In this book Solomon has honestly assessed the world as it is and its need for purpose and a Savior and the need for people to have wisdom. In addition to Ecclesiastes Solomon wrote many proverbs “with great care” (12:9). Solomon, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes “sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth” (12:10).
Chapter 12 opens:
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them” (12:1)
By “evil days” Solomon doesn’t mean a time full of wickedness and evil but rather the time that our body physically deteriorates. Isn’t it interesting that he calls getting old evil? Once again, Solomon is being honest when most of us try not to be. In order for us to accept the inevitability of age and wrinkles we try to embrace it and glorify it. We say ‘It’s all a part of the circle of life.’ Once you were young, now you are old, try not to get bent out of shape about it. But is this a comfort?
‘No!’ says Solomon. ‘My joints hurt and my teeth are falling out (12:4) and my sight is failing and I jump whenever a bird starts singing (12:4) and I’m afraid of what is high and I’m paranoid (12:5). This isn’t fun and all I have to look forward to is death. It’s not going to get better! It’s going to get worse and worse until I die.’ If we were honest I think we would talk more like Solomon, but usually if the truth is bitter we don’t want to deal with it.
Thank God that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Thank God that we’re not just part of a “circle of life” where death is natural and we must accept it. No! God hates death! We do too if we’re honest! If we throw away our bull crap about “accepting our fates” we will declare the same thing with our whole heart. Think about it!
This is because God “has put eternity into man’s heart” (3:11). God is eternal and He made us in His image. He made us to live with Him. We don’t see death in the Bible until after Adam and Eve sin: it is the end result of sin, an unnatural destruction. A cessation of what was supposed to be unceasing. Thank God that through Jesus death is conquered and overthrown, that now as we age we have hope and joy that when we die we will be with Jesus! And ultimately we will be resurrected and our bodies will be restored. Jesus truly does make all things new.
Let’s return to the text. Solomon is finishing his book, lamenting about death and age, and he leaves the young with advice on how to live: remember God, remember your Creator (12:1). Remember Him and fear Him when You are young and strong (the time when you feel like you are God and in control) because one day you will be weak and tired. It is wise to know your fate so that you will be prepared for it. We must remember our Creator:
before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (12:6-7)
The ESV Study bible notes help make some sense of these examples by pointing out that a common link in these images is that they are vessels for water. “Water is a symbol of life (2 Sam. 14:14; John 4:14; Rev. 21:6; 22:1, 17), the destruction of these various items indicates the moment when mortal life ceases and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (ESV Study bible notes).
One day you will die, one day I will die. Everyone in your family, your town, your state, your country, everyone on the planet will die. When we are young we feel the farthest from death, but with age and weakness we feel it coming closer and closer. Many great writers have written of death and the idea of it pressing in on us (read “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” by Ernest Hemingway). It slowly consumes us until we are like a candle snuffed out.
When you are on your deathbed, do you think you will look back at your life wishing you had lived differently? I’m not just talking about remorse over certain sins you committed, I’m talking about wishing there was something more to your life, like a person or relationship you wished you had had. How many people look to their youth as a waste of time? And on top of that, why does it feel like it went by so quickly?
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. (12:8)
If we are young or if we are old Solomon wants to wake us up to wisdom while we still have time. The way to escape meaninglessness and joylessness is living a life with God. Remembering Him in your youth and as you age – this comfort, His presence, will not age and disappear with you. As your eyesight fails the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever (Psalm 136). The joy of knowing Him will satisfy and in your age you can look back at your life as one spent with God – and that’s all you’ll be able to take with you, good times and good experiences.
For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (5:20)
I think what Solomon is getting at is that our lives are a shadow, a vapor. The bible uses this language on a number of occasions. James writes in the New Testament:
What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)
Billions of people have gone before us and lived and then died, many still will come and then die. Whenever I look at a cemetery it’s hard to believe that it’s filled with people who actually lived just like me with similar pressures, fears, and experiences. I wonder how many of them thought of death, and now there they are in a cemetery and all that they are is a testimony of death and its effects. That’s all they represent to you or I. To us we do not see the eighty years that one of them lived but for the dates on the tombstone. We do not see their weddings, their greatest moments, their worst, we do not see their lives. To us their lives are an instant, a moment long past, a vapor that was but has now dissipated into the air.
Surely our life is different because it feels so long and its full of pain and work – I’m twenty and to live another sixty years sounds like forever. But not until I reach it. As we move through time or time moves around us or whatever you would say I think we strongly desire (at least I know I do) to stop time, to somehow grab it and keep it from moving on. There are moments in life that are so joyful that I wish I could grab it and stop and experience that moment forever – but I can’t! It slips away from me and all I have is a memory. We strive to catch the wind but time moves on – people come and go, babies are born, and sometime later they die. Ultimately our time runs out and we face death – and no one escapes death. Yet we strive and strive to fight time and death because God
has put eternity into man’s heart. (3:11)
Outside of eternity the moment – or the “present” continues to elude us and slip away, turning into the past, untouchable, unattainable. Pleasures once had can be re-experienced but not the same exact one in the same exact way at the same exact time. We long for eternity where this will not happen. Think about it – if we spend eternity with God, won’t that be living in the present forever? No past, no future, but present? Time won’t slip away, we won’t age, and we will be with who we were made to be with – Jesus.
Until then our joy can still be found in Him on earth. Because although our days pass us we can hold fast to Him and look forward to what is to come rather than what lies behind:
For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. (5:20)
Do not chase after women, drugs, money, and fleeting pleasures. Do not strive after the wind, strive after God and your heart will be full. Jesus said,
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Jesus is that treasure in heaven that will not rust, will not decay. If you are serious about finding joy in life then don’t seek it on earth, where things pass like shadows and outlive their usefulness, seek it from above.
Jesus is full of wisdom like this. Take Solomon’s advice:
The words of the wise are like goads*, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepard. (12:11)
I love that “nails” is placed right next to “one Shepard” because ultimately wisdom comes from Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)
Through Jesus we have hope and joy today and in what will come. Death is defeated and we are called to be in God’s presence. In Christ we have hope.
At the close of Ecclesiastes (in a way similar to the close of the book of Revelation) Solomon quickly advises against seeking any other kind of “wisdom” apart from his writings and, ultimately, God's wisdom and the bible:
My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. (12:12)
There’s a lot of ideas and philosophies that place hope in this life outside of our Shepard, and they are rubbish. Books upon books are always being written about how to find joy and happiness, but that doesn’t mean they have true wisdom. Seek that in Christ.
Solomon’s great conclusion and admonition for our lives:
The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (12:13-14)
If we honestly assess life, it sucks. The good parts mix in with the bad and go by too fast. There is evil and injustice in and around us. We want joy but can’t find it. Whatever you do, walk with Christ – there is joy. If you don’t, you will find nothing. Remember your Creator, pursue Him! Do not think you have found joy elsewhere because it is fleeting and all things go but God. Turn to Him and put your faith in Him and you will be satisfied. I know I am.
10/5/09
* "A “goad” is a long, pointed stick used for prodding and guiding oxen while plowing.” Thank you, ESV Study Bible notes!
Showing posts with label Ecclesiastes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ecclesiastes. Show all posts
Monday, 5 October 2009
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Just Live (Ecclesiastes 11)
Solomon’s great book of repentance and of reflection (on a life lived in sin) draws near to a close with his great conclusion in chapter 12. Up until now Solomon has lamented that life is pointless, every day just like the day before, every year the same as the last, there is “nothing new under the sun” (1:9b).
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be
done. (1:9a)
There is also great evil on the earth, and even this seems pointless because justice seems far away and even those who work for justice on earth are evil doers (3:16). Happiness is impossible to attain, “all is vanity and a striving after wind” (1:14). Solomon has tried everything to find joy in his time under the sun, and:
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing. (1:8)
He tries women (he had 700 wives!), he tries laughter (2:2), he tries wine (1:3), he tries building monuments and creating works of art (2:4-6), he tries entertainment (2:7), and he tries wealth and power (2:8-9).
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. (2:10)
Most everybody lives with their own idea of “I’d be happing if…” Solomon conducts a great human experiment and tries everything we dream of, and his conclusion is bleak:
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (2:11)
So what is the point? Mark Driscoll says that Ecclesiastes asks the questions the rest of the bible answers, specifically Jesus Christ. Roughly 1,000 years after King Solomon (962 – 922 B.C.) writes this book Jesus is born in Israel. Everything about Christ satisfies Solomon’s frustrations and leads us to this chapter (11), in many ways an encouragement to keep on living and, in light of chapter 12, too look forward to God and His judgment. In this chapter we see hope. It’s almost as if right here the clouds part and we see the sun for the first time. (In fact, this is the first time in the whole book Solomon speaks positively about the sun: “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun” – 11:7).
One of the big ways Christ satisfies Solomon’s frustrations (and ours) is that through Him God deals with evil. We’ve tried to deal with evil, but our own justice is perverted by our own evil and it is not enough. How can a dirty hand clean a dirty hand? We need a clean one. Jesus deals with evil in complete goodness and authority without evil in Him. he does this in two ways.
The first has already happened, and that was His crucifixion. The second hasn’t happened yet, and that will be when Jesus returns and destroys evil once and for all. But let’s focus on the first one and clarify what happened that day two thousand years ago.
On that day “for our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because here’s the problems with true justice, that is, if God took to task every evil ever committed and punished the guilty persons there would be nobody left. We’ve all sinned “and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God, like the faithful husband married to a prostitute in the book of Hosea, has two divine qualities that must be satisfied. The first is justice – God hates sin! And would He be good if He didn’t? If He looked at a child molester and said, “You’ve done nothing wrong,” would that be justice? No, justice must be satisfied.
The second quality is love. “God is love” John writes in 1 John 4:8. God loves us, and He is faithful to us as we resist Him. Look again at Hosea: God is like our faithful husband and we are nothing but whores. God refuses to leave because He loves us, but how can He tolerate our unfaithfulness? If God abandoned us, or just simply destroyed us how would that satisfy His love?
So God had an ingenious plan developed since the second Adam and Eve walked away from Him (even before if He is all-knowing – He inevitably knew what they would do!). He makes a promise after the first sin that He would take care of all sin. He says to Satan, the serpent, the one who led Adam and Eve to sin (and is a good representation of sin):
“I will put enmity between you and the
woman,
and between your offspring and her
offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his head.” (Gen. 3:15)
The word “offspring” in Hebrew means “seed”. Paul writes in Galatians (Gal. 3:16) that the “seed” written of to Abraham (the same words spoken in Genesis 3:15) is not plural, but singular. Look at the next line here, “offspring” is not “they” but a “he”. This man will stomp on sin, but he will be wounded. Right away, God promises to deal with the sin problem by sending His Son. Jesus put it this way:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
That is probably the most well-known verse in all of Scripture, which is fitting because in one sentence Jesus explains what all of Scripture is about. In this verse we see:
1) Our condition. We are “perishing” and need saving.
2) God loves us. He sends His Son to die for us in our place, so that:
3) we will live with Him and have eternal life. “Eternal life” means more than living forever. Jesus defines it as:
“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
Eternal life is living forever knowing Jesus (the Bible is pretty clear that all will live forever, past death, but the question is will you live with Jesus). Here we see life! Joy in living! Isn’t that what Solomon was after? Joy is now ours in Christ.
So on the cross God provided a substitute for us so that both His love and His judgment could be satisfied. Because of Jesus’ death, if we humble ourselves before God and ask for His forgiveness, we will be made new, our sins washed away.
