“The
Life and Death of the Wicked and the Righteous” - Part 2
A
Sermon on Ecclesiastes 9:2-6
February
16, 2003
by Rev. Stephen C.
Magee
Ecclesiastes 9:2-6
2 All things come alike to all:
One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the good, the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.
3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope,
for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.
Introduction: The Wicked and the Righteous - A Difference and a Similarity
As we begin to make our way out of
the center of this third and final cycle of the Book of Ecclesiastes, we come
today to the second half of what the author first spoke of two weeks ago. At that time we looked at the life and death
of the wicked and the righteous, but we were focusing upon the difference
between the wicked and the righteous then.
Remember, that Solomon said, "I know that it will be well with
those who fear God" but "it will not be well with the
wicked." This is the great
difference in the end of the lives of those who fear God, and the lives of
those who do not. With the righteous it
will be well. But with the wicked it
will not be well.
In today's passage in the parallel
spot of this highly structured book, we see that despite this important
difference, there is also a very important similarity that we must reckon
with. Here it is: that all die under the
sun. In between these two passages we
have the center of the cycle, as we saw last week: the wisdom of God is beyond
us.
This placement of these passages is
as it should be. When we consider the
life and death of the wicked and the righteous, we are dealing with one of the
most challenging and important issues that we can face in our lives. It is important that we approach such a topic
with the humility of the truth that we investigated last week. The wisdom of God is beyond us, and there is
much here that we simply will not be able to understand as we consider the
individual lives of those we observe in this world. Solomon is wrestling with something big here
that you have to see from at least two sides.
This morning we will see the other half of what we have started two
weeks ago. There is a major similarity
between the wicked and the righteous.
The Bad News
This great and wise commentator on
the human condition, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us that
there is "one event" that everyone must consider. All will die.
This is so obviously true, yet I have noted how one who brings up such a
matter at the bedside of a patient struggling with a fatal disease can easily
feel unpatriotic. The pretense that we
all so easily buy into is that the last thing that you can talk to the person
about is his impending death. That might
hurt their chance of beating back the disease it is thought. It would seem that the only time you can talk
about death is after the person has actually died. At that point it is too late for the person
we love. He has already passed through
the "one event" that we all must deal with.
I remember my own struggle at the
time when my mother was dying of cancer.
I wanted to talk to her about her death, and to ask her honestly if she
was ready for the challenge of death laying ahead of
her. It was quite an uncomfortable topic
to bring up. I must warn you that I do
not pay any attention to the social convention that limits discussion of death
to the time after a suffering person has died.
It would be most odd for me, who talks to you every week about life and
death issues, to suddenly avoid that subject when you appear to be so near to
experiencing it. You can count on the
fact that if you are in a hospital bed, or if you are facing a serious medical
procedure, I will speak to you about your death.
All (verse 2), both the righteous
and the wicked, must see this reality.
We shall die. Solomon tells us
quite plainly here that the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and
then death comes (verse 3). It would
seem that we have all been placed on the same bad side here. All of us are said to be wicked. What happened to the "righteous"
that he has been speaking of? It appears
that the perfection of God is suddenly in view, as if God has now entered upon
the scene of this discussion. In the
face of the perfections of God, and all his most requirements, who can
stand? Yes, there is a difference
between those who have been declared righteous through faith in Jesus Christ
(the righteous) and those who do not embrace the Savior of sinners (the
wicked). But don’t forget the
similarity. We are all sinners - all
deserving of both death and hell, all required to face up to our own mortality.
Solomon proceeds to another obvious
point that I am afraid we regularly pretend is not so. Life is superior in this world which we
observe, and death is inevitable. While
it is true that eternal life in heaven with Christ is far better than this
current life under the sun, yet under the sun, the condition of a living man is
far better than the condition of a dead man.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Let’s take a good hard look at death from
here below. There is a sense in which
the skeptic is right. When you die,
that’s it. Everything under the sun is
over for you. Which do you want guarding
your castle, a living dog, or a dead lion (verse 4b)? Remember that the lion inspires fear only if
he might yet be alive. If he is known to
be dead, he can be safely ignored, since he can‘t harm anyone. But an angry poodle at least gives the robber
a reason to pause. The poodle and the
lion are equivalently useless at death.
There is nothing left in either of them.
The bad news is presented to us most
graphically in this inspired passage.
There is a sting to death, and there is a victory of the grave that we
must honestly take a look at. Let me
briefly point out five aspects of this stinging victory.
1.
There is no hope left for you (verse 4a). You should know that we don’t give up on
anyone here. That is, we don't give up
on anyone until you die. When you die
there is no hope left for you. Up until
that point you might still see things rightly and turn to God, even at your
last breath. But part of the stinging
victory of death and the grave is that after that point when life has left your
body for good, there is no turning to God any more.
2.
After you die, you will know nothing under the sun (verse 5b). Thornton Wilder wrote an interesting play
entitled “Our Town” which was set in
3.
When you are in the grave, there will be no more reward under the sun
(verse 5c). The government tries to be
quite efficient about this. Even if you
were able to get a few more Social Security checks, you must admit that there
would be no reward for you from those funds. In fact there will be no more reward of any
kind for you in this dying world.
4.
After a brief time, you will not be remembered (verse 5d). Yes, there will perhaps be some small number
of people who will be remembered by what they have written or built. But even they will not be known for who they
actually were. It is beyond the capacity
of future generations to know you. At
best they can only know about you. In
any case, those who will be remembered are a very small number, and some of
those only for their evil deeds. I think
that it is a fairly safe guess that none of you listening to my voice here this
morning (including me) will be remembered for very long after we die.
5.
