    The
STANDARD

     A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       Y





. ..A11 want to go to heaven, especial-
ly when they think their time on
earth is about expired. But they
have spent life feathering a nest
about as fireproof as dry tinder.
They do not seek the crown of life,
but play games with life for pins
and match-sticks.
 See "To Glorify God" - page 158



                                    Volume LVIII, No. 7, January 1, 1982    -


146                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
                             CONTENTS                                                                            ISSN 0362-4692
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       Proving All Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146      Depnrfment  Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
                                                                             denHartog, Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev.  Rrchard
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                                                                             Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
       "Sanctified in Christ"-Real or Not?. . . . . . 149                    Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
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MEDITATION


                                              Proving All Things
                                                                  Rev. H. Veldman


                                     "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. " 1 Thess. 5.21


  1982 - what shall we say? How uncertain, from                                 Lord, Jehovah, will also continue to rest upon His
our point of view, are all things! We know not what                             people. God's counsel will stand, including double
lies before us. And yet, is there anything uncertain?                           predestination, also in the year that now lies before
Will not all things continue as they were: joys but                             us.
also sorrows, laughter but also weeping, mirth and
gladness but also sorrow and grief, life but also                                   In our context we have a group of tremendously
death? Surely, the wrath of God will continue to be                             significant and powerful admonitions. Strikingly
revealed down from heaven, but the blessing of the                              they illustrate the axiom that much can be said in


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              147



few. words. Notice, too, their absolute character           cation. Consider all the different conceptions,
and unlimited scope. The Word of God is so abso-            trends of thought in connection with the child, how
lute. Rejoice  evermore. Pray  without ceasing. In          we must regard him and approach him psychologi-
everything  give thanks. Prove  all things.  Hold fast      cally, whether he must be viewed as inherently evil
what is good. Prove all things, also in the year that       or good, whether he should be disciplined or
stretches out before us.                                    simply left to himself, to develop of himself. Then,
                    **********                              consider all these forces as in the midst of the
  Many would use this Scripture as a pretext,               world  - in the field of labor, for example. Some
either to visit forbidden places of amusement and           years ago the industrialist sat upon the throne and
entertainment, or to attend several churches, listen-       the government was influenced by him. Lately the
ing to various preachers. They would in that sense          working man has ascended upon the throne. Or,
prove all things and keep the good. Now this surely         think of the field of music, of the magazines, of the
cannot be the meaning of this word of God. We               radio and television, of songs and speeches, etc.,.
must  prove  all things. The word "prove" is the            and one is impressed by the fact that these "all
word constantly used for the testing of gold. To            things" confront us everywhere.
prove all things certainly cannot mean that we at-            Besides, these "all things" are spirits, and we
tend forbidden places where there is no gold which          must discern these spirits whether they be of God.
we can hold fast. We surely do not dig for gold             They are spirits, mighty, spiritual activities,
where we know there is no gold. On the other                directed by spiritual forces, Beelzebub, which have
hand, how true it is that these "loopers," never            a spiritual purpose, which would either draw you
hold fast that which is good. They are drifters. To         towards God or away from Him; they are either
them this axiom applies: a rolling stone gathers no         pure or impure, holy or corrupt; they draw you
moss.                                                       either heavenward or earthward, to the things
  We read here of "all things." Literally we read:          above or the things below.
"But prove all things." There is a connection, there-         These "all things" or "spirits" we must prove.
fore, between this Scripture and the preceding text.        Indeed, this is not merely an intellectual activity.
Strictly speaking, these "all things" refer to the pro-     The apostle here does not merely exhort us to
phecies of verse 20. These prophecies, God's gift to        examine them, analyze and diagnose them, fully
His church at the beginning of the New Dispensa-            understand them. That this does not exhaust the
tion, to assist the apostles in their upbuilding, edify-    meaning here of the apostle is clear. Do we not read
ing, and teaching activities, are not to be despised,       that we must hold fast that which is good? A merely
as some in the church would deceive the people of           intellectual analysis does not guarantee this. Of
God. Instead, prove them, holding fast that which           course, we understand that there is a close connec-
is good. However, this expression also refers to the        tion between these two parts of the text. We must
church of God throughout the ages, to us, and is            prove  these things. The apostle is using a figure
therefore too broad to be limited to these prophe-          here. The word used here is always used for the
cies or prophets who served the church of God               testing of gold. Gold is proved or tested for the pur-
during the era of the apostles. We must prove  aZZ          pose of separating the pure from the impure. It is
things. The term refers also to everything, to all          for this reason that Scripture speaks of being
movements, ideas, activities, trends of thought,            "proved" or "tried" by fire, as gold is proved by
conceptions which are forced upon the Church as             fire. And so the meaning of the apostle is clear. Of
in the midst of the world, which we cannot evade,           course, an intellectual analysis is not excluded here.
with which we must cope, to which we must give              How shall we prove "all things," the spirits, wheth-
an answer as long as we continue in this world.             er they be of God, unless we also approach them
Always we must separate the good from the evil,             with our understanding? To fight the enemy we
that we may hold fast to what is good.                      must surely recognize him. These "all things"
  Countless are these forces with which we must             refer, of course, to concrete matters, concrete mani-
contend. This text reminds us of another word of            festations, songs and speeches, etc. However, this
Scripture which exhorts us to discern the spirits           proving is also a spiritual activity. We must submit
whether they be of God. This applies to what is             them to the spiritual test, whether they be of God,
called "church" and would reveal itself as such in          center in God, whether they be good or evil. We
the midst of the world. Think of what comes to us,          must reject that which is evil, that which evilly
over the radio and television, in the name of the           affects us, and hold fast that which is good for us.
"gospel." Think of all the religious books, maga-           This is our calling, also in  1982.  The question is:
zines, pamphlets, all proclaiming in their own way          how must we do this?
the blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then,                              **********
think of all these movements in the sphere of edu-            First, this proving of all things is possible only


148                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



when we have the power of spiritual discernment,             we must study the Word of God. This we must do
recognition. As stated before, the apostle is using a        in our homes, at catechism, in all our societies. We
figure. Now we all understand, of course, that, to           must acquire and use spiritual literature. Unto that
test gold or dig for gold, to separate the pure from         end, may the Lord bless our pastors, our elders and
the impure, the gold from the dross, it is required of       deacons, our parents, our young people, our chil-
us that we be able to distinguish gold, recognize it.        dren, our schools, primary and secondary.
And, whoever digs for gold must also desire it. This                                **********
is also spiritually true. Spiritual things are spiritual-      The word "good" here means literally: to be
ly discerned. To prove all things for the purpose of         beautiful, excellent in its nature, its kind. Some-
holding fast what is good, we must be spiritual our-         thing is good when it is as it should be. God is good.
selves. We must have within us that grace of God             He is as He should be as God. He is the God of infi-
which spontaneously reaches out to God and the               nite and eternal perfection: the God of all light and
things of God. To prove all things, we must apply            eternal attractiveness. Evil is that which denies that
to them this spiritual test. The longing for the things      living God. We are good when we are as we should
of God's covenant must be in our hearts. The love            be, and this is determined by our attitude and rela-
of God must prompt us; His will must motivate us;            tion toward the living God. Anything is good and
it must be our desire to be pleasing in His sight; the       beautiful when it can serve as a means unto that
spiritual craving for spiritual gold must spur us on.        end, the praise and glory of the alone living and
You see, we can prove things from two different              adorable God. How devastating, also in this con-
points of view. We can put all things to the test be-        nection, is the theory of Common Grace, the theory
cause we are concerned about holding fast that               that teaches that also the sinner can please God,
which is good. Or, we can prove these things be-             that the natural sinner is not wholly depraved, can
cause we would learn how we can continue in the              do much good in the sight of God, that he, to do
paths of sin, how much of this present time we can           good in the sight of God, need not love and serve
have. The apostle surely means that our proving of           Him, the living God.
all things must be the activity of a heart that is seek-
ing and longing for the things of God's Word and               We must hold fast what is good. Negatively, we
covenant.                                                    must reject all evil. Proving all things by the Word
                                                             of God, we must reject whatever is impure, what-
  Secondly, this proving of all things must always           ever leads away from God, whatever hinders us in
occur through the Word of God. Indeed, there are             His service, in the glory of His Name. And, then,
things we can readily recognize whether they are             we must hold fast what is good. We must choose
good or evil. Modernism, the denial of the Divine,           the good, select it, make it our own, use it, make it
the humanizing of Scripture, when occurring bold-            part of our life, walk accordingly. But we must also
ly, are all quite evident and obvious. The public            hold fast to it. The enemy is always around us.
schools, unions, the dancehall and the theater need          Always he would tempt us, seduce us, prevail upon
not be examined by us too carefully. However, to             us to lay aside that which is good. And that enemy        .
prove all things is not always equally easy; the ene-        is strong, so much stronger than we are, has access
my, and the things that are bad are not always               to all the resources of this world. He is never to be
immediately recognizable. The lie may put on the             minimized, or treated lightly. He can be opposed
garment of the truth. The enemy may approach you             only by prayer. Hence, be sober, be watchful and
as a friend. The devil often appears as an angel of          vigilant, hold fast that which is good, cling to the
light. Trends of thought, conceptions of God and of          Word of God.
Christ may not, at first glance, appear to be con-
trary to the Word of God. Besides, we must always              Prove all things.
deal with our own carnal nature, which remains                 Hold fast that which is good.
with us until the day of our death. The desire to do           That we may be led in the way everlasting.
the will of God may be in our hearts, but we find it
difficult to distinguish it from that which opposes
it. And, the heart is subtle, more subtle and clever
than any other thing. Even the holiest Christian has          Know the standard and;
but a small principle of the new obedience. We are
led so easily astray by our hearts.                                 follow it. Read the
  Hence, we must prove all things by means of the
Word of God. It is for this reason that a rolling stone           Standard Bearer.
gathers no moss. The Word of God, the pure pre-
sentation of that Word, is surely necessary if we are
to prove all things and hold fast what is good. So,


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          149



EDITORIALS
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


             "Sanctified in Christ" - Real or Not?

