Book of Ecclesiastes EXPLAINED - Key Pieces to the Puzzle 2 with Allen Nolan

well what I'm gonna be sharing this morning you would probably have to go to seminary to learn and it's kind of interesting I'll be honest with you they encourage you not to teach they encourage you to preach and they kind of give you the impression that you know people don't want to know about these things so you need to keep it very general you need to know that but the laymen don't need to know that and I don't believe that I believe that you want to know everything the de seminary student wants to know am i right well good well as I told you two weeks ago my primary job is to help you understand the Bible now that's not to say that I don't have other responsibilities because I do but my primary job is to help you understand the Bible and then my quest to do that I try to give you the key pieces of information that you'll need in order to understand the Bible on your own you see I want you to be able to read the Bible and understand it on your own I don't want you to have to depend upon me in order to interpret it for you and and to be able to do that what you need are key pieces of information because it's those key pieces of information that unlock the meaning of some of the more difficult passages of Scripture in fact without them the meaning remains locked in a mystery and those passages of Scripture won't make any sense and many of you feel like that as you read through the Bible there's just certain passages of scripture that you think oh I'll never understand that well that's not true you're just missing some key piece of information that will unlock the meaning for you so a big part of my job is giving you those key pieces of information that you need to know in order to unlock the meaning of a book or difficult passage of Scripture now this morning I want to give you what I consider to be the two key pieces of information a person needs in order to understand the book of Ecclesiastes but first let me do an impromptu survey if you don't mind how many of you have read the book of Ecclesiastes all the way through how many of you have never read the book of Ecclesiastes okay how many of you who have read the book of Ecclesiastes feel like you really understand what it means how many of you have no idea if you've read it through you have no idea what it means yeah okay well most people don't understand it and as a result of it they feel like it's nihilistic everyone knows what I mean by nihilistic right nihilistic is an adjective nihilism is a noun but we don't want to talk about the noun because most of us feel like the book of ecclesiastes is nihilistic and we're using it as an adjective and it refers to the theory that there's nothing worth believing in because life is meaningless and if you read through the book of ecclesiastes you kind of get that feeling in fact if most people were honest than most people would under it that they don't understand the book of ecclesiastes and they feel like it's nihilistic but it's because they don't possess the two pieces of information that I'm going to give you that unlocks the meaning to this book and without those two key pieces of information the true meaning of Ecclesiastes remains a mystery and it's not going to make any sense to you so let me give you the two key pieces of information that you need the first is a hebrew ism for those of you who don't know what a hebrew ism is a Hebrew is Hebrew ISM is a Jewish idiom it's a figure of speech so it's a phrase that's not meant to be taken literally but figuratively now if you're not familiar with the Jewish culture of the Jewish language during the time period in which the Hebrew ISM was used then you won't understand what it means and you'll be lost as a goose in other words the sentence in which the Hebrew ISM is used won't make any sense to you because it's not meant to be taken literally it's meant to be taken figuratively so if it plays a vital role in the overall message of the book or the passage of Scripture that you're studying then you're in trouble because you'll have no idea what the author is trying to convey in that passage of Scripture or if it's a key component in the book what that author is trying to say in the book and that's why most people don't understand the book of Ecclesiastes you see Solomon used two very ancient Hebrew ism that's vital to understanding the theme of Ecclesiastes so if you don't understand that Hebrew ISM the one that he used then you won't understand it Cleese yes teas so what is the Hebrew ISM we'll turn with me if you would to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and let's read verses 2 & 3 and we're gonna find out notice what it says vanity of vanities saith the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity what prophet half a man of all his labour which he taketh Under the Sun now that's the King James Version translation but most of you don't read the King James Version am i right probably most of you read the NLT so let's read verses 1 and 2 - from the NLT notice what it says everything is meaningless says the teacher completely meaningless what do people get for other hard work under the Sun now hopefully you notice that even though the translations were different both of them contained one phrase that was exactly the same and that phrase is under the Sun that's the Hebrew ism and it doesn't matter what translation you read they all translate that phrase the very same because the translators want you to know that that's a Hebrew ism it's a Jewish figure of speech so all of the translations translate it word-for-word so you won't miss the fact that it's a hebrew ism and then it's the key to unlocking the meaning of the book of ecclesiastes in other words if you