That is the hope in the clouds of Ecclesiastes. In chapter 11 get pieces of this hope and some wonderful advice on how we should live now that we have been forgiven and made right with God, but while we still live in this broken, fallen world described by Solomon. Really, what should we do? Should we build a bomb shelter and wait for Jesus to return? Should we, as so many Christians do, completely cut ourselves off from culture and society, and fun? Not sinful fun, but fun. Didn’t God make us to enjoy things?
One of the best sermons I ever heard was a few months after becoming a Christian. It was sermon about grace – how, through the free gift of Jesus Christ, we are made right with God. The pastor ended by saying, “So now what do you do?” He waved his hand and said, “Just live.” Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t God good? Can you see how we are given everything through Him? Not only forgiveness but life. We’re allowed to enjoy this world He has given us.
Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. (11:1-2)
Just live! Solomon then writes to remind us, Caution!, remember our helplessness and God’s sovereignty:
If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the
north,
in the place where the tree falls, there
it will lie. (Ecc. 11:3)
What man can control nature? Do not worry about it. Our place is under God, not over Him. Your Father is in control. There are certainly many, many things of God we cannot understand:
As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. (11:5)
You’re not a in control: Let go of the illusion. Live by God’s grace and fear Him. And, once again, please live:
He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will
not reap. (11:4)
Don’t be idle: Your Father has given you purpose and strength and direction in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in this life (11:9), because you are headed to a different and better place. You are going to be with Jesus.
10/1/09
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be
done. (1:9a)
There is also great evil on the earth, and even this seems pointless because justice seems far away and even those who work for justice on earth are evil doers (3:16). Happiness is impossible to attain, “all is vanity and a striving after wind” (1:14). Solomon has tried everything to find joy in his time under the sun, and:
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing. (1:8)
He tries women (he had 700 wives!), he tries laughter (2:2), he tries wine (1:3), he tries building monuments and creating works of art (2:4-6), he tries entertainment (2:7), and he tries wealth and power (2:8-9).
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. (2:10)
Most everybody lives with their own idea of “I’d be happing if…” Solomon conducts a great human experiment and tries everything we dream of, and his conclusion is bleak:
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (2:11)
So what is the point? Mark Driscoll says that Ecclesiastes asks the questions the rest of the bible answers, specifically Jesus Christ. Roughly 1,000 years after King Solomon (962 – 922 B.C.) writes this book Jesus is born in Israel. Everything about Christ satisfies Solomon’s frustrations and leads us to this chapter (11), in many ways an encouragement to keep on living and, in light of chapter 12, too look forward to God and His judgment. In this chapter we see hope. It’s almost as if right here the clouds part and we see the sun for the first time. (In fact, this is the first time in the whole book Solomon speaks positively about the sun: “Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun” – 11:7).
One of the big ways Christ satisfies Solomon’s frustrations (and ours) is that through Him God deals with evil. We’ve tried to deal with evil, but our own justice is perverted by our own evil and it is not enough. How can a dirty hand clean a dirty hand? We need a clean one. Jesus deals with evil in complete goodness and authority without evil in Him. he does this in two ways.
The first has already happened, and that was His crucifixion. The second hasn’t happened yet, and that will be when Jesus returns and destroys evil once and for all. But let’s focus on the first one and clarify what happened that day two thousand years ago.
On that day “for our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because here’s the problems with true justice, that is, if God took to task every evil ever committed and punished the guilty persons there would be nobody left. We’ve all sinned “and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God, like the faithful husband married to a prostitute in the book of Hosea, has two divine qualities that must be satisfied. The first is justice – God hates sin! And would He be good if He didn’t? If He looked at a child molester and said, “You’ve done nothing wrong,” would that be justice? No, justice must be satisfied.
The second quality is love. “God is love” John writes in 1 John 4:8. God loves us, and He is faithful to us as we resist Him. Look again at Hosea: God is like our faithful husband and we are nothing but whores. God refuses to leave because He loves us, but how can He tolerate our unfaithfulness? If God abandoned us, or just simply destroyed us how would that satisfy His love?
So God had an ingenious plan developed since the second Adam and Eve walked away from Him (even before if He is all-knowing – He inevitably knew what they would do!). He makes a promise after the first sin that He would take care of all sin. He says to Satan, the serpent, the one who led Adam and Eve to sin (and is a good representation of sin):
“I will put enmity between you and the
woman,
and between your offspring and her
offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his head.” (Gen. 3:15)
The word “offspring” in Hebrew means “seed”. Paul writes in Galatians (Gal. 3:16) that the “seed” written of to Abraham (the same words spoken in Genesis 3:15) is not plural, but singular. Look at the next line here, “offspring” is not “they” but a “he”. This man will stomp on sin, but he will be wounded. Right away, God promises to deal with the sin problem by sending His Son. Jesus put it this way:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
That is probably the most well-known verse in all of Scripture, which is fitting because in one sentence Jesus explains what all of Scripture is about. In this verse we see:
1) Our condition. We are “perishing” and need saving.
2) God loves us. He sends His Son to die for us in our place, so that:
3) we will live with Him and have eternal life. “Eternal life” means more than living forever. Jesus defines it as:
“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
Eternal life is living forever knowing Jesus (the Bible is pretty clear that all will live forever, past death, but the question is will you live with Jesus). Here we see life! Joy in living! Isn’t that what Solomon was after? Joy is now ours in Christ.
So on the cross God provided a substitute for us so that both His love and His judgment could be satisfied. Because of Jesus’ death, if we humble ourselves before God and ask for His forgiveness, we will be made new, our sins washed away.
That is the hope in the clouds of Ecclesiastes. In chapter 11 get pieces of this hope and some wonderful advice on how we should live now that we have been forgiven and made right with God, but while we still live in this broken, fallen world described by Solomon. Really, what should we do? Should we build a bomb shelter and wait for Jesus to return? Should we, as so many Christians do, completely cut ourselves off from culture and society, and fun? Not sinful fun, but fun. Didn’t God make us to enjoy things?
One of the best sermons I ever heard was a few months after becoming a Christian. It was sermon about grace – how, through the free gift of Jesus Christ, we are made right with God. The pastor ended by saying, “So now what do you do?” He waved his hand and said, “Just live.” Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t God good? Can you see how we are given everything through Him? Not only forgiveness but life. We’re allowed to enjoy this world He has given us.
Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. (11:1-2)
Just live! Solomon then writes to remind us, Caution!, remember our helplessness and God’s sovereignty:
If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the
north,
in the place where the tree falls, there
it will lie. (Ecc. 11:3)
What man can control nature? Do not worry about it. Our place is under God, not over Him. Your Father is in control. There are certainly many, many things of God we cannot understand:
As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. (11:5)
You’re not a in control: Let go of the illusion. Live by God’s grace and fear Him. And, once again, please live:
He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will
not reap. (11:4)
Don’t be idle: Your Father has given you purpose and strength and direction in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in this life (11:9), because you are headed to a different and better place. You are going to be with Jesus.
10/1/09
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Fools & True Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 10)
In this chapter Solomon the wise King of Israel writes of the differences between a wise man and a fool. This is a theme in much of scripture, often times the psalms describe a fool and how his path leads to destruction. Solomon wrote several proverbs about fools. The difference between folly and wisdom is a major theme of Proverbs:
A fool takes no pleasure in
understanding,
but only expresses his opinion. (Prov. 18:2)
A fool’s mouth is his ruin,
and his lips are a snare to his soul. (Prov. 18:7)
Fine speech is not becoming to a fool;
still less is false speech to a prince. (Prov. 17:7)
The last proverb also hits on the tension of wisdom and folly in royalty. The king should be wise, and a kingdom under a slothful, drunken fool falls apart (Ecc. 10:16-18).
Why is a fool such an evil thing? Isn’t it just somebody who’s not very intelligent? If so, does that mean only smart people are righteous? No and no. There is a major difference between intelligence and wisdom. No matter what your IQ is you can still be blessed with wisdom.
This is the Bible’s definition of wisdom (penned by Solomon):
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov. 1:7)
There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. True wisdom leads to worship of God. Isn’t that profound? Nobody has ever been truly wise and known God and not been made into a worshipper of Him. Nobody can impartially engage their mental faculties in comprehension and meditation on God’s character – the character of the true God – and not be overwhelmed with adoration and praise. That is, no one can fully and honestly know God if they are not overcome by Him! To know God – the true God and His true qualities (not just speculations or theories or philosophies) leads to worship! Nobody can behold God and say ‘I’m not impressed.’ If they did, that would be foolishness.
King Solomon writes about wisdom as the authority on wisdom. When he became king of Israel God approached him in a dream and promised to give him whatever he asked. Solomon asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-15). God gave him more wisdom than any man ever and Solomon was known throughout the world for his wisdom:
And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings 4:34)
So Solomon knows what he’s talking about, and he – more than most people – sees the difference between wisdom and smarts. For although he may have always been smart, incredibly intelligent, he did not always act with wisdom. In fact, much of his life was lived as a fool. He turns from God (1 Kings 11:1-13) and even builds high places (of worship) for other, false gods (1 Kings 11:5-8).
Ecclesiastes is a book that in many ways is King Solomon looking back on his life and lamenting, returning to God and repenting. This chapter opens with an indictment of foolishness:
Dead flies make the perfume’s
ointment give off stench;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and
honor. (10:1)
Solomon has suffered the life of a fool, and he laments at how easily it destroys wisdom – even with someone as wise as him. “A little folly” perverts wisdom.
In verse 8-11 I believe he is outlining practical and metaphorical examples of folly. At the same time, I also think he is lamenting of the curse we are under in a fallen world.
He who quarries stones is hurt by them,
and he who splits logs is endangered
by them. (10:9)
Remember because of our initial rebellion against God and His rightful dominion God saw it fit to put us in the same situation.
“Because you have listened to the voice of
your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it al the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shll bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:17-19)
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes generations and generations after God spoke this, and we read Solomon hundreds of generations after him, and this curse is still true. Although we have more technology these days and think we have conquered nature we find increasingly that we are helpless. Even with our technology it continually breaks down and needs fixing. God has made our world like this as to give us an idea of the frustration He has in our rebellion. And God’s words here end with the mood that pervades Ecclesiastes: to dust you shall return. As Solomon writes over and over again, “it is a striving after wind.” Basically, what’s the point?
But back to wisdom. Solomon compares wisdom and folly:
The words of a wise man’s mouth win
him favor,
but the lips of a fool consume him.
The beginning of the words of his
mouth is foolishness,
and the end of his talk is evil madness.
A fool multiplies words,
though no man knows what is to be,
and who can tell him what will be
after him?
The toil of a fool wearies him,
for he does not know the way to the
city. (Ecc. 10:12-15)
So here’s my argument: if all scripture is about Jesus and anticipating His arrival on earth, His being, His essence, His person, even His death and resurrection, if this is true (Luke 24:25-27) then we can see here in this chapter an invitation – no, a prescription to come to Christ. Because ultimately any argument between wisdom and folly is really an argument between Christ and everybody else.
Who is wholly wise and without folly? No man like that has ever existed except Jesus. Even a little folly “outweighs wisdom and honor”. Even Solomon – to whom God said “I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.” (1 Kings 3:12). Solomon, you’re the wisest guy who’s ever lived and much of your life was folly. Only Christ stands above.
If true wisdom is to fear the LORD and to keep His commandments then only Jesus did that. Who but Jesus never failed in unwavering commitment to the greatest commandment:
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Only Jesus did this. Even the greatest of the rest have screwed this up in some way, they have sinned, they have turned their backs on the Lord and loving Him constantly. Most of us have left this command in the dust and erected our own commandment to love ourselves and serve ourselves with all our heart and all our mind.
