Vanity Without Christ II

download

8.16.09

Ecclesiastes 9-12

is written from the perspective of one who believes in God but lives before the coming of Jesus and has no revelation or knowledge about Jesus and the resurrection

9.1
we are all in God’s hands
he controls what happens to us
and no one knows whether good or bad treatment will happen to him

9.2-6
both good and evil will die
it can almost seem that God does not care whether people are good or bad
at that time the dead did not know what future to expect
but it has been revealed to us in the resurrection of Jesus

9.7-10
your only chance is while you are alive
so enjoy what you have while you are still alive
put on the best clothes every day, treat every day as a special day
while you have something to enjoy for it will not last

9.11-12
there are no guarantees
bad things can happen to people at any moment
chance does not mean out of God’s plan
but unpredictable

9.13-18
one wise man can overcome strength
one evil man can destroy all that good

10.1-4
foolishness can ruin wisdom
do not lose you cool and act like a fool

10.5-7
your position does not match your merit
people with no merit can be kings
and people with merit can have no power

10.8-11
there is danger in every kind of activity

10.12-15
fools say more than they know
make predictions about things of which they have no idea

10.16-17
a nation is hurt by a fool being on the throne

10.18-19
don’t always sit and feast as good as those things are
work and earn money because it can help with many things

10.20
opposing the ruler will only get you in trouble

all of this in chapter 10 has been advice for how to get something out of the little time we have but ultimately none of this will get us out of death and horrible things that can suddenly befall us

11.1-2
put your money in diverse businesses
because disaster may come in some of the areas
if you have all your eggs in one basket
you will lose it all
do not gamble everything on one venture

11.3-4
what is going to happen is going to happen
you can’t try to guess
you just have to sow and reap
and hope for the best

11.5-6
there is no way to know what God is doing
so keep doing different things
you don’t know which of them will prosper
there is no guarantee of success
this is all practical advice

11.7-8
find enjoyment while you live because death is coming

11. 9-10
follow your heart in the sense of pursue good things that you enjoy
know that for all the things you do
God will bring you to judgment

12:1-8
remember your creator while you are young
because old age and death are coming
don’t put off faith until you are older
but give God the best years of your life

metaphors for the miseries of old age
(almond trees blossom white in winter)
eternal home is not heaven but sheol (grave)
the spirit returning to God is not heaven
God gives life and he takes it away

12.9-12
a goad is a long pointed stick used for guiding an ox
the one Shepherd is God
many books in addition to his teaching which will only weary you

13-14
Fear God and keep his commandments
There is a better revelation in Christ

Christ’s Answer to Ecclesiastes
9.4-5
There is hope for the dead in Christ
the dead will have a future reward

9.10
there is a day beyond the grave when there will be life again

9.11
we can all have the victory in Jesus Christ

10.16-17
the final perfect ruler is Christ himself

11.5
you cannot understand the work of God
or what the future holds
but in Christ the future has been revealed to us
and we can know the future work of God

12.11
Christ is our shepherd
the one who leads us
our wisdom, greater wisdom than Solomon
look to him

12.13
believe in the Lord Jesus

deliverance does not come from our work
but from Jesus acting for us to rescue us from the present evil age

Mt 11.28-30
28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

1 Cor 15
50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55″Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Vanity Without Christ

download

8.9.09

Ecclesiastes

This book can NOT be read as an author directly telling us the whole truth of God

it teaches us what is true if there is a creator God but humans die
and there is no final resurrection
no life after death
(this is what many believed in the Old Testament day)

the philosophy in this book is not necessarily the author’s philosophy
this book gives us a contrast to Jesus
It shows us the problem that Jesus came to answer
the darkness of the human position into which the light of Jesus dawned

read 1.1-11
“meaningless” = “vapors”

1.3
a man gains nothing from all his work because he dies– everything he does ends in nothing

1.11
because everything is dying and fading away
everyone will be forgotten

read 1.12-18

1.15
so many things we can never understand

1.18
gaining of wisdom only increased his sorrow because he saw more clearly
the horror of life and death

read 2.1-11

he pursues pleasures
laughter, good times
achievements, wealth
varied sexual experience
delight in work
all vapors, chasing after the wind

read 2.12-16

acquiring great wisdom and knowledge does not help in the end
because you end up dead
the same as the fool

read 2.17-26

you can’t hold on to the things you acquire
and someone else will get it all
the next person may not care for it like you did
work is pain and grief and gets you nothing
2.24
all there is for humans is to try to enjoy what they have which comes from God

2.26
this is all a believer can expect
but those who do evil will eventually die
(as will believers)

read 3.1-8

all of these things will happen to everyone
we will have both good and bad
this is the nature of life

read 3.9-15

3.11
we know there is a God
but we do not understand him or what he is doing

3.12
notice “while they live”
this is the best there is

3.14
what God does endures forever but not what man does

read 3.16-22

3.17
in the present day there is great injustice
but death will come for both righteous and wicked

3.19
man basically like an animal that dies

3.22
man has no idea what will happen after he dies, can only focus on the present

read 4.1-3
oppression and injustice is widespread throughout the world

read 4.4-8
all men are chasing after the wind
working to have what his neighbor has

read 4.9-12
many men have no true friend or brother to support them

read 4.13-16
achieving great things while you are alive
is chasing after the wind
because future generations will not care

**
the main theme of the book is
the finality of death
means that life has no lasting value
it all is a vapor and blows away

death makes all lives end the same
it does not matter what we do
denies any resurrection or life after death

after this diagnoses of the problem
the only hope for the human race
is Jesus Christ
the teacher is right to assert that all is vanity and that death is the only certainty
this is why Christ came and died outside Jerusalem

Rom 8
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration*, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

*vanity in KJV or futility

Christ’s ANSWER
1.9
there will be something new under the sun when Jesus returns

1.11
God will remember our good deeds
in Jesus Christ

2.10
these fading pleasures are not all there is
there are eternal pleasures in Jesus Christ

2.14
only in Christ is there a remedy for death
all our great wisdom can give no remedy

2.18
what we work for we lose
but what Christ has accomplished and what he has worked for he will bring to us
treasures in heaven vs. treasures on earth

2.24
there is something better in Jesus Christ and in his kingdom that will come

3.2-
one day half of these things will be put away

3.11
what God is doing
has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ
and one day will be fully revealed

3.14
the teacher can only say God’s work alone will last
but God has done a work in Christ that will last and includes us

3.17
there will be a final judgment beyond death
where justice will be established
in the meantime we endure injustice

3.22
we have been shown in Christ what will happen later

4.3
one day all the suffering we have known
will be drowned out by the glory of that day

4.4
man can toil for God and Jesus Christ and it is not in vain

4.10
we have a friend in God and Jesus Christ who can help us even when we are alone