                             he

                        tandlard

                                   earer

A  REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE


IN THIS ISSUE


   Meditation:
      The Preckms Cornerstone

   Editdrial:
     Why Not The Poor Devil?

   Faculty Letter

 A Footnote On Abortion
     (see: All Around Us)





                                    Volume  XL VUI / Number  2 / October  15, 1971


26                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                              CONTENTS:                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.

Editorials -                                                                       Published by the Reformed Free Publishing  Association,  Inc.
                                                                                         Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
      Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema
      Why Not The Poor Devil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Department  Editors:::.Mr.   Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
                                                                              Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
Meditation  -                                                                 Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Marinus  Schipper,   Rev. Gise J.
                                                                              Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
      The Precious Cornerstone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
                                                                                               1842 Plymouth Terrace.  SE.
All Around Us -                                                                                Grand Rapids. Michigan 49506                         c
      A Footnote on Abortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Church News Editor: Mr. Donald Doezema
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      The RES and Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34                               Grand Rapids, Michigan 49596
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Editoriais
                                                   Editor's Notes
                                                              Prof: H. C Hoeksema

Two New Departments In this issue we are introducing Sharing A Good Report Recently in a personal letter
another new department, 7%e Signs of the Times. Rev. from a friend with several contacts in Australia, I re-
G. Van Baren, who formerly wrote on matters ecumen- ceived the following encouraging report: "Your
ical, will be the editor of this department, which is Standard Bearer is very much appreciated, mainly for
scheduled to appear in alternate issues. Not really a its sound Reformed position." At the same time this
new department, but nevertheless an innovation, is the friend sent us three new addresses of potential new
letter from the seminary faculty which appears in this readers in that far away land.
issue. We hope to carry similar letters from time to                                                         *****
time; and these will serve as somewhat of a replace-
ment for news articles from the Theological School Address The letter from the Seminary Faculty invites
Committee.                                                                   you to write to the librarian or to the bookstore


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 27



manager, but furnishes no address. Here it is: 1145 binding; and I believe this will be in every way. an
Franklin St., S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507.                     attractive publication  -  above all, for its worthwhile
                             *****                                    contents. We have not yet set a defmite price on the
                                                                      book; but judging from our cost estimates, the price
Publication News It won't be long now, and Believers will also be very attractive. This is a little book which
And Their Seed will be coming from the presses. I have all of you ought to have. Watch for further announce-
had a preview of this 159-page book, its jacket, arid its ments!



                                      Why Not The Poor Devil?
                                                           ProJ: H. C Hoeksema

   In a recent issue of the  Banner  (Sept. 3,  1971), in             Second Point of 1924. That point reads: "Relative to
the department "Readers Ask," Dr.. John H. Bratt is                   the second point, which is concerned with the restraint
confronted by a rather knotty question, knotty, that                  of sin in the life of the individual man knd in theicom-
is, for one who holds to and must defend the theory of munity, the synod declares that there  & such a re-
common grace. The question is as follows:                             straint of sin according to Scripture and the  Corifes-
        This may sound like an absurd question.  But there            sion. This is evident from the citations from Scripture
     is  a logical  basis that can be claimed for  it. The ques-      and from the Netherland Confession, Articles 13 and
    tion  from  South  Dakota  is  in  this  form:   "The  Chris-     36, which God by the general operations of His Sbirit,
    tian  Reformed   Church  subscribes   to  the  doctrine   of     ,, without renewing the heart of man, restrains the un-
    common grace. It believes that God loves all persons              impeded breaking out of sin, by which human life in
    because He made them. But God also made the devil.                society remains possible." I would argue that by
    Does it follow, then, that He loves the devil also?"              quoting Article 13 of the Netherland Confession in
   Dr. Bratt concedes that this "looks like an ironclad proof of the statement that there is an operation of the
line of argument."                                                    Holy Spirit on the heart of the wicked, checking the
   Perhaps this looked rather ironclad to him. If, how-               process of sin within him, the Synod of 1924 actually,
ever, I were a subscriber to the common grace theory                  though utterly mistakenly, adopted the doctrine that
of the Three Points - which I am not - it seems to me                 there is an  operatiqn of common grace through the
that I could present an argument which  ,j.n a certain                Holy Spirit upon the devil, whereby he is not as
sense would be so ironclad that even Dr. Bratt could not              wicked as he might be. Fat this article of our Confes-
escapeit - except for the fact that as a good son of the              sion, which, by the way, speaks of providence, not of
Christian Reformed Church' he could always find an                    common grace, (and to which I subscribe - though I
"out" by the claim that "logic must give way to his- do not subscribe to the Three Points), includes  the
tory and to the biblical givens."                                     devil in the statement which the Synod of 1924 mis-
   I would argue, first of all, from the First Point of takenly cited in support of Point II. Let me quote the
1924, to which Dr. Bratt certainly subscribes, and statement and italicize the pertinent expression: "This
which he defended as a member of the Doctrinal Com-                   doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we
mittee in the "Dekker Case" a few years ago. For the                  are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by
First Point states that "apart from the saving grace of chance, but by the direction of our most gracious and
God shown only to those that are elect unto eternal heavenly Father; who watches over us with a paternal
life, there is also a certain favor or grace of God which             care, keeping all creatures so under his power, that not
He shows to His creatures in general." Td this the First a hair of our head (for they are all numbered) nor a
Point makes no exception. It follows, therefore, that                 sparrow can fall to the ground, without the will of OUT
since the devil is also one of God's creatures, and is                Father, in whom we do entirely trust, being persuaded
therefore included in "His creatures `in general," there-             that he so restrains the devil and all our enemies that
fore the devil also must be a beneficiary of common without his will and permission they cannot hurt us."
`grace. If Dr. Bratt denies this, it seems to me that he is           Notice that when this article speaks of restraint, it
militating against the language of the First Point. And mentions the devil and wicked men in one breath. The
let me remind him that there was a day when the very: fact that Article 13 includes the devil should, of
wrath of the Christian Reformed Church against                        course, have cautioned anyone against imagining that
deniers of the Three Points was swift and cruel.                      this article teaches a common grace of God. But when
   If I were a subscriber to the Three Points - which I the Synod nevertheless quoted this article to "pr?ve"
am not - I would argue, in tee second place, from the common grace, it followed that the devil as well as "all


28                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



our enemies" is the recipient of common grace. only his questioner but also all of us could be con-
Though Dr. Bratt may not like to teach this, I claim vinced. Instead, however, he philosophizes about an
that it is "ironclad."                                                       alleged difference between absolute and total de-
      It seems to me that in the light of this arbitrary pravity, about  man's  not having  lost the image of God,
exclusion of the devil from common grace, it is legiti- about  a  remnant   of  God  in  man,  about  the  redeem-
mate to ask: why not the poor devil? Why should he ability and h-redeemability of men and of devils. And
be singled out as the lone exception (with his cohorts) all this without any Biblical givens! But let him speak
to the universal rule of common grace?                                       for himself:
      If I subscribed to the theory of common grace  -                              It  is  true  that  God  loves  His  creatures.   He  made
which I do not - I would strengthen my ironclad argu-                            man  good  and  He  made  angels  good  and  He  loved
ment by an appeal to other Christian Reformed                                    them.   In  the  angelic   ranks,  however,  a  rebellion
thinkers. For example, I would turn for support to the                           occurred.  Some   of  them,  under   the  leadership  of
book of the late Rev. John Gritter, God Loves. . . He                            Satan,  turned  against   God.  They  made  themselves
at least does not dare to rule out completely the pos-                           absolutely   depraved.   There   is  within  them  no  iota  of
                                                                                 good.  There   is  with  them  no  possibility  of  redemp-
sibility that God loves the devil, though he can find no                         tion.  All that  they are  and do  is evil.  And the  face of
Biblical basis. He writes as follows:                                            God, says the Bible, is against  evil.
          Does  God love these? At first blush this very ques-                      With respect to man the situation  is different.  Man
       tion  may  sound foolish, almost blasphemous. God                         listened  to  the  devil  and  fell  in  the  garden.  But  even
       love these demons? How dare anyone mention it!                            though he became  totally depraved,  that is, every part
          Yet these, too, are creatures of His, perverted,                       of his being and every faculty of his soul was infected
       wicked,  but  still  creatures  of  His  power.  They  are                by sin, he did not become absolutely  so. The image of
       dependent   on  Him.   Even  in  their  wicked  activities                God within him was blurred, but not erased.  There  is
       against God and man they depend on Him., Strange  to                      within  him,  as  the  confessions  state,  a  remnant   of
       say,  the  power  whereby  they  carry  on  must  come                    good. There  is with him the possibility of redemption
       from  God.  The  fact  that  they  can  go  on  shows  that               through  Jesus Christ.  And therefore  the Scriptures do
       God has a certain interest in them.                                       intimate   that  God  still  loves  him  as  a  creature,  but
          There   is  that  song  on  The  Love  of  God  which  is              since  the  devil  made  himself   unredeemable  and  un-
       still  sung  among  us:  "The  love  of  God  is  greater   far           relievably  evil, there is no love of God for him.
       than  tongue  or  pen  can  ever  tell  It  goes  beyond  the           These two brief paragraphs are so loaded with  un-
       highest  star and reaches  to the lowest hell." When we               Reformed and un-Biblical thoughts that it is difficult
       first hear it, we may object: The love of God reaching                to know where to begin with contradicting them. It is
       to hell? But then we .reflect that God is love, always,               amazing to what lengths one will go to protect the
       and  that  God  is  everywhere,  according  to  Psalm   139           theory of common grace and at the same time to try to
       and  other   places   in  the  Bible.  And  we  see  that  in  a      extricate himself from the difficulties in which this
       sense  the  love  of  God  reaches   even  to  hell.  It  would
       seem to touch those who are there.                                    theory involves him.
          On  the  other   hand  I  know  of  no  statement   in  the          Perhaps I should begin by pointing out that in all of
       Bible  which  even  remotely   suggests  that  God  loves             this there is but one direct attempt even to mention a
       these  evil  spirits.   We  know  that  there  is  no  salvation      Biblical given. This is in the last sentence of the first
       for  them.  .  .  . We  get  the  impression   that  there  is  no    paragraph quoted above. Even this, however, is incor-
       hope  for  them  whatsoever.  So  it  would  seem  to  be             rectly quoted and certainly misapplied. The reference,
       the  part  of  wisdom  in  this  matter   not  to  go  beyond         I take it, though Dr. Bratt gives none, is to Psalm
       our  depth  in  our  thinking   and  to  leave  the  matter   to      34: 15, 16: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the right-
       God.                                                                  eous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of
      So the question, once again, would seem to be  - the Lord is against them that do evil, to  cut,off the
from an ironclad Christian Reformed viewpoint  - remembrance of them from the earth." This is a
quite legitimate: why not the poor devil? Common passage which is quoted in I Peter 3: lo-12 But let me
grace is common: it includes God's creatures in call your attention to the fact, in the first place, that
general. The devil is one of God's creatures. Why this passage does not merely speak of "evil," but of
should he not be included in common grace?                                   evil-doers.  And, in the second place, we ought to
      But Dr. Bratt claims that at this point "logic must notice that while Dr. Bratt applies this "biblical given"
give way to history and to the biblical givens."                             to devils in contradistinction from men, the passage in
      A dexterous twist, indeed, if one can accomplish it! Psalm 34 and I Peter 3 very plainly refers to men, that
Logic must give way to biblical givens! In other words, is, to evil men and to righteous men. The fact of the
the Biblical givens are not logical! Follow that proposi- matter is that if Dr. Bratt had only looked this one
tion through, and you have the complete' end of all Biblical given squarely in the face, he would have kept
exegesis and all understanding of the Scriptures.                            all his philosophy in his pen, and he would have been
      But let that be. If only Dr. Bratt would furnish us moved to inform his questioner that he should aban-
with some Biblical, or even Confessional, givens, not don the theory of common grace as being contrary .to


