          BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





     .  .  . we should remember that doctrine and

     ethics, faith and practice (lifestyle) go hand
     in hand. They cannot be separated. And they
     affect one another. There is a reciprocal rela-
     tion between them. Doctrine affects practice,
     and practice affects doctrine. Departure in
     doctrine bears fruit in departure in life; and
     sometimes the relation is reversed, so that
     departure in practice bears fruit in departure
     in doctrine.
     See "Crisis of Doctrine or Ethics - or Both?"
                                                              - page 29


c                                              Volume LIX, No. 2, October 15,1982 -


26                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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         Crisis of Doctrine or Ethics - or Both? . . . . . . . . .29                     Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus SCxipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
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MEDITATION


                                          Bebold the Lamb of God
                                                                            Rev. M. Schipper

                              "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. `I John 129b


      He was John the Baptist who uttered these                                            (Matthew 3:17). Not only so, but he also witnessed
words.                                                                                     the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and light-
  He was a man sent from God for a witness, to                                             ing upon Him (Matthew 3: 16), leaving John with no
bear witness of the Light, that all men through him                                        doubt but that Jesus was the Son of God Who
might believe (John 1:6, 7).                                                               should come into the world to save His people from
                                                                                           their sins, and Whose way John had been  com-
  He was a man who, a little more than forty days                                          missioned to prepare.
before, when he baptized the Lord Jesus in the Jor-
dan, had heard the witness from heaven: "This is                                               Such wonderful happenings could not occur in
my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased"                                                 secret, but they were noised abroad, and came to


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                27



the ears of the Pharisees and rulers of the people in     in obedience- to God's command could bring for
Jerusalem, who, in turn, sent priests and Levites to      sacrifice the lambs of their flocks, and they did. But
John with the question: "Who art thou?" (John             with all the shedding of blood, Israel had to learn
1:19).   It was while they were interrogating him as      two important things. First of all, they had to learn
to his identity, that Jesus, returning from the temp-     that not all the blood could wash away one sin.
tation in the wilderness, came once more to John,         Secondly, Israel must look beyond the type to the
evidently now with the intention that John should         Antitype, the prefigurement as well as the fulfill-
point Him out. Thus we read: "The next day John           ment of all the lambs, as it would be realized only
seeth Jesus coming unto him, and then he uttered          in the Lamb of God. Israel's redemption lay not in
the words of our text: "Behold the Lamb of God,           all the sacrificial rites performed by Israel, but in
Which taketh away the sin of the world" (John             the provision of the God of Israel, Who alone could
1:29b).                                                   and would redeem them. In one word, Israel had to
  All the questioning by the priests and Levites as       look for the Lamb which was to come, the Lamb of
to John's identity could draw out of John but one         God. That was the significance of the paschal lamb
answer: "I am not the Christ, nor  Elias, nor that        slain at the departure of Israel from Egypt, the
prophet, but I am the voice of one crying in the wil-     house of bondage, as Christ taught His disciples in
derness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as saith      the last supper just before His sacrifice on the cross.
the prophet Esaias." And when they were con-              That was also the significance of the prophecy of
cerned with respect to his baptism, he replied: "I        Isaiah 53, where the prophet in vivid terms de-
baptize with water, but there standeth One among          scribes the redemption of God's people: "He was
you, Whom ye know not; He it is, Who coming               brought as a lamb to the slaughter . . . but He was
after me, is preferred before me, Whose shoe's            wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
latchet I am not worthy to unloose" (John 1:25-27).       for our iniquities . . . the chastisement of our peace
At that moment Jesus appeared, and John seeing            was upon Him, and with His stripes we are
Him said:                                                 healed."
  "Behold the Lamb of God!"                                 That Lamb, in all His significance, John now sees
                                                          standing before him in the Person of the Son of God
  The figure was well-known in Israel.                    made flesh. Verily, he recognizes in Him all the ful-
  Not only was the lamb the symbol of meekness            fillment of prophecy. Here is, indeed, the promised
and passivity among all the creatures in God's cre-       Lamb of God.
ation, but it was judged worthy by God to stand out         Behold Him!
among the clean animals fit for sacrifice. It was not
Israel who designed the lamb for sacrificial pur-           Fix your eyes upon Him! Look at Him from every
poses, but the God of Israel Who gave command-            angle! Do not fail to see that in Him is all your sal-
ment for its use. All  typology  was divinely pre-        vation! For it is in Him alone that God has prepared
arranged and imposed upon Israel. And among the           all of your redemption.
types, the lamb stands preeminent in Israel's cere-         He it is that takes away the sin of the world.
monial service. Hence, it appears in the morning            The sin of the world? Which world?
and evening sacrifice. It was predominant in the
great day of atonement as the paschal lamb. It              Important it is that we pause for a moment or
served in the redemption of the firstborn of man          two to find the answer to that question.
and beast.                                                  Does the Baptist refer to the world (cosmos) of
  Typically Israel was taught from its historical ori-    ordered things as they came into being by the word
gins to look to the lamb for its redemption. More         and power of the Creator? That is the meaning of
particularly it was to the blood of the lamb that the     the term when the Scriptures speak of the world
Israel of God had to look for the remission of sin.       apart from the facts of sin and grace. You find it in
Revolting as blood theology may appear to the             such passages which speak of what God did
natural man, it was precisely this theology that God      "before the foundation of the world." It is obvious
from earliest times taught His people Israel and us.      that the Baptist does not have that world in mind,
Without the shedding of blood there is no redemp-         for he speaks of the sin of the world.
tion, and the only blood that could possibly redeem         What then? Does he perhaps speak here of the
was to be found in God's Lamb, of which the crea-         world as it has come under the power of evil? Of
ture lamb was a fit symbol.                               the world of which the devil is prince? The wicked
  Behold the Lamb of God!                                 world which we are commanded not to seek or to
                                                          love? The world which is passing away? Though it
  He is God's Lamb!                                       is true that the Baptist is speaking of the sin of the
  Israel could not produce Him. 0, indeed, Israel         world, it should be plain to us that he cannot have


28                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



in mind the world that perishes in the way of its           Lamb, His sacrifice of atonement. He makes Him to
sin, but of the world that is saved. Moreover, to say       be sin, Who knew no sin, in order that we might be
that the Lamb of God takes away the sin of that             made the righteousness of God in Him (II Cor.
world would militate against all Scripture which            5:21).
denies universal atonement, and the salvation of all          It is in this connection that we learn from Scrip-
men head for head.                                          ture that God was in Christ reconciling the world
      That leaves then but one conclusion, that he          unto Himself (II Cor. 5:19).        *
must refer to the world of which the apostle John             That He takes away the sin of that world means
later speaks in this gospel: "For God so loved the          literally, first of all, that He lifts it up, raises it from
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that             the shoulders of that world, and then bears it away
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but           never to return. And noticeably, the Baptist uses
have everlasting life" (John 3:16). That is the world       the term in its present tense, which means that, as
of God's good pleasure, the object of His eternal           John saw Him, He was in the very act of removing
love. That is the world of which God's Son in the           the sin. It means that from the moment of His birth
flesh is the firstborn of all creation (Col.  1:15, 18).    to the moment of His death the Lamb of God was
That is the world of the new creation of which the          taking away the sin of God's world. That also ex-
apostle John writes in  his.Revelation,  where he in        plains the reason for His circumcision and baptism.
prophetic vision sees the first heaven and earth            Indeed, He was the holy child Jesus, Who knew no
passed away, and a new heaven and earth, in the             sin; but He was made sin, and the sin and guilt
center of which is the new Jerusalem, and the tab-          of His people rested upon Him. And through the
ernacle of God is with men, and God dwelling with           way of the shedding of His blood, of which circum-
His people, and wiping all tears from their eyes.           cision and baptism were the signs, He must enter
Where there is no more pain, no sorrow, no death,           into the world of sin and darkness, and lead out the
where all the former things are passed away (Rev.           world of God's good pleasure. Not only is He the
21:1-4). That is the world for which God sent His           sin-bearer of God's world, but as the Lamb of God
Son, which He purposed to save, and for which He            He must take that sin away-all of it. And in its
prepared and sent His Lamb.                                 place He gives His righteousness, the righteousness
      That world's sin He takes away!                       of God.
      To understand this, we must remember that the           How does He do that?
world of God's election historically and organically          He does that, first of all, as the Head of His
had its origin in the world of sin and death. We            people. Mark well, precisely in the same way that
must also remember that it was God's eternal pur-           people.are  lost in sin and death, namely through the
pose to realize the world of His good pleasure              sin and fall of our first head, Adam, so in that way
through the way of sin and grace (Ephesians 1 and           God also redeems them, but now through the last
Colossians 1). Hence, the sin of the world of God's         Adam, the Lord from heaven. ,He is the Head of all
good pleasure is the sin of Adam, our first father;         the redeemed (Ephesians 1:20-23). He is that as the
and the natural depravity of the world is the de-           Lamb of God. How strikingly this is expressed by
pravity in which each of God's elect is conceived           the voices of all the redeemed as the apostle John
and born. All the elect, whether Jew or Gentile, are        envisions them in their final glory. All the
under sin (Romans  3:9). Into that state and condi-         redeemed ascribe salvation to God which sitteth
tion the law of God came, only to magnify and to            upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. "After this I
make that sin and depravity to become exceeding             beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man
great (Romans 7: 18-25).                                    could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
      What should be clearly understood is the Scrip-       people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and
tural truth that, though it is true that the Lamb of        before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and
God came into the world which lay under the                 palms in their hands. And cried with a loud voice,
power of sin and death, He did not come to save all         saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the
sinners, nor to make salvation possible for all men         throne, and unto the Lamb" (Rev.  7:10-12). Verily,
if only they would believe on Him. We repeat, God           God's Lamb is given to His people to stand in their
did not send His Lamb to redeem the world that              place.
perishes and passes away. But He came to take                  Secondly, in the way of perfect obedience He
away the sin of the world of His good pleasure, the         delivers them. In the  fulness of time He assumes
world which is the object of His eternal love, the          their flesh and takes upon Him their guilt. He is
world of His election.                                      born under the law, bearing their sin. He ascends
      For the sin of that world of God's good pleasure,     the hill of the skull to suffer death in their stead. He
the God of our salvation prepares and sends His             rises from the dead, declaring their righteousness.


