The Wisdom of Civil Submission – Part 2
Ecclesiastes 8:1-17 (7-13)
September 19, 2021
Well this morning we come back to Ecclesiastes 8 and by now you’ve had a week to sort of ponder and digest what we discussed last week.
I know that this passage seemed to hit on a relevant theme.
There are times when we study texts and topics simply because we are committed to studying through a book, but I am aware that we may not be studying for today but rather a day in the future when the specific text may be more applicable.
But not this one.
This one hits pretty close to home.
The preacher is still dealing with the topic of injustice in the world
And this time it has to do with
Injustice that is the result of BAD CIVIL LEADERS.
He spelled it out.
(9) “All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.”
The preacher says, “I’ve seen bad rulers who rule in such a way as to harm those who are under their charge.”
And I think that is a common sentiment even today.
Verse 11:
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”
Here the preacher is a little more specific as to
HOW this corrupt ruler has hurt those under his charge.
He encouraged evil doers by failing to punish them in a timely manner.
But that is not all.
(14) “There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.”
Not only does this man fail to punish that which is evil,
But he actually treats the righteous as though they were the wicked.
We could spend time giving examples of exactly what that looks like,
But I think it is safe to say we are probably all aware.
The preacher here is talking about
The injustice of having a corrupt or inept civil ruler.
It is a civil ruler who is crafting a culture where there is no fear of God.
The question pondered by the preacher is this:
• How is a wise man supposed to live in such a culture?
• What does wisdom look like in this situation?
• How do we fear God in a culture that doesn’t?
IT’S A FAIR QUESTION.
And we started looking at it last week.
#1 HIS WISDOM
Ecclesiastes 8:1
Very simply the preacher pointed out that
WHAT WE ARE AFTER in this situation is WISDOM.
“A man’s wisdom illumines him and causes his stern face to beam.”
• Only wisdom is going to lead you to satisfaction.
• Only wisdom is going to lead you to joy.
• Only wisdom is going to lead you to peace.
• Only wisdom is going to lead you to contentment.
If you are frustrated with the current state of affairs
There is but one way to move from a stern face to a joyful one,
And that is through wisdom.
So to reiterate again what we are after in this text.
WE ARE ASKING,
• “How does a wise man live in the midst of a culture that does not fear God?”
• “How does a wise man live when under a civil government that encourages evil and punishes righteousness?”
We only want to know what wisdom looks like.
We only want to know what the man who fears God should do.
WE HAVE TO BE CLEAR ON THAT.
Because you have likely noticed that
There is no shortage of people giving advice as to
How we should respond to our civil leaders and our corrupt society.
But as Christians we are not interested in worldly advice
We want wise advice.
We are not interested in the game plan of the fool,
We want to know how a man who fears God is to walk in this situation.
So we are back to the question of wisdom or fear of the Lord.
What does it look like in this situation?
And we began listening to the answer of the preacher last time.
#2 HIS ADVICE
Ecclesiastes 8:2-4
And here we have a CLASSIC EXAMPLE of
The Bible doing what the Bible often does.
Paul wrote:
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
This is perhaps the greatest reason I love the Bible.
It confronts and corrects my wrong thinking.
A natural man does not comprehend the things of God.
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”
But God has seen fit to correct our naturally backward thinking
By giving us His word and His Spirit to comprehend it.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
PERHAPS YOU UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS:
It usually begins with PAIN and GRIEF as Scripture corrects us.
• I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I have sat down to read or
study Scripture only to have it totally confront the way I think.
This leads to REPENTANCE as we change our mind to align with God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
And this happens all the time on every conceivable subject.
If we are not willing to allow Scripture to speak and to correct our thinking then what else can be said but that we are men of foolish pride?
Well, I can tell you that the passage we studied last week,
• Was another example of an area where repentance is necessary in my own life,
• And judging by the number of responses I received regarding the sermon,
• I’m going to venture to guess that I’m not alone.
