“What exists has already been, and what will be has already been,
for God will call to account what has passed.” — Ecclesiastes 3:15
The Fixed Point of Eternity
My wife and I read these words one recent evening and found ourselves perplexed by their meaning. Yet, after giving the verse further thought and doing a little research, its meaning began to unfold.
The writer of Ecclesiastes lifts our eyes from the immediacy of daily life and directs them toward a far greater horizon. His words are both mysterious and comforting, reminding us that time may not be as straightforward as we perceive it. We experience life as a succession of moments, moving steadily from the past through the present and into the future. Yet Ecclesiastes presents time as something that moves in recurring patterns, all of it held within the eternal gaze of God. What now exists has existed before, and what is yet to come has, in some mysterious sense, already been.
To human reason, this is bewildering. We long for clear beginnings, definite endings and explanations that fit neatly within the limits of our understanding. God, however, is not confined to the stream of time as we are. He sees its beginning and its end, its visible events and its hidden purposes, all at once.
This truth can unsettle us, because if God’s purposes stretch across eternity, then much of life’s apparent disorder remains beyond our comprehension. We see injustice, sorrow and futility, and we wonder why God permits such things to happen. We search for lasting meaning amid all that is fleeting, yet His workings are not always open to human explanation. They perplex us because, as Isaiah reminds us, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways.
Ecclesiastes, however, does not abandon us in bewilderment. The verse turns upon a striking assurance: “God will call to account what has passed.” Here, the fog begins to clear. Although history may move in recurring patterns and nothing may be truly new under the sun, God remains its fixed and unchanging centre. He is neither absent from the pattern nor indifferent to it. He is the Judge who sees, remembers and will one day call every deed to account.
Yesterday, I watched a video in which several young people were asked who Hitler was. One thought he had been an actor, another described him simply as a man with a moustache, and another believed that he had never existed. It was a sobering reminder of how easily human beings can forget even the darkest chapters of history. Memory fades, generations pass, and events that once shook the world can become little more than distant names—or disappear from common knowledge altogether.
God, however, forgets nothing. Every kindness offered in secret and unnoticed by others remains before Him. Every quiet sacrifice, every burden patiently borne and every prayer whispered in the darkness is held within His perfect remembrance. In the same way, cruelty, neglect, betrayal and indifference are not buried by the passing of time. Human beings may forget, excuse or conceal what has happened, but God does not.
We may attempt to hide behind the rocks of distraction, self-justification or silence, but there is no refuge thick enough to conceal us from His sight. The psalmist asks, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). The answer is nowhere. We cannot hide beneath a rock, because even the darkness is as light to Him.
For those who have lived unjustly, this realization is profoundly sobering. Wrongdoers may appear to escape earthly justice; crimes may remain unpunished, lies may never be exposed, and oppressors may die in comfort. Yet before the gaze of the Eternal One, every account remains open until He closes it. Time does not absolve guilt, and forgetfulness does not erase truth.
For those who seek to walk humbly and faithfully, however, the same truth becomes a source of deep strength. God does not forget the love poured out without recognition, the burdens carried without complaint or the good accomplished when no one was watching. What the world overlooks, He sees. What history loses, He preserves. What others fail to value, He remembers.
Ecclesiastes 3:15 therefore leaves us in a place of reverence. God’s workings may remain perplexing, but His justice is certain. Time moves onward and its patterns return, yet it can never erase what lies within the remembrance of God. In the end, what matters is not whether we understood all His purposes, but whether we lived faithfully before Him, trusting that the Judge of all the earth will do what is right.