Ecclesiastes 9:1-6 9 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. 2 All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good,[a] the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.
SOAP – Ecclesiastes 9:1 Solomon rightly concludes that the righteous and wise are in the hand of God. However, having only an earthly perspective of life, Solomon assumes that the wicked and the righteous have the same destination at death. He has placed all hope on this earthly life and all that happens in it. While death happens to both the righteous and the wicked, their eternal destination is not the same. God’s presence, His love, and His hand in a believer’s life does not end at death but lasts into eternity.