Let me read a few verses from Ecclesiastes. The translation of the ESV, chapter 1, verse 1, is the words of the preacher. This is someone who is a teacher or a pastor or preacher of the assembly. His name is Kohelet, or his title is Kohelet. And it comes from the Old Testament word kahal. which was the word for the assembly. What's interesting is when kahal is translated into Greek, guess what the word is used? Ekklesia. And so it was in the third century, in the time of the Septuagint, that the link between the kahal, the Old Testament assembly, and the New Testament church was linked verbally. Very important. And so when Stephen, in his summary of redemptive history in Acts 7, uses the term ekklesia, he talks of the church, or the kahal, or the ekklesia in the wilderness in the time of Moses. So it just shows the unity, doesn't it, between the Old and the New Covenant. So Kohelet is from kahal, or assembly, or church. So he's the teacher, preacher of the church, and his title or his name is Kohelet. The words of Kohelet, the preacher. The son of David, very important here in our study. King in Jerusalem. Alright, so this is very important who the author is here. Vanity of vanity, says Kohelet. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And then if you go to chapter 3, verses 1 through 8, We have, for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to tear and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." And then verse 11, God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. And then going to the end of Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verses 9 through 14, Besides being wise, Kohelet 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. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings. They are given by one shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. of making many books, there is no end. And much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter, all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we thank you that you're the great triune God. You're the true God. There is no other. We thank you that you are glory, glory, glory. You are good, good, good. You are holy, holy, holy. You are the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. and be glory to you forever and ever. Amen. Thank you for sending your son under the sun, taking upon himself our own nature so that by wearing the crown of thorns as the king of glory, the one greater than Solomon, He could die in our place. And through resurrection and ascension and exaltation glory, He could restore the brokenness of humanity and of this world so that we could have hope under the sun, awaiting the full restoration of the heavenlies above the sun and the under the sun together in one Christ, the one Lord. And we thank you for the king greater than Solomon who came and experienced our frustrations, vexations, suffering, and vanity only to be victorious over what causes our suffering, death, hell, and the devil. and victoriously would be raised on the third day. Thank you that he is seated at God's right hand. And we pray, Lord Jesus, that knowing that though we are absent with you now bodily, physically, sensually, in that our senses cannot see you, we know that we walk by faith and that you are with us always, even to the end of the age. So pour out your spirit upon us today and help us to understand these things. better that we might live for you under the sun, faithfully, walking by faith and not by sight. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, that's a most important thing to think about with regard to Ecclesiastes, is that we under the sun, if we walk by sight, we too will be tempted to say, meaninglessness, meaninglessness, all is meaningless. The same thing happens to the righteous and the ungodly. Death gets them all. both the rich and the poor are equaled by death. So what's the point? It's very easy to come to those conclusions if you're just walking by sight. And so it's most important to remember that the spiritual lesson of Ecclesiastes is that we're called to walk by Faith not by sight and that God himself has come beneath the Sun to heal us of our vexation to give us meaning I Appreciate Michael cards a song behold the man of meaning Behold he is the Lord. That's a very powerful Statement Michael card is not only a godly man, but he has a way with words that you never forget I highly recommend his work, especially his trilogy on the Old Testament. It's really hard to get anything better than that. Everything I've been trying to do here, lisping, in this class could be sung much better and captured for you and more eloquently in Michael Card's trilogy. on the old covenant. But behold, the man of meaning, behold, he is the Lord, the man of wisdom, the king of glory, came to wear the crown of thorns to experience our vexation and frustration, only through resurrection to bring hope to himself and to us. Another thing that Ecclesiastes, I'd like to say before, by way of introduction, is just that it's a book that has a use apologetically. Not only can it comfort your heart when you're tempted to just see by sight the things that are around you and be tempted to despair at times. And we all should be honest that we experience that. That's why it's in the Bible. Our God knows our hearts. That we are experiencing and tempted to despondency and despair just like the rest of the world at times when we walk too much by sight. But another thing about Ecclesiastes is that the world gets it too. One of the most famous songs of the late 60s was by the birds and it was turn, turn, turn. And I highly recommend you go to that because you can find it on YouTube very easily. But that song is a thinking about the different seasons of life and trying to understand as the world turns, where the meaning and the sense is found. So the book of Ecclesiastes as an apologetic is very helpful because we have a Bible book that is inspired, that is a connecting point to the way the world, if honest, the way that the world will see and view the world. If honest, an image bearer will come to the conclusion it just seems all meaninglessness. So, it's a book to help you in your own cynicism at times, and in the cynicism that you have with the world. It will help you to make a connection that, you know what, you're not the