If you search for how to live longer, you will get page after page of listicles on what you should do to your body in order to extend your lifespan. While there may be truths to what you can do physically to keep yourself fit, your life is ultimately in the hands of the Creator God and He decides every person’s day to die. In this article, I have listed the three ways from the Bible that if man follows it, God will extend his days on the earth and give him a long life.
Adam and Eve would have been immortal beings if not for their disobedience in the garden at Eden in eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was forbidden to them by God. By this act of theirs, Adam and Eve ushered in death into the world. God drove out man from the garden at Eden and placed cherubim with a flaming sword so that the tree of life was guarded and man had no access to it.
Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.
Genesis 3:24
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
In the pre-flood world, God saw that man was constantly wicked and set his life span to be around the 120 years range. People in the pre-flood world lived easily upto the 800-900 years range. After the flood, Noah and his direct descendants lived in the 600-800 years range and by the time we get to Abraham, after the replenishment of the earth’s population, man had settled into living in the 100’s range. (Read my article – Biblical characters who lived over one hundred years since the time of Abraham)
Man’s life average life span in today’s world lasts anywhere between 70 – 120 years. Man has forever been in search of the elusive elixir to lengthen his lifespan – this has included healthy living, crazy diets, consuming supplements and revolutionary drugs, blood transfusions, human augmentation, microchip implants, leaning on artificial intelligence solutions, transhumanism, reverse engineering the biology that controls lifespan and many other life extension attempts and ideas with more to come in the future. But God’s word holds true forever and man with all his ingenuity will not be able to stretch his lifespan over the 120 years range that God has set.
Genesis 6:3
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
However God has given provisions in His word as to how man can live a long life in this world. It does not require jumping through hoops but rather living a life of obedience to God, loving Him and keeping His laws and commandments, honoring your parents and to get wisdom and understanding. Doing all of these gives you the assurance that God will prolong your life on earth although it will not be past the 120 years range limit. Read on to find out more details on how you can have a long life based on the truth that is the Word of God.
1. Honor your father and mother and obey them in the Lord
Exodus 20:12
12 Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long on the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Deuteronomy 5:16
16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Ephesians 6:1-3
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2 Honor your father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
3 That it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.
2. Fear God, keep God’s statutes & laws and don’t forget them and let your heart keep His commandments
Deuteronomy 4:40
40 You shall keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days on the earth, which the LORD your God gives you, for ever.
Deuteronomy 6:2
2 That you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you, and your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.
Proverbs 3:1-2
1 My son, forget not my law; but let your heart keep my commandments:
2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to you.
Proverbs 10:27
27 The fear of the LORD prolongs days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
3. Find wisdom and get understanding
Proverbs 3:13-18
13 Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things you can desire are not to be compared to her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her: and happy is every one that retains her.
Proverbs 9:10-11
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
11 For by me your days shall be multiplied, and the years of your life shall be increased.
– By SAP for almondtreerod.com