See Beyond

Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. (Ecclesiastes 1:4–10, NIV 1984).

My Musings -“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood let alone believed by the masses.” (Plato). We think this phenomenon is unique to modern culture, but Plato lived during the latter-half of the fourth century and into the early third century B.C. So, Solomon was right. There is “nothing new under the sun.” And the fact that the masses either fail to understand or refuse to believe the Gospel should come as no surprise.

“The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.” Yet, they see but do not perceive. Hear, but do not listen. The disbelief or rejection of God “was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” So, it was no surprise that when He sent His Son, He was crucified. But, “look! This is something new!” Someone rising from the dead under their own power.

But many would rather believe “the shadows and lies of their culture.” Like, “some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, ‘You are to say, His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So, the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.” (Matthew 28:11–15, NIV 1984).

My Advice – What shadows and lies are you believing? If you have joined with the culture to reject Jesus, you owe it to yourself to thoroughly investigate it for yourself. You might just find the truth. The masses may never understand or believe, but “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32, NIV 1984).