Day Four—Feast of Tabernacles—2012

It's Not How You Start, It's How You Finish!  Part I

Fred R. Coulter—October 4, 2012

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to day four of the Feast of Tabernacles, 2012! There are many lessons we can learn during the Feast of Tabernacles, and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from the Bible. Our whole goal is to attain to the Kingdom of God. To become priests, kings, leaders and teachers to bring peace to the world; to bring to the world 'the restitution of all things' under Jesus Christ.

There have been very few times of peace in this world. Remember, God's calling for the children of Israel was that they would be a kingdom of priests to take God's Word to the whole world. There was only one time in the entire history of Israel that they did that. Yet, it didn't last very long.

We're going to see what it's going to be like to have every physical thing that you need, and what does it bring unless you have the Spirit of God.

• Can you succeed in this life, but not attain to the Kingdom of God in the first resurrection? Yes, you can!
• What is success in this life?
• What does it lead to when you have everything that your heart could desire?

We have an example of that in the Bible. That one is King Solomon, the son of David. Could anyone have started out with a better start than he had? No place is there a parallel in all the history of mankind. God blessed King David. He gathered gold, silver, iron, brass, and a tremendous amount of money. God personally gave to King David the plans for the first temple. He drew them out; he gave them to his son Solomon who was very young at the time that he became king.

We're going to see that there are a lot of spiritual parallels that follow right along with what happened here with Solomon. Solomon had everything given to him. When he started out, he was very humble. Let's see the story and saga of Solomon. Let's apply it in several ways:

• We'll look at his life and see what it was that brought him down; what it was that made him successful.
• Then we can draw parallels with our lives and see and compare what these things are as they apply to us.
• Then we can apply them to the Kingdom of God when we are going to be teaching, judging and ruling over the people.

What we find happened to Solomon could very well be the same thing that could happen to people who come into the Millennium.

Remember this: We will enter the Kingdom of God at the resurrection, because 'flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God.' But the human beings who survive over into the Millennium and start out the civilization of man again under Christ and the saints are going to be under the Kingdom of God. They will not be in the Kingdom of God. It will be that the Kingdom of God will be ruling on the earth.

Let's see what Solomon did. When he started out God loved him, he pleased God; he did the things that were right.

1-Kings 3:3: "And Solomon loved the LORD… [he started right; he started good] …walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places." There was one high place that was the place to go to offer sacrifices to God. There he had this fault to begin with.

Verse 4: "And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar."

After the Ark of the Covenant was separated from the tabernacle because of the lost battle of the sons Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—the Philistines captured the Ark and after seven months of plagues upon them, they sent it back to Israel and finally, after several places where the Ark was then David brought it to the City of David and made a tent for it in his house. David had a special wing in his house where the Ark of the Covenant was in this tent, and he had the priests and Levites who would do the officiating and everything there.

But the sacrifices were given in Gibeon where the tabernacle was. The altar, the Holy of Holies and everything was up in Gibeon. After the building of the temple it was all brought back together at the temple.

Let's read what happened because this is quite a thing, and notice that this was really wonderful: Verse 5: "In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, 'Ask what I shall give you!'" That's something—isn't it? What is that you want? What is your life going to be?

Verse 6: "And Solomon said… [here he was humble; he knew what he really needed] …'You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before You in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You. And You have kept this great kindness for him, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.'" So, he's talking about himself. Here's what he wanted. Remember, yesterday we covered about how we are going to judge people. That's one of the functions of kings, priests and leaders—they have to judge.

Here's what Solomon asked for, v 7: "And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father. And I am a little child… [we don't know how old he was, maybe 15 or 16] …I do not know how to go out or come in!" That is to function as king; 'Lord, I don't know where to begin; show me what I need to do.' Isn't that the way we need to be. 'O Lord, show us what to do. Help us! Lead us! Guide us! Grant us Your Spirit!' Solomon started out really good.

Verse 8: "And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a numerous people who cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Now therefore, give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this, Your great people?" (vs 8-9). That was the perfect request from Solomon. Had he stayed this way, I wonder how things would have turned out? Likewise with us:

• How have we started out with God?
• Do we not start out with something like this?

