Some think God has a button in heaven which He presses when their time is up. But is this true? Is there a time to die or do we have a say in the matter? What does God’s word reveal about our lifespan and can it be extended under certain circumstances? Does God desire us to live a long and fruitful life? Who exactly has the power of death? Is it all up to God or do believers influence their own longevity? Join Carl now for this unique and insightful broadcast…
Here is a complete transcript of the podcast (below)…
Friend, today we will ask the question, “Has God decided beforehand a time for you to die?” The short answer is no but it’s going to take me a while to explain this. There are some of you out there right now who’re already saying no Pastor, I thought there was a time to die and when your time is up that’s it and that’s based on the book of Ecclesiastes. Yes friend there is a time to die, certainly, everyone on this earth is certainly going to die at some point, but it’s not a time already decided by God, no friend this is not biblical. God hasn’t got a plug upstairs and randomly pulls the plug on people every day and all of a sudden their time is up and they suddenly die. No friend, this is not scriptural at all.
The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Friend it does not say, there’s an appointment for man’s death, no, it says every man is appointed to die once and there is a vast difference. Note judgment comes after death which goes against those believe that we just die like a dog with no consequences for our actions in this lifetime. Remember God’s not the author of death in this dispensation friend. If God’s not the author of death then He’s not pulling plugs upstairs. Do I have scripture for that? Yes I do. Hebrews 2:14, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too (Jesus) shared in their humanity so that by his death (Jesus) he might destroy him who holds the power of death— that is, the devil.”
Friend, Jesus stripped Satan of his power on the cross. The devil did have the power of death until Christ came but he no longer has this power over us who are in Christ. However for those who are not in Christ Jesus, Satan still has the power of death, but friend, God certainly does not. Remember that death reigned from Adam to Moses and the reason for this was the law of God was not yet given. Let’s read, Romans 5:14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” So, when the Mosaic Law came, it was the very schoolmaster that made us aware of our sin in the first place and our subsequent need for Christ. Death by definition is not ‘annihilation’ as some teach or ‘soul sleep’ but the separation of our soul and spirit-man from our physical body. It’s this death my friend that has eternal consequences and for some a literal hell needs to be shunned, otherwise man goes there automatically.
Now, in our dispensation of time our lifespan has been constrained by God up to 120 years. Genesis 6:3–8 – And the Lord said My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” Friend, God gives this decree to Noah, that man’s absolute limit for lifespan is 120 years and it says so in the text. If you go by the Jubilee teaching, knowing that every 50 years the Jewish people would celebrate Jubilee, and all liberation of debt etc. Therefore, from this passage we may ascertain that the time limit for man to be on this earth would be 120 Jubilee’s or 120 times 50 = 6000 years. So not only is man allotted 120 years in terms of individual lifespan, but humanity’s total duration on the earth has already been predetermined as 6000 years in total.
Now before Noah’s flood man lived much longer than he does now and there are various reasons for that according to the creationists and I will cover these shortly. Before the flood the longest living person ever recorded was Methuselah at 969 yrs. Pre-flood the average lifespan was 857 yrs. but post flood the lifespan changed rapidly downward from Noah who lived for 950 years to Shem who was 600 years and down to Abraham at 175 yrs within 10 generations. Ever since God decreed the lifespan reduction in Gen 6, His words took effect literally as man’s lifespan rapidly reduced with each generation after his decree that He shall not always strive with man.
So, what exactly is the cause for man’s reduction in lifespan? Is it environment? We do know there was a canopy of water vapor above the earth’s atmosphere before the flood because it says in. Genesis 1:7 says, “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.” So, could this canopy of water above the sky have blocked harmful UV light from killing us? Some scientists contend that the UV light which comes from our sun, was much reduced before the flood. But we know that when Noah stepped off the Ark at 600 years old, he still lived 350 more years after the flood, so environment can’t be the only reason. What’s also interesting is that the lifespan almost halved right after the Tower of Babel within 3 generations and some scientists claim that when men was scattered upon the earth, the gene pool was split and thereby weakened, limiting the strength and vigor of their progeny. So we have a series of events ranging from the water canopy of the earth being removed to, environmental changes, to diet changes, to the loss of Telomeres in our physical body, to influences upon our gene pool that could all have contributed to our lifespan reduction.
