           The
      STANDARD
F         BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       \


     They should stand against the world; but see,
     they have brought the world into the church.
     They ought to serve God, not men; but see,
     mammon has gained an undisputed triumph
     in so many hearts. They should bring the
     flesh under the Spirit; and behold, they walk
     in the flesh again. Yea, Satan's work should
     lie defeated; but rather the soul walks with
     Satan in a cursedly unholy alliance. Thus
     spiritual power declines. Faith languishes.
     Love withers. Hope fades. And prayer, which
     ought to have been a power, loses ardor and
     animation and force. Poor church of God!
                                                     Dr. A. Kuyper
          See "Translated Treasures"-page  224

                                       Volume  LVII, No. 10, February 15, 1981


218                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                      ISSN 0362-4692
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       The Rising of Another Generation. . . . . . . . . . . .218                  Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Hotier C. Hoeksema
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                                                                                                      Robert D. Decker, Rev. David I. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
       The GKN on the Nature of the                                                Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                                     ornelius                                  
                                                                                                                  Hanko, Prof. Herman Hando,
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                                                                                                     sdney                    
                                                                                                               Miersma, Rev. Marinus Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
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MEDITATION

                    The Rising of Another Generation
                                                                    Rev. M. Schipper


                  "And there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works
              which he had done for Israel.
                  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim.
                  And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt,
              and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed
               themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
                  And they forsook the Lord, and served Baa1 and Ashtaroth. "                                                       Judges .Z:lOb-13.

  The immediate preceding context is marked                                          Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived
especially by two notices.                                                           Joshua. Now this cannot mean that all Israel, head
  In the first place, we are informed that the                                        for head, feared, obeyed, and served the Lord. We
children of Israel served Jehovah all the days of                                     know, for example, of Achan, who at the time of


I                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              219



~ the destruction of Jericho perished with his family            they were pricked out of their nest to be brought
     because of his disobedience. But it does mean that          into the howling wilderness and thence to the
     organically considered the nation as a whole served         promised land. That history reveals God's dealings
     Jehovah. And that means, too, that under the good           with that people for forty years in the wilderness
     influence and leadership of Joshua and the elders           under the leadership of Moses; how they were pre-
     the nation as a whole feared and served Jehovah             served in the desert; how they continuously
     their God.                                                  rebelled; and how God showed them His un-
       In the second place, we are informed that the             changeable mercies. That history reveals their
     generation of Joshua and the elders who outlived            crossing of the Jordan and entrance into the
     him passed away. There is, of course, nothing new           promised land under the faithful leadership of
     or shocking in this notice. It is simply a record of        Joshua and the elders, and it shows how each tribe
     the normal turn of events in the history of God's           came to their respective inheritances.
     covenant in the world. At the ripe old age of a               That history in its entirety was a revelation of the
     hundred and ten years Joshua folded up his feet             marvelous grace of Jehovah their God. One word
     into the bed and gave up the ghost. And he was              could be stamped across every page of that history
     buried like his fathers in the  place*of  his inheri-       to describe it  - MIRACLE! That history begins
     tance in the land.of Ephraim. Nor is there anything         with the miracle of Abram become a great nation.
     unusual in the fact that the God-fearing elders were        Out of the deadness of Abram and  Sarai God pro-
     also gathered unto their fathers. However, when             duced a great host. What seemed to Abram and
     you read of this notice in the light of our text, then      Sarai an utter impossibility became by the grace of
     it becomes most significant. It means that a  God-          Jehovah reality. When his brothers sold Joseph as a
     fearing generation was followed by another genera-          slave into Egypt meaning to do evil, God meant it
     tion which did not serve the Lord. That is most             for good, to save much people alive in the days of
     significant.                                                famine. The wonder becomes even greater when
       And there arose another generation after them             the Lord delivered His people from the bondage of
     which knew not the Lord...!                                 Egypt through ten great plagues which destroyed
                                                                 the power of Egypt and brought His people out
       This must not be conceived of as if historically          with a high hand. Once more we see the miracle at
     the one generation follows another. Such might be           the Red Sea where Israel walks through the sea on
     our conception if we read the text in the light of its      dry ground; and when the Egyptians assayed to do
     context superficially. Then it might appear that            the same they came to their destruction. See also
     there was a God-fearing generation that served the          the miraculous provision for Israel in the desert:
     Lord, and that this one was followed by another             water from the rock, manna from heaven, no
     that did not serve the Lord. But if that were our           deterioration of their clothing. Think of the won-
     conclusion, we would be seriously mistaken. Such
     is never the case in history that one generation so         derful provision at Sinai in the dispensation of the
     follows another. Rather, the truth is that the one          law and the constitution of the Theocracy. And,
                                                                 finally, there is the crossing of the Jordan, and
     generation comes up out of the other that precedes
     it. The second generation has its historical roots in       Israel's entrance into the promised land. Then they
     the first. The generations develop organically, the         arrived at  Gilgal, where the manna ceased and
     one out of the other. It is this truth that is basic in     Israel ate of the abundance of the land; where the
                                                                 ceremony of circumcision took place which signi-
     the text, and makes the Word of God here to be
     most significant for the church today. Bearing this         fied Israel's separation unto the Lord, and the
     in mind, we consider our text under the theme: The          cleansing which was by blood; where the Passover
                                                                 was commemorated for the first time after forty
     rising of another generation.                               years. And forget not the miracle of the destruction
       Notice, first of all, its frightful description as set    of Jericho, the conquering of the invested nations,
     forth in the text.                                          and the entrance of each tribe into their peculiar
       This generation is ignorant of the works which            inheritances  - all of this was a wonder of grace.
     Jehovah had done for Israel. And that means that            That is the history.
     they were ignorant of Israel's history.                       But of all this the new generation is ignorant. 0,
       That history began with the calling of Abram              that cannot mean that they had absolutely no
     from Ur of the Chaldees. It continues with                  knowledge of it. That would be quite inconceiv-
     Abraham's seed as it is brought to Egypt, where the         able. They certainly had some head knowledge of
     one family of Jacob becomes a great host, where             history past, if through nothing else than mere
     Israel as it were is cradled in God's favor in a fur-       tradition. But it means that this generation had not
     lined nest until it is time for the people as eaglets to    lived through that history. It was not a vital exper-
     fly (Deut. 32: 1 l), when through the cruel bondage         ience for them. All they knew was simply dead


220                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



tradition. This generation did not care about that in         Mark well, as we said at the beginning, the new
which the nation had its origin and vital roots. This       generation was present in and had its roots in the
generation failed to sense that in that history God         generation of Joshua and the elders who survived
was forming to Himself a people for His praise. It          him. We must not make the mistake of concluding
simply did not vibrate in the soul of this generation       that this generation comes up only after Joshua et aZ
what Jehovah had done for Israel.                           are dead. Never is it so in the history of God's
  And it follows quite naturally that if they knew          covenant that there is a God-fearing generation
not what Jehovah had done for Israel, they also             which when it passes away is suddenly followed by
would not know Jehovah Who had done it.                     another generation that knows not Jehovah. Nor is
                                                            it so that all in the generation of Joshua and the
  To have known Jehovah would imply that they               elders served the Lord, as we already pointed out.
knew with a spiritual knowledge of faith that               Nor must we conclude that all in the new genera-
Jehovah is the only true and living God in distinc-         tion were wicked and perverse. Undoubtedly also
tion from the dead and false idols of the surround-         in this generation could be found those who would
ing nations. It implies that He is known as the Holy        be weeping at the door of the tabernacle because of
One Who has pleasure in a people that walks holily          Israel's sin. Always there are the seven thousand
before Him, and Who destroys all that which is              who do not bow the knee to Baal-the election of
contrary to His holiness. It implies that He is the         grace!
eternal God Who in love had chosen this people in
distinction from all the peoples of the world; and            What we must see is the fact that the new genera-
that He is the Almighty Jehovah before Whom no              tion has its roots in and is a further projection of the
Pharaoh, no devil, can stand; that He alone is able         generation of Joshua and the elders. There is histor-
to save.                                                    ical and organic development in the covenant. The
                                                            spiritual and the carnal seed develop together.
  But this generation is ignorant of Him. 0, again,         However, when Joshua and the elders are dead,
they knew about Him alright. Why even from their            they lose their influence. When they no longer
tradition it was quite impossible to be totally             speak and govern, then the carnal generation takes
ignorant of Him. Even the heathen nations knew of           over, and does as it pleases. Then they wilfully
Jehovah, and they feared Him. Witness the actions           ignore their historical origin and God's faithful
of Balak, king of Moab, and the fear of the king of         dealings with His people. Then they wilfully turn
Jericho, as the spies learned from the mouth of             their faces away from Jehovah, the God of their
Rahab the harlot. But this new generation does not          fathers. Then they, without the tutelage of Joshua
want to retain Jehovah in their knowledge. As later         and the elders, go a whoring after the gods of the
in their history they desired a king like all the           heathen to their delight.
nations about them, so it is now, they desire gods            This is what is happening in the present genera-
like all the nations round about whom they allowed          tion today. If this were not so, there would be no
to remain in the land.                                      point in calling this to your attention. Then, of
  And so it also naturally followed that this genera-       course, our text would have no significance for us.
tion became apostate in their walk. No great                Then our text would simply relate a bit of sacred
surprise is this; for if they are ignorant of their his-    history concerning Israel in the time of the Judges.,
tory and ignorant of Jehovah, it follows that
Jehovah will be ignored also in His service. This             But the shocking truth is that our text points to a
generation serves Baa1  and Ashtaroth  - the                reality that constantly recurs in the history and
prominent gods of the heathen that were left in the         development of God's covenant in the world. In
land. 0, indeed, they had been forewarned, for              reality the text is speaking of the truth that con-
Moses had predicted that this they would do (Deut.          stantly reveals itself in the generations of God's
28, 29). Moreover, also Joshua before he died called        people.
all Israel to him to forewarn them what would                 Always there is the God-fearing generation that
happen if they forsook Jehovah to serve idols               fears and serves Jehovah; that knows the history of
(Joshua 23,24). So stiff-necked was the new genera-         God's covenant, having a living experience of it;
tion that they threw all warnings from them. The            that therefore learns to know Jehovah in love; that
gods that appeal to carnal flesh, the gods of mater-        serves Him with all their heart.
ialism and earthly prosperity and pleasure, that              And always in the midst of that God-fearing
appeal to eyes that cannot see, to ears that cannot         generation is another that has the potential of going
hear, and to hearts that cannot understand - these          in the very opposite direction. The God-fearing
are the gods the new generation had chosen.                 generation brings forth not only Jacobs but also
Indeed, a frightful description of an evil generation!      Esaus. Never does the God-fearing generation,
  Ever recurring and present reality!                       head for head, and one hundred percent serve the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              221



