     *      The



r            A REFOPIMED SEMO-M'GNTNY  MIBGAZIME                                       F




     Do you know:
     1 . That  John  Calvin  believed  that  Moses
          wrote history in Geliesis 1, ff.?
     2 . That  John  Calvin  believed  that  creation
          took place in six days?
     3 . That John Calvin believed that the world
          is about six thousand years old?
     4 . That John Calvin believed that we cannot
          read God's revelation in creation and his-
          tory except through the spectacles of the
          Scriptures?
                                              See Editorial, p. 293

                                                    Vol.  LXIII, No. 13, April 1, 1987  -


290                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER




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       The Divinely Acceptable Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . .290                      Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C.  Hoeksema
  Editorial -                                                                         Dqartment  Editors:  Rev. Ronald  Ca-npya,  Rev.  Arks den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                      D. Decker, Rev. Barry Grit&s. Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                      Rev. RonaM Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.                        Kortering,  Rev. Gear e C. Lub-
       Why Evolution? (4)                                                             bers,  Rev. Thomas C. Misfara, Rev. JMVS S opsmna,
                                                                                                                                                il.            Rev. Gise J. 4an Baren,
                                                                                      Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr.  Benjamin  Wiper.
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko



                        The Divinely Acceptable Prayer


                    Ques. 116. Why is prayer necessary for Christians?
                    Ans. Because it is the chief part of thankfulness which God requires of us: and also, because
                God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask
                them of him, and are thankful for them.
                    Ques. 117. What are the requisites of that prayer, which is acceptable to God, and which he
                will hear?


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                291



             Ans. First, that we from the heart pray to the one true God only, who has manifested himself
           in his word, for all things, he hath commanded us to ask him; secondly, that we rightly and
           thoroughly know  our need and misery, that so we may deeply humble ourselves  in  the presence
           of his divine majesty; thirdly, that we be fully persuaded, that he, notwithstanding that we are
           unworthy of it, will, for the sake of Christ our Lord, certainly hear our prayer, as he has
           promised us in his word.
             Ques. 118. What has God commanded us to ask of him?
             Ans. All things necessary for soul and body; which Christ our Lord has comprised in that
           prayer he himself taught us. Upon this follows the Lord's Prayer.    Heid. Cat. Lord's Day 45.



  "Behold, he prayeth."                                       of the Holy Spirit. We think of Jacob wrestling with
  God said this concerning Saul, who later became             the Angel of Jehovah and pleading for His blessing.
the apostle Paul, after the Lord had appeared to him          We think of Hannah beseeching God for a Samuel.
on the way to Damascus.                                       And our thoughts turn to the publican in the tem-
                                                              ple, pleading: "0 God, be merciful to me, the sin-
  Paul had been brought up according to the strict            ner."
laws of the Pharisees. He had been taught to pray
already at his mother's knee. During the thirty six              Prayer is addressing, calling upon God who per-
years of his life he must have addressed God in a             mits us to make all our needs known in prayer and
formal prayer many times.                                     supplication with thanksgiving. This includes trust,
                                                              rejoicing in the Lord, singing songs in the night,
  But now he had been struck with blindness and               worshipping with praise and adoration. "0 give
sat in a house on Straight Street in Damascus,                thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make
reviewing his life under the power of the Holy                known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him,
Spirit. For the first time he realized how spiritually        sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous
blind he had always been, particularly in rejecting           works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of
the Christ and persecuting his followers. Day and             them rejoice that seek the Lord," Psalm  105:1-3.
night he prayed for God's forgiving mercies.                     Prayer is all that, but even more. For in prayer
  Even while he prayed, God spoke to Ananias, in-             we enter into God's presence, we approach before
structing him to restore Paul's sight, assure him of          His face, we bow in worship and adoration, we
God's pardon and inform him that he was a chosen              pour out our souls before Him who knows our
vessel to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.                  weakness and our frailty, who remembers that we
  Paul had learned to pray!                                   are dust. Prayer is casting ourselves upon Christ,
  We think of the disciples, who had witnessed the            clinging to His cross, seeking Him as our Refuge
Lord in long hours of close communion with the                and Strength, the ever present Help in every need.
Father, and had heard Him pray. They had never                 Prayer is intercession for our fellow believers in the
known any one to pray as He did. Therefore they               blessed experience of the communion of saints,
asked Him: "Lord, teach us to pray." They wanted              knowing that our prayers intermingle with the
Him to teach them, even as a little child is taught at        prayers of all the saints as they ascend to heaven.
mother's knee.                                                   Prayer is all that, and also more. Prayer is cove-
  With our Catechism we now approach the sub-                  nant fellowship with the God of our salvation, ex-
ject of prayer, not for an abstract discussion of the         periencing His nearness, His approval and blessing.
subject, but rather as the highest expression of our           It is the closest that we can possibly come to heaven
thankfulness to God for all the riches of His salva-           in this life! Our God says to us: "Seek ye My face",
tion. May we do so with a true, spiritual, childlike           and our heart responds: "Thy face, Lord, will I
desire to learn to pray!                                       seek."
  What is prayer? Prayer is one of God's most                    We need no letter of recommendation, as with a
essential gifts of grace to His people in Christ.             dignitary. We need no appointment, as with a doc-
Prayer is access to the throne of grace through our            tor. We are not put on a waiting list or on hold. We
Advocate, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. True prayer             need no telephone or other means of communica-
is aroused in our hearts through faith, by the power           tion. There is no time of the day or night that the
                                                               channel of communication is closed. God has
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant       prepared for us an open line of communication
Reformed Churches.                                             through Jesus Christ, whereby our hearts have


292                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



direct contact with the heart of God!                    No prayer reaches the throne of grace unless it is
   Need we still ask: "Why is prayer necessary for       sent up in Jesus' Name. For God resists the proud,
Christians"? The answer is obvious. God requires it.     but gives grace to the humble.
Scripture urges us in no uncertain terms: "Seek the        Finally, prayer includes an awareness of our
Lord, while (since) he may be found; call upon him       great need. "He who comes to God must believe. . .
while (since) he is near." We can add to that: God       that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
requires it as the chief expression of thankfulness.     Him," Heb. 11:6. James warns us in his epistle that
What could God require of us that is more blessed        "Ye have not, because ye ask not." Moreover, "Ye
than that? Even more, what a wonderful way He            ask, and ye receive not, because ye ask amiss,"
has of requiring it. He creates us as rational, moral    James 42, 3. Most of our petitions are so carnal, so
creatures who are able to respond to Him! We             earthly and selfish, so half-hearted, that God in His
desire, we think, we speak, we act. God re-creates       mercy refuses to grant them. We ask for the for-
us as new creatures in Christ that we may know           giveness of our sins, yet we refuse to forsake them.
Him, love Him, and serve Him in love. We ap-             We ask for sanctification, but we still cling to the
proach as empty vessels to the overflowing Foun-         lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride
tain of every good and perfect gift to receive out of    of life. James says in the first chapter of his epistle,
His fulness more than we can ask or think. Why           "If any of you lack wisdom (or any other blessing,
does a newly-born babe naturally seek its mother's       for that matter), let him ask of God, that giveth
breast? Why does a small child confidently ask           liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
mother for a cookie or a slice of bread? For that        him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For
same reason the child of God seeks Father's fellow-      he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven by
ship and blessing, which are more to Him than life       the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that
itself.                                                  he shall receive anything of the Lord," 1:5-7.
   Our Book of Instruction asks about the requisites       We must seek diligently. Often we are amazed at
of a true prayer that is acceptable to God, and          the fact that our prayers are no sooner uttered, or
which He will hear.                                      the answer is there. God was preparing the answer
                                                         even before we prayed. But there are also times
   We can enter into God's presence only with a          when heaven seems closed, and our prayers arise
deep awareness in our hearts that God is GOD!            no higher than the ceiling. We wonder whether
Fear and awesome reverence must fill our souls as        God has turned His back on us and shut us off from
we approach the Holy, Righteous, Almighty and            His presence. Has God forgotten to be kind? Will
Eternal God who dwells in the dazzling brightness        He withhold His mercies forever? God undoubted-
of His eternal perfections, God above all, blessed       ly is telling us something. He certainly teaches us to
forever! "He that cometh to God must believe that        storm His throne with our bitter need. He wants us
He is," Hebrews  11:6. We are not like the pagans        to ask, but also to seek; to seek, but also to knock,
who worship the god of their choice. Nor may we          even until heaven's door is once more opened to us.
address God as if He were our equal. Only God can        Through all our prayers and supplications, and
tell us who and what He is, as He does in the pages      through all our diligent seeking even day and night,
of the Holy Scriptures. We can know Him only by a        we learn to surrender our will completely to
true and living faith, wrought in our hearts con-        Father's will. For His will alone is good! His way is
tinuously by the Holy Spirit. Before we enter into       the only good way!
the sanctuary we should be deeply aware of His             What, then, must be the content of our prayers?
eternal majesty as the ever blessed, adorable            What must be our greatest need and our strongest
Jehovah! Well may we pause before we utter a             desire? That God's name be exalted in us, by us,
word, that our words may be few and proper!              round about us, come what may! That His kingdom
   We must also be filled with a deep awareness of       come, in which we may serve Him in heavenly
ourselves. We are mere, insignificant creatures of       perfection, and that eternally! That His will, which
the dust. God has no need of us, but we are sorely       is always wise and good, may be carried out in all
in need of Him. Moreover, we are sinful creatures        its detail! That we may be assured of Father's daily
who have grossly transgressed all His command-           care, that our sins be forgiven, and that we may be
ments, and fail to keep any of them. Even our            kept by the power of God from all evil and may
prayers at their very best are polluted with sin. God    grow in grace and sanctification unto the day of our
has every reason to banish us from His presence,         complete deliverance, to dwell with God in His
and would necessarily do so, if it were not that He      house forever!
has created access to His throne through our               For God's is the kingdom, the power, and the
Mediator Jesus Christ. No prayer is complete             glory forever! Amen.
without an expressed or implied confession of sin.         Lord, teach us to pray!


