 The
~TAIVDARD
BEARER
   A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                 .





     No one at that meeting could have
  anticipated the future of that or-
  ganization which exists to this day.
  No one could have seen that the
  Lord would give to these men and
  their successors in the fifty years
  ahead far more than ever they asked
  or thought. It was a small beginning,
  an uncertain and hesitant step in the
  direction of  T7ze  S~CZ~&W~ Bearer,
  but a step taken in faith nonetheless.
  And how mightily the Lord b1esse.d
  that faith!
  (see page 32)





                            VOLUME L, NUMBER 2, OCTOBER 15,1973 


26                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITATION
          Jehovah's Friendship Made Known
                                           Rev. M. Schipper
      `The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. "
                                                                                    Psalm 25:14
      Two things stand out in the Psalm of David in the        original text!
verses which precede our text, and which seem to                  The term "secret" comes from a Hebrew word
find their ground our basis in the text itself.                signifying a couch or cushion. We do not spoil the
      In the first place, we find in the opening verses a      implication of this term when we picture before our
humble confession. Difficult were the circumstances            mind's eye a settee or a love seat on which two lovers
in which the psalmist found himself. He complains of           will sit to whisper to each other their secrets. On such
surrounding enemies. And while he places his deep              a couch or love seat two do not sit who are bitter
trust in Jehovah his God, realizing his dependence             enemies, but friends, who love each other most
upon Him, he prays that these enemies may not                  intimately and are desirous of making known to each
triumph over him. It seems that the darker the days            other their love, and friendship. Consequently the
the more beautiful does his song become. When all              translation has "secret" because one does not tell his
appears to be against him, he casts himself upon his           secrets to his enemies, but to his friends. And where
God and exclaims, "To Thee I lift my soul,"                    secrets are exchanged, there you have the most
remembering Jehovah's tender mercies which have                intimate bond of love and friendship.
been ever of old. But his plea is mixed with a sense of          Now picture, if you will, Jehovah, the covenant
his utter unworthiness of that mercy because of the            God, sitting on such a love seat with  His people in
knowledge of his sins, which he humbly confesses. He           Christ, and you will see the beautiful significance of
is sensitive to the fact. that all his life long he never      our text.
deserved any of Jehovah's mercies, for all that life
long he had sinned against Him. "Remember not the                The text is composed of two parts, but in such a
sins of my youth . . . " clearly indicates that now in         way that the last part further explains the first. God's
the more mellowed and ripened period of his life               covenant, therefore, is synonymous with His secret.
when he ought to know his sin in all its hideous               And even as the secret of Jehovah is with them that
character with more profound spiritual insights than           fear Him, so also is II& covenant for them whom He
when he sinned in his younger days, the awful truth            instructs or teaches. If, therefore, as we said, His
takes hold on him that all his live-long days he has           secret is indicative of  His friendship and love, then
sinned against Jehovah, even from his youth. Whoever           His covenant must also be a covenant of friendship.
knows the particular history through which the                   Though friendship and love are terms  which may
psalmist passed, knows also there was plenty of                be clearly distinguished, they are nevertheless very
reason for his confession.                                     closely related as they proceed from God. Love is the
                                                               very basis of all true friendship. Where this basis is
      Secondly, we find in these verses at the same time       missing, friendship may be feigned, such as it was
a faithful trust in Jehovah's mercies. A true                  between Ahithophel and David, or between Judas and
confession of sin and the knowledge of its attending           Jesus. Of Ahithophel David wrote: "Yea, mine own
miseries, always ends in the infinite mercy of God.            familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my
This cannot be otherwise, for the simple reason that           bread, hath lifted up his heel against me," (Ps. 41:9).
both are wrought by God Himself. There is no                   And Jesus said to Judas: "Friend, wherefore art thou
knowledge of sin nor any confession of sin, or it is all       come? (or, do that for which thou art come)," (Matt.
of God. And the divine end in so humbling us, is that          26:50). And just before that we learn that Judas
He may reveal to us His mercy, in order that we may            kissed Him. In both of these examples it is plain that
learn to put all our trust and confidence in Him.              Ahithophel and Judas, his New Testament
      Now the ground or basis for this divine operation        counterpart, feigned friendship which did not have its
must be found in the words of our text. "The secret            deepest root in love. True friendship, indeed, finds its
of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will            basis in love. And love always seeks for and rejoices in
shew them his covenant." He has established a                  the perfection of its object Yea, Scripture denotes
friendship relation between Himself and  His people            love as being the bond of peir'ectness, (Cal. 3: 14).
which we prefer to call: a covenant of friendship. Of            Moreover, where all true friendship subsists, there
this the text speaks.                                          must be  alsc an attraction of spiritual likeness. It
      Most beautiful and picturesque is the speech of the      would be most difficult indeed to think of two sitting


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  27



on a love seat who were spiritual opposites. Surely          Him with their whole being, while they stand in
one would not reveal his most intimate secrets to his        opposition to the world in which they are required to
enemies.                                                     walk for a time. It is a covenant which He realizes
   Keeping the above thoughts in mind, it is easy to'        with the believers and their seed in the line of
see how that the covenant of friendship is, first of all,    succeeding generations, in which generations is found
eternally perfect in God, the Triune God. Apart from         a two-fold seed, elect and reprobate, believers and
any consideration of the creature, God lives eternally       unbelievers, righteous and wicked. And so it is that it
and perfectly the covenant of friendship within His          is not all Israel which is called Israel, and he is not a
own divine essence. Here, indeed, is the bond of             Jew whose circumcision is only outward in the flesh,
perfection, the tie of spiritual likeness. All three         but he is a Jew who is circumcised in the heart. And
Persons in the Godhead are essentially and spiritually       so, too, it is that in the line of succeeding generations
alike. All three  -Persons seek and find in each other       you find an Abel, but also a Cain; an Enoch, but also
eternally the bond of perfectness. In this sense God in      the godless against whom he prophesied; a Noah, but
Himself may be said to be the Covenant God in                also the majority that is destroyed in the deluge; an
Whom the friendship relation of love is most                 Abraham, who is called the friend of God, who is
perfectly and eternally realized.                            separated from his father's house, and to whom God
                                                             revealed His covenant secrets as to none other. Out of
   Now, in the second place, what is so remarkable           Abraham the covenant is projected in Isaac, not
and wonderful is the fact that the eternal covenant          Ishmael; in'Jacob, not Esau. And out of the family of
God has purposed, according to His Word, to take up          Judah, the lion's whelp, proceeds the royal line of
into His own covenant life and fellowship the                David, a man after God's own heart; and it is he
creature whom He creates and again recreates in His          whose generation brings forth the Christ, in and
likeness. Adam, who was made of the dust in the              through Whom God is pleased to realize His covenant
image and likeness of God, was so created that in a          of friendship with His people forever.
creatural and spiritual way he reflected the very
image of God. With him,. we may believe, God had a              In Christ and through His meritorious work of
most intimate friendship relation of love. In the state      redemption the covenant of friendship is realized and
of rectitude God walked with him and talked with             raised up to its highest, heavenly, and eternal
him in the cool of the garden. However, it was not           perfection.
the divine intention to realize the perfection of His           Christ is in substance the secret of Jehovah made
covenant in the first Adam, made of the earth,               known!
earthy. Rather, through the disobedience and fall of
the first Adam, it was His purpose to raise up that             He it is Who destroys the enmity of our natural
covenant relation of friendship to its highest possible      depravity, and makes peace through the blood of His
and heavenly realization through the last Adam, the          cross. By His Spirit and Word He transforms us from
Lord from heaven. Through the way of sin and grace,          children of darkness into children of light. He changes
He would establish with and realize in His chosen            us from enemies to friends, from haters of God to
people in Christ the most intimate and perfect               lovers of God. He makes us by grace to fear God.
relation of friendship conceivable;                            The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear Him!
  It is this that Jehovah, the covenant God, makes             It is the fear of love! Not the fear of fright!
known!                                                         Where once we were haters of God and of one
  A covenant of friendship!                                  another, we now love Him according to the love He
  The covenant must not therefore be conceived of            sheds abroad in our hearts. Where once we hid our
as a pact or agreement between God and man,                  faces from Him, and turned our stiff necks in the
dependent on the will of man for its fruition. Nor           direction of sin and iniquity, we now seek His face,
must it be conceived of as consisting of two parties,        and desire to dwell in His presence.
God and man. Rather, as our Form for Baptism so                This fear causes us also to be docile, and to listen
beautifully expresses it, it is a covenant of two parts,     to His Word. God, Jehovah, draws us to His love seat
wherein man is obliged to cleave unto the Triune             and whispers His secret. He informs us in no
God, trust in Him, and love Him with all his heart,          uncertain terms that in Christ He is pleased to take us
soul, mind, and strength. He is to forsake the world,        up into His own covenant life and fellowship. And
crucify his old nature, and walk in a new and holy           because we have His fear in our hearts, and know that
l i f e .                                                    we are most unworthy to abide in His presence, we
  The covenant is God's, in which He purposes to             continue to say in response to His Word of love and
establish a relation of friendship with His chosen           friendship: Speak Lord, for thy servant hears!
people in Christ, in which they are to love and serve          We are Thy covenant friend-servants!


28                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


EDITORIAL

                                       Sequel To A Footnote

                                                        Prof H. C. Hoeksema

      Recently I received a letter from one of our                    vanishes as the morning mist! "And the Lord saw it,
growing number of non-Protestant Reformed readers                     and it displeased him that there was no judgment."
- this one from Canada  - which made plain to me                     My correspondent writes rather at length about the
how difficult it is to express one's meaning and mood              above paragraphs. His letter was not intended for
clearly and concisely in the printed word. The letter              publication; but I can quote the pertinent section
is not critical; on the contrary, as will become plain             without revealing his identity. Here it is:
when I quote part of it, it is the kind of letter an
edit or can frequently use. However, the writer                          Then, in one of your latest articles I noticed some
misjudged my mood and my intent. I take the blame                     bitterness, due to the almost hostile attitude
for this: evidently I did not come through clearly.                   experienced when mentioning the Protestant
                                                                      Reformed Church among Christian Reformed people.
      The letter refers to the footnote to the August 1               To console and comfort you, I would say that the
editorial, "Is It True? Is It Equitable?"                             special function which God in His providence has
      And all of this gives me the opportunity to repeat              assigned to the Protestant Reformed church, viz. to
that footnote, clarify it, add to it, and express my                  warn the Christian Reformed people (not the C.R.
thanks to the afore-mentioned letter-writer.                          church!), will cause this face-slapping. In the
      The appendix to my editorial of August 1 was as                 Scriptures we read again and again how those who
                                                                      stood up with the witness of the Spirit of God were
follows:                                                              actually slapped in their faces.
          To all of the above, this is probably in the nature            Without a doubt, "The Standard Bearer" is the
       of a footnote. In the course of his address Mr.                most faithful, by far, to the Scriptures, of all the
       Feikens says in reference to the case of 1924:                 periodicals that I am familiar with. There is a verse in
       "Today perhaps we would view such division between             Isaiah stating that "when the enemy shall come in
       believers differently than our fathers did. We live            like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a
       today in an age of ecumenicity. We seek today for the          standard against him . . ." I take it that the name of
       areas in which Christians can agree. Hopefully, as             your magazine was chosen with this verse in mind.
       individuals, while not denying our doctrinal                   Well, the enemy has come in the C.R.C., and the
       standards, we stress more our identity as Christians           flood waters are rising. Thousands upon thousands
       and we are happy for the places where we can meet              have perished already. Amidst this tumult you are
       on common ground."                                             standing, handtied, because you are lifting this
          I wish to point out two items:                              "Standard" aloft. You're standing there already for
                                                                      49 years, with others. In the confusion and blind
          1. The Christian Reformed Church has never                  stampede among the C.R. people your message
       manifested this sweet spirit of ecumenicity toward             sounds so different, almost foreign, certainly out of
       the Protestant Reformed Churches. Officially it has            place (and time!). This makes for the people seeing
       twice refused even to discuss what holds the two               you as an obstacle, so they attempt to lift you out of
       denominations apart.                                           the saddle. So they become servants of Satan, trying
          2. Recently I have heard testimony from our home            to destroy the witness to the truth, which often, out
       missions laborers that the attitude of the Christian           of necessity, has to be a witness against error.
       ,Reformed Church is quite different than is described         As long as you receive insults of this nature, you
       above. People may be absent from the services for
       weeks; they may attend no church at all or churches         may praise God' for having kept you steadfast,
       of other denominations. In some cases they are even         immovable.
       advised, in case of dissatisfaction, to attend another        Now, first of all, I want to say "thanks" for the
       church. Admonition or discipline for neglect of the         words of encouragement. This correspondent has
       means of grace are absent. But let there be an inkling      correctly discerned what our magazine purposes to
       that they are attending or thinking of attending            be: distinctively Reformed. And it is encouraging to
       Protestant Reformed services! Then there are                hear that our magazine, with  all its weaknesses,
       warnings and hints of discipline. Then there is slander     succeeds in achieving its purpose.
       of the Protestant Reformed Churches as schismatic
       and as troublemakers. All spirit of ecumenicity               In the second place, however, as far as the intent


