In this episode, we delve into the profound teachings of Ecclesiastes Chapter 9, exploring the universal certainty of death and its implications for how we live our lives. Bible teacher David Hawking explores the sobering reality that regardless of one’s righteousness, wealth, or status, everyone faces the same inevitable end. This powerful message invites listeners to consider what truly matters in life and the importance of living with intention and purpose.
death is a sweet release to the Christian Paul said to die is gain because you are with Christ and it’s far better the trouble is it’s more needful for some of us to remain in the flesh for at least a day more that we might accomplish the purposes for which God has placed us here some people like to say this is the first day of the rest of your life but it also may be the last day And we need to have proper evaluation, proper understanding. We need to understand what is the fact of death itself teaching us.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher and author David Hawking. Welcome to a new week of Bible study on the program as we continue our series in Ecclesiastes. And you know, Ecclesiastes does not soften the message or pad the truth. It strips away the religious noise and says what life really feels like. The righteous and the wicked, the clean and the unclean are all moving toward the same appointment. And no one knows when their day will come. In Ecclesiastes 9, 1 through 12, God confronts our illusions of control and reminds us that time and events overtake us all. Today, David Hawking begins a message called One Event for All. If that title makes us a little uncomfortable, well, it’s supposed to. This passage forces a sobering evaluation of how we live, what we trust, and what actually matters while we still have breath. Our lesson time begins in just a moment. Stay tuned for that. First, I want to quickly tell you about a special resource we put together around Ecclesiastes. In this radio series and in his book, Is Life Worth Living?, David Hawking walks us through Solomon’s divinely inspired reflections on real life as God intends it. Life as it really is and life as it can be. When it is rightly related to him. Well, right now we’re offering an exceptional value package, a value bundle that includes David’s book, Is Life Worth Living? With a complete collection of messages from our current Ecclesiastes radio series. And of course, that includes what you’re going to hear today. The entire study, saved and secured, so you can return to it for years to come. Again, this is the Is Life Worth Living package, and it’s available for just $40. You can order today by calling us at 875-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible, of course, is 24253. You can also order online at DavidHawking.org. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 03 :
Ecclesiastes chapter 9, please. In your Bibles, we’re looking at the first 12 verses. One event for all. And that’s the subject of death. And what do we learn from it? It’s not something to run away from or to ignore. It’s the inevitable fact of human life. You know that. We must one day die. The annual deaths in the world are running the last few years about 60 million, making about two people dying every second. If you like to contrast that with the birth rate, the birth rate’s running between 100 and 115 million, so about three are born every second and two are dying every second. The greatest number of deaths, by the way, occurs before a person hits their first birthday. Imagine that. Death is a real factor when you consider that Families are deeply affected as the number one year, the number one time in which death occurs is up until one year old. As a matter of fact, there are more deaths under one year old than occur in all the age brackets combined from one to 55. After that, it gets a little heavy also. So if you’re over 55, I wouldn’t get too cocky if I were you. If you’re 77 and above, you are living longer than you have ever lived in your history. If you could just make it till then. But death happens to many, many people. In fact, death is becoming a serious problem in terms of mortuaries and funeral homes and burial places. In Brazil, recently, a fantastic architectural… A plan has been drawn. In fact, construction’s already begun. A 39-story skyscraper cemetery currently is housing 21,000 tombs and eventually will house 147,000 tombs with two churches, 21 chapels, and beautiful background music 24 hours a day for those who are there who do not hear it, of course. That’s a fact that a lot of Americans don’t want to face. There’s no doubt about that, and especially when we lose a close loved one. Tennyson, the great poet, when he lost his very dear friend Arthur Henry Hallam, wrote in his poem, Break, Break, Break, these words as he was meditating on the seashore. He said, Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a voice that is now still. Just before his death, Gandhi wrote, My days are numbered. I am not likely to live very long, perhaps a year or a little more. For the first time in my 50 years, I find myself in the slough of despondency. All about me is darkness and I’m praying for light. Fifteen years before that, he said he was totally satisfied with Hinduism and didn’t have a concern in the world. But 15 years later, as he faced death and knew the inevitable fact was he was going to die soon, he found himself in deep depression and despondency, and all about him was nothing but darkness and no light. Death is the great equalizer. The Bible tells us that death is the last enemy that will be destroyed, 1 Corinthians 15, 26. Hebrews 9, 27 says it’s appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment. And Romans 5.12 tells us it was by one man, Adam, that death entered the human race. One man’s sin. And that death spread to all men. Romans 6.23 reminds us that the wages of our sin is death. Hebrews 2.14 tells us the devil had the power of death until Jesus Christ died and rendered his power ineffectual, thus releasing those, the Scripture says, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 2 Timothy 1.10 tells us that Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And Revelation 21.4 reminds us that one day… There will be no more death. Solomon, I believe, evaluates our lives on earth in the light of the inevitable fact that we must die. It’s the one thing we don’t want to face, and yet it’s that which the wisest of the ancient monarchs brings before us and says, it will teach you. It will tell you how to live. Death itself. The inevitable fact that we must die is going to guide us and teach us and help us to understand how to live. Let’s come to chapter 9, verse 1. He writes, This is an evil in all that is done unto the Son, that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But for him who is joined to all the living, there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil. Live joyfully with a wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity. For that is your portion in life and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. For man also does not know his time, like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. So what does death teach us? What do we learn? Many, many things could be said about death. I think I’d like to preface my remarks by telling you that to Christians, death is a blessing. I know it sounds weird, but it’s true. The Bible says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, Psalm 116, 15. Christians don’t sorrow like those who have no hope, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them that sleep in Jesus or who are dead will God bring with him. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet them in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 to 18. Death is a sweet release to the Christian. Paul said to die is gain because you are with Christ, and it’s far better. The trouble is it’s more needful for some of us to remain in the flesh for at least a day more. That we might accomplish the purposes for which God has placed us here. And that many times we don’t know and we don’t understand. So we live each day in the light of the fact that one day we are going to die. We must live each day as though this were our last. Some people like to say this is the first day of the rest of your life, but it also may be the last day. And we need to have proper evaluation, proper understanding. We need to understand what is the fact of death itself teaching us. What does it really teach us? And I’d like to give you four facts from this passage. Number one, death itself establishes the fact of God’s control over you and our accountability to him. Death establishes the fact of God’s control over us. There’s one thing that we cannot change. And that is that if we live long enough and the Lord delays his coming, because those who are alive at the coming of the Lord have a different situation, but the Lord delays his coming, we are all going to die. And at that moment we die. We are demonstrating, or at least understanding, the control of God over every person, no matter whether they are righteous or wicked, believer or not. You can argue all day long about your belief and confidence in God, but at the moment of your death, you’ll understand in that moment that God is in absolute control. Death establishes the fact of God’s control and our accountability to him. And that’s what we really learn in the first three verses of chapter 9. And really, I’d like to say three things about that. One is that death reminds us, the believer in particular, of our dependency upon God, that we’re in his hands. It’s a positive fact, not a negative. Underneath us are the everlasting arms. The eternal God is our refuge, Deuteronomy 33, 27. We’re in the hands of God. Moses, in that great address in Deuteronomy 33, from which I just quoted, said in verse 3, he loves the people and all his saints are in his hand. Praise the Lord. What security. Isaiah 62, 3 says, you shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. Hey, to a Christian, that’s a tremendous truth. Death reminds us of our dependency on God. Verse 1 says, I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. And we say, praise God. Death simply reminds us that we are totally dependent on the Lord. We’re in his hands. Jesus said in John 10 that my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And he said, no one is able to snatch them out of my hand. And my father is greater than I. No one can snatch them out of his hand. Every now and then somebody tells me, but maybe you could jump out of his hand. You know, that is so silly. I mean, how big do you think the hand of God is? The whole universe and all the galaxies are in his hands. Where are you going to jump? You aren’t going maybe from knuckle to knuckle, but that’s about it. You’re not going anywhere. You’re in the hands of God. And there’s absolutely sweet peace and security. So when a believer dies, hey, he’s with the Lord. Praise God. That’s where we’re headed anyway. And being with the Lord is so much better. There’s joy there. There’s no sorrow, no tears, no crying, no death, no more. They’re at perfect peace. The people we ought to be crying for are those of us who’ve got to stay down in this crummy world and somehow go to work tomorrow. We ought to