     STANDARD
       BEARER
         A REFOWED  SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





        No individual election? One could offer extensive
     Biblical proof. But just off-hand, what about the
     7000 whom the Lord tells Elijah He has reserved unto
     Himself and who have not bowed the knee to Baal?
     And if the objection. is raised that they are not called
     elect, then let me call attention to the clear word of
     Romans  11:4, 5: "`But what saith the answer of God
     unto him? I  .have reserved to myself seven thousand
     men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of
     Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a
     remnant according to the election of grace." Seven
     thousand elect mentioned at once!
        See "Clasping A Viper To The Bosom" - page  52,





.                                  Volume  LIII, Number 3, November 1,  19761


50                                                           THE STANDARDBEARER

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                                                                              ;iey.   John  A.  HeYs,  Rev.  Jay Kortering, Rev. M. Hoeksema Rev
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MEDITATIbN



                                                The Wise Builder
                                                                 Rev. H. VeldTvan


                "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto
                a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. . . Matt. 7124-27



      Blessed is he who is not only a hearer of the word                        these sayings stay with him; he practices and does
but also a doer of the same. A mere hearer of the                               what he hears.
word is one who simply hears with an outward ear,
receives the sayings of the Lord intellectually, but                                Besides, we must do "these sayings of mine." A
does not practice them. These sayings do not affect                             mere hearer of the word can be very active. Notice
his life; his life remains unchanged. A doer of the                             what we read in Matthew 7:21~22. These people are
word is one who practices the sayings of the Lord;                              not merely hearers; they are also doers. They are very


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                              51


active in their service of the Lord. But, we must do           a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
"these sayings of mine." This is exactly what these            God. The only requisite for our entering this king-
people of the verses 21-22 did-not do. They did not            dom, what must happen before our entrance, is our
know sin and unrighteousness, were not prompted by             regeneration by God's almighty and irresistible grace.
the Spirit of Christ. They performed mighty works,             The Lord must call us out of darkness into the light,
but in their own strength; their works were ex-                out of death into life, out of the darkness and cor-
clusively earthy, to make this world a better place in         ruption, of this world into the light and life of the
which to live; they were very busy, but without the            kingdom of God and of His dear Son.
blood of Christ and of Calvary; their works had                   A wise or foolish builder  - either, or. Both hear
nothing to do with the kingdom of heaven..                     "these sayings of mine." The text emphasizes this.
   Indeed, we must do "these sayings of mine,"                 And, these sayings of Jesus affect both. Jesus does
whereof we have a brief summary in the Sermon on               not speak as do the scribes and pharisees; He speaks
the Mount and as set forth before us in the infallible         with authority. No hearer of these sayings can ignore
scriptures.                                                    them. He must build. The word of God is powerful,
                                                               always influencing all its hearers.
WHO HE IS                                                         What is a fool? A foolish man is not an ignorant
                                                               man. He, too, hears these sayings of Christ. So, he is
   A wise or foolish builder - it is either, or.               not ignorant. A fool is one who denies reality. He is
   Jesus speaks `here of "these sayings of mine."              acquainted with the Word of God. He knows of the
Strictly speaking, these sayings of Jesus refer to the         kingdom of God and that it is heavenly. He also
Saviour's Sermon on the Mount. Generally speaking,             knows of the living God and his calling to serve Him
Jesus' sayings are the Scriptures. Of course, they are         with all his life and being. And he knows that the
one. Scripture is but a broader setting forth of what          Scriptures speak the truth . . . . And yet he is a fool.
the Saviour declares in His Sermon on the Mount.               Why? Fact is, folly is not merely a matter of the
   These sayings of Jesus refer, first of all, to the          mind, of the intellect. Folly is principally a matter of
kingdom of heaven. This is God's kingdom in Christ             the heart. The sinner shuts his eye to reality wilfully.
by -grace, and it refers to the service of the living God      He knows all about God, His Christ, sin, etc. But he
with all the love of our heart and mind and soul and           hates God and loves evil. A fool is beyond the reach
strength. This kingdom is heavenly. It is not earthy           .of any man.
and does not reach its ideal here below, is not realized         And who is a wise man? He is a product of divine
in the way of earthly glory and power. It does not             grace. He is not necessarily a learned man, even as a
come in the way of a social gospel, in the way of              fool is not necessarily an ignorant man. A wise man is
banishment of sicknesses and diseases, wars and                one taught by God. He reckons with reality, builds
rumours of war, without the cross of Calvary; fact is,         for the future. He confesses his sin and iniquity, cries
it comes in the. way of pestilences and earthquakes,           to God for mercy, has his eye upon the City that has
wars and  rumours of wars. It is heavenly and will             foundations.
reach its final realization and glory in heavenly
immortality. The law, the spiritual law of this king-          WHAT HE BUILDS
dom is established by grace and consists in the service           He who hears the sayings of Jesus and doeth them
of God with all the love of our heart and mind and             not is like unto a man who builds his house upon
soul and strength.                                             sand. How foolish! Especially in Palestine . . . ! He
   Secondly, these sayings of Jesus also speak of our          knows how violent these storms can be. But, the sun is
entrance into this kingdom of heaven. We enter this            shining when he is building. He builds as if the sun
kingdom, first of all, through the blood and righ-             will always shine, as if the storms will never come. He
teousness of Christ. The Scriptures teach, emphati-            fails to reckon with reality.
cally, that we are in ourselves barred from that                 We must identify this builder. He does not repre-
kingdom. We are hopelessly lost in sin and guilt. We           sent the offscouring of society. Really, drunkards and
have neither the ability nor the will to pay our debt          thieves and murderers do not build. They are no `asset
and satisfy the righteousness of God; the kingdom of           either to themselves or to society. This foolish builder
heaven is, therefore, hopelessly beyond our reach.             is indeed held before us in Matthew 7 :2 l-23. These
The only entrance into this kingdom isthe blood and            foolish builders are the men of culture; they would
righteousness of Christ, of the eternal Son of God             improve the world and all human society. The theory
united with our flesh and blood, the blood of the              of Common Grace lauds them because they do so
Lamb of God and of Calvary that taketh away the sin            much good in the world. Jesus, however, calls them
of the world. And, secondly, we enter this kingdom,            fools. And in the verses 21-23 He declares that He
spiritually, by God's irresistible grace. Indeed, except       never knew them, calls them workers of iniquity.


 52                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


       He builds beautiful and mighty palaces. How he               concerned in the midst of the world. He knows that
strives to banish war, to deliver this world from the               he cannot persevere in the way of God's command-
results of sin, from all sickness and misery! He would              ments. That future is heavenly. By nature he, too, is
transform this world into a paradise, a world of sick-              earthly and from below. But Christ is risen from the
ness and pain and sorrow into a world of joy and                    dead, exalted into glory, and he has received life, a
happiness. The world, he knows, needs reform. All                   new life from above. Hence, he now sees the now in
sickness and disease must be conquered, the world                   the light of the then, the present in the light of the
improved in all its aspects . . . . All the world's prob-           future, the earthly in the light of the heavenly. And
lems must be conquered, and the people of God must                  to be inducted into that heavenly Jerusalem he builds
cooperate with the children of darkness, it is said, to             upon Christ. He does not cling to his own work. He
achieve this goal.                                                  clings to the work of Christ; in His cross he glories.
       How unutterably foolish is he! He has no founda-             And for him to do the will of his heavenly Father
tion. He builds upon sand. He would remove the re-                  means that he will declare and show forth His praises,
sults of sin but retain sin. He does not reckon with                having been called by God's grace out of darkness
the sayings of Christ. He would be cured of cancer                  into His marvellous light.
but ignores the Great Physician. Sin is the cause of all
misery and the blood of Christ alone cleanses from all
sin, but the cross he rejects and Jesus he despises. 0,             THE RESULT OF HIS BUILDING
he will use a humanitarian Christ . . . . This Christ,                How great is the fall of the house built upon sand!
however, does not exist. He is a fool, denies Reality.              These winds and rains are the symbols of God's judg-
  On the other hand, he who hears and does the                      ment. They will occur when the world shall have
sayings of Jesus is a wise builder. He builds upon                  reached its pinnacle of development, its highest devel-
rock. The fool builds upon sand, does not bother                    opment in culture, and also in sin. Great and mag-
with a foundation. This man digs. The fool un-                      nificent will be this development of the world . : . !
doubtedly has his house completed while the wise                      The house of the foolish builder will fall, and great
man continues to dig. He is determined to build upon                will be the fall of it. Of course! The house will be
rock. Really, as far as this wise builder is concerned,             great. And its fall will be great. Sin will then be
nothing can ever be seen. He does not build for this                revealed in all its awful folly. Even as a corpse must
world, is not interested in what can be seen.                       disintegrate when exposed to the rays of the sun, so
  Indeed, to do "these sayings of mine" does not                    also all the glory of the world will be revealed in all
mean that we do big things for God and for His                      its vanity and nothingness. Everlastingly the Lord will
Christ. The building of mighty palaces is a task which              confront him as a consuming fire.
the foolish builder has taken upon himself. This wise                 `The house of the wise builder will stand forever.
builder would stand upon rock, and-this rock is Christ              His house is a house. of sin and grace. And God is not
Jesus. The house he builds is really a house of sin and             unrighteous to forget His own work. Even as the Lord
grace. He has nothing to contribute except iniquity                 loves and seeks Himself, so He will also justify His
and sm. He was conceived and born dead in sins and                  own work in all His saints. He will reveal, even for-
in trespasses. He builds and stands upon Christ; in                 evermore, that the work of Christ is eternally sure.
Christ is all his confidence. In Christ is all his con-               Blessed is he who builds upon that Rock.
fidence as far as his sins are concerned. He glories in
the cross of Calvary. He has learned, by the grace of                 `Presently whatever is of sin and of the earth shall
God, to lay all his filthy clothes at the foot of the               pass away.
cross; he clings to the cross of Golgotha. In Christ is               `Whatever is of God in Christ Jesus, His Son, our
also all his confidence as far as his preservation is               Lord, will abide forever.

