From Vanity Under the Sun to Victory Under the Son

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“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. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. . .” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-14).

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Have you ever stepped back from your work, your possessions, your life—and asked, “What’s the point?” If you have, you are not alone. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, asked that question in Ecclesiastes. He had it all—power, riches, knowledge, pleasure—and still declared, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” That’s life “under the sun”—life apart from God. But thanks be to God, there is another way: life under the Son—Jesus Christ, the Redeemer who brings purpose, peace, and promise even in a world that seems so futile. Today, we journey with Solomon through despair to faith, from the dust of death to the dawn of eternal life.

Solomon’s initial view of life in this fallen world and apart from God, that is, “under the sun,” will ultimately stand the test of his observations and contemplations. What may seem unthinkably pessimistic at first turns out to be true after all: all of it is empty, futile, and meaningless. By itself, it offers nothing of eternal significance. It is all vanity.

This gloomy evaluation is affirmed elsewhere in Scripture. After the fall into sin, God cursed the earth so that its natural processes would be frustrated. Man could eke out a living only by laborious toil. Yet all of this is part of a larger divine purpose: creation was subjected “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” (Romans 8:20-21).

Thus, the futility of the present creation and its pointless repetitiveness, is part of God’s plan to bring about something truly different and new … the new creation in Christ in the Resurrection, with the promise of the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). But for now, all is vanity!

Exactly what is vanity? You name it: the sinful world with its decay and injustice; material possessions that people seek to grab in this world; toiling so hard for the things of the world; and the people themselves who toil and live for earthly things even as they face death and the certainty of leaving it all behind. Everything about this life is vanity. There are no redeeming qualities in anything other than God Himself.

And life is vanity because it is fleeting and ultimately meaningless. Some people sit back and quietly let life pass by; others raise big commotions and try to make their mark in the world. But all will end up in the grave, whether they take it stoically or fight it, kicking and screaming. Humanity presses on and fights to survive and dominate, but it doesn’t know why.

The words “vanity of vanities” accurately describe worldly life without God—human sight and searching without God’s revelation, the world’s sickness without God’s cure in Jesus Christ, the world’s things without knowledge of the Creator who gave them as blessings, man in sin not seeking or receiving God’s forgiveness, a world careening aimlessly without God’s plans or purposes, man’s labors without God’s intentions, the world’s crimes apart from God’s justice rendered on the Last Day (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

God is not the problem; man is, abetted by the devil. God made His creation “very good” (Genesis 1:31), but now the world has been corrupted by man’s seduction into sin and its consequence, death (Genesis 3). Sinful man and the sinful world coexist in a reciprocal relationship: man corrupts the world, and the world, with its enticements, further corrupts man. It is a deadly, downward spiral. A person is already sinful from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5), and from the time of his or her birth in this world, he or she is already heading toward death.

Solomon himself can attest to the search for meaning apart from the only One who is the meaning of life. During one era of his life, he used his wisdom without recognizing the God who is Wisdom (1 Kings 11:1-10). Solomon had totally violated the pointed message God had spoken through Moses directly to the future kings of Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-20), as he looked toward Egypt and multiplied for himself wives, horses, silver, and gold.

Solomon writes candidly about his solo search for meaning. He does so from the point of view of one who once was tangled in the fatal web of vanity, but who has now, toward the end of his life, regained his sense of the true meaning and purpose of life through faith in God and knowledge of His wisdom in Christ. Indeed, his return to God drives Solomon to speak even more vividly about the futility and emptiness of life without God. The seriousness of sin and its effect of death and damnation without God’s grace are unmistakable and inescapable.

But at the same time, God is always there in Ecclesiastes in the background. In a sense, God’s presence is assumed throughout. The unfairness of life would not strike Solomon as unfair at all unless he presupposed a God of justice. People must guard their steps (5:11) because they will have to answer to God whether they realize it or not. Throughout the overall dark picture of life in the book, there are flashes of God’s light that reveal Solomon’s repentance and return to faith. There is still a place for beauty (3:11), for enjoyment (2:24), for companionship (4:12), and even for wisdom (2:13), because there is a God in heaven. The fear and wisdom of God enable a person somehow to make it through life, death, and judgment and into everlasting life (7:12, 18; 8:12; 12:7, 13-14).

There is a sense in which the laments of Solomon, the king and sinful son of David, can simultaneously be read as the personal laments of the King of kings and sinless Son of David. Like Solomon, the man of peace, Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7), can speak from personal experience about what He has endured for our sake. In the weakness of His human nature, the Suffering Servant was tempted to wonder whether the hardships He endured were in vain: “But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity’” (Isaiah 49:4).