Lord. There is always an Israel that is called such         longer seriously considers what Jehovah has done
but is not.                                                 for her in and through Christ Jesus, is the church
  All that is necessary for that carnal element             that perishes. The church that does not serve Jeho-
really to reveal itself is the death of the faithful. As    vah with all her heart, is the church that must ex-
soon as Joshua and the elders died, as soon as their        perience His wrath. The church that forsakes Jeho-
word and counsel, their government and influence,           vah and His service, and goes a whoring after idol
are no longer in power, then the carnal generation          gods, is the church that comes to nought.
begins to reveal itself as departing from Jehovah. It         What then is the sobering effect of the truth in
is that generation which does not live through the          our text?
history, for whom history is not a vital experience,          The present generation which still fears Jehovah
which does not know what Jehovah has done for               must come to revival. It must recount the covenant
Israel. Neither does it know Jehovah as the only            mercies Jehovah our God has shown unto us, must
true God, the God of their salvation in Christ. And         recall all that He has done for us-how He has cho-
consequently, this is the generation that turns to          sen us in Christ Jesus from everlasting to be His pe-
the gods of the nations.                                    culiar people, how He delivered us from the bond-
  That generation is among us!                              age of sin and death through the blood of the cross,
  Indeed, a sobering thought!                               how He has given us the regenerating, resurrection
                                                            life of the Spirit of Christ, how He has laid in our
  If the present generation spiritually predomi-            hearts the hope of glory. We must renew our vow
nates, the other generation cannot reveal itself. If        to keep our part in His covenant, by serving Jeho-
we are constantly living in the consciousness of            vah with our whole being. And if we have failed to
what the Lord has done for us, if we are serving the        be faithful, we must get on our knees and confess
Lord with all our hearts, if we govern the present in       our neglect before His face. And if there is any in-
such a way that all are continually, thoroughly in-         clination to serve the idol, then we must flee that
doctrinated in the sound principles of Reformed             idolatry and return to Jehovah our God. And if we
truth, then the other generation cannot and will not        have failed to instruct our children in the fear of
become a majority that goes astray.                         Jehovah, we must repent of this sin, and reaffirm
  However, it is also a sobering truth that history         our covenant vows assumed at their baptism.
repeats itself.                                               Finally, the present generation which still fears
  There is an old Dutch saying that is pertinent            Jehovah must continue to predominate. It must
here, "In `t verleden ligt het  heden; in het nu wat        assume the prerogative to maintain its influence,
worden  zal." Literally translated, it is: "In the past     by teaching and living the truth, by showing in
lies the present, in the now what shall be." Applied        word and example Who He is Whom we serve, and
to the case at hand, that means, what happened to           why we serve Him, by maintaining Christian dis-
Israel after the death of Joshua is potentially with        cipline that always insists that God's Word and will
us today. And what is potentially with us today,            must control our lives.
will also happen in the future.                               The present generation must prove to be inno-
  This is, indeed, a factor which must be seriously         cent of the blood of that generation that forsakes
considered by us today.                                     Jehovah. If the generation that forsakes Jehovah to
                                                            serve other gods ignores all your instruction and ad-
  As we already pointed out, Moses and Joshua               monition, it does so it its awful destruction. But you
were thoroughly aware of this situation and                 through your faithfulness have made yourselves
warned against it. Let the church today give sober          innocent of their blood.
attention to those warnings. The church that no

EDITORIAL

                     The GKN on the Nature of the
                            Authority of Scripture (1)
                                                Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


  In November of 1980 the Gereformeerde Kerken              Netherlands, hereafter referred to as the GKN) at
van Nederland (the Reformed Churches of the                 their General Synod reached what is, in my  opin-


222                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



ion, the most significant decision of all the synodi-       powers that be in the Netherlands, as well as
cal decisions taken during the entire downgrade             demonstrating that Waarheid en Eenheid was none
trend of the GKN in the last twenty or twenty-five          too severe in its criticism.
years. Before the Synod was an 84-page report from            But I am also glad because this made the official
its Commission on Church and Theology on "The               report available to the  Standard Bearer,  which
Nature of the Authority of Scripture." This report          receives  Waarheid en Eenheid regularly by air mail.
had been some six or seven years in the making; ac-         Now we do not have to wait for the coming English
tually its occasion lies even farther back in history,      version of the report; nor are we dependent on
for we must remember that the Kuitert case (at the          secondhand information to learn about the report.
bottom of which lay the question of Scripture) is
already some ten years old.                                   The report/decision itself is appalling! I already
                                                            began to have suspicions of this when I read a brief
  The General Synod considered this long report             but rather vague and colorless report about Synod's
for a morning and an afternoon and then decided             decision in  RES News Exchange  of December, 1980.
by a unanimous vote that it is "a clear and confes-         My suspicions grew when I began to read criti-
sionally responsible explanation of the manner in           cisms in  Waarheid en Eenheid.  But when I finally
which Scripture wants to be understood in order to          had the opportunity to read the full report, I was
be able to hear what the God of the Word has to say         simply appalled. This decision of the GKN is, in my
to us." (quoted from Kerkinformatie by Waarheid en          opinion, nothing less than a complete denial of the
Eenheid;  translation mine) A version of the report         Reformed, not to say Christian, doctrine of Holy
will be distributed in the churches during the first        Scripture. I do not hesitate to say that while it pur-
part of 1981. The official report has already been          ports to set forth the nature of the authority of
distributed to the secular and the religious press,         Scripture, it actually denies and cancels out that
and in some quarters (Waarheid en Eenheid, Evangel-         authority, so that anyone can make Scripture say
ische Omroep, and  De Reformafie  especially) is            what he wants it to say and make it teach any doc-
undergoing considerable criticism. It is claimed            trine which he wants it to teach.
that the publicly distributed report will undergo no          There has been considerable concern expressed
change in content. However, there has been a con-           from time to time about trends in the GKN and
siderable hue-and-cry raised about the fact that in         about some of its failures to exercise doctrinal dis-
some quarters the content and claims of the report/         cipline and discipline of the promoters of heresy
decision are already being publicized and subjected         when confronted by clear instances of heresy. And
to sharp criticism. I cannot understand this, unless        this concern, as we have made plain from time to
there was some plan afoot to try to make the                time in these columns, was completely justified.
publicly distributed report more palatable (and             There has been concern expressed, too, about
deceptive?) to the general membership of the GKN,           decisions in the GKN with respect to life and
a plan now stymied to an extent by the fact that            practice. Just recently there has been the decision
some have divulged and criticized the contents of           of the GKN concerning homosexuals in the church.
the report/decision allegedly prematurely. After all,       At last summer's Reformed Ecumenical Synod in
as Waarheid en Eenheid correctly pointed out in a           Nimes, France, that decision was discussed in con-
recent issue, the report was publicly treated by the        nection with continued membership of the GKN in
General Synod; besides, it is this report that consti-      the RES. It was claimed by some that the decision
tutes the official decision of the Synod, not the           did not mean that practicing homosexuals could
later, edited report; and it is this report/decision        have a place in the GKN and at their communion
which beZongs to the churches and church member-            table. But last November the General Synod made
ship, so that it is their right to know it and to criti-    it plain that these defenders of the GKN's decision
cize it; and besides, this report was made public to        were wrong: the decision does indeed mean that
the press. What is secret about it? Why should the          the GKN are open to practicing homosexuals. Also
public not be made acquainted with it? Why can it           this concern about the GKN's attitude toward prac-
not be criticized?                                          tical matters of life is completely justified.
  Partly, undoubtedly, to stymy this criticism, and            But this decision about the authority of Scripture
partly to foil the plan to publish another version,         is in another category, you see. When you talk
and partly to show that its own criticism of the            about Scripture and its authority, you are talking
report/decision is entirely accurate and justified,         about that which is basic to, that which constitutes
Waarheid en Eenheid (the paper of the "concerned"           the foundation of all other doctrines and teachings
in the GKN) recently published a special issue in           about life and practice in the church. Scripture is
which it reproduced the entire 84-page report. I am         the foundation of the confessions themselves, as
glad about this, For it shows that  Waarheid en             well as of all the preaching and teaching and disci-
Eenheid  is not about to be intimidated by any              pline of the church. And now it is true, `of course,


                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 223


that in the recent past there have been many                                     lands so far that the issue is no longer one of
incidents cited in the Dutch press of professors and                             Reformed-or-not-Reformed but `one of fundamen-
ministers who in one way or another denied the                                   talism vs. liberalism. But what now? If the founda-
inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture. Names                               tions be destroyed, what will the righteous do?
such as Kuitert, Baarda, Koole, and Boelens come                                 Personally, I cannot see how a Bible-believing
to mind. Yes, and also the name of Dr. G. C.                                     Christian can in good conscience remain a member
Berkouwer in his two volumes on Holy Scripture. It                               in the GKN, which has now become officially a
is also true that the General Synod, though often                                Bible-denying denomination. Does it not now
asked to do so, has failed to exercise doctrinal                                 become  duty  to separate?
discipline. But the horrifying aspect of this recent                               A second implication of this decision is the ques-
decision on the Authority of Scripture is that it has                            tion with which it confronts those churches
now become the  offcia7  position of the GKN. In                                 throughout the world, including the Christian
effect, this means total doctrinal freedom has be-                               Reformed denomination in this country, who have
come the official position of the GKN. You can no                                official ecclesiastical fellowship with the GKN.
longer appeal to Scripture for a basis of protest                                There have long been those in various Reformed
against any false doctrine. You can no longer                                    denominations who had grave doubts as to the
appeal to Scripture for a basis in upholding the                                 advisability and ecclesiastical honesty of such
teachings of the confessions. All is lost!                                       fellowship. As mentioned above, the GKN decision
   I assure you that this is not exaggeration on my                              on homosexualism has created even greater doubts
part. In coming articles I will make this abundantly                             in some circles. But what now? Can ecclesiastical
plain.                                                                           fellowship with an officially Bible-denying denomi-
All of this has far-reaching implications.                                       nation be maintained? Can it be justified? Will the
                                                                                 denominations concerned have the courage to
   In the first place, it has implications for the                               break off relationships? In the Christian Reformed
members of the GKN. Anyone even slightly                                         Church in the past there was much concern about
acquainted with the situation in the  Northlands-                                the denomination's decisions concerning the
and I make no pretentions of more than a slight                                  nature of Scripture-authority. There were, and per-
acquaintance by means of the various Dutch                                       haps still are, those with grave objections against
papers I receive-knows that there has long been a
group of "concerned"  (verontrusten)  in the GKN                                 Report  36/44. But I assure you that Report 36/44 is
who have been the chief and most outspoken                                       child's play in comparison with the GKN's deci-
critics of the liberalism in the churches. From time                             sion. There is nothing veiled-about the decision,
to time, some of them have left the GKN for other                                nothing compromising. What will be done?
denominations; they were unable to endure the                                      The same, in the third place, holds for the RES.
conditions in the GKN any longer. Not a few have                                 Again in the past year the perennial question of
found their way eventually into the Liberated                                    GKN membership in the RES was considered and,
Churches. Others have followed the course of                                     as usual, postponed. What will happen as a result of
establishing  "noodgemeenten,  " or emergency con-                               the latest decision of the GKN? Will the RES at last
gregations, within  the denomination-a rather                                    have the courage of its convictions when the issue
lawless course of action, in my opinion, although                                comes up again? Or will it continue to evade and
thus far the several congregations of this kind have                             postpone?
not been officially attacked by the GKN's General                                  These are some of the implications of the GKN
Synod. Still others have simply stayed wherever                                  decision.
they were, tolerating and grieving and complaining
over the corruption in the churches, especially if                                 Because of the importance of the decision, we
they belonged to a congregation with a rather con-                               plan to give considerable attention to this subject,
servative minister and consistory. Significantly,                                beginning with our next regular issue (the March 1
there has been a great reluctance-no, resistance is a                            issue will be a special Missions number).
b e t t e r   w o r d - w i t h   r e s p e c t   t o   t h e   i d e a   o f
reformation-by-separation. This would, if my count
is correct, result in the formation of an  eleventh                                  The Standard Bearer
Reformed denomination in the Netherlands. Now I
can understand and even have sympathy for this                                     makes a thoughtful gift
reluctance to separate, in the light of past history in
the Netherlands. Besides, I have some doubts from
time to time about the doctrinal strength even of                                             for a shut-in.
the so-called concerned. For it often appears to me
that the situation has deteriorated in the Nether-


