"Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom." (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
"He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. He could speak with authority...And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:32-34)
All that wisdom told him "everything is meaningless".
The author of Ecclesiastes was the master of common sense. He spent his life seeking common sense answers to all of life's experiences. If the author was King Solomon...
"He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. He could speak with authority...And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon." (1 Kings 4:32-34)
All that wisdom told him "everything is meaningless".
"I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless--like chasing the wind...There is nothing ahead but death anyway. There is hope only for the living...the dead know nothing." (Ecclesiastes 1:14;9:3-4)
He knew about God and and His commandments so Solomon's final advice as to what we should do in this life was to...
"Fear God and obey His commandments, for this is everyone's duty. God will judge us for everything we do..." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
This fear and judging was not a fear of judgment AFTER death for he had concluded that "the dead know nothing". He was referring to the consequences for bad behavior in this life.
He told us what God "approves" in this life...
"Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne! Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 9: 8-9)
Again, the wisest man of the time had no hope in life after death and that made him "most miserable". The apostle Paul said people without hope of the resurrection continue to be miserable as they approach death.
"If in this life only we have hope...we are of all men most miserable." (1 Corinthians 15:9)
The good news! After the birth, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, God gave us much information about what happens after death, and now we have a "blessed hope" of life after death.
"For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people...look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin..." (Titus 2:13-14)
"...I tell you a secret, when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed. For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die. So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: “Death is destroyed; victory is complete!” ...thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)
It still makes common sense to fear God and obey His commandments but unlike Solomon, we know life is not "meaningless".
Believers have three things to carry into the next life - faith, hope and love.
"Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13)
So eat, drink and be merry today, enjoy your family - and fear God in this sinful life - but know that the best life is yet to come!
So eat, drink and be merry today, enjoy your family - and fear God in this sinful life - but know that the best life is yet to come!