Editor’s Note: This article is a modified transcript of a recent message by Scott Pauley. The timeframe was soon after the public assassination of Charlie Kirk. In it, Scott delves into the eternal truths of Ecclesiastes 7. We trust it will stir and encourage your heart. 

Lessons Learned At the Funeral 

Ecclesiastes is a book about life. Specifically, it is a book about life lived apart from God. Life apart from God is pointless. In the words of Solomon, it is vanity and vexation of spirit. There is a great deal of truth in this particular book, and there is a portion in Ecclesiastes 7 that is sorely neglected and very appropriate for this time.

We have recently witnessed some things in our nation that, frankly, I do not think I ever imagined. I never imagined seeing the assassination of a man who simply stood up, spoke the truth, and defended even other people’s liberty to say whatever they want to say. I also never imagined how the Lord would take such evil and turn it for good.

That is just like God to do that! 9/11 was one of those little windows in our nation, but even 9/11 did not cause people to speak about Christ and the gospel like this particular event has. I have never heard at any time in my lifetime where the media has talked more about the necessity of Jesus and eternity, and spiritual reality.

Revival and Spiritual Awakening

People have asked me, What do you think this is? I will tell you what I think it is. I think it is a little space of grace. This is a spiritual awakening that we must not miss.

I believe there is a difference between revival and a spiritual awakening. A revival is the work that the spirit of God does among the church. You cannot make alive again something that has never had life. It is the church that needs revival. People say our nation needs revival. No, the church needs revival. If the church gets revived, life will come into our nation.

A spiritual awakening is a moment where God begins to awaken the consciences of people. It can be in a saved person, or it can be in a lost person. It can be in the White House, and it can be in your house. A spiritual awakening is a moment where the Spirit of God begins to awaken people to their need of God, and I personally believe what we are witnessing right now is a definite and divine answer to prayer.

I think if ever there was a moment that God’s people ought to sit up and take notice, and be very good students of what the Lord is trying to teach us, it is this moment. Christ is coming soon. Eternity is just around the next bend, and everybody needs to be saying, Let us all get ready to meet God.

A Good Name

Consider Ecclesiastes 7:1-4:

“A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.” 

Solomon begins with a good name. Does that sound vaguely familiar? In another book of the Bible, Solomon said a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches (Proverbs 22:1). Do not lose your good name. Do not trade your good name for anything. It takes a lifetime to build the right kind of reputation, and only a few moments to destroy it.

This is an interesting analogy here of a good name being better than precious ointment. Solomon is talking about the perfumes of the day, the priceless fragrances that were very costly. I see a little glimmer of this principle in the example of Jesus and Mary. Do you remember Mary bringing that box of precious and costly ointment? She breaks it, and she pours it on Jesus. Judas speaks up and says, “Why was this waste of the ointment made?” Jesus responded, “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her” (Matthew 26:13). She traded the precious ointment for a good name. A good name is better than precious ointment.

What this world says matters not in light of eternity. The only thing that really matters is this: Is your name written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life in Heaven? A good name is to be a child of God. (If you are not sure, please visit our gospel page HERE.)

The Day of One’s Death

When you read the second part of Ecclesiastes 7:1, it is almost shocking. A good name is better than precious ointment. We can say amen to that. But can you say amen that the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth?

I would rather go to the nursery than to the funeral home. How about you? It is interesting, though. Even when the baby comes out of the womb, the first thing that happens is that the baby cries. Have you ever wondered why the first sound is the baby’s cry? Because when a child enters this world, as wonderful as it is, it is born into a fallen world. It is born with a fallen nature. You do not have to teach a child to cry. You have to teach a child to stop crying. There is something about the entrance of that child into the world, as hopeful as it is, that is a reminder that this world is not our home and that this is not forever.

