Vanity, Smoke, Hope: Opening Ecclesiastes in Jesus

Introduction

Ecclesiastes is a complex book, but rich and dense, a book of wisdom. The preacher at Momentum opens this series with a simple conviction: in our time, in our city, life is uncertain, and there's a lot of false hope, worry, and distraction around. A quick glance at the news in Switzerland, France, and pretty much everywhere else is enough to see it. We need the clarity of Christ. In preparing this study, a beauty emerged from the text that seems especially needed by the Church today.

In this first message, you'll walk through the introduction of the book: verse 1 (who is the Preacher?), then the opening poem (v. 2-11). Finally, you'll see how it all finds its meaning in Jesus.

Message Outline

1. Who Is the Preacher, Really?

• "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastes 1:1). The author says he's David's son but doesn't give his name. Tradition attributes the book to Solomon.
• Yet the preacher notes that Ecclesiastes speaks in the first-person singular in the middle of the book (chapter 7) and at the end (chapter 12), while verse 1 is an introduction. Scholars increasingly agree that there's an author who collected and shaped a compilation of Solomon's words.
• Another clue: the text contains Persian loanwords in the Hebrew. There's no reason Israelites at the height of Solomon's power would have borrowed these foreign terms. Everything said really does come from Solomon (it fits his thinking and theology perfectly), but the book was compiled and edited during the exile in Persia.
• Why does this matter? Because the people are far from their homeland, without a temple to worship in, forced to learn another language, under the constant threat of antisemitism and persecution. They need to find their bearings, to find their voice at a time when they can't even protest against the king of Persia, that would mean death. They need to learn to be content with the little they have.

2. A Book of Wisdom for a Suffering People

• The author presents Solomon as a preacher: "Ecclesiastes" comes from Greek, "Qohelet" from Hebrew. The idea is of someone who gathers both ideas and people to teach them.
• He uses poetry, the language of wisdom and philosophy. The preacher likes to quote The Bible Project: Proverbs focuses on norms and rules; Ecclesiastes focuses on the exceptions.
• This is a book written with great artistry, meant to make you feel things and think differently. Some say it sounds like a slightly cynical philosopher in his fifties, but it's more complex than that.
• Another distinctive feature: the book never mentions the covenant. That silence speaks volumes. Without a temple, in Persia, this people is going through deep inconsistency, a lack of stability, even though the covenant had been their inspiration since Abraham. Many Old Testament scholars actually compare Ecclesiastes to the first eleven chapters of Genesis, before Abraham.
• The book can be read pretty much as-is, without much prior biblical background. And far from being pessimistic, it's actually an apologetic, a defense of the faith, the reason you can stand firm no matter what happens. That's why the Jewish people read it every year during Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, a joyful feast commemorating the journey through the wilderness. This is a book of joy hidden inside all our trials.

3. The Opening Poem: Everything Is Smoke (v. 2-11)

• The preacher reads verses 2-11 as a unified poem: "'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher; 'vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun? One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full."
• The word rendered here as "inconsistency" or "smoke" is the Hebrew word hevel. It's a hard word to pin down, more often translated "vanity" in traditional versions. Originally it means a breath, a vapor, a wisp of smoke.
• The preacher prefers "inconsistency" and "smoke" because "vanity" carries a sense that's too heavy, too negative (not necessarily what's in the text. The author isn't a nihilist; he's a man of faith), just read chapter 12 to be convinced of that. But life really is full of things that don't hold together: you think you're holding onto something solid, like a tattoo, and then it becomes something else.
• The beauty of the poem is right there: it contrasts the constancy of creation (the sun, the wind, the rivers endlessly running their courses) with the inconsistency of humanity. It's not "nothing is worth the effort, everything's going to burn." It's more that the poetry underscores this weariness and these endless cycles, life under the sun.

4. A City That Changes, a River That Flows: The Same Smoke

• To make this point concrete, the preacher shows several historical maps of Paris. Around the year 1000, there isn't much there: the Île de la Cité, a few small settlements, marshland (hence the name "Le Marais"). The Batignolles neighborhood? A forest.
• A few centuries later, by the Renaissance, the city has filled in somewhat, and fortifications appear. By 1860, Paris finally has its twenty arrondissements. The finest buildings in the Batignolles district date from 1905-1912.
• And today, everything has changed, except one thing: the river still flows. The seasons still turn. The laws of nature hold steady. Since leaving Eden, humanity keeps progressing, evolving, devolving; it produces "new" ideas that rest on old ones.
• Why? Because humanity is forced to search for meaning in life under the sun. And whoever looks for their identity or the meaning of their life in this world gets swept up, says the preacher, in the currents of hevel, the inconsistency of a world that isn't always what we think it is.