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                           293



EDITORIAL



                                    Why Evolution? (4)
                                   Van TUl and Calvin



  Before continuing with my critique of Dr.                 which we need in order to read and understand
Howard Van Till's The Fourth Day, I must call your          God's revelation in human history and in creation.
attention to his appeal to John Calvin.                     In fact, Calvin insists that without those spectacles
  It is not uncommon, of course, that men like to           one cannot read that revelation. But it is worth our
clothe themselves with the prestige and the ex-             while to take note of the context in which he makes
egetical and theological authority of John Calvin,          reference on at least one occasion [Calvin uses the
especially if they themselves go by the name of             figure more than once) to those "spectacles" of the
Calvinists. After all, Calvin is known and acknowl-         Scriptures.
edged by many as "the prince of exegetes."                    Calvin writes rather extensively about creation
Besides, the theological opinions of John Calvin            in Book I of his Institutes of the Christian Religion.
carry great weight; and unquestionably, if one has          Book I, Chapter XIV, is entitled, "In The Creation
Calvin on his side in things theological, he has            Of The World, And All Things In It, The True God
strong support. Further, if one can quote or refer to       Distinguished By Certain Marks From Fictitious
Calvin in connection with one's views, he leaves            Gods." Already in Section 1 of this chapter we
the impression of orthodoxy.                                learn that Calvin considered Genesis 1 to be history.
  I was reminded of this by the opening paragraph           We also learn in this same paragraph that Calvin
of Chapter 3 of The Fourth Day, where Dr. Van Till          held that the world was about six thousand years
makes a reference to Calvin as follows:                     old. In the first paragraph of this section we read
                                                            this (quotations are from the Beveridge translation):
     In an apt metaphor, John Calvin referred to Scrip-
   ture as the "spectacles" that we need in order to          "Although Isaiah justly charges the worshippers
   sharpen our perception of God's revelation in human      of false  gods  with stupidity, in not learning from
   history and in the physical world. Applying that         the foundations of the earth, and the circle of the
   metaphor to our present concern, how can we say that     heavens, who the true God is (Isa. xl. 21); yet so
   Scripture clarifies our view of the heavens? What do     sluggish and grovelling is our intellect, that it was
   we learn from the Bible about stars? When we view        necessary he should be more clearly depicted, in
   stars through the spectacles of Scripture, what do we
   see?                                                     order that the faithful might not fall away to Gen-
                                                            tile fictions. The idea that God is the soul of the
  It is also true, however, that frequently men             world, though the most tolerable that philosophers
quote or refer to Calvin only up to a point or only in      have suggested, is absurd; and, therefore, it was of
so far as it suits their purposes. And therefore it is      importance to furnish us with a more intimate
also true that frequently when one investigates a lit-      knowledge in order that we might not wander to
tle farther, he discovers that a writer does not really     and fro in uncertainty. Hence God was pleased that
agree with Calvin at all; or rather, that Calvin does       a history of the creation should exist - a history on
not agree with him.                                         which the faith of the Church might lean without
  Interestingly enough, upon investigation I dis-           seeking any other God than Him whom Moses sets
covered this to be the case with respect to Dr. Van         forth as the Creator and Architect of the world.
Till's reference to Calvin. It is certainly true that       First, in that history, the period of time is marked
John Calvin refers to Scripture as the "spectacles"         so as to enable the faithful to ascend by an  un-


2 9 4                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



broken succession of years to the first origin of            them by creating the world countless ages sooner
their race and of all things. This knowledge is of the       than he did create it. In their cupidity they affect to
highest use not only as an antidote to the monstrous         go beyond the world, as if the ample circumference
fables which anciently prevailed both in Egypt and           of heaven and earth did not contain objects
the other regions of the world, but also as a means          numerous and resplendent enough to absorb all our
of giving a clearer manifestation of the eternity of         senses; as if, in the period of six thousand years,
God as contrasted with the birth of creation, and            God had not furnished facts enough to exercise our
thereby inspiring us with higher admiration. We              mind in ceaseless meditation. Therefore, let us will-
must not be moved by the profane jeer,  that  it is          ingly remain hedged in by those boundaries within
strange how it did not sooner occur to the Deity to          which God has been pleased to confine our per-
create the heavens and the earth, instead of idly            sons, and, as it were, enclose our minds, so as to
allowing an infinite period to pass away, during             prevent them from losing themselves by wandering
which thousands of generations might have ex-                unrestrained."
isted, while the present world is drawing to a close
before it has completed its six thousandth year.               Then in the very next paragraph, Section 2,
Why God delayed so long it is neither fit nor lawful         Calvin writes about creation in six days:
to inquire. Should the human mind presume to do
it, it could only fail in the attempt, nor would it be         "With the same view Moses relates that the work
useful for us to know that God, as a trial of the            of creation was accomplished not in one moment,
modesty of our faith, has been pleased purposely to          but in six days. By this statement we are drawn
conceal. It was a shrewd saying of a good old man,           away from fiction to the one God who thus divided
who when some one pertly asked in derision what              his work into six days, that we may have no reluc-
God did before the world was created, answered he            tance to devote our whole lives to the contempla-
made a hell for the inquisitive (August. Confess.,           tion of it. For though our eyes, in what direction
lib. xi. c. 12). This reproof not less weighty than          soever they turn, are forced to behold the works of
severe, should repress the tickling wantonness               God, we see how fleeting our attention is, and how
which urges many to indulge in vicious and hurt-             quickly pious thoughts, if any arise, vanish away.
ful speculation."                                            Here, too, objection is taken to these progressive
                                                             steps as inconsistent with the power of God, until
   In the very next paragraph of this same section           human reason is subdued to the obedience of faith,
we find one of the references to the Scriptures as           and learns to welcome the calm quiescence to
"spectacles":                                                which the sanctification of the seventh day invites
   In fine, let us remember that that invisible God,         us. In the very order of events, we ought diligently
whose wisdom, power, and justice, are incompre-              to ponder on the paternal goodness of God toward
hensible, is set before us in the history of Moses as        the human e no&zreatingAdam  until he had
in a mirror, in which his living image is reflected.         liberally enriched the earth with all good things.
For as an eye, either dimmed by age or weakened              Had he placed him on an earth barren and unfur-
by any other cause, sees nothing distinctly without          nished; had he given life before light, he might have
the aid of glasses, so (such is our imbecility) if Scrip-    seemed to pay little regard to his interest. But now
ture does not direct us in our inquiries after God,          that he has arranged the motions of the sun and
we immediately turn vain in our imaginations.                stars for man's use, has replenished the air, earth,
Those who now indulge their petulance, and refuse            and water, with living creatures, and produced all
to take warning, will learn, when too late, how              kinds of fruit in abundance for the supply of food,
much better it had been reverently to regard the             by performing the office of a provident and in-
secret counsels of God, than to belch forth                  dustrious head of a family, he has shown his won-
blasphemies which pollute the face of heaven. Just-          drous goodness toward us. These subjects, which I
ly does Augustine  complain that God is insulted             only briefly touch, if more attentively pondered,
whenever any higher reason than his will is                  will make it manifest that Moses was a sure witness
demanded (Lib. de Gent.). He also in another place           and herald of the one only Creator. I do not repeat
wisely reminds us that it is just as improper to raise       what I have already explained - viz. that mention
questions about infinite periods of time as about in-        is here made not of the bare essence of God, but
finite space (De Civit. Dei). However wide the cir-          that his eternal Wisdom and Spirit are also set
cuit of the heavens may be, it is of some definite ex-       before us, in order that we may not dream of any
tent. But should any one expostulate with God that           other God than Him who desires to be recognized
vacant space remains exceeding creation by a hun-            in that express image."
dredfold, must not every pious mind detest the
presumption? Similar is the madness of those who               Thus spake John Calvin!
charge God with idleness in not having pleased                                                                HCH


                                               THE STAN,DARD BEARER                                          295



BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Kortering





      Numbers  - The Wiklerness Sojourn (1)



   The people of Israel spent a little less than a year     this book is more than a continuation of the
at Mt. Sinai. During this time they received the ten        historical account of the wilderness sojourn.
commandments, the details of the Levitical laws,            Genesis is the book of beginnings, not only of the
the instructions on the construction of the temple.         creation and the covenant with the individual
Toward the end of this time they built the taber-           patriarchs, but also the nation of Israel. The family
nacle which was to accompany them through the               of Jacob went down into Egypt, for there the Lord
wilderness sojourn. It is at this point that the Book       would make of them a great nation. Exodus is the
of Numbers takes up the historical account of these         account of their departure from Egypt and of how
events, an account encompassing the forty year              they received as a nation the laws of God which
stay in the wilderness and the eventual arrival at          formed the basis for His theocratic rule over them.
the borders of Canaan.                                      In Leviticus we have a record of God's further in-
THE NAME                                                    struction at Sinai, especially the emphasis placed
                                                            upon Israel becoming a holy nation through the
   The name of the book was originally designated           blood of the atonement and the washing away of
by the Jews as  bemidhbar,  meaning literally in the        sins in their daily lives. Now in the book of
Hebrew tongue, "in the wilderness;" or by others,           Numbers we learn from the history following their
wayedhabber taken from the first word of the book,          departure from Mt. Sinai that Israel failed
meaning "And he spake". For our purposes, the               miserably in their quest for Canaan. After they
book is called Numbers, derived from the  Sep-              were delivered from Egypt with a mighty hand,
tuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament,          where the God of Israel defeated their enemies and
which used the Greek word,  arithmoi,  literally            laid Egypt waste before them, after they had re-
numbers, which in turn was taken over by the                ceived the holy laws which God specifically gave to
Latin Vulgate. The naming refers to the two in-             them to show them the way of His covenant favor,
stances of the numbering of the people of Israel            and after they had the tabernacle built and visibly
which are included in this history, the first at the        present in their midst, what did the people do? Did
departure from Mt. Sinai (chapter 1) and the second         they walk in humble obedience and keep the law of
at the conclusion of the wilderness sojourn some            God? This history shows otherwise. They rebelled
thirty-eight years later (chapter 26).                      and complained, they forsook their God and He
THE AUTHOR                                                  finally humbled them so that all above twenty
   Since this book is included in the Pentateuch            years of age died in the wilderness.
(five books of Moses], the author was Moses. We               What does this teach us? Like Israel, we are
entered into detail on this point in connection with        unable and unwilling to walk in God's covenant
our introduction of Genesis.                                way. We need but look into our own lives to see the
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK                                    rebellion, the spiritual unfaithfulness, the attrac-
   If we see clearly the relationship of Numbers to         tion for Egypt and what it has to offer. As a people,
the preceding books, it will become apparent that           Israel did not deserve to enter Canaan. Neither do
                                                            we deserve to enter heaven. It is a wonder of God's
 Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    sovereign grace. Oh, how desolate is the wilderness
 Church of  Grandville, Michigan.                           of sin and how majestic are the mountains of


