The reader of Scripture will be aware of how God uses men and women and their manner of life to set forth principles of truth, e.g., Abraham as the illustration par excellence of justification by faith. In like manner, the Book of Job presents to us one who is attested by God as, in His view, the man outstanding for uprightness on the earth in his day (Job 1:8; 2:3 `"none like him"), yet before that book is concluded Job is confessing his vileness (Job 40:4) for there had been raised the question `"How shall man be just with God?" To that, there is but one answer, a Ransom, `When we were yet without strength Christ died for the ungodly ... being justified by His Blood.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we find ourselves viewing the wisest man (Eccles. 1:16), a man whose `wisdom was accredited by God (1 Kings 3:5-12 `"none like thee"), even as Job's `uprightness was, but the result of his search `by wisdom was, a discovery that, apart from God, all is vanity (emptiness) and vexation of spirit. To the questions raised in Ecclesiastes the Lord Jesus Christ is once again the answer, `"When in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe ... we preach Christ crucified ... the Wisdom of God".
Ecclesiastes is a book that deals with the circumstances of every passing hour, and much of its teaching is as applicable today as when it was written - a mirror of what life may come to mean if light be given but rejected. All life unyielded to God must result in vanity and vexation of spirit, but when Christ is given, not merely a place, not merely prominence, but pre-eminence, then life is really known and enjoyed as God meant it to be.
The author of this book, dealing with the principal themes in Ecclesiastes, has for many years devoted his God-given talents and ability to the careful exposition of the Word of God. This book is now sent out with the prayer that it may be richly used by God so that readers may find in its pages help in the quest for life's true portion. The deep satisfaction of a life yielded to Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us, and the high privilege of representing here for a time on the earth Christ Who now sitteth at the right hand of God. What a privilege to be here for His pleasure and, in the power of the Spirit, to be always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Author: Charles H. Welch