  An interesting and very significant subject is                   cannot think but the foederal holiness of  children
treated by the Rev. J. Overduin in the organ of the                results from the immediate parent's faith, or covenant
Free Reformed Church of North America, The Mes-                    interest, as well as from the remoter progenitors; else
senger  (November, 1981, pp. 1, 2) under the title                 we cannot understand how the Corinthians' children
"Foederal Holiness." At the beginning of the article               should be holy, or how the promise should belong to
the writer quotes the second part of I Corinthians                 the children of them that are afar off, vix. the Gen-
7:14, which I here quote in full: "For the unbeliev-               tiles, who could derive no such thing to their children
                                                                   by a lineal descent from Abraham, but only as they
ing husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbe-               became ingrafted branches by faith; and so suck the
lieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were               fatness of the olive to themselves, and to their buds, or
your children unclean; but now are they holy." The                 children, as the natural branches did" (page 371).
Rev. Overduin then writes as follows:                                How great, therefore, is the privilege of the children
      According to our Form for the administration of              of the covenant!
   baptism "infants are to be baptized as heirs of the               Does this mean that all baptized children are "auto-
   kingdom of God, and of His covenant." In the same               matically" saved? Must we suppose that infants are
   Form it is also stated that these children "are sanc-           regenerated and therefore ought to be baptized?
   tified in Christ, and therefore, as members of His
   Church ought to be baptized." This is what the                    No, for although there can be no doubt that the
   parents acknowledge. In a footnote reference is made            children of believers are within the circle of the cove-
   to Ezekiel  16:21, where the Lord calls the sons and            nant, they are not all in the same sense within the cove-
   daughters of the Israelites  "My  children", and to I           nant. There must be a two-fold relation to God within
   Cor. 7: 14 as quoted above.                                     the covenant,  - one relation wherein those stand
                                                                   who have believed in Christ and surrendered heart
      In I Corinthians 7: 14 Paul gives comfort, hope, and         and hand to God, and another relation wherein those
   instruction to Christians who find themselves under             stand who are still unconverted, but have been born
   the burden of being married to an unbeliever. Evi-              of parents to whom the Lord has said: "I am thy God
   dently, there were such in Corinth who, because of              and the God of thy children."
   this "yoke" felt a great disadvantage as compared
   with others and that because of a presumed difference             But no child of the covenant that has come to the
   in the status of their children. But the apostle said,          years of discretion ought to be content to remain apart
   "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife,             from God and His salvation, none should rest till they
   and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband:          know they have entered into a living fellowship with
   else were your children unclean; but now are they               Jesus Christ and are enjoying the full benefits of His
   holy". (See: The Westminster Confession of Faith, by            salvation. We must all become so-called full members
   G.I. Williamson, Page 212.)                                     of the church, but this position will be of no advantage
                                                                   if we are not members of the spiritual body of Christ.
      The apostle Paul clearly recognized a distinction            (See: "Exposition of Reformed Doctrine," by M.J.
   between the children of believers and the children of           Bosma, pp. 125-131).
   unbelievers. The children of believing parents are            After the above explanation, the writer tries to
   holy.                                                       show that this is also the thinking of the Puritans
      What kind of sanctification or holiness is meant         and of the Scottish Reformation by quoting a
   here? It cannot mean: holy in Christ before God, be-        section from John Macleod's  Scottish  TheoZogy
   cause that kind of holiness cannot be predicated of an      which sets forth the same view.
   unbeliever [cf.  1:2;  3:16, 17). Paul uses "sanctified"
   here as in I Tim. 45, i.e., more liturgically than ethi-      I called this an interesting and significant sub-
   cally (F.W. Grosheide, Commentary on I Corinthi-            ject. It is that, in the first place, because it involves
   ans) .                                                      a question of the interpretation of Scripture, speci-
     John Flavel calls this kind of holiness "foederal         fically (though not exclusively) the frequently dis-
   holiness". The Latin word foedus means: covenant. In        cussed words of I Corinthians 7: 14. And it is that, in
   Volume 6 of The Works of John Flavel the writer re-         the second place, because the whole subject of
   fers to I Cor.  7:14 and also to Acts  2:39. As long as     infant baptism and its significance is involved, and
   those scriptures stand in our Bibles, he says, "we          along with that, of course, the language of our


150                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Heidelberg Catechism ( Q. & A. 74) and of our Form          why this cannot be termed an outward or liturgical
for Baptism.                                                holiness is twofold: first, such an outward holiness
  The Rev.' dverduin rules out the possibility that         is not real; it is not holiness at all. But secondly, in
the reference in I Corinthians  7:14 is to a real and       the text the term hoZy stands as the opposite of "un-
actual holiness, holiness in Christ before God, on          clean." In other words, the children here described
the ground that such a holiness cannot be predi-            are "clean," i.e., washed from the guilt and corrup-
cated of aZZ children of believers: it cannot be predi-     tion of sin.
cated of an unbeliever, according to him. And so he            In the second place, our Catechism and the Form
turns to the view that Paul speaks here of those            for Baptism are very clear on this question. The
who are sanctified "more liturgically than ethical-         Heidelberg Catechism, Q.  & A. 74, speaks of the
ly." This is equated with John Flavel's "foederal           fact that infants "as well as the adult, are included
(covenantal) holiness." The Rev. Overduin then              in the covenant and church of God" and of the fact
refers to this as the great privilege of the children of    that "redemption from sin by the blood of Christ,
the covenant. And yet, having presented this litur-         and the Holy Ghost, the author of faith, is promised
gical, or foederal, holiness as including aZZ children      to them no less than to the adult." Let no one say
of believing parents, he nevertheless wants to              that this is a general, conditional promise, and that
assert that the children of the covenant "are not all       the condition is faith. How can the Holy Ghost, the
in  the  .same sense within the covenant." However,         author of, faith, be promised on condition of faith?
he describes this  differentiation..not  in terms of        Nor, by the way, does the Catechism speak of a pre-
what they are as infants, i.e., at the time of baptism,     supposition. It speaks of facts and realities - admit-
but in terms of what they become when they grow             tedly of facts and realities which cannot be stated of
up-believing and converted or unbelieving and               aZZ infants of believers, head for head and soul for
still unconverted.                                          soul, but nevertheless of facts. The language of the
  For more than one reason, it seems to me, this is         Baptism Form is even clearer. Consider what the
an untenable position.                                      second paragraph of .the didactic section of this
                                                            Form states concerning the meaning of baptism:
  In the first place, the Scripture passage in
question will not tolerate this interpretation. For               Holy baptism witnesseth and sealeth-unto us the
one thing, it is at least doubtful whether in the New           washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ. There-
Testament Scripture ever speaks of such an                      fore we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of
outward sanctification or holiness. In the Old Test-            the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For when we are bap-
ament this is possible, due to the fact that it was the         tized in the name of the Father, God the Father  wit-
age of types and shadows; and there was then such               nesseth and sealeth unto us, that He doth make an
a thing as ceremonial cleanness and holiness. But               eternal covenant of grace with us, and adopts us for
                                                                His children and heirs, and therefore will provide us
this is not the case in the New Testament. In the               with every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it to
second place, even the Rev. Overduin concedes                   our profit. And when we are baptized in the name of
that distinction must still be made between'the be-             the Son, the Son sealeth unto us, that He doth wash us
liever and the unbeliever (I prefer to say: between             in His blood from all our sins, incorporating us into
elect and reprobate children, or between regenerate             the fellowship of His death and resurrection, so that
and unregenerate children of believers.) Only the               we are freed from all our sins, and accounted righ-
Rev. Overduin wants to project that distinction into            teous before God. In like manner, when we are bap-
the future, when the children grow up. Does he not              tized in the name of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost
recognize that the distinction is already present               assures us, by this holy sacrament, that He will dwell
when they are infants? Thirdly, the Rev. Overduin               in us, and sanctify us to be members of Christ, apply-
should take into account that he faces the same dif-            ing unto us that which we have in Christ, namely, the
                                                                washing away of our sins, and the daily renewing of
ficulty with regard to adults. Take note, for exam-             our lives, till we shall finally be presented without
ple, how the apostle Paul addresses the church at               spot or wrinkle among the assembly of the elect in life
Rome: "To all that be in Rome, beloved of God,                  eternal.
called (to be) saints (i.e. holy ones)." Romans  1:7.
Or think of how he addresses this very church of              Again: facts and realities, divinely witnessed and
Corinth: "Unto the church of God which is at                sealed!
Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,         Or consider the language of the first question to
called to be saints...." (12). Now certainly this was       which parents give answer at baptism: "Whether
not an outward, or liturgical, or foederal holiness.        you acknowledge, that although our children are
And yet it could not be stated of all the members of        conceived and born in sin, and therefore are sub-
the church of Corinth, head for head and soul for           ject to all miseries, yea, to condemnation itself; yet
soul. So the problem is not merely one concerning           that they are sanctified in Christ, and therefore, as
infants. But, in the fourth place, the chief reason         members of His Church ought to be baptized?"


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               151



  It ought to be very evident that in this first ques-      absolutely impossible to understand it as long as
tion to the parents the reference is to a reaZ sanctifi-    you try to apply it to  all the children of believers,
cation. Without entering into all the details of the        head for head and soul for soul. Whether you speak
meaning of this confession of the parents (they             of presupposed regeneration, or whether you speak
answer "yes" to this question), let me point out the        of a general, conditional promise, or whether you
two main reasons why it is true that this question          refer to a kind of liturgical or foederal  holine,ss-
refers to real holiness:                                    none of these theories will work. And the underly-
1) The words "sanctified in Christ" are here the            ing reason is, of course, that they fail to take into
diametrical opposite of "conceived and born in sin,         account the fact'that the line of election and repro-
and therefore are subject to all miseries, yea, to          bation cuts right across the generations of the
condemnation itself." To substitute here a mere             covenant.
outward or liturgical holiness obviously makes no             But as soon as you bear in mind the Scriptural
sense. 2) In this first question our Form speaks spe-       truth set forth in Romans 9:6-8, and understand the
cifically of being "Sanctified IN CHRIST." The in-          organic conception, that God continues His church
fant born in guilt and corruption is "in Christ."           and His covenant in the line of the succeeding gen-
And to be "in Christ" is to be in the sphere of             erations of His people, although not everyone in
Christ. It means to be implanted into Christ, to be a       those generations is elect and really belongs to
member of Christ. This phrase therefore can mean            God's covenant, but only those whom God has
nothing else than that true sanctification, regenera-       chosen, and as soon as you understand that the
tion, justification, and all the blessings of salvation     "we" and the "us" and the "our children" in the
in Jesus Christ our Lord are in the possession of           Baptism Form is believers and their seed speaking,
"our children."                                             then all becomes clear. As a river flows in a river-
  Thirdly, this is all confirmed by the strong and          bed, but the bed is not the river, so God causes His
clear language of the Prayer of Thanksgiving,               covenant-the stream of His covenant-to run in
which, again, speaks of present facts and realities:        the bed of the external manifestation of the cove-
"Almighty God and merciful Father, we thank and             nant in the generations of His people in the world.
praise Thee, that Thou hast forgiven us, and our            But that stream consists always and only of believ-
children, all our sins, through the blood of Thy            ers and their seed. Thus it is in Romans 9:6-8: "Not
beloved Son Jesus Christ, and received us through           as though the word of God hath taken none effect.
Thy Holy Spirit as members of Thine only begotten           For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
Son, and adopted us to be Thy children, and sealed          Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are
and confirmed the same unto us by holy bap-                 they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be
tism...."                                                   called. That is, They which are the children of the
                                                            flesh, these are not the children of God: but the
  With regard to all of the language adopted, it is         children of the promise are counted for the seed."



                            A Significant Little Book


  While we are on the subject of infant baptism, let        book entitled  ChiZdren of Abraham.  But Prof.
me take the opportunity to call attention to what I         Hanko's book is much more than a polemic against
consider to be a very significant and instructive           Kingdon. It offers a simple and clear refutation of
little book explaining and defending the truth of           the Baptist view, but also a simple and clear expla-
infant baptism and its basis. I refer to a recent           nation of our Reformed conception, which we have
R.F.P.A. publication of which my friend and col-            always referred to as the organic view. Prof.
league, Prof. H. Hanko, is the author, We And Our           Hanko did not originally write his articles with a
Children (The Reformed Doctrine  ofInfant Baptism).         view to their appearing in book form. But almost
  The chapters of this paperback first appeared in          from the outset I urged both him and our Publica-
our  Protestant Reformed Theological  JournaZ   as a        tions Committee that this exposition be published
series of articles. The occasion of the series was a        in an attractive paperback. I am very glad, there-
rather widely hailed defense of the Baptist position        fore, that this book has seen the light of day.
by the Reformed Baptist David Kingdon in a little             It is not my purpose to summarize the contents of


152                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



this book. I want you to read it for yourselves.             as soon as possible. Read it; digest it. Study it indi-
There is no excuse for not doing so. Anyone of               vidually and as couples; or study it in the  after-
reasonable intelligence can understand it. The book          recess period of your Mr. and Mrs. Society. It is
is simple and clear, and thoroughly Scriptural and           well worth your while.
Reformed. I am afraid sometimes that there is a                 And if you should have a Baptist  friend who is
danger of infant baptism becoming a mere, empty              open to conviction on these matters and does not
tradition among us, due to sheer ignorance. God              have a closed mind, give the book to him. I know it
forbid that this should become true! And to prevent          will be helpful. We have had more than one re-
its becoming true, we all-and especially our                 sponse to the articles in our  Journal by Baptists who
younger people-ought to take advantage of this ex-           were converted from their Baptist views through
cellent opportunity to be instructed. Get this book          reading this book.