So we can’t look at this chapter and pick out the “fool” and shake our heads at him. “What a stupid fool. There are some many people like him! Thank God I’m wise, the fool is definitely not a description of me.”
Oh, but it is! We are all fools in sin and folly, and like Solomon says, “who can tell him what will be after him?” We are ignorant to the things of God and His kingdom. We do not seek Him as we ought. We are the fools.
As a quick aside, what does this mean of those who claim to be wise? I’m talking about the therapists on TV, the talk radio hosts, the political pundits, the spiritual gurus who all claim knowledge and truth. Many people claim knowledge of who God is or what this world is about. Jesus made claims too, and unlike everybody else, what He says is fully true all the time. Jesus has never lied. Only He is a true and worthy teacher.
Because that’s what we need, a teacher. It’s funny that Solomon refers to himself as the Preacher in this book when most of his preaching is crying out for a true preacher to preach to him. What we need is someone to deliver us from foolishness and give us wisdom and insight, to give us knowledge. And all of those things, when they are true, bring us to God in worship and admiration.
I encourage you to analyze who you are currently looking to for wisdom and insight. Of course God puts people in our lives to give us wisdom and insight, but I’m talking about the people who are “teaching” you about God. Are they pointing you to Jesus? Are they encouraging you to follow Him? Or are they condemning His works and His life? Are they condemning His work on the cross for the atonement of our sins and calling it folly? There’s many “teachers” today who make claims about Jesus’ words and works and they deny His words and works. They say things like ‘Jesus didn’t really believe He was dying as a substitute for everybody else,’ and some even claim that after Jesus was crucified He was thrown to the dogs and eaten. Is this wisdom? Is this the truth?
Turn from these voices, for a fool “does not know the way to the city”. People living two thousand years after Jesus with Ph.D. aren’t more qualified to tell you about Jesus than Jesus Himself. Jesus’ words are truth and He said often: “Truly, truly, I say to you,” to drive home the point, “Listen to me. There’s a lot of crap out there. I’ve got the truth.” Jesus says, “Trust me.” In who else is their wisdom and escape from folly? Only in Jesus Christ can we truly be wise.
A fool takes no pleasure in
understanding,
but only expresses his opinion. (Prov. 18:2)
A fool’s mouth is his ruin,
and his lips are a snare to his soul. (Prov. 18:7)
Fine speech is not becoming to a fool;
still less is false speech to a prince. (Prov. 17:7)
The last proverb also hits on the tension of wisdom and folly in royalty. The king should be wise, and a kingdom under a slothful, drunken fool falls apart (Ecc. 10:16-18).
Why is a fool such an evil thing? Isn’t it just somebody who’s not very intelligent? If so, does that mean only smart people are righteous? No and no. There is a major difference between intelligence and wisdom. No matter what your IQ is you can still be blessed with wisdom.
This is the Bible’s definition of wisdom (penned by Solomon):
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov. 1:7)
There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. True wisdom leads to worship of God. Isn’t that profound? Nobody has ever been truly wise and known God and not been made into a worshipper of Him. Nobody can impartially engage their mental faculties in comprehension and meditation on God’s character – the character of the true God – and not be overwhelmed with adoration and praise. That is, no one can fully and honestly know God if they are not overcome by Him! To know God – the true God and His true qualities (not just speculations or theories or philosophies) leads to worship! Nobody can behold God and say ‘I’m not impressed.’ If they did, that would be foolishness.
King Solomon writes about wisdom as the authority on wisdom. When he became king of Israel God approached him in a dream and promised to give him whatever he asked. Solomon asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-15). God gave him more wisdom than any man ever and Solomon was known throughout the world for his wisdom:
And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings 4:34)
So Solomon knows what he’s talking about, and he – more than most people – sees the difference between wisdom and smarts. For although he may have always been smart, incredibly intelligent, he did not always act with wisdom. In fact, much of his life was lived as a fool. He turns from God (1 Kings 11:1-13) and even builds high places (of worship) for other, false gods (1 Kings 11:5-8).
Ecclesiastes is a book that in many ways is King Solomon looking back on his life and lamenting, returning to God and repenting. This chapter opens with an indictment of foolishness:
Dead flies make the perfume’s
ointment give off stench;
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and
honor. (10:1)
Solomon has suffered the life of a fool, and he laments at how easily it destroys wisdom – even with someone as wise as him. “A little folly” perverts wisdom.
In verse 8-11 I believe he is outlining practical and metaphorical examples of folly. At the same time, I also think he is lamenting of the curse we are under in a fallen world.
He who quarries stones is hurt by them,
and he who splits logs is endangered
by them. (10:9)
Remember because of our initial rebellion against God and His rightful dominion God saw it fit to put us in the same situation.
“Because you have listened to the voice of
your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it al the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shll bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:17-19)
Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes generations and generations after God spoke this, and we read Solomon hundreds of generations after him, and this curse is still true. Although we have more technology these days and think we have conquered nature we find increasingly that we are helpless. Even with our technology it continually breaks down and needs fixing. God has made our world like this as to give us an idea of the frustration He has in our rebellion. And God’s words here end with the mood that pervades Ecclesiastes: to dust you shall return. As Solomon writes over and over again, “it is a striving after wind.” Basically, what’s the point?
But back to wisdom. Solomon compares wisdom and folly:
The words of a wise man’s mouth win
him favor,
but the lips of a fool consume him.
The beginning of the words of his
mouth is foolishness,
and the end of his talk is evil madness.
A fool multiplies words,
though no man knows what is to be,
and who can tell him what will be
after him?
The toil of a fool wearies him,
for he does not know the way to the
city. (Ecc. 10:12-15)
So here’s my argument: if all scripture is about Jesus and anticipating His arrival on earth, His being, His essence, His person, even His death and resurrection, if this is true (Luke 24:25-27) then we can see here in this chapter an invitation – no, a prescription to come to Christ. Because ultimately any argument between wisdom and folly is really an argument between Christ and everybody else.
Who is wholly wise and without folly? No man like that has ever existed except Jesus. Even a little folly “outweighs wisdom and honor”. Even Solomon – to whom God said “I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.” (1 Kings 3:12). Solomon, you’re the wisest guy who’s ever lived and much of your life was folly. Only Christ stands above.
If true wisdom is to fear the LORD and to keep His commandments then only Jesus did that. Who but Jesus never failed in unwavering commitment to the greatest commandment:
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Only Jesus did this. Even the greatest of the rest have screwed this up in some way, they have sinned, they have turned their backs on the Lord and loving Him constantly. Most of us have left this command in the dust and erected our own commandment to love ourselves and serve ourselves with all our heart and all our mind.
So we can’t look at this chapter and pick out the “fool” and shake our heads at him. “What a stupid fool. There are some many people like him! Thank God I’m wise, the fool is definitely not a description of me.”
Oh, but it is! We are all fools in sin and folly, and like Solomon says, “who can tell him what will be after him?” We are ignorant to the things of God and His kingdom. We do not seek Him as we ought. We are the fools.
As a quick aside, what does this mean of those who claim to be wise? I’m talking about the therapists on TV, the talk radio hosts, the political pundits, the spiritual gurus who all claim knowledge and truth. Many people claim knowledge of who God is or what this world is about. Jesus made claims too, and unlike everybody else, what He says is fully true all the time. Jesus has never lied. Only He is a true and worthy teacher.
Because that’s what we need, a teacher. It’s funny that Solomon refers to himself as the Preacher in this book when most of his preaching is crying out for a true preacher to preach to him. What we need is someone to deliver us from foolishness and give us wisdom and insight, to give us knowledge. And all of those things, when they are true, bring us to God in worship and admiration.
I encourage you to analyze who you are currently looking to for wisdom and insight. Of course God puts people in our lives to give us wisdom and insight, but I’m talking about the people who are “teaching” you about God. Are they pointing you to Jesus? Are they encouraging you to follow Him? Or are they condemning His works and His life? Are they condemning His work on the cross for the atonement of our sins and calling it folly? There’s many “teachers” today who make claims about Jesus’ words and works and they deny His words and works. They say things like ‘Jesus didn’t really believe He was dying as a substitute for everybody else,’ and some even claim that after Jesus was crucified He was thrown to the dogs and eaten. Is this wisdom? Is this the truth?
Turn from these voices, for a fool “does not know the way to the city”. People living two thousand years after Jesus with Ph.D. aren’t more qualified to tell you about Jesus than Jesus Himself. Jesus’ words are truth and He said often: “Truly, truly, I say to you,” to drive home the point, “Listen to me. There’s a lot of crap out there. I’ve got the truth.” Jesus says, “Trust me.” In who else is their wisdom and escape from folly? Only in Jesus Christ can we truly be wise.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Man is Helpless (Ecclessiastes 9)
I think a theme of Ecclesiastes is man’s helplessness, which is a humbling thing to realize.
But we don't like to acknowledge it. Whether it be in the arts, society, architecture, infrastructure, government, or even war man loves to glorify man. Look at us! Look at what the human race accomplished, isn’t it incredible? Today we live in an age when arguably we have seen the most human achievement in the history of the planet. Sixty-six years after we figured out how to fly – something that has been attempted and dream of for thousands of years – we landed on the moon.
Certainly the human race is great. Look and see how there is virtually no situation man cannot become accustomed to (or bend to its will). The world is becoming increasingly under out control.
But is it? I would say that Solomon’s writing – nearly three thousand years old – is still true in a day and age where it appears that man is in control. In reality, we are as helpless as ever.
But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. (Ecc. 9:1)
If we were to label the “best” members of society it would be the righteous and the wise. That’s how we tend to categorize men and women. Mother Theresa is revered for her righteousness and compassion, Albert Einstein for his intelligence. I think we look at great men and women with admiration because we see in them the spark of greatness, something they have willed of themselves. Somehow they have a different discipline, a different ability or level of control, and they have been made great. The rest of us regularly feel Solomon’s helplessness, but we look up to great men and women because they seem to have things under control. What is their secret?
Simply put, they don’t. Even the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God. All of us are in His hands.
It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice… This is an evil that happens under the sun, that the same event happens to all. (Ecc. 9:2,3)
Once again Solomon presents to us the problems with the world. Is it this way because of death, and there is death because of sin. Truly this was not how God made the earth, because when He made it things were “good”. Now we see that everything is tainted and our lives – our greatest gift! – are burdens. We slave away day after day to sustain them, and in the end, we die. What’s words than that is being conscience of God and not only slaving to survive but slaving to be true to Him – only to see that you will die the same as those who don’t fear God.
Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. (Ecc. 9:6)
This is all a bitter truth because of our rebellion and sinful nature towards God. Here Solomon echoes Genesis 6:5-6 (right before God floods the earth):
Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecc. 9:3)
That truth is hard to hear and may will not admit it, but it’s true. Who do we tend to hope the opposite is true, that man is inherently good?
I can think of three reasons:
1) We are image-bearers of God. Before He made us, God said:
“Let us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make man in our own image, and after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26)
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27)
What exactly does “image” and “likeness” mean? I think it means a variety of things. We bear the image of a perfect, holy, and righteous God. A God who loves, who knows joy, a God who delights in relationships. We can see many of these qualities “stamped” into us. Most every human being (on some level) loves, longs for joy over pain, and likes relationship. Humans need relationships.
Another way we bear God’s image is our mind. We are more intelligent than any other creature on earth, in fact, God gives them us to have dominion over the same way He has dominion over us. Leadership and authority are marks of God.