don't know what this Hebrew is a means then you won't understand the book that's the bottom line so what does it mean what does under the Sun mean well believe it or not it means living without God in your life let me say that again living without God in your life you see there are two types of people there are those who live with God in their life in other words God is a major part of their life and then there's another group of people where they live a life without God God plays no role in their life so what Solomon is saying in verses 1 & 2 is that everything that we do on this earth is meaningless without God in our life now there are two basic theories on how this hebrew ism developed its meaning one is that before the fall the earth was like a huge greenhouse in other words there was a vapor barrier that protected the earth from the harmful rays of the Sun turn with me if you would to the book of Genesis chapter 2 verses 5 through 6 and I'll show you what I'm talking about notice what it says the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth and there was not a man to till up the ground but there went up a mist from the earth and it watered the whole face of the ground so in the beginning it never rained and let me ask you for how long of a period did it never rain on the earth about 1656 years yeah instead a mist would come up from the earth and it would water all the plants so the earth was like a huge greenhouse with a vapor barrier that protected the earth from the harmful rays of the Sun but shortly after the fall of man the flood of Noah happened and I should shortly after the fall know or when this actually happened was 1650 years later you see Noah was born 1056 years after Adam was created and the flood occurred somewhere around 1650 years after Adam was created so for a period of about 1650 years it never rained on the earth that's why everyone thought that Noah was crazy he's building this Ark he's building this huge boat he says God's going to bring judgment yeah but as I said shortly after the fall of man and I'm taking a lot of Liberty there when I say shortly the flood of Noah happened look at Genesis chapter 7 verses 11 through 12 in the six hundredth year of Noah's life six hundred years why did they live so long because they had this barrier this vapor barrier that protected the earth from the harmful rays of the Sun and if you'll notice after the flood of Noah all of a sudden the lifespan of man keeps getting shorter and shorter and shorter yeah okay I'm sorry I'm getting off on things I don't want to teach about in the 600 year of Noah's life in the second month the seventeenth day of the month the same day were all the Fountains of the great deep broken up it's where the mist would come up and the windows of heaven were opened and the rain was upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights in other words the protective vapor bared there surrounded the earth was broken and as a result of that mountain man now lives under the Sun because of his scent so the phrase under the Sun refers to man's sinful conditions which reminds him that he is living a life without God so that's the first theory so the phrase came to mean living without God in your life the second theory of how this figure of speech or this heroism developed his meaning is that it simply refers to man's life here on the earth you see the life force of the earth is the Sun and as long as man is here on the earth he is under the Sun but because of the fall he is separated from God he is without God so under the Sun came to mean living without God in your life but regardless of how the phrase developed its meaning it means living without God in your life and if I were you I would write that down in my Bible because you'll never understand the book of Ecclesiastes unless you know what Under the Sun means and it means living without God in your life now we know that for a fact because ancient Jewish writings explain what the Hebrew ISM means they have different theories of how this phrase developed its meaning but that's not uncommon ask someone have the city of Tahlequah got its name and you'll get one of three answers according to chief bill John Baker the landscape and native grasses reminded the ones who moved from North Carolina of the grassy open areas of Teleco which is diligwa in Cherokee so they called their new home diligwa which some linguists not not many but a few say transliterate Cindy telecoil local legend states that the name is derived from the Cherokee words Tolley and yella leak ele qua which means two is enough supposedly three tribal elders had planned to me to determine the location of the Cherokee nation's permanent capital two elders arrived and they waited for the when dusk began coming then they decided that two is enough and that became the name of our city Thalia liqui Thalia liqui and then you have a third theory according to dr. Ballinger three tribal elders were sitting under a large white oak tree which they determined would be a good place for the Cherokee capital one of the elders looked up and he saw another white oak tree and he said Thalia uniqua which means - it's enough so Thalia lacroix can mean - is enough or - it's enough but either way we're getting - enough but my point is this it's very common for people not to know the origin of a word or phrase but still know what it means telecoil means - is enough now I'm not Cherokee if you have a different theory or you've researched it you can share it with me later but that's my research but again my point is this we have ancient Jewish writings that tell us what the Hebrew ISM Under the Sun means and it means living without God in your life so everywhere you see the phrase Under the Sun just replace it with the phrase living