          T                   h                     e
STANDARD
         BEARER  .-
- A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E                     *





                         Christ, in His incarnation, assumed our human
                    nature, in the likeness of sinful flesh.  + . . And in
                    that nature He obediently suffered all that  tias
                    required to satisfy God's justice, to merit for us
                    righteousness, and to obtain the right to
                    heavenly glory. And He, the  Son of God, glori-
                    fied that nature in Himself. He  t.ook it through
                    death, into the glory of the resurrection, and
                    having thus glorified it by His resurrection, He
                    took it into heaven, into the sanctuary of God.
                         For His ascension does not mean that He put
                    aside our human nature. The human nature is
                    not and never shall be separated from the divine.
                         Our flesh, therefore, is in heaven.
                                                                     The Triple Know ledge,
                                                               Volume 2, pages 72 & 73.




\                                                                       V&me LII, NO. 14, May 1, 1976    -


842                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                              Semi-monthly,   except  monthly   during  June.  July,   and  August.
                           CONTENTS:                                          Published   by  the  Reformed   Free  Publishing   Association,   Inc.
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                                                                          Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer  C.  l?oeksema
Meditation  -                                                             Department Editors:  Prof.  Robert  D.  Decker,  Rev.  David  J.  Engelsma,
   Jehovah's Knowledge of the Way                                         Rev.  Cornelius  Hank&  Prof.  Herman  Hanko,   Rev.  Robert  C.  Harbach,
                                                                          Rev.  John  A.  Heys,  Rev.  Jay'  Kortering.   Rev.  Dale  H.  Kuiper,.  Rev.
       of the Righteous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .842    George   C.  Lubbers,   Rev.  Meindert   Joostens,   Rev.  Marinus   Schrpper.
                                                                          Rev.  Gise  J.  Van  Baren.  Rev.  Herman  Veldman,   Mr.  Kenneth  G.  Vink.
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MEDITA  TIO N


                Jehovah's Knowledge Of The Righteous
                                                                Rev. H. Veldman



                                    "For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. " Ps. 1: 6a

   The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous - how                           of Holy Writ. And of this first psalm, the heart is
wonderful is this knowledge of the Lord! What                                expressed in this scripture: "The Lord knoweth the
heights and depths of peace and comfort are experi-                          way of the righteous."
enced by the child of God because of this scriptural                             Indeed, how wonderful! However, how terrible js
and wonderful truth! Psalm I is the keynote psalm,                           that other half of the text: "But the way of the
revealing to us the mystery of all these wonderful                           ungodly shall perish." That this is such a wonderful
psalms which the church has received by divine inspi-                        knowledge for the child of God is because it concerns
ration, even as Gen. 3: 15 is a key that opens to us all                     the way of the righteous. One feels instinctively that


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 843



there is a connection between this way of the                 that we can receive it. This is not because faith is
righteous and the righteous. The way of the righteous         something we must do as a condition before God can
is a narrow way, a way of affliction and trouble and          give it. This righteousness is strictly unconditional as
distress, exactly because of the righteous who walk in        far as we are concerned. Faith, however, is the only
it. It is exactly because the children of the Lord are        way God can give us this blessed justification and give
righteous that their way is as narrow as it is. And,          it to us- as the living God. And, finally, this legal
how wonderful it is that, in spite of every appearance        righteousness we shall receive in the day of our Lord
to the contrary, the Lord knows that way and also             Jesus Christ. In that day we shall appear publicly as a
the righteous who walk upon it. If ever we should             people who have been justified only in and because of
doubt this, if ever the fear creeps in upon our soul          the blood of the Lamb of God and of Calvary. That
that the Lord has forgotten us, His own, let us look          day will be the public manifestation of the truth that
upon Him Who died that we might live. If ever it              we have been saved by grace, and by grace alone.
appeared that the Lord had forgotten or forsaken                Scripture, however, also speaks of righteousness in
them who put their trust in Him, it was surely at the         a spiritual sense. The word  righteousness  means "a
cross of Calvary. None trusted the Lord more per-             straight line." Viewed spiritually, this righteousness is
fectly; none was forsaken more utterly; yet, none was         akin to sanctification. This means that we are
vindicated more gloriously.                                   spiritually in a straight line with God, in harmony
                        *****                                 with his will and statutes.
  The word way is a very familiar expression in the             It is obvious that we must interpret the word
Word of God. Three things are implied in this. ex-            righteous in this text in the ethical, spiritual sense. We
pression. It implies, in the first place, that we are all     read here of the "way of the righteous," and this
travellers because' we are all creatures of time. Time is     refers to their walk and conduct in the midst of the
an awesome reality. Time never pauses. It always              world.
marches on, drives us forward irresistibly, and never           This "way of the righteous" clearly emphasizes
retraces its steps. The past is past forever; it never        two important truths. On the one hand, they reveal
returns, except in the day of judgment, the day of            themselves `as righteous in the midst of the world. Of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, we are creatures of          course, this is true only in principle. Even so, how-
time in the sense that we are always moving forward           ever, they are the people of God here below, hating
in a spiritual direction. This is due to the fact that,       and confessing their sin, separating themselves from
besides being creatures of time, we are also  moral-          t.he world; they are of the party of the living God,
rational creatures. We were created in the image of           and they also reveal themselves antithetically as lights
God, are essentially image bearers of the Lord. Hence,        in the midst of the darkness of this world. On the
all our activity is a spiritual activity; we always either    other hand, because they are righteous, they are
love God or hate Him. One can never be neutral. And,          treated as such by the world, and their pathway is
thirdly, as such moral-rational creatures of time, we         therefore a way of affliction and persecution - they
are constantly moving toward an everlasting destiny.          are hated as also Christ was hated - a servant is never
Our journey will not go on and on and on. It will             greater than his master.
come to an end. And that end is either heaven or hell,                                *****
unspeakable glory or unspeakable woe, perfect salva-
tion in heavenly immortality or a terrible and com-              The `way of the ungodly shall perish  - what a
plete ruin in endless despair and desolation.                 terrible thought! This means, of course, that the end
' Now the Word of God speaks of righteousness                 of their way is eternal ruin, Who is able to describe
from a two-fold point of view. We are righteous either        ,hell? Who can define and describe it in all its un-
legally or spiritually. The word has both connotations        speakable and unutterable hopelessness and despair
in the Word of God. To be righteous legally means             and misery? Besides, this expression also means
that, before the face of God, the Judge of all the            that their present pathway leads to hell; the
earth, we are declared righteous as according to His          inevitable result of the way of the ungodly  .is ever-
law and standard - we are declared free from all guilt        lasting ruin.
and punishment. To be righteous also means, how-                Yet, this expression means much more. Mind you,
ever, that the Judge of all the earth declares us heirs       the way of the ungodly shall perish. It must not
of eternal life and glory. And the wonder of this, even       escape our attention that the inspired psalmist speaks
apart from the fact that it is in conflict with the           here of their way. This  :means that this way itself
appearance -of things, is that this verdict of God can        leads to hell, that it is a perishing way; it is a way that
never  be changed, because God is God alone and               works eternal destruction. The way, every inch of it,
there is no court of appeal. This legal-righteousness         shall perish. There are those who say that God will
we receive through faith, and it is only through faith        hate the wicked in hell, but that He-loves them now.


844                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


They teach that the wicked receive in this life many                   `loves them in time. Indeed, it may appear otherwise,
tokens of God's love and favor, but in hell all these                   when we must suffer for righteousness' sake. The
gifts and tokens of divine grace will be taken from                     psalmist, Asaph, in Ps. 73, complains because of the
them. This, however, is surely not true, The way of                     prosperity of the wicked and his own terrible afflic-
the ungodly, every part of  .it, is a perishing way,                    tion. And the demoralizing thought will enter into
always; the favor of the Lord never rests upon it; the                  the  souls  of the people of God: "How doth God
ungodly can never pause in their way and say, the                       know?" and, "Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Lord loves us now. Constantly the hatred of the Lord                    All this was changed for Asaph when he entered into
is pursuing them, relentlessly, is causing all things to                the sanctuary of God and saw the end of the ungodly
work together for their ruin. The Lord is never                         - and their present prosperity in the light of that
blessing them. Indeed, the curse of the Lord is not                    ,end. Then he saw the folly of his complaint and he
only upon the wicked, but it is also in the house of                    confessed his sin before the living God Who is always
the wicked; they are ever upon slippery places; the                     the God of our salvation.
eye of Jehovah is never upon them. This is surely the                      Indeed, the Lord knows the way of His own. He
testimony throughout the Word of God, And it is                         knows that way in love, and He knows every step of
emphasized in this concluding verse of Psalm I.                         it. Of course He knows that way! He has willed it in
Besides, do we not also read that the Lord knoweth                      infinite love and wisdom. And having willed it, He
the way of the righteous? And this surely implies that                  causes all things to work together for our good; every-
He does not know the way of the ungodly.                                thing is adapted to our eternal and heavenly glory and
   The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. How                       immortality.
important and how wonderful is this word knoweth!                         Besides, our God is the Lord, Jehovah. The Lord,
We must not confuse this knowledge with a merely                        Jehovah, knoweth the way of the righteous. And
intellectual knowledge. The Dutch distinguishes                         Jehovah is the Rock, the I AM, the Unchangeable, the
between  kennen  and  weten.  Here we have  kennen.                     Almighty, the .All-Wise; it is He Who leads to ever-
That the Lord knows the way of the righteous does                       la'sting glory. He loves us unchangeably; He is
not merely mean that He knows about that way, that                      almighty and therefore able to lead and save us; and
He is  familiar  with it. In this sense the Lord also                   He is the Omniscient One, Who leads and saves us
knows the way of the ungodly. This knowledge is a                       through the best means.
knowledge of love. We feel this instinctively when we                     Believe this, ye righteous. Believe this, ye people of
are reminded of John 17: 3: "And this is life eternal,                  God, also when grief and sorrow threaten to over-
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and                       whelm your  soul  with despair. The way of the un-
Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent." And this is also                    godly  shali perish  - is always perishing; they never
true of Romans 8: 29-30. ___ ,_ _. ._... ..--- .._ - .-.                know the love of God.
   The Lord knows the way of the righteous. His love                      .But ye are righteous. Ye love God because God
is upon that way. It is never upon the way of the                       loved you first. Indeed, Jehovah speaks here: "I know
ungodly. Always the love of God accompanies the                         the way of the righteous, every inch of it." And He
righteous. He .has loved them eternally and He also                     will never leave or forsake us.


