r
           The



            A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





     .  .  . let us never lose sight of the fact that to

     forgive is to forget. God deals with us as if
     our sin never existed. Also in that respect we
     must be imitators of God. If there is anything
     that is offensive among saints, it is the evil
     that sins of the past are repeatedly brought
     up, even though they have supposedly long
     been forgiven!
                         See "Meditation" - page 50




                                                Vol. LXI, No. 3, November 1, 1984


50                                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                          CONTENTS                                                                                         ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                  Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
      Meditation -                                                                                                     SeconBClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                       Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         The  Keys of  the Kingdom   -                                                                 Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Harto              Prof. Robert
              A  Personal  Obligation  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .50    D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. konald Hanko,
                                                                                                       Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
      Editorial  -                                                                                     Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                                                                       ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
          About   Guests  at  Communion  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .53              Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION

                                        The Keys of the Kingdom -
                                                       A Personal Obligation
                                                                                            Rev. C. Hanko



                         Ques. 85. How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline?
                         Ans. Thus: when according to the command of Christ, those, who under the name of Chris-
                     tians, maintain doctrines or practices inconsistent therewith, and will not, after having been
                     often brotherly admonished, renounce their errors or wicked course  of life,  are complained  of to
                     the church, or to those, who are thereunto appointed by the church, and if they despise their ad-
                     monition, are by them forbidden the use of the sacraments; whereby they are excluded from the
                     Christian church, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ; and when they promise and
                    show real amendment, are again received as members of Christ and His church.
                                                                                                                            Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day 31


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 51



   I believe a holy, catholic church.                      of the kingdom.
   Scripture teaches us that there is one, universal          This key power is the most powerful and most ef-
church, chosen from eternity and redeemed by the           fective exercise of authority that can be found in
blood of Calvary, gathered by the Son of God from          the world. There is, for example, the authority en-
the dawn of history even until our Lord returns,           trusted to parents, which they must exercise in the
from every nation, tribe, and language, according          name of Christ over their children, bringing them
to God's sovereign purpose. "There is one body,            up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This
and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of       involves punishment, sometimes even the use of
your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one        the rod (Prov. 13:24). There is also the authority en-
God and Father of all, Who is above all, and               trusted to the magistrate, obligating him to protect
through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:4-6). This uni-       the innocent  andto punish the guilty, even to the
versal church is washed in the blood of our Savior         extent of the death penalty. But far greater than
and sanctified by His Spirit, made sons and daugh-         these is the authority of Christ entrusted to His
ters, heirs of eternal life, to live in intimate cove-     church, which saves, but also condemns to hell,
nant fellowship with God to His glory. I believe           looses and binds, opens and closes the kingdom of
that one, universal church, of which I am and for-         heaven.
ever shall remain a living member-r                           Matthew 18.
  It is exactly for that reason that we are called to         The eighteenth chapter of the Gospel to Matthew
be imitators of God, as beloved children, walking in       has been referred to as the forgotten chapter. "For-
love, even as Christ hath loved us [Phil. 5: 1). We        gotten" is hardly the word. A better word is "ig-
are to be holy, as God is holy, and perfect, even as       nored." I am thinking particularly of that part of
our heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus prays in His         the chapter which reads: "Moreover, if thy brother
highpriestly prayer, "That they all may be one; as         shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
thou, Father, art in Me, and I in them, that they          between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee,
may one in us" (John  1521).                               thou hast gained thy brother. If he shall not hear
  Yet as long as God's church is here on earth, its        thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in
members struggle with imperfection and sin. Apart          the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
from the fact that there is a carnal element in the        may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear
church, the fact remains that we all are sinful            them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to
saints, with but a small beginning of the new obe-         hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen
dience. As long as we are in this body of sin and          man and a publican. Verily I say unto you. Whatso-
death, sin corrupts and pollutes everything we say         ever ye shall bind on earth shall  be' bound in
and do, both in our relationship to God and to one         heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
another. Our virtues are also our weaknesses. A            shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew  18:15-X3).
determined person can be very stubborn, a meek               What a weighty mandate! If thy brother (or
person may prove to be a coward, a zealous person          sister) shall sin against thee. This we often like to
can be a trouble maker. It all depends on whether          consider as referring only to some personal affront.
grace or sin has dominion in our mortal bodies. All        This is not true. My brother can also sin against me
of us, without exception, must guard ourselves             by his persistent sin against God. Our Catechism
from evil and the evil one. Every one of us needs          speaks of doctrines or practices that are inconsis-
God's forgiving mercies every day. The forgiveness         tent .with the Word of God. I may argue that this is
of sins is one of the most blessed gifts of salvation.     none of my business. But also that is not true. My
In the same breath with which we confess a holy,           love for my God cannot allow me to be silent while
catholic church we also confess that we believe the        His name is being dishonored. Still more, the
forgiveness of sins. Therefore Scripture ad-               brother is walking in sin, and sin leads to damna-
monishes us, "And be ye kind one to another,               tion That is certainly a concern of mine. It may
tender hearted, forgiving one another,  even us God for    also be that the brother somehow sins against me
Christ's sake hat/z forgivelz  you" (Eph. 4:32).           personally, speaks evil of me or in some manner of-
  That can only mean that God has entrusted to             fends me. Neither may I ignore that.
each of us as members of His church that precious,           Scripture tells us, "Go and tell him his fault."
blessed gift of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.         That is not an easy thing to do. It is much easier to
In the world there can be no real forgiveness,             sit and mull over it, to become bitter and resentful.
neither can anyone forgive another, for all true for-      It is far more appealing to ignore the offender, to
giveness is on the basis of the merit of Jesus Christ      act as if he does not exist, or to tell others about this
on the cross. This precious gift is entrusted only to      evil doer. Jesus warns us, "Take heed to yourself"
us as members of His church. It is one of the keys         (Luke 17:3).  How readily we become equally guilty