224                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



TRANSLATEDTREASURES

                 A Pamphlet on the Reformation
                                        of the Church
                                                  Dr. A. Kuyper


(In the last paragraph Kuyper has begun chapter 3          fearful question: if they should fall prey to one un-
of this pamphlet which deals with the deformation          believably small mistake, they are already looked at
of the church. Kuyper introduced this general              as the church of Christ which has become the
subject with a discussion of various kinds of              synagogue of Satan. (The source of the Donatist
imperfect churches: mission churches, churches             struggle is found in an effort to escape that stream
under persecution, and aggrieved churches.)                of error and unrighteousness.) From this comes the
37. How the Deformation Of the Churches Is To              desire to flee to the free city of God. And from this
Be Explained                                               proceeds the effort to manifest a purer and holier
   The deformation of the church is always and             church with no one but God's saints in it. This
                                                           attempt to attain a pure church is often repeated,
under all circumstances a matter of guilt taking its
course through the sin into which the church has           but it is just as frequently judged by the outcome: a
                                                           falling into a deeper error than they tried to escape
fallen before her God. We may distinguish a three-         because what is basically pride has come under the
fold cause: the sin of a few persons, the sin of the      terrible judgment of God.
church, and the author of all sin, i.e., Satan. From
the most distant cause, which is Satan, proceeds             Satan has manifested this bitter enmity against
every outrage and every evil attack against the            the church of God in two different ways, to wit,
church of Christ. Immanuel celebrates His victory         partly by external persecution, partly by internal
in His church, and Satan, who never suffers more          poisoning. Always a murderer from the beginning,
deeply than under the victory of Christ, is moved         he is also a murderer of the church of the Lord.
most fiercely and in greatest fury against the             First then, he sets the magistrates and powers of the
church of Christ. For him that church of Christ is a      world on the church in order to test with brutal
thorn in the eye and he moves up from below the           force the place where the hollow of the foot of the
gates of hell to overcome that church of God. We           church of God is; to kill, to murder, and to root out
ought not to think too slightly of that might of          the faithful witness which proclaims the death of
Satan. He who follows the progress of the church's        Christ as the mighty sacrifice for redemption; to
history from the beginning of the world till now or,      hurt the small sheepfold unmercifully through the
more particularly, from the renewal of the church         fear of torture; to torment and to scatter until there
through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or also        is a moment when the church of God seems no
from her restoration during the days of the Refor-        longer to exist. But looked at in retrospect such a
mation, is continuously amazed at the striking fact       triumph of evil generally had the opposite effect,
that the church of God, during these sixty centu-         and the church of God produced a new seed from
ries, has known no apparent growth and victorious         the blood of martyrs and repeatedly hindered
rest for even the space of three centuries. During        Satan. Because of this, Satan moved the world to
far and away the greater part of these centuries the      contract peace with the church; he prompted the
church of God is scarcely recognizable. At other          magistrates to load the church with treasure, favor,
times during these centuries it is scattered, tossed      and honor; and when the poor church, stunned by
about, and barely able to be found. And in the small      so much brilliance and glory, fell asleep in her
part of these centuries in which it did have rest, one    triumph, then the  .evil enemy came in the still of
finds a church with an internal life struggle, with       the night and dropped his deadly poison into her
the blood rushing through its veins in terrible fever     veins, so that she felt, after not many days, her
and just risen from deep sickness. And see, present-      spiritual strength give way, and she had (again) to
ly again, it is threatened by new illness. This           exchange her triumphal song for the bitter and sad
oppression and opposition is brought upon the             complaints of her deadly exhaustion and spiritual
church so completely by Satan that the church's           decline.
most sensitive sons and daughters repeatedly ask a           Yet Satan could not bring this fearful evil on the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               225


church of God in any other way than under the per-           to her when she was just expanding and still show-
mission and control of Almighty God. If God had              ing the freshness of her first power of life? Is not an
willed that His church on earth had celebrated her           Ananias and Sapphira a shameful thing? Is not the
victory in quiet peace, it would have happened. But          word "shameful" too sparing for the abomination
this was not His good pleasure. A church gathered            which Corinth experienced? And what shall we say
from the wicked in the midst of a wicked world               of the abomination, risen in the church, when Jude
God had given over again and again into the hand             had to write his letter and Peter his second epistle?
of Satan as He did Job. This is partly because the           and when the Lord Himself on Patmos proceeded
triumph of the truth would shine through spiritual           to threaten His church? This evil has since proceed-
struggle, and partly because the power of the Lord           ed under various forms, various sins, even the most
of lords is the glorious result of the perseverance of       appalling which men would not even mention,
the church which is always under fierce attack. He           repeatedly creeping into the church of God among
is thus not an author or operator of the evil that           God's own people, rousing Him to anger, He Who
comes upon His church, but nevertheless this evil            has called and justified them into His most
over the church must be brought about according              marvelous light. They should stand against the
to His eternal and unshakeable purpose, viz., the            world; but see, they have brought the world into
evil of suffering, so that it may be manifest what is        the church. They ought to serve God, not men; but
the power of the faith which He has put in her; and          see, mammon has gained an undisputed triumph in
likewise, the evil of sin so that it may be manifest         so many hearts. They should bring the flesh under
what is the power of instruction from which He has           the Spirit; and behold, they walk in the flesh again.
delivered her. But however much we pay homage                Yea, Satan's work should lie defeated; but rather
to the majesty of the counsel of the Lord without            the soul walks with Satan in a cursedly unholy
fear and with all resoluteness so that He is                 alliance. Thus spiritual power declines. Faith lan-
esteemed for not only tolerating but also willing            guishes. Love withers. Hope fades. And prayer,
this raging of Satan against the church of Christ, yet       which ought to have been a power, loses ardor and
this does not take away from the children of God             animation and force. Poor church of God! What is
their deep, shocking, and irresponsible guilt. We            worse, if sins overcome a person outside the
surely confess from the heart that God's inscruta-           church, then at least these sins come alone; but if
ble order to permit the history of our race to go            they rise among the people of the Lord, then they
through sin and grace, in no respect exalts the              drag along yet another terrible sin, namely, the sin
damnable guilt of Adam. How much less can there              of Phariseeism. Men cannot sin openly in the
be sought in that counsel of God an escape from              church and say: "I am godless." And so it is that in
guilt for God's regenerated children who have                connection with sin in the church, piety must
tasted the power of the coming age, who know the             always be observed. And that exactly makes for
love of Christ, and who can lift up the shield of            doublemindedness, cultivates spiritual falsehood,
faith, but who have not yet quenched the fiery               and produces such spiritual evil that from the lips
darts of Satan, and who have, with unholy lust,              of Christ Who continuously prays for the elect of
received these darts into their own breasts. And             God, come the words, "Woe, woe, thou adder's
therefore we must not remain with the most distant           brood." Satan knows that. He sets his heart on it.
cause of this deformation in the church, but must            First he injects the poison of sin. Then he covers the
also enter into the nearer causes which lie in the sin       boil of sin with bandages of piety. And in this way
of each person and in the sin of the church.                 the heart that God the Lord has chosen for His
                                                             temple can be entirely destroyed.
  We mention first sins of individuals because this
concerns the conscience most sharply. The sins of              Finally, besides the sin of individuals, there is
individuals began already while Jesus was still on           the sin of the church. As members of the church
earth. They began with that question: "Lord, who             men do many things together. Together they form a
will be the greatest? Lord, when wilt thou establish         sphere of life in which a certain atmosphere rules.
the kingdom of Israel?" Or, in that saying: "Lord,           They breathe from and in a certain atmosphere in
this shall not happen to you!" Or, in the flight of the      which they all live together. They form common
disciples when Jesus was captured; or in the denial          ideas. They shape a moral judgment. They create a
of Jesus when He was examined; or in that saying:            common opinion which becomes a power in the
"If I do not see, I will never believe"; or, in that dis-    church. And thus it is that corporate responsibility
sembling of Peter at Antioch, and in who knows               and also corporate guilt exist which work most
how much more. And these were the holy apostles              perniciously on the few; and doing this they infect
who would sit with Jesus on twelve thrones judging           the whole of the body of Christ until at last even the
the twelve tribes of Israel. What must then happen           holiest give in; and so sin becomes general in the
to the church? Yea, what had not already happened            church of God. This can go so far that finally also


226                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



for the church of the New Testament the word               holy seed shall then still be the support of the
comes: "If you spread out your hands, then I hide          church of Christ. His mercies are unending, and
My face and if you multiply prayer, then I do not          His calling without repentance.
hear."                                                        This is the sole mystery by which the church of
  But just as in the oak and in the hedgeoak  there is     God continues to stand.
still life after the fading of the leaves, so also the

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD

          The Principles of Missions (A Summary)
                                              Prof. Robert D. Decker



  From all that we have gleaned out of Scripture           them refers to a certain receptivity in the heathen
and our Reformed Confessions it ought to be                for the gospel. Others speak of a "point of contact"
obvious that the sole foundation of Missions has to        in the heathen for the gospel or a desire on the part
be God's eternal good pZeasure  in Christ. It pleases      of the heathen for salvation. This is supposed to be
God to save His elect Church in Jesus Christ. It           what makes at least certain groups of heathen
pleases God to manifest His immeasurable glory in          "winnable." (Cf. Understanding Church Growth,
that Church in Christ in the New Creation. It              Donald A.  McGavran.) This is, we might add, the
pleases God to gather these elect out of every             prevailing view among Roman Catholic theolo-
nation into that multitude which no man can                gians. G.  Warneck, the late nineteenth century
number (Rev.  7:9ff.).  It pleases God to do this          German theologian also held this view.  Warneck
gathering out of the nations by means of the               spoke of a "historical-ethnic" basis in addition to
preaching of the gospel by the Church through the          God's good pleasure. By "ethnic" he meant: "The
office of the ministry (Eph. 4: llff.). The Scripture      capacity of men of all nations and cultural back-
declares:  ". ..it pleased God by the foolishness of       grounds for Christianity" (quoted from J.H.
preaching to save them that believe" (I Cor.  1:21).       Bavinck, Introduction To The Science Of Missions, p.
This good pleasure of God, therefore, is the founda-       63). Even Bavinck himself leans in this direction
tion of God's command to the Church as represent-          when he maintains that general revelation, while
ed by the Apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and         not the basis for missions, does provide the indis-
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believ-       pensable condition without which missionary work
eth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that            would hover in a hopeless void. Neither passage
believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15, 16; cf.        cited by Bavinck (Acts  14:17 and Romans  1:18ff.)
also Matt. 28: 19,20; Luke 24:46-48).                      supports this view.
  This, we must understand, is the soZe foundation            The simple fact is that total depravity precludes
of the missionary task of the church. It is this to the    any hidden thirst, receptivity, or point of contact on
exclusion of any other foundation. This needs              the part of the heathen. Scripture teaches, "For
emphasis in our day for two reasons. There are             they that are after the flesh do mind the things of
those who claim other foundations for missions.            the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things
But, more importantly, this principle is determina-        of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but
tive of the Church's method of labor and, specifi-         to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
cally, of its approach on the mission field itself.        the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
This stands to reason, of course, for principle            subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So
always determines practice. Hence, let it be clearly       then they that are in the flesh cannot please God"
understood, the sole foundation of missions is the         (Romans 8:5-8). The carnal mind (mind of the flesh,
good pleasure of God.                                      R.D.) not only is not but cannot be (lacks the ability
  Some prefer to speak of a double foundation for          to be) subject to the law of God. That mind of the
missions. These teach that the foundation of               flesh is hatred against God and, therefore, is dead
missions is both God's good pleasure in Christ and         with respect to God. There cannot be any hidden
what they term "the hidden thirst of the heathen           thirst, point of contact, or receptivity in that carnal
for the gospel." This "hidden thirst" according to         mind for the gospel. The mind of the flesh will not