Also, we were made in the image and likeness of a good God. For this reason we have “morality” and conscience. We recognize good and evil. When we go to movies, the good guy usually wins, and that’s how we like it. So we are made in God’s image and we were made to be good. If there is good in us, it is because of God.
2) We like control. When we say “Man is inherently good” we are trying to say man is in control of being good or evil (and, at the core, is good). We love the idea that we can be in control of our goodness, but ever since Adam and Eve took control in rebellion against God we have not controlled the rebellion (of evil and sin) in us, it has controlled us. But we love to believe that we have freedom in this, we love to think being on the “Naughty” or “Nice” list is a choice or applied discipline.
Why do we love the idea of freedom to be good or evil? I think because if we can’t be good we don’t want the God-given despair that should come with that, instead we want to stay in “control”, rather than admit our helplessness. In short, we want to be God. We want to be the definition of good and evil rather than Him.
Ecclesiastes slices through our false notion of control and points out that even if we devoted ourselves to righteousness we would be unable to control sin within us:
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecc. 7:20)
The apostle Paul later echoes this:
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
Once again, we see our helplessness. Just looking at the way in which we are controlled by sin reveals the falsehood in the phrase “Man is inherently good.”
3) I think the truth is too painful. The practical situation we often use the above phrase in is about a particular person. We apply it when someone does evil but we don’t want to accept it. Bill Clinton did what? But really he’s a good man, he just screwed up. Underneath he is a good man, he’s just made some mistakes.
The funny thing is we don’t apply this to everybody. Some people are just “evil”. If Adolf Hitler had a Clinton moment of infidelity, we wouldn’t be surprised and wouldn’t feel the need to defend him. We would not say “Underneath he’s a good man.” That sounds ridiculous to say about Adolf Hitler.
We constantly play this game of good guy/bad guy, labeling everyone we come into contact with white caps or black caps because the phrase “Man is inherently good” doesn’t carry over to everybody. We look at Hitler and say, Whoops, this premise seems out of whack. Some people are just plain evil, but man is still inherently good. Do you see what scares us? We see Hitler and see that he, too, was a human, like you and me. Could the same possibility for evil that was in Hitler live in you and me?
No, some people are just plain evil, but man is still inherently good. Right? What about Bill Clinton? He sinned, but he doesn’t seem totally evil like Hitler, in fact, he seems a lot like you or I. Maybe he’s good underneath. Man is still inherently good.
Your friend sins against you. You can’t believe it. But you’ve known them for ten years and it seems wrong to say they’re evil or that they’ve done evil. You love them! Surely love wouldn’t call something evil! How could you say that to your friend? Man is still inherently good.
You screw up. You do something deplorable, something you know is wrong but you couldn’t help yourself. You were helpless. Certainly you aren’t bad. Certainly you aren’t selfish and evil. You are a good person who had a strange fluke of character and made a mistake. For this reason the most you cling to the axiom, Man is inherently good.
Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecc. 9:3)
No, I’m not evil! Maybe from your point of view, or your family’s point of view (or maybe not!), but in order to truly know we need a different perspective.
Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. His opinion, therefore, is very valuable in determining if someone is good or evil. Surely the world is made up of good guys and bad guys, right Jesus? Of which, I, of course, am a good guy? Jesus Christ will shake His head to such questions. Jesus – God – can see everyone’s heart, and no matter how good you think you are, Jesus knows the honest truth.
John writes this about Jesus:
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25)
Jesus isn’t stupid or naïve. Never would He have said, “Man is inherently good. In fact, most of them are good people.” He’s the only one who knows the deepest parts of all humans, and He knows they’re rotten.
So this information frustrates us and ticks us off. What about me? I give to the poor, I smile at the elderly! I go through great pains not to look lustfully at women! What about me?
You too, Jesus says: I don’t trust you.
But the goodness of Jesus is that He tells us to trust Him. He takes sin and evil and tramples it underfoot on the cross, and He gives us a new nature in that we will be like Him rather than us. That’s what we need, a heart transplant, not rules to follow. Righteousness is given by grace through Jesus Christ, it is not attained.
Jesus reaches down in our helplessness and gives us control over sin, but at the same time makes us obedient to Him. Isn’t that funny? Man in all his greatness was made to serve something. If it will not be God, it will be sin. If God is not our master, sin is. But we have the illusion of control and being good and this blinds us to the truth. We get proud so it becomes painful to admit our need for God, for a new master.
But this master is infinitely easier than the old one – sin – which destroys, decays, leads to death, swallows up life. Sin leaves us in despair like Solomon – ‘life is pointless and headed to destruction.’ But through Christ we are made new, and his invitation is to us all. In His words:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28)
9/28/09
But we don't like to acknowledge it. Whether it be in the arts, society, architecture, infrastructure, government, or even war man loves to glorify man. Look at us! Look at what the human race accomplished, isn’t it incredible? Today we live in an age when arguably we have seen the most human achievement in the history of the planet. Sixty-six years after we figured out how to fly – something that has been attempted and dream of for thousands of years – we landed on the moon.
Certainly the human race is great. Look and see how there is virtually no situation man cannot become accustomed to (or bend to its will). The world is becoming increasingly under out control.
But is it? I would say that Solomon’s writing – nearly three thousand years old – is still true in a day and age where it appears that man is in control. In reality, we are as helpless as ever.
But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. (Ecc. 9:1)
If we were to label the “best” members of society it would be the righteous and the wise. That’s how we tend to categorize men and women. Mother Theresa is revered for her righteousness and compassion, Albert Einstein for his intelligence. I think we look at great men and women with admiration because we see in them the spark of greatness, something they have willed of themselves. Somehow they have a different discipline, a different ability or level of control, and they have been made great. The rest of us regularly feel Solomon’s helplessness, but we look up to great men and women because they seem to have things under control. What is their secret?
Simply put, they don’t. Even the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God. All of us are in His hands.
It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice… This is an evil that happens under the sun, that the same event happens to all. (Ecc. 9:2,3)
Once again Solomon presents to us the problems with the world. Is it this way because of death, and there is death because of sin. Truly this was not how God made the earth, because when He made it things were “good”. Now we see that everything is tainted and our lives – our greatest gift! – are burdens. We slave away day after day to sustain them, and in the end, we die. What’s words than that is being conscience of God and not only slaving to survive but slaving to be true to Him – only to see that you will die the same as those who don’t fear God.
Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. (Ecc. 9:6)
This is all a bitter truth because of our rebellion and sinful nature towards God. Here Solomon echoes Genesis 6:5-6 (right before God floods the earth):
Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecc. 9:3)
That truth is hard to hear and may will not admit it, but it’s true. Who do we tend to hope the opposite is true, that man is inherently good?
I can think of three reasons:
1) We are image-bearers of God. Before He made us, God said:
“Let us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make man in our own image, and after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26)
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:27)
What exactly does “image” and “likeness” mean? I think it means a variety of things. We bear the image of a perfect, holy, and righteous God. A God who loves, who knows joy, a God who delights in relationships. We can see many of these qualities “stamped” into us. Most every human being (on some level) loves, longs for joy over pain, and likes relationship. Humans need relationships.
Another way we bear God’s image is our mind. We are more intelligent than any other creature on earth, in fact, God gives them us to have dominion over the same way He has dominion over us. Leadership and authority are marks of God.
Also, we were made in the image and likeness of a good God. For this reason we have “morality” and conscience. We recognize good and evil. When we go to movies, the good guy usually wins, and that’s how we like it. So we are made in God’s image and we were made to be good. If there is good in us, it is because of God.
2) We like control. When we say “Man is inherently good” we are trying to say man is in control of being good or evil (and, at the core, is good). We love the idea that we can be in control of our goodness, but ever since Adam and Eve took control in rebellion against God we have not controlled the rebellion (of evil and sin) in us, it has controlled us. But we love to believe that we have freedom in this, we love to think being on the “Naughty” or “Nice” list is a choice or applied discipline.
Why do we love the idea of freedom to be good or evil? I think because if we can’t be good we don’t want the God-given despair that should come with that, instead we want to stay in “control”, rather than admit our helplessness. In short, we want to be God. We want to be the definition of good and evil rather than Him.
Ecclesiastes slices through our false notion of control and points out that even if we devoted ourselves to righteousness we would be unable to control sin within us:
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. (Ecc. 7:20)
The apostle Paul later echoes this:
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
Once again, we see our helplessness. Just looking at the way in which we are controlled by sin reveals the falsehood in the phrase “Man is inherently good.”
3) I think the truth is too painful. The practical situation we often use the above phrase in is about a particular person. We apply it when someone does evil but we don’t want to accept it. Bill Clinton did what? But really he’s a good man, he just screwed up. Underneath he is a good man, he’s just made some mistakes.
The funny thing is we don’t apply this to everybody. Some people are just “evil”. If Adolf Hitler had a Clinton moment of infidelity, we wouldn’t be surprised and wouldn’t feel the need to defend him. We would not say “Underneath he’s a good man.” That sounds ridiculous to say about Adolf Hitler.
We constantly play this game of good guy/bad guy, labeling everyone we come into contact with white caps or black caps because the phrase “Man is inherently good” doesn’t carry over to everybody. We look at Hitler and say, Whoops, this premise seems out of whack. Some people are just plain evil, but man is still inherently good. Do you see what scares us? We see Hitler and see that he, too, was a human, like you and me. Could the same possibility for evil that was in Hitler live in you and me?
No, some people are just plain evil, but man is still inherently good. Right? What about Bill Clinton? He sinned, but he doesn’t seem totally evil like Hitler, in fact, he seems a lot like you or I. Maybe he’s good underneath. Man is still inherently good.
Your friend sins against you. You can’t believe it. But you’ve known them for ten years and it seems wrong to say they’re evil or that they’ve done evil. You love them! Surely love wouldn’t call something evil! How could you say that to your friend? Man is still inherently good.
You screw up. You do something deplorable, something you know is wrong but you couldn’t help yourself. You were helpless. Certainly you aren’t bad. Certainly you aren’t selfish and evil. You are a good person who had a strange fluke of character and made a mistake. For this reason the most you cling to the axiom, Man is inherently good.
Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecc. 9:3)
No, I’m not evil! Maybe from your point of view, or your family’s point of view (or maybe not!), but in order to truly know we need a different perspective.
Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. His opinion, therefore, is very valuable in determining if someone is good or evil. Surely the world is made up of good guys and bad guys, right Jesus? Of which, I, of course, am a good guy? Jesus Christ will shake His head to such questions. Jesus – God – can see everyone’s heart, and no matter how good you think you are, Jesus knows the honest truth.
John writes this about Jesus:
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25)
Jesus isn’t stupid or naïve. Never would He have said, “Man is inherently good. In fact, most of them are good people.” He’s the only one who knows the deepest parts of all humans, and He knows they’re rotten.
So this information frustrates us and ticks us off. What about me? I give to the poor, I smile at the elderly! I go through great pains not to look lustfully at women! What about me?
You too, Jesus says: I don’t trust you.
But the goodness of Jesus is that He tells us to trust Him. He takes sin and evil and tramples it underfoot on the cross, and He gives us a new nature in that we will be like Him rather than us. That’s what we need, a heart transplant, not rules to follow. Righteousness is given by grace through Jesus Christ, it is not attained.
Jesus reaches down in our helplessness and gives us control over sin, but at the same time makes us obedient to Him. Isn’t that funny? Man in all his greatness was made to serve something. If it will not be God, it will be sin. If God is not our master, sin is. But we have the illusion of control and being good and this blinds us to the truth. We get proud so it becomes painful to admit our need for God, for a new master.
