      d  II-U  vuYvI\u
                  BEARER
p- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


        .    .     .    And. so we behold the amazing
     spectacle, the paradox of paradoxes,  that  God
     from heaven is pouring out His wrath upon
     H i s   p,eople, and that God in the flesh,
     suspended on the accursed tree  of Calvary,
     receives all the wrath of God in our stead and
     in our b e h a l f .

       God is pouring out His fierce wrath upon
     God in the flesh!

       God is with us in the darkness, Immanuel is
     descending into lowest `hell for us!

       It is the mercy of the Lord that we are not
     consumed. in that .hour of darkness!

                  When I Survey . . . . (Herman Hoeksema)
c                                       Volume LVI, No. 13, April 1, 1980 d


290                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                           CONTENiS:                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                     Semi-monthly.   except  monthly   during   June,  July,   and  August.
                                                                                       Published  by  the  Reformed  Free  Publishing   Association,  Inc.
                                                                                              Second  Class  Postage   Paid  at  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.
Meditation  -                                                                  Editor-in-Chief:  Prof.  Homer  C.  Hoeksema
                                                                               Department Editors: Rev.  Wayne   Bekkering,   Rev.  Arie  denHartog.   Prof.
   The Wonder of the Resurrection . . . . . . . . . . .290                     Robert   D.  Decker,   Rev.  David  J.  Engelsma,   Rev.  Richard  Flikkema,
                                                                               Rev.  Cornelius  Hanko,  Prof.  Herman   Hanko,   Rev.  John   A.  Heys,  Rev.
Editorial  -                                                                   Kenneth  Koole,   Rev.  Jay  Kortering,   Rev.  George  C.  Lubbers,  Rev.
                                                                               Rodney  Miersma,  Rev.  Marinus  Schipper.   Rev.  James   Siopsema,  Rev.
                                                                               Gise  J.  Van  Baren,  Rev.  Ronald  Van  Overloop,   Rev.  Herman   Veldman.
   As to Changes in Student Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293                 Mr.  Kenneth  G.  Vink.
                                                                               Editorial Office:  Prof.  H.C.  Hoeksema
My Sheep Hear My Voice  -                                                                            4975   lvanrest  Ave.  S.W.
                                                                                                     Grandville,   Michigan   49416
   Letter to Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .296           Church News Editor:  Mr.  Kenneth  G.  Vink
                                                                                                            1422  Linwood,   S.E.
                                                                                                            Grand  RaDids.  Michigan   49507
The Day of Shadows  -                                                          Editorial Policy:  Every  editor   is  sdlely  responsible   for  the  contents  of
                                                                               his  own  articles.   Contributions   of  general  interest   from  our  readers  and
   A Pillar of Witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .298          questions  for  the  Question-Box   Department   are  welcome.  Contri-
                                                                               butions  will  be  limited   to  approximately   300  words   and  must  be  neatly
Signs of the Times  -                                                          written   or  typewritten,   and  must  be  signed.  Copy  deadlines   are  the  first
                                                                               and  the  fifteenth   of  the  month.   All  communications   relative  to  the
                                                                               contents  should  be  sent  to  the  editorial   Office.
   The Last Time: How Are We Living? . . . . . . .  .301                       R e p r i n t   P o l i c y :   Permission   is  hereby  granted   for  the  reprinting  of
                                                                               articles   in  our  magazine   by  other  publications,  Provided:  a)  that  such
In His Fear  -                                                                 reprinted  articles   are  reproduced  in  full;  b)  that  proper  acknowledge-
                                                                               ment  is  made:   c)  that  a  copy  of  the  Periodical  in  which  such  reprint
   Teaching Our Children the Fear                                              appears  is  sent   to  our  editorial   office.
                                                                               Business Office:  The  Standard  Bearer
                                                                                                     Mr.  H.  Vander   Wal.  Bus.  Mgr.
       of the Lord.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .303                              P.O.  Box  6064
                                                                                                     Grand  Rapids,  Michigan   49506
Taking Heed to the Doctrine  -                                                 New Zealand Business OffIce:                The  Standard  Bearer,
                                                                                                                            c/o  OPC  Bookshop,
   The Incarnation (conclusion) . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .306                                                             P.O.  Box  2269
                                                                                                                            Christchurch,  New  Zealand
From Holy Writ  -                                                              S u b s c r i p t i o n   P o l i c y :   Subscription   price,  $9.00   per  year.  Unless  a
                                                                               definite   request   for  discontinuance   is  received,   i t   is  assumed  that  the
                                                                               subscriber  wishes  the  subscription  to  continue  without   the  formality   of
   Exposition of Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .308             a  renewal  order,  and  he  will  be  billed  for  renewal.  If  you  have   a  change
                                                                               of  address,  please  notify  the  Business  Office  as  early  as  possible  in  order
BookReview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...310            to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of  delayed  delivery.  Include  your  Zip  Code.
News From Our Churches                                                         Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does   not  accept   commercial
                                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .312    advertising   of  any  kind.  Announcements   of  church   and  school  events,
                                                                               anniversaries,   obituaries,  and  sympathy   resolutions  will  be  placed  for  a
                                                                               $3.00  fee.  These  should   be  sent  to  the  Business   Office   and  should  be
                                                                               accompanied  by  the  $3.00  fee.  Deadline  for  announcements  is  the  1st
                                                                               or  the  15th  of  the  month,  Previous  to  publication   on  the  15th  or  the
                                                                               1st  resoectivelv.
                                                                               B o u n d ' Vo/u%&:  The  Business  Office  will  accept   standing   orders  for
                                                                               bound   copies  of  the  current  volume;  such  orders  are  filled  as  soon   as
                                                                               possible  after   completion   of  a  volume.  A  limited   number  of  past   vol-
                                                                               umes  may  be  obtained  through  the  Business   Office.


MEDITA TIO N



                       The Wonder of the Resurrection
                                                                    Rev. C. Hanko



                 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and
              believed.  '                                                                                                                John  20:8.


   The Lord is risen!                                                           .throughout  all His life. to the wrath of God, in order
   Wondrous work of God, a recreation which                                      to atone for the sins of His people.
brought life out of death, far more marvelous than                                   The Son of MAN came as the Shepherd to lay
the creation of the heavens and the earth.                                       down His life for His sheep, even when this involved
   The Son of GOD came in the likeness of sinful                                 separation from God in anguish of hellish torments,
flesh, in the form of a servant, to surrender Himself                            crying out in the amazement of His complete


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 291



isolation under the righteous judgment of the God of        away, but does not enter in as yet. Looking in, John
heaven and earth.                                           notices the linen clothes in which the Lord's body
  Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, willfully submitted to         had been wrapped. Impetuous Peter arrives just a bit
the power of death; first dying our spiritual death         later, ignores his fellow disciple who is standing
during the three hours of darkness on the cross, and        looking into the grave and rushes past him to
then entering into our physical death by surrendering       investigate for himself what has happened.
His spirit into His Father's hand and commanding              God methodically works out His plan and purpose
death to take His body as its prey. He took His place       even through our disorder and confusion. He was
among the dead of all ages. He set the stage, so that       preparing His own eye witnesses to learn about the
He could march triumphantly before the eyes of the          wonder of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God
whole world through death into heavenly life.               directed each one in his or her own time and manner
  As a reward on His accomplished work of the cross         to come to the tomb to behold that which eye has
God raised Him up in the early hours of the third           never seen, human ear has never heard, and far
day. As the mighty Conqueror the Son of God arose           exceeds our fondest imagination. One thing stands
from the shades of death and entered into a new,            out very clearly, and that is that none of the early
heavenly, spiritual, immortal life in His resurrection      visitors to Jesus' grave expected to find a risen Savior.
body.                                                       God leads each one step by step, preparing each of
                                                            them for the moment when Jesus would appear to
  He lives. We know He lives, for we have the               them personally and their faith could embrace a
testimony of God's infallible Word informing us of          living, risen Savior and Lord.
His resurrection, and we have the seal of the Holy
Spirit by faith in our hearts.                                Holy wonder.
                                                              John tells us in his own unique way how he learned
  I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son,       about the resurrection. All the emphasis falls on what
our Lord, Who . . . suffered . . . was crucified, dead      John saw. Three times he uses that word in this
and buried, descended into hell. The third day He           connection, yet each time with a different connota-
arose again from the dead. Glorious resurrection!           tion, which is lost in our translation. Let us try to
  Total confusion.                                          picture before our minds the entire scene as John
  When we follow the movements of the followers of          describes it. After standing at the opening of the
Jesus on the morning of the resurrection we are             tomb and  perceiving  that the grave clothes are still
impressed by the total confusion that reigned among         lying in the very place where the body of Jesus had
them.                                                       lain, John follows Peter into the sepulchre. Together
                                                            they stand staring at the grave clothes in deep study.
  A group of women, their arms laden with spices            It was obvious to both of the disciples that Jesus'
and ointments to perform their last acts of love upon       body had been embalmed in the usual manner, just as
Him to Whom they still clung in faith, come at the          Lazarus' body had been prepared for burial. Strips of
break of day to the now vacated sepulchre. They find        linen cloth with spices and ointments had been
the stone rolled away, and, looking into the tomb,          wrapped about the torso and about each limb
they see two men clothed in white garments as               separately. His head had also been wrapped in a
guardians of the grave, who inform the women that           special napkin, or covering. Peter stands gazing at the
Jesus is not here, for He is risen from the dead.           linen clothes, propbably rubbing his chin and beard in
  Mary Magdalene was with the women as they                 rapt amazement. Along with John he notices that the
approached the tomb, but, seeing that the stone was         linen clothes lie in the same position as when the
rolled away from the grave, she hastily concluded           body of Jesus was wrapped in them, but now the body
that someone had been here before them and had              is no longer there. Even the head piece lies separately,
stolen the body of Jesus and buried it elsewhere.           exactly as it had been wrapped about the head of the
Without investigating any further she only adds to the      Lord. And then, as John tells us, the light dawned.
confusion by returning to the city and informing            John saw, that is, he knew. And he believed.
Peter and John that the body of their Lord had been           Marvellous revelation.
stolen. Only later would she learn about the resurrec-        To John it was perfectly evident that Jesus could
tion when she met Jesus in person at the tomb..             not have risen in His earthly body and returned to
  Entirely misinformed, John and Peter rush to the          this life, as was the case with Lazarus.. When Lazarus
grave to ascertain what might have happened to the          was raised he came forth still wearing the grave
earthly remains of Him Whom they loved. In their            clothing. Jesus left the grave clothes behind. More-
excitement they do not stay together, but each              over, it was also evident that no one could have
hastens as fast as he can, so that John is the first one    desecrated the grave by carrying off the body of the
to arrive at the tomb. John sees the stone rolled           Lord. How could anyone take the body and leave the


