Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 comments: is a person any better off than an animal?

16 ¶  And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 17  I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21  Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? 22  Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Here are some of Solomon’s most negative and disturbing statements as he puts his thoughts down for posterity and God preserved them for us. Solomon has observed that in the world there is often great corruption and iniquity in the place of judgment. Magistrates whose job it was to dispense God’s justice and judgment could be bribed or have another agenda other than their assigned duties.

Deuteronomy 16:19  Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

He also saw corruption in the realm of religion where so-called men of God practiced iniquity.

Jeremiah 23:11  For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

Solomon was confident that God would judge both the righteous and the wicked.

Daniel 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

We know that those who reject God’s free offer of salvation through Christ will be judged by God at the great white throne.

Revelation 20:11 ¶  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Christians also have their time of judgment before the judgment seat of Christ.

Romans 14:10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

2Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Solomon then says that men are no different than beasts, even that they are beasts. He says we have that commonality with all creatures. We die, as they do. He makes the disturbing statement that man is no better than an animal. We, like them, go into the ground and turn again to the elements from which we were created. Who knows, he says, whether the man’s spirit goes upward and the beast’s spirit goes down into the earth? Maybe both go to the same place.

Let’s look at this from the Bible. God created living things, beasts of the field and beasts of the forest, things that fly or fowls, and things that swim in the sea or fish. He had already created  prototypes in the spiritual, unseen world of heaven.

Ezekiel 1:4 ¶  And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5  Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6  And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7  And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. 8  And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9  Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10  As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11  Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. 12  And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. 13  As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14  And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

These are the cherubims. Please look at Ezekiel, chapters one and ten. Notice the word substitution between Ezekiel, chapter one and chapter ten, with cherub in 10:14 replacing ox in 1:10. A cherub is not a fat little baby floating on a cloud. It is a spiritual animal.

Ezekiel 10: 8 ¶  And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings. 9  And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone. 10  And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel. 11  When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went. 12  And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had. 13  As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel. 14  And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15  And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. 16  And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them. 17  When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 18  Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. 19  And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 20  This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

These creatures are around the throne of God as well.

Revelation 4:6  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7  And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

God created physical creatures that originated in the seas and then regenerated on the land.

Genesis 1:21  And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good…24  And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

A creature that is alive is one that breathes air, breath that God gives to them.

Genesis 6:17  And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

Genesis 7:15  And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life….22  All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

These creatures, of course, like us, have a body; animate, living flesh. Many of them, what men call higher animals, have a self-identity, a seat of will, and an understanding of their separateness from other creatures, which goes on forever from its initial creation, called a soul.

Job 12:10  In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Numbers 31:28  And levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep…

Here, in verse 21 we have an acknowledgement that animals have a spirit. The rhetorical question that Solomon asks, for the sake of his argument, is who knows, who can see if the spirit of one goes up to God or the spirit of one expires upon its physical death? He is pointing out how, from a strictly temporal view, a view from this life alone, without any other instruction or understanding we have no way of knowing. His point is that for all he knows from what he sees a man or woman should just enjoy what God has given them in life because from his perspective there is nothing else. How will he even know what happens after him?

Here is a very important point and the danger of drawing conclusions from experience alone. Without God’s revelation of Himself through the teaching of the Holy Ghost man knows nothing, like an animal, but his immediate surroundings and the sensations he experiences through his or her experiences. Man, without the understanding that God can give to him, is no better than and has no more understanding than a dog.

He can be loyal, kind, loving, considerate, faithful, and helpful or he can be mean, hateful, violent, malicious, following the pack to trouble, and vile in his habits. In the end, though, no person has any understanding without God’s generous imparting of understanding. God gives understanding to mankind that He does not to the animals. No matter how intelligent I think my cat is, he is never going to balance my checkbook or demand to know angrily why a cup of coffee is so expensive.

Job 32:8  But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

God gives the faith by which a person believes and is saved.

Ephesians 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Were it not for God’s choice human beings would be rolling in the mud just like any beast with no more thought for tomorrow or eternity than a pig. Of course, many are just like that and the  atheistic evolutionists would have you believe that is the way it should be. After all, to them, we are no better than a hog.

As we continue, Solomon keeps considering the great issues of life from the perspective of carnal man to show us how pointless an existence consumed by the thoughts of the flesh really is.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-15 comments: our finite minds

11 ¶  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 12  I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 13  And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. 14  I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. 15  That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

God has made everything the way it is supposed to be. Sin, and the fall of man, has done the damage. Still, God has set finiteness in our hearts so that we cannot fully comprehend what God has done. The world, as in a system of things, as in a period of time, and as in the current condition is set in our heart’s understanding so that we are unable to comprehend eternity or God’s full plan. We are limited, constrained by our flesh and the narrow shortsighted focus that temporal beings have.