But this master is infinitely easier than the old one – sin – which destroys, decays, leads to death, swallows up life. Sin leaves us in despair like Solomon – ‘life is pointless and headed to destruction.’ But through Christ we are made new, and his invitation is to us all. In His words:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28)
9/28/09
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Where Your Treasure Is... (Ecclesiastes 6)
Why is shopping so much fun? Have you ever bought something and just felt good afterwards? Why does it feel so good to bring home new stuff? And why does that good feeling disappear so quickly?
In my own life I have been very blessed, I’ve usually been able to get what I want when it comes to things. Throughout my (short) life there come times when I get very excited about purchasing a particular thing. For example, I love making movies and as a kid I dreamed of owning animation software so I could create CG effects just like Hollywood. Well, at some point in high school I did some shopping around and found an industry standard program, Maya, on sale with a student discount. Animation software (good software) is very expensive and way out of a high schooler’s budget (or his parents’ budget, in my case) but the student discount made it affordable. I got very excited and set my hopes on that software. Eventually I got it, and although I did use it a lot, I can see what Solomon’s frustrated about in this chapter:
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. (Ecc. 6:1-2)
Things ultimately don’t satisfy, and this frustrates our logic. Maybe its built into us or maybe its worse today because every day we are being bombarded with advertisements telling us product X will satisfy. We are frustrated when we consume and then find out we are still hungry.
All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. (Ecc. 6:7)
The point Solomon hits repeatedly in this chapter and throughout Ecclesiastes is “Stuff doesn’t satisfy”. So what’s the point? He laments the human life:
Even though he [a man] should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good – do not all go to the one place? (Ecc. 6:6)
And:
For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (Ecc. 6:12)
If the Bible ended here I think few would disagree with its ideas, especially those of Ecclesiastes. Here we get a truthful, grim portrait of what it means to be human, and if we’re honest I think most people see life in this way.
I remember feeling this way before I became a Christian. Material things in which I was not lacking did not satisfy, things in life don’t satisfy because when we put them in perspective we see our lives “pass like a shadow”.
Needless to say every human being on the planet is still interested in their happiness. We struggle for it. I think we all have our own set of “things” we strive for in life that we think will bring happiness – whether they are daily events or actions or things further down the road. Of course, many people’s are similar, but I think we all have our own set. What are yours?
For me, the small stuff is daily things – I like certain foods, eating a certain amount; I like to be comfortable, I like to have a hot shower every day. These are daily things that I (consciously or unconsciously) strive for because I know they make me happy.
I like watching movies, playing video games, reading a book. I get into these phases where I strongly desire to watch a move again, or maybe I want to play a video game – I get a longing to experience those things, and in my head I am promised bliss. The funny thing is I do them and then time seems to begin to fall through my hands like sand, and before I know it I’ve played the computer game for three hours and I still haven’t satisfied that longing, that instinct that told me it would me happy.
But those are just examples of fleeting, materialistic desires, right? That’s why they don’t satisfy. What about “important things”? For me the “important things” are like most people’s: friends, family, and “achieving my potential” or “doing something with my life”. It’s very true that these things, mainly the first two, satisfy in a much deeper way than material pleasures. It is more rewarding to visit an old friend than to buy a DVD. It just is. God has made us relational in nature just as He Himself is (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) so naturally such things satisfy deeper.
If you were to ask people what are the best parts of life, nearly all of them would say friends and family. It also feels nobler, too, to place our joy in other people rather than in our selfish needs. What’s interesting about this passage in Ecclesiastes is it asks to imagine carrying out these attempts at happiness to the umpteenth degree. Let’s say you do live a long, healthy, life, with many grandchildren – wouldn’t that put you at peace? Look at what Solomon says:
If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his life are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. (Ecc. 6:3)
What an incredible claim. If you could imagine a dream life, a life filled with people you love and enjoy, there would still be something missing.
In his book “Desiring God” John Piper argues that we are not satisfied in life NOT because we are selfish and seek after our own happiness, but rather, we don’t seek after it enough! If we truly long to be happy, we should search for that which satisfies the most! The problem is in our lives we keep “striving after the wind” (to borrow a phrase from Solomon). We chase fleeting pleasures and joys. Some people party and find that the joy in a party is very fleeting – it is not still with them when they wake up in the morning. The happiness an alcoholic or drug addict seeks is very fleeting and the appetite is never, never satisfied. What alcoholic did you ever meet who had joy in abundance? It doesn’t happen.
Jesus tells us where to find happiness:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
That’s our problem! All of our treasures – the thing we look to for joy – are on earth. They do not compare at all with “treasures in heaven”, namely, Jesus. We were made to be in relationship with Him and unless He’s in our lives we will not be satisfied.
“I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
King David wrote of the joy of knowing the Lord:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:9-11)
God is full of love and pleasures forever more. Just knowing Him is enough! If we were serious joy seekers, we would seek Him first in everything. Jesus puts it beautifully:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:45-46)
If we could only imagine a tenth of the pleasure of being with Christ it would be enough to make us sell all that we have because in comparison our stuff is nothing. That doesn’t mean you need to sell all of your stuff now, or even hate it, because the things we have now are blessings. What it does mean is do not place your treasure in your stuff – place it in Jesus. And where your treasure is, “there your heart will be also”.
In my own life I have been very blessed, I’ve usually been able to get what I want when it comes to things. Throughout my (short) life there come times when I get very excited about purchasing a particular thing. For example, I love making movies and as a kid I dreamed of owning animation software so I could create CG effects just like Hollywood. Well, at some point in high school I did some shopping around and found an industry standard program, Maya, on sale with a student discount. Animation software (good software) is very expensive and way out of a high schooler’s budget (or his parents’ budget, in my case) but the student discount made it affordable. I got very excited and set my hopes on that software. Eventually I got it, and although I did use it a lot, I can see what Solomon’s frustrated about in this chapter:
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. (Ecc. 6:1-2)
Things ultimately don’t satisfy, and this frustrates our logic. Maybe its built into us or maybe its worse today because every day we are being bombarded with advertisements telling us product X will satisfy. We are frustrated when we consume and then find out we are still hungry.
All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. (Ecc. 6:7)
The point Solomon hits repeatedly in this chapter and throughout Ecclesiastes is “Stuff doesn’t satisfy”. So what’s the point? He laments the human life:
Even though he [a man] should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good – do not all go to the one place? (Ecc. 6:6)
And:
For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? (Ecc. 6:12)
If the Bible ended here I think few would disagree with its ideas, especially those of Ecclesiastes. Here we get a truthful, grim portrait of what it means to be human, and if we’re honest I think most people see life in this way.
I remember feeling this way before I became a Christian. Material things in which I was not lacking did not satisfy, things in life don’t satisfy because when we put them in perspective we see our lives “pass like a shadow”.
Needless to say every human being on the planet is still interested in their happiness. We struggle for it. I think we all have our own set of “things” we strive for in life that we think will bring happiness – whether they are daily events or actions or things further down the road. Of course, many people’s are similar, but I think we all have our own set. What are yours?
For me, the small stuff is daily things – I like certain foods, eating a certain amount; I like to be comfortable, I like to have a hot shower every day. These are daily things that I (consciously or unconsciously) strive for because I know they make me happy.
I like watching movies, playing video games, reading a book. I get into these phases where I strongly desire to watch a move again, or maybe I want to play a video game – I get a longing to experience those things, and in my head I am promised bliss. The funny thing is I do them and then time seems to begin to fall through my hands like sand, and before I know it I’ve played the computer game for three hours and I still haven’t satisfied that longing, that instinct that told me it would me happy.
But those are just examples of fleeting, materialistic desires, right? That’s why they don’t satisfy. What about “important things”? For me the “important things” are like most people’s: friends, family, and “achieving my potential” or “doing something with my life”. It’s very true that these things, mainly the first two, satisfy in a much deeper way than material pleasures. It is more rewarding to visit an old friend than to buy a DVD. It just is. God has made us relational in nature just as He Himself is (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) so naturally such things satisfy deeper.
If you were to ask people what are the best parts of life, nearly all of them would say friends and family. It also feels nobler, too, to place our joy in other people rather than in our selfish needs. What’s interesting about this passage in Ecclesiastes is it asks to imagine carrying out these attempts at happiness to the umpteenth degree. Let’s say you do live a long, healthy, life, with many grandchildren – wouldn’t that put you at peace? Look at what Solomon says:
If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his life are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. (Ecc. 6:3)
What an incredible claim. If you could imagine a dream life, a life filled with people you love and enjoy, there would still be something missing.
In his book “Desiring God” John Piper argues that we are not satisfied in life NOT because we are selfish and seek after our own happiness, but rather, we don’t seek after it enough! If we truly long to be happy, we should search for that which satisfies the most! The problem is in our lives we keep “striving after the wind” (to borrow a phrase from Solomon). We chase fleeting pleasures and joys. Some people party and find that the joy in a party is very fleeting – it is not still with them when they wake up in the morning. The happiness an alcoholic or drug addict seeks is very fleeting and the appetite is never, never satisfied. What alcoholic did you ever meet who had joy in abundance? It doesn’t happen.
Jesus tells us where to find happiness:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
That’s our problem! All of our treasures – the thing we look to for joy – are on earth. They do not compare at all with “treasures in heaven”, namely, Jesus. We were made to be in relationship with Him and unless He’s in our lives we will not be satisfied.
“I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
King David wrote of the joy of knowing the Lord:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:9-11)
God is full of love and pleasures forever more. Just knowing Him is enough! If we were serious joy seekers, we would seek Him first in everything. Jesus puts it beautifully:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:45-46)
If we could only imagine a tenth of the pleasure of being with Christ it would be enough to make us sell all that we have because in comparison our stuff is nothing. That doesn’t mean you need to sell all of your stuff now, or even hate it, because the things we have now are blessings. What it does mean is do not place your treasure in your stuff – place it in Jesus. And where your treasure is, “there your heart will be also”.
Be Still - Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words. (Ecc. 5:1-3)
This passage in my bible (the ESV) is labeled “Fear God”. When I first became a Christian I remember reading in Romans:
They [Israel] were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:20-22)
I read that one morning and it bothered me all day. I didn’t think that we should fear God. Isn’t God love (1 John 4:8)? Doesn’t His “steadfast love endure forever” (Psalm 136)? Isn’t this the God of peace and grace Paul writes of at the beginning of every epistle (like 1 Cor. 1:3)?
The answer is “Yes” – God is love, through him we receive grace upon grace (John 1:16). God sustains us from to death, providing food, sunlight, everything, and through His Son, dead on a cross, risen three days later, we truly see that God’s steadfast love endures forever.
But it’s important to remember the Jesus we worship is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). When John the beloved disciple, left for dead on the island of Patmos, sees his friend and Lord we get a true picture of Jesus’ glory:
…and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Rev. 1:13-16)
That’s a glorious and terrifying image – this is a King. This is not someone you should cross – He’s got a sword coming out of His mouth and in His right He’s holding seven stars. I can barely palm a basketball.
Our American culture doesn’t like this image of Jesus or God – we like the idea of a guy in the sky with a white beard who is nice to us and gives us what we want. We call on him when we need him, but otherwise we leave him alone. When something bad happens, its his fault because he’s not strong enough to stop things. As for Jesus, he’s a white guy with flowing locks who smiles all the time and only says “Don’t judge” and “Love your neighbor”. His death was about revealing what hatred does – that’s the true evil! – and today he’s in heaven, looking down on us and crying every time someone sins; but he can’t do much about it.
