Ecclesiastes 9:10

Death is the end of all here below; but in Him is life, and those who believe have it in Christ. Before He came, death could only be dreadful. Even for a believer, the light beyond was that dim. In those days this present life was the whole field of knowledge and activity, and death closed it in darkness… So the call was to be earnest in what lay before each person.

So the moral is: be busy now. Work stops in the grave. There is no wisdom there for this busy scene, no heart that plans, no planning head. All true in its way. But this was man's musings, not divine revelation of the state of the dead at all, nor given as such. Had you asked this man what he knew of that, he would have said, as he did say, Who knows? "Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward?" He saw the dust laid in the tomb, and that was all he knew. The rest was conjecture, nothing more.

Yes, but this is NOT revelation. It is the inspired record of what Solomon summed up about his knowledge of things "under the sun." He was looking at things as they affected his work, knowledge and wisdom in the affairs of this life. For people alive on earth, such things do not reach beyond this life.

You die only once, and after death there is nothing left to do. If you die without repenting, there is no repenting in the grave. If you leave your work at death half done, there is no finishing it in the grave.

Yes, let him enjoy himself in the present, but there is "a dead fly in the ointment" (10:1). The dark future is looming up. Days of darkness are coming for him — that is the grave. Human reason, philosophy and science cannot bring light into this baffling darkness, and nothing else can either. "All that comes is vanity!" But thank God, through revelation we know more. Some believe what God has revealed, and believe on the One God has sent. He is the propitiation for our sins, and He conquered death and the grave. For them, "all that comes is glory!"

Yes — working hard honours God. A lazy Christian is a disgrace to the coat he wears. But it is one thing to do our work with all our heart. It is another to be so taken up with it that Christ is shut out… Start by running your business as the Lord's steward. Work for His glory first, not for your own profit. Then the dull routine of business has a halo of glory around it. Ordinary actions take on a dignity that makes a crown and sceptre look like nothing at all.

The "business," I suppose, means whatever might claim a believer's just attention — "whatever your hand finds to do." The wisdom of urging simply "not slothful," as to such matters, is most obvious. On the other hand, the word is "fervent in spirit," not in business. The one refers to the outward, the other to the inner life… We are to redeem the time or opportunity, but to serve the Lord.

We know, with Solomon, that what God does He does for ever. It is certain therefore that if God establishes upon us the work of our hands it will be forever. Just think of it! You and I have at this moment the opportunity of putting our hands to work, the results of which will never disappear. The work of kings and statesmen, of conquerors and diplomats and builders of big business, is nothing compared with it.