The Inevitability of Death

A Devotional Series from Genesis

Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)

7/20 Reading Portions: Judges 3; Acts 7; Jeremiah 16; Mark 2

Genesis 9:28-29

After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

YEARS

Noah lived 20 years longer than Adam (Gen 5:5), but 19 years less than the oldest man recorded in Scripture, His grandfather, Methuselah (Gen 5:27). There are some wonderful gospel truths we can glean from this. Here are just a few.

First, in the 350 years after the flood that God’s sovereign grace granted Noah, we see God’s provision for man’s responsibility to pass down gospel light. Noah lived long enough to know and teach each one of Shem’s sons, from Arpachshad to Abram (Gen 11:10-26). Abram would have been 58 years old when Noah died.

Second, not only did Noah live long enough to teach ten generations of his progeny, but his life as a herald of righteousness would have been an encouraging testimony of patient endurance to those generations. Noah was the man who stood against the world as a witness to the only true and living God (2 Pet 2:5); he stood boldly for God while he built an ark, when every person in the world stood against God and His messenger—against Noah and his message.

Third, that it is recorded that after living such a full life, that Noah died, reminds us of the inevitability of death. If one is so righteous, the only one (Gen 6:9) on the planet, and then he must die, then all must die (Heb 9:27-28).

Finally, that inevitability in Noah’s example also provides us with the most spectacular and wonderful gospel example. Noah was a righteous man, but he was still a fallen descendant of Adam, a sinner, drunk with too much wine (Gen 9:21). There is One, however, who was exceedingly more righteous than Noah, more righteous than the best of men, the Lord Jesus Messiah. It is only by His death, and trusting in the eternal justification from His death, that men may live. Hallelujah! What a Savior!