Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to Ecclesiastes. We’ve been away for a few weeks now as Pastor Colin preached on Psalm 23 and then I preached out of 2 Corinthians for missions week. Like a healthy vacation, it was good to be away and it is good to be back.
As I’ve mentioned before and as I’ll certainly mention again, the thing I appreciate most about Ecclesiastes, and the thing I most commend to you, is its unflinching honesty about what life is like under the sun. If all there is to reality is what we can see, there is no more accurate description of mankind’s experience than Ecclesiastes.
This is the limited perspective that everyone is born with, it’s all that most of the people in your life have right now, and no one is ever entirely exempt from it in this life. The great gift of Ecclesiastes is that it not only perfectly describes the under-the-sun perspective of so many, but it also perfectly describes its empty end. If what we see is all there is, life is nothing but mystery, enigma, vanity. Things don’t really make sense and there’s nothing we can do about it. And because of that, real understanding, meaning and significance are impossible to find.
In other words, the gifts of Ecclesiastes are that (1) it reveals the inability of anything on earth to provide ultimate understanding, meaning, or satisfaction, (2) it saves us from wasting our time looking for those things in those places, and (3) it invites us to lift our gaze upward, above the sun, where they can be found.
As I said, it was good to be a way from Ecclesiastes for a time, but it’s great to be back as well.
Regarding our passage for this morning, the final verses of chapter 3 contain clear echoes of things the Preacher has already addressed (there is a time for everything, death, vanity, there is nothing better, etc.). At the same time, these few verses really do advance the Preacher’s arguments.
Much of Ecclesiastes is like that. The Preacher makes arguments and then continues to circle back to them even as he slowly builds upon them. It is almost like a stretched out slinky; always moving forward, but in one continuous spiral. While it can feel a bit repetitive, on an important practical level, that structure serves to drive his points deeper into our minds and hearts.
You might not be surprised, therefore, to learn that the heart of this passage is, in many ways, right at the heart of this book as a whole. The big idea here is that as the Preacher looked around, he saw injustice and vanity in that those on opposite ends of the moral spectrum (righteous and wicked) experienced the same outcome in their lives, even as those on opposite ends of the ontological spectrum (man and beast) experienced the same outcome in their deaths.
And from all of this we are given two main takeaways; one from the Preacher and one from the rest of God’s Word. From the Preacher we are charged, once again, to rejoice in our work. And from the rest of God’s Word, we are charged to look above the sun.
THE VANITY AND INJUSTICE OF THE SAME OUTCOME FOR OPPOSITES
To help us all understand and apply this passage, this sermon has three parts. First, we’ll consider the Preacher’s perspective on the vanity and injustice of the same outcome for opposites. Second, we’ll consider why this caused tension for the Preacher. And third, we’ll consider an above the sun response to under the sun injustices.
Injustice (16)
How would you define justice/injustice and how important is it to you?
Interestingly, God used the work of a non-Christian (Plato’s Republic), studied in a non-Christian context (the University of Minnesota), to help me see the importance of defining justice properly and how essential it is for a well-ordered society. That book in that class drove me to God’s Word since God is the authority on the matter.
Biblically, horizontal justice (justice among people) is giving to others that which God has requires of us.
This kind of justice is rooted in God’s very nature, is revealed in God’s Word, and it requires impartiality, advocating for the weak, and understanding that God will ensure perfect justice.
That is, God is just, God commands His people to be just and advocate for justice, and ultimate justice is only found inside of the godhead and the new heavens and earth. Therefore, there is only frustration for everyone living with a different understanding of justice than that—which seems to be largely what this passage is about.
Because God has put eternity into every person’s heart (3:11), and because eternity includes an innate longing for justice, being the victim of a perceived injustice is one of the worst feelings known to man. Even when we have a misguided understanding of justice or a misunderstanding of the facts, feeling as if we are being treated unjustly cuts deep. We feel this from the earliest days of our lives which is why one of the first laments many children utter is, “That’s not fair!”
No joke, I doubt I’ll ever forget the time my neighbor cheated me out of the Super Mario Bros championship we were in back in 1989ish. The injustice was so clear and egregious that I have been madder only a few times in my life. Of course, there have been far, far greater injustices perpetrated than that (even in my life), but that just proves my point that injustice cuts differently.
