Rise Again

DEVOTION

ECCLESIASTES

RISE AGAIN

Eccl 3:15-22

15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.   16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment — wickedness was there, in the place of justice — wickedness was there.

17 I thought in my heart, "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed."

18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

NIV

It sounds a little confusing about what is already been what we will has been before and God calling the past to account. What is seems to be saying is the past, present and future are all connected and all under the control of God. Everyone is going to stand before God and be called to account for every deed. Now that presents us with a problem. What deeds are we going to be held accountable for? Both the wicked and the righteous will be there. So the wicked live their lives outside of Christ and we live our lives inside of Christ. So their sins are not forgiven, but ours are.

Luke 5:22-24

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . ."

NIV

1 John 2:12

12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

NIV

That fact is God will not judge the righteous for any sin. We will not have to give an account for everything we failed him, or failed to be perfect, yielding to some temptation. The fact is we will never be completely free of every sin, for we are still human and not divine. Some might think they do not sin, but then that is a sin for it is prideful and also lying or being deceitful. David was prophetic in his words which Paul echoed.

Rom 4:7-8

7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."  

NIV

It just does not get any planner than that. So then when we stand before God, we will all be judged by one deed. Did you trust Jesus, or not? Did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or not? God says that those who are in Jesus are considered righteous and therefor enter in. Those of you who rejected my Son, every sin is counted against you and therefore are cast into the lake of burning sulfur. We are either in or out, based on our deed. This saying of Solomon about man and animal having the same fate regarding all having breathe and all having the same fate is another somewhat confusing thought. Solomon is not sure if the spirit of man rises after death. Again, he is looking at life from the human perspective. The meaningless of life is that is all there is, man and animal all being on the same level. No Spirit to live on forever. Death is the end of life and back to the dust to go, never to ever know we ever were. But then why would we all be standing before God to be judged? Solomon is making the difference between seeing things in the spiritual realm and in the physical realm. The fact is our spirit does depart at the death of the body. We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

2 Cor 5:6-10

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

NIV

There is it again, we will live after death and be in the presence of the Lord and be judged if we did the good, accepting Jesus, or the bad, rejecting Jesus. So we will rise again. We are not like the animals, we are man, created in the image of God, an eternal being, and because we are in Christ we too will be eternal beings living in the kingdom of God for ever and ever. We are the righteous who live by faith. That “live” is not just in this life, but is “live forever”. We may go to the dust, but we will rise again.