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

                                                            Confession was conscious of a danger inherent in the
                                                            very nature of Protestantism. And thus he gradually
          E D I T O R I A L S                               leads to the conclusion that this was actually the case.
                                                            Not. the Roman Catholic Church but Protestantism is
       A Very Strange Application                           especially exposed to the danger of relying upon men
                                                            rather than upon God. "Whereas in the Roman Church
   I had just finished the article that appears in this     the individuality `of the religious leader is submerged
number of our paper under the heading  "Katholiek           in the hierarchical system, in Protestantism the re-
en Heilig", in which the different Calvinistic Con- ligious leader is allowed the most unhampered  opp.or-
fessions are reviewed with respect to their  co,nception    tunity for the expression of talent and ambition. His
of the Church Invisible and Visible and of the true fruitfulness depends on two things: his ability as
and the false Church, when my attention was drawn teacher, pastor and administrator, and his faithful-.
to a contribution to The Banner of Jan. 15,1937  by the ness in his threefold task. In the Roman Church the
Rev. W. Groen of Lynden, Wash. under the title: "Re- entire government of the Church as well as its work
liance more upon men than upon God".                        has been so systematized that it resembles a machine
                                                            the parts of which are interchangeable.
   In this article the Reverend proceeds from, or, at                                                   The organiza-
                                                            tion funtions equally well at all times, regardless of
least, takes his startingpoint in an expression which who may occupy places of leadership. In Protestant
he found in the twenty-ninth article of our Netherland `churches the able preacher, the sympathetic pastor,
or Belgic  Confusion of Faith, the expression, namely, and the wise administrator fill positions which they
that the false Church "relieth more upon men than cannot relinguish without some loss to the church.
upon Christ".                                               Consequently, the danger arises that in the esteem of
   But the writer -makes a very strange application the church-member the leader shall occupy a more
of this sentence in our Confession; or rather, apparent- prominent place than Christ.
ly for the very purpose of making a certain applica-           "This danger is always present because the person-
tion of it he offers a very strange and improbable ality of the leader is so greatly upon the foreground.
interpretation of the Confession on this point.             He appears in the pulpit before the congregation on
   This fact is, of course, not surprising.                 Sunday. His  figure, his voice, his message are con-
   We have seen more strange interpretations of the stantly in the minds of the hearers. He, begins to
Confessions in recent years, offered by the church in teach the children at a very tender age and continues
which the Reverend Groen serves as a minister, inter- until they have            reached their         majority. He
pretations by which the Canons of Dordrecht, who enters the homes with counsel and comfort in
were composed for the very purpose of maintaining many trying circumstances.                 He presides at the
the truth of predestination and particular grace, and official boards of the church At the same time
the doctrine of the total depravity of the natural man, Christ is only invisibly present. Only the eye of faith
were presented as teaching that the preaching of the can behold His countenance and only the hand of faith
gospel is grace of God to all-that hear, and that there can touch Him. How easily therefore, sense-bound
is an influence of the Holy Spirit upon the corrupt man will accord to the. minister a more prominent
nature of the natural man, by which the latter is able place than to Christ. As far as man can see, it is
to do good works.                                           the preacher's eloquence that fills the pews, and it
   Nevertheless, I believe that the erroneous interpre- is his sympathetic nature that makes him the beloved
tation the Reverend offers of the aforementioned sen- of young and old. Why shall he not receivle  the honor?
tence of our Nether-land Confession is  sticiently seri- The more so, when other ministers are known whose
ous to require rectification. By it he removes a rather course is marked by run-down congregations. Thus
sharp and definite criterion by which the false church the very palpable human element in the church tends
may be discerned and distinguished from the true to draw the attention of the people away from Christ
church and substitutes a relative standard which is who is ,present in the Church with His Godhead, ma-
quite impossible of definite application. And this may jesty, grace and Spirit".
not be tolerated. Our Reformed fathers, as is evi-             To illustrate more definitely what he really in-
dent from all their Confessions, were very anxious tends to say the writer then informs us of a conver-
that God's people should be able clearly to distinguish sation he had with a minister of a church of a different,
between the true church and the false.                      denomination. This minister comnlained  of the dan-
   In order to make room for his own interpretation ger of putting men of marked abilitv in the ministry.
of that  narticuIar  sentence in the Confession the And he said that in his denomination an  effort  `is
Reverend  first offers the opinion, that it is not entirely put forth to keep such men out of the office and to
clear  what prompted Guido de Brbs to insert it. He admit only men of mediocre ability.
then suggests in question form that the author of the          Now, we might, perhaps, draw the conclusion  that


                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                          197

the Reverend Groen is in hearty agreement with this Reverend Groen into Art. 29 of the Cpnfession  itself.
method, and  endorces  it as an efficient method of pre- Wnat  IS tne result? Tms: It is a custmgtirsmng mark
serving the true Church and teaching God's people to of the false church  that it relies, not upon  mt~~l~~re,
rely upon God rather than upon men. But in this we not upon great, but upon near-gieat  meti ratter tnan
would be mistaken. To reject the outstanding men and upon Christ !` Now,  wno snail aetermine wnat is the
the great would too apparently be a serious mistake true and what is the false church?
and contempt of the gifts of God. He, therefore, makes            But the Reverend might have known that such was
still another distinction. Not the great men, but the surely not the intention of Guide de Br&.
"near great" are a danger to the Church and should
be excluded from the ministry. "Only the near-great               How improbable it is, on the very face of the mat-
are a hindrance. They possess more than ordinary ter, tnat a man, wno was converted to P.rotestantism
learning, intelligence, and eloquence; but they possess oy  tne reading of the Scriptures, who was persecuted
also the sad weakness of identifying themselves and and  despised by the church from which he had sepa- "
the things they stand for with God. If such cannot ratea,  Woo was  cnasea   rrom  place to  piaco, whose
have their own way, or if they suffer real or imagined congregation was aisperseci  by armed force, who was
injustice at the hands of the majority, they will dis- mstrumental   hnnsefr in orgamzmg separate  con-
ruptthe Church and begin denominations of their own. gfegatlons  in more tnan one place, who was imprisoned
The truly great know when to bow quietly out of the and  nnally martyred,-that such a man  shoulq  write
picture and to let the church go on without them. The mth a view to the cause he had embraced and which
near great must make a fuss about  themselves  and he firmly believed to be the cause of God: `tne faJse
with a stupidity that betrays their smallness they church relieth more upon men than upon Christ; and
claim that what they hold represents the cause of God. persecutes  tnose that  live holily according to the Word
Conscious of their popularity they exert all the powers of God and rebuke her for her errors,  cosvetousness
of their personal magnetism to capture the people and and idolatry"! How utterly improbable it is that he
to secure a following enthusiastic and gullible enough CBid not write this with a view to the Roman Catholic
to secure the near-great a living when the inevitable rnerarchy,  as tne Reverend Groen would nave us ne-
separation takes place".                                     Iieve  !
     Someone suggested that in these last words the               No, when Guido de Bres inserted these words in
Reverend also was thinking of the Protestant Re- the Confessio Belgica he was not thinking of a grou!p
formed Churches.                                             Of lpeopfe  who rely upon a mart or mert  of outstanding
    I will not believe this.                                 ability, men that are "near-great". He did not mean
    For, first, I do not believe that the Reverend is so to point to so relative and vague a mark by which the
utterly ignorant of the history of  1924-25,  in which raise  church was to be distinguished.
he himself  piayed  a part, that he could actually enter-         He was thinking of  a Church  that, through her
tain such a conception of the origin of the Protestant official  form of Church-government, through the official
Reformed Churches.                                           decisions and declarations of her councils, through the
    And, secondly, I will not believe that a minister of     2x-cathedra declarations of her "head", who claimed
the gospel would be so malicious as to throw so much and was professed to be the vicar of Christ on earth,
mud at us indirectly  witho.ut  mentioning names.            through her absolutions and  indulgencies,  through her
    Such sneaky, serpentine, underhanded methods the worship of saints, through her interposition of the
Reverend Groen would be the first to detest.                 hierarchy between the believer and his Christ, relied
    Besides, how full of gall a man would have to be upon men rather than upon God.
that would seek recourse to such methods!                        And that Church was the Roman Catholic Church.
    And himself applies this description to  "Lede-               And here as everywhere in the Calvinistic Con-
boerians, Darbyists, Irvingians, Millerites and  Camp- fessions no vague and  indefinite standard is offered by
bellites".                                                   which the false Church may be distinguished from the
    No, not because I am suspicious that the Reverend true, but the clear and definite  criterion of the `pure
Groen intended to offer us a shoe that so little fits us, preatch&i  of t&e Wwrd  of God!
but because he makes  a  serious mistake and  o&r-s  an           A church that relies upon Christ keeps and preaches
utterly false interpretation of the Confession, I reflect His  Wwrd.
on his article.
    He befuddles a clear expression of the Confession             A church that relies on men formulates human de-
that is intended to serve as a distinguishing mark of clarations, and on the basis of them persecutes her
the false "church into something so vague and relative true sons, that would rebuke her for her sins and
that it is absolutely incapable of application. Just errors !
imagine, that  you insert the interpretation of  th!e                                                      H. H.


202                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
11_."                                                 -_  -
van hen, die bij ons voor Ieden dier Kerk worden  ge-
houden. In par. 70 wordt dan verder genoteerd, dat                                             That Ye May Be Saved
in de zichtbare Kerk altijd de boozen met de goeden
zi j n vermengd.                                                                   We received the following question from Mrs. B.
                                                                                V. of G. R., Mich.
       Eindelijk moeten we in dit verband  nog wijzen op
de Westerminstersche Confessie, die werd opgesteld To the Editor of the Standard Bearer,
in 1647 door "the Assembly of Divines, now by
Authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster". Zij Dear Rev. Hoeksema:
geeft in art 25 in twee afzonderlijke paragrafen eene                              Will you kindly explain the meaning of the phrase,
omschrijving van de onzichtbare en daarna van de "but these things I say that ye may be saved," as found
zichtbare kerk,  als volgt:                                                     in the gospel of John 6:34b.  As the verses following
       "De katholieke of algemeene Kerk, die onzichtbaar give the impression that the whole multitude to whom
is, bestaat uit het geheele aantal der uitverkorenen,                           Jesus is here speaking are unbelieving Jews, does Jesus
die geweest zijn, nog zijn of zijn zullen, vergaderd tot desire their salvation?
&en, onder Christus, Die haar hoofd is ; en is de bruid,                                                                     Sincerely,
het lichaam, de volheid van Hem, die alles in  allen                                                                           Mrs. B. V.
vervult.                                                                   I
                                                                                   Answer :
       "De zichtbare Kerk, die ook katholiek of algemeen
is onder het Evangelie (niet tot QQne natie beperkt,                               The words: "that ye might be saved" not only ex-
zooals onder de wet) bestaat uit al degenen, door de press clearly the desire on the part of Jesus that thosa
creheele  wereld, die de ware religie belijden, en hunne intended might receive sal,vation, but what is more,
kinderen  ; en ze is het koninkrijk van den Heere Jezus that this was  the positive purpose whry they were spo-
Christus, het huis en de familie Gods buiten welke ge- ken.
woonlijk  geen  mogelijkheid  van  zaligheid  is."                                  It is true that the context plainly shows that the
       We mogen hier twee dingen opmerken. In de eerste predominating element among the multitude that heard
plaats, dat hier in de omschrijving van de zichtbare the Lord at this occasion were unbelievers. This does
Kerk niet genoemd  worden  de  boozen en hypocrieten. not mean, however, (1) That everyone of them was
De zichtbare Kerk is eenvoudig de onzichtbare Kerk. an unbeliever at that time ; (2) That those. who at
zooals die verschijnt in de vergadering der belijdende this particular occasion did not believe on Him, were
geloovigen en hun zaad. En in de tweede nlaats,  en reprobate and never came to the faith. We know of
in nauw  verband  hiermee, dat de mogelijkheid van those (e.g. His brethren) who did not believe till after
xaligheid, in den gewonen weg, verbonden wordt  aan the resurrection,  and, others believed not till the out-
de zichtbare Kerk.                                                              pouring of the Spirit.
                                                               IX H.                I think it is safe to say, that, because the Lord
                                                                                speaks with the positive purpose that they may be
                                                                                saved, that not the whole multitude consisted of repro-
                                                                                bate unbelievers. The "ye" were saved.
                                                                                                                                      H. H.
                                  FATHER

                   `Twas when the sea's tremendous roar
                     A 1ittl.e  bark assailed ;
                   And pallid fear, with awful power,
                     O'er each on board prevailed:                                                     IN MEMORIAM

                   Save one, the captain's darling son,                            Heden   ontsliep  in zijnen Heiland en Heere,  mijnel  geliefde
                     Who fearless viewed the storm,                             Echtgenoot,
                   And playful, with composure smiled                                              CHARLES J. BOUWMAN
                     At danger's threatening form.                    .
             pi                                                                 in den ouderdom van ruim seventig jaren.
        ,                                                                          In de blijde hoop met hem hereenigd te worden  bij Christus
                   "Why sporting thus," a seaman cried,                         hierboven.
                     "Whilst dangers overwhelm?"                 i                                                    Mrs. Gertie Bouwman
                   "Whv yield togrief?" the boy replied,
                     "My  Fathep's  at the helm."                                   Grand Rapids,  Mich.