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    29


 and the mood of the "footnote" which occasioned             some have had the same experience recently. I
 this correspondence were concerned, the writer of           recently heard that others are presently having the
 this letter is mistaken; evidently I did not come           very same experience.
 through clearly. My intent was not to convey
 bitterness over against the Christian Reformed                And I can well imagine that if I am surprised by
 Church, though I do not think this is what my               this, others - outside of our churches - may be even
 correspondent means. Neither, however, was my               more taken by surprise, perhaps shocked, and
 mood one of bitterness in the sense of despondency          possibly even a bit frightened by such threatenings.
 or discouragement or cornplaintiveness. I may have            Well, it was partly for this reason that I wrote: so
 left that impression, and I surely will admit to having     that others might not be taken by surprise, so that
 such feelings upon occasion. But that was not my            they might expect it, and so that they might be
 mood at the time that "footnote" was penned.                forewarned not to be cowed by threats of discipline
   Are we disappointed and saddened when we                  and slanderous remarks about our being schismatic
 observe such things on the part of the Christian            and troublemakers, etc.
 Reformed Church? Yes, indeed! For not only is it              Hence, in the third place, I wanted to expose
true in general that we rejoice to see others walk in       sharply the ecclesiastical hypocrisy of this spirit of
 and according to the truth. But this is especially true    ecumenicity which can be so soft and sweet toward
with respect to those who in same belong to the             all the errors and erring movements of our day  -
Reformed family of churches. And it is even more            including rank Arminianism, neo-Pentecostalism,
true with respect to the Christian Reformed Church.         faith healing, not to mention homosexuality or
After all, historically the Christian Reformed              flagrant denials of the authority of Scripture - but is
denomination is our mother: and it is painful and           absolutely intolerant toward those who want to be
disappointing and saddening to be under the necessity       and who are distinctively Reformed.
of reproving and rebuking and pleading against
"mother" and calling upon "mother's" children not              Nor is my quotation from Judge Feiken's article an
to walk in the whorish ways of their mother. Yet,           exception. Anyone who reads  The Banner  regularly
did we not do so, we would be derelict in our duty          will know this. But let me cite another example from
before God.. And the Standard Bearer has from the           the recently-resumed series of the Rev. Clarence
beginning seen this as one aspect of its task. Quoting      Boomsma. He writes in the same vein. For example:
the prophet Hosea, one of our original editors in an        "Therefore the problem we confront is how we can
early issue of this magazine wrote, "Twist met ulieder      appreciate and be open to the valuable influences of
moeder, twist! (Plead with your mother, plead!)"            other denominations and religious movements
                                                            without depreciating our own beliefs, loyalties, and
   Personally, I must also admit to being taken             practices, losing thereby our denominational identity
somewhat by surprise when this enmity toward the            and loyalty." Or again: "How much we owe other
Protestant Reformed Churches is displayed. Perhaps I        religious bodies whose example has inspired our
am naive in that respect; but then there are others, I      missionary zeal and evangelistic effort. Have we not
know, who share my naivete. I am aware, of course,          been prodded by the social concern and action of
that  this enmity was displayed in the past. In the         other churches to recognize our need for such
earlier years of our history it was not at all the          obedience to the demands of the Gospel? Can we not
exception that people were threatened with discipline       learn from others to encourage the fellowship that
and even actually disciplined if they so much as            mutually supports spiritual life and service within the
listened to a missionary-minister of our churches.          membership of our congregations? Ought we not to
And I am aware, too, of course, that the Christian          profit from the experience of those who have learned
Reformed Church has not changed its doctrinal               how to reach the unchurched in their communities?
stance with respect to the common grace issue, but          And consider the challenge to consecrated living
has indeed developed and progressed in the direction        inspired in some denominations! I could continue, as
chosen in 1924. But somehow one comes to imagine            you know. Especially in these times of massive attack
that perhaps the attitude of enmity has softened            on the Christian faith by the neo-paganism of modern
somewhat. Perhaps the sweet avowals of being                life, it is important to understand that all Christians
ecumenically-minded have something to do with this.         need each other and the contributions that all can
And then something will happen to jar one back to           bring to the Church of Christ." (page 15, Sept. 28,
stark reality! I myself had this experience when,           1973)
several years ago, I had opportunity  - upon their            But you see this is the same attitude that changes
invitation - to instruct a group of Christian               the ecclesiastically condemned heresy of Dr. Janssen
Reformed people concerning 1924 and the Three               in 1922 to "alleged" liberalism. (And is this any
Points. I know, as I indicated in that "footnote," that     wonder in the light of Report 36/44?) It is the same


30                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



sweet attitude which makes our denial of common                     according to Article 29 of our Confession of Faith, is
g r a c e   i n   1 9 2 4 "h y p e r - C a l v i n i s m . " And    a mark of the false church!
" hyper-Calvinism," you see, is a dirty word in
ecclesiastical parlance.                                               Hence, let those who are the objects of such
                                                                    discipline or threats of discipline not be intimidated.
      -Ecclesiastical hypocrisy!                                    Let them rather consider it a good sign and a badge of
      And therefore, in the fourth place, I will now make           honor, as well as a privilege of grace that they may
explicit what I previously left to the reader to                    suffer for Christ's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding
conclude. When discipline is employed against those                 glad: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
who seek to maintain the Reformed faith, i.e., when                 before you.
it is employed to persecute the faithful, this,


ANNUAL REPORTS, R.F.P.A.

                                    ? Secretary's Report

Members and Friends of the Reformed Free                            witness, by placing names of your friends on our
Publishing Association                                              mailing list.
Dear Brethren:                                                         Our mailing list includes 40 states, and such
      Once again your Board comes to you this evening               countries as New Zeeland, South Africa, Brazil,
with `a resume of what has been accomplished this                   Hungary, Switerzerland, Germany, Japan, Korea,
year with the help of our Covenant God.                             Belgium, India and others. More than 325 books,
      We have met each month at the prescribed times                such as  .Triple Knowledge, Behold He Cometh and
and we received at these meetings, encouraging and                  others, have been sold by means of a combination
gratifying reports on the acceptance and growth of                  book and subscription offer which we hope to repeat
the Standard Bearer.                                                again in November. This offer too can be used as a
                                                                    means to increase your religious book library at
      We first of all must give thanks to our God who has           reduced prices.
provided the means to print the Standard Bearer and
then to the editors who devote many long hours in                     Our folder catalog, listing all materials and books
the preparation of articles. We also thank each one of              published by our churches has been re-printed and
our supporters for their prayers and financial gifts                you can pick up copies here tonite, or they will be
which make it possible to print the Standard Bearer                 mailed to you on request.
on schedule each issue.                                                Retiring this year are Mr. John Kalsbeek, our
      We can report tonite that our subscription list is            president, Mr. F. Hanko, and the late Mr. John Box
growing at a faster rate than ever before. Over 150                 whom our Heavenly Father called home so suddenly
new subscribers were added to our subscription list                 this summer. We also wish to thank Mr. Gerrit Pipe
this year. At present, 1525 copies of each issue are                who consented to remain as our mailing clerk for
printed. One hundred copies are held for bound                      another year and to Mr. Henry Vander Wal for his
volumes, 90 copies are sent free of charge to                       many hours spent on behalf of the Standard Bearer,
seminaries, hospitals, rest homes, etc, a number of                 as our able Business Manager.
copies are distributed through the mission committee,
and the remainder are mailed to our approximately                     Beginning in October, the Standard Bearer will,
1200 paying subscribers and to our 10 for 2                         with the help of God, begin its 50th year of
recipients. The 10 for 2 offer has proved to be very                publication. The editors and the Board covet your
effective as a means of obtaining permanent new                     prayers and support during this eventful year.
subscribers. More than 350 responses have been                                                                 Thank you,
received to date and more are coming in each month.                                                          THE BOARD
The 10 for 2 offer is continuous and we urge our
present subscribers to use this means of spreading our                                                 Don Knoper, Sec'y


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                 31



                                     Treasurer's Report

.:           BALANCE ON HAND SEPTEMBER 1,1972                                        $  6,098.45
      . :     Receipts:
                Subscriptions                                                      7,149.42
                Membership                                                           93 .oo
                Gifts                                                              7,086.12
                Announcements                                                       180.00
                Bound Volumes                                                       540.56
                Miscellaneous                                                       275.41
                Book Sales                                                         1,225.80
                Introductory Offer                                                  358.00
                Interest earned                                                     206.57
                   Receipts for the year                                              17,114.88
                   Total Receipts                                                     23,213.33

              Disbursements:
                Wobbema Press                                                      5,379.85
                 National Correct Color Ser.                                       1,199.oo
                 Photo Composition Service                                         4,700.oo
                 Postage                                                           1,061.17
                 Holland Book Binding                                                374.00
                Mr. Gerrit Pipe (travel expense)                                     115.00
                Mr. H. Vander Wal (token gift)                                      500.00
                Publication Committee                                              1,011.80
                Miscellaneous                                                         59.29
                Catalog (reprint)                                                     75 .oo
                Advertising                                                           34.53  _
                   Disbursements for the year                                         14,509.63
             BALANCE ON HAND SEPTEMBER 1,1973                                           8,703.70

                            Gifts:Doon                                   183.74
                                 Edger-ton                                52.47
                                 Faith                                    22.90
                                 First                                  785.94
                                 Forbes                                   43.15
                                 Holland                                 164.98
                                 Hope                                  1,159.65
                                 Hudsonville                            813.32
                                 Hull                                    120.12
                                 Loveland                                 73.97
                                 Lynden                                   65.59
                                 Pella                                    24.54
                                 Randolph                                113.88
                                 Redlands                               188.92
                                 South East                             519.78
                                 South Holland                          898.70
                                 South West                             249.95
                                Individuals                            1,527.73
                                 Holland Mens Society                    25.00
                                Hope Mens Society                        51.79


32                                                THE STANDARD BEARER





                            The Standard Bearer
                                     In Retrospect
                                              Prof H. Hanko


