Difficult Questions: How Long Did God Say We Can Live?
From time to time, we dig into Scripture and seek answers to difficult questions from the Bible. Today, we are asking the question: “How long did God say we can live?”
The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10 (NKJV)
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Genesis 6:2-4 (NKJV)
In the Old Testament it is recorded of mankind living to be very old. The oldest recorded person was Methuselah who lived to be 969 years old (Genesis 5:27). Yet, today we don’t hear of many people even reaching 100 years old because many people believe in the lifespan mentioned in Psalm 90. On the other hand, some people say that, based on Genesis 6, man is promised 120 years. What is the length of life that God promises to us as New Testament believers? We find our answer by looking at the actual situations surrounding our Scripture references.
Let’s address the 70-80 year limit mentioned in Psalm 90. It is important to remember that Psalm 90 was written by Moses. This means that the 70-80 year limit pertains to those living at the time of Moses. God was addressing the rebellious generation in the wilderness that would die off and would not enter the promised land. Because of their stubbornness, God refused to allow them to enter and said they would die in the wilderness. The generation He was speaking to wandered in the wilderness forty years. Once forty years had passed, an entire generation had died. God had limited the length of their lives to shorten the amount of time the next generation had to wait to enter the land of Canaan. That is the specific application of the mention of a lifespan of only 70-80 years. It was for those who were sentenced to die in the wilderness. It is not applied any other place in Scripture. If it pertained to others in the Bible after that time, then why did some people live longer than that? Just one example is the High Priest Eli, who was 98 when he died (I Samuel 4:15). Even today, there are a number of people who live into their 80’s and 90’s. So, the 70-80 year limit seems to be for the children of Israel who had wandered in the wilderness because of their stubborn refusal to believe God.
Let’s move on to the passage that mentions a lifespan of 120 years. We see this in Genesis 6:3. If we pull the verse out of context, it appears that God just randomly decided to limit man’s life to 120 years because of His exasperation with mankind. When we look at the actual wording, it says that God’s Spirit would not strive with man forever, but that He would give them 120 years. What does it mean when God says His Spirit would not strive with man? One interesting translation of this is found in the Wycliffe Bible.
And God said, My spirit shall not dwell in man without end, for he is flesh; and the days of him shall be an hundred and twenty years. Genesis 6:3 (Wycliffe Bible, WYC) emphasis mine
God is saying that His spirit, which is what gives man life, would not remain in him beyond 120 years. So, at this time, God was indeed limiting mankind to 120 years. However, we must again look at the situation in which this happened. This was before the flood of Noah. The sons of God, which refers to angels in each instance where the phrase is used, had had sexual relations with human women and produced a species of extremely wicked creatures referred to as giants. As a result, the bloodline of man had become polluted and the genetic make-up of mankind was being messed with. In order for the bloodline to remain pure so that the Messiah could eventually come forth, God had to bring a flood. But, because He is just and longsuffering, He gave mankind 120 years to repent of sins such as intermingling with fallen angels before the flood would come. Shortly after this is mentioned by God in Genesis 5, we see that God instructs Noah to build an ark. It took Noah 100 years to construct it. This means the 120 limit was actually a prophetic declaration meant to call mankind to repent. Sadly, they did not. Only Noah and his family were spared of the judgment that came.
If from that point on mankind was to live no more than 120 years, why did Noah continue to live after the flood another 350 years (Genesis 9:28)? Noah was 600 when the flood came (Genesis 7:6). When he died, he was 950 (Genesis 9:29). Is it wrong for a Christian to believe to live 120 years? No, it isn’t, but this passage isn’t specifically limiting our lifetimes to 120.
So, if neither of these Scripture references places a limit on the length of our lives, what is the lifespan promised by God to man? From what I’ve seen in the Word, I don’t believe God has a limit on man’s current lifespan. Take the following verses as evidence of this.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16 (NKJV) emphasis mine
This passage tells us that we live as long as we’re satisfied to live. Satisfy is the Hebrew word saba which means to fill to satisfaction, to have plenty of, to fill, to have enough. Consider that word as you read this next passage.
Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.John 16:22-24 (NKJV) emphasis mine
The word full here is the Greek word pleroo, which means to fill, make full, to satisfy. We could say that satisfy in Psalm 91 and that your joy may be full in John 16 are very similar, if not the same. In other words, God has promised long life to us- long enough to satisfy us. And we can use our faith to ask the Father for the length of life that will satisfy us, or fill us with joy.
To summarize, 70-80 years refers to the Israelites in the wilderness. The 120 year reference applies to those living just before the flood of Noah. Those of us living now under a better covenant based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6) can use our faith to live to the point where we’re satisfied that we’ve lived long enough to do what we were put on earth to do. In other words, the only limit to the length of life for a born-again believer is the strength of his faith and the amount of time he wishes to be here.
