     STANDARD
          BEARER
r           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE




     .  .  . And ha.ving  loved us , even unto the death

     of the cross, He gave us the gift of faith and
     united us with Christ. He will not rest until
     He has completed this work of redemption
     and salvation, even forever, in the building
     of God made without hands, eternal in the
     heavens  - only because He loved us first,
     unto the glory of His mercy and grace. In-
     deed, to Him be all the praise and all the
     glory, no.w and even forevermore.
     See "Justified Freely by Christ Jesus"
                                                          - page 410


                                                Volume LX, No. 18, July 1, 1984  -


410                                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
                                           CONTENTS                                                                                                     ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                                              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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       Justified  Freely by Christ Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410                                             Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. HJeksema
                                                                                                                    Deparhnent  Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
  Editorial -                                                                                                       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.
       Synod.  of the Protestant Reformed                                                                           Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                                                                                    ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
           Churches,1984.........................413                                                                Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATIOlV



                               Justified Freely by Christ Jesus
                                                                                                 Rev. H. Veldman


                      "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
                                                                                                                                                                        Romans 3:24


  AZZ being justified freely and by His grace: This is                                                                 continuation of verse 23 and the subject must be
surely implied in this Word of God. The subject of                                                                    the same.
being justified must be the same as in the preceding
verse. We read in verse 23: "For all have sinned,                                                                          Does this mean that the word "all," presupposed
and come short of the glory of God." Verse 24 is a                                                                     in this text as its subject, must therefore refer in


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              411



this text to everybody, head for head? That all have         Our justification by works is wholly impossible.
sinned and come short of the glory of God does             No child of the living God ever experiences this.
refer to everybody. This, however, does not neces-           We can never pay the penalty. This penalty is
sarily imply that the word "all" also has the same         death. It is eternal death, the death of hell, forever
meaning in our text. Even as the word "all"' in            forsaken of God, the conscious bearing of His eter-
verse 23 is confined to those who have sinned and          nal and infinite wrath. It is also spiritual death,
therefore refers to everybody, so in verse 24 it is        separation from the love of God and the being filled
necessarily limited to those who have been justified       with all enmity against the living God, devoid of all
freely by His grace, and this means only the elect.        love of God. We are condemned to sin, to the bon-
Besides, what Arminian would have the courage to           dage of sin, and to be dead also eternally. Life for us
say that everybody has been justified freely by His        is, therefore, impossible. We must be dead, now
grace through the redemption that is in Christ             and forever.
Jesus? Arminians teach that the possibility of justi-
fication has been merited for everybody, but surely          Besides, we can never make amends for any past
not that this justification itself has been earned for     iniquity. Let us presuppose a person who sinned
all. But, then, as limited to the elect, emphatically      only once in his infancy (of course, such a person
all have been justified. Among all the people of God       does not exist). That person can never make
there is no exception. There is absolutely nobody          amends for that sin. He can never "take time out"
who is justified by works. Everybody is justified          to pay for that sin. He cannot work "overtime" for
only by grace, freely, through the redemption              God. Such a "free" moment does not exist for him.
which is in Christ Jesus.                                  We must always love God.
                    *    *    *    *    *                    One more observation: we can never meet the
                                                           divine requirement for an atoning suffering. This
  The emphasis here must not be laid upon the              requirement is obedience. Suffering is atoning,
word "justified." That the emphasis does not fall          meritorious, the payment for sin and guilt only
upon this word here is evident from the fact that          when it occurs obediently. The wrath of God must
this thought was already mentioned in the preced-          be borne, even in the bottom of hell, as an act of
ing context, as in the verses 20-22. How wonderful         love. And this is impossible by us because we are
it is to be justified! Apparently, how contrary to         children of disobedience, and to be such children of
whatever we see and hear and experience! How               disobedience we are condemned by the righteous
true it is that we can receive this blessed assurance      judgment of God. Indeed, to be justified lies forever
only by faith! As experienced by the child of God,         out of our reach.
justification is that wonderful gift of God which            Hence, we are justified freely, through no act or
assures me that I am righteous before God, free for-       deed of our own. It is bestowed upon us as a free
ever from the guilt and penalty of sin and an heir of      gift, without any of our works.
life and glory everlasting. The thought is legal. The                           *    *    *    *    *
law of God declares this of me. In this text the em-
phasis falls upon the `word "freely." This word              We have been redeemed in and through Christ
means: gratuitously, received by us as a free gift.        Jesus  - this is the meritorious cause of our justifi-
And it is evident, also from the rest of the text, that    cation.
it is exactly this word upon which our attention             The word "redemption" means: liberation pro-
must be focused.                                           cured by the payment of a ransom. We may use the
  `Indeed, we are not justified by our works. This         illustration of an American prisoner of war, whose
was already stated emphatically in the preceding           freedom has been negotiated by our government.
context. According to verse 20 no flesh shall be           The price of his freedom has been paid  - he has
justified in His sight by the deeds of the law. In         been redeemed, his freedom has been bought, and
verse 21 we read that now the righteousness of God         this in spite of the fact that he may yet continue in
is manifested without the law. And in verse 23 the         prison. However, his actual freedom, his release
apostle writes that all have sinned and come short         out of prison, must now follow.
of the glory of God. To be justified freely always ap-       Redeemed in and through Christ Jesus. Indeed,
pears in Scripture as diametrically opposed to a be-       in Christ Jesus. In the sphere of Christ Jesus, only
ing justified by works. There is absolutely nothing        by Him is this redemption effected. He is Jesus,
we can do, apart from the gracious favour and              Jehovah saves, Jehovah with us, Immanuel, the
redemptive grace in Christ Jesus, nothing we can           eternal Son of God in our flesh and blood. In that
do of ourselves which in any sense of the word can         name lies the capability, the power, whereby this
help us or contribute one solitary thing toward our        redemption is effected. Only Jesus, the living God
being justified.                                           Himself, in our flesh and blood, the Personal Son of


412                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



God, through the everlasting Spirit, could pay this        the idea of the text is legal, judicial; it concerns our
ransom. Jesus is Jehovah saves, or Jehovah is salva-       state, our being justified.
tion. He is the Christ, and this name means:                 Now we are justified freely, by His grace, the
Anointed. In the name of Christ lies the authoriza-        grace of God. God was kindly, affectionately
tion, the right, of this Man of Sorrows to do what         disposed toward us. The Lord, the living God enter-
He did. He is Christ Jesus, because the Son of God,        tained eternal thoughts of love toward us. He loved
as in the human nature, was appointed, authorized,         us, sovereignly, from before the foundations of the
delegated, as the eternal Head of Sion, to represent       world. He loved us, unconditionally, in His eternal
me, to take upon Himself my guilt, to satisfy in my        will and counsel. How this is emphasized in the
behalf the awesomely eternal justice of the living         Word of God! According to Ephesians 1:4, He chose
God.                                                       us, not because we were holy but that we should be
  We have been redeemed in and by Christ Jesus.            holy. He did not love us because of anything in us,
Christ Jesus bore the eternal and infinite wrath of        as the proud heresies of Arminianism and Pelagian-
God for our sins; tasted, consciously and obedient-        ism would have us believe. Indeed, we were and
ly, the awful wrath of God upon sin; bore it, un-          we are sinners. There was nothing in us that could
fathomably, even unto the end; merited for us              possibly attract us to the Lord. We are corrupt,
fellowship with God; destroyed for us the power of         filthy, worthy only of everlasting damnation. If the
sin and of the devil; bought our liberation from sin;      Lord were to treat us according to what we deserve
and earned life and glory everlasting. Surely our          we could never stand before Him. How true this is!
justification is a free gift, realized for us by Christ    It is experienced by every redeemed and saved
Jesus, without any works on our part, yea, while           child of God! This every child of God surely under-
we were yet sinners. 0, it is not true, as the Armin-      stands!
ians would have us believe, that Jesus merely                God, however, loved us. This, and this alone ex-
earned for the Father the right to renegotiate with        plains our redemption in Christ Jesus. God loved us
the sinner, to save him provided that he believes          for His own Name's sake, eternally, sovereignly, in-
and is willing to be saved; to the contrary, Christ        dependently, wholly unconditionally. He was
Jesus redeemed us upon the cross of Calvary, our           moved by eternal bowels of mercy and compassion,
redemption has become a fact. In the cross of our          sent His Son into the world to redeem us, descend-
Lord Jesus Christ we glory, now and forevermore.           ed into the depths of hell, while we were sinners
                  *    *    *    *    *                    who hated Him and resented His coming to save
  We are saved, justified freely, by His grace  -          His own. All our hatred of Him simply moved Him
this grace of God is justification's gratuitous source.    to greater manifestations of love and compassion,
                                                           because all our hatred merely served to reveal our
  The grace of God - what is it? The concept grace         need of His unchangeable mercy. And having loved
has several connotations in the Word of God. It is         us, even unto the death of the cross, He gave us the
generally defined as God's unmerited and un-               gift of faith and united us with Christ. He will not
deserved favor to sinners. It cannot be denied that        rest until He has completed this work of redemp-
the word has this meaning in Scripture, the Word           tion and salvation, even forever, in the building of
of God. The grace of God is indeed God's unde-             God made without hands, eternal in the heavens -
served favor to sinners when viewed from the               only because He loved us first, unto the glory of His
aspect of the sinner. As such, it appears in Scripture     mercy and grace. Indeed, to Him be all the praise
as over against works. This also enables us to un-         and all the glory, now and even forevermore.
derstand, when viewing God's grace as undeserved
favor, that the thought of a common grace was                Righteous before God.
developed. Are not all things as received by a sin-          Redeemed in and through Christ Jesus.
ner, such as health, food, sunshine, etc., unde-             Freely, and only by His grace.
served as far as the sinner is concerned? However,
the curse of God, we read in the Word of God, is in
the house of the wicked. The root meaning of grace
is beauty, attractiveness. So, the grace of God can                   Take time to read
and does refer to the effectual, efficacious power of
God, removing the filth of sin, rendering a sinner                      and study the
beautiful as God is beautiful. Grace, however, also
appears in the Word of God as denoting the favor of                   Standard Bearer
God, an attitude or favorable disposition of God to
the creature. It is this last thought which is evident-
ly meant in this Word of God. We understand that


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                             413



EDITORIAL



              Synod. of the Protestant Reformed
                                   Churches, 1984
                                             Prof. H.C. Hoeksema





