Ep 480 – Ecclesiastes 12:9-14

We are at the end of Solomon's book. And it leaves him near the end of his own life. But he has left us with much to think about and a great deal of wisdom to consider. And at the close of his book, he uses the phrase, "The end of the matter." It's his conclusion or summary to all he has written in his book. And what was the end of the matter according to Solomon: Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. That's it. After all he has shared, this is what it all boils down to. A healthy reverence for God and a willing obedience to His will for your life. But as we will see, Solomon was still thinking in terms of earthly rewards and temporal blessings. He was advocating fear of and obedience to God because those things were necessary if you wanted to experience the blessings of God – in this life. What we are going to see in Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 is that Solomon still had a rather limited understanding of how God works. He couldn't help but think that this life was the one in which the rewards of God were most likely to be conveyed. It was only in this life that man could experience the joys that God made possible through the five senses. The afterlife was a mystery, and no one was assured what was going to happen beyond the grave. But we know better. Because we know that Christ came to give life, and life more abundantly. And not just for this lifetime. He came to give us eternal life and to make possible joy beyond our wildest imaginations. This life is a dim shadow of what is to come. Any blessings we experience in this life pale in comparison to what we will experience in eternity. Contrary to what Solomon thought, this life is not the end of the matter.