 STANDARD
      BEARER
                                                                            ,
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                         T





  The question will not down: Why does no'
                                                                        . . :
one  - not the Reformed and  Pres.byteriae
communities looking `on, not those within  the
C.R.C. opposed to  the. attacks on limited
atonement and reprobation, no one  -  chak
lenge the legitimacy of the  well-meant offer,:.
even though all behold the offer devastating
the historic, confessional, Reformed  dfoctrineI
of sovereign, particular grace?

                      See : "The Reformed  Doctrine!
                            of Reprobatio'n" page 2821



                                            Volume LV, No. 12, March 15, 1979 A


266                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                            CONTENTS:                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
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  `A Warning From History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266                  Department Editors:  Prof.  Robert   D.  Decker,   Rev.  David  J.  Engelsma,
                                                                                Rev.   Cornelius   Hanko.   Prof.  Herman  Hanko,   Rev.  Robert  C.  Harbach.
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                                  L
MEDITATION



                                                  A Warning From
                                                                   History
                                                                    Rev. M. Schipper



                  "Now a(1 these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our
              admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
                  Wherefote  let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. "
                                                                                                                     I Corinthians lO:ll, 12.

   "Now all these things happened unto them for                                       The apostle is referring, of course; to the preceding
ensamples. . . .`I                                                                context where briefly he had sketched the history
   Literally the apostle says: Now all these things as                            concerning Israel's departure from the house of
types happened unto them.                                                         bondage in Egypt. In this brief sketch the apostle


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               2 6 7


mentions the historic facts that Israel was under the       But references to that history one finds repeatedly
cloud, that they all passed through the sea, that Israel    also in the Prophets and especially in the Psalms. It
was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea,        seems, when one reads the entire Old Testament; that
that in the wilderness they ate of the manna and            the generations of Israel were constantly reminded of
drank of the rock, the spiritual Rock that followed         that history, especially when those generations
them, which he says was Christ. Moreover, he adds           walked in the sins of their fathers. In one word, it
to the historic facts that God  .was highly displeased      seems that God would never forget to remind the
with Israel because of their sins and overthrew them        children of Israel of His miraculous deliverance of
in the wilderness; and he enumerates their sins by          them in Egypt, and what they did with that salvation.
pointing out their idolatry, fornication, murmuring,        This He does also now to the New Testament church
and rebellion; in the way of which sins they were           through the apostle, who was adept in the knowledge
destroyed of the destroyer.' And this brief sketch is       of the Old Testament Scriptures.
prefaced with the solemn note addressed to the church         Marvelous typical deliverance from the bondage of
of Corinth and therefore to us: "Moreover, brethren,        sin and death!                                      /
I would not that ye should be ignorant," that is,
ignorant of these historic facts.                             That it was a typical deliverance cannot mean that
                                                            it was not real. Always the type belongs to the reality
   In verse six already the apostle declares that these     as the shadow is related to the object that casts it.
things were our examples. And now in the text he
says once more, "Now all these things happened unto           Indeed, Israel's deliverance from the bondage in
them for ensamples."                                        Egypt was a wonder of grace. When Egypt had made
                                                            full its cup of iniquity and was therefore ready for its
   The history to which  .the apostle refers was not        destruction, God fulfilled His covenant promise made
simply a record of natural phenomena, but sacred            to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the promise namely
history  - an infallible record of what God did             that after four hundred years He would bring His
according to His counsel, in the way of His covenant,       people to the promised land, a land flowing with! milk
in which He clearly revealed His virtues, particularly      and honey. And just as wonderful is the historic fact
those of His love and His wrath. It was also a record       that the. nations dwelling in Canaan had made
of how that ancient people reacted to this marvelous        themselves also ripe for judgment in order to make
revelation of God Who made them the recipients of           room for the Israel of God.
exceeding precious benefits, how they responded to
these benefits by turning their faces away from               Moreover, the wonder becomes even greater.! For
Jehovah their Saviour, and what God did to Israel           God prepared for them a cloud, the symbol of His
because of their sins.                                      presence; to protect them  "oy day and by  night: and
                                                            to guide them in the way. He opened for them a way
   The apostle also stresses the point that this history    of escape through the midst of the sea; and when
was typical history. What the apostle is saying is that     Pharoah, who had hardened his heart, determined to
the things that happened were types, shadows,               bring Israel back into bondage, pursued after them
patterns of a greater reality which would be realized       into the sea, he and his army were drowned. So Israel
in the church of the new dispensation. It is in that        is symbolically delivered from the bondage of sin and
context that he informs us that these things are            death, when they were baptized into Moses  m the
written for our warning, upon whom the ends of the          cloud and the sea. They ate of the spiritual meat and
ages are come.                                              drank of the spiritual drink which was Christ when
 There may be exceptions to the rule, but it is             they ate the heavenly manna and drank of the water
generally true that, history is not written for the         which flowed to them from the rock. Thus briefly the
generation that makes history. So it is here, for the       apostle summarizes the history of Israel's deliverance.
apostle says very definitely that these things which        Of this the church of the new day must not be
happened to them were written for us who stand at           ignorant.
the end of the ages. It is written for our warning.           The history, however, does not stop here.  It,goes
Thus it certainly behooves us to reflect on it, to learn    on to record what Israel did, how Israel responded to
from it, and especially to guard against the pitfalls       this manifestation of Jehovah's salvation. Did Israel
into which Israel fell.                                     out of gratitude serve in faithfulness the God  iWho
 Indeed, what we have here is a warning from                had so wondrously delivered them? The opposite was
h i s t o r y !                                             true. They made an idol before which they danced in
                                                            hellish glee. Did Israel walk in holiness which might
The history to which the apostle refers, and which          be expected of those who had been lately cleansed?
he briefly sketches in the context, is, of course,          0, no, to the contrary, they gave themselves over to
infallibly recorded in Holy Scriptures, particularly in     fornication and uncleanness. Did Israel fear the L'ord?
the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.              No, they tempted Him and were destroyed of


268                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


serpents. They- became a murmuring, rebellious,                 And the judgment which befell Israel in the wav  of'
lusting lot. Of this the church of the present must             their sins also comes upon us in our generations when
also be not ignorant. ;                                         we  .tum from Jehovah. Make no mistake about it,
       Even so the history is not complete. What God did        God destroyed reprobate, unbelieving Israel in the
to this rebellious people also belongs to this history,         way of their sin. This is precisely what He will do to
concerning which the church of the new day must                 our generations should they continue in sin. So God
also be enlightened. With many, not all of them, God            speaks to us in this history which was written for our
was highly displeased, and He destroyed them. Their             admonition, for our warning.
carcasses fell upon the sands of the wilderness. They              What is the warning then?
never entered into the promised land. In one word,
they never went to heaven.                                      Certainly there is no room for complacency. Not
                                                                because we have Abraham for our father, nor because
       It is all these things which happened unto them by       we are born in the generation of believers, do we have
way of example, and which were written for our                  a guarantee that we go to heaven. It is not the fact
admonition, for our warning.                                    that we were baptized, nor that we partook of the
       Old Testament history therefore is not merely a          Lord's Supper that gives us the assurance of our
record of the past. It is the Word of God speaking to           salvation. Nor is it true that because we belong to the
the church of today. Besides emphasizing the truth of           purest manifestation of the church of Christ in the
the unity of the Scriptures, it also teaches us by              world, or because we fell heirs to the purest preaching
implication that the church is also one. The premil-            of the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures that we, can
lenialist or dispensationalist can certainly find no            boast that we are the particular objects of God's
ground for his conception in this Word of God.                  favor. Wonderful as these ffacts are, if we make light
Though the old and new dispensation can clearly be              of them and boastfully ride on these truths without
distinguished, they may never be separated. The                 living out of them, it were better that we were never
church is one. Organically the church develops from             born. If we go lost with them, our condemnation can
the beginning of history to the end. One church God             only be made the heavier.
is gathering out of  X all dispensations, nations,, and            Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
peoples, from the believers and their seed. When that           fall!
seed produces a majority of reprobates, as was the
case in the history we now consider, then they do                  What does the word of warning say?
precisely what Israel did in the wilderness. All of this           It admonishes us and our seed to love the Lord our
makes that history to be important to us, and this is           God with all our heart and mind and soul and
why God has seen to iit that this history is written for        strength. It calls us to serve Him with a life of
us.                                                             complete dedication, with a life and walk of
       Also implied in the fact that this is typical history    sanctification without which no man shall see God. It
is the truth that the church of today is the fulfillment        teaches us to flee from carnal lusts, from physical and
of the type in every  *sense of that word. This truth           spiritual fornication, from the manufacture of idols,
becomes emphatic when you consider that the                     from murmuring and rebellion; and to flee to the
apostle adds, "upon rwhom the ends of the world                 cross and find there in Christ's atoning blood our
(ages) are come."                                               refuge. It teaches us to repent of our sins, to pray for
                        We must not therefore look for
another church in time - we are it. We are the reality          forgiveness, for the assurance of justification, and for
which was foreshadowed in Israel. And this implies,             the grace of perseverance.
too, that what God provided for Israel in its                     He who stands at the pinnacle of complacency will
redemption He provides for us in the highest sense of           surely fall!
the word. As Israel we too are under the cloud that                But he who heeds what is written and responds in
guides and protects us as we sojourn in the wilderness          faith to the admonition, shall enter without fail into
of this present time  - the cloud that casts darkness           the Canaan of eternal bliss!
and confusion over our  ,enemies. As Israel, we too               0, indeed, God's promises are never failing. He will
passed through the sea which in Israel's case separated         save His people unto the uttermost; but let them walk
Israel from Egypt, as our fathers so beautifully                no more in folly!
express it in our Form for Baptism, the sea which
destroyed Pharaoh and his host, and which for us                  Joshua entered into the promised land. And here is
destroyed the devil and his consorts. Through the               what he said: "Choose you this day whom ye will
water of the sea of baptism, we are cleansed by the             serve . ; . but as for me and my house, we will serve
blood of Christ. As Israel, we eat and drink Christ,            the Lord."
the heavenly Bread  ; and the living Water. What                  They that walk in such faith shall by the grace of
heavenly and glorious provision God has made for us!            God inherit the land!


