Over the past two weeks, it seems like we’ve been barraged with a multitude of celebrity deaths – Farrah Fawcett, Karl Malden, Billy Mays, and, of course, Michael Jackson. In a sense, I’m really tired of all the coverage that has been given to the deaths of these people, just because they are well known. But in another sense, perhaps there may be some benefit because all this publicity has certainly caused some people to consider their own mortality.
That is certainly one thing that Qoheleth has done frequently throughout the Book of Ecclesiastes. And now, as he wraps up his musings and prepares to close the book with his conclusions, he reflects on the certainty of death and the fleeting nature of our lives one last time. Let me read our passage for this morning.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. 10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, And put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity. 12:1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them": 2 While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain; 3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim; 4 When the doors are shut in the streets, And the sound of grinding is low; When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low; 5 Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way; When the almond tree blossoms, The grasshopper is a burden, And desire fails. For man goes to his eternal home, And the mourners go about the streets. 6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, Or the golden bowl is broken, Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, Or the wheel broken at the well. 7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. 8 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity."
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8 (NKJV)
This section brings to a conclusion all of Qoheleth’s musings and reflections on what he observed about life here on earth “under the sun”. In fact, this section ends with nearly the same words that he used to open the book:
"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NKJV)
This kind of structure is very common in the Bible and particularly in the Hebrew of the Old Testament. It is referred to as an “inclusio” in which the same phrase at the beginning and end of the passage serves as bookends to all the material that is contained between them. That is certainly true here where everything between chapter 1, verse 2 and chapter 12, verse 8 is a description of the vanity of life here on earth.
Although I’ve hopefully made the point often enough throughout our journey through Ecclesiastes, let me just remind you one last time that the word translated “vanity” here is the Hebrew word “hebel”, which means “vapor” or “breath”. It almost certainly does not mean “meaningless”, as it is translated in the NIV, but rather it points to the vaporous or fleeting nature of life here on earth. We have seen throughout Ecclesiastes that life here “under the sun” is far from meaningless. It is, in fact, unpredictable and we can’t figure it out most of the time, but God intends for us to find joy nonetheless. So it is certainly not meaningless.
Once again, as he has done previously, Qoheleth uses the certainty of death as a backdrop to introduce several life principles or lessons. But before we turn to those, let’s first take a look at how he describes the aging process and death in these verses.
THE AGING PROCESS AND DEATH
• “difficult days” (12:1-6)
Qoheleth describes the aging process as “difficult days” and he uses some very colorful poetic language to describe that process. Although a few commentators view much of this section in an almost prophetic sense as referring to the last days, that just doesn’t seem to be real consistent with the rest of the book where Qoheleth is merely making observations about what he sees here on the earth. However, it is certainly possible that there is some prophetic imagery here. At least some of the descriptions that are used bear some similarity to other prophetic passages about the end times. Since the words are inspired by God it is possible that even though Qoheleth didn’t understand what he was writing to be prophecy, God could use it in that way.
It seems more likely, however, that Qoheleth is just using some colorful, poetic language to describe the aging process and death. Let me briefly explain:
o While the sun and the light, The moon and the stars, Are not darkened, And the clouds do not return after the rain – Qoheleth returns to his frequent picture of death as darkness. Even after the rains when we would expect the sun to come out, the clouds remain.
o the keepers of the house tremble – legs become feeble and frail
o strong men bow down – stooped over posture of the elderly. The older you get the more stooped over you become until you could walk and tie your shoes at the same time.
o When the grinders cease because they are few/And the sound of grinding is low – both are references to the teeth. By the time you can afford good steaks with your senior discount, you can’t chew them because your teeth have all fallen out except one to remind you what they looked like.
o those that look through the windows grow dim – the eyes. You buy a 70 inch TV and you have to press your nose against the screen to see what’s happening. You drive with your seat moved all the way forward and your nose pressed on the steering wheel because you can’t see. You go to the doctor for an eye test and he tells you to read from the top of the chart down and you can’t even see the chart.
o When the doors are shut in the streets – probably a reference to the entrance and exit points of the body. Enough said there.
o When one rises up at the sound of a bird, And all the daughters of music are brought low – Even though the sense of hearing becomes dulled, it only takes the sound of a bird to wake you from your sleep.
o Also they are afraid of height, And of terrors in the way – the same things that once gave you an adrenaline rush now produce nothing but paralyzing fear
o the almond tree blossoms – referring to the hair turning white
o The grasshopper is a burden – instead of jumping around like a grasshopper, you now need a walker to get around.
o And desire fails – probably speaking of sexual desire
o the silver cord is loosed/the golden bowl is broken/the pitcher shattered at the fountain/the wheel broken at the well – these pictures are all related to a well, which is often used as a picture of life and to our bodies, which are pictured as earthen vessels. Everything is broken and we can no longer get water from the well of life.
