6                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D  GEARER
                              "_1____-.-     ---...-_ _.                --......^ .-.. ._.. --. .,... -.--.... ."--. .-".--.."--.......--... -__-___lll-
aaderplaats  was) al  hadden  gekocht. Het is dien  brae-                  way. And  the newness of this way is indicated by the
ders en zusters dus ernst. Dit alles sternt tot blijdschap.                fact, that He calls  &bram  from  h@ country and kin and
       Maar waarom zouden wij  het geen heerlijken tijd  vin-              brings him to the land of Canaan, isolating him and
den,  ais wij verwaardigd  worden  te strijden voor de                     making him a stranger in the earth. And it is of impor-
waarheid Gods? En dat het zoo  staat met ons,  daarvan                     tance to understand this isolation of Abram in its true
zijn wij heilig overtuigd.                                                 significance. not only for Abram personally, but as well
       Anders dan wij thans de waarheid verstaan en verkon-                for the future development of God's covenant in the
digen is zij in beginsel nooit geweest.                                    world. Why was Abram separated? What was the pur-
       God de Heere  alies. De mensch niets. Dat is ons pose ? What is the relation between the separation of
beginsel. Daarin ligt kracht en leven.                                     :2bram  and the spiritual isolation of God's people in the
       Als dat beginsel ons ernst is kunnen  wij verbiijd  zijn            world? What was the real nature of this separation?
ook temidden van strijd en moeite.                                         These questions must be answered in the light of the
       Dat beginsel zij dan ook onze geesteiijke lijfspreuk!               Word of God. Our entire conception of the Church of
       En dan voorwaarts !                                                 the new dispensation and, in fact, of the significance of
                                                            II.  13.       Goci's  covenant in the world as well as of the eternal
                                                                           future stands connected with the proper answer to these
                                                                           questions. On the one hand we feel immediately that it
                                       %                                   is extremely superficial and deprives this calling of
                   A B R A H A M ' S   C A L L I N G                       Abram of ail its significance to answer: God called Abram
                                                                           to preserve the true religion. The conception, if such it
       When God-calls Abram, first out of  Ur of the  Chai-                may be called, then is, that the surroundings of Abram in
dees  and later out of Haran and isolates him from his kin Ur of the Chaldees became  too dangerous, seeing that
and from his father's house to make him a stranger in a                    there was a general falling away into idolatry. If Abram
strange land, the history of the Covenant of God in the had remained in Ur, humanly speaking, he would have
world, enters upon a new dispensation. It is not a new                     succumbed to the strong temptations of his environ-
work that is begun with the appearance of Abram  od the ment, or, at least, with him the true religion would have
stage of the history of God's covenant: it is not a new perished. Such  a  conception is neither in harmony with
covenant that is established with him. For God's  core- rhe truth, for God does not have to separate His people
nant is always one and the same. With Abraham the in the local sense from the world to keep them and pre-
covenant of grace is not established for fhe first time, as                serve the fear of His name: neither is it in harmony with.
is often the impression. That same covenant God had the historic facts, for in Ur, where even Shem was still
established before Abraham with Shem and Noah, with                        living and where later Isaac and Jacob must seek their
Lamech and  Enoch and Seth, with Adam in Paradise,                         wives, there were still thousands of God's people, though
immediately after the fall. Xnd even the so-called "Cove- it is true, that in the generations of Terah people turned
nant of Works" (a very ugly name to express a beautiful to idolatry. We maintain, therefore, first, that the answer
relation  !>, though it cannot be placed on the same line belittles the significance of Abram's calling and, secondly,
with God's covenant as realized in Christ, does not differ that it is not true. God did not call Abram to preserve
with the latter in idea. God's covenant is always the reia- rile true religion by separating and isolating him from
tion of friendship and intimate fellowship between Him-                     the world. On the other hand, there is the answer of
self and His people, and as such it is always the same                      Premillennialism, maintaining rhat God in the calling of
essentially. But God's covenant passes through a his-                      Abraham separated a people unto Himself that will
tory. It has a history in the course of which it advances                   remain separate forever, not bnly from the world, but
and develops and ever approximates its ultimate realiza- also from the Church of all ages. According to that
tion as God determined it in His eternal counsel. God view, Israel remains a separate people, and God still has
purposes to bring His own covenant to the highest con-                      a special purpose with that people according to the
ceivable glory. To that end of glory all the history of flesh. It constitutes the real kingdom-people and Christ
His covenant must lead. Hence, there is development. is its King. True. when Christ appeared they did not
 And because of this fact we can speak of various dispen- recognize their King and rejected Him. And because
 sations of the Covenant of Grace, various periods in of this the Jews are temporarily rejected and are now in
which God deals with His people in different ways and                       captivity.      And while they are in captivity  the' Lord
brings His covenant to new manifestations and approx- gathers unto Himself another people in the interim of the
 imate realizations in the midst of the world.                              new dispensation. That new people is nor the  Kingdom-
       Thus it is with the period that is inaugurated with the              people, but it is the Body of Christ, the Church, the
calling of  .4braham,  and that reaches through the exist-                  Bride of the Lamb. But when that Church is gathered
     ence of Israel as a separate people in the midst of the in, and the Body of Christ shall be full, the Lord will re-
 world, to the new dispensation in Christ and His Spirit.                   turn to His old covenant-people and restore them and to
     A new period begins with this calling of the father of them the kingdom. According to this conception the
 believers. God begins to deal with His people in a new new dispensation, from the pouring out of the Spirit to


                                        T H E   STPLNDARD   B E A R E R                                                       7
 --".-..--              -.l--._ll__.."-... ^^- ..- -_ .-.. -                            -.-_            ___-  . .._ "~..^ ".-
  the return of Christ, is really an interval.  The  main line    frequently writes on one page what he overthrows again
' of God's covenant runs from Abraham to Christ and then          on a later page. Also this fact is a cause that it is not
  disappears for a while to reappear in  the future, when easy to discern the main line of his reasoning and deter-
 Christ shall deal once more with the Jews. That line             mine the main conception set forth and maintained in the
  does not concern the Church. On the basis of this con- book. And we may well doubt, whether there are many
 ception we lose the entire Reformed line of the truth.           of the leaders in the Christian Reformed Church, if any,
 For, in that case, there is no organic development. There that have really understood Kuyper, even though they
 is  nd essential relation between Israel and the Church.         make of "Common Grace" their chief foundation, as they
 The iine does not run through. We are not the children say. Surely, the Synod of 1924 gave  vei-y little evidence
 of Abraham and the Covenant is not established with us of a clear understanding of the matter on the part of the
 and our children. Then we lose every basis for  infant-          leaders of the Church, and a good deal of evidence, point-
 baptism. Surely, that is not the line of Scripture.  Chili-      ing in the direction of their ignorance and confusion with
 asm has no eye for the organic unity of God's work, for          regard to the matter. And this is' especially and first of
 the essential oneness of God's -covenant and people. It all true of the committee that synod appointed to give
 separates the Church of the new dispensation from that light on the subject.
 of the old, the New Testament from the Old Testament.               Yet, there is a main conception in the work. There
  It divides Christ between the Jews and the Gentiles. It is a fundamental  View that lies at the basis of all that is
 others  a most unreal and miserable conception of the his-       set forth in De Gemeene Gratie. And this fundamental
 tory of God's work throughout the ages. It is mechanical conception is most concisely and most briefly expressed
 instead of organic.                                              in the following quotation : "It was the  Heraut  that was
     But, strange though it may sound, this latter state- first to call the attention of Reformed Christendom on
 ment is also applicable to the conception of Abram's call-       more than one occasion to what Paul calls  "going on  unto
 ing offered by Dr. A. Kuyper, particularly in his work perfection,"  by expressing that the sum and substance of
 "De Gemeene Gratie." It also is mechanical and loses this important doctrine is nothing less than the teaching,
 sight of the organic unity of the work of God. For like that particular revelation and, therefore, also particular grace,
  Chiliasm Dr. Kuyper also speaks of an interlude, an             h+ the significance  only  of an interval  (of something that
 interact, an interval between the acts. Only, while Pre- is put in between, of a scene between the acts, H.  H.`),
 millennialism points to the new dispensation, the  "dis- and that not particular revelation, but the ordinance of
 persation of the Church," as the interval, Dr. Kuyper creation is the lasting and permanent thing." De  Gemeene
 finds such an interval in the separation of Abram and            Gratie, I, 329. Now let us get the contents of the state-
 later in the isolation of Israel. And, in fact, in harmony       ment, in which the author himself underscored, clearly
 with this view, he looks upon the entire work of grace in before,our mind. Not what God revealed in His Word
 the world as a great interval between creation and the           (particular revelation), not what He does in the work of
 ultimate perfection of all things. And it is more particu- grace in Christ, but the work of creation and its ordi-
 larly `to this  conckption of Dr. Kuyper, with which we nances are of chief importance,  the'ordinance  of creation
 cannot agree and which we consider almost as poor as             is permanent. The rest is an interval, a thing of passing
 that of Chiliasm, that we must call attention in this con-       importance, a means to an end. This gives us the key to
  nection.                                                        Kuyper's conception. It is as follows. In the beginning
     It is not an easy  inatter  to determine just what  Kuy-     God established creation as the work of His hands. In
 per taught and exactly how he conceived of things from           that work of creation He revealed and glorified His
 his work "De Gemeene Gratie". This work, which has Name. That original work of God is the chief thing. The
 been well-nigh idolized of late as one of the most im- maintenance of that work and its original ordinances is
 portant contributions to Reformed Theology, is char- His main purpose. But the devil enters upon the scene
 acterized in the first place by being very elaborate in its      and attempts to deprive God of the glory of His Name.
 reasoning. The reasoning might easily have been abbre- Sin enters thru his temptation. The curse of God
 viated to such an extent, that the material which now descends. The original ordinance of creation is disturbed.
 fills three large volumes would be confined  to one volume, Its beauty is marred. If the devil reaches his purpose he
 considerably smaller than any of the three now existing.         will subject all creation to himself. His deliberate at-
 The result is, that it is not always clear what is  rwlly        tempt: was to spoil God's work. But it is God's purpose
 the main conception of the entire work. In the second            to frustrate this attempt of the devil and to keep His
 place it is also true, that the work is often confused and       wor'k. He purposes to restore it. And this restoration
 frequently contradicts itself. For examples of this we will, when completed, be a return to the original state
 may refer to our "Van Zonde en  Genade.`;         The cause of things essentially, to the ordinances of. creation as
 of this is probably, that the attempt, the impossible at- originally established. The author most likely does not
 tempt, is made to reconcile Common Grace with the Re- mean that the future state of things will be like the
  formed conception that "Grace is Particular." In the original creation in every detail. But it will be essentially
 desperate struggle, which is clearly noticeable throughout the same. Perhaps we may state it in this fashion, that
  the entire work to establish this harmony, the author           God maintains and carries out `His original purpose with


8                                                      T H E   ST(j1U'DAl?D   REA'RER
 I.- ........l....ll.  -_I_- --- ...".."----l_._--  ..-- II ._- 2. -t......  .._..  ".""."   "____ll   -"  - .".--.. ._l .."
creation in such a way. that He reaches the. very same                                     horror, the world was changed into a spectacle of sin and
end which He  would  have reached had the devil never                                      misery. Neither this human nature, nor human life is  '
entered into the world and had sin never come. Now,                                        subject to any improvement any more, and the eternal
all that lies between that original state of creation and its                              woncler of God's Grace is, that a few souls are saved.
final perfection is an interval, an act between the acts,                                  For these salvation has been set apart and prepared in a
an interlude. There is in the first place the power of                                     separate circle. All the rest of mankind God abandons.
common grace. which keeps all things in existence and                                      Whatever else may develop upon and in the world is
prevents universal destruction.  Tf it had not come all                                    from the Evil One, and only in that separate circle the
thin,? would have become hell or something similar, and                                    Lord works. Within that circle salvation has been
God's purpose would have been frustrated. But by the                                       established and all the conditions that must be complied
power of common grace all things are not only preserved,                                   with for the salvation of souls have been fulfilled. Such
but also continue to develop according to the  ori-ginal                                   souls that are saved must be ingrafted into that narrow
ordinance of creation. Common grace is really the main                                     circle. Thus it will continue till the end.  And then
thing. And on the basis  of. this common grace appears                                     judgment comes. A judgment in which our human na-
special grace, which serves the purpose of delivering and                                  ture, our race, our entire human life with all the world
restoring all things. Thus it is clear, that God reaches disappears; and then  the. eternal Kingdom will consist
His purpose and that He maintains the original ordinance                                   in this, that those individual souls that are saved shall
of creation, while all the rest is interval. And when all                                  shine as glorious spiritual beings around the throne of
is over and God shall have completed His work, the out-                                    G o d .
come will be `His developed creation, according to the                                          "This false fundamental view, however, finds itself
original ordinance, now developed and perfected in spite                                   opposed by an entirely different fundamental view based
of the attempt of Satan to frustrate God's purpose.                                        on Scripture. And this true, Scriptural conception teaches
       Such is  Kuyper's fundamental conception.                                           us that Satan did  not  frustrate the work of God but  only-
       And in harmony with this conception is his interpreta-                              bedimmed  the glory of it for a time; that God, far rather
 tion of  hbram's  calling and the isolation af Israel from                                than abandon our human nature, our human race and our
 the nations of the world. Adcording to his presentatipn                                   human life to Satan continued to deny Satan the right of
of the matter,  tlie first eleven chapters of Genesis deal                                 possession over His rich creation and will finally wrest
almost exclusively with common" grace, with the mani-                                      it from him again. `And that God for that  purpose,ac-
 festation of that power of God, whereby the world is complished two things. First that He restrained the full
preserved and develops according to the original ordi- development of sin in our nature, in our race and in hu-
 nance of creation. But with the twelfth  chapveer Scrip-                                  man life; and secondly, that He prepared, worked out and
 ture begins to strike an altogether new note. It speaks                                   finished His particular grace in a separate circle. That
 of Abram's separation and busies itself with the partic-                                  He, when this isolation had served its purpose, entered
 ular line of His people. It seems that all of a sudden  He                                into the world with His salvation, meant for the world,
 abandons the world and is interested only in the covenant                                 for our race, for every one that would believe, and sub-
 of grace.  .4nd this particular line is maintained through jected the main current of the life of the world to the
 the history of Israel in the old dispensation and continued dominion of this salvation, in order to claim out of all
 till the coming of Christ. The line of  commdn  grace is                                  nations His elect and for the service of these elect and
 lost out of sight for two thousand years. But this is only to His own glory to claim all human life for Christ. That
 for a while. For in the new dispensation the large and                                    hence there is called into action a crisis, proceeding from
 broad universal Iine again appears, and once more it                                      the  leaven  of the gospel and influencing all that is devil-
 becom,es apparent, that it was not  God"s  purpose to save                                ish in the world. That this crisis will terminate in the
 a few souls, or even a single nation, but that it is His                                  last judgment. And that then our nature,  .our human
 intention to maintain the original ordinance of creation,                                  race, our human life, according to soul  and body togetl-ier
 also  in'this respect, that all the families of the earth are                              with the renewed earth, shall appear as saved, in order
 saved. The isolation and separation of Abram from his                                      that, after the unbelievers have been damned, the original
 kin and country and the specific dealings of the Lord with                                 work of God may eternally bloom in glory before His
 Israel constitute an interlude, an interval between the Throne."
universalism of the covenant with Noah and the  univer-                                          And with regard to the application of this lathr view
 salism of the new dispensation.                                                            to the calling of Abram Dr. Ruyper writes as follows:
       To show that we are not misrepresenting the author                                        "With the twelfth chapter of Genesis theri discloses
 we  GilI quote again from De Gemeene Gratie, I, 349, 350:                                  itself a new vista in the narrative of Scripture. PLbraham
       "TWO   fmidamental views stand in opposition to each                                 now appears, and with this father of believers the narra-
 other in this respect.                                                                     tive leaves suddenly the track of  "common grace" in
        "The one is that Satan, by entrapping man in the                                    order to turn to that of "particular grace." The first
     snare of sin, did frustrate the glorious work of God in                                eleven chapters treated of the world and the human race
     creation. As a result of the fall the human nature is                                  in general. but in chapter twelve the riverbed is suddenly
     now entirely corrupt, human life has become one great                                  narrowed down and in the narrative the stage of history