FROM HOLY WRIT


                           The So-called Proof-texts
                                of Postmillennialism
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers


                     Chapter XI                              studies, to give detailed and basic exegesis of each
 THE "ONE NEW MAN" IN THE GLORIFIED                          of these passages. We will limit ourselves to the
                  JERUSALEM                                  main passages quoted by the Postmillennial
                                                             writers: Isaiah 2: l-5 and Micah 4: l-4.
  It is the Postmillennial teaching that we must
make really a separation between the Kingdom of                It is our conviction, after nearly a half-century of
God before the final return of Christ and what is            Bible study, that if we clearly set forth a representa-
called the "Consummated Kingdom." We have                    tive passage, and rightly divide the Word, we shall
shown in former chapters in this series of articles,         then basically have exegeted other passages with
that such a distinction is Biblically untenable. It is,      the same message. The prophets do not contradict
furthermore, the contention of leading Postmillen-           each other concerning the basic teachings of the
nial writers that the Old Testament prophets and             Bible, the pattern of sound doctrine; rather they
the entire Word of prophecy is not interested in the         complement each other, being written by the one
end-kingdom of the future ages, but that it limits its       Author, the Holy Spirit, Who moved holy men to
vision to the bringing in of the nations into the            write the more sure prophetic word (II Peter  1:20,
realm of the church-world in the New Testament               21). This is a sound, Biblical prejudice in interpret-
Dispensation, particularly in what they call the             ing the Scriptures.
"golden age," the Postmillennial age, before Christ            With this in mind we turn to the passages we
returns to claim this prepared kingdom which will            started to interpret in the former chapter, namely
then be world-wide, including all nations.                   Isaiah 2:2 and Micah 4:2.
  The writers of this Postmillennial view refer to             We ought to notice that here we are dealing with
many passages of both the Psalms and the                     a Scripture which is really the text on which Post-
Prophets, which seem to teach that "all nations"             millennialism stands or falls. It deals with the
per  se shall come to join the church in this New            matter, the glorious prediction that  "peopZe  shall
Testament era, called the "golden age." Reference            flow" to the glorified Zion on the top of the moun-
is made to such beautiful Psalms as. Psalm  86:9;            tains (Micah 4: 1, 2). And in the prophecy of Isaiah
22:27;  47:2-g;  72:7-11, 17;  11011.  These refer to the    we read that "all nations shaZ2 flow unto it" (Is. 2:2).
conversion of the nations under Zion's king. These
are just a few of the Psalms referred to. And also             When one reads here of "peoples" we do not
the prophets are quoted in seeking support for the           think of nations as such, having their worldly capi-
Postmillennial view. Isaiah  49:6; Zechariah  9:lO;          tals, their armies, their war machines, but we think
Ezekiel  47:1-5; Daniel  7:22 are referred to.               of many kinds of peoples: white, black, yellow, and
Obviously, it will not be possible for us, in these          red. We think of the peoples which were scattered


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              153



at the time of the building of the tower of Babel, as      house of the LORD is really the "God of Jacob"
they lived in the time of the beginning of the New         coming to dwell with His people. It is Immanuel,
Testament era in three continents, which are basi-         God-with-us. He has prepared for us a city
cally the continents spoken of both in Genesis 10          foursquare; He is the Architect and Builder of it. It
and in Acts 2:8-11. All spoke different languages in       is for this reason that He is not ashamed to be called
their homeland. They were different nationalities.         the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now in
And, basically, they are men of Jerusalem and              these texts from Isaiah and Micah we see that God
proselytes and strangers, Jews and Greeks. This is         is called the Lord, the God of Jacob. And the God of
suggested by the Hebrew term  Amim.                        Jacob is the God of His covenant oath at Bethel, the
  Now these people shall not march to Jerusalem,           house of God. Was it not at Bethel that Jacob saw in
but they shall come together like the rivulets and         a dream the very house of God, the gateway of
small streams as they all come together in one body        heaven? Was this not a visionary theophany of God
of water. They shall "flow" to Jerusalem, to the           to Jacob, in which God tells him once again that He
house of the God of Jacob. It is a remarkable thing        will give him the land of Canaan, and that He will
that this verb in the Hebrew (see Gesenius's               cause him to be a multitude of peoples in which
Hebrew and ChaZdee  Lexicon) is never used simply          God will "bless all nations in him"? (Gen.  12:3;
for the formation of nations, but in each case it is       22:18; 26:4 and 28: 13, 14.)
used of the coming together of God's people for              Now these nations are going to come to the
their salvation. (Compare Jeremiah  31:11, 12 with         LORD's temple, the God of Jacob in "the last days"
Isaiah  2:2 and Micah 4: 1.) Jeremiah writes in this       when Jerusalem is on the top of the mountains,
beautiful, comforting prophecy concerning the              exalted very high and glorified, as the heavenly
great deliverance of Israel out of Babylon by Christ,      Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
when He shall have redeemed Jacob and ransomed               Listen to the strong desire and the firm resolution
him from the hand of him that was stronger than            of faith of the "peoples" that come from afar. They
he. And then we have the beautiful prediction of           really say to each other, urge each other, to come
the singing and joyful church: "therefore they shall       with them and go to this beautiful city of God. Why
come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow        do they desire to go? Do they desire some earthly
together  to the goodness of the Lord" (Jer.  31:12).      benefits merely? Do they desire to see a beautiful
For the Lord adds "for I will turn their mourning          earthly city, a beautiful temple? Then they will
into joy, and will comfort them, and make them re-         stand and weep as did the elders when the temple
joice from their sorrow." Who does not think of            of Zerubbabel is rebuilt on the ruins of the temple
Jesus preaching the kingdom of heaven, "Blessed            of Solomon. No, they really look for the temple
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted"?         which is built on the top of the mountains. It is the
(Matt. 5:4; Is. 61:2, 3).                                  temple which shall be built by the Lord by shaking
  We are certain that this "flowing together" is the       not only the earth, but also the heavens, when the
Son of God gathering out of all nations a church           desire of all nations has come, the Messiah in His
elect unto everlasting life, in the unity of faith, one    death and resurrection (Haggai  2:7, 9). That house
church, one new creation, making them one new              which Christ builds in three days shall be more
man in Christ. Here we see the perfectly fulfilled         glorious than the temple built by the returning Jews
work of Christ Who said "and this is the will of           from Babylon, yea, far more glorious than the tem-
Him that sent me, that of all that He hath given Me,       ple of Solomon. In the temple of Solomon God
I should lose none, but raise them up in the last          could not dwell. It could not contain Him, yea the
day." Moreover, here is the fulfillment of the             heaven of heavens could not contain God (I Kings
Father's drawing His own to Christ, Who said "and          8:26, 27). But the glorious temple which is on the
no one is able to come unto Me, except the Father          top of the mountains is really the church herself.
which sent Me draw them, and I will raise them up          She is the dwelling-place of God in the Spirit. And
in the last day" (John 6:39,40,44).                        this temple is made of living stones formed by
  That such is the meaning of this "flowing to             God's own hand out of Jew and Gentile, from those
Zion" is corroborated by the great longing which           far and near (Eph. 2:18-22).
these "people" and "nations" have to come to the             And when you look at those who say, "Come, let
glorified Zion, on the top of the mountains. This is       us go up to the house of God," you see that there is
really a great resolution of faith and hope which is       here not really a Jew any more, nor is there a Greek
motivated by the love for the God of Jacob, Who            in that multitude. They have overcome and are
dwells in Israel in His temple, called "The house of       overcoming in the blood of the Lamb. For they are a
the Lord."                                                 new creation of God, created unto good works in
  When we study the Scriptures concerning this             Christ Jesus. And they have been made alive with
house of the Lord we are struck by the fact that this      Christ, and set with Him in heavenly places. They


I    154                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



     are those who are blessed in Christ with all spiritual               122:l; they sing the song of degrees, "I was glad
     blessings in heavenly places, even as they were                      when they said, let us go into the house of the
     elected in Him before the foundation of the earth.                   LORD, our feet shall stand within thy -gates, 0
       Yes, as Gentiles they were once called:  uncir-                    Jerusalem.
     cumcision, foreskin. They were "afar" from the                         They both believe with the heart and confess
     temple of God. They could not and might not draw                     with the mouth and are saved. In this heavenly
     near to the temple on the little mountain of earthly                 city there is one Lord over all. And when these na-
     Jerusalem. They are outside of the commonwealth                      tions, peoples, say: "come let us go to the house of
     of Israel, strangers from the covenants and promi-                   God," it is no longer a dreadful place, but it is,
     ses. Yes, the Jew might enter into the earthly tem-                  indeed, the gate of heaven. For they who come in
     ple with its ordinances and commandments-as the                      faith shall in no wise be cast out. These are drawn
     circumcised ones. But they could not enter into the                  with cords of love, and they come from the east and
     heavenly temple, on the top of the mountains, just                   from the west, and from the north and from the
     as the Gentiles could not. There was no difference.                  south.
     All came short of the glory of God. If the Gentiles
     were brought near to the heavenly temple to God,                       They are the one  new  man. They are not the
     so were the believers of the Jews. Both were                         broken humanity in the nations of the world, nor
     brought near by the blood of Christ. The Old Testa-                  are they a Jewish commonwealth with a city which
     ment priesthood perfected nothing (Eph. 2: 13; Heb.                  is as a lodge in a cucumber patch, and has a hut in a
     7:15-19). Now both have been brought nigh. Also                      garden, but they are Jerusalem, the Bride adorned
     the Jewish believers belong to these "peoples" who                   in grace and favor of God. They are Zion which
                                                                          cries: all our fountains are in Thee. They sing under
     say, "come let us go up to Jerusalem." They sing to-
     gether in a new song to Jehovah for the wonders He                   the chief Cantor in Israel: Christ!
     has wrought. They sing Psalm 1 l&22,23 and Psalm

     FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                The Westminster Confession
                                                            Rev. R. Van  Overloop


              ChaPter VIII - Of Christ the Mediator                           actually wrought by Christ till after His incarnation,
                              Sections 5 - 8                                  yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof, were
                                                                              communicated unto the elect in all ages successively
       The first four sections of this beautiful chapter                      from the beginning of the world in and by those pro-
     presented us with the truths of the office of the                        mises, types and sacrifices wherein He was revealed
     Mediator and Christ's eternal appointment thereto,                       and signified to be the Seed of the woman, which
     of His two distinct natures and their perfect rela-                      should bruise the serpent's head, and the Lamb slain
     tionship, and of His states of humiliation and exal-                     from the beginning of the world being yesterday and
     tation.                                                                  today the same, and  forever.a
       Now we consider the remaining four sections on                           a. Galatians  4:4, 5; Genesis  3:15; Revelation  13:8;
                                                                                     Hebrews 13:8.
     the Mediator.                                                              7. Christ, in the work of mediation, acteth accord-
              5. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience and                ing to both natures;' by each nature doing that which
            sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal               is proper to itselfia yet, by reason of the unity of the
            Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied            Person that which is proper to one nature is some-
            the justice of His  father;a and purchased not only              times in Scripture attributed to the Person denomina-
            reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the            ted by the other  nature.b
            kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father                    a. Hebrews 9:14; I Peter 3:lS.
            hath given unto  Him.b                                              b. Acts 20:28; John 3:13; I John 3:16.
              a. Romans 5: 19; Hebrews 9: 14, 16; Hebrews 10:14;                8. To all those for whom Christ hath purchased re-
                 Ephesians 5:2; Romans 3:25,26.                              demption, He doth certainly and effectually apply and
              b. Daniel  9:24, 26; Colossians  1:19,  20; Ephesians          communicate the  same;a  making intercession for
                 l:ll, 14; John 17:2;  Hebrews 9:12, 15.                     them;b and revealing unto them, in and by the word,
              6. Although the work of redemption was not                     the mysteries of  salvation;c effectually persuading


