April 20, 2014
The End of a Gospel Dispensing Machine
By Robert Fitzpatrick
Ecclesiastes 12:6 is a very strange verse. However, even if at first we
have no idea what it means, we will have a general understanding of it
as soon as we read the verse that comes after it. That’s when we know
Ecclesiastes 12:6 is telling us about death.
Here is Ecclesiastes 12:6:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern.
Notice that there are four different pictures here:
1.
The loosening of a silver cord.
2.
The breaking of a golden bowl.
3.
The breaking of a pitcher at a fountain.
4.
The breaking of a wheel at a cistern.
What do these pictures mean? As we work through the verse, we will
see that it is very rich in spiritual meaning. God has hidden amazing
truths here.
God Tells Us About Death
In trying to understand Ecclesiastes 12:6, we should begin by reading
verse 7:
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it.
This verse may remind you of a verse in the book of Genesis, in which
God tells us that we are dust. It’s Genesis 3:19:
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Here, God explains what happens at death by telling us that we are dust.
So we can be certain that Ecclesiastes 12:7 is also telling us about
physical death by the words “then shall the dust return to the earth.” In
this way we know that the four pictures God paints in Ecclesiastes 12:6
concern physical death.
There are many other verses to consider as we try to fully understand
Ecclesiastes 12:6. For example, in Genesis 2:7 we read:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul.
This verse also tells us that man is dust; but there is something else here
too: it tells us about the breath of life. When God gave man that breath
of life, man became a living soul. The word translated “living soul” is
Strong’s number H5315: nephesh. It’s the same word we find in Genesis
1:24:
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature
after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth
after his kind: and it was so.
The word here for “living creature” is also Strong’s number H5315. So if
you have a pet, you have something in common with your best friend:
God considers both of you to be “nephesh.”
God also emphasizes man’s similarity to animals in Ecclesiastes 3 by
telling us something else about death. In Ecclesiastes 3:18-20, we read:
I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men,
that God might manifest them, and that they might see that
they themselves are beasts. 19 For that which befalleth the sons
of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the
one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so
that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is
vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn
to dust again.
In other words, at the end of his or her life an unsaved person is really
no better off than an animal. That’s why all is “vanity” for the unsaved
(Ecclesiastes 12:8).
Job 34 also has a verse of great importance for us as we try to
understand what God reveals about death. In fact, we find death
discussed throughout the book of Job. Poor Job’s suffering was so great
that he found himself wishing for death, and so we find a number of
verses about it. Notice what we read in Job 34:14-15:
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit
and his breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall
turn again unto dust.
Notice that verse 14 tells us about both spirit and breath. Here is where
we can run into difficulties. The word translated as “spirit” here is
Strong’s number H7307 (“ruwach”), and the word translated “breath” is
Strong’s number H5397 (“neshamah”). ”Ruwach” is most often
translated as “spirit,” but it is also translated as “breath.” And
“neshamah” is most often translated as “breath,” but is sometimes
translated as “spirit.”
To add to our problems, we find that God uses the same word
(“ruwach”) when telling us about His own Spirit as He does when telling
us about the animals! In Genesis 1:1-2, we read:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And
the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon
the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters.
The word for “Spirit” here is “ruwach.” And in Genesis 7:15, we have a
verse about the animals that went into the ark:
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all
flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
The word for “breath” here is also “ruwach.” We know that this
“ruwach” is also in man, based on other verses. What are we to make of
this? Obviously, “ruwach” is a very general concept to describe
something that is not physical, because God applies the word to Himself
as well as to man and animals. Nevertheless, we should be on safe
ground to draw at least two conclusions.
First, only God can give life. In order for a man or animal to be alive, it
must have the non-physical component the Bible calls “breath” or
“spirit.” Despite all the research and theorizing among today’s
scientists, man will never be able to create life “from scratch.” Even the
most life-like robots will never be alive. Life can only come from life, as
the great scientist Louis Pasteur demonstrated about a century and a
half ago.
The second conclusion concerns the vast difference between mankind
and any other animal. Even though both mankind and animals have
some non-physical component of life, there is an enormous difference
between those components. Some animals have brains on the same
order of size and complexity as the human brain. So if we just compare
the human brain with an animal brain, we can’t explain the vast gulf
between mankind and any other living creature. The Bible reveals that
it is a non-physical component of life that makes man different and
superior to any animal.