292                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   BEARER



grave clothing undisturbed? There was but one                    Never before had anyone risen from the dead in a
explanation, and that was that God had performed              new, heavenly body.  Enoch and Elijah had gone into
the greatest resurrection wonder here that this world         heaven without passing through the anguish of death.
can ever know. Like a tulip bulb growing out into a           Others had been raised from the dead to return to
plant and flower, or like a moth coming forth out of          this life, only to be faced with that last enemy for a
its cocoon and leaving the vacated shell behind as            second time. All of these served to foreshadow the
evidence of its departure, so the Lord came forth out         resurrection of our Lord. But the Lord Himself
of His grave clothing in a new, heavenly, spiritual           passed through death into everlasting life. Christ's
body. He no longer needed earthly coverings. Nor              body was sown in corruption and was raised in
would these coverings fit that heavenly body. He              incorruption; it was sown in'dishonor and was raised
entered the tomb in an earthly body, He came forth            in glory; it was sown in weakness and was raised in
from the tomb, as it were, on the other side, the             power; it was sown a natural body and was raised a
heavenly side, with a resurrection body fit for               spiritual body.
heavenly perfection and glory. No human eye could                The mighty Conqueror entered into the stronghold
see Him in this new body. He could enter the room             of Satan and took Satan and his whole host captive.
unseen, and He could make His presence known by               He marched triumphantly through our physical death
taking on an appearance. He would fade away, as it            and the grave, arose on the third day, paused on His
were, .and no one saw Him go. The only time His               way for forty days, just long enough to show us the
disciples perceived His going was when He remained            wonder of His triumph over death, and then ascended
visible to them as He ascended to heaven and entered          before the eyes of His disciples into the cloud of
the cloud of glory.                                           glory, where He was greeted by millions of angels
  We cannot help but ask, why were the disciples so           who accompanied Him as the Victor to the throne of
slow in understanding the resurrection of their Lord?         the Ancient of Days, the Eternal God, where He was
We must bear in mind two things. First, the disciples         given all power in heaven and on earth with a Name
were of the earth earthy, so that they could not              above all names. Daniel 7:  13,14.
understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven                We now see much more than John saw in the
except these mysteries were revealed to them and              vacated tomb, and we know far more than he knew
they could perceive  .them by faith. Secondly, the            when he saw and believed. For with an eye of faith
disciples were still in the dispensation of shadows,          we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor at the
lacking the full revelation of salvation as we have it        right hand of God in the highest heavens. Heb.  2:9.
today. They had to be taught by signs and wonders                How can the human tongue ever fully declare all
that accompanied the preaching of the Word. And               that this victory over death means to us? We have a
therefore God in infinite mercy and divine under-             Highpriest in the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Righteous,
standing of our human frailties led them step by step         Who intercedes for us day and night. The Father
into the unfolding of the glorious wonder of the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.                        hears Him and bestows on Him every spiritual
                                                              blessing, which our Lord, in turn, bestows upon us
  Not as if the full light of this wonder flooded their       according to all our needs.
souls at once. John and Peter. still needed a personal           We are born again as new creatures in Christ by "a
appearance of the Lord to instruct them more fully in
the marvellous victory over death and the grave. Jesus        supernatural work, most powerful, and at the same
had to assure them that He was not a spirit, but had a        time most delightful, astonishing, mysterious, and
real body, even though now this body was heavenly             ineffable; not inferior in efficacy to creation, or the
and immortal. He also had to convince them that it            resurrection from the dead." Canons III, IV, 12. With
was the same body, as He demonstrated with the                the apostle Paul we confess, I live, yet no more I,
marks of the nail holes in His hands and feet.                Christ lives in me. For to me to live is Christ, and to
Repeatedly Jesus appeared in various forms to unfold          die is gain.
the mystery of the new life of the risen Lord. It was            Even as Christ is risen as the Firstfruits from the
weeks later that John was still wondering about this          dead, so also we will be raised in His likeness when He
mystery, for He knew that it was Jesus that appeared          returns with the clouds to take us to Himself. "We
to them, yet as risen Lord they had difficulty                shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
knowing Him. Therefore John tells us, "And none of            moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump;
the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing            for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
that it was the Lord."' John 21: 12. It took the out-         raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." I Cor.
pouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to make               15:51,52.
them fully understand.                                           "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory in
  Wonder of wonders.                                          our Lord Jesus Christ!"


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                               293


EDITORIAL




                                               As to Changes
                                              in Student Aid
                                                      ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema



   The recent report (Feb. 15 issue) of  Classis East               In the first place, there is Article 19 of our Church
made mention of two overtures concerning seminary                 Order: "The churches shall exert themselves, as far as
student aid which  Classis had before it. The overtures           necessary, that there may be students supported by
themselves are not included in the report. However,               them to be trained for the ministry of the Word." We
the report does contain a summary of the overtures                need not at this time go into the history and the
and of the action of  Classis, as follows:                        details of the article. We merely point out: 1) That
      Classis  also considered two overtures re seminary          the article is very broad, leaving the details of
    student aid. The first was submitted by  LaVerne              execution to the churches. 2) That in our churches at
    Casemier via Holland's Consistory. Mr. Casemier's             present this has been interpreted to mean that the
    proposal is to abolish the synodical student aid              churches in common, formerly through the General
    committee and that these funds be distributed instead         Classis and now through Synod and a synodically
    by a classical committee. The motivation for his              appointed, committee, take care of the support of the
    overture was the increasing practice (because of the          students mentioned in this article.
    limited funds available to students from synodical
    committee) of individual congregations establishing             In the second place, the Student Aid Committee of
    their own student aid funds, a practice which Mr.             Synod functions according to a synodically adopted
    Casemier believes to be contrary to the presbyterian          constitution. For the purposes of our present discus-
    form of church government. Mr. Casemier's overture            sion we may call attention to the following aspects of
    was sent to synod with the disapproval of  classis.  The      its regulations: 1) It is possible for students for the
    grounds  &ted were these (summarized): 1) it would
    be difficult to classify students from  Classis  West         ministry in our churches to receive support through
    since all students eventually hold membership in the          all the years of their schooling, both pre-seminary and
    churches of  Classis  East, 2) the overture does not          seminary. In the near future, when the new 4-year
    solve the problem of supporting married students, 3)          seminary program goes  .into effect, this will mean a
    implementation procedures for the establishment of            total of 8 years. 2) One of the duties of the
    classical funds does not exist, since all funds are           Committee is to determine and to recommend to
    synodical. Holland  Consistory, as a result of the            Synod annually the maximum allowable aid for a
    overture of Mr. Casemier, and through its responses           student. 3) Theoretically, all students, both  pre-
    to him, also submitted an overture to synod re                seminary and seminary,  co&d obtain this maximum
    student aid. The concern of the Holland overture is           amount. But there are certain limitations: a)  Pre-
    for the increased support of married seminary stu-            seminary students must maintain an average grade of
    dents. Holland requests the revision of Article 5 of
   the Constitution of the Student Aid Committee to               B (3.0) to be eligible for aid. b) Married pre-seminary
    allow for the increased financial support of married          students are not eligible for aid. c) Married seminary
    students. Holland's overture was  fowarded to synod           students are eligible for aid, but to an amount not
   without prejudice.                                             greater than the maximum allowable for single
Our Present Situation                                             students. Thus, for example, if the Committee and
                                                                  Synod determine in a given year that the maximum
  In order to discuss either of these overtures or the            allowable aid is $2000.00, any married student could
classical decisions about them, it is necessary to have           obtain that amount; but the fact that he is married
in mind the situation to which they are addressed.                does not entitle him to more. Now if we use this


294                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



figure of $2000 per year of aid, and add to this the         a church of  Classis East while he was a student. I can
free tuition for both pre-seminary and seminary, this        name others who retained their membership in a
will total some $22,000 to $23,000 per student for           church of  Classis West until they married and
the present 7-year program of pre-seminary and               temporarily settled in Grand Rapids. Secondly, even
seminary training.                                           if this ground were factually correct, it would not be
  In the third place, to complete the picture of the         a cogent ground. A very simple standard could be
present situation which forms the background of              applied: what was the  classis of your origin at the
these overtures, we mention the fact that more than          time you became a student at our school? Thirdly,
one congregation has given supplemental aid to some          this is the method in operation in the Christian
or all of the students. This is not done through the         Reformed denomination. Each  classis has its own
Student Aid Committee, but it is done independently          machinery for student support, and each  classis
by the local consistories. In some instances such            issues, or can issue, its own call for pre-seminary and
supplemental aid has been given only to the students         seminary students who need and desire support. And
belonging to the congregation granting such aid; in          from time to time one may read various announce-
other instances there has been no such limitation. I         ments of such calls for students in  The Banner.
believe it is accurate to say, too, that at least in some    Ground  1, therefore, falls away.
instances this aid was given in the belief that                The second ground adduced by  Classis is: "the
especially the  married  students needed more help.          overture does not solve the problem of supporting
Evidently the Consistory of Holland, according to its        married students." What about this?
overture, feels that married students should receive           In the first place, this ground assumes that there is
more aid.                                                    such a problem. Perhaps there is, in the minds of
  Such is the background of the overtures which              some; perhaps there is not, in the minds of others. In
were before  Classis East.                                   the second place, it seems to me that the  real,problem
The Cogency of Classis' Grounds                              lies in another area, namely, that there is difference
                                                             of opinion as to the extent to which married students
  It is, of course, impossible on the ground of the          should be supported. There are those who are not
classical report to say anything about either the            satisfied with the present  synodical regulations.
Holland overture or about the classical action  - or         Hence, they go their own way as consistories and
inaction  - on that overture. Holland wants to provide       supply additional support to some or all students on
for increased aid for married students. But its reasons      their own initiative. Now let it be clearly understood:
are not mentioned in the report. And  Classis East           I am not questioning their motive. They love our
simply sent the overture to Synod "without prej-             students and evidently want to help them and feel
udice," a technical expression which means, I take it,       that they need help. This is good; I am glad about it. I
without either approval or disapproval. If this also         am questioning the  method.  It is chaotic, leads to
means that  Classis was neither for nor against the          duplication of effort, could lead to inequity, and
overture, then this seems to me to be a rather strange       smacks of independentism. For one thing, I believe
stance. One would think that, in view of the fact that       that if the churches agree (as they have) to take care
there are evidently those who favor increased aid for        of student aid  together,  then we should do it
married students and in view of the fact that this           together,  i.e., as churches-in-common, not indi-
issue is perennially discussed at synod when the             vidually. This is in harmony with our presbyterian
Student Aid Committee's report is considered, the            form of church government. For another, unless
Classis would have grasped the opportunity to express        consistories are simply going to hand out additional
itself. Then Synod would at least have a way of              support at random and without regard to the ques-
knowing the desire of the churches in  Classis East.         tion of actual need, every consistory that engages in
   However, on the Casemier overture the  Classis            this practice has to make its own inquiry, have its
expressed its disapproval and adduced three grounds,         own student aid committee, and set its own stan-
summarized in the report. To the cogency of these            dards. For another, since one consistory knows not
grounds I wish to address myself. For whatever else          what another is doing, this could lead to inequity as
one may think of the overture, in my opinion the             to the amounts of aid which various students receive.
grounds adduced by  Classis are very, very weak.             Perhaps one student gets additional aid from his
   The first is that "it would be difficult to classify      home consistory plus another consistory, while an-
students from  Classis West since all students even-         other student does not.
tually hold membership in the churches of  Classis             And while it may be true that the overture does
East." Now, in the first place, this ground is not           not as such solve the problem, it is also true that the
factually correct. I can name more than  .one student        overture could make it possible to solve the problem
from  Classis West who never did hold membership in          more readily.