Because the advice of the preacher did not fit with my natural thinking.
The preacher said:
(2-4) “I say, “Keep the command of the king because of the oath before God. “Do not be in a hurry to leave him. Do not join in an evil matter, for he will do whatever he pleases.” Since the word of the king is authoritative, who will say to him, “What are you doing?”
The preacher called for civil submission.
• He told us not to rebel saying, “Do not be in a hurry to leave him.”
• He told us not to join a revolt, saying, “Do not join in an evil matter,”
• He told us to be careful even saying “What are you doing?”
And if I’m honest I didn’t really want to hear any of that,
But it is Scripture none the less.
And it is wisdom.
• The preacher isn’t calling for God’s people to follow the pattern of the world,
• The preacher is calling God’s people to fear God and to walk in wisdom.
And since all authority comes from God,
We are called to submit to all those whom God places over us.
And I would say again that Scripture is not vague here.
Both Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 speak very clearly and directly to the matter.
AND WE SAW THAT LAST TIME.
So if you want to be wise, that is the advice.
And then we started looking at the third point. (but we didn’t finish)
#3 HIS EXPLANATION
Ecclesiastes 8:5-8
We looked at verses 5-6
“He who keeps a royal command experiences no trouble, for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure. For there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble is heavy upon him.”
We were reminded again of what Paul taught us
That if you want to live in fear of punishment
Then all you have to do is rebel against those in authority.
But if you keep the royal command then you will stay out of trouble.
And the preacher said, “for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure.”
There was our first introduction to wisdom.
The preacher knows that “there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble is heavy upon him.”
That is to say that: Even though the times may be difficult
That does not mean God is not still sovereign over all times and matters.
A wise heart, though he may not understand what God is doing,
Does understand that God is still in control of it all.
And we even looked at several scenarios in Scripture
Where God’s people were actually asked to submit to pagan and godless kings because it fit the purpose of God.
We read in Jeremiah where the citizens of Jerusalem were told to put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon.
• God had determined that Israel had to be punished.
• They had become polytheistic and idolatrous and God’s punishment and subsequent means of purification was a 70 year exile in Babylon.
Pleasant? No!
But it was God’s ordained plan through God’s ordained leader
And to rebel against it would be foolish.
We even read Habakkuk where that prophet could not believe that God would actually raise up the Chaldeans to come and punish Israel.
Habakkuk 1:12-13 “Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?”
“God, you can’t use them! Surely you are too holy to show favor to pagans like them!”
Today we might say, “God, surely You don’t approve of Joe Biden!”
And indeed God may not.
God didn’t approve of Nebuchadnezzar either.
But God, in His sovereign purposes,
Which was to punish and purify Israel,
Ordained Nebuchadnezzar as the necessary instrument
To drive Israel back to God.
And so to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar
Was to rebel against the sovereign purposes of God.
THAT IS HARSH, I GET IT.
BUT IT CLARIFIES for us what A WISE MAN does in such circumstances.
“a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure”
BUT THAT WASN’T ALL OF HIS EXPLANATION.
THIS MORNING we continue where we left off.
(7-8) “If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and evil will not deliver those who practice it.”
First the preacher addresses our ignorance.
It is a simple yet sobering reminder that
WHILE GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE, YOU AND I DO NOT.
Habakkuk argued with God because he couldn’t see any way possible that having the Chaldeans come to power could be good for anyone.
But Habakkuk didn’t know what God knows and neither do we.
(7) “If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?”
That is another way of asking, “Do you know the future?”
Before you rebel against God’s plan,
Are you sure you know what tomorrow holds?
It brings to mind Peter’s rashness before the Lord.
Matthew 16:21-23 “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
To Peter a crucified killed Jesus could not possibly be the plan
And thus he (like Habakkuk) argued.
But Jesus reminded Peter of his foolishness and even Satanic influence
That he was willing to give direction to Christ
When he had no knowledge of the plan of God.
That is what the preacher is asking here.
