Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible Part in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is Part #18 of Genesis, chapter 17 and we are going to read Genesis 17:17:

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

In our last Part, we saw that God will laugh at the wicked in the day of their calamity. We saw that in Proverbs 1 and in other places.

By the way, I should point out something about when we read verses like Proverbs 1:26:

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

When we read verses like this, we should not get the idea that God is taking some delight or pleasure in the death of the wicked. That is the calamity – it is the destruction of the wicked that comes at the end of their lives or when they are annihilated on the last day. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, so we have to harmonize this with verses that indicate that God will laugh at their calamity. Some people try to make God out to be evil and that He is someone that delights in destroying people and throwing them into “hell,” the grave.

When it says God will laugh at their calamity, it is to be understood that He will no longer hear them or answer them when they seek Him, just as mankind lightly dismissed the Gospel when God sent it forth to the world. Many were called, but few were chosen. Most mocked and they treated the Gospel as a “light thing,” not to be taken seriously. They did not respond and dismissed the warning given to them. But now the “tables are turned” and it is the Day of Judgment, wherein God will not hearken to their cries when they knock at the door and say, “Lord, Lord!” When they seek Him, they will not find Him. This is the idea behind this language.

We also saw in our last Part that in God’s program there are two distinct “times and seasons.” I am going to read, again, Ecclesiastes 3:1-2:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die…

Here, God is laying out two programs that He would have in this world. One was a program of salvation. The other is a program of judgment. Both are important to Him. He will receive glory through both. As He tells us, there is “a season, and a time to every purpose,” and we could look at this and see a time of salvation and a time of judgment. For instance, “a time to be born” would be in the day of salvation and “a time to die” would take place in the Day of Judgment.

Then it goes on to say in Ecclesiastes 3:2:

…a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

“A time to plant” took place in the day of salvation. Remember how Jesus spoke the parable of the Sower going forth to sow seed and that had to do with sowing the Gospel upon the hearts of men because we did not know whom God would save. Then there was “a time to pluck up that which was planted,” and that points to the Day of Judgment.

There are all these statements in Ecclesiastes 3, but they all speak of these two programs of God: the day of salvation and the Day of Judgment.

It says in Ecclesiastes 3:3:

A time to kill, and a time to heal…

The “time to kill” identifies with judgment and “a time to heal” refers to the day of salvation. When Christ would do a healing, what did it point to? It pointed to salvation.

Then it goes on to say in Ecclesiastes 3:3:

… a time to break down, and a time to build up;

First, we can think of God building the corporate church body. Then at the end of the church age, He tore it all down and not one stone was left upon another. He used the church to bring in the firstfruits and then came judgment upon the corporate church.

Then it says in Ecclesiastes 3:4:

A time to weep, and a time to laugh…

We might think that “a time to weep” would identify with judgment and “a time to laugh” would identify with salvation, but it is the reverse idea. We read this in our last Part, but I am going to read it again, in Luke 6:21:

Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

Here, God is speaking of the present time, which pointed to the day of salvation. When God says, “Blessed are ye,” He is addressing the people of God that are bringing forth the Gospel. When we did that in the day of salvation, there would come persecution and affliction for the Word’s sake and there was accompanying weeping. Christ was assuring us that we would laugh some day in the future.

On the other hand it said in Luke 6:25:

Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

There is a proper “time and season” for everything. When it is time to weep, we should not laugh. When the time of laughter comes for God’s people, He will cause the unsaved people to weep at that time. It is reversed. It reminds us of the rich man and Lazarus. While they were living, the rich man had all the pleasures and comforts of his riches and poor Lazarus was laying at his feet and Lazarus was full of sores. You can see that the rich man would have been laughing and Lazarus was weeping, if we apply it to the idea of two “times and seasons.” But then they both died and who was laughing? When we see Lazarus in “Abraham’s bosom” and he was comforted, the laughter would apply to him. But the rich man was in “hell,” being tormented by the flames and he was weeping. Again, that parable has to do with Judgment Day and Judgment Day is a time period. There is no place called “Hell” and there is no eternal suffering of the wicked. To explain all these verses, we have to realize there is no place called Hell that can fit into a “time and season” of Judgment Day.

Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 is an excellent chapter for us to consider and think about because to everything there is a time and a season. And “time” has to do with the sun, moon and stars as timekeepers to track time in this world only – there is no “time” in eternity. So, regarding the punishment of the wicked, it must take place while the sun literally shines and is in its position and the moon and stars are still in operation. This is why there is a prolonged Judgment Day period in which God is working out the things He has declared in His Word. There are numerous verses that indicate there will be grievous punishment for the wicked and this could not be understood if Christ just came on the last day and that was the end. The nature of these verses indicate there is a time duration and, therefore, there must be a prolonged judgment period, a day of wrath in which God will fulfill these things.

