Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ecclesiastes 8:10-13 Victory Fellowship
March 10, 2024 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
4th Sunday in Lent
I. Introduction: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) is a movie based on a 1962 dark fantasy novel by Ray Bradbury, and the second book in his Green Town Trilogy. Macbeth
a. In Green Town, Illinois, the twelve year-old boys Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are neighbors and best friends. Will's father Charles Halloway is an old man and the local librarian while Jim and his mother wait for the return of the return of their father and husband that will never occur. The boys know everyone in town, including their school teacher Miss Foley that misses her beauty and youth; the lonely barber Mr. Crosetti that has no girlfriend or wife; the greedy owner of a cigar store Mr. Tetley that is obsessed with money; and the bartender Ed that has severed arm and leg and dreams on being a football hero. One day, Jim buys a lightning rod from the salesman Tom Fury that tells that a storm is coming. During the night, the boys overhear a mysterious train and they run through the woods to see the arrival but they do not see a living soul.
b. However, they find the Mr. Dark's Pandemonium Carnival ready to be enjoyed and they snoop around. Soon they realize that frustrated and greedy people are vanishing in town and the evil Mr. Dark and the Dust Witch make their dreams come true. In return, Mr. Dark seizes their souls. Now Mr. Dark is seeking them out but Charles Halloway has a journal from his father about the autumn carnival that might be their last chance to defeat the evil. (Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
c. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon bemoans the fact that wickedness is prevalent in the world. But he also knows that God is the ultimate judge and it goes well with those who fear the Lord.
II. The World is full of Injustice
a. There’s an old saying, “live your life in such a way that the preacher doesn’t have to lie at your funeral.”
b. Solomon observes that it doesn’t matter. Wicked people are celebrated, even in death.
c. Bette Davis said, “You should never say bad things about the dead. You should only say good. Joan Crawford is dead. Good.”
d. However, Solomon is referring to evil people being celebrated. He goes on to say, “Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime.”
i. That’s what’s happening at our border. Something wicked this way comes.
III. Solomon knows that God is in Control
a. Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people for they are reverent before Him. However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.
b. Psalms 1 & 73 remind us that God will not leave the unjust go unpunished.
c. It may seem like there is wickedness all around us, especially in the political arena, but the righteous do prevail.
d. Jesus says in Revelation 22:11-13,
“Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy go on being made filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; and let the holy go on being made holy. Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
e. Even so Lord Jesus, Come Quickly.
PRAYER
SONG: Come as You Are
Ecclesiastes 8:10-13 (HCSB) In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did so. This too is futile. Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people for they are reverent before Him. However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.