Ecclesiastes 7:1 is only true if you know the Lord as your Savior. The only way you can say the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth is if you know that when you die, this is not the end. It sounds a lot like the Apostle Paul saying, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). Paul was saying the same thing. He said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

We can read and apply this verse in two different ways. The cynic says death is better because he wants to escape. We are living in a world where some think suicide is the answer. It is never the answer. But the cynic says, “I want to check out of here and get out of all this mess.” However, that just makes more of a mess. I do not believe that is the emphasis in this verse.

The day of death is only better than the day of one’s birth for the person who walks with God. When you walk with God, your last step here is a step into the presence of God for all eternity. If you are a child of God, when you leave this world, what you have to look forward to is everlasting life.

When the ancients would talk about the martyrs, they would call the martyr’s death date their birthday. I love that! Do you know why that is? Because that is the moment that they enter into the everlasting life that became their possession at the moment of their salvation. For the Christian, the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth.

The Back and Forth Extremes of Ecclesiastes

We see the back-and-forth extremes in Ecclesiastes 7. Solomon is using contrast to bring us to what is better.

• In Ecclesiastes 7:1 you have two days: the day of one’s death and the day of one’s birth
• In Ecclesiastes 7:2, you have two places: the house of mourning, and the house of feasting
• In Ecclesiastes 7:3, you have two emotions: sorrow and laughter
• In Ecclesiastes 7:4, you have two hearts: the heart of the wise and the heart of fools

He continues in Ecclesiastes 7:8: “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Those are two perspectives. The back and forth is instructive. Life is not one or the other. Life is both.

Solomon introduced this idea in Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” This verse is followed by a long list of contrasts. Notice the first thing on the list: “A time to be born, and a time to die…” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Hebrews 9:27 tells us, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” As surely as there was a day you were born, there will be a day that you will die. Both are realities, like the bookends of life.

Key Word: Better

Notice the key word in Ecclesiastes 7. Circle it in your Bible.

• In Ecclesiastes 7:1, it says a good name is better
• In Ecclesiastes 7:2, the word better is used when referring to the house of mourning
• In Ecclesiastes 7:3, it says sorrow is better, and the last word of the verse is better
• In Ecclesiastes 7:8, the first word of the verse is better.
• Later in Ecclesiastes 7:8, it says, “…the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

The Lord is trying to teach us something here. Do you want a better life? Only God can make a better life. God’s way is always the best way. When we ponder these verses from a human standpoint, it defies logic.

• If you had to pick the birth of a child or the death of a loved one, which would you pick? I imagine most of us would pick the birth of a child.
• If your house was either going to be marked by feasting or mourning, which would you prefer? I want the party, not the weeping.
• If you had to choose between sorrow and laughter, which would you choose? Of course, you would choose laughter.
• If I said to you that you can be wise or you can be a fool, which would you prefer to be?

Do not miss this, because this is the emphasis of this passage of Scripture. Solomon is giving us lessons that were learned at the funeral.

Death Can Teach Us

Did you know there are some things that can only be learned by going to the end and working your way backward? As Spurgeon said, to make the most of your life, you have to meditate on your death. At the house of mourning, the funeral home, there is a lot of hurt and grief. But it is instructive. When you get around death, grief, and tears, it does not make you depressed all the time. It provides perspective. It makes you think differently about your life, about your family, and about eternity.

My father was in the cemetery and funeral business when I was a boy. We grew up around death. I still remember when we would be driving down the road and somebody in our car would say, “That is a nice cemetery.” We must have sounded strange on vacation, but it was not strange to us! We just grew up around it.

There is something holy about walking through a cemetery, looking at the epitaphs, and pondering the span of a life represented by a little dash, and thinking, “This is going to be me someday.” Your life is a vapor. It appears for a little while and then vanishes away (James 4:14). There are some lessons that can only be learned at the end, and that is why Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.” Remember, only God knows the end from the beginning, but it is good for you to visit the funeral home and the cemetery.

