         The
  STANDARD
         BEARER
          REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





  "The most important good work which the

child of God performs in this life is sorrow for

sin."

                                     - Herman Hoeksema

  See "My Sheep Hear My Voice" - page 946





                                    Volume LI I, No. 19, August 1, l-976 1
                                            ISSN 0362-4692


938                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



                        CONTENTS                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
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   The Wiersinga Case In the GKN . . . . . . . . . . . .941                Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                           Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. Dale H. Kuiper, Rev.
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MEDITATION



                        Christ's People a Willing People

                                                                 Rev. C. Hanko


                  "The people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the
              womb of the morning; thou hast tlze detv of thy youth.
                                                                                                                              Psalm 110:3

  Do you remember the youthful exuberance that                             the militant church, called to fight the battle of faith
came to expression when you sang as a child:                               in the midst of a hostile world. Confidently we con-
  "Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war                          fessed:
  With the cross of Jesus going on before?"                                       "Like a mighty army moves the Church of God.
                                                                                  Brethren, we are  treading where the saints have
  Already then we were deeply aware of belonging to                               t r o d , "


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                            939



even as with misty eyes we looked for the victory           wrath in the Day appointed for Him, yet He does so
awaiting the saints in glory.                               as Highpriest, Ambassador, and Intercessor for His
  Time has done something for us. As raw recruits           people. Zion is redeemed with judgment, and her
we ran into the battle, not fearing any enemy we            converts with righteousness. Through the judgments
might meet, ready to scale any wall that might stand        of this present world the Church is brought into the
in our way. We had as yet almost no experience with         glorious kingdom of God'sdear Son, to live and reign
the wiles and cunning of our inveterate enemy, the          with Him forever.
Devil. Little did we know in our sheltered life about          Today is the day of Christ's power. What David
the firm grip he holds on the world round about us.          saw in prophecy we experience in reality.
only gradually we become aware of the power of
that worst enemy of all, the sin that wars in our              "We see Jesus . . . ." (Hebrews 2:9). We see Jesus
members, ever striving to lead us into the snares of         with an eye of faith exalted in the heavens, crowned
sin, luring us on as sheep for the slaughter.                with glory and honor. Yes, we once saw Him in the
                                                             flesh, in the state of humiliation, lower than the
  We have tasted the smoke of battle. We have met            angels. Jesus had humbled Himself as a lowly servant,
our formidable enemy head on. Disillusioned with             the lowliest of the lowly, the poorest of the poor,
our own will power, we have lost all confidence in the       willingly surrendering Himself into ever deeper shame
arm of'flesh. We have learned that our only security         and suffering, until as a worm in the eyes of men, He
rests in the Captain of our salvation, fixing our eye
upon the victor's crown He holds before us.                  was despised, rejected, condemned, cast out unto the
                                                             most shameful death, the accursed death of the cross.
  Jehovah has said to my Adonai, to my exalted               God gave His Son in our stead to bear the burden of
Lord Jesus Christ: "Thy people shall be willing in the       eternal wrath against our sins to deliver us from death
day of thy power."                                           and to bring us to glory with Him. The Captain
                      *  * *  *~  *                          of our salvation marched through death, hell and
                                                             the grave, arising as the mighty Conqueror to ascend to
  In the day of Thy power.                                   the highest position in heaven, where He now
  The Dutch speaks of `Heirkracht,' which is military        lives and reigns as our Advocate and Savior, the
power. This is entirely in harmony with the pervading        Shepherd-King, drawing His sheep into His fold.
thought of Psalm 110. God spoke and it was: He                 This is the day of Christ's power, the new dispensa-
commanded and it stood forth. He called His Son to           tion, which at the same time is the last day, the day
come forth from the depths of hell and death's great         of the coming of the Son of man with the clouds of
domain with the Word of His power, saying: "Sit at           heaven. He holds the Book with its seals in His hand,
My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy foot-            fulfilling the entire counsel of God as He breaks the
stool." Jehovah declared Him to be "King of kings            seals one by one. He assures His Church: "Behold and
and Lord of lords," bestowing on Him dominion over           see in all the happenings round about you, that I am
all the hosts of heaven, over His entire wide and vast       working haste toward the day of My arrival among
creation, even to the devils that rage out of hell, and      you. `Hold that which thou hast, that no man take thy
the powers of evil that wage war against Him, so that        crown."
the angels wait in eager anticipation, the creation
groans in pain awaiting her deliverance, and the               This is the day which the Lord hath made for us to
powers of darkness are plagued with an evil con-            be glad and to rejoice in it.
science and shudder at their ultimate downfall.                                   * * * * *
Nations may rage, and people may imagine vain
things, but God has entrusted to Christ an absolute            In the day of Christ's power God gives to Him a
sway over them all, so that they cannot as much as           willing people. This willing people' is the militant
stir apart from His will. His kingdom is an everlasting      Church, the army of the living God, fighting the
kingdom, and His dominion knows no end.                      battle of faith against all of Christ's enemies, which
                                                             are her enemies. This is a glorious Church with a
  This Son of God Who is exalted with power in the           marvelous inception, "in the beauties of holiness,
highest heavens is none other than our Lord Jesus            from the womb of the morning; thou hast the dew of
Christ., God has set Him as King in Zion. His throne is      thy youth."
set in the middle of Zion, in the center of His Church.
For He holds the unique position of a double office.           The darkness of the night is broken. There ap-
He is Priest-King according to the order of Melchiz-         peared a small streak of purple on the eastern hori-
edek. He rules over the nations of the earth with a          zon. For the moment the night seemed to grow
rod of iron, ready to consume His enemies in His             darker as it fought off the dawn. Yet that ray of light


940                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


grew, spread itself into the morning sky, gradually         speak to every one they met in his native tongue. If
bursting forth in hues of lavender, pink, and red. The      they had not spoken the very stones would have cried
night is driven away, the dawn reaches into the new         out.
day. Dew drops appear as out of nowhere, myriads of
sparkling lights on every sprout of grass, leaf, plant        A small, waithing church grew by the power of the
flower,' bush and tree; The new day had dawned in           Word and Spirit into a universal church in a com-
dazzling splendor.                                          paratively short time. Christ added daily to their
  Our Lord brought this new day. Centuries before,          numbers such as should be saved. He gathers His army
the day appeared in paradise, yet only for a brief          from every race, color, nation, tribe, and tongue. He
moment. For a short time our parents stood in the           draws His own out of death into life, transforming
state of rectitude, beholding the beauty of the Lord        children of Satan into willing subjects of the heavenly
in all His grand creation, extolling His matchless Name     kingdom. We can but marvel as we behold what God
of power. Satan made encrouchments  on that day, en-        has wrought.
ticing Adam and Eve into sin and bringing upon them
God's curse of horrible darkness.                              As marvelous as its inception is this grand army
                                                            itself. Every soldier is fully equipped. Already at his
  In the midst of that weary night the Psalmist gave
expression to the longings of the Church as he              baptism he receives the august uniform that dis-
pleaded,                                                    tinguishes him as belonging to the forces of His Lord
                                                            and Captain Jesus Christ. No stately uniform with
  6 send the day of joy and light,                          splendid epaulets and numerous badges of rank and
  For long has been our sorrow's night;                     honor can ever compare to this one, which can best
  Afflicted through the weary years,
  We wait until Thy help appears;                           be described as being adorned with the beauty of
  With us and with our sons abide,                          holiness." The only one privileged to wear this uni-
  *In us let God be glorified.                              form is a saint, separated from the world and sancti-
                                                            fied in Christ unto God by the precious blood of
  That prayer was answered. Christ came as the Son          Calvary. Upon his banner is written, "Holiness unto
of righteousness. *The first ray of light broke over        the Lord." Each piece of armor bears the stamp of
lowly Bethlehem where Jesus was born, arousing new          having been cast in the armory of God. The soldier's
hopes in those who had waited so long. But the night        headpiece is the helmet of salvation, his breastplate is
grew darker as it tried to prevent the dawn. A sword        the breastplate of righteousness, his girdle is the girdle
pierced Mary's soul. The disciples all forsook their        of truth. His feet are shod with the preparation of the
Master and fled. The Son of righteousness dis-              Gospel of peace. In his left hand he displays the
appeared completely in that awesome moment of               shield of faith, and with his right hand he manipulates
Calvary, when darkness covered the earth even into          the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
the soul of the Savior. For a moment the powers of
darkness took courage; victory seemed within their            Each soldier is known for his courage. He has and
grasp. Then the powerful Hand of the Almighty               retains the strength of youth; for his strength is re-
Jehovah caused the new day to burst forth in glorious       newed every moment. On the march his Captain leads
splendor. He arose! Christ arose as Victor over death's     him to sparkling fresh waters that rush through the
domain. He ascended to heaven, where He lives for-          brooks in the way (Verse 7). Streams of grace flow
ever to reign with His saints.                              from the throne to Christ, and by the power of His
                                                            indwelling Spirit into the heart of every warrior to
  As the Son of righteousness brought the dawning           quench his thirst and to renew his strength like an
of a new day, there appeared, as marvelously as the         eagle's. Each member of the army is a son of the king;
day itself, thousands of new, sparkling dew drops, a        together they comprise a priesthood of kings, con-
multitude of saints rejoicing in the dawn. Insignifi-       secrated to God with their whole being.
cant drops of water, yet capable of reflecting the light
of the Sun in all the colors of the rainbow. God              This mighty army of the church of God moves in
spoke, and His Spirit went forth to the upper room in       the highway of the saints who have gone before them.
Jerusalem. There was a sound of a powerful, irresist-       In the rumblings of warfare and in the heat of battle
ible presence. Powerful in His roaring, was He yet          they follow their Lord as He goes forth conquering
soothing in His serenity. Tongues of fire showed the        and to conquer. Confidently they meet the foe day
sanctifying, cleansing, enlightening power of the           after day with the assurance: conquerors, more than
Spirit now present in the hearts of the saints. Young       conquerors are we. They have never suffered any
men saw visions, old men dreamed dreams, daughters          casualties, never lost a battle; their home and country
and handmaidens burst forth with the glad tidings of        remain unscarred, unhurt. In eager anticipation they
the new day, even as the Spirit gave them power to          face the future with a joyous: Our King is coming!