EDITORIAL
                      Clasping a Viper to the Bosom
                                                             (4)
                                                 Pro5 H.C. Hoeksema

  At this point in our discussion of the world-wide                 we are viewing the situation in South Africa. When
erosion of the doctrine of sovereign predestination,                we broke off the discussion in the September 15


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   53


issue, we were calling attention to the views of Dr. A.      tural; they seem to cite much Scriptural evidence in
Kijnig of the University of South Africa. We had             support of their views. To be sure, this is
begun to show how he attempts to do away with the            characteristic of heretics. A heretic must, in order to
doctrine of reprobation. He is right in line with all the    succeed, leave the impression of being Biblical. But in
present-day deniers of this doctrine, who attempt to         their presentation of this Scriptural evidence they do
reduce it simply to a judicial act of God whereby He         not hesitate to reconstruct Scripture in a most blatant
rejects those who reject Him.                                and preposterous way. Sometimes it almost seems
   Before we proceed with our discussion, I must call        that they are trying to bluff their readers and their
attention to the fact that this reconstruction of the        students by their very radical use (misuse) of the
doctrine of predestination by allegedly Reformed             Scriptures. A little calm analysis by any Reformed
theologians everywhere is indeed a rather amazing            believer with only a cursory knowledge of Scripture
phenomenon. I cannot escape the impression that              will frequently enable him to expose the fallacy of
these mid-twentieth century theologians are rather           the view presented. Of this I hope to furnish some
cocky and smart-alecky, first of all. Some of them           examples in our subsequent discussion.
even seem to go out of their way to make shocking              We may begin with the quotation made at the con-
statements. But even apart from their language and           clusion of our previous article. In this paragraph Dr.
style, would it not be an amazing fact if suddenly in        Kijnig refers very disparagingly to what he terms the
this twentieth century theologians gain new insights         particular&tic misconception of the Old Testament.
into the doctrine of predestination which are in flat        In this connection he writes: "The particularistic view
contradiction to the insights of the theologians of          of the `Old Testament is supported by yet another
Dordrecht, of Beza, of Calvin, of Gottschalk, of             misconception, viz. that election implies rejection."
Augustine? The insights are not truly new, of course;        Dr. Konig, you see, does not want this. He does not
they are only old heresies in a somewhat new garb.           want double predestination, election and rejection.
But they are new and contradictory insights for men          This, for him, is a misconception.
who are supposed to stand and who claim to stand in            Now, in the first place, I would point out that
the Reformed tradition and in the line of the theo-          these theologians who want an election which does
logians mentioned above. Our twentieth century, of           not imply rejection are  .asking you to believe `an
course, is characterized by a know-it-all attitude; and      impossibility. Even apart from the question of what
it claims for itself the honor of a  knowledge-              Scripture teaches, this is sheer nonsense. An election
explosion in almost every field of learning. And it          which does not imply rejection? How is that possible?
seems that this spirit has pervaded the halls of             Election means "to choose out, to choose from." If
theological learning also. But already this phenome-         there are 100 men, and I choose 50 of those 100, are
non should put us on our guard. It would be strange          not the other 50 rejected? You can phrase it as you
indeed if all the predestinarian theologians of past         wish: they are not chosen, they are non-elect  (in-
centuries were theological nincompoops, and if the           fralapsarian language), they are passed by (more
upstarts of the twentieth century with their new             infra-). The fact remains that the choosing out of the
insights were right. This alone should fill us with a        50 implies the non-choosing, passing by, rejection of
healthy skepticism when we study what they have to           the remaining 50. The same is true of God's election:
say.                                                         it necessarily implies the rejection (nonelection, pass-
   But the matter is even more serious. After all, it is     ing by) of all whom He does not choose. The only
not merely a question of whether you evaluate Calvin         alternative to this, it seems to me, is universal
as a theologian more highly than some contemporary           election.
.theologian.  And it is not merely a question of             But lest I be accused of mere rationalistic argu-
standing in traditions of men or disagreeing with            mentation, let me point out that this is the plain
those traditions. We believe that the Spirit of Christ       teaching of Scripture. First of all, in general, is it not
was given to the church in order to lead her into all        plain from the history of the old dispensation that
the truth. Did the Holy Spirit fail to lead the church       the gentiles were indeed excluded? Was not Israel the
in the past? Or did He.mislead  the church in the past?      on& people of the Lord? Were not all the nations, for
Or has the truth into which He leads the church              example, who stemmed from Japheth excluded from
changed? It is especially from this point of view that       the work of God's grace until the time of the new
one must be extremely cautious about alleged new             dispensation? And were not the Canaanites rejected
insights and must carefully test them.                       .and displaced by God's people? And even among the
  This leads me to call attention to another rather          generations of Shem, was not Abraham singled out -
amazing phenomenon. These - so I would call them             to the exclusion of all the rest? And to Abraham was
- reconstructionist Reformed theologians often try           not God's Word: "In Isaac shall thy seed be called?"
to leave an overwhelming impression of being Scrip-          In the second place, does not the express testimony


 54                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


 of Scripture contradict this notion? Did not God sav               unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand
through Amos, "You only have I known of all  the                    men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of
families of the earth?" Or speaking of distinction                  Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a
(Konig  deprecates this as  "favouritism"),  how about              remnant according to the election of grace." Seven
Deuteronomy 7 : 6 : "For thou art an holy people unto               thousand elect mentioned at once!
the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself, above all                   And what about that national election? And how
people that are upon the face of the earth." And if                 can any Reformed theologian worthy of the name
the English text is not clear enough here, let it be                suggest the possibility of those who are elected being
noted that the Hebrew term  (nzin)  very definitely                 rejected? Does Dr. Kijnig have no knowledge of the
means "from, in separation from." Or to cite a                      Scriptural truth that "they are not all Israel, which
specific instance of rejection in distinction from elec-            are of Israel?" Does he have no understanding of the
tion, think of Malachi 1:2-4: `!I. have loved you, saith            truth that God's election and reprobation cut right
the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?                   across the generations of Israel? Does he not know
Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I                 that the Lord instructed Moses in this truth at the
loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his moun-                   time of his intercession after the sin of the golden calf
tains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the                 at Sinai, and taught Moses with respect to the nation
wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impover-                     of Israel, "I will have mercy upon whom I will have
ished, but we will return and build the desolate                    mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will
places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build,             have compassion?"
but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The                  One of the most blatant attempts to reconstruct
border of wickedness, and, The people against whom                  Scripture comes when Dr. Kijnig writes about the
the Lord hath indignation for ever."                                purpose  of election, introducing this section as
   In connection with his view of predestination, Dr.               follows:
Kijnig does not want individual election, but only a                       To understand the purpose of Israel's election
national election of Israel, an election of the people                  correctly it is of utmost importance to note that the
of Israel. He insists upon this repeatedly, even to the                 Bible does not begin with Israel's (or Abraham's)
point that he finally teaches that the same people of                   election, [Does anyone teach this? HCH] but the his-
Israel who are elected can also be and are rejected!                    tory of Abraham and Israel is preceded by eleven
And again, in this connection he makes some points                      chapters relating God's creation of heaven and earth,
which cause one to rub his eyes in amazement. He                        and  His continuous involvement from the very begin-
                                                                        ning with His total creation. The Bible does not begin
writes as follows, p. 13 :                                            ' particularistically  with Israel alone, while ignoring all
          In the Old Testament individuals are seldom                   the other peoples, but God deliberately reveals Him-
       mentioned as elected. One can find no other names                self first of all, as the God of the whole world, as the
       than those of Abraham (Neh. 9:7); Moses (Ps.                     God who created the universe, and who has a claim
       106:23); Aaron  (Ps.  105:26); David  (I%.  78:70;               to (and interest in) all peoples of the earth. In fact,
       89:4); and Zerubbabel  (Hag. 2:23), and even they can            the frost eleven chapters of Genesis relate the history
       hardly be considered individuals; they are each in               of God's dealings with all the nations of the earth.
       their own way representatives of the people.                     The history of Gen. l-11 can be summarised as
          Sometimes the king of Israel is referred to as               follows: God creates heaven and earth, man being the
       elected. Here, too, it is not primarily the person of            crown of His creation (Gen. 1). For this reason man is
       the king, but his office as ruler of the people of God           at the centre of creation (Gen. 2). Unfortunately man
       which earns him the title. Since Israel is God's elected         abuses his responsibility; he is not willing to remain a
       people, the king of Israel is an elected king (II Sam.          man, he would rather be like God (Gen. 3). This is
       5:12).                                                          the beginning of the process of man's estrangement
          We have already identified the real object of elec-          from God, which would become catastrophic and
       tion according to the Old Testament, viz. the people            would spread over the whole earth (Gen. 4-6). For
       of Israel. Deut. 7:6 ff.; 14:2; Ps. 105:6, 43; 106:5; I         this reason God's judgement cannot stay (Gen. 7-8),
       Chr. 16:13;Isa. 41:8 ff.; 43:10,20  ff.;44:1 ff.; 65:9,         but nevertheless God remains faithful to His creation
       15,22.                                                           as well as to man (Gen 8-9). A new generation pro-
                                                                      ceeds from the descendants of Noah (Gen. 10); how-
  No individual election? One could offer extensive                    ever, they too turn their backs on God. This time He
Biblical proof. But just off-hand, what about the                       does not punish by water and flood, but causes man-
7000 whom the Lord tells Elijah He has reserved unto                   kind to spread over the face of the earth and to be-
Himself and who have not bowed the knee to Baal?                       come estranged (Gen. 11).
And if the objection is raised that they are not called               If this is an accurate summary of Genesis l-l 1,
elect, then let me call attention to the clear word of              then Dr. Kijnig has a different Bible than I have.
Romans 11:4, $ : "But what saith the answer of God                  Notice: 1) There is no mention of the protevangel. 2)


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                55



There is no reference to the seed of the woman and          Shem is singled out, that prophetically Japheth is to
the seed of the serpent (election and reprobation!). 3)     be enlarged and then to dwell in the tents of Shem,
There is no mention of the fact that the  Genesis-          and that Ham is cursed in Canaan. What an altogether
record clearly traces these two antithetical seeds in       different picture than that drawn by Dr. Kijnig!
the generations of Abel-Seth and of Cain-Lamech. 4)           It was not my intention originally to offer a
There is no mention of the fact that the reprobate -        critique of Dr.  Kijnig's views, but merely to show
ungodly in the prediluvian world developed in sin,          how in South Africa also the viper is being clasped to
filled the measure of iniquity, and were destroyed in       the bosom. And even now I do not present the above
the Flood, while the church (God's elect, covenant          as a careful and thorough critique. But I considered it
people) were saved in the ark and by water. 5) There        profitable for our readers to have a sample of how
is no hint that after the Flood these same two seeds        theology and the Scriptures are dealt with by these
developed anew out of Noah's sons. 6) There is no           reconstructionist-theologians who scorn the tradi-
reference to the fact that prophetically the line of        tional Reformed line.