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 269



EDITORIAL





                                        A Church in Crisis
                                               Prof: H. C. Hoeksema





  By the term "crisis" in this connection, I mean not         Let me explain.
merely a crucial point, a turning point, in general. But      In the- first place, at the Synod of 1980 the
I am using the term in the sense of one of its root         Christian Reformed Church will reach the climactic
meanings according to its Greek derivation, that of         moment of a trial before the bar of the Judge of
"judgment." When I speak, therefore, of "a church in        heaven and earth. In a sense, of course, it is possible
crisis," I refer to a church standing in judgment,          to say that the Canons will be on trial before that
before the bar of justice, on trial.                        Synod, or even that they are at present on trial before
  Secondly, I refer not to a civil court and to some        the churches to whom the Boer Gravamen has been
judicial procedure, a criminal trial or civil lawsuit,      referred for study and reaction. In a sense, too, it
before one of the courts of our land, before a civil        may be said that Dr. Harry Boer and his views are on
magistrate. But I refer to the bar of the Judge of          trial - although he was really tried and exonerated a
heaven and earth, the only righteous Lord, Who has          couple of years ago in his home classis. Nevertheless,
revealed Himself in His Word.                               Synod of 1980 will apparently have to pass judgment
  In the third place, I refer specifically to the fact      and either approve or disapprove of Boer's thesis.
that the Christian Reformed Church is on trial before       Perhaps in a sense it may be said that the Synod and
the bar of divine justice. That denomination is on          the officebearers of the Christian Reformed Church
trial before the bar of divine justice in connection        will be on trial before the constituency of the
with the fact that it is confronted by the Boer             Christian Reformed denomination, who are involved
Gravamen against the doctrine of reprobation as             and who will be watching to see what stand the
taught in Articles 6 and 15 of the First Head of            Synod takes. Possibly it may also be maintained that
Doctrine of the Canons of Dordrecht.                        the Christian Reformed Church will be on trial before
                                                            the rest of the ecclesiastical world, and specifically in
  In the fourth place, the question in that trial is:       the mind of the rest of the Reformed community, and
what think ye of the Reformed faith, the truth of the       possibly even more specifically before its fellow
Scriptures? Do ye love it and confess it? Or do ye          churches in the Reformed Ecumenical Synod. There
hate it and deny it? More specifically, what think ye       will certainly be those who will be watching
of the very heart of the Reformed faith, the truth of       concernedly what direction the CRC follows with
divine predestination? Do ye love and confess it, or        regard to this crucial issue.
do ye hate and deny it? Still more specifically, what
think ye of that aspect of the truth of divine                But in the deeper sense of the word the Christian
predestination which has always been especially             Reformed Church is and will be on trial before the
attacked and hated by others, the truth of sovereign        bar of divine justice! Always, of course, it is true in
reprobation? And even more specifically, what think         general that churches in their ecclesiastical assemblies
ye of that truth of sovereign reprobation in the light      are called to make their decisions coram Dee, before
of the fact that you as a denomination have given           the face of God, and that they must give account
much reason in the past for men to believe that you         before Him of all the decisions which `are made.
also hate and deny it?                                      Always it is true, too, that as surely as our God is the


270                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



sovereign Lord of  j history, He always by His                15. 3) Do not overlook the fact that Articles 6 and 15
providential government brings a church and ecclesi-          themselves do consider reprobation as a separate
astical assembly to; face certain questions and               decree from that of election, but as part and parcel of
decisions in the course of its history. But this is           the one decree of which election is also an aspect.
obviously and specifically the case in this instance. It      This is the reason why these articles speak of God's
is so, first of all, because for anyone who knows the         "decree" in the singular, rather than of God's decrees
history and who can read history, it is plain to see          in the plural. 4) It is safe to say from a historical
that for more than fifty years the Lord our God has           point of view that the Canons would never have been
been leading the Christian Reformed denomination              written and would have never been necessary if the
step by step and inexorably up to this point. It is           Reformed had not insisted on the doctrine of
true, secondly, because of the very nature of this            sovereign reprobation. It was the doctrine of reproba-
matter. It is a matter of the creed. There is no more         tion more than any other which the Arminians hated
basic, no deeper, no :more crucial issue for a church         and against which they always launched a frontal
than that. You might say it concerns the very                 attack. This was true throughout the history of the
constitution of such a church. It concerns what such          Arminian controversy, and it was true at the Synod
a church believes. It concerns the truth of God over          itself, as the record plainly shows. Men like Dr. Boer
against the lie, and it does so not merely indirectly         are in bad company when they hate and attack the
and by implication, but directly. Thirdly, it is true         Reformed doctrine of reprobation. 5) Remember that
because in the matter of a gravamen, and particularly         the doctrine of predestination, including both  .elec-
the Boer Gravamen, the church will apparently be              tion and reprobation, is the key to the entire Canons
compelled to furnish' a plain Yes or No answer. To            of Dordrecht. It is this doctrine which pulsates
some of these matters we will return in another               through, the entire body of the Canons. 6) More than
connection.                                                   any other doctrine in our creeds, it is that very
  In the second place, while the specific confessional        doctrine of predestination (including both election
doctrine which is the issue in this trial is that of          and reprobation) which is a characteristically Re-
sovereign "reprobation, as it is specifically taught in       formed doctrine. It is, therefore, no minor doctrine
Articles 6 and 15 of Canons I, let no one labor under         which is at stake in this trial. But our Reformed
any illusions as to what the fundamental issue really         confession as it comes into focus in its most
is. It is not the issue of one unpopular doctrine in          characteristically Reformed doctrine is at issue.
isolation, as though the rest of the Canons and the             Sovereign reprobation as taught in the Canons, or
rest of the Reformed ifaith will be left unaffected and       not?
outside of the scope of this trial. It is not the issue of      Sovereign predestination as taught in the Canons,
merely two articles which could be excised from the           or not?
Canons while leaving the Canons otherwise whole and
sound. It is necessary :to emphasize this. For there are        Reformed according to the confessions, or not?
those who would like: to deceive people into thinking           The truth of Scripture, or not?
that it is possible to hold to the Reformed doctrine of         Those are really the questions by which the
sovereign election while denying the Reformed                 Christian .Reformed Church is and will be confronted
doctrine of sovereign reprobation. This is the philoso-       of God, the Judge, in connection with the Boer
phy of James Daane, for example, who tries to                 Gravamen.
maintain that the logic of election is not the logic of
numbers  - something which no one, including                    There is, of course, a history connected with this
himself, can possibly understand. But notice the              trial. No one is brought to trial, after all, without an
following: 1) The heading of Canons I is "Of Divine           indictment and without an alleged crime. That
Predestination." If it were "Of Divine Election," one         history goes back more than fifty years, to the Synod
might perhaps argue that reprobation could be                 of 1924. At that Synod the Christian Reformed
excised from the First Head without affecting its             Church began to teach officially that God is gracious
main contents. But  .: this is not possible: divine           to all men in  His common grace and also that God
predestination includes both election and reproba-            desires to save all men to whom the gospel is
tion. 2) Consider the matter technically and as far as        proclaimed. We  - our leaders and our churches  -
the very language of the articles of Canons I is              said : that is principally a denial of sovereign
concerned. It is safe to say that in addition to-Articles     predestination, specifically of sovereign reprobation.
6 and 15 there are at least six more articles in Canons       How can God be gracious to and desire the salvation
I, A and B which either would not have been written           of those whom He has sovereignly appointed unto
at all or would not have been written the way they            damnation? Those were the days of Berkhof, Heyns,
were if it had not been for Dordrecht's adherence to          Keegstra, Zwier, H. J. Kuiper, and also the days of
sovereign reprobation  ,as set forth in Articles 6 and        Hoeksema, Danhof, and Ophoff. What was the answer


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  271



of the Christian Reformed Church to that alleged            issue by making a totally non-doctrinal, non-confes-
crime of denying the doctrine of sovereign predestina-      sional, non-Scriptural declaration which was not
tion? They said: we adhere to the Reformed                  worthy of an ecclesiastical assembly: Dekker is
confessions and the doctrine of predestination, but         ambiguous and abstract in his teachings!
we maintain a double-track theology. You see, the              More has taken place in recent years. Dr. Boer
denial of reprobation was  implicit  in the Three           himself denied reprobation, but was never found
Points, but not explicit.                                   guilty. Dr. James Daane openly denies reprobation in
   Then some winds of change began to blow in the           his  The Freedom  of  God,  but no one takes him to
CRC. The 1960s came. Prof. Harold Dekker went               task ecclesiastically.
farther. Not only did he teach that Christ died for all        Now, however, God, through Harry Boer's Grava-
men. Do not forget that his main thesis was that God        men, is placing the Christian Reformed Church
loved all men, and that, too, redemptively. Dekker          foursquare before the question: Do you believe with
did not frontally attack the Canons themselves,             all your heart the doctrine of sovereign reprobation,
however. In fact, he claimed to be in accord with the       or not? Do you believe and confess the doctrine of
Canons  - believe it, or not! In the course of the          sovereign predestination, or not? Do you maintain
discussion and debate about Dekker's thesis, 1924 and       that the Reformed creeds are the expression of the
the First Point of Common Grace repeatedly came             truth of Scripture, or not? Are you Reformed, or
into discussion. But more and more there were those         not?
who emphasized that there is but one love or grace of          The Christian Reformed Church has accepted
God, and that the one love of God was universal and         Boer's Gravamen as properly before it. The CRC has
saving. Reprobation came under discussion also. I           agreed to answer the Boer Gravamen in the light of
remember distinctly that in connection with the             Scripture.
Dekker Case, Dr. Henry Stob wrote openly that God
hates no man. A blatant denial of reprobation, just as         Although recent CRC synods have been adept at
-blatant as Harry Boer's. But still there was no frontal    sidestepping knotty questions and difficult cases, it is
attack on the creed. The issues were there - all the        difficult to see how this question can be avoided.
issues of today. But the CRC was able to avoid the             What will the answer be - comm Deo?

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE





                                   Letter to Timothy


                                       March 15, 1979
Dear Timothy,                                               great deal of hesitation, I shall attempt to do it.
  We will, with this letter, begin correspondence on
another subject, the subject of what is sometimes             I said that I prefer the term "pastoral work" to
called "Christian Counselling" but what is perhaps          "Christian counselling" because of the emphasis
better called simply "Pastoral Labor."                      which the former term places upon the minister
                                                            himself as a pastor of the sheep entrusted to him by
 , I have wanted to write to you for some time about        Christ. The Scriptures never speak of "counselling,"
this subject, but have been somewhat hesitant to            and the term has, according to my dictionary, the
enter an area which is so difficult and filled with so      connotation of, "to give advice, advise." This is not,
many problems. Nevertheless, you have repeatedly            after all, what a pastor does. He does not come to the
urged me to write to you about this, and so, with a         sheep to give them some advice when they need it. He