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 941


  EDITORIAL



                    The Wiersinga Cask in the GKN


                                                Prof H. C. Hoeksema



    Are things changing in the Gereformeerde Kerken          Reformed confessions was recognized by all. More-
  of the Netherlands? It it true that there is a change      over, also the seriousness of Wiersinga's error  2 ari
 for the better? There seem to be those who are per-         error which denied the very essence of the gospel. -
  suaded of this. For one thing, at more than one synod      was immediately recognized by the Synod of the
  of sister churches of the GKN the fraternal delegates      GKN: for when the case first came to the attention of
  of the latter `have sounded a conciliatory and per-        the Synod a few years ago, it felt impeiled to assure
suasive note. They have expressed appreciation for           the churches in a pastoral pronouncement that the
 the concern and the warnings of their sister churches.      GKN maintained the confessional doctrine of Christ's
 They have been concerned to assure their sister             atonement.
  churches that the GKN are dealing with the various           Meanwhile, as has become customary in the GKN
  problems and errors which plague them and to plead         when heresies have arisen in the churches, the Wier-
  for patience and understanding on the part of their        singa Case was put on the long, slow ecclesiastical
  sister churches. And in more than one instance the         track. Committees dealt with the matter, consulta-
 latter apparently have allowed themselves to be per-        tions with Wiersinga were held, vain attempts were
  suaded and have not suspended or cut off their rel.a-      made to .get Wiersinga to' modify his position some-
  tionships with the GKN.                                    what and to concede that the position of the  con-
    In close connection with this, others have hailed        .fessions was also true or at least that he would not
  the recent decision in the Wiersinga Case as a step in     contradict or militate against that position. But all
  the right direction and as evidence of a desire to         was in `vain. Ultimately the Synod of the GKN had to
  maintain the Reformed truth. To refresh your               come to grips with the case and reach some kind of
  memory, let me remind you that Dr.  Wie.minga,  a          decision.
  student-pastor in Amsterdam, in his doctoral thesis (he      A few months ago such a decision was reached. It
  received his degree from the Free University's theo-       is called a "judicium." This term has reference to a
  logical faculty!) denied the very essence of the gospel    clever distinction which has recently come into
 by denying the atoning character of the death of            vogue, the distinction between  jusicial   and  justitial
  Christ. He denied that Christ.in His death on the cross    pronouncements and decisions. The former kind. of
 bore the wrath of God against our sins in our stead.        discipline involves a pronouncement concerning doc-
  As has so often been the case with recent errors in the    trinal issues and concerning the question whether or
 Netherlands, this was an open-and-shut case. There          not a given teaching is heretical (although "heresy"
  was no doubt whatsoever that this was Wiersinga's          and "heretical" are terms which are avoided now-
  teaching. There was no' subterfuge, no weaseling with      adays in the GKN), while a justitial pronouncement
 words. Wiersinga's position was very plain Neither he       would involve actual disciplinary recommendations or
 nor anyone in the  GK.N denied that -this was his           actions against the heretic himself. In Wiersinga's
 teaching. This-is not to say that there were not many       case, for example, a justitial pronouncement would
 who agreed with Wiersinga; there were, and still are,       have involved a recommendation that Dr. Wiersinga
 many supporters of Wiersinga's views - views which          be. suspended and/or deposed from office in the
 really amount, in my opinion, to the old error of the
 moral theory of the death of Christ in a new dress.         GKN.                                          .
 But the  fact  of Wiersinga's contradiction of the            This "judicium" (the entire decision was rather


942                                            THE  STANDARD BEARER



lengthy and cloaked in considerable ecclesiastical          disciplinary measure is taken against the promulgators
gobble-de-gook) stated in substance that Dr.  Wier-         of that error, condemns itself.
singa's denial that Christ bore the wrath of God              "One measure which the synod at the very least
against the sins of His people is "not permissible"         would have to take would be to break with the
(niet toelaatbaar) in the Gereformeerde Kerken.             Council of Churches of the Netherlands, of which
      On the surface of it, this appears to be both a       also the Roman Catholic Church is a member. The
correct and a firm stand. And there have been many,         latter teaches exactly the same impermissible error as
both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, who have             does Dr. Wiersinga in its New Catechism, which
hailed this decision as clear evidence that the GKN do      appeared with a recommending `foreword by the
not want to forsake the faith of our fathers and will       Netherlands bishops.
not tolerate a denial of the very heart of the gospel.        "But also that did not happen as a result of the
They seem to think that when it really gets down to         decision. Apparently the synod finds it more im-
basic issues and unavoidable decisions, the Dutch           portant to keep the Roman Catholic Church as a
churches are of a mind to be Reformed.                      friend than to be faithful to the Head of the Church,
      We disagree.                                          Jesus Christ."
                                                              Meanwhile, Dr. Wiersinga has already left the GKN
      We believe that the GKN are continuing the same       far behind. Long before the Dutch Synod had made a
policy which they have followed for several years and       pronouncement concerning this heresy, Dr. Wiersinga
which has made them, in effect, into a  dialogue-           was already denying that God is a punishing God,
church or a modalities church. That policy is exactly       that we may say that by sending suffering and sorrow
that of making pronouncements on various doctrinal          and various awful things God wants to purify us, by
matters, but not enforcing those pronouncements.            denying that God has anything to do with causing
And the motivation, supposedly, is the desire to keep       suffering, and by teaching that God is only a God of
the denomination together and to avoid any kind of          compassion, love, and mercy. And I suppose that
ecclesiastical conflict and' separation. The effect has     eventually there might have to be another "judicium"
been that heretics such as Kuitert and Baarda and           on this subject.
Wiersinga simply thumb their noses at Synod and its
decisions and continue merrily to follow their hereti-
cal course. And the more it becomes evident that
Synod will never recommend or take any disciplinary
measures, the more bold these heretics become.                Introductory Offer--
      We agree with the Rev. H. J. Hegger, who stated
the following in the March 13 issue of Waarheid +
Eenheid  under the title, "Synod Allows the Un-                         Bound Volumes
allowable." We translate:

      "We are glad that synod has expressed that the
denial of the substitutionary suffering and death is
"not permissible."                                            The Business Office has on hand a limited number
                                                            >f surplus bound volumes of Volume 51 of the
      "We are the more upset because synod did not          Standard Bearer. In order to encourage you to begin
decide on concrete measures to counteract that error.       .eceiving and keeping the bound volumes in  YOUI
It indeed expressed the expectation (and "expecta-          lome library, we are offering these copies of Volume
tion" is the term synod used HCH) that the church of
Amsterdam (and other ecclesiastical organs) opposes,        51 at the low, low price of $5.00  - as long as  the
this denial. But this expectation is vain, because the      supply lasts. Now is the time to get your name on OUI
church of Amsterdam had already declared that it            ist of standing orders for bound volumes annually.
will not take any disciplinary measures against Dr.         3rdinarily the price per volume is $7.00. Write (and
Wiersinga. It also appeared from the discussion which
led to this expression of synod that in any event the       :nclose payment) now to: The Standard Bearer, P.O.
majority wanted nothing of a disciplinary procedure;        30x 6064, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506.
this according to the lead article of Trouw of March
6.
      "A synod which declares of an error that it is not
permissible in our churches, and which nevertheless
allows that error by reason of the fact that no single


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 943



QUESTION BOX




     About Mediate and Immediate Regeneration

                        About Conimon Grace for Cain

                                                ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema


Question                                                      First of alI, I would point out that this entire sub-
  From a reader in Ontario, Canada I received the           ject is discussed rather at length in Volume II of The
following questions:                                        Triple Knowledge, in the explanation of Lord's Day
                                                            XXV. I strongly recommend that all our readers who
  "In the  Standard Bearer  of February 15, `76 I           have this exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism by
found that according to The Vidalia Resolution (see         the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema read the chapter
All Around Us) `Through the gospel the children of          entitled "Regeneration Immediate," pp.  420-433. I
God are instructed and fed, strengthened and  re-           also recommend that, in connection with the im-
buked, exhorted and corrected; but nowhere does the         portance of this. subject, the next chapter, pp.
Bible teach that God uses the gospel as a means of          434-442, entitled "Preaching in the Sphere of the
regenerating sinners.'                                      Covenant," be read. The latter subject is, of course,
  "This seems to create a difficulty as far as I Peter      closely connected with the subject of immediate
1:23 is concerned, where we read: `Being born again,        regeneration. In fact, it seems to me that some time
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the       ago I recieved  a question on this subject of preaching
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.'             in the sphere of the covenant, either in private cor-
  "However the words of our Lord in John  3:8,              respondence or for Question Box. At that time I
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest        made reference to the same chapter. These are two
the sound thereof, but  canst not tell whence it            very significant subjects which are intimately related.
cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is       Space does not permit quoting these chapters in our
born of the Spirit,' must be interpreted in favor of the    Standard Bearer, however; and therefore I will limit
Vidtilia Resolution.                                        myself to a quotation of what is found in this chapter
                                                            concerning I Peter 1: 23-25. We read on pp. 430,43 1:
  "Please could you shed more light on this?                  "Again, also the text from I Peter 1:23-25 teaches
  "In the second place, Rev. Veldman does connect           us the same truth, namely: the regeneration in its first
this statement that the  sinner,is regenerated outside      beginning is an immediate work of the Holy Spirit.
of the preaching of the gospel with the `well-meant         The text reads as follows: `Being born again, not of
offer of salvation to all who hear the gospel'; I do not    corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of
see such a connection. Would you or Rev. Veldman            God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is'
please explain this?      .                                 as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
  "In the third place, if the preaching of the gospel is    grass. The grass whithereth, and the flower thereof fall-
not used by the Lord to regenerate sinners, what            eth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever.
about repentance? This in the light of Romans 10, I         And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
Corinthians  1:21-25, John  20:3 1, II Corinthians          unto you.'
5:18-21?"                                                     "This passage has often been quoted as favoring
                                                            mediate regeneration. Does not the apostle plainly
Reply                                                       refer to the Word of God (vs. 23) through which we
  These are interesting and also important questions.       are reborn as `the word which by the gospel is


 944                                            THE sTAiuw3c1  BEARER
                                                                                                                           ,

 preached unto you?' From this it is plain, it is argued,     the rebirth. This is the view of regeneration taught by
 that regeneration is wrought through the means of            a man such as Billy Graham. Some years ago I com-
 the preaching of the gospel.                                 mented on the fact that this is  exactaly what Billy
   "However, such an interpretation fails to  dis-            Graham teaches in his book World Aflame. It must be
 tinquish properly and sharply between the different          remembered, however, that even those Reformed
 concepts of the text. Especially important are the           men who held to a view of mediate regeneration did
 two prepositions: `of and `by'. These two prep-              not hold to this Arminian theory. This, by the way, is
 ositions are better literally translated by `out of'         discussed in the chapters of The Triple Knowledge to
 (ek)  and `through' (dia).  We are regenerated out of        which I already referred.
 incorruptible seed' and through the Word of God                 The answer to the third question ought now to be
 which liveth and abideth forever. Regeneration, there-       plain. Certainly, repentance is wrought by the Spirit
 fore, is here presented as developing out of. a seed.        of God through the preaching of the gospel (that is,
 This seed is evidently the new principle of life, im-        therefore, mediately) in the- heart of the elect, re-
 planted immediately in the heart by the Holy Spirit.         generated sinner. It is through the saving calling, the
It is wrought in our hearts not only without our will         external aspect of which is the preaching of the
 or effort, but even without consciousness. It takes          gospel, that the life or regeneration is quickened into
 place in what is often called the subconscious. And          active and conscious faith and repentance.
                                                                ._
the development of the new birth out of this incor-
ruptible seed takes place through the Word of God.                     ABOUT COMMON GRACE FOR CAIN
The question is, what is meant here? It must be                  From a reader on the West Coast I received a re-
evident that not the preaching of the gospel is meant,.       quest to explain Genesis 4: 15, particularly in con-
for this Word of God is described as the Word that            nection with the idea that somehow God showed
 `liveth and abideth forever', and again, as `the Word        grace to Cain after having first pronounced  pumsh-
of the Lord that endureth forever.' And this certainly        ment and curse upon him.
cannot be said of Scripture or of the preaching of the
gospel as such. For as such the written Word of God           Reply
or even the preaching of the gospel does not live, nor           First of all, we should get the entire passage before
does .it endure forever. It is therefore the casual, crea-    us. In vss. lo-15 of Genesis 4 we read: "And he said,
tive Word of God that is wrought efficaciously in the         What' hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's
heart, opening the same, as in the case of Lydia, to          blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art
hear the Word of truth. And finally, the apostle              thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her
writes that this living and abiding and ever-enduring         mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
Word of God is preached unto men. Conceiving,                 When thou tillest the'ground, it. shall not henceforth
therefore, of the work of regeneration as a whole, we         `yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and vagabond
may distinquish three stages. In the first place, there       shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the
is the seed that is implanted in the heart immediately        Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Be-
by the Holy Spirit. In the second place, there is'the         hold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face
Word of God, living and abiding forever, by which the         .of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I
seed of regeneration is developed into the new birth.         shall be a fugitive and vagabond in the earth; and it
Finally, there is the preaching of the gospel, through        shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me
which men are externally called and in connection             shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore
with which they are brought to `consciousness                 whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on-
through the power of the same living and abiding              him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain,
Word of God."                                                 lest any finding him should kill him."
   As to the second question, the Rev. Veldman may              It is a very commonly held view that in this passage
reflect further on this if he so pleases. But let me          Cain complains about the greatness of his punish-
remark briefly that if God well-meaningly offers grace        ment, and that in response to this complaint the Lord
and salvation to all men in the preaching of the gos-         takes pity upon Cain and shows him kindness (grace)
pel, it ought to be plain that this offered salvation         by placing a mark upon him and thus preventing his
also includes regeneration, the very first of the bene-       being slain. This,, then, would be grace to the reprobate,
fits of salvation. In that case, it is plain not only that    or :common grace.
regeneration is mediate, that is, wrought through the           In response to this question, I will quote a section
preaching of the gospel, but also that one is shut up         from my Old Testament History Notes, the syllabus
to the Arminian view of regeneration, namely, that it         on:The Prediluvian  Period, pp. 24, ff. The first part of
is dependent on man's willingness to respond to the           this quotation is about the sentence pronounced on
offer and to seek, desire, and ask for the blessing of        Cain:


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 945



   "Sentence is therefore pronounced upon Cain. He           diction in God, a contradiction of holiness and grace.
is cursed from the earth which hath opened her                  And now I continue to quote from my Old Testa-
 mouth to receive' his brother's blood. Notice, in the       ment History notes on the subject of the execution of
 first place, that Cain is cursed not  by,  but  from the    God's sentence:
ground. Secondly, notice that this is explained in the
 words of verse 12: `When thou tillest the ground, it           "Cain's attitude over against this sentence is not at
shall not henceforth yield unto -thee her strength; a        all one of repentance. He retorts, `My punishment is
 fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.'        greater than I can bear,' or, according to another
                                                             rendering, `Mine iniquity is greater than can be for-
   "This is a specific curse pronounced upon Cain,           given.' Even the latter rendering, though questionable
 quite in harmony with the nature of his sin. The            in itself, cannot be explained as a complaint of
ground itself was also cursed after the fall; yet for        repentance, or even of remorse - not in the light of
 Christ's sake, and for the sake of the elect in Him, it     what follows. He looks at the heavy punishment
was also kept and principally blessed. But now Cain is       imposed -on him, rather than looking with sorrow at
 cursed  from the ground. The earth itself is made to        his sin. This is always characteristic of the impenitent.
assume an attitude of cursing toward Cain. When Cain
tills the gound, it will not yield its strength to him.         "But even with respect to that punishment his
This does not mean that Cain will dwell in the desert.       attitude is one of rebellion and defiance. He retorts
But it implies that wherever Cain shall turn, he will be     that his punishment is greater than he can bear. He is
 cursed from the earth. His presence, as it were, will       driven out from the presence of the Lord in Eden. He
 cause the earth to recoil in horror, so that it will        is become an accursed outcast. But his punishment,
scarcely feed him, and so that only with great dif-          such is his defiance,  .shall never be executed: for
ficulty will he be able to derive from the soil the          everyone that finds him will kill him. The sense of
means of his support.                                        Cain's retort, therefore, is that his punishment will
   "In that same sense he will be a fugitive and a           fail of  ,execution because it will soon be ended by
vagabond. The very earth will cast him out and for-          death at the hand of someone who will kill him.
sake him, so that he will have no rest. Especially, it          "But the Lord will work out His purpose with
seems, in the light of Cain's retort and in the light of     Cain. Cain himself must be a sign, a sign of the truth
the fact that he goes forth from the land of Eden, this      that the righteous shall inherit the earth, while the
included two elements: 1) that he no longer had any          wicked. shall be disinherited. He must serve as a sign
place in the land of Eden, where Jehovah revealed His        and concrete illustration of the everlasting punish-
face and spoke to His people; and, 2) that he would          ment of the wicked, who shall go on forever existing,
be driven always by the impulse of fear that everyone        yet absolutely disinherited. Thus in Cain is realized a
finding him would want to slay him. As unrelentingly         theme which occurs often in the Psalms (cf. Ps. 59,
chased by this dread, he would have no settled rest-         69, 109, for example).
ingplace in the earth. A vain, fugitive, accursed life          "Hence, the Lord appoints a mark, a sign, upon
shall Cain lead in the earth. The very earth will spew       Cain. There is no profit in joining the speculations
 him out, wherever he turns.                                 which have been made as to the nature of that sign -
   "Bear in mind, too, that behind.all this is the Word      whether Cain was a leper, or a horn, or was afflicted
 of God's curse, the almighty Word of God's wrath            with trembling, etc. The simple fact is that the Bible
 upon Cain, and that, too, in specific judgment of his       does not tell us about this, and we do not have to
 sin of murdering the righteous. The covenant God            know. The point is that it was a mark which served to
 takes the part of His people and takes vengeance            prevent:Cain's  being killed by warning and threatening
upon their enemies."                                         everyone of a seven-fold vengeance upon the man
                                                             who might lay hands on this God-appointed vaga-
   Before I continue with the quotation of my notes,         bond. Nor must we mistake the purpose and motiye
let me call attention to the fact that the very idea of      of this sign. There was no expression of grace and
 God's showing kindness to Cain in the light of the          longsuffering in it. This is impossible: grace and the
preceding would be very strange. It would be in con-         curse do not go hand in hand. In fact, this sign had
 flict with the whole idea of God's holy wrath and the       the very opposite motive: it insured the execution of
 consequent curse pronounced on Cain. And this               God's sentence upon Cain.
reminds us again of the theological consequence of
the theory of common grace, namely, that it is in               "Thus, in the first place, Cain must serve as a living
 conflict with God's holiness. When God shows grace          testimony of the fact that the Lord takes His people's
toward His elect people in Christ, He does not do so         part in the conflict between the seed of the woman
 at the expense of His holiness, but in a way that is in     `and the seed of the serpent. Here is a revelation that
perfect harmony with His holiness. But an alleged            God and all things are for His people, and against the
grace toward the reprobate can only imply a contra-          wicked; that God's people can suffer and be hurt for


946                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



a little while, but that their enemies must soon perish,    wrestling against the curse pronounced upon him. But
while the righteous have the victory.                       even this must serve ultimately the divine purpose of
   "In the second place, the Lord's justice upon Cain       the defeat of the seed of the serpent. For as the line
is so executed upon Cain that: 1) He is kept alive and      of Cain becomes great in its worldly achievements, so
becomes the progenitor of an ungodly generation. 2)         it also progresses in wickedness, finally filling the
He and his generation are given a separate place, away      measure of iniquity and becoming ripe for the
from the presence of the Lord in Eden, where they           destruction of the Flood."
can develop in ungodliness and where the sin of Cain          The above goes beyond the immediate question of
can ripen and bear its full fruit.                          common grace, but-1 wanted to be positive as well as
   "In the third place, the very form of the curse          negative in my comments. Besides, my questioner
pronounced upon Cain becomes, under the provi-              suggested that the notion of common grace for Cain
dence of God, the occasion for Cain and his genera-         was contrary to the idea of the covenant. I agree with
tions becoming civilization-builders. It must not be        this suggestion, and I wanted to point out somewhat
considered mere coincidence that when Cam goes out          how the punishment of Cain had to serve the realiza-
from the presence of the Lord, he goes about building       tion of God's purpose with a view to His covenant
a city. This should be viewed as a consequence of his       during the pre-diluvian period.



My Sheep Hear My Voice:



                                      Letter To Timothy


Dear Timothy,                            August 1,1976      "half-perfect" life, to a certain measure of sanctifica-
  My last letter to you ended with a promise of more        tion which is far from perfection, to a kind of half-
to come on the whole subject of practical preaching. I      way holiness. When Scripture admonishes us (what-
am firmly of the conviction that the preaching ought        ever now may be the nature of that admonition, and
to be relevant - in the good sense of the word; and it      whatever may be the particular sin or sins to which
ought to be relevant by addressing itself to the            Scripture is calling our attention), Scripture does so
specific problems of life which face the people of          in such a way that it makes clear that God is satisfied
God. But I ended with a warning that there are              with nothing less than perfection. I do not have to
dangers involved - dangers of which you ought to be         belabor the point, I think. You have only to look for
aware.                                                      yourself at any admonition. I could point you to that
                                                            extremely important and awesome calling which
  To get at this, I want to come back briefly to a          Peter includes in his first epistle: "But as he which
remark you made in your letter. You suggested               hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
strongly that preaching is lacking in one important         conversation: Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I
respect. You write: "Preaching ought to be concerned        am holy." 1:  15,16.  The point made here can very
with the walk of a Christian in such a way that the         well be applied to every admonition in Scripture:
Christian life is not treated as an unattainable ideal,     God requires of us a holiness which is no less than the
but is something which ought to be strived for daily."      holiness which characterizes His own divine being.
  I  think-.it best to comment first of all on this           This, quite naturally, presents. us with a problem.
matter.                                                     The problem is, in brief,. this: how can these admoni-
  Scripture is very clear in presenting to us the           tions be taken seriously by the congregation when the
"ideal" when it comes to us with its many admoni-           same Scriptures teach that, as long as we live on this
tions. These admonitions do not call the Christian to a     earth, we shall remain very sinful? Our Heidelberg


