     The
.s~~/++/~A~.jz~
     BEARER 1
/-A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                           7





              The room (of knowledge) is locked because
           sin locks that door with utter and total finality.
          Nevertheless that room is full of wonderful trea-
           sures; treasures of the knowledge of God,
           which knowledge is riches beyond compare, not
         only in this life, but to all eternity. What glori-
           ous and marvelous riches await the one who en-
           ters that room! It is indeed a storehouse that
         dazzles the eyes and brings ecstasy to the soul.
             The key to that room  - the key that unlocks
           the door  - is Christ.
             See "The Key of Knowledge" - page 920





                                         Volume LII, No. 18, July 1, 1976    /


914                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



                           CONTENTS:                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                               Semi-monthly,   except  monthly   during  June,  July,  and  August.
                                                                               Published   by  the  Reformed   Free  Publishing   Association,  Inc.
Meditation -                                                                      Second   Class  Postage   Paid  at  Grand   Rapids.   Mich.
                                                                           Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
   The Divine Potter . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . . .914      Department Editors:  Prof.  Robert  D.  Decker,  Rev.  David   J.  Engelsma,
                                                                           Rev.  Cornelius   Hanko,  Prof.  Herman  Hanko,  Rev.  Robert  C.  Harbach,
Editorials -                                                               Rev.  John  A.  Heys,  Rev.  Jay  Kortering,   Rev.  Dale  H.  Kuiper.   Rev.
                                                                           George   C.  Lubbers,   Rev.   Meindert  Joostens,  Rev.  Marinus   Schipper,
   Pre-Seminary Graduation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 17           Rev.  Gise  J.  Van  Baren.  Rev.  Herman  Veldman.   Mr.  Kenneth  G.  Vink.
                                                                           Editorial Office:  Prof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema
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MEDITATION


                                               The Divine Potter

                                                              Rev. H. Veldman

              "The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the
             potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words. . . . "
                                                                                                                        Jeremiah 18: l-10

   The subject of the potter and the clay cannot be                         to the office of prophet by the Lord while still a
considered popular. It is unpopular for two reasons.                        youth (see Jer.  1:6), approximately at the age of
In the first place, man always resents being called                         twenty, in the thirteenth year of King Josiah (see Jer.
clay. And, secondly, he resents the fact that God is                         1:2, 25:  3), and was active in this calling until the
called the Potter.                                                           destruction of Jerusalem, 586 B.C. He prophesied,
   How difficult was Jeremiah's calling! He was called                      therefore, in an age of hopeless apostasy.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 915


   It is considered rather certain that the prophecy in     is represented as forming several vessels out of the
this Scripture occurred before the fourth year of the       same lump of clay, according to his good pleasure.
reign of Jehoiakim, about twenty years before the           Those vessels are not first marred and then reshaped
final destruction of Jerusalem during the reign of          into other vessels. They refer to the elect and repro-
Zedekiah. This word of God, expressed in the form of        bate whom God has sovereignly willed and
a figure, relates to Judah's sin and impending cap-         sovereignly calls into existence. In Jeremiah, however,
tivity. We read that this word of the Lord comes to         the one vessel is marred and then reshaped into
the house of Israel. 0, Judah may complain that the         another vessel. This is very important. The viewpoint
Lord has no right to do what  He.threatened to do;          of Jeremiah is quite different from that of Romans
however, God is the Potter and Israel has no right to       9: 19-2 1, and the purpose is also different. In Romans
appeal to the promise of God when they walk in ways         9 the purpose of the apostle is to show or vindicate
of sin and iniquity.                                        God's absolute sovereignty in determining the final
                        *  * *  *  *                        destiny of men, either to honour or to dishonour, to
   Jeremiah is commanded by the Lord to go down to          salvation and glory, or to everlasting desolation, with-
the potter's house. We may conclude that these              out regard to their works. In this text, the purpose is
potteries of Jerusalem lay in a valley near the city,       evidently to show Israel that it has no. right to the
and that it is therefore literally true that Jeremiah       promises of God when it walks in sin and iniquity.
must "go down" to the potter's house. Secondly, at          Israel, the broken, marred, spoiled vessel, wicked
the potter's house the Lord will cause His servant, the     Israel had certainly merited rejection by Jehovah. It
prophet, to hear His words. The Lord will reveal to         was changed, in the way of sin, from a vessel of
him that which He is about to do; Jeremiah will see         honour into a vessel of dishonour. This is the differ-
there a potter at work, and the Lord will explain to        ence between these two passages. We must remember,
him the significance of that potter and his work,           however, that they complement each other. They do
which Jeremiah must know, and then, of course,              not oppose or contradict each other. It is not true
proclaim in the ears of the people, the house of Israel.    that God is sovereign in Romans 9 and that His
The Lord will use the figure of the potter to reveal to     shaping of the vessel in Jeremiah 18 is conditional.
His servant, the prophet; a spiritual truth.                This can never be. They must be explained in the
                                                            light of each other. Scripture never contradicts itself.
  What did Jeremiah see? He saw a potter working a
work upon wheels. This figure of the potter was very           Indeed, God is sovereign. First, the truth of divine
common in the Old Dispensation and is still in use in       sovereignty is always expressed by the figure of the
Palestine and in Syria. We read of wheels because two       potter. -This is surely true in Isaiah  64:8. And it is
wheels were in use, both of wood, an upper and              undeniably true in Romans 9: 19-21. The same also
smaller wheel on which the jar is shaped and a lower        applies in this text. Do we not read in verse 4: "as
and larger wheel which was "kicked" by the potter.          seemed good to the potter to make it"? And do we
The same clay, usually a red clay, was used for the         not read in verse 6: "Cannot the Lord do with Israel
production of all kinds of jars and vessels which were      as this potter?"
made by the potter to suit his own purpose and
fancy. And what was this potter doing? A vessel that           Besides, this lies in the very nature of the case as
had beenmade of clay was marred in the hands of the          far as the figure of the potter is concerned. The
potter. It was spoiled. This potter now proceeds to          power here of the potter is not so much that of brute
make it again into another vessel, even as it seemed        power but of right and authority. The question is not
good to the potter to make it. This figure here, we         so much whether the potter is able to do with the
understand, refers to the house of Israel. This is plain    clay as he pleases - this lies in the nature of the case.
from verse 6. The house of Israel, Judah, the people        But the question is whether he may do with it what
of God in the Old Dispensation, the historical nation       he pleases, and whether the clay may ever question
of Israel, is the vessel in the hands of this potter.       the right of the potter to make it as it pleases him.
  Now we must understand the distinction of this               In this light also `this text must be understood.
Scripture from Romans 9: 19-2 1. In the first place, in      Indeed, the Lord had made Israel a beautiful vessel,
Romans 9 the apostle is speaking of individuals. It is       had given it the promise to build and to plant it and
clear. that those vessels of honour and dishonour are        give it everlasting salvation. The vessel, however, had
individual people. In this text in Jeremiah, however,        been marred. Israel had sinned. And now the Lord
the prophet is speaking of the nation of Israel. The         will again shape it, make it a dishonorouble vessel; the
vessel that had once been made, was marred, and is           Lord will cast it off and destroy it.
now being reshaped is the nation of Israel, called the         In all this the Lord is sovereign. We must bear in
house of Israel in this text. A second distinction,         mind that this text applies to Israel as a people. We
however, is more important. In Romans 9 the potter          read here of the house of Israel. Individual people of


916                                          ,THE  STANDARD BEARER



God can never perish. This can happen to a people.         Individuals cannot fall away from God; churches can
Nevertheless,' whatever may be the course which is         fall away. A church can begin in the truth and later
followed by a people which was a vessel of honour          depart from that truth. When the Lord, then, declares
and becomes another vessel of dishonour, God is            to a righteous church that He will bless and curse it if
sovereign. God remains the Potter. God, Who                it, depart from His ways, the change is not in the Lord
sovereignly softens the most stubborn and obdurate         but in that church.
heart, also hardens and drives the reprobate farther         Finally, this occurs according to the sovereign and
away from Himself; and this occurs according to His        unchangeable decree of Him Who is the sovereign
own unchangeable decree and through His irresistible       Potter over all. When a people departs from the ways
will. However, when the Lord's judgments fall upon         of the Lord this certainly occurs according to God's
wicked Israel, also the elect remnant, guilty with         counsel and by Him Who makes vessels of honour and
carnal Israel, suffer underneath these judgments of        dishonour. When a people turns from its evil way (as
the Lord, but are saved through them by God's              Judah did according to the remnant of election), this
almighty grace. Only, after the captivity Judah as a       also surely occurs according to God's counsel and
people of God was destroyed, never regained its            through the power of His grace, because no man can
independence, never became the people of God again.        ever repent of himself. We, however, be it according
                     *  *  *  * *                          to' the sovereign Lord Who never violates our moral-
  God, however, is also righteous. Israel had sinned.      rational being but always operates sovereignly
True, God's people always sin. But Israel or Judah         through it, are responsible beings and must give an
had become corrupt as a people. The Lord now sends         account before the Judge of all the earth. What we
Jeremiah to them. He commands them to repent and           are and have as churches we can lose, orgariically, in
also proclaims upon them the judgments of the Lord         the line of generations. How the Scriptures emphasize
in their way of sin and evil. Israel, however, rebelled    this truth, as in Romans 11, in the history of Israel of
against Jehovah. They rebelled against His preaching.      the Old Dispensation!
They objected that the Lord had given them His               May we, therefore, be and continue sober, watch-
promises, had no right to proclaim doom upon them.         ful in prayer,' that no man take our crown!
Indeed, the sinner always complains against the Lord.
In Romans 9 he complains: "Why doth He yet find              .May we  .hold fast what' we have, remain faithful
fault? Who hath resisted His will?" In Jeremiah he         even unto the end!
appeals to the promises of God.                              May the Lord preserve us by His grace according to
  God, however, is the Righteous Potter. Notice care-      His mercy. Preservation and perseverance . . . the
fully what we read in the verses 7-10. Do these verses     latter only because of the former. And the crown of
emphasize a change in God? When the Lord, e.g.,            victory is sure!
declares that He will destroy Nineveh because of its
wickedness and later spares the penitent city, did He
change? Indeed not! Nineveh changed! The Lord is
unchangeable  - see Isaiah  46:10, Acts  15:18,
Romans 9: 11. Or, do these verses speak of conditions                                              A
for the divine Potter? Notice these "if" clauses here.
This, however, is also impossible. Conditions for the        Know the standard
heavenly Potter? But is He not the Potter? Does He
not make of the clay whatever pleases Him? Is not
our repentance His work alone? And, God should be                 and follow it.
determined by conditions? How impossible!
  What do these verses mean? First, the change is not
in God but in man! When the Lord declares that He
will bless a church that walks in His ways and later
threatens that church with His judgments when it
walks in sin, is the change in God Who is holy and
always blesses the righteous? Indeed, the change is in                            Read the
that church.
  Secondly, we must bear in mind that God is                       STANDARD BEARER!
addressing a people here. Indeed, the Lord does not
do things tyrannically, but according to His righteous-
ness. We must remember that what can never happen
to an individual can happen to a church, also to us.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               917


EDITORIALS


                                  Pre-Seminary Graduation
                              Report From "Down Under"
                                            Synod of 1976

