Ecclesiastes 9: Living in Hope Now by Looking at Death in the Face

Tomorrow night our men’s Bible study group will begin a new summer season by resuming our study of Ecclesiastes, this year picking up at chapter 9. In preparation, I have been reading in Gordon Keddies’ fine commentary on this OT book, titled Looking for the Good Life: The Search for Fulfillment in the Light of Ecclesiastes (P&R, 1991).

Keddie titles his commentary on chap.9:1-10 “Live in Hope!”, and it is from this section that I quote tonight. I found his comments instructive for how we as believers live in hope in the here and now while surrounded by a world bent on vanity and hopelessness. It has to do with how we face that last enemy, death. Read and learn:

     The living, in contrast [to the dead who “know nothing”, v.5b], have a great advantage. They ‘know that they will die’ (9:5a)! The sheer austerity of the statement takes one’s breath away! We who are alive have hope because (Qoheleth argues) we know that we will die some day! It seems almost trite or even derisive to suggest an idea like this. How can the inevitability of death become an engine of living hope?

The answer is found in the nature of biblical paradox. What seems so contradictory is in fact inseparably related and, in the plan of God, is designed to do us good. On an earlier occasion, Qoheleth [taken from the Hebrew name for the book] told us that ‘the day of death [is] better than the day of birth’ (7:1b). The reason for this, as we saw, was in the paradox that, if we are willing to think seriously about these things, death reaches into our inner-most being in such a way as to profoundly change the pattern of our future lives, whereas birthdays represent backward-looking sentiment that has no power to mold whatever future years God may give us.

In other words, we can take the prospect of death, concentrate our minds on where we are now, and redeem the days ahead in devotion to the Lord. Then, as that sublime biblical expositor, Archbishop Robert Leighton, so beautifully expressed it, ‘Death which cuts the sinews of all other hopes, and turns men out of all other inheritances, alone fulfills this hope, and ends it in fruition; as a messenger sent to bring the children of God home to the possession of their inheritance.’

So death, the enemy, is defeated by grace. And the first step in that transformation from defeat into victory is to look death squarely in the face in God’s terms and realize that there is a life in live, in Jesus Christ, that death shall never conquer. That is true hope (120).

Comfort for Suffering Saints – J.Zanchius

I have referred to and quoted from “Grace Gems” devotionals many times, and yesterday’s (Saturday, May 2, 2015) was another outstanding one It is taken from Jerome Zanchius’ (or Zanchi) work on God’s sovereign predestination. This is taken from the section where Zanchius applies the truth of God’s absolute sovereignty to the suffering of God’s people (edited for easier reading and use).

No matter what form your suffering now takes, may these words bring us to our knees before our almighty Father – in submission, in worship, and in prayer. As God over ALL, He alone is worthy to be adored and praised!

Comfort for Suffering Saints!

(Jerome Zanchius, 1516-1590)

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son!” Romans 8:28-29

The sovereignty of God is a comfort for suffering saints, acting to remove anxiety. How sweet must the following considerations be to a distressed believer!

1. There most certainly exists an almighty, all-wise and infinitely gracious God (Hebrews 11:6).

2. His love for His elect people is immutable; He never repents of it nor withdraws it (Jeremiah 31:3).

3. Whatever comes to pass in time, is the result of His sovereign will from everlasting (1 Corinthians 8:6).

4. Consequently my afflictions are a part of His sovereign will, and are all ordered in number, weight, and measure (Psalm 22:24).

5. The very hairs of my head (every one) are counted by Him; nor can a single hair fall to the ground but in consequence of His wise determination (Luke 12:7).

6. Hence my afflictions and distresses are not the result of chance, accident, or a fortuitous combination of circumstances (Psalm 56:8).

7. They are the providential accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose (Romans 8:28), and are designed to answer some wise and gracious ends (James 5:10-11).

8. Nor shall my affliction continue a moment longer than God sees fit (2 Corinthians 7:6-7).

9. He who brought the affliction to me–has promised to support me under it and to carry me through it (Psalm 34:15-17).

10. All shall, most assuredly, work together for His glory and my good.

11. Therefore, “Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?” (John 18:11).

However keenly afflictions might wound us on their first access–yet, under the impression of such animating views, we should quickly come to ourselves again, and the arrows of affliction, would, in great measure lose their sharpness.

Christians need nothing but absolute resignation to God’s wise and gracious Providence, to render them perfectly happy in every possible circumstance. And absolute resignation can only flow from an absolute belief of, and an absolute acquiescence in, God’s absolute Providence, founded on His absolute predestination (1 Thessalonians 1:2-4).