                                                                                                 m

                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 295


   How?                                                     had greater financial power. Hence, it was not
   In the first place, it should be kept in mind that it    feasible, for example, for each  classis to have its own,
 is always sound church polity not to relegate to the       classically operated and supported classical expense
 broader level what can be accomplished just as well,       fund. Instead, these funds were maintained on a
 and perhaps better, at a less broad level. There are       denominational level by synodical assessments, rather-
 indeed some things which have to be taken care of at       than by classical assessments and at a classical level.
 the broadest level, synod; they are things which           The same is true of the former E.B.P. Fund, which
 belong to and can be taken care of properly only by        became the Student Aid Fund.  Classis West would
 all the churches in common. An example is our              have found it difficult to maintain and administer its
Theological School. There are other things which can        own Student Fund. Yet it had been the practice in
 and should properly be taken care of by the least          the Christian Reformed denomination, from which
 broad assembly, the local consistory. And there are        we inherited our Church Order and many of our
 still other things which, while they cannot very well      practices, to have Classical Student Funds and com-
be taken care of by every local consistory indi-            mittees, not one, large synodical fund and committee.
vidually, can efficiently and properly be taken care of        Today, however, our two classes are much more
by the broader assembly, the  classis. And it is sound      nearly equal in numbers and financial power. Perhaps
practice not to work at any broader level than is           we ought to consider more changes than merely in
necessary.                                                  student aid. Would it be possible, perhaps, also for
   There is good reason for this, also from a practical     each  classis to have its own Classical Home Missions
point of view. That reason is that the broader the          Committee, rather than the present synodical com-
level, the more distant are the labors from the local       mittee? This would also solve the problem of trying
congregations and the membership. Synod  - and              to have a synodical committee with representation
perhaps this is true of synod's committees even more        from both classes in its membership.
- is in its very nature far distant from the local             However, this may be, I can see no practical reason
consistories and congregations. The latter do not           why each  classis could not have its own Student Aid
participate directly in synodical affairs, but only         Fund and its own Student Aid Committee, operating
indirectly and through  classis. As it is now, the          under its own Student Aid Constitution. The ad-
Student Aid Committee is in the nature of the case          vantages of this would be several, it seems to me. In
from the Grand Rapids area. Once a year they must           the first place, Synod would be rid of the problem
announce a meeting so that possible applicants for aid      and the work permanently. Synod has enough to do
may appear at the meeting. The committee adopts its         without doing work which could just as well be done
recommendations to Synod, in accordance with its            by others. In the second place, each  classis could then
constitution; Synod adopts a budget. And then aid is        do as it seems good in its own eyes.  If it wants to give
dispensed by the synodical treasurer in pursuance of        more support or even full support to married stu-
synod's decisions. No one out there in the churches         dents, it can do so. In the third place, this work will
has anything directly to do with it. At present the         be brought much closer to the local consistories and
current revised edition of the committee's constitu-        churches. This is very important in my opinion. All
tion is not even in our Church Order. Few, therefore,       consistories will then have a direct part and a direct
even can know and realize that the committee acts           voice in student aid and its regulations, because all
strictly in accord with its constitution and is not so      consistories are represented at the classical level. This
stingy as some might think. Everything is so distant.       is not true at present. A consistory can have a voice at
  Perhaps someone may ask: but why do we have               synod only by way of protest or overture. In the
this setup, and how did we ever get it? How did this        fourth place, in each  classis there can be annually a
matter become synodical?                                    call for students to be supported by that  classis. In
                                                            that way the churches can more directly and more
  The answer lies in history.                               diligently fulfill the mandate of Article 19: "The
  When our denomination changed from having one             churches shall exert themselves, as far as necessary,
general  classis to having two classes and a general        that there may be students supported by them. . .  ."
synod, all the classical funds became synodical funds,      Finally, if consistories have a more direct voice in the
whether they were in their nature synodical or not.         matter, there will no longer by any need for the
The reason for this lay in the fact of the imbalance at     present scatter-shot activity in the area of student aid.
that time between  Classis East and  Classis West, both       The third ground adduced by  Classis East is, of
numerically and as far as financial power was con-          course, very weak: "implementation procedures for
cerned.  Classis East was numerically about twice as        the establishment of classical funds does (sic) not
large as  Classis.  West; due to variations in sizes of     exist, since all funds are synodical." I would say: let
congregations,  Classis East, generally speaking, also      such implementation procedures be initiated if synod


                       .
296                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



should approve the overture which  classis  disap-           already incorporated. Moreover, at least in  Classis
proved. This is very simple. What is needed is a             East, which has frequently found it difficult to stay
constitution, a committee, a treasurer, and  assess-         occupied until dinner time, this would have the added
ments and funds to replace the present machinery.            advantage of giving the  classis something constructive
Surely, this is not difficult. It is doubtful whether        and worthwhile to do.
classes would even have to be incorporated for this            Think about it.
purpose. If they do, I understand  Classis West is


MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE




                                    Letter to Timothy


                                           April 1, 1980       The conscience always speaks in connection with
Dear Timothy,                                                man's own conduct. This is an important, point and it
                                                             is difficult to emphasize this sharply enough. Man
  We were discussing together the subject of the             walks his pathway here in the world. Every part of his
conscience and its importance for the mental and             life has ethical implications. He is always called to
spiritual well-being of the child of God. We talked          love the Lord his God with all his heart and mind and
especially about two or three points:  alI men in the        soul and strength. Every thought, every desire, every
world have a conscience which is the voice of God in         inclination of his heart, as well as all his external
their consciousness by which they know the dif-              conduct in word and deed must be in conformity to
ference between right and wrong; this voice of God           the  law of God. No part of man's life escapes from
always comes in connection with God's objective              the demands of God to love Him Who is God alone.
speech whether in creation or in the Scriptures; and         But because every single part of man's life has ethical
the closer one stands to the bright light of revelation,     implications and a moral dimension, so also God
the sharper and more definite is also his conscience,        passes judgment upon `every single deed which man
but the greater his punishment when he does not do           does, whether that be hidden inside him or apparent
the will of God.                                             to those with whom he comes into contact. Nothing
  There are other aspects of this question which we          is hidden from God. All is naked and open before the
must still discuss.                                          eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. Now, the
  The first is that the conscience is  not  the abstract     conscience is exactly God's judgment which comes
voice of God in the consciousness of man. The                every moment of a man's life concerning the rightness
conscience is not, so to speak, a kind of communica-         or wrongness of what he has done. Every step of the
tion of the moral law of God. We have the moral law          way, with every deed which. man performs, God
of God revealed to us. The wicked, through the things        comes in judgment upon him. God says, every
which are made, know that God is  God  and that,             moment, this deed is right and good in my sight; or,
because He is God, He alone must be served. But that         this deed is wrong and sinful before Me.
moral law of God also  coines  revealed to us in the           It has been said that conscience is the voice of God
Scriptures. There it is spelled out in all its details in    which always comes  after  the act. That is, the voice
clear and unmistakable language. Any one who knows           of God comes only after a man does something. From
the Scriptures knows also how God determines right           the moral law of God man knows what he ought to
and wrong in the whole of man's ethical conduct. The         do and what he ought not to do. The conscience does
conscience is not some additional law or some further        not speak until after the deed is performed. Then, the
definition or explication of the law. It is not a body       deed having been done, God passes sentence upon it
of codes which somehow stand next to the law of              and either approves or disapproves of it. In a certain
God revealed in His Word.                                    sense this is true. It is implied in all that I have said


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                               297


 above. But we must remember that the  ,deed can              His righteousness  - even in the consciousness of the
 begin and surely always does begin with the thought          sinner or the saint. The judgment day is not, after all,
and the desire. And already upon that thought and             the first time the wicked hear what the sentence of
that desire the Lord passes His judgment. If the              God is. They know that every step of the way. When
thought, e.g., to steal. some money enters our minds,         they die and open their eyes in hell, they are not
the Lord does not wait with passing His judgment              surprised to be there because they always thought
upon us until we actually reach out our hand and              they would probably go to heaven. God will never let
take money that does not belong to us. The Lord               this happen. God will not approve of the sinner or
passes His sentence upon the thought, the desire, the         leave him in suspense all the days of his life and then
covetousness which lies behind the actual deed. And           tell him finally at death or at the judgment what shall
even if the deed itself is never performed, God's             be his final destination. Always God is a judging God.
judgment is there in our consciousness.                       And always man knows what God's verdict is upon
   So, the conscience is the voice of God which comes         what he has done.
to us in every moment of our lives speaking of God's             But now there is another aspect to this question.
sentence upon what we have done. And because                  The apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy speaks of
God's voice is not just a bare sentence of whether a          consciences which are seared with a hot iron. The
particular deed is right or wrong, God's judgment is          passage reads: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,
always accompanied by His approval or His dis-                that in the latter times some shall depart from the
approval. If we do right, then God's approval and             faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
blessing rest upon us. We have the testimony of our           devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their con-
conscience that God is well-pleased with us and that          science seared with a hot iron." I Timothy 4:  1,2.
His favor and love rest upon us. If we do wrong, we           What does the apostle mean by that expression?
have the testimony of our conscience that God
condemns our actions and that He is angry with us                It is possible for man to still the voice of his
and that His wrath is upon us.                                conscience so that his conscience no longer speaks to
  This is the reason why Solomon could write, in              him. That, apparently, is the idea here. A man reaches
Proverbs  3:33i "The curse of the Lord is in the house        a certain point in his life when the voice of his
of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the          conscience is stilled and the testimony of the wrong
just." Notice: the curse of the Lord is not only  upon        he has done is gone. Apparently, this  .is exactly what
the wicked; it is in their house. The curse of the Lord       is happening in our modem world. Some time ago
is wherever the wicked go  - even in the secret               Time  magazine had a rather lengthy article about
chambers of their house where no man may ever                 crime in our big cities. I do not remember the details
come. The wicked eat that curse and drink that curse.         of the article any more, but I do recall that  Time
It dogs their footsteps and follows them so that they         made a considerable point of it that many criminals,
can never escape from it. It is there continuously as         some very young, in their early teens in fact, were
the abiding and unrelenting testimony of God that             apprehended after performing senseless and in-
they are doing wickedly. But, in an analogous way,            credibly brutal crimes of violence against helpless
the blessing of the Lord is upon the habitation of the        people. When these very young criminals were caught
just. That blessing is upon them always for they have         by the police and brought before the courts, police,
the testimony of God, no matter what their pathway            judges, and criminologists were surprised by the fact
in life may be, that God loves them and cares for             that these people showed not the slightest remorse,
them; that the approval of God rests upon them and            not the faintest detectable emotion over their crime,
that God works all things for their good.    _                not the least bit of regret. In fact,  so Time  said, they
                                                              did not even seem to have any sense of right or wrong
  The conclusion of this point is, therefore, that            left. They did not' appear to be aware of the fact that
every man knows whether what he does is good or               they had done something  ,wrong. They were utterly
bad. There are no exceptions to this. No man sins in          unmoved by it all and showed no conscience whatso-
ignorance or unaware of the fact that what he does is         ever.
wrong. Always every man knows whether what he
does  .meets with God's approval or disapproval. And,           The authorities may have been surprised by this,
because he knows this, every man knows too either             but the fact remains that this is exactly what
God's wrath or God's love. There is no neutral ground         happens. A person, after committing a particular sin
where a man hangs suspended between the two or                often enough, can succeed in stilling the voice of his
without the consciousness of either. A man may deny           conscience so that it no longer condemns him at all.
that and he may protest that, even though he sins, he         He is in a certain sense of the word, amoral. He does
has no consciousness of God's wrath; but this is              not respond any more, not even with regret or
impossible. After all, God is God and He maintains            remorse, over what he has done.