A New Spirit
The Bible also has some things to tell us about the types of spirit that
can be in man. Even an unsaved man has a spirit, as we learn from 1
Corinthians 2:11:
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no
man, but the Spirit of God.
It is this spirit that gives us self-awareness and makes us what we are.
However, there is a big problem with man’s spiritual condition unless
God saves him. Ephesians 2:2 reveals that truth:
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
The “prince of the power of the air” is Satan. Unless God has saved a
person, that person is in Satan’s kingdom and is subject to his power.
But when God saves a person, he or she is “quickened” (Ephesians 2:5),
or made alive. The implication is that unless a person is “quickened,”
then he or she is spiritually dead.
So we see that even an unsaved person has some type of a spirit – and
that is what makes a person alive and so different from the animals; but
unsaved man is in some way spiritually dead. Recall what the Lord
Jesus said in Matthew 8:22:
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury
their dead.
The end of anyone who is unsaved will be just like that of the animals.
It’s a totally different situation, however, for God’s elect, because He has
given them a new, resurrected spirit. It is this spirit that allows them to
live forever.
There’s No Flame Unless There Is Oil
When we look for verses dealing with the new spirit that God gives
when He saves someone, we find that they often mention oil. In
Leviticus 8:12 we read about the use of oil to anoint Aaron:
And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and
anointed him, to sanctify him.
Here, oil is associated with the idea that Aaron had to be sanctified or
made holy. Oil is also mentioned in Exodus 27. That chapter and
several others concern the tabernacle that the Lord had Israel build in
the wilderness. There are also many details about items placed in the
tabernacle. One of those was a lamp, as we read in Exodus 27:20:
And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring
thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to
burn always.
Olive oil was fuel for the tabernacle’s lamp – that’s what kept the flame
going. Both oil and lamps are also mentioned in a well-known parable
found in Matthew 25. It concerns wise and foolish virgins who “went
forth to meet the bridegroom” (Matthew 25:1). Therefore, the time
setting for this parable is at the end of God’s salvation plan. In Matthew
25:3-4, we read:
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with
them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Notice that the number of virgins is ten. So God is showing us that the
parable concerns all those who are in some way associated with the
kingdom of heaven (verse 1). Notice also that the wise virgins “took oil
in their vessels.” This verse tells us that they were saved. Based on
these and other verses, we know that God uses oil to represent the Holy
Spirit. We will see that Ecclesiastes 12:6 is very much concerned with
the Holy Spirit.
Even though there is no mention of oil in Ecclesiastes 12:6, there is an
important clue that can help us understand the verse:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern.
The verse has the words “silver” and “golden.” God often uses gold and
silver to represent true believers. For example, in 1 Corinthians 3:12-13
we read:
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be
made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be
revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is.
Gold, silver and precious stones can survive a fire; but wood, hay and
stubble can’t. The picture here is that true believers can withstand
God’s judgment, because He has saved them; but others can’t withstand
the “fire.” In other words, God will destroy them.
Getting back to Ecclesiastes 12:6, notice that the verse mentions a
“golden bowl.” The word for bowl here is Strong’s number H1543,
“gullah.” It’s a word we also find in Zechariah 4. There, we read about a
candlestick (Strong’s number H4501, “menowrah”) all of gold, and we
get details about how it is constructed. Here is Zechariah 4:2-3:
And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked,
and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top
of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven
lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by
it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the
left side thereof.
In Zechariah 4:3, the word used for “bowl” is the same word we find in
Ecclesiastes 12:6. The golden bowl holds the oil, which feeds each lamp
through a pipe. And so we see what God is telling us in Ecclesiastes
12:6: at death, a believer’s body is broken. The body is the “golden
bowl” containing God’s Holy Spirit.
The Silver Cord
“Or ever the silver cord be loosed...” What could that possibly mean?
First, notice that the cord is a silver one. Like gold, the idea of silver is
often used when God refers to the elect. Next, we need to check a
concordance for the words translated “cord” and “loosed.”
