          The
    STANDARD
         BEARER
f- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      T





                                  Volume LIV, No. 5, December  1,1977    g
                                             ISSN 0362-4692


98                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                      THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                 CONTENTS:                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, inc.
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Meditation  -                                                                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer  C. Hoeksema
                                                                             Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
      Exhorted to. Spiritual Vigilance . . ; : . . . . . . . . .98           Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                             Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
Editorials -                                                                 Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma,
                                                                             Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Siopsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
      "Our Song of Hope" - A Critique (Conclusion). 101                      Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                             Vink.
      Ecumenicity - RES Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102             Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITA  TIO N


                                 Exhorted to Spiritual Vigilance
                                                                  Rev. M. Schipper

                    "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that
                sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who
                are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the
                 hope  of  salvation.  "                                                                           I Thessalonians 5 : 6-8
      The Lord is coming again!                                                church is wholly aware of the truth that "the Lord so
                                                                               cometh as a thief in the night." This cannot mean
      Of this indubitable fact it was not necessary that                       that the church had come to believe that Christ's
the apostle write, for the church was thoroughly                               return would be literally in the night time, but as the
knowledgeable of it. Even of the times and seasons                             coming of a thief whom men are not expecting and
that surround and precede His coming it was not                                for whom they will be wholly unprepared. The
for him to write. As to the second coming of Christ,                           church was fully cognizant of the fact that when the
His glorious Parousia, the church had `been                                    Lord .comes again the world of the ungodly will be
thoroughly indoctrinated. Fact of the matter is, the                           assuming the lackadaisical attitude that all is "peace


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                99



and safety," while sudden destruction will come upon       and serving God. They hate the light, and revel inthe
them, as travail upon a woman with child.                  darkness. In that spiritual night they even talk aloud
   But the church is not in that darkness that that day    in their sleep, imagining that all is peace and safety
of Christ should overtake her as a thief.                  about them, never realizing that they lie in the midst
   She has been thoroughly instructed as to the            of death, never fearing that they shall have to meet
precursory signs, those harbingers, that forewarn the      the Lord, in His day; and like the sudden birth-pangs
church that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.           that come to a woman with child, sudden destruction
The Lord Himself had described in detail what the          comes upon them.
expectant church must look for before He will make           Thanks be to God, for, whereas we were like unto
His glorious appearance. He told them to' look for         them by nature, we are no longer children of dark-
signs in creation, such as, floods, earthquakes, and       ness; but we are by the grace of Go.d become the sons
pestilences, all signs of the coming judgment. He told     (not "children," as the translation has it), the sons of
them there would  :be wars and rumors of wars. He          light and sons of the day. Indeed, we were by nature
instructed them. that before He returns the gospel will    children of darkness, born out of darkness; but by
have* been proclaimed in all the world. `Then there is     grace we are adopted into God's family and are
the sign of the great tribulation of the church,           become sons of light, in whom God not only pur-
brought on, no doubt, by the other signs of the great      poses to reflect His light image, but who are legally
apostasy, and the coming of Antichrist. These and          appointed and adopted heirs of all that the light
many other. warning signals proclaiming loudly the         stands for.
speedy approach of the exalted Lord and Judge are
what the expectant church is to anticipate.                  Therefore let us not sleep as. do others;`but let us
                                                           watch and be sober!
   But of the day and the hour of His actual appear-
ance knoweth no man.                                         The others are spiritually intoxicated, having no
                                                           sense of true values. So inebriated are they that they
   And the reason for ,this omission in the revelation     know not who they are, where they are going, nor
concerning the return of the Lord, is this, that the       how they will get there.
church may always be vigilant!                               Not so are the sons of light and of the day!
   Spiritual vigilance is the watchword!                     They have all their spiritual senses, and know how           .
   Therefore let us not sleep, as do others! The           to use them., They know who they are, `where they
others, that is, the ungodly in the world, and the         are and where they are going, and they know how,to
ungodly who manifest themselves in the organic             get there.
development of the church in the  ,world, are the
children of darkness who sleep in the night.                 All this because they are by the grace of God sons
                                                           of light and sons of the day.
   Of course, sleep in the literal sense of the word,
and even sleep in the night, i's a most natural phenom-      And all this they are and have with a view to the
enon which God has added to our creation, according        coming of the Lord. Therefore that day of Christ
to which in a most natural way-we become oblivious         cannot and will not overtake them as a thief.
to the busy world about us, and find physical and            But, you ask, if this is so,, how is it to be explained
mental refreshment for body and mind, so that at the       that the apostle exhorts us not to sleep, not. to be
light of a new day we may be enabled to realize more       drunken as the rest, but to be sober and vigilant?
efficiently our vocation in the world. That sleep is a       In answer, we point out, first of all, that, though
perfectly good creation of God. And for that reason        we are the sons of light, we,still dwell in the darkness
the Scriptures teach, "the sleep of the labouring man      of this present time. The night which settled upon the
is sweet."                                                 earth with the fall of our first parents ,is still with us,
   But the apostle has in mind another sleep, the          and we dwell in that night. The day, the eternal day,
spiritual sleep of death of the natural man, apart from    which dawns with the return of our Lord, has not yet
Christ. Relative to that sleep we must be reminded         arrived. And secondly, though we have been trans-
that from the dawn of history, when our first father       formed from children of darkness into sons of light,
Adam sinned, the light was extinguished, and it has        we possess this grace only in principle. We still.dweh
been night ever since. In  this night of darkness all      in the flesh, in a corrupt nature, which is no different
men, all the children of Adam, are' conceived and          from the flesh of the children. of darkness. If we
born. Also we were by nature children of darkness          followed the inclinations of that flesh and oldnature,
and of wrath, incapable of doing  any' good, and           then we would also sleep in the night, and become
inclined to all evil. In that darkness the. ungodly,       intoxicated in the night. Therefore  .we need to be
apart from Christ,  re,main. In that darkness they         exhorted to vigilance. Were we already in heaven,
sleep, oblivious of their calling to be actively loving    where there will be no night, we would need no such-


100                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


exhortation. But we dwell in the flesh which never           protected, so must our spiritual vigilance be constant-
willeth any good thing, which always imitates the            ly intact.
world, and seeks the vain things below even to the             The breastplate which consists of faith and love,
point that we become intoxicated with them.                  and the helmet which consists of the hope of salva-
  Why must we be exhorted to spiritual vigilance?            tion, these are the armaments wherewith we must
Because in the darkness of this present time it is our       clothe ourselves, shall we remain vigilant, and where-
calling to be sons of the light and of the day.              with we shall be able to withstand the strong urgings
  This means, first of all, that we live antithetically.     of the flesh to become sleepy and drunken. Our flesh
And that means negatively, that we oppose the                has in it the power to deny our faith, to dampen our
darkness, not only in the world, but in our sinful           love, and to weaken our hope.
flesh, that we mortify the deeds of the flesh and bring        You must note, in the second place, the trilogy of
it into subjection to the will of Christ. Positively, it     which the apostle speaks: faith, love, and hope.
means that we live out of the  principle   of  regenera-
tion, with all our spiritual senses tempered by the life        Of this trilogy the apostle had written to the
of Christ which is within us. So we will reveal, not         church of Corinth, and then in a different order. (I
only to God but also to the world about us, that we          Cor. 13). There he spoke of faith, hope, and love.
indeed are the sons of light and of the day.                 And there also he stressed the point that of these
                                                             three love was the greatest.
  Shall we be constantly, spiritually vigilant, looking
for the coming of the Lord, it follows that we be               Here, however, the order is faith, love, and hope.
constantly clothed with spiritual armaments.                 Hope is mentioned last, not because it is the greatest,
                                                             but because it stands most intimately connected to
  We must be putting on the breastplate of faith and         the coming of the Lord. When hope reaches its
love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.              object, then our salvation will be complete. Now we
  You will note, first of all, that the apostle here         are saved in hope, that is, we have it in principle; but
does not describe the armaments in detail as he had          when the Lord shall appear, then in body and soul we
done in his letter to the Ephesians (6: 14-l 7). There       shall be saved completely.
he enumerates all the parts of the complete panoply             Moreover, all three, faith, love, and hope, must be
of God wherewith He prepares His people for and              intact, and guarded, shall we be truly vigilant. Your
preserves them in the great battle of faith they are         faith which is the bond that ties you to Christ, is the
required to fight in the midst of the world. There the       grace through which you receive all the benefits of
armaments are both for defensive as well as for              salvation from Him. Your love which the Lord has
offensive warfare. That the apostle mentions here            shed abroad in your heart is the grace whereby you
only two aspects of the defensive armaments, breast-         taste in principle the perfection He has wrought in
plate and helmet, must not be construed to mean that         you, and which desires the perfection He will give
it is perfectly safe to neglect the other aspects so long    when, He comes. Your hope of salvation which also
as we have these. Indeed, in. the battle of -faith-every     you possess now in principle, characteristically
part of the panoply is extremely necessary, and every        stretches out in longing and expectation for its'
part must be put on if we are to stand in that battle.       perfection in the day of His coming.
It must be observed, therefore that in our text the
apostle is not referring, specifically to the battle of         These spiritual armaments we do not have of
faith we must fight, but he is referring to the              ourselves. They are of God, given to us of grace, to be
exhortation to spiritual vigilance. Consequently he          conscientiously and constantly appropriated and put
infers that even our spiritual vigilance must be             on, to guard and protect us from the powers of the
guarded. Breastplate and helmet are protective arma-         flesh - the flesh that does not want to go to heaven,
ments. Let us be clothing ourselves with the breast-         that does not want Christ, nor does it look for Him in
plate of faith and love; and let us be putting on our        His Parousia.
helmet which is the hope of salvation.                          If we are constantly and conscientiously putting on
   In the literal sense the breastplate was that part of     these spiritual armaments, this spiritual activity will
the Roman armor that covered the warrior from his            never allow us to fall asleep or be drunken.
hips to  his. shoulders in front and in back. It pro-           So shall we be spiritually vigilant!
tected his heart from the spear thrust in immediate             So shall we be watching and sober!
combat, and from the flying arrow that might be shot
at him from afar. The helmet was that part of the               So shall we be waiting and ready for His appear-
armor that protected his head. Together heart and            ance!
head are those vital parts of the body which if pierced         And praying the prayer the exalted Lord Himself
or shot through would most likely mean death. As             taught us in the Revelation: "Come Lord Jesus, yea,
the heart and head of the Roman soldier must be              come quickly!"