296                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



Jerusalem. With the presence of Jehovah in the face                   2. Each tribe is arranged within the camp,
of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, the sojourn is not on-              situated around the tabernacle  (2:1-34).  To the east
ly possible, it is a reality. This we learn from the im-          of the tabernacle were the tribes of Judah, Issachar,
portant book of Numbers. Merrill Unger makes this                 and Zebulun (2: l-9). To the south side were the
note in his  The New  Ungers  BibZe Handbook  "The                tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad (2:10-16). In the
New Testament repeatedly alludes to or quotes the                 middle of all these tribes the Levites were to dwell
book of Numbers (c.f. John  3:14 and Numbers                      in close proximity to the tabernacle  (2:17).  To the
21:9).  Baalam (Numbers 22-24) is referred to by                  west side the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and
Jude (vs.  ll), Peter (II Peter  2:15,  16), and John             Benjamin were located  (2:18-24). Finally on the
(Rev. 2: 14). Jude also refers to Korah's rebellion (vs.          north side, the tribes of Dan,  Asher, and Naphtali
11, c.f. Numbers 16, 27:3). Its spiritually illustrative         were assigned  (2:25-31). All were to pitch their
contents are given deep meaning (I Cor. lO:l-11)                  tents by the standards of their own tribe  (2:32-34).
and are inseparably connected with the rest of the                    3. The Levites are given specific instruction
Pentateuch,          particularly with Exodus and
Leviticus."                                                      regarding their service of the Lord (3:  l-4:49). The
                                                                 priests are mentioned first, specifically the sons of
  Harrison sounds the same note in his  Introduction             Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar  (3:1-4).
to the Old Testament.                                            Then we have the tribe of Levi assigned the work of
         Numbers must never be regarded as merely com-           the tabernacle, its care and service  (3:5-10).  The
       prising a catalog of the outstanding incidents which      Levites are set aside in behalf of all the firstborn
       marked the Israelite sojourn in the Wilderness. Not       sons of Israel (3: 11-13). The Levites are now
       only did the book record such events, but it inter-       numbered, the children of Gershon number 7,500
       preted them so as to demonstrate the Covenant love of     males from one month and older. Their specific in-
       God for His people in every emergency of distress and     struction in the care of the tabernacle includes the
       danger, as well as the stern and severe judgments of      care of the curtains and hangings (3: 14-26). The
       God against apostasy and rebellion. This revelation is    sons of Kohath number 8,600 and are assigned the
       uniformly evident throughout the book, and furnishes      vessels of the tabernacle  (3:27-32). Finally the sons
       a theological emphasis that serves to integrate the       of Merari number 6,200 and are assigned the
       literary selections into one harmonious corpus. The
       theme of divine holiness, so apparent in Leviticus, is    assembling of the tabernacle  (3:33-37). The total
       also central to the theology of Numbers. While God        number of the Levites amounts to 22,000. Moses
       dwells in the midst of His people, His innate sanctity    and Aaron and their families are assigned the place
       demands that any who approach Him do so through           directly east of the tabernacle  (3:36-39). Since the
       carefully prescribed rules."                              Levites represent the firstborn of Israel, the rest of
A BRIEF OUTLINE                                                  Israel had to be redeemed from the temple service.
                                                                 There were 22,273 firstborn sons in all the camp
  The book of Numbers is divided into three main                 (numbered from infancy). Each had to be redeemed
parts. The first deals with the preparations for                 with 5 shekels of the sanctuary for a total of 1,365
Israel's departure from Mt. Sinai (l:l-lO:lO), the sec-          shekels, which in turn was given to Aaron and his
ond covers the journey from Mt. Sinai to the plains              sons (3:40-51). The sons of Levi from 30 years to 50
of Moab  (lO:ll-21:35), and the final section deals              years are assigned the work of the tabernacle. More
with the events that take place in the plains of                 details are given to the sons of Kohath in dealing
Moab  (22:1-36:13).                                              with the furnishings of the tabernacle  (4:1-15).  The
  We will begin with the preparations for depar-                 care of the oil and incense belonged to Aaron's
ture from Mt. Sinai  (l:l-1O:lO).                                family, specifically Eleazar (4: 16). The Kohathites
  1. The people are numbered (1: l-54). God in-                  were to be busy in the tabernacle, only they were to
structed Moses on the first day of the second month              stay out when the holy things were uncovered
of the second year after leaving Egypt to take a cen-            (4: 17-20). Also more detail is given the Gershonites
sus of the males of each tribe, 21 years and older,              in the care of the curtains and hangings of the
capable of going to war. A leading man of each tribe             tabernacle  (4:21-28). Finally the same is done for
was to assist him (l:l-16). They assembled at that               the sons of Merari in their dealings with the con-
time  and the tally is given of each tribe: Reuben               struction of the poles and boards of the tabernacle
46,500, Simeon 59,300, Gad 45,650, Judah 74,600,                 (4:29-33). The numbering of the Kohathites eligible
Issachar 54,400, Zebulun 57,400, Ephraim 40,500,                 for temple service (between the ages of 30-50) total
Manasseh 32,200, Benjamin 35,400, Dan 62,700,                    2,750  (4:34-37). The Gershonites total 2,630
Asher 41,500, Naphtali 53,400, for a total of                    (4:38-41). And the Merarites total 3,200. The total,
603,550 exclusive of the Levites  (1:17-54). This                eligible for the work in the tabernacle, amounts to
means that the family of Jacob grew in Egypt from                8 , 5 8 0 .
approximately 70 souls to a nation of over 2 million.                4.  Instruction is given on ways to protect the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              2 9 7



people from defilement (5: 1-31). Any leper, person                 this matter. A jealousy offering was to be brought to
with an issue of blood or defiled by the dead was to                the priest, a mixture of holy water and dust pre-
be put outside the camp  (5:1-4).  Those  who com-                  pared for the woman to drink. The priest required
mitted sin are shown forgiveness in the way of con-                 her to take an oath of agreement that if guilty her
fession and restitution  (5:5-10).  If a woman goes                 belly would swell and her thigh rot upon drinking
aside and commits adultery with another man, but                    the water, or if innocent she would suffer no ill af-
there are no witnesses, and the husband is jealous                  fect. God thus established guilt and innocence,
(suspicious), then the Lord provided a way to settle                since He controls all things (5: 11-31).

ALL AROUND US
Gise J. Van Bar-en





                                                God's "Hostage"?
                                                                 AIDS



God's "Hostage"?:                                                        March," states a fund-raising letter signed by
                                                                         Roberts.  `I. . . God said, `I want you to use the ORU
  Articles in many magazines and newspapers                              medical school to put My medical presence in the
have commented on the fund-raising efforts of Oral                       earth. I want you to get this going in one year or I will
Roberts. Comic strips likewise have been employed                        call you home!"' Roberts says he received this
to mock Roberts's claims. This man who, a few                            message last March.
years ago, claimed that Jesus appeared to him (900                         The evangelist likens his situation to the apostle
feet tall), now insists that God has told Roberts that                   Paul who, in the New Testament Book of Philippians
if he does not raise eight million dollars by a certain                  spoke of his desire to "depart and be with Christ," but
deadline, God will take his life by March 31 (or the                     also of his responsibility to "abide with you in the
end of the year, according to later claims). Even Las                    flesh." According to Roberts's letter, "when it looked
Vegas has noted the claim. There are some                                like Paul would go on to heaven, his partners flooded
gamblers in that city who sought to make the claim                       him with the necessary money, each one giving to
a basis for their betting: does God get His money                        God's servant out of their own need."
within the allotted time or does God take Roberts's                        A follow-up letter signed by Roberts's son, Richard,
life?                                                                    affirms that without the money needed to send out
                                                                         missionary healing teams, "God will not extend Dad's
   Christianity Today had this to say in its Feb. 20,                    life." Oral and Richard Roberts made similar state-
1987 issue:                                                              ments on their weekly television program. A public
         Thoughts about heaven are not new to Oral                       outcry led several television stations to drop programs
    Roberts. In 1975, the Tulsa evangelist told a chapel au-             containing the controversial appeal.
    dience at Oral Roberts University (ORU) that he had                    Those who had followed Roberts's ministry say his
    asked God to take him, but God did not answer.                       recent announcement does not differ greatly from
         This time, according to Roberts, God is taking the              previous claims, such as his vision of, and conversa-
    initiative. Roberts has stated in a fund-raising appeal              tion with, a 900-foot-tall Jesus a few years ago.
    letter and on television that unless he raises a total of              Historian David Harrell, author of the biography
    $8 million above regular ministry expenses by next                   Oral Roberts: An American Life, said the evangelist in
    month, he will die.                                                  the 1970s "flirted with evangelical respectability," by
         "I desperately need you to come into  agreement                 becoming a Methodist, developing a respectable
    with me concerning my life being extended beyond                     university, and building friendships with mainstream
                                                                         Christian leaders. But in recent years, Harrell said,
                                                                         Roberts has returned to his Pentecostal roots, noting
Gise J. Van Buren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed                   that "messages from God" are not uncommon in
Church of  Hudsonuille, Michigan.                                        Pentecostal circles . . . .


298                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



         .  .  . Critics say Roberts's approach to raising funds,       emphasize too strongly the necessity of changing life-
       even if he is sincere, constitutes a type of emotional           styles."
       blackmail. Roberts often implies that a supporter                  . . . An Atlanta executive concludes, "We are pay-
       must send him money in order to receive a blessing.              ing for our sins of the `6Os,  when one-night stands and
       In his latest fund-raising letter, for example, he wrote:        sex without commitment used to be chic." More than
       "I know in my spirit if you neglect going into this              anything, the public wants guidelines, new rules for
       agreement with the anointed prophet who is offering              unprecedented circumstances . . .
       it to you, then what I can do to help you get your
       miracles will soon be over . .  .`I                                The problem of bisexuality is especially poignant in
  Calvinist Contact,  Feb. 6, 1987, reported on the                     the world of the arts and entertainment, where sexual
                                                                        exoticism in general is more tolerated than in society
reaction of some of the secular press:                                  as a whole. Virtually every arts institution has suf-
         On his Jan. 4 broadcast Roberts said God told him              fered its losses, and the community is on guard . . . .
       he wouldn't live past March unless he raised the                   Coping with the specter of AIDS is particularly dif-
       $4.5-million. Jan. 11 Roberts said the deadline had              ficult for the heirs of the American sexual revolu-
       been changed. He said God told him, "If you don't do             tion . . . . Should AIDS spread in the most pessimistic
       it I'm going to call you home in one year."                      proportions projected, there may finally sound a
         The change in deadline prompted Jim Klobuchar,                 general alert, resulting in an increase in monogamy, in
       popular columnist for the  Minneapolis Star and                  abstinence, in widespread acceptance of tough new
       Tribune,  to write, "What this means, he seems to be             rules of the game. But unless and until that point
       saying, is that God has been talked into a second mort-          comes, the casualties may needlessly mount.
       gage or accepting some kind of balloon payment. It              How serious is the AIDS threat?  ?%ze also com-
       also means that the public is facing 11 months in             mented on that:
       which Roberts will modestly cloak himself in martyr-
       dom while the Samaritans are dunned every week to                  . . . "If we can't make progress, we face the dread-
       raise  $4.5-million to save him from the heavenly                ful prospect of a worldwide death toll in the tens of
       bazooka aimed at his head . . . .`I                              millions a decade from now," warned Health and
  Shocking though all of this is, it should remind us                   Human Services Secretary Otis  Bowen at a recent
of two facts. First, when one does not behold Scrip-                    gathering of the National Press Club. Such earlier
ture as the only source of divine revelation, but                       epidemics as typhus, smallpox, and even the black
                                                                        death will "look very pale by comparison," he con-
rather believes in continuing revelations (as                           tinued. `You haven't read or heard of anything yet."
Pentecostals do), this sort of nonsense can be ex-
pected. If God continues to present special revela-                       . . . In the U.S., more than 30,000 cases have been
tions to His people, who can deny that Roberts did                      reported and another 1.5 million people are thought to
                                                                        be carriers. If the epidemic continues to spread at its
not in fact receive such revelation? But secondly,                      current rate, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in
one is reminded of Christ's instruction concerning                      Atlanta predicts, the total number of cases will reach
the signs of the end of the age when many come in                       270,000 over the next five years, while total AIDS
His Name and claim: "Lo, here is Christ, lo He is                       deaths will rise to 179,000.
there."                                                                   . . In Africa, as many as 2 million to 5 million may
                                                                        already be infected, and in ten years, predicts
AIDS:                                                                   Epidemiologist B. Frank Polk, of Johns Hopkins
                                                                        University, "some countries could lose 25% of their
  Perhaps no illness has recently received greater                      populations . . .  ."
attention than AIDS. Though man vehemently                                AIDS is posing an economic threat in the U.S. The
denies it, he is receiving concrete evidences of the                    cost of caring for victims of the disease, many of
consequences of his sin. A recent issue of  Z?me,                       whom are denied health insurance, is already esti-
Feb. 16, 1987, recited some of the terrifying facts:                    mated to exceed a billion dollars a year. By 1991 AIDS
         At first AIDS seems an affliction of drug addicts and          medical bills could total as much as $14 billion an-
       especially of homosexuals, a "gay disease." No                   nually . . . .
       longer. The numbers as yet are small, but AIDS is a                . . Vaccinemakers face several daunting obstacles.
       growing threat to the heterosexual population.                   Perhaps the most formidable is the fact that the virus
       Straight men and women in some cases do not believe              mutates and changes its outer coat so rapidly that no
       it, in some cases do not want to believe it. But barring         single vaccine is likely to be effective against all
       the development of a vaccine, swingers of all persua-            strains . . .
       sions may sooner or later be faced with the reality of a            . . . Slowly, as it touches more and more aspects of
       new era of sexual caution and restraint.                         everyday life  - the education of children, marriage
          . . . More than any measures, however, health of-             rites, sexual habits, health care and insurance - AIDS
       ficials at every level are pleading for what is very             will transform American society. "By 1991," says
       nearly a social revolution. Says U.S. Health and                 Michael Gottlieb, the physician at the University of
       Human Services Secretary Otis R.  Bowen:  "I can't               California, Los Angeles who identified some of the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                           299