The word translated “cord” is H2256: “chebel.” It’s used sixty times and
is translated in very different ways, such as sorrows, cord, line, region,
portion, country and other words; but knowing that doesn’t help our
attempt to understand this part of the verse.
The word for “loosed” is Strong’s number H7576, “rathaq.” It’s only
used twice in the Bible: in Ecclesiastes 12:6, where it’s translated “be
loosed,” and in Nahum 3:10 where it’s translated “bound” – an opposite
meaning. However, H7576 comes from the word “rachaq” (H7368).
That word is often used to convey the idea that something is at a
distance from something else, or is to be removed. It’s used twice in
Proverbs 5:8:
Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of
her house:
The words “remove” and “far” are each translations of “rachaq.” This
information helps us to understand what is meant by “the silver cord be
loosed.” God is telling us something else about the spirit in man, as in
the words about the golden bowl. Earlier, we read Job 34:14-15:
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit
and his breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall
turn again unto dust.
This verse tells us that God gathers His Spirit when a person dies. He
pulls it back to Himself. Recall the Lord Jesus compared Himself to a
vine and His disciples to branches, as we read in John 15:5:
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye
can do nothing.
Perhaps the idea of the silver cord is a similar analogy: God’s Spirit goes
out from Himself and extends into true believers as a branch goes out
from a vine. When a believer dies, God pulls that measure of His Spirit
back to Himself; and so the silver cord is “loosed” from the believer’s
body.
We have seen that the golden bowl has to do with God’s Spirit, and the
word “silver” links the cord to the golden bowl. So this supports the
idea that the silver cord represents God’s Spirit and what God does with
it when one of His children dies.
The Fountain and the Cistern
The last half of Ecclesiastes 12:6 tells us something about a fountain and
a cistern: “… or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern.” When we check for verses using the original
language words for fountain and cistern or pitcher and wheel, we don’t
get much help. Also, notice that the word “water” doesn’t even appear
there; yet this part of the verse is all about water and what it represents.
This helps us see that we should expand our search beyond only verses
using the Hebrew found in Ecclesiastes 12:6.
A very helpful verse is Revelation 21:6:
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the
fountain of the water of life freely.
In this verse, we see that the Lord Jesus is associated with a fountain, as
the source for the water of life. On the other hand, a cistern or well is
associated with man. Proverbs 5:15 is a verse where we find that idea:
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out
of thine own well.
God has also given us a couple of verses that combine those two ideas,
such as Jeremiah 2:13:
For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken
me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
When we read Ecclesiastes 12:6, we see that a pitcher is associated with
the fountain, and a wheel is associated with the cistern. The picture
here is that a person going to a fountain will take a pitcher and fill it up
at the fountain. On the other hand, to get water from a cistern or well, a
person will lower a bucket secured to a rope using a pulley arrangement
– that’s where the wheel is used.
And what is the significance of water in Ecclesiastes 12:6 and in so many
other verses? Clearly, the kind of water that God is talking about isn’t
the water we all need to drink every day: it’s the spiritual water that the
Lord Jesus provides, as He says in John 4:13-14:
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this
water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.
We should also remember how the Lord provided water on one
occasion for the children of Israel. In Numbers 20:11, we read:
And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the
rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the
congregation drank, and their beasts also.
In 1 Corinthians 10:4, we find that the rock is identified with Christ:
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of
that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was
Christ.
And so we have another picture of the Lord as a fountain or spring of
water. (Notice that Moses struck the rock twice. This is one of several
verses showing that the Lord Jesus paid for the sins of His people before
the foundation of the world, and then suffered again at the cross.)
As we read the Bible, we find that water is associated with the Gospel
and what it does in a person’s life. For example, in Ephesians 5:25-27
we read:
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and
without blemish.
Here, God’s word – which is the Gospel – is compared to water because
God used the hearing or reading of His word to save each of His people.
From that time on, the saved person is “washed” of his or her sins.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that a person who has been saved no
longer needs the Gospel. God continues to work in that person’s life to
develop the fruits of the Spirit. A big part of this process can happen
whenever a person reads or hears God’s word. Notice 2 Peter 1:4-7:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust. 5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge
temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness charity.
