The work that God maketh:
The work that God maketh is made beautiful in his time
Ecc 3:11 God hath made everything beautiful in his time. The original creation was very good, Gen 1:31. And there are many beautiful sights in creation today even after the fall. The Rockies, Grand Canyon, Réunion Island, etc. I’ll never forget the sight of three glacier mountains (Adams, St. Helen’s, Rainier) viewed on horseback from the PCT.
God didn’t make Jesus beautiful in his earthly appearance, Is 53:2. But he will be beautiful at his 2nd Advent, Zech 9:16-17, “how great is thy beauty”. Ps 27:4 speaks of the beauty of the Lord. The original temple was beautiful, 1 Chr 22:5. But in Haggai’s time, Hag 2:3, the rebuilt temple was not to be compared to the first one. And yet the most beautiful temple will be in the millennium, Hag 2:9, Ezek 40-48.
Lucifer was perfect in beauty, Ezek 28:12, and today he is a monstrosity, Rev 12:9. The world is looking for beauty now; trying to make things beautiful in appearance now. The Pharisees were beautiful in their outward appearance. But beauty now is vain, Prov 31:30. We should wait till God makes things beautiful in his time. In time, our glorified bodies will be beautiful. These bodies we have now are vile by comparison, Phil 3:21.
The work that God maketh is concealed from men
Ecc 3:11 God hath set the world in their heart. The commentators say “eternity” instead of “world”; so do most modern translations. But the whole book of Ecclesiastes is about things under heaven. So changing this word to “eternity” is not correct and adds nothing but confusion to the text.
No man can find out the work that God maketh. God conceals it, Prov 25:2. God has to reveal it to us, 1 Cor 2:9-10. Rom 1:20 tells us that the things that are made reveal God’s invisible things, but they don’t show you how he did it. In Ps 19 the heavens declare the glory of God; you should know that He did it. But you can’t find out the work that God maketh.
Nothing up in heaven can be found out. Nothing down in hell can be found out, aside from his revelation. Men looking at the world come up with religious and superstitious explanations and philosophies and theories like evolution. That’s all they can figure out by looking at the world. From here, men see uniform geology and changing genetics. But everything has an absolute beginning, Gen 1, and a definite and abrupt end, 2 Pet 3.
Pharaoh’s magicians thought the plagues were something men could do until dust was made into lice. Men ask magicians today, “how did you do that”? But you can’t get that answer from God. The magicians said that the plague of lice was the finger of God, but they couldn’t find it out. The Pharisees could never grasp how Jesus healed that blind man in Jn 9.
To men who are minded of the world, everything has a natural explanation. They call it the science of natural processes. How did God make a man from dust, a woman from a rib, a man born of a virgin, a world-wide flood? They just can’t get it. And they never will. You get understanding from the Bible or you don’t get it at all. The problem is that most people won’t believe the words of God by faith.
The work that God maketh is done for ever
Ecc 3:14 whatsoever God doeth it shall be for ever (under the heaven). The curse, hell, the sun, moon, and stars, the seasons, things reproducing “after his kind” (genetic modification notwithstanding… corn is still corn), and procreation. Nothing can be put to it or taken away. Because God doeth it.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is for ever. The Dead Sea is dead for ever. The rainbow is for ever. The decree for the sea, Prov 8:29, is for ever. That fig tree was cursed for ever, Matt 21:19. Why? So that men should fear before him.
The covenant with Israel is for ever, Mal 3:6; Jer 31:31-36. You are not going to change it.
Men are to inhabit the earth. The earth was given to the children of men, Ps 115:16. Why then is NASA involved in Artemis? Why then did men make the tower of Babel? Gen 11:4. We live here and that’s the way God did it.
Above the heaven, God has done some things for ever, as well. The word of God, heaven, eternal life, eternal damnation, and the lake of fire are all for ever and eternal.
The work that God maketh is repeated from the past
Ecc 3:15 God requireth that which is past. What is now has already been. The eighth beast is of the seven, Rev 17:10-11. The son of perdition was and is not and shall ascend, Rev 17:8. History repeats itself.
Thus, we often see in the Bible the dual application of prophecy, The history recorded in Ps 78, like the plagues, will be repeated again in the future, Rev 11:6. And Ps 78:65-72 will all be fulfilled again at the 2nd Advent. The things written in the Old Testament were written for our learning and admonition, 1 Cor 10:11, Rom 15:4.
God “requireth that which is past” has been changed several ways in modern Bibles. And these changes have obscured the sense and meaning. They say things like “God will call the past to account”, NIV. Like there’s going to be a judgment. There will be a judgment, but this verse doesn’t say that.
The truth is that God compels the past to be repeated. This should be no surprise because of the regularity with which things in history are repeated. So, if you want to know the real news, read the Bible. Because what’s in there is what will happen.
Ps 83 for example describes the nations of the world coming after Israel to destroy them as a nation. And just as God has delivered them in the past, he’ll deliver them again, Zech 14. When the devil comes out of the bottomless pit, he’ll organize the nations against the Lord and his people again, Rev 20. There will never be peace in the Middle East until Jesus establishes it.
They killed Jesus, they killed his disciples, they killed his people in the inquisition, and guess what they will do in the Tribulation? They will kill his followers.
It is foolish to have any other expectation. To think that maybe this time, history will be different, as in the war to end all wars, is madness.
To study the prior lesson, see Seasons and Times. To study the next lesson in this series, see That They Might See.