Last week we looked at our gag reflex when we consider the word authority from a human perspective. We confessed that much of our opinion of authority is negative and driven by an urge for us to ultimately be the one in charge. Much like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we want to be like God and to have our own autonomy, our own rule, our own agenda exercised instead of trusting and waiting for God to work out His agenda in His timing.

This morning we are going to continue with this thought as Solomon now challenges us with His observations of wicked authority that oppresses us and slow justice which confuses and frustrates us.

I want to challenge you along with Solomon to consider how we are responding to oppression and injustice in our own time. I want us to pick away at the root of our disbelief so that we are confronted with our own apathy and our own lack of faith. I also want us to come to a better understanding of who truly reigns in this life and the one to come.

Let’s jump in.

STUDY

Ecclesiastes 8:10-17

Verse 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.

Solomon says that the wicked may indeed die, but even then they are buried and praised in the city where they did their evil deeds and acted out their religious hypocrisy. The translation means that they did all these wicked things in a place where there was supposed to be righteousness and justice, a place that was holy, and all they did was forgotten. Solomon concludes that this is utterly meaningless and futile.

Why don’t the wicked get what they deserve?

We have a view that if all of the evil people were gathered together and separated from the rest of us we would be much happier. The problem is that the dividing line of good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. So we are left not wanting to cut away a piece of our heart.

Our view of justice and grace is perverted by our sin. When someone hurts us, oppresses us, sins against us, we want justice. We are angry when it doesn’t come quickly or in the manner we think is suitable for the offense. We question God and his timing when it appears as if they get away with what they’ve done. But if it is you and I that hurt another, if it is you and I that oppresses another, if it is you and I that sins against another, we want grace. And if we don’t receive grace from the person we hurt, we now want justice for their unforgiving heart. It’s twisted isn’t it?

If we are to follow Jesus as a King who rules a Kingdom, we need to look at how Jesus instructs us.

Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

When we hear the term “Kingdom of Heaven” we usually assume that it has to do with what heaven will be like. This is not what the Bible intends. The “Kingdom of Heaven” is the rule of Heaven upon earth. It isn’t speaking so much about the place of heaven as it is speaking of the one who rules heaven.

To speak of a “kingdom” implies there is a King. Who is that King? Jesus. We think of Jesus name like it is Jesus (first name) and Christ (last name), but we need to think of Jesus as His name and Christ as His title. He is the anointed Messiah that was promised to the Jews. He is the one appointed heir and ruler which was prophesied in the Old Testament.

The word “kingdom” is simply broken down “king” which is one who is sovereign, and “dom” which is dominion. Or in other words, the one who rules sovereignly over and in His dominion.

Because we think of heaven as only the future, we don’t think parables like this apply to us. Do they? What was Jesus saying? He was saying that there were some that were wheat and some that were tares. Since heaven doesn’t have any tares, and the gathering of wheat and tares is done in space time on earth, He is speaking of the “already” aspect of His Kingdom.

We don’t have the right to ultimately judge between the wheat and the tares. The landowner does, the King does. He will send his servants, the angels, to come and gather the wheat for His barn, and the tares for the fire.

But since we don’t have a Kingdom focus, we live with evil in this world and apparent injustice prevailing, and it causes men to boldly spit in the Kings face thinking He won’t do anything about it.

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.

What has happened to wicked earthly rulers that try to establish their kingdom over Gods? Pharaoh, Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Ahab, Saul, Herod, Nero, Caesar, Stalin, Hitler? They have all been brought low before the One true King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Each of them have been confronted by His majesty and each of them have fallen before Him.

But this is how many professing Christians live because they don’t have a Kingdom mentality. We want a Depeche Mode Jesus. Our own little personal Jesus tucked away nicely in our pocket that we can pull him out whenever the thought of death or hell comes into our mind. Yet all the while we live like hell.

This personal Jesus that was sold to you and I that is only useful as a get out of hell card, is not the Jesus of the Bible. Our weird American form of Christianity is not the same as that of the 1st century believer.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is a pronouncement, a heralding of a King who has come! It is the good news that Jesus is the King of His Kingdom and it is available to you and I now! It isn’t some get out of hell, get into heaven card. It isn’t a do what I want until I die and get to be with Jesus card, it is a shouting announcement with trumpets blasting that the King has come…All rise!

Why do so called Christians live like their atheists? Why do so many churches preach a Jesus of socialism, a Jesus of fundamentalism, a Jesus of sexual liberty, a Jesus of the Rasta Farris, a Jesus of self-help, a Jesus of non-judgment, a Jesus of gay haters, Jesus that doesn’t drive SUV’s, a Jesus who is a nice friend, a Jesus who is a good moral example? Because they don’t know the Jesus who is King over a Kingdom and who reigns today in power and glory. Because they have lost the Jesus who has conquered by coming in the flesh, dying a bloody death, rising from the dead to be crowned a King!

He is viewed as a Jesus who is a King in a heavenly Kingdom so we can follow our plan, do what we want, pursue our own interests. We think when we see Him he’ll welcome us with open arms and wink at our lives lived for our own kingdom, worshipping our own god, ourselves.

