The Brevity of Life Under the Sun

Transcript

R 2119
The Brevity of Life under the Sun
03/17/2019
Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
Gil Rugh

We are beginning a study of the Book of Ecclesiastes in your bible. We just started looking at some background material, so if you’d turn to the Book of Ecclesiastes in your bibles. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Right there in that center portion of your bible, Psalms being the large book that we usually get to easily, and then after that’s Proverbs, and then we have come to the Book of Ecclesiastes. We talked in our last study about the kings of Israel, Saul, David and Solomon; the only three kings that ruled over a united kingdom in Israel, and Solomon was the one that God appointed to write much of what we call our Wisdom literature. We usually call the Wisdom portion of our Old Testament as Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Most of the Proverbs were written by Solomon. The Book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon along with the Song of Solomon, so he’s a man greatly used of God. We talked about Solomon a little bit more because we want to be clear. I think the Scripture is clear that Solomon was a true child of God, a saved man. As we talked about David is true of Solomon. He had his failures in his life; significant failure as did David, but that did not keep God from using them. David being perhaps in our understanding the greatest of the kings of Israel and he is the foundational king for establishing the Davidic line which will culminate in the Messiah, and the covenant is established with David and then would come through Solomon.

Solomon was given great wisdom; the wisest man who ever lived and used of God to build the temple. That spectacular temple that was the center of worship for Israel for so many years. I think he’s a godly man. He failed later in his life as he had multiple wives from different countries who had brought their different gods they worshiped, to Israel. When Solomon entered these alliances he had 700 wives 300 concubines. Wives being in positions of greater influence, in a higher position than the concubines; and these wives had various worship systems because they were political marriages. But Solomon was led astray from faithful devoted worship to God later in his life. I think the Scripture indicates that he did come back to the Lord, and that stumble did not keep him from being an instrument that God used; and as David wrote Scripture after his recorded sin, so I think Solomon did also.

Just one passage back in 2 Chronicles, leave a marker in Ecclesiastes if you’ve gotten there and come back to 2 Chronicles. I don’t know how to tell you to get there. Go back through Psalms toward the front of your bible and Job, and then there’s a few smaller books. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and then you’ll be in 2 Chronicles so you’re going toward the front of your bible from Ecclesiastes and we’re in 2 Chronicles chapter 11. In chapter 9, you have recorded something of the wealth of Solomon, the wisdom of Solomon and so on, and you have Solomon’s failure and false worship that took place and that led him astray from the Lord. The people from the world came to worship the God of Israel and hear the wisdom of Solomon, and it was an instrument God used to expose the world.

The Queen of Sheba comes in chapter 9 to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Solomon dies at the end of chapter 9 verse 30. Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried, his son Rehoboam reigned in his place. Rehoboam did not have the wisdom of his father and he caused a split in the kingdom, and this is tied as consequences of Solomon’s sin, but now the kingdom is divided, and the northern 10 tribes break off and have their own king. Rehoboam is king of the southern two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, but you’ll note verse 16 of chapter 11 of 2 Chronicles. “Those from all the tribes of Israel, who set their hearts on seeking the LORD God of Israel, followed them to Jerusalem, to sacrifice to the LORD God of their fathers. They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam the son of Solomon for three years,” note this, “for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.” Now these, are those who set their hearts in verse 16 on “seeking the LORD God of Israel,” on desiring to worship Him, honor Him and then it said, “they walked in the way of David and Solomon.” Solomon here, marked out as a pattern to be followed for his faithfulness, as is David. It did not mean they were perfect men in all they did, but they were men that their conduct overall was a conduct of faithfulness in serving God. So, Solomon being mentioned here after his death, is a pattern that is followed by other faithful people. It would indicate something of his right relationship with the Lord.

Come back to Ecclesiastes. Verse one opens, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” That is Solomon. It’s characteristic of modern scholars to use their scholarship to show you how brilliant they are and come up with reasons why maybe this is not Solomon, but he’s the only one who truly fits and he’s writing wisdom for us. Whom would God use but the man that He gave the greatest wisdom of all, to write this book? So, it is, I take it, Solomon. He’s called the Preacher. Now if you read commentaries on Solomon, the word here is Qoheleth. Qoheleth means “one who gathers a group,” so you wouldn’t think of the word preacher quite as formal as this kind of setting. It could be someone who gathered them to give a lecture, to give instruction, to teach, but the basic meaning of the word, he gathers a group, and that would fit Solomon because we are told that people came from all over, we just looked at the Queen of Sheba, to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.

