Passage: Ecclesiastes 8
The Big Idea
True wisdom changes a person. It makes the face shine and softens a hard expression. Moses’ face shone for a while and then faded, but in Christ the veil is removed and we receive a glory that never fades. Under the sun we can’t control or understand much. But when we add Jesus to the equation, we see that He is in control and He has done all the work we needed.
A Shining Face (Ecclesiastes 8:1)
Who is like the wise? Wisdom makes a person’s face shine and changes its sternness.
True wisdom makes a person more gentle and kind. It transforms them. (Of course, light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people seem bright until you hear them speak.)
Shiny Moses
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, his face shone so brightly that the people were afraid to come near him. So he wore a veil, removing it only when he went in to speak with the Lord (Exodus 34:29-35).
God gave him that glory. But it only lasted a while, then started to fade. Paul explains that Moses wore the veil so the people wouldn’t see the glory fading away (2 Corinthians 3:12-16). It was a glory he couldn’t sustain on his own. And to this day a veil lies over hearts when the Old Covenant is read. But when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
God has given us something better than Moses had: a never-fading glory, true wisdom, a life of real value. Jesus does the work of transforming us. He removes the veil so we can see what’s true. He produces His life and glory inside us, and we don’t have to fear it will fade. Moses got a foretaste of what God intends for us every day: His life planted inside us.
And we, with unveiled faces, are being transformed into His image from glory to glory by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Living Under Kings (Ecclesiastes 8:2-5)
Obey the king’s command. Don’t rush out of his presence or stand up for something evil. His word has power, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
This world is full of people in authority, some good, many not. (Why did God make pigs before politicians? He needed the practice.)
We’re not in control of who is in control. But we do know who is really in control. We can live humbly before others and trust God to take care of us.
We Are Not in Control (Ecclesiastes 8:6-9)
There’s a time and a way for everything, though human misery is heavy. No one knows what will happen. No one has power to hold back the spirit or to escape the day of death. No one is released from that war.
This is a huge revelation of real wisdom. Under the sun:
- You can’t stop bad things from happening.
- You can’t force good things to happen.
- You’re going to die.
- You can’t stop a war.
- Bad people will do bad things.
- No one saw the last global pandemic coming.
Solomon says we can’t know or change much. But when the veil is removed and we add Jesus to the equation, we can see more. He is in control of everything. He can redeem bad things and bring about good things. He can take a spiritually dead life like mine and transform it by His creative power. And He knows me, loves me, calls me by name and asks me to humbly trust Him.
The Wicked and the God-Fearing (Ecclesiastes 8:10-13)
Solomon saw the wicked buried with honor and then forgotten (Ecclesiastes 8:10). Because judgment isn’t carried out quickly, people’s hearts are set on doing evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
Yet he knows it will go well with those who fear God, and not with the wicked, whose days are like a shadow (Ecclesiastes 8:12-13).
Fearing God doesn’t mean being terrified of Him. It means walking humbly, knowing He’s always there and always in control. A healthy reverence.
The wicked waste their lives like a shadow with no substance, because they don’t walk with God. Evil doesn’t pay off. God sees.
If you want true substance, it’s found in God. Jesus gives us His glory, and the Hebrew word for glory carries the idea of weight. Steak, not cotton candy. We had that glory in Eden. Jesus brings it back.
Don’t Freak Out (Ecclesiastes 8:14-15)
Sometimes the righteous get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. You won’t always see the results of a good or evil life in this life.
So Solomon commends enjoyment: eat, drink and be glad in your work during the days God gives you.
God is in control. Eternity is where it counts. So don’t freak out. Trust Him. Enjoy what you can: your family, your work, your blessings. Let God handle every detail.
A Well Too Deep (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17)
Solomon tried, day and night, to understand all the work of God under the sun. He couldn’t. Even the wise can’t find it out.
We’re still discovering new things. In a single recent year, one science academy described over 200 new species: ants, crickets, fish, geckos, sea slugs, spiders, snakes, a seahorse, a sand dollar and more. Solomon wanted to understand how everything works, and how God works. He found it impossible, like a well too deep to find the bottom, or a painting covered by a veil.
In Christ, the Veil Is Removed
In Jesus we can see what God has been doing all along. Every prophecy, every promise, all the work He planned is completed in Jesus. He promised Him, and cared for a special people for thousands of years to prepare the way for Him.
When Jesus came, He did all the work we needed and could never do. We needed a Redeemer, one Person who could pay the debt we’d racked up. How much? Basically infinite: the price of every sin and rebellion against God, all laid on His back.
He did the work. He earned the paycheck. And then He spent His whole paycheck to redeem you and me. He became poor so we could become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He poured out His life so we could be filled with it.
Anyone who sees this has been drawn by God Himself, because He loves you and chose you. And He wants to keep working in you.
So What Do We Do?
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. He made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
- Accept the work Jesus did for you. That’s justification: declared righteous.
- Let Him keep working in you. That’s sanctification: transformed from glory to glory.
- Share it with everyone you meet. Not telling people to pay for their sins, but telling them Jesus already paid, and pleading with them to believe and receive His grace.
Grace Takeaway
Under the sun, life is a veiled painting and a bottomless well. In Christ, the veil is gone. You can see that God is in control, that Jesus finished the work, and that His glory is growing in you and will never fade.
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