Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to Ecclesiastes.
Last week I preached my first sermon on Ecclesiastes. In it I tried to give you all the lay of the land in order to set you up well to get the most out of our time in this book. To that end, there were three main parts to the sermon. First, concerning the author, “the Preacher,” I said that the book is purposefully anonymous, certainly in the voice of King Solomon, and ultimately from God (12:11). The second section concerned the main themes of Ecclesiastes. Those are vanity (usually referring to mystery), the sovereignty of God (which is true, but also makes the mystery of life even more mysterious), and under the sun (life on earth, under the curse). And third, I mentioned that the main message of Ecclesiastes is that all of life appears mysterious, but there is more than meets the eye. I attempted to sum all of all of that up with the simple phrase: Vanity below, glory above”.
This morning we’ll get into the text itself. More specifically, we’ll get into some of the details of the vanity observed by the Preacher under the sun.
The big idea of this passage is that there is great mystery in understanding how life can have real meaning when there is nothing new under the sun and everything comes back around again. Above the sun, though, we’re able to see that God is making all things new and the rhythms of this world are profound means of grace. The main takeaway is to enter into the rhythms of God’s design as the means of grace they are.
THERE’S NOTHING IS NEW UNDER THE SUN
The main vanity banner over this section is the simple fact that no matter what we do, life just keeps moving on in cyclical fashion. In that way, in a certain under-the-sun sense, all of life is a treadmill; always moving, always working, not really getting anywhere. The Preacher insists that our own lives and bodies and nature all point to the around-and-around-and-around way things work. There is nothing truly new under the sun. Everything that we experience is simply a “coming back around” of older stuff.
Consider Your Life (3-4, 11)
For many people, two of the main areas of life are work and family. The Preacher invites us to consider the cyclical vanity of each.
Consider your work (3).
3 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
We spend so many hours, over so many days, for so many years working. Sometimes we do so for pay and sometimes for free. But what do we really gain from any of it?
The treadmill runs constantly and quickly at our house. We cut buckthorn, spray the stems, and burn the branches; only to have it pop up in another location soon after. I spend a couple of hours mowing the grass every week or so and it just grows back. We shovel the snow, only to have it snow again. We cut vines, only to have them spring up ten feet away. We plant new trees each year, only to have emerald ash boar and oak wilt take out half of the existing trees. We pick the Japanese beetles off our raspberry bushes and apple trees only to have them come back with a vengeance the next day.
How about your work? I know several people at Grace who get paid to experience the same kind of cycle that we do at our house. I know others of you who work in the tech industry. You generate report after report after report; or write code, fix code, write code, fix code; or install software, address the new issues the new software creates, maintain the software, and then start all over. Others experience the same cycle driving packages around; fill up a truck, deliver the contents of the truck, go home, and start all over again tomorrow; always more packages, never less. Moms, how many diapers have you changed, messes have you cleaned up, and exact same instructions have you issued, day after day after day. And on and on and on.
Very little of what we produce under the sun lasts for long and none of it lasts forever. The best of our efforts require constant maintenance and most require regular replacement.
And what is gained in all that cyclical labor? A paycheck to buy stuff, which requires another paycheck to maintain the stuff. A paycheck to buy enough food and drink to eat until our next paycheck comes to buy more food and drink. A paycheck to go on a vacation to rest up so we can go back to work to save up for our next vacation. A paycheck to save up for kids’ college, so they can get a job, to save up for their kids to go to college. A paycheck to allow us to get into a bigger house, with more room, only to require more paychecks to fill those rooms and repair more things that break in them.
Under the sun, our labor is a treadmill that never stops and never really gets anywhere.
Consider your family (4).
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
Older folks, look around the room. Unless you’re behind a pillar, it should be pretty easy to see that there are several pregnant women. I’m might seems otherwise, but on the grand scale, it wasn’t that long ago when your home was your mother’s womb. Likewise, it wasn’t that long ago that you were struggling to learn how to walk and talk; run and read; play sports and make friends. Look around the room again. You’ll see a gaggle of distracted, naïve, invincible teenagers. You were just there too. And then came early adulthood where everything was new and exciting and a bit scarry. Most of you dated, married, and had kids, then older kids, then empty nest, and then your kids had kids. Your body slowed down, retirement neared, retirement past. Soon, most of your life was behind you. And then, one day, as the Preacher will soon explain, you will return to dust even as the cycle of life continues on without interruption without you, just as it has for generation after generation after generation.
Very few of us have clear memories of just three generations before us—our great grandparents. Almost none of us know anything significant at all about the generation before that, much less the hundreds of generations that we came from before that. As hard as it might be to hear, in 75 years, the memory of nearly all of us will be basically gone from the earth. And around and around it goes, even as it has gone and will continue to go.
That’s the essence of the final verse in our passage.
11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.
Under the sun, our families are in a cycle that never stops and never really gets anywhere.
Consider the World Around You (5-7)
It’s not just our lives though that run on a cycle. Consider the world around you as well, says the Preacher.
Consider the sun (5).
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.
