So far in our Ecclesiastes Chapter 8 study, we have the preacher Solomon pondering the uncertainties of life, not knowing when bad things are going to happen, along with the anxiety of not knowing the future brings.  In today’s Word, Solomon acknowledges that while we don’t know when our lives here on earth will end, Solomon points out that they will indeed end.  

Ecc 8:8  No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

Ecc 8:9  All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

Solomon seems to have presented this with war time in mind, saying that even if one nation conquers another, both the conquerer and the conquered still face the same fate, which is death. 

This is absolutely true, Persian dynasties of yesteryear are no more.  Babylon is now Iraq.  Outside of history class, the Roman Empire is just an afterthought.  Kingdoms, dynasties, monarchs, and presidencies come and go.   

We can also apply this with a modern lens, unless we are really well versed in history, how many of us can say who the President was when our parents and grandparent were born?  

No matter how mighty a ruler might seem at the present time, they come, they live and are eventually forgotten, just like we will be.  

As self righteous and self absorbed as we tend to be, we too will eventually be met with the same death that Solomon speaks of.  

So while we are all headed to the grave in this life, the one that comes after has no end.  We could get called by God tomorrow, so today we confess and repent Christ, because through Him is eternal life, or a life that doesn’t end, as opposed to this one we’re in now.