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                           155



   them by His Spirit to believe and obe . and governing     eternal predestination. The vicarious sufferings of
   their hearts by His word and spirit;8'overcoming all      Christ were definite as to their object. The other
   their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom, in        side of this coin is that one who does not receive
   such manner and ways as are most consonant to His         this salvation is not one for whom Christ suffered.
   wonderful and unsearchable  dispensatione                 Therefore, to all those. for whom Christ suffered
     a. John  6:37, 39;  10:15, 16.                          and died He does "certainly and effectually apply
     b. I John 2:1,2;  Romans 8:34.                          and communicate" redemption (cf. section 8 of this
     c. John 15:13, 15; Ephesians 1:7-9; John 17:6.          chapter). How sad that this comforting truth is so
     d. John  16:16; Hebrews  12:2; II Corinthians  4:13;
        Romans 8:9, 14; 15:18, 19; John 17:17.               rampantly denied today. To be so foolishly bold to
     e. Psalm  11O:l;  I Corinthians  15:25,  26; Malachi    say that Christ died for more than those actually
        4:2, 3; Coiossians 2:15.                             saved, profoundly lowers the conception of Christ's
                                                             atonement. Christ did far more than merely gain
  The emphasis of'the fifth section is on the com-           the possibility and opportunity for salvation. He ac-
pleteness of the work of salvation. Christ did not           tually took upon Himself the sin and punishment of
die simply to make salvation possible. But He died           His people. Thus we condemn the action of the
with the purpose and effect of actually obtaining            United Presbyterian Church of North America
salvation for those given Him of the Father. And             which in 1925 added. to chapter XIV that Christ
once that salvation is secured it is not wasted; it is        "gave Himself a ransom for all." We would hold to
graciously bestowed. All those for whom the Medi-            the creed as originally adopted.
ator died will receive this completed and complete
salvation.                                                      Section six harmonizes with section five, for it
                                                              states with crystal clarity that the redemption of
  The work of salvation performed by the Media-               Christ is actually and efficaciously applied to all of
tor consists of the two aspects of reconciliation and        the elect. To receive the benefits of this wondrous
eternal righteousness. The Confession does not                redemption it is not necessary that one live after the
speak of an active and passive obedience of Christ.           salvation is actually accomplished by Jesus Christ.
Rather it emphasizes that the perfect obedience of            In chapter VII we saw that in both dispensations
Christ accomplished  compZe te  salvation. Salvation is       salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. In all ages the
not merely reconciliation, i.e., that the anger of            salvation is the same.
God against sin is removed. That would leave the
sheep of Christ in an  unconceivable,  neutral posi-            The reason for this lies in the very nature and
tion before God: no longer evil, but on the other             Being of God. He is not limited; He is changeless.
hand not deserving of any blessing. The complete-             His determination to save in Christ has no begin-
ness of the salvation wrought by the Mediator is re-          ning and no ending. Time does not contain or limit
vealed in the gracious bestowal upon the elect of             Him in His works, for it is His creature. He is
"everlasting righteousness" (Daniel  9:24), "eternal          pleased to work within it, but that certainly does
redemption" (Hebrews 9:12), with the "promise of              not bind Him to it (cf. II Peter  3:8). Therefore
eternal inheritance" (Hebrews  9:14)  and "eternal            "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and
life" (John 17:2). The mere thought of such a com-            forever." Therefore, it may be said that the Lamb
plete salvation staggers us. The meditation of the            was "slain from the foundation of the world." How
thoughts of our hearts on such is our joy now as              marvelous are His ways! Who can be His counsel-
well as forever.                                              or? 0 the depth of the riches of God's wisdom and
                                                              knowledge!
  This complete redemption Christ accomplished                  Section seven touches on the unfathomable rela-
by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself.            tionship of Jesus Christ's two natures (human and
He consciously stood always before God and His                divine) as they are united in the Person of the
demand of all-encompassing love. It was that per-             second Person of the Trinity. In section two we say
fect love of God that abode within His heart and led          that He is true God and true man with one Divine
Him in His perfect obedience and sacrifice. With all          Person; the two natures remaining distinct and un-
of His heart, mind, soul, and strength He loved God           changed, but also inseparable. Section seven points
and He loved to do God's will. Thus He obeyed.                out first that in the work of redemption both
Without love, obedience is not only imperfect, but            natures of Christ were active, each contributing
it is only a white-washed sepulchre. Love of God is           that which is proper to itself. The work of the Me-
what made Christ's obedience perfect. The same                diator was performed not just in one nature, but in
holds true for us. Only with the love of God as the           both; each being necessary for obtaining the salva-
motive are our works acceptable in His sight.                 tion of sinful men. The human nature was neces-
  One more thing does this fifth section bring out:           sary to be the just object of God's wrath for man's
that this complete salvation is for a limited number.         sin. The divine nature was necessary to bear fully
This is in harmony with that taught in chapter II on          and to satisfy that wrath of God. What a wonder is


156                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the salvation so earned!                                      the certainty of salvation in Christ for all those
  Additionally this section states that because of            given Him of the Father.
the inseparable and intimate unity of these two                 This certainly is based on the means of the appli-
natures, Scripture at times will ascribe to the Medi-         cation of salvation, i.e., Christ Himself. The work
ator a name which emphasizes His human nature                 of the Mediator is not completed in the meriting of
when it is describing an activity which is properly           salvation. Christ Himself applies that redemption
the activity of the divine nature, and vice versa.           He earned. In the lifetime of each elect He applies
Consider the proof texts given.                              salvation effectually and certainly. This He does,
  All that man can do and say before such a Savior           the Confession says, in four ways, 1. He makes in-
is stand in awe and sin not, but praise and thank            tercession for them. 2. He reveals to them salva-
God with all our heart and strength.                         tion in His Word. 3. By the effectual operation of
                                                             His Spirit within them Christ works in them to be-
  The last section of this chapter relates to the ap-        lieve and obey. This is an irresistible persuasion,
plication of redemption. First of all, this redemp-          which does not ignore man's will, but uses it. 4.
tion is certainly applied. Again the Confession              And by all the administration of His providence He
brings out with irresistible force that Christ does           so governs and controls them and all things about
not come to make the salvation of all men possible,          them in order that everything works for their salva-
but to make certain the salvation of some men. The           tion. Therefore, it is a terrible sin to doubt one's
mere possibility of salvation for all means the cer-         salvation. In the meditation of this blessed and
tainty of the damnation of all, because of the totali-       comforting truth the praise of God and of the Lamb
ty of man's fall into sin. The Confession presents           flows from our hearts and mouths.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                         The Bible: Right or Wrong?
                                                   Rev. R. Flikkema


  As time goes on and as the day of our Lord Jesus              This answer has often manifested itself through
Christ comes ever nearer, the Bible as the infallibly        the means of the argument that what is found in the
inspired Word of God is increasingly attacked. It is         Bible is nothing more than a collection of myths.
attacked by means of asking a very simple ques-              What is found in the Bible, so the individual child
tion. Is the Bible as it is held in the hand of the indi-    of God is told, is nothing more than a collection of
vidual child of God, God's Word? Is it trustworthy?          stories or old wives' tales that arose somehow,
Is it accurate? Can it be believed? May the indivi-          someway  over the years. And that somehow, some-
dual child of God take his Bible, read it, study it,         way these myths, stories, or old wives' tales have
and conclude that what it says is what it means? Or          found themselves in what we call today the Bible!
is it the case that the Bible is not God's Word; that it     The Biblical account of the creation of the heavens
is not trustworthy; that it is not accurate; that it can     and the earth as it is recorded in Genesis is a myth.
not be believed; and, therefore, that the individual         It is a myth that Moses borrowed from some Baby-
child of God may not take his Bible and conclude             lonian creation narrative. The Biblical account of
after reading and studying it that what it says is           the fall of man is a myth. Whoever heard of a ser-
what it means?                                               pent talking, anyway? The Biblical account of the
  This question has been and it is still today being         flood is a myth, at least in so far as its universal
asked. And more often than not the answer that is            scope is concerned. Simply the thought of a univer-
given to that question is a most emphatic no! No,            sal flood is altogether preposterous. If there was a
the Bible is not trustworthy. No, the Bible is not ac-       flood it had to be located in the region of the fertile
curate. No, the Bible can not be believed. And,              crescent and the Mesopotamian river valley. The
therefore, most emphatically no, the individual              Biblical account of the sun standing still during the
child of God may not conclude after reading and              battle which Joshua fought is a myth. Everyone
studying the Bible that what the Bible says is what          knows that if anything stood still that it was the
it means and what it means infallibly!                       earth, and that notion is so ridiculous that it is hard-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                             157



ly worth talking about. And so we could go on and            The answer to that is no! They do not! Yes, they
on. The Bible, so we have been and are told, is              now take Abraham seriously. Yes, they take the Bi-
simply filled to overflowing with myths!                     ble's reference to Sodom and Gomorrah seriously,
  By the word myth is meant among other things               and that on the basis of these same new-found tab-
the fact that the content of that myth can not be            lets. But on- the very basis of these new-found tab-
proved. It can not be verified. And, therefore, when         lets whereby they confess a historical Abraham and
the individual child of God is told that the Bible is        a historical Sodom and Gomorrah they proceed to
filled to overflowing with myths, he is told that the        deny the Bible's reference to the fact that Abraham
stories found in the Bible can not be verified from          lived in "Ur of the Chaldees"! You, as an individual
the record of secular history.                               child of God, can pick up a Bible and read in lan-
                                                             guage that even a little child can understand that
  But wonder of all wonders it is that, as the day of        Abraham did come out of Ur of the Chaldees. And
our Lord Jesus Christ comes ever nearer, what has            you, as an individual child of God who believes
been declared in the Bible as myths/stories that can         that the Bible is infallibly inspired, know beyond a
not be verified, are now in fact being verified. That        shadow of a doubt that what the Bible says is cor-
reality struck me very forcibly as I was reading the         rect and accurate. But the only problem is that
September 21 issue of Time magazine. In its depart-          these scholars, on the basis of these tablets, will tell
ment on religion you will find an article entitled,          you that maybe it is true that Abraham did come
"New Grounding for the Bible?" This article deals            out of Ur. But it is most unlikely that he came out of
with new archaeological findings of ancient tablets          Ur of the Chaldees. Rather, it is far more likely that
that have been discovered recently in northern               Abraham came out of an Ur situated near the city
Syria. It seems as though there existed in the third         of  Haran.  The Ebla tablets speak of such an Ur.
millenium B.C. an ancient city-state named Ebla.             Hence, Abraham came out of that Ur. The Bible on
Today this city has been excavated, and among a              that particular score is wrong.
vast number of other tablets, tablets that have bear-
ing on the Bible have been discovered. Although                And not only that, but on the very basis of these
there is a difference of opinion as far as the signifi-      same tablets, so those scholars will tell you, the
cance of these tablets is concerned, nevertheless, it        Bible, at least as we have it in our present day
is striking to note that names of people found in the        English translations, is probably wrong in a host of
Bible are also found on these tablets. Names such            instances. To use the words of the same scholar
as Adam and Eve, David, and, most noteworthy of              that we quoted above, "not a single one of the Old
all, that of Abraham. And in that connection there           Testaments in English is up to date." And they are
is also found on these tablets references to the cities      not up to date, so we are told, because of the fact
with which Abraham had to do - Sodom, Gomor-                 that many of the words in the Old Testament are
rah, and Zoar. Reference to these cities is striking         used only once, and too, that these words often
because of the fact that it was long believed by             have a variety of meanings, and that it is difficult to
scholars that these cities never existed, but were           grasp just exactly what meaning these words have
merely mythological. Now it seems the so-called              in a given passage. The tablets of Ebla will help us
myth of Sodom and Gomorrah will be put to rest               clarify what the precise meaning of the words in
amongst those scholars. Now it appears that at least         the Old Testament is. Therefore, with the tablets of
there is some historically verifiable material in the        Ebla as our guide we ought to reexamine the He-
Bible to which those scholars must hold for fact. In         brew manuscripts and devise a new translation.
fact, as a result of this archaeological discovery of        And when we do we may discover a few surprises.
the tablets of Ebla, one of those scholars who has           We may well discover that what we thought the
much to do with these tablets stated exactly that. In        Bible said and what our parents and our grand-
his words:                                                   parents thought the Bible said for many years is
                                                             wrong. We and the whole of the Church of Jesus
     After Ebla, we've got to take the Bible much more       Christ in ages past are and were sadly mistaken!
   seriously as a historical document. The people who
   wrote those books had a long literary tradition behind      But are we? Is it the case that we and the Church
   them.                                                     of Jesus Christ have for years been sadly mistaken?
  Ah, yes! Indeed they must take the Bible much              Obviously, the answer to that question is no! Perish
more seriously as a historical document. It is a his-        the thought! Just imagine that! Think about that for
torical document. When the Bible speaks on his-              a moment! Just imagine that we have been sadly
torical matters it speaks with infallible accuracy.          mistaken for years and years with respect to
But the question is, do they? Do they, especially            various statements in the Bible, and that now, fi-
now after the discovery of the tablets of Ebla, take         nally, after hundreds of years, and that on the basis
the Bible much more seriously as a historical docu-          of some newly discovered tablets, we have been
ment, as an infallibly accurate historical document?         given the means to correct our misconceptions!