God is love but God is also God. He is the highest, the greatest, the Lord of all! When we think of the President of the United States of America we have awe and respect (if not for the man then at least for the office) and the President’s jurisdiction is only America! God’s dominion is the entire earth, the entire galaxy, the entire universe; from the biggest star, the greatest nebula, to the tiniest electron. There is not corner of creation God did not create or does not have control over. This makes the God of the Bible and the God of Jesus Christ all the more compassionate and incredible, that with so much power and wisdom and depth He would enter Himself into our lives and offer us piece through Christ. The President doesn’t call and ask us how our marriage is going – why does God?
This makes the very person of Christ compelling. Even though “all things were made through him” (John 1:3) Jesus actually comes down from heaven – “for God is in heaven and you are on earth” (Ecclesiastes 5:2) – and lived as a man. How limiting, how constraining! And yet the truth is that He is God. God then surrendered His power at the hands of weak earthly powers who crucified Him. Jesus’ death is His ultimate act of humility.
Yes, through Christ we are made new, our sins are forgiven, the temple curtain is torn, and we can press into God – but it is essential that we understand the full power and majesty of our King.
God is the one you must fear. (Ecc. 5:7)
Without a fear for God we will not be able to truly worship Him or even respect Him. For example, it’s a common literary situation for a person to meet their nation’s leader only to find they are a human being like themselves. In Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “We” (pretty much a Russian “1984” from which George Orwell drew inspiration) our main character, D-503, lives in a totalitarian dystopia called One State run by a man named “The Great Benefactor”. This guy is worshiped and revered, and you can guess that anybody who crosses him or One State ends up dead (in a pretty gruesome way in this book, you’ll have to read it for yourself). Eventually D-503 gets to meet the Great Benefactor and he is surprised to meet, simply, a man. This man, this “fearless” and “wise” leader, is a man – a balding man, at that.
This is a common theme: the wizard is just a man behind the curtain. These feelings of disillusionment with true authority and power are very true in earthly examples – Barack Obama is just a man, the Queen of England is only a woman – but the same cannot be said of God. He has power, He has authority, and we hate it because He is good and we are wicked. We hate it when God tells us “That’s evil”. We tend to shout back “Well, you must be evil”. God is the reason we even know what evil is, that is, God defines good – simply who He is defines “good”. Certain things like love and faithfulness are good only because they are God’s qualities. Certain things like adultery and unfaithfulness are evil because God does the opposite.
So it is very healthy and necessary to hold God in high esteem in our hearts and with much fear. One part of this chapter that really sticks out to me is:
It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. (Ecc. 5:5)
I’ve made promises to God before and broken them later. I should’ve realized who I was making a promise to and the magnitude of such a thing – for if you promise someone who never breaks His promises, how much more will He be able to hold you accountable?
Mark Driscoll says “we take ourselves too seriously and God too lightly”. Too often people who profess faith in Christ say “I’m saved” and they move on with their lives, never living in thankfulness and fear and awe of their King. Too often our Sundays are just tradition – “the sacrifice of fools…they do not know they are doing evil” (Ecc. 5:1) – and we pay no heed to the majesty of God and His divine right to simply kill us as rebels of His purposes and Kingdom. We don’t see the absolute miracle of our salvation, that we deserve absolute death. With the Lord there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecc. 3:7). Before the Lord we should have awe and reverence and remember it is God’s absolute goodness that allows us to pray to Him at all.
I’ll end with this haunting and beautiful picture from Revelation:
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Rev. 8:1)
Can you image that? Silence in heaven. I’m not sure, but when that happens that might be the first time ever (maybe during Jesus’ death as well, but this is all just speculation) that such a thing has happened. From eternity past to eternity future I would guess heaven’s been rocking and rolling in worship of God – and here we have silence.
Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).
Father, You are more incredible than I can imagine. Help me to love and fear and revere You with my whole heart. Your grace in light of Your righteous anger is staggering. Please help me live in great fear and trepidation, not compromising here and there for things that I know are sinful. At the same time, help me to live by Your power and not my own and help me not to give You my second best. I need You for everything, God, and only by Your grace will I live a righteous life. Thank You that I will not know Your wrath on me on that day that is to come. Thank You that Jesus is returning and that because of Your grace I will dance – in awe and fear and love – rather than run and hide, sure of my destruction. I praise Your holy name, please fill me with Your Spirit now and use me to glorify You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
This passage in my bible (the ESV) is labeled “Fear God”. When I first became a Christian I remember reading in Romans:
They [Israel] were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:20-22)
I read that one morning and it bothered me all day. I didn’t think that we should fear God. Isn’t God love (1 John 4:8)? Doesn’t His “steadfast love endure forever” (Psalm 136)? Isn’t this the God of peace and grace Paul writes of at the beginning of every epistle (like 1 Cor. 1:3)?
The answer is “Yes” – God is love, through him we receive grace upon grace (John 1:16). God sustains us from to death, providing food, sunlight, everything, and through His Son, dead on a cross, risen three days later, we truly see that God’s steadfast love endures forever.
But it’s important to remember the Jesus we worship is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). When John the beloved disciple, left for dead on the island of Patmos, sees his friend and Lord we get a true picture of Jesus’ glory:
…and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Rev. 1:13-16)
That’s a glorious and terrifying image – this is a King. This is not someone you should cross – He’s got a sword coming out of His mouth and in His right He’s holding seven stars. I can barely palm a basketball.
Our American culture doesn’t like this image of Jesus or God – we like the idea of a guy in the sky with a white beard who is nice to us and gives us what we want. We call on him when we need him, but otherwise we leave him alone. When something bad happens, its his fault because he’s not strong enough to stop things. As for Jesus, he’s a white guy with flowing locks who smiles all the time and only says “Don’t judge” and “Love your neighbor”. His death was about revealing what hatred does – that’s the true evil! – and today he’s in heaven, looking down on us and crying every time someone sins; but he can’t do much about it.
God is love but God is also God. He is the highest, the greatest, the Lord of all! When we think of the President of the United States of America we have awe and respect (if not for the man then at least for the office) and the President’s jurisdiction is only America! God’s dominion is the entire earth, the entire galaxy, the entire universe; from the biggest star, the greatest nebula, to the tiniest electron. There is not corner of creation God did not create or does not have control over. This makes the God of the Bible and the God of Jesus Christ all the more compassionate and incredible, that with so much power and wisdom and depth He would enter Himself into our lives and offer us piece through Christ. The President doesn’t call and ask us how our marriage is going – why does God?
This makes the very person of Christ compelling. Even though “all things were made through him” (John 1:3) Jesus actually comes down from heaven – “for God is in heaven and you are on earth” (Ecclesiastes 5:2) – and lived as a man. How limiting, how constraining! And yet the truth is that He is God. God then surrendered His power at the hands of weak earthly powers who crucified Him. Jesus’ death is His ultimate act of humility.
Yes, through Christ we are made new, our sins are forgiven, the temple curtain is torn, and we can press into God – but it is essential that we understand the full power and majesty of our King.
God is the one you must fear. (Ecc. 5:7)
Without a fear for God we will not be able to truly worship Him or even respect Him. For example, it’s a common literary situation for a person to meet their nation’s leader only to find they are a human being like themselves. In Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “We” (pretty much a Russian “1984” from which George Orwell drew inspiration) our main character, D-503, lives in a totalitarian dystopia called One State run by a man named “The Great Benefactor”. This guy is worshiped and revered, and you can guess that anybody who crosses him or One State ends up dead (in a pretty gruesome way in this book, you’ll have to read it for yourself). Eventually D-503 gets to meet the Great Benefactor and he is surprised to meet, simply, a man. This man, this “fearless” and “wise” leader, is a man – a balding man, at that.
This is a common theme: the wizard is just a man behind the curtain. These feelings of disillusionment with true authority and power are very true in earthly examples – Barack Obama is just a man, the Queen of England is only a woman – but the same cannot be said of God. He has power, He has authority, and we hate it because He is good and we are wicked. We hate it when God tells us “That’s evil”. We tend to shout back “Well, you must be evil”. God is the reason we even know what evil is, that is, God defines good – simply who He is defines “good”. Certain things like love and faithfulness are good only because they are God’s qualities. Certain things like adultery and unfaithfulness are evil because God does the opposite.
So it is very healthy and necessary to hold God in high esteem in our hearts and with much fear. One part of this chapter that really sticks out to me is:
It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. (Ecc. 5:5)
I’ve made promises to God before and broken them later. I should’ve realized who I was making a promise to and the magnitude of such a thing – for if you promise someone who never breaks His promises, how much more will He be able to hold you accountable?
Mark Driscoll says “we take ourselves too seriously and God too lightly”. Too often people who profess faith in Christ say “I’m saved” and they move on with their lives, never living in thankfulness and fear and awe of their King. Too often our Sundays are just tradition – “the sacrifice of fools…they do not know they are doing evil” (Ecc. 5:1) – and we pay no heed to the majesty of God and His divine right to simply kill us as rebels of His purposes and Kingdom. We don’t see the absolute miracle of our salvation, that we deserve absolute death. With the Lord there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecc. 3:7). Before the Lord we should have awe and reverence and remember it is God’s absolute goodness that allows us to pray to Him at all.
I’ll end with this haunting and beautiful picture from Revelation:
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Rev. 8:1)
Can you image that? Silence in heaven. I’m not sure, but when that happens that might be the first time ever (maybe during Jesus’ death as well, but this is all just speculation) that such a thing has happened. From eternity past to eternity future I would guess heaven’s been rocking and rolling in worship of God – and here we have silence.
Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).
Father, You are more incredible than I can imagine. Help me to love and fear and revere You with my whole heart. Your grace in light of Your righteous anger is staggering. Please help me live in great fear and trepidation, not compromising here and there for things that I know are sinful. At the same time, help me to live by Your power and not my own and help me not to give You my second best. I need You for everything, God, and only by Your grace will I live a righteous life. Thank You that I will not know Your wrath on me on that day that is to come. Thank You that Jesus is returning and that because of Your grace I will dance – in awe and fear and love – rather than run and hide, sure of my destruction. I praise Your holy name, please fill me with Your Spirit now and use me to glorify You. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Ecclesiastes 4
Jesus is incredible because not only is He the answer to the oppression mentioned in 4:1-3, He also fully experienced it on the cross.
Look at Solomon’s words and picture Christ handed over to be crucified:
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressor there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. (4:1-3)
You want to see human evil? Look at the cross and you’ll find an innocent man bleeding and shaking. The righteous (Christ) was overpowered by unrighteousness. Does that sound like an event that is even possible for a righteous God in total control?
If I saw someone crucified I would probably think something like verse 3. “Better are the dead than this fellow”. At the end of “Braveheart” when William Wallace is tortured the crowd – who, upon Wallace's entry, mocked and threw rubbish – cries for mercy. Better is this one dead than to suffer what he is suffering.
Solomon raises a fundamental human question here: Why does suffering go on? If God is in control why does He allow women to be raped and people to be murdered? Like Solomon we look and see “all the oppressions that are done under the sun” (4:1). Things haven’t changed in the 2,000+ years since Solomon wrote this book.
The other day my roommate told me about a young woman about to be married, a grad student at an Ivy League school. One night she went into her building on campus to research (for which you need an access card) and she disappeared. Her body was found a week later in the walls of the building.
That kind of thing makes me want to cry out, “Why?” I’d almost rather she’d never been born than to experience that.
How is Jesus the answer to oppression like that? How can He possible undo such harm as afflicted upon that young woman? Or the Jews in World War II?
