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“(God) will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:6-8 ESV).

two questions

Like all of Scripture, Paul’s writings can lend themselves to a variety of interpretations, and this text is no exception. Two questions present themselves to the inquisitive reader of Romans 2:6-8.

• First, there is the works question: is Paul teaching salvation by works here? If so, he would seem to be contradicting what he has written elsewhere, especially in Romans.
• The second question might not be so obvious as the first, but it bears asking: What kind of judgment is Paul talking about? In other words, what is the nature of the divine wrath that Paul is alluding to? That is the wrath question.

the works question

Paul’s argument throughout the book of Romans is that works do not justify anyone – that is, no one is going to be declared righteous before God on the basis of works that he or she has done or will do.

• “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (3:20).
• “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (3:28).
• “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace” (11:6).

Paul makes similar points in Galatians:

• “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (2:16).
• “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” (3:2).
• “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them”” (3:10).

So, why does Paul begin his argument in Romans by putting works in a good light, insisting that God is going to award works of well-doing and obedience to the truth? Why does Paul say that works will lead to blessing when he later says that those who rely on works are under a curse?

the context of Romans 2

Part of the answer to questions like that is that Paul is addressing a certain audience in Romans 2, an audience who will understand the meaning of his words in a particular way. He had set up his argument in chapter one by referring to godless and ignorant pagans who suppress what little truth they know, and exchange that truth for a lie, leading to both idolatry and immorality. He concludes that God is storing up his wrath against them.

In chapter 2, Paul turns to the wiser, smug, Jewish part of his audience. He asks them this question: “Do you suppose … that you will escape the judgment of God?”.[1] They probably did. They probably felt that since their sin lives were less conspicuous than those of their Gentile neighbors, God would overlook them. After all, they were not guilty of such blatant idolatry and immorality as is common among the Gentiles.

But Paul’s message to those who were less sinful (or less openly sinful) was that they are going to be judged as well. No one will escape judgment because no one is sinless. But this God of judgment is also a God of grace. He has chosen to save some in spite of their sinfulness.

God will save the repentant

Looking down upon others who are caught in destructive lifestyles and behaviors is not an attribute of someone who is going to be saved. Paul tells the self-righteous Jews of Rome that in passing judgment upon others they are condemning themselves. He tells them that the fact that they are not experiencing some of the unpleasant consequences of blatant sin is due to God’s kindness and forbearance and patience.[2] But these outwardly good people are actually storing up wrath for themselves for judgment day.[3] Their good works will not save them on that day.

There are two reasons for this. First, all sin is repugnant to God, and he sees all sin. He is not blind to the sins of respectable people. He shows no partiality.[4] Second, those who are not blatantly godless or decadent will sin, and those sins will be found out among the rest of the planet. Paul tells these judgmental Jews that their sins are causing his name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles.[5]

Paul urges these who are self-satisfied with their almost righteousness to repent of their sins. He tells them that God’s patience is meant to lead them to repentance. He pleads for them not to rely on their good works to save them.

Repentance is the beginning of the process that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of those who will be ultimately saved. The author of Hebrews listed two things that are foundational to every Christian life: “repentance from dead works and … faith toward God.”[6] The act of repenting from one’s sins takes salvation out of the “me” camp and puts it into the “God” camp. It is acknowledgment that one’s attempt to live the perfect life did not work. Thus, it is a plea for mercy and grace. The “patience in well-doing” by which the believer seeks “glory honor and immortality” does not even begin until after repentance. To suggest that someone can become saved and do actual good works without repenting is like suggesting that someone can live without being born.

the wrath question

For those who do not repent and begin a life of seeking “glory, honor and immortality”, God’s “wrath and fury” await. Like grace and repentance, this final punishment will be meted out to everyone regardless of ethnic or national pedigree. It will come to “every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.”[7]

What is the nature of this wrath? We know that God’s wrath is currently being revealed against the ungodly.[8] The destructive and abusive lifestyles of those who do not know God are killing them regularly. The consequences of their choice to suppress the truth and obey unrighteousness destroys them, either gradually or suddenly. But for some, God’s wrath does not seem to lead to such consequences. For them, God’s wrath is being stored up until judgment day, when it will be revealed all at once.[9]

The book of Revelation describes that event this way:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12-15).

This vision of divine judgment was revealed to John on Patmos. It is written in a different genre than Paul’s description of wrath and fury in Romans 2, but there can be no doubt that it describes the same future event. Comparing both texts reveals the following similarities.

1. Both descriptions are of judgment meted out by God.

2. Both depictions include all humanity.

3. Both descriptions include a division of humanity into two groups: one will suffer wrath while the other will receive life.

4. Both descriptions have the same basis for judgment: the evil works done in this life.

5. Both descriptions portray a specific event in the future. Paul calls it “the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”[10] John sees that it will take place at the end of the age, just before the creation of a “new heaven and a new earth.”[11]

There is no indication in either of these passages of this judgment taking place in the intermediate state (the time between death and the resurrection). Although Paul says that wrath and fury awaits the wicked, he does not say that this judgment will take place when the wicked man dies. Instead, he speaks of an event in the future when God’s wrath will be poured out on all the wicked together, at the same time. He sees the same thing that John sees.

Likewise, John describes an event that takes place at the end of the age, not a process that goes on from a person’s death onward. He sees all the dead together in the same place, and then judgment begins. All the wicked are judged “according to what they had done.”[12] This allows for judgment that properly addresses each person’s sin. The notion that people will be tormented during the intermediate state as punishment for their sins is not supported by either of these texts.

the end of judgment

John sees this judgment coming to a completion, an end. He says of the wicked “they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.”[13] The very next verse says … “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”[14] The symbol is the lake of fire, a large body of fire that does what fire does: it destroys. The reality that the symbol portrays is not a process but an event: the second death. Once that event is over, God is free to recreate, which he does by making a new heaven and earth. The first heaven and earth (together with the lake of fire) had passed away.[15]

Paul’s description of judgment in Romans 2 shows the same result. After an appropriate time of receiving God’s wrath and fury for their sins, all of the wicked are said to “perish.”[16] Thus Paul divides the world into two groups: those “who are being saved” and “those who are perishing.”[17] Paul teaches that all of Christ’s enemies will be destroyed, then the “last enemy to be destroyed is death” itself.[18] Paul gives no place or time for a final punishment that does not end.

the purpose of God’s wrath

Paul’s argument in Romans is that all humanity stands under the judgment of God because of sin, thus all need a Savor. He calls for the ignorant Gentile to repent and turn to God. He calls for the self-righteous Jew to repent and turn to God. He warns that a hell of just punishment awaits both.

The wrath and fury of God can be called just for two reasons: it appropriately deals with the rebellion and sins of each individual who will be punished, and will appropriately deal with the blot of sin in the universe as a whole. Once the lake of fire has burned up the last trace of rebellion in the universe, God will be free to accomplish the purpose for which his wrath was devised: granting life to his redeemed for all eternity.

That is why Paul, eager to share the good news of eternal life with the Romans, had to preface his gospel with the bad news about hell. God has a plan for eternal peace and righteousness. In order for that plan to come about, there must first be wrath and fury poured out upon those who do not repent.

both sides of the story

We seek to win our neighbors to Christ. We want them to know the joy of living with him and for him. We want them to be saved for all eternity. But we are often reluctant to talk to them about the consequences if they reject God’s offer. We do not want to be branded as a “fire and brimstone” kind of Christian. Paul in Romans 2 shows how to appropriately tell both sides of the story of God’s salvation. Our neighbors might not be interested in being saved until we can explain to them what they need to be saved from.

