           The
     STANDARD
          BEARER.
r           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





              SPECIAL ISSUE
        The Truth of God's Covenant
     . . . a covenant home is a reflection, in all its
     rich variety, of -God's dealing with us. Where
     we are conscious of how God works in our
     lives, and where we attempt, by grace, to re-
     flect these great works of grace and love,
     there you have a covenant home.
     See "A Covenant Home: What Is It Like?" -
                                                              page 259



                                          Volume LX, No. 11, March 1, 1984    H


242                                             THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                         CONTENTS                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                         Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                         Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                               SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
  Meditation -                                                 Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       Everlasting and Perfect Covenant  Bliss. ...... .242    Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                               D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                               Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
  Editor's Notes. .............................. .245          Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                               ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
  The Realization of the Covenant. .............. .245         Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
  Fellowship with God. ........................ .247                            Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                               Church News Editor:  Mr. David Harbach
  The Breaking of the Unbreakable Covenant. .... .249                               4930 Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
                                                                                    Grandville, Michigan 49418
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MEDITATION  -


         Everlasting and Perfect Covenant Bliss
                                                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


               And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens,
             and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and
             they shall hear Jezreel.  And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her
             that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my
             people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.                                                       -Hosea 221-23


  What a beautiful and comforting conclusion                      Israel, the church of the old dispensation, in a dark
these words constitute to the message of sin and                 period of apostasy!
grace which the prophet  Hosea  had to bring to


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                          243



  Nowhere more than in this last section of Chap-          To that speech belongs all that makes of a dead
ter 2 does it appear more clearly that the prophet       sinner a living, loving, obedient child of God; and
speaks of God's everlasting covenant of grace with       to it belongs, too, all that makes of the multitude of
His people in Christ Jesus in terms of an unbreak-       elect but in-themselves-lost sinners in Christ Jesus a
able bond of marriage with His beloved, elect wife,      church, God's Bride, the one, holy, catholic
Israel. No, that people is not the Jews as a nation;     church. You may distinguish various phases in that
then this word was never fulfilled, and never shall      speech of God. You may distinguish the very earli-
be. But the reference is to the Israel of God, the       est beginning of His speech by which He implants
spiritual seed of `Abraham from Jew. and .Gentile.       the new life in us, the work of regeneration. You
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises           may distinguish the calling through the Word of
made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but        the gospel and by the Spirit of our Lord Jesus
as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ," Gal.       Christ. You may distinguish the calling of God in
3: 16. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's     Christ at the day of the resurrection of the body,
seed, and heirs according to the promise," Gal.          when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
3:29. With that "seed of Abraham" Jehovah                be raised incorruptible. You may also distinguish
realizes His unbreakable covenant of marriage, be-       that speech of God as it shall continue to all eter-
trothing unto Himself His bride with  lovingkind-        nity: for God in Christ by His mighty Word of love
ness and mercies that are revealed in the way of         will call us His people forever-and thus we shall
righteousness and judgment, so that she has living,      forever be His! He will speak that Word to all His
intimate, spiritual knowledge of the Lord.               own-not to each one individualistically, but to His
  And while the preceding context speaks of that         entire church! If it were conceivable that He should
marriage-relation as such and of its realization, the    cease to speak His almighty Word, we would cease
verses upon which we are meditating speak of the         to be His people, His church. But it is impossible
married life of Jehovah with His Bride. Jehovah,         for Him to cease!
Israel's husband, will in mercy tell her that she is       The speech of love!
His, will speak to her in terms of divine endear-          Threefold is that speech. In the first place,
ment, will sow her unto Himself in the earth, and        Jehovah says to His Bride,  ' `Ammi-My people!"
will open His ear to her every desire. And tasting       This name has occurred and been explained pre-
His love, His Bride shall respond and say, "0 my         viously in the prophecy (l:lO-2: l), and then its sig-
God!"                                                    nificance was viewed distributively: for it was ex-
  Perfect covenant bliss! The everlasting bliss that     plained as meaning, "Ye are the sons of the living
shall be ours in the new heavens and the new earth,      God." Here the emphasis is on the one people.
when the tabernacle of God shall be with men for-        Jehovah's Bride is one church, a race of sons of
ever!                                                    God, all conformed to the image of His Son; and as
                       *****                             one multiform people, they constitute His beloved
  Powerful words of love, of endearment, spoken          wife, His peculiar possession. But when we read
to His spouse!                                           our text in its context, it is plain that Jehovah has
                                                         two more names of endearment for His Bride. The
  Surely, the text describes the speech of love; but     one name is Ruhama-Object of Mercy: "I will
it is an dmighty love. This is no ordinary speech of     have mercy upon her that had not obtained
a husband to his wife, however genuine and en-           mercy." (Cf.  Hosea   1:6, 7;  2:l; Romans  9:24, 25)
dearing and heart-warming such speech may be.            This name is expressive of the blessed truth that
An earthly husband may speak the language of love        Jehovah wills to make His Bride blessed with Him-
to his betrothed; but however genuine and endear-        self. And the third name referred to is Jezreel. The
ing such language may be, it is ultimately ineffec-      name occurs in verse 22 ("and they shall hear
tual unless it finds reponse in the heart of his in-     Jezreel"] and is explained in verse 23: "And I will
tended and she says, "I love you, too!" But Jehovah      sow her unto me in the earth." Also this name
is the Divine Husband. He speaks no ordinary             occurs earlier in the prophecy  (1:4,5), but there it
speech, but divine speech, almighty speech, effica-      occurs in its historical significance and with refer-
cious-and in that sense, irresistible-speech. He         ence to the blood which was shed by Jehu at the
speaks His Word of calling, a speech which accom-        city of Jezreel. Here the name occurs in its  mean-
plishes what it says. Is He not the God Who speaks       ing: "shall be sown." Jehovah's people shall be
and it is done, Who commands and it stands fast?         sown by God Himself, that is, sown in the new
Jehovah loves His Betrothed; and in that love by         earth (not in the old  land of Canaan). He shall say
His Word of calling He makes His people His own,         unto them, "Jezreel,". and so they shall be estab-
His Bride.                                               lished forever in the new creation and shall take
  Saving speech of the Almighty!                         root and bring forth fruit.


244                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  And it is all of grace, grace that is free and unde-      satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the
served!                                                     grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service
  Yes, God's grace is always free and undeserved.           of man: that he may bring forth food out of the
But when that grace is manifested to  sinners,  its         earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
undeserved character is underscored. And this is            and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which
emphasized in this passage. Notice this. Our                strengtheneth man's heart," (Psalm 104:13-15).
English version has it: "...and I will have mercy             we know, of course, that the heavens and the
upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will            earth and the corn and wine and oil do not speak
say to them which were not my people, Thou art              and cry out. We know, too, that Jezreel, God's
my people." In other words, "Lo-Ammi (Not My                Bride, does not pray to corn and wine and oil, but
people)" is changed to "Ammi (My people)"; and              makes known her needs to Jehovah Himself, her
"Lo-Ruhama (Not the object of mercy)" is changed            Husband. But the reference is a very graphic one to
to "Ruhama (Object of mercy)." And while the                the whole chain of mediating causes through which
name Jezreel is not changed, the very name of its           Jehovah concretely hears His people, fulfills their
historical significance as compared with its                needs and supplies their wants perfectly.
meaning, "Jehovah's planting," is a reminder in it-           God's covenant people, His church, shall be es-
self of that free and undeserved grace. Always this         tablished ultimately in Canaan, God's house, in
is the character of Jehovah's loving speech to His          which He shall dwell with His people. But that
Bride. Forever we shall experience that love in             shall not be the old earthly land of Canaan. It shall
Christ Jesus as precisely such a love, a love that          be the new creation. There the tabernacle of God
quickened dead sinners, that changed them from              shall be with men forever.
enemies of God and children of the devil into living
and loving sons of God, into "Ammi, My people!"               And when Jehovah shall dwell in that house of
                         ****                               the new creation with His bride, then His ear shall
                                                            be ever open to her cry. As a loving husband, He
  And what blessedness shall attend the life of             shall be attendant to His Bride's every desire. And
Jehovah's Bride, the Bride of Christ, in the day            He shall see to it that His Bride has no wants. There
when the bliss of God's covenant shall be per-              shall forever and ever be perfect equilibrium be-
fected, in the new creation!                                tween the needs and desires of His Bride and Jeho-
  For "it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear,      vah's supplying of those needs and fulfillment of
saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they           her desires.
shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the            .For He is Jehovah, the unchangeable constant
corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear        and faithful God.
Jezreel."                                                     And He is the God of all the earth, so that all
  Yes, the language is obviously Old Testament. It          things are and shall be at His disposal.
is all in terms of the earthly Canaan, the typical
land flowing with milk and honey. It is in terms of           And He will cause aZZ things to be for the sake of
the life of Israel in that land, when they desired          His beloved wife, His covenant people.
corn to sustain and nourish them, when they de-               We have His Word for it! An emphatic Word it is,
sired the oil of gladness and wine that rejoiceth the       too. For He repeats it: "I will hear, saith Jehovah, I
heart. It is in terms of the fatness of the earthly land    will hear...!"  *
of Canaan.                                                                           ****
  But the reference is to the blessedness of life in          And the response of the Bride shall be that of un-
the heavenly Canaan.                                        inhibited adoration.
  Moreover, there is a figure of speech in this lan-          "My God!"
guage, the figure of personification, so that the             That response says it all. It is the expression of all
heavens and the earth and the corn and the wine             the wonderment, of all the humility, all the
and the oil are depicted as calling out, speaking. Jez-     gratitude, all the joy, all the love to which the heart
reel, God's people, cry for corn and for wine and           of the Bride of Christ can and shall give expression
for oil, for the fatness of the land. The latter in turn    when all this comes to pass in that day.
cry to the earth which produces them and from                 God, Jehovah, says, "My people!"
which they spring forth. The earth in turn cries to
the heavens for rain and sunshine, without which it           The Bride says, "My God!"
cannot produce corn and wine and oil. And the                 Drawn by irresistible love, blessed with every
heavens in turn cry to Jehovah, so that He will             conceivable blessing out of free and sovereign
cause them to give rain and sunshine. For "He               grace, they shaZZ,  as the sure fruit of the experience
watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is          of His love, say it.                SoZi Deo gZorio!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               245



                                       Editor's Notes


  This is the second of our special issues for the         people in the midst of the world.
current volume-year. It is devoted to the truth of         -  -
                                                             There is another special feature of this issue. It
God's covenant. As you will discover in the process        includes an article written for and to our covenant
of reading, however, this issue is by no means sim-        children, We suggest that parents read this article
ply doctrinal in its contents; but it includes articles    with (or to) their children.
of a so-called "practical" nature, that is, articles
which deal with the implications of the truth of             The staff's sub-committee for special issues
God's covenant for our life as God's covenant              thanks all those who helped prepare this issue.




