WWUTT 1654 Introduction to Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 1:1-3)

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Vanity of vanities, says the author of Ecclesiastes, all is vanity.

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What advantage does man have in all of his labor in which he labors under the sun?

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There is meaning in this when we understand the text. This is

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When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we feature

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New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.

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Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We just got an email this week from Will in Virginia.

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And he said, Pastor Gabe, as you're going through entire books of the Bible, are you planning on getting to the

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Song of Solomon? I've never listened to a study on the Song of Solomon before. My answer to Will is yes, we will.

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And it will be after Ecclesiastes. Open your Bible, please, to Ecclesiastes chapter one as we begin a brand new series in an

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Old Testament book today. We're doing Old Testament on Thursday and now we're up to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter one.

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I'm going to read verses one through 18, which is this whole chapter here out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

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Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

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What advantage does man have in all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

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A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.

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Also, the sun rises and the sun sets, and hastening to its place, it rises there again.

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Going toward the south, then circling toward the north, the wind goes circling along, and on its circular courses the wind returns.

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All the rivers go into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers go, there they continually go.

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All things are wearisome. Man is not able to speak of it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.

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That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.

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So there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, see this?

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It is new. Already it has been for ages which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things, and also of the later things which will be.

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There will be for them no remembrance among those who will come later still. I the preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I gave my heart to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven.

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It is a grievous endeavor which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

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I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

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What is bent cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted. I spoke within my heart, saying,

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Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has seen an abundance of wisdom and knowledge.

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And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and simple -minded folly.

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I came to know that this also is striving after wind, because in much wisdom there is much vexation, and whoever increases knowledge increases pain.

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And there you go, that's the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes as we begin a study on this particular book, which will go a lot faster than our studies in Psalms and Proverbs.

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Ecclesiastes is still part of the Wisdom Books, which begins with Job. We have Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

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This is 12 chapters, it's about 5 ,500 words, so if you were to speak it out loud all the way through, it would be about the length of your average sermon.

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It might take you 45, 50 minutes or something like that to say this whole thing out loud.

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And in fact, you might notice that when we started this, the very first verse opened with the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, which would be

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Solomon. I'm going to talk about that here in just a moment, but let's sit on this, the words of the preacher. And then in verse 12, we heard again,

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I, the preacher, have been king over Jerusalem. It's because this speaker, this presenter here in Ecclesiastes, refers to himself as preacher.

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That's why we call this book Ecclesiastes. The root of that word might be more familiar to you than you are aware.

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If you've ever done a study of churches, the history of churches, why the church is built the way that it's built, church polity or church governance, the order of worship, things like that.

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If you've ever done that kind of a study, then you've done a study in what we call ecclesiology, the study of churches.

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You might know that the Greek word for church in the New Testament is ecclesia, which means a calling out or a gathering.

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And it's that name in Greek that became the name of the book of Ecclesiastes when the

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Hebrew was translated into Greek. And then we had the Septuagint or the

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Greek Old Testament. So the book of Ecclesiastes came under that name. It was a Hebrew name previously.

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In Greek, it became more like Ecclesiastes. So that's why we call it that. Because we begin with the words of the preacher and he is addressing a gathering or a calling out of people to listen to his wisdom or his preaching.

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That's where the book gets its name. Now again, this preacher is Solomon. The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

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Now, some will say that doesn't necessarily have to be Solomon, because anybody who is a descendant of David could be called a son of David.

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After all, Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, his earthly stepfather, he was called a son of David.

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So any king in that line of David could be called a son of David. It doesn't have to refer to specifically

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Solomon. But there are other clues that we have here, not just that in verse one, but even other places here in the chapter that indicate to us we're talking about Solomon.

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Verse 12, I, the preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

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And the kings that came after Solomon would not have ruled Israel from Jerusalem because you had the split kingdoms after that.

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Israel was in the north and Judah was in the south and Jerusalem was in Judah. So when a king was in Jerusalem, he was reigning over Judah and not

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Israel. And that was that was following Solomon. So no other kings after Solomon were ruling

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Israel from Jerusalem. That's clue number one, or we might call that clue number two, since our first clue was the son of David, king in Jerusalem in verse one.

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So anyway, that's our next clue, that this is Solomon, that which we have there in verse 12. Then in verse 16,

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I spoke within my heart, saying, Behold, I have magnified and increase wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me.

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That has to be Solomon, because no king after Solomon had any greater wisdom than Solomon until Christ.

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When he came along, he had greater wisdom than Solomon. And in fact, Solomon's wisdom is pointing to the fact that Christ is going to come along and have even greater wisdom than he.

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When we read at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the people were amazed because he spoke with authority and not as their scribes.

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No one had ever spoken like Jesus had spoken before. So his wisdom superseded even

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Solomon's, since it was from Christ that Solomon received his wisdom. Now, some might say some might push back against verse 16 being a reference to Solomon, because it says here,

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I've magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me.