                                       TXE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       203

                                                                 Trodden under foot, the Son of God. We tread
                 So Great Salvation                           under foot that which we detest. We are very dainty
                                                              people.     Sometimes we turn away in disgust  fro*m
       The promulgation of the law of Moses was a mani- things that are exposed to our view. To touch such
festation of light.                                           objects is then abomination to us. But trample on it,
       It was the Word of God spoken by angels and com- yes, that we dare do. The soles of our feet may come
mitted in Gods Name to Moses and through him to in contact with those objects from which we turn
the people of Israel.                                         away in disgust. We will kick them aside.
       By itself it was wonderful too. Is it not wonderful       And this we do by nature when we come in con-
to know what the Lord's will is for our life? What tact with the Son of God.
beautiful strains of music! Love God above all and'              Now if the law of God was beautiful and swe@,
your neighbour as  youself.  No wonder that every how shall we appraise the Son of God, the Mediator
transgression and disobedience was punished with a of God and men, the vicariously suffering Servant of
just recompense of reward. That was just. He died             Jehovah.
without mercy under two or three witnesses. That                 He came to seek them which the Father had given
was just. No one can possibly  fmd fault with it. To to Him. But to seek, redeem and save them He will-
sin against that which is lovely and sweet calls for ingly enters their eternal prison of death. He willingly
ugly punishment. And they received it and will re- and motivated by Divine love takes all their guilt
ceive it in the Judgment Day, who have been guilty upon His neck and groans under the burden of the
of such great sin.                                            wrath of God. Honestly, such love cannot be properly
       It that be true, and it is true, how shall we escape evaluated. No matter how long eternity is, we shall
if we neglect so great salvaion as is manifested unto never grow weary to honor Him and love Him for that
us who live under the everlasting Gospel? Or how love that was bestowed on us by that Eternal Son of
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be God. He emptied Himself and assumed the role of
thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the slave, crawling in the dust of death for our sakes.
Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the cove- He let all the grandeur of Sonship go begging and be-
nant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, came the Man of sorrows so that you and I could be
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? Heb. f3led with heavenly joy. He became an outcast, weep-
10.                                                           ing in the wilderness and sweating blood in the garden
       What will be your answer, reader?                      so that you might walk in liberty and taste that Gods
       The Bible points out that this sorer punishment communion is better than life.
shall consist in a fearful looking for of judgment,              Is not the Son of God, is not the bloody Man of
fiery indignation, that shall devour the adversaries,, sorrows far sweeter than the manifestation of the
It shall be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the law of Moses?
living God. For our God is a consuming fire. Many,               And when a mortal man dares to trample the mani-
oh so many stripes, compared to the heathen.                  festation of God's wondrous love under foot, how much
       Yes, the lot of the heathen shall be terrible. They sorer punishment, suppose ye. . . . Ah, I do not know
had the law of God which testified in their hearts. Lord !
Their consciences would admit that the law was good.             But it must be terrible beyond compare.
They would accuse. and excuse each other and them-
selves, testifying thereby that they knew the law of             What shall even the reception be, that Judas will
God. God had revealed it unto them. And when pre- receive of Sodom? How shall he be greeted in hell
sently the hidden things of the heart are revealed by Gomorrah? And when hell even will upbraid such
when God shall turn the hearts of men inside out, then detestable creatures how is God to recompense them?
it will become manifest that they are worthy of eter-1           Whenever and wherever they saw and heard the
nal death. Oh yes, even if we imagine the poor mortal manifestation of the blessed Gospel, they would
who will receive the least punishment of all, his lot trample under foot the Son of God ; when you spoke to
will be very grievous indeed. They shall receive few them of the Blood of the Testament, how that Jesus
stripes, says Jesus. But these few stripes certainly shed His precious blood in the agony of His soul, they
are eternal damnation and everlasting despair.                would say that such blood-theology was an unholy
       Still there are degrees of suffering in hell.          thing. Horrible!
       And that is just.                                         Well, if we with our knowledge of heavenly things
       Sin against the holy and loveable  law of God will deem such creatures horrible indeed, how will God
be punished with sore punishment.                             appraise of them in the Day of,)days?
       But how much sorer punishment will he receive             Yes, hell for the Japanese and Chinamen will be
who has trodden under foot the Son of God?                    terrible: but hell for despisers of the Blood will be
       It is difhcult to form a conception of such heinous    an hundred times worse. There are degrees of suffer-
crime.                                                        ing in that place of sorrows. And despisers of the


204                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- -   "._"--  .__  -.--_.^-----             -.-----l._--_llll_-.--l-_-_-..-  ..I_..I"  .-_ ..-....
Son of God, His Blood and the Spirit of grace wiii Thou,  0 Son of God, hast purchased us to God by Thy
lie in deepest hell.                                           blood. Forever the sign of the slaughtered Lamb shal!
       So great salvation!                                     be in the midst of the Throne to remind us, to remind
       Because God delivered us from so great a  death/!       us ever and again, that we are saved with so great
       So great a death!                                       salvation !
       Things that are beautiful assume a still brighter
hue when compared with their very opposites. Salva-               That blood is preached, manifested in your midst
                                                               by the Word that began to be spoken by Jesus.
tion by the blood of the Son of God is so very great
because it saves us from so great a death.                        That blood sings the old, old story of Jesus and
       It not our death very great?                            His love.
       Just imagine that you and I are fleeing from God I         Shall we then neglect so great salvation?
as far as our thoughts and inclinations can carry us.              Oh, if we do, then the damned in hell from the
And to be apart from God is death.  Re is the very city of Sodom shall rebuke us in that awful day.
Fountain of good things for the image bearer. He Then the very criminals of foreign lands shall stand
is the Sum Total of all things that are sweet and lovely,      <:p in judgment against us and they shall call  our
light and life, goodness and kindness, health and happi- horror righteously begotten.
ness, forgiveness and grace, longsuffering and mercy
and a thousand other blessings. Yet, we Bee from                   When you are found in the pews on Sunday in this
Him. We do not  iike Him, but hate Him. We say land and neglect so great salvation, deeming the ,blood
with all that in us lies: Depart from me, o God, for of Jesus an unholy thing; then the very recesses of
I have no pleasure in Thy ways! Is not our death the place of torment shall reverberate with the oft-
great ?                                                        repeated question that will sear our souls and bodies:
       But God is furious with sin and the sinner. And Friend, a,rt thou here?
He sentenced man unto death all his life on earth,                But if not; if we do not neglect so great salvation,
all his existence in the rotting grave and all the dreary if we do not despite unto the Spirit of grace (through
wakes of an eternity in hell. He ascribed the false His sweet grace over us) but on the contrary, when
prophet to be our teacher and devils to be our com- we by His Spirit are found at the foot of the Cross
panions. He meted out to  the+ human race because of sweetest grace-then we shall be saved, then we
of their guilt the habitation that really was prepared are saved, then we shall make heaven musical forever
for  devils. So great a death!                                 by songs of salvation.
       But we are saved from all that.                            Ah, God be praised for His unspeakable Gift!
       "Thy great salvation, Lord ! So will I answer them                                                             G. V.
that scoff. . .  Z'
       Great salvation by the Son of God because He went
into that prison of death. He suffered the terrible
conflict and poured out His soul into death. He suf-
fered the torture to be forsaken of the Fount of Life
and happiness in order to save you, dear reader. He                               DANKBAAR  GEDENKEN
shed His blood and sent His Spirit so that you might
be divorced from the Devil and false prophecy. So                 Den  loden  Jahuari,  1937,  mochten we met onze  geIiefde
that you no longer would run away from God, but be ouders :
halted in your tracks and made to consider and say:                                        JOHN  VIS
In the Home of my Father in heaven there is bread                                              en
enough and Ito spare ! But here I suffer hunger and                                   MAGGIE  VJS-Brummell
thirst, where all the streams are dry.                         gedenken, dat cle Heere ze 25 jaren  in het  huwelijk  gespaard
       Great salvation for it fulfills all your needs.         en gezegend.  In  Dankbare  gedachtens, en met de  b&e dat
       You need God. Your need His communion and love. onzen  God ze nog  vele  jaren mag  zegentm,  teekenen we  ons,
 You need the angels of life. You need the companion-                                                   .
                                                               verblijde kinderen,
ship of perfect saints. You need a beautiful world                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Vis
around you. \ You need the continuous Word of God                                                    Johanna
to nourish you everlastingly. You need His comfort-                                                  Henry
ing speech telling you ever and anon: I love you, my                                                 Albertha
dear son ! You need tall that + you a;Te to be hqpy.                                                 Elizabeth
You need your God.                                                                                   Albert
       So great salvation.                                                                           Kathleen
       Therefore the saints  (in the new paradise will sing                                          en  &n  Mein  kind.
 ia  ever more beautiful strains the heavenly song:                Hull, Iowa.


                                     T M E   S T A N - B A R D   R E A R E R                                     209
                                                    II_.                          I~
mensch, enz. Geziende heerlijkheitd Gods die ens toe-
lonkt van dag tot dag, wezen  de heidenen naar krui-                    The Book Of Numbers
pend gedierte en noemden ze God! Die verontreinigt
zal geenzins in het nieuwe  Jeruzalem  komen !                  Chapter  15-20:13 again formed a distinct unity.
                                                             Its content is historical, interrupted by legal sections
   En die de gruwelijkheid doet!                             in chapters 15,  17, 18, 19. The history in these chap-
   Is hetzelfde als die verontreinigt, doch nu uit het ters concerns the thirty seven years of wandering in
oogpunt van de  reactie  der heiligheid. Het is de  af- "the wilderness of  Paran"  with Kadesh as the rallying
schuw waarmede God, de Engelea en volmaakt  recht-           center. In this wilderness, Israel for a generation led
vaardigen neerblikken op de menschheid die verworpen a nomadic life, passing from place to place, as pastur-
wierd en die verwerping uitwerkte in vuile zonde. age invited.              The men who had come from Egypt
Dan zegt God: Ge zijt gruwelijk! In grooten  onlust gradually passed away, and their sons grew under the
wend Ik mijn oog van u !                                     tutelage of Moses into a strong and vigorous nation.
   En de leugen spreekt!                                        Let us first atteqd  briefly to the historical occur-
   Meer dan het maar onwaarheid spreken is leugen. antes of this period. The first is that of a man found
Leugen is de menschheid die vie1 en ten verderve gaat, gathering sticks upon the Sabbath day (chap. 15:32-
uit het oogpunt van het voortkomen uit naar ethischen 41). Be was put in a ward, and his case immediately
vader den duivel. Leugen-leven is het leven tegen God brought to the Lord, Who directed that the offender
en  tegen'zijn Gezalfde. Leugen spreken is het  leven,       should be put to death. So all the congregation brought
dat dood is in zonden en misdaden.                           him without the camp and stoned him, so that he died.
                                                             No precise pate is given by which to fix this offense.
   Doch  wie kan dan zalig  worden?  Wie klimt  pan             The other event is that of the rebellion of Korah,
den berg des Heeren .op? En wie zal dan staan in de Dathan and Abiram, with certain of the children of
heilige plaats?                                              Israel, two hundred and iifty princes, against Moses
   Want  allen  zijn we met  &n ethisch sop overgoten. and Aaron. Their grievance was, that- the two took
Wij zijn als de verworpenen, ook  kinderen  des toorns. to much upon them, seeing that all the congregation
   En het antwoord des eeuwige Evangelie is: Maar was holy. Why did they then lift up themselves above
die geschreven zijn in het Boek des levens des Lams. the congregation. It was plainly a protest against
Eigenlijk moogt ge  we1 lezen: Maar die geschreven the divine ordinance, whereby the people had access
zijn in Jezus!                                               to God solely through the new priesthoo,d  and thus a
   Let er op, dat dit boek geschreven is. De namen demand for the restoration of the old order of things.
                                                             When Moses heard of it, he fell on his face. The
zijn  geschreven. Dit ziet op het vaste, onveranderlijke
de eeuwigheid verdurende!                                    next day would show which side was right. Let them
                                                             present themselves with lighted  censers. The man
   Geschreven zijn in Jezus ! Alle roem is  uitgeslo-        whom the Lord should choose would be holy. Dismiss-
ten! Onverdiende zaligheid. Als' we niet in Hem ing them for the time being, Moses summoned Dathan
gevonden wierden bleven ook wij eeuwig buiten en and Abiram to appear before him. Instead of comply-
ging de deur op `t eeuwig nachtslot!                         ing, they repelled the command with reproaching
   Doch geschreven is Jezus van eeuwigheid tot eeu- Moses, "It is a small thing that thou ha& brought us
wigheid. En daarom kwam Jezus, leed Hij en `stierf up out of a  IanAd that flowed with milk and honey,
BJij. Overgegeven om onze zonden. En daarom  ver-            to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself
rees Hij en voer ten hemel: Omdat  we:van eeuwigheid altogether a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not
geschreven zijn in Hem.                                      brought us into a land that floweth with milk and
   Geschrevcn in het Lam.  Zijn dood  en  lijden  aan honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards ;
mij toegerekend; Zijn verrijzenis de mijne naar  waar- wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? We will
de en kracht.                                                not come." God now acted. As Moses, predicted, the
   Geschreven  `,op de rol waarop God de  volkeren           ground  clave  ,asunder  and swallowed them up  and
schrijft.                                                    their houses, and all the men that appertain&d unto
                                                             Korah and all their goods. As to the two hundred and
   Leekt dan straks `t doods.zweet  van mijne slapen,        fifty men that offered incence,  fire came out from the
zoo zal mijn laatste snikken zijn.' Geschreven in mijn presence of the Lord and consumed them.
Heiland, Hallelujah!
   En de  EngeIen  Gods  zullen mijn moegestreden               But the danger was not yet over. Those `who
ziel afhalen en bij de  paarlen   poorten  zal  geen   ver- sympathized with the mutineers, and their number was
bindqring zijn, want `t wacht  woord is Jezus!               great, now accused Moses of having killed the "people
                                                             of God". Then wrath went out from the Lord and a
   Er ruischt langs de wolken,  een lieflijke Naam. . . . plague broke out in the camp, which was stayed only
             I              .   .             G. V.  ..`:    by Aaron running in the midst of the congregation