EDITORIALS

                                   Our Australasian Tour 13
                                                            Prof H. C. Hoe,ksema



   Singapore was the last scheduled stop of our tour                    make us more` and more eager to reach home. As was
proper. Needless to say, at this stage in our tour all of               mentioned at the conclusion of our last installment of
us were beginning to think increasingly of home. The                    this report, when we reached Singapore, we were just
weariness of our busy travels, our long absence from                    slightly north of the equator and back in the northern
friends and family, and the foreign surroundings in                     hemisphere - a bit closer to home. For all of us, but
which we found ourselves in such countries as                           especially for the Rev. Hanko, and certainly for the
Indonesia and Singapore - all of these combined to                      young ladies involved, Singapore was an important


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER  ,.                                           845



milestone for this reason, that meeting us at the              But Singapore, though a beautiful city, is basically
airport were Rev. Hanko's granddaughter, Miss Beth          a heathen city, ,not even nominally Christian. To be
Bos, and her friend, Miss Verna Klamer, who had             sure, there are Christians and churtihes,  but they con-
begun the trip with Rev. Hanko, but who had been            stitute a minority; religiously speaking, the heathen
visiting in Singapore for some three weeks while Rev.       religions. of the orient dominate. And here, as later in
Hanko was touring New Zealand and Australia with            Bangkok, we were struck by the fact that the temples
us. It was a happy occasion for all concerned; and          which we visited, and which were in the nature of
from this point on, our travel party numbered five          tourist attractions to us, were' nevertheless active
instead of three. At the airport to meet us were also       centers of heathen religion.
the hosts of these two young ladies, Rev. and Mrs.
Peter Tow, and Mr. Ong Keng Ho, a young man who                Our contact man in Singapore and the young man
had been converted to the Reformed  faith..in New           who took the responsibility of arranging our meetings
Zealand and who is now living in Singapore. I will tell     was Ong Keng Ho. We had had some contact with
you more about him in a moment. After warm greet-           him prior to our departure, but it was in New Zealand
ings all around (no pun intended, although under-           that we learned his story. Incidentally, it was in New
standably the climate in Singapore is warm and              Zealand that we also learned to call him Ong; some-
humid) we were taken to a Chinese street restaurant         what to our surprise, in Singapore we learned that
for a snack and then were brought to the apartment          Ong is his family name, while Keng Ho is his given
of Rev. and Mrs. E. Paauwe, on the campus of the Far        name. Neverless, he told us to continue calling him
Eastern Bible College, where we were to lodge during        him .Keng Ho. This young man was educated in New
our stay at Singapore.                                      Zealand at the expense of the Singapore government.
                                                            After his education was finished, he was required to
   Singapore is a large and beautiful city, and is, as      return to Singapore, where he is under bond to work
some of you may not know, an independent republic           for the government for eight years. At the time of our
with a very limited amount of territory at the tip of       visit he had a very responsible position, being in
the Malaysian Peninsula. Although the city is very          charge of the care of one-third of the park system in
large and crowded, its cleanliness and excellent            the city of Singapore. Since the time of our visit, we
housing formed a sharp contrast with `the city of           learned through correspondence that he has a
Jakarta. The city is so crowded - just to give you an       different p.osition  at present. While Ong was in New
idea - that there are very severe restrictions on cars      Zealand, he came into contact with the people of the
entering the central business district in the morning at    Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Christchurch; and it
the peak hour. Another indication of the heavy popu-        was during his stay in New Zealand that he was con-
lation is the fact that we saw `a large housing project,    verted and was brought to the Reformed faith. Now,
consisting of numerous highrise  apartment buildings        however, he finds himself in strange spiritual sur-
not far from the central city; and in these highrises,      roundings, and is very concerned because he cannot
we were told, there is a population  of'some 250            find preaching and instruction and fellowship of a
thousand, equivalent to the population of metro-            Reformed character. For the Far Eastern Bible Col-
politan Grand Rapids. But the city is strikingly clean      lege and the entire Bible Presbyterian movement in
and beautiful. There are many parks and parkways            Singapore leave much to be desired from this point of
filled with a large variety of tropical flowers, shrubs,    view. During our brief stay in Singapore we dis-
and trees, all meticulously cared for; and one seldom       covered nothing of a Reformed character, very much
sees any trash along the streets and roadways. We           Arminianism and fundamentalism, a lack of healthy
were warned, too, that the government is serious            spirituality and of emphasis on Christian living, and
about keeping their city clean: there is a fine of $50      even tendencies toward the social gospel in this move-
for throwing so much as a cigarette butt into the           ment. For example, we found the church promoting
street! We spent two full days, July 22 and 23, in          so-called "family planning," a euphemism for birth
Singapore; and since our meetings were in the evening       control., This, you must understand, is a very big
of those days, we had some time for sight-seeing with       thing in Singapore, because of the large population
our hosts, and took full advantage of that time  -          and the limited amount of land for expansion; hence,
even though both Rev. Hanko and I had been sur-             the government is very interested for social and
prised, upon arrival, by the fact that we had been          economic reasons in restricting the growth of the
announced as speaking on two subjects on which we           population. But the church cooperates in this and
had not spoken before and of which we had not been          also promotes this evil practice, Incidentally, we were
previously informed. Understandably, therefore, `we         told that the Bible College and the churches there are
were somewhat preoccupied during our sight-seeing           independent of the Bible Presbyterian movement in
tours; it is not so easy to organize a speech in one's      America; only the Rev. Paauwe, we were told, among
mind while sight-seeing!                                    the workers there, is connected with and supported


846                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


by the Bible Presbyterian movement in America. But          that, too, on the spur of the moment. How much
to return to my story, needless to say, we were very        these young people understood of what we tried to
warmly welcomed by our soft-spoken and  mild-               tell them is a question. We certainly had good atten-
mannered young friend, Ong Keng Ho. He thoroughly           tion and apparently interested listeners. After the
enjoyed his fellowship with us, and he had many             second meeting we also had a brief question hour,
questions to ask of us and many subjects to discuss.        and after both meetings we had opportunity for
On our part, however, we also thoroughly enjoyed            informal discussion while refreshments were served.
our fellowship with this young Reformed Christian. I        We left with the conviction that we had spoken the
know that Ong himself will read this report in our          truth of the Word of God, and that seeds were sown.
Standard Bearer, and will probably be embarrassed by        Whether there will be positive fruit of any kind in the
my saying this; nevertheless I do not hesitate to say       future remains to be seen. Through Ong we do have
that our visit to Singapore would have been worth-          an outlet for some of our literature in that area.
while if only for our contact with and our  oppor-             Thus ended our tour proper. It still remained for us
t un i ty to talk with, have fellowship with, and           to travel home, but our work in behalf of our
encourage and strengthen our friend. When we left           churches was finished. Our itinerary called for us to
Singapore on the morning of July 24, it was difficult       fly home from Bangkok, Thailand, via Europe, so
for all of us to say farewell to him. Yet we must           that by the time we returned to Grand Rapids we had
remember that the Lord in His providence not only           been around the world. Once we were in Singapore, it
brought him to the Reformed faith in New Zealand,           was more economical under our travel arrangements
but also in His wise purpose has now brought him            to continue flying westward than to return across the
into this situation at Singapore. One's heart goes out      Pacific. But our' flight was scheduled to leave
to a young Reformed Christian such as this young            Bangkok on the evening of July 25. So, on July 24 it
man; and we could only encourage him to remain              was wake up time at 5 A.M. Our plane got us to
faithful, to witness as the opportunity arose, and to       Bangkok at  9:30 in the morning, after a brief stop
try to find some likeminded Christians with whom he         over at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At Bangkok we had
can have fellowship. Who knows but that he could            time to rest, to shop, and to do some sight-seeing.
perhaps be instrumental in gathering a group of             Then came, the long overnight trip from Bangkok to
Reformed believers in that faraway place!                   Zurich, Switzerland, with a refueling stop in the heat
  However, somewhat to our surprise, we had the             of the desert at Teheran, Iran. That involved another
opportunity in Singapore to have our Reformed testi-        time change of six hours, so that though we arrived at
mony heard on two successive evenings by audiences          Zurich at noon, Bangkok time, it was actually six
which were larger than we expected. Our friend Ong          o'clock in the morning at Zurich. Fortunately, on the
had chosen the subjects for these meetings, and had         advice of our travel agent, we had planned a rest stop
seen to it that the meetings were advertised on the         in Switzerland. After finally learning (in spite of the
campus and in the New Life Church.The subjects, as I        language barrier) where we were to go and how to get
mentioned earlier, took                                     there, we traveled by train and bus to the little village
                            us  by surprise. We had no
definite plans before we arrived at Singapore, and did      of Weistannen, in the Swiss Alps, where we had
not know at all what was being planned. And while           accommodations in a little family hotel. This was
the subjects were not unfamiliar to either Rev. Hanko       supposed to be a missionary retreat; but to our
or myself, they were not subjects on which we had           chagrin, we discovered that the one church in the
any notes along in our brief cases, with the result that    village was Roman Catholic, with the result that we
we had to .do some quick planning and preparation.          were compelled to hold our own informal church
My subject on the evening of July 22 was "The True          service on that Sunday on the grounds of the hotel,
Church." Rev. Hanko's subject for the evening of            surrounded by the majestic mountains and in sight
July 23 was "The Believer and the Church." These            and hearing of a rushing mountain stream. What
subjects alone, I think, tell us something of what was      would we do in a setting like that but sing psalms
in the mind and heart of our friend Ong. We had been        which referred to the mountains?
forewarned not to expect large audiences. And                 Our charter flight to Chicago was scheduled to
although it is true that there were not many of the         leave Luxembourg on July 3 1. Hence we had time for
older generation of the church present, nevertheless        some whirlwind sight-seeing. On Monday, July 28, we
much to our surprise, we had audiences of about 100         were on our way back to Zurich by bus and train at 6
at these meetings. The audiences were very young:           o'clock in the morning. From Zurich we had an all
many who heard us were teen-agers attending the Far         day train trip down the valley of the Rhine river to
Eastern Bible College. It was evident to us that they       the land of our forefathers, the Netherlands. There
did not have any Reformed background, nor much              we parted ways for a day. Rev. Hanko and his travel
doctrinal background of any kind. We had to.gear our        companions went to Amsterdam, and thence to
addresses as much as possible to these audiences, and       Sexbierum, where he visited with relatives of mem-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             847



bers of his congregation. Mrs. Hoeksema and I left the     us, to be able to participate in the 50th Anniversary
train at Utrecht, where we were met by Mr. and Mrs.        Celebration of our Protestant Reformed Churches the
Ernest van Rij. In correspondence with his father in       following week!
New Zealand, Ernest had kindly made arrangements             I hope to make a few concluding observations in
for us to have a quick tour of the Netherlands.            the next issue. But for those who may be interested
Although our purpose was sight-seeing, and not             in some statistics, we may mention the following.
church contact, we did make a couple of the latter         Over a total span of 38 days, we held a total of 40
along the way. But whirlwind sight-seeing was our          meetings of various kinds, ,not to mention the count-
diet all day Tuesday, July 29. We even managed to          less private conversations. Between meetings we had
visit the city of my father's boyhood, Groningen, and      some 21 different air flights, plus numerous trips by
to walk the streets in the neighborhood of the Martini     train, bus, and private car. We spoke to an estimated
Toren (Tower), where he had walked as a boy. Our           total of some 1800 people during this period, many
hosts over night in the little village of  Hoorn-          of whom we met personally and engaged in conversa-
sterzwaag, Friesland, were Mr. and Mrs. K. Kasten.         tion concerning the Reformed faith. We estimate that
And I must confess - undoubtedly to the delight of         our travels took us some 30 thousand or more miles,
my Friesian-American readers  - that Friesland was         and we touched down in 14 different countries.
the most attractive part of the Netherlands which we
saw! The next morning Mr. Kasten broke all the               Not only was this trip a first for our Protestant
speed laws to get us to Utrecht in time to catch our       Reformed Churches, but through the blessing of our
train back south to Luxembourg. After an overnight         God it proved, beyond doubt, to be a very significant
stay in that city, where our party was reunited, it was    break-through as far as the ecumenical outreach of
in the air again the next afternoon for the long trip      our churches is concerned. Moreover, that this was
across the Atlantic via Iceland to Chicago, and thence     indeed the case is not only the conviction of Rev.
to Grand Rapids. What a thrill it was, after midnight      Hanko and myself; but, after we had made our
at the Kent County airport, to see the faces of so         report, ,it was also the conclusion of our fellow
many friends and relatives who were there as a wel-        members on the  Synodical Committee for Contact
coming party when at last the Lord had brought us          With Other Churches. All thanks and praise to our
home safe and sound. And what a thrill it was, even        covenant God!
though the weariness of our travels had not yet left