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               227


desire God apart from God's own work of grace. It          through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
is precisely and only sovereign grace which creates        gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
receptivity in the heart of a man for the gospel.            This certainly does not mean that there is to be
Consider what the Scripture says concerning the            no judgment and wrath preached on the mission
greatest missionary who ever lived: "He was in the         field. The prophets of the Old Testament did not
world, and the world was made by Him, and the              hesitate to proclaim the judgments of God upon
world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and              apostate Israel. John the Baptist preached judgment
His own received Him not. But as many as received          right in the context of announcing the coming of
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of           Jesus. Jesus Himself preached the woes of terrible
God, even to them which believe on His name:               judgment upon the Scribes and Pharisees whom He
which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the      did not hesitate to call fools and blind, hypocrites
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1: lo-     and whitewashed graves (cf. Matthew 23). Apos-
13). Not even "His own" manifested any receptivity         tolic preaching likewise proclaimed the righteous
for Jesus! Those who did receive Him, believed on          wrath of God against all unrighteousness and unbe-
His name. That is faith. And, that believing was a         lief of men. The whole counsel of God must be
fruit of their new birth or regeneration. They were        preached and the missionary after the example of
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of    the Apostle Paul must never shun to do that!
the will of man. They were born of God and, there-         Indeed he must be able to say what the Apostle said
fore, believed on the name of Jesus and received           to the elders of Ephesus: "Ye know, from the first
power to become the sons of God. The great fact            day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have
remains:  ". ..except a man be born again he cannot        been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with
see the kingdom of God" (John  3:3ff.). These are          all humility of mind, and with many tears, and
but a few of the many passages which could be              temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of
cited. Scripture everywhere teaches (it belongs to         the Jews: And how I kept back nothing that was
the warp and woof of the gospel) that only sover-          profitable unto you, but have  shewed you, and
eign grace can create receptivity in the heart of man      have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
for the gospel. Apart from grace man is dead in tres-      Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks,
passes and sins (Ephesians 2: lff .) .                     repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord
  In summary, therefore, the first principle of            Jesus Christ. And now behold I go bound in the
missions is that its foundation lies in the good           spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that
pleasure of God in Jesus Christ. God wills to save a       shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost
chosen people out of every nation, tribe, and              witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and
tongue. God wills to do that by means of the               afflictions abide me. But none of these things move
preaching of the gospel by the church through the          me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so
special office of the ministry of the Word. This after     that I might finish my course with joy, and the
all is a fundamental principle of the entire truth of      ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus,
the Word of God. That about which we speak is the          to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now
absolute sovereignty of God and the sovereignty of         behold I know that ye all, among whom I have gone
His grace in Christ. This is why too only the              preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no
Reformed Church which by grace believes, main-             more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that
tains, and lives out of this principle can do mission      I am pure from the blood of all men. For I.have not
work. And, we repeat, the Church which is truly            shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of
Reformed can do this work joyfully and with                God" (Acts  20:18-27).  All the counsel of God cer-
optimism. God has His people in the world. God             tainly includes judgment. But essentially the mes-
will gather them through the Spirit and Word of His        sage is "good news," and that in itself becomes
Son. There will be fruit upon our labors. Let us then      judgment to all unbelief.
labor while it is day, ere the night comes in which          This proclamation is the oficiaZ proclamation. It is
no man can labor!                                          the call of the herald of Jesus Christ who proclaims
  The second principle is this: the message of             the gospel of the Great King. It is the Word of the
missions is always essentially the good news (the          King through His ambassadors, the missionary
evangel), the glad tidings of salvation by the grace       preachers. This proclamation is also the  witness  of
of God in Christ Jesus to "everyone that believeth."       the King. This carries with it the idea of legal testi-
The gospel comes with joy to replace our sorrows,          mony. This legal testimony is left chiefly by means
hope to replace our despair, courage to replace our        of the preaching, and it is supported and supple-
fear, the peace of forgiveness to replace our guilt,       mented by the witness of the godly, pious living of
life to conquer our death. That is true because the        the members of the Body of Christ.
gospel always declares: "For by grace are ye saved           This is the doctrine of missions according to


228                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Scripture and the Reformed Confessions. These are           preserving the truth in the generations of believers
the principles which must be implemented by the             by means of the preaching of the Word, the admin-
church on the mission fields of the world. In               istration of the sacraments, and the faithful exercise
summary, therefore, it may be said that the church          of Christian discipline. This purpose is no less
of Jesus Christ exists for one purpose: the glory of        served by the church's gathering the elect out of
God; to praise Him of Whom, through Whom and                every nation in obedience to Him who said, "Go ye
to Whom are all things! This purpose is served in           into all the world.. . ."
the way of the church's caring for its members and

GUESTARTICLE


             Liberty of the Christian Conscience
                                                  Rev. R.G. Moore


  I was asked to write an article on the topic of the       conscience? Does it mean that the law has no longer
liberty of the Christian conscience. I will attempt to      anything to say to us? Does it mean that we may sin
do this, although I am not sure the following will          that grace may abound? May we answer the above,'
quite be what the brother had in mind when he               not from reason, but by the Word of God!
chose this topic for an article in this publication. In        We shall of necessity then look more closely to
writing upon this topic we will stay very close to          the fruit of grace given to the elect by Christ Jesus,
the Scripture's account of our topic. We will               our Lord.
attempt to set forth the principles of the Scripture           In the first place we understand that our first
as they address our topic. Of course, this course of        parents were created by God in a covenant relation-
action is imperative, for these principles rule our         ship to Himself as His children. They were made to
hearts and lives as we consider any aspect of our           partake of His covenant communion and fellow-
Christian calling and life.                                 ship. So created in the image of God were they that
  It seems to me that there is some real danger             they had true knowledge, righteousness, and holi-
today of being so concerned with the life and walk          ness. Hence they knew God and His will, and they
of God's children, that in addressing ourselves to          were able to walk according to that knowledge in
these things we end up setting forth various exhor-         holiness. And they were judged righteous before
tations or admonitions without turning to the               God, as they walked before Him as His covenant
Scriptural foundations of these exhortations. This          servants.
can easily result in such an emphasis on the                   Therefore their conscience was free. For willing-
outward walk of God's people, the walk of sanctifi-         ly, in covenant love, they served God according to
cation that meets the eye, that one can come near to        His will, were judged right, and tasted His blessed
the error of the Pharisees. When God's children are         love, as God walked with them in the garden.
exhorted unto a certain Christian walk, they must           Theirs was true liberty in the covenant service of
needs know the ground for the exhortation, as well          the living God, and they were blessed at the tree of
as the possibility of fulfilling it. That possibility is    life.
the wondrous grace of our God in Christ Jesus, our
Lord.                                                          But man by sin fell from this blessed place before
                                                            God. Created able to fall, man sinned, walking in
  Let us see if we can do this in treating the subject      disobedience, and plunged himself and all his
of this article. When we speak of the liberty of the        posterity into the darkness of sin and death. The
Christian conscience, we consider the effect of the         fruit of the fall is that man lost the image of God. In
grace in Christ Jesus upon God's children. It is by         sin he became unrighteous, a sinner, a liar! He
this grace that, through the operation of the Spirit        corrupted his whole nature, became totally
of our Lord, His Word is so applied unto our hearts         depraved, and was judged to be guilty, worthy only
that we are made free from sin to serve our God in          of death. So we are. And so is all of mankind-by
the true liberty of the children of God's covenant.         nature dead in sins and trespasses (Eph.  21). The
  But what is this liberty? By liberty do we mean           fruit of sin is corruption so great that man can do
that we can do anything at all, and still have a free       nothing but sin. The Scripture (Gen.  6:5) says thus


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             229



of man, "that every imagination of the thoughts of        our justification" (Rom. 4:25).
his heart was only evil continually."                       Further, our Lord, after having, "by himself
  By nature we are bound to sin, and we have              purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
therefore come under the condemnation of the law.         Majesty on high" (Heb.  1:3). From there Jesus
And thus, too, we are come under the curse of the         sheds forth His Spirit upon us; and by the power of
law. "For as many as are of the works of the law are      His Spirit and by His Word, Christ calls us out of
under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every       darkness, into the light of God's fellowship and
one that continueth not in all things which are           love. Our Lord applies unto our hearts that which
written in the book of the law to do them. But that       He wrought upon the cross! He assures us that our
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God..."    sin is forgiven, and that we are heirs of righteous-
(Gal.  3:10-lla).  This means indeed that all men         ness.
come into condemnation and death. And as this               The fruit of this wonder work of God's grace in
testimony of the Word is applied unto us by the           us by Christ's Spirit and Word is that for God's
Spirit of Christ, our conscience testifies against us     children "there is therefore now no condemnation
that we are sinners and guilty. And indeed our con-       to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
science is bound by misery and sin.                       after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of
  But at this point you may ask the question, but         the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
what of the ungodly? They walk as though they are         from the law of sin and death" (Rom.  8:1-2). This
not affected at all by their sin. They seem as if they    testimony of God's Word applied to my heart by
have a free conscience to do as they please. For of       the Spirit of Christ frees my conscience, so that my
the wicked we read, "There are no bands in their          sins can no longer condemn me, but I have the
death; but their strength is firm. They are not in        conscious testimony that they are cleansed by the
trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like       blood of Christ! In Christ I am saved and am freed
other men,"-even when in their sin, "pride                from all condemnation. This gives us rich comfort
compasseth them about as a chain; violence  cover-        and a truly liberated conscience-hear the words of
eth them as a garment" (see Psalm 73). It appeared        the apostle, "What shall we then say to these
to Asaph that the wicked have a free conscience;          things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He
and in weakness of faith he was tempted to view           that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
their portion in this light as good. But is the wicked    for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
conscience good when it leads them to swifter             give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
destruction? For it leads them by the providence of       charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
God in the way of their sin to swifter destruction!       is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
And it is true of them who are of the flesh that they,    rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right
"do mind the things of the flesh" (Rom. 8:5a). "For       hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us"
to be carnally minded is death" (Rom.  8:6a).  The        (Rom.  8:31-34). Also the very sin that we commit
conscience of the natural man is a conscience that        when it rises up to testify against us, cannot con-
leads them from death to death. It is hardened by         vict our conscience, for we are covered by Christ's
sin unto greater sin, and thus leads them unto            blood and He stands as our Mediator at the right
destruction. And remember there is no escaping the        hand of God.
testimony of God that the fruit of sin is death! Thus,
too, we must conclude that the conscience of                But then does this mean that I may in this liberty
natural man is far from free. But it is thoroughly        of my conscience do whatever I want, knowing that
bound unto death!                                         if I sin, my sin shall be forgiven? Jesus says through
                                                          the apostle, "For brethren, ye have been called
  But, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are           unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to
delivered from the testimony of the law. That is, we      the flesh" (Gal. 5: 13). And Paul answers the
have been delivered from the judgment of  God-            question, "What shall we say then? Shall we
that we are guilty, worthy of death! Even as our          continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid,
God has chosen His elect in Christ from before the        How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
foundation of the world, so He has redeemed us            therein?" (Rom. 6: 1).
from the curse of the law by the death of His Son,
Whom He sent to deliver us from sin and its guilt.          The fruit of the preaching of Christ crucified and
Christ Jesus has completely taken away the curse of       raised is such that, ingrafted into the body of
our sin by bearing away God's wrath against us.           Christ, we by the working of the Spirit live out of
And we who are in Him are delivered from judg-            Christ! Then, beloved, we flee sin and seek God
ment. We are justified in the obediently spilled          according to His Word.
blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ, "who was                 Be mindful that there is no liberty for the fish
delivered for our offences, and was raised again for      which jumps out of the boundaries of the lake unto


