QUESTION: Adam died at the age of 930 years. Why does modern man die so early? Why has his life span been reduced so much?

ANSWER: To write on this matter with total certainty, I believe is beyond the knowledge of man. However, the following two possibilities are offered: 1) The long lives of the Patriarchs may have simply been in the providential will of God to populate the Earth and/or to better preserve His truths in the family heads through whom He operated. 2) The average age of the Patriarchs decreased gradually over a long period of time, which lends support to the thought that the reduction of life span came about as a direct result of sin. Man had been placed in the garden in a perfect state. When man. because of sin, was driven from the garden he no longer had access to the tree of life and perfection. He, from this time, would also be forced to accept the physical effect of the sin of the world in which he lived. The disease and death that resulted from these sins would naturally then bring about a decrease in the average life span.

The two suggestions above, as reasonable as they may appear, should not be taken as biblical or historical fact. We have not been given the answer! Though it does no harm to speculate on these matters, to spend much time in so doing would certainly not be advised. It would, perhaps, be good to consider Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”