          T h e



r           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       The Lord is the Maker of heaven and earth.
     He is the Creator of all, our almighty God.
     From Him we may surely expect all our help
     . . . ..This surely means, also as far as 1983 is
     concerned, that no situation can possibly
     arise with which He cannot cope, against
     which He cannot protect us; indeed, the en-
     tire wicked world He carries in the-p-alm of
     His hand.
     See "Our Expectation From the Hills"
                                                           - page 146



c                                               Volume LIX, No. 7, January  I,1983  -


146                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                  CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN 0362-4692
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        Our Expectation From the Hills . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146                  Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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        MARS-A Monument to Heynsian Theology? . .148                                   John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers.
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MEDITATION

                          Our Expectation From the Hills
                                                                         Rev. H. Veldtian

                     "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from
                the Lord, which made heaven and earth."
                                                                                                                                          Psalm 121:1-2



  1983  - another calendar year. What shall we                                               Shall we join the world in its appraisal, in its
say?                                                                                     earthy and carnal hopes? Have we expressed the
  We must say something. We cannot ignore that                                           wish that a happy New Year may be our lot, that
1982 is past and that another year has begun. We                                         good may come our way, namely earthly good,
know that time marches on. What will this new cal-                                       natural peace and prosperity, etc?
endar year bring to us? Indeed, what shall we say?                                           Or have we taken upon our lips, carrying it in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                147



our hearts, the confession of the psalmist: "I will       symbolical language. All of creation was created by
lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence             our God as a picture of the heavenly reality. That
cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord,             which eye cannot see and the ear cannot hear and
which made heaven and earth"? We surely need              which can never enter into the heart of man is held
help. We know not what lies before us. And we             before us in an earthly language and picture which
surely cannot walk this pathway alone. Need we            is adapted to our earthy senses. The ocean, too,
emphasize that all carnal hopes and aspirations are       speaks a tremendous language. The tempestuous,
utter foolishness? Is there any help except from the      storm-tossed sea is a symbol of the wicked, as they
hills? Only Jehovah our God can help us.                  are constantly tossed to and fro, never finding
                    **********                            peace and rest. So also the quiet, deep sea, with its
                                                          endless horizons and unfathomable depths, is a pic-
  Our help - for what?                                    ture of the infinite, boundless, fathomless faithful-
  This is surely the idea of this word of God. Some       ness and love of our God. Indeed, the heavens de-
translations read the text as follows: "I will lift up    clare the glory of our God and the firmament shew-
mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my           eth His handiwork. Here we have the symbolism of
help?" Our King James version reads: "I will lift up      the hills or mountains. Indeed, the cold,  snow-
my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my             topped mountains are also a symbol of the proud,
help." There is, principally, no difference. We have      the lifeless, and arrogant wicked. But the moun-
in this a Hebraism a common Hebrew mannerism              tains are also a symbol of Jehovah - their vastness,
called a parallelism, in which two expressions sim-       greatness, age-long unchangeableness speak to us
ply explain each other. To say that we look to the        of the power, eternity, and unchangeableness of
hills from which cometh our help is explained by          our God. Our God is the Rock, everlastingly the
the latter half of the text: "My help cometh from         same. That this is specifically meant here by the
the Lord which made heaven and earth."                    Scriptural symbolism of the mountains is also evi-
  How desperately we need this help! Notice what          dent from the fact that the psalmist here speaks of
we read in the verses  3a, 7 and 8. We need this          the Lord, Jehovah, and Jehovah is the I AM, eter-
help also surely in the year that lies before us, that    nally the same. Indeed, I will look to the hills.
we may continue enroute  to the City that has foun-         Hence, I will expect my help from the hills. Of
dations whose Builder and Maker is God. This is           course, this does not mean that I will expect my
what it is all about. We are pilgrims and strangers       help from these hills or mountains as such. It does
in the earth. Here in this life we have no continuing     mean that I will expect all my help from the Lord,
city. 1982 belongs to the past, never to be recalled      Jehovah Who made the heavens and the earth. I
except in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is     will expect aZZ my help, and then  all my help from
surely our calling to be enroute to that City. Always     the living God, Jehovah, the Unchangeable Rock. I
we must have that City before us. Never must we           will not depend upon myself, my own strength. I
cleave to the things that are below; never must we        will not strive to reach the City that has founda-
conduct ourselves as if we have an abiding place          tions in my own power, by mine own wisdom and
here, setting our hearts and affections upon the          ingenuity. All my expectation will be fixed upon
things of this present time. Always we must walk as       the Lord. He will preserve me from all evil; He will
pilgrims, travelling in a tent, which implies that we     keep my feet from slipping; He will preserve my
are strangers in the midst of the world, far from         soul; He will never suffer my foot to be moved; He
home,  enroute to that better land, the heavenly          will keep me in the way that leads me to my heav-
City that has foundations. Always all our activity,       enly City; He will preserve me in all my earthly pil-
in the home and in the church and in the school,          grimage.
must be such as to impress upon our souls this pil-                            **********
grimage. Doing what our hands find to do, but con-          How we need this help!
ducting ourselves antithetically, we must be a spiri-       Perhaps we do not need this aid? Perhaps we are
tually different people with the longing of our           not even  enroute to Zion, the City of our God, the
hearts and minds upon that which shall be in the          God of our salvation. Are we carnal, and do we love
day of our Lord Jesus Christ.                             the things that are below? Then we are interested
  Unto that end we look unto the hills from               only in this world, how far we can advance and
whence cometh our help. The Word of God here              promote our own interests here below; then our
speaks of the hills. This, we understand, is symbol-      eyes, of course, are not lifted up to the hills, and our
ism. The Word of God is rich in symbolism. We             help does not come from Jehovah Who made
cannot treat this symbolism in detail here. The sun       heaven and earth. This being the case, this word of
and moon and stars, the world of colors, plants,          God means nothing to us. Or perhaps we think that
numbers, animals, all speak a tremendously rich           we can walk this way alone, in our own strength.


148                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Oh, we may then we willing to concede that the            ly, and also in resources...! And we ourselves are so
Lord can help us, be of assistance to us. Perhaps we      weak! We have the enemy of darkness in our own
will acknowledge that the Lord is our Guide, that         hearts and lives. We carry the enemy within the
Jesus is our Example, that as our Teacher He may          camp; the fifth columnist lurks in our own bosom.
instruct us, show us how to conduct ourselves, if         We have but a small principle of the new and heav-
only it is left to us to adopt His teachings, to take     enly obedience. We are weak, wholly impotent,
hold of Him, and it is then left to us to be guided       without strength. And even if we could offer suc-
and led by Him. Or perhaps we may think that we           cessful resistance, who can guarantee our safe ar-
are sufficiently strong in ourselves to ward off the      rival in the City that is above, even through death
attacks of the enemy, to endure all temptations, to       and the'grave?
wage successful warfare against all the evil powers                          **********
that are confronting us. If such thoughts dwell in
our souls, how terribly wrong and mistaken we are!          How blessed is this help!
Indeed, the history of the church of God is replete         First, because of His power.
with the examples of those who would stand in              The Lord is the Maker of heaven and earth. He is
their own strength and were wrecked  enroute to           the Creator of all, our almighty God. From Him we
the heavenly City; the sands of time are filled with      may surely expect all our help. As the Creator of all
these human wrecks.                                       He is surely above all things; He holds all things in
  Indeed, we will experience the need of this help,       the palm of His hand. This surely means, also as far
if only we understand the perils that confront us         as 1983 is concerned, that no situation can possibly
and if we understand ourselves.                           arise with which He cannot cope, against which He
  Let us face these perils. On the one hand, our          cannot protect us; indeed, the entire wicked world
enemy is unalterably and unequivocally opposed to         He carries in the palm of His hand.
us. He hates the living God and His cause. He is at         Secondly, He is unchangeably faithful. Notice:
enmity against the Lord, has but one controlling          the Lord, Jehovah made heaven and. earth. Jehovah
interest and that is the destruction of His cause in      is the I AM, the Rock, everlastingly the same. He is
the midst of the world. However beautiful and hu-         the I AM, eternally the same within Himself, and
manistic he may present himself, he has no rest           also in relation to His people. And He is the Cre-
until the cause we represent is completely and for-       ator. This does not merely mean that our covenant
ever destroyed. It would be a fatal error on our part     God is Creator. But it also means that He created all
if we imagine we can in any way walk or cooperate         things as our covenant God. Hence, He made all
with him. On the other hand, we should also note          things and this world with a view to the next, this
his power. His forces represent the powers of the         earthly as a symbol of the heavenly.
air, the legions of these spirits under the direction       From Him we may expect all our help. He will
of a very capable and brilliant genius, Beelzebub,        surely finish His work; He will never suffer our
the father of the lie. Among his forces are enrolled      foot to be moved; He will surely preserve our soul;
also countless millions of men, and they have ac-         He will guide us safely through, cause all things to
cess to all the riches and resources of this world.       work together for our good.
His powers are overwhelming. He goes about as a
roaring lion or as an angel of light; he can attack         This is Jehovah's promise to us.
you and destroy your body; or he will confront you          To this we may and must hold.
with radio and television, and all the literature of        Indeed, look to the hills, to the Lord, your cove-
this present evil world. Do we need this help?            nant God, also in 1983.'
  And who are we? How small we are, numerical-
EDITORIAL
                         MARS - A Monument to
                               Heynsian Theology?
                                             Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

  At long last we have been given a clear indication     theological school established in northwest Iowa by
of the theological direction of the newly established    Christian Reformed people as an alternative to Cal-
Mid-American Reformed Seminary, the new                  vin Seminary for the training of ministers in the