TRANSLATED TREASURES


                 Acts of the Synod  6f Dordrecht


  At first he sought to free himself from all suspicion     he also openly testified that he had many insights and
of strange doctrine, to such a degree that he even          suspicions against the adopted doctrine which he
defended the doctrine of the Reformed Churches              would in his own time reveal. Some Preachers who
concerning the satisfaction of Christ, concerning justi-    familiarly associated with him boasted that he had an
fying faith, concerning justification through faith,        entirely new Theology. His students, when they came
concerning the perseverance of true believers, con-         home from the Academy or departed to other Acad-
cerning the certainty of salvation, concerning the          emies, brazenly took position against the Reformed
imperfection of men in this life, and other chief           Churches, disputing, contradicting, and criticizing the
points of doctrine, all of which he later contradicted.     doctrine. The Holland Churches, noting these and
and which are today opposed by his disciples, con-          other things, and being rightly concerned that the
trary to his own views (as Johannes Amoldi Corvenus         orthodoxy of the Reformed doctrine was thus weak-
openly admits in a certain German document) in pub-         ened, and that in this manner the youth, who were
lic disputations. But when he had served in his office      trained in this "greenhouse" for the hope of the
for a year or two, they began to notice that Arminius       churches, were being taken in by strange doctrines,
was beginning to slander many doctrines accepted in         and that this matter would ultimately burst forth to
the Reformed Churches, both openly and in secret, to        the great harm, disturbance, and detriment of the
call them into question, and to create suspicion            churches, deemed it necessary through their Delegates
among his pupils. For he sought to render impotent          (to whom the common care of the churches was
the chief proofs by which those same doctrines were         entrusted) to take more `careful note of this entire
`established from God's Word, using the same excep-         matter, in order that at the next Synod provision
tions and subterfuges which the Jesuits, Socinians,         might be made that the church would suffer no
and other enemies of the Reformed Church attempt-           damage. For this reason the Deputies of the Church-
ed to use; and, on the contrary, he exalted the proofs      es, both from South and North Holland, went to
of the opposite doctrines. Moreover, he secretly gave       Arminius and confronted him with the rumors which
to his disciples, to be copied, certain of his tracts,      were being spread concerning him and concerning his
written by hand, in which he had incorporated his           doctrine, told him how much all the churches were
views. Besides, he recommended the writings of              concerned, and in a friendly manner begged him that
Castalio, Cornhert, Suarez and such like writers to his     in case he had anything to say concerning these
pupils, and spoke deprecatingly of the writings of          adopted doctrines he would uprightly inform the
Calvin, Beza, Martyr, Zanchius, Ursinus, and other          brethren, in order that either he might be satisfied
outstanding teachers of the Reformed Churches. Yea,         through a friendly conference, or that the whole


56                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


matter might be brought to a lawful synod. Arminius        not achieve this, he obtained from his fellow profes-
answered these Deputies that he had never given just       sors, with the help of the Honorable Curators of the
cause for such rumors, and that he did not deem it         Academy, a testimony, August 10, in which it was
advisable to go into conference with them as with          declared that there were indeed more disputings
Deputies (if they would make a report of this to the       among the students than pleased them, but that
Synod). But in so far as they would put aside this         among the Professors of Theology themselves, as far
capacity of Deputies, he would not refuse to confer        as was known to them, there was no difference
with them as with private Preachers concerning the         regarding the fundamentals themselves. A short time
doctrine, but with this condition, that in case they       after this, August 30, the Synod of the South Holland
did not agree they would make absolutely no report         Churches was convened in the city of Rotterdam.
of this to the Synod. Sinde the Deputies judged this       This Synod was given to understand by the delegates
to be improper, and since the churches would not be        of the classis of Dordrecht that there were many and
freed from their concern by such a conference, they        weighty reasons why they had sent this protest. The
parted ways with the matter unresolved. Nevertheless,      Synod also heard from the  synodical deputies con-
they understood from the other Professors of  The-         cerning the situation at Leiden and concerning
olory that among the students of theology various          matters under discussion with Arminius and the other
disputes and questions concerning predestination,          professors. And after due deliberation, the Synod
free will, preservation of the saints, and other chief     decided that they must promptly pursue that creep-
points of doctrine were conducted with great serious-      ing evil and that- they should not postpone the matter
ness, such as had not taken place among them prior         on the basis of the uncertain hope of the convening
to the coming of Arminius.                                 of a National Synod. For this reason they charged the
      On July 26, 1604, Arminius was also admonished       Deputies of the Synod to find out with all diligence
by the Church of Leiden, of which he was a member.         which points of doctrine the students of theology in
Two elders of that church, the Honorable Messrs.           the Academy of Leiden were especially disputing.
                                                           Further the Deputies were instructed to request the
Phaedo van Brouckeroven, Mayor of Leiden, and              Honorable Curators to charge the Professors of The-
Paulus  Merula, Professor of History, admonished him       ology to declare their views concerning these points
that he should come to a friendly conference with his      of doctrine forthrightly and uprightly, in order that
colleagues or fellow professors in the presence of the     thus it might appear whether they agreed or dis-
Consistory of the Church of Leiden, to make known          agreed, and in order that the churches, in so far as the
what he might have against the adopted doctrine. The       differences might be either non-existent or not
purpose of the conference was to bring out whether         serious, might be freed from their concern, or, in case
he would agree or not agree with his colleagues and        the differences were found to be more serious, might
with the other Preachers, and to specify the points of     promptly take remedial action. The Synod, Novem-
doctrine on which there was agreement or disagree-         ber  8, also enjoined all the ministers that they, in
ment. To this admonition of the Consistory of Leiden       order to testify of their agreement in doctrine, should
Arminius answered that he could not do such a thing        subscribe to the Confession of these Churches and to
without the consent of the Honorable Curators, and,        the Catechism - something which was neglected  in
further, that he did not see what profit the church        many Classes and which was refused by others.
might gain from such a conference.                           The Deputies of the Synod,. after diligent investi-
      The time was then at hand for the annual Synod of    gation of the case, delivered to the Curators nine
the Churches of South and North Holland. According         questions about which they understood there was at
to custom, the protests of the churches of every           that time much dispute; and they begged the Curators
Classis were forwarded to the Synod. And among             that they, by their authority, would demand of the
others there was this objection from the  Classis of       Professors of Theology fully to declare their views
Dordrecht : "Since the report is abroad that in the        concerning these questions. The Curators answered
Academy in the Church of Leiden certain differences        that there was now some hope that within a short
have arisen concerning the doctrine of the Reformed        time they would obtain a National Synod, and that
Churches, therefore the  Classis considered it neces-      they therefore deemed it more advisable to reserve
sary that the Synod deliberate concerning the means        those questions for the Synod, rather than to give
by which these differences may be resolved in the          more occasion for disunity through further investi-
best and speediest way, in order that all schisms and      gation. There were also Ministers who had adopted
offenses which might arise from this  may  betglrompt-     the view of Arminius and who here and there in the
ly warded off and the unity of the Reformed Ch'urch-       Classes refused to obey the order of the Synod to
es may be preserved against the slanders of the            subscribe to the Confession and the Catechism. And
enemies ." Arminius took that very ill, and he did his     it increased the concern of the churches when they
best to have this objection recalled. When he could        saw that these Ministers, banking upon the favor of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 57



some, simply despised the authority of the Synod and         was that had for some years advised the States of
proceeded boldly in their purpose. For this reason,          Holland that this condition should be added, and who
seeing that the evil could not be remedied in this           were pressing for this, and since it was to be feared
manner, they `showed to the States-General in detail         that if this was stated in the letters convening the
in what great danger the churches were; and they             Synod, that those who sought change in the doctrine
petitioned them that the National Synod, which had           would misuse it for their own purpose, and since,
now for so many years been postponed, might by               moreover, it would cause no small offense to the
their authority be decreed at the earliest opportunity,      Churches (especially in the present situation), as
in order that this evil might be warded off. The             though the States or the Churches themselves had
States-General declared on November 26 that the              doubts concerning the truth of the doctrine con-
States of all the Provinces had given their consent to       tained in this Confession and Catechism, therefore
the convening of a National Synod, but that there            the Deputies of the Church requested, November 30,
were some among them who in their letters of                 that the convening of the Synod be authorized and
consent had added this condition, that at such a             proclaimed in general terms, as they say, according to
Synod there should be a revision of the Confession           the old custom. Further, the Deputies pointed out
and the Catechism; on this account the States-General        that this clause did not appear to be necessary, seeing
declared that the authorization of the National Synod        that in all National Synods it was permitted that, if
could not be made without prejudice to the States of         anyone thought to have any objection against any
such a Province, unless this condition would be added        article of the creeds, he might present the same freely
to the decree. And since it was well-known who it            and according to proper order.


FROM HOLY WRIT



                          Ministering to the Saints
                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                                                            *


[Note: The following article is a continuation of the        "Lord, our God." Thus it is in the beginning of the
paper presented by Rev. Lubbers at the Office-bearers        law in Exodus 20: 1. He is Jehovah, the I am that I
Conference held on March 4, 1975.1                           am, who saves Israel in His great love and mercy, so
                                                             that they may walk in thankfulness. Thus are the two
THE LAW AND THE PROPHE'd                                     tables of the law, which were not simply written
                                                             upon the tables of stone, but which were nigh to
  If this love for the neighbor is the law and the           Israel, even in their heart and mouth. (Deut.  30:14;
prophets then this ought to become evident also in a         Rom.  10:8) In this moral law we have "love thy
detailed study of the "law" of the Old Testament.            neighbor as thyself." Now no one can love his
This means that we must look for the "law of Christ"         neighbor who does not love his Redeemer God. The
in the Old Testament Scriptures.                             latter is basic. It is basic to all ministering to the
  This means that we must look in the moral law for          saints. This ministering to the saints is the law of
this law of Christ, which is the law of the Spirit of        God, it is eternal, unchangeable. It is woven into the
Christ. This we find in what is sometimes called the         very essence of salvation, as we have pointed out
great "Shamah-Israel," "Hear, 0 Israel: the Lord our         earlier. Without ministering to the saints, salvation is
God is one Lord: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God            not salvation. Such is the doctrinal import of the
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all    moral law of God. That is why it is treated in the
thy might." (Deut. 6:4, 5) This means a love for the         Heidelberg Catechism in the "Third Part" of what a
God who has saved us from the bondage of Egypt, set          Christian must know to enjoy the only comfort in life
us free, so that now we may walk at liberty. This            and in death. Here is the basic cleavage between the
places us not under law, but under grace. This is the        humanistic philanthropy and Christian ministry to the