230                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



the shore. There only death awaits it! So also the                   Our God in Christ promises us that as He has in
child of God, quickened by the Spirit of Christ,                   eternal love chosen us His covenant people, and as
called by His Word, and saved by the grace of God,                 He has redeemed us from the curse of our sin, so
lives in the complete liberty of conscience within                 He shall deliver us from sin and the ways of death.
the law of God, and according to His Word-out-                     May we, therefore, by grace in the liberty of con-
side of which there is only death. Thus the Word                   science of the saved in Christ walk in true thankful-
stands: "Do we then make void the law through                      ness according to the Word of life in true liberty.
faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law" (Rom.                "Being confident of this very thing, that He which
3:31).                                                             hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
                                                                   the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

QUESTIONBOX

                                                Supporting the
                 National Right To Work Comniittee
                                                          Rev. C. Hanko




  A reader sent in the following question:                         tuberculosis organizations, and the like, one is
  May we as Christians and as Protestant Re-                       inclined to give a certain amount of support,
formed people support the National Right to Work                   because they are able to extend help in areas that
Committee?                                                         the diaconate cannot reach.
  The questioner included some material about                        Yet the question arises, will an organization like
this committee. In the meantime, I have also                       the Right to Work Committee agree with the Scrip-
written for information in regard to their various                 tural principles that we maintain as Prot. Ref.
activities. From all that I have read it is evident that           Churches? We certainly must distinguish between
they are working hard to oppose the unions, which                  "rights," for even though we as individuals have
prevent many of our members from finding work,                     certain rights among our fellow men, we have no
especially in certain areas. They speak of:                        Tights  before the face of God! For example, a few
                                                                   years ago there was a very strong movement under
       "Their defeat of the union bosses' so-called law            way against ruthless abortions under the banner of
       `reform' and situs  picketing bills."                       "The Right to Live." This movement was by no
       "The total defeat of over 250 pieces of union-backed        means ready to adopt our Protestant Reformed
       compulsory unionism legislation in 45 state legisla-        principles. If an organization openly rejects, or
   tures within the last 18 months."                               refuses to accept the principles of Scripture, we
       "And the hard-hitting Right to Work offensives in           want no part of it.
    several states, including passage of a new Right to              It may be that there are those among our readers
       Work law in Louisiana."                                     who know more about the Right to Work Com-
  From all that I have read I see no wrong in                      mittee, and also have some comments to make
supporting this movement, as long asone does not                   either for or against it.
become compelled to become a member of it.                           This Question Box is ready and eager to receive
  In instances of this sort, such as cancer societies,             your opinions. May we hear from you?


                              Know the standard and follow it.
                                  Read The Standard Bearer.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          231



ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                      Big Bang Paradox vs. Creation

  On occasion our readers submit material to the                     Astrophysicists have had to come up with explana-
Standard Bearer or its individual writers which they               tions of the Big Bang that accept asymmetry as the
consider of interest and perhaps usable in a rubric.               heart of existence. They now say that a tiny excess of
(We deeply appreciate this.) One such article I                    matter was produced at the very moment the Uni-
received some time ago from a reader in Randolph,                  verse was born. Peering 13 billion years back in time,
Wise. He presented a quotation from Science Digest,                they are using "grand unification theories" (GUTS) to
                                                                   explain how this happened during the first nonillionth
Jan./Feb. 1981. The quote indicates the degree of                  (  10e30)  or a second of the Big Bang....
confusion on the part of men who maintain the
evolutionary theory yet can not reconcile acknow-                    Why did asymmetry prevail at the very moment of
ledged difficulties. These men appear to admit that                Creation, though most other phenomena seem to be
on the basis of their theories, there ought to be no               governed by symmetrical physical laws? The  GUTS
                                                                   do not explain why; they only show how it could have
universe at all! Yet because the universe  is  here,               happened. Penzias says scientists have a hard time
they are determined to explain its existence on the                explaining why nature chooses certain characteristics
basis of these theories. Allow me to quote:                        over others. Ultimately, he says, the question may be
      "The fact that the Universe exists at all is unusual,"       unanswerable.
   says Nobel physicist Arno Penzias. "But we are                 Our correspondent "hits the nail on the head"
   confronted with the fact that there is a Universe."          when he writes, "I imagine that if this Big Bang
      The puzzle, scientists say, is that symmetrical laws      paradox becomes any more contradictory (perhaps
   of physics do not account for the formation of the Uni-      I should say absurd), that rather than reconsider
   verse. At the moment of Creation, equal amounts of           the Genesis account, they'll retract that first para-
   matter and antimatter should have annihilated each           graph and announce to us that neither we nor the
   other, leaving nothing to become galaxies, stars,            universe really exists after all!" (Thanks, Jim.)
   planets, interstellar dust and us.


                   I.R.S. and the Christian Schools

  Another reader of, and writer in, the  Standard                  schools to be separate entities from the church and
Bearer,  Rev. R.C. Harbach, forwards the following                 others consider the church schools to be the same
article from Spotlight,  Dec. 1, 1980:                             entity as the church, the IRS is united in its belief that
                                                                   each school's tax-exempt status is a "privilege,"
     More than 30 church-related schools in Mississippi            which may be revoked.
   have refused to answer Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
   questionnaires on the racial makeup of their schools.             But the church officials believe their tax exemption
                                                                   is a "right" and not a privilege.
     Church opposition is so strong that it might spark
   the largest open confrontation between church and                 Hart further ordered the IRS to search out those
   federal government this nation has seen since the days          schools that do discriminate and revoke their exemp-
   of the government's assault against the Mormon                  tions. This would make it impossible for the schools to
   Church in the 1800s.                                            give tax-deductibility to donors.
     Basing their opposition on Constitutional grounds,              At least 30 schools in Mississippi, and some esti-
   the churches' boards refuse to cooperate with the IRS           mate as many as 50, claim the government is inter-
   because they consider their schools to be ministries of         fering with the internal affairs of the churches. They
   their churches and thus protected by the First Amend-           will not fill out the questionnaires.
   ment against federal meddling.                                    The IRS, in response, has informed the dissenting
     Though some IRS agents consider the church                    churches that it will send an IRS agent to look into


232                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



       each church's books and records.                               Columbia federal court order. The order requiring the
         Church officials say they will not allow the IRS to          IRS to act resulted from a Mississippi discrimination
       examine their books, and the IRS has threatened to             suit, Green v. Connally, filed in the early seventies and
       revoke immediately the tax exemption of the church.          finally settled by the June court order. The IRS
  _ (Some believe, however, that the IRS will not take                intends to obey the order rather than appeal it,
       such drastic steps but will get a court summons to             Congress and public opinion notwithstanding.
       obtain the church`s books and records.)                       The problem, as I see this, is not so much
         These churches are not against the IRS non-dis-           whether or not the government allows donations to
       criminatory policies. What they fear is yielding to the     Christian Schools to be tax-exempt. To lose  tax-
       government the authority to set the beliefs and             exemption would not be all that serious. Some
       practices of the church.                                    schools might have to close their doors as a result-
         George  Whitten, an elder of the dissenting Grace         but those established on the basis of principle
       Bible Church in Greenwood, explained, "They are             would surely continue. However, the  ground  for
       attempting to enforce a social policy on the church."       loss of tax-exemption is a serious matter: the claim
  Christianity Today, Nov. 21, 1980, reports on the                that there is discrimination. Perhaps some schools
same difficulty under the title: "Religious Schools                began and continue today solely on the ground that
Rev Up for New Round with IRS":                                    they wish to discriminate. The vast majority of
                                                                   Christian Schools surely do not. If tax-exemption
         Two years ago, the Internal Revenue Service               can be lost on the "ground" of discrimination, and
       thought it had a good idea: private schools desiring to     if discrimination is determined simply on the basis
       keep their tax exempt status would prove they don't         that there are no black students or teachers, then
       discriminate by enrolling a quota of minority
       students, vigorously recruiting minority teachers, and      on the same "ground" the entire school could
       through other measures. Since most of the nation's          ultimately be closed. Fact is, the time might soon
       20,000 private schools have religious ties, church          come then when churches are closed for the same
       leaders across the country howled at this government        reason. Then schools and churches could exist not
       intrusion. The IRS was buried in nasty letters, and         on the basis of religious conviction, but only on the
       Congress passed a law prohibiting the IRS from              basis of a willingness to admit a percentage of each
       spending any money to activate the plan. It was             race and each belief. That is the road to the estab-
       shelved.                                                    lishment of the antichristian kingdom where there
         Now the IRS has begun-but only in  Mississippi-          is religious freedom only for those who bow before
       to do almost exactly the same thing. This time, how-       the antichrist. I would predict, on the basis of the
       ever, the IRS is armed with something with more            testimony of Scripture, that the time for all of this
       force than its own regulation. It has a District of        may well be at hand.