               The Realization of the Covenant
                                                  Rev. C. Hanko





  God realizes His covenant throughout all of              streams, the singing of the birds, and the rustling of
history. From the dawn of creation until the con-          the wind. He was king, whose subjects recognized
summation of all things in the day of Christ's re-         his authority, as he, in turn, devoted himself with
turn, God is gathering His elect people unto Him-          the entire creation to his God. Thus he was priest
self in Christ and preparing them as heirs of eternal      unto God, rendering himself as a daily sacrifice of
life for the glorious blessedness of His covenant fel-     praise to his Sovereign Friend. The one lack in his
lowship in the world to come. Then, and then only,         life was filled by the creation of his wife, Eve, who
the covenant promise will be fully realized in all its     was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. Both
riches, "I will be your God and ye shall be my             were so completely suited to each other that their
people." Therefore throughout history there is also        perfect marital union reflected their intimate cove-
an ever richer unfolding of the revelation of the          nant fellowship with the Most High. Their joy was
covenant. In fact, the course of history runs in           full when God came in the cool of day to walk with
cycles, in which a new aspect of the covenant is re-       them and commune with them at the tree of life.
vealed to the church, followed by a gradual decline        But Adam was fallible and fell into sin. Yet God
into sin and misery, requiring an awakening or re-         was faithful to His covenant. He sought out Adam
formation, by which God proves His faithfulness as         and Eve, rebuked them, but also gave them the
Jehovah, Who keeps covenant forever. For us this           blessed promise of deliverance and salvation
is deeply humiliating. No flesh will ever glory.           through the Seed of the woman, the Christ. Adam
Unto God is the glory forever.                             fell, as it were, into the arms of Christ. The first
  It is our intention to follow briefly the various        Adam opened the way through his fall for the last
phases in the realization of God's eternal covenant.       Adam, Who is the Head of His elect, our eternal
                                                           Prophet, Priest, and King.
  The covenant of paradise.
  Adam came forth from the hand of his Maker as               The Covenant Including All Creation.
the highest of all the earthly creatures, formed in           As sin developed, particularly in the generations
the image of God in true knowledge, righteousness,         of Cain, the first world was ripe for judgment in a
and holiness, capable of knowing, loving, and              comparatively short time. It was to Noah that God
serving God with his whole being as God's friend-          revealed the deliverance of His people through
servant. He was God's prophet, who marvelled at            judgment, which would bring the wicked to ever-
the handiwork of the Creator as he saw the splen-          lasting destruction. Noah was instructed to build
dor of every creature, heard the rushing of the            the ark for the salvation of himself and his family,


246                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



and was given faith to carry out these instructions.      between his feet until Shiloh would come (Gen.
God brought these eight souls through the horror of       49:lO). In an ever increasing measure it became evi-
the flood, saved them through judgment, and               dent that the church of the old dispensation was
brought them back to a purged earth. After the            still, as it were, in its infancy, like a child that still
flood God renewed His covenant with Noah and              had to be taught by pictures. The church of the old
gave him the sign of the rainbow that spanned             dispensation lived in a picture world where their
heaven and earth, uniting them both in one. For           lives were surrounded by types and shadows of the
God assured Noah that He would not again destroy          reality still to come. Again in the descendants of the
the world with water, but when He comes with              patriarchs we see a rapid spiritual degeneration, so
judgment He will do so with a consuming fire,             that God preserves His  p'eople  by bringing them
whereby the present creation will be renewed unto         into bondage in Egypt. There spiritual Israel
heavenly perfection. The sign of the rainbow still        learned to understand more fully the bondage of sin
assures us that God keeps covenant, always pre-           and death as they groaned under the oppression of
serving His church to bring us to glory through the       Pharaoh. Through Moses, the Old Testament medi-
judgment to come. Not only the church, but the            ator, God delivered His people by placing them
whole world is the object of God's love, preserved        under the blood, even as He poured out His judg-
to be delivered from all evil and all evil workers in     ment upon Egypt. With a mighty hand God led
the last day (John 3:16).                                 Israel, the typical nation of God, out of the house of
                                                          bondage through forty years of wandering, and
  The Covenant of Promise.                                brought them into the promised land. At Sinai God
  God continued the covenant line, particularly           established His covenant with Israel as a nation, a
through Shem to Abraham. In the meantime, sin             theocracy, as type of the spiritual nation, God's
once more lifted its vile head in Noah's descen-          chosen people. There at Sinai Israel was placed
dants. Wicked pride caused them to unite under            under the law. God gave them the moral law of the
Nimrod, the mighty hunter, and to build a city and        ten commandments, requiring that their whole life
tower to perpetuate their name upon the earth in          be devoted to Him in love. And He also gave civil
defiance of God. God foiled their plans and scat-         and ceremonial laws that governed every aspect of
tered them over the earth. In Shem's descendants          their lives, so that wherever they turned they met
sin revealed itself in the form of idol worship           the obligation: Do this and live. In the epistle to the
(Joshua 24:2). But God brought Abraham out of Ur          Galatians, Paul tells us that the law did not dis-
of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan, promising        annul the promise as it was given to Abraham, but
him that his seed would be as the stars of the            was added to it as a richer revelation of the righ-
heavens innumerable and that his seed would in-           teousness that is by faith in Jesus Christ. Spiritual
herit the land as a picture of the eternal inheritance    Israel experienced every day anew that it was im-
of God's people in heaven. God showed to                  possible for them to love the Lord their God in
Abraham that righteousness, the right to eternal          every demand of the law. The law became a burden
life, is attained only by grace through faith in the      impossible to bear (Acts 15:lO). For example, every
promised Savior. This Savior would be born to             Friday afternoon the believing Jew washed himself,
him in the line of generations of believers (Gen.         put on his clothing for the Sabbath, and yet realized
17:7).  Thus Abraham was called the father of             that he had not loved the Lord his God with his
believers and a friend of God. To him was given           whole being throughout the week, and therefore
Isaac as a wonder child, born in his old age, reveal-     actually could not keep the Sabbath. (See the fourth
ing to the patriarch the wonder of the virgin birth.      commandment.) Thus the law served a very useful
To him was also given the vision of the slain             purpose, for it was the schoolmaster (or governor)
animals and God walking between the pieces, testi-        which drove them out to Christ to seek all their sal-
fying that He would rather die in giving His only         vation in Him alone. We witness Israel upon the
begotten Son than see His people perish (Gen. 15).        arrival in Canaan standing between mount Gerizim
Later this was confirmed by the substitution of the       and mount Ebal while God's blessings and curses
ram as a sacrifice in the stead of Isaac on Mount         are read to them and the people accept these curses
Moriah, by which Abraham was given a glimpse of           as well as blessings with an emphatic Amen. This
the wonder of Christ's resurrection (Heb. 11: 17-19).     could actually never be done except by faith in the
  The Covenant and the Law.                               promised Savior, Who by His atoning death would
                                                          fulfill all the demands of the law and merit eternal
  God continued His covenant in the line of Isaac,        life for them. By the grace of God Israel could con-
Jacob, and the sons of Jacob, particularly in Judah.      fess, "Blessed is he whose transgressions are for-
These were the shepherd kings who typified Christ,        given, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man
and to them was given the promise that the scepter        unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in
would not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from          whose spirit there is no guile" (Ps. 32: 1,2).


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 247



  The Covenant and the Kingdom.                           the birth of Christ. In the fulness of time God sent
  After the bitterly sad history of the judges and        His Son into the flesh, born of a woman, born
the wicked reign of Saul, God raised up the mati of       under the law. He bore the wrath of God against
His choice, David, to reign over the theocracy.           the sin of His people all His life, was crucified,
Through David God subdued all the enemies that            died, and through His atoning death entered into
oppressed Israel and introduced an era of peace. In       His kingdom, where He received power from the
this, David typified the Christ in His state of humil-    Father to carry out the counsel of God's will unto
iation, in which He fought the battle of the Lord         the day of His return with the clouds. From heaven
against all the forces of darkness, Satan and sin,        He pours out His Spirit into the church, whereby
death and hell, and-thus entered into His glorious        He gathers His church and prepares her for glory.
kingdom in the heavens. After David, Solomon              This is the new covenant spoken of by Jeremiah, as
reigned as the prince of peace during a period of un-     quoted in Hebrews 8:8-10: "Behold, the days come,
equalled peace and prosperity. During Solomon's           saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
reign the temple was built, signifying God's dwell-       with the house of Israel and with the house of
ing among His people. All this pointed to Christ in       Judah.    I will put my laws into their minds and
His exaltation as Lord of lords and King of kings.        write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a
Thus we read in Psalm 89: "I have made a covenant         God, and they shall be to me a people."
with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my  ser-            The Tabernacle of God with Men.
vant, thy seed will I establish forever, and build up       Throughout this new dispensation sin continues
thy throne to all generations. .  ..Also I will make      to develop, finally to culminate in the man of sin,
him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the            the antichrist. Through this development of sin
earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore,         Christ hastens the day of His coming unto the time
and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His            when God fully realizes His covenant in Christ as
seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his         described in Revelation 21, "Behold, the tabernacle
throne as the days of heaven" (Ps.  89:3, 4, 27-29).      of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
This could never be realized in David, but spoke of       and they shall be His people, and God Himself will
the Christ Who was to come.                               be with them and be their God" (vs. 4). This is the
  The New Covenant.                                       wedding feast of the Lamb, the glorious kingdom of
  Israel fell into idolatry and was punished by the       God in Christ Jesus, in which God will be all in all!
dispersion and the Babylonian captivity, upon             Let us wait with uplifted heads, for our salvation
which followed the dark four hundred years before         draws nigh.





                               Fellowship with God
                                               Rev. G. Van Buren




  The truth concerning man's relation with God is         men. Within the church it becomes very plain that
one which deserves our attention and our under-           some sort of beautiful relationship exists between
standing. Nothing can be more important than              God and this people of His church. It is also to be
one's standing before God. It is very literally a mat-    clearly understood that this relationship exists only
ter of life and death.                                    because of and through the cross of Jesus Christ.
  There is a relationship of fellowship between             "Covenant" involves a coming together, a
God and His people. That relationship has been            dwelling under one roof. The term emphasizes that
called a "covenant relationship." This concept is         God and His people have a basis for unity. This, we
fundamental unto a proper understanding of our            believe, is the purpose of God's revelation outside
duties and responsibilities before God and with           of Himself-that a people might eternally dwell