                                              Projt H. C. Hoeksema

          PRE-SEMINARYGRADUATION                           Rapids, son of Prof. Hanko and grandson of Rev. C.
  Friday, May 28, was a red-letter day for our             Hanko), Steven Houck (Hope Church, Grand Rapids),
Theological School, and especially for the five young      and Carl Haak and David Zandstra (both sons of our
men who graduated from our pre-seminary depart-            South Holland, Illinois congregation). Sorry, a group
ment.                                                      photo was not available when we went to print; you
                                                           will have to be satisfied with the names.
  In case you are unacquainted with the way in
which our seminary operates and the way in which its         The program was held in the seminary's Assembly
curriculum is divided, let me briefly explain. We have     Room, with Rev. C. Hanko (president of the Theolog-
two departments in the seminary: the pre-seminary          ical School Committee) in charge, and Prof. H. Hanko
and the seminary departments. These are operated           delivering the graduation address to a goodly gather-
separately, so that a student must complete the pre-       ing of friends and relatives of the graduates. Prof.
seminary course acceptably before he is admitted by        Hanko's address will be found elsewhere in this issue.
our Theological School Committee and our Synod to
the seminary department. The pre-seminary depart-                     REPORTFROM"DOWNUNDER"
ment is a 4-year course in which the student must            From a correspondent in Australia we received
complete work equivalent to that required for a            some preliminary information concerning actions of
college degree. A large part of this course consists of    the Synod of the Reformed Church of Australia and
various prescribed subjects taught at our own school,      concerning developments in connection with the so-
while the rest of the course consists of credits to be     called Woudstra case. We hope to receive more
earned in various subjects at some local college. For      detailed information later. But for the time being we
the young men who graduated, therefore, this was an        pass on to the readers the following items:
important way station along the road to their ulti-        1. The Reformed Church Synod decided to maintain
mate goal, that of being received into the ministry of     their sister-church relationship with the  Gere-
our Protestant Reformed Churches.  F,or our school         formeerde Kerken  of the Netherlands. There were
and for our churches it means, in the first place, that    those who wished to suspend this tie, even `as the
we are one step farther along the way toward               Reformed Churches of New Zealand did; but
increasing the number of available ministers. In the       apparently the fraternal delegates from the Dutch
second place, it means that for the second time we         church persuaded the Synod that things were not so
have fruits from our recently instituted pre-seminary      bad as reported, and even that the Dutch church is
program. We who are closely associated with the            actually tioing something about heretics like Kuitert
work are convinced of the benefits of this program         and Wiersinga. The truth of the matter is, however,
and of the importance of maintaining and enlarging         that while the GKN have made some pronouncements
it. We have already seen the concrete benefits in our      on the teachings of both men, they have not actually
seminary department. Among those who graduated             done anything about their heresies and have, in fact,
this year were some who entered the program right          refused to institute any disciplinary procedures
from high school and who spent parts of four years         against  ,them. Anyone who thinks that the recent
with us, therefore.                                        "judicium" concerning Wiersinga's denial of the
  The graduates were Ronald Cammenga (from                 atonement marks a turnabout in the GKN is whistling
Holland, Michigan, and now a member of Southwest           in the dark! Similar pronouncements have been made
Church), Ronald Hanko (Hope Church, Grand                  regarding Kuitert's teachings in the past; and what has


 918                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 come of them? Kuitert goes his merry way! When              Woudstra's views of reprobation. We expect to hear
 Wiersinga is suspended and deposed from office, we          more on this subject later.
 can begin to believe that things are improving in the          From the above it is evident that the Reformed
 Netherlands. And bear in mind that the Australian           Church of Australia has by no means solved its
 Reformed Church becomes principally co-responsible          problems and the problems involving Geelong. Nor is
 for the corruption in the Netherlands by continuing         there any evidence as yet that the Reformed Church
 to recognize the Dutch church as a sister church.           in that country has made any move to solve in a
 2. As might be expected, matters related to the dis-        Reformed way the  doctrinal problem  which  con-
 missal of Dr. S. Woudstra from the Reformed                 .fronts it concerning the denial of sovereign predes-
 Theological College at Geelong were before the              tination. In fact, as of now the evidence is all in the
 Synod. In this connection, the following was reported       opposite direction.
- `to us:                                                       Meanwhile, the Reformed Church of New Zealand
 a) Dr. Woudstra, who became pastor of the Hobart            will also have to pay attention to the matters con-
 (Tasmania) Reformed Church after his dismissal from         cerning the Reformed Theological College at Geelong.
 Geelong, retained his standing as minister in the           Supposedly a safe agreement was negotiated which
 Reformed Church.                                            will insure the support of those churches only as long
                                                             as Geelong is doctrinally sound. Can those churches
 b) Opportunity was afforded to Dr. Woudstra to
 appeal his dismissal from Geelong to a specially            continue to support Geelong in the light of the fact
                                                             that one instructor after another becomes exposed as
 appointed tribunal. There was an appeal procedure
 already at the time of Woudstra's dismissal, but he         having non-Reformed tenets? Time will tell.
 did not take advantage of his right to appeal at that                          SYNOD OF 1976
 time. Allegedly this was because the same personnel
 who dismissed him would also be involved in his               After a week of very busy meetings, Synod of
 appeal. Now, however, a special tribunal for appeal         1976 has become history. As is our custom, we
 will serve. On this tribunal there will be men only         present a brief review of some of Synod's activities
 from the Reformed Church, however, since the Free           and decisions. This report is not official, and it is not
 Church (Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia)           exhaustive. Hopefully, the Acts of the Synod of 1976
 has officially decided to withdraw its support of           will be published promptly this year; and the com-
 Geelong. It will be interesting to see what a tribunal      plete account of Synod's decisions may be found
 unhampered by any Free Church strictures will               there.
 decide if Woudstra appeals. Actually, of course, the           This year's synod met at South Holland, Illinois;
 doctrinal issue has already been decided for the            and there were several days during Synod's sessions
 Reformed Church: for they have embraced Woudstra            on which the air-conditioned facilities of the South
 as a minister in good standing in spite of his dismissal    Holland church furnished welcome relief from the
 from Geelong for serious doctrinal errors.                  heat (and smog!) of the Chicago area. The  pre-
                                                             synodical prayer service on the evening of June 1 was
 c) Reportedly Dr. Woudstra is not seeking reinstate-        led by the Rev. J. Kortering, president of last year's
ment at Geelong, but only exoneration. The report is         synod. The text of his sermon was Psalm  125:1,2:
that he intends to return to the U.S. in February,           "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion,
 1977.                                                       which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As
                                                             the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the
 3. A new complication has developed, however. In            Lord is round about his people from henceforth even
 the course of the discussion at Synod, it was learned       for ever." The sermon was warm and inspiring, and it
 that Dr. Vander Laan, newly arrived professor of            certainly furnished the appropriate encouragement to
 philosophy at Geelong, has doctrinal views similar to       the delegates. For this reporter listening to Rev.
 those of Dr. Woudstra, and that he so informed the          Kortering preach was a rather novel experience: it
 Principal of the Reformed Theological College before        was the first time I had heard Rev. Kortering preach
 his arrival in Australia. This fact became known, how-      since his practice preaching efforts in his senior year
 ever, only at the Synod - prior to the time that the        in.seminary in the 1959-`60  school term.
 Synod finally went into closed session. It ought to be
 a question, therefore, whether Vander Laan can con-           .& is customary, after the organizational meeting
 tinue as professor. Whether this will be an actual          on Wednesday morning, the four advisory committees
 question remains to be seen.                                spent the remainder of the day studying and pre-
                                                             paring advice on the portions of the Agenda assigned
 4. Apparently there was also some discussion about          to them. For some reason - I have not been able to
 the possibility of re-examining and reframing the           determine what it was  - the advisory committees
 Canons of Dordrecht along the lines of Dr.                  seemed to have difficulty completing their work this


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                919



year. If I am not mistaken, all of the committees             the congregation of Christchurch immediately; and
continued to have meetings during the evenings, after         steps have already been taken to implement the
Synod adjourned for the day, even as late as Monday,          decision. Our Committee has submitted a nomination
June 7. But in most instances the careful work of the         to the Session of Christchurch OPC consisting of
committees also served to guide Synod very                    Revs. B. Woudenberg, A. den Hartog, J. Slopsema,
efficiently in its deliberations and decisions. Only in a     and M. Hoeksema. The congregation in Christchurch
couple of instances did Synod deviate from the advice         will now extend a call to one of these brethren,
of the committees or recommit an item to the                  according to the plan. And it is our sincere hope and
advisory committee.                                          prayer that the Lord will incline the heart of one of
   Officers of Synod this year were: President, Rev.         these men to answer the call for help from "down
C. Hanko; Vice President, Rev. D. Engelsma; Clerks,          under. "
Revs. J. Kortering and G. Van Baren.                            Committee II served Synod with advice on matters
   On Thursday morning, June 3, Synod began its               pertaining to missions. Synod had before it a long and
deliberations by giving attention to matters regarding        detailed report concerning the work in Jamaica.
our Theological School. One of the main items receiv-         There were many details of this work to be con-
ing attention in this connection was the rapid growth        ' sidered. The country is closed to a permanent
of our student body and the consequent increasing             missionary at present, so that there could be no con-
work of the faculty. Consideration was given to the           sideration of the possibility of sending a man to
eventual need of another professor. But Synod  .was           Jamaica on a permanent basis. The work there, how-
not of a mind to make any hasty changes. Instead,             ever, will be continued, help will be given especially
provision was made for some temporary assistance in           to the four young ministers trained through our
the school (to be arranged by the faculty and the             labors, and emissaries will again be sent to oversee
Theological School Committee); and the Theological            and evaluate the work there. With regard to Rev.
School Committee was instructed to make a study of            Harbach's labors in Houston, it was decided to con-
the long-range needs of our school. Prof. Decker,             tinue the work in that field with a view to the
whose first term as professor ended this year, was            possibility of new contacts there; the situation in
re-appointed to a 4-year term; we are happy to report         Houston is not yet ripe for the organization of a
that later during Synod's sessions he informed us of          church. And the Hudsonville Consistory, along with
his acceptance of this appointment.                           the Mission Committee, were instructed to have Rev.
  The second item assigned to Committee I was the             Kuiper labor to follow up various contacts in the
report of the Committee for Contact With Other                Michigan area for the time being. If nothing develops,
Churches. Most of this report dealt with- matters             Rev. Kuiper will be declared eligible for a call from
which arose in connection with last -year's Aus-              one of our congregations. Both of our missionaries,
tralasian Tour and with the fruitful contacts made at         by the way, were present at Synod and addressed the
that time. This was something new for a synod of our          Synod concerning their labors. Let us remember the
churches: for this was really the first time in our           cause of our mission labors and the laborers before
history that our churches were confronted by any-             the throne of grace.
thing positive in the way of relationships with other           A final item of importance on which Committee II
churches. Synod, therefore, gave long and careful             advised Synod was an overture and an accompanying
attention to these matters, and was not minded to act         Study Committee report which dealt with the place
hastily. In fact, Synod still had to complete action on       of the local church in mission labors and with the
one important item, that of the request for help from         relationship between the local church and the Mission
New Zealand, during its final session. Two items              Committee. The advisory committee served Synod
deserve special mention here: 1) Synod authorized             with very careful and detailed advice on this matter -
the Committee for Contact to continue discussions             advice which, for the most part, was adopted. It is
with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia         not possible to report the details of these decisions
with a view to establishing a sister-church relation-         here. In general, we may say that the whole process
ship. 2) Synod heeded the call for help from the              of overture and study has resulted in some adjust-
Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Christchurch, New             ments with respect to the relationship between the
Zealand, and authorized the loan of one of our                churches and the Mission Committee and a renewed
ministers as pastor of that congregation. This was a          emphasis upon the calling of the local churches in the
major decision; and although Synod first hesitated            work of missions. Unless, however, the churches pay
somewhat, after long and careful discussion and a few         attention to these decisions and unless our mission
changes in the original proposal of the Committee for         calling receives proper emphasis in the pulpit, all the
Contact, a decision was taken by overwhelming vote.           decisions in the world will have no effect. Let us
The Committee for Contact was instructed to inform            remember this!


