Ecclesiastes and Hevel

Yesterday, Brad Wheeler fed our congregation well by expositing the first three chapters of Ecclesiastes. Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, the word Hevel recurs again and again. The Hebrew word means that which is meaningless and fleeting. Ecclesiastes is a jewel in the grand narrative of Scripture as it takes a deep, hard look at reality and reveals the utter despair that life brings apart from the God who gives life.

Solomon is the writer of Ecclesiastes, and he has concerned himself with several themes. First, the repeating cycles of life are evident as he addresses the futility of wisdom, pleasure, wealth and mortality again and again. Secondly, he notes that life is constrained by time and that time is the great enemy of us all. Finally, he repeatedly uses the phrase, "under the sun." Solomon was rare in the ancient world as he truly had everything under the son at his fingertips, and, yet, he looks back in despair as its illusion is revealed at the end of his life. Yet, "under the son" is deeper than simple material things. "Under the son" is the way life must be lived as a result of the curse. In the garden, we cast our lot there when we rejected the rightful and good rule of God over our lives. Living "under the sun" is a hard life. It's a struggle. It offers some temporary relief for some but never permanent rest. Ecclesiastes leaves us in a dilemma. How will we find relief from this life "under the son?" Can we regain life as it was once? Is there a way to live life "above the son?" Ecclesiastes graciously leaves us in despair as we look to ourselves. It forces us to look elsewhere. It forces us to look to Christ.

Christ reigned with the Father from the beginning "above the sun." Yet, our redemption and hope hinged on Him being willing to cast His lot with us "under the sun." Even as he humbled Himself and incarnated in real time and space, he would have to overcome the temptations "under the sun" that Adam and Eve were unable to resist in the garden (he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped). Just as Solomon had everything "under the sun," Christ was offered everything "under the sun" in His temptations in the wilderness. In Adam, humanity wrongfully grabbed for everything "under the sun" in the garden and was banished to the wilderness. Yet, the one who rescued His people rejected the offer of everything under the sun in the wilderness so that we might be able to return to the garden.

Life is more than Hevel. It is more than a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. All around us a kingdom advances and will soon give life forever to all those who have clung to the one who brings people out of the wilderness. He came to give more than purpose. We need much more than that. He came to give Himself. And, only in Himself, we have life.