The Thing

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12: 13, 14

This seems anti-climactic. "Fear God and keep his commandments" is found all throughout the Old Testament before Ecclesiastes. The power of the verse here is that it is at the end of the book, at the end of Solomon's journey to reach that conclusion. It is not mere rehash, merely a well known command reiterated by so-and-so preacher. It is said by one who has lived it as truth. In the context of the whole book, Solomon is saying, "All the things of this world are vanity. They are not IT; they are not THE THING, the thing that matters, the thing that counts. Money isn't it, power isn't it, success isn't it, merriment isn't it, youth and progress aren't it, age and experience aren't it, foolishness isn't it, and even wisdom isn't it. THIS is what is IT: living in the REALITY OF GOD."
"Fear God." Live in submission as the lesser to the greater, submission to God always. "Keep his commandments." You will die and your own nature cannot prepare you for death (Eccl. 9:3). God has shown you the way to go: submit and walk therein. "God shall bring every work into judgment." Let everything you do be based on what comes after, not what comes now. God gave those of the Old Testament time a way (i.e., His law) to meet this judgment. Now, in New Testament times, He has also given us a way: Jesus Christ, Whom the law was pointing us to, Who connects us back to God so that He can fill us with His Spirit so we can be holy as He is holy. This is THE THING: living in the reality of the Living God, Whose hands we will all fall into (Heb. 10:31).