The Sad Vanity Of This Life, Working And Eating To Never Be Fulfilled

It’s no secret that society all around the world is collapsing at breakneck speeds. We all see it, we all feel it, and yet it hardly seems like anyone has a solution to it all. More and more people, and perhaps you are one of them, are slowly devolving into apathy and nihilism, with draining ambition and growing laziness, unsure what to do, except to only try and pretend the problems are not as real as they seem by addicting themselves to instant gratification and quick thrills.

It feels like everyone is at each other’s throats. Nobody cares about each other anymore, and all has been sacrificed for pleasure and for the appeasement of one’s self; me first, you next; dog eat dog; all for one and only one. Jesus himself prophesized that this would happen: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12).

This video really summarizes the bleakness of what has become of society and of the people without hope:

A lot of people are really starting to question just about everything: why I am feeling like this, who am I, what’s my purpose, where does it go from here; what I am to do, how do I change it if I can, can it be fixed, should it be fixed; what’s the point of it all, why I am working and for what?

These are some of the questions that King Solomon once asked.

Solomon, son of King David, became King of Israel after his father’s death. He was the wisest man to ever live before and after him (outside of Jesus Christ), writing nearly all of the book of Proverbs, among his other writings and deeds; and had great honor from the people and abroad, and was the richest man to ever live (true riches, not debt and numbers on a screen). Under Solomon, Israel was the most prosperous it had ever been, never going to war and proclaimed mirth throughout the land. “Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry” (1 Kings 4:20).

Solomon’s esteem eventually gained the attention of the Queen of Sheba who paid him a visit just so she could hear his wisdom and witness his prosperity firsthand, for which she then added onto his bounty by gifting him even more riches. In just one year alone he received “six hundred threescore and six (666) talents of gold” (1 Kings 10:14), among other things; and was so rich that most of his decorum was overlaid with or made entirely of solid gold, but “none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon” (10:21). But eventually these things drove Solomon to do wickedly, such as taking for himself an unfathomable 1,000 wives and women; along with him allowing his wisdom, riches and veneration to corrupt him; leading him down a mad spiral that destroyed him and the kingdom for generations to come.

Solomon recorded his ambitions and why he did them, and what he discovered, in his memoir of sorts called Ecclesiastes. Solomon, by his account, said that “I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith” (Ecc 1:14); and, “I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:” (Ecc 7:25).

There are too many things to cover in this message, but through Solomon’s dark desire to experience and know everything he discovered a sad truth of this life, of which how he starts and ends his book:

Ecclesiastes 1:2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. [3] What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? [4] One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. [8] All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. [9] The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. [10] Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. [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. [14] I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Having experienced it all, Solomon repeats this truth over and over again: that all labor results in vanity and vexation; and all that work in whatever form it may be will never satisfy and be enough; and, as the old saying goes: “The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn anything from history.” Mankind continues and is condemned to repeat the same misery over and over again. It may come with fancy new labels and a new coat of paint, but at its core it is always the same old things. One generation may learn the lesson but the next may not and the one thereafter won’t remember it at all.

Solomon dabbled in virtually all the major philosophies – naturalism, idealism, realism, pragmatism, empiricism, critical positivism, nihilism, existentialism, taoism, hedonism, stoicism, etc. – and he found, as will anyone who labors in them or any knowledge and wisdom, that laboring in much wisdom and knowledge will certainly increase grief and vexation. Solomon wrote:

Ecclesiastes 1:17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. [18] For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. [12:12] […] of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Solomon gave himself up over to hedonism. He used his riches and power to get whatever he wanted, the best of the best, and sought to enjoy all the world has to offer, and to know what the net result of lasciviousness and wantonness would be.

Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. [2] I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? [3] I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

But at the end of it he realized it was all a waste and there was no joy in any of it; and anyone who has given themselves over to vanities and instant gratification can relate. It does not fulfill, it does not make you happy in the end; from partying it up, from the booze and drugs and the sex and the music; from a big house full of junk and useless toys, and the fast cars and big boats; to wealthy retirement and riches, and so on. But at the end of it you soon realize all that work you did was for nothing; and like Solomon you begin to hate life as you realize it’s not all cracked up as you thought it to be, and start to question your purpose, especially when the trials and tribulations and stresses of such labor, white or blue-collar, really begin to strain at you.

Ecclesiastes 2:10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. [11] Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. [17] Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. […]

Ecclesiastes 2:20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. [21] For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. [22] For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? [23] For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

As I said earlier, a major theme of Ecclesiastes is the vanity of the labor in this life. And so even if you don’t go full-blown hedonist and epicurean, you’ve probably contemplated the purpose of your labor, especially nowadays as things collapse at breathtaking speeds. Solomon observed this as well:

Ecclesiastes 4:4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. [5] The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh. [6] Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

Doing right, fair and honest work will attract negative attention, and at the first hint of success someone is right there to get a piece of it (as you well know by now). If you work too little you’ll go hungry, and in the hyperbolic sense be forced to eat yourself; but overworking is no better either as that just destroys your health, creates leeches, beggars and thieves who want what you have, and the efforts to then maintain and protect those riches earned, including the vanity that comes with all that labor.

