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<2023.07> Uprightly He Wrote Words of Truth

European Bible Study Meeting, 2002
Uprightly He Wrote 
Words of Truth
April 1, 2002 Afternoon Part 1
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.  Ecclesiastes 12:8-10
As It Says in the Bible
The person who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes was Solomon, the man who asked God for wisdom and was the most glorious king of Israel. When God told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted, this great king asked God for wisdom, and he enjoyed all the glory as well as the wisdom that God gave him (see 1 Kings 3, 2 Chronicles 1). 
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
Yet here Solomon wrote, “Vanity of vanities . . . vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What could possibly have seemed so futile that it led him to write, “All is vanity”?
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?  Ecclesiastes 1:3
The words, “Under the sun” and references to the earth on which we live and the lives we live on this earth appear again and again in the book of Ecclesiastes from the first chapter to the last. 
The things that are under the sun are shadows of the real things. When the sun shines on an object, the side facing the sun will be bright, but the back side will always be in shadow. When I walk along, there is always a shadow following me, but that shadow is an image of me. God has created things in such a way that during the fleeting lives we live on this earth we see and walk on our shadows and we need to think deeply about what it is that those shadows are teaching us.
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.  Ecclesiastes 1:4-7
The sun hastens back to the place where it rises, the wind goes back to where it blew before, and the streams go back to where they flowed before. Everything goes back to where it was before. What does this mean? 
Let’s turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 40 and read verses 6 to 8. 
A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Let’s keep these words in mind as we think about the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes tells us that all is vanity. It asks what man gains by all his toil under the sun. It tells us that the sun rises and then hastens back to the place where it rises; the wind returns to the place it was before, everything has an end; and everything returns eventually to the place from which it has come. Yet the passage from Isaiah tells us that the word of God will stand forever. Everything else has an end, but the word of God will stand forever. The Bible provides the answer when it tells us that everything else is futile, but the word of God is not.
As we are living under the sun, we are able to drink the water, walk on the soil, look at the trees, and touch and feel all kinds of things. But have these things been given to us without any intention or significance? In the letter to the Romans it says, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (1:20).
In that case, should we simply consider the book of Ecclesiastes as some philosophy book written by man and complain that everything is futile? Or should we think about the opportunity God is giving mankind to seek eternity through these words in the course of his brief and futile life? This is a decision you need to make in your heart.
All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.  Ecclesiastes 1:8-11
Here it says, “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it.” When we do a lot of work, we wear ourselves out; we become weary and may even become ill. Often when people are overworked they say they are “fed up.” All things are tired and worn out like this. As we run, walk, eat, and drink in the course of our lives, the earth turns on its axis once a day as it orbits the sun once a year, but the Bible says that all these things are full of weariness. Just as you lose your physical strength and become worn out the older you get, all things are also full of weariness. And just as your end will come some day, all things come to an end. The end will come just as the sun also returns to the place where it rises.
Just because the end comes, however, that does not mean that we will disappear like a piece of paper when it is burnt up. The day will come when all things will return to the hand of God the Creator of the heavens and the earth, just as the sun hastens to the place where it rises, the wind returns to the place where it blew before, and the water from the streams cannot fill the sea. Even now God is controlling the course of history, but through the book of Ecclesiastes, we can see that the time will come when all things will be united and all things will be accomplished in God.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  Romans 8:18-23
All creation submits to the futility of the present and groans as it longs for the time when it will be renewed and enter into the life of God. But it says here that it is God who has brought this about so that while man is living on this earth with a very precious spirit inside of him, he might be given an opportunity in this regard.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Romans 1:18-23
Here, we need to give careful consideration to the words, “his eternal power and divine nature.” It is good to compare the term “eternal” to the expression, “Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”
In this passage it says, “his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived . . . in the things that have been made.” As we live under the sun, we look at the sun and the trees. The trees receive the water and sunshine and put forth branches and leaves. We are able to see that power of life. Similarly, God’s eternal power and divine nature are revealed in all the things He has made. That is not to say that the trees live forever. Trees will die at some point, and our flesh will also die. Everything returns to the place from which it has come.
Yet, God the Creator is in all these things we can see, touch, and feel as we are living. God is the eternal One who breathed life into all these things. The Bible tells us that He has eternal power and a divine nature and shows as this in everything He has made. This is why it also says, “So they are without excuse.” We cannot offer any excuse at all.
Even a person who does not know the Bible may go to a quiet place like the mountains or the coast and wonder where all these things came from. From time to time, I take a careful look at my eyes reflected in the bathroom mirror. I often wonder, “Who on earth is this person? Where have I come from, and why am I living in the body of this person?” Similarly, if you think a little more deeply about the earth on which we walk, the shadow that follows us around, and everything we touch, eat and drink, and then take it a step further and think about what kind of power lies behind all of this, you can be aware in your heart that there is some great being who has made all these things. You will definitely feel there is some kind of being who is different from you. The logic of it will leave you without excuse.
For this reason, when you read the Bible, rather than simply thinking, “That’s true. It is all vanity. It is all futile,” or, “I’m just reading this because it is the Bible,” it will be a great help to you, if, as you are reading, you think about what these words are saying to you, and what they are causing you to think about in your life.
Everything under the Sun Is Vanity
Let’s continue reading Ecclesiastes chapter 1 from verse 12.
I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  verses 12-13
Here it says, “under heaven.” In the book of Isaiah, it says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (55:8-9). We live our lives under heaven, under the sun. It is our duty to become humble as we are reading God’s word.
I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.  Ecclesiastes 1:14
Whenever it says, “under the sun,” I always attach to it the words, “all is vanity.” The Bible tells us that everything under the sun is futile, and it says,
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