          52                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



               by our bitterness, backbiting, or slander. In that        our sin never existed. Also in that respect we must
               case we must first take the mote out of our own eye       be imitators of God. If there is anything that is of-
               before we venture to take the sliver out of the           fensive among the saints, it is the evil that sins of
               brother's eye. Christ requires of us that we go and       the past are repeatedly brought up, even though
               tell  him  his fault. We must do so privately, for sin    they have supposedly long been forgiven!
               must be so grievous to us, that we try to keep it as         But there is also the possibility, of course, that
               secret as possible. Would we care to have our             we appeal to a deaf ear, and only meet with stub-
               wrongs shouted from the housetops? Jesus says,            born resistance, to a point where our warnings are
               "Tell him between thee and him alone."                    no longer desired. To this Jesus responds, saying,
                 To carry out this mandate, we must first do some        "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee
          prayerful soul searching on our own. Anger, bitter-            one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three
               ness, jealousy, or any ambition to get even must be       witnesses every word may be established." Again
               overcome. A holier than thou attitude is certainly        we are reminded that we must not blazon abroad
          not becoming. Paul refers to himself as the chief of           the brother's sin. The knowledge of it must be con-
          sinners. Can we have a better estimate of ourselves            fined to as small a group as possible. We are to take
          than that? Or am I less depraved, less liable to fall          along one or two witnesses. Possibly one will be
               into sin, than my erring brother? This is time for        sufficient at first. Some are of the opinionthat Jesus
          prayer, for much prayer, that I may be guided by               means to tell us, that if we still do  not~attain our
          the Spirit of Christ in this difficult task God has laid       goal with one witness, we take along  `&?6. In any
          upon me. I also need courage, spiritual courage to             case, the party that is called in to accompany us on
          do the right, and to do it in the right way. Nor must          our disciplinary visit must be a witness. He may not
          I put this off for some favorable opportunity, no              just "sit in" on the visit and try not to become in-
          more than I can wipe my hands clean after having               volved. He must attentively listen to the accuser
          talked to the offender just once. Brushing aside all           and the accused. He must determine whether the
          fears and all excuses that try to prevent me, I must           accused is actually guilty, whether the accuser has
               seek my help, my courage and strength from God,           properly presented his accusation, above all
          waiting upon His blessing.                                     whether he has done so in the spirit of Christ. On
                 "If he will hear thee, thou hast gained thy             the other hand, he must determine whether the ac-
          brother." To gain the brother must be my one                   cused remains unrepentant and has even become
               motive, my single goal. Sin, after all, is transgres-     hardened in his sin.
               sion of God's commands, sin dishonors God, sin              But even that is not all. Jesus adds, "And if he
          works like a deadly cancer in the soul, sin involves           shall neglect to hear them." Notice, not, if he
               all of us, for when one member suffers we all suf-        neglect to hear  him,  that is, the accuser, but, if he
          fer. How readily others will use the sin of the                neglect to hear "them. " Here is where the need of a
          brother to condone their own sin. How readily this             second witness may enter in. The parties who are
               sin becomes a choice morsel of gossip. How readily        called in as witnesses must be so thoroughly con-
          the congregation, and sometimes the whole                      vinced that the erring brother is not only guilty, but
               denomination, is branded as that kind of people.          also recalcitrant to all admonition. Also the
          But our chief concern centers in the offender. "He             witnesses must do all in their power to save the err-
          which converted the sinner from the error of  .his             ing brother from the error of his ways.
          way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a               This burden that God often lays upon us may
          multitude of sins" (James  520).                               seem impossible to bear. And it is, from every
                 Jesus tells us that there is joy in heaven when one     human point of view. But here again the wonder of
          sinner is brought to repentance. If the angels re-             grace enters in, what is impossible with man is
          joice, should we not also rejoice at this evidence of          possible with God. God works the wonder of His
          .God's grace in him who sins? We should be the first           grace in us, in all His children, creating the peace of
          ones to forgive wholeheartedly, even as God                    Jerusalem. And there is joy in heaven, as well as in
          forgives us. But let us never lose sight of the fact           the church, when it is said of the sinner, "Behold,
     ~    that to forgive is to forget. God deals with us as if          he prayeth!"
     1    I                                                                                                                     I
                              The Standard Bearer makes a thoughtfuz
                                           gift for the sick or shut-in.
I         I                                                                                                                     J


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 53



EDITORIAL



                    About 6uests at Communion
                                              Prof H.C. Hoeksema


   From two or three different sources in recent           about to quote, I recall, was pasted into the minute
months I have been asked for advice about the sub-         book for future reference. That was a good idea.
ject of admitting guests to the communion table in         Another possibility is that a consistory keeps a file
our churches. The subject is not that of admitting         of significant classical decisions, keeps that file up-
guests from sister congregations in our denomina-          to-date, and refers to it as needed. Whatever the
tion. That, it seems to me, is not a  very.difficult       method, something should be done to maintain
question. Every consistory should follow the rule          continuity with the past in this respect. I think this
that such guests shall be admitted and welcomed            is especially important because of the fact that in
provided that, according to their own testimony,           recent years our churches have gotten almost an
they are communicant members in one of our chur-           entirely new generation of officebearers, who,
ches and are "in good standing." If a consistory has       because of their youth, are simply not acquainted
such a rule, then admission to the Lord's Supper           from memory with important decisions and
can be achieved through such persons appearing             precedents of the past. And it stands to reason that
even on Sunday morning to be granted permission            as our churches grow older, this problem will also
- in spite of the fact that the gathering of the con-      grow.
sistory before the service is  not  a duly constituted       What was the decision?
consistory meeting. However, the question on                 It arose out of an appeal from Holland to Classis
which I was asked for advice was a bit different. It       East in 1945. The case involved the Consistory's ad-
concerned guests at the communion table from               mitting a member of the Christian Reformed
another denomination.                                      Church to its communion table as a guest. By way
   If you look in our Church Order (even the new           of the process of protest and appeal, the matter
edition] you will find nothing on this subject. And        came to  Classis East; and a study committee con-
most of our ministers and elders will not recall that      sisting of Revs. H. Hoeksema, G.M. Ophoff, and R.
this question was ever dealt with by our broader           Veldman was appointed. In due course, this com-
assemblies. Since my memory and experience go              mittee reported, and their report was adopted by
back a bit farther in our history, I was able to tell      Classis East. Here follows the report, which was
my questioners that at one time this question was          adopted in toto by Classis.
indeed dealt with by a broader assembly,  Classis              Report of the Committee in re Protest
East, and that a very significant and helpful deci-                 Against the Consistory of Holland
sion was reached, a decision which is, of course,
still  binding  in our churches. Further, this decision    Esteemed brethren:
is of even greater significance because it dealt with        Your committee, appointed to advise classis in ye
principles.                                                protests against the Consistory of Holland, in
  Although I published this material some thirteen         regard to its action of permitting a member of the
years ago in answering a question about "close"            Christian Reformed Church to partake of commun-
communion (Vol. 47, p. 422)` I will repeat it here, as     ion in their midst, reports as follows:
a matter of information.                                     The protests against the Consistory of Holland
                                                           and the latter's reply required of your committee to
   At the same time, I have a suggestion about con-        inquire into two matters:
sistories keeping this decision available. The prob-
lem, you see, is that decisions of this kind tend to         1. The particular, concrete case of Holland, ad-
be lost in the dust of  history. We have no official       mitting a member of the Christian Reformed
collection of significant decisions of past synods         Church to its communion table; and
and classical meetings. In the last congregation             2. The general question involved, whether it is
.which  I served as pastor the decision which I am         principally correct to admit, under given  circum-


                              54                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                 `.