Deuteronomy 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Solomon says that it is good for man to enjoy the fruits of his labor, which is the gift of God, in any event, and to do good. After all, there is nothing man can do to add to what God has done or to take away from it. God is in control and the wise man will fear and honor Him, acknowledging His sovereignty. Unfortunately, many people honor, like the Antichrist, a god of forces, impersonal, unknowing, and blind.

Daniel 11:38  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

 The past is present and the future is past in the eyes of God as He sees the world from the vantage point of eternity (Isaiah 57:15).

God calls men into account for what they have done. This is accepted in almost all religions of mankind that believe in a Creator God, that they will be called into account at some point.

The thought that God will require something as a response to man’s behavior is used throughout the Old Testament to speak of God’s calling into account just as the latter word is used in the New.

Examples from the Old Testament;

Deuteronomy 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Psalm 10:13  Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.

And from the New;

Matthew 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Romans 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Solomon acknowledged that mankind’s purpose is to enjoy the fruits of his labor that God has provided and to do good. Christians are also called to good works, not to get saved but because they are saved.

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The good works that Christians are called to do in Paul’s writings have been surrendered to the government today so that fundamentalist minded do not think of doing good so much as in providing food, clothing, and shelter to their poorer brethren but only in seeing that their spiritual needs are met. However, there is a strong strain in the writings of the New Testament that a great deal of our service to God is in meeting the physical needs of the poor, aged, fatherless, and helpless along with their spiritual needs.

Solomon is saying it is what it is, you might as well enjoy what you’ve gotten, what God has given you and do good. There is nothing you can do to change the overall scheme of things, nothing at all. You cannot even begin to understand the eternal perspective that God has, who sees it all; past, present, and future as if it is already happened. And God will call into account what you’ve done.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-10 comments: the confusion of dualism

1 ¶  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9  What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10  I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

There was a rhythm to life, as Solomon saw it, as he looked around at his kingdom and his world. Things which appear to be contradictions come about in their turn. Living and dying, planting and reaping, killing and healing, tearing down and building, weeping and laughing, mourning and rejoicing, etc. etc. all have their place under God’s direct or permissive will. There is nothing so sinister or evil on earth that God has not either permitted to happen or caused to happen for reasons most often unknown to us. If God did not permit evil to happen then He would not be God, but a weak figment of our imagination and desire for peace, comfort, and safety in our lives.

Isaiah 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

He permits one to express that person’s evil, malicious, and wicked nature by committing violence on another. This will show, at the final judgment, that His judgment is perfect and just in an absolute sense. He permits the victim to defend themselves against the attack. He allows mankind to express his highest motives in acts of kindness, sacrifice, and charity and also permits that same mankind to be a vicious, nasty perpetrator of malice and spite.

What is the point of humanity’s efforts? God has given us all the work of all things that we may be proven by it and our true self revealed.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Every day has its share of pleasure and pain, joy and trouble.

Matthew 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Conservative Christians await the translation or rapture of the church to remove it from the world and often ask why, like every generation of Bible believers before them, why it has not happened yet. But, as God promised Abraham’s descendants a heritage of land He pointed out that something had to fill up before they could claim it.

Genesis 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

As these things that Solomon mentioned circle and whirl around in a seemingly endless pattern, if you can call it a pattern from our perspective, and history repeats itself over and over, mankind is approaching the tipping point, the fill point, where the lid is off the boiling pot, which is what Revelation is, in a manner of speaking. The lid is coming off the pot to reveal the full extremity of what has been brewing. Prophecy lovers talk constantly about what has to happen before the end comes as they have been doing for a thousand years. But, all that has to happen is for God to declare that it is finished. No more. Mankind’s rebellion under Satan’s deception will have reached the end.

Solomon sees a world, a life, a system where everything has its place, good and bad. These verses do not, as some idiots say, justify killing, destruction, and bad behavior. They simply acknowledge that this is the way it is, as Solomon observes it.

Were God not completely in control of every event, either in its direct command or by His permission, allowing Satan, as in the Book of Job, to exercise his malice and hatred for us then things like the Sermon on the Mount would make no sense and neither would the letters Paul wrote to the churches. But, as it is, God calls His people to stand out from the crowd in acknowledging Him and His authority and sovereignty and, in obedience.

