Beginning to end

Ecclesiastes 3:11
He hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.

Solomon, the wisest man ever, only had a glimpse of God's amazing grace.  Solomon, though blessed beyond words in riches and honor, lacked one thing.  He didn't understand the fullness of God's love for him; He didn't fully understand his own writings (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.--Proverbs 9:10).

Solomon's writings took a turn toward despair when he wrote Ecclesiastes.  But even in this book filled with questions, questions that we all have from time to time, there are hidden images of Christ and His finished work.  There are secrets that point to the Hope we have today through the cross.

Solomon saw everything that God made as beautiful and he saw that eternal life is God's plan for all.  But Solomon didn't see Jesus.  He couldn't figure out the work that God had done from the beginning to the end.

We have that work; we have that revelation.  We live in the completed work of Jesus Christ.  The cross is God’s physical manifestation of the work He began at Genesis 1:1.   What Solomon didn't understand, and couldn't understand, because Christ had not yet come, is this: Jesus is, was, and will be.  He has done all that is required and He's done it all from the beginning of time until the end of time.  His work is perfect, complete, and everlasting.

Solomon wrote in despair how no man could know God's work.  But God, who causes all things to work for good (Romans 8:28), used Solomon's writing to hide a shadow of Jesus Christ.  

The book of John tells us that Christ was there in the beginning; He was with God and He was God.  Without Him nothing that was made would have been made.  He is the Light of the world, the Light of men, and darkness cannot comprehend Him.

Solomon was living in darkness; he had no knowledge of Jesus.  He, Solomon, had a taste of wisdom and his fill of riches, but he lacked understanding of who God really is.  He lacked the understanding of grace.  Solomon, for all his blessings, had nothing compared to what we have today: the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Enjoy what God has made; it is all beautiful.  He has set eternity in your heart and given you the means to live it out: Jesus.  Don't be discouraged; know who Jesus is.  Christ is the One who has completed the work.  Rest in His finished work.