Finally, in case you are still clinging to some hope here below, Solomon
tells us that there will be no more anything under the sun for you on that day
(verse 6). No more love, no more hatred,
no more envy will be experienced by you in this place. And there will be an inseparable gulf between
this world of vanity, and both heaven and hell.
When you die, your soul will be in either heaven or hell, and there will
be nothing at all left for you under the sun.
These are the things that Solomon
mentions for your consideration. This is
the great similarity for both the wicked and the righteous. They all face death, and if we are willing to
look at it honestly from here below, there is a powerful sting to it. It is all very sad. It would appear that death wins a most
formidable victory. This teaching is the
same as that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who says in John 9:4b “Work
while it is still day, for the night comes when no man can work.”
Before we proceed, it is very
important that you see that Solomon and Jesus are not denying the truth of the
Scriptures concerning eternal life. Let
us quickly bring to mind the other things that the author has said about death
and eternity. He said in 3:11 that God
has placed eternity in our hearts. We
all yearn for it. He wrote in 3:14 "I know
that whatever God does it shall be forever." He made a contrast in 3:21 between the
condition of men and beasts saying, "the spirit
of the sons of men... goes upward."
Also in 12:7, a verse that we have not yet considered, the author
specifically tells us that "the spirit will return to God who gave
it." In addition, this is the same
Solomon who wrote in 7:1 that the day of death is better than the day of birth,
and in 7:8 that the end of thing is better than the beginning. Also, very recently we have carefully
considered from 8:12 that it will be well with those who fear God, and finally
at the conclusion of the entire book in 12:13-14, the author reminds us with
great emphasis that God will bring every work into judgment.
The summary of all this is quite
profound, and in complete conformity with the rest of biblical revelation. Here it is: God has given man an eternal
spirit. Man yearns for eternity. When we die our spirits return to Him. God will bring every work into judgment. It will be well with those who fear God. God’s work will last forever. There shall be ETERNAL WELLNESS for those who
fear God.
The Good News
The bad news of death is very bad
indeed. But there is more to be
said. Death and the grave have had their
part to play. We should hear them well
while we still have ears that can hear down here, and take the matter to
heart. But now, ENTER CHRIST. He comes bringing
life, yes abundant life. He has defeated
sin and death, hell and the grave. Jesus
says in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy. I have come that they may
have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Do you understand what Jesus Christ
has done for you? Under the sun we are
all under sin. Christ has defeated sin
for us by becoming a sin offering. Our
passport to a better land is His perfect righteousness.
I must tell you, that as I look
forward with a confident expectation to the arrival of our children from
Romania, I do so with some remaining traces of fear concerning the last
checkpoint - that last stop when an immigration official might see that there
is something missing, something not quite right in our papers, some document
that needs a different signature. This
is the world we live in now.
But look - Christ has supplied this
gift of abundant life for us through His holy perfections and His atoning death
for us. There is nothing missing. There is nothing out of order. There is nothing lacking. We have the fullness of the gift of eternal
life through faith in Him.
Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Let us consider our five points mentioned
before.
1.
When you die there is no hope left for you (verse 4a). Yes, granted, there is no hope left in me,
but my hope is not in me, it is in Him.
Our hope is safely in Christ. We
have an anchor within the veil, on the other side of the river of death. That anchor will hold.
2.
In the grave, you will know nothing under the sun (verse 5b). Yes, granted, but in heaven we will know as
we are known. In heaven we will attend
to heavenly matters, to the God of Heaven, to the Captain of our Salvation the
Lord Jesus Christ. Which would you
rather know about, the latest letter to the local paper, or the perfections of
the glory of God?
3.
When you are gone there will be no more reward for you under the sun
(verse 5c). Yes, I see. But even now I am seated in the heavenlies through faith in Jesus Christ. We are heirs with Him of heavenly riches, and
fellow citizens in a better land, and members of the household of God.
4.
Within a brief time of your earthly demise, you will no longer be
remembered on earth. Yes, given. And I hope that my sin will be forgotten with
me. But do you know that my name is
written on His hands, and eternity shall not erase it?
5.
There will be no more anything under the sun for you then (verse
6). Yes, and Christ shall be my all in
all. I will not look back for passing
pleasures, when the Lord of eternal joy is so clearly and brilliantly in view.
We have a fantastic victory in Christ
alone. Our victory has been supremely
displayed in His resurrection from the dead.
This passage that causes us to reflect deeply on the problem of death
and the grave, only leads us to more full rejoicing at the abundance of the
Lord's victory on our behalf.
Therefore weep at death with Jesus,
and mourn with those who mourn. When you
talk with someone who seems to be dying, help them to look back with
thankfulness for every gift under the sun from God's good hand, but then help
them also look forward with hope because of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. As He is, so shall we be.
Conclusion: Remember, there is a
difference (Part 1, v. 8:12-13)
Finally, remember what Solomon said
to us in part one of his consideration of this difficult topic. There is a big difference between the wicked
and the righteous. Make absolutely sure
that you have the gift of faith in Jesus Christ before you depart this
world.
The "Gentiles" have no
hope. All they have is the bad news, and
silly words of wishful thinking. They
say, "I know he is in a better place, and that his suffering is
over." That is surely true for one
who is a part of the elect of God, but we should not say such lies about those
who reject God's only Son. They are not
in a better place after they die. Their
suffering is not over by any means. It
will never be over. There is no such
thing as purgatory, or a second chance to get it all straight. Now is the time to run to Christ. If you will not cling to Him, then you will
have to cling to this world. How then
will you feel when you start to lose your grip on this passing world at the
point of death?
We do share something with all of
humanity. There is one great event - our
death. Nevertheless, remember the
difference. I know that it will go well
with the righteous. AMEN.