                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 29



He ascends to the throne of God, interceding for                       your sin!
them with the Father. He receives without measure                        When you and I behold Him thus, then already
the Spirit to fill their hearts with all the graces of                 now we begin to sing, as we will unto all eternity
salvation. He brings them at last into the tabernacle                  with all the redeemed, and all the holy angels:
of God, a righteous and holy people, who ascribe to                    "Amen: Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and
God all their salvation through the Lamb.                              thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might,
  Behold, Him, then, ye people of God!                                 be unto God for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 7: 12).
  The Lamb which God prepared to take away all
EDITORIAL


               Crisis of Doctrirme or Ethics - or Both?
                                                           Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


   With what one might interpret as a note of nos-                     children and young people against the movie (1966
talgia, the Rev. J. D. Eppinga (The Banner, Sept. 13,                  synodical decision) and the dance (1982 decision)
1982, p. 25) bemoans the lack of a distinctive and                     when mother church officially condones these.
Reformed lifestyle in his denomination. At the con-                      I have no solution for the CRC. Once decisions of
clusion of one of his usually interesting "Of                          this kind have been taken, it become a practical
Cabbages & Kings" articles he writes as follows:                       spiritual impossibility for a denomination to stem
           . ..Speaking of "lifestyle," I'm not sure we have one       the tide of worldliness and to turn the clock back.
    anymore, or at least one that is distinctive and Re-               In general the membership of the church is not con-
   formed in character. Instead, we are moving closer to               cerned about any principles (whether of doctrine or
    a way of life that includes both church and circus.,It             of ethics) which lie at the basis of such decisions,
    seems, however, that others can manage this better                 nor even about any guidelines which a synod may
    than some of us. Drinking and dancing at our wed-                  lay down (witness how little the guidelines about
    dings seem to get out of hand sometimes. Our synods,               the film arts have been observed). They are inter-
   whether in 1928 or 1982, handle such questions as                   ested only in the practical fact that the restrictions
    "the dance" awkwardly. The film arts, some insist,                 have been lifted and the doors (floodgates?) have
    need greater attention in our circles, while others dis-
    agree. There are those among us who say we face a                  been opened to worldly practices. On this score
    crisis in the areas of doctrinal and biblical interpreta-          there should be no illusions. It is simply a fact of
    tion. I think we do. Meanwhile, we may forget that                 church history that once a certain course has been
    the crisis may be as great in the area of ethics.                  set, there is no turning back.
           How, then, must we live? An old cleric once said              But there is some instruction to be gained here.
    that the enemy will destroy us, not by burning us at                 And I do foster the hope that some Christian Re-
    the stake, but by serving us champagne. He spoke                   formed brethren and sisters might at last begin to
    these words, not as a teetotaler, but as one who sought
    to emphasize ethics [how to live) in a world where                 see (by way of bitter experience) the devastating
    doctrine [what we believe) was considered the only                 effects of the doctrine of common grace which lies
    thing that mattered.                                               at the root of the movie and the dance decisions.
           Jesus prayed that we be "in the world but not of it"           In the first place, we should remember that doc-
    (John 17). In theory, we may have this straight. It is in          trine and ethics, faith and practice (lifestyle) go
    practice that many of us still do not have the hang of             hand in hand. They cannot be separated. And they
    it.                                                                affect one another. There is a reciprocal relation
   It would seem, therefore, that the Rev. Eppinga                     between them. Doctrine affects practice, and prac-
is among those who are disturbed by the 1982 deci-                     tice affects doctrine. Departure in doctrine bears
sion of the Christian Reformed Synod concerning                        fruit in departure in life; and sometimes the
dancing and concerned about the loss of a distinc-                     relation is reversed, so that departure in practice
tive (or antithetical) lifestyle among the constituen-                 bears fruit in departure in doctrine.
cy of the CRC. Others have openly wondered how                            In the second place, the loss of a Reformed life-
they can instruct and admonish and warn their                          style, as connected with the dance and the movie,


     30                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



     indeed involves a crisis of both ethics and doctrine,      the human body to relate to music and rhythm." (p.
     practice and faith. Only the doctrine involved in          565)
     this instance is not that of doctrinal and biblical in-      There is, of course, a history behind all of this.
     terpretation. It is the doctrine of common grace
     which the CRC adopted in 1924. More specifically,            It took some fifty or sixty years, but finally the
     it is the doctrine of the restraint of sin and the good    doctrine of common grace won out in what the
     of the natural man set forth in the Second and Third       Rev. Eppinga refers to as a crisis of "ethics," and
     Points of 1924.                                            the doctrine of the antithesis was shunted aside.
           Do I hear someone say, "There you go again!            Principally, of course, that took place in 1924.
     Why do you always try to blame everything on               The Three Points of Common Grace were adopted
     1924 and common grace?"                                    at that time. But a fact that few remember is that
                                                                the same Synod of 1924 in a wholly contradictory
           My reply is: I am speaking of facts, not merely      action adopted a "Testimony" in which it insisted
     presenting my own conclusions. The Synod of the            that the antithesis must be maintained `tooth and
     Christian Reformed Church itself, both in 1966 and         nail." That "Testimony" was never sent to the
     in 1982, laid the foundation of the film arts decision     churches, however; it was locked away in the Acts
     and the dance decision in the doctrine of the re-          of Synod.
     straint of sin. Here is the proof:
     1) In 1982 the Synod adopted this point, among               Then, starting already in 1926, the "problem" of
     others, "With Respect to the Relationship of the           worldly amusements was brought to synod.
     Christian to the World: " "2. Because sin entered            At first the various synods who spoke on this
     the world, even the best works of man are defiled          issue tried to come down on the side of the antithe-
     with sin (cf. Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 62), but sin is     sis, or, if you will, on the side of a distinctive and
     being restrained by God's grace." (italics added) (Acts    Reformed lifestyle. And, while even in the 1928
     of Synod, Art. 90)                                         report on the amusement-question reference was
     2) The point just quoted was first adopted in 1966         made to common grace as a basis of fellowship be-
     in the same context in connection with the film arts       tween believers and unbelievers, nevertheless the
                                                                1928 decisions sought to maintain the antithesis.
     (movie) decision. (Acts of Synod, 1966, Art. 61)           The method, of course, was wrong: the attempt was
     3) The 1966 Report on the Church and the Film              made to  legislate  worldly amusements out of the
     Arts (Acts, 1966, Supplement 32, p. 332) makes spe-        churches, and the result was what were often re-
     cific reference to 1924 as follows: "The world has         ferred to as the "three no-no's." Over the years the
     not returned to absolute chaos, however, for God           same problem kept cropping up. I can remember
     restrains the power of sin and bestows many good           from my own college days in the early 1940s that it
     gifts and talents upon man in general. These gifts         was a problem in both student body and faculty at
     are common to both the regenerate and  unregen-            Calvin College. As late as 1951 the attempt was still
     erate man. God `giveth to all life, and breath, and all    made, though more weakly than in 1928, to come
     things.' (Acts  17:25)  In Acts  14:17 we are told that    down on the side of the antithesis and to maintain
     He fills our hearts with gladness. This is `a kind of      the stand of 1928.
     favor or grace of God which He manifests toward              But since then the tide has turned.
     His creatures in general.' (Acts of Synod 1924,
     Article 132) It would be highly ungrateful to God to         And now the door is officially open to both
     despise or reject these gifts and their results in         movie and dance.
     human society. Sinful man, in his effort to be au-           The doctrine of common grace has borne its fruit
     tonomous, may boast of his accomplishments and             in the area of ethics. The Rev. Eppinga speaks of
     idolize his culture; but the Christian will accept         having things straight in theory, but not in practice.
     whatever God has made possible with gratitude              He is mistaken. The CRC has things wrong both in
     and will dedicate it to God's glory."                      theory and in practice; and the two go hand in
                                                                hand.
     4) The 1982 Report (33) on "Dance and the Chris-
     tian Life" similarly finds elements of good in the           But here is a concluding question: how is YOUR
     sinful world: "We also need to recognize that even         practice with respect to worldly amusements, with
     in a fallen and sin-ridden world God's gifts are not       respect specifically to the movie (whether at the
I    always or uniformly misused, and human  motiva-            theater or on the television screen in your family
     tions are not always completely corrupt. Even in a         room)? Is your practice consistent with your denial
     fallen and sinful world it may be possible to find         of common grace and your insistence on the anti-
     some creational ingredients of healthy celebration         thesis? Or do you deny in deeds what you confess
     and a wholesome use of the God-given capacity of           in words?


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     31



TRANSLATED TREASURES


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


(In this paragraph which is continued in this article and in the     to obey this command, no matter how small, brings
preceding paragraph Kuyper has begun a discussion of refor-          eternal death. Only the infinite sacrifice of Christ
mation by means of a break with the church. He has only intro-       can, because He is God, wipe out the guilt of sin
duced this subject, but has emphasized in the preceding mater-       against that command. Just because the command
ial, that such reformation must be: 1) a work of God; 2) a work      is absolute, any excuse which appeals to past vir-
that begins in the consciousness of sin and guilt which arises in
the heart of the believer.)                                          tues or good works which we have done to escape
                                                                     the severity of that command, is no more than a
   A Christian must no-t act out of a motivation for                 speck of dust in the scales of God's justice.
success. He must act only out of the obedience of
faith. The question is not whether he shall succeed,                   Let everyone consider and ponder that any de-
nor whether others shall laugh at him; but only the                  parture from and attack against the existing church
command of God may be the guide for his path. His                    structure is a dreadful matter; and that no one can
calling is not to execute the counsel of God, but to                 possess the holy courage for this unless he knows
walk in the law of the Lord. Entirely apart from the                 and understands: God wills it! Disobedience to
question of what others do, or of what shall be the                  human ordinances can and must be carried out
end of the matter, or even of what is determined in                  only out of a higher obedience to the ordinances of
the Lord's counsel, he must do what he is                            God. The over-spiritual members, who by all sorts
commanded and he must witness where he is com-                       of reasonings talk away that voice of obedience, cut
manded to witness. If it pleases God to break my                     the sinew of the Christian life.
heart by making my dearest child waste away with                       No, no, it is not as if in the matter of church re-
fearful illness so that death is waiting to take its                 formation one thinks this way and another is of that
prey, what Christian father is there who would not                   opinion, and that now each, according to his own
feel the fearful judgment of God on his own guilt                    insight can do as he pleases. It is not a matter of
and sin? But also, what would you think of a father                  personal opinion. If the obligation of obedience
who is bowed down under the conviction of guilt,                     does not urge, induce, and compel one to action,
but left his helpless child to his own illness without               then any activity is sin. But it is also true that if that
putting forth any effort to bring about a cure?                      obligation of obedience to God concerns one
   A sound and good principle, therefore, includes                   person, then it is also of concern to all. The
the precept: no reformation apart from the convic-                   command is general.
tion of guilt in the Lord's people; no genuine con-                    The reformation which this paragraph treats we
viction of guilt other than by means of the convict-                 define as: the ecclesiastical return to obedience to
ing inner work of the Holy Spirit; no inner working                  God and His Word because the church was disobe-
of the Holy Spirit other than according to- God's                    dient to God and His Word.
hidden counsel. But if that counsel is different, if                   He who has set up rules in his own house and
that work of the Spirit is not present, and if the con-              has introduced practices which in hindsight he sees
viction of guilt with the Lord's people is lacking,                  as militating against God's Word, ought to change
even then duty, pure duty, requires of us all that                   those rules and reverse those practices so that he
we keep all unholiness from the Lord's altar. And                    once again becomes obedient to God. Neither an
even if there is only one who receives that convic-                  appeal to the authority of those rules nor any ref-
tion of guilt from the Spirit, he can and must not                   erence to the firmness of those practices can make
hesitate to act according to the will of the Lord re-                him or anyone else innocent, even for a moment, if
gardless of what he himself may have to suffer, yes,                 he continues to be disobedient.
even if it brings him naked into the street.                           A break with the existing rules and practices, or,
   God's command is unconditional and penetrates                     if one wills, with the existing church, is allowed us,
into the joints and marrow of the soul. Every failure                but then also without doubt commanded us, only if


