How beautiful are those who preach the Good News

Written by Jerry Hogg.

History has shown that the only thing that will give hope to this pessimistic world is preaching. God has always used someone to stand up and preach in times of trouble.

Where there is trouble, God always has a spokesman -someone who will stand in the gap and preach love, or judgement if that is what is needed, who will direct our hearts and minds to the truth.

Jude 14 records how God used Enoch as his spokesperson to preach to men who were causing difficulties in the world. He had to deal with the same problems and issues we encounter today. Enoch proclaimed judgement to the people.

What would have happened to Noah two generations later if it were not for Enoch? Would he and his family remain faithful? Or would he have followed the same direction as everyone else?

2 Pet 2:5 states that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He needed 120 years to build the ark because his full-time job was preaching. Building the ark was only done in his spare time.

What David did with Bathsheba and to her husband was wrong but he felt no remorse or guilt until Nathan came and made him aware of what he had done. Would we have known anything about David today if there had not been a Nathan? If God had not had a spokesman to go to David it's likely that we would not see him in eternity one day.

God speaks to us today through the author of Ecclesiastes, where His name is mentioned 37 times. The author of the book writes about God, the difficulties in the world and his attempts to find peace and happiness in a world gone crazy.

The book of Ecclesiastes was written by "the preacher" (Eccl. 1:1). Solomon did not want his name or his kingly title associated with the book. He wanted readers to know that he was a preacher who had come to understand life as such, not because he was a king. After identifying himself as a preacher, Solomon declares that life is like "vanity of vanities". He found no value in his life, even as a highly respected king. At the end of the day, this accomplished nothing for Solomon. He set out on a search for meaning and truth (Eccl. 1:12), which is what an effective preacher does.

Solomon used everything at his disposal to try to find meaning in life. He concluded that life under the sun did not provide the answers, but faith in God. After reaching this conclusion, he taught the knowledge he had acquired to the people. The world today needs people to acquire knowledge and share it with others.

The Church in particular needs men like the preacher who wrote Ecclesiastes. Because without preachers the same thing could happen to us that might have happened to Noah and David. Imagine what would have happened if there had not been an Isaiah, Jeremiah or Daniel? How beautiful are those men who stand up and bring Good News to the world today. There is no time to wait.

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