First, God is not uncaring. His “steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136). He is also good and is outraged at every rape, every murder, every story like the young woman’s. He’s seen every evil deed ever performed under the sun, and it angers Him. It grieves Him. It’s always grieved Him, from the beginning of evil in Genesis:
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Gen. 6:5-6)
But not only with rape and murder and great evil does God’s anger stop. He hates all of it. He hates our pride and arrogance, He hates our selfishness and He goes as far as to say just hating someone is murdering them. Just lusting after a woman is adultery. God doesn’t just perceive outward evil, He sees what we do and say in our hearts and minds.
There is evil in the earth, and that’s not the way it was supposed to be. We cry out “Why?” when we see suffering and evil and I think that’s appropriate, but we need to realize something – we’re not “separate” from the evil that goes on. We are apart of it and contribute to it! From God’s perspective, sin is sin. I am no better than whoever murdered that young girl because I have sinned, I have evil within me. To be judged by God’s perfection reveals me to be a filthy, selfish, proud, arrogant, perverted, hateful person. I would rather eat a gallon of ice cream than share it, I would much rather enjoy lusting after every girl I see than respect their husbands. I have transgressed God’s law, and I am part of the oppression.
Jesus is the answer because in the oppression He suffered on the cross He accepted the right punishment for me, for us all. In order for God to be just He had to answer our sin and oppression, and He expels His full anger on the cross. His perfect Son becomes sin for us to free us from the oppression of being under sin. He also frees us from our desires that oppress others. We are made new in His blood and we are promised to be heirs of a kingdom where there is no sin and oppression, where people listen to God and God can be seen fully by a people not marred by sin, but a people made righteous and clean by Christ.
This last bit of the chapter is fascinating and is definitely about Christ:
Better was a poor and wise youth…
Jesus was poor, wise, and young when He died.
…than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.
Very similar to our friend Solomon.
For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been poor.
Jesus came to the earth in flesh – which, being God, must have been like prison – submitting to our daily needs and feelings, our struggles and our pain. In the world He created He was poor.
I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. (4:13-16)
This sounds like an image from Revelation – everyone streaming to Christ, with no end to the people:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)
Can’t wait to be there with Solomon, made new and pure by Jesus.
Look at Solomon’s words and picture Christ handed over to be crucified:
Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressor there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. (4:1-3)
You want to see human evil? Look at the cross and you’ll find an innocent man bleeding and shaking. The righteous (Christ) was overpowered by unrighteousness. Does that sound like an event that is even possible for a righteous God in total control?
If I saw someone crucified I would probably think something like verse 3. “Better are the dead than this fellow”. At the end of “Braveheart” when William Wallace is tortured the crowd – who, upon Wallace's entry, mocked and threw rubbish – cries for mercy. Better is this one dead than to suffer what he is suffering.
Solomon raises a fundamental human question here: Why does suffering go on? If God is in control why does He allow women to be raped and people to be murdered? Like Solomon we look and see “all the oppressions that are done under the sun” (4:1). Things haven’t changed in the 2,000+ years since Solomon wrote this book.
The other day my roommate told me about a young woman about to be married, a grad student at an Ivy League school. One night she went into her building on campus to research (for which you need an access card) and she disappeared. Her body was found a week later in the walls of the building.
That kind of thing makes me want to cry out, “Why?” I’d almost rather she’d never been born than to experience that.
How is Jesus the answer to oppression like that? How can He possible undo such harm as afflicted upon that young woman? Or the Jews in World War II?
First, God is not uncaring. His “steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136). He is also good and is outraged at every rape, every murder, every story like the young woman’s. He’s seen every evil deed ever performed under the sun, and it angers Him. It grieves Him. It’s always grieved Him, from the beginning of evil in Genesis:
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Gen. 6:5-6)
But not only with rape and murder and great evil does God’s anger stop. He hates all of it. He hates our pride and arrogance, He hates our selfishness and He goes as far as to say just hating someone is murdering them. Just lusting after a woman is adultery. God doesn’t just perceive outward evil, He sees what we do and say in our hearts and minds.
There is evil in the earth, and that’s not the way it was supposed to be. We cry out “Why?” when we see suffering and evil and I think that’s appropriate, but we need to realize something – we’re not “separate” from the evil that goes on. We are apart of it and contribute to it! From God’s perspective, sin is sin. I am no better than whoever murdered that young girl because I have sinned, I have evil within me. To be judged by God’s perfection reveals me to be a filthy, selfish, proud, arrogant, perverted, hateful person. I would rather eat a gallon of ice cream than share it, I would much rather enjoy lusting after every girl I see than respect their husbands. I have transgressed God’s law, and I am part of the oppression.
Jesus is the answer because in the oppression He suffered on the cross He accepted the right punishment for me, for us all. In order for God to be just He had to answer our sin and oppression, and He expels His full anger on the cross. His perfect Son becomes sin for us to free us from the oppression of being under sin. He also frees us from our desires that oppress others. We are made new in His blood and we are promised to be heirs of a kingdom where there is no sin and oppression, where people listen to God and God can be seen fully by a people not marred by sin, but a people made righteous and clean by Christ.
This last bit of the chapter is fascinating and is definitely about Christ:
Better was a poor and wise youth…
Jesus was poor, wise, and young when He died.
…than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.
Very similar to our friend Solomon.
For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been poor.
Jesus came to the earth in flesh – which, being God, must have been like prison – submitting to our daily needs and feelings, our struggles and our pain. In the world He created He was poor.
I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. (4:13-16)
This sounds like an image from Revelation – everyone streaming to Christ, with no end to the people:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)
Can’t wait to be there with Solomon, made new and pure by Jesus.
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Wrestling with Ecclessiastes 3
So far there seems to be an overwhelming bitterness in Solomon's tone. Everything seems unsatisfying, and there are a lot of observations followed by questions. If all of scripture is about Christ, then we know the answer to Solomon's questions is Jesus Christ. I have some questions, starting with verse 10:
I have seen the business that God has given to children of man to be busy with.
What is this “business”? It’s not literal work, I don’t think, although Solomon talks about a life of work in Ecclesiastes 2:18-23. The first time he mentions this same phrase “business that God has given” is in chapter 1:
And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. (1:13)
So is the “business” the task we are given to understand God? Because of our sinfulness He is not with us the way He made us to be, so since the beginning of Adam’s fall man has had to “figure out” who God is. That’s philosophy.
When I was growing up I believed you couldn’t really know who God is for sure, you just had to speculate and figure Him out on your own. This is why there are so many different religions and philosophies, people say “This is God” or “I don’t like your god so I’m going to change him (or her, dang it!) to fit my own box.” Not all of these perspectives are right – and we can see how frustrating it is to define God with human logic. Perhaps this is what Solomon is talking about in 1:13.
But Solomon knew God! He grew up with a father, King David, who loved and revered God. Solomon had the Scriptures to learn about God. He even saw God twice. Is it the task of philosophy he is lamenting over?
Back in chapter 3, Solomon writes:
I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Maybe this business is referring to our life in a fallen world. God has been gracious and given us jobs, work, families, things to busy our lives iwht , but it still is terrible because He is not here with us. I wrote before that being a Christian can be awful at times because you realize you’re not with the one you love the most. It’s like your dad is off at war and until he gets back you’re not complete. There’s a vacuum in your life that He is supposed to fill but because of sin we have death and we are apart from God.
It’s almost more frustrating, then, that God makes everything “beautiful in its time” (3:11) because it reminds us of the beauty and the glory we’re missing out in.
The phrase that sticks out to me in this passage is “he has put eternity into man’s heart” (3:11). Maybe that’s the reason we hate death so much – it isn’t natural, or, it isn’t in our nature. We aren’t supposed to end, and we know that. Why is death so scary? If we were fine with “ending” why does every human being find death so unappealing, so hateful? We try to comfort ourselves with silly platitudes like “the circle of life” but that’s not comforting because that circle promises more life! It doesn’t express the finality of death that we are faced with. It promises a new beginning which doesn’t exist after death (that is, apart from Christ).
Some people say “I don’t want to live forever after death, I want to finely being at peace.” Yet in this line of thought they are expressing the desire to be “at peace” – clearly something that can only be felt when one exists. To be honest, I can’t even fathom what it would mean to not exist – what would happen to my consciousness? Would I feel nothing? Would I still be? Even non-Christians tend to think of some form of existence after death, usually in the form of peace or calm (which is funny, because this is exactly what we are promised in living forever with God).
So why is this sentence contrasted with “he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (3:11)? This text was written before Jesus, before His death – maybe Solomon is lamenting that this world sucks and it doesn’t make much sense that God appears to be sitting around doing nothing while evil and injustice happens every day. Why doesn’t God take care of sin? Solomon can’t see what’s going on.
Maybe Solomon thought that everything was about Israel – that was the way God would fix the world. And once Israel had a good king (like Solomon himself) everything would be fine. Israel could crush the bad guys in the world and build a kingdom for God. That should fix the world – but it didn’t. Solomon himself turned away from God and worshipped idols. Perhaps he realizes that although he started out righteous (in his eyes) he has ended up sinful.
Permit me some creative license. Maybe Solomon’s thoughts were like this: “I know the Lord is righteous and holy, and I know there is evil on the earth, but he set apart Israel to be His own people, through us He will bless the nations and fix them.
God has made me king of this nation and has given me great wisdom. If only people had wisdom, maybe then there would be no sin! How much sin and folly happens because of ignorance? I know the Lord and I fear Him, I wrote hundreds of proverbs about Him and I, in all my wisdom, said
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
I was given knowledge by the Lord and I wrote proverbs for my people, wise sayings with true and good advice. I said
The integrity of the upright guards them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. (Proverbs 11:3)
I’m the smartest man in the world and I can see that it’s good to be good and bad to be bad. The LORD our God has given us statutes and commandments, Israel, let us walk in them!
A good man obtains favor from the LORD,
but a man of evil devices he condemns. (Prov. 12:2)
See! I’ve got this all figured out! We need to be good and through my wisdom and others we can be on our way to a world without sin! The world as it should be! The world before the fall!
Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety (Prov. 11:14)"
I (Nathan) may be going a little far here, but it is a danger to get caught up in practical ways to deter sin, like “Don’t do it”.
Maybe in the sentence “eternity into man’s heart” we could imagine a pre-Christ mindset. “I know the Lord, I know He is good, I’ve got to do good too. I don’t want to be punished by God and I want to live so I will do good.” I don’t know what they thought would come after death but I think Solomon at least anticipated judgment:
God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.
So it would be like we commonly believe today – there is a God, He’s good, don’t do evil or you’ll go to hell. Be good and you’ll go to heaven. Yay! Solomon writes:
I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. (Ecc. 3:18)
The worldview we commonly have is that the world is nothing but a testing ground for God to see which of us is good and which of us is bad. The problem with this system is if taken seriously by God – and God takes our sin seriously – then the results would be:
Good people: 0 Bad people: 6,000,000,000,000+ (or however many people have lived ever)
The number of good people admitted to heaven would be zero. We’ve all screwed up. Even Mr. Perfect Smartest-Guy-in-the-World King Solomon screws up and sins greatly. He realizes that even among the “good people” on earth there is sin:
Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. (3:16)
Even the best people on earth are tainted by sin. Mother Theresa? She did something in her lifetime that was evil. For all her good works, she is not perfect.
