Ecclesiastes 6
O be rich, is the earnest wish of many, perhaps of most of mankind. They think that if they had "plenty of money" they would be happy. And the Preacher considers again this goal of the natural mind.
A man might have riches, wealth and honor given him by God, and lack nothing for his soul that he desires, yet if God does not give him power to eat thereof, and it goes to a stranger to possess, what shall it profit the man once so blessed in a natural way? And this is frequent among men.
The wise man reflects that though a man beget a hundred sons, and live many years, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he has no burial, an untimely birth is better than he. Everything that the eye rests upon proclaims to the wise,
"There is no satisfaction here.
But how can the soul of a poor lost sinner be filled with good? His character is written out fearlessly and accurately in Romans 3:10-18, but Ecclesiastes gives no remedy. It only shows that man with every natural advantage is unable to find happiness in the world.. And death, which is the appointment of man, is feared all through life (Heb. 9:27-28).
"Do not all go to one place?" says the wisdom of man (verse 6). Yes, and no; some are to be "forever with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17), and others who chose not the way of salvation, are to spend eternity (solemn, fearfully solemn thought!) in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). Even now where the spirits of the departed are, there is a great gulf or chasm fixed between saved and lost (Luke 16:26).
With something suggestive of despair verses 7 to 12 Complete this chapter:
"All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite (really, the soul) is not filled." We recall the words of Him who sat at the well of Sychar (John 4: 13):
"Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again," foreman is a sinner, and he cannot find peace and rest and joy apart from the saving knowledge of Christ.
What advantage, after all, has the wise above the fool? That which is, has already been named; what man is, is known, and that he cannot contend with Him that is mightier than he. Many things increase vanity; what is man advantaged by all that is spread out to allure him? All true, but man cannot find a remedy for this.
As we have noticed already, the god of this world has blinded the eyes of many, lest they should get a glimpse of the deliverance the gospel brings. Afraid of God, they keep on trying to find satisfaction for the heart and conscience by means which Ecclesiastes shows cannot bring peace.
Lastly comes the question that is a confession of hopelessness:
"Who knoweth what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? for who can tell man what shall be after him under the sun?" (verse 12.)
Thus man's highest thought falls short of what God has made known in sovereign grace. He has surveyed everything under the sun, at least Solomon has for him, and with far greater opportunity than the rest of mankind (chapter 1:12 to chapter 2:10), with the advantage of wisdom and knowledge, riches, wealth and honor unequalled (2 Chron. 1:12), and the conclusion is reached that he does not know what is good for him, that his life is without result of abiding worth, and he does not know what is to be after he is gone.
If the poor, deluded slaves of Satan who abound on every hand, could only be persuaded to give up, to surrender to God, to receive His free and priceless gift of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, their joy and satisfaction would be unbounded all through this life, and for eternity.
Messages of God’s Love 12/4/1932