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    29



"Biblical givens," and that then he would have no              since the fall, the glimmerings of natural light,
problems any longer with a possible love of God for            whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of
the devil.                                                     natural things, and of the differences between good
   In the second place, there is that fiction about total      and evil, and discovers some regard for virtue, good
depravity and about the image of God in man being              order in society, and for maintaining an orderly
only blurred, but not erased. Let me call attention to         external deportment. But so far is this light of
the fact that there are no "Biblical givens" cited in          nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving
support of this fiction. And, while it is claimed that         knowledge of God, and to true conversion, that he is
the confessions find a remnant of good in man, no              incapable of using it  aright even in things natural
proof is offered in support of this claim. And I hasten        and civil. Nay further, this light, such as it is, man in
.to add that neither Biblical givens nor confessional          various ways renders wholly polluted, and holds it in
support can be adduced. In fact, the statement that the        unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes inex-
image of God in man was blurred, but not erased,               cusable before God." Note again: some blurring!
would seem to me to be almost too extreme even for             It is plain from the above that the view of natural
an adherent of the theory of common grace. The fact man as the confessions see him is in full harmony
of the matter is, however, that what Dr. Bratt chooses with Dr. Bratt's description of the devil's so-called
to call absolute depravity ("no iota of good" and, "All absolute depravity. There is within him "no iota of
that they are and do is evil.") is the confessional and good." And again: "All that they are and do is evil."
Scriptural truth of  total  depravity, while what Dr.          And the same is the plain teaching of Scripture.
Bratt attempts to present as total depravity is not Here are just a couple of "Biblical givens:"
really total, but partial. This is as plain as the sun in    Romans 3: 1 O-l 8: "As it is written, There is none right-
the heavens. Dr. Bratt is attempting to blur the Re-           eous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth,
formed doctrine of total depravity. But all these state-       there is none that seeketh after God. They are all
ments are plainly contrary to the confessions and to           gone out of the way, they are together become
Scripture.                                                     unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not
  Let me cite some statements of our confessions on            one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their
this score:                                                    tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is
Heidelberg Catechism, Q. and A. 5: ". . . I am prone by        under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and
  nature to hate God and my neighbor."                         bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: De-
Heidelberg Catechism, Q. and A. 8: "Are we then so             struction and misery are in their ways: And the way
  corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any            of peace have they not known: There is no fear of
  good, and inclined to all wickedness? Indeed we'are;         God before their eyes."
  except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God."           Ephesians 2: l-3 : "And you hath he quickened, who
Netherland Confession, Art. 14: "For the command-              were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time
  ment of life, which he had received, he transgressed;        past ye walked according to the course of this
  and by sin separated himself from God, who was his           world, according to the prince of the power of the
  true life, having corrupted his whole nature; where-         air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
  by he made himself liable to corporal and spiritual          disobedience: Among whom also we all had our con-
  death. And being thus become wicked, perverse, and           versation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, ful-
  corrupt in all his ways, he hath lost ahhis excellent        filling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
  gifts, which he had received from God, and only              were by nature the children of wrath, even as
  retained a few remains thereof, which, however, are          others."
  sufficient to leave man without excuse; for all the Romans  8:7, 8: "Because the carnal mind is enmity
  light which is in us is changed into darkness . . ."         against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
Canons III, IV, 1: "Man was originally formed after            neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
  the image of God. His understanding was adorned              flesh cannot please God."
  with a true and saving knowledge of his Creator, and Ephesians 5 : 8a: "For ye were sometimes darkness . . ."
  of spiritual things; his heart and will were upright;           In the third place, there is the fiction about the
  all his affections pure; and the whole man was holy; depravity of the devil being absolute, in distinction
  but revolting from God by the instigation of the from that of man being not absolute. Now it is indeed
  devil, and abusing the freedom of his own will, he possible to speak in a sound sense of the  faZZ in  the
  forfeited these excellent gifts; and on the contrary world of angels being absolute. That is, there is no
  entailed on himself blindness of mind, horrible dark- salvation for any of the fallen angels. They are all
  ness, vanity and perverseness of judgment, became reprobate. The elect angels never fall, and in that sense
  wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will, they do not need to be saved. Only part of the angels
  and impure in his affections." Note: some blurring!        fell; and, because they fell without a mediator and
Canons III, IV, 4: "There remain, however, in man saving head, all the devils are fallen  absohtely.  With


30                                                  THE>STANDA,RD  BEARER

                                               4

men this is different. The entire human race, including bility of redemption. The only possibility is of God; and
both elect and reprobate, fell. Elect men, however, are that possibility, which is an actuality through the
not fallen absolutely, because they have a Mediator sovereign grace of God in Christ Jesus, is realized wholly
and Saving Head: when they fell, they fell upon Christ. upon the dark background of human impossibility.
.Reprobate men, however, are fallen absolutely. They             But what is the basic trouble here?
are hopelessly lost because they fell outside of Christ.         It is this, that throughout this entire reasoning
But this is by no means the distinction which Dr. Bratt process. Dr. Bratt refuses to work with and from the
draws.                                                         fundamental Biblical givens of election and reproba-
      In the fourth place, there is the highly dangerous tion. So far his insistence upon common grace leads
statement, "There is with him (man) the possibility of him from the Reformed truth!
redemption through Jesus Christ." There is here `the             All of this is confimation, by the way, once more of
plain implication that while, according to  .Dr. Bratt, the fact that common grace is still the issue.
the devil made himself unredeemable and.unrelievably             In the remainder of his brief article, Dr. Bratt
evil, man did not do so. The fact of the matter is that sounds a warning against universalism and neo-univer-
man also made himself, on his part, unredeemable and salism of today. And he correctly makes the point that
unrelievably evil! For his part, the depravity and fall of this universalism does not square with the gospel of the
man are hopeless!, Man is indeed totally depraved, and Scriptures. The trouble is that Dr. Bratt is principally
there is nothing in his fallen nature that can render him incipient  7 or inconsistent - universal&m.  And while
redeemable and saveable. It is exactly the Scriptural he may in a sense try to hold on to the truth of
and Reformed doctrine of sovereign grace that elect sovereign predestination - which, of course, is the/key
men are  saveable  - only, however, through the al- to opposing universalism - the very act that `he writes
mighty grace of God - because they are in Christ from without any reference to election aBd reprobation and
before the foundation of the world. There is nothing in without reckoning with this fundamental Biblical truth
the sinful nature of man that is adapted to his salvation is in itself the evidence of his own incipient universalism.
in any sense, There is no connecting point for the sal-          And on his basis, the question is indeed legitimate:
vation of man in his fallen and depraved nature. Once Why not common grace for the poor devil?
more: as far as man is concerned, there is no  possi-


Meditation,  r

                          The -Precious Cornerstone
                                                      Rev. M. Schipper

              "Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture; Behold, IJay in Son a chief corner stone,
              elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore
              which believe he is precious.-  but, unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the
              builders d&allowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and
              a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto
              also they were appdin  ted. "
                                                                                              I Peter 2: 6-8.

      Wherefore . . .                                          attention to the manner in which this temple is built.
      This word shows that there is a very close connec- The living stones which make up this temple in which
tion with the preceding verses in this chapter, to which God is pleased to dwell, are the chosen people of God.
we `called attention in our last Meditation. We then They come to Christ, only after He has first come to
wrote under the theme: Built Into A Holy Temple. them, in regeneration, through faith, and the effica-
Briefly we noticed, first of all, the idea of this temple.     cious calling through the gospel. And lastly, we dwelt
It contains a covenant conception. And this covenant on the purpose of this built temple. It is that we offer
idea is divinely worked out historically in such a way up spiritual sacrifices; and again, this purpose is
that there is a gradual development, which we de- realized in us through Christ, the perfect Mediator.
scribed in the geometrical figures of a rectangle, a Thus the sacrifices are well-pleasing to God. Not be-
square, and a cube. The temple, when it is finally com-        cause of what we bring, you understand; but because
pleted, will be realized in the city which is foursquare, God recognizes in us what is His own work, accom-
and embracing heaven and earth. Secondly, we drew plished in us through Christ.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    31



  In one word, the holy temple which God is building whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."
is all built around the central idea that Christ is the According to the book of Acts, Peter, on another
chief corner stone. All the members of the Church, as occasion, made use of this scriptural reference, "This is
living stones, are intimately connected to Him. Easy .it the stone which was set at nought of you builders,
is to see how that the apostle could not speak of the which is become the head of the corner.-" (4: 11). And
holy temple without calling attention to the central the apostle Paul in his letters to the Romans and
stone about which and upon which the'entire temple is Ephesians makes reference to this truth of the scrip-
constructed. So you can understand how it is that he tures. "For they (Israel) stumbled at that stumbling
speaks now in our text about the precious corner stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on
stone.                                                     him shall not be ashamed." And again, "And are built
  Concerning this precious corner stone the apostle upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
points up especially three things. First of .all, he refers Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."
to the corner stone as contained  in- the scripture.         This Christ, this elect and precious comer stone, as
Secondly,. he looks at that precious corner stone as He is spoken of in the scriptures, is to be presented in
embraced by faith by the believers. And finally, he the preaching of the gospel; so that all may see Him
shows us how this precious corner stone is rejected by and show forth their reaction with respect to Him.
the disobedient, the unbelievers.                          This is obviously what the apostle has in mind, as is
  The precious corner stone!                               clear from the preceding context.
  As contained in the scripture!                             Christ Jesus is God's elect, and precious corner
  By the scripture the apostle refers especially to the stone!
Old Testament, which was the only scriptures the             God had chosen Him when He chose His people.
apostle had at the time when he wrote this epistle. He The scriptures, in fact, always present Christ as the
refers undoubtedly, first of all, to what he read in the elect of God, while His people are chosen in Him.
prophecy of Isaiah (28: 16). "Therefore thus saith the Therefore He is exceeding precious. He is above all
Lord God, Behold, I lay in Sion for a foundation a precious, and to be highly honored. God's people are
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure precious only as they are in Him, and share with Him
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."      in His honor.
  We have not the space here to give the exegesis of         And what is God's purpose with Him as chief corner
this passage; nor is that necessary. What is pertinent is stone? According to the figure, the comer stone has a
the question: Why did Peter refer to this passage? We chief place in the foundation, and it determines the
notice that he does not quote it literally, but in such a shape of the foundation not only, but of the entire
way that it may serve his purpose. And undoubtedly structure that is to be built upon it. Now, whereas God
that purpose is to show that the idea of the holy has determined to build a temple in which He will
temple with its precious corner stone did not originate dwell, the entire structure is contingent on that comer
with him as something, new or strange, but it was stone. As chosen and precious corner stone, Christ is
always in the purpose and plan of God.                    laid by God; and the foundation and superstructure of
  Of course, the scripture to which Peter refers is His holy temple is dependent on Him. Moreover, as
more than the passage quoted above. We read also in God causes the gospel to be preached, the gospel con-
the same prophecy (8:  14), "And he shall be for a cerning the house of His covenant, men are brought
sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock into contact with that precious corner stone. And they
of offence to both the house of Israel, for a gin and for reveal their reaction over against Him. Unto some, who
a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Also in Psalm believe on Him, the comer stone is also precious, and
118:22, reference is made when the psalmist says: they shall never be ashamed. But unto the disobedient,
"The stone which the builders refused is become the those who reject the comer stone, to their utter dis-
head stone of the corner."                                may the stone is made the head of the comer, while at
  For us of the New Testament era, these scriptures the same time He is become to them a rock of offence.
are more complete, and the references to the precious        Precious comer stone!
corner stone are many. According to the gospels of           Embraced by faith!
Matthew and Luke, Jesus also referred to these Old           Here faith evidently contains emphatically the
Testament scriptures.. "Jesus saith unto them, Did ye element of confidence. We know, of course, that faith
never read in the scriptures, The stone which the contains the elements of "certain knowledge" and
builders rejected, the same is become the head of the "hearty confidence." And these two come to their
corner, this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in own in the exercise of faith. But here it is apparent
our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of that the element of confidence is on the foreground.
God shall be take from you, and be given unto a nation This is emphasized in the text when Peter says: "he
bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall that believeth on him `shall not be confounded." Be-
fall on this stone shall be broken, to pieces; but on lievers therefore rely on Him, place all their confidence


