If you wanted to or not, we’ve learned about Noah’s Ark; great story.
The debate goes on even today about the flood. The why, the what, and the how of the flood and its association with Man will never go away.
Most of the debate is on evidencing the flood, but there’s an underlying message of the story that is as great as its proof, and that part is about Man’s lifespan, which is my point for today.
During the time of Noah, God had enough of Man, (Genesis 6:5) and (Genesis 6:11,12); so God picked Noah to help fulfill His plan, and He gave Noah 120 years to complete a part of that plan; then the end, (Genesis 6:3); that end was to completely flood everything visibly seen; with every inch of Earth covered in water in a span of forty days and nights. Now my point.
Bible Scholars wrestle with this 120 years, examining if it’s a lifespan, or a countdown, since the children of Israel we’re told that their lifespan would be 70 or 80 years while in the desert, and no one over the age of twenty would enter the promise land but two, (Numbers 14:29,30). They wondered the desert for 40 years, (Joshua 5:6). So, which is it, countdown, or lifespan? First let me cover some basics.
The Physical World is only a small replication of the Spiritual World. God knew our beginning, and He knows our end, (Isaiah 46:10). Given our existence, our lives here are merely a vapor in front of God, but here’s what’s significant, this Physical World is on a clock. Knowing this — for me, 120 years is the correct answer. Here’s why.
When we entered the Physical World, we entered with an assignment. That assignment is our personal Ark and we have 120 years to build it in order to save whom God says, or have the assignment in place, and our part of it complete before we set sail; we can also say, before we leave this Physical World for Eternity.
When Noah’s assignment was complete, he left with eight people, plus the animal kingdom whom God selected, and everything else was left behind — but left from what to what?
In our case — not Noah’s, leave from an existence we once knew — the Physical World, to an existence we’ve received because of a well-built Ark that’s inside of another Kingdom — Heaven.
Each of us has an Ark to build and we get 120 years to do it, then the end, as Noah. If YOU don’t take this seriously, your departure back to Eternity can be too soon, and incomplete because you used your time caught up in other things not of God — with not enough time to complete why you were given life.
Remember we’re on borrowed time in this broken world, and no one is exempt from establishing the purpose they were born for.
It’s been said, we won’t be judged for what we do, we’ll be judged for what we were called to do.
So, what’s the answer to man’s lifespan? Build your Ark and see.
Hint, the children of Israel who were stuck in the desert – they didn’t.
Gaidi