   first cases of the disease, "most people in certain cities    listen  - indeed would scoff at such "puritanism".
   will know someone who has died of AIDS." Indeed,              Now secular press presents repeated calls to mo-
   the CDC announced last week that in 1985, AIDS                nogamy and a changed sexual life-style. The whole
   jumped from 13th to eleventh place as a cause of              reminds  one  of the  account  found in Revelation
   premature mortality in the U.S. . . .                         9:1-l 1. And though many would deny that AIDS is
  The report must strike terror in the hearts of                 a punishment for specific sins, it is obvious to all
many. And is it not truly remarkable that though                 that AIDS is the direct consequence of the "life-
there  was  thundered from thousands of pulpits,                 styles" clearly condemned by God in Scripture.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery", none would

GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH
Thomas C. Miersma





        Scripture in the Post-Reformation Era



  The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries wit-                   to subject them to re-evaluation. Such an approach
nessed the reformation of the church and the con-                necessarily calls into question established truths of
solidation of that reformation in Europe. It was the             science and technology, and investigates them
time not only of the reformers but of the writing of             anew to determine their validity. When the object
the Reformed creeds. The spiritual freedom which                 of critical study and doubt is the science and
the Reformation brought with it in its return to the             wisdom of men, such an approach has a certain
Word of God brought with it a period of thriving                 validity, for man is a fallible and imperfect creature
spiritual life and of intense study of God's Word.               of limited understanding. But because man is a
  The same period witnessed the rise of modern                   whole creature, the  s iritual aspect of any study
secular man and what is sometimes called the In-                                        P
                                                                 cannot be eliminated rom that study. Even in the
dustrial Revolution.-God made man to have domin-                 study of creation man is confronted with the reality
ion over the creation, to exercise lordship over it,             that God made the world, that it was brought into
and to subdue it. Though man is fallen, is utterly               being, shaped and molded by the living God Whose
spiritually ruined, and is also reduced even in his              power and divinity it declares. For the unbeliever,
natural powers and abilities from what he was by                 therefore, who stands in opposition to God, out of
his creation, yet he still possesses the increated               the enmity of his natural heart, the study of the
drive to bring all things into subjection to himself.            creation works his condemnation. For it sets before
This he does in the service of sin, in opposition to             him the knowledge that God is and is to be glorified
God, warring with the curse of God which rests                   and praised by him. This knowledge he suppresses
upon the creation and with a view to the coming of               in unrighteousness, by which sin he is exposed to
the kingdom of antichrist. It is not surprising there-           the judgment of God, and God delivers him over to
fore that the godless man-centered spirit of the                 vanity and folly. He becomes an idolater. Scripture
Renaissance should stimulate a rapid growth in the               sets this reality before us in Romans  1:18 and
natural sciences.                                                following.
  Exalting the mind of man and the powers of his                    It is not surprising therefore that along with such
reason men began to call into question the existing              development in science and technology the pride of
assumptions concerning the nature and the proper-                sinful men should also turn from the examination
ties of the world as they were then understood and               of the wisdom of men to call into question the
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor  of  the First Protestant            wisdom and revelation of God. The Reformation
Reformed Church of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.                    proceeded from the principle of faith, the sincere


300                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



desire to know God, to bow before His Word, and             revelation, makes God after man's own image and
to confess the truth of that Word purely in the obe-        sets itself against the truth of His Word.
dience of faith. The spirit of unbelief, however,             This reality is not found merely in certain
turned to God's Word, to the doctrine contained in          isolated attacks upon the truth of Scripture or the
it and to God's revelation of Himself to call it into       doctrine of Scripture but lies at the very core of
question, to doubt its wisdom and truth. As man             modern thought. The seeds of its development
would sit in judgment upon the wisdom of men in             were present already in the Renaissance and did
the realm of science and technology so also he              not take long to manifest themselves in such doc-
would sit in judgment upon the wisdom of God set            trinal assaults upon the truth as that of  Arminian-
forth in His Word. Thus the truth of the depravity          ism and Socinianism. Scripture itself did not
of man and God's sovereign grace was called into            become the immediate object of attack directly. He,
question by Arminianism, that man might sit in              however, who denies or corrupts the truth of God
judgment upon God and render a verdict as to                must needs at least implicitly war with the truth of
whether God was righteous and just. In like man-            God's revelation of Himself in His Word.
ner Socinianism arose in Europe, questioning the              For a time the miracles of Scripture defended the
doctrine of the Trinity and the reasonableness of           Word of God from direct attack. The Scriptures
the truth which Scripture reveals that God is one in        were given by God by means of men who were eye-
Being and three in Persons. Man's wisdom, man's             witnesses of the things which are set down in Scrip-
understanding, and not the Word of God was set up           ture. They saw with their own eyes the risen Lord
as the  standard  by which all things were to be            and His wonderful and mighty works. It is thus that
judged. God and His Word also were to be judged             Peter speaks in II Peter 1 of that which he saw on
by this same standard of the mind and wisdom of             the Mount of Transfiguration. Just as a witness in a
man.                                                        courtroom and his testimony cannot be easily set
  Such thinking is not new. It is as old as the fall in-    aside when it concerns events at which he alone
to sin and the language of the devil, "yea hath God         was present, so also the plain testimony of Scrip-
said . .  ." (Genesis  3:l). It is the language of doubt    ture that the apostles were eye-witnesses of the
and unbelief. It belongs to the spirit of our modern        things of which they spoke could not easily be set
age which would call into question every word,              aside. To openly oppose Scripture, doubt must be
every truth and value revealed in the Word of God           cast upon the reality, the truth and certainty of
and God's revelation of Himself also by the crea-           these events and their occurrence and the truth of
tion. It lies at the root of sin in man's heart. It         those who saw them. This was not easily done.
belongs to the pagan philosophy of this world, and            It is by setting up man's reason as the sole stan-
it lies at the root of the philosophies of ancient          dard of authority by which truth is to be judged that
Greece and Rome. It lies at the foundation of               modern philosophy began its assault upon the truth
modern philosophy as well.                                  of God's Word. In that assault the natural sciences
  In our era, however, it has an added character-           have repeatedly served as a tool in the hands of
istic. The ancient unbelieving philosophers, men            wicked men to oppose the truth and accuracy of
such as Plato and Aristotle, had only the revelation        Scripture and as a means to cast doubt upon the
of God in the creation. God's Word they did not             revealed origin of the world, the truth of the
possess.    Our post-reformation era and the                miracles of Scripture, and the truth of God Himself.
philosophy of our modern age has arisen not in the          It is not without reason therefore, nor should we
darkness of paganism but over against the revealed          find it surprising, that the same men who are often
light of God's Word set down in the Scriptures. It          regarded as the fathers of modern philosophy are
arose alongside the Reformation, and has                    also in many respects the fathers of the modern
developed in unbelief, in opposition to the truth.          scientific method. While there are a number of men
Even as the church turned diligently to search the          whom we may mention in this connection, parti-
Scriptures and the truth of God's Word, and was             cularly in England, such as Francis Bacon
brought to clearer light by the Reformation, so also        (1561-1626) and Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) who
modern philosophy has developed beside it in sin.           were important in the development of the prin-
Modern philosophy is not therefore simply the               ciples of modern scientific investigation, it is Rene'
unbelieving wisdom of this world but the apostate           Descartes (1596-1650) who perhaps is to be re-
wisdom of a world, which having known the truth,            garded as the most important for our consideration.
willfully rejects it and labors against the truth to        For he first draws together the principles of modern
deny it. Modern philosophy is not merely pagan              unbelieving science and applies them not to the
but antichristian in its character. It is this apostate     creation alone but also presumes to apply them
character which gives modern philosophy also its            openly even to the existence of God. To him there-
distinctive character, for it denies God, denies His        fore we will return next time.