Now I take it there would have been occasions when he would have gathered a group and spoke to them with wisdom and he had wisdom in a variety of areas, not just in religious or spiritual matters. He could lecture on the plant kingdom. God had given him a breath of knowledge and wisdom in all areas that superseded the wisest people in the world of the time, and it would be a wisdom that would be great to this day. His wisdom was in all areas as you read the account, but he gathered them, so he spoke to them these words and what he speaks is “’Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher,” says Qoheleth.

If you read commentaries, they’ll transliterate it over often with a Q, Qoheleth, or sometimes with a K, but that’s just the Hebrew word that meant one who gathered or convened a group. While I’m at it, I should say something about Ecclesiastes. Where does that come from? When they translated the Hebrew word into Greek, they used ekklesiaste. We are familiar with that word, ecclesiastical. We get the word ekklesia. We use it for the church. The basic meaning of the word is a group who is called together. Well it could be used of a political group, a secular group. So, when they translated Ecclesiastes as we know it; in Hebrew it’s called, Qoheleth. This is the Book of Qoheleth. The one who convened a group to speak to, well in Greek, the group gathered together you’d use the Greek word. That’s how we get Ecclesiastes.

Verse 2 says “’Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.’” Keep your marker there and come to the end of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12 verse 8. Chapter 12 verse 8 of Ecclesiastes says, “’Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher, ‘all is vanity!’” It becomes something of the theme of the book. He starts out with that statement, emphasizing it and he concludes the major section of the book with that statement, so the book is about “Vanity of vanities.” Now that repetition, “Vanity of vanities” is called a superlative. It’s like Christ being referred to as King of kings, Lord of lords. He is the King above all kings. He is the Lord above all lords, so “Vanity of vanities.” What does he mean? He means all is vanity. This is the overriding characteristic of what I’m writing about, and I want to talk to you about the word, translated vanities.

Our English word comes from the Latin word going back to the days of Jerome, 400 years after Christ. He translated the Scriptures into Latin and the Latin became the dominant translation of the bible, the authoritative bible used for Roman Catholics. Even down to today it contains a certain authority. They used to do the Mass just in Latin, remember the Latin bible was the language, so Jerome used this word. The Greek translation of the Old Testament earlier, the Septuagint had used mataiotes the Greek word for vanity in its translation.

I think that’s part of the problem. I think it is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word, so I have a slide on the word “hebel.” There it is, “hebel” that’s the Hebrew word so we put up here what’s translated here. Remember we’re going from one language to another, we’re going from Hebrew, now to English and what gives us the meaning of the Hebrew word. Well let’s first look at what the Hebrew word’s basic meaning is. It’s a puff of air, a breath, a vapor. Now note this underneath from Farmer, but I took this explanation. The essential quality to which “hebel” refers is lack of permanence, rather than lack of worth or value. It is air like, fleeting, transitory, and illusive, rather than meaningless. It’s important we understand what word we’re talking about here, so you could translate this literally “Breath of breath.” Breath of breath, all is without breath, all is but a breath. It’s transitory and now I say that the basic meaning, I took this from Webster’s dictionary, is a great authority. But on meaning of words it’s not bad. Something that is vain, empty or valueless, and Frederick’s in his commentary does not hold this view but he expresses what vanity means. In English, vanity means hollow, empty, worthless, pointless, without any real value, at most trivial.

Now you see we have here a gap. The word “hebel” is used in a metaphor where you’re making a comparison, so when you’re saying it means a breath, a puff of air, a vapor, in the comparison of some kind, you might say that’s worthless, it’s without value, but everything transitory, temporary, of limited duration is not without value. Early in the years of my ministry I did funerals on occasions for young babies, but it never dawned on me to say that a baby who only lived three days after its birth, it’s worthless, was worthless, valueless, has no meaning. Well, you’d say that’d be a terrible thing to say, that’s not true and it’s not. Just because something is transitory, is brief, lasts only for a short time doesn’t mean it’s meaningless, it’s without value. I think the mistranslation of the word “hebel” by “vanity,” one of the modern English translations, I think it’s the New International Version, uses the word meaningless. All is meaningless, all is meaningless. Well wait a minute is that what we’re really saying?