first philosopher who has left this world in despair. There's another philosopher who thankfully didn't leave the world in despair, but understood how you could get to that place. Optimism, I would argue, is much harder to find under the sun than despair is. Just being honest with you. It's very hard to find happiness in this world after you've lived a few years. That's what this book's about. Because even when you've lived a long time, it's a long time. And the seasons, even, are seasons you've experienced over and over again. And you say, I've done this over and over. Think of every time we rake leaves. in the fall. We've got to rake them again. And when we think we're done, there's more leaves to rake. And there's still more leaves that are left over in the spring when we're raking again. So what's the point of all this raking? What's the point of picking up sticks when we just know more tree branches are going to fall? What's the point of working out when we know that we can undo the thing with just one good meal and a little laziness? It's like that in this world. So if you're a real thinker, you're real thoughtful, I doubt that you're tempted to optimism, okay? If you're really looking around you, you're probably tempted as a thinker to be despairing. And so the book of Ecclesiastes brings us great hope and sight to see what really matters. That's what it's about. Now, let's look at the handout I gave you. There's a handout first with the Megilloth. I think this is important to go over together. The Megilloth are the five scrolls of the writings that were lectionary readings for five major festivals in Israel. And so if you would look at your handout that has the feast, the scroll, the garment, and the meaning of Christ, we're going to look at the Megillah first by way of introduction and then focus on Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon are two books of the Megiloth, or the five scrolls, okay? Now, I'm going to do this rather quickly, so have your pen or pencil ready to fill in, and I do hope that this will help you. In fact, if you're taking the New Testament class, I would imagine this is one way that I'm going to try to help interaction in the class, is by having something like this. It won't be King, Covenant, and Dwelling. It'll probably be Prophet, Priest, and King. as a fulfillment, but you'll probably get something like this most every class, I think. So, the first feast, we want to say, the Megilloth are five scrolls that are used as lectionary readings at the five major festivals in Israel, all right? And so, they basically are to remind the people that their lives have meaning All right? In that God has promised to be with them. All right? So in every one of these festivals, there is the importance of king, covenant, and dwelling. That the people would be reminded that no matter their circumstances, whether it's a time to die or a time to live, a time to sow, a time to tear, that God is with his people at each of these festivals. And there are five garments that are worn at these festivals. Alright, so here's the imagery that at these festivals you have to wear a special garment, right? Like if you're going to a wedding, you want to wear a special garment. If you're going to a feast, you wear a special garment. There are five garments or scrolls. And I think that's very helpful to get in your imagination the fact that in each one of you, you're going to put a garment on for the festival. All right? As you read from the scriptures, you're going to put a garment on. So let's look at the feast, and then the book, and then the garment you'd wear. So at Passover, the time of the Passover lamb. The scroll or garment is the Song of Solomon, all right? The Song of Solomon. So you learn about true covenantal love and life in the time of death, in the time where there's a substitution, a substitutionary sacrifice in your place that reminds you of the covenantal love of Yahweh. It's a garment of then love. A garment of love. A garment of love. So the garment you wear for this is the garment of love. God's unfailing, faithfulness, covenantal love. And in this book, and here's where we just do a little bit of an introduction of the books, and I'll send you more of my notes, but let me just say under meaning of Christ, you want to say that true covenantal love can be a return to Eden. That's what Song of Solomon's about, is a return to Eden or something better. All right? So the true covenantal love can be an experience of Eden itself, like Adam and Eve before the fall. That's the garment of love. The second is the Feast of Weeks. And that feast, the scroll or the garment you'd wear is Ruth. And that's a garment of kindness, a garment of kindness. The book of Ruth is kind of a rom-com. It's a romantic comedy that moves from death to life. You probably got that. It moves from death to life. It moves from barrenness to fruitfulness, from emptiness to fullness, to curse, to blessing, to childlessness, to David's greater son. That's a romantic comedy of the inspired sort. And there's hope for Gentiles through the Gentiles, through a Gentile, Ruth, Moabitess. So the Feast of Weeks, the garment of kindness, a rom-com about going from childlessness to the son of David. Amazing. So it's death and resurrection, beloved. I don't have to tell you that, do you? You know that now. You know anything that you hear is going to be that the Old Testament is teaching you about death and resurrection. All right, then the next festival is Tisha B'Av, or the 9th of Av in August. This is the time when Lamentations is read. Teish B'Av is the destruction of the temple. in Jerusalem, that terrible day when hundreds of thousands of Jews lost their lives and they lost what was symbolic to them of their worship and of the presence of God because they had rejected Christ, the true But that's a scroll or garment of lamentation. It's a garment of suffering. It's a garment of suffering. And it's suffering in exile, awaiting for the coming of the king, awaiting for the king who will bring back the temple. Of course, you see the sadness of this in that the temple is already present in the church by the Holy Spirit in union with Jesus Christ. So it's going to take regeneration and the power of the sovereign spirit for them to see that the The temple is being built, one