QUESTION BOX



                          About Covenant-Breaking

                                              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema




  About a year ago I answered some questions about         covenant in the midst of the world of those sins as
this subject. In that answer I maintained  - and my        being a breaking of the covenant. . .  ." The reader
questioners agree with me on this point - that God's       may, if he wishes, look up my complete answer in
covenant is unbreakable, that is, eternal and faithful.    Volume 51, pp. 368,369. My answer at that time
In the course of my answer I also made the following       occasioned questions from three different persons in
statement: "Finally, I think it should be pointed out      various parts of the country. All of these questions
that we sometimes speak rather loosely and in-             refer to passages from the Old Testament which speak
accurately in connection with the sins of those who        of breaking the covenant. I will not quote the letters
are brought up in and live in the sphere of God's          in detail, nor will I mention all the passages. One


848                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER


questioner sent me a long list of passages in which         sinner it is so serious-that it constitutes a breaking of
this expression is found, In the course of my answer I      the .law, or a breaking of the covenant.
will refer to at least some of these passages. The basic      :In the second place, you will notice, if you check
question is, of course, this: If it be true that God's      up on the various Scripture passages, that they refer
covenant'is unbreakable, how must .these passages of
Scripture be understood?                                    to the Old Testament situation. This, too, is an
                                                            important factor to remember in connection with this
Answer                                                      entire question. We must bear in mind that the
   First of all, let us get before us some of the Scrip-    peculiar dispensation of the covenant in the Old
ture passages in question. I quote them, of course,         Testament was the dispensation of the law. At Sinai,
from the King James Version. In Deuteronomy 3 1: 16         the Mosaic law - not only of the ten commandments,
we read: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold,             but of the types and ceremonies  - was the form
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will     which was given to God's covenant. This is un-
rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the             doubtedly a large factor in Scripture's speaking so
strangers of the land, whither they go to be among          often of the breaking of the covenant on the part of
them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant            Israel. It was precisely because that covenant was
which I' have made with them." Two of my ques-              under the dispensation of the law that it could be and
tioners also referred me to Leviticus 26: 14-16: "But       was broken in the sense of not observing and keeping
if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all         that law. If you will take the trouble to consult the
these commandments; And if ye shall despise my              passages of Scripture in question, you will find that.
statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that       this is indeed the case. One example is the passage in
ye will  note do all my commandments, but that ye           Leviticus 26, quoted above.
break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will       ,In the. third place, in close connection with this
even appoint over you. terror, consumption, and the         fact stands the fact that Scripture speaks more than
burning ague, .that shall consume the eyes, and cause       once of "the house of Israel" as breaking God's
sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain,        covenant. This also stands connected with the fact
for your enemies shall eat it." The context here goes       that the dispensation of the covenant was the dispen-
on to mention more judgments which God will send            sation  .of the law and, at the same time, a  national
among the children of Israel. Joshua 23: 16 does not        dispensation in the Old Testament. And when the
use the term "break," but speaks of transgressing the       carnal element in Israel had the upper hand in the
covenant. Judges  2:20 uses the same language. In           nation, then it could be said that the "house" of Israel
Jeremiah 11: 10 we read: "They are turned back to           broke God's covenant.
the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to         ,A11 of this, I believe, is quite in-harmony with what
hear my words; and they went after other gods to            I wrote earlier on this subject. If my questioners have
serve them: the house of Israel and the -house of           further questions, they are welcome to call again.
Judah have broken my covenant which I made with
their fathers."                                             About Having Our Flesh in Heaven
  Many other references might, of course, be cited.           From a Wisconsin reader I received the following
                                                            question: "The resurrection of our Lord was glorious
  I cannot very well take the space to explain each         and spiritual. In the light of this, how must we under-
one of the Scriptural references to the breaking of the     stand that we have our flesh in heaven? (Lord's Day
covenant separately. I will, however, make a few            XVIII)"
explanatory remarks in general.                             Reply
  In the  first place, the term that is translated by
"break" is the same term that is used more than once          My questioner refers to the expression found in
in Scripture with respect to breaking a commandment         ,Question and Answer 49, which speaks of the advan-
or breaking a law. Now, obviously, when a command-          tage to us of Christ's ascension. In mentioning a
ment or a law is broken, this cannot mean that the          three-fold advantage, the Catechism speaks of the fact
law as such is broken in the sense that it no more          "that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge
stands whole and complete and valid. The opposite is        that He, as our head, will also take up to Himself us,
true. That law remains in force. The same is true with      His  members." My questioner is evidently troubled
respect to the covenant. The.term "break" refers to a       by the term `j7esh, in the light of the fact that Christ's
violation, a transgression of the covenant, even as the     resurrection was spiritual and glorious.
same term can be used to refer to a violation or trans-       -In reply to this question.1 will quote the following
gression of God's commandments. At the same time            passage from The' Triple Knowledge, Volume 2, pp.
this term, we must remember, points to the serious-         72 and 73:
ness and heinousness of the sin. On the part of the            "We have our flesh in heaven!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                849



   "By ~the term `tlesh' here must be understood our         the glory of the resurrection, and having thus glorified
 entire, human nature,. as to soul and body. Christ, in      it by His resurrection, He took it into heaven, into
 His incarnation, assumed our human nature, in the           the sanctuary of God.
 likeness of sinful flesh. As such, that nature was            "For His ascension does not mean that He put
 wholly unfit to enter into heavenly glory. For, not         aside our human nature. The human nature is not and
 only was it of the earth earthy,  abut it was also          never shall be separated from the divine.
 corrupt through sin, under the wrath of God, lying in
 the midst of death. Nor did we have the right to be           "Our flesh, therefore, is in heaven.
 delivered from the corruption of our nature, and to           "It is not in heaven as `flesh' in the form in which
 enter into heavenly glory. Heaven was closed to us.         He assumed it, and in which we know it, but in its
 That nature, although without sin, yet as it was            glorified form. It has been changed into the image of
 earthly, and in the likeness of sinful flesh, Christ        the heavenly. For `flesh and blood cannot inherit the
 assumed. And in that nature He obediently suffered          kingdom of God.' But it is, nevertheless, our flesh,
 all that was required to satisfy God's justice, to merit    the real human nature, which He took into the
 for  us  righteousness, and to obtain the right to          highest heavens, when He ascended up on high."
 heavenly glory. And He, the  .Son of God, glorified           With the above explanation I am in agreement.
 that nature in Himself. He took it through death into



 STUDIES IN ISAIAH




                  The Church Protected' And Purified

                                               Rev. Robt. C, Harbach





   1. The Church Defended. In our last installment we        the glory of~the Lord is risen upon thee" (60: l), the
 saw that within the church organism of Isaiah's day         fulfillment of which is recorded in Revelation 2 1. The
 there was "a generation pure in their own eyes" and         glory and work of salvation is like that of creation:
 so "not washed from their filthiness" (Prov. 30: 12).       God spoke, and it- was done; He commanded and it
 Here the Lord calls the glory of their gaudery, which       stood fast. Creation is solely the work of God. (The
 they deemed so wonderfully clean, "their filthiness"        Creator, not the creature, is active in the work of
 (4:4), and just as much so as the bloody violence of        creation.) So salvation is exclusively God's work, as
 criminals in Jerusalem. But also the glories of the         those being saved are spiritually dead. He creates New
 world's best, their wealth, business, idealism, and         Heavens and New Earth. There He dwells in Zion,
 good works, being, as they all are without God, filth.      which whole mount becomes the holy of holies.  But
   "And Jehovah will create upon all the  dwelling-          even now, Zion is wherever the Word of God is
 place oft Mount Zion and upon her places of convoca-        preached. The churches in the world are centers of
tion a cloud by day and smoke and a brightness of            the communion of saints. These have over them the
 flaming fire (by) night; for upon all the glory (shall      covering of the divine benediction. The picture is that
 be) a covering"  (4:5, Heb.). When the church is            of the church in the wilderness with its pillar of cloud
 purified, the glory of salvation shall appear. So it is     protecting God's people, and pillar of fire devouring
 prophesied, "Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and       the wicked, and keeping His people from wandering


856                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



off into the darkness. As in the beginning God               encirclement) of the son of (an expert and rich
exerted His almighty creative power, in the Red Sea          producer of olive) oil" (5: 1, Heb. See KJV, marg.)
His redemptive power; and in the wilderness His daily        The song refers to the singer's own beloved, his
miracle power, so He will deliver and protect His            dearest one, not his cousin (Luther), nor his uncle
church to the end, and make every single home in the         (Vulgate). It is a song concerning the beloved's vine-
Israel of God His holy Tabernacle, as the typical            yard, a song of the beloved, the Lord himself (v. 7).
tabernacle exclusively was.                                  Isaiah like John the Baptist thinks of himself as the
   2. The Church a  Defence.   "And a booth shall be         friend of the bridegroom, the beloved in whom we
for daytime shade from the heat, and for a refuge,           are accepted. The prophets, too, are the friends of the
and for a hiding place from storm and from rain"             bridegroom. The bridegroom, being the beloved, is to
(4:6, Heb.). The church of the New Testament                 be loved. For "if any man love not our Lord Jesus
dispensation is and enjoys one age-long Feast of             Christ, let him be anathema. . . ." Jesus said of some
Succoth. Wherever the Word of God is preached there          iri His day, "I know you; you have not the love of
is a Feast of Tabernacles. As there was in the original      God in you." He said to His own disciples, "If any
paradise no storm or rain, so in paradise regained, in       man love Me, let him come after Me and take up his
the New Jerusalem (not in the millennium, which              cross daily and follow Me." Actually, the song does
turns out to be a colossal failure) there will be no         not go on in this lovely vein, for it is really a lament,
damaging changes of weather. "The sun shall not              an instruction, a denunciation.
smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord             2. The Disappointing of His  .Eipectations  of  It.
shall preserve thee from all evil." (Ps. 121:6-7a) (Cp.      "And he dug it up (spaded it), and he stoned it, and
also Ps.  32:7,2;  91:9; Pro.  18:lO; Isa.  25:4;  26:20;    planted (it) a vine, and built a tower in the midst of
32:2). "In this world we must expect change of               it, and also a wine-press he hewed in it; and he waited
weather, and all the inconveniences that attend it; we       for (its) producing grapes, and it produced stinks"
shall meet with storm and rain in this lower region,         (5:2, Heb.). The vineyard, situated like a beautiful
and at other times, the heat of the day . . . But God is     diamond in a perfect setting, was provided with
a refuge to His people in all weathers." (M. Henry)          everything to make it the best vineyard producing the
This He is in Christ, for in Himself, absolutely con-        richest vintage. Verse one is expressive of great fruit-
sidered, He is a consuming fire. To attempt to               fulness. The son of oil is "one who has oil and is rich
approach God, even to consider Him, Unitarian                with oil" (Luther). To bring this about, he spaded it,
fashion, apart from His co-equal Son, the eternal            cleared it of stones, the Owner laboring faithfully to
Word incarnate, is to phantasize about God and reach         do this. (The Owner does promise His spiritual Israel
out to a humanly invented godhead. None but Christ,          to take the stony heart out of their flesh.) Then he
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead             planted his vine, and out of the stones removed from
bodily, is our refuge and our strength.                      the field he built a guard-tower for protection of the
                                                             vineyard and for a comfortable covert for the Owner
THE PARABLE OF THE LORD'S VINEYARD                           which he could even use as a honeymoon lodge (Song
Isaiah 5 : l-7                                               7: 12). Also he hewed a wine-press (out of rock!) in
   1. The Great Labors God Had Bestowed on It.               order to provide everything necessary to produce the
Here is the gloomy picture of the guilt and judgment         best vineyard and the highest quality grapes.
of Israel according to the flesh without presenting the        The Lord does not survey His vineyard from its
cheerful side of the deliverance of the Israel of God.       tower to see which vines grow strongest, noting which
The chapter is not limited to one event, but was true        bring forth the best fruits, and so determining to
of reprobate Israel in the time of the first orEgyptian      select them. For that is Arminianism. Jehovah might
captivity of His people for four hundred years, in the       sit on His throne to eternity without finding one
time of the Judges, in the captivities (under the            worthy of His choice, if He operated that way. No,
Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, Greeks,            but the vineyard represents the sovereign choosing of
Romans) and especially after the rejection of their          Israel to be God's elect people. The vineyard had
Messiah, in the destruction of Jerusalem, 70 A.D.,           husbandmen who tended it, spaded and dunged its
when darkness forever descended on them. Israel in           soil. This the prophets and later the apostles did in
parable is seen as a vineyard of the Lord. When the          teaching the law and preaching the gospel. So God
vineyard does not produce as expected, it is delivered       first chose Israel, not Israel the Lord. God's choosing
up to judgment. The bad fruit produced is described;         of Israel was by grace alone. God's election of the
as well as a kind of judgment which would follow.            vineyard implies an organic election. God predesti-
   "I will sing now concerning my beloved, `a song of        nated the entire organism. Of that organism, some of
my beloved concerning his vineyard. A vineyard had           the branches were ordained to be cut off and
become my beloved's in the horn (the protective              destroyed (w. 5-6), (every plant which My heavenly