32                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



this organization prevents us as church from being                  no limits to obedience to God. If anyone walks obe-
obedient to God the Lord.                                           diently in society, but neglects that obedience in his
      It follows from this that not only must spiritual             home, he is still guilty. And so also, if anyone
awakening by conviction of sin precede all refor-                   serves his God in his home and in society but is
mation by means of separation from the church,                      disobedient to God in his church, that violation of
but also one must never proceed to such separation                  God's majesty is also evident.
until he has first tried the way of gradual renewal                   Thus this rule applies: even though anyone is
and reformation within the church.                                  (himself) obedient to God in his own church, he
      There is a spirit of caution in the child of God. He          may nevertheless become corporately guilty of the
abhors the passion which would seek separation,                     disobedience of others by his cooperation with
and he ponders means to avoid the break. Only                       them.
hard and painful necessity presses and forces and                     If therefore the church to which one belongs
compels him to it. He wants to do differently, but                  lives in a state of disobedience, then each child of
he cannot.                                                          God is obligated to set his obedience over against
      First of all, other means must be carried to their            that disobedience.
very end before he engages in the action of separa-                   If the disobedient church permits this kind of
tion or permits such action to take place.                          conduct, makes room for it, makes this possible for
      Gradual renewal within his present church must                him, then the result is not separation. But if, on the
therefore first be desired, sought, and prayed for.                 other hand, the church hinders and prevents this
When the ecclesiastical assemblies from which this                  obedience to God, then the child of God may not
gradual church renewal alone can proceed, seek it                   cease being obedient, but he must go through with
apart from the honor of God, without adequate                       it even if there is the danger of punishment, yes,
principle, and stubbornly refuse to bring the eccle-                even if the punishment of death threatens him.
siastical organization back from its disobedience                   This is true in two respects. First, each child of God
towards God; yes, stronger yet, when these assem-                   must refuse to do anything, to have a part in any-
blies oppose and punish every attempt to be obedi-                  thing, or to cooperate in anything which is disobe-
ent to the Lord; then, definitely, the moment has                   dience to God. And, on the other hand, he must be
come when that separation neither can nor may be                    obedient to what God requires even though men
put off any longer.                                                 forbid him, hinder him, or try to make it
      Because separation from the existing church                   impossible.
connection is to be discussed in the following para-                  The cases in which something like this can occur
graph, it is necessary to treat here only such refor-               are chiefly the following. 1) With respect to what
mation which leaves the church connection undis-                    God forbids: a) the refusal to serve images or to
turbed, or, at any rate, does not clash with the                    pray to Mary and the saints; b) to participate in reli-
church connection.' We are here chiefly concerned                   gious meetings where the truth is mutilated or sup-
with the reformation of the local church, i.e., that                pressed; c) to sing songs which are not in harmony
church which primarily concerns the individual                      with God's Word; d) to participate in sacraments
member.1                                                            which are not rightly administered; e) to give one's
                                                                    children education or to confirm them, as men say,
      The church to which we belong is the body of                  or to have confirmation by and through ministers,
Christ. That body of Christ is locally manifested. It               who derogate the truth; and f) to give reverence to
is therefore through the local church that we come                  ecclesiastical persons in ways which detract from
directly into contact with the body of Christ. Each                 the kingship of Jesus. And likewise, 2) with respect
of us bears a direct responsibility for the local                   to that which concerns obedience to God when we
church, and it is in, through, and with it that we                  are hindered from it: a) hindered in our calling to
must manifest ecclesiastically our obedience to                     possess the preaching of the Word and to seek this
God.                                                                preaching elsewhere than in the church to which
      "Ecclesiastical obedience" is an expression                   we belong, or to establish a church where
which hardly needs further explanation. God the                     preaching is restored; b) hindered in our obligation
Lord has demanded obedience from us on every                        to have the sacraments of baptism and communion
level of life. We must live in obedience to the Lord                for ourselves and for our children; and c) hindered
our God in our personal, our family, or societal, our               in our obligation to witness against sin and error in
political, and also our ecclesiastical life. There are              the congregation.
1. This refers to a distinction Kuyper  has mentioned before be-      In all these instances each member of the church
 tween the local congregation of which one is a member and          is bound to deal with these matters, and in simplic-
 the denomination at large.                                         ity of heart to walk in the way of duty and calling.


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   33



If the consistory opposes this, then such a member                      hinders him from obtaining through ecclesiastical
must nevertheless continue. If punishment follows                       channels what he must have from the church
he must suffer this punishment, and, indeed, not                        according to God's Word, then the obligation rests
even then cease for a moment from that which                            upon him to correct this deficiency by gathering
brings the punishment upon him. If the consistory                       with others who are likeminded.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

                                          Letter to TimothvL

                                            October 15, 1982            Scripture as, e.g. the terms, "justification" and
Dear Timothy,                                                           "sanctification." Other terms were invented by the
                                                                        church to connote specific Scriptural doctrines for
  Language is important. Without language there                         which no term can be found in God's Word. Exam-
can be no communication between persons. And                            ples of these latter terms are such words as, "trini-
without    c o m m u n i c a t i o n   t h e r e   c a n   b e   n o
fellowship.                                                             ty, " "providence," etc.
                                                                          But they have come to mean something very
  Theological language is especially important be-                      specific and concrete in the confession of the
cause by it the gospel is preached, the truth is pro-                   people of God, have been incorporated into our
claimed, God's people are instructed in the faith                       Confessions, and have been effective instruments
and given all they need to walk their sojourn from                      to preserve the truth and to give that truth to suc-
here to heaven.                                                         ceeding generations.
  Careless use  of. theological language has led to
untold trouble in the church of Christ.                                   When specific efforts are made, therefore, to
                                                                        alter the terminology of the church, the result is
  Theological language has taken something of a                         theological chaos. On the one hand, entirely new
beating in the last years. You are aware of the fact                    ideas are substituted for old ideas so that heresy re-
that this has been done in different ways.                              places the truth; and on the other hand the new and
  There have always been heretics in the church                         supposedly contemporary terminology conveys
who attempt to smuggle their heresy into the                            ideas which are altogether false. Perhaps just one
church under the guise of the truth of Scripture.                       illustration will suffice to demonstrate this. In the
They do. this in a particularly subtle and misleading                   translation of the New Testament called "Reach
way when they use the theological vocabulary of                         Out," the following is the translation of Romans
the church, but give to the terms an entirely new                       5:l: "So now, since we have been made right in
meaning which these terms have never had before.                        God's sight by faith in His promises, we can have
  Then, again, others, for the same reasons, are in-                    real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ
tent on changing the entire vocabulary of the                           our Lord has done for us." This is substituted for:
church and substitute for time-honored terms more                       "Therefore, being justified by faith. . .  ." The term,
contemporary and relevant terms. This is done, so                       "justified" has been changed into, "having been
it is said, in the interests of making the gospel rele-                 made right in God's sight." The latter is an entirely
vant to our present times. You can find this exer-                      different idea not only, but is not, in any sense of
cise taking place in a lot of preaching, but especially                 the word, the truth of Scripture.
in the new Bible translations.                                            But all of this is not really my point.
  This is a very serious matter and ought to be of                        It is also possible to change basic ideas and basic
concern to us. The theological vocabulary of the                        truths within the church of Christ by careless use of
church is important. As the Spirit of Christ led the                    theological terminology. This too can have serious
church into the truth of the Scriptures throughout                      consequences and is something against which we
the ages, and as the church developed that truth,                       must be constantly on our guard.
the church gradually developed a specific                                 To several of these instances I want to write to
vocabulary which it used to designate particular                        you for the purpose of encouraging careful and
truths of the Word of God.                                              thoughtful use of language in our preaching and
  Some of these terms were taken directly from                          writing.


34                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



      There are several instances which particularly       ment of baptism will be celebrated;" or, "the sacra-
come to mind.                                              ment of the Lord's Supper will be celebrated."
      The first is the difference between the word           Now it is true, in a certain sense of the word, that
"accept" and the word "receive." These two words           the sacraments are "celebrations." No one can
are often used in connection with Christ or in con-        deny this. Nevertheless, by this alteration in termi-
nection with the preaching of the gospel. We               nology the emphasis is shifted rather markedly.
"accept" or "receive" Christ; we "accept" or               Our Forms which we use on these occasions all
"receive" the gospel. It is striking that the word         speak of the "administration" of the sacrament, not
"receive" is both Biblical and confessional, while         its celebration.
the word "accept" is not. And yet the latter is more
and more being substituted for the former.                   Once again, a little thought about the matter will
                                                           make this clear.
      A little thought will show clearly the difference
between the two words-even though, at first                  The term "administration" places the emphasis
blush, they seem to be synonyms of each other.             where it ought to be, i.e., on God. It emphasizes the
The word "receive" puts the emphasis on the one            truth that, through the sacraments, God comes to
who gives. I receive a letter through the mail. Some-      His people with His grace and confers this grace
one has sent me a letter and it comes to me through        upon them. The sacrament is "administered" by
the U.S. Postal Service. But the word "accept" puts        God through the ordained ministry. The word
the emphasis on the one who takes what is given. I         "celebration," however, shifts the emphasis to
accept a gift which is offered to me. There is special     man. It looks at the sacrament from our point of
emphasis placed upon my will, my decision, my ac-          view, emphasizes our participation in the sacra-
tion.                                                      ment and ignores entirely the sacrament as a means
                                                           of grace which God gives to His church. Once again
  Applied to Christ and the gospel, the difference         the shift in terminology, seemingly so innocuous,
becomes crucial. Scripture and our Confessions             has shifted our thinking in a very subtle way from
teach that we "receive" Christ. The emphasis falls         God's work to our work.
upon the One Who gives, namely, God. And this is
properly where the emphasis belongs in all Re-               There is one more example which we ought per-
formed theology. But the word "accept" in relation         haps to notice. I refer to the loose way in which the
to Christ puts the emphasis on me. It stresses that        term "theology" is used in our day.
an act of my will is involved, a choice on my part           The term "theology" has always had specific
plays a role and a decision is required of me. The         connotations in the history of Christian thought.
word "accept," therefore, comes burdened with              There are especially two meanings which the term
the whole Arminian theology of free will.                  has, both of which are related to each other. It has
  When this is applied to faith ("accepting" or "re-       referred either to the whole of Dogmatics such as in
ceiving" by faith the gospel), the difference is be-       the expression, "Systematic Theology," or it has re-
tween the Reformed doctrine that faith is the gift of      ferred to the first part of Dogmatics which is called
God and the Arminian doctrine that faith is the            "Theology" in distinction from "Soteriology" or
work of man.                                               "Ecclesiology." The term "theology" therefore has
                                                           come to mean, "the knowledge or doctrine of
  Two little words which are crucial for the whole         God." When it refers to the first part of Dogmatics,
battle of the Reformed faith versus the deadly error       it refers to that part of the truth of God's Word
of Arminianism.                                            which especially deals with the doctrine of God as
  Another example comes to mind. In years gone             it contains the doctrines of His names, His attri-
by it was customary to see on our bulletins from           butes, His counsel, etc. When the term is used for
time to time an announcement concerning the                the whole of Dogmatics, then it refers to the fact
sacraments. The bulletin would tell the congrega-          that really all the truth of Scripture is, essentially,
tion concerning a baby that was to be baptized or          the knowledge of God. Whether one is talking
concerning the fact that the time had come once            about the work of Christ, the nature of the church,
again for the Lord's Supper. Usually the term that         the work of salvation, or whatever, it is all essen-
was used in connection with these sacraments was           tially the knowledge of God because it is all a part
the term, "administration": "the sacrament of Bap-         of God% revelation of Himself.
tism will be  administered  this morning;" or, "the          But now we have the term "theology" used in all
sacrament of the Lord's Supper will be adminis-            kinds of strange and unusual ways in which it is al-
tered next week Sunday morning."                           most impossible to figure out what is meant. We
  It has become increasingly common, however, to           hear today, e.g., of "the theology of Paul."
find in our bulletins the substitution of the word,        Apparently intended is the idea that from the Scrip-
"celebration" for "administration." "The sacra-            tures is taken what was specifically taught by Paul


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              35



in distinction from, say, Peter or John. But what         what have you.
does something like this do? It carries with it a           But you see what has happened. No longer is
whole load of implications which are contrary to          theology the doctrine of God. It has become,
Scripture. It suggests, e.g., that Paul had a distinct    through a subtle shift in terminology, a doctrine of
theology from Peter; perhaps even a theology              liberation of mankind from all kinds of social ills, a
which did not agree with Peter in every respect. It       doctrine of equality of the sexes, a doctrine of uni-
suggests that what we have in Scripture is Paul's         versal brotherhood, etc. And again all the emphasis
thoughts, and it implies that Paul did not receive        has shifted from God to man.
his thoughts through divine inspiration. It tends to
deny the unity of the Scriptures by denying that the        These are but a few examples: but they do
Scriptures are given by the Holy Spirit as the revela-    demonstrate how important terminology is and
tion of God. "Holy men of God spake as they were          how we ought to use carefully our words when
moved by the Holy Spirit."                                upon us rests the responsibility for maintaining the
                                                          truth of God's Word.
  Perhaps worse yet we are confronted today with
"a theology of liberation," a "theology of femi-                                             Fraternally,
nism' ' "a theology of social involvement," and                                              H. Hanko
GUESTARTICLE