                   "Dutch Churches on Homosexuals"


  The above title comes from an editorial in the                      behavior within the church, and we asked for "clarifi-
Banner,  Dec. 29, 1980 in which the editor, now                       cation of the language and implication of the deci-
Rev. Andrew Kuyvenhoven, writes:                                      sion."
         Last year the Reformed Churches in the Nether-                 Now the Dutch synod has rendered its clarification.
       lands (GKN) made a statement on homosexuality that             Yes, the GKN said, when we encourage a pastoral
       caused concern and criticism in the worldwide family           approach to this problem, we mean that practicing
       of Reformed churches. The Dutch synod said that we             homosexuals must be accepted within the fellowship
       may not judge "fellow human beings in their homo-              of the Christian church. Let us respect the way homo-
       sexual nature and practice," since the word of judg-           sexuals express their sexuality. We must leave the
       ment belongs to the Lord. Rather than judging one              judgment to God.
       another, homosexual and heterosexual Christians                  The statement containing this thought was accepted
       ought to express their common faith in worship and             by the synod of the GKN in November, 1980. The
       joint participation in the Lord's supper. That was the         main motion passed with thirty-seven against thirty-
       pastoral admonition in 1979.                                   three votes.
         The CRC reacted more cautiously than some other
       Reformed churches. Our synod observed that the                The editor goes on to deplore the decision and to
       Dutch had "seemingly" spoken of homosexual                 emphasize that it complicates the relationship


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             233


between GKN and the CRC. However, a later                     Banner does not apply to homosexuality. To accept
Banner reveals in letters to the editor, that the CRC         the condition without accepting the practice is
has its own unresolved problems on this score. Not            ridiculous When does a homosexual become a
only does the CRC itself have its practicing homo-            practicing homosexual?. . . The ignorance and
sexuals according to these letters, but these openly          closed-mindedness surrounding this issue in the
advocate their position. The situation is deplorable          CRC is appalling. There  are practicing Christian
-and one wonders if anything is done about it. In             homosexuals taking communion in our churches
the  Banner of Jan. 26, 1981, one writes, "As a gay           and teaching in our schools. They do not want our
Christian and member of the CRC, I was hurt and               pity or our compassion; they want to be treated like
angered by your editorial. I applaud the decision of          human beings. Scripture is  not  clear on this very
the GKN to lovingly accept homosexuals into the               complex issue.. . . "
full fellowship of God's church. As a member of                  One can but deplore the state of affairs when this
Christ's body for whom He suffered and died, do I             sin, so obviously condemned in Scripture (see
deserve anything less?. . .  ." Another individual            Romans 1), is now so openly approved within the
writes, "I was sorry to read that the  openminded-            churches-and Reformed churches as well.
ness and insight that has characterized the "new"

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE


       Mark-The Gospel of Jehovah's Servant
                                           (concluded)
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


  One cannot help but be amazed at all the work               palsied man let down through the roof  (2:1-12, 18-
which Jesus did while upon earth. Some details of             22), the disciples plucked corn and Christ answered
these three years are compressed in the sixteen               the charge by the Pharisees that they thereby broke
chapters of Mark. As the Servant of Jehovah He                the Sabbath day  (2:23-28), the same was true after
worked day and night. How humanly touching are                He healed on the Sabbath day the man with the
the words of chapter  6:31, "Come ye yourselves               withered hand (3: 1-12). Christ was slandered by the
apart in the desert place and rest awhile." The dis-          Scribes and He taught concerning the unpardon-
ciples could hardly keep up.                                  able sin  (3:22-35). He taught a group of parables;
BRIEF OUTLINE OF MARK'S GOSPEL                                the sower (4:  l-20), candle light  (4:21-25), growing
                                                              seed  (4:26-29),  and mustard seed  (4:30-34). He
  1. The preparation for Jesus' work (1: 1-13). The           stilled the storm  (4:35-41),  healed the demoniac in
ministry of John the Baptist is recorded  (l:l-8),            the land of the Gadarenes  (5:21-24,  35-43),  healed
Jesus' baptism by John (1:9-l l), and His temptation          the woman with an issue of blood  (5:25-34), and
by Satan  (1:12,  13). Emphasis here is not upon              was rejected at Nazareth  (6:1-6).  He sent forth His
detail, but rather these things are mentioned to              twelve disciples  (6:7-13),  learned of the death of
demonstrate the qualifications of Jehovah's Servant           John the Baptist  (6:14-29),  rested in the desert and
to take upon Himself His work. Through these                  fed the 5000  (6:30-44),  walked on the water and
events, we learn that Jesus is designated to be               stilled the storm and subsequently healed in Genes-
God's Servant (the one prophesied). He is qualified           saret  (6:45-56). Finally He disputed with the
by the Holy Spirit; He is victor over Satan.                  Pharisees and Scribes regarding washing of hands
  2. The great Galilean ministry ( 1:  14-7:23).              and other ceremonies, (7: l-23).
During this period of time, the following events are
recorded. He called His disciples (1: 16-20, 2: 13, 14,         Even though Mark by the inspiration of the Holy
and  3:13-19), He healed the demoniac in the syna-            Spirit records this series of events in such a way
gogue in Nazareth  (1:23-28),  He healed Peter's              that it might leave the impression that Jesus per-
mother-in-law and many other sick,  (1:29-34),  He            formed His ministry in reaction to circumstances
toured Galilee  (1:35-39),  healed the leper and in-          that surrounded Him, yet we would fall short un-
structed him to tell no man  (1:40-45), healed the            less we recognize that all the details of His ministry.


234                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



were carefully planned and arranged by our                     4. The Servant of Jehovah finishes His work at
Heavenly Father. To be sure the cross stands in the          the cross, and through the resurrection and ascen-
center of His ministry. The Servant of Jehovah               sion returns to the Father  (ll:l-16:20).  It began
came to die! Prior to that event, however, all else          with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (11: l-11).
served to make it happen. As Jehovah's Servant,              He cursed the barren fig tree and observed the
Christ established His authority and power by the            results  (11:12-14, 20-26). He cleansed the temple
miracles He performed and the work He did. He                and was challenged by the leaders by what authori-
has such power that He can forgive sin (2:1-12),  He         ty He could do that (11: 15-33). He told the parable
is Lord of the Sabbath, (3: l-6), He has power over          of the wicked husbandmen, and the Jews took it
devils, creation, and even death. He controlled the          personally and began to plot His death after the
events that not too much publicity would be given            feast days (12: 1-12). Many attack Him, the Phari-
to Him too early, thereby provoking the Jews to              sees (pay tax to Caesar),  Sadducees  (marriage in
take action against Him. For this reason He told the         heaven), and Scribes (greatest commandment)
healed people not to tell anyone and He went away            (12:13-40). Jesus takes note of the widow's mite
when the crowds were becoming too vocal  (1:44,              (12:4-l,  44), predicted the destruction of Jerusalem
5:43).                                                       and the end of the world (13: l-37). The woman
  3.  Jesus withdraws from the mainstream and                anointed His feet with oil for His burial (14:  l-9),
journeys, among other places, to Tyre and Sidon              Judas agrees to betray Jesus  (14:10,  ll), He holds
and Perea  (7:24-10:52). He healed the daughter of           the last  passover with His disciples and institutes
the Syrophoenician woman  (7:24-30), healed the              the Lord's Supper (14: 12-25). Mark records the
deaf and dumb mute with the charge he tell no man            events in Gethsemane: Jesus predicted the denial
(7:31-37), fed the 4000 (8: l-9), discussed the leaven       by Peter, He prays, He is betrayed with a kiss, Peter
of the Pharisees and the need to flee from it (8:10-         slashes with his sword, Jesus is led away and all the
21), healed the blind man at Bethsaida (8:22-26). At         disciples fled away, including Mark  (14:26-52).
Caesarea  Philippi He asked the disciples concern-           Jesus is tried before the Sanhedrin  (14:53-65),
ing His own identity and used the occasion to teach          denied by Peter (14:66-72), tried by Pilate (15:1-15),
them concerning the cross and the meaning of true            mocked by the soldiers  (15:16-20), crucified  (15:21-
discipleship (8:27-38),  He was transfigured (9: l-13),      41), buried  (15:42-47), arose from the dead (16:1-
He healed the demoniac boy whom the disciples                13), and ascended into heaven (16: 1 l-20).
could not heal (9:14-29).  He took a child and taught          How glorious is this Servant of Jehovah. Anyone
the disciples humility and the need to remove of-            who reads this gospel account carefully cannot help
fense if they would be His disciples  (9:30-50),             but conclude that Jesus is not the Victim of the
taught the truth regarding marriage and divorce              cross, but the Victor. He must needs go home by
(  10:  l-12),   emphasized the importance of children in    the way of the cross. This is seen in the triumphal
the covenant (10:13-16). He pointed out the human            entry into Jerusalem, His willingness to die like a
impossibility of rich people being saved, after He           Lamb, His miraculous death (He cried with a loud
told the rich young ruler to go sell all he had and          voice). The Father approved the work of His
give the money to the poor and come and follow               Servant and raised Him from the dead and took
Him  (10:17-27). As time went by Jesus became                Him home to glory. The success of the gospel is ac-
more and more explicit upon the subject of His               companied by heavenly signs to prove that the gos-
coming suffering and death on the  cross;He told             pel is victorious.
His disciples He would be mocked, scourged, cruci-           DISTINCT FEATURES IN MARK'S GOSPEL
fied, and would rise again from the dead. He                    1. If we keep in mind that Mark listened to
applied it in such a way that if they would follow           Peter's preaching (at Pentecost and throughout
Him they should not seek to be first in the king-            Judea)  and took note of the message and subse-
dom, but servants  (10:28-45). He also healed blind          quently wrote this gospel in summary, we can un-
Bartimaeus  (10:46-52).                                      derstand the emphasis he placed upon the gospel
  The emphasis during this period of Jesus' minis-           and the preaching of that gospel. The first verse em-
try was that He sought to teach His disciples the            phasizes it: "The beginning of the  gospel  of Jesus
true nature of His work as Jehovah's Servant. They           Christ." He tells us Jesus preached (1: 14) and com-
had to learn to discern the truth over against the           missioned the church to do likewise (16: 15). We do
leaven of the Pharisees. They had to know that the           well to heed this word today: the gospel must go
cross was  necessmy   in order that He might finish          forth by preaching.
His work. He emphasized that only those would be               2. It is interesting to take note of the fact that we
saved who are childlike in faith, and He applied it          have in this gospel, details of the emotional involve-
personally for His disciples by asking "Whom say             ment of Jesus and the people. Concerning Jesus,
ve that I am"?                                               Mark tells us He had compassion  (1:41,  6:34,  8:2),


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             235


He was indignant  (3:5,  82,  10:4), He expressed           tell no man after they had been healed by Jesus
sorrow and distress  (14:33,  34), He sighed  (7:34,         (1:44)?  Didn't Jesus want all to hear the gospel and
8:12). Also Mark tells us of the response of the             see the miracles?
people that they were amazed  (1:27),  critical  (2:7),        3. Show from these passages  (5:31,  9:10,  10:13,
afraid  (4:41),  puzzled  (6:14),  astonished  (7:37),       14), that Jesus prepared His disciples for their fu-
hostile (14: 1). This detail fits the general theme that     ture ministry by provoking them to ask questions.
Jesus is the Servant of Jehovah and He is God-man,          What do we learn from this?
fully involved in His mediatorial work, bringing the           4. When Jesus suggested to His disciples that
gospel by word and deed. To this the people re-.             they come apart and rest awhile  (6:31),  do you
spond, some in faith, others in unbelief.                    think Jesus needed that rest too? Explain.
   3. The gospel of Mark stresses the work of Christ           5. What do we learn from Jesus' method  of
as Jehovah's Servant. For example, Mark mentions             answering the Pharisees,  Sadducees,  and Scribes?
the fact that Jesus preached, yet he does not provide        (Consider  8:10-21,  2:23-28, 3:1-12, and  3:22-35.)
much detail as to what He said. To illustrate this           How can we follow this example when we deal
point, of a possible 70 parables referred to in all the      with opponents to the truth in our day?
gospels combined, Mark mentions only 18. On the                6. How do we explain the signs that were to
other hand, of a possible 35 miracles recorded in all        accompany the preaching of the gospel by the apos-
the gospels, Mark mentions 18. The emphasis is on            tles, see 16:17, 18?
the work which the Servant did, and Mark
recorded it all in rapid, snap-shot fashion.                   7. If you sit down and go over the sequence of
                                                             events in Jesus' life as recorded by Mark, what
SUGGESTED QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERA-                           over-all plan do you see when you consider that
TION                                                         Jesus began His ministry in Galilee, took time to be
   1. How do we come to conclude that the main               alone with His disciples in isolated areas, and final-
message in Mark's gospel is that Jesus is Jehovah's          ly came to Jerusalem publicly? Is there a reason for
Servant?                                                     this? Why didn't He begin at Jerusalem?
   2. How can we explain why Jesus told some to

SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                           Out, of War Arises Peace
                                                  Rev. W. Bruinsma


  In Matthew 24, the classic chapter concerning              earth. The reason for this is twofold. First, all of
Christ's return and the signs which forewarn the            God's people must be called by the gospel unto re-
child of God concerning that return, Jesus ex-              pentance and faith before the return of Christ;
plained to His disciples the sign of wars and rumors         secondly, the entire world must be left without the
of wars. In verses 6-8 we read the following, "And           excuse that they had never received the gospel. In
ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that           order that the gospel might freely run its course
ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to       through this world however, any premature devel-
pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise          opment of Antichrist must be thwarted. This God
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. . . .           does by means of wars. Nation  must  rise against
All these are the beginning of sorrows." To the             nation and kingdom against kingdom. As long as
watchful child of God the wars which abound in               one nation rises against another the reign of peace
our day serve to remind him concerning Christ's             toward which the Antichrist strives cannot take
imminent return.                                            place. The world powers through which Satan
  We must understand, of course, that the way                attempts to unite the world only serve to destroy
these wars work toward Christ's coming is by                 one another. Such is God's purpose behind wars.
impeding or hindering the rise of the antichristian            That this is true is clearly indicated already in the
kingdom of peace. Before Christ returns upon the             old dispensation. There was then, even as there is
clouds of glory the gospel of salvation must be pro-        today, two or more powers striving over against
claimed to every nation, tongue, and tribe of the            one another for control of the world. Daniel was a


236                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



witness of that struggle. He witnessed the develop-       this chaos of wars that peace will emerge and the
ment of the great Assyrian empire. He also wit-           antichristian kingdom will be established. In Reve-
nessed its downfall by the hands of the Babyloni-         lation 13 the apostle John writes concerning a
ans. He witnessed the rise of that empire but also its    vision he had received describing the Antichrist. In
fall by the hands of the Persians. Each of these          that chapter we read of two beasts which represent
kingdoms if not destroyed by war would have re-           the political and the spiritual powers of the Anti-
sulted in a premature development of the antichris-       christ. Concerning the first of those two beasts we
tian kingdom. That is why God sent wars. The              read that he arises out of the turbulent and wind-
gospel had not been preached throughout the entire        swept sea. The waters of the sea signify the peoples
world. Moreover, Christ had not yet come to die           and multitudes and nations and tongues of this
upon the cross. `Thus, according to God's decree,         world. The fact that they together make up this tur-
the Antichrist could not as yet develop.                  bulent and wind-tossed sea means that these na-
  The same is true of the wars which abound in            tions and tongues and peoples of the world are in a
our day. They serve to impede the development of          constant state of unrest. Part of the reason for this
that final antichristian kingdom. As long as we hear      unrest is, as we have noticed, the wars which keep
of wars and rumors of wars the end cannot come.           this world in a state of constant turmoil. Out of that
Jesus will not return. The peaceful reign of Anti-        world which is tossed about by wars and rumors of
christ wherein God's people will be persecuted            wars arises the Antichrist. We must understand
must first of all develop. Only then will Christ          that and look for that. Wars will increase in their in-
come again.                                               tensity just prior to the development of the  anti-
                                                          Christian reign of peace.
  Because of this explanation of this sign of
Christ's coming there arises a common misconcep-            In the midst of all this unrest the Antichrist will
tion-a misconception which, if maintained,                rear his ugly head and offer a solution to all the
renders us unprepared for the rise of Antichrist.         world's problems. Not only will he present a solu-
That is this: as long as there are wars we need not       tion to the present economic and social ills but also
worry about the development of the antichristian          a solution to all the differences which cause war.
kingdom! Jesus tells us that these wars are only          This Antichrist will not only be so powerful that all
"the beginning of sorrows" and that "the end is not       will say, "who is like unto the beast? who is able to
yet," so why worry about Antichrist as of yet? The        make war with him," but he will also do great
final development of his kingdom cannot be that           wonders with God's creation, and in so doing shall
near at hand! In fact, today there is an increase of      deceive all that dwell upon the face of the earth.
wars. Nations all over the world are threatened by        Everyone in this war-torn world will think that
it. Not only is our nation in a constant tug-of-war       Antichrist is able to solve all the differences. Thus,
with the Russian world power but we find that             peace will arise out of war. Antichrist will be es-
even the smaller nations of this world want a piece       tablished. Because the world is so entangled in the
of the action. That is evident to us with the recent      web of war they will readily accept the solutions
hostage crisis with Iran, with the Cuban refugee          which Antichrist will offer. The world will then
crisis, and with the murdering of a number of our         join hands under him and peace will prevail.
citizens in San Salvador. Russia too finds this to be       We must look for that as we watch the continued
the case. She enters into the war in Afghanistan,         development of wars in this world. They will not
and receives threats from Poland. There are wars          cease nor will they diminish. You and I must not
and rumors of wars between other nations as well.         expect a world of peace and then the establishment
We read of skirmishes between Protestant and              of Antichrist. Such will never be the case. But as
Catholic factions in Ireland. We read of the civil        wars increase we must watch all the more closely
war which claims the lives of many in San Salvador,       for the beast out of the sea. His solutions will seem
or of the political violence in Guatemala. Then too       so practical and rewarding for those who adhere to
there is the war between Iran and Iraq. Clearly the       them. But they will be filled with lying and deceit.
world in which we live is at this very moment in an       They will stand contrary to the establishment of the
extreme state of unrest. Is it not impossible, there-     heavenly kingdom of Christ. We will have to see
fore, that the Antichrist would arise out of this ter-    through his guise and stand fast in Christ. It is
rible mess? Perhaps more so today than at any other       exactly for this reason that Paul exhorts the Thessa-
time in history is the world so divided and uneasy.       lonians, and us with them, in II Thessalonians 2: 15,
How is it possible for Antichrist to come and estab-      "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the
lish a kingdom of peace? So, as a result of this          traditions which ye have been taught, whether by
reasoning we are no longer alerted to the rise of         word, or our epistle." Only in this way can we
Antichrist.                                               watch for Christ and understand the signs of His
  We must realize, however, that it is exactly out of     coming.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 237


THEDAYOFSHADOWS


                            Hated Without a Cause
                                                Rev. John A. Heys



  Of our Saviour it is prophetically stated in Psalm       reasons for the hatred of his brothers. His father,
69:4, "They that hated me without a cause are              Jacob, foolishly and wrongfully showed  favouri-
more than the hairs of mine head: they that would          tism to this oldest son of his beloved and now de-
destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are             parted wife. Reuben was his firstborn; but he dis-
mighty." These are the words of David, and they            qualified himself, in showing that he was "unstable
do describe correctly the situation in his life. In the    as water," to follow Jacob as head of the covenant
day of shadows, and long before Christ appeared in         family and to receive the birthright, that is, the
our flesh, what He would endure was typically en-          right to be the spiritual head of the family and tribe,
dured by those of His children who in special meas-        of the descendants in that family. Jacob, following
ures represented Him. David did in his office of           his flesh, does not confer this right upon the son
being king over Israel, even as Christ is King of His      born to him just after Reuben, namely, Simeon, but
Church.                                                    passes by all the sons of Leah and of her handmaid
  But we can go back further in the day of shadows         and confers the right to Joseph, justifying himself
and see this same truth, as to its principle, experi-      with the thought that this is his firstborn, his first-
enced by Joseph among his brothers in that one             born of Rachel whom he loved so deeply. It may be
family of Jacob, whose life we have been treating.         pointed out that Simeon and Levi also disqualified
Joseph did not have as many brethren as the hairs          themselves by their murder of the Shechemites.
of his head to hate him; but they were mighty ene-         But that left Judah as next in line (of whom Christ
mies and hated him wrongfully. And even the first          was born and is The Possessor of the Birthright).
three verses describe so clearly his ordeal, "Save           Jacob did choose Joseph and showed it by that
me, 0 God; for the waters are come into my soul. I         "coat of many colours" which he gave him. A more
sink in deep mire: I am come into deep waters,             literal translation would be a coat of many pieces;
where floods overflow me. I am weary of my cry-            and this causing of Joseph to appear before the eyes
ing; my throat is dried; mine eyes fail while I wait       of his brothers as set apart from them, as preferred
for my God."                                               before them and elevated above them, leads one to
  Now it is true that we read in Genesis  39:24,           translate a princely coat, a coat that designated him
"And they took him (Joseph) and cast him into a            as prince, as the one appointed to receive the birth-
pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in          right. This irritated the other brothers, the sons of
it." But note that David in Psalm, 69 is speaking of       Leah and of. her handmaid. We read in Genesis
his soul, not his body, having waters come into it, of     37:4, "And when his brothers saw that their father
his soul sinking in deep mire, and waters which            loved him more than all his brethren, they hated
overflow his soul. Joseph was literally cast into a pit    him, and could not speak peaceably to him." And
by the hatred of his brethren. And that did cause          again in verse 5, after he had received dreams from
his soul to sink into mire and waters of grief and         God, "and they hated him yet the more." There is a
anguish. We may believe that he cried until weari-         growing hatred which is becoming fiercer and
ness overtook him; and his throat was dry of the           fiercer as time passes.
crying, while he waited for his God.                         These dreams were the second cause for this
  And what added to all his grief was the fact that        hatred. His brothers did not mind that he
he was hated without a cause, and wrongfully for           dreamed, nor even that he told them his dreams.
that reason. Note the fact that Christ, speaking           But the fact that in his dreams God revealed that
through David in Psalm  69:4 declares that they            they would all serve him and bow down before him
hated him wrongfully. This ought to alert us to the        infuriated them to no end. Even his father, though
fact that there was a cause for the hatred of Christ's     he loved Jospeh, became angry at this thought and
enemies, and for the hatred of Joseph's brothers. As       "rebuked him and said , .  ..shall I and thy mother
far as Joseph is concerned we can list four main           and thy brethren indeed come to bow down  our-