Day after day after day we look to the east to see the sun come up, and it does. The angle varies throughout the year, but day after day and month after month, we watch it move across the sky toward the west only to see it eventually disappear behind the horizon. And then it begins again. Always moving, never getting anywhere. Lap after lap after lap.
Consider the wind (6).
6 The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
The wind functions in much the same way. It is always blowing and never getting anywhere. Even as we watch the jet stream on a weather website, there is no end to the cycle. The arrows move to some degree, but eventually it always ends where it started.
Consider the rivers (7). They too prove the Preacher’s point.
7 All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
The sun, the wind, and the rivers of earth—nature itself—testifies to the cyclical nature of the world under the sun. In the Preacher’s context, Jerusalem, the Jordan River poured gallon after gallon after gallon into the Dead Sea. Day and night, week and month, year and decade of water being added to the Sea. And yet, although it is always being filled, it is never full.
Evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection; the water cycle is…cyclical and the Preacher felt it.
Consider Your Own Body (8-10)
Your life, the world around you, and even your very own body is a part of an endless cycle. Example after example from the most familiar aspects of our lives are meant to drive home the vanity of things. They are meant to help us feel what the Preacher felt. They are meant to give words and meaning to what we’ve all felt.
Consider your eyes and ears (8b).
…the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Like rivers into lakes, our eyes and ears are constantly being filled, but are never full. We scroll on our phones and scroll on our phones and scroll on our phones, but our eyes are never filled. We travel to place after place after place to fill our eyes with the wonders of the world, but they never saturate. Our eyes are constantly moving around, looking here and there at this and that, always trying to take in more, for every waking hour, but they never get enough.
The same thing is true with our ears. We are constantly looking for new conversations, new music, new sounds, and new silence. Continually those things come, but we always seek more. Always more input, never full.
Verses 8a and 9-10 sort of sum all of this up and invite us to join the Preacher in breathing a sigh of tiredness as a result.
8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it…
It’s hard to explain how exhausting it can be to stay on this cycle for long. You get up, you work hard at things that vary in levels of inefficiency, you try to produce and maintain a good attitude and healthy relationships, you battle sin and discouragement, you say the same thing to your kids for the 1000th time or wish you could say the same thing to your kids for the 1001st time now that they’re all gone, you make meals and do laundry, you make a mess and clean up, you get dirty and take a shower, you try to find some rest through some form of entertainment and go to bed, only to wake up and do it all again the next day.
Indeed, the Preacher says,
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.
Not only is your life like that, but that’s what life has been like since (almost) the beginning. And not only has this been the experience of every human being of all time, but it is true of everything else in creation as well.
What is new under the sun? Nothing. What about the internet? That’s just a means of storing and communicating information; something that has been done since the start. What about SpaceX? That’s just a means of transportation. Mankind has always been discovering new ways to travel faster and further. What about the new movie or album or song that just came out? Those are just new ways of informing or entertaining or celebrating. Under the sun, it’s all just rearranging something old.
At the end of all of this, the Preacher’s main point is this: Just look around and you’ll see what I’m saying. It’s everywhere. It’s even in you. It just doesn’t seem to matter what you do, since everything just circles back around again at some point. You will do what you will do, it will be over and forgotten soon, and very little will be different because of any of it.
Again, the thing I love most about Ecclesiastes, and the thing I think is most helpful for us, is the honest way in which it speaks of this. All of that is true. The world is like that. We are like that. Most of us are either too afraid to admit it or we’re too overwhelmed by it to think clearly about it. But life under the sun really does works like this. It just does. And as long as we look for understanding and meaning under the sun, all we will know is the mystery and frustration and weariness .
ABOVE THE SUN, EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT
So, what are we to do about all of this? Is that it? Do we just suck it up and plow forward? Do we just pretend not to notice? Do we simply accept the mystery and apparent futility of the cycle?
The Preacher’s initial question was, “What do we gain from all our labor?”. That is, what do we gain from working hard under the sun in order to gain the things the world has to offer? Jesus’ answer is: Nothing. In fact, Jesus said that even if we gained the whole world through our labor, it would still be nothing (Matt 16:26).
The curse of sin means that not only is vanity all there is under the sun, it also means that it’s the best there will ever be. Things only gets worse as the full measure of the curse of sin comes to fruition after death.
But Grace, as I shared last week, and as so many of you know so well, there is more to reality than that which is under the sun. And in that way, there is more available to us than unsolved mystery.
The great doxology of Romans reads (16:25-27), “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”
The good news of Jesus is that the mystery is solved! So what does that mean for the things we just considered? It means at least two significant things: There is newness above the sun and God has infused the cycle with grace.
There Is Newness Above the Sun (Psalm 113:4-6; Isaiah 43:19; Jeremiah 31:31; Ezekiel 36:26; Luke 22:20; Revelation 21:1)
In the first illustration I gave last week, I suggested that the idea of life under the sun is like flying in an airplane in or under the cloud line on a rainy, foggy, gloomy day. Looking out the window, it’s hard to make out anything and harder still to make sense of whatever you see. Everything is veiled and hard to recognize and understand.