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Well, the only two kings that preceded Solomon were David and Saul.

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And David is the one who reigned from Jerusalem. So is Solomon saying that he's wiser than David?

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Well, Solomon did indeed have a wisdom that was greater than even his own father's.

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But when he says here that his wisdom is greater than all who were over Jerusalem before me, there were all kinds of kings that ruled in Jerusalem before Solomon.

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Before it came under the rule of Judah or under the possession of Judah, there were many other kings, pagan kings that had served there in Jerusalem, a very critical city, one that God had chosen for himself or he would put his name.

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So the history of that city was even important to the Hebrews, no matter who it was that ruled in it. Now, you could go all the way back to Melchizedek, who was the king priest at Salem.

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When Abraham addressed Melchizedek and Melchizedek spoke with Abraham, and that was

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Jerusalem. That was the predecessor to Jerusalem. Salem was Jerusalem. So Melchizedek was there at one point in time.

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And it said here that Solomon's wisdom was even greater than Melchizedek's because this kingdom has grown.

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It has come under the possession of the people of Israel, the children of God. God himself dwells there and his name is in that place.

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And so again, I think there's just no disputing. Personally, I don't think there's any dispute that Solomon is the author of the book of Ecclesiastes.

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Now, what are some of the themes that we're going to be seeing over the course of this book? Well, there's the reality of the fall that's throughout the book.

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The fact that here in the first chapter, the preacher is saying all is vanity.

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There is nothing new under the sun. There's no worth in any of this. All that I have possessed, all the knowledge that I've come to know,

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I've just increased my own sorrow. So there's a reality of the fact that all is fallen because of man's sin against God.

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Everything has been subjected to futility so that even the works of our hands and all of our accomplishments ultimately amount to nothing if they're just in and of themselves.

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Like, if it is not to the glory of God, if it is not to be received with thanksgiving with prayer, as Paul said to Timothy, all things are good if they are received with thanksgiving and prayer.

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So if we're not looking at the life that we have been given, the responsibilities we have, the work that we do, if we do not do all of these things to the glory of God and his name, then it's all for nothing.

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It just ultimately amounts to nothing. And even the world itself, though we may enjoy those things that God has given to us, we enjoy good family, we enjoy fellowship, we enjoy going to church with one another and worshiping

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God together. Though there are good things that God has given to us to be enjoyed, we know ultimately these things are all coming to an end.

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The world is coming to an end. All of these things that have been subjected to futility, everything that is material is wasting away around us.

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And so as it's coming into decay, it reminds us of the fact that we have sinned against God and as a result of our sin against God, he has subjected everything to the curse.

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So there's the reminder of the fall throughout the book of Ecclesiastes.

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For the most part, it's a pretty depressing book. There are some high points, but we're looking at everything that is around us and finding no meaning or purpose in it apart from Christ.

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So that's one of the major themes we're going to see in Ecclesiastes, the reality of the fall.

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Then next we're going to see sin and death, the reality of sin and death itself.

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Now of course, that's also a product of the fall. Sin is the reason why everything was subjected to futility, but then sin increases in a world that has been subjected to futility and death is the result of sin as well.

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And that all being part of the fall. So there's going to be musings about sin and death that we have forfeited the righteousness that we had possessed by God when we were first created.

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You know, speaking in the collective we of humanity and Adam being our forefather.

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But then since then, everybody who's descended from Adam has become sinners and there's wickedness everywhere in the world.

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It is again, all a product of the fact that all things have been subjected to futility, even mankind who has been cursed and descended from Adam who rebelled against God.

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So that's another theme that we're going to see in Ecclesiastes and that affects absolutely everybody.

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There is no one who is untouched by the curse and the results of that curse.

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The increase of sin, the injustice in the world, the fact that death comes to everybody, whether you're rich or poor, you don't escape death.

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And that's one of the things that the preacher recognizes too. No matter who a person is, death comes to everyone and there's a mournfulness over that.

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But at the same time, we are going to see some high points over the course of Ecclesiastes and that the preacher will rejoice in the good things that God has given to us.

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He's not blind to the fact that there are good gifts that the father has given, like good relationships, whether that's with our family or with good friends, brothers and sisters in the

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Lord, food and drink. And there is a sense in which you can do good work and you can be satisfied with that good work.

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And again, if that work is done in God, to the praise of his glorious grace, it rolls up into praise to God.

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Anybody who does not worship God might enjoy good food and good relationships, a good gathering or fellowship at a table.

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But the enjoyment terminates on the experience. As soon as that experience is over, what's happened to the joy?

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It's just gone. And then you're looking for another opportunity to get together in fellowship and enjoy that joy again.

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That's for the person who does not know God, but for the one who does know the Lord and knows that all things are to be done to the praise of his name, then even those things that we enjoy in life and on earth rolls up into praise to God.