• Do you know what tomorrow holds?
• Are you certain that your plan of rebellion and revolt will work?
MORE THAN THAT, Even if your plan does accomplish your desires, are you sure that your plan will accomplish God’s desires?
It causes us all to close our mouths doesn’t it?
And still the preacher continues…
(8) “No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and evil will not deliver those who practice it.”
Here the preacher again appeals to logic.
First, Can you use the wind to stop the wind? No
Second, Can you stop the day of death? No
So there are things that you can’t control
And there are things that you can’t escape.
Thirdly “there is no discharge in the time of war”
It was a military reference that no king sends people home
When there is a battle to be fought; you need all hands on deck at that moment.
The implication here again is that
Some trials cannot be avoided but must be endured.
And then he gives the main point.
“and evil will not deliver those who practice it.”
There is great wisdom!
• Just like you can’t use wind to stop the wind
• Just like you can’t stop the day of death
• Just like you can’t avoid all trouble
• So you also cannot use evil to escape evil.
What does he mean?
You will never find deliverance by disobeying God.
We saw that last time didn’t we? With ZEDEKIAH.
God told him to submit to Nebuchadnezzar,
Instead Zedekiah tried to go to Egypt, it did not work.
I will be the first to agree that
The advice of the preacher may not be what any of us want to hear,
But are we to assume that our chances are better
If we disregard what God has to say?
This is why the preacher has called for submission.
That is HIS EXPLANATION to the advice he gave.
And when you look at it that way, there really is no other option.
Now, some at this point might wish to argue from a different angle.
Yes, I agree with what the preacher said,
But he doesn’t understand just how bad things are.
• He doesn’t understand just how corrupt our king is.
• He doesn’t understand the brutality of the Chaldeans
• He doesn’t understand the wickedness of the Assyrians
• He doesn’t understand the ineptness of our leaders
So the preacher continues
His wisdom, His advice, His explanation
#4 HIS OBSERVATION
Ecclesiastes 8:9-15
Here he explains to you the type of scenario he is talking about.
“All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.”
He says, “I’ve seen plenty of corrupt rulers.”
For example:
(10) “So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.”
What does he mean?
Well I’ve seen wicked men, in power, “who used to go in and out from the holy place.”
That is what we call hypocrisy.
They were wicked but in hypocrisy they were in power.
And then, he says, I have seen those men die.
• But where they shamed in death? No, instead they received a burial.
• When they died, what did people remember about them? Only the good
Their evil and their wickedness was just glazed over and forgotten.
All they did in hypocrisy and wickedness was swept under the rug.
No one learned anything from their corruption.
EVERYONE JUST PRETENDED LIKE THEY WERE A GOOD PERSON.
And that’s not all he has observed.
(11) “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”
I’ve also seen wicked men live their lives without punishment.
• These were horrible men.
• These were evil men.
• They did evil things.
And I saw that they never seemed to get punished
Instead, all of their wickedness was just sort of overlooked.
And the result is that “the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.”
The fact that they never get punished and even in death find honor
Has done little to discourage others from walking in their footsteps
IS THAT NOT A GRIEF OF OUR TIME?
It is hard to hear of the purely evil acts that go on in our culture and which never get punished.
I’ve read too many stories of late regarding
• Child trafficking and sex trafficking
• And election fraud and bribery and corruption
And the fact that no one ever seems to get punished is hard to swallow.
It only further encourages others to do the same.
Well the preacher says, “I’ve seen that too!”
And whereas we might take that as justification to rebel
The preacher instead calls for the wisdom of faith.
Look at what he says:
(12-13) “Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly. But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.”
He’s ALREADY TOLD YOU what he sees going on around him.
Now he tells you what he believes.
• He still believes that a day of reckoning is coming.
• He still believes that God will execute justice.
• He still believes that “vengeance is mine says the Lord”
And it is this belief that allows him
To remain in subjection to God’s commands.
Remember again Asaph in Psalms 73?
