SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/26/2013
8:02 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Death is
Unavoidable
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eccl. 9:1-2
Message of
the verses: Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter in his
commentary on the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes “Meeting Your Last Enemy,” and
of course that enemy is death. When we begin
to read the Bible we very soon run into the word die and then death, “Gen.
2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you
will surely die.’” “Gen. 4:8 Cain told
Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose
up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
This verse tells of the first person who died. When God told Adam that he would die if he
ate from the tree that he was told not to eat from we find out that he did not
physically die at that point, but he died spiritually. Now there is one more kind of death to talk
about and that is eternal death, the lake of fire.
People do not want to talk of death so the make up
different phrases in order to avoid the word death, they say things like he “left
us” or “he went to sleep” or he “passed on.”
Going home is another thing that people say to avoid the word death, and
it is true of a believer that when they die and their spirit leaves this earth
that they are going home, or Paul writes that their bodies have gone to
sleep. Dr. Wiersbe writes “If we take
life seriously—and we should—then we can’t treat death flippantly.”
There will be one group of people who do not die, and
there is a picture of this in the OT, in fact there are two pictures of
this. One is from Enoch who went to
heaven without dying, and then the Prophet Elijah also went to heaven without
dying. The group of believers that I am
talking about from the NT is those who are alive when Jesus Christ returns to
collect His bride at what is called the rapture, and this is spoken about
clearly in two passages of Scripture, 1 Thes. 4:13-18, and 1 Cor. 15:51-58, in
fact we read the following from verse “55
"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’”
Solomon has brought up the subject of death previously
(See 1:4; 2:14-17; 3:18-20; 4:8; 5:15-16; 6:6; 8:8; 12:1-7). Robert E. Lee said on his death bed “Let the
tent be struck!” and Paul mentions this in 2 Cor. 5:1-8. Dwight L. Moody is recorded to say right
before he died that “earth is passing away, heaven is in view.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the conclusion of his
introduction the following: “In this
chapter, Solomon drew two conclusions:
death is unavoidable (1-10) and life is unpredictable (11-18). That being the case, the best thing we can do
is trust God, live by faith, and enjoy whatever blessings God gives us.”
Death Is Unavoidable (Eccl. 9:1-10): We will look at this a section at a time and
I will quote the verses before each section.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to
die once and after this comes judgment.”
We learn from this verse that death is an appointment and it will happen
when the Lord appoints it. Psalm 139:16 “Your
eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were
ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.” Dr. Wiersbe writes that God is the only One
who can cancel or change the appointed day of one’s death.
Life and death are “in the hand of God’ (Eccl. 9:1): “1 For I have taken all this to my heart and
explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of
God. Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.” One might conclude from this that Solomon is
saying that “we are passive actors in a cosmic drama, following an unchangeable
script handed to us by an uncaring director.”
He is not saying this and we know that from other portions of this book
that he is not saying this. The point is
that it is only God who knows what the future holds for us, and God knows also
what will happen tomorrow because of the decisions we make today, so it goes
back to wisdom.
“As it is with the good man, so with the sinner” (Eccl
9:2): 2 It is the same for all. There is
one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and
for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does
not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is
the one who is afraid to swear.”
Again this verse seems to say something like what singer
Peggy Lee sang from a while ago and the name of that song is “Is that all there
is” and the repeated portion of the song goes like this: “Is that all there is, is that all there is If
that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing Let's break out the
booze and have a ball If that's all there is?”
Well as believers in Jesus Christ we know that there is more, much more
to life, however there is one thing that all people share and that is death and
the grave, but as believers “we do not share a common destiny in eternity.” Death is an enemy, but Christ has conquered
death “25 Jesus said to her, "I am
the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes
in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-16)
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end of this
section:”How people deal with the reality of death reveals itself in the way
they deal with the realities of life.
Solomon pointed out three possible responses that people make to the
ever-present fear of death.” We will
begin to explore these three possible responses in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I cannot explain
the privilege of knowing Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord because of the awesomeness
of this experience. I surely was not
hunting for God, but He surely was hunting for me and changed my life
completely when He saved me. I pray that
the Lord will bring people onto my path so that I can explain to them about
knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be ready to tell others of the hope that is
in me.
Memory verses for the
week: 2Cor. 5:17-21
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who
reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of
reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are
ambassadors for Christ, s through God were making an appeal through us; we beg
you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Upon the rivers and fountains
of waters.”
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who suggested that another
apostle be named to replace Judas?
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
5/26/2013 9:05 PM
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