32                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



on Him. And in this they shall never be ashamed. While rejected. They cast Him out as worthless.
Isaiah says: "he that believeth shall not make haste,"          They stumbled over Him because they were dis-
Peter says: "he that believeth on him shall not be con- obedient, - disobedient to the Word. Here it becomes
founded, or be ashamed." The difference is not essen- very apparent that disobedience is actually unbelief.
tial, it is only one of viewpoint. He who does not This rejection of the precious comer stone we see
hasten to flee is unafraid of the enemy. He remains. He clearly demonstrated at the trial of Jesus before
who is not ashamed, is not disappointed. If one were Pontius Pilate; and it reached its highest point in the
ashamed, he would flee for fright. This, however, is not crucifixion at Calvary. But always throughout history
the case with believers. They trust that stone. In the this rejection goes on. Never does unbelief have room
ultimate sense, it means that one that believes on in their plans, nor a place in their building for God's
Christ shall certainly inherit glory, and therefore will chosen and precious corner stone.
never be disappointed.                                           The Headstone is a rock of offence!
      0, how precious is that comer stone to them!               0, indeed, in spite of the builders, Christ is made
      To God, He is elect, precious!                           headstone of the comer! No one, and nothing shall
      But also to the believers, believing children of God! interfere with nor frustrate the eternal wisdom and
      They love that stone. Through faith He is become plan of God. The house of His covenant shall be built.
precious to them. Without Him they are nothing, nor And the corner stone shall fit in its proper place. This
do they have anything. In and through Him they also is precisely what the psalmist declares: "The stone
have their place as living stones in the temple of God. which the builders refused is become the head stone of
Unto them He is their Saviour, and the Word through the corner." And this is precisely what Peter is empha-
which He is presented to their faith becomes for them sizing in our text.
a savor of life unto life.                                       But in the process of building God always confronts
      But there is more, much more!                            unbelief and the disobedient in such a way that they
      This precious corner stone is also rejected by un- must do something about His precious comer stone.
belief!                                                        To them that stone is always in the way; as we said, it
      Unbelief would also'have a house. Not the house of does not fit into their plans.
God's covenant, not an holy temple, a spiritual house            Unbelief continues to stumble over that stone. They
in which to offer up sacrifices pleasing to God. But a cannot remove it so as to destroy it. So it remains to
house nevertheless, which is in harmony with all their be in their way, and they stumble over it. As Jesus
carnal hopes. Not a glorious kingdom of God, wherein Himself describes it: "Whosoever shall fall on this
God shall be all in all, but a kingdom of this world, the stone, shall be broken to pieces, but on whomsoever it
kingdom of man, in which man shall be exalted and shall fall, it will grind him to powder."
extolled. And so they are always building. This they             Unto this unbelief is appointed!
did at the tower of Babel. They were doing it in                 Behind all their action, their rejection of the stone,
Isaiah's day. And when the chief corner stone appeared their falling over that stone, their being crushed by the
in the flesh, He also observed their building, and espe- stone, stands the righteous and holy God. Not only
cially how scrupulously they avoided putting Him in election, but also reprobation is of the Lord.
their building. 0, they could not avoid Him. They had            So the ungodly shall be brought to shame!
to make a decision respecting Him. But He did not fit            But they that believe on Him, through the grace of
into their plans. In their building, Christ did not fit at God shall never be ashamed or confounded!
all. Nor was there any place in their building for the           World without end!
living stones who believed on Him. That is why He was            Amen !


All  Aromd  Us

                                        A Footnote on Abortion
                                        The `RES and Scripture

                                                      ProJ: H. Hatzko

A `FOOTNOTE  0~ ABORTION                                      the whole abortion question from the viewpoint of the
      We have written in previous issues at some length on sin of murder involved. This is not, of course, the
the abortion question, and have discussed. particularly whole question. There are other important matters


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   33



related to this question. One of them is the question of mothers who unexpectedly find themselves pregnant.
motive.  From a spiritual and ethical point of view, Perhaps they are not wanted by society which sees
what is the motive behind the clamor for legalizing untold social problems arising from the birth of chil-
abortion? This is an important question; so important, dren who are brought up without care.
in fact, that the heading of this article may be an         But the question is: why are they not wanted? And
understatement: a footnote it is not.                     the answer to this question is a spiritual and ethical
  We are aware of the fact that in turning to this answer.
question of motive (with which we intend to close this      That adultery and fornication flourishes in the
discussion for the time being) we are dealing with ghettos goes without saying. The trouble is that it
matters of the heart. Those who advocate the legaliza- flourishes also in the higher echelons of society. Only
tion of.abortion have all sorts of reasons for doing this, in these levels of society people have the means and
by which they attempt to give their efforts the appear- wherewithal to prevent many unwanted pregnancies
ance of a holy crusade. They claim that abortion is through various birth control devices. But the problem
necessary to solve the problem of overpopulation in of adultery and fornication is a spiritual one. And it is
the earth - a problem so serious, in their eyes, that, if a sad day for this country when the country becomes
it is not solved, the planet on which we live will pres- more concerned about the consequences of sin than
ently be unable to provide sufficient food for the about the sin itself. Eradicating the consequences by
world's teeming billions, and mass starvation will abortion not only does not solve the problem, but makes
result. This has never been proved; in fact, in India it worse. God is not mocked. What a man sows, that shall
where the problem is most acute, new strains of rice, he also reap.
e.g., have been developed which has all but solved the      The' arguments raised in favor of abortion on de-
food problem in that "overpopulated" country and has mand are specious. They smell like subtleties of human
brought India to the point where it could conceivably invention which are used to justify the consciences of
become a rice-exporting nation. Others claim that the men in the face of monstrous crimes, They reek of
reason for advocating abortion on demand is because sanctimonious hypocrisy which attempts to explain
the pollution of the environment has reached such away unbelievably horrible sins.
proportions that we are but a small step from making        Why are not these babies, so terribly murdered,
this planet a massive dump with no clean air to breathe wanted? The answer is, in one word, selfishness. Where
and no clean water to drink and no plant life to sustain pregnancies result from fornication, the desire is to
man. Environmental pollution is caused by overpopula- indulge in the lusts of the flesh and commit untold
tion, it is said. This too has never been proved; and, as abomination without suffering the consequences for
a matter of fact, it fails to take into account that the sin. Abortion is the easy way out. Where, within the
root of pollution lies in sin  -and human selfishness. bonds of marriage, pregnancies come unplanned, and
Others plead for a liberalization of abortion laws out are unwanted, selfishness still lies at the root. Women
of "sympathy" for pregnant mothers. They point out do not want the "misery" of nine months with child.
that some babies are simply unwanted. This is some- And, after the child is born, they shudder at the
times because pregnancy is the result of rape orincest thought of having another baby around the house. But
- a specious argument, at best, since this is true in less the problem .is that they are required to forego their
than 1% of these cases. This is sometimes true because own pleasures because of the demands of children.
a mother believes herself to be neither mentally, physi- They cannot do the things they enjoy doing. They can-
cally nor financially able to go through a nine-month not enjoy the pleasures of life. They cannot leave the
pregnancy and to endure the difficult task of bringing home when they please. They cannot work to bring
up another child in the home. The results of pregnancy home an extra paycheck. They cannot buy the things
and birth are so fraught with physical and psycho- they have set their hearts on. They cannot tolerate the
logical dangers for the mother that abortion is the only constant and incessant demands which a baby and child
way of saving the mother; or at least, of enabling her placeupon them. Their own pleasures are curtailed and
to cope with the problems she already faces. Still their own anxious pursuit of enjoying life is halted.
others point to the fact that abortion on demand is a Children are not wanted simply because then parents
desirable thing because so many babies are born in the can no longer do the things they want to do.
ghettos where family life has broken down. The result       ,I.f any one has ever thought that selfishness is not a
is the birth of many children of broken and fatherless monstrous sin, then let him ponder this. A person will
homes, illegitimate children, children born in poverty commit murder out of selfishess  - the murder of an
and doomed to a life of misery and crimes on the unborn child, the murder of a child carried within
streets of our large cities. It is a social problem; and one's own body. Selfishness is a monster.
abortion is one way of solving it.                          And all this is because of the fact that the viewpoint
  We concur that the basic motive for abortion is that of Scripture is lost. Scripture never speaks of children
babies are not wanted. Perhaps they are not wanted by being a bother and a nuisance. Scripture never even


34                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



hints that children are "in the way," robbing us of the soul of the godly and pious shudder with horror.
time for ourselves. Scripture speaks quite different           "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord.
language. "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the
sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants THE RES AND SCRIPTURE
round about thy table." Psalm 128:3. "That .our sons             In the August 24 issue of the R.E.S. News Exchange
may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our an interesting article appeared concerning the meeting
daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the of the Reformed Ecumenical Synod in Australia in
similitude of a palace." Ps. 144: 12. "Lo, children are        1972. We quote the article in full both because of our
an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is interest in the R.E.S. and because of the interest of the
his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; topic.
so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that                   Responding  to  the  request  of  the  Reformed   Ecu-
hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be                   menical  Synod   Amsterdam   1968,   the  RES   Interim
ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the              Committee  has made arrangements that a full day will
gate." Psalm l27:3-5.                                             be spent at Sydney,  Australia, in August 1972  to con-
      This is the viewpoint of Scripture. But where, in all        sider  the  nature   and  extent  of  the  authority  of
                                                                   Scripture.
the debate, do you hear anything of this today? That is               To  introduce   central  aspects   of  the  topic,  three
the wretched part of it. No doubt, the\ world is inca-             speakers  have been chosen, one from the Netherlands,
pable of understanding these things. But let the child             one from South Africa and one from North  America.
of God hear these words nonetheless. The child of God              From   among  the  delegates   to  the  1972   Synod,   re-
understands that he (or she) is not in the world for               spondents to the three speakers  will be chosen to give
himself and that marriage is not a convenient alliance            representation   to  the  Presbyterian.   traditions   and  to
to conform with society's norms while indulging in the            allow  voices  from  younger   churches  to  be  heard.
lusts of the flesh. Nor is the time of marriage the time          After  each  lecture  there  will  be  ample   time  for  dis-
to engage in pleasure seeking, getting the most out of            cussion.   The  conference  has  been  scheduled  for  the
life, drinking the cup of pleasure to the brim. Marriage          first  week  of  meetings  so  that  the  findings  of  the
is an institution of God in which husband lives for wife           conference may function as input to the deliberations
                                                                  of the Synod on the days following. A description  of
and wife for husband, and both for children, - and all            the Conference on Scripture follows.
#for God. Parents who have heard with quivering hearts
the solemn words of God in this respect, receive chil-            THE  NATURE   AND  EXTENT   OF  THE   AUTHOR-
dren as very wonderful and precious gifts of God; and             ITY  OF  SCRIPTURE.   1.  SCRIPTURE,   CREATION,
yet gifts which never really belong to them. They are             AND  HISTORY,  by  Prof.  Dr.  J.  L.  Koole  (Nether-
                                                                  lands).
God's `children always; no parent may lay sovereign
claim to them. And they must be nurtured in the fear                  This  opening  lecture;  given  by  an  Old  Testament
of the Lord and in awe that God has given such gifts.             scholar,   will  consider  the  relation   of  Holy  Scripture
      It may be objected that the passages quoted above           to  our  view  of  creation  and  history.  It  will  touch  on
                                                                  such  topics  as  the  origin   of  the  Bible,   namely,
are taken from the Old Testament, and that it was                 whether   it  is  the  product  of  the  `religious   conscious-
characteristic of the mothers in Israel to desire children        ness  of  the  early  church'  (Gemeindeteologie)   or
because they earnestly longed to have a part in bring-            whether   it  is  a  Word   of  God  that  became  a  chief
ing forth the Messiah. And this is true. The lives of             constituent   component   in  the  formation   of  the
Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Hannah,  Manoah's wife                 people  of  God.  It  will  also  take  into  its  purview  the
and many others are eloquent testimony of this.  But              relation   of  kerygma   and  salvation  events  and  deal
this is not an objection. For while indeed the Messiah            specifically  with  the  question  of  the  historicity  of
has been born and the promised Seed of the woman                  certain parts of the Bible currently  in discussion,  such
has come, that seed spoken of by God to Adam and                  as Genesis l-l 0. The address  will in addition  consider
Eve, while centrally Christ, is the full number of the            the  relation   of  the  `human   and  divine  factors'  in  the
elect of all ages. For those who are of faith are the             formation of the Scriptures.
children of Abraham. And still today godly mothers                2.  SCRIPTURE,   FAITH,  AND  SCIENCE,   by  Prof.
are given the unspeakably rich privilege of bringing              Dr. Gordon Spykman  (USA).
forth the seed of the covenant, the Church of Christ,                 This  second  lecture  will  consider  the  relation   of
those for whom our Lord shed his blood. And only                  Holy Scripture to the faith of the people of God and
when that full number of the elect is born will the               the  human   enterprise  called   modern   science,   espe-
Lord Jesus return to take His whole Church with Him               cially  as  these  relate  directly   to  the  authority  of
to glory. What an exalted role the Lord, in grace, has            Scripture. It will consider whether  science can or may
                                                                  be  `objective'  and  whether,   and  how  science  must  be
given his people to performlin the work of the ages,              scripturally directed. Attention should be given to the
  If the viewpoint of the Holy Scriptures is our view-            hermeneutical   problem,  especially  as  this  relates  to
point, then the whole question of abortion is  dot a              the  time-relatedness   of  Scripture  and  the  time-
problem but a monstrous crime. Truly a crime to make              transcending  nature  of the Biblical  revelation. Dealing