 58                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


saints. And this is a principle from which we must             ment we have here the key to understand the
live, and we must not lose sight of it. Such is the Law        Christological character of the civil law of the Old
and prophets.                                                  Testament; it is a blood-sprinkled law and advocates
       But this principle that we are "under grace" is also    the proper manner of fulfilling the law of Christ and
true as far as the "civil law" is concerned. This              min&tering  to  the saints,  selecting the stranger,
becomes very evident in the "Magna Carta" as given             fatherless and widow as examples.
in Exodus 21-23, which is the "Book of the Cove-                  When  we turn to the  ceremonial law  it strikes us
nant" (Exodus  24:4) that Moses read to all the re-            also that this law is most intimately connected with
deemed people of Israel; which Book he sprinkled               the temple-worship, with the Levites and Priests and
with blood (Heb. 9:20; 13:20) as well the entire con-          High-priest, as well as with the helping of the
gregation. This was a blood-sprinkled Book. It was             stranger, orphan, and widows.
Gospel-obedience that was required under the types
and shadows in  ,the land of the Promise. No such                ,It is true that the titles in the Levitical law were
Charter could ever be promulgated in the world of              primarily for the Levites and for the priests and
men. It was a Book which advocated ministering td              High-priest. The Levites had no inheritance in Israel
the saints.                                                    but lived in their appointed cities, forty-eight in
       One has but to study such passages as Lev.              number, six of which were cities of refuge. (Num.
19:11-13; Deut. 24:14, 15; Ex. 22:21-24; Lev. 19:33,           35: l-8) Their appointed livelihood, was, besides a
34; Deut. 10: 17-19 and other passages to see that the         little land surrounding each of their cities,  (Num.
civil law in Israel had its motivation in the grace of         35:5) the offered titles which were to be given them
God, whereby they were delivered from the bondage              from the rest of the tribes, both from the flocks and
of Egypt's tyranny of sin and death. They had been             herds, as well as from the land and the vine. This was
delivered under blood. And "when I see the blood" I            to maintain the temple worship in Israel. Israel was to
will pass over. This was, therefore, a law of Christ and       take heed that they would not forsake the Levite as
not a legal code of precepts for those who must work           long as they lived on the earth. The teaching ministry
their own righteousness. It will not do to enter into          and that of the sacrifices in the temple were not to be
all of these passages cited. We shall limit ourselves to       neglected. They were to keep the pictures, shadows,
a few verses from Deuteronony 24. We notice in                 and types of the temple, as these pointed to the Christ
Deut. 24: 17, 18 that the Lord will have mercy be-             as the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
cause we have received mercy from Him. Moses                   that believeth. When Israel did not pay the tithes and
writes, "Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the            bring their heave-offerings, they did not desire Christ.
stranger, nor of the fatherless: nor take the widow's          That is why Malachi speaks so strongly against Israel
raiment to pledge. But thou shalt remember that thou           for "robbing God." They robbed His altar, as it
wast a  bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God                 pointed to Christ. They did not maintain the Levites,
redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to              priests, and high-priest. They did not love the house
do this thing." Now this is very instructive indeed.           of God. Christ comes and will be busy in this house
This is the key-note in the civil law. We notice the           of God. He tells the unbelieving Jews, who desecrate
following elements:                                            the temple, of His authority in the temple. They must
                                                               break it down, but He will rebuild the temple as the
       1. We have been redeemed from Egypt. That was           Son of God in three days in His death and resur-
the benefit of grace, the fulfilrnent of the promise.          rection. Thus the angel of the LORD suddenly comes
Such was Israel's status in the plains of Moab.                to His temple. (Mal. 3: 1; Matt. 11: 10; John 2: 18-20)
   2. We must never forget that we once were bond-             Then shall there be sweet sacrifices as in the days of
men, and now are free. We once were strangers. We              yore, in the best times of Israel's worship.
know the feeling of having been estranged from the               Still it must not be overlooked that the tithes were
life of God. We were in our misery and sin. But we             not only for the priests, but that they were also
have been translated from darkness to light.                   shared by the poor. There was a special provision for
                                                               the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow on each
  3. This has, therefore, special reference to our             third year. Then the poor could also eat in the temple
treating of our neighbor, of ministering to the saints.        of God. This was the germ, so to speak, of the poor
We must remember the weak, the poor. The pure                  eating from the altar of God in the New Testament
religion and undefiled is to visit widows and orphans          ministry to the saints in Christ's name. These two eat
in their afflictions. This is expressed negatively and         from the altar of God, which is a far cry from eating
prohibitively here in Deut. 24: 17, 18 that we shall           from a government hand-out. We read in Deut.
not (a) pervert the judgment of the stranger; (b) Nor          26: 12f, "When thou hast made an end of tithing all
shall we do injustice to the fatherless; (c) We shall not      the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is
take the widow's raiment for a pledge. In our  judg-           the year of tithing, and has given unto the Levite, and


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  59


unto the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that        it comes in many forms. In the days of affluent
they may eat within thy gates and be filled, then shalt      society this rule of the Spirit of Christ must not be
thou say before the LORD thy God, I have brought             overlooked. The church must not deny the tithes in
away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also         the temple for the Levite, poor stranger, fatherless,
have given them unto the Levite, and unto the                and widows.
stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, accord-
ing to all thy commandments which thou hast                    4. Widows and fatherless should be instructed in
commanded me: I have not transgressed thy com-               what it means to eat from the altar of the Priests and
mandments, neither have I forgotten them . . . . Look        Levites in the temple. Deacons should be deeply con-
down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and              scious of their high calling in this regard.
bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast          5.  The "case-study" of II Corinthians 8 and 9
given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that      should not be neglected as the basic principles of New
floweth with milk and honey."                                Testament giving. We are not under the "law" of
  For our purpose it is important to notice that the         giving one tenth. The following obtains for us:
ceremonial law also made provisions for the stranger,               a. That we give as we have purposed in our heart,
fatherless, and widow. The law is one, whether it be         think of Ananias and Sapphira. (Acts 5 : lff; II Cor.
moral law, civil law, or ceremonial law. The law and         8:8) The sincerity of our hearts must be proven by
the prophets are all taken up in this one word: thou         our giving.
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.                                 b. That we first give ourselves to the Lord as
  Thus the great Magna Carta of the Old Testament            priests at the altar and then give our gifts. (II Cor.
Book which was sprinkled with blood comes to its             8:5) Think of the widow and'her one penny. (Lk.
own. It is the Law and the Prophets of which Jesus           21:2,3)
speaks. It was ministry to the saints in the temple of              c. That we give cheerfully and thus liberally from
God, "that they may eat within thy gates and be              the heart in hope of a spiritual harvest. It is more
filled." (Deut. 26: 12)                                      blessed to give than to receive. (II Cor. 9:7, 8; Acts
                                                             20:35)
SOME CONCLUSIONS:                                                   d. That the deepest principle and incentive for
   1. From the foregoing study it appears that the           our giving both in the Old and New Testament is that
ministry to the saints is not some appended duty  to         Christ became poor that we might become rich. (II
the Christian religion, but that it is of the essence of     Cor. 8 :9) That is the deep meaning of what the Lord
the true religion. It belongs to the office of all be-       says in the Old Testament ". . . for ye were strangers
lievers, both in the Old and in the New Testaments.          in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD". (Lev. 19:33,
  2. It is also evident that ministering to the saints is    34)
rooted in God's great love for us, in His unspeakable          May the Lord increase our knowledge in His will
gift. (II Cor. 8 & 9)                                        concerning the "Ministering To The Saints" also by
  3. This ministry of the saints cannot be set aside;        these our humble efforts.


My Sheep Hear My Voice:

                                Letter to the Members
                                                    o f   t h e
                           Congregation at Philadelphia

   (Note to reader: The next series of letters will be       existed (see Rev.  3:7-13), but which is now an
addressed to the "Members of the congregation at             imaginary congregation which includes all the people
Philadelphia," a congregation which once, in fact,           of God in every place.)


  60                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                         November 1,1976     illusioned with the preaching and with their former
  To the Members of the Congregation at Philadelphia:        church. Sometimes their disillusionment is un-
                                                             warranted, for they are merely looking for something
        It has recently come to my attention that a small    more exciting than the worship services. But some-
  group of people has left your congregation and has         times one must admit, in all honesty, that their dis-
  established a group which meets from Sabbath to            illusionment is indeed justified. The minister in their
  Sabbath to study the Word of God together outside          congregation has abandoned the pure preaching of
  of its former affiliation with the established Church.     the Word and has substituted for the preaching dis-
  The news has come to me that this group has been           cussions on various social issues. The preacher has
  joined by a few members from other congregations           perhaps decided not to preach at all on a given
  and has come to the conclusion that, rather than           occasion, and has turned the worship services over to
  forming a new congregation, it would be more spirit-       the young people or to some guest speaker with an
  ually advantageous for them to remain as an un-            axe to grind or an experience to tell concerning some
  organized band of "believers" whose purpose it will        far-off mission field. Or perhaps the minister has
  be to study together the Word of God, to pray              forsaken the traditional approach to the worship ser-
  together, and to edify one another as they apply the       vice, where the preaching has occupied a central place,
  Word of God more directly to the problems of life. I       and has introduced an elaborate liturgy which appeals
  have also heard that some members of this group have       to the senses particularly. Or again, perhaps a movie is
  talked with members of your congregation and have          shown instead of the worship service, or a musical
  spoken in glowing terms about how spiritually up-          group is brought in to entertain the audience with the
  lifting these meetings are, so that you yourselves are     latest in gospel music. Sometimes these groups which
  sometimes tempted to join them and participate in          separate from their church have justified their  qon-
  their Sunday Bible-study exercises.                        duct by pointing out that the denomination to which
        I want to write about this to you because, on the    their congregation belonged has drifted further and
  one hand, it may indeed be a temptation to you to          further away from the truth, and this apostasy has
  join yourselves to them; and, on the other hand, be-       become apparent in the pulpit. But whatever the
  cause this practice is rather widespread in our day.       reason, they have lost their interest in the Church and
  One will find such groups in many different places.        have found a haven in a small group of like-minded
  The group which has left your congregation is by no        people who gather to study the Word.
  means an isolated phenomenon. In fact, one gets the           Sometimes these groups come together only to
  impression that the idea is increasingly popular and       study the Word as they mutually contribute ideas as
  that there is a sort of "movement" in this direction.      to what a particular passage means. But sometimes
        These groups take on many different forms. Some-     they even appoint an individual from the group to
times they are groups from one or more congrega-             give some short edifying message as some kind of
  tions who, without withdrawing their membership            substitute for the preaching. Sometimes they are
  from their own congregations, nevertheless want to         concerned about the fact that the sacraments are not
  supplement the preaching which they receive with           celebrated, and so they make an effort to have
  personal Bible-study and group devotions. Their pur-       communion together and perhaps even to administer
  pose is to study the Word of God in small groups in        the sacrament of baptism. But mostly the idea is to
  which believers together will feel free to contribute      edify one another and to encourage one another in
  their own ideas about that Word, and where there can       the faith.
  be a more intimate discussion of how that Word                The people who attend such groups speak very
  applies to the particular problems of life which the       movingly of their experiences in such a`group. They
  saints face. They point out the fact that one of the       will tell you that they are greatly blessed - far more
  principles of the Reformation is the priesthood of all     blessed in fact than when they attended Church.
  believers, and on this principle they defend their         They will tell you that they are members of the body
  actions because, they maintain, and correctly so, that     of Christ and that they have clear and unmistakable
  God's people need not that any should teach them,          joy in fellowship experiences with other members of
  for they are all, from the least of them to the great-     that body. They will tell you that the Word of God
  est, prophets.                                             has come to mean much more to them since they
        Sometimes these groups are composed of a small       have been attending such a group; that they have
  number of people who have actually left their  con-        learned more and more what it means to live a
  gregationor  congregations for one reason or another       Christian life; that their own devotional life has been
  and have decided that their souls can better be fed in     enormously enriched; that the experience of the
  small, intimate groups where God's Word is studied,        communion of the saints has never been greater; that
  than by the preaching in the congregations where           they have come to share the joys of their faith with
  they were once members. They have become  dis-             like-minded people of God from other congregations


