    STANDARD
           BEARER
,--  4 REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





          Now we still look into the mirror of the
     holy Scriptures. . . . As we stare upon our sin-
     ful image we see behind us, as it were, the
     glorious image of our resurrected Lord, the
     Lord of glory, the Lamb for sinners slain. He
     speaks to us through that  mirror, and by His
     Spirit in our hearts assures us that His  right-
     eousness is our righteousness, and  His  blessed
     resurrection  life is ours forever. As  we look
     and listen we are changed, transformed into
     the likeness of that glorious image of Christ,
     taking on holiness and righteousness in the
     `true knowledge of Father.  See page  2.
     \



                                    Volume  LI II, No. 1, October 1, 1976
                                                l!SN 03624692


2                                                         THE STANDARD  BEARER



                                                                                                       TtiiE  STANDARDBEARER
                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during  June, July.  and August.
                                                                                -Published  by the Reformed  Free Publishing  Association,  Inc.
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                                                                             Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  Homer  C. Hoeksema
                                                                             Department Editors:  Prof.  Robert  D.  Decker,  Rev.  David  J.  Engelsma.
                                                                             Rev.  Cornelius  Hanko.  Prof.  Herman  Hanko.  Rev.   Robert  C,  Harbach.
                              CONTENTS:                                      Rev.  John  A.  Heys,  Rev.  Jay  Kortering,   Rev.   M.  Hoeksema.  Rev.
                                                                             George  C.  Lubbers,  Rev.  Meindert  Joostens.   Rev.  Marinus  Schipper,
                                                                             Rev.  Gise  J.  Van  Baren.   Rev.  Herman  Veldman.   Mr.  Kenneth  G.  Vink.
Meditation -                                                                 Editorial Office:  Prof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema
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     Languishing for God . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . .2      Church News Editor:        Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
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MEDITA  TIO N


                                           Languishing for God
                                                                Rev. C Hanko

                  "Beloved, now are we the sons of Go{, and it doth not yet appeal:  what we shalLbe: but
               we know that, when he (or better, it) shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him
               as he is. "                                                                                                             I John 3:2.

     "We shall be like Him," like Father.                                          It is true, that "we know not what we shall be."
     What child-like faith, what blessed expectation,                          Many questions clamor for an answer as we try to
what languishing of soul in ardent anticipation is                             envision ,the life beyond death and the grave.
expressed in this confession which the aged apostle                                We have questions in regard to the intermediate
John, as a compassionate father lays upon the lips of                          state. How can our souls be active in heaven while our
his beloved children in the Lord.                                              bodies still rest in the grave? Will we recognize our


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 3


 dear ones who have preceded us to glory?. Will there        leprous sinners, children of Satan, into holy and right-
 be a closer intimacy between them and us, closer than       eous sons of god? "0 the depth of the riches both of
 with the o:her saints, because our lives were. so in-       the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearch-
 timately interwoven here on earth? Will we be like a        able are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!,
 small family,. sharing our mansions, within the family      For of  H&n, and through Him, and to Him, are all
 of God? Will we remember the deeds done in the              things; to whom be the glory forever."  (Remans
 body, also the sinful deeds, but then as completely         11:33, 36)                                                 I
 forgiven in the blood of our dear Savior? Will we
 know what is taking place on earth as Christ carries           How repulsive now is the horrid lie of Satan that
 out the counsel of God toward His speedy return?            once had such a strong appeal for us, "Ye shall be as
                                                             God"! The devil, whose very name means deceiver,
   There are also questions in regard to the future life     approached Eve in the garden with the subtle  ques-
in our resurrection bodies. Will our present weak-           tion,"You may eat of all the trees of the garden, may-
nesses become our strengths; will our present faults        you not? It is preposterous to think that your God
then prove to be our virtues? Will the latent talents       would withhold the delicious fruit of any of His good
and abilities that were never developed here come to         trees from His friend-servants. Why should He?" This
their full usefulness there? Will a person with poetic       was sufficient to sow the seeds of distrust in Eve's
ability compose new songs of praise for all of us to        mind. We are horror stricken to think that this dis-
sing? Will a person with musical talent lead the choirs     trust should so soon bear its evil fruit, that the devil
of heavenly hosts? Will the individual with intellec-        could pour out his blasphemous charge against God'
tual acumen use'that to enrich us in the glories of our     without shocking the woman who so recently had
God? Will we know Abraham at sight? Will our lives,         stood in `God's very presence. Yet the devil spewed
even though we make up a multitude that no man              out his lie, and Eve not only listened, but consented
can number, be so intimately related to each other,         to it. Satan made bold to say, "Your God is a--liar.
that every one in his own individual manner will serve      Even though He affiied that you would die if you
for the blessedness of all the saints? Together, de-        ate of the forbidden fruit, that cannot be true. You
pendent upon one another, yet in perfect unison, like       won't die. In fact, you will know what it is to live.
a mighty choir, will we show forth the praises of our       Real living is to assert yourself, insist on your own
God in word and deed every moment, every day, and           rights, decide for yourself what is right and what is
that with our whole being?                                  wrong, what is good'for you and what is not. In that
   Many, many questions, too deep for us to pene-           respect you will be like, even equal to God."
trate now, are awaiting their answer in the life to             One shudders to think of what went on in the soul
come.. Now we know in part. We do not even know             of our first mother as she sought out her husband
what we shall be. For "it doth not yet appear what          with the deliberate attempt to destroy him. She had
we shall be."                                               eaten of the forbidden tree; now her soul was filled
                                                            with contempt for Adam. She could never love him
   This we do know, that, when the veil is lifted and       any more, much less enjoy his companionship, unless
it appears what we shall be, we shall be like God.          he became even as she was, filled with the ambition
   The very thought staggers the imagination. Who           to be a little god. Years later Paul penned those soul-'
can search out the height, the depth, the length, the       condemning words concerning our first parents and
breadth of that love of God that eternally and sover-       all their posterity: "Not only that they do such things
eignly determined, "My chosen people shall forever          that are worthy of death, but take pleasure in those
be even as I am: they shall dwell in My presence,.          who .do them." (Romans 1: 3 2) The wicked ambition
they shall see My face, they shall bear My likeness as      to be as God inspired Pharaoh to ask, "Who is God
sons and daughters in My House"? Who can tell the           that I should obey Him?" That was the vain dream of
infinite price that God paid with His own precious          Nebuchadnezzar, the Caesars, the Herods, and will be
blood to ransom us from sin and death and to merit          the boast of the antichrist, who will sit upon the
for us the right to bear that exalted name, "sons of        throne ruling all the nations of the world as if he were
God"? Who can realize the bitter agony in the soul of       God. Shame on us, who by nature bear the image and
Jesus, the Son of God, especially during those three        likeness ,of Satan, for we also want to be independent,
hours of darkness when the debt of our sins weighed         self-sufficient little gods, and even gloat about it.
heavily upon Him, and He unflinchingly paid the.            Preposterous lie, rooted in sinful pride! We boast of
price to wipe the slate clean for each of us? Christ did    our position, our fortunes, our unique abilities; that
not die for all humanity, nor even for a designated         big I, I, I.
number of people; He died for His sheep, each of               As saints in Christ Jesus we have learned to loathe
which He knew by name even as.He was dying. Who             the very thought of beinga god, humbly to confess:
can spell out the wonder of grac,e that changes filthy,     "Thou, 0 Lord, art God alone! My God!" Then with


4                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



grateful hearts to add in eager anticipation, "We shall      that mirror does something to us. It exposes our
be like Him." The proud heart that once boasted, "I          littleness, our insignificance, and the horror of our
am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul,"           sins. As we stare upon our sinful image w?e see behind
shamefacedly confesses that pride is sin, and sin is         us, as it were, the glorious image of our resurrected
rebellion against the living God. Moreover, we know          Lord, the Lord of glory, the Lamb for sinners slain.
that sin is a cruel tyrant, obedience to sin is the worst    He speaks to us through that mirror, and by His Spirit
form of slavery, the clarion call of sin lures only to       in our hearts assures us that His righteousness is our
disaster. Aroused to the consciousness of the dreadful       righteousness, and His blessed resurrection life is ours
offence of our sins, we learn to plead, "0 God, be           forever. As we look and listen we are changed, trans-
merciful to. this vile sinner." We experience the com-       formed into the likeness of that glorious image of
fort that has thrilled the souls of the- saints through-     Christ, taking on holiness and righteousness in the
out the ages, that we are not our own, but belong            true knowledge of Father.
with body and soul, in life and in death to our faith-
ful Savior Jesus Christ. Before the face of our.God we          If that Word .is so powerful and so glorious in its
are privileged to live as friend-servants, loving Him,       revelation, how much more the wonder of grace
trusting in Him, awaiting all good things from His           when we shall see God in the face of Jesus Christ, yes,
gracious hand, serving Him in obedient devotion.             God exactly as He is in all His fulness. No, no man
                                                             can see the Infinite, the Eternal, the Omnipresent
     How do we account for the peace that' floods our        Spirit Who dwells in the dazzling brightness of His
souls from day to day? The Spirit of Christ is the           own holiness. Yet our God will reveal Himself con-
Spirit of adoption. God Himself testifies within us that     tinuously in the face of Jesus Christ, so that we will
we are His sons, and if sons, then heirs; heirs of God;      know Him, even as we are known by Him.
and joint heirs with Christ. The still, small voice of
the Spirit in our hearts grows into a cry of longing;           0 the wonder! Adam knew God the moment he
"Abba, Father." That same cry becomes our cry in             opened his eyes in paradise. He saw and heard the
                                                             word of God in every tree, plant, bird, four-footed
childlike assurance, repeating, "Father, I love Thee; I      animal and creeping things. Yes, he heard the word of
know Thou art mine." Behold, what manner of love             God in the sun, and moon, and stars. He could take
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be           that word upon his lips, repeating after God the name
called the sons of God. That is the name, sons of            that God placed upon the creature. As all creation
God, that is rightfully ours from Father's own lips.         joined the angels in singing the Maker's praise, Adam
That is the testimony of the Spirit, Who speaks to us        and Eve joined in a symphony of adoration.
through the Scriptures, assuring us that all of the
Father's glorious promises are meant for us. That              If Adam could see and hear God's word in para-
Word is a power within us, transforming us from              dise, how much more glorious will be the revelation,
children of darkness into sons of the living God.            how much clearer our vision and our hearing in the
Love, divine love bestowed on us as a free gift, be-         new creation! We will see God, hear Him, smell Him,
queathed unto us as heirs of salvation, knits our            taste Him, feel Him, touch Him, sense Him in every
hearts to Father in living faith, to know Him, to love       heavenly creature. We will see how each creature is
Him, to worship and adore Him with our whole being           related to the other, how they are all related to us,
in the beauty of holiness. No, we still do not fully         how they all, including the angels, serve us as the
know what we shall be, but this we know, that when           Church, Christ's Body, that we in Christ may show
that is made manifest, we shall be like Father!              forth the glories, the virtues, the praises of our God!
     What natural son does not need the repeated                "One thing, just one thing have I desired of the
assurance that he is father's son? What natural son          Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the
does not admire father so much that he wants to look         House of the Lord all the days of my life - to endless
like him, imitate him, and some day grow up and be           eternity;  to  behold the beauty  of  the Lord,  and to
just like Dad. The natural child never fully attains         enquire in His temple." (Psalm 27:4)
that ambition; we do. We become like our Father in             With a name that is uniquely mine as son in
heaven. Our soul languishes in longing for the living        Father's House, and with a new song in my heart, I'll
God. When shall I come and behold His face in right-         join the myriads of the saints, the ten thousands of
eousness?                                                    the angels, and the entire host of every living creature
     Because of our likeness we shall see Him as He is.      to worship in thankfulness, in awe, in solemn adora-
Now we still look into the mirror of the holy Scrip-         tion.
tures, which fully serve our present purpose, yet al-          `For I will be like Father!
ways leave us with our problems. At the same time              ,That will be glory, glory for me!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    5