272                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


comes as a pastor who has been appointed by Christ           pastoral demands which were placed on a minister
to care, in Christ's ,name, for the sheep who belong to      were relatively few. The pastor went to see his sheep
Christ.                                                      when they were sick in the hospital or at home. He
  The point is quite important. I do not like to             visited them when they were bereaved. He called on
quibble about words, but it seems to me that the             them when discipline was required. But there were in
point here is worth making. When the pastor assumes          those days few problems which occupied his atten-
that title, he is taking a term which is eminently           tion.
Scriptural. In John 2 1: 16 Jesus says to Peter, "Feed         There are probably several reasons why this part of
my sheep." The word Jesus uses here really means             the work of pastors has increased. One reason is that,
something like, "shepherdize, do the work of a               for good or for bad, our modem day has placed a
shepherd." The same, word is used by Paul in Acts            great amount of emphasis on psychology and has
20:28 where he admonishes the elders of Ephesus,             brought psychological problems to the foreground.
"Take heed therefore:unto  yourselves, and to all the        One need only read a few issues of the  Readers
flock, over the which: the Holy Ghost hath made you          Digest, e.g.,  to become aware of how preoccupied
overseers, to feed the, church of God, which he hath         people are today with psychological problems of
purchased with his own blood." In his admonition to          every sort. One recent issue has articles on, "To
elders in the Church, Peter uses the same word:              Increase the Enjoyment of Sex in Marriage," "Get
"Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking            Yourself on a Good Footing," and "Clues to Living
the oversight thereof." This is therefore the expres-        Longer, Staying Younger." The most recent issue of
sion which Scripture. uses. "Counselling" is an idea         this widely read magazine has articles on,  "How to
foreign to the Scriptures.                                   Stand Up for Yourself: I. Coping With Shyness; II.
  And it is no wonder that this is so because, after         Pulling Your Own Strings," "Pitfalls of `Romantic'
all, the pastor who is called. to "shepherdize" the          Love" and "Put Some New in Your Year." The books
flock of Christ is not called to come to the sheep with      which pour from the presses by  the, hundreds `not
some advice, no matter how good that advice may be.          only deal with every aspect of life, but also become,
He is called to bring the Word of God to God's               in some instances, best sellers. They range all the way
people. But God's Word is never "advice." It is God's        from "The Power of Positive Thinking" to "Tran-
Word. It is authoritative. And for that reason it            scendental Meditation" and "I'm Ok, You're Ok." It is
always comes as a cohmand.  It must be obeyed. And           not surprising that, when so much emphasis is placed
the issues of obedience or disobedience are issues of        upon psychology and life's problems, many people
life and death. To obey is to live; to disobey is to die.    who never knew they had problems now begin to
The pastor therefore must never say, "I think it best        think they do.
if you do this." Or,' "Perhaps the wisest course of            It is also true that in our modern scientific and
action is to do this." Or even, "This is the way which,      technological age life is very fast paced and far more
in my experience, has proved to be most helpful." He         complex then it has ever been. And this kind of
must always say, "Thus saith the Lord." "And,                hectic life, with no time for meditation, prayer,
because the Lord says so, obey!"                             Scripture study, quiet reflection, is a life conducive to
   So there is a point here which is important enough        creating all kinds of problems in people's lives. This is
that it ought to determine our terminology. Termi-           sad, and it simply remains a fact that there are no
nology is, after all,, important. If we use wrong            solutions to many problems in life without a radical
terminology, we so  j easily slip into patterns of           change in the way we live.
thinking which are in keeping with the terminology             But I suppose that it is also true that there were
which we use. And especially in this area, that would        problems in the past which people faced, but they
be disastrous. So, we; shall not talk about "counsel-        tended to struggle along with them because they did
ling"; we will eradicate this word from our vocabu-          not recognize them as problems or because they were
lary.                                                        unaware of the fact that help could be had.
  By writing on this  ,subject I have no intention of          Whatever the reasons may be, however, the fact is
repeating what you `learned in Polemics class in             that in our day heavy demands are made on the
Seminary. Rather, I hope that this effort will enable        pastor, and he often finds himself in difficult
you to put some of the principles learned in Seminary        situations where his pastoral wisdom is taxed to the
into actual practice inyour work in the congregation.        utmost. There are times when he is at a loss as to the
There is no question about it that this is .an extremely     best way to handle a situation and he experiences a
important part of your work and the work of any              great lack in his education and experience. There is,
pastor.                                                      as you so well know, little time in the Seminary to be
  In a way, this has only become true in the last few        busy with the practical aspects of pastoral labors, and
decades. It was not  :so many years ago that the             his work, especially when first in the ministry, is a


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              273


kind of trial and error work.                               situation in which you find yourself, and our pastors
 I recall so well the days of my own early ministry         in general find themselves. In his work, to use but one
when I was confronted with problems of many                 example, there is insufficient emphasis placed upon
different kinds. Because I always had an interest in        the preventive pastoral work of the minister. Perhaps
psychology, I found that the pressures of modern day        it is not altogether clear what I have in mind, but I
approaches to problems had left a mark on me. I             refer to the fact that in our ecclesiastical tradition a
often worked hard to try to make modem psychol-             great deal of emphasis is placed upon such things as
ogy tit pastoral situations in the congregation. The        family visitation in which the minister and/or the
fact is that it seldom worked. And there was always         elders visit the homes of the people to learn their
the feeling deep down that this was not proper and          needs, discuss with them their problems, and bring
really had nothing to do with my calling as a minister      the Word of God to them in their own family life.
of the Word. If we can analyze such work from our           This has the benefit of giving the pastor and the
present perspective we can easily see that one,             elders opportunity to learn of potential problems, to
perhaps subconsciously, adopted a position which            admonish God's people concerning particular dangers,
held that the Word of God was so narrow that it did         and to work with them in connection with problems
not fit the whole of life. There was an area of life, so    which have not yet become serious. We must not
we thought, which was more susceptible to psycho-           underestimate the value of this work.
logical techniques than to the Word of God. This was           Furthermore, Jay Adams has a broader conception
a serious mistake. It is well that we are rid of it.        of the ministry of the Word than we do. To point to
   The one who has done a lot to get rid of these           one example, he speaks of the clinic which has been
ideas is Jay Adams, for some time professor of              formed in Philadelphia to put his principles into
Practical Theology in Westminster Theological               practice as an arm of evangelism. Now I am not
Seminary. We owe him a debt because he did much to          saying that it is necessarily wrong to form such a
put pastoral work back in the hands of the pastors.         clinic; there may be much in its favor. But its precise
He was the one who pointed us to the fact that no           relation to the Church and its role in relation to the
pastor ought easily to abdicate his position and allow      pastoral ministry ought to be spelled out more
psychologists to do work that pastors ought to be           clearly.
doing. And he pointed out the total pertinency of the          Finally,. I have the feeling that his approach to the
Word of-God for every part of life.                         problems of life is sometimes too simple. He does not
  Nevertheless, there were several lacks in his work.       always seem to be sufficiently impressed with the
For one thing, his approach, while generally sound,         tremendous complexity of life and its problems and
was not based upon a genuine Christian and                  seems to offer solutions to problems which, in actual
Scriptural psychology. At the time I reviewed his           fact, are no solutions at all. He seems not to
book, "Competent to Counsel" for a Ministers'               appreciate fully what Jeremiah writes in chapter
Conference, I wrote him about this, and he responded        17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and
that he intended to work in this field. But, so far as I    desperately wicked: who can know it?"
know, this has not yet been done. I am not saying             Well, it is for these reasons that we shall venture
that he does not have a psychology, but it is not           into this field. I hope that worthwhile discussions will
explicit in his writings.                                   come of it and that we may together grow in grace
  We must also remember that his work is in a               and in the wisdom to do the work to which God has
different ecclesiastical tradition and situation than       called us.
ours. While, of course, this does not make his work                                           IFraternally in Christ,
wrong, nevertheless his work does not always fit the                                                      H. Hanko


274                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE





                               Ye Are My Witnesses
                                               Rev. Wayne Bekkering'





  Do you witness? Are you a witness? These are                 Isaiah 43: 10 teaches us that God's witnesses are
questions that are often asked in many churches in          chosen so that they may know God. This is empha-
our day. Oftentimes these ,questions are asked from a       sized, in verse 11: "I, even I, am the Lord: and beside
wrong point of view. They are asked from the point          me there is no savior." God wants living and thankful
of view that the decision to witness or not to witness      witnesses who know Him as God. Eternal life is
depends on man. Whether or not a man witnesses is           exactly to know God as the only true God. God
not the question. All men witness of the life that is in    works His grace in us in such a way that we taste and
them. They are either witnesses of God or of the            see that the Lord is good. With that saving knowledge
devil. All men have not the ability to witness of God       of God in our hearts we have the ability to show
because all have not the works of. God's grace              forth God's praise. The sad fact is, however, that even
wrought in their hearts. Only the elect `are God's          though we have the ability to glorify God, oftentimes
witnesses. The' Bible makes that truth very clear. The      we do not. Many times, as God's people, we are poor
whole of- Isaiah 43  ,beautifully demonstrates this         and unfaithful witnesses of God. When we walk,
truth, but especially verses 7, 10 and 21: "Ye are my       contrary to God's perfect will we show ourselves as
witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I            unfaithful witnesses.
have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and              To know about God is not all that is required to be
understand that I am he: before me that was no God          a faithful witness. One may know the doctrines of the
formed, neither shall there be after me. This people        church taught in the catechism classes,,one  may know
have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my          many passages from the Scriptures, one may know
praise. Even every one that is called by my name: for       the orthodox confessions of the church, one may be
I have" created him for my glory, I have formed him;        able to talk about these truths rather capably, but if
yea, I have made him.`:                                     this knowledge and confession is not sealed with a life
  The people of God have been wonderfully and               of obedience and sanctification then one is not a
specially made. Every man is the creature of God's          faithful witness. One who is orthodox in his confes-
hand, but the elect are precious in His sight. Them         sion but worldly in his walk is odious both to God
has God loved above all the people of the earth. The        and man. Such an one God spews out of His mouth,
elect are created for God's glory and formed to show        and man spurns as a hypocrite. James says that to
forth His praise.                                           him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to
                                                            him it is sin.
  What a wonderful work has God performed in usi
What a marvelous gift of grace is God's salvation!            We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that if
What a privilege is now ours that we have the ability       we are able to say the right thing at the right time
to serve the living God! But remember that we are           then we are faithful witnesses of God.
not saved to ourselves nor for ourselves but unto             Now you understand, of course, that we do not
God's praise and glory.                                     minimize the necessity of the knowledge of God's