  As I begin to write this, Synod has not yet com-         This report cannot furnish the details of all the
pleted its work. However, the usual deadline for         various decisions of Synod, only the highlights.
the July issue of the  Standard Bearer  will be past
before I return home, D.V.; and in order that this         Committee I was assigned all home missions
issue may reach you on time, I must begin my             matters. In this connection I call attention to the
report while I am still sojourning in northwest Iowa     following:
at the home of old  Doon friends, Mr. and Mrs. Ed        1. Synod approved the recommendation of the
van Egdom.                                               South Holland Council and the Mission Committee
  This year's Synod convened, for a change, in           that the Birmingham, Alabama field be closed. This
Hull,  .Iowa, where we were graciously served by         was on the grounds that "there does not seem to be
the Hull ladies at mealtimes and coffee breaks. At       a possibility of establishing a congregation in the
the Tuesday evening pre-Synodical service the Rev.       foreseeable future," and that "no evidence has
G. van Baren, president of the 1983 Synod, sound-        been given . . . that suggests new contacts express-
ed a fitting keynote in his sermon on John  155, "I      ing interest in us and our work there." This, of
am the vine, ye are the branches: he that adideth in     course, raises the question of the future labors of
Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much           Missionary van Overloop. At a later session Synod,
fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing."                upon the advice of South Holland and a sub-
                                                         committee of the Mission Committee, declared a
  On Wednesday morning the officers of Synod             northwest suburban Chicago area (in the vicinity of
were elected: Rev. D. Engelsma, president; Rev. G.
van  Baren, vice-president; Rev. M. Joostens, first      Elk Grove Village, some 55 miles from South
clerk; Rev. R. Miersma, second clerk. Our presi-         Holland) a field, and authorized labors by Rev. van
dent ran a "tight ship," and Synod operated very ef-     Overloop  in that area, as requested by several
ficiently. This efficiency was also due to the work      families in the area.
of the four advisory committees among whom the           2. Before Synod was also a request from a group in
items of the Agenda were divided. Because there          Blue Bell, Pennsylvania (a northwest suburb of
were no examinations this year, the advisory com-        Philadelphia) to be organized as a congregation.
mittees were able to finish most of their work on        Three representatives of Blue Bell (Tony van
Wednesday afternoon and evening, so that Synod           Brakel, Phil Veitch, and Candidate Ken Hanko) ap-
was able to treat the advisory reports in order and      peared as visitors at Synod, were warmly wel-
without interruption. Only a very few items had to       comed, and were given the right to address Synod
be recommitted for further advice; and in most in-       on this matter. Synod decided to declare Blue Bell a
stances there was unanimity or an overwhelmingly         field. However, instead of appointing Hope-Walker
favorable vote on the various matters before Synod.      the calling church, Synod appointed Covenant, of
It is always pleasant and encouraging when an ec-        Wyckoff, N.J., which is a two-hour drive from Blue
clesiastical assembly operates in this fashion. I        Bell. This will not only make direct contact with the
believe this was due to the fact that Synod labored      field more efficient, but will also make it possible
in the consciousness that "without Me ye can do          for the committed families and individuals of Blue
nothing."                                                Bell to become members of Covenant temporarily


414                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



(under the provisions of Article 39 of the Church          However, in connection with this report Synod
Order), and thus to enjoy membership and partici-          decided to call special attention to our churches'
pation in the sacraments even before being orga-           need for new seminary students.
nized. Although this was not the  first  wish of the       3. There was a lengthy report from the Student Aid
Blue Bell group, nevertheless they were happy and          Committee concerning a matter of conflict between
thankful, and expressed this to Synod. The mission         the Student Aid Constitution and the Agreement
budget for the Blue Bell field will largely be met by      signed by the students receiving aid. Synod did not
generous contributions from the Blue Bell group.           adopt this committee's recommendation, but decid-
Synod also expressed its appreciation and thanks to        ed instead to maintain the position of the constitu-
Candidate Hanko for his faithful labors in Blue Bell       tion itself and to bring the Agreement into harmony
since last October.                                        with the former, thus relaxing considerably the re-
3. Synod authorized the continuation of the labors         quirement for repayment of aid on the part of
in  Ripon,  California, where, it was reported, there      students who drop out of school.
is progress and continued interest. Synod also ex-         4. With regard to the Foreign Mission Committee's
pressed its concern and love to Rev. Houck and his         Report, the most important decisions were: a) The
family in their present afflictions and trials. While I    FMC was authorized to send emissaries to Singa-
am mentioning the latter fact, let me also mention         pore in the coming year, even though our mis-
that Synod sent greetings to Rev. van Overloop  and        sionary himself did not feel the need of this. The
Rev. den Hartog also.                                      grounds for this decision were: 1) To encourage our
4. I inadvertently omitted from my June 1 editorial        missionary. 2) To keep the FMC in direct contact
mention of Jamaica in connection with the Agenda.          with the field. 3) To study the matter of the future
Up to the time of Synod the Lord did not give us a         direction of our work there. b) Synod reaffirmed
missionary in response to First Church's several           last year's  .decision empowering the sending of a
calls. Synod authorized First to continue calling. In      second missionary to Singapore if this is necessary.
this connection, Synod: 1) maintained its decision         5. `In connection with the Stated Clerk's report we
of last year that a co-worker for the missionary to        may mention the fact that the new edition of our
Jamaica must be a minister or minister-emeritus. 2)        Church Order is now available (in a looseleaf bind-
made provision for First Church to send a delega-          ing). Copies may be ordered from the Stated Clerk.
tion to Jamaica "for no less than six months so that       The price is $6.00.
intensive instruction and missionary work can be
accomplished," while we have no missionary in                Committee III was assigned overtures, a protest,
Jamaica. This is in accord with a decision taken in        a lengthy report of a Committee on Ecumenical
1982. Synod also mandated First Church to investi-         Creeds, an invitation to send observers to the
gate the activities of one of the Jamaican ministers,      Reformed Ecumenical Synod, and the report of the
Rev. Brown, who has been in this country for some          Committee for Contact With Other Churches. I
months, to take appropriate action, and to report to       mention the following:
Synod of 1985. It also reminded the Mission Com-           1. Synod rejected an overture to pre-appoint the
mittee of its mandate of 1983 to investigate the mat-      Synodical advisory committee on the grounds of-
ter of support of Jamaican ministers.                      fered by  Classis  East.
5. Synod decided to continue to help the New               2. Synod rejected an overture to change the
Zealand Fellowships as in the past, i.e., through the      method of levying Synodical assessments from an
sending of a minister or minister-emeritus by one of       annual method to a monthly method, also on the
our consistories.                                          grounds offered by  Classis  East.
  All of these labors, of course, involve a consider-      3. Synod rejected a protest against including the
able expenditure; and Synod adopted budgets for            Creed of  Chalcedon with the Trinitarian Creeds in
each of these mission works.                               future printings of the  PsaZter.  This protest came
  Committee II was assigned matters related to our         from South Holland with the approval of  Classis
Theological School, the report of the Foreign Mis-         West. But after due consideration, it was rejected
sion Committee, and a few other routine reports.           by Synod on grounds offered by the advisory com-
We may mention the following:                              mittee.
1. The report of the Theological School Committee          4. In connection with the report of the Committee
was routine and contained no new proposals. The            on Ecumenical Creeds we mention:
only action required was approval of the 1985                1) Synod approved historical introductions for
budget.                                                    both the ecumenical creeds and our Three Forms of
2. The Rector's report was also mostly routine.            Unity. These were recommended and prepared by


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              415



the committee.                                               3) One of the most significant items was a report
  2) Synod adopted the translations of the                 concerning contact with the Rev. George Hutton
Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian          and the Bible Presbyterian Church of which he is
Creed, and the Chalcedonian Creed submitted by             pastor in North Ireland. Synod authorized the Con-
the committee.                                             tact Committee to send Rev. D. Engelsma and a
                                                           member of the committee "to explore the possibili-
  3) Rather than prepare separate printings of             ty of establishing sister church relationships." This
these creeds, Synod went on record as favoring a           committee is also to pursue other contacts in the
new printing of our Psalter  in which all these creeds     United Kingdom.
and the historical introductions would be included.
Synod also appointed a committee to investigate the          Committee IV advises Synod on all financial mat-
feasibility of preparing such a new  Psalter  and to       ters. This includes subsidies, treasurer's report, and
report to the Synod of 1985.                               the  Synodical budget. The latter is one of the most
5. Synod declined an invitation to send observers          important items for this committee. The committee
to the Reformed Ecumenical Synod and instructed            must take into account all the various budgets
our Contact Committee to communicate the                   which Synod adopts, must consider the balance in
reasons for this decline.                                  our funds, and must then come to a conclusion as
6. With respect to the  ,Contact  Committee Report:        to a reasonable assessment figure for the new fiscal
                                                           year. The committee tries to keep assessments on
   1) Most of the items were routine and required          an even keel, i.e., without large variations. This
little or no action by Synod. On the whole this com-       year there is a modest increase  - to $365.00 per
mittee reported little progress in its various con-        family.
tacts.
  2) Progress was reported toward a sister church            Next year's Synod will meet on Tuesday (a "new
relationship with the Evangelical Reformed Church          wrinkle"), June 11, at Hudsonville. Our Synod this
of Singapore, and the committee was instructed to          year met for four hours on Saturday morning and
come back to Synod on this subject when both               then finished in another three hours on Monday
churches are ready for such a relationship.                morning. May the Lord bless the decisions made!
,DAY OF SHADOWS



                                 Vicious Vengeance
                                                Rev. John A. Heys




  As we suggested last time, the servants in the           time, judges who tried the disputes which the
king's gate of Ahasuerus' palace were some kind of         citizens brought to them.
court to settle relatively minor matters. In Ruth 4: 1
we read of Boaz going to the gate of the city and sit-       Looking a bit more carefully at their approach to
ting down there in order to legalize the transaction       Mordecai we can see that he was being tried by
of transferring the right of the nearest of kin to him,    these servants of the king. It was not out of mere
for buying the land of Elimelech, and for marrying         curiosity that they questioned him as to why he did
Ruth. We now deal with another nation and with             not bow and reverence  Haman.  Note their ques-
an incident in an entirely different age. In the days      tion: "Why transgresseth thou the king's com-
of Ruth the elders of Israel were called to witness        mandment?" They did not ask, "Why do you not
this transfer and to record it. In Esther  3:1-4 there     bow and reverence  Haman?" They speak of trans-
are servants of the king in the gate, men who held         gressing the king's commandment. They are
some kind of office, probably, as suggested last           unbelievers and were not concerned with sin