To have “escaped the corruption that is in the world” means that a
person has become saved. Once that has happened, he or she should be
“giving all diligence” so that the other qualities listed here may be added
to the faith that God has given the person. Depending on God’s plans for
each of His children, this process can take many years. In this way,
God’s work continues in this world even after all hope for salvation has
ended.
We also need to consider what true believers should be doing after
salvation is over. We must not think that the only way they can use the
Gospel is to bring it to people who have never heard it before, hoping
that they may be saved when they do hear it. Even after salvation has
ended, a believer can share God’s word with other believers that he or
she might know.
Next, although this may sound peculiar, each true believer should share
God’s word with himself! In 1 Timothy 4:15, we read:
Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that
thy profiting may appear to all.
Whenever a person thinks about or meditates on God’s word, he is
sharing it with himself. Besides this verse in 1 Timothy, several other
Bible verses tell us that we should meditate on God’s word. One of them
is Psalm 1:1-2:
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the
ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the
seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD;
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
We might meditate on a verse when we are trying to understand what
God is teaching in it, or because it brings us comfort, or because we need
help in some way.
Finally, we can share God’s word with God Himself. It is said that
George Washington used to pray with his Bible open before him. In our
prayers, we can read or recite a verse we know, then ask for God’s help
to understand it, to be helped by it or to be obedient to it.
An Interpretation From the 1900’s
It’s sometimes interesting to read what past theologians have thought
about a particular verse. One commentary you may find (by a minister
named Arno Gaebelein) is from the early 1920’s and takes a medical
approach to explain Ecclesiastes 12:6. He thought the silver cord was a
person’s spinal column, because when a person dies the nervous system
no longer operates and there are no sensations of any type; and he
identified the golden bowl with the part of the skull enclosing the brain.
He thought the second half of the verse referred to the heart
(pitcher/fountain) and the circulatory system (wheel/cistern).
Another interpretation, which may be a considerably older one, explains
the silver cord as the support for a hanging lamp. If the cord brakes, the
lamp falls and breaks, and so the flame goes out. Also - according to this
explanation - the pitcher, fountain, wheel and cistern all refer to the
“water of life.”
The problem with these interpretations is that they are not based on the
Bible. For instance, there is nothing in the Bible about a hanging lamp.
Similarly, there are no Biblical grounds for us to accept the medical
explanation for Ecclesiastes 12:6. When we are trying to understand a
verse, we need to search other verses to see how God uses similar
words, objects, or ideas.
Conclusion
When we search the Bible for help in understanding Ecclesiastes 12:6,
we find that it’s all about the action of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel in a
believer’s life. In fact, it’s almost as if God is comparing each of His
children to a Gospel dispensing machine!
We all know about a soft drink dispensing machine. It’s powered by
electricity. On a regular basis, someone comes in a truck to deliver cans
or bottles to replace the ones that have been purchased. Now think
about what God tells us in Ecclesiastes 12:6:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel
broken at the cistern.
The Gospel dispensing machine is powered by the Holy Spirit (through
the silver cord) and contains the Holy Spirit (in the golden bowl). It
takes in the Gospel (in its pitcher) from God (the fountain), and it draws
it out (the wheel) of itself (the cistern) for its own use, for others, and to
bring to God in prayer. At death, God in a sense “pulls the plug” on the
machine by removing “the silver cord.” At that time, the machine
(represented by the golden bowl, the pitcher, and the wheel) is broken.
We know that the machine is broken permanently because the verse is
telling us about death.
Even though the words “oil” and “water” don’t appear in the verse, we
have seen that the four pictures it paints concern oil and water. And we
know from many other verses that oil in the Bible represents the Holy
Spirit, and water represents the Gospel and its work in a believer’s life.
Isn’t that exactly what we read in John 3:5?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.
Here, God is not referring to the use of water in a ritual baptism –
although many people have undoubtedly understood the verse in that
way. God is telling us that, in order to be saved, a person had to come
under the hearing of the Gospel. A person is saved by the Spirit and the
Gospel; that is, by oil and water. After that has happened, the Spirit and
the Gospel are forever part of the believer’s life. And that life continues
even after the “machine” is broken, as we read in John 5:24:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto
life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_JcKSHUtQ
http://understanddolphins.tripod.com/dolphinbrainandintelligence.ht
ml