920                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
I

       Committee III advised on many items which are         due to the need of building up our denominational
usually classified as rather routine, as well as on some     Emeritus Fund with a view to future retirement of
interim reports concerning the unfinished work of            our older ministers; part was, of course, due to our
     catechism book revision. The major item on this com-    decision to help God's people in New Zealand.
mittee's docket was that of the Study Report con-            Synod, it may be said, was constantly mindful of the
cerning Baptism on the Mission Field. The Study              budget, acted very carefully, and certainly was by no
Committee presented a lengthy and careful report             means a spendthrift synod. Committee IV is actually
which recommended that our missionaries, under               a kind of watchdog committee in regard to finances,
certain limitations, should administer baptism on the        and serves Synod and the churches well in this regard.
mission field even where no congregation has been            But the simple fact is that the Lord has laid this
organized or is on the point of organization. Since          work, and its attendant expenses, upon us. The work
this is an important change from past practice, and          of God's kingdom as represented in the cause of our
since the Study Report had been in the hands of              churches must go forward; and our churches should
delegates and consistories for only three weeks or           consider it a privilege as well as a responsibility to
less, Synod decided to refer this Study Report to the        support this work. Meanwhile, it would be well - and
churches for study, with a view to reaching a decision       it certainly would be helpful - if one or two of our
at the next Synod. It is incumbent, therefore, upon          larger congregations would agree to sponsor and
the churches to study this report carefully; and if          underwrite the costs of some of these labors. In the
individuals or consistories wish to reflect on this          past, for example, one of our churches supported one
report, they should do so by overture to the next            of our missionaries by itself. Why not consider this
Synod. This brings to mind a weakness in our system          possibility, either with regard to our mission
which ought to be corrected. The purpose of our              endeavors or with regard to the loaning of a minister
Agenda, according to our rules for synod, is to              to New Zealand?
provide the churches with the opportunity to reflect           For the rest, you will have to consult the Acts of
(by way of overture) on matters coming before                Synod-1976 for details. You ask when will the Acts
Synod. However, the Agenda does not appear until             appear? Well, I failed to mention that Rev. M.
about the  l@h of May; and there are no classical            Schipper reported to Synod that he was unable to
meetings between that time and the time when Synod           carry out the duties of Stated  .Clerk which he
meets. Nor has any procedure been outlined by which          accepted last year. Synod accepted his resignation;
a consistory may reach Synod with an opinion or an           and it elected a young, vigorous, efficient man in his
objection concerning matters in the Agenda. Unless           place: Rev: M. Joostens. We look forward to the
correction of this `weakness is made, I predict that         prompt publication of this year's Acts, as well as to
some day our churches are going to face problems in          the belated publication of the 1975 Acts.
this regard. This ought to be discussed, and a solution
of this flaw in our system should be presented.                May the Lord our God follow the various decisions
       Committee IV advised Synod chiefly on matters of      taken with His indispensable blessing, and may the
finance, such as subsidy for needy churches, budgets         cause of His church as represented in our churches
of standing committees, etc. It is a fact that there will    continue to prosper and go forward!
be a considerable increase in the synodical budget for       Postscript: I neglected to mention that Hudsonville,
the next fiscal year, and a consequent increase in           Michigan, was appointed the calling church for the
assessments. Part of this increase is due to a large         1977 Synod.
increase in subsidies for needy churches; part of it is

GRADUATION ADDRESS--

                                 The Key Of Knowledge

                                                   Prof H. Hanko
INTRODUCTION                                                 outside of dishes, but who are inwardly full of
       While dining in a certain Pharisee's house, Jesus     wickedness.
was the object of the scorn of His host because he             This series of woes was interrupted by a lawyer
was eating without first washing. This became the            who complained that Jesus was also reproaching them
occasion for a series of woes which Jesus pronounced         with his condemnation of the Pharisees. In response
upon the hypocritical Pharisees who make clean the           to this, Jesus turned also with His terrible woes to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                921



them. And among the reasons why they too were to                From this context we may say that the knowledge
be condemned was the fact that they had taken away           to which Jesus refers has. especially four elements
the key of knowledge.                                        about it.
  The lawyers were that group of Jewish leaders who             In the first place, Jesus uses the word "knowledge"
made the law of Moses especially the object of their         in the broad sense of the word. He does not limit the
study. They sought to understand the law and apply           expression here. He speaks of knowledge in general.
it to the life of Israelites. But in their study and         He speaks of knowledge from the viewpoint of all
teaching of the law, they took away the key of               that a man knows with his soul.
knowledge; and by doing this, they did not enter into
that knowledge themselves, nor did they permit                  In the second place, this knowledge, however, is
others to enter who desired this.                            true knowledge. Or, to put it a little differently, it is
                                                             knowledge of the truth. And, as such, it is always
  Although this is a rather negative discussion of the       knowledge of God. This is the only true knowledge
key of knowledge, I wish to call your attention              there is. Although we may perhaps speak in a certain
briefly to it this morning on the occasion of your           sense of knowledge from a formal point of view
graduation.                                                  (Columbus discovered America in  1492), neverthe-
                                                             less, true knowledge in the sense in which Scripture
                                                             speaks of it is always knowledge of God. Anything
  There have been various interpretations of this            else is principally the lie.
expression by different commentators. Meyer, e.g.,             But at the same time, there is also no true knowl-
makes the knowledge of which Jesus speaks divine,            edge of God except it be  saving  knowledge. Once
saving truth which he compares to a closed house:            again, in the abstract it is perhaps possible to speak of
The key, he says, has no specific referent, but the          a certain objective knowledge of the truth which a
lawyers are accused of preventing the people whom            man possesses; but man being the sinner that he is
they instructed from gaining true knowledge. -.              will never hold to that truth apart from faith. Thus
  Lenski  speaks of the fact that the key spoken of in       faith is absolutely indispensable to the acquisition of
the text is the Scriptures, and specifically, Christ. But    that knowledge. But faith is always more than mere
he identifies the key and the knowledge which the            intellectual assent to a body of objective data.
key unlocks.                                                   In the third place, this knowledge is principally in
  Calvin identifies the key with the keys of the             the Scriptures. This does not contradict what I have
kingdom of heaven and makes the knowledge of                 already said. Jesus refers indeed to knowledge in a
which the text speaks the true understanding of the          very general sense. And some of that knowledge you
law of Moses.                                                have acquired in your years in college. You have
  No doubt all these interpretations have an element         gained knowledge in such areas as history, science,
of truth to them. The correct idea must be deter-            psychology, logic, philosophy, etc. Yet the fact
mined by the context in which these words of our             remains that the Scriptures are the principle of all
Lord appear.                                                 knowledge. This is true for two reasons. One reason is
  The lawyers to whom Jesus speaks were men who              the subjective condition of man. Man is a sinner. And
made the law of the Old Testament the particular             the sin which inheres in his very nature makes it
object of their study. But that law was a part of the        essential for knowledge to come to us in the Scrip-
Old Testament Scriptures which God had given to His          tures. Without Scripture there is no knowledge of
Church. In their study of the law and their applica-         God. The second reason is objective. All knowledge
tion of it to the life of the people of Israel, they         comes through Christ. Let me say that again.  All
considered that law as a mere body of legislation            knowledge comes through Christ. God does not reveal
governing Israel's civil, ceremonial, and ecclesiastical     Himself, except through Christ. All revelation is
life. Or, at best, they looked upon the law as a kind        through Christ. And Christ may be known only
of ladder upon which a man could climb to heaven.            through the Scriptures.
They forgot that the heart of the law was Christ, for          In the `fourth place, the figure of the text is that of
all the law pointed ahead to Christ and was the              a locked room. No doubt, knowledge is presented
schoolmaster, to use Paul's expression, to lead to           under that figure in the text on the one hand because
Christ. Thus, by their teaching, they took away Christ       all knowledge comes through revelation. Revelation is
and deprived the people of the knowledge of the truth        the uncovering of the Unknowable God. On the other
as revealed in the law - specifically the knowledge of       hand, the room is locked because sin locks that door
the riches of the kingdom They did not enter into            with utter and total finality. Nevertheless, that room
that knowledge themselves, and they hindered those           is full of wonderful treasures: treasures of the knowl-
who were entering in.                                        edge of God, which knowledge is riches beyond


 922                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 compare, not only in this life, but  in15 all eternity.     door to that knowledge remains locked.
 What glorious and marvelous riches await the one              The theory of common grace also throws away the
 who enters that room! It is indeed a storehouse that        key. Those who are addicted to this theory teach that
 dazzles the eyes and brings ecstasy to the soul.            because of a general attitude of favor towards all
THE KEY'                                                     men, God gives to all men a general operation of the
                                                             Spirit. By means of this there is, so they say, a certain
   The key to that room - the key which unlocks the          true knowledge of God apart from Scripture which
 door - is Christ.                                           can be obtained apart from faith and apart from
   In a certain sense of the word it is true that the key    Christ without salvation. This too throws away the
and the room are to be identified. On the one hand,          key of knowledge and locks the door to the true
Christ is indeed the key by which the  dopr to that          knowledge of God. If the unbeliever is able to acquire
room is opened. Because the lawyers of Jesus' day cut        some such knowledge, then that knowledge is the
Christ out of the law, they threw away the key of            knowledge of the lie. Throwing away the key one is
knowledge. But, on the other hand, because the               consigned to stumbling about in a pitch dark room,
Scriptures are the principle of all knowledge and            thinking one has acquired treasures when one only
because the Scriptures. are the record of the revelation     handles the filthy lies produced in unbelieving minds.
of Christ, therefore Christ is also the principle of all       The key of knowledge is also discarded by the
that knowiedge.                                              A.A.C.S. Those who follow the new philosophy from
   Nevertheless, He is the key. All knowledge is             Amsterdam make a disjunction between Scripture
 opened to us only through Christ. This is true of the       and God's Word or work in creation. But then there is
 Scriptures first of all. If you take Christ out of the      a knowledge to be gained apart from Christ. And the
 Scriptures, whatever you have left is not true knowl-.      effect is that the key is thrown away, and the room
 edge. Indeed, you have nothing left principally. Only       of the true knowledge of God remains locked.
 when you see Christ in the Scriptures do you see that         But you have been given that key. Your graduation
 which the Scriptures reveal. Only when Christ is the        is the token of that. Graduation from a school is not
key by which the door of the Scriptures is opened, do        necessarily that. But here, within these walls, it is.
the riches of that room full of treasure become avail-       Your diploma does not signify only that you have
 able to us and become our possession. The Scriptures        intellectually mastered a given amount of material
 are what they are `because of Christ.                       with sufficient competence to acquire a passing grade.
   But, from this viewpoint, this is true of all knowl-      It signifies that you have been given the key of
 edge. Because we can come to true knowledge, the            knowledge. If it does not signify that, then we have
knowledge of God, only through the Scriptures,               no business here in this institution.
therefore, we can acquire knowledge in any discipline          You have been given that in all the subjects you
 of knowledge. only through Christ. This is true of          have been taught. It is a key which opens to you the
history, of science, of philosophy, or whatever. Take        storeroom of the treasures of that knowledge of
Christ out and you have nothing left. Remove Christ          which Jesus speaks. As long as you hold that key, the
from history and you can have no genuine history.            door will be open before you. You have begun to
Take Christ out of science and you have no genuine           enter that room. Do not think that you have now
science. But with Christ as the key to all knowledge,        examined and acquired all the treasures in it. You
everything fits and all becomes clear. The room of           have only begun. Indeed a lifetime is insufficiently
knowledge is opened and the true treasures of the            long to discover the riches in that room.
knowledge of God become our possession.                        But it is your key given to you to use. Use it as you
THEKEYTHROWNAWAY                                             continue your studies now that you are ready to
                                                             enter Seminary. Use it as you enter that room again
   The lawyers threw away the key of knowledge.              and again in your quest for the truth. The lawyers did
   There are many who do the same today.                     not themselves enter in. You will not either if you
   Those who no longer accept the Scriptures as the          discard the key.
infallibly inspired Word of God take away the key of           But because you study for the ministry of the
knowledge. It may be that the errors which some find         Word and sacraments in God's Church you will, in the
are relatively few in number. But the trouble is that        future, the Lord willing, also lead others into that
there is really no stopping. And presently Christ is         treasure room of the kingdom. The lawyers hindered
taken out of the Scriptures, for the miracles are            those who were entering. They could not prevent
denied; and along with the miracles go the virgin birth      them from entering, for the key comes to them from .
of Christ, His resurrection from the dead, and His           elsewhere - if not from the lawyers. May your heart
. atoning sacrifice on the cross. But -when the key is       be set on that calling to aid others to enter. And may
thrown away, then all true knowledge is gone, for the        God give you the desire of gour heart.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                923