416                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



before God. But they were interested in keeping          He would avenge that deed of king Saul not only,
law and order in the Persian kingdom, and felt           but of all the victories God has given Israel over his
loyalty to the king.                                     people in the past. Vicious was his vengeance. And
  This also explains why they did this daily. They       devilishly cunning was he in his .method. A matter
wanted a change in him, and asked until they got         of personal revenge might not have succeeded. He
their answer. If actually now he also was a servant      might have been rebuked for being so "touchy."
of the king, then they were dealing very charitably      And even then the most he could hope to achieve
with him, giving him a few days' time to change his      would be the death sentence for Mordecai. No, he
mind. But when he finally gave his reason, namely,       was a clever politician, and so he makes it a case of
because he was a Jew, they were constrained to           the king's and the kingdom's good. He never men-
take the matter to a higher court, that is, to Haman     tioned Mordecai or his disobedience. No, but it is
himself, to see whether the matter would stand.          not to "the king's profit"; and they are a people that
                                                         have a long history of following their own laws,
  Let it be pointed out here that they may have          which are so different from those of the king that
known long before this that Mordecai was a Jew.          they forbid keeping the king's commandments.
Note that they did not ask him whether he were a         They are known to be a rebellious people that con-
Jew or not. They could probably see that in his face.    sider themselves to be a super race that will one
Might not even his name give him away? They              day rule the whole world. They claim to have pro-
asked him why he disobeyed the king's command.           mises from their God that this will surely be the
And that he told them that he was a Jew then             case, from sea to sea and including all the nations
means that this is what he gave them in answer to        and peoples of the world.
their question. As I pointed out before, and must be
understood, he was not at all ashamed of being a           And here, by the way, is Mordecai's reason for
Jew. He considered himself-as we shall see               commanding Esther not to reveal her kindred and
later-a member of a super race, one that one day         people. Just remember that Vashti was divorced
would rule the whole world.                              and cast out of the palace for rebelling. How would
  This in no way conflicts with his command to           a candidate fare for that position who came from a
Esther not to reveal her kindred and people. From        people with diverse laws and customs and who
Esther 8:l we learn that it was not till after Haman     have shown that they would keep no laws of any
was hanged that Esther did tell the king what            king but of a Jewish king? That would not be "for
Mordecai was to her, namely, her father. Therefore       the king's profit." No matter how beautiful she
word to the servants in the king's gate that he was a    might be-Vashti was exceptionally beautiful as
Jew would in no way hurt Esther, even in the days        well-the men in the kingdom could not risk the
before the king chose her to be his queen.               possibility of another queen showing too much con-
  But to return to the king's servants, they called      tempt and hatred, and thereby encouraging their
Haman's  attention to Mordecai's disobedience.           wives to do likewise. After all, would not the
And this they did to see whether "Mordecai's mat-        women, and do not most women, like to emulate
ters would stand." They wanted to know whether           the queen, as well as men like to dress, and talk and
this would excuse Mordecai or not; whether he did        behave as their male heroes? No, a Jewish virgin
have legal ground for his conduct or should be           would be much too big a risk. And Mordecai knew
disciplined for his breaking of the king's command.      that. He wanted that position for Esther for the
They did not understand this bitter relation be-         good of the Jews, but he did not have the church of
tween the Jews and Amalekites. The Amalekites            God among the Jews in mind. And the vile reputa-
and the Israelites, coming from the same stock,          tion of pride and rebellion, not of that church, but
namely, Abraham and Isaac, may have had                  of the carnal seed in that nation, he realized would
physical features that were similar. And not know-       be a threat to the nation, and destroy Esther's
ing the history that lay behind this mutual hatred,      chances of becoming queen.
they, in order to do their work as the king's ser-         Although Mordecai was an unbelieving Jew, the
vants, brought the matter to  Haman  himself.            attack here is upon all the Jews of that day, and that
  Haman  was well aware of the history that lay          then includes the elect children of God, His church
behind him and Mordecai, as is evident from his          living in the world in that period of time. Therefore
decision to have all the Jews killed. He was filled      we must go way back in our thoughts and see this
with wrath, not only against Mordecai but against        as one more evidence of God's promise as soon as
all of Jacob's seed. He saw a way to destroy all the     sin had entered the world. Here is clear evidence of
Jews, even as Saul had killed so many Amalekites,        that enmity between the seed of the woman and the
with the exception of king  Agag whom Samuel             seed of the serpent. And behind  Haman is Satan
killed at God's command. He would seek revenge!          plotting and planning to destroy the church, and to


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                             417



prevent the promised Seed from being born. From         subjugated people could only wonder whether they
the day that this mother promise of Genesis  3:15       were next after the slaughter of the Jews. Even
was given, namely, that the Seed of the woman           though we all know that we must die someday, it
would crush (that is the Hebrew word) the head of       does make it harder to know the day and the way.
the serpent, and that the serpent and his seed          We will carry that with us until the moment comes,
would crush the heel of the woman's seed, there         and be dying by inches until that moment. How
has been a struggle between Cain and Abel, Jacob        Satan laughed when  Haman and Ahasuerus sat
and Esau, the church and the world. And here the        down to drink wine after the decision was made,
serpent sees a promising moment for wiping out          and Haman  was granted what he sought.
the whole seed of the woman, so that the Messiah,         Yet we do well to remember that God controlled
who had been promised much more clearly in              those lots and picked the day. The king's heart is in
subsequent prophecies, would not be born, and           His hand as the rivers of waters. He turneth it
Satan and his kingdom would not have to fear Him.       whithersoever He will (Proverbs 2 1: 1). He rules all
  Think of the prophecy of Balaam that a star           the rulers of this world. Yea, He Who promised
would arise and would "smite the corners of Moab        that the Seed of the woman would crush the seed of
and destroy all the children of Sheth." Or of Isaiah    the serpent rules the devil. He is not ruled by Satan,
9:7, that the Prince of Peace would come, not to        but Satan not only receives every breath of life
mention all the promises to David that his son          from God-and God can stop him any minute simp-
would sit on the throne forever. And think of the       ly by withholding his breath of life-he does only
many skirmishes between the seed of the woman           that which has eternally been decreed in God's
and the seed of the serpent recorded throughout         counsel. Here too we may say that "it came to
Scripture. And now a satanic vengeance appears in       pass" as decreed by our God, and not because
Haman's  scheme to wipe out all the seed of the         Satan momentarily slipped one over on God's peo-
woman.                                                  ple.
  Being a soldier in Satan's army, Haman  resorts to      Shushan was perplexed, but not God. The Jews
the idolatry Satan taught mankind. He casts lots for    were filled with tormenting fear, but not God.  In-
the "lucky" day for the execution of the right,         `stead of this being a threat to the birth of His Son,
when given him by the king, to exterminate the          and to His atoning death for His people, God
Jews, He had gotten permission to destroy, to kill,     planned it as a fulfillment of what He had eternally
and to cause to perish. It was a total wiping out, a    decreed for the very coming and death of that Son,
vicious vengeance upon the deeds of one man. And        and so for His church's salvation. He knew not only
he adds to the grief and fear of the Jews in that       how the tables will be turned against  Haman in a
almost a year will pass by before the date his  lot-    few -days, but also how all of Satan's tricks and
casting brought up for him as a choice day for this     works will fail to pluck as much as one of His sheep
slaughter. Mind you, that date was picked before        out of His hand.
he had even brought the matter to the king's atten-       Vicious vengeance on the part of Satan's brood,
tion and had gotten the right to go ahead with his      yes. But tender mercy for the church on God's part.
devilish plot. For almost a year the Jews would         Satan is always seeking to destroy, but God is
carry their death along with them every step of the     always working to bless and glorify His church. As
way. This caused untold agony among the Jews and        the psalmist writes, "The Lord reigneth; let the na-
soul-vexing fear. We read of great mourning             tions tremble: he sitteth between the cherubim: let
throughout the kingdom, fasting and weeping.            the earth be moved" (Psalm  99:l). And, do not
  Even the heathen in Shushan were perplexed.           forget, today either, that those cherubim sat on the
They could not understand this decree at all. They      mercy seat of the ark, and on it the blood of Christ
had not found the Jews to be such an impossible         was symbolically poured. On the basis of His cross,
people-a bit proud perhaps in some instances, but       all God's works are wrought in tender mercy for
not a people that was a threat to the kingdom. The      His church.
unbelieving Jews had stayed there for carnal
reasons. They had it good. They made plenty of                  The Standard Bearer
money and had beautiful homes. Their flesh was
satisfied. And, after all, the unbelieving Jew is
spiritually one with the unbelieving Gentile. They        makes a thoughtful gift
have the world in common and can get along enjoy-
ing the things of the flesh. Many of them depended         for the sick or shut-in.
upon the Jews for their choice foods that they
bought in the market from them. And the other


     418                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



     FROM HOLY WRIT



              Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures
                                                         (XIII)
                                                       Rev. G. Lubbers





       The so-called Dispensation of the "Kingdom" -               Here we are dealing with the intransitive usage
     the "Seventh Dispensation" (continued).                     of the verb. It does not mean to  bring  near but to
       When  Scofield speaks of the Kingdom being "at            come  near. A very clear case of the usage of the
     hand" he refers this to a very vague and conditional        term we find in Mark 14:42. The text here speaks of
     realization of the Kingdom of God as promised to            the imminent arrival of Judas Iscariot with the
     David. and as foretold in the prophecies. It merely         soldier band to take Jesus into custody and captive
     means that there is not going to be some great event        in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has just fin-
     intervening, another "dispensation." Evidently this         ished His agonizing prayer in the Garden. He had
     means that the "millennium" is at hand as spoken            sweat the great drops of sweat as of blood, bringing
~    of by the prophets as he interprets those proph-            the sacrificial high priestly offering for our sins.
     ecies. The coming of the "church age" evidently            And now He reaches out in obedience for the ac-
     interrupted the coming of the Jewish kingdom, but          cursed tree. And Judas, the son of perdition, is
     it did not erase the truth of the words of Jesus that      about to give his traitor's kiss. The hour has struck
     the kingdom is at hand. There is some elasticity in         on the clock of God; it is the hour of the power of
     the phrase "at hand." Perhaps Jesus Himself did            darkness. And now Jesus tells His disciples to
     not quite understand just when the kingdom would           waken from their sleep, for the "hand of the one
     come.                                                      betraying Me is at hand" (Mt. 26:45, 46; Mk. 14:42).
                                                                Surely here the words "at hand" do not allow for
       However, the truth of the matter is that the term        an endless procrastination and postponement of the
     "at hand" means exactly what is says. We repeat            arrival of Judas and the soldiers and the representa-
     that the words "at hand" cannot with good, solid           tives of the chief priests and elders. Jesus hears the
     interpretation and sound exegesis be construed to          footsteps of the captors. There shall be no more
     mean "that no known or predicted event will inter-         time left.
     vene." This cannot be the meaning of the term here
     in the text, nor is such the meaning of the several           Yes, we know it, we know it. There are passages
     passages in which the term "at hand" occurs in the         in which the term "at hand" seems to allow for
     New Testament Scriptures. The term "at hand" is            something being  very remotely  at hand. I refer to
     the translation of the Greek verb eggizoo - to bring       such passages as Romans  13:12. There we read:
     near, to join one thing to another. "Draw nigh to           "the night is far spent, but the day is at hand. " This
     God and He will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8). In          places us in the breaking of the dawn of day. The
     Genesis 48: 10 the verb is translated in the transitive    day-star is shining and telling us that soon the sun
     sense: "and they brought them near to him"; that           shall rise, and we shall be ushered into the eternal
     is, the two sons of Joseph were brought near to            morning of heaven's day and the glory of the ages
     their grandfather Jacob  toyreceive  his paternal and      to come. Soon the weary night of sin and sorrow
     prophetic blessing concerning their relative               will be over, and the battle will be won and the vic-
     greatness in Israel, each.,, representing a tribe          tory shall be accorded us by free grace. "Near" in
     amongst the twelve. This does not mean anything
                                  ,                             Romans  13:12 is not near by our time reckoning,
     else but "near."                                           but by the measuring-rod of the eternal footsteps of
       A little study of the New Testament is very              God, with Whom one day is as a thousand years,
     enlightening and convincing.,  #,;.                        and a thousand years is as one day (II Peter 3:8).
                                       -?dc~
                                        * 0
                                 _  ,`5'.
                                          ,.i


