Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (ESV Strong's)
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
The Conclusion of Life
Solomon, throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, has set out to discover the meaning of life. He has visited vineyards and found them vexing. He has visited work and found it wearisome. He has visited pleasure and found it painful. He visited sex and found it stressful. He has visited riches and found them only to rot. Throughout the book Solomon has made a stop at every story in the Mall of Life. He has purchased the most expensive item in each store. In the end, it all was vanity and useless. After all this adventure, his conclusion is the summarized in the above lines. Solomon learned through all these experiences that the “fear of God and keep His commandments” was the sum of all of life. That is what brought true satisfaction. We have to remember that Solomon was the riches man in the world at that time (and, adjusting for cost, perhaps of all times) and he was the most powerful man on the earth at that time. He was able to experience anything he wanted to experience. In the end, he concluded that all things will be judged by God and every secret thing will be exposed by God. The connection between obeying God’s commands and being exposed in judgment is taken up by the author of Hebrews. He says it this way:
Hebrews 4:12-13 (ESV Strong's)
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
We can try to experience all these things ourselves, but it wiser to allow Solomon’s experience to speak for us all. It is wiser to follow the conclusion of the matter rather than the path of the writer. Many will simply want to follow his path, on their own, for their own experience. Solomon, by God’s grace, came out the other side with this conclusion and summary of life. Not everyone in scripture who follows these paths comes out the other side. Wisdom says to believer Solomon and allow his experience to motivate us to live his conclusion.
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