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                851



Father hath not planted shall be rooted up!), while           that their wickedness in professing the true religion
the elect nucleus shall be preserved (Psm. 80:8-19).          while lacking any possession of it amounted to the
  There' are branches on the vine which do not                most unaccountable and unreasonable thing in the
produce fruit. "He waited for (its) producing grapes."        world. For they who own Christ as "my Beloved" in
The vine as it grew was tended and watched in justi-          truth, do so, if necessary, at the expense of forsaking
fiable anticipation of a crop. But it brought forth           father, mother, wife, children, house, lands and his
withered, dried up, stinking, rotted grapes. The vine         own life also. But in the day of judgment, the wicked,
proved worthless, and that in the sense of the useless        hypocrites and mere professors will have to confess,
chaff of the threshing floor (Matt. 3: 12). It turned         as Pharaoh did, The Lord is righteous!
out that the vineyard was not worth. two cents an
acre.                                                               3. The End and Ruin it Deserved. "And now, I will
                                                              tell you, if you please, the thing which I will do to
  "And now, dweller of Jerusalem and man of                   my vineyard:~ I will take away the hedge of it, and it
Judah, judge you, I pray, between Me and between              shall be consumed. I will break down its wall, and it
My vineyard" (5:3, Heb.). That is, as Nathan put a            shall be trodden down" (5:5, Heb.). Now the Lord
parable to David (2 Sam. 12: 1) in which he intended          goes on to answer His own question. It is peppered
that David judge the man in the parable who appro-            with biting wrath, coming, too, as something of a
priated the poor man's ewe lamb, so you be the                surprise, as we would expect further digging, dunging,
judge. In this way David was led to see that the
parable applied actually and only to himself. In this         or some last ditch mode of cultivation, and not, as we
                                                              have, the threatening of the vine's destruction. Not
way the man of Judah within the framework of the
parable, umpiring between the beloved friend and his.         only no more good gifts will God bestow on them,
vineyard, would, unawares, pass judgment on himself           but they shall be plundered, ruined by their enemies
and justify God.                                              and trodden down by the Gentiles, the wrath of God
                                                              coming upon them to the uttermost. The vineyard
  "What to do more to my vineyard and (that) I have           (theocracy) would then cease to be, The church of
not done in it? Why waited I (for it) to produce              that nation would be unchurched. That is, since
grapes, and (why) produced it stinks?" (5:4, Heb.).           church means the Lord's, they would no more be the
Israel had the highest privileges (cp. Ro. 9:4-5; 3: l-2),    Lord's. They would no more be Ammi, but Lo-ammi,
the richest blessings, the greatest advantages, and           Not My People. They would no more be a peculiar
what better culture could they have had (particularly,        people, but become so common as to be scattered
spiritual culture)? So that what they must admit to is        among all nations.


NEWS FEATURE



                    Congregational Singing And Organs
                                                Rev. David Englesma




  On March 19, 1976, the members of the South                 Standard Bearer. The chapter read was II Chronicles
Holland congregation had a ceremony of dedication             5.
for their new organ. In addition to the playing of                                     *****
many numbers on the organ, the choral society of the                Music in the form of congregational singing has a
church sang, the choir of the Protestant Reformed             very important place in the worship of the Church.
Christian School sang, and I gave a brief address. At         Both the Old Testament and the New Testament
the request of some, including the program  com-              Scriptures teach that congregational singing is, and
mittee of the council, I publish this speech in the           must be, an element of the service of worship of the


852                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Church. Our singing is a form of prayer, and, as the         "We must,. however, carefully beware, lest our ears be
Heidelberg Catechism teaches, prayer is the chief part       more intent on the music than our minds on the
of thankfulness that God requires of us.                     spiritual meaning of the words."
  The Reformation, and Calvin in particular, purified          -This we will do, if the gospel of sovereign grace
the worship service in this regard and restored the          cdntinues to be preached here. Ultimately, the organ
praise of God in congregational singing to its rightful      is consecrated to God  - and made beautiful!  - by
place. Calvin treats of singing in the  Imtitutes            the Word preached.
(111,Xx,32):  "And certainly if singing (in church  -
DE) is tempered to a gravity befitting the presence of         ,I emphasize that the organ is our servant, that it is
God and angels, it both gives dignity and grace to           servant to congregational singing. We do not serve the
sacred actions and has a very powerful tendency to           organ, but it serves us. It must never "take over" in
stir up the mind to true zeal and ardor in prayer."          the worship service, whether by volume, or tempo, .or
                                                             "frills." The organists must be guided by this prin-
  Calvin busied himself to provide a good songbook           ciple: the organ accompaniment is the handmaid of
for the Reformed Church - a psalter, by the way. In          congregational singing. So fearful were Calvin and
the preface to the metrical psalter used in Geneva,          Dutch Reformed Churches of the organ's becoming
Calvin wrote that music is "the first gift of God, or        the center of attraction in the services that they
one of the first, for man's recreation. In worship, in       opposed the use of an organ in the worship services.
particular, it has great force and vigor to move and         It was not until 1637 that the Dutch Reformed
inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God           Churches began using the organ in the service.
with a more vehement and ardent zeal" (quoted from
Corporate Worship in the Reformed Traditiorz  by               But the organ can be used rightly: aiding congre-
James Hastings Nichols).                                     gational singing and, thus, our worship of God. Then
  Calvin put an end to choirs and soloists in the serv-      what we read of the worship of God in Solomon's
ices of worship, which had by his time replaced-con-         temple characterizes our worship:  ". .  .as the
                                                             trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one
gregational singing, and called for singing by the           sound to be heard in praising and  thanki.ng the
whole congregation as part of their worship of the           LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the
Lord. We may bless God that we are the beneficiaries         trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and
of this insight of the Reformation, too. It is the con-      praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his
gregation's duty and privilege, as well as its desire, to    mercy  endureth  for ever: that then the house was
"make one sound to be heard in praising and thank-           filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord . . . for
ing Jehovah," as we read in II Chronicles 5: 13.             the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God"
  It is the function of an organ  .in the Church to          (IPChron.  5:13,14).
assist the congregation in carrying out this calling; the      To this use of the praise of God by a singing con-
organ is to help congregational singing.                     gregation, do we tonight dedicate the organ that God
  Just because it has this function, the organ               has given us.
becomes important - whatever aids in the congrega-
tion's praise of God is important.
  But it is the congregation that dedicates the organ
to God, and it does so by its heartfelt singing of
God's praises. In its use of the organ to praise the
Lord God for His goodness, the congregation conse-
crates the. instrument to God. If we do not sing; if we
do not sing from the heart; if we do not sing songs
that ascribe all of salvation to the Lord and songs that
glory in the Lord and His cross; well, then we misuse
the instrument, beautiful though its sound'may be,
and press it into the service of sin.
  Let us resolve tonight to glorify our Maker and
Redeemer in songs of thanksgiving and praise; let us
resolve to sing from the heart; let us resolve to sing
God-centered,  God glorifying songs  -  which~ the
psalms are.
  We do well, in this connection, to recall Calvin's
warning, when he was speaking of singing in church:


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      853


 .THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS



                                          Eternal Election, 2
                                                          _.
                                                    Proj: Roberf D. Decker



            "We believe that all the posterity of Adam bking thus fallen into perdition and ruin, by the sin of our first
           parents, God did then manifest himself such as he is; that is to say, merciful and just: Merciful, since he
          delivers and preserves from this perdition all, whom he, in his eternal and unchangeable counsel of mere
            goodness, hat11 elected in Christ Jesus our Lord, without any respect to their works: Just, in leaving others
           in the fall and perdition wherein they have involved themselves."
                                                                                     Article XVI, The Belgic Cor;fession

    Having discussed the doctrine of divine election in              (supra)?  Or, to state  the question in still another
 the previous issue we turn our attention  .to the Re-               way, which is first and which is last in the counsel of
 formed doctrine of reprobation. It is well, for several             God? The  Co/z,fession  is quite obviously infra, for it
 reasons, that we devote an entire article to this truth.            speaks of election and reprobation from the point of
 There is often a great deal of misunderstanding con-                view of history. The posterity of Adam had fallen
 cerning this truth, even among those whose desire it is             into  pelldition and ruin by the sin of our first parents.
 to be thoroughly Reformed in doctrine. This truth is                God revealed His mercy in saving from perdition
 widely and openly denied  by many who claim to be                   those whom He had chosen in Christ. God revealed
 in the Reformed tradition. And, the truth has been                  His justice in leaving others in the fall and perdition
 attacked at this  ~point from earliest New Testament                in which they had involved themselves. The point is
 times. Those who object to the Reformed truth                       that infra lists the order in the decree of God in the
invariably object especially to the doctrine of                      way in which that decree is realized in history.  Thus
 Reprobation. The Apostles had to deal with this                     God, according to the infra view, first decreed the
 (especially the Apostle Paul), Augustine fought for                 creation, then the fall, election and reprobation, Christ,
 the truth on this score and so did Calvin, the great                and the new creation. The supralapsarian view  COII-
 Synod of Dordrecht defended this doctrine against                   ceives of the order in God's counsel as follows: 1) God
 the Arminians, and the Reformed churches  aft&                      will the glory of His Name in the exalted Christ: 2) God
 Dordt (including our own Protestant Reformed                        born of every creature: 3) For Christ God elected His
 Churches) engaged in many a polemic in defense of                   Church, and to serve that elect Church in Christ God
 the doctrine of Reprobation.                                        willed the reprobate as  vesseli of wrath fitted unto
                                                                     destruction; 4) Finally God willed the creation and all
    But before getting at the truth of reprobation we                things in it as means designed to serve the realization
 should note the fact that the  COnf`cSsiO/l,  in its                of both election and reprobation. and therefore, of
presentation of election and reprobation, proceeds                   the glory of God in Christ and His Church.
 from the infralapsarian point of view. The question of
 "infra  / supra" is no longer disputed, and perhaps                    On  the basis of several specific passages (cf.  Eph. 1:
 that is reason sufficient for us to comment  on  it. The            3-l 0, Col. 1: 13-19) and the general teaching of the
 .words, infralapsarianism and supralapsarianism, are                Word of God we prefer this latter conception.
 derived from  Latin compounds;  "lapsus" which                      Besides, according to this conception election and
 means fall, and "infra" which means below,  an'd                    reprobation do not simply proceed side by side out of
 "supra" which means, "above." The question is,                      eternity and throughout history (the old "equal
 therefore, do election and reprobation in the counsel               ultimacy" charge!) but the decree of reprobation
 of God stand "below" or "above" the fall of Adam?                   seTlIes that of election! This is literally the teaching of
 To put it another way, did God choose His elect out                 Scripture. Concerning His  elect, precious Israel God
 of a fallen human race (infra) or did God choose His                says: "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have
 people out of a human race that was destined  tq fall               called  thek by thy name, thou art mine . . . For I am


