There Was Nothing New Until the Rock

That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. 11 There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still. —Ecclesiastes 1:9–11

I’m not sure who wrote Ecclesiastes. But if it was Solomon—as traditionally thought—it was a grumpy Solomon who wrote Ecclesiastes, compared to the hopeful Solomon who wrote Proverbs. It could be that he wrote Ecclesiastes at the latter part of his life as a grumpy old man and Proverbs towards at the beginning as a youthful idealist. Whoever wrote the book, I found myself thinking about it after pastor Nick’s message on Daniel 2 this past Sunday.

 

What is written in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 9 is so true—there is nothing new under the sun. If we wait long enough, I’m sure that the bell-bottoms of the ‘70s will be back in style. I just read yesterday that Will Smith and Kevin Hart are remaking Steve Martin and John Candy’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. We are running out of new ideas and so we prove that there is nothing new by recycling old ones. Give anything enough time and it will re-emerge.

 

Nick reminded us this Sunday that all of human history is subject to repeat itself. Nation after nation (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron, and now most likely some form of iron and clay) will rise and fall from power until a supernatural ROCK is thrown into the mix of human history.

 

We can continue trying to make something out of the mundane repeating cycle. But Einstein (another smart guy) had it right when he said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

 

The writer of Ecclesiastes (maybe Solomon) spent the better part of his life in pursuit of meaning. He eventually came to realize that there was no hope in that pursuit. We too would be considered wise (by God) if we heeded the advice of his conclusion found in chapter 12, verse 13:

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”

The culmination of God’s law—His commandments—is the person of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:4). The one true new component that changes everything is the supernatural rock flung into the unfolding human experience. As Nick pointed out, Jesus Christ is that rock and He changes everything.

 

We are living—as everyone throughout time has lived—in times seemingly doomed for destruction. If we nurture a close relationship with God characterized by our desperate dependence on Him, we will easily discern the incorrect philosophies, pursuits, values, political platforms and so many other worldly agendas that contradict Biblical truth. And we will have chosen the only hope of new life. I like the way John Sammis put it in 1887:

“When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way.”

Trust and Obey folks… there really is no other way.