      The Standard Bearer has, from the beginning of its         and his opposition to common grace, his articles were
existence, been an independent paper without any                 met with considerable ecclesiastical disfavor. During
formal ecclesiastical ties, and published by an                  this same period, already prior to the final disposition
association of men. Nevertheless, it stands, in the              of the Janssen Case, two new papers sprang up within
minds of all who know it, as part of the Protestant              Christian Reformed circles,  Religion and Culture and
Reformed Churches.                                               The Witness.  Revs. Danhof and Hoeksema were on
      It is not strange that this should be so. Its origin is    the staff of The Witness, along with others who were
closely connected to the origin of the Protestant                opposed to the views of Dr. Janssen and who were
Reformed Churches. Its editorial staff has been                  generally thought of as the conservatives of that day.
consistently composed of members (usually ministers)             Because Dr. Janssen had attacked his opponents
of these Churches. The members of the association                especially on the matter of common grace, in the
and Board who have had responsibility for its                    aftermath of the Janssen Case, following the Synod
publication have always been part of these same                  of 1922, Revs. Danhof and Hoeksema wanted to spell
Churches. It is not surprising therefore, that the pages         out their views further on the issues of the Janssen
of  The Standard Bearer  have reflected Protestant               Case and on the common grace question. However,
Reformed ecclesiastical life and are a sort of history           the editorial staff of The Witness was sharply divided
of what has taken place in these Churches from 1924              on the subject of common grace and on the wisdom of
to today.                                                        discussing the subject in their paper. Hoeksema and
      This is true already of the very beginnings of this        Danhof wanted to be free to develop their views, and,
publication. If we go back some fifty years or more              respecting the wishes of their  ,fellow staff members
                                                                 not to be classified as agreeing with Hoeksema and
to the time when  The Standard Bearer  was only an               Danhof on the matter of common grace, they soon
idea in the minds of some men, we find that this idea            severed relations with this new periodical. We also
grew out of the doctrinal situation in the Christian             learn from some early minutes of the Board which
Reformed Church.                                                 eventually began to publish The Standard Bearer that
      In 1922 Dr. Janssen was deposed from his position          De Wachter also refused to publish a &?ries of articles
of professor of Old Testament in the Seminary by the             prepared by Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof in
Synod of Orange City for teaching views which called             connection with the Janssen controversy and the
into question Scripture's infallible inspiration and             common grace issue as raised by Dr. Janssen. These
authority. In support of his position, Dr. Janssen               articles later formed the contents of the  fnst
appealed to the doctrine of common grace. Though                 brochure published by the infant R.F.P.A.,  Langs
his position on Scripture was repudiated by the                  Zuivere  Banen (Along Straight Paths).  Meanwhile,
Christian Reformed Church, nevertheless common                   after 1922 Rev. Hoeksema's articles in the rubric Our
grace, on which Dr. Janssen based his defense, was               Doctrine also abruptly ceased.
not condemned. The result was that this view became                All these things took place some time before the
the subject of intense discussion within the Churches.           beginning of the Protestant Reformed Churches, but
      Especially Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof wrote                 they were the immediate occasion for the publishing
combatting the view of common grace and developing               of The Standard Bearer.
the truth of grace according to Scripture and the                  Apparently a group of men who called themselves
Confessions.                                                     simply "Publication Committee" came together to
      During the period of the Janssen controversy, Rev.         discuss the situation. The minutes of the early
Hoeksema was editor of the rubric Our Doctrine in                meetings of this group are interesting and instructive.
The Banner;  but when he stated his views on grace               We shall quote at some length the minutes of these


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         33


early meetings, for in them we find the origin of the                  evening.
paper whose fiftieth anniversary we commemorate  in                       10. Since the hour was late, it was decided to
this volume.                                                          adjourn, after which Mr. W                          closed
   The minutes of the first meeting read as follows                   with thanksgiving for the blessed work accomplished,
(translated from the Dutch):                                          acknowledging that it was done with many
                                                                      shortcomings, expecting that also in the future our
       1. The first meeting was held at the home of Rev.              efforts may be richly blessed, as we strive as God's
    H. Hoeksema, Eastern Avenue, Grand Rapids, April                  Party on earth, in order again to give direction in the
    8, 1924. (Notice that this was about five months                  history of .the church of God here on earth.
    before The Standard Bearer was actually begun and
    nearly nine months before the Protestant Reformed                    That we may see many fruits upon our work,
    Churches came into existence. H.H.)                               inciting to comfort and hope and trust and to a
                                                                      holding fast to the promise of the Lord, set forth by
       2. This meeting was opened with prayer by Rev.                 the poet as follows:
    H. Hoeksema.                                                                   Waterstroomen al Ik gieten,
       3. Fifteen brethren were present, who                                       Spreekt de Heere, op `t dorre zand.
    unanimously decided to organize as a Publication                               Waar nu pelgrims smachtend gaan
    Committee and to discuss that same evening matters                             Zal een hof des Heeren staan.
    pertaining to the support of the brethren ministers
    Rev. H. Danhof, of Kalamazoo, and Rev. H.                        This final verse appended to the minutes evidently
    Hoeksema, of Grand Rapids, in the publishing and               expressed the confidence which the committee felt,
   sending out, as well as also the bearing of expenses in         under the Lord's blessing, in the future of their
   connection with the publishing of brochures, and, if            endeavors. Translated, this poem reads:
   possible, of a paper.                                                       I shall pour water streams
      The reasons for this weighty step were the refusal                       on the dry sand, saith the Lord.
   and return by  De  Wachter  of a series of articles                         Where pilgrims now walk languishing,
   written by the aforementioned ministers for our                             a garden of the Lord shall stand.
   Reformed people. In order to be able to answer all
   the various writings coming from one side  - and                  No one at that meeting could have anticipated the
   sometimes besmudged with personal hatred - this                 future of that organization which exists to this day.
   was the only way to offer the aforementioned                    No one could have seen that the Lord would give to
   ministers the opportunity to defend themselves                  these men and their successors in the fifty years
   against their attackers in the eyes of the Reformed             ahead far more than ever they asked or thought. It
   reading public.                                                 was a small beginning, an uncertain and hesitant step
  Article 4 of these minutes mentions the names of                 in the direction of the  Standard Bearer,  but a step
the founding members of the Publication Committee                  taken in faith nonetheless. And how mightily the
among whom are found two who would later become                    Lord blessed that faith!
ministers in the Protestant Reformed Churches. These                 We know that various brochures were published
two were Revs. Wm. Verhil and G. Vos, both of                      almost from the outset. But the main goal was a
whom are now deceased.                                             periodical. This became more evident in the next
  Article 5 lists the originally. chosen officers of               meeting. We quote again from the minutes.
whom two were from Kalamazoo and three from                              1. The meeting was held in Kalamazoo, April 17,
Grand Rapids.                                                         1924, at 8:00 in the evening.
      6. The gathering decided at once to appoint a                      2. The meeting was opened by singing Ps. 68:lO
   Publication Committee from their midst and to give                 (this was, of course, in the Dutch, H.H.), and prayer
   them power to act in printing, advertising, and                    by the President.
   sending out of brochures written by the                               4. After this, Rev. Hoeksema addressed the
   aforementioned ministers. (The late Rev. G. Vos was                gathering, shedding light on what we purposed to do,
   chairman of this committee. H.H.)                                  and at the same time directing us to go forward in
      7. Because there would be expenses in the                       faith, let come what may.
   immediate future, the gathering decided to gather                     5. Also Rev.  Dar&of pointed us to the chosen
   pledges from their own group (not loans), the funds                path, and especially expressed that we should make
   subscribed to serve as capital. After this was done, we            this a matter of principle, and besides, that we should
   were all pleasantly surprised to have gathered the sum             work positively through the means of brochures.
   of $425.00.                                                           6. After this, the following brethren became
      8. Since the society will need a name, it was                   members. (A total of 65 new members were added to
   decided to discuss this at the following meeting.                  the rolls at this meeting. H-H.)
      9. It was decided to hold the next meeting in                      7. It was decided to elect a board of 5 members, of
   Kalamazoo on  April 17, 1924, at 8:00 in the                       whom 2 will retire after the first year and 3 the


34                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


       second year.                                                   Some interesting decisions were also taken at the
           8. Chosen were: President: 0. Van Ellen                  meeting of September 10. We quote the following:
                      Secretary: A. Wyman                                  Report of the Committee appointed to regulate
                      Treasurer: C. Moerman                             our future monthly gave their work which was
                      Vice Treasurer: R. H. Timmer                      accepted by the Board.
                      General Member: R. Wolthuis                          Name of our monthly will be "Standard Bearer."
          9. Mr. G. Van Beek and G. Vanden Berg were                    Subscription price per year will be $1.50 and have
       appointed to be added to the Publication Committee.              3000 or more printed. Responsibility of contents will
          10. The name to be given the organization will be             be upon three editors: Rev. H. Danhof, Rev. H.
       left to the MinistersHoeksema  and Dar&of and to the             Hoeksema and Mr. G. Van Beek; contributions to be
       board.                                                           divided as follows:
          11. The gathering unanimously decided to proceed                 I. Rev. H. Dar&of: Conception of things.
       with the publication of a paper. Further arrangements               II. Rev. H. Hoeksema: Historical review of things.
       were left to the Board.                                             III. G. Van Beek: Realities in world, politics,
                                                                        school and state.
          12. By the members the sum of $792.00 was
       subscribed.                                                         Language to be evenly divided.
          13. It was decided to adjourn, after which our              It was at a meeting of Oct. 27 that the  fEst
       newly chosen president, 0. Van Ellen, led in a prayer        mention is made of the presence of Rev. Ophoff who
       of thanksgiving.                                             evidently became a member of the editorial staff at
      From this point on the meeting of the Board and               this time. The minutes mention that a word of
Publication Committee was separate from the                         welcome was spoken. to Rev. G. Ophoff by the
organization itself. The Board and Publication                      chairman.
Committee met again on April 29, June 3, August 12,                   If we turn briefly to the minutes of the
Sept. 10 and regularly thereafter. From the minutes of              membership meetings of the association, it is striking
these meetings we learn some interesting facts:                     to notice that the organization grew rapidly. At the
      A name was chosen for the organization: "The                  June 10, 1924 meeting the membership grew to 196
Reformed Free Publishing Association."                              members. Also at this meeting  $1,791.50 was
                                                                    pledged.
      It was decided to write all minutes from
henceforth in the English language "to prevent                        At the next meeting November 13, 1924 speeches
confusion in the future."                                           were delivered by five different men, and ten more
                                                                    members were added to the rolls, and a decision was
      Plans were being laid for the publication of a                made to make the Standard Bearer a semi-monthly.
monthly magazine. A proposal was adopted at the                     At a meeting on September 22, 1925, 59 new
meeting of June 3 "to have a monthly paper of 12                   members were added.
pages at the cost of $768 for one year for 500 copies
a month, and the printing, or $879 for 750 copies."                   Even these cold minutes of distant meetings reflect
This was to be given "to the Dalm Printing Co., on                  something of the dedication and zeal which pervaded
their estimation."                                                 these early leaders of our paper; but there also shines
                                                                    through in the clearest possible way, their utter sense
      At this same meeting of April 29 some other                   of dependence upon the blessings of Almighty God.
interesting decisions were taken. We quoted from the
minutes:                                                              So the Standard Bearer had its beginning.
          Motion was made and accepted to leave the                   It is our purpose in subsequent issues of this
       regulating of aforesaid paper in regard to form and          anniversary volume to continue the history of the
       name to the Revs. H. Danhof and H. Hoeksema.                Standard Bearer.  We hope to do this primarily by
          Was accepted to have 1000 copies printed for the         means of reprints of pertinent articles from old issues
       first three months beginning the first part of               which reflect in some measure the history of our
       Septemb_er,  1924, and further details to be worked          Churches and the role which our paper played in the
       out by the Publication Committee.                            ecclesiastical world in the years during which it was
          The resolution of the Publication Committee was           published.
       takerLover, and decided to have such a meeting June            We do this that our readers may join with us in
       10, 1924 in the Eastern Ave. Chr. Ref. Church in            thanks to our faithful covenant God for His many
       Grand Rapids, the nature of it being a prayer meeting       blessings upon us in all these years of publication, and
       pleading our cause before the throne of grace.              that we may rededicate ourselves to the cause of the
      At this meeting also the Board and Publication               truth for which our periodical has stood for one-half
Committee became one organization.                                  a century.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          35


CONTENDING FOR  THEFAITH
                        EschatcAogy  - The First Period
                                 (850 - 250 A.D.) THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