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    35


     with  Scripture  and  science,   it  will  relate  the  Bibie  as         God;  should  address   modern   man  with  the  word  of
     the  revelation  that  testifies   to  Jesus  Christ   with  the           authority.  It  will  seek  answers   to  the  question  how
     revelation given in the creation, of which science gives                  the  proclamation  can bridge  the  gap between  the age
     a  theoretical   account.   Dealing   with  faith,  it  should             of writing and the time of speaking  and hearing. This
     consider  this function of man whereby he  directs his                     address   will  take  into  its  purview  the  writings  of the
     life to God in relation  to his work in the world espe-                    most  prominent   and  popular  exponents   of  a  secular
     cially  as  this  is  affected   by  science.  It  will  consider,         meaning  of  the  Gospel,   and  against  their  views  state
     i.a., whether  the scientist, qua scientist, may withhold                 what  the churches of Christ, on all  continents  should
     judgment  concerning  the  eventness   of  the  central                   proclaim today.
     redemptive  events,   e.g.,  the  virgin  birth  and  resur-
     rection  of Jesus Christ.                                                We will be very much interested  ,m reading the
                                                                           speeches as they are made and the "responsives." We
     `3.  SCRIPTURE,   CHURCH,   AND  PROCLAMATION,                        have  one  fear:  the  formulations   of  the  problems,   as
     by Prof. Dr. J. A. Heyns-(South  Africa).                             they  appear   above,   seem   to  us  to  suggest   that  in  the
        This address  will relate the full Gospei(Scripture's
     message in its totality) to the life of the congregation              formulations   themselves   important   concessions have
     today.  It  will  consider  how  we  can  and  should  pro-           been made to those who deny the absolute authority
     claim   the  Word'  of  God  in  our  present  secularized            of the Scriptures. And if concessions have already been
     world.  Dealing   with  the  church,  it  will  consider   how        made in the formulations of the problems, what will
     this  institution,  the  chief  exponent   of  the  Word   of         happen to the formulations of the answers?


The Day of Shadows
                                  The Perfect Beginning
                                                                 Rev, John A. Heys

  Of late even the man in the street has become aware the. work of creation as it was executed after that
of the vastness of space. In fact, even while these lines initial act. What, otherwise, shall we bay, then, of
are being written, three men are orbiting the moon Adam, of Eve, of the beasts of the field, of the fish and
with a view to another landing upon it. And the man in                     fowl, of the plants? Man was created out of something,
the street receives the report of their progress, and is for he was created out of the dust of the earth. Eve
told how many miles they are away from us here on was created out of a rib of Adam, the beasts out of the
this  earth. Likewise  is the. man in the street   given  much             ground,  the  fish  and  fowl  out  of  the  water,  and  the
technical information about the distances of space and plants out of the earth. Better is Scripture's own defi-
of plans to go to other heavenly bodies.                                   nition:  He  called   into  being   the  things  that  are  not  as
  We do, then, gather a more detailed knowledge of though they were, Romans 4: 17.
this  great   universe   which  God   brought  forth,  and                    But what we wish to present to you at this time is
which had its beginning by the Word of God's power,                        the fact that "In the beginning" means that here we
than by-gone generations had. Space  - and time as have the initial act of  -God whereby He brings forth
well - was created by God in the beginning. The ex- that which will appear in the day of Christ. In the first
pression   in  Genesis  1:  1,  namely,  "In  the  beginning               chapter of the Bible God informs us of the beginning
.  .  . " does not simply mean in the beginning of time,                   of His work of realizing the glorious kingdom of Christ
although it is true that time had its beginning and is a that is pictured in the last two chapters of the Bible.
creature. It means also that space and all-the creatures We must see that. We will not correctly nor fully un-
which occupy space had their beginning.                                    derstand Genesis 1 nor anything that follows in Holy
  We are not to consider Genesis 1: 1 to be a summari- Writ, if we do not see that truth. We must understand
zation of the whole chapter. Some would do that, and that  from  the  moment  that  God  brought  the  world
state that after the general statement to cover the into being, even as a chaotic mass, He had this goal in
whole work of creation Moses goes into detail in regard mind. Before He created the first heaven and earth, He
to it. Rather does Genesis 1: 1 declare that in the begin- had the new heaven and earth in mind. This new
ning God created the chaotic mass of heaven and earth heaven and earth which are still to come are not an
out of which He subsequently would call the other afterthought of God. They are not that which He re-
creatures. Only, then, of this original chaotic mass can created because His original heaven and earth turned
we say that for Him to create it was to "make some-                        out to be different from what He planned them to be.
thing o.ut of nothing." This cannot .be a definition of The. first heaven and earth  - into both of which sin


                                                                                                          ;
                         T H E O L O G I C A L   SGHOOL                                                   t
                                          .  .  . OF  THE..  .                                            i
                          P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D   C H U R C H E S
                                                                                                          /
                                    GRAND  RAPIDS.   MICHIGAN                        October 15,  1971  \I
Dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord:                                                                    I:'. .
     You probably recall that a couple of years ago we sent out                                                /*I
periodically to our churches news letters which were intended to                                          .:.
                                                                                                          j_:
keep you informed concerning the affairs of our Seminary. We dis-
continued them, partly because there did not always seem to be                                            I>
news to write and things to discuss and partly because news                                               g:
articles about our school began to appear in the Standard Bearer                                          1;:
from time to time.           But some of you have asked why these letters                                      .c/
were discontinued and have expressed a desire to see them come                                                 i,
out again; and many of you have inquired concerning matters of our                                             `r.1
Seminary.     So we have decided.to begin writing these letters again.                                          ._!:
We cannot promise that they will come on any regular schedule; but                                              F:-
we do hope to write occasional letters when there is news which we
believe will be of interest to you.                           In this way you can keep in                        -,1
touch with your Seminary.                                                                                        r;
     Formerly we mimeographed these letters and sent them to our                                                iI
various congregations for distribution.                              We have decided on a                       i
different method of reaching you--publishing this letter in our                                                  !.
Standard Bearer.          We hope this will make the matter of distribu-                                         i"
tion easier and less costly.                    At the same time, some of our                                    I:
friends outside our denomination will now also be reached by our                                                      i
letters-- and we do have some good friends who are interested in                                                      !%
our cause.                                                                                                            r
     Now for some news of the Seminary.                              We want, first of all,                           iI,j
to introduce to you by means of this letter a new seminary student.                                                   i
His name is Mr. Arie den Hartog.                        His parents are members of our                                j
Protestant Reformed Church in Lynden, Washington. Arie came to
our Churches this summer and is, at present, a member of First                                                        il
Church.      He is a graduate of Calvin College and is, therefore, a                                                  i
full-time student in Seminary studies, having completed his                                                           ti
pre-seminary work.            As are all of our present students, Arie is                                              ;,
married.                                                                                                               i.
                                                                                                                       1
     Four of the students in Seminary are Seniors this year.                                      They                 1
are Wayne Bekkering, Marvin Kamps, James Slopsema, and Ronald Van
Overloop.     Many of our churches have become acquainted with these                                                   ;
students since they have been preaching regularly both in the East                                                     i
and, during the summer months, in the West. The Lord willing,                                                          \
these four will take their synodical  exams at the Synod of 1972,                                                          Q
                                                                                                                           i'
which will meet in Grand Rapids next June.                                 The two Middlers at                             I.
school this year are Mark Hoeksema and Meindert Joostens.                                      Mark                        i-
has also been preaching in our Eastern churches and in South
Holland, Illinois and Randolph, Wisconsin from time to time. He                                                            i'
                                                                                                                           i
is married and is a member of First Church.                                 Meindert Joostens
came to the Seminary from our Redlands, California congregation.                                                            i/
He finished his college studies in the University of California,
               ampus.       Meindert was married this past summer and is a
               outhwest Church.