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        61


and denominations to learn what it truly means to be          such Christian activity. Hendrik Hart, in his book
a member of Christ's body.                                    "The Challenge of the Age", writes:
  All this talk sounds very pious and it is difficult to           _ Learning to live biblically in a secular world means
refute such argumentation. When a person tells you                 learning to give full and active support to Christian
he has been extraordinarily blessed in such a group, it            education, Christian political action, Christian labor
is difficult to deny such an allegation and to say to              activity, Christian everything; and learning to under-
him that he is deceiving himself if he thinks he has               &an+ the church-institute as the organization which is
been blessed. He will merely look at you and tell you              calleql upon to promote such support concretely and
that he knows how blessed he has been, and who are                 authon'tatively in the name of Christ. (The italics are
you to deny what he has truly experienced?                         mine.)
  And it is just possible I suppose that such a person,          If this is the role of the church institute, then it is
glowing with spiritual ardor, talks with you on a             no wonder that the church institute does not have a
Monday morning after you have not, for one reason             very important place in the Christian's life. What the
or another, received very much of a blessing the day          church  `+stitute is supposed to do can very well be
before in the Lord's house. Your own life by com-             done by other organizations. It is not surprising there-
parison looks rather sterile and barren; your own             fore, to: discover that the same author, in the same
participation in your congregation looks like a desert        book, writes in another place:
place in which no waters be when you compare it                        The exercise of the faith in the home is of extreme
with the description of the man who has just                       impgrtance  and perhaps the only means of recovering
attended his Bible-study group. And you conclude                   a life, close to the Scriptures.
that he has found something in life which you lack.              In  m'any areas, therefore, where the A.A.C.S. has
  I thought it best to write to you about this modem          had influence, there is a tendency in this direction.
phenomenon because we must not only be warned of              There is a certain lack of respect for the institute of
the danger of this movement, but also be shown that           the Church among some of the leaders, and there is a
there is a very great sin involved in this sort of thing.     certain  ,desire to emphasize the importance of small
  This is not, however, a new phenomenon in the               groups  ,of believers gathering together to find out
history of the Church. It has, as a matter of fact, a         what Scripture means to them in their lives.
rather long tradition. In a certain sense, the tradition         The rise of Neo-Pentecostalism has also given
goes way back to the early Montanist movement in              considerable impetus to this movement. There are
the second and third centuries and which was made             groups of people under the influence of Pentecostal-
famous when the well-known church father Tertullian           ism who are stressing strongly this idea. There are
joined the group. It also has some points of similarity       places where these Bible-study groups, sometimes
with various mystical movements which arose in the            composed only of women, are so popular that they
Church during the Middle Ages prior to the Reforma-           have almost defeated their own purpose. Hundreds
tion and which were also protests against the dead-           flock to these sessions, and the group becomes so
ness of the Roman Catholic institute.  But  more              large that part of the purpose of having small intimate
closely connected to the present day phenomenon               groups meet together is lost in the rush of clacking
were the Conventicles which arose in the Netherlands          h e e l s .
in the Eighteenth Century. They were called                      And so I would like to discuss some of these things
"Gezelschappen" and were very similar to what, `we            with you.. Perhaps in a few letters we can examine
find so common today. These Conventicles were also            this moyement a little more closely from a historical
groups of believers who met together for, common              perspective; but especially from the viewpoint of the
edification because of a deep dissatisfaction with the        Scriptures and the importance of the church as
State `Church which had become increasingly dead              institute in the light of the Scriptures.
and apostate. These Conventicles appeared on the                 But we must close for now.
scene prior to the separation under De Cock,
Brummelkamp, Van Raalte, and others.          .                                                        Fraternally in Christ,
                                                                        I                                          H. Hanko
  There is some tendency also among some of the
leaders of the A.A.C.S. (Association for the Advance-         A debtor to Jehovah's law,
ment of Christian Scholarship) to go in this direction.       My soul by nature; stood;
As you know, this organization has promoted a sort            And justice was about to draw
of conservative "social gospel" which is intended to          His sword to shed my blood.
involve the Christian in all sorts of social activity to                        "Sinner, stand forth," he sternly cried,
subject all areas of life to Christ. This organization                          "And pay me that you owe."
also takes the view that the chief, if not only, purpose                        "`Tis done," says Jesus, "for I died;
of the church institute is to promote and support                       1        Loose him, and let him go."


6        2                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                                   Covenant Laughter
                                                   Rev. John A. Heys



     Yes, you may laugh.                                      Sarah will bear him a son through whom these
     Solomon does indeed say in Ecclesiastes  7:3,            covenant promises will be realized, both Abraham
"Sorrow is better than laughter." Yet laughter is not         and Sarah, as we said, are guilty of this laugh of
necessarily foolishness, nor it is always sinful. It can      unbelief. Abraham was now ninety nine years old,
be both, and so often it is both foolishness and sin.         and Sarah was eighty nine. Abraham was sexually
Yet remember that God laughs, and a child of God              dead, and Sarah had never in all the years of their
may laugh in the joy of the fulfillment of God's              marriage even displayed the power to have a mis-
`covenant and of its promises. There is such a thing as       carriage. Conception was impossible for her. And now
covenant laughter.                                            that it ceased to be with her after the manner of
                                                              women, all hope of being the mother of a child was
     Once in Genesis 17, and once again in Genesis 18         gone. And let us understand that it was gone and did
we read of the wrong kind of laughter. Both Abraham           not simply appear that way. God will give Sarah that
and Sarah let echo in their souls the laughter of             power, but He did not restore what had been lost. He
unbelief. For they laughed in God's face. 0, yes they         gave her, after she had passed her eighty ninth birth-
did. They laughed at His Word. They did not laugh             day, what she never had before and what He gave to
with Him and in His Word. They laughed at Him and             other women only in earlier days of their lives. To
at His Word. Principally they laughed at the idea of          what could Abraham and Sarah point for hope of
that Word of God becoming flesh. For, laughing at             having a child of their own? Man had lived long
the idea of Isaac's being born of Sarah, they laughed         enough on this earth, and sufficient generations had
at the miracle of the incarnation of the Word of God',        come and gone, so that man knew the span of years
which was by far a greater miracle.                           during which it pleased God to give conception to a
     And is not all unbelief a laughing at God and at His     woman. Man knew at that day and in that age already
Word? Does not unbelief always ridicule the truth             the evidence that spoke of the beginning of a
and dare to disagree with God Himself? Does not               woman's period of fertility; and he knew the signs
unbelief always call God foolish and the things of His        that indicated that a pause had come in "the manner
kingdom foolishness? Do not the unbelievers shake             of.women."
their heads and look upon the believer as a fool?               Let us also appreciate the fact that apart from the
They see us go to God's house on the Sabbath as they          miracle of life in the ark for a year and ten days
rush to satisfy the lusts of their flesh; and inwardly, if    during the flood and the period when the water
not even openly, they smile and laugh. They spout             covered the earth, there were no miracles of God, no
forth their evolutionistic Atheism with straight faces        departings from the laws of creation which God
and "learned" nods of the head; but they look down            executed in  His work of providence, to which
in scorn and ridicule upon the child of God Who               Abraham and Sarah could point. It just never
bows before God and His Word and ascribes the                 happened before, that when God caused it to cease to
whole creation to Him. Unbelief laughs in God's face -        be with a woman after the manner of women, He
for a little while. The unbeliever will have endless          gave them what they never had before! Abraham had
time to weep when he finds out his folly in the               never seen a miracle of any kind performed. Nor from
torment of hell.                                              the days of the flood are any recorded in Holy Writ.
     We do, however, also find children of God laughing       Abraham and Sarah had certainly never seen or heard
in a sinful way. In fact at this crucial moment in the        of `a miracle of healing, either from a disease or from
fulfillment of God's covenant promises, when the              barrenness.
time has arrived for God to inform Abraham that               Let it be stated parenthetically that the sons born


                                             THE STANDARD  BEARE'R                                              63


to Abraham through Keturah, as recorded in Genesis          he criesout,  "0 that Ishmael might live before Thee."'
25, were born before the birth of Isaac. Scripture          He  had' a different problem than Sarah did, and he
does not always follow the chronological order in           needs some further instruction. He still is rebuked,
relating the events in the lives of men. Note that in       but in a different way.' He is not directly rebuked for
Genesis 23 we read that Sarah was 127 years old             his laughter, but for his insistence that he laugh with
when she died. That means that Abraham was now              covenant joy in Ishmael. Sarah laughed at the idea
137 years old. In the next chapter we read of the           that she would be used by God in the fulfillment of
marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, when he was forty            the promise of a covenant seed. Had it not ceased to
years old; and then Abraham was one hundred and             be with her after the manner of women? Had God
forty years old. And it is after this that in chapter 25    not ceased to do in her what He does in women
we read that Abraham took to wife Keturah and               whom He has appointed to bring forth seed? It is not
begat these sons. All this would mean that this new         at all impossible that this ceased to be with Sarah
power which God gave Abraham, and `whereby He               thirteen years ago when she was 76 years old, and
could at the age of one hundred father a son with           that this is the reason why she gave Hagar to
Sarah, remained in him for another forty years. And         Abraham to raise up seed for her. Her first reaction
he who was as good as dead was very much alive              now, upon hearing that she will still bring forth that
sexually for another forty years. We must, therefore,       promised seed, is to laugh at the idea. For that she
insist that Moses goes back and picks up the thread         must be rebuked, even though it was "within
after presenting the covenant line as it was gathered       herself." Perhaps a silly grin appeared on her face, as
in Isaac. And these sons of Keturah were born before        is so often the case with us when we laugh inwardly.
he became as good as dead. How else will you explain        But it evokes from the angel those sharp words of
the words of Sarah in Genesis 18: 12, "After I am           rebuke., "Is anything too hard for Jehovah?"
waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord (Abraham)            Surely there is not, and the Almighty is able to
being old also?"                                            make the sad and sorrowing laugh with an everlasting
  But, returning to the promise of a son through            joy and gladness. He is able to wipe away all tears
Sarah, let it be borne in mind that Ishmael was as          from our eyes and to fill our days with joy and glad-
really a son of Abraham as Isaac was. In fact, at that      ness.  ;
moment, Ishmael was far more really Abraham's son.
He was a son Abraham had. Issac was at that moment            As we stated, Yes, you may laugh. The same
only a child promised. And although Sarah regretted         Solomon who says, "Sorrow is better than laughter,"
having given Hagar to Abraham to raise up seed for          also said, "There is a time . . . to weep and a time to
herself, Ishmael stood there as big as life. Whether she    laugh.", Jesus said to His disciples, "Blessed are ye
liked it or not, seed of Abraham stood there without        that  we,ep now: for ye shall laugh." Luke 6:21. And
a miracle's being performed by God. Sarah laughed           Bildad said to Job, "Behold, God will not cast away
when she heard that she would bring forth a son, but        the perfect man, neither will He help the evil doers:
she shed many tears after Hagar bore Ishmael. This          till He fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with
was so especially when Abraham more and more                rejoicing." Job 8:21. There we have the clue. Sorrow
showed his love for and keen delight and interest in        is changed to laughter, the laughter of unbelief is
Ishmael.                                                    changed to the laughter of the joyful reception of
                                                            what God has promised, in the perfect man, that is, in
  Now Abraham's laughter differed from  Sarah%.             the man who is made perfect by the Seed of.Abraham
And it is interesting to note that Abraham is not           that will come through Isaac.
rebuked for his laughter, while Sarah is for hers. As         No wonder then that the seed to be brought forth
we already stated, both were the laughter of unbelief,      by Abraham and Sarah, who will in time bring forth
and both deserved a rebuke. Both laughed at the idea        The Seed in Whom all nations shall be blessed, is
that people of their ages could bring forth a son. But      called Isaac, which means laughter. For he will bring
there was a difference. Sarah deemed it utterly             forth Him Whose name is Jesus because He shall save
ridiculous and hopeless that she would conceive and         His peogle from their sins. And in that way He will
bear a son. Abraham, who also believed it ridiculous        bring laughter to all whom the Father gave Him from
to think of such a thing, saw no necessity of it. He        eternity to be His people. A prophetic name then is
had a son in whom all the covenant promises could be        this name Isaac. And Sarah, moved infallibly by the
fulfilled. He did not need Isaac. Mind you, he did not      Holy Spirit, to an holy laughter, also stated and
see the need of Christ, Who would come in the line of       explained that name by saying, "God hath made me
Isaac's seed. Not that he did not want Him to come.         to laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me."
It was not that kind of unbelief. He would expect           Genesis; 21: 6. We may laugh at this wonder-birth of
Him through Ishmael. He expected all the covenant           Isaac because in that way God is bringing The Seed of
blessings to be his through Ishmael. That is also why       the covenant Who will make us laugh with holy glee


