What Beasts Must Learn from Death and Injustice

Solomon once again reaches back into his memory bank to consider how he once processed the realities of Death and Injustice. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 Solomon expressed his God-fearing conclusion about every day matters of life. The frustrations and the fun. The happy and the sad. He said, in Ecclesiastes 3:11, there is an appropriate time for every matter under heaven (under God’s sovereign reign). He also said there are many things man can’t figure out about this life. But this is part of God’s design for man, so that man would recognize his need for Him (Ecclesiastes 3:14). But now Solomon turns to consider another tough question: What does this mean when faced not only with the cyclical fluctuations of life’s ups and downs… but with evil? How must we think about God’s sovereignty when we it’s undeniable that man ignores God, and wants to live by his own power? In this passage, Solomon communicates both the godless and God-fearing conclusions he has come to throughout his life concerning these things. One thing is evident from it all: We are only as well-off as the beasts of the earth, so long as we don’t have God. In other words, we beasts need our Creator.

Outline:

• What Beasts Must Learn from Injustice (Ecclesiastes 3:6; Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)
  • Apart from God, Man’s Justice is Tainted (Ecclesiastes 3:16)
  • Apart from God, Man’s Power Makes Live Unbearable (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)
• What Beasts Must Learn from God (Ecclesiastes 3:17-18)
  • Remember, Man is Beast (Ecclesiastes 3:18)
  • Remember, God is Judge (Ecclesiastes 3:17)
• What Beasts Must Learn from Death (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21)
  • Apart from God, We all Have the Same Destiny (Ecclesiastes 3:19-21)

Jared Millican

Former college pastor at Faith, Jared and his family are currently preparing to move to the Czech Republic and work as global outreach partners in 2024. He and his wife, Claire, have three children.

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