Noah – A Preacher Of Righteousness

by Chris Simmons

As few as nine generations removed from Adam, we read of the man Noah who lived during a time when “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). The sinfulness of man had reached the point that God was in fact “sorry that He had made man on the earth” and caused Him to grieve (verse 6). God’s decision was to “blot out” everything He had created, save for the fact that Noah had “found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (verses 7-8).

What was it about Noah that brought about such divine “favor”? The text (verse 9) records three characteristics of Noah that explain this. One, it states that Noah was a “righteous man.” A righteous man is simply someone who strives to submit and conform to God’s standard of what’s right. Two, the text says Noah was “blameless in his time.” That’s not to say Noah never made a mistake or committed any offense but it means that when he did, he earnestly sought to repent and rectify the situation. The word actually means to be perfect, whole or complete and Noah made sure his faith was complete in God’s sight. Finally, it is said of Noah that he “walked with God.” To walk with God is to be in fellowship with Him. It means to live consistently “in all the way in which the Lord your God has commanded you” (Deuteronomy 5:33).

Noah also found divine favor because he persisted in proclaiming God’s will and the opportunity for salvation. For one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3), Noah was described as a “preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5), telling those around him of God’s impending judgment and His provisions for salvation. He continued with little success other than he and his wife, their three sons and their wives (I Peter 3:20). Noah understood that it was simply his role to proclaim God’s message and allow God to “cause the growth” (I Corinthians 3:6). Noah no doubt experienced a great deal of rejection and ridicule for his obedience to God (I Peter 4:4) and his faith in what God had asked him to do and we ought to learn to emulate his persistence and dedication in what God has asked us to do.

Bible students today need to learn from Noah’s faith and respect for the authority of God’s word. “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7). “By faith” means Noah acted in accordance with what he heard from the word of God (Romans 10:17) and his reverence necessitated that he not go beyond what was revealed (II John 9; I Corinthians 4:6). It is said of Noah, after being given very specific instructions by God, “thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22). God’s instructions included the specific dimensions of the ark, the specific wood to be used to build the ark, and the detailed contents of the ark. Noah had no authority to change the size of the ark in any way nor was it his option to choose a different type of wood or change the number of animals he was to bring. God had specifically stated all those things. What the wood was to be cut with was not dictated by God and Noah was free to determine the most expedient method to prepare the gopher wood.

We need to learn from Noah that God always does what He says He is going to do. God gave His word that He was going to destroy the earth because of its wickedness and that is exactly what He did. God’s patience gave man one hundred and twenty years to repent and accept God’s deliverance but eventually His judgment was executed. Peter calls upon those who don’t believe that the Lord will again come in judgment to remember “that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (II Peter 3:5-7). God’s promises are also illustrated by the fact that after Noah left the ark, God promised that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11-13) and He gave the rainbow as a sign of His covenant between Himself and man.

Noah is certainly one of the great examples of faith and righteousness (Ezekiel 14:13-14) that we today need to pattern our lives after and learn from. We need to learn that God’s righteous judgment is a certainty for all man. We need to learn to take advantage of God’s patience that He extends to each one of us. We need to learn to “walk with God” every day of our lives. We learn that God alone defines where salvation is found and we need to learn that although God “desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4), His justice and righteousness demand that only those who obey Him – no matter how few – will actually be saved. God’s word is indeed powerful and we need to prepare ourselves for the day when He will give His word to bring about the final judgment of all mankind.