Asking God:

• God, help me!
• Forgive my sins!
• Watch over me!
• Strengthen me!
• Grant me understanding!

Yes, we did!

Think about how many people started out that way, but didn't end up that way. There's something that happens when you receive everything you need. We'll see what that is a little later. But let's continue on and see how God responded to that. Likewise with us; if we maintain the right spiritual relationship with God by loving Him and He loving us, and walking in His ways and doing the things that please Him, what is it that God is going to give us spiritually when we enter the Kingdom of God?

Remember this promise: God is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think! One of the things we want to accomplish in covering the life of Solomon today is to look at the pitfalls that came along; look at the thought process that developed that led him away from God so that won't happen to us! As you read about the seven churches in Rev. 2 & 3, what do you find? You find that the churches have to fight against carnal nature themselves—right? Yes, indeed!

There's a lot we can learn, and Paul wrote that the things in the Old Testament are types for us so that we can learn not to do the evil things, but also we can learn to do the good things, which were the things that pleased God, and then carry that on into our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Let's see what happened.

Verse 10: "And the word was good in the eyes of the LORD that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, 'Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life and have not asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to judge justly'" (vs 10-11). That's why yesterday we covered how we judge righteous judgment.

Verse 12: "Behold, I have done according to your words. Lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like you before you and after you none shall arise like you." No one is going to be as Solomon, so we need to learn some lessons here—don't we? Yes!

Verse 13: "And I also have given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you all your days." What we have here is a covenant between God and Solomon. In any covenant there are conditions. Just like when we read about the words of the covenant that we have with God the Father through Jesus Christ, look at all the IF statements that are connected with it.

• God is perfect!
• God is righteous!
• God is love!
• God is kind!
• God is good!
• God cannot lie!

So therefore, His Word is true! And it's going to happen! Since we're still human beings and we still have human nature, and we're still subject to sin and the things that we do that are not right, the conditions always fall upon us.

Notice what God said to Solomon, v 14: "Therefore…[that is in the light of what I'm going to do for you] …if you will walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days."

Let's see something else that is true. What was it that Abraham was commended for after he had died and the promise and covenant was passed on to Isaac? Notice how God carried on the covenant to Abraham. Notice how similar this is with the covenant that God is making with Solomon. We are in covenant with God, too. We will see that all covenants of God have these requirements.

Genesis 26:3: " [God told Abraham] "Stay in this land… [v 4]: …And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham…" (vs 3-5). The things important to understand is this: We receive the things that we do because of Abraham and because of Christ!

Verse 5: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice…" Those are the three words that we need to have ingrained in our heart and mind, because this will always bring us back from sin. What did Jesus say when He was tempted of the devil? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!

"…and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (v 5). Those are the same ones that God gave to Israel.

Notice how similar that is to the covenant that God made with Solomon, 1-Kings 3:14: "'Therefore, if you will walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.' And Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant..." (vs 14-15).

Solomon went up there and offered burnt offerings at Gibeon, then he came back and offered burnt offerings where the Ark of the Covenant was that was in the house of David, in which he was now living.

"…and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants" (v 15). That sealed the covenant.

Now then, this is quite a thing! God gave Solomon all the territory that He had promised. This is a lesson for all people in the world today. If you don't want war, if you want peace, you'd better turn to God. There better be fear of God in your life, in your institutions, in your governments, in your education, and in your finance. In the letter of the Law God will bless you. However, we need to understand that we're not going to just reign over the kingdom of Israel; we're going to inherit the world! We are going to rule the world under Christ. Then it talks about everything that Solomon did. Let's see how this compares in parallel with what the Kingdom of God will be like that we are going to administer upon the world.

1-Kings 4:24: "For he had the rule over all on this side of the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River. And he had peace on all sides all around him." You have peace from your enemies when you have peace with God! When you do not have peace with God, you do not have peace with your enemies.

Verse 25: "And Judah and Israel… [two separate designations] …lived safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." Didn't we read about that in Isa. 2, that every man is going to live under his own fig tree and under his own vine? Yes, indeed!