GUEST ARTICLES



                         Are You Sure of Your Salvation (2)
                                               On Vacations
                                        Mr. Carter's Religion

   ARE YOU SURE OF YOUR SALVATION (2)                        God, and not have the full assurance of it. The child
                                                             of God is not always on the mountaintops of faith
                    Rev. J. Slopsema                         when the personal assurance of salvation is strong.
                                                             Quite often he finds himself in the spiritual valleys of
  In the previous article, we discussed this question        doubt and despair, so that God seems far away and
from the point of view of its meaning. Negatively, the       the matter of personal salvation is brought into ques-
question is not: have you done enough to make sure           tion. The child of God has his spiritual ups and
that you are saved? Have you done enough to assure           downs.
yourself a place in heaven? Rather is the question to
be understood: are you sure that God has saved you?             In fact there are some children of God who never
This we discussed from the point of view of II Peter         seem to be able to get out of their spiritual valleys.
1: 10. This question has to do, therefore, with the          They struggle with the assurance of their own salva-
personal assurance of our calling and election.              tion all their life. They never come to a time when
                                                             they can say, "I am fully persuaded and confident
  This is a very important question.                         that I am a child of God and that salvation is mine."
  For, in the first place, it is necessary that we have      There are even those who claim that such a blessed
this assurance. There is a two-fold necessity here.          assurance is not possible at all. Rather, doubt is the
  It is necessary to have this assurance, first of all,      norm for the child of God. It is normal for the Chris-
because God demands it of us. "Give diligence to             tian to' be in doubt about his own salvation. There
make your calling and election sure" (II Peter 1: 10.)       may be a few elite within the church who have
That is a command which the Lord lays upon us. It is         attained this assurance. But the norm is that the child
our obligation before God to attain this assurance.          of God never attains the personal assurance of salva-
                                                             tion in this life.
  But, in the second place, the child of God must
have this assurance because of an inner, spiritual             The truth of the matter, however, is that the
necessity within the believer himself. The question of       assurance of salvation is possible and, in fact, normal
salvation isthe all important question of his life. To       for the Christian.
have and possess salvation is to have everything. To           How often in Scripture do we not find that the
lack it is to have nothing. He may have all else: riches,    saints confess their personal assurance of salvation?
honor, position, and fame. But if he does not possess        The Psalms are filled with such confessions, too
salvation, he really has nothing and is of all men most      numerous to mention. Consider the words of the
miserable. Such is the spiritual attitude of the child of    Apostle Paul in Romans 8:35,37: "Who shall separate
God. There is within the heart and soul of the child         us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or dis-
of God an insatiable thirst for the assurance of             tress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
personal salvation. He must attain the knowledge and         peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are
assurance of his own salvation. He must know that he         more than conquerors through him that loved us."
is numbered among God's elect. And he will do any-           Here Paul speaks not only for himself, but also on
thing and everything  - cross the seven seas if              behalf of the church of Rome. He does not say "I"
necessary - to attain that assurance. He must know!          but "us." Both Paul and the saints at Rome were
  But quite often the child of God does not have the         assured of the saving love of God in Christ through
full and confident assurance of his salvation. For it is     which they were more than conquerors. Many more
possible to be saved, to be one of God's elect, to be        examples of this nature could be mentioned.
called out of darkness into the marvelous light of             But, in the second place, it is inconceivable that


924                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


God would elect and save someone withdut also                   testimony to the one who will find the assurance of
giving him the assurance of that fact. For what is the          salvation by such self-introspection.
purpose of God's saving work? It is that His elect may             Finally, there are some who rely upon special
glorify His name in praise and thanksgiving for the             revelations from God. The only way to obtain the
blessings He has bestowed on them. But this certainly           assurance of salvation is that God somehow reveal it
presupposes that His people first be conscious of and           to them in a special way  - whether through some
have the assurance of the fact that they are saved.             mystical inner joice, or through some experience, or
How can one walk in gratitude to God for His bless-             through some extraordinary event. But the problem is
ings if he does not have the assurance of them? There-          that God does not reveal Himself mystically through
fore, it is not only possible, but also normal for, the         inner voices and feelings. His revelation can never be
child of God to have the assurance of salvation. If he          divorced from His objective Word.
lacks that assurance, it is abnormal. It is a sign that all        How, then, do we obtain the blessed assurance of
is not well with him spiritually.                               salvation?
   This leads us to consider how one attains the                   In the first place, we must bear in mind that just as
assurance of salvation.                                         it is God Who must save us, so also is it God through
   We can say from a negative point of view, that we            His Spirit Who must give us the assurance of salva-
can not obtain the assurance of salvation by appealing          tion. For according to Romans 8: 16 it is the Spirit
to a past conversion. There are those who are able to           that. beareth witness to our spirit that we are the sons
point to a sudden conversion in their lives. Before             of God. Only when the Spirit brings that testimony
they lived in sin and wickedness. But the grace of              do we have the assurance of our own salvation.
God suddenly brought them to conversion. They are                  But this testimony comes only in connection with
able to recall the hour and the day with all its details.       the objective Word. This is where so many.go astray.
Their conversion was like that of the Apostle Paul or           They divorce the testimony of the Spirit from the
the thief on the cross. By appealing to such a past,            Word and fall into mystical subjectivism. It is, how-
sudden conversion, they hope to attain the assurance            ever, only in connection with the Word, and
of salvation. But this will not bring assurance. How            especially the preaching of the Word, that the testi-
easy it is over the course of time for doubts to arise in       mony of the Spirit comes to the child of God. The
one's mind! Was this a true conversion or merely a              Word reveals the whole work of God's salvation,
figment of the imagination? Besides, let us not forget          starting from election, proceeding to the cross,
that the experience of sudden and vivid conversion is           passing on the call of God to salvation, and ending
not everyone's and certainly should not be set up as a          with the glorification of His people. When the child
standard for all. In some circles, if a man can not             of God comes into contact with that Word he asks
point to some such sudden conversion, he simply is              whether that is.for him. Am I one of those elect? Did
not saved. But such sudden conversions are the excep-           Christ die for me? Has God called me to salvation?
tion, rather than the rule. Normally, in the sphere of          Does this all apply to me? Then, in connection with
the covenant, conversion is gradual, not sudden.                that Word, the Spirit testifies to our spirit. That is, He
                                                                applies that Word of God to us personally so that we
   There are others who would obtain the assurance              have the assurance of our salvation.
of salvation by introspection and searching for evi-
dences of grace in their lives. The elective and saving           However, all is not yet told. We may not divorce
grace of God bears spiritual fruits of righteousness            the testimony of the Spirit from the Word; but
within the life and consciousness of the child of God.          neither must we divorce it from our calling. Peter
He is sorry for his sins. He delights in the law of God,        adhonishes us to make our calling and election sure.
striving to be pleasing to the Most High. He loves the          Bq' making our calling sure, we thereby also make our
brethren and is not a friend of the world. Therefore,           election sure which is the immovable basis for the
so the reasoning goes, if one but looks inward and can          assurance of salvation. But we make our calling sure
discover within himself such evidences of God's grace,          only by walking in the way of that calling. That
he can have the assurance that he is one of God's               means a walk of sanctification. For thereunto are we
own. But the trouble with this approach is that when            called. The Spirit does not testify to our spirit, does
he does this, for every evidence of grace that"he  finds        not apply to  us personally the Word of salvation,
that testifies that he is a child of God he will find a         apart from our daily walk and life in the midst of this
thousand evidences in his life that testify that he             world. Only when we walk uprightly in the way of
never was a child of God. For the child of God, as              our calling, fighting against our sins, striving to do
long as he is in this life, is still plagued with his sinful    that which is good before God does the Spirit give us
flesh so that even his best works are corrupted and             the assurance of our salvation.
tainted with sin. And one's sin brings a very damning             This, of course, has far reaching implications.


                                             THESTANDARD BEARER                                                925


  It implies, first of all, that we must seek out and      improper stewardship? The head of each family
attend to the pure preaching of the Word. It stands to     should ,not neglect to face this question of steward-
reason that the Spirit does not work His testimony of      ship. Each must consider it and satisfactorily answer
assurance in connection with the lie. To the degree,       it for himself. That this question can be for the most
therefore, that the preaching has become adulterated       part satisfactorily answered, I have no doubt. Nor do
with false doctrine, to that degree the people of God      I doubt that in some instances the conscience will
will lack the blessed assurance of their own salvation.    twinge when it is seen what percentage of the total
If you desire to have a strong and flourishing assur-      income.is spent on the vacation.
ance, which is also the demand of God, then it is            Far be it from us to condemn vacations as such.
imperative that you regularly attend the pure preach-      For the most part, they are beneficial, and for some
ing of the Word.                                           are even necessary. The strain which our very busy
  But, in the second place, this all implies that we       life puts upon us is great. As time is taken to behold
must strive to walk uprightly before God according to      the wonders of God's creative hand, this strain is
all the commandments of His Word. We must fight            relaxed.
against all our sin. Daily we must put off the old man     It is often said after one gets back to work, that
and put on the new man of righteousness. Only then         one is less busy at work than while on vacation.
will we have the strong personal assurance of our own      Though to my mind that is not the ideal vacation, it
salvation, so that we can proclaim with the Apostle        nevertheless does serve the purpose of changing our
Paul, "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,       pace. Just to get out of the shop and into the real
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things     light of the sun for a number of days is good for the
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,        body and soul. Vacations are good and necessary for
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us       the sake of our physical and mental health. There is
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our         no sin involved in seeking such relaxation.
Lord" (Romans 8:`38,39).                                     In the quiet of some woods, sitting beside a placid
                                                           lake in the early morning, watching the glories of the
ON VACATIONS                                               setting sun, counting the stars of heaven, beholding
Rev. R. Van Ovedobp                                        the grandeur of a mountain or canyon - all are ways
                                                           in which God's hand gently calms us. Then we can
  Once again it is the time when most people are           take the time to hear the songs of different birds, or
thinking about the family vacation. With the tempera-      to see the intricate beauty of an endless number of
ture rising and the children home from school, the         flowers. Parenthetically, let us note that we as parents
summer months will find many families going on             should not forget that although our children are out
vacation.                                                  of school, our responsibility to train them has not
  It seems that vacations are more feasible for us         diminished. Vacation into God's creation brings us
today than ever before. The financial ability to go on     into a new classroom and sets before us a rich text-
a vacation is much greater today than in the years of      book filled  with wonderful lessons. "When thou
our grandparents and great-grandparents. Also, there       walkest. by the way" (Deut. 6: 7), show your children
was a time when a week-long vacation was average.          God's handiwork.
Today it is more common to hear of two or three              The purpose of these lines is to take note of what
weeks being the length of time the father is able to       seems to be an increasing problem, namely, that of
get off from his work.                                     the place of the Sabbath in vacations.
  We hear more about vacations because of the age in          First of all, it can be noted with appreciation, that
which we live. Emphasis is increasingly being placed       with the rise in vacations, there is also a rise in the
upon pleasure. In times past it could be said that         number of visitors our churches have from other
everyone was work-oriented. Today we are more              members of our denomination. This is very good and
pleasure-oriented. We seek to satisfy our desires for      is the way it should be.
pleasure. Our children are raised with that emphasis         However, there seems to be a parallel rise in the
thrown at them from every side. This due much to           number of families who take the liberty of using their
the affluency of our age. This affluence enables one       vacation as a vacation from worshipping God.
to satisfy his desires for pleasure. Much money is
spent specifically for vacations. A walk through a           We should never take our families on vacation to a
campground or a ride past motels in a resort area and      place where there is no possibility for us to worship
a tally of the equipment and "no vacancy" signs in         God on the Sabbath through the proclamation of His
terms of dollars and cents will bear out this fact. The    Word.
question of proper stewardship then arises. Where            The excuse is raised that we can worship God in
must be drawn the line which if exceeded would be          creation. This excuse is devilish deception. As we