spiritual stone upon another, as 1 Peter 2, 4 and following teaches us. We are the holy temple, beloved. We are the temple of the living God. The next one is the Feast of Tabernacles, and this is the garment of vexation. The Feast of Tabernacles, the garment of vexation. One scholar that I've learned a great deal from named Barry Webb put it this way. Ecclesiastes is the garment you wear when you've finished with performance and you're ready for work. but not with an inflated idea of what you can achieve, but with contentment and confidence knowing that your times are in God's hands. That's a lot, but the point he's making, we'll unpack this a little bit better, is that you are wearing the garment of vexation because you're tired of depending upon your performance. And you're ready for work, but not work as idol or performance for you, but work that is stewardship. Work that you realize only makes sense if there is a God who has granted you gifts and a calling and work itself. So, you work contentedly, being useful. You stop using language after Ecclesiastes is in you. You stop using language like, I'm going to be great one day. That's the sin of the youth. And that's the disappointment of the aged. Rather, when you realize it's all meaninglessness, then you say, under the sun that is, then you will say, I'm ready to be useful and I'm ready to be faithful. And that's all that matters. And then the festival of Purim. Esther, the garment of deliverance. History is God's story. It's not a mere chronicle. History does not just merely repeat itself. Yes, there are repetitions in history, but history is not cyclical. History is purposeful and planned by a trium God that's moving toward the end, telos, the goal that he's foreordained and predestined before the foundation of the world. Contrary to what the Greeks say about the cyclicalness of history, there are aspects where history will repeat itself, of course. just like design repeats itself in certain observations of nature going nowhere. History has a purpose and a plan according to the predestination of God. And so the Esther is a story that when you don't feel God, when you don't sense God, you have to remember that God is with you. I was just with a friend being eaten up with cancer right now, walking faithfully. And he says to me with tears in his eyes, I just wish that my faith could feel what I believe. And I've been praying for him about that. It's hard. That's what he's saying is that he wants to feel the presence and pleasure of God, not just believe that God is with him. And it's harder to walk this life by faith when you don't feel what you believe. But you dare not let your feelings control you. You'll end up despairing, despondent, discouraged under the sun. You can't do that. So the festival of Purim is a garment of deliverance. You know that God will deliver you. He is with you. He hasn't left you. The exile will be over. There will be resurrection. Amen! Amen! Praise the Lord! There will be resurrection! I can't teach without preaching. That's so encouraging to know. And so that's the Megiloth. And that's just a little bit of a foretaste of the five scrolls of the writings and how they serve God's people to live faithfully and usefully under the sun until the coming of the king. Yes, ma'am. They are. They still are. That's correct. That's correct. There's no, you know, lectionary readings are like that. There's truth that you can gain from those readings and how they're used, but there's a larger, more deeper truth. of these scriptures that what they are practicing, even though they don't realize it, is much deeper than they realize. And most of it is consistent with scripture. There's no necessary command to do it during these festivals, but the fact that they would tie these scrolls or garments to these festivals tells a lot about their being made in God's image, and to some degree about their knowledge of the Old Covenant. to some degree about what they are hoping for even though they still are rejecting Jesus Christ. Does that make sense? So I think it's useful to think of it in that way. Thanks for that clarification. So let's look at Ecclesiastes. Let's look at Ecclesiastes, and I'll send you more from my notes on the Megiloth or the five scrolls, but it's just to say that that's an introduction to then look at Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon today together, okay? So you know that one is going to concentrate on vexation or life under the sun, and that is Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon is going to focus on true covenantal love versus those things that are substitutes and particularly life-loving and being loved. So, Ecclesiastes. I gave you a handout on that and quite a bit to think about. But with Ecclesiastes, you see there's three parts of the book. A prologue, a body of the book and an epilogue, if you look at your outline there together with me. The author I've mentioned is Kohelet. You see some letters like that. For some reason in the print, it didn't get the Hebrew letters, so it didn't translate right. So you just see some jumbled letters there. That's what that is. That was Kohelet in Hebrew. So the author is historically known as King Solomon. That's very important. We call him Kohelet, which means speaker of the assembly or preacher. I mentioned earlier it comes from Kahal, which is translated in Greek as Ekklesia. and then is used in Stephen's speech in Acts 7 as Ekklesia. And when he looks back at the Ekklesia under Moses, he calls that the Ekklesia in the wilderness. So you see a unity between the Old Testament assembly and the New Testament church through this. Very important. So you can compare in Stephen's speech, Acts 7, 38, where he uses the Hebrew word, assembly or congregation to refer to the church in the wilderness. You know what that solidifies, don't you? If you've studied premillennial dispensationalism, you know then that that shows there is a unity between the church and Israel. You understand that that's what's being asserted there, right? I'm not just telling you something that's quite interesting. I'm telling you that that shows you that premillennial dispensationalism and its conclusion about there being two peoples of God, Israel and the church, can't be correct. That's what I'm saying, just to make sure