                  A Minister-Rabbi Conversation
                                            Rev. Robert C. Harbach


I. About God's Oneness and Plurality                        "I know; but Rabbi, I used to be a gentile. Now
  The minister and the rabbi seated next to one           I'm a Christian, and you should know that in our
another on the plane introduced themselves. The           church, our qahal, we begin our services every
one holding out his hand said, "I'm Pastor  Na-           Lord's Day with, `Ezerenu beshem Yehovah oseh
thanael K. Russo." The other replied with a grip of       shamayim va-aretz,' Our help is in the name of
the hand, "I'm Rabbi Nathan Klug."                        Jehovah, Maker of heaven and earth!"
  "A beautiful name, rabbi! Reading like Hebrew,            "Terrific! but you don't actually say it in
from right to left, it means wise gift."                  Hebrew, do you?"
  "Thank you. I'm surprised you would know                  "No, in English, quoting the King James Version
that. We have something in common in your                 of the Hebrew Scriptures; and I might add that I am
beautiful first name: it means  given of God.  Your       pastor of Qahal Tiqvah, Congregation of Hope.
last name is Italian?"                                    What is the name of your synagogue?"
  "Yes, but I like to think of my middle initial and        "Cut in stone over the portals of our sanctuary
last name as a New Testament Greek reminder of            are the words, in Hebrew consonants, Beth  Anshe
my business, kerusso,  preaching,  as in Acts  28:31,     Chesed. I'm sure you must know how to translate
`preaching the kingdom of God'!"                          that?"
  "Pastor Russo, in our own way, and according to           "Surely; it's `The House of Good Men,' or `The
our own lights, we are both doing that, aren't we?"       House of the Men of Mercy.' "
  "Since you put it that way - yes, we are! But we          "How wonderful to meet a gentile, pardon me, a
should define what we mean by God. Let me                 Christian, who knows something of Hebrew! But to
appeal to the Old Testament words that first occur        go back to a moment ago - do not Moses' words,
to the minds of most Jews. Let me see  - they go          `Yehovah echad,' Jehovah is  one, at least approach
like this: `Shema  Yisrael, Yehovah Elohenu,              a definition of God? and is not Moses saying there
Yehovah echad' (Deut. 6:4)."                              that Jehovah is a unity?"
  "So you know Hebrew! and those blessed words              "Rabbi, I concede on both counts. But aren't you
come from you, a gentile. They first should have          pressing the point that God.is one in the absolute
come from me. Some of us Jews begin every day             sense? that He, therefore, is not only one in Being,
repeating those words."                                   but also only one in person?"


36                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



      "Frankly, I,am; for the Jewish doctrine, based on    pendence and peerless in His eternity.) God is one
the  Shema,  teaches the solitariness of God in con-       in Being; He is a unity of one divine essence. Yet
tradistinction to your Protestant trinitarianism. Is       He is a component unity of three divine personali-
that not so?"                                              ties in the one essential Godhead. . . Now Nate, I'm
      "My friend, I agree that it is `Jewish doctrine,'    rather flattered to see you still awake up to this
but not that it is the doctrine of the Hebrew Scrip-       point."
tures.  If' you will look again at the great  Shema,          "I should fall asleep listening to the  Tenach  ex-
`Hear, 0 Israel, Jehovah  our God....' That's a            plained as I never heard it before? This gives me so
singular-plural name, Jehovah Elohenu, literally,          much to think about! More than I can handle at the
Jehovah our Gods; not that there is more than one          moment! But how can the Scriptures teach both the
God, but just to make an exact rendition of the            unity and plurality of God? Oh, I see your point-in
word used for the great name of God in the Hebrew          `they  (plural) shall be  one  (echad) flesh.' But how
Scriptures. What the  Shema  says is that Jehovah is       can the idea apply to God?"
our Elohim,  Jehovah  being singular and  EZohim
plural. ' '                                                   "How? My friend, let me first show  you that  its
                                                           does, and later, perhaps, you will understand how.
      "That may be, Nathanael  - May I call you            You are familiar, of course, with Genesis  1:26,
Nathanael? Good! - but the text also says, `Jehovah        where we read, `God said, Let Us make man in Our
echad,' the Lord is one! But please go on; and call        image, after Our likeness.' Here we have the plural
me Nate."                                                  form of the Divine personal pronouns. They ought
      "Thank you, Nate. I want to point out that the       to be at least thought of as capitalized since they
Hebrew Scriptures `have three words for                    refer exclusively to God. So also in Genesis  3:22,
`one,`-echad,  now before us, means a united one,          already noted, `Behold, the man was as one of Us,
as you so well pointed out. Secondly, there is the         to know good and evil' (Hebrew). Further, in
word ish, which means an individual one, and so is         Genesis  11:7 we find, `Go to, let Us go down, and
sometimes translated each. Thirdly, there is yachid,       there confound their language . . .  .' Then, once
referring to an absolute one, an only one, a solitary      more, the prophet, Isaiah, testifying of God's
one. We agree that echad is a unity. It is a compound      calling him to the holy office, relates that `I heard
unity,  as in Genesis  15, where we read that "day         the voice of the Lord (Adonai, plural), saying,
one" was a component unity of day and night. In            Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' (Isaiah
Genesis  2:21 we read that Jehovah Elohim (a com-          6:8). The Lord refers to Himself and His doing in
pound name of God, consisting of a singular and a          the personal pronouns I and Us. "
plural) took  one  (echad) of Adam's ribs. Here we see        "But, pastor, may not these plural names and
that  echad  cannot mean an absolute, or only one.         pronouns be viewed as the pZuraZ of majesty, simply
(But we should also note that neither does it here         underscoring God's infinite grandeur and great-
mean an exclusively individual one, as in `one (ish)       ness?"
that had escaped,' Genesis  14:13, and `one (ish)
born in my house,' (15:3).  With that one (rib) God           "Not at all; because these nouns and pronouns
made another one (woman), and according to verse           are self-distinctions which agree with other Scrip-
24 He made those two the original pair, to `be one         ture passages where God is further distinguished
(echad) flesh.' According to Genesis  1:27, man is         b y   `I ' ( P s a l m   2:7), `T h o u ' ( P s a l m   45:6-7),
male and female. In the institution of marriage,           `They'/`He' (Genesis  18:1, 3, 9,  lo), and `My'
they become a compound unity, one flesh! God,              (Psalm 110: 1). One of the most notable sections of
with the compound name, says in the Hebrew of              Scripture distinguishing three Divine personalities
3:22 that `the man was as one of Us.' God Himself          is Isaiah  48:12-16,  where the speaker identifies
is a compound unity, or a tri-unity. Hence, the He-        himself in the words, `I am the First, I am the Last.
brew Scriptures teach that He is the triune God.           Yea, My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth,
                                                           and My right hand hath spread out the heavens;
      "But that third word for `one,' yachid,  meaning     when I call unto them, they stand.' This is the
an absolute, solitary one, is used in reference to         Creator speaking. He further identifies Himself in
Abraham's sole and only son, Isaac. Abraham had            verse 16, `and now the Lord God, and His Spirit,
one, solitary son. So here `one' (yachid) is used in       hath sent Me.' It was Adonai Jehovah and also the
the absolute sense. But this word is never used in         Spirit who sent the First and the Last, the One Who
the Hebrew Scriptures in reference to the name or          also made all things."
nature of God. God (Elohim) is not a solitaiy God.
SoZitariness   is not one of the attributes of God!           "Never in my life have I heard anything like
(What some theologians meant by this term was              this," breathed out the rabbi.
that they conceived of God as unique in His infinite          "So you see, the words of Isaiah express not a
transcendence, incomparable in His absolute  inde-         plurality of majesty, but a plurality of persons. We


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         37



could then go back to Genesis  1:l and render the               we- meet again sometime." The rabbi said he hoped
words there, `In the beginning, every one (cp. the              s o   t o o .
plural, Elohim) of the divine persons in the God-                  The minister hoped if there were to be such an
head created the heaven and the earth.' There is the            occasion, to show the rabbi from Scripture that the
Father included in this name; then the Spirit of God            living and true God does not dwell alone; that a
Who moved over the face of the waters  (1:2), and               lonely God could not even know Himself, an abso-
the Word Who said, `Let there be light!' (1:3)."                lutely sequestered God could not live in infinitely
   "But Nathanael, God uses the singular name                   perfect communion and fellowship with Himself.
EZoah  in Deuteronomy  32:15, 16, and frequently in             The living God has not the attribute of solitariness.
the Book of Job. Do not the Scriptures then teach               The living God could not live in solitude. For life is
that Israel from of old held a monotheistic                     to live, to act and react within a relationship of love
theology?"                                                      and friendly accord. This the one God does in a
  "They undoubtedly do. Rabbi, I see we are soon                communion of the three divine persons, the Father,
to land. It has been a pleasure talking to you. I hope          the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren


                                  Cancer Cures Smoking

  So announces the  Reformed Perspective,  March,                  Within the article, the doctor lists some of the
1982, published by Canadian Reformed Church                     health effects of smoking:
members. In an article "About Smoking," Dr.
Walter  Meester, a well-known doctor to many of                        Did you know.. .
our people in Grand Rapids, and member of the                       l  that some 500,000 persons die annually in the
American Reformed Church, presents a sobering                         United Staes and Canada because of smoking?
article about smoking and cancer. Dr. W.  Meester                   l  that one's life may be shortened 14 minutes for
is in a position to know firsthand. We quote the                      every cigarette smoked?
first part of the article:                                          l  that cigarette smoking is the major cause of lung
                                                                      cancer?
      Do you smoke cigarettes? If yes, read on; you may             l  that lung cancer  isnow  the most common cancer
    need a "light". If no, continue reading as well; you              among men?
    may be able to "enlighten" someone else. Is smoking             l  that lung cancer in women is rapidly increasing?
    really as bad for your health as they say? And if my            l  that smoking is also a major cause of cancer of
    body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, should I continue            the larynx, the oral cavity, and the esophagus?
    to defile it with smoking? Am I serving the Lord with           l that smoking contributes to,the development of can-
    my body if I knowingly harm it? Is suicide really a sin,          cer of the bladder, pancreas, and kidney?
    especially if you do it slowly? Come on now, you may            l  that cigarette smokers have a much higher inci-
    say; if smoking is that bad, why do so many church                dence and death rate from heart attacks than non-
    members smoke; even some ministers, some elders,                  smokers?
    some deacons, some Christian school teachers, etc.              l  that the incidence of coronary heart disease in-
   Aren`t they  all serving the Lord in their respective              creases as the daily number of cigarettes smoked in-
    offices and duties? Of course they are. The question is           creases and that the incidence of heart disease de-
    not whether we can still serve the Lord when we                   creases among those who quit smoking?
    smoke or whether we can still serve the Lord when               l  that cigarette smokers have a higher death rate from
   we sin-we all sin-but rather, what can we do to fight              cerebral vascular disorders (e.g., stroke] than do ab-
    our sins in order that we can serve the Lord better. It           stainers?
    makes a big difference if we.don't know whether we              l that smoking causes constriction and narrowing of
    are committing a sin, or if we don`t care when we                 the blood vessels resulting in peripheral vascular
    know and live in sin. I'm afraid that most smokers                disease?
    stick their head in the sand like ostriches and don't           l that smoking is the most common cause of chronic
    want to know about the effects of smoking. And once               obstructive lung disease (emphysema)?
    they have developed an illness directly related to their        l  that smoking is associated with an increased inci-
    smoking, such as lung cancer, heart disease, chronic              dence of ulcers and death therefrom?
    lung disease, etc., who will tell them that they are to         l that cigarette smoking during pregnancy has been
    blame themselves for their illness?                               shown to have adverse effects on the mother, the