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              419



  Of this.we must not be ignorant!                          kingdom encompasses heaven and earth, is in Him.
  Can one now by analogy, from this usage of the            In Him the kingdom of heaven is nigh. So nigh is
term "at hand" (Rom. 13: 12), conclude that in Mat-         that kingdom to the church that Jesus says in Luke
thew  3:1-3, which states that the "kingdom of              109, "And heal the sick that are therein, and say
heaven is at hand," it means: in the very distant           unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto
future, possibly; however, "no known or predicted           you." In this healing of the sick they were by faith
event will intervene?"                                      to see the having come of the kingdom of God. There
                                                            is a Greek text which reads, "the kingdom of God
  Thus would  Scofield have his Bible readers to            has come nigh upon you." In this kingdom coming
believe. They must read this passage through the            the devils are cast out, the lame are caused to walk,
Scofieldian spectacles.                                     the lepers are cleansed, and the dead are raised to
  However, we think not  - in the first place               life. And thus the prophecies are being fulfilled as
because the verb "from here" is in the perfect tense        spoken by Isaiah (Isaiah  29:18;  35:4, 5, 6;  42:7).
(eeggiken).  ,And it is noteworthy that this perfect        And it is important to notice that Jesus calls this
tense is used in each case where it is spoken of the        beautiful manifestation of the kingdom of heaven
kingdom of heaven being near, as proclaimed by              to John's attention in the deepest hour of John's
both John the Baptist and by Jesus (Matt. 3:2; 4:17;        doubts and fears while in the prison, where he dies
10:7; Mark  1:15).  And we must remember that in            as did all the prophets who preached the word of
the Greek language the tenses primarily emphasize           God (Matt.  5:12; James  5:lO).
the degree of the completion of a certain act, viewed         Yes, the kingdom in all its saving and  world-
from various points in time: present, past, and             conquering power had come nigh. It was in a com-
future. This is important to notice. And then the           pleted state of being fulfilled. And this kingdom
perfect tense indicates completed state up till the pre-    was not a Jewish kingdom, an earthly kingdom; it
sent time.  We here are dealing with a present              was the kingdom of heaven. Says Jesus to the
perfect tense. "The present perfect tense does not          unbelieving and skeptic Pilate, "My kingdom is not
say that an act is just completed. That may be true         of this world: if My kingdom were of this world,
or not. Here again the meaning of the verb itself           then would My servants fight, that I should not be
and the context is to be carefully observed  (Ak-           delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not
tionart)" (Short Grammer Of the Greek New Testa-            from hence" (John  l&38).
ment,  A.T. Robertson).                                       And why was Jesus killed by the Jews? Was it
  In the second place it should be observed care-           because He offered them the earthly kingdom and
fully that in the broader context in Matthew 3:4 we         glory of David and Solomon, and the earthly land
are told that John began to preach in "those days."         from the River Euphrates to Egypt? Had Jesus of-
These are the days when the Son of God has come             fered them such a kingdom He would not have
into the flesh to be the Savior of the world, of both       died, nor would He have needed to suffer the
Jew and Greek, according to the election of grace.          torments of hell against the wrathlof  God for many
And, in the death and resurrection and ascension of         But the Jews knew that He did not come to estab-
Christ, the kingdom of God is realized and the              lish such a kingdom. Does He not come as pre-
throne of David is established in righteousness. It is      dicted in Zechariah  9:9?" Rejoice greatly, 0
when the predicted prophet, who is more than a              daughter of Zion; shout 0 daughter of Jerusalem:
prophet, is to appear before the Lord. He is the            behold thy king  cometh unto thee: He is just and
voice, crying in the wilderness (Matt.  3:3; Isaiah         having salvation: lowly and riding upon an ass,
40:3). Yes, when the kingdom of heaven comes,               upon a colt the foal of an ass" (Zechariah  2:lO;
then the reconciliation of Jerusalem will be ef-            Isaiah  62:12; Matt.  21:5; John  12:15).
fected. This was the message of hope and peace
which was to be proclaimed: ye have received of               Yes, the kingdom of heaven was nigh in the days
the hand of the Lord double for all your sins (Isaiah       when John the Baptist cried in the wilderness;
40: 1). Then shall all who are born out of God, Jew or      when he prepared the way before Christ, calling
Greek, receive from the fulness of the Word made            men and women to the repentance which Christ
flesh, grace for grace (John 1: 16). Yes, He will reveal    came to give to His people in sovereign grace. For
God unto us. We will be those who see God face to           this is a repentance of faith which Christ had to
face one day in the face of Jesus Christ.                   merit for us on the Cross, together with all the other
                                                            gifts of salvation. These we receive even as we were
  That is the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark  l:l-3).         elected in Christ before the foundation of the
  And when Jesus came upon earth the kingdom of             world, that we should be holy and without blame
God had come. All that will ever be seen in the             before Him in love (Eph. 1:3,4). For when the king-
endless heavens of the kingdom of God, as this              dom of heaven was actually realized in Christ's


420                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



death, resurrection, and ascension, and in the out-        the violent took it by force. We then understand
pouring of the Holy Spirit, then God gave that             that all the prophets prophesied until John. We
which all the signs of the healing and life-giving of      understand that it is for this reason that none born
Christ referred to, as the life-giving Spirit. Did not     from women among the prophets, nor from among
God raise the crucified Christ into the heavenly           the priests and kings, were greater than John.
places "to give repentance to Israel, and forgive-
ness of sins?" (Acts  5:3Q, 31). And was this same           He truly came in the spirit and power of  Elias.
benefit not also for the Gentile believers? (Acts          He is the herald of the morning.
11: 18). Do not the skeptic Jewish believers exclaim,        No, the kingdom did not come near in some
"Then hath God also to the Gentiles given re-              vague, indefinite sense, so that the postponement
pentance unto life!"                                       of its coming could last till some end-time millen-
  Now we understand that the kingdom of God in-            nial period. Only by exegetical jugglery can one
deed had come in the days of John the Baptist; that        maintain that indefensible interpretation.
the kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and that                                              (to be continued)

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD



                         Missionary Methods (24)
                                              Prof. Robert D. Decker




          (The Views Of Rufus Anderson)                    titled, An Introducto y Essay On the Marriage of Mis-
                                                           sionaries,  published in 1836, Anderson had this to
  We have seen that Anderson conceived of the              say: "The reasons which make it proper and expe-
missionary's task solely in terms of the preaching of      dient for ministers at home to marry, all apply to
the gospel. The missionary must not attempt to
transform heathen culture. He must preach and              the case of the missionary. As a man he possesses
                                                           the same nature, and it is no better for him to be
teach the blessed gospel and baptize those who are         alone than it is for them. Nor are his circumstances
gathered into the church by that preaching. With           better fitted to reconcile him to monastic life. They
this we are in hearty agreement. The aim of mis-           will rather give strength to that powerful law of
sions, according to Anderson, is the establishment         nature which is operative alike in all countries and
of self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propa-        classes of people, producing the family state. It
gating, indigenous churches. To these principles we        might seem indeed, that the perpetual cheerless-
shall return, D.V., in later articles. For the present     ness of his habitation would urge him, as a Chris-
we are continuing our discussion of some of the            tian, to more frequent and intimate communion
more practical aspects of mission work which we            with his Savior, than is common with married men;
began in the previous article. In that article, the        but experience has long since demonstrated the
reader will recall, we discussed the question of the       cloister not to be the most favorable place for medi-
missionary's family, his children and their educa-         tation, prayer, and a close walk with God. Indeed
tion. Should the missionary marry and have                 there are no reasons in favor of marriage in the
children? Anderson believed the missionary should          minister who remains at home, which do not apply
be married. We agree. Not only is it possible for the      generally to the minister when sent abroad as a mis-
missionary to be married and have children on the          sionary. Regarding the wife as a friend, counsellor,
foreign field, it is desirable. Anderson was con-
vinced it was not good for the missionary to be            companion, the repository of her husband's
                                                           thoughts and feelings, the partaker of his joys, the
alone.                                                     sharer of his cares and sorrows, and one who is to
  The following are some of Anderson's reasons             lighten his toils, and become his nurse in sickness;
for this conviction. (Bear in mind, Anderson               the missionary needs such a helper far more than
labored in the mid 19th century.) In a document            the minister. If he be going to reside among a