238                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



selves to thee to the earth?" We read then in verse       seek to have their evil brought to an end, and to
11, "And his brethren envied him; but his father          have them saved from this great wickedness. What
observed the saying."                                     is there to prevent believing-because they could
  A third cause for this hatred, which chronologi-        not speak peaceably to him-that they sent him
cally arose before he received these dreams, was          home, and he had to explain to his father why he
that Joseph brought to his father the evil report of      could not work with these brothers any longer?
the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, the maids of Rachel        And is it a reason to hate one when that one seeks
and of Leah. He did not simply bring an evil report,      to turn you away from sin? Individuals, families,
that is, a report that these sons had sinned grossly,     and churches do not like to have their sins exposed,
but he told his father what an evil reputation these      because they do not want to be separated from
sons had acquired, what a name of evil they had           them; and then they hate those who expose. And let
attached to them, and of which Jacob had as yet no        it be stated that Joseph was not backbiting, very
knowledge back home in his tent. What they did is         surely not slandering. For he went to the authori-
not stated, but adultery and fornication suggest          ties with his report; and he is his brother's keeper.
themselves in a situation such as this.                     And those dreams were God-given prophetic
  The fourth cause for their hatred is theological.       dreams which had to be related to the church of
God in His sovereign grace is behind all this his-        that day. Here Scripture speaks of envy, which is a
tory, as Joseph himself points out fourteen years         blood brother of murder, and a frequent motive for
later-or at least toward the end of the seven years       murder. They sinned, not Joseph. They resisted
of famine-"But as for you, ye thought evil against        God's word. Even Jacob after rebuking Joseph,
me; but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as       relented and, we read, "observed the saying." It
it is this day, to save much-people alive." For the       began to dawn on him that these were no mere
salvation of the church and the fulfillment of all His    dreams but messages from God, prophetic dreams
covenant promises God planned this whole history          that had meaning for God's Church. And should we
and executed it in His sovereign grace.                   get angry or be jealous and filled with envy at what
  Examine these causes for the hatred against Jo-         God does and says to us? Was this not certainly
seph, and you will find that it was without a righ-       hating Joseph wrongfully, yea sinfully? One can
teous cause, that he was hated wrongfully, even as        hate wrongfully because one has been given the
Jesus was, of Whom Joseph in this instance was a          wrong information. Joseph's brothers hated him
picture. The shadow of the cross is here in this day      sinfully. Being due to envy, which the Heidelberg
of shadows when Joseph's enemies are mighty to            Catechism correctly calls a cause of murder, this
have power to sell him into Egypt.                        hatred is sinful. It is not the hatred of which the
                                                          psalmist speaks when in Psalm  139:21 he writes,
  Was Joseph to blame for the fact that his father        "Do not I hate them 0 Lord, that hate Thee, and am
favoured him and foolishly and wrongfully set him         I not grieved with those that rise up against Thee?"
above his brethren? Had they disagreed with their         This hatred of Joseph's brothers was a hatred of
father and complained to him, it would have been a        God rather than a hatred of God's enemies. They
different matter. But so the sinner works, and so         hated God's prophet. They hated God for being
hatred develops. Genesis  37:4 points out that they       ready to exalt Josephabove them.
saw clearly that Jacob loved Joseph more than he
loved them, and, because of the hatred that this            But we miss the whole import of the incident un-
produced, could not speak peaceably unto him.             less we see Christ and His cross in this bit of history
They did speak. They snarled. They ridiculed. They        out of the day of shadows. He is the One Who was
called him names and sneered at him. But they             hated without a good cause, was hated wrongfully.
could not speak peaceably. Not a word is said about       He was hated because God loved Him, and exalted
them speaking about this to their father, nor even        Him above all His brethren. In fact He was more
of asking for an explanation. Scripture gives an ex-      vehemently hated by blood brothers than by the
planation: "Because he was the son of his old age."       Gentiles whom these blood brothers moved to give
Could Joseph help that? Must they take it out on          them the right to crucify Him. And it is because we,
Joseph?                                                   His friends and disciples, are loved by God and by
                                                          Him that we are wrongfully hated by the world. It
  Reporting the evil name they had made for               is not because we have actually harmed and mo-
themselves infuriated the sons of the two concu-          lested the world. It is because God has set us aside
bines. But was it because Joseph was a tattletale?        as the members of the body of Christ, and because
Or was it because the report that he gave was true,       of His wonderful promises to us that we are hated
and they did not want their father to know of their       by the world. It is because He has clothed us with
wickedness? There is nothing to indicate that             the robes of righteousness of Christ and set us apart
Joseph was concerned with anything less than to           as the heirs of the new creation that we are hated.


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            239



No, they do not want such robes themselves, and                           posed their evil hearts, they exposed the evil of ha-
they do not want to enter into that kingdom of righ-                      tred against God in their hearts and sought to si-
teousness and of heavenly virtues. But they hate us                       lence His damning testimony concerning
because the love of God upon us is manifest in that                       themselves. It made them cry, "Away with Him!"
He has made us spiritually like unto His Son. THAT                           It was because He brought them God's word and
is the evidence of God's love upon us-not that we                         in it presented Himself as the Prince of peace
have beautiful clothes, homes, good health and can                        Whose name is also the Mighty God, the Everlast-
sing in the night. The things of this world are not                       ing Father, the Wonderful Saviour before Whose
the church's in such abundance as to cause the                            feet all knees shall bow and every tongue shall con-
world to envy and hate us. The spiritual treasures                        fess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father.
of God's love; the fact that "The Lord hath set apart
him that is godly for Himself" (Psalm  4:3) makes                            But those that hate Him without a cause are
the ungodly hate us. Basically it is hatred of God                        more than the hairs of His head because in the ulti-
that makes them hate those that God chose to be                           mate sense God sovereignly decreed that they
like Himself, even as Joseph's brothers hated him                         would bring Him to His cross that we might know
because of what his father did in giving that prince-                     His love so richly and fully. He must go into the pit,
ly coat. As we pointed out it was Jacob's deed that                       the miry clay, with floods of waters over His soul in
made them hate Joseph.                                                    hell; and there He cried out of being forsaken of the
                                                                          Father Whom He loved. But it was all that we
   Because Christ spoke of their evil report, they                        might know His love.
gnashed on Him with their teeth. Because He ex-

                               NOTICE!!!                                                               IN MEMORIAM
  Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in              It has been eight months since Mrs. Tom Elzinga passed away.
Loveland, Colorado on Wednesday, March 4, 1981 at  8:30 A.M.,                Now on Jan. 19, 1981 our Lord in His mercy has taken Mr. Tom
the Lord willing. Delegates who fly into Denver and delegates in need     Elzinga to be with Him in glory.
of lodging should made arrangements with the clerk of the Loveland
Consistory.                                                                  We, the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren find
                                                                          comfort and joy in Ps. 1  16:l 5: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is
                                               Rev. David Engelsma
                                               Stated Clerk               the death of His saints."
                                               Classis West                                                         1 1 children
                                                                                                                    45 grandchildren
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                               45 great grandchildren
  The members of The Reformed Witness Hour express their
Christian sympathy to the bereaved family of MR. LARRY DE
MEESTER,  who was our faithful president and friend for many years.

   "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1  :21):

                                        The Radio Committee of
                                        The Reformed Witness Hour
                                        Mrs. Jerry  Schipper,  Sec'y.





                                   News From Our Churches

   Of the calls Rev. Flikkema has received as                                From the January 18 bulletin of First Church in
reported in our last issue, he has accepted the call                       Grand  ,Rapids  we glean the following announce-
of our Hope congregation of Walker, Michigan. As                           ment: "The Synod of our Churches has designated
a result there will be no need for many of the classi-                     First Church as administrator of the Jamaican
cal appointments listed in the accompanying                                Mission Field. Since we have no missionary on the
Report of Classis  East.                                                  Jamaican field at this time, one of the responsibili-
   From a Kalamazoo bulletin we learn that Rev.                            ties of our church is to maintain contact with the
Woudenberg, Rev. Van Overloop, and Rev.                                    field. In fulfillment of that responsibility, the  con-
Bekkering gathered in Houston, Texas during the                            sistory has asked elder Prince and Mr. Stuart
week of January 25 for a "study session on proper                          Looyenga, members of our Jamaica Missions Com-
Reformed methods of doing church extension                                 mittee, accompanied by their wives, to serve as
work.' '                                                                   emissaries to Jamaica. They plan to leave from the


  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506        ___-- _ _ _   - - - -
                            _--~





                                 ~_~-~~  -~ -- ___--



240                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


Kent County Airport this Friday at  6:50 A.M. The            the Lord's blessing as they labor in the cause of His
emissaries `plan to spend three Sundays on the               kingdom with our Jamaican brethren and sisters.
island and also attend the Jamaican Churches'                The emissaries covet your prayers."
Classis  meeting scheduled to convene in Belmont,                                                                 C.K.
Jamaica, on Monday, January 26. We wish them


                                Report of Classis East

   Classis  East met in regular session on January             In other business, Hope Church requested classi-
14th and 15th at the Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church.          cal appointments. The following schedule was
Each church was represented by two delegates,                adopted: Jan. 25  - Haak, Feb. 1  - Joostens, Feb. 8  -
except on the second day when Kalamazoo had but              Miersma, Feb. 15  - Woudenberg, Feb. 22  - Houck,
one delegate. A special welcome was given to Rev.            March 1  - Van  Baren, March 8  - Bruinsma, March
R. Miersma who, as pastor of Holland, attended               15 - De Vries, March 22 - Haak, March 29 - Houck,
Classis  as a delegate for the first time.                   April 5  - Joostens, April 12  - Miersma, April 19  -
  The January meeting of Classis  usually has a full         Woudenberg, April 26 - Van Baren, May 3 - Bruins-
agenda and it certainly proved to be the case at this        ma, May 10 - Hanko, May 17 - De Vries.
meeting as the business of  Classis  filled two full           Further,  Classis  spent considerable time voting.
days. That certainly has not been the rule for               Rev. Bruinsma was elected to a three-year term on
Classis East for some time.                                  the Classical Committee. Rev. Woudenberg was
                                                             elected to a three-year  primus term and Rev.
   Classis  devoted considerable time and attention          Miersma to a three-year secundus term as delegates
to four protests and one overture to Synod concern-          ad examina.  The following were elected as delegates
ing the action of the Synod of 1980 with regard to           to `synod: MINISTERS:  Primi  - W. Bruinsma, M.
baptism on the mission field (cf. Article 9,  Acts of        Joostens, R. Miersma, G. Van  Baren;  Secundi  -  M.
Synod 1980). The four protests were essentially the          De Vries, C. Haak, C. Hanko, J.A. Heys. ELDERS:
same in that they requested Synod to revoke the              Primi  - J. Buiter, Homer Kuiper, H. Ophoff, R.
decision taken in Article 9 to adopt the Study Com-          Teitsma;  Secundi  - J. De Vries, C. Kuiper, Hilbert
mittee Report of 1975 re: Baptism on the Mission             Kuiper, J. Veldman. Rev. C. Hanko and Rev. J.A.
Field on the grounds 1) that the Study Committee             Heys were elected as church visitors.
Report of 1980 had not been treated by the Synod;
2) that Synod violated its own rule in Article 5, B. 1;        Subsidy requests for the fiscal year 1982 from
and 3) that Synod violated its own rule in Article 5,        Kalamazoo for $12,450 and from Covenant for
B.2. One protest dealt in depth with the issue of            $11,000 were approved and forwarded to Synod.
baptism but Classis  sent the protests to Synod with         Both churches were instructed to review their
its approval of the church political aspects only.           pastor's salaries with a view to increasing them.
The overture requested that Synod treat the Study              Expenses for classis amounted to $988.50.
Committee Report of 1980 re: Baptism on the                    After fitting remarks by the chairman,  Classis
Mission Field. The overture was sent to Synod with           adjourned and will meet next in Kalamazoo on May
the approval of Classis.                                     13, 1981.
  Classis  also spent a good deal of time hearing an                                  Respectfully submitted,
appeal re censure. This matter was treated in closed                                    Jon Huisken
session.                                                                                Stated Clerk