 64                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


in the salvation He has prepared for us. Isaac's con-       Yet the more the unbeliever laughs in this life, the
ception and birth is a step in God's realization of such    more weeping and gnashing of teeth-is going to be his
covenant laughter for us.                                   in the lake of fire. He will have to give an account for
                                                            all his laughter and suffer the punishment of laughing
   But get the point made by Sarah. The Holy Spirit         in and with sin and of being entertained by it instead
is speaking through her and causing her to speak            of being grieved at the very sight of it.
infallibly. God, she said, made her to laugh. Any              But the laughter God gives us will be ours ever-
laughter we make will soon bring us to tears. God           lastingly. He will never cast the perfect away and take
forbid that we should laugh with the world  - and           from them their covenant laughter. Hell will be silent
how hard they try, how numerous are their                   as far as the laughter of unbelief is concerned. There
comedians, how much time of their radio and tele-           men will  find nothing to laugh at, and the divine
vision programs, what a vast number of pages of their       wisdom of the "foolishness of preaching" will be con-
magazines is devoted to trying to make man laugh            fessed by all. But in heaven now, and soon in the new
and forget the sorrows of life, to try to get our minds     Jerusalem, there will echo the laughter which God
-off sin and the curse! How desperately they try to         gives His people. And looking back the saints will see
keep us from knowing our sins and misery, because           that although they were as good as dead, could not
they do not want us to know the redemption that             even produce the will to be saved and laughed at the
there is in Christ, and because they shudder in dis-        idea of it, God came in His grace to take away that
pleasure when they see those who know how to                laughter and all our tears and guilt and death to make
express gratitude to God by a walk in good works.           us sing to His praise forever.


GUEST ARTICLES




                         Do We Need a Protestant Reformed
                                  Teacher Training School ?

                                               Rev. Wavne Bekkering

   Does the subject of the title strike you as a strange    cohtinue to have our Protestant Reformed teachers
question? Do we really have a need for such an insti-       trained as they now are and expect the Lord's bless-
tution? Do you really understand what it takes to be        ing on our schools?"
a Protestant Reformed teacher? I think that there is          The first question that we face is, "What is the
more involved than we may  first think. I had not           condition of the colleges of our day?" Can they pre-
given the subject much thought until I had oppor-           pare prospective Protestant Reformed teachers, from
tunity to visit with a young man from one of our            both a spiritual point of view and an academic point
congregations who was considering going into Chris-         of view, to teach in the Protestant Reformed class-
tian Education. This young man related to me some           room?
of the soul vexing experiences that he had gone               .I do not profess to be able to give a thorough
through at one of the existing Christian colleges. The      evaluation of the conditions in the various colleges
question that pressed this young man was "Can we            that our prospective teachers use. However, from my
expect to have truly Protestant Reformed teachers if        own experience, and from talking with others, I know
they are trained in apostatizing Christian colleges or      that the conditions are bad. I see conscientious young
in secular, antichristian, state colleges?" I became        people vexing their souls in the existing colleges. Not
conscious that we were talking about a very im-             only do they find that the instruction is a perversion
portant subject, a subject that may have the very           of the Truth of God's Word, but they also find them
continuation of our schools, as truly Protestant            academically unsuitable to prepare them to teach in a
Reformed schools, at stake. I asked myself, "May we         Protestant Reformed classroom.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 65


   Someone may say, "Don't be so critical! Don't get         should we take steps to provide good education for
 so excited! I went to college 15 or 20 years ago and        prospeciive teachers to teach in the schools that we
 things were not intolerable." This may be exactly our       already ihave?
 problem. We have failed to take into account the fact          Someone' else may maintain that a Protestant
 that colleges change. Especially in our day of modern       Reformed Teacher Training School is not necessary
 educational "advances" and of spiritual and moral           because' we have good grade schools and a good high
 decay we see changes, great and rapid. Nor ought that       school, Iand prospective teachers can gain an adequate
 surprise us. We have before us the important matter         foundatron there. The fact is that our present schools
 of Christian education, and the Devil is zealously          are  sim.ply not geared to prepare future teachers.
 desirous to take that away from God's people. He will       Furthermore, not all of our people have the ad-
 have all our children trained in the public school          vantage; of using Protestant Reformed grade schools
 where he has built the foundation for education             and high schools.
 which will serve to establish his Antichristian king-
 dom.                                                          There is `no doubt about it there would be many
                                                             problems and difficulties in such a venture, but we
   But against this raging torrent of antichristian          must not be turned back because of foreseeable or
 humanism our schools must stand! We must have               unforeseeable difficulties. We must continue to train
 teachers who have a Biblical view of life in this world,    our children to the best of our ability, and that takes
 and they must be able to teach from that proper             dedicati:on and faith.
 Biblical perspective so that in  all  the subjects our
 children are prepared to fulfill their calling and place      As a step toward our own Teacher Training School
 in the world.                                               perhapslwe  could set up a structured program designed
                                                             to  propare future teachers for our schools. The pro-
   If our teachers never learn to teach from a truly         spective' teachers would still have to pursue a regular
 Biblical world and life view, then our schools will         course at an existing accredited college in order to be
 become, at best, "public schools" plus Bible. Or we         qualified for certification by the state. What I am
 will be able to distinguish a certain number of secular     proposing would have to be added to and worked
 subjects from other religious subjects. If this ever        along side of a regular college course. In order to
 happens then we have lost our schools. We have lost         guide aspiring teachers through the proposed pro-
 them in the sense that they no longer fulfill their role    gram, perhaps a well qualified man from our churches
 as an indispensible help to our parents. We have lost       could be hired. The work of this man would be that
 our schools in the sense that they simply become
 private Protestant Reformed educational institutions        of a "curriculum coordinator" or an "educational
                                                             counselor." He would help the prospective teachers
but have really lost their primary reason for ex-            chart the best course in the existing colleges. He
 istence.                                                    would serve as a counselor to help the future teachers
   I am not saying that our schools are lost, but I am       gain a proper perspective and to help them become
 saying that good teachers are inseparably connected         prepared to teach in a Protestant Reformed classroom.
 with good schools. By God's grace we have had and           He could do that by teaching or arranging to be
 still do have good teachers. But I am saying that if we     taught certain courses especially designed to help
 want to keep our schools, then it is time to begin          teachers, to attain their goal. Perhaps some of our well
 considering a place where prospective teachers can          qualified and experienced teachers could participate
 learn to become truly Protestant Reformed teachers.         in such; a way that the prospective teachers could
 This matter is very important to the very future of         benefit  :from their experience. In this connection,
 our schools. We would not think of having our               perhaps: we could have a more extensive practice
 preachers trained in the apostatizing seminaries of our     teaching program than is presently used with our
 day. That truly would be the death of our churches!         aspiring, teachers. The prospective teachers could
 But we expect our teachers to go to any college of          work in the classrooms of our present teachers, as
 our day and come out equipped to teach in Protes-           teachers' aides.
 tant Reformed classrooms. Will that not be the death                ,
                                                               Well,  1 what do you think about this? These are
 of our schools?                                             simply my thoughts on the matter. I would like to see
   Someone may object that a Protestant Reformed             our people seriously consider this important matter
 Teachers Training School would be a financial im-           and then to give their reactions. If you would like to
 possibility. Indeed, it would cost money, but we            express your views, either pro or con, send your com-
 should make it a matter of considering priorities.          ments t.o the editor of the Standard Bearer so that we
 Should we expand our present school buildings or            can profit from them.

                      Know the standard and follow it. Read the  STfNDARD BEARER!


66                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


ALL AROUND US





                                  Reformed Ecumenical Synod

                       Combined meeting of two Synods in Netherlands                                        TI

                                      Rudolph Bultmann dies

                                       Carter and his' religion

                                A new Lutheran denomination

                                                Rev. G. Van Buren         .




  From the Reformed Ecumenical Synod News                     The R.E.S. obviously became rather deeply in-
Exchange, of July 6 and September 7, 1976, we re-          volved in race issues - and especially those of South
ceived a brief review of the meeting of the R.E.S.         Africa. The Synod "adopted a resolution in which it
Some one hundred and ten delegates `from 38                called upon all people to refrain from fomenting
denominations of Reformed persuasion from around           unrest and violence." It urged South Africa to give
the world met in Cape Town, South Africa, from             "early and serious attention to the problems involved
August 2 to 20. Fifteen of.these denominations come        in, creating an atmosphere of dissatisfaction and
from Africa itself.                                        unrest and to prepare memoranda on these grievances
  The R.E.S. met at a time when rioting was going          for consideration at a Southern African Conference in
on in Soweto. It was apparently the intent of the          April. 1977." It addressed itself also to the unrest in
R.E.S. to meet in South Africa as expression of in-        other parts of the world, and adopted a statement to
terest in and concern with the racial policies of that     "request all member churches of the R.E.S. to give
nation. In addition to this racial issue, several other    serious attention to the problems involved in creating
important items were scheduled for discussion and          an atmosphere of dissatisfaction and unrest in their
decision. One day was set aside for a consideration of     own lands and throughout the world, and to do all in
the biblical teaching of the Holy Spirit. There was        their power as Christian churches to promote justice,
scheduled also a discussion of the doctrinal deviations    order and peace everywhere."
of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands as well           The R.E.S. reaffirmed an-earlier stand suggesting
as a consideration of the question whether those           that there was nothing wrong with interracial worship
churches could simultaneously belong to the World          and interracial marriage. The latter was qualified by
Council of Churches and to the R.E.S. Reports were         pointing out that problems could easily arise in such
to treat too the question of Sunday observance  -          marriages - and all parties ought to be reminded of
reports which contained divergent views on whether         this.
the Sunday remains a creation/redemption ordinance.           The Reformed Churches of the Netherlands were
Two other studies were. to be considered: the social       asked to give account of their actions in regard to
calling of the church, and, the nature and scope of        their membership in the World Council of Churches
salvation.                                                 and in regard to their failure to discipline Prof. H.