• He had such difficulty with the prosperity of the wicked.
• And it was so bad he was tempted to throw his righteousness away.
But God strengthened his faith with the truth of coming justice.
Psalms 73:16-20 “When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”
God showed Asaph “their end”
They only get away with it today, but not forever.
Now consider again that example of Nebuchadnezzar.
• God had chosen this pagan man as a disciplinarian of Israel.
• God had raised him to power and given Israel into his hands.
Habakkuk said there is no way this could be God’s plan,
Because Babylon was just too wicked.
Surely God wouldn’t allow that.
But at the same time God also revealed BABYLON’S END.
And the amount of Scripture devoted to the demise of Babylon is more than we can read in one sermon, but I can give you the gist of it.
Jeremiah 51:5-10 “For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken By his God, the LORD of hosts, Although their land is full of guilt Before the Holy One of Israel. Flee from the midst of Babylon, And each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, For this is the LORD’S time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense to her. Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, Intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore the nations are going mad. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed. We applied healing to Babylon, but she was not healed; Forsake her and let us each go to his own country, For her judgment has reached to heaven And towers up to the very skies. The LORD has brought about our vindication; Come and let us recount in Zion The work of the LORD our God!”
Jeremiah 51:36-40 “Therefore thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am going to plead your case And exact full vengeance for you; And I will dry up her sea And make her fountain dry. “Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants. “They will roar together like young lions, They will growl like lions’ cubs. “When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them drunk, that they may become jubilant And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up,” declares the LORD. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams together with male goats.”
Jeremiah 51:52-53 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “When I will punish her idols, And the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land. “Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, From Me destroyers will come to her,” declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah 51:56 “For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, And her mighty men will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the LORD is a God of recompense, He will fully repay.”
There are so many more passages we could read.
But the point is that they will not get away with it.
I TOLD YOU LAST TIME
There is no part of me that thinks Joe Biden is a good leader.
He is a corrupt, immoral, and godless man.
How in the world could we honor a king like that?
How in the world could we submit to a government as corrupt as ours?
We can do it because:
• God says to do it.
• God is in charge and He has a plan.
• We know that when God is finished using Joe Biden, if he does not repent, God will deal with him.
We do not resort to rebellion or revolt against the authority God has established because we trust that God is at work.
THIS IS WISDOM.
NOW, I DO WANT TO ADDRESS ONE MORE THING HERE,
Because I do think balance is needed
(and we’ll just have to finish this text next week)
TURN TO: REVELATION 13
I TOLD YOU LAST TIME that the preacher here DOES NOT TOUCH
The issue of a king who commands you to disobey God.
As we said there are examples of how to handle that.
• Daniel and those 3 Hebrew boys give us a good example there.
• The apostles in Acts give us a good example there.
As we study Ecclesiastes 8
We ARE only discussing the wise response to living under a foolish king,
We are NOT discussing what happens if the king forces disobedience
But I know that many of you are hungry for balance in this understanding so I want to make sure and give it to you.
There is certainly wisdom in civil submission.
But simply for balance sake
I will also give you an example of the wisdom of civil disobedience.
Revelation 13 is the tribulation from the earthly perspective.
• It is the rise and reign of the Anti-Christ and his false prophet (the beast).
• It is Satan’s counterfeit trinity.
And first John gives us a message regarding PERSEVERANCE
And then John gives us a message regarding WISDOM.
In fact, look at verse 18
“Here is wisdom.”
So just like the preacher in Ecclesiastes
John is giving you wisdom in the midst of a corrupt culture.
The PREACHER talks about when you must OBEY,
JOHN is about to tell you when you must DISOBEY.
READ (11-15)
Hopefully you see what is happening here, it is Satan’s counterfeit trinity.
• God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• Satan is Dragon, Anti-Christ, and Beast
The beast does for Anti-Christ what the Holy Spirit does for Christ;
HE GLORIFIES HIM AND CALLS PEOPLE TO WORSHIP HIM.