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      149



Christian Reformed Church. This indication is                       He was  Willem Wynand Heyns, called to teach  at,
given in the opening Convocation Address by the                   Calvin Seminary in 1902 after serving the churches as
administrative dean, Dr. Peter Y. De Jong, an ad-                 pastor for sixteen years. For twenty-five years he
dress published in  The Outlook.  Especially in the               taught almost every minister and missionary who
concluding part of this address  (The Outlook,                    served the Christian Reformed Church. For years
December, 1982, pp. 8-11) we are informed of this.                afterward he was remembered with love and respect.
The address is entitled "Toward a Distinctly Re-                 Dr. De Jong then proceeds to praise the virtues of
formed Theology."                                              Heyn's theology at length, concluding as follows:
  Frankly, I found that indication of the theological               Heyns would be the last to expect us to endorse
orientation of MARS to be a bit shocking.                         every word he spoke and wrote on God's covenant.
  Let me explain.                                                 We find some speculative elements with which few
                                                                  today would agree. But his approach to Reformed
  In speaking of the right approach to the Bible                  theology as biblically grounded and confessionally re-
which is demanded for a distinctly Reformed theol-                sponsible deserves to be emulated because of its
ogy, Dr. De Jong states: "What this means for the                 strong covenantal awareness. This gave life and
Reformed believer and theologian is that all the                  breath and warmth to his teaching. This stirred minis-
preaching and teaching and work to which Christ                   ters to preach the blessed message of God's grace in
Jesus has commissioned His church, therefore also                 Christ at home and abroad. This taught congregations
its doing of theology, should in the nature of the                to engage in "perfecting holiness in the fear of God"
case be covenantally-oriented. With this I come to                (II Cor. 7:l).
the heart of the message which I leave for your re-              Now I will not quarrel with Dr. De Jong in his
flection." He then proceeds to lay great stress on             evaluation of Heyns as a theological professor, al-
this need of being covenantally-oriented. Writes he:           though to my mind, while Heyns was in many
"That Scripture, both in the Old and the New Tes-              ways a good technician, he was by no means a great
taments, is covenantally-structured in content as              theologian.
well as form, cannot be rightly denied. Today theo-
logians are again addressing themselves in depth to              My quarrel is with the characterization of
this subject of the covenantal structure of Scrip-             Heyns's theology as being "biblically grounded and
ture. Much of what they have done through their                confessionally responsible" and as deserving "to be
studies sheds a measure of new and fuller light on             emulated because of its strong covenantal aware-
the truth which the Reformed churches have long                ness."
confessed and cherished." And again: "This                       Why?
emphasis on God's covenant may well be consid-
ered the outstanding distinctive of the Reformed                 In the first place, because it was Prof. Heyns who
churches and therefore of their theological pur-               for years pumped into every Christian Reformed
suits. Nowhere else has it been more enthusiasti-              seminary student a view of the covenant which was
cally discussed, believed and put into practice. Its           thoroughly un-Reformed, which can be and has
importance for cultivating the godly life to God's             been characterized as nothing less than  Arminian-
praise cannot be overrated." And he claims for                 ism applied to the covenant. For it was none other
MARS the following: "How we will engage in theo-               than,Heyns  who found the essence of the covenant
logical pursuits from this covenantal understanding            to consist in a general, conditional promise to all
of Scripture is clearly discernible from our  Cuta-            children of believers, head for head and soul for
Zogue of studies."                                             soul. And it was Heyns who even taught a certain
                                                               general covenant grace by which `all children of be-
  When I read all this, and more, I began to think             lievers were enabled either to accept or reject the
to myself that MARS appears to be on the right                 promise, to meet or not to meet the condition.
track.
  But the shock came when Dr. De Jong began to                   In the second place, because of his views it may
be more specific about this covenant orientation.              be said that  Prof; Heyns more than any other was
For he explained:                                              the father of the First Point in 1924 in its teaching
          This approach to theology was the strength and       of the general, well-meant offer of salvation to all
    song of the Christian Reformed Church for many             who hear the preaching. In fact, one of the last
    years. While many of its professors of theology could      words of Prof. Heyns was an extensive defense of
    be mentioned as faithful representatives of this con-      the well-meant offer in De Wuchter  in 1932-`33.
    viction, among them Vos and Berkhof and Bolveda,
    none stressed its propriety and fruitfulness so contin-      If, therefore, MARS is to be devoted to Heynsian
    ually as a  ,man whose life and labors in theological      theology, its founders, professors, and students
    studies have been much too cavalierly ignored in re-       may from the outset forget about the possibility of
    cent decades.                                              "a distinctly Reformed theology."


150                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren


                           Christian Reformed delegates
                     confront the Gereformeerde Kerk

  Rev. C.  Boomsma, chairman of the C.R.C.  Inter-                      proached  the texts with preconceived conclusions. AS
church Relations Committee,                        addressed the        a result your interpretations seem strained, specula-
Gereformeerde Kerk in the Netherlands concern-                          tive and implausible. We wonder, too, why you failed
ing growing differences between the denomina-                           to deal with relevant Scripture teaching about sexual-
tions. Some of the same questions which have been                       ity, such as in Genesis one and two, which we hold
disturbing the church in the Netherlands have also                      has a strong bearing on the problem.
been troubling the C.R.C.-but not to the degree                           Finally, we are troubled by the treatment you give
and intensity as found in the Netherlands. Rev.                         to the relationship of love and law in chapter four. If
Boomsma admitted some of this as he addressed                           the meaning of love is not shaped by the revelation of
that church:                                                            God's will for man's life as set forth in the law, what
                                                                        does determine the content of love? And, we ask, how
          It is not that we have refused to acknowledge the             was it possible to write the entire chapter with no con-
       changing world. I say this, because we are aware that            sideration, not even a reference to the Sermon on the
       there are those among you who see the Christian Re-              Mount?....
       formed Church as hopelessly bound to tradition and                 But in and of itself, the homosexuality issue is not
       isolated from the trends, concerns and vital issues of
       late 20th~century  society. A review of our church's ac-         creating the crisis in our relations as churches. It is
       tivity over the past years will show that we have ad-            rather  how  you have been and are dealing with this
       dressed numerous issues of current significance: mar-            problem that arouses deep concern about the move-
       riage and divorce, racism, ecumenicity, capital pun-             ment and shift among you. We fear it is a movement
       ishment, nuclear war, the nature and extent of biblical          in which your distinctiveness as a Reformed Church
       authority, homosexuality, world hunger and world                 is blurred, in which the place of the Bible seems to be
       poverty, women in ecclesiastical office and so on. We            increasingly ambivalent among you, in which we ob-
       continue to wrestle with questions such as the role of           serve you too readily acquiescing to the current cli-
       women in office, and the proper interpretation of                mate of our times.
       Scripture in the light of biblical criticism and the find-      The Rev. C. Boomsma continues by pointing out
       ings and hypotheses of science. In fact, our agenda of        some of the statements made in the report of the
       issues is not so different from that which has occupied       G.K. which was entitled: God Met Ons. The reason
       you in the past twenty-five years.. . .                       for deep concern is obvious. The G.K. of the
  We know somewhat of these mentioned strug-                         Netherlands has gone far down the road of aposta-
gles in the C.R.C. and the disagreement which has                    sy. And the C.R.C. has still close ties with that de-
arisen concerning these matters. The differing                       nomination-though the C.R.C. does not use the
views have created considerable unrest in the                        term "sister church" anymore. As Boomsma points
C.R.C. But in the Gereformeerde Kerk of the                          out, many of these same "problems" have arisen in
Netherlands,           these questions have received                 the C.R.C. The influence of the G.K.N. on the
answers obviously un-Reformed and un-Scriptural.                     C.R.C. is evident. It remains to be seen whether or
Rev. C. Boomsma addresses two of the most troub-.                    not the C.R.C. will take a strong stand against the
ling problems: homosexuality and the role of the                     present position of the G.K.N. (The above quotes
Bible.                                                               were from CaZvinist Contact, October 29, 1982.)
         This serious divergence between us has come to
       clear focus in the issue of homosexuality. Let me                              Take time to
       briefly summarize our criticisms of the way by which
       you come to your position in your report. First of all,
       we hold that you have too easily accepted a psycho-                  read and study the
       logical appraisal of homosexuality that has been popu-
       larized by the gay rights movement.. . .                            Standard Bearer
         Secondly, a careful reading of your exegesis leaves
       us with the distinct impression that you have  ap-                                                                           J


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           151



                                    The Union Question

  The  Calvinist Contact,  October 22, 1982, records               of values."
an incident where eight York University professors                    Professor of economics, William Jordan stated his
refused to belong to a faculty union and refused to                reasons for opposing membership in the union.  ."I
pay union dues. The question is not settled there                  oppose compulsion and favour voluntary. association
yet and has been appealed to the Ontario Supreme                   and actions. I don't accept the adversarial but the co-
Court. Of interest is the argumentation of one of                  operative mode of relating. The union applies physi-
these professors, Walter Beringer. According to the                cal, mental or emotional violence against individuals.
                                                                   What right do we have to withhold student marks in a
report:                                                            dispute with the University?
     Walter Beringer, member of the  Dietrich  Bonhoef-                "I find support for my position in the Bible. I
   fer Lutheran Church in Willowdale, has been in oppo-            cannot change the union by joining them anymore
   sition to union membership since 1975. "The union's             than I could change the Ku Klux Klan by joining
   preoccupation with money is not right," he said. "We            them."
   could do our job better if we were less concerned with
   feathering our own bed and more interested in in-               Thus others also recognize the wrongness of
   struction and the wellbeing of the University.               union membership and themselves refuse to belong
                                                                to such union. It is a sad state of affairs when one,
     "I felt strengthened by the necessity of speaking up       for conscience' sake, refuses to belong to the union,
   for my conscience. My conscience is based on my
   belief, my upbringing, education, the memory of my           yet is compelled to do so-or lose his job. Religious
   parents-my whole being. It represents my whole set           liberty and freedom, it seems, does not apply under
                                                                certain circumstances.


                                 Israel and Millennialism

  Christian News, November 15, 1982, contains an                          How can any Christian side with such a terrorist as
editorial which speaks of the position of the millen-               Begin? Yet Fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell, Dr.
nialist towards Israel and its prime minister. There                Criswell, Dr. Olson, formerly head of the National
is a moral and spiritual question involved: can                     Association of  Evangelicals,  are among Begin's chief
believers welcome and approve the action of unbe-                   supporters. They make all sorts of excuses to cover up
lievers? Can there be fellowship between these?                     for the murders for which Begin has been responsible.
Some seem to think so. The editorial states:                              They should read the large sections in  The Christian
                                                                    News EncycZopedia  on the Jews, Israel, and Millennial-
     Sincere but sadly misguided Christians for Israel              ism. Many of these millennialists are like Billy
   have invited Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who                  Graham who maintain that the sincere Jews today can
   has been responsible for tremendous bloodshed and                get to heaven without Christ and that a Jew like Begin
   suffering, to speak at a mass rally at First Baptist             actually worships the God of Abraham, Isaac and
   Church in Dallas, Texas on November 16.                          Jacob. Begin's god and the god of anyone else who
                                                                    doesn't accept Christ as his Savior from sin is a pagan
     Dr. W. Criswell, a former president of the Southern            idol who doesn't exist. These millennialists should let
   Baptist Convention is a past president of the SBC. Dr.           their friend Begin know that Jesus Christ is the only
   Criswell recently rightly protested against liberal pro-         way to heaven and forget about meddling in poli-
   fessors in Southern Baptists' seminaries and colleges            tics....
   who reject the inerrancy of the Bible and attack other          So do those, otherwise noted as "fundamental"
   doctrines of Christianity.                                   and "conservative," run into difficulty when it
     However, Dr. Criswell, along with many of his Is-           comes to their millennialism. Note especially how
   rael supporting friends is a millennialist. They con-        that some have even made Begin to be "God-fear-
   tend that the Jews today are still God's chosen people       ing" apart from Christ and salvation through the
   and that Israel has a divine right to take over all of       cross.
   Palestine and throw out the Palestinians who have
   been living there for centuries. Note what Pastor Paul          Incidentally, this same issue of  Christian News
   Burgdorf says about this entire matter in this issue of      contains a full reprint of the article of Rev. Robert
   CN. The views of these Israel-First millennialists           Harbach, "A Minister-Rabbi Conversation" which
   could lead to great havoc throughout the world.              appeared a few issues back in the Standard Bearer.


152                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                   Mormoriism
                                                                     .'

  Various reports have appeared in the press about                          Latter-Day Saints (Mormon).
a change recently announced in the "Mormon"                                   While Mormons say that they "believe in God, the
organization. I quote one from  CZarion,  November                          Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ," it is not
19, 1982. It indicates the attempt of that group to                         a standard Trinitarian affirmation. They hold that
make their organization to be "Christian" and less                          God and Jesus Christ are separate entities who have
objectionable in the eyes of the observer.                                  progressed to a divine state, and that individual hu-
                                                                            man beings may also become gods and goddesses and
         Concerned that their church is often viewed as un-           creators of world. Unlike Christians, who believe
       Christian, Mormon leaders announced that a new                       there is one God, Mormons believe the masculine
       sub-title is being added to the Book of Mormon pro-                  God has a feminine counterpart.
       claiming it to be "Another Testament of Jesus Christ."              All this indicates the deceptive nature of the sects
         The change, which will appear in all future print-          -seeking to come in the name of Christ while de-
       ings of the book, was announced here at the 152nd             nying the fundamental doctrines of Scripture. This
       general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of           is not Christian.

