TODAY’S READING: ECCLESIASTES 1-6
OVERVIEW:
The vanity or emptiness of life under the sun (apart from God); the vanity in life’s cycles (chapter 1); the vanity in life’s pursuit (chapter 2); the vanity of time (chapter 3); the vanity of social status (chapter 4); the vanity of religion and riches (chapter 5); the vanity of long life (chapter 6).
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
To help fit the Book of Ecclesiastes into the big picture, understand that whereas the Book of Psalms reveals the HEART of GOD, and the Book of Proverbs reveals the MIND of CHRIST, the Book of Ecclesiastes reveals to us the MIND of the SPIRIT. It is a Book that shows the great contrast between the workings of the spirit of man and the Spirit of God.
Ecclesiastes is written by King Solomon, the son of King David, in his old age after a life full of selfish living and many regrets. He writes this book under the inspiration of the Spirit to spare us the bitterness of learning through experience that nothing under the sun really satisfies the human heart apart from God. This small book in the Old Testament gives us undeniable evidence of our need for a Savior in order to provide us a purpose for living on earth. Without Jesus Christ, and the mission for which he left us to accomplish, we also would be living empty lives without any meaning, as Solomon so eloquently describes for us in this book.
Jeremiah 2:13 says, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” From this verse we learn three things about people in general:
- They are empty (they have no God),
- They are stubborn (determined to be filled with something), and
- They will ultimately be disappointed (because they cannot be filled).
Ecclesiastes is a book written about things that will not satisfy that men still continually seek after (see John 4:13): wisdom (1:16-18), pleasure (2:1-3), superiority (2:15), hard work/labor (2:19-21), alcohol (2:3), possessions (2:4-6), power (2:7), money (2:8-9, 5:10-11), and music (2:8), just to name a few. Thankfully, Jesus came to meet our every need and to give us an eternal purpose for our lives here on earth. I Corinthians15:58says… “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Solomon was correct in concluding that all is vanity under the sun, but our labor is not in vain in the Lord!
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
As THE SON OF DAVID – Eccl. 1:1. (Matt. 1:1— Jesus Christ is the Son of David)