Methuselah Faith

“Methuselah Faith”

"And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died." Genesis 5:27 (KJV)

Intro: A grandfather who didn’t exactly resemble a movie star, if you know what I mean. Was looking at himself in the mirror when his granddaughter happened to walk by. She stood looking at her grandfather, and then gazed intently at her own reflection for several minutes, she said, ‘grandpa, did God make you?’ “Smiling the grandfather told her, “He sure did.” The little girl asked “And did God make me too?’ He said, Yes, why do you ask? She said, “it seems to me that god is doing a lot better work lately.”

How old is old? What it means to be old is relative to the people you are surrounded by. If you are 70 but in a crowd of people who are over 80 then you are young. But if you are 40 and you are in a crowd of teenagers… then you are old. So just how old is old?

In America the official age of a senior citizen is 65. So if you were born in 1950 or prior…, then you are at least 65 or older… then you are officially a senior citizen… Some people want to grow old gracefully… Others want to go kicking and screaming fighting it all the way…

Methuselah was the oldest persons to ever live. Some traditions say that he was born just 8 generations after Adam and Eve and he lived and died probably just before the Great Flood. All the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. (just as a side note: some will say that they measured time differently back then. But that theory is flawed. It would mean that Enoch fathered Methuselah when he was just 5 years old. We know that is impossible.) I am convinced that when the bible says Methuselah was 969 years old that is how old he was.

Let’s look at what it means to have “Methuselah Faith.”

I. Methuselah was the Son Enoch

"And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." Genesis 5:24

I would like to talk to you about the oldest man that ever lived. Who was the oldest man who ever lived? Well, it was NOT Methuselah! He was the oldest man that ever died. Methuselah's father, Enoch was the oldest man that ever lived! He would be at least 8000 years old by now because he did not die he is still alive he was taken to Heaven. Enoch was the first man that did not die. Enoch was taken up alive into heaven to be with God. Enoch was the first person to be translated from this world. Our future! It is no coincidence that Enoch was the first person to foretell the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the age in - Jude chapter 7. "Enoch the seventh from Adam, PROPHESIED...behold the Lord cometh with 10,000's of his saints." Enoch was the first prophet to preach about our hope! The resurrection of the saints. The transformation of the living who are alive at Christ Second Coming at the end of the age.

It is the same thing described in 1 Corinthians 15:51 teaches that Christians who are alive when Jesus returns will be changed the same way Enoch was transformed. “Behold, I show you a mystery: Not all of us will die, but we will be transformed. It will happen in a moment in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet shall sound. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die.

Where, O death is your victory? Where O death is your sting?” Christians alive at the day when Christ returns will not have to die. But will be taken up into heaven just like Enoch.

There was a man who died and went to heaven. He was standing at the Pearly Gates carry a suit case. The angel watching the gate told the man he would have to leave the suit case outside because he could take anything into heaven with him. But the man insisted and asked to speak with St. Peter. When St. Peter arrived he asked the man what he had in the suit case that was so important. The man hesitated and then finally said the suitcase was full of gold bricks. St. Peter smiled and said, ok. Let him bring it in we can use more pavement for the streets. The bible says the streets are paved with gold. The walls made of the twelve stones one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel: jasper, sapphire, emeralds, onyx, carnelian, odeam, agate, chyrsolite, beryle, topaz, jasinite, amethyst. The most rare and valuable jewels. The walls are made of pearl. It is a perfect place of purity and beauty.