FAITH OF OUR FATHERS

                                           The Nicene Creed
                                                         Rev. James Slopsema

  The Apostles' Creed which very closely                                    7. And He shall come again, with glory to judge the
resembles-the Nicene Creed is commonly divided                                 quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no
into 12 articles. This is done, for example, by the                            end.
Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 7, where the                             8. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and
Apostles' Creed is called the "articles of our catho-                          Giver of Life; Who proceedeth from the Father and
lic undoubted- Christian faith." In like manner it is                          the Son; Who with the Father and the Son together
                                                                               is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the
also possible to divide the Nicene Creed into 12                               prophets.
articles. This is done, for example, by Philip Schaff                       9. And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic
in his  The Creeds  of Christendom  (cf. Vol. 1 pages                          Church;
27, 28).  For the sake of convenience and reference                         10. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of
we too will so divide the Nicene Creed into 12 arti-                            sins;
cles. If we do so, the creed is divided in the follow-                      11. And I look for the resurrection of the dead;
ing manner:                                                                 12. And the life of the world to come. Amen.
       1. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker                 Having the Nicene Creed once more before us
          of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and         we notice especially three things in general about
         invisible.                                                  its composition. First, the Nicene Creed is based on
       2. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten            the baptism formula. Just prior to His ascension
          Son of God, begotten of the Father before all              into heaven, Christ instructed the Apostles to
         worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, be-           "teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
         gotten, not made, being of one substance with the           the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost"
         Father; by Whom all things were made;                       (Matt.  28:19). It is around this formula for baptism
       8. Who, for us men, and for our salvation, came               that the Nicene Creed has been constructed. The
          down from heaven, and was incarnated by the                main line that runs through the whole creed is, "I
          Holy Ghost of  .the Virgin Mary, and was made              believe in one God, the Father (Art. l)... and in one
          m a n ;                                                    Lord Jesus Christ (Art.  2)... and in the Holy Ghost
       4. And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; and
          suffered and was buried;                                   (Art.  8)." Everything else stated in this creed only
       5. And the third day He rose again, according to the          serves to explain that main thought. And this is in
          Scripture;                                                 harmony with the purpose of the creed. It was for-
       6. And ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right         mulated to set forth the truth of the Trinity over
          hand of the Father;                                        against the error of Arianism. What better way is


                                            THE. STANDARD BEARER                                               153



there to do this than by constructing a creed around       ly the errors of Arianism and Semi-Arianism. There
the very baptism formula which sets forth the truth        were other errors that plagued the church as well at
of the Trinity?                                            this time. It was these errors, both within and with-
   Secondly, we notice that the Nicene Creed in its        out, that the early church sought to combat through
development of the truth follows the general               the Nicene Creed. What were these errors which
chronological order of history. It begins with God         the  .church faced? And  .how did she seek to main-
the Father and the creation of all things. Next it pro-    tain  the* truth over against these errors in her
ceeds to speak of our Lord Jesus Christ: His birth,        creeds? This is the approach we want to take.
His suffering and death, His burial, His resurrec-           This kind of approach is very worthwhile. The
tion, His ascension, His sitting at God's right hand,      value of this approach is especially twofold. First,
and finally His return in judgment. Then it speaks         to study the ancient creeds in this way gives us an
of the work of the Holy Spirit in the one holy catho-      opportunity to study the battle of faith as it was
lic and apostolic church. This is all concluded with       fought by the early Christian  -church. The  .Nicene
the final resurrection of the dead and the life of the     Creed was the product of the battle of faith., It
world to come.                                             marked a victory. It was a victory for the truth over
  Finally, we notice about the Nicene Creed in             against the lie, a victory for Christ over against the
general that it sets forth essentially the whole truth     Devil. The creed of' Nicea however was not THE
of God in a very brief and concise form. What the          victory; it was only A victory. The final victory of
Heidelberg Catechism says in Lord's Day 7 about            Christ and the truth over against the lie and all the
the Apostles' Creed also applies to the Nicene             powers of darkness awaits the coming. of Christ
Creed: it briefly teaches all things promised. us in       from heaven. And so the battle continued to rage
the gospel. A quick analysis of the Nicene Creed           after  Nicea and rages even to this day. The battle
will reveal that basically all the doctrines of Scrip-     which the church is presently fighting is therefore
ture are touched. Yet they are simply stated and not       the same battle as fought by the early church. Time
developed to any degree. Often the very words or           and circumstances have changed; but the battle is
phrases of Scripture are simply set forth without          essentially the same. The enemy is the same; his
any further explanation. This in turn makes the            weapons and tactics are the same; the key to the
Nicene Creed along with the Apostles' Creed espe-          church's victory is the same. Consequently, it is of
cially fit for use in the liturgy of the worship of the    great value to study the struggles and warfare of the
church.                                                    church of the past. Many important and necessary
                                                           lessons are to be learned in this way which are in-
  This brings us to the question of our approach to        valuable for the church of the present as she con-
the Nicene Creed. More than one approach is possi-         tinues in the same.battle.
ble. It is possible for example to develop quite ex-
tensively each doctrine mentioned in the creed.              The second value of approaching the Nicene
This is what the Heidelberg Catechism does with            Creed from an historical viewpoint is that it will aid
the Apostles' Creed in Lord's Day 8-22. It gives a         us in coming to a better understanding and appreci-
positive development of each truth or doctrine             ation of our own Reformed creeds. As pointed out
which is only stated in the Apostles' Creed. This          in an earlier article the ancient ecumenical creeds
would be possible to do also with the Nicene Creed.        of the church are the root out of which have grown
But, because the Nicene Creed so closely resembles         our own Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession,
the Apostles' Creed, to take such an approach              and Canons of Dordt. The development of the truth
would merely be to duplicate the Heidelberg Cate-          over the ages must be viewed organically. The truth
chism and what has been written explaining the             has grown and developed much like a tree or a
Heidelberg Catechism. This is not our intention.           plant grows. The early Christian church had essen-
                                                           tially the whole truth of God; only she had it in seed
  Our intention is rather to approach the Nicene           form. Through the work of the Spirit, however, that
Creed from an historical viewpoint. We want to             seed of the truth grew and `developed so that now it
consider for example what this creed meant to the          is a plant or a tree. What the church has today in
early Christian church. To what specifically was           her Reformed creeds is nothing new or different
she giving expression when she formulated this             from what the early church had in her creeds.
creed? What was her understanding of the various           What we have today is simply further developed.
elements in this creed? Furthermore we want to             But here .we see the value of approaching the
view this creed in light of the errors that the church     ancient creeds and the Nicene Creed in particular
faced. The early church lived in a society that was        from an historical viewpoint. By studying the truth
predominantly pagan. Idolatry in its most crude            as the early church possessed it and confessed it
and vulgar form  p`revailed.  Besides, many errors         will help us to understand and appreciate'the same
had crept into the church itself. We have seen brief-      truth as it is more fully set forth in our own creeds.


154                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



GUESTARTICLE


                       An Exhortation Concerning
                                          Our Families
                                                  Rev. R. G. Moore


AN INTRODUCTION .                                           complete the work of salvation by ushering in the
  Just as I finished preparing this article, I received     new heavens and earth. When the Lord addresses
and read the article by Rev. Miersma on a compan-           us in the Scripture, and especially now as He
ion text to that of mine. And although there may be         addresses our children, it becomes immediately
some close similarities between the two articles, I         evident that our children, from the youngest to the
believe there are enough differences between them           oldest, are to be considered as part of the church.
to merit submitting this article for you to read. Be-       They are to be considered heirs of righteousness,
sides, the repetition of God's truth can never hurt         partakers of the promise of our God. We believe
one, but can only strengthen. We take Colossians            this wholeheartedly as children of faith, believers
3:20-21 as the basis for this article which will be         in the Word of God. This is a basic tenant of the
submitted in two installments. Further, I encourage         Reformed faith, that is, not only that God saves
our adult readers to have their children or grand-          adults, but that His church is made up of children
children also read this article for their mutual edifi-     as well. This is emphasized in the Bible throughout.
cation.                                                     Already is this included in the promise to our
                                                            parents recorded in Genesis  3:15. There we have
  "Children, obey your parents in all things: for           the promise of salvation in Christ, for it is in the
this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, pro-          seed of the woman that the promise is fulfilled.
voke not your children to anger, lest they be dis-          That seed is principally Christ, but in Christ the
couraged." Col. 3:20-21.                                    seed are all those who are conceived and born in
  It is obvious from the Scriptures that we live in         Christ. Therefore, the promise when it was-given to
the midst of this world as pilgrims and strangers. It       the church was always given to believers and their
is obvious, too, that while we are in this pilgrimage,      seed (children). Literally this is true, as that prom-
passing through this life, we do so as the children of      ise is recorded for us in Genesis 17:7, Acts 3:39, etc.
the living God looking for the life that is above, pre-        It is for the above reason that we therefore must
pared for us in the heavens. Doing this, we pass            at the outset of this article understand the children
through a life and time which is one that is filled         of the church to be heirs with us of righteousness.
with spiritual pitfalls and troubles along the way.         The reason, of course, is that salvation is deter-
Through this passage God will lead us safely unto           mined by God's eternal and unchangeable will, not
our heavenly home. He does so by powerfully                 dependent upon our work or walk. It is not depen-
working in us by the precious Spirit of Christ, as He       dent either upon who or what we are. And because
applies the Word to our hearts. It is such a word of        it is God's eternal will that decides salvation, and
His saving grace that we consider together in this          because He is pleased to gather His seed in the line
article, an exhortation to lead us in the right spiritu-    of continuing generations, we find the children of
al pathway in our relationships in the covenant             the church addressed, beloved in the Lord, with
home. The Word of God, which is the sword of the            their parents. So, children, does this address of our
Spirit, comes to us in exhortation concerning our           text come unto you.
families.                                                      Now Christ says unto our children, "Obey your
  This Scripture passage says to the covenant               parents." It is evident from the Scripture that the
youth and children of the church, "Obey your par-           fundamental calling of the children of the church is
ents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the      to obey their parents. Children, this is one of the
Lord." The Word speaks to children; it says obey,           basic callings you have as children of God. Before
obey your parents.                                          the eyes of Christ you have a particular place in His
  The Lord our God has established various                  church, as children. And this refers to the young
spheres of authority through which He is pleased to         children, as well as to you who are nearing adult-
rule His church, until the day in which He makes            hood. The particular place you have in the church