EDITORIAL




                             Changes for the New'Volume

                                              Pro5  H. C. Hoe ksema


   As is customary at the beginning of a new volume-        and a new staff member, Rev. Mark H. koeksema.
year, we inform our readers of plans for the contents       Rev. J. Heys will be back in our pages on a full time
of the new volume and of changes in the staff.              basis with his contributions to The Day of Shadows.
   There is nothing earth-shaking to report. For the        Rev. D. Kuiper resigned from the staff, and  In  His
most part, our Standard Bearer and its staff of part-       Fear will be in sole charge of Rev. M. Joostens. We
time, strictly volunteer writers simply "plug along"        also decided to introduce a new department; and
each year; and we are thankful that we are able to          since it will be introduced in this issue, I will say no
find a sufficient number of faithful writers among our      more about it here. Again this year we hope to
very limited number of workers, and are able to pub-        present guest articles by several of our ministers who
lish our magazine in full format twenty-one times per       are not members of the staff.
year, Frankly, I think that is no small accomplish-
ment; and, as we begin a new volume, I wish to                 So much for the staff's part.
encourage my fellow staff members to labor faith-
fully and steadily, so that together, with the help of        We hope that you, our readers, will also do your
God, we may continue to send forth this testimony           part. Our magazine is unsuccessful unless it is read!
to the truth.                                                  And, of course, we always foster the hope of in-
  The changes are the following. Rev. G. Van Baren          creasing our readership. Perhaps some joint efforts by
will shift from ,!3igns  of the Times to All Around Us.     staff, board, and readership could be put forth to this
Signs of the Times will be shared by Rev. H. Veldman        end. How about it?



SEMINARY CONVOCATION ADDRESS


                       Bring the Books and the Parchments

  The subject of my address is borrowed from the            .which had been left at Troas, and among them these
last part of II Timothy 4: 13, where Paul writes to         books and parchments that are mentioned and that
Timothy: "The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus,       are evidently known to Timothy.
when thou  comest, bring with thee, and the books,            But although these are personal items, yet this
but especially the parchments."                             word belongs to the inspired Scriptures. There is a
  This word belongs to some personal items at the           Word of God here which we must try to discern. And
close of this pastoral epistle. Paul mentions his desire    I believe that Word is appropriate for us as students
that Timothy should come to him in Rome as soon as          and professors at the beginning of our new school
possible. He wants to see him and talk with him: for        term, as I hope to make plain. It is appropriate in
`the apostle is a prisoner in Caesar's power for the        general for all of us; but I am especially addressing it
second time, is ready to be offered, and the time of        to our school personnel; .and you, our audience, while
his departure is at hand. And when Timothy comes,           you may also derive benefit from these remarks,
he must bring to the apostle certain items which he         nevertheless function chiefly as witnesses this eve-
needs - among them a cloak (probably a winter coat)         ning.


6                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



THE BOOKS AND THE PARCHMENTS                                plain that there are several questions here which
     First of all, we may ask the question: what were       simply cannot be answered. And we may add: they
those books and parchments which Paul wanted                need not be answered. We may rest assured that if it
Timothy to bring?                                           were necessary for us to know these details, the Holy
                                                            Spirit would take care that we could discover the
     What are called "books" in our English translation     answers to our questions. We might like to satisfy our
were papyrus rolls. They were not books as we know          curiosity on this score, but the mere satisfaction of
them today, but rolls, or scrolls, of a writing material    our curiosity is not at all necessary. However attrac-
somewhat like paper which was made from the                 tive one or the other of the suggestions which I have
papyrus reed. The "parchments" were also such rolls,        mentioned may be, we must note carefully that all
but they were manufactured from animal skins. Not           are purely speculative. Scripture simply does not in-
impossibly these parchments were made at Pergamos,          form us as to the specific nature of these books and
in Asia Minor, which was famous for its parchments.         parchments.
However that may be, these parchment rolls were a
more permanent, longer-lasting writing material, and          But with that problem out of the way, we may also
therefore more valuable. Even that fact, apart from         note, positively, what can be said about the character
the question what may or may not have been written          of these books and parchments. The first item may
on these parchments, would account for the fact that        probably sound like a truism: they were books! What-
the apostle "especially" desired that Timothy bring         ever their specific character may have been - whether
to him the parchments in question.                          they were papyrus rolls and parchment rolls already
     Now as you might expect, interpreters have had a       written full, or whether they were writing materials
field day speculating as to the nature of these "books      for the apostle's use, whether they were some of the
and parchments." They are not further identified in         writings later incorporated in the New Testament
the text. But they were evidently important to Paul,        canon, or' whether they were some of the Old Testa-
even near the end of his life. He wanted them. And          ment writings, or whether they were some other,
that word "especially" shows that there was some-           unspecified writings - they were books. And some of
thing important about the parchments: they were             them, judging from the fact that valuable parchments
valuable to the Apostle Paul, and he especially             arti specially mentioned, were books of considerable
wanted Timothy to bring them. And so there have             worth, with contents especially worth preserving. For
been various suggestions made as to the nature of           oui purposes, we may note that a book is a means for'
these books and parchments. Some have suggested             the setting down in writing, the preservation, and the
that these were copies of the Old Testament Scrip-          transmission and dissemination of knowledge. What-
tures. Others have suggested that perhaps the books         ever these particular "books and parchments" may
were copies of some of the apostle's own writings,          have been, such is the character of  books  -  to one
while the parchments were some of the Old Testa-            degree or another.
ment rolls. Still others have suggested that these            The second item of importance about these books
"books and parchments" were neither Paul's previous         and parchments which may surely be established is
writings, nor copies of the Old Testament Scriptures,       that their contents and their use and their usefulness
nor, in fact, any writings at all, but simply blank         for the apostle stood in relation to the Word of God
writing materials which the apostle wanted to use for       and the preaching of the Gospel. We-may rest assured
his own writing during his last days on earth. Thus, of     of that - again, whatever their specific character may
course, you could speculate without end. Why did'           have been, and whatever the Apostle Paul intended to
Paul want these "books and parchments" if they were         do with them. You might probably wonder what in
already written full? Was he, perhaps, of a mind to         the world the apostle in prison, shortly before his
divide his few earthly goods when Timothy came to           death, wanted to do with these books. And we might
Rome? Were these possibly documents which he                like to lift the curtain of mystery a bit. But there are
wanted Luke (who was with him in Rome) to have?             no answers to such questions. Except this one: these
Or did he want to pass them on to John Mark, whom           books were useful, profitable to Paul with a view to
he enjoined Timothy to bring to him? Or would he            the rnhistry of the Gospel. Even at this late point in
divide these "books and parchments" among the               his life  - or perhaps especially at this point  - this
three men? Or was it simply that the apostle wanted         was  surely the situation. This was why he wanted
to insure that these valuable writing materials were        Timothy to come. This was literally why he wanted
not lost and would not go to waste? Precisely what          Timothy to bring John Mark: he was profitable to
,was his int?nt?                                            Paul for the ministry. And this was also the usefulness
     We may answer this question both negatively and        of these books. It is the apostle who wants them. And
positively.                                                 the preaching of the Gospel, the setting forth of the
     In the first place, and negatively, it ought to be     knowledge of the God of our salvation in Jesus


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  7



Christ, was the all-consuming purpose of his life.        You might argue that Paul was an apostle, that he was
These books and parchments and his desire for them        inspired in his knowledge and his words; and there-
were necessarily connected with that all-consuming        fore he certainly did not have to read and study. Or
purpose.                                                  you might argue that he was nearing the end of his
  And thus, today there are various and many              ministry and that he was soon to die apparently. But
"books and parchments." We live in an entirely dif-       the fact stands: he wanted them, and therefore he
ferent age, an age in which, due to modern printing       needed,them. They were necessary.
processes, there is a glut of books in virtually every      Secondly, there is the same necessity for us.
area of learning - many of these books, even in the
theological field, not worth the paper they are             There have always been those who denied the need
printed on. Nevertheless, there are for us what may       of a trained, educated ministry. They are mystics.
be classified as "parchments," that is, books which       They make a false disjunction between the Spirit and
are especially valuable and worth preserving and us-      the Word, between the leading of the Spirit and the
ing; and there are also many books, that is, publica-     need of "books and parchments," that is, the need of
tions of comparatively less value, but nevertheless       education and study. There have been others who are
useful and needed.                                        inclined to minimize and belittle the need of thor-
                                                          ough training and study. And it is true, of course,
  We may mention various kinds. There are, first of       that there is reason to have a healthy fear of much
all, the Scriptures themselves, both in their original    that goes by the name of "scholarship" today - not,
languages and in various translations. These are          however, because it is scholarship, but because it is
"parchments" of a unique sort, being the written          unbelieving. No, the books and parchments are neces-
record of God's infallible Word. There are the "parch-    sary. They must be used diligently. They must be
ments" of our confessions, those documents in which       read. They must be studied. I believe it was the
our Christian faith and our Reformed faith is set         homiletician Klaus Harms who once said that if he
forth and preserved  and. transmitted. There are the      did not study and prepare to preach, but supposedly
writings of the Reformers, of the church fathers.         trusted to the Holy `Spirit's guidance when he went to
There are books and parchments in dogmatics, in           the pulpit, the Holy Spirit would indeed speak to
church history, of an exegetical nature, and writings     him, but would say, "`Klaus, Klaus,  du bist  fad
in every area of theology. There are also books and       gewesen, (Klaus, Klaus, you have been lazy.)" No, all
parchments in those fields of study which are neces-      other things being equal, the more books and parch-
sary for the ministry, but which are nevertheless only    ments you have and make use of, the better ministers
tools. I have in mind the study of the languages, for     you will be.
example. You need a knowledge of various languages;
and therefore you need good grammar books, syntax           Why?
books, lexicons and dictionaries. And thus there are        There are certain patent facts which constitute the
many such studies, and books and parchments for all       reason for this necessity of books and parchments.
of them. Again, there are the' books and parchments         The objective reason lies in the fact that it pleases
of heretics. They are needed, too, You cannot simply      God to cause the riches of the truth, the riches of the
say that they are no good, and that you will pay no       knowledge of Himself as the God of our salvation in
attention to them, will not have them in your library.    Jesus Christ, to be unfolded ever more and more and
You must know and understand their errors, so that        transmitted to His people down through the centuries
you can oppose and combat them.                           through the means of "books and parchments" and in
  cc . 1 . bring the books, and especially the parch-     the line of generations. This is true, first of all, with
ments."                                                   regard to Scripture itself. God's Word does not have
                                                          to be revealed anew to each generation. But it has
WHY THEY ARE NEEDED                                       been preserved for us in "books and parchments" and
  That brings us to a second question: why are these      copies thereof from generation to generation down to
books and parchments needed?                              the present. But that is true, secondly, of the whole
                                                          organism, the whole body of the truth as it has been
  That they are indeed needed is self-evident.            mined from the gold mine of God's Word and has it
  First of all, the Apostle Paul needed them. The         been expounded and systematically set forth by' the
text here assumes this. Whatever Paul's reason may        church and under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth,
have been at the moment and whatever his specific         down through the centuries, and then transmitted to
purpose may have been - this is not stated. But he        us in hundreds and thousands of books and parch-
wanted to have these "books and parchments," and          ments. You see, each generation does not have to
Timothy must bring them when he comes. Hence,             begin anew and independently of the church of all
they were needed. You might argue to the contrary.        ages to discover and to understand the truth. We do