be crying for ourselves, the Bible teaches. Don’t cry over those who are asleep in Jesus. They’re just fine. They’re with the Lord. Praise God. One death for all establishes the fact of God’s control and our accountability to him. But to the believer, death simply reminds us of our dependency on God. We’re in the hands of the Lord. You know, you’re… I believe your whole system is shaken up quite a bit when you face the fact of your own death. And some of you that I’m talking to now have experienced this. You had a heart attack and you came real close. You had a terrible accident and you almost got it. Something happened to you and you realize that you’re in the hands of God. As I was thinking about this… I was reminded of a fact many years ago as I was going on a freeway and had a blowout on the left front tire and slammed into the pillars that hold those streets up over the freeways. It literally ripped my car in half, tore off all the fenders and all the tires. There was a giant hole there and the car continued across the divide into the rush hour traffic. And in that moment, And only those of you who have experienced this along with me can understand. But in that moment, I said, this is it. Well, I hope you’re ready in that moment, because, man, there’s no time to think. And here I’m going across, and I’ve already been banged pretty bad by the hit of those pillars. There’s a wide hole. My door, everything was torn off. And I didn’t know what to do, but I leaped out of that hole into the traffic in the rush hour on the freeway. My car was literally smashed up into a little ball. And the guy that was in my lane where I landed, he stopped with his tire about an inch from my head. As I laid there on that road, and I was already bruised and beaten up pretty bad, but I looked up at that car, mangled. And if I’d have stayed in that car, I’d have been home to be with the Lord. And you reflect back on times like that. You say, hey, you’re in the hands of God. I’m still here. And there have been times like that. Have there been times for you like that? Scuba diving in Scroon Lake, New York. I was down 25 feet below the surface and my tank ran out of air. 100 yards from shore. I still don’t know to this day how I got to the shore. All I remember is waking up and a whole bunch of people had dragged me somehow out of that lake and I was still alive, throwing up water and trying to survive. And I look at this, we’re in the hands of God. I remember as a parent, one of our children fell into a pool. We didn’t even know it. Everybody’s talking all around and everything. And somebody said, what’s that thing in the pool? And I realized it was my kid. I dove in that pool, man. I mean, I hustled into that pool. Got that kid out, pumped him out, all the water, and God gave him back again. We’re in the hands of God. Do you know that? You’ve been in an accident lately. I don’t want to bring up any grief to you, but have you? And you’re still here? Well, it’s a miracle that some of us are still here in the light of what goes on our highways every day. It’s a miracle we escape what’s going on. I was just talking with a fellow that’s just moved here from Montana. You know, he hasn’t got his act together yet. He told me he’s not going out on those things anymore. You know, and there’s some fear in his eyes when he tells it to you. And I look at this whole thing. A lot of us are pretty cocky. Every day we get out on those things, we think, hey, everything’s okay. Let me tell you something. We’re in the hands of God. And death establishes the fact of God’s control and our accountability to him. But secondly, in verse 2, death reinforces the truth that God’s no respecter of persons. We better understand that too. If God’s given you some days to live that seem to be to you a miracle of his grace in the light of something that’s happened in the past, boy, you better thank him, but you also better be careful. God’s no respecter of persons. The same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, says verse 2. The Bible says there’s no partiality with God, Romans 2.11. The third thing I learned in verse 3 is that death reveals that we cannot escape God’s judgment for our sin. You may want to, but you can’t. And death teaches you that you cannot escape. In verse 3, it says this is an evil. One thing happens to all. Truly, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. We think we can sin and get away with it. Madness even is in our hearts. We’re going crazy while we’re living, thinking we can live it up and never pay the consequence. Yet the Bible says after that, they go to the dead. Death reveals that we cannot escape God’s judgment for our sin. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, says Jeremiah 17.9. Genesis 6.5 says the heart of man was continually wicked. Every intent, every motive of his heart was evil before God. There’s a sense in which death, when you really understand it’s facing you, has a way of cleaning up your act. of forcing you to realize that we are dependent upon God and we are accountable to God. And the day death happens for you, at that moment, you stand before God. And every one of us, the Bible says, shall give account of himself to God. That’s a consistent message in Ecclesiastes. Therefore, the sum of the book is to fear God and keep his commandments.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. He’ll be back shortly to close out our lesson time, so stay tuned for that. First though, Matt’s here, Matt Hawking, and together we’re going to tell you a little bit more about a great study package that I mentioned at the start of today’s broadcast. And Matt, this is an excellent package.