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              155



is one of obedience to your parents. This is not only     child is grievous sin. It is a sin against which, in the
the teaching of our text, but the teaching of God's       strength of grace, we must fight. On the other hand,
Word throughout. It is in the way of obedience to         to allow disobedience in our children is also a
covenant parents, that God is well pleased to in-         grievous sin on the part of parents. And, again by
struct you, and to bless you. In this way He is           the grace of God, we must also flee that sin.
pleased to lead you as His child through this life          When our text calls us as children unto obedi-
and to bring you home, even to salvation!                 ence, we understand that obedience is an outward
  This is the teaching of a companion text found in       activity, the activity of doing what our parents tell
Ephesians 6:1-3. Take time to read it. Further, the       us. Our text goes even deeper than this, in that it
Proverbs speak this same language. Proverbs  P3:l         uses a term for obedience that indicates submis-
says, "A wise son heareth his father's instruction:       sion. The Lord Jesus Christ says to you children to
but a scorner heareth not rebuke." First we note          place yourselves willingly under your parents. And
that, according to this proverb, your father's in-        you are to do this, not with eyeservice as unto men,
struction is often in the form of rebuke. Secondly,       but for your Lord's sake. This means that you don't
the child who hears that rebuke or instruction is a       obey your parents merely to get on the good side of
wise son. But one who hears not is a scorner, and a       them, or merely because of some natural affection
scorner is an abomination not to parents only, but        for them. (Although none of these things in them-
unto God.                                                 selves are wrong.) But the principle is that, as ser-
  In Proverbs  1:8 we read, "My son, hear the in-         vants of Christ, you do their will from the heart. To
struction of thy father, and forsake not the law of       obey, then, is to submit unto the will of your
thy mother." Our parents give to us instruction and       parents from the heart, and so to submit as to the
law. We, as children, are to hear that. We are to         .Lord. Because we love Christ, because Christ's
hear that, too, because not only do we believe that       faith abides in our hearts, and because we would do
we are covenant children, but we also believe that        the will of our Father in heaven, we will obey our
we have covenant parents-covenant parents who             parents. And this becomes manifest in our obedient
fear the Name of God, and who, by grace, set              activity before them.
before us the law which is in harmony with God's            Of course, from this principle it follows that we
Word. It is a law that has its source, basically and      are to obey our parents whether they are mean to
primarily, in God Himself. Then indeed, as cove-          us or not, whether they are even froward to us or
nant children, we ought to hear it. Thus we have          not (cf. I Pet. 2). Even if we were to have evil
the testimony of Scripture speak throughout its           parents we are to obey them, we are to submit to
pages. There is no question that God through His          them! We may thank our God when we have par-
Beloved Son, our Lord, calls children to be in obedi-     ents who love us in the Lord. Not that they always
ence to their parents.                                    walk perfectly before us. They don't. They sin, too,
  Mind you, this is love, too! Christ teaches us that.    but principally they love us in Christ, and in all
Christ says, "He who loveth .Me, keepeth My com-          things we are to obey them for Christ's sake.
mandments." One of His commandments is that as              There is only one time when we may not obey
children we obey our parents. For when children           our parents. And that is if our parents would re-
walk in obedience to their parents they grow in           quire of us, or instruct us, to disobey God. Then we
knowledge. That is one of the blessings of this           must, in a submissive way, in a way of humility, in
Christian walk. They grow up in the Lord. They are        the way even of bearing punishment, not striking
equipped as children of God in faith. This is a won-      back, not being mean to them with our eyes or kill-
drous promise of our God to us.                           ing them with our tongues, but in submission bear-
                                                          ing the punishment, say no, I must obey God!
  When the opposite is true, the Scripture is just as       It is good to emphasize the meaning of our obedi-
clear to point out that children become fools-fools       ence as given us by the Word. The calling of Christ
when they hear and obey not their parents. They           to you children is that you seek your parents' will.
are a shame not only to their parents, but also a         Children, that means that you must talk to your
shame to their living God. The fruit of such a walk       parents. For it is needful to know your parents'
of disobedience, if not followed by repentance, is        will. You must ask your parents what their will is.
that one becomes a scorner and invokes the wrath          Your parents must instruct you, they must teach
of God. Such a one becomes a misery to himself            you. And they must make it clear what their will is
and to the church, and he becomes the object of an        for you. On your part you are to talk to your par-
eternal wrath. Indeed, this too is the antithetical       ents-not only to your mothers. Maybe that would
teaching of the Proverbs and the whole of the             be easier for you as a daughter; but you are to talk
Scriptures.                                               to your fathers as well. And you must let them
  Hence, we see that the lack of obedience of any         know what you are concerned with, and what the


156                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



difficulties are which you face. And then ask them           might cover the sins of God's children, and that He
as a covenant child how you are to behave in a par-          might strengthen them by His Spirit. You, as the
ticular situation that you find yourself in. The ques-       children of the covenant, in the strength of Christ
tion is, "What is your, view as a parent, as a godly         alone, can and will obey. Again, we pray for grace
parent, as a parent placed over me by the living             that we may live out of Christ, and out of that new
God. What is your will in these matters for me?"             life which He sheds forth in our hearts.
  Then, beloved children, desire that will, and see.           There has been given to us a divine motive for
that will as precious, as the will of God-given par-         hearing this word of God. Our text says that this is
ents! Then, too, we will seek to fulfill that will. This     well pleasing unto our God. Those walking in obe-
means that we shall pray often, that we will turn to         dience to their parents become the objects of God's
the Word of God for strength to be obedient,                rich blessing. That is His promise to His children. It
strength to hear, and to be humble, for strength to         is right, according to Paul in Ephesians 6: 1, to obey.
stand, not in pride, but in grace, in those ways well-       It is just-just in God's eyes-that is why we obey.
pleasing to my God.                                          It is certainly the desire of God's children, then, to
  Of course, the question may arise just exactly             obey, to be right before God. For the child of God
how you can obey as a child of Jesus Christ. Chil-          from the heart says, "I desire with all my heart to
dren, beloved of God, Jesus obeyed His Father per-          walk in a way that is right with Him."
fectly in your stead. By nature you and I will not             Thus, beloved children, it is good to listen; and
obey. But we have a Lord. We count ourselves part           not to teach, to obey, and not to lead. It is our place
of the body of Christ. And Jesus Christ in our stead,        as children. It is a place that pictures the whole of
in our behalf, walked in obedience throughout His           the church, as they are the children under God.
life. When all the enemies of darkness came against         This is our calling. It is our place to hear and to be
Him He said, "not My will, but Thine be done." He           instructed and to be led by our Lord!
walked in that obedience even to the cross, and in             Therefore, by the power of the living God that
obedience He poured out His life's blood, giving             abides in your hearts, hear this word, and seek it.
Himself up to the accursed death of the cross. He
walked in this obedience unto the Father that He                               (to be continued)

THE DAY CiF SHADOWS

                         Gathered Unto His People
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys


  Each and every one of us has a divinely allotted          ly determined, and there was no way in which he
number of heartbeats; and beyond that definite               could do one bit more of w.ork. Just so many works,
number we can never go. No one can receive one              just so many deeds, are given us. There are just so
less or one more. In God's eternal counsel it is all        many thoughts and so many desires, so many
planned. And from the moment, before birth, when            words and so many works, so many actions and so
our heart beats for the first time; till that last beat,    many reactions, designed for each and every one of
there is a constant countdown.                              us. When they have all transpired and become facts
                                                            of history, the tongue is silenced, the heart and
  While Jacob was blessing his sons the count-              mind form no wishes  and. thoughts, the hand is
down was rapidly reaching that last few dozen.              still, and the foot will carry us no further over the
And having blessed his sons and given instructions          surface of this earth. And for Jacob there was no
about his burial, with less than a dozen heart beats        further speech to his children. There is not even re-
left, he gathered the one foot up into the bed, gath-       corded any firm handshake, embrace, or tender
,ered the other foot up into the bed, straightened his      kiss exchanged between Jacob and his sons. He did
body out, and his heart beat for the last time. Jacob       the work for which God called him. Up till that
died. His soul left the body to enter into heavenly         moment his heart had continued to beat, and his
joys with the redeemed who had gone on before               tongue could pronounce the blessing of God. But
him.                                                        once all that God had planned for him is executed,
  Jacob's work was finished. That too was eternal-          his life and.his work come to an end. He died serv-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               157



ing God. He called his sons to his deathbed in order      those who have sinned so greatly and had their sins
to do the work which he knew was his calling. And         brought to their attention by God through him.
then he saw his children no more, but opened his          That prophecy of Shiloh in Judah's seed will take
eyes to see his God and Saviour. There was no more        care of these sins. And, though Jacob could not see
earthly work for him to do; and so God gave him no        that, we today can see how Levi, though scattered
more earthly life;                                        among his brethren, was scattered in a blessed way
  It was surely a peaceful death. We read of no           so that all his descendants become priests and assis-
struggle on his part either consciously or uncon-         tants to the priests in God's tabernacle, and later on
sciously. The body does fight for life, and often a       in His temple, with high offices and honour among
shudder runs through the body when the soul               the people. And what is true of Levi's spiritual seed
leaves and the body experiences defeat by the hand        is true of Reuben's, Simeon's, and in fact of all his
of -that last enemy which is .death. We do not read       twelve children's children. The cross of Christ will
of such a shudder in Jacob's death. What is more          take care of all these sins and blot them out forever.
important is that we read of no conscious struggle        The exalted Christ will raise up and deliver all His
to prolong life. And this is quite amazing in light of    people and bring them the `peace and relaxation of
all we know about Jacob's earlier days. How often         His glorious kingdom in the heavenly land of
did he try to "help" God, Who never needs any             Canaan. Because of Shiloh there will be a blessing
help! How often did he think that God's cause de-         for all the elect children of Jacob, and for all our
pended on his muscular power or on the craftiness         elect children. No sin can keep them from it. We
of his mind! How often did he not resort to trickery      are saved by grace, not by works. And sinful works
and deception to get that which God had promised          cannot frustrate or prevent God's grace.
him! Not one trace of this do you find on his death-        Knowing all this, Jacob leaves this life with the
bed.                                                      assurance that God will keep His covenant promis-
                                                          es, and that he will now enter into life, though he
  There was no attempt made or cry raised for a           dies. The unbelieving world had a slogan some
few more minutes of life to be able to tell the sons      years ago that "Life begins at forty." That would, as
how to succeed in the world, how to make good in-         far as they are concerned, have to be changed now
vestments that would bring back high interest and         to "Life begins at sixty-two or sixty-five, when re-
returns upon them. He had blessed them in God's           tirement age and the age of Social Security benefits
name. He had called them to walk by faith and to          begin." Then men can begin to "enjoy life," have
bury him in the land of promise. He had reminded          time for the pleasures denied them in their working
them of God's promise to them and their seed; and         years, and, living off the interest of investments,
so without a struggle he closes his eyes as that last     can now do what was denied them in the past.
beat of his heart pushes his blood a short distance
through his arteries and veins, and then the whole          But the child'of God says "Life begins at death."
process of life ceases completely. It was a peaceful      In effect, that is what Paul wrote to the Philippians
death.                                                    when he knew that the countdown of his own life
                                                          had progressed to the  p.oint where not  many.days
  Jacob died in hope. He had strong expectations of       were left for him. He  w.rote, "For me to live is
the fulfillment of all that which he had.prophesied       Christ, and to die is gain." A bit later he writes,
concerning his children and their children. There         "For I am in a strait betwixt the two, having a.desire
can be no question about it that for Jacob the high-      to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better"
light of it all was what he might say in God's name       (Philippians  1:21-23). Yes, for the child of God, life
about Judah and his seed. The Shiloh would come.          begins at death. Because Shiloh will come-and in-
In Judah's line would come the Messiah, and that          deed now has come and gone through death and
Messiah would bring blessings to the whole spiri-         the grave for us to be exalted at God's right hand-
tual seed that would be born to his sons. Out of          death is gain. Jacob could gather his feet onto the
Judah but in Christ all of Jacob's spiritual seed will    bed without fearing loss. Though there were only a
be blessed. How Joseph would have liked to                few numbers left of the countdown of his heart-
prophesy this of Joseph, his most beloved son! But        beats, he knew that there was also a countdown of
no, he is submissive, wholly caught up by the Spirit      his soul's swift soaring to heavenly bliss and joy.
as he is given to speak in God's stead, and as His        He could tell his sons that he would be gathered
mouthpiece to say what God intended to do with            unto his people.
his sons.                                                   Take note a moment of that strong faith in God's
  Knowing all this which he predicted about his           promises. Jacob speaks of being gathered unto'his
sons, Jacob can close his eyes in the sleep of death.     people. That statement speaks of his strong faith in
No need to call the paramedics or Rescue Squad.           God's promises. He is sure that he will be gathered.
Jacob sees the salvation of his children, even of         God will do that gathering, and therefore he is sure