I think what Ecclesiastes is saying is this, and it’s important because it’s the theme of the book, is everything under the sun that will become a key expression, related to life on this earth is transitory, is temporary. It’s like a breath. Your breath. You take one. How many breaths have you breathed this morning? I don’t have any idea. Don’t get on the internet right now. Somebody will probably be able to call up how many breaths we breathe in a day, but they’re just there, then they’re gone. They’re transitory. I think what we’re talking about in Ecclesiastes, and it’s important to keep a consistency of meaning because you’ll note we start out at the beginning of Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” We end in chapter 12 verse 8 saying, what, “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” Because some people say well, this metaphor we give different meanings in different places in Ecclesiastes, but then you lose any continuity to what he’s saying.

Now a metaphor can have different applications, different meanings in different context, but in the Book of Ecclesiastes I think he’s talking about one thing going through. They say well, in certain context something temporary. You know I use these little yellow sheets scratching notes when I’m getting ready. Sometimes I’ll write some things on it and when I’m done, I’ll just tear it up and throw it away because it’s not that valuable. It’s good for a short time for my use. Well, there might be occasions where something is temporary, you know we talk we live in a throwaway culture. You drink water out of a plastic bottle and you throw it away, of course in the recycle bin, but you know you’re done with it. It’s a temporary use, but I think the word “hebel” should be understood. That’s not the same as being worthless, vanities. So, I think vanity meaning something hollow, empty, worthless, pointless, that’s giving us a concrete meaning here. No, the basic word means, go back to “hebel” if you could, it means a puff of air, a breath, a vapor.

Now in the context we’ll see. I think the Book of Ecclesiastes is about the transitoriness of everything relating to this life under the sun. That’s going to become a key expression. Life under the sun, which is a more poetic way of saying, life on this earth, but it’s more catchy, more poetic. Life under the sun, life on this earth. That’s what it’s saying. Everything related to life on this earth is impermanent and that relates to the fact we are impermanent. And all know the portion of Ecclesiastes we’ll get to, there’s a time to be born, there is a time to die. That’s what he’s going to be talking about in Ecclesiastes and everything we do in this life under the sun is transitory, and we don’t have control over it and we try to establish our memory. You know Presidents, they used to build monuments. Now they build Presidential libraries at vast sums of money so what’s remembered? But you know basically we don’t. Name me the four greatest Pharaohs of Egypt and you’re probably thinking, who cares? Unless you happen to be studying a certain portion of history you say it doesn’t matter and those we remember because maybe we found something, or of course they’re recorded in the bible but by and large they’ve come and gone.

My paternal grandparents, my dad was an only child. I’m the only survivor. My kids weren’t born until my grandparents had died. They didn’t know my dad’s parents, my grandparents. Their memory is basically lost and I’m old, I’ll die. Go to the antique store and you’ll find these boxes of old pictures of family and say, this is somebody’s family. Nobody cares. You want these pictures? Why, they don’t mean anything to me. We find this even before we’re gone. Do your kids want your old stuff? No, just give me the green stuff. (Laughter) No! Everything’s transitory in this life so keep that in mind. This is “Vanity of vanities.” Remember everything is temporary. It’s a breath. All is temporary under the sun. Now there is an eternal connection. Sometimes we think, oh no! I’ve got life beyond this, but you have to live today. That’s what Ecclesiastes is about. How do we live with wisdom today, this life we have under the sun?

If you’re having surgery tomorrow, that’s something you have to face. You live life and in life under the sun, like I said, this flattens out so to speak. By that, I mean believer and unbeliever experience the same things. Two of my brothers-in-law died of cancer around 60 years of age. Both believers, one was a pastor, had written books. Why, the believer should live a long earthly life. Ecclesiastes deals with it. We get sick as believers. Health and wealth preachers make fortunes telling people you don’t have to be sick. You don’t have to die. I knew one of them pretty well, spent hours with him. He started a great movement that went around the world with churches. He died of cancer. Well, that’s life. It’s transitory, it’s not depressing. We live it with wisdom because the key theme running through Ecclesiastes is that we are to enjoy life. He’s telling us how to live it with wisdom, so we can get all the enjoyment out of life.

