Memory Text: Ecclesiastes 3:17 “I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for [there is] a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

Sunday, January 21 The God of Time
Daniel 7:25 KJV “And he shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
Daniel 8:14 KJV “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
Daniel 9:24-27 KJV “24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Revelation 12:14 KJV “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”

Monday, January 22 A Time to?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 KJ21 “1 ¶ To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY A season is…not merely a convenient time, but a decreed time.
Ecclesiastes 3:3 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY to kill. Commentators disagree as to whether Solomon here refers to war or to other circumstances. It is possible that he is speaking of the execution of criminals, and of measures for the protection of threatened communities. Or he may be thinking of an injured domestic animal, and the fact that the extent of injury must determine whether it is more merciful to put the creature out of its misery or to attempt to “heal” it.
Ecclesiastes 3:5 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Reference is probably here made to cleaning the fields of the stones that impede cultivation, an then using them to build demarcation walls as boundaries and retaining walls for fields and vineyards.
These verses talk about the importance of timing in our lives:
Psalm 37:9 MKJV “For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.”
Matthew 5:21-24 MKJV “21 ¶ You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "You shall not kill" —and, "Whoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment." 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to the judgment. And whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the sanhedrin; but whoever shall say, Fool! shall be liable [to be thrown] into the fire of hell. 23 Therefore if you offer your gift on the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
Matthew 8:21-22 MKJV “21 And another of His disciples said to him, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father. 22 But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
Romans 8:25 MKJV “But if we hope for that which we do not see, [then] we wait for it with patience.”
Romans 12:19 NRSV “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."”
1 Corinthians 4:5 NRSV “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.”
James 1:19 NRSV “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;”

Tuesday, January 23 Eternity in Their Hearts
Ecclesiastes 3:11-15 NKJV “11 ¶ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. 12 I know that nothing [is] better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it [is] the gift of God. 14 I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does [it], that men should fear before Him. 15 That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been; And God requires an account of what is past.”
Ecclesiastes 3:13-14 The Clear Word 13 God wants man to be happy, to enjoy life and to find satisfaction in his work. 14 Everything that God does lasts. There is nothing man can do to add to it or take away from it. Whatever God does, He does to help us love Him even more. 15 Whatever happens to a man in his lifetime has happened before. And God takes the past, present and future into account when He makes His decisions.

Wednesday, January 24 Jesus and Judgment
Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 KJ21 “16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 17 I said in mine heart, "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."”
John 12:31 ESV “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.”

Thursday, January 25 Of Men and Beasts
Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 NIV “18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?" 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?”
Texts that answer the questions in the verses:
Verse 18 – Psalm 8:5-8 “5 For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. 6 Thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, 8 the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.”
Verse 19 – John 3:16 God’s Word to the Nations “God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.”
Verse 20 – Psalm 103:14 NKJV “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we [are] dust.”
Verse 21 – 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 KJV “51 ¶ Behold, I shew 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 trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Thought: John Donne in one of his sonnets says, “Death, thou shalt die.”
Verse 22 – 1 John 3:1-2 MKJV “1 ¶ Behold what manner of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Ecclesiastes 3:19-22 COMMENTARY LIFE APPLICATIONS BIBLE Our bodies can’t live forever in their present state. In that sense, humans and animals are alike. But Solomon acknowledged that God has given people the hope of eternity, and that we will undergo judgment in the next life —making us different from animals. Because we have eternity planted in our heart, we have a unique purpose in God’s overall plan. Yet we cannot discover God’s purpose for our life by our own efforts—only through building a relationship with him and seeking his guidance.Ecclesiastes 3:16 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY But as none can fully comprehend, so few consider properly, the difference between the rational soul of man, and the spirit or life of the beast. The spirit of man goes upward, to be judged, and is then fixed in an unchangeable state of happiness or misery. It is as certain that the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth; it perishes at death. Surely their case is lamentable, the height of whose hopes and wishes is, that they may die like beasts. Let our inquiry be, how an eternity of existence may be to us an eternity of enjoyment? To answer this, is the grand design of revelation. Jesus is revealed as the Son of God, and the Hope of sinners.
Ecclesiastes 3:22 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY What lies beyond the grave is outside the scope of human knowledge. Similarly, it is beyond human power to bring a dead person back from the grave. God alone can do so. There are Christians today who, like the Sdducees of old, have no faith in a future resurrection. But God is the God of the living, and “sons of God” will live again. Life beyond the grave has been made a certainty by Jesus Christ.