926                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 have said, there is nothing wrong with worshipping         the same Word of God is faithfully preached from
 God in the realm of His creation, but God never            Sabbath to Sabbath.
 would have us to worship Him in the realm of crea-           Does this mean that we should go on vacations
 tion RATHER THAN under the preaching of His                only near one of our churches, or at least so that we
 Word. In fact, it could be said that if one continues      can reach one of them by Sunday? Yes, that is true.
 deliberately to leave God as He is glorified under the     Then we cannot go anywhere we desire. The physical
 preaching, he will soon find no God to be glorified in     desire to visit far away lands must be curbed in the
 creation,                                                  light of our spiritual obligation to glorify God in the
   There is nothing wrong with vacations as such, but       highest possible way.
 there is something very much wrong with vacations            Sometimes the Lord Himself creates circumstances
 which are also vacations from worship services. We         which make it such that we cannot worship Him as
 must not despise the rich spiritual food God sets          we should or as we would like to do so. We may be
 before us on the Sabbath day, just so we can go on         sick and have to stay honie on the Sabbath. Or we
 vacation. That is a destruction of both the Sabbath        may be called to a distant city due to the sickness or
 and of vacation. Then our vacation is only the blind       death of a relative. In such cases we should eat the
and sinful satisfaction of our lusts for pleasure.          best spiritual food available, even though it may be
   In that connection let us speak of the sin of return-    meager. We will do so, being sure that our reason for
 ing home from vacation on Sunday. (In the past few         attending such services is not for our own con-
 years, instances of just this have been brought to my      venience.
 attention.) And why get home on Sunday? - because            Does it hurt, if we willingly stay away from the
 the father has to get to work on Monday. What other        best reflection of the pure marks of the true church?
 conclusion can be reached than that, in the mind of        It most certainly does.
 that father, Monday is more important than Sunday,
 that work is more important than church, that money          First, it is a slap in the face of the Almighty. By
 and pleasure is more important than God. The stench        such action we express to our heavenly Father that in
 of such sins rise to the highest heavens. A more terri-    that worship service He should be satisfied with less
 fying thought is: what kind of opinion of God and of       praise and glory. And the reason He should be satis-
 the Sabbath is being formed in the minds of the chil-      fied is because we want to go on vacation to an area
 dren of that family?                                       ofi the world where the best known proclamation of
                                                            His Word does not exist.
   But what about attending the worship services of
 another denomination while we are on vacation? It            Shame on us for even letting such a thought into
 will not hurt to stay away from our own services the       our heads. How terrifying such a thought is.
 one or two Sundays we are on vacation, will it? Is           Secondly, it hurts us and our families spiritually.
there something so special about the worship of God         We would not have our children be fed with just
in our congregations? Is not God worshipped also in         water for one week, would we? We must also be sure
 other denominations? Besides, we will then appre-          that we and our children receive the sincere milk of
 ciate our own church so much more when we get              the Word whenever God sets it before us. We worry if
back to our own churches.                                   our child refuses to eat and we wonder what ails'him.
   Yes, God is most certainly worshipped in congrega-       Something is ailing when a child of God makes it
tions outside of those who have affiliation in the          impossible for himself to drink the sincere milk of the
 federation of the Protestant Reformed denomination.        Word. To say it will not hurt to be gone for one
However, why is it that we have our church member-          Sunday, reveals a lack of appetite for the sincere milk
ship in the congregation we do? Is it not because we        of the Word and shows a touch of spiritual sickness.
 confess that the three pure marks of the true church         Beloved believers, does not our church membership
 are best reflected in that congregation (Belgic Con-       show that a vow has been made? Do not we say, "If I
 fession, Art.  29)? Is it not because we believe we        forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
receive the best spiritual fobd there? Hence, is it not     cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue
because we believe God is the best worshipped there;        cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not
that He is more highly glorified and praised where His      Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psalm 137:5,6).
Word is purely proclaimed?
   Does this make something special of the worship of                    MR. CARTER'S RELIGION
God in our denomination? Yes, it does. The fellow-                       Reverend E. C. Case, Pastor
congregations with whom a congregation willingly                          First Presbyterian Church
affiliates, possess that same wonderful reflection of                       Woodville, Mississippi
the pure marks. We. can believe that in all of them,          Mr. Jimmy Carter is running for President of the


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                927


     United States. In that respect, he is no different from          Mr. Carter is not as crass as Gov. Long was, but one
     a dozen or so other politicians across the country.            cannot help wondering if similar motivations are not
     What sets Mr. Carter apart from the rest is the .fact          present; if he is not, in fact, a politician who has
     that he has gone out of his way to declare himself to          found it helpful in the past to portray himself as a
     be a Christian. As a result, the religious issue, absent       religious man and is now trying to advance  eden
     for some sixteen years from national politics, has             further by playing that tune. This might seem, per-
~    once again appeared on the political scene. The last           haps, to be an unjustified, cruel thing to say, were it
     time so much was said about a candidate's religion             not for something else which is quite disturbing.
     was in 1960, when the Romanist, Kennedy,  was                    A major network news show recently interviewed
     elected in spite of his religion, which many thought           Mr. Carter on the subject of his religion. A ntimber of
     would be a severe handicap in "protestant" America.            the views he expressed were quite agreeable. But
          Mr. Carter brought this matter up himself. So, even       then, the interviewer quoted from Ephesians 5 : 22-24,
     though we might have otherwise not given much                  about wives being in subjection to their husbands,
     attention to the question, it now seems imperative             and asked the candidate his view on that. At first,
     that some evaluation of his claims be made. Some,              Carter refused to answer. Then, he finally stated that
     perhaps, are grateful for this renewed interest in             he just couldn't go along with that teach&g. Mr.
     religion, especially since the one sparking the interest       Carter, it seems, has a bit of a problem with St. Paul.
     is a professed "evangelical" Christian who claims to           Or, more precisely, Mr. Carter, candidate, would have
     have had a personal experience with Jesus Christ.              a lot of trouble with the women's libbers if he did
     Also, some Reformed people seem to be enthused                 agree with the Biblical statement.
     over Carter and his professions. Frankly, however,
     this writer is skeptical for a couple of reasons.                Does this not suggest, at the very least, that Mr.
          First of all, we take note of the'fact that Mr. Carter    Carter's view of the authority of Scripture is defec-
     is a politician from a state in the Deep South. The            tive? Is this not typical of the neoevangelicalism
     opinion of this writer, naturally, is that this is no          which largely characterizes the denomination of
     liability. Where better to be from than the South?             which Mr. Carter is a member? To say as much is to
     There is a problem, a religious problem, in regards to         be generous to Mr. Carter. One could go as far as to
     this, however. People in the South, whether wrongly            question whether or not Mr. Carter is one of those
     or rightly, are considered to be more "religious" than         who holds to those parts of Scripture he likes and
     people in other parts of the nation. Consequently,             discards those he dislikes. That too, is something
     politicians have often found it expedient to make              common among those who hold to the "Folk Re-
     political capital of their religion. In times past (and  - ligion" of the South. We could also get into the
     even now in most local elections), the political hand-         matter of Carter's "preaching;" faith-healing sister,
     bills advertised, among other things, the church of            but a man should not have to bear the responsibility
     which the candidate was a member. There is even a              for his kinfolk. Still, w6 have never heard that he is
     story about the famous Louisiana Governor, Huey                opposed to her "ministry."
     Long, to the effect that he campaigned in that state             Remember, Mr. Carter brought all of this up when
     (heavily Protestant in the north and heavily Catholic          he started talking about his religion. on the campaign
     in the south) by telling of hitching up the old family         trail. Ordinarily, we would not pay much attention to
     horse to the buggy to carry his Catholic grandparents          what politicians say. But when a man runs for Presi-
     to Mass early in the morning, and his Baptist grand-           dent as an avowed Christian, he is open to our
     parents to church later in the day. When one of his            scrutiny. Mr. Carter does not, it would seem, stand
     aides later remarked that he was not aware of Long's           the light too well.
     Catholic heritage, the Governor snorted: "We didn't
     even have a horse."



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928                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


QUESTION BOX




                            About the Battle Pictured
                                 in Revelation 9: 13 -2 1



                                                Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema



Question                                                     And that this is true will be plain especially from a
  From the Men's Society of our Randolph congrega-           comparison between this sixth trumpet and the sixth
tion I received the following question in connection         vial in Revelation 16. From that point of view it can
with the sixth trumpet of Revelation 9: 13-2 1: "Does        be said that there is here a prefiguration of the last
the battle pictured in this section take place before        grtat battle, the battle of Armageddon. The full
the final development of the Antichristian kingdom,          realization of what is symbolized by this sixth
or are we to understand the section as a prefiguring of      trumpet is found in the sixth vial.
the last great battle, the Battle of Armageddon?"            2) Nevertheless, the sixth trumpet as such cannot refer
Reply                                                        to that final battle, but must refer to something which
                                                             takes place before the final development of the Anti-
  In the passage mentioned we have the account of            Christian kingdom. My reason for saying this lies in the
the sixth trumpet and of the vision of the dreadful          fact that in this vision the destruction pictured is not
host of cavalry, two hundred million in number and           complete. One-third of men shall be killed as a result of
of fearful description. This fearful host is let loose at    these plagues. This one-third is more than the  one-
the great river Euphrates; and the result is a plague        fourth that is connected with the seals, but it is not the
symbolized by fire, smoke, and brimstone, which kills        total destruction connected with the vials. More than
one-third part of men. I cannot go into detail with          average, more than ever before, shall be killed as a
respect to the interpretation of this sixth trumpet.         result of the sixth trumpet. I will conclude my
For a detailed explanation I refer the reader to H.          answer, therefore, by quoting the following paragraph
Hoeksema, Behold He Cometh!, pp. 322, ff. Assum-             from  Behold He Cometh!,  p. 332: "In brief, there-
ing that this vision speaks of the plagues of war,           fore, we have the picture of a war that is still to
famine, and pestilence which shall be let loose upon         come, in which not only the Christian but also the
the world when the river Euphrates, the ideal and            heathen world shall be involved, and the outcome of
symbolic boundary line between the nominally Chris-          which shall be that one-third of men, that is, more
tian and the heathen nations, the civilized world and        than ever before, shall be killed. Faint indications of
Gog and Magog, is dried up, I offer the following            this we have in history when the nations of the east at
answer to this question:                                     the time of the destruction of the Roman Empire rise
1) As to its idea, this sixth trumpet takes us to the        against it and flood Europe. And more definite indi-
very end of history, to the time immediately before          cations of this war that is prophesied in the Book of
the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. This stands             Revelation we have in our own time. Nevertheless,
closely connected with the entire scheme of the seals,       the full realization also of this trumpet is still in the
the trumpets, and the vials in the Book of Revelation.       future. Also this second woe we must still expect."