                                                       Rev. H. Veldman

   We are now discussing the doctrine of the last                   he received the sayings of the apostles from those
`things as taught in the church of God during the early             who accompanied them, and he moreover asserts that
years of the New Dispensation, in the years 80 - 250                he heard in person Atistion and the presbyter John.
A.D. Of course, several doctrines belong to this                    Accordingly he mentions them frequently by name,
doctrine or doctrines of the last things. And we are                and in his writings gives their traditions. Our notice of
presently busy with the second advent or coming of                  these circumstances may not be without its use. It
our Lord Jesus Christ. We concluded our preceding                   may also be worth while to add to the statements of
                                                                    Papias already given, other passages of his in which he
article by introducing to our readers Papias, who has               relates some miraculous deeds, stating that he
the credit of association with Polycarp, in the                     acquired the knowledge of them from tradition. The
friendship of St. John himself. We will quote from his              residence of the Apostle Philip with his daughters in
writings, in support of the fact that millenarian                   Hierapolis has been mentioned above. We must now
teachings were taught in the church of  Go.d during                 point out how Papias, who lived at the same time,
this early period of the church in the New Testament.               relates that he had received a wonderful narrative
  In Vol. I of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, page 152, we                from the daughters of Philip. For he relates that a
                                                                    dead man was raised to life in his day. He also
have the following:                                                 mentions another miracle relating to  Justus,
          (As the elders who saw John the disciple of the           surnamed Barsabas, how he swallowed a deadly
    Lord remembered that they had heard from him how                poison, and received no harm, on account of the
    the Lord taught in regard to those times, and said):            grace of the Lord. The same person, moreover, has set
    "The days will come in which vines shall grow, having           down other things as coming to him from unwritten
    each ten thousand branches, and in each branch ten              tradition, amongst these some strange parables and
    thousand shoots, and in every one of the shoots ten             instructions of the Saviour, and some other things of
    thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters             a more fabulous nature. Amongst these he says that
    ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed               there will be a millennium after the resurrection from
    will give five-and-twenty metretes of wine. And when            the dead, when the personal reign of Christ will be
    any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster,              established on this earth.
    another shall cry out, `I am a better cluster, take me;        Turning our attention to Justin Martyr (A.D.
   bless the Lord through me.' In like manner,.(He said)
   that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand              11 O-l 65), we may remark that he was a Gentile, born
    ears, and  that every ear would have ten thousand           in Samaria, near Jacob's well. He must have been well
   grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds of            educated. The writings of Justin Martyr are among
   clear, pure, fme flour; and that apples, and seeds, and      the most important that have come down to us from
   grass would produce in simiIar proportions; and that         the second century. He was not the first that wrote
   rdI animals, feeding then only on the productions of         an Apology in behalf of the Christians, but his
   the earth, would become peaceable and harmonious,            Apologies are the earliest extant. They are
   and be in perfect subjection to man." (Testimony is          characterized by intense Christian fervour, and they,
   borne to these things in writing by Papias, an ancient       give us an insight into the relations existing between
   man, who was a hearer of John and a friend of                heathens and Christians in those days. His other
   Polycarp, in the fourth of his books; for five books         principal writing, the Dialogue with Trypho, is the
   were composed by him. And he added, saying, "Now             first elaborate exposition of the reasons for regarding
   these things are credible to believers. And Judas the        Christ as the Messiah of the Old Testament, and the
   traitor," says he, "not believing, and asking, `How
   shah such growths be accomplished by the Lord? the           first systematic attempt to exhibit the false position
   Lord said, `They shall see who shall come to them.'          of the Jews in regard to Christianity. We will now
   These, then, are the times mentioned by the prophet          quote from this dialogue with the Jew, Trypho.
   Isaiah: `And the wolf shall lie down with the lamb,          Notice, please, that Martyr, in these quotations,
   etc. (Isa. 11:6f.f.)."                                       declares that many true Christians did not share these
  And then we have the following quotation, in Vol.             millenmalistic views.
I, page 154, of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, and we                   In his dialogue with Trypho, the Jew, Justin
quote:                                                          Martyr writes as follows, Vol. I, page 239 of the
      Papias, who is now mentioned by us, affirms that          Ante-Nicene Fathers, and we quote:


36                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



           And Trypho to this replied, "I remarked to you,                 an old man who shall not  fulfil his days. For the
        sir, that you are very anxious to be safe in all                  young men shall be an hundred years old; but the
        respects, since you cling to the Scriptures. But tell              sinner who dies an hundred years old, he shall be
       me, do you really admit that this place, Jerusalem,                 accursed. And they shall build houses, and shall
       shall be rebuilt; and do you expect your people to be               themselves inhabit them; and they shall plant vines,
        gathered together, and made joyful with Christ and                 and shall themselves eat the produce of them, and
       the patriarchs, and the prophets, both the men of our               drink the wine. They shall not build, and others
       nation, and other proselytes who joined them before                inhabit; they shall not plant, and others eat. For
       your Christ came? or have you given way,' and                       according to the days of the tree of life shall be the
       admitted this in order to have the appearance of                    days of my people; the works of their toil shall
       worsting us in the controversies?"                                  abound. Mine elect shall not toil fruitlessly, or beget
           Then I answered, "I am not so miserable a fellow,               children to be cursed; for they shall be seed righteous
       Trypho, as to say one thing and think another. I                   and blessed by the Lord, and their offspring with
       admitted to you formerly, that I and many others are               them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call
       of this opinion, and believe that such will take place,             I will hear; while they are still speaking, I shall say,
       as you assuredly are aware; but, on the other hand, I              What is it? Then shall the wolves and the lambs feed
       signified to you that many who belong to the pure                  together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but
       and pious faith, and are true Christians, think                    the serpent shall eat earth as bread. They shall not
       otherwise. Moreover, I pointed out to you that some                hurt or maltreat each other on the holy mountain,
       who are called Christians, but are godless, impious                saith the Lord." Now we have understood that the
       heretics, teach doctrines that are in every way                    expression used among these words, "According to
       blasphemous, atheistical, and foolish. But that you                the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my
       may know that I do not say this before you alone, I                people ; the works of their toil shall abound,"
       shall draw up a statement, so far as I can, of all the             obscurely predicts a thousand years. For as Adam was
       arguments which have passed between us; in which I                 told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die,
       shall record myself as admitting the very same things              we know that he did not complete a thousand years.
       which I admit to you. For I choose to follow not men               We have perceived, moreover, that the expression,
       or men's doctrines, but God and- the doctrines                     "The day of the Lord is as a thousand years," is
       delivered by Him. For if you have fallen in with some              connected with this subject. And further, there was a
       who are called Christians, but who do not admit this               certain man with us, whose name was John, one of
       truth, and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham,                the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a
       and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who say                revelation that was made to him, that those who
       there is no resurrection of the dead, and that their               believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in
       souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not                  Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in
       imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he               short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all
       would rightly consider its would not admit that the                men would likewise take place. Just as our Lord also
       Sadducees, or similar sects of Genistae, Meristae,                 said, "They shall neither marry nor be given in
       Galilaeans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews              marriage, but shall be equal to the angels, the children
       (do not hear me impatiently when I tell you that I                 of the God of the resurrection.
       think:) but are only called Jews and children of                 This concludes our quotation from Justin Martyr.
       Abraham, worshipping God, with the lips, as God               We will call attention to writings of Irenaeus and
       Himself declared, but the heart was far from Him.             Tertullian. But this must wait until our following
       But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on          article. We understand, to be sure, that Justin Martyr
       all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection
       of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which         places his own construction upon the passages of the
       will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, as the             Word of God he quotes. This passage from the
       prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.               p r o p h e c y   o f   I s a i a h   i s   a l s o   q u o t e d   b y   t h e
                                                                     premillenarians of our present day. However, toward
      And in the same volume, Justin Martyr  continues               the end of the latter quotation, this Church Father
                                                                     undoubtedly refers to the twentieth chapter of the
and endeavours to furnish proof  for his contention as
follows:                                                             Book of Revelation. And he writes that the apostle
                                                                     John writes that those who believe in Christ would
          For Isaiah spoke concerning this space of  a               dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem. But this we do
       thousand years: "for there shall be the new heaven            not find in Rev. 20. What John does write is that he
       and the new earth, and the former shall not be                saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the
       remembered, or come into their heart; but they shall          witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and that
       find joy and gladness in it, which things I create. For,
       Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and My people           they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
       a joy; and I shall rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad        This can hardly refer to the city of Jerusalem,
       over My people. And the voice of weeping shall be no          inasmuch as the apostle speaks of them who had been
       more heard in her, or the voice of crying. And there          beheaded for the witness of Christ and for the word
       shall be no more there a person of immature years, or         of God.


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            37


IN HIS FEAR


                                          Buying The Truth

                                                          Rev. Dale H. Kuiper



   With the filling of barns and silos and the putting away of         presentation of all things in respect to God, Christ, and man;
our vacation gear, the time is again upon us to apply ourselves        in respect to heaven, earth, and hell; in respect to things past,
to the mental and heartfelt pursuit of the study of God's Word         present, and future.
in a far more systematic way than we have done in the past
summer months. School bells (buzzers) call eager youth to                 The classic text for understanding our subject is perhaps
class and they come clutching colors and tablets. Young                Deut. 32:4, where Moses speaks of Jehovah this way: "He is
people pursue their chosen course in high school and college.          the Rock, His work is perfect, all His ways are judgement; a
And a goodly number of young men trim candle and lamp for              God of Truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He." A
the late hours that seminary study demands. Bulletin                   God of Truth! God is Truth, He is Truth personified. And as
announcements call the youth of the church to catechism                the Rock, He is the unchanging reality, so that the Truth
classes and the older members to Bible study societies. In             which emanated from Him is also unchanging. We may know
short, the Church of Jesus Christ on earth prepares herself to         this because He has sent Christ to us, Who said concerning
heed her high calling of "buying the truth," a calling that            Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." This eternal
comes to her in the twenty-third verse of Proverbs                     Son of God Who is the Word from the beginning is the
twenty-three: "Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom and          complete and perfect revelation of the Father. He came into
instruction and understanding."                                        the world, the world received Him not because their deeds
                                                                       were evil, yet the Church sees Him as the light, and in Him
   It is the case that the Church must busy herself with this          knows the truth to be unchanging and absolute.
calling in the midst of the world, a world which Solomon
describes in this chapter in terms of stark realism. It is a world        Indirectly Solomon calls the truth very precious by telling
that has no place for wisdom, but rather is filled with                us that wisdom, instruction, and understanding are the
winebibbers and riotous eaters of flesh, given over completely         components that make up the truth. Truth is precious because
to the pursuit of self-satisfaction and the pleasure principle. As     it makes wise unto salvation, because it gives a person both the
a whore seeks to lead men to misery and destruction, so this          knowledge of reality and the ability to live in harmony with it.
world of dark corruption would lead the faithful into all             Wisdom is an ethical concept, it is a gift given only to those
manner of transgression and iniquity, entice her into a               who are in Christ. Instruction really means correction. The
compromising position, so that she knows not nor cares for            word used here refers to the disciplinary aspect of the truth
the truth but makes and loves the lie. In that position,              whereby the one who strays is corrected and brought back to
oft-tempted and precarious, the Church must hear the words:           the proper pathway. Understanding has the primary idea of
"Buy the truth and sell it not!"                                       distinguishing and separating mentally. When a person has the
                                                                       truth he has all these things! Hence, the truth is able to set
                                                                       free!
WHAT IS TRUTH?
                                                                          Where may this truth be found? Jesus answers the question
   With that question Pilate responded to Jesus when our Lord          when He confides to the Father in the garden, "Thy Word is
stood before him and declared the truth: what is truth? The            Truth." The Bible is the source book of all truth. It is the
Word of God uses a term here to which the lexicons ascribe a          truth because it is according to its own testimony "God
rich meaning. The word embraces the idea of firmness, off             breathed." The words of the Bible are the very breath of God.
certainty and faithfulness, of integrity, and of justice. Thus,       Secondly, the Bible is the whole truth in that it presents all
whatever shade of meaning the word has in a given context, it         reality in its proper perspective and relationships. In this
always denotes that which is in opposition to falsehood and           modern age man worships in the temple of science; he will tell
the lie, to that which is temporal and imaginary, that which is       us that perhaps for matters of faith and doctrine you can go
deceitful and unreal. Truth is reality; and truth is the              searching in your Bibles, but if you want to know about this
presentation of reality, of all reality. Truth is the accurate        world, about history and science, then you must seek out the


38                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



philosopher, the historian and the scientist. So far is this world     The plain implication is that to possess the truth is going to
out of joint! The believer must learn to go to the Bible for all       cost. It may even be that everything has to go for the sake of
things. I do not say there is no place for learning and even           the truth. Did not Jesus say that "whosoever loveth son or
higher learning. Of course there is. But the point is that there       daughter, or father or mother more than Me is not fit for the
is no area of knowledge that is not interpreted and strictly           kingdom"? Nothing may stand in the way of our possessing
bound by the Word of God. It gives us the whole truth in all           the truth of the Word of God. Not family, not jobs, not name
its beautiful harmony.                                                 and position.