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                947


 Catechism speaks of the fact that "we have only a           sciously or unconsciously, one does not take the
 small beginning of the new obedience", and that             admonitions of Scripture seriously. Perhaps a minister
 "even our best works are corrupted and polluted by          may do this. He does not mean to do this, of course.
 sin." If these statements of the Catechism are true,        But, aware of the problem, and knowing that the
 how is it then that we can take seriously the admoni-       congregation is never going to be able to atta,m to the
 tions of Scripture which call us to total perfection in     goal set before it in the Scriptures, he unconsciously
 the whole of our life?                                      leaves the impression that he does not really mean
   This problem is not only a theological difficulty,        what he says, and that the Scriptures do not really
but a very practical one from the viewpoint of the           mean what they say when we are summoned to a
people of God. That this is so is best illustrated by        holy life. Or, if the minister takes the matter seriously
the fact that every minister, I suppose, at one time or      enough, the congregation reacts in that way. The
another has had someone from his congregation come           members, thinking to themselves as they listen to the
to him after a sermon on one of Scripture's admoni-          sermon that they can never attain to such a goal,
tions with the remark: "Reverend, I agiee with what          brush off the seriousness of the calling, and excuse
you said; but you must remember that we are very             their failure to heed the admonition on the grounds
sinful people and that we can never attain to that           that the attainment of it is impossible. This latter is
holiness. We fall far short." Maybe the words are not        really a kind of antinomianism, and it is the kind of
always the same, but the sentiments expressed are            reaction to the preaching against which the minister
common enough. The people of God have a problem              must w`am strenuously.
with this.                                                     But now to the question itself. Why does Scripture
   What is the solution?                                     call God's people to perfection? And why does Scrip-
   You can, of course, take the path of  Neopente-           ture do this when the same Scripture teaches that this
 costalism. I was talking a while ago to a person who        is unattainable in this life?
had been brought up from childhood on in the                   There is one answer to this question which must be
 Reformed faith, was thoroughly acquainted with the          immediately made. This answer is so important that,
Heidelberg Catechism, and knew the doctrine of               even if we had no other answer, this one would
sanctification as taught in Scripture and defined in         suffice to put all our questionings away forever. The
the Reformed creeds. But this person had drifted into        answer is this. God Himself can require of us nothing
Pentecostalism and he talked at great length about           else but perfection. It would be completely out of
the renewal in life which the second baptism of the          keeping with His holiness and, indeed, a denial of His
 Spirit brought about. It soon became evident that this      holiness if He should do less. Whether we are capable
person was, at bottom, a perfectionist, and believed         of a perfect life or not, God must and does demand
that the Christian could attain a sinless life in this       absolute perfection. It cannot be any different. The
world. When confronted with the statements in the            question and answer of our Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism which I quoted above, this              apply also to the regenerated and saved child of God:
person simply responded, "I do not believe those             "Doth not God then do injustice to man, by requiring
statements." It was as simple as that.                       from him in his law, that which he cannot perform?
                                                             Not at all; for God made man capable of performing.
   But this is really the solution of all Arminianism        it; but man, by the instigation of the devil, and his
and Pelagianism. You will notice that Arminianism            own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his
always really heads in the direction of some kind of         posterity of those divine gifts." (Q. & A. 9) And God
perfectionism. That is why  Pentecostals can also be         is completely serious about this. That must never be
perfectionists, for Pentecostalism is Arminian. And          forgotten, and God's people must always be reminded
the real reason why Arminianism is perfectionistic is        of that.
because Arminianism can never take sin seriously.
And it cannot take sin seriously because, to a greater         But there is more. God calls His people.(and now I
or lesser degree, it denies that sin is a matter of the      am talking specifically and concretely about God's
corruption of the nature. And, denying that sin is a         people who are brought by the power of the Holy
matter of the nature, it ascribes sin only to the act. If    Spirit to conscious faith) to perfection, in the first
sin is only in the act, attaining perfection is always a     place, because it is by means of this call that God's
distinct possibility. If sin is in the nature, perfection    people'are  brought to see their own sin. This must
is an unattainable goal on this side of the grave.           always be the effect of such'preaching. In the second
                                                             place, God's people must see their sin because this is
   So you had better be sure you never take this             the only way in which they will flee to the cross of
direction.                                                   Christ. The order of the Heidelberg Catechism (the
   But there is also always the possibility that one         knowledge of misery, the knowledge of deliverance)
takes the opposite position. That is, whether con-           applies also here and to all preaching. They must seek


948                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


their salvation only in the cross. And seeking their          ences it. But repentance means fleeing from sin. And
salvation in the cross, they will repent of their sin,        the child `of God does that. Even though he knows
confess their sin, and, bye faith, turn from their own        that he shall not be perfect, he strives nevertheless
works to rest solely in the cross of their Lord Jesus         continuously to attain that perfection. He never con-
Christ. In the third place, the preaching of perfection       siders the matter hopeless. He never gives up in
is so important because by means of it God tells His          despair. Or, if he does, he is quickly brought out of
people what He will make them when they are finally           his despair by the stern call of God. And he once
delivered from the last traces of the sins which are so       again presses forward with new resolve to fight
much a part of their life in this valley of tears. And        against the sin which is ever present in him. Any
when God shows them the glorious destination which            different reaction to the preaching is a sin to be
is the goal of their salvation in Christ, God inspires in     repented of. And if there is no repentance, that kind
them a longing for that day "when they shall stand            of a reaction is evidence of his total lack of grace.
without spot or wrinkle in the assembly of the elect            `And so, I agree with you, with one reservation. The
in life eternal." And this longing is, of course, closely
connected with their sorrow for sin.                          preaching must indeed present "the unattainable
                                                              ideal." It must do that. It can, in God's name, do no
  In this connection, I remember a remark which               less. But this is by no means the kind of preaching
Rev. Hoeksema made from time to time both in his              which denies that we must strive daily for such per-
preaching and to us in school: "The most important            fection. In fact, only the preaching of absolute per-
good work which the child of God performs in this             fection, even as an unattainable ideal, will be the
life is sorrow for sin."                                      preaching which, in the final analysis, results in a
                                                              daily striving against sin.
  And finally, this same preaching of perfection
ought to (and does) have the effect. on the child of             There are some other things which we ought yet to
God that he strives ever more earnestly to attain that        discuss in this connection. But they can (and must)
goal. I suppose, in a way, this is the paradox of the         wait until next time.
Christian life. I do not imagine that anyone can really                                Fraternally in Christ,
know what this is all about unless he himself experi-                                  H. Hanko



STRENGTHOFYOUTH


                                             Get Wisdom'


                                                  Rev. J. Korteving

  Wisdom is hard to get. Actually it is beyond human          ly, that they both are reactionary against the cold
reach. It is a precious gift of God.                          Scientism  of the '60s. In the past decades we have
  Even so, we are to work at getting wisdom.                  seen the ultimate product of the technology of the
                                                              industrial revolution, our space program. The trips to
   If we are to be wise young people, we are going to         the moon and their excitement brought before us the
have to work hard at obtaining it.                            wonders of science. What limit is there to man's abil-
   There are two reasons for this.                            ity? Whoever thought men would be able to walk on
   The first is that we live in a world which is filled       the moon? There was a rush toward the precise disci-
with so much foolishness.                                     plines of science, teachers' grants, crash programs for
   Consider, for example, the sudden interest in astrol-      schools - yes, science was our future. Yet, we soon
ogy and transcendental meditation. I know they are            learned that science and its achievements do not set-
two different "cats" that cannot be thrown into the           tle the human spirit. They may make life comfort-
same "bag"; but they do have this in common, name-            able, but with them comes more headaches and mis-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  949



 ery, war, pollution, nuclear fear, and all the rest. In     church. Unwanted pregnancies sometimes force these
 our decade we see men react to this. Like a pendulum        marriages. We cannot read the law of God on the
we find man grabbing for the mystic. If peace cannot         Sabbath and simply say, "Yes, we all break all the
be found in science, maybe it can be found in astrol-        laws of God." Rather we must admit that we break
ogy; or maybe the stars control our destiny. On the          certain ones specifically, and then learn the hard con-
other hand, maybe it can be found in the inner man           sequences of it.
which has to be drawn out by meditation. Both are               As a minister I have had to deal with some of these
mystical powers which are supposed to produce the            specific sins of youth. All the heartache, loneliness,
peace which man covets.                                      hurt comes out when one has walked foolishly in sin.
   How foolish! For God tells us so clearly, "There is          Get wisdom! There is a certain urgency.
no peace saith my God to the wicked," Isa.  57:21.
How precious it is to listen to Jesus, "Peace I leave        WHAT `IS WISDOM?
with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be trou-            If we look at the word as it appears, e.g., in Prov.
bled neither be afraid." John 14:27.                         4:7 we can distinguish certain elements. There we
                                                             read, "wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
   Look at the evidences of the pressure of modern           wisdom." In the context, mention is made of under-
life upon young people. There are so many teen-age           standing and knowledge. These three ideas are closely
runaways that we have a Watts line in Houston,               related.,
Texas, as a clearing house where they can let parents
know they are  alright without having to tell their             To obtain knowledge, one has to acquire the facts
whereabouts. Suicide is increasing to almost 25,000 a        correctly. We must know what is real and true. These
year; and more and more of these are teenagers.              facts form a body of knowledge.
There is a 13 per cent decrease in marriages, mostly            Understanding is more profound. It involves the
because young people are "shacking up" instead of            interpreting of these facts. Here the Christian under-
getting married. Even then, almost one out of every          standing relates to the Word of God. God is the cen-
two marriages ends in divorce. We cannot even imag-          ter of all truth. He has revealed Himself to us in Jesus.
ine what this means in human suffering, mental an-           All truth must be seen in the light of God's reve-
guish, broken homes, and wrecked lives.                      lation, the Bible; Only in this way can we interpret all
   Basically, all this is the fruit of the development of    the knowledge we obtain. We can see it in relation to
sin. Man's moral values are sinking to the bottom of         G o d .
-the abyss. Pornography is a billion dollar business in         Wisdom builds upon knowledge and understanding.
our country; and you know the market is aimed pri-           Both of these are seen as the tools of wisdom. It
marily at today's youth. Its inevitable by-product,          involves the correct use of the knowledge and under-
sexual license, now accounts for venereal disease of         standing we have. Wisdom involves making important
epidemic proportions. Sexual abuse is becoming so            decisions. Wisdom touches the use of our time and
acceptable that even the ungodly world is afraid that        talents. .We need wisdom to do that which is right.
public acceptance of sexual perversion will make one            From this we can make the following conclusions.
think that deviant sexual behavior is normal because
it is condoned by the general public. What a vicious            Usually, the more knowledge and understanding
cycle that leads one to destruction!                         we get, the more wise we can become. The incentive
                                                             for studying in school, catechism, and society has to
   The second threat to wisdom is the fact that our          be ultimately the obtaining of wisdom. Why all this
own nature is attracted toward foolishness. We can't         work? Is it just to accumulate the facts about life,
react to the foolishness of the world and say, "That's       algebra, history, science, etc.? How often haven't you
the world, the ungodly, but I'm not that way, or I           said, "I forget them anyway!" The usefulness is this:
won't act that way." The sad fact is that this world in-     they make up the sum total of the tools whereby we
fluences us more than we care to admit. In fact, we          can practice wisdom.
 can even say that we are in some ways attracted to-            We must say more than this, however. Not all
ward the world and its foolishness. It looks good to us.
This accounts for the temptation to sin. In the deep-        knowledge makes one wise. Understanding implies a
est sense, this foolishness is sin and our sinful nature     thorough awareness of Scripture. This is the heartbeat
identifies with it.                                          for Christian education. Why do our parents organize
                                                             school societies and operate Christian schools? So we
   Have you ever acted foolishly, or desired to do so?       can learn understanding. All this knowledge must re-
 Some of our young people leave home because they            late to God in Jesus Christ Who speaks to us by His
 can't get along with parents. Broken marriages are the      Word. This is why we have Christian education, thor-
sad experiences of some young people within the              ough instruction in catechism, society life in church.