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                301



         TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
         Ronald J. Hanko





                                             God Is The Creator


         (Editor's Note: For the remainder of the current volume-year     in the world. As we shall see in this study of the
         the Rev. Ronald J. Hanko will be responsible for this depart-    eighth commandment, the most important aspect
         ment. We welcome him back to our columns.  HCH)                  of the doctrine of God the Creator is the truth that
            The only way that believers can ever be con-                  He is sovereign in His creative work. Nowhere is
         vinced that the law is of any value or use to them is            the sovereignty of God in creation so plainly taught
         to show them that it is a means to praise and thank              as in the literal interpretation of the first three
         their Saviour God. As long as even the impression is             chapters of Genesis. Now it is not our purpose in
         left that the works of the law have any meritorious              this brief article to defend the doctrine of fiat crea-
         or saving value, even socially, the law will be                  tionism over against the theories of evolutionism,
         abhorred by all who know that their salvation is not             but only to note that a denial of the sovereignty of
         of themselves, but of God. Thus it must be shown                 God in the creation of the worlds directly affects
         that the law teaches God's own glory and perfec-                 our life. It is not mere co-incidence, for example,
         tion, so that the Christian, in keeping the law, may             that in our own country the rise of the so-called
         know that he is obeying the command to be holy as                "Robber  Rarons" of the second half of the nine-
         God is holy, living as a child and imitator of God,              teenth century, and the practice of the principle of
         and in that way expressing the depth of his                      caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) in economics,
         gratitude to God.                                                follows hard on the heels of the rise and triumph of
                                                                          Darwinism and evolutionary theory. Those who
            To that end we have attempted to show that each               argue, therefore, that it does not really matter prac-
         of the Ten Commandments is closely tied to one or                tically what one believes about the manner of
         another of God's attributes, and that each com-                  God's work in creation are entirely wrong. It has to
         mandment teaches us how our life must conform in                 do with something so practical as the use of our
         every respect to His high glory.                                 earthly possessions and the gratitude we may show
            Turning to the eighth commandment and study-                  to God in the use of them.
         ing it, we must conclude that the truth concerning                 In connection with the eighth commandment,
         God which lies at the foundation of the eighth com-              the sovereignty of God as Creator means especially
         mandment is the truth that He is the Creator of                  two things. In the first place it means that God is
         heaven and earth and all things in them. In other                the sovereign Lord of all that He has created, or in
         words, it is not mere sanctified common sense, or                other words, that the things He created are and re-
         even just bare commandment that governs all our                  main His own. They are His, of course, by virtue of
         use of our earthly possessions, but the important                the fact that He created them. His ownership of
         revelation of God as Creator.                                    them is evident in the use He makes of them. The
            If that is true, then it ought to be immediately              doctrine of providence teaches that from moment
         evident that what we believe about creation and                  to moment He rules, uses, and controls all things
         about God as Creator is not abstract doctrine, but               for His own ends and with a right that no creature
         something that bears directly on our everyday life               can question (Dan.  4:35). God's Providence is,
                                                                          then, constant and unmistakable evidence that He
                                                                          is indeed the  sovereign  Lord of all things.
         Ronald J. Hanko is pastor of Trinity Protestant Reformed
         Church, Houston, Texas.                                            This is certainly the clear teaching of Scripture.

.- -.      -


302                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



Psalm 24: 1, 2 not only teaches that "the earth is the    things of this world for themselves. There is a great
Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and they        lie in the Church today: that it is wicked to be rich
that dwell therein," but finds the explanation of         and prosperous, that all men have an equal right to
that sovereign Lordship of God in His work as             an equal share of the things of this world, and that
Creator: "For He hath founded it upon the seas and        the wealth of the world must be re-distributed by
established it upon the floods." In Psalm  50:7-13        any available means according to such humanistic
God reproves His people in their sacrifices with          principles of equality.
that same truth. Psalm 104 and the last chapter of          This is not to deny that it is wrong for the rich to
Job are a detailed revelation and reminder of His         oppress the poor, as so often happens, nor does it
Lordship as evident in His providential care for His      deny the calling that all believers have to help their
creatures. The clouds which give drink to the wild        neighbors, especially when they are in need, and to
beasts and rain for the life of man are "His              use their wealth and prosperity to support the
chambers" (Ps. 104:13). The trees are His trees (vs.      needy, though first of all in the Church and
16), and the grass and herbs, wine, oil, and bread,       Kingdom of God. Paul teaches that very plainly in I
the food of man and beast, the seasons, day and           Timothy 6: 17-19. It is only to say that the calling to
night, and all other things are "His riches" (vs. 24).    help the poor is not the calling to make them
Paul summarizes all that the Scriptures teach con-        wealthy or to give them equality as far as the things
cerning God's Lordship in creation in a very prac-        of this world are concerned. It is not wrong for one
tical way, when he says, "In Him we live, and             man to eat beefsteak while his neighbor eats beans.
move, and have our being" (Acts  17:28).                  Nor is it our calling to use our prosperity and goods
  In the second place, and in connection with the         for the support of the poor, the calling to seek a
eighth commandment, the truth that God is Creator         solution to this world's problems of poverty and
means that He has made all things for His own prof-       want through such giving. The Word of God makes
it and glory. When King Nebuchadnezzar failed to          it very clear that there is no earthly solution to
acknowledge God as the source of the wealth and           these social evils, and that therefore even the giving
glory of his kingdom, he was immediately deprived         that we do must have as its only purpose the com-
of all things and made like a beast of the field,         ing of the Kingdom of God through the hardening
directly dependent on God's sunshine and rain for         of the ungodly and the softening and salvation of
the basic needs and comforts of his body. In spite of     God's elect (Matt.  26:11, Rev.  21:3, 4, Rom.  12:20,
the warning he had received in a dream from God           21).
he did not remember what the Scriptures teach in            There is probably no more striking proof of this
Revelation 4: 11; "Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to            truth than in the Parable of the Talents (Matt.
receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast          25: 14-30). There the Lord sovereignly gives a por-
created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are         tion of His wealth to each of His servants as He sees
and were created."                                        fit, and to none of them the same portion. With that
  But how do these two principles apply to the            portion they are called to labor in God's kingdom
eighth commandment? Taken together they mean              without covetousness and without robbery. The
among other things, that as Owner and Lord of all         Word of God Himself concerning His sovereign
He created, God is the One who distributes the            Lordship in this matter of the eighth command-
treasures of this world, always according to His          ment is found in Matthew  20:15; "Is it not lawful
own good pleasure. God does this through the              for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine
means of buying and selling,  labour  and wages,          eye evil, because I am good?"
lending and borrowing, even inheritance and gift,           The truth that God is Creator and Owner of all
chiefly, therefore, through the lawful means of           things also means, in relation to the eighth com-
commerce, and of our work in the world. Neverthe-         mandment, that He never relinquishes His claim
less, the distribution of these things is always His,     on them. So then, although he gives to each of us a
not only in giving all these things but also in taking    portion of those things, He remains the Sovereign
them away: "He hath put down the mighty from              Lord, so that finally we have nothing we can call
their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath      our own - all belongs to God, and must be used in
filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He       His service. Thus it is that in the Parable of the
hath sent empty away" (Lk.  2:52, 53).                    Pounds the wicked servant is condemned and
  This leaves no justification for stealing in any        punished, not for misusing what he had been given,
form, either that of a private nature, or as it is now    but for failing to use it for his master's profit. He is
practiced on a larger scale by governments and            judged "out of his own mouth" when he confesses
leaders, who steal from the rich to give to the poor,     that what he had been given was "thy pound" (Lk.
and who justify rebellion and terrorism on the part       19: 12-27).
of the poor when they use such means to gain the            There are two things, then, that we must learn


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    303



     about the eighth commandment. The first is that                 position in God's world that Joseph had in the
     stealing of any kind is an act of violence against              house of Potiphar (Gen. 39:46), that is, that we are
     God Himself. This is the reason why Israel could                no more than caretakers of things that belong to our
     rob God in their sacrifices. By refusing to bring a             earthly life, and must diligently and carefully use
     good sacrifice, they refused to acknowledge that all            them all in His service. So we show that we have
     they had belonged to God and claimed it for them-               nothing that we have not received, and give praise
     selves (Mal.  3:8, 9). This is also the explanation of          to God Who has given us not only these things
     the strong language used in Proverbs 1  l:l, where              richly and for our enjoyment, but who has also
     the same word is used to describe a false balance               given into our care heavenly treasures. The com-
     (scale) as is elsewhere used to describe the worship            mandment is plain: "He that is faithful in that
     of other gods. In fact, stealing, even by such means            which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is
     as a false balance is in principle a turning away               unjust in the least in unjust also in much. If there-
     from God the Creator to worship Mammon.                         fore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous
          Finally and positively, the eighth commandment             mammon, who shall commit to your trust the true
     means, in light of these principles, that we are only           riches?" (Luke  16:10, 11).
     stewards in the house of God. We hold the same





                             "Good Morning, Alice" (19)
                                                         Gise J. Van Baren





          During the last few days of her life, Alice was            riches, not  anything  of  this world that perishes, but the
     willing to have the aspirator used to suction out the           spin'tual  needs that we have. Like Mary did when she
     mucus from her throat. This is not to say that she              sat at Jesus' feet.
     enjoyed the procedure; on the contrary, she simply                 We are to seek after the kingdom of God; and when
     detested it. But she finally realized that there was            we do, we will have confidence that God will provide
     no other way to clear her throat. Periodically, she             for all our needs. Not perhaps in the way we wish, but
     would indicate her desire that the aspirator be used
     -                                                               in the way that best prepares us for His Kingdom.
          while her eyes indicated almost a fear of it. Who-
     ever was caring for Alice at the time would have to               Just think for a while today how God does care for
     do this  - but again, if John were present, she                 His whole creation, and then know too, that He knows
     would insist that he must do it, for only he could do           your and my every need and desire, and is blessing us
     it to her satisfaction.                                         with all that we need for His Kingdom.
     Good Morning Alice:                                                              In Him for Whom we Wait, Your friend
          The verses we are thinking about (Luke 12:22-34)           More tomorrow on vs. 32-34
     were spoken by Jesus when someone asked Him to
     make his brother share an inheritance with him.                    As she had for the past number of years, mother
                                                                     had gone to Florida in March - but this time, at the
          Jesus' answer was, "Beware of covetousness: for a          insistence of the children. She could not do much
     man's  life  consisteth not in the abundance  of  the things    for Alice at this point, and she needed to be away
     which he possesseth. " (vs. 15).                                from the tensions for a time. She returned home
          In verses 22-34 Jesus is explaining to the disciples       again and saw Alice the evening before she passed
     just what the child of  God should  seek after. Not             away. How wonderfully God also provided that
                                                                     this final meeting took place. The day had been one
     Gise J. Van  Baren  is pastor of the Protestant Reformed        of difficulty for Alice - although when we were all
     Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                together with her, she was alert and aware of our