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               275


truth. God teaches in Isaiah 43: 10 that we are His        dependent on drink and drugs? Parents do you teach
witnesses so that we may know Him. The root of the         your children to be proper stewards of God's money
word "witness" in the Hebrew means to repeat or to         and time and abilities? Are you faithful witnesses in
say again and again. God has called us to know Him         your use of God's gifts? Parents, do you teach your
and to show forth His glory both in word and deed.         children the proper attitude of respect to the  God-
                                                           ordained authorities in the home, school, church, and
   Not only must we know God but we must also              state? Are you faithful witnesses yourselves in being
believe Him. We are God's witnesses chosen unto            subject unto the higher powers ordained of God?
faith so that we can both know and believe that He is         Oh, what an awesome responsibility is ours as
God, the only Savior.' Believing, then, is the only        God's witnesses, and yet what a blessed calling. The
possibility of being a faithful witness of God.            glorious eternal God chose us, yea formed us to be
   Believing is not a mere intellectual assent to the      vessels of His praise. He Who is light makes us to be
truth of God but it is a living bond whereby we live       reflectors of that glorious light. God has willed that
out of God and through God and unto God by His             we should dwell with Him in heavenly places in Christ
grace to us in His Son Jesus Christ. To be faithful        Jesus. From the depths of sin and death hath God
witnesses we must manifest a living faith in all our       drawn us to the heights of heavenly glory.
life.                                                         God says, "Ye are my witnesses," and our response
How do we manifest faith? Must we confess faith            can only be, "Lord, help us to be faithful witnesses."
before men? Yes, we must confess faith but we must         We know that it is not easy. We are so weak that we
also seal that confession with, the works of faith.        cannot stand for one moment. By nature we are
Faith without works is dead. "But," one objects, "I        ashamed of God. Think of that! The creature
believe that there is one God." James answers, "thou       ashamed of the Creator. Our natural inclination is
doest well: the deviis also believe and tremble."          always to deny God rather than to be faithful
                                                           witnesses. Here is the battle of faith for God's people.
   We manifest faith in its fruits - a life of love and    We have new hearts and the principle desire to serve
obedience to God. Do you love the Lord thy God and         God, and yet we are hindered by our three-fold
thy neighbor as thyself? "If a man say, I love God,        enemy, the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.
and hateth his brother,. he is a liar." (I John  4:20)     As we struggle to let our light shine as God's wit-
"But  whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his          nesses, the world hates that light. because their deeds
brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of           are evil and they seek to extinguish the light. Jesus
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God          tells us that we shall be hated of all men for His
in him? My little children, let us not, love in word,      name's sake. Jesus is the Faithful Witness, and the
neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (I John      world killed Him.
3: 17 and 18) A faithful witness must go beyond
words.                                                       All this may not make us fearful and. downcast but
                                                           fill us with the confidence that we are walking in
   What about you: can men see God's work in you?          God's way of grace. "For unto you it is given in the
This-question is directed to all of us - young and old     behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also
alike. "Even a child is known by his doings, whether       to suffer for his sake." (Phil. 1:29) "Yea and all that
his. work be pure, and whether it be right." (Proverbs     will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecu-
20: 11) Children, "ye are my witnesses," says God.         tion." (II Tim. 3: 12) The apostles after they were
You, are God's witnesses at home, on the bus, on the       beaten rejoiced that they were counted worthy to
playground, and in everything you do. Are you              suffer shame for Christ's sake, for they knew that the
faithful witnesses?                                        sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
   Young people, God says to you, "Ye are my               compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.
witnesses." Do you walk in the way of the truth that
you recite in catechism class? Are you faithful wit-         With war and persecution on every side the child of
nesses at the basketball game and when you go out          God walks in confidence and peace with God. That
for fun with other young people?                           peace that God gives us as we walk as faithful
                                                           witnesses is a rich gift. That  .peace far surpasses all
 I Parents, in a special way God says to you, "Ye are      understanding. The world cannot understand how the
my witnesses." You are witnesses first of all to your      Christian stands so firm; and even the Christian
children. Parents, do you warn your children of            himself cannot understand it.
worldliness in theater attendance? Are you faithful
witnesses yourselves in your use of the television?          Even though to be a faithful witness may also
Parents, do you warn your children ab.out the sin of       mean to be a martyr, yet the saint does not draw
the misuse of drinking and drugs? Are you faithful         back because God Himself promises, "be thou faith-
witnesses of God in that you yourselves are not            ful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."


 276                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



SIGNS OF THE TIMES





                                                   I n f l a t i o n
                                                   Rev. James Slopsema





   There runs to and fro across the earth a `black               Normally we view the drive of the black horse as
 horse. Upon this horse there sits a rider holding in his     being the means whereby Christ prevents the prema-
 hand a pair of balances. And as this mighty steed and        ture culmination of the antichristian kingdom. And
 rider make their drive' through the earth there booms        certainly this is correct. For so long as Christ
 a voice, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three          maintains the contrast between the rich and the poor,
 measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not        man's dream of a universal kingdom of peace and
 the wine and the oil."                                       prosperity for all can never be realized. Through the
   This horse and his rider are of course the black           drive of the black horse Christ does not allow the
 horse of Revelation  i6 that issues forth with this          Antichrist to come until the time appointed.
 opening of the third  : seal. Properly understood the          Nevertheless, it is true that the black horse also
 drive of this horse represents the work of the exalted       serves to pave the way for the Antichrist. For at
 Christ throughout the. ages to  treat a rich minority        Christ's appointed time there will arise on the scene
 and a poor majority. Down through the ages the               of history an individual possessing the ability to make
 wealth of society has found its way into the hands of        all men rich. Whether it be through intellectual
 a few rich, while the masses have had to struggle from       acumen, or the art of persuasion, or the advance-
 day to day simply to. maintain their existence. The          ments of technology he will have the solution to
 story of the common man has been one of economic             man's poverty. He will hold the key to riches for all
 hardship. He earns a penny a day which is just enough        and peace on earth. And so he will be heralded as the
 to meet his daily needs - a measure of wheat or three        savior of mankind before whom all shall willingly
 measures of barley. He struggles to survive; while the       bow. The black horse, therefore, not only prevents
 rich bathe in luxury.                                        the premature rise of Antichrist; strikingly he also
   This in turn causes, social problems. For the poor         paves the way for Antichrist.
 of this world covet the wealth of the few and seek to          It is into this framework of things that the rising
lay their hands on that wealth so as to raise their own       inflation in our land certainly fits.
 standard of living. The rich, however, are not willing         The January 15, 1979 issue of  Time  magazine
 to share their wealth.! Consequently, problems arise.        carries an article entitled "Inflation: Who Is Hurt
 This age-old contrast  lbetween the greedy poor and          Worst?" This article informs us of that which has
 the protective rich has been the source of countless         become a reality for all of us. Since 1967 the cost of
 strikes and boycotts across our land. It has been the        living in the United States has doubled; it costs twice
 source of many crimes committed. It also helps to            as much to live now as it did a mere 11 years ago.
 account for many of the riots and revolutions and            Thus, for example, in 1967 a pound of hamburger
 even wars that fill the pages of history. And it is all      cost  59c (remember that!); whereas today that
 the result of the black horse that makes his drive           average price is $1.49. A loaf of bread has gone from
 through the earth under the control of Christ.               35$ to  736. Gasoline has jumped from  39~ to  77$ a
   Neither is this without its purpose.                       gallon. Similarly, the cost of a hospital room has


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 277


increased  150%, housing  69%, dental work  200%,               Consequently, inflation has become the number
automobiles 86%. And these are. only a few of the            one concern of public officials today. For politicians
items mentioned. Neithei does there seem to be any           to ignore the inflation issue is to commit political
end in sight. Writes Time magazine, "The last decade         suicide. Society is demanding a solution. Americans
has brought the most damaging price surge in the             will not tolerate a lower standard of living. Neither
nation's history, and the elusive goal of relative           are they satisfied to maintain the  status quo.  The
stability remains far away."                                 desire of America is to surge forward to new heights
   On the other hand, it is true that wages have also        of prosperity. And it appears that society is willing to
increased considerably during this time of inflation.        follow anyone who will make this dream come true.
But in this connection. there are two things to              As one Chicago steel worker is quoted as saying:
consider. First of all, Time magazine points out that        "You really want to revolt, but what can you do? I
not everyone's wages have kept pace with the rapid           keep waiting for a miracle - for some guy who isn't
rate of inflation. Some have. Members of the                 born yet - and when he comes we'll follow him like
powerful unions, for example, like the steel and auto        he was John the Baptist."
workers enjoy "escalator clauses" in their contracts            The picture is quite clear. .We live in a society that
that automatically boost paychecks as inflation rises.       is concerned chiefly with material prosperity. Wealth,
Military personnel have also been able to keep ahead         luxury, a life of ease have been made god over all.
of inflation as the government seeks to recruit and          And society is willing to sacrifice almost anything to
.keep people in the all-volunteer service. Social            r$Gn this god. For the sake of this god, mothers are
S&urity recipients have received a three-fold increase       willing to put the well-being of their families in
in the benefits over the last 11 years. Yet this is only     jeopardy as they go off to work. Others are willing to
one half of the story. For every wage earner who is          forego the privilege of bearing children. The sacrifices
able to stay ahead of the rapid rate of inflation there      that have been made for this idol of earthly
`are others who are falling behind. Although they            prosperity is astounding. But for all these efforts, the
make more than they did in 1967, their buying power          American dream is still as elusive as ever. If it's not
is less.                                                     one thing, it's another. Of late, that which makes
   In the second place, Time magazine also informs us        America's dream still a dream and not a reality is
`that the steepest rises in prices have come in life's       galloping inflation. And this all very clearly serves to
necessities: food, clothing, shelter, and transporta-        pave the way for the coming of the Antichrist. For
tion. This means that the lower the family income,           should there arise in the near future a leader that
the harder inflation hits. It is not the rich that suffer    could solve the problems of inflation, and so bring
as much as it is the middle and lower income families        unheralded prosperity to man, it is safe to say that
who must spend the bulk of their earnings for the            our country and also the whole world would "follow
basics. This present trend of inflation, therefore, is       him like he was John the Baptist." Only he would not
not narrowing the gap between the rich and poor.             be John the Baptist; he would be the forerunner of
Such would be the case were inflation to affect              Antichrist, if not the Beast himself.
primarily the luxury items, leaving the basics of life          Let us, therefore, beware.
untouched. But when the necessities of life are
hardest hit, as they are now, then inflation widens the        We are perhaps as hard hit by inflation as anyone
gap between the rich and the poor. Certainly we see          else. Historically the church has never been rich in
here the effect of the black horse.                          this world's goods. So also is it today. Most of us are
                                                             either in the middle or lower income bracket, the
   And this is causing its problems.  Before the             range hardest hit by today's inflation. Neither do I
acceleration of inflation in the  60's, our society          think that many of us have "escalator clauses" in our
anticipated a great surge forward financially and            wage agreements as do the powerful labor unions so
economically. The standard of living was supposed            that we are able to keep ahead of inflation. Besides,
to rise to. unprecedented heights. And although one          we have our schools and churches to support.
can hardly say that our land totters on the brink of         Inflation is no respecter of persons. Undoubtedly
poverty, nevertheless the inflation of the past decade       many of us have found that school tuition and the
has made the dreams of the 60's seem like a taunting         church budget have sky-rocketed; and this is in spite
fantasy. According to  Time  magazine, Americans             of every effort on the part of the school and church
everywhere share a deep sense of being threatened.           to keep costs down. Yes, I believe that inflation has
The financial squeeze has caused frustration and             taken its toll especially among the members of the
resentment. There is even concern that many will             church.
eventually question the whole free enterprise system           But then we must be aware that we do not get
as we have it, if inflation is not checked in the near       caught up in the spirit of our age. There. is within us
f u t u r e .                                                all a terrible inclination to seek the things here below


278                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


rather than the things that are above, to be                  for earthly treasures, will we not indeed "follow him
earthly-minded  rathe< than heavenly-minded. So               like he was `John the Baptist"?
easily we forget about heavenly things and concern
ourselves only with the earthly. How many mothers                Let us, therefore, see the work of Christ in history,
are not tempted to seek employment simply to stay             even as He uses the present trend of inflation to make
on top? How many young couples are not tempted to             all things ready for the end. And let us by the grace
put off bearing children simply to get ahead                  of God seek first the Kingdom of God and His
financially? Yet if this f is our mentality, what will we     righteousness that when the evil day of the Antichrist
do when the Antichrist. does come and offers us               does come we may be able to stand and so receive the
unheralded prosperity?, Being blinded by our evil lust        crown of life.

