Author: Joe
Last saved by: PJD
Company: GDC

99-04-13.JSH-124 / 

©℗ 1999  Joe Griffin

Faith-Rest Drill: Old Age in the Life of the Reversionist: The Allegories of Ecclesiastes 12:2
	12)	With this in mind we can now understand the figurative language of verse 2:
1.	The sun:	This is the masculine use of the noun shehmesh and speaks of the human spirit.  This is that part of the believer that is created by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation and results in our regeneration.  It is the central processing unit for doctrine taught by the pastor-teacher.  Only believers have a human spirit and thus only believers are trichotomous: body, soul, and human spirit.
2.	The light:	Just as the sun projects light outwardly to any heavenly body that will receive it, so the human spirit projects doctrine to the soul for perception.  Thus, the “light” is Bible doctrine fired to the soul from the human spirit.
3.	The moon:	This is the feminine use of the noun yareah /ya-RAY-akh / and refers to the soul.  The earth’s satellite catches light from the sun and reflects it to the dark side of the earth thus bringing light into darkness.  Doctrine from the human spirit is received by the noàj and transferred into the stream of consciousness by means of positive volition.  Thus, the sun, or human spirit, is the aggressor who takes the initiative to transmit light to the soul.  The soul, or moon, is the responder who must receive the “light” and then transfer it into its stream of consciousness.
4.	The stars:	The word for star, kokab, has the figurative use of divine omniscience.  For example in:
Psalm 147:4 -	The Lord counts the number of the stars.  He calls them all by their names.
v 5 -	Great is our Lord and abundant in strength [ omnipotence ].  His understanding is infinite [ omniscience ].

Thus, the “stars” in the figurative language of Solomon refer to knowledge of the eternal Logos replicated into the stream of consciousness of the positive-volition believer.
Stars are also formed into constellations which the ancients were able to categorize into certain messages which revealed the plan of salvation.  In order to illustrate this I quote from:
Mount, R. H., Jr.  The Law Prophesied.  Mansfield: Mount Publications, 1963, pp. 12:
When God created the heavens and the earth, He created the sun, moon, and stars.  He created these bodies to control the seasons, days, and years but primarily for signs.  Beginning with the constellation Virgo, the Virgin, the stars tell the gospel story.  The story ends with Leo which depicts the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to rule on the throne of His father David.  The Lord Jesus Christ as the bridegroom comes forth to run His course from His virgin birth to His coming as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Genesis 1:1 -	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
v 14 -		And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for sings, and for seasons, and for days, and years.
v 15 -		“And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth.”  And so it was.
		We get an explanation of this passage from:
Thieme, R. B., Jr.  Creation, Chaos, & Restoration.  3d ed.  Houston: R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries, 1995; pp. 21-22:
From antiquity pagan gentile nations surrounding Israel had deified the sun, moon, and stars, identifying them with a complex pantheon of gods.  The worship of these astral gods was based on elaborate astrological charts of planetary alignments and eclipses which allegedly influence the affairs of men. Such worship is refuted by Genesis 1:14-15 which declare the heavenly bodies to be the direct creation of the sovereign God.  He alone controls human history.  He alone is worthy of worship.
Three purposes are given for the existence of the heavenly bodies.
1.	The lightbearers were to divide the day from the night.  The sun is a lightbearer for the day, while the planets, stars, and moon illuminate the night.
2.	The lightbearers were to designate signs, seasons, days, and years.  The Hebrew ot  means a “sign, ensign, flag, token, or monument.”  These lightbearers display God’s workmanship; have been used by God to reveal the “signs of the times” such as the birth of Christ; and are used by man to predict changes in the weather.  These signs are not to be construed as the astrological signs of the Zodiac.
3.	The luminaries give light to the earth, thus providing not only illumination but also energy.
The gospel was communicated in the ancient world to those who were God conscious by means of the constellations.  That this was eventually distorted by satanic concepts developed through astrology is unfortunate.
Nevertheless, David understood the message told by the heavenly bodies in:
Psalm 19:1 -	The heavens are telling of the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
v 2 -	Day to day pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge.
v 3 -	There is no speech nor are there words.  Their voice is not heard.
v 4 -	Their message has gone out through all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world.
Paul picks up on this and repeats David’s observation in:
Romans 10:18 -	But I say, they have not all heard have they?  Certainly they have.  [ Psalm 19:4a ] “Their voice has gone out to the entire earth and their words to the ends of the inhabited earth.”

David refers to the Teleological Approach to God consciousness: the structure of the universe demands a designer.  That Designer and His plan for our salvation are revealed by the things He created.
Paul uses David’s quote to emphasize the fact that with the completed canon of Scripture, missionaries have the written Word which they may communicate to all who will give it a hearing.
In either case the idea is the replication of the gospel into the stream of consciousness of the person who desires to know truth.
We have learned that doctrine is stored in the neural pathways of the brain.  As spiritual growth continues through the ministry of the Holy Spirit this knowledge increases into associations and ultimately constellations of knowledge.
Finally at spiritual maturity the believer has a neural network which contains a maximum inventory of biblical truth at his disposal.
		5.	Darkness:	When light from these four sources are cut off the result is darkness, a fact that actually occurred between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
Genesis 1:1 -	In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
v 2a -		But the earth became formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep.
			Several things happened between verses one and two:
1)	In verse 1 God created a perfect heavens and earth.  It was not in a state of chaos.
2)	Following verse 1, a catastrophe occurred in the universe which centered on planet earth.

3)	This catastrophe was the fall of Satan and the subsequent angelic conflict which turned the original earth into desolation and chaos.
4)	The divine judgment pronounced against the fallen angels included enshrouding the earth in darkness.
5)	Between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, the earth was packed in ice.  Beneath the ice everything was formless and void [ tohu wabohu ]; above the ice, darkness [hoshek ].
This is the very same word used for “darkness” in Ecclesiastes 12:2, used there to describe the spiritual blindness that plagues the unbeliever or the reversionistic believer.
Its counterpart in the New Testament is the word skotÒw /skotoo /, which is translated “darkened” in Ephesians 4:18, “being darkened in their understanding.”
		6.	Clouds:	Refer to old age in general with the usual and commonplace difficulties associated with it.
		7.	Rain:		Refers to the chronic occurrences of illness and disease.  Recovery from such episodes only sees a return to cloudy days which are followed quickly by yet another rainstorm of illness or disease.