BIQ                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R
*__l.       ._        ._
with his kindled tenser,  thus making atonement for cited ordinances served to remind this generation tha
the sins of the rebels. The crisis, however, was not to them God would keep His promise, and  bestov
permitted to pass away without a memorial which upon them these benefits which their fathers had for
should keep it from being forgotten. The heads  of feited by their rebellion and unbelief.
the tribes, including Levi, carried a rod or  sceme             As to the instructions contained in chapter 17
of office. These were now ordered to be laid up in the they were all occasioned by the rebellion of Korah.
tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony             The next section, comprised of chapter  18,  sub,
that it might be shown by a miraculous sign in con- divides in the followmg  parts: 1. The constituency ti
nection with them, whom the Lord had chosen to per- the priestly race-Aaron and his sons ami his fatner':
form the service at His sanctuary. On the morrow, house with him as atoning mediators, with whom  thf
Moses found the rod of Aaron "for the house of Levi Levites shall serve as assistants, vss.  l-3a. 2.  Tht
budding and bringing forth buds, and bloomed blos- lrmits of the Levites calling; a description of  then
som,  and yielding almonds". Then was Aaron's rod           tasks, under threat of divine wrath (death penalty)
brought again before the testimony to be kept for a if they are not observed, vss. 3b-5. 3. The discrimina.
token against the rebels.                                   tion between the Levites and the priests. The Le.
       Let us now have regard to the legal materials found vites are made a gift to the Aaronites, but to  the
in the chapters specified above (chap. 15, 17, 18, 19). latter only is the priesthood presented. They alto
In chapter 15 four distinct ordinances are set forth. gether form a  personel  of the sanctuary, into  which
First Ordinance. Cereal and drink offerings, vss. 3-16. no common Israelite may intrude without incurring
The reference here is to two classes of burnt-offerings the death-penalty. For, though the whole nation  u
or peace-offerings and not to sin-offerings and tres- holy indeed, only the priests' are sanctified to  the
pass-offerings. These sacrifices are of three kinds:        priest's office,  and the Levites to the service of  the
the votive offering or offering in time of need; the free tabernacle. Vss. 6,  7.  4. The priest's sustenance. Ii
will offering or offering in time of prosperity; and consists (a) in the heave-offerings of the wave-offer.
the festal or praise and thank-offering.                    ings, to be eaten only by Aaron and his sons and
       Second ordinance, vss. 18-21. The offering of the daughters and the whole of the priestly families, or
dough and hulled oats of the new bread.                     condition that the individuals are ceremonially clean
       Third ordinance, vss. 22-29. Of the sin offering. vs. 2. 5. The latter's income stipulated: the  firstfruitz
Here it is the sins of omission that are considered, on of oil, new wine, corn and all the fruits of the land,
the part of the whole congregation and those of single everything devoted in Israel, everything that open
individuals and consisting in the unconscious falling the matrix in all flesh, and which they bring unto  the
away from the standard of the law.                          Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, but the firstborn
                                                            of man and the firstlings of unclean beasts shall be
       Fourth ordinance, vss. 30, 31. The sin with up- redeemed with five shekels. Finally, the blood and
lifted hand, or, the conscious sin of obstinacy toward the fat of sacrificial beasts must go to the altar to be
Jehovah. For these sins there was no expiation pro- sacrificed as also the wave-breast and the shoulder
vided : "The soul that doeth ought presumptuously, of the thank-offering. T,hus it is established forever.
whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same Vss. 12-19. 6. This reward of the priests rests upon
reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off the ordinance that he shall not possess a fixed inheri-
from among his people. Because he hath despised the tance in Israel ; on the contrary, the Lord is his part
word of the Lord, and hath broken His commandment, and inheritance among the children of Israel. vs. 20.
that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be 7. T,hte income of the Levi&s. In return for their ser-
upon him*"                                                  vice they shall receive the tithes to be paid by all the
       The higher critics regard the above legal material Israelites. On the other hand, they, and thus not the
as an interpolation. They say that it is not connected children of Israel, shall do the service of the taber-
with what precedes and follows. But the fact is that nacle of the congregation and shall bear their iniquity.
these laws are required for the future possession of And they shall make no claim to an inheritance in the
the land of Canaan: "Speak unto the children of Israel, land. This shall be a statute forever throughout their
and say unto them, When ye are come into the land of generations. But the Levites must pay tithes to the
your habitation, which I give unto you. . . ." (vs. 2). priests of their tithes as a heave-offering to Jehovah,
       It is further objected that the verse last quoted and of all they must give the very best. What re-
comes in very inappropriately and could hardly be mains shall be counted to them as the increase of the
well-meant by Jehovah after His having excluded the threshingfloor,  and as the increase of the winepress.
murmurers from entering the land on account of their And they and their household shall eat it in every
sinful reactions to the evil report of the spies. Fact place: for it is the reward for their service. And they,
is, however, that the rising generation was not ex- the  Levi&, shall bear no son by reason of it, pro-
cluded and that therefore the  gvving of the above-          viding they first have from it the best to the Lord.


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  zil
-                               --."-                                --I__.             -           -_--_                     1-
     The connection between this legal material and strict. The penalty of non-performance was death,
the events recorded in the preceding chapter is evi- as it had  as its effects the  defilement  of the sanctuary.
dent. As  ,has already been noticed, Korah,  Dathan,             The man that accomplished the purification became
and Abiram with two hundred and fifty princes had unclean until the evening, as also every one and every-
rebelled against Moses and Aaron. Their grievance thing the unclean  *person  touched. The first sprinkling
was, that the two took too much  upon them, seeing took place on the third day, the second on the seventh
that all the congregation was holy. They plainly pro- day, on the day of the Sabbath, number of completed
tested against the divine ordinance where by the people work of purification.
h*ad access to God solely through the new priesthood.               Also this legislation is in place where it stands in
In the deep sense their protest amounted to a rejec- the Pentateuch. It carries us back to the great num-
tion of Christ as the Mediator of God and man. It ber of deaths, resulting from the rebellion of Korah.
was in connection with the rioting of these sinners After this mortality it became apparent that the purifi-
that the Lord through the promulgation of the above cation heretofore prescribed could not attend to the
instructions firmly established as a fact, the priest- purification of persons defiled by camp corpses. The
hood for the entire Old Testament Dispensation. That most numerous priesthood could not suffice fan this,
at this time the Levites were made a gift to the Aaron-          Hence the institution of this general means of purificaz
ites was plainly occasioned by the circumstance that tion, the sprinkling of the defiled with the ashes of
the Israelites, terrorized by the spectacle of the de- the red heifer, saturated with living water, a purifica-
struction of the rebels and especially of the 250 who tion that could be accomplished by any layman.
had drawn near the tabernacle to offer incense, cried
out in dismay, "Behold, we die, we perish, we all                                                                 G. M. 0.
perish. Whosoever  cometh   anythinff near unto the
tabernacle of the Lord shall die: shall we be con-
sumed with dying?" It was plain also in answer to
this cry that the Lord took the  Levites  and made them
a gift to the sons of Aaron. This doing of His was
a warning that the common Israelites should hence-
forth not come nigh unto the tabernacle of the congre-                                  IN MEMORIAM
gation.      Doing so, they would die. What is more,                                                                                 I
by this doing of His, the Lord removed every reason                 Den  19den   Januari behaagde het den Heere God uit  ens'
for this unlawful intruding. Thus the above legal midden  weg te nemen onze   geliefde echtgenoot en Vader.
materials can indeed be accounted for in the place                                 HENDRIK J. VERMEER
they occupy in the Mosaic system of legislation.                 in den ouderdom van 68 jaar.
     The next section is comprised of chapter 19. First
is the ordinance of the red Heifer. vss. l-10. It has                Zijn heengaan is ons verlies, maar wij mogen gelooven
respect to a particular kind of actual  defiilements  and dat hij ingegaan is in de rust die er overblijft voor het  volk
the means of purification of them. The defilement van God.
sprang from personal contact with the dead, such as                  Onze bede is dat de Heere ons genade geeft om bij den
the touching of a dead body, or dwelling in a tent voortduur in zijn alwijzen  doen te berusten, en dit verlies aan
whRre death had entered, or lighting on the bone of onze harten heiligen wiL
a dead man, or having to do with a grave in which. a                                         Namens  de weduwe en kinderen,
corpse had been laid.         The uncleanness contracted,
lasted seven days and could only be removed by the                                            Mrs. H. J. Vermeer, Sr.
application of the ashes, mixed with water, of the                                            Mr. and Mrs. H. Bastiaanse
body of the heifer, without blemish, upon  w,hich never                                       Rev. and Mrs. C. Garvin
came yoke, burnt without the camp, with cedar-wood,                                           Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Vermeer Jr.
hyssop, and scarlet cast into the midst of the burn-                                          Mr. and Mrs. A. Vermeer
ing.                                                                                          Rev. and Mrs.  L. Vermeer
     The use. vss. 11-13. Whoever became defiled by                                           Mr. and Mrs. M. Raymond
a corpse was unclean for seven days. The removal of                                           Mr. and Mrs. H. Morgan
the uncleanness consisted in the application of the                                           Rev. and Mrs.  P. De Boer
ashes, mixed with water, of the body of the heifer.                                           Mr. and Mrs. D.  Zandbergen                 '
        Nearer definition. vss.  14-22.  This has been given.                                 Adolph Vermeer
It need only to be remarked that no priest, no Levite                                         Rev. and Mrs. H. De Wolf
was required to sprinkle the tent, the vessels and the                                        en 26  kleinkinderen.
defiled man. This could be done by any man that was
clean.  T.he observance of this ordinance was most                   Grand  Rapids, Mich.

                                                                                                                       ^


  212                                  T H E   S'rANDa'RD  B E A R E R

  ---.                -I_                                 --     ,iorn and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and
                                                                 might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
           SundijF School Lessons                                Lord. . . . Isa. 2:2. And on the day of His crowning,
  % He, as the resurrected and exalted Christ, received the
     -Jesus The Light Of The World                               Spirit without measure, so that in Him now dwells
                                                                all fulness bodily. Hence, He is the light, the sole,
               John  8:12, 31;  9%11                            meritorial source of light, of truth and grace, so that
                                                                whosoever would have light-the light of life-must
     Them  spake  Jesus  again unto them saying, I am by faith appropriate Him as t&e light.
  the light of thr;? world: he that followeth me shall not
 walk in darkness, but shall have the light'of  light.            He therefore is the light of  the  world, that is, to
                                                                the world, He, the light, sustains the relation of  light
                                             John 8 : 13.       source. In the light of the above observations and
     There are three concepts in this text to which at- especially  in the light of the sentence, "he that follow-
 tention must first be directed. They are: Light, life, eth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
 and darkness. .What  is ethical light? Scripture teaches light of life," that is, the light that-is life, it ought to
@ that God is light, which means more than that He be plain that when Jesus declared, "I am the light of
 searches with His mind the innermost recesses of His the world," He had before His mind something differ-
 being so that His knowledge of Self is thorough and ent than a mere outward illumination, that consists
 all-comprehensive. That God is light means, that He in His revealing as the Logos in every man (also the
 is the inclusion of all that is good and lovely and that heathen) what may be known of God, or in His reveal-
 in Him there is no darkness at all. Light (ethical)            ing as the  incamzate  Word in man (the men who have
 then is truth, knowledge, grace, righteousness, holi-           the gospel preached to them, elect and reprobate alike)
 ness, love, true life.      God is light in Himself and what is known of God in the face of Christ, thus an
 through Christ the light-source of His chosen people. illumination that results in a kind of knowing (out-
 Of the above-mentioned excellencies, natural light, the ward, theoretical, purely rational) unmixed with love.
 luminous rays that flow from the sun, is the em- Nor did Christ mean to tell us that He is the light of
 blem.                                                          the world in the sense that He merely causes the light
     True life, as to its manifestation, is holy action of life to flow from Him to all the blind and that they
 that proceeds from a new  ~principle  in man and that con- of the blind who choose of their own free will to see,
 sists in knowing and loving God in the face of Christ will possess the light in their souls unto salvation.
 and in being known and loved of  Him,-action  that What Christ meant to tell us and actually did tell us,
 is thus productive of perfect and eternal joy and is that He is the source of light, of grace (saving.
 bliss.                                                         John knows of no other grace) truth, life, in the sense
     Ethical darkness, the emblem of which is the dark- that the world actually has, possesses, in Him the
 ness of the natural light, is spiritual ignorance of mind light of life in that He merited for it life and now
 and corruption of heart. Remarkable it is, that the causes the light to flow from Him into the hearts
 rioting of sin is most violent during the night.               of men (His people) unto their eternal, salvation so
     Spiritual. death is a state of total and absolute in- that the world is in Him light, truly wise, righteous,
 ability to will to know,. love, and serve the living God. holy, in that He is its light and life, its wisdom, right-
 Death is further antipathy to the light and love of eousness, sanctification and complete redemption.
 darkness that reveals itself in unholy action consisting From this it follows that the world of which Christ
 in taunting God and in embracing and living the lie.           here speaks is the chosen cosmos as it culminates in
    Death and moral darkness are essentially one and the elect, thus the world that God so loved, that He
 the same. The one as well as the other is essentially gave His only begotten. Now then, because Christ is
 "a corruption of the whole nature and an hereditary the light of this world-light (of His people) in the
 disease which produces in man all sorts of sin being sense explained above, it follows that he who follows
 in him as a root thereof." Death in distinction from Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
 moral darkness is corruption of nature as it reveals light of life. Christ here passes in His reasoning from
 itself in the total inability to spiritually discern and the general to the particular, from His body to the
 to love the light and in the `evil propencity  to love and individual member, from the flock to the individual
 revel in sin. Moral darkness in distinction from death sheep, as he who follows Jesus is an elect one, a be-
 is corruption of nature as it reveals itself in spiritual liever. Thus the meaning is not, "he who follows me,
 blindness and ignorance.                                       be he reprobate or elect (Christ was of course in-
    Now Christ is the Zight of the world. Light is He capable of uttering such nonsense) will have the light
 as God. Light is He as man-light, full of grace of life," but the meaning is, "he who  foll.ows, is follow-
and truth. For, in the words of the prophet, upon ing, Me, to wit, my sheep, the elect, shall have and
 Him the Spirit of the Lord rested, the Spirit of wis-          does have the light of life. And to this there is  no