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  929


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS



                          Election And Reprobation
                          As Taught By John Calvin


                                             Prof Robert D. Decker



  In the previous two articles we have expounded the       to reveal in so far as he foresaw that they would
truth of election and reprobation as taught in Article     concern us and benefit us." (Chapter XXI, 1)
XVI of the Belgic or Netherlands Confession of Faith.            "There are others who, wishing to cure this evil, all
In the present issue we shall examine something of         but require that every mention of predestination be
what the great Reformer, John Calvin, had to say           buried; indeed, they teach us to avoid any question of
concerning divine predestination. The passages we          it, as we would a reef. Even though their moderation
have selected are all taken out of Book III of Calvin's    in this matter is rightly to be praised, because they
Institutes Of The Christian Religion. We present them      feel that these mysteries ought to be discussed with
without comment:                                           great soberness, yet because they descend to too low
  "But before I enter into the matter itself, I need to    a level, they make little progress with the human
mention by way of preface two kinds of men.                understanding, which does not allow itself to be
  "Human curiosity renders the discussion of pre-          easily restrained. Therefore to hold to a proper limit
destination, already somewhat difficult of itself, very    in this regard also, we shall have to turn back to the
confusing and even dangerous. No restraints can hold       Word of the Lord, in which we have a sure rule for
it back from wandering in forbidden bypaths and            the understanding. For Scripture is the school of the
thrusting upward to the heights. If allowed, it will       Holy Spirit, in which, as nothing is omitted that is
leave no secret to God that it will not search out and     both necessary and useful to know, so nothing is
unravel. Since we see so many on all sides rushing         taught but what is expedient to know." (Chap. XXI,
into this audacity and impudence, among them               3)
certain men not otherwise bad, they should in due                "Profane men, I admit, in the matter of predestina-
season be reminded of the measure of their duty in         tion abruptly seize upon something to carp, rail, bark,
this regard.                                               or scoff at. But if their shamelessness deters us, we
  "First, then, let them remember that when they           shall have to keep secret the chief doctrines of the
inquire into predestination they are penetrating' the      faith, almost none of which they or their like leave
sacred precincts of divine wisdom. If anyone with          untouched by blasphemy. . . . But for those so
carefree assurance breaks into this place, he will not     cautious or fearful that they desire to bury predesti-
succeed in satisfying his curiosity and he will enter a    nation in order not to disturb weak souls - with what
labyrinth from which he can find no exit. For it is        color will they cloak their arrogance when they
not right for man unrestrainedly to search out things      accuse God indirectly of stupid thoughtlessness, as if
that the Lord has willed to be hid in himself, and to      he had not foreseen the peril that they feel they have
unfold from eternity itself the sublimest wisdom,          wisely  bet? Whoever, then, heaps odium upon the
which he would have us revere but not understand           doctrine of predestination openly reproaches God, as
that through this also he should fill us with wonder.      if he had unadvisedly let slip something hurtful to the
He has set forth by his Word the secrets of his will       church."' (Chap. XXI, 4)
that he has decided to reveal to us. These he decided            "As  ,Scripture, then, clearly shows, we say that


930                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



God once established by his eternal and unchangeable       inheritance because in ourselves we were not capable
plan those whom he long before determined once for         of such great excellence.
all to receive unto salvation, and those whom, on the         "This Paul, also notes, in another passage, when he
other hand, he would devote to destruction. We assert      urges the Colossians to give thanks because God has
that, with respect to the elect, this plan was founded     made them fit to share the inheritance of the saints
upon his freely given mercy, without regard to human       [Col. 1: 121. If, to make us fit to receive the glory of
worth; but by his just and irreprehensible but             the life to come, election precedes,,this  grace of God,
incomprehensible judgment he has barred the door of        what will God find in us now to move him to choose
life to those whom he has given over to damnation.         us? Another statement of Paul's will express even
Now among the elect we regard the call as a testi-         more clearly what I mean, `He chose us,' says he,
mony of election. Then we hold justification another       `before the foundations of the world were laid' [Eph.
sign of its manifestation, until they come into the        1:4al, `according to the good pleasure of-his will'
glory in which the fulfillment of that election lies.      [Eph. 1:51, `that we should be holy and spotless and
But as the Lord seals his elect by call and justifica-     irreproachable in his sight, [Eph. 1:4b, conflated with
tion, so,, by shutting off the reprobate from knowl-       Cal. 1:221. There Paul sets `God's good pleasure' over
edge of his name or from sanctification of his Spirit,     against any merit of ours." (Chap. XXII, 1)
he, as it were, reveals by these marks what sort of
judgment awaits them. Here I shall pass over many            "That the proof may be more complete, it is
fictions that stupid men have invented to overthrow        worth-while to note the individual parts of this
predestination. They need no refutation, for as soon       passage [Eph. 1:4-51, which, coupled together, leave,
as they are brought forth they abundantly prove their      no doubt. Since he calls them `elect,' it cannot be
own falsity. I shall pause over only those which either    doubted that he is speaking to believers, as he also
are being argued by the learned or may raise diffi-        soon declares; therefore those who misinterpret the
culty for the .simple, or which impiety speciously sets    word `elect' as confined to the age when the gospel
forth in order to assail God's righteousness." (Chap.      was proclaimed disfigure it with a base fabrication.
XXI, 7)                                                    By saying that they were `elect before the creation of
                                                           the world' [Eph.  1:4], he takes away all regard for
  "Many persons dispute all these positions which we       worth. For what basis for distinction is there among
have set forth, especially the free election of            those. who did not yet exist, and who were subse-
believers; nevertheless, this cannot be shaken. For        quently to be equals with Adam? Now if they are
generally these persons consider that God dis-             elect in Christ, it follows that not only is each man
tinguishes among men according as he foresees what         elected without respect to his own person but also
the merits of each will be. Therefore, He adopts as        certain ones are separated from others, since we see
sons those whom he foreknows will not be unworthy          that not all are members of Christ. Besides, the fact
of his grace; he appoints to the damnation of death        that they were elected `to be holy' [Eph.  1:4b]
those whose dispositions he discerns will be inclined      plainly refutes the error that derives election from
to evil intention and ungodliness. By thus covering        foreknowledge, since Paul declares all virtue appear-
election with a veil of foreknowledge, they not only       ing in man is the result of election. Now if a higher
obscure it but feign that it has its origin elsewhere.     cause be sought, Paul answers that God has pre-
And this commonly accepted notion is not confined to       destined it so, and that this is `according to the good
the common folk; important authors of all periods          pleasure of his will' [Eph. 1:5bl. By these words he
-have held it. This I frankly confess so that no one       does away with all means of their election that men
may assume that if their names be quoted against us,       imagine in themselves. For all benefits that God
our case will be greatly damaged. For God's truth          bestows for the spiritual life, as Paul teaches, flow
here is too sure to be shaken, too clear to be over-       from this one source: namely that God has chosen
whelmed by men's authority. . . . Now it behooves us       whom he has willed, and before their birth has laid-up
to pay attention to what Scripture proclaims of every      for them individually the grace that he willed to grant
person. When Paul teaches that we were chosen  &           them." (Chap. XXII, 2)
Christ `before the creation of the world' [Eph. 1:4a] ,      "Now a word concerning the reprobate, with
he takes away all consideration of real worth on our       whom the apostle is at the same time there con-
part, for it is just as if he said: since among all the    cerned. For as Jacob, deserving nothing by good
offspring of Adam, the Heavenly Father found               works, is taken into grace, so Esau, as yet undefiled
nothing worthy of his election, he turned his eyes         by any crime, is hated [Rom. 9: 131. If we turn our
upon his `Anointed, to choose from that body as            eyes to works, we wrong the apostle, as if he did not
members those whom he was to take into the fellow-         see what is quite clear to us! Now it is proved that he
ship of life. Let this reason&g, then, prevail among       did not see it, since he specifically emphasizes the
believers: we were adopted in Christ into the eternal      point that when as yet they had done nothing good


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                931


or evil,.one was chosen, the other rejected. This is to     to deny that anyone is condemned. But they do this
prove that the foundation of divine predestination is       very ignorantly and childishly, since election itself
not in works. Then when he raised the objection,            could  npt stand except as set over against reproba-
whether God is unjust, he does not make use of what         tion. God is said to set apart those whom he adopts
would have been the surest and clearest defense of his      into salvation; it will be highly absurd to say that
righteousness: that God recompensed Esau according          others acquire by chance or obtain by their  owri
to his own evil intention. Instead, he contents himself     effort what election alone confers on a few. There-
with a different solution, that the reprobate are raised    fore, those whom God passes over, he condemns; and
up to the end that through them God's glory may be          this he does for no other reason than that he wills to
revealed. Finally, he adds the conclusion that `God         exclude them from the inheritance which he pre-
has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens            destines for his own children. And men's insolence is
whomever he wills' [ Rom. 9: 181. Do you see how            unbearable if it refuses to be bridled by God's Word,
Paul attributes both to God's decision alone? If, then,     which treats of his incomprehensible plan that the
we cannot determine a reason why he vouchsafes              angels themselves adore. However, we have by now
mercy to his own, except that it so pleases him,            been taught that hardening is in God's hand and will,
neither shall we have any reason for rejecting others,
other than his will. For when it is said that God           just as much as mercy is [ Rom. 9: 14ff.l. And Paul
hardens or shows mercy to whom he wills, men are            does not, as do those I have spoken of, labor
warned by this to seek no cause outside his will."          anxiously to make false excuses in God's defense; he
(Chap. XXII, 11)                                            only warns that it is unlawful for the clay to quarrel
                                                            with its potter [Rom. 9:20] ." (Chap. XXIII, 1)
  "Now when human understanding hears these
things, its insolence is so irrepressible that it breaks      From the above passages two facts are clearly
forth into random and immoderate tumult as if at the        evident. The first is that Calvin dealt with the same
blast of a battle trumpet.                                  objections against predestination that we deal with
  "Indeed many, as if they wished to avert a                todAy. Secondly, no one who  denies election and
reproach from God, accept election in such terms as         reprobation has the right to call himself a Calvinist.