But friend did you know that the name Noah means ‘rest’ and as soon as God decreed this lifespan reduction those believers in God entered eternal rest far sooner than before. Gen 5:29 says,” And he called his name Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. ” For the believer, death itself is rest and Noah’s advent accelerated that rest with a rapid reduction in lifespan from that point forward. So what does the Bible have to say about us living right now, what are our boundaries, is 120 years still normal?
Let’s read Psalm 90:10 together, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; And if by reason of strength they be fourscore years.” As we know based on the old English language a score is 20 years. So the days of our years or man’s lifespan is threescore years and ten, so that would be 70 years right? And if by strength then 80 years. Friend, it’s God’s will that you live out the full number of your days and contrary to some classic rock ballads. The saying that “only the good die young” is a lie. If we observe the list of the “27 club” members although they house many talented Rock and pop musicians, these people led lives of reckless abandon, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and a deep sense of hopelessness. The 27 club as it’s so called is nearly reaching 60 people believe it or not if you include some of the more fringe musicians. But what does the bible have to say about those whose lives have been cut short? Proverbs 10:27 says,“The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: But the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
Yet we know that not everyone who dies young is wicked, necessarily because we live in a fallen and cursed earth and accidents do happen. But friend let us now venture back to the very beginning. Before Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they were meant to live forever; in fact death was never a part of God’s plan. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve, he opposed God’s direct warning that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil, then they shall die (Gen 3:2-3). But Satan lied to them, stating that they shall not surely die be like gods, knowing good and evil. Friend, when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit they began to die both spiritually and physically. Instantaneously they were severed from God and as a result, death entered into the world and sickness with it. God wanted man to live eternally from the beginning and never to experience death but because of man’s choice death came into the world through Adam and has been passed on to every generation.
Let’s now read now some scriptures in the word of God regarding the promise of long life: Proverbs 22:4- Living Bible (TLB), “True humility and respect for the Lord lead a man to riches, honor, and long life.” Proverbs 3– (KJV), “My son, forget not my law; But let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.” Psalm 91:16- (KJV), “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.“ Exodus 23:25-26 (ESV), “You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.” …and this concept of honoring your parents is again echoed in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul…Ephesians 6:1-4 ESV, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” And friend if you don’t think your tongue has a part to play in the outcome of your life, whether good or bad check this out:1 Peter 3:10 ESV, “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”
Friend, when I was growing up in Wales, I saw 5 of my friends and acquaintances all die before their mid 20’s by various causes and it devastated the families left behind. Some of them were very close to me. One young man could have been an Olympic cyclist by the name of John Smart but he died in a traffic accident. This is very sad. We don’t have all the answers, there doesn’t have to be a reason for everything. Don’t forget we live in a cursed earth and the sudden death of people, caused by accidents is tragic. In Luke 13 Christ spoke of the collapse of the Tower of Siloam. Some people present wanted to know the precise reason for this catastrophe, but instead Christ made it clear that those present in the tower were no more sinners than anyone else, Luke 13:4 says “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Christ gave no special mention of why those people perished, but instead his focus was upon the urgency of repenting before it’s too late and the same should be said of us. Scripture teaches that we are to number our days, to treasure and value them, and apply our hearts daily with wisdom because we don’t know how many more days we may have upon this earth. Psalm 90:12 says “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Friend, right now there are scientists working furiously in laboratories all around the world, for life extension technologies so that they can cheat death. In fact modern medicine has no real understanding of why we die. When they observe the human body, they believe it has the capacity to live for 1000 years, but do not fully comprehend the reason for our premature expiration. The answer simply lies within the intangible and this is sin, which cannot be measured because it’s invisible to the human eye although it’s after effects are laid bare for all to see.
The death sentence we all experience came to humanity because of sin. Every man must pay the terminal price of death and no-one will escape it. In the garden, Satan offered most dastardly lie of all, that we could become gods and never die. The irony is of course as soon as our forefathers took Satan up on his offer, they experienced death for the first time, both spiritually (instantly) and physically over the course of many years. Friend, take care of your physical body, take care of your soul. You are a temple of the ‘Most-High’ God. Don’t gouge too much on sugar, take time to exercise regularly and I believe that you can live out the full number of your days by strength, without any fear that you will suddenly die because God has decided it’s time.Friend this is not what the Bible teaches and don’t live in fear of death anymore. Jesus conquered death for us, he conquered the grave, that we should no longer live in death or fear for that matter but living out the abundant zoe life that God provided for us.
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