      Not only that, but the Bible as the Word of God is the only         Practically this has some implications for the church
truth. Everything apart from the Scriptures, every word of             institute as she reveals herself in the congregation and in the
man that is not spoken in the light of Scripture, is the lie!          seminary. Since no one enjoys being small, least of all the
There is no truth in all this sorry world except for that which        office-bearers, the natural tendency is to do away with those
God has spoken. Man as he multiplies his words in magazines            things which seem to inhibit growth. Let us not proclaim so
and books, in lectures at universities and colleges, in seminary       sharply the doctrines of double predestination, of total
and in' pulpit, does nothing but lie against the truth. How            depravity, of particular grace and atonement. Let us relax
imperative, then, that the Word of God underlie all instruction        those positions which we have taken that lead to discipline and
and thought. This is what differentiates godly and godless             sometimes excommunication. That way we won't refuse to let
education. The goal must be to have our children and young             anyone in and we won't push anyone out, and we'll grow! In
people instructed in the  truth  and this presupposes an               these days of irresponsible evangelism the Church of Jesus
environment where the truth is known and loved. It is time to          Christ must be reminded:  Buy the truth!  Resist all
make a specific recommendation and, hopefully, to plant the            compromise by refusing to go along with the spirit of the age
seed of an idea. There is a pressing need for a college that gives     that cannot stand the test of the Spirit of the Truth. To be lax
instruction in the truth, as the truth pertains to all things. We      in this area is the quickest way to sell the truth as something
have numerous grade schools and junior high schools. We have           without which we can well do.
a senior high school in the Grand Rapids area. Now we need an
institution that will give instruction with the same emphasis on          Practically there are also implications for the individual,
the college level. This need has been spelled out by                   implications which come sharply into focus at this time of the
preseminary students who vex their souls in existing colleges.         year. The means by which the Holy Spirit writes the truth in
This need has been described by many others who have                   our hearts are the preaching and catechetical instruction. If we
wearied in their search for a college education that is Christian      neglect these means of grace we sell the truth. We must buy
and Biblical. We have even been approached by those outside            the truth through Bible study. There seem to be many who
of our churches with the questions, "Don't you people have a           view attendance at men's society and ladies' society, at Mr.
college? When will you get one?" Specifically, then, a                 and Mrs.' and at young people's, as optional. That cannot be
parent-controlled society ought to be established immediately          the case in the light of this Word of God. If we make ourselves
to undertake this work. This society ought to provide for              so busy in our jobs and in our pleasures that we do not prepare
active or regular members not only, but also for associate             for, and attend, the tine opportunities that are ours, to grow
members who can be informed of progress and who can thus               into the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, then we sell the
be supporters in a prayerful and fmancial way. Let the lead be         truth, we despise it, we say we can get along without it. The
taken by those in the Michigan area where the college                  truth must be bought in the home. In addition to the
undoubtedly will be located, since over half our people reside         systematic reading of the Bible, there ought to be discussion
there, and well over half of our college students as well. But let     with the children around the Bible, lessons taught in
this work be done now, and let the labors of this society and          stewardship, in prayer, and in pilgrimage. And fmally, a special
its board be carried on with a sense of urgency. That, too, is         word for the young people who are tempted in this area above
wisdom: recognizing reality and acting accordingly!                    all others. These are the years which form you, these are the
                                                                       years when opportunities are yours that wilI never be yours
THE FIGURE OF BUYING THE TRUTH                                         again, these are the years when decisions are made which will
                                                                       determine much, if not most, of your future life. Buy the
      When Solomon commands, "Buy the truth and sell it not"           truth by being faithful in all aspects of your church life. And
he does not mean with money. For the truth is priceless.               resolve not to sell the truth by leaving it! You will be tempted
Besides, the Bible warns us against making merchandise of              to leave it, for the sake of a boyfriend or a girlfriend, for the
things holy and spiritual. He uses a figure. To buy is to take         sake of education or a job. But always remember: God wants
possession of something, to get a hold on it. As you stand in          you to buy the truth and never to sell it. Follow that
the generations of Reformed believers, as you have the rich            command and you do not have to worry about anything in the
heritage of the Reformed Confessions, as the truth is preached         future. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
to you Sabbath by Sabbath, as the Word is the center of your
home life and the education of your seed . . . take possession           May these lines be useful as we take up once again the Holy
of it, get a hold of it, embrace it, and negatively do not sell it!    Scriptures in church and home and school.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      39


FROM HOLY WRIT
                       Exposition of Hebrews 11 : 31
  In close connection with the destruction of                       God could have chosen a "better" woman by the
Jericho, and the faith of the people of God exhibited            standards of a moralist, a self-righteous legalist. But
in the taking of this city, the writer to the Hebrews            the Lord would magnify His grace in her. She was the
now turns our attention to one of the citizens of                fit vessel for His purpose. He claimed her in grace and
Jericho. This person is a woman, a public woman, a               she became of the party of the living God of Israel.
harlot. However, at the time of the fall of Jericho she          She was a friend of God and an enemy of the world.
was an erstwhile harlot because the Lord had been                And all this by God's grace and mercy was she!
merciful to her and called her from the darkness of                 She now no longer sells her body for lust and
her sin-steeped life into His marvelous light. She was           monetary gain. She is no longer a harlot. She is
beloved of God and must serve the counsel of God                 reborn, called; faith is a gift of God to her; and she is
and the redemption of Israel in a marvelous and                  justified by faith and now walks in sanctification in
unique way. That she is later still called "the harlot?          the hope of glory and of dwelling with Israel in the
was not to dishonor her, but was intended to magnify             land of Promise. Her liberation is now at hand that
the grace, the sovereign grace of almighty God!                  she may dwell with the thousands of Israel. She is
  Hebrews 11 shows us true faith which revealed                  concerned about her father, mother, brothers and
it self in works of faith. Faith here too is the                 sisters. She is far different from Lot's wife who will
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things            not leave Sodom. This Rahab will deliver the entire
not seen. Without this faith it was impossible to                city into the hand of the Israelites. She does this by
please God at Jericho. That was true of Israel and is            faith in God who. had exhibited his power and
also true of Rahab and of her household. Both must               .faithfulness to Israel in bringing them out of Egypt
believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of those           with his outstretched arm some forty years before,
who seek Him. This was true of Abraham and his                   and who had now slain Og king of Bashan and Sihon
faith in the sacrificing of Isaac. He was justified by a         king of the Amorites before Israel!
faith that revealed itself in works, the fruits of faith.
And thus we must be. We must not falter in the hour              RAHAB RECEIVES THE SPIES IN FAITH
of battle, which is a constant and life-long struggle.           (Hebrews 11:31; Joshua 2:1-3)
RAHAB THE HARLOT                                                    The reception was "with peace." (met' eireenees)
(Hebrews 11:13; James 2:25)                                      This was no mere formal nicety, a social friendly
Interpreters have tried to tone the epithet down                 greeting, a reception of a well-paying customer. She
and try to explain the term in the Hebrew (zunah) as             recognized these men for what they were: They `were
referring to the hostess of an inn, an inn-keeper.               "messengers" of Joshua. They were representatives of
However, the term means exactly what the KJV                     a force which was hostile to the inhabitants of
translates: harlot. It means a public woman, who sold            Jericho and of the land. They were come as scouts to
her body and services for money. This was adultery in            case the city, to see its walls and ramparts, and to
its worst, depraved form. It was fornication for the             keep their ear to the ground to determine the fighting
profit of money. She sold her body, which should                 morale of the people. However, man ponders his way
have been the temple of the Holy Ghost, for money.               but the issue is of the Lord. He directed their path to
So we will let this stand and remember this dear saint           the house of Rahab. And she receives them with
in Christ as one who was once "Rahab the harlot."                peace. She gives the "spies" of the enemy a friendly
But such is ever the merciful dealing of the Lord. He            and peaceable reception. She is wholly on their side.
will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy. The                And she has a deep inward peace in her heart. Her
Lord Jesus came to save His people from their sins.              heart does not "melt" within her as does the heart of
And harlots and sinners enter into the kingdom rather            all the inhabitants of the land. God is also on her side;
than the self-righteous. We think of that beautiful              Israel's God is really her God.
word of the Gospel," and all the publicans and                      And she receives them once-and-for-all. There was
sinners came unto Him." And we think of the harlot,              no hesitancy on her part in this matter. She sees the
who, after she had received mercy and faith and                  entire plan and purpose of the Lord with Israel, and
confessed her sins, was forgiven so very much, and               in faith she is a harbinger of good things to come for
who was also thankful for so very much, (Luke                    Israel, so that the spies can return and report joyfully
7:37-45). Such are the gracious dealings of our                  and confidently "Truly the LORD hath delivered into
sovereign God, who sent His Son.                             - our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of


 40                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



the land do faint because of us," (Joshua 2:24). For            world!
 Rahab did not say that the LORD "would give the                ~AHAB~  DECEPTION 
 land to Israel," but she said in faith "that the LORD                                     OF THE MESSENGERS OF
                                                               JERICHO'S KING
hat/z g&n you the land," (Joshua 2:9). Such was the
reception "with peace" which was afforded the spies               It is a remarkable thing that the Bible passes over
of Israel by this "harlot" of Jericho. This is the              this in utter silence, this "deception," while both
wondrous way of the LORD for God's people. Most                Hebrews  11:31 and James  2:25 speak only of
sinful weaklings are used for God's powerful purposes          Rahab's faith. Now I suppose that a people which are
of redemption. His strength is fulfilled in our                doomed to perish and are worthy of perishing
weakness!                                                      because their "iniquity" is full, ought to have been
                                                               informed against the "messengers" of the LORD!!
RAHAB'S CONFESSION OF FAITH                                    Only a shallow moral&m can reason thus. Rather than
(Joshua 2:5-l 6)                                               blaming Rahab for lack of faith we had better believe
       Night has fallen upon Jericho. The spies will retire    that her penetrating insight into the lot of the enemies
for a while before they will be let down by the                of the Lord, their just deserving it in their
window over the side of the wall of Jericho. But now           "disobedience"        caused her to misdirect these
this wondrous woman, full of the power of faith                messengers. And the LORD Himself wrought with her
which removes mountains, will utter the deep secret            in this deception. Had she done otherwise she would
of her heart. No, it is not a confession of her past way       have "perished with the disobedient." But now in this
of life. That she must have truly confessed to the             trying hour her faith shines forth like the sun in the
LORD who had mercy on her. She speaks of the                   heavens! !
SECRET of the LORD for Israel and of her
confidence in the salvation of Israel's God. She                  It is rather hard to explain to children, (whom we
discloses the secrets of the hearts of the Canaanites,         tell that they must never tell a "lie,") what Rahab did
the fears of a people whose "iniquity is full," (Gen.          here. Yet, I believe that when we see that the LORD
15 : 16). It is the heart of those who are fat for             was going to destroy them one and all - not one lived
judgment; they upon whom the LORD is about to                  after the destruction of Jericho  - matters are
blow the trumpet of the coming of His great Day, and           different. The city and all who were in it were
the pouring out of the vials of His wrath. It is an            "devoted" to the Lord. Nothing could possibly save
anticipation of the song of Moses and the Lamb,                them from destruction. Even her walls could not be
"Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God                   rebuilt with impunity. Is it impossible to tell this to
Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of             children? Tell them that it was the justice of God and
the nations in behalf of the s&ts," (Rev. 15 :3). This         that it is the fulfilment of the Song of Moses and the
was already echoed in the Song of Moses in Deut.               Lamb. And set this "lie" of Rahab in that setting and
33:29, "Blessed art thou, 0 Israel. Who is like unto           you will see that even children, to whom the Holy
thee, 0 people, saved by the LORD, the shield of thy           Spirit is promised no less than to the adults, will
help, and who is the sword of thy excellency. And              understand and in holy awe look at this faith of
thy enemies shall be found liars (be subdued) unto             Rahab . . . and worship!
thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places."            RAHAB AND HER FAMILY IN THE
   In stacatto tones Rahab foretells of the destruction        COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL
of Jericho and of the land. One can see in his mind's
eye the walls tumble, the defenses crumble in a land              Rahab and her family did not perish with the
of men who are doomed to die. Forsooth, the land               "disobedient," those who would not bow before the
will not be utterly under the heel of Israel till the          Mighty God of Jacob in reverence, even when they
time of David the King, when God shall have placed             heard of His mighty deeds. They had seen and heard
His king on Zion's hill, in the city of God. Hear her          it now for forty years. They will not repent but "fear
relate it to the spies,                                        and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of
                                                               thine arm they shall be still as a stone; till thy people
   1. The LORD hath given you the land. . . .                  pass over, 0 Lord, till the people pass over, which
   2. The terror of Israel is fallen upon the                  thou hast purchased," (Exodus 15: 16). Rahab will
        Canaanites. . . .                                      pass over with the people into the rest of the LORD!
  3. The people are utterly demoralized and                      She receives a place in the number of God's people
        paralyzed by fright. . . .                             in the very center of Judah in the holy line that
  4. The heart of the peoples melts within them. . . .         reaches to Christ. Here is history! It is the unfolding
                                                               of the counsel and promise of God. She marries
  5. When you come save me and my house. . . .                 Salmon, gives birth to Boaz who becomes the
  Here is a faith which speaks that overcomes the              redeemer husband of Ruth the Moabitess. And from


