Ecclesiastes 12:13 - Meaning and Application

The great question Solomon keeps pursuing in this book is this: What good should people do? What is the true path to true happiness, the sure way to reach our main goal? He looked for it in the things most people chase after, but found nothing there. At last, with the help of the truth God had long ago made known to people, he learned that serious godliness, sincere devotion to God, is the only way to real happiness (Job 28:28). So he says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.” This is the result of his careful search, the final answer he has been working toward.

He does not say, “You hear it,” but, “Let us hear it.” Preachers must first listen to the word they teach to others, and hear it as coming from God. Those are only half teachers if they teach others without teaching themselves (Romans 2:21). Every word of God is pure and precious, but some words deserve special attention, and this is one of them. The Hebrew scribes marked it with a capital letter, as they did with “Hear, O Israel” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Solomon also signals its importance by saying, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.”

The summary of religion is simple: fear God and keep his commandments. To fear God means to honor him, reverence his greatness, respect his authority, and be afraid of his anger. It means worshiping God and giving him the honor his name deserves, both inwardly and outwardly (Revelation 14:7). The rule of religion is God’s law, as revealed in Scripture. Our fear of God must be shaped by his commandments (Isaiah 29:13), and we must keep them carefully. Where fear of God truly rules the heart, there will be respect for all his commands and care to obey them. People cannot honestly claim to fear God if they do not take their duty to him seriously.

This is the whole duty of human life, and also its whole happiness. All our duty is gathered up here, and all our comfort rests here. It matters little whether a person is rich or poor, honored or lowly, but it matters greatly whether he fears God and does what God says. This is every person’s concern, and it should be his chief and constant concern. It is also the common concern of all people, for all their time and all their life.

Solomon gives a strong reason for this in verse 14. We can see how important religion is if we remember that each of us must soon give an account of ourselves to God. He used that thought to warn against a life of pleasure and sin (Ecclesiastes 11:9), and here he uses it to urge a godly life. God will bring every work into judgment. There is a coming judgment in which every person’s eternal state will be finally decided. God himself will be the Judge, not only because he has the right to judge, but because he is perfectly fit to do it, since he is infinitely wise and just.

Every work will then be brought forward and examined again. That day will bring to mind everything done in the body. The main question about every work will be whether it was good or evil, whether it matched God’s will or broke it. Even secret things, both good and bad, will be brought into the light and held to account in that great day of judgment (Romans 2:16). No good work and no bad work will stay hidden then. In view of that coming judgment, and how strict it will be, we should be very careful in our walk with God now, so that we may give our account with joy.