                                      Secretary's Annual Report

     Dear Members and Friends of the R.F.P.A.:                       The board has a committee working with a com-
        Once again near the end of our 52nd year of               mittee of the Permanent Committee for Publication of
     publishing the Standard Bearer, your Board comes to          Protestant Reformed Literature in order to obtain a
     you with a report of the activities connected with its       tax exemption letter as a non-profit organization.
     publication during the past year.                               Through the efforts of the Southeast Young
        On October 1, 1924, the Standard Bearer made its          People's Society, work is being done by each person
     first appearance. Since that date, almost 52 years ago,      in the society to contact one family in a foreign
     the Standard Bearer has been faithfully published.           country who is receiving the Standard Bearer. They
                                                                  are asking for response from these people about the
        The Standard Bearer now has a publishing total of         Standard Bearer. Each of the young people is to re-
     1660. We are printing a total of 1900 copies. Of             ceive a free book for his efforts. The board appre-
     these, 200 are kept for bound volumes and 40 for             ciates these efforts of the young people.
     reprints. This past year we have gained  ,150 new
.    yearly subscribers and 125 IO-for-$2 subscribers, for          This year the board decided to underwrite the cost
     a total of 275. We've also had a total of 80 can-            of sending the Standard Bearer to the newly-weds of
     cellations.                                                  any of our Protestant Reformed Churches for one
        Four years ago we started the program of sending          year. The consistories of these churches should take
     10 issues for $2.00. This has proved to be very success-     note and forward the names to our Business Manager.
     ful. A total of 207 have taken advantage of this offer so    The board also decided to underwrite the expense of
     far. Of these, 110 have become regular subscribers.          a Managing Editor. Mr. Don Doezema has agreed to
                                                                  do this work. The board is grateful to him for his
       The board acknowledges all gifts of $10.00 or              efforts, because he took much of the work-load that
     more by means of a letter of thanks. This year the           the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. H.C. Hoeksema, had done
     gifts received were $10,000. Church collections              before. The board also covered the cost of several
     totalled  $5,800 and individual gifts $4,200. The            reprints, one of which was 100 co'pies of "Clasping A
     board takes this opportunity to thank you for your           Viper To The Bosom" - airmailed to Australia for
     interest in our endeavor and for your financial sup-         distribution there.
     port. Your prayers are needed, and all gifts toward            The board gratefully acknowledges the work of our
     the support of this work are much appreciated.               Business Manager, Henry Vander Wal. Again this year


of Prof. ,Kuitert and in the case of Ur. Wiersmga," the    Reformed circles. This Bultmann died last July 3U at
R.E.S. urged them to continue this procedure with all      the age of 9 1. What an awful way to find out that hell
due haste, and assured the G.K.N. of their concern,        is real after all!
support, and prayer.
                                                           CARTER AND HIS RELIGION
COMBINED MEETING OF TWO SYNODS IN                             Reports have been given concerning the religious
NETHERLANDS                                                convictions of the two candidates for the presidency.
                                                           The sincerity of each, at times, .has been questioned.
   In  Calvinist-Contact  of August 27, 1976, Dr. L.       The Christian  News of Aug. 30, 1976, records the
Praamsma reports that on Sept. 17 and 18 of this           report of a Lutheran pastor as given in the Milwaukee
year the synods of the Dutch Reformed Church (Ned.         Journal of Aug. 20, 1976. Part of this report reads:
Herv. Kerk) and the Reformed Churches (Ger.
Kerken) met in combined meeting. Local congre-                    The Journal reports that Jimmy Carter's brand of
                                                               religion worries some people, especially Roman
gations of these two denominations have been hold-             Catholics, because of his permissive, even approving,
ing combined services for several years already. In            approach to abortion on demand ( The Journal, July
fact, reports Praamsma, at least one Reformed                  16).
Church held combined services with a local Roman                       As an evangelical Lutheran Christian I suppose I
Catholic Church. Praamsma views this combined                   should be delighted that a "born again true believer"
synod as a clear indication of the desire for a united          may be headed for the White House, especially after a
church. When the Reformed Churches separated from               series of presidents who seemed to be lukewarm at
the N.H.K. in 1834, it was with the understanding               best in their religious convictions, or at worst ap-
that they would gladly reunite as soon as this state            peared to exploit. religion for crass political purposes
church would return to the confession of the fathers.           by inviting big name religious leaders to a weekly
                                                                game of musical chairs in services at the White House
But such a return has not taken place. Yet, since both          during the Nixon years.
denominations contain many leaders who have
adopted a new and critical view of Scripture and the               However, I, too, am troubled by the Carter brand
confessions, these find a basis for unity now. The              of religion, over and above his stand on abortion. On
paper,  Waarheid en Eenheid,  calls this  synodical             the campaign trail, candidate Carter sought to re-
                                                                assure a predominantly Jewish audience in New
gathering a "presentation of a totally irresponsible            Jersey by saying: "I worship the same God you do."
showaf-unity." In this connection, Praamsma ex-                 Surely the sincerity of a man who contends that he
presses a measure of doubt concerning the wisdom of             never lies should not be questioned, but it should be
seeking closer contact between the Christian                    pointed out that Carter's statement in New Jersey is
Reformed Church and the Reformed Churcli of                     completely at odds with a basic truth of the Christian
America. He sees the Reformed Church as having no               faith. It is apparent that the Plains, Ga., Sunday
"confessional unity" - a matter which ought'first to            schdol teacher still has a big gap to close in his knowl-
be' discussed before taking additional steps toward             edge of the Bible.
closer fellowship.                                                 In the Scriptures Jesus insists: "I am the Way, the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       69


Gerrit Pipe has helped Henry with the mailing of the               bia, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island,
Standard Bearer. Gerrit Vander Lee has consented to                and Utah. One hundred copies are mailed regularly to
help with the mailing work in the event of the ab-                 Australia and New Zealand, and sixty copies to other
sence of one of these brethren.                                    foreign countries.
  To publish the Standard Bearer on time, everything                  Retiring from the board this year are H. Kuiper, A.
must be at the printer promptly each 2nd and 16th of               Rau, and G.  Vanden Top, all of whom have had
the month, With thanksgiving we acknowledge the                    various functions and committee assignments during
faithfulness of our Covenant God. He has provided                  their terms. We thank these men for their labors. We
the means to publish our magazine and has, by His                  are thankful to the Lord that He supplies men who
Spirit and grace, guided and sustained our editors.                give many hours of their own time for the board in
The Lord has provided an open door for the                         support of this kingdom cause.
Reformed Free Publishing Association by means of                      In conclusion, the Board of the R.F.P.A. and the
the p&ted page. To Him be all the glory!                           Staff covet your prayers and support of this kingdom
  The Standard Bearer is mailed to forty states. The               work. May the Lord continue to bless us and all His
only states where it does not appear are: Alaska,                  people through our distinctively Reformed magazine.
Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Colum-                                                     - W. De Kraker, Sec'y


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS


                   The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
                                                  Pro5 Robert D. Decker


          "We confess, therefore, that God did fulfill the promise, which he made to the fathers, by the mouth of his
          holy prophets, when he sent into the world, at the time appointed by him,  his own, only-begotten and
          eternal Son, who took upon him the form of a servant, and became like unto man, really assuming the true
          human nature, with all its infirmities, sin excepted, being conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin
          Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without the means of man, and did not only assume human nature
          as to the body, but also a true human soul, that he might be a real man. For since the soul was lost as well
          as the body, it was necessary that he should take both upon him, to save both. Therefore we confess (in
          opposition to the heresy of the Anabaptists, who deny that Christ assumed human flesh of his mother) that
          Christ is become a partaker of the flesh and blood of the children; that he is a fruit of the loins of David
          after the flesh; made of the seed of David according to the flesh; a fruit of the womb of the Virgin Mary,
          made of a woman, a branch of David; a shoot of the root of Jesse; sprung from the tribe of Judah;
          descended from the Jews according to the flesh; of the seed of Abraham, since he took on him the seed of
          Abraham, and became like unto his brethren in all things, sin excepted, so that in truth he is our Immanuel,
          that is to say, God with us."
                                                                                 The Be&c Confession,  Article XVIII


  Article XVII spoke of the promise which God                      Shortly thereafter Enoch spoke of the Lord's coming
made to fallen man to "give His Son, who should be                 in judgment with ten thousands of his saints (Jude
made of a woman, to bruise the head of the serpent,                14, 15). God spoke of the promise to Noah who was
and would make him happy." With article XVIII our                  saved by the flood of great waters. Even more clearly
Confession speaks of the fulfillment of that promise               and fully did God speak to the patriarchs. Abraham
in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. That promise                   received the assurance:  "And% I will make of thee a
spoken to fallen man was spoken repeatedly to the                  great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
fathers throughout the Old Testament times "by the                 great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless
mouth of the holy prophets." The speaking did not                  them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
cease with the "mother-promise" of Genesis 3: 15.                  and in thee shall all the families of the earth be


