EGW WritingsEcclesiastes 3

Conflict and Courage

A Late Awakening, July 9

CC 196.1

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:11.

CC 196.2

By his own bitter experience, Solomon learned the emptiness of a life that seeks in earthly things its highest good. He erected altars to heathen gods, only to learn how vain is their promise of rest to the spirit. Gloomy and soul-harassing thoughts troubled him night and day. For him there was no longer any joy of life or peace of mind, and the future was dark with despair.

CC 196.3

Yet the Lord forsook him not. By messages of reproof and by severe judgments, He sought to arouse the king to a realization of the sinfulness of his course.... At last the Lord, through a prophet, delivered to Solomon the startling message: ... “I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.”

CC 196.4

Awakened as from a dream by this sentence of judgment pronounced against him and his house, Solomon with quickened conscience began to see his folly in its true light. Chastened in spirit, with mind and body enfeebled, he turned wearied and thirsting from earth’s broken cisterns, to drink once more at the fountain of life.... He could never hope to escape the blasting results of sin; he could never free his mind from all remembrance of the self-indulgent course he had been pursuing; but he would endeavor earnestly to dissuade others from following after folly....

CC 196.5

The true penitent does not put his past sins from his remembrance. He does not, as soon as he has obtained peace, grow unconcerned in regard to the mistakes he has made. He thinks of those who have been led into evil by his course, and tries in every possible way to lead them back into the true path. The clearer the light that he has entered into, the stronger is his desire to set the feet of others in the right way.22Prophets and Kings, 76-78.

Education

Chapter 21—Study of Physiology

Ed 198.1

“He hath made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V.); and true beauty will be secured, not in marring God’s work, but in coming into harmony with the laws of Him who created all things, and who finds pleasure in their beauty and perfection.

Education

Chapter 28—Relation of Dress to Education

Ed 248.4

At the same time the young should be taught to recognize the lesson of nature, “He hath made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V. In dress, as in all things else, it is our privilege to honor our Creator. He desires our clothing to be not only neat and healthful, but appropriate and becoming.

Reflecting Christ

Each Youth Must Decide for Himself, May 12

RC 146.8

“He hath made every thing beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V.); and true beauty will be secured, not in marring God’s work, but in coming into harmony with the laws of Him who created all things, and who finds pleasure in their beauty and perfection.—Education, 197, 198.

Reflecting Christ

Choose the Robe Woven in Heaven’s Loom, September 10

RC 267.5

At the same time the young should be taught to recognize the lesson of nature, “He hath made every thing beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V.). In dress, as in all things else, it is our privilege to honor our Creator. He desires our clothing to be not only neat and healthful, but appropriate and becoming.

This Day With God

Price Tag of Sin, March 18

TDG 86.1

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time. Ecclesiastes 3:11.

Homeward Bound

Mind and Body, July 18

HB 223.6

“He hath made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V.); and true beauty will be secured, not in marring God’s work, but in coming into harmony with the laws of Him who created all things, and who finds pleasure in their beauty and perfection.

My Life Today

Rejoice and Do Good, June 11

ML 166.1

I know that there is no good ... but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. Ecclesiastes 3:12.

Radiant Religion

Ministry to Others, August 4

RRe 218.1

I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. Ecclesiastes 3:12.

Education

Chapter 6—The Schools of the Prophets

Ed 50.2

As a nation the children of Israel failed of receiving the benefits that God desired to give them. They did not appreciate His purpose or co-operate in its execution. But though individuals and peoples may thus separate themselves from Him, His purpose for those who trust Him is unchanged. “Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.

Patriarchs and Prophets

Chapter 73—The Last Years of David

PP 754.6

“Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.