158                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



What would that mean? That would not only mean            Maybe God lied to us on that point, too! Just
that we have been ignorant concerning certain mat-        imagine that!
ters found i-n the Bible, but that would also mean,         Can you? No, we can not. We know better. God,
most of all, that God, Whose Word the Bible is, has       Who can not lie and Who does not lie, has given to
for years and years kept us ignorant. And not only        us the Bible, His Word, which is true. Yes, even on
has He kept us ignorant, but in the final analysis,       the point that Abraham came out of Ur of the Chal-
He has even lied to us. Here we thought that Abra-        dees. How do we know that? On what basis is that
ham was from Ur of the Chaldees, but now we dis-          our confession? Certainly not on the basis of some
cover that that is a lie. Abraham was not from Ur of      old tablets that some scholars have discovered. But
the Chaldees, but from a different Ur! Just imagine       most emphatically that is our, confession on the
that! God has lied to us on that point. And if it is      basis of God's own Word and the testimony of the
true that God has lied to us for years and years on       Spirit in our hearts. Let us hold to that confession.
that point, maybe in a few years we will discover         Let us be assured that the Bible which we hold in
tablets that inform us that there never was a Jesus       our hands is God's Word. Let us do that until our
Who as the Son of God in our flesh died upon the          Lord Jesus Christ returns to put to nought forever
cross and is coming again at the end of the ages!         the unbelief and foolishness of man's wisdom.

GUESTARTICLE


                                  To Glorify God (2)
                                            Rev. Robert C. Harbach


  When we say that man's chief end is to glorify          we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine,
God and fully to enjoy Him forever, we are speak-         revelings,       banquetings     (carousings) ,     and
ing of our constant and conclusive aim held in            abominable idolatries" (I Pet.  4:3). If we too long
view. Our far-reaching view is to God. He is our          have lived contrary to the chief end for which we
end. Looking to that end we also keep in view our         were created, dishonoring God, serving the devil
own earthly end. For we shall all stand before the        and destroying our own souls, then in the day of
judgment seat of Christ. This we must consider            judgment, what in the world will we do? But if in
while we. have health and strength. The Lord had          days gone by we have been careful to glorify God,
said of the nation of Israel, "Oh, that they were         when we come to die we can review the past with
wise, that they understood this, that they would          comfort, and be able to pray, "Remember now, 0
consider their latter end!" (Deut.  32:29). This          Lord, how I have walked before Thee in truth with
means that we should give some thought to what            a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in
we shall do and say on the occasion of our death,         Thy sight" (Isa. 38:3).
when we then immediately appear before God; as
Job put it (31:14),  "What shall I do when God riseth       For the Christian, what is it which brings glory to
up? And when He visiteth, what shall I answer             God? It is worshiping and serving Him. That takes
Him?" When dying, a saint is more troubled and            hard work. You can't worship with a little sleep, a
tempted by the devil. At such times, the' only com-       little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.
fort of the gospel will alone be of use and help.         Mere profession of religion without action in a
From now until death, therefore, we must live "re-        work of faith is like using an air-freshener to dis-
joicing in this, the testimony of our conscience that     guise the whole city's high mass of air pollution.
in simplicity of godly sincerity, not with fleshly        The Lord is puffed and praised in flowery profes-
wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our          sion, but the spiritual atmosphere is polluted by
conversation (behavior) in the world" (2 Cor. 1:12).      smelly behavior. The lives of many professing
At the end of life, what comfort will it be that we       Christians are a scandal to their religion. Therefore,
have been practicing the ways of the heathen, in-         what glorifies God is not wishes, but work. Yet so
dulging in berserk lusts, in swill parties, wild          many would have God glorified who don't work at
revels, gorging contests, wife-swapping, and occult       doing so themselves. They are rather passive about
idolatries! "For the time past of our life may suffice    it, would do it by proxy. The office-bearers repre-
us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when         sent the congregation, so let the minister do it, or let


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               159



the elders and deacons do it. Their concern for            industrial pirates, cult quacks, comedians,  stage-
God's name may bring them to repeat ultra-piously          players, pimps, whores, homos, lesbians, and trans-
Joshua's words, "Lord, what wilt Thou do for Thy           vestites. The heathen, belonging to  .a11 this crowd,
great name?" But you never catch them saying, as           had guilds or unions for every trade and a god for
Paul, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" They           every union. They glorified man. The same is true
are more troubled about what the Lord should do            of the whole retinue of patron saints and the TV
than what they should do.                                  revivalists who are ostensibly protestant preachers
  This glorifying of God is the whole scope and end        but are crypto-Jesuits. These all rob God of His
of our lives and conduct, of all that we have, all that    glory. Their intrusions into. the field of religion are
we are, all that we do, and*all that we desire. God        like Uzza putting his hand to the ark of the cove-
must be first, second, last and the living end. Take       nant. They' should know that they are out of their
our common, everyday activities. The Word of God           calling and how dangerous it is for Uzzas and Uz-
counsels us concerning them. "Whether, therefore,          ziahs to meddle with the glory of the Almighty God
ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the        of Zion and of His holy temple. A man is as his end
glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). If we do not make this       or purpose is. He is base because he pursues base
our aim, our "homework," then we slip into idola-          ends by base behavior. His eye is evil, so his whole
try to offer meal-offerings and drink-offerings to         body is full of darkness. He is as worldly as his
the belly-god (Phil.  3:19). When we have the most         worldly end. He is like Bunyan's "Muck-raker."
on our tables, then we are the most liable to  un-         He sometimes talks of heaven. All want to go to
thankfulness. If he can, the devil will bring his dish     heaven, especially when they think their time on
to our tables: murmuring over slender portions or          earth is about expired. But they have spent life
mere basic staples; family quarrels; constant              feathering a nest about as fireproof as dry tinder.
complaining (the complaint button controls the un-         They do not seek the crown of life, but play games
leashing of a whole computer full of things to find        with life for pins and match-sticks.
fault with); criticizing God's people and endless
gossip. How we need to work hard at bringing glory           Because God is God, He will be glorified by all
to God in our common activities! If we do not, then        His creatures, by His rational-moral creatures
the creature, not the Creator becomes our ultimate         either willingly or unwillingly, either by them  or
end. There is more than just hard work involved.           upon them. God will not give His glory to another,
First Corinthians  lo:31 involves battle! Neglect to       or actually be robbed of it. For "the Lord hath made
put this word of God into practice and we fall into        all things for Himself," for His own end (margin),
atheism! So we battle against atheism. Modern              "yea, even the wicked for the day of evil" (Prov.
atheists tell us that man's ultimate end is his own        16:4).  He "will be sanctified in them, and," as well,
happiness. The self-improvement shelves in the             be glorified before all the people (Lev.  10:3). Even
secular bookstores are full of works on egoism, in-        the wrath of man, including his refusal to glorify
dividualism, and self-love. Our chief end principles       God willingly, shall glorify Him (Psm. 76: 10). God
and practice these books call "puritanism," "mys-          will have the glory of His grace in the day of His
ticism," "fundamentalism," and "fanaticism." Yet           longsuffering and mercy. He will have the glory of
they will admit that "God" is a "good God" on the          His justice and of His wrath, both in everlasting
basis of how happy He keeps some of His devotees.          hell and in the day of judgment. So either He will be
This makes man his own end, his own idol, and              glorified by us, or His glory will shine against us. If
makes his own interests the standard of good and           He does not receive the glory of obedience to His
evil. But if we would be truly happy, then it is most      will, He will have the glory of His providence
assuredly to be found in the way of obedience to           working all things according to His purpose (Rom.
God. Doing God's will and promoting His glory is           8:28; Eph.  1:ll). The saints give Him all the glory.
the end and aim of all holy obedience. Failure in          Mere sinners are in the position of serving no other
this is to put, not the creature subservient to God,       use than setting forth the glory of His vindictive
but God to the creature, so making the creature bet-       justice. The saints respond obediently to the com-
ter than God and the creature even the ultimate            mand, Give unto the Lord, 0 ye  kindreds of the
end for God Himself. God's goodness is then made           peoples, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
to serve the happiness of the creature. How easy it        Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name;
is to become ensnared in pure humanism!                    bring an offering, and come into His courts. 0
                                                           worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. . . Psm.
  They never do glorify God who run lotteries,             96:7-g. From this word of God you see that God
operate casinos, open up "adult" book stores,              cannot be glorified apart from worshiping and
manage massage parlors, place on the market amu-           serving Him. This is done by faithfully attending in
lets, good luck charms, idol-images, statues of            His courts the preaching of the Word, by receiving
saints, rosaries, and crucifixes. Nor do loan-sharks,      instruction in the catechism and Reformed