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[1] Romans 2:3.

[2] Romans 2:4.

[3] Romans 2:5.

[4] Romans 2:11.

[5] Romans 2:24.

[6] Hebrews 6:1. Both terms figure into Paul’s introduction to salvation in Romans (1:5, 8, 12, 17; 2:4).

[7] Romans 2:9.

[8] Romans 1:18.

[9] Romans 2:5.

[10] Romans 2:5.

[11] Revelation 21:1.

[12] Revelation 20:13.

[13] Revelation 20:13.

[14] Revelation 20:14.

[15] Revelation 21:1.

[16] Romans 2:12.

[17] 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 2:15; 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:10.

[18] 1 Corinthians 15:26.

“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten” (Ecclesiastes 9:5 KJV).

Ecclesiastes 9:5 has been used as a proof-text by conditionalists from the very beginning of the debate on the afterlife. With texts like this, believers who hold to an unconscious intermediate state have suggested that one does not have to borrow a pagan cosmology to explain what happens at death. It implies that the dead are not aware of what passes, and that a resurrection will be necessary before anyone lives forever.

Barton calls the verse a “classic statement” indicating that the state of the dead is one of “a state of unconsciousness” although he warns that it is “by no means alone decisive.”[1] One has to look at what the whole of Scripture teaches in order to find answers. The problem with much of modern Christendom is that they are willing to negate the clear implications of such texts as Ecclesiastes 9:5 because they are presupposed to accept Greek anthropology, which rejected the reality of death, and redefined it as the soul going somewhere. If this “classic statement” from the Hebrew Bible is taken at face value, it suggests that death is not about going someplace. It is more about the life shutting down until God has use of it again.

Nichols listed the verse among eight Old Testament texts which uphold “the conclusion that death is a condition best described as sleep.”[2] Here are those eight texts in modern versions:

“If (the dead person’s) sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it” (Job 14:21 NET).

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV).

“For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave?” (Psalm 6:5 NLT).

“For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 LEB).

“For Sheol cannot thank you; Death cannot praise you. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness” (Isaiah 38:18 HCSB).

“The dead cannot sing praises to the LORD, for they have gone into the silence of the grave” (Psalm 115:17 NLT).

“His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4 NASB).

“Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? … Can those in the grave declare your unfailing love? Can they proclaim your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Can the darkness speak of your wonderful deeds? Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about your righteousness?” (Psalm 88:10-12 NLT).

The point of all these Old Testament saints is that they are seeking a resurrection because death is not the answer to their problems. It may not be the end of all existence, but it is not the eternal life which we all seek. There is hope beyond death, but not in it.

But many modern Christians stare that evidence in the face and then choose to walk away from it. They choose the doctrine of humanity that some in the early church borrowed from their teachers of Greek philosophy. That doctrine taught that death really is the answer to our problems – that we don’t need a resurrection because some part of us will continue to think and praise God in the intermediate state. Popular theology seems content with a combination of the resurrection to eternal life that the Bible teaches, and the continued conscious life that Plato taught.

Fudge has pointed out that this marriage of doctrines has not produced an altogether unified Christianity. He states that “some orthodox writers have continued to affirm the immortality of the soul, though often with a look over their shoulder, (because) many others have charged that the doctrine has serious deficiencies.”[3] He argues that this “uneasiness within the orthodox ranks” cannot be solved by affirming or denying a doctrine. In the end, “the issue really becomes a matter of exegesis.”[4]

Such will be the case only if theologians on both sides of the divide are willing to carefully examine the texts of Scripture about which we disagree. Ecclesiastes 9:5 can serve as an example. Rather than simply offering this text as a proof of our view, conditionalists need to present a careful analysis of the text, offering evidence that it does support the concept of an unconscious intermediate state for all prior to a resurrection.

The Hebrew Text with transliteration

Ki hachayyim yodeim sheyyamutu

Vehammetim ‘eynam yodeim me’umah

Ve’eyn—‘od lahem sachar

Ki nishchach zichram.

The text of Ecclesiastes 9:5 is not in dispute. There are no major differences within the various extant versions of the Hebrew Bible that would suggest another wording, or a change in grammar. An observer can look, for example, at the Westminster Leningrad Codex version, and see that there are no appreciable differences between it and the BHS version cited above, even if that observer could not read the Hebrew text.

Having established that the differences in understanding the import of this text are not caused by differing versions of the text itself, readers can then address other avenues of exegesis.

Careful exegesis involves seeking answers to certain questions within the text itself, rather than trying to read into the text what one wants it to say. Without those questions, anyone might be tempted to simply use a text for his own purposes. But exegesis requires that the reader step back from his or her own agenda, and actually seek the purpose of the original author of the text.

the book as a whole

The author of Ecclesiastes was seeking to show that life apart from God was futile, vain, meaningless. If, as tradition asserts, the author was Solomon, that argument would make sense. Who else but Solomon would be in the particular position to try out all that life has to offer, and then conclude that it all was essentially unsatisfying? Who else but Solomon would qualify as a person who had it all, yet in the end of his life would be listened to as a speaker for the congregation who urged people to seek God above all?

the passage in particular

The FaithLife Study Bible outlines Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 this way:

· 1-3 The same fate – death – awaits everyone.

· 4-6 Death deprives humans of everything in life.

· 7-10 Enjoy life while it lasts.

The phrase “I looked again…” in verse 11 shows that it begins a new line of thought. So, the passage in particular that is the immediate literary context of verse 5 is verses 1-10.

The author’s purpose of the verse is to establish that death does indeed deprive all humans of everything in life. There is no hint that this is the language of mere appearance. The author is not saying that death only appears to rob us of conscious existence. In fact, if death ushers all human into a new state of conscious existence and awareness, the author of Ecclesiastes has lost his argument all together.

Solomon argued that it is best for the godly not to focus on any hopes of an afterlife in the intermediate state, but to make the best of life now. He was not addressing the question of whether there would ever be life after the grave. Instead, he was arguing that one’s objective should be making the best of life now. That explains why he later instructs his readers not to “let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator” (Ecclesiastes 12:1 NLT). If one is caught up in the hopes and dreams of the future, one is liable to forget that his or her present relationship with God is what really matters.

In Ecclesiastes 9:5, Solomon uses a description of what happens at death to show that dying should not be a person’s goal. It is not the solution to humanity’s problem, God is. Death ends the pursuit. death ends the race. Solomon begins the verse with the Hebrew conjunction Ki, which establishes the grounds for the statement in the verse before: “But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion” (verse 4, ESV).

Solomon compares two groups: those who are presently alive (hachayyim) and those who are presently dead (hammetim). He does not distinguish between different groups within these groups. All people who are presently alive have hope, but all those presently dead do not.

comparisons

Solomon compares these two groups in three texts. Before comparing them in 9:4 and 9:5, he begins the comparison in chapter 4:

“Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead (hammetim) who are already dead more fortunate than the living (hachayyim) who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 ESV).

His first conclusion is that it is better to be dead than alive because of all the injustice, oppression and suffering that the living face. Even better than being dead is not having been born at all. Solomon looks at all there is “under the sun”[5] and his first conclusion (“I thought” [vs.2]) is that life is just not worth it. In spite of all the great things that a person can do (most of which Solomon did) and the joys of life that a person can experience (which Solomon experienced) his first judgment is a negative one.