^


          304                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



          presence. She watched with interest a few pro-                     "I have called thee by name" - I think that is so
          grams on T.V., and "visited" with the family who                beautiful. Can you imagine that Jehovah God has
          were gathered there in her room.                                calZed  you and me by name; by name unto salvation
          Good Morning Alice:                                             and knows so individually.
                `#Fear  not, little flock." Can you imagine how com-         "Thou art mine" - We are His, not our own. We
          forting those words must have been to the disciples and         belong  to Him.
          the other true followers of Jesus?                                 `When thou passest through the waters, I will be
                They have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about.        with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not over-
          God is going to give them the Kingdom. Jesus told His           flow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou
          followers (His flock) to sell what they had and give to         shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon
          the poor. This probably was taken literally, but with           thee. "
          what follows, we can understand that Jesus was teach-              I do believe that these different examples do mean
          ing them much more than that. He taught them and                different things, but I don't know what. The comfort is
          thereby teaches us, to concern ourselves and prepare            still there though, and emphasized; whatever comes our
          ourselves for that which nothing can ever harm.                 way; trial, sorrow, illness, death - whatever comes
                Will I worry about having enough money when  I am         our way, we will go through it; it will not swallow us
          in His Kingdom? No. Will I ever worry about clothing            up; it will not overcome us; it will not consume us
          or food or health when I am in heaven? No. Am I                 because He will be with us. You know, that is enough;
          preparing for that now? For that is the treasure - life         that is all we need. But then, He gives us the reason
          everlasting with all our needs filled to perfection.            why. Why shall we have no fear?
                But then Jesus says more too, "For where your                "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
          treasure is, there will your heart be also."                    thy Savior. "
                Is my heart with the Lord? Am I content in His way           What beautiful comfort: whatever we have to face
          for me now and am I preparing to enter that glorious            in our life and in our death, we have nothing to fear.
          Kingdom  - without fear? I  can when I remember His             He is by our side and He will keep us.
          words to me . . . "Fear not, little flock".                                                 Fear not! In His love, Your friend
                                              With love, Your friend      Please read Psalm 921-2
          Please read Isaiah 43:1-3                                          Obviously, Alice was not too happy about the ar-
                As the evening progressed, different members of           rangements for this night. Her eyes clearly showed
          the family left for home. It was decided that John              this. How expressive they still could be! With her
          must have his sleep this evening, since he had been             eyes she indicated that she wanted the spelling
          awake with Alice most of the preceding night and                card. Slowly she spelled out: J-o-h-n, while turning
          had worked long hours that day. Brother Gise                    her eyes meaningfully towards him. None mis-
          would stay and be on call in case nurse Jane needed             understood what she wanted. But when we ex-
          any help.                                                       plained to her that John was tired after being awake
                                                                          for such a long period of time, and needed his sleep,
          Good Morning Alice:                                             she seemed to understand and was content with the
                "Fear not. " Yesterday's verse said that, too - "Fear     arrangement.
          not. " You know, when someone close to us says that,
          "Don't be afraid; I'll help", it makes us feel a little bet-    Good Morning Alice:
          ter. But here in these three verses (Isaiah 43:l-3) we            Do you remember that I shared Psalm 92:1-2  with
          have beautiful comfort and promise and assurance.               you once already?
                "But now" - this is in comparison to the fury of             "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and
          God in the last verses of chap. 42.                             to sing praises unto Thy Name, 0 Most High; to show
                "Thus saith the Lord" - there can be no other words       forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning and Thy faith-
          to emphasize the truth as these: "that created thee, 0          fulness every night.  I'
          Jacob and He that formed thee, 0 Israel" -  words                  When I wrote that note, I suggested that you read my
          to humble us; we are created and formed by Him; we              favorite Psalter number (281) and sing it to God in your
          are not our own, but we are made to be just what He             heart. I also encouraged you to perhaps read a Psalter
          wants us to be.                                                 number often - maybe even every morning.
                "Fear not" - those comforting words again - there           It is a good thing to "sing" praises unto God; to tell
          is no reason to fear.                                           ourselves in the morning of God's lovingkindness and in
                "For I have redeemed thee" - He has set us free by        the evening remember His faithfulness.
          dying for us.                                                      Why don't you read these three Psalter numbers

-- . .    -       ..---.-


                                               THE STANDARO BEARER                                                305



sometime today (one right now!) and read slowly, let-           He mentioned how we all take things like that for
ting their beautiful truth and comfort dwell in you           granted. It's cold, and we expect to see frost on the
richly: numbers 210, 251, 362.                                ground or even on the window.
                                  In His love, Your friend      Now basically we know, and would be quick to say,
Please read Job 37:1-10                                       that the frost is from God. God controls all things; and
                                                              we know when there is frost, He put it there. But this
  The family had all left. Now only brother Gise              friend had read Job 37 the night before, and frost has a
and wife Claire with nurse Jane were with Alice.              new meaning for him.
Before retiring, a Psalm was read and prayer of-
fered. But strangely, there were no tears this time             "By the breath of God frost is given. "
in Alice's eyes, and she appeared perfectly content.            If we remember that  God actively  controls  all  of
Though it occurred to us later, it did seem as                nature  - that God breathes the  frost, directs His
though she was finally reconciled with this way of            lightning unto the ends of the earth, thunders marvel-
the Lord for her and was ready to depart.                     ously with His voice . . . we will understand better His
Good Morning Alice:                                           greatness and nearness.
  I know it's not "spring" for four days yet, but I've          Read Job 37:1-10 again - maybe right now, and
heard birds on a couple mornings already, and the rain        realize again the might and power of our great God.
this morning really makes it seem like spring.                                                 With love, Your friend
  I didn't "look" for today's verse. We were visiting         Please read Hosea 6:1-3
with someone and he started talking about frost.

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                            Confession of Faith (4)



  "Have you resolved by the grace of God to                   especially two subjects. First, it emphasizes that the
adhere to this doctrine; to reject all heresies repug-        faith we confess is antithetical in nature. Confes-
nant thereto and to lead a new, godly life?"                  sion of faith does not only involve acknowledging
  Last time we dealt with the first question asked            the truth, but the rejection of all false teachings that
of those who make public confession of faith. We              militate against the truth. `Secondly, this second
saw that the question emphasizes the importance of            question brings up the importance of the godly
the knowledge of faith, that faith which has con-             walk of the one making confession of faith. In
tent. We saw that that content is doctrinal in                response to this question he resolves before God
nature. We saw that the doctrine faith confesses is           and the church ". . . to lead a new, godly life . . . ."
contained in the Old and New Testaments as sum-               REJECTING FALSE DOCTRINES
marized in the Reformed creeds. We saw that we                   The Christian is not only called to confess the
confess our faith "in this Christian church," and             truth, but he is also called to reject the lie. Confes-
we considered the significance of making confes-              sion of faith not only means that we profess to
sion of faith in our own Protestant Reformed                  believe in the truth of the Word of God, but that we
Churches.                                                     consciously repudiate and condemn all teachings
  The second question for confession of faith is              that contradict the truth of God's Word. Confession
closely related to the first question.  It  treats            of faith is not only positive; it is also negative. The


306                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



Christian does not only say "Yes," but he must also          nant" to the truth if we are "resolved" to do this.
say "No!"                                                    There must be, according to this second question, a
  The Scriptures emphasize this important aspect             firm resolution to live according to the truth. This
of the Christian's calling.  In I John 4: 1, for example,    points out that the truth must not only be in our
we read: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try         heads, but also in our hearts. We must not simply
the spirits whether they are of God: because many            know the truth, but we must love and cherish the
false prophets are gone out into the world." In II           truth. We are never going to adhere to the truth, we
Thessalonians  3:6 the Apostle writes, "Now we               are certainly not going to reject all heresies repug-
command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord               nant to the truth, unless the truth exists as a firm
Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from               resolution in our hearts.
every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after           If we are resolved to adhere to the doctrine of the
the tradition which he received of us." In Revela-           Scriptures, then we are not only going to confess
tion  29 the church at Ephesus is commended                  creation, but we are going to reject evolution. We
because  ". . . thou  canst not bear them which are          are not only going to receive the Bible as the in-
evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are            spired Word of God, but we are going to reject
apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."           every teaching about the Bible that reduces it to the
  This antithetical calling has always been a part of        word of man. We are not only going to confess that
the Christian life and confession. The first question        Jesus is God come into the flesh, but we are going
speaks of the Old and New Testaments and empha-              to reject every view of Jesus that makes Him to be
sizes that the content of our faith is drawn from the        only a mere man. We are not only going to confess
Old and New Testaments. But what is the nature of            the truth of marriage, but we are going to reject
the Old and New Testaments? Is the faith set down            every notion that makes unbiblical divorce and re-
in the two testaments of Holy Scripture only                 marriage permissible. We are not only going to con-
positive? Or is it also negative? Does Scripture only        fess the truth of sovereign grace, but we are going
set forth the truth, or does it also condemn the lie?        to reject the teaching that salvation is due to the
To ask the question is to answer it. Think of the            free-will of the sinner.
sharp condemnation of the lie that characterized             A NEW AND GODLY LIFE
the Old Testament prophets, that characterized the
preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, that character-            But there is more involved in confession of faith.
ized the teaching and writing of the Apostle Paul.           Confession of faith is not only knowledge of the
                                                             doctrines of Holy Scripture. Confession of faith is
  The first question also referred to the faith which        not even the ability to articulate these doctrines and
we confess as contained in "the Articles of the              vigorously to defend these doctrines. Confession
Christian faith." The articles of the Christian faith        of faith also involves the determination to live a life
are the creeds, our Three Forms of Unity:  The               in harmony with that confession. When we make
Heidelberg Catechism, The Belgic Confession of Faith,        confession of faith, we promise before God and His
and  The Canons  of  Dordt.  Anyone with any                 Church that we will adorn our confession with an
familiarity with our creeds knows the antithetical           upright and holy walk. This is indicated in the sec-
defence of the faith which the creeds give. The              ond question by the fact that we promise "to live a
truth is set forth, all right, positively and thorough-      new, godly life."
ly, but also the many errors which oppose the truth
are identified and condemned. The Reformed faith               The Scriptures emphasize the importance of the
is held forth to be a faith which rejects the errors of      walk of God's people. Our emphasis on the impor-
Roman Catholicism (think of the language of Q.A.             tance of doctrine must never lead us to disparage
80 of The  Heidelberg Catechism),  the errors of the         the importance of a godly walk. The Apostle
Anabaptists, and the errors of the Arminians, to             speaks, in Romans 6:4, of this "new life" according
mention only a few.                                          to which we are to walk: "Therefore we are buried
                                                             with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ
  This makes the Christian faith offensive! This is          was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
intolerance of the lie! This is what makes the one           Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
who confesses this faith subject to the persecution          life." In Colossians  2:6 Paul writes, "As ye have
and reproach of the world and the false church  -            therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye
this refusal to compromise, this refusal to endure           in Him." To the Thessalonians he writes, "Further-
views contrary to the Word of God, this rejection of         more, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort
false teaching.                                              you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of
  We are only going to "reject all heresies  repug-          us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      would abound more and more."
Church of Loveland, Colorado.                                  By speaking of the doctrines which we confess in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  307



the first question, and mentioning the Christian             James indicates this relationship between doc-
walk of life in the second question, the  Form  For        trine and life in his epistle. He writes in James 2: 14,
Public  Confession  of Faith establishes the proper        "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man
relationship between these two aspects of the              say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith
believer's life.                                           save him?" In verse 19 he says, "Thou believest
  That connection is, first of all, that sound doc-        that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils
trine is the foundation of the Christian life. Apart       also believe, and tremble." The conclusion? "Even
from doctrine, knowing, believing, and confessing          so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone,"
the doctrine, there is no possibility of living the        James 2: 17.
Christian life. The true doctrine must be what moti-          That this must be a "new", godly life must not be
vates and guides us in our everyday life in the            misunderstood. We must not suppose that the one
world. This is why the first duty of the faithful          confessing his faith is now called, for the first time,
minister is to preach the doctrine, I Timothy  4:16.       in virtue of his public confession of faith, to  begin
This is why the first duty of the believer is to           living a godly, Christian life. It is not as if up to this
receive the doctrine.                                      point he has lived a godless and disobedient life,
  We see this connection between doctrine and life         but from now on and henceforth he promises to
today. Ignorance of some of the most fundamental           correct this situation and live  as a Christian.
doctrines of the Word of God prevails in the chur-            Not at all! The word "new" does not strike a con-
ches. People perish for lack of knowledge; there is a      trast before and after confession of faith. The
famine of the Word of God. What is the result of           "new" and godly life is something to which the one
this? The result of this doctrinal ignorance is un-        confessing his faith has been called long ago and is
believable wickedness in the lives of the members          the life that he has already for some time been liv-
of the church, disobedience to the commandments            ing. Instead, the contrast is between the "old" man
of God's law, and unholy living.                           and the "new" man in the believing child of God.
  But there is another connection between doc-             By virtue of his confession of faith he promises to
trine and life. That connection is that the Chris-         live according to the principle of the new man. He
tian's walk of life is the proof and evidence of the       resolves to fight the good fight of faith, to put off
faith that he confesses. Belief of the truth necessari-    the old man with his deeds, and thus to live a "new,
ly shows itself in a godly walk. The true and com-         godly life. ' '
plete doctrine that we acknowledge must be ex-                Next time, the Lord willing, we will finish our
pressed in our daily life. And if the new and godly        discussion of this second question.
walk does not follow, it only indicates that our con-
fession was a fraud.