without God in your life because that's what it means so let me give you the theme for the book of Ecclesiastes if you're taking notes I want you to write this down this is the theme everything that we do on this earth is meaningless without God in our life let me say that again everything that we do on this earth is meaningless without God in our life and Solomon says this over and over again throughout the book just in different ways in fact let me give you some examples chapter 1 verse number 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun that's the Hebrew ISM so we want to replace it with living without God in your life right so here goes I've seen all the works done by people living without God in their life and behold all this vanity and vexation of spirit chapter 2 verse number 11 then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought Solomon's talking about his personal experience and on the labor that I had labor to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun now what most of us forget is that after Solomon became King he walked away from God most of us don't even know that because we know that he had this extraordinary wisdom that God gave him but I want you to understand something you can be extremely intelligent and still be a fool and Solomon after he became King walked away from God the Bible tells us he had 700 wives and 300 concubines I bet there are some he never even slept with yeah in first Kings chapter 11 verses 4 through 6 says those wives led him away from God and he started serving false gods so there was this huge period in his life where he tried to find meaning without God because he wasn't living for God now at the latter end of his life he repented he came back to God and that's when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes but he's writing the book of Ecclesiastes from his personal experience when he lived without God in his life and he looks back over all that he did and how rich he was and he says oh my gosh there was no profit under the Sun no profit without God in your life chapter 2 verse 17 therefore I hated life because the work that is wrought under the Sun there's the Hebrew Hebrew ISM let's replace it with what it means the work that I wrought were I when I lived without God in my life is Grievous unto me for all this vanity and vexation of spirit I realized I wasted a large part of my life is what he's saying chapter 3 verse 16 I also noticed that under the Sun there is evil in the courtroom yes even the courts of law are corrupt in other words when judges and lawyers live a life without God there is evil in the courtroom they can be bribed they show favoritism and knew that first hand one of the reasons that the Kingdom of Israel was was split I shouldn't say one of the reasons it's the main reason God said it would be it's because of psalms ungodly lifestyle but one of the things that solomon tried to do is he tried to have Jeroboam killed and jeroboams the one that took the ten tribes and that's when it split after Solomon was dead of course REO boom did his foolish thing but I want you to understand he knew firsthand what happens when the king is living a life without God you're able to be bribed to show favoritism there's all types of evil in the courtroom chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 again I observed all the oppression that takes place under the Sun there's the Hebrew ISM let's replace it with what we know it means I observed all the oppressions when people live without God in their life I saw the tears of the oppressed with no one to comfort them the oppressors have great power and their victims are helpless so I concluded that the dead are better off than the living but most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born in fact in the Hebrew it actually says that those who are never born but they have not seen all the evil that is done under the Sun there's that Hebrew ISM they have not seen the evil that takes place when people live without God in their life and we're seeing this attack on Christianity we're seeing our culture shift and we're actually fighting against Christian judeo-christian principles and as a result of that look at all the evil that's taking place it's okay to murder a baby even after it's born and call it a woman's right what is wrong with you most of you living a life without God in your life chapter 4 verses 7 through 8 I observed yet another example of something meaningless Under the Sun there's the Hebrew ISM let's replace it with what it means in other words I've observed another example when it comes to people living without God in their life this is the case of a man who is all alone without a child or a brother yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can but then he asked him who am i working for when I was young enough to enjoy it I didn't have it now that I have it I'm too old to enjoy it why am I giving up so much pleasure now it is also meaningless in depressing are you starting to see a pattern without God in your life everything you do is meaningless can you see that pattern and I'm even skipping some but let's keep going because I want you to see this is the theme of the book this is why you feel like it's nihilistic but it's because you don't understand the Hebrew ism chapter 5 verses 13 through 16 there's another serious problem I have seen under the Sun there's that figure of speech there's another serious problem when it comes to living without God in your life hoarding riches harms to the serve the saver money is put into risky investments that turn sour and everything is lost in the end there is nothing left to pass on to one's children we all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as the day we were born we can't