In fact, you know what the title is given by some writers? I wrote one down. One preacher calls his writing Qoheleth, a Preacher of joy. Another commentator, written a commentary says Ecclesiastes is the Philippians of the Old Testament. It tells us about joy. Another good commentary that I would recommend, the same idea. The words enjoyment and joy keep coming up in the Book of Ecclesiastes. We don’t think of Ecclesiastes like that. Oh, this is Solomon away from God at best, never having known him at worst, writing about the misery of life and the emptiness of life, and all you do in life. But that’s not true, that’s why I want to get this right and then we’ll have to see how it works out through the book. When we talk about “Vanity of vanities” we’re talking about “Breath of breath, breath of breath.” “Vapor of vapor, vapor of vapor!” All is a vapor all is transitory. Everything under the sun, life on this earth is temporary and Ecclesiastes will show how you live in this temporary life. Doing temporary things with temporary memories is lived with joy, enjoyment, wisdom.

Let’s look at some passages that use this word “hebel” just to see and then I want to look more broadly at the emphasis because somehow we as Christians, you know sometimes we say they’re so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good. Now we want to keep our attention on the hope, but we have to live our life today, and if we don’t live it with wisdom, we sort of get into positions like the world. It can sometimes overwhelm us. I say, what’s wrong, because the same thing happens to me that happens to the unbeliever. I have the same problems as the unbeliever. Believers have financial struggles, unbelievers have financial struggles. Believers get sick, unbelievers get sick. There’s nothing that the unbeliever experiences in this life on earth that we don’t experience in one way or another, but we can do it with joy and enjoyment, because we deal with the situations of life with wisdom. We’ll talk more about that, but let’s look a little bit at the transitoriness of life. I’ll just look at a few verses with you where the word, “hebel”, breath, is used to remind us, life is brief. It’s temporary, it’s transitory.

Come back to Psalms. You’re in Ecclesiastes, just before Ecclesiastes is Proverbs, and just before Proverbs is Psalms. Psalm 39 and we’ll pick up with verse one, and it’s a contrast here about guarding your ways. You see how it starts out, I don’t want to sin with my tongue, guard my mouth with a muzzle. David was wise. We all could benefit from that, right. I was mute, silent. I refrained, from even doing good; my sorrow grew worse, so you see I’m in a dilemma here. In fact, in your bible, they may have titled this at the top “The Vanity of Life” but there is this difficulty. You know you’re caught up in this world, where things don’t always go well, so look at verse 4. “LORD, make me to know my end. What is the extent of my days, let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.” Selah. There it is the word, “hebel.” Even at our best we’re but a breath and you say this, is he discouraged? Look at verse 6. “ Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches, and does not know who will gather them.” This sounds like Ecclesiastes.

Some of you have been in Ecclesiastes, have taught it, have read it, and studied it. You know this sounds like what Solomon’s going to talk about. What does he say, in the midst of this conflict and my suffering, and my sorrow, and the difficulty coping with it? He says Lord, remind me of my temporariness. I’m but a breath so I have to have a correct perspective on life, and my place in it, if I’m really going to get the most out of it. But here you see the word, “breath.” In verse 6, incidentally, it says surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely, they make an uproar, for breath. It says nothing, but for breath, for that which won’t last, but it’s interesting how men will fight for power for position. Literally think, I’ll be gone, but so important and then they want to be remembered, but they make an uproar for nothing.

Come over to Psalm 144. I’ve just selected a few passages here, three I think. Psalm 144 starts out, “Blessed be the LORD, my rock.” He’s “My lovingkindness and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer… O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?” and this awareness, the fear of the LORD. The recognition of who He is and the submitting to Him and His will becomes key in Ecclesiastes. That’s what’s here; it is the LORD who is the rock. It’s the LORD, who’s the fortress. It’s the LORD who can deliver him, but in contrast, “O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.” He recognizes the greatness of God, the sovereignty of God.