everybody's on the same page. So when we're saying the assembly, we're talking about the ecclesia in the wilderness. We're talking about the church being called the church in the wilderness. All right. So there's one people of God, and it's just progressively revealed, okay? So the first thing we want to note is that the key word of the book of Ecclesiastes is futility, meaninglessness, vanity. It's a Hebrew word, hevel. It's hevel. Everything's hevel. And this word can mean vapor, breath, vanity. It's that kind of idea of trying to stop a stream from flowing, of trying to capture the wind in your hand, of trying to count to the sand that's in your hands. It's more experientially trying to pick up those leaves year after year after year, those limbs that fall from the tree. trying to do your health, your run, your walk. You're reading. Oh, it's all why are you doing all that reading and studying when you get old you'll forget it That's the point unless it's a call unless it's a stewardship. That's the point. Why all the study? Why all the healthy stuff because you could easily die right now. That's the Hebel you feel it you feel it, right? That's you feel it and you get older and you feel it and that's why classic is so helpful to for you young people to read now That's why it's been given to you. So in your youth Remember your Creator in you, so you don't misunderstand your days, you don't misinterpret your days, and you don't claim for any greatness other than to be a great servant of the living God. There is no greatness found apart from God. No true greatness anyway, because that greatness, your name, no matter how great, no matter how rich, there's a grave loss. what anyone will do with your teaching. By the way, the best comedians out there, not only have, have you ever noticed, why are we doing this? Ha, ha, ha, everybody laughs. Why do we, ha, ha, ha, that's funny, I do that. That's what Cleisestes, it's a comedy. It's a stand-up comedy. All right. So it's to say that it's breath, it's vanity, it's vapor, it's wind. The idea of Hebel is the temporal nature of life and what seems to be futility in a world that's fleeting as our lives. Let me try to show that fleetingness. Who's been excited about a big day for a long time? And the big day comes and then it ends. And who experiences that hope for a big day every year, and then the big day comes, and then it ends. It's fleeting. And it's not everything you wanted it to be. There's often disappointment. and the people you wanted to be there are not there, sometimes because of death, sometimes because of rebellion, sometimes because of circumstances, but the big day didn't happen as you hoped for. Well, eternity is built in your hearts, Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, and that eternity is hoping for a day when all your hopes and dreams will come true and it'll never end. And that's what's built into you. That's why we dream so big and get so disappointed. is because we weren't made for this world. We were made for eternity. This world was only a world to pass through in all of its greatness and goodness. It's just the initial phase stage. Remember, if Adam had been obedient, beloved, we would have gone into a resurrection, spiritual embodiment and eternality in a restoration of the cosmos. The first world was only the first world. Its purpose and end was the second world, the restoration. All right. So, remember that the things that seem fleeting are found in Christ. So, Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 8 summarizes the times and seasons of this life and the world which is passing away. It emphasizes its temporal nature. And so, it's like chasing after the wind. And so, maybe you looked some of these up, but what does Ecclesiastes say about labor and work? Is labor and work? Is it satisfying? It's hard. It can be satisfying. But why is it not satisfying even when it's the best job occupation for us, even when we make the most money? Why is it not satisfying for us according? It's not. So not everybody's working for the weekend is not going to bring us happiness on the weekend. Is that correct? You remember the old song, perhaps? Needs to be forgotten. But it's hard to forget. Everybody's working for the weekend. Is that the point? We're working for the weekend? We're working for 5 PM on Friday? Is that it? OK. All right. Let me out of here. Work is also something that keeps us up at night. And that tells you that it's not to be. It's easily made an idol. It's one of the top five things we make idols, our occupation, because we, especially men, tie our identity to what we do. Lose the job, we're threatened in our identity. Lose the job. We're threatened in our goodness as a father or whatever. Lose our job, it's ultimately becomes tempted, we're tempted to make it become about us. So it's not the ultimate meaning in the world. We've got to remember that God ordains our circumstances. Thus the reason there's a time for everything and he is always with us. But another thing about work, it keeps you up at night because you're scared you're going to lose it. That's why people are doing emails at four in the morning rather than devoting their hearts to God. It's because somebody else got there at 3.30 to make you look bad. And they will work and destroy family and never care about their devotions and you're up against that all the time. That I actually have boundaries of time. I actually care about my free time because I care about my God and I care about my family. That's work and toil. It keeps you up at night. And there's always a guy who's moving into town nearby to take you over. That's why labor and toil without Christ is meaningless. Yes. That's right. Amen. Very good point. Make a point of that, everyone. Psalm 127 is written by Solomon, and it's about sleeping well. Yeah, good. Trusting your days to the Lord. Yeah, good. Thank you. Knowledge and wisdom. How does Ecclesiastes help us to look at knowledge and wisdom, someone? What's knowledge for? Well, there's a contrast between knowledge and wisdom. To think about being contrasted particularly with folly, that we're always trying to gain understanding of the world and how to fit into it. Because it's not our world, first of all, it's God's world. And because of the way he made it and the way he made us, there's a