854                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy                them, and they follow me: And I give unto them
Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and           eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall
Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight,         any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father,
thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee:            which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is
therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy       able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and
life." (Isaiah 43 : l-4) One finds the same idea in          my Father are one." (John 10: 26-30) That the un-
Romans 9: 22 and 23: "What if God, willing to shew           believers got the point is evident from the fact that
his wrath, and to make his power  known; endured             when they heard that, they took up stones to stone
with much longsuffering (for His elect's sake) the           Jesus, (verse 31) Jesus' teaching is obvious, is it not?
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he          Some are given to know the mysteries of the King-
might make known the riches of his glory on the              dom and some are not. Some believe because the
vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto           Father gives them to Christ and they are His sheep.
glory." Indeed, not only does reprobation according          Others reject the Savior because they are not of His
to the supra conception serve election but: "We know         sheep and from them  .God hides the things of the
that all things work together for good to them that          Kingdom. For these Jesus did not come into the
love God, to them who are the called according to his        world; for these He did not lay down His life as the
purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did               good shepherd; for these He did not speak the
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,        gracious words of everlasting life. For these, indeed,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.          He came in judgment!
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also                And, if this be not proof enough, consider the
called: and whom he called, them he also justified:          teaching of Romans nine. In this chapter the inspired
and whom he justified, them he also glorified."              Apostle speaks of a distinction between spiritual and
(Romans 8: 28-30)                                            natural Israel, the "children of the flesh" who are not
  Article XVI speaks of the decree of reprobation in         counted as the children of God and the "children of
these terms: "Just, in leaving others in the fall and        the promise" who are counted for the seed. How
perdition wherein they have involved themselves."            must this distinction be explained? Why this differ-
Notice that, while we might prefer to speak of               ence? Did not all hear the Word of God? Did that
reprobation in terms of God's willing to create vessels :    Word take no effect? Oh, No! They are not all Israel,
of wrath fitted to destruction, or of God's deter-  :        which are of Israel. This is evident from the Word of
mining to condemn the reprobate to destruction in            the Lord concerning Abraham and his natural born
the way of their own sin, the  Confession  certainly         children. Not all of these were counted for the seed.
teaches reprobation. The "leaving of others in the fall      Only Sarah's son, Isaac, is the child of the promise.
and perdition wherein they have involved themselves"         The same is evident in the twins of Rebecca. Before
certainly involves an eternal decision on God's part.        those children were born or had done any good or
And this is the clear teaching of Scripture through-         evil, "that the purpose of God according to election
out. Already in the "mother promise" of Genesis              might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; It
3: 15 the Lord speaks of -the great gulf of enmity           was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger."
which He puts between the seed of the woman                  (verses 1 O-l 2) Moreover, God had spoken of this long
(Christ and the elect in Him)` and the seed of the           before when He said through the prophet Malachi:
serpent (the devil's brood, the reprobate). Jesus            "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." And let
thanks His Father because He has hid the mysteries of        no one say at this point that God elected (loved)
the Kingdom from the wise and prudent and revealed           Jacob and reprobated (hated) Esau only after they
them unto the babes according to His good pleasure           had manifested themselves in life. That is neither the
(Matthew 11: 25-27). The Savior speaks in parables           Apostle's nor Malachi's argument. Scripture teaches
because to some it is given to know the mysteries of         here that God made an eternal distinction, a distinc-
the Kingdom and to some it is not given (Matthew             tion between elect and reprobate, righteous and
13: 1 O-17). Concerning those who murmured at His            wicked, the children of the flesh and the children of
sermon on the Bread of Life Jesus said: "But there           the promise, the natural seed and the seed of
are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew             Abraham, irrespective of works. God did this
from the beginning who they were that believed not,          sovereignly. This is Romans nine. God has mercy on
and who should betray him. And He said, Therefore            whom He wills and whom He will He hardens. This is
said I unto you, that no man can come unto me,               illustrated in the history of the hardening of Pharaoh.
except it were given unto him of my Father." (John           God raised Pharaoh up to show His power and declare
6: 64,65) Jesus flatly told the unbelieving Jews: "But       His Name in the earth. Studying the history of
ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I         Exodus we find God repeatedly telling Moses that He
said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know            will harden Pharaoh's heart (cf. Exodus  3:19,20;


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                855


 4:21-23; 5: 1,2; 6: 1-8; 7: 1-13, 22) and only after this    `Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same
 do we finally read that Pharaoh hardened his heart           lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
 (8:15)!                                                      unto dishonour?" (vss.  20,21) The answer to this
   At this point invariably the objection is raised that      objection must always be "0 man, keep still!" Let no
God is unjust. If the case be so with the reprobate           man question the sovereign dealings of the Almighty
how can it be that God deals justly with them when            Potter! Indeed, let us confess with our mouths and
He casts them into destruction? The Apostle faced             believe in our hearts that God: "did manifest himself
this very objection: "Thou wilt say then unto me,             such as he.is;. merciful and just . . . Just, in leaving
Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his         others in the fall and perdition wherein they have
will?" (Vs. 19) And what did the  ,holy Apostle               involved themselves." This great truth ought to move
answer? Listen: "Nay but, 0 man, who art thou that            us to deepest humility before the eyes of Him with
repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to           Whom we all have to do!
 him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?


FROM  HOL'Y WRIT



                Exposition Of Hebrews 13 :17 -- Continued
                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers




THE SPIRITUAL HEALTH OF THE SOULS OF                            What really constitutes spiritual health we are told
THE SAINTS (Hebrews 13 : 17)                                  in many passages of Scripture. In general it may be
  It is true that in this text there is no direct state-      said that spiritual health is inseparably connected
ment concerning the spiritual health of the saints; the       with "sound words of doctrine." The apostle Paul
text does not mention healthy souls. Still there is an        speaks of such sound words in his pastoral letters,
implied reference here to such health, which is more          both to Timothy and to Titus. (I Tim. 1:  IO) The
than a mere suggestion. For the text speaks in the            adjective "sound" is the translation of the Greek
negative of this when it says, "that they may do so           word  "hugianoo"  from which our English term
with joy and not with groaning,  for  that is un-             hygiene is derived. Sound words are words which give
profitable for you. " This form of statement is called        spiritual health to the new  .man in Christ. In I
"litotes," that is, a weak negative statement which           Timothy 1: 10 Paul points out that a life of fleshly
implies a very strong reality. This means here, there-        lust is contrary to spiritual health. These sins are:
fore, that it will be very hurtful for your spiritual         those of whoremongers, those who defile themselves
well-being not to submit willingly to the teaching and        with mankind, menstealers, perjured persons, etc. All
the correction of the leader-watchmen in the church           who walk in such sins are not under grace and the
as appointed by the Lord. You will need to write the          power of the Holy Spirit but are under the law which
profit which you receive on the non-credit side of            was made for evil men. (I Timothy  1:9) This is all         ,
your spiritual ledger. You will not then grow in the          contrary to sound words which teach that the elid of
grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, but you will be          the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and
a prey of the wolves, who will then give you  evii            of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. Those
teaching, and destroy your soul's stedfastness in the         are sound words of truth. Such sound,  health-
Lord, and rob you of the glad assurance that the              affording words are, that Christ came into the world
anchor holds sure and stedfast in the holy place              to save sinners. This word is worthy of all  accepta-
whither the forerunner of our'salvation has entered,          tion. Paul speaks in II Timothy 1: 13 of the form of
Jesus Christ a high priest after the order of                 sound words to which we must hold fast! When the
Melchizedek!                                                  evil days come upon the earth, then they will not


856                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER



"endure `sound doctrine." (II Tim. 4:3) And in Titus            heeded then he groans with the groan of a shepherd
1:9 the equipment of a watchman-bishop' must be                 for the sheep. He knows so profoundly what the
sound doctrine to exhort and to convince the  gain-             implications are of the injunction to Peter, "Feed my
sayers. Such gainsayers must have their mouths'                 sheep."
stopped. And that can only be so when the preacher
holds fast to the fi~nz of sound words. (Rqm. 6: 17)            THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE WATCHMEN TO
It is a form of doctrine which was delivered to the             THE LORD (Hebrews 13 : 17)
churches. The form is sin-redemption-gratitude. And
that must be preached. over against the gainsayers,               ,The matter of accountability of the watchmen is
                                                                here stressed by the writer. It is not impressed so
who deny the gospel in their false preaching. And this          much upon the min'ds and hearts of the watchmen of
sound doctrine must be spoken to the old men, aged              the souls as upon those for whose souls the watchmen
women, young daughters, each according to his need
and station in life. (Titus  2:1-6) Then there will be          care. The sheep must not suffer loss under the watch-
spiritual health in the congregation, and then only. It         ful care of the shepherd who is diligent and vigilant.
is indeed important, and also interesting, to notice            The warning "for that will not be profitable for you"
that Prov.  14:30 teaches that  "a sound heart is the           has been variously interpreted. The stronger interpre-
life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the               tation is that, in such a case of insubordination, the
bones"!  S,?undness, health-yielding sound&s of the             rulers, the leaders who are to watch for their souls,
soul is a spiritual-ethical matter of grace in Christ. It       Will complain to the Lord when they groan in their
is a matter of crucifying the old man and putting on            .work as did Elijah when "he made intercession to
of the new man. A healthy soul is one who has true              God against Israel," saying, "Lord they have killed
joy in God through Jesus Christ. The so-called mental           thy prophets," and as Ezekiel would experience from
depressions of the children of God are at bottom                the Israel of his day. (Rom. 11:2, 3; Ezekiel 3:25-27)
spiritual problems of sin;littleness.of faith, of a .David.'    Tliat is a cry of. the. preacher who is free, against the
whose bones waxed old in him when he fell into sin              gainsayers, from the blood of his congregation. How-
and did not confess his transgressions!! ! This ac-             ever, there is on the other hand the less severe inter-
counts for such a statement as that written in Psalm            pretation which holds that the writer here implies,
38:2, 3: "For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy            that, when we do not heed the Watchmen and the
hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness (health)           sound words of doctrine, we suffer spiritual loss in
in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there            life and in vigor. .In either case the text gives ample
anjl rest in my bones because of my sin."                       motif that we should heed the teaching which comes
                                                                to us from the chief Shepherd of the sheep, by those
  Now the watchmen on the walls of Zion must                    whom he authorizes for this work of caring for our
know that unless they warn God's people and                     souls.
shepherd them with the rod of the Lord, they will
not be able to give a good account in the last day.             THE REQUEST FOR CONGREGATION-PRAYER
They must be watchmen like the apostle John was                 FOR THE WATCHMEN (Hebrews 13: 18)
when he wrote in  II-1 John; "Beloved, I wish (pray)              There is nothing strange in this petition for the
above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in             prayers of all the saints for the apostles and all who
health, even as thy soul prospereth." (verse 2) When            labor in the word. Preachers are like Elijah, men of
the soul prospers (euodousthai) it presses forward on           like' passions with all the saints. (James 5: 17) Their
a beautiful way toward heaven, walking on the road              hands  nee.d to be strengthened like those of Moses
which leads to the final rest of God. Such a soul has           when Israel fights with Amalek. (Exodus 17: 11, 12)
taken refuge in God and is assured that all is well             Paul often asks for the prayers of the churches. (I
because tile anchor holds in the holy place. Then we            Thes.  5:25;IIThes.3:1;Rom.  15:30;Eph.   6:18;Col.
arc i  II spiritual health. And such care of true               4:3) God gives His grace and Spirit to be experienced
poimenics in the church and real breaking of the                only in that church where the elect cry day and night
bread of life is the only deeply spiritual psychiatry           unto God. And there He answers speedily. He says in
for sick souls. And true, healthy souls will "walk in           the Psalms that we shall open our mouth widely and
the truth." They will desire pure doctrine and the              that He will fill it with good things. (Luke 18:7; Matt.
admonitions of the gospel which conform to the form             6:5-8; Psalm 81: 10) The Lord Who is our God says
of sound words once delivered to the saints.                    that we shall cry to Him, and we shall be heard. Paul
  What a joy for the minister when he sees the con-             was deeply conscious of this and so is the writer here
gregation walk in the truth! He is a good  servant of           in Hebrews, whoever he is. And well may this be the
the chief Shepherd of the sheep, and he goes in and             request of all the servants in the church of Christ:
out before the sheep. He has no greater joy than to             professors, ministers, elders, and deacons. Jesus says:
hear that "my children walk in the truth." If he is not         pray, lest ye fall into temptation!