248                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



with Him in Christ.                                                           Though it is difficult for mere creature to com-
   This covenant with God must not be misunder-                             prehend, we confess that there is in God eternal
stood. Many use the term "covenant" rather freely                           communion of the three Persons in one Being. That
-while defining it in an unscriptural way. Some                             is life-the life of God. Without that interaction,
have  regarded  the covenant of God with men as a                           there could be no living God. Were He not three
form of alliance. As two nations might sign an agree-                       Persons in eternal fellowship, there would have
ment for cooperation with mutual stipulations, so                           been no creation and no salvation.
the covenant of God with man is presented. God                                Jesus spake of this eternal fellowship in John
will perform His part of the agreement provided                             5:19, 20: "Then answered Jesus and said unto
that man carries out his part.                                              them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do
   Connected with that, the covenant is presented                           nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father
as a way to an end. It is become the way to attain                          do; for what things  soever He doeth, these also
glory. It is, so it is said, God's arrangement                              doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the
whereby He, with man's assistance, will get some                            Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself
i n t o   h e a v e n .   W i t h   m a n 's   o b e d i e n c e   a n d    doeth: and He will show Him greater works than
cooperation, God will be able to save him and exalt                         these, they ye may marvel." Of the Son, too,
him to the glory of heaven.                                                 Scripture declares (Heb.  1:3), "Who being the
                                                                            brightness of His glory, and the express image of
   Rather, it is the teaching of Scripture that God's                       His person, and upholding all things by the word of
covenant with man is itself the purpose and end of                          His power, and when He had by Himself purged
God's grand design of creating all things and                               our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
redeeming His people in Jesus Christ. God's                                 on high." And Father and Son fellowship in the
covenant with man is not an after-thought. It is His                        Spirit. The Spirit proceeds from both Father and
eternal plan to reveal outside of Himself the bless-                        Son as Jesus points out in John  15:26: "But when
edness of the relationship which exists within Him-                         the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you
self.                                                                       from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which pro-
   The full, glorious realization of this covenant re-                      ceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me."
lationship will be seen in heaven. There, the                                 This covenant life of fellowship which eternally
purpose of God will be fulfilled when His people                            exists within God, is the basis for the manifestation
can perfectly and forever have communion and                                of covenant life between God and His people in
fellowship with God. This is the goal which God                             Christ. God would show, in the highest way possi-
has in mind. His purpose is not simply to bring a                           ble, the wonder and glory of that fellowship.
people to a wonderful place-but He will bring
them into wonderful fellowship with Himself. The                              One recognizes through all of Scripture how
purpose is not simply to enjoy the good things of a                         wonderfully God shows this covenant when He
perfect world-but to enjoy speaking with God                                created all things and now redeems His creation
which is life itself. All of creation and all of the                        and people through Christ. The truth concerning
body of Christ will be united in beautiful harmony                          the establishment of this covenant between God
to the praise of the T\Tame of our God.                                     and His people, a truth often ignored, is that God
                                                                            Himself establishes it. It is not a cooperative effort,
   This covenant fellowship is already enjoyed by                           not an agreement between God and man. Rather,
the child of God in this earth. He has the opportu-                         God Himself establishes His covenant. He showed
nity to speak with,God through prayer. He has the                           this great truth to Abraham in Genesis  15:9-18 in
desire and opportunity to read His Word. He                                 response to the question of Abraham, "Whereby
knows that God speaks to him through His Word                               shall I know that I shall inherit the land of
and by His Spirit. There is the foretaste of eternal                        Canaan?" God commanded him to take three
fellowship already now. This is the essence of                              animals and a dove and young pigeon. The animals
eternal life, as Jesus taught, "And this is life eternal,                   were to be divided in half. Normally, when a cove-
that they might know thee the only true' God, and                           nant or agreement was made, the participating
Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).                             parties would together pass between the divided
   The reason that God determines that this shall be                        animals. In this case there was an obvious differ-
the essence of the glory of heaven is that it is His                        ence. When it was dark, Abraham saw a smoking
pleasure to reveal outside of Himself to His people                         furnace and burning lamp pass between the  pieces-
that glorious relationship which exists within the                          signifying the Presence of God passing between.
Triune God eternally. God, after all, plans all things                      But Abraham, with whom the covenant was estab-
in order to show within His creation the beautiful                          lished, did not pass between the parts. What did
fellowship which exists in the Trinity between                              that mean? It pointed to the wonderful fact that the
Father, Son, and Spirit.                                                    establishment of God's covenant with Abraham


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                249



and all his spiritual seed was through the power            way of redemption-the cross. Now in communion
and act of God-and not with the help of men. The            with God, we can enjoy guidance and encourage-
covenant is established by God Himself.                     ment in our earthly journey to glory.
  God further pointed out in Scripture that, after            There is also assurance of God's blessings daily.
the fall, the covenant is possible only through the         Those who enjoy a covenant-relationship with God,
blood of the Lamb. In Genesis 17:10, God spake to           can do so because He bestows all spiritual blessings
Abraham, "This is my covenant, which ye shall               upon His people. They receive the gifts of love,
keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee;           mercy, wisdom, knowledge. They have what they
Every man child among you shall be circumcised."            need to live a covenantal life in this world.
This circumcision, the shedding of blood, pointed             All of this has to do with our relationships with
to the truth-that the covenant can be established           each other-and especially of our relationships
only in the way of shed blood-ultimately of Christ          within the home. How does our relationship with
Himself on the cross. For God will establish a              God reveal itself in our relationships with one
relationship with His people only in the way of             another? He who loves God will love his brother
having their sins covered-thus satisfying the just          also.
demands of the righteous God. Other Scripture
confirms this same wonderful truth.                           Then the covenant child of God will not be
                                                            guided or set his standards by that which the world
  Another important truth which God had                     has to offer. By way of advertising as well as
revealed concerning this covenant is that it would          through its corrupt dramatizations, the world
continue in the line of generations. The covenant           clearly sets forth what its standards and goals are'.
was not made with single individuals haphazardly            The heart of man is set upon material things. He
gathered from the peoples of the earth. Rather, God         finds his pleasure in earthly, worldly amusements.
would fellowship with His people  and their                 He considers this life as the end of all things.
spiritual seed.  Already to Abraham God had said,
"And I will establish My covenant between Me                  For the Christian, it is not so. He has the Word of
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generation        God to serve as his guide. That Word directs in a
for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee,         godly walk and holy life. It is the standard of
and to thy seed after thee" (Gen.  17:7).  The same         measurement for the Christian life. He who begins
truth was repeated in the New Testament when                to understand what is involved in the covenant of
Peter declared in Acts  2:39 at Pentecost, "For the         God with man, will spend much time with the
promise is unto you and to your children... ." This         Word of God. Though so many scoff at the very
fact explains the church's emphasis not only on the         idea, there is really no other answer for proper holy
covenant, but also upon covenantal instruction of           living than that found in Scripture. The family
the youth and their baptism in infancy.                     which prays together (and studies Scripture
                                                            together) stays together. Where Scripture and
  This covenant which God Himself establishes               prayer are ignored in the home, there usually one
through Christ, is the basis for hope and comfort           finds troubles and disruptions.
for the child of God. Surely, first, there is no fear or
terror of that One with whom we can now have                  Of what I have to say, this is the sum: apply the
fellowship and communion. God is God. He is just            truths of the covenant to our family living-and the
and righteous in all of His ways. He will not allow         blessings of God will rest on such a household.
sin to go unpunished. But He has also provided the




                                The Breaking of the
                            Unbreakable Covenant
                                               Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


  There is a rather wide range of expressions,  es-         Genesis 17:9-14 observing the institution of circum-
pecially in the Old Testament Scriptures, which             cision is equivalent to keeping God's covenant,
refer to covenant-breaking. Thus, for example, in           while of him who is not circumcised it is said that


     250                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



     "he hath broken my covenant." In Exodus  19:5              striking, in the first place, because it speaks in one
     obeying Jehovah's voice is equivalent to keeping           and the same verse of the breaking of God's
     (opposite of breaking) His covenant. In Exodus             covenant and of the fact that it is everlasting. This
     31:16 we read of the keeping of the sabbath "for a         raises the question: how can God's covenant be
     perpetual covenant." In Leviticus .26: 14, 15 dispis-      everlasting and nevertheless be broken? Or: how
     ing Jehovah's statutes and abhorring His judgments         can the unbreakable (everlasting) be broken?
     and not doing all His commandments is equivalent           Secondly, the passage in Isaiah 24 is striking be-
     to breaking His covenant. Yet in vs. 44 of the same        cause of its broad sweep. The entire chapter speaks
     chapter the Lord states, "And yet for all that, when       of the judgment of the world. And it speaks of the
     they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast      sin of the world as ground for its final judgment.
     them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy           And it specifically refers to this sin as a transgres-
     them utterly and to break my covenant with them:           sing of the laws, changing of the ordinance (statute),
     for I am the Lord their God." Other expressions            and a breaking of the everlasting covenant.
     occur. Deuteronomy  4:23 speaks of forgetting                It is especially in connection with Isaiah 24:5 that
     God's covenant by making a graven image. Yet vs.           we shall make a few remarks concerning the
     31 of the same chapter emphasizes that Jehovah             breaking of the covenant.
     will not "forget the covenant of thy fathers which
     He sware unto them." Deuteronomy 17:2 speaks of              First of all, we may note that Scripture speaks of
     transgressing the covenant by doing wickedness             the  everbsting   covenant. As the covenant is often
     and engaging in idolatry. In connection with the sin       explained, one would not expect this expression in
     of Achan, Joshua 7, Scripture also speaks of trans-        the text. For one thing, the covenant is often
     gressing the covenant by taking the accursed thing.        viewed as a way, or means, to an end-the way of
     In Joshua 23:16 the same expression occurs, where          or to salvation. And then it is often described as an
     it refers to serving other gods. And II Kings  18:12       agreement or contract or pact between God and
     the transgression of the covenant is equivalent to         man; or it is described as consisting in a conditional
     transgressing all that Moses commanded. Scripture          promise. Further, it is not unusual that men speak
     also speaks of the forsaking of God's covenant,            of various such agreements. There was one with
     Deut. 29:25, I Kings 19:10, Jeremiah 22:9. It speaks       Adam, called the covenant of works. There was a
     of not keeping the covenant, I Kings  ll:ll, Psalm         covenant with Noah, called the covenant of nature
     78:lO. It speaks of (not) dealing falsely in God's         or the covenant of common grace. And there was
     covenant, Psalm 44:17. Jeremiah 11:3 speaks of not         the covenant with Abraham and his seed, the
     obeying the words of this covenant. In Deuteron-           covenant of particular grace. With such a concep-
     omy 31:16, ff. it is even told Moses in advance that       tion it becomes very difficult, of course, to under-
     after he dies the children of Israel "will forsake Me,     stand how the covenant is everlasting. For one
     and break My covenant which I have made with               thing, if the covenant is simply a means or way to a
     them."                                                     certain end, then that covenant falls away when
                                                                and if the end is attained; and it can hardly be
       Yet, as we have seen, the Lord asserts that He           understood as being everlasting in that case. Be-
     will not break His covenant. Besides, the Scriptures       sides, the difficulty arises that if the covenant with
     speak often of the fact that God's covenant cannot         Adam and the covenant with Noah were not of an
     be broken. In Jeremiah 33:19-21 we read: "And the          everlasting nature, while the covenant with Abra-
     word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus          ham was everlasting, how is this to be explained?
     saith the Lord; If ye can break My covenant of the         How could the whole world (and Isaiah 24 certainly
     day, and my covenant of the night, and that there          speaks of universal judgment) break the covenant
     should not be day and night in their season; Then          with Abraham and his seed?
     may also My covenant be broken with David My                 Hence, we must bear in mind that the covenant
     servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon       is `essentially one. There are not several different
     his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my           covenants in Scripture, but only one covenant.
     ministers." And frequently, as we know, Scripture          There are indeed various manifestations and
     speaks of God's covenant as being  everzasting.            dispensations of that one covenant. And there is
     Striking in this connection is the text in Isaiah 24:5,    progress in Scripture in the revelation of that cove-
     "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants           nant. But the covenant is essentially one. And the
     thereof; because they have transgressed the laws,          essential idea of that covenant is that of the relation
     changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting              of friendship. This friendship-relation exists, first of
     covenant." More than one passage of Scripture em-          all, eternally in God Himself. The Three Persons of
I    phasizes in one way or another that God's covenant         the Trinity, Who are One in Being, from eternity to
     is unbreakable, that it cannot be disannulled, or          eternity live a life of perfect harmony, harmonious
     that it is everlasting. But the passage in Isaiah 24 is    fellowship, friendship, in themselves. This is true