way to fit into it and there's a way to not fit into it. So wisdom and knowledge is about trying to understand God and his world better. But if it's the end, it's an idol. It leads to pride. It leads to being boastful. It leads to being puffed up. Knowledge puffs up. If you have too much of it without an understanding, of how little you know in comparison to God and people who live before you. The wisdom is that you're always learning more about God while you're learning about yourself, while you're learning about the world. And always comparing that little bit of knowledge that you get now and then with the knowledge of the Triune God in His omniscience. That is the God who has created all things. He is the God who reveals Himself. But some things remain secret. To know Him is to know eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's the true beginning of wisdom and knowledge. But knowledge under the sun in itself, like labor and work, is a temptation to idolatry. So you know something more than most people in this auditorium. Do you realize that if you get into a larger pool, you go to, say, Oxford in England, do you realize that you will probably not be the top of the heap of all those who know? Do you realize that once you get out of your circles, your humble circles of wherever you are, and you go with your musical talent, the little knowledge you have of music, the little knowledge you have of Latin, and you get into a bigger place like New York City, you're going to find there's people in the subway who can play the violin better than you and people who can conjugate verbs in foreign languages that are homeless. If knowledge is just the end. You see the point? There's a lot of smart people. There's not a lot of wise people. Knowledge your idol, but do everything you can to know God and his world for the sake of his glory and your service See Ecclesiastes if it's done right turns us into servants. Well the little I know I'm going to use to serve So I know how to make a shoe So I'll make shoes for my neighbor. I Like picking up leaves believe it or not, so I'll pick up leaves for my neighbor I know a little bit about such and such. I think I might teach my neighbor, and God might provide through that. I'll be useful." And on it goes, possessions and riches, what we do with them. One of the things that really gets me oftentimes is where you have the ecclesiastes speaking of the reality of the rich man who gains the whole world, loses his soul, but thinks he's passing on something better to the next generation, and the next generation squanders it. and hates him for it, despises dad who works so hard to make them rich, becomes spoiled brat, is blasphemed because the children despise you because all you cared about was the money and not them. Oh, in your last words, but I gave you everything. And they say, so what, dad? We hate you. happens all the time. Ecclesiastes is not only an apologetic that connects with the world, it is the substance of what the best stories and films are made of. It's why we identify. Injustice, oppression, it goes on and on. Somebody gets a little power and what do they do? They make themselves little gods. They hurt everybody else. Death? Righteous and wicked, unrighteous men. What's the point? Solomon asks. Because all go to death. They go to Sheol. But there's lots about God. And so there's four things I want you to remember about the book of Ecclesiastes. So much more I could tell you there. Hey, I've got notes that are like, this is one of my favorite books of the Bible. my friends, my beloved, and therefore I have, I think I have 20 pages on Ecclesiastes. I'll pass on to you if you're interested. I find myself at every graduation service that I'm ever asked to do seemingly opening my Bible's book of Ecclesiastes once again because I find that it's so relevant for every generation and especially for young people to remember their creator in the days of your youth. That's the point. You've got to understand these things, these four truths that I want you to remember. And who knows, you might hear this at a graduation service one day and say, boy, he repeats himself a lot. But that, too, is meaninglessness without God. Fear God. And I only have a few tricks up my sleeve, you know. Fear God. Beloved, fear God and keep his commandments. This is the end of the matter. That's why at the end of all this, The hope is that though you've gone through that and you've felt Solomon's pain, you get to the end and you realize, oh, there is an end to the matter. So Solomon is working towards something. And so one way to read Ecclesiastes is read the end. the epilogue here, verses 9 through 14, and then go backwards. The second thing is this is the whole duty of man. And this is man in all his significant covenantal image bearing. Every human being is born in covenant with God. He's born a covenant breaker in Adam, but he is born in covenant. There's no, you know, brute facts and there are no just individuals, merely. All individuals are united to the triune God, the true creator, by way of covenant. And they come into this world, they're conceived covenant breakers and so the whole duty of man is found in God's Word to be the significant covenantal image-bearing person so that when things seem meaninglessness that's your ding ding ding that's your alarm to say I am living by sight and I am putting my hope in idols that's the purpose of Ecclesiastes my work has no meaning your work has no meaning because you've put too much meaning in it Your work is from God, for God, and others. That's all. Leave it there. That's the end of the matter. That's what we were created for. That has to be your whole duty. Everything about you will find significance in that. And if you don't have that, no matter how hard you work, you're going to end up as a dead, vain thing. And this is the hard part. Who's guilty of breaking God's covenant. And then, to talk about meaninglessness? This life in Christ will be consummated in a way that in a moment, after time, after time, after time, more wrath. There's still more infinite punishment because they rejected God's provision for sinners in Jesus Christ who paid an infinite, eternal debt And there's a judgment coming, which is very relevant. All things will be brought into judgment. So humble yourself now and