Ecclesiastes 12:14 Commentary and Bible Study

Here is the reason why we should fear God and it is a reason that shows in what sense we are to fear him: he will bring every single work into judgment. The fear of God will begin by causing us to fear his judgment, to realise that we are under his condemnation, and to long for forgiveness. When it begins to assert an influence over us, it will change our attitude to those sins which we used to commit so easily, and now conscience will start to operate and everything that we do will be subjected to its scrutiny. Where we excused ourselves before, we will now condemn ourselves and we will hunger to be free from its stain and its power.Secret sins are of particular concern. When the devil wishes to reassert his influence over us, he begins with secret sins. He finds it easier to persuade us to try these because we imagine that if they are secret, we will not have to face the disapproval of men and women and so will still preserve a domain where we are respected. Paul tells us, ‘Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after’ (1 Timothy 5:24). We should be more terrified about the approach of secret sin because it lead to hypocrisy as well as a deterioration of the inner man. But decay that starts in the middle of an apple, where the worm that has got into the core, is sure to come out in the end. It is here that the battle rages at its hottest, and it is here that we must have the victory. If we are defeated here then the maintaining of the rest of the Christian life is a charade. Let me remember then that God will bring every secret thing into judgment. Consider the shame of having earned a reputation for integrity only to have an inner core of deception and uncleanness exposed to the world. Every secret thing will be brought to light for Christ has said, ‘Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops’ (Luke 12:3). This will take place ‘in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ’ (Romans 2:16).By contrast there are those secret things which God is pleased with; there are those acts of charity done in secret not to win the praise of men but of God which he will reward openly (Matthew 6:4). Because they were done in secret, the doer excluded the possibility that he was simply putting on an act before men and he ensured that he built integrity in his heart where God alone can see.We live with the Day of Judgment before us and we remember that the night time of this world is only temporary and that everything that is hidden in this world will be brought to light.And so Solomon ends what is a unique book within the word of God and a book that ought to be used much today by preachers for it is perfectly suited to the task of persuading a secular and materialistic people, who live only for what they can see, to remember their Creator and to come to Christ for salvation. Christ can restore the soul. Christ’s love is our only hope, but we must repent sincerely before him. All the Lord’s sympathy is here in this book.