Moreover, working for yourself alone is also vain.

Ecclesiastes 4:8 There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

Male or female, whether you are a “strong,” career-driven woman, or a “red-pill” man apart of the “manosphere” and MGTOW movement, ask yourself, what’s the point of all the hard work when you do it alone and for yourself, on top of the other reasons we’ve already covered? You can’t share it with another, you can’t pass it on to your children you probably don’t have, and yet here you are still laboring away for what? What’s the point of being some miser?

Furthermore, consider this too:

Ecclesiastes 5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. [11] When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? [12] The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. [13] There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. [14] But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. [15] As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. [16] And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? [17] All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

And so again we are confronted with the reality that laboring for all this wealth and riches is foolish and pointless, as the addictive increase will only mollify for so long before you get trapped in a perpetual rut that drives you to get keep lusting and coveting over meaningless riches and vanities; and the more you earn and work for, the more greedy third-party entities, neighbors, family and “friends,” swindlers and criminals, the government and taxmen come to “help” you with that money and get a piece of it; and striving to protect them will just drive you mad and envious trying to protect them.

On top of this, as we have seen on a grand scale these days especially, generations before us labored and hustled (whether fairly or unrighteously) to have all this gross “abundance with increase,” and have heaped to themselves all these riches, and have exacted usury and debt slavery on the masses to make even more on the serfs, as the system sucks itself dry like the blackhole that it is, as it is evident nowadays that every drop of blood from the turnip has been squeezed out of it; and worse yet, generations past and even those now have accumulated and accrued ungodly amounts of debt, that will get passed onto their descendants though it cannot be paid-off – all to sustain this fake decadence, this so-called fairy tale we’re told is (or what was) the middle class lifestyle and “American dream.” And so for all that labor that was wrought then and now, what was the point, and what’s the purpose of striving for a lifestyle that brings so little joy and worth at the end?

And to make matters worse, all throughout history we have robbed, cheated, murdered, genocided for vanities for the sake of only a very few in charge with power and wealth; staining the earth with our blood, butchering the men, raping the women, trafficking and enslaving the children, all for the vanity of useless riches and power. As the apostle Paul wrote in the New Testament: “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. [8] And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. [9] But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.[10] For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:7-10).

Bearing these many vanities in mind, Solomon poses these sobering questions, asking, Ecclesiastes 6:11: “Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? [12] For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” And again he recorded, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

And the answer is you are not the better; so much so in fact that in truth you are no better than the beasts that perish.

Ecclesiastes 3:16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. [17] I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. [18] I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. [19] For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. [20] All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

At the end of the day, you are not really different than a beast, land, sea or sky. Animals all operate on instinct and survival. Beasts of all shapes, sizes and kinds have a few things to them that they do in this life: eat, sleep, defecate, and procreate. In this regard, mankind like animals exist and function with three different traits: self-preservation, self-propagation, and self-gratification. Animals, day-in and day-out, do not question these things; they do them without a second guess.

Animals gather, hunt, trample, and kill other animals of different species and kinds to eat and stay alive, even if that means killing their own and even if their offspring if it means preserving their lives first. The animals will compete and do what they have to to find a suitable mate, from brute strength, to giving gifts, to vaunting their colors and feats, to killing the competition, and so on. And then they all go to sleep and repeat the process over and over. As has been well said, it’s a dog eat dog world. And this sad travail continues over and over, and the beasts don’t question any of it or consider or wonder why they do it without remorse. And even Satan himself knows this fact real well: “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life” (Job 2:4).

It’s no different for us and therefore makes us no better. And just like them, we all wither and die and go to the ground. As God told Adam and Eve after they had sinned, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). Did you know that the majority of the dust in your house or room consists of you, your constantly decaying body? That’s because you are rotting away slowly day by day, until we eventually all wither away completely and the body shuts down, and dies. And yet every morning you wake up to repeat the process just like the animals; and so you ought to ask yourself, all for what? What’s the point? Why am I repeating this mundane cycle over and over? But as we’ve covered, if you try to deviate from the basic course of this world, as we all have, it leads to nowhere; occupying your time in self-destructive vanities and labor, or even nothing at all; and philosophies and empty, dead religions and sacrilege and superstitions built on the vanity of man – where you will just destroy yourself, and accelerate your death in more ways than one, and spend your days “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). Truly, as Solomon said, “vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. [4] For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. [5] For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. [6] Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

And so there it is: the end. When realizing all worldly things lead to vanity and is vanity in of itself, the “solution” is to go to the ground to end the suffering, to end the vanity once and for all; and you can go there faster by destroying your life through vanities or just killing yourself outright; and all that was lived and strived for will come to naught, and you and me and everyone else will be forgotten about. And yet you still, like the animals, keep striving to stay alive knowing of the impending doom that awaits you.