158                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



of arriving. He boasts of no ability to bring himself    tells us not only of the beginning of this e,arth and of
into glory. Another power will gather him; and that      all creation but also of the beginning of God's
power is none other than God's in Whose name he          church.
had blessed his twelve sons. He is sure that though        -Many wish to claim that the church had its birth
God will soon cease to give him heartbeats, He will      at Pentecost. But an honest dealing with the Scrip-
cease.to do so in order that He may give him ever-       ture forbids this. Adam and Eve belonged to the
lasting blessedness. God takes away in order to          church. And all the believers since them were
bless. He never takes away in order to rob His           members of the one holy catholic church. If we be-
people of a single blessing. And that is true also       lieve, and we must, that Scripture is given by in-
when He takes one of our loved ones away by lead-        spiration of God, and that the writers did not follow
ing them to that last heartbeat. On the basis of what    cunningly devised fables, then we must say with
He said through Paul, that to die is gain, we may        God that there was His church in the Old Testa-
always say that God blesses us with death.               ment dispensation. Stephen, in Acts 7:38, speaks of
  But note also that Jacob speaks of an exclusive        "the church in the wilderness with the angel which
blessedness. He will not be gathered with all who        spake to him in the mount Sinai." Some try to trans-
have died before that day. He will be gathered unto      late congregation here, but the word is church, the
his people. He may never have heard of the words         same word that appears seven times in the seven
elect and reprobate. But he knew that God had a          letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Then,
people distinct from the rest of humanity. He knew       too, Paul demolishes completely that idea that the
that there was a seed of the woman and a seed of         Jews were the kingdom and the Gentiles the church
the serpent. And he knew that he belonged to that        when in Ephesians 2:12-19  he, speaking of the Gen-
seed of the woman. That also explains why he tells       tiles in Ephesus who were "afar off, outside of
his children about Abraham's being buried in a par-      Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Is-
ticular land, and about Isaac being buried there to-     rael, strangers of the covenant," declares that they
gether with both their wives, and that he buried         in Christ are no more "strangers and foreigners but
Leah there. He knew that there is a covenant             fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household
people of God and that when they die they are unit-      of God." Note that the Gentiles belong to the king-
ed into blessed covenant fellowship before God's         dom as fellow-citizens with the Jews, and the Jews in
face.                                                    the Old Testament are called the church in Acts
  They do not lie unconscious in their graves, wait-     7:38. If we confess to believe-and we must confess
ing till the end of time. They are not in a realm of     that-an holy catholic (universal) church, we must
conscious glory as an host of disorganized souls in      believe one that is in all ages as well as in all nations,
an independent life. No, they are a people, an or-       and one to which Adam, Seth, and Noah belonged.
ganized whole, gathered by God's wisdom at the           Where will we put them? They are not Abraham's
right time, to be added to those who have gone be-       seed. And to be universal that church must
fore, in such a way that they serve with them in a       include the nation of Israel. A church in all nations,
common purpose and with a common life as one             tongues, and tribes must include Abraham's seed
body. I am going, Jacob told his sons, to where God      and not exclude it.
has assembled His people since the death of Abel.
And, because I believe this, bury me with those of                         CORRECTION
that people that I know and whose burying place I        Mistake in The Standard Bearer
know. For they are in the promised land which is a       Vol LIX, No. 5, Dec. 1, 1982
picture of that land where all this people will live     Arminianism and the Atonement
together when the last heartbeat of the last of these    by Rev. Steven Houck
people has taken place, and the new heavens and
new earth appear.                                        Page 109, 2nd col., 2nd full par., line  11-"No  one
  And so ends an amazing chapter in the history of       will ever go to hell because he rejects Christ"
God's church. There is in Genesis yet a bit of           should read, "No one will ever go to hell because of
history about burying Jacob and about Joseph's           any sin he has committed, nor because of original
brother's fear that now he will seek revenge; and        sin. He will go to hell only because  he, rejects
there is yet recorded the death and embalming of         Christ."
Joseph. But with the death of Jacob we come to the
end of that period of history in God's church                  Know the standard
wherein those three patriarchs, who are so often
mentioned together, namely, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, lived. To all practical purpose we come to                     and follow it.
the end of Genesis, the book of beginnings which

         .


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 159



TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                     God's Providence and Sin (2)
                                                 Rev. H. Veldman


   Calling attention in this rubric, "Taking Heed To       word occurs only once, I believe, in the Word of
The Doctrine," to the problem of God's Providence          God, in Acts  24:2; and in this passage it occurs as
and Sin, we concluded our first article by calling at-     applied to Felix, a Roman governor. Of course, th-at
tention to the fact that this truth is confessional. We    the term, "providence" does not occur in the Scrip-
quoted from Lord's Days 9 and 10 of our Heidel-            tures does not necessarily condemn the use of it.
berg Catechism and from our Confession of Faith,           The word "Trinity" is not found in the Scriptures
Article 13.                                                either. More serious, however, is an objection that
  It has been contended recently that all evils do         can be lodged against this expression. The word,
not come to us out of God's fatherly hand. This            "providence" means literally: to see before. This
would, of course, imply either that the devil is re-       could mean, therefore, that the Lord simply saw be-
sponsible for them or that they come upon us by            forehand what would happen and then acted ac-
change. It is plain from our confessions that our re-      cordingly. The Arminian view, for example, of elec-
formed fathers wanted nothing to do with this              tion and reprobation is that the Lord saw before-
view. In Lord's Day 9, Answer 26, we read very             hand who would believe and who would refuse to
plainly  ythat `-`He will make whatever evils He sends     believe, elected the former and reprobated the
upon me, in this valley of tears, turn out to my ad-       latter. This is the Arminian conception of God's
vantage." This is plain language. Mind you, of             election and reprobation, based upon foreseen faith
these evils we read that it is the Lord Who sends          and unbelief. It is against this Arminian view that
them upon me. And in Article 13 of our Confession          our fathers drew up the Canons of Dordt. Now we
of Faith we read that our Father so restrains (holds       understand, of course, that God did not simply
in check; and this does not refer to an inner check-       know beforehand, and that He was not simply in-
ing of sin as our mother church, the Christian Re-         fluenced by these circumstances of which He had
formed Church, would have us believe) the devil            this previous knowledge. However, when we speak
and all our enemies, that without His will and per-        of the providence of God we speak of His divinely
mission they cannot hurt us. And in Answer 28 of           sovereign control over all things. This providence of the
Lord's Day 10 we read  that all creatures are so in        Lord is not merely His preservation of all things. Of
His hand that without His will they cannot so much         course, this is also implied. Speaking, then, of the
as move. Indeed, the Scriptural narrative of Job           Lord's preservation of all things, we refer to that al-
surely verifies this. And there are other passages in      mighty and omnipresent power of God, whereby
Holy Writ which teach us this truth. Psalm 73 sure-        the Lord, from moment unto moment, sustains and
ly emphasizes that the Lord is good only to Israel,        upholds the entire creation and every creature in
never to the wicked, that these wicked are always          harmony with its being. The Lord preserves the
perishing, being set upon slippery places, and that        horse as horse, the plant as plant, man as man, etc.
the Lord always holds His people by their right            This operation of the Lord must be understood in
hand, causing all things to work together for their        the absolute sense of the word. It does not merely
good. What a comforting truth this is! All things are      control and direct the so-called greater events of
in His hand. And this also includes the devil and all      life, those incidents which, from our viewpoint,
his host. Our God, our covenant God, rules over all.       cause a sudden and tremendous change in the
He also rules over all the powers of sin. It is to this    course of the world's history and, therefore, sharp-
truth that we are calling attention in this and subse-     ly draw our attention. We understand, of course,
quent articles.                                            that the distinction between more and less signifi-
                    **********                             cant events is not to be applied to the Lord. But
                                                           God's providence also governs the so-called minor
  We must, first of all, of course, have the issue         things. Every hair upon our heads is counted by the
clearly before us. What is meant by the providence         Lord. Every sparrow is sustained by Jehovah from
of God? The providence of God is not merely the            moment unto moment. No sparrow falls off a
Lord's preservation of all things. The term "provi-        housetop except by the will of the Lord. Every
dence," as applied to God, is not Scriptural. The          worm that creeps, creeps alone by the power of


160                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



God. What an awe-inspiring thought! Surely we              realizes that purpose, and does this through all
must be overwhelmed by the tremendous thought              things. And when we speak. of cooperation as a
that God, the terrible and eternal God, so great and       third element in God's providence, we do not mean
highly exalted, incomprehensibly eternal in Him-           that man cooperates, works along with God and
self, the Wholly Other, Who lives eternally in an          helps Him, but that he, through the sovereign and
inaccessible light, Who needeth no man to add unto         almighty operation of God, takes part in that gov-
His glory, Who is everlastingly the  allsufficient         ernment of Jehovah as a moral, rational, responsi-
One, should concern Himself with the most insig-           ble being. To this, however, we will call attention
nificant worm from moment to moment. Is it not             more specifically in subsequent articles.
true to a certain extent what has been said: a man's         This, in brief, is the providence of God. To have
greatness is not determined by the great things of         the issue clearly before us, we must also call atten-
life but by the minor, less important ones? That the       tion to the reality of sin. This fact of sin as such we
president of our country cannot concern himself            surely cannot deny. We remarked in our first arti-
with every person's difficulty and `problem is not         cle that the Pelagian cannot possibly explain the
because of the greatness of the man but because of         universal character of the phenomenon of sin. The
his smallness. He simply is not able to concern him-       Pelagian, setting forth that the will of the sinner is
self with everybody's problem. And the congrega-           inherently and essentially good, has no explanation
tion or church of the living God is called to live this    for this universal phenomenon. He denies the or-
truth. It is indeed proper that the attention of God's     ganic connection between the reality of sin and the
people be directed to this wonderful preservation          sin of Adam. Why should all men, if the sinner's
of the Lord. I do not know of a truth that is better       will be essentially good, choose for sin? Why is it
known and yet lived or practiced less than this            that there is not one who chooses for the good?
truth of God's providence. How well we know that           Why is it that all men have gone astray, and why is
all things are in God's hand! And, yet, how little         it that there is none that seeks the glory of God? Be-
this lives in our consciousness, especially when we        sides, let the Pelagian explain why all men are con-
are in danger or when catastrophes strike us! But          ceived and born dead in sin and in trespasses. In-
too often we live from the "`principle" of chance,         deed, this universal phenomenon can be explained
and then we speak of our "luck." Oh, we surely             only in the light of the headship of Adam and that,
know better. This word ought never to appear in            by the curse of the living God, death has passed on
our vocabulary. So often we proceed  ,from the             to all the children of men. To be sure, no man can
thought that the providence of God is that act of the      deny the reality of sin. Even the most optimistic of
Lord whereby He now and then takes a part in the           humans must acknowledge the reality of sin. One
affairs of men, and that we only then must ask             may refuse to glorify God and have no conscious-
Jehovah for help and guidance. If a stone drops im-        ness of sin in the spiritual, Scriptural sense of the
mediately behind us, we ascribe it to the provi-           word. Yet, who would have the courage, the brazen
dence of God. However, had that stone crushed our          effrontery to dare to lay claim to perfection? Such a
head, it would also have been of the providence of         one must surely be viewed as beside himself.. The
the Lord. If we arrive too late at the depot to board      daily murders, the ever-increasing rumours of war,
a train or at an airport to board a plane, and this        speak but too emphatically of the jealousy and
train or plane should be wrecked or destroyed with         hatred governing the children of men. Besides, any-
all lives lost, we attribute this to God's providence.     one who is somewhat acquainted with the Holy
Had it occurred, however, that we would have               Scriptures, and these Scriptures are the light upon
been among those who lost their lives, this, too;          our pathway and the lamp before our feet, is surely
would have been the providence of the living God.          aware of the terrible reality of sin. And what shall
And the people of the Lord are surely called to live       he say who has learned by the power of God's grace
from the principle that God sustains us and directs        what it means to,be a sinner, who spiritually under-
our lives from moment unto moment.                         stands  the'fact of sin and iniquity. What a tremen-
  However, the providence of God must also be              dous phenomenon is this reality of evil! At the
understood as the divine government of all things.         dawn of  ,creation,  when all the handiwork of God
When speaking of God's providence, we also call            united in singing praises unto the Lord, when not a
attention to the element of cooperation. But now           single defect marred the entire creation, sin entered
we would mention the Lord's divine government.             this world and caused all things to break away from
In His sovereign good pleasure Jehovah has willed          the Lord and become subject unto the curse of the
the heavenly glorification of His Name. This He has        Almighty. Death and destruction it left in its,wake.
willed in the antithetical sense, in the way of sin        Sickness, misery, care, and sorrow are our lot. And
and grace, and in the heavenly renewal of all things       all this misery and sorrow is universal in the abso-
in heaven and in hell. God's providence, in the            lute sense of the word. Moreover, there is the fact
sense of government, is the Lord's rule whereby He         of sin itself. Yes, we are all conceived and born in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 161



