Exposition of Ecclesiastes – Rev.T. Miersma

A long-standing tradition in the Reformed periodical, The Standard Bearer, is a rubric involving extended expositions of portions of holy Scripture. At present that rubric is called “Search the Scriptures”, shared by Rev.T. Mierma (pastor of Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, AB, Canada) and Mr. D.Doezema.

Under that rubric Rev.Miersma has been doing a series on the OT book of Ecclesiastes, not an easy book to study and understand. But through sound Reformed hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) and careful exposition Rev.Miersma is making clear this part of God’s Word, so that we may grow in wisdom in Jesus Christ.

The latest installment from his pen explained Eccles.6:3-5, under the title “The Better Lot of One Stillborn”, and included these comments on the text (reminding us that the way of wisdom is also avoiding the folly of the ungodly):

The wicked man also comes into the world in vanity and darkness, but it is the spiritual darkness of sin and death. In that darkness of sin he labors and toils. “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up, mire and dirt.” Isaiah 57:20. And for such, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isaiah 57:21. He walks in the darkness of enmity against God and will not come to the light. He labors and toils for the vanity of this world because he himself is vanity and in vanity he came into the world. Never is he filled with good. He sees the sun, the glory of God’s works under it, passes his days upon earth under the light of the sun and the truth of God is not hidden from him. But his soul is in darkness and he follows after vanity. He too knows not any thing.   Intellect, craft, or skill he may have, but true spiritual knowledge he does not have. It is a world in the folly of sin in which he toils.  Its learning, for all its complexity, is still spiritual darkness. Of that which fills the soul with good the wicked man also knows not any thing. It is not given him of God.

He seeks to leave his name in the earth, giving to lands and houses his name, seeking a memorial after him. But death carries him away. His name and place, though they endured through many years of labor and toil, are taken from him. God himself erases his name and place, and passing into the darkness of death, his name is covered in darkness and his place remembers him no more.

What rest, then – even in the grave – does such a man have, who has labored all his life with the ceaseless activity of sin for the vanity of this world? All his treasure is lost to him. The stillborn has more rest than he. And if he does not even have a burial, even that dignity is taken from him. “For the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” (Psalm 34:16).

By way of contrast how blessed are God’s children: “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate” (Psalm 34:22).

February 1, 2015 Standard Bearer (Vol.91, No.9), 201-202.

The Right Balance (in Work and Rest) – Scott Redd

The Right Balance by Scott Redd | Reformed Theology Articles at Ligonier.org.

The third feature article on this month’s “TT” theme (“Labor and Rest: Finding the Right Balance”) is the one linked above.

Penned by Dr. Scott Redd, president and associate professor of OT at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., the article points us to the way to find the “right balance” in our labor and rest by helping us see the two extremes to be avoided – what he calls “work idolatry” (workaholism) and “rest idolatry” (sloth or laziness).

I found much profit in Redd’s thoughts and share a portion of them here. The quotation below is from the part of his article where he is describing the extreme of work idolatry, and showing us the importance of the rest God built into our lives by His own work and rest in the beginning.

The life that is marked by extended restlessness does not merely indicate a lack of wisdom; it indicates rebellion. We can see the weight of Sabbath-keeping in the way that humanity is called to care for the land throughout the Old Testament. In the Genesis account, God forms the man adam from the ground adamah (Gen. 2:7), closely connecting the two. He charges man to care for and rule over the ground, a charge that is often referred to as the “cultural mandate” (Gen. 1:28). Moses taught that such a charge over the land in Israel included the responsibility to set aside certain seasons of rest when the land ceased from the difficult work of producing food for God’s people (Lev. 25:1-7). Rest for the land was so significant that the failure of the Israelites in this regard is the trigger that Moses (Lev. 26:34) and the Chronicler (2 Chron. 36:20-21) give for the exile—the land had not been allowed its proper Sabbaths. Such passages should sober us since they indicate that a personal rejection of rest may result in a divine imposition of it.

We resist rest to our own detriment because it is through rest that we find rejuvenation and renewal for the work to come. More primarily, it is through rest that we acknowledge the Lord who calls us to this life of work and rest. Therefore, we ought to work and rest to His glory (1 Cor. 10:31).