Death Come To All

Introduction:

Recap:

Last week we saw some powerful examples that Solomon gave. That despite finding that everything is meaningless, it seems that living a wise life would have the most benefits. We applied some of what Solomon said to the role of employer and the employee.

That if you were to make a stand against what your boss told you to do whether or not it was right has its consequences. Essentially running the risk of being terminated.

Yet there are going to be times where you are going to take a stand, one example of that would be if your employer told you to lie and go against your Christian convictions.

Something that irritated Solomon was his observation that the righteous die young and the wicked live a life of prosperity.

The only logical advice he could give us was to try and enjoy life to the fullest, making the best with the hand you are dealt.

vv 1-6) Everyone dies!

[1] As we begin in chapter 9, Solomon has examined it all, taking in a wide and exhaustive view as possible. Trying to see every problem and looking for every solution from as many viewpoints as he can.

He thought that good people and wise people were in the hands of God, but remember that he isn’t thinking in light of eternity and the revelation given to mankind through God’s Word.

He hopes that they are in the hands of God, that there might be some sort of settling of accounts, after all, last week we saw that Solomon saw the wicked blessed and the righteous destroyed. There is not certainty coming from Solomon this is a vague hope.

We as believers that have the full counsel of God’s word understand what Solomon is lacking, divine revelation.

Deuteronomy 33:3 ESV

3 Yes, he loved his people, all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you,

This passage is speaking of His people the Israelites, But we Gentiles have been included too:

John 10:27–30 ESV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

What makes Solomon’s stance so frustrating is that he excludes any sense of eternity, life after death. Yet the real frustrating part is that with a view like Solomon it is impossible to know if God loves people or hates them.

Throughout scripture we know that there is a powerful and glorious Creator, passages like Psalm 19 or Romans 1:19 to the end of the chapter. Yet it take more than just those observations to discover how He is disposed towards us.

As believers it is incredibly foolish to have this under the sun perspective, because we are not to measure God’s love by what happens in our lives. We should measure God’s love for us by what He already accomplished through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection from the tomb.

Don’t measure God’s love by the ebb and flow of life. We measure God’s love by what He has accomplished on the cross.

The great Preacher-King has once again allowed his thoughts of God’s sovereign power to develop into fatalism. Which isn’t the true when we look at scripture as a whole, but when we take God out of the equation it see to be, “I know God rules over all things.” Then, “ It seems that the same things happen to all; all die without real meaning revealed for their life.” Leading to the conclusion of, “The all powerful God means it to be this way.”

[2-3] You can probably see in these verses the hopelessness of Solomon. That whether you are righteous or wicked, good or evil, clean or unclean, a worshiper or non-worshiper all end in the same place- the grave.

When faced with death either have an advantage over the other. In all appearances, for Solomon, God is just not interested. The things that are supposed to matter most to Him turn out to make no difference.

Solomon also saw the depraved state of children, that they were bent towards iniquity not innocence or righteousness.

At the end of it all what is this but gross injustice, especially if death is the end of existence.

[4] Verse 4 makes perfect sense when kept in line with the under the sun perspective. if all existence and consciousness ends with death, then the only thing that matters is this present life.

I’m sorry to burst your bubble if you think that Solomon is talking about man’s best friend. Dog was the closest thing to a curse word the Jews had, meaning one of the lowest, meanest forms of animal life. While the lion is the king of beasts, powerful and magnificent.

[5-6] With great poetic effect, Solomon puts forth the belief that all existence and consciousness end with this life.

This verse is constantly used by false teachers to prove that the soul sleeps in death, that consciousness ceases when the last breath is taken. We cannot build a doctrine of the afterlife based on this verse, or on this book, for that matter.

Again, Ecclesiastes represents man’s best conclusions as he searches for answers, “under the sun.” It sets forth deduction based on observations and on logic completely ignoring divine revelation. It is what a wise man might think if he did not have a Bible.

This is what people think when they see death and watch as the body is lowered into the grave, knowing that it would eventually decompose… “That the end. My friend knows nothing now; he can’t enjoy any activities that are going on; he has forgotten and will soon be forgotten.”

vv 7-10) In light of death, joy is found in the moment

[7-8] The Preacher comes back to his basic conclusion from before- live your life, have a good time, enjoy your food, cheer your heart with wine. Don’t wear mourning attire. Put oily perfume on your head rather than ashes. God has already approved what you do. Again, Solomon is coming to us what that fatalism.

[9] Clearly, Solomon knew that enjoying the good things at hand in this life- bread, wine, garments, comforts, and a wife whom you love- none of these tool away the meaninglessness of life. But it makes your vain life just a little bit better.

The joys of the marriage relationship should also be exploited to the full as long as possible. It’s a vain, empty life anyway, so the best thing is to make the most of it. Enjoy every day because that’s all you are going to get out of your toil and trouble.

These three verse (7-9) are really similar to the following passage in the Gilgamesh Epic, an ancient Babylonian account of immortality and the great deluge.

Believer’s Bible Commentary C. Enjoying Life under the Sun (Chap. 9)

Since the gods created man

Death they ordained for man,

Life in their hands they hold,

Thou, O Gilgamesh, fill indeed thy belly.

Day and night be thou joyful,

Daily ordain gladness,

Day and night rage and be merry,

Let thy garments be bright,

Thy head purify, wash with water.

Desire thy children which thy hand possesses.

A wife enjoy in thy bosom.

