Ecclesiastes 12:14

C. MAN IS ADMONISHED TO WORK IN HARMONYWITH GOD BECAUSE GOD WILL BRING EVERY WORK INTO JUDGMENT. Ecclesiastes 12:14

TEXT 12:14

14

Because God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 12:14

425.

Is the judgment eternal judgment or judgment which takes place in this world? Explain and discuss.

426.

What truth taught by Jesus in Matthew 10:26 is taught in this final verse?

427.

Who will judge the secrets of the heart? (Cf. Romans 2:16)

428.

How thorough will be the final judgment? (Cf. 1 Corinthians 4:5)

PARAPHRASE 12:14

I say that no man shall escape because God shall bring every deed into judgment whether the motive is good or evil.

COMMENT 12:14

Ecclesiastes 12:14 Appropriately the reader is drawn to God in this final sentence of the book. God is the Creator (Cf. Ecclesiastes 12:1; Ecclesiastes 7:13-14; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Ecclesiastes 8:15; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Ecclesiastes 12:7), the One worshipped (Cf. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2; Ecclesiastes 5:4; Ecclesiastes 5:6-7; Ecclesiastes 8:2), the One who permits man's enjoyment, (Cf. Ecclesiastes 9:7) the One who knows the end from the beginning (Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ecclesiastes 3:15), the One who has placed the desire to know in the heart of man (Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:10), the One who supplies food, and water, and gives His approval of labors (Cf. Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:13; Ecclesiastes 5:18-20), the One who works that men will fear Him (Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:14), the One who is the final judge of all men (Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Ecclesiastes 12:14), the One who proves that man is different from beasts (Cf. Ecclesiastes 3:18), the One who blesses the godly (Cf. Ecclesiastes 7:18), the One who delivers the godly from sin (Cf. Ecclesiastes 7:26), the One who is the author of the words of life (Cf. Ecclesiastes 12:11).

The fact that God will bring every act into judgment has been established. He had previously stated: I said to myself, -God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man, for a time for every matter and for every deed is there-' (Ecclesiastes 3:17). In Ecclesiastes 11:9 the emphasis of the judgment is on all these things. Nothing escapes the knowledge of God. The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth (2 Chronicles 16:9). (Cf. Zechariah 4:10; Matthew 12:36; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10) This final judgment will test the works of men to determine what is vanity and what endures (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

There is a sense in which present judgment takes place under the sun. (Cf. John 3:18-20; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 5:13) However, the judgment Solomon refers to must be the eternal judgment as no earthly judgment could include every man and every act.

FACT QUESTIONS 12:14

581.

Would a partial judgment of sins on this earth satisfy the demands of this verse? Explain.

EPILOGUE

This final word.
Much closer to our generation than Solomon, there stands a man who represents the same world. He caused laughter to flash across the faces of literally thousands. Yet, in a more serious moment he contemplated life apart from the fear of the Lord and his words are strikingly similar to those of the Preacher. On that occasion Mark Twain wrote:

A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other. Age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; those they love are taken from them. At length ambition is dead; pride is dead; longing for release is in their place. It comes at lastthe only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for themand they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence. Then another myriad takes their place, and copies all they did, and goes along the same profitless road, and vanishes as they vanishedto make room for another and another and a million more myriads to follow the same arid path through the same desert and accomplish what the first myriad and all the myriads that came after it accomplishednothing,

One bows in deep gratitude before the throne of Grace. Indeed the vacuum within man is Christ-shaped. When through faith and submission to His Lordship He floods into our lives, there is fulfillment and purpose. The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings. Let Jesus have the final word:

I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I CAME THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:7-11).