38                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



         fetus, the newborn infant, and the child in later           will believe that smoking causes illness? What about
         years?                                                      the question which I raised before: Is smoking a sin? I
       l that smoking by pregnant women increases the risk           trust that after reading this article and examining the
         of vaginal bleeding, miscarriage, premature deliv-          facts you will agree with me that "cigarette smoking  is
         ery, fetal death, and reduces the birth weight of           dangerous to your health." Not only your physical
         born infants?                                               health, but even your spiritual health. For if I know-
       l  that children of smoking mothers are more suscepti-        ingly harm my body, doesn't this constitute sin? And
         ble to some adverse health effects such as bronchi-         if I commit this sin many times day after day, year
         tis, pneumonia, and respiratory disease during early        after year, shouldn't I try my utmost to break with it?
         childhood?                                                  How do you do that? How do you quit smoking? It is
       l that parental smoking is associated with the sudden         pretty hard to quit. Maybe you've tried once or twice
         infant death syndrome?                                      before. But did you ever pray to God to help you fight
                                                                     and overcome this sin? Did you ever pray for someone
      The doctor concludes with a proper word of ad-                 else who smokes and is trying to quit? I believe that
monition-which we can well heed:                                     the best way to quit smoking is to realize that it is a sin
         If there is still an "unbelieving Thomas" among us,         and that, if I love the Lord, in thankfulness for what
       will he continue to smoke until he can see the devas-         He has done for me, I will quit committing this sin, for
       tating effects of smoking in his own body before he           His  sake.



                                         Woman to Woman

      Most people find letters to the editor to be inter-           cept the honor and responsibility. It leads to a lack of
esting. Many are instructive as well. A very good                   respect for the office of elder.
one appeared in the Banner of August 16, 1982.:                        Please, dear Christian women, do not desire or seek
         After 40 years in the United Presbyterian Church in        this office! God has much for us to do. Let us pray for
       the USA, I had to leave.                                     and support the men as they serve as elders and pas-
                                                                    tors, but let us not try to usurp their position.
         The UPCUSA has had women elders for
       years-many fine women. Although I was honored by            It's a moving letter-and one which can well be
       being asked to serve, I had to refuse because there is    taken to heart. The voice of experience shows the
       no Scriptural authority granting a woman that right.      wisdom of Scripture in its regulation in this matter.
                                                                 Not only, I suspect, do men begin to refuse to serve
         I know of many sad cases where the men lost their
       sense of responsibility after a few years of women on     because the "women are doing all right by them-
       the session. When asking a man to serve, a nomina-        selves," but also increasingly the men find no
       ting committee often heard, "Oh, the women love to        reason even to come to church anymore. When due
       run things. Let them do it" or "You women are doing       order is not followed, the consequences surely
       a good job - you don't need us." Fewer men will ac-       follow.


               Government Support - and Control?

  In the "Don Bell Reports", April 23, 1982, some                      In introducing his Educational and Opportunity
troubling comments are made about President Rea-                    Equity Act, President Reagan proposed a bill that
gan's proposed support of private schools through a                 would 1) provide a maximum tax credit of $100 per
tax credit. This report believes it would be a catas-               child in 1983, $300 in $1984, and $500 in 1985; 2)
trophe if that legislation is passed-and I'm inclined               allow parents to deduct the amount of the credit from
to agree. Much as one would want to be assisted in                  total taxes owed; 3) allow full credit to families with
                                                                    incomes of up to $50,000 while families earning up to
paying the cost of education of our children, he                    $75,000 would get partial credits and families with
must be very wary of any kind of government sup-                    incomes of over $75,000 a year would get no tax
port. It's virtually axiomatic: with support comes                  break; and 4) families who send their children to
also control. The above report states:                              schools that discriminate because of race would get no


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          39



   tax breaks at all. This is the schedule that professing                "As a condition of federal funding, agencies ad-
   conservatives who ought to know better are promot-                   ministering day care programs must assure that the
   ing. Perhaps these dupes - we use the word advised-                  requirements are met in all programs or facilities
    ly-would know how they are being deceived if they                   which the agencies establish, operate, or utilize with
    knew how federal agencies control American `educa-                  federal support... (An Operating Agency is) any
    tion. From experts in this field who are far more                   agency, public or private, which receives federal
    knowledgeable than your reporter, we have learned                   funds directly [as an administering agency], or indi-
    that the entire process of educational control comes                rectly through a grant or contract with an agency act-
   under the umbrella of a set of regulations called Inter-             ing as administrator of federal funds in the area, by
   agency Day Care Standards. Adopted June 18, 1971,                    way of reimbursement through a vendor payment
   they were not printed for public sale and are .difficult             made by the administering agency or  by  way of a
   to obtain, the master control system hinges upon the                 voucher given to the child's parent(s) by the administer-
   federal government's definition of "day care". Here is               ing agency for day care services provided for the child
   the definition:                                                      and his family."
          "Day care is defined as the care of a child on a                All of the above are excerpts or definitions found in
   regular basis by someone other than the child's                      the "Federal Interagency Day Care Requirements"
   parents, for any part of the 24 hour day.. . . "                     with underlining added. Interested parents are ad-
   Day care services and programs are further defined                   vised to ask their Representative or a Senator to obtain
   as:                                                                  for them a copy of the "Interagency Day Care Stan-
                                                                        dards," dated 18 June 1971, from the Department of
          "Comprehensive and coordinated sets of activities             Education. The Freedom of Information Act suppos-
   providing for care, protection and development of in-                edly guarantees access to such records.
   fants, preschool and school age children on a regular
   basis  during any portion of a 24 hour day.. . Comprehen-           The above ought to give each a serious reminder
   sive services include, but are not limited to, educa-             of "big brother" government and what happens
   tional, social, health, and nutritional services and              when such government grants "help" to parents of
   parent participation activities. A day care program               private school children. The "help" can well prove
   constitutes a particular set of day care services."               to be worse than the financial burden of Christian
   And here are the clincher statements:                             School education.

DAYOFSHADOWS


                                                       Covenant Joy
                                                          Rev. John A. Heys



  It is striking that, in the case of Isaac and Jacob,               faith in the waning days and hours of their earthly
the event that manifests their faith so clearly that                 existence.
they are mentioned in Hebrews 11 as those whose                        There is a warning here for us, as well as instruc-
walk of life was a confession that they were pil-                    tion. It is questionable whether we, after reading all
grims and strangers on the earth seeking the city                    that is recorded of Jacob in the book of Genesis,
which hath foundations whose Designer and Build-                     would have picked this particular deed, his blessing
er is God occurred late in life.                                     of the two sons of Joseph, as the noteworthy deed
  In both instances they are commended for bless-                    of faith in Jacob's life that stands out above the rest.
ing their seed, Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, and                   Would we not be inclined to present his blessing of
Jacob blessing the two sons of Joseph. (Their lives                  his twelve sons above the blessing he pronounced
otherwise were not exemplary in many instances,                      on Joseph's two sons? Or would we not list as
especially as far as Jacob is concerned, whose life is               showing more faith the fact that he insisted on
treated far more extensively than Isaac's.) Abel's                   being buried in Canaan? But we ought not try to be
outstanding act of faith came when he was a young                    judges who overrule the choice of God Himself as
man. Noah and Abraham were much older men                            to the event in Jacob's life that we must see to know
when they displayed their great faith in deeds re-                   him to be,a man of faith whose deeds we ought to
corded in Hebrews  11.  But Isaac and Jacob per-                     emulate.
formed deeds which, for them, were of unusual                          We so easily judge by hours spent in walking by


40                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



faith and by external deeds of men that do not show         name Jacob, meaning Supplanter, is prophetic. The
the true condition of the heart. For that reason we         name Israel, meaning Prince of God, is fulfillment
are inclined to consider the one and a half years of        of prophecy. And he is called by this name of Israel
John the Baptist's ministry as of much less impor-          after he performed a deed of great faith. It is true
tance and value than the long and difficult ministry        that Hebrews 11 does not list the request of Jacob
of Moses among rebellious Israelites, or the many           for an oath from Joseph to bury him in Canaan as
years of prophesying of Elijah, Elisha, or Isaiah, to       the greatest evidence of his faith, but the change in
mention only a few who served for much longer               name does indicate God's approval of this deed as
periods of time. And we do this even though we              an act of great faith. So great an act of faith it is, that
know that Jesus said that John was the greatest of          the name Prince of God fits, and ought to be ex-
the Old Testament prophets. We easily overlook              pressed.
the fact that although the prophets before him all            Two things may be pointed out that will help us
prophesied boldly of Christ's coming, John is the           to appreciate this deed of bowing upon the bed's
man who pointed Him out and said, "Behold the               head. Jacob, realizing that he had but a short time
Lamb of God Which taketh away the sin of the                to live, was deeply concerned about being buried in
world," and that he prepared the way for Christ.            Canaan. This he sought to make sure by an oath
  We appreciate and think highly of the one thief           from Joseph's mouth. He had at that time no inten-
who changed from railing on Christ to pray to Him,          tion of blessing Joseph's sons. He did not call for
"Lord, remember me when Thou  comest into Thy               them to be brought to him for this purpose. Joseph,
kingdom." But we hardly expect a man like that to           hearing that his father was sick and failing, brought
have a higher place in that kingdom than those who          them to his father for a blessing. This burial in
for years faithfully served and were converted, not         Canaan seemed all important to Jacob. Yet God
within hours of their death, but decades before             spared his life, after requiring an oath from Joseph,
they could serve here below no more.                        for a richer act of faith. He did intend to do as
  But God's standard and way of judging are often           recorded in Genesis 49. He did intend to call his
so different from ours. Consider that this former           sons-not Joseph's but his own sons-before he
thief, malefactor, or evil doer, was the ONLY one at        died to bless them. But at the moment this matter of
the cross who confessed to believe that Christ had a        being buried concerned him above all else.
kingdom that was sure to come! It is not always               The other matter to consider is that in Hebrews
simply a question of how long the deed takes to per-        11:21   it is stated that Jacob blessed Joseph's sons
form. The circumstances under which it is commit-           and "worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff."
ted have much to do with the value of it. I fully           In Genesis 47:31 we read that, after Joseph swore to
expect that thief to have more glory than I could           bury him in Canaan, Jacob "bowed himself upon
ever expect to have, he being one having far strong-        the bed's head." And it is pointed out that in the
er faith and spiritual courage to stand for the truth       Hebrew the word bed and staff have the same con-
than I ever had.                                            sonants, and in the original Hebrew no vowel
      And so when this deed of Jacob is singled out         markings, so that the one word could easily be read
while we expected some other deed in his life to            as the other, even as the consonants lvng with us
show him as a man of strong faith-not a "hero of            could mean living or loving.
faith" but a giant of faith-we had better abide by            Now the significance of this incident does not lie
God's judgment and try to see why God considers             in the word bed or staff. And the whole apparent
this such a clear manifestation of faith.                   contradiction disappears if we only understand that
      Before considering this act of faith on Jacob's       these are two different incidents. The significance
part, however, we ought to take time to consider            is in the bowing, which here too we may believe
those few words that we are inclined to slide over          was a worshipping. It was a bowing in worship.
without asking, "And why did God see fit to have            Jacob, having heard Joseph swear that he would
this added?" I refer to the concluding statement in         bury him in Canaan, bows his head in prayer and
Genesis 47:3 1, namely, "And Israel bowed himself           worships God for what he has just heard from the
upon the bed's head."                                       mouth of his son.
      It is even interesting, as well as significant, to      We may say that Jacob bows his head in a prayer
note that suddenly he is called Israel, Prince of           of thanksgiving for a clear, unmistakable evidence
God. This ought to alert us and cause us to realize         of faith and spirituality in his son Joseph. This was
that something has happened here that merits the            his most beloved son, the son of his most beloved
use of this name that God gave him after he.wres-           wife. He meant more to Jacob than any of the other
tled with the angel in prayer and declared that he          eleven sons. For a time Benjamin occupied that
would not let him go until he was blessed. The              place, because Jacob was led to believe that Joseph