950                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



All these things, along with concerned parents at             ence. If you really want to overcome sin in your life,
home, help us obtain understanding of the knowledge           you have to work at it. If you want to do what God
we possess.                                                   wants you to do, you have to practice it each day.
  Wisdom is the ultimate test whether we have knowl-             Let me illustrate.
edge and understanding. If we continually act fool-              Discussions, debates, controversy, all these contrib-
ishly by giving expression to our sinful nature, we           ute to sharpening of our understanding of what we
cannot `claim to have knowledge and understanding.            believe. If you meet someone who believes something
The ultimate test of such knowledge and under-                different than you do, take advantage of this oppor-
standing is whether we are wise. Wisdom is the princi-        tunity to discuss this further. Think of your position,
pal thing; the beginning of wisdom is to get it.              the points that were made; examine them further
H~WT~~GETWI~D~M                                               when you are alone. What would you have said differ-
   Three things are involved in the obtaining of wis-         ently? It helps us grow in the conviction of our faith.
dom.                                                             How do you deal with temptation, especially sex.
  First, you must love God very much if you are to            You need knowledge, usually called the "facts of
be wise. Think on this a moment. Do you really love           life." This is important in order that you might be
your God? Do you know that He is your God and                 wise. Ignorance sometimes leads to heartache. You
that Jesus died for your sins? Christ is the wisdom of        have to see that sex is not dirty; it is a part of God's
God Personally. To be wise we must know Him as our            creation and therefore of our nature. God has a pur-
Savior. Does the cross cause you to be filled with joy?       pose with sex, namely, the enrichment of our lives in
Can you appreciate the amazing depth of the love of           marriage and the bringing forth of God's covenant
God that spared you the grief, and laid the chastise-         children. This is the understanding of sex. It takes
ment of our sins upon Him? This brings us into                wisdom to resist the temptation to think of sex as fun
friendship with God. Out of this love we desire to            and games before marriage. Rather than to entice
obey God and do His will.                                     yourself sinfully, you should busy yourself with other
  Second, you must know what is right. No one is              activities; and when God joins you in marriage with a
ever foolish in doing what is right. We are always            Christian husband or wife, you then will be able to
foolish in doing what is wrong. Hence, if we are to be        give full expression to it as God intended.
wise, we must be thoroughly acquainted with God's               Wisdom must be practiced in all areas of our life.
idea of right. Obviously, this is incorporated in God's
law. We hear that law read every Sunday. Wisdom               THEBLESSINGSOFWISDOM
requires more than being able to recite the ten com-
mandments. We have to be able to see how these ten              First, by practicing wisdom, we will surround our-
laws govern the whole of our life. They guide us in           selves with a group of friends that will be meaningful
our personal relationship with God. They influence us         to' us. The opposite is, only too often, sadly true. The
in our worship, or Sabbath observance, our witness-           foolishness of sin brings us into contact with those
ing, our dealing with friends, our business trans-            who will destroy us. By doing what God wills, we will
actions, etc. Nothing in the whole of our life is ex-         have friends that help us in our daily struggle of faith.
cluded from the guidelines of God's ten command-                Second, the truly happy life is in the way of wis-
ments. These are precious to us, not because God              dom. Look at the ungodly youth of the world and
thunders His threats at us as He did in Israel. Rather,       you don't find happiness. Superficially it may seem
they spell out for us the sweet savour of the gospel.         such; but nothing lasts. True joy is in being right with
They tell how we can show our gratitude to God and            God and walking in His favor. Life holds purpose in
how we may expect God's favor upon us. In this way            this way. We have a future and the strength to pursue
the Holy Spirit writes these words in our hearts.             it by the grace of God.
  Finally, wisdom requires of us practicing what we             Finally, in the way of wisdom we have peace with
believe to be right. Since this is such a highly spiritual    God. Yes, we will fall into sin, the fruits of our flesh
activity, this practice must be done with much prayer         are always with us. Imagine what this means when we
and Bible reading. Our devotional life must be pre-           can truly fall into the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ
cious to us if we are to be truly wise. God works             and for His sake be forgiven. Such wisdom lifts from
wisdom in us through His Spirit and His Spirit works          us the burden of guilt and restores to us the joy of
in us by His Word and prayer.                                 forgiveness. It also enables us to press on, striving
  While we prayerfully and diligently search His              every day anew to overcome sin and to walk in the
Word, we must practice each day what we believe to            way that is right with God.
be right. Wisdom increases with practice. It is a               May God bless you young people with much wis-
Christian skill that must be learned through experi-          dom.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  951


TAKING HEED TO DOCTRINE



"Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call of the Gsspel(19)-

                                                by Rev. David Engelsma

  Abraham Kuyper wrote the book, Dat De Genade                Christ. For both parties acknowledge that only some
Pavticulier Is (That Grace is Particular), because many       are actually saved. But the issue concerns the `will of
were raising the motto, "Christus pro omnibus (Christ         God and the intention of Christ. Those who teach
for all)," to a "shibboleth of evangelical truth" .(p. 3).    universal grace maintain that it is God's will and
By this "Christ for all" was meant "that Christ,              Christ's intention to save all men through Christ's
according to the intention and tendency of His self-          death. "In contrast, the particularists . . . teach: It
offering, died for all men, head for head and soul for        must be preached by the church to every creature,
soul" (p. 3). Although the doctrine of universal              that atonement has been obtained by the death of
atonement was on the foreground, Kuyper correctly             Christ for everyone who believed, believes,  .or will
saw that the real issue was the teaching that grace is        believe, i.e., since all believers are the elect, only for
common to all men. He refers to those who proclaim            the elect; and this is true, not merely according to the
the doctrine of "Christ for all" as "zealots for com-         result, but according to Christ's intention and God's
mon grace (algemeene  genade), " and he opposes them          counsel. The Church must also preach that the
by defending the fundamental proposition, that grace          atonement is applied, not to indefinite, as yet uncon-
is particular.                                                verted persons, but to persons whom the Lord loves
  Although those who confess particular grace are in          with an eternal love, already before they were born,
the minority at present, Kuyper is encouraged to              and whom He `calls by name' " (p. 27).
defend particular grace by the fact that "in earlier,           The advocates of universal grace in every age have
and spiritually better, ages, I would have found plen-        three favorite texts: I John 2:2; I Timothy 2:4; and II
ty of allies" (pp. 4,5). He points to a "cloud of wit-        Peter 3:9. Kuyper painstakingly explains these texts,
nesses" which "did not know a grace which is not              rejecting the interpretation that makes them teach a
particular" (p. 6). This cloud of witnesses includes          grace of God towards every human being. "The three
Augustine; Calvin; Peter Martyr; Rivet; Voetius;              main texts, with which men commonly like to scare
Witsius; Beza; Zanchius; Gomarus; Turretin; and               the confessor of particular grace  . . .  prove  nothing
many others. Kuyper can safely say, without any               (emphasis, as always, Kuyper's - DE) for universal
exaggeration, that "in the time of our national glory,        grace" (p. 69).
when there were still genuine theologians, and genu-            Kuyper's explanation of II Peter 3:9 is typical. The
ine theologians in quantity, shining in the church of         text reads: "The Lord is not slack concerning his prom-
these lands, the conviction `that grace is particular'        ise, as some men count slackness; but is  longsuf-
obtained as the only Biblical and Reformed position"          fering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
(p. 14). The teaching of "universal or common                 but that all should come to repentance." In Kuyper's
grace," on the other hand, which is the "doctrine of          day as in ours, the popular interpretation of the text,
Rome, the Socinians, the Mennonites, the Arminians,           by the friends of universal grace - and foes of partic-
and the Quakers, crept into the Reformed Churches             ular grace! - is that God does not desire any member
from without, especially through Amyraut and the              of  the. whole human race to perish, but sincerely
Saumur school" (pp. 13,14).                                   desires the salvation of all men without exception.
   Kuyper wants to make  sure, that we understand             Kuyper repudiates this interpretation. not only as
what the issue is. The issue is not that those who            heterodoxy, but also as folly. "For then I come to
confess particular grace affirm, whereas those who            this absurd reasoning: `Jesus  cannot  yet come,
confess universal, or common, grace deny, that, in the        because God's will must be fulfilled, and, according
end, only some are saved by the grace of God in               to God's will, all men must first come to repentance.


952                                                           ,THE STANDARD BEARER



But . . . if Jesus cannot come. until all men come to                          deeply for that, and, for him to be able to do that,
repentance,  then  Jesus will never come.  For, first,                         something must first happen  in him,  by which he
there are already hundreds and thousands of dead                               receives the power to lay hold on that offered (pre-
people, who died unconverted. . . . Secondly, there                            sented  - DE) salvation,' then, obviously, `universal
are millions upon millions who will die today, tomor-                          grace' is found to be completely untenable on
row, or next year, without ever having heard of                                account of this one confession (of total depravity -
Jesus. . . . And finally, if God, without a definite goal,                     DE), because, in fact, not all men receive `this possi-
simply allows new men to be born continuously, and                             bility to be able to believe' by a particular grace" (p.
the coming of Jesus then must be delayed, until also                           71). "Of an  intention in  God at the forming of the
these are converted, that coming of Jesus can be de-                           plan of salvation and the carrying out of that plan in
layed endlessly. . . ." The explanation of II Peter 3:9                        the death of Christ to save all sinners head for head,
that holds that God desires to save all men involves                           there can, therefore, be no mention, unless God knew
"the most absurd reasoning imaginable and is utterly                           that all these sinners yet retained' the might, the
senseless" (pp. 61,62).*                                                       power, and the ability . . . to believe in Jesus Christ
    "In II Peter  3:9, nothing else  can' be meant than                        and in the redemption through His blood" (p. 92).
this: Jesus cannot come before the number of the                                  The preceding quotation, with its reference to
elect is full, and, inasmuch now as many elect have                            God's intention, indicates that Kuyper's opposition
not yet been converted, He delays His coming, in His                           to universal grace not only concerns the teaching that
longsuffering, not willing that some would go lost                             Christ died for all men, but also concerns the teaching
through a premature'return, but willing that they all                          that there is an intention of God to save all. This is a
first be converted" (p. 64). In the light cast by the                          basic element of the present-day doctrine of the well-.
history of the Reformed struggle to defend sovereign,                          meant offer of the gospel. Kuyper concentrates on this
particular grace, it is clear that the explanation one                         aspect of the error of universal grace when he goes on
gives of II Peter 3:9 can well serve as the touchstone                         to show that the theory of universal grace is in con-
of a genuinely Reformed confession of the grace of                             flict with what Scripture teaches concerning "the
God.                                                                           Being and perfections of God."
    Having disposed of the superficial explanation of a                          Those in the Reformed camp who teach that God'
few texts commonly opposed to the truth of partic-                             is gracious to all must acknowledge that God knows,
ular grace, Kuyper proceeds to expose the error of                             indeed has decreed, that only some will be saved.
the teaching that God is gracious to all men. His first                        How then can they say that God wills, or desires, to
argument is that the doctrine of total depravity re-                           save all? Their answer, says Kuyper, is the contention
futes the notion of universal grace. Kuyper's reason-                          that there is a distinction between two wills of God:
ing here is well worth noting. He argues that universal                        "dne asserts then that `will' and `decree' are to be
grace necessarily implies the ability of the sinner to                         distinguished" (p. 102). What they mean is that there
accept that intended and offered grace, i.e., implies                          are two, opposite, conflicting wills in God: He wills
the heresy of free will. All that is necessary, there-                         to save all, and He wills not to save all. "That," writes
fore, to disprove the contention of universal grace                            Kuyper, "is gibberish (wartaal).  . . . To place in one
and to establish the truth of particular grace is the                          and the same decree `Yes' and `No' at the same time
demonstration from Scripture that the natural man is                           is to ascribe to God something absurd, a thing that
totally depraved, incapable of accepting any offer of                          must be resisted with all our might" (p. 105).
salvation.                                                                       It is, of course, true that there is a proper distinc-
    "If it be true, what the proponents of universal                           tion to be made between God's "decree" and God's
grace teach, namely, that grace is offered to all men,                         "will." But this is the distinction between what God.
head for head, on the ground that, in fact and really,                         commands men to do and what God Himself decides
the ransom is already paid for them, then it must                              to do. "God's will is: Thou shalt not kill; but in His
herewith be supposed that the sinner, as he is in sin,                         counsel the murder of our William the First is in-
Yet possesses a power, an ability, a possibility in his                        cluded. God's will is: Thou shalt not commit adul-
soul,  to  accept  the salvation offered to him"  (pp.                         tery; and yet Bathsheba is foreordained to be the
70,71). "If one teaches over against this, `No, the                            mother of Solomon. . . . Certainly, if there is mention
sinner is not able to do that. He has sunk away too                            of-the will o-f-@6~%hich  must be a directive for us
                                                                               men in our actions, then of course, this revealed will
                                                                               of God is nothing else than His holiness mirrored in
    *One can hear the men whose position Kuyper here demolishes
assuring themselves and their followers that Kuyper is "too logical." In       His commandments and which, therefore, has nothing.
that case, it will at least be evident from the passage that it is histori-    to do with His decree or with His counsel" (p. 102).
cally Reformed to be logical in explaining God's truth, Those in the
Reformed camp today who recommend absurdity should advise us of                But this is not at all what the defenders of universal
their origins.                                                                 grace have in mind with their distinction between two


