JESUS CHRIST and HOLY SPIRIT in Ecclesiastes

JESUS CHRIST in Ecclesiastes

Although the Book of Ecclesiastes contains no direct or typological prophecies of Jesus Christ, it anticipates a number of teachings of Him who was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17).

In Matthew 6:19–21 Jesus warned against seeking wealth in this life, urging instead that it be sought in the next, a perspective that echoes the Preacher’s indictment of materialism in 2:1–11, 18–26; 4:4–6; 5:8–14. The stress Jesus laid on heaven likewise mirrors the Preacher’s despair of finding true value “under the sun” (in this life). The conclusion to which the Preacher is driven, that true value lies only in reverence and obedience to God (12:13), mirrors the teachings of Jesus that one’s values should be first determined by a proper attitude toward God (Matt. 22:37, quoting Deut. 6:5) and then a proper attitude toward one’s fellow human beings (Matt. 22:39, quoting Lev. 19:18).

HOLY SPIRIT in Ecclesiastes

All references to “spirit” in Ecclesiastes are to the life-force that animates the human or the animal (see 3:18–21). The book nevertheless anticipates some of the problems faced by the apostle Paul in the implementation of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12—14. People who believe that God speaks to them through the Holy Spirit in dreams and visions (Joel 2:28–32; Acts 2:17–21) would do well to heed the wise advice of the Preacher that not every dream is the voice of God (5:3). Paul seems to have a caution like this in mind for the revelatory gifts of tongues and prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14:29, when he advises an orderly manifestation followed by a judgment on the utterance by the assembly. Likewise, the Preacher’s stress on reverence and obedience to God parallels Paul’s concern for the edification of the church (1 Cor. 14:5). True spiritual gifts—genuine manifestations of miraculous utterance or deed—will be used in a spirit of reverence for the glory of God through Christ and for the edification of the believers.