Life is full of ups and downs. As a minister through the years, I have had some days that were the polar opposites of one another. You go to a hospital room to pray with a young family that is holding a new baby, and you rejoice. You go from there to conduct a wedding ceremony, where you look at two lovebirds gazing into one another’s eyes and saying, until death do us part. Then you go from there to a funeral home to put your arms around people who have now said goodbye for a little while to a loved one, and you grieve. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”

Can I tell you who did that perfectly? Jesus Christ. He went to the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and He rejoiced with those who were feasting that day, and then He stood in a graveyard where Lazarus had been buried, and the Bible says in John 11:35 that “Jesus wept.”

Three Lessons Learned at the Funeral

There are some things you do not learn at the nursery and at the wedding ceremony that you learn at the graveyard and at the funeral home. What are they? Ecclesiastes 7:2 reveals the first lesson we learn at the funeral.

1. The Solemnity of Death

Death is a solemn thing. There is a fact and a truth in Ecclesiastes 7:2. The fact is that we are all going to die and meet God. It does not matter who you are; you are not going to be the exception unless Jesus comes back. And when Jesus comes back, you are still going to meet God one way or another. By the way of death, or by way of the rapture, we are all going to meet God.

Are you ready to meet God? Are you ready to meet God exactly like you are at this moment? Sir Isaac Newton was asked, “What is the greatest thought you have ever had course through that great genius brain of yours?” And he replied, the most profound thought that has ever coursed in my mind is my own personal accountability to God. That is powerful! We are living on this earth for a little while, but we are going to live forever somewhere. This is just a little blip on the timeline of eternity. We are getting ready to meet the eternal God, and the only thing that matters is the moment we are going to kneel at the nail-pierced feet of Jesus Christ. What a solemn thought!

Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting:” Why is that for? “for that is the end of all men;” That is the fact. We are all going to meet God. But here is the truth: “and the living will lay it to his heart.” The reality of death ought to affect the way we live our lives. No one wants to talk about death, or likes to think about death. But it is good for us to realize that these bodies are not going to last forever.

2. The Spirituality of Sorrow

Ecclesiastes 7:3 says, “Sorrow is better than laughter.” As a boy, I remember hearing people say that an ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow. That is the opposite of what Solomon wrote. Here is the reason why sorrow is better than laughter: “for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”

Some want the product but do not want the process. The second truth we learn at the funeral is the spirituality of sorrow. Everything that humbles us is a gift. Everything that reminds us that we do not have it all figured out, and that we are not sufficient in and of ourselves. Those things that God brings into our lives are gifts meant not to push us further from God, but to draw us nearer to God.

Ponder for a moment the brevity, frailty, and mortality of your life. Some moments are like divine wake-up calls. Do not wait until you die to wake up. Do not wait till you get near the funeral home to learn these lessons. The earlier in life you learn them, the better off the rest of your life is going to be.

Recall the story of the brothers Cain and Abel. Abel was murdered by Cain. Their parents lost both boys at the same time. Cain goes out from the presence of the Lord and builds his own life apart from God. Adam and Eve are brokenhearted. But thank God that He is the God of mercy and the God of hope, because God gives them another son, whose name is Seth. The Bible says that when Seth had a son, his name was Enos, and it uses this expression, “…then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26).

– Our Mortality

Have you ever wondered what the name Enos means? It means mortality. When most people have children, they pick a name because they like the sound of that name. Bible names were chosen because of the definition of the name. Can you imagine having a baby and calling him mortality? Seth was saying with that name that he was holding a little mortality in his hand. Do you know why that was? Because Seth had lived long enough to see the effects of death. He knew that the baby was not going to live forever on this earth. That was the moment when the first spiritual awakening in history was recorded. That was when men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

I think a little glimpse of our mortality brings us to the reality of Almighty God, and that is very good for us. In Isaiah 6, we read in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his “train filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). He heard, “…Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). How did Isaiah respond? “…Woe is me! for I am undone…” (Isaiah 6:5). When did Isaiah get his wake-up call? When he was faced with his own mortality. It was at the funeral that he realized the solemnity of death and the spirituality of sorrow.

