People Made to Fear God

11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. 12I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live. 13Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God. 14I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him. 15That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and God seeks again that which is passed away. 16Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” 18I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals. 19For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity. 20All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. 21Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?” 22Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Solomon is telling us what happens after a person dies. The dead cannot return to this world merely because they are curious about what is happening here, he says, and even if they left their work unfinished, they can never come back. Once we die, this world no longer has anything to do with us, and that is reason enough to live well, without regret, while we are alive.

The moment body and soul separate, we are cut off from the world completely. We can have no influence on it and exist only in the memories of the living. The bonds between parents and children, between brothers and sisters, between friends, are bonds of this life. Once we die, we live on only in the minds of those left behind, and there is nothing we can do for one another. However much food is laid out on the anniversary of a death, the departed can never eat it, and this is why ancestral rites are meaningless. Solomon says plainly that even if we die with our work unfinished and wonder how it is going, we cannot come back.

Because people and animals breathe alike and die alike, and after death return to dust alike, there is no difference at all between them. But the Bible says that the difference between people and animals is this: the spirit of an animal goes down to the earth, while the spirit of a human being goes up to God.

If someone whose spirit is holy and goes up to God lives no differently from an animal, they will face judgment for that sin when they meet God. So we must live according to God’s will now, while we are alive. A life without Christ has not had its sin forgiven, and it cannot escape judgment.

Believers know that to enter heaven after death they must believe in Jesus. Yet if they still fall into darkness for not receiving Jesus Christ, nothing could be sadder. The word that no one can bring the departed back into this world tells us that death cuts us off from this world completely, and from this we see how important it is to live well by faith now. When we leave the body behind, we are divided between heaven and hell around Jesus Christ, the standard of salvation. I do not say this to frighten you into coming to church. It is the truth, and because it is true, you need to prepare for life after death by faith.

Death keeps no fixed age, so, old or young, we must fill the time given us with faith in Jesus Christ alone. Had Hezekiah looked back on his life before he died, I think the moment he would have regretted most was the moment he was granted fifteen more years. He must have asked himself what he had prayed so desperately for, since in those fifteen added years he fathered the wicked Manasseh.

Manasseh became king at twelve and reigned fifty-five years. He set up idols in the house of Yahweh, built altars to the sun, moon, and stars in the temple courts, made his children pass through the fire, and committed other evils. He also raised up mediums and sorcerers, served idols, and killed many innocent people who served God. Had Hezekiah departed gladly when God called him, the sin of filling the nation with idols would never have been committed, and that is the reason for his regret. But even this was not Hezekiah’s to decide, and even his regret is therefore nothing but vanity of vanities.

Now I hope you will imagine that you have come to the last moment before leaving this world, and look back over the years behind you. There will be moments when you realize that words and actions you thought came from love for your family were, looking back now, outbursts of a temper and pride you could not master. There will also have been times when you did not forgive with a gentle heart and, out of narrow-mindedness, failed to respond maturely. You may realize that what you once thought worth staking your life on, the defense of what you had learned and what you believed, was only a trivial, passing affair of the world. You may want to tell your younger self, who staked everything on what was utterly vain, that it was not so important after all.

If there had never been that time when your prayer was answered and you rejoiced, you would not be regretting it now; and the moments when you feared people more than God and shrank to the size of an ant will, thinking back now, seem vanity of vanities as well. You may also find yourself wondering, too late, how things would have gone if back then, when you hated so bitterly, flared up, struggled, and poured out all your passion over things that end when we leave the world, you had stepped back a little, judged spiritually, and thought more objectively. There will certainly also be moments when you wish that, however angry you were, you had never said those words, or that you had shown more care and love. What you thought at the time was your best may, looking back, have come from a pride you could not bend.

Everyone has one or two things they care about in a special way. What is it that you care about more than God right now? You may look back with regret and think that, had you known your departure from this world would be so empty, you would have stayed faithful to the end and loved the people beside you more. Solomon knew that once he died he could never return to the world, which filled him with all the more remorse over the years he had spent living for pleasure. Good rulers sometimes lose great power and wealth overnight, while wicked rulers live comfortably with their power and riches without ever facing a single hardship.

