Ecclesiastes 3:1-7
Ecclesiastes
3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to
every purpose under the heaven:
Now Solomon turns more to the reality of life on earth.
He states that there is a season which means an appointed time for
everything that happens on earth and those seasons are appointed for the purpose
of God to be fulfilled upon earth.
Each purpose and season has a time frame which means a beginning and an end.
December 6, 1965 the Byrds made a song out of this portion of
Ecclesiastes, it was called “Turn, Turn, Turn.”
I hit my teens in the 60s and I must honestly say that even musicians
like the Byrds had respect for the Scriptures and sang the song properly.
Many musicians and groups were not afraid to sing spiritual songs even
though most were not believers.
Judy Collins sang Amazing Grace.
The Seekers sang “Kumbaya” and “Study War no More.”
Hee-Haw Gospel Quartet sang “Gone Home.”
Peter, Paul and Mary sang “Go Tell it on the Mountain to Let my People
Go.”
Ecclesiastes
3:2
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Verses 2 to 8 contain 28 specific times which are given
in 14 pairs of opposites of each other.
First and foremost is that every human being on earth had to be born
except Adam and Eve who were created as adults.
Then there is an appointed time to die for every person on earth.
And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment:
(Hebrews 9:27) Death
just doesn’t happen as a random thing but it is an appointed time.
People think that even if they commit suicide that they are in control of
their fate. Not so and here is
proof of that fallacy:
Two People
Attempt Suicide off Empire State Building
The
Empire State Building is a 102-storeyed skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan,
New York City. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 Meters) and stood as the
world’s tallest building for nearly 40 years. December 2, 1979
Elvita Adams attempted suicide but survived the
jump when by a 30 mph gust of wind which carried her to the ledge of the 85th
floor from where she was rescued by the security guards; she was miraculously
alive and landed with a broken hip. Furthermore, On April 25, 2013, a man jumped
off from the 86th floor observation deck but landed alive on the 85th
floor from where the security guards managed to bring him inside the building
where he suffered only minor injuries.
Then there is a time to plant flowers and vegetables and
the food needed for life and then when the plants have fully matured they are
then harvested. Planting takes
place at different times around the world for different crops such as winter
wheat and figs. Then spiritually
speaking the true believer is born of incorruptible seed.
Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)
The believer lives on earth for a period of time and then the earth is
harvested on the last day when all the believers are taken to Heaven.
The
enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the
reapers are the angels. (Matthew
13:39)
Ecclesiastes
3:3
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down,
and a time to build up;
Then there is a time to kill which can be done by the
law, murderers, or being in an incident.
Accident is not a good word to use because there is no such thing as an
accident in the kingdom of God. We
are learning that everything is appointed under Heaven and there is nothing
random. Then there is a time to
heal the physical wounds and also the spiritual wounds.
But when Jesus heard that, he said
unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
(Matthew 9:12) Then
there is a time to break down or destroy things on the earth such as houses or
buildings or natural places using weapons of war or just construction taking
down old buildings and building new buildings as one generation goes and another
comes. To build up would be to
replace those things the former generations have built.
For example, a bridge may get old or become structurally weak because of
all the usage and a new one would have to be built.
Ecclesiastes
3:4
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;
Then there comes a time to weep when we weep for those
loved ones or friends that have died or suffered great loss.
Then there is also an appointed time to laugh and be happy such as at a
wedding. I remember in 1974 a good
friend of mine had died from Hodgkins disease and we attended his funeral, the
next day we attended a wedding. We
went from weeping to laughter within a 24 hour period.
Then we have a time of mourning after the funeral of those who have died
or after a national tragedy. Then
there is an appointed time to dance when happiness over something has happened.
Thou hast turned for me my
mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with
gladness; (Psalm 30:11)
Knowing the LORD can take a situation of sadness and turn it into
gladness. When the Ark of the
Covenant was finally retrieved and brought back to Jerusalem, David danced
before the LORD.
And David danced before the LORD with all
his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.