• Death = separation of body and spirit (12:7)
This is really the first time in the book where Qoheleth makes any reference at all to life beyond the grave. We know from both what we find in the Scriptures, and from other historical information from the period, that the Jews of that day did not have as full of an understanding about life after death as we do. But Qoheleth’s words here very accurately reflect what happens when we die. There is a separation of body and spirit. The body returns to the earth where it decays and becomes dust and the spirit returns to God, the Creator and Giver of life.
What he doesn’t do, and we would certainly not expect him to do, is to distinguish between the differing paths and ultimate destiny of each body and soul based on what each person did with Jesus while he or she was here on this earth. I’m going to return to that topic a little later.
Woven throughout Qoheleth’s thoughts about death are several important life lessons that we can take from this passage.
A FEW LIFE LESSONS
1. Life is brief, so make the most of every opportunity
When Qoheleth writes that childhood and youth are “vanity”, he is clearly referring once again to the brevity of life. In particular, our youth, where we are really able to do the things we want to do, is quite brief. As George Bernard Shaw put it:
“Youth is wasted on the young.”
It always seemed to me that we do things quite backwards in our culture. When we’re young and still have energy and vitality, we spend all our time working and then once we finally retire and have the money and time to do the things we want to do, we’re too old and tired to do them.
But regardless of which season of life that we might be in right now, there is a message here for all of us. The point that Qoheleth is making here is that since life, and our youth in particular, are brief, we need to make the most of however many days we have left here on this earth. We saw this same principle expounded by Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15, 16 (NIV)
As we discovered when we looked at that passage in some detail during our study of Ephesians, when Paul wrote that the “days are evil”, he was referring not to any particular evil, but was using a Hebrew way of describing our live here on earth, which is in contrast to the “good days” that will be ushered in by the return of Jesus and His perpetual and complete reign. In other words, our life here on earth, even though it is lived out in the midst of evil provides us with many opportunities to do good and to point people to the abundant life that Jesus desires for them.
Paul reinforces that same idea in 1 Corinthians:
What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Since we don’t know how long we have here on this earth and since we know that even if we are given the gift of long life, we won’t always be able to do many of the things that we can do today, we need to live life with a sense of urgency and make the most of every opportunity that God gives to us.
2. God’s glory and our joy are not mutually exclusive
Most of us are familiar with the adage “if it feels good, do it.” Perhaps that has become the theme for much of our society which has become so narcissistic and self-centered. And most of us don’t have problem recognizing that such a philosophy of life certainly runs counter to the principles that we find in the Scriptures.
But there is also an opposite extreme that much of Christianity has bought into hook, line and sinker. That is the idea that if something is enjoyable or it feels good, that it must be sin. These people view God as some kind of cosmic kill-joy who wants us to live miserable lives here on this earth.
But in chapter 9, verse 11, Qoheleth provides us with the proper balance:
Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.
In this passage, Qoheleth focuses on God as our Creator. He twice commands us to remember our Creator. And when God created each one of us, he created is with a number of desires – a desire for food and drink, sexual desire, and a desire for security, just to name a few. But the Bible makes it clear that there are moral ways and immoral ways to fulfill those God-given desires:
• My desires for food and drink are not to be carried to the extremes of gluttony and drunkenness
• My sexual desires are only to be fulfilled between a man and woman who are married
• My desire for security is to be satisfied by God Himself, not by any other person or material thing.
What Qoheleth is saying here is to go ahead and to follow our hearts and our eyes and seek to satisfy our God-given desires. But he accompanies that exhortation with a warning. If we don’t fulfill those desires according to God’s standards, then we will be judged for our behavior. This really reinforces what we talked about last week when we focused on the difference between “right and wrong decisions” – moral decisions – and “right and left decisions” in which we pick from among a number of perfectly moral choices.
Both Augustine and Martin Luther have been quoted as saying:
“Love God and do whatever you please.”
That is certainly consistent with what Qoheleth has written here and with this verse that we looked at in some detail last week.
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
If nothing else, the Book of Ecclesiastes has certainly made it clear that God wants us to enjoy the gifts that the Creator has graciously given to each one of us. And when we recognize God as the Giver of those gifts and are grateful for the gifts, we can have great joy in our lives and God gets glory at the same time.
Let me return one last time to a passage that we have looked at frequently in our journey through Ecclesiastes, because it confirms this principle quite clearly.