Again, we see there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh.” It says in Psalm 126:4:

Turn again our captivity, O JEHOVAH, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Again, we see two periods of time. There is a time to sow the seed. And how do you sow them? You “sow in tears,” as Jesus said in Luke 6:21: “Blessed are ye that weep now.” That is because it was the day of salvation and the Lord’s people sowed the precious seed of the Word of God in tears. That is the figure that God uses for the season of sowing the Gospel and for the time of the sending forth of His Word wherein some people became saved. The elect of God were being sought and found and then they were translated out of the darkness and into the light.

Again, Psalm 126:4 referred to “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,” and that was the Great Commission to go into all the world, preaching the Gospel unto all nations (the nations of them that are saved). But since we could not know who was of the “nations of them that are saved,” we had to preach the Gospel to the world and that was the sending forth of the Gospel with weeping. We sowed in tears: “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing…” Coming again with rejoicing refers to going forth a “second time” or a second period of time. It is not when we were going forth, weeping. We can look at it as if we were headed one way down the road, but now we are “coming again,” but this time there are no more tears. There is no more weeping. This time we are coming with rejoicing, bringing the sheaves with us. The “sheaves” are those that are saved, so God has completed the sowing process. He has completed His salvation program and now it is time to “pluck up that which is planted” and bring in the sheaves. When we come at this time, we have ceased to sow. That is one thing that is certain, is it not? If we are coming with the sheaves, we are no longer sowing the seed. We have reaped the harvest and we are returning or coming again. The sowing is over. If you read Matthew 13, sowing of the seed refers to sending the Gospel unto salvation. That process is done and over. But there was a coming again and it identified with the “second Great Commission,” which identified with going forth as a reaper after God’s salvation program has been completed in the Day of Judgment. We are not going forth “weeping.”

Another verse that ties in with sowing the Gospel with weeping, as the Lord moved the Apostle Paul to write in Acts 20:31:

Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Just think of the approach to May 21, 2011. Before it arrived, we went forth with the Word of God and we saw so many people that rejected it and they were unconcerned. Some of them were family members and others close to us and a great many tears were shed for these people, even though it was still the day of salvation and there was hope. I know that I and many others were crying out to God with tears on behalf of those we loved, because we were afraid for them and we feared they were not going to listen to God. How terrible! So, the Apostle Paul said he shared the Word of God, night and day, with tears. He warned them. The proclamation of the Gospel was a warning to people to go to God and beseech Him while they were still alive and before God ended His salvation program and shut the door to heaven.

Remember what it said in Zephaniah 2, a passage that shows how God’s people are described as sowing in tears and weeping. It says in Zephaniah 2:1-3:

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of JEHOVAH come upon you, before the day of the JEHOVAH’S anger come upon you. Seek ye JEHOVAH, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the JEHOVAH’S anger.

By the way, since it says here to seek JEHOVAH, if we go back to Ecclesiastes 3, it says in Ecclesiastes 3:6:

A time to get, and a time to lose…

Where it says, “A time to get,” it should have been translated as, “A time to seek;” and “a time to lose” should have been translated as “a time to perish.” You see, there was a time when God could have been found, potentially (from mans’ perspective), and the Bible’s command was to seek the Lord while He may be found, as we read in Isaiah, chapter 55. There is a time period in which God could have (possibly) been found. Of course, it all depended on His good pleasure. What more could God have said than what He had said for so long in calling the sinner and imploring the sinner and encouraging the sinner to come boldly to the throne of grace that they might find grace to help in a time of need? But it had to have been done before the day would come and before the day of His anger, before May 21, 2011 and Judgment Day. That was the turning point and that was the time that sowing seed with tears came to an end. That was when the change of times and seasons took place from weeping to laughing. Jesus said, “Ye shall laugh.”

First, because God identifies weeping and tears with sowing seeds of salvation, we can see why it can be said that we are no longer weeping or shedding tears. I know there are people out there that are going through very hard times and grievous trials and afflictions. I would count myself among them because God is severely trying all His people in the Day of Judgment. Some people may say, “I have cried more since May 21, 2011 than any time in my life. It has been so difficult and hard, so what do you mean when you say we are no longer weeping?”

However, there is a difference between how God views something spiritually and the fact that we may be shedding literal tears and experiencing literal sorrow. Of course, God’s people have shed tears and that has not stopped, but as far as God is concerned, He makes the identification of weeping with the time of going forth with the Gospel. There was a time to weep during the day of salvation – they are linked together by God. When the day of salvation concluded, so, too, did the spiritual time of weeping.

Likewise, on May 21, 2011 we entered into Judgment Day, the prolonged judgment program of God for the world. It had already been working itself out on the churches for 23 years, but then there was the transition to judgment on the world. Now the judgment program of God indicates that in the Day of Judgment God will laugh at their calamity and the people of God will laugh: “Ye shall laugh.” You wept then, but now you laugh.

We want to think about this a little more. Again, do not think of it physically, regarding your life or the life of someone you know as you go through difficult and grievous times. Yes – we would cry at these things. When we are crying, we are not laughing, but, again, we must think of this spiritually (as God does). The time of spiritual weeping has ended and the time of spiritual laughing has begun.