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               251



because there is in God the highest possible like-        and Scripture speaks, of breaking the law or break-
ness (His Oneness of Being) with personal distinc-        ing the commandment, so it speaks of breaking the
tion (the Three Persons). Of the Father, in the Son,      covenant. When we break a commandment, that
and through the Holy Spirit, God knows and loves          does not mean that a commandment is actually de-
and delights in and has fellowship with Himself. If       stroyed and made void. Similarly when Scripture
God were only One, He could never have fellow-            speaks of breaking the covenant (and the Dutch
ship; He would be a dead, static God. But now He is       translation here is strong: vernietigen, to negate, to
the Triune; and He lives a life of perfect and eternal    put to naught), that does not mean that the cove-
friendship in and of and by Himself.                      nant is actually destroyed and made void. Apart
  But that friendship-relation is also the essential      from the fact that this would have other serious im-
idea of God's covenant with man. It pleased God to        plications, this would raise the question: how can a
reveal His covenant life outside of Himself to and        covenant that is eternal be voided and brought to
in the creature. It pleased God to reveal His life of     nothing? That is, how could it nevertheless be eter-
friendship to and in a creature, man, who was so          nal  in that case? Besides, how could a mere man
created that he was able to enter into and to enjoy       make void and make vain the work of the living
that life of divine friendship. And so that covenant      God and bring it to nothing? Hence, that cannot
life of God in Himself is reflected in man, who is        possibly be the meaning.
created originally in God's image and thus adapted          But this expression does imply, in the first place,
to that life of God. Only we must remember that in        that man is in his very being a creature who was
that covenant relation God remains God and man            adapted to that covenant life of friendship. He was
remains man. Hence, in the covenant relation God          created originally after God's image, in true know-
is Friend-Sovereign, and man is God's friend-ser-         ledge, righteousness, and holiness. And as such he
vant. The covenant means, as it were, that man is         was adapted to the life of God's friendship. True,
taken up into the stream of God's own life of             he lost all his original righteousness through his
friendship, to enjoy Him, to delight in His fellow-       own fault through the fall and disobedience of our
ship and in His lovingkindness that is better than        first parents. But that does not change the fact of
life, and to serve Him in love with all his heart and     his original creation. He can never escape that, and
mind and soul and strength.                               he can never escape the implications of it or the re-
  That covenant is eternal. It is eternal in God          sponsibility under which this placed him. In the
Himself. But also as His covenant with His people it      second place, this implies that principally the
is an eternal covenant of grace. It cannot be broken      wicked man always sins as such a "covenant crea-
in the sense that that bond of friendship can be          ture." In that basic sense, aZZ sin is always breach of
severed, in the sense that God's covenant can be          the covenant, transgression of God's covenant. He
abrogated. If I may run ahead of myself for a             who was originally the friend of God-and who is
moment and refer to that covenant as it is sealed in      still obligated to be the friend of God-is become
holy baptism, this is precisely the comforting truth      God's enemy. The knower of God is become a liar
which our Form for the Administration of Baptism          and walks in darkness. He who must be righteous
emphasizes so beautifully. The fact of the matter is      and must walk in righteousness does unrighteous-
that we, on our part, violate that covenant. We do        ness. He who must be holy and walk in holiness is
not fulfill our "part" of the covenant of grace, ex-      corrupt in all his life and walk. As far as he is con-
cept in principle. That second part, remember-and         cerned, the ungodly man always lives contrary to
it is second, not first-is that we shall love the Lord    that covenant life. He breaks God's covenant. On
our God with all our heart and mind and soul and          his part, he smashes it in pieces and tramples it
strength,  shall forsake the world, crucify our old       with his feet.
nature, and walk in a new and holy life. But we do        [My subject turned out to be too big for a single
not do this perfectly. We even  faZZ  into sin. But       article. You are invited to read the sequel in our
what does our Baptism Form say about this?                next issue. HCH]                _-
Notice: "And if we sometimes through weakness
fall into sin, we must not therefore despair of God's
mercy, nor continue in sin, since baptism is a seal
and  undoubted  testimony that  we have  an  eternaZ                Read and study
covenant of grace with God." (italics added) Thank
God for that! His covenant bond He will not sever!         The Standard Bearer
  Nevertheless, Isaiah here speaks of men as
having "broken the everlasting covenant." And the
term that is used here indeed means "to break"
though it is used figuratively. Just as we can speak,


252                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



               God's Covenant, a Family Covenant
                                               Rev. RonaZd Hanko





  Apart from the incarnation of our Lord Jesus            Church; "For the promise is unto you, and to your
Christ, there is nothing which so wonderfully dis-        children, and to all that are afar off, even as many
plays the richness of His grace as the promise of the     as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts  2:39). Nor
covenant, that He will not only be the God of His         would the church as Institute have any hope for the
people but of their children after them. It is accord-    future, were it not for these richest blessings of
ing to this promise that God establishes His              God's grace. Apart from this promise and its gra-
covenant of grace in the line of continuing genera-       cious, faithful fulfillment,. the church would have
tions.                                                    to be re-constituted and re-established with every
  The richness of this promise is beautifully illus-      passing generation. It is not surprising, therefore,
trated in the story of the Philippian jailer (Acts        that the Psalmist in Psalm 128 not only speaks of
16:25-34). This man, who was instrumental in op-          seeing children's children, but also of seeing the
posing the Gospel in the city of Philippi, was            good of Jerusalem (vs. 5).
brought to his knees by the mighty works of God             The fact that God's covenant is a family covenant
and by the witness of Paul and Silas. And when, by        is revealed in many different ways in Scripture. It is
God's great grace, he asked concerning his salva-         specifically stated in the promises of the covenant
tion, the promise was given to him that not only he       as given to God's people in the Old Testament, to
but also his house would be saved. And that               Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham and the Patri-
promise was richly and abundantly fulfilled, for it       archs, to David, and to Israel  (Gem  3:15,  9:9,
was the proniise of the Almighty, confirmed by an         17:7,  26:3-4,  28:13-14,   E x .   2:23-25,   P s .   89:29-37,
oath and revealing the immutability of His counsel.       103:17, Is.  44:3-4). It is implied in all the admoni-
Not one word failed of that promise, but the gifts of     tions to instruct the children of the covenant and
faith and repentance were given also to those of his      the warning against those who do not (Gen. 18:17-
household, and he and his were baptized that same         19, Ps. 78: l-8, Judges 2: 10). It is implied in the Fifth
night into the fellowship of Jesus Christ and into        Commandment which is very much a family
the hope of glory. No wonder, then, that he re-           commandment in that it is addressed to children as
joiced, for God had done for him exceeding abun-          those to whom Jehovah says, "I am the Lord thy
dantly beyond what he had asked or thought.               God, which brought thee forth out of the land of
  Psalm 128 also declares this biessedness, that the      Egypt, out of the house of bondage." So too, in
man who fears Jehovah and walks in His ways shall         Israel's history, children with their parents, as
enjoy Jehovah's goodness with his family, for his         families were baptized in the cloud and in the sea,
wife shall be a fruitful vine and his children like       ate of the bread from heaven, drank of the spiritual
olive plants round his table. Nor do these things re-     rock, and entered into the promised land. Even the
fer only to the enjoyment of earthly benefits, for        Old Testament sign of the covenant revealed the
there is neither blessedness, nor peace except in the     family character of the covenant, not only in the
way of salvation, and of these things also the Psalm-     fact that children received the sign, but also in that
ist speaks.                                               the sign itself was performed upon the male genera-
                                                          tive organ. It is for this reason that Psalm 127:3 tells
  And in the same measure as this truth shows             us that children are an heritage or inheritance from
forth the riches of God's grace to His people, in         Jehovah, a part of the reward of grace that He gives
such measure it is precious to them. What possible        to us. This is true only if we understand that those
point, for example, would there be, or what incen-        children are included in His covenant, for children
tive to labor in the establishment and maintenance        who are not included are neither a reward nor a
of Christian schools and homes, were it not for the       blessing, but a "grief of mind" to their parents
promise, "I will be a God unto thee and to thy seed       (Gen. 26:34-35).
after thee" (Gen.  17:7).  Who would even dare to
bring children into the world in these last days be-        That all this was true in the Old Testament is not
fore the end, except that the promise, as declared to     usually denied by anyone. Nevertheless, there are
Abraham, is also given to the New Testament               many of a Baptist persuasion who do deny that the


                                                       THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                253



       covenant of God in the New Testament is still a                that family life and deals with us as families, so that
       family covenant, for certainly a family covenant in            there may be unity and harmony between Himself
       the New Testament does not harmonize with their                and His works.
       denial of infant baptism. By this denial, however,               Thus it is that the truth of the Trinity and the
       they make void for the New Testament Church all                whole idea of fellowship and love are woven
       of the Psalms and prophecies to which we have re-              together in the First Epistle of John. It is also for
       ferred, and even the Ten Commandments and                      this reason that John deliberately addresses him-
       much of the rest of the Old Testament, so much of              self to families in chapter 1: 13, 14 and to the church
       which is deliberately addressed to families and not            as a family, using such words as children, brethren,
       just to individuals.                                           Father, Son, sons again and again in the Epistle.
         But, more importantly, the New Testament itself                All this does not mean, of course, that anyone re-
       teaches us that God's covenant is a family cove-               ceives salvation because of his natural birth, or that
       nant. It is exactly that promise of the covenant that          the promise of the covenant means that every
       God will be the God of His people and of their                 member of a covenant family shall be saved. To re-
       children after them that Peter proclaimed on the               ceive salvation in the line of generations is not to re-
       great day of Pentecost  &hen the New Testament                 ceive it from those generations. Nor does the
       Church received from Christ in heaven all the bless-           promise to save families and generations mean that
       ings of His death and resurrection. That promise               every individual shall receive that salvation, no
       and its fulfillment in the New Testament is also the           more than God's promise to save the world means
       explanation of all those passages in the New Testa-            that every individual shall be saved. This is
       ment which speak of the salvation of households                beautifully illustrated in the parable of the
       (Luke  19:9, John  4:53, Acts  10:2,  16:14-15, 16:30-         husbandman in John 15. The husbandman's
       33, 18:8, I Cor. 1:13, II Tim. 1:16).  Those who argue         purpose to save His vine is not a purpose to save
       for adult baptism completely miss the point when               every branch. Many branches are taken away,
       they argue that none of these passages speak of                gathered, and burned, and even the branches that
       children, for the point is not so much that God's              remain in the vine are pruned and purged. There
       covenant is also established with children as that             are fruit-bearing branches, as well as suckers that
       God's covenant is always a family covenant both in             grow and, for the very life of the fruit-bearing
       the Old and New Testaments.                                    branches, must be taken away. Not all are Israel
         It is for this reason that the Church itself is called       that are of Israel, even in the New Testament.
       a family or household in the New Testament (Gal.                 From the beginning there has also been a seed of
       6:10, Eph.  2:19,  3:16). It is built up of families and       the Serpent born in the line of God's covenant, and
       households (Acts  5:42,  20:20, Col.  1:18-22, etc.),          the presence of that seed is a continual reminder
       takes the form of a family with its elders and other           that salvation is from God alone and not because of
       office-bearers (I Cor.  4:15, Gal.  4:19, I Tim.  5:1,  2),    earthly generations. In fact, the Scriptures make it
       and is altogether the family of God, acknowledging             abundantly clear that even the presence of this seed
       God as Father and submitting to the rule of Christ,            of the serpent does not mean that God's promise to
       the elder brother in the house of God (II Cor. 6:18,           be the God of His people and of their children after
       Heb. 2:13, etc.).                                              them ever fails. When Elijah thought the promise
         This truth that God's covenant with His saints is            had failed in Israel and begged for death, God told
       a family covenant has its  fqundation in the truth             Him that there were still 7,000 who had ndt bowed
       that God Himself is a family God. God's revelation             to  Baa1  and that in that elect remnant His promise
       of Himself in creation and in salvation is always              was completely fulfilled (cf. Rom. 11: l-5). They
       consistent with His own nature and Being and re-               alone were true Israel and they alone obtained that
       flects to us what He is in Himself. Therefore, be-             which was promised.
       cause He is unchangeable, and because He is Him-                 God also reminds us that salvation is of grace
       self a family God, His covenant with His people                alone when He brings new families into the cove-
       must be and always is a family covenant.                       nant, when He raises up children of Abraham, as it
         It is in the doctrine of the Trinity that God makes          were, from the stones. In all His work among the
       Himself known as a covenant God. In the Trinity                Gentiles God has been reminding Israel and us that
       He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, living one life of         we must not trust in anything but God alone.
       perfect fellowship, in perfect harmony and love-a              Nevertheless, He never fails to reveal His goodness
       Family God (Prov. 8:30, 31, John 17:21-23). It is for          to His saints in fulfilling the family promise of His
       that reason first of all -that He is called a Covenant         covenant to them.
       God in Scripture. When He reveals that covenant to
I                                                                       Nor may we forget that He fulfills that promise
       us, then He does not change it, but takes us into              in the way of faithful covenant instruction. That


I .


254                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



the promise is of God and the fulfillment by grace        prayer must be the prayer of David when God's
alone does not take away our responsibility to be         family covenant was revealed to him:
teachers both by word and example in our homes                  Who am I, 0 Lord God? and what is my
and in the church. The blessedness of which Psalm             house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?
128 speaks belongs to those who fear Jehovah and              And this was yet a small thing in Thy sight,
who keep His commandments. Just as the genera-                0  L6rd God; but Thou hast spoken also of
tions of Israel were cut out of God's covenant for            Thy servant's house for a great while to
their unfaithfulness, so too we can be cut off in our         come. And is this the manner of men, 0
generations. We must trust only in His faithfulness,          Lord God? And what can (we) say more
and in faith obey God's command to make known                 unto Thee? for Thou Lord knowest Thy ser'
to our children the praises of the Lord, and his              vant. For Thy word's sake, and according to
strength and the wonderful works which He has                 Thine own heart, hast Thou done all these
done. Then God, working by His grace through that             great things, to make Thy servant know
instruction, will use His own covenant promise to             them. Wherefore Thou art great, 0 Lord
save children's children and to reveal the riches of          God: for there is none like Thee, neither is
His grace.                                                    there any God beside Thee, according to all
  Understanding these things, knowing and experi-             that we have heard with our ears (II Sam.
encing the riches of God's covenant grace, our                7:18-22).





                                 Christian Marriage
                                             Prof: Robert D. Decker





   Practically everything in our time is geared to the    talents, pursue her own interests, and in these ways
satisfaction of man's lust. Men and women burn in         and more find her "fulfillment."
their lust and wicked passion toward one another.            That all of this has influenced the church cannot
Immorality permeates not only stage and film, but         be gainsaid. This explains, for example, the denial
book and magazine. It takes pictures of bikini clad       of the biblical teaching concerning divorce and the
young women to sell everything from toothpaste to         re-marriage of divorced persons common in many
automobiles. The corruption of our world is shock-        churches. This explains too all the discussion on the
ing, unmentionable. Modesty is a forgotten word in        whole subject of women and their place in the
a world which knows no shame.                             church and society. There is as well continued pres-
   This has had devastating effects on the holy bond       sure for change even within orthodox and tradi-
of marriage. Many live together apart from the            tionally Reformed churches.
marriage relationship. Husbands and wives are                In this context we are called to live chastely both
swapped and shared at will. Pre-marital relation-          within the state of marriage and outside of it. There
ships are common. `Virginity is a rare relic of the        are grave, deadly temptations confronting
past. Marriage itself is viewed as a voluntary con-        especially our young people. The church must
tract between equal partners. The husband is not           listen to the Word of God as it speaks on this, the
the head of the wife and the wife is not in subjec-        most beautiful relationship between man and
tion to her husband. "Roles" within marriage have         woman. Marriage, after all, is a reflection of the
taken the place of "God-ordained callings." And,           Great Mystery of Christ and His Bride, the church
roles are switched and merged and shared by hus-           (Ephesians 5:32).
bands and wives. Certainly the wife is not bound to
the home and the bearing and rearing of children.            In the fifth chapter of Ephesians, Scripture ex-
She must be free to work, study, develop her               horts us to be followers (imitators) of God in the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                         255



way of walking in love as Christ has loved us. This       will and word of her husband. His word is the last
general theme is applied by the inspired Apostle to       word. This certainly does not mean that the
the marriage relationship in verses twenty-two            husband ought to ignore his wife's opinion or feel-
through thirty-three. In this passage the Lord ad-        ings. Together they must seek the Lord's will. Nor
dresses wives, calling them to submit themselves to       does. this mean that the wife is a mere slave with
their own husbands. While it is true that every wife      whom the husband may do as he pleases. It does
must obey the will the God, the text is speaking to       mean that the wife must submit always to her hus-
Christian wives, the wives of the church. Godly           band. She must obey him, not just when she feels
wives must submit themselves to their own hus-            like it or only some of the time, but always. With-
bands. The "your own husbands" of verse twenty-           out murmuring or complaint, without sulking or
two denotes a special relationship, an exclusive re-      grudging, the wife must obey. Cheerfully and joy-
lationship. The implication very clearly is that each     fully the wife must obey her husband in every-
wife has her own husband and each husband his             thing. It is exactly because so many wives refuse to
own wife. These are brought together by God               be obedient to their own husbands that there are so
Himself and called to live together in holy marriage      many marital problems these days. When wives
reflecting Christ and His Bride, the church (verse        submit in everything there is part of the foundation
32). Young men and women do not merely happen             for a stable and happy marriage.
to meet and "fall  in love." God brings them                Both I Peter 3:lff. and II Corinthians  7:14, 15
together.                                                 teach that wives must submit even if their hus-
  The calling of wives is to submit themselves to         bands are unbelievers. In the former passage the
their own husbands as unto the Lord. The verb,            reason is that the unbelieving husband may be won
submit, means: to arrange under, to subordinate, to       by the chaste conversation of the wife, and in the
subject or put in subjection, to yield to another's       latter passage the reason is that the unbelieving
control, to follow another's direction, admonition,       husband may be sanctified by the wife. There is
advice. The idea is clear. Christian wives are to         only one exception to this rule. When being in sub-
place themselves under their own husbands. They           jection to the husband involves disobedience to the
must yield to the control, the direction of their         Word of God the wife must obey God rather than
husbands. They must give themselves over to their         man.
husbands completely. Their entire lives, as godly           Verse twenty-three provides the ground for this
wives, must be subjected to their husbands. In one        calling: "For the husband is the head of the wife,
word, wives are to obey their husbands. This, in          even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is
general, is the calling of Christian wives.               the saviour of the body." Christ is the head of the
  Specifically, the text explains what this means.        church. In that same way the husband is the head
Wives must submit to their husbands as to the             of the wife. Thus the marriage relationship reflects
Lord. The service of submission which wives yield         the great mystery of Christ and His Bride, the
to their husbands is service to the Lord. When the        church (cf. vs. 32).
wife submits to her husband she is submitting to            This means the marriage relation is a sacred
the Lord. Likewise the wife who rebels and refuses to     union. It may not be taken lightly. For this reason,
submit to her husband is living in disobedience to        too, young men and women ought to seek to be
her Lord. A wife who is unsubmissive to her hus-          married. They marry not for their own benefit and
band walks in very grievous sin. This is the plain,       certainly not to satisfy their carnal lusts. A Chris-
simple meaning of the Word of God. Verse twenty-          tian young man seeks a Christian young woman,
four emphasizes and further explains this idea. The       and a Christian young woman seeks a Christian
church is subject to Christ. Christ is the absolute       young man because they desire to reflect Christ
Lord of the church. What Christ commands the              and His church. This is why young people of God's
church to be and do, that the church must be and          covenant  may not  seek their marriage partners
do. One may never conceive of the church apart            outside of the church!
from the rule of Christ. Just as the church is subject      Christ is the head of the church. As head, Christ
to Christ so let the wives be to their own husbands.      is the legal representative of the church. God
In the same way this means. The wife in a very real       appointed Christ to be the head of the church.
sense exists for the sake of her husband. Just as the     Christ, assuming our guilt, made atonement for the
church exists to serve Christ, so the wife exists to      sins of the church and thus is "the Saviour of the
serve her husband.                                        body." Christ is also the organic head of the
  The text adds: "in everything." In every way,           church. By faith the church lives out of Christ. As
under all circumstances, the wife must submit to          head, Christ provides all the needs of the church.
her husband. The wife may never go against the            And, finally, Christ is the authority of the church.


256                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



His Word is the law.                                         foundation for their marriage. In God's love the
   As Christ is the head of the church the husband           husband will provide both the earthly and spiritual
is the head of the wife. He is her legal representa-         need of his wife. Just as Christ gave Himself for the
tive, not only before the world, but before God.             church, so the husband will love his wife. With the
The husband is the provider for his wife. And, he is         self-sacrificing love of Christ the husband will seek
the ruler of his wife. Does this mean the husband is         his wife's welfare in this life and for the life to
superior to the wife? Is the wife of less worth than         come. A godly husband lives for his wife. She is
her husband? Is the husband lord and master who              first in his life. He is not harsh or bitter towards
may do as he wishes with his slave? Never! This is           her. He is tender and kind. He nourishes and cher-
sin! It certainly is not the way Christ cares for His        ishes her as Christ cherishes the church. He rules
church! These are their God-ordained places. Sub-            not with an iron hand expecting to be waited on
mitting to her husband, the wife is serving her Lord         hand and foot. His wife is no harried, tired slave
in heaven. Together husband and wife are one in              who lives in fear of him. As the church has all of
Christ in Whom is neither male nor female. Both              the love of Christ so the wife has all of the love of
are partakers of the grace of salvation (cf. Galatians       her husband. He loves her so much that he will not
3:28).                                                       only put up with her weaknesses and bad habits, he
                                                             loves her so much he is willing to die for her.
   As head of the wife the husband must love his
wife even as Christ loved the church and gave him-             This kind of marriage, possible only by grace, re-
self for it (verse 25). In the love of God the husband       flects the Great Mystery. This is a blessed, happy
must love his wife, Love never seeks to hurt or de-          union. Godly husbands and their godly wives look
stroy, but always seeks the salvation of its object.         forward to joining the real marriage in the perfec-
God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son           tion of the new creation.
to atone for our sins and give us everlasting life and         When there is strife and difficulty, and there will
glory. That love must be reflected by godly hus-             be for we are but sinners; the godly husband and
bands. Loving his wife as Christ loved the church,           his wife will confess their faults the one to the other
the husband will never be a ruthless tyrant. He will         that they may be healed (cf. James 5: 16). Together
lead his wife in the way of the Word of God. To-             they will confess their sins to God. They will, in
gether husband and wife will bow before that Word            God's love, forgive one another until seventy times
in all of their married life. God's Word will be the         seven. Once more, that is a blessed marriage.





                 The Covenant Training of Children
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering





  The heart of all true religion is the doctrine of the      gather together publicly in the house of God to
covenant. As the physical heart circulates  life-            worship Him. The Lord's Day is a special day in
giving blood throughout the body, so covenant                which we are busy, laboring to enter into the rest of
communion with God excites us unto a godly walk              our Lord Jesus Christ. Religion deals with the ex-
of faith. The more we meditate upon God's cove-              pression of this worship. It is more than this, daily
nant, the more we are spiritually enriched in our re-        we are to labor to enter into this rest. Monday and
ligious life.                                                the rest of the week is a time to practice religion.
  By religion we refer to the ability to practice the        Our time, our talents, our home and family, our
proper response of faith in our daily life. As we            working hours, our leisure time, all belong to our
know, we are called by God to express our faith.             God to be used by us in His service. We are to live
We do this in many ways. On the first day of the             in the midst of the world, but not to be friends of
week we arise with one thought in mind; we are to            this world. We are to be good workers and  con-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                257



scientious about our responsibilities. We are to use          ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no
everything in the service of our Lord. This is                understanding; whose mouth must be held in with
religion.                                                     bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee"
       The training of our covenant children falls into       (Psalm  32:8, 9). Since God's method of training in-
this category as well. We do well to ask ourselves,           cludes teaching, we must do likewise with our
how does the doctrine of the covenant influence               children. "Therefore shall ye lay up these My
the training of our children?                                 words in your heart and in your soul and bind them
                                                              for a sign upon thy hand, that they may be frontlets
       Since Gods covenant relationship with us is that       between your eyes, and ye shall teach them to your
of friendship, (e.g.,  Enoch and Noah walked with             children,  speaking  of them when thou  sittest in
God, Genesis  5:22,  6:9, Abraham was called the              thine house and when thou walkest by the way,
friend of God, James 2123)~ this covenant friendship          when thou liest down and when thou risest up.
touches our family life. Our relationship. with God           And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of
is that of the family: God is our Father and we are           thine house and upon thy gates" (Deut.  11:18-20).
His children. This fatherhood of God is not rooted            This teaching includes the knowledge of both
in our being created by Him, for sin interrupted              doctrine and Christian life. In the context of
that relationship and by nature we are of our father          Genesis  18:19, the angel decided to tell Abraham
the devil (John 8:44). Rather, it is rooted in our Lord       about the destruction of Sodom, "For I know him,
Jesus Christ Who is our Eldest Brother. To Christ,            that he will command his children and his
God said, "I will be to Him a Father and He shall be          household after him and they shall keep the way of
to Me a Son" (Heb.  1:5). In Christ we are now the            the Lord, to do justice and judgment that the Lord
children of God. We say with Isaiah, "But now, 0              may bring upon Abraham that which He hath
Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and                spoken of him." If we are to be faithful in covenan-
Thou our potter: and we all are the work of Thy               tal training, we must unfold before our children the
hand" (Isaiah 74:8). We are the children of God by            knowledge of the antithesis, God blesses His people
the adoption of grace, "For we have not received              with peace, and curses the wicked with judgment.
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have re-
ceived the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,                  Secondly, God does more than teach us; He also
Abba, Father" (Romans 8: 15). This adoption is both           restrains us. Sarah acknowledged this when she
legal, in that Christ satisfied the demands of the law        confessed to her husband Abraham, "Behold now;
for righteousness, and spiritual, in that Christ              the Lord hath restrained me from bearing" (Gen.
works by His Spirit in our hearts to give us the              16:2).  Why did God do this? Why did He wait until
awareness and joy of this family life (Galatians 4:4-         they were both sexually dead, before He fulfilled
                                                              the promise of Isaac? He put them in such restrict-
6).                                                           ed and narrow straits that they might learn that the
       This has direct bearing upon the training of our       covenant would be realized in none other way than
children1 If we- ask the question, how should we              in His power, and goodness. God uses many such
train our covenant children, the answer is that we            restraints. David acknowledged, "Before I was af-
look to our Heavenly Father to determine how He               flicted, I went astray, but now have I kept Thy
trains us. We still have our sinful nature that must          Word" (Psalm  119:67). Training children must
be overcome by the wonder-working grace brought               include such restraints. The life of Eli illustrates its
by the Holy Spirit. We receive this training as               lack. Yes, Eli taught his sons, but he didn't train
children of, God and learn from it. It in turn governs        them properly. According to I Samuel  2:23, 24 he
the training of our children.                                 even admonished them and told them they were
       .Let's  consider a few points of comparison in this    wrong; but God said, "For I have told him that I
connection.                                                   will judge his house forever for the iniquity which
       First, we can point out that God teaches us in the     he knoweth; because his sons made themselves
way we should go. According to II Samuel  22:31,              vile, and he restrained them not" (I Sam. 3:13). We
"As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the              do not train our children simply by teaching them.
Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all them that trust in      We must restrain them. Our children must be
Him." We do not know this perfect way by our-                 limited in their activity. They may not do whatever
selves, God tells us of this way. In the past He used         they please; their evil nature must be tied down as
many ways to do this. We recall the direct conver-            the newly planted sapling. The restraints of God's
sation God had with the patriarchs. He spoke to               Word must be placed upon them. They must be for-
them by means of angels, dreams, prophets, and                bidden sinful acts and told why they are wrong.
other ways. The message was always the same, "I                 The third comparison is the use of discipline.
will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which            The Word of God labels this "chastisement."
thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eyes. Be           Recall with me those precious words of Hebrews


258                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



12:6-8, "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth          bird is nudged out of the nest so he can learn to fly
and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.. . . If       and fend for himself. So God calls us to such
ye be without chastisement, whereof all are              spiritual exercise: "exercise thyself rather unto
partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons." Such      godliness" (I Tim.  4:7). God calls us to walk by
discipline comes in many ways. In the Old  Testa-        faith, to live out that Christian calling in all areas of
ment, God used the heathen nations to chastise           our life. The more we do this the more our spiritual
Israel. Many times the Lord sends afflictions to         muscles develop, our heart gets stronger, our life
bring us to the knowledge of our sins and spiritual      more meaningful. As parents we must encourage
dependence. James tells us that the "trying of our       our children to develop by  doing  the will of God.
faith worketh patience. But let patience have her        Life itself is the gymnasium within which we
perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire,          develop and grow in faith. We must be good exam-
wanting nothing'" (James  1:3,  .4). Peter speaks of     ples of godliness unto our children. Our home,
our faith being tried as silver (I Peter  1:7). This     school, church, business contacts, recreation, even
must also be done by us in the training of our           unbelieving neighbors all present opportunities for
children. When they do wrong, they must see and          us to show to our children how to walk in godliness
feel in us the wrath of God against sin. Hence the       in the midst of the world. This will give to them di-
Bible emphasizes the use of the rod, "Foolishness is     rection. From childhood on they will know how to
bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correc-    express their faith, how to conduct themselves on
tion shall drive it far from him" (Prov.  22:15).        the Lord's Day, how to deal with unbelievers who
Similarly, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son;      invite them to join with them in their evil ways. We
but he that loveth him chasteneth him  betimes"          and our children will know what Moses was talking
(Prov. 13:24). Solomon adds, "The rod and reproof        about when he, "chose rather to suffer affliction
give wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his    with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
mother to shame" (Prov.  29:15). Notice carefully,       of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:25).
"the rod  and reproof." We may not beat our                Finally, all this training must be done in love.
children and not explain why; that kind of               Our     Covenant      Father     teaches,     restrains,
treatment is forbidden. "Fathers provoke not your        disciplines, encourages, and calls us to exercise our
children to wrath" (Eph. 6:4).                           faith in deepest love. That love is rooted in the giv-
  In the fifth place, training must include              ing of His own Son for our adoption. Our Father did
encouragement. Our Heavenly Father comes to us           more than act in love; He also constantly assures us
so often and brings a word of encouragement.             of His love by telling us in His Word and by the
Many times we feel beaten, unworthy, unable to go        preaching of the gospel. We must do no less with
on in the high calling of keeping covenant with our      our children. We must act in love and govern all
God. His encouragement is this: He assures us He         our dealings with them in love for them. We must
is our God and loves us, He will never fail, "Under-     also tell them of our love for them. Little wonder
neath are the everlasting arms" (Deut.  33:26, 27).      that a child who has seen the wrath of God  mani-
So we must train our children. Yes, as parents we        fest in a severe spanking might conclude that father
must encourage them with the certainty that we,          or mother doesn't love him. We must assure our
too, will be there at their side in any circumstance.    children that whether we teach them, restrain
We must take a bruised and beaten child on our lap       them, discipline them, encourage them, or lead
and comfort him. We must also take our teenaged          them in exercising their faith, it is in love. Our love
children and hear them out and assure them that          is directed toward them not only, but our love is
we love them and will guide them through the per-        deeply rooted in God's love. We love each other for
plexing years of growing up.                             God's sake.
  The sixth comparison is exercise: we must  prac-         Such training has the divine guarantee, "when
tice doing what God wants us to do. The fledgling        he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6).

         The Standard Bearer makes a thoughtful gift
                                  for the sick or shut-in.
                         Give The Standard Bearer


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                259



             A Covenant Home: What Is It Like?
                                                 Prof. H. Hanko





   Some years ago, on a visit to the South, I found         Nevertheless, it is certainly worth our while to
myself in front of a home, which had, hanging             try to explain the inexplicable, to try to define the
over the front door, a sign upon which were the           indefinable, to try to describe that which cannot
words: "In This House Christ Is King." I found this       readily be defined. Our efforts are worth while
intriguing and immediately thought of the firm            simply because God's covenant people want
statement of Joshua to Israel just before his death:      covenant homes.
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the              We must, of course, take our starting point with
Lord."                                                    the truth that a covenant home is a place where
  It would be equally appropriate for a covenant          covenant people, covenant parents with covenant
family to have a sign hanging over the front door of      children, live. This goes without saying. But it- is
its home, with the words engraved on it: "This            important to understand that these covenant
Home Is A Covenant Home." Such a family would             parents with covenant children are what they are
want all who visited it to understand that the home       because God has Himself established His own
they were about to enter was a special kind of            covenant of grace with them. They are  His cove-
home, a unique home, a home which differed from           nant people. This is important because God's cove-
countless thousands of homes throughout the               nant people are often described in Scripture in
country or the world.                                     terms of a  famiZy.  The whole church is a covenant
  If you saw such a sign appropriately fixed above        family. And the Scriptures do this because our
the front door of a house, what precisely would you       covenant families are earthly representations of the
expect to find inside? Would you enter with some          great family of the elect. Our covenant homes are,
firm ideas concerning what to expect? Or would            therefore, covenant homes to the extent that they re-
you say: "I have no idea of what a covenant home          flect in their life, the covenant family of God.
is like."                                                   There are various aspects to this, which we can
  What is a covenant home?                                briefly mention. The relation between God and His
                                                          people in Christ is often pictured in Scripture in
  This is not, of course, such an easy question to        terms of a marriage relation-and this is a covenant
answer. There are at least two reasons why it is so       relation. So, a covenant home is one where
difficult. One reason is that, while it is relatively     husband and wife, in their life together reflect the
easy to describe an ideal covenant home, no home          relation between Christ and His Church. The
ever reaches that ideal in this world of sin. An ideal    people of God are often described in terms of being
covenant home would be a home in which all the            God's sons and daughters, i.e., God's children
members of the family walk faithfully and without         whom He has begotten again by the wonder of re-
sin in the ways of God's covenant. You won't find         generation. In that family God is emphatically
such a home anywhere. It might be worth our               Father, Who assumes all responsibility for the care
while, sometime, to describe such a home, for it is       of His children, Who makes a will in which His
certainly an ideal for which we ought always to           children are His heirs, heirs of the great treasures of
strive. But it is not attainable, that much we know.      salvation which He gives to them at the end of time.
  The second reason why this question is so diffi-        In that same family, Christ is the Elder Brother, the
cult to answer is that a covenant home has a certain      Firstborn, the One Who opens the way through sin
"atmosphere" about it which, while it immediately         and the grave into the blessedness of heaven for all
tells you that it is indeed a covenant home, never-       His brethren to follow, Who has all the rights and
theless defies analysis and escapes description.          privileges of the Firstborn because He is the Heir of
Anyone can tell when he is in a covenant home and         the birthright of the Father. It is even a home in
when he is in a worldly home. But when pressed to         which there is much eating and drinking, much joy
explain precisely wlzy the one home differs so radi-      and laughter, much fellowship and happiness, as
cally from the other, he is hard-pressed to explain       the family gathers around the table to celebrate the
this difference. He might finally say, "Well, there is    great feast of the marriage supper of the Lamb. But
just something about it."                                 it is also a family in which there is great need for


260                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



instruction, for discipline, for warning and admoni-      reading and discussing what they read. But the
tion, for chastisement, for encouragement, for com-       books and magazines, while surely not all religious,
fort. It is that kind of a family because our Father      are nevertheless not such reading material as has to
knows that we are little children who need all these      be hidden away somewhere when the minister and
things in our "naughtiness," our struggles, our           elder come on family visitation.
weaknesses, our sins.                                       But there are other things which one would
  A covenant home is, therefore, a home in which          notice, especially if one stayed for a while. One
one finds a kind of picture of heaven's family, a re-     would notice, in a covenant home, that those who
flection of the family of the church, a representa-       belong to the family enjoy being in the home. They
tion both of what things are like now while the           cannot always be home-the father must go to
church is in the world, and what things will be like      work; the mother must attend to shopping and
when the church is in heaven.                             other obligations; the children are off to school and
  What, then, specifically, does one find when one        to work. But it would not take you long to tell that
enters the door over which hangs the sign: "This          the members of the family want to be home as
Home Is A Covenant Home"? What does one find if           much as they can; they enjoy it there at home best
he hangs his hat and stays for a while in a home          of all; they hurry home from wherever they have
such as this?                                             been. Father looks forward to coming home after a
                                                          day's work. Mother does not try to find work out-
  Well, for one thing, the  house  has very little, if    side the home to increase the family income, nor
anything, to do with it. I have been in palatial          does she gallivant about, eating breakfast and lunch
houses which were not even homes, much less               at restaurants, sitting in idle chatter at other
covenant homes. There are plenty of these in the          people's houses, traipsing around in an almost des-
world: houses costing tens of thousands of dollars,       perate effort to escape the home. The children are
furnished with great taste and costly luxuries,           not always rushing off here and there for all kinds
staffed by many servants, with closets filled with        of reasons in order to escape being home and
many clothes, with new and powerful cars in the           making family life together a near impossibility.
garage, with bars and recreation rooms, dens and          The family finds in its home its greatest happiness
fireplaces, art and tasteful decorations abounding;       and looks forward to those moments when all are
but such places are not necessarily  homes.  I have       together.
also been in very humble dwellings, in my child-            It is for this reason that mealtimes are always the
hood, in places where there was not even electric-        highlight of the day for a covenant family. Gath-
ity, running water, inside toilets, or the conveni-       ered about the table, there is the opportunity to
ences of modern life; places where a family lived in      have devotions together-to read and discuss Scrip-
great poverty and crowded conditions; but a home          ture and to pray together bringing the thanks and
for all that. One of Solomon's proverbs sums it all       the needs of the family to God's throne; there is
   * "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than     much laughter and joking; there is opportunity for
i%alled ox and hatred therewith" (Prov.  15:17).          the children to tell what has happened in school,
One cannot determine whether a home is a cove-            for mother to tell about her day, and father to speak
nant home by the house.                                   of his work. There is time for talk about the prob-
  There are, of course, certain things about a cove-      lems and burdens of the day and to share with the
nant home which would be readily noticeable. You          family the accomplishments, the disappointments,
would not have to be in such a home very long be-         the troubles, and to find encouragement, help, and
fore you would observe that there is a great deal of      comfort from one another. Each member, after all,
music in the home, but that the music which lies          has his own place at the table. When one member
open on the piano or organ, the music which comes         of the family dies or is absent for a long time, we
over the radio, the music which is sung, is all good      even speak of the fact that his chair is empty-and
music. It need not be Psalter music always, There         no one can fill it. Just as in the church of Christ,
may be classical music, church music, religious           each has his own place which no one else can fill
music; but you won't hear in such a home the              and in which place each member contributes to the
music of the world-not even when the children             fulness of the whole.
are practicing their piano lessons. You would               And so it is a family in which there is a great deal
notice too that there probably would not be a tele-       of happiness. A covenant family is a happy family.
vision set, although if there was one, it was used so     This does not mean that there are not great sorrows
little that you might wonder why the people had           which drive the members closer together; this does
one at all. Instead, you would see books and maga-        not mean'that there are not serious problems which
zines lying around the house and on the book              have to be solved; nor does it mean that always and
shelves, and both parents and children often              only happiness is present in the home: there are


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               261



times of bickering and fighting, of unhappiness and          own personal well-being for the welfare of the
just plain orneriness. But each knows that this is sin,      whole. Finally, it is love which makes a home, a
and that such attitudes disrupt and detract from             covenant home. Yet, love is so imperfect, and  self-
good home life. Nor does it mean that children               love and selfishness constantly intrude., So it is a
-always do their chores around the house willingly           home in which there are constant reminders that
and eagerly. Most of the time this is perhaps not the        love must prevail. And so it is in unexpected ges-
case. But nevertheless, each knows that his part in          tures of thoughtfulness and surprising efforts to
the family is an important part and that whatever            help one another.
he contributes to the life of the family is a contribu-        Sin is always there, in many forms. Sometimes
tion to a covenant home.                                     great sins. Sometimes the nagging sins of small
  Love, therefore, is the great thing. A reflection of       thoughtless acts, of unkind words, of surliness and
the love of God in the family is what makes a                selfishness, of disobedience and disagreement. And
family a covenant family - God's great love for us           so a covenant home is always a home where there
in Christ Jesus. It is a love between husband and            is instruction and reproof, confession and re-
wife in which each knows his own place, in which             pentance, encouragement and praise- for the one
each willingly and readily assumes that place, in            who does well, a bearing of one another's burdens,
which each is thankful for the other as a gift of            a longing to help others do the right, but a punish-
God, in which each knows God's love for him. It is           ment when needed. Such is also a covenant home
a love between parents and children in which both            in this sinful world.
recognize that God has given parents to children               In short, a covenant home is a reflection, in all its
and children to parents as a great gift of grace. It is a    rich variety, of God's dealings with us. Where we
love in which each knows and is thankful for his             are conscious of how God works in our lives, and
own place within the circle of love - which, as the          where we attempt, by grace, to reflect these great
apostle reminds us - is a bond of perfectness. It is         works of grace and love, there you have a covenant
a love that shows itself in each sacrificing his or her      home.

GUEST ARTICLE -




                            Whv Are You Different?
                                                 Gertrude Hoeksema




  Probably all of you boys and girls who read the              Phil and Paula poked one another, and Paula
little story I am going to tell at the beginning will        said, "Why, no, we can't!"
say, "I know all about that story already! Some-                "Don't you know it's Sunday today?" Phil re-
thing like that happened to me, too!"                        minded them.
  Here is the little story. Early one hot summer               "So..." Jill said.
afternoon, Jon and Jill, who lived four houses down
the street, hurried up the sidewalk and knocked at              "Go ask your mother," Jon told them.
the door. Phil and Paula ran to open it.                       "She would say no. We go to church on Sunday."
  "Hi," they all said.                                          "We did, too - this morning," Jill said, "and
  Then Jill, who talked more than Jon did, told              now our Sunday is over."
why they had come: "It's so hot today, and my                   "Ours lasts all day," Phil started to say. He was
mother wonders whether you would like to go for a            going to add, "because God wants us to serve Hirn
swim in the pool with us and then have a picnic in           every minute of His day"; but Jon interrupted him:
the park."                                                   "Why do you have to be so strict? `Don't do this