THB DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                         Silence That Speaks Loudly


   Yes, it is true that actions often speak louder than       Jonah revealed his anger over the fact that God
words. In fact we often speak loudly by our actions        did not overthrow Nineveh forty days after Jonah's
while our mouths are kept tightly shut. Still more,        preaching. What Jonah did after God asked him
very often our very act of not speaking with our lips      whether he did well by being angry, spoke loudly,
is a case of speaking loudly with our deed. And this       even though with his mouth he did not say one
was the case with Jonah after God asked him,               word. And remember that Jonah did not become
"Doest thou well to be angry?"                             angry because God was not gracious, merciful, kind


308                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



and slow to anger. Rather Jonah considered God to          le. He could have welcomed them into the Old
be too gracious, merciful, kind and slow to anger.         Testament church, prayed with them and sacri-
In his mind it was folly for God to save this chief        ficed before them, teaching them that there is salva-
city of the Assyrians and thereby leave a tre-             tion only through the shedding of blood. He could
mendous threat to the well-being of the church of          have pointed them to the types and shadows of
that day as it was found in Israel.                        Christ and His cross.
   It was not that Jonah hated seeing Gentiles con-          No, Jonah thought that he saw folly in God's
verted and saved. He knew that now and then God            work; but he failed to see the folly and sin in his
gathered a few individuals from other nations,             own anger. That explains how he would dare to ask
tongues, and tribes. His own concern for the Gen-          God to take his life away from him. He who dies
tile sailors on whose ship he was during that terri-       walking in his sins is through death cast into the
ble storm, and his instruction to them to cast him         lake of fire! But so sure was Jonah that he saw
overboard for their safety, shows that he could            things correctly, that he dared to pray for death.
have a tender spot in his heart for Gentiles. But to       And he certainly deserved death. He was repeating
save a whole city and then, if you please, the chief       his sin committed when he fled from his calling and
city of a nation that had already caused much              took that ship to Tarshish. Then he did not want
misery for the Israelites, made him angry enough to        Nineveh spared; and now he is of that same opin-
ask God to take away his life, so that he would not        ion. God is wrong and Jonah is right. He cannot
live to see Assyria destroy Israel.                        say with the psalmist in Psalm  119:68, "Thou art
   We may also add that Jonah was certainly correct        good and doest good."
in believing that most of the fasting, wearing of            In His grace God did not silence Jonah's mouth
sackcloth and ashes, which the king ordered, was           by death. And in corrective grace He began to show
sham and hypocrisy and not due to sincere confes-          Jonah his folly and sin. Though he was one of God's
sion of sin. Had it been sincere, Jonah would have         prophets, he needed to be instructed. The human
no reason to fear what would happen if Nineveh             teacher needed a Divine Teacher Who would open
was spared. A converted kingdom would be no                his eyes and turn him from his sin. Bear in mind
enemy of Israel. But the city was not converted and        that all this happened and is recorded so that we
a few years later not only invaded Israel but              also may be instructed. It is so easy for us to com-
brought the kingdom of Israel to an end! Had there         plain about what God does and to question His
been a sincere city-wide conversion, this would            wisdom in causing this or that to happen. No, we
never have happened to Israel. And when God                do not always complain, find fault and then express
asked Jonah whether he was doing well by being             it in words of our mouths; but what we do reveals
angry that this city was spared, Jonah spoke out           this sin. So often we consider ourselves to be wiser
loudly by what he did, rather than by any word             than God. And if we had things in our hands, we
which he spoke. He spoke not a word.                       surely would have seen to it that this or that did not
   What Jonah did was to go out of the city - God          happen, and that certain events we wanted to take
asked him that question while he was still in the city     place did become part of the history of our lives and
- build himself a booth on the east side of the city,      of the world.
and sit watching to see whether God would still              The enemies of the church, the false prophets in
overthrow Nineveh. Plainly his answer to God's             the midst of the false church, have so much suc-
question was in this act. By it he said that he was        cess, while those who hold to the truth do not grow
doing well by being angry. But there is still more.        at all in number, or even become smaller in
What he failed to do also spoke volumes. He could          number. Those who pervert the truth and come
have and should have called those who were                 with the lie, in one form or another, have access
sincerely sorry for their sins and who prayed to           and financial power to spread the lie far more wide-
God to come with him out of the city, as the angels        ly than those with the truth. God does not over-
brought Lot and his family out of Sodom. He should         throw these dangerous enemies any more than He
have gathered them together and encouraged them            overthrew Nineveh. Pretty soon the antichristian
and assured them that if it pleased God, He could          power, and the Man of Sin himself, will deny us
save them as He saved Rahab and her family. He             food, because we will not take the mark of the beast
could have preached to them and comforted them             on our right hand or forehead. And God lets it all
with the truth that, if it pleased God that they died      continue. Therefore, we had better learn a lesson
in the overthrow, they would be taken into heaven-         here with Jonah and not question God's works.
ly glory and be forever out of all misery and troub-       There is wisdom behind every work He performs
                                                           as well as grace, mercy, kindness and slowness of
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      anger toward His elect people. Remember that the
Reformed Churches.                                         cross of Christ looked all wrong, and that Peter


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               309



denied any connection with Jesus because of His            angry prophet, must be given comfort.
capture. But what a work of wisdom as well as of             To teach Jonah, God comes again with a ques-
grace, mercy, kindness and slowness to anger!              tion. This time it is, "Doest thou well to be angry
Never, no, never, do we do well when we are angry          for the gourd?" Jonah's answer is that he is doing
about any work of God. And we had better be sure           well being angry for the destruction of a plant. Lit-
that our actions do not show that we judge other-          tle children who cannot tell which is their right
wise, even when the words never come upon our              hand and which is the left one and cattle may and
lips.                                                      must be killed; but an angry prophet must have
   In His grace God is now going to teach this angry       things his way and be protected from God's anger.
prophet, whose actions say that he still believes          For Jonah's sake the plant must live; but children of
that he is doing well when he is angry because of          the believing Ninevites, and cattle that supply them
God's work. To see this we must take note of the           with milk, meat and leather, must die. For Jonah all
fact that Jonah sought protection for himself from         things must go well for his flesh; but the well-being
God's wrath. He not only went out of the city to be        and the joy of bringing up children in the fear of
safe, but he built a booth to get out of the burning,      God's name has no rightful place in God's plans.
hot sunshine, which is also here because of God's            God does more now. He calls Jonah's attention to
holy wrath against sin. That burning, hot sunshine         the fact that this really was not his gourd. He did
is upon the earth because of sin and was not there         not plant it. He did not buy it. He did not water it or
in the garden of Eden. God came to man in the cool         do any labour  for it. Yet he thinks that he has some-
of the day. And Adam and Eve did not need clothes          thing to say about its length of life and service to
to keep them from a burning heat of the sun. There         him. And the point is that surely Nineveh and its
was no curse, no misery on the earth until sin             people were not  Jonah's. He did not give life to
came. Jonah felt that curse and therefore sought           these people. He had nothing to do with the found-
comfort in the shade of his booth. Then the next           ing and establishment of the city. He did not build
day came a stronger touch of that curse. For God           even one of its houses. And yet he thinks that he
sent a vehement wind from off the hot desert. Yes,         can tell God what should be done to it.
God did that. We read that He "prepared a vehe-
ment east wind". Let us therefore keep in mind               And if Jonah is going to argue and say, "Yes, but
that only in the way of the blotting out of sin is         these are sinners", the finger points now also at
there real, lasting protection from the curse. Unless      him for his anger, and for elevating himself above
our guilt is taken away, there just is no legal basis      God so that he can decide what God must do. No,
for the removal of the smallest part of our miseries       God brought the city into being and Jonah as well.
here below. And our miseries are here to remind us         If He has a reason - and He did - for sparing the
of that curse and the need of the cross of Christ.         city, and Jonah does not understand it, he must still
                                                           bow before the sovereign will of the God of heaven
   And now God begins to turn the screws a bit
tighter upon Jonah so that he may see his error.           and earth. And granted that this is a desperately
                                                           wicked city that deserves to be overthrown, there
God causes a plant, here called a gourd, to grow up        were 120,000 children in it who were not the big
the first night that Jonah is outside the city. It grew    sinners that many men and women were in Israel,
very rapidly and when the sun came up the next             which God had not overthrown. These children
morning it provided some wonderful shade for               were guilty in Adam, as we read in Romans 5: 14-19
Jonah. Jonah was happy, and we read that he was            and I Corinthians  15:22; but they did not commit
"exceeding glad of the gourd."                             the sins for which God had predicted an overthrow
   But God sent a worm to cause the gourd to               if there was no repentance. Not being able to distin-
wither and take away Jonah's shade and comfort,            guish between their right and left hands these
while that vehement wind from off the desert sent          children could not commit the sins the adults in
an overpowering heat. Now Jonah has an added               Nineveh and in Israel were committing.
reason for being angry. Strikingly enough we do not
read that he gave thanks to God for that gourd,              And the cattle had no sin. They might be killed
even though he was exceedingly glad. But he does           for food and clothing. In fact God killed an animal
become very angry that the gourd withers and no            to provide Adam and Eve with skins to cover their
longer protects him. That the converts in Nineveh          nakedness; and in Isaiah  65:25 we even read of a
got the comfort of no overthrow of their city never        serpent being in the new Jerusalem.
enters into Jonah's mind. According to Jonah it was          Jonah is now silent once again. This silence
unwise to give comfort to the converts in Nineveh;         speaks well for him. He saw the light and the evil of
but to give him comfort from that hot wind was             his anger. Since we read not one word spoken by
something else. A group of believers in the city did       Jonah after this lesson God gave him, we may
not need to be protected and cared for, but he, an         assume that he agreed and no longer questioned


310                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



God's works. He was silenced by God's grace. Tru-       fish are so very, very true: "Salvation is of the
ly those words of Jonah while in the belly of the       Lord."