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                101



EDITORIALS
Prof H.C. Hoeksema





                         "Our Song of Hope" -- A Critique
                                                (Conchysion)

  The next item with respect to which we wish to              .Spirit sends His church to call sinners to repentance,
examine "Our Song of Hope" is that of the doctrine            to proclaim the good news that Jesus is personal
of the irresistible, or effectual, calling and, along with    Savior and Lord. He sends it out in ministry to preach
it, conversion; in other words, the doctrines covered         good news to the poor, righteousness to the nations,
in the Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine of our              and peace among mankind."
Canons of Dordrecht..                                            On this score, therefore, one can only pass the
  About this, however, there is not much to write,            verdict: tried, and found wanting. On this score, "Our
for the simple reason that these distinctives of the          Song" can never serve as an adequate expression of
Reformed faith are totally absent from "Our Song."            faith for a Reformed Christian.
Even in Appendix B, which supposedly furnishes an                The same is true with respect to the fifth of the
index of references to our Reformed Confessions,              so-called "Five Points of Calvinism." It is totally
there are very few references to Canons III, IV; and          missing in "Our Song." I will not belabor this point,
when one consults these references, he discovers in           but only give one ridiculous illustration. Lines 6-8 of
several instances that there is only the vaguest refer-       Stanza 5 read: "In this age, His Holy Spirit is with us,
ence in "Our Song" to the truths taught in our                calling nations to follow God's path, uniting people
Canons. In fact, some of the references are downright         through Christ in love." I ask you: do you find in
far-fetched. Furthermore, at no point is there any            these words the slightest hint of the truth of the sure
reference -to Articles lo-15 of Canons III, IV, which         preservation and perseverance of the saints? I fail to
constitute the heart of this chapter. These are the           find it. But if you turn to Appendix B, what confes-
articles which set forth in clear and unambiguous             sional reference do you find with Stanza 5, lines 6-8?
terms the doctrine of efficacious grace, which teach          Nothing less than Canons V, l-15. That's the entire
that faith and repentance are conferred by God, so            Fifth Head of Doctrine! Frankly, I cannot understand
that obedience to the call of the gospel "is not to be        how anyone got it in his head to accompany these
ascribed to the proper exercise of free will. . . . but it    lines with such a reference; I fail utterly to see any
must be wholly ascribed to God." These are `the               connection. One gets the impression that they were
articles which emphasize the truth that God power-            just trying to make "Our Song" look good by
fully illuminates the minds of the elect by His Holy          supplying some confessional references.
Spirit; which speak of regeneration as "a new crea-
tion, a resurrection from the dead, a making alive,              But in addition to this, one simply looks in vain in
which God works in us without our aid"; which speak           "Our Song" for anything which approaches the truth
of faith as the gift of God "not on account of its            of the sure perseverance of the saints.
being offered by God to man, . . . but because it is in         My conclusion, therefore, with respect to the five
reality conferred, breathed, and infused into him."           ,distinctively  Reformed doctrines known as the "Five
But all of this is missing in "Our Song." It speaks           Points of Calvinism" is that "Our Song of Hope" can
only in vague terms of the Spirit speaking. "The              in no wise qualify as a Reformed confession of faith.
Spirit speaks through the Scriptures." (Stanza 6)             On the contrary, in many respects "Our Song"
"The Spirit speaks through the Church. . .  ." "He            militates against these distinctively Reformed doc-
calls the world to bear witness to Christ. . . ." (Stanza     trines.
-7) "God's Spirit speaks in the world according to              As I have stated earlier, if one were to offer a
God's ultimate word in Christ." (Stanza 8) Stanza 16          detailed critique of "Our Song," it would require a
is about -the only point in "Our Song" which in any           book longer than Dr. Heideman's commentary pro-
way speaks directly of the call to repentance; and it         moting the proposed and provisional new confession
refers only to the outward call of the gospel: "The           of the RCA. I have purposely confined myself in this


102                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


critique to a very limited area of specifically  Re-`       seemed to' be a preparation for the coming of the
formed truths, partly because these truths are crucial      Gospel. However, this is not to say that all that goes
to any would-be Reformed creed, partly to get some          on in strange lands and places is to be accepted as truth
kind of "line" in my critique, and partly because           from God. Human sin and perversity is everywhere;
without a specific approach one simply would not            those areas, like our own, must ultimately be
know where to begin or end with his criticism of            measured and judged by Jesus Christ, the Lord of the
"Our Song ,of Hope." For, frankly, I can find nothing       Scriptures, the Way, the Truth and the Life."
good and favorable to say about the entire document.        3. The stance on marriage, family planning (a wicked
  Yet I cannot refrain from calling attention to a few      euphemism), and abortion is corrupt, Stanza 13.
,of the outstanding errors in "Our Song" other than         "Our Song" seems to "reaffirm the life-long character
those already mentioned. I will only mention these,         of marriage." But the commentary contradicts this
without going into detail. The reader should also keep      when it also states that "a variety of marriage systems
in mind that this list is not exhaustive.                   have been and still are acceptable to God," and that
1. The doctrine of Holy Scripture (Stanza 6) is             "the words of Genesis about one man and one
phrased in purposely vague terminology, with no             w Oman" only provide "the best regulation. . .  ."
reference, of course, to infallibility or inerrancy. The    Further, "Our Song" proudly speaks of family plan-
commentary on this stanza explains that the question        ning, not recognizing the fact that while it is possible
of canonicity is viewed as more important than the          to prevent the birth of children, it is not possible to
question of inspiration. I dare say that if a dis-          control and to plan the birth of children. Finally,
tinctively Reformed doctrine of Scripture were in-          "Our Song" deliberately refuses to take a stand on
serted in "Our Song," a majority at an RCA General          abortion because "it is not yet clear" what stance one
Synod could not be mustered for it.                         should take on the question of abortion. (Com-
                                                            mentary, pp. 54, 55)
2. Stanza 8 seems  to. speak of some kind of un-            4. "Our Song" is replete with the social gospel. There
articulated Word of God which is still present in           are probably more direct references to aspects of the
heathendom. It reminds me of the "unarticulated             social gospel than to any single item. I will not go
word of promise" to heathen nations of which they           into detail on this, for that would involve me in
wrote in the Netherlands several years ago. Again, the      another lengthy chapter of critique. In Stanzas like
commentary confirms my suspicions. There we read,           10, 11, 12, and 16 this emphasis is so obvious anyone
p. 41:                                                      can detect it.
  "Moreover, we believe that God works in every               In conclusion, then, let me remind you again that
time and place, even when our feeble bodies and             no Reformed man could ever accept this proposed
minds have not gone to those places. We believe that        creed as the expression of his own faith. If the RCA
the message of the Scriptures has been working like         finally adopts "Our Song," this can only mean that it'
yeast in the world for centuries, so that we cannot         has publicly and officially abandoned even the
any longer trace its `complete historical  `.joui%ey        semblance of a-Reformed stance. No one could ever
through Asia, Africa and the West. We believe that          recognize a church as being Reformed which raises
even when society and government, art and techno-           this creed as its standard, its flag. And the very fact
logy forget their own relation to Christ, somehow the       that this creed could even be provisionally adopted is
Spirit of God remains faithful among those areas of         proof positive that the RCA is far, far down the road
life, just as He remained faithful to Israel  ,in Egypt     of apostasy. Evidently men who are even evangelical
and in Babylon. We are impressed by the fact that           are in the minority; and men who are at all genuinely
when missionaries have gone to new lands, the people        Reformed in the RCA are rare items indeed! Still
there seemed to have had premonitions of their              more, if they are truly Reformed, they do not belong
coming and that within their cultures there often           in the fellowship of RCA.        .-

                                   Ecumenicity -- RES Style

  In recent months two periodicals, Calvinist Contact       Schrotenboer was entitled "May We Pray for the
and  The Banner,  have carried pictures of Dr. Paul         Pope?" The entire article as well as the affirmative
Schrotenboer, General Secretary of the Reformed             answer to the question in its title ought to constitute
Ecumenical Synod, at his audience with Pope Paul            a warning to Reformed churches against the kind of
VI, and, along with the pictures, articles about this       ecumenicity for which the RES stands. For not only
occasion. In  Calvinist Contact  an article by Dr.          was Dr. Schrotenboer present in Rome evidently in his


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                103



official capacity; but even apart from this, his name      head of many hundreds of millions of Christian
as General Secretary is automatically associated with      people." Why does he not characterize him as the
the RES. And this article is rather revealing as to the    alleged occupant of the  .chair of St. Peter and the
kind of ecumenicity in which the RES General               claimed Vicar of Christ? Or why does he not charac-
Secretary is interested.                                   terize him as the one who with his predecessors shares
  First of all, the article informs us that Dr.            corporately the responsibility for the deaths of thou-
Schrotenboer was in Rome to attend "a gathering of         sands upon thousands of saints at the time of the
secretaries of world confessional families who meet        Reformation in the Lowlands alone? Or when `he
once a year to consider matters of mutual concern."        speaks of "many hundreds of millions of Christian
Furthermore, this annual meeting "came on invita-          people," why does he not refer to the fact that the
tion from. the Roman Catholic secretariat for the          Pope is responsible for continuing to lead them in
Promotion of Christian unity in the Casa Inter-            ways of apostasy, `ways of work-righteousness, ways
national de1 Clero in Rome." In this same connection,      of idolatry, ways of Mariolatry? If he had thought on
we. are informed: "The world confessional families is      these things, it might have been easier for the doctor
a mixed bag, having in it groups as fundamental as the     to arrive at a proper answer to his question.
Mennonites and the Seventh Day Adventists (a sect,           Instead he suggests that perhaps because of our
HCH) and as ecumenical (ecumenical or modernisti-          "Calvinist tradition" which has said "some unkind
cally heretical and apostate? HCH) as  the World           things" about the pope, we don't pray for him. He
Council of Churches. It represents the largest number      refers to the fact that Jqhn Calvin called the pope a
of Christians on the face of the earth.' In it are         "braying ass" and Westminster Confession iden-
organizations which represent the international            tifies  he as the anti-Christ. By the way, the West-
bodies of various `confessions,' such as the Lutherans,    minister Confession belongs to the confessional basis
Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists, and the Reformed. In      of the RES. Perhaps it ought to be modified? Then he
it are also churches with very high claims about their     goes on to suggest that "Perhaps my non-praying for
being the church, such as the Orthodox churches,           the Pope . . . has been due to the hidden assumption
particularly of eastern Europe, and the Roman              that one does not pray for those who are not of his
Catholic Church."                                          own fellowship." Evidently by "fellowship" he has
                                                           reference to "evangelical Reformed Protestants." He
  This should be enough already for a truly Re-            might, indeed, have pondered that idea of fellowship
formed man who is genuinely interested in true and         in terms of "the communion of saints" and asked
Scriptural ecumenicity. What business does the RES         himself the question what this might have to do with
have in such an admittedly "mixed bag," as Dr.             our prayers. That might have been fruitful, and it
Schrotenboer calls it?                                     certainly would have had a radical effect upon the
  The Secretary of the RES tells us next about the         prayer which he proposes.
mass which he attended on Sunday morning. Now I              But then he goes on to justify prayer for the pope
don't know what opportunities there are in Rome for        on the specious ground that "The apostle said it
a genuine Protestant to worship; I do know, however,       (prayer) should go out also. to rulers and to all who are
that a Roman Catholic mass is not the place  for `a        in authority." Having settled that question, he states
Reformed man. To make matters worse, Dr.                   that the only question is: "what should we say then
Schrotenboer even has some good things to say about        when we pray for him?" He proposes that "a good
this mass. "The liturgy was not as objectionable as I      place to start would be:
had expected," he writes. There was even something               May God bless all his efforts to promote
good: "What I liked best was the  readtig  from               peace and justice in the world in the love of
Scripture (three passages)." And then: "The-` tran-            Christ. May God give him grace and light to
substantiation bit (remember: abominable idolatry,            reform the church according to the Word of
HCH) was not emphasized." But notice: it was not               God. May the Godof peace, who through the
absent, could not be absent in the mass! And then             blood of the e&al covenant brought back
come some more favorable and impressive elements:             from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
"Much was said about love and fellowship. What                 Shepherd of the sheep, equip the Pope with
made the greatest impact on me at the time was                everything good for doing his will and may
the prayer. Besides'many other matters, `the priest in        God work in him'what  is pleasing to God,
charge specifically prayed for `our Holy Father' in his       through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory
awesome responsibilities."                                    forever."
                                                             Horrifying! Have you noticed that the last part of
  All of this, it seems, served to remind the doctor       that prayer is the apostolic benediction of Hebrews
that `he had never in his life prayed for the Pope, or     13:20, 21 - addressed to the saints, the brethren, in
any of his predecessors, "the n&n who is the titular       Christ Jesus?