5. Jesus, the One Who Turns the Haze into Clarity

• The preacher stresses this: too often, in evangelical Protestant churches, we want to be joyful at all costs, to always see the bright side of things. But reality isn't like that. Many people struggle with their faith because they were promised that if they do everything right, everything will go well. Ecclesiastes tells you something different: there is a happiness, even in an inconsistent world, offered as a rich gift from God each day.
• And there's more: even though there's nothing new under the sun, men and women of faith eagerly await something new, a hope that will never disappoint. That's exactly what Paul describes in Romans 8:19-21: creation, subjected to futility, waits eagerly for the revealing of the children of God.
• As a New Testament people, you're called to read Ecclesiastes through Jesus. He's the one who turns the haze into clarity. The preacher is right to say that life is inconsistent: despite our technological and social inventions, the earth keeps turning, and everything moves toward death. That's what God had announced to man: "In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die." The first day of hevel, of life under the sun.
• But there is a way out. Jesus came to overturn the curse, to remedy original sin. The preacher meditates on Hebrews 12:24: Jesus is "the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel."
• The name Abel, that innocent son of Adam and Eve murdered by his brother (Genesis 4), is exactly the same word as hevel, vapor, smoke. His blood cries out from the ground because he was a victim of this life under the sun, inconsistent and cruel, because of his brother's jealousy. The preacher quotes Simon Kistemaker: the blood of Christ, by contrast, is that of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and establishes peace between God and man.
• When you place your faith in him, you are redeemed from this vanity, this inconsistency. You still have to live under the sun, but you have a future that goes far beyond it, and you're accompanied by the one who gave his own life for you.

Key Takeaways

• Ecclesiastes isn't a pessimistic book: it's an apologetic, a defense of the faith that tells you why you can stand firm no matter what happens, the Jewish people even read it during the joyful feast of Sukkot.
• The Hebrew word hevel (breath, vapor, smoke), describes the inconsistency of life under the sun, rather than a nihilistic "vanity": life is very real, but it slips through your fingers.
• The opening poem contrasts the constancy of creation (sun, wind, rivers) with the inconsistency of humanity chasing after meaning.
• Whoever looks for their identity in the world under the sun gets swept up in the currents of hevel; whoever looks for it in Christ finds belonging and a hope that will never disappoint.
• Under the sun, there is nothing new; in Christ, there is total newness. Under the sun, there is no covenant; in Christ, there is adoption into the family of God. Jesus, greater than Solomon, lived through the same inconsistency we do, and overcame it.

Personal Application

1. In what area of your life do you feel, right now, that "smoke" of hevel, something that seemed solid and turned out to be inconsistent?
2. Are you one of those who were promised that "if you do everything right, everything will go well"? How does the message of Ecclesiastes free you from that unrealistic expectation?
3. Where are you looking for your identity and the meaning of your life today, under the sun, or in Christ? Where do you see this concretely in how you spend your time?
4. What joy "hidden in your trials" has God given you recently, as a rich gift to receive each day?
5. What "future beyond" is Jesus inviting you to receive this week, to help you stand firm in an uncertain world?

Scripture References

• Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (WEB)
• Ecclesiastes 12 (WEB)
• Genesis 1-11 (WEB)
• Genesis 4 (WEB)
• Romans 8:19-21 (WEB)
• Hebrews 12:24 (WEB)
• John 1:29 (WEB)

Further reading

• What Is a Local Church? Definition and Role
• Bible Verses on Hospitality: 15 Texts on Welcoming Others
• 15 Bible Verses for Working Through Conflict

FAQ

Who wrote Ecclesiastes?

Tradition attributes the book to Solomon. The preacher explains that scholars today generally agree there are two layers: the words themselves really do come from Solomon (they fit his thinking and theology perfectly), but a later author gathered, organized, and edited them, likely during the exile in Persia, as suggested by the Persian loanwords found in the text.

What does the word "vanity" mean in Ecclesiastes?

The Hebrew word is hevel. Originally it means a breath, a vapor, a wisp of smoke. The preacher prefers to translate it as "inconsistency" or "smoke" rather than "vanity," which carries a sense that's too heavy and too negative. It's not saying nothing is worth doing, it's saying that life "under the sun" is real, and yet it keeps slipping away.

Why read Ecclesiastes through Jesus?

Because without Christ, Ecclesiastes can feel like a dead end. The preacher stresses: Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12:24), the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He lived through the same inconsistency we do, he overcame it, he gives us belonging and adoption into the family of God, and he will return to renew all things and hand everything back to the Father.