Vain words: Vanity of vanities
Ecclesiastes 1:2 "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
Exodus 5:9 "Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words."
The context of this verse is in the times of Exodus when the children of Israel were under cruel bondage of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and when they cried unto God, the Pharaoh called it "vain words". To the world, the things of faith are vain things, the words of faith (the 66 books of the Holy Bible) are "vain words". The opposite of also true, that the words that are not of faith are "vain words" from God's perspective.
James 4:4 "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
As much as the Pharaoh who hated the children of Israel, there is an "enmity" between God and the world. Whosoever will be a friend of the world, whosoever will regard "vain words", is the enemy of God.
Deuteronomy 32:15-21 "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. 17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. 18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. 19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. 20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. 21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation."
First of all, notice in verse 20 "... for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith." i.e. the meaning of "froward" means "no faith".
Proverbs 2:11-12 "Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;"
Recall our previous discussion on "vain words". Vain words are words in which faith is not found, and it came from "the man" that speaketh froward things. There is Christ Jesus the Son of man versus "the man that speaketh froward things". There is also "the Word of God" versus "vain words". Both are opposites, one of another. Notice also the parallel between Deuteronomy 32 verse 16 and verse 21. Verse 16 equates "strange gods" to "abominations", and verse 21 equates "that which is not God" to "vanities".
Ecclesiastes 1:2 "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
There is a "vanity of vanities". All forms of the word "vanity" (vanity, vanities) are found a total of 99 times in the King James Bible. The number 99 is like the number 66 (the 66 books of the Holy Bible) turned upside-down, as much as "vain words" is the "the Word of God" turned upside-down. The word "vanity" and "vain" are directly related terms, the formal being the noun and the latter being the adjective. According to Deuteronomy 32:15-21, vanity is a strange god and a devil, an abomination, one which the froward generation (children in whom is no faith) worship and serve.
Job 35:13 "Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it."
Psalms 10:7 "His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity."
Psalms 12:2 "They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak."
Vanity and "vain words" are one and the same. As much as the world regard not the words of the LORD, so the God of the Holy Bible also regard them, whoso that speaketh vanity, as foolish and he will not hear their words which are full of cursing and deceit and fraud.
John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
Devils and strange gods are worshiped with vain words, but the God of the Holy Bible will only receive worship done in spirit and in truth.
Hebrews 11:1-6 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen... But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
The truth is like a rock that a man which built an house laid his foundation upon, and faith is that foundation whereby everything else rest upon.
Luke 6:47-49 "Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great."
Apart from the Rock which is Christ Jesus and the 66 books of the Holy Bible, there can be no foundation be built upon i.e. there can be no real faith where everything else rest upon. A house built without foundation will not last.
Deuteronomy 32:31 "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges."
There is a "rock" which is not as our Rock which is Christ Jesus. It has the appearance of strength, but it is not Rock. Our Rock is the truth and without iniquity, just and right; but this "rock" is falsehood and errors. Our Rock is the Word of God; but this "rock" is "vain words". It is earth, by which no foundation (faith) may be laid upon.
Genesis 3:19 "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."
Adam was made from the dust of the ground, which is earth. We are all "earthen vessels" (2 Corinthians 4:7). There can be no foundation be laid upon earth, and a house built upon earth (without foundation) will not last. If our salvation rests upon vain words, it will not last. If our doctrine of trinity, end times, rapture, preservation of the word of God and everything else are built upon vain words, they will not last.
Ezekiel 13:6-7 "They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. 7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?"
Vain words are words that the LORD have not spoken. They are lying divination, and there is no truth in them. Apart from the truth there can be no faith, and faith is the substance that inhabits a faithful prayer or worship. It is something that God delights in, and the reason why God answers our prayers.
Psalms 22:3 "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."
One of the titles of the Lord Jesus Christ is "Faithful and True" (Revelation 19:11). He is the Word of God and our Rock whereupon we laid the foundation (our faith). The opposite of the words of the LORD (the 66 books of the Holy Bible) are "vain words". God will not only not hear vain words, for they are an abomination unto him.
Proverbs 15:8 "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight."
Proverbs 15:26 "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words."
Without this precious substance called "faith" that inhabits our prayers, God will not answer them, even though they be made in many words. How did a man become vain? But more astonishingly, how did a Christian become vain?
2 Kings 17:14-15 "Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. 15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them."
They "would not hear" because they "did not believe" on the first place i.e. they regard "vain words" more than the words of the LORD. Their stubbornness cause them to reject the truth for lies, and they followed after "vanity" and became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Paul continues in Romans 1:22-32.
Psalms 31:6 "I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD."
While the world and false Christians regard "lying vanities", born again Bible-believing Christians trust in the LORD. One is contrary to the other.
Matthew 6:24 "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Previously, I have asked myself what exactly a "mammon" is. It is now clear to me that a "mammon" is "lying vanities", which according to Deuteronomy 32:15-21 are strange gods and devils which the world (children in whom is no faith) worship and serve.
Jeremiah 10:14-16 "Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name."
The graven image of an idol is the means by which "strange children", perceive of themselves to have access to the strange gods that they worship. They pray to their molten gods (which is falsehood) with "vain words" that proceed from their thoughts. "The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." (Psalms 94:11)
Psalms 144:7-8 "Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children; Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood."
They pray to devils with a mouth that speaks vanity. Notice also "... their right hand is a right hand of falsehood" referring to the right hand of the strange children, which by the way, also include false Christians.
Revelation 13:16-17 "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: 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."
Psalms 144:7-8 will be the prayer of God's children in the time of great tribulation where the False Prophet will cause both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. Strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, will receive the mark of falsehood in their right hand, but God's children will reject the mark and will suffer for the Word's sake.