                              stances, members of other denominations as guests          volved in the matter.
                              to our communion table.                                                        - - - - - - - - - -
                                                    - - - - - - - - - -                     II. Your committee, however, is of the opinion
                                    I. As to the general question, concerning the        that the action of Holland's Consistory does not in
                              principle involved in the case of Holland, your            all respects agree with the above declaration of
                              committee is of the opinion that members of other          principles; for:
                              churches, not in all respects agreeing with our Pro-          1. First of all, there appears to have been no
                              testant Reformed Faith, may be admitted to our             urgent need for the particular member of the Chris-
                              communion table upon their request:                        tian Reformed Church that applied for admission to
                         ~          A. Provided:                                         the Lord's table in Holland's Prot. Ref. Church, to
                                    1. That such members are at such time, and           do so:
                              most probably will be for some time, deprived of             a. There are several Christian Reformed  Chur-
                              the opportunity to celebrate communion in a                ches in Holland where applicant could have  cele-
                              church of their own denomination.                          brated communion.
                                    2. That proper request be made by such member          b. Even if he could not have partaken of the
                              at the earliest possible opportunity, at the  Con-         Lord's Supper on that particular Lord's Day, this
                              sistory, in order that the latter may be in a position     would not have been sufficient reason for him to
                                                                                         seek and for the Consistory of Holland to grant him
                    I         properly to investigate the faith and walk of the
                              petitioner.                                                admission to the latter's communion.
                                    3. That upon proper inquiry the Consistory is          2. The difference between our Churches and the
                              satisfied that such members:                               Christian Reformed is not merely one of doctrine,
               I                    a. Know and repent of their sins, and trust for      but also one of discipline and walk: by a deliberate
                              forgiveness and salvation only in the blood of             act of expulsion they declared that we have no
                                                                                         place in their communion.
               I              Christ; also that they seek the Lords table for the
                              strengthening of their faith, and are desirous to lead       3. By admitting the party in question to their
                              a holy life.                                               Lord's table, the Consistory might expect to give oc-
                                    b. Reveal themselves as believers in their walk      casion for offense in the congregation. It would
                              and conversation, and are not defiled with any of          seem that, in view of the relation between the Pro-
                              the sins mentioned in our Form for Communion.              testant Reformed and the Christian Reformed
                                                                                         Churches as referred to under 2 above, a public
                                    c. Do not belong to any secret society or worldly    declaration would have been in order that the
          I                   union, membership of which bars our own mem-               Christian Reformed applicant did not agree with
                              bers from the table of the Lord.                           the action of his own church whereby they ex-
                                    d. Are not under discipline in their own church.     pelled us from their fellowship.
                                    B. Grounds:                                            B. Advice:
                                    1. The bread and wine are, according to Scrip-         Your committee advises:
                              ture, the communion of the body and blood of the             1. That Classis  adopt the above judgment of the
                              Lord; to refuse guests under circumstances as              committee  in ye the concrete case of Holland as its
                              above described would be tantamount to excom-              own.
                              municating them from the body of Christ.
     I                                                                                     2. That  Classis  declare:
                                    2. The conditions stipulated above are in accord
                              with all that our Confessions teach concerning the           a. That the Consistory of Holland, although in
                              Lords Supper and the worthy partakers thereof.             the abstract it has the right to admit guests to its
                                                                                         communion table, erred in its application of the
     ~                        Cf.  Heid. Cat. questions 75-82; Conf. Belg. Art. 35.
                              And the same conditions quite satisfy the demands          general principle involved to a concrete instance.
                              of our Form for the Administration of the Lord's             b. That the protestants, only in as far as their
I                             Supper.                                                    complaint has reference to the concrete case, and
                                    3. This custom has been followed in the Re-          not the general principle involved, had occasion to
                              formed Churches, and is in accord with the opinion         be offended at the action of their Consistory.
                              of its leading theologians, since the time of the            3. That  Classis  so advise and inform both the
                              Reformation.                                               Consistory of Holland and the protestants, by fur-
                                    C. Advice:                                           nishing them with a transcript of the above declara-
                                                                                         tions and decisions.            -
                                    Your committee advises  classis to adopt the                                         Respectfully submitted,
                              above as a general declaration of the principles in-                                             Your Committee


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                55



MISSION REPORT



                 Our Domestic Mission Activities
                                                 Rev. J. Kortering




