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The book of Ecclesiastes records the grief of an old man- King Solomon. He tells us in Chapter 2 of the labors of his work on behalf of Israel. He speaks of the great success he had in raising up the people out of squalor into the most prosperous kingdom on the face of the earth. The problem is, though God had given him great wisdom – supernatural insights (cf. I Kings 4 and Proverbs 1:1-9) – he had failed terribly by departing from the fear of the Lord in the later days of his life, his wives leading him astray and into idolatry.
He sees his work had become a vanity. He had indulged himself in pleasures and success, prosperity and happiness and it all failed him. He had forgotten his own proverb which says man’s heart (including his own) is like deep water where the word for “deep” in the Hebrew is Amoq, that is to say, unsearchable. (cf. Proverbs 20) He had forgotten “the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9.
Solomon in his deep grief for having betrayed his calling, calls his people (Ecclesiastes 5 and 9) to a godly understanding for the existence of “The House of Worship”, i.e. in our terms today, “the Church.”
We make a big mistake either in the pulpit, or listening to one, if we treat the church as if it is a mere classroom. It is not a classroom. It is the one place on earth where God says that He will take His Word out of a faithful servant’s mouth (The Preacher) and mingle that Word with our hearts. Thus He will search the hearts through faithful preaching. (cf. I Corinthians 2)
Solomon warns us (Ecclesiastes 5) we are being scrutinized by the God’s “police”- His angels. We are forewarned the congregation of the Lord is holy, that preaching is holy, that the Law of the Lord is Holy (cf. Romans 7), and that our profession of faith is called to be holy (cf. our vows – Ecclesiastes 5:1ff).
The real explanation for life, which is not “vain,” is repeatedly explained in Scripture: God raises up understanding in the Sanctuary (cf. Psalm 63:2; Psalm 68:24; Psalm 73:17; Psalm 77:13; Ecclesiastes 5; 9; 12; I Corinthians 1, 2, 3; Ephesians 4; I Timothy 3; II Timothy 3).
The mystery of Righteousness is found through the preaching of the Word of God in the Sanctuary and there… when the church is faithful to the Lord. It is there, He especially He confronts His people with His claims of Righteousness and it is there, especially, He exposes wickedness. Solomon forgot all of that. He relied upon his own wisdom and, for a time, he forsook the “means of grace” God establishes for His people. Solomon found the vanity of relying upon himself and his own gifts in lieu of the promises of God which declare the Church is called to be “the Pillar and Ground of the Truth.” We need to repent from the nonessential church to the essential triumphant Church of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Wayne C. Sedlak