      Five of our present students have taken part of their pre-
 seminary work in the Seminary and have just about completed this;
 to a degree, they have had a mixed course of seminary and pre-
 seminary subjects.      There are a couple of pre-seminary subjects
 still being taught this semester.      This, plus a heavy schedule of
 seminary subjects, necessitates, as has been true for the past
 several years, the use of two classrooms in the basement of First
 Church.     One room is used for a very crowded combination classroom
 and library.      The other room is used for a combination classroom
 and mimeograph room.      Still another room is used for practice
preaching.       You can readily understand that this creates some
problems.      Several times during the morning students have free
periods which could profitably be used for study; and for study
 the library is often needed.      But with classes being held where
 the library is kept, this becomes impossible.       We are eagerly
.looking  forward to the time when we will have sufficient room for
 all the Seminary activities rather than the present makeshift
facilities.
      Generally speaking, the mornings only are used for classroom
work, and the afternoons and evenings for study.          Life in the
 Seminary is busy, and there is plenty of work.to keep the students
occupied afternoons and evenings.       Classes are held in the regular
subjects Tuesday through Friday; and Monday mornings are reserved
for practice preaching.      Since every student must preach two ser-
mons a semester, there is a total of 14 practice.preaching sessions
necessary.
      A couple of other items of interest we shall include in this
letter.      The,Seminary  has published a catalogue of all the books
available in the library.      We have done this to make the library
available to all our people.       Your pastor or the clerk of the
consistory has this catalogue.       If you desire any books for your
personal reading or for papers which you have been asked to write,
and the Seminary has them in the library, send a letter to our
Librarian, Mr. M. Joostens; and he will see that these books are
sent to you.      The Seminary also continues to publish its Journal.
This magazine appears twice per school year and is sent, without
charge, to all who are interested in receiving it.         Our subscrip-
tion list is growing with the mailing of each issue, and it in-
cludes several addresses outside continental United States. We
have also published a list-of mimeographed notes which are avail-
able through our bookstore manager, Mr. M. Kamps.         These are sold
very nearly at cost.      If you desire such a list, one will be sent
to you upon request.
      Finally, we commit the Seminary, students and faculty, to
the prayers of our people.       God has been good to us, and we labor
in the consciousness of the need for His blessing.         Pray for us,
beloved.      Without your prayers we cannot continue.
                           With Christian greetin


38                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



entered - were meant only as a stepping stone to the          just pointed out, that He be the King of that universal
new heaven and earth. They were not meant to be               domain that includes heaven and earth and all their
permanent but to serve the coming of the eternal              creatures.
heavens and earth.                                              Or again in Revelation 13: 8 we read .of Christ as
      The truth of this is clearly demonstrated in many       "the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the
passages of Holy Writ. One of the strong and striking         world." In God's mind, therefore, Christ is not an
passages is Ephesians 1: 9, 10, where Paul writes, "Hav-      afterthought. He is not someone Who fits into God's
ing made known unto us the mystery of His will, ac-           plan after the fall of man as though that fall made His
cording to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed          advent necessary. It is rather thus, that because God
in Himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of had that new heaven and earth united in Christ in
times He might gather together in one all things in           mind, the fall of man in that first earthly creation was
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on            necessary. And we may add, the fall of the devil and
earth, even in Him." Note that Paul speaks of the ful-        his angels in that first heaven was also necessary. And
ness of time, which definitely means the end of time,         when John speaks of Christ as  the Lamb slain  from
and therefore the time of Christ's return to this earth.      before the foundation of the world, it is evident that
He speaks also of the mystery which is made known.            the cross of Christ was in God's mind before the
This truth that God would unite all things, the whole         foundation of the world was. Note that the statement
vast universe with all that it contains in one Person,        is not "before the founding of the world" so that we
namely, in Christ, was not known when the world was           have here a time element. But the statement is "before
created. No one in the Old Testament dispensation saw         the foundation of the world" and thus John speaks of
that. They may have had visions of the Christ being           an object that is created to serve that cross of Christ
King over all the earth, but never of heaven and earth        and logically is after that cross; because the cross is the
united under one creature as their king. And at the           goal, and the foundation of the world ,seweS that goal.
creation of the heavens and the earth this truth was            Now, we say all this, because we want you to see
not seen. Adam was created as king of the earth, and          that a perfect beginning was made here by the All-wise
Satan, perhaps, as king of the angel world. At least          God. And  we want to  point out that the frequently
man was made a little lower than the angels, and there-       recurring phrase in Genesis 1 has its explanation in this
fore was not created as their king. Heaven and earth          glorious truth. We have reference to that statement:
have remained separate ever since that creation. One          "And God saw that it was good." What can that mean
King over both heaven and earth was nowhere indi-             but that after each act of creating God saw that what
cated. It was a mystery that God would do this, and           He had called into being would serve perfectly the
that He would do this in the Saviour of mankind. But          realization of that glorious universal kingdom of
in the beginning He created time. He set things in mo-        Christ. It refers first of all to the first heaven and earth.
tion. He got things moving toward that day when the           But we  may  not stop there. God saw each time that
whole vast universe would be united and gathered to-          what He had made was a perfect means, instrument,
gether in one grand and glorious domain in Christ.            tool for the end-work of Christ's glorious kingdom.
That this universal kingdom of Christ might come to             He saw that no new creature had to be created. No
pass, God created the heavens and the earth that we           creature had to be altered. No creation had to be done
now see and know to exist. "In the beginning. . ." then       over or be allowed to drop again into nothingness. It
refers to the beginning of this work that is the climax       all was a perfect foundation upon which He would
of God's sovereign, eternal, unchangeable counsel or          build this universal kingdom of Christ.
living plan.                                                    In this connection we may also consider the fact
      There is another passage of Holy Writ which declares    that God made man fallible. 1 Adam was not created in
that same truth from a different point of view. Paul          the highest freedom. He was created so that he was
writes in Colossians 1: 15, and he is speaking here of        able to fall. We may put it thus: Adam was created so
Christ, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the           that he was able not to  sin. After the fall he was not
firstborn of every creature." Now it is evident that          able not to sin. In Christ he receives the highest free-
Christ is not in the sequence of time the firstborn even      dom of being not able to sin. Now this is no flaw' in
of mankind, to say nothing of the birds and beasts and        God's work. It does not mean that God did not see
plants. Many of the insects and germs beget shortly           correctly when He saw that "every thing that He had
after their own "birth" and are "born" after a very           made . . , and, behold, it was very good." Genesis 1:3 1
brief incubation period. Therefore it means that in the       Man, even though he was so created that he could sin
mind of God Christ is before all creatures. In a logical      and could fall away from his righteousness, was created
sense Christ is the firstborn of them all, that, is, all      very  good  by God. He served exactly, and was so
other creatures (and the human nature of Christ is            created that he could serve exactly, God's purpose of
creature and was born  - were created and born to             uniting all things in Christ.
serve Him. and therefore with a view to that which we           Of course God could have made him - and the angel


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     39



world as well - so that they could not sin. But it is not    able to serve the purpose for which He has designed
a question of what God could do. Rather is it a case of and created it.
God planning something else for the praise of the glory        The beginning was perfect. And so is every step of
of His grace. The first Adam must fall, so that the          the way from that moment of the beginning onward
saving grace of God in the Last Adam may shine forth.        through all time. Let us beware then of judging any-
The first Adam must lose his /righteousness so that          thing that He made not to be good. Let us refrain
through the cross of the Last Adam God might display         today from criticizing any of His works as He moves
His perfect righteousness, holiness and justice. And         these creatures around, gives them, and then takes
with a view to all this, Adam and all the earthly crea-      them away again. Yea, even the enemies of the church
tures were exactly as they ought to be in order that the     serve a good purpose, as Satan served in the realization
Son of God in our flesh might die, rise again, be raised     of man's fall and in Christ's crucifixion. All do not
to God's right hand and become the King of all kings,        serve consciously and willingly in a good way. But all
the Lord of all lords in heaven and on earth, the uni-       do serve. Of the cross God also said, as He looked
versal Potentate of all potentates, the Supreme Author-      down from heaven, "Behold it is very good." Of the
ity over men and angels, over the entire creation of         fall of man He said the same thing with a view to the
God.                                                         higher glory that man will have in that universal king-
  A creature is good only when that creature is able to      dom of Christ. God does not always declare a judg-
serve the purpose for which it is made and intended.         ment of moral, ethical good upon the deeds of His
God saw that all was exactly as it had to be in order to     creatures. So often His judgment will be, "Depart from
serve the purpose of bringing in ultimately the fulfill-     Me, ye that work iniquity !" But with a view to serving
ment of that mystery. And that some men today do             the fulfillment of the mystery and  .preparing  the way
not see that everything was good, does not change the        for His Son to gather all things in one His judgment of
matter at all. God saw. And when He Who knows the            every event is that it is good. For it is always according
end from the beginning, He Who planned it all and had to His sovereign good counsel; and nothing ever slips
the whole goal and plan constantly before His mind           beyond His control but is constantly under the control
sees that everything is good, then it is good. Then it is    of His will and power to unite all things in Christ.


The Signs of the Times

                                   "A New Rubric"
                                                 Rev. G. Van Baren

  At the last Standard Bearer staff meeting it was de-       cerning the subject of the signs of the times which
cided, among other things, to add this rubric in our might be of interest to our readers. I would ask that
magazine' in place of that one which the writer for- you forward these to me directly, or in care of our
merly edited: Examining Ecumenicalism.                       editor. I can not promise to use everything that might
  Though the title of this rubric is a new one for the       be sent, but I would promise to consider and perhaps
Standard Bearer, the attempt to remind the readers of incorporate such materials in future articles: Such co-
the signs of our times is not new for this magazine. In      operation will make this department far more interest-
the various other departments we have been constantly        ing and stimulating.
reminded of the apostasy within the churches today; The idea of this new departibent.
of the development of world power and world corrup-            We will, the Lord willing, be calling your attention
tion; of the events evident in creation itself. It is our    in future articles to the "signs of the times." Signs are
intent in this department to bring the "signs of the         devices used to point, usually, to hidden realities. Such
times" clearly before our eyes  - that we may more           is true even in the area of our daily existence. A sign
carefully watch; and that we may sincerely pray,             along the highway may remind one of an unseen curve
"Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!"                         ahead; or of a city which lies a certain number.of miles
  Perhaps I could be so bold as to ask your coopera- away; or even of a product for sale in a grocery store
tion too. Doubtlessly, you encounter articles in             or automobile agency. The unseen is represented by a
magazines, books, or newspapers which remind you             sign which is visible to the natural eye. The same could
clearly of the Word of Scripture where these things are be said of the "signs" in our title. These "signs" are
foretold. Or there are thoughts which come to your those things which are visible to our eyes pointing to
mind, thoughts stimulated by the Word of God, con- the invisible reality which is yet to be realized.


40                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



      The second part of the title for this department from the beginning of the creation." (II Pet. 3:4). The-
speaks of "the times." By this is normally meant, and argument sounds familiar, does it not? But what does
in this rubric too, the age or period in which we live.      the Word of God answer? "For this they willingly are
We live, according to Scripture, in the "last days" and ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were
in the "last time" (I John 2: 18). The "signs" we see        of old, and the earth standing out of the water and-in
are those which show to us what the time on God's the water; whereby the world that then was, being
great "time-clock" is. Just as one sees the hands on a overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and
clock and hears the dongs of the hour as the time of the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept
midnight approaches, so one can spiritually discern the in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
time of our age which rapidly progresses to the mo- and perdition of ungodly men." (II Pet. 3:5-7).
ment when our Lord Jesus Christ returns on the clouds          The world of the ungodly will not acknowledge that
of glory.                                                    the end could be near. These express fear for possible
      But how is one to know what is a "sign?" The world     catastrophes which might befall the earth because of
about us, the world of unrighteousness, sees signs:          man's mismanagement, but these see no end of the
signs of impending disaster. There is pollution, over- world in the foreseeable future. These are convinced
population, war, disease. We hear daily reminders of that, through their own ingenuity, there will be estab-
remedies to be sought  - or disaster is inevitable. In lished eventually a world-utopia. All present problems
fact, many within what is called "church" are ready to will be solved. Man will dwell together in peace, only,
join with those of this world to find solutions to the it is imperative that we work hard now toward that
problems which might otherwise destroy mankind. I goal.
am not particularly interested, however, in what the           Many within the church have adopted a similar line.
world terms "signs" - except to point out that the I have heard of those in positions of importance within
reaction of the world to its multiplying problems is Reformed circles who emphasize that the end of time
exactly the reaction foretold in Scripture.                 will surely not be for thousands of years. Many will
      Our Source-book for the "signs of the times" must seek to join with the world to establish that
be Scripture itself. God tells us there clearly what shall world-utopia. These seek not a kingdom of God which
take place throughout the age of the new dispensation is heavenly, but a kingdom which will be established
- and especially those events which take place just here on this sinful earth. Some of these are post-
before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. One finds millennial in their confession. Others, though
striking reminders of the signs which are even now evi- a-millennial in confession, in practice also adopt the
dent in passages as Matthew 24, I Thessalonians 4, post-millennial conception.
II Thessalonians 2, II Peter 3, most of the book of            It is well, therefore, that we compare Scripture with
Revelation, as well as many prophecies of the Old those events which are now transpiring about us. We
Testament.                                                  ought not to be frightened because of what does take
      It will not be my intent to enter into exegetical place and what must still take place; rather we must
analysis of these passages, but rather to show from the more urgently pray, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus."
current events how many Scriptural passages are now            That Jesus is coming soon is a fact. We know not the
being fulfilled. If one only can see, he will recognize day and hour of His appearing. Nor may we try to
how that present-day events are fulfillments of Scrip- establish some time for His return, as has been at-
tural prophecy. We live in the day of signs: signs of the tempted by some. Jesus Himself emphasized that the
last times, and. signs of the soon-return of our Lord day and hour knoweth no man, not even the son of
from heaven. Are we recognizing these signs?                man (Matt.  24:36). Yet the signs today are so clear
The need of this department                                 that I believe one is justified in saying that it is prob-
      One might almost be inclined to say that there need able that Jesus will return within the lifetimes of many
be no special reminder to the Christian that he lives in of us. We may well live through the time of final perse-
the last times. He has eyes to see, does he not? Yet cution, the establishment of the antichristian world
constant reminder is imperative.                            power, and then finally see the Son of man return on
      It is a recurring objection that the end surely is not the clouds of glory with His holy angels. Just think of
yet. It is emphasized that, though there are periods in that! The most striking events of all the history of the
the history of the world in which the world-situation world may well occur in our lifetimes! The purpose of
appears to worsen, this represents only part of a cycle. this rubric is to point out some of these events as they
      Of course, the objection that the world will last a transpire.
long time yet is not a new objection. It was voiced            This rubric must then direct our attention to that
already in the days of the Apostle Peter. He answered command of Christ to watch (Matt.  24:42). We are to
that, too, in his epistle. There were those who asked, be ready to greet our Lord upon His return. Were the
"Where is the promise, of his coming? For since the president of the United States to visit us a week from
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were today, we would without doubt expend every effort to