FROM  HOLY  WRIT





                         i Exposition of  Galatiaqs
                         /                         Rev. G. Lubbers





PAUL'S PASSIONATE APPEAL THAT THE                             our liberty in Christ completely  .and forever! Just as
GALATIANS CONTINUE TO RUN BEAUTIFULLY                         the teaching of the truth of the Gospel of justifica-
(Galatians 5 :7-l 2) continued                                tion by .faith leads to the keeping of the command-
                                                              ments of the Lord from true faith and fervent love, so
  The  Galatians must not ever be duped into                  the principle of law can only stifle all spontaneity of
thinking that they can play with the fire of erroneous        godliness completely. Strange as it may seem, legalism
doctrine, which denies: the Cross, and not be seared          in all its forms has in it the principle of atinomism.
and charred in the righteous judgment of God. God             Only where there is an earnest appeal to the tender
will not permit any strange fire on the altar of His          mercies in Christ Jesus, is there a strong motif for the
worship. Let it not be jforgotten that a "little leaven       non-conformity to the world and the transformation
leaveneth the whole lump." This proverb is employed           in `the renewal of the mind, so that we approve what
by Paul also in I Corinthians 5:6. Here the "leaven"          is the good, the acceptable, and perfect will of God.
refers to the principle of sin in the congregation, the       Here the soul glories in the  `Yogikee  Zatreian"
sin of adultery. If this would be permitted to go             (reasonable service). in Christ Jesus. Here we see the
unchallenged and uncensored in the congregation, the          leaven of the fear of God, the logical, the  spiritual
congregation would think that they could break every          logic  of godliness which proceeds from thankfulness!
commandment with impunity. For the law is one.                  Let the impact of this passionate appeal of Paul
(James 2: 10, 11, 12) IIere Paul uses the proverb not         sink deep into our legally-inclined, sinful hearts!
merely to indicate  thjat it takes just a few false
ministers to corrupt the gospel truth, but he means             Stand, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
that. the principle of la&, the "do this and thou shalt       has made us free, as the children of Sarah, the
live" as a rule for justification, is perhaps viewe.d as a    free-woman, Jerusalem above.
small departure. The matter of circumcision may not             It is because of this little leaven that we should be
yet encompass the entire spectrum  .of doctrine in a          doubly  .careful with any ecclesiastical pronounce-
clearly articulated form, but as surely as day follows        ments concerning the walk of godliness, that, even in
night, this principle  &ill work through the entire           our nomenclature, it be clearly stated that we are
structure of the Gospel-truth, and we will have lost          walking foursquare in the liberty in Christ, and that


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               279


 we do not allow any legalistic leaven to seep through        ,Beware, 0 gates of hell .which would prevail greatly.
 and spoil the whole lump of doctrine and life!                                                                     - .
                                                              (katischusousin)  (Matt.. 16: 18) Paul wields the key-
   Let us run well, and let none persuade us with a           power of Christ in the preaching, which opens and no
 persuasion which is not of the Lord!                         one closes. (Rev. 1: 18, 19; 3:7, 8) No one can pluck
                                                              the sheep out of the hand of the Father, nor out of
                                                              the hand of the good Shepherd, Who laid down His
PAUL'S STRONG AND ABIDING CONFIDENCE IN                       life and took it again. (John 10:27-30)
THE LORD CONCERNING THE  CHURCH
(Galatians 5 : 10)                                            THE JUDGMENT UPON THOSE WHO DISTURJ3
 %r The gates of hell will not prevail against the            THE SAINTS (Galatians 5 : 1 Ob)
church! (Matt. 16: 18) That is the anchor which holds
in every situation. The Lord knows them that are His.           We should -observe that in the Greek text Paul
(II Tim. 2: 19) This is the will of Him that sent me,         speaks emphatically of the judgment. (to krima)  This
that of all which He hath given me, none ,should  be         is not merely a judgment of God, such as comes to
lost, but that I should raise them up again in the last      the church in the just pedagogical dealings with His
day, says Jesus to the unbelieving Jews of his day.          people whom He loves (Heb.  12:5-ll), but Paul is
(John 6:39,40)                                               speaking of the' final and irrevocable judgment which
                                                             falls upon those who wilfully and knowingly reject
   When Paul writes the seemingly contradictory              the Gospel, who count the blood of Christ an impure
statement here that he is ever confident concerning
the Galatians that they will not be otherwise minded,        thing, and who do despite unto the Spirit of grace,
that they will not depart from the truth of the Gospel       and trample underfoot the Son of God afresh. It is
                                                             the vengeance of God Who says: Vengeance is mine, I
of justification by faith, we must bear in mind that he
is not really contradicting himself. Yes, he wrote in        will  recompence, and Who also says: the Lord shall
                                                             judge His people.  (Deut.  32:35; Psalm  135:14. Cf.
Chapter 4: 11, "I fear for you, lest I have toiled in        Hebrews lo:263  1) It is because of this judgment that
V a i n . " That was when he looked `at the actual           we read in the Bible "It is a fearful thing to fall into
situation from the viewpoint of the reports; however,
even then he never really despaired of                       the hands of the living God." (Heb.  10:31) And,
                                           God's, work in    again we read, "our God is a consuming fire." (Heb.
them.  That places the entire situation on the higher
ground of God's unchangeable faithfulness to His              12:29)
own dear, redeemed children.                                    That Paul did not fall into this terrible judgment
 Only thus can be understood Paul's strong and               but received mercy, even though he had persecuted
emphatic assertion of his confidence in the Galatian         the church of God beyond measure, was because he
churches that they shall not be moved from the hope          had done it ignorantly in unbelief. ( I Tim. 1: 13) This
of the Gospel at all. They have been moved                   same Paul had pronounced the curse upon anyone
momentarily by these blowing winds of error and              who preached a Gospel differently from what he had
deception (Eph. 4: 14) but they shall basically stand        preached. Yea, what these false teachers were
in their liberty in Christ Jesus. They shall be none         preaching was not  "another  Gospel," but it was
otherwise minded. In their deepest mind, their               merely an attempt to subvert the faith. Upon all such,
"phreen,  " they shall all stand unitedly, as  fellow-       be they Paul himself or even an angel from heaven,
athletes in the truth of the Gospel. (Phil. 1:27) Their      Paul pronounced "anathema." (Gal. 1:8, 9) Here Paul
anchor holds sure and steadfast in the temple, within        has such a one who disturbs the church in mind. It
the vail. (Heb. 6: 19, 20) Paul says here, according to      really makes no difference who he is. Paul writes
the Greek perfect tense (pepoitha) that up to the            "whosoever he be." There is no respect of persons
present moment he has really held this persuasion in         with God in His just judgment. (Rom. 2: 11; Eph. 6:9;
his heart concerning these Galatian churches. Yes,           Col.  3:25; James  2:l) Such a one will bear the
they had been troubled, but not in such a degree that        judgment, which God has in store for such disturbers
their basic conviction concerning the liberty in Christ      of His people, who are the apple of His eye. God has
had been lost. For this is not mere human boasting in        a special place for the false prophets, for those who
                                                                                                 __-
man, an attempt to bolster up some fagging spirits in        love and make a lie. (Rev. 22: 15) Moses had already
a lost cause, but it is a sure conviction "in the Lord,"     warned Israel against "adding to" or "taking away
Who gave His life a ransom for our sins. And so these        from" the words of the Lord spoken by him from the
Galatians, who are free-born sons in the Lord, cannot        mouth of the Lord. (Deut.  4:2) And Jesus reiterates
be brought to another mind in regard to any point            these words of Moses to John, the Apostle, on the
(ouden) of the Gospel message. It all stands in their        island of Patmos. (Rev. 22: 18, 19)
mind like the rock of Gibraltar. What a glorious               For other foundation can no man lay than that
confidence in the battle with all error in the church.       which is laid, which is Jesus Christ!


280                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



THE MOST INCREDIBLE SLANDER OF PAUL'S                         `They are enemies of the Cross of Christ!
PREACHING REFUTED (Galatians 5 : 11, 12)                      They misinterpret Paul's becoming a Jew to the
                                                            Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles; these miserable
  It was told to the congregation and others that           protagonists of the salvation by works dog the steps
Paul himself was still  :preaching that one had to be       of Paul everywhere to seek to undermine his apostolic
circumcised first to become a believer in Jesus Christ      influence. Even when Paul shewed  them in Jerusalem
and be saved!                                               that he was not adverse to keeping a "Jewish vow"
  Incredible? Yes, that this was affirmed! But Paul         they well-nigh killed him; he was saved and protected
must have known the; things whereof he here speaks          by the soldiers of the Roman emperor stationed
to the Galatians.                                           there. (Acts 21: 17-26) But the victory course of the
                       ,                                    Gospel cannot be stopped by all the gates of hell
  They did not merely affirm that upon one occasion         which would prevail. The  offence of the Cross will
Paul had had Timothy circumcised "because of the            not be taken away!
Jews who were in those parts: for they all know that          Paul speaks of "the  offence of the Cross."  (to
his father was a Greek." (Acts 16: l-3) What these          skandalon tou stauvou)  We do well to take notice of
calumniators wilfully ioverlooked was that, when it         this "offence" of the Cross a bit in depth. The term
was a question of whether the "truth of the Gospel"         "offence" here is really, in the Greek,  "stumbling-
shall stand, Paul does not give place to-them, "no, not     block." When taken in connection with the Cross of
for an hour." He refuses to yield to the pressures that     Christ it refers to that truth of the Gospel which
Titus, the Greek, be circumcised. He does not yield an      preaches that salvation is wholly without any
iota to those who came "to spy out of our liberty" in       meritorious works of man. It is all of grace, that no
Christ Jesus. (Gal. 2: 114) Heedless of the facts, these    man should boast save in the Lord. Now if Paul
false teachers circulate the fable that Paul was still      preached "circumcision" as a way of salvation it
"preaching" (eti kurussoo) circumcision as a way of         would mean that we had not, through law, died unto
salvation! To what great lengths will not the enemies       law at all, that we are still under the curse of the law,
of the Gospel go to propagate their lie, as being the       that a bloody sacrifice must still be brought, and that
way of salvation!                                           Christ is not the end of the law for righteousness to
  What motivates these calumniators?                        everyone who believes.