104                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


  If this is the expression of ecumenicity, RES style,        pray for his repentance. That would be an abomina-
then no truly Reformed man or Reformed church                 tion in. God's sight.
should have anything to do with the RES.                        For  do- not forget that such a prayer must be
                                                              consistent with the principles of true prayer as em-
  But what about praying for the pope?                        bodied in the Lord's Prayer and as explained in our
  It ought to be obvious, first of all, that the only         Heidelberg Catechism. Prayer for the pope would
thing one could possibly pray for him would be a              have to be consistent with the second petition, for
prayer for his repentance, both as an individual and as       example, about which our Catechism says:  " `Thy
head of the Roman Catholic Church. In the second'             kingdom come'; that is, rule us so by thy word and
place, however, one cannot very well be a'hypocrite           Spirit, that we may submit ourselves more and more
                                                              to thee; preserve and increase thy church; destroy the
in his prayers. Such a prayer would also imply that           works of the devil, and all violence which would exalt
one  tells Rome and tells the pope to repent. You             itself against thee; and also, all wicked counsels
cannot very well have an audience with the pope, give         devised against thy holy word; till the full perfection
him a nice smile and a friendly handshake, and then           of thy kingdom take place, wherein thou shalt be all
get on your knees before our Father in heaven and             in all."

TRANSLATED TREASURES



                  A Pamphlet on the Reformation
                                             of the Church

  We make only a short statement by way of in-                  This leads to a disagreeable friction and a division
troduction to the following pamphlet.                         into groups which are consequently impure because
  Just because the Reformation of the church is now           many drift along with the tide and thus often sepa-
a relevant issue, Luther's 400th anniversary has a            rate what belongs together.
more urgent significance.                                       Yet the momentous work of reformation in our
                                                              churches must not suffer under this. Whether God the
  Also in Luther's day men did not thoughtlessly              Lord still wills to prolong the judgment under which
begin the demolition of what was incurably filled
with dry rot. A lengthy and earnest study of church           our churches still are bowed, lies in His free will. But
polity preceded Luther's appearance, and in a number          nothing discharges us from the obligation of obedi-
of writings the matter of the Reformation of the              ence to seek in the way. of means the healing of the
churches was at that time earlier advocated.                  fracture in His churches.
                                                                The misery which came over our land and over the
  Without such a preparation only a chaos would               souls of men through so miserable a state of the
have resulted from Luther's work.                             church and continues to be more threatening, is too
  But the fact was that almost everything righted             great.
itself after the break which he brought into existence;         The key of knowledge is lost. Unstable spirits float
and indeed it is amazing how in those days of the             along with every wind of doctrine. The house of our
Reformation the most correct ideas concerning the             God becomes a mockery. And the more tender'
church, church polity, and church administration              virtues of esteem and piety already begin to be in
were developed by preachers, elders, and churches.            danger in the best circles of our land.
                                                                On that account it appears advisable to me that
  We are, alas, not at present, that far.                     those men in our midst whom God the Lord has given
  Indeed the reformation of our churches is in order,         opportunity for thinking into and studying this
but the opinions concerning it are too far apart.             momentous question- ought to put their ideas con-
There is still lacking a consensus. The way in which          cerning the. reformation of the church in an orderly
it must go is stilI in many respects uncertain.               fashion in a book.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  105


   Loose articles in a periodical always treat the         of the church. And because there is no agreement
question piecemeal, and even in oral debate one does       concerning the formation of the church unless one
not make any headway without preparation.                  first of all clearly understands the general principles
   Only when anyone who is of the opinion that he          which govern the essence of the church, I mean to
can point out a beaten path and has set forth his ideas    discuss also these principles in a separate chapter.
in order and in relation to each other in a book can          A division into paragraphs is done so as to facilitate
an orderly discussion of the question begin, and the       looking up various subjects.
possibility of treating the matter with clearer con-          Although this pamphlet presents only a dim
sciousness of the issues is made possible.                 shadow of what a "handbook concerning reformed
  And it is for this reason that I have set aside my       church polity" ought to be, yet I foresaw the pos-
free hours this year in order not to be lax in matters     sibility that men would let this pamphlet serve as
where I have admonished others, and to begin to            -assistance in that direction for the time being until
subject my own ideas, as good or bad as they may be,       one of our professors in church polity would give us
to the judgment of my brothers.                            that indispensable handbook.
  I attempted to arrange my work in such a way that           And herewith this work is recommended to the
men can see through the clear water to the-bottom.         good favor of our God, to the love of the brethren,
                                                           and the kind judgment of experts.
  To attain that purpose I have not restricted myself
to a discussion of reformation, but have preceded the         My reward shall be overflowing if it appears that
chapter on reformation with another concerning the         this pamphlet of mine contributes something to the
deformation of the church. So that it may be clear         reformation of those churches of the fatherland
what I understand by deformation, I have preceded          which have all the love of my heart.
this chapter with another concerning the formation         Amsterdam, October 1, 1883                       Kuyper

TRIUMPH THROUGH TRIALS




                                      Bastards or Sons
                                                Rev. J. Kortering


  What a contrast between bastards and sons.               "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made
  A bastard is an illegitimate child. From the point       under the law. To redeem them that were under the
of view-of those who are responsible for his existence,    law, that we might receive the adoption of sons," Gal.
he shouldn't have been born, his existence testifies of    4:4, 5.
sin. From his own point of view he is a misfit, he           The burning question is, how can we know
doesn't belong in the home. There are such spiritual       whether we are sons or bastards?
bastards. Jesus spoke of the Pharisees, "Ye are of           The answer is given in Heb. 12: 6-8: "For whom
your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye     the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
will do," John 8:44.                                       son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
  A son is quite different. He is born to parents who      dealeth with  yo;. as with sons; for what son is he
not only have a right to receive him, but also want to     whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be
receive him. "Happy is the man that has his quiver.        without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then
full of them," Ps. 127: 5. God has received us into His    are ye bastards, and not sons."
`family as sons. We are born into this family by the         We must be careful that we do not draw the wrong
Holy Spirit. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent.      conclusions from this passage. There are bastards who
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying,       have plenty  of. afflictions in their lives. There are
Abba, Father," Heb.  4:6. This birth follows the           some sons who do not know sickness and troubles.
marvelous act of adoption, whereby God deals with          The mere fact that a person has or does not have'
spiritual bastards, and makes us legally His own sons.     physical troubles does not establish sonship.


106                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  The important question here is this: what is the                    The fact that God comes to you with His Word and
chastisement which all sons receive and bastards do                deals with you in your life correctively, is proof that
not receive?                                                       you are a son of God.
  Chastisement involves four things. First, it deals                 There is more, however; we must yet address
with sin and evil (verse 5 speaks of rebuke, which                 ourselves to our response to this chastisement.
assumes wrong committed). Second, in dealing with                    A bastard sometimes hears God's Word of cor-
this wrong, pain is inflicted (verse 6 speaks of scourg-           rection and rebels against it by refusing to repent of
ing, which for the present is not joyous but grievous,             sin and follow God's pathway. Likewise when the
verse 11). Third, it corrects the evil that was present,           Lord sends affliction, he tries to escape from them
(verse 10 speaks of profit, and verse 11 says that it              and will not be humbled low, but despises them, verse
yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness). Finally,            5. A son responds differently, he knows the im-
it is an act of love, (verse 6, "For whom the Lord                 portance of being admonished; he knows that he
loveth he chasteneth").                                            needs correction, and that all God's dealings are for
  God never places this chastisement upon bastards.                his good. He endures chastening, verse 7. By the
Those who continue to walk as their spiritual father               indwelling  Spirit of  sonsbip,  we continually cry,
the devil receive only judgment and wrath from the                 Abba, `Father.
God who destroys them.                                               There is one more gem that we must see here. "Eor
  Chastisement is proof of being a son of God. No                  whom the. Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
son is without it.                                                 every son whom he  receiveth," verse 6. Children of
  How is this so?                                                  God who seem to receive more chastisement than
  The answer is that chastisement comes in a two-                  other children of God may conclude from this that
fold way. First, it comes as a divine scolding and                 God wants such children to be very close to Him, that
warning. Words forcefully but lovingly spoken to a                 He may receive them in a greater measure. Generally
wayward child constitute chastisement. For many a                  this is true; the sons with the greatest measure of
child this is more meaningful than a spanking. With                chastisement are closer to God than the others.
God this is also true. There is more: God also in the                What a blessing!
second place adds correction by afflicting the body                  Chastisement is not penal, it is loving correction
and troubling one's life. Many indeed are the afflic-              that yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
tions of the righteous. The groans, cries, and com-
plaints of God's people speak directly to this. It is                "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and
obvious then, "if ye be without chastisement,                      the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and               feet," verses 12, 13.
not sons," verse 8.                                                  Chastisement is proof of sonship.

IN HIS FEAR


                       The  .School's Responsibility
                                to the Slow-Learner
                                                            (2)
                                                  Rev. M. Joostens


  Our approach to the problem has to be covenantal.                   In this connection I just want to mention a few
Now, I don't intend to discuss with you this evening               fundamental things. We believe that God gathers His
the idea of the covenant. You hear this idea explained             church in continued generations. For the promise is
to you from your respective pulpits and there is much              unto us and to our children. This is foundational!
written on it in our circles. And for those who desire             This we must preserve at all costs for it alone gives
to become more familiar with the idea of covenant                  direction and purpose to the instruction of our
education I recommend for your reading Rev. D.                     children, whether it be in the home or at school. It is
Engelsma's little book, "Reformed Education.?'                     this beautiful idea of the covenant that is the basis