His explanations for this cynical attitude include the following:

· “for all is vanity and a striving after wind” (2:17).

· “because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it” (2:21).

· “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income” (5:10).

· “As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand” (5:15).

· “In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing” (7:15).

then, again…

Observations like these lead Solomon to conclude at first that the struggle of life for enjoyment and accomplishment is just not worth it. But then he changes his mind. His final conclusion is that it is better to be alive (and to have been alive) than to be dead. He prefers to be among the living (hachayyim) and not the dead (hammetim). His reasons have nothing to do with what one might experience or accomplish. He has already concluded that such things are meaningless. They are meaningless because of the reality of death.

three reasons

His reasons for reversing his previous judgment are also tied to the reality of death. It is better to be alive than dead because of three things all dead people lack: awareness, reward, and something he calls memory.

AWARENESS

It is better to be alive than dead because living people have awareness of life. They are conscious of what they are doing, while the dead are not. In contrast to the living, who know that they will eventually die, the dead do not know anything.

Supporters of a conscious intermediate state exert a great deal of effort to negate the import of such a statement. Barnes says “Solomon here describes what he sees, not what he believes; there is no reference here to the fact or the mode of the existence of the soul in another world, which are matters of faith.”[6] There is no reference to such things because Solomon is not privy to the teaching of Plato and Socrates. Those teachings are indeed “matters of faith” but that faith does not have its basis in the Word of God. Solomon must speak of death and the afterlife from within the limits of Scriptural revelation.

So, Solomon says, “The dead know nothing.” Gill responds,

“this is not to be understood of their separate spirits, and of the things of the other world; for the righteous dead know much, their knowledge is greatly increased; they know, as they are known; they know much of God in Christ, of his perfections, purposes, covenant, grace, and love; they know much of Christ, of his person, offices, and glory, and see him as he is; they know much of the Gospel, and the mysteries of it; and of angels, and the spirits of just men, they now converse with; and of the glories and happiness of the heavenly state; even they know abundantly more than they did in this life: and the wicked dead, in their separate spirits, know there is a God that judgeth; that their souls are immortal; that there is a future state; indeed they know and feel the torments of hell, the worm that never dies, and the fire that is not quenched.”[7]

What an amazing amount of information the dead are aware of! Gil asserts that the lack of awareness Solomon speaks of only has to do with what is happening on earth. The awareness Gil speaks of is taking place either in heaven or hell. Solomon mentions heaven four times in Ecclesiastes, and never once mentions that people’s souls go there at death.[8] Like the rest of the Old Testament authors, he never mentions the word hell at all.[9] Yet Gill would insist that Solomon’s argument simply excludes any awareness of anything that happens one second after death.

But Solomon’s argument demands that his readers take into account the present state of the dead, and requires that they understand that the dead are presently aware of nothing. If (as Gill supposes) the actual awareness of the dead increases, then Solomon’s argument is a wash. If one’s awareness at death actually increases, then Solomon was right in his first assessment, and he should not have changed his mind. He had previously argued that being dead was better than being alive. He changed his mind and is now arguing that being alive is better. He based that correction on the fact that death ends one’s awareness of everything.

REWARD

The second reason Solomon asserts that being alive is better is that a living person can expect a reward for what he has done. The dead get no reward.

Solomon has a great deal to say about rewards elsewhere:

· “The wicked person earns deceitful wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a genuine reward” (Proverbs 11:18 NET).

· “The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4 NASB).

· “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you” (Proverbs 25:21-22 NIV).

· “And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil” (Ecclesiastes 2:10 ESV).

· “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NKJV).

His writings were part of that genre known as biblical wisdom literature, which encouraged people to be faithful to God now and expect him to bless you for it now. There was no mention of rewards after death because that was not the point.

But in Ecclesiastes 9:5, Solomon goes beyond that simple assertion. He talks about why it is better to be alive, and he asserts that the reason is that if one is alive, he can continue to receive rewards for living righteously. But he also asserts that at death, that process ends. After death, rewards and punishment have come to an end.

According to the New Testament, that system where the sovereign God rewards people for their faithfulness and genuine good deeds in this life is still in effect.

· “Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you” (Matthew 6:4 NLT).

· “But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6 NET).

· “But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? “And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong”” (Luke 23:40-41 NKJV).

But the New Testament also speaks of rewards that believers will receive at the return of Christ:

· “”But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great” (Luke 6:35 ESV).

· “If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.” (1 Corinthians 3:14 NLT).

· “because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:24 NET).

· “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward” (2 John 1:8 ESV).

· “But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:13-14 NASB).

· “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12 KJV).

So, the Bible teaches that there are two different kinds of reward. there are rewards in this life that a gracious God gives those who live as they should, and there is the reward at Christ’s return that believers will receive from him. Solomon’s statement agrees with this cosmology. That is why he affirms that being among the living is better than being among the dead.

But some read a third kind of reward into the equation. They say that people are rewarded (or punished) not only during this life and after Christ’s second coming, but that people are also rewarded immediately after death and before the resurrection. The assertion is that the intermediate state (between death and the resurrection) is a time of conscious blessing or misery prior to judgment day.

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus[10] appears to teach that, but it actually does not. Jesus was using one of the stories of the Pharisees (who held to rewards during the intermediate state) and turning the end of the story against them. When Jesus actually taught his disciples about life after death, he always made reference to a resurrection.[11] He never referred to the believer’s reward as “Abraham’s bosom”, but called it eternal life,[12] and his coming kingdom.[13]

Somewhere between Solomon’s day and that of Jesus and the apostles, many Jews had bought into a pagan cosmology which included the belief in a conscious intermediate state. Solomon may have anticipated such a belief, because his words teach against it. He is saying not simply that the old reward system ends at death, but that during death there cannot be another. He asserts that the dead are incapable of being rewarded, good or bad.

MEMORY

The final reason Solomon asserts that being alive is better than being dead is that dead people do not have something called memory. At first glance, this seems to have two possible meanings. Either it refers to the capacity of the dead to remember, or it refers to the ability of others to remember them.

The Hebrew noun zecher is related to the verbal root zachar, the usual word for “to remember.” That means that Solomon could be saying that the capacity of the dead to remember stops at death. He would essentially be repeating what he said before – that the dead know nothing, they have no awareness. It would be in agreement with Psalm 146:4 which describes the dying this way: “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”

Probably, however, Solomon is speaking about the capacity for others to remember someone who is dead. The other Old Testament uses of the actual word zikram (their memory) relate to this usage.[14] If this is the meaning Solomon had in mind, he obviously took the long view. People actually do memorialize the dead, and often to the extreme. But eventually, given enough time, even the names of rock stars and presidents will fall into disuse.

Solomon’s point is that death makes a sudden and actual end to all those things that we call life. When all is said and done, Solomon is arguing that it is better to have lived than to have not lived at all. The reality of death ends our life, but it does not end our significance. Life is worth living because God lives forever. What we do matters not because we are immortal and live forever but because what we do matters to God.

Solomon’s initial approach to life was pessimistic. He argued that life was not worth living because death is real and it will happen to everyone. Upon further investigation, Solomon changed his outlook. He still believed that death is real, and it happens to everyone. But he adds two words to the equation: “except God.” If God lives, my living in the present can be worthwhile. If God lives, my having lived in the past can be significant.