 70                                           THE .~TAMVWD.EENW~


 blessed." (Genesis  12:2, 3) On his deathbed Jacob         Wherefore in all things it  behoyed him to be made
 spoke of the promised Christ:. "The scepter shall not     i$e unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful
 depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his         and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to
 feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the            make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49: 10) Moses
testified of Christ as the great prophet: "The Lord           That Christ assumed a real human nature means
thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet `from the        also that He was a definite individual with an in-
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto         dividual human nature. Some have taught that Christ
him shall ye hearken." (Deuteronomy 18: 15) Never          assumed not an individual human nature but: human
was Israel without the witness of the prophets con-        nature in general. This, however, cannot be, for
cerning the Wonder of the fulfillment of the promise.      "`Human Nature" in general is an abstraction which
In their songs both David and Solomon sang of the          has  no concrete reality. We believe with our  ,Con-
coming Christ. In the Book of Proverbs He is               fession  that the Savior possessed a definite or con-
presented as the highest Wisdom (cf. chapter 8).           crete human nature. Christ had a certain color hair
Isaiah spoke of Him as the "root out of dry gyound"        and eyes, measured a certain height, had a definite
 (chapter 53) and as "the Lord's anointed" (chapter        complexion. He was not red or yellow, but white.
61). Jeremiah spoke of this Christ as: "the Branch of      More specifically He was a Jew with Jewish character-
righteousness" which the Lord would cause to grow          istics. He had His Own personality with His Own
up unto David. (Jeremiah 33: 15) Ezekiel and Daniel        character traits. Closely connected with this is the
both spoke of Him. Many of the minor prophets              fact that Christ assumed a central human nature. He
spoke of the blessed hope of Israel. Even the place of     took hold of our human nature at its very  ce'nter.
His birth, Bethlehem, was spoken of. (Cf. Micah 5:2)       Thus the Savior was a Jew in the line of the covenant.
Not until Malachi had passed from the scene was the        Again our  Confession  emphasizes this aspect of
voice of prophecy silent for a season. Christ when He      Christ's human nature when it says He was "a fruit
came could say to the Jews: "Search the Scriptures;        of the loins of David after the flesh . . . ." This was
for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are    denied by the Anabaptists who are mentioned in the
they,which testify of me." (John  5:39) Truly, there-      aiticle. These taught that Christ did not assume the
fore, when Jesus Christ is born of the virgin: "God        fl&sh and blood of His mother, but that God created a
did fulfill the promise, which he made to the fathers,     special human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary
by the mouth of his holy prophets."                        quite apart from Mary herself. Scripture teaches
                                                           otherwise. According to the Word of God Jesus Christ
  And God sent His only-begotten Son into the              was born in definite generations. He is the Son of
world, "at the time `appointed by him." This the           David. (Cf. Matthew 1: l-16) The genealogy of Jesus
Scriptures call "the fulness of time." (Cf. Galatians
4:4, 5) This was that precise moment when all things       acjcording  to the flesh can be traced all the way back
according to the eternal counsel of God were pre-          to Adam. (Cf. Luke 3 :24-38) The generations of
pared for the coming of His Son.                           Christ may be compared to a large pyramid, wide at
                                                           the base in Adam, but narrowing down through Seth,
  Concerning the incarnation of our Lord, the
Article emphasizes several facts. First, the Article       Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David,
makes very clear that Christ assumed a real .human         and finally reaching its peak in the Virgin Mary who
nature. Early in the history of the Church this was        was the last remnant of the line of the royal house of
denied by the Docetics who taught that Christ only         David. Hence Christ's human nature was principally
                                                           and organically in the loins of the promised line from
seemed to assume a human nature. The human nature
of Christ was no more than an appearance. But this is      the very beginning of time until the moment of His
not the case. In the words of our  Confession,  the        cdnception and birth.
eternal Son  "of God "took upon him the form of a            In this connection it must be maintained that
servant, and became like unto man, really assuming         Joseph  was  not  the father of our Lord Jesus  Christ.
the trye human nature, with all  its infirmities, sin      We believe in the Virgin birth of our Savior. This
excepted . . ." He was born just as any other child. He    needs emphasis again in our times. Even in tradi-
also had flesh and blood and was like us in all things     tionally Reformed circles there are those who deny
with the exception of sin. Scripture declares: "Foras-     t&e fact and the necessity of the Virgin birth. Scrip-
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and       ture very plainly teaches that Jesus had no earthly
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;     father. We find this already in the Prophecy of Isaiah:
that through death he might destroy him that had the       "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews  2:14)-      Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son; and
Verses sixteen and seventeen of that same passage          shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7: 14) Those
teach: "For verily he took not on him the nature of        who deny the Virgin birth are quick to point out that
angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.            the word "virgin" in this verse can also mean "young


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 71


woman" or a woman of marriageable age. This is true,        divine m,ind and will, also possessed a human mind
we readily grant. But the text is speaking of a sign,       and-will. This was necessary for, the Article explains,
and a sign is something out of the ordinary. There is       Christ .had to save not only our bodies but also our
certainly nothing extraordinary about a young                depraved souls.  '  -
woman conceiving and bearing a son. The sign lies in           Still more, the human nature of Christ was a
the fact that a virgin conceives and bears a son. That      weakened human nature. His nature was not strong as
is extraordinary indeed! It's an utter impossibility        was Adam's before the fall. Jesus was like us in every
from every human point of view. Besides, that this is       respect and could. be and was tempted in all points
the meaning of Isaiah is plain from the New Testa-          like as we and touched with the feeling of our in-
ment reference to this very passage. In Matthew             firmities. (Cf. Hebrews 4: 15) We never read that
1: 18ff. we read that Joseph was minded to put away         Christ was ill, but the possibility was certainly there.
his pregnant wife thinking that she had committed           He became weary, hungry, `and thirsty. Jesus wept.
adultery. An angel explains to him that Mary has con-       Finally He also died. This too was necessary, for He
ceived by the Holy Spirit. Joseph is told that she shall    had to become like us in every respect in order to
bring forth a son, and he is instructed to name that        atone for our sins.
son Jesus. Then the Scripture teaches that all this was        Finally this article also emphasizes that the human
done "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of        nature of Christ was sinless. In this one respect Christ
the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall      was different from us. He partook neither of our guilt
be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they        nor of our pollution. This too was important, for
shall call his name Emmanuel, which being inter-            only because Christ was free from personal guilt
preted is, God with us." (Verses 22, 23) This is also       could He take our guilt upon Himself. And, only
plain from the announcement of the birth of Christ          because Christ was the holy Son of God could He
to Mary. When Mary is told that she shall conceive          walk the way of perfect obedience to His Father.
and bear a son she responds: "How shall this be, see-
ing I know not a man?" The' answer of the angel is:            Finally let us note that all this we can never
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the               comprehend. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is a
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: there-          transcendent miracle. It is the Wonder of all wonders.
fore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall      The God of our salvation brought forth the Eternal
be called the Son of God." (Luke 2:28-35)                   out- of the creature, the holy One out `of the unholy,
                                                            the perfect Mediator out of a fallen, dead human
  The human nature which Christ assumed was a               race. What remained forever impossible for man was
complete  human nature. Christ, as the  Confession          possible `for God! A Virgin conceived and brought
emphasizes, was born with a hum,an body, but also a         forth a Son. His Name is Jesus: ". . . for He shall save
human soul. This means that Christ, along with His          His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)




                                               Report oj Classis East
                                            held October 6, 1976, at the
                                      First Pro t. ReR Church, Grand Rapids.

  Classis East met in regular session on October 6,         advised to ask the seminary to fill its pulpit until that
1976. at the First Prot. Ref. Church. The business          time.
before the session was routine. The chairman of the            In regard to other business, the  classis re-elected
session, Rev. M. Joostens, in commenting upon the           the present Stated Clerk to a three-year term, and
routine nature of the business before  classis, ex-         agreed to raise the stipend for elders' lost wages from
pressed gratitude to God that the churches were at           $20 to $30. The church visitors have not yet visited
peace and that, routine as the business,- the  classis      Covenant Church in New Jersey and consequently
must keep' in mind the seriousness of doing the             had no final report. After the asking and answering of
business of the Kingdom of God.                             the questions of Article 41 of the Church Order,
  The Finance Committee for this session was Rev.            classis adjourned. The next meeting will be held on
Van  Overloop  and Elder H.  VanderKolk. Expenses           January 5, 1977, in the new Hudsonville Church
authorized amounted to $378.65.                              (alternate site: Southwest).
                                                                                             Respectfully submitted,
   Classical appointments were requested by Kalama-                                                  Jon J. Huisken,
zoo until Rev. Woudenberg arrives. Kalamazoo was                                                        Stated Clerk


  THE  STANDARD  BEARER
            P.O. Box 6964
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506



                                                                                i
                                          -~                         ---
72                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                  W EDDING AN NIVER SARY                                                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY


       On November 11, 1976, the  Lord,willing,  our parents MR.  81 MRS.                On October 17, 1976, our beloved parents, MR. and MRS. JOHN
 GERARD  BORDUIN,will  celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We                   BODBY L, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. We, their grateful
 are thankful that their lives were  spared all these years so that they to-          children, thank God for the many years of love and Christian instruc-
 gether might see God's faithfulness to His promise from generation to                tion they have given us. Our sincere prayer is that God may continue to
 generation. We are grateful for the example of their faith that God                  bless them in the future as He has done in the past.
 would indeed supply all their needs and ours.                                                                    Mr. and Mrs. George Postmus
                                Psalm 128                                                                           John, Nathan, Cathy
                              Mr.  61 Mrs. Herman Van Dyke                                                        Mr. and Mrs. George Bodbyl
                              Mr.  & Mrs. lgnacio Quenga                                                            George
                              Mr.  & Mrs. Theodore Borduin                                                        Mr. and Mrs. John Bodbyl
                              Mr.  & Mrs. Melvin Borduin                                                            Jennifer, John
                              13 grandchildren                                                                    Thomas Bodbyl
                               2 great-grandchildren                                                              Joan Bodbyl
 916  Oakdale St., SE                                                                                             Daniel
 Grand Rapids,  Mich.



                                      News From Our Churches

      Rev. Kortering was scheduled to preach his `fare-                              announced the beginning of Sunday School classes
well sermon' on October 10 in Hull, Iowa, before                                     and continued with these words, "As we begin a new
departing with his family to his new charge in Red-                                  Sunday School season, let us as parents and children,
lands, California. The Hull congregation extended a                                  remember the words of Proverbs chapter 4, `Hear, ye
call to Rev. R. Van Overloop  of our Hope (Walker,                                   children, the instruction of a father, and attend to
Michigan) church.                                                                    know understanding . . . Get wisdom, get under-
      God's Church is a singing church. With a view to                               standing; forget it not; neither decline from the words
that fact, the Junior Young People's Society of First                                of my mouth."
Church decided that it would be very profitable for                                     Our church in Holland, Michigan, started their
the entire congregation to sing Psalter numbers for                                  society season with an inspirational meeting of all
about 15 minutes immediately following the evening                                   their church societies on September 15. Seminarian
service on the last Sunday of each month. The first                                  Rich Flikkema was asked to speak for them. Rev.
such `singspiration' was held the last Sunday in                                     Engelsma's book on marriage is receiving considerable
September. All but a very few of the congregation                                    attention in our various society gatherings. The Hull
remained for a few moments of song. Mr. Ed Ophoff,                                   Mr. & Mrs. Society has. also decided to use this book
who has demonstrated his talents as a songleader, as                                 as a study and discussion guide.  "The Hull Young
those of you who attended our 50th anniversary                                       People's- Society began their season with a discussion
celebration last summer will attest, led the spirited                                of the importance of Protestant Reformed education,
singing.                                                                             a topic that must seem very close to them, with the
  I always thought that annual cleanings were to be                                  opening of their new Christian School this fall. The
done in the Spring. But many of our church bulletins                                 South Holland Mr. & Mrs. Society decided to study
have carried requests for `volunteers' to be armed                                   the distinctive teachings of the Protestant Reformed
with mops, buckets, and whatever else one needs to                                   Churches regarding both faith and life this year. A
clean and scrub down various of our churches, in-                                    tine opportunity for the young couples of the church
cluding Hull and Isabel, as well as several of our                                   to grow in their knowledge of what it means to be
                                                                                     Protestant Reformed. The Randolph Ladies Society
Christian Schools.                                                                   just completed a project of installing a new stove in
  This is also the time of year in which many of our                                 the parsonage. Rev. Bekkering and his wife extended
churches begin the Sunday School sessions (although                                  thanks to the ladies for "the love,' interest, and
several schedule Sunday School only during the                                       concern expressed in your kind deed."
summer         months). The Faith Church bulletin                                                                                                 K.G.V.