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  107


of  parental  education as we practice it. The Bible            leled in the school to as great a degree as possible.
makes the correctness of this very clear in passages            Therefore, even as parents instruct each child in
such as Deuteronomy 6.                                          accord with his specific needs, so educators must
   But I want to move on from this brief statement of           establish reasonable goals and progress for each
principles to the various implications that are in-             youngster. Not all of our children fit into a common
herent in the principle of covenant instruction. Let us         educational mold. Not all our children are college
begin in the home. First, parents have to recognize             bound, or will become preachers, teachers, or white-
that there is diversity among their children. God gives         collar workers. Teachers may require the best of each
unto each of our children a distinct personality. I             child, but this must never be confused with high
believe He does this at the moment of conception.               academic attainment. If this is done, then some
Each child has his own characteristic traits, faults,           children go home night after night banging their
idiosyncrasies, etc. I think that this is, at least in part,    heads against the wall, because they are never able to
.the emphasis of the preacher in Proverbs when he               achieve such an academic goal. And a host of prob-
tells us to train a child in the way he should go. This         lems results: child-teacher problems; parent-teacher
no doubt means that each child must be trained in               problems; etc. The children are the real losers. At
accordance with his needs and particular character.             home and in school we have to work toward reason-
And most emphatically this applies to the talents               able goals for all of our children. We must do this
with which God has endowed our children. Some of                with patience, being satisfied with reasonable progress
them are "book worms," others are "mechanically                 according to God-given ability, our ideal being to
inclined." Some of them are "bright" and some are               prepare each child for his particular place in the
"slow-learners." None of our children are duplicates            kingdom. Or let me put this in other words. We must
of others. But let me be quick to point out that we,            keep things straight. There is no inherent worth or
in distinction from the world, give thanks to God for           value in the "three Rs," no more than there is grace
each and every one of them! It makes no difference              in things! These have their value only in relationship
whether they are handicapped in one way or another,             to the child who is able to use them as tools to
normal or slow achievers. We do not question the                function in his particular calling to the glory of God.
wise purpose of God in each of our children. The                This means that some are going to be using their math
apostle Paul makes clear to us, when he speaks of the           skills to calibrate the stress at various points on an
unity of the body of Christ, that there is diversity in         expansion bridge, while others use it to figure out
the body of the church with regard to gifts and                 how many lo-foot sections of sewer pipe are needed
abilities. Our children are part of this diversity of the       to complete a 500-foot stretch of street. Some of our
Body! And it does and must make no difference to us             children will use their reading skills to delve into
as parents that the needs of our children vary. We              Abraham Kuyper's work on the Holy Spirit, while
know that some of our children get by with regular.             others will use them to read Standard Bearer medita-
shoes, while others need orthopedic. Some have                  tions with delight. We must prepare each child at his
hardly any cavities, while others are always making             speed for his place in the diverse Body of Christ.
trips to the dentist. We treat them according to their            Let us turn to some possible solutions to the
needs. In this connection I want to caution parents in          problem of the "slow-learner." The problem is largely
the family situation. We live in a day and age when a           one of implementation. I believe we practice what is
person's worth is determined by his achievements in             called "mainstreaming." This is an educational
the socio-economic ladder  - or, to touch a little              method that became popular toward the end of the
closer to home, one's position in the church. Let us            last decade. Mainstreaming means essentially that all
remember that Paul did not in any way disparage                 students are placed in the same class according to
even the lowest member in the  bo'dy of Christ. Not             chronological age. By this means all children are given
every child has the ability to become a teacher or              the same opportunity for social and academic inter-
preacher. We must not confuse achievement with the              action. By itself the program is a failure and cannot
calling of God for us! God simply requires that we              live up to its expectations. Of course, there is no
live to the glory of His Name according to the talents          problem with the exceptionally bright child, nor with
and abilities He gives to us.                                   the norm of the students. But there is a problem with
                                                                the "slow-learner." There is simply not the time nor
  Now that which holds true in the home extends                 the man power in the regular classroom situation to
directly to the school. The school may not in any               work sufficiently with this kind of child. Further:
way be inferior to the instruction of the home; else            more, the "slow-learner" cannot achieve to the norm
we are not fulfilling our baptism vow,  ". . . to the           even with extra help because the goal is too high and
.utmost of  (y)our power." Each child must have an              the pace too fast. Mainstreaming, therefore, is  self-
educational experience that is truly covenantal. The            defeating in that the social isolation and stigma that it
instructional treatment in the home must be  paral-             seeks to overcome is retained. The problem is deeper.


108                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


We have to deal with the God-given inability to'                      teachers are essentially teaching toward many goals at
achieve the norm. We cannot place talents where God                   different rates within the one classroom. I think our
has not given them. Nor can we develop children                       solution lies in this direction. I could visualize two
beyond their potential. The character of the  "slow-                  systems running parallel in one school. Then we
learner' demands a wholly different approach. It  is-                 would have the regular grades and  -alongside them
not even to an advantage to use the same educational                  have the school house situation with two or three
material at a slower rate. The approach in educating                  teachers addressing- the problem of the  "slow-
the "slow-learner" must be goal orientated. The                       learners." At the same time, these two systems could
system has to be a way to achieve a certain end. I                    be integrated as much as possible. This could be done
mean by this, that there has to be a practical                        by giving the teachers and students some particular
approach to teaching the "slow-learner." For ex-                      places and responsibilities in the regular curriculum.
ample, various skills should be taught in con-                        All the children would ride the same bus, eat lunch
junction with social and practical needs according to                 together, have physical education together, etc. These
the goal envisioned for each child. To illustrate,                    teachers could be responsible for some of their
science could be taught these children from the                       combined groups. Then they could not be labeled
approach of weather, seasons, plants, machinery, etc.                 "those teachers for the M.R.s." In this way the social
  I know you are going to ask me, how  is. this                       rejection and stigma would be reduced for the "slow-
feasible? Then we deal with cold hard facts. Then we                  learner."
are speaking of dollars and cents, teacher/pupil ratios,                 We must remember that all of these children are
and other factors. And I recognize that especially                    our children. All of these children are covenant
Hope already has problems in this regard. Neverthe-                   children. We treat them in accord with their specific
less, I like to make a few positive suggestions. I am                 personal needs in the home. We must also do this in
particularly struck by the fact that the one-room                     the school. In this way all of our children will achieve
schoolhouse solves so many problems in this regard.                   to their proper stature in the body of Christ. I thank
Without socially ostracizing, the teacher is able to                  you.
educate each child toward his goal at his pace. These

.TH& VOICE OF OUR FATHERS



                              The  Lay Fulfilled in Christ
                                                     Profi Robert D. Decker


           "We believe, that the ceremonies and figures of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the
           shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished amongst $.ristians; yet the truth and
           substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime,
           we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to confirm us in the doctrine of the
           gospel, and to regulate our life in all honesty, to the glory of God, according to his will."
                                                                                       The Belgic Confession Article XXV

  The title of this article, "Of the abolishing of the                Christ, suddenly speak of the law and its ceremonies?
Ceremonial Law," is not quite correct and a bit                       There is good reason. But, one cannot understand the
misleading. It speaks of the fact that the-ceremonial                 significance of this article without an appreciation of
law has been abolished; while the article itself speaks               the historical setting in which it was written. In the
not only'of the ceremonial law, but of the entire law.                Apostolic era and the years immediately following,
And, the article does not teach that the law has been                 the worship of the church was very simple. Gradually
abolished, but rather that the use of it is abolished,                the church separated itself from the elaborate cere-
while the truth and substance of it remain with us in                 monies of the Jews. The worship service consisted of
Jesus Christ.                                                         the preaching'of the Word, the administration of the
  One might also wonder at the point of this brief                    sacraments, prayers, and the singing of Psalms and
article. Why does the Confession, in the middle of a                  hymns and spiritual songs. The emphasis lay on
discussion of the Person and work of our Lord Jesus                   preaching, and there was very little if any ritual or


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                             109


ceremony. Slowly but surely' during the ensuing               The article does not specifically mention it but
centuries, that simple worship service was exchanged        does clearly imply that the `entire law is meant. In
for an elaborate liturgy with new rites and cere-           fact by "the law and the prophets'?, is meant the
monies. Stress was laid on the sacraments as the            entire Old Testament. That law is usually divided into
vehicles of grace. The spontaneous prayers of the           three parts. There was the moral law which is briefly
early church were replaced by fixed prayers, spoken         summed in the ten commandments. The ceremonial
and sometimes sung by the clergy. Pictures and              law directed Israel's life as a church. This law in-
images were introduced as "books to the laity." And         cluded all the laws concerning sacrifices, feast days,
the preaching of the Word lost its central place in the     cleansings, etc. Finally there was the civil law which
worship.' So bad was it that by the time of the             governed Israel's life as a nation. This law included
Reformation the gospel was buried under a mass of           regulations concerning crimes, family rights, property
symbols and ceremonies. To defend these ways of             rights, etc.
worship the Roman hierarchy continually appealed to           As to its purpose, the Law served to form Israel
the ritual of Old Testament worship.                        into a separate nation and the people of God. Christ.
  With the sixteenth century Reformation came               had not yet come and the blood of atonement had
three reactions to Roman liturgy. The Anabaptists           not yet been shed. The Lord had not yet been raised
virtually repudiated the position that the Old Testa-       from the dead and exalted at the Father's right hand.
ment was significant for the development of Christian       And the Spirit of Christ had not yet been poured out
doctrine, worship, and practice. For these the New          into the church. Yet God would have a people also in
Testament was of paramount authority. Others, the           the Old Dispensation who would walk before Him as
Lutherans and especially the Anglicans, retained as         His own chosen people in the midst of the world.
many of the ancient rites as were, in their opinion,        Thus at Mount Sinai, in faithfulness to His covenant
not forbidden by the gospel. Thus in these churches         promise, after having delivered Israel from the bond-
altars, vestments, and the liturgical year were pre-        age of Egypt and before leading them into the
served. The Calvinistic or Reformed branch of the           promised land, God gave them His Law and said: "Be
Reformation followed a different course. Among              ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy." By that
these the general rule was adopted that whatever the        law Israel was distinguished sharply from the nations
Scriptures plainly enjoined was obligatory. All other       of the world around them and they were -indelibly
rites and ceremonies were to be banished. Therefore,        marked as God's church, the typical manifestation of
while much of the simplicity of the early church's          the Kingdom of God in the midst of the world.
worship- was restored, the underlying argument for             But Israel could never keep the law. The law, after
this differed sharply from the Anabaptists. The             all, demanded perfect obedience in every respect.
Reformed church has always strenuously defended'            Simple, outward conformity to the external princi-
the unity of the two Testaments. Although  recog-'          ples and stipulations of the law was never sufficient.
nizing the differences of administration (the typical       God Himself repeatedly warned the people that He
character of the Old Testament), the essential unity        was weary of their sacrifices because they were
between the two testaments is preserved. In this light      externally offered and not accompanied by broken
we can understand Article XXV of ~66 Confession.            spirits and contrite hearts. "This people honoreth me
The "ceremonies and figures" of the law ceased with         with their lips, but their heart is far from me." That
the coming of Christ, all the shadows are accom-            means that the law not only said, "Do this and thou
plished so .that the "use of them must be abolished         shalt live," but also, "Cursed is everyone that does
among  christians"; yet "the truth and substance of         not abide in all that is written in the book of the law
them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they           to do it." For this reason the law led to slavery, and
have their completion." And thus we "still use the          the true people of God groaned under the burden of
,testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets, to      the law. For this reason the law was also intended to
confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to            be a schoolmaster to lead the people to Christ. There
regulate our life in all honesty, to the glory of God,      could be no justification by the works of the law.
according to his will."                                     That could only  "oe by faith in Christ.  .(Galatians
   We may also note that the error of Pre-                  3:21-29) Israel in the Old Dispensation was as .a child
millennialism stands condemned by this article. The         who had not yet come to maturity.  .`They were
basic error of Pre-millennialism is that it separates       children under tutors and governors until the fulness
between the Old and New Dispensations, finding no,          of time was come, when God sent His Son into the.
continuity .or relationship between them. Our Confes-       world. (Galatians 4: l-5) Thus Israel, the child; had to
sion  emphasizes that the law and the prophets have         be led by. the hand of the law until the, time  of,
all been fulfilled in Christ, and thus, while their use     maturity when they could receive their inheritance
for Christians has been abolished, their truth  and>        through the redeeming work of Christ and the out-
`substance remain for the church of all ages.               pouring of His spirit.