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   R E A R E R                                        213
- -
exception. It never has  occured  and will never occur, representative. The result of His dying for His people
that he who follows me has  not light." Following Jesus in the aforesaid relation is that He is now their right-
is an act of one born of God consisting in his confessing eousness, wisdom, sanctification and redemption. Made
from the heart that Jesus is the light and in appro- free were they from all their sins and set with Him
priating Him,  the  light, as his Savioyr and as the cap- in heavenly places. Raised were they with Him unto
tain, the pioneer,  ,of salvation, whom he, the one born justifi6ation.    However, Christ also makes the fruits
anew, does not precede (how could he) but follows, of His cross effective in the lives of His people. He
along the way, the way, everlasting. Such a follower not only freed them objectively and from the point
possesses now in principle but at His return in full, of view of right, but He frees them also actually and
the light that is life, the light that spells imperishable, in their hearts, before the bear of their own conscience.
eternal and bessed life,-a life that presupposes purity He does so by calling them into being as His people
of mind and heart and that consists in fellowship with by His almighty creative word, by filling them with
the Father and with the Son.                                His grace and truth,-the truth concerning Himself
       Hence the saying of Jesus, "He who follows me and concerning all He achieved for them as the suffer-
shall possess the light. . ." does not certainly mean ing and dying Saviour, by applying that truth so unto
that at the commencement of his following, the fol- their hearts that they  know  them.se1ve.r  as  freed,-
lower of Jesus is devoid of the life of regeneration and freed from the law (as an instrument for the meriting
that as a result of his resolution to get him beh.ind of life), freed from curse, wrath, sin and death, He
Jesus, he receives this life. The light of life is that makes His people free finally by drawing them by the
spiritual good after which the one born anew hungers truth-and He is the truth-out of darkness-the dark;
and thirsts. And what he hungers for he already ness of sin and death-into the light of His kingdom
possesses  in principle  at the commencement of his and thus to Himself and to the heavenly.
following Jesus. And he shall possess a full measure           It is this latter freeing-a freeing that has as its
of that to which his heart goes out. He that followeth meritorial basis His suffering and death-to which
Christ possesses the light of life and thus does not walk Christ refers, when He said, "Ye shall  Tm;~u  the truth,
in darkness but in the light. To walk in the light is and the truth shall make you free."
to be light, to love light, wisdom, grace, truth, right-       John 9 :l-11.
eousness, to radiate, light, that is, to speak and do
righteousness and to witness for the truth. To walk            This section is a record of Jesus' healing of the man
in darkness is. to be spiritually blind, ignorant and       born blind. This is one of Christ's symbolical miracles
,evil, to love, think, will and do the lie.    The man and is a sign and seal of that gracious work of `His
who is not following Jesus and who thus in his unbe- consisting in His causing His people by natzre blind
lief pits himself against Christ, necessarily walks in      (spiritually) to spiritually see, thus a work  cn?sisting
darkness as he is not in contact in the spiritual sense     in His empowering them to spiritually discern the
with  the  light. This proves -conclusively that Jesus things of the Spirit. This miracle tells us as slain as
was not thinking of an outward illumination when words can, that a sinner does not of his own free will
He said, "I am the light of the world", (those but choose to see, but that suiritual  sight is indeed a gift
outwardly luminated still walk in darkness as they of Christ. It tells us, this miracle. that to believe in
possess not the light of life.                              Christ is not an act oa the nart of the sinner that con-
       John  851, 32. Then said Jesus to  tho<se Jews sists in his opening of himself his blind eyes that
            which believed in Him, If ye continue in mv the light of life may Bood  his soul and he be saved  (so
            word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And says the Arminian) but that to believe is an act that
            ye shall know the truth and the truth shall consists in a man, with sight already restored by
            make you free.                                  Christ, fixing the eye of faith unon Christ. It is onlv
       The emphasis in verse 31 fails upon continue. He the man with eyes cured `by Christ that works his
who continues in Christ's word has' true faith and own salvation and this again for the sole reason that
is the possessor of the life of regeneration. Such  a Christ works in him both the will and the doing.
one only is a true disciple. Perseverance is the mark          Just before Christ healed the eyes of the blind
of true discipleship as it  is the mark of true faith. man, He said to His discinles, "Neither hath this  rn3n
The true <disciple shall know the truth and the truth sinned nor his parents;  but that the  works  of God
shall make him free. What are we to understand by should be made manifest in him. I  must work the
this statement? Christ made His peonle free, obje-- works of Him that sent me. while it is day: the night
tively, from the point of view of right, through His cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in
suffering and death, from the law, from the curse of the world, I am the light of the world."
the law. hence from the power of sin and death. That           Was Jesus then also annroaching a night? He was.
He could so free them finds its explanation in the cir- Soon He would be entering the night of His death
cumstance that He suffered and died as their head and upon the cross, - a night that would terminate the day


214                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R        ._-                    - - -
given Him that in it He might work the works of His
Father, w,orks  that as performed would beget for His                      Jesus The Good Shepherd
people forgiveness of sin and life eternal. Christ's
death would put an end to that day, given Him that                   The discourse of Christ that we shall now study
in it He might perform the redemptive works of God. was in all likelihood occasioned by the reactions of
This then is Christ's reasoning in the Scriptures last Israel's leaders to the miracle ,of healing performed
guoted : This man was born :blind that the works of upon the eyes of the man born blind. The Pharisees,
G,od might be made manifest, be made to appear in compelled to concede that a miracle had been wrought,
him, this blind one,-the works of God, works eternal hated Christ ,a11 the more and vent thei`p- spite upon
(all God's works are from eternity) and that consisted the blind man who had been healed by casting him
in His choosing His people before the foundations of forth out of the synagogue. So were they disposed
the world in Christ unto life eternal and in His saving toward Him and such was the treatment they afforded
them from all their sins, in healing them from all their          the sheep entrusted ,to their care. False shepherds
diseases, thus in engraving them in the palms of His they were. For the benefit of His disciples, Christ
hand as a people saved and glorious in Christ. These depicts against the dark'background of the vile doing
works, eternally present with God in His counsel, are of Israel's leaders, the right action of t:tie shepherd
now about to be made manifest in this blind one                   of the sheep.
through my healing his eyes and through my giving                    "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that entereth
him also spiritual sight and flooding his soul with the not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up
light of life (this blind man was also a true disciple. some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But
He owned Christ as the Son of God). These works he that entereth in by the door  is'the  shepherd of the
(the works of redemption) have been given me. I sheep."
was sent to perform them now while it is day. I must                 Ch.rist,  we do well `to notice, speaks here not of
                                                                  two kinds of shepherds, true and false, but simply
therefore work them. And I can, as even now while of the shepherd of the sheep on the one hand
I am on earth: "I am the light of the world."                     and'on  the other of the thief, the robber, the hireling,
       While Christ was on earth He was the light of the the stranger. It seems that He was so filled with holy
world. He is light, to be sure, as the exalted Christ. disdain for Israel's false teachers and prophets that
Brt as the glorified Christ He works through the Spirit He refrained from calling them?by  name-false shep-
as the light of the world, that is through the Spirit as herds-that would designate them as ranking with
poured out upon His ascended human nature, thus shepherds. They were no shepherds, but thieves and
through the Spirit as the peculiar possession of the robbers.
Christ exalted. While He was on earth,  the Spirit                   The name shepherd  in the sentence, "But he that
was not, says John, was not as the Spirit poured out entereth in by the door is the shepherd of thef sheep,"
upon the Christ as One Who had  fulflhed  all right- appears in the original without the article, while in
eousness.                                                         the subsequent verses the name.shepherd  appears with
                                                    G. M. 0.      the article. The reason for this is not that when
                                                                  Christ said, "He, that entereth in by the  doc@*is shep-
                                                                  herd of the sheep," He was speaking exclusively of
                                                                  the true under-shepherds in the church and not of
                                                                  Himself. The reason is rather that in the second
                          ANNIVERSARY                             verse the emphasis falls on the door. The door is
                                                                  Christ, as to His human nature in which He attoned
       On. February 5, 1037,  the Lord willing,                   for the sins of His people, thus His shed blood and
                          FRANK OORDT                             broken flesh.
                                  and                                "But he that entereth in by the door is ah epherd
                    LENA OORDT-Van Overn                          of the sheep". Only he and none other is shepherd.
                                                                  How very true this is appears from Christ's "verily,
hope to commemorate their 35th Wedding Anniversary. We            verily, I say unto you. . . ." The reason that only he
pray that  ~God  may spare them for  each other and us for        who enters in through the door is shepherd of the
many  yea& to come,                                               sheep, is that to pass through this d*oor  is to be the
                               The children                       possesser of Christ% merited righteousness and holi-'
                               Mr. and Mrs. Fete Tjoilker         ness, is thus to be a true lover of God and His children.
                               Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Oordt             Such a one only is  truq  she,pherd. All the rest are
                               Mr.  ,and Mrs. Andrew Oordt        thieves and robbers, they being haters of God and
                               Mis$ Minnie Oordt                  His people. They are this as they shun Christ, the
                                                                  Door.
       Everson,  Washington                                           Now the first to enter in through the door into the


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       216
                  ---"_-                        - -
sheepfold  was Christ Himself. He entered in through body to the cross (vs.  12)) did He leave the sheep and
His own shed blood and broken body, that is, through flee and so allow the wolf to catch the sheep and
His own suffering and death, on the ground of His scatter them, and through scattering, destroy them?
very own merits, and as  vestqd with  IIis own satis- On the contrary. He loved His own to the end, so
faction and righteousness. That we here speak the that, when the time was at hand for Him to make the
language of  Scripure is evident from a text found supreme sacrifice, He said : "Father, the hour is come ;
in the Hebrews (chap. 9  :ll,  12) that reads : "But glorify thy Son, that thy Son may also glorify theq".
Christ being come an high priest of good things to John 17:l.
come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not          So is Christ the good shepherd (again in vs. 14) ;
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; for, He lays down His life for His sheep (vs.  11).  .
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His that is, enters in through the door into the sheep-                 *
own blood He entered at once into the holy, having fold, and (vs. 14) He knows His sheep, that is, chooses
obtained eternal redemption fork us."       The greater them, loves them unto death. He knew them in the
and more perfect tabernacle is Christ Himself, His counsel before the foundation of the world as sheep
own:   flesh.    What this text then asserts is that Christ chosen in Him unto life eternal. He knew them as
through His very own flesh and blood entered in, into the incarnate Word while He was in the world. He
the holy place. The ninth verse of Christ's discourse knows them eternally as the exalted Christ. And the
on the good shephqrd (John 10  :9 reads: "I am the expression of this knowing is firstly, His laying down
door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, for them His life, and secondly His returning to them
and shall go in and out and find pasture." This applies as the exalted Christ in the Spirit to fill them, His
in the first instance to Christ. He entered in through flock, His church, with His grace and `truth. And
the door, His flesh and blood, and was saved, He and being the good shepherd, He knoweth His own sheep
His people to whom He sustained the relation  of head by name, and leadeth them out and goeth before them,
and who thus were with Him in His suffering and           (vss. 3 and 4).
death. He (and they) were saved. The Father raised           He knoweth His own sheep by name. Let us under-
IIim up unto the justification of Himself and His own, stand this act of *His in all its implications. Consider
received Him into heaven and seated Him in the throne that the name, expressive of what these sheep by na-
at the right hand of the Father. And Christ found ture are, is child of the devil, darhmess,,death.  corrup
pasture. Upon Him, that is,  unon His human nature, tion. But He calleth His own sheep by name. It means
the  Fathqr poured out the Spirit so that from then firstly, that  He'gave them a new name, His own new
on all fulness dwelt in Him bodily. And His  fellow-      name, the name of His God, and the name of the new
shin is with the Father. As filled with the Snirit He Jerusalem (read Rev. 3:X?) and thus made them His
in the Snirit came to His sheep, when upon His church very own. It means secondly. that He impressed that
He on the day of Pentecost poured out His  SVirit. name on their mind and heart, on their very being, so
So does Christ indeed enter in bv the door into the that they ceased to be children of darkness and be-
sheepfold. His sheep thereforq. have life, and  thev      came children of God and of Light. As a result of
have it abundantly.-life: the healing of all their di- this action of His, their name is now child of God. light,
seases, holy capacity to know, love. serve and praise     holy, righteouxxess,  faith. love. broken. of heaT&  peace-
the living God and Father of Christ. fellowshin with maker. mourne+-, pwe of heart. And to each sheen He
the Father and with the Son, So is He the good shep- gives His own name, expressive of its distinctive char-
herd (vs.  11). good in the sense that He is all that acter. So it is. For the church is His body and inthis
He had to be in order to be the shenherd of His sheen. bodv each member has his own place, a place `agre+
He was ordained of God the Father and anointed with able to its distinctive character. And the sheen know
the Holy Ghost. to be our chief pronhet  and teacher. their .name.  know that thev actually are what their
Who should fully reveal to us the sacred counsel and new name declares them to be. to w'it. children of God.
Will of God: to be our only High Priest. Who should by For the Snirit of God testifieth with their snirits that
the one sacrifice of His bodv.  redeem us and make con- thev are God's children. And He calleth the sheen
tinual interecession  with the Father for us: to be our bv their new name and each sheen bv its own name.
eternal King. Who should govern us bv His Word and And He leadeth them out and goeth before them. leads
Snirit. and defend and preserve us in that salvation. them as the  cantain of their salvation on the wav
Therefore, being the good shepherd, He gave His life everlasting, leads them  bv His own  voire.  word of                     t
for His sheen (vs. 11). This act of giving His life. truth. as annlied to their hearts bv His Sairit. And
of entering in through the door, His flesh, was the ex- a.s to the sheen. thev hear His voice, as thes are His
pression of His fathomless love for His sheep. How ahRep and as He call&h  them by name. bv their new
strong and abiding is that love! When the  wolf came name. so that thejv know that they are being called.
-the devil, operating through the leaders in Israel, The *reasoning of Christ here is a  comnlete overturning
the Scribes  and the Pharisees-to nail His blessed of the doctrine of the well-meaning offer of salvation


