The Cycles of Life Highlight the Emptiness of Life
If there is nothing more than this life, then life is meaningless.
The audience was surprised - they had never heard a preacher start a sermon like that before.
How did the preacher - who was the son of David and was king in Jerusalem (Ecclesiastes 1:1) - begin his preaching?
Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What profit has a man from all his labor iIn which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)
It’s all meaningless! Empty! Worthless!
To illustrate his point, the preacher provided five life cycles to demonstrate the “vanity” of life.
What is Ecclesiastes all about?
It’s important to note that Ecclesiastes is a book of poetry and wisdom.
“The Preacher’s aim was to instruct his audience ‘how to live in the world as it really is instead of living in a world of false hope.’ Thus, Ecclesiastes challenges its readers to recognize their own mortality. ‘They must abandon all illusions of self-importance, face death and life squarely, and accept with fear and trembling their dependence on God’” – Petrillo, Truth for Today Commentary: Ecclesiastes, p. 16.
The Cycle of Generations
One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. (Ecclesiastes 1:4)
One generation arises and then dies - giving way to a new generation. But the earth has remained throughout all the generations as they come and go.
One generation can be outstanding, and the next can be very evil or weak. This cycle has continued since the beginning of time. No matter how much progress one generation makes, the next can undo everything.
The Cycle of Time
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. (Ecclesiastes 1:5)
The time passes each day - and it’s as if the sun is in a hurry to repeat the same process the next day.
Time never stops - and it’s as if it’s in a hurry to keep going - even though nothing changes.
The Cycle of the Weather
The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. (Ecclesiastes 1:6)
The jetstreams around the earth rush around our atmosphere. There is so much activity - just to come full circle and repeat the cycle again and again.
The Cycle of the Water
All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. (Ecclesiastes 1:7)
The rivers run through the countryside into the seas and oceans, yet the oceans don’t “fill up.” The water evaporates and falls as rain or snow, which flows back into the rivers - and the cycle continues to repeat itself.
All of this activity - just to repeat the same thing repeatedly.
The Cycle of Action
All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. (Ecclesiastes 1:8)
The preacher sums up everything he has said up to this point - everything is full of activity and action. Everywhere you look, there is activity and action.
These cycles of action are everywhere.
Nothing is New
That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)
Inventions are just different versions of the same thing - for example, the airplane is just another version of transportation.
Ideas that seem new today have been developed and considered sometime before us.
We continue the cycle of thinking our ideas are new - but only because we have forgotten the ideas of those who came before us. Those who come after us will have similar ideas, and they will have forgotten what we thought.
The preacher’s point is to show how these life cycles demonstrate how meaningless life is without God. He is calling on us to think about life.
He is calling on us to reason about this life - and he will soon show us all the things he tried to find meaning in life.