Ecclesiasties Chapter One... What will be our mark in this world and in the world to come?

11    There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

What Solomon is saying is, no one from the past is remembered, and everyone yet to be born will be forgotten too. This very book of Solomon’s refutes that point; he lived many, many years ago and yet we still speak of him and his works today. This verse actually reveals a flaw in Solomon, namely, that he sought praise and remembrance (something he condemns throughout Proverbs). This is not a careless remark on Solomon; it is evident when we realize that Solomon spent seven years building a house for God yet thirteen building his own palace that he was far more engaged in building his own name. Unlike David his father whose whole heart was dedicated to building God a house Solomon was much more about displaying his own magnificence. Now, consider this question, do we want to be known? The answer is found Hebrews 11, this chapter speaks of the great hero’s of faith, men and women who made their impact in this world and obtained a reward in the world to come. By Hebrews 11 we will conclude it is a good thing to be known and it is a good thing to be remembered. The question remains, what are we going to be remembered for? Our own magnificence or a life lived for Christ, being dedicated and sold out to Him?

12    I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Solomon breaks into a personal dissertation, which gives us tremendous insight into this man who came from the godly man David and yet fell prey to backsliding. Dear reader pay very close attention to the few following verses because Solomon is going to dissect for us the real heart issues; he will spell out for us the path of his decline. First of all from this verse we see the time frame of this writing of this book as Solomon is looking back on his years as king; he is at the end of his life and referring to himself as one who "was king of Israel". So he is clearly at the end of his reign. From this verse we know two things: 1) he reigned over all Israel - O' the impact this man could have made, with the influence and power he had he could have turned the whole kingdom into a kingdom of righteousness and made a more positive impact on the world but instead the enemy got in cut his life short and marred his legacy. If we concentrate on righteousness, uprightness and breaking every yoke God will cause us to influence people for good 2) king Solomon himself dwelt in the capitol city of Jerusalem - this was the city David took from the last enemy mentioned in Deut 7:1; the Jebusites. An enemy that could not be removed prior to David. He dwelt in a city that spoke of triumph and arriving at the destination God promised way back in Egypt. O' if only Solomon had continued in the victory how much differently the third book of Solomon (Ecclesiastes) could have been.