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           41


this Rahab come Jesse and David, the king! And                        LORD; yea, in thousands of generations of those that
from this David comes the Son of God, the Christ.                     love the LORD.
Thus was the "Genesis" of Christ  .into this world.
Rahab does not perish with the disobedient but she                       She dwells no longer with her people "outside of
has a place in Israel and no middle-wall of partition                 t h e   c a m p " but she is  ) circumcised with the
severed her from the grace of God. She, in her                        circumcision without hands of Christ. Rahab the
generations, has a place in the tabernacle of the                     "harlot," a mother in Israel!


EDUCATION FEATURE
                                       A Covenant School"
                                                         Rev. David Engelsma

   Today we are witnessing a striking thing in education in the       submit to you that this is a mockery of Christian education
United States: the arising of many private schools that call          and that it is an abuse of the name of Christ to call such a
themselves Christian schools. In the past, only the Roman             school a "Ctistian School." Others are dissatisfied because of
Catholic Church, some Lutheran Churches, and Reformed                 the lawlessness within the public schools. There is little or no
parents established Christian schools; the others were content        discipline. Drugs abound. Sexual wickedness is rampant,
with the public education set up by our government. Of late,          including the approved and official sex education by the
many other churches and  parents have been establishing               schools themselves. The environment is that. of the hippie and
Christian schools alongside the public schools. Many such             his culture. Parents are afraid, with reason, that their children
schools have been established in the past few years in the            will be ruined in  the schools. Hand in hand with the
South, but they are also springing up here and there all over         breakdown of discipline and law goes the deterioration of the
our country.                                                          c&&y of the education, and some today are dissatisfied with
                                                                      the schoois because the education itself is poor. Perhaps, the
   It might seem that other churches and parents are seeing           children do not get much individual attention. Perhaps, the
the light and that. they are now one with us in carrying out the      instruction simply is inferior. So, churches or parents establish
calling we have of educating the children of the church in the        schools in which there is discipline,. decent conduct, and
"nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). In              superior education. However, schools established for these
`many, if not most, of the cases, however, this is not so. They       reasons are not yet Christian schools.
have not really seen the light at all. They are not really one
with us in the cause of Christian education. The schools,                It may well be that the mushrooming of these schools will
although religious, are not genuine Christian schools. This           become a serious threat to our own Christian schools. The
becomes plain when we note the reasons for the establishment          government and the majority of informed, influential citizens
of many of these schools.                                             know the reason for the arising of these private schools.
                                                                      Already the State shows alarm at the evasion of integration by
   The reason for the establishment of these schools can be           many private schools. It may happen that as the movement
expressed in one word: dissatisfaction with the education of          appears to threaten the public school systeti the go.vemment
the public schools. This dissatisfaction is very widespread. It is    cracks down on all Christian schools, also ours that exist for
found among many parents who are not Christians. It is, of            reasons of principle.
course, well-grounded: Mainly, it. has to do with the threats to
the physical well-being of the children. Through the years,              Our school differs from these schools. We have established
these people were not perturbed by the absence of God and             it for a radically different reason. It stands on a completely
His Word from the public schools, nor by the presence of              different foundation. We did not set it up to avoid integration;
atheism and evolution. But now, when the physical welfare of          because we fear for the physical safety of our children;
their children is threatened, they become concerned. There are        because we are terrified by drugs; or even because we saw the
several forms of dissatisfaction. In many instances, especially       quality of education going downhill. Mind you, we desire
in the South and in the big cities, the establishment of private,     discipline in the school, and we have it. We rejoice that our
religious schools is due simply to hatred of integration. The         children are free from the temptation of drugs in the school, as
schools are nothing more than attempts to avoid having to             well as the way of life of the hippies, sexual corruption, and,
send one's white children to school with black children. I            indeed, wicked schoolfellows and playmates. We require a
                                                                      superior quality of education. But none of these is the reason
   *A speech given at the convocation exercises of the                for our school.
Protestant Reformed Christian School of Loveland, Colorado
in August, 1973.                                                         Our school is a covenant school. We parents and other


42                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



saints established it and maintain it in obedience to the              called to instruct our children by showing them the praises of
demands of the covenant. Its existence is due to the covenant          the Lord, His strength, and His wonderful works. We are to do
of God that He has established with us parents who believe in          this at home, in the church, and in the school. Our school is
His Son Jesus. This makes our school a truly Christian school.         founded upon and grounded in the covenant.
Let me give a word of explanation about the covenant of God
`In His free and sovereign grace, God has made Himself known              Does this make any difference? Does it make any practical
to  us who believe in Him through Jesus Christ. He has                 difference as far as the actual education is concerned that our
reconciled us to Himself and made us His friends. He has taken         school is a covenant school? Specifically, does it make a
us for His own people and lives with us as our God. Our entire         difference of any importance between our covenant schools
life is a life of friendship with God, a life of knowing His love      and the private schools of a religious nature that are arising in
and loving Him. This relationship, graciously established by           our country?
God, is the covenant. It is salvation. It is the highest and only
good for man. To give us this, now and forever, the Son of                It makes a radical difference.
God in our flesh suffered and died. It belongs to the wonderful
grace of our covenant God that He has bound Himself to save               First, if we view our school as a covenant school, we will
the children of believing parents. This is Biblical doctrine. In       maintain it for God's sake, for God's glory. The work of
Genesis  17:7, Jehovah promised Abraham, the father of                 establishing and maintaining it will not be a work of self-love,
believers: "And I will establish my covenant between me and            the self-love of protecting our children from drugs, a
thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an               hippie-life, etc. The work of establishing private schools today
everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed           is in many cases nothing more than self-love. Our Reformed
after thee." To show that neither His covenant nor Himself             confession, the Belgic Confession, warns us in the article on
had changed, God had His apostle proclaim in the first sermon          sanctification that there is a danger that we "never do
preached to the Church of the New Testament: "For the                  anything out of love to God, but only out of self-love or fear
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are         of damnation" (Art. XXIV). It teaches, correctly, that a work
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Infant         done out of the motive of self-love or out of the motive of
baptism is based on this truth of the covenant. Because our            fearing punishment is not a good work. Only a work done out
children are included by God in His covenant, God demands              of the love of God is a good work. Now we want our work of
that we rear them in His fear, in the nurture and admonition           establishing Christian schools to be a good work. Our main
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and. in accordance with the truth of         purpose in Christian education must be that our children grow
Scripture. This refers, of course, to the total upbringing of the      up to know and serve the Lord so ,that He may be praised by
children, fast of all in the home, then in the Church, but also        them. With the motive of the love of God, let us parents send
in the school. So important is this demand, that the godly             our children, pay the costs, and encourage our teachers. With
rearing of our children is the way, and ordinarily the only way,       this motive, let the teachers labor, giving their all. With this
in which God carries out His promise to save our children.             motive, let the Board work.

      All of this now is clearly and beautifully set forth in Psalm       Secondly, if we view the school as a covenant school, we
78:1-8. This passage teaches that God saves His people in the          will persevere when maintaining it gets tough, even tougher
line of generations. It mentions three generations that have a         than it is now. The school is, with us, a matter of principle,
saving knowledge of God, the present generation of fathers             not mere expediency. Our support is an act of obedience to
("we have heard and known," vs. 3); the fathers of the present         the covenant God. Neither will we give up because of the
generation ("our fathers have told us," vs. 3), and the children       imperfections of the school. The teachers will not, even
of the present generation ("the generation to come," vs. 4). It        though the imperfections hurt them. We parents will not,
is not that three generations are the limit, but usually there are     although the imperfections pinch us. There is a place for
three generations alive at any given time, grandfathers, sons,         self-denial and sacrifice.
and grandchildren.         God's salvation of the succeeding
generations is accomplished in the way of parents instructing             Thirdly, the nature of the education will be different. In
their children: "our fathers have told us . . . we will not hide       many of the schools that are called Christian, instruction is
them from their children. God requires believing parents               given that tends to be positively harmful to our children,
so to educate their children. According to verse 5, God has            because there is no covenant conception. They work in their
"appointed a law in Israel," and that law is the command to            Arminian evangelism. I know, many of them claim that they
fathers "that they should make them (i.e., God's praises)              do not teach doctrine. As a matter of fact, neither does our
known to their children." The goal and result of this                  school teach doctrine. Teaching doctrine is the duty of the
instruction are given in verse 7: "That they might set their           home and of the Church. Nevertheless, the doctrine that the
hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his             school stands on necessarily comes through. Many of the
commandments."                                                         religious schools regard the children as small heathens who
                                                                       have to be saved by a decision for Christ that the school feels
      Here then is found the explanation of our school. We are         itself bound to obtain. These schools urge patriotism and


                                                     THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                        43


decency, but they have no sense of the truth of the Heidelberg      what. is needed for a successful life later on in America.
Catechism, that a holy life is a life that is lived out of          Rather, we instruct. those who aYe God's children as recipients
thankfulness to God for His redemption of a person from sin.        of the promise made to their believing parents. In our
Indeed, many of them  cannot  give this instruction and             discipline and admonition, we call redeemed, covenant
admonition because they deny that the children share in             children to show thankfulness to God for His salvation in
redemption, being ignorant of the covenant. Do not say that it      Christ by a holy life: "Honor your father and mother (and
does not matter why a child lives decently, as long as his          president and policeman)" because Jehovah brought you out
conduct is clean. Scripture tells us that there are those whose     of the bondage of sin and the death of hell and made you too,
lives are outwardly impeccable, but who are an abomination to       with your parents, His own people. We give instruction in
God because they are self-righteous. They are merely moral.         every subject that shows the praises, the strength, and the
Their motive is to earn or to do something for God or to do         wonderful works of the Lord. Our goal. is young men and
good for society. Many of these schools have no idea that the       women who live covenantally  in the world, that is, as friends
purpose of the child's knowing the creation and of the              and servants of God, prophets, priests, and kings under Christ,
equipping of the child through education is to prepare a child      praising God.
of God for a covenant life in the world. Do not these things
represent. really the overthrow of everything that a Reformed
parent stands for in Christian education?                             If our school is what Psalm 78 says it is, we are engaged in a
                                                                    great task. There is a danger that we become tired or apathetic.
   In contrast, we do not evangelize; we do not teach               We look at the beginning of another school year as the start of
obedience and purity of life and submission to the authority        an old wearisome routine that stretches from September to
of civil government to make fine little self-righteous              June. We ought to take up the work again with the zeal that is
individuals who are doing things for Jesus and the world; we        fitting for an aspect. of the coming of the Kingdom of Christ.
do not impart neutral wisdom in many subjects because that is       It is worthy of our labor and our prayer.