Ecclesiastes 6:6 Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place? [7] All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

Herein lies the basic principle of life: everything you do is to stay alive and feed the cravings of your mouth; “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Solomon wrote in another place, “He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him” (Proverbs 16:26). And yet you are never satisfied and satiated. You must constantly labor and labor aimlessly to stay alive, all just so you can go to the grave, and take nothing with you and be forgotten about…

As pessimistic as Solomon was, and as wise as he was, he still did not have the complete truth. As it is written in the New Testament, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). And as Jesus said of himself, “for she [the Queen of Sheba] came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42). Unlike Solomon, Jesus Christ provides a FAR exceedingly better solution to the problem than Solomon ever wished he could have.

In an event which is recorded in all four gospel accounts, Jesus Christ miraculously fed roughly 5,000 people that came to him with only five loaves of bread and two fish, after giving thanks and looking up to heaven, and had more than enough to fill extra baskets worth. But the gospel account of John 6 provides some critical details that are not reported in the others, which provides a solution to the sore travail Solomon lamented on.

In John 6, the people confessed, “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world,” (14) but, “Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone” (15). The next day those Jews diligently sought to see Jesus again, but not for the right reasons and Jesus knew this (“because he knew all men,” and “he knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25)), and he told those disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.” What follows is quite a remarkable statement:

John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Curious, the Jews wanted to know how to get this. So Jesus tells us: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (29). Not satisfied, the Jews demand another sign be given so that they could believe, and they reference a story in the Old Testament when God rained a bread from heaven called “manna” to feed the Jews in the wilderness after being led out of Egypt, after complaining about not having sufficient food to eat, though they would yet complain some more thereafter. As it was written in the Psalms recounting this event, Psalm 78:29: “So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; [30] They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, [31] The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. [32] For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. [33] Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.” Like Solomon said, “There’s no new thing under the sun.”

In response to the demand for a new miracle and reference to the manna, Jesus responded with this exchange:

John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. [34] Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. [35] And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. [36] But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. [37] All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. [38] For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. [39] And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. [40] And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Contrary to the sad despair of the world that Solomon observed, Jesus Christ the Son of God is saying that he is the bread of life, that by metaphorically eating him (believing on him) that you will have eternal life. You may die physically, but your soul will live on and Christ promises that he will eventually resurrect your body from the grave and will never die again. And unlike the food and drink of this world, he alone can and will fully satiate you and cure your cravings for something more and all of the vanities of this life that cannot save.

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: [26] And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? [27] She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

Jesus said before he resurrected a man named Lazarus from the dead

But naturally, the Jews, as does everyone now, murmured at this and did not like the sound of it, and questioned if he really came from heaven. Well, in response Jesus said, “[45] It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. [46] Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.”

As it is written, “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus Christ is the one and only true Lord God Almighty, who is Lord over all. According to James 3:9, “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.” Man was made after the image and likeness of God, a body, a soul, and a spirit. And that similitude, a physical appearance, is declared to be Jesus Christ; “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:15-17).

And so in simple terms, Jesus Christ, as described by the apostle Paul, Philippians 2:6: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” God sent and provided himself a sacrifice (Genesis 22:8) and “ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6) that we might have eternal life, an escape from these destructive vanities and life as a beast. Jesus continued his thoughts in John 6, saying:

John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. [48] I am that bread of life. [49] Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. [50] This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. [51] I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

This bread our Lord spoke of specifically was his flesh when he voluntarily sacrificed himself on the cross for our transgressions. No man if they wanted to could have taken his life: he sacrificially laid it down for us. John 10:18 says: “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” This “bread” can redeem you because Christ, unlike you, was perfect and sinless, and therefore through the sacrifice of himself you can be saved from this life vanity. As it is written, Hebrews 7:25: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. [26] For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; [27] Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”

Getting back to John 6, the Jews still had a problem with this and questioned how Jesus could give his body for them to eat. So, figuratively speaking, Jesus explains that [53] “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. [54] Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. [55] For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. [56] He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. [58] This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”

This is what Jesus also described in John 3 when he said, [3] “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. [5] Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. [8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

You may have been born once (the flesh) but you are still condemned to death, and so you must be born a second time (the Spirit); which, like the wind, is an invisible transaction that takes places where Christ’s Holy Spirit breathes new life into you; and this is done when stop trusting in yourself and fully trust on who Jesus Christ is and what he did for you, believing that he can and will save you from yourself regardless of whatever you have done.

