# 5 2024 Dev. Ecclesiastes 3:11. Eternity In our Hearts! Read all of chapter three first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Ecc. 3:11. This verse sets the tone for this devotional: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ”
Ecc.3 The “teacher.” This book is about the experiences throughout one person’s life, he is not named but there are indications in the text that Ecc. was probably written by King Solomon. That puts the date of writing at 970 BC to 931BC.
Vs.1-14 “A Time for Everything” The author does not measure time in terms of hours and days but in terms of human existence and experience. Time is defined as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.”“travel through space and time” (Oxford Dictionary)
The author is describing time in terms of God’s creation, It was very good but sin entered in, Satan’s attempt to destroy it. Even so, “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” But God has revealed himself in His Word both in the authors time and in ours!
Vs.15-17 “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.” God created time, we live in time and space and we are created for God’s glory. Yes, there is a place of judgment, there will be “a time to judge every deed.” For “both the righteous and the wicked.” But the righteous, the believers, are judged in Christ Jesus, both in the author’s time and in our time, praise the Lord.
Vs.18-22 Here the author despairs comparing humans with animals. Animals follow their natures as created. Humans follow their conscience or lack of it displayed in their actions both good and bad. Yes, every living thing dies because of sin in our broken world. God who lives outside of time and is eternal created this world to be forever. And it will be again. God created us for His glory, and Satan is not able to take that away. God created human’s in His image, male and female He created them. Humans are given a soul, “eternity in the human heart.”
The author asks a rhetorical question: “Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” This is what God wants us to consider!
The author say; enjoy your work, this is your lot, “For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?” A second question; what is the answer? No, on our own we will not know what will happen to us, only by faith in Christ Jesus are we assured that “the human spirit rises upward” to eternity with God!
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