Ecclesiastes 9:4 says, For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.  In life, there is hope.  No matter how hard life seems to be for a person, as long as life exists, there is always hope that tomorrow will be better.  This should especially be true of God's people.  We should always live life in hope that tomorrow will be better than today.  I don't believe that God told us what was to come as the end of time drew closer to lead us to a life of resignation.  We, as followers of Christ, are to live in hope, victorious over the things of this world.  As long as we have life, we are to live in and proclaim the hope of Christ to the world.  A live dog is indeed more powerful than a dead lion.  Some people may seem to have all the power in this world, but in death, nothing of this world remains.  Death may release us from the stresses of this world, but we are not to seek death, but we are to live life in the hope of God.  Verse five says, For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.  As long as we live, we know that death awaits us, but once we die, we no longer know anything of this world.  Solomon also states that once we die, we have no more reward.  What we do with Christ in life is all that matters in the life to come.  There is no purpose in praying for the souls of the dead, and there is certainly no need to be baptized in the place of those long dead.  It is only what a person does with Christ in this live that matters, so no matter how big a sinner a person may be, as long as there is life, there is hope.  Then in verse six we read, Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.  Solomon said it doesn't matter how we feel about a person here on earth, whether we love or hate them, once we are dead, those feelings perish.  The things of this world truly no longer hold any power over us once we are dead, and as followers of Christ, they shouldn't have power over us even now.