                                            THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                             41



was dead. But, as soon as he knew that Joseph was          Joseph's faithfulness in Potiphar's house or in the
alive, that love surged forth and attached itself to       prison. He knows that Joseph stands in a place
Joseph even more firmly than before his sons de-           where temptations are manifold and powerful.
ceived him into thinking Joseph was dead.                  Well can he have questions in his mind as to
  But this most beloved son is now an Egyptian             whether Joseph, the ruler in Egypt, is concerned
ruler of no mean standing. He was up to his ears in        with the promises in the land of Canaan. Does he
politics. He was an influential man in Egypt not           intend to become an Egyptian in the full sense of
only but a valuable man in Pharaoh's service. He           the word and settle his family here in their genera-
had it made as far as his natural life is concerned,       tions? For here they have all that their hearts could
being rich, in honour among the people and before          wish for as far as material things and life in that day
the king, and married to an Egyptian priest's (or          and age are concerned.
prince's) daughter. He had arrived. He was in the             How thankful he now is to hear Joseph swear
highest strata of that day from a social point of          that he will bury him in the land of promise. How
view. All Egypt bowed before him, respected him            thrilled his soul is to know that Joseph does consid-
as a wise and capable ruler who had saved their             er this a serious spiritual matter and not the whim
lives and their country.                                    of a senile father. It is God Who kept Joseph in the
  Now all these can easily turn a man from his             faith and untainted from all the luxury and worldly
faith in God. One can so easily set his affections on       honour which turns men's heads and hearts and
these things, and, as the wealth and prestige grow,         souls from God to mammon.
the things of God's kingdom become dim and one                As a true covenant father Jacob finds covenant
does not seek first the kingdom of heaven and its          joy in knowing that his most beloved son has been
righteousness. He becomes worldly-minded, carnal,          kept in the day of temptation by the mercy of God,
a pleasure and treasure seeker. He finds less and          and that God is continuing the line of His covenant
less time for the things spiritual, and his life be-       in this son that he loves so dearly. He bows in
comes crowded with the things of this world. And           worship. He bows in humble acknowledgment that
let us not forget that Joseph was a sinner with a          this is the work of God. And so he prays a prayer of
depraved nature, a man that could be tempted by            thanksgiving. That is what the author of the epistle
all the glamor and wealth of the king's court as well      to the Hebrews says when he writes that he  wor-
as any one of us can. Yes, he stood firm in the temp-      shipped. Jacob could not say it in the words that
tation of Potiphar's wife. But how often do we our-        John uses in III John 4, "I have no greater joy than
selves not find that although we can stand firm in         to hear that my children walk in truth." But that
one kind of temptation, we fall so easily in another?      joy was Jacob's And that joy is every covenant
Therefore Satan also varies his temptations and            parent's when he witnesses the confession of faith
tailors them after our besetting sins.                     in his child. In the world they rejoice in earthly
  What assurance does Jacob have that all this has         achievements and in what the world calls success.
not gone to Joseph's head? In the little contact that      In the church it is what God does in and for our
he has with this highly exalted son there were no          children to keep them unspotted from the world,
doubt what seemed to be signs of faith. But were           and to live so that although they are in the world
they for real? And Jacob knows nothing about               they manifest themselves as not of the world.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES

                            A Pilgrim's Perspective
                                                 Rev. R. Flikkema



  It is the purpose of this writer in this article and     that I mean one can take a specific passage of Scrip-
in the subsequent articles that have been assigned         ture that speaks concerning the last days, and
to him to treat the idea of the signs of the times in a    therefore concerning the signs that the child of God
rather different way.                                      must observe in those last days, and expound it. Or
  There are different ways in which one can deal           one can do so thematically or topically. By taking a
with such a topic. One can do so exegetically. By          specific sign for his theme or topic he writes about


42                                           THE  STANDARD   BEARER



that sign, makes reference to specific passages of         will study his weaknesses and frailties: see him to
Scripture that address themselves to that sign, and        be what he is, a soldier of the cross, but a very im-
applies all of that to the day and age in which the        perfect one whose best works are polluted with sin,
child of God lives.                                        and even more, one who does not always do that
      But there is another way in which such a topic as    which is his duty to do.
the signs of the times can be treated. And that way          We will see his sorrows. For there are indeed
is to view such a topic from the perspective of the        many sorrows that he experiences in his pilgrim's
child of God as he lives through the last days and         journey-sorrow for sin first of all. He knows
experiences in his own life the various things that        himself to be a sinner. He experiences the fact that
are coming and must come to pass. It is the perspec-       he has not perfect faith, that his sins rise up against
tive of faith that guides the child of God as he walks     him prevailing day by day. We will see him, there-
through this valley of the shadow of death and             fore, very often in prayer, praying for God to be
which impels him as he does so to watch for the            merciful to him and take his sins away. Further, we
return of his Lord and Savior. It is the perspective       will see this child of God experience other sorrows.
of hope that lives within the child of God's heart         The sorrows that must needs arise in the life of the
which directs him to the sure promise of God that          child of God as a result of his taking up his cross
He Who shall come will come and will not tarry to          and following Jesus and as a result of his antithet-
bring him with all His chosen ones to the life that is     ical life and walk, as on the one hand he refuses to
to come. It is the perspective of comfort. It is the       be a part of this world, and as on the other hand he
sure and undying testimony in the consciousness of         strives to manifest his citizenship in the kingdom of
the child of God that as he travels his pilgrim's          God and of His Christ. We will see him hated by
journey with all its sorrows, struggles, trials, and       the world, which is the realization in his life of
afflictions he belongs to his faithful Savior Jesus        what Jesus foretold when He said, "He shall be
Christ. Such a perspective this writer chooses to          hated of all men for My Name's sake" [Mark 13:13).
follow as he addresses himself to this topic.              Still more, we will witness the sorrows that he ex-
      What is the format which will be used for such       periences and the tears that he sheds as he sees
an endeavor? Certainly the format will consist of          within his own family what it means when Scrip-
both of the first two ways mentioned above, name-          ture says that there is appointed unto every man a
ly exegesis and topic. This is of the nature of the        time to die. We will see him face the reality of death
case. When one deals with the topic of the signs of        as it strikes in his own family by means of incurable
the times from the perspective of the child of God,        disease. We will watch him sit by the bedside of a
his faith, hope, and comfort, one cannot ignore the        loved one day after day beholding the weakness of
specific signs of the times that he experiences along      man both in himself and in those who try to help
his pilgrim's journey. And too, when one deals in          him. And, in that connection, we will see the  all-
such a way with the above mentioned topic, one             powerful hand of God that brings the man's loved
cannot and may not ignore exegesis. After all, the         one unto Himself in His own way and at His own
experience of the child of God is never one that is        appointed time.
apart from the Word of God. The faith, hope, and             We will narrate the life of this covenant-con-
comfort of the pilgrim saint is never one that is di-      scious `child of God as he strives to be faithful to
vorced from that which is his only rule for faith and      God's covenant. We will behold him as he longs to
life  - the Scriptures. In other words, his exper-         bring forth the seed of the covenant; watch him as
ience, faith, hope, and comfort is never blind or          he endeavors with all his heart and mind and soul
governed by his own subjective feelings. But               and strength to bring up his covenant children in
rather, it is altogether governed and directed by the      the fear of God's Name, teaching them God's Word,
light of the Word that shines in his heart and directs     impressing upon them the pilgrim's calling to
his footsteps in life.                                     watch for and pray to God for the speedy return of
 But now for a few specifics with respect to the           Christ. We will see him labor to provide a good
whole matter of format that will be followed. The          covenant Christian education, sacrifice daily to
format will consist of narrative form-a narrative of       support the schools which God has been pleased to
the life and experiences of a specific child of God in     give him, both monetarily as well as prayerfully.
his covenant family and in the world in which he             And finally we will witness the joys that this pil-
lives. We will see his struggles. We will observe him      grim experiences in life. Yes, there are struggles.
as he struggles against his enemies, namely, sin, the      Indeed, there are sorrows that the child of God ex-
devil, this wicked world, and his own sinful flesh.        periences in life. There are many of these as the
We will see him as he battles the temptations of this      child of God finds himself on this side of the grave;
world, fights the good fight as a faithful soldier in      as he lives the life of a pilgrim with uplifted head
the army of the King of kings and Lord of lords. We        looking for His Savior to appear. But the very fact


                                            THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                              43



that he does look for His Savior to appear provides         Why have I chosen to have these articles take such
him in the midst of all his struggles and sorrows           a format? The answer to that question is very sim-
great joy. For he sees the events in the world as well      ple. The topic, that of the signs of the times, is not
as those that occur in his own life to be so many           merely something cold and objective. It is not
things under the government and control of His al-          merely something that belongs to the doctrine of
mighty God, his sovereign Lord. He witnesses daily          eschatology in a dogmatics textbook. For that mat-
the fact that nothing happens by mere chance, but           ter, any topic or Scriptural truth as it relates to the
that all things take place by God's Fatherly hand.          life of the child of God is never cold and abstract.
He believes with a certain knowledge and an                 Such things are not presented in the Word that
assured confidence-that Christ Who died for him,            way. Jesus, Whose word the Word is, did not teach
rose again, ascended into heaven, and sits at God's         His disciples that way or have His disciples under
right hand wields the sceptre. Christ rules over the        the inspiration of the Holy Spirit write His Word
wicked with a rod of iron, directing all things step        that way. Rather, what is written in the Word, and
by step unmistakably to the end, and rules over             now especially as that pertains to the subject of the
him according to the riches of His grace with a             signs of the times, is real and true to the experience,
shepherd's staff, comforting him as only the Great          the faith, hope, comfort, and life of the child of
Shepherd of the sheep can do. We will see him re-           God. It is real with respect to our lives-your life as
joice under the shadow of God's wings in God's              you read these articles and my life as I write them.
house on the sabbath day as he longs to hear and            And, therefore, my purpose in using such a format
does hear, the chief means of grace-the preaching           is to enrich our lives as we associate ourselves with
of the Word-thereby experiencing grace sufficient           this pilgrim. Who this pilgrim is will remain a mys-
for his every need. We will see him as he sings             tery until the next article. What he encounters as he
songs of praise and adoration for this great comfort        lives his pilgrim's life, that too will remain a mys-
that he experiences, and as he lives a life of thank-       tery. But this much I will tell you now. In him we
fulness to God now in this life and is ready to do so       will see ourselves, and the experiences that he will
in the life to come.                                        encounter will be true to our experiences as he with
  That is the format that these articles will take.         us observes the signs of the times from a pilgrim's
                                                            perspective.



                        Annual Report of the R.F.P.A.
                                           The Secretary of the R.F.P.A.



