You turn man to destruction, and say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:3-4)
Before the flood of Noah, men lived to be several hundred years old. Noah himself lived to be 950 years old; Adam lived 930 years and, of course, the oldest of them all, Methuselah, lived to a ripe old age of 969 years. Notice that none of them lived to a full one thousand years meaning that, according to the Lord’s reckoning, no man has ever lasted more than a day. The point is, no one should ever be so proud as to think they can walk contrary to the Lord without having to answer for their disobedience. Even if a person is blessed with longevity, they should not be seduced into thinking too highly of themselves; all must eventually come to terms with the inevitable — death.
Even if a person were to live a thousand years, this should not induce pride; that only amounts to a day in the eyes of God. On the other hand, the Almighty God has no beginning and no end, and therefore, a thousand years is but a blip on the screen of eternity. What seems to us to be almost endless, to God, is nothing more than a watch in the night — a period of a few hours. As David said, “My age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor” (Psalm 39:5).
This being understood, it prompts this observation; there is coming a day when those who are in Messiah will be raised incorruptible and immortal. There is coming a day when we will live for a thousand years and beyond. Yet I have to consider that, at that time, we will not perceive time as we do now; perhaps a thousand years will seem as a day to us as well because we will be in the Presence of the Eternal One.
When you are in the company of someone you love and are joyfully engaged with them, time has a way of passing without much recognition of it. I suspect this is what eternity with our Heavenly Father will be like. And so, that we may experience the eternal joys of His Kingdom, let us turn to Him with all our being and live in a way that pleases Him; we only have a short time to do that.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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