IS NOT THIS THE NATURAL MAN TODAY?
ECCLESIASTES 7, 8 & 9
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
In chapter 7, the quest for satisfaction and the meaning of life changes again. The Preacher had pursued the material life only to find that it was empty, worthless, monotonous, and vanity. Now he turns to the world of morals for satisfaction and answers. He traveled a path that moralists and philosophers still traverse today. In brief, it is “Be good, get a good name, avoid the house of feasting, and consider the serious things of life. Get wisdom and avoid folly. Be a patriotic citizen, not be too good, nor too sinful, avoid excess, strike a happy medium, and use teaching of modern thought.”
IS THIS NOT THE NATURAL MAN TODAY AND THE DOCTRINE OF THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH? ‘DO ALL THINGS IN MODERATION.
THIS IS NOT THE REVELATION OF GOD!!!!!
This is the thoughts and considerations of a man who is communing with his own heart (mind, will and emotions, i.e. soul), as contrasted to the union and communion with the Lord in the realm of the Spirit. This man is thinking his own thoughts and is coming to his own conclusions. His verdict at the end of the chapter is that while God had made man upright, many inventions (of the human mind) have altered the course of things. The wise man takes account of death as well as life. His outlook on life is serious. He knows how to enjoy good times and learn from bad ones. Koheleth observes that there are good men who die young, and wicked men who grow old in their wickedness. This blows the religious theory that all trouble is due to sin. Here the Preacher brings everything to the test of wisdom:
(7:23) All this I have proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?” We know from Proverbs 8 that Wisdom is the Lord’s and only through relationship with Him can it be found. The proverbial units of this section deal with aspects of life that anger or infuriate. This is that which frustrates. Frustration is a demonic spirit. I once knew a woman who continually spoke over and over of how frustrated she was. This is a soul that is constricted, insecure, has unfulfilled needs, and unresolved issues. Frustration is an emotional response to circumstances where one is obstructed from arriving at a personal goal or agenda. The root is anger and disappointment. In psychology, passive aggressive behavior is a manifestation of this spirit. Biblically speaking we often see this operate in the spirit of Jezebel. The manifestation can be temper tantrums, high maintenance people who everyone pampers to keep them from making scenes of violent behavior. In early proverbs the Preacher deals with death or suffering. Now it is with anger and frustration.
7:9: “Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” This is wisdom to all people who are plagued with temper tantrums or uncontrolled rage. There are seven proverbs that are comparisons using the words, “Better Than”:
7: 1-3: “A good name is BETTER THAN precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is BETTER THAN laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” It is through sorrow that man learns compassion.
7:5: “It is BETTER to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.”
7:8: “BETTER is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”
7:10: “Say not, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? For you do not enquire wisely concerning this?” This is a rebuke to every generation that considers the “good old days” of their generation. The Lord is asking us to enquire of him for Wisdom for today. We then see that Wisdom is indispensable, and that life is under the Hand of God.
7:11-13: “Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense; but the Excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to them that have it. Consider the work of God; for who can make that straight, which He has made crooked.
In the first half of this chapter seven, the theme of Ecclesiastes is followed up with a question: Will the life of faith survive hard and troublesome times when the “good old days” have gone and the days of adversity have come? The second half moves from the crookedness of life (7:14) to that of mankind (7:29). “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him. All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness:
Then he moves in to the reasoning’s of the natural man. Basic questions touching the origin, universality, inequity and perverseness of evil are posed in a mixture of factual statement and exhortation, urging also the need for Wisdom which is so rare and remote. Man as God made him was all right. His troubles are all of his own making.
(7:29)“Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” I have to smile over this scripture. This takes away the excuse of Adam that the woman made me do it and the excuse of many Christians that the devil made me do it. God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.
He concludes in 8:1 with a further appeal for wisdom. “Who is the wise man? And who makes the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.” This is seen prophetically by Daniel. 12:3: And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. This verse is a fitting conclusion to the proverbs which have appealed for wisdom in relating to suffering and sin.