298                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  I am not sure what is happening in our modern             conscience also can, and often does, take place within
cities which can bring about a state of mind like this      the Church. I am told by our teachers that they have
in a very young person of fourteen or fifteen. I am         instances of this all the time. A certain child is
not sure if we can even imagine a situation where a         brought into the office of the principal or before the
very young `person is unmoved by the feeble cries of        teacher because he has lied or cheated in a test. The
an old man who has been beaten senseless (by chains         evidence against him is unassailable and there simply
and belts) for  15~. But it is a terrible thing nonethe-    is no question that he is guilty of this. Nevertheless,
less. And this very thing is becoming increasingly          when confronted with his sin, he will openly lie, deny
wisespread in our civilization. The government itself       he ever did it, and in the process of lying, show not
is to blame for a large measure of this. It stands to       the faintest evidence of regret or remorse  - much less
reason- that when government itself approves or and         sorrow for his sin. I have seen this in my own
even encourages abortion, e.g., that those who seek         children. They will not only lie, but persist in the lie,
such abortions will not have the struggle with their        and all appeals to Scripture, to God's all-seeing eye
conscience that they would have if their deed were          and to the punishment which will come upon them
illegal according to the laws of the land. But however      from God, leaves them utterly unmoved. This is a
that may be, the fact remains that our present culture      terrifying thing.
is bringing up a generation which has no conscience           A seared conscience is the most terrible thing that
left any more with respect to terrible sins. It is          can happen to a man. We must discuss this a bit more
frightening to contemplate what will happen when            and especially ask the question: How does this
these conscienceless people are in positions of author-     happen? But we shall have to wait with this till our
ity and rule this country. That will indeed be a bad        next letter.
time for the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of that
we may be sure.                                                                               Fraternally in Christ,
  But the fact remains that this searing of the                                                           H. Hanko


THE DAY OF SHADOWS




                                   A Pillar of Witness
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys



   An infuriated  Laban  pursued after Jacob when he        Likewise, these were his grandchildren, and nothing is
learned that Jacob had fled with his wives, children,       going to change that. Jacob's departure was one of
and cattle. Although when he caught up with Jacob           stealth. Genesis  31:20  says that he "stole away
he put on a front of loving his daughters and               unawares." And to take  Laban's daughters and his
grandchildren so much that it pained him to have            grandchildren away in that manner is not above
them leave without as much as saying good-by to             criticism, even though God told him to go back
him, the statement above is true. He was far more           home. God did not, however, tell him to do it that
infuriated than hurt because of deep love. He was           way. The statement follows the revelation that  Laban
angry and not lonesome. And although we will not            had gone to shear sheep some distance from the
say that he did not have reason to be angry with            home. The implication is plain that Jacob knew this
Jacob, he acted more hurt about being separated             and took advantage of this departure of  Laban to get
from his children and grandchildren than he actually        away without bidding him farewell, and without
felt.                                                       letting his family do the same thing. Granted that
   These were his daughters, even'though now they           Laban did not love his children, and that the love of
were Jacob's wives. Nothing can ever change that.           the daughters had waxed cold toward their father,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                299



there is that command of God  - even though it was         pillar of witness which  Laban and Jacob erect. That
not yet written in stone in the Ten Commandments  -        pillar is often misrepresented because these facts are
that children should honour their father and mother.       not taken into consideration.
And Jacob did not give them the opportunity to do             Before we take further note of this pillar, however,
so.  Laban's daughters erred, and Jacob helped them        let it be pointed out that the approach of Jacob to
to do so, before they would drop out of  Laban's life      the whole situation is quite different from  Laban's.
forever.                                                   He was wroth, we read in verse 36. But having
  Then, too, Jacob had worked deceitfully in the           rehearsed all the evil that  Laban did to him Jacob
service of  Laban. He did faithfully the work assigned     confessed that it was God who protected him over
to him. But his attempted trickery with the pilled         against  Laban and his evil deeds. And he challenges
rods was not a work of honesty. Even though the            Laban to mention one sin which he committed so
pilled had. nothing to do with the cattle bringing         that these men who came with  Laban may judge
forth the kind of sheep that Jacob had with  Laban  de-    whether Jacob is guilty of it. And then he warns
cided would he his hire, his attempt to gain  Laban's      Laban  that God saw his affliction in  Laban's house
sheep and cattle that way was far from above reproach.     and was witness to all the ill treatment afforded him.
The fury of  Laban  is then to be understood. Jacob's      Indeed  Laban  also spoke of God, but not in faith, and
trick did not work to cause the sheep to bring forth       as though God was on his side. He boasted in verse 29
the specified kind of offspring, but it did work to        of having Jacob in his power  - which also indicates
create bitterness between  Laban and Jacob.                that he wanted to capture him and bring him back,
  We are, however, to doubt very seriously  Laban's        and that Jacob had reason to be filled with  fearat  the
claim that he would have prepared a farewell feast.        sight of  Laban and his brethren. But he is forced to
There is nothing recorded concerning him in the            speak of God, and reveals that God told him not to
whole account in Scripture that would indicate such        speak good or bad to Jacob. Jacob's confidence is in
action as forthcoming from  Laban. Certainly the           God.  Laban is forced to walk in God's way with
misrepresentation that  Laban  makes in verse 43 is        Jacob. And  Laban has an idol which he loves so much
against such an idea. He is correct when he states that    that he searched all of Jacob's tents and goods to
these are his daughters, but not in the sense in which     have it restored to him.
he presents it. He begat them, but they are not his          On that background, of Jacob putting his trust in
possession. He sold them to Jacob. These are his           God and  Laban  being afraid to touch Jacob because
children, if you speak of grandchildren, but they are      God is with him as his protection, they make a
not that which he has a right to insist must remain in     covenant, and build a pillar of witness to that
Haran.  And he is all wrong when he says that these        covenant. The idea of the covenant comes from this
are his cattle. These were Jacob's hire. He cannot         idol-worshipping  Laban who cannot do what he
even say that they ever were his cattle, for in his own    intended  to. do and still wanted to do, but was
tricky way Jacob's hire depended on his sheep              warned against doing it by the word of God.
bearing young. And if Jacob worked for a year and            If we will take careful note of  Laban's speech we
the sheep were sterile or their young were born dead,      will find that by this pillar he did not have in mind
Jacob would have been out of all that work with no         what is usually ascribed  t,o this pile of stones. It  will
pay. But the moment the sheep was born of the kind         become plain that he did not have kind and pleasant
agreed upon by both of them, it was Jacob's and at         thoughts toward Jacob. Mizpah to many today
no time  Laban's.                                          represents God's gracious watching over His people
  Jacob expressed his fear. And he not only had            while of necessity they are absent one from the other,
reason to fear such a man as  Laban, but he was            due to work or travel or any other circumstance that
helpless with his family and servants over against the     makes for separation between those who love each
brethren of  Laban, the other Syrians which he took        other. And in the church, believers will say Mizpah to
along. And that in itself reveals that  Laban  was         each other when they separate.  Laban did not mean
furious and meant to capture them and bring them           that at  all. He is not here wishing Jacob God's
back to  Haran.  Only the grace of God that protected      blessing. He is not expressing his desire to see the
Jacob and warned  Laban in a dream kept him from           mercy of God rest upon Jacob. He is not wishing him
violence and capture of Jacob and his family.              well. The watch of God over Jacob of which he
  And after  Laban  accused him of stealing his gods,      speaks is not one of loving care. He is not declaring
Jacob became furious, and no doubt would have liked        his deep concern for Jacob to be kept in safety and in
to lay his hands on this man who had treated him so        loving protection from harm and evil.
shamefully, though he was a close relative, not only         Note verses 44-53: "Now therefore come thou, let
as an uncle, but also as his father-in-law. We must        us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a
see this tense, hate-filled scene to appreciate that       witness between me and thee. . . . And  Laban said,


300                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



This heap is a witness between me and thee this day.          Samuel took a stone and set it between this same
Therefore was the name of it  Galeed  and Mizpah: for       place called Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of
he said, The Lord watch between me  ,and thee, when         it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped
we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict       us." I Samuel 7: 12. This is quite a different situation
my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside      and an entirely different type of speech. God had
my daughters, no man is with us; see God is witness         thundered that day upon the Philistines and  dis-
betwixt me and thee. And  Laban said to Jacob,              comfited them, so that the Israelites smote them and
Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have      had the victory. Here we have a beautiful picture and
cast betwixt me and thee; This heap be witness, and         beautiful speech of faith. Here is praise to God and
this pillar be witness that I will not pass over this       thanks for all that which He did in His watchful care
heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this        over His people, with hope of that same protection
heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. The God of          for the future. Ebenezer speaks of joy and hope.
Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their             Mizpah speaks of suspicion and fear. The one is a
father, judge betwix us. And Jacob sware by the fear        place of hope. The other is a place of distrust.
of his father Isaac."                                         That does not mean that we may not use  Laban's
  Plainly  Laban's meaning is, "`Jacob, don't you dare      speech, and as we part from one another to say, "The
hurt my daughters, either physically or psychically.        Lord watch between us, when we are absent one from
Bring no injury upon their bodies, and torment not          another." It all depends on what we mean by watch,
their souls by taking other wives besides them. And         when we declare our desire to have Him watch
remember, Jacob, that God will judge you and sees all.      between us. We do better to express our desire that
your actions. I cannot watch you from the land of           God watch over us and not between us.  Laban's
Haran to which I return. And I do not trust you,            between has an unpleasant sound to it, and therefore
Jacob, so I demand of you that you promise not to           Mizpah gives off a bad taste. And truly to wish one
hurt my daughters, or to come back this way to bring        another God's blessing by such an expressed desire
harm to me. This pillar, this heap of stones will be        that He watch over us while we are absent one from
witness, and will remind you that God sees you while        the other is far to be preferred to, "Take it Easy." Or,
I cannot. He will judge you in my absence.  Do  not         "Be good," "Be seeing you," or the like. Such speech
cross this line with harm to me in mind. And I will         is wholly without faith. Why not reveal your faith in
not cross it to harm you. But God is on both sides,         God? Believers should wish each other God's blessing.
and He will punish you for your evil."                      Paul speaks of greeting one another with an holy kiss.
  It was not then a token of deep love, and a pillar to     I Corinthians  16:20,  and again in II Corinthians
witness such love since now they part from one              13 : 12. He does the same thing to the Church at
another and will not see each other's faces again. It       Thessalonica in his first epistle, chapter  5:26.
was not meant to be a call for God's mercy and              Certainly we ought not to part with suspicions,
protecting care. It was a warning that God would            demanding of each other oaths and covenants that we
watch his deeds. The very wording is significant.           will not injure and seek harm to loved ones. Instead
Laban  does not say, "The Lord watch over us that no        of asking God to witness between us, let us pray Him
harm befall either one of us and that we may meet           to watch over us in tender mercy as those for whom
again." Instead it is a warning that God will watch         the blood of Christ was shed to cover our sins and to
Jacob's actions to see that he does no more of his          assure us that all will work together for our good for
tricks, and does not return to take more of  Laban's        His sake.
goods from him. Mizpah is not the same as Ebenezer.


                                           NOTICE OF LECTURES!!!
             The public is invited to attend the following Lectures to be given, the Lord willing, at the
           Hull Community Building in Hull, Iowa.
             On Friday, April 18, 1980, Rev. David Engelsma, Pastor of the South Holland (IL)
           Protestant Reformed Church will deliver a message entitled  - REPROBATION  - IS IT
          REFORMED?
             The following week, on Friday, April 25, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Pastor of the Hull
           Protestant Reformed Church speaks on the subject  - THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACH-
          ING.
             Both lectures start at  7:30 P.M. Plan now to attend with your family and friends.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               301


SIGNS OF THE TIMES





                                        The Last Time:.
                                How Are We Living?