160                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



confessons, by using the Bible class and the young          thing!"? God is glorified in our offerings, which
people's and other societies,           by spiritually      must not be given superficially, spasmodically, and
preparing for the worship service, by study, by dis-        without a concern. Rather, let it be, as in every as-
cussion. of the truth, and by fellowship of the saints.     pect of godliness, "in holiness and righteousness
   God is glorified also by our offerings in the grace      before God all the days of our life" (Lk. 1:75).
of giving. Do we faithfully give to the Lord as He             All this means that in our aim to glorify God we
has prospered us? (I  For.  16:2). Do we train our          will glorify His Son (Jn.  523). God's aim in all
children to do the same, not only by placing a quar-        nature, redemption, and providence is to glorify
ter or a dollar in their hands before the collection         His Son (Jn.  13:31ff). We glorify the Son by more
plate comes around, but by having them bring an             than a moral life, by a Christian life. There is more
offering into His courts out of their own earnings?         to the Christian life than that which comes out of a
Smaller children earn money in odd jobs, peddling           school of philosophy. We glorify Him by bowing to
newspapers, cutting lawns, or whatever. Do they             the truth, "without Me ye can do nothing"; by
lay by in store an offering as the Lord has prospered       living in the hearty confidence of, "I can do all
them? The older children and young people have a            things through Christ Who strengtheneth me"; and
regular or part-time job. They now earn more                by always having His interest and holy will the
money than they ever saw before in their whole              great end of our lives, as in, "For me to live is
lives. This enables them to buy a car, or to save for       Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).  As a regenera-
college tuition. Do they also give to the Lord a por-       ted man I want to live not as my own man, but as
tion of their earnings as the Lord has prospered            the Lord's. And that is how I hope to die (Rom.
them? Or do they assume, "Well, Dad pays the                 14:7, 8).
church budget figure, and that takes care of every-

IN HIS FEAR


                              The Call to Obedience
                                                   Rev. Carl Haak


  "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for             ment of the man of sin, Anti-Christ. Not only that,
this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which          but problems in the Church, school, and home all
is the first commandment with promise; that it may          stem from sins committed against this law of God.
be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the         We wish now to look at some of the facets of the
earth" (Ephesians 6: l-3).                                  truth of obedience to parents as revealed to us in
  God speaks these words and He speaks them to              Ephesians 6: l-3.
you, children, and to you, young people, who are               The very fact that children are specifically ad-
under the care and authority of your parents. The           dressed in the Word of God should not escape our
awesomeness and seriousness of the call of obedi-           notice. It has beautiful implications. It means that
ence to parents is found exactly in this: God com-          God considers children to be members of His
mands us to do this; it is right; it is well pleasing to    church. Obvious you might say, but do not take
Him (Colossians 3:20). Whether you are three, ten,          that for granted. It is a wonderful truth!
thirteen, or twenty years old, God says to you that            That God addresses a specific word to children
you must obey your parents by submitting to their           implies the whole truth of the covenant, "That the
rule and by showing honor and reverence in your             promise is unto you and to your children and to all
conduct and speech. You must do this because you            that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God
are children of the heavenly Father, standing op-           shall call" (Acts 2:39). This is a comfort for parents
posed to the children of the Devil, who are disobe-         who are engaged in the daily work of child rearing.
dient to their parents.                                     This reveals God's attitude toward the children of
  As was mentioned last time, it is a clear teaching        believers. Out of them He gathers His Church, and
of Jesus Christ that children must obey their par-          He accounts them, to be members of His Church.
ents. We noted that disobedience to parents cannot          Paul in this letter to the Ephesians addresses the
be taken lightly, but is a basic sign of the develop-       Church. According to chapter one they are the


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               161



faithful in Christ Jesus, chosen from before the         sians. The instruction of the Apostle Paul in the last
foundation of the world. Still more, in chapter 5:26     part of Ephesians five and the first part of  Ephe-
Paul says that Christ has washed His Church in His       sians six hinges upon his exhortation found in verse
blood so that it is a glorious Church which He takes     18 of Ephesians five: "Be not filled with wine
to Himself. Now, children are included in that           wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit."
Church! They are not excluded; they are not on the       This command, positively and profoundly, is the
periphery of the Church. But God accounts the            Christian calling in all of its parts, "Be filled with
children of His covenant as members of His               the Spirit." Paul goes on to teach us in verse 21 that
Church who belong to the body of Jesus Christ and        being filled with the Spirit of Christ means for us
who are heirs of His promises. They are the lambs        this: "In love submitting yourselves one to another
of His flock, and God in tenderness and compas-          in the fear of Christ." To be filled with the Spirit of
sion addresses them as well.                             Jesus Christ means that in humbleness of mind we
  Very practically, this means that our children         will submit to one another, or, as Jesus said, we
must be present with us when we go to Church.            shall be servants one to another and wash each
May God deliver us from the evil notion prevalant        other's feet. This is the commandment that He left
today that Church is for adults alone or that chil-      with us, and by our obedience shall all men know
dren are to be left home or shuttled off to their own    that we are His disciples. Being filled with His Spirit
special children's service because the sermon and        we submit ourselves one to another in His fear.
the worship of the Church are over their heads. The        Now, the Apostle Paul applies this fundamental
Apostle Paul, when he wrote this epistle to the          principle of being filled with the Spirit and thus
Church at Ephesus, expected that when his letter         submitting ourselves one to another, to every
was read in the Church, children would be present.       sphere of life. He begins with marriage (Ephesians
He labored under the assumption that families            5:22-33). Therefore the wife who is filled with the
would come up to God's house and worship to-             Spirit of Christ will submit herself to the will of her
gether! And this is a Biblical assumption! We re-        husband in all things lawful according to the
peatedly read in the Old Testament that the "little      gospel, and the husband who is also filled with the
ones" were present when the law and the Prophets         Spirit of Christ will love his wife as he loves himself
were read (Joshua  8:35). In those days entire           and will submit to Christ's will for him in marriage.
families would travel together to come to the Pass-      Then Paul naturally proceeds to the home in
over Feast celebrated in Jerusalem, as for example       chapter six: to the relationship between parents and
when Jesus came with His parents to Jerusalem            children. And again he simply sets forth the same
(Luke 2:41). One of the implications of the truth of     great principle, "Children, obey your parents in the
God's covenant with us and our children is that we       Lord, for this is right." Children, are you filled with
worship as families worshiping together. That is         the Spirit of Christ? Young men and women, does
when fathers and mothers lead their little ones,         the Spirit of Christ dwell within you? This is His
their pre-schoolers, to Church and teach them how        word to you; submit yourself to your parents in the
to worship God! That is when fathers see to it that      fear of Christ!
their older children pay close attention to the            The teaching of the Apostle Paul is therefore
preaching and then speak with their children and         plain and consistent. We must take hold of the prin-
question them concerning the Word of God which           ciple of Christian life to be filled with the Spirit and
they heard. That is when sons and daughters sit at       thus "submit ourselves one to another in the fear of
their parents' side in the worship service as joint      Christ." We must begin here, whether this is in
heirs of the promises of God. That is when fathers       marriage or in the home, in the Church or in the
in a real sense may repeat the words of Joshua, "As      school. Be dominated by and be under the control
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And        of the Spirit in all of life and thus submit yourself
that also means that children must pay attention in      one to another. And to children this means, "obey
Church. They can understand the minister, and no         your parents."
one may tell them that they cannot. Do not hand
them picture books and toys, but prayerfully teach         Before we go on to look at the obedience to
them to listen to the Word of God. They can do           which Christ calls us, notice that all of this brings
that. God will see to it that by the Spirit they will    out another fundamental principle of the law of
hear and understand what they need to know.              Jesus Christ, namely, the principle that we show
                                                         our love for Christ and'show submission to Him in
  The Word of God addresses to children is that          the Spirit, first of all within our own families. Paul
they obey their parents. "Children obey your  par-       applies to us a great truth! You are filled with the
ents....Honor thy father and thy mother." To un-         Spirit, now submit yourselves one to another! But
derstand this command, we must keep in mind the          to whom are you to submit yourself? To whom are
entire context of the last part of the book of Ephe-     you to show the love of Christ? And the answer is,


162                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



first of all to the person closest to you. Husbands,       his eyes, and he  inhabi.ts  the place of darkness re-
you do not have to go around looking for someone           served for fools.
to show the love of Christ to. You begin with your           As children of the heavenly Father you are called
wives. And, wives, you begin with your husbands.           to obey by honoring father and mother. Paul quotes
Children and young people, how do you display the          the fifth commandment, "Honor thy father and thy
love of Christ within you? Must you first go out into      mother." And the point is this: you can outwardly
the world, or should you begin with your closest           obey your parents and still be guilty of violating
friends? No, not first of all. But you begin with the      God's law. Mechanical obedience is not enough,
people closest to you, your father and mother who          but the obedience you are to render must proceed
bore you! The Christian life begins in the home.           out of a heart that reverences your parents and re-
Christian homes must by grace fall under the domi-         spects them. Obey from your heart, and thus honor
nance of the Spirit of Christ, and you are first of all    your parents very highly in love! That too is fla-
to submit yourselves to one another in the love of         grantly violated by the children of the Devil. The
Christ there. Before you .can go on and live in            world today ridicules fathers and mothers in their
obedience to Christ in the Church, school,70r  in all      television programs and sadly, these programs do
of society, first of all you must submit yourselves to     rub off on ou,r children and upon us. A father is pre-
Him in the home.                                           sented as a silly, incompetent ninny who is the
  Children who are filled with the Spirit are called       laughing stock of his children. And mothers are
to obey their parents. That word "obey" which              painted as naive and light-headed, who are amus-
Paul uses is a very descriptive one in the original        ingly endured by their children. All respect is gone,
Greek language. It means literally "to listen intent-      all honor vanishes, and scorn and ridicule takes
ly and then to hearken to do as you have heard."           honor's place. The parents who allow their child to
The word obey means two things: first, to listen at-       watch this corruption on television should not be
tentively to what your parents say, and secondly, to       overly surprised when they begin to see the same
hearken to do as they tell you. To obey is to listen       attitude in their child toward themselves.
and then to do as you are told. And Paul in Colos-           God calls us to honor our parents and submit to
sians 3:20 says that you must do this "in all things."     them in the love of Christ! As Christ honors His
The idea is that as children we are under our par-         heavenly Father, so we must honor our human
ents' authority and must submit ourselves to that          father. Obedience to parents is not the farce ren-
authority in all things. You are not left to decide        dered by the Pharisees who obeyed their parents
when you will obey and when you will not, but you          outwardly, all the while grumbling within and
are called to listen and then to do. (We must under-       having contempt in their heart. Pharisees are hypo-
stand that these words, "in all things," do not mean       crites, and those who obey in anger or scorn are
we may do that which God forbids. Parents may              hypocrites. The obedience to which we are called
not command their children to sin, and children            must proceed out of a born-again heart, willing, joy-
may not do sinful things when wrongly told to do           ful, whole-hearted obedience as to the Lord and not
so by their parents. Parents must remember they            to men. Children, God says to you, "I call you to
have a Master in heaven and that they must do His          obey your parents, to listen and to do. And you
will in the home.)                                         must do this as filled with the Spirit of Christ,
  This obedience must especially be seen by sub-           showing honor to them."
mitting to the correction and reproof of our parents.        Next time, the Lord willing, we wish to examine
It brings shame to the gospel of Christ when as            the reason for our obedience, as Paul states it in
children we respond in anger to the correction of          Ephesians 6:1-3.
our fathers. Many children and young people today
think it is wise to go against the word of their
parents and become resentful when corrected.
Solomon, in the book of Proverbs, has much to say            The Standard Bearer
about such children. The `son who resents his
father's word and who disobeys his parents has no                makes a thoughtful
love, but is self-centered. He brings shame and bit-                                                     L
terness to his parents, and he himself shows him-
self to be a fool. Wisdom's way is seen when a son                   gift for the sick
hears instruction and correction and when a son
sees in the correction of his earthly father the cor-
rection of his perfect heavenly Father. It is a foolish                  a n d   s h u t - i n . ,
son who mocks his father and who despises obey-
ing his mother. The eagles of the air shall pluck out


                                           THE STAND-ARD BEARER                                             163



QUESTION BOX


                         True Calvinistic Revivals
                                                 Rev. C. Hanko