                                                                T H E   STXNDARD  B E A R E R                                                    9
_ _ _ _   -.--  -...-              ._-._ -^-- ._.......__ ""                  "..      -.
isrsuddenly  confined to Palestine and that of our human                                         DE GELOOVIGEN EN HUN ZAAD
race to Israel." And in a later chapter the author con-
tinues to show, that all this is only an interval? an inter-                                 De slotsom, waartoe we kwamen, in het bespreken van
act between the acts. (See: De Gemeene Gratie I,  31-3,                              de vraag, of dan alles, war Israel heet ook waarlijk Israel
313, 334 ffj. And he even offers the following illustra-                             in den geestelijken zin des woords geacht kan  worden,
tion for his conception of the matter:                                   .           was, dat we de organische voorstelling van Gods  ver-
    "Retken the root and the crown of the olive tree the                             bondsvolk, zooals het  zich in deze wereld openbaart,
enclosed trunk is as it were interposed. That trunk is                               moeten  handhaven. Gods volk in deze wereld, zooals
isolated by heavy bark and has no communion either het werkelijk bestaat en  zich ontwikkelt in de lijn der
with the soil or with the air. But you must not judge                                opeenvolgende geslachten, mag niet beschouwd en  be-
the olive tree by its isolated trunk, enclosed within its                            handeld  worden  als een gemengde hoop. Oak mag de
bark, but rather by its root and crown; for it has its life                          voorstelling geen post  vatten. dat we mogen  veronder-
from the root and in its crown you find its fruit.  NOW stellen, dat alles in de gcmeente uitverkoren en  weder-
both, root and crown, are not isolated but have com-                                 geboren is. Het eenigste, dat overblijft, is, dat we de
munion, the root with the soil, the crown through its organische gedachte, die ook altijd weer door de Heilige
countless leaves with the air and the sun. Thus it is also                           Schrift   aan de hand wordt gedaan, vasthouden. Gods
with the plant of salvation. In Abraham lies the root,                               volk in  deze  wereld wordt in de natuur afgebeeld door
in Christ's Church the crown and between the two lies een plant, waarvan sommige takken vrucht  dragen,  an-.
the heavily enclosed and isolated dispensation of Israel as                          dere met. Ge kent zulke planten. Denk  b.v. maar aan de
a nation." I,  340- 341.                                                             onder ons zoo welbekende tomato-plant. Ge  hebt daar
     Now with all this we do not agree, for it is not the e&r organisme, opbloeiend uit eenzelfden wortel. Ge-
conception of Holy Scripture, neither is such a conception                           heel dat organisme noemt ge met den naam van de
IO the glory of God. In the first place we do not agree                              vruchtdiagende plant. -41s zoodanig wordt het bemest,
that the original ordinance of creation is the main thing                            ontvangt het den regen en de zonneschijn.  Maar  als nu
and that the Lord by His work of grace in Christ accom-                              straks dat organisme dier plant  zich heeft ontwikke!.d,
plishes nothing more than this, that He maintains and                                dan ontwaart ge, dat daar  tech  twee&-lei  takken  uitschie-
carries out this original ordinance of creation in spite of ten  aan die eene plant. Daar zijn vruchtdragende  tak-
satan and sin. How, if such would be the true concep- ken, maar daar tusschenin, uitschietende  aan denzelfden.
tion, would we account for all the suffering and death,                              stam, vindt ge ook zuigers en peilers, die we1 hun levens-
and for the final damnation of millions, if nothing more is                          sappen mede uit de plant trekken, en tech nimmer vruch-
attained than the original purpose and ordinance of crea-                            ten dragen. Zulke  peilers en zuigers worden  dan ook uit-
t;on ? If, what now shall appear in the end as the re-                               gesneden, opdat de goede takken meer vrucht mogen
newed creation might also have been attained without dragen.  Zoo vindt ge het bij vele  planten.  Zoo hebt ge
sin and without all this suffering and death, Satan can het bij komkommer en wijnstok. En daarin hebt ge het
claim after all a signal victory! Such a conception is Schriftuurlijke beeld van het volk des Heeren, zooals het
dualistic. In the second place, we do not agree that the                             in deze wereld bestaat. God  vormt'zijn verbondsvolk
work of grace in Christ is only an interval, serving only                            in de lijn der geloovigen en hun zaad. Als zoodanig
to restore the original glory of the world. It is the chief                          vertoont het het beeld van zulk een organisch geheel.
thing and the world is only the stage for its realizaiion.                           Wie dan ook zou  weige'ren om dat volk met den naam
In the `third place, we do not agree, that in the first                              van Gods volk te`noemen, als Gods volk toe te spreken.
eleven chapters of Genesis Scripture deals with man and                              als Gods volk den rijkdom van Gods beloften in  Christus
the world in general and that the particular line begins                             toe te zeggen, als Gods volk te wijzen op hunne  roeping
with Abraham. Also those first chapters deal with the als zijnde van de partij des levenden Gods in het  midden
realization of God's covenant of grace, ,4nd so, finally, d.er wereld, maar liever zou  willen  behandelen als een
we cannot agree  thatthe calling and separation of Abra- gemengde hoop, zonder eenig geestelijk karakter of stem-
ham and Israel constitute only an interval, a scene be-                              pel, vergist  zich  we1 deerlijk. Wie  aan den anderen kant
tween the acts. They are a. further development and echter nu zou mcenen te mogen veronderstellen, dat er
manifestation of the covenant of God, Whose counsel                                  gansch geen onwedergeborenen en verwoipenen onder
~1~~11 stand and Who shall do all His good pleasure.                                 dat volk bestaan, en daarom zou weigeren dat  volk het
      How do we, then, conceive of things? We must leave                             wee toe te  roepen,  zoo het niet wandelt in de  paden van
the answer to this question for a later article.                                     Gods  verbond,   vergist  zich evenzeer. Neen, geheel dat
                                                                        H. H.        volk hebt ge als het Israel Gods toe te  spreken?  te  behan-
                             i.                                                      delen, te vertroosten en te vermanen. En  tech moogt ge
                                                                                     daarbij `nimmer vergeten, dat niet alles Israel is, wat
              Yes keep me, keep me, for myself                                       Israel genaamd wordt. Er zijn takken, die  nimmer
                         I cannot, cannot keep :                                     vrucht  dragen,  die stinkende vruchten voortbrengen en
              Keep  mc by day,  keep  me by night                                    die straks  worden  afgesneden.
                         0 Thou who dost not sleep.                                          Dezc voorstelling van Gods  VerbondsvoIk,   zoctals  bet


  14                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  dat de doop allcen mag worden  toegediend aan personen,                  THE  TYPOLOGY  OF SCRIPTURE
  die  zelf kunnen belijden het eigendom van  Christus te
  zijn. Wij staan dan sterk ook tegenover het  Remon-                            The Institution of Marriage
  strantisme, ook tegenover dat Remonstrantisme, dat in
  de gemeente-prediking een algemeen welgemeend aanbod               The scripture upon which we were dwelling is the
  van genade wil zien. In plaats daarvan staat de zaak            third verse of the eleventh chapter of the first epistle to
  zoo, dat heel de gemeente bearbeid wordt,  flat heel de         the Corinthians. It reads:  "But I would have you  know
  gemeente Christus wordt verkondigd en de beloften Gods          that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the
  in Hem,  dat heel de gemeente vermaand wordt, om te             woman  is the man; and the head of Christ  is God." The
  wandelen in de wegen des Heeren en  als vrienden Gods           closing paragraphs of our former article were devoted to
  in het  midden der  wereld'te  wandelen,  doch dat dit alles    the assertion that the man is the head of the woman.
  nooit genade is of  worden  kan, of ook  als genade  be-        Our closing remark was that from this assertion it may
  doeld kan zijn door den Heere, dan  alleen voor den  ver-       not be  dedpced  that the man and not Christ is the head
  koren kern, waarnaar heel de gemeente wordt genoemd.            of the woman.      Christ, so it was maintained, is the
  terwijl de andere takken  worden afgesneden.  Oak in de         Prophet-Priest-King of the woman as well as of the
  gemeente is de prediking eene reuke des levens ten  le-         man. He rules and teaches her through His Spirit and
  ven, zoowel  als eene.reuke des doods ten  doode.      Oak      His word as well as him. Also for her and in her stead
  staan we met deze  beschbtiwing sterk tegenover  dezul-         did He officiate at the altar as her Priest. Christ is her
  ken, die eene veronderstelde wedergeboorte van  alle  kin-      life as well as the  man's.  For her sins, too, His blood
  deren zouden  leeren. Want die  leeren wij  juist niet.  Oak    serves as a covering. These are works which Christ
  kan  zulk eene veronderstelling in het  licht der  Schrift      alone can perform.
  en der werkelijkheid nimmer  worden  gehandhaafd. Neen.            The fact remains, however, that the assertion to the
  wij verstaan, dat er ook vleeschelijk zaad is, dat  tech        effect that Christ is the head of every man, and man is
  tijdelijk onder dezelfde bearbeiding  valt, als die der  ge-    the head of the woman, does imply that to a certain de-
  heele gemeente, naar den wille Gods. Wat Gods  doe1 is gree and in a certain respect Christ functions as the head
  met dit vleeschelijk zaad in de gemeente. en dat de  in-        of the woman in and through the man. Calvin felt rhis
  vloed is, die er op dat vleeschelijk zaad, krachtens hunne also. His comment reads as follows: "There is some-
  saamhoorigheid met de gemeente. uitgaat, zien we later.         what more of difficulty in what follows. Here the man
. En zoo zal het ook  we1 duidelijk  zijn! dat het juist niet is placed in an intermediate position between Christ and
  onze beschouwing is, dat  allen hoofd voor hoofd in de the woman. Yet the same apostle teaches us elsewhere,
  zichtbare gemeente uitverkoren zijn en wat er ook in de         (Gal. 3 ~28) that in Christ there is neither  mde nor  jemale.
  gemeente-prediking, naar onze overtuiging, plaats is voor       Why does he make a distinction here, which. in that
  het verkondigen van een eeuwig wee, voor degenen, die           passage he does away with.? I answer that the solution
  niet naar den regel van Gods. verbond  willen  wandelen.        of this depends on the connection in which the passage
                                                     H. H.        occurs. When he says there is no difference between the
                                                                  man and the woman, he is treating of Christ's spiritual
                                                                  kingdom, in which individual distinctions are  n&t re-
                                                                  garded, or made any account of; for it has nothing to
                                                                  do with the body, and has nothing to do with rhe outward
                                                                  relations of mankind, but has to do solely with the mind
                    ANNOUNCEMENT                                  --on which account he  decIares  that there is no differ-
                                                                  ence, even between bond and free. In the meantime he
                                                                  does nor disturb civil order or honorary distinctions
        After the annual membership meeting held on Sep-          which cannot be dispensed of in ordinary life. Here, on
                                                                  the other hand, he reasons from outward propriety and
  tember 13th the newly elected Board made a change in            decorum-which is a part of ecclesiastical polity. Hence,
  the office  CJf  the manager. The work heretoforc per-          as regards spiritual connections in the sight of God. and
  formed by Mr.  `J'. H. Vander `Vennen as manager has            outwardly in the conscience, Christ is the head of the
  been divided between three members of the Board acting          man and of rhe woman without any distinction, because.
                                                                  as to that, there is no regard paid to male or female;
  as manager, treasurer and assistant treasurer.  :!I1 dona-      but as regards external arrangement and political de-
  tions, membership fees and subscription  dues  should be        corum, the man follows Christ and the woman the man.
  forwarded to Mr. Frank Prins, Treasurer, 1119 Fulton            so that they are not upon the same footing, but, on the
                                                                  contrary, this inequality exists. Should any one ask,
  St., N. E., Grand Rapids,  1Mich.                               what connection marriage has with Christ, I answer that
                                                                  Paul  speaks'here  of the sacred marriage of pious persons,
                               J.  DOEZESI.$ Manager.             of which Christ is  rhe officiating priest, and He in whose


                                           THE  STAND-AKD   `BEAF5ER                                                             15

     name it is' consecrated" (Commentary on the first epistle       woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of
     to the Corinthians).                                            the woman;  bur the woman of the man. Neither was
        Also, according to Calvin, the Scripture in question         the man created for the woman  ; but the woman for the
     implies that the man is placed in an intermediate posi-         man . . . . . Nevertheless, neither is the man without the
     tion between Christ and the woman. The civil order  a'nd        woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
     honorary distinction of ordinary life were not dispensed        For as rhe woman is of the man, even so is the man also  0
     of with the advent of Christ. Yet in Christ there is            by the woman; but all things of God."
     neither man nor woman. The woman, then, is subordi-                The first matter to be settled is whether the terms
     nate to the man and at once his equal. Christ is her            man  and  womatt  signify Adam and Eve only, or every
     head directly, and also in and through the man. It is           husband and every wife. The assertions "For the man
     plain that we have happened upon a problem the solution         ought not to cover his  hea<"  and "even so is the man by
     to which is not merely the fact that tlie  headship  of         (`dia' and not  `ek') the woman" plainly indicate that in
     Christ and that of the man, as well as the spheres to           this particular portion of his epistle, he addresses every
     which each belong, differ as to character. But let us, for      man and every woman. For not only Eve, but  every
     the present, set aside rhis matter and delineate upon the       woman is the glory of rhe man and every man is  by  the
     character of the  headship  of the man. In our delinea-         woman. Throughout this passage it is the male and the
     tions we shall arrive at a point where the difficulty may female members of the race to which the writer alludes.
     be smoothed out.                                                According to this scripture, then, every woman is of
        The apostle asserts that the head of the woman is the        the man and subordinate to him for reasons presented
     man (I Cor.  11:3). The  context.plainly  indicates that the    above.
     term head of this particular scripture signifies a juridical       Ir is the plain teachings of Scripture that the man  is
     relation. Further  on in the chapter it is maintained that      the organic head of the woman, that is to say as con-
     the woman shall wear the veil in sign that she is under stituting with her one flesh. "Therefore shall a man
     the power of the man. However, in the surroundings of leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his
     the text may be found assertions which show that rhe            wife : and they shall be one flesh,' (Gen. 2  :24). The
     headship  of the man is based upon the peculiar  or?gin of      organic unity of husband and wife is constituted of the
     the woman. She is  of  the  man. "For the man is not of         following elements: (a) The possession of the same-na-
     the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was                ture as to kind, and that in virtue of the fact that the
     rhe man created for the woman but the woman for the             woman is of the  Gan. (b) The joining together of the
     man  ; but all things are of God,' (verses 7,  S}. God is       man, and the woman by the conjugal tie of which the
     the  first cause and the ultimate end of the woman.  .The       human nature possessed by both is the (creatural) origin.
     man is her creatural beginning and end. Hence, it is               The woman then is a derivative of the man not only'
     altogether proper that he, as to his legal status, be her       as to her nature but also as to her very being.          The
     superior and function as her King, Priest and Prophet.          Lord took one of Adam's ribs, and the rib which the Lord
        Since Eve was the only woman taken out of man, the           God had taken from man made He a woman. According
     question arises why the peculiar origin of this  ofie wo-       to the testimony of Scripture she is a bone of man's
     man should serve as the basis of the  headship  of the          bones ; flesh of his ff esh (Gen. 2 :21-24). IIowever,  of the
     man of every marital tie. We. present the following building material taken from man the Lord God made,
     answer taken, we are convinced, from Scripture. Of the          not another man, but a woman. Hence, although the
     first woman Adam was the  creaturd   origin.     Every wo-      woman derived her nature from man she nevertheless
     man is a replica of thar one woman, Eve. The male               was made to  exliibit that nature in a way in which it is
     members of the race on the other hand are not a repro-          not exhibited by man. She is woman. The man and the
     duction of an original type taken from the first man. Men       woman, then, although possessing the same nature as to
.    are the replicas of the father of the race through the in- kind are nevertheless diverse. The two united exhibit the
     strumentality of the woman (even so is the man by,  dia         image of God. So the Lord would have it.
     the woman>.      Whereas every woman is a being the                The (regenerated) husband and wife, once more, make
     original type of which is of the man,. and whereas every        up an organic oneness which includes at once "that the
     man is the replica of Adam, Scripture enjoins us (as we         two parties to the  compacr are spiritually-ethically one.
     see it) to regard every woman as being of that man to           The pious man is the head, the ruler, teacher and pre-
     whom she is joined by the conjugal tie. Whereas, then,          server of the entire body, and .consequently, of the woman
     every wife is of the husband and made for him, the              whose organic head he is. And the pious wife, joined
     Lord God ordained that every husband should be the              to her husband by the ties of love and faith, permits her-
     head of his wife.                                               self to be. governed and raught by her head-the man.
        The above view of the matter was derived, from Scrip-        She is subordinate to him in all things. His will is her
     ture. We present the following selection from I Cor. 11.        will. So the Lord would have it,  "Wiv.es  submit your-
     `<For a man indeed ought not to cover his head,  foras-         selves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For
     much as he is the image and glory of God; but the               the husband is the head of the  wife, even as Christ is