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               421



savage people not migratory in their habits, he             second reason why the missionary should have a
ought then always to be accompanied by a wife.              wife: "The heathen should have an opportunity of
The uncivilized character of the people, instead of         seeing Christian families. The domestic constitution
being a reason why he should not be married, is in          among them is dreadfully disordered, and yet it is
all ordinary cases a conclusive reason why he               as true there as every where else, that the character
should be so. His wife, if judiciously chosen, will         of society is formed in the family. (By "domestic
endure privations and encounter dangers with as             constitution" Anderson means marriage and family
much cheerfulness and fortitude as he, and among            life, R.D.D.) To rectify it requires example as well
savages woman is the best earthly protector. No             as precept. The missionary must be able to il-
weapon of war should ever be seen in the hands or           lustrate the duties of the family state by means of
about the person of the missionary, and no symbol           his own household. Where the wife is a degraded
of peace is so significant or so well understood and        slave having no conception of a better destiny, she
appreciated by savages, as the presence of wives            will need to be taught everything that goes to con-
and children . . . . Moreover, in a barbarous or semi-      stitute the virtuous, useful, praiseworthy wife and
barbarous country it is impossible for the mis-             mother. And who shall instruct her? In what man-
sionary to secure regularity and comfort in his             ner shall the images of domestic order, neatness,
establishment, and such food, clothing, and retire-         comfort, and whatever else sheds beauty and
ment as habit has made necessary, without female            sweetness over domestic life, be imparted to her
assistance. In supplying his personal wants, he will        mind? She must have female teachers, living il-
be subjected to great disadvantages and loss of             lustrations. She must see these things exemplified
precious time, and the loneliness and vexations of          in actual life. And the Christian wife, mother, hus-
his situation will waste upon his spirits, curtail his      band, father, family must all be found in all our
efforts, perhaps shorten his days . . . . The desire for    missions to pagan and Mohammedan countries.."
the marriage state is part of the original constitution     (Anderson, pp. 211, 212)
of human nature, and not a perversion of it. The
married state is the natural state of man, and the            Who can argue against this point? Scripture in
missionary, if a resident in one place and sustained        many places instructs ministers to be examples or
by the presence of a suitable wife, will bear up bet-       patterns of godliness to their flocks (Phil. 3:17-21; I
ter against adverse circumstances than one who is           Tim.  4:12-16). What better, more effective witness
unmarried, will be more of a man, a better Chris-           could be left than that of a faithful husband and
tian, a more contented, zealous, faithful, useful           wife, father and mother and children? The truth of
missionary . . . . The holy and blessed enterprize of       the gospel preached by the missionary must be
protestant missions must not be spoiled by intro-           seen in himself, his wife, and family. This truth has
ducing into it the monastic principles of the Romish        been amply illustrated over the years by the ex-
church." (Rufus Anderson, R. Pierce Beaver, ed.;            perience of faithful missionaries. Have we not
To  Advance The  Gospel  Eerdmans, pp. 210, 211)            found this to be true in our own limited mission ex-
                                                            perience? The wives of our missionaries and
  No one can deny that what Anderson wrote is               emissaries have been and still are of invaluable ser-
true. Scripture reveals that God intends that a man         vice in both Singapore and Jamaica. The younger
should leave his father and mother and cleave unto          women especially seek their advice and instruc-
his wife. There are exceptions to this, but this is the     tion. It is not long before they are able to confide in
general rule. God says, "It is not good for man to be       them. They observe in them examples of the vir-
alone; I will make him a help meet for him." An-            tuous woman. To many in Singapore and Jamaica
derson's argument is that God did not ordain mis-           the wives of our missionaries and emissaries have
sionaries as a special class of men to whom the mar-        become as mothers and grandmothers.
riage ordinance does not apply. In fact he claims
the difficulties and very nature of mission work              Perhaps the greatest problem faced by churches
make it even more important that a missionary be            and married missionaries over the years is that of
accompanied by a suitable wife. Let us be remind-           the education of the children of missionaries. It is a
ed that this is in the context of the 19th century          problem which our own churches and missionaries
when missionaries and their wives labored among             are currently facing and with which they wrestle.
peoples far more primitive than today. Anderson             Our Foreign Mission Committee reports that "Rev.
speaks of savages, barbarous and semi-barbarous             den Hartog and his wife continue to enjoy their
peoples and countries. His position is biblical, and        labors in Singapore. However one source of deep
the experience of foreign missionaries has also             concern to them is the education of their children
proven him correct.                                         especially the foreign language requirements." (Cf.
                                                            1984 Agenda for Synod of the Protestant Reformed
  In that same essay, Anderson listed this as his           Churches, p. 38.) If the Lord should give us a mis-


422                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



sionary to-labor in Jamaica,  thiswill  be a problem       do not wish to minimize the problem, where God
of no little proportions. Various solutions have           calls His church and servants to labor He will also
been offered and attempted. Some of the larger mis-        provide the means and the solutions. This must not
sions have provided centrally located boarding             be viewed as an insurmountable obstacle to foreign
schools where children of 12 and older are sent for        mission work.
nine or ten months of each year. (Cf. "Missionary
Methods, 23;" The Standard Bearer, May 15, 1984.)            Anderson concludes his essay with a quotation
This would not be possible in either Singapore or          from an unpublished letter of a married missionary
Jamaica. It was rather common practice in Ander-           who described what the wife of the missionary
son's day to send missionary children home, i.e.,          ought to be. We think it is to the point. "It is not ex-
back to England and the U.S. for their education.          egesis, it is not theology, it is not philosophy, it is
Children were tutored by their missionary parents          not divinity, it is not law, it is not precept or com-
until they were about twelve years of age. At that         mand, which the people need; but it is the gospel,
point they were sent back home to live with rela-          the pure gospel, which they want all day long. It is
tives or friends so that they could be instructed in       Christianity embodied, acted out, living, breathing.
the Christian schools. In spite of Anderson's argu-        The missionary's wife, as well as himself, should be
ments in favor of this practice, it is less than satis-    a sort of moving commentary on the Bible; every-
factory at best. (Cf. Anderson, pp. 215, 216.) It          thing she says or does should remind the hearer or
would be much better if the missionary and                 beholder of something in the Bible; her whole life
especially his wife would tutor their children if          should be altogether a New Testament life. The
there are no satisfactory schools available on the         whole spirit of the New Testament should be in-
field. As time goes on and the work expands,               haled, and the whole spirit of the New Testament
teachers ought to be called and prepared to instruct       should be breathed, in every breath" (Anderson, p.
the children of missionaries. In any event, while we       217).                                 (to be continued)




                        Letter From New Zealand


       To Our Brothers and Sisters of the                    Writing on behalf of a body of believers in the
        Protestant Reformed Churches                       name of our Lord Jesus Christ we feel deeply in-
  At our last Protestant Reformed Fellowship               debted for all the tokens of goodwill extended to us
meeting a desire was expressed among the brethren          by the Protestant Reformed Churches in America,
to share some of our feelings of hope and gratitude        culminating in the labor of Rev. Heys among us.
with likeminded fellow yoke bearers through the              Looking back over the years we feel that Gods
pages of the Standard Bearer.                              providence supplied us with this contact. Speaking
  Since our last contact in this way was during            in behalf of those among us who came from the
Rev. Heys' first stay among us, we felt time was           Netherlands half a lifetime ago and settled in this
overdue for a second installment. Even now the             land, we also believe that God's hand led us here.
allotted time of Rev. Heys to labor among us is            Being persuaded to seek for truth we met with con-
swiftly drawing to a close. We are reminded that           flict in those early years. We found ourselves
we are creatures of time and everything is fleeting.       pilgrims and strangers in the earth even among
We were also reminded during this stay that God            brethren. As it turned out to be, we lost a church,
overrules us in our plans and actions, when Rev.           but we found each other at the foot of the cross of
Heys was hospitalized and unable to preach the             our Savior. God allows-a church to rise up against
Word of God for some weeks after. We are grateful          us but leaves us our last brother and friend, if we
to our covenant God that former health and                 stand for the truth. Even more, He brought to us
strength is again restored to our pastor, enabling         brethren and sisters from England, Ireland, Scot-
him to take stock and utilize to the full those re-        land and New Zealand to stand with us in the battle
maining days among us.                                     of faith.


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               423



  After all the waves and billows have gone over us      always before us. It is on this point that our hearts
we stand in awe and say in our hearts, "It is good       yearn for a share in the rich heritage of our fathers
for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn    in order to be strengthened in the truth, but also to
Thy statutes" Psalm  119:71. Our years of isolation      pass it on to our children: "That the generation to
in the midst of God's creation in this world also        come might know them, even the children which
taught us to be humble. Humble in looking to Him         should be born; who should rise and declare them
for growth and even more for preservation together       to their children" Psalm  78:6.
with our children. The all-wise God allows us time
for consolidation to make us more willing and more          With Christian greetings from New Zealand,
ready instruments in His hand against the time ap-                                  B. Van Herk
pointed by Him. The issues of truth and error are                                   Wainuiomata, New Zealand
QUESTION BOX



                          Keeping God's Covenant
                                                Rev. C. Hanko





  We received the following question from one of             be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after
our readers:                                                 thee" (Gen.  17:7).
  "Within the last year in the Standard Bearer there     There are innumerable passages, both in the Old
have been two articles about covenant breaking. I        and New Testaments, that speak of God's faithful-
have been brought up in the Christian Reformed           ness in keeping covenant with His people in Christ.
Church and have heard much about breaking the            To mention a few: In Deuteronomy 7:9 we are told:
covenant. Now I am hearing more and more of a                "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He
"Covenant breaking" in our Protestant Reformed               is God, the faithful God, which keepeth
Churches. Would you please write an article for the         covenant and mercy with them that love
question box in the  Standard Bearer  that the              Him and keep His commandments to a
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ keeps the Cove-           thousand generations."
nant? Here are some verses that show that this is        And then we have that ever beautiful Psalm, which
true: Psalm  25:10, Exodus  20:6, Psalm  103:17, 18,     expresses throughout the wonder and riches of
Deuteronomy  5:10, Psalm  73:23;  Psalter  numbers       God's faithfulness, beginning in the triumphant
278:5 and 281:4."                                        note:
                  *  *    *    *    *                        "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for
                                                            ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy
  As the writer suggests, there are many passages           faithfulness to all generations."
in Scripture that speak of keeping God's Covenant.       See also verses 2, 5, 8, 24, 33. Paul speaks of God's
  In fact, Scripture lays great emphasis on the fact     faithfulness in I Corinthians  1:9:
that God is a Covenant-keeping God. He is                    "God is faithful, by Whom ye were called
Jehovah, the Almighty, Unchangeable, ever faith-            unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ
ful Covenant God.                                           our Lord."
  When He establishes His Covenant with Abra-              Notice, God is faithful to us in Christ, having
ham as the father of all believers and with his          chosen us in Him, as our Covenant Head. He keeps
spiritual seed, He assures Abraham and us:               covenant even when it requires the death of His
   "I will establish My covenant between Me              dear Son. He draws us unto Himself by the Spirit of
   and thee and thy seed after thee in their             the Son into everlasting communion of life in glory.
 . generations for an everlasting covenant, to             In His faithfulness God blesses and preserves His