The remainder of chapter eight through 9:10 deal with authority, injustice and the life of faith. The sequence of thought runs parallel with chapters 1-3. The preacher now faces the grim realities of kingly authority, and the injustices of life, and is perplexed with the enigma of life. As the thought spills over into chapter nine, he mentions the ultimate certainty of death, and again turns to a position of faith as the only remedy. In this chapter, Koheleth continues to follow the way of morality and wisdom. He sought to see the good that is in man but it did not bring him to any utopia. Instead he was in another blind alley. Without the oil of the Holy Spirit our morality becomes legalistic. Without the Wisdom and morality of the Word of God, people become “flakey”.
I can relate to this searching. In the early 1980’s, I began to seek out those who were in the prophetic revelation movement. However, in that Pentecostal culture, there was so little wisdom and morality, that I ran back into the Baptist church because I saw a steadfastness of morality in that denomination. I also chose that church for the education of my children because I decided that steadfastness and morality are necessary to soundness of the Spirit and of life. Out of that time of seeking, came the commission to start a church.
In this ministry, I have sought to have the Holy Spirit Gifts and Fruit as well as wisdom and morality. I cannot be disconnected from the prophetic. It is my modem to Heaven. Like the writer of Ecclesiastes, I have to say that without the moving of the Holy Ghost, morality and the wisdom of man is a blind alley. 8: 5-7: Whoso keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing; and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.”
Therefore he turned from wisdom to try mirth (8:15) but he had been there previously (2: 1-3). So he says again to make the most of this life because the ways of God are past finding out. (8:17): “Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labor too seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.” This friend is wisdom and should end the frustration of any man. It is the acceptance that the Lord is God. Blessed be the name of the Lord! The man of God can only assert what he knows is true, though all the evidence is against it.
Verse 12 is the answer of Faith. (8:12) “Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before Him.”
The preacher applies his energy to wisdom, even though God has concealed this from man. Wisdom is the answer to life’s mysteries.
In Chapter Nine, the Preacher continues his search for the meaning of life under the sun. Life has never been a respecter of persons. Sorrow and troubles overtake the good and bad alike.
(John 16:33)”These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In this world you will have trials and tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have over come the world.” This is the testimony of the Overcomer through the life and death of Jesus Christ.
At this point of the sermon, the Preacher has not come to the realization that there is life after death. He has not yet received the revelation of the triumph of Jesus Christ over death. He is saying that death is the end of all.
We know from the New Covenant that there is a life which is beyond the grave and, in that dimension of life, there is knowledge, there is reward, there is memory, and the injustices of this life will be rectified. We know, too, there is a distinction between the righteous and the unrighteous, the clean and the unclean. Fortunately this statement of despair is disproved at the end of the book, when the Preacher’s eyes are lifted above the sun.
Because the searcher could only see what was in this life and had no conception of a life to come, and seeing that to him the grave was the consummation and there was no future loss or gain, there was but one logical conclusion for the natural man. That was to have a good time while you can. This is the only hope an atheist and unsaved person have.
Solomon’s next reflection of life was its uncertainty. Man was not the controller of the affairs of life---Control was obviously somewhere else. Life is made up of times and seasons. Life and death is out of the control of man. We say a person is seasoned when they have walked through mahy seasons of life and proven the Word of the Lord and belief in Jesus Christ will take us through life.
One fate---death---comes to all men, good and bad alike (with this one difference, that the good are in Gods hands).
Finally one further evil is considered---the sin of ingratitude.
A poor man in his wisdom overcomes a strong and powerful king, and saves the city. Yet no one remembers him. Wisdom is better than strength and weapons of war. (9:16, 18).
The next section deals with Wisdom and folly.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
www.eastgateministries.com
Scripture from K.J.V.; Bibliography: Principles of Present Truth from Ecclesiastes by: Kelley Varner. Comments and conclusions are my own. and not meant to reflect the views of those from whom I have gleaned. We stream our messages weekly.
