Woke up at 3:03am and as I tried to go back to sleep after a drink of water I heard the Holy Spirit whisper "Methuselah's life". Now I had heard of the name Methuselah before and knew he was supposed to be the oldest human to ever live having died at the age of 969.
Not much was really said about his character or anything he did significant in the Bible but there are 2 key things we should pay attention to regarding him.
- He was the son of Enoch and the grandfather of Noah
- he lived to be 969 years old.
His name is said to mean "when he dies, it will come" other interpretations are, "man of the sending forth" or "man of the javelin".
Methuselah's father Enoch was said to have walked faithfully with God for 300 years and then God took him. Enoch and Elijah are said to be the only people that didn't experience death but were instead just taken by God. What does that mean? I don't know, lets save that for another day maybe God will give me more insight on that. Through my studies it was said that God may have shared the impending destruction of the world with Enoch and may be why he spent 300 years warning people about it and to repent.
As I studied Methuselah it was revealed to me that his age was a timer. It was a timer for the world changing flood that was to come and would be survived by his grandson Noah. Noah and his family would then go on to repopulate the Earth. God was patient for 969 years waiting for his people to turn from sin and repent but their sins got increasingly worse and Gods judgement was served. We serve a long suffering patient God who will give us every chance to get it right and turn from sin and choose him as he's chosen us.
The year Methuselah died was also the year of the flood signifying humanities time was up, so God wiped the slate clean and started over because he loves his creation and still believed humanity could get it right. In 2 Peter how God views time is explained as well as his intention for his children.
2 Peter 8:8-9 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9) The lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.
I dozed off after this and upon re-awakening I heard " Stay ready so you don't have to get ready!"
Todays verse of the day is Ephesians 6:13 Put on the whole armor of God and stand strong!