Now then, God fulfilled His promise. Notice what God gave Solomon. Let's also understand this; it's a lesson: It's not the wisdom we can get from an education in this world. That is only worthwhile as we get our education from God's Word, which then is the same as God giving wisdom—as He gave it here—so we can read it, study it, know it, learn it and apply it.

Verse 29: "And God gave Solomon exceeding great wisdom and understanding, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore." What a fantastic blessing of all of that wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

What are we going to administer in the Kingdom of God to this world? The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the seas cover the earth! We can expand upon that, but you see the parallels here. I want us to get the parallels so we can learn the lessons, so that we can grow in grace and knowledge and love of God; grow in wisdom and understanding and then we can also learn to avoid the mistakes of Solomon, because it's not how you start, it is how you finish!

Verse 30: "And Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the east… [all of the Orient] …and all the wisdom of Egypt." Think of that! Today there are secrets of wisdom from the Egyptians that we do not even understand. God really gave it to him.

Then it lists all the wise men of his day that he was wiser than them. Notice what Solomon did, v 32: "And he spoke three thousand proverbs.... [We have the book of Proverbs, and I don't think we have all 3,000 there, but we have a good number of them.] …and his songs were a thousand and five." What were those songs? We don't know! We're not told!

But notice the wisdom that God gave him; how he understood certain things, v 33: "And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fish." He knew of great things about all of these, the intricate things of the creation of God. As we go along:

• Think how we're going to teach the world about that!
• Think about how wonderful it is going to be that children are going to play with the animals that used to be carnivorous beasts and human-devouring things!

Children are going to lead them, play with them. Think how excited children are going to be when they can have their own lion. Get rid of all plastic toys, all television games. Going to have the real thing.

Solomon was so intelligent, so wise, had so much understanding, v 34: "And there came from all the people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom."

Yes, they had boat travel around the world. They came from everywhere. This was the only time when the children of Israel, through the kingdom of Solomon, partially fulfilled the commission given to them by God when He gave them the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai.

1-Kings 5—Solomon made a league with Hiram, king of Tyre to bring cedar trees and fir trees and everything that they made to build the house of Solomon and the house of God.

1-Kings 8—Solomon's house is finished. The temple is finished. Everything is done. All the priests are ready to go. All the soldiers, captains, princes and so forth were altogether there. Here we're going to see that this comes as the dedication of the temple.

1-Kings 8:65—the time setting when this took place: "And at that time Solomon held a feast and all Israel with him, a great congregation—from the entering in of Hamath to the river of Egypt—before the LORD our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days."

How did this happen? If we look at the calendar we can understand! This is why understanding the Calculated Hebrews Calendar is important. In the first day of the seventh month the dedication of the temple started, and lasted for seven days. Then there was a break, because there was the Day of Atonement. What are they to do on the Day of Atonement? They are not to do any work! They are not to have any eating, no drinking—they are to be fasting!

From the eighth day through to the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day—which is a week—they did not have a continuation of the dedication of the temple. But after the Day of Atonement they made preparations for the greatest Feast that was ever held by the children of Israel, the Feast of Tabernacles to celebrate the functioning of the temple, the completion of it.

Here's what happened. Everything was set on the Feast of Trumpets. You can follow the parallel with this in 2-Chronicles 5.

1-Kings 8:1: "Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, so that they might bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel were gathered to King Solomon at the Feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month…. [the beginning of the 7th month] …And all the elders of Israel came in, and the priests took up the Ark. And they brought up the Ark of the LORD and the tabernacle of the congregation…" (vs 1-4). They took all of these things from Gibeon and they brought them all down to the temple. What they did with the tabernacle, they stored that in the subterranean archives of the temple.

"…and all the Holy vessels which were in the tabernacle—even those the priests and the Levites brought up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled to him were before the Ark sacrificing sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude" (vs 4-5). What they did, they put extra burnt offering altars all around the temple area, because this was the greatest celebration that there ever was concerning dedicating the temple. What a fantastic time this was.

I want you to think about how great it's going to be when we are there at the dedication of the tabernacle of God where He has the tabernacle right over Jerusalem. Remember, Jerusalem with the earthquake that's going to take place when Christ and the saints return, is going to lift up Jerusalem even higher than it is. Then Christ is going to have that tabernacle with the pillars of cloud by day and fire by night. Think about what it's going to be with us rejoicing that now God is bringing that, with Christ setting up His temple on earth. That's going to be quite a thing!