424                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



people in the hour of severest trials (I Cor. 10: 13).                     land of Egypt, because they continued not
The writer to the Hebrews encourages the be-                               in My covenant, and I regarded them not,
lievers:                                                                   saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
       "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith                       I will make with the house of Israel after
       without wavering; (for He is faithful that                          those days, saith the Lord; I will put My
       promised)" (Hebrews  10:23).                                        laws into their mind, and write them in
See also I Thessalonians 5:24. And John assures us                        ,their hearts: and I will be to them a God,
in I John  1:9:                                                            and they shall be to .Me a people: and they
       "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and                         shall not teach every man his neighbor, and
       just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us                      every man his brother, saying, Know the
       from all unrighteousness."                                          Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least
   God works these blessings through Christ, by                            to the greatest."
His Word and Spirit, even as in the Book of Revela-                      Scripture always connects our keeping covenant
tion Christ is called "the Faithful Witness" (Rev.                     with the keeping of His commandments. The books
1:5,  3:14). He is Abraham's Seed (Gal.  3:16, 29).                    of the law are called "Books of the Covenant" (Ex.
   It becomes evident, already in the passages re-                     24:7). The two tables of the law are called "the
ferred to, that Gods faithfulness is always associ-                    tables of the Covenant" (Deut.  9:9). The principle
ated with His mercy. God keeps covenant with us,                       of the law is that we shall love the Lord our God
not because of any merit or worthiness in us, nor be-                  with our whole being. God shows
cause we keep covenant, but only in His sovereign                          "mercy unto thousands of them that love
mercy, based upon His love in Christ Jesus. Our                           Me and keep My commandments" (Deut.
faithfulness is the fruit of His work of grace. We                         5:lO).
read in Malachi  3:6:                                                  II Samuel 22:22 speaks of "keeping the ways of the
       "For I am the Lord (Jehovah) I change not;                      Lord." Also our Baptism Form speaks of our part
       therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con-                         (not as parties, but as our part) in God's Covenant.
       sumed." "For the mountains shall depart,                            "Therefore are we by God through bap-
       and the hills be removed, but My kindness                          tism, admonished of, and obliged unto new
       shall not depart from thee, neither shall the                       obedience, namely, that we cleave to this
       covenant of My peace be removed, saith the                          one God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; that
       Lord that hath mercy upon thee" (Isaiah                            we trust in Him, and love Him with all our
       54:lO).                                                            hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind,
See also such passages as I Kings 8:23, II Chronicles                     and with all our strength; that we forsake
6:14,  N e h e m i a h   1:5,  P s a l m   73:24  a n d   o t h e r       the world, crucify our old nature, and walk
passages. God's mercies are always in Christ Jesus,                       in a new and holy life."
based on His atoning death of the cross, wrought in                    The difference between the old dispensation and
our hearts by His Spirit, through the preaching of                     the new is that in the old dispensation the members
the Word.                                                              of the church were servants, still under the bon-
                                                                       dage of the law, looking for its fulfillment in the
   Therefore it is only Jehovah's faithfulness in                      promised Savior, while in the new dispensation we
mercy toward His people that they keep covenant                        are sons, walking in the liberty wherewith Christ
with Him. God declares in Isaiah  59:21:                               has made us free.
       "As for Me, this is My covenant with them,
       saith the Lord: My spirit that is upon them,                      It is, therefore, only Jehovah's mercy and grace
       and My words which I have put in thy                            by His Spirit in our hearts, through the means of
       mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth,                       the preaching of the Word, that we can and do keep
       nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of                    God's Covenant. Many passages in Scripture speak
       the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord,                   of the faithfulness of God's covenant people. Psalm
       from henceforth and for ever."                                  101:6:
Thus we read in Hebrews 8:8-11, which is the ful-                         "Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful in the
fillment of the promise in the prophecy of Jeremiah                       land, that they may dwell with Me: he that
(31:31)  on Pentecost:                                                    walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve
       "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,                            Me."
    when I will make a new covenant with the                           In I Corinthians  7:25 Paul speaks of having ob-
    house of Israel and with the house of Judah:                       tained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Ephesians
    Not according to the covenant that I made                          1:l and Colossians  1:2 address the church as the
    with their fathers in the day when I took                          faithful in Christ Jesus. Therefore Jesus can ad-
    them by the hand to lead them out of the                           monish us:


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       425



    "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give               which I do: seeing that Abraham shall sure-
   thee a crown of life" (Rev.  2:lO).                          ly become  `a great and mighty nation, and
And Paul can say as his pilgrimage draws to a close,            all nations of the earth shall be blessed in
    "I have fought a good fight, I have finished                him?' '
   my course, I have kept the faith. Hence-                   The Lord says of Abraham, "I know him." This
   forth there is laid up for me a crown of                 is not a mere acquaintance, a mere knowing about
   righteousness, which the Lord, the righ-                 Abraham, or even a foreknowledge of what he will
   teous Judge, shall give me at that day: and              do, in the Arminian sense. Knowing in Scripture
   not to me only, but unto all them also that              usually has a far wider connotation. God knows
   love His appearance" (II Timothy  4:7, 8).               Abraham according to His sovereign election in
This is in harmony with the promise of our Lord,            love, having chosen him to the unique position as
Luke 19: 17:                                                father of all believers. God knows Abraham as
    "And He said unto him: Well done, thou                  redeemed in the promised Christ, so that God
    good servant, because thou hast been faith-             worked faith in him, equipping him with His Spirit
    ful in a very little, have thou authority over          and Word to walk in fear, in order that he may
    ten cities."                                            bring up his children and instruct his servants in
  Finally, Scripture teaches throughout that God's          the ways of the Lord.
covenant is His relationship of friendship with the
believers and their spiritual seed in the line of con-         From this follows that God blesses the instruc-
tinued generations. Rather than refer to the innum-         tion to Abraham's seed, particularly in Isaac, in
erable passages that could be cited, let us take note       Jacob, and in the patriarchs, so that in them it bears
of the word of the Lord to Abraham in Genesis               fruits of justice and judgment, uprightness of heart,
18:19:                                                      and obedience to God by serving Him.
   "For I know him (Abraham), that he will                     Thus God realizes His eternal purpose, "that
   command his children and his household                   Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which He
   after him, and they shall keep the way of                hath spoken to him. " This refers back to the cove-
   the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that               nant promise of Genesis  17:7:
   the Lord may bring upon Abraham that                         "And I will establish My covenant between
   which he hath spoken of him."                                Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
  In the context the Angel of Jehovah with two                  generations for an everlasting covenant,  to
other angels come to Abraham in the form of a lord              be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. "
with his two servants to sit and eat with him, to           Still today God continues to realize His promise to
commune with. him and assure him and Sarah of               Abraham's spiritual seed through the instruction in
the birth of the promised seed, Isaac. As the Angel         the covenant home and in the church (Psalm
is about to depart, Abraham seems reluctant to              78:1-6).
have Him leave. He accompanies Him on His way;                The full realization of this covenant faithfulness
and then, in the privacy of the two of them, the            is attained in heaven, as we read in Revelation 21:3:
Angel of Jehovah (which is the Old Testament                    "And I heard a great voice out of heaven
manifestation of the Christ) informs Abraham of                 saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is
the pending destruction of Sodom. In verses 17 and              with men, and He will dwell with them, and
18 we read:                                                     they shall be His people, and God Himself
   "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing                        shall be with them, and be their God."
BIBLE STUDY GUIDE


          T John - True Fellowship in Love (1)
                                                 Rev. J. Kortering



  The church as well as the individual believer             take for granted the beauty of true fellowship in the
needs to be reminded of the riches of the gospel of         love of God in Jesus Christ. This need is fulfilled as
truth and its influence for good. All too often, we         the-Holy Spirit moved the apostle John to write his


426                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



first epistle.                                                 The apostle John is combatting a serious error
AUTHOR                                                      that was influencing the church. In Ephesus, a
                                                            heretic by the name of Cerinthus was presenting a
   This epistle is not addressed in the usual manner        mixture of pagan philosophy and historic Jewish
of writing a letter during New Testament times. We          teachings. We quote from Hendriksen's  Bible
do not read of the author declaring his identity and        Survey to summarize this error.
specifically stating to whom he is writing. Instead,
we have a general reference: "This which was from                    A strange heresy was threatening their purity and
the beginning, which we have heard, which we                    spiritual progress. It is very difficult to determine its
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked                   exact nature, but from a close study of the Epistles of
                                                                John and some of the early fathers we arrive at the
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of                conclusion that it was probably a kind of incipient
life . . . that which we have seen and heard declare            gnosticism.  It was probably characterized by most, if
we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with               not all, of the following features:
us" (I John  1:1-3).  This is explained that John had
previously written his gospel and now he is rein-                    [l) spirit-matter dualism: matter is the source of
                                                                evil; spirit of the good.
forcing the message to the same readers. It is also
suggested that since John is writing in the capacity                 (2) docetism: whereas the material body (the flesh]
of pastor-teacher he is well acquainted with his                is the source and seat of evil, a real coming-into-the-
readers and they with him. Hence the formal iden-               flesh (or incarnation) is impossible. God is too pure to
                                                                become united with the human body.
tification is lacking.                                               (3) Cerinthianism: whereas a real incarnation is un-
  It is accepted by almost all biblical scholars that           thinkable, we must distinguish between a heavenly
John is the author of this brief but significant letter.        Christ and an earthly Jesus. The former never fully
Since we have presented the details of his life in our          united with the latter but merely descended upon him
study of the Gospel of John, we will not repeat this            at his baptism and left him again on the eve of his
here. We note in summary that his father was                    Passion. Accordingly, the heavenly Christ did not
Zebedee and his mother Salome, a sister of the                  suffer.
Virgin Mary (Matt.  27:56 and John  19:25). He and                   (4) Antinomianism (a life that is contrary to God's
his brother James were known as the sons of                     ,holy law]: whereas soul and body have nothing to do
thunder (Mark 3: 17). Jesus predicted that he would             with each other, the soul cannot be held responsible
become an old man (John 21:21-23).  After the death             for the deeds of the body; hence, let the body do what-
                                                                ever it pleases. "Sin" is an inherent quality of bodily
and resurrection of Jesus, John took care of the                existence. "I" do not commit sin.
Virgin Mary as Jesus had instructed him (John
19:26). He remained a leader in the Jerusalem                        (5) Knowledge, not love, is the highest virtue.
church until the Jewish wars and the destruction of           If we keep these points in mind, Hendriksen sug-
Jerusalem in 66-70 A.D. He then labored in                  gests, it will be very helpful in understanding key
Ephesus, which was the center of his ministry to            passages in this epistle. A few examples will suf-
Asia Minor. For a time he was banished to the Isle          fice.
of Patmos, but returned to Ephesus until his death.            (1) In I John 4:2 we read, "Hereby know ye that
OCCASION AND DATE                                           Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
                                                            Christ is come in the flesh is of God." This is stated
  Preciseness .in determining the date of writing is        to counter points (1) and (2) above.
impossible. We can only surmise, from the general
reference in the opening verses, that this epistle             (2) In I John 5:5, 6 we read, "And who is he that
was written soon after he had written his gospel.           overcometh the world, but he that believeth that
This was towards the end of John's life, sometime           Jesus is the  Son of God?  This is He that came by
between A.D. 90 and 100. Having written the                 water and blood, even Jesus Christ;  not with the
Gospel, the Holy Spirit moved John to write the let-        water only, but with the water and with the blood."
ters as an application of the Gospel to a specific          This contradicts point (3) above.
need. The desire to maintain Christian fellowship             (3) Again in I John  1:8 and 10 we read, "If we
in the love of God demanded that the saints deal            say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and
with opposition in a proper way. This meant that            the truth is not in us . _. . . If we say that we have not
the early church had to appreciate the truth and            sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in
fight for it, as well as acknowledge that the false         us." Also, in I John 3:4, 5, "Whosoever committeth
teachings that were being advanced were a denial            sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the trans-
of that truth and if accepted would result in the for-      gression of the law . . . . whosoever sinneth hath not
feiture of the fellowship which was so precious to          seen Him, neither known Him." This is taught as
them.                                                       the direct opposite of (4) above.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             427