  Since 1977 our domestic mission committee has             Mr. H. Hoekstra, Mr. A. Kooiker, and Mr. E. Van
been made up of members of  Classis  West in the            Ginkel;  New  ZeaZand  - Rev. R. Miersma and Mr.
Hull-Doon-Edgerton area as well as members of               G. Feenstra;  Finance  - Mr. C. Kregel and Mr. J.
Classis  East in the Grand Rapids area. This year the       Kalsbeek, Sr.
membership consists  01 EAST: Rev. R. Flikkema,             NEW ZEALAND
Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. R. Miersma, Rev. B.                    We contacted all our pastors and emeritus
Woudenberg, Mr. G. Feenstra, Mr. J. Kalsbeek, Sr.,          pastors and asked if their consistories would re-
and Mr. C. Kregel; WEST: Rev. M. Kamp, Rev. J.              lease them, and if their family circumstances would
Smith, Mr. H. Hoekstra, Mr. A. Kooiker, and Mr. E.          allow that they labor in New Zealand for at least six
Van Ginkel.                                                 months. (Synod had decided to grant the request of
  Our meetings are held on the second Thursday of           the Protestant Reformed Fellowships in Wellington
each month at 10:00 a.m. Michigan time. The                 and Palmerston North to -have a pastor come to
eastern branch meets in the consistory room of              them and labor six months or more according to the
Hudsonville Church while the western branch                 same guidelines as the past two years. Rev. and
meets in the consistory room of Doon Church. We             Mrs. John Heys have faithfully done this labor
are joined by telephone hookup, with an amplifier           these past years, but they regretfully informed us
system, so that we can converse together. Our               that a heart condition which developed while in
meetings last an average of three hours.                    New Zealand prevented them from undertaking the
  One of the purposes of this arrangement is to             work this year. We are grateful for the great con-
allow for broader representation in our mission ac-         tribution both Rev. and Mrs. Heys have made on
tivities. Over the years this has worked out quite          behalf of this work, and that the brother has
well, though it has its difficulties. Recently it was       recovered sufficiently that he may preach among
pointed out by the brothers in the west that it is dif-     us again.) The mission committee received a
ficult for them to follow the discussion if they do         favorable reply from Holland consistory and Rev.
not have copies of the documents. We are now con-           R. Miersma. We decided to ask Holland consistory
sidering ways to furnish copies of the material to          to make the necessary arrangements to send their
them so that they can have them in advance.                 pastor to labor in New Zealand for at least six
Another purpose is that the work can be divided             months and to send him as soon as possible. The
among more persons. Sub-committees can be form-             Miersmas plan to leave October 22. We appreciate
ed from both east and west to give advice and carry         the willingness of Holland Church to see this need
out mandates.                                               and send their pastor. May the Lord use Rev.
                                                            Miersma and family as a means for the spiritual and
  The organization of our committee for this year is        numerical growth of the fellowships in New
as follows: President  - Rev. R. Miersma,  Vice-            Zealand and return them to us in safety in the
President  - Rev. R. Flikkema, Secretary  - Rev. J.         spring.
Kortering, Treasurer  - Mr. C. Kregel, Vice-Secre-
tary-Treasurer - Mr. J. Kalsbeek, Sr. Our sub-com-          JAMAICA
mittees are divided as follows:  Jamaica  -  Rev. R.           Since Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers labored full-time in
Flikkema, Rev. R. Miersma, Mr. J. Kalsbeek, Sr.;            Jamaica, some ten years ago, this mission field has
Domestic EAST  - Rev. B. Woudenberg, Rev. J.                been without the benefit of a missionary. Some
Kortering, Mr. G. Feenstra, and Mr. C. Kregel;              brethren have gone there and labored for different
Domestic WEST  - Rev. M. Kamps, Rev. J. Smith,              lengths of time, tapes have been sent, and  cor-


56                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



respondence has been carried on, but all through           Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, as well as in our mid-
the years the Jamaican Christians have desired a           section, in Elk Grove, Illinois.
missionary. Now, the Lord has answered that                   Beginning at the far west, Rev. Steve Houck is
prayer. Prior to Rev. W. Bruinsma's accepting the          able once again to take up his labors with strength.
call, he and his wife, with Rev. and Mrs. Joostens,        After being troubled with lower back pain for some
travelled to Jamaica to discuss the needs and              time, he submitted to back surgery in June. During
possibilities of a young missionary family living in       his recovery Revs. C. Hanko and H. Veldman filled
Jamaica. Even though this was a brief exposure to          in with preaching, pastoral work, and instructing
the field of work, it served to impress upon them          classes. We are thankful to God that Rev. Houck
the great need and obvious difficulty of the work.         continues to have a good recovery. This is not to
      In preparation for leaving by the target date of     say that our missionary and his wife are free from
October 16, many things had to be decided. The             medical concerns. Their young son Jeremy, three
pastoral relationship with Faith Church had to be          years old, has been suffering from a kidney disease.
concluded in July, and Rev. Bruinsma was installed         This required repeated hospitalization, diagnosis,
in the office of missionary in early August. Both he       and a concern for his life. They have been informed
and Rev. Joostens, who is pastor of the calling            that the biopsy determined he does not have a fatal
church, have been working together to prepare              disease, though the treatment they are giving him
material that can be used for instruction in the           involves medication with serious side-effects.
field. The broad guidelines of labor presented to          Besides facing large medical bills, and experiencing
Synod of 1983 were referred to the calling church          anxious moments, Rev. and Mrs. Houck are some-
and the missionary for implementation. This in-            times separated for miles due to hospitalization. We
cludes training the ministers and other young men          do well to pray for them that God may give them
who may be available, laboring with the existing           strength and patience. God's purpose is good in
churches in the areas of preaching, pastoral care,         this, for when we are weak, then are we strong in
Sunday school and catechism instruction, visiting,         the Lord. Their address is 1109 W. Rumble Road,
and deacon's work.                                         Modesto, CA 95350, phone (209) 576-7009.
      To facilitate travel in Jamaica, a new 1984            Having all this concern on his mind, Rev. Houck
Horizon was purchased and prepared for the field.          still labors diligently. He reports that the Word is
We are investigating having a missionary organiza-         well received by those who faithfully attend the
tion, which is equipped to handle foreign exports,         meetings, and he has opportunity to minister to
arrange the shipping of the car and other personal         other families who are in the area. Always, the
possessions of the Bruinsmas. A furnished home in          Word has a two-edged effect: some gnash against it
the Cave Mountain district has been leased. Their          with bitterness, others rejoice in the blessings of
future address is: Ferris Heights, Cave P.O.,  West-       our sovereign God.
moreland; Jamaica, West Indies.                              Pastor Van  Overloop  and family are settled in
      Efforts have also been put forth to secure a  co-    their new field of labor. Their residence is 1047
laborer, a pastor or emeritus pastor as stipulated by      Florida Lane, Elk Grove Village, Illinois 60007.
Synod. To date none has become available. Plans              The termination of labor in Birmingham had its
are to send the missionary to Jamaica and evaluate         painful side as those who faithfully attended the
the needs for such a co-laborer and continue to            worship had to make other plans. Some moved
search for such a man.                                     from the area, others found new church homes. We
  We covet your prayers, as does also Rev.                 trust that, even though it was not God's will to have
Bruinsma who wrote, "We are very much looking              a Protestant Reformed Church organized at this
forward to leaving for the island to begin our labors      time, the Word preached will have an abiding ef-
there. The thought of leaving home and moving to a         fect in the lives of those who heard it. It helps all of
different country and culture is rather frightening,       us to remember that there is no such thing as
especially for my wife. We ask that you remember           failure when we bring the gospel in sincerity and in
us in your prayers. `God's Word shall surely stand;        truth.
His name through every land, shall be adored: Lord           Elk Grove Village is in the N.W. Chicago area.
who shall lead our host? Thy aid we covet most, in         The five families that are actively involved have
thee is all our boast, strong in the Lord,' Psalter        worshiped in our South Holland church for some
number 298."                                               time already, and Rev. Engelsma has preached in
                                                           their midst the last months. Most of them have
THE HOME FRONT                                             their membership in South Holland. As of
  We now have home missionaries on the two ex-             September they are having two worship services
treme ends of our country,  Ripon, California and          each Lord's Day at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The first and


