Subject Forty-one

VANITY, VANITY, VANITY

Scripture: Eccl. 1:2; 12:1-8
The best way to present this is according to the order mentioned in hymn #1080 in Hymns.

1. All things in the human life are vanity
2. Knowledge is vanity
   The more knowledge you have, the more grief you have. The people who commit suicide are mostly those who are intellectual.
3. Worldly enjoyment is vanity
   This includes all worldly enjoyment. Solomon was king in Jerusalem. He built palaces to live in. His clothing and his diet were the best. He enjoyed everything the world had to offer, but at the very end he said, “Vanity of vanities.” This included his wives, concubines, children, and everything.
4. Careers are vanity
   Your career causes you to overwork and exhaust yourself, and it leaves you weary and sleepless during the night. And it will all be over when you die.
5. Position is vanity
   Position includes a good reputation and honor.
6. Turn to the Lord while you are young
   The Book of Ecclesiastes was not written to old people, but it was written by an old man to young people. No elderly person needs to listen to a message about vanity, because all elderly ones have already known vanity. Only young people dream golden dreams. Therefore the aged Solomon said, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,” so that you will not be sorry when you get old. Now let us look at some of the pitiful conditions of an aged person. Use Ecclesiastes 12:1-8.
   1. There is no pleasure. When a person is seventy or eighty years old, death is so close. There is no more pleasure.
   2. The sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened. In man’s old age, nothing is bright. Because the eyes of the aged are dimmed, they cannot see things clearly. The sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened to them.
   3. The clouds return after the rain. It is noisy while the rain is falling, but when the rain stops it becomes quiet. Some people were very busy while they were managing a factory or serving as administrator of a school, but after all the troublesome work, the clouds returned. The ones who have battled in the business world one day get old. The clouds return after the rain.
   4. The keepers of the house tremble. The body is the house referred to here, and the keepers of the house are the hands and feet. The hands and feet of an aged person tremble, and the older he gets, the worse the trembling becomes.
   5. The strong men are bent: the back becomes bent.
   6. The grinders cease because they are few. The teeth are all gone, and even dentures will not work.
   7. Those that look through the windows are dimmed. The windows of a man are his eyes. Now the eyes are dimmed.
   8. The doors on the street are shut. The ears become deaf, and no sound can get in.
   9. The sound of the grinding is low. Even the chewing sound of his own mouth he cannot hear. What a deafness!
   10. One rises up at the voice of a bird. The older ones cannot sleep well during the night. The older one gets, the harder it is to have a good night’s sleep.
   11. All the daughters of song are brought low. The voice becomes low and hoarse.
   12. They are afraid of what is high. Aged ones are afraid of high places.
   13. Terrors are on the way. They are afraid of walking on the street.
   14. The almond tree blossoms. The hair becomes white, as the white blossoms of the almond tree.
   15. The grasshopper shall be a burden. They are without any strength at all.
   16. Desire fails. They cannot have interest in anything.
   17. Man goes to his eternal home: he dies.
   18. The mourners going about the streets are a funeral procession.
   19. The silver cord is loosed: in the tomb the spine will become disconnected.
   20. The golden bowl is broken. When it is buried in the grave, the skull is broken.
   21. The pitcher is broken at the fountain: the nose will collapse.
   22. The wheel is broken at the cistern. The cistern represents man’s eye, and the wheel represents the eyeball. Both of them will perish in the grave.
   23. The dust returns to the earth: the dead body becomes dust.
7. We must repent, confess our sins, and receive the Lord