  Looking back at the activities and accomplish-            bird's eye view of the history and makeup of the
ments of the R.F.P.A. during the past publication           Standard Bearer, and also insight into and pictures
year, what can be more properly said than that our          of the R.F.P.A. book publishing activities.
God is ever Faithful, ever Sure.                            Rereading these issues would be beneficial and a
  Volume 58 of the Standard Bearer is history; but          joy.
putting our hand to the plow, we go forward in the            The Annual Financial Report speaks for itself. A
confidence that, if the Lord wills, Volume 59, page         good working balance is on hand. Beginning in
by page, issue by issue, will go forth to the ends of       January 1982, the cost per issue of the  Standard
the earth.                                                  Bearer  increased 11%. Our Protestant Reformed
  Volume 58 featured two special issues on doc-             Churches, societies, and individuals both inside
trine. That meant that their entire contents were de-       and outside our denomination continue to meet
voted to one particular Scriptural and Confessional         these    increases    head-on.    Generously they
truth: March 1,  1982-The Doctrine of the Church;           contribute what is not met by the subscription
May 15,  1982-The Doctrine of Predestination.               price, the latter not being adequate even though the
Unique, in distinction from many religious publica-         Board increased the cost to $10.50 per year. Thanks
tions, is the fact that all the writers write spontane-     to all for your continued spiritual and financial sup-
ously in complete unity and harmony of interpreta-          port!
tion and understanding of these doctrines. The spe-           Last year we reported that four young men were
cial issue of December 1, 1981 gave our readers a           busy compiling an index to all the Standard Bearer


44                                           THE  STANDARD   BEARER



volumes. Their program is to make a complete tex-           be making a concentrated effort not only to gain
tual, title, and subject index. This will probably be       more Book Club members, but also to promote its
published in syllabus form by the end of the year           fine publications.
1982. Delays have been encountered, and progress               Information has it that Wobbema Press is no
has been slower than anticipated.                           longer under the ownership of Peter Wobbema.
      The Board granted a request from a Pastor Philip      Through the years a pleasant business relationship
Rawson (in England) to act as agent for the Standard        existed. We thank him for his conscientious con-
Bearer  literature and books. Mr. H. Vander Wal,            cern and service. We trust the new owners will
our Business Manager, is in contact with the                continue in that atmosphere and relationship.
brother. The Board hopes to establish the same                 To our Editor-in-Chief, Department Editors,
type of program with Rev. Tom Reid of the Re-               Guest Writers, Business Manager, and all others
formed Presbyterian Church of Ireland.                      who contributed their time and talent to make pos-
      The number of  Standard Bearers  mailed each          sible the Standard Bearer and all our other publica-
issue is as follows: U.S.A., 1557 copies; foreign, 135      tions, we extend a sincere word of appreciation.
copies. Cost of mailing 1692 copies is around                  In conclusion the Board reminds itself, its writ-
$125.00. Cost of printing each issue is around              ers, and its readers of the following Scripturally
$700.00. Copies of the Standard Bearer go to New            based truth from the pen of an aged and faithful
Zealand, Singapore, Jamaica, Australia, Canada,             warrior, Rev. C. Hanko: "The pulpit and the
United Kingdom, South Africa, India, South Ameri-           printed page must never grow weary of sounding
ca, and the Netherlands.                                    the trumpet, arousing the church to battle, and
 From the Permanent Publications Committee,                 warning her of the foes within and outside the
the Board reports the following: 1) 340 Book Club           gate." This appeared on the cover of the December
Members. We take this opportunity to urge and en-           1, 198 1 issue and is worthy of repeating.
courage anyone interested in buying good, sound,                                  Respectfully submitted,
edifying books to join this Club and buy at discount                                           P. Koole, Sec'y
prices. 2) Three books have been published since
last September:  We And Our Children,  by Prof. H.          (Editor's Note. At the annual meeting of the
Hanko and  In The Sanctuary  and  The Wonder of             R.F.P.A. recently I had the opportunity to see
Grace by Rev. H. Hoeksema. 3) The Church Order              several pages of the computer printout of the pro-
book revision is nearly completed. Rev. Joostens is         posed index. This is a tremendous project; and
finishing an index. 4) 1000 additional copies of            when it is completed, it will surely be a valuable
Behold, He Cometh! were bound. 5) The Bible Story           asset for anyone who wants to do some study and
Book project is progressing well. All the stories           research in the past volumes of the  Standard Bearer.
have been completed, and the artist is working on           I, for one, am eagerly awaiting completion of the
the illustrations. The Publications Committee will          project.)
FROM HOLY WRIT


            Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers



                Chapter I (Luke 24:25)                      Scriptures as did Jesus on the evening of His resur-
      Strange as it may sound to those who have made        rection day!
a study of the manifold writings of  Premillenni-             To say this requires not only courage but also the
alists, particularly of those denominated  "Dispen-         conviction that we are able to show this from the
sationalists," the real question is not that the latter,    teachings of the Bible itself.
in particular, insist on a ZiteraZ interpretation of the      In this series of articles or essays we shall with
Bible in the prophetic writings, but that they do not       God's help attempt to show the Scriptural teaching
really believe "all that the prophets have spoken."         concerning the doctrine of the "last things" as the
Such fail to follow the clear-cut instructions of           fulfillment of the more sure word of prophecy. This
Jesus to His disciples, and they do not interpret the       is not a mere word of man, but it is what holy men


                                           THE  STANDARD   BEARER                                                   45



wrote being moved by the Holy Spirit. And this is         exegesis of the entire ninth chapter of Daniel. To
the Word which shines as a light in a dark place          this-we shall give attention at the proper time and
until the day dawn and -the day-star arise in our         place.. We. only desire to point out that it is not so
hearts (II Peter 1: 19). And we would emphasize at        simple to give a compendium view of the various
the outset that, in this study, we are interested in      shades of Premillennialism in this essay.
learning from  t,he Old Testament prophecy what             However, we will need to point out that basic to
God promised to the "church" in the Old Testa-            all Premillennialism is that the "church" in the
ment Dispensation concerning the greater glory            New Testament Dispensation is not the same as
which should be hers when "all nations will be            "Israel" in the Old Testament. Israel is the Jewish
blessed in thee," that is, in Abraham (Gen.  123;         nation of the Old Testament. And whereas the
l&18; 22:18).  For that will be the time of the salva-    promises spoken o f   i n   t h e   O l d   T e s t a m e n t
tion which God has prepared before the face of all        prophecies are given to Israel as a Jewish  .nation,
peoples, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory    and whereas these prophetic promises concerning
of thy people Israel" (Isaiah  40:5;  52:lO; Isaiah       the restoration of the glory of Israel and of her tri-
42:6; 49:6, 9).                                           umph over all her foes has not yet been fulfilled to
  We will pray for grace simply to believe all the        Israel, and, whereas God is faithful to fulfill these
words of the prophets through whom God spoke              promises to this historic Israel, this fulfillment lies
unto the fathers in "sundry times  and, in divers         in the future. That will be the MiZZennium Kingdom
manners" (Heb.  1:l). This means that we must             of one thousand years duration. And these advo-
allow the Scriptures to lead us into all the              cates of this view appeal to the teaching of Revela-
Scriptures. Only thus does the Holy Spirit lead us        tion 20:1-6 to attempt to sustain this teaching of the
into all the truth. An academic argument concern-         future glory of the Jewish nation, the natural Israel.
ing the proper method of interpretation and the cor-      On this point, all Dispensationalists agree as well as
rect application of the science of Hermeneutics has       historic Premillennialists.
great merit in the Seminary, but we are writing and         All agree that the prophecies in the Old Testa-
unfolding the Scriptures. We shall point out what         ment never speak of the church as being the
we consider the proper method of interpreting a           "Israel of God." And that the glory of Christ in the
given passage when we come to discuss the salient         saints in the church is the realization of the restora-
points which must be faced in this study of Dispen-       tion of Israel from Babylon all unitedly deny. There
sational theology concerning the doctrine of the last     will ever be real and essential difference between
things. This doctrine is called Eschatology. Yes, we      the church of God and the Kingdom of Christ. And,
do have a doctrinal bias. So does the Premillennial-      sad to say, the number of those who hold to this
ist and the Dispensationalist, be he a Pre- or  Post-     position is legion. All agree that the prohets never
Tribulationist. The basic question is: who believes       foresaw the gathering of the New Testament
aZZ the Scriptures as the Old Testament is unfolded       church among the Gentiles at all. The "clock of
and interpreted by Jesus and the Apostles in the          prophecy" stopped at about the time of Pentecost
New Testament Scriptures?                                 and will not begin to run again until the time of the
  In these articles we will take issue with various       Rapture and Tribulation period which is the time of
proponents of Dispensational theology and with            the ushering in of the Millennium.
the position also of what is called historical Premil-      All agree that there will be a period of the "Great
lennialism. The difficulty of a fair presentation of      Tribulation" which will last seven calendar years.
Premillennialism is that there is no official, eccle-     This will be the period between the "Rapture,"
siastic, confessional statement of the Eschatology        when the church will be taken up into the air with
which it teaches. Many able writers can be cited,         Jesus as taught by Paul in I Thessalonians 4: 17 and
but there is no unanimity between these writers on        I Corinthians  15:51-52, and the second coming of
certain points of teaching. The Pre-Tribulationist        Christ. (Let it be well understood that I refer to
battles very elaborately with the teaching of the         these passages as quoted and interpreted by the
Post-Tribulationist. This difference is on the            Premillennial writers and teachers.) The first
question whether the church of Christ will need to        coming of Christ upon the clouds of heaven, ac-
pass through the "tribulation period" as is taught        cording to Dispensational teaching, will be sudden
by the Post-Tribulationist, or whether the church         and unannounced. That will be the time of the
will be taken up in the "Rapture" before the Tribu-       "Rapture." Christ will return also to assume His
lation period, which they call the "seven years"          Kingdom in Israel on earth. That is then called the
spoken of in Daniel 9:27.                                 "revelation" of Christ as spoken of in I Peter  1:13.
   Now we will not be led astray at this point by         Christ will then be revealed as the King in the
entering into the pro- and con- of the exegesis of        Kingdom of Israel, before the thousand years to in-
Daniel 9:27, for this would entail some rather basic      augurate this reign in earthly Jerusalem, to sit on