take our riches with us and this too is a very serious problem people leave this world no better off than when they gained all their hard work is for nothing like chasing after the wind you know I'm getting ready to turn 59 in a few weeks 21 years from the age of 80 and I realize I'll have much time left I wonder if everything that I've done really matters chapter 6 verses 1 & 2 there's another serious tragedy I've seen under the Sun there's the hebrew ism we're going to replace it with what it means there's another serious tragedy i've seen when it comes to living without God in your life and it weighs heavily on humanity God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want but then he doesn't give them the chance to enjoy those things they die before they get a chance to enjoy it yeah they die and someone else even a stranger ends up enjoying their wealth this is meaningless a sickening tragedy chapter 9 verse 3 it seems so tragic that everyone under the Sun not everyone not everyone just everyone under the Sun there's that Hebrew ism what does it mean means living without God in your life so let's replace that it's tragic that everyone who lives without God in their life suffers the same fate that is why people are not more careful to be good instead they choose their own mad course for they have no hope there is nothing ahead but death anyway in fact that's really good if you ever take a class called the philosophy the Christian faith you zero in on that it's and it's how you witness to agnostics and atheists but I'll have time for that now I could keep going and I've skipped over a lot of verses that use this Hebrew ism but you get the picture Solomon is not saying that everything we do on this earth is meaningless people he is not saying that he is not saying that everything we do on this earth is meaningless he's saying that everything we do on this earth without God being in our life is meaningless Solomon is saying that everything we do on this earth without God being in our life is meaningless now hopefully you can see how knowing there's one key piece of information unlocks the meaning to the book of Ecclesiastes and all of a sudden it's not nihilistic all of a sudden it makes sense what Solomon is saying and the arguments he uses to prove his point is that without God in our life everything that we do on this earth is meaningless yeah it's vanity you live for a few years and then you die and what you work for someone else gets to enjoy but that's assuming that you don't live a life of poverty or a life of hardship and sometimes it seems that the wicked prosper and flourish and the righteous are persecuted and suffered so it's true without God in our life giving our life meaning and purpose it's all vanity it's meaningless it's nihilistic however some some people are not smart enough to realize this truth so they live a life without God they live without God in their life chasing after fame and fortune but it's all vanity why because in the end it all boils down to this without God in your life nothing really matters because everything you do is temporal and inconsequential in the scope of eternity but when you bring God into the picture everything changes because everything that you do now matters everything on this earth has an eternal impact one way or the earth other and if it furthers the kingdom of God then you're gonna receive an eternal reward in other words a reward that lasts forever what you're doing now affects your eternal destiny so all of the sudden your life has purpose and meaning unlike the person whose life is without God you see is a Christian I understand that everything I do on this earth is going to be judged now because Jesus died for my sins all of my sins have been paid for so I'm not going to be condemned all of those things are covered so when I stand before the Lord the only thing that's gonna be judged is the things I did for him but the things that I did for him I'm going to receive rewards it's going to determine the Crown's that I receive it's going to determine who and what I rule over because we rule and reign with Jesus and so all of the sudden everything that I'm doing on this earth has meaning because it follows me into eternity but if you're here today and you're living a life without God it doesn't work that way you won't get anything that's good I'll tell you what's gonna take place when you die you're gonna go to a place known as hell and that's not your eternal destiny that's just a holding place because after the Millennium the Bible says that you're going to be resurrected you're gonna stand before God which is known as the white throne judgment and you're gonna be judged none of the things that are written in the books because your name is not written in the book of life you see there's a book of life and then there's books what are the books everything you've ever done has been recorded and you stand before God now here's the bad thing because Jesus didn't pay for your sins because you refused to receive his free gift of eternal life your judge said have things written in the books and you're thrown into the lake of fire with no hope of ever being resurrected from that or rescued from it yeah so everything that happened on this earth really didn't matter because your eternity was was was sealed your your eternal destiny was sealed the moment you rejected Jesus Christ and said uh-uh I don't want to live with Jesus in my life I want to live without Jesus in my life and Jesus is who we believe in the Trinity God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and so you decided live a life without God yeah well what's the takeaway well that brings me to the second piece of key information that I need to give you which like the first unlocks a