Cancer Blog #64
By Brian Zimmerman
Begun on July 31, 2021
Email: dyingman1@yahoo.com
My Dying Words
Entry #64– Which is Better?
November 17, 2022
[Ecclesiastes 7:1-4] “1 A good name is better than a good ointment, and the day of [one’s] death is better than the day of one’s birth. 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes [it] to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for when a face is sad a heart may be happy. 4 The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.”
We face here a saying that is hard to accept: the day of our death is better than the day of our birth. How can that be? Isn’t it better to begin life than to end it? As I’ve mentioned before, death is seen from several perspectives in the Bible. On the one hand, death is the ultimate curse on our race, the most terrible result of our fall with Adam. It is a horrible and unnatural event; there was no death before Adam’s sin, only following and as a punishment for that rebellion. Further, for those of us left behind when someone we love dies, it causes great pain and sorrow. On the other hand, death is seen positively in other places in the scriptures (as we have seen previously). It is indeed not the end, but for a Christian a new beginning, a wonderful hope that we can hold onto when we are tempted to despair of life in this veil of tears. It’s the door to another, a better life than the one we were born into here.
It is no wonder, then, that the writer encourages us to contemplate the day of our death, to meditate on that end when we enter a house of mourning. As he says in verse 2: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” There is no escape from death. It is the final event that we all must face. It is better then to be prepared for that end than assume that our lives will go on as they may falsely appear to do as in a house of feasting, as if all our days will be only enjoyable and that our demise will never arrive, or be many years hence. A meditation on death affords us a sober and clear view of who we are and where we will finally be. But, such a view of death is not one of gloom and doom, of sorrow and sadness for us who depart. It gives us a view of a feast that we are traveling to that will never end, the one that will be forever full of joy and gladness. Get ready, then. Don’t be surprised at your terminal diagnosis. It is your ticket to your final destiny and God’s final gift to you in this age!
Next: The Authority Over Our Day