The Preacher experienced this continually. Consider the beginning of v.16.
16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.
His point here seems to be that even in places which claim to be built on principles of justice, places designed to ensure justice, wickedness exists.
In courts of law, for instance, the innocent are often convicted and the guilty are often exonerated because of various injustices—bribery, favoritism, laziness, partiality, incompetence, etc.
Likewise, even in places intended to house righteousness, there is wickedness.
In churches, for instance, children are abused, adultery happens, and pastors swindle people out of their money.
The Preacher looked everywhere and saw that under the sun, there was no place to go to escape the unrighteousness of injustice. There was no place in which justice or righteousness were safe. And that was maddening.
Have you ever experienced this; the seemingly inescapable prevalence of injustice and unrighteousness in life? I’m not merely talking about being sinned against. I’m talking about having a direct experience with someone purposely getting in the way of the right handling of sin; of someone purposely working to deny and prevent that which God requires. If so, you know how devastating it can be.
The Same Outcome for Opposites (17-21)
Throughout Ecclesiastes, the Preacher lists many examples of injustices. In this passage, he names two of a particularly vain type—the type where opposites receive the same outcome.
1. Righteous and Wicked (17)
The first concerns the fate of those on the opposite side of the moral spectrum—the righteous and wicked. Look at v.17, “I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.”
There are two basic problems with the justice of God’s treatment of the righteous and wicked according to the Preacher. First, while there will come a time of judgment from the Lord for the injustices of men, it’s in His timing, the injustices themselves seem to be a part of God’s providential reign, and we can’t change any of that. That was a really hard pill for the Preacher to swallow; as it is for anyone looking at things from an under the sun perspective.
Second, and more importantly, in the meantime (as we await the judgment of God), the righteous and wicked alike will continually experience injustice in this life. We all intuitively feel that people who live morally better lives should fare better at the hand of God and man in a just system. And yet, as the Preacher observed the world around him, that’s just not what he found. Those seeking to honor God and those explicitly rejecting God alike were the victims of endless injustices.
In that way, righteousness and wickedness both lead to the same unjust experiences in this life—the same for opposites. And that was extremely vexing to the Preacher.
2. Man and Beast (18-21)
The second area of injustice observed by the Preacher is that what is true of the righteous and wicked is also true of man and beast—the righteous and wicked share a fate (the injustice of the same injustices); so too do man and animal (the injustice of the same end—death to dust).
Just as we all intuitively believe that justice means the righteous should fare better than the wicked, we also intuitively know that justice means people should generally receive better treatment from God and man than animals. And yet, in v.18 we read…
18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.
In what way does God test mankind to help them to see that they are but beasts? Every day we look around and see that both end in exactly the same way—returning to dust.
19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.
Every man and every animal die in the end. None live forever. There isn’t a fundamental difference in the breaths we take from that of animals. There isn’t a fundamental difference in the manner in which the air keeps man and animal alive. And there isn’t a fundamental difference in what happens to the bodies of man and animal at death. When our breath stops, man and beast alike die and turn to dust. Man has no advantage over animals in any of those matters. God makes no distinction. And the preacher believed that to be nothing but vanity and injustice.
The Preacher didn’t stop there, though. Without blinking he dove straight into the question of life after death. Maybe there isn’t a difference between man and beast in the manner of death or its effect on our bodies, but what about life after death? The Preacher was certainly aware of the common belief among his people that people are different than animals in their eternal destiny—that the souls of men live on and animals don’t.
But what did he believe?
21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?
Maybe there’s an ultimate difference and maybe there isn’t. If there is, it’s not anything we can observe. There’s no way to know for sure, he reasoned. Nobody knows and, therefore, there’s no comfort in the idea.
Again, one of the most significant gifts of God in Ecclesiastes is how well it articulates the questions that stem from having eternity in our heart and how well it articulates under the sun answers. If all we see is all there is, the Preacher couldn’t be more right.
But what I said at the beginning, I want to repeat here.
As the Preacher looked around, he saw injustice and vanity in that those on opposite ends of the moral spectrum (righteous and wicked) experienced the same outcome in their lives, even as those on opposite ends of the ontological spectrum (man and beast) experienced the same outcome in their deaths.
In that way, he invites us to join him in his vexation, even exasperation. What kind of tragic injustice is it that all breathing beings live lives of vanity and die deaths of dust? The same for opposites. How maddening.