IN  l!lIS FEAR  I





                                     True Godly Fear
                                               Rev. Arie den Hartog





  We have seen that God is a God to be feared               Himself in the scriptures, if we know Him in a true,
because of who and what He is. He is the absolutely         living and spiritual way  -we will surely tremble and
Sovereign, Almighty God, infinite in greatness and          fear in His presence. In fact there can be no other
majesty, and perfect in holiness. Men have done much        reaction possible for the sincere child of God when he
in their vain imagination to change the glory of God        stands in the presence of God than the reaction of
into a lie. With their idolatrous concepts of God they      holy reverential fear and trembling. In our present
have made a god who need not be feared. If we truly         article we shall examine two other elements of godly
know who and what God is as He has revealed                 fear.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 281


   God is to be feared because He is the everywhere-         God in all of our awful sinful life. We live that life in
present and all-knowing God. Godly fear is born out          the light of His holy majesty. And all our sins are an
 of a profound, conscious, all-pervasive sense of the        offense to His infinite majesty. He is sore displeased
presence of God. The Sovereign, Almighty, infinitely         at them. The God Who loves us and Whom we love is
great and majestic God, the perfectly Holy One, is           grievously offended because of our sins.
very near unto every one of us. He is near us as the
living God of heaven and earth. He is at once                   The foolish man thinks that He can flee from the
                                                             presence of the Lord. The ungodly man is terrified
infinitely transcendent and exalted above His crea-          when the Lord reveals His presence through mighty
tion, dwelling in the highest heavenly majesty, and at
the same time everywhere present in all of His               signs and judgment. The godly man lives His life in
                                                             the presence of the Lord and therefore fears with
creation. He is so great that .He is the Lord of heaven      great fear. He passes the time of his sojourn in fear.
and earth, having made them  and. all that they
contain. His being fills the heavens and the earth and       He works out his salvation with fear and trembling.
is so near us that in Him we live and move and have             In contemplating this aspect of the fear of God we
our being. Such a God is indeed to be feared. A god          surely must confess that we have but a small
who is relegated to some place in the distant space          beginning of this true godly fear. How often a whole
need not be feared. A god who is merely the product          day and even more goes by when not a thought of
of abstract theological and dogmatic reflection need         God goes through our minds! If we would total up all
not be feared. The living present God is the fearful         the times of our life when we were conscious of the
God. The godly man is that man who is profoundly             Lord's presence, how small would that total be! How
conscious of the presence of God. He is one who              different we often would live if we were conscious of
knows that God is everywhere with him, on every              the presence of the Lord! How differently we live even
side, ever watching over him, ever with him.                 in the sight of men than we live when we are alone!
                                                             How much more would our life be different if we
   How wonderfully conscious of the presence of the          were more conscious of the Lord's continual presence
Lord was the Psalmist, particularly as he wrote Psalm        with us!
139:7-12: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or
whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up          Immediately related to the fact that the Lord is
into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell,       everywhere present is the fact that He is the
behold Thou art there. If I take the wings of the            all-knowing God. There is nothing that is hid from
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,        Him. There are no secrets that can be concealed from
even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right             His all-seeing and all-knowing presence. Again we can
hand-shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall       turn to Psalm 139 for a beautiful expression of this
cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea,       truth. "0 Lord, Thou hast searched me and known
the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night             me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising;
shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both      Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou
alike to thee." The Psalmist in Psalm 97 speaks of the       compassest my path and my lying down and art
fearfulness of the presence of the Lord. "The Lord           acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word
reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the    in my tongue, but lo, 0 Lord, Thou knowest it
isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round         altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before,
about. Him; righteousness and judgment are the               and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too
habitation of His throne. A fire goeth before Him,           wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
and bumeth up His enemies round about. His                   Psalm 139: l-6. How wonderful is this knowledge of
lightnings enlightened the world; the earth saw, and         God and at the same time how fearful when we really
trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of       consider this truth! It is wonderful that the Lord
the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole           knows us altogether for then He knows all our
earth." Psalm  97:1-5. This truth is both wonderful          sorrows, our trials and our afflictions. He knows our
and fearful. Wonderful it is because that the Lord is        sins and weaknesses, He knows the burdens we bear.
present with His people means that He is present with        And therefore He can and does have tender loving
them in all of His wonderful goodness and blessed-           compassion upon us. But how fearful is the thought
ness. He is present with them in His infinite love,          also that God knows us completely, even every
wonderful grace, and forgiving mercy. He is present          thought that goes through our minds and every word
with them to protect them and keep them under the            that we speak. How fearful that He knows this as the
shadow of His wings in safety. Therefore God's               holy and the perfectly just God!
people are truly blessed above all people. Therefore           How vain and foolish are the wicked in their
they are kept in perfect safety and none can harm            boasting and in their sin! They say the Lord does not
them. But how fearful is this truth also. The Lord is        see, the Lord does not consider and therefore He
near us in all that we do. He is near us as the Holy         cannot judge. "In a moment shall they die, and the


282                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away;        heart, soul, and mind. There is no sense of the
and the mighty shall. be taken away without hand.           wonder of the holiness of God and what that holiness
For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He seeth         implies for those who would stand in His presence.
all his goings. There is no darkness nor shadow of          How little thought is given to the height, depth, and
death where the workers of iniquity may hide                breadth of the law of God. How little consideration
themselves." Job 34:2 l-22.                                 there is of the absolute perfection that holiness
  But what about us who call ourselves godly and            requires. How men live for themselves and in the lust
god-fearing, do we know this? How many are the              of the flesh and the pride of life. How little
secret sins that we seek to hide from the sight of          consideration of the fact that all our life must be
men! Do we know that in the light of His                    lived for and'unto God alone.
countenance all those sins are `known? Are, we                To fear God is to know God as the God Who loves
conscious of the fact that "all things are naked and        righteousness and hates iniquity. To fear God is to
open unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to              know Him as the perfectly holy God Who is a
do"? Hebrews  4:13. Do you tremble at the thought           consuming fire to the workers of iniquity. The
of this? Surely you ought to. It is only the fool who       God-fearing man knows that God is sore-displeased
does not fear with exceeding great fear at the thought      with all of His sins, because those sins are an offense
of this.                                                    against His infinite holy majesty. The god-fearing
  The second element of godly fear that we would            man, when he considers the perfect law of God and
like to consider is this. Godly fear means that one is      the meaning of God's requirement, "be ye holy even
fully conscious pf the awesome calling and obligation       as I am holy," trembles with exceeding great fear, for
which he has before God. Godly fear,means that we           he knows that he cannot possibly fulfill those
understand what it means that God has made us for           requirements. He knows that he is prone by nature to
Himself and for His own glory. It means that we             do the opposite. He knows that even as a child of
understand what the Lord requires of us in His holy         God he has only a very small beginning of obedience
law, that we love Him with all our heart and soul and       and holiness.
strength and mind. Godly fear means that we know
the `meaning of the awesome requirement "be ye holy           The god-fearing man is the one who knows what it
even as I am holy." Godly fear means that we know           means to fall on his face in the presence of the holy
that God has redeemed us from sin and death for one         majesty of God ,because of the awfulness of his sins.
purpose only and that is to glorify and praise Him          The god-fearing man is the one who is continually
forever.                                                    pleading for mercy because he knows that if it were
                                                            not for the mercy of God he would surely be
  One of the chief reasons for the fact that there is       consumed in His awful holy presence. The god-fearing
so little true fear of God among so many who call           man is one  :who understands that he cannot even
themselves Christians i:s their low conception of all of    begin to keep the law of God and His holy
this. The law of God is no longer strictly preached. It     requirements unless he receives continually of the
is reduced to a few simple outward precepts. Men            grace of God and of His Holy Spirit.
think that they can  .very easily be finished with
keeping the law. There is no understanding of the             How much do we know this kind of godly fear and
profound spiritual requirement of the law. Men know         how much is it in evidence among us? May God give
little of what it means to love God perfectly with          us His grace to be so god-fearing.

TAKING  HEEd TO THE  DO.CTRINE


                                        The Reformed
                       1 Doctrine of Reprobation
                                               Rev. David Engelsma


 "THEWELL-MEAN?OFFEROFTHECiOSPEL"                           Reformed Church over the past fifty years affords a
  The development of doctrine in the Christian              text-book illustration of the certain overthrow of the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         283


Reformed doctrine of double predestination by the          sincerely said to be available to all."
teaching of a "well-meant offer of the gospel." In            In a later article, `/Redemptive Love and the
1924, the C.R.C. adopted the doctrine of a  well-          Gospel Offer" (January,  1964),  he wrote: "This
meant offer of grace in the preaching of the gospel.       article intends to set  1 forth the universal factors
For years, her theologians defended themselves             inherent in the well-meant offfer of the gospel. It
against the charge that a grace of God for all men in      carries one main thrust:  that the love of God
the gospel militated against double predestination by      expressed in the gospel and its universal invitation is
asserting that double predestination and the  well-        truly a redemptive love and that the presentation of
meant offer, although apparently contradictory,, were      the gospel must express this principle. "
paradoxical truths. Rejection of the offer as a
contradiction of double predestination, they decried          Dekker's response to his Christian Reformed
as "logic" and "rationalism." The C.R.C. intended to       critics, committed to a man to the "paradox" `of a
hold both predestination and the well-meant offer in       well-meant offer side-by-side with double predestina-
paradoxical tension.                                       tion, was to hoist them with their own petard:
  R. B. Kuiper, was representative. Having described              Why are my critics unwilling td recognize a
the offer as expressing God's "desir(ing) the salvation        paradox between a universal atonement and a limited
                                                               redemption when this is so plainly taught in the
of every sinner reached by the gospel," he notes that          Bible? Why are they unwiUing  to recognize a paradox
"it has been argued that (the) doctrine (of reproba-           of a redemptive love which does not always redeem
tion) rules out the universal and sincere offer of the         when this is so clearly the presentation of Scripture?
gospel. If God decreed from eternity that some men             Do they suppose that such paradoxes as these are any
would perish everlastingly, it is said to be inconceiv-        greater or any more difficult to accept than the
able that he would in time sincerely invite all without        paradox which they affirm of a God who sincerely
distinction to everlasting life." Kuiper declares that         desires the salvation of all men and yet does not save
"the all-important fact is that the Word of God                them  all? (The  Refomzed Journal,  September, 1964).
teaches unmistakably both divine reprobation and the          The outcome of the controversy was the approval
universality as well as the sincerity of the gospel        of the doctrines of universal redemptive love and
offer." To the charge that the two doctrines               universal atonement by- the Synod of 1967. Synod
contradict each other, he replies: "We may `as well        refused to adopt the recommendations that would
admit, in fact, it must  `be admitted, that these          have condemned the doctrines taught by Dekker,
teachings cannot be reconciled with each other by          contenting itself with an admonition of Dekker "for
human reason. As far as human logic `is concerned,         the ambiguous and abstract way in which he has
they rule one another out. However, the acceptance         expressed himself in his writing on the love of God
of either to the exclusion of the other stands             and the atonement."
condemned as rationalism. Not human reason, but              Whatever remains of the "paradox" is presently
God's infallible Word, is the norm of truth. That          being dissolved in the C.R.C. The acid is the gravamen
Word contains many paradoxes. The classical example        of Harry Boer against the doctrine of reprobation in
is that of divine sovereignty and human responsibil-       the Canons of Dordt. In 1975, Boer addressed a letter
ity. The two teachings now under consideration also        to the Synod. The letter was first published as an
constitute a striking paradox. To destroy a Scriptural     open letter in the April, 1975 issue of The Reformed
paradox by rejecting one of its elements is to place       Journal.  Boer denied that the letter was a gravamen
human logic above the divine Word" (God-Centered           against the doctrine of reprobation. He presented it as
Evangelism, Chapters 2 and 3).                             "a request for information: what is `the express
  The "striking paradox" was severely shaken in the        testimony of sacred Scripture' that teaches the
1960's. In a series of articles  in The Reformed           doctrine confessed" in the Canons, I, 6 and I,  15?
Journal,  Harold Dekker, professor at Calvin Semi-         Nevertheless, the letter was obviously an attack on
nary, argued for a universal redemptive love of God        the doctrine of reprobation as found in the Canons.
and a universal atonement of Christ. He based these        The letter charged that the doctrine of reprobation
teachings on the doctrine of the well-meant offer,         set .forth in the Canons is a basic cause of the C.R.C.`s
already adopted by the C.R.C. In the original article      losing their birthright, namely, the truth of salvation
of December, 1962, "God So Loved  - All  .Men!,"           by grace alone. It accused reprobation of making it
Dekker wrote : "The universal love of God is also          impossible to preach on election in the C.R.C. Like a
revealed in His invitation of the gospel, sincerely        "diseased appendix," reprobation plays a destructive
extended to all without reservation or limitation." He     role in the body of the C.R.C.
asked:  ". . . is the salvation which the atonement          In a significant section of the letter,  Boer called
provides available to all men? Indeed it is. Otherwise     attention to the amazing silence regarding reproba-
the well-meant offer of the gospel is a farce, for it      tion, when the Church was debating and judging
then offers sincerely to all men what cannot be            Harold Dekker's teaching of universal redemptive love


