Billy Graham turned 93 On Monday November 7, 2011. For decades he has led more people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, than any other man in history. According to estimates, more than 3.2 million people have received Jesus Christ by the invitation of Mr. Graham, since his first call to the altar in 1949. According to records, more than 2.2 billion people have heard about Jesus Christ since that first invitation went out 64 years ago.
I was contemplating the incredible life of Mr. Graham over the weekend and how incredible his ministry has been guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish so much for Jesus. At 93, Mr. Graham has stated in his new book introduced this past October, that growing old has had many challenges that he did not expect. It would be impossible for any man to achieve the age of 93, unless the Lord had a very specific purpose for that extended age.
As we study the old testament, we meet a man at the beginning of Genesis who was called “Methuselah”. According to experts, the name Methuselah means “When he dies, the judgement comes.”
Genesis 5:27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.
Shortly after the death of Methuselah, the global flood of Noah’s day covered the earth and destroyed every living thing. Mathematicians have estimated that the population of the earth at that time could have easily been 6-7 billion people.
It is clear that we are living today in a parallel time in history, to those “Days of Noah”. Jesus said that when he returns for his church at the event described as the “Rapture”, he will forcibly remove all those who have taken him as their Lord and Savior, back to heaven in a single moment. This event will occur during a second period in history when the earth and man’s sin has been elevated to the days of Noah, when the flood came and judgment arrived.
Matthew 24:37-42 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
Chuck Missler has described what it must have been like living in the same city as Methuselah at that time. “Every time Methuselah got a cold, people would wonder, ‘is this it? If Methuselah dies, the judgement will come…” Of course, we do not know if the people of that day even understood that Methuselah’s death would bring the judgment of God. It was not until the flood actually began and the population of the earth perished, that it was understood hundreds of years later, Methuselah’s long life and death just before the flood began, was a warning from God in advance.
For more than 60 years, Billy Graham’s ministry has brought salvation to those who have responded to his invitation to receive Jesus, as well as judgement to those who have rejected Jesus Christ. There is no middle ground with Jesus, he said that “Either men are with him or they are against him…”
Luke 11:23 He who is not with Me is against Me...
Even as receiving Jesus ends any future judgement for the sins of a person by God, so also the rejection of Jesus Christ will place a person under the condemnation and judgment of God for the future.
Dr. Graham brought both salvation and judgement to the world as God’s messenger, for over 60 years. He continues to write words of wisdom from the scriptures to us even as late as a month ago. I plan to read his new book “Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well”, as soon as I am able.
As I contemplated this incredible life of Dr. Graham and the longevity of that life, along with the current conditions of the world and the sudden return of Jesus for his church at any moment, I realized that there may be a very important reason for Dr. Grahams long life. You see, Methuselah lived longer than any man had ever lived. His name means “When he dies, the judgment comes…” God is so very patient and long-suffering with man and delays judgment for man’s sin as long as possible. God gave the world a sign in Methuselah’s life in that he will live longer than any other man, and because his death will bring judgement, that will remind the world that God is so full of Grace towards man. He loves us more than we could possibly understand. Yet, there is an appointed time when that patience will run out.
What if, this is truly the final generation that will witness the return of Jesus in these last days. What if Dr. Graham, who has witnessed to more than 2 billion people about the coming of Jesus Christ, is our present day Methuselah? That upon the passing of Billy Graham, the judgement of God will arrive in the form of the seven year tribulation. Remember that Enoch was raptured just before the judgment of the flood came, just before Methuselah died. If we are living in the last days that mirrors the days of Noah, as Jesus described, then this model may fit. Of course it is all conjecture and has no factual basis other than the model of scripture, but what if, one wonders?
Happy Birthday Dr. Graham, your life has been one of the greatest ever lived for Jesus. May he continue to be glorified in your life and your death…
Rob Robinson
