up tomorrow morning, sit still
40:57
within that exact season, and acknowledge it aloud as a
40:59
deliberate, unchangeable stroke of the masters brush.
41:03
Trust the Father's timing without demanding to see the
41:05
finished canvas on the other side, to trying to catch the fog
41:09
in the glass jar. Let the mist roll over you, fuel
41:12
the chill on your skin, and know that the Lord of the Weather is
41:14
holding you fast.