 8                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 not, and we may not, in our seminary simply turn to         .the necessity of knowledge and understanding. And
 the Scriptures as though we are the first ones to do so     this, in turn, implies that we have need of books and
 and to be able to understand them; that would be an         parchments from which .we can @!&6%i?%.%%i<&~
 insult to the Spirit of Truth Who has always guided         and understanding. Moreover, the more richly the
 the church into all the truth. No, we have a heritage       Lord endows you and me with good minds, minds
 which has come down to us from the church of all            which are able to think and to reason clearly, minds
 ages. And it is preserved for us in books and parch-        which are able to penetrate to the meanings of things,
 ments. And we must make use of that heritage, and           the greater is our responsibility not to let those
 therefore of the thousands of books and parchments          powers of intellect lie unused, not to let them
 available to us. At the same time, it is true that each     atrophy, not to waste them on worthless trash, but to
 generation does not have to begin anew to discover          use them in order that we may be enriched in the
 error and heresy! This, too, is preserved in books and      knowledge of the truth.
parchments; and we must read and study them in
 order to be equipped and to be able to combat it.           WHONEEDTHEM?
      Let me stress, too, that ours is a great responsi-        Obviously, it was the Apostle Paul who needed
bility in this regard. This is for the simple reason that    these books and parchments in the first instance.
today, more than ever before, the amount of books
and parchments in which the heritage of knowledge is            But if that is true, then how much more true it is
preserved for us is so vast.                                 that we all, as the people of God, are in need of them.
      Moreover, that responsibility is increased by the         Let me take this opportunity to stress this point
fact that we live in an age when the same media of           for you, my audience, in general, first of all. It is a
 "books and parchments" have been the means for the          rather striking fact that there are more books and
propagation of the very opposite of the true knowl-          parchments available today than ever before; but it is
edge of God, that is, the lie, and that, too, more than      also a fact that our generation is, to put it mildly, not
ever before.                                                 known for its avid reading, and known still less for
                                                             good reading. I dare say we will find this to be true
      For, you understand, what I am talking about           only too often in our own homes. I will let you judge
tonight is not mere learning for learning's sake,  so-       as to the reasons for this. But I assure you that the
called scholarship for scholarship's sake. There is such     reasons are not valid, and the situation is not salutary
a thing. And you must even be on guard against it,           for ourselves or for the church. We must read more;
especially if you are of a somewhat intellectual bent        and we must read more good, solid, instructive,
of mind. You see, you may go to school and become            spiritually edifying materials. And this holds true for
a great scholar in Greek or Hebrew, or even a world-         our children and young people, too! Well may we
renowned scholar in Dogmatics, let us say. `But if all       say:  `<. . .bring the books, and especially the parch-
your learning is not strictly in the service of the Word     ments,"
of God as recorded by the infallible Scriptures, then           Nevertheless, my main purpose tonight is to
all your scholarship is an abominable evil in the sight      address this word to you, our pre-seminary and semi-
of the Holy One. And then you are nothing but a              nary students. You are students! You are students
learned fool, no matter how the whole world may              who look forward to the ministry of the Word! Well,
hail you as a great scholar. No, all your use of "books      then,  be  students indeed! And that means that you
and parchments" must be in relation to and in sub-           must put forth every effort to use diligently the
servience  to. the Word of God, and that, too, anti-         books and parchments available to you. I refer not
thetically and over against the lie.                         merely to those which you must use for your classes,
                                                             nor merely to those which you are prodded to use by
      The subjective reason why the books and parch-         collateral reading assignments. No, you must immerse
ments are needed lies in the fact that God has given         yourselves as much as possible in good, beneficial
YOU a mind to understand; and that intellect is the          books and parchments. You must do it all in obedi-
channel through which the Spirit of Truth conveys to         ence and subservience to the Word of God. You must
US  the riches of our salvation, the riches of God's         do it now while you have the. time and opportunity as
grace. The Spirit works through the Word. And that           students. You must do it to become prepared as well
Word addresses the  mind,  first of all, and only            as possible for your future ministry. And you must
through the mind the heart. That is simply the God-          do' it so that you form good habits for the future: for
ordained way. God does not simply pour the riches of         do not forget that you are going to be students all
salvation into us as I may pour water into a glass. No,      your life!
He speaks to us. He addresses us through our minds.
.And  SO the Scriptures are replete with references to         Bring the books and the parchments!


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        9


A.LL AROUND US





                                        O.P.C. General Assembly

                                        R.P.C.E.S. General Synod

                                                         Rev. G. Van Baren


  Through the summer months many church                                   More important perhaps  .than such historical
assemblies and church councils hold their meetings.                    precedents was the doctrinal issue itself. Though the
In coming issues we expect to point out some of the                    modern "charismatic movement" has swirled across
decisions which were taken in these gatherings.                        many churches in recent years  - and often left wide-
                                                                       spread wreckage behind  - it had so far left the
  The Orthodox Presbyterian Church met in its                          Orthodox Presbyterian Church largely untouched.
forty-third General Assembly in Beaver Falls,                          Mr. Kress, though, had sought out the experience of
Pennsylvania, beginning on May 27. This  group of                      "speaking in tongues" while a missionary in Japan.
churches commemorated its 40th anniversary this                           Having been brought home by the Committee on
past summer.                                                           Foreign Missions and given a special furlough to study
  The O.P.C. dealt with much routine business, as                      the biblical teaching on the subject, Mr. Kress had
reported in its paper, The                                             produced several papers on various aspects of it.
                               Presbyterian Guardian, but              These documents then became the basis for the doc-
also with one serious case of discipline. For the first                trinal charges brought against him by his presbytery.
time in its history, the O.P.C. was confronted in its
General Assembly (comparable to our Synod) with a                         Though originally charged with three related errors
doctrinal problem This problem included the ques-                      in doctrine (and a fourth charge on a different sub-
                                                                       ject), Mr. Kress was found guilty by the Presbytery of
tion of "speaking in tongues."                                         Ohio on only one (and on the fourth separate
  The report in the Guardian stated this:                              charge). The verdict was reached on a charge that Mr.
                                                                       Kress had "asserted that the gifts of prophecy and
       Though not the first major business before the                  tongues may continue in the church today." This, the
    assembly, certainly the most significant and  time-                presbytery went on to charge, was "contrary to the
    consuming (three whole days and two evening ses-                   Word of God which teaches:
    sions!) was the judicial case originating in the  Pres:
    bytery of Ohio against the Rev. Arnold S. Kress.                      "(1) Tongues were for a sign of judgment against
                                                                       unbelieving Israel  - I Cor.  i4:21,  22 and Isaish
       The case was of interest partly because it was the              28:11,  12;
    first time in the forty-year history of the denomina-
    tion that a  .judicial  case had ever come before a                   "(2) Both tongues and prophecy were for the giv-
                                                                      ing of word-revelation in the apostolic church  - I
    General Assembly. Other doctrinal problems had
    arisen in the past, but these were dealt with - if at all          Cor. 14:26-33;  Eph. 2:20;
    - by complaints against lower courts or by referring                  "(3) Even private speaking in tongues is speaking
   the whole thing to a study committee. In this case, a               in mysteries, i.e., word-revelation  - I Cor.  14:2;
   presbytery had drawn up formal charges of doctrinal                 Rom. 16:25-27;  Eph. 3:3-6,9,  10;
   error against a member, and both the presbytery and                    "(4) The gifts of prophecy and tongues were con-
   Mr. Kress had "gone the whole route" in seeking a                   comitant with the gift of the apostles- Heb.  2:3-4; 3
   judicial answer to the doctrinal questions.                        Cor.  12:12  with1 Cor. 12-14."


IO                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
-

          It should be pointed out that  Mr. Kress con-           Evangelical Synod, instructed its committee to con-
       sistently had rejected the "second blessing" theology      tact the O.P.C. in order to prepare a new plan of
       of many modern "charismatics." He has also insisted        union. This was placed in the hands of the Committee
       that whatever the exact form of prophecy and               on Ecumenicity and Interchurch Relations for con-
       tongues that may be found today, it can in no sense        sideration.
       be understood as normative, infallible revelation of
       the kind that was incorporated in the Scriptures. . . .      The next Assembly of the O.P.C. is scheduled for
      The final vote of the Assembly was 72 to uphold             June 2, 1977, at Oostburg, Wisconsin.
the judgment of the Presbytery of Ohio and 39 voting                                    ******
against this. The writer of the article insists that the                         R.P.C.E.S. General Synod
39 votes in support of Mr. Kress were not in support                The Presbyterian Guardian gives also a report on
of his views but rather because of a conviction that a            the meeting of the Reformed Presbyterian Church,
clear case from Scripture had not been made against               Evangelical Synod, whose synod met at Colorado
the Kress position.                                               Springs, Colorado, beginning on May 21, 1976. Here
      This same Rev. Arnold Kress was held guilty of an           too there were decisions concerning the work of the
offense in doctrine contrary to the Word of God in                Holy Spirit. A committee report of one and a half
asserting that "the church ought not necessarily to               pages (based upon three earlier lengthy reports) was
exclude from the office of the ministry of the Word               presented. This "signalled a shift away from the view
those who, although true believers, hold serious                  of Warfield that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (as
doctrinal errors such as Arminianism, or the denial of            tongues, healings, prophecies, etc.) ceased with the
infant baptism, . . . contrary to Scripture which                 end of the apostolic age." The report concluded: "the
teaches that only those should be made Elders in the              canon of Scripture is closed, that speaking in tongues
church who `hold to the faithful word which is                    is not to be sought as an attestation of the baptism of
according to the teaching (of the apostles)' (Titus               the Holy Spirit, that speaking in tongues is not to be
1:9)."                                                            encouraged or lauded, and that those who have had
                                                                  special experiences with God should guard against the
      After reaching a decision on the "tongues" matter,          divisiveness of making their private experience with
the Assembly did pass a resolution "urging Mr. Kress              God normative for all believers." The reporter sug-
to accept the decisions of his brethren and further               gests that much was left unsaid and unexegeted, and
expressing its judgment that his ministerial gifts were           that many in that church thought that more ought to
of value to the church despite the adverse judicial
decisions."                                                       be said of the work of the Spirit as currently inter-
                                                                  preted and experienced. The conclusion was that the
      There is no further -report in this issue of the            most useful "course under the circumstances was to
Guardian concerning the outcome of this case.                     agree on what they could agree on and not attempt
      The O.P.C. received reports concerning mission              any further clarifying consensus."
work it is doing in Egypt, in Taiwan, in Japan, in                  This same denomination dealt with the role of
Korea. It also received the report that its mission in            women in the church. A lengthy report of some 49
Eritrea,  .Ethiopia, was forced by the government of              pages and extensive exegesis emphasized that there
that country to close. Some of this O.P.C. mission                was "but one authoritative church office, that of the
work is done in conjunction with other denomina-                  elder. While women are clearly excluded from tliat
tions: the Reformed Church, U.S. (Eureka Classis);                one authoritative office, the report contended, they
the Reformed Churches of New Zealand and                          are not to be excluded from the non-authoritative
Australia especially.                                             office of deacon." The report insisted that in the
      The 0 .P. C . expends considerable monies for               church there are but two groups: elders and  non-
"Christian Education" which includes especially a                 elders. Also: male non-elders and female non-elders
Sunday school curriculum. This it is doing now in                 are equal in authority in the church. Much of the
conjunction with the new Presbyterian Church in                   repprt was adopted, but the question of whether
America.                                                          women could be ordained as deacons was sent back
                                                                  to the committee for further study.  ,One suggested
      The home mission program of the O.P.C. includes             that the Synod would be known as the "Synod that
four `fmissionaries-at-large" who serve as  "church-              recommits." The approach taken concerning women
planting evangelists." The committee of the Assembly              in office differs somewhat from others taken in our
which oversees its home mission work, also provides               day within various denominations. But it appears that
loans to newly-established churches or mission                    the general approach is to destroy the scriptural
churches for the purchase of land, parsonage, or                  principle little by little. One Christian Reformed man,
church construction.                                              a judge, recently recommended a similar approach
      A letter from the Reformed Presbyterian Church,             with his own denomination. He insisted that the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 11


