Remember Your Creator
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth (v1a)
Ecc 12 and 1 Cor 15 -
I. Remember your Creator, who made you from dust, because you will return to dust (vv1-7)
I. Remember your Creator, who made you from dust, because you will return to dust (vv1-7)
<<READ 1-7>>
This is Solomon’s conclusion - expanding on chapter 11’s focus on the coming of death and judgment in light of who God is. ((Remember your Creator == Gen 1:1, “In the beginning, God created”; v7 - God made Adam from dust))
3 “befores” - vv1, 2, 6 - First one tells us what the metaphors in verses 2-6 are all about. (READ v1) - “evil days” - days of catastrophe
vv2-5 - vivid picture of the Day of Judgment -
Many try to attach allegorical meaning (“keepers of the house” = hands; “strong men” = legs; “grinders” = teeth), but not necessary. Would still be a picture of catastrophe.
Like the combination of a devastating storm and a coming battle/army.
Both images point to Day of Judgment or Day of the Lord
10 The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 11 The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?
Same in Ezek, Zeph, Isaiah, Amos
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
This is a picture of a final catastrophe after other ones. The city is already decimated, so the grinders are few. And with the normal sounds of the city gone, even a bird can startle you.
The crops are already washed away, but the clouds have returned after the rain. Life seems to stop and go on at the same time - the almond tree blossoms, but with the crops ruined, the grasshopper just drags himself along.
In verse 5, he tells us that the reason all this is happening is that “man is going to his eternal home.” And Solomon uses the word “Adam” here - not just A man, but MAN. Mankind.
The third “before” is in verse 6. <<READ vv6-7>>
Silver and gold, or pottery and wood, all end up broken. The noble and the rich, the common and the poor, none escapes.
Remember your Creator now, before the clouds return.
See, last week,
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
Perhaps you’ve come out of a dark period, the clouds parted, and you see the sun as the gift from God that it is.
This moment is a gift - that you would Remember Him - before the clouds return and you say, “I have no pleasure in them.”
Remember your Creator,
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
II. Remember your Creator, because all is vanity (v8)
II. Remember your Creator, because all is vanity (v8)
Solomon completes his quest as he began, in verse 8. <<READ v8>>
The dark, beautiful poem he began with in chapter 1 focused on the problem of death in a fallen world.
What’s life without God? Nothing but a succession of breaths.
Now, he’s back at square one. But it’s not the same.
In chapter 1, the problem of death is that it erases everything, and the sun keeps on rolling around, and generation succeeds generation, and no one will remember those who came before.
But this time, when we read Solomon’s words, we’re armed with Solomon’s partial answer to the problem. All things are hevel, but remember your Creator, because your spirit will return to Him.
And he will not forget us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
Perhaps you remember back in Ecc 1, I said:
Death is the most concrete thing in the world, it makes men inanimate. And Jesus says that God demands your spirit back when you die, not for kudos but for judgment.
But the Gospel says that God remembers us. That every puff of hevel under the sun becomes a Hallelujah in light of the Resurrection for those who are born again by His Holy Spirit.
See, Solomon asked the question, but Jesus had the answer. The answer to death is an indestructible life. (John 3:16, 11:25-26)
Now it’s time to see how this all works together.
In chapters 1-2, Solomon realized that wisdom without God was misery; So remember your Creator.
In chapter 3, he said that
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Your Creator made you to ponder the nature of time and beauty, to love what is beautiful and good, and to hate what is evil, including the problem of death.
In chapter 6, he warns us of the man who had every luxury imaginable, but could not rejoice in any of God’s blessings; his soul wasn’t satisfied, because it was not satisfied in God. And in chapter 11, he tells us
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
So, rejoice in your youth the way you were meant to. Before the days come when you say, “I have no pleasure in them,” before the clouds return after the rain and blot it out, Remember your Creator who gave you eyes to revel in the everything that He has made beautiful in its time.