                                              Rev. Richard Flikkema



  The last time: how are we  ,living? Are we living in        But how wrong he was! He thought that he had
these last times as humble children of God, who            nothing to worry about. But then God came. God
ascribe all the glory, might, and honor to God? Or are     spoke to him in a dream, and Nebuchadnezzar was
we living as proud boastful people, who ascribe all the    "troubled." Once again, as he had done before, he
glory, might, and honor to ourselves? If the former is     called all his  wisemen  before him. He recounted his
true, then we are living in these last times as we         dream to them; but no interpretation could his
should. But if the latter is true, then we had better      wisemen  give him. And then Nebuchadnezzar called
give heed to the vivid warning of Scripture as that is     Daniel. Oh, yes, when it. became apparent that his
found in Daniel chapter 4.                                 heathen, godless  wisemen  could not interpret the
  We read in that chapter, "I Nebuchadnezzar was at        dream, then, to use the words of this chapter, "at the
rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: I        last" Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel. Daniel was a last
saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts         resort. I f   h i s   o w n   wisemen  c o u l d   n o t   s a t i s f y
upon my bed, and the visions of my head troubled           Nebuchadnezzar, then he would call on Daniel.
me. " "I saw a dream." Another dream did Nebuchad-         Nebuchadnezzar reminds one of King Ahab who
nezzar see. That is, for the second time in his life       would not seek counsel from a prophet of God until
Nebuchadnezzar had received a dream sent to him by         King Jehoshaphat demanded it of him. And the
God. God sent that dream to him, when, to use              reason King Ahab would not seek counsel from a
Nebuchadnezzar's own words, "I was at rest in my           prophet of God was that, in Ahab's words, "he never
house and flourishing in my palace." What those            prophesied good unto me, but always evil." So also
words of Nebuchadnezzar mean is that there came a          was that the case here. Nebuchadnezzar waited until
time in his life, undoubtedly somewhere towards the        the very last to call Daniel, exactly because he knew
end of it, when all his wars and when all his fightings    from past experience that Daniel never prophesied
and when all his conquests had come to an end. There       good unto him, but always evil. And indeed he did!
were no more peoples to fight or nations to conquer.         To Daniel Nebuchadnezzar recounted his dream, a
He had conquered them all. And now Nebuchad-               dream which had to do with a tree  - a great tree, a
nezzar was at rest and flourishing. And that word          strong tree, a tree the height whereof reached to
"rest" simply means that he was at ease. There came        heaven; a tree the sight thereof to the end of the
a time in the life of King Nebuchadnezzar. when he         earth; a tree whose leaves were beautiful and the fruit
thought that he had absolutely nothing to worry            thereof abundant. .The fowls of the heaven gathered
about. He had done it all. He had accomplished             in its branches. The beasts of the field received shade
everything that he had set out to accomplish. And          from its boughs. And all together received food
now he was, so to speak, taking it easy and basking in     therefrom. That tremendous tree Nebuchadnezzar
the luxury of all that he had done.                        saw. And then, having seen that tremendous tree,


302                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Nebuchadnezzar saw and heard something else that                He was a proud' fool! One year went by from the
was tremendous. He saw and heard "a watcher and an           time that Nebuchadnezzar had his dream. Nebuchad-
holy one come down from heaven." That is, he saw in          nezzar is walking in his palace. He looks at all the
his dream an angel sent from God who cried with a            things that he had done. And he exclaims: is not this
loud voice: Hew down the tree! Cut off his branches!         Babylon the great? Is not this Babylon the great that
Shake off his leaves! Scatter his fruit! But leave the       I have built? And that I have built by my own might
stump and his roots in the earth. Do not touch that.         and my own power, and for my own majesty? Look
But rather, let him be wet with the dew of heaven.           at it! Isn't it wonderful? I have done it all! It is all
Let his portion be with the beasts of the field. Let his     because of me! And it is all mine, mine, mine!      -
heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart           But it was not. Immediately, even as he boasted in
be given unto him until seven times pass over him!           his pride, a voice cried out from heaven. Immediately
   That was the dream which Nebuchadnezzar re-               all that he thought was his was taken away from him.
counted to Daniel. And we read that Daniel, when he          And immediately the proud boastful Nebuchadnezzar
heard the telling of that dream, was astonished and          fell. The just and horrible judgment of God came
troubled. And the reason why he was astonished and           upon him. He was driven from among men. He ate
troubled was that he was simply amazed at the                grass as the oxen. The dew from heaven fell upon
awesome word of judgment which God would now                 him: His hair grew like eagle's feathers, and his nails
bring upon Nebuchadnezzar. Having recovered from             like bird's claws. The just and horrible judgment
his state of astonishment, Daniel interpreted that           which God brought upon that proud fool of a man
dream. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar: that tree,                was this: he became insane. And insanity is indeed a
Nebuchadnezzar, which thou didst see, that great             fit and just punishment for a proud fool.
tree, that strong tree, that tree the height thereof that      There are many such proud fools today. We have
reached to heaven, and the sight thereof that reached        them in the world around us  - men who walk in their
to the end of the earth, is thou, 0 King! You,               palaces and who say to themselves, even as Nebuchad-
Nebuchadnezzar, are that tree! And you are that tree         nezzar: is not this Babylon the great that I have built?
which God has determined according to His decree to          Look at it! I have done it all! It is all because of me!
cut  .down! You will  fall Nebuchadnezzar! Your              And it is all mine! By my own power and by my own
mighty kingdom which you ascribe to your own                 might I have done what I have done! For my own
efforts, will be taken away from you! You will be            praise and for my own glory I have done what I have
driven from among men! You will eat grass as the             done! Oh, yes, there are many such proud fools
oxen! And you will do that until you recognize that          today. All of them without exception boast in their
the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and               own strength. All of them without exception fill
giveth it to whomsoever He will! Repent Nebuchad-            themselves with horrible, stinking pride. And all of
nezzar! Put away your sins and iniquities! Show              them without exception either are now, or they
mercy to the poor! Repent before the judgment of             surely will be, burning in the fires of everlasting hell!
God comes upon you!
  But Nebuchadnezzar refused to repent. It is the               You see, God is not mocked. You cannot mock
fool who says in his heart that there is no God, and         God and get away with it. Your sins will find you
Nebuchadnezzar was a fool! He should have known              out. If you boast in your strength, if you fill
that all that Daniel had told him would surely come          yourselves with stinking haughty pride, if you rob
to pass. He should have known  ,that God is, and that        God of the glory which is due unto Him, you will
He accomplishes all His good pleasure. And he did            experience the just judgment of God. God is God.
know that! He had to have known that. The ungodly            God is supreme. God is all-glorious. God reigns over
reprobate are never ignorant of all of that. God never       the kingdoms of man and gives them to whomsoever
leaves Himself without witness. -God had taught him          He will. That is God's word to the proud. fools of this
all of that with respect to the first dream that He had      world.
sent to him. God had taught him all of that when He            And that is also God's word to the Church! To the
preserved the three friends in the  fiery furnace. God       Church today God gives a warning, a warning to
taught Nebuchadnezzar in and through all of that             which it had' better pay attention. How often is it not
that God is,  .and that He accomplishes all His good         the case today that the Church is filled with pride?
pleasure. Why then, the question is, did not                 That pride becomes manifest when it glories in the
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge that? And having ac-              large and beautiful churches which it has built. That
knowledged that, repent? The answer to that ques-            pride becomes manifest when it glories in its vast
tion `is that, exactly that, Nebuchadnezzar was a fool!      evangelism campaigns. And most of all that pride
A wicked, godless fool! And most of all, a proud             becomes manifest when it has the audacity to tamper
fool!                                                        with the Word of God. When. it has the audacity to


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      303



say that the Word of God is not God's Word but              As Protestant Reformed Churches, to whom God has
man's word; when it says that the precious,  time-          given so much and for whom God has done so much,
honored truths of the Word of God.are not the truths        we must do that. And we must do that as individuals
of the Word of God, that is the height of stinking,         who walk in the midst of this world. To us God has
haughty pride! And God is not mocked! Men who say           given so very much. For us God has done so very
such things are not shepherds of the sheep. They are        much. Why must we do that? Simply because it is all
proud fools who rob God of the glory which shines           His. All that we have, all we call our own, all that has
ever so brightly in His Word. Are they ignorant? Do         been given to us, has not been given to us because of
not they know any better? No, they are not ignorant.        our might or our power. But rather, it has been given
God has not left Himself without witness. He has            to us by God, and by God's might and by God's
given His Word as the clearest witness imaginable. He       power. To Him then be the glory.
that hath an ear, let him hear!                                 Do we do that? Do we give all the glory to God,
  And that applies to you and me also. We must              and do that in deepest humility? Remember, these
never be proud. But rather, we must always be               are the last times. But the question is: how are we
humble. We must ascribe all the glory, might, and           living?
honor to God. We must! In humility we must do that.


IN HIS FEAR




                              Teaching Our Children
                                   the Fear of the Lord

                                                Rev. Arie den Hartog




  We have seen from the beginning of our discussion         because God is the one Who gives us covenant
of the theme of the fear of the Lord how very               children and because He has promised to be the God
fundamental it is. The fear of the Lord is the very         of our children after us, we must with fear and
heart of true godliness and Christianity. The fear of       trembling fulfill our covenant obligation to nurture
the Lord must be the dominating and controlling             our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
motive of all our life as the people of God. We have        We must teach our children about Jehovah their God
emphasized  also that the fear of the Lord must begin       and the God of their fathers before them. We must
in our homes. We must establish our homes in the            teach them to worship and serve this Jehovah God, to
fear of the Lord and continue to live daily in that fear    obey His commandments and to glorify Him in all of
of the Lord. A very important part of living in the         life. Fundamental to all of this is that we instill in
fear of God in our homes of course is that we also          them the fear of the Lord. A true godly life can come
instruct the children which the Lord gives to us in         forth only out of a heart that fears God. To teach our
that fear of the Lord.                                      c h i l d r e n   m e r e l y   formally  a n d   o b j e c t i v e l y   t h e
  As Reformed people we know the blessed truth              doctrines and commandments of scripture is not
that God is a covenant God. He is our God and the           enough. We must instill in the hearts and souls of our
God of our children after us. He keeps covenant from        children the fear of the Lord their God.
generation to generation. God is pleased to continue           To teach our children the fear of the Lord we must
His covenant in the line of our generations as we           teach them who and what Jehovah God is. A
faithfully and diligently instruct our children. Exactly    profound spiritual knowledge of God is one of the