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                             953


wills in God. They do not refer to "what God wills         refuge in their distinction between two wills in `God.
that the man should do," but they are speaking of "a        The "paradox" behind which they hide at the crucial
counsel and plan that  God Himself carries  out."           moment. is not a Biblical, Reformed "paradox," but
"There would be then, on the one hand, a will of            absurdity, absurdity which serves to introduce con-.
God, that He Himself shall work at the salvation of         flict into the Being and decree of God and the heresy
all, and, on the other hand, a will of God, that He         of universal grace into the Reformed Churches. The
Himself carry out a plan according to which not all         distinction between a will of God that desires and
shall be saved" (p. 103). This, says Kuyper, is "gib-       intends to save all and a will of God that does not
berish," unworthy of Reformed theology and an               desire and intend to save all is a spurious distinction
attack on the Being and perfections of God.                 and one that Reformed theology has not only not
                                                            recognized, but explicitly condemned. The God Who
It becomes more and more clear that Reformed                commands all who hear the gospel to repent and
theology will not permit those who maintain both a          believe is a God Who wills, desires, and intends the
sincere desire of God to save all and the decree of         salvation of the elect and the elect alone.
election, i.e., the defenders of the offer, to find any



FROM HOLY WRIT,



                   Exposition of Hebrews 13:20,21
                                                   (Continued)


                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

THE EFFICACIOUS, SANCTIFYING WORK OF                        law and the prophets. Indeed; this is the new cove-
THE GOD OF PEACE (cont.)                                    nant, written on the tables of our heart.
   This means that the law of God, written in our             Now the actual writing of this law in our heart is
hearts as the new and better covenant, must be ful-         the work of the God of peace by the operation of the
filled in us in every last jot and tittle. We do not        Spirit of Christ. And for this the writer to the
understand this in the superficial sense in which           Hebrews prays when he would see them perfected
perfectionism's teaching manipulates this truth of the      unto every good work. Writes he: "that he might
Word of God. Perfectionists would here refer to the         perfect you in every good work!" First of all, it must
law as a prescription of rules for the Christian to         be a perfection unto works which are really "good."
follow. That is how the Pharisees understood the law        (agathoo). They must not merely appear to be good
concerning killing, adultery, hatred of neighbor, and       unto men, as did the works of the Pharisees. Of this
perfection, It was an external code of legal rules. But     we have the description by Jesus in Matthew 5:20 ff.
Jesus says that unless our righteousness of sanctified They must be works which proceed from a faith
`keeping of the law exceeds this righteousness of the       which is energized by love. (Gal.  5:6.) All works
Pharisees and Scribes, we shall in no case enter into       which do not proceed from a true faith are law-works
the kingdom of heaven. With such a righteousness we         and are not acceptable on the altar of incense and
shall never be perfect as our Father in heaven is per-      thanksgiving. These are all attempts to bring a sac-
fect. No, this sanctifying work is a matter of the rifice of sprinkling with blood, which denies the
purification of the whole man, the inner man, as            blood of the great Shepherd of the sheep. These are
Jesus indicates in this "but I say unto you" (Matthew works which are based on the institutions and the
5:22,26,28,34,39,44). Here we have the word of the          sinful imaginations of man. Then too these are such
Great Shepherd of the sheep with the real soul-care as     that they are according to God's law. They must be, as
it pertains to what he has come to do to fulfill the        the text has it, "to do His will!" This will refers to


954                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the will of God's command. In Hebrews 10: 5-10 the          and make us a most willing people. He gives us a free
writer refers to the "will" which Christ came to            will to will the good. Christ merited this for us, and
perform to bring the perfect sacrifice as predicted in      now makes us partakers of this grace of a free-will, or,
Psalm  40:7-g. We must have a righteousness which           if you please, a will that wills in the liberty wherewith
does the Will of God, remembers God's covenant to           Christ has made us free. Thus we are king-priests of
do it. These are works of thankfulness. Besides, they       God.
must be works which are to the glory of God's grace.           For the text emphasizes that the things worked in
(Matthew 5 : 16)                                            us are "wellpleasing before God." It should not
 Now these good works must be "perfected in                 escape our notice that the Greek text has the article.
you." No doubt this refers to the man of God's being        This points out that which is well-pleasing as in a class
"perfected unto every good work." This God does by          by itself. It is the well-pleasing things. They are the
His word and Spirit. The entire book of Hebrews has         chief and weightier matters of the law. The term "To
been such a God-Spirited word, which is sharper than        euarestos" is that which is connected with the altar of
any two-edged sword, even to the dividing of the soul       God, that which is truly dedicated and sanctified by
and spirit, the marrow and bones, and is a discerner        the altar. Our works which are out of faith, according
of the thoughts and of the intents of the heart.            to God's law and unto  His glory, are such works.
(Hebrews 4:  12,13)  Paul says that "all scripture is       They are on the altar which we have, and that altar is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for          Christ Himself. He is the Priest which sanctifies such
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction      works on the altar. For they are wrought by God
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,       through him!
perfectly (throughly) furnished unto all good works."
(II Tim. 3:  16,17)  And this must refer to the whole       TO WHOM BE THE GLORY TJNTO THE AGES OF
man of God: his whole spirit and soul and body as           AGES, AMEN (Hebrews 13 : 2 1 ,b)
temple of the Holy Spirit. (I. Thes. 5:23) All must be        ,We have made reference to this "glory" in a former
preserved blameless to the coming of the Lord Jesus         essay; however, we believe that we should explain this
Christ. We must be wholly doing the law of God -            doxology to the God of peace a little more in depth.
prophets, priests, and kings  of- God in Christ. His        The doxology here reads in the Greek as follows, "hoi
`mind must be our mind; His will must be our will;          ee doxa eis tous aioovas toon aioonoon; ameen," that
and we must be very bone of His bone and flesh of           is, "to whom the glory unto ages of ages, Amen."
His flesh. This perfection has in it the preservation of      The term "glory" in Scripture has various words in
the power of God in Christ. We are kept in the power,       the Hebrew language: Adornment  (Zech.  11:3);
efficacious power of God unto that day, and are more        honor, adornment (Psalm 90: 16); honor, beauty,
and more conformed to the image of God. We are              majesty (Psalm  8:l); cleanliness and purity (Psalm
changed from glory unto glory as by the Spirit of the       89:44). The most expressive of them in the Hebrew is
Lord. That is sanctification. It is being perfected unto    that of "kabod," which means: weight, heaviness,
all the good works of heaven. And this will be in our       honor. We speak of a great and important person as a
heart, mind, soul, and strength. Then will the great        weighty person, whom we revere and take seriously.
"Hear, Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD,? be a          The serapbims in- the holy temple in the Theophany
perfection in our lives, and will be upon our lips in       of God in Christ see this glory. (John 12:40) And the
grateful adoration forever! It will be the song of the      whole earth is full of the glory of the LORD. (Isaiah
redeemed in heaven!                                         6:8) Small wonder that they say to each other "Holy,
  But this is all efficacious grace. Here the Pelagian      holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." It is the majesty of
must live in silence, and the Semi-Pelagian with him.       God's power and wisdom in the earth which con-
For this is all to the glory of God. Here no one may        stitutes this revealed glory of God's being.
boast save in the Lord. This is also true concerning          The concept glory is connected very much with the
the work of God's sanctifying power. We do not              coming of Christ, the great Shepherd in Israel. He is
sanctify ourselves. We are the objects of this work,        the Word made flesh which dwelt among us, and we
and thus are caused to share in it. Being moved we          have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten of
move! And that is what the text says: "working in           the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 14) This
you what is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus        is the glory which Moses saw in the cleft of the Rock
Christ." This ought to sink deep into our hearts. God       prepared for him. That glory was the manifestation of
works sanctification into our hearts. He alone! And         the virtues of God in the Cross: The LORD, the
what He works in our hearts He does through the             LORD God, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and
Mediator, Jesus Christ. This Jesus came to save His         abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
people from their sins. He came to save them also           thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
from all the pollution of sin, and to bend our wills        sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               955



the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and              Keeping this in mind we begin to understand a bit
upon the children's children, unto the third and forth        what this means in the text here in Heb. 13:2 1. This
generation." (Exodus 34:6,7) When Jesus is about to           is a glory which is ascribed to God in Christ. It is the
die, this glory is before His Messianic consciousness         glory which is His in the great Shepherd of the sheep,
very much. In the upper room at the Lord's table              and which particularly came to manifestation in rais-
Jesus speaks of this glory. Says He, "Now is the Son          ing Him out of the dead. And this resurrection life
of man glorified, and God is glorified in him." (John         God planted in the hearts of the Hebrew Christians.
13:3 1) This refers to the work of His crucifixion at         That was His covenant life. And that life showed the
Calvary and also His ascension on high. And in His            glory of His saving power and grace and faithfulness.
Highpriestly prayer in John 17: 1 Jesus says to God,
"Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy            Now the design of that glory is that it is unto the
Son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him             ages of ages. God would show in the ages to come the
power overall flesh, that he should give eternal life to      exceeding greatness of His goodness to usward. (Eph.
as many as thou has given him." From this it should           2:7,8)  No, this glory is not simply as long as  this*
be evident that the chief end of Christ's death and           world lasts and the ages roll along. The distant vistas
resurrection was to reveal the mighty glories of God          of the new heaven and the new earth beckon. God
in this work of salvation. God would glorify Himself          will bring in that immovable inheritance, when He will
in His Son, the great Shepherd of the sheep.                  not only shake the earth but also the heavens. Then
  If we keep this in mind we shall understand that, in        will the glory of the Lord be revealed and we shall see
the doxology which is here ascribed to God, all the           Him face to face in all His glory in the face of Jesus
                                                              Christ. Having this hope in us let us purify ourselves
virtues of God as they are manifested in the Son con-
stitute this glory, this weightiness, this high and           as He is pure. God will perfect that in us which He
exalted esteem and honor, which God ascribes to               has begun.
Himself. He gives His glory to no one else. He is very          This shall surely come to pass. All the church says
jealous of His glory.                                         "Amen." All who share in this work of grace are
  Now there is a glory of God in the saints. There is a       assured and sealed by the Spirit and all say "Amen."
riches of His glory in the saints. (Eph. 1: 18) And we        "Blessing, and honor, and glory and power, be unto
are elected that we should be to the praise of the            Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
glory of His grace. God's work of grace as rooted in          forever and ever! And the four beasts say; Amen!"
sovereign election is such that it only glorifies Him. It     And all that hath breath praise the Lord God al-
is God's glory manifested in the saints. For the saints       mighty! Amen!
are the fulness of Him who filleth all in all. (Eph.
1:23)


STUDIES IN ISAIAH

                The Six Woes Pronounced on Israel
                                            Isaiah 5: 8-30
                                                Rev. Robt. C. Harbach

   1. The End and Ruin the Vineyard Deserved. "And            the Lord of the clouds, the Lord of heaven and earth.
I will make it a desolation (put an end to it). (It) shall    Blight and drought, which often enough sweep vast
not be pruned, and not be dressed, and shall come up          areas in our land, come not by chance, but are or-
thorns and (more) thorns. And I will not command              dered of the Lord; and it should be evident to anyone
the thick clouds to rain rain upon it" (5 :6, Heb.). The      who knows Scripture at all, that God, not being
Lord puts a sudden and hopeless end to the vineyard           mocked, punishes in this way the ingratitude of men
by letting it lie in neglect, to run wild, choked with        for despising Him and His good gifts. So blight and
thorns and scorched wit.h drought. The vineyard will          drought also come into the church. There are tares,
be taken over by products of original sin and the             thorns, and briers, a sign of judgment beginning at the
curse. Here it is plain who the Lord of the vineyard is,      house of God, and a sign of reprobation. For "that


