(Just a few odds and ends and then, Lord willing, we will begin posting on Mark 1-8.)
My wife has had me reading, with her, Shade of His Hand, Oswald Chambers messages on Ecclesiastes. I’m sure I did not appreciate the emptiness of earthly existence as much as OC. He has a way of explaining it that ruthlessly pounds into me the message of Solomon, that “all is vanity!” In my personal reading today I came across the three passages above. They all were built on this vanity/emptiness.
· Ezek. 31:2 asks of the Pharaoh of Egypt, “whom are you like in your greatness?” Egypt was a mighty civilization. But Ezekiel prophesied that she was going to be brought low and would never recover her greatness. In Ezek. 31 Egypt is compared to a mighty “cedar of Lebanon,” beautiful, but eventually would fall. In Ezek. 32 Ezekiel prophesied that Egypt would end up in hell, along with previous “great” empires (Assyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, and Edom). Empires come and go. Vanity of vanities!
· Eccl. 7:21-22 advises a person not to be bothered when others curse them and speak ill of them. After all, Solomon reminds us, “you have cursed others.” People’s opinions come and go. It’s not that important. It’s vanity!
· Then we come to “the sermon on the flat place” (Lk. 6:17-49), not to be confused with “the sermon on the mount.” They are not the same. One significant difference is how each starts. The Mount Sermon begins with eight blessings; the Flat Place Sermon begins with four blessings and four curses. And while they have “seeming” similarities, they are different (in spite of our American guide in Israel who took us to a flat place on a mountainside up above the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee and told us that was where Jesus preached the one sermon).
o Here is the connection between Luke, Solomon and Ezekiel. Jesus calls “blessed” those who are at the bottom, if you will. It can’t get any worse. Any change will be for the better. He pronounces “woe” on those who are at the top. It doesn’t get any better. Any change will only take them downhill. There is a sense of “vanity.” None of these things, money, physical satisfaction, sorrow and people’s opinion of you, are the essence of life.
o Here is now the correction that Jesus brings into this “vanity.” It’s in v22: For the Son of Man’s sake. “Sake” is a purpose word. Jesus indicates that the focus on ourselves and our current situation, bad or good, will only leave us empty. What gives meaning is when our purpose is, “the Son of Man.” We live for His sake. I leave with you Luke 9:23-26 and Hebrews 12:1-2. And Rom. 12:1: I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
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