The New Testament teaches that Jesus “broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.”[15] We now know far much about our future than Solomon did. We now have clear teaching of a resurrection, an eternity in God’s new creation – an immortal existence in the future!

But Solomon still has much to teach us about what is really important. He stared human mortality in the face, and chose not to deny it. Instead, he put his trust and his hope in the LORD, who is immortal. His philosophy became theocentric, not anthropocentric. He taught his listeners to “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”[16] And he based that command not on the illusion of an immortal soul surviving death, but the reality of an immortal God who can never die. He is the reason life is worth living!

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[1] Freeman Barton, Heaven, Hell, and Hades (Charlotte NC USA: Advent Christian General Conference, 1981), 58.

[2] James A Nichols Jr., Christian Doctrines (Nutley, NJ USA: The Craig Press, 1970), 220.

[3] Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes (Carlisle UK: The paternoster Press, 1994), 22-23.

[4] Fudge, 22, 26.

[5] Eccl. 1:3, 9, 14; 2:11, 17ff; 3:16; 4:1, 3, 7, 15; 5:13, 18; 6:1, 12; 8:9, 15, 17; 9:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 10:5.

[6] http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/barnes/ecc009.htm

[7] http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/ecclesiastes-9-5.html

[8] Eccl. 1:13; 2:3; 3:1; 5:2.

[9] The Old Testament uses the word Sheol to describe where all go at death. See Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; Num. 16:30, 33; Deut. 32:22; 1 Sam. 2:6; 2 Sam. 22:6; 1 Kgs 2:6, 9; Job 7:9; 11:8; 14:13; 17:13, 16; 21:13; 24:19; 26:6; Psa. 6:5; 9:17; 16:10; 18:5; 30:3; 31:17; 49:14f; 55:15; 86:13; 88:3; 89:48; 116:3; 139:8; 141:7; Prov. 1:12; 5:5; 7:27; 9:18; 15:11, 24; 23:14; 27:20; 30:16; Eccl. 9:10; Isa. 5:14; 7:11; 14:9, 11, 15; 28:15, 18; 38:10, 18; 57:9; Ezek. 31:15ff; 32:21, 27; Hos. 13:14; Amos 9:2; Jonah 2:2; Hab. 2:5. It cannot refer to hell in the traditional sense, because it includes all the dead, not just the unrighteous or unbelievers.

[10] Luke 16:20f.

[11] John 6:39,40,44,54.

[12] Matt. 19:29; 25:46; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; John 3:15f, 36; 4:14, 36; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47, 54, 68; 10:28; 12:25, 50; 17:2-3.

[13] Matt. 8:11; 16:28; Mark 14:25; Luke 13:29.

[14] Deut. 32:26; Psa. 9:7; 34:17; 109:15.

[15] 2 Timothy 1:10 NLT.

[16] Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV.

 

Dr Wayne Grudem is an American theologian who has had a significant impact on evangelical thought.  His treatment on the concept of the image of God in humanity[1] provides a helpful perspective and a good starting point for those interested in studying what the Bible says on the subject.

One way Grudem approaches this subject is by tracing the concept chronologically through the Bible, producing a helpful example of biblical theology.  He tells the story of the image of God in humanity with four words: Creation, Distortion, Recovery, and Restoration.

Creation

The Bible declares that “God created man in his own image.”[2]  An image (paired with its parallel term “likeness”) is something that is either similar to something else, or it represents something else.  Grudem concludes that human beings were created like God (in some ways) and they had the responsibility to represent God (in some ways). Theologians essentially agree with that.  Our differences come when we seek to further define exactly in what way Adam and Eve were like God at creation, and in what ways they were intended to represent him.

Distortion

The fall into sin and depravity has distorted the

image of God in us, but has not destroyed it.  This can be

seen in the fact that God forbids murder on the basis that

humans are in his image.[3] James insists that all people

should be treated fairly because they are equally “made in

the likeness of God.”[4] So, even though the fall has

drastically changed us, there is a special dignity and

identity that we all share by virtue of that special creative

act.  The Bible does not spell out the details of that

uniqueness, and it is wrong for theologians to use it as

evidence to refute what the Bible teaches elsewhere.

 

Recovery

 

The process of sanctification that every true believer experiences can be described as a progressive recovery of the original image and likeness God intended at creation.  The Bible teaches that believers are “being renewed in knowledge after the image of (our) creator”.[5] Paul describes this process by explaining that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”[6]

Restoration

The goal of this transformation process is that we might some day “be conformed to the image of” Christ.[7]  The Bible encourages those of us going through the process that “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”[8] As Grudem puts it, the “amazing promise of the New Testament is that just as we have been like Adam (subject to death and sin), we shall also be like Christ (morally pure, never subject to death again).”[9]

Wayne Grudem is not a conditionalist: he does not believe that human beings are mortal and that believers await the gift of immortality at the resurrection.  He believes that “our souls or spirits live on after our bodies die.”[10]  But he is careful not to base that belief on the concept of the image of God given at creation. Others are not so careful.  Some assert that being created in God’s image guaranteed immortality for all humanity forever.  Here is a conditionalist response to that assertion:

1.   Genesis 1:26-27 does not clarify in what way humans were created in God’s image. 

 

2.   There are a number of things that it could mean.  It could refer to our capacity for relationship (male and female). It could refer to our essential dignity as chief of the created beings on earth. It could be that humanity represented God before the rest of creation as an idol (image) represents a god or king. In the story of creation itself, there is no evidence that immortality is implied.

3.   Even if immortality were part of the image we bore at our original creation, the fall distorted that image in certain ways that the Bible makes clear in multiple texts.  From that time on, humanity was not like God in two specific ways.  First, we are sinners, God is not. Isaiah says “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way”[11]  That aspect of the original image was gone unless and until redemption and restoration.

 

4.   Second, we are mortal, God is not. The Bible uses the word mortal to describe all humanity without qualification.

 

·        Job 4:17  “Can mortal man be in the right before God?”

·        1 Corinthians 15:54  “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.””

·        Hebrews 7:8  “…tithes are received by mortal men,”

 

5.   God, on the other hand, is said to be immortal alone, without any qualification and without sharing that attribute with any others. 

 

·        1 Timothy 6:15-16  “the King of kings and Lord of lords,  who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

The concept of the image of God can be a useful tool in

explaining the gospel.  It contains all the elements one

needs to explain what God intended for humanity, how

we lost it, and how Jesus’ death at Calvary and the Holy

Spirit’s work in believers’ lives can help us to gain back

what we lost. Some, however, make that gospel

message more confusing and complicated by throwing

the unbiblical concept of the immortality of the soul

into the works.  When that is done, it becomes less

clear what it is that humanity has lost, and what we

hope to gain.

 

Grudem’s chronological approach to the issue of the

image of God can be a helpful practical means of letting

the Bible speak for itself in explaining the gospel

message. We can use the terms creation, distortion,

recovery, and restoration to explain the grace of God,

and the goal of that grace, which will be fulfilled at the

return of Christ. There is a fallen, dying world that

needs to hear that message.