sin. What an iniq'uity  abounds upon the face of the        that there is no knowledge with the Most High, or
earth! Scripture and also our own experience im-            that He does not concern Himself with all these
press us with the reality that the powers of hell and       wicked activities of these powers of sin and dark-
darkness are constantly attempting to subdue this           ness? Indeed, we must surely reckon with the phe-
earth unto themselves. And to this we may add that          nomenon of sin. We simply cannot possibly ignore
it seems that they may continue unmolested who              it: This is our comfort: we can face this reality of sin
mock at God and His Christ and make of the                  as knowing that God, our God, the God of our sal-
church of God a plaything throughout the ages.              vation, is in absolute control.
Does it not seem to Asaph, the writer of Psalm 73,

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD

                       The Place of the Individual
                      Believer in Mission Work (1)
                                             Rev. Ronald Vun Overloop


  Thanks must go to Kalamazoo and to their com-             nor choose you, because ye were more in number
mittee for arranging and conducting this mission's          than any people; for ye were the  fewest  of all
conference. Such a day is vital and good for the            people"  (D&t.   7:7). Secondly, Scripture warns
church; and all who were present experienced that           against any fascination with large numbers by re-
blessing. Such conferences should be held more              cording the sad history of David's numbering the
often, not only to detail facts of the specific fields,     people (cf. II Samuel 24).
but to talk about methods and about the work God              Nevertheless, the Reformed believer does look
has given to us to do. Also they serve as specific oc-      for, pray for, and delight in the growth of the
casions to discuss the blessed gospel which is the          church of Jesus Christ. The growth of the church is
inspiration and motivation to preaching in our es-          not something carnal, but highly spiritual. My love
tablished congregations as well as on the mission           for the Lord and for the salvation of His people,
fields.                                                     makes me value highly church growth. Therefore,
  This message is divided into three parts: intro-          pray for, delight in, and look forward to healthy
ductory remarks and observations; the primary re-           growth of the church of Jesus Christ.
sponsibility of the individual believer; and the              Our second introductory observation is that the
secondary responsibilities which flow from the              activity and role of the individual believer on the
reality of salvation. In this issue we will consider        mission field is no different from that of the believ-
the first two.                                              er in an established congregation. First of all, both
  Of the introductory observations there are three.         experience the same sovereign and complete salva-
                                                            tion in Jesus Christ. Secondly, both have the ability
  The first is that every true believer is concerned        and desire to love God and their neighbor. That
with and desirous for the growth of the church of           love of the neighbor is seeking his highest good
Jesus Christ. Obvious though this might be it is            which is the eternal salvation of his soul. Thirdly,
necessary to note. The reason is that the Reformed          the religion of the believer, whether in the mission
believer finds himself reacting to the concept of           field or in the established congregation, is not com-
church growth in the church world today. That               partmentalized, affecting only certain days of the
concept coincides with the ungodly American fasci-          week or specific minutes of a day, but it touches
nation with size and success, namely, that a suc-           and affects the whole of his life: day and night,
cessful church is a large one.                              seven days a week. Finally, and most importantly,
  The correctness of this reaction to such a concept        every believer knows the same sense of gratitude
of church growth is seen in two biblical ideas. The         for his deliverance from the power of sin. If
first is that size is not one of the marks of the true      members of an established congregation give as an
church. "Fear not, Zittle flock; for it is your Father's    excuse for less involvement that believers on the
good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke                mission field have their first love, then repent and
12:32). "The LORD did not set His love upon you,            seek that first love, for you are in serious danger of


162                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



loosing your candlestick. Do not make excuses like        established congregation. The third remark we
that! The believers in both cases have been de-           made by way of introduction is that, no matter our
livered from the same depth of total depravity,           responsibilities to give witness of our faith, we are
have been brought to the same blessed salvation,          very conscious that it is by the sovereign power of
and therefore should have the same sense of the           our Lord Jesus Christ that the church grows, cf.
eternal debt of gratitude. If there is any difference     Acts 2:47.
between the believer on the mission field and the                           * *: * *  * * *
believer in the established congregation it might be
a heightened consciousness on the part of the be-           Now we face the question, What is the primary
liever in the mission field for the need to reach         responsibility of the individual believer in mission
those outside, so that the group might grow, in           work? We find the answer to that question by
order that it might be organized into a congregation.     answering another: How does the Lord Jesus Christ
Our second introductory remark is that the role of        cause the church to grow? That is seen from the
the believer is the same, regardless of his presence      context of Acts  2:47. Through the wonders which
in an established congregation or on the mission          accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on
field.                                                    Pentecost a crowd of thousands were gathered.
                                                          This providential gathering together was for the
  This brings us to our third introductory remark.        purpose that they might hear the preaching of the
The individual, true believer, along with the faith-      apostles, Acts  2:ll  & 14ff. The Lord adds to the
ful preacher is conscious of the sovereign power of       church by saving and the Lord brings men to the
the Lord Jesus Christ in the growth of any congre-        consciousness of salvation through the preaching of
gation. According to Acts  2:47 it is the Lord Who        the Word (Romans 10:13-17).
adds to the church and makes it grow. This Lord is
Jesus Christ, according to.Acts  2:36. People do not      In Acts 2 we see that Jesus added to the church in
add themselves to the church. Nor are people              the way of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit with
added to the church by any other human being,             the preaching of the gospel. Peter preached
whether that be an apostle or a high-powered evan-        concerning Jesus of Nazareth, approved of God,
gelist. All the glory for church growth must go to        crucified by wicked men, raised from the dead,
and belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord      exalted to God's right hand, and returning with His
crucified, risen, exalted and Who pours forth His         Spirit. This preaching of the Gospel "pricked" 3000
Spirit on the church, Who adds. The heart of              hearts, bringing repentance and faith (Acts  2:37,
Peter's message on Pentecost, and of the Reformed         41).
churches, is that the Lord adds.                            That Jesus Himself adds to the church does not
  It is both fitting and necessary that the Lord Jesus    make the church inactive or passive. The Lord adds
Christ does the adding to the church. First, that is      through the life and activity of the members of the
because only the Lord knows who "should be                church. The church is active in this Word because
saved" and thus added to the church. Not everyone         the Lord has the Gospel preached by and through
belongs to the church, but only the elect and re-         and in the church. The church has the responsibili-
deemed, cf. John  17:2. Only Jesus knows who              ty of preaching the gospel and praying that the
belong; and He adds "such as should be saved."            Spirit will bind that preached Word on hearts, be-
Secondly, it is fitting and necessary that Jesus adds     ginning with themselves.
to the church because He is the Lord of the church          Usually any talk about the believer's responsibil-
and her Head. The church is His property, His wife        ity in mission work deals with going door to door,
and His body. As such only the Lord Jesus Christ          attending special classes to learn the special
has the right to add and make the church to grow.         methods of witnessing. The distinct impression
Thirdly, Acts  2:47 teaches that this addition to the     which this leaves is that witnessing is something
church takes place in the way of their being saved.       special; it is another category or aspect of our lives.
Only the Lord has the power to save and thus to           Rather we would say that the primary responsibili-
add to the church. Only the Lord by the Spirit's          ty of the individual believer in the growth of the
power and sovereign Word enlightens and softens,          church is this: out of the experience of the salvation
Ezekiel 36:26,27.                                         of his soul, he supports and delights in the preach-
  So much for our introductory remarks-and obser-         ing of Christ crucified. Out of the consciousness of
vations. We have noted, by way of review, that            what God has done for you, you pray for the
every true believer is concerned with and desirous        preaching of the gospel that it might fall as seed
for the growth of the church of Jesus Christ. Our         upon well-prepared souls. This is exactly what the
second observation is that the activity and role of       soul of the redeemed saint craves and delights in.
the individual believers on the mission field is ba-      His life is centered in the Word of God in which he
sically no different from that of the believer in an      reads, of which he speaks, and on which he  medi-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  163    1
tates. Thus the individual believer lives within the      whole concept of Jesus approved of God, crucified
sphere of the Word preached. Therefore, he sup-           and risen. He feels that he cannot get enough of
ports the pure preaching of the Gospel in every pos-      that. Throughout the week he reads the Word of
sible way. This is true for every believer, as he hun-    God, talks of it, and meditates upon it. He lives in
gers and thirsts after righteousness.                     it, as the sphere of his whole life.
  Therefore, because the Lord Jesus Christ adds to          Secondly, the church at Jerusalem was charac-
the church the ones being saved through the means         terized by the fellowship of the members among
of the preaching of the Gospel, the primary respon-       themselves. This fellowship was expressed by
sibility of the individual believer towards mission       being gathered often in worship, prayer, and the
work is to support the preaching. This will be a          Lord's Supper. Also they expressed their fellowship
most natural activity of one who is brought to the        by helping those members who lacked the neces-
consciousness of salvation through that preaching         sities of life (Acts 2:42-45).
and who maintains that delightful consciousness             If there is not steadfast continuance in the Word,
while sitting under that same preaching. With the         then from a human viewpoint you cannot expect an
preaching at the very center of the life of the           outsider to pay attention to your confession. If they
church, in the sphere of which the believer thrives,      see that your personal and your church's profession
there are other, closely related elements of a            is mere formality and that the Word is not primary,
healthy, spiritual church-life. Such was the case of      why would they want to join from a human view-
the church at Jerusalem to which the Lord added           point? If they see no true fellowship and love, then
daily the ones being saved. Let us enumerate those        from a human viewpoint you cannot expect them
elements of a congregation's life which are so close-     to join.
ly related to the preaching of the Word.                    The Lord adds daily to the church where the in-
  First, the church at Jerusalem to which souls           dividual believers strive mightily, out of the con-
were added was characterized by steadfast continu-        sciousness of gratitude to God for what He has
ance in the apostles' doctrine (Acts  2:42). This is      done for them, to delight in and to immerse them-
most fundamental to the spiritual life of a congrega-     selves in the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified, the
tion; they must know and live in the Word of God.         God of their salvation. And the believer cannot get
The activity of continuing in the apostles' doctrine      enough of it, so he lives in it every day of the week.
must be "steadfast," i.e., not departing from or al-      That is where the Lord adds daily. Therefore the
lowing it to be corrupted, but holding it in confes-      individual believer's primary responsibility is to
sion, in the preaching, and in the life of the congre-    support and delight in the life of the church, in
gation. The whole congregation has a lively interest      which the preaching of Christ crucified holds a cen-
in the Word of God. They came together eagerly            tral place. -
and expectantly. When the believer considers the                                            (to be continued]
tremendous work of God in sending His only-be-            *(Text of an address by Pastor Van Overloop'at  Mis-
gotten and beloved  SoIn for worthless sinners like        sion Emphasis Day last May in Kalamazoo Protestant
himself, then he seeks to immerse himself in the           Reformed Church)

