From: allan-sv@algonet.se   
      
                 The Preacher, the wisdom and the death   
      
   When Solomon wrote the book The Preacher, then he had fallen   
   away from the Lord and devoted himself to idolatry. The Lord had   
   said that he would rend the kingdom from him and give it to his   
   servant. 1 Kings 11:1-13. "I the Preacher was king over Israel in   
   Jerusalem." The Preacher 1:12. He admits that he not longer is the   
   king of Israel.   
      
   God had given Solomon more wisdom than anyone else, 1 King 4:   
   29-34, and this wisdom had its value as long as he served the Lord.   
   Nevertheless, when Solomon had fallen away from the Lord also,   
   this wisdom was vanity. "And I gave my heart to seek and search   
   out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven:   
   this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised   
   therewith." The Preacher 1:13. "For in much wisdom is much grief:   
   and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." The Preacher   
   1:18. "Then I said in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it   
   happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said   
   in my heart, that this also is vanity." The Preacher 2:15. "Therefore   
   I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous   
   unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit." The Preacher 2:17.   
      
   So it is for those who fall away from the Lord and worship idols.   
   A life without God is empty and meaningless. The wisdom and   
   insight they have received are to no use but cause they only plague.   
      
   But for those who believe in the Lord and that love God's word, the   
   wisdom is not vanity. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and   
   the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is   
   better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than   
   fine gold." Proverbs 3:13-14. "How much better is it to get wisdom   
   than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!"   
   Proverbs 16:16.   
      
   "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." James   
   1:5. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,   
   gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without   
   partiality, and without hypocrisy." James 3:17.   
      
   From that has lived in fellowship with God and served God with the   
   wisdom he had got, Solomon had come down on a lower human level,   
   and the wisdom that God had given him was mixed with his own   
   thoughts and conceptions. The contents of the book "The Preacher"   
   are words of an apostate who has abandoned the Lord.   
      
   The Preacher says, "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth   
   beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the   
   other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence   
   above a beast: for all is vanity ... " The Preacher 3:17-21. "For the   
   living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither   
   have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten ... "   
   The Preacher 9:5-10. The Preacher thinks of the usually human way   
   and compares the man with the animals. Nevertheless, the man is not   
   as the animals and the death is not the end.   
      
   "For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they   
   that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." Isaiah 38:18.   
   This concern the ungodly. When they do not want to believe in God   
   while they are living here on the earth they cannot be saved. After the   
   death it is too later. "When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall   
   perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth." Proverbs 11:7.   
      
   "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which   
   we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word   
   spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience   
   received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we   
   neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the   
   Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also   
   bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers   
   miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will."   
   Hebr. 2:1-4.   
      
   "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence."   
   Psalm 115:17. But in the verse 18 we can read, "But we will bless   
   the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Hallelujah! " Which   
   we? We who believe in Lord Jesus! We have passed from death unto   
   life, John 5:24, and we do not go down into silence. Where God's   
   people gather there it is not silent, for there they praise the Lord and   
   are singing to his glory. That belongs to God's glorious children's   
   freedom.   
      
   It is an essential difference between the ungodliness' death, and those   
   who die in their faith in Jesus. The ungodly are born only once, but   
   they die twice. We who believe in Jesus are born twice, but we die   
   only once. Over us the second death has no power. Rev. 2:11, 20:6,   
   11-15, 21:8.   
      
   Both those who believe in God and those who do not believe in him   
   come to rise from the dead. John 5:28-29. "For as in Adam all die,   
   even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own   
   order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his   
   coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the   
   kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all   
   rule and all authority and power." 1 Cor. 15:22-24. Those who   
   belong to Christ have part in the first resurrection, but the resurrection   
   of the ungodly takes places a thousand years later. Rev. 20:4-6.   
      
      
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   (Article 72)   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)