say, Lord, I've been seeking greatness. I want only to be a great servant. Do that while you're young. And if the world recognizes you to some degree, cool. Good. Be useful at the largest level you can be. But be great in Christ and meditate daily. on this wisdom. That's the point of Ecclesiastes. And so the best films, the best books, the best stories, well, the story of redemption itself is about this life under the sun that's broken and that God has come to fix. So let me say a few things about Ecclesiastes with using your handout. You've got a handout there that Let's see. It's on the back of your feast scroll garment, meaning Christ. Now, if you don't pick it all up, I'll send it out to you, okay? Well, let's try to do, for Ecclesiastes, king, covenant, and dwelling of God. You ready? Just write what you can. Here I go. Just write what you can. Here I go. Ecclesiastes teaches us that the glorious and exalted King Solomon, who wears the golden crown, comes to wear the Adamic crown of thorns. That's what Ecclesiastes is about, is the king of glory, Solomon at the time, comes down to wear the crown of thorns and to look at the toil, the trouble, the thistles, and the thorns of the fall. That's what it's about. The covenant is that God is sovereignly faithful throughout every period of history, through every season of life, as Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through, well, through 14 is sufficient, because God has put eternity in the heart of every person. There are different seasons in this life, beloved. You are young, you will be old. You are old, you will be young again one day. There are different seasons in this life where to fear God and keep his commandments through them all. You are young, you will be old. You are old, you will be young again. The dwelling of God is that though God seems absent with us because of his ever-present covenant, love, and power, though life can seem a vanity of vanities, it's not, for he is with us. And he ultimately reveals this to us in Christ, the man of meaning, who came to experience our toil and our trouble and our thorns and our thistles as the one who wears the crown of thorns. The King of glory came down. to wear the Adamic crown of thorns he did not deserve. And for the part about Christ Jesus, open your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15. You've got to see this for yourself. You've got to see it for yourself. It's a wonderful passage. And Paul, the apostle, has in mind the book of Ecclesiastes. At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, the chapter on the resurrection, In verse 50, Paul is telling us that in a moment, verse 51, we shall all be changed. In a moment, we shall all be changed. The dead will be raised imperishable. We shall be changed. We shall be changed. Verse 53, this perishable body must put on the imperishable and the mortal body must put on immortality. And when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, because of the resurrection, don't ever forget verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that the labor in the Lord is never heavil. It's never meaninglessness. It's never vanity. It's never vain. Make that an important scripture. Oh Be steadfast be immovable Always give yourself to the work of the Lord knowing that your labor in the Lord is never have all it's never meaninglessness so because The king of glory the one greater than Solomon came beneath the Sun to wear the crown of thorns and went to the cross Defeating death and hell in the devil. He also defeated that vexation of our souls by being exalted above the heavenly places and sending His Spirit down to help us to walk by faith and not by sight and to be able to look to Him, the author and the perfecter of the faith, and to understand that everything we do in light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is never, ever meaninglessness. But you have to have a resurrection of the Lord Jesus to be freed from your vexation. Otherwise, you have no optimism, no reason for it. You have no reason for optimism. Stop it. Stop that silly sentimentalism. Stop going back saying, those were the good old days. No, they weren't. Ask someone who lived them. Days since the fall of Adam. There have been days of contentment. and days of purpose, and days according to God's plan. And there have been days of resurrection. There's been days of truth. But overall, at the end of the day, it's been meaninglessness. That's why the Son is the man of meaning. So, under King, on your outline there or on your chart, You see where it says, King in Ecclesiastes, jump over Song of Solomon, we'll get there in a moment. Junk over Song of Solomon, look at Jesus Christ. So what is it that Jesus Christ brings as the King? Well, I've said it, that his incarnation under the sun, his incarnation under the sun through resurrection helps us to say with 1 Corinthians 15, 58, my labor is never heavil, my labor is never meaninglessness. So the one greater than Solomon wore the crown of thorns for you. That's how you put that in there. And then under covenant, well, Jesus Christ is the covenant king of heaven and earth who redeems us to see the purpose of life through service. Jesus Christ is the covenant king of heaven and earth who through his word, through his deed, he redeems us so that we'll understand that our purpose is to be servants of the living God. You ever notice in the book of Philemon how paradoxical, ironic it is that Paul, a prisoner, writes to Philemon, a man who owns a slave named Onesimus, and who says, set him free so that he can be a true useful slave of God. So, we're set free from slavery to sin and the devil. All of us are onesimuses who are enslaved by nature and God through his Holy Spirit frees us in order to be true servant slaves of the living God. And then the dwelling of God for this one is that all of these things that we don't understand will make sense when we see him face to face. In fact, I doubt if we'll remember any of them. For no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for those who love him. I don't think you're going to get there and go, wow, I have some questions about some of these things that happened. I think you're just going to drop down in worship and say, oh, I'm so grateful to be here. I'm so undeserving. What a wonderful