                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     57



third Sundays are in the St. Bede Episcopal Church                              about a year. The fruits of these labors are that five
building.                                                                       of the group have made profession of the Reformed
   Plans are under way to get a radio ministry on                               faith in our Covenant (Wykoff) Church and three
WCFL, 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning. A Reformation                                  others transferred membership there from the Blue
Day lecture is being planned. A mid-week Bible                                  Bell Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
study is organized. May the Lord bless Pastor Van                                 The group is enthused in the Reformed faith and
Overloop  and family as they take up their labors in                            eager to grow in knowledge and faith.
this new field.                                                                    To arrange a closer working relationship be-
   Finally, our youngest missionary, Rev. Ken                                   tween the missionaries, calling churches, and the
Hanko, was ordained in our Covenant Church,                                     mission committee, meetings have been held to
Wykoff, New Jersey on Sunday, September 23.                                     discuss  -ways to implement this work. We have
This was a memorable day for the congregation and                               already decided that the three missionaries com-
a special day for the Hanko family as grandfather                               municate together by conference phone from time
- Rev. C. Hanko, father  - Prof. H. Hanko, and                                  to time to share their knowledge and encourage
brother  - Rev. R. Hanko could all participate,                                 each other in the work. We also have scheduled a
while other family members were in attendance as                                meeting prior to  Classis East's meeting in January
well.                                                                           to discuss methodology, learning from past ex-
   Rev. Ken Hanko's field of labor is Blue Bell, PA.                            perience and seeking out Biblical directives for our
This is the greater Philadelphia area, especially to                            present calling.
the north. The address is The Blue Bell Mission,                                  Pray for this work and for'our missionaries that
P.O. Box 95, Blue Bell, PA 19422. Brother Hanko                                 the name of God may be magnified in all our
has already been laboring here as a candidate for                               labors.

TRANSLATED TREASURES



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



(Kuyper  is discussing  the marks  of the true and false  church so             and whether in her walk as church the honor of
that those  who  are  called  to engage  in church reformation may              God's Word is manifested. However, because this
be  able   to  recognize   the  difference.  He  has  criticized   the  view    can only be evident in her public act and walk, it
of  those   who   hold  to  a  pure-church  ideal   and  who   make   the       brings us to the point where we must investigate
holiness   of individual  members a mark  of the true church.)                  whether principally the preaching is actually the
   This tendency to make the pure state of the                                  preaching of the Word, whether the handling of the
church itself a mark of the true church, which is                               sacraments can actually be a vehicle of sacramental
defended by all our Reformers and also by all the                               grace, and whether the church through the exercise
Reformed Confessions and by nearly all our good                                 of discipline covers that preaching and that sacra-
theologians, requires that there be in the church of                            ment.
Christ purity of confession and purity of walk. In                                Yet most permit discipline to slip, not as if the ex-
this way the heart remains unjudged. One does not                               ercise of discipline does not belong to the essence of
touch the state of the person. The person only                                  the church, but in that sense that it is not necessary
comes into consideration insofar as the work of the                             to the well-being of the church: 1) a concession
church becomes manifest in the appearance and                                   which must be made because else a strong main-
walk of the individual. The question is not whether                             tenance of this mark would have led all but un-
each individual member is pure in confession, but                               noticed back to the Donatist stream. Calvin then
whether the church expresses a good confession                                  also declares that the church is already present           ~


58                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



when only the Word of God and the sacraments are             XXIX. Indeed, if the article had meant that each
visible. 2) Moreover, one takes into account the fact        church would be false in which one of these three
that during the first eighteen centuries in which            marks was absent, it would simply have described
Jesus' church existed in the new dispensation, it            an earmark of the false church: false is each church
was mainly in the first two and in the Sixteenth             which misses one of these three marks. Our fathers
Century that there was an earnest maintenance of             were far removed from such a superficial treatment
discipline. This automatically brings one before the         of the matter. Rather, they considered themselves
dilemma whether to make discipline indispensable             obligated to circumscribe the nature of the false
for the essence of the church or whether to confess          church, not in a negative but in a positive sense; not
that the true church of Christ was not seen for fif-         as a church which places its own ordinances above
teen of these eighteen centuries.                            the Word of God, falsifies the sacraments, and
      No one concludes from this that discipline in          neglects discipline. No, not that, but: "Which bases
Jesus' church is not necessary. The opposite is true.        itself more on man than on Christ and persecutes
Without discipline a church must become unholy               those who desire to live  holily."
and be ruined. But if one once confesses and                   Thus, if we pay attention, not to the well-being,
believes that the church on earth has the purpose of         but to the being of the church, then the church
being an instrument of the Holy Spirit whereby He            would first be denounced as the false church when
regenerates the elect by the Word, then it follows           it sets the Word aside, falsifies the sacraments, and
directly from this that the essence of the church, no        persecutes God's saints. According to the spirit and
matter how imperfect, is present where the Holy              meaning of the Holy Scripture as our fathers under-
Spirit finds this instrument ready for the regenera-         stood it, this must never be so conceived as if the
tion of the elect. And let it be firmly established          preaching of the Word must be completely pure
that the church can fulfill this ministry as long as         and the administration of the sacraments must be
the preaching of the Word is still found in her midst        completely undefiled, upon punishment of losing
and the sacraments still seal this Word. Thus it is          her character as the church of Christ by a lack of
evident from the root of the Reformed Confessions            the completely worked out quality.
concerning the church that the exercise of                     Turretin gives us the sentiments of our church in
discipline cannot be an indispensable mark of the            a clear way when he says: "Further, one must not
essence of the church. Just as a human organism              lose from sight that these signs admit of distinct
continues to live even though one cuts the arms              degrees of necessity. On the first rung stands the
and legs off, but dies as soon as the heart or head is       pure preaching and confession of the Word, with-
taken away, so it is with Jesus' church. No more             out which no church is conceivable. But already
than anyone would consider it indifferent if he lost         the administration of the sacrament is not on the
arms or legs, so also no one may `say that a church          same level as the preaching of the Word, so that it
can act and work well if her disc$line is destroyed.         can be temporarily lost without the church falling
But also, if the life, i.e., the essence departs from        away, as the church in Israel repeatedly showed.
the man when the more important parts are struck             And this is yet more true with discipline, which is
dead, so also the essence of the church is first lost        intended undoubtedly to maintain the church in
when the proclamation of the Word ceases in her or           good order, but the loss of which does not directly
the administration of the sacraments falls away.             destroy the essence of the church. But further, if
      In our Confessions; therefore, the idea is not that    these marks are allowed with certain latitudes so
each church which misses one of the main marks in            that they can appear purer or less pure, and accord-
its full purity shall be presently turned into the           ing to the extent that they more or less approach the
false church; but only this is meant, that a church          Scriptures, the church, even though it remains
in which the three marks shine must be positively            church is purer or more impure. One must not
recognized as the true church. There was opposi-             stretch this to the point that basic errors are
tion in those days. On the one side stood the                tolerated, but only lighter spots. Thus, just as a
Romish church. Alongside of it roared the  Ana-              church which errs in the basics of doctrine cannot
baptist sect. And over against both of these the             continue to stand, so it does not cease to be a
churches of the Reformation had to establish them-           church if it errs in a few respects. A church can be
selves. These churches exhibited at that time the            impure or corrupt in part without its ceasing to be
three mentioned marks to the fullest, and it was on          church. Finally, it is to be noticed that a church is
that basis that our churches claimed themselves to           not to be judged according to the particular sen-
be very positively and without doubt the true                timents of its leaders, but from the public confes-
church of Christ.                                            sion which is as such accepted and maintained."
      That this is the meaning of our Confessions is           Calvin was of the same mind. His expressions are
convincingly true from the conclusion of Article             sometimes even stronger. He recognizes a church