   people generally would most readily accept women in            So the various denominations have faced, and con-
   the office of the diaconate. Once that gap is bridged,      tinue to face, many of the difficulties of this age. It
`. then there could be similar attempts with respect to        would appear increasingly difficult to hold the line on
   the office of elder - and later, of that of minister. He    the one hand against the liberalism which encroaches
   thus encouraged the churches to ordain women                in our day, and on the other hand against the errors
   deacons - and await any possible protests against the       of pentecostalism, etc., which have been troubling
   action taken.                                               denominations.



  STUDIES IN ISAIAH





       Israel's Woe -- Judgments a "Future Shock"

                                                 Rev. Robert C Harbach

  Isaiah  5:12-l 6

     1. Woe against the drunkards who fare sumptu-             drink shall be bitter to those who drink it" (chau.
  ously and laugh now. "And harp and lyre, timbre1             24:8-g). It was bad enough that they carried on su-,
  and flute, and wine shall be (at) their banquetings;         celebrations at times when they should have  be,en
  and they do not regard (with pleasure) the work of           warned by the Lord's works of judgment. But worse,
  Jehovah, neither have they respect to the .product of        they continued getting drunk and playing with
  His hands" (v. 12, Heb.). "They take the timbre1 and         sex while judgments were actually threatening all"
  harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ" (Job            around. Well then! "because they regard not  the
  2 1: 12). The drunkards already mentioned are busy in        works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands,
  their excess of riot with wine and exciting music as         He shall destroy them, and not build them up" (Psm.
  they celebrate their Terpsichorean and Bacchanalian          28: 5). "In their joy and glory they had no sense for
  gods. They make a sinful use of music. Amos com-             what was the most glorious of all, viz., the moving
  plained of this: they "chant to the sound of the viol,       and working of God in history; so that they could not
  and invent to themselves instruments of music, like          even discern the judgment which was in course of
  David; that drink wine in bowls, and anoint them-            preparation at that very time." - Delitzsch. On the
  selves with the chief ointments; but they are not            contrary, Isaiah had a great sense of appreciation for
  grieved for the affliction of Joseph" (6:5-6). To take       this when he wrote, "For the Lord will have mercy
  music, which as a science is a gift of God, and pervert      on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in
  and pitch it to a screeching, blaring level of sound to      their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with
  .drown out the voice of conscience is immoral. Such          them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob"
  carousing goes on in the air. That tiny speck you see        (14: 1). For more of God's hand in history, see 14:24,
  in the sky - perhaps it would never occur to you, but        27; 19: 12, 17; 23:8,9, 11, and especially this, "For I
  in this futuristic age it is both possible and probable      the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior,
  that that jet is filled with scores of passengers who        I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for
  have -chosen a flight on which the food, wine, music,        thee, because thou art precious in My sight, thou wast
  magazines, movies, stewardesses and their mini-skirts        honored, and I love thee; therefore will I give man-
  are all French! They madly dance, sing their bawdy           kind for thee, and races for thy person"  (43:3-4,
  ballads and laugh now, but the day will &me when             transla. and emph,, RCH)..Out of the sinful nation
  they shall mourn. "The mirth of timbrels ceaseth, the        God has a remnant according to the election of grace.
  noise of those who rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp         2. These drunkards spewed out  of  the land.
  ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong       "Therefore My people are carried away captive with-.


1 2                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


out knowledge; and their (his) glory is men of hunger,       therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye
and their crowd (of drunks) dry (from) thirst" (v. 13;       shall bow down to the slaughter, because when I
Heb.). Rich gourmets would starve and the drinking           called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not
set would die of thirst. Eating and drinking in this         hear, but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose
opulent age goes on in the manner of pagan gluttony.         that in which I delighted not. Therefore, thus saith
Then the senses are dulled, leaving men without              the Lord God, Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye
understanding and threatened with hunger and thirst.         shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but
,Luther  put it, "They will pay for their drunkenness        ye `shall be thirsty; behold, My servants shall rejoice,
with thirst." When they do suffer that enervating            but ye shall be ashamed; behold, My servants shall
judgment, they never know what hits them. They go            sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of
into captivity without knowledge. Their land would           heart, and  shah wail for vexation of spirit. And ye
be invaded by the enemy, and a hostile nation would          shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen; for
carry them away. As with all captive nations today,          the Lord God shall slay thee, and call His servants by
their exile would be a divine judgment, a punishment         another name" (Isa. 65: 1 l-l 5).
for sin, as it was for Israel and the other nations. But        3.  They  are  cast down to hell.  "Therefore Sheol
here it is "My people" who go into exile under the           enlarges her self (soul) and opens her mouth to no
blast of judgment. Why is this? They were "without           limit (illimitably) and (into it) shall descend her
knowledge" (Rom.  1:3 la; 3: 1 la). How were they            (Jerusalem.`s) splendor, (together with) her multitude,
God's people, without knowledge? Through sin, the            her tumult and the one rejoicing in her" (v. 14, Heb.).
sin of languishing in their wretched ignorance of the        The captivity will come, and with it, siege, hunger,
working of the Lord in providences,  judgments, and          and thirst with a great mortality rate. The titanic sea-
manifestations of His righteous wrath. The wicked            monster, Sheol, Death, shall rush at the famishing
cannot see, and "My people," sadly enough, cannot            shoals with wide opened jaws to gorge itself on all
rightly interpret the signs of the times. For they           swept into its maw. The cemeteries do not make up
despise instruction and hate to be reformed. We              the bulging belly of the Sheolic monster, for there
suffer every time we do not allow ourselves to be            will not be enough of them to accommodate all the
taught by the Word of God. But it is the worst form          bodies going down to Tophet. Sheol never says,
of lack of knowledge when people do not know the             Enough! (Prov. 30:5, 16; Num. 16:30-33).
Lord, do not know His person, work, office, grace,
and salvation; worse still when introduced to Him              Sheol is the Hebrew word used to express the idea
they reject Him. But in the case of Israel, their lack of    of the grave. "The Lord killeth and maketh alive; He
knowledge was their own choice; they would not               bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up" (I Sam.
have any knowledge of God, so that theirs was an             2:6). "Like sheep, they are laid in the grave; death
affected ignorance. They did not want to know the            shall feed on them, and the upright shall have
Messiah (of chapter 53), nor any of the clear, irrefut-      dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty
able evidence of His being that prophesied Messiah.          shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But
                                                             God will redeem my soul from the power of the
  They had been brought so far down that "their              grave:  for He shall receive me" (Psm.  49:14-15). "I
glory was men of hunger." Like the great tribes of           will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will
American Indians, their mighty warriors, hunters, and        redeem them from death: 0 death, I will be thy
red men nobility, became pitiful remnants of a               plagues; 0  grave, I will be thy destruction" (Hos.
decimated people starved on reservations by the U. S.        13:14).
government, and turned into shivering, shriveled,              Stzeol also means hell, as the context will show. "A
famished old men, dying of hunger. But though it is          fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the
easy to flick off the story of  Buvy  Mu  Heart  at          lowest hell" (Dt. 32: 22). "The wicked shall be turned
Wourided Knee with a wave of the hand, we are not            into  hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psm.
far from a like situation. For the government is be-         9:17). "Her feet go down to death; her steps take
coming more and more antichristian, and fast getting         hold on hell" (Prov. 5:5). "Though they dig into hell,
to the point of Revelation, chapter 11 and 13: 17,           thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb
when it will turn against the church to starve and           up to heaven, then will I  .bring them down" (Amos
exterminate it.                                              9:2). Sheol then is the earthly place in the dust which
  So Israel as a nation had come to hate the light and       holds the bodies of men and the deathly place which
love darkness, which means they desp.ised God's law,         holds the souls of the wicked.
and went on stumbling without knowledge. There-                "Her splendor" refers to-the nobles of Jerusalem,
fore, it was the Lord's purpose to destroy the king-         their civic rulers, ecclesiastics and society's rich. "Her
dom. God would come against them "that forsake the           multitude" applies to the common people. "Her
.Lord, that forget My holy mountain (kingdom) . . .          tumult" means the noisy ones (like the "tumultuous


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                    13


ones" of Jer. 48:45; but see Isa. 24:6-12) who sing,        boasting is also gone. How the Pharisees boasted that
dance, roar, and create a continual din at their            they were children of Abraham, were free men, never
parties. Then they who made a god of their belly (Lk.       in bondage, were righteous, and so not as other men!
16:25; Phil. 3: 19) go down to the belly of hell. But       In that day they will be brought down in humiliating
then, "had not victory been swallowed up by death?          judgment, while God will be exalted in holiness
                                                                                                                                -          -
So it might have seemed; but God, who carries out            and `iiirighteousness.  Holiness is not-am&n?action  of
His plan, would so work that one day, inasmuch as            God, but an attribute of His being.  The God  means
from Judah the Lord had sprung, the triumphant               the only and true God. The God the Holy One means
message of salvation might be proclaimed. `Death is         God is absolutely and exclusively holy. Holy is His
swallowed up in victory.' I Cor. 15:54b" (Prof. E. J.       name. The seraphim call Him by that name, saying,
Young).                                                     Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! Holiness is that
  4.  ii!lan  abased; God exalted.  What God purposes       attribute of God's essential nature "according to which
and intends by these woes and the punishment of             He eternally wills, seeks and is consecrated to himself
death already described is accomplished effectually         as the only good.?'
and patently in the humiliating of man and the                  The wicked, whether little men or big men, must
exalting of God. "And the little man (common man)           know and will know that God is God. The world
shall be brought down, and the big man shall be             must know and will know that God is a holy God.
humbled; and the eyes of the exalted (self-exalted,         They will know His holiness and hatred of sin. They
i.e., arrogant) ones will be humiliated. But Jehovah        will learn to know this, either as repenting Nineveh
Tsebhaoth will be exalted by judgment (justice,             did, or as condemned Jericho did. Either way, the
right!), and the (true) God, the Holy One, shall be         Lord will be exalted and sanctified in justice and
made holy (sanctified) by righteousness" (w. 15-l 6,        righteousness.
Heb.). (See remarks on  2:9). The big man will be
brought down by death to nothing, and the little man
who is already nothing,  will be by death made less
than nothing. In the judgment, the eyes of the arro-
gant will be downcast. The rich with their wealth           Correction (error in copy): in Aug. 1, 1976 issue, p. 956, 2nd  col.,  8th
                                                               line,`fpr  "the person  and,his  hdusehold" read "the person and his
gone shall suffer  -miserable famishing. Now all               ivheritance."



