Lessons from the Rivers

 All the rivers run into the sea; 

yet the sea is not full;

unto the place from whence the rivers come, 

thither they return again. 

Ecclesiastes 1:7L

"Everything sublunary is on the move, 

time knows nothing of rest. 

The solid earth is a rolling ball, 

and the great sun himself a star obediently fulfilling its course around some greater luminary. 

Tides move the sea, 

winds stir the airy ocean, 

friction wears the rock: 

change and death rule everywhere. 

Men are born but to die: 

everything is hurry, worry, and vexation of spirit.

*Friend of the unchanging Jesus, what a joy it is to reflect upon thy changeless heritage; thy sea of bliss which will be for ever full, since God Himself shall pour eternal rivers of pleasure into it. 

*We seek an abiding city beyond the skies, and we shall not be disappointed. The passage before us may well teach us gratitude. Father Ocean is a great receiver, but he is a generous distributor. What the rivers bring him he returns to the earth in the form of clouds and rain.

That man is out of joint with the universe who takes all but makes no return." 

Charles Spurgeon

SIMPLIFYING the WRONG in this WORLD: (Eccl. 3:16,18,19)

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.  

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 

*For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 

Ecclesiastes 3:16,18,19

"The 

---abuse of power, 

---and the perversion of judgment, 

*have been justly complained of in every age of the world. 

Without the fear of the Lord, man is but vanity; set that aside, and judges will not use their power well. 

*Surely their case is lamentable, the height of whose hopes and wishes is, that they may die like beasts."

Adam Clarke /Matthew Henry

Main Lesson of Our "Shadow" in Time

For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, 

all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? 

for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun? 

 Ecclesiastes 6:12

 

"MAN at his very best is only man;.... In part, he is but red earth, as

Adam was when he came fresh from his Maker’s hand. 

 

As man is as light as vanity itself, Solomon urges that it is idle and vain for him to attempt to contend with God. He puts it thus in the 10th verse, “Neither may he contend with Him that is mightier than he.” 

 

---It is always unwise to contend with one who is mightier than yourself; but when the disparity is so great as between man and God, — the creature of an hour and the self -existent Creator, the poor feeble worm called man and the almighty invincible God, — you see at once what folly it is even to think of battling with Him."

Charles Spurgeon

IN the NEWS - Woke Policy and Eccl. 8:11

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Eccl. 8:11

 

Below is a story of what has become of California and it's radical leftist policies on crime by allowing stealing up to a certain dollar value, the defund the police movement and lack of targeting crime because of wokeness.....

 

"Looters hit San Francisco Bay-area stores for the third day in a row this week as a jewelry store was robbed in the Southland Mall in

Hayward and a Lululemon store was struck in San Jose.....a large mob of people created a huge disturbance inside the mall, as some 40 to 50 looters broke glass cases at Sam's Jewelers with hammers and other tools before fleeing.

"We saw all the other stores closing," one woman said who works near Sam's Jewelers. "They were panicking, so we were panicking and quickly closed our store and barricaded ourselves."

"It was very scary," another witness said. "People with no morals, no sense for other people's safety. I feel helpless. It's disturbing."

There was another robbery on Friday targeting a Louis Vuitton store among others in San Francisco's Union Square, one on Saturday at a Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, and another at marijuana dispensaries overnight in Oakland, the news outlet reported." JustNews

Zooming in on the Tale End of Eccl.3:11

 ....also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Eccl.3:11

 

"Two facts meet him antagonistic to one another: 

---the place that man occupies, 

---and the nature that man bears. 

This creature with eternity in his heart,.......A crowd of things, each well enough, but each having a time-and though they be beautiful in their time, yet fading.

 

....also he hath set the world in their heart.

The Hebrew for “world” (primarily, “the hidden”) is that which, in its adverbial or adjectival use, constantly appears in the English Version as “for ever,” “perpetual,” “everlasting,” “always,” “eternal,” and the like. 

No other meaning but that of a duration, the end or beginning of which is hidden from us, and which therefore is infinite, or, at least, indefinite, is ever connected with it in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and this is its uniform sense in this book.

 

We must however translate, as the nearest equivalent, He hath set eternity (or, the everlasting) in their heart. 

---The thought expressed is not that of the hope of an immortality, but rather the sense of the Infinite which precedes it, and out of which at last it grows. 

Man has the sense of an order perfect in its beauty. 

He has also the sense of a purpose working through the ages from everlasting to everlasting, but “beginning” and “end” are alike hidden from him and he fails to grasp it. 

 

In modern language he sees not “the beginning and the end,” the whence and the whither, of his own being, or of that of the Cosmos."

Wisdom from observing Dead Flies

--Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a
stinking savor:  

--so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.

Ecclesiastes 10:1

Ecclesiastes 3:17 & the Judgment

I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 

Ecclesiastes 3:17

 

"The sins of men are written in the books of God’s remembrance.

The blotting out of the sins of the righteous does therefore involve the examination of these books for this very purpose. That the sins of men are thus written, is plainly revealed in the Scriptures.  

“For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, said the Lord God.” Jeremiah 2:22.

 

THE judgment of the great day is an event certain to take place. “He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” Acts 17:31. What God hath appointed is sure to come in due time. The resurrection of Christ is an assurance to all men of the final judgment. 

 

The work to be accomplished is of immense magnitude. 

The judgment relates 

(1) to all the righteous; 

(2) to all the wicked; 

(3) to all the evil angels. 

The number of cases, therefore, to be acted upon at this grand tribunal exceeds our powers of conception. 

 

1. The righteous are to judge the wicked; yet the righteous are themselves to pass the test of the judgment. 

Whence it follows that the judgment must pass upon the righteous before they can sit in judgment upon the wicked.
This is a very important proposition. That it is truthful we know from the express testimony of the Scriptures.
“Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be

judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?” 1 Corinthians 6:2,3.