(2 Samuel 6:14)
Ecclesiastes
3:5
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
In ancient times servants were dispatched to clear rocks
from a proposed site of a vineyard.
Some fell upon stony places, where they
had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness
of earth: (Matthew 13:5)
The Lord spoke about the word of God falling upon stony places which did
not have much earth. In a physical
vineyard, if rocks or stones are not cleared out then the trees will be unable
to grow because the roots of the trees would not be able to spread out and gain
nourishment for the tree. Then
there is a time to gather the stones together for the purpose of building with
them. They could be used to build a rock fence or used to build a house or a
foundation as we see in so many ancient ruins.
Then there is a time to embrace which is not only the
sensual embracing of a husband and wife but it is also the embracing of family
members or friends such as when Esau and Jacob met after a long time they
embraced each other.
And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced
him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
(Genesis 33:4) Then
there is an appointed time to refrain from embracing especially when calamitous
times or afflictions come and the time for embracing is saved for when the
troubling times are finished.
Sometimes the embracing must be curtailed when there is friction among friends
or family and it must be resolved.
Sometimes embracing can be phony and that is when discernment is needed like in
the Mafia, they give you a kiss on the cheek while embracing you and the next
thing you have a bullet in your head.
Ecclesiastes
3:6
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a
time to cast away;
Then there is a time to get and that may include the
getting of wisdom, material things, honor or glory for oneself, etc.
The word “get” carries with it the meaning of “search.”
A person may search out the things of this world in hopes of getting
goods for themselves. Then, since
no one can keep their gathered possessions beyond this earth, there will be a
time when a person loses all their earthly goods.
It may come at the time of their death or it may be by bad choices they
have made in their life. It is not
uncommon for a person to have wealth and then lose it by making a series of bad
decisions. Then there comes a time
when a person keeps what they have.
The word “keep” carries with it the meaning of “guard or protect.”
A person may attempt to keep whatever they have under tight guard to
prevent anyone from stealing it.
Their wealth may be their fortress but the Bible speaks about riches being
deceitful.
And the cares of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the
word, and it becometh unfruitful.
(Mark 4:19) No matter how hard
a person guards their wealth, there is going to come a time when they have to
give it away not by desire but by necessity.
On October 28, 1949 Jim Elliott wrote in
his journal, for: "He is no fool who
gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Many times
Christians attempt to amass wealth in this world and have trouble giving it
away. Here Jim Elliott is stating
that to give our material goods for the spread of the gospel turns a person from
being a wealth-building fool into a wise person for the sake of the gospel.
Ecclesiastes
3:7
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak;
Then there comes a time when a garment may be rend or
torn. It was done at a time when
grief was high and the rending of the garment revealed great grief in the life
of that person. Then there would
come a time that the garment would be sown back together which would mean a
healing of the individual. In Joel
there is listed a different type of rending.
And rend your heart, and not your
garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
(Joel 2:13) The rending
of the garments should be secondary to the rending of the heart.
One of the outward signs of repentance and sorrow was the rending of the
clothes.
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard
those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and
fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
(1 Kings 21:27) Ahab had
sincerely repented of his evil ways and his outward sign was the rending or
tearing of his clothes which was a sign of contrition.
Here the LORD is not interested in the tearing of the clothes but of the
heart.
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your
heart, and be no more stiffnecked. (Deuteronomy 10:16)
They were to repent of their sins from the heart and not from outward
ceremony. Once their heart was
right with the Lord, then they could turn back to him in truth and not just
ceremony. Once they do that, then
the LORD would meet them with mercy and grace forgiving them.
Then there comes time to keep silence. But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habakkuk 2:20) As the true believer waits to hear from the Lord many times we speak constantly and never wait to hear the response from the LORD. There is also a time in our personal lives when we need to restrain from speaking especially when friends or family members are grieving. We just need to be there. Job’s friends waited 7 days before they started speaking and the time of silence gives us the time to assess things. Once we know the situation then we are able to speak intelligently. Then we could become part of the solution and not the problem. There is also a time we need to speak the gospel and a time to listen to others.