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                               The Days of Noah (2)
                                            Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma



  During the life of Noah the spiritual wall              tainment, the industry, and the trends of the
between God's people and the wicked world had             wicked world appealed to them, and they were
broken down. There formed an unholy alliance be-          drawn to the world as iron is drawn to a magnet. It
tween the daughters of men and the sons of God.           was because of this that the children of the cove-
Little difference could be found between the chil-        nant line, being attracted by the outward beauty
dren of the covenant line and those of the wicked         and sex-appeal of the wicked, took them wives of,
world. The sons of God were attracted to the              and gave themselves as wives to, whomever they
wicked ways of the world. The culture, the enter-         pleased. These unequally yoked marriages then


164                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



produced offspring which became great -men and            thing is not entertaining  thep it is not worth one's
women of the world, steeped in the wisdom and             while. Certainly such a craze has found deep  in-
ways of this world.                                       i-otids into the church of Jesus Christ. A life in the
  Now, the point we established in our last install-      service of God has been replaced by a life in the ser-
ment was this: the days of Noah are a type of the         vice of pleasure. Can we deny that? This is the most
days in which we find ourselves at present. We            successful method devised by Satan to lure into his
called our attention to that all-important passage in     clutches all the world, including those who call
Matthew 24:37-39.  There Jesus tells us, "But as the      themselves "sons of God." It is little wonder that
days of Noe were, so shall the coming of the Son of       the apostle Peter warns us with these  words; "But
man be. For as in the clays that were before the          the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore
flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and         sober, and watch unto prayer" (I Peter  4:7). How
giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered        easy it can be to become swallowed up in the riches
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came,          and pleasures, the artistry and industry, the
and took them all away; so shall also the coming of       fashions and trends of this wicked world! Do we
the Son of man be."                                       not experience from day to day the powerful pull
                                                          that all these things have upon our own sinful na-
  In light of what Jesus says in this passage we con-     tures? Surely the child of God can be thankful and
cluded the last article with the question, "What is       filled with joy that the work of grace in his life in-
happening today?" Are the events of Noah's day            spires him to do battle with sin and Satan. By that
unfolding also in our day? Is there today too a           grace he remains faithful and continues to desire
breakdown of that spiritual separation between            fellowship with God rather than fellowship with
those who confess to be the church and those of the       the workers of iniquity. But as time progresses, re-
wicked world?                                             member, these true "sons of God" become fewer
  To answer this in the negative would not only de-       and fewer. The church world, slowly at first, and
ny the `word of Christ in Matthew 24, but would           more rapidly as time goes on, becomes infiltrated
also clearly reveal that we ourselves have become         with those possessing a form of godliness but who
spiritually insensitive, in fact spiritually blind, to    deny the power of it.
what is developing all around us today! Certainly
there is widespread amalgamation between many               Because these so-called Christians now seek and
who wish to cling tenaciously to the name "Chris-         enjoy the same pleasures as the ungodly world they
tian" and yet indulge in and enjoy to the fullest the     also begin more and more to have pleasure in them
pleasures of this wicked world. No doubt Satan is         that do them. In other words, they begin to desire
laboring very diligently in this respect. How clearly     the outward beauty, the sex-appeal, of the wicked
Paul points this out to Timothy in II Timothy 3. In       men and women of this world. As a result, because
verses one through five of this chapter Paul de-          there is no essential difference between them and
scribes what will characterize in the last days those     the wicked they take them wives of, and give them-
who call themselves Christians but who remain so          selves as wives to, all which they choose. Oh yes,
only in name. They will be "lovers of their own           intermarriage between those in the church and
selves. . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of       those of the world is a phenomenon which is be-
God; having a form of `godliness, but denying the         coming common in our day. And of a truth this be-
power thereof." How true all this is! There are           comes the very groundwork for the development of
many today-and we need not look very far to find          the Antichrist. The offspring of such marriages will
them-that, although they are covered with an out-         become men of renown. They will appeal both to
ward sugar-coating of godliness, nevertheless have        the world and to nominal Christendom and will be-
desires which are earthly,  sensual, and devilish!        come the stabilizing force which unites them into
They go through the outward motions of faith yet          one kingdom.
no longer live out of the longing for the forgiveness       And what is happening to the true Church of
of sins and life everlasting! That is exactly what had    Jesus Christ? It grows smaller and smaller. It is
happened in Noah's day!                                   there, no doubt; it will always be there. But now
  How true the apostle Paul's words ring in our           God gathers His people from all nations, tongues,
ears: men shall be "lovers of pleasures more than         and tribes, only in small numbers. How tiny the
lovers of God." Today too - and again we need not         church of Christ is today! And if we were able to
look too far-we find a mad dash after the enter-          separate the true Christian from those who only
tainment and pleasures this world has to offer. Oh,       call themselves Christian, how much smaller it
perhaps one may avoid the most shockingly evil            truly would prove to be. "But as the days of Noe
places of entertainment, but nevertheless the "fun"       were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be."
of this ,world has taken its hold. Many have begun        Surely that reveals itself in the synthesis between
to live for pleasure, for having a good time. If some-    the church and the world today.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     165



  There is also another way the days of Noah are a              moment, the amount of knowledge we acquire in
type of the days in which we live. Again in our last            70 years of life, how much more the knowledge
installment we considered that the children -of            prediluvian man must have acquired in his life.
these "mixed marriages" became the mighty and                   Was the world as developed then as it is today?
the noble of this world, men who developed  .this               Probably not. But that does not mean man was
creation in the service of sin and Satan. We con-               uncivilized. The world at that time had reached the
sider this now in more detail. In the days prior to             very peak of civilization.
the Flood the world had developed greatly in her                  Jabal was but  the father  of those that dwelt in
technology and industry. It had reached the zenith              tents and had much cattle. That means that those
of its glory and power, the very height of its de-              who followed him became rich and famous
velopment. That this took place in Noah's day is                landholders. They possessed the riches of this
revealed in the Scripture account of Lamech and                 world and were powerful and influential men
his three sons. In Genesis  4:19-22  we read, "And              whose aim was to gain this world. Jubal was but the
Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the            futher of all such as handle the harp and organ. That
one was  Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.                means that his descendants developed many
And  Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as              musical instruments, as well as the song. And since
dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his             this was done in the service of sin we can be sure
brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all              that all these instruments and these songs were
such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she              used to reveal the inner lusts and evil desires of
also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer           their hearts. The world had become highly devel-
in brass and iron." Now, perhaps at first glance                oped in its wicked music. Finally, Tubalcain was
these words of Scripture do not really seem to tell             but the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.
us much about the world of Noah's day. Remem-                   That means that those who were taught by him be-
ber, however, that all that is included in Scripture is         came the geniuses of industry and technology.
of significance and God Himself included this ac-               Once again, although we cannot become specula-
count in Sacred Writ to speak to us who live in the             tive as to just how developed prediluvian man was
last days.                                                      in this respect, we can be sure that society had be-
  Let us take note, therefore, of the teaching of this          come highly civilized.
passage.                                                          In the third place, we take note that these men of
  In the first place, we notice that these three sons           renown were not men of the church. We directed
of the evil Lamech represented all those whose am-              our attention to this earlier. But it is important to
bition in life was to develop this good creation of             emphasize this. God's people are, according to the
God in such a way that it would serve their own                 standards of this world, the base, weak, and beggar-
interests rather than God's. It was their aim and               ly elements of this world. They never are those who
goal to make this world useful for themselves, to               are wise in the ways of this world. That was true of
make it as pleasant as possible for themselves, and             Noah also. When it comes to industry, riches, and
to use it to fulfill their own passions and lusts. We           fame the descendants of Seth are not even men-
cannot fail to notice that these three men of renown            tioned at this point in Scripture.
were born in the reprobate line of Cain. Therefore,               When we put all these facts together we can but
all their work was done in the service of sin and               conclude that in the days prior to the Flood the
Satan. These men were the mighty and noble of this              wicked world had almost reached its Utopia, or, so
world who were not (as were God's children) in-                 it seemed in the eyes of the wicked. The church of
terested in a heavenly kingdom and fellowship                   God was about gone, and, with that, all mention of
with the Most High. These men and all the worldly               God had disappeared. It seemed to the wicked, that
wise that followed them were intent on developing               they had succeeded in disposing of God Himself.
an earthly kingdom in which man was king, a king-               Besides this, they had all the industry, entertain-
dom which had no room for God.                                  ment, and riches they needed to live life to its full-
  In the second place, -this passage clearly indicates          est. They were able to fulfill all the desires of their
that the days before the Flood were days of great               flesh as they lived in luxury. And all of this without
development in riches and industry. Often we are                God. Then the Flood came.. . .
under the impression that the men and women that
lived prior to the Flood were uncivilized cave men                Next installment, the Lord willing, we will again
who walked about with clubs and long, unkempt                   consider the last days in which we live in light of
hair. Not so! The world at that time was highly civ-            these days of Noah.
ilized! It had to be! Just think of the age of many of     I                                                               1
these men prior to the Flood. They lived to be well        ) Read The Standard Bearer )
over 500 years old. If we were to consider, for a


166                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



BIBLE STUDYGUIDE

                 I Thessalonians - Pastoral Care
                           for an Infant Church (1)
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


