There is the Presence of Mortality
Eccl 3: 18-21
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?"
As Solomon continues to look around there is another evil which affects every one of us. It is the evil of death. There is the futile observation no matter how hard you work, how much you gain, how much you are loved or despised, all die. From the viewpoint of this world, mortality is our fate. In that sense man is nothing different than the animals.
If the passage didn’t mention God this could have been a current article by some of our leading scientists who promote the Darwinian philosophy. Animal rights people can argue we should treat mankind and all animals exactly the same. Atheists have this despairing conclusion that we are only animals and when we are dead, we are dead. That is the conclusion of the natural evolutionist. Man is a life like any other life on this earth whether it be an amoeba or bird or turtle, or chimpanzee, or a human- we evolved within the animal kingdom and are a more complex animal.
Abortion and euthanasia rise when the sacredness of human life is no different than any other animal. Nazis would reduce human life to something subhuman for those who were Jewish or retarded, old or infirmed. Six million people were exterminated. So what?
But Scripture has a different view. All mankind has the image of God imprinted upon them and most importantly have an eternal soul. The reason the early slavery masters and traders could misuse the Negro race was they convinced the white race that black people were really animals and without a soul. Many animals were better treated. Life was cheap.
Solomon observes, even with believing in God, we are still mortal. All our earthly accomplishments will be done. You cannot prepare for eternity once you are dead.
People don’t think it is fair when a young person dies. They don’t think it is fair when a loved one dies. They don’t think it is fair when a popular celebrity dies. What some people think as fair is only when an evil person dies, but the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death”. I guess I qualify.
This evil of mortality is the curse laid upon all mankind. Paul writes, even for the Christian, “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” 1 Cor 15:16-19.
If this life is all there is, then indeed mortality and futility results. There is more to come because of Jesus’ resurrection. Are you prepared?