Christianity has been polluted with a platonic moral dualism throughout its history. Just as a dualist says that cold is merely the absence of heat or darkness the absence of light, the moral dualist will say that evil is the absence of God in spite of the verse quoted previously, Isaiah 45:7, and others like it. They will say that Hell is the absence of God in spite of the Bible’s clear statement;

Psalm 139:8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Dualism has God as a bystander who witnesses a mugger, the Devil, attack one of His people and then He intervenes to protect His man or woman. This is nonsense. In the universe painted by the Bible God gives the Devil permission to attack and then stops Him when the attack has gone far enough or limits Him beforehand as to how far He may go, and the Devil must obey.

Dualism came into Judaism and Roman Catholic Christianity not only from Greek philosophy but from the Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, which talked about a good force and a bad force, a good god and a bad god, good angels and bad angels.(1) In this philosophy of Christian belief the absolute sovereignty of God in all matters is destroyed, as is the faith of many who do not understand why, in a world supposedly governed by their God, bad things happen to good people.

Verse 10 says again, “I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.”

Theological dualism is confusion and inconsistent with clear, Bible focused doctrine. It will destroy your faith if you practice it.

Solomon has seen the power and the glory of God in all matters, no matter how small or personal. Nothing he did could change any of it. He continues with the deepest theological treatise outside of Job, something that can help us all in our walk with an all-powerful God through the, “express image of his person,” who is Christ. (Hebrews 1:3)

(1) Mike Clegg, “Dualism Through the Lens of Perception,” Absolute Reconciliation Ministries, http://www.absolute-reconciliation.org/dualism_1.html (accessed 2.5.2015). E.P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (New York: Penguin, 1995),  Kindle Edition.

Ecclesiastes 2:17-26 comments: Solomon disgusted by life's struggles

17 ¶  Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 18  Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. 19  And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. 20  Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. 21  For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22  For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? 23  For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. 24  There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. 25  For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? 26  For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Eve, the first human mother and wife, had been deceived by her passion for three things when confronted by Satan in the guise of a serpent, a dragon, beautiful to behold and covered with glory. See Ezekiel 28:12-19 in a comparison likening the King of Tyre to the spoiler of the universe which affords us an immediate prophecy about a man along with a description of Satan’s fall from grace in the Bible’s classic conservation of words, with descriptions often having multiple layers of application and meaning. These things came from within Eve when Satan uttered his famous words, “Yea, hath God said?”

Genesis 3:6 ¶  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Three things are present here; the lust of the flesh in that she saw the tree was desirable for food, the lust of the eyes in that the fruit, whatever it was, was pleasing in appearance, and the pride of life in that she would gain wisdom and understanding above her current knowledge. These three things Christians are warned about by the Apostle, John.

1John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Solomon denied himself nothing and consumed everything he desired. None of these things gave him the satisfaction he craved. There was still this unsettling feeling, this gnawing of uneasiness and dissatisfaction. He grew to hate life. His search of wisdom, material possessions, and pleasure did nothing for him but make him feel spent and used.

Solomon despised all of the work that he had done and held all of his efforts in contempt because for any pleasure he would gain by them was overshadowed by the fact that he was doomed to one day die and the man who came after him would enjoy the fruit of his efforts, his labor.

Whether wise or a fool, the person who was next to come along and enjoy the things he had worked hard for, would have them anyway.  Solomon’s labor was in the search of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge and the thought that he might leave it to a willful moron, which he did by the way, disturbed him to no end.

For all of the sleepless nights and days of stress and struggle there seemed not to Solomon any point to it. Remember, he had armed men surrounding his bed so that he, the king, could sleep in safety, sort of like your alarm system backed up by the handgun in your night stand.

Song of Solomon 3:7 ¶  Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. 8  They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

We learn to live in fear without even thinking about it although it has its effect. How well would you sleep surrounded by armed retainers all night long?

Solomon concluded here that there was nothing better for a man to do than to enjoy the fruits of his efforts that God provided him. He acknowledged God’s hand in the bounty that he enjoyed. God gives to the man or woman who understands that good things come from God, not only wisdom and knowledge but joy. On the other hand, the person who does not honor God will, in his hard work, lay up treasures that, perhaps, will be used by a good person after the sinner is gone from the earth.

Things come full circle, Solomon said. The wise man and the fool both come to the same place in the end and who knows but that the wise man will lay up earthly benefits that a fool, who comes after him, will enjoy. Even the sinner’s fruit of his labor, often, is enjoyed by a wise and good man after he is gone.

It was frustrating to Solomon because of how our own efforts do not seem to play a big part in the outcome. Whether we are good or bad, a wise man or a fool, whatever we do in this world for ourselves and for the world appears to have little value. It certainly does not help us in eternity.

Ecclesiastes 2:12-16 comments: which is better, wisdom or folly?