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And it's a small taste of what we know we will enjoy for eternity when we join

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God forever in his heavenly kingdom. One last theme that we're going to see in the book of Ecclesiastes is the fear of God, just like it was in Proverbs, just like we open

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Proverbs chapter one with the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. So it is going to be the same in the book of Ecclesiastes as well.

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Now, at the very conclusion of the book, we read this like the meaning of life is even given to us here in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13, the end of the matter.

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All that has been heard, fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the end of the matter for all mankind, for God will bring every work to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

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There are the last two verses of Ecclesiastes right there. And so we have the meaning of life that is spelled out to us plainly.

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The meaning of life is to fear God and to keep his commandments. And all of our like biggest catechisms and creeds and confessions will have that in there.

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What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to know God and to enjoy him forever.

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And in a lot of those catechisms, you'll have like a footnote there and it will show you verse references and it will reference

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Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 13. The meaning of life is to fear God and to keep his commandments and keeping his commandments are not burdensome.

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We rejoice to know God and be able to serve him, for it pleases the creator who made us, who gave us the the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

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Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us and rose again so that all who believe in him will not perish.

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We are forgiven our sins. We are restored to fellowship with God and we will have everlasting life.

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The book of Ecclesiastes anticipates that. Of course, this is written a thousand years before Christ, but it is looking forward to the

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Christ who will unite us together with God. And we'll see shadows and glimpses of that even as we go through this together.

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So that's some of the basic themes we're going to see over the course of Ecclesiastes. Now, even though this is wisdom literature, it fits into the wisdom books of the

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Old Testament. It doesn't read the same way as Proverbs. A proverb is kind of the basic building block of the book of Ecclesiastes.

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But what we just finished in Proverbs reads totally differently than what we will read in Ecclesiastes.

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As the preacher talks, it's almost like he's recounting a journey. And so some of the language that drives the the preaching here are phrases like, so I turned to consider or then

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I saw and then I began to ponder this. So it's like the the preacher is either on his journey and taking us with him or he's recounting those things that he has experienced in his life.

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And that's kind of the way that Ecclesiastes is shared. We're listening to a man who is certainly not young, but somebody who is seasoned, who has experienced much of life and is coming near to the end.

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And that may have been when Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes was near the end of his life. Hence another reason why it has this pessimistic tone.

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Remember that Solomon was the most successful king in Israel, even more successful than his father,

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David. He experienced a whole generation of peace while he was king over Israel. But near toward his life, toward the end of his life, came into some things in which he was not setting his mind and his heart upon the

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Lord, but instead was led astray by the affections he had for his many wives.

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And he built high places to false gods, the false gods that his pagan wives worshiped and therefore fell out of favor with God.

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And and as a result of that, as a result of Solomon's sin, that was why the kingdom split.

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So it was not going to be that unified, wonderful utopia anymore. It was going to be split and become very chaotic as you had the

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Israel of the north and the Judah of the south and then their respective kings, even the offspring of Solomon, because he took his eyes off the

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Lord. That's why he does not find fulfillment, even in this great empire that the

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Lord has given to him to reign over, even in the wisdom that the Lord blessed him with, that he might reign as a king of wisdom.

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Now, as we finish this up, as we come to the end of the book of come now, come to the end of the book, come to the end of our introduction to the book.

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What's kind of the structure that we're going to follow as we look over the book of Ecclesiastes?

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Like, how is this laid out? Well, we begin with this introduction that we've just looked at, and that's verses one through three.

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Vanity of vanity, says the preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. What advantage does man have in all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

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And then what follows that is is kind of the answer to that lament. It's continuing to ponder over what is the meaning of all of this.

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And again, we get to the meaning of life even in the closing verses of the book of Ecclesiastes to fear

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God and obey his commandments. The book is laid out like this in chapter one, starting in verse four.

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We have the first catalog of vanities, and that's going to go through chapter two. And then we have the second catalog of vanities in chapter and chapters three and four.

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Then after that, we have life under the sun that's in chapters five through seven. And then another reflection on life under the sun in chapters eight through twelve.

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That's kind of the layout of the book of Ecclesiastes. So one set of vanities, a second set of vanities, and then we split it into life under the sun and then more life under the sun, ultimately culminating in understanding that the meaning of life is to fear

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God and obey his commandments. Let's finish there. We'll come back to Ecclesiastes next week.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for this deep book of wisdom. And as many in the world have pondered and searched for the meaning of life, you give it to us plainly in the scriptures that we might know what you have made us for, to worship

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God, to glorify you and enjoy you in your presence, not just in the earth as we have been brought into the presence of God by faith in Jesus Christ, but we rejoice to be in your presence forever, that we may dwell with you in your heavenly kingdom where all of these things that we see in the world around us, the meaninglessness, the sin, the death, all of this stuff that is that shows that the world has been subjected to a curse and is ultimately coming to an end.

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May these things make us long for the kingdom of God all the more. We don't put our trust in the stuff of this world, but we long for Christ and his eternal kingdom.

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And it's in his eternal name that we pray. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt