       BEARER
            A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                    \





                  We still enter into physical
  .    .     .

death; but it cannot kill us . . . . We
still enter into the grave; but it can-
not hold us . . . . We shall be raised
- strong, glorious, incorruptible,
immortal, spiritual, heavenly!
See "Resurrection Victory"
                                                       - page 290




                                                Volume LIX, No. 13, April I,1983 1


290                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                 CONTENTS                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
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       Resurrection Victory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . . . . . . . . .290       Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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       Protestant Reformed Higher Education. . . . . . . .293                         John A. Heys, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers,
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MEDITATION

                                               Resurrection Victory
                                                                      Prof. H. C. Hoeksema



                  He will swallow up death in victory.                                                                                      Isaiah 25:8
                  Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye
               that dwell in the dust.                                                                                                     Isaiah 26:19
                  I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: 0 death, I
               will be thy plagues; 0 grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
                                                                                                                                           Hosea 13:14
                  Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 0
               death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the
               strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth  us the victory through our Lord
              Jesus Christ.                                                                                                I Corinthians 15:54-57


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              291



  What a glorious light shines in the resurrection of        Mighty enemy!
our Lord Jesus Christ!                                       Death is the state resulting from our separation
  The prophet Isaiah saw it afar off, and he prophe-       from God, the source of all life. It is a state of cor-
sied that the God of our salvation would swallow           ruption. There are not various deaths, though we
up death in victory. And he called upon those who          may distinguish various aspects of the one power of
dwell in the dust to awake and sing, because they          death: moral-spiritual death, physical-temporal.
shall arise from the dead and shall live.                  death, and the everlasting death in the desolation of
  The prophet  Hosea,  whose ministry was during           hell. And that one power of death operates in  .us
one of the darkest and apparently most hopeless            from the bginning of our existence. In spiritual
eras of the history of the old dispensation, was           death we are born by nature; into physical corrup-
given to be the mouthpiece of Jehovah Himself,             tion we are drawn down at the moment when we
promising with a promise without repentance to             breathe our last; and the end of it all is everlasting
ransom and redeem His people from death, and the           desolation. And even as the Scripture here has in
grave, and proclaiming centuries beforehand, in            view the resurrection of the body, so it also has in
language which the apostle Paul must have had in           view that physical aspect of death, the death of our
mind later, (according to the corrected translation):      body. That death is the complete dissolution of all
"0 death, where are thy plagues? 0 grave; where is         our earthly existence; in death the organism of
thy,destruction?"                                          man's body collapses. All that a man is and all that
                                                           he has is taken away from him, completely  ,lost,
  And the apostle Paul, having called attention to         and his very name and place perishes. He becomes
the fact that the resurrection of the body in the last     exposed as corruptible, weak, inglorious, mortal.
day shall be the realization of the victory promised       No, in death a man is not annihilated, as though his
centuries before through Isaiah, concludes that            existence ends. He dies;  he  passes through the ex-
glorious chapter on the resurrection of the body           perience of physical death-even though we may
with the triumphant challenge, "0 death, where is          not be able to form a conception of that existence
thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?"                 which continues in and through death. That death
  But all this glorious light of the sure promise of       is the absolute end of all our present existence. And
God and the triumphantly challenging shout of the          the fearful, dreadful thing about that death is that it
apostle (and of the believers with him) concerning         is the passage into eternal death. Man goes from
the glorious resurrection of the body in the last day,     death to death. Dying, he dies! And when he dies, it
when this corruptible shall have put on  incorrup-         is only to await in Sheol the night of eternal desola-
tion, and this mortal shall have put on immortal-          tion in hell, where their worm dieth not, and the
ity-does it not all radiate and shine forth in scintil-    fire is not quenched.
lating brilliance from that amazing, that astound-           And the grave seals death; it signifies that there is
ing, that enemy-confounding `wonder of the third           no return. The grave represents destruction, and
day, when "death could not hold its prey," when            thus the victory of death. For in the grave the cor-
"He tore the bars away," and "Up from the grave            ruption and dissolution of the body are finished. A
He arose, with a mighty triumph o'er His foes,"            man becomes a heap of dust without form or mean-
and when the disciples greeted one another with            ing.
joyful shout, "The Lord is risen indeed"? And did
not that resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ be-           Mind you, that death is not a normal natural pro-
come forever after the central thrust in the preach-       cess! It is a violent intervention of God! Death is
ing of the apostles and of the church? And is that         punishment; it is the wages of sin. It is the expres-
not the reason why the apostle-and we with him-            sion of God's,wrath and justice. God kills us!
conclude this triumphant challenge with, "But                Such is death! Awful, formidable, implacable
thanks be to God, which giveth us the  ,victory            enemy!
through our LordJesus Christ"? (italics added)               The Scripture in Hosea  speaks of death's plagues,
                          * * * *c *                       in the plural. By this expression reference is made
                                                           not only to the power of corruption and dissolution
  0 death, where are thy plagues? 0 death, where           which takes over after the moment of physical
is thy sting?                                              death. But it refers to all the powers of death, all the
  There is no fundamental difference in the mean-          various plagues, which lead me inevitably down to
ing of these two questions. In both of them death is       destruction. From the moment of my birth for-
personified and takes on the appearance of a               ward, death has its sword at my throat. I am born
mighty and fierce monster. And in both of them             dying. And dying, I die-steadily, inevitably, from
death is addressed and challenged in -question             the cradle to the grave. Death with all its forces pur-
form.                                                      sues me, surrounds me, plagues me, all my life


292                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



long, until finally I succumb and fall into the de-         made flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.
struction of the grave.                                        Realized it was through the death of Christ. His
  In Corinthians reference is made to the very same         death was the death of death, because it took the
idea essentially, but in the singular: the apostle          guilt of sin away. Death may kill only those who
speaks of death's sting. Death is a monstrous,              are guilty. But the Son of God was born under the
poisonous beast with a poison sting, like that of a         law in order that He might fully obey the law and
scorpion. That sting is the power to kill. Moreoever,       might redeem them-all His own-that were under
the principle of that sting, that power to kill, is de-     the law. The debt of guilt has been removed for all
fined: it is sin. Sin is the power which gives to death     His people: for He bore the punishment of sin in
its poison and its plagues, which enables physical          the love of God in their stead!
death to kill. Take sin away, and physical death cer-          And the victory was gained in His resurrection!
tainly remains-and we must all pass through  it-            He was raised for our justification. And when He
and it still looks to be the old dreadful enemy, cor-       was,raised,  He arose-as the representative and or-
rupting us and being the gateway, through the               ganic Head of all His own-in glory, in strength, in
grave, into hell and its everlasting desolation. But if     incorruptibleness, in immortality-with life that is
sin is removed, the power of death to do any harm           victorious., life that is forever beyond the reach and
is gone! The reason lies partly in the fact that sin        the touch of death!
itself implies separation from God's favor; it is itself
death. And partly the reason lies in the fact that sin         What glorious light shines in the resurrection of
is ZegaZly  the sting of death. For death, remember, is     our Lord Jesus Christ! God hath spoken unto us in
wages, the wages of sin. We are surrendered to              these last days by His Son!
death's power according to the justice of God, be-             And we have heard, and believed!
cause of our guilt. For the strength of sin is the law,       ~For that resurrection-life is already ours, having
the law of God. And by the law here is meant not            been applied to us by and through our Lord Jesus
merely the outward code of Ten Commandments,                Christ. We have received a new life, the beginning
but the living expression of the righteous will of          of the resurrection-life of Christ. And that life is vic-
God. That law demands obedience: "Thou shalt                torious! Death may touch all that is of the earth and
love Me with all thy heart and mind and soul and            of this corruptible, but it cannot possibly touch that
strength." And that law promises life upon obedi-           new life in us! Moreover, we are begotten again
ence; but it curses and surrenders to sin and cor-          unto a living hope, so that we look forward to the
ruption and death when we disobey. Hence, that              glory of the day when the trumpet of God shall
law is sin's strength. That law assigns, the sinner to      sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
the power of sin, so that he is a slave of sin and so       and we shall be changed.
that he can never be freed from that power of sin
until he has met the righteous demand of God's                 We have the victory! We still enter into physical
law.                                                        death; but it cannot kill us; we pass right on into
                                                            glory. We still enter into the grave; but it cannot
  Mighty, fearful enemy!.                                   hold us; in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ that
  I know that.death's plagues shall overwhelm me,           grave will be deprived of its victory. We shall be
destroy my flesh, sweep me into the grave, and              raised  - strong, glorious, incorruptible, immortal,
then into the darkness of hell. Whether I stand             spiritual, heavenly!
alone, or whether I call to my assistance all the ar-          The saying that was written centuries ago shall
mies of human might, death conquers! And I am               come to pass: "Death is swallowed up in victory!"
afraid! Always in the midst of death, the fear of
death holds me in bondage all my lifetime. And the             And so, in the light of Christ's resurrection we
monstrous, dreadful enemy mocks all my attempts             shout triumphantly, as more than conquerors: "0
to deny him and to escape him!                              death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy vic-
                                                            tory?' '
                           *****                                                     *****
  But hark!                                                    Thanks be unto God! That can only be the end of
  All through the ages of the old dispensation the          it all.
word of promise sounded forth from Jehovah, the                For He giveth us the victory through our Lord
faithful covenant God. "Death shall be swallowed            Jesus Christ!
up in victory!" "I will ransom them from the power             It is all of Him. He gave the Victor, the Lord from
of the grave; I will set them free from death!"             heaven. He accomplished the victory: God was
  And in the fulness of time that word of promise           in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. He
was realized, actualized, in Him Who is the Word            gave us to the Victor: in eternity by sovereign and


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           293



free election, and in time through the gift of saving                      unable to write for us. Since I last reported, it has
faith.                                                                     been learned that Rev. Schipper must undergo mul-
   Thanks now, 0 God of our salvation!                                     tiple by-pass surgery before the previously planned
                                                                           surgery for an aneurysm can even be considered.
   Thanks to endless ages of glorious  resurrection-                       As of this writing, the by-pass surgery is planned
life!                                                                      for March 23, D.V. We commend the brother and
                                                                           his loved ones to the loving care of our heavenly
[Note.' Our brother, the Rev. M. Schipper, is still                        Father. HCH]

EDITORIAL


                  Protestant Reformed Higher Education
                                                               Prof H. C. Hoeksema



   Recently there was distributed in my home                                  Teacher Education Development (T.E.D.) Committee
church-and, I assume, in other Protestant Re-                                 of the Federation of Protestant Reformed School
formed Churches as well-what I consider to be a                               Boards has been contacted to solicit their help and ad-
significant newsletter. It concerns the aims and                              vice in implementing some of these short-term goals.
activities of a group which calls itself the "Confer-                           We are convinced that truly Reformed higher edu-
ence on Reformed Higher Education." The letter                                cation is a noble calling and as important a concern to-
went out over the name of the group's chairman,                               day as it was in 1559 when John Calvin first opened
brother Marcel A. Straayer, of our Edmonton, Al-                              the famous Academy at Geneva with only a meager
berta, Canada congregation. So that all our readers                           number of students and faculty. The Conference sees
may understand the subject under discussion, I                                as its mandate the preliminary study of these goals
here reproduce the newsletter in its entirety:                                and we intend, in the near future, to publicize our
                                                                              conclusions with a view to possible organization and
           In the past year a group of Iaymen from our church-                involvement of our people. We appreciate your
         es in the U.S. and Canada have met several times in                  thoughts and prayers as we struggle with the incep-
         South Holland, Illinois, and Grand Rapids, Michigan,                 tion of an idea we trust will improve the higher educa-
         to discuss the possibility of establishing a Protestant              tion of our children and grandchildren.
         Reformed Teachers' College based firmly on the Re-
         formed Faith as set forth in the Three Forms of Unity,              Personally, I am glad, first of all, that this "Con-
         and educating prospective teachers in our schools in             ference" has at last "gone public." I had been
         harmony with those principles. The group agreed that             aware of the existence of such a group. And
         this is a need since many Christian Colleges attended            although I did not know-and still do not know-all
         by our teachers compromise the Reformed tradition                of its constituency, I knew of a few names associ-
         by the theories of common grace, theistic evolution,             ated with it. I was also aware of the fact that the
         "higher criticism" of Holy Scripture, socialism, the             group met from time to time, and I even heard
         philosophy of A. A. C. S. and that we have a calling, if         some rumors concerning its activities and goals.
         it is possible, to work out Reformed doctrine as held            And I was interested in the cause, as well as inquisi-
         by the Protestant Reformed Circles in higher educa-              tive concerning its activities. But it is difficult to be
         tion.                                                            interested in a work which remains mysterious;
           Although the possibility of forming a full  li,beral  arts     and it surely is risky, if not downright dangerous, to
         college was discussed and still is a goal, the practical         promote something about which one has no facts.
         problems inherent in such a vision were candidly ad-             Hence, I am happy about this newsletter.
         dressed. Recent meetings dealt with the more  short-
         term goals of organizing a society and the offering of a            Furthermore, to promote this cause is my desire
         few college level courses in the area of education per-          and aim.
         haps taught in the summer by qualified Protestant Re-
         formed instructors. There was also consideration of                In the first place, I firmly believe that Protestant
         hiring a full-time qualified person to teach and devel-          Reformed higher education is something which  is
         op appropriate courses. Various committees have                  long overdue, particularly in the area of teacher
         been formed to study society organization, constitu-             training. Many years ago, when I was editor of the
         tion, financing, accreditation, and curriculum. The              department  In  His Fear  and when our Protestant


294                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Reformed school movement was still in its infancy,       their own. I say again: what we would not think of
I called attention to this need. Again, when the         doing in the area of the ministry, we do not hesitate
Federation of Protestant Reformed School Societies       to do in the area of education.
was formed, I participated in formulating its consti-      I do not hesitate to say that our schools can only
tution, which from the'very beginning stated as one      suffer from this situation. In fact, eventually this
of the purposes of the Federation the promotion of       can only prove to be highly detrimental, if not fatal.
Protestant Reformed teacher training. And a few          Eventually, the danger is not imaginary that Protes-
years ago, when I addressed our Prot. Ref.               tant Reformed grade schools and high schools
Teachers' Convention, I stressed this need and           become institutions which are Protestant Reformed
called attention to the inconsistency of expecting to    in name, but not in fact. Eventually, they could be-
have Protestant Reformed teachers who receive all        come schools which are schools with a Bible, rather
their training to be teachers in one or another non-     than schools based on the Bible. For it stands to
Protestant Reformed institution.                         reason: just as a stream cannot rise higher than its
  There is, of course, a gross inconsistency in our      source, so the education in our schools, from the
present system. In our Protestant Reformed               point of view of its Protestant Reformed principles,
Churches there is only one area of education in          cannot rise higher than its source.
which it is possible, for the most part, to obtain a
completely Protestant Reformed education: that is          Hence, I am glad that something is at last being
the area of preparation for the ministry. Today it is    attempted to remedy the situation. I am well aware,
possible to obtain a Protestant Reformed elemen-         as the brethren involved must also be, that this is
tary education and a Protestant Reformed high            no small undertaking. It will require much plan-
school education, and then to go on to a Protestant      ning, much hard work, much prayer, and much
Reformed pre-seminary education (albeit on a limit-      sacrifice, financial and otherwise. There will be
ed scale) and, finally, a complete Protestant Re-        many pitfalls along the way, not the least of which
formed seminary education. Moreover, for years al-       will be to compromise at one point or another when
ready-thanks to the foresight of our fathers-not         it comes to Protestant Reformed principles. It will
only have we had our own Protestant Reformed             require Protestant Reformed  educators,  men and
pre-seminary and seminary training, but we have          women who are willing to work dedicatedly and
had our own instructional materials. Already in the      hard at developing and applying Protestant Re-
early years of our Theological School our professors     formed principles in the area of education. Make no
began to prepare our own Protestant Reformed in-         mistake: the task is large. But it is by no means im-
structional materials as much as possible. Now           possible!
none of us would expect to obtain Protestant Re-           It is my hope, therefore, that there will be
formed ministers of the gospel from a Christian Re-      general support for this movement among our
formed or Reformed or Presbyterian seminary; that        people. If it gets off on the right foot, it can only be
would be the height of inconsistency. And the rea-       beneficial for our school movement.
son is simple: the teachings of those other seminar-       However, I wish to sound one note of caution to
ies are inimical to our distinctive Protestant Re-       this "Conference."
formed theology. Yet-and here is the gross incon-          You have "gone public" with this newletter.
sistency-what we would not think of doing in the
area of the ministry we do not hesitate to do in the       Now you should go completely public.
area of teacher training. When our school boards           Let me explain.
employ teachers, they expect those teachers to be          I get the impression that this group has already
Protestant Reformed teachers. You understand, I
am not referring to their being Protestant Reformed      done considerable work, judging from what is
                                                         stated in the second paragraph of the newsletter.
church members, but to their being Protestant Re-        Study is under way in the important areas of "so-
formed as  teachers,  imbued with Protestant Re-         ciety organization, constitution, financing, accredi-
formed principles of education, Protestant               tation, and curriculum." And in the third
Reformed principles of discipline, with a Protestant     paragraph it is stated that "The Conference sees as
Reformed understanding and approach in their             its mandate the preliminary study of these goals
subject materials, etc. This is what Protestant Re-      and we intend, in the near future, to publicize our
formed education is all about, is it not? And yet all    conclusions with a view to possible organization
our teachers, without exception, receive their           and involvement of our people."
teacher-training at schools such as Calvin, Hope,
Dordt, and even state colleges and universities.           There is a danger, it seems to me, that when it
And as far as being Protestant Reformed educators        comes to the point of possible organization and in-
is concerned, our teachers have been largely on          volvement of our people, our  peopl@ will be  con-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                295



fronted by a  fait  accompli, an accomplished. fact,       preparatory of all, the ground-work of, a future orga-
which they may then accept or not accept, support          nization. And by preliminary I mean strictly work
or not support. To my mind, this is not the proper         in the direction of motivating our people, present-
course to follow if you wish to form a parental or-        ing the cause, and calling together an organizational
ganization-and I trust that this is the goal. Up to        gathering which will then itself take steps to study
this point the "Conference" is a self-initiated and        matters which are apparently already under study.
self-authenticating group who have formulated                My motivation in this criticism is not negative,
their own "mandate." If the purpose is to ask our          but,positive. Without .full and free parental partici-
people to share in and to support this work, then          pation you simply cannot succeed in having a genu-
you must invite our people to participate immedi-          inely parental organization. My own experience has
ately. They must be in on the ground floor,. so to         taught me this. Our present school societies origi-
speak. Otherwise, I fear, you will leave the impres-       nated in this fashion. And I have observed more
sion of trying to ram something down their throats.        than one instance in which the initial exclusion of
And you know the old saying, "You can lead a               the people at large led only to bad feelings and bad
horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Be-         results.
sides, if this is to be a movement of our people, then
let it truly be such. To my mind the work of the             The newsletter said, "We appreciate your
"Conference" should be strictly preliminary, not           thoughts.. . . " Here are some of mine.

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                             "`As It Began to Dawn"
                                                 Rev. H. Veldman


   How the world hates and would destroy the               cuted at sunrise? And, on the other hand, the disci-
truth of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!        ples stole His body while they slept? How could
Of course! The resurrection of our Lord Jesus              they.know? Did they sleep with one eye open? And
Christ seals the victory of this Jesus of Nazareth.        then we read in Matthew  28:X that this saying is
But it also seals the condemnation of the world.           commonly reported among the Jews until this day,
How terrible it is for the world, unspeakably terri-       until about A.D. 150. Then, there is the story that
ble, that the Jesus they hated and sought to destroy       the disciples narrated the resurrection of our Lord
by nailing Him to a cross, is raised from the dead, is     because they were the victims of hallucinations.
seated at the right hand of God, and has been given        They imagined it. What nonsense this is! This is
all power to reign also over all the powers of evil        exactly what they did not imagine. Fact is, these
and darkness! Indeed, the event of this first day of       disciples did not even believe the resurrection of the
the week is of catastrophic significance as far as the     Lord when it was told them, and they regarded it as
wicked are concerned. But for the church of God?           an idle tale. We will come back to this later. Finally,
Fear not ye, but rejoice.                                  there is also the modernistic view of the resurrec-
   How the world strives to destroy this fundamen-         tion of our Lord. They deny Jesus' physical resur-
tal truth of Holy  .Writ! To be sure, also in and          rection. This means that they simply deny His
throughout the ages of the Old Dispensation the            resurrection. To them, Jesus remained in the grave.
devil attempted to prevent the birth of this Seed of       The malicious wickedness of these modernists is
the Woman. We read of this in Revelation 12: 1-5. It       that they use Scriptural terms but ascribe a signifi-
is not our purpose now to call attention to this in        cance to them which is directly contrary to the
this article. The truth of the resurrection of our         Scriptures. They speak of His birth and of His
Lord must be destroyed. There is the story of the          `resurrection but do not understand these wondrous
 soldiers who kept watch at His tomb that His disci-       events according to the meaning of Holy Writ.
ples stole His body while they slept. They were            Jesus is alive in the same sense that a Washington
 bribed by the Jewish leaders to tell this absurd tale.    or a Lincoln is alive, in the same sense that the soul
 And what an absurd tale it is! On the one hand,           of Washington or Lincoln "goes marching on." The
 should not a watch who sleep at their post be exe-        modernist speaks of a Jesus who was alive and is


 296                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



dead. We, however, believe in a Jesus Who was               different. This the disciples could not possibly
dead and is alive even forevermore. Indeed, "He is          imagine. They were earthly. They could not possi-
not here; come, see the place where the Lord lay."          bly conceive of a heavenly resurrection. How could
   We now return, briefly, to the wicked allegation         they, for example, conceive of the wondrous sign of
that the disciples narrated the story of the resurrec-      the linen clothes, that these linen clothes had not
tion as they imagined it. We have already noted             been disturbed in the slightest sense of the word,
that, according to Scripture, these disciples did not       that these clothes lay there as if the body of Jesus
even believe that their Master had risen from the           were still in them. Did not John and Peter stare at
dead when they were told of it. They regarded it as         this sign and believe, because, we read, as yet they
an idle tale. However, we would maintain that the           understood not the Scriptures which had spoken of
disciples could not possibly conceive of the resur-         the resurrection of the Lord? This wondrous sign
rection of our Lord as it actually occurred, and that       declared to them that Jesus was truly risen, was not
they could not possibly have recorded it as we read         as He had been before His suffering and death. But
of it in the Scriptures if they were the victims of hal-    is it not plain that, had the disciples imagined
lucinations. Mind you, these disciples were witnes-         things, they could never have imagined Christ's
ses, witnesses of the risen Lord. Would these. wit-         resurrection as it actually occurred?
nesses, if they had imagined things, report this inci-        One can view the resurrection of our Lord from
dent. without reporting their seeing Him leave the          many points of view. Our Heidelberg Catechism
tomb? Fact is, the resurrection itself is not stated        looks at it in Lord's Day 17 from the viewpoint of
anywhere in thse gospel narratives. Nowhere do              our profit. Of course, the resurrection of Christ is
we read: "And Jesus comes forth out of the grave."          also God's revelation to us of what He eternally
Of course, no earthly eye could possibly see this.          willed in His sovereign and inscrutable counsel,
This explains its omission from the gospel narra-           His eternal will to call life out of death and to real-
tives. But, the point now is: if these witnesses were       ize His covenant, through sin and death, into
imagining things, would they not also imagine               heavenly life and glory and immortality. Let us look
seeing Him leave the tomb? But there is more. How           at it as our Heidelberg Catechism views it. And, let
reliable are these witnesses? Do they not declare           us look at the first profit mentioned here in Lord's
that they did not believe in His resurrection? Was          Day 17. The resurrection of Christ is indeed the di-
not this the "unbelief" of Thomas who could not             vine seal of our righteousness and justification.
believe it? And Thomas was not alone in this re-              How wonderful is the truth of our justification!
spect. The only reason why Thomas did not believe           There is undoubtedly nothing more wonderful to
until a week later was simply that Jesus did not re-        the child of God than this truth of the Word of God.
veal Himself to him until a week after He, revealed         Justification refers to the verdict of the Most High,
Himself to the other disciples. Thirdly, had the dis-       the Judge of all the earth, that there is now no con-
ciples been victims of their own hallucinations, re-        demnation for him as he is in Christ Jesus. How
ported the resurrection as they imagined it, they           Luther strove to attain unto this blessed conscious-
could never have reported it as it is recorded in           ness that he was justified before the living God,
Holy Writ. Had they imagined Jesus' resurrection            that his sins would never be held against him, that
(and this is exactly what they did not imagine), they       he was an heir of everlasting life and glory. The Judge
would have reported an earthly resurrection of              of all the earth declares us righteous, righteous for-
their Lord. Of course! They were earthly. Inciden-          ever! How wonderful! Fact is, we remain sinners as
tally, this also explains the quandary of Thomas. It        long as we continue in this earthly house of our tab-
is not that Thomas could not believe Jesus' resur-          ernacle. And sin is guilt, the obligation to pay. And
rection as such. Others had been raised from the            now we are declared righteous. By God! And God is
dead, such as Lazarus, etc. Why should not Jesus            holy. He sees and knows all our sins and trespasses.
also be raised from the dead? But the problem of            And He declares us righteous! Does the Lord, then,
Thomas lay exactly here that the resurrection of            declare something to be true what is not true? Be-
Jesus would be pointless. Why should He be raised           sides, this is the judgment of the Judge of all the
from the dead? He, Who had been killed once,                earth! And this judgment cannot be changed. There
could surely be killed again. What Thomas there-            is no higher appeal. God is for us and He is the Most
fore did not understand was the cross. However, be          High, the supreme Judge of all the earth. The elect
all this as it may, had the disciples imagined things,      sinner, knowing his sin, the sin which he commits
they could never have imagined this event as re-            daily, always, experiences the blessed truth that the
corded in Holy Writ. Two truths are emphasized in           Lord sees him as if he never committed any sin,
connection with Jesus' resurrection as recorded in          that he is forever free of all guilt, that life and glory
the Scriptures: that He is really risen from the dead,      everlasting and immortal await him, in God's
and, secondly, that He is risen, that He iS absolutely      fellowship forever.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             297



  Of course, there is now no condemnation to              emptied Himself, destroyed Himself,  enter,ed  into
them who are in Christ Jesus. And of this blessed         an eternal nothingness, suffered the infinite wrath
truth the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the    of God, whereof the cross is but the slightest sym-
divine seal. To understand this we must, of course,       bol. And having suffered the infinite agonies of
understand the true nature of the suffering and           hell, He cried out upon the cross: It is finished!
death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died atoning-       What an amazing word! Finished is the bearing of
ly. He died only for the elect given Him of the           God's wrath, finished is the payment for all our
Father. He did not suffer and die merely as an            sins and guilt, finished is the shedding of blood
example of the love of God. Such an example could         whereof we read throughout the Old Dispensation.
not possibly save us. We are by nature haters of          And finished is the meriting of everlasting life and
God. And no example of the love of God could              glory for all these elect.
possibly induce us to love Him. Neither is it true          And now God raised Him from the dead. The
that Jesus died for everybody. The Arminian proud-        resurrection of Christ is God's answer to the sixth
ly boasts. that his Christ is much richer than the        crossword. It is the public verdict of the Most High
Christ of the Reformed man. He asserts proudly            that His suffering and death were not in vain. It is
that his Christ died for everybody whereas the            the verdict of the Most High to His Servant: Well
Christ of the Reformed man died only for a few.           done, Thou good and faithful servant, enter Thou
His Christ is therefore so much richer than our           into the joy of Thy Lord. What -a terrible moment is
Christ. How wrong he is! The choice does not lie          this resurrection of the Lord for the wicked! Well
between a Christ for some and a Christ for all. The       may they fear. The Christ they hated and slew by
choice lies between a Christ for some and a Christ        wicked hands is Lord of lords and King of kings. He
for none. The Christ of the Arminian died for             will indeed return to judge the quick and the dead.
everybody, also therefore for those who perish.           But, as far as God's people are concerned: fear not
Hence, .this Christ really died for nobody. He died       ye. The angel proclaims unto us Jesus Who was
for all and therefore never paid for sin. Had He died     crucified, crucified for me, crucified that I might
atoningly for everybody, then everybody would             live. My sins are paid and everlasting life and glory
surely be saved. How terribly poor is the view of         are not merited for me. We believe in Christ cruci-
the Arminian! Indeed, Christ died only for the elect      fied and raised from the dead. He, Who was deliv-
given Him of the Father. He took all their sins upon      ered because of our offences, has been raised be-
Himself. He bore the eternal and infinite wrath of        cause of our justification. This is our blessedness:
God upon them. He suffered and died, in full and          Jesus is risen from the dead, and we therefore live
perfect consciousness, in perfect obedience to the        and shall live forevermore.
will of His God. He made Himself of no reputation,

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                          Missionary Methods (15)
                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker



  As I sit at my typewriter in the comfortable study      stated before, however, we are convinced that
of my home in the  Beckwith  Hills subdivision of         Scripture teaches both the principles and the
Northeast Grand Rapids to write these articles on         proper methods of missions. The Gospel, after all,
Missionary Methods I often feel rather uneasy. To         transcends racial, cultural, economic differences
write about the principles of missions as these may       and every other difference which exists among the
be gleaned from Holy Scripture is `not difficult. But     nations of the earth. The gracious power of the Gos-
to write about how these principles .ought to be im-      pel makes us all one in Christ Jesus. In the multi-
plemented on the mission fields both here in North        tude which no man can number (Revelation 7)
America and abroad is not so easy. There are prob-        there will be saints out of every nation. That con-
lems and difficulties, for example, which Christians      viction has guided us in writing thus far, and out of
in Singapore face which are unknown to Christians         that conviction we shall proceed.
in America; and the opposite is also true. As we


298                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  With this  ar&cle we. return  .to our study of  I&.     the conclusion that present forms of  church
John L. Nevius' book, Planting and Development of         organfzation  in the West are not to be, at least with-
Missionary Churches.  In chapter four of this book        out some modification, our guides in the founding
Nevius deals with this question: "What is the best        of infant churches in a heathen land" (p. 56). The
mode of organization for native converts in new           only  guide for the founding of mission churches is
stations?" 1; other words, along which lines ought        HoiyScripture.  Does this-mean that the existing
the native church to be organized? The author             forms of church government in the West are  un-
points out that when missionaries first arrive upon       scriptural? The answer, says Nevius, is no. He  ex-
a foreign field this question scarcely enters their       plains: "A plan of organization in England or Amer-
minds. The answer appears self-evident to them. If        ica may be very different from one adopted in
the missionary is an Anglican he simply assumes
                                               _          China, and both though different may be equally
                                                                                  _  _                _  -
the native church ought to have the episcopal form        Scriptural; and one of- them may  be  suited to the
of church government. If the missionary is Presby-        home church and one to a mission station, just be-
terian he aims to organize the church under the           cause they are different" (p. 56). The all important
Presbyterian and Reformed system of church gov-           question is, Nevius contends, (and we certainly
ernment. Missionaries simply naturally fall into          agree this is the all important question) what do the
this without asking questions. They are anxious to        Scriptures teach concerning church government
put into practice as soon as possible the form of         and organization? Does Scripture lay down certain
church government with which they are the most            fixed and unchanging and rigid rules of church gov-
familiar and which they ai-e convinced is biblical.       ernment to be followed at all times and under all
  But, writes Nevius, "When the missionary, asso-         circumstances? Or does Scripture give us a system
ciated with co-laborers of different nationalities        based on general principles:  ". ..purposely flexible
and church connections, looks at the question of or-      and readily adapting itself, under the guidance of
ganization from the stand-point of mission work on        God's Spirit and providence and common sense, to
heathen ground, it assumes new aspects, and a few         all the conditions in which the Church can be
years' experience and observation will probably ef-       placed?"  (p. 56). Nevius answers: "I believe the
fect a considerable modification of views. He soon        latter is the true supposition" (p. 56).
finds that missionaries of different denominations          Nevius, however, does believe that the main
ignore in a measure for the time being their several      principles which form the basis of church organiza-
systems and, in the first stage of their work, agree
                                     .~                   tion and government in the West are Scriptural. In
in the main in a new plan which all have adopted          this connection he mentions the emphasis in Scrip-
under the force of circumstances. He sees compa-          ture on the office of believer, the appointment of
nies of Christians placed under the care of unoffi-       elders as rulers in the churches, and the office of
cial religious teachers, and native evangelists           deacon. Nevius also speaks of "superintendents or
preaching in unevangelized districts, while there         overseers, having the charge and care of many asso-
are as yet no organized churches, and perhaps no          ciated churches with their elders and deacons" in
bishops, elders, or deacons, nor even candidates for      the early history of the church (p. 57). To what or
the ministry; only missionaries, and native preach-       whom Nevius refers is unclear. If he means the
ers having the names of `helpers,' `catechists,'          Apostles he is correct. The apostle Paul, for exam-
`native assistants,' . ..In places where stations have    ple, speaks of the daily burden of the care of all the
reached a more advanced stage of development, re-         churches which was upon him (cf. II Corinthians
quiring some sort of organization, missionaries are       11:28ff.). But, it must be remembered, the office of
sometimes led by personal proclivities and local cir-     Apostle was unique and limited to the first century
cumstances to the adoption of methods quite aside         A.D., the age of revelation.
from their previous antecedents. Not long since in a        In support of his position, and this is a crucial
conference at Chefoo of missionaries from different       part of his argument, Nevius points to "...diversity
parts of China, it was discovered that an Indepen-        and gradual progression in the application of these
dent was carrying on his work on Presbyterian             principles...distinctly  traceable in the New Testa-
principles, `because they best suited his field'; in      ment" (p. 57). The Gospels and the early part of the
the methods of another Independent from a differ-         Acts indicate a very simple form of government
ent province the prelatical element predominated,         while the latter part of Acts and the Epistles reveal
while a Presbyterian was found working on a plan          a more complete system of government developed
which had very little of Presbyterianism in it, but a     from "previously established germinal principles"
singular blending of Methodism, Independency,             (p. 57). There can be no doubt about this. The office
and Prelacy" (pp. 55, 56).                                of Deacon arose in just this fashion out of a specific
  From these facts, according to Nevius, we are to        need in the early church. Nevius also points to the
learn "that practical experience seems to point to        fact that there has been change and development


                                           THE  STANDARD BEARER                                                 299



through the entire course of the history of the            ent forms of church organization are adapted to se-
church from apostolic times to the present. This too       cure the-best spiritual interests of tl&Church  in the
is true, although some and even perhaps much of            West, the presumption is that in certain respects
the change has not been for the good of the church;        they are for that very reason not adapted to the
Out of all this Nevius raises "...the general question     wants of mission churches in China. What circum-
as to whether the present forms of church govern-          stances could differ more widely than those of
ment are not severally characterized by the special        churches which are the development of centuries
development of some one element to the exclusion           or a millennium of Christian culture, and those just
of others which should supplement and modify it,           emerging from heathenism?" (p. 58).
presenting abnormal and disproportionate growths,            The author continues by applying these ideas to
each Scriptural in its dominating idea, but unscrip-       the needs of the mission in China where he
tural in its human narrowness?" (p. 58). The               labored. To this we shall direct our attention in the
answer of Nevius would obviously be affirmative.           next issue. Let it be noted, however, that these
  Nevius continues with a plea for unity in these          questions are not merely some interesting, abstract
matters among the various missionaries and                 matters of Church Polity and Missiology. They are
denominations represented on the China mission             questions which concern principles of Scripture
field. The missionaries ought "avoid as much as            and, therefore, they are critical for the well-being of
possible in the future the divergences which impair        the church of Jesus Christ in every nation under
the unity and efficiency of the Church at home, re-        heaven. In essence our churches faced the basic
taining and perpetuating a degree of uniformity and        issue involved when they refused to organize the
co-operation which in Western lands seems imprac-          Evangelical Reformed Church in Singapore on any
ticable.. ..Would it not have a decided influence for      other basis than the Three Forms of Unity. May the
good on the home churches?" (p. 58).                       Lord continue to guide His church in the way of the
  Nevius concludes: "On the supposition that pres-         truth also in its mission labors.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE


        I Timothy - Advice for Office Bearers
                                         (Concluded)
                                                Rev. J. Kortering


  Paul wrote this letter to Timothy after he had left      gathering of the church. Since they did not have a
him in Ephesus and went on to Macedonia. You               church building, the formal life of the church was
will recall that this took place between the two im-       limited. The congregation was made up of many
prisonments of Paul at Rome. The occasion was the          groups that met in members' homes. This required
special needs that Timothy had while he continued          leadership; the office bearers who functioned in
to minister to the church at Ephesus. That congre-         these groups needed to know what  .their duties
gation had been the object of much labor on the            were and how to conduct themselves. Paul recog-
part of the apostle  Paul. During his third mission-       nized this need when he visited the church. Since
ary journey, Paul had labored there for some three         Timothy was responsible to give the congregation
years. On his way to Jerusalem, he bid farewell to         this leadership, Paul wrote this letter to Timothy,
the elders of Ephesus and told them that they              and through him gave instruction to the whole
would see his face no more. From prison he wrote           church. The results are beneficial for us  ai we
Ephesians, his letter to the church, exhorting them        study this letter.
to be one in Christ and to live according to the unity
of the Spirit. Paul was released from prison, so he        BRIEF OUTLINE OF THIS LETTER
was able to visit the church at Ephesus and see for           1.  Salutation and blessing (1:  1, 2).  He identifies
himself the progress made there. All during this           himself  .as the author and addresses Timothy as
time, the church continued to grow. Even persecu-          "my own son." He bestows upon him the usual
tion did not hinder the work of the Spirit in the          apostolic blessing.


I-
I     300                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



         2. Paul explains that the occasion for Timothy            given to much wine, not greedy of money, holding
      remaining behind was the presence of false teach-            the mystery of faith in good conscience, first tested
      ers (1:3-l 1). It was necessary because Timothy had          (n0t.a novice), the husband of one wife, ruling his
      to deal with those who had given heed to fables,             family well, his wife grave and not a slanderer (3:8-
      endless geneologies, rather than to godly edifying           12). There is spiritual benefit for the office bearers
      (1:3, 4). These false teachers pretended to be teach-        themselves, for they purchase to themselves bold-
      ers of the law, but did so wrongfully. They taught           ness in faith (3:13).
      work righteousness rather than using the law for               8. Paul interjects a personal note to Timothy
      the knowledge of sin and seeing the need for righ-           (3: 14-16). He reminds him that this letter is to help
      teousness in Christ (1:5-11).                                him know how to behave in the church (3:14).  The
         3. Paul expresses to Timothy and the church his           church is the pillar and ground of the truth  (3:15).
      thanksgiving for being called as an apostle (1:12-           The mystery of godliness is manifest in the fruits of
      17). He is humble in confessing his unworthiness, a          the gospel by the saving of souls (3: 16).
      persecutor, yet one who received mercy  (l:l2-14).             9. Warning concerning apostasy and heresy (4: l-
      He leads the church in acknowledging that Christ             5). This heresy also assumed a form of asceticism,
      came to save sinners of whom he is chief (1: 15).            to abstain from marriage and certain foods. Paul
      The purpose was to give encouragement to all sin-            designates this a  .doctrine of devils which denies
      ners who follow Him (1:16).  He gives glory to God           God's people the use of good things which God in-
      for this (1:17).      .                                      tends to be used with thanksgiving (4: l-5).
         4. Paul charges Timothy to be faithful  (1:18-20).          10. Paul instructs Timothy in how to deal with
      He is to war a good warfare (1:18).  He's to be faith-       various needs of the members of the Ephesian
      ful and not act as Hymenaeus and Alexander whom              church  (4:6-6:19).
      the Apostle delivered unto Satan (1:19,  20).                  a. As a minister, he is to look after himself first,
        5. Rules governing public worship  ~ (2: 1-15).            he must exercise unto godliness, and nourish him-
      Prayers are important in worship. These prayers              self in faith and doctrine in .order to impart this to
      are to be for those in all walks of life, especially for     the congregation  (4:6-11).  He must let no man de-
      rulers, to the end that the people may live a quiet          spise his youth, but be an example in word and con-
      life  (2:1, 2). There is another reason, however, for        versation (4: 12). This requires reading, study, and
      our prayers must be directed to God with a view to           meditation  (4:13, 15). He must gladly use the gifts
      the salvation of the church in Christ Jesus. He will         God gave him and thus save himself and the church
      have all men to be saved, men from all walks of life,        (4:14,  1 6 ) .
      even rulers,  (2:3-6). Once again he emphasizes his
      ordination which gives him authority to teach. That            b. In dealing with older men and women who
      instruction now is that men everywhere lift up holy          err, Timothy must deal with them as he would his
      hands without wrath and doubting  (2:7, 8). When             own father and mother. Likewise the younger
      the women come to church they must be properly               women of the church he must approach as he
      dressed in clothes that reveal godliness (2:9, 10). In       would his sister (5:1,2).
      the church they must not assume to themselves                  c. Care of widows. They must be provided for
      authority, but be in subjection to the men and learn         by their children and relatives (if the latter can but
      in silence. The reason is twofold. First, Adam was           won't they are worse than unbelievers).
      created first, Eve was created after; and secondly,            d. Advice regarding women who assist in the
      Eve was deceived just because she did not live in            church  (5:9-16).  There were widows in the church
      subjection to Adam. There is .hope  for the woman:           who were wealthy and had money and time to help
      she shall be saved in childbearing (2: 11-15).               others. No widow younger than sixty years should
        6. Instruction given concerning the office of el-          be included in this group. The reason is that God
      der (3:1;7). It is a good thing to desire the~:office of     wills that the younger ones marry and fulfill their
      elder (3:l). The qualifications for this office are list-    calling in the home. Besides, younger widows will
      ed: blameless, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober,         not be satisfied and instead give in to their sinful
      of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach, not            inclinations to gossip and cause strife  (5:9, 11-15).
      given to wine, no striker, not greedy of money, pa-          The widows who qualify should be God-fearing,
      tient, not a brawler, not covetous, rules his family         have .experience  in hospitality, and be humble, full
      well, not a novice (newly converted, one not tested          of good works (5: 10).
      in faith), and one who is of good report from the              e. Advice concerning elders  (5:17-20). The
      community (3:2-7).                                           church should be instructed to honor them for their
        7. The qualification for deacons is given (3:8-13).        works' sake-even double honor, once for the
      These include gravity, not double-tongued; not               office and once for the work they do in the office


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        301



(5:17).  This includes paying a minister proper             2. Discuss the evidence there is in I Timothy that
income  (5:18). They may not receive a charge               the journey referred to cannot be one of Paul's jour-
against them without two witnesses  (5:19).  If any         neys recorded in Acts, but must refer to the one he
fail in this they should be publicly rebuked so             took between the two imprisonments in Rome.
others learn (5:20).                                          3. What do we know about Timothy as a young
  f. More words for Timothy  (5:21-25).  He must            preacher? Refer to the evidence the Bible gives us
not show partiality to members  (5:21), not install         about his life.
anyone into office carelessly (5:22), consider drink-         4. What do we learn from this epistle  About  the
ing wine for his health (5:23),  and be a good judge        church at Ephesus?
of human nature (5:24,25).                                    5. How does Paul use himself as an example to
  g. Timothy must instruct the servants  (6:1, 2).          Timothy concerning how to deal with the church of
They must respect masters. If they have believing           God?
masters, they must not claim that unity in Christ
forbids their servitude, nor must they give their un-         6. Are the prayers for those in authority  (2:1-6)
believing masters a hard time.                              limited to their salvation or does it include praying
                                                            for their work as well?
  h. How to deal with controversy over riches
(6:4-19).  Timothy must be able to evaluate the true          7. Reflect upon the role of women in the church
spiritual character of any enemy of the truth-he is         as discussed in this letter (2:9-15; 5:3-16).
destitute of the truth as he argues that gain is godli-       8. How are the qualifications of office bearers
ness (6:3-5). Paul says that true godliness with con-       important for the church today (3:1-14; 4:6-16)?
tentment is gain  (6:6-g). Love of money is the root          9. Consider  why it is that children and relatives
of all evil [6:9, 10). As a minister, he is to warn them    who fail to care for the financial needs of parents
and be an example of godliness (6:11-19).                   are worse than heathen (5:8, 16).
  11. Concluding salutation  (6:20,  21). A final ex-         10. Why do verses 24, 25 of chapter 5 deal with
hortation to keep the word entrusted to him and to          judging character?
avoid foolish argument, "Grace be with thee.
Amen."                                                        11. Reflect upon godliness with contentment
                                                            (6:6)  and explain why the love of money is the
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION                                    opposite. Why is it wrong to want to be rich and try
  1. Explain why I Timothy, II Timothy, and Titus           to become rich (6:9)? What are the hazards of being
are called "Pastoral Epistles." Give an example             rich?
from I Timothy why this is a good name for them.

ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren



             The Christian Reformed Church -
                                        after 125 years

  The Outlooh, March 4, 1983, presents the address             BUILD MY CHURCH" estimates that there were
of Rev. A. Besteman given at the Holland-Zeeland               probably 250 adult members in the newly founded de-
Chapter of the Reformed Fellowship on the occa-                nomination. That number has grown to 180,000 pro-
sion of. the 125th anniversary of the Christian Re-            fessing members, who along with the baptized mem-
formed Church. He comments about the remark-                   bers bring the membership of the Christian Reformed
able growth and the manifold labors of that denom-             Church to nearly 300,000.
ination:                                                             The church which had its beginning here in the
                                                               colony now has a mission outreach into 18 countries.
     That church which had its beginning in 1857 when          The two mission efforts which we support in Nigeria,
   four small congregations broke away from the Re-            and with which we have been concerned for over 40
   formed Church in America now numbers 756 congre-            years have a total of 350,000 church attenders, a num-
   gations. Thea Van Halsema in her book, "I WILL              ber larger than our own church membership.


302                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



         The home mission outreach extends throughout the        He points out that, despite the Synodical  decisiori
       United States and Canada with 2,400 families  wor-        against lodge membership, there are churches who
       shipping in Home Mission Churches each Sunday.            have lodge members at the communion table. He
         The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee           refers to ecumenical services between Christian Re-
   plans to disburse over six and a half million dollars in      formed and Roman Catholics as well as joint daily
   programs of material and physical relief during the           vacation Bible Schools. He shows how hymns have
       next 12 months.                                           displaced Psalm singing. He reminds us of what is
         The Back to God Hour, the radio voice of the Chris-     happening to catechism instruction.
   tian Reformed Church  is. carried on some two hun-              There are more troubling incidents: the denial of
       dred stations throughout our land. The message of the     the historicity of Genesis 3 by Dr. Verhey in 1976;
       Back to God Hour also goes forth in Arabic, Spanish,
       Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Chinese, Japanese,        the question of denial of the historicity of Adam
       and Russian languages.                                    and Eve by Prof. John Stek of Calvin Seminary; the
                                                                 charge by Mr. Liboldt, who was himself refused
         We could also talk about the system of Christian ed-    candidacy in the C.R.C. by the Synod, that Calvin
   ucation on elementary, high school and college levels
   founded  and- supported by the Christian Reformed             Seminary professors "play games with the word
   people. And it would not be idle boasting to say that         `Historical' " when they publicly state that they
   this system, in academic excellence, is second to none.       believe in the "historical Adam." He points  ,too to
                                                                 the "women in office" issue-indicating that some
         We may also refer to Christian agencies and institu-
   tions of mercy which have been established and                churches are "commissioning" women as "adjunct
   which are generously supported by the people called           elders" and churches continue to install women as
       Christian Reformed. . . .                                 deacons-all this, in spite of Synodical decisions
  Rev. Besteman continues by quoting the con-                    which forbid this.
cerns of Elder  Haan  who was largely responsible                  Besteman points to three things which can be
for the break from the Reformed Church as stated                 done. First, there must be earnest prayer for the
by Dr. D.H. Kromminga in his book, THE CHRIS-                    church and its spiritual welfare. Secondly, the el-
TIAN REFORMED TRADITION:                                         ders must take more seriously their calling to super-
                                                                 vise congregation and fellow office-bearers.
         "He had found many pastors and elders of the Re-
   formed Church who made no secret of their member-             Thirdly, the members of the C.R.C. should rejoice
       ship in the lodge. He had seen a minister and an elder    in the establishment of, and support, the  Mid-
   of the Reformed Church take part in a Methodist com-          America Reformed Seminary.
   munion service. He had noticed that a collection of             One can sympathize with the deep concern of
   hymns was displacing the Psalms in public worship             Besteman and the Reformed Fellowship because of
   and that choir singing was silencing congregational           the present condition of the C.R.C. There is reason
   singing. He had observed the displacement of  cateche-        for concern! Still-the presentation leaves the dis-
   tical instruction by the Sunday School and of indoctri-
   nation by instruction in Bible History and he clearly         tinct impression that the situation is now even
   forecast the disastrous results.... Haan  evidently had a     more serious than it was in the Reformed Church
   remarkably correct picture of the leveling influence of       125 years ago-when separation became necessary.
   American interdenominational fellowship."                     If separation was necessary then, what of today? If
  But Besteman continues by pointing out that the                separation is not necessary today, why was it so 125
very things which  Haan  was concerned about in                  years ago? It seems to me that these must be some
the Reformed Church 125 years ago, are things of                 troubling questions in the minds of many in the
concern in the Christian Reformed Church today.                  C.R.C.


            The  Banner  vs:The Presbyterian Journal
                                                on Guatemala

  Several months ago, editor Andrew  Kuyvenho-                   sionary there, Rev. James Dekker. Among other
ven wrote a scathing editorial addressed to Efrain               things, Kuyvenhoven wrote:
Rios Montt, leader of Guatemala. The rebuke came                      "You are allowing army groups to massacre whole
because of the treatment accorded a C.R.C.  mis-                    Indian villages. Your government's effort to blame all


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         3 0 3



    violence on the guerrillas won't work when murder-                 made a trip to Europe without telling responsible
    ers come in army vehicles and shoot from government                church officials in Guatemala that he was leaving the
    helicopters.... Seek justice, correct oppression, defend           country. Best estimate at the purpose of the trip is that
    the fatherless, plead for the widow. And if you do not             it was a "courier job." When  knowIedgeable  people
    wish to listen to this word, please do not mention the             from Guatemala visited Europe hard on the heels of
    name of Jesus anymore."                                            Mr. Dekker's visit and went to some of the places he
  One would conclude that the editor was justified                     visited, they were bombarded with stories of the "ter-
in his strong language. Though the church is not to                    rible conditions in Guatemala."
be involved in political intrigue, and surely not in a               The editor presents much more. He points out
foreign land, still-when a government abuses the                   too that statements as "overwhelming evidence of a
church's missionaries, strong language might be                    ruthless counteroffensive against insurgency" and
justified.                                                         "murderers in army vehicles and helicopters"
   But in the  PresbytetianJoumaZ,  Feb: 23, 1983, a               could be traced to one source only and that proof
large measure of doubt is cast on Kuyvenhoven's                    for such charges is utterly lacking. Fact is, the
account. The editor of the  Presbyterian  Journal  at              editor implies that not the government tias respon-
least strongly intimates that missionary Dekker                    sible for many of the "murders," but the insur-
was engaged in more than mission work. Doubt is                    gents. The editor states in a separate editorial:
cast on the  Banner  presentation. The editor writes:              "Columnist George F. Will said it in words that
                                                                   ought to be chiseled into stone: `This is axiomatic:
       . ..Most infuriating of all, in the process of trying to    Clergy become vocal about headline-grabbing con-
    "sort out" truth from fiction in Central America, are          troversies of social policy when they lose confi-
    the conflicting reports from religious sources-repre-          dence in their ability to speak convincingly about
    sentatives of the churches from whom we expect to              such untrendy subjects as sin and salvation.' And
    get only the unvarnished truth. Surely  churchmen-
    ministers and missionaries-can be counted on to pro-           again: `What Dean William Inge said cannot be said
    vide testimonies that will reliably neutralize the bar-        too often: Christianity is good news, not good
    rage of lies from opposing sides in various conflicts.. . .    advice. '
      But it is not only committed Marxists who distort              "The trouble with too many clergy-and too
    the facts to suit their own unworthy ends. Sometimes           many churches-today is that from them we get
    from right here in the U.S. well-meaning friends of            neither good news nor good advice: We get doubt-
    liberty and justice inadvertently climb on the wrong           ful news and bad advice."
    bandwagon-to the detriment of what might be done
    for true liberty and justice.. . .                               The account is troubling. Which editor is correct?
                                                                   Which judgment concerning Guatemala is right?
   This editor continues by telling how he spent                   And, to what extent may a church become involved
some three months trying to sort out the truth in                  in the politics and injustices of the nation in which
the whole account. He claims that from unim-                       mission work is done? At the very least, editor Kuy-
peachable sources he received a far different story                venhoven has the heavy responsibility to repudiate
than the  Banner  editor gave. His "sources,"                      with proof the Presbyterian JoumaZ-or apologize for
however, are unidentified. His claim is that mis-                  some very terrible charges made. In the meantime,
sionary Dekker gave the appearance, at least, of                   we ought to remember ever the mandate of the
working against the government there.                              church to preach Christ crucified-for the cross is
      Mr. Dekker professes no commitment to Liberation             alone the power and wisdom of God.
    Theology. But in Guatemala, one's  asSociations  inev-
    itably come under close scrutiny. One of these associ-
    ates is now in exile in Costa Rica. He works for Alfalit,
    and got transferred to San Jose when it got too hot for
    him in Guatemala.. . .                                             The Standard Bearer
      If connections attributed to Mr. Dekker are not
    true, he did a poor job of avoiding the appearances-
    for example, he was the last person to be seen with                 makes a thoughtful
    two Kekchi pastors who disappeared immediately af-
    ter the Synod meeting. The liberals in the church ac-                           gift for the
    cused the government of capturing them and that ru-
    mor was widely spread, but it soon became known
    that they had obtained blank checks from the Kekchi                         sick or shut-in.
    Presbytery, which they filled in for several thousand
    dollars from CRC relief funds and have not been
    heard from since.. . .
       Sometime in the next few months, James Dekker


304                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



THEDAYOFSHADOWS


                         The End of the Beginning
                                                Rev. John A. Heys


  Genesis, the book of the beginning, comes in             lay on his deathbed? It cannot be argued that he
chapter  50:26 to its end. Significantly enough the        had no opportunity, since Joseph lived so far away.
book begins with the word "In the beginning..  .."         For Joseph came to visit him with his two sons
And although it does not end with the words "at            when he heard that his father was sick. No, the op-
the end," or "now at the end," or a similar expres-        portunity was there when he made Joseph swear
sion, its last verse does speak of the end of Joseph's     that he would bury his body in Canaan.
life together with the embalming and placing of it            We do find that the dreams of Joseph were still in
in a coffin in Egypt.                                      effect, and therefore the brothers fall down before
  This fiftieth chapter, which brings the book to its      him and call themselves his servants. Surely they
end, contains a statement that in a beautiful way          manifest great fear before him and keep their dis-
explains all that is recorded in the book. And the         tance from him, even though they had the same
setting of these words, designed in inscrutable,           father. But is it not true that we always judge others
divine wisdom, serves to set forth great comfort to        according to what we would do ourselves? They
the church in all ages and situations. Let us note         would have sought revenge, and so they expect Jo-
that.                                                      seph to do so. They deceived their father to get re-
  Joseph's brothers were filled with fear when             venge upon Joseph after he reported their evil to his
their father died. They not only saw his death com-        father and told his dreams, and because they were
ing, but they were on edge for some time in the fear       jealous of the love their father showed so openly to
of what Joseph might do to them. Having guilty             this son. Would they hesitate now to try to deceive
consciences, and not understanding how Joseph              Joseph to protect their own lives, and tell him of a
could brush aside all that which they had done to          command which their father never gave them to re-
him, they expected the worst now that their father         lay to Joseph?
was dead. They believed that it was their father             The fact that they were believing children of God
that kept Joseph from seeking revenge. Now that he         and had shown remorse, and had confessed their
was dead they feared that Joseph would get even            evil, does not change matters. Name, if you can,
with them; and they knew that he was in a position         one mere man, whose mighty works of faith are re-
to do that. Well, no, we never seek to get even with       corded in Holy Writ, of whom sins are not also re-
others who have done to us what we do not like.            corded. What of Noah? of Moses? of David? of Peter
We always want to inflict a bit more misery on             -who made such a beautiful confession a few days
them and to hurt them a degree more than the pain          before he so shamefully denied Jesus three times!
they gave us. We like to give it back with interest.       And does not Paul say that the evil that he would
The loss of a few pennies will move us to take away        not; that he does? Yes, we slip, and slide, and stum-
dollars. Physical injury will be visited with murder.      ble all through our pilgrimage here below. We
A nasty name will move us to seek a nastier name;          show that it is only a small beginning of that new
one vile word will be visited with a string of vile        obedience that we have in this life. The old man of
words. And Joseph's brothers fear what he may              sin does not give up when conversion takes place.
now do to them from his high position in the king-         He hates the new man in Christ; and when that
dom. They know that their father, whom they had            new man appears at the rebirth, the old man is
just buried, cannot speak a word or lift a finger in       stimulated to new deeds of wickedness.
their defence.                                               But there is an heavenly Father and almighty
  The brothers, therefore, send a messenger to             God Who loves that new man in Christ, and He will
Joseph with what they claim is a command to for-           never let the old man of sin crush and destroy that
give, which their father gave them to convey to Jo-        new man in Christ. Yea, He will use the devil and
seph. There is absolutely no evidence that Jacob           his host, and men over whom he has dominion, to
ever gave them that message and that command for           further the cause of the believer and bring him to
Joseph. Would Jacob not have told Joseph that as he        everlasting glory. And that point is made here in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 365



this end of the beginning. Joseph tells his brothers,     plies that he will not be punished. That theory fails
in Genesis  50~20, that although they meant it for        to note what God meant. God planned a great good
evil, God meant it for good to save alive His church.     for-His elect through that fall, so that man fell into
And this holds true for all that we find in this book     the arms of Christ, Who could bring Adam and the
of beginnings. Not once did the evil that men meant       church to a higher glory than Adam ever could.
against the church mean that God was against His          Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
church. Not once did it do harm to that church.           heaven. Adam had no way-no matter how long he
Always, and in every instance, it worked a good           walked perfectly before God-to give us resurrec-
that God had eternally decreed for His church.            tion bodies that are spiritual, with life that is incor-
  Let us not overlook the fact that God meant that        ruptible and undefilable. Our glory comes only in
sin of the brothers. Let it also be noted that the        the way of death and a resurrection with spiritual
word meant is used twice without any indication           bodies. And God meant the fall in order that His
that the meaning changes. It ought to be quite plain      own Son might realize all this for us in a way that
that the brothers planned evil, intended it, and          no mere man could ever realize. And that this is
meant it in that sense. And God meant it also in the      true is plain from the fact that in Colossians  1:15
same sense. He planned it, intended that wicked-          Christ is called the firstborn of every creature. And
ness of the brothers for the good of His church.          the idea is that God had Christ in mind-He  meant
This all was according to His plan, as well as that of    to send Christ even before Adam was created-be-
the brothers. And His plan was behind the plan of         cause eternally He meant a higher good for man
the brothers. He used them for the good of His            than that wherein He created Adam. And the only
people. He used their sin-as was also the case with       way for man to get that higher glory was that way
the cross of Christ-for the good of the church. And       of God Himself coming in that flesh, dying for the
we, no matter what happens in the future, no mat-         church's sins, being raised with a spiritual,
ter how dreadful the persecutions are that are pre-       heavenly body and life that He could give to His
dicted in Holy Writ, may rest assured when they           own, and of creating a new earth and heaven that
come, that the control has not slipped out of God's       would be united in Christ.
hands-not even temporarily-but that He is using             Yes, God meant something, He had something in
the chaff for the good of the wheat. God always           mind before He began to create the world. And
means well for His church and has never, and will         what He had in mind was the everlasting good of an
never plan anything that is going to keep His             elect people that He chose  in'christ. And all that
church from the joys and blessings which He  ,has         which the enemies of the church mean to do-and
promised. Whatever happens-and all that will              they have some dreadful things in mind for that
happen has already been decreed and is written in         church-will be used by God to bring His people
the book with the seven seals-will serve the attain-      into that higher good. Therefore we can stand at the
ment of what God eternally decreed for His people.        grave of one persecuted for righteousness' sake and
And that holds true for the people as a whole. It         behold what evil the enemies of the church meant
holds true also for each individual child of God.         to do and succeeded in doing, and be assured that
God always, in all things, has the good of each elect     God meant it for good to save from this world's
child in mind.                                            woes and to bring into the joys of a better world.
  Space is limited, so let me apply this only to one        In that light we can understand Joseph's request
event in this book of beginnings. And let that one        that his brothers carry his body into Canaan when
event be the first one that took place in the very be-    God visits them to bring them out of Egypt and into
ginning of history. I refer to what Satan meant           the land which He sware to give to Abraham, to
when he came to tempt, and succeeded in                   Isaac and to Jacob. He knows that he will die. But
tempting, man into sin. God meant that fall of man        he also knows that God will use that death for his
as well as Satan did. Satan meant it for one reason.      good. For he is sure that God will keep His promise
God meant it for the glorification of His name and        and give His church the city which hath founda-
the everlasting blessedness of His church. We must        tions, whose designer and builder is God. In that
see that.                                                 faith he wants his body buried in that which is a
  The theory of a "Covenant of works" fails to see        type of that coming kingdom. "By faith Joseph
that. It speaks of a glory Adam could have merited        when he died, made mention of the departing of
for us, and it makes the work of Christ repair work.      the children of Israel; and gave commandment con-
As its very name indicates, it teaches a glory that       cerning his bones" (Hebrews  11:22). Because he
could be obtained by works, not by grace. It fails to     was sure that God meant to bring the Israelites out
realize that to tell a child that if he does a certain    of Egypt and into Canaan, he wants to be buried in
deed he will be punished does not imply that if he        that land of promise.
does well he will receive a coveted gift. It only im-       And even as Jacob's dead body buried in Canaan


306                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



reminded his sons of God's promise to give them                which they expelled him. Now they are willing to
that. land, so Joseph's body in that coffin, waiting           inherit the land with him, and have him inherit it
for the day of deliverance, reminded the brothers of           with them. They meant it for evil, but God meant it
God's promise to bring them back and to give them              for good. And now God makes them do good and to
the land. No return would mean the land will not               desire the good of Joseph. Salvation makes radical
be given them. A sure promise of a return means                changes in the sinner. What a way to end the book
that the promise to give the land will be fulfilled.           of beginnings! For the beginning of the new life
  But what an amazing turn of events! They sold                which is given us is the beginning of our perfection.
Joseph into Egypt and did not want him to inherit              The end, in the sense of goal or purpose, of the be-
anything in the promised land. He forgave them.                ginning in us of a new life is holy, sinless citizens of
And now they swear an oath before God that they                the kingdom of heaven. That end God had in mind
will take his bones and bury them in the land out of           when He began all things in creation.
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS


                                          Nicene Creed
                                                   Rev. James Slopsema


Article 1 (cont'd)                                             mony with the Scriptures. Very seldom if ever does
  The Nicene Creed confesses in Article 1 faith in             the name "Father" refer in the Scriptures to the
the one true God. This one God is further identified           first person of the Godhead. Rather it designates
as the Father,  Almighty,  Maker of heaven and                 the triune God. Take for example the Lord's prayer,
earth, and of all things visible and invisible.                where Christ taught us to pray, "Our Father which
                                                               art in heaven." Quite obviously, the Father in this
  When the creed speaks here of the Father it                  instance is the triune God. We pray not just to the
speaks of the Triune God. Our first inclination may            first person of the Godhead but to the triune God.
be to understand the Father of this first article to be
the first person of the Trinity. That would seem                 In harmony with this we must understand that
reasonable in light of the rest of the creed. For in           when the Nicene Creed speaks of the Son of God it
succeeding articles we read of the Lord Jesus                  does not have in mind simply the second person of
Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and then of              the Godhead as He subsists eternally with the
the Holy Ghost. It would appear reasonable to con-             Father and the Spirit in the divine nature. The
clude that in this way the Nicene Creed identifies             creed refers rather to the eternal Son as He came
for us the three persons of the Godhead. There is              into our flesh through the virgin birth. It refers fur-
the Father, the first person of the Godhead. Then              thermore to the Son of God in our flesh as he subse-
we have the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of            quently suffered for our sins on the cross, died, was
the Godhead. And finally there is the Holy Ghost,              buried, arose again on the third day, ascended into
the third person of the trinity.                               heaven, sits at God's right hand, and will one day
  A closer examination will reveal that this is not            return to judge the living and the dead. In short, the
the case.                                                      creed  is speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is
                                                               indeed the Son of God, but Who is also our Medi-
  First of all, we must notice that Article 1 is speak-        ator and Savior.
ing of the one true God. This one God, Who is iden-
tified as the Father, is in turn described as being              In like manner when the Nicene Creed speaks of
Almighty and the Maker of the heavens and the                  the Holy Ghost it is not speaking just of the third
earth. Certainly this is not true of the first person of       person of the Trinity. It speaks rather of the Holy
the Trinity alone. The first person alone is not the           Spirit as He has been given to Christ at His ascen-
one true God. Nor is He alone Almighty, the Maker              sion to be the Spirit of Christ through Whom the
of the heavens and the earth. All that is said here of         exalted Christ bestows all the blessings of salvation
the Father applies equally to all three persons of the         upon His people. That this is the emphasis of the
Godhead. Consequently, the Father spoken of here               creed is evident from the way that the Holy Ghost
in Article 1 is the triune God. This is also in har-           is described. He is the Lord and Giver of life. This


                      /-~                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                               307



refers to the  ,life of regeneration as worked in the      conception by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the
heart of God's elect by the indwelling Spirit of           virgin Mary to  biirig forth the Lord Jesus.  Thii
Christ. Furthermore, the Holy Ghost is identified as       makes the triune God the Father of Christ in a very
the One Who spoke by the prophets. The word                direct sense. Closely connected to this, God is also
spoken by the prophets of old was the word of              our Father for Christ's sake and in Christ. He is our
Christ. But they spoke that word by the power and          Father first of all because in Christ and for the sake
direction and illumination of the Holy Spirit in the       of Christ He adopts us as His sons and heirs. .Even
service of Christ.                                         as it is possible to adopt into your own home and
  What we have therefore in the Nicene Creed is            family a child that is not your child and make him
the doctrine of the Trinity set forth not in some ab-      an heir of all that you have with all the rights and
stract and philosophical way but as it is revealed in      privileges of a son, so too does God adopt His
the Scriptures. God always reveals Himself in the          people in Christ as His sons and heirs. Being adopt-
Scriptures as being three yet one. However, the            ed by God in Jesus Christ we have all the rights and
Scriptures very seldom speak of any one of the             privileges of sons in God's eternal home  on. high.
three persons as He subsists within the one divine         But in Jesus Christ God becomes our Father in a
nature as such. Instead the Scriptures speak of God        way that no earthly parent can become the father of'
the Father Who is the fulness of time sent His Son         a child whom he has adopted. No adopting parent
into the world in our flesh to seek and to save that       can give his adopted child his own image. No
which was lost. This same eternal Father also lives        parent can take a child he has adopted and make it
in our hearts by His Spirit, and through the indwell-      resemble him as a natural child would. But this is
ing Spirit blesses us with all spiritual blessings from    what God does to those whom He adopts.
heaven. This is sometimes referred to as the eco-          According to the Scriptures we who are in Christ
nomical Trinity in distinction from the ontological        are born again; we are in fact born of God. Through
Trinity. In other words, this is the Trinity as re-        this spiritual rebirth we are restored to the image of
vealed in the work of salvation. And this is how the       God in which we were originally created but which
Nicene Creed also confesses the Trinity.                   we lost in the fall. Being born of God we are made
                                                           to resemble Gdd in a spiritual way. In this sense the
  The next question we face is this: why is the            triune God is our Father in Jesus Christ. This is also
triune God called "Father" both in the Scriptures          the emphasis of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's
and here in the Nicene creed? In what sense is He          Day 9 where the Catechism explains the first article
Father?                                                    of the Apostles' Creed, "I believe in God the
  The basic idea of fatherhood is that of procre-          Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
ation, of authorship, of productivity. Thus for              It was however the intention of the early Chris-
example a man becomes a father when he produces            tian church to emphasize God as Father from the
children. In a somewhat broader sense we use the           viewpoint of His being the Creator of the heavens
idea of father to express that someone is the origina-     and the earth. This is evident from the fact that in
tor or inventor of something. Thus for example we          this same article the early church continued to
speak of the father of  ,modern  science or of some        speak of God as the Maker of heaven and earth,
other branch of science. Or we speak of the father         and of all things visible and invisible. Quite obvi-
of the printing press or some other type of modern         ously the church meant to emphasize that God is
invention.                                                 Father because He is Creator. This is also verified
  In like manner we may also speak of the triune           by the writings of the early church fathers where
God as Father.                                             the emphasis is time and again on God the Father as
  God is Father first of all because of His work of        Creator.
creation. In the beginning God created the heavens           There was good reason for this emphasis. This
and the earth. Out of nothing He brought forth the         truth had to be confessed over against two formida
heavens and the earth in their unformed state.             ble foes that the early church faced: paganism and
Then, according to Genesis 1 He proceeded in six           Gnosticism. In our treatment of this first article of
days to form the light and the firmament and the           the Nicene Creed we have already seen how that
whole creation as we know it today. Hence, God is          the early church was required to oppose the poly-
the Father of the creation. The whole creation finds       theism of both of these. Now we see that the
its source in Him, proceeds from Him, is His child.        church also had to oppose paganism and Gnosti-
                                                           cism on the question of creation.
  According to the Scriptures God is Father in even
a higher sense. God is first of all the Father of our        It is characteristic of all paganistic religions even
Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures speak of this            as they have survived to today to have some con-
quite often. This is true because of the miraculous        cept of the creation of the world. This is to be  ex-


308                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



plained by the fact that from earliest history the         nal and intrinsically evil.  This. Demiurge is
fact of the creation of the world has been  passed         Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament Jews, who
down from generation to generation either in oral          imagines that he alone is God. Over against also
or written  form. However, as the fact of creation         this frightful lie of hell the early Christian church
was passed down through the unbelieving, repro-            set forth in the first article of the Nicene Creed that
bate generations of the world, the story of creation       the triune God Who has revealed Himself in Jesus
was altered and distorted to fit into the godless reli-    Christ is the Father and sole Creator of the uni-
gion which they promoted. The creation of the uni-         verse.
verse in turn was attributed to the idol gods that           The same confession must still be made today,
they served. It was over against this lie first of all     the same truth defended. The church in our land no
that prevailed in the society in which the early           longer must contend with paganism as did the early
church found herself that she confessed in this first      church. And Gnosticism has long ago died out. But
article of the Nicene Creed that the triune God is         the church today is required to contend with the
the Father of the creation. The idol gods of the           error of  scientism and its pet idea of evolution. In
heathen did not create the heavens and the earth.          the modern idea of evolution we see a development
This great and glorious work is to be ascribed solely      in error. Whereas before the unbelieving world was
to the triune God Who sent His only Son to seek            content to allow the creation of the heavens and the
and to save that which is lost.                            earth by some divine force or being, the unbeliever
   That the triune God is the Father of the creation       today will not even allow a creation. Evolution has
w&s also confessed by the early Christian church           no room for either a creator or an act of creation.
over against the error of Gnosticism. We have              The world as we know it today just evolved from
earlier touched on the Gnostic idea of creation. The       nothing to its present form. Foolishness did not die
Gnostics taught that from God, Who is an imper-            with the unbelieving generations which opposed
sonal and unknowable force, there emanates or              the church in her early history. It has been con-
issues forth a series of aeons or spiritual beings.        tinued to this day and taken a great leap forward!
These aeons have divine characteristics and                And over against this great foolishness of men
together comprise the  pZeroma  or fulness of divine       (some even call it wisdom) the church today is
power and attributes. According to the Gnostics,           called to confess, and the faithful church does con-
the weakest of the aeons fell from the spirit woild        fess, "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
and created the Demiurge or Worldmaker. This               Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible
Demiurge in turn formed the present visible world          and invisible."
from the henoma, the world of matter which is eter-

GUESTARTICLE


                                   Jehovah My Portion
                                                 Rev. R.G. Moore


"The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of        prosperity, of physical strength and health, that he
my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. "Psalm 16:5               desires not to be troubled or plagued, that he de-
  The above text affords the child of God great            sires that his eyes stand out with fatness and that he
comfort and assurance as he lives his life as a pil-       may have all that his heart desires. Asaph in Psalm
grim and a stranger in this world. In this Psalm we        73 says that, when looking at the portion of the
find the terms lot, portion, and inheritance used re-      wicked and seeing the above things that the wicked
peatedly. All men seek a certain lot in this life, all     had, his feet had almost slipped. He was tempted to
set their hopes upon a desired portion. What do you        follow their ways because of the portion which was
seek? What do you want out of life? What do you            seemingly good. Then God led him into the sanctu-
look for in your present life? These are important         ary and revealed to him the end of the wicked. But,
questions, and our answers to them are most cru-           beloved, there is no grace in things. May God also
cial.                                                      give us grace to see this. Let us ask the question:
  One might answer that he wants a portion of              What can these above mentioned things really do


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               309



for the child of God? Do they give peace to our soul         of our Lord was good, the lines fell unto Him in
which is burdened with sin? Will they help us to             pleasant places.
manifest the glory of God's Name in our life's                 .We know, therefore, that as children of God we
walk? Do the so-called pleasures of having these             will see much suffering and tribulation in this li?e.
things last? We are told that this creation and all in       And as we think about this portion in life, we may
it perishes. Then what good is physical strength,            tend to say it is too hard. The flesh does not enjoy
riches or any thing in itself? Can they invoke our           this portion, for it is a lot that does not guarantee
hope? Can they give us eternal comfort? Rather it is         any earthly relief. And yet, the Psalmist says it is
true that one who sets his hope on these things is           the portion which is most blessed. For God is our
never satisfied. Always one needs more, or else is           strength and our heritage. This is our confession.
fearful that he will lose what he already has, and he        Beloved readers, this means that we belong to Jeho-
is not at rest. And above all, they can never change         vah, that we are His people. And all that comes
the fact that one dies.                                      upon us, our God, Who is our Covenant Father in
  However, it is true that all men are concerned             Christ sends us in perfect covenant love. We do not
with their lot in this life. We are also affected by         receive a portion in this life haphazardly, but we re-
this concern. We have the need to be satisfied with          ceive exactly what God sends to us. He is our cup.
our life in the midst of the world. This life for man        All that we taste and drink of life is of our covenant
must have purpose and meaning to it. But the                 Father.
wicked seek this satisfaction with life in vain. Then          We speak of not just any god, but of Jehovah.
how blessed are the words of the Psalmist. We have           This is a wonderful part of our confession. We be-
a perfect portion, a perfect lot in life! O! It is true      long to Jehovah, He is our portion. When we are
that the lot in life before us in this year or in our        privileged to hear the true Scripture preached, and
whole life may be characterized by the other por-            the Spirit of our Lord applies that Word unto our
tion received by man as set forth by Asaph in Psalm          hearts so that we live out of it, we are blessed with a
73. Asaph said, his portion was being plagued each           most beautiful confession-a confession that gives
day, and chastened every morning. Often the child            the child of God confidence in all things. With Jeho-
of God's life is filled with trial and tribulation. In       vah, as our cup, indeed we may live with confi-
fact we may expect that this will increasingly be            dence and assurance in this life no matter what we
our portion in this life as the day of Christ draws          face. This gave David all he needed in his difficult
nearer. Antichrist shall more and more press upon            life. This strengthened Christ in the garden of Geth-
us as Satan makes his last futile efforts to bring the       semane to go .on to the cross. And my readers, elect
cause of Christ to naught.                                   in Christ, this confession will give you the confi-
  Yet, I say (yet not I, Christ says) that our portion       dence and strength to fight the battle of faith that
is perfect. This He says in our text when He says            lies before you in the time to come.
the Lord is our portion. Indeed, the children of God           Jehovah is o.ur covenant God. Do you realize the
have had to face many difficult times. We can think          wonder of this truth? It means that God has loved
of David who writes this Psalm. David had many               us from before the foundation of the world. He has
enemies. They came against him in many ways;                 chosen us to be His own precious possession. This
they took counsel together to kill him. His own son          means that our God will care for us; for He has es-
turned against him. Further, he had to fight the bat-        tablished His covenant with us in Christ from eter-
tles of the Lord throughout his life. However,               nity, to take us into His fellowship and communion.
although many were the tribulations, trials, and             It is therefore His will to make us to experience His
temptations of David, he says in Psalm 16, "The              blessings and love through Christ Jesus. And His
lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I          purpose is that all things serve this end.
have a goodly heritage." Besides, it is evident that           Secondly, Jehovah is the unchangeable, and thus
this Psalm is also Messianic, that is, it directly refers    faithful God. The Lord changes not, therefore the
to Christ. What is said here was also said by our            sons of Jacob are not consumed. 0, we are not wor-
Savior. This is evident from the New Testament               thy of salvation, or of God's covenant love. We are
Scripture in Acts two. And Christ's way was the              sinners in and of ourselves. But our God has chosen
way of deepest suffering as He came to bear the              us in Christ unto true covenant life in Christ. And
burden of our sin. This was the portion of His               God is not slack concerning His promises. Because
whole life; but we think especially of our Lord in           God changes not His promise is always sure. There-
the garden, sweating great drops as of blood. We             fore the child of God may be assured that Jehovah
see the anguish cross His face as He suffers, the            Who is his God in Christ shall protect him and shall
righteous for the unrighteous. We see Him on the             deliver him from all sin and evil. And for His sake
cross bearing the very wrath of God to cover the             God will surely send only that portion unto us that
terrible debt of His elect body. Yet too, the portion        shall maintain His promise to save us.


310                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



  Further, because of His name, Jehovah, we know              our portion. Rather, He must become a portion
our God has the power to accomplish the realiza-              unto us. God alone can provide us with this blessed
tion of His covenant promise. He is the "I am that I          lot. It is all one-sided. He chooses us in Christ
am." This means that God is dependent upon no                 before the foundation of the world. He sends His
one, but rather governs and upholds all things. He            only Son to die. Jesus Christ goes alone to the cross
does whatsoever He pleases. Thus, His will He                 that we might receive the blessings which God
accomplishes, and He saves His chosen in Christ.              pours forth. God sends forth the Spirit of His Son
  This confession brings peace, blessing, and joy to          into our hearts to deliver us from the bondage of
us. It is a confession that gives us peace in all of life.    our sin. He changes our hearts, making them new
When we confess Jehovah to be our portion, it                 so that we' are given the power to lay hold on the
means that God makes us one with Himself in                   truths He reveals unto us through the proclamation
Christ. It means that God gave His only Begotten              of the truth. He gives us hearts willing and desirous
Son unto death that we might be heirs of eternal              to serve Him. He guides us by His Spirit and by the
life. Then indeed all things work for the good of             Word of Christ to glory. And He sends the perfect
them who love God, to them who are the called                 portion to serve this end. God maintains our lot!
according to His purpose. All that God sends to us               Surely then we may say with the Psalmist, "the
is sent in Fatherly care.                                     lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea I
  How wonderful this word of God's grace! We                  have a goodly heritage. " This line that the Psalmist
have been blessed in a way few others are, as we              speaks of is a measuring line, something like a sur-
have been priviledged by God to hear this gospel              veyor's chain. Then you see that Jehovah measures
proclaimed unto us. Many hear of a God that is de-            out our portion.. He measures out the proper
pendent upon the will of man in order to save                 portion for His elect children. He gives us a place in
them. Many hear that all things take place accord-            His kingdom. He does so by giving us the means,
ing to a destiny dependent upon, what man does                by drawing us under the true preaching of His
with his life. But then they receive no comfort, they         Word. Whereby He calls us into His comforting
&n only face the future in fear and doubt. But,               arms and gives us the assurance which is here so
beloved readers, we have so much to be thankful               beautifully set forth.
for in a church where the truth of a Psalm such as               It is a most blessed thing that our God has given
this is faithfully proclaimed. For as the Spirit ap-          to us this sound, biblical, Reformed faith to cling to.
plies its truth to our hearts' we are given a know-           We have a blessed heritage and portion. We have
ledge of faith that gives us complete confidence and          been made heirs of the kingdom of heaven! Yea, we
assurance in all the ways of life.                            have a goodly heritage!
  Even more, the Psalmist goes further, and he                   Indeed, it is with humility that we must bow
says that the same Jehovah that is our portion main-          down before our God, expecting all things from
tains our lot, our inheritance. David, or any child of        Him. Then, too, how foolish it would be to be filled
God, knows the impossibility of man's maintaining             with anguish and care. Rather, with contentment
his portion. We are dead ifi our sins and trespasses          and satisfaction we shall receive all things, as from
by nature. Apart from God we cannot have Jehovah              the hand of our covenant God. Let us, therefore,
as our portion. We are not capable naturally of lay-          never cease to praise Him, the God Who is alone
ing hold of God or of His Son. We cannot make God             worthy of all of our praise, honor, and glory.


                                          Book Reviews

KITTO'S DAILY BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS,  by                        dured, God used all these afflictions and troubles to
John Kitto; Kregel Publications, 1981; two volumes:           prepare John for work in the church. He became an
Vol. I, 1008 pp., Vol. II, 894 pp.; $49.95. (Reviewed         expert in Middle Eastern customs and an authority
by Prof. H. Hanko)                                            on the ancient customs of Bible times. He wrote
  The jacket blurb of these books tells us that John          prolifically in his field and contributed much to
Kitto lived from 1804-1854. At an early age (13) a            subsequent knowledge of the cultural, geograph-
bad fall left him totally deaf. Although this was             ical, and historical background of Scripture.
only another in a series of tragedies which he en-            Volume I has an extensive biography of John Kitto


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               311


                                                              7



from which much more can be learned concerning            HOW TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS,  by
the interesting life which this Bible scholar lived.      John D. Arnold/Bert Tompkins; Mott Media, 1982;
  The books are very large with vast amounts of           180 pp., price not given. (Reviewed by Prof. H.
material in them. Each volume is nearly the size of       Hanko)
an ordinary piece of typing paper and each page has          We quote from the preface to give you some idea
two columns on it. So, although the price may seem        of the contents of the book:
somewhat high, there is a great deal of material to                   Section I (Chapters 1 and 2) reminds us
be found here.                                                     that God has given us able minds to deter-
  The subtitle of the two volumes reads, "Studies                  mine and evaluate options, along with
of key characters and problem passages  iti the                    understanding the ultimate responsibility
Scriptures." Undoubtedly this does characterize                    for our decisions. This section explains the
these two volumes in a general way, but they are                   many difficulties people have in making
really much more than that. From one point of                      decisions and further explains why a sys-
view, they serve as a commentary on the whole                      tematic decision-making method is neces-
Bible  - every book of the Bible is discussed in                   sary. . . .
them and most books of an historical kind are treat-                  Section II (Chapters 3 through 9) explains
ed section by section. From another point of vie'w,                in detail our seven-step decision-making
they are a sort of reference book which contains an                process. It has been tested and proven of
abundance of material on such things as the flora                  value to thousands of people as they strug-
and fauna of Bible lands, the geography and history                gled with important decisions of spiritual,
of Bible lands, the customs and culture of Bible                   moral, personal, or financial consequence.. .
people. This feature of the work seemed to this re-                   Section III (Chapters 10 through 13) fo-
viewer to be its greatest value. A bonus in this con-              cuses primarily upon how you can help
nection is the fact that two different editors have                others make decisions. . . .
brought some of the material up to date in the light         The book leaves out the essential Biblical teach-
of more recent discoveries.                               ings on these matters.
  Other interesting and wcn-thwhile  features of the                                  NOTICE!!!
work are: 1) a detailed study of the book of Job (130
pages); 2) a topical discussion of Proverbs,  Ec-            All students who  are to be enrolled for the first time in the Pro-
                                                          testant Reformed Seminary, who are members of the Protestant
clesiastes, Song of Solomon and the prophets; 3) an       Reformed Churches, and who are in need of financial assistance, are
interesting and helpful discussion on Hebrew              to contact the Student Aid Committee, Gerald Bouwkamp, Secre-
poetry; 4) a sound approach to Biblical interpreta-       tary, 5440  Lawndale Ave., Hudsonville, Michigan 49426. (Phone
                                                          616-669-9230). This contact should be  made  by April 9, 1983.
tion; 5) a very skillful and beautiful style (although
in keeping with the days in which the author lived),                         LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE
a skill no doubt developed and honed because of             The Spring Meeting of the League of Eastern Men's and Ladies'
the author's deafness.                                    Societies will be held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, April 12, 1983,
                                                          at 8:00 P.M., at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church. Mem-
  I urge our schools to obtain this work for the          bers and friends are urged to attend.
school libraries. While it is not always easy to find        Prof. Herman Hanko will speak on-"Organ Transplant, Is It Bibli-
material which one wants by looking up the text, an       cal?".
exhaustive index at the end of Volume II makes                                                Gwen Van Kampen (Mrs. Joe)
subject reference work very easy. It can be used in                                                        Secretary
our grade schools as well as our high schools. But it                                 NOTICE!!!
is also a valuable addition to our home libraries. It       The Hull Protestant Reformed Christian School is in need of a
can be helpful in Bible study for societies and per-      teacher for the Kindergarten and Grade 1, for the  1983;?4 school
sonal devotions as well as a general reference work.      year. Please contact Mr. Ron Koole, 306 Second St., Box 618, Hull,
                                                          Iowa 51239. Phone  - (712)  439-1060-

                                                                                                    Henry Hoekstra, Sec'y.



                          News From Our Churches

                                      March 15, 1983      dreds of tapes of sermons and lectures, from which
  What is the "Tape Room"? South Holland  Prot-           tapes can be easily ordered. The Evangelism  Com-
estant Reformed Church has a tape room in the bal-        mittee says that these tapes can be borrowed with-
cony, in which you will find a catalogue listing hun-     out charge or you can purchase a tape for $3.00.


.-.       THE STANDARD BEARER
r.3              P.O. Box 6064
 ;,     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506      ~~  -  ~-~  ~-  ~~-~~-~-~-

                                                                            .             `,





        312                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


          Over the past year the Reformed Witness Com-                  riage classes to three couples presently and later to
        mittee of Hope Protestant Reformed Church, in                   the rest.. . .
        Walker, has received a very large number of re-                    "There is still no news from the Singapore gov-
        quests for tapes, literature, Bibles, etc. from indi-           ernment either on the registration of our church or
        viduals and groups in many areas of the world.                  on the tax exempt status for our church. All of this
        Here are a few of the replies that they received.               is sure taking a very long time. There are also no
          Belfast, Northern Ireland:                                    new developments as far as purchasing property
               ". . ..I would like to thank you for the tapes you       for the church."
          are sending to us.They are a great blessing to us                The Jamaica Missions Committee of First Church
          and other Christians in the Reformed Faith....1               states that Rev. Miersma will return on April 5. You
          had a large selection of Protestant Reformed leaf-            may wonder why three ministers went to Jamaica.
          lets on the book stall and by the end of the week             Rev. Joostens went "because he is the pastor of the
          most of them were gone.... Yours in Christ, Des               church responsible for the field. He then can bring
          mond Callendor."                                              back a first hand report to our consistory, who
          Singapore:                                                    must make recommendations to Synod `83 con-
                                                                        cerning our future labors on this field. Rev.  Flik-
               "....These tapes go into our GLTS tape library.          kema and Rev. Miersma are both on our denomina-
          In fact, we have gatherings regularly on almost               tional Mission Committee and are then also in-
          every Sunday nite to hear tapes and messages                  volved in the oversight of the field."
          from overseas. Rest assured that these tapes will
          be in good use.... Love in Christ, Johnson See                   If you want to discuss how to discipline children
          Choon Hock."                                                  constructively, from the very young through their
                                                                        teen years; how we can teach (children) to be more
       - Accra,  Ghana:                                                 spiritually minded in friends they choose, music
                                                                        they listen to, places they go; what are the implica-
               "This is to inform you of the safe arrival of            tions of making children feel guilty in specific ac-
          your recent parcels, one the cassettes and the                tions they do, and long lasting guilt; what effect the
          other Covenant Witness booklets. I now under-                 use of liquor and tobacco in the home has on chil-
          stand why you are getting mail from Ghana. On                 dren's attitudes; and many other topics, make sure
          Sunday I opened my wireless set to my favorite                you attend the Child Development Conference on
          station ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia and your wit-               April 8, 1983, at Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed
          ness program was on. It is the best Christian                 Church.
          radio station in Africa. Yours in the service of the
          Lord. G.L. Anigba Evangelistic Assn."                            Loveland Protestant Reformed Church had this
                                                                        to say about the lottery in its January 30 bulletin:
          Since I mentioned Singapore, here are excerpts
        from a letter Rev. Arie den Hartog wrote to the First              "Since the Colorado government has instituted
        Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids,                       the public lottery, it is good for us to remind our-
        January 18, 1983, and which was subsequently                    selves that the use of the lottery is forbidden us:
        printed in the March issue of  ACROSS THE                          1. It contributes to covetousness, the root sin of
        AISLE.\                                                                  all gambling. I Tim.  6:lO and Eph.  5:5. Also
          "We,immediately  got back into the work. Later                         8th commandment.
        in the day on which we got back, I attended a                      2. It exposes us to poor  .stewardship wasting
        public engagement of two of the church members.. .                       what God has given us on buying chances.
        The next day I already had to preach and teach                           Eph. 4:8; Heid. Cat. Q. 110.
        Sunday School in the church. I had part of this ser-               3. It corrupts government, their duty is to raise
        mon made while still in the U.S.A.                                       revenue by taxes, not gambling. Rom. 13:6,7.
          "We were surprised to hear when we came back                     Rather, let us be content with what our gracious
        that there are now eight couples in the church plan-            God has given to each of us and use it in His ser-
        ning to get married. So I am busy giving  pre-mar-              vice. Phil. 4:11-13."                         DH


