We conclude our series of blogs on the book of Ecclesiates. If you would like to listen to the messages
or read the manuscripts that are preached on this book, please feel free to
access them on our website www.mountofolives.net under “Media/Resources.” When you land on that page, simply click
“Launch Media Player” and choose from the list of messages. We want to close by providing the most
important reason to study this Old Testament Wisdom book. That is: studying the book of Ecclesiastes causes
us to hope in the supremacy and perfections of Christ.
I can say this no better than Tremper Longman
does in his commentary on this book. He
writes” “On one level…Qohelet is exactly
right. The world (“under the sun”)
without God is meaningless. Death ends
it all, so he alternated between “hating life” (2:17) and taking what meager
enjoyment God hands out (2:24-26)…Qohelet has rightly described the horror of a
world under curse and apart from God.
What he did not have was hope. As
we turn to the New Testament, we see that Jesus Christ is the one who redeems
us from the vanity, the meaninglessness under which Qohelet suffered. Jesus redeemed us from Qohelet’s meaningless
world by subjecting himself to it. Jesus is the Son of God, but nonetheless he
experienced the vanity of the world so he could free us from it. As he hung on the cross, his own father
deserted him (Matt.27:45-46). At this
point, he experienced the frustration of the world under curse in a way that
Qohelet could not even imagine. “Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” As a result, Christians can experience deep
significance precisely in those areas where Qohelet felt most oppressed. Jesus has restored meaning to wisdom, labor,
love and life. After all, by facing
death, Jesus conquered the biggest fear facing Qohelet. He showed that for believers death is not the
end of all meaning, but the entrance into the very presence of God.”[1] Ecclesiastes in this way powerfully
points to Christ. As we go through Ecclesiastes, we’ll
regularly be turning to the New Testament to see just how this book shines a
spotlight on Christ as our vanity-destroying Savior.
I remember reading an article recently which had this statement for which I thought relevant to the sermon on Ecclesiastes (10/21): "Jesus Christ, Who rolled away the stone from His own grave, is able to roll away the boulder of ours and to give real meaning and lasting purpose to our Sisyphean lives." T. M. Moore [Sisyphean referring to the Greek myth where the man Sisyphus receives a sentence (for having offended the gods) where he must push a large boulder up a hill and, upon reaching the top, the boulder rolls down the hill whereupon S. must repeat this meaningless "struggle, mock triumph, and despair" over and over again.] What's amazing to me is that the offense we (and Satan) delivered to Jesus had quite the opposite outcome for His followers. Our offense was answered not by a capricious god but by a God who, receiving the brunt of our offense through his death, provided his followers a means to realize complete triumph (fulfillment) in the things we pursue. Now, to understand this Truth completely--a rich pursuit! http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/viewpoint/18606-answers-all-around
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