How Long Did Noah Preach Before the Flood

How Long Did Noah Preach Before the Flood?

Noah and the worldwide flood is one of the most well-known biblical stories. Many other ancient cultures believed that a worldwide flood happened. Since the book of Genesis was written thousands of years ago, we don’t know everything about Noah, or the world before the flood.

The New Testament tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:4).

So, how long did Noah preach before the flood happened?

Genesis 5:32 says that Noah was 500 years old when he had his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Then God tells Noah about the flood, and gives him instructions to build the ark. Genesis 7:6 says Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came. 

We can’t know exactly how long Noah preached for. A good estimate is that Noah preached for 100 years before the flood.

The flood lasted one year, and then Noah lived 350 more years.

There’s a good chance that Noah was a righteous man, seeking God, for the few hundred years before getting instructed to build the ark. But, we can assume that after hearing about the flood, Noah would become a preacher of righteousness. Noah would want to save other people and warn them to turn from wickedness and seek God.

2 Peter 2:9

At the time when Noah lived, there was an unbearable amount of evil in the world. Genesis 6:5 says that, “the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

We can’t imagine what that was like, but it was much worse than the evil that we see in the world today. We hear about a lot of bad things happening on the news, but most people today are still decent. We can’t even imagine what the world was like when people only thought evil, wicked thoughts 24/7.

Noah was one of the only people to follow God’s commandments, and he became an example for us to follow. I believe that thousands of years after Noah died, he is still preaching to people today. Noah is a great example of how we can live by our convictions, not go along with the crowd, and do what might seem ridiculous.

I imagine a lot of people who heard Noah and saw him building an ark said he was crazy. But, Noah focus on God and kept working to build the vessel that would save him and his family. 

Where is Noah mentioned in the New Testament?

Noah is mentioned 3 separate times in the New Testament. Jesus, Peter, and the writer of Hebrews all mention Noah. They each highlight Noah’s faith and his obedience to God’s instruction. 

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 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; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.”
2 Peter 2:4-10 NIV

“By faith [with confidence in God and His word] Noah, being warned by God about events not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his family. By this [act of obedience] he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.”
Hebrews 11:7 AMP

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Luke 17:26-27 NIV



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