12 ¶  And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done. 13  Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness. 14  The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all. 15  Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity. 16  For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

Solomon turned wisdom and foolishness, being wise or being mad, over in his head and as he thought about those things he realized that no one who would come after him would do any better than he did. He had everything a man could possibly want and yet he still felt it did not answer the questions that plagued his soul.

He understood that wisdom was better than the foolishness he pursued by far. The common Christian has answers that Solomon did not. Paul told us;

Philippians 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Solomon’s introspection, his focus on the pursuit of the questions to his answers, was not satisfying. Although wisdom is certainly better than the folly of wine and excess and sin, for the Christian, satisfaction must come in the pursuit of the needs of others, and in their benefit. None of us will ever be truly happy if we seek our own wisdom only. For Christ is our wisdom.

1Corinthians 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God…30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

The answers to our soul’s hunger for satisfaction must come in the service of others for Christ. We will never be happy serving ourselves only. Seeking knowledge and wisdom by itself alone will never produce the feeling of fulfillment that man and woman desires. The monk in the monastery, the everyday Christian huddled over his Bible or in prayer, cannot hope to know the contentment and peace that comes from acts of service in Christ’s name.

Mark 9:41  For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

We need to commune with and have fellowship with our Lord through His word and prayer. But, at some point we must leave our Jerusalem and encounter a lost world for Him. We must engage our mission field or we will never find satisfaction as a Christian.

Our mission field is our family, our coworkers, our neighbors, all first, and then strangers we meet randomly. It is the difficult relative who is skeptical about your beliefs. It is the coworker whose wife left him, the neighbor who has lost a child, and the stranger with the worried look on his face at the gas pump. A good, Christian mother is the classic example of this as she serves her children and their children, perhaps, her entire life, selflessly, putting her own comfort and health aside to move them forward, always talking about her love for Christ. The man in the church family who quietly goes about helping others and making himself available for the assistance they need but cannot obtain on their own is another example. These are only two and there are many others.

A pursuit of knowledge and wisdom and understanding by itself is no knowledge, wisdom, or understanding at all if they are not bound up in mercy and the ministry of reconciliation with Almighty God. Trust me, I am the classic bad example of the person who has used knowledge as a shield, wisdom as a cloak, and understanding as a panic room to protect myself from confrontation and facing my own personal failings.

Solomon could see that, initially, he was better off being wise than being a fool. But, in the end, both the wise and the foolish wind up in the same grave. One is no better off than the other. If you have been a wise person your whole life, prudent, careful in the things you do and cautious in the things you allow, always using your head in every situation and being disciplined in every way, you will still wind up dying like any fool who burnt out their body in wine, food, and excess. In a relatively short period of time you will not be remembered any more than the fool who you think is living stupidly.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 comments: Nothing filled the void for Solomon

1 ¶  I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. 2  I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? 3  I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. 4  I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5  I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6  I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7  I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8  I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9  So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

It is a common sentiment to describe things “from the heart” and does not take any real struggle to understand when someone tells you that their heart told them to make a certain choice or take a certain action. It is personal and central to our being, our most private thoughts. In no way should this be used by some skeptic to say, “aha, we know we think with our brain and not our hearts!”

“Go to,” or, “go to now,” might come to our minds in this century in common everyday speech as, “Listen up,” or, “Now, get this,” among other possibilities, which I am sure you can imagine if you try. Those phrases are used often in the Bible.

Solomon tried to satisfy himself with laughter and pleasure, hedonism before the Greeks ever even thought of that philosophy. Maybe he was like the person who sits on the internet going from one funny video or comedian to another just looking for laughs to fill the void. It didn’t satisfy him either and didn’t solve any of his questions. He tried alcohol as a way of cheering himself up and we can imagine he drank a lot. It didn’t help. He wasn’t a worthless drunk as he tried to keep that keen edge of understanding, he says, as he dove headfirst into foolishness. He wasn’t trying to anesthetize himself like so many of us were doing but he was trying to expand his wisdom and looking at it from all angles. Is just having a good time my purpose in life, he asks?  But, no, his answer wasn’t in wine. I imagine Solomon was a pretty sad drunk.

So, as king, he went on a spending and building spree. Some of you try to occupy your time with beautiful landscaping and making your home as much a showpiece as possible. You spend great gobs of money from home equity loans and credit cards to make your home look special as you try to satisfy an emptiness in your heart. Solomon did so as well. Gardens, fruit orchards, ponds, and the like made his palaces remarkable to look at, I am sure, but it didn’t answer his questions about the purposefulness of life.