110                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  With the coming of Christ, that whole law was              of God's church (cf. Romans 11). Jerusalem still is,
fulfilled. Christ came as the only One Who could keep        but not as an earthly city; it is the spiritual city of
the law of God, not only in its outward stipulations,        God. Canaan still is, but not in the land of Palestine;
but especially with respect to its inner reality. At His     it is the inheritance of the people of God in the new
coming the Savior said: "I come to do thy will 0             heavens and earth. God's temple and tabernacle still
God." Thus all through His earthly sojourn our Lord          are, but they are the covenant fellowship of God with
was bent on keeping every jot and tittle of the law,         His people in Christ. Christ is our Prophet, Priest, and
while at the same time, He scorned the mere outward          King and we are a royal priesthood in Him (I Peter
observance and damned the Pharisees for their work           2:9). He is the fulfillment of all the sacrifices.
righteousness. Thus at the coming of Christ the              Washings and cleansings still exist, but in the sancti-
shadows of the law fled away. The whole law pointed          fied heart of the elect child of God. Tithes and
to Christ. He was the reality. When He came as the           firstfruits still have their place, but are now the true
eternal High Priest and as the perfect Lamb of God to        sacrifices of our thanksgiving. Fasting is changed in
offer the perfect sacrifice for sin, the shadows of the      Christ to the real sorrow of a contrite heart. All the
law had no more place or purpose. When Christ died,          inward substance of the whole law is written upon
that moment marked the end of all that pertained to          the hearts of God's people by sovereign grace through
the economy of the Old Dispensation.                         the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
  But as the  Confession  puts it, "the -truth and              All of this certainly does not mean that we have
substance" of the law remained in Jesus Christ. Christ       nothing to do with the law or the Old Dispensation
is the real substance of all the law. That is exactly        anymore. We do. It has a very real purpose for us who
why Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy         live in the end of the ages. The law and the prophets
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,          are for our instruction. In as far as they show that the
but to fulfill." (Matthew 5: 17-20) That same truth is       Lord fulfills His promises, they confirm our faith and
found in Romans 10:4 where we read "For Christ is            help us to understand the reality. In the substance of
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that        the law there .are also eternal principles of truth and
believeth." Christ is the purposeful end or goal of the      righteousness which regulate our lives in the midst of
law for righteousness. In Christ, therefore, the law         the world. The law reveals sin to us, points us to the
finds its fulfillment. Its truth and substance remain in-    cross, and it is the rule for our life of gratitude to the
Jesus Christ. That could never perish. Israel still is,      praise of God Who gave us His only begotten Son to,
but no more is it the Jewish nation; it is the true          redeem us from the curse of the law.
Israel of God, the natural branches of the olive tree

FROM HOLY WRIT




              Exposition of the Book of Galatians
                                                 By Rev. G. Lubbers


   THE TRUE AND REAL.SONS  OF ABRAHAM                          The term for "blessed" in the Greek is very
                        continued                            expressive. It is "eneulogeetheesontai.   "  This is the
                  (Galatians 3:7, 8, 9.)                     Septuagint translation ofthe Hebrew verb "nibheracu."
  All these "families of the earth" are blessed in           This  is a  Niphal reflexive verb: God would bless
Abraham, that is, in his "Seed" which came from his          .a11 nations in Abraham Himself. That is His sovereign,
loins in Isaac the son of the promise. This "Seed" is        sublime prerogative in His covenant blessings in
none else but the Son of God in our flesh, born in           Christ Jesus. The Greek translation, which the,
the fulness of time. -This is a point which is pivotal to    Holy Spirit quotes through Paul, indicates that
all Christian faith and thinking. When this is clearly       those who are blessed `are entirely passive in this
seen, then all salvation by works of faith is banished       matter of blessing. They in no way initiate this action
from the church, and all false "dispensationalism" is        of God's blessing. They are blessed. They are blessed
avoided with all its horrible pitfalls.                      with all the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, even as


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                111


they were elected in Him from before the foundation          Romans  10:2, 3. He is there speaking of those for
of the world. All the elect are blessed. It is not of him    whom he has a great sorrow of heart. He could wish
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God            that those who are ignorant of God's righteousness
Who sheweth -mercy. (Rom. 9: 16; Eph.  2:8; Titus            might be saved. But they are "under curse." They are
3:5) Besides, as the future tense clearly indicates, this    under the ratified curse of Mount Ebal to which we
will surely come to pass. It is the sovereign promise        will call attention shortly. He will shoot his arrow and
that is preached, the fulfilment of which depends            lay all human pride low. For what is the plight of all
entirely upon the faithfulness of God's covenant as          who are out of works of law? It is that they are
confirmed by oath (Heb. 6: 13-20) It is really the           ignorant of God's righteousness of the Cross, .and
anchor sure and steadfast in the holy place of God.          going about to establish their own righteousness, they
That makes this "shall be blessed" so certain. God be        do not submit unto the righteousness of the free gift
praised!                                                     of God. They dream about a righteousness which
  For this preaching is anchored in this sure stead-         they may attain by works of law. They follow after a
fastness of God's purpose of election to bless all           righteousness of law,. which they have never and shall
nations in Christ. Surely here we see that election is       never attain. Why? Because they seek it by works of
the Cor Ecclesia,  the heart of the church. But here we      law and not by the simple hearing of the Gospel of
also have election-preaching without mention of the          the Cross by faith.
term election. For when the proposition is main-               It is not so that the wrath of God and the curse of
tained that the promise of the Spirit is out of faith,       God shall come upon them, but it is upon them, and
this is only possible because it is for the elect, for       it abides upon them. They are under the curse of the
whom faith is merited by Christ, and to whom it is           law which says, "cursed is every one that does not
pure gift of God. (Eph. 2:8-l 0) Such believing chil-        remain in all things written in this book of the law to
dren of Abraham are God's creation in Christ Jesus,          do them!" (Deut.  27:26.) For let it not be forgotten
that none should boast in the flesh.                         that this word was not merely spoken to Israel by
  And so Paul reaffirms the propositional truth: so          Moses, but it was a word to which in a public
then they which are out of faith are blessed with            assembly in the land of promise, they were to ratify
believing  Abraham. Abraham stands looking at the            the curse upon themselves if they did not keep the
stars at night and hears the word: thus shall thy seed       "law" with a solemn "Amen." Moses gave these
be in multitude. He believes and is justified and made       instructions to Joshua before he died in the land of
heir of the world, fellowheir with Christ, his Son and       Moab, before Israel crossed over Jordan. It was given
elder Brother, the Firstborn of all creatures. (Rom.         to Joshua and all Israel as a solemn command which
8:28-30; Col. 1: 15 ff.) Come now, you bewitched             they must execute on  two- mountains, Mt. Gerizim
Galatians, and stand in this blessing of Abraham and         and Mt. Ebal. On the one mountain, six tribes were to
be freeborn sons of God. Let no one rob you of this          stand to pronounce the blessings of the law (Deut.
great grace for all nations.                                 28: 1-14) and on the other mountain (Ebal) the other
                                                             six tribes were to stand to pronounce the curses.
            THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN:                      (Deut. 27: 14-26) This was enacted publicly by
                  (Galatians 3 : lo- 12)                     Joshua after Israel's armies had conquered  Ai and
                                                             they had made a. wedge in the middle of the land.
  Paul's great polemic is now firmly anchored in the.        Then they wrote all the words of the law upon stones
Scripture. He has chosen the. battlefield in the very        covered with plaister. And Levites stood in the valley
Scriptures which the Jewish antagonists of the gospel        between these two mountains, the one of blessings
of Christ purport to believe. And the Scriptures             and the other of curses, and to the blessing the tribes
cannot be broken, for God cannot lie. (Heb. 6: 18)           on Mt. Gerizim said Amen, and to the curses the
  But that is not the entire story. Paul has yet             tribes on Mt. Ebal said Amen. Thus Israel solemnly
another arrow in his quiver. He will shew from the           bound themselves to the "blessings" and the "curses"
Scriptures themselves, from the very expressed words         by the "law of works." The man that "doeth them"
of God by Moses, that all who "are out the works of          shall live by the law. Alas, no one did , and all placed
law" are not sharing in the blessings of God's cove-         themselves under the "curse" of the law.
nant with Abraham, but that they "are under (upo               Under that ratified curse of Mt. Ebal all Israel is
kataran) curse." The text to prove this proposition is       which does not look toward the blood of atonement,
quoted from Deuteronomy  27:26: "Cursed be he                pointing to Christ's blood which speaks better things
that, confirmeth not (all) the words of this law to do       than that of Abel. When Christ was on earth he said,
them." That too is a Word of God before which all            "Come unto me' all ye that are weary and heavy
must bow. And this word is, indeed, very significant.        laden, and I will give you rest." (Mt.  11:28) Christ
It is the fatal blow to all attempts of proud man to         does not give this heavy yoke of Ebal's curse. He does
establish his own righteousness. Paul suggests this in       not ratify and establish the "covenant curse." That


112                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



was ratified at Ebal. He came to realize the righteous-    griefs and carried our sorrows! He was made sin for
ness of God, the free gift out of many offenses unto       us. (II Cor. 5:21) He assumed the law: the man that
justification.                                             doeth the same shall live thereby.
   With the Scriptures in their hand the unbelieving         This Christ is the anointed of God. He is appointed
Jews in Jesus' day nailed Him to the Cross; yes, nailed    and qualified by God through the Holy Ghost. He is
Him to the Cross Who came to remove Israel forever         the great High Priest, Who brings the sacrifice for the
from that terrible ratified curse of Ebal. He did not      sins of the people. And He had to be made a curse for
come to prolongate the "curse" of Ebal in the              us to purchase us free from the curse.
church. For this curse is not upon those who believe         Yes, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
in the crucified Christ, `but upon those who are "of       wilderness, thus must the Christ, the Son of Man, be
works of law." These perish in their sins and under        lifted up on the accursed tree. He is made a "curse for
the wrath of God. Curse and blessing in the "cove-         us." He is made this in our stead. Now he has
nant" was in the Covenant at Mt. Gerizim and Mt.           purchased us. `He has fulfilled the law and carried the
Ebal which we can learn by reading Joshua 8 : 30-35,       wrath and curse of God. Heaven would not have Him,
which we will not quote here. However, this is the         and earth rejected Him. My God, my God, why hast
"law" dissected from the promise of salvation and the      thou forsaken me. He Who was irredeemable now
blood of the Lamb. They are not works of thankful-         redeems us by becoming the very "curse for us." Mt.
ness of which the Decalogue speaks, but they are           Ebal is satisfied. The Amen of ratification stands in
law-works according to the rule: he that doeth them        Christ. Israel could say "in Christ" Amen, as they saw
shall live thereby. (Rom. 10: 6; Lev. 18: 5)               Christ as the "end" of the law for righteousness to
   Now these disturbers of the peace and tranquility       everyone that believed. That is the only solution for
of the conscience in the blood of the Lamb, would          that amazing enactment on Mt. Ebal where Israel
once more place these Gentile Christians under the         assumed the curse, which they surely knew would
law ratified at Mt. Ebal. That is a denial of the blood - come upon them.
of the Cross. Enemies of the Cross of Christ they are!       But there is more to this wondrous story of' the
Such is the sad story ever anew in the church of           love of God by removing the "curse" in Christ. It is
Christ. Think of Rome and of the ages before the           that Christ came to bring the blessing of Abraham to
Reformation where the doctrine of justification by         the Gentiles, to the Galatians too. Such was the
faith never came to its own. Think of pietism in the       blessing of the preached gospel to Abraham: in thee
church, imitation of Christ. Think of the "condi-          shall all nations be blessed. This has come to pass.
tional" convenant conception which manipulates             Christ "redeemed" us once and for all. Such is the
with the "curse" and "blessing" in ,the covenant. Paul     implication of the tense used here, which is the aorist
here preaches curse and  .blessing too. It is he that      tense. Christ died at Calvary. He paid it  all. He has
believes in the Son who has the blessing of Abraham,       no&ring  more to do. It is finished. The curse is
and he that believes not the Son hath not life, but is
under curse. Two kinds of people. One in the Cove-         removed. Justice is satisfied. God is just and the
                                                           justifier of those who believe in Him. Hallelujah,
nant of God and the other under works of law. The          praise Jehovah!
one under curse and the other under blessing. The
one in the bondage of sin and other in the freedom of        The blessing of Abraham has come to us. We are
the fulfilled law!                                         Abraham's sons. We receive the Spirit of Pentecost. It
                                                           is for all the elect of all nations. That is the gospel
   What a polemic! What a grasp of the Scriptures!         which Paul preached to the Gentiles. And now anath-
 . Come now ye bewitched Galatians. Stand in the           ema upon anyone who teaches any other gospel than
liberty wherewith Christ has made you free!                this gospel of the Cross, the accursed Christ in our
                                                           behalf.
       CHRIST HAS REDEEMED US FROM THE
                      CURSE OF THE LAW                                    AN IDEAL
                      (Galatians 3: 13, 14)
   It is what  Christ  has done for us. Paul writes             CklRISTMAS GIFT
literally: "Christ US has redeemed out of the curse of
the law." He has redeemed us from that terribly             A Subscription To The.
ratified curse of Mt. Ebal. Calvary is no Mt. Ebal for
us. It was Mt. Ebal for Christ. He is the "Amen"                       STANDARD
which Israel pronounced upon the "blessings and the
curses." The Lord there caused the iniquity of us all                    BEARER
to come upon Him. (Isaiah 53:4-7) He has borne our