You have an article in the newsletter today on the sovereignty of God. Read that, maybe clip it out, it’s foundational in Ecclesiastes. God’s sovereignty, God’s providence. God is working, and wisdom enables us to apply what we know to the everyday details of life. So, it’s interesting here. David the Psalmist knows that God is beyond him. He’s the One in whom life comes so what I need to realize is what I am. I am not God. He is. What is man that You take knowledge of him? Man is a mere breath. His days are like a passing shadow. You know pouf, we’re gone. It is true. Now as I get older, I look back and say; time, you know where did it go? It just got away. Here I am, I’m the old man my father used to be, and I do remember my grandfather. I remember when he came to live with us and remember sitting talking to him, but pouf, just a brief time he’s gone. That’s what he’s saying here. We are a breath, a shadow but the chapter ends while you’re here, in verse 15, “How blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!”

Come back to Job, just before Psalms. The Book of Job chapter 7 and then we’re going to come back to Psalms. This is the last one we’ll use where we’re focusing on the Hebrew word, “hebel,” with how breath is used to remind us of our brevity, our transitoriness, that we are temporary. Job chapter 1, and we get into this in Ecclesiastes, Job is part of what we call the Wisdom literature. “Is not man forced to labor on earth, are not his days like the days of a hired man? As a slave who pants for the shade, as a hired man who eagerly waits for his wages, so am I allotted months of vanity, and nights of trouble are appointed me.” You see what he’s talking about, what does man do? It’s trouble, it’s difficult. It’s grinding it out. What keeps us going? These toils of labor, and then you come down to verse 16. “I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.” But a breath, all this struggling and grinding. People realize it.

Sometimes Marilyn and I, when we want some close intimate moments, we watch “House Hunters” (laughter) and you know you see people on there and they’re relatively young and what do they want to do? They’ll talk about they sold everything. We decided we don’t want to just be part of the grind until we’re old and retire too late to enjoy life, so we’re moving down here, and they’re on a beach someplace and we’re going to do these things while we’re young enough to enjoy it. But what is that all a reminder of? They’re transitory. They’re saying we want to try to get in on these things before it’s too late because our life is passing.

So that’s a reality and that’s what Job is saying here. My days are but a breath. I will not live forever. You’ll say well, yeah, we as believers agree, but that’s not what we’re talking about, life under the sun, life right here today. You know how that is when you’ve got something very difficult or almost overwhelming come into your life. Your struggle is living with that, dealing with that, and sometimes Christians become sour pusses. You know they’re always down. Ecclesiastes is to help us live life with wisdom, to get full joy and enjoyment out of it, and that doesn’t mean God removes all trial, difficulty and pain from believers’ lives because we all know that’s not so.

Okay, those are where you see “hebel” a breath, and I want to look at just some passages that remind us our life is brief, temporary. That is a truth of Scripture. We are not just using the word breath, but we shouldn’t be surprised that the writer of Ecclesiastes is writing to impress upon us words of truth. Remember chapter 12, words of wisdom so we can live wisely. It’s going to put our brief life in its context of daily life.

Come back to Psalm chapter 90. Now these are just passages that emphasize the brevity of life. They don’t particularly use the word breath, but the same point is being made as in those passages that use that word that we’re dealing with in Ecclesiastes. Psalm 90, and you’ll note the Lord starts out, “LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth or the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” That’s where we’re going to see in Ecclesiastes with fear the LORD. The fear of the LORD, the fear of the LORD will be repeated, recognizing who He is and at the same time recognizing who I am, so He’s the everlasting God. We have that in the psalm. What happens to men? “You turn man back into dust and say, ‘Return, O children of men.’” In other words, from dust you came, to dust you go. Sometimes at a funeral, there was a practice perhaps in older days where they took a little handful of dust and threw it on the coffin that was being buried. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes. Well it’s biblical.

There is the everlasting God and then there is the not everlasting me, but wait a minute, we have eternal life, but he’s talking about life under the sun. You still have to get up and go to work tomorrow. You still have to deal with an unpleasant boss. You’ll have to grind out a living where maybe they don’t pay you enough to make a living, and you still have to deal with the realities of life. You still have to make a doctor’s appointment. “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.” In other words, we think boy, if I could live a thousand years I would just be beginning. That’s nothing to the Lord, so even if you lived a thousand years that’s sort of just transitory time.

