Ecclesiastes

Chapter 1 &2

The meaningles of Life without Christ and his Kingdom

Ecclesiastes 1:1–3 (NKJV)

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

3 What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

The Hebrew word Translated vanity, literarly means vapour, something without substance, something that is empty, without meaning.

A modern day equivalent would be meaningless or empty.

This statement, has a context, the context is under the sun.

The phrase “under the sun” ocurrs 29 times in this book and it does not occur anywhere else is the bible.

Everything that is states in this book is confined to this context, if we don’t recognize this context we will miss the whole message of this book, and the purpose for which it was written for us.

Define “Under the Sun”: This world, the natural world that we live in.

Christ Came with his Kingdom.

He is not of this world, John 8:23 “23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”

He came to reveal the heavenly things because he came from heaven John 3:12-13 “12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

John 18:36 “36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.””

Before him, all those who spake were of this world, and the Kingdom they proclaimed was of this world.

When we come to Chirst, and enter into the kingdom through the new birth, the life that we live in this world is no longer confined to the context of this world, but the kingdom of God. Hence it is no longer vanity, it has a meaning.

So the point is the life that a person lives outside of Christ and the Kingdom of God, is utterly and totally meaningles.

If Solomon lived in the time of Christ, or in the Time of the New Testament, when he saw the Kingdom of God he would not have concluded this. Because now he knows there is something outside the Sun that can give meaning to the life of man.

Everything in this world has a cylce.

Ecclesiastes 1:4–11 (NKJV)

4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.

5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose.

6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.

7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.

8 All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.

Satisfaction does not come from what can be seen or heard, that is under the son.

That is why if someone has all the things of this world, has seen it all, and has heard it all, and does not have Jesus. He will never be satisfied.

You don’t have to go sight seeing to be satisfied, in fact you are not missing out on anything.

That is why a blind person and deaf person with Christ can live in satisfaction

9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.

life in this world is just a cycle of the same things repetition.

There is nothing fundemantally new under the son.

The Climate cylce.

The cycle of plants

The fundemantal things in life have not changed from thousands years ago to know.

Instead driving a horse , you drive a car

Instead of waking up at the sound of a cock crowing, you wake up at the sound of an alarm,

Instead of writing letters and sending them via horse riders, you text through your phone,

Instead of working in a farm, you work in an office.

The fundemantle things have not changed

you were born, they were born,

you got up and went to work, they did the same

You met a woman and got married, they did the same

you had kids, they did the same,

the kids finally grew up, they did they same,

they became grandparents, so did they,

they died, then you die.

There is nothing new under the sun.

Once God created this word in the begining, from that point on everthing is just a cycle, there is nothing new.

Life in the Kingdom of God (heaven) is not a cycle

There is nothing new in this world “under the sun”.

God has created this world in a way that everythings is designed to repeat itself. Hence there is nothing new under the sun. Fundemantaly, everthing is a repetition of what was.

When people try to phatom heaven (the kindgom of God), they thing it is going to be boring because you are beasically experiencing the same things as time goes by.

In heaven, The kingdom of God, Where God dwells everything is new every day. Our experince in heaven is going to be new every day.

Lamentation 3:22-23 “22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”

God’s Mercy is new ever morning, his compassion is new every morning. Because in his Kingdom everything is new.

So In heaven our experience is going to be new, novel every day.

Reve 21:5 “5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.””

Think of the feeling you have when you experience something for the first time. The feeling of novelty, the first time you fell in love with your wife, or when you had your first car. Times this feeling by one million percent and you will be filling that every day. Because you will experience the love, mercy, joy, wisdom, knowledge of God new every day, each experience is going to be novel from the prior experience you had. So it is impossible for heaven to be boring

However here in this world, once you experience something, thats it.

That is why the feeling you have when you have your first baby and your second baby is not the same, or when you had your first car and your second car is not the same. You can never get that same first time exeprience.

Ecclesiastes 1:12–18 (NKJV)

12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.

Solomon is the King, God gave solomon great wisdom and understanding more than any other man in the earth at that time. He uses this wisdom to search concerning all that is done under heaven. Remember his wisdom is limited to what is done “under heaven”

14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Without the new Testament this book would be very depressing, but it is written so we may put our labors, desires and efforts to what really matters and that is Christ and His Kingdom

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

What God has made crooked can not be made straight by anyone except himself.

Ecclesiastes 7:13 NKJV

13 Consider the work of God; For who can make straight what He has made crooked?

When Christ ( God in flesh) comes he comes to make the crooked straight

Isaiah 40:3-5 “3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; 5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.””

We were crooks but God straigthened us out, Before Christ the crooks of this world had no hope.

16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.”

17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Wisdom and knowledge are related but are not synonymous. General

Wisdom the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.

knowledge is information gained through experience, reasoning, or acquaintance

Knowledge is knowing how to use a gun, wisdom is knowing when to use it and when not to use it.

The scope of scripture.

1 Corinthians 1:24 NKJV

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Cor 8:2 “2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.”

John 16:12 “12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

Chapter 2

Ecclesiastes 2:1–26 (NKJV)

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.

2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”

Mirth, is to be merry, what you feel when you go to a party or celebration

People to make themsleves feel better they go out to parties, there are many comedies to make people laugh but at the end it does not accomplish anything good,

Laughter does not even make people feel better.

Proverbs 14:13 “13 Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, And the end of mirth may be grief.”

3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.

5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.

7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.

8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.

9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

All that he has build and labored in the earth was all vanity and pointless, it was not profitable.

12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done.

13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness.

14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all.

15 So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”

16 For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!

Being wise in this world is better than being a fool,

being wise in this world is pointles as it does not deliver one from death.

When wisdom is confined to the things of this world is really only benefitial to you in this world, but it won’t do you any good in the world that is to come. It does not deliver you from death.

17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

John 12:25 “25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.

21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

22 For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

23 For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

John 6:27 “27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.””

24 Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.

25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? (look at the foot note)

NASB Version “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him”

26 For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

In conclusion, whatever that is done under the son, the good and the bad it is all vanity outside Christ and his Kindgom