284                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



and universal atonement. Boer noted, pointedly, that                  deepest and most determinative levels? This was not
Dekker grounded his teaching in "the universal                        done. That it was not  done is the "impossible
well-meant offer of the gospel, a teaching strongly                  possibility" of the whole "Love of God" disputation:
held in the C.R.C." By implication, Boer argued that                 impossible because inconceivable; possible because it
the doctrines of the offer and universal atonement,                  happened.
accepted by the C.R.C., have overthrown the doctrine                     It is hardly warranted to have so low an opinion of
of reprobation already, and that the theologians are                  Christian Reformed theological competence as to
well aware of it! Because it clearly points out the line             suppose that the theological community at large, the
that runs from the well-meant offer to the denial of                  several members of the synodical study committee,
reprobation, via universal atonement, this part of                    and the constituency of the Synod of 1967 were
                                                                     man for man unaware of the inescapable correlation
Boer's letter deserves to be quoted in full.                         between reprobation and the "God So Loved. . . All
          The public situation has an official aspect which          Men" thesis -of Professor Dekker. But all were silent
       makes that situation even more ominous. The                    on the subject. The informed and concerned observer
       ambiguous  manner  in which the doctrine of reproba-           of the scene can hardly fail to conclude that the
       tion is held in the Christian Reformed Church stood            Christian Reformed Church is not only silent on
       forth starkly during the so-called "Love of God"               reprobation, but that there is an unspoken consensus
       controversy, 1963-1967, though I am not aware that             to be so and to remain so.
       public note has ever been taken of this. In that              The 1975 Synod of the C.R.C. received Boer's
       controversy Professor Harold Dekker, teacher of            letter, declaring "that Dr. Boer has raised a legitimate
       missions at Calvin Theological Seminary, was called
       to account before the highest  judiciary  of the Church    concern to which the church should address herself."
       for having written publicly that God loves all men         In 1977, Boer submitted to the Synod "a gravamen
       redemptively. He did so in terms of the universal          against the Reformed doctrine of reprobation as
       well-meant offer of the gospel, a teaching strongly        taught notably in the Canons of  Dart   I/6 and  I/15."
       held in the Christian Reformed Church, and of              According to Article 75 of the "1977 Acts of Synod"
       Christ's atonement which in Reformed doctrine is           of the C.R.C. (the cover of which, in supreme irony,
       sufficient to atone for the sins of all  men; The theme    is a photo depicting the Synod of Dordt!), the
       of his argument was signaled by the title of his main      decision of Synod concerning the gravamen was the
       article in the Reformed Journal, December 1962,            appointment of "a committee to receive the reactions
       "God So Loved . . . All Men!"                              of individuals, consistories, and classes, to study the
          Beyond question, Professor Dekker raised issues of      gravamen in the light of Scripture, and to advise the
       profound theological import in the Reformed tradi-         Synod of 1980 as to the cogency of the gravamen and
       tion. It is no part of the purpose of this address to      how it should further be dealt with by synod." Can
       enter upon them. There is, however, one aspect of the      anyone stand in doubt as to the outcome?
       theological confrontation which Professor Dekker's
       articles elicited that has been wholly overlooked             In fifty years, the doctrine of a well-meant offer
       although it is of the most crucial significance. The       has overthrown the Reformed doctrines of limited
       doctrine of reprobation played no role of any kind         atonement and double predestination in the C.R.C.;
       whatever in the debate  that was carried on for            and it has done this in an open, public, official way.
       four-and-one-half years. The synodical study commit-
       tee (specifically mandated to study the  medal  as well       The question will not down: Why does no one -
       as the scriptural aspects of issues arising), the          not the Reformed and Presbyterian communities
       numerous overtures to the Synod of 1967,  andmost          looking on, not those within the C.R.C. opposed to
       notably the decisive and fully documented action of        the attacks on limited atonement and reprobation, no
       that Synod never raised the relevance of the doctrine      one  - challenge the legitimacy of the well-meant
       of reprobation. Nowhere and by no one was it made a        offer, even though all behold the offer devastating the
       constitutive element either in study or in adjudica-       historic, confessional, Reformed doctrine of sov-
       tion. How could this happen? What could in such a          ereign, particular grace?
       debate as ensued conceivably be of more basic and
       determinative significance than God's eternal decree?                          (to be continued)
       Out of it the whole redemptive work of Christ flows.                                                     A
       Would the decree of reprobation not have bearing on
       the problem of limited atonement  which was dis-             Know the standard
       cussed at such great length? Or on the universal
       well-meant offer of the gospel? How was it possible               and follow it.
       to belabor Professor Dekker with all the ponderous
       charges of departure from the teachings of the
       Reformed Confessions that were leveled at him,                         Read the
       especially,  rzota  bene,  the Canons of  Dart, without
       involving the doctrine of reprobation and that at the       STANDARD  BEA


                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                           285


THE VOICE  OFOUR FATHERS





                                                           The Comfort of the
                                                                    Last Judgernent
                                                                               Pro3 Robert D. Decker





                  "Finally we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is
                  unknown to all creatures) is come, and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus  Christ will
                  come from heaven, corporally and visibly, as he ascended, with great glory and majesty to declare himself
                 judge of the quick and the dead; burning this old world with fire and flame, to cleanse it. And then all men
                  will personally appear before this great judge, both men and women and children, that have been from the
                  beginning of the world to the end thereof, being summoned by the voice of the archangel, and by the sound
                  of the trumpet of God. For all the dead shall be raised out of the earth, and their souls joined and united
                  with their proper bodies, in which they formerly lived. As for those who shall then be living, they shall not
                  die as the others, but be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and from corruptible become incorruptible.
                  Then the books (that is to say the consciences) shall be opened, and the dead judged according to what
                  they shall have done in this world, whether it be good or evil. Nay, all men shall give an account of every
                  idle word which they have spoken, which the world only counts amusement and jest: and then the secrets
                  and hypocrisy of men shall be disclosed and laid open before all. And therefore the consideration of this
                 judgment is justly terrible and dreadful to the wicked and ungodly, but most desirable and comfortable to
                  the righteous and elect: because then their full deliverance shall be perfected, and there they shall receive
                  the fruits of their labors and trouble which they have borne. Their innocence shall be known to all, and
                  they shall see the terrible vengeance which God shall execute on the wicked, who most cruelly persecuted,
                  oppressed and tormented them in this world; and who shall be convicted by the testimony of their own
                  consciences, and being immortal, shall be tormented in that everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil
                  and his angels. But on the contrary, the faithful and elect shall be crowned with glory and honor; and the
                  Son of God will confess their names before God his father, and his elect angels; all tears shall be wiped from
                  their eyes; and their cause which is now condemned by many judges and magistrates, as heretical and
                  impious, will then be known to be the cause of the Son of God. And for a gracious reward, the Lord will
                  cause them to possess such a glory as never entered into the heart of man to conceive. Therefore we expect
                  that great day with a most ardent desire to the end that we may fully enjoy the promises of God in Christ
                  Jesus Our Lord. AMEN.
                      `Even so come, Lord Jesus.' Rev. 22:20"                                                        The  Be&c Confession,  Article XXXVII



       It is striking, from the perspective of the  con-
temporary  scene, that the  Confession  devotes just                                               be given this aspect of the truth. However, the more
one article to the all-important subject of the last                                               one ponders this last article of our  Confession  the
t h i n g s .   O n   a c c o u n t   o f   a l l   t h a t   i s   b e i n g   s a i d   a n d    more one is impressed with the fact that this is both
w r i t t e n   o n   t h i s   s u b j e c t   t h e s e   d a y s ,   a n d   a l s o   o n      an adequate and eloquent expression of the truth as it
account of all of the erroneous views expressed, if the
-..                                                                                                c o n c e r n s   t h e   l a s t   j u d g m e n t .   E v e r y   a s p e c t   o f   t h i s
Confession  were written today more attention might                                                doctrine is covered, and the  article  is strictly -Biblical


2 8 6                                          THE STANDARD  BEARE?