That is what our life is: things happen that no one can predict. It is only natural that people who cannot know what will happen in their own future cannot fathom the work of the eternal God. Seen against God’s work, our life is as slight as a single dot. Since we cannot know how God will lead our lives or when he will bring them to an end, all we can do is do good and live honestly by faith.

If you could know everything that will happen in the future, do you think you could live happily, free of worry and anxiety? If we knew what was coming but could not stop it, we would never escape our worry, and that might be even more painful. Since even knowing the future we would in the end judge and decide the same way, the nearer the event came, the more anxious we would grow and the higher our worries would pile. That is why God has told us to live today content.

Matthew 6:34

34Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

Jesus told us not to be anxious for tomorrow, since tomorrow will be anxious for itself, and each day’s own evil is sufficient. To live this way, we must be careful in what we say and do today and judge wisely, so as not to create tomorrow’s problems. Those who do not make such problems are the ones who live in peace, without anxiety for tomorrow. The foolish make today miserable in order to be happy tomorrow. On the other hand, those who enjoy today without preparing for tomorrow are foolish too.

To make today a day of contentment, we need good wisdom. People who live only for themselves, unconcerned that those around them are unhappy because of them, are making their own tomorrow unhappy. Selfish people who make those around them miserable for the sake of their own pleasure and enjoyment, their pride and temper, will not be forgiven by God. Such behavior is possible only because they do not believe in Jesus Christ, and unless they abandon that way of life, the repentance on their lips does not rise to God.

Those who believe in God strive to make the people around them smile with happiness, to give them someone to lean on, and to set their hearts at ease. Those who are with such good people will taste here on earth the peace and rest enjoyed in heaven. Bringing peace to those around us and helping them feel happy is never easy. It cannot be done without self-sacrifice and effort, but if we strive for the hearts and peace of others more than for our own, God, who sees it, will fill us with overflowing grace. And so it is a blessing, too, that people do not know their own end.

What would you do if you had to leave this world without even time to leave your family a last word? If you meant to apologize tomorrow morning but today turned out to be your last day, the chance to apologize would be gone forever. So we must live now giving thanks, loving, apologizing, and forgiving. If we live a beautiful life that fills today with faith and love, the moment of death, whenever it comes, holds no fear. People can live today in peace and plan for tomorrow precisely because they do not know their final moment. Those who have entrusted their lives to God in this way always live with thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, which is how they can enjoy on this earth the joy of heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:16

16Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

Christ is the righteous Judge who will judge humanity on the last day. All his ways are perfect and just, true and without falsehood. This holy God created human beings in his own image, but they sinned by eating the fruit that gives the knowledge of good and evil; so although they try to live good lives, evil always dwells alongside the good. Even in the place of justice, where right should be done, wickedness is at work. The human pride that defied the word has made true goodness impossible. Courts are the foundation of a society and must rest on God’s law and on trust, and when Solomon saw judges taking bribes and handing down unjust rulings, he groaned deeply.

If we, who have been taught that bribery is a wicked sin, use bribes to get ahead instead of succeeding by our own ability, we will surely fail, because it is sin. Because bribery goes against God’s will and springs from human greed, God will never help the one who commits that sin. God wants his people to develop their abilities to the full. If you want to succeed, then, I hope you will work hard by good means and live faithfully and honestly.

First, we must rightly define good and evil as people see them, and good and evil as God sees them. Those who decide good and evil by human judgment are no different from foolish beasts. God meant to reveal his justice through judges. If we take “judge” broadly, it may be parents who show their children the way of life, pastors who teach the church what is true and what is false, or teachers who teach their students.

So a judge must discern good and evil together and find the path others are to walk, which is why a judge needs to carry a heavy sense of responsibility. A judge must also never forget that they too are a sinner with both good and evil within, and has to give right judgments according to the law God has given. For one person to pass judgment on another’s sin is to have received authority as great as a god’s, and a judge must therefore live honestly and act justly. Because parents, pastors, and teachers go ahead of others, they need to judge rightly and live accordingly, as God is just, true, and without falsehood. To teach children, the church, or students a false way is to defy God’s will; if that has happened, they must repent.