Think of it as very similar to all of this. It describes all of it. Afterward they put the Ark into the Holy of Holies; God put His presence there.

Verse 10: "And it came to pass when the priests had come out of the Holy of Holies, the cloud filled the house of the LORD." Remember, that's exactly what happened when the tabernacle was raised up on the first day of the second month and dedicated before the Passover in the book of Exodus. The cloud of God filled the tabernacle.

Here it filled the temple to show and to prove to Solomon, all the priests, all the leaders of Israel, all the people of Israel there that God truly had put His presence in the temple just as He has promised David and Solomon.

Now then, Solomon brings his prayer; read the whole prayer that Solomon gave. When you read it through and the account also (2-Chron. 6-8). Look at all of the Ifs: 'IF Your people…'

Let's see how Solomon finished this prayer, 1-Kings 8:54: "Now it came to pass as Solomon finished praying all this prayer and petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Now it came to pass as Solomon finished praying all this prayer and petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Then he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice. saying, 'Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promises, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant'" (vs 54-56). Draw the parallel, here are our lives:

• we're struggling
• we're overcoming
• we're growing in grace and knowledge
• we're loving God
• we're keeping the Kingdom of God first in our mind
  • where we're going
  • what we're doing

Remember: Read and study all the promises of Christ, because not one promise will fail! Think what it's going to be like. There is going to be a great celebration by all the sons of God at the dedication of the tabernacle when the Millennium starts and Christ sets up the tabernacle there in Jerusalem. It's going to be awesome. There will be a prayer similar to this.

Verse 57: "'May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us.'" Remember: When everything goes well, God says, 'When you have been filled to the full, beware lest your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who has given all these things, and you say by my hand and by my might  have done these things, when that is not true' (Deut. 8). Nothing happens without God making it occur! Remember that spiritually!

Verse 58: "'To incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers. And let these my words, with which I have made supplications before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, so that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel at all times as the matter requires" (vs 58-59).

We need to understand that in relationship to the modern tribes of Israel today. IF they would turn to God—and they can do it; IF they would turn to the Word of God and love God, begin keeping His commandments, begin teaching the people to keep the laws of God so that we don't have sin running like a tsunami through our land, where then God has to:

• judge us with drought
• judge us with floods
• judge us with a whirlwind
• judge us with sickness
• judge us with disease
• judge us with financial calamity

IF the nations would do that, God would hold back His hand of judgment. But we need to remember, there's always a time that it becomes too late to turn back. It's not too late now; it could still happen.

But notice how this fulfills very carefully what God told the children of Israel, 'that all the people of the earth may know…' (Exo. 19). God decided that He's going to go through one man and his offspring. Then that came down to the 12 tribes of Israel. Then He was going to go through one man David, and that came down to his son Solomon. But the mission was to go to the world. I want you to think about what Jesus told the apostles. He said, 'Go into all the world and teach all nations.' Notice how similar this is:

Verse 60: "'That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. And let your heart… [each one of you individually] be perfect with the LORD our God: to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.' And the king and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD" (vs 60-62). That was really something. It was an amazing thing that took place.

Here is the dedication of the temple, and he gave all of these offerings, v 63: "And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings which he offered to the LORD: twenty-two thousand oxen…"—22 is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet; so there's a thousand oxen for every letter of the alphabet.

"…and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep…" (v 63). There were 12 tribes of the children of Israel, so there were 12,000 sheep for every tribe. See how God deals in numbers.

"…So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD" (v 63). Notice what he did on the eighth day of the Feast. It went Feast of Trumpets for a week. Then Feast of Tabernacles for a week plus one day. This is why we get 7 days and 7 days, which is 14.

Then v 66 mentions the 8th day, "On the eighth day he sent the people away. And they blessed the king and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the good that the LORD had done for David His servant and for Israel His people." An amazing thing!

Brethren, we're going to see such dedication when the Kingdom of God is setup on the earth, then there will be a dedication for God bringing all the children of Israel back out of captivity. They're going to be spread out in captivity because of their sins. So, we can see some parallels here.

