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Ecclesiastes Chapter 8
Keep the King's Command
- Ecclesiates 8:1 Who
is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a
thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness
of his face shall be changed.
- 2 I counsel thee to
keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of
God.
- 3 Be not hasty to go
out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth
whatsoever pleaseth him.
- 4 Where the word of
a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest
thou?
When the king serves God, we are to
obey the king's commandments. Show due respect for the authority he
has under God. God ordains and sets up governments. When those in
power do right, it is a blessing. When leaders get corrupt, justice
and fairness disappears. Wicked rulers do not care for the suffering
and hardship of those they rule over. They only care about
controlling them.
Usually politics causes unfair and biased news, judges that can be
bought or threatened, and many other things that are corrupt. Happy
is the nation that has just and fair leadership.
- Ecclesiastes 8:5
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a
wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
- 6 Because to every
purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man
is great upon him.
- 7 For he knoweth not
that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
- 8 There is no man
that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither
hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in
that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given
to it.
- 9 All this have I
seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under
the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to
his own hurt.
Judgment does eventually come upon
unjust and evil rulers. They will not get by with their sin or die
in peace. God sees all that is done on the earth. All the wickedness
we are seeing now, will pass away. Jesus will return. All will stand
before God. However, we don't have to wait for that day of judgment
to experience the peace that God brings to those that trust in Him
and receive His plan of salvation. We can be saved for all eternity
through faith in Jesus.
Those Who Fear God Will Do Well
- Ecclesiastes 8:10
And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the
place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where
they had so done: this is also vanity.
- 11 Because sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the
heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- 12 Though a sinner
do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely
I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear
before him:
Sometimes it may seem that the wicked
get away with their sin but in this we do not see the same end as
God sees. All this doesn't have to be. We can walk in the fear of
God and do His will thereby escaping the fate all those that reject
God will face.
Our God has something prepared for
those that do not walk after the ways of the world but who trust in
Him.
The end will be so great for those that
trust in God but not for those that ignore His salvation.
- Revelation 22:14
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates
into the city.
- 15 For without
are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Man Cannot Know God's Ways
-
Ecclesiastes 8:14 There is
a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men,
unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked;
again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to
the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
The way we see things now without the
Holy Spirit revealing to us how things really are, it sometimes
seems as if bad things happen to good people and bad people
sometimes have it good.
Actually in reality those that trust in
the Lord are going to have an eternity of peace, love, joy and
gladness forever. The wicked that reject God's way of salvation,
that do not repent of their evil ways are headed for an eternity in
torment with no way out. Many times those who do evil will
experience judgment of some kind before they die. The law of reaping
and sowing sometimes catch up with them before they leave this life
and enter eternity. When a just person enters eternity, his or her
suffering ends forever. The ones that do not repent and die in their
sins will face judgment in eternity as well as on the earth.
- Ecclesiastes 8:15
Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under
the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that
shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which
God giveth him under the sun.
- 16 When I applied
mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done
upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night
seeth sleep with his eyes:)
- 17 Then I beheld all
the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is
done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out,
yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think
to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
In our flesh and our limited
understanding, this is the way we might see things, yet we have many
promises from God through Jesus Christ now that can give us
understanding.
- James 1:5 If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
- 6 But let him
ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a
wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
- 7 For let not
that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
- 8 A double
minded man is unstable in all his ways.
And more things explained here:
- 1Corinthians 13:1
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have
not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal.
- 2 And though I
have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all
knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
- 3 And though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body
to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
- 4 Charity
suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
- 5 Doth not
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily
provoked, thinketh no evil;
- 6 Rejoiceth not
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
- 7 Beareth all
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things.
- 8 Charity never
faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be
knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- 9 For we know in
part, and we prophesy in part.
- 10 But when that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be
done away.
- 11 When I was a
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as
a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
- 12 For now we
see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know
in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- 13 And now
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of
these is charity.
That is the goal we need to seek. Perfect
love that casts out fear and leads us to trust in Jesus our Lord.
Through Him we can have the wisdom that is more that the wisdom of
man and one cannot learn it in school or a university but through
receiving the Holy Spirit and studying the written word of God. This
is the wisdom we need. DC
Ecclesiastes
Chapter 9
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