• You see in verse 13 he performs miraculous signs…
• You even see that the Anti-Christ has a fatal wound that was healed (it is a counterfeit death and resurrection…
• In verse 14 the beast demands worship of the Anti-Christ.
Here is your DIFFERENCE between the foolish king we are talking about in Ecclesiastes and the anti-Christ here.
In Ecclesiastes the king just creates an evil culture.
Here you are commanded to join it.
In this scenario men are being forced to worship a false god.
This is a bridge which believers cannot cross, but that is the command.
(16) “And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,”
I hear a lot of discussion about the mark of the beast a lot today.
In helping you identify it, let me make sure you understand that
THE POINT OF THIS MARK IS TO MAKE YOU EASILY IDENTIFIABLE.
• It will not be incognito, it will not be something that can’t be seen,
• It is meant to be gaudy and noticeable and obvious.
• That is why it’s on your hand or your forehead; so it can’t be concealed.
• Everyone will very easily know if you’ve got it or not.
(17) “and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
Now, nothing is said here about martyrdom.
I DO THINK it is somewhat UNDERSTOOD since earlier in the chapter we read of the servants of Christ being killed.
But here the specific detail is that you can’t buy food without the mark.
Because the purpose here is not to kill those who claim to believe
But rather to convert them.
The goal is to get people who know about Jesus to forsake Him for food.
The objective is to force men to idolatrous worship.
And then we read:
(18) “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.”
And here is where people typically lose their minds.
For years people have read “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast”
And men have taken it upon themselves to “crack the code”
• And you could probably google it, but I’ve seen that number manipulated to
mean Hitler, Kennedy, Obama, and probably Trump and Biden by now.
But when the Bible tells you to “calculate”
It is NOT SAYING that there is some secret code to be deciphered.
The Greek word there is PSEPHIZO (psay-fid-zo)
Luke 14:28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”
This is the idea here.
John ISN’T SAYING that there is some secret code behind the number.
In fact, the point of the mark is that it is obvious.
“for the number is that of a man; and is number is six hundred and sixty-six.”
I would also point out that
The point here is not some incidental usage of those 3 numbers.
• When I was a kid there was a story going around that Proctor & Gamble put 666 on all their Crest toothpaste tubes if you used Crest you were taking the mark of the beast. (I don’t know if that’s true)
• Well certainly evil men will do foolish things like that, but accidentally using a toothpaste is missing the point.
The point here is public worship of the beast.
The dilemma facing people here is an adamant and public decision
To worship the Anti-Christ.
And the sign of his worshipers is that they take his mark.
Why?
Because Satan is a counterfeiter remember?
Revelation 7:1-3 “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
In the tribulation God will mark the foreheads of His followers.
So, Satan will do the same.
The point is that you will be asked to publicly state your allegiance.
You have to declare it before you can buy food.
But it’s not a cryptic code.
• There is nothing to figure out.
• There is however a cost to calculate.
And this is where wisdom comes in.
If you agree to worship the beast by taking his mark you will get food,
BUT AT WHAT COST?
Well the cost is spelled out in Scripture.
Revelation 14:9-11 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
So wisdom here is to understand that
A man should not trade eternity for a meal.
Now, what you’ve seen then is wisdom in two different scenarios.
If the government is bad and corrupt, but NOT forcing you to break God’s laws,
• Then you must submit because all authority comes from God and God has said
you must submit, and only a fool breaks God’s commands.
If the government is bad and corrupt and IS forcing you to break God’s laws,
• Then you must not submit because again, only a fool breaks God’s commands.
NOW HERE IS MY FINAL POINT TO BE MADE.
Everyone agrees that it is a bad idea to obey the government if it means breaking God’s Law.
But is it then ok to disobey the government if God has commanded you to submit?
Only a fool disobeys God.
Wisdom is to obey God at all cost no matter if you understand or not.
Now we’re out of time, but we’ll finish this text up next week.
