Unpacking Ecclesiastes

We're going to unpack the book of Ecclesiastes today, friends, and the title of the book of Ecclesiastes gets its English name from the transliteration of the Greek word Ecclesiastes, which means speaker of a called out assembly, and is derived from the word Ecclesia, which is the New Testament word for church. Solomon is the preacher here, and he has some truths he wants to share with us. The book of Ecclesiastes is proof Solomon turned back to God with a repentant heart, as did David his father.

And Ecclesiastes is the extension and overflow of one who has experienced humility, contrition, penitence, and God's forgiveness, resulting in further blessings upon him from a deeper knowledge of God. Solomon learned to fear God as well as love God. King Solomon was a man who had had it all, seen it all, and done it all, and he was sick of it all, until he made God his all in all.

I used to like watching the old detective show Columbo, and the actor Peter Falk, who skillfully played that bumbling detective, but who always got his man, because really he was a genius. And I was watching an interview one time with Peter Falk, and the person conducting the interview asked him a question. He said, is it true that money buys happiness? And Peter Falk laughed and said, I'm friends with the richest people out here, and I can tell you this, truthfully, they are all miserable, miserable.

Well, I never forgot that. And King Solomon, in his book, has a major theme running through its pages, and that is, the things which men commonly look to for happiness, like riches, power, fame, sex, and the pleasures of this world, in the end, are all an empty bubble of vanity of vanities. When we read vanity of vanities, say it the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

That's why when you read about the personal lives of celebrities, you'll find drug addiction, alcoholism, and multiple divorces. They can't even find a partner to satisfy them. All is vanity.

And they live in the limelight and go down to the grave in darkness as they enter a crisis eternity. The book of Ecclesiastes begins with a graveyard and ends with a funeral, thus demonstrating the brevity of life and the certainty of death. For we read, one generation passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever.

Solomon spent his life seeking satisfaction in things he could see, touch, and taste, yet he laments in verse 8 of chapter 1 that eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. Solomon found that he could have all the money in the world, to do all the things he wanted to in the world, that his heart desired. He sought out pleasure of every kind, from eating to laughter, to building things like houses and vineyards and gardens and orchids, things pleasing to the eye.

He built pools of water to bring forth more trees for shade and lumber. He got him manservants and maidens, and he had great possessions of cattle and silver and gold, and he entertained himself with men singers and women singers and a vast array of musical instruments. And of it all he breathes a deep sigh and exclaims, 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 labor, and this was my portion of all my labor.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on all the labor that I had labored to do, and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. Solomon was as happy as this world can make a man, but it was empty happiness, void of any reality of worth. The world was just an empty bubble that satisfied poor time, but then it popped.

Men seek to find satisfaction in their businesses and careers, and they spend their days in a vain pursuit of money and position, and in the end they lie on a hospital bed dying, rich in the things of this world, but bankrupt in the soul. For what profit a man shall he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? So said Jesus. Well, there are several valuable lessons, friends, found in Ecclesiastes, that we can relate to.

We read in chapter 3, To every thing there is a season, and a time, to every purpose under the heaven, and Solomon goes on to list the various seasons of life. Birth and death, planting and harvest, killing and healing, breaking down and building up, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, casting away and gathering, embracing and not embracing, getting and losing, tearing apart and sewing together, keeping silence or speaking, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. And what Solomon learns from all of this, friends, is those things that he thinks provide him with peace and security are really empty.

He discovers that it is God who keeps the world in order, that God in His sovereignty causes all things to happen in their seasons, and it is a sovereign God who gives everything a purpose from His perspective. That He is all-knowing, for He knows the end of everything before it even happens to us. All is controlled by His providential hand, and all events of history, both nationally, corporately, and personally, will fit into God's own timetable.

For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called, according to His purpose. Solomon comes to realize that God is able to use anything or anyone for the carrying out of His purposes, that a sovereign God knows the end as well as the beginning, and knows the outcome of how each piece will fit into His providential plan. And since Solomon can't see the end from the beginning, he must trust completely in God and not in the material and passing things of this world.

Solomon also learns you can't serve God with a divided heart and have any real usefulness to Him. You're either all out for God or you're not. And he learns the painful lesson that old age can be a spiritually dangerous time, as we see it was when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart away from the Lord.

And in the case of Abraham, it was in his old age foolishness he went into Hagar, his wife's maid. Well, that's a warning to all of us, especially us old folks. And it seems when the physical body is breaking down, if we're not guarded, there can be a breakdown spiritually.

Another lesson learned by Solomon is the sovereignty of God over the affairs of our life, and that there is no guarantee of tomorrow. For man also knoweth not his time, as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare. So are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

The lesson of life that Solomon learns is that in God's providence He is over and in all things that pertain to us. In the end, all that matters is that we obey God and fear Him. For there is a common judgment day that is fast approaching, where every mother's son will be judged.

Solomon's new favorite hymn is trust and obey. And he ends his book with both an admonition and a warning to us. If I may so speak, Solomon is pointing us to Revelation chapter 20, where there is a great white throne, and seated there is the judge of all the earth.

And standing there is all mankind from every corner of the globe and from every generation. And books are opened, and men are judged by the things that are written in the books. And all men will be held up against the strictness and severity of God's unbending law, as He reviews their life under His intense scrutiny.

And all will fail that test for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If you stand there, friend, in your own merits, you will fail that test. You must stand in the merits of another, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And another book is opened, which is the book of life. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Listen, friend, I hope this little study from the book of Ecclesiastes has been helpful to you.

And as we have seen, that whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast into that burning lake of fire, I would be remiss if I failed to tell you there is another whosoever found in the book of Revelation. It's found on the last page of the book of Revelation. And it is the last call to a lost sinner.

Are you a lost sinner? When Jesus was here in His earthly ministry and in His humanity, He was dog-tired and He stopped to rest at Jacob's well. And a woman of Samaria came by to draw water, and she encounters Christ. Oh, friend, have you ever encountered Christ? And He tells her, if you drink the water of this well, you will thirst again.

And He goes on to tell her of the living water. In John 4.14 we read, But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. But first, Jesus must confront this woman of her sinfulness in living with a man and having had five husbands.

She has to feel her need of a remedy for sin, and so do you, friend, so do you. The gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Let me ask you, friend, are you hungry for the reality of God? Are you sick and tired of your dirty, rotten sins? Are you parched and thirsty for relief in Christ? Then perhaps, as I read Revelation 22.17 to you, through God's grace, you just won't hear the shaky voice of this old preacher, but you will hear God's voice speaking to you by His Spirit as it comes to you in all authority and power.

Listen to the Word of God. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.

And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.