Much of the Preacher’s perspective is just like that. He’s telling the truth, but from a very limited perspective. Everything is as he says it is, but only sort of.
But I also mentioned last week that once the airplane climbs above the clouds, everything is different. Below the clouds it seems as if all there is, is clouds and fog and rain. Above the clouds, however, the sky is blue and the sun is shing over an expanse that is unimaginably greater than the cloud cover of the cloudiest day.
The distance between the earth and the clouds is around 9,000’. That’s a lot of rain and fog and gloom to take in. But the distance between the clouds and the sun is around 90,000,000 miles. That’s a whole lot more sun and clear sky. To be clear, all the fog and confusion and mystery of life under the sun is .000002% (five zeros) of the clarity and light above the sun.
Grace, please hear me here: The glorious work of God is immeasurably greater than the mystery of our experience. However confusing and frustrating and futile life can seem (and be), God is working the greatest good in all of it. Knowing that and believing the promises of God in Christ surrounding that is what it means to live above the sun and make sense of and find meaning and blessing in the cyclical nature of things.
Psalm 113:4-6 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! 5 Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, 6 who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?
In our passage for this morning, the Preacher highlighted the cyclical nature of things and the fact that because of it, there is nothing new under the sun. For us to see these things rightly, and to live joyfully in them, we need the Lord’s perspective, who sees from on high. And the first thing this does for us is help us to see that while there is nothing new under the sun, that is not the case above the sun.
Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…
Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you
Luke 22:20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
What cannot be done or seen under the sun is ordinary work above the sun. Every frustration and weariness named by the Preacher is overcome and overwhelmed when we grasp what God is doing in it.
This means that your every report, diaper change, package delivered, code fixed, conversation had, lesson taught, and lawn mowed has meaning and significance in Jesus. It is all being used by God as a significant part of the newness He is continually working! Be amazed and energized by this, Grace.
But there’s more. Not only is there newness above the sun, there is grace in the cycle on earth.
There is Grace in the Cycle (2 Peter 3:4; Colossians 3:23-24; Galatians 6:9; Hebrews 12:3; Acts 2:38-39; Psalm 19:1-2, 113:3, 104:3-4, 147:18; Lamentations 3:22-23)
In the New Testament, Peter affirms the Preacher’s cyclical observation. “…ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation…” (2 Peter 3:4).
A second significant aspect of God’s perspective concerning the cyclical nature of things on earth is that rather than wearisomeness, for those who have access to God’s above-the-sun perspective, in His Word, illuminated by His Spirit, through faith in His Son, there is amazing grace in it.
The Preacher invited us to consider our work, our family, the sun, the wind, the rivers, and our eyes and ears.
Of the cyclical nature of our work, we’re told,
Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Galatians 6:9 (2 Thessalonians 3:13) …let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted…
Again, this really does mean that doing the cyclical work of changing your 1000th diaper of your baby or answering the 1000th question of your grandkid or delivering packages day after day or writing code to fix your code to fix your code or cleaning up messes over and over or praying for your unbelieving child for the third decade or sharing the gospel with your neighbor for the 10th time, is good and that there is grace in the repetition.
Of the cyclical nature of our family, of the generations, we’re told,
Acts 2:38-39 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
God has a people from each generation and the cyclical nature of life gives us the chance to proclaim the gospel to them that they might be forgiven in God’s perfect timing.
Of the cyclical nature of the sun and sky, we’re told,
Psalm 19:1-2 (113:3) The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
The rotations of the heavenly bodies are all meant to remind us of the unending, unwavering glory of God.
Of the cyclical nature of the wind and water, we’re told,
104:3-4 (147:18) He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; 4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
Since the power and glory of God are without limit and since they fill the earth, something needs to be able to continually carry it continually and everywhere, over and over. The cycle of the wind and water were designed for that. Every time you see a stream, ever flowing but never ending, remember the glory of God.
What’s more, within the cycle and rhythm of God, we’re promised,
Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
The sun does what it does, by God’s design, as a means of delivering mercy to God’s people continually.
Particular grace as a gathered people on the Lord’s Day each week.
The cyclical nature of God’s design brings renewal, refreshment, and ministry as we participate in the Lord’s Supper in the rhythm of our gathering.
The cycle of each new year brings another chance to remember and celebrate the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus (Christmas and Easter).
The dawn of each new generation is a reminder of the new birth that is ours in Jesus.
And on and on.
How awesome is our God who confounds the wise and proud under the sun and reveals His wisdom and grace and glory to the humble in Christ, taking us above the clouds to see what He is doing.
CONCLUSION
There is a seemingly never-ending cycle in this world. It impacts every aspect of our lives. The Preacher highlights the fact that there is nothing new under the sun and, therefore, all things seem mysterious, futile, wearisome, repetitive, and finite. But in Christ, by the Spirit, and through the Word, we are given an above-the-sun perspective—God’s perspective—on all of that. And from that perspective we can see that God is truly making all things new and that there is amazing grace in the cycle and rhythm. Such is the mystery that had been kept hidden for (cyclical) ages and generations, but has now been revealed to us in Jesus.