(Photo retrieved from https://www.gospelimages.com/paintings/11/noah-warns-the-people)

2Peter 2:5 says,

“If He (God) 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;”

Consider the fact that Noah did not labor in silence as he built the ark. Here, the the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Peter, informs us that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.” 

The word in 2Peter 2:5 that’s rendered into English as “preacher” is κήρυκα, a form of κῆρυξ. A commonly used word in Greek antiquity outside of the NT, it often was used when speaking of a herald; someone charged by authority (a king, for example) to proclaim public messages from that authority. 

In the NT, the word appears three times: Twice referring to the ministry given by the Lord Jesus to the Apostle Paul, and once here in Second Peter.

In each case, whether extra-Biblical ancient Greek writings or in the New Testament, the word describes a person who makes public proclamations.

Makes public proclamations.

Some Biblical scholars try to downplay Noah’s role among the people of the Earth during the pre-flood years. However, the precise meaning of Peter’s description of Noah it is utterly unmistakable: Noah preached publically God’s call to a world full of people who held God in contempt.

Imagine, for a moment, what Noah’s life must have been like after his call from God. Imagine preaching God’s Word to people who refused to include the knowledge of God in their thinking. 

Actually, it isn’t so very hard to imagine that. 

Everywhere we are told God’s Word is, at best, allegoric or subjective; at worst, it’s a fairy tale. 

So often are we told this, and from so many platforms, that a good many pastors, even whole denominations, have joined the enemies of God in supporting the destruction of God’s account of our origins, of Creation.

I won’t stop saying it: What we believe about our origins informs (directly and authoritatively) what we believe about meaning, morality, and our destiny. 

Among churches whose focus is to fill seats, it must be an easy choice to join the world and be satisfied that God must have used evolution and billions of years to “create” the Heavens and the Earth. 

What, then, do you do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If sin and death did NOT come through Adam, then what’s the need for a Savior? If the fossil record recounts billions of years of appalling death & suffering, then why was the pre-fall creation “very good” to Almighty God? 

In a world system that demandes rents, mortgages, and utilities from churches, keep in mind that the Bible says nothing of Noah having a “church” from which he proclaimed God’s Word. Jesus spoke of the days leading up to His return as being like the days of Noah. It sure looks like we’re close to such a time.

So… maybe presenting a subjective gospel isn’t the way to fulfill the mission of the church; of your church. Maybe the mission is to proclaim the truth of God clearly and unashamedly. 

God’s word is true. I can speak all day & night about the science that supports God’s account of creation. What’s most important is the truth that there was a creation week, and God did pronounce His creation as “very good.” But, then Adam sinned.

Adam fell, and thereby opened a chasm between God and people, necessitating God to bring death upon the Earth. Though it seems ironic, it is by death we may ultimately be saved from eternal separation from God. Only by accepting Jesus’ death as the atonement for our sins can we be reunited with God, the One who created us. 

If there was death before Adam, then there’s no need for a Savior. But, death before Adam is a lie. The truth is there was no death before Adam, and we all need, you need, a Savior; THE Savior, Jesus Christ.

Churches, do the duty your King called you to perform: Be His heralds! The truth of God begins with the beginning. Proclaim it! 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”