He Has Promised Us Long Life
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Then he goes on to say in verse 6, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
departure is at hand.” It’s like someone who is sitting at the airport, waiting to get on that big
plane to go on vacation, “Departure time is…” “Oh, we’re going on vacation. We’re getting out
of here.”
We read earlier that he said, “I’m going to stay.” But now years have passed, and he did stay,
and he did help them. Now read this next part, “The time of my departure is at hand.” What did
he say? “I have fought a good fight…” Don’t you want to be able to say that when you’re old?
There are several individuals for whom this came to pass.
Moses lived to be 120 years old, his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever, the Bible
says. Natural force had not abated. (Deuteronomy 34:7)
Abraham died at a good old age, an old man and full of years. (Genesis 25:8)
The New American Standard Bible says, “He was satisfied with life.” Are you hearing a pattern
here?
The Bible says, concerning David, “He died at a good old age having enjoyed a long life, wealth,
and honor.” (1 Kings 2)
The English version says, “He died at a ripe old age, wealthy and respected.”
The scripture says, “Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his.”
(Numbers 23:10)
Jacob died at age 147. The Bible says that he called all his kids into the bedroom, and he sat up
in the bed. He commanded them and prophesied over all of them, then he gathered his feet to the
bed, yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people. (Genesis 49:33)
That’s the way to go. You don’t have to lose your mind. You don’t have to become senile, and
you don’t have to become tied to a chair or bedfast. Remember the lady who was riding her
bicycle at age 100 every day and took up fencing at age 85? She died in 1997. That is fairly
recent.
The devil is always trying to paint bad pictures for you. “Oh, you don’t want to live that long.
You won’t have the quality of life. You’ll run out of money, and you’ll run out of health. You
don’t want to live that long.” Yes, you do, because you can be victorious. You won’t be like you
were when you were 22, but you can be sharper than you were mentally at 22. You can be
stronger and better spiritually than when you were 22, and God can keep this body together as
long as you need it.
Paul chose to stay for the benefit of others. Now years later, we’re reading from his own hand the
results of it. Just another hour or so. His half hour or whatever it was passed, and now he has got