1                                                     A
      16                                             T H E   S.TXNDARI)   B E A R E R
                - --.... -.-.-_-_l_llll"..^^  ..-                                       -
      the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.         tiiied  this head or king, pressed him {the man) into his
      The husbands on the other hand are enjoined to love                (Christ) service and ordained that he (the man) should
      their wives, even as Christ also loved the Church,  and            represent Him, the Lord from heaven to the woman in
      gave Himself for it . . .  ."  (Eph.  5 :22-25).                   respect to such works as the creature, man. can perform.
            The man is the head of the  woman  and Christ is  also       Now it lies within the power of man to, rule and Co in-
     * her head. The question cannot be suppressed how the               struct, as the servant  of..Christ, the woman; to deliver
      .woman  at once can submit to the two heads or kings,              unto her Christ's Word and to instruct her from that
      --Christ and the man. Was it not Christ himself who in-            word. As head of the woman the man is not his own
      sisted that no one can serve two masters? Our reply  ,is           lawgiver. He rules according to the word of Christ, his
      that the two masters to which Christ alludes (God and              head,  as Christ's representative.  This is evident from the
      Mammon) are masters whose interests clash. To serve                fact that the woman submits herself to the man as  unto
      two such Lords at once is quite impossible. The servant            the Lord. Hence, the woman who rises up against a god-
      shall have to choose the one or the other. Christ and the          fearing husband rises up against Christ and ultimately
      pious husband, on the other hand, are friends having com-          against God as He is the head of Christ. Such are the
      mon interests.        Furthermore,. Christ is the head-the implications of that scripture which asserts that the
      Prophet-Priest-King of the man. Two masters so dis-                head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman
      posed and related to each other can be served at once.             is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Only in case
      For in this case, the service rendered unto-the one is of          the man would compel the woman to do things which
      necessity being rendered unto the other. From Eph. 5 :22           Christ does not sanction should she defy the authority
      we may learn that the woman who submits to the pious               of the man. "For it is, right in the sight of God to
      husband submits to Christ. The passage reads:  "Wives              hearken unto Him more than unto man" (Acts  4:19).
      submit  y,ourself  unto the husband  as  unto  the Lord."  That    The scripture last quoted means, it is plain, that Christ
      the woman submitting to her husband submits to Christ              entered life as it is lived by the natural man on this side
      implies that the man was placed in an intermediate posi-           of  the grave, sanctified that life and united it with God.
      tion between Christ and the woman. He functions as the             For God is the head of Christ wha in turn is the  head of
      head of the woman in Christ's name. Meyer's commen-                the man; and the man is the head of the woman. It is
      tary on this phrase reads as follows: "As  (00s in the             plain that he who denies that the man represents Christ
      Greek text) expresses the mode of view in which the to the-woman breaks the chain uniting heaven and earth.
      wives are to regard their obedience* towards the hus-                 It must be borne in mind, however, that Christ is also
      bands, namely! as rendered to the Lord. For the hus-               the head of the woman directly.  .\t first glance it may
      band stands in relation to the wife not otherwise than appear that we have involved ourselves in a contradic-
      as Christ to the. Church  ; in the conjugal relation the hus-      tion. If Christ is the head of the woman directly, how
      band is the one who represents Christ to the wife, insofar can He be her head indirectly in and through the man.
      as he is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the         This can be for the reason that man as the repre-
      Church. To find in  00s  the  mere relation  of resemblance is     sentative of Christ is the head  CJf  .the woman only in
      erroneous on account of what follows." In fine! Christ             respect to those things to which he as man is able to
      in the man is the head of the woman.                               attend. In respect to such things only is Christ head  of-
            It was also maintained by  us,  however, that Christ is      the woman indirectly in and through him. The man,
      the head of the woman directly. The question arises                however, cannot be to the woman what Christ is to her.
      whether it is possible for Christ to be the head of the            As head He is the wisdom, the righteousness, the sancti-
      woman directly, and -at once indirectly, in and through            fication, the redemption, yea, the very life of  the woman
      the instrumentality of  the man. Are not two such prop-            directly, that is not in and through the instrumentality
      ositions contrary? Indeed not. In replying let us set out of the man. This same idea is expressed by Calvin thus :
      with the assertion that marriage was instituted in Para-           "As regards spiritual connections in the sight of God, and
      dise before the fall. The parties united were the sinless          outwardly in the conscience, Christ is the head of the.
      man and the sinless woman of the garden of Eden.                   man and of the woman without: any distinction, because
      From the very beginning Adam was the head of the                   as to that there is no regard paid to male or female: but
      woman. So he was created and the woman was made                    as regards external arrangement and political decorum,
      a helper unto him. However, man fell. Sin entered the              the man follows Christ and the woman the man.  SO  that
      world and with sin the Christ-the Lord from heaven.                rhey are not upon the same footing."
      Adam, as some are wont to express it, fell into the arms              There is one more difficulty which should be removed.
      of Christ. From the beginning Christ functioned as the             `Holy Writ asserts that in Christ is neither man nor wo-
      Lord of the woman; yet in such a manner as to maintain             man. This scripture in order to be understood should be
      the lordship of the man relative to the woman. In other            viewed in the light  CJf  Christ's reply to the  Sadducee%
      words, the Lord from heaven did not deprive-the man of             which say there is no resurrection. T'c reads as follows:
      his authority. Had He done so He would have dissolved              "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of-
      the marital tie and destroyed the institution of marriage.         & d . For in the resurrection they neither marry nor arc
      Instead of dethroning man Christ regenerated and  sanc-            given in  m'arriage.  but are as the angels of  God  in


I                                                      T H E   ST,\N'DARD  E E A R E R                                                        17
     _^_-_   ^.._" ..."  --"-.- - .-.lll- __.-......."  ._-.. l.- _ _ _ _   -____.           _-I -        ._____^-.-..^"  -~-.. -          --...
     heaven"  (Matt. 22: 30, 31). Elsewhere we read: "`This                              The three unions are analogous. (a) Each has a
     scripture tnust be made to apply to  the disappearance of                        head. The head of Christ is God; the head of every man
     the lower sexual life; the disappearance  of the institu-                        is Christ; the head of the woman is the man.        (b) In
     tions of marriage: the dissolution of the marriage tie and                       each union the  part'y to which the head is joined is out
     consequently the emancipation of the woman.                          In the of the head. Christ according to his human nature is out
     resurrection the woman will not be the subordinate of of God in the sense that the human nature is God's crea-
     the man. As to her legal status she will  be his equal.                          tion. Every man is out of Christ and the woman is out
     The marriage bond dissolved at death will remain dis-                            of the man. (c) In each union the two parties possess
     solved. For both the woman and the man will come f&h                             the same nature. In a spiritual ethical sense Christ ac-
     out of the grave with glorified bodies. They will be  a&                         cording to His human nature possesses with God the
     the angels of God. The emancipation of the woman does same nature as to kind, not as to number. Christ as to
     not take place in this life. On this side of the grave she                       his human nature and every man possess the same nature
     and the man continue to live a natural, earthy life. This                        as to kind. Likewise the man and the woman. (d) Due
     life Christ enters not to glorify  but to  sanctifi it. The                      to the sameness of nature the two parties to each union
     glorification of the natural man will take place at  Chr&t's                     are spiritually and ethically one. God loves Christ. It
     return and not before. Until that day the woman shall is the. meat and drink of Christ to do the will of God.
     continue to submit herself to the man. Not sanctification                        Christ loves the Church-His bride, and the Church
     but glorification dissolves the marital tie. This truth cleaves unto Christ. Likewise  cloes the man love the
     Lindeboom seems to have lost sight of. The natural, woman and the woman willingly submits herself to the
     earthy, though sanctified man and woman are in Christ man.  (e) The head of each union is  as,the term head
     as man and woman and not as angels of God. It means signifies the ruler, teacher and preserver of himself arid
     that man continues to function as her head. Such are the the other party to the compact.
     plain teachings of Scripture. Likewise, ye wives be in                              One may also detect essential differences between the
     subjection to your husbands (Per.  1:3a).                                        three unions. -4s to the first and highest of the three,
         Let us now apply ourselves more in  part&&r to that                          Christ and God constitute a junction altogether peculiar
     scripture which tells us that in Christ is neither man nor                       to itself. Christ who according to his person is God,
     woman.  We have shown that this word may not be assumed our human nature and possesses together with
     interpreted to mean that regeneration and sanctification                         God the one single essence. The human nature of the
     dissolve the marital tie. The word does mean, however,                           second party to the union is joined to God by the person
     that she as an heir of eternal life is on a level with man. of the Son of God. Another peculiarity of this junction
     The fact that the woman is in subjection to the man does is that the first party to the union is the life source of
     not mean  that Christ bestows upon her, in this life and the human nature of the second party.
     in the life to come a smaller portion of His benefits. She                          As to the second union  the man  (including the wo-
     receives what the man receives, even in this life-re- man) or the Church constitutes the very body of Christ.
     generation and sanctification, forgiveness of sins,. wisdom,                     He is to His body what the vine is to the branches, viz.,
     knowledge and understanding. As the recipient of the the life-source. Christ dwells in His body, the Church,
     riches of Christ she is man's equal. The man is not through His life-giving spirit. The Church, however, is
     favored in preference to her. True, the woman is not not the personal property of the person of the Christ in
     emancipated on this sidk of the grave. No indeed, but the same way that the assumed human nature is. The
     neither is the man. He,  too! is bound to the woman as union between the Son of God and the assumed nature
     long as he lives a natural, earthy life. The emancipation                        is personal; between Christ and the Church, organical.
     of them both is inseparably  linked  up with their  glori!i-                        As to the third union the man and the woman consti-
     cation.                                                                          tute one body. According to Eph.  5  :ZS the woman is the
         Christ then takes no account of social distinction when very body of the man. "So ought men to  .love rheir wives
     he bestows His riches upon his sheep. These distinctions as their own bodies." The members to this union, too,
     are there only to disappear  in the life hereafter. And the constitute  an, organical unity. The man although the
     fact that these distinctions are destined to disappear im- preserver of this body is riot its life-source.
     plies that in principle they have disappeared even now in                           What are the terms signifying the features common
     this life.                                                                       to all three unions? The terms  harmony, unity,  co-upera-
         Thus we have been applying ourselves to three tio,n  as opposed to  chaos, strife, dissension.
     unions: that of God and Christ; that of Christ and every                            Comparing the three unions the one with the other
     man: that of the man and the woman. The last of the we are impressed by the fact that the junction of the
     three is an image of the first  tw6 ; and the union between                      sinless man and the sinless woman of Paradise was in-
     Christ and every man images in turn the union between                            deed an image of things heavenly.
     God and Christ. It follows, then, that there is an  anaiogy                         Keeping in our eye that God is the head of  ChJist
     `between one union and the other. However, since the                             and that Christ is the head of the Church we shall under-
     one union is but an image of the next higher, it follows                         stand Christ when He prayed: "And the glory  which
     that the three differ essentially.                                               Thou  gavest Me I have given them; that they may be