     46                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



     the throne of David.                                                     Such then is the basic methodology of  dispensa-
       This view of the doctrine of the last things entails                tionalism.
     more than one bodily resurrection. No less than                         And the cited quotation contains some very chal-
     three resurrections  are posited. First there is the                  `lenging words. I would almost denominate them
     "resurrection" of the righteous, the church at the                    fighting words!
     time of the "Rapture." Secondly, there is the resur-                    And we accept the challenge cast our way!
     rection of the "tribulation saints," who are not
     really in the body of Christ, according to some (J.                     But the basic question is, do the  dispensationa-
     Dwight  Pentacost,  Scofield). Thirdly, there is the                  lists with all their insistence on "literal, normal and
     resurrection of the wicked at the end of the Millen-                  plain interpretation" truly believe all that the
     nium period, the final judgment of the wicked.                        prophets have spoken? When Christ comes to ad-
     After, this there is the ushering in of the "eternal                  judge of our Scripture interpretation, the question
     state." Here in the eternal state the Jews will be the                will be whether this is really clinging to the Head
     kingdom under Christ, and the Gentiles, the body                      Christ and whether it is building upon the founda-
     of Christ, will be under Christ as their Head.                        tion which has been laid by Paul and all the Apos-
                                                                           tles (I Cor. 3:11-15).
       As to methodology, what is basic to this entire
     rather elaborate view of the difference between the                     The determining of a method of interpretation is
     Kingdom and the church is that it follows what is                     not the first question. When Jesus talked to the two
     purported to be the Ziteral interpretation, particular-               travelers to  Emmaus, these two men believed the
                                                                           Scriptures, the prophets. However, they did not be-
I    ly of the prophecies. Yet, even so, it is readily ad-
     mitted that we must recognize figures of speech in                    lieve at that moment that the Christ must suffer all
     the Old Testament prophecies. However, even so,                       these things and thus enter into His glory. Yes, they
     always we must keep the "Kingdom" and the                             really believed that Israel would be redeemed
     "church" as referring to two different purposes in                    Israel, yes,  the  Israel (Luke  24:21).  He would now
                                                                           come and raise up His kingdom in Old Testament
I    the plan of God. Writes Charles Caldwell Ryrie,                       Israel. However, they are called "fools and slow of
             . ..God has two distinctive purposes - one for Israel         heart to believe all the prophets have spoken." Had
           and one for the Church. In the progress of revelation           they believed all the Scriptures in the Old
           there has been no change in the meaning of these                Testament they would have understood that the
           words, and they are kept distinct. The "theological"            Messiah must suffer all these things as a Lamb led
           principle of Hermeneutics may allow a blending of
           the two, but true progressive revelation does not.              to the slaughter, in order to save Israel, to redeem
           After all, the same hermeneutical principles must be            the people of God with the precious blood as of a
           applied to all revelation, regardless of the time in            Lamb without spot or blemish. They would not
           which it was given.                                             have stared themselves blind on those Scriptures
             To pursue the illustration of Israel and the Church           which speak of the Messiah as King, but they
           further, the amillennialist's hermeneutics allow him            would have recognized that He is the Great High
           to blur the meanings of the two words in the New Tes-           Priest,     the King-Priest    after the order of
           tament so that the Church takes over the fulfillment of         Melchizedek.
           the promises to Israel. In that view Israel is the                 And when all the Scriptures are preached by
           Church.... The dispensationalist studies the words in           Jesus and their eyes are opened to recognize the
           the New Testament, finds that they are kept distinct,           Messiah in the breaking of the bread, then their
           and therefore concludes that when the Church was in-
           troduced God did not abrogate the promises to Israel            hearts burn with them in holy and spiritual joy
           nor enmesh them into the Church. This is why the                (Luke 24:32).
           dispensationalist recognizes two purposes of God and              Now, my first objective is not to gainsay and cor-
           insists in maintaining the distinction between Israel           rect  Premillennialists,  but that the saints who read
           and the Church. And all this is based on an inductive           these lines may have their hearts burn in them
           study of the use of the two words, not a scheme super-          when all the Scriptures are opened as they were by
           imposed on the Bible. In other words, it is built on a          Jesus on the way to  Emmaus, to Cleopas and the
           consistent use of the literal, normal, or plain method
           of interpretation without the addition of any other        _    other brother.
           principle that will attempt to give respectability to
           some preconceived conclusions.                                                 Take time to
             Dispensationalism is the result of consistent appli-
           cation of the basic hermeneutical principle of literal,                    read and study the
           normal, or plain interpretation. No other system of
           theology can claim that.                                              Standard Bearer
                  ("Dispensational&n  Today" Pages 95-96)


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                                   47





                                                -YOU ARE INVITED!!!
                                 To the Annual Reformation Day Lecture
                                         To be held, the Lord willing, at
                          The Grandville Public High School Auditorium
                                                     Grandville, Michigan
                                 The Speaker - Rev. David J. Engelsma
                 The Theme - The Reformation and Christian Piety.
                                           October 28, 1982 l 8:00 P.M.
                    -Plan now to attend - and bring your Friends-
                                                                                          The Lecture Committee


                               NOTICE!!!                                                                                      us IoSlU *rnnna
                                                                                                     STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP. MANAGEMENT AND ClRCuKrlON
                                                                                                                            ,Rm"Wt73S"Ic.  Iu,
                          Reformation Day Lecture                        1. mrr OF WBLICATIOH                                                          A PUBLlcATmN NO         z DATE OIIIU"~
Subject  - "The Reformation: A Return To Biblical Church Discipline"       THE  SrANDARD   BEARER                                           5 1 7 8 8 0                          9/24/82
                                                                         ImILcwfHC*c.II,I"E                                                      L yFaF"uE"  P"SLIs4lWED    B. f+;?+aL 1"nImlmoH
                  The Speaker  - Rev. R. Cammenga                           SEMI-MONTHLY  (EXCFPT JUNE, JULY,  AUG.)                                          21                   510.50
            Date  - Wednesday, October 27, 1982, at 8 P.M.
                                                                         ~CDY-YIlU"D*D~ll,?iD~lHDWHDFnCEOPP"~L,S~nOH,*,'U(C",,              Co""h,*,*,nd~,,6~,,~,~,~,
      Place  - The Hull Protestant Reformed Church, Hull, Iowa             POST  OFFICE  SCX 6064, GRAND RAPIDS, KENT, 1iUCHIGAN 49506                                                                     I



                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On October 30, 1982, our beloved parents MR. AND MRS.                    ~~~os.,,zx, FREE P"3LISilING  ASSOOIATION,  SOX 6064, CRAHD  RA?ISS, PI 49506
                                                                         m!TOR ,".n. ."d COmpPJ,?.  I.M"~"dd"..,
EDWARD C. OPHOFF, SR.  will celebrate, the Lord willing, their 30th         PROF.   H. C. HOSKSEW., 4975 IVANREST   S.1.,   GRAKWILLE,   %I 49418
wedding anniversary.                                                     YIHIGl"C~*TOll,",n..ndCompW."W~~Iddn.,
   We their children, thank our heavenly Father for truly blessing us
with these God-fearing parents who daily instructed and guided us in
the fear of His name. It is our prayer that the Lord will always con-
tinue to bless them and keep them in His care in the years to come.                                    FULL "AME                     I                      CO"PLErEYIUNOIWRU?I
                                                                          REFORB'U?D FREE  PCSLISHINC  ASSOCIATION1 BOX  6064,  GRAND RAPIDS,  IJI 4950b
   "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth                                                                     I
endureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)

Eric  & Marily Ophoff                       Mark &Cindy Ophoff
   George, James  & Eric, Jr.               Faith Ophoff
Edward Jr.  & Elizabeth Ophoff              Joy Ophoff
  Alisa  & Edward  ill


                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On October 25, 1982, the Lord willing, our parents, DENNIS AND
LAURINE LANGELAND will celebrate their 60th wedding anni-
versary.

   With praise and thankfulness to our heavenly Father for His
abiding love and mercy.
                                                                         c._m,AL.AlC   CIINU"D*,*""dlcaI..,      x.2,                             1.694                         1.675
   "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom     D.~YIDIIRI.MO"~~'YIlLW"lLlO"~YUYU".
                                                                           ..""s.  ~.uaI"IUZutD OnIll Flu SOIUS                                      25                            30
be glory forever."  (Remans   11:36)
                                                                         LIDIUD(.*Nmo+l,Ln~IC.M~,                                                 1,ns                          1.705
                                         Virginia and Elmer Bonselaar     "':"&g:::EEn  yuccotmTE4  .PoIUD
                                         Harold and Donna Langeland         m m,mxo                                                                 181                           195
                                                                            z"MUmOLI"II.I.as.7.
                                         Norman and Bonnie Langeland                                                                                  ,,                           n
                                            10 grandchildren              a,~,ll,Wn.,L,,.-~.M~~-~""~.-~~"~,                                       1.900                         1,900
                                             9 great-grandchildren       33.t cerwy Ih.1 um .hblnl"tt  ma* by
                                                                            rnesbOY  ..,CC DnMlmdcomplats                H tjyy&if~& ' /$3w.&H
                                         Kalamazoo, Michigan             n,.,"
                                                                         ,"l"1~,  -                                       ,sa blndb"  ml lw,",,                                                  Pm. *I


        THE STANDARD BEARER
            P.0. Box 6064            _..___   ~  --_------
  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





                               --

  48                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                             News From Our Churches
        Now that candidates Tom Miersma and Jon               Cammenga. If you want to know one reason why
  Smith have passed their examinations at  Classis,           the Convention was successful then read part of an
  Jon will be heading to Edger-ton immediately but            announcement in Hull's bulletin,  "...thanks to the
  Tom will have to wait awhile. When candidate                congregation for their support the past two years in
d Tom Miersma received and accepted the call from             planning and holding the 1982 Convention."
  our Edmonton, Alberta, Canada congregation, he                The support of conventions often comes through
' 0 had at least three months to wait before he could         church offerings, and as I look at the weekly offer-
  move up north. By the time this news is printed, he         ings of our various congregations I see many other
  will have one and a half more months to wait.               worthy causes to support, e.g., Jamaican Ministers'
        The life of a minister or a professor in our de-      Fund, our Christian Schools, Our Guide, our maga-
  nomination is a busy one, not only because of the           zines, Evening Meditations of Hudsonville Church,
  two sermons each Sunday or the daily labor in the           Evangelism Committees, Reformed Witness Hour,
  seminary, but "also all the other activities involving      and many others. This is evidence enough to show
  lectures and speeches to various organizations.             that our churches are busy in the cause of God's
  Here are a few of these activities: Prof. Hoeksema          Kingdom.
  has a "Canons" class that meets every other                   It is good to see that in many of our church bulle-
  Wednesday in the Byron Center-Cutlerville area;             tins there is room for radio work. In two of our mid-
 Prof. Hanko not only has a Bible class every                 west churches, Hull and Loveland, the time and
  Monday at Hope Church but also the Sr. Mr.  &               radio frequency are given every week. In addition,
  Mrs. Society on alternate Tuesdays; he also has             Loveland provides printed copies of the radio ser-
  spoken by this time to Hope's PTA on "The Cost of           mons for the congregation. Kalamazoo's bulletin
  Christian Education"; Prof. Decker has a Men's              mentions the "Reformed Witness Hour Question
  Society every Monday night; Rev. Kortering was              Hour" maintained by Rev. Woudenberg.  Hudson-
  speaker to Loveland's School Convocation; Rev.              ville .Church sponsors their own "Saturday Evening
  Miersma will have spoken to the Mr. and Mrs.                Meditations,  ' ' which I believe is a taped copy of
  League Meeting on "`Moral Majority"; Rev. Heys              their Sunday service, and heard over WJBL-FM, 9
  spoke to Faith's Sunday School classes and showed           P.M. each Saturday. I know there must be other
  slides of his work in Jamaica; Rev.  Flikkema  will         churches doing radio work, so how about sending
  have spoken to the Men's and Ladies' Society of             me some information on that subject? Here is a
  Southeast Church on "Strengths  & Weaknesses of             quote from a radio sermon by Rev. R. VanOverloop
  the P.R. Churches"; Rev. Hanko preached a                   that was used as a thought for reflection in Love-
  sermon in People's Park Church one Sunday                   land's bulletin: "Let me ask you some questions
  morning on "Limited Atonement"; and Rev. De                 concerning that. How worn is your Bible? How
  Vries spoke at the annual meeting of the R.F.P.A.           often in each day do you meditate upon it?...How
        When I received the large manilla envelope con-       well do you know your Bible? How full are its mar-
  taining various categories for News From Our                gins with your notes? Is there any time or any place
  Churches, I found nothing in the "Young Peoples"            or any activity that is of more value to you than
  folder. After searching through the newly sent              godliness, which is profitable unto everything?" I
  bulletins, I found this announcement in Hull's              understand that the Reformed Witness Hour will
  bulletin: "The Steering Committee of the 1982 Con-          be sending out a newsletter very soon to all the
  vention would like to give a big `thank you' to             churches and in it will be a list of all the present
  everyone that helped make the 1982 Convention a             radio stations and their broadcast times.
  success.. ..`I Six of our ministers were part of that         There is not enough space to mention other
  success. Three ministers led the discussion groups.         news, so I will leave that until next time. You can
  Their themes were as-follows: "Modern Day Idola-            count on looking for news about Sunday School and
  try," by Rev.  Kamps;  "Confessing Faith," by Rev.          our various school activities past, present, and
  Slopsema; and "Personal Devotions," by Rev.                 future, the next time.                           DH