  A reader asks:                                          would awaken the entire Calvinistic church world
  "Why do we not hear of Revivals today? I mean,          out of its spiritual lethargy, would oppose the pre-
of course, true Calvinistic Revivals."                    vailing heresies that run rampant in the churches,
                                                          and would arouse the sincere believers to contend
  Most of us shy away from the term "revival," es-        for the faith once delivered unto the fathers, as well
pecially because it so often refers to something that     as draw others into the sheepfold of Christ.
is purely the work of men and not originated by the
operation of the Holy Spirit in the church. Many of         The answer to that question must be that the
our modern crusades, like that of Billy Graham,           hour has grown late, the end of the ages is upon us.
serve to create no more than an emotional excite-         When we consider the signs of Christ's return as
ment, which produces no lasting fruit, but leaves         described in various parts of the Scriptures, we
the "converts" in a worse state of false security         realize that perilous times have arrived, in which
than before. Where are the thousands who were             men are lovers of self, even lovers of pleasure more
supposed to have made a decision for Christ under         than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but
the visits of Billy Graham to many parts of the           denying the power thereof, I Timothy 3:1-5; in
world? Even the Pentecostals appeal to the gifts of       which false prophets and false teachers have arisen
prophecy and of speaking in tongues, which are            among us, who privily bring in damnable heresies,
evil attempts to add to the revelation of the Scrip-      through covetousness and vain words making mer-
tures, and are condemned strongly in Revelation           chandise of the members of the church, II Peter
22:18, 19.                                                2:1-3; in which we hear of wars and rumors of
                                                          wars, false prophets who show great signs and
  The word revival is defined as "a term widely           wonders; in which iniquity abounds and the love of
used among Protestants since early in the 18th cen-       many waxes cold, Matthew 24:3-25.
tury to denote periods of marked religious interest,
when church members are quickened to a new                  I like to refer to a lecture of Rev. G. Van Baren,
sense of responsibility and privilege and others are      which appears in pamphlet form under the title of
for the first time brought openly to profess their        the lecture, "Shall There Be Reformation No
faith" (New Encyclopedia, vol. 21, pages 135, 136).       More?" He writes: "I have worded my theme very
  It is in that sense that our reader refers to revi-     deliberately in the way I have: "Shall there be
vals. For, besides speaking of "Calvinistic Revi-         reformation no more?" By this I mean to express
vals," he mentions in his letter such revivals as         the almost hopeless despair of many who think that
took place under the Calvinist George Whitefield          reformation is now impossible. We live in a time in
(1714-1770), who preached as an itinerant preacher        which liberal trends develop rapidly, false doc-
in Wales, Scotland, and in England, and who made          trines increase on every hand. One can read
seven trips to America, where he was in contact           quotations in newspapers and magazines which re-
with the well-known Jonathan Edwards, also men-           veal the latest theological fads-all of them contrary
tioned in this letter. Jonathan Edwards was used by       to the Word of God. . . .
God  to bring about the "great awakening" (i840-            "No wonder that the faithful child of God feels
41) in the New England States, and is probably best       lost. He does not know where to turn. And he asks,
known for his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an         (if he can find another sympathetic to him) "Do you
Angry God," and other writings.                           think there's going to be another reformation? Do
  Therefore the question could be recast in this          you think there'll be another Martin Luther? Some-
form, "Why does God not bring about revivals              where? Some place? One who will. lead once more
today?" No reference is being made to the various         the church back to the truths of justification by
reformations that have taken place from time to           faith alone, and to the truths of the infallible Word
time within certain denominations, but the                of God?'
question refers to revivals or reformations that            "But when one studies Scripture, especially


164                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



those many passages that speak of the apostasy of                     denominations do? . . . Where the church rapidly
the church, one can legitimately come to the con-                     departs from the Word of God, where there seems
clusion that there is not going to be a reformation                   no hope anymore of its reform, the calling of this
again as was seen in the days of Luther. There is not                 child of God is to come out. That is the instruction
going to be another Martin Luther nor another John                    of Revelation  3:10, where Christ addresses the
Calvin to inspire thousands to follow again the prin-                 church of Laodicia. . . .
ciples of the Word. . . .                                               "And when Christians do come out, they should
   Should we then perhaps despair? Or should we                       seek to reform completely. Their reform ought not
say that it's no use-no use to oppose the corrup-                     to be half-hearted or partial, as in some instances
tion within the church? Should that be our attitude?                  has been the case in the past. Children of God,
   "What is your calling? First of all, it is to know                 called out of the apostate churches, are called to
for yourself, and instruct your children, in the                      hold fast once more to the principles of the Refor-
truths of God's Word. Know the Word thoroughly;                       mation: justification by faith alone; and Scripture
study it carefully and diligently. . . .                              interprets Scripture-for Scripture is the infallible
                                                                      Word of God."
   "But what must members in rapidly apostatizing

TRANSLATED  TXEASURES


                           A Pamphlet Concerning the
                            Reformation of the Church
                                                             Dr. A. Kuyper      I


(Kuyper is discussing in some detail the deterioration of the         said, "I am the truth." A group formed around
church. He has discussed this deterioration in various aspects        another rallying point in the church, even though it
of the  chkch's  life. In the last paragraph which appeared in the    might temporarily oppose the church, always in
Standard Bearer,  he discussed this deterioration in the govern-      fact remains a church and can never be called sec-
ment of the church.)                                                  tarian. But if a group forms a narrow circle which
48. Concerning Deformation By Means of Parasitic                      lifts out of the body of the truth a single point of
Plants on the Ecclesiastical Stem; or, Concerning                     doctrine and sets that up for its rallying point; or if
Sects.                                                                that group finds its common basis in a certain per-
   Sects almost always originate because of the fault                 son who is either still living or already dead; or if
of the church. This happens in a three-fold way. It                   that group seeks its real communion of the saints
happens, first, if the church permits a part of the                   outside the means of grace; then this group is sec-
truth to be obscured; this obscured truth seeks an                    tarian in nature and essence and must pass over by
outlet in a sect. Secondly, this happens when the                     inevitable development into the formation of an
church does not satisfy the need of the communion                     individual sect.
of the saints-a lack which in a sect finds satisfac-                    Mention must briefly be made of schismatic
tion in a different way. Finally, this happens when                   groups which mostly originate from grumbling dis-
the church lets the reins of discipline slip and by                   satisfaction over ecclesiastical administration of
this lets false doctrine reign. The church permits its                justice or which originate by exaggerated attach-
roots to shoot out for its own benefit, so that the                   ment to ecclesiastical externals. This kind of shoot
church lives almost exclusively for itself. This is                   has no root, quickly withers, and dies out. In the es-
one of the most dangerous deformations of the                         timation of the church, a schismatic becomes a dis-
Church of Christ which usually manifests itself in                    satisfied person when he works in a carnal way and
the milder form of a tendency towards sectarianism.                   indulges in unholy anger; while sectarian persons
Sectarianism compels each group which is already                      and the sects which come forth out of their unrest
in the church of Christ to form a separate circle,                    are almost always misled individuals who depart in
and in this way to choose another rallying point                      good faith. They are serious persons who are heav-
than that of the church itself. The rallying point of                 enly-minded, but  who,. partly by the fault of the
the church is the whole truth as it lives in Him Who                  church, partly by their own carelessness and


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                            165



stubbornness, do not listen to admonition. Thus,               those places where there is no longer any person
e.g., at the present time, perfectionism, just as the          who confesses the truth, no ecclesiastical ministra-
Ethicists,l  is only a sectarian movement in the               tion which still brings the means of grace, and
church, while Darbyism,  Irving&m,  etc., are sects            where each morning the sun rises and each evening
which already attempt to organize themselves inde-             the sun sets without a single knee bowing before
pendently and now live as parasites on the ecclesi-            King Jesus or a single tongue confessing Him.
astical stem.                                                  50. How the False Church Arises.
49. How the Church Finally Becomes a Sham
Church Through Deformation.                                      It is proper to distinguish, finally, between this
                                                          /    sham church and that most appalling of all defor-
  If one adds up all these departures in members               mations which ends in the appearance of the false
and in ministers, in the Confessions and in the                church or the church of antichrist. Still always the
means of grace, in discipline and works of  merck,             doctrine of antichrist is little developed in the
in the worship service and in church government.,              church and most people suppose that antichrist is
by sectarian groups and by sects, then everyone                of the same tenor as Satan. This is most positively
feels how these varied illnesses at last can affect the        not so. Satan sets himself over against God and imi-
life of the church in such a way that deformation              tates, in the desperation of his impotence, all that
takes over completely and the church dies. There ;is           God does, to see if he is able to succeed in destroy-
then nothing more in the church to be deformed be-             ing God's kingdom with God's own instruments.
cause all life is gone. Thus the sham church comes             The antichrist, on the other hand, refers to such a
into existence; i.e., the absolutely deformed church           person in whom Satan allows something similar to
which is leprous from the top of the head to the sole          appear as the Lord God allowed to appear on earth
of the foot; entirely white deep into the skin; all the        when He sent us the Mediator. Such antichrists are
living color gone without a trace of healthy flesh             many. in number and rise throughout all ages in so
upon which the poison of sickness can still work in            far as the unsuccessful and weak attempts of Satan
a destructive way. In such a sham church is peace,             to create an antichrist are called by the apostles
rest, quiet; but it is the quiet of the cemetery. It is        with that name. But also the real antichrist is he in
like a burned-out harp which is reduced to white               whom Satan shall be successful for awhile in carry-
ash and grey cinders. It is a corpse though not yet            ing out his deceitful appearance and criminal per-
decomposed. Such a sham church would be un-                    formance. Even as Christ has His church and King
thinkable if the church existed by itself. But it  is          Jesus His subjects, so Satan also attempts, always
sustained in that form for a long time, either by              imitating the work of God, to form a church for his
connections with other churches or by connections              antichrist and subjects for his false king. From this
with the state or by its property, possessions, rights,        proceeds a continuous effort of Satan to reveal an
or titles. If it existed independently of these things,        antichurch and an antichristian or false church.
then it would simply disappear after her candle-               Now Satan cannot do this by new institutions. He is
stick is taken away and would pass into a state of             too powerless for this. And so it happens that Satan
decay. But now through such church connection,                 again and again lies in wait to sneak into an existing
state connections, or legal connections, this sinking          church and to set up that church under a false ap-
away and decay is restrained; and such an institu-             pearance into its opposite. Just as in a naval war the
tion, which is nor longer (in any respect) a church,           enemy is sometimes on the lookout to board a de-
can yet maintain the appearance of a church. One               fenseless ship of the enemy, to throw the crew on
finds a skeleton, but a skeleton still neatly clothed,         this ship into irons, and to set its own people on it;
although with torn and soiled ecclesiastical cloth-            and then with. the battering ram or the artillery of
ing. Such a sham church one finds, e.g., in our East           the enemy's own ship, under a false and deceitful
Indies colonies where governmental authority and               flag, to sink the remaining ship, so also is the design
state money keeps the churches going. One finds                of Satan. For this reason he does not destroy the
them in North BrabanP where they, artificially cul-            church but rather makes it powerful. He does not
tivated, can never shoot out roots of their own, but-          take away its holiness but misuses it. They are in-
by the means of state salaries remain hanging like a           deed devouring wolves which he lets in, but these
withered flower on a nearby supporting stick. Fi-              devouring wolves appear from outside to be lambs;
nally, one finds them also in North Holland, in                thus apparently in innocence they walk around in
Groningen and Drenthe, perhaps also elsewhere in               lambs' clothing. This false church is then operated
                                                               by devils, but nothing of its devilish character ap-
  `The ethical movement in the Netherlands was a movement      pears because they present themselves as angels of
in the last part of the Nineteenth Century which stressed      light. This church is, to take an example of a sick
obedience to the law almost to the exclusion of grace.         person, not like the one suffering from consump-
  ZA province in the Netherlands.                              tion, who sinks into exhaustion, but much more


