A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on October 8, 2023.
Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:9–14).[1]
When we began this series, I claimed that next to the Song of Solomon and Revelation, Ecclesiastes may be the most misunderstood book in the Bible. In my opinion the misunderstanding is due in part to the Hebrew poetry and the proverbial structure but primarily to the philosophical nature of the book. Unlike biblical narrative, Ecclesiastes must be read slowly, carefully, contemplatively. It takes time, which is why I’ve used 18 Sundays to preach it. Perhaps I needed more but certainly not less.
But today we conclude with, what Solomon calls, “The end of the matter,” the summation of what he began with,
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
And indeed life is, as the Hebrew word translated “vanity” means, short, a breath, a mist, and then it’s gone. James reminds us of the same, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Does this truth rob life of its meaning, or does it deepen it? The answer is found not in life itself but for what or for whom you are living it.
Given the Truth
Switching back to third-person, as he began Ecclesiastes, Solomon describes himself as wise. It’s not a humble brag. Solomon prayed for wisdom and knowledge, and God granted his request, along with unpetitioned “riches, possessions, and honor,” unlike any king before or after (2 Chron. 1:12). And the wisdom God gave Solomon was not a secret but was witnessed and acknowledged by Israel, who “stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice” (1 Kgs. 3:28). What Israel experienced so also the nations heard, as the wisdom of Solomon was renown throughout the world (2 Chron. 9:23).
To Israel’s benefit, what God had given Solomon he shared. In fact, his chosen title in Ecclesiastes, Qohelet, translated “the Preacher,” implies his role as the proclaimer of wisdom. Willing to share his wisdom, he taught primarily through proverbs, “weighing and studying and arranging [them] with great care” (12:9). To weigh is to consider carefully and practice right judgment in teaching truth. To study, or search out, is to dig deeply and seek diligently the truth and how to rightly convey it. To arrange, or literally make straight, is to organize, even systematize, to deliver the truth “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40) through “delightful,” or fitting, words to be heard or read and understood.
What Solomon delivered in Ecclesiastes, as well as Songs and Proverbs, involved the careful literary craft of a wise and gifted sage, who was also a sinner like you and me. The argument I have heard made against studying and applying the wisdom of Ecclesiastes is primarily based on Solomon’s moral failures. But cannot the same be said of Abraham the liar, Moses the murderer, and David the adulterer? Cannot the same be said of Peter the denier and Paul the persecutor? And yet, God “chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Cor. 1:27-28), and in his infinite wisdom God chose to deliver his holy Word through the means of sinful man. Though God uses the unique gifting and style of each writer, as the apostle Peter explains, “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21), delivering his means of grace through recipients of his sovereign grace. Our canon of Scripture is a collection of writings by various sheep but “given by one Shepherd” (12:11), “by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life.”[2]
And so, what we have received in Ecclesiastes is not the antics of an angry agitator, nor the mumblings of a mortal man, but the Word of God, which is “perfect, reviving the soul … sure, making wise the simple … right, rejoicing the heart … pure, enlightening the eyes … clean, enduring forever … true, and righteous altogether” (Ps. 19:7-9). And Solomon knew it, as “The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth” (12:10), and through them God works, teaching, reproving, correcting, and training us in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17) with the goads, the cattle prods, of his Spirit’s direction. The child of God is not redeemed and then left to figure it out from there, but we have been given his special revelation, which “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Though our feelings are fickle and our circumstances uncertain, the Word of God is “firmly fixed” like driven nails (12:11), ready and secure.
This cannot be said of any other book, regardless how noble. Though there are many good books, they are all subordinate to the Word of God, and will pass away. But though the “grass withers, [and] the flower fades … the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8). Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35) and prayed to the Father for us, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Let us then believe the truth and be wary beyond it.
Believe the Truth
As we grow in our knowledge and understanding of God’s Word, we will recognize two themes consistently in the wisdom books: the fear of God and obedience to him. Solomon uses both here, “Fear God and keep his commandments” (12:13). In fact, he argues that this is the “end of the matter,” the purpose for which he has preached, and the “whole duty of man.” But what does this mean? Is Solomon advocating salvation by works, a legalistic admonition for law-keeping to be disregarded by those redeemed from “the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13). As Christians, have we wasted our time studying this Old Testament book?
Let’s consider this more carefully, beginning first with the last verse: “God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (12:14). This is not the first time Solomon has reminded the reader of this imminent certainty, but he states it last that it be first in our consideration. The apostle Paul echoes this certainty also revealing who will serve as judge, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). So, the question is not whether you and I will stand to be judged, but what will be the outcome of it.
Second, as Judgment Day is certain, Solomon says, “Fear God and keep his commandments” (12:13). If this is the “end of the matter” of the entire book, we’d better take his imperative seriously rather than dismiss it! But often the word fear is confused with terror, often classified as an emotion in contradiction to the love of God, and keeping God’s commandments is often considered an infringement upon Christian liberty. But when we look back on the life of Abraham, for example, we gain a clearer understanding of what Solomon means.
Think back with me: who was Abraham? He was a man called by God. He was a man God promised to bless and through whom “all the families of the earth” would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). He was a man with whom God made a covenant and promised him an heir. He was a man who by God’s grace believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. He was a man called a friend of God. He was a man who was faithful to obey God, even to the point of sacrificing his only son. And he was a man to whom God said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gen. 22:12). Abraham was a man who feared God and sought to obey him, precisely as Solomon advocates. He who was justified as righteous by faith, lived it out, fearing God and keeping his commandments.
This means that what Solomon advocates is exactly what we need to hear and in fact everything we need to hear, the end of the matter, indeed. Solomon is no more advocating a works-based religion than the apostle Paul, who explains,
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness … But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Rom. 4:2-5, 23-25).
So, for God to say to Abraham, “I know that you fear God,” and to acknowledge his obedience is the equivalent of New Testament faith and living out that faith in obedience to Christ’s commands. Or, as Jesus put it succinctly, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
This means that for all the Old Testament saints who looked in faith, like Abraham, to the fulfillment of God’s promise in Christ, and all the New Testament saints who look back to the fulfillment of God’s promise in Christ, on Judgment Day we will be judged not by our enemy but our beloved Savior, not for works that save but faith that shows itself evident in obedience to him, who loved us and gave himself for us (Gal. 2:20). As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb. 9:27-28). And we do not eagerly wait cowered in terror of his coming but waiting in anticipation as a bride for her groom, trusting, loving, and obeying him as our Beloved.
Live the Truth
This is the “end of the matter,” the right response to everything Solomon has written, but also, as he adds, “the whole duty of man.” But this translated phrase, “the whole duty of man,” can be misleading, as we tend to fixate on the word “duty” and think “requirement,” when a better rendering would be, “for this is the all of man.” As Benjamin Shaw explains, “The idea is that this is what makes man whole. This is what fulfils man.”[3] Think about this way: If our “chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever,”[4] then life lived by faith and in obedience to his commands gives meaning to life and gives God the glory.
In fact, this informs every aspect of our lives. If I was made in God’s image yet fallen in sin and separated from my loving Creator and holy God, if my only hope in reconciliation with God is my works, then I am without hope and my life is for nothing. But God …
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:4-10).
If you desire to live a meaningful life, let this truth be held in your heart flowing out into your life. This is the “all” of man, for Christ is our “all.” The end of the matter? But God, indeed!
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] “The Confession of Faith” 1.2, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 3.
[3] Benjamin Shaw, Ecclesiastes: Life in a Fallen World (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2019), 155.
[4] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 1, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 355.
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