The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/ecclesiastes/9.htm

Evil spirits exist. I’m not talking about ghosts from dead people, I’m talking about evil spirits conjured up by Satan, his fallen angels. When Saul went to the seer, and she reportedly brought back the spirit of Samuel, it wasn’t Samuel, but rather one of Satan’s fallen angels imitating Samuel.

There is a story, reportedly true, where an elderly man had lost his wife. One day, very soon after her death, the doorbell rang, and when he answered the door, his deceased wife was standing there. You can imagine the shock he had to have felt. She asked, “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

Thankfully, this man was a Christian, a good Christian who was armed with the word of God. His first thought was to quote this chapter of Ecclesiastes, and he said, “The dead know nothing”. The figure immediately disappeared.

That is another reason to study your bible diligently. Satan knows the Bible better than you. He was once the star angel in Heaven, he knew God personally, he knew God’s word. Satan used scripture to try to tempt Jesus to sin, but Jesus used scripture right back at him, and won the battle with temptation. This elderly gentleman, while it was probably impromptu, said the right thing at the right time.

Oh, and by the way, these spirits are around us all day and everyday, we just can’t see them. If you see one, a real one, it is likely you are getting so close to God that Satan has resorted to using tools like this to draw you away.

Now, that is not what this chapter is about, but that verse reminded me of the story.

Once again, Solomon is telling us that everything we do is in vain, and it doesn’t matter who you are, all of our lives end in death. If you’re a productive member of society, you will live your life, then die. If you are a freeloading who chooses to live off of government stipends, you too will live your life, then die. If you’re rich, you’ll live and die, if you’re poor, you’ll live and die. I can be the best citizen, the most faithful servant of God, productive in all that I do, and I will die the same as my brother who is crooked, who ignores God, and who lives off of someone else’s blood, sweat, and tears.

But here’s the deal. If you’re productive, good, love your fellow man, and be faithful to God, your reward will come at the end. In the end we will all be resurrected from the grave, the righteous to an eternal life with God, the wicked to die once again.

I keep hearing we are not saved by works, but we certainly can be lost by them. So always do good works. As Solomon says, do the best in all that you do.

We’ll talk about resurrection later, but it it still a good time to talk about it. Most think that once you die, you either go straight to Heaven or straight to hell. That is not the case; when you die, you simply sleep in your grave, waiting on the Second Coming of Christ.

And again, you fall asleep at night, and awake six, seven, or eight hours later. You don’t remember the exact time you fell asleep, and when you awake, it seems as though only a minute has passed. It is the same for death. We lose consciousness, lose our conscious thought, and for many, they don’t know the exact moment they die. And when they awake for the resurrection, it will seem as if a minute has passed. And that may seem as though they died and went to Heaven. And again, there is no hell, but the wicked won’t know that because the wicked won’t be resurrected until after the New Jerusalem is built and descends from Heaven.

Non-believers think it is a waste of time to worship and be obedient to a God that doesn’t exist. But it is truly a waste if you spend your life in wickedness, then realize in the end that God is real and that you’ve missed the boat.

I know I ramble, I’m just about done. Once again, I don’t believe that God kills the wicked in the end. I believe that because we’ve distanced ourself from God, we are not able to withstand His Glory and that is how the wicked will perish.

But more on that later.

God has created you for a purpose…make the best of it. Even if it is all in vain during our short time on this planet, the end reward will not be in vain.