Ecclesiastes 12:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ecclesiastes 12:7

Comments

Then God’s work by which man’s life was created in the first place will go into reverse: he was made from the dust of the earth and his body will return back to dust again, indistinguishable from the rest of the dirt under our feet. By a creative act of the Lord something so impossible for us to do was in fact done and life came into existence. Inanimate dust became a living body and that living body housed a conscious soul, for God breathed into it and created a spirit to inhabit that earthen vessel. In spite of the lowly materials from which man was made, he had the potential for eternal life, both in body and soul. But the ingratitude of sin has deprived him of this enormous treasure of life and now God who sustains life has determined to withdraw his preserving power and allow man to revert to what he was before – that which we count as the least of all things – in order that the pride of man may be humbled. Sin brought about a terrible change and the sentence was pronounced on man (Bridges) ‘For dust you are and to dust you shall return’. Consequently, we bury in the earth as a corruptible thing that body which we once loved, for now we are compelled to remove it from our presence. So distasteful has it become that it must be put out of sight. This disgust at the decaying body is so strong that it overcomes even the love that husband and wife have for each other during life.Then the spirit will return to God who gave it. Failure to appreciate the fact that life is a gift and failure to give God thanks for it, failure to obey our Creator and to recognise his Lordship, mean that the incomparable gift that we have received will be taken away again. The spirit which God breathed into us will be removed and we will be left without life. To say that the spirit returns to God is not to say that it the spirits of all men and women go to heaven and to glory. The spirits return to God because ‘the Lord weighs the spirits’ and he will ‘judge the living and the dead’. Some will be sent to everlasting punishment and some to everlasting life, but this is not in view here.

Application

If after a lifetime of effort and striving man without God has achieved nothing of lasting value, gained nothing that he can keep, then why did he strive so hard throughout life? Everything that he has freely received from God will be taken away again; even his body is reduced back to dust. He observes this process of decay in those he loves most and can do nothing to stop it. Some civilisations have learned how to embalm and slow down the decay process, but they can never restore life, however much they would like to. You cannot retain your spirit, and you cannot prevent the humiliation of your body in death. Why will you not come to God to receive what he has promised to give all who ask? Why when you have no power to retain the most precious things of all, do you reject God’s free gift of life?

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Ecclesiastes 12:7 Commentary and Bible Study