     G. .     %

                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER                                              857


  The writer does not merely ask for the prayers for        their prayers Peter i's delivered from the prison in a
himself personally. Yes, he too is included. He asks        very miraculous way by an angel, and he is returned
the: prayers for all the watchmen, who must give            to the church the sooner. This happened more than
account one day. "Pray for us." The tense of the verb       once. Whether the writer here refers to such a restora-
is in the present. It is the term which covers all forms    tion, or whether, he has in mind the overall control-
of prayer. It refers to prayers, askings, and thanksgiv-    ling providence of the Lord in regulating the events so
ing. But it is the intent of this injunction that this      that the writer can be restored the sooner, the text
prayer be such that it is not just once, but constant       does not say. Paul speaks of Satan's hindering his
and fervent: ask, seek, knock on the portals of heaven      coming to the saints at Thessalonica. (I Thes. 2: 18)
and God's throne. It must be prayer which reaches           At any rate, the Lord would surely restore the writer
God, Who has providential care over all things, all         the sooner up6n their prayers.
events, in heaven and on earth, and Who so rules that         The writer gives a reason for this request. He has a
Satan and all his hosts cannot stay His hand, saying,       good conscience with the Lord. He is a faithful
"What doest Thou?" For prayer is directed to the            servant. He writes of his good conscience in order to
one,  irue God as revealed in God's Word. And His           excite them to pray. And it is meet that it be so. If
hand is never shortened, so that He cannot help. He         God does not hear the prayer of-the wicked, He also
says, "before they call I will answer; and while they       does not hear the prayer which is offered in behalf of
are yet speaking, I will hear." (Isaiah  65:24; Psalm       those who do not have the Lord's cause at heart, and
32:5; Dan.  9:21) And to this God prayer must be            who do not have a good conscience. The writer trusts
made for all the servants of God, for the writer and        that the congregation is deeply convinced that their
those who are with him.                                     prayers will be heard, just as were the prayers of the
  When the entire church (churches) will be instant         Jerusalem saints for the release of Peter, the apostle,
in prayer, God will heed as He did in the case of Peter     in  Herod's prison. What a motivation for us to
in Jerusalem, when he was thrown into prison  by            remember our ministers, missionaries, and professors
Herod, after  Herod had killed James. Peter is to be        in prayer. We should be found instant in prayer for
killed after the feast by  Herod. But they are watchful     our officebearers. They need our prayers, and not our
unto prayer even in the night. (Acts 12: 12) Upon           carping fault-finding.


GUEST ARTICLE


             Our Church Order:
                             Time For A Revision?
                                               Rev. Mark Hoeksema



  Revision. A word and concept very popular with            recent example is the thoroughly bland and corrupt
some, and just as unpopular with others. In the             revision  no& proposed for the Anglican  Book of
political sense the term is favored by the leaders of       Colnmon   Prayer. Many more, including those of the
Communist China, who regularly deliver dialectical          Reformed community, have more subtly but just as
broadsides against the Russian Communists, accusing         really revised their creeds by ignoring them. And
them of "revisionism." In religious circles the term is     some have added to their creeds, as the Reformed
often used  tp describe, either favorably or pejora-        Church of America is in the process of doing. Indeed,
tively (depending on the point of view), the amending       revisionism is the current trend of our day, especially
of the doctrines, practices, and creeds of the church.      where the creeds of the church are concerned.
Recent history has seen a great deal of revisionist           All of this has undoubtedly given the term a bad
thinking and activity, most of it with negative results     connotation in the Protestant Reformed Churches.
as far as orthodoxy is concerned. Many churches have        Justifiably it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of our
revised their creeds by rewriting them; the most            people, who properly resist being swept along by the


                                                                                                                       .I


858                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


spirit of the age. Surely we must have none of this          it is not. For example, when a house or church build-
change in the wrong sense, but must maintain the             ing is so old that it becomes outmoded, we remodel it
faith of our fathers.                                        to bring it up to present standards; we do not leave it
   But is there not another aspect to this question?         in its former condition simply because it is old. Is our
What do we say to revision in the proper sense? The          Church Order essentially different?
term comes from a Latin word which means "to see                Closely related to this first objection is the objec-
again." Thus, according to Webster, it means, "to            tion that our Church Order was written by the fathers
look over again in order to correct or improve, to           of the church. Names such as Calvin, Beza, Olevianus,
make a new, amended, improved, or up-to-date                 Walaeus, and Voetius are familiar to those who know
version of something:" That is true revision: correc-        the history of the Church Order. And besides, this
tion and improvement. Not a negating of past efforts         polity was approved by the historic Synod of Dordt.
or a rejecting of previous work for these are  re-           Though it is rarely stated directly and bluntly, the
visionisnz, the perversion of revision, but a strengthen-    clear implication is that these church fathers were
ing and a making better. Applied to our Church               somehow superior to us. in Scriptural knowledge,
Order, what do we say to such revision? To that I            wisdom, and insight, and therefore we should not
address myself briefly. Obviously I cannot write             question or alter their work. An aura bordering on
about the details of such revision, nor about how and        veneration surrounds `them. But are this tacit implica-
when and where and by whom it can or should be               tion and the conclusion drawn from it true? Do not
done. I am not necessarily proposing such revision,          misunderstand: I mean no disrespect to the fathers,
but am asking some deliberately general questions in'        nor do I denigrate their work, they were not only
order to ascertain the thinking of our people. I             learned and wise, but also giants of the Reformed
merely ask some pertinent questions about the                faith whose genius flourished even in times of perse-
necessity and possibility of revising our Church             cution. We do well to listen to them and learn from
Order, in the hope that we.as saints and as denomina-        them, though many in our day are reluctant to do so.
tion will face this question squarely and honestly. I        But were they so superior to us as to be well-nigh
do not claim to have absolute answers to all of the          infallible? Is it not rather true that because  bf the
problems connected with our Church Order, so with            development of the faith since their time the church
the kind permission of our Editor-in-Chief I invite the      and its leaders today have a clearer understanding of
comments, questions, and opinions of our people.'            the truths of Scripture, and  in many respects are
Perhaps the best way to approach the subject is to           superior to them?
present various objections which are frequently raised         Along the same line is the idea that because the
against a possible revision, and also say a few words        Church Order has been sufficient for the church of
about the character and extent of a revision.                the past it is (or at least ought to be) sufficient for us.
  The most often raised objection against the altera-        Colloquially, it did the job in the past, so what's the
tion of any creed, in this case the Church Order,            matter with it now? But is it sufficient? Again, I do
(which is a lesser or secondary creed), is perhaps that,     not question whether or not it met the needs of the
it has stood the test of time. The Church Order which        church of the past; if we are to believe the record of
we now use is substantially the same as the one              history, it did. so admirably. But does the Church
adopted by the Synod of Dordrecht in 16 18-l 6 19. In        Order meet the needs of the Protestant Reformed
fact, so the objection goes, many of the principles of       Churches of today? For one thing, is there not a
the Order of Dordt were conceived and formulated             radical difference between the situation in the
more than a half century before the great Synod              Netherlands at the time of Dordt, when the Re-
itself. Ever since that time the Church Order has been       formed Church was the state church, and our status
in use in many Reformed churches even until the              as church today in the U.S., where we have the
present. In short, this ecclesiastical code has stood the    separation of church and state? An examination of
test of time, having served the church admirably for         many of the articles of the Church Order and their
more than 350 years; and that is a long time, by             history will reveal a very close connection between
anyone's reckoning. But the question must be asked:          church and state as the  .underlying principle, a
Is age the criterion by which we judge the present           principle which obviously is not applicable to us. For
usefulhess  of the Church Order? I do not imply that         another thing, are not the many additions to and
the Church Ordei was lacking for the church of the           decisions pertaining  to the articles (decisions taken
past, though in some respects it may have been, nor          first by our  Classis and later by Synod), decisions
do I deny the weight of history, especially as the           which are at times contradictory to the very articles
Holy Spirit has guided the church throughout the             to which they are appended, proof in themselves that
ages. I do question, however, whether age is a legiti-       the Church Order has already in the past been in-
mate standard to use, since in other aspects of our life     sufficient for us? Besides, must we not honestly say