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Let's continue on with the reign of King Solomon in Jerusalem after building the temple. Let's see how he grew great. Let's see how much God continued to bless him in every way. This is quite a phenomenal thing, brethren, because this also has some parallels with us, and for the Kingdom of God.

1-Kings 10:1: "And the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame concerning the name of the LORD, and she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train… [a caravan] …with camels that bore spices and very much gold and precious stones. And she came to Solomon, and she told him all that was in her heart. And Solomon answered all her questions for her. There was not a thing hidden from the king, which he did not tell her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's wisdom, and the house which he had built, and the food of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their clothing, and his cupbearers, and his burnt offering that he offered up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her" (vs 1-5). Took her breath away, literally!
Verse 6: "And she said to the king, 'It was a true report which I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom.'" We're going to see that Solomon had a navy. This navy went around the world. They were well-educated. They understood the world. They understood the oceans. They traveled; they traded and how else could the knowledge of the Lord, through Solomon—as it was supposed to—go to the whole world? We're going to see what happened when the world came to him. That's what we need to understand. This was a fantastic thing that happened—"…no more spirit in her."

Verse 7: "'And I did not believe the words until I came and my eyes had seen. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and blessings are more than the fame which I heard. Happy are your men, happy are these who are your servants, who stand always before you, and who hear your wisdom" (vs 7-8). The world is searching after happiness today; even people in the Church are searching after happiness. But it only comes in serving God! It doesn't come in doing our things or our ways.

Notice what she did then, v 9: "'Blessed is the LORD your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel. Because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king to do judgment and justice.'" She learned of God! She learned of the Truth! She learned of the way! Not unto salvation, but she learned of it because of the blessings that God gave.

This shows the fullness of the covenant of the letter of the Law that God gave to Israel. God honored that, God blessed that, and this was a tremendous thing that occurred.

1-Kings 9:28 shows that the navies of Solomon "…came to Ophir, and brought gold from there, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon." It's a wonder the ships didn't sink!

1-Kings 10:10—concerning the queen of Sheba: "And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, a very great store of spices, and precious stones. No spices like that ever came again in such abundance that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. And also the navy of Hiram which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great abundance of almug trees and precious stones. And the king made of the almug trees supports for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for singers. No such almug wood has come or been seen to this day" (vs 10-12).

Here is blessing upon blessing heaped upon King Solomon and the children of Israel. Think of what it's going to be when the Kingdom of God and the saints are ruling as kings and priests with Christ. Not only are there going to be the physical blessings, but there will be the spiritual blessings, because the Spirit of God available to all.

We can use this as a type to understand what we're going to do and to see how we need to teach people God's way. It's going to be overwhelming just like it was here.

Verse 13: "And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So, she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants. And the weight of gold, which came to Solomon in one year… [year-by-year, this is annual tribute from the kings of the world to King Solomon.] …was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold." There was a lot of trading. There were a lot of ships coming and going. There was a lot of wealth and lot of activity.

Think what it's going to be when the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the seas cover the earth. When the knowledge of God's Word is going to be expanded. Just think what it's going to be like that we will be spirit beings with spirit minds, able to understand and teach the people and judge the people.

Remember, as spirit beings we can go wherever we desire. We can walk through walls, and if there's something that people are ready to do, we can say, 'No, this is the way, walk in it!' If they're not going to go God's way, it will be known!

This great abundance that came to Solomon, v 15: "In addition to that which came from the merchant men and from the traffic of the traders and from all the kings of Arabia and from the governors of the lands. And King Solomon made two hundred shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into one shield" (vs 15-16). Just literally put gold everywhere in the city of Jerusalem. Quite a fantastic thing that went on.

This is the great fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in type to the world during Solomon's day. Now let's see how great this wealth of Solomon's was. You talk about wealthy! You talk about the blessings of God poured out upon him so that he could bring the knowledge of the Word of God to the world.

What did he do with it? This is going to prove very interesting indeed! We are seeing a life-pattern that happens in every life. It's very few who resist sinning against God and who resist becoming self-satisfied in everything that they have.