STUDIES IN ISAIAH
The  Lord's  Case  Against  His  Church  In  Israel
                                                       Rev. Robert C Havbach

   The scene in this chapter is one of misery  (2-4ff),             with Him. Sons are bound to God in the family relation of
deliverance (18, 29, and .thanksgiving (26, 27). Where the          fellowship and friendship. This is the bond of love which ties
church, the vineyard, appears bleak and dismal, how bad and         God to His church and people, so that, His elect. church is
black must be this wilderness world!                                called the sons of God. Of the nation God had said, "Israel is
   I.  The Despair of  Getting  a Hearing with the People of        My son, even My firstborn; and I say unto thee (Pharaoh), let
Israel.  "Hear, ye heavens, and give ear, 0 earth!"  Cold stars     My son go, that he may'serve Me; and if thou refuse 10 let l%n
and hard-rock earth are more likely to respond than Israel           go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn" (Ex. 4:22,
when the reason given for doing so is "for Jehbvah  speaks. "       23). To the nation God had said, "Ye are the children of the
The Mosaic parallel has, "Give ear, 0 ye heavens, and I will        Lord your God," but added, "children in whom is no faith"
speak; and hear, 0 earth, the words of My mouth" (Dt. 32: 1).       (Dt. 14: 1, 32:20).  Of them He asked, "Do ye thus requite the
Getting men to think is difficult enough in itself, but             Lord, 0 foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy father that
especially to &ink about spiritual things, about their souls'       bought thee? bath He not made thee, and established thee? . . .
welfare, about God and eternity. They will  think about.            Of the Rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful, and hast
anything and everything else before they will about. the most       forgotten God that formed thee" (32:6, 18). The Lord had
serious matters. They will more readily think of man's flying       begotten them from Abraham and Sarah, who was mother of
to and landing on the moon than of getting to heaven. They          nations; kings of people were born of her (Gen. 17:16). They
trifle, even tamper, with history, but do not see it as a record    spent their childh.ood in Egypt, their youth in the desert, their
of their crimes dogging their steps to judgment (I Tim. 5:24).      young manhood in Canaan, and their adult manhood in the
Time is spent as though it were chiefly intended as a past-time.    time of David and Solomon, when finally it could be said,
Life is wasted as though it does not rush headlong to eternity.     "Sons I have made great and exalted." But, indeed, how ill
When men do hear or read anything from the Word of the              they requited the Lord! "If God were a demon, man could
Lord they do not apply it to themselves, nor take it to heart.      hardly be more cold toward Him," (Spurgeon).
They will never learn until taught by the Spirit of truth the          II. The Crime of Rebellion Charged Against Them."1 raised
true wisdom. Here the universe is called upon to hear as            sons (a covenantal term) and they (heavy emphasis being
witnesses and judges the Lord's complaint of Israel's               placed here) have rebelled against Me. " Their sin was a violent
ingratitude. It was He who said, "Sons I have made great and        breaking away and breaking loose from God, which Adam did
exalted. " The Lord did this, creating them in covenant relation    first. of all inwardly before the outward act followed. It was


44                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



idolatry and covenant-breaking, putting themselves out of the           servant his master; if, then, I be a father, where is Mine honor?
covenant, as did Cain, Esau and Israel under Jeroboam. Here is          and if I be a master, where is My fear?" (Mal. 1:6). "Woe!
rebellion in the church. This is true of many today. who                nation sinning!" The sinning is constant, a state of "only evil
become weary of the instituted worship of God in the church             continually," (Gen. 6:5).  Goi  is a term in some
where spiritual food is provided them, and rebel against it to          contemporaneous connections used to denote a contemptible
worship God in their own way outside the traditional church             people, and then is translated Gentiles. But Israel was to be goi
s t r u c t u r e . These outside, underground cells are                kad&h, a holy nation (Ex. 19:6),  yet it was the opposite, not
audience-centered, not pulpit-centered, having n.o place for            holy, but a "sirming nation." Judah, along with Edom,
pulpit, preaching, minister, elders, deacons, sacraments,               Ammon and Moab, is also listed as one of the uncircumcised
doctrinal statement, biblical liturgy, psalmody or hymnody.             goyim  (Jer.  9:26).  So the remarkable expression,  hoi  goi,
Instead of sermon-based worship, folk-songs, "dialogueyg  and           shows that because the nation was habitually sinning it was a
"rap sessions" displace all serious study of the Word of God.           nation of woe. But the Lord does not compare His people to
"They have rebelled against" the Lord, against the biblically           the Gentiles. He is much more severe with them, comparing
prescribed worship of the Lord and the ways and means of                them to stupid animals. Sin had brought them lower than
grace; they have forsaken the assembling of themselves                  animals. Ours, too, is a nation sinning, so much so that it is
together according to the due order; they have neglected the            one altogether born in sin (Jn.  9:34).  Think of its deistic
hearing of the Word and attendance at the stated services of            Declaration of Independence. Then there are the lotteries and
the Lord's house. But to illustrate further. the rebellion in           abortions wherein the nation makes sin a real, legal trade; in
Israel would require much more than the allotted space.                 fact sin is its best amusement, which is proved daily in the
      III.  The Igno&ce  and  Lack of Understanding in Them.            news media's amusement pages boasting and flaunting the
Israel is in contrast to the inanimate creation, for it declares        vilest sins.
the glory of God and shows forth His handiwork. In fact,                   They were "a people laden with iniquity," like an ass
Israel is not only inferior to unfeeling elements, but also to          staggering under a crushing burden. They were the boasted
dumb domestic brutes noted for their stolid stupidity. "The             seed of Abraham, but had degenerated to  "a seed of evil-doers
ox knows its owner, and the ass its masters' (plur.) crib. Israel       (cp. `house of evil-doers,' 31:2, though it ought to have been a
(with special emphasis) knows not. " "Now Israel is a name of           `holy seed,' 6:13), sons, corrupters. " They were not only
nobility; it signifies a prince; and . . . those who are the sons of    corrupt, infected from head to foot  (v.  6), but corrupters,
pious parents . . . trained in the fear of God . . . Does it not        polluting others. Take the horribly corrupt public school
disgrace you as a man of godly lineage to be no better than the         system, full of corrupt teachers, corrupting others, namely the
sons of  Belial  in the matter of earnest consideration?"               children they teach, so that at a tender age they are
(Spurgeon). "Israel  knows  not.  My people do not discern."            thoroughly godless, atheistic, and, as a result of their
Where God "has showed himself unto them" (Rom. 1:19),                   brain-washing in force-fed "sex education," are  almost
they have not noticed nor paid attention. Such disgraceful              exclusively sex-minded. Parents are shocked if their children
inhuman ingratitude is not found in the ox and ass, which               become exposed to anything religious, but are unmoved by the
manifest a natural sagacity compared to them, and a lowly               fact that today's pupils are familiar with the details of every
dependence on their masters, and "observe the order of nature           known sex perversion. They put their children not only in the
more correctly, and display greater kindness, than men                  hands of sinners, but of tempters and despoilers of youth.
themselves." (Calvin). "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth            Such parents, then, are not only actuated by Satan, but are the
her appointed times; and the turtle (dove) and the crane and            hack-horse agents for the devil. A seed of evil-doers, sons,
the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people             corrupters, they were children of bad parents doing worse than
know not the judgment of the Lord" (Jer.  8:7). They are                their fathers. First stated is their character, then their conduct.
taught more than the beasts of the earth and the fowls of               They are a bad seed and bad actors. Then follows the evidence
heaven (Job  35:l  l), yet know far less. "For what sort of             that they were such a corrupt seed, a race of rebels. "They
wisdom can be left when one does not know God?" (Lange's                have forsaken Jehovah. " This is sin and iniquity in general, and
Commentary).                                                            in particular, rejection of the one true religion, the religion of
      Israel became so degraded that they no longer recognized          Jehovah. "They have despised the Holy One ofIsrael,"  which
God as Father and themselves as His children. They "were not            reveals a terrible aggravation of their sin, in that Israel knowing
merely a nation," like any other nation on the earth, but were.         God as the Holy One, not only knew Him as the only God,
`Israel,' descendants of Jacob, the wrestler with God, who              and as their God, but as "infinite, eternal, unchangeable, in His
wrestled down the wrath of God, and wrestled out a blessing             being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth,"
for himself and his descendants; and `My people,' the nation            yet treated Him with contempt. God is Kadash Yisrael, the
which Jehovah had chosen out of all other nations to be His             Holy One of Israel, a word meaning "to be pure, clean,"
possession, and His own peculiar government." (Keil and                 containing the primary idea of "to be bright." See 10:17,
Delitzsch, Isaiah, Vol. I, 78).                                         where "the Light of Israel" is the "Holy One" of Israel. "They
      IV. The Depravity and Corruption of their Church and              withdraw themselves behind  "At whatever far reach from God
Kingdom. The .Lord speaks first as a father to His sons, then as        they find themselves, they deliberately drop behind that. The
a master to His servants. "A son knoweth his father, and a              farthest they can get from Him is too close for them. To have


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              45


"forsaken Jehovah" is apostasy in essence. To have "despised    turning their backs on Him, is apostasy in action. This made
the Holy One of Israel" is apostasy in thought;  and to         the nation wholly apostate, and so, utterly ruined, which total
"withdraw themselves behind" Him, not following Him, but        ruin .was..deltined  to come in a little over a hundred years.

THE DAY OF  SHADtlWS
                                  Remembered In Grace
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys
   Scripture at times moves very quickly. Sometimes             deeds during this period, the truth we are to see, and
it moves too fast for us, and leaps over days and               the picture God here paints for us, is His grace that
weeks, and events therein, whose detail we desire to            was upon Noah, and upon all things for Noah's sake.
have. It leaps from Jesus' return from Egypt to the
time when He was twelve years old, and it tells us                 That God remembered Noah does not mean that at
nothing about His childhood. Then again it leaps                the end of these months and days God again thought
from that incident, when He was twelve, until He was            of Noah and sent the wind to dry up the land for his
                                                                sake. He was not so busy destroying the world that
thirty years old and appeared before John to be                 He forgot Noah and his family for a time. 
baptized.                                                                                                                         We
                                                                remember that way. There are two sides to memory
  The same thing is true in regard to the day of                in man. It is that faculty of his mind and will
shadows when Noah and his family represented the                according to which he is able to retain and store away
church of God here on this earth. We read that God              in his mind facts and truths. But it is also that faculty
closed the door of the ark, and that He sent forty              of man whereby He is able at will, or by suggestion,
days and forty nights of rain. We are told what                 to recall a fact or truth, that is, to bring it back again
happened shortly before their confinement of one                before his consciousness.
year and ten days took place. But life in the ark is not          Not so with God. First of all, God does not store
described. How Noah and his family spent that year,             away fact and truth. This implies receiving fact and
what they did, how they functioned with all those               truth and being able to retain it. God, however, never
animals, how they fed them, kept their compartments             learns. He has no teacher. He receives no facts from
clean, what kind of devotional services, and what               outside of Himself. He is the omniscient, all-knowing
Sabbath worship they kept is not told us.                       God, because He decreed all that which would take
  There is a good reason for all this. For the Author           place, and decreed it from eternity. There never was a
is not an impetuous, careless man, but He is the                moment in the eternal life of God when He did not
all-wise God. The strokes of His brush, as He paints            know  all that which has already happened and will
His picture, are all carefully placed with wisdom and           yet happen in this world, and in the everlasting life
infinite skill. No application of color, and no line, is        that is stretched out before us. God's memory, then,
added that would detract and lead the eye away from             is having consciously before Him at all times, all
the message He presents. No smallest detail is added            things in heaven and on earth and in hell below in all
that would serve to cause us to be distracted from the          their actions past, present and future unto all
message which He speaks in this word picture, which             eternity.
we call the Bible.                                                And He had Noah and his family consciously
  At the same time, and for that reason, what we do             before Him every second in every hour, during all
find in Scripture, each and every word of it, and the           those months and days of the year and ten days while
smallest detail that God has seen fit to place there,           they were in the ark. He saw them. He had them in
ought to be noted carefully and be seen in the light of         mind. And He was working for them every split
the whole. Then we will find that brief statements              second from the moment He closed the door of the
contain a tremendous message.                                   ark until He had' prepared dry land for them. So we
  God says nothing about life in the ark during the             must understand the statement that He remembered
year and ten days. But Scripture does cover this                Noah.
period with a tremendously interesting and extremely              And the living things and cattle He remembered
important statement, "And God remembered Noah,                  too. These He had before His consciousness for
and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with        Noah's sake. He told Noah to take them by pairs into
him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the            the ark for the sake of the church that would need
earth, and the waters assuaged," Genesis 8 : 1. And the         them after the flood. And He not only saw them all
point is that, although we are given no detail on               that time in that ark, but He also remembered them,
mundane things, nor concerning Noah's actions and               or had them consciously before Himself, in grace


