We’ve been learning that every book in the Bible has a dominating theme…They point to Jesus. Ecclesiastes points to Jesus 935 years before he was born.

Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon towards the end of his life. The purpose of this book, as he’s looking back over his life, is to give us insight and wisdom. It is to help spare future generations (us) the bitterness of learning through our own experiences; that life apart from God is meaningless.

Solomon is searching for meaning in life. He reflects on all that he’s experienced and how there is time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3). He talks about his life and how it relates to the cruelty and cares of this world, work, riches, motivations, death and judgement. He declares much of life to be meaningless.

6 times before the conclusion of the book, he says…paraphrased...Vanity, vanity, everything is vanity except enjoying your work, and finding purpose and meaning in God.

In the last verses of the book he gives us his famous statement on the meaning of life (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). He says in verse 13, “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” We would find out later that Jesus was the only one who perfectly obeyed the commandments of God, living a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Hebrews 4:15).

(Ecclesiastes 12:14) follows with: “For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” We would find out later that Jesus is the light of the world through whom all the deeds of humanity would be exposed (John 8:12; John 9:15).

What does this mean for us?

Jesus rescues us from the meaningless life Solomon talked about. He lived that perfect life and took away the curse of sin.

Jesus restores to us a meaningful life. With Jesus, we have a life, and we can have it to the full.

Life apart from God, is meaningless. Keep pressing into Him.