!!L...-"--..---."  .._.__" ._-.- ^^ lll.      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                   - .................._.I.I    ..^__ - ..."  ..-."  --....  ".            -__       - ..." ...^. ..-
one even as we are one: I in them and Thou in  Me.  that                          zend millioen dollar geschat, en sindsdien hebben  noa
they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may                            nieuwe dijkbreuken  plaats gehad . . . .  dat'alles schijnt
know that Thou hast sent Me, and Thou  lovest them as                              den gemiddelden Amerikaan koud te laten.               Hij kijkt
Thou hast loved Me" (John 17  92,  23).                                           met onverschillige kalmte toe, een kalmte, die  zelfs  bij
    The marital union in Paradise was an image of higher                          een man als Coolidge, den president, opvalt; die  tech in
heavenly unions. Man fell, however. The man and the                               dezen man we1 door een gevoel van bewogen deernis `ver-
woman revolted from God by the instigation of the devil vangen  mocht  wezen.                                      Niet  alzoo! Op het feestmaal,
and forfeited his excellent gifts; he entailed on himself                         waar hij dezer dagen aanzat met een duizendtal  jour-
blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity and perverse-                        nalisten, zeide hij over de grootste overstrooming, welke
ness of judgment, became wicked, rebellious, and obdur-                           zijn land teisterde, niet  e&n woord . . . . !
ate in heart and will, and impure in his affections. The                               Wij, Nederlanders,  tech ook in het algemeen kalme,
man and the woman of Paradise became totally depraved.                            nuchtere menschen, begrijpen die gelaten onverschillig-
They now hate God and each other. True, conjugal love                             heid niet. Hoe is het mogelijk, zeggen wij, en wij  be-
remained, but this love is as corrupt and impure as                               denken,   hoe heel ons land begaan is, als in Brabant en
man himself became. How can it be otherwise for the                                I.&burg  overstroomingen de  landen  teisteren;  als in
entire man fell. The unregenerated husband and wife                               enkele  seconden tijds een stadje  als Borculo tot een  puin-
hate each other. This hatred of the woman for the man                             hoop wordt gemaakt.
exhibits itself in her conduct. She refuses to submit                                  Hoe is  zulk een mentaliteit mogelijk? Het zal  we1
herself to her man but insists on asserting herself in life                       niet gemakkelijk zijn, hierop een antwoord te geven.
as an independent and distinct unit.  aence she clamors                           De Vereenigde Staten vormen een uitgestrekt land, en
for the ballot and for admission to the voting booth in the                       wat de menschen in het  Westen  bezig houdt, raakt die
Church and in the state. Sin converted the kind, loving in het Obsten maar weinig, of in het geheel niet. Boven-
husband into a tyrant. In a word, sin deprived marriage                           dien, al  Iran men van een Amerikaansch volk spreken,
of its original purity, holiness, love, peace, unity and                          het is nu eenmaal  tech samengesteld uit  verschillende
co-operation. In the place of these came corruption, im- rassen, en het vaderlandsch besef, dat andere volken zoo
purity, hatred, strife, dissension, division. It is plain that sterk hebben,  missen de Amerikanen veelal. Wellicht,
the union between  anlungodly man and woman is no dat dit deze eigenaardige onverschilligheid ietwat  ver-
image of the union between Christ and His Church and klaart.
between God and Christ. But Christ entered the life                                    Maar . . . . . hoe komt het dan, dat dit volk heel veel
lived by the earthy, natural man and sanctified it. Only                          voelde voor de getroffenen in Japan,  toen dit door een
the regenerated, sanctified man and wife and the union to geweldige aardbeving werd geteisterd? Hier is van  va-
which they are the parties, again image the heavenly                              derlandsliefde nu  eens  heel geen sprake, en dat te  min-
unions referred to above.                                                         der, waar juist JAPAN niet zeer gezien bij de  Amerika-
     We are now ready to apply ourselves to the Memoir nen is. Men ziet het: Zoo komen wij er met onze  rede-
of Ds. Lindeboom. We shall reproduce his reasonings in                            neering ook  niet.
the order in which he presents them. Our purpose is to                                 Maar' wellicht is het dit: de overstrooming  gaat  ge-
expose the fallacies of his arguments.                                            leidelijk voort  ; in het eerst werd een klein gedeelte land
                              (To be continued)                                   overstroomd ;  slechts  langzaam breidde de overstrooming
                                                                G. M. 0.          zich uit. En bovendien, mensc'henlevens gingen er niet
                                                                                  mee verloren, of zoo  goed   als niet. De ramp moge  ver-
                                                                                  schrikkelijk zijn, maar zij spreekt niet, het  dramatisch-
                  HET KARAKTER VAN HET                                            plotselinge ontbreekt, dat b.v. in 1906 de aardbeving van
                     AMERIKAANSCHE VOLK                                           San Francisco kenmerkte. Meer dan andere menschen
                                                                                  hebben de Amerikanen het meest oog voor het groote,
           En eenige van  zijn  trekken  en bepalingen                            het direct-overheerschende; dit is trouwens iets, dat
                                                                                  blijkt uit heel hun cultuur, waarin  alles  nu eenmaal  over-
     In  f'Timotheus"  van 28  Mei,  Il., kwam onder  "Ge- bluffend moet zijn.
 schiedenis van den dag" het  volgende voor omtrent het                                In het land van de  "wolkenkrabbers"  houdt men nu
 karakter van het Amerikaansche volk, dat vooraf reeds                             eenmaal van het machtige en her geweldige, en een ramp,
 werd nangeduid eenigszins  als van "onverschillige                                die voortsluipt, zal er, zelfs al is zij in haar gevolgen  mis-
kalmte" te  zijn..- "Het is inderdaad moeilijk,  zich een                         schien tienmaal ernstiger, niet den indruk  maken  van de
 inzicht te vormen van het karakter van het Amerikaan- ramp die  zich op de menschen werpt met de snelheid
 sche volk. Daar is door de overstrooming van de Mis- van een pantersprong.
 sissippi meer dan 1500 vierkante mijlen onder water  ge-                              Wat ons ook getroffen heeft, is de GESCHIEDENIS
 loopen,  een oppervlakte gronds, grooter dan  Belgig : en van  *deze  Mississippi ramp . . . . .
 tech kijkt een groot deel van het Amerikaansche  volk                                                                .
 onverschillig toe.                                                                    Intusschen:  de ramp zelve is  verschrikkehjk,  en de
     Eenige dagen  geleden  werd de  schade reeds op  dui-                         angst en vertwijfeling der honderdduizenden, die hier in


  22                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  .-"-"."  .._  _  .__  -."."-.  ----.  ^""."                                                                -.-.-. -. .."-
  dadighcid, dan is ons hart hier tamelijk  gerust in dat                     Bridegroom and the final victory.        It was then, that she
  opzicht; en  kunnen  wij  wel, zonder uit  onze voegen te                   eagerly turned her attention to the pages of the Apoca-
  geraken,  we1  ecn ander  woord van den  eerder  door ons lypse  ro learn what the immediate future might bring,
  aangehaalden Prof. Van Mourik laten  gelden:   "dat de and to receive comfort from the assurance that the Lord
  Amerikaan  naar Iichaam en geest gezond is te noemen, will surely come. Thus it was in the early church when
  en dat de lijnen van idealisme en humanisme in het Ame- believers were bitterly persecuted by the power of the
  rikaansche levcrr  we1 gezien worden:"                                      Roman Empire for the Word of God, and the testimony
        Wij  hopen  dat kroniek- en journaal-schrijvers in het of Jesus. The same phenomenon you may observe in the
  oude vaderland meer studie zullen  maken van ons  volk,                     period of the Reformation, again a period characterized
  en een  dieper  onderzoek  zullen   insteilen. een juister  oor-            by unrest and disturbance in almost every sphere, and
  deel vellen,  clan de door ons genoemde schrijver in  "Ti-                  by persecution of the church on the part of the Roman
  motheus" gedaan heeft.                                                      catholic hierarchy. Eagerly the attention of the church,
        Men heeft in het  kleine Nederland nog het voorrecht and especially of some sects, outgrowths of  Protestant-
  en het geluk, dat  c:le pers over het algemeen daar hoog                    ism, was turned to the books of Daniel and Revelation, in
  staat in moraal, nog vrij  we1  zich zelf is, niet "hoorig"                 order to obtain a view of the future, interpret the signs
  aan "baronnen", en voor beginselen en richtingen opkomt, of the times, and even predict with fair precision rhe date
  liever dan voor personen alleen het zwaard opneemt.                         when the Lord would return and the end of this dispensa-
        In dit stuk moet, dunkt ons, de Amerikaansche  dag-                   tion would be there. Thus it was during the revolu-
  blad- en magazijn-pers  dk vlag strijken voor de  "Durch-                   tionary period of the  latter half of the eighteenth and
  men".                                                                       the first half of the nineteenth century. Even the year
        En de Nederlandsche journalist of tijdschriftvuller zal               l&44  was definitely pointed out as the time set for the
  we1  doen onder het opstellen van "buitenlandsche  over-                    final catastrophe. And again in our own time we meet
  zichten" met deze Amerikaansche eigenaardigheden te                         with the same desire to understand the books of prophecy
  rekenen.                                                                    and to ascertain the general course history will follow
        Voor ons christenhart zal het ten  slotte aangenamer in the future. Numerous books are published that have
  zijn, dat men in Nederland minder Amerikaniseert op  al-                    the Return of Christ for their subject.  lMany an inter-
  lerlei gebied waar bezadigdheid en vrome christenzin  on-                   pretation of rhe book of Revelation leaves the press.
   afwijsbare eischen zijn, en men als klein  natie meer Many a sermon is preached on the subject that keeps
j zoekt uit te  blinken en  zich onderscheidt door kloeke                     the hearts and minds of thousands in suspense: The
openbaring van de gereformeerde waarheid op politiek                          Second Advent. And even on our street-corners many
  gebied en door nederige  navolging van de waarachtig an imposter pretends to possess the gift of prophecy, or
  heilaanbrengende leer des Heeren in het veelzijdige leven                   at least of interpretation, and assures us that in Emperor
   der maatschappij.                                                          William  II you have the historical realization of the
        Wereldmachten en dollarkoningen, schenkers van  reu-                  beast, and that with his downfall the power of Antichrist
  zengiften en politieke albedillers tot beschaming.                          shall have been crushed !*
                                                  G. VAN BEEK.                   This spasmodic interest in the  i?ipocalypse,  this tem-
                                                                              porary and passing, almost feverish, eagerness wirh which
                                                                              the church at times casts herself upon the interpretation
                                                                              of prophecy, is to a certain extent to be condemned. Far
         OP THE THINGS THAT MUST SHORTLY                                      better would it be, no doubt, if the church would  at'
                                     COME TO PASS                             all times make a quiet, normal study of prophecy. The
                                                                              church is enjoined to watch always. She knows not at
                      Rev. 1 :l-3.
                      "The  Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God  ga%        what hour the Bridegroom comes. It is but natural  ro
                 unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must        expect rhat the Bride will long for the return of the
                 shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his
                 angel unto his servant John:                                 Bridegroom, and that, therefore, she will continually
                      *`Who  bare record of the Word of God and of the        watch for His coming, and watch every sign that may
                 testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw.
                      "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the     herald this return of Him Whom her soul loveth. And,
                 words of this prophecy, and keep those things which          therefore, this occasional avidity, impassioned under the
                 are written therein: for the time is at hand."               stress of special times, to appropriate the contents of the
         X general study of the history of the church, from                   Apocalypse, is not to be approved of entirely.  It often
   the viewpoint of her interpretation of the Word and her                    leads to fantastic dreams of the future and wild predic-
   development in doctrine, will reveal the fact that there                   tions  with regard to the coming of the Lord. And be-
   were periods during which the attention of the church                      sides, it shows rhat the church in normal times failing to
   was riveted more than at other times upon the prophetic be on her guard, neglected more or less these portions of
   portions of Holy Writ. They were times of political up-                    the  ?3Jord. But though this is true, we wish to add im-
   heaval, times of stress and tribulation, times when the                    mediately that there is also something very natural in
   battle of rhe church was hard, and when naturally the
   longing became strong in her bosom for the return of the                      *This was written before the end of the World War,  1914-`18.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                              23
     ~.-""." ._____ -.                                                   ll_l__--~
     this periodic and spasmodic attempt of the church to the entire  boc.)k  is called Revelation. We understand im-
     understand prophecy. For the fact remains, that under mediately that the word Revelation is here employed in
     the stress of times the church is often awakened from            some special sense. For if ir were not the title would
     her slumbers and roused to the full consciousness of the         be superfluous. The whole Word of God is Revelation.
     fact that her Lord will return.  It is in times of  persecu--, In a very real sense the Bible may be called the Revela-
     tion, in times of danger, in times when the power of the         tion of Jesus Christ, for such it is centrally. And, there-
     world rages furiously, that she is forced to think of the        fore, when the last book of Scripture is called Revela-
     return of her Master more than otherwise. Jt is then,            tion, the word must have some special meaning. This
     moreover, that she begins to long for deliverance, for last book is Revelation in a sense not applicable to the
     that deliverance that will be realized when Christ shall other books of Scripture. The original word used here
     come again to judge the quick and the dead, and to               is very suggestive. It is the word from which our Apoc-
     establish His own kingdom in glory forever. And we alypse is derived. Literally it means: a removal of the
     may see in it a token of the grace of God, that in periods       cover: a taking away of that  .which covered something
     when the Church is most in need of the light of-the Apoc- else : a discovering, unveiling, uncovering of anything.
     alypse, is most in need, too, of the comfort there is in         It presupposes, therefore, that something was hidden
     the faith that presently the battle will be won, the Spirit      from the view of the church before the visions of this
     rouses her, and fixes her attention upon the books of book were revealed, and that thru this book that some-
     prophecy.                                                        thing is uncovered. What, then, is that something that
         It is, for that reason, without any apology, that we         is unveiled in the visions of the Apocalypse? John  rells
     also propose to interpret to the church the book of Reve-        us first of all that it is a Revelation of Jesus Christ. This
     lation. Many are the  .signs of the times, and they still        may express either of two ideas.        It may mean that
     seem to multiply rapidly. The period in  which we are            Jesus is the Author of this Revelation, that ir came from
-    privileged to live is of tremendous significance, no doubt.      Him, was presented by Him, and in that sense is of
     Every one anxiously rivets his glances upon the veil that        Him. But it may also express that Jesus Christ is the
     hides the future from our view, with the query in his            object of the Apocalypse. That He it is that is unveiled,
     heart and mind: What shall it be? The conflict of the            revealed. Now, neither of these ideas needs be excluded
     nations, still raging across the sea, no doubt reminds us        as impossible. Wet we prefer to emphasize the latter in-
     of the words of the Saviour spoken with reference to wars        terpretation as the correct one. In the deepest sense not
     and rumors  of wars. The social problem becomes Jesus, but God, is the Author of this Revelation. God gave
     a more serious and intricate one, while the social               this Revelation to Jesus Christ, according to the text.
     unrest and  dissatisfacrion  becomes more apparent every         He, therefore,  j, the Subject of it, its Author. In this
     day. And, last but not least, the general  apostacy of the       sense it is  `tthe Revelation of God, which He gave to
     church, of the masses, from Christianity itself, is a sign of    Jesus  Chrisr." :1nd, therefore, we prefer to understand
     still greater significance than the former two combined.         the phrase : "of Jesus Christ" in the objective sense of the
     Hence, we are forcibly reminded of the truth: The Lord           word. And then it expresses that in this last book of
     cometh!  We are admonished to be prepared to meet                Scripture we possess a Revelation concerning Jesus
     Him. We are enjoined not to be deceived by the allure-           Christ. Our Lord and Redeemer is. here revealed. But-
     ments and false expectations of the world, but to keep           we naturally ask: is there something special in this fact?
     the Word and the testimony of Jesus, that no one may             Is not all of Scripture, from Gen.  3:15 on, a Revelation
     take our crown. And, therefore, once again we say that it of Jesus Christ? -True. All Scripture, both of the Old
     is without offering an apology that we set ourselves the         and of the New Dispensation reveals to us Jesus Christ.
     task of interpreting  ro  the congregation the book of Reve-     But here we have an unveiling of rhe Christ in a special
     lation.                                                          form. We must remember that Christ, when His king-
                                                                      dom was principally founded and established, returned
         In the first three verses of chapter 1 we have a super-      to His Father. He did not stay to complete the King-
     scription to the entire book. It is most natural to assume       dom. On the contrary, He left behind Him a small and
     that  .John wrote rhis superscription after the entire book      struggling church, surrounded by enemies thar aim at
     was finished and ready to be sent to the churches. In            her destruction. A long' time must still elapse before
     this superscription you may observe, John informs us             the kingdom will be completed and manifested in all its
     about three things. In the first place he informs us glory. And it is for these intervening centuries, when
     about the contents and nature of the book. Secondly              from a natural point of view it will often look dark for
     he tells us about the manner in which this Revelation            t-he church in the world, that Jesus Christ gives a Reve-
     of Jesus Christ reached him. Thirdly, he tells us about          lation of Himself.     In it He reveals Himself to the
     the purposes for which the book is presented to the              Church, as He watches over her, is powerful over the
     church, and the blessedness of rhose that use it for that        world and works continually for the final completion of
     purpose.                                                         His Kingdom. It is a Revelation of Jesus Christ in rela-
         First of all, then, this superscription informs us that      tion to the entire history of this dispensation.
     the book is a Revelation of Jesus Christ. Accordingly               Thar this is true is evident from the addition: to shew