GUEST ARTICLE


                                  The Necessary Keys

                                                   R. G. Moore


  The church of Jesus Christ, as the body of Christ,        dead through sin and trespass, and is wholly incapable
is holy, So we confess together in the "Apostles            of knowing God or serving Him. Yet the church, elect
Creed." When we say the church is holy, we mean             in Christ, is called in I Peter 2:9 "a chosen generation,
that both as to her calling and in respect to her virtue    a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people."
                                                            For God in His rich mercy saves her in Christ,
she is holy. The church is consecrated unto God. The        redeeming her by the precious blood of His only
church is such in principle, in and of grace alone. Her     begotten Son. Christ bore the, sin and guilt of His
holiness is the gift of grace. Thus neither with respect    Elect Body and was raised as a pledge of God of the
to her spiritual virtue of holiness, nor with respect to    church% righteousness in Christ. And now our Lord
her calling, may she exalt herself. The church is holy      dwells with His Body by His Spirit, making her par-
only in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In and of herself the       take of His righteousness. Thus by grace in Christ the
church, with the whole human race, is defiled and           church, as His body, is holy.


14                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



      However, of this holiness the church partakes but      he sets forth several principal ways in which this can
in principle. And in this life she has a battle of faith     most successfully be done in order to fill the church.
to fight against her threefold enemy: Satan, the world       The result of the above reasoning in both cases is that
of darkness, and her own flesh. The church in this life      a particular belief in Christ is no longer an essential
has not obtained perfection. She, in her elect mem-          criterion for church membership.
bers, has but the beginning of new obedience. And                However, Scripture teaches that there shall be
because of the conflict between light and darkness           many false christs  who will put on sheep's clothing.
the church must be constantly on guard, and must             The church, as well as individual Christians, must try
put off the work of the flesh and darkness, which            the spirits, whether they be of God or no. The ques-
would deprive her of her holiness. Therefore, the            tion in the sphere of the church must be one of true
church has the calling to be holy. She has a holy            doctrine and faith, or false. It must be that of belief
ministry to fulfill, the ministry of the Word of God as      in the Christ of Scripture, or in a  Christ of man's
it has been delivered to the church in the Holy Scrip-       imagination. This belongs to the exercise of the keys
tures. Further she has the calling to administer the holy    of the kingdom. But the exercise of the keys is almost
sacraments. The truth she must preserve, appropriate,        unheard of in our day. If one can "love" and is sin-
and develop. And with the world and darkness she             cere (even if sincerely wrong), the church embraces
must not fellowship, for darkness hates her and her          him and he is ,received  with joy. There is no more a
God.                                                         concern for the spiritual, moral walk of her members;
      Essential to the fultilment of our calling as the      and the antithetical walk of the christian and the
"Body of Christ" is the maintenance of the keys of           church is barely visible. The result of casting off the
the kingdom of heaven. Christ maintains the purity of        key power is fellowship with darkness. But Christ
His Body by the exercise of the key power in the             says by His Spirit, "What concord hath Christ with
church. Christ employs the keys of the kingdom of            Belial, or light with darkness? . . . Be ye not une-
God through His church. Note Matt. 16: 19: "And I            qually yoked together with unbelievers." cf. II Cor.
will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and        .6 : 14ff.
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in           There is a desire to break down all barriers in our
heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth             day, so that all can be united together in outward
shall be loosed in heaven. "As the church properly           unity. This desire is also very much present in the
employs the keys of the- kingdom, Christ opens and           "reformed circle." But the result of such a unity can
closes the kingdom. In harmony with God's eternal            only be a compromise of doctrinal purity, and such a
counsel some are efficaciously drawn into the king-          unity leads to the removal of the key power of Christ
dom of God, but others are as powerfully excluded            from the church. The result is inevitably that  chris-
from the kingdom of heaven in the way of their sin           tian discipline is not exercised, the preaching is di-
and rebellion. The church that fails to properly exer-       luted (predestination, sin, the wrath of God against
cise the key power to close the doors, never really          the wicked is not proclaimed), and the Lord's table is
opens them to anyone! She rather invites destruction,        opened to all without reservation. The marks of the
for "know ye not that a little leaven, leaveneth the         true church disappear. When this happens the wicked
whole lump?"                                                 and the worldly take control of the church, and the'
      However, in the day in which we live it has become     true cause of the church is lost. When worldliness
more common, also in the "Reformed Community,"               enters the church, the church loses her distinctive
to express that the church instituted must be an             character of holiness, and consequently, is emptied of
open-ended fellowship. And this is not difficult to          all blessing and grace.
understand for many openly teach that heaven's gates            It is a most grave situation when the church fails to
are closed to no one; but God, they say, invites all to      employ the key power of the kingdom of God. Make
partake of the blessings of salvation. This theory           no mistake, however! Christ never fails to exercise the
views God to love all men, and thus the membership           key power unto the salvation of His people. But if we
of the church must be closed to no one. Further, the         fail as churches to employ the keys, and fail to stand
success of the fulfillment of the church's calling is        in faith, and follow the trend of modernism, we cast
often measured by the number of members that can             off the yoke of Christ and shall no longer manifest
be enrolled. Consider the position of Rev. Dr. Robert        ourselves to be His true body, the true church. For
H. Schuller  of the Garden Grove Community Church            where Christ maintains His true church, there He
near Anaheim, Calif (who graduated from a reformed           exercises the keys of the kingdom with power. By
seminary, and whose congregation is affiliated with a        those keys our Lord powerfully causes His own to
reformed denomination). He suggests that we think            come into the kingdom, but also closes the kingdom
of our church as a supermarket for Jesus Christ - the        to others, who are made manifest not to be of Christ.
church is in the business of "retailing religion." Then      The true preaching of the ever abiding Word and the


                                              THE  STANDAtRD  BEARER                                                    15


true exercise of Christian discipline expels the latter           speak His Word through His ambassadors, that the
from the church! The power of the keys draws or                   preaching becomes effective as a key power. Through
casts away!                                                       His preaching, Christ promises the fulness of salva-
  The keys of preaching and Christian discipline are              tion; and such as God ,hath ordained unto eternal life
the powerful means of Christ to open and shut the                 believe unto salvation. True preaching saves! Like-
kingdom of heaven. The reason for their power lies in             wise, because it is Christ Who preaches, those
the fact that in the sphere of the true church Christ             hardened in sin are cast off by the Word. Hence,
exercises them. The key power is essentially Christ's:            never may we conceive of preaching as an offer of
"These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he          salvation. Scripture never speaks thus. It is the
that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no                authoritative proclamation of the gospel promise to
man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth."                  all elect sinners that their sins are forgiven them of
(Rev. 3:7). The exalted Christ, Who was crucified and             God for the sake of Christ's merits, and the declara-
raised from the dead, Who is ascended into heaven,                tion "to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely
and unto Whom is given all power in heaven and                    repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God
earth, holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven. His is            and eternal condemnation, so long as they are uncon-
all authority and power to include and to exclude                 verted." (H. Cat. Lord's Day 31) As such the
from the kingdom of God.                                          preaching is a key to open and close the kingdom of
  This key power it has pleased God through Christ                heaven. May God continue to give us grace to  SO
                                                                  preach the Word and to desire the preaching of the
and His Spirit to exercise in the church in the midst
of the world. This is evident from the Scriptures in              pure Word of God.
such passages as Matt. 16: 17-19, to which we have                  Where the Word is properly proclaimed there also
already alluded, and in Matt. 18: 15ff. Read these. In            the key power of christian discipline will be main-
the first place Christ has conferred the authority and       tained. There is an essential unity between the two.
power to open and close the kingdom to His apostles.              Also in regard to Christian discipline we must under-
And secondly, it is evident that through them He has              stand that its key power lies only in the Word of God.
conferred this authority to the church institute. It              The word of man has no power to open or shut the
pleases Christ to exercise this authority through the             kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whether discipline is
ministers and elders particularly, and through the                exercised in private admonition in the way of Matthew
members of the church in the office of believers. This            18 (between brethren), or in the exercise of discipline
power can only be properly exercised as Christ                    of the church through her officebearers, always the
speaks. Hence the church has the sacred obligation,               content of our exhortation and admonition must
by the Word and through the power of the in-                      come' from the Word of God. Again we must note
dwelling Spirit, to exercise the keys of the kingdom.             that Christ holds the keys and He speaks through His
As the Scriptures are faithfully and distinctively pro-           Word. In the second place, all discipline is motivated
claimed, Christ exercises the keys and maintains His              by love of God and, hence, in the love of the brother
church and her character of holiness.                             or sister in the Lord. Therefore, again, its proper exer-
  For the chief key of the kingdom is the preaching               cise is intimately connected with the preaching of the
of the gospel of Christ. It is through the preaching              gospel. For through the  .preaching Christ works the
that Christ addresses His church; and through the                 love of God and of the neighbor in our hearts. Our
preaching comes the only content for proper disci-                calling is to properly exercise this key also in har-
pline. Christ powerfully speaks through the pure                  mony with the Word of God. May our God also give
preaching of the Word. (cf. Rom.  10:14ff). In the                us the continuing grace to properly exercise this key.
preaching, Christ speaks His own efficacious and                  By the keys Christ keeps us in the way of holiness
living Word. And it is only because it pleases Christ to          until it shall be perfected at His second cbrning.