Being busy can be a way of trying to cope with that hole in your spiritual heart. I have even talked to fundamentalists who never miss a beat; attend every church service, pray at every meal and before bed, knock on the doors of unwilling homeowners, and will break every promise they’ve made to employers, friends, and family to attend a revival meeting, and even go to church services when they go on vacation, but ask themselves painful questions in the early morning as they lay on their beds. Many have no real compassion for the lost, nor love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, and no love for God, but are just going through the motions and doing what they have been told is their duty, their service to Christ.  As these Super-Bowl Christians go from one emotional high to another with emptiness and questioning in between they ask, “Is this it? Is this all there is to it?”

Solomon, being wealthy, had male and female servants in abundance with generations born in his house. Remember, he ruled for 40 years and was a wealthy heir to the throne before that.

1Kings 11:42  And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

He had immense herds and flocks and tremendous wealth, reminding us of Job.

1Kings 10:23  So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.

He had choirs of singers and perhaps orchestras of musicians to occupy his time and to entertain him. Imagine the person who watches incessant television; sit-coms and sporting events, or one movie after another to try to fill the void in their heart of hearts or even the constant din of popular music, top-40, jazz, hard rock, whatever, playing in their ears all of the time. I was like that, raised with the television on as my most faithful babysitter, addicted to incessant rocknroll as a teen, and, as an adult, renting as many as five movies at a time for a weekend’s viewing as I struggled to find meaning and purpose even as a Southern Baptist Christian fundamentalist.

Even with all of that he was still able to focus his wisdom and understanding in asking the big question, “what’s it all about?” But he denied himself nothing. Whatever his eye desired he took pleasure in.

1Kings 11:1 ¶  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 2  Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. 4  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

But, he looked around himself at what he had and what he had done and was still unsatisfied like the American homeowner who surrounds himself or herself with a beautiful home and yard, the smoothest ride, the newest gadgets with the most bells and whistles, fascinating TV shows, movies, and music, politics, religion, philosophy, family, and even pornography and yet says in his heart, “is this it? Is this all there is?”

All is vanity and vexation of spirit, isn’t it?

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 comments: Solomon's fundamental frustration

12 ¶  I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 15  That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 16  I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17  And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. 18  For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Solomon was king over the people of Israel in Jerusalem.

1Kings 1:39  And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

Solomon was eager to be a man of learning and wisdom for the sake of his people. He requested this of God. This was not just for himself, for his own ego or personal satisfaction.

1Kings 3:9  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

God promised that He would do that very thing, and much more.

1Kings 3:10  And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.

And God gave it to him and more.

1Kings 4:29 ¶  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30  And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31  For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32  And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33  And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34  And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

Did this wisdom and knowledge produce joy and contentment in him? No, it did not. It only made him realize the pointlessness of it, as the more he learned, the more unsatisfied he was. The more he learned, the more his ignorance became apparent. Learning in all of its forms cannot change the human tendency to wickedness and pride. In fact, it can increase it. His advanced education, his understanding, could not change the spiritual nature of those over whom he ruled.

He thought that his knowledge and wisdom could produce great benefits for his people and perhaps, physically, it did, but there is a deficiency in such efforts that shows its weakness. Great leaders who wanted to accomplish things for their people like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for instance, could try to relieve their people’s misery and discomfort but they could never get past the fact that mankind’s heart is inherently wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

And without the Creator’s direction and instruction mankind stumbles along blindly.

Jeremiah 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

So that the government can provide us with an education, our basic food needs, shelter, and even healthcare and we will still destroy our lives and the lives of our children with our sin and carelessness. Government cannot change the human heart.

Solomon’s wisdom gave him much grief and his understanding much sorrow in how his efforts to seek out and search out wisdom left him frustrated and his vision of his rule unsatisfied.

The fundamental weakness of human government is its inability to effect a change on the inside of a person. Only an individual’s personal relationship with God can affect that change. A wise leader, an understanding ruler, no matter how brilliant he is, cannot elevate the human heart by law or judgment, welfare or compassion.

The founders of American government believed through the teachings of philosophers like Locke and Montesquieu that they had created a workable government that would be of the most benefit for the American people, at least the ones that were not in chains or being driven out of their own lands. But, human government, for all its good intentions, if there be any, cannot substitute for God. God is our three branches of government in a verse never quoted in the debate over the Constitution of the United States.

Isaiah 33:22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

This verse does not say that the Supreme Court is our judge, the Congress is our lawgiver, and the President is our king, does it? Do you honestly believe, like the Christians of the 19^th century did, and the American socialists of the 20^th, that you can insert government for LORD in that passage? A great preacher once said that the only difference between civilized men and savages are some nifty buildings.

Imagine Solomon’s frustration and disappointment, and even his sense of failure.