– Right and Wrong Rejoicing

I fear that we have been living for too long in a culture that is so consumed with laughter, we have forgotten what it means to weep. We are a lost world laughing its way to hell. More concerned about comedians and stand-up comics and entertainment and amusement than they are with spiritual realities. It is time for us to get burdened over our souls again. It is time for us to get broken over sin again. Something has to wake us up and bring us to the reality of Almighty God.

Consider Job 21:13. Job is describing the wicked and those who live with no thought of God, who merely go their way, laughing their way towards eternity. That verse says, “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.” Imagine this: you spend your whole life getting a bunch of stuff that you are going to leave in a moment. Then look at Job 21:14: “Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” We are not interested in knowing God. Now with that in mind, back up to Job 2:11-12 and look what they were doing: “They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.”

They are rejoicing, but in the wrong things. Laughing, but it is not holy laughter. They are amused and entertained and having a big time, but they are doing all of it outside of Almighty God. Not all laughter is good. I believe there is holy laughter. But if the joy is not the joy of Jesus, and the gladness is not the gladness of God, if the lightness and levity bring you further away from spiritual realities than nearer to God Almighty, it is not of God.

3. The Seriousness of Life

Ecclesiastes 7:4 is not a message about death. It is a message about life. You go to the deathbed, the funeral home, and then the cemetery. Ecclesiastes 7:4 says, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”

Here is why there is such a contrast between the two houses, why the house of mourning is better than the house of mirth. Because that is where God teaches us the most. How many have lived long enough to know that you learn the greatest lessons in the valley and not on the mountain? No one chooses those seasons. But from my own experience, the hardest days of my life have been the times that I learned the most about what really mattered. God begins to sift things out of our lives, and prune, purge, and filter us through the lens of eternity. We realize what really matters in the end, and it brings us to a seriousness about our lives.

When Moses wrote Psalm 90, he was an old man getting ready to go see God. He wrote in Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Wisdom is not education, intelligence, or even common sense. Wisdom from above is the wisdom that makes you consider what is above, and that keeps you from living for things here below. It lifts you to God and brings your attention to the Lord.

– The Comparison Between Ecclesiastes and Hebrews

Solomon loves to use the word better in these verses, and it is used all through the book of Ecclesiastes. Did you know that there is a New Testament equivalent to Ecclesiastes that emphasizes better? It is the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews is the book of better things. It is all about Jesus. He is better than the angels, better than the old covenant, better than Moses, better than everything. Jesus makes everything He touches better. Do not stop with the observations of Solomon. Run to Jesus. There is a greater than Solomon here, and His name is Jesus Christ. This spiritual awakening ought to lead us to Christ.

I am happy in Jesus today. I am joyful in the Lord. Am I sad over certain things in our nation? Yes. Do I face sorrow? Yes. Do I grieve when my own family members die and go to meet God? Yes. But believers can have “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8), because, when you get serious about what you ought to be serious about, you can enjoy what God gives you to enjoy. When they get the heart of God, you get God’s emotions about everything. You weep over what breaks the heart of God, and you rejoice over what rejoices the heart of God.

Conclusion: The End Is Better Than The Beginning

I bring you full circle back to Ecclesiastes 7:8. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof…” Was Genesis good? Yes, it was very good. But will Revelation be better? Oh, yes. Infinitely better. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.

Was it a good day when you got saved? Yes. It was a good day. But it will be exceeded by one more day. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Can you imagine what that day is going to be like when our faith becomes sight? Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.

However, the end is only better than the beginning if you give God the in between. Are you giving God the in between? Some want God at the takeoff and at the landing, but then they want to control the in between. The only One who makes the beginning right and the end right is the One who ought to be Lord of everything in between.

It is time to get on our knees before the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and say, I want you to have every day of my life, so that when I live my last day on this earth and go to meet God for all eternity, it will be better. I will be able to rejoice because I did not wait until I got to the funeral home to learn these lessons.

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Click HERE for Scott’s verse-by-verse teaching through Ecclesiastes.

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About Scott Pauley

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Remembering Charlie Kirk