Behind the Scenes of Biblical Scenes
Study Guide, August 4, 2024
Pastor Clay Olsen
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Have any of you been out at night looking for the meteor showers? There are actually two meteor showers going on for another week. The Perseids (Persee-ids) and the Delta Aquariid meteors have arrived together. But you have to get away from the lights to see them. I imagine Cape Lookout has been pretty busy at nights lately, since the Cape has been designated as an International Dark Sky Park. Have you been to any of their special Dark Sky viewing events for that? That’s on our bucket list!
But if you miss seeing these meteor showers, actually, you have seen more meteor showers than you might imagine. Yes…we call it ‘Rain!’ Say what? Oh yeah! A lot of the rain that falls carries with it what are called ‘Micrometeorites’ in the rain drops. [Show picture micrometeorites] These examples were simply collected from rain off of some rooftops. And some of these little iron pieces are even left in rain gutters. This is basically ‘Space dust’ that falls to Earth every day in the droplets of ‘Rain’. In fact, tons of micrometeorites daily fall to Earth in raindrops that pick them up. You know, that kind of puts a new spin on the song ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head’. Of course, ‘Micrometeorites Keep Falling on My Head’ just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it…you need an Umbrella for that. (By the way, the guy that invented the Umbrella originally thought he should name it ‘Brella’, but then he paused…ummm…)
But we bring all this up as an example of how much is often behind the scenes of familiar scenes. And this is especially so with the Bible…with the scenes in the Bible, like the Books or Letters themselves, and the Characters, and places, and events, and such. So we thought it would be very helpful for us to take a look behind the scenes of some Biblical scenes to see what we can glean that will both inform us further and inspire us more in our walk with our Savior and our edification with one another. So…let’s explore.
Let’s take the Book of Ecclesiastes for our first look behind the scenes. Many people read Ecclesiastes with the same mindset that they would read other Bible Books, as like it being all instructional, without realizing that Ecclesiastes is first very intentional…before it is instructional. It first has a very intentional message that God is revealing to all people, which then calls for the urgency of its concluding instructions. What do we mean?
For example. I once worked with a guy where we had a lot of time for discussions about faith and life and the Gospel. He was the kind of guy that was open to talking about faith in theory…just not so much in practicing it in his life. And in one of our discussions of the Bible he said that he did have one particular book of the Bible that he liked…it was Ecclesiastes. And I thought…that pretty much explained where he was in his life…as I realized he was no doubt he was referring to a popular verse from Ecclesiastes that gets repeated a lot, out of context of course, but it states: “Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.” Eccl 5:18 NASU Oh yeah, he was all about that ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ idea as pretty much being his faith motto. A lot of people have adopted that motto as well, religious or not.
But the context of the passage was not promoting a ‘just go ahead and live it up kind of life attitude toward life’. No, that was not the Author’s intention, nor his message. And if you don’t first seek to understand the intention, you will confuse the message…you will confuse the instructions. And that’s what is called ‘Eisegesis’, or reading your own ideas into the Scriptures of what you want to see and what you want to do, rather than ‘Exegesis’, which is letting the Scriptures speak out to you as to what you are to see and to believe and what you are to also then do about it! Remember, people often look for what they want to see in the Bible in order to justify what they intend to do anyway, rather than looking for what God intends for them to see in the Bible and then seeking to do what God wants them to do about it.
So What was God’s intention or purpose for having Solomon keep a record of his personal experiments in life to then be included in the Bible as the Book of Ecclesiastes? God wanted to give the world this record of the difference between a life lived first for yourself and your self-will verses living your life first for God and God’s will. And if you don’t understand that, then you will distort most everything else that is said in the Book. Ecclesiastes doesn’t start with ‘Eat, drink, and be merry’, as my friend assumed. No, Ecclesiastes starts with: “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?” Eccl 1:2-3NASU That’s where it starts!
Ecclesiastes is a message comparing Humanism with Theism. Solomon starts off in a backslidden condition before he repents and proclaims his God-fearing conclusion. Remember that 700 wives and 300 cucumber vines problem he had? (or concubines) So It starts with the focus on life lived apart from God, or man centered…self-centered, or living life for yourself. That’s what the statement ‘under the sun’ refers to, which is repeated 29 times! It is a grand experiment of living a human-centered, self-centered life as opposed to living a God-centered life. It even begins with a question which is basically, “What is the meaning of life?” And then he starts answering the question. And the answer is: ‘Apart from God, it’s all ‘vanity of vanities’, meaning that ‘it is meaningless apart from God!’ There is no real meaning or overall purpose or lasting value to life on planet Earth apart from living it in a faithful relationship with the Creator of life and this Earth…which the author gets to at the conclusion of the book.
Ecclesiastes was Solomon’s ultimate experiment on behalf of mankind’ of living your life for yourself as opposed to living your life for God…and then his conclusion about it all. And along the way, he records lessons that he is learning. At times the context reveals that he is giving godly instructions for faithful living, which he is learning in connection with his experiment. But again, the context of it and the confirmation of other Scriptures reveals those to us. Remember, the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself! But then there are other times when they are simply observations that he making, based upon how a natural person would naturally think about things, like, for example again… that whole ‘eat, drink, and be merry’ thing. Granted, many people do make that the purpose of their life, but no…that’s not the purpose of life, nor does it actually work!