But (!), the Jews in John 6, just like nearly everyone else does, still rejected the free gift of the Lord’s sacrifice and new life he could give, and murmured against what Jesus has to offer. So he said, [61] “Doth this offend you? [62] What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? [63] It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

And thus, we have come full circle, Jesus reiterating what Solomon had said: “What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:9). And the answer is “the flesh profiteth nothing.” Nothing in this world will ever satisfy and save; not your good works, not water baptism, not church attendance, not charity food drives and community service, not asceticism and good morality: it is all vanity; but Jesus Christ is the bread of life, and believing on what he said can save; and these things have been written and preserved so “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). As Jesus said in another place:

John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. [25] He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. [26] If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

You must die to self, as Jesus taught. If you love this life and its vanities you WILL lose it someday when you least expect it; but if you hate this life and are sick of the vanities and hopelessness, then Christ will save you if you come to him in humility: “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” You must repent and turn away from this world, and Christ will give you a new life. Otherwise you are still “dead in trespasses and sins,” “according to the course of this world” serving “the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (Ephesians 2:1-3); constantly being “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness;” and walking in the vanity of your mind, “being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in [you]” (Ephesians 4:14, 17-18); and “having no hope, and without God in the world:” (Ephesians 2:12); and being “foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). Seriously, don’t you get sick of the vanity of this life and your life? And it’s not going to get any better especially nowadays, so what are you holding out for?! Wouldn’t you want a new life and way to stop your self-destruction and hopelessness in this world?

Jesus preached, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). Paul wrote: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Misery over the fruits of your actions does not save; but true contrition over what you’ve done and what you are towards God will lead to eternal life.

Beit so, people still reject and would still rather choose their flesh and this corrupted world. And this is what happens to all who consciously reject the Lord Jesus Christ and his saving grace:

John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Once people realize who Jesus Christ is and what he actually preached, people don’t want it and turn their backs on him. And notice the verse number that appears when this happened: 666 – the same amount of gold Solomon received when he fully gave himself up to the vanities of this life. People would rather reject the flesh of God, Jesus Christ, and instead settle for this corruptible flesh and the vanities of this life to their own jeopardy. But as Solomon said in a proverb, “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied” (Proverbs 27:20). And as John the Baptist had preached, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

But this harkens back to why the Jews wanted to take Jesus as king earlier in the chapter. Jesus began his ministry during a time of great political upheaval, when the Jews were increasingly becoming tired of living under Rome’s thumb, as restrictive laws and taxes increased. So as a result, they wanted a fleshly man-god that they could emulate and rally behind as a savior to keep their worldly vanities going and make everything okay in their minds. It’s exactly no different now. As nations everywhere are breaking down and trudging along, the vanity of this life becomes more and more difficult and burdensome, now that the illusion of decadence is fleeting fast, people are desperate to deify and christen corrupt, perverse lying politicians and charismatic figures to lead them to the metaphorical promise land, such as a Donald Trump, for example. What good will that do? Can he or any politician or any man save you and redeem you? And yet people would rather turn to that instead, or their own self-righteousness, or their riches to hide behind.

In time, however, people who reject Jesus Christ will get their wish, as an incredibly cunning man will burst onto the scene – “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4) – to provide all the answers that man desires, pretending to be Jesus Christ, otherwise known as the “antichrist” (1 John 2:18); and along with his false prophet together working with him, powered and ruled by Satan himself in this coming satanic trinity (Revelation 13; 16:13-14); which will have power over all people and nations; Revelation 13:16: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” There’s that pesky 666 again. And while that very system is not here yet it is undeniably being built right before our eyes, with all this biometric and cybernetic technology, this push for a cashless society and replacing it with digital IDs, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenization of all physical and living assets including people, all acting as a pretext for this eventual system. Must Read: Top Economist And Professor Reveals That Central Banks Want To Microchip People So They Can Administer CBDCs

“But this I say, brethren, the time is short:” (1 Corinthians 7:29). Friend, let go of this life and turn to Jesus Christ the Lord of glory. “Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away” (Psalm 144:4). Quit fighting, stop resisting, and leave this world behind, or you can die along with it without hope. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

If this has convicted you and you want to receive a new life in Christ Jesus, then believe on what Jesus Christ did for you, how he died for your personal sins, and rose again from the grave so that you can live for evermore. Call out to him, pray to him, ask him to be your personal Savior. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Ask him for these things.

1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; [2] By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. [3] For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; [4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. [10] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. [11] For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [12] For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. [13] For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

SEE ALSO: The Forgotten Verses Of Salvation

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