  In attempting to summarize the single message of            vile citizens, the Jews organized an attack upon
this epistle, we encounter difficulty. This letter is a       Paul. They surrounded the house of Jason, intend-
good example of Paul as pastor, instructing the               ing to take Paul and his companions. However,
rather young church of Thessalonica how to deal               they were not there. According to Acts 17, the Jews
with specific problems that arose in her midst.               took Jason and certain of the brethren of the con-
THE CHURCH AT THESSALONICA                                    gregation to the authorities and laid charge against
                                                              them. They accused them of consorting with men
  Paul visited Thessalonica for the first time during         who caused public unrest and defied Roman law by
his second missionary journey. The city had                   claiming that Jesus was king. They had no proof, so
already had an illustrious history. Its name was              the authorities required of Jason and the brethren
chosen by Cassander in 315 B.C. and named after               "security" (Acts 17:9),  evidently including a pledge
his wife, Thessalonica, daughter of Philip II, step-          that they would send Paul away in order to prevent
sister of Alexander the Great. It was made the capi-          any further public strife.
tal of Macedonia in 146 B.C. by the Romans. In the
struggle within the Roman republic, Thessalonica                 How long had Paul labored in Thessalonica?
sided with Antony and Octavian, 42 B.C., and sub-             Some scholars conclude that the reference to "three
sequently was made a free city. Its main attraction           Sabbaths" means that they were there for only
was its harbor on the Aegean Sea and it served as a           three weeks. This would not coincide, however,
station on the East-West highway from the Far East            with other facts that we learn. According to I Thes-
to the Adriatic Sea. It prospered with business and           salonians  19, Gentiles were added to the church.
shipping, numbering about 200,000 citizens when               For them to be converted from heathen idolatry to
Paul arrived.                                                 the Christian faith would involve more than Paul
  From Acts 17 and this letter to the Thessalonians,          preaching in a Jewish synagogue for three Sab-
we learn something about Paul's missionary labors             baths. In addition to this, Paul makes mention of
there and how the church was organized. Leaving               his laboring, in all likelihood in tentmaking, in
Philippi, Paul and his traveling companions passed            order to earn his own way lest he be accused of
through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to                  making money by preaching (II Thess.  3:s). The
Thessalonica.    There he visited the Jewish                  most convincing proof of a longer stay is found in
synagogue for three Sabbaths (Acts  17:2). We                 Philippians  4:16 in which he tells the Philippians
should take note of the fact that Thessalonica was a          that they sent money to him twice while he labored
"free city," hence the Jews sought residence there            in Thessalonica. All of this leads us to conclude that
and were able to engage in business and have their            Paul labored there at least for months. Ramsey is
own synagogue. This was in contrast to Philippi, a            quoted in I.S.B.E. as suggesting that Paul was there
Roman military town. Paul showed the Jews that                from December A.D. 50 until May A.D. 51.
the Christ he preached was the fulfillment of Old                What do we know about the congregation at
Testament prophecies, the promised Messiah (Acts              Thessalonica? From this letter it is apparent that the
17:3, 4). Some of these Jews believed in Christ.              church was composed mainly of Gentile converts,
Along with them were a goodly number of Greeks                who at one time practiced idolatry. "Ye turned
and proselytes, including some of the women of so-            unto God from idols" (I Thess. 1:9). They were dear
cial standing. Some of the men converts mentioned             to the heart of Paul, for he mentions how he want-
later included Aristarchus, Secundus, and probably            ed to come unto them more than once, but Satan
Gaius (Acts 20:4, Acts 19:29).                                hindered him (I Thess.  2:18,  3:10, 11). He makes
  Paul's labors were cut short when there was an              special mention of their devotion to God and how
uprising among the people. The Jews were jealous              the truth was spoken by them to others in Mace-
of the fact that they were outnumbered by the God-            donia and Achaia. As a result of this, they have a
fearing Greeks. With the help of some of the most             reputation of being strong in their faith (I Thess.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 167



       1:8). This is remarkable when we consider that they          tern for their welfare by loved ones and raised
      were converted from heathendom only a few                     questions concerning their participation in the final
       months earlier. Even the problems Paul deals with            salvatioqto  be attained at the coming of the Lord.
       in this letter indicate that they struggled to be faith-     Paul sought to give instruction and comfort suitable
       ful, and Paul sought to help them as a young pastor          to this situation  (4:13-18). Fifth, a tendency to rest-
      would seek the good of his flock.                             lessness and inattention to the daily tasks, which
                                                                    may have been due to an unhealthy attitude toward
      AUTHOR-OCCASION-DATE                                          the return of Christ, needed rebuke  (4:ll). Sixth,
         As usual, Paul identifies himself as the author.           there was some failure to understand the place of
       "Paul and Silvanus (Silas) and Timotheus, unto the           spiritual gifts and even a tendency to repress them
     church of Thessalonica" (1: 1). No one has  ques-              (5:19)."
I      tioned this except more recent schools of higher               Taking into consideration that Paul wrote this
       criticism which have questioned everything in the            letter from Corinth, while he labored there on his
       Bible. There is no substance to their opposition.            second missionary journey, we can fix the date as
I        From Acts 17 we learn that Paul, Timothy, and              the year A.D. 51 or thereabout.
       Silas all fled from Thessalonica by night. They went           This can also be confirmed by secular history.
       to Berea, where the Jews were more noble than                We know Paul labored in Corinth during the rule of
       those in Thessalonica in that they did not reject the        Gallio, deputy of Achaia (Acts  18:12). There is an
       Word offhand, but searched the Old Testament                 i.nscription   called the Delphi Inscription, which
       Scriptures to determine whether Paul taught the              contains a letter from Emperor Claudius to Gallio,
       truth or not. Word soon reached Thessalonica that            the date of which corresponds to A.D. 52. In all
       this was true. So hostile were the Jews there, that          likelihood he arrived at his position in the summer
       they sent a delegation to Berea to try to stir up the        of A.D. 51. Paul's labor in Corinth was for eighteen
       people there as well. They succeeded in driving              months, which began in the summer of A.D. 50.
       Paul out of the city. Timothy and Silas, however,            This letter then was more than likely written dur-
       remained behind. Paul went to Athens where he                ing the year A.D. 51.
       preached on Mars' Hill and labored briefly. No
       church was established there. Paul sent for                  DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
       Timothy and Silas and asked them to come down to                One conclusion we are able to draw from the
       Athens. After they rejoined Paul, all went their sep-        date of composition is that this letter is the earliest
       arate ways for a time: Timothy went to Thessaloni-           of Paul's writing and also the earliest of the New
       ca (I Thess.  3:2), Silas probably went to Philippi,         Testament Scripture. Paul wrote this letter to the
       and Paul went to Corinth. Still later, they rejoined         Thessalonians about 22 years after Christ died,
       Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:5).                                 arose, and ascended into heaven. Also we can de-
                                                                    termine that Paul was converted about fourteen
         The spiritual condition of the church at  Thessa-          years before he wrote the letter. This tells us that
       lonica is evident in this letter which was sent by           the content of this letter reflects the earliest view of
       Paul to them after he received this report from              the gospel current in the New Testament church.
       Timothy. In the main, the report was favorable. Yet          Prior to his conversion, Paul had been instructed in
       he mentioned certain areas of concern that needed            the best Jewish schools, and after his conversion
       immediate attention. A list of them is given in Har-         the Holy Spirit gave him understanding in all things
       rison's  Introduction to the New Testament.  "First,         of the truth. We can get an inside picture of that
       persecution had broken out, for which Paul may               gospel by careful study of this letter.
       have felt in a measure responsible, since its first
       outbreak came during his ministry in Thessalonica.              Considering now that Paul was acting as pastor
       At any rate, he undertook to bring encouragement             of this church at Thessalonica, two important les-
~      to his readers, commending them for fidelity in              sons may be learned. First, in dealing with opposi-
I      their trials (2: 14; 3: l-4). Second, there was a current    tion to the gospel, he avoids being personal. Even
       of criticism against Paul, probably set in motion by         when enemies insinuated that he was traveling for
       Jewish opposition, which not only found fault with           money, Paul does not lash out; rather he reminds
       the conduct of his ministry in Thessalonica, but             them that in their persecution of him they please
       also, it seems, ventured to call in question his mo-         not God (II Thess. 2: 15). One cannot help but see,
       tives: This elicited from Paul a defense of his con-         when reading this epistle, on how high a plane the
       duct  (2:1-12).  Third, the Christian standard of holi-      apostle deals with opposition. He will not needless-
       ness required reiteration for the benefit of those           ly stir up the church for personal vindication;
       who had so recently come out of Paganism, where              rather he sets the record straight and shows that
       moral ideals were low  (4:1-8).  Fourth, the death of        their opposition was against the gospel!
       certain members of the congregation created  con-               Second, it is good for one to read this letter and


   THE STANDARD BEARER              -.  -  ~_..-----  ~~--
         P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 4.9506





                                                                                    -



1 6 8                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


learn about pastoral care. Chapter two especially is          what difficulty they have and forthrightly answers
full of warmth and love for the church. He careful-           them. In one word, spiritual honesty shines upon
ly analyzes the important needs of the church and             every page of this letter.

                          News From Our Churches
                                  December  15,1982           sponse in regards to the solicitation of loans for the
   An excellent way to make sure that many of our             new building. These are good evidences that God
people know about our publications is to display              maintains a spirit of unity in our churches.
them. In early August, First Protestant Reformed                At the end of the last issue, I briefly remarked
Church in Holland, Michigan put up a new display              about the progress Covenant Protestant Reformed
rack in the hall. Their bulletin reads, "The Evangel-         Church has made towards a new building. I have
ism Committee has placed a display of RFPA publi-             an up-to-date report for you. "We are happy to be
cations as well as many pamphlets in this rack in             able to report (that) the electrician has finished his
order that the congregation and those who visit us            work except for the final installation of light fix-
have easy access to these excellent  publicatons."            tures. . ..we have had one contractor at the building
The display of books was made possible because                to bid on the heating and duct-work." They are also
there was someone in the church who was willing               investigating the possibility of holding regular wor-
to handle the purchasing of books. An added ad-               ship services in the new building before the parking
vantage is that our publications are seen by the              lot is paved. May God grant that possibility to our
youth of our churches who will later on be forming            brethren in New Jersey.
families of their own.                                          As you know, First Protestant Reformed Church
   A Bible study group at Hope Protestant Re-                 in Grand Rapids has been working hard to sell their
formed Church has recently begun studying the                 church property.  At- their recent congregational
history of our churches. They meet every Monday               meeting they, made the following decision: "The ex-
night and are led by Prof. H. Hanko. The first les-           tension of time for the closing of the sale of our
son studied the background of the common grace                church property was granted."
controversy, beginning with the Reformed
Churches in the Netherlands, 1834, and proceeding               There is another church building item that has
up to the Christian Reformed Church in 1924.                  come to my attention from Hudsonville Protestant
Their second lesson will be on the first point of             Reformed Church's bulletin. "One additional
common grace. It is good to see that many of our              proposal the consistory presents for this meeting:
young adults are keenly interested in knowing not             the installation of ceiling fans in the auditorium and
only our doctrines but also the history surrounding           fellowship hall." This was approved. Not only do
some of these doctrines.                                      the ceiling fans provide better air circulation but
                                                              also the "savings in fuel costs would equal the cost
   Our Hope Protestant Reformed Church in  Red-               of the fans within four years." I must admit that
lands, California is celebrating their 50th Anniver-          some of our churches do get stuffy in the winter
sary a year late. Hope Church was organized in                and hot in the summer.
1932 with thirty-five families. There are presently
forty-two families. The reason for this seemingly               A group of people from Kalamazoo and the
unexplainable event is that their new church build-           Grand Rapids area are working together under the
ing will be finished in 1983 and they thought it a            leadership of Rev. Woudenberg to lay tentative
good idea to combine the celebrations into one                plans for a "Child Development Day." So far the
event. If you are over in the Redlands area in either         group has met twice and plans on this special event
the end of May or the beginning of September you              taking place in the spring. You will want to keep
will have the privilege of being a part of their cele-        your ears open for further developments.
bration. I also understand that they had a good re-                                                             DH