304                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



chief parts of the fear of the Lord. We must teach          them the sovereign law of the Lord that we must love
them that God is the Sovereign God of heaven and            the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and
earth Who created all things and Who rules                  strength and mind. We must teach our children that
sovereignly over all and demands the obedience and          the Lord is displeased with every transgression of the
service of all His creatures. We must teach them that       law. He is so righteous and holy that He cannot
this God lives today and is our sovereign Lord. We          merely ignore sin or pass it over. He is a God Who is
must teach our children of the wonderful gracious           jealous for His own holiness and righteousness, Who
covenant of God according to which He of sovereign          by no means clears the guilty but Who visits the
grace alone purposed to choose His people as His own        iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the
and to establish and continue His covenant with             third and fourth generation of all that hate Him. We
them. We must teach our children of the sovereign           must not in any way minimize the requirements of
almighty power of God and how He alone by that              God's holy law or tell our children that transgression
sovereign power is the God of our salvation. We must        of the law is not so serious.
teach our children of the perfect holiness and                If we turn again to Psalm 78 we will find the
righteousness of God. We must teach them that God           Psalmist makes mention again and again of the sin
is so holy and so righteous that He cannot suffer sin       and apostasy of Israel. The Psalmist recalls the
to go unpunished. We must teach them that He is so          dreadful consequences of that apostasy for Israel as
fearfully holy that He is a consuming fire to all the       they came under the anger and chastening of the
workers of iniquity. His wrath is revealed from             Lord. If we are to teach our children the fear of the
heaven against all of the unrighteousness of men. We        Lord we must teach them the dreadfulness of sin and
must teach them that God is so holy and just that He        the awfulness of the holy wrath of God. We must not
casts the sinner into everlasting hell. We must teach       teach them in any way to take a complacent attitude
our children that it is only because of sovereign grace     about sin. We must teach them how God is grieved by
and because of the wonderful work of God in Christ          the sins of His people and how sin brings upon His
Jesus that we are saved from His holy, just wrath and       people the chastening rod of the Lord. We must warn
made heirs of eternal life and blessing. These are the      our children again and again of the awful judgment
things that will instill in them by the grace and Spirit    and wrath of God upon the ungodly. The scriptures
of God the fear of the Lord. We must teach them all         are full of warnings of God's judgment. Let us not
that God is in His infinite perfection, goodness, and       read them to our children as though they are nothing
greatness. We must in no way hide from them the             more than past history. Let us use the scripture to
true knowledge of God. Above all we must not tell           warn earnestly our children, that they might fear the
them the lies of modernism and Arminianism which            Lord and not come under the judgment of wicked
teach that God is a God who winks at sin and who            and apostate Israel.
loves all men.                                                We must exhort our children from His word to flee
  We have a most beautiful example of proper                the just wrath of God which is from their very birth
instruction of children in the fear of the Lord in          upon them, to flee to the sovereign forgiving mercy
Psalm 78. We cannot of course quote this long Psalm         of God. We must teach them daily to go to the cross
here. But notice what the Psalmist tells us to tell our     with their sins as the only ground of righteousness
children. We must show to the generations to come           and forgiveness. We  .must urge our children daily to
"the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His          implore the forgiving mercy and grace of God.
wonderful works that He has done." From there on,
the Psalmist goes on to recount all of the mighty             We must teach our children their own hopeless
wonders which the Lord performed for His people             condition  ,in the sight of God. We must teach them
Israel to save them, to bring them out of Egypt             that of ourselves we are worthy of hell and we are so
through the wilderness and to the land of promise. He       in bondage to corruption that we can do nothing
tells of the wonderful faithfulness and longsuffering       whatsoever to escape death and everlasting con-
mercy of God. All this the Psalmist makes mention of        demnation. We must teach our children to put their
in order to cause his people to remember how great          hope and their trust alone in Jehovah the almighty
and how wonderful their God is. This must be the            God of salvation. We must tell them daily that there
manner in which we teach our children the history of        is to be found salvation in none other save in God and
the scriptures. We must not teach that history as           in His Christ. Therefore we must teach them to fear
nothing more than good stories. We must show our            the Lord and trust in Him alone.
children from all of this history the sovereign               Not only must we teach  .our children the fear of
greatness and wonderful goodness of their God.              the Lord by teaching them from God's Word that
  We must teach our children the perfect obedience          God is a God to be feared. We must also teach them
which the Lord requires of His people. We must teach        what true godly fear is by our example. All our


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   305


 instruction will mean nothing if it is not reinforced         What about the whole matter of prayer in the
 by the example of our own godfearing life. We must          home? Is our family truly a family that prays
 strive to let the fear of God reign in all life in our      together? Can the fear of God be heard in the
 homes.                                                      prayers, in what we pray for and how we pray, or are
   There is of course no end to the examples of what         they merely the repetition of the same words everyday
 this means. Let us consider just a few of them as           and is it evident that we simply pray out of form? Do
 space allows. There is first of all the basic matter of     we set an example of giving thanks unto the Lord for
 the centrality of the Word of God in our homes. How        all the things that He has given us? Do we know how
 often is the Word of God read in our homes? How            to bring earnestly our families to the throne of God's
 much time is spent in reading the Word of God? How         grace, unto the God Whom we need every day, in
 much zeal and effort are spent on reading and              Whom lies all our strength and help and salvation?
 studying the Word of God and how much is spent on             How do father and mother live with each other in
 other things such as watching television or engaging in    the home? Does `father take up his place as the head
 other entertainment? One could compare the excite-         of the home and rule the home according to the Word
 ment that is evident in the home with the Word of          of God in the fear of the Lord? Does mother labor
 God and with other things such as sports or cars, or       faithfully in the home in her God ordained place
 nice houses or clothes. What kind of example are we        because she knows that this is her calling before God,
 setting for our children if we spend more time             or is mother led away by the wicked philosophy of
 watching television than we do studying the Word of        women's liberation to forsake her calling in the home
 God or if we are far more interested and excited           for worldly fame and fortune?
 about the outcome of the world series than we are
 about learning the wonderful truths of God?                  How is the money of the family spent? Do father
   How is the Lord's day observed in our homes? Is          and mother give an example of good stewardship to
 the Lord's day kept holy? Do we go to church as the        their children? Do they teach their' children that all
 Lord gives us opportunity? Why do we go to the             that they have is given to them by the Lord God? Do
 house of the Lord? Is it evident that we do this           they teach their children that they must give an
 merely out of form and custom, or do we do this            account for all that God has given to them? How
 because we fear the Lord our God and know our              much is given to the church? Is the home filled with
 calling to worship and serve Him in His house? Is it       all manner of luxuries while father and mother give
 for us a burden to go to the Lord's house, or do we        meagerly to the cause of God's kingdom? Is it evident
go with eagerness to hear the Word of the Lord our          from how much we give and how we give it that our
God? If we are to instill in our children the fear of       central concern is not with the things of this world
-the Lord, we must reveal that the true worship of          but with the kingdom of God?
God is to be central in our lives.                            How does father carry out his occupation? Does he
   How is sin dealt with in our homes? When father or       do it for the glory of God, or for wealth and glory
mother commits sin is there a going on the knees and        among men? Is father willing to suffer loss even of all
a pleading for forgiveness, or do mother and father         things for righteousness' sake? Is the righteousness of
give the impression that sin is not so serious and that     God the most important thing in all that he does even
it can easily be forgotten? Do mother and father            in his daily occupation?
reveal in their own life that they have a profound
sense of the grievous character' of their sin before          We could of course go on and on with such
God? What about when children disobey their parents         questions. How urgent that we examine each and
and sin against God? Do the parents simply ignore           every area of our life as parents. We are the examples
this? Do the parents merely react to disobedience of        for our children. We must teach them by our every
their children because it is an offense against them? If    example what it really means to fear God. Ours is a
we are to instill in our children the fear of the Lord      world where there is no fear of God. God has
we must tell them of the seriousness of sin in the          ordained that our homes are  the  place where our
sight of God. We must take the time and the effort to       children learn by instruction and example the fear of
do this.                                                    the Lord.


      THE STANDARD BEARER

                is a thoughtful gift for a "Shut-in".


306                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


TAKING HEED TO THEDOCTRINE  *





                      The Incarnation (conclusion)
                                              by Rev. David Engelsma




  There is also the danger of dividing the natures, so      this in His words, so offensive to the Jews, in John
that in Jesus are two different individuals. This brings    8:58:      "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
us to a consideration of the union of the natures in        Abraham was, I am." This makes all of the words and
one Person. The Church faced the danger of dividing         deeds of Jesus so weighty, so infinitely weighty: that
the natures of Christ so as to posit two different          which `stands under' them is God.
individuals in Jesus. She confronted this in the              In this Divine Person, the two natures are united.
teaching of Nestorius. We need not burden ourselves         The union is not by mixture; nor by the Divine
now with an examination of all the fascinating              replacing part of the human.; nor by the human being
aspects of the controversy with Nestorius, par-             defied; nor by the Divine being humanized; but by
ticularly the intrusion into the controversy of the         the two natures concurring in one Person. The Word
developing devotion to Mary in the description of her       took to Himself a human nature which was not itself
as "mother of God," which became the watchword of           personal, but which becomes personal in the Divine
the orthodox party and, indeed, was used by the             Person of the Word. John Owen put it this way:
Symbol of Chalcedon. Nestorious pressed the Church
to do justice to the oneness of Christ and the union                 In itself, it (the flesh of John 1: 14  - D.E.) is
of the natures.                                                 impersonal  - that which hath not a subsistence of its
                                                                own, which should give it individuation and distinc-
  This was also at issue in the doctrine of  Apol-              tion from the  same nature in any other person. But `it
linaris (who, you will remember, held that the Word            hath its subsistence in the person of the Son, which        .
replaces the human spirit, or "reasonable soul," in             thereby is its own.
Jesus). His concern was to establish a union of the           The union thus established is a permanent union. It
natures, an intimate union.                                 remains after the resurrection and ascension. Ac-
  Against Nestorius, Chalcedon said, "indivisibly,          cording to the Reformed creed, the two natures of
inseparably," and went on to say, "not parted or            Christ "were  n,ot separated even by his death . . . the
divided into two persons, but one and the same Son,         divine nature always remained united with the hu-
and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus             man, even when he lay in the grave" (Belgic Con-
Christ."                                                    fession, Article XIX). This is a reason why the body
                                                            of Christ did not see corruption in the grave.
  Jesus is one Person. By a "person," I understand
the ego, the "I," the self-conscious and self-asserting       By this personal union of the natures, the Christ is
subject of all one's action (another term is "sub-          one Christ, not two Christs. All that the creed is
sistence"  - that which stands under; the Greek word        expressing is the perfectly plain fact of all Scripture,
is  hypostasis).   Jesus' Person is the Divine Person of    that Jesus is not two individuals, but one individual.
the eternal Word. The  Word  became flesh (John               Also., there is living communion of the two natures.
1: 14); the  Son  was made of a woman (Galatians            This is not the same as confusion, or mixture. But
4:4). The "I" of the Word-become-flesh is the "I" of        there is such a relationship between the two natures
the eternal `Word; the "I" of the  Son-made-of-a-           that the Divine can sustain the human nature as it
woman is the "I" of the eternal Son. Christ expressed       suffers the punishment of the infinite wrath of God


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                            307


against sin and can give infinite value to those                incarnation. He must be real and full, though sinless,
sufferings, since they are the sufferings of God the            man  - for the redemption of sinners. He must be
Son;+and the human nature can be the seat in which              very God  - for the redemption of sinners. His natures
the Divine nature sustains the burden of the wrath of           must be distinct, not confused  - for the redemption
God.                                                            of sinners. The natures must be united in one person,
   Because of this personal union, the properties of            and that the person of God the Son  - for the
both natures are ascribed to the one Person of Jesus.           redemption of sinners.
Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am," thus                       The death that shall be the death of death must be
claiming eternality  - a perfection of the Divine               the death of the Son of God in our flesh; the blood
nature. But the same Jesus says, I thirst; I am weary; I        that shall purchase the Church from sin must be
do not know the hour of the end; My Father is                   God's own blood (Acts  20:28).
greater than I  - thus acknowledging the frailties and            The incarnation was also necessary for the renewal
limitations of His human nature.                                of the redeemed unto eternal and holy life. Only God
   In truth, the Word  became  flesh!                           can quicken, and only God can break sin's power. But
   This wonder took place by means of the Virgin                only one who shares our nature can impart His own
Birth, to which belongs conception by the Holy                  life to us. It is necessary, for a holy life, that the
Spirit. The Virgin Birth was not only the sign of the           redeemed be conscious of the incarnation. The
invisible miracle of incarnation, but it was also the           impelling motive of a holy life is thankful love  -
necessary means by which the incarnation occurred.              thankfulness for the incarnation. "In this was mani-
Man's act must be excluded, so that God may act.                fested the love of God toward us, because that God
Only in the way of the Virgin Birth is the Child God            sent his only begotten Son into the world . . . to be
and man. If Jesus is begotten by a man, as well as              the propitiation for our sins" (I John  4:9,10).  Con-
born of a woman, He is a human person; and He is                sciousness of this motivates us to love God and to
flesh only. On the other hand, if He is not born of a           love each other.
woman, He is at best merely the appearance of a man.              A godly life is obedience to Jesus as Lord; and
   Conception by the Spirit also safeguards the flesh           obedience to Jesus as Lord stems, ultimately, from
of Jesus from the defilement of original sin. By this           reverence for Him as God the Son.
work of the Spirit, Jesus is both "Son of God" and a              And all of the Christian's life and labor in this
"holy thing" (Luke 1: 3 5).                                     world is permeated with the sense of wonder and awe
  Concerning the manner in which the Word became                that he is the friend, the disciple, and the member of
flesh, Scripture says, "The Holy Ghost shall come               God Incarnate.
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall                     Salvation is friendship with God. In Christ Jesus,
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing                 God dwells with His people in friendship  - the
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of          covenant  - because of the incarnation.
God" (Luke  1:35).                                                Therefore, the Athanasian Creed speaks sober truth
  The necessity of the incarnation was expressed, by            when it says, "Furthermore it is necessary to ever-
the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed in these                   lasting salvation: that he (whoever will be saved) also
words : "who, for us men and for our salvation, came            believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
down from heaven."                                              Christ."
    In hist'ur Deus Homo, Anselm put it thus:                     I John 4: l-3 makes it the very touchstone of the
        . for what cause or necessity, in sooth,  God became    Spirit of God and true prophecy, that it is confessed
    &II (Book First., Chapter 1).                               that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," whereas it is
    The answer is given is Book Second, Chapter XVIII           antichrist that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is
    (b): The restoring of mankind ought not to take             come in the flesh.
    place, and could not, without man paid the debt
    which he owed God for his sin. And this debt was so           We must believe rightly the incarnation of the Lord
    great that, while none but man must solve the debt,         Jesus. For this faith, we must be born again, not of
   none but God was able to do it; so that he who does          blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
   it  must  be both God and man. And hence arises a            man, but of God; so that we rightly and thoroughly
   necessity that God should take man into unity with           know the misery of the guilt of our sins, our need of
   his own person; so that he who in his own nature was         pardon by the righteousness of God in Christ's cross,
   bound to pay the debt, but could not, might be able          and God's utterly gracious provision for our need in
   to do it in the person of God.                               His own Son. Then, we believe in Jesus the Christ, as
  The incarnation was necessary for the redemption              the Word become flesh for us poor sinners; and
of sinners. This is the necessity of every aspect of the        believing, we have eternal life in His Name.


