Ecclesiastes Three cont... out with the old in with the new

3    “A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;”

"A time to kill, and a time to heal..." How shall we apply this? There is indeed a time to kill (the old man, Rom 6:6) and to heal (our wrong ways, Hosea 14:4). We are born with the Adamic nature (that rebellious nature injected into us after the fall of Adam and Eve) and once we accept Christ as our Savior there is a work that begins; it is a work of putting to death the former lifestyle and desires (that Adamic nature). There is also a work of healing our wrong ways; these wrong ways are ways that eventually cause the people of God to backslide if they are not dealt with. We must be diligent in this pursuit; it is the desire of the Blessed Holy Spirit to guide us through this process. We have chapters in the Bible such as Colossians 3 which speak of this process; it is called “Mortification”. We can include Romans 8:13 (Mortification through the Spirit). God wants to put to death the works of the old man and bring us forth in newness of life (Gal 2:20)

"... a time to break down, and a time to build up;" This reminds us very much of Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” and Jeremiah 31:28. “And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD”. These verses list the various stages of the restoration process which were to occur in the nation of Israel. God had anointed the prophet and had given him authority to deal with the sin of the nation. They had fallen by their iniquities and were not walking in His ways. These stages can be broken up into two categories; the first one is the tearing down of the existing form (which is contrary to God) and the building up a new one (that God approves of). This section of verse three flows with the first section above, God tears down the former nature (First Adam) and build sup the new nature (Second Adam – See 1 Cor 15:45)