Ensign: Methuselah's Warning

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3



AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 July 2015




[Sometimes it helps to look back in order to see where we are and why. Here's a post I wrote eleven years ago that could shed some light on that. -- David]

In our society, saying that something or someone is "as old as Methuselah" says it or they have been around a very long time.  Certainly there's precedent for that; Methuselah is recorded in Genesis 5:26 as having lived 969 years; then he died.  But other than his listing as the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech, and the grandfather of Noah, Methuselah's not mentioned at all.  Other than his longevity, what makes his name stick out when others mentioned in the geneaologies raise question marks in our minds?

 

Even though Noah's building of the ark gets more press as a warning (a 120 year long warning!), Methuselah actually died the year of the flood.  In our minds, it may seem strange that God would wipe out the entire population of the world except for one man, his family, and "two by two" of every living creature at the time.  But that's what sin, what separation from God, does to a society, does to a family, does to you and me. 

Not for nothing does Jesus say in Matthew 18:9, "And if thy eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than have two eyes to be cast into hell fire."  If we look at something or someone in a way we should not, then we become like envious Cain, for whom "sin lieth at the door" (Genesis 4:7), i.e. we open the door to temptation.  We're still warned today, through God's Word and those He uses, of those actions we take having consequences.  Do we listen, are we doers of the word and not hearers only?  

 

In a way, Jesus' atonement was the reverse of this.  God didn't allow a flood to wipe out humanity once again because He promised He wouldn't in Genesis 8:21.  God allowed one person, His only begotten Son, to die for the world.  Just as life rose on Earth after Noah, his family, and the animals evacuated from the ark, Jesus rose again and showed that we can do the same thing!  Not physically, but when we accept God's promise and Jesus' sacrifice for our sins we are born again spiritually. 

Without that, we cannot see the kingdom of God, as Jesus told Nicodemus in the third chapter of John.  Peter tells us in his first letter that we're no longer "born of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."  (1 Peter 1:23)  And when we are born again, what happens in this brief life of ours doesn't ultimately, eternally matter.  For ever is a long time, and we get to be with God for it!  



David



P. S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope it encourages you too. If I'm not or you want me to get lost, please let me know -- thank you!



Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in praise and prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even the ones we don't know we have! Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.



Thank You, Lord, for all of us in leadership and service here and abroad, as well as for opportunities we have and the promise of new life! I pray we all seek and have a blessed week. Amen.