Special Insights No. 5
First Quarter 2007
“Ecclesiastes”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
More Life Under the Sun
By the time Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes he had wandered far from the path God intended for him. The slippery slope of self-confidence and pride began when he ignored the command of God and took a foreign wife (Deut.
During his slide Solomon had developed what some commentaries have defined as an existentialistic philosophy, from which he declared that all his life’s work and pleasures were meaningless. Chapter four relates these facts as Solomon experienced them: In life all men suffer from oppression (4:1-3), rivalry (4:4-6), and isolation (4:7-12). He also observed that popularity of any stripe is only temporary (
Along the path of life Solomon had lost sight of God as the source of his power and wisdom. He lost sight of how God earnestly and untiringly works in the world and in people’s lives. He began looking at man and the things of man for understanding. All that Solomon had gained by his own means was worthless because he had turned his back on the everlasting covenant God had promised His people (see Gen. 12:2, 3), and undertook the journey of life under his own power.
From the beginning Israel was a called-out people (see Ex. 19:4-6), intended by God to be a peculiar and holy people, a witnessing people who would declare His power and glory throughout the world. If they had heeded their high calling, within a short time, they would have carried the Gospel to all the surrounding nations. God would have been known everywhere. Instead, they merely colonized
“Two things have always been true, namely, that ‘no man liveth unto himself,’ and that ‘God is no respecter of persons;’ and these two truths form a third, which is that whenever God bestows any gift or advantage upon any person, it is in order that He may use it for the benefit of others. God does not bestow blessings upon one person or people that He does not wish all to have.” (op. cit., p. 269). The blessings of God are to be universal. Solomon had perverted them, bottled them up for himself, and deprived those he was supposed to benefit with the gifts he’d received from God.
In his later years, Solomon repented for having squandered his witnessing opportunities. In light of what had been neglected, all that Solomon had accumulated was worthless. In his contemplations Solomon finally recognized his true condition: he was “rich and had been enriched, and [thought that he] was in need of nothing” (see Rev. 3:17).
But something vital was missing from his life. In his inmost soul Solomon longed for the intimacy that a thousand wives could never give him. He missed the comfort that resides in heart-felt reciprocal companionship. In all his chasing about after the lusts of the flesh, he found no rest for his soul.
However, all these treasures are included in the everlasting promise God gave to the world. In deep intimacy with God there is assurance, peace, comfort in trials, and defense against the wiles of the devil. The sad reality is that most do not want what God has given to them. As in Solomon’s life, the follies of this world throw a veil over the blessings of God, obscuring the good news of redemption from sin and everlasting fellowship with God.
In the end, Solomon saw that without God all man’s efforts are worthless. He decided that the only thing that was important in the world was loyalty to God; a total surrender of the heart and mind to the One who loved us enough to give up His own life to save us from sin (Phil. 2:5-8). All God has ever expected from His creatures is an honest, appreciative response to all the blessings He’s already poured out upon us.
God still has a called out people known around the world as the
It is time for us to realize our destitute condition and our great need of repentance for squandering God’s opportunities to carry His “most precious message” around the world. Only when we are humbled in the dust at the foot of the cross can we complete the work God called us to accomplish. Under the promised Latter Rain power, we then will declare to the oppressed, lonely inhabitants of the world that there is a Comforter and the dearest of companions, Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Lord. He alone can fulfill all our heart’s desires and give us everlasting happiness. —Ann Walper
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