In chapter 7, he tells us that
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.
So remember your Creator now, so that your mourning over the problem of death can be the foundation for true, lasting joy in the promises of God.
In chapter 9, Solomon said
2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.
The silver cord and the golden bowl meet the same fate as the clay pitcher and wooden wheel. So Remember your Creator now, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Solomon’s conclusion here is word-for-word the same as the starting point in chapter 1.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
But the promise of salvation that permeates every page of Scripture, from God’s words to Adam and Eve in the Garden, to His covenant with Abraham, and the rescue of Israel from Egypt, to the words through the prophets,
But the promise of salvation is that it would not always be hevel.
III. Remember your Creator, who will raise you from the dust (1 Corinthians 15)
III. Remember your Creator, who will raise you from the dust (1 Corinthians 15)
The dust returns to the earth and the spirit to God who gave it.
But the LORD took Ezekiel to the valley full of dry bones, and He promised to breathe life into them. This is a promise of the Resurrection in the New Covenant:
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”
In the book of Daniel, chapter 12, the Lord promises that at the end of time,
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
The answer to the problem of death is Resurrection.
And this is why, when Paul summarized the Gospel, he did not say "believe in Jesus and go to heaven when you die.” He said,
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
The Good News of Jesus Christ is the complete answer to the Ecclesiastes problem of vanity, death, and toil.
See, Paul absolutely agrees with Solomon about the problem of death. But some of the Corinthians had misunderstood. They believed that Jesus was raised from the dead, but they did not realize that the resurrection of Jesus was the surprising way that God had accomplished our salvation, so that when He returns, we would be resurrected with him.
See, the heart of the Gospel is that because Jesus died for us, our sins are forgiven; and because He was raised for us, we will also share in His indestructible life in the New Heavens and New Earth.
Paul tells the Corinthians, if there’s no resurrection from the dead, where you will be resurrected, then not even Christ has been resurrected. And, in
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
But he goes on,
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
This is the same Resurrection we read about in Revelation 21-22. And when Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus,
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Martha’s answer shows that she believed in the Resurrection.
Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 15, telling us when the Resurrection will happen:
23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Jesus Christ is God’s answer - all the promises of God find their Yes in Him.
And He is the Resurrection.
Resurrection sets the Bible apart from every man-made religious system. Only here, in God’s holy Word, will you find the promised answer to the problem of vanity, toil, and death.
Paul says that at the Resurrection, your body will be like Christ’s own resurrection body.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Solomon says that man is going to his eternal home - and in that verse, he uses the word “Adam” to refer to mankind.
At death, the dust returns to the earth as it was. And Resurrection has an answer to that, too.
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
And I don’t know if Paul had Ecclesiastes in mind when he wrote this chapter, but think about everything we’ve seen throughout the series.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
And “How the wise dies just like the fool!”
But Paul says,
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
When you read those words, “Vanity of vanity… All is vanity,” the answer is not just forgiveness. Not just heaven. Resurrection. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Him, your labor is not in vain. Remember your Creator, who has promised in Revelation 21, “I am making all things new.”
III. Remember your Savior (1 Cor 11)
III. Remember your Savior (1 Cor 11)
Jesus gave us a way to remember Him. Look at Jesus’s words in Matthew 26 <<READ Matt 26:26-29>>
NEW with you. In my Father’s kingdom. The day is coming when everyone who believes in Jesus will celebrate with Him, in glorified, imperishable bodies in the New Jerusalem. Where trees grow and bear fruit. Where you can sit down with your Creator and share a cup with the fruit of the vine.
The bread and the cup are not just a proclamation of Christ’s death for our sins; they are also a proclamation that He is coming back, to renew this broken world and cast the final enemy, death, into the lake of fire forever.
And this is why, when Paul speaks about the Lord’s supper, he says,
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Brothers and sisters, because He is coming back, your labor is not in vain.
Go to the Table <<PRAY>>