   216                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                               -                                                       -.-ll_.l^               _.-"_ll_
  unto all men, head for head. Christ calleth His ou;n          into the sheepfold, but climb up some other way. We
  sheep by name, by the name of believer,  etc.        And are to think here in the first instance of all the false
  the sheep follow `Him for they know, recognize, love teachers and prophets in Israel that preceded Christ:
  His voice, love Him, their shepherd, love  His word "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers."
  and testimony, His promise, love Him, love their new They entered not in through Christ, but through their
  name by which He calls them ; for they are His sheep.         own self-made holiness. These thiejes  and robbers
  So does He know His sheep and are His sheep known are still with us. They enter into the church by some
  of Him  ($s. 14). And  as the good shepherd He bears other way, through a false confession of the truth,
  each sheep upon His heart.                                    or through a false creed, or  t.hrough  the door of a
    He is the good shepherd. As the Father knoweth creedless church, There are many examples of this
- Him, even so knows He the Father: and He lays down , in church history. The robbers are unwilling to enter
  His life for His sheep (vs. 15). The Father knows into the sheepfold through Christ and so expose them-
  Him in love and thus anoints Him according to His selves as enemies of the truth, as haters of Christ and
  human nature with His Spirit. Therefore He, too, thus as strangers to His redeeming grace. Children
  knows the Father in love and wills to work the Father's of the devil they are. The other side of their hatred
  works. Thus He lays down His life for His sheep. of Christ is their inordinate love of self.  Thug they
  And other sheep He has (the Gentile elect in distinc-         seek self in and through the sheep. Being what they are
  tion from the elect Jews), which are not of this fold they rob; if they can, Christ of His sheep and attach
   (of the Old Testament church) : them also He must them to their own person. They are therefore thieves
  bring, and they too, shall hear His voice, and there and robbers indeed. To acheive  ,their  aim they come
  shall be one fold and one shepherd (vs. 16). The              with a preaching  tF.at is Christless or in which Christ
  truth contained in this verse is a complete overturning appears as an impotent Saviour, a preaching therefore,
  of the premillennial doctrine, according to which their in which the glory of God is change'd into a likeness
   will be two `folds, one in Canaan and the other in of corruptible man, a preaching designed to induce
  heaven, each possessing Christ in a different capacity, the sheep to seek not the heavenly but the earthy,  to
  to tiit, in that of king and in that of head.                 set their affections not on things above but on things
          This then is the good shepherd. Such is His doing below. Such is the character of the preaching of the
   and His love and care for His sheep. And such are robber; for he wants not the heavenly for himself and
   His servants, the true undershepherds in the church. his sheep, but the earthy.
   Characteristic of them all is, that they enter by the           These  robb&s  are the strangers of verse  5. The
   door into the sheenfold, by the door, Christ. Through true sheep do not follow, but flee (mark you, flee) from
   Christ they enter in, which means that, knowing them- them, as they know not their voice, hate and fear the
   selves as lost and undone. as  poor and blind and naked; message declared by this voice. These robbers, finally,
   and dead by nature, as ill-deserving and condemnable are the hirelings of verse 12 and 13. They bear the
   in the sight of God, they by faith appropriate Christ flock no love. Hence, when Satan comes to scatter
   as their wisdom and righteousness, as their sanctifi- the flock through persecution, they flee. G.  ML 0.
   cation and redemption. Entering in through the door,
   they are saved and shall go in and out, and find pas-
   ture, that is, they find what their sotis  hunger and
   thirst for, to wit, pardon of all their sins, grace, life                           M I N I S T E R
   and immortality. They find God as their exceeding                 He's Christ's ambassador, that man of God,
   great reward, fellowship with God in Christ. These                Steward of God's own mysteries? From on
   only are true shepherds of the flock in Christ. For as                  high
   Christ. they truly love the sheer, as the love of Christ          His warrant is: his charge, aloud to cry
   is in their hearts. They can feed the flock as they               And spread his Master's attributes abroad,
   are being fed themselves. They resist the wolf when              His works, His ark of mercy, and His rod
   He comes. If need be, they will1 lay down their life for          Of justice: his, to sinners to supply
   the sheen. And their voice is the voice of Christ set-            The means of grace, and point out how they
   ting forth  I-Iis Word. Therefore do the sheep hear                      may fls                        [be trod}
   them. They are true shepherds.                                    Hell-flames, and how Heaven's pathway must
          But the sheep also, as well as the undershenherds,         Hold him in honor on his work's account.
   enter  in through Christ the door. "By me if any man              And on his Master's ! Though a man he be,
   enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in `and out             And with his flock partake corruption's fount
   and find pasture."                                                Holy and reverend is his ministry:
          But there are besides the true shepherds, also the         And, hark? a voice sounds from the'heavenly
   thieves and robbers, the strangers and the hireling;.                    mount,
   And they can be known. They enter not by the door                   "Be t.hat despiseth `IJOU. despiseth ME !"


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       219
                                                - -
of our hope, though we see it not, is eternal reality,         He it is that made us partakers of the resurrection-
that it is pomised to us personally, and that it shall far life of Jesus Christ our Lord and made us long for
exceed in glory our boldest expectation. It is, thirdly, t*he "moment".
patience, not in the sense that we do not earnestly            He it is that causes us to count all things but dross
long for it, but so that we do with patience wait for for the glory .of God that shall be revealed in us.
it.     We stand waiting, our eyes steadfastly gazing          That causes us to wait with patience.
up into heaven, and as we wait, we let the things of          To forsake all things and to suffer all things in hope.
the world pass by. Mockers and scorners may deride             Thou hast caused me to hope!
us fo our waiting attitude; the world may invite us
to abandon our position and enjoy the lust of the flesh        Remember !
and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, but we         The Word is Thine and my hoping is Thine !
decline and remain waiting. The powers of darkness             For, Thou hast spoken Thy Word 2nd Thou hast
may oppose, may threaten us, may persecute us, may caused me to hope ! It is all Thy work ! Thy work it
deprive us of name and place, of position and honor, is that I stand here waiting and glorying in the
yea, of our very life,-but still we remain waiting. "moment"; Thy work it is that I forsake all things
It is, lastly, a strong and ea,rnest  longing for the finai and rather suffer the loss of all things than to abandon
realization of our hope. For, the firstfruits of the my waiting attitude.
Spirit are ours. And possessing the firstfruits we             Remember, then, Thy Word unto Thy servant, for
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to else I stand ashamed, and Thy name is blasphemed !
wit, the redemption of our body. It is the looking for-        But is not the psalmist bold in his petition? Surely,
ward, the earnest expectation, the stretching forth of the Lord is faithful and true. He -will never forget
the firstfruits unto the day of the final harvest.          His promise? And, what is more, He does not only
       "The moment" dominates their heart and mind occasionally recall when He remembers, but the promise
and soul and all their strength.                            is constantly before His mind, from everlasting to
       In the light of that "moment" they see and evaluate everlasting ! And having His promise to Christ and
all things.                                                 His Church eternally before His mind, He is constantly
       Sub specie  aeternitatis!                            actuated by it, and all His government of the universe,
       And they count all things but dung for the excel- in heaven and on earth and in .the abyss, tends toward
lency of Christ Jesus, their Lord !                         the realization of the promise, so that all things work
       And that hope is found upon "the Word unto thy together for good to them that love God. Surely, the
servant" !                                                  Most High remembers the word unto His servant.
       Upon no other word could it rest.                       But is, then, this prayers of the psalmist born of
       No word of man could possibly have anything to doubt and  infirmity?
say about the object of this hope, for it belongs to the       God forbid !
things that are not seen. Man's word is always from            He that cometh unto God must believe tha't He is
below. It cannot lift us above our present death and :? rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Prayer
darkness.       But the Word of God came from above. that is rooted in doubt and fear that the Lord might
It is the testimony of Him that descended down from forget His Word unto His servant is no prayer.
heaven and is in heaven and is able to speak of                And what, pray, is the true prayer of the servant
heavenly things. No word of man could possibly serve of Jehovah, what else could it possibly be than the
as a basis of assurance, upon which we could safely laying hold of the sure Word of God, of the promise
wait for the realization of the promise, even though that can never fail ; to lay hold of it in the firm assur-
all things are against us. But the Word of God is ance that it shall never be found faithless; and then
faithful and true . . . .                                   to say : remember, 0 Lord! ? . . . .
       Upon It do we wait all the day!                         And the psalmist had need of the answer, of God's
       Yet not of ourselves. Thou  ha& caused me to hope! answer !
       By nature we do not and cannot hope upon the            in the midst of trouble and  affliction, of sin and
Word of God, for we are children of wrath and under death, of things that `witness against the hope of the
the judgment of condemnation ; how, then, could we servant of Jehovah, he has need of, he seeks the answer,
hope upon His Word? Neither do we by nature have that will sureIy resound in his soul upon his prayer
an eye for the things of the Kingdom of God and of faith: Be at rest, my child; I will surely, I always
long for them. We are earthly, from below, carnal, do remember My Word to thee! . . . .
and delight in the things of the flesh.                        And always the Church repeats this prayer?           `"
       Not only the Promise, also our hoping is of God!        Remember Thy Word! Come, Lord Jesus !
       For, He it is, Who poureth ,out His love into our       And always the reassuring answer comes:
hearts by the Spirit he hath given us, and thus caused          Behold, I come quickly!
to hope in His mercy.                                           Amen, yea, Amen !                         H. H.


 53`2                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-                   _.... -lll___                    --_--                           -_
daardoor niet veranderd. De Synode heeft degelijk               Ze heeft dus we1 zeer erg gedwaald.
uitgesproken, dat God in dit tijdelijke leven ook in            Hierbij zal ik het eerst maar laten in de hoop, dat
welgevallen of gunst neerziet op de golddelocne  ver-        ik eenigszins  aan de begeerte van den vrager heb  vol-
worpenen.                                                    daan.
     Er is nog een punt van overeenkomst. Het betreft           13ocht  de Vragen-verzorger van De Wuchter mee-
de vraag of de Synode ook heeft geleeraard, dat een nen, dat ik de besluiten en 1eersteUingen  der Synode
iegelijk, die kwaad doet,  goed  is in de oogen des Hee-     van 1924 niet zuiver weergaf en geen recht  Ii& weder-
ren. Dit heeft de Synode niet uitgesproken, maar we1         varen, dan zullen we daarvan misschien  we1 (en meer
iets dergelijks. Zij heeft namelijk geleerd, dat de waarschijnlijk niet) van hooren.
kwade boom goede vruchten voortbrengt, dat de na-                                            +.           H. H.
tuurlijke .mensch  in de "sfeer" van dit tijdelijke leven
goede werken  doet,  en dat  we1 omdat er buiten de                                                           6
genade der wedergeboorte om eene algemeene werking
des Geestes in den mensch is, waardoor hij in staat             A Glimpse In Different Directions
wordt gesteld die goede werken te  verl ichten. Zij laat
de  Schrift  dus  leeren, dat de werken des natuurlijken        It is safe to say, dear reader: that the world of
menschen betrekkelijk goed  zijn. En dat wil natuur-         today is hopelessly lost and confused in their own
lijk hetzelfde zeggen als dat God ze goed noemt. Ze zijn man-made ways, and has no solution for its manifold
echter  altijd zonde. In zooverre heeft de Synode dus        problems. There is unrest everywhere, disharmony,
metterdaad geleerd, dat God het kwade goed noemt, hatred among the nations and peoples of the world.
en dat degene, die kwaad  doet,  goed  is in Zijne oogen. If you hear them talk, they all want peace, although
     Er is  echter ook verschil.                             they create war within their very borders. They seem
     1. In de eerste plaats heeft de Synode niet bepnald     to think that the road to happiness and success lies
uitgesproken, dat God een welgevallen heeft aan de- in material things, but they forget that man is created
genen, die kwaad  doen.  Had ze dit maar openlijk in the Image of God and necessarily craves for the
uitgesproken, het Eerste Punt ware er misschien niet things eternal. They seek and build their hope upon
zoo gemakkelijk doorgegaan. Want zooals het nu staat a Hitler, Stalin, or Roosevelt, and frequently draw
spreekt het Eerste Punt dit we1 uit, maar niet door the conclusion, and make the statement, that our eco-
bepaald Gde kwaden te noemen. De Synode sprak niet nomical welfare lies in Democracy or in a Republic
uit, dat God een welgevallen heeft aan de kwaden in ruling. The Christian knows however, that God rules
onderscheiding van de goeden.  Dit is we1 kennelijke also over the kingdoms  ,o,f this world.
bedoeling van de goddelooze murmureerders in Mal.               Also in the religious world is much counterfeit
2:17.    God zegent, volgens hen, bepaald de kwaden, gold, which has no vaIue in the eye of an honest God.
niet de goeden. Hij heeft bijzonderlijk en met nadruk
een welgevallen  aan de boozen en niet aan de recht-            Rome counts its thousands upon thousands of con-
vaardigen. Dat is de strekking van hun goddelooze verts every year; building their house of hope upon
taal. En dat heeft de Synode van 1924 niet uitgespro-        their own righteousness and good works and sink with
ken, noch oak bedoeld. Zij sprak van een welgevallen an Ave Maria upon their lips into everlasting de-
of gunste Gods  aan  alle menschen,  goed  of kwaad, struction.
rechtvaardig of onrechtvaardig, verkoren of verwor-             The modern Jew has no Jesus for his sin-stained
pen. Dat is dus een punt van verschil.                       heart, and because of that, no Jehovah who tells him:
                                                             I am thy Covenant God, the everlasting I Am.
     2. Een tweede punt van verschil is, dat de mur-
mureerders van Mal. 2:17 hun uitspraak doen in een              The Moslem's cry is: Allah is God, a powerful god,
geest van murmureering en boosheid. Zij willen het but justice and holiness are omitted ; a true picture
niet zoo. De Heere moest de kwaden ver'doemen en of the present world of today, indeed.
de goeden  weldoen  en zegenen. Maar de Synode van              In our own day there are many who study Scrip-
1924 heeft haar uitspraak, dat God met welgevallen ture in harmony with their own sinful, unscriptural
neerziet ook op de goddeloozen in dit leven gedaan in thinking.
de meening, dat ze door die uitspraak een Gode wel-             The Premillennial Doctrine is based on such teach-
behagelijk werk verrichte, zooals ze dat ook meende ings. They lose sight of the fact that God has only
te  <doen door hen te vervolgen en uit te werpen, die one people, they know not of a covenant of grace, that
hare uitspraak niet wilden onderteekenen en leeren.          essentially the seed of Abraham is Christ; and because
En zij  Wilde het dus ook niet  anders.  Zij heeft er of it they lose the Christ of the Scriptures.
behagen in, dat God niet alleen de uitverkorenen be-            Also the new Presbyterian group tolerates these
mint, maar ook in gunst teneer ziet op verworpenen brethren and also members of Lodges, who have no
en goddeloozen in deze wereld.                               Christ and therefore no God.


                                A   R e f o r m e d   S e m i - M o n t h l y   M a g a z i n e
             PUBLISHED BY THE REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





                                                                    -
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II                                                                               been addressed to him personally, that its blessed con-
           M E D I T A T I O N                                                JI tents were promised to him, that in simple and child-
I-J like faith he could appeal to it as %he word unto thy
                                                                                 servant" and on the basis of it plead : Remember! . . .
               Remember Thy Word                                                    Nor could anything less intimate, less specific than
                                                                                 this personal hearing of the Word of God suffice the
                       Remember the woyd u&o thy servant, people of God in this world.
                     which ttiu hast caused me to hope.                             Not as long as we read the Bible as a Word of
                                                              PS.  119:49.       God to His people ; still less while we hear it as a most
       The word unto thy servant!                                                general offer of glory and salvation to all without dis-
       Almost it would appear from his personal appli- tinction  ; but only when we perceive it and receive
cation of  the  Word of God to himself that the psalmist it in the depth of our soul as the Word of our God
refers to a special Word of God that had been ad- to us, it is truly to us a power of God unto salvation.
dressed personally to him alone.                                                 Nothing less will suffice. How could it? Is it
       And yet, he would be mistaken that would thus                             not on the sure basis of that Word that we speak of
understand the meaning of the Word of God here. The our only comfort in life and death; that we boast of
psalmist employs various terms to denote the same the things that are not seen ; that we defy the things
Word of God. He speaks of God's statutes and His that are seen and heard in this world always contra-
ordinances, of His law and His precepts, but always dicting the profession of our faith; that we glory in
he refers to the revealed Word of God, revealed not righteousness in the midst of sin and corruption and
personally to him alone and for his benefit, addressed, insist that we are justified before God, though  al1
not to him individually, but to all the servants of things, though the devil and the world, though even
Jehovah, of all ages and out of every land ; the Word our own conscience witnesses against us; that we pro-
of God to His people in this world ; the Word as it is fess to be heirs of all things, even though we are the
essentially always the same, but as it grows in riches most miserable of paupers in the world ; that we gIory
of kpowledge and wisdom, of salvation and blessed- in life though we die; that we boast of victory though
ness as the promise of the brospel is being realized ; we are defeated ; that we count all things but dung
and as the Church of the new dispensation possesses for the excellency of Jesus Christ our Lord; that we
it in all its fulness of glory radiating from the face of rather suffer the lost of  all things than to lose the
Jesus Christ our Lord!                                                           hope that is not seen? . . . .
       Of that Word he sings.                                                       How, then, could anyone so believe, so profess, so
       And that Word he applies to himself individually hope for things not seen, so boast and glory and rise
and personally, as if it had been addressed to him  - in-.the  face of all his opponents, mockers, deriders,
privately, as if in it he were mentioned by name: the persecutors, unless he had heard that Word of God as
Word unto thy servant!                                                           addressed to Him in person? . . . .
       He had heard it!                                                             Nor is it impossible thus to hear the Word of God
       Through it the  &lost High, the Lord of heaven that we lay hold of it and  res;)ond:  the Word unto thy
and earth, the Amen, the Faithful and True, Whom no servant !
man hath ever seen, had spoken to him. And he knew                                  For, first of all, that Word as we possess it in
it. So confident he felt that  this Word of God had Scripture, universal though its sounding forth may be,

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

is always definite and distinctive in its contents, both resurrection is an accomplished fact in Jesus Christ,
as to its Promise and as to those to whom the Promise our Lord. . . .
is given.                                                       And still the Word is a word of promise !
       A promise is that Word, always a promise. And            F.or, still we possess only the firstfruits, and we
as a promise of the Most High to himself the psalmist long for the final harvest, for "the moment", the
conceives of it here. Is net this perfectly cl,ear from twinkling of an eye, when mortality shall put on im-
the entire section that is introduced by the appeal:         mortality and this corruptible shall put on incorrup-
Remember the word unto thy servant? Does he not tion, when the trumpet shall sound and time shall
speak of suffering and affliction, of the house of his       be no more !
pilgrimage and of the night? Does he not complain               The definite and sure Word of promise!
that the proud have had him greatly in derision? And            But,  seco,ndly,  this promise is also definite with
yet, does he not speak of joy and hope, of comfort in respect to those for whom the promise is intended.
his affliction and of songs which he sings in the night?     It is not a promise to all promiscuously, but to the
Whence then, this joy and cheer, this hope and com- heirs. And these are mentioned by name. They are
fort in the midst of the suffering of this present time? the weary and those that labor, the hungry and those
It is in the "word unto thy servant, upon which thou that thirst after righteousness, the poor of spirit that
h.ast  caused me to hope". And is this not also evident mourn, the meek and merciful and pure of heart, the
from the very words of verse forty-nine? No doubt, penitent sinners and believers in Christ Jesus their
when the psalmist addresses the Most High in the Lord. They are the "servants" of Jehovah, whom He
words  :     Remember the word unto thy servant, he has called out of darkness into His marvellous light,
means to say: be mindful of thy promise unto me, that walk in His way, that have their delight, not in
0 Lord!                                                      the things of the world, but in His precepts, that have
       The Word of God is a word of promise !                a small beginning of the new obedience, that never-
       It is the promise of the sure mercies of David, sure, theless causes them to long and to strive to live not
because He that promised is Faithful and True, Who only according to some, but according to all the com-
never forsakes His .Word,  but realizes it to the full; mandments of their God. . . .
the omnipotent One, Who alone created and alone                 To these servants is the Word of promise addressed.
moves heaven and earth and so moves them, that they             And they hear ?
must al1 be conducive unto the realization of the pro-          For, still it is Christ Himself, the Son of God, that
mise. It is the promise of  fuIl and glorious salvation, speaks His own Word in the Father's name, through
the forgiveness of sin, the adoption unto children, His Spirit to all the heirs of the promise, assuring
the deliverance from all corruption and death, the in- them that the promise is theirs, witnessing with their
heritance incorruptible and undef?led  and that fadeth spirit that they are the sons of God, and if sons then
not away, the glory of God's everlasting and heavenly heirs. . . .
tabernacle, in which we shall see Him face to face,             And  :.hey  receive His Word!
know as we are known, and forevermore taste that                And to them it is as if the Word of the promise
the Lord is good ! It is the promise, the assurance of were addressed very intimately and personally.
which we have in His own Word, spoken from the be-              And they respond:
ginning of the world, to and through patriarchs and             "The Word unto thy servant !"
prophets that heard the Word of God and reported
it to God's people, spoken through the Son, Jesus
Christ come in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us, Who            Upon which thou hast caused me to hope !
Himself is the central realization of the promise;              The servant of Jehovah hopes both for the' con-
spoken by faithful witnesses of His that preached the tents of the Word of his God and upon that Word as
gospel of the promise unto us. And all the history the ground of his hope.
of salvation and of revelation is the realization of that       To hope is to wait.
Word of the promise. Always there was some measure              For such is the primary significance of the original
of realization, yet always it remained the promise.          Hebrew text.
And,  finally, the promise was realized.  The  Word             It implies, first of all, an earnest expectation. He
became flesh, the Lamb, that taketh away the sin of the that hopes has his vision steadfastly fixed upon the
world, was slain, God was in Christ reconciling the future, not upon the present; upon the things which
world unto Himself; the Lord was raised from the are above, not upon the things which are below. The
dead, glorified at the right hand of God, It is realized "moment" engages his attention, occupies his soul,
in Him: atonement and reconciliation, forgiveness of dominates his life. Tt is. secondly, a personal assur-
sin and the adoption, the breaking of the power of ance. For, hope is certainty. It is the certainty that
death and the manifestation of life eternal; God has hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is
judged His people and justified them forever; the            poured out in our hearts, the certainty, that the object


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAREK,   .                                       233
                                -    -
        As Protestant Reformed Churches we live separated           There were also two candidates examined by  Classis
     from Christian Reformed brethren which have for- who may labor amongst God's people.
     saken their spiritual Father Calvin, and are befriended        It behooves us to bow down before our Covenant
     with Arminius and Palagius, and therefore lose sigh.t       God, Who does bless us abundantly, and let us never
     of the fundamental conception of the Sovereign God, forget that we receive these blessings only out of His
'    Who willed for Himself a covenant people, with pass- hand, and that it is His good pleasure that we mayl
     ing by of others, who were not chosen unto that heaven- be co-workers with Him in His Kingdom.
     ly bliss, but were left in their sin. They still claim
     that grace is for all, and if that is the truth, no one        However, there are some things in our midst which
     has received it, for God is holy.                           do not carry God's approval. We do not practice our
                                                                 Prot. Ref. doctrine to the full. We still have those
         They want to make us believe that we can live with who belong to worldly Unions, and we feel, do we not,
     the ungodly of this world in peace, on a basis of grace that also in this respect our Churches should be con-
     in common, and God in His infallible Word tells us :        sistent. As a Church of the Living God, we can not
     Come out from them my people, and have no com- tolerate members of a Union, ungodly to the core,
     munion with the workers of iniquity.                        that places itself above the Church, above God, and
         A while ago someone asked me, "Have your rules, that, whatever may be the conditions in life,
      Churches the  .only  doctrine.7" I said, No brother, not in the midst of this world, its members have to obey
     the only doctrine, but the doctrine which is the closest its laws.
     to the Word of God.                                            Can we tolerate members of Associations, who
         For we believe in a Souvereign Almighty God, Who make rules and regulations not in harmony with the
      in Jesus Christ predestinated unto Himself a people Word of our God? I am inclined to believe it is im-
      that must serve Him, and Him alone. We believe possible. Let us as a Protestant people study also
      that when God sees us in ourselves, we are no better those problems in the light of the Scriptures.
     than others, but stand condemned before Him. That
      we are dead in sins and trespasses and therefore have         We should have schools of our  `own, for we call
      salvation only in the cross of Christ. We are this pe- ourselves Protestant Reformed.
      culiar people, and as such must live alone in the midst       We should not entrust our children to ungodly
      of a corrupt world.                                        Institutions, for we with our  chiltdren,  seed of the
         Let us ask ourselves the question: do we reach covenant, belong with body and with soul unto our
      this high ideal as Protestant Reformed Churches?           Covenant God.
         We are pure in doctrine, but do we also live ac-           If we truly love Zion, and love to dwell in her
      cordingly?                                                 midst, then we surely shall experience the words of
         January 13 and 14 we again came together as a the poet of old in Ps. 46  5 : The Lord of Hosts is with
      Classis to thank and praise our God for the manifold us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
      blessings received out of His hand, and ask for His                                                 S. D. V.
      guiding hand in matters pertaining to His Kingdom.
      Peace and harmony prevailed. A good virtue, indeed.
      It also became evident that preachers in our midst
      do not become rich. This is very easy to understand,
     because there are not very many rich amongst us.                             ADVANCE NOTICE
      However, if this means that they get hardly enough
      to live on, then I say: shame on us! They who break           In the near future, the Lord willing, a mass meet-
      the bread of life amongst us, shall we take away their ing will be called of all the male members of our Pro-
      daily bread? We have enough. Classical Assessments testant Reformed Churches, located in and around
      were not all paid up. Must we not pay our debt? Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Byron Center, Hudsonville,
      We promised !                                              Hope, Holland, Grand Haven, and possibly Chicago,
         We were all glad that Rev. B.`Kok,  (who was called interested in Christian Instruction for our children,
      by our churches to become a missionary) accepted based upon our Protestant Reformed principles  (espe-
      that call. May the Lord bless him richly in his labors, cialy High School training) for the purpose of organiz-
      which are extended also outside the boundaries of our ing a School Society.
      ,own Churches.                                                The date of this meeting we hope to announce later.
         Creston  congregation lost their pastor, due to ill-
      ness. Sad indeed ! May it please the Lord to send                                         The Committee :
      them an other shepherd erelong.                                                           Per: doe Sjoerdsmn


234                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
--..."-                        ~..-              -_--. .l_-__-                 ___" . ..--____..         -__II__
                                                           exclusively with vows of women. In the wilderness
             Numbers  - Deuteronomy                        the children of Israel could make no great offerings;
       Verse 14 of chapter 20 marks the end of and the but in Canaan, on the contrary, rich offerings could;
beginning-the end of Israel's nomadic life of 37 years and should be brought by women as well as by men.
in the wilderness and the beginning of a brief period However, the legislation of Num. 30 prescribes that
of preparation for taking possession of the land of if she was married or was still an unmarried daughter
Canaan. The events of this period are found recorded living with her parents, her vow, before it could be
in the last section of the book of Numbers-a section fulfilled, had first to be sanctioned by the husband or
beginning with chapter 20 :18 and continuing to the by the father.
end of the book. Let us examine the legal material            Chapter 35 contains the instructions concerning
                                                           the Levitical cities and the cities of refuge. To the
of this section, found in chapters 28, 29, 30 and 35.      Levites is given no heritance,  no lot, in Canaan; their
       The instructions contained in chapters 28 and 29 inheritance is Jehovah. But the tribes shall give them
concern : (1) The continuous or daily sacrifice ; (2) the cities out of their inheritance and in addition pasturage
weekly sabbath and its offerings; (3) the feasts of for their cattle. The pastures surrounded the cities
the new moons and of the trumpets ; (4) the great day for their cattle, flocks and herds. Thus, after the
of atonement; (5) the feast of the tabernacle; (6) the     prescriptions for the cleansing of the holy land from,
offerings connected with these feasts. This is not the all heathen corruption, and its apportionment among
only place in the Pentateuch where instructions are the people of Jehovah, a positive  sanctitication  is now
found that have to do with the above-named institu- provided for it by the distribution of the Levitical
tions. The other places are in Ex. 29 :38-Q ; 31:12-l?' cities throughout the land.
and Lev. 23. The first of these passages is comprised         There are to be six free cities. Adding these to
of laws of the daily offerings ; the second, of the laws the remaining Levitical cities, brings the entire number
of the offerings connected with the weekly sabbath, to forty-eight. The most important are those of the
while the legal materials found in Lev. 23 concern the priests, thirteen in number, and divided among the
same institutions brought forward in Num. 28, 29, tribes, who are nearest the sanctuary. The free cities
with this difference, that in the last-named chapters are to be so located as to make the escape to them
no mention is made of the feast of the passover  and       possible to all. They are to be for those pursued for
of the feast of weeks. Now an examination of. the the unintentional shedding of blood, thus not for the
legal material found in Num. 28, 29, brings to light wilful killer. Cities of refuge they are;, bulwarks of
that it forms no mere repetition of legislation already justice and mercy. They will thus glorify the land of
given, but amplifies and thus concludes this legis- Canaan.
lation and this in view of the fact that the people of              THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.
Israel are now about to take possession of the land of
Canaan.       Hence, the significance which is given to       The three propositions to be defended in connec-
the feast of tabernacles, as the closing feast, at which tion with this book are:
the blessedness and the joy of the settlement in the           (1) The unity of the book of Deuteronomy.
land of Canaan was celebrated. In this festival, all.          (2) The unity between the book of Deuteronomy
the feasts culminated.                                     and the middle books (Exodus, Leviticus and
       The statement that laws, previously given, are here Numbers).
(in the book of Numbers) again  brough$  forward,              (3) Of the four books here named, the book of
and amplified and completed in view of the circum- Deuteronomy came into being last.
stance that the people of Israel were about to take           Proving these propositions consist primarily, if not
possession of the land of Canaan, applies to all the exclusively in having regard to the character of the
remaining legislation found in the book of Num- book of Deuteronomy. The character of this book has
bers. It applies to the legislation concerning the vows received various definitions. It has been described by
in chapter 30. The vow was a formal promise made one as an attempt to "furnish a new law which might,
to God, for the benefit of the sanctuary. Its  object! be conducive to the interests of altered circumstances",
could be either cattle or houses or lands or even depen- by another as,  "horatory  description, explanation and
dent children and slaves. The ethical principle in- enforcement of the most essential contents of the
volved in the Old Testament vow was that it was not Covenant relation and Covenant laws, with emphatic
compulsory but voluntary ; secondly, that once made, prominence given to the spiritual principle of the
it had to be fulfilled; and thirdly, that the neglect of law and its fullilment."  Lange comments on the pur-
its  fulfillment  was to be expiated with sin offering. pose of the book as follows, "Deuteronomy. . . . the
Legislation concerning the vows is found in divers second law.            But Deuteronomy is not therefore a
places of the Pentateuch, in Lev. 1'7; Num. 6 :3O and repetition in the sense of a transcript. That would
Deut.   23:21-24.  The prescriptions in Num.  30 deal be a mere copy. . . . which the second tables of the