The Lord is everlasting. He had no beginning and has no ending. We all have a beginning and our earthly life will end. Now I realize there is an eternity for everyone, but he’s talking about this physical life turning back to dust, life under the sun. He keeps stressing this but if we go into Ecclesiastes with the proper perspective it will help us, working through. Look at verse 5. “You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; in the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; toward evening it fades and withers away.” In other words, we come like a flower, the sun comes out. It’s up and up, you look for it and it’s died. It’s gone, that’s how we are, and life is like a breath. We’re like a flower here, gone.

Come down to verse 10, “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.” I realize I’m beginning to push this a little bit. Their pride is but labor and sorrow. Soon it is gone and we fly away. That reminder, it’s not to depress people. Now we see this in other parts of Scripture, and we shouldn’t be surprised this kind of emphasis is developed in Ecclesiastes. This Psalm 90 as you’re aware was written by Moses. This is wisdom from God for us, not written to depress us; it’s to put our life on this earth, under this sun in perspective. Ecclesiastics will deal with this. Even if you live eighty years, labor and sorrow characterizes this earthly life. We grind it out as a result of the fall, by the sweat of our brow, “So teach us”, verse 12, “to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” This is what Ecclesiastes is about, wisdom, because it’s going to end. The Book of Ecclesiastes concludes with what? We can enjoy life, but you remember you are going to give an account to the eternal God, so the same kind of emphases we find in a passage like this.

Come over to Psalm 103 and you’ll see how it starts out. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities…” and so, what? Fear the LORD, bless Him, recognize Him give Him the honor, the respect, the submission that is due. He is the God who is at work. Verse 5, “Who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” I say, wait a minute, I thought we just talked about how difficult it is, how painful it can be. That’s why some people want to say well, you know sometimes the word “hebel” breath means it’s meaningless and worthless. Sometimes no, it’s not meaningless; it’s not worthless when we’re living with wisdom in the fear of the LORD through these day-to-day experiences.

Verse 8, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” Come down to--you know in this He’s removed our sins, verses 10 and 11. Verse 12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed transgressions from us.” Verse 14, “For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.” You see the transcendence of God, His separateness, His apartness from us. His imminence, He is closer but there is that gulf that can never be breached. He is God, we are not. He is the Creator, we are the created and in this life under the sun, humanly speaking, our end will be to be turned back to dust, unless God exceptionally intervenes as we’ve talked about in our studies of prophecy. Verse 15, “As for man, his days are like grass” is a repeated picture. “As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer.” We can get that in Ecclesiastes. We don’t get remembered!

None of you knows my grandfather. None of you knew him or knows of him, except what I have said. In fact, nobody knows. I couldn’t even go find his grave if I wanted to, I don’t have any idea anymore where it is. I haven’t been back to that place for where we lived then almost fifty years, but you’re remembered no more. The Pharaohs did all they could in Egypt to be remembered. It’s when we’re digging up, we find a tomb or a monument or something, and we have forgotten about that, we didn’t even know they existed. It’s no more, its place is acknowledged, “But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him.” That’s what we’re going to talk about, the fear of the LORD, the fear of the LORD.

Come to Isaiah 40. We have to go faster. Isaiah 40 verse 6, “A voice says, ‘Call out.’ Then he answered, ‘What shall I call out?’ All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” You see that contrast being drawn. We are transitory, He is not. We are but a breath then we’re gone. He’s everlasting. We’re like a flower that when the summer heat blows on it, it wilts, dies and you don’t even know where it was. You go back, “But the word of our God stands forever.” Why, because He’s the everlasting God. His word partakes of His character. It is Him revealing Himself, so the word of God cannot fail. Heaven and earth can pass away but My word will not pass away Jesus said. The word of our God stands forever.