whole new meaning to the book so turn with me if you would to chapter 12 verses 13 and 14 this is the very end of the book if you brought your Bible and you actually want to turn there just go to the very last chapter we're going to look at the very last verses here's what it says that's the whole story here now is my final conclusion fear God and obey his commands for this is everyone's duty for God will judge us for everything we do including every secret thing whether they're good or bad now listen to me because this is very important and it's the second key piece of information that you need to know in order to understand the book of ecclesiastes here it is write it down in the ancient Middle East many times the conclusion to a book was also the thesis statement I won't say that again because most of you were in the ancient Middle East many times the conclusion to the book was also the thesis statement and of course the conclusion is at the end of the book but in the ancient Middle East the is also the thesis statement now everyone knows what a thesis is right he probably had to do your term paper in high school if you went on to college probably had to write a lot of papers and you had to find out what a thesis statement is what is a thesis well a thesis is a statement that presents the topic of your paper or your book and it also states your position in relation to the topic and it's placed at the end of an introductory paragraph so it's at the very front of the paper or book now a good thesis statement is arguable and not factual because you're going to use the rest of your paper or the rest of your book to prove your argument and by the time you're finished you want everyone with half a brain to agree with you now in the Western world the thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper but in the ancient Middle East they didn't do that instead they immediately jump into their arguments that prove their point without even telling you what their point is and that's exactly what Solomon does and it's exactly why you don't understand the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon immediately jumps into his arguments that prove his points without even telling us what his point is let me say that again Solomon immediately jumps into his arguments that prove his point without even telling us what his point is and that just totally freaks us out it confuses us because here in the Western world we want everything laid out neden organized and in logical sequential order how many of you like the way I teach how many of you don't like the way I teach please don't raise your hand I might not pray for you I'm just easing do you know why you like the way I teach because I lay things out logical sequential order and in the Western world that's what we like we want everything laid out we want everything neat and organized and we want it laid out in a logical sequential order we want to know the topic of the paper or the book and the author's position and relation to the topic and we want to know it at the very beginning before we start reading the book if not we get lost you see that's the way we think in the Western world people they didn't think that way they wanted to see if the reader came to the same conclusion is the author after reading all of his arguments so the thesis statement was the conclusion now you know if you've written several essays or papers you'll state your thesis statement in the very beginning but you'll give a summary of everything and you'll stated it again at the very end yeah so they wanted to see if the reader came to the same who's the author after reading all those arguments so the thesis statement was the conclusion but they didn't put it at the front of the book and as I said that just blows our mind and that's what causes the confusion but once we know that the conclusion is also the thesis statement all we have to do is move it to the front of the book and then all of a sudden it makes sense because now we know the topic and the author's position in relation to the topic and then we get to read the arguments he uses to prove this point so this is the thesis and where would we place it we would place it right after verse one read verse number one and then what you need to do in your Bible and the margins as you write verses thirteen and fourteen should be inserted right after verse one for it to make sense to you because you're not from the ancient Middle East you're from the Western world in the modern period we call it modernity yeah so this is the thesis fear God and obey his commands for this is everyone's duty for God will judge us for everything we do including every secret thing whether good or bad now is this thesis statement arguable well of course it is because most people don't agree with it they don't believe that that's their duty they believe that they can do whatever they like whatever they want it's my life I can do what I want that's what most people think they think well I'm not going to do that I'm gonna live my life without God I'm gonna live without God in my life I'm gonna live without Jesus in my life so Solomon starts his arguments to prove just how nihilistic it is to live a life without God he's going to prove that everything a person does who's living a life without God is meaningless I told you earlier you know I'm kind of a weird person I like philosophy I like to know how Plato influenced Christianity I enjoy reading Francis Schaeffer which is one of the most when he passed away since then but shows how old I am he was still alive when I was studying his books but anyways I took a class call Austria the Christian faith and let me tell you what was so great about it it taught me how to witness to atheists and agnostics and the way you witness