       

If you are ever inclined to be philosophical, try an internet search for quotes that begin with the words “life is…” Some of my favorites are listed below:

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” ― John Lennon

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein

“Life’s hard. It’s even harder when you’re stupid.” ― John Wayne

“Life is to be enjoyed, not endured” ― Gordon B. Hinckley

“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.” ― Margaret Mitchell

“Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly.” ― Paulo Coelho

“Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.” ― Helen Keller

“The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it’s as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.” ― Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

“Life is a long lesson in humility.” ― J.M. Barrie, The Little Minister

“Life is like an onion; you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” ― Carl Sandburg

“Life … is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” ― William Shakespeare, Macbeth

…And then there’s my favorite “life is…” quote of all, attributed to Forrest Gump’s mother: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

It seems that almost everybody has an idea or two about life, but we all do not agree. Even if we were unified, who’s to say that we would be right? What we need is advice from the One who invented life. We can find such advice, but we have to look in the right place – the Bible.

Summing up what God has to say about life is not going to be easy. It is a complex thing, and it cannot be put in a nutshell or on a bumper sticker. But, if one is willing to listen, he will find that the Bible does teach about life. He must be very careful, however, not to assume he knows what is there.

The bad news

The most prevalent message throughout the whole Bible about life is that it is limited. It is a precious thing because it runs out. Life has a beginning and an end, and the end always comes too soon. A series of images are placed before the Bible reader that emphasizes this limited nature of life.

life is a shadow

One of Job’s “friends” warned him of the limited nature of life by saying “our days on earth are a shadow.”[1] He did not mean that life is an illusion. He meant that our days pass by quickly, disappearing as soon as the light hits them. Job, himself, used the same imagery when he said “Man who is born of a woman …flees like a shadow and continues not.”[2] You cannot look at a shadow, and come back in an hour or two and find it in the same place. Like life, shadows are always coming and going. Shadows do not stay put.

David expressed the same thought when he prayed “For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.”[3] David combined the shadow imagery with two words that identify a temporary resident in the land. The Israelites were temporary residents in Egypt. But, even after they left Egypt and took up residence in Canaan, they found that they were strangers and sojourners there. This life is much too short to be thought of as permanent.

In his poetry, David reflects on this fact as well. He refuses to fear man, because “his days are like a passing shadow.”[4] He puts his trust in the One who is permanent, and relies on the LORD for rescue.

David’s son, Solomon reflected on this reality as well. He challenges his readers to consider their vain lives which will pass “like a shadow.”[5] He taught that people should not put their hopes in their plans for the future, because no one knows what will happen to those plans. What matters is not tomorrow, because tomorrow is not guaranteed us. What matters is today, fearing God, and keeping his commandments today.[6]

Another Old Testament saint, identified merely as “one afflicted” writes “I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow.”[7] These are the words of someone who has suffered much, and does not always know why. Life just happens, and only God knows why it happens the way it does. Lots of things just seem unfair, particularly the more we realize that the limits of life do not allow for do-overs. Often we realize too late that our days are like an evening shadow, soon to be over – swallowed up in death, and nothing we can do will change that fact.

But it is not just the Old Testament that portrays life in this gloomy fashion. James instructs rich believers that they will “fade away in the midst of (their) pursuits.” No matter how powerful you are, your life is limited.

Another way the Bible says the same thing is by comparing our lives to a mist or a cloud of vapor. Job laments “The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up; he returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore.”[8] Life’s end is compared to a cloud that vanishes before one’s eyes. People disappear like they are getting beamed off by a transporter (my apologies if you have never watched Star Trek). Now you see them, now you don’t.

It is precisely for this reason that James warns his readers not to presume upon their own ability to accomplish what they want to with their lives. He writes “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”[9] The point is not that we should never make plans. The point is that we should not presume that we will have the time for all our plans to be accomplished. We are not in charge down here. The sovereign God is. It is his will that matters.

life is a sprint

The Bible presents our lives as a race, but not a long marathon. They are more like a 100 yard dash. Just when we are in our best stride, the finish line appears. Job lamented that his “days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good. They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey.”[10] If you have ever watched an bird swoop down to catch a mouse or a fish, you get the idea. All the drama is over in seconds. Life is a chase, and whether you are a victim or a victor, the chase is over quickly.

Job rightly concluded that “”Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.”[11] As Ethan the Ezrahite prayed, he asked the LORD to remember how short his time is.[12] The Proverbs instructs us “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”[13]We never know how long we have. Our days are few.

The older we get, the more we get the proper perspective on age. When we are young, we all think we are immortal. We assume we will have enough time to do everything we will want to do. Before we know it, we are looking back on a life spent, rather than forward on dreams and wishes. We never seem to have enough time. That is probably how Jacob felt, when he told Pharaoh that his days were “few and evil.”[14] He was 130 years old at the time!

So the Bible warns us that life is a sprint. It may bring great joy or sorrow, great accomplishment or failure, but it will be over too soon. When it is over, it is over. We “are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again.”[15] Such are the limits of this life we are born into.

inhale – exhale

Another image the Bible uses to describe human life is the breath. Breathe in, breathe out, that’s it. David proclaims “surely all mankind is a mere breath!”[16] Asaph lamented that God’s people are “a wind that passes and comes not again.”[17] Moses said that “we bring our years to an end like a sigh.”[18] The very process that identifies us as being alive is also a metaphor for our lives. We will all be dead much longer than we were alive (at least this life). That is all the more reason to make this life – that short time between inhaling and exhaling – matter.

don’t bring flowers

I have an unusual request for those of you who might attend my funeral. Please do not bring flowers. I know … flowers are supposed to show love and respect. They are something pretty you can put near a casket. They smell nice. But memorial services often take days, and then the flowers are put graveside. And what do they do? They rot. Just like all vegetation, plucked from the soil, they immediately begin to decay. Often even during the funeral service you can smell the flowers turning stale. People have to put up with a lot at funerals. They have to say goodbye to their loved ones. They have to come to terms with their loss. They have to pay their final respects. Is it asking too much for my friends to not have to do that in the midst of decaying vegetation?

The Bible uses the reality of rotting grass and flowers as a symbol for the brevity of life as well. Job says that man “comes out like a flower and withers.”[19] He may start off looking good, but that does not last long.

Almost everyone looks good in their baby pictures. The older you get, the more you start asking where that beautiful baby went. Mirrors are not very kind. They remind us that the flower that we were when we came out has begun to wither.

Moses compared a human life to grass, because “in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.”[20] Psalm 102 is described as “A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD.” One of his complaints is “I wither away like grass.”[21] At some point in your life, you are going to recognize that you are not living, you are dying. Things are getting softer, grayer, more wrinkly. Your body has stopped growing and progressing. It is now digressing.

Isaiah used this reality to show the difference between all creation and its creator:

“All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers,

the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

The grass withers,

the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.”[22]

The apostle Peter quoted this text as well. He took the same context (the permanence of God compared our impermanence) and applied it to the born-again believer. He taught that “you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”[23]

This is great news, because it speaks of God’s promise that our resurrected life will be permanent. But it is also a reminder that our present life is not permanent. We were not born immortal and imperishable. We were born into this world as a flower, destined to decay and die. If it were not for God’s grace in promising believers another life – a resurrection, our only destiny would be death.