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  113


 THE DAY OF SHADOWS





                    Found: A Wife That Loves God
                                                   Rev. John A. Heys


    Having been sent under oath to get a wife for Isaac,      daughters in that home and see first-hand how they
 Abraham's servant sought the help of Him Who had             behaved in their father's home? Did they honour
 established His covenant with Abraham and with his           their father and mother? Then they would honour
 seed after him. Before going to look for a covenant          and be in submission to Isaac as husband. Were they
 wife for Isaac, he looked up to God on high,, came           industrious or lazy? Did they spend the greater part
 before the throne of grace and sought the invaluable         of the day before a mirror preening and primping,
 help of Him Who alone could make the search                  satisfying the vanity of their eyes, or could they be
 prosperous.                                                  expected, when the demands of the home and the
    What is more, he even stipulated and presented a          children took all their time, to be content with
 carefully thought out sign whereby he might. be              neatness and beauty before God?
 helped in getting such a wife for him in whom and              Could he not as a silent observer watch to see
 around whom the covenant centered and revolved.              which of the daughters in this or that home was
 We read in Genesis 24: 12-14 that he prayed, "0 Lord         found praying, speaking of the things of God's king-
 God of my master Abraham, I pray Thee, send me               dom, was faithful in sacrifices to and worship of the
 good speed this day, and show kindness unto my               living God? Should he not listen without appearing
 master Abraham. Behold I stand here by the well of           critical to what songs she sang or hummed in her
 water; and the daughters of the city come out to             tdaily tasks? (And, indeed, our young people today by
 draw water; and let it come to pass that the damsel to       the tunes they whistle or hum or sing, by the music
 whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee,         they have on their radios, or play on their instru-
 that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will       ments show where their interests and hearts are. By
 give to thy camels drink also: let the same be she that      the disks, or platters as they are sometimes called,
 thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and there-        they buy and by the stereo tapes for their players in
 by I shall know that thou hast showed kindness to            their cars - and that holds true then for young men
 my master."                                                  as well - they reveal a great deal about their spiritual
   What shall we say about this prayer? That he               lives, and how much they love the God of our
 prayed in commendable, and truly it is recommended           salvation.)
 to all God's people in all their trials and difficulties.      Abraham's servant seems a bit impatient and him-
 There is no better way than to look unto the                 self averse to a whole lot of work and to searching for
 everlasting hills from whence  cometh all our help,          Isaac's wife. It seems as if it does not sit too deeply in
 every bit of it. But can we approve of stipulating a         him and that, although he prays to God, he does not
 sign for God? And what is more, can we approve of            take things too seriously. He seems to pray that he
 this sign and these characteristics which he wishes to       may have .an easy time with a difficult task, that he
 find in that wife for Isaac? Was he merely expressing        may get it all over with in a hurry so that he may go
 what kind of wife he would like to find for himself?         back home and be in far more familiar territory.
. Is there really anything spiritual in all this that he      After all he was exhausted after what in that day was
 insists on being found in the wife he will bring back        a long and wearisome trip. Before he has done any
 for Isaac?                                                   searching he wants it all to- happen right here at the
   Would it not be better for him to pray to be guided        well where he first stopped in the land of Abraham's
 in his walk to the home of `one of Abraham's                 kinsmen.
 kinsmen? There he could dwell for a week or two,               In answer to all this we must simply say that he
 hide his purpose and then carefully observe the              chose a very beautiful sign revealing his own rich


   114                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


   spirituality. And he was not simply looking for a hard        another. This servant of Abraham, in a day when the
   worker, a generous, kind soul, one with whom the              doctrines of the church were not as highly developed
   temperamental son of his master could get along with          as today, in a day when God had not given as much
   because she would bend and would walk two miles               revelation as we have today, wanted a woman who
   when he asked her to walk one, would turn the other           feared God. But she must be a woman - and indeed
   cheek when he would strike her on the one, would              will then also be a woman  - who keeps God's
   sing when he was surly, and with a soft answer would          commandments. And faith itself is a rather difficult
   turn away his wrath. All this you can find in an              thing to find in one you do not know, and when, as
   unbeliever. They sometimes have charming, characters          this servant, .you are in a strange land among people
   and can be labeled "a peach of a fellow." They can            you never saw before. But the works of a living faith
   make some very delightful company and be so very              are the same the world over, for they are works of
   accommodating.                                                love. A dead faith has no works of love. A dead love
     He could not have had in mind those words of king           has no faith. And the servant seeks to know whether
   Lemuel which had not yet been written: "Who can               she has faith in God by asking her to perform a work
   find a virtuous woman? for her price is above rubies.         of love.
   The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her; so           He has his answer soon. All things went exactly as
   that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him          he had asked God - with the very first woman who
   good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh       came to the well. The works of love seem to be there.
`. wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.         Yet we read,"`And the man wondering at her held his
   She is like the merchants' ships; she also bringeth her       peace, to whit whether the Lord had made his journey
   food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night         prosperous or not." Genesis  24:21. There are two
   (Abraham's servant could have tried to see too how            things which he must still know. Unbelievers, aswe
   long she slept in the morning), and giveth meat to her        said, can perform deeds that certainly look like love to
   household, and a portion to her maidens. . .  ." The          the neighbour, even when these unbelievers have no
   quotation is too lengthy to place here in full. But by        love for God. This however is y1o t the keeping of God's
   all means read it as it is found in Proverbs 3 1: 1 O-3 1.    commandments, for it is not doing the neighbour
   And though he could not have had these lines in               good for God's sake. It is not then the right kind of
   mind, he did reveal. by the things which he presented         fruit to show that one is engrafted into Christ by a
   to God as the sign that he sought a woman who had             true faith.
   strong faith in God.
     No, he did not so much as mention the word faith,             One can pick out a very likely cantaloupe or
   and yet his words spell out the evidences.of faith in         watermelon and pay a good price for it only to
   unmistakable terms. To mind come first of all the             find at home that it is bitter and a big disappoint-
   words of James that faith without works is dead. To           ment. Will this servant find this kind and thoughtful.
   mind come also the words of Jesus in Matthew 7: 21:           young woman to be an unbeliever in spite of these
   "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall          outward deeds? Has he found works of faith? He
   enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth           soon finds out that she does come from a believing
   the will of my Father which is in heaven." To this            family and indeed is of the kinsmen of Abraham. But
   may be added the words of John in I John 3: 23 :              one thing still stands in the way: Will she come and
   "And this is His commandment, That we should                  be Isaac's wife? Those deeds that apparently are
   believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love         deeds of faith must have the love of God that will
   one another, as he gave us commandment." Abra-                move her to leave father and mother and cleave unto
   ham's servant was looking for a believer; and to know         her husband for God's sake in a strange, far off land.
   the tree he looked for the fruit that would tell him            Yes, he finds all this also in time. But he found
   that this woman was engrafted into Christ by a true           there at the well that God had prospered his way in
   faith. He knew that a covenant wife for Isaac must be         sending a young woman who did exactly `as he had
   a believing wife; and he sought a woman who loved             stipulated in his sign which he asked of God. He
   God and revealed this by keeping His commandment              found a believing wife.
   of walking in love.                                             Our youth have an advantage over this servant in
      Doctrinal purity is precious, but it does not tell the     that they know the families from which their friends .
   whole story. Solomon in his wisdom teaches us that            whom they are courting come. And let it be stated
   to fear God (that. is, to believe in Him; and then            with emphasis that they must be looking for a
   certainly according to pure doctrine) and to keep His         believing husband or wife. And that means that they
   commandments is the sole duty of man. We had                  must limit themselves to the young men and young
   better not stop at the fear, let it stand all by itself,      women in the church, Spiritual compatibility comes
   and ignore the fact that we, must also love one               fast on the list of requirements. It must be one who


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 115


  loves God and reveals this by deeds of love toward           impression that they may look for one, or that they
  the neighbour for God's sake and not simply for              will find one, in the world. When they go to college
  society's sake. Such a woman will be an help meet,           away from home and away from the churches that
  that is, fit, suitable, for a believing young man. Such a    faithfully proclaim the truth, they must be warned
  young man will be one with which a believing young           and warned and warned again for their own good. We
  woman can work and plan and one whom she can                 will find a husband or wife that loves God when we
  encourage to worship and serve the living God.               walk in love to God ourselves.
     Indeed it would make it easier for us if God would
  let us stipulate such actions in modern life and                It is not a question of finding one that either loves
  terminology as a sign for us and then have it all work       God  OY has faith in Him. These are always found
  out according to these requirements which we set.            together. What is called love but has no faith in God
  But we live in a different day and age, with much            is actually sin. What is called faith and has no works
  more revelation, and among the people of God. We             of love for the neighbour is unbelief. Those who do
  are not like Isaac, so that, by a call of God to our         not walk in love with the neighbour do not believe in
  parents, we are born in a strange land and living as         God. In fact, such dare to defy Him and therein
  pilgrims and strangers with no young men and women           reveal that they do not love God.
  of the faith living in.our land. And we must not, nor           Young people, seek a wife or husband that loves
  must we let our young people, lose sight of the fact         God. You will find one that has faith in Him and
  that they can and must in seeking a husband or wife          loves you. You will not have to "go home to mother"
  make it a matter of prayer before the throne of grace.       or, if you are a young man, go rent a hotel room. The
  They may not be  allowed  to forget that they must           love of God that both of you possess will hold you
  look for a wife or husband who loves God out of a            together and produce forgiveness and reconciliation
  true faith in Him. They may never be given the               when there is friction.

  MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE



                                       December 1, 1977
  Dear Timothy,                                                the great Confessions of the Church were composed
    This letter, Timothy, is going to be of a slightly         for purposes of combatting heresy and making the
  different kind. It is occasioned by the fact that I was      truth of God's Word clear for God's people. He then
  reading the other day a recent publication by D.             goes on to say:
  Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It is a continuation of his                 "Is there someone who feels at this point, `Well,
  exposition of Ephesians; more particularly, it is an         really, what has all this. to do with me? I am an
  exposition of Ephesians 6: 10-13. In this book Lloyd-        `ordinary person, I am a member of the Church and
  Jones spends a great deal of time concentrating on           .life is very difficult. What has all this to say to me?'
  the expression found in these verses: "the wiles of the      Or there may be someone who is recovering after
  devil." Among those wiles of the devil, he finds the         illness and who says, `Well, I was hoping to have a
  temptation to abandon doctrine. In this connection           word  of comfort, something to strengthen me along
  he has a very interesting section on the importance of       the way, something to make me feel a little happier;
  doctrine in the life of the child of God. I want to          what has all this about Creeds and Confessions and
  quote this section for you in this letter because he         the wiles of the devil to do with me?' If you feel like
  not only  .has some fine things to say, but he also          that, the truth is that the devil has defeated you. The
  touches upon a point which we discussed together             Apostle Paul says, `Be not deceived: evil communica-
  earlier in our correspondence. Perhaps also you will         tions corrupt good manners' (I Corinthians  15:33).
  be persuaded by this quote to purchase the book              He means that wrong teaching is desperately danger-
  yourself and read the whole thing. It is well worth-         ous. He is there dealing with the great question of the
  while. For your information, the book is entitled            resurrection, he is concerned with that one doctrine,
  "The Christian Warfare," and was put out by Baker's.         and he says, Make no mistake about this; it is not a
~ I have received permission from the publishers to            matter of indifference as to whether you believe in
 `make this lengthy quote.                                     the literal physical resurrection or `not. `Ah but,' you
    He writes about the fact that heresies have ap-            say, `I am a practical man of affairs, I am not
  peared in the Church from the earliest times, and that,      interested in doctrine, I am not a  theol.ogian, I have


116                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


no time for these things. All I want is something to.       these things. You will go wrong in the realms of
help me to live my daily life.' But according to the        practical living and experience if you have not a true
Apostle you cannot divorce these things, `Evil com-         understanding. If you drop off into some heresy, if
munications' - wrong teaching, wrong thinking,              you go wrong at some point, if you believe, for
wrong belief - `corrupt good manners.' It will affect       instance  - I give one example in passing.  - `that
the whole of your life.                                     healing is in the atonement,' that it is never God's will
  "One of the first things you are to learn in this         that any-of His children should be ill, that it is always
Christian life and warfare is that, if you go wrong in      God's will that all His children should be healthy, and
your doctrine, you will go wrong in all aspects of          that no Christian should ever die from a disease . . .; if
your life. You will probably go wrong in your               you believe that, and then find yourself, or someone
practice and behaviour; and you will certainly go           who is dear to you, dying of some incurable disease,
wrong in your experience. Why is it that people are         you will be miserable and unhappy. . . . Such a
defeated by the things that happen to them? Why is it       person's, condition is due to error or heresy con-
that some people are completely cast down if they           cerning a primary central doctrine. He or she has
are taken ill, or if someone who is dear to them is         insinuated something into the Christian faith that
taken ill? They were wonderful Christians when all          does not truly belong to it.
was going. well; the sun was shining, the family was          "Nothing is more urgently relevant, whether we
well, everything was perfect, and you would have            think of ourselves in particular or the Church in
thought that they were the best Christians in the           general, than that we should be aware of heresy. Take
country. But suddenly there is an illness and they'         the New Testament, take the history of the Christian
seem to be shattered, they do not know what to do           Church, or take individual Christian experience, .and
or where to turn, and they begin to doubt God. They         you will see that true doctrine is always urgently
say, `We were living the Christian life, and we were        relevant. Itis of supreme importance for the whole life
praying to God, and our lives have been committed to        of the Church. The Holy Spirit is the power in the
God; but look at what is happening. Why should this         Church, and the Holy Spirit will never honour any-
happen to us?' They begin to doubt God and all His          thing except His own Word. It is the Holy Spirit who
gracious dealings with them. Do such people need `a         has given this Word. He is its Author. It is not of
bit of comfort'? Do they need the church simply as a        men! Nor is the Bible the product of "flesh and
kind of soporific or tranquilizer? Do they only need        blood'. The Apostle Paul was not simply giving
something which will make them feel a little happier,       expression to contemporary teaching or his own
and lift the burden a little while they are in the          thoughts. He says, `I received it by revelation'. It was
church?                                                     given to him; given to him by the Lord, the risen
  "Their real trouble is that they lack an under-           Lord, through the Holy Spirit. So I am arguing that.
standing of the Christian faith. They have an utterly       the Holy Spirit  wilI honour nothing but His own
inadequate notion of what Christianity means. Their         Word. Therefore if we do not believe and accept His
idea of Christianity was: `Believe in Christ and you        Word, or if in any way we deviate from it, we have no
will never have another trouble or problem; God will        right to expect the blessing of the Holy Spirit. The
bless you, nothing  wilI ever go wrong with you';           Holy Spirit will honour truth, and will honour
whereas the Scripture itself teaches that `through          nothing else. Whatever else we may do, if we do not
much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of          honour this truth He will not honour us.
God' (Acts  14:22), or as the Apostle expresses it            "This is surely one of the major problems in the
elsewhere, `In nothing be terrified by your adver-          Church at the present moment. Everyone is aware of
saries: which is to them an evident token of perdi-         the fact that the Church is lacking in power. The
tion, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For         leaders are trying to seek the cause of this in order
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only      that they may discover how to remedy it; and
to- believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake'        apparently, they are  .all jumping to one conclusion,
(Philippians 1: 28-29). Our Lord says, `In the world ye     namely, that the cause of our lack of power is found
shall  .have tribulation: but be of  .good cheer, I have    in our divisions. So we must all come together. That
overcome the world' (John 16:33). There is nothing'         is the argument. The divided Church is the cause of
which is so wrong, and so utterly false, as to fail to      the trouble, and so the argument follows that if only
see the primary'importance of true doctrine; Looking        we all come together we shall be blessed, we shall
back over my experience as a pastor for some thirty-        obtain the missing power, and tremendous things will
four years, I can testify without the slightest hesita-     happen. But how are we to come together? One
tion that the people I have found most frequently in        believes this, another believes that. The main trouble,
trouble in their spiritual experience have been those       we are told, is that some put far too much emphasis
who have lacked understanding. You cannot divorce           on what one believes. Surely, they say, we ought to


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                117


recognize that the one thing that matters is that there      Testament than the way in which this great principle
are great common enemies against us, for example,            stands out? God often used individual men, or but
Communism, so we must all come together, all who             two or three, against hordes and masses. Is there
call themselves Christian in any shape or form. We are       anything more exhilarating than the doctrine of the
all one; why divide about these things? We must all          remnant? While the majority had gone wrong, the
come and stand together as Christians, and then we           ones and the twos saw the truth. . . .
shall have power.                                              "Is it not amazing that people should forget the
  "We read about these things constantly. . . . I have       Scriptures and past history? . . .
but one comment to make about this matter, and I
regret to have to make it. To me, all such talk is just a      "I do not understand that mentality in the Chris-
denial of the plain teaching of the New Testament, a         tian Church today which says that we must all come
denial of the Creeds and the Confessions and the             together and sink our differences; and that what we
Protestant Reformation! It is carnal thinking, in            believe does not matter. . . .
addition to being a denial of the truth. According to          "There is an exclusiveness in the New Testament
the teaching of the Bible, one thing only matters, and       that is quite amazing. The Apostle Paul writing to the
that is the truth. The Holy Spirit will honour nothing       Galatians says, `Though we, or an angel from heaven,
but the truth, His own truth. But that, He will              preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
honour.                                                      have preached, let him be accursed' (Galatians 1 :S).
  "To me the most marvellous thing of all is that, the       . . . So many of these modern preachers are much
                                                             nicer people than the Apostle Paul! They never say a
moment you come to such a conclusion, you realize            word against anyone at all, they praise everybody,
that in a sense nothing else matters. Numbers certainly      and they are praised by everybody. They are never
do not matter. Rut today the prevailing argument is          `negative'! They never define what they believe and
the one that exalts numbers. . . .                           what they do not believe. They are said to be `full of
  "But this argument is not ~only wrong, it is danger-       love'. . . . The explanation is that they do not `con-
ously wrong, if you relate it to the realm of the            tend for the truth', they are innocent concerning the
Christian faith. The whole Bible testifies against it.       `wiles of the devil'. It is not for us to decide what to
The glories of Church history protest loudly against         leave out and what to drop for the sake of unity. My
it. The Christian position is.entirely  different. Here,     business is to expound this truth, to declare it  -
you do not begin by counting heads, you are not              come what may! We must not be interested primarily
concerned primarily about numbers and masses. You            in numbers, we must be interested in the truth of
do not think  .in that way. You are in an entirely           God."
different realm. . . .                                         Well, Timothy, I have to end this quote - and this
  "Nothing matters in the spiritual realm except             letter. What Lloyd-Jones has to say on this topic is
truth, the truth given by the Holy Spirit, the truth         well said, and we do well to take it:to heart.
that can be honoured by the Holy Spirit. Is there                                              Fraternally,
anything more glorious in the whole of the Old                                                 H. Hanko

THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH




                                 Seeking the Kingdo.m
                                                Rev. Rodney Miersma



  Jesus Christ was the greatest preacher that ever           preached by our Lord Himself, the Sermon on the
walked upon the face of the earth. He taught by both         Mount. In this sermon Christ reveals to us the truth
word and deed. We have recorded for us in Holy Writ          concerning the kingdom of God, which is a heavenly
the most beautiful sermon which was ever preached,           kingdom of righteousness, whose ruler is God through


118                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


Christ, and whose subjects are God's children. The           God is-Christ, the blessed Mediator between God and
last time that the undersigned wrote in this depart-         man. As the Christ He was .eternally  ordained of the
ment we discussed the proper use of our time. What           Father to this place, that in Him the  fulness of the
Jesus has to say in this sermon is very closely related,     Godhead should dwell bodily, and that He should be
for a proper use of our time involves our life as            the fount of every blessing for all the redeemed. In
subjects of the kingdom of God. Our calling with             His blood He crushed the kingdom of Satan and
respect to the kingdom of God is  set- forth in              merited the righteousness that could satisfy God.,
Matthew 6:33 in His sermon on the mount where we             Thus, the kingdom of God is realized by the Spirit of
read: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his         Christ in the hearts of men. Christ alone, then, rules.,
righteousness; and all these things shall be,added unto      As you perhaps have already surmised, the subjects of
you." This passage stands in marked contrast to the          this kingdom are the believers. Into our hearts the
preceding context in which Jesus warns us against the        Spirit -of Christ must come to renew our hearts and
evil of worrying about material things. But there is no      dethrone the devil who has set up reign there. With
need to worry about such things because our Father           this new -life we belong to and are citizens' of that
knows that we need these things for our earthly              heavenly kingdom.
sojourn. That for which we must use our time is' the            The youth today use a common phrase: "be right
seeking of God's kingdom. This admonition .is for the        with God" or whatever else they happen to be talking
youth as well as the adults. Let us take a closer look.      about. Did it ever occur to you that that is what
                                                             righteousness is? I ask this question because the
   The kingdom of God is that glorious' common-              kingdom that we are talking  ,about is  `a kingdom of
wealth that God realizes through the blood and Spirit        righteousness. To be righteous, one must be in legal
of Christ in the midst of the world. The world in            harmony with God, that is, his sins must be forgiven.
which we now live is the kingdom of darkness; this           He must also be in spiritual harmony with God, that
`darkness the result of the fall of our first parents in     is, living in sanctification and obedience. Such is the
paradise. By nature all men, including ourselves;are-        kingdom of heaven where all is in harmony with
subjects of this kingdom in which Satan is the king.         God, where all live what they are by grace in Jesus
Hence, our whole life by nature centers around               C h r i s t .
"these things." Just take a look around you and then
at yourself. What do you see? Everyone is seeking               This kingdom we are enjoined to seek. This means
the pleasure of this world. Note the large increase in       more than simply having our names recorded in the
recreational vehicles, equipment, and parks. Look at         ,_ records, of some church. This means more than having
the time spent on sports in all its variety of manifesta-     a passing acquaintance with what is going. on in the
tions. And look again at the whole field of entertain-.       church.. Again, seeking the kingdom involves more
ment. Everyone is looking for a way to be amused.            `than outwardly cooperating with this or that king-
That is only one sphere of life. What about today's           dom cause, or contributing of our abundance to the
emphasis on luxury? The old stand-bys are no longer           church or some institution of mercy. Rather, to seek
good enough; everyone needs the best whether he can          the kingdom `means that we want that kingdom with
afford it or not. That is right, the whole world is           our whole heart, mind; soul, and strength. We desire
going crazy in its seeking and in its worrying about          to live the life of the kingdom, serve its God, love its
food, clothing, luxury, and pleasure. This, however,         Mediator, and obey its laws. Now to seek that
we must know, namely, that the kingdom of darkness           kingdom first does not mean merely first in the' order
which is characterized as such is destined to `be             of time - that is, first seek the kingdom of God and
destroyed along with all those that are its subjects         then we may seek other things. Nor does it mean that
and seek it.                                                 if we want to succeed in gathering earthly treasures,
                                                             then we must first seek God's kingdom.
   We as God's people must not be dismayed, as if to            Positively, to seek.  ,the kingdom of heaven  first
think that this kingdom of the devil is the only one in      means to seek the kingdom of God as the funda-
existence. God by grace through His Son re-                  mental principle of all our life. This is not just for our
established His kingdom. That kingdom is now .here,          fathers and our mothers, and for our grandfathers and
although it will not be perfected until all is con-          grandmothers, but for you young people and children
summated in the new heavens and the new earth.               as well. Young people, you must seek the welfare of
Nevertheless,' it is here and we must seek it now in         God's church and kingdom when you seek a  help-
antithesis to the kingdom of darkness which the Lord         meet. You cannot be `seeking that kingdom by
hates. As far as this kingdom is concerned we know           making an unholy al&an&with  the world or by being
that God is its King. It pulsates with His life. "for. of    unequally yoked with the unbeliever. You must look.
him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to         ahead to the day also when covenant seed. will be
`,whom be glory for ever. Amen." Rom. 11:36. Under,          born, the church of tomorrow. Amalgamation with


