THE GRAVE LOOKS DIFFERENT NOW
LESSON 6 of 8
SERIES on ECCLESIASTES: A WORD TO THE WISE
THE GRAVE LOOKS DIFFERENT NOW
Text for This Study: Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
1. Easter is the resounding positive answer to all the negative and pessimistic thinking of The Teacher whose words we hear in this section. What lies behind what the video refers to as Qohelet’s “obsession with death?” (Cf. 2:14-15; 3:18-21).
2. What degree of revelation does the Old Testament contain about the resurrection of the dead? Would you call it “occasional hope” or “confident affirmation”? Why do you think the doctrine of resurrection is marginal in the OT but central to the NT?
3. How would you explain his statement about live dogs and dead lions at 9:5? How does this fit The Teacher’s theme in this section of Ecclesiastes? Another of the so-called carpe diem (Latin, “seize the day”) passages is found at vs.7-10. Why does the speaker keep returning to this thought?
4. In light of 1 Corinthians 15:35-44, how would you answer the dark musings of Qohelet in this section of text? Why do we refer to Jesus’ resurrection body as the template or prototype for our own resurrection bodies?
5. The story of Paul Kalanithi (When Breath Becomes Air) was used in the video to illustrate the difference of perspective faith makes in one’s view of death. What examples have you witnessed of a Christian whose faith allowed him or her to deal with death in a way that impressed and instructed you?
“What is the meaning of death? . . . Who knows, indeed? Here under the sun, no one. Unless there should appear here under the sun a man who came from beyond the sun, beyond the horizon of death’s night – unless we saw the Rising Son” (Peter Kreeft).