IN HIS FEAR


                    How Do We See Oxselves in the
                                Light of the Beatitudes


                                                  Rev. M. Joostens



   (Note: The following is the substance of a speech        ship for an hour, and above all that we may profit
Rev. Joostens delivered at the Men's League Meeting         from His Word.
held in Southeast Church on April 5 of this year. We          I was immediately attracted to the topic which
think that it is worthy of publication under the above      your chairman announced for this evening. As is cus-
rubric.)                                                    tomary, you gave me three topics to choose from:
   By way of general introduction this evening I want       "The Signs of Christ's Second Coming," "The Third
to say that I am honored that you asked me to speak         World and Its Affect Upon the Church," and the top-
to you. For this, in and of itself, always shows a          ic as announced this evening. I exercised my preroga-
certain confidence in that which a minister has to say,     tive and chose the last of the three in your order of
or, bettei-, in the way he interprets the Scriptures. It    preference. It is not that I have anything against the
is my prayer that we may enjoy one-another's fellow-        first two. They are fine topics and could be made


932                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


very interesting. But as some of you know, I have           general knowledge that Christ in this sermon ex-
done a little work with Christ's Se&on on the               pounds the truths of the kingdom of heaven. This is
Mount. I have preached on it in my congregation. I          the kingdom that was foreshadowed in the Old Testa-
find in the words of Christ a beauty that is over-          ment type of the theocracy of the nation of Israel.
whelming, as well as a profound simplicity that goes        Especially as we see it manifested during the reigns of
very deep in meaning. We do well to apply the words         David and his son Solomon. David, who was a type of
`of Christ, as we find them in the beatitudes, to our       Christ, went forth conquering and to conquer, and so
lives.                                                      subdued all Israel's enemies under his feet. He estab-
  But with your consent, I want to change the topic         lished the bounds of Israel as they were originally
just a bit. I believe that this is a necessary change -     promised to Abraham, from the northern river Eu-
necessary, because the question as stated in our topic      phrates to the great river of Egypt, the Nile. It was
is unanswerable for me. Not that I cannot answer it         during the reign of Solomon that peace prevailed in
for myself - this I can do. But I cannot answer it for      the theocracy. In that kingdom God dwelt with His
you. The question under consideration is an intensely       people in a typical way, in the tabernacle atop Mt.
personal one. We must all answer it, this evening and       Zion. It was a picture of heaven. In the Sermon on
from day to day. Yet, I can tell you what the Word of       the Mount, `Christ instructs us regarding the reality of
God says about this question, and in that light, how        this type. The reality stands diametrically opposed to
you and I ought to see ourselves in light of the beati-     the earthly that characterized the type. He spoke of
tudes. That leaves you and me personally with the           the kingdom of heaven in which He would be the
.question, "How Must We See Ourselves in Light of           Lord supreme. He would sit as King, not in the earth-
the Beatitudes?"                                            ly Jerusalem, but as  the Son  in the heavenly Jeru-
                                                            salem.
   There are basically two things which we must
understand in order to answer this question intelli-          And that kingdom, explains Christ, is based upon
gently. First of all, we must understand the nature         righteousness. That's true because its very origin and
and characteristic of the beatitudes. They must be          conception was in the mind of the Righteous One,
interpreted in their immediate context. This is true        God Himself. It is a kingdom in which He will rule
because Christ never spoke without rhyme or reason.         through His Son, Christ Jesus. You understand that
.He did not, as it were, shake sermons out of His           that kingdom, in all its perfection, is the final reality
sleeve. The beatitudes stand intimately related to the      of God's covenant fellowship with His people.
the whole of the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, they            That, in light of our topic, brings us to the more
are the introduction to this sermon. An impor-              important aspect of that kingdom, namely, its sub-
tant point is made here, for, as you know, an               jects. I think, we all understand that the subjects of a
introduction leads an audience into the sermon              particular kingdom have to  fit the characteristics of
pr lecture. It prepares the audience to receive             that kingdom. An illustration will suffice to point this
the main thrust of the speaker. And the main point of       out. We are Americans. The kingdom (or republic, it
the Sermon on the Mount is the righteousness of the         makes no essential difference) to which we belong is
kingdom of heaven. Therefore, if we misconstrue the         our country. Therefore, we are citizens of this land.
beatitudes, we cannot understand our place in the           Yet there are others that are not Americans and are
kingdom of heaven. It is  .especially  for this reason      aliens to this country. So it is with Christ's kingdom.
that a consideration of the beatitudes is worthwhile        Those who are citizens of the kingdom of righteous-
and even incumbent upon us.                                 ness are righteous. And those who are unrighteous
                                                            have no part in the kingdom. Or, to become more
   In the second place, we must not only understand         plain, those who are the heirs of the kingdom of heav-
the beatitudes from a general point of view, but also       en are God's people who have been made righteous
specifically. This is going to present a problem this       in His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is precisely here
evening, for one could profitably spend the entire          that we hit upon the significance of the cross of Cal-
allotted time on each of the beatitudes. Ministers df-      vary. The citizenship of the child of God has been
ten preach once on each of them. This luxury of time        purchased for him with the blood of the Lamb. The
we are not afforded this evening. Therefore we will         kingdom belongs to those who are clothed with the
move right into the main thrust and practical impli-        righteousness of Christ. In short, this is the whole
cation of each beatitude. Forgive me if I gloss over all    point of the beatitudes.
the necessary, logical connections; and perhaps you
can save your questions for afterwards.                       You see, it is in this introduction, the beatitudes,'
                                                            that Christ  Pelineates very carefully the subjects of
  Let's first understand the place of the beatitudes in     the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, what Christ does
the discourse of Christ. They are, as we said, an intro-    in effect is this, that in His very introduction He says
duction to the Sermon on the Mount proper. It is            to some, "You are going to understand what I have to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 933


 say to you," while to others He says that they will         for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The paradox
 not perceive the truth of the kingdom. He causes a          which  carnal men find here is quite apparent. Poor
 division in His audience between those who are car-         people  +-e not blessed or happy but wretched and
 nally minded and spiritually minded. It is for this         miserable. The carnally blind, when considering this
 very reason that some read this passage under consid-       beatitude, have dollar signs in their eyes and cannot
 eration and cannot grasp its truth, while  others-dare      fathom the  spiri@al reality here. Note, Christ says
 spiritually uplifted by it. Is it any wonder, therefore,    "Blessed are the poor in spirit. " He is not speaking of
 that some men consider these beatitudes to be noth-         earthly Aches, power, or fame. No, not at all! Christ
 ing but a bunch of paradoxes? They tell us that the         is speaking of our spiritual liabilities and assets before
 beatitudes are contradictory in and of themselves.          God. He who boasts in his own spiritual riches is
 And they mockingly illustrate: The- poor are rich?          essentially the pharisee, who says to God, "I thank
 The meek shall inherit the earth? The mourning are          thee that I am not like my neighbor who prostrates
 comforted? Those who are hungry are at the same             himself in the dust." The pharisee is able in his own
 time satisfied? And the thirst of the thirsty is            carnal self-conceit to stand erect and boastful before
 quenched? How can this be? You see, this is the divi-       the Almighty in order to tell God how rich he is
 sion which Christ creates. Some perceive His words          spiritually. But Christ says that he who finds himself
 while others shake their heads in disgust. The words of     upon  his knees before God, confessing his sin and
 Christ are a sharp two-edged sword, a savor of life         spiritual poverty, is blessed. I am reminded in this con-
 unto life and of death unto death. That's why the           nection of the general outline of the Heidelberg Cate-
 beatitudes effectively introduce the Sermon on the          chism. What three things are necessary for me to
 Mount. Christ dealt with the spiritual reality of heav-     experience' comfort? First of all, that I know the
 en. His instruction would apply to some and be for-         greatness of my sins and misery. You see that we are
eign to others. The beatitudes have no universal appli-      able to see our spiritual poverty. Then, secondly, we
 cation as the "social gospelers" like to have us think.     will be driven to the cross, and, finally, express our
 Spiritual principles cannot be applied to the carnal        gratitude to God for His riches of Christ's righteous-
 heart.                                                      neSs that fill our poverty, making us heirs of the king-
   This brings into clear focus the ultimate question        dom of heaven.
for this evening. How do we see ourselves in light of          The second characteristic is, "Blessed are they that
the beatitudes? As the light of the beatitudes shines        mourn: .for they shall be comforted." Here again
upon us, it reveals one of two things. It shows us to be     there is the distinction between the carnal and the
 either citizens of the kingdom of heaven or aliens.         spiritual. The world also mourns. They bemoan sick-
 Let's examine the light of the beatitudes.                  ness, death, all kinds of disasters, etc. But Christ again
   It is often debated as to exactly how many beati-         speaks specifically about the child of God who is a
tudes there are. There are some who wish to include          citizen of heaven. We mourn because of our spiritual
verses 10,l 1, and 12 among the beatitudes of Christ.        poverty, as we spoke of that just a while ago. We
It seems to me that there is but little justification for    mourn because sin ever cleaves to us! An excellent
 doing this even though they have the characteristic,        scriptural passage that is illustrative of this is Romans
 "blessed," in common. Quite obviously, they .do not         seven. Here Paul bemoans the sin which he has ac-
 belong with the foregoing verses. This is evident from      cording to the flesh. He cries out, "0 wretched man
the fact that they do not describe a particular charac-      that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
teristic of the citizen of heaven but rather the lot of      death?" For those who so mourn, there is comfort.
those who do possess these distinctive characteristics.      Yea, for them there is the Comforter, the Spirit of
Their lot in life is one of persecution. There are seven     God, Who reveals unto us the mystery of salvation.
beatitudes which we find in verses 3-9 inclusive. The
number seven, of course, cannot be accidental. It is           Then we have the third beatitude: "Blessed are the
the number of the covenant of  Go& How beautiful,            meek: for they shall inherit the earth." This beatitude
therefore, to have seven beatitudes or characteristics       certainly is utter folly according to man's thinking. If
of -God's children, descriptive of the Christian! We         you are meek and humble you will never acquire any-
have in the beatitudes a complete and essential de-          thing here below. In fact, say they, the exact opposite
scription of God's people, the citizens of the kingdom       is true. Those who are unscrupulous in their dealings,
of Christ. These seven words of Christ are the mold,         and forward, own large estates. But Christ is speaking
into which those who have a place in heaven fit.             of His own! An example will suffice to point out the
                                                             folly of carnal thought. We read in the Scriptures
   Of necessity, we must be brief in the discussion of       (Numbers  12:3), "Now the man Moses  was very
 these beatitudes individually. But let us proceed. We       meek . .." And what do we find out about Moses in
 find the first beatitude in verse three of the fifth        Hebrews eleven, the chapter of the heroes of faith?
 chapter of Matthew. "Blessed are the poor in spirit         We find that he forsook the riches of Egypt and all