1
     24                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEAR'ER

     unto his servants the things that must shortly come to           kingdom in glory. We shall have occasion to refer to this
     pass. We wish to call your attention to this little but in another connection. If only it is understood that there
     significant word  : "must". The things here revealed  must is nothing surprising in the statement that the things
     come to pass. Their future realization is beyond all written in this  book? though they embrace all this dis-
     doubt. And the necessity here expressed is not that of pensation, are quickly coming to pass. And if now we
     blind fate, but of the counsel of an  allwise and `almighty connect these two ideas, that it is a Revelation of Jesus
     God. God knows all things from eternity. Nothing takes           Christ, and that it is a Revelation of things that must
     Him by surprise. And that  not  because of a certain             shortly come to pass, it is evident that the book purposes
     prescience, whereby God can see ahead thruout the  ages          to reveal to us Jesus Christ, as He controls all things in
     what will happen; but for the simple reason that all             such a way that ultimately His kingdom will be estab-
     that happens is but the realization and unfolding of the         lished.  _
     counsel of the Almighty. From all eternity God made                 But this superscription also tells us in what manner
     His decrees with regard to all that must occur. And,             this Revelation was given to John and thru him to the
     therefore, with divine necessity things must come to church. In the first place it informs us that God is the
     pass. The book of Revelation is a reading from God's             Author.       It is a Revelation which God gave to Jesus
     counsel to enlighten us with respect to the things that Christ. We must not misunderstand this. It does not
     must be realized in this dispensation before the Kingdom         say that this Revelation is of God the Father which He
     of Christ Jesus shall be completed. The things that must gave to God the Son. This would be quite absurd. The
     come to pass embrace this entire dispensation. We must           Son is very God Himself. He possesses with the, Father
     not be deceived by this other little word: "shortly" or and the Holy Spirit the entire divine Nature. He can-
     quickly. There are interpreters that maintain that John          not receive any Revelation with regard to future things,
     in these words only has in view the things that would            for the simple reason that He knew all things from be-
     presently happen under the dominion of the Roman Em-             fore the foundation of the world. It is the Triune God
     pire.. Things looked dark for the church. Rumblings that made the eternal decrees with respect to all things ;
     of persecution were already heard. Dark clouds might it is the Triune God that knows all things from the foun-
     be seen at the historical horizon. Presently this persecu- dation of the world ; it is, therefore, also the Triune God
     tion would burst forth over the church in all its fury. that is the  Aurhor of this Revelation. :"ind it is not given
     Now, then, it is to those things, that have long ago been        to the Son, not to Jesus Christ according to His divine
     realized, that John refers in these words : things that must     nature, but to Him as the Mediator, to Him as the
     shortly come to pass. We deny this. We maintain,  that, exahed Christ in glory, who received all power in heaven
     these things embrace the whole of this dispensation. We and on earth. According  ro  His human nature, let us
     must remember in the first place, that things do come to         never forget it, let  LIS  never fail to emphasize it properly,
     pass quickly, indeed. This will not seem so if we lose           Christ is limited. According to that human nature he did
     sight of the tremendous significance of the things that not know all things. According to His human nature He
                                                                                                        s
     must come to pass. Then we probably will complain                did not have this revelation of Himself wirh regard to
     that almost two thousand years have elapsed, and that the things that must shortly come to pass. It was given
     still they have not come to pass. But it is quite different Him. Curiously we might ask, at what moment was this
     the moment we understand that these  rhings  that must Revelation given to Jesus? We are not informed. Most
     be historically realized are no mere trifles, but big things,    natural it is to assume that it was given to Him at the
     things that concern all the world. And in the light of moment of His exaltation, when, with His glorified
     their tremendous scope and significance we will be ready human nature, He took His place at rhe right hand of the
     to admit that they are being realized quickly, even with         Majesty in heaven. And a moment's reflection will make
     astounding rapidity. But this is not all. We  must.also          clear that it was necessary Christ should have this Reve-
     understand this principle, that these things that are men-       lation of things that must come to pass. He is our
     tioned in the text, are coming to pass continually in the        Prophet, Priest and Ring. As Prophet He must instruct
     history of this dispensation. This implies an important and comfort us-hence He must know. 2~s Priest He
     principle of interpretation which it is well for  LIS  to re-    must intercede for us and pray for us-hence He must
      member. The book of Revelation contains no visions of           be acquainted with our conditions in the world, our
      things that will come to pass -only at the very close of        dangers and our needs. But above all as King must He               '
      this dispensation. On the contrary, they are being know the things that must come to pass. For, as such,
      realized all thru the period of the New Testament.  PLnd,       He has received all power. He it is that is given power to
      therefore, this rather is our conception of the book and execute to the last the plan of God in regard to the
      its contents, that the things revealed therein, did come        restoration of all things. Hence, to use that power and
      to pass in the past, that they do come to pass in the           execute His mission He must know. .4nd,  therefore.
      present day, that they will come to pass in the future          Jesus Christ has received a knowledge of things that must
      with increasing clearness and emphasis, until the time          come to pass shortly.                                H.  H.
      shall be ripe for the Lord to come and usher in His own                               (To be continued)


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                                                                       OCTOBER 1.5, 1927                                                  Subscription Price, $2.50

                                                                                   *         What a center of blessings it appears!
                   M E D I T A T I O N                                                       It draws from sea and ocean and lake the rain into
                                                                                        soft cloud-vessels, and pours refreshing showers over field
                                                                                        and forest ; it nourishes and warms the seed  in. the fur-
              JEHOVAH OUR SUN AND SHIELD                                                rows and causes `it to sprout; it makes the flowers bloom
                                                                                        and reveals their beauty; it spreads life and joy, energy
                               For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the                and light and it calls man and beast to action. . . .
                           Lord will give grace and glory; no good                           The Lord  God is a sun !
                          thing will He withhold from them that walk                         A sun, not as if there were other suns besides Him, for
                          uprightly.  - Ps.  84:11.                                     He is God and there is no God besides Him. But a  sun,
         A sun is Jehovah Go,!!                                                         first of all, because He is in Himself the fulness of all
         Wonderfully significant is the sun in nature as an                             good.  EIe is a light and there is no darkness in Him.
      image  `of the Lord our God.                                                      Such is His very Being. He does not pbssess light, but
         For with relation to our universe that golden bride-                           He is light. He does not simply live but He is Life.
      groom of the day, issuing forth from his chambers and                             He does not only  contain  goodness, but He is goodness.
      going on his way *through the firmament rejoicing, is                             He is light and life, brightness and holiness, goodness and
      radiating  with a fulness of life and  bIessing for every                         grace and mercy, righteousness and justice, joy and peace.
      creature.                                                                         He is goodness and perfection, an ever-blessed light!
         When in the still and dark hour just before dawn of a                          And His perfection is not derived from any other source.
      day in June you repair to a favored spot, where gentle                            It is absolutely original with Him, uncaused, eternal.
      zephyrs lisp and the trees murmur mysteriously and the                            And as the Triune God He lives the life of perfect light
      brook ripples playfully, where the humble wildflower dis-                         by and in Himself.. . .
      plays the rich beauty of its colored garment for which it'                             Still more.
      did neither labor nor spin, where winged beauties sing                                 For the Lord God is a sun also in the sense that He
      and call to one another  - to wait and watch for the ris- radiates His goodness and pours forth His light-life upon
      ing of the sun. . . .                                                             all that are in communion with Him. He is for them the
         And when, as you watch, a pale glimmer in the eastern                          Fount of all good and spreads grace and glory. Like the
      sky announces the approach of morning and dispels the                             f-ising  sun in nature, so He dispels the darkness of the
      darkness of the night, rousing from their slumbers the night of sin and death. For He revealed the brightness
      feathered inhabitants of the woods, who respond to the of His beauty, the glory of His goodness, the perfection
      call of the  horning, first cooing sleepily and  complain- of His holiness and righteousness, the blessedness of His
      ingly, then, as gradually the pale gray of dawn brightens grace in Christ Jesus, our Lord, and thru Him He scat-
      into the gold of morning, chirruping and singing cheer-                           ters the blessed rays of His own light into the hearts of
`"    fully; and when you see, how that rising sun, now fast                            His own.. . .
      increasing in strength of golden brightness, till finally the                          For Jehovah God is a sun.. . .
      last streaks of morning-cloud have  va&shed before its                                 The Uncaused Light in Himself, full of grace and
      splendor, suffuses the entire scene with wondrous glory, glory . . . .
      pouring life and light over flower and leaf, into brook and                            But also the sole Cause of all light and life, radiating
      meadow, transforming the black robe of night's darkness His own blessed goodness  into the hearts of all  His chil-
      into a veritable garb of many-colored beauty. . . .                               dren. He makes them partakers of His holiness and love,
         Oh,  ITOW  wonderful a picture is then the sun !                               of His blessedness and joy. For in their hearts He spreads
         What a fulness of life it pours  &to the universe!                             abroad the riches of His love, makes the night to flee


     c  .

26  `1           .I-- ._____  __II-         T H E  S  T  A  s\i  D A R  D  B" E A R E R            `*
                                                   _--
 away, a night of sin and corruption, of hatred and the           midst of the world. And it is true, that in the world  you
 lie, of death  anti hell, and calls forth the dawn of a new      are in danger as soon as you bid farewell to the darkness
day, shining with the light of righteousness and holiness,        of sin and actually walk in the light of God. For that
of love in truth, of heavenly bliss and eternal life!             world is in darkness and loves the darkness. And because
          For the Lord will give grace and glory ! He radiates it loves the darkness it hates the light, seeing its works
grace and makes us partakers of it in Christ Jesus.  r2nd         are evil. And as it loves the darkness and hates the light
His grace makes glorious. Even as sin is corruption and so it loves and protects its own children and hates and
makes one inglorious, vile, abject, repulsive, leading to persecutes the children of God's light. The world offers
outer darkness in eternal desolation  ; so grace is goodness      battle to them that dwell in the tabernacle of God's light
and brings glory to him that partakes of it, makes him            and reflect His grace and  glory. It  attacks you. Now it
fill1 of grace and beauty.                                        fights with  the deceitful weapons of flattery and vain
          How blessed is Jehovah God !                            philosophy, offering you all the glory  anti riches of the
          What a fulness of joy and life is He!                   world ; now it shoots' the poisoned arrows of reproach and
          Surely He is a sun!                                     shame, or openly threatens with its death-bringing
          How blessed is `His communion ! For without Him, sword . . . .
without the scope of the radiation of His blessed light              And all the while it aims at the light that is in us!
there is the darkness of death; in His communion there is            All the while its purpose is to extinguish the light,
grace and glory !                                                 poured. into our hearts and lives from Jehovah God, Who
     How amiable are His tabernacles, is the place beside         is a sun.
His altar; how far more blessed it is to be only a door-             But  Jehovah is a shield!
keeper in His house, catching at least some of His blessed           And a most perfect shield is `He. ~Imperfect  is the best
light, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness, where all of human shields, never offering perfect safety in battle,
is darkness and death!                                            never covering us perfectly against the onslaughts of the
     0 Lord of hosts, Light of lights, radiant with eternal enemy. But Jehovah's protection is perfect. If He covers
perfection !                                                      us we  are safe.  Xf He watches over us, the enemy can
     How blessed is the man over whom Thou dost spread            never reach us. For He is  the-Almighty;  mightier than
Thy tabernacle !                                                  all the mightiest together, supreme- in power. There is
     And that may dwell in Thy light!                             no sword that He cannot break, there is no hostile attack
                                                                  that He cannot repel. Neither does He ever fail to watch.
     A sun is Jehovah God!             .                          For He neither slumbers nor sleeps. Always His eyes are
     And also a shield is the God of our salvation!               over the righteous. Constantly He watches to protect the
     At first there seems to be an irreconcilable contrast        children that dwell in His light and whom He  mad.e par-
and antithesis between the two figures the  inspired              takers of His own grace and glory.
psalmist employs.                                                    He  is their shield!
     A sun and a shield !                                            He does not hold a shield for them, but offers Himself,
     The one  lifts us with our thoughts into the lofty and places His own power between His children and their
glorious heights of the heavens that declare the glory of enemies in the world!  .~-
God and pour forth knowledge of the Most High ; the                  How safe, then, are they that trust in Him!
other drags us down with our imaginations into the mire              The enemy may be strong, but Jehovah is always
of the life of this world, of sinful men, corrupt and hating stronger. The enemy may plot and conspire to destroy
one another. The one causes us to think of life and bliss,        the children of  light? but all their plans are vain over
the other of death and darkness. The one witnessess of against the ever watchful care of Jehovah God ! Never
a Fountain of love and blessing;  the other brings to our can the enemy reach His people to destroy them.
mind the flying darts and poisoned arrows of the enemy,              For Jehovah is a sun, and radiates grace and  glory.
fear and danger and destruction..  .`.                               r\nd also a shield, the Lord God!
     How could the psalmist think of his God at once under
the image of a sun and that of a shield?                             A Fountain of good is Jehovah!
     What need has he who walks in the light of the pro-             And He will not withhold any good thing from them
tection offered by a shield  ?                                    that walk uprightly ! He will not restrain the ever  Aow-
     Yet, how real to experience is the figure!                   ing fountain of His goodness to pour forth blessings upon
     Scarcely have you begun to meditate upon the rich            them that walk in His way.
beauties and blessedness of the Lord  God, and to rejoice            E-es, to them that walk uprightly!
in the privilege that you may dwell in His communion,                Not to all is the Lord a Fount of everlasting joy and
but you look about for a shield to protect you.. For the bliss !
Lord gives grace and glory.  ilnd when He does so He                 For He is a sun! And the sun blesses us and radiates
makes you partaker of His light. His light is reflected           glory  and beauty upon us if we stand in the right relation
in your life. And with the reflection of that light in your to its light; but it  ca'n also scorch and burn and destroy
life and walk you stand for Ris Name and glory in the             by its unbearable heat. And thus it is with Jehovah our