Solomon’s words can easily be applied to the life of Jesus. Take, for example, Ecclesiastes 2:21: “Sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it.” As far as wisdom, the Son of God is no less than the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), who makes us wise unto salvation. As far as knowledge, He alone knows God the Father (Matthew 11:27) and makes Him known to us so that we might have eternal life. As far as skill, see Him heal and perform miracles; hear Him proclaim eternal life and confound the enemies of God.

Jesus is the Man whose toil is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and He leaves His heritage to a man who has not labored for it. That would be you, and that would be me. Jesus serves others and dies, that you might be forgiven for trampling others in your pursuit of personal gain. He practices perfect contentment and dies, so that you be delivered from greed and covetousness. He credits you with His virtue and dies in punishment for your vice.

God gives to Him wisdom and knowledge and joy, for Jesus is good in His sight. The Father announces that this is His beloved Son (Luke 9:35) and gives Him all knowledge and tells us to hear Him. He also gives Him joy, but a peculiar joy to the world. For the joy set before Him, Christ endures the cross and scorns its shame (Hebrews 12:2). There, God makes Him who knows no sin to be the sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21), judges Him for the sin of the world. Because Christ is the punished sinner in your place, you are forgiven and good in God’s sight. Therefore, the Lord gives to you the wisdom of salvation, knowledge of Him, and the joy of the certain hope of eternal life—all for Jesus’ sake.

Ironically, it’s Jesus who looks like vanity to the world, for sinful man pictures Him as a good teacher who unfortunately dies for no purpose on the way; His cross, it is said, is futility that accomplishes nothing. But you know better: What Christ has accomplished is no vanity. It is your life and salvation. And that, dear friends, is your identity and worth.

Ultimately, your identity is not based upon who you are and what you do, but whose you are and what He has done for you. You are the Lord’s, and He has died to redeem you. By His blood, you are saved from your sin and delivered to eternal life. By His doing, your life is transformed from a futile pursuit for meaning to a grateful response and service. By His grace, the things that you have are no longer gods that must be attained and kept, but gifts placed under your stewardship to be used in service to God and others. That is what gives meaning and purpose to your life.

While this may not be the legacy you hoped for, it does keep matters straight and true. Those things which you possess will not last forever; therefore, it is only sensible not to trust in them for help, to see them only for what they are: lifeless things that cannot save you. On the other hand, you will now live forever—not because of the name you make for yourself, but the Name that has been placed upon you. You are the Lord’s, for He has made you His own.

Oh, at times you will still be tempted with covetousness and the desire for more, as your Old Adam seeks to convince you that eternal life and God’s gracious favor aren’t enough(!). When your sinful nature leads your mind astray, turn back. Repent. Confess to the Lord your preoccupation with things, trusting that Christ has died for this sin. Give thanks to the Lord for those things that He has entrusted to you and make use of them in service to others. Go about your daily tasks with joy, knowing you do so as one redeemed. Annoy your Old Adam further by demonstrating your freedom from covetousness, allotting a portion of what you have and giving it regularly to the Church in service to the Lord. Do so out of joy, for Christ has set you free to do such things.

At times, you will be tempted to vanity and futility. Hard work will show little progress, fervent sowing will reveal little to harvest, and you will wish to throw up your hands and say, “What’s the use? I’m getting nowhere, so I quit.” At such times, confess your frustration to the Lord, confident that He has died for such sins. Remember that servanthood often appears futile, as did the Lord’s death on the cross; but even as the victory over sin was won there, the Lord is often behind the scenes accomplishing His will. Never believe for a moment that you’re getting nowhere. You’ve already been brought into the kingdom of heaven—eternal life is yours because the Lord has died to make it so. Therefore, go about your work with joy, knowing that your destination is already achieved for the sake of Jesus. And should you look back upon past years and regret that much was done in selfishness, be assured that the Lord still made use of much that you have done to care for those around you.

Solomon’s words are bleak, but they are honest. There is nothing under the sun that can ultimately satisfy. But God, through Solomon’s repentance and confession, points us to the One who is greater than Solomon—Jesus Christ. He entered this vain, broken world to redeem it, to redeem you. His toil becomes your treasure. His death becomes your life. His resurrection becomes your hope. So, you do not live “under the sun” in futility. You live “under the Son,”—the Son of God—in faith, in hope, in joy, and in the certainty that all things are being made new. Go in the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy. You are forgiven for all your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  

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