Genesis 6:
17 For behold,
I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is
the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.
18 But I will
establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your
sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you.
19 And of every
living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to
keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
20 Of the birds
according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every
creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall
come in to you to keep them alive.
21 Also take
with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as
food for you and for them."
22 Noah did
this; he did all that God commanded him.
2Peter
2:5
if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of
righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the
ungodly;
It’s very interesting
that Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness”. What does this
mean?
One of the common myths of
Christianity is that Noah preached to the people to warn
them of the upcoming
flood and subsequent destruction, and they rejected the message.
However, Genesis 6
reveals that God gave Noah specific instructions
regarding the dimensions
of the ark, and who or what would be preserved within it.
There was never any room
for anyone or anything else. Prior to the flood, there is no
His instructions.
The only instance we find
Noah speaking is in Genesis 9 when he curses his son
Canaan, and blesses his
other two sons Shem and Japheth.
Genesis 9:
20 Noah began
to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.
21 He drank of
the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
22 And Ham, the
father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers
outside.
23 Then Shem
and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked
backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned
backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness.
24 When Noah
awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,
25 he said,
"Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his
brothers."
26 He also
said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his
servant.
27 May God enlarge
Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his
servant."
All of this occurred long after the
flood as Noah planted a vineyard and partook of the wine made of the grapes of
that vineyard. Planting, harvesting, fermentation etc.; all of this took months
or more to accomplish. It should be noted that Noah’s words are a prophetic
uttering of God’s plan for salvation in Christ as son of man, as Shem is an
ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth.
It is the foretelling of the redemption
of a remnant of mankind comprised of a remnant of both jew and gentile, long
before such terminology and distinction actually existed. (Romans 11:1-36 and
16:25-27; Eph 2:11-3:12)
So again the question arises; how did
Noah become a “herald of righteousness”
That is answered by the word of
God found in Hebrews:
Hebrews 11:7 By faith
Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear
constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the
world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Noah became a herald of righteousness
by becoming an “heir” of that righteousness. How did he become an heir? In the
same way as Abraham and all the redeemed;
Genesis 15:6 And he
(Abram/Abraham) believed the LORD, and
he counted it to him as righteousness.
John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my
day. He saw it and was glad."
Noah, Abraham, indeed all of the elect and
regenerate saints found in the “old testament”, heard the word of God and
believed, and their faith was accounted to them as righteousness. They were
sinners as all men are. God declared them to be righteous. God imputed His
righteousness to them in and through Christ.
Noah’s obedience both saved the world, and condemned
it.
All of this speaks of Christ and the redeeming
of the elect. The entirety of the old testament, i.e. the law and the prophets
reveal Christ in copy and shadow. (1 Peter 1: 8-25)
John 3:
16 "For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did
not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes
in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
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