In Ecclesiastes, chapter one, verse two, the verse states the theme of this book. All of our activities on earth are meaningless and purposeless when carried out apart from God’s will, His fellowship, and His loving activity in our lives. Ecclesiastes also emphasizes that creation itself is subject to vanity and corruption. The author’s concern is to dispel the false hopes that people place in a completely secular world; he wants them to confront the sobering facts of evil, injustice, and death, and to realize that life apart from God has no meaning and cannot produce genuine happiness. The solution to the problem is in faith and trust in God; only this makes life worthwhile. We must look beyond earthly things into the heavenlies to receive hope, joy, and peace.
Ecclesiastes three, verses twelve through fifteen, connect with the theme, “I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”
Verses sixteen to seventeen, under the vanity of all life, “And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 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.”