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 41



prepare for such a coming. We would notify our He comes, He takes us from this corrupt earth and
friends. We would prepare our home so that it would prepares for us the new heavens and new earth. Know-
be spotless. We would make sure that we address him ing all of this, let us indeed be separate - seeking the
aright. This would be the most momentous day of our heavenly in all things.
lives. How much more ought we not to prepare faith-          And we ought to be encouraged to use wisely our
fully for the coming of the Lord of all? Can we leave      time, talents, and possessions to God's glory and as
anything undone which God's Word requires of faith- those who indeed seek the coming of His kingdom. We
ful servants? Can we forget for a moment that His ought not complain about the "burdens" of instructing
coming is imminent? Can we fail to tell many that our our covenant children aright; of support of the church
Lord is coming soon? Those who know that Christ is on this earth; of contributions for the cause of mis-
coming soon, will surely be ready. They watch.             sions; of giving for the need of God's poor. God has
                                                           entrusted much to our care. It belongs to Him. We
Encouragement through this department                      have often been selfish with what is given - consider-
  Knowing the time, as we should in the light of Scrip- ing it to be our own to use as we see fit. All present
ture, we must be reminded constantly that we are to things shall be consumed by that fire of the last day.
live lives of separation. This is not the time to be one While  we have the time and opportunity and posses-
with the world. This is not the time to.enjoy its amuse- sions, may we have also the grace to seek with these
ments; to set our hearts on its lusts; to seek its goals. the coming of His kingdom.
We are strangers here on this earth. Our Lord is pres-       Let us remenber . . .
ently in heaven - but He is coming again soon. When          ". . . The Lord is at hand" (Phil. 4:s).

The Strength of Youth

                                     Choose Today
                                            Rev. Robert D. Decker

  That's right my friends! You and I must choose to- mind and a will, so that man thinks and determines.
day whom we will serve! Doesn't sound Protestant Re- Not does man do this in the sense that he can freely
formed, you say ? We don't believe people must choose whatever he desires completely independent of
choose, you object? We believe in sovereign predestina- God. That is the old error of Pelagianism, which says
tion from before the foundations of the world, which that we are born neutral, neither foi- nor against God,
means God makes the decisive choice of whom we will and have the power of will to choose either for or
serve. We also believe that all are totally depraved, in- against God. The most prevalent form of the old Pelag-
clined to all evil, and wholly incapable of any good so    ianism is Arminianism (our fathers did not hesitate to
that all men will inevitably choose to serve sin unless call this "the old Pelagian heresy out .of hell!") which
God intervenes by His grace and Holy Spirit. Yes, that arose in the 16th century in the Netherlands and
is our faith and that is the unmistakable truth of the against which our Canons of Dordt were formulated.
Scriptures. In fact, to deny that would be to  cdt the     Arminianism insists, too, that man has a free will and
heart out of the gospel! At the same time, however, we has the ability to make a choice either for or against
and all men everywhere must make a. choice - either God. Thus Arminian preachers today urge their hearers
for or against God!. Sovereign predestination does not to accept the Christ offered in the gospel. Man's choice
preclude human responsibility!                             is always determined by God's sovereign choice. Still
  We find-this all through the Bible. Moses, for exam- more, man, by virtue of Adam's fall into sin is totally
ple, when nearing the end of .his life and work as Pro- depraved and incapable of choosing for God, and will,
phet and Leader of Israel places the alternatives life and apart from grace, always choose for sin. Nevertheless
death, blessing and cursing before Israel and commands man is still responsible to God (answerable). Every
them: "Now therefore choose life. . . ." (Deut. 30: 19). man must give answer to God for the choice he makes.
And Joshua issues the challenge from which the title of And man will always choose; he chooses at every turn
this article is taken: "Choose you this day whom ye of his life's way; with every thought, word, desire, and
will serve." (Joshua 24: 15).                              act he is making his choice.
  Everyone must make a choice, and everyone will             And the alternatives are always the same. There are
make a choice, because man is a choosing creature. not, you understand, many alternatives or many op-
That is the way God created man. He made man with a tions open to man. There are only two; and these are:


  42                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



   God or idolatry. Joshua, with a bit of holy irony (Per-        gods; nor is He the chief of gods. He is the ONE,
   haps satire), tells Israel that if it seems evil to them to    TRUE God! He is the Creator of all things. All things
   choose Jehovah then they must choose either the idols that He has made are upheld and ruled by Him so that
   their fathers served on the other side of the flood or         they all serve His glorious purpose, Him we will serve!
   the gods of the Amorites in whose land they were Jehovah, Who is the God of infinite perfections and
   living. What the man of God was saying is; if you do matchless glory is our God! Jehovah, Who is revealed
   not want to serve God, then you must choose which in Jesus Christ as the unchanging, always faithful, cove-
   idols you want - either those of your fathers or those         nant God of His people we will serve.
   of the Amorites. The point is, of course, that it didn't         We will serve Him.. That term to serve means to
   make any difference: if Israel does not choose God labour for someone. What Joshua is saying, then, is
   they must choose idols.                                        that we will be in God's employ. We will deny our-
        These are the only two possibilities now, too. To-        selves and give ourselves totally to His service.
   day, just as really as in Joshua's day we have only two          From a practical point of view that we by grace
   alternatives: God or idolatry. The idols of today may          make this choice certainly implies that we will be faith-
   not be of wood or stone, but they are just as real as          ful in attendance at the worship services of the church.
   those of the Amorites! To mention just a very few:             How can we serve the Lord otherwise? By the Holy
   there are idols of pleasure, money, sports, science. God Spirit through the means of the preaching of the gos-
   or idols  - that is the choice. Put in New Testament pel, grace is communicated to us, enabling us to labor
   terms, the alternatives are: light or darkness, righteous- in our daily living in the service of the Lord. Through
   ness or sin, Christ or Belial, the narrow way or the the preaching the will of God is made known to us atid
   broad, God or the devil, the treasures of the world or applied to our everyday life in this world. Through
   affliction for a season with the people of God, the that means we receive the warning, the encouragement,
   world or the Kingdom of Heaven, life or death, heaven the comfort, the instruction we need to serve the Lord.
   or hell, God or mammon.                                        We cannot be serving the Lord by neglecting the
        Again, that is the choice we face. Only we should preaching of the Word. To neglect that is to cut our-
   understand God does not place these alternatives be- selves off from the power supply for Godly living. And
   fore us and give us our pick. God does not say "here there is no substitute for that preaching - nothing else
   are the alternatives, now take one." When Moses will do. We simply must hear the voice of Christ in
   placed the alternatives: life or death, blessing or curs- order to follow Him in the Lord's service. (cf. John 10,
- ing before Israel he said, "choose life" and he did not Romans 10, I Cor. 1)
   say "choose life or death." (Deut.  30:19). That same            That this is our choice implies, too, that we live
   applies today. The Lord is saying to us in effect; "it's close to the Word of God, that we meditate upon and
   idols or Jehovah, but you MUST choose Jehovah." study and search the Bible daily. We will not limit
   And those who do not choose Jehovah are justly pun- ourselves then to a bit of hasty Bible reading at meal-
   ished with the torments of hell.                               times. We will pray too. As we sing we will "speak oft
        Joshua made the right choice: "but as for me and with our Lord and feed on His Word."
   my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua is an old              This choice implies, too, that we will seek the fel-
   man at this time and about to be delivered through lowship of our fellow saints. In the Words of Hebrews
   death to glory. He had lived to see all the wonders God        10 we will not; "Neglect the assembling of ourselves
   had done in redeeming Israel from Egypt and bringing together as the manner of some is." Rather, we will
   her to Canaan. As a young man he witnessed the ten "exhort one another"; and, we will do that "so much
   terrible plagues by which God brought Egypt to its the more as we see the day approaching." In other
   knees so that they released the captives. He was there at      words we will attend and contribute to our Young
   the Red Sea when God made the dry path for Israel People's Society meetings. We will not let pass that
   and brought the waters back again to drown Pharoah wonderful opportunity to fellowship with those who
   and his army. All through the wilderness he witnessed are of like mind in the faith. Sometimes we say these
   the Lord's preserving of His children. And he was privi- meetings are dead, boring, a drag. We won't say that if
   leged to lead the Lord's people into Canaan. Now, he our choice is "we will serve the Lord!" We will find ~
   reminds Israel of all this history; he holds before them that the Word is exactly what God says it is in the last
   all that God had done. And the conclusion is obvious: verse of I Peter 1, "living and abiding." If the Word of
   "now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincer- God is boring to us, there is something radically wrong,
   ity and in truth . . ." (Josh. 24: 14). But, continues the not with that word, but with us.
   man of God, if it seems evil to you to servi the Lord,           This choice is uncompromising and unequivocal.
   choose you this day whom ye will serve . . . but as for That we will serve the Lord means we will serve
   me and my house we will serve the Lord." (vs. 15)              ONLY the Lord and no one else. We will not fool-
        That must also be your and my choice! Jehovah we ishly attempt to serve the Lord part time and sin
   will serve. He  .is God. He is not a God among other the rest of the time. Serving the Lord means we reject


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    43



all that is of sin and contrary to  His good and holy         Perhaps you answer,, I want to. That is the way I've
will. This has a multitude of implications. It means we been brought  up  and I agree with my parents, but I
will not be listening to the world's sensuous music and find it so difficult, even impossible because of my sin.
serving the Lord. We cannot be-serving the Lord and         If that is your response you .are speaking the language
enjoying the world's entertainment. We will be serving of a covenant young .person, a child of God. There is
the Lord with all our being and always. In our recrea- wonderful encouragement for you.
tion, our school work, our work, our pleasure seeking,        Gq back to Joshua 24 and read the entire chapter.
our home life - in all of these and in every area of life What does God say through Joshua there? He says to
we will be serving the Lord! In our dating, too. Be- His chosen Israel: "I .have .called Abraham, redeemed
cause our choice is: -"we will serve` the Lord? we will you from Egypt,. given you a land for which `you did
be very cautious about whom we date. Not just a not labor,  ,and you live in cities which  you did not
pretty or handsome face will do. We need a young man build, and you eat and drink from oliveyards and vine-
or a young woman who is committed to the same Lord yards which you did not plant." What the Lord is say-
as we! That young person we will prayerfully seek so ing is: "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that
that we may establish a covenant home in obedience to       not of  yotirselves; it is the gift of God." (Eph.  2:8).
God  ancl say; "but as for me and my house we will That is the Word of God, indeed! "You love me be-
serve the Lord."                                            cause I first loved you" God declares. Because God has
  How do you, youthful friend, respond now? What is chosen us in Christ Jesus, redeemed us at His cross,
your choice? Jehovah or idols? Whether you care to or given us His Spirit to lead us in the truth, we make the
not, you and I have to r&pond and we will respond -         choice expressed in Joshua's confession: "We will serve
one way or the other. There is no sidestepping  ,this       the Lord."
choice! What do you say?