to an atheist and agnostic is they don't live consistently with what they say they believe because if they did they would live like they do and so one of the things that you have to do with an agnostic and atheist is you have to push them to the logical conclusion to show them that their life has no meaning and purpose the truth of the matter is if you don't believe there's an eternity if you don't believe there's a god then you're living a lie because if you believe that then you wouldn't by any rules at all you'd be lawless and the reason you would is because it really doesn't matter let me just say this if there's no God there's no eternity it really doesn't matter they Hitler killed six million Jews because in another two or three hundred years ago it would just be history to be like Attila the Hun and just be like the Muslim invasion of the Christian world it doesn't matter how many millions died doesn't matter who was in slavery none of that really matters because one day the sun's gonna burn out everyone's gonna die anyway and who cares doesn't really matter if you murder anyone because if you're just a bunch of chemicals and if I kill you you know your life is over but what's it really matter it's not like you have eternity to enjoy doesn't matter that what you do in this earth is gonna affect that and not only that one day the earth is just gonna hand everything's going to end and as a result of that it really doesn't matter who cares you know I don't know whether my great-great grandparents were Christians or not I don't know whether my great great grandparent cheated on his wife or she cheated on her husband or not it really doesn't matter I mean you know I don't know anything about that I'm living my life what does it matter if they do that you see you push a person to the logical conclusion that you say you believe this do you live like this and the truth is they don't everyone lives like theirs in eternity everyone lives like there's rules everyone lives like they're going to be judged yeah and all Solomon is doing is he's using these arguments to show you that if you live a life without God if you live without Jesus Christ in your life your life is meaningless it really doesn't matter whether you become rich you're gonna die and you're gonna leave it to someone else it really doesn't matter if you're a good person it doesn't matter if you tried to do the best you could I'm here to tell you it really doesn't matter it's depressing it's meaningless you see listen to this this is very good our duty to God to fear him and to keep his Commandments that's what gives our life meaning let me say that again our duty to God to fear him to keep his Commandments that's what gives my life meaning because then and only then does our actions produce eternal results results that don't pass away but follow us into eternity let me just tell you how it's gonna be I'm 21 years from being 80 years old the Bible tells me the number of my days so that I would live a life of wisdom and I know my dad died at 82 my mom died at 78 when I hit around 80 I'm real close and even if I have the money to enjoy life I probably won't have the health to enjoy life I don't know but I do know that the way I've lived my life determines my eternal destiny but not just my eternal destiny it determines my eternal rewards it determines the Crown's that I receive it determines who I rule and reign over because we will rule and reign with Jesus on this earth there are people who will make it through the Millennium and we that are Christians you always wondered who were ruling and reigning over there you go but everything I do matters why because I live with Jesus in my life and I'm furthering his kingdom and I'm doing what God wants and I know there's these Eternity I know there's a god I know I'm gonna be judged by him and I know that everything on this earth matters that I do but Solomon wants you to know if you live without Jesus in your life everything is meaningless so what if you become rich you're gonna die in a few years I told you that shortly after Adam sinned then it rained and then I got weird with you one thousand six hundred and fifty six years later shortly maybe twenty thirty years yeah all these things that you thought you were doing for yourself without God boy this is what's important on chasing after Fame I'm chasing after a fortune you'll get to the end of your life and if you're wise enough you realize it was all crap it was all crap the only thing that matters is what you did for God and to further his kingdom but once you realize that and start living with God in your life all of a sudden everything you do matters my relationship with Lisa matters like never before my relationship with my children is the most important thing I want my granddaughter Island to be saved and join me in heaven I want to see my mom and dad in heaven I want to hear well done good and faithful servant and I want to go into eternity knowing that I did what God created me to do and Ecclesiastes is such a good book because he's contrasting a life under the Sun in other words a life living without God in their life and our life living with God in our life

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

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Keywords: Book of Ecclesiastes Explained (Key Pieces to the Puzzle 2), book of Ecclesiastes explained, book of Ecclesiastes bible study, book of Ecclesiastes meaning, book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes Wisdom Literature, wisdom literature explained, wisdom literature bible study, wisdom literature bible, wisdom literature, pastor allen nolan, cornerstone fellowship, tahlequah oklahoma

Id: wMAYyXMJuSs

Length: 38min 9sec (2289 seconds)

Published: Tue May 21 2019