                                         S u b s c r i b e   N o w

                                                            to

                     THE STANDARD BEARER


16                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


FROM HOLY WRIT





                             Ministering to the Saints

                                                 Rev. G. C. Lubbers



      [Note: The following article first appeared as a      TERMS IN THE SCRIPTURES:
paper presented by Rev. Lubbers at the  Office-
bearers' Conference held on March 4, 1975.1                    The term "ministry" in the Greek is diakonis. It is
      In this paper we attempt to set forth the Biblical    translated in the KJV with the following terms:
teaching concerning the practical service of thankful-      administration, ministering, ministration, ministry,
ness of a living faith. (James  1:26) Faith without         office, relief, serving, do service. (See Young's Con-
works is dead! We do not intend to come with a great        cordance)  The term ministering is a verbal intransi-
number of practical suggestions as to how we can            tive, referring to the  functioning  and functions of a
minister to the saints in our day and age. We will try      minister of religion, in one form or the other. In II
to study the Bible .and elicit from it some basic           Corinthians 9: 1 it refers to the actual giving of help
teachings and principles, both from the Old and New         to the poor by the churches of Macedonia and
Testaments. The principles of the Scriptures are the        Achaia, for the poor saints in Jerusalem, believers out
rule of all ministering to the saints, and these prin-      of the Jews. The poorer churches in Macedonia de-
ciples are eternal and unchangeable. They' span the         sired to share in this ministering to the saints in
ages of the church of God in this world.                    Jerusalem. (II Cor. 8:4) All the other terms by which
                                                            the Greek diakonia is translated are some facet of this
      Rather than speaking of the office of the deacon-     ministry. Some emphasize the relief given, others the
ate,  we  chose to speak of the  Ministering to the         actual service, the real administration. Each passage
Saints. This is the general term, which is employed by      will need to be considered in its context. This is not
Paul, and is very significant. It is significant, in the    the place to make such a detailed word-study.
first place, because it shows that the objects of the
diaconate-ministration are saints. This is a ministry of       It is, however, of interest to notice something of
Christ in His church, who are saints in Christ Jesus by     the' etymology of the Greek verb diakoo and dieekoo,
the power of the Holy Spirit. In the second place, the      one who executes the commands of another, espe-
term ministry (diakonias) shows that the care which         cially of a master: a servant, attendant, minister, This
is shown to the poor and needy is a ministry, that is,      meaning is borne out by the usage in such passages as
it is performed by one who receives commands from           Matthew 22: 13, where we read, "Then said the king
another. This signals the truth that this ministry is       unto his servants, (tois diakonois) bind him hand and
not a matter merely of human invention and ordi-            foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer
nances, but that it is an ordinance of God in Christ        darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of
for His people. Not to minister to the saints makes         teeth." The same thought is expressed concerning a
one guilty of not performing the Lord's work, be that       minister in Matthew  20:26, where we read "but it
the church as a whole or individual members. And,           shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be
therefore, we speak of the "Ministry" to the saints in      great among you, let him be your minister"
this paper.                                                 (dia konos) .


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  17


   In connection with the latter, Jesus teaches us the        There is a very close relationship between the
profound mystery of His sacrificial work on the            sufferings of Christ and of the church in the world.
Cross. Says He, "Even as the Son of Man came not to        When Paul persecuted the church, even unto death,
be ministered to  (eelthen diakoneetheenai)  but to        he is met by the glorified Christ on the way to
minister (alla diakoneesai) and give His life a ransom     Damascus. The manner of Christ's address to Paul is
for many". (Matt.  20:28) We learn from this that          "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Now Christ
Jesus connects our ministering with His self-sacrifice     was in heaven as the head of the church. But the
on the Cross through the eternal Spirit. Without His       church, which is His body, was on earth. And Paul in
giving of His life for many there is not ministry nor      persecuting the body of Christ railed against Christ
administration of love and love-gifts for the altar        Himself. This is a truth which too must be remem-
among men. This ministry and self-sacrifice is the         bered in ministering to the saints; it must be re-
divine pattern of ours. We must do "even as the Son        membered that any thing evil or good done against or
of man" did. He that is great in the church is the         80 the church is done in that form against Christ or to
least. That is the great difference between the sons of
                 `.                                        Christ Himself. The question: what think ye of the
God and the  princes of the Gentiles, who exercise         saints is at bottom the question: what think ye of the
authority over the people. This is not an exercising of    Son of God Who came into the flesh to minister for
brutal authority of would-be benefactors, (Luke            the saints. It is of this that Jesus speaks in Matthew
22:25) but it is the tender mercy of Christ which is       25136  and 43, "Naked and ye clothed me: I was sick
manifested in our tender mercy to the saints,  This        and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto
places the term  diakonia  on a very high and lofty        me." Again, "I was a stranger and ye took me not in:
plane; it is basic in the kingdom of heaven as ma&         naked and ye clothed me not, sick and in prison and
fested here among the saints.                              ye visited me not." The truth here is that what we do
                                                           unto the least of these who are Christ's brethren we
THE  DEEPBIBLICAL  CONCEPT                                 have done unto Him, and what we have not done to
OF MINISTERING                                             them we have not done to Christ Himself.
  The truth of the Gospel that Christ is among us as         We cannot omit that awesomely majestic passage
one that serveth stands out so strongly in all the         from Colossians  1:24-26, where Paul speaks of the
Scriptures, This is really something new and different     ministry which was given  Him.  The  diakonia  here
under the sun in this sin-cursed world of men. Jesus       spoken of is not the distribution of monies to the
asks the penetrating and disclosing question of His        saints, but rather the ministrations of treasures of the
disciples, "For whether is greater, he that sitteth at     glorious gospel of Christ, the mysteries hid from the
meat, or he that serveth? (ho diaknoon) is not he that     ages in God, but now manifested to His saints. How-
sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he  .that           ever, there is here a facet of this ministry of Christ by
serveth." (Luke  22:27) It should not escape our           Paul which sheds a great deal of light on the close
attention that this is too the profound teaching of        relation of Christ to His church in the world, as she is
Paul in Philippians 2: 7, "But made himself of no          bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, ruled by one
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,       Spirit.. Paul has a great deal of sufferings to endure.
and was made in the likeness (habit) of  ,men." He         He suffers for the sake of the Gospel and for Christ.
took upon himself the very essential form and nature       He feels that his sufferings have their source in his
of a servant. He did not simply appear like a servant;     diakonia, his ministry of Christ. He therefore glories
he was wholly servant in his very human nature, al-        in them. Affliction for Christ is given us out of grace.
though he was in the form of God, that `is, in the very    There was still something lacking in these afflictions
essential  nature of God.1 He did not need to make         of  Christ in the world before the full measure had
being like God something which he aspired after,           been suffered. His suffering is viewed as a filling  up of
something which did not belong to him, which               what was still lacking in this suffering of Christ. In
he would need to rob in order to have. THIS ONE            effect he says, "Now when I see this full extent of
became a servant, humbling himself unto death even         G.od's mercy, now when I ponder over His mighty
to death on the Cross. Unless we can connect our           work of reconciliation, I cannot choose but rejoice in
ministry with this Christ, and have the same mind          my afflictions. Yes, I Paul the persecutor, I Paul the
in us of a servant which was in Him, all our ministry      feeble and sinful, am permitted to supplement the
will miss the mark. Such is the basic and profound         afflictions of  Christ."~  From this inner relationship
teaching of Scripture concerning ministering to the        of Christ and the church we also see the truthunder-
saints.                                                    scored that the Son in His ministration of mercy can
   This is the mind, the basic thoughts and intents of     be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
our aspirations, which must be in us in ministering to       Such is the deep Biblical concept of this minister-
the saints, We must have the bowels of Christ in us        ing of Christ in His church. It is I in them and thou in
yearning for the saints.                                   me that we be perfect in one. (John 17:23)


18                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


FULFILLING,THE LAW OF CHRIST                                 things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto
      The ministering to the saints is not according to      you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and
the law written upon tables of stone, but is the ex-         the prophets." Now Jesus did not come to destroy
pression of the law written in our hearts by the Holy        the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. (Matt.
Spirit. (II Cor.  3:3) Such is the law of the Spirit in      5: 17-20) All the law is fulfilled in one word, "Thou
Christ. Just as Paul filled up the measure of the suf-       shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Rom. 13: 8-l 0;
fering of Christ, we are to fill up the law of Christ in     Leviticus 19: 18; Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:31; Gal. 5:12;
our ministering, so that every jot and tittle of the law     James 2:8) Such is the basic law of Christ. This is not
is fulfilled. (Matt. 5 : 17-20)                              a new commandment; it is the Old Testament Scrip-
                                                             tures. It is the fulfilment of them. All the law and the
      In I John 3: 14 we read, "We know that we have         prophets depend on it. Thus spoke He who inter-
passed out of death into life because we love the            preted the Scriptures to us. Did He not write these
brethren." This love for the brethren must be more           Scriptures by His Spirit? (I Peter  1:ll) It was His
than lip service. Our ministering to the saints must be      Spirit in the Prophets. And, therefore, the "Golden
first of all, a giving of our life for the saints. Why?      Rule" is basic, central, all-pervasively up-to-date. It is,
Because Christ gave His life for us. (I John 3 : 16) That    in one word, relevant to our times in the church!
was the unexpressible gift of God. (II Cor. 9: 15) And
when this love of Christ dwells in our hearts we will           This touches on the very heart of ministering to
minister to the saints. When we see our brother hav-         the saints. We all love to be done good to, to be loved
ing need, and we have this world's good, we will give        and respected and helped. No one ever hated his own
to him. Otherwise the love of God does not dwell in          flesh. Well, that is the measuring-rod of our conduct
our hearts. Giving to our neighbor, ministering to the       toward our neighbor - to others.
saints, is an infallible proof that we have passed from         Such is the law of Christ in us and for us!
death into life. It is an infallible proof of a living
faith, which is merited for us on the Cross, as the          (1) Compare: Lightfoot's Commentary,  p.110. Writes he  ". .  .Though
fruit of elective love of God.                               morphee  is not the same as  phusis   (nature) and  ousia  (being), yet pos-
                                                             session of the  morphee  (form) involves participation in the essence. For
      The very heart and marrow of this law of Christ we     the form implies not external accidents but essential attributes"
find in Matthew 7: 12, where we read, "Therefore all         (2) Lightfoot on Colossians, page 230




THE DAY OF SHADOWS





                                          A New Name
                                                  Rev. John A. Heys



      A rosebud opens slowly. Yet after a time the           physical, mental and spiritual powers that were not to
flower unfolds fully and stands before us in all its         be seen at birth. This, too, is the work of God; and
beauty of color, form, texture, and fragrance. This is       this is the way in which He works.
God's work; and this is the way God works.                      We must not, then, think it strange when in the life
      A baby is born. Through a period of weeks and          of Abraham the matter of God's covenant develops so
months it begins to learn to crawl, to talk, and to          slowly, that is, so slowly according to our clocks and
walk. In process of time we see a vibrant, play-loving       calendars. "0, God," we are inclined to cry, "Why
boy or girl; and then soon enough a promising young          keep Abraham in suspense so long?" The rosebud of
man or young woman, strong and talented, revealing           His covenant opens so slowly! It takes so long before