Stop and think for a minute: IF you had everything you wanted in the world, and you had everything brought to you at the clap of the hand or the snap of a finger, and had servants to wait on you, had everything that you desired—would you keep your mind on God? or Would you begin to look to the physical things? We're going to learn a lesson here: Unless you

• keep your spiritual perspective
• understand that everything comes from God
• understand and realize that God made us to be absolutely dependent upon Him

—even though He's given us free choice, and in order to truly be a complete and full human being—

• you need the Spirit of God
• you need the Word of God
• you need the understanding of God

—everything else does not count!

All of that is summed up in one saying of Jesus: The flesh profits nothing! In other words, every physical thing in this world—

• compared to God
• compared to His purpose
• compared to His goals
• compared to receiving a spirit body at the resurrection
  • a spirit mind
  • to be given rulership

—there is nothing to be compared to that! that's why He said the flesh profits nothing! Then He said, 'The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are Life.' That's why when you read and study the Bible, you learn things that are mind-changing, that are life-changing, that have an affect upon you like nothing else does, because these are the words of God and these are Spirit and these are Life. This is quite a thing here, brethren. This is a great lesson we're going to learn.

Verse 21: "And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was counted as nothing in the days of Solomon." I want you to compare that financial stability and wealth to the debt society and finances that we have today. It's all paper! It is all debt! It is all make believe! And the judgment of God is coming upon this world for doing this to the wealth that God has given! It's all of subterfuge! It's all lies! It's all of Satan the devil! That's the comparison.

Let's read what is recorded here for us and tell us more of Solomon's reign, v 22: "For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram… [two navies: one out of Phoenicia and one out of the Gulf of Aquba or the Red Sea] …Once in three years the navy of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom" (vs 22-23).

Then we'll see what happened to Solomon. It's contained in Rev. 3 where it says that 'he has grown rich'—this applies to the Church as well, so you can see the spiritual things, too—'and increased with goods and have need of nothing.' We'll see what happens when that occurs.

Verse 24. And all the earth sought Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. And every man brought his presents, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and clothing and armor, and spices, horses and mules, at a rate year by year" (vs 24-25).

So beneficial and widespread were the blessings from the kingdom of Solomon that they willingly brought tribute to him. This was part of a vast worldwide organization under the direction of the children of Israel. And King Solomon was the king over this worldwide empire. This was something!

Verse 26: "And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had fourteen hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver like stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars like the sycamore trees in the valley for abundance" (vs 26-27). Then he brought horses and clothing.

After Solomon had all of this: he had his wisdom, he understood things, the great men of the world came to hear his wisdom, to understand things about everything that there is. There's another book in the Bible called Ecclesiastes. After Solomon had been blessed with all of these things, and after he had all of this, let's see what he did; let's see how he thought; let's see what he did with his life and with what God had given him. That's quite a thing that took place!

Now, Solomon did learn one lesson, the lesson that David his father taught him, but he didn't learn it a hundred percent. Let's see what David learned, because he taught Solomon his son. Let's see what David learned about human ability, human activity and all the things that we can do as human beings. We can do a lot of things, but remember: The flesh profits nothing! When something profits nothing, that is vanity!

• in spite of all the wisdom
• in spite of all the wealth
• in spite of all the kingdom
• in spite of all those who were the princes and the captains and all of those who waited on him
• in spite of the great bureaucracy that he had throughout his kingdom and where it reached into all the nations of the world

Remember: the flesh profits nothing! It is the Spirit that gives life! Jesus said, 'the words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are Life.' Here's the lesson that David, Solomon's father, learned. He even made a psalm of this, sang it before God:

Psalms 39: "I said, 'I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue…'" There were probably a lot of things he did that he sinned with his tongue. We are told in the New Testament that we are to bring 'every vain imagination and thought into captivity into the obedience of Jesus Christ. That's also expressed here.

"'…I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked are before me.' I became dumb, keeping silent; I said nothing good, and yet my sorrow grew worse. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue" (vs 1-3). After seeing all that went on, looking at all human life, and this is what all philosophers cannot understand; some come close to it, but they don't understand it.