SPEAKER 01 :
Ecclesiastes is one of the most profound and needed messages for our culture today. It is written by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon. The preacher.
SPEAKER 02 :
And his divinely inspired writing in the biblical text is a reflection on all that life offers, which is vanity without a relationship to God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, Solomon had it all. He had fame, wealth, wisdom, pleasures in abundance. But he grew to be utterly… Yeah, the accumulation of it all did not bring him happiness or peace. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon, which is money, from Matthew 6.24. Again, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
In our Ecclesiastes radio series and in his book, Is Life Worth Living?, David Hawking will show you Solomon’s divinely inspired reflections on these matters, all of life as God intends.
SPEAKER 01 :
And if your life is rightly related to him, it will be abundantly worth living. And right now we have an excellent value package for you that combines my dad’s book on Ecclesiastes titled, Is Life Worth Living? Plus the complete collections of David’s messages in our current Ecclesiastes radio series. With this package, listeners will have the book and the complete series saved and secured on audio for years to come.
SPEAKER 02 :
Order the Is Life Worth Living package. How much is it, Matt?
SPEAKER 1 :
$40.
SPEAKER 02 :
$40. You can order by phone or online today. That’s David’s book, Is Life Worth Living, plus every message from our current Ecclesiastes series on audio. And the complete package, bundle, if you will… is just $40. If you’d like to go even deeper into the Ecclesiastes study, we have David’s original sermon notes, and these are excellent for following along with David as you hear the message. The whole package of sermon notes, just $10, and you can receive a print version by calling us at 875-BIBLE- 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible, again, is 24253. Now, if you’d like to get it right away, you can make the purchase on our website and download it. The website, again, davidhawking.org. If God has used this broadcast in your life, would you prayerfully consider sending in your gift today? You can write us at Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, that’s T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. In Canada, write to us at Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7Oaks, Abbotsford, Abbotsford is A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D, Now here’s David with his closing comments from God’s Word. Well, if there ever was a passage in Ecclesiastes that really says it all for every one of us, it’s this one.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, once again, we’re going to divide chapter 9 up as the way it is naturally divided. There’s a break after verse 12, and then there’s another discussion beginning at verse 13. So we’re trying to follow more of those paragraph breaks. But in Ecclesiastes 9, 1 to 12, we’re talking about one event for all. And you say, well, what’s that? Well, it’s your death. Doesn’t matter whether you’re important or whether you got a lot of money or you’re broken homeless. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you’re righteous or you’re wicked. We’re all going to die. And you better settle it while you’re living as to where you’re going to spend eternity. That is for sure. Solomon mentions that it’s an evil under the sun that guys forget there’s one event. We’re going to die one day. And we need to understand that. One of the interesting verses about both enjoying your life right now, as well as understanding that when you die, it’s over, is in verse 9. It says, “‘Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion in this life.'” Boy, that is a fascinating verse. And if I’m talking to a bunch of guys listening to the broadcast today, hey, stop complaining about your wife. Don’t tear her down. Instead, build her up. Live joyfully with that woman. She’s not going to please you every day, and you’re no charm either. You’re not that trophy of God’s grace. Sometimes she sees you as the turkey that you are. And the fact of the matter is, we need to have the joy of the Lord in our hearts. Rejoice in the Lord always, the Bible says. And again, I say, rejoice.
SPEAKER 02 :
God bless you. Well, thank you, David. Tomorrow, Solomon continues stripping away the illusions and drives us even further to what matters most. Join us for day two of One Event for All, right here on Hope for Today.