  (4) Finally, in I John 3:13-18 we read, "We know          was in this locality that the heretic Cerinthus was
that we have passed from death unto life, because           living and having his greatest influence. It was in
we  Zoue the brethren . . . . But whosoever hath this       this area that John labored after his flight from
world's goods, and seeth his brother have need,             Jerusalem. This letter was to be read in the chur-
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from               ches of this area and wherever the Holy Spirit
him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" The              directed it.
point he makes here is that the highest virtue is not         Since heresy is not new essentially, but only ap-
knowledge  per  se as (5) above, but love, and that         pears in different forms, we do well to receive this
before God and ourselves.                                   letter as addressed to us. The antichrists of our day
  Little wonder that John calls the promoters of            have done much to deny the historical Jesus (the
this heresy "antichrists" (I John  218, 19, and 22).        true incarnation of the Son of God in our flesh). Ac-
Its spiritual roots are in the devil (I John 3: 10).        companying this denial is a host of attempts to
Keeping this in mind helps us understand the                justify sinful living in the name of such false
strong statements that John makes when he deals             Christs. Indeed, this is an epistle for our times as
with the evil that he is exposing. The love of the          well.
truth excites John to expose error sharply and              SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS
pointedly. Here we see a remarkable balance in
Christian apologetics. He shows us what is wrong              The apostle John wrote with a distinctive style
with the heresy, but also what is so right about the        that is easy to discern from other writers. In con-
truth.                                                      trast to Paul, John used simple vocabulary and
                                                            generally simple sentence structure. This makes for
  The positive side is emphasized throughout.               interesting reading not only, but often provokes
Already in the beginning of the letter he writes,           thought. John comes right to the point and states
"That which we have seen and heard declare we               bluntly what he wants to say. It is very important to
unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:         read each sentence carefully and place it in its im-
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with        mediate context. Otherwise we might have difficul-
His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we un-         ty with such seeming contradictory statements as,
to you that your joy may be full" (I John  1:3, 4).         "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and
Consider this: "I write unto you little children            the truth is not in us" (I John  1:8) and, "He that
because your sins `are forgiven you for His name's          committeth sin is of the devil . . . . whosoever is
sake. I write unto you fathers because ye have              born of God doth not commit sin" (1 John  3:9, 10).
known Him that is from the beginning; I wrote un-           Many of his teachings ring with challenge: "Love
to you young men because ye have overcome the               not the world neither the things that are in the
wicked one. I write unto you little children because        world. If any man loveth the world the love of the
ye have known the Father. I have written unto you           Father is not in him" (I John  2:15). Or consider,
fathers because ye have known Him that is from              "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (I
the beginning. I have written unto you young men            John  3:14). The Holy Spirit literally shakes us from
because ye are strong and the word of God abideth           our complacency in order that these words may
in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one" (I             have a shock effect and bring us to understand that
John 2:12-14). "I have not written unto you because         great blessing of having true fellowship in the love
you know not the truth, but because ye know it and          of God.
that no lie is of the truth" (I John 2:21). Finally, he
adds; "I have written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye
have eternal life and that ye may believe on the                The Standard Bearer
name of the Son of God" (I John 5:13). In one word,
we summarize the grand theme of this letter as
follows: true fellowship with God and one another             make a thoughtful gift
is in the love wherewith God has loved us and by
which we are able to love one another.                          for family & piends.
THE RECIPIENTS
  John did not designate specifically for whom he
wrote this letter. this has led to some speculation,
but most students of the Bible agree that, in the                    Give the Standard Bearer.
light of the historical setting, John intended this let-
ter to be read by the Christian churches of Asia
Minor, the members being both Jew and Gentile. It


428                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        I



THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH



        A Graduation Speech - Great is the Lord!
                                               Rev. Ron Cammenga




   "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in         science and geography. They have taught you the
the city of our God, in the mountain of His                 greatness of the Lord, as that greatness is clearly
holiness" (Psalm 48: 1).                                    manifest in history. They have taught you the
  Dear graduates, parents, grandparents, and                greatness of the Lord in mathematics and in
friends of our school, Psalm 48:l is a personal con-        language.
fession of the greatness of the Lord. It is not merely
the statement of an objective truth. It is not merely         This concern that your teachers had for the great-
the statement of the doctrine that we call the              ness of the Lord was reflected in their striving after
sovereignty of God. But it is rather the personal,          excellence in your education, and their diligent ef-
vital confession of God's greatness by the psalmist,        forts to give you the very best education possible.
not only as he knows God's greatness out of the Bi-         Their recognition of the greatness of the Lord was
ble, but as he has experienced God's greatness in           seen in their repeatedly laying before you your call-
his own life.                                               ing to labor to the best of your abilities in your
                                                            studies. The greatness of God simply demanded,
  This is a fitting text for your graduation. It is fit-    both of them and of you, your very best.
ting tonight that we praise the greatness of God. It
is fitting that we praise God's greatness for what He         Great is the Lord. "Great is the Lord, and greatly
has done for you in the past, all the years of your in-     to be praised," the psalmist exclaims. Clearly the
struction up to the present. And it is fitting that as      implication of these words is: "Great is the Lord
we look to the future, our confidence and trust be          ALONE." Only the Lord, and no one or nothing
not in ourselves, but in the greatness of our God.          else is great. Man is not great. It is precisely at this
                                                            point that so much education goes awry today. The
  Great is the Lord! This has been the theme of             vast majority of education today is built upon the
your entire education.  T&is has been the theme of          premise of the greatness of man. This is true of the
your education in your homes, by your parents.              education received by the young people in our own
The one great truth that your parents have sought
to set before you is the greatness, the power, the          country. Humanism, evolutionism, materialism,
majesty of God. This has been the theme of your             and hedonism (the teaching that pleasure is the
education in the church, both in the preaching ser-         chief good in life) permeate modern American
vices and in the catechism classes. As your pastor I        education. All of these have in common that they
have labored to set before you the greatness of the         proclaim the greatness of man. The greatness of
Lord, and in the light of His greatness your calling        man is also the fundamental principle of all educa-
to worship and fear the Lord. This has also been the        tion in the communist countries. God is denied,
theme of your education in the school. This is why          and the young people in the communist countries
we have our own school and why your parents                 are. taught the greatness of the state and the
sacrifice so that you may attend our own school.            greatness of the leaders of the state. This is only
We are concerned that you be taught the greatness           another way of teaching the greatness of man.
of the Lord. Here the public schools fail miserably.          And always the danger exists that we make our-
Here so many Christian schools are also failing to-         selves great: our works, our accomplishments, our
day.                                                        goals, our name, our honor. We put ourselves for-
  This, now, is what your teachers have taught              ward, and God and the neighbor must serve us.
you. They have not simply taught you science,                 Over against every denial the child of God con-
history, geography, mathematics, and English. But           fesses the greatness of God. God alone is great. Man
they have taught you the greatness of the Lord in           is not great. Man is nothing. We are nothing.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              429



  Especially is God great and do we know Him to              God is great and greatly to be praised "in the city of
be great as our Savior. It is especially in His work         our God, in the mountain of His holiness." The city
on behalf of our salvation that we see displayed the         of God was Jerusalem. The mountain of His holi-
greatness of God. That's the idea of this passage.           ness is a reference to one of the two mountains
"Great is the Lord," the psalmist says. "Lord" here          upon which the city of Jerusalem was built, the
is really "Jehovah": "Great is Jehovah!" Jehovah is          mountain upon which the temple stood, Mt.
the covenant name of God. The psalmist speaks of             Moriah. Here in Jerusalem, and particularly in the
God, therefore, as the covenant God, the God Who             temple, was God to be praised by His people. In
has brought the psalmist himself into His covenant.          New Testament language, Jerusalem and the tem-
To be in the covenant is to be saved. Besides, he            ple are the church. In the church especially is the
goes on to refer to the Lord as "our God': "Great is         New Testament believer greatly to praise the Lord
the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of OUY       his God.
God.  " The psalmist is an Israelite. He knows God to          This is true because it is really only in the church
be "our God," the God Who is the God of Israel in            that God's greatness can be known. God's great-
a way in which He is not the God of any other peo-           ness is revealed in Scripture. And it is especially in
ple. He is the God of Israel as He is not the God of         the church, in the preaching and teaching of the
Egypt or Moab or the Philistines. He is the God              church, that the great God of Scripture is set dorth.
Who is Israel's Savior. The psalmist knows God, as           In the church, therefore, God is greatly to be
Israel's Savior, to be a great God.                          praised by us. Faithful, living membership in the
Oh, it is the same with the child of God today.              church that consistently maintains the greatness of
There is nothing that so impresses us with God's             God is how we confess and praise the greatness of
greatness as His great work in our salvation. In His         God. To despise the church, to turn your back on
great work of electing us, in His great work of Him-         the church, to reject the church is to refuse to.
self dying for us, in.His great work of causing us to        praise the greatness of God. I cannot be praising the
be born in the covenant, in His great work of regen-         greatness of God off on my own, in my own little
erating us, breaking our hard hearts and bowing              corner, doing my own thing. But to praise the great-
our stiff necks in willing obedience to Him - here           ness of God it is necessary that I do this in the
as nowhere else is the greatness of our God re-              church, in company with all those others who are
vealed.                                                      to be found praising Gods greatness. I urge you
  It is not enough, however, that we be impressed            tonight, therefore, to be faithful members of the
with the greatness of the Lord. Even the unbe-               church. I urge you to be young people who confess
liever, in a way, is impressed with God's greatness.         and praise God's greatness "in the city of our God,
But what is necessary is that we confess the great-          in the mountain of His holiness."
ness of God. That's the example of the psalmist. He            Great is the Lord! Great is the Lord also in His
doesn't only know the greatness of God, but he               righteousness and in His wrath. The knowledge of
gives expression to that greatness of God: "Great is         God's greatness is sweet. the confession of Gods
the Lord!" You and I, similarly, are to make this            greatness is wonderful. The denial of God's great-
confession. Besides, the importance of our confes-           ness is terrible. The one who knowing the greatness
sion of the greatness of God is brought out in the           of God nevertheless denies God's greatness finds
text itself. Not only does the psalmist declare,             that greatness of God turned against him. That is an
"Great is the Lord," but he adds, "and greatly to be         awful thing! The psalmist speaks of that in the
praised." Not only is God great, but He is greatly to        following verses of Psalm 48. Not everyone con-
be praised. The idea is that God is to be praised for        fesses the greatness of God. The psalmist speaks of
His greatness. God is to be praised, and especially          the kings of the earth who assemble themselves
His greatness is to be praised and confessed by us.          against God. With regard to them he says, "Fear
  We are to do this, always and at all times. By all         took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a
our words and works we are to be confessing and              woman in travail" (vs. 6). And he goes on to say
praising the greatness of God. Our whole life and            that God breaks them as He breaks the ships of Tar-
every area of our life is to be wrapped up in praise         shish with an east wind. All they who deny the
of the greatness of God. This is to be true whether          greatness of God shall be crushed and destroyed by
you pursue further education or.whether you work             God's greatness.
at a job. This is simply your calling in all of your life      May you be motivated tonight to make the con-
to glorify God, which, as you know, is the chief end         fession of the psalmist your own: "Great is the
of man.                                                      Lord!" May this continue to be your confession in
  In particular must you praise the greatness of             the future. May all of your further education be
God in the church. That's the teaching of the text.          your quest to know more and more the greatness of


430                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 the Lord. Knowing the greatness of the Lord, may              This speech was given at the 1984 graduation ex-
 you confess and praise and great Lord Himself.              ercises of the Hull Protestant Reformed Christian
                                                             School.