                           Report of Classis West
                                               March 9, 1987


  Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Church-       formation of a consistory; that Lacombe, a town of
es met in Hull, Iowa on March 4, 1987. Meeting          about 4,000 population, is about 90 miles south of
from 8:30 AM until after midnight, Classis finished     Edmonton, which makes travelling to Edmonton
its work in one, long day. Twelve ministers and         every Sunday for church difficult: and that the care
twelve elders represented the churches of the           of both the Edmonton and Lacombe memberships
West. Rev. T. Miersma led Classis in opening devo-      is a heavy burden upon the Pastor of Edmonton.
tions, speaking to the delegates on II Corinthians        Another matter that took up a good deal of
4:7: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,     Classis' time was the appeal of a member against a
that the excellency of the power may be of God,         Consistory. Because of the nature of the appeal,
and not of us." Rev. R. Moore presided over this        Classis treated it in closed session.
Classis. Elder G. De Jong (Hull) and Rev. A. den
Hartog (Randolph) were delegated to Classis for the       Classis approved the subsidy requests of  Edger-
first time and signed the Formula of Subscription.      ton, Edmonton, Houston, Isabel, and Pella in the
Classis gave advisory vote to emeritus minister,        amount of $83,374 and forwarded the requests to
Rev. G. Lanting; to missionary, Rev. R. Van             Synod. In addition, the new Lacombe Congregation
Overloop; and to the delegates  ad examina  from        will need subsidy.
Classis East, Rev. W. Bekkering, Rev. J. Kortering,       Other decisions of  Classis included approving
and Rev. G. Van  Baren. The delegates  ad examina       the annual visitation of the Churches by the
were present in compliance with the provision of        Church Visitors; rejecting an overture of South
the "Decisions" pertaining to Article 38 of the         Holland concerning certain procedures of  Classis;
Church Order, in view of a request of Classis West      and approving the transfer of the money of the C.
by a group in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada to be            Van Der Molen estate to Synod and the final ac-
organized as a Protestant Reformed Church. Classis      counting of these funds, as reported by a committee
welcomed the representatives of this group present      of Classis.
at  Classis and gave them the right to speak when         Elected as  primi   delegates to Synod, 1987 were
the request of the group in Lacombe was treated.        Rev. D. Engelsma, Rev. C. Haak, Rev. K. Koole,
  With the concurrence of the delegates ad examina      Rev. D. Kuiper, and Elders E. Bruinsma, Sr. (Love-
from  Classis East,  Classis West approved the re-      land), E. Gritters (Redlands), E. Stouwie, Sr. (South
quest of the group in Lacombe, Alberta to be            Holland), and H. Vander Meulen (Lynden).
organized as a Protestant Reformed Church and ap-
pointed the Consistory of the Edmonton Church to          Secundi  delegates are Rev. A. den Hartog, Rev.
carry out the organization. The Consistory of Ed-       M. De Vries, Rev. R. Hanko, Rev. R. Moore, and
monton, which brought the request of the group in       Elders R. Brunsting (Hull), Wm. Griess (Loveland),
Lacombe to Classis,  informed Classis that the group    C. Van Meeteren (Redlands), and G. Vroom (South
in Lacombe consists of 6 families; that the majority    Holland).
of the group have been members of the Edmonton            In other elections,  Classis chose Rev. D.
Congregation for some time; that there is in the        Engelsma as Stated Clerk; Rev. C. Terpstra as Assis-
group a sufficient number of qualified men for the      tant Stated Clerk; Rev. G. Lanting and Rev. D.

            The Standard Bearer makes a thoughtful
                         gift for the sick and shut-in.
            Give a gift of the Standard Bearer today!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               311



Kuiper as primi delegates ad examina; Rev. R. Cam-             Classis accepted the invitation of Pella to hold
menga as a  secundus delegate ad  exumina;  Rev. G.         t h e   Fail,  1 9 8 7   m e e t i n g   o f   Classis  t h e r e   o n
Lanting and Rev. R. Moore as Church Visitors; and           September 2, the Lord willing.
Rev. M. De Vries as a member of the Classical                               Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
Committee.                                                                  Classis West

                        News From Our Churches
                                                    Ben Wigger


                                                   April 1, 1987

  With this issue of the Standard  Bearer, let us con-            Plans were soon under way to build a new
tinue our series on church profiles with a brief look        church building on Cambridge Ave., and this site
at our Southeast Protestant Reformed Church.                 remains the church home of the congregation until
Southeast history began March 7, 1944 when                   the present.
twenty-five families were organized as the Fourth                 But Southeast's trials were not over. Rev.
Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids. At               Richard Veldman and many of the families of
this meeting the late Rev. H. Hoeksema preached a            Southeast left the church in 1962 and became
sermon based on Ephesians 6:14, a verse which set            members of another denomination. Southwest
the tone for the struggles Southeast would face in           went from a church with a pastor and seventy
the years to come.                                           families to a church without a pastor and only
  Fourth Church began to hold meetings in an old             eighteen families in a very short period of time.
store building in Boston Square. It was soon after                Into this difficult situation the Lord sent his
this that the Rev. Richard Veldman became their              faithful servant, Rev. M. Schipper, and he steadied
first pastor. The congregation at Fourth purchased           the small flock and cared for it for sixteen years un-
an old garage on the corner of Kalamazoo Ave. and            til he retired in 1978. And our Heavenly Father has
Orville St. in Grand Rapids. And with a sizable              continued to provide for Southeast by providing
monetary gift from First Church, they purchased a            faithful men after Rev. Schipper, first Rev. C. Haak
parsonage and remodeled the garage.                          and now Rev. S. Key.
  In December, 1951, the congregation met and                     At the present time Southeast has about sixty
decided that since they were experiencing such               families with a total membership of approximately
growth, the only solution was to tear down the out-          two hundred thirty.
grown garage and rebuild a church on the same
site. While this was being done, the congregation                 Many of the men in the congregation are
met in the auditorium of Grand Rapids Christian              employed at Steelcase, the office furniture giant.
High School.                                                 There are also two auto dealerships, several home
                                                             builders and some general business people.
  Upon completion of this new building, a dedica-
tion was held on March 26, 1953.                                  The congregation has a nice mix of all age
                                                             groups. There are some elderly of course, who are
  However, all was not well in the Protestant Re-            very much appreciated. The Lord has also blessed
formed Churches at this time, and the doctrinal dif-         Southeast with some middle-aged and younger
ficulties touched Fourth Church very deeply, so              families, with many children and young adults,
much so that there was a split in the congregation;          especially in recent years.
and they lost not only their newly-built sanctuary
but their name as well.                                           God has also blessed the congregation with
                                                             special handicapped children. They have been a
  Those who remained faithful to the Protestant              great blessing, needing special attention and in-
Reformed Churches began to meet in the audi-                 struction.
torium of Adams St. Christian School. At this time
the group became known as the Southeast Protes-                   Southeast has an active Evangelism Society.
tant Reformed Church.                                        Besides this, their Sunday evening service is being
                                                             aired on WFUR-AM 1570 from  6:00-7:00 Sunday
                                                             evening.
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church
 of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                        The Lord has also brought many young adults to


             SECOND CLASS                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
           POSTAGE PAID AT                                                                                                      P.O. Box 6064
        GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





      312                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

       Southeast in recent years, from outside our circles.                          Classis West decided unanimously to organize
       And in particular, from different nationalities than                       the families at Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. The con-
       our own. This, of course, serves as a great means of                       sistory of Edmonton was appointed to take charge
       encouragement to the members as individuals and                            of this organization, although at this time no date
       also collectively.                                                         has been set for this.
          And finally, Southeast is currently involved with                         The Revs. J. Kortering, W. Bekkering and G. Van
       various remodeling projects, including the exten-                          Baren represented Classis  East at this meeting. Due
       sion of the church narthex.                                                to their absence for most of that week from their
          In other news from our churches: Rev. Rodney                            congregations back in Michigan, they arranged a
       Miersma of Holland, has received the call to be the                        three-way pulpit exchange for Sunday, March 8.
       pastor of our sister Protestant Reformed Church in                            Rev. Dykstra was the featured speaker at the
       Wellington, New Zealand.                                                   School Board Inspirational Program held on Friday,
          On Tuesday, March 10, all the Adult Bible and                           February 27, in  Doon, Iowa. Besides this speech
       Mr. and Mrs. Societies in West Michigan met in a                           there were several special numbers and some au-
       League Meeting at Byron Center Church to hear                              dience singing.
       Rev. J. Slopsema speak on "Family Devotions".
          In late February, Rev. Bruinsma returned to                                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
       Grand Rapids for a couple of days in order to meet                           The Men's Society of Hope Protestant Reformed Church of
                                                                                  Walker, Michigan, wishes to express their Christian sympathy to
       with a committee appointed to develop a policy for                         John Buiter and Peter Zandstra in the death of their brother and
       the conduct of our mission labors in Jamaica. Also                         brother-in-law EVERETT BUITER.
       present at this meeting was Rev. den Hartog who                               "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
       was appointed to be an advisor to this committee.                          (Psalm 116:15).
                                                                                  Peter Koole, Pres.
                                                                                  Milo DeWaId, Sec'y.
                        ATTENTION TEACHERS! ! !
          Hope Christian School of Redlands, California is in need of a                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
       teacher for Grades K-3 for the 1967-1966 school year. Teachers
       and prospective teachers interested in applying for this position             The members of the Adult Bible Study Society of Southeast Prot-
       please write to: Hope Christian School, 1309 E. Brockton, Redlands,        estant Reformed Church express their Christian sympathy to Mrs.
       CA 92374, or phone Ed Karsemeyer (714-793-7166 home) or                    Gerrit Pipe and family in the death of her beloved husband, MR. GER-
       (714-793-l 504 school), or Bill Feenstra  (714-793-3597).                  RIT PIPE.
                                                                                     "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea,
                                                                                  saith the Spirit, that they may rest from labours; and their works do
                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       follow them." (Revelation  14:l 3).
          The members of Southeast Protestant Reformed Senior Mr.  &              Rev. S. Key, President
       Mrs. Society wish to express their Christian sympathy to fellow            Miss A. Reitsma, Secretary
       members, Mr. & Mrs. Ted Pipe and Mr. & Mrs. Bill Pipe, in the death
       of their father, MR. GERRIT  PIPE. May the Lord comfort them by His                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
       Word and Spirit. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
       saints." (Psalm 1 16: 1 5)                                                    The Men's Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
       Mr. Jerry De Vries, Vice-Pres.                                             Church mourns the loss of their faithful fellow member MR. EVERETT
       Mrs. Bonnie Velting                                                        BUITER, whom the Lord took unto Himself on the morning of
                                                                                  February 27, 1987.
                    SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS                                         It is our fervent prayer that his wife, his sons, and all his family
                                                                                  may be comforted with a keen awareness that  - "Precious in the
          The Scholarship Fund Committee is taking applications for future        sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." (Psalm 1 16: 15).
       teachers/ministers for the 1987-88 school year. If you are in-
       terested, please contact Mike Rau, 4165 Jenison St., Grandville, Ml           May we together rejoice in the sure promises of God's infallible
       49418. for application forms. An essay of 300 words or more is also        Word, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be his
       required on the topic "The calling of a minister/teacher to instruct in    God, and he shall be My son." (Revelation 2 1:7).
       yh;;f$osea  4:6". Deadline for applications to be received is June         Rev. David Engelsma. Pres.
                                                                                  Mr. Homer De Jong, Sec'y.


__-_I.  -..-.I,-  ._.  ..--_-.--.  -.--