In fact, this record of Solomon’s is a demonstration of the ultimate experiment in everything that man naturally thinks where meaning and purpose and fulfillment will be found. Solomon put to the test the very formula that the enemy of mankind gave to our first parents. And it is the same formula that Satan has been using to trip people up and keep them trapped in it ever since the Garden of Eden. And the thing that is so ironically foolish about it all is that so many people continually fail to learn how futile it is to fall for this formula, and they refuse to learn this lesson from this King who tried it all…how it always ends in ‘vanity of vanities!’ They just fall prey to the devil’s lies, and somehow think it will be different for them, not realizing that kind of thinking right there is just another form of insanity.
What’s the formula that mankind continues to pursue in foolishness and futility? “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Gen 3:6-7 NASU And later the Apostle John repeats the warning about it in 1 John 2:16- “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” NASU Notice how each of these God-given gifts with which God intended to bless His children: godly moral pleasures, the godly use of pride about your God and about other God-fearing people, and the godly use of possessions, have all been taken and twisted by Satan and then offered in the forms of self-pleasure, self-pride, and possessions for yourself!
And so along comes Solomon, and again, in his backslidden stage of life, he sets off on this ultimate experiment in finding meaning and purpose and lasting value through experiencing the limits of this twisted version of God’s gifts. And of course, he also gives us the ultimate answer or conclusion of pursuing pleasures for your self first, regardless of the moral nature of them…even pursuing immoral pleasures. He also tested the heights of self-pride, glorying in his learning and abilities and such. And then he tested the ultimate accumulation of possessions for his own sense of fulfillment and happiness. And then he gives the whole world his conclusions of the tests of Satan’s formula of worldly pleasures, and worldly pride, and the worldly use of possessions. Remember, the devil promises that by putting yourself first in pursuing all these things that it will result in self-happiness and self-fulfillment, and self-satisfaction. But Solomon exposed Satan’s false promises and the destructive affects on a person’s life by following this formula. In his conclusions he uses words that are meant to be clear warnings for all people. Notice the words he chose to describe the results of his tests. Solomon’s words include: ‘madness and folly, striving after the wind, meaningless, grievous and painful, futile, vanity, of no profit under the sun! These are words of warning to people of: “Don’t waste your life and ruin your future by chasing after ‘self-pride, self-pleasures, and possessions to use in selfish ways!”
Solomon’s experiment exposed the lie of Satan that he first gave to our first parents and the same lie that he has been whispering in the ears of people throughout history. And Solomon’s concluding message to the entire world was that no one ever needs to try this experiment ever again. Ecclesiastes is a warning to the world: “It’s a lie of the Devil! Don’t live your life for yourself. Don’t live your life apart from God. Don’t live your life pursuing pleasures for yourself, especially immoral pleasures. Don’t live your life in self-pride, with an arrogant mindset and a boastful mouth. Don’t look for self-happiness in amassing possessions for yourself while you neglect the needs of others around you. It’s all a lie, and you will regret it forever!
You know, One word that will be flashing in the minds of the unsaved forever and ever is the word: ‘Regret!’ The unsaved will forever regret not doing the one thing that would have changed their entire life and future, and that is the word ‘Repent’. Jesus warned the world, “Unless you ‘repent’, you will die in your sins.”
Even surveys show that the one thing that people tend to wrestle with at the end of their life is ‘regrets’. Even for some Christians, they regret some doing things they did…and they regret not doing some things they should have done. Actually, wisdom in the Christian life includes – not doing things now that later you will regret that you did, and doing things now that later you will regret that you didn’t do.
And to help with this, if you start with one particular focus you can be assured that you will eliminate many of the regrets that others will have to face if they don’t start with this. So start with this: Start each day with a focus on: ‘Fearing God in reverence and love. Worship and serve the Lord your God’ day after day.” Put God first day after day. Love the Lord wholeheartedly and serve others with humility in your present days. And by doing so, you will eliminate those regrets from your future days. But if you don’t put God first in your present days, you’ll have to face many regrets in your future days. You decide which it will be by what you decide every day.
You know, sometimes a movie or even a book will start with its ending…its conclusion, and then goes back and shows how it got that way, or what went on before that. In the Christian life, we too are to start with the conclusion…we are to live our life based upon the end of our life, or rather, based upon how we want our life to be in our experiences and reward privileges in the Kingdom of God. No doubt Solomon wished he would have lived his life much differently based upon his conclusion rather than his experiment. Remember his conclusion? Eccl 12:13-14- “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” NASU
Solomon’s conclusion to his grand experiment was what he also wrote again and again in his collection of Proverbs. Prov 1:7- “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Prov 9:10- “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” NASU The fear of the Lord is understanding and acting on the fact that the only thing, and the only One that has the right to rule our life is – our God! Wisdom is to give God His rightful place in your life, which is first place in everything in your life…in everything from the rightful pleasures that God wants us to enjoy, to the rightful use of pride…again, in God and others, and the rightful use of possessions, as blessings from God for us to enjoy and especially to share. And in doing so, you can then live with the confidence that when you do give an account for your life, and for all the things in your life and about your life, you can look forward to being filled with rejoicing rather than regrets.
Remember, wisdom is to follow Solomon’s conclusion, not his experiments.