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        27
I_~"."  .._ I___                       ~-                        - ._..__-                  -__
God. Also to the ungodly He is a sun, but a sun that              (.My, what seems good to us sometimes, the Lord
burns, a consuming fire. ,111 good He withholds from knows to be evil. For His great and eternal purpose
them. For a while this may seem different to the natural       with us is, to make  us  perfectly conformed to the image
eye, when we see how the ungodly prosper in the world          of His Son. He will lead us and care for  us  and give us
and how their eyes stand out with fatness. Looking at things always with a view  t* His eternal tabernacle,,
the appearance of things it would seem as if Jehovah           where His beloved shall walk forever in His light, and
would  fdl the children of darkness with all good. But in behold the beauty of Jehovah God in His eternal temple!
reality this is quite different. For He does not radiate          For that end all things must work together!
His grace and glory to the ungodly. And what do all the           And whatever is conducive to that final glory, to their
riches of the world mean, what blessing is there in things, eternal salvation, is good for the children of light. Even
apart from the lovingkindness of the Lord our God. If though it be poverty and want, suffering and affliction,
the Lord does not lift His blessed countenance over us in good things they are that form His children for the light
everlasting love, He looks down upon us, upon our ways eternal.
and walk, in constant displeasure and wrath.       And if,        No good things will He withhold! Grace and glory
while objecfs of His burning wrath, we should possess all will He bestow on them that walk uprightly.
the world, it would only serve to make us ripe for de-            And presently He will pour the perfection of His
struction.    For the Lord is a sun.  .And  all good He beauty upon us in the eternal day!
withholds from them that do not  waik uprightly before            How blessed is the man whose God is Jehovah!
Him. . . .                                                        Now and forever!
   Only to the upright He is a Fount of joy and bliss!            0 God, our sun and shield !
   But where is the man that walks uprightly?                     Hallelujah !
   Are not even the holiest of His children characterized                                                                  H. H.
by imperfection? Does not even the holiest of them all
possess only a small beginning of this obedience? Do not
their feet often slip away from the  path.of uprightness?
Are not their transgressions many, and do not their sins                           NIET ZONDER KRUIS
rise up against them day by day?. . . .
   Yes, but the upright are they, whom Jehovah knew
from everlasting in love, whom He gave  to His beloved                         Gods kind kan zonder kruis niet zijn.
Son, whom He regarded in their Redeemer, whom He in                              WI  u  dan. niet bedroeven,
love ordained to be conformed according to the image of                        Als onze God met smart en pijn
His Son. They are those, whom He delivers from the dark-                         .De Zijnen komt beproeven.
ness of sin and death by pouring forth His grace and                                 `Hij zendt Zijn kind,
glory into their hearts. And thus, delivered in principle,                           Dat. Hij  bemint,
they surely walk uprightly before  Him: For perfection                           Juist door kastijding  zcgcn.
may be far as yet, but a principle of perfection is found                        Hoe diep zijn  `s Heeren wegen!
with them and dominates their whole life. Uprightly they                                                              r
walk with a sincere desire to live not only according to                       Gods kind kan zonder kruis niet zijn.
some, but according to all His precepts. And though it                           Wet wordt door God gezonden;
be true, that often they slip and blunder and stumble in                       Treft ons dan leed en ramp en pijn,
the way, even with their own transgressions and infirmi-                         Een Vader slaat die  wonden.
ties they walk uprightly before their God, as they are                               Zijn liefde kan
heartily sorry for them and cannot rest until they have                              Niets anders dan
the assurance, that in Christ Jesus they have forgiveness,                       Wat heilzaam is, ons  zenden.
that Jehovah may be, feared . . . .                                              0, dat wij `t steeds erkenden!
    No good thing will Jehovah withhold from them.. . .
  . Oh, even this may seem different!                                         Oak ik kan zonder kruis niet zijn :
    For often it appears as if Jehovah removes His shield                        Wat God zendt, wil ik  dragen.
of protection from them, so that the enemy triumphs over                       Mijn rrouwe Vader zendt die pijn;
them. Often they must complain that they are killed  all                         Het zijn  maar  korte plagen
the day long. Often they lift  LIP  their voices to implore                          En  - welgemeend!
Jehovah for what seems good things to them, when                                     We  hoopv61  weent
nevertheless the heavens remain shut and no answer                               Zal eeuwig  zich verblijden.
seems to respond from heaven to their prayers.. . .                              Ik wil met  Christus lijden!
    Yet, more than appearance this is not.
    For Jehovah is a sun. Never does He restrain the
radiation of His goodness, of His glory and grace, upon                                                   Naar B. Schmolche
them that walk uprightly.                                                                               Uit : Het Schouwvenster


32
_l-l..  "_ II_                            THE  STANDARD   BEA4RER
                     -- -_l_~."."-.--l_l_ll----  .-.._                             ---.."._._          _--
                                                                                                 ,
      En dan komcn wij op  zeer   normale wijzc tot uitbouw gifts to receive this Revelation. And John bears  test&
der belijdenis.                                                         many of all that he saw, for thus he tells us in the super-
      Maar de deputaten te Leeuwarden in 1920 benoemd scription:   "Who bare record of the Word of God and of
hadden  ongetwijfeld gelijk.                                            the testimony of Jesus and of all things that he saw."
      Er  wa,s geeu behoefte. En dat er geen behoefte was               Evidently; this sentence must be applied exclusively to
is een blijk van geestelijke armoede.                                   the contents of this book. For truly, John bore testimony
      En wij houden ons overtuigd, dat ook de deputaten, of the Word of God and Jesus Christ before he came to
die thans weer benoemd  zijn, het niet verder  zullen                   the lonely isle of his banishment. He witnessed of the
brengen.                                                                Word of God in the Gospel as written by him, and in the
                                                          H. H.         epistles that bear his name. But here he means to em-
                                                                        phasize that the contents of the book reveal nothing more
                                                                        than what Jesus has shown him on Patmos. Ir.is not of
                                                                        his own composition, it is not added to by his own
                                                                        imagination. Faithfully he recorded the things that were
OF THE THINGS  TI-iAT MUST SHORTLY COME                                 signified, that is, the things that came to him in signs and
                             TO PASS                                    symbols.. And thus we may rely on the faithful testi-
                                                                        mony of this book. It is a Revelation of Jesus Christ
           (Continued from page  2-1, previous issue)                   whose ultimate  ;\uthor is God, given in the  firsr place
                                                                        to Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, by Him, thru the
      But also the church tnust become acquainted to an                 mediation of an angel to His servant John, who in turn
extent with these same things that must shortly come to                 simply bore record of the things that he saw. We have.
pass. The text tells us,  that the Revelation was given                 here, therefore, the direct message the Bridegroom left
to Jesus Christ to show unto His servants the things                    to His waiting and watching church. Are we eager to
that must shortly come to pass. Servants in this con-                   listen to this last message? We will be if we love the
nection must not be understood in the narrower, specific                Bridegroom, if we are of the servants of Jesus Christ.
sense of apostles, ministers and office-bearers in general.             We will be if we earnestly take the prayer of this book
The word, no doubt, refers to all the servants of Jesus, to             on our lips : "Come Lord Jesus, yea cnme  !"
all that have learned to love Him and to do His will.                      The superscription closes with a beatitude upon those
They only are  etfiically qualified to receive this Revela-             that read and hear and keep the words of this book.
tion. They only are receptive. The world cannot re-                     "Blessed is he that readeth and are they that hear the
ceive it. To the world Jesus does not manifest Himself,                 words of this book and keep the things that are written
for the simple reason that the world cannot receive the                 therein, for the time is at hand." No doubt, the form of
Spirit.         But different it is with Jesus' servants-they           this beatitude refers to the circumstances of the time .
that do His will. They have received the Spirit; that                   when ir was first sent to the churches. On the Lord's
Spirit dwells in their hearts; that Spirit qualifies them,              Day one would read the book to the congregated church,
makes them receptive also for the Revelation of Jesus                   while the others would listen. Hence : "blessed is he
Christ. And, therefore, to these servants this Revelation of            that readeth and are they that hear." But also to our
Jesus Christ was intended. To them it is given. And it was own time this beatitude is applicable. Even roday the
given thru the mediation of an angel first of all to John.              Lord has His ministers in the church, ordained by Him-
Angels play a large role in the visions that are recorded               self, that they should feed to them the Bread of Life
in the book of Revelation. Small wonder. They no                        thru the Word. They must read, but also interpret to
doubt actually do play an important part in the realiza-                rhe congregation the Word of God. It is their calling to
tion of the things that must shortly come to pass. They bring the entire Word. It is their task, therefore, also to
are the servants of the Most High, His ministering interpret to the church what was signified to John on the
spirits, closely connected with rhe salvation of the people             island of his exile. This is not an easy task, it may he
of God. And thus it is also thru the mediation of an admitted. For in the first place, the bo,ok contains proph-
angel that John receives this Revelation of the Lord.                   ecy, whose complete fulfillment still abideth. And all
And that it is John who receives this Revelation need                   the  clifficulties  connected with the interpretation of such
cause no surprise.* Of all the aposrles he was the                      prophecy are also met with in the book of Revelation.
apostle whom Jesus loved. He had no doubt exercised                     And in the second place, rhe contents of the book were
closest communion with the Lord while He was in the                     "signified", were given in signs  an+ symbols, something
world. He had penetrated most deeply into the divine                    it is well for us to remember  constaqtly. Also this sym-
nature of Immanuel. With his intuitive perception John                  bolic, this visionary character of the book adds to the dif-
was of all the apostles besr prepared, and endowed, with                ficult? of interpretation. But the  facr that the reading is
                                                                        difficult does not excuse the minister from his task. He
-          -                                                            must read and explain. Interpret this book in reliance on
                                                                        the Spirit of Him who gave the book  ro  His servants.
      *We are aware of the fact that it is most generally denied
that the writer was John the apostle. We cannot agree.                  And the church must listen. The congregation must
                                                                   *


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                     33
 -_--.- .._.....-.-- ^ .,._ ^"...""            .---           - ..._.." ..." _...I............I......  "" -.-.-                  -_~--.----l.-_-
 assume a receptive attitude. This she always must when him and with the dragon in the pool that burneth wirh
 the Word of God is brought to her attention. But in a fire and brimstone, in outer darkness. But if we be found
 special sense is this true with regard to the book of Reve- faithful until the end, pure of the mark of the beast,
 lation. Here the church must listen as the Bride, that clothed with the righteousness of our Redeemer,  warch-
 is longing for the return of the Bridegroom. That Bride ing for the Bridegroom, we shall enter in with the 144,000
 loves the Bridegroom-and naturally waits with longing from all tribes and nations and  kindreds and tongues, to
 expectation for the return of her beloved. And you may give glory forever to Him that sitteth upon the throne,
 depend on it, all these would-be interpretations of Revela- and to the Lamb!
 tion, that do not in any measure satisfy this spirit of long-                                                                                   H. H.
 ing, and on the other  hand  increase the desire to meet
 the Bridegroom in His glory, arc shameful imitations,                                                                             -
 leading the flock of Christ astray. Let us, therefore, hear
 the words of this prophecy, listen and  receive in faith,                                                         DE GELOOVIGEN EN HUN `ZAAD
 that we may also keep the things that are written therein.
 For after all this is the direct purpose of this Revelation.                                    Het  zal dan nu  we1 duidelijk geworden zijn, dat wij
 While the Lord seemingly tarries we are in danger of                                 juist niet geloovcn, dat heel de werkelijk en zichtbaar
 being allured by the false teachings of the world, of bestaande gemeente in het  midden  der wereld  uitverko-
 being captivated and charmed by its siren's song . In this                           renen zijn, zooals men het ons soms zeer  onverstandig-
 Revelation the `Lord approaches His church with warn-                                lijk nawerpt. Ook gelooven we niet,  dat dit  we1 mag
 ings and admonitions to be faithful, to keep the words of worden   verondersteld van de zichtbare Kerk op aarde,
 this testimony, to fight the battle of faith to the end, that dat is, van geloovigen en hun zaad, en dat alleen in die
 no one may take our crown !                                                          veronderstelling de Heilige Doop  aan kleine  kinderen
      Thus hearing and receiving and keeping the words                                zou kunnen  worden  bediend en alleen in dezelfde  ver-
 of this book we shall be blessed. Blessed ultimately, at onderstelling de taal van het Doopsformulier tot de onze
 the final coming of Christ Jesus, for then we shall meet kan  worden  gemaakt.  Neen,  maar wij gelooven, dat wij
 Him with joy and receive the crown of life. But blessed                              cloor de Schrift op zeer duidelijke wijze  worden   onder-
 we shall be even in this dispensation, while the Bride-                              wezen,  en dar wij het daarom ons ook nooit anders mogen
 groom tarrieth. The understanding of this book, the in-                              voorstellen dan die Schrift het ons onderwijst, dat  name-
 struction we receive thru it, shall in the first place                               lijk onder Gods Verbondsvolk, zooals het naar Zijnen wil
 strengthen our faith.                 Many things occurring in the                   hier op aarde bestaat, niet alles Israel is, wat Israel heet.
 world may tend  to discourage us. If, however, we learn                              Wij. gelooven, dat wezenlijk het Genadeverbond alleen
 to understand that all these things must needs come to den uitverkorenen geldt, die God in  dentijd wederbaart
 pass: that they are under the absolute control of Him                                en wien Hij het geloof en de bekeering schenkt, naar Zijn
who has received all power in heaven and on earth  ; that eeuwig welbehagen Al de uitverkorenen en alleen de uit-
 under. His control they shall surely culminate in the                                verkorenen  worden  zalig. En zij ontvangen die zaligheid
 completion of the Kingdom and the defeat of all that op-                             niet uit de werken, maar uit genade, opdat niemand
 poses, we feel tranquil and strong in the midst of the                               roeme.  Niemand wederbaart zichzelf en niemand heeft
 hottest batrle and the most stressing times. Let the na- uit en van zichzelf het geloof; niemand bekeert zichzelf,
 tions rage, the times be dark, the enemy foam with fury, kan zichzelf bekeeren of zichzelf ook maar  willen   bekee-
 the man of sin develop, the church apostatize-we know                                ren. De  Heere  God Zelf maakt door Zijn Woord en
 that Christ has the reins and holds them. He has His                                 Geest te Zijner tijd al Zijn uitverkoren volk de weldaden
 144,ooO sealed ones that cannot be lost, against whom des Verbonds deelachtig en formeert het opdat het Zijnen
 the gates of hell shall not prevail! On the one hand we                              lof zou vertellen. Strikt genomen zal dan ook niemand
 shall long evermore fervently for the coming of Him                                  het kunnen volhouden, dat iemand, die door God werd
 whom our soul Ioveth and the glory of His Kingdom.                                   verworpen  wezenlijk tot het Verbond der genade zou
 But on the other hand we shall learn to exercise patience                            kunnen behooren. Gods Verbond is de levende en  eeu-
 in the full assurance that He is surely coming and coming                            wige betrekking der Vriendschap tusschen Hem en Zijn
 quickly !                                                                            uitverkoren volk in  Christus Jezus.              Dat zal  moeten
      The time is at hand!  Ir always is. It is always at                             blijven gehandhaafd, omdat wij anders eenvoudig weer  I,
 hand for each one of us, for we know not at what hour ~ in het Remonstrantisme verzeild raken en alles  laten  af-
 the Lord comes for us personally. It was at hand in hangen van den vrijen wil des menschen. Maar wie hier-
 John's time. It is at hand especially in the age in which `uit nu zou  willen afleiden, dat wij gelooven of ook  ,ver-
 we live. Many are the signs of the times.  AI1  things onderstellen, dat de Kerk op aarde, de geloovigen en hun
 point  ro swift development and  a speedy coming of the                              zaad, zooals wij hen kennen en kunnen kennen tot op
 Lord. He is coming quickly ! You can almost see Him                                  zekere hoogte, ook  allen  uitverkorenen zijn, vergist  zich
 come ! How shall He find us at His coming? In the                                    deerlijk. Neen, maar dit  volk des  Veibonds  openbaart
 harlot church ? Whoring after the world? Compro- zich historisch als samengestrengeld en verbonden met
 mising with Antichrist? Then our lot shall surely be with                            en  aan een  boozen  en verworpen bolster, het  vleeschelijk


