“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people.”
Hebrews 9:27-28
The teacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that God’s judgment is coming, and so is death. At some point, each one of us will consider our life by factoring in death. We’ll find ourselves confronted by it at a graveside, in a hospital room, at home, at the scene of an accident, etc. We may have a brush with death ourselves and begin to think seriously about how fleeting life is. We begin holding each day more dearly because we are understanding death with more reality.
So what is death? It’s when time runs out. It does not discriminate against species (see v. 19), for everything that has breath eventually dies. As dust returns to dust, questions afflict us: Do animals have souls? Where do people go? What if we’re nothing more than dust in the wind?
Believer, know that God has revealed to us all that we need to know. We pass through the seasons of this life with God reigning sovereignly and lovingly— whether the life had barely begun or has stretched on into a century. God knows better than we do what is best, and we trust Him for it.
So what is death? It’s when time runs out. It does not discriminate against species (see v. 19), for everything that has breath eventually dies. As dust returns to dust, questions afflict us: Do animals have souls? Where do people go? What if we’re nothing more than dust in the wind?
Believer, know that God has revealed to us all that we need to know. We pass through the seasons of this life with God reigning sovereignly and lovingly— whether the life had barely begun or has stretched on into a century. God knows better than we do what is best, and we trust Him for it.
Scripture Focus
Ecclesiastes 3:18-19
Insight
“Unless we purposely live with a view to the next world, we cannot make much out of our present existence." (Charles Spurgeon, 1884)
Bible In A Year
- Joshua 21-22
- Psalm 107
- Romans 7-8