“I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” Daniel 7:21. 22.
Here is the exalted work of the saints in the judgment. They are to take part in the examination of the cases of all wicked men and fallen angels. 

---But this is not to be till they have been changed to immortality, and exalted to thrones of glory. They do not, therefore, have their cases decided at the same time with the wicked.

 

2. The trump of God sounds as the Savior descends from heaven. When that trump is heard, all the righteous are, in the twinkling of an eye, changed to immortality. 

 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 14:42-44. 51,52.

There can be no examination after this to determine whether they shall be counted worthy of eternal life, for they will then have already laid hold upon it. 

---From this it follows that the examination and decision of the cases of the righteous takes place before the advent of Christ. The resurrection of the righteous to immortality is decisive proof that they have then already passed the test of the judgment. 

 

This period of investigative judgment is ushered in by a solemn proclamation to the inhabitants of the earth; and this investigative work embraces the closing years of human probation. This is a very important statement.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6,7.
The gospel of Christ is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes.” Romans 1:16. 

No other gospel than this can be preached, not even by an angel from heaven. Galatians 1:8. Whence it follows that the angel of Revelation 14:6,7, preaching the everlasting gospel, represents some part of the
great gospel proclamation. It is a part of that preaching which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. 

This fact alone is decisive that this proclamation concerning the hour of God’s judgment must be made while human probation still lasts. 

 

Two other solemn announcements follows. 

And it is evident that the human family are still upon probation, when the third angel declares that “if any man worship the beast . . . the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God. . . . Here is the patience of the saints.” This is a consecutive prophecy, as several expressions plainly indicate. And it is to be observed that the Son of man is seen upon the white cloud after all these solemn proclamations have been made.

That this announcement of the hour of God’s judgment precedes the advent of Christ, and is addressed to men while yet in probation, the fourteenth chapter of Revelation clearly proves." J.N. Andrews

Ecclesiastes 5:7 Your Talk is Cheap; Like Your Daydreams

For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. KJV

Talk is cheap, like daydreams 

and other useless activities. 

Fear God instead. NLT

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. 

Therefore fear God. NIV

For, in the abundance of dreams both vanities and words abound; 

but fear thou God. YLT

For when dreams increase, 

empty words grow many: but do you fear God. RSV

"If, by the disturbed state of thy mind during the day, or by Satanic influence, thou dream of evil, do not give way to any unreasonable fears, or gloomy forebodings, of any coming mischief: 

- FEAR GOD. 

Fear neither the dream nor its interpretation; God, will take care of and protect thee." Adam Clarke 

 

"The words or arguments which you might think of using to justify yourself, are as vain as dreams." Thomas Coke 

 

"Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from

current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which participants spend 47% of their waking time on average on daydreaming.In the recent research, identified costs of daydreaming outnumber the potential benefits. Mooneyham and Schooler reviewed studies published from 1995 and found 29 studies related to costs compared to only 6 recent studies arguing functional benefits of daydreaming." wiki

--The Verse that "Keeps it Real"--

The wise man's eyes are in his head, 

but the fool walks in darkness. 

 ---And yet I know that one fate befalls them both.--- 

Ecclesiastes 2:14 ASV

 

"The same sickness, the same sword, devours wise men and fools.

Am I rich? So is many a Nabal that fares as sumptuously as I do." 

MatthewHenry

Understanding Ecclesiastes 7:14

In the day of prosperity be joyful, 

but in the day of adversity consider: 

God also hath set the one over against the other, 

 ---to the end that man should find nothing after him. KJV

------Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. NIV

------so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. ESV

Ecclesiastes 7:14

 

"Observe, 

(1.) How the appointments and events of Providence are counter changed. In this world, at the same time, some are in prosperity, others are in adversity; the same persons at one time are in great prosperity, at another time in great adversity; 

Day and night, summer and winter, are set the one over against the other, that in prosperity we may rejoice as though we rejoiced not, and in adversity may weep as though we wept not, for we may plainly see the one from the other and quickly exchange the one for the other.

(2.) How we must comply with the will of God in events of both kinds. Our religion, in general, must be the same in all conditions.

*When ye receive these temporal gifts from God, enjoy them, and be thankful to the Giver: 

--but remember, this sunshine will not always last. 

--God has balanced prosperity and adversity against each other;

--and were it not so, how many would put the former in the place of God himself!" MatthewHenry/AdamClarke

Brief Summary of Ecclesiastes 3: the Wheel of Nature

"In the wheel of nature (And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; James 3:6) sometimes one spoke is uppermost and by and by the contrary;

there is a constant ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning; from one extreme to the other does the fashion of this world change, ever did, and ever will. ...To-morrow shall be as this day (the lowest valleys join to the highest mountains).

 

Solomon having shown the vanity of studies, pleasures, and business, and made it to appear that happiness is not to be found in the schools of the learned....he proceeds, in this chapter, further to prove his doctrine, and the inference he had drawn from it, That therefore we should cheerfully content ourselves with, and make use of, what God has given us, by showing,

• I. The mutability of all human affairs (v. 1-10).
• II. The immutability of the divine counsels concerning them and the unsearchableness of those counsels (v. 11-15).
• III. The vanity of worldly honor and power, which are abused for the support of oppression and persecution if men be not governed by the fear of God in the use of them (v. 16). For a check to proud oppressors, and to show them their vanity, he reminds them,
  • 1. That they will be called to account for it in the other world (v. 17).
  • 2. That their condition, in reference to this world (for of that he speaks), is no better than that of the beasts (v. 18-21). And therefore he concludes that it is our wisdom to make use of what power we have for our own comfort, and not to oppress others with it." MatthewHenry