“For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 3:19
September 19, 2023
The next time you drive by a cemetery you might want to make an observation or two and in doing so ask yourself this question: Does death help us solve the problem of injustice in the world? The grim reaper eventually comes calling upon us all. We all die. No exceptions. The human body returns to the earth’s elements just like animals. All animals die and such is our destiny. In life under the sun (no revelation from God), left to ourselves, we are ignorant of the afterlife. Think of this the next time you drive over some road kill. We humans and animals eat, drink, and experience some kind of enjoyment in the range of activity we are allowed. Death has its set of inequities. Good people die. Bad people die. Some die peacefully. Others die horribly painful deaths. The writer of Ecclesiastes wants us to understand that God’s sure sign that we are different from Him (“children of man”). We die. God doesn’t. We are fallible, mortal creatures. Death doesn’t seem to solve the problem of justice. It only exacerbates it by bringing both the righteous and the wicked to the dust. Death creates another enigma in the plan of God. How does it fit? Does it tell us anything about the meaning of life? Injustice should keep us reminded of who and what we are. The rest of the story in the Bible tells us that death is the penalty of sin (Rom. 5:10). It also tells us in the words of Jesus Christ, “Jesus said to her (His friend, Martha) I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (Jn. 11:25). Think about that, right now, before you die.
H
Engraved on a tombstone: “I expected this, but not just yet!”