minees. Laten  ze dat zelf maar uitvechten! enz., --  mo-                          JOHN'S  INTROlDUCTION  TO THE
gen lastige vragers en klemmende betoogers ter  zijde                                     BOOK OF REVELATION
zetten voor een  puos,  - men kan daarmede God den
Heere. "die lust heefr tot waarheid in het binnenste" en                              John to the seven churches that  are in
tot  Wien  zoo menigmaal  zingend  wordt opgezbnden  de                             Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him
                                                                                    who is and who was- and who is to come;
bede, dat wij  tech  "in Zijne Waarheid mogen  wandelen,"                           and from the seven Spirits that are before
niet bedriegen.  T.n  `s Heeren tent en op den berg Zijner                          His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the
                                                                                    faithful witness, the first-born of the dead
heiligheid  zal  al!een  wonen  hij, die  oprecht. wandelt en                       and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
met zijn hart de waarheid spreekt, gelijk Psalm  15 zegt.                             Unto Him that loved us and loosed us
                                                                                    from  onr  s:ns by His blood; and He made
   Vast staat, dat "buiten (den  hemel  der heerlijkheid)                           us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His
zullen  zijn . . . . . een iegelijk die de leugen liefheeft en                      God and Father: to Him be the glory and
                                                                                    the dominion forever and ever, Amen.
doet, met de honden, de toovenaars, de hocreerders, de                                Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and
doodslagers, en  afgodendienaars."                                                  every eye shall see Him and they that
                                                                                    pierced Him: and all the tribes of the earth
   Hun  deel is de eeuwige  vuurpoel  der pijniging en  dcs                         shall mourn over Him. Even so, Amen.
verderfs.                                                                             1 am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the
                                                                                    Lord God. who is and who is to come,  the
   God beware  ens  allen  voor zoo'n schrikkelijke  toe-                           iIlmighty.  -  ,Rev.   1:4-g.
komst !
                                               G.  B .   c;.  V .   B .       The  lirst three verses, so we found, contained the
                          - -                                              superscription of the entire book  af Revelation. It in-
                                                                           formed  us  that the book reveals to us Jesus Christ in
                         VERBETERING,                                      connection with the things that must shortly come to
   Op bladzijde 21,  lste  kolom,  regel  26 van onderen, Vol.  lV,        pass. In the second place, that superscription told us
No. 1, Oct.  1, 1927, staat: landsverraderlijk. Ye  lezer  zal hebben
begrepen, dat dit moest  zijn:  bndsuarftrlijk, gelijk wij ook  schre-     how  the contents of the book reached John and the
ven.                                            G .   V A N   BEEK,        church. It is  a revelation of which God is the Author,
                                                                           which He gave to the Lord Jesus, and which was trans-
                                                                           mitted to *John thi-ough  the agency of an angel. And, in the
                                 NIGHT                                     third place, those verses also indicated the purpose of
                                                                           this revelation to the church. It was that the church
  Dear  Lord,  I do remember Thou hast said                                should read and hear and understand, and keep the things
        That  1 may cast my every care  on Thee;                           that are revealed till the coming of the Lord Jesus. In
  But  see, this deep oppression will not go,                              so doing the church would be comforted and strength-
        But  with its leaden hands holds fast on me.                       ened and blessed in the midst of the tribulations of this
                                                                           present time. In distinction from that general &per-
   Holds fast, and  dr3gs me down, and shuts my mouth, scription of the first three verses, the passage we are now
        Strangles the  WY that fain would pierce the skies;                to discuss gives us John's own introduction to the book.
  `Helpless I lie before Thee, with no words                               It contains three elements, namely:
        T.Jpon my lips, with sad yer tearless eyes.
                                                                                I. A Significant Salutation to the Church.
  So be it. Lord: my joyous soul has need                                      II. A Glorious Adoration of the Lord.
        Of its  dark  days, and in this dreary night,                         III. A Solemn Assurance of His Coming.
  Roots that strike downward, that anon shall shoot
        In rich and living branches to the light.                              1. The holy apostle had received a command from
                                                                           the Lord to write in a book the things which were re-
  Oh may these branches bear some fruit for Thee,                          vealed unto him, and then to send it to the seven churches
        In grateful memory  of the loving hand,                            that were in Asia. Most natural it is to assume that
  That cast me in this gloomy cheerless spot,                              John first wrote the entire book and then, when he was
        And all  irs dreariness and darkness planned.                      about to send it to the churches added this introduction
                                                                           containing a salutation to the churches of Asia. And so
                         IN MEMORIAM                                       he writes : "John to the seven churches that are in Asia,
                                                                           grace and peace to you." It would naturally detain us
   Waar het den Heere hehaagde op 28 Sept. 1.  I. een  barer   leden.      too long and lead us too far from the main purpose of the
                          Mrs. L. Mulder,                                  book and its discussion would we dwell at any  lenah on
                                                                           the significance of the apostolic benediction in general.
door den dood uit  ens  midden  weg te nemen,  daar  betuigt  de
vrouwenvereeniging  van de First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand                Let it be sufficient, therefore, to remind you of the fact,
 Rapids,  Mich., "Weest   Een  Zegen," langs dezen weg hare  har-          that here we have no mere greeting without any further
telijke deelneming  aan de bedroefde  familie  en bidt  haar  de  ver-
troosting des Heiligen Geestes toe.                                        significance and effect, and without any power spiritually.
                            LNamens   de  Vereeniging,                     but that our text contains an apostolic benediction laying
                                   13s. H. Hoeksema. Pres.
                                   Mrs. M. Van der Vennen.  Seer.          the blessing of grace and peace upon the believing


4-4                                  T H E   STA4N'DARD  B E A R E R
.-                                       -.--                                        _-  ""...-.-  .-..  ^  .._    - - - -   .._._--    I
church.      In connection with the key-power which the the Father only. it applies with equal force to the Son
apostles had received, they also possessed the power to and the Holy Ghost. All three are co-eternal. In the
lay the blessing of the God of salvation upon the church,      second place, it is lucid that John does not refer to the
a blessing, however, which had no magic power and Holy Spirit merely as the Third Person in the Trinity,
effect, but presupposed the power of faith on the part of but very definitely to Him as the Spirit of Christ, that is
the church to receive it. Materially this blessing ex- given to Him as the Mediator and Head of the covenant
presses grace and peace upon the congregations of Jesus and dwells in the church as His Body. The very order
Christ. Naturally, this implies all the blessings of salva- in which the clauses occur ought to  sh,ow this. If the
tion in their fulness. Grace is here to be understood in references were to the Holy Ghost as one of the Persons
the subjective sense of the word and as such itimplies all of the Trinity, He would not have been mentioned second
the blessings and gifts of grace which the church needs but third; TO our knowledge the Holy Spirit is as such
in order to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord never mentioned as the Second Person in Holy Writ.
Jesus Christ through the Spirit. And peace, of course, by But what is of more importance is the name that is given
no means refers to external rest and tranquillity in the       the Spirit in this connection. He is called, "the Seven  .I
world, freedom from oppression and persecution and trib- Spirits that are before His throne." A glance at the con-
ulation, for such peace the Lord, indeed, never promised text will show  US  what is the significance of this name.
His little flock, and even this very book of Revelation John writes to  the. seven  churchq,  which undoubtedly
speaks of far different things for the church of Christ in     existed historically in his time, but which are also chosen
the world than `outward peace. No, but peace in the as being symbolical of the Body of Christ in its fulness.
spiritual sense of the word John refers to: peace in the Seven is here the number of the completeness and fulness
Lord Jesus, peace with the Triune God in Him and His of the church as the Body of Christ. If in this light we
atoning sacrifice, the peace that passeth all understand-
                                                     4         consider the fact that the Spirit is called "the seven spir-
ing !                                                          its" it is plain that reference is had to the Spirit as He
       As to the source from which this blessing of grace and dwells in the church as Christ's Body. Christ, as the
peace is to Row upon the church, it is indicated in the Mediator and Head of the covenant received the Holy
words : "From Him who is and who was and who is to Spirit because of His completed work of atonement and
come; and from the seven spirits which are before His obedience unto death. That Spirit which dwells in Him
throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful, witness, the as the Head He poured out into His church, and as such,
first begotten of the dead,` the ruler of the kings of the as the seven spirits, dwelling in the seven churches, as
earth." A glance at these  lvords  will convince us of the the fulness of Christ in the church, the Holy Spirit is here
fact, that in them John refers to a threefold Source of mentioned. Not merely, therefore, as the third person in
the blessings of grace and peace. Yet we must be care- the Trinity, but as  the-Spirit of Christ He occurs. And
ful and not find in them a mere reference to the Holy          finally, it is more than plain that the reference to Christ
Trinity without  an,y limitation and further explanation. in this connection is not identical  uiith a reference to the
The idea is often expressed that in the words: "Who is second person in the Trinity. Not as Son of God but as
and who was and who is to come" we should find a refer- the Mediator He is the first-born of the dead  ; not as the
ence to God the Father; "the seven spirits which are be- Second Person in the  Trinityj  but as the Incarnated
fore His throne" must be taken as referring to God the Word He is the faithful witness ; not as the eternal Word,
Holy Ghost; while Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, etc., but as the God-Man, to whom is given a name above all
then applies to the Second Person in the Holy Trinity. names, to whom is given all power in heaven and on
Then John would point to the Triune God as the Source earth.
of the blessings for the church. Now, of course, it may           How, then, must we conceive of  ~this threefold Source
be admitted that in a general way there is, indeed, a of the blessings of grace and peace? In the first place,  I
reference in these words to the three persons of the would say, that in the words: "Him who is and who was
Trinity. It may also be conceded that in general the and who is to come"  we have a reference to the Trinity
Triune God is the Source of all the blessings of our salva- in all the Three Persons and not merely to the First. All
tion. But it is not true, that we have here a  mere refer- three persons are eternal, to all the words: "Who is and
ence to the Trinity, nor may it be said  that'the Triune       who was and who is to come" apply, and there is no rea-
God as such, without anything further, is the source of son whatever to limit them to One Single Person of the
the blessings of the church. It cannot be disputed that Holy Trinity. By the Seven Spirits that are before His  .,
the blessings of salvation are Rowing into the church, throne John refers to the Holy Spirit as He has been
from the Triune God, indeed, for He is the Fount of all given to Christ, and as He dwells in the church to com-
good, but through the medium of Jesus Christ, the Media- plete the  ,work  of salvation subjectively. And in the
tor `and Head of the covenant of grace and that through the    words  : "3esus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born
agency of the Spirit of Christ. And John very accurately of the dead, prince of the rulers of the earth" he denotes
refers to this in his benediction. In the first place. let us the Mediator, the Incarnated Word, the God-Man, or if
consider that we have no right to limit arbitrarily the you please,  .the  ?$an Jesus, the Head of the church and
phrase: "Who is and who was and who is to come" to the King of His people. In the second place, I would


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                                            45
                                                                                   ..-...._ "_-^_.- _.- --"^-"_  .._......._ "..^--
remark that we must not take these three as being co- One, embracing the past, present and future, everlastingly
ordinate in bestowing the blessings of grace and peace         the Same, the eternal I AM, Jehovah is His Name. With
upon the church. The Triune God is the Fount of these          a view to the  cogtents  of the book  befoie us, this implies
blessings. Not only the Father but also the Son and the        that the same God who-from before the foundation of
Holy Ghost are the Source of the blessings of grace and        the world made His eternal plan of the world and of all
peace. But these blessings do not flow toward and upon history, exists in the present to realize that counsel, and
the church directly from that `Fountain. That would            will be in the future to carry it to its completion and
have been the case had sin not entered the world. Now culmination. There is no change of gods throughout the
it is different. The grace and peace here referred to  is. ages, and, hence, there is no alteration of purpose and
if I may express myself thus, all stored away in Christ.       design in the history of the world. That is the firm basis
He is the great Reservoir of these blessings. He is our        of the assurance that the things revealed in this book
all, our justification and -sanctification and our full re-    will surely come to pass. The decreeing God is the same
demption. And, therefore, the church receives grace and        who realizes His decree in time. And for that same
peace directly from Him. And again, this `grace and reason the church militant may be comforted. The same
pea6  can become our possession only through the Spirit,       God that has loved them from all eternity, that has
which dwells in Christ as our Head, but also in the church     chosen them in Jesus Christ from before the foundation
as His Body. It is through Him, through the Spirit of          of the world liveth to-day and shall live in the future.
Christ, that, so to speak, all the blessings of our great      He will cause all His words to be fulfilled, words of
Reservoir are poured over into the church of Christ.           destruction and woe to the enemies of His kingdom, but
And, therefore, we might paraphrase this benediction           of blessing and salvation to His people. In the midst of
of the apostle in this way : "Grace and peace to you from      tribulation the people of God may -rest calmly in the
the Triune God, who is and who was and who is to come:         everlasting arms of the Almighty Father, assured that all
through the agency of the Spirit of  Christ, the seven         things work together for good to them rhat love God,
spirits that are before God's throne; out of Jesus Christ,     to the called according to His purpose. The Spirit is
rhe Head of the covenant of grace and of the church, the       the "s&en spirits which are before the throne.", We shall
faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, prince of    refer to this again at some other occasion. Let it now be
the rulers of the earth."                                      sufficient  ro  point out that in these words the church
   This brief general exposition, however, of the dog- has the assurance that the blessings of salvation in Christ
matical implications of the benediction must be sufficient.    will actually reach her, and that she shall be able to
and it is time our attentions were' turned to the special appropriate them. If the eternal God were simply trans-
form and the special terminology of the same. We all un- cendentally above us like the Mohammedan Allah, we
derstand immediately, that it is for some purpose if John could not expect  ro have communion with Him. But in
employs these extraordinary terms  ih his salutation. The the Spirit He dwells with us through Jesus Christ our
question is not at all irrelevant: why does John refer  to     Lord. That Spirit is the seven spirits, rhe  fulness and
God as the One who is and who was and who is to                completion of the Body of Christ, and, therefore, that
come; why does he denote the Spirit as the seven Spirits       entire Body, the church, may rest assured rhat all the
which are before his throne ; why does he describe- Jesus blessings of salvation will come into her  actual  posses-
as the faithful  witness, the first begotten of the dead and sion. In the midst of tribulation, while fighting the battle
prince of rhe rulers of the earth? All the more this           of faith against sin and enemies from without, the people
question is warranted because we are not accustomed to of God are saved in hope, for they have the first fruits of
meet with such lofty terms and elaborate descriptions in       the Spirit that dwells in the church. And Jesus is the
the writings of St. John. His style is generally simple faithful witness. He received this Revelation from His
and direct. And, therefore, all the more heavily the God, and as He transmits the same to John, his apostle,
question weighs: whar is the special purpose of these He merely bears witness of what God has revealed to
lofty terms in this connection? Nor is it difficult to         Him. Looking upon their Lord, who is the faithful wit-
supply the answer. A glance at the form of this benedic-       ness, the church may be confident that all these things
tion and a hasty perusal of the book of Revelation will        shall surely come to pass. They are the Revelation of the
convince us of the fact that rhe one is in harmony with truth of God. He is also the first-begotten of the dead.
the other. This book reveals to us the coming Lord The realm of the dead is here presented as the womb
jesus, as He is coming throughout the ages of this dis-        that gives birth to the glorious and glorified Saviour. He
pensation, and as He finally will come for the completion was born from death into glorious life. And even as in
of His kingdom. It reveals the things that musr shortly the natural sense of the word the first born prepares as it
come to pass, future things, therefore, in order that this were rhe way for those that are born after him, so also
Revelation might be a source of encouragement, light is Christ the first-born with regard to His brethren that
and comfort to the waiting Bride while rhe Bridegroom          follow Him in the resurrection. He has prepared the
tarrieth. If we bear this in mind and read the salutation      way, and they shall surely follow into the realm of life
of the apostle once more, all is clear. God is the One, everlasting. Not the resurrected of the Old Dispensa-
who is and who was and who is to come, Ile is the eternal      tion, nor the young man from Nain or Lazarus were the


