Ecclesiastes 8
McGeeCHAPTER 8This chapter continues with the man who is lukewarm. He blows neither hot nor cold. The moralists and the do-gooders say that they are living by the Golden Rule, but they don’t seem to have any idea of what the Golden Rule is and what it requires. Solomon observes that there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the wicked and the righteous.
Ecclesiastes 8:1
Only Christ who is real wisdom can change a man’s life. He can come into a life and bring excitement, joy, and peace. He can give us all the things that are needed today to deliver us from living a mediocre existence.
Ecclesiastes 8:2
He is saying, “Be careful what you do. Don’t get into trouble.”
Ecclesiastes 8:4
Now the king can take a stand for what he believes because he has the liberty to do so. My friend, why don’t you live like a king and take a stand for Christ? I talked to a young vagrant who had adopted what was then called the hippie life-style. I asked him, “Why in the world do you take up this life-style? Why are you dressed like you are?” He said, “Man, I want liberty; I want freedom. I want to live as I please.” I said, “Let me ask you this one question: If you changed your garb and went back to your crowd, would they accept you?” He thought a moment and then said, “I guess they wouldn’t.” So I asked, “Then you don’t have much liberty, do you?” Young people feel that they must have the approval of the crowd, of the pack, so they really don’t know what liberty is. A great many of them take drugs for no other reason than to be accepted by the crowd. I asked the young man, “Do you think that I don’t have freedom because I dress as I dress?” He answered, “Yes, I would say that.” Then I told him that I have a freedom which he didn’t have. I told him that I don’t dress like this all the time. I can dress any way that I pleaseand I do. I don’t conform to a pattern.
I have liberty. I said, “You and I are living in a world where there is rebellion against Godthat is the direction mankind is moving. But I can bow my knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can call Him my Lord and my Savior. That is real freedom. I am not going in the direction of the crowd.
I have made my choice. Young man, if you want real freedom, come to Christ. Jesus said, ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’” (Joh_8:36). That is freedom. It is hard for people to understand that the do-gooder is just as much in rebellion against God as the criminal in the jail and that he is bound as securely by the rules of his group and the patterns they set. He is bound to a life-style that goes down the middle of the road.
Ecclesiastes 8:5
This is where the idea of a “soul sleep” arises (see also v. Ecc_8:10). All of this is the observation of the man under the sun. This is the way it looks if death is the end and there is nothing after death. That is why he says it would be better to be a living dog than a dead lion. God has told us what happens after death. The body is put into the grave, and it is the body that sleeps in the grave. Scripture makes it very clear that the soul of the child of God goes to be with the Lord: “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2Co_5:6-8). The soul, the real person, goes to be with the Lordabsent from the body, present with the Lord. The bodies you and I are living in are only our earthly tabernacles or tents, and we’ll move out of them someday. So you see, soul sleep is not even a Christian viewpoint.
Ecclesiastes 8:8
If he continues taking that cocktail to conform to the group he associates with, one of these days he is going to be an alcoholic. (Oh, there are millions of them in our country, and they are all do-gooders!) And finally death will come to him"neither hath he power in the day of death."
Ecclesiastes 8:11
What a picture of that which is happening in our contemporary society! When judgment is not executed, men do more and more evil work, because evil is in the hearts of men. Even men who call themselves Christian continue in sin, saying, “Look, I’ve been in sin for five years, and God has done nothing about it” Well, that already reveals His judgment upon you. He has done nothing about it because He is way down the road waiting for you. In fact, He can wait until eternityyou can’t. “…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2Co_6:2). God grants you today so that you can turn to Him.
Ecclesiastes 8:14
Solomon observes that when you look at the surface of things, there does not seem to be too much difference between the wicked and the righteous. It seems that it really doesn’t make any difference whether one is wicked or righteous because both come to the same end.
Ecclesiastes 8:15
“Eat, …drink, and …be merry"he concludes that the best thing to do is to enjoy life and to enjoy the labor “which God giveth him under the sun.” That is the most empty philosophy of life that anyone can have.