Eccl. 9:3b-6: "The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead. Anyone who is among the living has hope — even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun." (Today’s NIV)

What’s the destiny of human beings?

For the one who doesn’t know God, the future is truly bleak. We cannot keep hold of anything in this life, neither can we make up for anything. As Jesus confirmed later from the example of the rich man in Hades, dead people cannot even get in contact with this world. Experiences of people who believe in a differently either come from wishful thinking or they are rooted in the occult.

When think about our present life under this aspect, the value of different things looks very different: our knowledge is lost, we have to leave back the things that we have hard-earned, our glory in people’s eyes doesn’t exist any more, and even emotions that have excited us all of our life, our desires, the feeling of love but also hatred, cannot be experienced any more.

What then is the meaning of our life? For people who have encountered God in Jesus, everything has changed. It is true that for them also human strife will lose its significance. But we can know what Jesus promised to the criminal on the other cross: “Today you will be with me in paradise.“ After the earthly death the kingdom of shadows isn’t waiting for the believer, but Jesus himself. And with him there will also survive some things of the present life: We will have abundant joy about the things that God has worked through us. This will be much more reward to us than any gratification that we have to achieve ourselves with much toil today!