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   119


the world will only yield a seed that is fit for            calling, and one which God always gives us the means
destruction; thus you will not have advanced the            to fulfill. We do not always see this, but that is the
cause of the kingdom. And if you are not working at         way of faith. It belongs to the righteousness of the
some job now, you'are perhaps seeking employment            kingdom to labor with all our might and talents for
or soon will be. Here too the principle of seeking first    the temporal maintenance which God has entrusted
the kingdom of heaven applies. Why do' you want to          to our care. But while we do so we do not set our
work? You answer: that I may provide for a family           hearts on these things, but on the kingdom of God.
with food, clothing, house, and whatever else is            We do not  seek  things that are below, but of the
needed to "make a living." I also need work that I          kingdom of God.
may support the church, the school, and various                Living a life of seeking the kingdom is not without
institutions of mercy. This is all true.  But  do you       fruit. Jesus, in the same passage in which He ad-
realize that you work in God's world as God's               monishes us to seek first the kingdom of heaven, tells
servants using God's tools, and that all that is            us that by so doing "all these things shall be added
wrought must be rendered unto the Lord? That is             unto you." Christ is speaking about food, drink, and
right.  NOW do not immediately take your paycheck           clothing, the things that the Gentiles seek, but we are
and put it in the collection plate. That is not what is     exhorted not to seek.  ,God, you understand, created
meant by rendering all unto the Lord.                       us; He knows what- our bodies need. He has so
  However, in your work you must consciously labor          ordained them that they  tar-e to be sustained by
to the end that the gospel may be preached in order         earthly bread, etc. Then we can conclude that as long
that all God's children may be gathered from the four       as God has a purpose for us here on the earth He also.
corners of the earth. Then we will not give only of         will provide the means whereby we are sustained.
our abundance to the church. No, there must first           Therefore, we may not worry about them, for they
come the church, whatever that may take, then of            will be added unto you and me. This certainly is not a
what is left we supply our family. God knows the            guarantee that because we seek the kingdom we are
needs of our daily life; He will supply them. The same      going to have an abundance of earthly goods  - in
holds true with respect to the desiring of a family.        other words, that it pays to be a Christian. That is not
Why do you marry? You marry that together as                true and that is not our experience, for as a rule it
husband and wife in the Lord you may walk in                does not pay to be a Christian. It does not take long
covenant relation before God as a picture of the            for us to recognize that the vast bulk of the earthly
relationship between God and His people, and be-            treasures are in the hands of the-ungodly. In fact the
tween Christ and His church. Further, you seek to           Bible teaches that the believer will have less because
bring forth covenant seed out of which God will             the world will hate him to the point where he will not
gather His children. But in this area we so often let       be able to buy or to sell. But Christ gives us the
our carnality show. One puts off the begetting of           assurance that we shall not want, as far as our
children so that both husband and wife can work in          temporal needs are concerned, because our Father in
                                                                                   .-.
order that "these things" may be paid for. As soon as       heaven knows `we have need of them and will provide
the house, the car, the furniture, etc., are paid for,      them. He will accomplish that through the means of
then we can think about the expense of children;            your daily work; and if not, then He has. other means.
Covenant youth, please do not look forward in your          We may have to turn to the  diaconate;-if  so, that is
life with these ideas in your mind. See how selfish         the way of God. Whatever the case may be, we will
and self-centered they are? God's kingdom must be           always have enough to carry us to the end of our
the governing principle in our lives which will dictate     pilgrimage. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
the way you and I must go. To say that the children         want."                                         ._.. .
have to wait so that you can have "these things" is            Therefore, young people, do not worry about these
telling God  .that you are more concerned about             things, but seek ye first the kingdom of heaven. Pray
yourself than about Him. Thus, top priority in our          unto. the Lord `for your daily bread and be satisfied
lives must be given to the church in order that the         with that. Being content in the Lord is a fruit of
gospel may be preached, the gospel which is God's           seeking the kingdom; we will have the peace that
power unto salvation, salvation which is necessary to       surpasses all understanding. Trust in the Lord and He
enter into the heavenly kingdom. Top priority must          shall direct thy. paths.
also be given to the instruction of the covenant seed
which God pleases to give unto us. Not just any                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
instruction, but instruction which is covenantal. The          The Mary-Martha Society of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church
old excuse of "I can not afford it" simply does not         of Redlands, California, expresses its sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Abel
                                                            Vander Veen in the loss of her mother, MRS. RENA VAN DALFSEN.
hold. Covenant instruction is included in our calling          "But the mercy of the  Lord.is  from everlasting to everlasting upon
to seek first `the kingdom of God. This may mean less       them that fear Him." (Psalm  103:17).
of "these things' or going to the deacons, but it is our                                             Rev. Jason Kortering, Pres.
                                                                                                     Mrs. Otto Gaastra, Sec'y.

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





120                   .f`                   THE STANDARD BEARER
                                News From Our  ,Churches
  Professor Herman Hanko, now teaching in our             of Holland, Michigan, on the topic "The Splitting and
Seminary, has declined his call to become pastor of       Splintering in Modem Protestantism." Our church in
First Church in Grand Rapids. Our church in               Isabel, South Dakota, sponsored a lecture by their
Randolph, Wisconsin, has extended a call to Can-          pastor, Rev. Rodney Miersma, on the theme "The
didate Kenneth Koole. Rev. Ronald Van Overloop,           Reformation and The Holy Scriptures." Rev. Wayne
pastor of Hope Church in Walker, Michigan, has            Bekkering, pastor of our church in Houston, Texas,
accepted the request of our Synodical Committee for       lectured on "The Reformation - A Deliverance From
Contact with Other Churches to labor in Christ-           Bondage." In Loveland, Colorado, Rev. George
church, New Zealand for a period of nine or ten           Lanting lectured on "The Reformation and Its Signif-
months. Permission for this rather special `loan' of      icance for Today." A lecture was also scheduled in
their pastor has been granted by the Hope Church          northwest Iowa, and quite likely in other places but
Council. Rev. Van  Overloop  and his family plan to       about which no word has yet been received.
leave for New Zealand in early December.                    The Houston bulletin carried a note that our
  First Church bid their pastor and his family fare-      Synodical Mission Committee is preparing to send
well on October 28 with a short program and a             emissaries to Jamaica to aid the saints on that island
reception afterward (with the customary coffee and        as soon as possible.
refreshments). Rev. Van  Baren was presented with            Some of the special meeting and programs held in
gifts of a grandfather clock and a check. In his          our churches during the Fall season included the
remarks, Rev. Van Baren said that he had often been       following: The Western Ladies' League met in Edger-
asked how many baptisms he had performed, how             ton, Minnesota, on November 1. Rev. Slopsema spoke
many marriages, etc. He thought the farewell program      on "Contentment Linked With Godliness," from
an appropriate time to reveal the list. During his        I Timothy 6:6-8. On November 10, the staff and stu-
twelve years as pastor of First Church, Rev. Van          dent bodies of our Christian Schools in Edgerton,
Baren performed 33 marriages, 101 baptisms, heard         Hull, and Doon met for a combined chapel service in
94 confessions of faith, and preached 64 funeral          Hull. The Mr. and Mrs. Societies League Mass Meeting
sermons.                                                  was held in Hudsonville on October 18. Rev. C.
                                                          Hanko gave an excellent and thought-provoking
  Rev. Van  Baren was installed as pastor of our          speech on "The Spiritual Life of the Family." Rev.
Hudsonville Church on November 6. On November 1           Hanko also spoke for the Classis East Office Bearers
Hudsonville scheduled an appreciation program for         Conference on October 4. His topic was "Christian
Rev. Cornelius Hanko, who had been serving as their       Liberty; Its Use in Our Churches." Combined Mens'
pastor, but who has recently been retired from the        and Ladies' League Mass Meeting was held in Hope
pastorate. Rev. Hanko has hardly `retired' in the         Church on October  11, Rev. H. Veldman spoke on
complete sense of the word, however. He continues         "The Coming of Anti-Christ." The Sunday School
to preach and write and also is teaching part time in     Teachers Fall Mass Meeting was held on October 3 in
our Seminary. Rev. Hanko plans to continue living in      First Church. Rev. G. ,Van Baren spoke on "Faithful-
the Hudsonville area.                                     ness to The Word."
  The undersigned has always considered some of             Occasionally rather "down to earth," or should we
Rev. Hanko's bulletin announcements "just a little bit
special." For example with the announcement of an         say "up on the ceiling" announcements appear in the
upcoming marriage, this was added: "As this couple        various bulletins.. Here are a couple examples:
sets out on the sea of matrimony may Christ be their      "Tomorrow evening we will have our annual fall
Pilot, His Word their compass, their goal the Haven of    church cleaning. Please bring mops, buckets, ladders,
Rest."                                                    or whatever you feel is necessary. Many hands make
                                                          light and enjoyable work." That from Isabel. "Volun-
  In addition to the Reformation Day lecture spon-        teer help and trucks are needed to haul the newly
sored by our Churches in the Michigan area, several       purchased seats (for the Loveland Church audito-
other observances of this day were scheduled in other     rium) from Arvada on Monday evening, October 3 1."
of our churches. The South Holland, Illinois, Church
Men's Society sponsored a lecture by Rev. John Heys                                                     K.G.V.