 956                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


 which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and its        themselves in the midst of the land" (5:8, Heb.). (a)
 cursing near;" so near that it is presently to come,        Woe against covetousness (in the form' of greed for
 (and the curse causeless shall not come, Prov. 26:2b).      worldly wealth). Avaricious grasping punished with
 In the church world  `are found, as Romans One re-          sterility (vs. S-10). Micah expressed the same con-
 veals today as never before, "sons of Belial,`wicked,       demnation against house and land monopoly. "They
 ungodly men, immoralities, errors, heresies, con-           covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them
 tentions, quarrels" (Gill). For this the  .curse would      away. They defraud a man and his household; the
 come on Israel. The fulfilment of this came in the          person and his household" (2:2, Berkeley). A man
destruction of Jerusalem by the  Chaldeans; the cap-         became a land baron and a city boss when he ac-
 tivities in Babylonia and Assyria. Its fuller accom-        quired all the houses in an area, owning the whole
 plishment came in the rejection of the Jewish nation        city, and all the fields, owning the suburbs. Here is
 and its destruction in 70 A.D., the wrath of God            the man who set his heart on wealth and cannot get
 coming upon it to the uttermost. (Matt. 22:7; 23:38;        enough of it. The more he gets; the more he has to
 I Thess.  2:14-16). It has a continued and frequent         get. He already has a house, but also a winter house, a
 fulfilment in those churches which have apostatized         summer house, and is wheeling a deal to acquire a
 from the gospel, have quenched the Spirit, and where        main line house and a -down town hotel. He does not
 the glory of the presence of His Spirit has departed. It    have time to enjoy what he has; nor time to do any
 continues where the gospel has been removed from            good with it; he is too busy working at getting more
 places which have long been reproached and a scandal        and growing rich rapidly. If a man were given the
to the church. But the loss.of the vineyard in any case      whole of Ireland, he would want the Isle of Man
 is no loss to God. For from the very stones of the          thrown in. If he could monopolize the whole world,
 wilderness He can raise up children to Abraham.             he would want to annex the moon.
   Sin, then, is not restrained, but unchecked devel-          "In my ears (is) Jehovah Tsebhaoth. If (the follow-
 ops in increasing tidal waves of wickedness. The            ing shall) not (occur, I am not God): many houses
 volcanoes of iniquity spew out the ruins of decayed         shall be (brought) to desolation, great ones and
 civilizations, covering the earth with the muck and         beautiful ones without inhabitant" (5:9, Heb.). God
 miasma .of Sodom and Egypt, the only cure for which         is .in the prophet's ears (Isa. 22: 14; I Sam. 9: 15), so
 will be the final great conflagration of the Day of         that what he hears is not his own subjective medita-
 God (II Pet. 3).                                            tions, but is divine .revelation; his ears ring with it.
   2. The Explanation of the Parable-~ "For the vine-        The coveting of houses and lands is punished with the
 yard of Jehovah Tsebhoath (is) the house of Israel,         loss of both, and their being abandoned, no one to
 and the man of Judah a plant of His pleasures; and He       inhabit them. This occurs because of the owners'
 hoped for justice, and look! bloodshed! for righteous-      having been degraded to poverty, or taken into cap-
 ness, and look! a cry!" (5:7, Heb.). The vineyard of        tivity, or the building trade died, or they themselves
 Jehovah, Beth Yisraeli, the man of Judah, a plant of        died. Nothing but a ghost town remains. Men build
 His pleasure - that is election, in this case, national     mansions,  great,  or huge, grandly and expensively
 election, in which the national Israel was the hull and     gotten up, and  beautiful  ones, the dream homes we
 chaff of the kernel and seed Israel. The national Israel    all dream of and none of us can afford. These are set
 seemed to be the people of God. Outwardly they              in the exclusive land developments of the rich, the
 appeared to be the elect. This could be and' was de-        accomplishment of which they themselves consider to
 ceiving, if the shell and hull were taken as the true       be' the height of virtue; but, in a few years at most
Israel. Within the entire organism of the nation, the        these opulent dwellings become bare, empty, unin-
mere shell church was a living hypocrisy. We as be-          habited. Some of these elite environs have become
lievers must be sure we belong to the heart of the           slums, or desitute inner city canyons; or bulldozed
 wheat. Isaiah writes with a word combination of             off the map, or sacrificed to the demon, City Beltline,
 sight, sound, and sense. It may be imitated in English      or. to the dragon, Highway Cloverleaf. These things
by, He hoped for  Equity,  and, look,  iniquity!  for        occur every day, yet "the inward thought of men is
right and, look, tie t! Where praying and praising were      that their houses shall continue forever; so they call
looked for there were cursing and swearing. In               their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man
 Christ's day, the Jews should have embraced the             being in honor abideth not; he is like the beasts that
 righteousness of Christ, but they  shrieked,  Crucify       perish" (Ps.  49:11-12). So that he must face the
him! Away with him!                                          Judge of all when He asks, "then whose shall those
   3. Six  Mioes for Six Bpd Fruits Produced by the          things be which thou hast provided?" (Lk.  12:20).
 Vineyard. "Woe to those who cause house to touch            Fools, wrote Matthew Henry, build houses for wise
 against house; field against field they bring together,     men to live in, and sometimes for no men to live in.
 until (there is) no more (place), and ye set them by          "For ten yokes (land ploughed with ten yoke of


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 957
1

oxen in one day) of vineyard shall produce one bath        immediately) from after (this, continuing) into the
(of wine), and the seed pf a homer shall produce an        evening (until) wine inflame them" (5: 11, Heb.).
ephah" (5: 10, Heb.). Here is the condition of things.     Isaiah is talking about the people of his nation, the
which helped to produce the desolate situation of          Jews, who, having been scattered among the Gentiles,
sterile land and vacant dwellings. So that ten days        have learned their reveling, carousing, and drinking
work produce but a single bath (Ezek. 45: 11-14). The      habits. Their excess in drinking to drunken stupor
harvest would be no more than one tenth of the             continued morning and night, all day and all night.
sowing. The curse is the penalty for covetousness.         Luther asked, "What would the prophet have said to
     At this fourth month writing, the news media re-      the Germans for whom natural capacity is insufficient
veals the concern of weather authorities in connec-        to drain so much drink? Theirs are not feasts of joy
tion with expected changes for the worse in world          but feasts of pigs. It is all right to eat and to drink,
weat her. Signs indicate the coming of drought,            but to cultivate drunkenness is evil." Gill said, "To
famine, dearth, crop failure, and starvation, causing      rise up early in the morning is healthful . . . to rise to
great suffering (to mention a few areas) to India,         do business is commendable; but to spend the day in
Russia (a Communist country which must always              drunkenness . . . is . . . criminal." These libertines
depend for its economy and sustenance on capital-          make drinking their trade and business; they are pros
ism), and the United States. Such occurrences are          at it. They are always at it, not losing a moment of
brought in the providence of God as judgments which        time at that which is the greatest waste of time. They
desolate whole kingdoms, reducing all ranks of men         neglect every other, even necessary business, to
to abject misery. It is by such divine vengeances  that    abandon themselves in addiction to the flesh and the
the upper strata of society in their proud feastings,      lust of the heart. Manton it was who said, "When men
and the meaner sort, in their base revels, descend into    make a set business of drinking, though they be not
hell, "which enlarges itself and opens its mouth with-     grossly distempered, yet THEY ARE DRUNKARDS
out measure" to swallow up its prey of every class of      before God" (emph., RCH). These first two woes,
`men. These blasting judgments, then, are but the          Isaiah warns, shall be punished with captivity (en-
precursers of hell, for in that dreadful place not a       slavement to sin), hunger, thirst and death. Peter spoke
drop of water will be afforded to cool the burning         for those delivered from this horrible evil. "For to have
tongue of those who in this life fared sumptuously         been practicing the ways of the Gentiles heretofore is
every day.                                                 quite enough, indulging in unbridled lusts, in
                                                           passions, in drinking parties, in carousings,  in dissipa-
     (b) Woe Against Rioting, Reveling and Drunken-        tions and forbidden idolatries" (I Peter  4:3, Berke-
ness (11-17). "Woe to the ones rising early in the
morning (that) they may run after strong drink; (so        ley) .


ALL AROUND US

                             Does God Ever Change?
              And Now -- A New Stand on Divorce?
                            Church Union in Holland

              DOES GOD EVER CHANGE?                        of such a repentance on the part of Jehovah. And the
                   Rev. H. Veldrnan                        article also calls attention to the scriptural narrative
                                                           concerning Nineveh, quoting Jonah 3: 10: "And God
     In GN, THE GOOD NEWS, (Whose editor-in-chief          saw their works, that they turned from their evil way;
is Herbert W. Armstrong) of May, 1976 appears an           and God repented of the evil, that He had said that
article entitled: Does God ever change? Many pas-          He would do unto them; and He did it not." Many
sages are quoted which seem to indicate that a             more passages can be quoted from the scriptures to
change in the Lord does occur. We need not quote all       this effect.
these .passages. Exodus 32: 14 is quoted, which reads:
"And the Lord repented of the evil which He thought           Now the Word of God speaks often of this
to do unto His people." Also Jeremiah 26: 19 speaks        "change" on the part of the Lord. However, we