James chapter 4 verse 14 compares our life to a breath. First Peter chapter 1 verses 23 to 25 quotes this verse from Isaiah that “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS”; so it’s from Moses in the Old Testament all the way to James and Peter, this emphasis on life under the sun is transitory. It is a breath. We don’t do anything permanent. Now again I understand fear the LORD and but the things we do, the things you make, the buildings we build. We build a building and wow what an accomplishment, what an achievement! Not many years later, they’re tearing it down to replace it with something new and better. You know it’s just life goes on and I know people presenting, predicting the world’s going to end because of the climate catastrophes that are; well there’s an element of truth. Worse days are coming to this earth but the reality this is the cycle of life. Wisdom to live here.

Come back to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. We won’t always be doing this much running around but it’s good for you. (Laughter) It’s all right for me because I looked them all up ahead of time. Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 11, “The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.” We’ll see when we get here that one Shepherd is the LORD. “The LORD is my shepherd I shall not want,” we have in that famous twenty-third Psalm, so here Solomon, this wisdom has come from the LORD. I am giving you this, these “words of truth correctly” verse 10 said, from the LORD, so wisdom.

Come back to Proverbs. We’ll conclude by just this reminder, Psalms, Proverbs Ecclesiastes. We want to go to Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” So, when I talk about wisdom, “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” and that’s where you get wisdom. The wisdom of the world is transient in that sense. It’s part of this life, but the true wisdom comes from the LORD and those who don’t know Him, that’s why the fear of the LORD becomes key in Ecclesiastes. We have the wisdom that comes from God, how to live, the daily experiences that are ours in this transient life, doing temporary things and yet experiencing the joy and enjoyment that God in His grace is providing for us. Look down in chapter 2 verse 6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Let me just read you for time a verse from Jeremiah. I don’t know why I say time, you get there quicker than me. Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 9, let me just read this to you, “Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, and what kind of wisdom do they have?” It’s a rhetorical question. They have none. When you reject the word of the LORD, you live in a world of emptiness. There’s transience, temporalness, but you don’t have wisdom to live a life as God intends it. Come over to Proverbs, chapter 9 verse 10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” You know, that’s the importance of this. This is God’s word. How are we to know what God says? How are we to get wisdom from God? It’s true, that’s why the work of the devil is to always turn us away from God’s word, to get us weary of God’s word. So, we decide, yeah, I know, I know, I know those things. I’ve been taught them. It is a constant challenge every day to apply them. That’s what Ecclesiastes is talking about. We need that wisdom to live life daily. That’s why when Christians begin to descend into a kind of despair and miserableness the world lives in, the bible didn’t say just because you’ve trusted Christ now you live a life with wisdom. You’re in a position to grow in the knowledge and wisdom and grace that God provides. We get weaned away from the truth of God, we’re back there trying to face life like the world faces it, and pretty soon we get overwhelmed like the world does, then we begin to look for solutions like the world has.

We’re here. And that’s why Ecclesiastes reminds us the fear of the LORD the fear of the LORD because that’s the beginning of wisdom, and now we’re talking about applying that wisdom in dealing with the everyday situations of life. Well, I think I will leave off those other verses, they’ll come up when we go through Ecclesiastes. This just is setting the background because I think you get off. People get off track on dealing with Ecclesiastes because they assume this is Solomon in the emptiness of his life expressing his frustration, and the recognition of the worthlessness of his life, and then we have a translation like meaningless, meaningless, it’s all meaningless. Life under the sun is worthless. No! No! No! It’s to be enjoyed every day. We as God’s people are living a day that God has brought us to, that God has provided for us, and I need the wisdom to deal with what I will face today, and I want to do it with wisdom. Sometimes it might seem up, sometimes it may be down, but though it all God wants me to have His joy. Remember the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Ecclesiastes is talking about that so we want to be wise.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord for the riches of Your word. Lord a word that comes from You, the eternal God, but You are communicating to us, frail, transient created beings. Lord from dust to dust. Living out under the sun, on this earth, under the condemnation of sin, the trials, the difficulties, the pain, the suffering, the good times, the bad times. Yet in it all, Lord, You never leave us or forsake us. Our faith is in You. You are the everlasting God. We do not despair. It is not worthless. Every day has a purpose. Every trial is for our good. We want to face every day and deal with every situation with the wisdom that comes from You, the God who has loved us and saved us. Lord, the God that we fear, the God that we serve, the God that we love. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.