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                59



of God wherever there is still preaching and the           sense of our Confession. Yet there has never been
sacraments are administered.                               any doubt that the church of the Lutherans was a
   "Wherever the preaching of the Word is still            true church of Christ.
heard with reverence, and the sacraments are not             In adding the term "pure" to the preaching and
neglected, there undoubtedly the form of the               the administration of the sacraments, one must
church is still present." (Institutes, C, IV, 1,  para.    never stretch the point so far that the signs are con-
10.) And Calvin earnestly warns that where a               sidered lacking where the preaching and the ad-
semblance of these signs is still found, one should        ministration of the sacraments leave much to be
not separate himself from it. "Separation from the         desired or where discipline is lacking.
church is apostasy from God and Christ, and no               Also here the distinction between being and well-
greater abomination can be imagined than to break          being applies.
unfaithfully the bond of marriage which the First-
born Son of God has established with us." (Idem.)            There are elements which usually adorn the
                                                           preaching, which, when absent, do not destroy the
   He says in the following chapter: "Who would            preaching as such. And there are also elements in
dare to deny the name of the Church to any gather-         the sacraments which exult their glory, which,
ing to which God still grants the preaching of the         when lacking, do not nullify the sacrament.
Word and the administration of the sacraments. . . ?
There were certain degrees of apostasy even in               Also here Calvin gives light: "Our statement that
Israel."  (Idem., L, IV, C, 2,  para. 7, 8.) He then       the pure preaching of the Word and the pure ad-
points out how sometimes in Israel almost all the          ministration of the sacraments are suitable to guar-
preaching of the Word had disappeared and the              antee the genuine character of the church, is not to
sacraments were wholly polluted. Even idolatry             be so understood that a church must be rejected
crept in. But all this did not destroy the essence of      when these two signs are present in such a way that
the church. (Idem., para. 8, 9.) Sometimes even the        they create offense. But more must be said. Suppos-
prophets and the faithful disappeared, but the             ing that something wrong has crept into the
essence of the church continued even under these           preaching or the administration of the sacrament,
storms of unrighteousness. (Calvin, L, IV, C, 2,           this does not give anyone the right to leave that
para. 10.) "Even though we insist that Rome's              church immediately. Indeed all elements of doc-
church federation can make no claim whatever to            trine are equally important." (Calvin, Institutes, L,
the name church, we do not by this deny that there         IV, C, 1,  para. 12.)
are still to be found churches under her jurisdic-           Our conclusion is, therefore, that for a second
tion." He only maintains that if one would consider        church and for the well-being of the church of God,
the marks, each of these Romish parishes and the           i.e., for churches existing in a healthy and normal
entire body of the Romish church lack the ZegaZ ec-        condition, the pure preaching of the Word, the pure
clesiasticd  fawn. (Ib.,  para. 12.)                       administration of the sacraments, and the strict ex-
  Add to this also a practical proof. The Lutheran         ercise of discipline are necessary and indispen-
Church never had any exercise of discipline in the         sable.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS


                Golden Opportunities Not Taken
                                                Rev. John A. Heys




  Esther agreed to come before the king to plead           Haman got enacted was that every Jew must be kill-
for the lives of her people, after Mordecai showed         ed. And the law of the Medes and the Persians
her that really she had no choice. If she did not go       altereth not, Esther 1:19 and 8:8. If she would go in
in to plead for her people, she would die, even            before the king, there was the strong possibility
though she was in the house of the king. The decree        that he would not hold out the sceptre, and she