 -it?                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                 _I.- . . .._ --.-.--.-                     ___^ . .._ -...         __ ..__.___ _".,    ,_     1     _M
 first born, for in  the first place  they did not issue forth       the church is here ascribing glory and praise  atid domin-
  into glorious life, but they were called back into the             ion forever. In the preceding verse John had saluted
  imperfect life of this dispensation; but in the second             the church by speaking of  rhe God of our salvation and
 place, also, they could be raised from the dead only  he-           the blessings of grace and peace. No doubt, this calls to
 cause Christ is the first born, and in the power of His             His mind the glorious person of Him, without whose
 resurrection. He broke the bonds of death and hell, and infinite and incomprehensible love none of these blessings
  when He arose from the dead death had no hold on Him               of grace and peace could ever have been bestowed upon
 arty more or in any respect. And, therefore, what a com- the church. To that Saviour, therefore, he now ascribes
  fort and joy for the church on earth. They have followed           honor. And he does so by referring to His great work of
  Him in the first resurrection, they shall also surely meet atonement in the first place. He has loved us. And He
  Him in glory. And in the third place, He is called the             has revealed His love by loosing us from the bonds of
 king of the rulers of the earth. Not as if these rulers of sin. Sin had enveloped us as a cloud, had imprisoned
  the earth should voluntarily acknowledge Him as their              us, chained us with iron, unbreakable bonds. But the
 King and ask for His precepts, for this they will not  do.          Saviour loosed us from these bonds of sin. We were held
  He is not king of the rulers of the earth in the same sense        prisorier in the impregnable fortress of sin and death.
  that He is King of His people. The Kings of the earth in           There was but one key that would open for us the gates
  this book of Revelation `are rulers that have- dominion            of that fortress, the blood of Christ. In that blood there
 under Satan and that stand in rebellion against the                 was the satisfaction of the righteousness of God, the Holy
  Anointed of God and oppress the people of God. They                C)ne,  in that blood there was removal of our guilt, in that
 are powers that persecute the church and destroy those              blood, therefore, there was restoration to the grace and
 that confess Christ's Name. But after ail, even though the favor of our God. Christ has loved us as His own.
  they worship the beast and call the devil their king,              He shed His blood to the satisfaction of the righteous-.
 Jesus is their King in actual` fact. He rules also over ness of God, and by shedding His life-blood and obeying
  them, and against Him they cannot prevail, against His even unto death on the accursed tree, He loosed  us  from
 will they can do nothing.                                           our sins.
         Be not afraid, therefore, church of Christ, your King          But still more. The purpose of this redemption was
 is King also over your oppressors. Ee not alarmed if higher than the mere deliverance of a people from the
 you must suffer tribulation at the hand of Caesar, for              bonds of sin. He has made us to be a kingdom and
 Jesus is also His king. The kings of  the earth He holds            priests unto His God and Father. The purpose of the
 in  ,His mighty hand. To you grace and peace, from the              work of Christ was  to'destroy the works of Satan and to
 eternal God, who made His eternal counsel and lives                 give all power and honor.and glory to  Got1 His Father..
 forever to realize the same; and from the Spirit of Jesus           It is the restoration and completion of His own kingdom.
 Christ that dwells in Him but also abides with you for- That kingdom had originally been established in Para-
 ever; and from Jesus Christ, whose word is  yea and dise in the creation of the world, but it had been spoiled
 Amen, who is the witness in this book of Revelation and by the subtle assault of the devil. The authority of the
 whose testimony is true, who opened the womb of death kingdom had been usurped by  satan. But that kingdom
 .and shall make all His brethren partakers of His glorious and dominion was-to be regained for God through Christ.
. and everlasting life, who is the mighty king that sets up          He made us to be kingdom. Notice, that this is the cor-
 thrones and makes them totter, and breaks down the rect rendering. Not that He `made us to be kings is the
 strength of the mighty according to His will. Is this               correct.versio'n,  but that He made us to be kingdom.
 mighty King your King? Your Lord and your God? And it is especially in this connection that I want you to
 Then you surely will feel inclined to follow John when he           remember that it is the church speaking here, and that it
 lapses from his salutation into a beautiful ascription of           is the church here ascribing glory to Christ her King.
 praise and glory in the words:  "Utito Him that loved There are people who maintain that Christ is not the king
 us  and loosed us from our sins by His blood; and He                of the church, and that He never purposed to make His
  made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto His God                church into a kingdom. The church is the Body of
 and Father; to Him be the glory  $nd the. dominion for-             Christ, the Bride of the Bridegroom, so they say, but
  ever and ever,  rimen."                                            the church is not His kingdom. On the contrary, the
         II. In connection with this ascription of praise let        people of Israel in the natural sense of the word is the
 US  notice two facts from the outset.      In the first place we    real kingdom of the Saviour. He is the saviour of the
 may notice that it is the church of Christ speaking  here.          church, but the King of  .Israel, and it is His purpose to
 "TO  Him that loved us," John  says, thus referring to the          again establish the throne of David in the literal sense  of
  church. He lays this praise on the lips of the entire the word, and reign over the old covenant people forever
 church. Already in John's time that church had been                 and ever. &Aside  now from the fact, that these people
 gathered from Jew and  G'entile,  and it is that church that are guilty of an altogether erroneous interpretation of
 is here speaking. In the second place it is also of im- prophecy as we hope to prove later, it must be plain that
 portance to observe that it is to Jesus Christ to whom              they are in Aat'contradiction with the words of the text
                                              .


                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              47
 - -             ..__.....^_           -..-
                           .  *
 we are now considering. It is the church of Jesus Christ,       dominion by rebellion against the Sovereign of heaven
 the Bride of the Bridegroom. gathered from Jew and              and earth, and Satan became His Prince. Christ restores
 Gentile in the New Dispensation, that is here speaking,         this original relation. And when He shall have regained
 conscious  evidently, of the fact, that she is saved to be      the Kingdom for God His Father, He shall also subject
 rtiade  into a kingdom and that with Christ as her king.        Himself. not in order to abdicate entirely and be King
 That Kingdom already exists, and over that kingdom in           no more, but to be King in the New Kingdom under
 the spiritual sense, Christ now also rules through His          God.
 Spirit. And that very same kingdom shall be completed              To Him, therefore, belongeth the glory that He  bath
 in the future, in the new and perfect economy, when the         dominion ! Shall we join in with this shout  nf glory and
 heavens and the earth shall be restored to glory, and           praise, beloved? Shall we by faith look  up& the  God
 Christ shall have subjected Himself to the Father, that of our salvation, and upon Jesus Christ, our Lord, who
 God may be all in all. He has made us to be a kingdom.          has loved us and loosed us from our sins in his blood, and
 hnd in that kingdom we are to be priests. That is, as           made us to he a kingdom and to be priests unto  His  God
 citizens of that kingdom  WC have but one obligation, to        and Father, and join in with  the glorious praise `of the
 consecrate ourselves with  all that we have and are  to         church universal : Christ has the glory that He possesses
 God Almighty and give Rim glory and dominion. Thus              authority and power, and to Him belongeth all dominion
 the highest purpose of the love of Christ and of all His        in heaven and on earth, for He is King? It is, indeed.
 work is reached, for the  glor$ of the Almighty is the          a solemn and profound conviction that -here speaks on the
 ultimate purpose of all things. As priests unto God and         part of the church. The world rages and the kings of
 His Father we lay ourselves upon  >he altar of God's the world rise in rebellion against the  .\nointed  of God,
 love and consecrate ourselves to Him alone !                    and often it would seem, indeed, as if to Satan belonged
        That is what Christ has done. And what now is the        the dominion and all power. But in spite of this appear-
* glory that is ascribed here to Him by the church? "To ance of reality, the church by faith maintains also in this
 Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." dispensation that the dominion belongs to Christ. Hence,
 The clause here used is not at all uncommon in Scrip- she concludes this ascription of praise with a solemn
 ture. Whenever praise is ascribed to God or to His "Amen."                 Christ has dominion forever, Amen! Christ
 Christ you will find that this is the form of doxology has dominion,  0 world. Amen! Christ has dominion,
 employed. `Let us observe just two things in this connec- 0 Satan, Amen ! Christ has dominion, though the powers
 tion: In the first place let us notice, that  the meaning of of darkness rage and rise against Him. They cannot
 this doxology really is:  "to  Hjm be the glory `of having      prevail against Him, they must obey His will, and all that
 dominion forever and ever."  As we  have remarked be- oppose Him shall be consumed forever. Christ's is the
 fore and as we must bear in mind continually in order           glory that He possesses dominion, Amen, yea, Amen,
 to understand the book of Revelation, Christ is King, He        forevermore !
 has dominion, He possesses both authority and power                That this ascription of glory and dominion to Christ
 to rule. To rule over the world and to rule over His is no empty phraseology, no mere, baseless assertion, but
 people, to rule now and to rule forever. This is the key- firm truth is corroborated further by the solemn assur-
 note of all the glory that can possibly be ascribed to          ance of His coming that follows. "Behold, He cometh
 Christ. It is the shout of triumph  that,causes hell and with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they
 the devil to shiver and tremble with fear and  astonisb-        that pierced Him and all the tribes of the earth shall
 ment. The great question of all the ages, the important mourn over Him, Even so.  Amen  !" John in these words
 matter of  conti`oversy and conflict was exactly whether touches upon the main theme of the book, no doubt, the
 God or Satan should have dominion. And when now the coming of Jesus. He calls special attention to this theme,
 church ascribes glory to her king she says:  "To  Him  be-      when he says : "Behold !" Pay attention to this glorious
 longeth the glory that He has dominion." Not to Satan.          truth and let it  sink& deeply into your consciousness,
 No, he is but a usurper. Christ is the  -4nointed  of God,      church of Christ, He cometh! It is the message of the
 to Him belongs the victory. And that forever and ever,          ages. Even as it was the expectation of the people of
 into ages of ages. His dominion is eternal. And, there-         the Old Dispensation that Messiah should come, so it
 fore, we must also note in the  second place, that this         must be the hope and expectation  cJf the people of God
 dominion of Christ shall not end when His work is of the New Dispensation, that their Lord is coming.
finished and His kingdom shall have been completed. No,          But there is this difference between His  first and
 he will rule forever!  Indeed,.there  shall'be a difference.    second adyent, that now He cometh with clouds, in or
 He shall subject Himself in the end and deliver the King-       surrounded by clouds. while first He came in the garb of
 dom to the Father that God may be all in all (I Cor.            humiliation and suffering. Not as the suffering, but as
 XV)  ; but this is in accord with His entire character and      the glorified servant he shall come. The expression
 position. Christ is Man,. the Second Adam, the Servant "with the clouds" may be taken in the local sense of the
 of Jehovah. Man was to have dominion over all things,           word first of all. for we have more than one indication in
 but as Servant of God, under `Him. But man lost his             Scripture, that the Lord shall come on the clouds of


 48                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D  B.EAKER
                                                                         --.
 heaven. But this local sense does not exhaust the  ex- with a glorious  testimony  of God Almighty:  "I am
 pression as to its significance. The clouds on which He         Alpha and Omega,  stiith'the  Lord God, who is and  who
 shall come also have symbolical significance. That this         was and who is to come, the Almighty  !" Alpha and
 is true is clear from the expression of Jesus before the        Omega are the names of the first and  last,of the charac-
 High Priest at the hour of his suffering: "Henceforth           ters of the Greek alphabet. It is a figurative expression,
 shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of        therefore, denoting approximately the same idea as the
 Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." It is sym-           clause : "who is and who was and who is to come." God
 bolical of the fact that He shall come in the glory of His      is the beginning and the end, and, therefore, comprises all
 majesty for judgment. In that sense all the history of things in time. Even as Alpha and Omega comprise the
 this dispensation is a coming of Christ on the  cIouds  of      entire Greek alphabet, so God comprehends all history
 heaven, finding its culmination in the final coming to          from its inception to its culmination. Still more. He is
 judge the nations. And in that sense the Lord could             not merely beginning and end of all history chronologic-
 truly say before the High Priest:  "Henceforth  shall ye        ally, but also ideally. He is the Cause of all things as
 see the Son of Man . . . coming on the clouds of heaven."       Creator, but also the Purpose of all things as Highest
 And this coming is of significance for all, none excepted.      Sovereign. All things were made by Him, are controlled
 This is clear from the text. There is no reason at all to       by Him, and exist for Him, to the glory of His Name.
 limit the expression : "every eye shall see Him.`"::: Be- Besides, there is nothing that can thwart Him in reach-
 lievers and unbelievers, friend and foe, all shall look upon    ing His purpose. He is the Almighty. Satan may foam
 Him as He cometh with the clouds of heaven. The with fury, hell may rage in opposition, the kings of the
 church shall see Him, for whom her soul longeth, and            earth may rake counsel together against  *the Almighty
 to her it will be joy and glory and deliverance to meet and against His Christ, but He that sitteth in the heavens
 the Lord at His coming. But also the enemy  shah see            shall laugh. For He is Almighty, and His own counsel
 Him. `For the text speaking of the coming of the Lord           He shall surely realize, through the work and coming  of.
 for judgment, makes special mention of the enemies of the Lord Jesus, who shall establish the Kingdom of God
 the King and the kingdom. They that have pierced Him in glory. And, therefore, behold, He cometh with the
 shall look upon Him, first of all those that have pierced clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they that
 Him in the literal sense of the word, and nailed Him to         pierced Him and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn!
 the accursed tree, the Jews, that rejected their own Mes- The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
 siah ; but secondly, also those that have crucified Him         Cause and Purpose of all that is and occurs has spoken:
 again and again and trampled under foot  -the blood of the  AImighty  God against whom nothing can prevail is
  the new covenant. But besides, all the tribes of the           the assurance for the fact that Christ cometh with  the
 earth, our text tells us, shall see Him and mourn. Evi-         clouds and every eye shall see Him!
 dently, this does not refer to all, including the people of        How shall we see Him? Shall we behold Him as our
  God. Thus some would have it, indeed, and interpret            Lord and King in that  signiticant  hour? Shall we meet
  that the latter shall mourn because  they,.*shall  more        Him as the Bride meeteth her Bridegroom in the hour
 clearly and vividly than ever realize what He suffered of love? Or shall we mourn with the tribes of the earth
 for their transgressions. But this does not seem likely.        and with those that pierced Him because of His  mani-.   -
 The church of Christ, the Bride of the Bridegroom, shall        festation ? If we do not confess Him as our King now
  not mourn in the hour of her deliverance and complete          and give Him the glory of His Name in this dispensa-
  redemption, but shall shout with joy. But all the tribes       tion ; if by His grace we do not receive the blessings of
 of the earth inasfar as they do not belong to the Bride,        His salvation through faith, it will be the latter. We
  inasfar as they have embraced the cause of opposition and      shall mourn at His coming and our lot shall be with
  anti-Christendom shall mourn, because they shall realize Satan in  everIasting  hell. If on the other hand we here
  the hopelessness of the cause  *they have embraced.            do confess Him with joy, and fight the battle of faith
  Mourn they shall not in true repentance, for that is im-       under Him as our King, then let this word be a word of
  possible, and in the future we shall learn from the Book       comfort and strength in the midst of the battle, in the
  that the wicked blaspheme God even in the midst of             midst of the tribulation of this world. Be not afraid.
judgments and at the sign of Christ's coming. But Be not disturbed, though the nations rage . . . . they all
  mourn they shall because His coming is a revelation that fulfill the will of your King. Be not afraid though all
  His cause alone is victorious, and that He whom they           the powers of this world rise against Him . . . . these
  have mocked and against whom they have risen in re- things must needs come to pass and Christ holds the
  bellion shall be their Judge and King in the hour of           reins of history in His powerful hands. He shall come!
  vengeance. They shall beat their breasts in dark despair ,4nd when He shall come He shall deliver us and give us
  and call to the mountains and rocks to cover them before       our place in the New Jerusalem that is to come down
  the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne in the day        from God out of heaven, and in the new earth and the
  of His wrath.                                                  new heaven we shall forevermore give glory and praise to
       And finally, the certainty of His coming is once more     God Almighty and to the Lamb!
  asserted when the apostle concludes this introduction                                                           H. H.


