Scripture and Discernment

"So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun" (Eccl. 4:1-3). These sobering verses are just as 'inspired by God' as any other scriptures in the Bible (II Tim. 3:16). These things are simply a profound statement about the troublesome and adverse state that accompanies being in this life. The wisdom that God gave to Solomon was unparalleled, and he pulled absolutely no punches in his graphic and realistic description of the human existence, which is the book of Ecclesiastes. Of course no other writer in the Bible was contrary to his assessment, such as Job: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not" (Job 14:1,2). The men who wrote the scriptures weren't writing for our entertainment. They were writing real things that came from the heart and the mind of God, which we need very much to be admonished by in this short and troubled lifetime that we have in this world.

So we've established that this life is short, uncertain, and full of trouble. But Jesus came here to provide for us the ultimate remedy for our troubles in this life, and the hope and promise of everlasting life to boot. That's where things get really, really good. Whenever I write with any length about the writings of Solomon, and particularly Ecclesiastes, I always end up in John chapter 4 with Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob. Reason being that Jesus told that woman explicitly of the only cure for the ills that Solomon wrote about. Solomon's theme in the book of Ecclesiastes of "all is vanity," means that nothing in this life lasts, very much including this life. And although Solomon and the writers of the old testament scriptures knew that there will be a resurrection of the dead and an afterlife, none of them had ever tasted of the actual substance of that resurrection and afterlife. That is where the discussion between Jesus and the woman at the well comes in: "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink... Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans...

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (Jn. 4:7-15). It didn't take this woman very long to perceive that Jesus was talking about some really good stuff, even though she didn't have a clue what it was he was really saying. She was right though. It was really good stuff. Still is in fact, and it always will be. Jesus came to impart the one eternal element to mankind that would solve the "all is vanity" problem once and for all. That element is "the eternal Spirit," the very life substance of God and his Son (Heb. 9:14; Rom. 8:2; Jn. 5:26). Being without that eternal substance for four thousand years left a real thirst in the soul of mankind that could not be quenched.

Jesus suffered a cruel death and rose again to give us the remedy for our thirst, as well as for all of our troubles. John the Baptist, the lone forerunner who told why Jesus was coming, said it in plain terms: "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mk. 1:7,8). That's correct my friends, having the very eternal, divine life of God was what we needed; and Jesus paid the greatest of all costs to be able to baptize us in that life! The apostle Paul made it clear that the baptism of Jesus is what puts us in Christ, as well as quenches the thirst of our soul: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). The experience of being baptized with the holy Ghost was what Jesus was referring to in the following passage, saying that everyone who believes on him would receive it: "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.]" (Jn. 7:37-39).

As for the cure for the troubled state of this life, Jesus took care of that with the same remedy: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; which the world cannot receive, because it seeth it not, neither knoweth it: but ye know it; for it dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (Jn. 14:15-18). In saying that he would come to them, he was again speaking of the Spirit, because the scripture tells us, "Now the Lord IS that Spirit" (II Cor. 3:17). Having this 'Comforter' is the supernatural sustenance and healing for the inner man with all of his pain and grief that accompanies the afflicted nature of this world we live in. I can personally attest to the fact that the pain and griefs of this life could have buried me many times over, had it not been for my ultimate Comforter, which is Christ by means of his Spirit. So it is when we are baptized with the holy Ghost with the inseparable sign of speaking with other tongues, that we actually receive Christ; and that is our doorway to the cure for every ill known to mankind, up to and including death. All I can say is Jesus did it right. Solomon can rest in assurance now that those who are oppressed DO have a Comforter. God bless.