60                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



would die for her impudence. But there was the              born in Bethlehem, and that He was nailed to the
possibility that he would accept her and listen to          tree of the cross. But he does not agree that all the
her plea. So she chose the way that held some hope          events written in Matthew through Revelation are
of sparing her life with that of her people. And so         historical facts. He emphatically denies that Jesus
with an expression of shameful, unvarnished fatal-          was born of a virgin, and that He is the Lamb of
ism she made known her intention and choice to              God Who died for the sins of His people. You will
Mordecai.                                                   never find him agreeing that Jesus' resurrection
      But the moon reflects the light of the sun, and in    and ascension into heaven are historical facts. Sav-
the sins wherein the parents walk the children run.         ing faith believes all that which the Scriptures
Esther is not to be excused for her fatalistic ap-          declare. Historical faith is  "choosey" and accepts
proach to the matter, but neither is Mordecai to be         what it wants to consider to be fact, wants none of
excused for the godless training which he gave her.         the spiritual implications of these events, and has
And as we pointed out last time, the apple does not         no personal application of the joy of salvation as
fall far from the tree, so that Esther's fatalism can       God pictures it to us in His Word.
easily be traced to the training in unbelief that her         With that kind of faith Mordecai speaks of en-
uncle-father gave her. But before we consider her           largement and deliverance of the Jews from
approach to the king, we do well to take a closer           another place, and of the possibility that Esther
look at this tree from which the apple fell. And let it     came to the kingdom for such a time as the one in
be a warning to us as parents that our failure to           which they lived. He knew the history of Israel,
speak the language of faith will reveal itself in our       and thus of the deliverance out of the bondage of
children. And words and expressions  - how well             Egypt, the many deliverances in the times of the
school teachers and catechism teachers know that
-                                                           Judges when the cycle of sin, suffering because of
      used in the home are spoken out of the home by        sin, sorrow for that sin, and salvation through a
the children with added force. Thus Esther's fatal-         God-given judge happened over and over again. He
istic words, "If I perish, I perish," are an echo of        knew of the deliverances through Saul and David
Mordecai's, "there shall enlargement and deliver-           and the kings that followed them. He knew all too
ance arise to the Jews from another place," and             well of the enlargement through Cyrus so that
"who knoweth whether thou art come to the                   those Jews who chose to could go back to the pro-
kingdom for such a time as this?" Both of his ex-           mised land. But he gave not one fleeting thought to
pressions are utterly lacking in faith in God. And          the salvation from sin of which all these deliver-
they explain Esther's words of fatalism that also           ances were pictures. He did not see God behind it
show complete lack of faith in God.                         all, that is, not the God of Scripture. The deliverers
      Certainly Mordecai had his reason for speaking        he did not see as types of Christ; nor did he look for
of deliverance "from another place," instead of             Christ to come as the Scriptures present Him. Per-
"from God according to His covenant faithful-               sonally he never entered into the joys of the
ness." His unbelief made him speak that way. He             forgiveness of sins.
saw creatures but not the Creator; and therefore he           Mordecai's word "deliverance" is a word that
spoke of a place rather than a Person Who would             appears only here and only from his mouth. It is
bring deliverance.                                          not the same word "deliver" that we find in Psalm
      And yet, in a sense, we may say that Mordecai's       84:19 where the psalmist cries with confidence,
faith produced these expressions that are utterly           "Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the
void of any suggestion even of the `name of God. He         Lord delivereth him out of them all." He saw Israel
has what is sometimes called historical faith. Sav-         as a nation composed of the fleshly seed of
ing faith it certainly was not. But historical faith is     Abraham. He did not see  - as many today, both
agreement that some historical facts recorded in            Jew and Gentile, fail to see  - that they are not all
Scripture actually did take place. It lacks, however,       Israel that are of Israel, and that he is not Jew who
spiritual and personal application and trust in God.        is one outwardly, but he that is one inwardly and
It rejects the spiritual implication of these historical    whose circumcision is that of the heart, Romans
events, and it fails to see that our Covenant God           2:28, 29. He did not see that the promises in Scrip-
works all things together for the good of His               ture are only for the church in that nation of Israel.
church. Thus today the unbelieving Jew believes all         Mordecai saw great things for the fleshly seed of
the history of the nation of Israel as recorded in the      Abraham. He was not looking for the Lamb of God
Old Testament Scriptures, and even claims to                that taketh away the sin of the world. He was look-
believe in Jehovah Who gave us this revelation              ing for a lion of Judah's tribe that would conquer all
from Genesis through Malachi. In fact, he even              nations and subject them to Jewish rule. No
believes some of the historical events recorded in          wonder he missed the golden opportunity to use
the New Testament, He believes that Jesus was               God's name and remind Esther of His covenant


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 61



promises. His unbelief prevented it.                        as surely and with all His almighty power and in-
   His word "enlargement" is also interesting. It           finite wisdom.
means respiration or breathing, and in Genesis                 It is so easy to say that you were, by the provi-
32:16 is translated as space. The idea is breathing         dence of God, brought so near to a well-equipped
room, a removal of pressure so the doomed Jews              hospital when medical attention was so urgent.
could breathe freely once again. But it is not an en-       Then it is easy to say, "It was a good thing that we
largement that removes the guilt of sin. He has in          were not miles away on some mountain road where
mind a salvation that the flesh of the most wicked          even telephones were miles away." Then we would
Jew could desire. And he believes only that part of         not concede that we were in the right place at the
God's promises that appeals to the flesh.                   right time. But is this not always the case? Were
   Note also that he speaks of Esther coming to the         you ever at the wrong place at the wrong time? 0,
kingdom for such a time as this. Here too God is ig-        as far as our plans and wishes are concerned we
nored and denied completely. Had he spoken of               know such instances. But considering that God has
enlargement and deliverance that would come                 an eternal, sovereign plan according to which all
from God, the case would be different. But after            things work together for good to those that love
speaking of a place instead of a Person his state-          Him, is it possible that we are in the wrong place at
ment that she had come to the kingdom was                   the wrong time? Dare we say that the almighty and
another golden opportunity missed to use God's              unchangeable God made a mistake? Listen to the
name, and instead shows a consistent unbelief,.             poem sent me in the hospital:
Would not faith have said, "Who knoweth whether                 "My Father's way may twist and turn,
God hath brought thee to the kingdom for such a                  My heart may throb and ache,
time as this?" Unbelief says that she came. Faith                But in my soul I'm glad I know.
would say that God brought her.                                  He maketh no mistake."
  And of course  E&her was brought to the                     And 0 that our people would use the word luck
kingdom for such a time. Mordecai asks, "Who                only to condemn the use of it! Some years ago the
knoweth?" A little child in Sunday School knows;            slogan appeared, "Put Christ back into Christmas."
and I do not mean knows by hindsight. All men can           But equally today we should shout, "Give God the
now see that, and can see that way. He that has             glory and rule Him out of nothing." There just is no
faith in God, who knows God as the Scriptures               luck. There is neither good luck nor back luck.
reveal Him to be, knows that every man is always            There is God moving, directing, exercising perfect
just exactly in the right place at the right time in the    control over every creature large and small, visible
providence of God. God brings us to where we are            and invisible, material and spiritual, so that it is at
at any given moment under the particular circum-            the right place at the right time to fulfil His perfect
stances of that moment.                                     and sovereign counsel.
  We tend to speak of God's providence when                   Is it because you parents speak that way at home
what we call big events take place. We see men in           that your children speak as though God does not
the right place at the right time when there is great       exist? We ought to make a concerted effort to ban
benefit for the flesh. But when things go wrong, as         that word luck completely from our vocabularies
far as our plans and wishes are concerned, we               and render God the glory due to His name. We
either blame God for it, or we rule Him out of it and       ought to have Him in all our thoughts and say
say that we had "bad luck." And then, although we           nothing that ignores or denies Him. We are formed
see God in what we call big things, we fail to see          to show forth His praises, Isaiah 43:21. Let us show
Him in the little things, even though He is there just      our faith by our works; and then let us make good
                                                            use of every opportunity to confess Him.

