Solomon Was Wrong About This
“There is nothing new under the sun.” - Ecclesiastes 1:9
Go ahead and admit it.
You’ve not only heard this phrase, you’ve said it. Perhaps numerous times.
This phrase has become a common one in our Western Christian vernacular. I hear it tossed around regularly by otherwise well-meaning people.
However, I do think it’s interesting to note when Solomon’s words typically get repeated. It’s almost never when something good happens, is it? It’s never used in reference to God’s faithfulness or the kindness of a stranger or the sight of another breathtaking sunrise.
No, it’s almost always used when something goes wrong yet again. When we experience disappointment again. When we experience a financial setback again. When a politician shows themselves to be corrupt again. When our hopes are frustrated and reality falls short of our expectations again.
It’s got a twinge of cynicism to it, doesn’t it?
Let me go on the record and say this: I don’t like this phrase.
I know you’re probably not supposed to say that as a pastor but I don’t like it. I think what this phrase speaks to our hearts is dangerous. I think what it perpetuates in our minds is destructive. For those who are in Christ, I think it postures our hearts, our prayers, our work and our expectations in precisely the wrong way.
However, more importantly than simply not liking it, I don’t think it is true.
I think Solomon was wrong.
One of the things I love about the bible is that it’s real. It didn’t come to us as a golden scroll that fell from the heavens. The Spirit of God saw fit to see it pass through human hands and heads and hearts. We find it doesn’t downplay or avoid the whole range of human emotions or experiences. And as such, I think it has as much to teach us about humanity and it does about God himself. But we need to be very careful not to confuse the two.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon, credited as being one of the wisest men to ever live, pens a lot of different kinds of words. Some are proverbs of wisdom and truth. Some are reflections on his own experiences and things he has learned along the way. And some are frankly, glimpses into some of the dark and broken parts of his own heart.
By the time Solomon pens these words he’s well into his years and has experienced it all. He’s enjoyed success, esteemed reputation, great wealth and all of the things that wealth can buy. His conclusion? It’s all meaningless.
Here are a few excerpts:
“Meaningless! Meaningless. Utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless.” (Ecc 1:2)
“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecc 2:17)
“Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.” (Ecc 3:19)
It’s probably not surprising then that I recently came across an article written by an atheist author who regularly discredits the Bible praising the book of Ecclesiastes. The title of his article? “Ecclesiastes, a Book of the Bible Even an Atheist Can Love.” Why? Because not only is some of what Solomon writes dark and fatalistic at times, (that’s to say nothing of his not so honoring words about women), but some of what he suggests in his lamenting stands in direct contrast to what the rest of the scriptures tell us to be true.
Solomon’s lamenting and pain are real - and many have found blessing and even comfort in his words during dark seasons of the soul - but that doesn’t mean everything he writes is reflective of the heart of God. Some of his words, though real, are simply not true. In fact, some of his words are antithetical to who God is and what He is up in the world.
The biblical narrative begins by introducing us to a God who, by his own creativity and power, speaks into creation everything we now know but was not yet. There was nothing. That is, of course, until he did something new.
Everything he created was new!
New land. New skies. New lakes and streams and oceans and everything in them. From sloths to starfish. From sparrows to orangutans. From creepy crawlies on the ground to the crown of his creation: mankind. Everything new bursting with new life!
This is our first introduction to the character of God.
This is who He is. This is what He does.
It is a characteristic we will see throughout the pages of scripture. Is a part of Himself that could not and would not be thwarted by human rebellion.
The prophets spoke of this.
Isaiah 43:18-19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Jeremiah 31:20-21: “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, Israel, return to your towns. How long will you wander, unfaithful Daughter Israel? The Lord will create a new thing on earth…”
Now we have the distinct advantage of knowing what the essence of what this new thing would be and the way in which it would be ushered into the world. And what (or more accurately, who) is the catalyst, the road, the way for this new work? It would come through Jesus.
And it is no small twinge of irony that when the Son of God arrives, as the Holy One of Israel grows up under their nose, as divinity with skin on stands before their very eyes, as the God-man declares who He is and what He will accomplish as He preaches and makes his way to the cross, that those most educated in the Torah and the prophets did not recognize him. Why did they miss him?
Because God was doing something brand new!
How many times do we find Jesus say things like, “You’ve heard it said, but I tell you…”?
What is he doing each time he says this? He is proclaiming something new.
In John 13:34, Jesus says:
“A new commandment I give you…”
In Luke 22:19-22 we read:
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
Did you catch that. The new covenant.
Everything has changed. God is up to something new.
Of course, God isn’t simply doing something new in Jesus. He is also doing something new through Jesus in us!
2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
Colossians 3:9-10:
”Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
And lastly, what is God’s commitment in all this? Where is this all going? Is He done?
Far from it.
Revelation 21:1-5:
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new.”
And there’s nothing new under the sun? I beg to differ.
We serve and worship the God who says, “I am doing something new! Don’t you see it?”
He is the author of new life,
the giver of a new heart,
the maker of a new way,
the instigator of a new covenant,
the ruler of a new kingdom,
the one whose mercies are new every morning,
and the one who says - “no matter how painful or hard or evil or destructive this world or its inhabitants seem to be at times - in the end you will hear my words with your own ears and see with your own eyes that ‘I am the God who is making everything new.’”
So are you beginning to see why we don’t get to settle into nihilism or fatalism or cynical throwaways like “there is nothing new underneath the sun”? Do you see why this is especially true as it pertains to the God we serve, what He is up to in the world, and what He longs to do in and through us?
Because what we find from the beginning of the biblical narrative to the end, from Genesis all the way through to Revelation, is that ours is a God who loves to create that which is new, and to renew that which is created.
That is who He is.
That is what He does.
And that is what He is always inviting us to join Him in.
