THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Books of Poetry
Message Eight—Ecclesiastes
Scripture Reading: Eccl. 1:2, 14; 3:11; 12:13-14; Rom. 8:20; 2 Cor. 4:18; Phil. 3:7-8
I. The subject of Ecclesiastes is the teachings of Solomon, showing that the human life in the corrupted world is a vanity, a chasing after the wind—Eccl. 1:2, 14; 12:8: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Subject)
A. The contents of Ecclesiastes are a description by Solomon, after his falling away from God and returning back to God, concerning the human life of fallen mankind under the sun, which is in the corrupted world—1 Kings 11:1-8; Eph. 2:12. (Life-Study of Ecclesiates, msg. 1)
B. Through all the positive and negative experiences of the human life under the sun, Solomon was deeply impressed and occupied with the vanity of vanities of the human life under the sun in its falling away from God—Eccl. 1:2; 2:26. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Eccl. 1:2, footnote 1)
C. Through this fall of man, man and all the created things that had been committed by God to his dominion were brought into the slavery of corruption, made subject to vanity; thus, the human life in the corrupted world also became a vanity, a chasing after wind—Rom. 8:20-21; Eccl. 1:14. (Life-Study of Ecclesiates, msg. 1)
D. No matter how good, excellent, marvelous, and wonderful a thing may be, as long as it is of the old creation, it is part of the vanity of vanities under the sun; only the new creation, which is in the heavens and not “under the sun” is not vanity but is reality—Eccl. 1:2; 12:8. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Eccl. 1:2, footnote 1)
II. “He has made everything beautiful in its own time; also He has put eternity in their heart”—Eccl. 3:11:
A. “Eternity” is “a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy” (The Amplified Bible): (2014 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
1. God created man in His image and formed in him a spirit that man may receive and contain Him; in addition, God put eternity, an aspiration for something eternal, in man’s heart so that man will seek God, the eternal One—Gen. 1:26; 2:7. (2014 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
2. The Only One in the whole universe is eternal, the eternal God—1 Cor. 8:6; Isa. 40:28. (2014 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
B. Hence, temporal things can never satisfy man; only the eternal God, who is Christ, can satisfy the deep sense of purpose in man’s heart—2 Cor. 4:18. (2014 ITERO-S, msg. 1)
III. In all his experiments Solomon encouraged, according to God’s economy, the fallen men under the sun to enjoy what God has given to them that they may exist and afford God the opportunity to carry out His eternal purpose in choosing and predestinating them for the issue of the Body of Christ and to maintain the fallen man of God’s old creation to be the provision for God to bring in His new creation in Christ out of the old creation—Eccl. 2:24; 5:18-20; 1 Tim. 6:17; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15: (Life-Study of Ecclesiates, msg. 1)
A. “Here is what I have seen to be good and what is pleasant: to eat and to drink and to taste enjoyment in all his labor by which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life, which God has given him; for this is his portion”—Eccl. 5:18.
B. We should live a life that we may testify Christ and minister Christ to others to glorify God, we need the material things and physical matters; but we should not be attracted, captured, and usurped by them—2:24-25; 1 John 2:15-17: (Life-Study of Ecclesiates, msg. 2)
1. Moses, choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin, considering the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked away to the reward—Heb. 11:24-26. (2003 FTTA, msg. 14)
2. “But what things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ. But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ”—Phil. 3:7-8.
C. Today all things of the old creation are under the slavery of corruption; if we do not escape “the corruption which is in the world by lust”, we will share in its vanity—Rom. 8:20-21; 2 Pet. 1:4. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Eccl. 3:12, footnote 1)
D. The way to get out of this vanity is to come back to God and take God as man’s everything, redemption, life, wealth, enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction, that man still may be used by God to fulfill His original purpose in man for the fulfillment of His eternal economy—Rom. 12:13. (Life-Study of Ecclesiates, msg. 2)