                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             235
                                 ---.._. - ._....-.  ----"-..                  .._-___-
law were, which Moses must hue, written truly by God discoures found here, makes his appeal to the will and
Himself, as were the first but in other respects the work thus recommends, approves, urges, pursuades, threat-
,of Moses, while the first were entirely the work of God.        ens and promises, as one swayed by a powerful im-
According to another Biblical scholar, the aim of the            pulse,-the impulse of direct inspiration.  -4nd what
book is, "to secure by supplementary regulations that is recommended is exactly the  law( law as the in-
the laws and institutions of the previous books, whose clusion of the entire Mosaic legislation) of Jehovah.
full validity is presupposed, shall be observed, not What is stressed throughout is that this law be loved
-only in an external way, but as to their inner signifi- and obeyed, that they, the people of Israel, may not be
cance, their higher aim, their spiritual principle." overtaken by the curse of their God and perish, but
Then there are those who define the book as the peoples may live and come into the possession of the promised
code and regard this as its  adistinguishing  mark.              land of their abode.      This is the strain sustained
   Now each of the above views has support in the throughout the entire series of discoures. It continues
book. Yet each is deficient as a definition, as it fails to gain in loftiness until it finally ends in a prophetic
to set forth characteristics and tendencies of the book outburst that reveals that the vantage point to which
that cannot be overlooked.                                       Moses is finally raised is of such heights that it allowes
   An examination of the book of Deuteronomy leads               him to' trace the course of God's doings with His
to the discovery of the following characteristics.               people to the end of the Old Testament dispensation,
    1. In the middle books of the Pentateuch (Exodus, yea, to the end of time.
Leviticus, Numbers) God speaks to Moses and Moses                   An examination of these discourses will bear out
as God's mouthpiece to Aaron and his sons. Thus this statement. The substance of the first address
the content of these books is interspersed with state-           (comprised of chapters l-4) is that the people of Israel
ments such as these: "And the Lord said unto Moses,              hearken to the statutes and to the judgments, "which
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel. . . ." "And           I teach you, for to do them; for this is your wisdom
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. . .  ." "And the              and your understanding in the sight of the nations,
Lord said unto Moses. . .  ." And the Lord called                which shall hear all these statutes and say, Surely
unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
of the congregation, saying. . .  ."       Fact is, that in For what nation is there so great, who hath God so
these middle books God appears almost exclusively nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things
as the sole speaker and Moses as the hearer. Rarely that we call upon him for? -4nd what nation is there
is Moses here brought forward as speaking to the so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous
people, or even to the priests. After recording the as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only
Lord's communication to Moses of the instructions                take heed to thyself and keep them diligently, lest
respecting the building of the tabernacle, the sacred thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen,
writer simply asserts, "Thus did Moses: according to             and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of
all that the Lord commanded him, so did he." Exodus thy life: but teach them to thy sons and thy sons'
40:17.                                                           sons. . .  ." And the basis on which the rendering of
    Coming to the book of Deuteronomy, the discovery this obedience is made to repose is that the covenant
is made that here Moses as the mouthpiece of God is promise will be realized, that thus Jehovah will cause
the sole speaker, and he speaks in lengthy discourses His people to inherit the land. And the evidence of
not to a few priests, but to all the people. The book this is the greatness that Jehovah has already begun
sets out with the announcement, "These be the words to show them through His giving into their hands the
which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan enemies thus far encountered, Shon, king of the Amor-
in the wilderness. . . ." Every distinct discourse in ites, and Og, king of  Bashan.                  Let them therefore
this book is headed by a similar statement: "And now hearken to the Lord's statutes and judgments for
Moses called all Israel together and said unto them,             to do them, that "ye may live, and go in and possess
Hear, 0 Israel. . .  ." Chapter  5:l. "Now these are             the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth
the commandments, the statutes and the judgments, you." Deut. 4:l. For only on the condition that they
which the Lord your God commanded to teach you. . ." keep the covenant fidelity will they receive the pro-
Chapter 6 : 1. "And Moses with the elders of Israel mise. Let them be mindful of this. Let them recall
commanded the people, saying. . . ." Chapter 27 : 1. their forbears who murmured in their tents, and said,
"And Moses went and spake these words unto all "Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth
Israel. And he said unto them. . . ." Chapter 31 :l, 2. out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand
    2. A  secon'd characteristic of the book concerns of the Amorites, to destroy us," and concerning whom
its style. The mode of expression one encounters in the Lord therefore sware, saying, "Surely, there shall
the middle books is that of a speaker engaged in corn4 not one of these men of this evil generation see that
municating bare facts. The style of  Deuiieronomy,               good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers."
on the other hand, is hortatory. The speaker of the Let them consider further what their eyes have seen,

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

to wit, "what the Lord did because of Baal-peor ; for holy people unto the Lord. They shall know that the
all the men that followed  Baal-peor,  the Lord thy God Lord keepeth covenant and mercy with them  that
hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that love Him; and repayeth tnem that hate Him to their
did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one race, to destroy them. . . . .lf they shall hearken unto
of you this day." Deut. 4  :3, 4.                          these  judgments, they  snail  be blessed above all peopie.
   The second discourse begins with chapter  5 and Chapter 6. `l'hey   are exhorted to obedience  in regard
continues through chapter 26. Though the materials to  God's gracious dealings with them in the past.
comprising this section may have been delivered not Chapter 8. `I'hey are warned, lest, after the Lord
in one day, but in a  seccession  of days, fact is, that shall have destroyed their enemres and brought tnem
they form a distinct whole. The evidence of this is in to possess the land, they glory in themselves, in
that this section sets out with the announcement," tnerr  own righteousness, instead of m the Lord. Let
"And Moses called all Israel together and said unto teem  understand that the Lord giveth them not this
them, Hear, 0 Israel, the statutes and judgments which land for their righteousness; for tney  are a stirinecked
I speak in your ears this day," and that the first time    people. This He shows them by rehearsing their seve-
we again come upon a statement of this nature is ral rebellions. ChaLter 9. Now their minds are di-
when we arrive at chapter 27. But the length of this rected to God's mercy of the past in renewing with
section together with the diversity of its subjects them at Sinai the covenant that they had broken,
would seem to indicate that it represents a number through His restoring the two tables, continuing the
of distinct addresses, delivered on various occasions. priesthood and hearkening to Moses' prayer for them.
Be this as it may, the matter to be  noticdd  is that What now doth the Lord require  *of `them but to fear
the manner of speech that characterizes this entire Him, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to
discourse is again hortatory and that its chief aim serve Him with all their heart and soul. Chapter 10.
plainly is to multiply the reasons why the people should The Lord is their praise. He has done for them these
walk in the way of the covenant of their God. Chapter great and terrible things, which their eyes have seen.
5 :1 again sets out with the admonition, "Hear, 0 Israel, sind now He has made them as the stars of heaven for
the statutes and judments which I speak in your ears multitude. Therefore they shall love the Lord their
this day, that ye may learn them, and keep them  and God. Their eyes have seen all the great acts of the
ti  them."  After rehearsing in the hearing of his Lord which He did. Let them therefore, keep all His
audience, the initial events at Mount Sinai-the giving commandments. If they do so, He will prosper them
of the law of the ten commandments, the fear of the in the land of Canaan. If they forsake the Lord, His
people by reason of the fire-after reciting this law wrath will be kindled against them, and He will shut
to them Moses concludes with again saying,  "Ye shall up the heaven that there be no rain, and no man shall
observe to do therefore, as the Lord your God has be able to stand against them. Blessing and curse is
commanded you, that ye may live and that it may be set before them; blessing for them if they obey, but
well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in curse if they obey not. Chapter 11.
the land which ye shall possess." Chapter 5 :32, 33.          The style of chapter 12-26 continues to be horta-
   The content of chapters 6-12 likewise consists of tory, However, the exhortations of these sections do
a series of exhorations. The people of Israel are told not consist in such statements as, "Fear the Lord and
that the end of the law is obedience and therefore ex- love Him," linked with promises and threats, but in
horted to hear and observe to do it, to love the Lord a large number of statutes and judgments, communi-
their God with all their heart, to teach His words to cated by Moses to all the people. This section may be
their children, and to write them upon the posts pf said to form the body of the book of Deuteronomy.
their houses and on their gates. They shall beware                                                      G. M. 0.
lest they forget the Lord, "which brought them forth
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,"
when He will have brought them into the promised                                IN MEMORIAM
land of their abode and have filled their houses with         Daar de  Hecre op den  26sten  January tot  Zich nam de
all good. They shall fear the Lord and swear by His vrouw van een vorigen ambtsdrager,
name and shall not go after other Gods. They shall not                      MRS. J. W. STUURSMA
tempt the Lord, as they tempted Him in  Massah.            wenschen wij  Js kerkeraad  onze  innige deelneming in hun
They shall do that which is right and good, to cast out verlies  aan de bedroefde weduwnaar en  kinderen  hiermede
all their enemies from before them, as the Lord hath te betuigen.
spoken. Chapter 6. They shall surely smite the na-            Dat onze getrouwe Verbonds God door Zijn Geest en Woord
tions inhabiting the promised land. They shall make het moge vertroosten is  o,nze  bede.
no marriages with them. Instead, they shall cleanse                            Namens de Kerkeraad van Pella,  Iowa.
the promised land from all defilement of their abomin-                                           H. Veldman, Pres.
able idolatry. For they, the people of Israel, are a                                             W. Boender, Scrihn.


                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                         2::7
-                                                                          --..-"-...--.-  ..--....  --
                                                              pledge of the final resurrection. It thus applies pri-
                                                              marily and in the last instance to the resurrection of
                                                              the just in the last day.
                                                                 But Martha does not understand. "I know," says
            The Raising Of Lazarus                            she to Christ, "that he shall rise again in the resur-
                    John ll:l- 12:ll                          rection at the last day", `but tell me,' such is the im-
                                                              plication of this speech of hers, `tell me, Master,
     "Jesus  said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again."    whether or no, thou meanest that he will rise now,
To Martha Jesus said this. Words of comfort they is at this instance to be recalled into this present
were, designed to lift up a soul bowed down with grief, human life.'
on account of the death of a brother. Just before he             Ah, these sisters are attached to Lazarus' earthly
had passed away, when it had become piain that the appearance. And how could it be otherwise?  what
illness that had  layed him low was to result in death, they lost in him was a brother and a Christian friend.
the two sisters, Martha and Mary, had sent a mes- Their grief is great, overwhelming. 0, if the Master
senger to Jesus with the tiding. "Lord, behold, he had been here, he would not have died. This is the
whom thou' lovest is sick."                                   remark they had made to each other over and over
     "This sickness is not unto death. . . ." that is, the again, as appears from the circumstance that it is a
the ultimate end, purpose of this sickness is not death; saying that' both utter to Christ. But now that he
Lazarus dies for the glory of God, ,that the Son of God is dead, would not a prayer made by the Master
might be glorified thereby. In all liklihood, this reply that he be raised again, now, today, be heard? Does
was uttered in the audience, not  qnly of the disciples, not God give him whatsoever he asks? And would
but of the messenger as well, who returned with it to he refuse to ask for them? They hope. "Lord. . . .
the sorrowing sisters, Martha and Mary. Let them I know, that even now, yea, even now, whatsoever
ponder this word in the time that will intervene be thou wilt ask. . . . `Lord can it be?' "Thy brother
tween the death of their brother and the arrival of shall rise again." But when, Now Lord? Let me hear
Jesus. Two  days after the receipt of the message, Thee say, Yes, now. But this one word that she would
Jesus said to His disciples, "Let us go into  Judea".         fain have Christ utter, He fails to bring over His lips.
     When Christ arrives, it is the active, practical,           Instead, He says to her, "I am the resurrection,
demonstrative Martha, who goes forth to meet Him. and the life: he that believeth in me, though he hath
Mary, the woman, capable of being moved in the deep, died, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and  be-
the contemplative, pensive and quiet Mary, does so Iieveth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?
afterwards, but for the present remains in the house. Let us grasp the marvelous implications of this speech
Says Martha to Jesus, "Lord, if thou had been here of Christ. It is this : "Thy brother believed in me,
my brother would not have died". We would be plac- Who am the resurrection and the life. And believing,
ing a wrong conception on this utterance of Martha. he is not dead, but liveth." Let these sisters hear
if we would take it to mean that Christ's prayer that and rejoice. Martha hears, but, as is evident from
the sick brother be cured would have been heard, hut her reply, does not understand, fails to grasp the im-
that His prayer that Lazarus, who died, be raised from port of these words of the Saviour. There is actually
the dead, will not avail. Does she not go on to say,          something evasive about her reply. Instead of reply-
"But I know, that even now, whatsoever  !%ou wilt ing , "Yes Lord, I know thou art the resurrection
ask of God, God will give it thee." From this state- and the life. True, Lord, my brother liveth," she says,
ment of hers animates certainly, hope-a hope namely, "Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son
of the raising of the dead man. But to this hope she of God, which should come into the world." This, to
dare not give utterance, except indirectly. The sisters be sure, is a glorious confession. But it  is doubtful
are acquainted with the raising of the daughter of whether this woman apprehended fully its great im-
Jarius and of the youth of Nain. They are mindful. port. It is certain she did not. She must have sensed
too, of the promise contained in the message of Jesus, somewhat the great significance of Christ's testimony,
 "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory "I am the resurrection and the life. . .  ." And her
 of God. . .  ."                                              reply seems to have been made under the impulse of
                                                              saying something in return of which she could feel
     This hope Christ now feeds, when He says to her, sure that it did justice to and harmonized with the
 "Thy brother shall rise again". What does Christ import and sublimity of His testimony. So it seems.
 mean. Must this statement of His be made to app$ For, immediately after having made this confession,
 to the final resurrection or to the resurrection of she, so we read, went her way. There is not the
Lazarus, or to both? And the answer. The statement slightest indication that her bowed-down spirit is
applies to the resurrection of Lazarus as the sign and lifted up' by the words that Christ has spoken to her.


