Crystallization-Study of Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes
Message Twelve
Vanity of Vanities, the Reality in Jesus, and the Revelation of the Sons
of God
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Eccl. 1:2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; / Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
Eph. 4:20-21 But you did not so learn Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him as the reality is in Jesus.
Rom. 8:19-20 For the anxious watching of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God; for the creation was made subject to vanity.
Word of Appetizer
The central thought of Ecclesiastes is the vanity of vanities of human life under the sun in its falling away from God; what is the way for us to escape this vanity?
Spiritual Burden
The reality in Jesus for a walk that is no longer in the vanity of the mind; the life of Jesus according to reality is the pattern for the believers’ life; we need to learn Christ and be taught in Him to live a life of reality; as members of the Body of Christ, we should live a life of reality, as the reality is in Jesus—a life of expressing God.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The theme of Ecclesiastes is vanity of vanities.
In Ephesians 4:17-21 and 24 Paul presents the reality in Jesus for a walk that is no longer in the vanity of the mind.
Because creation has been made subject to vanity, the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God “in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God”.
The Experience of Life
Our realizing that our condition is sinful (Psa. 38) and that our situation is one of vanity opens the way for Christ to crucify us and enter into us to replace us by living Himself through us and causing us to live together with Him in an organic union.
As a result of Satan’s injecting himself as sin into man, man and all created things were brought into the slavery of corruption and made subject to vanity.
Practice and Application
The way for us to escape this vanity is to come back to God and take God in Christ as redemption, life, wealth, enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction so that we may still be used by God to fulfill His original purpose in creating man for the fulfillment of His eternal economy.
We need to learn Christ and be taught in Him to live a life of reality; as members of the Body of Christ, we should live a life of reality, as the reality is in Jesus.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—
TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The vanity of vanities of human lifeunder the sun in its falling away from God (Prov. 1:2).
(What’s the meaning of what king Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity”?)
T2: Christ is the unique satisfaction to man (2 Cor. 5:17).
(Only the new creation, which is in the heavens and not “under the sun”, is not vanity but is reality.)
Day 2
T1: God…has put eternity (an aspiration for the things in eternity) in man’s heart (Prov. 3:11).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that whenever we have a success in our human life, we also have an empty feeling.)
T2: The eternity in man’s heart is “a divinely implanted sense of a purpose (Prov. 3:11; 2 Cor. 4:18).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that only God can satisfy the sense of purpose in our heart.)
Day 3
T1: The fallen people walk without God in the vanity of their mind (Eph. 4:7; Rom. 1:21).
(Please explain that the basic element in the daily life of fallen mankind is the vanity of the mind.)
T2: There is a contrast between the reality in Jesus and the vanity of the Gentiles’ mind (Eph. 4:7, 20-21).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that the reality in Jesus is for a walk that is no longer in the vanity of the mind.)
Day 4
T1: The life of Jesus according to reality is the pattern for the believers’ life (2 John 1-2, 4).
(Please explain that the reality in Jesus is the actual condition of the life of Jesus recorded in the four Gospels.)
T2: By being put into Christ, we learn Christ (1 John 5:20; Eph. 4:20).
(Please explain that we can live in the reality that is in Jesus because “we are in Him who is true”.)
Day 5
T1: The entire creation is under vanity (Rom. 8:19-20).
(Why is the creation eagerly expecting the revelation of the sons of God?)
T2: We also groan because we are still in the body which is linked to the old creation (Rom. 8:22-23).
(Please explain that while we are groaning we have the firstfruits of the Spirit for our enjoyment.)
Day 6
T1: The difference of the groaning between the believers and the unbelievers (Rom. 8:22-23).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that the unbelievers experience groaning without the inward enjoyment. We,
however, groan outwardly, but rejoice inwardly.)
T2: The creation is eagerly expecting and anxiously watching for God’s kingdom to come (Matt. 6:10; 13:43).
(Please explain that at the time of the revelation of the kingdom, the whole creation will be liberated, and the sons of God “will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”.)