FroM Holy Writ

                                 Exposition of Hebrews
                                                 Rev. G. Lubbers

ABRAHAM CALLED BY JEHOVAH,  THE GOD                         the God who comes down in tender mercy, grace and
GLORY (Genesis 12:1-4; Acts 7:1, 2)                         love and saving power to redeem His own peculiar
  There is' a school of thought which holds, be it in people which He has sovereignly foreknown. All heath-
serious error, that in the most absolute sense the Lord     endom is characterized by the attempt -of,man to reach
was not known to Abraham by his name "Jehovah" up and to appease God. But that is not the salvation of
but only by the name of "God Almighty." It is, of the LORD. He comes down in His condescending love
course,  true that the LORD Himself thus speaks to          and reaches us in our deepest woe, sini death and hell.
Moses at the holy mount from the burning bush. The          And thus he  .also comes to Abraham in Ur of the
meaning of the words "but by my name JEHOVAH Chaldees. He finds a sinner and makes him a
was I not  knotin to them" is undoubtedly that the justified-sanctified saint. And Abraham learned to
implication and full meaning'of that "Name" was not         sing," Good is JEHOVAH, and full of kind compas-
revealed to them yet. The faithfulness of our covenant      sion!" Twice our text in Genesis 12: l-4 speaks of the
God will be displayed before all the world in his LORD,  that is JEHOVAH.  Also in Genesis  15:7  we
mighty judgments upon Egyptland. When Israel sings read "And he said unto him, I am the LORD that
the song of Moses at the Red Sea, as recorded in Exo-       brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee
dus 15, they sing of the implication of this Name as it     this land to inherit it." The Lord says that He is -the
had not been revealed- to Abraham, Nevertheless,            Jehovah God who has done this.
Abraham did- know Jehovah, and learned to know Him            In New Testament terms and language this means
in the long road of patience as he obtained the inherit-    that the heavenly Father.of  our Lord Jesus Christ came
ance.                                                       to Abram with his command to leave his country. And
  It is well to emphasize at this juncture that it was      this Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the God of all
the "LORD" who said to Abram, "Get thee out of thy glory. Thus Stephen, standing before the Sanhedrin in
country." Any Bible student knows that the KJV of           trial, speaks of the Lord here. Says Stephen in Acts 7:2
the Bible translates the name Jehovah by the term           C`. . . Men and brethren, hearken; the God of glow ap-
LORD, each letter being capitalized. And Jehovah is         peared to our father Abraham. . . ." Jehovah is there-


44                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



fore the God of all glory in the face of Jesus Christ. is the God of all glory!
However, in Abraham's day the Word had not yet be-          THE UPWARD CALLING IN CHRIST JESUS COMES
come flesh; He had not yet tabernacled amongst us. (Hebrews 11: 8; Genesis 12: l-4)
And so the eternal Word came in a Theophany to                The form of the call to Abram is "Get thee out of
Abraham. When the LORD spoke to Abram it was the thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fa-
God in Jesus who was speaking. It was a great glory ther's house, unto a land that I  will shew thee"
which was seen. It was the glory of the riches of God's (Genesis 12: 1) When we interpret this in the light of all
redemptive purpose which spans the ages. Wherefore of Scripture we find that basically Abram is doing
Paul can write in Galatians  38 "And the Scripture, more than exchanging one country for another. In the
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through first place, it should be noticed that Abraham must
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, say- leave permanently., He does not merely go to another
ing, "In thee shall all nations be blessed." Hence, our country for a little visit and then to return. He must
text here in Hebrews 11:8 speaks of a "calling" which turn his back to his country and never return.  It is
is by the preaching of the gospel. And this preaching is    clear from the Scriptures that thus Abraham under-
infallibly inscripturated. All the Scriptures preach this stood the command and the promises. At the time of
same gospel, whether in the Old Testament or in the Isaac's need of a wife Abraham takes an oath that
New Testament! Thus the God of glory came to preach         Elieger will not take Isaac from the land. (Genesis
to Abram, to call him to go forth from his country, 24:5b) It is also emphasized in the letter to the He-
kindred and relatives!                                      brews that, although the patriarchs had ample time and
      Abram was "called" by the LORD!                       opportunity to return to their native country, yet they
      That Abram was called by the Lord should be care- continued in the land of Canaan as strangers and pil-
fully noticed. The form of the calling must not be grims. (Hebrews 11: 15, 16) The basic implication of
limited to the  command  "get thee from thy kindred, this all is that the "calling" is virtually the upward
country" but the form of this calling includes all the calling of God in Christ Jesus. It was the calling by
great and precious promises which God gives to the which Abraham could set his eyes upon the celestial
father of all believers. It is certainly true that God      city, the New Jerusalem.
united his promise with'the  command here. And what           Thus are the revelational perspectives here in the
God has joined together let no man put asunder. Then great and precious promises. They make the calling to
we would not rightly divide the word; we would be a Abraham the,upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. We
workman who will be ashamed. However, the interpre- should notice the following elements:
tation of the relationship in which this command and
these promises stand to one another must not be over-         1. "I will make of thee a great nation." Now this is
looked, neither must this be misinterpreted. We may exactly what the Lord does in Abraham. The Sacred
not interpret that fulfillment of the promise as condi- narrator had already noticed in Genesis  11:30 "But
tioned upon the obedience of Abraham. This was not a Sarai was barren; she had no child." And, as is crystal
conditional promise of the LORD. He nowhere says clear from Scripture, this indicated that, shall Abraham
what he will do if Abraham goes forth from his.coun- become a great nation, it is the LORD alone who will
try. Notice the emphasis in the text on God as the one perform it, as the God of all glory. And this has in it
who will do all this, "1 will make of thee a great na- the very essence of pointing to a\"great nation" which is
tion, and I will bless thee . . . and I will bless them that to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a pecul-
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee iar people, to proclaim the praises of Him who called
shall all the families of the earth-be blessed." Abram is them from death to life, and from darkness into his
to obey in the context of this command and promised! marvelous light. (Exodus  19:4-6; I Peter 2:5-9) Yes,
He is to obey as the recipient of so great a love. He is that was Israel, the twelve tribes as they grew into a
the recipient of the exceeding riches of grace and mighty nation in Egyptland. This was the fulfilment of
mercy which come down from the God and Father of the later manifestation of the LORD telling him "how
                                                            these things would be." (Genesis 15: 8-21)
our Lord Jesus Christ.
      Yes, He is the King of glory. He came to Abram. It      2. However, the heavens lift and the perspective
was the glory of the mighty power of God to not only widens in this "sermon" of the' LORD to Abram, call-
promise, but also to bring this all about. He is God ing him to press on into God's future. For God says
Almighty. Nothing is rtoo great for God to perform. He further "I will bless thee." This means that Abraham
will raise the dead to life and call the things which are will stand in the special favor of God's saving grace in
not as though they were. (Romans 4: 17) That is glory Christ Jesus. He is justified and sanctified, and from
of grace and sovereign might and power. God came in him the Christ shall come. The Christ is in his loins!
the glory of his love, mercy and lovingkindness. He did And in Isaac shall the seed be called. (Genesis 2 1: 12;
not yet reveal all the details, but He does stipulate the Romans 9:7, 8; Hebrews 11: 18)
great promises, which He alone can and will. fulfil. He       3. Moreover, Abraham's name shall be made great.


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      45



He will have a great name! The name in Scripture is the             Still this has limitations. Although Abram went
expression of the essence of one's place and position in forth in faith it nevertheless remains true that he was a
the kingdom. Abraham is the chosen vessel, to have the man of like passions as we  are. He only performed
place which is expressed in the name "ABRAHAM." mighty deeds "by faith." But all was not faith, not
The LORD comes to him and says to him "neither                   even in Abram. How flesh cleaveth to flesh is evident
shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy                 also here. To understand this we must remember that
name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations there seems to be a twofold account of Abram's leav-
have I made thee." (Genesis 17: 5) This name is men- ing for the land of Canaan. Yes, "into the land of
tioned 170 times in the 0. Testament Scriptures, and             Canaan they came." There was, perhaps, a wrestling of
70 times in the N. Testament Scriptures.                         faith here. For when Abram leaves Ur of the Chaldees
  4. Finally, Abram is to be the one in whom all the he is led by Terah his father. With them go Nahor his
kindreds of the earth will be blessed. And this will be          brother and the wife of Nahor, Milcah, and Lot the son
in the great Son, the Seed, who is to come; he will of Haran his brother, and Sarai his wife. And they all
come from Isaac, the son of the promise. And all the             leave Ur of the Chaldees and go to  Haran. And here
chosen Gentiles from all nations will be justified freely Abram lives for several years. It was from here that
by faith. And these shall one day be the numberless Abram finally moves to come to Canaan. And one re-
throng in glory.                                                 ceives the impression that the LORD needed to repeat
  Thus we see here a "calling" which is upward; it is a          this word of command to Abram to leave even his
calling from earth to heaven.                                    kindred, his family.
BEING CALLED ABRAHAM WENT FORTH                                    And when this call came once more, then it was that
  The text in Hebrews 11:8 suggests very strongly, by Abram obeyed resolutely. And this was by faith. 0,
virtue of the grammatical construction that there was            there -was in Abram, tod, so much which was not out
no hesitation on the part of Abram to obey the Divine of faith. This was true of the father of believers. For
command to go-forth to a land which God would after-             proof of this we have but to see how twice he lied
wards shew him. A word of caution is here in order. It           concerning the identity of his wife Sarai. He, too, was
is true that Abram obeyed upon the command. He a poor sinner. But he did not fall back into perdition,
asked no questions. He simply went out.                          but believed, to the saving of his soul.