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 19


the patriarch Abraham has all the details of that         revelation that God gave us of that covenant and its
covenant. For years God had been talking about it,         promises. And not at all strange is it that at this
and the man is ninety-nine years old before he is told    juncture, and with this last bit of revelation to
that  Sarai shall bear him the son in whom all these      Abram, God gives him (and Sarai) a new name. For
covenant promises will be realized.                       that new name stands in an inseparable connection
   Twenty-four years had come and gone since God-         with the, covenant Seed that will .be given to Abram.
called him out of Ur of the Chaldees. And during          He will beget Isaac, and in due time - 0 how slowly
those twenty-four years God said nothing  .about a        that rosebud opens  - Christ will be born. It is
child that  Sarai would present to him. Instead it        through  Him that Abram will receive a new name;
seemed as though God was saying by the advanced           and without Him Abram can never become Abraham,
age of  Sarai and her continued barrenness that she       and Sarai can never be called by God a princess.
would never furnish him with an heir of all these            To appreciate this we ought to bear `in mind that
covenant promises. Meanwhile, in Isbmael he seemed        when God tells Abraham that He will establish and
to see the opening of that rosebud and the realization    make His covenant with him and with his seed, there
of the joy of the fulfillment of the covenant             is only one covenant. That covenant is the Covenant
promises. Sarai and Hagar also thought that this was a    of Grace. To Noah God had spoken those same
sure way of making sure these promises. After             words,, and He did not establish one covenant with
Ishmael's birth God still said nothing to Abram to        Noah and another with Abraham. To both He says, "I
turn his eyes away from him as the one through            will establish My one and only covenant with thee
whom Abram would have seed as the sand upon the           and with thy seed after thee."
seashore.                                                    Actually it was a covenant of grace in which man
  We can trace the steps, and we can see how slow         was created in the beginning. It was no covenant of
?.hese steps must have seemed to be to Abram. At the      works, for man was  created  in a covenant relation-
age of seventy-five Abram was called by God out of        ship. He did not have to do anything to enter into it.
Ur of the Chaldees. Then already God promised to          There was a way to walk so as not to become a
make of him a great nation; to bless him and to make      covenant breaker, but the continuance of that
him great; to make him to be a blessing and to bless      covenant did not depend upon his works. It con-
all who blessed him, and to curse all those who cursed    tinued only by God's grace. Indeed, it was not grace
him; to lift him up so that all nations would be          in the sense that Adam received the opposite of what
blessed in him. All this we may find in Genesis           he deserved. That is God's grace to us as sinners fallen
12: l-3. When Abram arrived in the land of Canaan,        in Adam. But in the state of perfection in Paradise
God promised him further that unto his seed He            Adam lived in a covenant relation with God because
would give all that land. This is taught in Genesis       God was pleased to give it to him. It pleased God to
12:7. After Abram some years later, and as the peace-     create him in a relationship of friendship entirely
maker, separated from Lot, God confirmed all this by      without his works, for he was not there to do any-
stating more specifically that the land which he saw      thing to earn it. And it pleased God to keep him in
to the northward, to the southward, to the eastward,      that relationship until the moment that He had
and to the westward would all be his and his seed%.       decreed for the fall. Adam did not continue in it
And He added that Abram's seed would be like the          because he earned one split-second of it. His obedi-
dust of the earth in number. Genesis 13 : 14-17           ence earned him nothing. It also was God's gift to
informs us of this. A step further is recorded in         him.
Genesis 15 :4 where God informed him that one that          But Adam did, according to God's counsel, become
would come forth of his own bowels would be the           a covenant breaker and forfeited all right to God's
heir. This was before the conception of Ishmael.          fellowship and favour. And God glorified and re-
There was yet no definite word that  Sarai would be       stored that covenant in Christ, the last Adam,
the mother. And at, that time it was repeated to          through His cross and by His Spirit. Of this God
Abram that his seed would be innumerable. Sarai at        spoke in the mother promise of Genesis 3: 15, where
this time is seventy-six years old and Abram is           He spoke not only of a Seed of the woman that
eighty-six. And on God's clock and according to His       would crush the head of the serpent and of his seed,
calendar the message that  Sarai shall conceive and       but also of One Who would restore in His people's
bear him a son must wait another thirteen years! The      hearts the love of God and hatred of all sin.
rosebud is opening, but from our point of view the          That promise He reaffirmed to Noah. To Noah He
progress is very slow.                                    did not promise a covenant of nature or with nature.
  It  cannot be denied, however, that here we have        He reaffirmed this same promise that was given to
come to a very crucial moment in the fulfillment of       Adam, the one restored in Christ. As a phase and
God's covenant promises not only, but also in the  _      aspect of that covenant He promised to work in all


 20                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


the creation (nature) where that covenant people              through Sarah He promises this Christ and all the
lived to realize that covenant in all its fulness. There-     grace of God in Him. And that makes it possible for
fore there will be seedtime  and harvest, cold and heat,      Abram to receive the new name of Abraham, which
summer and winter, day and night, and no world-               means, "Father of multitudes." And this does not
wide devastation until all the covenant people have           mean that earthly multitudes and fleshly nations of
been saved and brought in to the blessings of that            men shall come from him. There were nations besides
covenant. That covenant He also reaffirmed to                 the nation of Israel that sprang forth from Isaac who
Abraham. It is all one covenant and one covenant              owe their existence to Abraham. Nations came forth
work; and a covenant of grace.                                from Ishmael and from the sons of Keturah. But this
       And we ought to bear in mind also that all history,    is not meant. What is meant is that a multitude of
both sacred and profane, both that of the church and          believers, a whole kingdom of elect will be his
that of the world, all in the lives of the seed of the        spiritual seed. That is also why he is called "The
woman and all in the lives of the seed of the serpent         father of believers." And that this multitude is the
serves' the perfection of that Covenant of Grace in           innumerable host of the saints is evident from the
Christ. All that happens in time - and that includes          fact that the same thing is said to Sarah. In Genesis
the whole history of Satan and his devilish kingdom           17116 we read, "She shall be a mother of nations."
- serves the day when the tabernacle of God is with           And from her came only the Israelites. But through
men, and `He shall dwell with them in all the glory           her son Isaac, and the Christ, Who came in his line, a
and blessedness of that covenant. For, indeed, all            multitude of elect, a host of believers were born. But
things work not only, but they all without exception,         take away the Christ, remove this covenant Head, in
in heaven and on earth, in the church and in the              Whom the covenant was restored after the first Adam
world, work  together  for good to those that love            fell, and Abraham and Sarah themselves are not in the
God. And THAT our children should be taught in                covenant. They cannot be named in it, for then there
school as well as in church. The wheat cannot grow            is no covenant. And surely they cannot be called by
without the chaff and never grows apart from it. And          their new names, "Father of Multitudes" and
you cannot teach the children about God's precious            "Princess." Instead they must be called covenant
wheat without showing them the work God performs              breakers and rebels of the Most High!
through the chaff in, His inscrutable wisdom and                And we, that multitude of Abraham's spiritual
sovereign workings whereby He sent His Son into the           seed, also receive a new name through this Seed of
world and exalted Him above that world in order to            Abraham. We, who have no physical connection with
realize this covenant of His grace.                           Abraham, we who have no blood ties with him, be-
   One more truth to bear in mind is that because this        come his spiritual seed through the Seed to Whom the
covenant is restored in Christ, and because, as the last      promises were given after the first covenant head,
Adam, He is the Head of that covenant, all its                Adam, fell and became a covenant breaker. We have
promises are given  in the first place  to Him. And,          the new name "Children of God." And some day
indeed, He earned the right to all the blessings of that      soon  - for the rosebud has unfolded considerably,
covenant by His cross and obedience. Abraham,                 and we are in the last hour of its .development  - the
therefore, receives these promises for His sake; Christ       truth of Revelation 2: 17 will be ours to enjoy. We
does not receive them because of Abraham. Christ,             shall, each one of us, receive "a new name which no.
though He came out of the loins of Abraham, as far            man know&h save he that receiveth it." We shall re-
as His human nature is concerned, owes Abraham                ceive a new name in a new creation; and all God's
nothing, and does not have the covenant promises              children shall be home with Him. And all this is
because of Abraham or because of anything Abraham             through that Seed Who is promised to Abraham. For,
had done. Christ does not have them because the               as children of Abraham, as his spiritual seed, this
promise was given to Abraham. Abraham has them                promise is also unto us.                                             __ --~
because they were given to Christ. That is what we
are taught in Galatians 3 : 16, "Now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And
to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to thy Seed
which is Christ." Christ is that Seed of Abraham.
Abraham is in the flesh and in time before Christ, but                                   Professor H. Hanko                                       I
Christ is before Abraham legally and in God's eternal                                               $5.95                                         I
counsel. Christ is the physical seed of Abraham, but                     Can  be obtained  from the Business  Mana9er  of the Standard Bearer:
Abraham is the spiritual seed of Christ brought into                                    Mr. H. Vander Wal
                                                                                        P.O. BOX 6064
being by His Spirit.                                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan  49506

  And so, when God promises Abraham a son


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     21


 STRENGTH OF YOUTH




                                    Remember Thy Creator

                                                     Rev. J. Kortering



   It's that time of year again.                                  We are to reckon that if we walk in the ways of our
   Schools beckon for occupancy. The hinges are                evil flesh, it will bring us into judgment. To avoid this
oiled, the desks polished, the floors waxed. Yes, it all       we are rather to remember our Creator and thereby
sounds only too familiar. The opening day of school            when the evil days come we will say, I have no plea-
even has its own smell.                                        sure in them.
   Mental cobwebs have to be brushed away. Those                  The central thought here is  - Our Creator! He
brawny muscles toned by hard work can relax and                makes all the difference.
now push a pencil, and that for some six hours a .day.            Purposefully, the Holy Spirit made this reference
The fluorescent lights won't be able to condition that         to God this way. Solomon does not say, remember
beautiful tan; that too will fade.                             thy God, or remember thy Savior, but rather re-
   Ah, yes, it's back to school. And quite a change.           member thy Creator. We are to remember God as our
                                                               Creator.
   With mixed emotions you reach for your alarm on                And what is so special about this?
that fateful day. School - the kids, teachers, books,
assignments, games, yes, it's all there - some antici-            This is the first principle of all instruction. Take
pation, some dread!                                            God as Creator out of the picture and you have
                                                               nothing but a lie. Does not God Himself make this
   But is it necessary? True, it's required by law  -          point in the very first verse of the Bible, "In the
educated citizenry and all that. But, why must I go to
school? Why should I want to go to school? Why                 beginning God created!"
should I make something of going to school?                       The schools of the world, and even, sad to say,
                                                               some so-called Christian schools cast this truth aside.
   That is a different story. It spells the difference
between going to school and being a student!                   In the former, they openly mock the idea of God's
                                                               creating; in the latter some of them cleverly conceal
THY CREATOR                                                    their acceptance of evolution by simply adding that
                                                               God watched the entire process which took billions
   God provides the needed incentive. Consider the             of years to develop. The end result however is the
timely words of Solomon, "Rejoice, 0 young man, in             same: God is not the  Creator! And if He is not the
thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of         Creator, He is not the God Who is Sovereign over all
thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and            events `in history, and you end up with the devastat-
in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all        ing lie that God would like to save people in Christ
these things God will bring thee into judgment.                His Son, but it is ultimately up to man whether he
Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put                wants to be saved. A compromised Creator leads to a
away evil from thy flesh, for childhood and youth are          possible Savior.
vanity. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth while the evil days come not, nor the years                 To abide by this exhortation of Scripture, we
                                                               establish our own schools so that  tl-+ truth may be
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in          taught daily without compromise. We must see our
.them." Ecclesiastes 11: 9- 12: 1.                             Creator; Mightily, He formed the chaos and called the
   Going to school is a matter of sanctification!              creation into being. In six days of 24 hours, limited