Other images in the Bible remind us of humanity’s present inclination toward decay. Job reminds us that “Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.”[24] Isaiah encourages his readers to put their trust in God, not to fear man, because “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,” “For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”[25]

This reality of a decaying world is not evil in itself. It is a reminder of the evil present in this world, and the Bible explains why this world is not permanent. God has an eternity in store for his beloved, and its beauty will never fade. It encourages us not to put our hopes and aspirations and trust in the things that are (presently) seen. We should “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”[26]

dust to dust

God created humanity from the dust of the earth, and his word continues to remind us that dust is the destiny of that creation. Even the great Abraham, father of the faithful, referred to himself as “but dust and ashes.”[27] He held no delusions of a nature that made him incapable of decay and death.

David agreed. He spoke of the rich and prosperous, and reminded his readers that they too would become dust. He taught “All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.”[28] And this text clarifies that such language does not merely reflect the fate of the body. It is the soul – the whole life – that the rich cannot keep alive. Death is the undoing of creation, which was a combination of dust and life. For “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”[29] Death reverses the process. The breath of life returns to God, but the soul dies.

David combines a number of these images of human destiny in one of his psalms:

“For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it,

and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.”[30]

The consistent picture in the Bible is that humanity does not have what it takes to live forever. That is why we need God’s deliverance from this destiny of dust. Another psalmist puts it this way:

“I will praise the LORD as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,

in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

When his breath departs he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD his God.”[31]

So, my friend, that is the bad news. We are destined for decay and death, and no human being can ever change that. But the Bible does not leave us there. The good news of the gospel is also consistently taught in the Bible. It has already been hinted at in those texts that encourage us to put our hope in the LORD. He is the answer to the question posed by all these graves.

The good news

The gospel is not a denial of mortality and death. It merely replaces the period of death with a comma. For believers in Christ, this life is still temporary, but the next life will be permanent. The Bible makes this clear in a variety of ways:

promised life

Jesus promised that “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”[32] It is a promise that this life alone does not establish our fate. Those who have rejected him, and have not experienced his judgment will at the resurrection of judgment, ending in destruction. Those who have believed in him will die like everyone else, but they will be raised to eternal life.

To receive Christ today is to receive that promise. So, the Bible speaks of receiving eternal life.

“Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you,

there is no one who has left house or brothers

or sisters or mother or father or children or lands,

for my sake and for the gospel,

who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers

and children and lands, with persecutions,

and in the age to come eternal life.”[33]

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,

for when he has stood the test

he will receive the crown of life,

which God has promised to those who love him.”[34]

The Bible speaks of the believer having eternal life as a present possession, not because all people are born with it, but because it is promised by one who is reliable and faithful.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world,

that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him

should not perish but have eternal life.”[35]

“Truly, truly, I say to you,

whoever hears my word

and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment,

but has passed from death to life.”[36]

Believers possess eternal life today because the God who ever lives has chosen to raise them from the dead. Our end has a comma, not a period, because the God whom the Bible says is the only one who has immortality[37] has chosen to someday share that immortal nature with us. The Bible describes that reality in a number of ways:

a gift

To the Samaritan woman at the well “Jesus said … “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””[38] Notice that this eternal life is a gift, not an entitlement. Notice also that Jesus says that he will give it (future tense). He has not yet given it, but he will. He was not speaking of what believers can have today – that is, the assurance of salvation. He was speaking of the immortality that makes a person “never thirsty forever.” He was speaking of the drink to end all drinks.

When Jesus described himself as the bread of life, the Manna that came from heaven, he encouraged his listeners not to “labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”[39] Once again, the tense is future, because this is a promised gift. Life is something to seek, to labor for. It is not an innate possession.

Paul spoke of God’s coming judgment, when God “will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”[40] Two judgments, but only one is referred to as a gift. Only one will be eternal life. The other judgment (wrath and fury) will of necessity end in death. Paul clarifies this by saying later “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[41] Those are the two options for eternity: death for sin or life in Christ.

an inheritance

That Jesus promises this eternal life in the future is also shown by it being referred to as an inheritance. An inheritance is a legal promise. It is a way of legally promising someone that they will receive the gift you want them to have. Notice how this biblical language states or implies that eternal life will be inherited:

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers

or sisters or father or mother

or children or lands, for my name’s sake,

will receive a hundredfold

and will inherit eternal life.”[42]

“And as he was setting out on his journey,

a man ran up and knelt before him

and asked him, “Good Teacher,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?””[43]

“And behold, a lawyer stood up

to put him to the test, saying,

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?””[44]

“the promised Holy Spirit,

who is the guarantee of our inheritance

until we acquire possession of it,

to the praise of his glory.”[45]

“that you may know what is the hope

to which he has called you,

what are the riches of his glorious inheritance

in the saints”[46]

“Whatever you do, work heartily,

as for the Lord and not for men,

knowing that from the Lord you will receive

the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ.”[47]

So, although the Bible presents the bad news of our present mortality in all its starkness, it gives equal representation to the glorious good news – the hope of eternal life for those who believe and serve Christ. His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and those who are part of that kingdom will be eternal as well. But something must happen before that promise becomes reality.

a resurrection

Jesus taught “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”[48] God desires something that has not yet taken place. He desires (his will is) that believers in his Son have eternal life. The way he has chosen to accomplish this is that he has given his Son authority to raise us up on the last day. When Jesus returns, he will raise the dead. This resurrection is not an incidental part of God’s plan, it is crucial to it.

Jesus taught three specific things about the nature of those who be raised to eternal life.

“those who are considered worthy

to attain to that age

and to the resurrection from the dead

… cannot die anymore,

because they are equal to angels

and are sons of God,

being sons of the resurrection.”[49]

1. The believer who is raised is raised immortal. He cannot die anymore. The curse of death which had been placed on him in Eden no longer applies.

2. The believer who is raised is raised with a new status. He is no longer “a little lower than the heavenly beings”[50] because he is now equal to the angels.

3. The believer who is raised is raised with a new character. It is a full resurrection, not a mere resuscitation. He has gone from being an adopted son by grace to a son of God by nature. He is comfortable in the presence of the Almighty because those things about him that were part of the old nature have passed away for good.

a relationship

Jesus, praying for his disciples before his crucifixion, said “you have given (me) authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”[51] There is more to eternal life than merely living forever. It involves a shared life with the Father and the Son. It is an eternal relationship. Apart from this relationship, eternity would have no meaning.

We learn best how to live that eternal life today, not by trying to stay alive longer, but by cultivating that relationship. The LORD has provided three major means for us to do so.

1. By seeking counsel from God in his word we learn to hear what he wants to say to us.

2. By seeking his face in prayer we learn to communicate our thoughts, feelings and desires to him.

3. By seeking fellowship with other members of the body of Christ (the church) we learn to see him as he has chosen to manifest himself today.

an appointment

When Paul and Barnabas were preaching at Antioch of Pisidia, the Bible says that “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”[52] This is comforting, because it speaks of God’s sovereignty in salvation. It is also comforting in that it does not speak of any believers that were excluded. In other words, there were no sincere people in Antioch who would have become Christians, but did not have the chance.

an escape

Jesus encouraged John on Patmos with these words:

“”Fear not, I am the first and the last,

and the living one.

I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,

and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”[53]

These words are an encouragement because we all have an appointment with Death and Hades as well. That inevitable reality that the bad news of the Bible makes so clear, speaks of a prison that we all go to at death. Good and bad, young and old, rich and poor – we all have a sentence in that prison. But the good news is that we have a friend who has escaped, and he has the keys. We have a redeemer, a rescuer, a savior.

