OUR LORD WHO EXTENDS TIME FOR MERCY 

In Genesis chapter 5 verse 25 - 27, an account of the longest living man named Methuselah is given. The passage goes like this;

When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters.  Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

Methuselah lived until he was 969 years old then died in the year that Noah's flood began.

It is said that by the interpretation of the name Methuselah (which could be read to mean " His death shall send"), the life span of Methuselah was what was holding back Noah's flood waiting for people to repent and seek refuge in the ark.

When Methuselah's life was stretched to the extreme limit, he died and the deluge of judgement began.

To read the text this way points to a tendency of God to wait out the clock for the longest possible time even to the point of deferring Methuselah's death till he was  969 years old so that people would have the greatest possible time to repent.

In our present time, spiritual turbulence can be sensed and as it says in Isaiah 13 verse 4 - 5 ;

Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together!

The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war. They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the Lord and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.

Here, like the era of the flood, we are under warning that the whole country will be destroyed by the wrath of God. This is a time when people are being called to repent and seek refuge in the Lord through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The clock is running but what metric is holding back the judgement? 

Is it the lifespan of a man? Is it the number of people accumulating into a particular dispensation category like in Roman's 11 verse 25 - 26 that says;

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery,brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.

Pray to our Lord for mercy and call upon His name to save us.

Amen.