Our Place in God’s World

KEY VERSE: “He hath made everything beautiful in his time.” —Ecclesiastes 3:11

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

IT HAS been said that an accurate definition of humility is the ability to realize the true value of worldly wisdom and attainments when compared with the standards and rewards held forth by God. This, we believe, is the essence of the lesson in the Book of Ecclesiastes. The theme of the entire book is that worldly wisdom and earthly possessions become meaningless when the reality of man’s transitory existence is realized. The only way that life can really become meaningful is by obedience to God’s laws and, by this, earn an opportunity for everlasting life and the great blessings that will result.

Expositors on Ecclesiastes state that the book was written by Solomon near the end of his life and that the thoughts were his reflections concerning his own life. A statement in chapter two seems to verify this. “I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men. … I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water. … I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of man, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. … Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.”—vss. 11,17,18 (Also, please see I Kings 11:1-11)

The original purpose for man was not fulfilled because Adam was not obedient to God’s laws. Because of his failure, Adam was condemned to death and all of his offspring also. God’s words were, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it vast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19) There is no hope for an afterlife except as provided through the love and mercy of God.

A knowledge of this fact undoubtedly gave rise to the statement found in Ecclesiastes 3:19-21. “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man bath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” And again, “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.”—Eccles. 9:5

What then is Solomon’s answer to this apparently hopeless situation? Evidently, like many of the servants of God in the past, he “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:10) This “city” is figurative language for the kingdom which is to be established here on the earth. During the thousand years of this kingdom (the great Day of Judgment), Christ and his church will render righteous judgment in the earth and give all human-kind an opportunity for life and to be reestablished in favor with God as was Adam in the beginning.

Solomon states: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Eccles. 12:13,14) The Prophet Isaiah, speaking of this time, states, “When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”—Isa. 26:9

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