The Challenge

The Bible challenges us to accept both the bad news of death, and the good news of the promise of eternal life through Christ. Responding to this challenge will help the world see the difference between us and the rest. The hallmarks that identify true believers in this age are:

1. True believers seek that which has been promised. As Paul put it, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”[54]

2. True believers take hold of that which is promised. Paul urged Timothy to “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called”[55] He did not command Timothy to rest on assumptions. He urged him to take every action necessary to ensure that his hope was sure.

3. True believers wait for that which is promised. Jude urged his readers to “keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”[56] He called for not passive waiting, but active anticipation. A person who actively anticipates eternity in God’s presence will be seeking to sustain his relationship with God today.

The Bible gives an honest perspective on life. It teaches us that life is not permanent, but it someday can be. The difference is Jesus Christ, and the resurrection that is his alone to give. He has promised this resurrection to us by his grace — “And this is the promise that he made to us- eternal life.”[57]

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[1] Job 8:9.

[2] Job 14:1,2.

[3] 1 Chronicles 29:15.

[4] Psalm 144:4.

[5] Ecclesiastes 6:12.

[6] Ecclesiastes 12:13.

[7] Psalm 102:9-11.

[8] Job 7:8-10.

[9] James 4:13-14.

[10] Job 9:25-26.

[11] Job 14:1.

[12] Psalm 89:47.

[13] Proverbs 27:1.

[14] Genesis 47:9.

[15] 2 Samuel 14:14.

[16] Psalm 39:11; 144:4.

[17] Psalm 78:39.

[18] Psalm 90:9.

[19] Job 14:2.

[20] Psalm 90:6.

[21] Psalm 102:1,11.

[22] Isaiah 40:6-8.

[23] 1 Peter 1:23.

[24] Job 13:28.

[25] Isaiah 51:12, 8.

[26] 2 Corinthians 4:18.

[27] Genesis 18:27.

[28] Psalm 22:29 KJV.

[29] Genesis 2:7.

[30] Psalm 103:14-16.

[31] Psalm 146:2-5.

[32] John 5:28-29.

[33] Mark 10:29-30; Luke 18:29-30.

[34] James 1:12.

[35] John 3:14-16.

[36] John 5:24.

[37] 1 Timothy 6:16.

[38] John 4:13-14.

[39] John 6:27.

[40] Romans 2:6-8.

[41] Romans 6:23.

[42] Matthew 19:29.

[43] Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18.

[44] Luke 10:25.

[45] Ephesians 1:13-14.

[46] Ephesians 1:18.

[47] Colossians 3:23-24.

[48] John 6:40.

[49] Luke 20:35-36.

[50] Psalm 8:5.

[51] John 17:2-3.

[52] Acts 13:48.

[53] Revelation 1:17-18.

[54] Philippians 3:12-14.

[55] 1 Timothy 6:12.

[56] Jude 21.

[57] 1 John 2:25

One should always read the psalms with a view toward what the human writers are feeling. The psalms are – after all – poetry, and poetry of every age seeks to pass on emotions rather than mere facts. The psalms are also part of that body of scripture referred to as wisdom literature, which means they reflect what God’s people have discovered about life by living it with God in mind. So, we should expect to find the psalms theologically correct, even though they are not theological teaching. Because the psalms are inspired scripture, we should expect them to agree with the theology taught elsewhere in scripture, since the shared inspiration is from the same Holy Spirit.

With those concepts in mind, I invite you to read Psalm 39 with me. Reading this text with its original context in mind will help us to feel what the author felt. Along the way, we might also find reason to question a popular theological concept or two. I am convinced that both the emotion and the theology of this psalm speaks against the popular and pagan notion that human beings are born with immortality. If you happen to agree with that notion – and even consider it biblical – I urge you to look carefully at this text.

I also think this psalm speaks to the concept that some have that God wants them to right every wrong they will face. It tells the story of a godly man who went wrong by taking charge when God wanted him to “sit this one out.” It speaks to the need for all of us to keep who we are in perspective – compared to who God is.

1 TO THE CHOIRMASTER: TO JEDUTHUN. A PSALM OF DAVID.

I said, “I will guard my ways,

that I may not sin with my tongue;

I will guard my mouth with a muzzle,

so long as the wicked are in my presence.”

These are the words of a believer who sees a particular injustice, and is tempted to respond to it. Yet he (the subscription says he is David) determines to keep silent. He apparently feels that if he complains about this injustice, the wicked who are in his presence might use that complaint against him. So, he applies a muzzle to his mouth. He is conflicted. He wants to talk, yet he knows he should not. The reader is asked to imagine him strapping a muzzle onto his mouth to prevent himself from speaking. If he speaks, he runs the risk of sinning with his tongue.

I dare say that if you and I were to start listing all the things about life down here on this planet that are injustices, our list would be huge. Yet, resisting the urge to be constant complainers, we have learned the skill of muzzling ourselves too. It is true that there are lots of things wrong with this world. Paul describes this present creation as in bondage to corruption, subject to futility, and eagerly longing for future freedom.[1] David saw the results of that bondage to corruption in his own life and family. Yet, he decided not to lash out at the Creator because of the brokenness and disfunctionality he saw in creation. It was a wise choice.

2 I was mute and silent;

I held my peace to no avail,

and my distress grew worse.

Yet, the wise choice to keep silent in the face of injustice does not lead David to immediate harmony. He holds his peace, yet does not experience peace. Instead, the knowledge that things are not right in the world around him leads to distress and turmoil within him. His Creator has given him a conscience, and that conscience will not leave him alone.

Some philosophers claim that the problem is in our view of the world. They claim that if we only looked beyond the apparent disharmony and pain in the world and within ourselves we would see a greater harmony and economy at work – which would grant inner peace and joy. Do not believe it. The world around us is really broken, and it needs to be fixed. If you look deep inside yourself and get in touch with your inner child, you will find that she is a spoiled brat.

The Bible does not invite us to rewrite our experiences. It challenges us not to embrace the evil around us and call it good. Instead, it encourages us to look clearly at all that is wrong with our environment, and run to our creator for answers. Yet, it also warns us that we will not find all the answers now. We will have to learn to be content with a relationship with the one who has the solution to the problems we find. As long as we focus on the problems instead of He who is the solution, our knowledge of what is wrong will only be an ever-increasing burden. We will suffer in silence, and our distress will grow worse.

3 My heart became hot within me.

As I mused, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue:

David confesses that his wise choice to remain silent did not give him the solution he was looking for. The pain he was holding back was a flame burning in his heart. It grew larger and larger, until he gave in and let his mouth explode.

And that is it. that is the end of what David was worrying about. He confesses that he made a wrong choice and bleated out his complaint, and then the narrative ends. We are never told the exact nature of the complaint, or whether David’s emotional outburst accomplished anything. The reason is simple. This is not a psalm about David’s problem – whatever it was. This is a psalm about David’s relationship with the LORD.

4 “O LORD, make me know my end

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting I am!

David confesses that he had been guilty of taking the world upon his shoulders, and in the process of doing so he discovered that the world did not fit on his shoulders. He saw the truth, and he could not handle the truth. That is why, after he lashed out in anger at a fallen world, he addresses his LORD. For a short while, he had been tempted to think that he was going to settle something. But, after coming to his senses, he recognizes that settling that problem is not his job. There is one who will outlast him. He, the LORD, is the judge.