                                        Book Reviews


THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, by F.F. Bruce; Wm. B.                   pose of God is involved here: i.e., that they did not
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983; 425 pp., $13.95.             believe  in order that  the prophecy of Isaiah was
 (Reviewed by Prof.  1% Hanko).                             fulfilled, when this is clearly the idea. The author
   Of the writing of many commentaries there is no          rather speaks of the fact that the text describes a
end. Nevertheless, this commentary by the  well-            wicked reaction to Jesus' preaching which was an
known British New Testament scholar is an ex-               effect, but not the purpose, which was to save. In
cellent book in many respects and well worth the            connection with the incident of Jesus handing the
reasonable price for a hardcover volume. While it is        sop to Judas at the last supper, he speaks of Jesus
somewhat brief, it usually brings out the essential         doing this as "a mark of special favor."
teachings of each verse and does so in a clear and             No commentary can be a substitute for Scripture
helpful way.                                                study itself; but this commentary can serve as a
   The strengths of the book are: 1) It is written, for     useful aid, if it, as any commentary, is used care-
the most part, for general readers and not for those        fully.
who want a more technical examination of the text;
any one can use the commentary with profit. 2) It is        YOUR WEALTH IN GOD'S WORLD,  Does the
concise and to the point and leads the reader into          Bible Support the Free Market? by John Jefferson
the text of Scripture itself. 3) It is generally conser-    Davis; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.,
vative and is characterized, for the most part, by          1984; 134 pp., $4.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.
faithfulness to the Word of God. 4) It has a valuable       Hanko).
introduction which includes material on the                    This is a very interesting and helpful book to
authorship of the Gospel, the significance of the           anyone who is interested in the questions which
Gospel for the church for which it was written, and         are constantly coming up in our day concerning the
comments on its central message. For all these              relative merits of a capitalistic economy vs. a social-
reasons it would be helpful to anyone studying              istic economy, i.e., the relative merits of the Ameri-
John.                                                       can free-enterprise system vs. the state controlled
  There are, however, weaknesses. In the first              economy of Communist countries. It not only
place, the title of the commentary is something of a        discusses the issues of this controversy as such, but
giveaway. This book of the Bible is not John's              it also discusses such related questions as: Does
Gospel, but, according to Mark 1: 1, the Gospel of          God oppose the rich and side with the poor? Is it
Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel according to John. This      wrong to accumulate possessions? to prepare for
is not a matter of mere semantics, but a crucial mat-       the future financially? What obligations do the
ter which reflects one's conception of the Scrip-           wealthy have toward the poor? What is the
tures. In the second place, John's gospel has often         church's role in this respect? Is capitalism more
been said to be one of the clearest books on the fun-       productive, more compassionate, more Biblical,
damental truths of absolute predestination and the          than socialism? What does the Bible have to say
doctrines of grace. And this is true. But these truths      about all these things? What does the Bible teach
are somewhat toned down in the book, or ignored             concerning Christian stewardship?
altogether. For example, in connection with  10:15,           The author, surprisingly (from the viewpoint of
no mention is made of particular atonement; in              the main subject of the book), is Associate Professor
connection with  10:26, the position is taken that          of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological
those who do not believe show by this that they are         Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts. That he
not of God's sheep; in connection with  12:36-41,           should give attention to such subjects as these is in-
the author rejects as improbable the idea that a pur-       teresting, to say the least.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              431



  I found the book to be very good in many                 and so to transform society.
respects. The author repeatedly attempts to support          Nevertheless, this book is well worth reading
his argument from Scripture and goes to great              and gives interesting comments on our present
lengths to limit himself carefully to what he              economic system, while dispelling many myths
believes the Scriptures have to say on these mat-          which have been created by liberal economists.
ters. Many times his efforts to do this are successful
and he has much helpful material in the book as he
delivers his impassioned plea for the free-market          PRACTICAL TRUTHS FROM ELISHA,  by
system.                                                    Alfred. Edersheim; Kregel Publications, 1982; 326
  Nevertheless, there are weaknesses in the argu-          pages, $11.95 (cloth). (Reviewed by Prof. R. D.
ment. The following arguments or suppositions are,         Decker)
to this reviewer, somewhat suspect. 1) He gives in-        PRACTICAL TRUTHS FROM JONAH,  by
sufficient attention to the effect of the fall into sin    Joseph S. Exell; Kregel Publications, 1982; 231
upon the "dominion mandate" - "Be fruitful and             pages, $8.95 (cloth). (Reviewed by Prof. R.D.
replenish the earth,. . . q " Yet, this "dominion man-     Decker)
date" is a basic premise in his entire book. 2) His          These books would be worthy additions to any-
arguments in large part are based upon Old Testa-          one's library. Both are expository in nature and
ment passages and the connection in them between           both attempt to apply the Scriptures practically.
obedience to God and material prosperity. He               Both authors are 19th century preachers.
makes this connection valid for the New Testament          Edersheim is the better known of the two, especial-
also, although he acknowledges exceptions and ad-          ly for his work,  The Life And Times Of  jesus, the
mits the New Testament emphasis on spiritual pros-         Messiah.
perity. But what is forgotten is the fact that this
material prosperity promised to Israel in the way of         Exe11 offers a verse by verse (almost phrase by
obedience was a prosperity in the land of Canaan, a        phrase) exposition of the Book of Jonah. Edersheim
type of heaven. Hence, he is not adverse to saying         expounds the entire history of Elisha. The pastor
temporal blessings follow upon upright behavior or         who wishes to preach a series of sermons on either
individuals and nations (37). 3) In close connection       of these Bible characters would find these books
with this, he fails to make a distinction between the      helpful. While one would not agree with some of
church (as foreshadowed by the nation of Israel)           the exegesis and certainly not with all of the practi-
and the world, and simply transfers the Old Testa-         cal applications, both books offer good devotional
ment laws for Israel to the New Testament and to           reading.
society in general. 4) Finally, while not explicitly
post-millennial, the author writes from the view-
point of the church's calling to influence culture



                       I?Jews From Our Churches
                                                   May 31,1984





  As of May 20, Rev. Houck was making some, but            very soon.
slow, progress in recovering from his back injury.
He is able to walk and sit, but only for very short          Rev. Ron VanOverloop, home missionary in Bir-
periods of time. The doctors feel it will be at least a    mingham, has declined the call extended to him by
month before he can get back into the work. The            our Loveland congregation.
field is being served by means of tapes as well as
periodic visits by Rev. Koole. Three new, young              The Seminary has licensed seminarians Russell
families with children seem very interested in the         Dykstra, Steven Key, and Chuck Terpstra to speak
truth. Rev. Houck believes they will join the group        a word of edification in our churches.


  THE STANDARD BEARER
         P.O. Box 6064                                                                     1 $$zE~". /
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





432                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  There is the need for a teacher in a small, newly         Rev. Kortering will have moved to Grandville,
begun Christian school in Northern Ireland. Rev.         MI, D.V., by the time this news is printed. Rev.
Hutton and members of his congregation support           ,Kortering  will also be installed July 1, with Rev.
the school and desire, and have asked for, a Protes-     Flikkema conducting the installation service.                    DH
tant Reformed teacher. The teacher would be re-
quired to teach five or six grades, about fourteen
students, with the help of another teacher provided
by the group in Northern Ireland. They are willing                       ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
to provide a house, fuel, food, and a car for the new       The Board of the newly formed Protestant Reformed Christian
teacher. The man to contact in N. Ireland is: Rev.       School Society of Hudsonville, Michigan, is taking applications at this
George Hutton, "Claughton," 23 Upper Cairncastle         time for a PRINCIPAL-ADMINISTRATOR with the view for opening
Road, Larne BT40  2EF, Northern Ireland. This            our school in September, 1985. Those interested, please send
                                                         resume to Erv Kortering, Secretary Education Committee, 253 E.
position is for the 1984-1985 school year.                19th St., Holland, Michigan 49423.





                                Report of Classis East
                                                   May9,1984


       Southwest Protestant Reformed Church               Slopsema for the gift of another undersheperd in
  Classis  East met in regular session on May 9 and       our churches.
10, 1984 at the Southwest Protestant Reformed                The second item of business before the  Classis
Church. This was an unusual session for  Classis          was the appeal of a brother re an action taken by
East for, in recent years, the meetings have tended       his consistory, viz., that of first bringing formal
to be short. This session covered a day and a half.       charges against the brother, then dropping them,
The meeting was chaired by Rev. Bruinsma, with            but still retaining the grounds for their initial ac-
help from Rev. De Vries when Rev. Bruinsma was            tion. The second part of the appeal had to do with a
called away to be with a parishioner in the hospital,     consistory's holding of a position independent of
and since Rev. Bruinsma was involved in one of the        other churches.  Classis sustained the appellant
cases before  Classis.  Each church was represented       relative his first point and advised the consistory
by two delegates.                                         either to rescind the original decision bringing the
  Certainly a highlight of the meeting was the            charges or to proceed with discipline. Regarding
peremptoir examination of Pastor-elect Barry  Grit-      the second point of the appeal, Classis declared that
ters who had accepted the call extended to him by         this point falls away if the advice above were to be
Byron Center. Beginning with a sermon on Psalm           followed.
103:17 and ending with the  practica examination,           The Finance Committee reported atid Classis  ap-
the examination was heard and approved.  Classis,        proved exprenses of $948.00. The questions of Arti-
with the consent of the delegates  ad examina  of        cle 41 were asked and answered and Classis  stood
Classis  West, unanimously approved the examina-         adjourned. Classis  will meet next on September 12,
tion and authorized Byron Center to proceed with          1984 at Holland.
the ordination and installation of Pastor-elect Grit-                                Respectfully submitted,
ters. Expression of thanksgiving to God were                                                                  Jon Huisken
rendered by the chairman and in prayer by Rev.                                                                Stated Clerk