Verse 4: "O LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how short lived I am." He lived to be 70-years-old. This happens when you get older and you look back at your life. You think: where have all the years gone? It is true, the older we get, the faster time seems to go. It really does! We look back and think of things as if it was yesterday, and it was ten years ago. Likewise, with David, he said,

Verse 4: "O Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how short lived I am. Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth, and the span of my days is as nothing before You…." (vs 4-5). You Who live forever! God! In eternity! It says of God that He 'inhabits eternity.' He lives in a different level of life than we do.

• He's given us physical life!
• He's given us the Spirit of man!
• He's given us His Holy Spirit within us

—IF we repent, are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit of God

But that is just a pinprick of what God is going to give us as spirit beings. So, this is what David was musing, looking at His life, looking at the life of others.

"…the span of my days is as nothing before You. Surely every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah" (v 5). When we have our best thoughts, when we have our best behavior. We can say that when we have everything taken care of physically, and when we have our best clothing on, everything is the best; it's all vanity! God says that 'all flesh is as grass and is as the flower of the field'; it grows old, dries up and the flower falls off. That's quite a summary of life—isn't it? Yes!

Verse 6: "Surely every man walks about in a vain show! Surely they are in an uproar in vain…." Isn't that true? Watch what goes on with the news, television, reports, sports and everything. All the commercials are nothing but fantasies and manufactured, artificial, synthetic reality.

"…He heaps up riches and does not know who shall gather them. And now, LORD, what do I wait for?…." (vs 6-7). Looking at what life is all about. We will see that Solomon understood some of these things, but he didn't learn the lesson as his father David did.

You can have all the blessings of God; you can receive all the physical things that you can possibly have and more to where you are so full of it that you say, 'I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.' Then Christ says, 'And you know not that you are naked, miserable, poor and blind.' And we will see that's exactly what happened to Solomon.

This is a Psalm of repentance. Knowing and understanding that these things are all temporary and he's got to repent of it, so he says:

Verse 8: Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the fool. I was dumb; I did not open my mouth because You have done it" (vs 8-9). He was suffering from some kind of correction of God. When that happens, what are you going to say? O Lord, no! Like Job said, 'I spoke once, twice I've spoken, but I'm going to lay my hand on my mouth, I'm going to shut up!'

Verse 10: "Remove Your stroke away from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. You correct a man for iniquity with rebukes, and you make his beauty to vanish away like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Selah" (vs 10-11)—think on this!

Here we are at the Feast. We're enjoying all these wonderful things. We have lots of food. We have comfortable surroundings. But what we need more than anything else is God, His Spirit, His knowledge, and His Truth so that we do not get hung-up on physical things.

Also, let's carry this forward into the Kingdom of God as we teach the people who will be under our charge. They are going to be given every spiritual blessing, every physical blessing:

• Every man is going to 'sit under his fig tree and his vine.'
• He's not going to be afraid.
• He's not going to learn war anymore.
• All of the kings and priests will be teaching.
• The people will learn.
• They will understand of God.
• They will realize the spiritual substance behind everything physical.
• They will understand why they're here and where they're going.

We will see when we come to the end of the Millennium, something happens when they get their mind off of God and they don't take the correction of God.

David finishes this Psalm by saying, v 12: "Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Look away from me, that I may recover strength before I depart and am no more" (vs 12-13). That's quite a thing!

Let's see how Solomon learned some of these things, and see how he didn't learn. David did to a great degree. Solomon did to a pretty good degree. As you look at all the physical things, this is why in the Millennium this becomes important. Everyone is going to have every physical thing that they need. There's going to be success, and lives are going to be productive. Families will be together, and they're going to have to learn this one thing: The physical things do not profit! It is the Spirit that gives life!

Ecclesiastes 1:1: "The words of the Preacher [Solomon], the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher, 'vanity of vanities! All is vanity.'" (vs 1-2). Look at your life:

• What have you done?
• Where have you gone?
• What are you doing?
• Where are you going?

Verse 3: "What profit does a man have in all his labor which he labors under the sun?" We're seeing this happen right now. Look at everything that built this nation, everything that God blessed the children of Israel—the modern descendants—with and look where it's all going—POOF!—all disappearing and all vanity. Take this same thing and you can apply it to people who have been in the Church. Some were the seed sown on unproductive ground—where are they? Where are those who used to attend with us? God is always cleansing, purging and helping people to come to righteousness if they will. If they won't then they have the correction come upon them.