The purpose for quoting it isn’t that one was copied from the other, but that man’s wisdom under the sun leads to the same conclusion. I was impressed with this fact when I read Denis Alexander’s (a microbiologist) summary of what humanism offers us today:

Believer’s Bible Commentary C. Enjoying Life under the Sun (Chap. 9)

The humanist model does seem a very big pill to swallow. As a representative of a late twentieth-century generation of under-thirties, I am first asked to believe that I am the result of a purely random evolutionary process. The only prerequisites for this process are the presence of matter, time and chance. Because by some strange whim of fate, I and other men are the only physical structures which happen to have been bestowed with a consciousness of their own existence, I am supposed to think of both myself and others as being in some way more valuable than other physical structures such as rabbits, trees or stones, even though in a hundred years time the atoms of my decayed body may well be indistinguishable from theirs. Furthermore the mass of vibrating atoms in my head are supposed to have more ultimate meaning than those in the head of a rabbit.

At the same time I am told that death is the end of the line. In the time-scale of evolution my life is a vapour which soon vanishes. Whatever feelings of justice or injustice I may have in this life, all my strivings, all my greatest decisions, will be ultimately swallowed up in the on-going march of time. In a few million years’ time, a mere drop compared with the total history of the earth, the memory of the greatest literature, the greatest art, the greatest lives will be buried in the inexorable decay of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Hitler and Martin Luther King, James Sewell and Francis of Assisi, Chairman Mao and Robert Kennedy, all will be obliterated in the unthinking void.

So, I am told, I must make the best of a bad job. Even though I have strong feelings of transcendence, a deep sense that I am more than just a blind whim of evolution, I must nevertheless forget such troubling questions, and concern myself with the real problems of trying to live responsibly in society. Even though my job involves studying man’s brain as a machine, like any other of nature’s machines, I must still believe that man has some special intrinsic worth which is greater than an animal’s worth, and while my emotions tell me that it may be true, I am not given any more objective reason for believing it.

[10] Solomon is giving terrible advice here in verse 10. It might seem well meaning but what he is getting at is that each person should seize every possible pleasure and enjoyment while they can, because you won’t be able to work, invent, think, or know anything once your dead, but guess what you are dying and that is irreversible.

For the believer I believe that we can redeem the meaning behind this verse for the glory of God. That in our present service for God we do it with all our might.

“No man ever served God by doing things tomorrow.” - Spurgeon

“Man was not created to be idle, he was not elected to be idle, he was not redeemed to be idle, he was not quickened to be idle, and he is not sanctified by God’s grace to be idle.” -Spurgeon

vv 11-12) All are susceptible to time and chance

[11] The observation here is that chance plays a big part in life. The race isn’t always won by the fastest runner. The bravest strongest soldiers don’t alway win the battle. The wisest don’t always enjoy the best meals. The smartest are not always the richest. Or the most capable do not alway rise to a place of favor.

Time and chance are factors that play an important role in success and failure. There is a great quote from a billionaire when asked to explain their success, they replied, “Some people find oil. Others don’t.”

Time and chance are paired because they both have a way of taking matters suddenly out of our hands.

[12] You see no one knows when time and chance will strike. Like fish or birds caught in a trap, mankind is overtaken by bad fortune or even death. We will never know what bullet has our name on it.

Even as believers we do not know when our time will come. That is why it is important to live for Jesus Christ to the fullest every day. So let us live this out too:

Hebrews 10:23–25 ESV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

vv 13-16) What’s the point?

[13-15] Solomon tells us a story about a poor wise man whose wisdom saved a city against a siege of a great king. For Solomon this was a wonderful and significant display of wisdom.

However the story doesn’t have the fairytale ending. In fact its really sad, that wisdom is not always appreciated.

For the people of this small city, poorly defended, found themselves faced with a powerful force in this great king ready to break through their walls.

Their situation seemed utterly hopeless, however this poor yet wise man came forward with a plan to save the city.

We see a similar story with Joab the general of King Davids army. After the death of Absolom and his rebellion was put down another person named Sheba who the bible calls a worthless man, rallied all the tribes of Israel away from David save the men of Judah. David would send Joab and the mighty men after this man once he flees to the city of Beth-Maacah.

2 Samuel 20:22 ESV

22 Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

We see the wisdom of the woman to give up the Sheba to save the city from David’s mighty men.

In Solomon’s story however the poor wise man is forgotten. You see under the premise that death ends existence and consciousness for all, Solomon protested that the only lasting meaning this man might have- it to be remembered- but even that was taken away.

Family while mankind might quickly forget, God never does. He knows those who are His:

2 Timothy 2:19 ESV

19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

He even has a book of remembrance before Him for those that fear the Lord:

Malachi 3:16 ESV

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.

And their names are written in heaven:

Luke 10:20 ESV

20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

[16] Solomon sees and understands that wisdom is better then power, yet with the poor wise man was forgotten, it breaks his heart. As soon as the crisis was past, no one was interested in what he had to say.

This parable has a definite evangelistic ring to it. The city like man’s soul- small and defenseless. The great king is Satan, bent on invasion and destruction:

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV

4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Ephesians 2:2 ESV

2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

The deliverer is the Savior-

poor:

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Wise:

1 Corinthians 1:24 ESV

24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Colossians 2:3 ESV

3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Though He provided deliverance, yet how little He is honored and appreciated! Most people of the world live as if He had never died.

vv 17-18) Wisdom is defeated by sin

[17] Yet in spite of man’s ingratitude and indifference it is still true that the words of the wise, spoken quietly, are worth more than the shouting tirades of powerful rulers.

[18] Wisdom is superior to weapons and munitions. As what we saw earlier in 2 Samuel how a wise woman delivered the city of Beth-Maacah.

Yet… Heres the thing we see as this chapter comes to a close is that sin can undo a lot of good that the wise person accomplishes, just as scripture states, “the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.”

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Beautiful

Verse 1

Beautiful beautiful

Jesus is beautiful

And Jesus makes beautiful

Things of my life

Verse 2

Carefully touching me

Causing my eyes to see

Jesus makes beautiful

Things of my life