Book  Reriews

                                      The Judgment Of Jonah
THE JUDGMENT OF  JONA,H, by Jacques  E&l,                           The whole trouble of course is (as is the case with all
(translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley from the French);            those today who deny that Scripture is historically
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971; $1.95                  true): If I cannot trust the Word of God in describing
(paper).                                                         to me the nature of the miracle or in the Word of Jesus
  Written by an increasingly popular author, this book           Who verified it, how can I trust in athe Word of God
seeks to interpret the prophecy of Jonah for modern              that I shall be raised?
times. The author however, is not particularly inter-               But this approach not only vitiates the book, it also
ested in the questions of the historicity of Jonah and           leads to some very strange spiritualizations  which re-
the authenticity of the miracle. On p. 63, e.g., he              mind one of Origen's hermeneutical methods. The
writes:                                                          author writes, e.g., on pp. 8 1, 82 in connection with the
           One thus sees why it is so important not to be so     miracle of the gourd:
    worried about the material side ,of the miracle. If the             Jonah made a booth to get shade and peace. But
    real issue is my own death and resurrection, I cannot            we have seen that the prophet no longer has this mas-
    build on the story of the fish. My salvation and resur-          tery over his life. Hence God replaces the peace Jonah
    rection, do not. depend on the reSurrection of Jonah.            has given himself by his own peace: "My peace I give
    The miracle of Jonah does not guarantee me any-                  to you; not ! as the world gives do I give to you." In
    thing. It, is on God's word which records the miracle            other words, by substituting the plant for the booth
    that my salvation rests. It is because God declares it           God puts his servant back in the true position of the
    to me that it comes about. He also declares it to me             servant. He takes away the false constructions which
    in the story of Jonah. This is the truth of the story. It        he had made, and in truth made against God. He
    is true because it is a word of God, not because it              takes away his false security. He replaces it by the
    corresponds to historical reality.                               sign of grace in which (in and by God's will) ensures


46                                                            THE STANDARD  BEARER



       true  security,  which  presupposes   the  putting  of  his        observations   in  the  book  which  are  worth   reading   if
       destiny   in the hands of the  Lord (so that it ceases  to         one  is  interested   in  understanding   more  fully  the
       be destiny),  and also true joy.                                   prophecy of Jonah.
      There are, however, some valuable and interesting                                                                           H. H.


                                                               God Loves
GOD LOVES. . . . by John Gritter; Baker Book House,                          Other examples of this could be cited. The author
I9 70; $2.95 (paper).                                                     writes very confusingly, e.g., about man's creation: as
      John Gritter is a recently deceased minister of the if man's body were formed of the dust of the earth and
Christian Reformed Church. This book has come out that that body was made alive by the breath of Life.
of the recent controversy in the Christian Reformed Further, in his somewhat parenthetical discussion of
Church over the question of the general character of ecumenicity, he writes  as if ecumenicity and true union
the love of God. It is a popularly written book which is only a matter of loving more  - without defining
has as its stated purpose to set down the author's what this really involves.
thoughts on the love of God against the background of                        But when the author. turns to the question of the
the controversy out of which it arose.                                    objects of God's love, especially as this is revealed in
      It is not however, a very good book. It adds almost God's relation to men, the book becomes most confus-
nothing to the discussion which was being carried on in                   ing. Rev. Gritter agrees with the decisions of the
the Christian Reformed Church in the last parts of the                    Synods of 1967 and 1968 which decided upon the
sixties; and, in fact, at some key points, adds to the                    "Dekker Case," but insists that these Synods afftimed
confusion.                                                                nothing with respect to the doctrine involved. This is
      This rather harsh criticism of the book is for several obviously not true as is evidenced from even a quick
reasons. For one thing, the author is very careless in his                reading of the decisions.
theological terminology. In speaking of the doctrine of                      And so Rev. Gritter wants it both ways. He wants to
the trinity the author writes:                                            defend the Reformed doctrines of particular atone-
          In the divine being there are three persons:  Father,           ment and God's love for the elect. But he also empha-
       Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.   These   are  not  three  parts  but     sizes his deep commitment to the free offer of the
       three  forms  of  existence   in  the  one  divine  essence.       gospel and defends vigorously the fact that God loves
       This  has  been  the  teaching  of  the  Christian  Church         all men. He not only speaks of the fact that God loves
       practically  from its beginning.  . . .                            humatity- in general and men as His creatures, but in-
      By defining the persons of the trinity as three forms sists that God loves the wicked in all their% sins. In so
of existence the author does not, I think, mean to doing he interprets many passages of Scripture just as
deny the reality of the three persons. But he ought to the Arminians have always interpreted them including
know as a minister of the gospel that the Christian John 3: 16 which he interprets to mean every man in
Church has never taught that the three persons tie the world. (cf. p. 100.)
three forms of existence; and that, in fact, very early                      This sort of treatment of the problem does no one
i- the history of the Church this view was severely any good and is of no help to anyone. It is confusing in
condemned as being a form of modalism.                                    the extreme and adds nothing of value to the discus-
      The same carelessness is present in his description of sion. It would have been better if Rev. Gritter had not
the image of God in man. He writes:                                       written the book at all.
          And man was made in the image:  a spiritual being,                .Interestingly   en&@, the  authos also interprets
       personal,  self-conscious,   intelligent,   with  ability   to     Rom. 11 as teaching some future mass conversion of
       hear and see and learn and systematize knowledge, to               Israel.
       be  responsible,   to  make  choices,   to  do  right,  and  so
       much more - and finally to live forever.                              Presumably the book accurately reflects much cur-
There is, however, no mention made of the fact that rent thinking on the problem of God's love in the
Reformed theology has always maintained that the Christian Reformed Church. Its value is almost ex-
image of God in man is essentially knowledge,                             clusively limited to this.
righteousness and holiness.                                                                                                     H. H.

                         WESTERN MICHIGAN READERS! Plan to attend the Reformation RaRy on
                                      October 28 at the Allendale Christian School Gymnasium!


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER'                                                47



           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                           MR. AND MRS. PETER BYKERK
  The Ladies Society of the Randolph Protestant Re-           Will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.
formed Church wishes to express its heartfelt sympa-             We are thankful to our covenant God for the many
thy to one of its members, Mrs. Theodore De Vries, in         years of love and instruction given in the fear of the
the death of their infant daughter,                           Lord.
                    CARMEN SUE.                                  It is our earnest prayer that they may continue to
                                                              experience God's lovingkindness and tender mercy on
  May our Heavenly Father comfort the bereaved with           their earthly pilgrimage.
the assurance that He doeth all things well.                                                    Mrs. Winifred Saurman
                              Mrs. Dewey Alsum, Sec'y.                                       Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Bykerk
                                                                                               Mr. & Mrs. Arie Bykerk
                                                                                                 Miss Lubertha Bykerk
             WEDDING ANNIVERSAR Y                                                          Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Bykerk
  On October 29, 1971, the Lord willing, our beloved.                                                15 Grandchildren
parents                                                                                         2 Great Grandchildren



                         R E F O R M A T I O N   D A Y   L E C T U R E
                                  To be held - OCTOBER 28,1971, at 8:00 PM.
                               In the - ALLENDALE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL GYM.


                                   The Speaker - REV. ROBERT D. DECKER,
                             Pastor of the South Holland Protestant Reformed Church,
                                                South Holland, Illinois.


                                                      His Subject -
                                        "THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACH-
                                        ING." The speaker will emphasize the
                                        truth that the power of preaching the
                                        infallibly inspired Word of God alone
                                        will keep the Church of Christ on the
                                        foundation of the Word of God and in
                                        the line of the Reformation.


               1 The Allendale Chns*  tian
                                       '  School is on Highway 45, Just east of Allendale, Michigan.

                            PLAN NOW TO ATTEND AND - INVITE A COUPLE OF
                                   YOUR FRIENDS TO RIDE WITH YOU! ! !




                              News From Our Churches

  We understand that Seminarians Van  Overloop  and Hanko. October 17 is the scheduled date for Rev.
Kamps share the task of giving catechism instruction at Hanko's Farewell Sermon in Redlands, and October 3 1
Hudsonville Church. That arrangement, though, is for his installation in Hudsonville.
likely only temporary, since Hudsonville is looking for-         Hope Church (Grand Rapids) is also dependent on
ward to the arrival, in the near future, of Rev. C.           "outside" help for catechism instruction of the youth


 THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                              , bHAIV" .,,SiJ
48                                                          3D BEARER
                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


of the church. According to a September bulletin, the these small western congregations are  actively  inter-
consistory "is grateful for the services of Rev.            ested in church extension work.
Veldman, and Seminarians Bekkering, Slopsema, and                                    *.*  *  *  *
Hoeksema as teachers." Hope Church is, no doubt,
hopeful that this is also a temporary arrangement.            Just as the end of the school and society season is
They have extended their most recent call to Rev. G.        accompanied by a host of programs of one sort or
Van  Baren, who is, incidentally, also considering the      another, so is ialso the beginning of the season. Con-
call from our church in Randolph, Wisconsin.                vocation exercises, for example, were held in most of
      The following, from the September 12 bulletin of our schools. In Loveland, Rev. Engelsma spoke on
First Church, is, no doubt, of interest. "We bid fare-      "Christ's Lordship over Every Thought." In South
well to Rev. and Mrs. R. Miersma who expect to be           Holland, Rev. Decker spoke at convocation exercises
leaving Grand Rapids this week Wednesday for their          which were held in the church on the evening of
new home at Isabel, South Dakota. We wish them              September 7, the day prior to the commencement of
God's richest blessings and guidance in this new field      the school year. And Rev. Harbach spoke at Cove-
of labor." We are certain, Rev..Miersma, that that's the    nant's beginning-of-the-year program.
sentiment not only of First Church in Grand Rapids,           The Annual Meeting of the R.F.P.A. was held on
but of all of our Protestant Reformed Churches.             September 30 in First Church. Those who looked for
                                                            an interesting speech by Mr. Jon Huisken were not
                           *****                            disappointed. He spoke on the topic, "The Standard
      We have some information concerning church exten-     Bearer for the Next Generation."
sion efforts that is also worth mentioning. You recall,       Seminarian Ron Van Overloop  spoke on "Moses as a
certainly, that there is a regular Sunday afternoon Type" at the Sunday School Teachers' Mass Meeting
.radio broadcast of one of the church services of our       held in our Hudsonville Church. This meeting marked,
South Holland congregation. Efforts there are not           for some of those present, the commencement of the
limited, however, to simply making the necessary            Sunday School season, and for others, a conclusion of
arrangements for the broadcast. The Church Extension the same. Southwest, for example, has a summer Sun-
Committtee, by means of a bulletin announcement,            day School. On September 26, after the morning serv-
reminded members of the congregation "that there are        ice in that church, there was a "Sunday School Hour,"
leaflets announcing our radio broadcast in the pam- during which awards were presented and Rev. Veldman
phlet rack. Take them and distribute them among your        gave a short address.
friends."                                                     According to various of our church bulletins in
      And, looking elsewhere, it seems that the work of Grand Rapids, the Adams Street P.T.A. held "its first
The Reformed Witness Committee of Doon, Edgerton,           meeting of the new school year on September 30. Miss
and Hull is proceeding on schedule. According to an         Carol DeJong, a new member of the faculty, will speak
April news sheet of that committee, plans were "to          on: `God's Institutional Hierarchy of Authority.' Her
print and distribute approximately 1500 pamphlets per       topic warrants  our!attendance  in these days when so
month in this general area. The committee is also sup- many flaunt God-given authority." Her presentation,
plying other churches with a like number of pamphlets by the, way, was the fruit of work that she had done
at their own expense. A series of three articles is for and in a summer workshop-m social studies, which
planned for distribution this summer. They are to be was attended by a number of our Protestant Reformed
written by Rev. Kortering on the topics of the resur-       school teachers. We intended to give a little informa-
rection, judgement, and the eternal state." A July tion concerning that workshop, but somehow or other
bulletin:of Hull Church noted that a pamphlet entitled we've reached the bottom of the column again. In fact,
"The Resurrection of the Saints" was available in the we're probably already off the page. Sorry about that,
pamphlet rack, and that work had already been done Mr. Editor.
to supply those on the mailing list. Previous pamphlets                                                           D.D.
included several on millenialism by Rev. D. Kuiper.
Loveland Church acquired a quantity of these, and the            For Good books,. order from: R.F.P.A. Publications
members of that congregation were encouraged to
"take all the extra copies that you can distribute to
neighbors and acquaintances." It's very evident that