Every few years, most nations on this planet hold elections, and we desperately try to convince ourselves that an elected executive is what we need to solve our problems. Then reality sets in, and we spend another few years complaining about how the person we voted for (or against) has let us down. The reality is that even someone as great as king David is incapable of solving the problems that really matter. David recognized this. That is why he asked the LORD to remind him of his end – the measure of his days – how fleeting he is. David needed to be reminded that God was immortal, and he was not.

Yes, you read that right. The LORD’s life would go on and on, but David’s life would come to an end. Here is a theological concept which is mirrored elsewhere in scripture. Paul says that God alone has immortality.[2] Jesus says that we mortals should fear God because he is able to destroy human beings entirely (body and soul) in hell.[3] But Solomon says that we humans pass the few days of our vain lives like a shadow.[4]

David took solace in that theological reality. He finally saw that his was not the responsibility to correct all the world’s problems. That is what he has a Creator for. His responsibility was to stay focused on his relationship with the LORD – that Creator. By admitting his own mortality, David found the solution to his personal turmoil. The justice he was seeking would not come from his own hands. It was in the hands of his immortal LORD.

5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,

and my lifetime is as nothing before you.

Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

Nowadays (as far as I know) we do not use handbreadths to measure anything but horses. The idea, however, is still quite clear. Our days are numbered. They are few, and the older we get, they seem too few. Even if we do have the joy to experience a few days with our grandchildren, we do so with the bittersweet knowledge that we will probably not know them all their lives.

David asks us to look at our lives from God’s perspective. To him, even a lifetime that we might consider long is nothing – as a mere breath. Breathe in, breath out, that is it. That is a human life from God’s perspective.

Centuries later, some human philosophers will get together and say that it is not so. They will posit the most ridiculous anthropological concept ever imagined. They will suggest that human beings live just as long as God does – for eternity. Strangely enough, many in the world will believe them. The concept of the immortality of the soul will be born.

But David is having none of that silliness. He honors God by admitting that he alone is immortal. He shares that characteristic with no one – at least not yet.[5] David’s point is that since God will outlast his problem, it is God he should have turned to with the problem, instead of trying to solve it himself.

6 Surely a man goes about as a shadow!

Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;

man heaps up wealth

and does not know who will gather!

Having reflected on the nature of God, now David stops and takes a good look at the rest of humanity. He sees how humanity as a species is guilty of the same kind of blunder that he had fallen into. Like David, the human race is seeking to build a heritage that they are destined to leave to others. Like David, they worry themselves all their lives to heap up a treasury that they will not be able to enjoy. Their shadow will pass, and someone else will gather in the wealth.

David had become one of the richest men of his time, but he also learned to realize how insignificant it is to be rich. Wealth for many becomes a bondage, and a thing that one must struggle for the rest of his life to maintain. The rat race never ends – until life ends. When it does end, all that stuff that the wealthy has accumulated is just stuff. David was a rich man who developed the heart of a Lazarus. He had riches, but they had ceased to have him.

7 “And now, O Lord,

for what do I wait?

My hope is in you.

So, David had come to see that his personal struggle for justice was a means that the LORD used to bring him back to himself. The key and solution to all the things that we strive for is found in God himself. Many have troubles, but do not turn to God. David had troubles, and they forced him to see God for who he is. The LORD is the treasure we all seek. Most of us just do not know it. He is the One we are waiting for. He is our hope.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.

Do not make me the scorn of the fool!

Having seen his relationship with God as the most important pursuit there is, David now reflects again on that original pursuit of justice. Many a human being has been destroyed by seeking justice instead of seeking the Just One. David confesses that his attempt to take matters into his own hands only led him to ridicule. He confesses the attempt as what it was – a transgression.

But, why did he see it so? Was he not seeking to right a wrong? Yes, but he came to learn that while God commands us to right as many wrongs as we can, the attempt should never cause us to put ourselves in God’s place. The prophet Isaiah encourages God’s people to “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”[6] But it was this same prophet who, after seeing the LORD in a vision, declared “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”[7] The LORD is the eternal source of all justice, redemption and restoration.

9 I am mute;

I do not open my mouth,

for it is you who have done it.

What the LORD had done was rebuke David for his attempt at usurping the throne of heaven. Even God’s king is still a mortal man with no business taking God’s place. So the one who could not help but scream out against injustice in verse three is struck dumb in verse nine. He is finally forced to admit that the resolution of the problem will come from God’s action, not his.

10 Remove your stroke from me;

I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

David had lived his life as a “hands on” kind of person. If there was a bear or a lion endangering his father’s flocks, David would take care of it. If there was a noisy Philistine threatening his brothers and embarrassing his king, David would get his sling. There is a time for “hands on” in the Christian life, but all of us must learn to let God be God. That calls for some times of “hands off.” David’s ordeal led to his being disciplined by the LORD so that he could take his hands off and let the sovereign God be sovereign in this situation.

His loving Shepherd LORD was making him to lie down in green pastures.[8] The Israelis use the same Hebrew word today for a knockout in a boxing match. Sometimes a gentle shepherd has to be a little more than gentle. Sometimes our loving God has to push us down with a hostile hand.

11 When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin,

you consume like a moth what is dear to him;

surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

The LORD laid his heavy hand of discipline upon his servant, David. It consumed what was dear to him like a moth consumes a cloth. It reminded him of his own temporary nature. It caused him to contemplate the mortality of all mankind. He stopped to think about what he had experienced, and it gave him perspective.

12 “Hear my prayer, O LORD,

and give ear to my cry;

hold not your peace at my tears!

For I am a sojourner with you,

a guest, like all my fathers.

Once more, David speaks out. But this time he is speaking out to the right party. He addresses his complaint to the right department. He sees himself not like a dominant king, but as a dependent sojourner. He is not the master of the house, but a guest, dependent upon the master’s hospitality. He does not pronounce judgment like a “hands on” person. He prays. He cries out for God to hear. He cries tears for God to see.

13 Look away from me,

that I may smile again,

before I depart and am no more!”

Does it seem odd for a psalm to end this way? Should there not be a resolution of the original problem? Was there another ending to this psalm that has been lost due to time or a copyist error? No, this is the end of the psalm. The reason the original complaint was not resolved is that resolving our problems is not the most urgent thing for God to do. The most important thing is not that God solve my temporary problems. The most important thing is that he restore my relationship with him.

So, David prays for God to “look away” from him. He wants God to ease up on that hand of discipline upon him, so that he can “smile again.” Once again, he admits that God is immortal, and he is not. Too soon David will “depart” and be “no more.” David asks for his final days to be spent in joy and happiness. He wants to have learned from his mistakes, but he does not want his mistakes to define him.

He seems to have also learned his lesson about being “hands on.” He is willing to let God handle the big stuff in his life. That original problem – the one that vexed him so much earlier – is not even mentioned again. He seems comfortable letting God be God. That is a lesson we all need to learn.

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[1] Romans 8:19-21.

[2] 1 Timothy 6:16.

[3] Matthew 10:28.

[4] Ecclesiastes 6:12.

[5] The New Testament reveals that Christ brought immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10). Believers can be raised to life immortal, and this will happen at Christ’s return (Romans 6:5;1 Corinthians 15:42; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This immortality is not innate (we are not born with it), but is a gift from God’s grace (Romans 6:23).

[6] Isaiah 1:17.

[7] Isaiah 6:5.

[8] Psalm 23:2.