Verse 4: "One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. The sun also arises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, and it turns around to the north; it whirls around continually; and the wind returns on its circuits" (vs 1-6). They knew an awful lot about how the earth functioned—right?

Today, we have the narcissistic evolutionary attitude in the world of the elite. 'Oh, we know everything! Everything in the past was old and stupid and they knew nothing.' Well, if you read carefully here, this says they knew a lot!

Verse 7: "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from where the rivers come, there they return again. All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing" (vs 7-8). Isn't that absolutely true when you look at all the entertainment, sports, knowledge and technology that's going on today. "…the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing."

Then Solomon makes a statement that is quite profound, v 9: "That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun."

• Think about that in relationship to our so-called advanced civilization that we live in.
• Think about that in relationship to the civilization before the Flood.
• Think about that, as Jesus said, 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.'

Verse 10: "Is there a thing of which it may be said, 'See, this is new'? It has already been in days of old, which were before us." Let me just give you an example: The archeologist who like to go, especially to Egypt: How did they build the pyramids? How did they build these tombs? Why did they have so many underground tunnels? How is it that they were able to build these things, and yet, we don't see the smoke-soot from torches and candles and lanterns!

They looked at one of the hieroglyphics and here was a man holding in his hand a great—they didn't know what it was, but when you look at it with what it shows—long tube that was closed at the end and inside were wavy lines. Now they're asking: Did they have knowledge of electricity in ancient Egypt? If they did—which they probably did—would that not answer how they were able to build these things unless they had some kind of light? Light that did not produce soot and smoke that clung to the ceiling or walls of the interiors of the temples and tombs that the Egyptians built. "…'See, this is new'? It has already been in days of old, which were before us."

Here's a catch! Here's what happens! People forget, v 11: "There is no memory of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who shall come afterwards." Quite a good summary of how human life is, and physical life is.

All of this is the part of wisdom that God gave to Solomon. We're going to see what did he do with it? How did he handle it? We also need to ask ourselves those questions today.

• What are we doing with the knowledge and Truth of the Word of God?
• How do we handle it in understanding the Bible?
• Do we love God?
• Do we love our neighbors?
• Do we love the brethren?
• What is it that we are doing?

God is doing a work in us!

• How are we cooperating with God in that work?
• Are we cooperating in such a way that it will result in spiritual character so that at the resurrection we can be resurrected to inherit eternal life?

or

• Is it going to be a matter of vanity?

Here's what Solomon did, the great experiment in human life and activity recorded for us so we can get God's perspective on it. This will be some of the very lessons that we will need to learn and teach people in the Millennium, because they will have every physical blessing right there. Let's see what Solomon did, and then we will see where it led him, and we will see what happens when vanity is not overcome.

Verse 12[transcriber's correction]: "I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under the heavens. It is a grievous task God has given to the sons of men to be exercised by it. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and striving after wind" (vs 12-14)—or vexation of spirit!

Here's what he observed, v 15: "What is crooked cannot be made straight; and what is lacking cannot be numbered. I spoke within my own heart, saying, 'Lo, I have become great and have gathered more wisdom than all that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart has experienced great wisdom and knowledge.' And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I perceived that this also is striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow" (vs 15-18).

That's really true! Let's see what he did, and let's see what happened to him, and we will pick this up tomorrow and see what happened to Solomon and how did he handle the gifts of God that God gave to him.

Scriptural References:

• 1 Kings 3:3-14
• Genesis 26:3-5
• 1 Kings 3:14-15
• 1 Kings 4:24-25, 29-30, 32-34
• 1 Kings 8:65, 1-5, 10, 54-63, 66
• 1 Kings 10:1-9
• 1 Kings 9:28
• 1 Kings 10:10-16, 21-27
• Psalm 39:1-13
• Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 2; 3
• Isaiah 2
• 1 Kings 5
• 2 Chronicles 5-8
• Deuteronomy 8
• Exodus 19