1st February 2024

1st February 2024


Pray (ACts)


Read (Ecclesiastes 3v18-22)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


One day Solomon got to thinking and he wondered if the Lord was testing humanity to see if they would ever realise they were just like the animals (v18). This isn't to say that humanity and the animals are the same. The dolphins were not made in God's image, the lions do not possess an immortal soul and Jesus didn't die for the birds. The precious blood of the Lamb was shed for the children of man.


Even so, humanity and the animals share in some common experiences. Just as humans die, animals die (v19). Just as humans are from the dust, so too are the animals and it is to the dust we all return (v20). But although both humans and animals walk inexorably towards death, that is where the similarity ends.


Solomon continued to wonder and asked "Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?” (v21). Some have taken this to be a direct question with Solomon throwing his hands in the air and claiming ignorance of humanity’s condition after death. I think a better understanding is to see this verse as a statement of humanity’s apathy towards matters of life and death. In effect, the Preacher is stating that no one knows or no one thinks about the fate of the soul.


This has been my common experience. I’ve met men and women who even on their death bed are not concerned about what comes next. The Gospel has been shared with them, prayers have been prayed but the individual has looked to death and said “who knows what comes next?”


The Christian knows. The beast dies and is no more but the human has been given an immortal soul which cannot die. That soul either goes upward to heaven or down into hell. This is what we call “the intermediate state” and the soul of every person who has ever lived will spend the time until Christ’s return in one place or another.   


I fully understand that there are countless issues demanding our attention. The dinner needs to be made, bills need to be paid and Netflix shows need to be watched. Even so, let me ask you a few questions. Do you understand that there is something after death? Do you know that your soul is heaven bound by faith in Christ or hell bound by sin? Do you know these things? You do now.


You are not a slightly cleverer animal, you are human and bear the image of your creator. Where will your soul wait for the return of Jesus? The one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q57 Which is the fourth commandment? The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.
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