Ishmael
January 29th 2003, 08:10 PM
Consider what God has done:
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
a righteous man perishing in his righteousness,
and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise-
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool-
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
The man who fears God will avoid all extremes .
In the Army we have a couple of expressions that come to mind when dealing with this scripture passage:
"Suck it up and drive on!" came to mind...
as well as, "You gotta deal with it."
But theologically this scripture is dealing with the reality of The Sovereignty of God. Because I think the wisdom of Ecclesiastes is more about the questions we all have about the sovereignty of God, than anything else.
The Futility of living life apart from God is self-evident when we understand that God is Sovereign of all. He is the Creator, Author, and Sustainer of all life. And our purpose is, by His Grace, to Glorify and Enjoy Him forever.
I. A Sovereign God Created the Universe (v. 14)
I went to hear RC Sproul, Jr one interesting evening and I learned a good bit about how the reformers thought about this doctrine, "The Sovereignty of God."
He used this illustration.. he said that if God had said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that their job was to "'Stand on the Right foot for all of eternity or he would kill them." He could have dont this... and He would have been RIGHT, because he is God.
God created the world from nothing, like many theologians like to say, "EX NIHILO."
This Latin expression "ex nihilo", which means "out of nothing", is often used to describe the act of creation as recorded in the Bible.
The expression is close to the Greek terms found in the Apocryphal book
2 Macabees 7:28. There it says, "my son, look upon heaven and earth and all that is in them, and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind also". Literally it would be rendered, "not from existing things did God make...".
"Though the words "out of nothing" are not directly found in the Bible, they represent a theological idea that, if understood in the way intended here, is clearly and necessarily deduced from Scripture.
Though Creation did not originate from any pre-existant matter or its counter-part in energy, it did begin from something....
It originated in the decree and power of God who exists eternally. But God used nothing outside of himself in his creation of the physical universe. The whole matter-energy continuum which we now observe, had its origin in the intent and power of the eternal Creator."
And so the author of Ecclesiastes says,
"God has made the one
as well as the other."
John 1:3 "All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Isaiah 33:6 "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host"
What's more, All three persons of the Trinity involved in this creation...
God the Father worked in creation:
1 Corinthians 8:6 "there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him..."
Hebrews 1:2 God who... "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." [the Father working through the Son]
God the Son worked in creation:
John 1:3 of Jesus as the WORD "all things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Colossians 1:16-18 "in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
God the Holy Spirit worked in creation:
Genesis 1:2 "and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters"
Job 26:13 "By His breath (Spirit) the heavens are cleared (made beautiful)"
Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God has made me..."
II. A Sovereign God Authored His Creation (v.14)
Like any good author, our Divine author paid a good deal of attention to the details of his creation. He created each and everyone of us as unique as his own person in his image.
He created a multitude of creatures and various gegography and stars of the universe in abundance. And all of this he did for his own Good pleasure, and for no other reason.
Colossians 1:16 "...all things have been created through Him and for Him"
Ephesians 1:11 "...who works all things after the counsel of His will"
Romans 11:36 "for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
Isaiah 60:21 "...the work of my hands, that I may be glorified"
Ephesians 3:9-10 "...God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."
Psalm 19:1 "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and the firmament is declaring the work of His hands."
Romans 1:20 "for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse"
"Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future."
By this wisdom you are not supposed to to learn that God is somehow in heaven devising Bad things for you. But you should learn that God is the over-all master of the Good and the Bad things in life.
Job 1:
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.
Job's First Test
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD , and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD , "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD .
It's not God sending the Bad circumstances to Job, but it's God who is alowing those bad things to happen to Job for God is the Master, Ruler, and King of HIS universe and nothing happens which is beyond his sight or beyond his power to modify in any way he desires according to his own good pleasure. God is the MASTER of LIFE and without God there is no life.
III. A Sovereign God is the Sustainer of all of Creation
The very gift of our lives is wraped up in the grace of our loving King. Each day we awake and experience once again the life that God has freely given to us by his grace. The grace that covers the whole world. THE Universe owes its origin and continued existence to the will of God.
Paul, Colossians 1:16-17, NRSV
"for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
"in him all things hold together." This reminds me of a parable that Jesus taught concerning that farmer who thought that he was a "Self-Made" man.
Turn to Luke 12: 16...
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
One philosopher has said, "God is not a God of the edges, with a vested interest in beginnings. God is the God of all times and all places" He is the sustainer of all life, your life, and mine.. and
"a man cannot discover
anything about his future."
Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
a righteous man perishing in his righteousness,
and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise-
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool-
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
The man who fears God will avoid all extremes .
In the Army we have a couple of expressions that come to mind when dealing with this scripture passage:
"Suck it up and drive on!" came to mind...
as well as, "You gotta deal with it."
But theologically this scripture is dealing with the reality of The Sovereignty of God. Because I think the wisdom of Ecclesiastes is more about the questions we all have about the sovereignty of God, than anything else.
The Futility of living life apart from God is self-evident when we understand that God is Sovereign of all. He is the Creator, Author, and Sustainer of all life. And our purpose is, by His Grace, to Glorify and Enjoy Him forever.
I. A Sovereign God Created the Universe (v. 14)
I went to hear RC Sproul, Jr one interesting evening and I learned a good bit about how the reformers thought about this doctrine, "The Sovereignty of God."
He used this illustration.. he said that if God had said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that their job was to "'Stand on the Right foot for all of eternity or he would kill them." He could have dont this... and He would have been RIGHT, because he is God.
God created the world from nothing, like many theologians like to say, "EX NIHILO."
This Latin expression "ex nihilo", which means "out of nothing", is often used to describe the act of creation as recorded in the Bible.
The expression is close to the Greek terms found in the Apocryphal book
2 Macabees 7:28. There it says, "my son, look upon heaven and earth and all that is in them, and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind also". Literally it would be rendered, "not from existing things did God make...".
"Though the words "out of nothing" are not directly found in the Bible, they represent a theological idea that, if understood in the way intended here, is clearly and necessarily deduced from Scripture.
Though Creation did not originate from any pre-existant matter or its counter-part in energy, it did begin from something....
It originated in the decree and power of God who exists eternally. But God used nothing outside of himself in his creation of the physical universe. The whole matter-energy continuum which we now observe, had its origin in the intent and power of the eternal Creator."
And so the author of Ecclesiastes says,
"God has made the one
as well as the other."
John 1:3 "All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Isaiah 33:6 "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host"
What's more, All three persons of the Trinity involved in this creation...
God the Father worked in creation:
1 Corinthians 8:6 "there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him..."
Hebrews 1:2 God who... "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." [the Father working through the Son]
God the Son worked in creation:
John 1:3 of Jesus as the WORD "all things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Colossians 1:16-18 "in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
God the Holy Spirit worked in creation:
Genesis 1:2 "and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters"
Job 26:13 "By His breath (Spirit) the heavens are cleared (made beautiful)"
Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God has made me..."
II. A Sovereign God Authored His Creation (v.14)
Like any good author, our Divine author paid a good deal of attention to the details of his creation. He created each and everyone of us as unique as his own person in his image.
He created a multitude of creatures and various gegography and stars of the universe in abundance. And all of this he did for his own Good pleasure, and for no other reason.
Colossians 1:16 "...all things have been created through Him and for Him"
Ephesians 1:11 "...who works all things after the counsel of His will"
Romans 11:36 "for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
Isaiah 60:21 "...the work of my hands, that I may be glorified"
Ephesians 3:9-10 "...God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."
Psalm 19:1 "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and the firmament is declaring the work of His hands."
Romans 1:20 "for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse"
"Who can straighten
what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other.
Therefore, a man cannot discover
anything about his future."
By this wisdom you are not supposed to to learn that God is somehow in heaven devising Bad things for you. But you should learn that God is the over-all master of the Good and the Bad things in life.
Job 1:
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.
Job's First Test
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD , and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD , "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD .
It's not God sending the Bad circumstances to Job, but it's God who is alowing those bad things to happen to Job for God is the Master, Ruler, and King of HIS universe and nothing happens which is beyond his sight or beyond his power to modify in any way he desires according to his own good pleasure. God is the MASTER of LIFE and without God there is no life.
III. A Sovereign God is the Sustainer of all of Creation
The very gift of our lives is wraped up in the grace of our loving King. Each day we awake and experience once again the life that God has freely given to us by his grace. The grace that covers the whole world. THE Universe owes its origin and continued existence to the will of God.
Paul, Colossians 1:16-17, NRSV
"for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
"in him all things hold together." This reminds me of a parable that Jesus taught concerning that farmer who thought that he was a "Self-Made" man.
Turn to Luke 12: 16...
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
One philosopher has said, "God is not a God of the edges, with a vested interest in beginnings. God is the God of all times and all places" He is the sustainer of all life, your life, and mine.. and
"a man cannot discover
anything about his future."