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               859


that some of the articles we simply ignore as inappli-       of the language to make them clearer and more pre-
cable; and twist the meaning of others to fit our            cise. These have stood the test of time; indeed, they
needs in ways which the authors could not possibly           are timeless, for they are the rule of  Chest for His
have intended? In the light of all of this, can we really    church. But there are other articles which are simply
say that the Church Order is sufficient?                     wrong or inapplicable; these should be deleted or
  Finally there is the matter of change itself. There        modified according to the current needs of the
are those who might suggest that there is the danger         church. And there are those articles which do not
of a change for the worse. And certainly they would          deal with matters of principle, but with the general
be astute observers of the ecclesiastical scene, for         good order of the church; many of these also require
many bad changes have taken place as to creeds and           modification so that they would be in harmony with
church polity. But is this a real and threatening            our position as churches.
danger for us. More there are, perhaps, who are                As to the extent of any revision, there would seem
simply opposed to change. They do not like the               to be only two alternatives: a comprehensive change
rocking of the ecclesiastical ship, perhaps not even by      or piecemeal alterations. Some have suggested that
the asking of such questions as I am asking now. And         any revision should be gradual, perhaps one or two
certainly in the light of the universal departure from       articles at a time, starting with the most glaringly
and weakening and destruction of the Reformed                inadequate. But the results of this would be as
faith, we must be careful. What we need, if change is        piecemeal as the process itself, besides making the
to be effected, is not a weakening, but a strengthen-        matter of publishing and keeping the Church Order
ing and sharpening of our uniquely Reformed                  current a practical impossibility. Rather, what I have
position. But are those who oppose all change not a          in mind is a complete and comprehensive review of
little bit like the ostrich who buries his head in the       the Church Order so that it would be thoroughly
sand so as to remain blissful in his ignorance? What         amended and improved. This would require careful
valid objections can be adduced against change, so           study and take time; certainly the result would have
long as it is alteration in the sense of improvement         its weaknesses and would not be beyond all criticism,
and strengthening?                                           for perfection is impossible on this side of the grave.
                                                             Such perfection I do not propose nor expect; I am
  Though there are other objections which could be           looking  .only for improvement and development in
raised against a revision of the Church Order, I believe     the church of Christ, so that the government of the
I have presented the most common. The central                church will be as good as it can be.
question we must face in all of them is this: Are they
valid? The answer must determine our attitude                  Such  4n brief is the nature of the revision about
towards any alteration.                                      which I am asking these questions. I believe that we
                                                             as churches should give this matter serious considera-
  For purposes of further clarification I must make a        tion, as I have done personally for some time. Al-
few comments regarding the character and extent of           ready in seminary a thorough study of our church
revision as I have spoken of it thus far. Although I         government brought out the need for changes. Since
must again be general, we must have clearly before           that time through study, application, and discussion,
our minds exactly what this term should encompass.           especially in Bible societies, this need has been re-
  As to the character, I would make a distinction            inforced in my mind. And in' contact with those out-
between matters of principle and pract'ical matters, or      side of our churches the weaknesses as well as the
between Scripturally essential matters and those             clear strengths have been made evident. It is in the
matters which are  .concerned simply with general            spirit of the benefit and upbuilding of the church of
good order and convenience. We find both of these            Christ, and in the light of these considerations that I
emphases in the various articles. As to those articles       ask the question which heads this article: Do we need
which set forth authoritative Scriptural principles, we      a revision? Are we ready for it? Has the time come?
may not alter them, except perhaps to amend some             What do the brethren think?




                           REFORMED DOGMATICS, (Second printing). $9.95 postpaid.


860                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




                                  News From Jamaica
                                                 Mr. John M. Faber


(Editor's Note: This report represents the personal         Blood of The Lamb. I am told that at the beginning
viewpoint  of  the writer, and not necessarily that  of     of our ministry on the island, the prayer for the for-
the Rev. G. Lubbers  OY that  of  the Mission Com-          giveness of sins was totally absent. I believe that our
mittee. HCH)                                                impact upon the theological character of the services
  Having been privileged to serve the Mission Com-          has been noteworthy. This is not yet entirely true
mittee as one of the "emissaries of `76" to Jamaica, I      about the moral character of the people. A mother in
would like to share with you my personal impressions        a family may be known as Miss so-and-so, while her
of the country, "ovr" churches and the ministers  we        four children may have four different surnames. The
are supporting.                                             "New Morality" finding acceptance in our country is
                                                            but the old morality of any heathen country, and in
  We have a  commodius "cottage" to live in with            Jamaica as well. It is a way of life just as common
large rooms and high ceilings. We are very comfort-         place as the bacon-and-egg breakfast is to Americans.
able with a living room, a dining room, `two bed-             The membership of some of the churches may be
rooms, and a guest room, each with its private bath.        three to six men, five to ten women (all grannies) and
This cottage is situated about two miles from down-         from five to forty children. Fathers and mothers are
town Montego Bay, and about the same distance               conspicuous by their absence. When the children
from the airport. This last named fringe benefit is not     reach the age of about fourteen they fade from the
all on the plus side because the start of the take-off      scene, the girls going to the city to find employment,
runway is so near that the noise of the huge Jets is so     and becoming the producers of today's Sunday
loud that all conversation stops, even to the extent        School children to be brought up by their grannies.
that our table prayers suffer a hiatus at such times.       The eye-opening aspect of this to me is that there
  We met with the people of "our" churches as often         seems to be no stigma attached to this "way of life."
as possible, sometimes on a four-times-a-week basis.        There isn't any to American's breakfast preference, is
These trips are invariably over and in the mountains,       there? To be honest, this is not always the way in
making each journey a wearying business. The first          "our" churches. In one of them there is an elder who
four weeks we covered 2500 miles in a Toyota four-          "preaches" in the absence of a minister, whose wife is
door car which takes the twists and turns with dexter-      the song leader, and whose daughter is the Sunday
ity. The rear seat passengers are unwilling subjects of     School teacher, while his other children make up one
that childhood game of "crack the whip." When we            fourth of the Sunday School.
get home we are honestly tired. The mountain roads            In the services the ministers have good  "eye-
have many chuck-holes of varying depths, which after        contact" with the listeners, who show their obvious
a rain hide an unknown depth until we hit them. It          agreement with the positive and the negative state-
rains almost every afternoon in the mountains while         ments of the preacher with their long drawn out
the sky remains clear blue in the north coastal area        "yeeeees" and  "noooo" at the appropriate times.
where we live. When it rains just before church service     Their "amens" are sometimes heard at inappropriate
time there will be no service. The people refrain from      times due to habit impulses, no doubt. But a speaker
venturing out on the slippery trails and paths down         in these churches has a splendid rapport with his
the mountain sides. A blind man is a regular atten-         audience!
dant in one of the churches, and on some occasions            I must tell you about one church's being  investi-
feels his way down with his cane, finding his accus-        ga ted because it sought affiliation with "our"
tomed seat by the wall and the convenient nail for his      churches. This church was visited on a Monday
hat.                                                        evening, and it had an orchestra of its own. Three
  I am also impressed by the fact that all the elders       men (that's all there are) play instruments inter-
and deacons can lead in public prayer. Even the child       changeably. A drum, a snare drum, and a pair of
that is favored to take up the Sunday School collec-        cymbals make up the orchestra. This, accompanied
tion is asked to pray for a blessing upon the offering,     by three lusty voices produce such volume that I
and does so! The prayer of the elder may turn out to        wbndered if they could drown out our pipe organ at
be more personal than representative, but it is based       home. Wh`ile they wait for additional worshippers to
on the awareness that he is a sinner saved by the           arrive they sing their favorite songs interminably  -


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 861


which, to my mind, tends to turn off the minister's            one evening after the Sunday Service when one of
frame of mind from preaching. In that Monday                   theni led us in the singing of Psalter numbers for over
evening service, conducted by Rev. Lubbers, a visiting         an hour. The number of the selection, all the verses,
"prophetess" shouted "Hallelujah, my Lord Jesus!"              and the correct tunes were known by that young
so loudly and so often that he finally turned to her           Jamaican minister. This all without a book and in the
and said, "Cut it out, you are disturbing the service."        dark.
She then stomped out in a huff, giving a next-to-last             The progress of the spiritual growth of the mem-
shout inside the door, and a last shout outside. Such          bership of the various churches is harder to gauge
"prophetesses" are rampant on the island and their             than that of the ministers. But because the preaching
ambition is to shout down the preaching of the Word            is sound, and because it truly is the ministry of the
of God. On another occasion a woman began to                   Word of God, I believe that the congregations are
twitch her shoulders, muttering something, and then            growing in grace and knowledge. His Word never
began to stomp around on the dirt floor between the            returns void and is either a savour of life unto life or a
worshippers. On one of these voyages I stopped her             savour of death unto death; so we leave the increase
and whispered to her that we did not like such                 to the Holy Spirit. The ministers are well aware of the
carryings on. Evidently the "influence of the spirit"          fact that they can only sow and water, but that they
was not irresistible, for upon my rebuke she stopped           cannot supply the increase. The three younger
her actions. But she, too, did not stay to the end of          ministers naturally turn to their eldest colleague who
the service, presumably thwarted in her attempt to             has taken over the father-role,  counselling  them and
harass the preaching of the Word.                              encouraging them when they need a boost in morale.
   Almost every church has its "church mother" who             They all have much difficulty in reaching their
owns, or has donated the property, and thus "has"              churches. Busses do not run on Sundays, and the
the church. She rules with grim determination, even            mini-busses and taxis sometimes wait for a pay-load
to the extent, in some cases, of appointing elders and         before they will start out, so that our men have to
deacons, some of which cannot read or write, but can           urge the drivers to start soon so they can be on time
"preach."                                                      for  the' service. Even the taxi driver will not take
   Am I portraying too dark a picture of the churches          anyone to Mt. Lebanon; the road is so very rough, so
under the umbrella of our support? I admit that this           the minister must still walk the final four rocky miles.
picture is quite dark; but  - and there is a big but              The economy of the country is at a very low ebb,
which is so encouraging  - the bright side to the              depending as they do so much on tourism, with
Jamaican story, I am convinced, is centered in the             hotels at 10% capacity due to reports of violence in
four young ministers who have been instructed by the           the Kingston area. The poverty of the people must be
Revs. Lubbers, Hanko, Heys, and M. Hoeksema. Their             seen to be believed. I visited one family who was
work brightens the whole picture. These preach the             privileged, to own two pet dogs whose leanness was
truth of Sovereign Predestination and the accom-               like to that of the lean kine of Pharaoh's dream.
panying truths that comprise Calvinism. They un-               Those dogs must literally eat the crumbs from the
compromisingly preach the Gospel unadulterated                 master's table! Extreme poverty is only a few blocks
with the leaven of Arminianism, unspotted with the             from extreme riches. Hovels and mansions are the
false teaching of the "holiness" people which swarm            prevailing dwellings of the populace. It is no wonder
over the island. They boldly preach the full council of        that the prime minister tells the people that he likes
God to the best of their ability. They do this against         Communism because the common people would then
almost unsurmountable "odds." Their arms which                 fare better. According to the daily papers the country
have embraced the Truth have again been strength-              is ripe for it. The government has clamped down
ened by the visit of the "emissaries of `76." This is          entirely on issuing work permits. So it seems that it
their own testimony, and it also became evident in             will be impossible to send a missionary to work here.
their appreciation of the solutions to many of their           Emissaries are still acknowledged, and it seems to me
questions and problems that were given them in                 that this is the best solution to the problem of
private consultations. Most of those problems' were            helping `the people so they may hear the pure preach-
the direct result of their straightforward preaching in        ing of the Word of God. The government, though not
the past year. I noticed a remarkable growth in the            yet Communistic, is nevertheless reaching its tentacles
preaching ability since last year. I believe this was, td a    of control into all spheres of life, even into church
great extent, due to the instruction mailed to them by         life. None of "our" ministers can obtain a license to
Rev. Heys, and sermon outlines for them to fill up. The        marry unless their churches have doors and windows
benefit was again evidenced by their earnest pleas to          and other requirements.
"come again and teach us."They express need for more             Next week we are invited to .the wedding of one
of our material of Reformed writings: our periodicals          of the young ministers who is marrying his Sunday
and all our books, and more sermon outline instruction.        School teacher. Then the next week we go home
They love our Psalter songs, which was clearly seen            again. Good old U.S.A. here we come!