2.38                                  THE  STANDARD   BEARER
. -----"11--1                               _._---.^"..              -..            -_l--                ---_-_.
That reply of hers is a little too brief for this other-             the life that He, as the Christ, merited for His people.
wise talkative woman.        Then she comes to Mary, And of this life He is also the seat and channel. In Him
the quiet, pensive Mary, the woman whose grief is all fulness dwells bodily. This life, therefore, cannot
profound, as she feels so deeply. But instead of say- be separated from His person, nor from His human
ing to her, "Mary, I have a word for thee. Our brother nature. E&z  is life, as He is also the true bread, the
is not dead, but he liveth, so saith the Master," she living water, the light, the wisdom, righteousness,
whispers in her ear simply, "The Master is come, He sanctification and redemption of His people. Being
calleth for thee." Sensing her own inability to speak the life, He is of necessity also the resurrection of His
a word that will assuage Mary's grief, she feels that people. Resurrection and life issue from His very
the best she can do is to send her grief-stricken sister person, that is, from His creative will. Hence, to pass
to Christ. This is the best she can do, indeed, the best Him by is to pass by life. To believe in, to appropriate
anybody can do, ever.         How can she comfort her Him, is to appropriate life itself.                      .
sister at this instance? Be, who would comfort an-                          What life? Not, to be sure, the aggregate pf ac-
other must not only come as armed with a message- tions and relations-eating and drinking, traveling
the message of Christ-but must also be capable of and resorting, trading and building and farming, fol-
sober thought. But Martha's soul is much too agitated lowing whatever pursuit one has chosen-that con-
for serious reflection. She has hope, but it is that her stitute this present life. This life is but a continua1
brother will be raised again, now. And so pre-occupied death. But true, imperishable, eternal life presup-
is she in her mind with this hope and so stunned is                  poses purity of heart, a new nature, a spirit
she by the passing of her brother, that it is doubtful               alive to truth and to God, and consists in being known
whether she was at all capable of attending carefully of God and in knowing Him, in having fellowship
to the glorious words that the Master had spoken to with the Father and the Son, in  poss&sing  God in
her. Her mind is fixed upon that tomb yonder, where Christ, in seeing Him in the face of Christ and in
the corpse of her brother lies. And her one thought is, being satisfied by His likeness, in living and walking
"0 that the Master would pray that he be raised with God in His holy temple. This is life.
again".
        If these sisters want true and abiding comfort,                     And to this life they are raised, who believe in
they must attend to and grasp the meaning of that Him, not for the first in the resurrection of the last
word of Christ,  "I am the resurrection and the life. . ." day, but even now in the present life, at the very in-
This word, these sisters have need of hearing for more stant when faith lays hold on Him. For Christ saith
than one reason.       From Martha's replies to Christ, not, "I will be," but He says, "I am, even now, to
it is plain that she believes in the resurrection of the             everyone that believeth in Me, the resurrection. . . ."
just unto eternal life in the last day. This, of course,                    Being the life, He is the resurrection, the fountain,
formed the c.ontent of the hope of all the believers of the creative cause, the reality of it, thus also the
that epoch. Rut Martha's error is that she separates reality of His own resurrection in His human nature
resurrection and life from Christ's person. Attend on the third day after His crucification. Hence, He
to her speech. She did not say, "I know that he shall
rise again &u thee. . . ." but merely, "I know that he did not become  t.he resurrection on this third day:
will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."                but He  zvas  the resurrection, even while He sojourned
Further she says, not, "Thou Lord art mighty to raise among us,-the resurrection in the midst of death.
him from the dead," but, "I know that even now, Hence, His rising on the third day, was in truth the
whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it rising of the Resurrection from death unto everlasting
thee". Then, too, she seems to be unmindful of what life.
death, as it overtakes the unjust, at bottom is; what                       Therefore, he that believeth in Him, though he
death (physical) is to the believer: what the resur- hath died, (spiritually and physically) will live, is
rection of the just implies; what it means to be be- living and `tiill live eternally. And whosoever Iiveth
lieving in Christ. Such being  t,he limitations of her and believeth in Him, shall never `die. He that liveth,
grasp upon the truth (The Spirit that  leadeth  into hath life abiding in him, the life that springeth up
a11 truth had as yet not been poured out) it does not                into life eternal, shall never die, is thus not dead when
occur to her that her brother liveth now.                  Hence,
standing in the presence of his death, she is without laid away in the grave. That man actually dies, to
that comfort that would otherwise be hers.                           whom the grave is the corridor to the regions of eternal
        "I am the resurrection and the life. . . ." He can           night  ind outer darkness. But to the just, who live in
say this only because He is also God. Being God, He Christ the grave is the corridor to eternal life. `Hence,
has life in Himself, in self lives, moves and has his the grave gains no victory when it opens to receive the
being. He (together with the Father and the Spirit) is               just. But the victory is theirs who fall asleep in Jesus.
for this reason, the source, fountain, creative cause of Bnd for these death has no sting, as all it can do is


                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                      2:s 9
-.---         _..-"__l- _I__-._"...     -            -            -    -
to lay them low in a grave that to them is the passage it their is an element of sin. It is a grief that, because
way to heaven.                                             they believe not, borders on dispair. It is grief mixed
    Believest lthou this, Martha? Why then would she with selfishness.            Further, though Christ had been
see her brother recalled into this human; life? She so long with them, .yet they fail to see in Him the resur-
wants him for herself. His passing left a great void rection and the life. Considermg this unbelief, that
in her life. But had the full truth dawned upon her on the part of the Jews opens its vile mouth to scoff
at that moment, she, standing in her faith, would have at Christ, His spirit grocery, and He is indignant, same
said, "Lord, do not wake him. He liveth! That is as He was after His resurrection, when He said to the
enough for me".                                            two friends, "0, fools, and slow of heart, to believe all
                                                           that the prophets have spoken." Luke  24:25.
    As to Mary, hearing that Jesus is come, she rises         This, finally, brings us to the question, why Jesus
up  hastily and  gces to Him. Coming where Jesus is,
she, without even first greeting Him, prostrates her- recalled Lazarus back  to this  human   life,  The deep
self at His feet.  All she says, can say,  is:"Lord, if reason for this was not certainly to dry the tears of
thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died." these sisters through restoring to them their diseased
How characteristic of her, this behavior. Seeing her brother. This reason Jesus Himself disclosed when
weeping, and the Jews weeping which have come with He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the
her, Jesus groans in the spirit and is troubled. The glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
original text tells us that Jesus was vehemently, indig- thereby". And agian, "And I am glad for your sakes
nantly, angrily affected, stirred up in His Spirit and that I was not there, to the intend ye may believe. . . ."
troubleh Himself. The Greek verb, translated groan, Chapter 2  :15. They, His disciples, Martha and Mary
means to be moved with anger, to be wry angry, to          must believe,-believe that the Father sent Him, be-
be moved with  indign&ions,  to sternly charge,  tb lieve that He is the resurrection and the life, and that
threateningly  enjoin. Other meanings, this verb (in the they believing in Him never die. He raises Lazarus
original) has not.                                         to demonstrate to them, His power over death, that
                                                           they may ljelieve and have true and abiding comfort
    That Jesus sympathized with the deep sorrow of and peace, and that, in this peace, they may glorify
of these sisters, how can it be otherwise? Had He not God and the Son. Thus in raising up Lazarus, He
come to bear the grief and sorrows of His people in was indeed actuated by a fathomless love of His dear
His human nature, that there might be for them a friends. But if this love is to be seen and appreciated
drying of all their tears? Did not also this suffering by us, we must have before our mind the real, funda-
with His people belong to the burden df divine wrath mental, reason why Christ raised him up.
that He had come to bear? Assuredly, yes. He -was                                                     G. M. 0.
moved as He alone could be moved by the spectacle
of their sorrow. And we read  ,of Him, that on this
occasion He weeps, that is, not as the Jews weep,
loudly and  ,vehemently,  but softly as becomes Him,
Yet in view of the meaning of the word found in the                         The New Conmandment
original, it will not do to construe this  grucrning of
the Saviour as a mere sympathy with the sorrow of                           John  1220-33;  13:34, 35
these friends of His. Justice must be done to the              And there were certain Greeks among them that
tfstimony  of the orignal text. A search must be made came up to worshin  at the feast. It indicates that i&e>-
Ear  the reason of Christ's  anger  and  in&n&ion. It had embraced the Messianic hope of the Jews, as had
is to be noticed that Christ groaned not in His soul       the Magi from the East, who had come to Jesus' cradle.
but in His sprit. Now the spirit of Christ (and of the As the Magi, so in all likelihood these visitors, they
believer) was in distinction from His lower sinless had been brought in contact with this hope through
nature, that side of His being through which He was the Jews in the Dispersion. Having embraced this
related to God. It is exactly the spirit that is indig- hope, they came up to worship at the feast and there-
nant and angry at the spectacle of sin and unbelief. fore also came to  FYhillip, and desired him, saying,
A.nd that is exactly what Christ here encounters, un- Sir. we would see Jesus. Phillip's consultation with
belief, on the part of the Jews to be sure,-the Jews Andrew must be attributed to the unusualness of
who wept with the sisters. We read that when some seeing Jesus hold intercourse with Gentiles; for the
of them say, "Could not this man, which opened the uncircumcised proselytes of the gate were still so  con-
eyes of the  blin,d, have caused that even this man si,dered.          Andrew and  Phillip tell Jesus. And the
should have died?" Jesus again  groaned  in Himself. Saviour is jubilant. He sees in these Greeks the fore-
It is unbelief that Christ here meets with,-unbelief, runners of the Gentile converts. Their coming to Him
also on the part of these sisters, Martha and Mary.        now at the end of Ris life, stands out before His mind
There is something inordinate about their grief. In as the guarantee and pledge that the fruits of His


                                                                                                                   1
2.40  .                            TRE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
___..-                       ___--                -___-               ~.-..
suffering and death will be made effective among the to His soul! From that cross His soul, lower sinless
Gentiles, that the "other sheep I have, which are not nature, shrinks. How He became like unto all His
of this fold" will indeed be brought and that they, too, brethren! Has there then formed in His pure  soul
shall hear `His voice. But this will not come to pass an inclination to repudiate His cross? Assuredly not.
until after His death and resurrection. Thus having But that cross, the thought of it, troubled His soul;
heard from the two disciples that the Greeks seek Him, for He is human. Attend now to the strength of His
He exclaims, "The hour is come that the Son of man obedience. However troubled His soul may be, He
shall be giorified. This hour is the hour of His death prays for His cross in the garden (not my will but
in connection with the hour of His resurrection and Thy will be done) and also here, when He says, "but
His exaltation at the Father's right hand in the throne for this cause (namely, to suffer and to die for my
as King of kings and Lord of lords and as Head of people) I came into this hour. Father, glorify Thy
His Church, which is His body,-His church, upon name." How the zeal of God's house consumes Him !
whom He, as the glorified Christ will pour out His "Father, glorify Thy name. `Lay the burden of  Thy
Spirit . And the Church,- as Spirit  filled, and as wrath upon Me, that I may bear it. Exhibit through
comprised of the "all men" of verse 32 will throughout my cross, the glory of Thy love, Thy mercy, Thy wis-
the ages and eternally give Him glory,-Him, its Head dom, righteousness and power. Let the billows of Thy
and Saviour.                                                wrath pass over Me, 0 Father. Then will Thy name
    But to this glory He can attain only through suffer- be glorified' ". And the Father answers, "I have both
ing and death. He understands this. It is the speech glorified it, and will glorify it again." This was music
of God that comes to Him even from the corn of to the troubled soul of the Saviour. The Father has
wheat". Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground glorified His name throughout the Old Testament Dis-
and die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth pensation, through Christ's labors in the past. And
forth much fruit." How true this is! So, too, Christ He will glorify it through His cross, through the exalt-
except He suffer  and die and be buried, He will abide ation of the Christ in the Gentile world. But let His
alone, that is, there will be no people to Him, saved followers also attend  to the speech of this voice. It
from all their sins through His sacrifice. He must came also for them. This voice came not because of
die, and dying He will be raised with His people, unto me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this
their justification. It is only through His dying that world; now shal1 the prince of this world be cast out.
He becomes the true vine with many branches, the And if I be lifted up from this earth, will draw  nil
head with its body, the corner-stone with its living men unto Me".
stones, partaking of His life, and buiId  up a spiritual       Now is the judgment of this world. . .  .`l the world
house. Thus He will not love His present earthy life that lieth in darkness. Why is now its judgment? It
and shun the cross. Doing so, He will lose His life is about to crucify very holiness, Righteousness, the
and perish forever, He and His people. But He  I%-ill Son of God. For this, it now has opportunity, now,
hate His life, this present earthy life, and accept His the first time in history. In Christ, God now actuaIly
cross. Through this doing, He will save His life, will surrenders Himself to man, to Jews and Gentiles alike,
reappear, after suffering a temporary eclipse, in glory places  Himself in man's power to see what men would
with His people. Let His disciples take this home do with Him. And the worId crucifies Him, the Holy
to their hearts. Let them follow Jesus, do as He does, One ! So does it now appear that sin, in the words of
hate their present, earthly life in this world, and ac- Paul, is exceedingly sinful, that man by nature is  des-
cept their cross (not His cross), resolve to suffer and perateIy  wicked, that God's appraisal of him is true
die for His cause and name and thus fill up the and that man's damnation is just. The worId crucifies
measure of His suffering. And where He is, there God, and through this doing signs its own death-sen-
shall  aIso His servants be, namely, with Him in glory. tence. And whereas the cross is at once the instru-
Him, the follower of Jesus, wilI the Father honour. ment through which `God saves His  peopIe  from  all
`Him wiI1 the Father raise up with Christ, and cloth their sins and frees them from the power of the devil,
with glory.                                                 it follows that when the wicked have done venting their
                                                            terrible spite upon the Holy One, the judgment of the
    But what is this that we now hear Him say? "Now world is at hand, as aIso the casting out of the prince
is my  sou1 troubled; and what shall I say? `Father of this world. His victims are now set free, from the
save me from this hour." This is a cry of anguish! point of view of right. Hence, his power must be
And it is uttered by the Saviour ! His soul, not His broken and he cast out. And his doom  i,s certain. For
Spirit or His heart, but His soul is troubled. His Christ will be lifted up from the earth upon the cross
soul will again be troubled in the garden, when He and from the cross into heaven upon the throne. And
will pray,  "0 my Father, if it be possible, let this He will draw all men (His people) to Himself, through
cup pass from me. . .  ." So  here,"Father,  save me His Spirit and His Word.
from this hour". Ah, that dreadful cross strikes terror                                                G. M. 0.