262                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



and don't do that!' Don't you ever get tired of it?     couldn't. God promised that the people that came
How come your family is so different?"                  from Abraham  - we call them Abraham's  seed  -
                                                        would be as many as the stars of the sky. Abraham
                                                        would not be able to count his seed, either.
  What would you have answered if someone
asked you why your family was so different? We             Do you think that Abraham was happy? Yes, but
are different, very different from most of the          he was troubled, too; for he had no children yet -
families who live in this earth. Do you know that       not even one child  - and. he and Sarah his wife
only a very few, a tiny number of people serve God      were far too old to have a baby anymore. Abraham
as we do?                                               believed God's Words, but he asked God how he
                                                        would know that his children would live in the land
  That is why we must answer so many questions          of Canaan.
from our neighbor s and playmates who do not
serve God as we do. They ask us many questions             God answered by giving Abraham a special pic-
that go something like this: "How come you may          ture-story, a sign. See if you can make the picture-
not go to the park and play a game of ball on Sunday    story real in your mind, too. God sent Abraham to
afternoon?"                                             get some animals from his flock: a young cow, a
                                                        she-goat, a ram, a turtle dove, and a pigeon. Now
  You answers: "Because Sunday is the  Lord"s           watch what Abraham did with those animals: he
Day."                                                   cut the cow in half and laid each half alongside a
  They ask: "How do you know?"                          path. Next he cut the goat in half and laid each half
  You answer: "Because I am a Christian and I           behind the pieces of the cow next to the path. Then
know it from the Bible."                                came the two halves of the ram, in rows behind the
                                                        cow and the goat. At the end, Abraham put the
  They ask: "How come you go to a special Chris-        whole turtle dove on one side of the path and the
tian school?"                                           whole pigeon on the other side. Now the parth was
  After you think a while, you might answer:            in the middle of the rows of dead animals!
"Because in a Christian school we learn what God's        Does this seem like a strange picture to you? It
Word tells us."                                         was not strange to Abraham. He knew all about it,
  And then they go on to ask you why you pray,          because it was something people did in those days
and why you have to learn those hard catechism          when they made promises to one another. After
questions, and why you don't go to movies, and          someone made a promise, he walked between the
may watch hardly any programs on television, and        halves of the dead animals, and it meant that he
whether you like to have such strict parents. Do        would rather  die  than break his promise.
you ever get stuck when you try to answer their            Is the picture still in your mind? It is a picture of
questions?                                              God keeping His promise to Abraham  - the
  Go along with me, then, to God's Word, and let        promise that he would always be the friend of
me help you find the answers there to the question:     Abraham's children. He would give Abraham's
"Why are you different?"                                children the land of Canaan, but He would do
                                                        much more than that. He promised to save Abra-
                                                        ham's children from all their sins and take them to
  You are different because of a promise. God           heaven with Him when they died. That was the
made that promise long, long ago to Abraham, and        most wonderful promise there ever was! And,
because God made the promise, He surely will keep       remember, God said He would rather  die  than
it. Do you remember  that God called Abraham to         break His promise.
go to a land that He would show him, and that the
name of the land was Canaan? After Abraham came           Now watch what happened. Abraham sat near
to Canaan, God gave him a most beautiful promise:       those dead animals all day, until the sun went
that He would give the land of Canaan to the            down. When it was very dark, he saw a lighted
children that would be born from Abraham's              lamp and a smoking furnace pass through those
family  - not every single child from Abraham's         pieces of animals, and Abraham knew that it was
family, but those children whom God chose to be         Gpd Himself Who was walking through those dead
His  children from Abraham's children. The best         animals. It meant that God would walk right
part of God's promise was that some day  Jesus          through death to save His people. To keep His
would be born from Abraham's children.                  promise to be their Friend and Savior, God would
Remember that, because I am going to tell you           have to  die!
more about it pretty soon. God even took Abraham          When did God die? When He sent Jesus, His own
outside at night and asked whether he could count       dear Son, to live on the earth in a body just like
the millions of stars in the sky. No, Abraham           ours, so that He could go to the awful cross to suffer


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              263



and die to take away the sins of His friends. Our        living forever with our God.
Jesus, Who is God, walked right through death to            But we are not in heaven yet. What does it feel
save Abraham's children. That is the way God kept        like to be a covenant boy or girl here on earth - a
His promise.                                             different  kind of boy or girl - a special child? Is it
  The Bible calls God's promise of friendship by a       because we are so good? Shall we brag that we are
beautiful name: His covenant. And He made that           so much better than other children? Is that why we
covenant with Abraham and his children. But what         are different? Oh, no! Just think of all the bad, sin-
about us? Is that promise for us, too? Did Jesus die     ful things we think and do every minute of the day.
for us? Let me explain to you who Abraham's              No, we are all bad, until God says to us: "You are
children are: they are Jesus' children; for the Bible    my covenant children. I chose you to be mine. I
tells us that if we are Jesus' children, then we are     will take away your sins and make you want to love
Abraham's children, and His promise is for us.           me with all your hearts." God does it all, and we
Jesus was  the seed  of Abraham. That means that         can only say, "Thank you, Lord."
Jesus was the ChiZd that all the people who believed        Now we can understand that we are different be-
God's promise looked for all through the long years      cause God made us different. He makes us believe
before He was born. We don't have to look for            His promises and love Him; and when we love
Jesus anymore, for He has already come to earth          Him, we ask Him to make us sorry for our sins and
and has died for us, and gone back to heaven. We         to fight them with all our might. And when He for-
believe that, don't we? We believe that we are           gives our sins, He makes us, oh, so happy  - so
Jesus' children because God gave us faith in our         happy that we want to sing songs of thanks and
hearts so we can believe it.                             praise.
  God did one more wonderful thing. He promised             The next time Jon and Jill ask you, "Do you Zike
Abraham and He promised us that He would make            to be a covenant child?" tell them, "I like it better
His covenant  - His promise  - with  families  of        than anything in the whole world."
believers: fathers and mothers, boys and girls, who
will grow up to be fathers and mothers and have             If they ask you, "Why do you like it better than
more children, on and on until the end of time. God      anything in the whole world?" tell them, "Because
calls His children from the families of believers.       with my body and my soul, in life and in death, I
Now can you see how our families are connected           belong to Jesus."
with Abraham's family? The Bible calls Abraham
the father of believers, and we are sometimes called                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
children of Abraham.                                         On March 11, 1984, the Lord willing, our parents and grand-
  Now we can see that God's promise to Abraham           parents, MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM KAMPS, will celebrate their 40th
                                                         wedding anniversary. In remembrance of that day we give thanks to
is His promise to us, too. Do you feel like a special    God for them and for the covenantal care we have received through
child? You are. For God did not choose all the           them.
children on this earth to be His children. No, most          "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep His
of them God did not choose. God did not even             covenant and His testimonies." (Psalm  25:lO).
choose everyone of the children from fathers and         Harry and Evelyn Langerak
mothers who love the Lord; but usually it is God's       Myron and Patricia Moody
                                                         Charles and Dorothea Kalsbeek
way to save children from fathers and mothers who        John and Carolyn Cleveland
believe in our Lord Jesus. Isn't that a beautiful way    Henry and Linda Kamps
for God to save His children?                            Earl Kamps
                                                             and 21 grandchildren
  What does it mean that God gave the promise of
His covenant to you? It means that being one of                                            NOTICE!!!
God's covenant children is the greatest thing that           Al students enrolled in the Protestant Reformed Seminary, who
could ever happen to you. Why? Because Jesus our         will be in need of financial  assitance for the coming school year, are
Lord went to the cross for you; and there He took        asked to contact the Student Aid Committee, Mr. Larry Meulenberg,
away all your sins, and  I-Ie gave you new hearts        Secretary, 342 Begole, S.W., Grand Rapids, Ml 49504. (Phone
                                                         616-453-8466). This contact should be made before the next
that are clean and that love Him. That is the best       meeting of the Committee on March 13, 1984, the Lord willing.
thing that can ever happen to you  - to have God
for your Savior and Friend. But there is more.
Covenant children are the very richest children in                                         NOTICE!!!
the world. No, you aren't the richest in money. You          The Hope Christian School of Redlands, California, is in need of a
are the richest because God has promised to His          Kindergarten thru the 4th grade teacher beginning in September of
covenant children all the treasures in heaven: the       1984. Teachers interested in applying for this position please write
                                                         to Bill Feenstra, 831 Sylvan Blvd., Redlands, CA 92373 or phone him
happiness and beauty and peace and joy and love of       a t   (714)  7 9 3 - 3 5 9 7 .


           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                   SECOND CLASS
                     P.O. Box 6064
      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                                              POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                                                               GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.




                                                                           _~~--  --  ~-                      ---~~ .=- _ ,
2     6    4                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



                CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
           All young men desiring to begin studies for the 1984-85 academic             On March 6, 1984, our dear parents MR. AND MRS. JUSTIN
       year in the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches            KORTERING  will celebrate, Lord willing, their 65th wedding anniver-
       should make application at the March 15, 1984 meeting of the Theo-            sary.
       logical School  Co@mittee.                                                       We their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are
       Pre-Seminary Students:                                                        thankful every day for what God has done for us through them. They
                                                                                     have taught us not only by word, but especially by example to walk
           A transcript of grades from high school and college (if any), a letter    with God and wait upon Him for our every need.
       of testimony from the student's pastor or consistory, and a cer-
       tificate of health from a reputable physician must accompany the ap-             May we together rest in His promise, "If our earthly house of this
       plication.                                                                    tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not
                                                                                     made with hands, eternal in the heavens." II Cor.  5:l
       Seminary Students:
                                                                                     Lafern Kortering
           A testimonial from the student's consistory that he is a member in        Jess Kortering
       full communion, sound in faith and upright in walk, a certificate of          Rev. and Mrs. Jason Kortering
       health from a reputable physician, and high school and college tran-          Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Kortering
       scripts must accompany the application. All applicants to the semi-              13 grandchildren
       nary department must have completed the equivalent of a four-year                4 great-grandchildren
       college education (125 semester hours) and must meet the course
       requirements for entrance to the seminary department. These en-
       trance requirements are listed in  the  seminary catalog available from
      the school.                                                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
           All seminary department applicants must appear before the Theo-              On March 10, 1984, the Lord willing,  our parents, MR.  & MRS.
       logical School Committee for interview before admission is granted.           HENRY  MIERSMA of  Doon, Iowa, will observe their 40th wedding an-
       In the event that a student can not appear at the March 15th                  niversary.
       meeting, notification of this fact along with a suggested interview
       date must be given to the secretary of the Theological School Com-               We, their children and grandchildren, are thankful to our Heavenly
       mittee before this meeting.                                                   Father for the years He has given them together and for the covenant
                                                                                     care and instruction they have given us. It is  our prayer that they may
           All correspondence should be directed  to  the Theological School         continue to experience the blessings of our faithful God.
       Committee, 4949 lvanrest Ave., S.W., Grandville, Michigan 49418.
                                                        Jon Huisken, Secretary          "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                                                     them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children.
                                                                                     (Psalm 103: 17)

                                      NOTICE!!!                                      Rev. Rodney  & Sharon Miersma
                                                                                        Eric
           The South Holland Protestant Reformed School Board is seeking             Rev. Dale  & Velerie Kuiper
       applicants for teaching during the 1984-85 school year.                          David, Bradley Christopher,  Bethany,
                                                                                        Phillip, Victor, Dwight, Lois
           Please call Board Secretary James Lanting at 3 12-339-I 070 or at         Gary  &  DaVonna Holstege
       312-596-5093 and send resume to Box 156, South Holland, IL                       Mical, Nathan, Ross
     6 0 4 7 3 .                                                                     Will  &  Nona  Postma
                                                                                        Brian,  Stephan, Luanna
                                                                                     Alvern  & Fran Miersma
                                                                                     Gene  & Daris Van Bemmel
                The Standard Bearer                                                     Kristi, Jill
                                                                                     Carlyle  Miersma  & Marcia Hanko (fiancee)


                    makes a thoughtful
                        gift for the sick                                                                Take time to
                        or shut--in.. Give                                                              read and study
           The Standard Bearer                                                         The Standard Bearer