Luke 16 records the story of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar. The rich man, who had lived only for his own happiness and pleasure, and Lazarus, who had lived a life of suffering with nothing to eat, both died. One had lived in wealth; the other had lived in poverty, with nothing to eat. After these two left the world, something neither could have imagined happened in the world beyond: a life the complete reverse of this world awaited them. Imagine the shock of the rich man, who had lived at ease, throwing great feasts with music and wine, when he found himself in the midst of hell. Never once in his life had he imagined he might end up in such a place, and so he had not prepared for life after death.

Lazarus, on the other hand, was always hungry, his circumstances so hard that he lived scorned even by dogs; but the moment he left the body, his soul was held in Abraham’s bosom. He had already forgotten everything of the world and was enjoying peace and rest; he would have been all the more grateful, then, to be at peace in Abraham’s bosom. I have always preached that what separated these two was faith, the very thing the world held in contempt. I hope you will not forget it.

The rich man knew that Lazarus, a man of faith, was starving at his gate, yet while he fed his animals, he gave him no bread. He gave him none because he cared nothing for Lazarus’s suffering. But after death the rich man suffered far greater torment than Lazarus ever had, and he was reduced to begging Lazarus for a single drop of water. Only now did he understand how much Lazarus had suffered all that time at his gate, but there was no way to undo it.

So, hoping that his five brothers still in the world would not come to hell, he pleaded for Lazarus to be sent back to the world. But Abraham said that there were many preachers in the world, and those who would not listen to them would not listen even if someone came back from the dead to preach to them. This means that some people will not believe in Christ even after seeing and experiencing countless miracles, while others receive him the moment they hear the gospel.

This is a fearful warning to us who hear it: a life unchanged by the gospel shows that the person has not received Christ, and that they will fall into hell. Yet it is also a word of blessing, for those who live good lives by faith will enter the heaven that Jesus Christ has made, even without striving for it.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus shows that the rich man carries the worries of the world with him even after death, while Lazarus, the man of faith, has forgotten all the cares and troubles of the world. The rich man’s efforts to keep his brothers from coming to hell suggest that he still remembers his life in the world even after death. But Lazarus, held in Abraham’s bosom, does not remember the things of the world, and from this we can see that in heaven we lay down every burden of the world and enjoy peace in God’s glory. If we remembered the things of the world in heaven, it would not be heaven at all.

What we should notice here is that it is Abraham, not Lazarus, who gives all the answers. Lazarus is enjoying peace and rest in Abraham’s bosom, and he has forgotten all the suffering he went through in the world. But the rich man cannot forget the days when he lived in luxury, and hell, without a drop of water, would be all the more painful to him for that. Afraid his brothers might come to this place ruled by Satan, he asked that the dead Lazarus be sent to them, but the dead cannot come back into the world.

Those who do not receive Jesus Christ, though God gave them the chance to hear the gospel, will gain nothing from their regret after death, however deep it is.

Friends, the rich man was not someone who did not know God. He thought he believed in God well. Believing he had grown rich because his faith was good and God had blessed him, he wore purple and fine linen and made a show of being devout. But even if you go to church, worship, and look like a person of faith, if you do not live as Jesus Christ taught, you are sinning. Do not shape your faith to suit yourself. Depend on the Holy Spirit so that you do not sin, and strive to change your life.

What do you say, do, and work at most in a day, and what do you think about most? When a mother cooks for her family and trims bean sprouts, it is not worthless just because it earns no money; it is God’s work. Working hard at your job is God’s work too, because it helps your family stay healthy and serve God well.

Because food made with care is the most basic thing people need to live, parents should give themselves to their families with a sense of calling, and children should be grateful to such parents. To know this love, sacrifice, and gratitude and to live rightly is also God’s work. When grateful hearts come together, families can live more happily, and when such healthy homes come together, the church grows healthier still. If our faith is healthy, someone will be touched by it and receive Jesus Christ, so God, seeing such sacrifice, will lead us on a safe path so that we can give thanks in all things. This blessing is the reward, and those who receive it are saints who have fulfilled their calling well. When saints who set such an example share the gospel, their words gain power and can influence many.

Friends, since every relationship holds only while we are alive, may you love deeply, embrace, forgive, and share while you are alive. Because death touches only the living, I hope you will share the gospel with those beside you and embrace them with overflowing love.