The Preacher’s Under the Sun Application (22)
In the final verse from our passage, the Preacher rightly anticipated his readers’ main question: What do we do in light of this? If that’s how things are, what does it mean? How do we live in a world like that? His answer was straightforward and familiar.
22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
Back in 2:24 and again in 3:12-13 he said almost the same thing. He will say it again in 8:15.
Each clause requires a brief word.
1. There is nothing better.
The idea of something being “better” than something else is an important concept for the Preacher. He uses that word nearly 20 times in the twelve chapters of Ecclesiastes. For all you non-math wizzes, that’s almost twice/chapter.
The one who has never been born is better than the living or dead (4:3).
Two are better than one when it comes to work (4:9).
Drawing near to God is better than offering the sacrifice of fools (5:1).
It is better to not make a vow at all than to make a vow and not keep it (5:5).
Being a stillborn child is better than being a man without satisfaction (6:3).
A good name is better than precious ointment (7:1).
Sorrow is better than laughter (7:3)
Quiet words and rebuke from the wise are better than loud words and songs from fools (7:5, 9:17).
Patience is better than pride (7:8).
A living dog is better than a dead lion (9:4).
And wisdom is better than might (9:16) and weapons of war (9:18).
In simplest terms, “better” means “preferable” or “more advantageous” for the Preacher.
After witnessing the injustice of the fact that the same end comes for opposites under the sun, the Preacher concluded that there was one response more preferable or advantageous (better) than all the rest.
2. That a man should rejoice in his work.
The better response is that a man should rejoice in his work. The Preacher has said a good deal about work already.
In 1:3 he wondered, “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (echoed in 3:9) with the implication that there is very little.
In 1:13 he acknowledged that “It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.”
In 2:10, having spent his life engaged in a great deal of toil, he concluded, “my heart found pleasure in all my toil,” but quickly clarified and concluded, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (2:11) and eventually, “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me” (2:18) and “I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors” (2:18).
Given all that, it’s hard to imagine how/why there’s nothing better than that. Why not? That thought/question leads straight to the next clause.
3. For that is his lot.
Why is it best for man to simply rejoice in his work in light of the vain injustice that all men and beasts alike end as dead dust? Because, as we’re told in 2:24, it is “from the hand of God”. Because, as we’re told in 3:13, it is “God’s gift to man”. Because, as we’ll see in 8:15, it “will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.” Because, as we’re told in our passage, it “is his lot.”
In other words, there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work in the midst of injustice and vanity because that is the way God made this world. This is just what life is like under God’s sun.
4. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?
Finally, the Preacher concludes that this is the best life by returning to the uncertainty of anything beyond what we can observe. He wondered earlier, “Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?” In similar fashion, he wonders here “Who can bring [man] to see what will be after him”.
In other words, if all we see is all there is, the best we can do is enjoy what God gives us while we have it. And as is the case with everything else the Preacher has written, that’s entirely true from an under the sun perspective.
This is, as I mentioned before I prayed, the first application for all of us. Whatever your work is, work to find enjoyment in it and the fruit you get from it in the knowledge that that is God’s design for you. Your work and its reward are gifts from God. Thank God for them and work hard at them.
Stop being lazy. Stop complaining about your boss or coworkers. Stop wishing your lot were different. Instead, work, work joyfully, work excellently, work productively, work encouragingly, work thankfully and all because that is an important part of living as God has ordered us to live.
THE SOURCE OF THE PREACHER’S TENSION
So, why does all of this matter? Why did the Preacher, like all of us, feel so much tension on account of these things? I’ve touched on this already, but I want to name three specific things taught by the Preacher that explain the tension felt by the Preacher: God’s nature, eternity in man, and life under the sun.
God’s Nature
If there were no God, none of this would be a real problem. It might not be exciting to us, but we’d have no one to complain to or blame. It would simply be a matter of being courageous enough to be honest with ourselves about the reality of the world we live in. That’s the way a lot of New Atheists talk.
But the Preacher was no atheist. He knew enough about God to know that He is sovereign and involved in all the affairs of man. God is, the Preacher knew, in charge of all of the things he listed.
The Preacher almost certainly knew that God is not indifferent to injustice. Whatever percentage of the OT he had available to him, it was enough for him to know of God’s prohibitions against injustice and that some of God’s harshest judgments are promised to those who perpetuate injustice.