308                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



FROM HOLY WRIT





                              Exposition of Galatians
                                                   by Rev. G. Lubbers



THE TENDER AND MERCIFUL RESTORATION                            His grace. Where meekness is wanting, we exalt
OF A FALLEN FELLOW-SAINT.  Continued  - Gal.                   ourselves as a holier-than-thou toward the fallen
6: 1-5                                                         saints, and we do not seek to restore with the
                                                               restoration of heaven's love and grace. We fail
   This restoration of a fallen saint is a delicate task       miserably to walk orderly by the Spirit and fall into
indeed! It cannot be performed in a hard and haughty           judgment! (Matt. 7: l-5)
way at all. Only the meekness of Christ can be of help
here; it must be the tender gentleness of our merciful         WA TCHFUL SELF-SCRUTINIZATION  iN RE-
high priest,  .Who can be and is touched with the              STORING THE BROTHER. (Gal. 6: 1)
feeling of our infirmities (Heb. 4: 15;  5.: 2). The fallen      In close connection with, yea, implied is this tender
saint needs the rebuke, reproof, and correction in this        restoration to the perfection of saints (See  Eph.
hour of need, even as a child needs the tender, firm           4: 1 l-l 6) is "the bearing of each others burdens." The
love of a correcting parent! He must find mercy and            text places the great mutuality of this bearing of each
grace in the visit of the elders or in that of one of the      other's burdens on the foreground. The Greek text
brethren who would save a brother from sin (James              when rendered rather literally reads, "of each other's
5:  19,20). It must be a hand reaching from heaven,            burdens on the foreground. The Greek text when
the touch of the risen Savior, Who says, "fear not; I          rendered rather literally reads, "of each other, the
have the keys of hell and of death. I was dead, and,           burdens keep on bearing" (Gal. 6: 2). Such is practical
behold, I live for evermore" (Rev. 1: 17-19). I live           godliness with power to help each other, to sustain
and, therefore, ye shall live. (John 14: 19)                   each other, upholding each other in the love of Christ
  Surely, it requires great meekness to be the                 (Eph.  4:1-3). Yes, we all have burdens. The Greek
messenger of Christ, Who Himself is meek and lowly,            text singles these out as a special class of burdens,
and Whose yoke is easy and Whose  bu,rden is light             which one finds in the midst of the household of
(Matt.  11:28-30).  It must be remembered that he              faith. These are  the  burdens, which are found there
who is a "spiritual" brother, who is Spirit-led, will          for believers, as they fight the good fight of faith as
surely have his sinful flesh to contend with when he           the militant church. Many are the burdens for the
goes to seek and find the sheep lost on the moun-              struggling saint, with sins which so easily beset him.
tains. So serious is this business and so fraught with         Apart from the light burden of Christ we would all
temptation to sin, that Paul underscores this by               succumb. However, in the body of Christ, where
changing from the third person plural (ye) to the              "every joint supplieth," every member is necessary
second person singular thou  (su in Greek). The                for the other (Eph. 4: 16). Christ bears our mutual
temptation is, that, when we speak to the brother, we          burdens, through the members of His body, the
do not come and speak in the meekness of Christ,               saints. And to these saints He gave a new command-
that we do not truly represent the Chief Shepherd in           ment in His blood, that we love one another in the
all his meekness and love. This is a -meekness which           midst of this world (John  13:34).  Bearing the
leaves all the judgment to God Himself to heal and             burdens of the brother, the saints fulfill the law of
restore, and to perform the wonders of the glory of            Christ. The law of Christ is that law which he has


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  309


      given us in the New Testament in His blood. This law         thinking great thoughts about himself, he is  all the
      we must fill up. The Greek verb is a composite verb. It      while a "nothing"! The text says "Being nothing."
      is "anapleeroo." This means to make full to the brim         The thinking of this man, you or I, is pure presump-
      so that no more can be added. Paul uses this verb to         tion; it is  arrogancy! Such a conceited person claims
      depict the horrible plight and sin of the Jewish nation      much for himself and concedes little to others. A
      in fulfilling their sin always in their rejection of the     presumptuous persons claims place and privilege
      Gospel and in their persecuting those who believe and        above all others. When such is the case, such a
      teach the Gospel of Christ's Cross (I Thes. 2: 16).          spiritual non-entity, does not very often deceive
      Here we see the condemning words of Jesus fulfilled          others; he only deceives himself. Paul gives us a very
      over Jerusalem, who killed all the prophets from Abel        beautiful and telling description of such a spiritual
      to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, who was slain by         nothing in I Cor. 13: l-3. Writes he, "If I have the gift
      Joash in the temple (II Chron.  24:20,21;  Matt.             of all prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all
      23:35).                                                      knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I
         Yes, sins filled up. The measure of iniquity is           could remove mountains, and  have,not charity (love),
      heaping full so that the wrath of God comes upon             I am  nothing.  " Yes, there you have it, clearly and
      Israel, and they cease to be a nation. But when we           unmistakably stated. Yes, in  comparision to God, the
      fulfill the law of Christ, then too no more can be           best preacher too is a mere "nothing." The preacher
      done. This is done when in love we bear each other's         cannot make the preaching, efficacious (I Cor. 3  :7).
      burdens, help each other upon the wings of faith and         Well may we take to heart the word of God in Psalm
      love, caring for each other before the throne of grace.      73:6; Proverbs 8: 13; 14:3;  29:23.
      Here the children are truly gathered, even as a hen             The word translated ."deceiveth oneself" is very
      gathers her chickens under her wings. Here we                expressive in the Greek text. It is  phrenapataoo
      perform under Christ, what Christ did for us es-             heauton,   It is not found in the Classics; Paul is
      sentially, when He took all our burdens upon Him,            coining a word here. The  phren  is the mind, the heart,
      and gave us the easy burden yoke and the light               the soul, including the intellect, dispositions and
      burden. When we help our neighbor bear his burdens,          feelings.  See  I Cor.  14:20. The term  apataoo  joined
      we have learned that Jesus is meek and lowly, and we         with  phrene  emphasizes the subjective fancies of such
      find rest for our souls. Thus we walk on the way as it       a man who thinks to be something, while all the time
      narrows on the way to heaven (Matt. 7:  13,14). All          he is a mere nothing. It is a ludicrous picture of a
     men see in us thus that we are Christ's disciples. Here       spiritual fool. Such we must not be! The Bible speaks
      the Lord commands His blessing, even life forever-           of being deceived by others (Eph.  5:6), of Adam and
      more (John  13:34,35; Ps.  133:3).                           Eve being deceived by Satan in paradise (I Tim.
         Therefore, keep a watchful eye on self. When you          2: 14). James comes very near to what Paul teaches
      go to restore the brother do not be tempted  not to          here when. he says that men "deceive their own
      lift  up his heavy burden under, which he has fallen!        heart," when they do not have the pure and undefiled
      Fulfill the law of Christ! It is not written upon tables     religion, which visits widows and orphans in their
      of stone, but upon the tables of your fleshy hearts by       affliction, and keeps self undefiled by the world
      the Spirit of God! Be a letter, read of all men, a letter    (James  1:26).  Now a man, who deceives his own
      written by Christ himself (II Cor.  3:3).                    mind, has. spiritual hallucinations and whimsical
                                                                   fancies concerning himself. The man who is overtaken
      THE SPIRITUAL SELF-DECEPTION OF THE                          in a fault knows very well that this loveless visitor
      WOULD-BE RESTORER OF THE BROTHER  Gala-                      only walks in his spiritual dream-world (Eph. 5  :6;.
      tians 6: 3                                                   ITim.  2:14; Rom.  7:11;ICor.3:18;Titus2:14).All
                                                                   this proud preening is an abomination to the Lord
        Paul writes a very severe warning that we see to it        because it does not even begin to fulfil the law of
      that we, indeed, fulfill the law of Christ to the brother    Christ, the royal law of the kingdom. It is not walking
      and sister, who fell into sin. The warning finger is that    in the liberty in Christ Jesus, being impelled by the
      we do not walk in self-delusion. We must be a                Spirit of Christ.
      spiritual somebody, who knows how to lift the
      burdens of the brother to be a true fellow-saint.
      Writes Paul, "If a man think himself to be something,        EVERY MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWN BURDEN
      when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." We should         (Galatians  6:4,5)
      notice here that Paul uses a conditional sentence. It          The term "own burden" is the very personal
      assumes to be true that a certain man, you or I,             (idion)  burden of assigned duties of the Lord. For
      thinks that he is something, a real somebody in the          this burden the christian is responsible, answerable to
      church, with real loving intentions and ability to           God in Christ. We shall all need to be manifested in
      restore an erring brother. But while he is thus              our works in the day of Christ (II Cor. 5: 10). Paul


L


310                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



refers to this in Gal. 5 : 10 where he says" each shall        who are watchful for Jesus' return in glory to judge
bear his judgment, whoever he is." The term for                the living and the death (Ps. 62: 12; Jer.  17:9,10;
burden is  phorton,  that is, a burden of Christ. The          32:19;   M a t t .   16:27;  Rom.  2:6;  14:12; Rev.  2:23;
term is employed five times in the New Testament:              22: 12). The actual proving of the work is to ascertain
Matt.  11:30;  Matt.  23:4; Acts  15:28;  Rev.  2:12.          the genuineness of the works,  whether they proceed
These are not the heavy burdens of the  law~and the            from faith which works by love, as pure manifesta-
curse, such as were bound upon the necks of men by             tions of the love for the brother and for God Himself.
the teaching of the Pharisees (Matt.  23:4), but they          Gold is tried in the fire to remove the dross; here the
are the light burdens, the easy yoke of Christ (Matt.          proving is a judging with a pure conscience our own
11:30).  John says: "And his commandments are not              work in the light of God's holiness and perfect law. It
grievous" (I John  4:3,4).  These are love duties, which       must be able to stand in the day of Christ so that we,
Christ places upon our shoulders giving us His Spirit          are not ashamed (I John  2:28). Remember too that
so that we are very ready in the day of His power.             God knows our works in their deepest motives (Rev.
Well may we walk in this love-duty, that  we-may  give         2:2,  9,13,19,23;  3:  1,2,8.)  Our works must be perfect
account in that day. It is such a love-duty to restore         before God in Christ (Matt.  5:20,48).  Thus we walk
that brother who is overcome by a trespass.                    at liberty.
  In view of such giving account, each must "prove                  Yes, we must have solid ground for boasting in our
his own work." The Greek makes this very emphatic,             works. Not that these works are meritorious. But
"The work  of himself let each approve." This "work"           they must be genuine, good works, approved of God
refers to the  sum total  of all one's work as steward of      in Christ, as the fruits of grace. They must be God's
God. It is the rule in judgment: every man shall be            love perfected in us (I John 4: 17). We must have
judged by his own work, whether he was a good or an            boldness in the day of judgment, and not boast by
evil tree (Matt.  25:31-46). We are to walk as those           comparing our work with that of others.


