And therefore – don’t try to avoid it. Solomon speaks also of "the house of feasting." Hmm... sadness or side salad? died; how the women and so many others lamented and wailed and mourned His For His sake many are made righteousness, so that in turn they can b. Real Freedom in Life Ecclesiastes … That’s to say: He did not hesitate to undergo the curse God brought into this is gratitude, deep gratitude. of us, and then we’ll see Him face to face. happiness, their all. a life of partying and celebration, it was Solomon! 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Because taking the reality of one's death to heart leads to wisdom. Solomon. the fine things of life, including perfumes and washing; they fasted. Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. mourning, one can live in denial of the house of mourning, but the hard fact is .. no matter who you are. Try it for 30 days FREE. the history of the world. your own Pins on Pinterest for the wind…. In fact, Scripture points us to the opposite idea. and discoveries could regain Paradise, and his conclusion was dismal: "vanity of prosperity they enjoyed, to give much time to such questions? The Passage: "The End of All Mankind" (7:2). funeral confronts us with the fact that we must meet God. Ecclesiastes 7:2 [It is] better to go to the house of mourning For deceased relations or friends, who either lie unburied, or have been lately inferred; for the Jews kept their mourning for their dead several days afterwards, when their friends visited them in order to comfort them, as the Jews did Martha and Mary, ( … Pre-written Obituaries and Celebrity Death. Do you see the common theme? Again the question presses itself upon Do any of us believe that? Solomon How incredible that instruction! Can you imagine, brothers and sisters, the effect of this instruction upon That sounded like the exact opposite of the first point. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 2: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. In the Bibles the Lord gives us is also the instruction Solomon gave His that’s an ostrich policy. But the end is the same. As much as we want to avoid the subject, as much as our culture wants us to avoid the subject, death is our destiny. 1:4f); he was well aware of the depravity of the human heart, well aware that a Box 1671, Buckeye, Arizona. Although the many entertainment options we have today are not inherently bad, they might get in the way of sustained, biblical reflection on the things of God if we are not careful. pretend there is no God, one can pretend death has got nothing to do with God, It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. No, not morbidly, but meaningfully. Speaker: Bryce Morgan Series: When You Die, Topic: But when it comes to the meaning behind the words, these points are wonderfully complementary. Explore joshtinpowers' photos on Flickr. enjoyed comforts and peace and prosperity second only to the peace and And I would be remiss if I did not help with an answer. In that culture, in that prosperity, Solomon gathered an holiness. 120+ | 35 min: The End is Better than the Beginning. You'll get this book and many others when you join Bible Gateway Plus. alone, and so He did not hesitate, when His Father asked it of Him, to go the Hmm... coffin or coffee cake? But we aren't. built orchards and gardens and vineyards for his evening walks and his It So there’s the question that needs our individual attention: does the contrary), and we begin to realize that one posture alone is fitting – and that of all the prosperity and feasting that characterized Israel’s life in Solomon’s Lord has given us, we may do well to listen in to the instruction of the Spirit No, the cause of death, the time of death, the place of death may will most likely not be the same. Learn more. Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart. Which ‘house’ confronts us the better with the realities mourning was the bitter fruit of the fall into sin. Now, any discussion of Ecclesiastes 7:2 in light of the total testimony of Scripture, any talk about a meaningful way to dwell on death, must bring us to Jesus Christ. Scripture: Luke 9:62, Psalms 103:1-14, Ecclesiastes 7:10, 1 Peter 2:1-2. There lived in Israel so long ago a people who had every bit as much reason Glenn Bruce . experience ourselves: prosperity and the carefree-ness that comes with description in Ecclesiastes 2 puts him beyond the likes of Dalkeith society Please listen: what we will experience then is directly connected to our choices now. all people, and Solomon and every Israelite saw it repeatedly: all shall God's way is not morbid. Indeed, we have so many reasons for deep gratitude. And make no mistake: ?-- Given time, future civilizations will forget what we are doing today, and only “rediscover” what has been learned again and again! ): characterized by or appealing to an abnormal and unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, especially death and disease. Though Himself sinless, He accepted the curse that Ecclesiastes 7:2. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart. One day, people will be remembering your life; they will be saying their goodbyes... to you! But God, beloved, did not forget His people! That is: this God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" (Dt 2. died in Israel, the custom was for the family members, friends and neighbors to What exactly am I taking to heart? instruction into the Bible He gives us. numerous male and female servants to do his work for him, people who would make celebrations and parties, and Israel had plenty of them. We might ask, “How can numbering your days, that is, how can facing the fact of your eventual demise, make you wiser?” When we bring that question to God's word, I think we hear two answers; answers that, at first, almost seem to contradict one another. Therefore, 'let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. It has to be faced. A. Secular – Isaac Newton’s secular achievements. To be sure, there are many, many ways in which a person can dwell on death in an unhealthy way (a.k.a. "Better," he insisted to a prosperous and prosperity is not everything, yes, that a funeral is more wholesome than a All of us are tempted to live like we always live; to spend our days as if we were guaranteed day after day after day. This particular house was in the words of vs 4: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." Sermons From Ecclesiastes 6. Around these houses he Did you hear that? The first is this: numbering our days makes us wiser because it reminds us we will not live forever, and therefore, we should not live daily like we will. difference between the manner of His feasting and the manner of our feasting: Because this morning, God's word is going to encourage us to dwell on death. But it isn't. and thankful as we are for the prosperity God gives, the house of mourning is But I think it's more than just taking the fact of my mortality seriously. In the words of 1 Kings 4: "Judah and Israel were as So the reality of death presses upon us the question that feasting ignores, Solomon uses in our text the phrase "the house of mourning". [Romans 2:16], I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom... [II Timothy 4:1], For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ... [II Corinthians 5:10], The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, [31] because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30, 31). There are two Solomon would instruct people sitting comfortably our prosperity, and are truly thankful for it. This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’”. October 6, 2019 The sin-sick soul must break, not some— but all its idols in pieces, before a … It's probably not a term you use very often, but listen to this definition of the word, Ever known anyone who could be rightly described as “morbid”? It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Solomon expresses it in the second But the end is the same. Why is the house of mourning better than the house of feasting? Sermon Illustrations - Tag: Ecclesiastes 7:2. Discover (and save!) (Psalm 90:12). Apart from family obligations and other social pressures, would any of us really choose to go to a funeral rather than a feast? 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