The Desire of Ages

Chapter 80—In Joseph’s Tomb

DA 769.2

In the beginning the Father and the Son had rested upon the Sabbath after Their work of creation. When “the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them” (Genesis 2:1), the Creator and all heavenly beings rejoiced in contemplation of the glorious scene. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:7. Now Jesus rested from the work of redemption; and though there was grief among those who loved Him on earth, yet there was joy in heaven. Glorious to the eyes of heavenly beings was the promise of the future. A restored creation, a redeemed race, that having conquered sin could never fall,—this, the result to flow from Christ’s completed work, God and angels saw. With this scene the day upon which Jesus rested is forever linked. For “His work is perfect;” and “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” Deuteronomy 32:4; Ecclesiastes 3:14. When there shall be a “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21), the creation Sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay at rest in Joseph’s tomb, will still be a day of rest and rejoicing. Heaven and earth will unite in praise, as “from one Sabbath to another” (Isaiah 66:23) the nations of the saved shall bow in joyful worship to God and the Lamb.

The Story of Jesus

Chapter 32—The Home of the Saved

SJ 183.4

This same earth, freed from the curse of sin, is to be man’s eternal home. Of the earth the Scripture says, that God “created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited.” Isaiah 45:18. And “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.

To Be Like Jesus

Sabbath Rest and Joy in Eternity, May 31

BLJ 162.4

Now Jesus rested from the work of redemption; and though there was grief among those who loved Him on earth, yet there was joy in heaven. Glorious to the eyes of heavenly beings was the promise of the future.... With this scene the day upon which Jesus rested is forever linked. For “his work is perfect” (Deuteronomy 32:4); and “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). When there shall be a “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21), the creation Sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay at rest in Joseph’s tomb, will still be a day of rest and rejoicing. Heaven and earth will unite in praise, as “from one sabbath to another” (Isaiah 66:23) the nations of the saved shall bow in joyful worship to God and the Lamb.

Manuscript Releases, vol. 9 [Nos. 664-770]

MR No. 741—The Witness of John Huss

9MR 275.1

God is infallible. God has spoken by Solomon that He “requireth that which is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). He “seeks again” that which is past (marginal reading). The body of Huss was consumed. The council had done all that they could do with the man whose only crime was that he could not accept as infallible the council of Constance and he could not let their voice stand above the voice of God in His Word. But God “seeks again that which is past” recalling all the proceedings whether of judgment or of mercy. He recalls all the doings of different ages and repeats them in the present generation. It is for this reason that there is such value in the registered experience of the believers of other days. The biography of the righteous is among the best treasures that the church can possess. We have the benefit of the accounts of the workings of the power of evil in contrast to the deeds of those who through many centuries were living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This rich experience is bequeathed to us as a legacy of great value. When history shall be repeated, when the great men of earth will not come to the Bible for light and evidence and truth, when the commandments of men shall be exalted above the commandments of God, and when it shall be regarded a crime to obey God rather than the laws of men, then we shall not have to tread a path in which we have had but few examples of others who have gone before us.

Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 5 (1887-1888)

Ms 38, 1887

5LtMs, Ms 38, 1887, par. 1

God is infallible. God has spoken by Solomon that He “requireth that which is past.” Ecclesiastes 3:15. He “seeks again” that which is past (marginal reading). The body of Huss was consumed. The council had done all that they could do with the man whose only crime was that he could not accept as infallible the Council of Constance, and he could not let their voice stand above the voice of God in His Word. But God “seeks again that which is past” recalling all the proceedings whether of judgment or of mercy. He recalls all the doings of different ages and repeats them in the present generation. It is for this reason that there is such value in the registered experience of the believers of other days. The biography of the righteous is among the best treasures that the church can possess. We have the benefit of the accounts of the workings of the power of evil in contrast to the deeds of those who through many centuries were living by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This rich experience is bequeathed to us as a legacy of great value. When history shall be repeated, when the great men of earth will not come to the Bible for light and evidence and truth, when the commandments of men shall be exalted above the commandments of God, and when it shall be regarded a crime to obey God rather than the laws of men, then we shall not have to tread a path in which we have had but few examples of others who have gone before us.

Radiant Religion

Duty Well Done Brings Happiness, March 19

RRe 80.1

Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? Ecclesiastes 3:22.