       958                                                     THESTANDARD BEARER


       would remark in the first place that the Word of God               then confesses his (or her)' sin of remarriage, such an
       surely emphasizes that the living God is unchange-                 one may continue in his (or her) remarriage? This is the
       able. Does not Malachi 3:6 state it emphatically: "For             bad decision that must be changed. And we do not be-
       I am the Lord, I change not; therefore  ye sons of                 lieve that it will ever be changed. 0, yes, now a com-
       Jacob are not consumed"? Do we not read in                         mittee will advise the synod to the effect that many
       Hebrews  13:8: "Jesus  Christ  is the same yesterday               divorces will rest on biblical grounds. We say to the ed-
       and today and forever"? What, then, do all these                   tor of THE OUTLOOK: why try now to lock the door
       passages indicate which are quoted in this article? A              of the barn? The horse is already out of the barn.
       change in God? Indeed, not! God never changes! He                     0, the editor may wish that this synod will not
       is everlastingly the same. He is and remains ever-                 adopt this advice of the committee. And, this advice
       lastingly the same in all His holiness and righteousness           is surely contrary to the Word of God. He is also glad
       and love and mercy. What these passages indicate is                that Dr. William Hendriksen will be a delegate to this
       not a change in God but in the sinner, and this change             synod. But, the Christian Reformed Church must re-
       in the sinner is wrought by the almighty Spirit and                pent of that previous decision.
       grace of God, according to His sovereign will.
                                                                                      CHURCHUNIONINHOLLAND
              ANDNOW-ANEWSTANDONDIVORCE?                                    In the Banner of May 7, 1976, pages 10 and 11,
         The ediitor of THE OUTLOOK has an editorial in the               apear two short articles as news items, which we
       May, 1976, issue on the above named subject. This                  would pass on to our readers. They are entitled:
       article appears on page 14 of this issue. We need not              Church Union in Holland (I) and Church Union in
       quote the entire article. The editor calls attention to            Holland (II). The first article reads as follows:
       the fact that "throughout the history of the CRC,                         A program of cooperation between the Reformed
       now well over a hundred years, except for a brief                      Churches in the Netherlands (GKN) and the Nether-
       two-year period, adultery was recognized as the only                   lands Reformed Church (NHK) seems to be running
       Scriptural ground for permissible divorce. For a short                 smoothly. This effort at increased unity, call "Samen
       time, 1894-1896, willful desertion by an unbeliever                    op Weg" (Underway Together), includes a combined
       was also accepted as a ground for divorce in the light                 meeting of the synods of both churches for the
       of I Corinthians 7: 15 but the church soon reverted to                 second time, to take place on September 17 and 18
       the previous stand." But now a committee will report                   of 1976.
       to the Christian Reformed synod this year, advising a                     On the agenda will be the confession of the
       change in this stand, advising the synod that there can                church, cooperation on the local level, and questions
       be other kinds of actions, situations, and conditions                  of church order raised by such cooperation. Com-
       that in the judgment of the consistory can only be                     mittees of both churches working on the mandate
      judged to be the equivalent of unrepentant unchastity                   hope to involve local congregations of the two
      in signaling the complete breakdown of a marriage                       churches in this action. The two denominations are
                                                                             by far the largest on the Protestant scene in the low
       and the unlikelihood of its restoration. And then the                  countries.
       editor concludes his article as follows:                             And the second article, which appears on page 10
                True, the Committee adds: "This ought not to be           and 11, is of a similar vein and reads as follows:
              construed as opening the door to all kinds of justifica-
              tion for divorce." (1976 Agenda, p. 335). But I make
              bold to say, when you once change our Lord's specif-              The Christian Reformed Churches in the Nether-
              ic rule for divorce to "a moral principle" to be               lands (CGKN) and the Reformed Churches (Liber-
              applied in each case according to a consistory's judg-         ated, Unaffiliated) of the Netherlands have issued a
              ment, human nature being what it is, the result of             declaration that seems to have brought them one step
              taking such a liberty with Scripture can only be ex-           closer toward unity. Far-reaching agreement was
              pected to accelerate the already mounting divorce              found to exist on the subject of the "appropriation of
              rate among us."                                                salvation," involving questions such as rebirth, the
         With this concluding remark of the editor of THE                    experience of faith and conversion, the place of the
      OUTLOOK we certainly agree. But we hasten to call                      covenant, and God's promises in preaching. These
                                                                             issues have long separated the two churches.
      his attention to the fact that this situation in the
      Christian  Reformed Church is already hopeless, unless                    The discussions between the two churches date
      that church retract a previous decision. We do not                     back to the mid-sixties when the one group disaffil-
      `know what the synod of that church will decide this                   iated itself from the Reformed Churches (Liberated).
                                                                             A recent recommendation from the synod of the
      year. But, what difference does it really make? Did                    "Unaffiliated" stated that since they have no
      not the Christian Reformed Church already decide                       seminary of their own, their future ministers should
      some years ago that when a person divorces his (or                     undertake their studies at the school of the Christian
      her)  mate on biblical or unbiblical ground, remarries,                Reformed Churches in Apeldoorn.



I.


       The Christian Reformed Churches in the Nether-                                     disturbing is that there is in neither report any  con-
    lands number 173 congregations and a total of                                         fession  of sin. Sin, of course, was the cause why these
    71,000 members, and the Reformed churches (lib-                                  ' churches drifted away from each other. And we fear
    erated, Unaffiliated) have 95 congregations  and ., .                                 that if sin be not confessed, then these mergers will
    29,000 membeys.                                      t-q  f  *
                                                         :a:, .  8                   '  .occur only at the expense of the truth.
  So, the merging of churches continues. What  iis'                               '  '


                                                  Pre-Seminary and Seminary Students!
                                                The Theological School of the Protestant Re-
                                              formed Churches will begin its 1976-77 term, the
                                              Lord willing, on Wednesday, September 8. All stu-
                                              dents must be present at 9:00 A.M. for registration
                                              and assignments.          -  H,. C. Hoeksema, Rector

               IiESOLUT`ION OF SYMPATHY                                                                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Ladies Society, Ruth, of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church
extends its sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. G. Korhorn, in the                          The Council of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church of Walker,
recent loss of her sister, Mrs.  Tena Visser, and her sister-in-law, Mrs.                 Michigan, expresses its sincere sympathy to its Clerk and  fellow-
Rena Korhorn.                                                                             officebearer, Elder John Kalsbeek, in the bereavement of his sister, Mrs.
                                                                                          John (Grace) Van  Beck.
   "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." (Rev.  14:13)
                                   Rev. R. Van Overloop, Pres.                               "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Phil.  1:21).
                                   Mrs.  R. Bloem, Vice Sec.                                                                    Rev. R. Van Overloop, Pres.
                                    Walker,  Mich.                                                                              Arnold Dykstra, Ass't. Clerk.

                             IN MEMORIAM                                                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Ladies Society, Ruth, of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church
mourns the loss of a faithful member, Mrs. Anna  Kievit who was called                       The members of the Mr. and Mrs. Society of Faith Protestant Re-
to eternal glory on June  15,1976. We are comforted with the words of                     formed Church of Jenison, Michigan, extend their sympathy to Mr. and
the Psalmist, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His                      Mrs. Truett Hugg in the passing of her mother, MRS. ALICE DUTRO.
saints." (Psalm  116:15)                                                                  May our covenant God comfort them with His Word and Spirit in the
                                   Rev. R. Van Overloop, Pres.                            assurance that  - "All things work together for good to them that love
                                   Mrs. R. Bloem, Vice Sec.                               God."  (Remans   8:28).
                                    Walker,  Mich.                                                                              Rev. M. Joostens, Pres.
                                                                                                                                Mrs. R. Van Til, Sec'y.
                       ANNOUNCEMENT
   Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in Love-                                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
land, Colorado on Wednesday, September 1, 1976, the Lord willing.
Delegates in need of lodging should inform the clerk of the Loveland                         On July  13,1976, our parents, MR. AND MRS. DAVID ZYLSTRA,
consistory.                                                                               celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. We are very grateful for the
                                  Rev. David Engelsma                                     blessing of their covenant instruction throughout the years, and wish
                                  Stated Clerk                                            them God's blessing in the years to come.
                                                                                                                     Their children:
                 WEDDlNG ANNIVERSARY                                                                                 Mr. and Mrs. John Zylstra (Adam, Rachel)
                                                                                                                     Peter
   On July 25, 1976, Our beloved parents Mr. and Mrs. Arnold  Have-                                                  Martin
man, celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. We, their grateful                                                   Geraldine
children, thank and praise God for them and for using them to instruct                                               Jacqueline
us to walk in the fear of His Name.                                                                                  Arlene
   Our prayer is that He may continue to bless them in the future, and                                               Patricia
to lead them and us in the paths of righteousness.                                                                   Marsha
                            Mr. and mrs. Chester Haveman  and Janna                                                  Timothy
                            Betty  Haveman                                                                           Valerie
                            Mr. and Mrs. Willard  Haveman, Jennifer and Nicole                                       Rhoda
                            Mr. and Mrs. Laverne  Haveman                                 Edmonton, Alberta,
                            Ruth  Haveman                                                 Canada.



                                        News From Our Churches

   The Evangelism Committee of our South Holland,                                         13 or their pastor's sermons on Ephesians 5 and 6
Illinois church has been informed that the Family                                         during the months of July, August, and September.
Radio Network will be broadcasting a series of 12 to                                      Some seven stations will broadcast Rev. Engelsma's


                                                        .,i..,      .                         = .





            THE STANDARD BEARER
                   P.O. Box 6064
:           Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





     960                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

     sermons to a large audience on both the east and west         words of welcome to the delegates,
     coasts. No charge is made for this service as these           -As is usually the case with our July meeting of
     stations are supported by contributions. In their             Classis, the business was routine and no extraordinary
     announcement, the committee states that they "are             matter appeared on the Agenda. We can be thankful
     thankful that God has opened this door to us and              to our faithful God that He preserves unity and.peace
     pray that He may bless this effort to the glory of His        in the midst of our churches.
     n a m e . "
       Our small congregation in Forbes, North Dakota,                   The chair appointed a Finance Committee consist-
                                                                   ing of Elders E. Kortering and G. Bylsma. This com-
     does not usually have a printed bulletin. But, had            mittee reported a total expenditure of $318.90 for
     there been one, mention would have been made of
     the confession of faith made by two young `men of             this session of Classis.  Classis authorized payment of
                                                                   this amount.
     the congregation, as well as of the birth of a second
     son, Michael Jon, to Rev. and Mrs. M. Hoeksema.                     Due to the fact that there were three new faces at
     Prof. H. C. Hoeksema planned to baptize his grandson          this classical meeting, the chair had'difficulty select-
     on June 20 while visiting Forbes for a few days. Mrs.         ing one to thank the ladies for their catering (the one
     Hoeksema writes that, because they have not  ex-              who makes his appearance at Classis for the first time
. perienced much interest from those outside our                   is usually appointed). However, he elected to have
     denomination in attending the Forbes church, they             Elder C. Prince perform this duty.
     are very thankful to see the internal growth and                    Kalamazoo, in the absence of an undershepherd,
     development of this small band of believers,                  again requested classis to supply her pulpit. Elders T.
       Since the Report of Classis East will take most of          Engelsma and A. Alphenaar were appointed with Rev.
     the remaining space in this issue, we will only have          den Hartog to construct a schedule to supply the
 room for the following `potpourri' of items: Rev.                 pulpit of Kalamazoo.  Classis adopted the following
 Kuiper conducted services in Charlotte, Michigan, at              schedule for Kalamazoo's supply: July 25, Rev.  C.
     the request of five families in that area. Rev. W.            Hanko; Aug. 8, Rev. G. Van Baren; Aug. 22, Rev. H.
     Bekkering declined the call from Kalamazoo. Semi-             Veldman; Sept. 5, Rev. M. Joostens; Sept. 19, Rev. R.
     narian Ken Koole is ministering in Doon this summer.          Van Overloop; Oct. 3, Rev. M. &chipper; and Oct. 10,
     Doon has extended a call to Rev. M. Kamps of Red-             Rev. J. Heys.
     lands. Rev. J. Heys was scheduled for surgery on July               The church visitors reported that they had visited
     13 in Holland, Michigan. The new Hudsonville                  the churches in the Michigan area, but that Prospect
     Church is under construction. Prospect Park has pur-          Park can expect a visit in the future. This report also
     chased property for the future building of a church           reflected a spiritual welfare in our congregations.
     (more on that next month.)                                          A motion prevailed that Classis meet next time on
                                                      K.G.V.       Oct. 6, 1976, at First Church.
                                                                         The questions of article 41 of the Church Order
                        Report Of  Classis East                    were asked. The Churches answered these questions
                             July  7,1976                          satisfactorily and none desired the help of Classis in
                       Hope Prot. ReJ: Church                      the government of their church.
       Rev. A. den Hartog of Prospect Park, New Jersey,                  Rev. J. Heys made a few appropriate remarks
lead  Classis in opening devotions. After the reading              thanking the delegates' for their cooperation and
and acceptance of the credentials of the churches                  asked Rev. H. Veldman to close this session with
represented,  Classis was declared properly con-                   prayer.
stituted. At this time Rev. J. A. Heys, by order of                                          Respectfully submitted,
rotation, took up the chairmanship. Before attending                                         Rev. M. Joostens, Asst. S.C.
to the business of Classis, Rev. Heys addressed a few                                        of Classis East