place. And it'll never end. All my desires have been fulfilled. My dream day has happened. My hope is fulfilled. I have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What more could I ask for? That's satisfaction. Well done. Mine undoubtedly will be a cool Star Wars Avengers place, a Marvel Comics Star Wars world, I'm sure. that is built like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Pretty sure about that. No, it'll be better than that. So we have time for Song of Solomon. We have five minutes to do it. All right. So let me just say this very quickly about Song of Solomon, because I think this gets at the gist of the book. And I think it'll help you, perhaps, to understand it. These three things right here we did on the handout, and then I'll do the part on Song of Solomon in just a moment. But let me just stress this. Song of Solomon is the glorious king who pursues a bride. And the glorious King Solomon who pursues a humble bride shows how through him there can be a true return to Eden, that a man and a woman can live without shame and intimacy. But it's not the end. And it never should be, because if it's made the end, then that odd dollar tree will foul up your heart and your marriage. That's a very simple way to always understand the Song of Solomon. That's exactly what is happening throughout. Even though there's some things you go, well, I don't understand that. OK. So take with this, take with you, and through his love, brings her back to Eden. I'm getting excited today. Brings her back to Eden, but it's a better place than that. Because it's a picture of Christ in his church. Because there's a greater king who's pursued a bride. His own beloved. One of my favorite terms to use for the church when I address you is beloved. Because that's what you are. You're Christ's beloved. And you are the bridegroom's beloved. And I have this great privilege of being the bridegroom's friend. My only work when it's done well, is pointing away from myself to the bridegroom and saying, bride, beloved bride, behold your beloved, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I must decrease. He must increase. And that's how we live our lives. So true covenantal love is shown versus idolatry. Idolatry of making love, seeking it in the wrong places, seeking to fulfill yourself. People who are always desperately looking for something apart from God. falling in love all the time are the biggest idolaters on the face of the earth. Their problem is not that they haven't found the right person. Their problem is that they haven't found Jesus Christ. That's the big problem. But the problem is not that they haven't found the right person. The problem is they've got a problem with idolatry that needs to be repented. So looking for love in all the wrong places is just that. Yes, ma'am? Yes, it's a disordered affections, right, where there's too much love or too much affection or too much attention given to something that's meant for good, but becomes, when it's something too much, when it's inordinate, it becomes an idol. Remember that. Most idols that Christians deal with, beloved, are not, you know, idols, golden calves and, you know, bad, you know, evil things. They're things that are good that we've made ultimate things. And so you want to always keep in mind. So if your ultimate thing is to be a happy family, and that is your idol, then God will often discipline you to show that happy family is not the end purpose. The end purpose is to have a happy life with God. So he'll put strife. If your end purpose is to have a happy marriage, you won't find a happy marriage. You won't tend to. Because both of you are looking for that and both of you will make idols of one another and both of you will turn each other's hearts away from the living God. It's very dangerous. I deal with it all the time in the premarital counseling to try to help young couples to remember that you're going into a place that's fraught with blessing and idolatry. Listen, anything good you make, an ultimate thing, your heavenly Father loves you enough to discipline you and say, I'm going to take that away from you because I love you. I want you to love me. I want you to find everything in me. All right. The second thing is perversion. Perversion. The true covenantal love. You notice that word? Very important. That is between one man and one woman. All right. That there's no love that is not in that covenant. That is not some kind of perversion of God's purpose. A perversion of God's purpose. Whether you're talking about role exchanges or confusion. uh... you know whatever it is and and and uh... whether it's you're you're talking about you know finding love with various people you know there's a new word now uh... that i'm uh... multi amorous you know uh... you know polyamorous means that someone two people can get into a marriage and just agree that they're going to have all kinds of relationships with other people. Whenever you name something, especially in psychology these days, they think that that makes it right. Don't ever be fooled by that trick where it's named, polyamorous. Really, that's something I've been with. No, it's you're you're putting identifier or name on a sinful perversion It's what you're doing that needs to be said. Okay, so don't try to just name it when people name something They say well, they put it in a psychological manual or book or a disease. Whatever it is. It's ultimately sin Just call it what it is and repent of it because once you have a name for it you tend to then put a blame on it and then you tend to start well Justifying what you're doing because I'm polyamorous. There's another group of people, another small group of people who are polyamorous. You didn't know that? It's perversion. And again, these are covenantal beings who have the audacity to name something that God has not named as being good. Don't ever forget that. These are covenantal beings. Their last place will be before the judgment seat of Christ. And then number three, true covenantal covenantal love versus asceticism. Now, some people are called to be single by God's good providence and by a calling just to remain single for the work of God. I had a brother in the Lord or a father in the Lord who has gone to be with Jesus, but he came back from World War II as a bomber pilot, and he