OVERCOMING PREMATURE DEATH
(week 22/16)
OLUBI JOHNSON AND ABAYOMI IBRAHIM
Psalms 91:16 KJV: With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
Proverbs 3:1-2 KJV: My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: (2) For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Proverbs 9:10-11 KJV: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (11) For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.
These scriptures CONCLUSIVELY show that it is God’s perfect will that we live long.
However how long is long?
Traditionally, most Christians believe that 70-80 years is a long life. They base this belief on:
Psalms 90:10 KJV: The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
However, a closer and more discerning look at this scripture IN THE CONTEXT of the verses preceding it, will show that 70-80 years was the life-span of the rebellious Jews in the wilderness, who were dying in the wilderness because of their unbelief and disobedience and so would not live long enough to enter the promised land. So 70-80 years is not the upper limit of long-life; in fact it is the lower limit!
Psalms 90:7-10 AMP: For we [the Israelites in the wilderness] are consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath are we troubled, overwhelmed, and frightened away. (8) Our iniquities, our secret heart and its sins [which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves], You have set in the [revealing] light of Your countenance. (9) For all our days [out here in this wilderness, says Moses] pass away in Your wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told [for we adults know we are doomed to die soon, without reaching Canaan]. [Num 14:26-35] (10) The days of our years are threescore years and ten (seventy years)–or even, if by reason of strength, fourscore years (eighty years); yet is their pride [in additional years] only labor and sorrow, for it is soon gone, and we fly away.
God’s definition of long life is living LONG ENOUGH TO SEE (by revelation and experience) HIS SALVATION: the perfection and fullness of Christ and thereby fulfill our prophetic destiny.
To understand this better, it is essential we understand that God did not originally create man to die physically: death is an enemy and the consequence of sin. God created the human body in its sinless form to live eternally by RENEWING itself through the genetic and immune systems.
However, when Adam sinned and was separated from the divine life, his genetic and immune systems were distorted and so man started dying physically.
It is instructive to observe that in the first 2000 years after the fall of Adam, man’s life span dropped GRADUALLY from about 1000 years to about 100 years (Gen.5.1-32; 10.1-32; 11.10-32; 23.1; 50.26)
It took Adam’s body about 1000 years to die: because it had been created and programmed to live eternally!
As the sin-nature in man’s heart gained dominance in man’s body, the RATE of the death process increased.
So today, we see most people dying (of ‘natural’ causes) in less than or about 100 years.
How then can we reverse this trend and overcome premature physical death?
By as a DAILY habit releasing the life of God into the physical through operating the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:2 KJV: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:11 NKJV: But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Doing this will GRADUALLY reverse the distortions in our genetic and immune systems and cause A RENEWAL of our physical bodies according to
Psalms 103:5 NKJV: Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Isaiah 40:31 NKJV: But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Now all this DOES NOT MEAN WE CANNOT DIE: we can! Even the Lord Jesus died physically on the cross by His physical crucifixion, and also because He took upon Himself our sin nature to suffer in hell the punishment for our sins (Is 53.3-11; 2 Cor. 5.21).
So what should we do to AVOID premature physical death from BOTH the gradual ageing of the physical body and temporal afflictions that could kill us (murder, accidents etc.)?
There are 3 major things we should do to ensure we live long ENOUGH to be SATISFIED and see and experience His salvation, the perfection and fullness of Christ and so fulfill our prophetic destiny:
a. Operate the law of the Spirit of life and the law of love DAILY by the blood, the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Proverbs 3:1-2 NKJV: My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; (2) For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.
1John 3:23-24 NKJV: And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. (24) Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Romans 13:10 NKJV: Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
b. Maintain the fear of God: an honest and a humble heart.
Proverbs 10:27 NKJV: The fear of the LORD prolongs days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened.
c. Honour your Father and Mother (both physical and spiritual).
Ephesians 6:2-3 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— (3) “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