Here Solomon sees our depravity and instead of remembering we are image bearers of God, he compares us to animals:
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? (3:19-21)
So this leads Solomon to a great questions: “What is the point of it all?” God, what are You doing? So You’re good and You demand good. You punish the evil, but evil is everywhere! I’m the smartest guy in the world and I thought my wisdom would keep me walking in righteousness but I couldn’t help myself and I sinned! I thought I was a good guy and I’m a sinner. I thought You were testing us but instead we all deserve death and to go down to the depths. What’s the point? Should I just eat, drink, and be merry (3:12-13)?
The crappy thing on top of this is You’ve set eternity into my heart so I care about these things! I can’t just suck pleasure out of the world because You’ve got me pondering all this stuff and wondering what will happen when I die – because I don’t know! You’ve hidden stuff from us and I can’t see past death.
Who can bring him to see what will be after him? (3:22)
Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down in the earth? (3:21)
Who?
And the most frustrating thing about this is:
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. (3:14)
I can’t see what You’re doing and there’s nothing I can do to change it! Are You going to just condemn everyone and let evil run its course? It doesn’t matter – I have no control and it seems like I’m doomed in whatever happens."
I (Nathan) am twenty years old and am a new Christian – this stuff (the book of Ecclesiastes) is hard for me to grasp and I may have been way off base, but I know the answer to Solomon’s “who” question, by the grace of God today we know it.
The who is the only good man who has ever lived: Jesus Christ. Jesus comes and tells us what “the point of it all” is – not death, but life. We are supposed to be righteous – but by God’s strength, not our own. We have hope because we know that God has forgiven all of our sins through his Son, God has created a way to know Him through Jesus Christ. And in its through Jesus that our toil - “What gain has the worker from his toil?” (3:9) – turns into joy:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ…but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord and not to an, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. (Ephesians 6:5, 6-8)
Our boring job turns into joy because it is a form of worship! We have Jesus to hang on to in the toughest times. In the boring times. Jesus to praise in the good, because we know the world is but a shadow of the things to come and that life comes from knowing Jesus Christ.
That is what we were made for – fellowship with the living God. And the beautiful thing is we are saved by grace – because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we have all rebelled against Him and no amount of good deeds, no amount of avoiding sin in the future can save us – by our own strength we will fail. It is foolish to put such faith in ourselves. We should put our faith only in the gospel, which renews me every day, which keeps me every day, which keeps me from guilt, shame, and evil – which makes me righteous before God!
Think about that. I – and people I know – could say with certainty that I do not deserve to stand blameless before God. My mother would certainly not call me blameless before her. And yet, through Christ, I am righteous before God. Because Jesus died in my place I am made new. What a profound mystery, what a horrible exchange (it would seem) for Christ – that He would lose his life and take on my sin, giving me his life and his righteousness.
Finally, Jesus satisfies our desire for truth: He tells us who God is, He makes us worshippers in “spirit and in truth” – for it is vain to worship a lie. Jesus offers clarity, peace, and joy. Jesus suffered it all for the joy set before him, so that he could come to each of us when we ask “What happens when we die?” and with a smile on his face, say “Believe in me, and you will have eternal life with the God everlasting. He’s your Father, He loves you, I love you, and I’m inviting you home.”
I have seen the business that God has given to children of man to be busy with.
What is this “business”? It’s not literal work, I don’t think, although Solomon talks about a life of work in Ecclesiastes 2:18-23. The first time he mentions this same phrase “business that God has given” is in chapter 1:
And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. (1:13)
So is the “business” the task we are given to understand God? Because of our sinfulness He is not with us the way He made us to be, so since the beginning of Adam’s fall man has had to “figure out” who God is. That’s philosophy.
When I was growing up I believed you couldn’t really know who God is for sure, you just had to speculate and figure Him out on your own. This is why there are so many different religions and philosophies, people say “This is God” or “I don’t like your god so I’m going to change him (or her, dang it!) to fit my own box.” Not all of these perspectives are right – and we can see how frustrating it is to define God with human logic. Perhaps this is what Solomon is talking about in 1:13.
But Solomon knew God! He grew up with a father, King David, who loved and revered God. Solomon had the Scriptures to learn about God. He even saw God twice. Is it the task of philosophy he is lamenting over?
Back in chapter 3, Solomon writes:
I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Maybe this business is referring to our life in a fallen world. God has been gracious and given us jobs, work, families, things to busy our lives iwht , but it still is terrible because He is not here with us. I wrote before that being a Christian can be awful at times because you realize you’re not with the one you love the most. It’s like your dad is off at war and until he gets back you’re not complete. There’s a vacuum in your life that He is supposed to fill but because of sin we have death and we are apart from God.
It’s almost more frustrating, then, that God makes everything “beautiful in its time” (3:11) because it reminds us of the beauty and the glory we’re missing out in.
The phrase that sticks out to me in this passage is “he has put eternity into man’s heart” (3:11). Maybe that’s the reason we hate death so much – it isn’t natural, or, it isn’t in our nature. We aren’t supposed to end, and we know that. Why is death so scary? If we were fine with “ending” why does every human being find death so unappealing, so hateful? We try to comfort ourselves with silly platitudes like “the circle of life” but that’s not comforting because that circle promises more life! It doesn’t express the finality of death that we are faced with. It promises a new beginning which doesn’t exist after death (that is, apart from Christ).
Some people say “I don’t want to live forever after death, I want to finely being at peace.” Yet in this line of thought they are expressing the desire to be “at peace” – clearly something that can only be felt when one exists. To be honest, I can’t even fathom what it would mean to not exist – what would happen to my consciousness? Would I feel nothing? Would I still be? Even non-Christians tend to think of some form of existence after death, usually in the form of peace or calm (which is funny, because this is exactly what we are promised in living forever with God).
So why is this sentence contrasted with “he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (3:11)? This text was written before Jesus, before His death – maybe Solomon is lamenting that this world sucks and it doesn’t make much sense that God appears to be sitting around doing nothing while evil and injustice happens every day. Why doesn’t God take care of sin? Solomon can’t see what’s going on.
Maybe Solomon thought that everything was about Israel – that was the way God would fix the world. And once Israel had a good king (like Solomon himself) everything would be fine. Israel could crush the bad guys in the world and build a kingdom for God. That should fix the world – but it didn’t. Solomon himself turned away from God and worshipped idols. Perhaps he realizes that although he started out righteous (in his eyes) he has ended up sinful.
Permit me some creative license. Maybe Solomon’s thoughts were like this: “I know the Lord is righteous and holy, and I know there is evil on the earth, but he set apart Israel to be His own people, through us He will bless the nations and fix them.
God has made me king of this nation and has given me great wisdom. If only people had wisdom, maybe then there would be no sin! How much sin and folly happens because of ignorance? I know the Lord and I fear Him, I wrote hundreds of proverbs about Him and I, in all my wisdom, said
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
I was given knowledge by the Lord and I wrote proverbs for my people, wise sayings with true and good advice. I said
The integrity of the upright guards them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. (Proverbs 11:3)
I’m the smartest man in the world and I can see that it’s good to be good and bad to be bad. The LORD our God has given us statutes and commandments, Israel, let us walk in them!
A good man obtains favor from the LORD,
but a man of evil devices he condemns. (Prov. 12:2)
See! I’ve got this all figured out! We need to be good and through my wisdom and others we can be on our way to a world without sin! The world as it should be! The world before the fall!
Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety (Prov. 11:14)"
I (Nathan) may be going a little far here, but it is a danger to get caught up in practical ways to deter sin, like “Don’t do it”.
Maybe in the sentence “eternity into man’s heart” we could imagine a pre-Christ mindset. “I know the Lord, I know He is good, I’ve got to do good too. I don’t want to be punished by God and I want to live so I will do good.” I don’t know what they thought would come after death but I think Solomon at least anticipated judgment:
God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.
So it would be like we commonly believe today – there is a God, He’s good, don’t do evil or you’ll go to hell. Be good and you’ll go to heaven. Yay! Solomon writes:
I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. (Ecc. 3:18)
The worldview we commonly have is that the world is nothing but a testing ground for God to see which of us is good and which of us is bad. The problem with this system is if taken seriously by God – and God takes our sin seriously – then the results would be:
Good people: 0 Bad people: 6,000,000,000,000+ (or however many people have lived ever)
The number of good people admitted to heaven would be zero. We’ve all screwed up. Even Mr. Perfect Smartest-Guy-in-the-World King Solomon screws up and sins greatly. He realizes that even among the “good people” on earth there is sin:
Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. (3:16)
Even the best people on earth are tainted by sin. Mother Theresa? She did something in her lifetime that was evil. For all her good works, she is not perfect.
Here Solomon sees our depravity and instead of remembering we are image bearers of God, he compares us to animals:
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? (3:19-21)
So this leads Solomon to a great questions: “What is the point of it all?” God, what are You doing? So You’re good and You demand good. You punish the evil, but evil is everywhere! I’m the smartest guy in the world and I thought my wisdom would keep me walking in righteousness but I couldn’t help myself and I sinned! I thought I was a good guy and I’m a sinner. I thought You were testing us but instead we all deserve death and to go down to the depths. What’s the point? Should I just eat, drink, and be merry (3:12-13)?
The crappy thing on top of this is You’ve set eternity into my heart so I care about these things! I can’t just suck pleasure out of the world because You’ve got me pondering all this stuff and wondering what will happen when I die – because I don’t know! You’ve hidden stuff from us and I can’t see past death.
Who can bring him to see what will be after him? (3:22)
Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down in the earth? (3:21)
Who?
And the most frustrating thing about this is:
I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. (3:14)
I can’t see what You’re doing and there’s nothing I can do to change it! Are You going to just condemn everyone and let evil run its course? It doesn’t matter – I have no control and it seems like I’m doomed in whatever happens."
I (Nathan) am twenty years old and am a new Christian – this stuff (the book of Ecclesiastes) is hard for me to grasp and I may have been way off base, but I know the answer to Solomon’s “who” question, by the grace of God today we know it.
The who is the only good man who has ever lived: Jesus Christ. Jesus comes and tells us what “the point of it all” is – not death, but life. We are supposed to be righteous – but by God’s strength, not our own. We have hope because we know that God has forgiven all of our sins through his Son, God has created a way to know Him through Jesus Christ. And in its through Jesus that our toil - “What gain has the worker from his toil?” (3:9) – turns into joy:
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ…but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a goodwill as to the Lord and not to an, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. (Ephesians 6:5, 6-8)
Our boring job turns into joy because it is a form of worship! We have Jesus to hang on to in the toughest times. In the boring times. Jesus to praise in the good, because we know the world is but a shadow of the things to come and that life comes from knowing Jesus Christ.
That is what we were made for – fellowship with the living God. And the beautiful thing is we are saved by grace – because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we have all rebelled against Him and no amount of good deeds, no amount of avoiding sin in the future can save us – by our own strength we will fail. It is foolish to put such faith in ourselves. We should put our faith only in the gospel, which renews me every day, which keeps me every day, which keeps me from guilt, shame, and evil – which makes me righteous before God!
Think about that. I – and people I know – could say with certainty that I do not deserve to stand blameless before God. My mother would certainly not call me blameless before her. And yet, through Christ, I am righteous before God. Because Jesus died in my place I am made new. What a profound mystery, what a horrible exchange (it would seem) for Christ – that He would lose his life and take on my sin, giving me his life and his righteousness.
Finally, Jesus satisfies our desire for truth: He tells us who God is, He makes us worshippers in “spirit and in truth” – for it is vain to worship a lie. Jesus offers clarity, peace, and joy. Jesus suffered it all for the joy set before him, so that he could come to each of us when we ask “What happens when we die?” and with a smile on his face, say “Believe in me, and you will have eternal life with the God everlasting. He’s your Father, He loves you, I love you, and I’m inviting you home.”
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