Preachers of Righteousness

Preachers of Righteousness
August 20, 2012
2 Peter 5  ". . . if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others . . ."

When you think of the final times, the last days, and the end of the world, you hardly think of a flood and a boat.  The two are not things you might associate with the other.  But there is a fantastic parallel between Noah's Ark with the soon coming of the Lord.  When the Lord first appeared to Noah, before He gave the instructions for the Ark, He told Noah that He was going to soon destroy the world and everyone in it.  This warning was a promise; it was going to happen.  The Lord wanted to save Noah and his family, hence the instructions for the Ark.  But there is another interesting thing that Noah did before entering the Ark.  He warned the inhabitants of the earth what was going to happen.

In the full account of Noah and the Ark, found in Genesis, there isn't a storyline of Noah preaching to the earth's inhabitants.  But the Apostle Peter, thousands of years later, referred to Noah as a "Preacher of Righteousness."  It took 100 years for the completion of Noah's Ark; it is understood that for those 100 years Noah clearly communicated what he was doing and why, that people should live a right life before the Lord brought final destruction.  Noah wanted everyone to be saved even though he KNEW there wasn't any chance the Lord would allow a place for them in the Ark.  Noah preached righteousness to the perishing.  They weren't going to make it, yet Noah had hope for them, for their souls.  He preached to them before the Ark was being built and he preached to them for 100 years while he was building the Ark.  He wanted them to be saved; he wanted them to change their ways.  Destruction was coming since destruction was promised.

While there is no flood coming, there is a final day when this earth will be destroyed and all the inhabitants in it.  There is an opportunity to be saved, just like in Noah's Ark, but salvation won't come from a boat.  It only comes through the Lordship of Jesus in our lives.  Everyone on this earth has an opportunity to be saved from the final destruction; it is not for a select few on an Ark.  We have an opportunity, an obligation to warn the inhabitants of the earth about the coming destruction.  We, like Noah, are to be preachers of righteousness.  If people get right with the Lord, then they can be saved either in death or in the last days of this earth.  But they cannot be saved if they do not know about it.  They must be made aware of their own sin and the pending doom if they do not repent of that sin.  They must be made aware of the salvation they can have through the Lord Jesus Christ.

While I don't know when the end is coming, I do know that it will happen.  And just like you've been given the chance to repent of your sins, it is your duty to make sure others have this same opportunity.  Your life should represent Noah's, that it might mimic that of a Preacher of Righteousness.  Even if your personality isn't demonstrative in public, it is still a lifestyle for you to live in front of others, ceasing opportunities to communicate the salvation you have received from the coming destruction.  Warn those around you that the end is near because if they have not received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they WILL be destroyed.

Don't take my word for it; look it up: Gen 6-8,  John 12:48, 2 Tim 3:1, 1 Peter 4:7, 2 Peter 2:4-10