862                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


ALL AROUND US

                     Criminals  Are Made -- Not Born
                                          Time For Decision
                                                              Rev. H. Veldman



 CRIMINALS ARE MADE - NOT BORN                                         lastingly faithful covenant God will surely maintain
   In GN, THE GOOD NEWS of March, 1976,                                His covenant and church and gather that church in
 appears a lengthy article under the title: Why The                    the line of continued generations.
 Land Is Full Of Bloody Crimes. We quote only a
small part of that article, page 5:                                    TIME FOR DECISION
                                                                         Rev. Pe'ter De Jong writes on this subject in THE
       CAUSE AND EFFECT. Criminals are madk  - not                     OUTLOOK of February, 1976. In this article he
       born,. Our mushrooming crime problem should be no
       mystery to anybody who really looks into it. It's all a         deplores' conditions within his church, the Christian
       matter of cause and effect. Our epidemic. of criminal           Reformed Church. Even the casual observer, he
       behavior has been learned from adults in a factory we           writes, can hardly fail to notice that these churches
       call the home. Thousands of criminals have been                 are increasingly troubled by diverging opinions
       molded in our tottering homes.                                  regarding moral and religious issues that,  until
          But it doesn't need to be that way. We could begin           recently, gave them no problems. In this article he
       to raise a whole generation of respectful, loving,              refers to these problems. And these difficulties
       obedient young people who are a gigantic plus and an            trouble him This we can understand.
       enormous credit to this great country. But will we?               We need not quote the article. It is easily read arid
          No matter what may befall this United States of              digested. We do wish to quote the concluding para-
       America, you can as a committee of one begin to rear            graph.
       your children right. God said of the ancient patriarch                It is not pleasant to have to differ with the
       Abraham:  "For I know him,  that he will command                   opinions of sincere Christian colleagues and invite
       his children and his household after him, and they                 possible controversy, but it must be done. Refusal to
       shall keep the way of the Lord, to  do justice and                 take the stand the Bible demands that we take on its
       judgment . . . " (Gen. 18: 19). Does God know that                 own authority as God's Word must inevitably,
       about you?                                                         especially in our changing times, result in our stand-
  Indeed, we do not deny or minimize the im-                              ing for nothing at all. Trying to avoid taking such a
portance of the home. That many lawless of our day                        stand by evasion or compromise can only result in
and age are fed and nourished in wicked and lawless                       further confusing and weakening our Christian life
                                                                          and testimony. That must not be permitted to con-
homes is certainly true. But does this mean that                          tinue. The Church must without question believe and
criminals are made, not born? Does this mean that                       obey the Word of God if it is to be what our Lord
these lawless homes are factories in which these                          calls and commands it to be, "the church of the living
criminals are made and produced? Do not the Scrip-                        God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (I Tim. 3:
tures teach that "you hath He quickened, who were                         15).
dead in trespasses and sins," and that we  "were by                      I assume these "sincere Christian colleagues" are
nature the children of wrath, even as others"? - Eph.                  men who hold to these opinions which trouble Rev.
2: 1, 3. Indeed, it is not true, as this article would                 De Jong. Now, I do not question their Chiistianity.
have us believe, that it is all a matter of cause and                  But I cannot.help but wonder how sincere they are.
effect, the effect being our many criminals, and the                   Rev. De Jong writes on the subject, "Time for
cause of these criminals being the adults in a factory                 Decision." Does this mean, Rev. De Jong, that the
which we call the home. To be sure, the Church of                      time for decision has come, that the time has come
God need not despair because of our mushrooming                        for the Church to believe and obey the Word of God
crime problem. But our comfort does not lie herein,                    if it is to be what our Lord calls and commands it to
that we are able to raise a whole generation of re-                    be, "the church of the living God, the pillar and
spectful, loving, obedient young people who are a                      ground of the truth"? Is that time now? And if the
gigantic plus and  an enormous credit to this great                    Church fails in this calling, what then? Rev. De Jong,
country. But this is our comfort and assurance: the                    how much longer will you wait? Is this "time for
Lord will bless the Christian home because the ever-                   decision" to be postponed indefinitely?


                                                           THESTANDARD BEARER                                                                  863


                                                           r
                            NOTICE!!!                                                         ANNIVERSARY NOTICE
   The Free Christian School of Edgerton, Minn., is in need of a               On May 14, 1976, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR. AND
teacher for grades Kindergarten thru 4th grades. Please send applica-       MRS. GERALD BOUWKAMP, hope to celebrate their 30th wedding
tions to: MR. ART VER HEY, RT. 1  - Box 188, EDGERTON,  MINN.               anniversary. We, their grateful children, thank our Heavenly Father for
56128.                                                                      the covenant training we have received through them. It is our prayer
                                                                            that God will continue to bless them in the remaining years of their
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       pilgrimage together.
   The Mary-Martha Society of  SouthEast  Protestant Reformed                            Their grateful children:
Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to their fellow member,                     Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Bergman
Mrs. George (Margaret) Stuursma, in the sudden loss of her sister, MRS.                   Mr. and Mrs. Gary Bouwkamp
HENRY (JOHANNA) SCHOLTEN. May she be comforted in the                                     Ruth Bouwkamp
knowledge that God has taken one of His own unto Himself. We also                         Kathy Bouwkamp
pray for her to be given patience in her own convalescence in the lonely                 David Bouwkamp
daysahead.                                                                               Carol Bouwkamp
                                                                                          Lori Bouwkamp
                 Mrs. M. Schipper, Pres.                                                 and grandchildren  - Barbara, Thomas, and Julie.
                 Mrs. H. C. Ophoff, Sec'y.





                                                                    NOTICE!!!


   According to the decision of the Synod of 1975, the Council of the       Church. The  pr&Synodical  service will be held Tuesday evening, June 1,
South Holland, (Illinois), Protestant Reformed Church was appointed         at 8 PM in South Holland Church. Rev. J.L. Kortering, President of the
the calling church for the 1976 Synod. The Council of the South             1975 Synod will preach the sermon.  Synodical  delegates are requested
Holland Church hereby notifies our churches that the 1976 Synod of          to meet  with the Council before the service. Delegates in need of
the Protestant Reformed Churches in  America  will convene, the Lord        lodging should contact Mr. Gene Kuiper, 1211 East  164th.,  St., South
willing, on Wednesday, June 2, 1976, at 9 AM in the South Holland           Holland, IL 60473.

                                                                                                           Gene Kuiper, Clerk.





                                      News From Our Churches

                     Report of Classis East                                 Classis West, Rev. H. Veldman supplied Edmonton's
                          April 7,1976                                      pulpit the Sundays of March 14  - 28. The chair
          Faith Protestant Reformed Church, Jenison                         appointed elders G. Bol and R. Teitsma as the
   Classis East of our churches met in regular session                      Finance Committee for this session. This Committee
on Wednesday, April 7, 1976. Rev. C. Hanko led the                          reported a total expenditure of $318.30. Elder J.
Classis in opening devotions, and after declaring                           Dykstra of Hope Church was appointed to thank the
Classis properly constituted handed the gavel to Rev.                       ladies for refreshments. The Classical Appointment
A. Den Hartog, who chaired this session.                                    Committee of Rev. Van Overloop, elders G. Vanden
                                                                            Top and G. Scholten submitted the following pulpit
   The business before  Classis was routine and un-                         supply schedule for Kalamazoo: April 11  - C.
eventful. But this did not in any way adversely affect                      Hanko, April 25  - M. Joostens, May 2  - G. Van
the good fellowship which each  classis affords. `As                        Baren, May 16  - J. Heys, May 23  - R. Van  Over-
always, this classis was a good opportunity for fellow-                     loop, June 6 - H. Veldman, June 13 - M. Schipper,
ship and communion between the officebearers of                             June 27  - C. Hanko, July 4  - M. Joostens.  Classis
Classis East who attended from far and near.                                adopted this schedule.
   In its routine business the  Classis received for                           Voting for church visitors resulted in Revs. J. Heys
information the report of the Assistant Stated Clerk,                       and G. Van Baren being chosen, with Rev. C. Hanko
and the Report of the Classical Committee, which                            as alternate.
informed the Classis that, as a gesture of good faith to                       The questions of Article 41 of the Church Order


                                        -.-          -. . .
 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
          P.O. Box 6064                                        i                                      POSTAGE PAID A
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                   I                                GRAND RAPIDS, MI1





864

were asked and satisfactorily answered by each con-                 meeting will be held at Hope Church. Rev. G.
sistory. None needed the advice of  Classis regarding               Baren closed the meeting with prayer.
any matter.                                                                               Assistant Stated Clerk
   Classis stood adjourned until July 7, 1976, which                                      Rev. M. Joostens

                                                           **hx*

   Rev. Dale Kuiper and family, according to  the-                  being given rather serious attention.
decision of the Mission Committee ,and the Hudson-                    Hope Church (Walker, Michigan) has decide
ville consistory, returned from Maine the, week of                  establish an organ fund. The Hope Council has pl
March 28 and will live in Hudsonville for the time                  a note in their bulletin that gifts from individ
being. It was decided to close the field of labor there             societies, or collections from programs rendere
since there appeared to be no interest other than that              the church would be welcome additions to the c
of the original two families and two individuals. Rev.              fund.
Kuiper will probably be investigating various other                    Our South Holland Church has progressed be:
areas of labor in the next months. Faith Church's                   the stage of establishing an organ fund. S
bulletin reported that Rev. Kuiper would supply the                 Holland's new organ has been installed. The de
pulpit of Edmonton until Rev. Moore is installed                    tion service for their new instrument was  he1
there.                                                              March 19. Mr. Andrew Vogel, guest organist,
   The last couple of bulletins received from Hudson-               formed several numbers on the organ, both the SC
ville were printed in a new, rather attractive bulletin             choir and the church choir sang, and Rev. Enge
cover which features a sketch of what will be Hudson-               gave a short speech. Refreshments were served 2
ville's new church building. Rev. Hanko penned a                    wards in the church basement. The South  Ho1
note on -the last bulletin (March 28) that Hudsonville              Council has decided to offer their old organ tc
hoped to have the ground breaking ceremony for                      highest bidder among all of our churches. The b
their new church building that week. Perhaps we will                is to pay the shipping costs.
receive a further report on that long-awaited event                   The South Holland Evangelism Committee
later.                                                              been busy with church extension work. They
   Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Faber returned from Jamaica a                 just finished a series of radio broadcasts with
week earlier than anticipated because of an infection               pastor, Rev. Engelsma, as speaker, with the  gel
in Mr. Faber's ankle caused by a sting of some animal.              title "Fundamentals of the Reformed Faith."
Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers returned on March 30. We                      committee felt constrained to continue this  I
await their report for information concerning the                   ministry. Accordingly, they have arranged for a s
work of our Jamaican Emissaries.                                    of twenty-four half-hour broadcasts using tapes
   Another of our churches is taking steps toward                   Rev. Engelsma had prepared for the Refor
erecting a new church building.  The. Southwest                     Witness Hour. .These will be aired over the same
Church (Wyoming, Michigan) has appointed a                          tion, WFLM-FM, 103.9 mh from 8:00 to 8:30 AI
permanent "Future Church Building" Committee and                    Sunday mornings. The cost of this radio ministq
in connection with this has established a special fund              been borne by our Mission Committee with  fi
for future building plans. Since contribution                       that they received from the assets of our former
envelopes are available for regular contributions to                gregation in Oak Lawn, Illinois.
the building fund, it can be seen that this project is                               .    K. G. V.