22                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



by evening and morning, God finished His creative          Word, and this governs our faith-life. We know God
work and rested on the seventh.                            has given us the Bible by the wonder of inspiration.
       This creation tells us something about God! Who     The Bible is His directive for the whole of our personal
cannot be struck by the great power of this creation?      lives, not only, but also explains His purpose for the
Mind you, the things that were not,become the things       nations of the world and His church which is gathered
they are by His voice. He spoke and it was done. How       from them. Finally, this also applies to our daily
great our God is. We can even see this in the creation     activities. Our work, our future calling in life, our
that groans to be delivered. How beautiful creation is     recreation, our sports, our fun activity. We remember
and our God made this simply by speaking.                  our Creator and His memory governs us in our be-
                                                           havior; we do not want to sin against Him, rather we
       Still more, the creation tells us that God has a    desire to be faithful in doing all things to His glory.
purpose with all things. All His work of creating
ended in the seventh day of rest.' We can see this by         Going to school teaches us this wonderful re-
faith now, when we remember that even that rest was        membrance. Our Christian covenant teachers help us
a picture of an eternal rest that remaineth for us. As     see these truths and live before so great a God. Hence
the seventh day depicts God's purpose, so today that       Solomon says, Put away evil from thy flesh for child-
purpose still influences us. Why are we here; what is      hood and youth are vanity. Remember now thy
our goal in life; what must be our attitude toward         Creator in the days of thy youth.
God and society? The answers to all of these ques-
tions come to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Our pur-
pose is to rest in Him, believe in His finished work,      DAYSOFTHYYOUTH
flee from evil and do good as we delight in His work.         Probably we should say a word about the emphasis
We are to further His cause and kingdom with an eye        he places upon the time of life when this should be
directed to heaven. Our Creator makes this plain to        done: days of thy youth. These days are further de-
us.                                                        fined as follows: "while the evil days come not nor
                                                           the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no
       Finally; we put power and purpose together and      pleasure in them."
we have the beautiful, reformed truth of God's
sovereignty. The purpose is accomplished by His               Solomon speaks of "evil days" in a two fold sense.
power and nothing can withstand it. God wills the          ~?.rst, they are connected with the preceding con-
salvation of His people in Christ and everything serves    text, "Put away evil from thy flesh . . . remember thy
that glorious end.                                         Creator . . . while the evil days come not." In this
  We have a great God. He is our Creator.                  sense the evil days refer to impending corruption,
                                                           from a moral point of view. Solomon was aware that
                                                           such days lay ahead for Israel. We are aware that such
REMEMBERTHYCREATOR                                         days lie ahead of us in the future, with the coming of
       He is to be remembered.                             the antichrist and his kingdom. The importance of
                                                           remembering our creator is that it will help us say
  It's significant that Solomon assumes that you           when the evil days come, "I have no pleasure in
know about Him. You don't remember something               them."
that you didn't know-already. We know our Creator.
What is important is that we must remember Him.              The spiritual implications of this are great. As cove-
                                                           nant youth you must study hard and put forth all
  To remember means to recall. We have many things         effort so that you are able to appreciate what your
in our minds that are there, but unless we are able to     Creator has done and is doing and reject any attack
recall them before our consciousness, we really don't      upon His work. The future will bring about apostasy
remember them. They are rather forgotten.                  in the churches; public sin will be extolled; men will
  The idea here is that Solomon instructs us to            call evil, good; they will persecute the faithful church
remember our Creator in such a way that He lives in        and thereby think they do God a service. All this is
our consciousness daily. That which we know about          plainly part of the evil day. The effect this will have
Him we recall and act accordingly. Let me illustrate.      upon us as people of God is two-fold. We will be
`We remember Him when we pray. We have been                sorely tempted to go along with the fun and games. It
taught about the great power of God and that He sees       will offer great sport and pleasure. It will attempt to
everything and calls us to be holy in the days of our      give to mankind the license to sin and not have to be
youth. While we pray we remember Who God is, and           troubled with a guilty conscience. Don't we like that?
this influences us in our prayer. The same is true         But it will also bring about a terrible persecution for
when we evaluate our faith. What do we believe about       the faithful children of God who resist these tempta-
God, His Word, ourselves, the world and all that it        tions and stand faithful even unto death. We read a
contains? We remember God as revealed to us in His         great deal about torture in the news media today.


                                                             THE  STANDARD  BEARER                                                  23
                                                                          I

Just imagine if we have to bear these things because                           all his-wajrnd such things learned remain even until
of our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!                                         old age. It is always striking to  ,me that the things
   It takes a great spiritual strength to be `able to say,                     quoted by the dying saint are the things learned in
"I have no pleasure in these evil days." Only remem-                           kindergarten and school.
bering our Creator will give us such spiritual faithful-                          Remembering such a Creator makes dying a little
ness.                                         -..                              easier. .
   There is another way of looking at the evil days.                           REMEMBER
Those days would then refer to old age in which all
men say, I have no pleasure in them. This receives the                            Yes, it's back to school.
`emphasis in the verses following. There Solomon                                  May I remind you that such precious moments are
describes all *the effects of old age'upon us. The fam-                        only in the days of youth. Take advantage of them.
ily unit breaks up by the presence of death, verse 2.                          Be diligent in your studies, apply yourself in the pur-
The body breaks down, verses 3-6. Finally death                                suit of knowledge.
claims us and the dust returns to the earth as it was,                            We may have expensive school facilities. We may
and the spirit returns unto God who gave it, verse 7.                          have parents that labor hard to provide for these
From this point of view, it is important to remember                           means. `We may have teachers that graduate from col-
our Creator in the days of youth because such                                  lege and diligently put forth effort to teach us the
remembrance prepares us for our purpose in life not                            knowledge of God. But if we are not going to be
only, but also for death.                                                      equally diligent in remembering our Creator, it is all
  The time to learn is during youth. At such a time                            vain.
God has given the gifts of memory and spiritual apti-                            And youth is vanity.
tude to receive it as at no other time, in life. It's                            May the Holy Spirit encourage you to be faithful
amazing how children and youth learn,                                          in your studies and enable you to be sanctified in
                                                                               your life.
  Through such learning, youth is guided by God in                               The praise returns unto our Creator.





                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull (Iowa) Protestant Re-
formed Church extends its Christian sympathy to one of our members,
Mrs. Frank Vogel, in the loss of her mother, MRS. ARI E BOMGAARS.
It is our hope and prayer that she may receive comfort in His Word and
by His Spirit. "Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto His
people."  (I Kings  8:5,6).
                                 Rev. J. Kortering, Pres.
                                 Mrs. Bernard  Driesen, Sec'y.





                                      News Frqm Our Churches

  Our church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, extended a                                vacation time and the meeting of Classis West the first
call to Rev. Woudenberg of Lynden, Washington, to                              week in September.
be their pastor. Kalamazoo's trio consisted of Rev.                              Rev. Marvin Kamps was scheduled to be installed
Woudenberg, Rev. Slopsema (Edgerton, Minnesota),                               as the pastor of our church in  Doon, Iowa, on Sep-
                                                                               tember 10. Rev. Kamps preached in Hull, Iowa, for
and Rev. Van Overloop  (Hope, Grand Rapids). Rev.                              Rev. Kortering on September 5. Seminarian Ken
Kortering was granted an extension of time in which                            Koole spent most of the summer in Doon ministering
to consider his call from Redlands, G&fomia, due to                            in that congregation.


                                    .-            ______-   .~       -____

 THE STANDARD BEARER           !
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506  1





24                                            THE STANDARD BEARER





      The Reformed Witness Committee in Northwest              `There has been a  gaod deal of activity in our
Iowa and Minnesota is busy with another project to          Protestant Reformed schools of late. One year ago a
continue their work in the area. Plans are being made       new Protestant Reformed school was opened by our
to publish in the Doon Press a condensation by Pro-         people in Redlands, California. This year another new
fessor H. Hanko of chapters taken from his book on          school opened in Hull, Iowa. The following is from
the parables. These will be published separately in         the Hull bulletin of August 29: "Tomorrow morning
pamphlet form for distribution.                             will be a significant day in our congregational life as
      The Randolph, Wisconsin, bulletin reported that a     the doors of our school will open for the first time.
monthly gathering of the Young Married Couples (we          Much planning and work has made this possible for
call such a gathering a Mr.  & Mrs. Society in the          us,  but we know that without God's Fatherly care it
`East') of the congregation has been proposed and has       could never have been realized. Let us humbly thank
been well received by those contacted. It has been          Him for providing for us the building, the materials
proposed that "Marriage" be the subject for study,          and furnishings, the teachers, and above all else the
with Rev. Engelsma's book on marriage serving as a          grace whereby we parents have come to see the need.
basis for discussion. A ballot was taken as to a prefer-    We seek His guidance that the benefits of these labors
ence on meeting time with the result that one Sunday        may continue from generation to generation."
evening per month will be scheduled for this new               `Our schools in Walker, Michigan, and South Hol-
`gathering.' Other of our Mr. & Mrs. Societies have         land, Illinois, are in the process of constructing an
used Rev. Engelsma's fine book on marriage as a             additional classroom on each of their buildings. South
guide in their discussions.                                 Holland is increasing its teaching staff as well. The
      The Grand Rapids area Sunday School Teacher's         Covenant Christian High School Society met on
Mass Meeting is scheduled for October 1st at South-         August 18 to consider adding a physical education
east Church. Mrs. Gertrude Hoeksema will speak on           wing to their building. This proposal was rejected by
"Teaching Bible Stories to our Covenant Youth."             the Society. The Adams St. School Society will have
Mrs. Hoeksema is well qualified to speak on this topic      a special meeting on September 30 to consider pur-
by virtue of her many years experience as a Christian       chasing land which would make relocation of Adams
School teacher. I have a suspicion that Mrs.  Hoek-         School possible in the future.
sema was asked to speak on this topic because of the'         I think the note that was placed in the Grand
writing project with which she has been busy for the        Rapids area church bulletins to mark the beginning of
last several `years. With the aid of a grant from the       the school year at Covenant High school can well
Federation of Protestant Reformed School Societies,         apply to all of our schools - that as we begin another
Mrs. Hoeksema spent a year writing a 346 page 1st           year of covenant instruction we wish to express our
grade Bible curriculum. Presently she is working ona        earnest desire that you remember us (that is, the
classroom Bible study `guide for the 2nd grade. Her         board, the faculty, and the students) in your prayers
plan is to complete a series of guides for the elemen-      before the throne of grace. With the blessings of our
tary grades which would give a unified, Reformed,           Father in Heaven, our efforts will surely not be in
treatment of the Bible  - something which we have           Vain.
not had until now.                                                                                          K.G.V.