     934                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


     that was his in the household of Pharaoh's daughter          nature, though it can be glossed over by the world,
     to cast his lot with the people of God who found             can only be eradicated by the regenerating Spirit of
     themselves in persecution. This he did because with          God. They shall see God. Imagine that, td stand be-
     eyes of faith he perceived that God had made a cove-         fore the face of God. We shall see God in the face of
     nant with this people and made them the heirs of             Jesus Christ and forevermore walk in the light of His
     heaven. The meek shall inherit the earth! The wicked,        countenance. That is blessedness!
     bold, and unscrupulous have no claim to it even now.
     They are usurpers. But God's people, who are meek,            The last of the characteristics of the citizens of the
     shall inherit the earth, not as it is but as it shall be!    kingdon of heaven is, "Blessed are the peacemakers:
        The fourth beatitude is, "Blessed are they which          for they shall be called the children of God." If any
     do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they           beatitude has been abused, as far as its true meaning
     shall be filled." Again the world laughs. For the hun-       is concerned, this is it. Seemingly there is no text
     gry and thirsty, as well as the poor, are wretched.          which better fits the philosophy of the world, espe-
     After all, happiness is to have our belly full and our       cially in our day. Those who work toward peace are
     thirst quenched. But, again, notice the spiritual dis-       hailed as the heroes of our day. But the kind of peace
     tinctiveness. They who hunger and thirst after righ-         that the world seeks is nothing but a peaceful co-
     teousness shall be filled. 0, the child of God who is        existence, whether among nations, labor and manage-
     aware of his sin and the reward due him for it, hun-         ment, or marriage partners. And, regarding the aims
     gers and thirsts after righteousness. We know that           of the world, God's word has this to say: "There is no
     there is only one way to be right with God, and that         peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." (Is.  48:22)
     is to stand in the righteousness of His Son. "As thirsts     God's children are peacemakers. They alone can be
     the hart for water brooks, so thirsts my soul, 0 God,        peacemakers, for in them God has taken away all ha-
     for Thee." (Psalter No. 114)                                 tred, enmity, and strife. They can seek after the true
        And, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall ob-        peace that passes all understanding, which is found at
     tain mercy." The world stands utterly outside this           Calvary, by bringing the Scriptures to bear upon all
     blessedness. They in no way whatsoever experience            rivalry and hatred. And in the application of that
     God's mercy, because their hearts are filled with ha-        Word, God through us makes peace. In so doing we
     tred and they operate according to the principle of          are His children. We may call Him, Abba, Father!
     selfishness. They know only of a warped kind of
     "pity" which they manifest to their own profit. This            Now that we have arrived at this juncture we must
                                                                  return to our initial question. How do we see our-
     is behind all the philanthropy of this world. It is done
     out of self-esteem and self-glorification, if not solely     selves in the light of the beatitudes as we have just
     for tax purposes. That is no mercy! But Christians           discovered them to be? Are these our characteristics?
     who experience their own spiritual poverty in the            Oh, don't brush this question off too lightly. After
     misery of their sin and have tasted of the great mercy       all, they are the declarations that proceed from the
                                                                  lips of the Master. And the King ought to know the
     of God toward them as manifest in His Son, know              requisites for entrance into His kingdom. Happy are
     how to return mercy. For it is the feeling that we are       those who fit the criteria and definition of the beati-
     recipients of i-be compassions of our God that spurs         tudes. Consider them, will you? Don't say, "Oh, but
     us on to pity regarding our neighbor. It is nothing but      they apply only to special Christians." This is not true.
     a vicious cycle. Even as fire must consume to be fed,        Every child of God conforms to the beatitudes; else he
     the body must take in in order to excrete. So we             is a hypocrite. Nor may we pick and choose from among
     receive mercy for mercy!                                     the seven. Don't console yourself by saying, "Five
       The next to last beatitude is "Blessed are the             out of seven is not too bad." All of them must apply..
     pure in heart: for they shall see God." The world            We don't stack up too well, do we?!
     always judges by external deportment. They judge
     a man by his outward appearance and pay no                     .Thanks be to God! These characteristics are spiri-
     attention to that which is inside. His performance           tual ones. They have their root in the grace of God
     is what counts. They overlook the hatred and                 and never in ourselves. They come to us through the
     filthiness that revels within. But the spiritual truth       working of His Spirit. You see, they describe the new
     is that no one who is characterized by mere                  man in Christ. It is according to the new man within
     "outward good" will even enter into the kingdom of           us that we can claim the description of the beatitudes
I    heaven. The eyes of the Most High God are all per-           to be ours. Then, to work them out in our daily lives
     vading. There is nothing that remains hidden before          remains a struggle. But, rest assured, if the stwggle is
     His eyes.. He knows the very intention of our hearts.        there, then some day in glory these attributes will be
     Those who are pure of heart in the sight of God are          put into perfect practice.
     blessed. And the filthiness which besets our hearts by         I thank you.


                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       935

     -. . h                                                                                                     `3
                                                                                     - .  I
                                       N O T I C E ! ! !                                                  *  irVEDDlNG ANNIVERSARY
          Due to our decision to add a fourth teacher to our Staff, the                           On July 31, 1976, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR. AND
      S O U T H   H O L L A N D   P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D   C H R I S T I A N    MRS. TED MIEDEMA, SR. celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
      SCHOOL is accepting applications for the position. Anyone interested                     We, their grateful children and grand-children, are indeed thankful to
      should write or phone Mr.  Menno Poortenga, 18425  Oakwood  Ave.,                        our ever faithful covenant God for the many years of love and Christian
      Lansing, Illinois 60438. Phone: (312) 474-0675.                                          instruction they have given us. Our sincere prayer is for God's con-
                                                                                               tinued blessing on them in the years which lie ahead of them.

                                                                                                                        Henry and  Freda Zwak
                                                                                                                        Erne and Kae Miedema
                                                                                                                        Edward and Lorraine Miedema
                                                                                                                        Sidney and Donna Miedema
                                                                                                                        Ronald and Delores Miedema
                                                                                                                        Ted and Gloria Meidema
                                         NOTICE
c                                                                                                                       Gerald and Marcia Miedema
          Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in                                                 Robert and Jane Hoven
      Loveland, Colorado, on Wednesday, September 1, 1976, the Lord                                                     and their grandchildren.
      willing. Material for the Agenda must be in the hands of the Stated
      Clerk thirty days before  Classis convenes.

                                          Rev. David Engelsma
                                          Stated Clerk

                                                                                                                              NOTICE
                                                                                                  Classis East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
                                                                                               regular session on July 7,1976, at Hope church.

                                                                                                             Rev. M.  Joost&s, Ass't. Stated Clerk
                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
          The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
      expresses sincere sympathy with one of its members, Mrs. June Van
      Overloop, in the recent loss of her mother, MRS. H. WUSTMAN, who
      went to join our Lord and the saints before the throne. With the                                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
      Psalmist we are privileged to confess: "Thou wilt shew me the path of
      life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are                        The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Southwest Protestant Reformed
      pleasures forevermore" (Psalm  16:ll).                                                   Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to their  fellow.members,
                              The Ladies Society of the                                        Mr. and Mrs. James Kuiper, in the loss of her mother, MRS. JOHN
                              Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church                                    (GRACE) VAN BEEK. May Christ comfort them with the promise  - "I
                              Mrs. B. Bruining, Sec'y.                                         am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he
                                                                                               were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me
                                                                                               shall never die" (John  11:25,  26).

                                                                                                                                Mr. P. Lotterman, Pres.
                                                                                                                                Mrs. G. Moel ker, Sec'y.





                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
          The Ladies' Society of the Southwest Protestant Reformed Church                         The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of First Protestant Reformed
      of Wyoming, Michigan expresses its deep sympathy to the John Van                         Church expresses its sincere sympathy to Prof. and Mrs. Robert Decker
       Beek family in the loss of their wife and mother, Mrs. Grace Van Beek.                  in the loss of her father, Mr. Albeit Poelstra. May our God comfort her
       May the God of all grace comfort their hearts in their sorrow and                       and her family in their sorrow, with the assurance that "if our earthly
      enable them to stand upon the Rock that is higher than they (Ps.                         house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
      61:2b).                                                                                  house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"  (II Cor.  5:l).
                                           Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.                                                                                Rev. G. Van  Baren, Pres.
                                          Mrs. John Faber, Secretary                                                                           Mrs. R. W. Pastoor, Sec'y.





                                                  News From Our Churches

               A? the copy for this column is being assembled, the                             for the summer. Some of our churches have already
       1976 Synod of our churches has completed its work                                       had their church picnics. Many of our western
       in South Holland, Illinois, our schools have  con-                                      churches schedule their church picnics on the 4th of
       ducted their annual graduation exercises, and most of                                   July. At least this is true in Hull and Doon, Iowa, and
       the seasonal meetings in the churches have recessed                                     Randolph, Wisconsin.


     THE STANDARD BEARER
            P.O. Box 6064                 EUQ.3yE    J D       E        .BOER
                                                                            1
     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506    '    Rat
                                          STEEN  MN                   56lL73
,                                                 :.  .-  .-  :-  .::...
                                                                                                 .--                          ..y  `-
,                                                                                                                 z<.-





     936                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

        We might take special note of two graduation                        pleasant task of installing Rev. R. Moore as Edmon-
     exercises this Spring. According to the First Church                   tan's first pastor about ten days previously. Rev.
     bulletin the senior pre-seminary students of our                       Moo&`s departure from  Doon, Iowa, to Edmonton
     Seminary graduated on May 28 in ceremonies at the                      was `touch and go' up until the very last moment. His
     Seminary building. We extend to them our  don-                         Canadian work permit arrived in the mail the very
     gratulations and- prayer for God's blessing as they                    morning the Moore family planned to depart for their
     begin their seminary labors this fall. Also, one could                 new home.
     detect a certain note of joy in  .the announcement                          Digging into the drawer we find quite a pile of
     which appeared in the Redlands, California, church                     bulletins giving notice of many events in our churches
     bulletin, "The Graduation Program for the first                        this spring. Loveland was treated to a Congregational
     graduates of our new school will be held Friday, June                  Soup Supper sponsored by the Ladies' Circle on April
     4, at 8 PM in our Church. As parents we may indeed                     23. South Holland scheduled their Annual School
     be thankful to God for the truths and love of His                      Fund-Raising Dinner on April 9. After dinner there
     covenant with us and our children. Rev. Kamps will                     were exhibits to see in the school and a short lecture
     speak on `Shew Me Thy Ways' from Ps. 25:4. Let us                      by Rev. Engelsma on "Scripture in the Schools."
     all plan to attend and enjoy this evening together in                  $1,337.79 was raised at this dinner. The Western
     Fhe love of Christ.".                                                  Ladies' League met on April 22 at Edgerton Church.
        Since mention was made in an earlier issue of new                   Rev. Slopsema spoke on "Mental Depression in the
     additions to the families of three Protestant                          Light of Scripture." On May 14th Prof. H. Hanko
     Reformed pastors, the latest arrival is duly noted:                    lectured in Randolph, Wisconsin, on "Did Calvin and
     Rev. and Mrs. Marvin Kamps (Redlands) were blessed                     Luther Disagree?" And in Southeast Church in Grand
     with a baby boy, John Marc, this.past May 27th.                        Rapids the young people of the church sponsored a
        First's' bulletin also reported  ' that Rev. R. Van                 talent nite to raise money for their young people's
     Overloop  has declined the CZ# from Doon, Iowa. Rev.                   convention this summer. Rev. Kortering spoke on
     W. Bekkering has received the call from our Kala-                      "Evangelism" in  Redlands on the same date. The
     mazoo, Michigan, congregation. We might also report                    annual Spring Protestant Reformed Lecture spon-
     that the First Church bulletin. has been cbming  out on                sored by the Protestant Reformed Churches in
     blue paper of late  (just like that of Faith Church).                  Michigan was held on April 29 in First Church. Prof.
     Whether there is some special significance in the color                Robert Decker spoke on "The Woman's Place in the
     or whether the printer ran out of white paper has yet                  Church." If you were not among the church full who
     to be determined.                                                      heard Prof. Decker that night and would like to hear
        During the time when the Synod of our Churches                      this interesting speech, you can. Write to the Stan-
     meets, many of our churches in  Class`is East are                      dard  Bearer business office for details `on how you
     treated to pulpit exchanges. For instance, on June                     can obtain a tape recording of this lecture or of many
     6th, First Church listened to Rev. C. Hanko of                         others which are available.
     Hudsonville in the morning and Rev. B. Woudenberg                           A Quiet Thought from Southeast's bulletin: "In
     of Lynden, Washington, in the evening service. Both                    the days when a woodshed stood b&hind the Ameri-
     pastors brought greetings from their respective con-                   can home, a great deal of what  passes as juvenile
     gregations. Rev. Woudenberg also extended greetings                    delinquency was settled out of court."
     from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where he had the                                                                     K. G. V.