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)
As long as we put our hope, faith and trust in the Giver of the gifts rather than the gifts themselves, then that which God has provided is given to us for our enjoyment and for God’s glory at the same time.
3. It is better to add life to your years than to add years to your life
We spend a lot of time, money and effort in this country trying to add years to our life. But it is pretty interesting to me that even with all of our advances in medicine and nutrition and even with all the technology we have, we haven’t been able to increase the average life span significantly since the middle of the 20th century.
The death of Michael Jackson this week brought to mind several of his ill-fated attempts to prolong his life. Perhaps you remember these photos of him sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber back in the 1980’s or when he began to wear surgical masks in public in the 1990’s. But none of that could prevent, or even postpone his inevitable death.
According to Qoheleth, and the rest of the Bible, we would find much more profit in putting all that time, money and effort into making whatever days we do have here on earth more rewarding and enjoyable. We would do well to remember the words of the Psalmist:
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12 (NIV)
In other words, we need to consider the brevity of life and live accordingly.
4. Our greatest joy comes from making much of God
As I mentioned briefly just a moment ago, Qoheleth twice instructs his readers to “remember your Creator.” The word “remember” that he uses there doesn’t just mean to jog one’s memory. It carries the idea of constantly keeping something in mind. In other words it is a command to wholeheartedly commit our lives to love and serve God.
It’s interesting that Qoheleth chooses to refer to God as the Creator here in this passage. Of all the attributes of God, that is the one he chooses to focus on. Certainly part of that has to do with his focus on aging and death. Since God is the One who created us, He is also the One who has the right to determine how long we live and what that life is like. But I think he also want us to be reminded that God, as Creator, has made each one of us exactly as He wants for us to be. I’ve already alluded to the fact that He creates each one of us with certain innate desires.
But He also created us as beings who find our greatest joy when we make much of God. Jesus died on the cross to provide freedom from our sins, not so that we could make much of ourselves, but so that we could make much of God. So it’s no surprise that those in our culture who find themselves depressed, bitter and angry are often those who insist on focusing only on themselves.
Throughout the Scriptures we find numerous examples of how focusing on God and making much of Him is the source of our greatest joy. Let me just briefly share a couple of them.
Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Psalm 28:7 (NIV)
John Piper accurately summarizes this principle with this well-known quote
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
5. It’s never too late to delight in my Creator
For some of you who are experiencing some of the symptoms of old age that Qoheleth describes in this passage, you might very well think that there isn’t a whole lot for you in this passage. You may be saying to yourself, “My youth is already gone so it’s too late to go back and live my life over now.” And while that is a true statement, I don’t want you to leave here today depressed, but rather encouraged. Because regardless of what you may or may not be able to do physically any more, it’s still not too late to remember your Creator and delight in Him.
I’ve known a lot of people who have told me that they would like to commit their life to God, but that they just weren’t ready to do that yet. But the problem with that is that none of us know how many days we have left here on this earth. Whether you’re eight or eighty, it is possible that you won’t wake up tomorrow morning. That’s why the Bible is filled with admonitions like these to decide to delight in your Creator and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today:
So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…
Hebrew 3:7, 8 (NIV)
For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV)
When we die, that window of opportunity to choose to delight in our Creator will have run out, and our future beyond the grave will have been determined once and for all based solely on what we chose to do with Jesus while we lived our life “under the sun here on earth”
That’s the part that Qoheleth didn’t fully understand, but which we, on this side of the cross have had revealed to us. So now we’re each responsible with what we’re going to do with that knowledge. Jesus made this so very clear in His conversation with Nicodemus:
Whoever believes in him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son… Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
John 3:18, 36 (NIV)
There are only two choices. I either believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died to pay the penalty for my sins and trust completely and solely on that sacrifice as the basis for my relationship with God or I don’t. If I believe that, then Jesus has promised that He is right now preparing a place for me and that He will return to take me to be with Him and to spend eternity in His presence. If I don’t believe that, then Jesus has promised that I am already condemned and that one day I will face God’s wrath and be permanently separated from God in a place of torment.
And for those of us who have already made the decision to commit our lives to Jesus, we also need to choose daily to delight in our Creator and to make sure that we do everything we can to help others do the same thing. That’s why some of you seasoned citizens out there are so crucial to this body. You have life experiences and wisdom that are so essential to equipping the rest of the body to know and love God. And no matter how much your bodies, and even your minds, may be failing, you still have so much to offer the rest of us.
Like Farrah Fawcett, Karl Malden, Billy Mays, and Michael Jackson, all of us will indeed die some day. But rather than be discouraged by that fact, we have the opportunity to choose each day to live life to the full, to enjoy it, and to make the most of every opportunity, no matter how many days God gives us here on earth.
