The One Eternal Element

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh… All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit… For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow… Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured 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.” These verses of scripture are taken from the first and second chapters of the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written by Solomon the son of David, in his old age. Of all the truths that God has allowed me to see and understand over many years, none have been as continually haunting as the sobering truth contained in the book of Ecclesiastes. In order to understand the book of Ecclesiastes and what it’s about, one only need understand the meaning of the word ‘vanity,’ and the phrase 'vexation of spirit.’ The biblical word 'vanity’ comes from the Hebrew word 'hebel,’ and it means “a breath, vapor, futile, fleeting, empty, transitory [passing away without continuance].” The phrase 'vexation of spirit’ literally translates as “chasing the wind.” So the point of the whole book is that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this life lasts. NOTHING!! The most ironic thing oddly enough, is that almost everyone lives their lives as though EVERYTHING will last. Most people are running to and fro everyday with blinders fully set over their eyes, because they don’t want to face the reality that nothing they are doing and nobody that they are with is going to last.

Friend, I have news for you today: This is a very, very tragic world that we are in. Solomon was full of God’s wisdom and knowledge, and as he confessed, it occasioned a great deal of sorrow and grief in his life. Why? Simply because it was difficult for him to fully enjoy anything or anyone because he was constantly reminded of the stark reality that neither himself, or what he was doing or who he was doing it with was going to be here for long. If we live for this empty, futile, and temporal world, then we may as well be chasing the wind and trying to catch it and store it somewhere for ourselves. It is of note to add that nobody who has ever chased the wind has caught up with it. It always gets away. So it is with this life, whether it be childhood, youth, family, home, money, work, leisure, life, or anything else; it will always manage to get away from us at one point or another. There is some good news however, and that is the good news that Jesus died and rose again to deliver to us from a life of vanity. He told his followers ahead of time of what he was going to send back to them after he went away: “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. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (Jn. 14:15-18). God only knows that we needed comfort, and a whole lot of it. Thanks be to God for the Comforter that Jesus has sent back to us. What we needed was POWER to lift us out of sin and above the rigors and futility of the never ending cycle of loss that we experience in this life. According to Jesus that is exactly what the Comforter imparts to us: “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence… But ye shall receive POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:4,5,8). Power indeed! Power and rest, which no one but Jesus can give us (Mat. 11:28-30).

Were it not for the cleansing, uplifting, renewing, and comforting power of the holy Ghost in my life, I would have died of grief and heaviness of heart many times over. MANY TIMES! I’ve had to learn all along the way, as everyone does, that none of the things or people that we cherish and hold dear to our hearts, can last. I’ve had to learn, as all do, that often times things simply do not work out like we hoped they would. It can be crushing, and it can be devastating; and if we are not abiding in the Comforter, which in fact is Christ himself; we will most assuredly be smashed beneath the weight of it all. Sometimes we can be smashed even having the Comforter, but thanks be to God we can be revived if we simply refuse to forsake the hope that is in Jesus. The apostle Paul had an amazing, though sobering testimony about these things: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us” (II Cor. 1:8-10). Sometimes that’s just the way it is, but the one thing we can be certain of is that Jesus DOES last, and his love and power toward us will never fail or pass away (Heb. 13:5). Not only so, but he has also given us the promise of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life with him. That is the hope of the Gospel, and that promise alone is the one thing that we have in this life that we can maintain a grip on, because it will always be waiting ahead of us, and it will never end. When it’s all said and done, we simply must look forward to that one eternal reality, and not look back on the vapor that is this life (Philip. 3:13-15). So while it is a very sad fact that nothing in this life can last, it is equally as glad a fact that there are greater things in store for us if we are faithful in holiness till the end; and those things will most assuredly last forever without end! (Mat. 24:13; Heb. 3:6,14; I Cor. 2:9) We must keep ourselves empowered by the comfort of the holy Ghost through faith in Jesus, and remain pure till the end; so that we do not fail to obtain the reward that is laid up for us (Acts 9:31; Jn. 7:38,39; I Jn. 3:2,3; Heb. 4:1,11; Heb. 12:14; Col. 1:5; I Pet. 1:3-5). Amen.