He was a minister, just never could find godly gals. They were all taken, is what he kept saying. He came back too late. But in God's good providence, he gave him a fruitful ministry all his life. But he did not marry because of some asceticism, because he thought that somehow marriage was bad. Marriage is a good thing, and it's been made by God, and we can experience true covenantal love, true intimacy, and we don't have to be ascetics. In fact, write this down. In 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 through 4, there's a scripture where Paul says that demonic teaching, a part of demonic teaching is defined by what we call monasticism or asceticism, to insist that certain people do not marry, that that's demonic teaching. And we can see the fruits of it throughout the history of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly. I'll pick on that particular congregation. But we've seen when priests do something that's unbiblical and they vow to asceticism, they vow to monasticism, all kinds of dangers come forth from that, all kinds of sinful perversions and fruits. Because we're not made to be alone unless we're called to be alone or unless God in his providence makes us alone. That's true. We're not meant to be alone. So that's the Song of Solomon, and if you take those three things, you'll see that it's helping you to define what true intimacy looks like in a marriage, or what it should look like, what it can look like by God's grace, then to avoid perversion, idolatry, and asceticism. Okay, so let's look at your outline, and then we'll conclude here, or your chart, I should say. Under King and Song of Solomon, I've already said it pretty much, but I'll say it again. The glorious King Solomon, in his majesty, pursues a humble bride to faithfully love as his own. She is dear and beloved to him. So King Solomon makes the young lady his beloved. Of course, I've spoken about Jesus Christ, that the king makes us his bride, so we're his queen. We're the queen of heaven, not Mary. Well, she's the queen of heaven if you're meaning that she's the queen of heaven along with the other believers of the church, men and women both. We're the queen of heaven because we're the queen of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're his bride. So she's included in that sense. But Jesus Christ here would be the beloved king who pursues us and betroths himself through his blood. Then covenant for Solomon is that God demonstrates his covenant faithfulness to believers in Christ in an Old Testament story where the king is faithful to his beloved. And this is ultimately a picture of Christ's love for his bride. So that's how you would put that in the under covenant in Jesus Christ, the marriage covenant, or that this is ultimately a picture of Christ's love for his bride. And one other thing I would say under Jesus Christ in covenant is that the marriage covenant is, according to Ephesians 5, 21 to 33, it's a picture of Christ in his church, right? All right. And then finally, the dwelling of God for Song of Solomon is God is present with us in a bond of marriage union by his spirit. And so just as we are, you know, Formally married and become one flesh One man one woman in covenantal love become one one one man one one husband one wife one flesh So this is represented by the ring right the one flesh union. Well the Spirit of God unites us to our bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and symbolizes that through word and sacrament. So every time you're seeing the bread and the wine, you remember that that's his ring to you to show you that he's the faithful bride that takes care of you and feeds you until the day you see him face to face and you're united with him for all eternity. But so we're betrothed to Christ as the beloved bride. And then let's end with Revelation 21. Turn with me to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. And this will also be the dwelling of God part of your chart. So I'm reading this as part of your chart and as a conclusion to this class, okay? All right. All right, so Revelation 21, verse 1. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. And so, in chapter 21, verse 22 says, And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. That's the dwelling place, the temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. And by its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day. There'll be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it. nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." And then finally in chapter 22, verses 16 and 17, "'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come. Let the one who desires to take the water of life without price. So the end of the story of Song of Solomon is ultimately that Christ will dwell with his church, that God will dwell through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, with his church for all eternity, and we shall be the queen of heaven. And by the way, beloved, we already are that in Jesus Christ. We just await the full realization, revelation of that when we shall see him face to face. And no more vexation, no more garments of suffering, no more need for the lamentations, no more need for the mere earthly love, for we will be loved perfectly. And what the best of marriages pointed forward to will be realized in the marriage that we have with Christ Jesus, our Bridegroom. So that brings us to the end of the writings, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. We have one more class, by God's grace, where next week we're going to look at Ezra Nehemiah, Chronicles, and we're going to close this class with the book of Daniel, which will be a cliffhanger to leave this season, awaiting the opening of the New Testament class. We'll open with Daniel. We'll open with what we leave behind in Daniel. So there'll be that bridge over the summer and then the last class I I would just ask you to bring that final exam I've given you where you're just taking King Covenant and dwelling and in your own words Thinking about Torah prophets and Christ And and doing that to the best of your ability with one to two sentences as best as you can You're gonna bring that to class on the last day. We're gonna have question answer We're gonna talk about it and I would love to take those up and learn from you