166                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



like one possessed, who strongly and maliciously,        tirely bound in the chains of Satan, and when Rome
while you try to help him, flies at you, grabs you by    drank the blood of God's saints, there was very
the throat, and kills you if God does not prevent it.    positively an antichristian power in her church
  Therefore there must be a sharp distinction made       organism. It, would be cowardly and unspiritual not
between real churches of Christ who become de-           to dare to express this. On the other hand, whether
formed; between sham `churches who cease to be           the Romish church as such was so entirely and last-
churches of Christ because deformation has run its       ingly forsaken by the Holy Spirit, whether the Pope
course; and between false churches in whom defor-        was actually the antichrist, was a question which
mation only serves to call into existence a Satanic      was answered in 1603 by the French Church at her
counter-reformation.                                     Synod in the affirmative; but the Reformed
                                                         churches, here and elsewhere, would not incorpor-
  Our fathers confessed concerning this false            ate this idea into her confession at Dordtrecht, even
church that, "She ascribes more power and                though they knew what the French Church had
authority to herself and her ordinances than to the      done. Clearly our fathers did not want this absolute
Word of God, and will not submit herself to the          expression even though they were inclined to it;
yoke of Christ. Neither does she administer the          and, on the contrary, continued to recognize the
sacraments as appointed by Christ in His Word, but       baptism administered in the Romish church as a
adds to and takes from, as she thinks proper. She        valid sacrament; and because the sacrament is
relieth more upon men than upon Christ; and per-         nothing without the working of grace, they there-
secutes those, who live  holily according to the         fore confessed that also in these entirely degenerate
Word of God, and rebuke her for her errors, covet-       churches the grace of the Lord was still working.
ousness, and idolatry."
  In the meantime this false church has also               If we take the position of our fathers then it
distinct degrees of falsity. Just as a possessed         follows from this that there are partly falsified and
person can be possessed by one or by one million         to this extent, false churches; but the absolutely
demons, so also a church can be diverted by greater      false church, i.e., the complete manifestation of the
or lesser subtilties of Satan. And in the same way,      church in which Satan shall attept to celebrate his
just as there were possessed people who could still      final triumph over Christ, has thus far tarried.
call to Jesus and whom Jesus loosed from their             May God Almighty preserve us that our
demons at their prayer, so there can be churches         churches never serve as an instrument of Satan and
which can be in part and for a time instruments of       that Satan never animates our churches with his
Satan and which the Lord can yet set free from           demonic influence. Never become yourselves con-
Satan's work at a humble prayer.                         fessors of the Lord, possessed by the evil one, but
  We must also on this point be on our guard             may our heavenly Teacher and sweet Comforter,
against hasty judgment. Undoubtedly the church of        God the Holy Spirit, live, work, and pray in us as in
Christ, in the day when Luther arose, lay almost en-     His lawful temple!


                                        Book Reviews

THE CHRIST OF THE COVENANTS,  by 0.                      ship, it has taken many years for other theologians
Palmer Robertson; Baker Book House, 1980; 308            to catch up with him and recognize the Scriptural
pp., $9.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko).        soundness of his view.
  It is rather striking that in theological circles,       This book, written by the associate professor of
perhaps especially among Presbyterians, there is an      Old Testament theology at Westminster Theologi-
increasing awareness of the truth of Scripture that      cal Seminary, is such a book. It is in most respects
the covenant of grace is a bond of friendship and        an excellent book and ought to be purchased and
fellowship. More and more the traditional view of        read by anyone who is interested in the truth of the
the covenant as an agreement between God and             covenant of grace. It is clear, concise, and easily
man is being criticized and abandoned. While Rev.        read, though it deals with many profound truths.
Hoeksema maintained for over fifty years that the          Some of the elements of the book which make it
idea of a covenant as an agreement was contrary to       particularly worthwhile are these: his rejection of
Scripture and while he did pioneer work in the idea      the idea of the covenant as an agreement and his
of the covenant as a bond of friendship and fellow-      definition of it as a bond (p. 15); his clear  descrip-


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   167



tion of the unity of the covenants in chapter three;                      more time in developing the positive idea of the
his repudiation of the traditional view of the pacturn                    covenant as a bond. The book is very sketchy in
salutis  (p. 54) and his criticism of the traditional                     this area. While there is a great deal of apologetic
view of the covenant of works (p. 55); his emphasis                       against Dispensationalism (and most of it very
on the unilateral character of the covenant in                            good), the positive truth of Scripture gets somewhat
connection with the establishment of the covenant                         short attention in the process.
with Abraham as recorded in Genesis 15; his                                  Nevertheless, we welcome the book and recom-
detailed discussion of the development of the                             mend it to our readers.
covenant  in.the history of Israel, the prophets and
the New Testament fulfillment; his treatment of the                       SHE SHALL BE CALLED WOMAN, by Francis
sign of the covenant in the Old Testament (circum-                        Vander Velde; Kregel Publications, 1980; 258 pp.,
cision) and its fulfillment in  the. New Testament                        $4.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)
(pp. 148ff).                                                                 First published in 1957, this book has gone
   If there are any weaknesses in the book, they are                      through eleven printings and one revision. It is a
relatively minor. In a footnote on page 123 the                           book which treats, rather briefly, the chief women
author brings up the question of the offer of salva-                      in the Bible. It is generally faithful to Scripture and
tion in connection with II Peter  3:9  - a context in                     should prove of inspiration and help to many of our
which such a discussion scarcely fits. It seems as if                     covenant mothers. It is not strong in doctrine, but
the author is intent on showing that he holds to the                      emphasizes, rather, moral precepts. Its greatest
offer, even when there is no need for him to make a                       weakness is probably that there is insufficient
point of it. On pages 263, 264 there is a serious                         emphasis on the  faith of these godly women-the
historical error: the author says that Elisha the                         chief reason for their place in Holy Writ. Recom-
prophet "had been relaying the secret counsels of                         mended if read with proper caution.
the king (of Israel) to the Syrian adversary." The
historical record will show that it was exactly the
opposite. Elisha was revealing to the king of Israel                                       Take time to
the secret counsels of the Syrian king; and, as a
result it was the Syrian king who surrounded                                        read and study the
Dotham in an effort to capture Elisha.
   While perhaps not the main purpose of the book,                                  Standard Bearer
it would have been well if Dr. Robertson had spent



                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                         ANNOUNCEMENT
   On December 14, 1981, our beloved parents, ALVIN AND JOAN                Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, January
GARVELINK, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We are              13, at the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids.
thankful to God for the privilege of sharing this joyous occasion with    Material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of the
them and for the years He has given them together and with us. May        Stated Clerk three weeks prior to the convening session.
the Lord bless and keep them in the remaining years of their earthly
pilgrimage.

   "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the
God of our salvation." (Psalm  68:19)                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                   Rev. Julius and Joan  Vanden Hoek         The Adult Bible Study Class of the  Pella Protestant Reformed'
                                   Robert and Ruth Garvelink              Church expresses sincere sympathy to one of its members, Jake
                                   Leon and Terri Garvelink               De Vries, in the passing of his wife, JEANETTE.
                                   Richard and Sandra Honholt                "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm
                                   15 grandchildren                       116:15
                                   1 1 great-grandchildren
                                                                                                              Rev. G. Lanting, Pres.
                                                                                                              Mrs. Catherine Vander Wiel, Sec'y.

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The members of the.Ladies Society of the South Holland Protes-                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
tant Reformed Church wish to express their Christian sympathy to
Mrs. Elizabeth De Jong, Sarah, Denise, Marilyn, Janet, Pat De Jong           The Ladies Aid Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
and Becky Hanemaayer in the sudden loss of their husband,  father-in-     Church expresses their sincere sympathy to a fellow member Mrs.
law, and father, MR. ARTHUR DE JONG.                                      Irene Holstege in the loss of her mother, MRS. VAN  FAROWE.

   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."           "For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide
(Psalm 1 16: 15)                                                          even unto death." (Psalm  48:14)

                                              Rev. D. Engelsma, Pres.                                                   Rev. G. van  Baren,  Pres.
                                              Mrs. J. Lenting, Tres.                                                    Mrs. G. Hoekstra, Sec'y.


  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    SECOND CLASS
           P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                            POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                     GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.




168                                        THE  STANDARD BEARER




                            News From Our Churches

  The first part of this news column `will be            States has been received. The Foreign Mission
devoted to correcting an error,  -and reporting a        Committee, whose responsibility it was to see to
change of previously reported news items. First, in      this provision, closed their letter to the congrega-
the December 1 news we reported the availability         tion by saying, "We would like to take this oppor-
of the monograph, Reformed Education, written by         tunity to thank you and your congregation for your
Rev. D. Engelsma. All the information about that         liberality in supporting this cause. We covet your
little book was accurate; however, when we got           prayers for this work in Singapore."
around to telling you how to obtain it, we erred by                   ************
giving an incorrect address. Please send those
orders to: Reformed Education, 4190 Burton S.E.,           Our young people continue to be active. Those in
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506. Second, there has          the Grand Rapids area gathered on November 22 at
been a change in the date for church organization in     Southeast Church for a Thanksgiving Mass Meet-
Singapore. They have now set January 24 as the           ing. Rev. Haak was the speaker. The Young People
date for that special occasion. In this connection we    are planning a similar activity in Hudsonville on
have since learned from a Hull, Iowa bulletin that,      December 20 with Rev.  VanBaren scheduled to
"The name they have chosen is the Evangelical            speak. The  Doon, Iowa young people sponsored a
Reformed Church of Singapore."                           hayride, to which they also invited Hull's young
                                                         people. And, on November 28 the young people of
  As most of our readers know, one of the mem-           our South Holland, Illinois congregation sponsored
bers of this group of God's people in Singapore is       a pancake breakfast. This fund-raising project was
currently studying in our seminary, i.e., Mr. Lau        for the 1982 Young People's Convention.
Chin Kwee, who will be completing his studies this                    ****** ******
school year. Concerning the seminary activities of
Mr. Lau we quote the following from a bulletin of          In a recent discussion with  the'%&  Business
our Hope Church in Walker, Michigan: "We                 Manager, a number of interesting subscription facts
welcome the brethren who supply our pulpit this          came to light: For one thing, we have  fhree Jim
Sabbath, and a special welcome to Mr. Lau Chin           Dykstras that currently subscribe to  The Standard
Kwee. This morning Mr. Lau delivers his first            Bearer. Further, I was informed that four houses in
sermon since coming into the fellowship of our           a row on Moelker Avenue in Walker, Michigan,
churches. Although this will be a first for him in       receive our magazine. By the way, three of these
our land, he has for several years been the              have a last name of Dykstra and `they are not
shepherd for his beloved group in Singapore, the         closely related to each other. Finally, I learned that
GLTS. May we experience God's blessing today,            members of one home in South Holland, Illinois
and thank and praise Him for His goodness." The          receive four copies of the S. B. Apparently our publi-
occupation of one of our pulpits by one of Oriental      cation is so popular in that household that each
background is, to my knowledge at least, a histori-      member receives his own personal copy. Maybe
cal first for the Protestant Reformed Churches. We       others of us should consider this multiple-copy
may rejoice in this concrete evidence in our midst       approach. It might help solve the problem of who
of the catholicity of the Church of our Lord Jesus       gets to read the S.B. first in our homes, and at the
Christ.                                                  same time bring The Stundavd  Bearer closer to self-
  Finally in this connection we have learned from        support status. Incidentally, one wonders what the
numerous bulletins that more than enough money           mailman thinks each time he puts those four copies
for the physical provision of Mr. and Mrs. Lau Chin      of the  S.B.  in that South Holland mailbox.
Kwee for the duration of their stay in the United                                                          CK


