“"A Preacher Of Righteousness"”

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

            Peter, by inspiration, gives Noah a unique description. He calls Noah a “preacher of righteousness” in II Peter 2:5. The word “preacher” in this text means what we think it means. “Preacher” is from the Greek word meaning, “herald of divine truth” (Strong’s). Is this the usual picture we have in our minds when we think of Noah? If not, it should be!

            Noah is well-known as the man who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:9). God instructed him to build an ark so that he might save his family from the coming Deluge (Gen. 6:14; Heb. 11:7). The Ark he built sometime in the years between his 500th and 600th birthday (Gen. 5:32, 7:11), served the purpose of saving land animals as well as the humans that chose to join him (Gen. 6:19-22, 7:2-3, 7-9; I Pet. 3:20). Again, when we think about Noah, we might think “obedience,” or “shipwright” or “faithful,” or other worthy descriptions, but when was he ever a “preacher”? 

            Perhaps our confusion on this subject results from the fact that we forget that we’re not told about Noah until he was 500 years old (Gen. 5:32). What was he doing during the five centuries prior to the Ark? Was he following in the example of great-grandpa Enoch (Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5; Jude 14-15)? Was he warning people about their wickedness and sin? We are not told explicitly, but praise such as “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:9) does not come for no reason!

            Don’t forget that Noah built the Ark during his 500th and 600th year (Gen. 5:32, 7:11). Since folks hadn’t seen such a thing before (Heb. 11:7), if they came to Noah and asked what he was doing, was this not an “open door” to preach and warn people about what was to come? I think he did a lot of preaching in those years!

            Lastly, once off of the Ark, what do we see Noah doing? The first thing he did was stop and worship God (Gen. 8:20). Wouldn’t the preaching of Noah have to continue? He lived another 350 years after the Flood (Gen. 9:28-29)! Therefore, he had to tell future generations who had not been on the Ark about God’s covenant (Gen. 9:8-11), the rainbow’s connection (Gen. 9:12-17), not to murder (Gen. 9:6), not to eat blood (Gen. 9:4), not to mention God’s plan for marriage (Gen. 2:18-25) and many other things. As patriarch, he would have had such a responsibility to warn and instruct.

            When thinking about it in this light, how could we not think of Noah as a preacher? He knew what God said, and he spoke it and lived it before the people. Noah’s righteous example was recorded for us to follow (Rom. 15:4). We need to be preaching God’s word (II Tim. 2:2). We need to speak it and live it daily. We have many to influence and bring to the Lord before the coming destruction -- not by water, but by fire (II Thess. 1:6-9)! Are you preaching like Noah?

- Jarrod M. Jacobs

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