 46                                             T H E   STANDARD   B E ARER



 toward Noah. The cattle in the ark He remembered.              came upon all the human race outside of that ark. It
 The wild beasts therein were constantly before His            was grace that preserved him and his family for one
 mind's eye. But the fish in the waters and the trees          year and ten days. And it was grace that prepared a
 and grasses and herbs under the water, hid from the           new world with dry land for them to work in as
 eyes of man until the waters receded, were also               God's royal priesthood and as stewards of His goods.
 before Him during that year and ten days. The whole           Grace - God's Riches. At Christ?s Expense - is what
 earth was. And every star, `from the closest to the           explains all of salvation. Not our works but Christ's
 farthest, is constantly in His infinite thoughts. In such     bring us salvation. Grace  - not works  - explains
 a God we trust. This God is our God. He will be our           every blessing that the believer receives. Works always
 guide unto death.                                             call for punishment. "For the carnal mind is enmity
       What makes it so wonderful is that He remembers         against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
in grace. Thousands there are who must tremble                 neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
because He sees all and has constantly all creatures           flesh cannot please God," Romans  8:7, 8. And so
before His consciousness. These cannot hide. These in          Noah, of himself, could not do anything to earn a
the day of Noah did not hide and were drowned to               place in the ark. And Noah while in the ark did
the last man. But those who are in the ark, those who          nothing which made him worthy of the assuaging of
are in Christ Jesus,, in His Church and engrafted into         the water so that he could return to a normal life on
Him by a true and living faith, are remembered in              the dry ground.
grace. These may be sure that God will send His                   This truth concerning God's grace we ought always
"wind" again, after the, fiery judgment to come, to            to remember. Remember that God remembers you
furnish them with a new world where they shall live            and has you constantly in all His thoughts. And as a
with Him in blessed bliss and beauty.                          believer remember that He has only thoughts of grace
       We were told earlier  - in chapter 6  - that Noah       toward you. We know this `to be true from His Word.
 found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That grace rested        We have that fact stored away in our minds. But we
 upon him during the building of the ark, but it was           ought to recall it, to bring it before our consciousness
 there dealing with him and his family all through             in the midst of all of our aches and pains, in all our
 their days in that ark while the waters covered the           losses and bereavements. Just then the mind is so apt
 earth. And to appreciate this we ought to bear in             to be filled with thought of the miseries and griefs.
mind  - and ourselves remember  - that terrible                Just then we are so apt to think of ourselves, of our
judgment of God, the awful, holy wrath which sent              flesh, of our lot and of our problems. But this is just
that destructive flood upon the earth to destroy every         the time when we ought to remember God and
 earthly creature that was not in the ark. We ought            remember that He in grace remembers us.
also to remember that Noah and his family came                    We live in a day and age when that wrath of God
from the same corrupt root and stock that all these            against sin and sinners, which brought the flood upon
people did who perished in the flood. Noah and his             the earth, is working upon this present generation.
family had fallen Adam as their first father, root and         The wars that plague the world today, the confusion,
representative head. This becomes evident in the lives         the economic and social unrest and disturbances of
of Noah and his two sons shortly after the flood.              our time are the wrath of this same God punishing sin
They were not holy in themselves. They were not a              with sin. And all man does to try to correct and
spiritually superior race that somehow had gotten out          remove the woes and sufferings of men only builds up
of the corruption and hatred of God that is in the             to a greater confusion and worse condition. There is
human race because of Adam's sin and fall. They had            no more escape from that wrath of God apart from
not somehow managed to escape spiritual death and              Christ and the grace of God in Him than there was for
to quicken themselves to become obedient children              the world of unbelievers from the waters of the flood.
of God. No, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord           Man, dealt with by God according to his works, must
and was singled out by God to be saved by grace                go from misery to misery until he perishes. And
when the flood came. God singled Noah out in His               though men may cry bitterly in their woes, let it not
grace. Noah did not choose God, and so escape                  be forgotten that man in his worst and most intense
because of his works. Saved by grace is a theme of the         suffering in this life has not experienced more than a
New Testament Scriptures. It is also the picture that          small fraction of what he actually deserves as an
God painted all through the Old Testament                      enemy of God. We tend to forget that, and therefore
dispensation.                                                  even ourselves dare to cry with Rebekah, "Why am I
   It was the grace of God that chose Noah and                 thus?" We fail to see that we deserve more than the
informed him of the coming flood and gave him the              aches and woes which we experience. We are at times
command to build the ark. It was grace that shut the           ready to say that God does not deal fairly with us.
door of the ark and sealed him from the doom that                                       (continued on bottom left of page 47)


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                     47


                             News Frorn Our Churches
   Some time ago I was sent a copy of the minutes of              histories and information concerning our radio
a meeting of the Fiftieth Anniversary Committee,                  work, publication committees, Mission Committee,
with the suggestion that some advance publicity be                Theological School, and a Federation of Protestant
given by way of the Church News column. A fine                    Reformed Young People. And it will contain a
idea, I think, especially now that our Standard Bearer            "doctrinal synopsis, our churches and what they
has launched the commemoration of its own fiftieth                stand for," prepared by the faculty of our seminary.
anniversary. The fiftieth year of our churches'                      And prior to all that, remember, the  Standard
existence follows ,on the heels of that of the Standard      Bearer will be observing its own fiftieth year "in some
Bearer, so the celebration of the latter ought to excite          way in all twenty-one issues" of the current
interest in that of the former. At any rate, though it's          volume-year. Certain it is that the next two years,
still some distance in the future, here are a few things          years of two Golden Anniversaries, will indeed be
to which we can look forward, March 2, 1975, has                  special ones-as well they might, marking as they do
been set as "commemorative Sunday," since that                    such clear evidence of the "Covenant Faithfulness" of
Sunday is the closest to the date, 50 years earlier, of           our God.
the beginning of the separate existence of our                                                   **:Xx
churches. And, further  along in that year, October
~has been designated as the month during which "we                   "A new congregation came into being last Tuesday
have a radio observance of our anniversary." Our                  evening- in Prospect Park, N. J." So read Hudsonville's
anniversary theme, "Covenant Faithfulness," will                  September 16 bulletin, which noted also that this was
likely be set forth in those radio programs, which are            our first in the eastern states. A first-hand report of
intended also to "set the stage for Reformation Day               that momentous event comes by way of letter from
Rallies in different areas of our country."                       Rev. H. Veldman, quoted in Southwest's September
   There will, of course, also be an Anniversary                  23 bulletin. "Tuesday we arrived in New Jersey in
booklet. The booklet, for which much material has                 midafternoon and prepared to attend the
already been prepared, will contain a wealth of                   organization of the church at 7:30. It was impressive
information of historical interest. Included will be the          to witness a small group taking a stand on the truths
histories of our various congregations and of our            we hold dear. Rev. Veldman led the service, after
Christian Day Schools. It will contain, also,                                                                   (continued on back page)

(continued from page 46)                                                        RESQLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   What we need to do, then, is to go to Golgotha and
remember the awful agony which caused the Son of                     The Mary-Martha Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                  of Redlands, California, extends to Mrs. Bill Feenstra, one of our
God in our flesh to cry out in intense agony of being             members, their sincere sympathy in the death of her mother,
forsalren  or' God. We need remember that He was                                            MRS. ROSA  BIRT.
suffenng hellish agonies, and that this is what we                   "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." (Rev. 14: 13).
deserve. Then we can rejoice in the truth .that God                                                             Rev. Marvin Kamps, Pres.
remembers us in grace. Yea, then we can understand                                                              Anna Mae Meelker, Sec'y.
that it is His grace that .these light afflictions, which
am but for a moment, work for us a far more                          ATTENTION: The stereo record of the Easter Mass Choral Program
exceeding and eternal weight of glory.                            given April, 1973, is now available. This record of the 110 voice choir,
   We may have a hard time seeing that God is dealing             which consisted of choirs from First, Hope, Hudsonville, and South
                                                                  West Protestant Reformed churches, sells for the price of $3.50 and is
with us in mercy, when His hand is heavy upon us             sponsored by the P. R. Young Peoples Federation Board. It can be
w:th afflictions. But if we remember that He                      purchased by filling out the order blank below. Send it with cash, check
rem#$mbers us and sees us in Christ every step of our             or money order to:
way, then we can, by His grace, see that His grace is                       Ken Koole
upon us, can see that He is not dealing with us                             2655 Anita S. W.
                                                                            Grandville, Michigan, 49418
according to our works, and thus according to what                ----------_________----
                                                             I                                                                           1
we deserve, but is dealing with us in unmerited              1 Name                                                                           I
favour. We can see that He is giving us what we do           I
not deserve, and the very opposite of what we,               , Address                                                                        II
because of our works, deserve.                               1 City                                   State- Z i p                            I
   God remembered Noah. And God remembers  alI               1 Quantity                                                                       I
those whom He gave to Christ to be His sheep.                I                   I                                                            I
Remember that, and you will have peace and joy in            I                             Allow 3 weeks for delivery                         I
the midst of tears and suffering.                            L-------__________-----J

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





        48



        which Rev. C. Hanko took charge."
              Then Rev. Veldman, who was to remain in the area
        through the 30th of September, continued with a
        short account of other activities there. "Monday
        evening," he wrote, "an Essentials class began.
        Sunday after the morning service the younger
        children have catechism. Wednesday evening the Bible
        Study group meets." Rev. G. VanBaren, incidentally,
        is scheduled to follow Rev. Veldman, spending
        October 7 and 14 in New Jersey. Rev. C. Hanko was
        certainly giving expression to our hope, too, when he
        wrote, for Hudsonville's  bulletin, "May our Lord look
        down upon this small flock in His goodness and favor,
        that they may be a shining light in that area."
              Several other noteworthy items are these: Rev. D.
        Engelsma reports that there were about 80 people
        present at the worship services last Sunday (Sept.. 23)
        in Houston. The Mission Committee decided that
        Rev. Harbach should return, September 23, to labor
        in Philadelphia. Then, in a different vein, last
        pastor-elect M. Joostens was to be examined at Classis
        East on October 3, and, on October 5, be ordained
        and installed in his office in our Jenison church. And,
        finally, Rev. J. Kortering has declined the call
        extended to him from South Holland, Illinois.
                                   ****
              Our schools have been in session for some time
        now, but perhaps it's not too late to make note of a
        couple of convocation exercises. In South Holland,
        on Thursday evening, August 30, Rev. R. Decker
        spoke on, "Peace, The Sword and Christian
        Education." In Loveland, on Tuesday evening,
        August 28, Rev. Engelsma spoke on "A Covenant
        School." On August 27, Rev. Moore spoke at the
        convocation exercises held in Doon Church.
                                   ****
              There was a program held in our Randolph Church
        on September 14. Nothing terribly unusual about
        that, I suppose. That is, not until one noticed on the
        printed "Program" that it featured "the Southwest
        Men's Quartet of the Southwest Protestant Reformed
        Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan." Besides various
        numbers from the quartet (Messrs. G. Feenstra, I.
        Kuiper, P. Lotterman, and J.  S&ripper), there was
        also a piano-organ duet by Mrs. Feenstra and Mrs.
        Lotterman. According to Rev. W. Bekkering, "an
        overflow crowd was on hand to enjoy the program."
                                                           D.D.