What did the Magi do when they came to Jesus? They fell before the infant and worshipped Him as a King. Whey was Herod the puppet king so angry? Because the wise men came asking for the location of the baby who was born King of the Jews. What did Herod do to try to thwart Jesus Kingship? He had all the baby boys under two around the area of Bethlehem slaughtered.

Who’s blood line is Jesus in? He is in the royal line of David the King who was promised that through his bloodline would come a King who’s reign would never end.

What did John the Baptist proclaim when Christ began his public ministry? “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2).

What did Jesus preach? “The Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matthew 4:23).

What did Jesus say? “The Kingdom of God has come upon you!” (Matthew 12:28).

What question did Pilate ask Jesus? “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:2). How did Jesus respond? “It is as you say.”

What did those that were supposed to love Him, follow Him, leave their own agenda and plan do when presented with their King? Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” 15 So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:14-15)

They mocked Him and beat Him, and dressed Him purple robes, and placed a crown of thorns upon His head and mocked Him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Mark 15:18)

What sign was nailed on the top of the cross? “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (John 19:19).

What vision do we have of this King we He returns next? Revelation 19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

So many Christians have prayed the “sinner prayer” not realizing that they have reduced God to a fire escape. It isn’t the “Jesus prayer” that changes your life, its Jesus! He calls you to abandon your own self interests and pursuits and turn to Him to be about His Kingdom.

In doing so, this affects politics, law, sports, architecture, engineering, science, film, art and all cultural expressions because Jesus is the King of our culture. It’s not the culture the saves us, it’s Jesus that envelops us into His Kingdom and then calls us to change culture by preaching the Kingdom culture, by preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom which shines fully to glorify God.

God is not looking for a scattered people that have no connection to each other and no connection to Him. He is looking for a people that hear the heralding of the King, the pronouncement that He has come and in response they fall upon their face and hail their King and glorify Him. These people then stand as children of the King, co-inheritors of the Kingdom of God, purchased with the Kings blood to be a single people living under the ruling power of their great and glorious King which connects each of us as citizens within this Kingdom.

Our lives must be governed with that in mind. Personal, consumeristic, blank, religion that sets its hope in a promise only in a future but has no care for how we live, how we love, and how we promote the name of our King today is not New Testament Christianity. It is a rank pagan assumption that we can manipulate the Deity by having Him meet all of our personal wants and needs. It’s not about our personal needs, it’s about His ultimate authority over each of our lives and His beautiful reign within them.

This is the King that rules now, this is the one who has established His Kingdom, and this is the one we should fear.

Verses 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. 13 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.

Jeremiah 32:38-40 “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. 40 “I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.

Verse 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.

Again Solomon surveys the injustice on this earth and scratches His head. He is thinking of life in terms of retribution and it is frustrating.

Much like it frustrates you and I to see the wicked get away with murder while the innocent are treated like the wicked.

Without a ruling King who will bring to pass all things, I would completely agree with Solomon, it would be futile.

So Solomon commends us to pleasure. He basically says to eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we may die.

Verses 15-17 So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. 16 When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on the earth (even though one should never sleep day or night), 17 and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot discover.

Man cannot know the future. Man cannot labor his way to peace with the King. The wise cannot figure these things out apart from God revealing them to us. Why, because man under the sun is subject to a ruler that is the Father of lies and has been lying since the beginning. This enemy of the King should be your enemy. This enemy desires to offer you your own personal kingdom like he tried to offer the kingdoms of the world to Jesus. He wants you to commit high treason against your King.

He is an oppressor, an accuser, a liar, and his desire is to make you a bastard child so that the Kingdom of God is not furthered by your life. He desires to cut your hamstring and leave you flailing on the ground with no hope for life and only death as your future.

We face oppression, whether it is forced upon us through wicked authorities outside of us, or it is an oppression we shackle ourselves internally with guilt, bitterness, hatred, envy, anger, or any other emotion that causes us to follow a defeated enemy.

What we need is what all of Israel needed- a King who rules a Kingdom in which we can be citizens. What we need is to be citizens of the Kingdom of God right now so that all our oppressors are defeated and we live as free men and women who are now able to do what we were created to do. Not much make of us, not make much of another human, but to make much of our King and to show the beauty of God and live for an expanse of His Kingdom.

The way in which we can be citizens of this Kingdom with Jesus as our King, is to turn from our self-interests and pursuit of our own agenda, fall on our face before Jesus, cry out to Him for forgiveness of our treason and for exchanging His glory for our own, and placing our faith in His righteousness which forgives all our sin. Christ them comes and fills us with His Spirit, seals us with His emblem that we are owned by the King, adopts us in, washes us from our sin through His own blood and calls us to allegiance to follow Him and His way.

Oh what great delight it is to treasure this King. What incredible joy it is to be ruled by a glorious and gracious King. What satisfaction there is in knowing we are not left without Him.

This reality causes our heart to pray as Christ instructed us, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!”

Who Will Oppress the Oppressors?
Ecclesiastes 8:10-17
David Fairchild
February 20, 2005