                                            Book Review
SERMONS FROM JOB,  John Calvin; Baker Book                     superb exegete; Calvin the master of truly prophetic
House, 1979; 300 pp., $4.95 (paper). (Reviewed by              preaching; Calvin the theologian dedicated in all his
Prof. H. Hanko.)                                               work to the glory of God; and, not by any means
                                                               least, Calvin the pastor. In fact this latter aspect of
  John Calvin has long been known as one of the                these sermons was particularly striking. We seldom
great, if not the greatest, theologians of the Reforma-        think of Calvin as pastor of God's sheep in Geneva.
tion. What is not so well known .is that Calvin was            But these sermons make abundantly clear that he was
also an outstanding preacher and, in fact, considered          indeed a pastor who understood the problems,
himself, first of all,. to be a  .preacher.  This ignorance    sorrows, temptations, sins, and deep spiritual needs of
of Calvin the preacher is partly due to the lack of            his flock.
published sermons of Calvin. It is surprising that,
after Calvin's death, for the first fifty or sixty years,           While these sermons are considerably different
Calvin's sermons were published in many languages,             from the type of preaching to which we are
distributed far and wide and underwent many                    accustomed  - especially from a homiletical viewpoint
                                                               -
reprintings in many lands while his other works were                nevertheless, every minister of the Word will gain
comparatively ignored. Indeed, his sermons probably            insight in how to preach from these sermons, and
had greater influence than any of his other works in           every pastor will learn at the feet of the great
spreading the Calvin Reformation. But after the first          reformer of Geneva how to be a better shepherd in
half century or so, this printing of Calvin's sermons          God's sheepfold.
almost ceased and his other works increased in                      The book has the added value of an interesting and
popularity. Once again, starting about a decade ago,           important introduction written by Harold Dekker on
Calvin's sermons are being published. For this we              Calvin as preacher.
may be grateful.                                                    Yet, while the book is of value for every minister,
  This book is made  .up of twenty of Calvin's                 every one of God's people can easily read the book.
sermons on Job. The great reformer preached a total            The translation is generally excellent and the material
of 159 sermons on this book during the years 1554  &           easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to
1555 when he preached daily in Geneva. These                   all our people. No one who reads it will go away
sermons on Job are, in my opinion, some of the finest          unrewarded. It is Calvin the preacher at his best, and
of all Calvin's sermons. Here you find Calvin the              his sermons still speak to the heart.


                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               311





                        The League of Eastern Men's and Ladies' Societies will meet at Hudsonville
                     Church at 8:00 on Wednesday, April 9. Prof.  Decker will speak on "The Signs of
                     the Times." Everyone is welcome.





                                NOTICE!!!                                                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   Classis East  ,will meet in regular session on Wednesday, May 14,           It is with deep gratitude and thankfulness in our hearts to our
1980 at the  SouthEast  Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids.         heavenly Father that we take the opportunity of their 40th wedding
                                                                            anniversary on April 12, 1980, the Lord willing, to thank our parents,
   Material to be treated at this session must be in the hands of the       MR. AND MRS. GERARD (BUD) BYLSMA for the years of loving,
Stated Clerk no later than ten days prior to the convening of this          covenant guidance and instruction they have unselfishly given to us. We
session.                                                                    pray that God will continue to sustain them in their lives together, that
                                 Jon Huisken, Stated Clerk                  they may constantly experience His blessings.

                                                                               "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea,  I have a goodly
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                      heritage" (Psalm  16:6).
    On April 10, 1980, our beloved parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit                                            Gerald and Bonnie Kuiper
Lubbers, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We thank our                                           Gerald, Pamela, Karen,
heavenly Father for preserving them for each other and for us, and pray                                        Matthew, Timothy and Andrew
that He will continue to bless them in the years to come.                                                  Don and Judi Doezema
                                                                                                           Duane and Shirley Gunnink
    "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon                                        Shelley, Kevin, Tracy,
them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children"                                           Jason and Aaron
Psalm  103:17.                                                                                             Paul and Linda Young
                                 Their children,                                                              Steven and Cathy Jo
                                    Bernard and Ruth Lubbers
                                    Jay and Donna Lubbers
                                    Paul and Carolyn  Schipper                           ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENT
                                    Glenn                                      On April  13,1980, the Lord willing, our beloved parents, MR. AND
                                    Ted and Gloria Miedema                  MRS. GILBERT  SCHIMMEL  will commemorate their 30th wedding
                                    David and Marcia Doezema                anniversary. We, their grateful children, thank God for the many years
                                       26 grandchildren                     of love and Christian instruction they have given us. Our prayer is that
                                       11  great-grandchil'dren             our covenant God may continue to bless them and keep them in His
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    c a r e .
                                                                               "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
   We wish to express our sympathy to the Vriesinga family in the           them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; To
death of their mother and of our sister in Christ, MRS. SENETTA             such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His command-
VRIESINGA. We find our comfort in the words of the Good Shepherd,           ments to do them" (Psalm  103:17,18).
"In my Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye                                   Their children,
may be also" (John  14:2-3).                                                                                   Jim and Carol Schimmel
                                                                                                               Dan and Judy Schimmel
                                 The Consistory of the  SouthEast                                              Hank and Deb Vander Waal
                                 Protestant Reformed Church                                                    Steve and Ruth Kerkstra
                                 Grand Rapids, Ml                                                              Dave
                                    Rev. C. Haak, Pres.                                                        Tim
                                    Gerald De Vries, Clerk.                                                    Tom
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                         and 8 grandchildren.

   We take this occasion to express our Christian sympathy to Mr.
John De Vries in the death of his wife, MRS. FENNA DE VRIES.                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Although this is difficult for the flesh, we believe that in this Gpd          The Faith, Hope and Love Society of the South Holland Protestant
works His wonders. We find our comfort in the words of the Psalmist  -      Reformed Church expresses their sincere sympathy to one of our
"They go forward from strength to strength, everyone of them                members, Mrs. Louis Regnerus, in the passing of her father, MR.
appeareth'before God in Zion" (Psalm  84:7).                                WILLIAM WEIRINGA.
                                 The Consistory of the  SouthEast              "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Psalm
                                 Protestant Reformed Church                 116:15).
                                 Grand Rapids, Ml
                                    Rev. C. Haak, Pres.                                                    Rev. David Engelsma, Pres.
                                    Gerald De Vries, Clerk                                                 Mrs.  R. Poortinga, Sec'y.


 THE  STA@ihD  BEARER
        P.O:.&ix 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506


                                 _~.-  -.~--.-__---_-~   ~~  ~.  _.  _  .._.-
312                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                News From Our Churches

   Hope Church in Walker, Michigan scheduled a             from now on. Up to this time they have met jointly.
special congregational meeting on Monday, March 10.        The new procedure is as follows: the deacons
The congregation voted to extend a call to one of its      (diaconate) will continue to meet on the first
own members, Professor Herman Hanko. The trio              Tuesday of each month. The elders and deacons
also included Rev. G. Van  Baren and Rev. B.               (council) will meet on the second Tuesday of each
Woudenberg.                                                month to consider matters for the attention of both
   Our church in Redlands, California extended a call      of them. After that business is finished, the deacons
to Rev. Kenneth Koole of Randolph, Wisconsin.              will leave, and the elders (consistory) will meet to
                                                           consider business particular to their office.
   Rev. Robert Harbach was scheduled to have eye
surgery on Wednesday, March 5, in Bronson Hospital           Our congregation -in Loveland, Colorado recites
in Kalamazoo, Michigan.                                    orally the Apostles Creed which is contained in the
                                                           prayer of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
   Rev. Arie den Hartog and his family arrived safely      Apparently they had also recited orally the Lord's
in Singapore on Friday, February 1. He and his             Prayer, but the consistory decided to discontinue that
family were welcomed by many members of the                practice in order to avoid confusion.
Gospel Letters and Tract Society (G.L.T.S.) when
they arrived at the airport. The G.L.T.S. has acquired       The Reformed Witness Committee of our  Edger-
a `nice place' for the home of the den Hartog family       ton, Hull, and  Doon Churches published a newsletter
in the  Bedok section of Singapore. The  Doon              recently. The committee decided to see if the 600
bulletin goes on to say that "We thank our faithful        persons on their permanent mailing list really wanted
God for Rev. den Hartog's safe arrival and seek His        to receive their publications. Each person on the list
blessing upon the Word preached by us there through        was sent a message that in order to stay on the list,
our Missionary." The Hull  bulletin.reports that Rev.      they would have to let the committee know. The list
den Hartog will labor as missionary in Singapore for       dropped from 600 to 0 and then rebounded to 50.
two years, D.V., and then return to the States for a       Through this effort the committee also received many
two-month furlough.                                        letters of encouragement. Beside the permanent
                                                           mailing list, the committee sends 500 copies of each
  Construction of a new sanctuary for our Covenant         of their pamphlets to  the Standard Bearer  office and
Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey is progressing. The          750 to Loveland for distribution there. Whenever the
carpenters were to begin framing the building in early     committee sponsors a lecture series, they bulk-mail
March. If all goes as planned the building ought to be     pamphlets in the area in which the lecture is
closed in by the time spring arrives. Covenant also        scheduled. The latest pamphlets published by the
received some rather encouraging news that one of          committee  .are: "Pentecostalism" by Rev. Bekkering;
their bondholders has asked to donate a piano and an       "Women in Office" by, Professor Decker; and "Pre-
organ to the congregation.                                 destination" by Rev. Flikkema.
  Hope Church in Walker, Michigan approved a                 The Covenant Christian High School Alumni Choir
proposal to install carpeting and paneling in their        has made available a cassette recording of their
large society room in the church basement.                 Christmas program presented in First Church last
  Our Southeast Church in Grand Rapids started a           December 16. The title of the program is "A Festival
new procedure the first of the year. At the close of       of Nine Lessons and Carols." While this is not a
the service, after the Benediction, the congregation is    professionally produced recording in  wide-vision-
asked to maintain a moment of silence while the            stereo-matic sound, it will allow you to enjoy this
elders go forward to shake hands with the minister,        beautiful program. If you wish to look forward to
then the minister and elders go to the various exits to    Christmas or to enjoy Christmas past  - send your tape
greet the congregation. The congregation begins to         request with $2 to: Tape Ministry, First Protestant
exit as the organist begins the postlude.                  Reformed Church, 1145 Franklin SE, Grand Rapids,
  The elders and deacons of our Faith Church in            Michigan 49507.
Jenison, Michigan have decided to meet separately                                                           K.G.V.