in what it says. In fact the article is one of the most      me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
beautiful of  the  entire  Confession.  This is due, no      righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to
doubt, in large part to the fact that it was written         me only, but unto all them that love his appearing."
during a time of severe persecution.                         (II Timothy 4:8)
  The article speaks first of all concerning the return        This return in power and great glory of the Lord
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There,are several elements         Jesus is the object of the hope of God's people in this
mentioned in this connection. The time of Christ's           world. As the redeemed of the Lord whose citizen-
return is appointed of the Father and known of the           ship is in heaven they walk as strangers and pilgrims
Father, but remains unknown to the creature. Jesus           in the earth. They seek the Kingdom of God and His
spoke of that to His disciples when He said: "But of         righteousness and love not the world; neither the
that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the                things that are in the world. They live in expectation
angels in heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew              of the coming of their Lord and Savior. In that hope
24:36) Because no man knows the day or the hour              they shall not be ashamed!
when the Son of Man returns, our Lord exhorted-the
disciples and us: "Watch therefore: for ye know not            The Confession goes on to speak of the judgment.
what hour your Lord doth come." (Matthew.24:42)              The return of Christ is accompanied by the destruc-
What we do know is that when the number of the               tion of the present creation. This old world is going
elect is complete and the entire church has been born        to burn with fire and flame in order to be cleansed.
and gathered out of the nations, Christ will come. He        Nowhere in the Scriptures is this spoken of with great-
will come, moreover, visibly and corporally, just as         er clarity than in II Peter 3 : 1 O-l 3 : "But the day of the
He ascended and was received out of the sight of His         Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
disciples. This is exactly what the angels told the          the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
wondering disciples when Jesus had ascended: "Ye             the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?          also and the works that are therein shall be burned
This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into             up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen         what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
him go into heaven." (Acts 1: 11) The Apostle Paul           conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting
comforts the Thessalonian Christians with this same          unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
truth when he writes: "For the Lord himself shall            heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of          elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless
the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the            we, according to his promise, look for new heavens
dead in Christ shall rise first." (I Thessalonians 4: 16)    and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." At
Still more, that coming of Christ will be one of great       His coming there shall also be the resurrection of the
glory and majesty. His first coming was in humiliation       bodies of all who died. At this moment the souls of
and poverty, for He came to lay down His life at the         men shall be joined and united with their proper
cross for the sins of His people. His return will be in      bodies. For the people of God this will be a change to
glory. Having entered our death and atoned for our           glory. The Scripture declares: "So also is the
sins, Christ will come as the exalted Lord of lords and      resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is
King of kings. Of this Jesus spoke not long before the       raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is
cross : "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of        raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in
Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the          power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a
earth. mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man              spiritual,body: . .  ." (I Corinthians 15 : 42-44) Those
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great          who are living at that time will also be changed. This
glory." (Matthew 24:30) Finally the Scriptures teach         change will be effected not through death. It will take
and we confess that Jesus will come as Judge. Of this        place in a moment, "in the twinkling of an eye." It will
too Jesus spoke plainly: "When the Son of Man shall          be a change from corruption to incorruption, from
come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him,         mortality to immortality. (Cf. I Corinthians
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And          15:51-54)
before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall         Speaking of the judgment itself the  Confession
separate them one from another, as a shepherd                states that all men shall be judged according to their
divideth his sheep from the goats. . .  ." (Matthew          works, "according to what they have done in the
25:3 l-46) Thus the inspired Apostle charges                 world, whether it be good or evil. Nay, all men shall
Timothy: ". . . before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,        give an account of every idle, word they have
who shall judge the quick  .a.nd the dead  .at his           spoken, which the world only counts amusement and
appearing and his kingdom." (II Timothy 4: 1) Near           jest: and then the secrets and hypocrisy of men shall
the end of his life the same apostle makes the               be disclosed and laid open before all." Concerning
beautiful confession: "Henceforth there is laid up for       this Jesus said:
                                                                               "Marvel not at this: for the hour is


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                       287


%oming, in the which they that are in the graves shall                    power." (II Thessalonians 1:7-9) The reward of the
hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have                      righteous shall be exceedingly glorious. They shall be
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they                         crowned with glory and honor. Christ will confess
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of                             their names before His Father. All tears shall be
damnation." (John 5:28, 29) Rather strikingly in this                     wiped from their eyes. Their cause shall be made
connection the  Conffssion-  speaks of men's con-                         known as the cause of the Son of God and they shall
sciences as books that shall be opened. Evidently the                     possess glory such as never entered into the heart of
meaning is that all men shall be judged in their                          many to conceive.,  (cf. I Corinthians  2:9) They,
consciences. All men shall be subjectively convinced                      therefore, look forwardwith eager anticipation to the
in their own consciences of the absolute justice of                       day of judgment, for in that day they shall enjoy the
God's judgment. The righteous shall be judged as they                     fulfillment of all the promises of God. Then they
stand in Jesus Christ. Their cause, for which they                        shall enter into the joy of their Lord. John the
were mocked and scorned on the earth, shall be                            Apostle saw all this in vision: "And I saw a new
revealed as the cause of Christ. In the judgment they                     heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the
shall be perfectly vindicated. Glory is their portion.                    tirst earth were passed away; and there was no more
Therefore they look forward in hope to that                               sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
judgment.                                                                 coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
    Finally the article speaks of the rewards and                         bride for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
punishments. The wicked in harmony with their base                        of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is
godlessness shall be burned in everlasting fire in the                    with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
sight of the righteous and the angels. Their judgment                     be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
shall be most dreadful and terrible. The inspired                         and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
.Apostle  speaks of this to the persecuted in  Thes-                      from their  eyes;and there shall be no more death,
salonica: ~"And to you who are troubled rest with us,                     neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven                         more pain; for the former things are passed away."
with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking                            (Revelation 21: l-4)
vengeance on them that know not God, and that                                 Powerfully the  Confession  concludes with the
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who                         prayer which is in the hearts and on the lips of all
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from                       those who live in hope of that glory: "Even so, come,
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his                       Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20)
                                                                                                                                                                                  ,

                             NOTICE!!!                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY,
   The Student Aid Committee wishes to announce that students who             On March 22, 1979, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
aspire to the ministry in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America     HENRY HELMHOLDT will celebrate their 60th weddina anniversarv.
and who are in need of financial assistance to attend our Seminary        We, their children, are grateful that we have had them  and that they
should contact either Mr. T. Englesma, 2333 Clyde Park, S.W., Grand       have had each other for these many years. May the Lord continue to
Rapids, Ml 49509, Phone 616-245-4706 or Mr. G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore,        bless them.
S.E., Grand Rapids, MI 49507, Phone 616-245-6145.                                                                        Mr. and Mrs. Ted Helmholdt
                                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs., John `W. Post
                                                                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Robert Alspaugh
                                                                          Grand Rapids, Ml
                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On Friday, March  30,1979 our parents, ADRIAN J. LENTING and
JACOBA LENTING hope to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
We, their children and grandchildren, are thankful to our covenant God
who has given us God-fearing parents, and a home where we may know           O n   M a r c h   6 ,   1 9 7 9   o u r   p a r e n t s ,   M R .   A N D   M R S .   J U S T I N
the fear of the Lord.                                                     KORTERING celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
   Our prayer is that God may bless them with His grace in the way           As their grateful children, we rejoice with them in the many
that lies ahead, and that in all their experiences they may enjoy that    blessings our Heavenly Father has showered upon us through them.
perfect peace which is only found in the cross of Christ.                 Accompanying these blessings have been some ways difficult for the
                                                                          flesh, but they have made us experience the love of one another and of
                                   Their grateful children:               God's people.
                                      Henry  &  JoHanna Lenting
                                      Adrian  & Trudy Lenting                We commend them to God's abiding care and further rejoice in the
                                      Len  & Betty Lenting                sure promises of everlasting life.
                                      Jack  & Joyce Lenting                                                              Lafern Kortering
                                      Bill  & Anita Lenting                                                             Jess Kortering
                                      Corrie                                                                            Mr. Ken Schuitema
                                      Bob                                                                                Rev. and Mrs. J. Kortering
                                      Jim                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. E.  Ko,rtering
                                      and 17 grandchildren                                                              and 12 grandchildren
South Holland, IL                                                         Holland, Ml

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




288                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                      s~Fmnn  Our Churches

  Another postcard with a rather spectacular view            nouncement by our Pastor of the prayer, 2) united
(this one of Mt. Cook) has arrived from New Zeeland.         silent prayer, 3) organist to conclude the prayer by
The sender, of course, is Rev. John Heys. The                playing "Hear Our Prayer, 0 Lord," 4) doxology
postcard was not sent just to share a view of the New        (congregation standing), 5) benediction. In prepara-
Zealand mountains, of course, but to inform Stan-            tion for the united silent prayer, the parents are asked
dard Bearer  readers of his new address. The new             to teach their children how they should properly
address is: Rev. & Mrs. John A. Heys, 5 15 Barrington,       participate in this prayer. Faith has now joined a
Christchurch 2, New Zealand. It seems that the owner         number of our churches which have adopted the use
of the "flat" in which the Rev. and Mrs. Heys were           of the united silent prayer before the service.
living returned from his trip around the world and                Rev. Lubbers began preaching on Sunday,
wanted his home back. Hence the need for new                 January 7, to a group in Charlotte, Michigan. Rev.
quarters. Rev. Heys is a "minister `on loan" from our        Lubbers led a morning service, followed immediately
churches to the congregation of the Orthodox                 by a catechism class, to four families (16 individuals)
Presbyterian Church in Christchurch. Rev. Heys also          meeting in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Rev.
mentioned that he had just returned from a 300 mile          Woudenberg, pastor of our church in Kalamazoo,
trip to the north. He had preached in Nelson, New            Michigan, is presently teaching a midweek Bible class
Zealand, the previous Sunday.                                there.
   Rev. Meindert Joostens and his family were                  The 1979 Protestant Reformed Young People's
scheduled to leave on Thursday, March 1, to labor in         Convention will be held on July 23-27 at Pine
Bradenton, Florida, for three weeks. During the              Summit, a Christian camp in the mountains near
absence of their pastor, First Church expects to             Redlands, California. The Young People's Society of
receive pulpit supply from the seminary.                     our church in Redlands is sponsoring the convention
   The dedication program for the new sanctuary and          this year. The convention theme will be "Redeeming
organ of our Faith Church in Jenison, Michigan, was          The Time," based on Ephesians 5: 16.
scheduled for Wednesday evening, February 28.                  The Men's Society of our church in Loveland,
The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Faith Church                     Colorado, has established a library in the church
scheduled a special meeting of their society on              basement. The contents of the library are available to
January 3 1. They invited Rev. Ronald Van Overloop           all the members of the congregation. The material
to show his slides on New Zealand and talk about his         includes "good sound -Reformed literature and cas-
work there. Rev. Van Overloop  preceded Rev. Heys            sette recordings of sermons and lectures." In their
as "minister on loan" in Christchurch.                       letter to the Loveland congregation announcing the
   Faith Church recently made .a change in their order       new library, the Men's Society stated, "It is our desire
of worship. This change was made known to the                that youuse our library material as we strive to grow
congregation in the bulletin as follows: "At its last        in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
meeting, the Consistory adopted a recommendation             The library idea appears to be a very worthwhile
to begin our worship service with a moment of united         service to the church and could be copied with profit
silent prayer. The Consistory believes this would be         by other of our churches.
an improvement in our service since it serves to unite         Martin Luther is quoted in the Redlands bulletin as
the saints together in this prayer. Also, it will include    follows:
the children of the congregation in the prayer and it           "I  .have tried to keep things in my hand and lost
will eliminate the interruption of those praying as             them all, but what I have given into God's hands I
others are entering the pew rows. The use of the                still possess."
united silent prayer will begin on the first Sunday in                                                          K.G.V.
January with the following order observed: 1)  an-