Just as importantly, the Preacher believed in God’s goodness. He knew that whatever God’s reason for working in these ways, it was a good reason.
The first reason for the Preacher’s tension, then, is that as hard as he tried, he could not come up with an explanation for why God would make things like this. His experience in the world seemed to be in direct contradiction with what he knew about God’s nature.
Eternity in Us
The nature of God, coupled with the fact that God has put part of that nature in us is what makes us so frustrated by the perversion of justice. We feel, in many ways, what God feels about those things. We can’t not because it’s built into who we are. The tension we feel is owing to the eternity God place in us.
Under the Sun
Finally, and most immediately, the Preacher’s tension at the injustices we all inescapably live in was because he had a really hard time seeing anything other than that which is under the sun. He had a hard time seeing anything other than that which he could observe with his own senses. He possessed an almost exclusively under the sun perspective and that simply wasn’t sufficient to allow him to see anything else.
God’s eternity in our hearts without His omniscience in our minds can be a really difficult combination.
God’s nature (sovereign, wise, and good), the Preacher’s nature (eternity and sin in his heart), and the Preacher’s perspective (under the sun) combined to cause the tension the Preacher experienced as he considered the injustice of the wicked and righteous experiencing similar injustices in life and the injustice of man and beast both experiencing the same dead dust no matter what they did.
And that leads to the final and briefest section of the sermon.
AN ABOVE THE SUN PERSPECTIVE ON UNDER THE SUN INJUSTICES AND OUTCOME
If everything the Preacher wrote is correct under the sun, what is added when we pop up above the clouds? That is, what’s different when we consider these things according to God’s special revelation and not just His general revelation; when we consider what He has revealed in the Bible and not just in creation?
The righteous and the wicked do experience similar injustices in this life, even as man and beast experience some of the same things in death. That’s the nature of living in a broken world among people who are continually under the sinful effects of sin. The Preacher was right about that. But…
The Unrighteousness of Mankind
The Preacher missed the Word-of-God revealed truth that there are none who are truly righteous (Romans 3:10-12). Who is good but God alone, Jesus forced us to consider (Mark 10:18). The point is that an above the sun perspective is such that we know that anything we experience apart from God’s wrath for our sins is a gift. The worst injustice we face pales in comparison to what we deserve.
The Righteousness of Jesus
Second, the difference between people, therefore, isn’t that some are truly righteous and others are wicked. The difference is that by the grace of God, some recognize their unrighteousness and turn to Jesus in faith for His righteousness. To be a Christian is to have the righteousness of Jesus credited to our account, not to have earned God’s favor through our own righteousness. The Preacher didn’t seem to have much of an understanding of this and it makes all the difference in how we think about the injustices we encounter and what’s best in light of them.
The Spirit of God
Third, those who have faith in Jesus are given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, convicting us of sin, reminding us of God’s will, and strengthening us for obedience. The Spirit inspired the Preacher to write what he wrote for the building up of God’s people, but that’s not the same as the indwelling of the Spirit that we have as New Covenant people. An above the sun perspective on the injustices of this world and the proper response to them is only possible with the Spirit in us.
The Promises of God
Finally, those who have faith in Jesus are given the above the sun promises of God. There are three that are of particular importance.
First, every injustice we face is being used by God for His glory and our good (especially our sanctification). There is always more to the injustices we experience than the injustices themselves (Romans 8:28-29). As you struggle with this, remember the injustice of the cross.
Second, God will put an end to every injustice (Revelation 21:5). He already did for those whose hope is in Jesus when He paid the price of our sins in Jesus on the cross. He will put an end to the rest when those who remain in their sin reap its due reward in hell.
And third, those whose hope is in Jesus will know the temporary decay of our bodies, but at the very moment the breath leaves us and our bodies begin to return to dust, God sanctifies our souls completely and brings them into His blessed presence forever, even as we await the future resurrection of our bodies to be gloriously reunited with our souls (Romans 8:30-31). In that, we are truly and thoroughly different than unbeliever and beast alike.
When we know these promises, we are truly free to endure every injustice in faith, live with the confidence that it is not death to die, and work in joy—both physically and spiritually—in the knowledge that God is with us in all of it and using it for His eternal glory. Amen and amen.