                Remember a friend or relative with a
                           gift of the Standard Bearer:

                      Give the Standard Bearer today/


62                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH



                    The Return to Scripture: Wyclif
                                                 Rev. T. Miersma




      In our study of the history of the doctrine of       courts, claiming the authority to be the final court
Scripture, the name of John Wyclif (1330-1384)             of appeals.
deserves a special place. An Englishman, well                This display of temporal power and earthly              I
educated and trained, an Oxford professor, pastor          wealth by the church set it at odds with the aspira-
and teacher, Wyclif set forth in clear form the fun-       tions of the English crown, who coveted that
damental principles of the Reformed doctrine of            wealth and power. It ran counter also to the grow-        ~
Scripture more than one hundred years before the           ing sense of English nationalism. In 1337 England
commencement of the Reformation. The first full            began a long drawn-out war with France which
English translation  od the Bible is associated with       lasted for a hundred years. From this, England,
his name as well. He truly deserves the designation,       formerly a medieval feudal state, emerged as a na-
pre-reformer. His work is all the more striking in         tion with power centered in a strong monarchy.
that the reformers Zwingli and Luther came to              Paralleling this development was the growth of
largely similar conclusions independently.                 English as the national language. Since the days of
      The details of Wyclif's early life are surrounded    William the Conqueror ( 1066),  French had been the
in obscurity, as are his university studies. He            language of the English nobility, courts, and
evidently studied at Oxford, and after concluding          schools. In 1362, however, a statute was passed by
his studies was appointed to the livings derived           Parliament which decreed that all the proceedings
from several different churches. In those days it          in the courts of law should be conducted in English,
was not uncommon for the parish minister to be ab-         and English also began to be taught in the schools.
sent from his charge, pursuing further studies and           In this changing political climate, Wyclif stood
degrees, and Wyclif was no exception, He con-              forth not only as a reformer, but also as an English
tinued to divide his time between scholarly labors         patriot. He served for a time as the king's chaplain,
and his parish responsibilities until he retired to his    as well as advisor to Parliament on several occa-
parish at Lutterworth in 1381.                             sions. In 1374 he was sent to Bruges, in what is now
      Wyclif's labors and writings were affected by the    Belgium, as part of a royal commission to discuss
changing political situation in his day and by inter-      matters of difference between England and the
national affairs. The English kings had had a long-        papacy and to negotiate peace with France. The
standing dispute with the papacy concerning the            commission itself accomplished little, but Wyclif
payment of money to the church, which money                returned to England and began a series of treatises
was sent to the continent to fill the treasuries of the    on political and ecclesiastical reform.
pope. The papacy at that time was under the power            He attacked the secular power and wealth of the
of the kings of France, England's bitter political         church as being inconsistent with apostolic pover-
rival, and, in fact, the seat of the papacy had been       ty, advocated the confiscation of church properties
moved from Rome to Avignon, France. Thus the               by the state, and denied the papal right to lay taxes
English crown and the papacy were constantly at            and demands upon English churches. This brought
each-other's throats over this matter of papal taxes.      him under attack by the ecclesiastical and par-
Further, the church in England controlled large            ticularly the papal authorities. The archbishop of
tracts of land and property, much of it in the hands       Canterbury undertook proceedings against him,
of monastic orders who were not responsible to the         and when this failed the pope also became involv-
regular English clergy, nor under their authority,         ed, issuing five bulls or decrees against Wyclif's er-
but answered to the pope alone. In addition the            rors. Wyclif, however, was protected by his friends
papacy claimed legal preeminence over other                at court, his general popularity as a preacher, and


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    63



by the University of Oxford, from being molested.           Scripture for themselves, and the necessity of doing
Wyclif's attack upon the papacy gradually shifted           so, since it was by His Word that Christ reigned
from its abuses to the institution itself. In 1378 the      over His church.
current pope died and a new one was chosen in                 This led also to the development of new prin-
France at Avignon. A second pope was chosen at              ciples of interpretation. First of all, it led to the prin-
Rome. The resulting schism found the church with            ciple that Scripture interprets Scripture, as the Holy
two popes, each claiming to be the sole representa-         Spirit explained His own writings. The medieval
tive of Christ and earthly head of the church. This         church had placed human reason above Scripture.
quickened Wyclif's attacks upon the papacy and              This principle of spiritual interpretation necessarily
the corruption of the church. The spectacle of two          undermined the scholastic theology of the medieval
popes excommunicating each other made the                   church which had married  Greek~philosophy  and
spiritual bankruptcy of the institution all the more        Scripture. Wyclif began to attack the Romish doc-
apparent.                                                   trine of transubstantiation of the bodily presence
  Wyclif attacked the papacy on several levels: its         of Christ in the Lord's Supper, to attack pilgrim-
corruption drew from him the charge, which the              ages, reverence paid to images, and other supersti-
reformers were later to echo, that the pope was             tions, none of which had any foundation in Scrip-
antichrist. But Wyclif also began a searching ex-           ture. In the second place he turned to the principle
amination of Scripture which led him to a rejection,        that Scripture as its own interpreter has one plain
not only of the institution, but also of much of the        and natural meaning according to the Spirit. He re-
medieval doctrine of the church. Medieval theology          jected the use of allegory and other corrupt
had identified and equated the church in Scripture          methods of medieval exegesis.
with the Roman institute. This, Wyclif began to               His conclusions necessarily led him to lay stress
challenge. He, like the reformers who followed              on the need for preaching. Scripture, he saw, made
him, was a student of Scripture and of Augustine.           this the chief mark and task of the pastoral office.
He was led to the truth of sovereign predestination.        With this went the necessity of a clergy educated
This in turn led him to a clearer understanding of          and steeped in God's Word, and a Bible in the
the doctrine of the church as the gathering of God's        hands of the people. Nowhere did the pope and the
elect, a spiritual and invisible reality, distinct from,    Roman clergy show more clearly their bankruptcy
though found in, the church institute. This idea was        than in the neglect of the pastoral function of
an advance beyond Augustine, and had significant            preaching. At the heart of the Scriptures stood
consequences. If the church was spiritual, con-             Christ, the head of the church, and His Word to His
sisting of the elect alone, then an ungodly pope            people. This must be preached. Men must be able
could not be its head, but Christ alone. Fundamen-          to read the Word of Christ and follow it.
tally this destroyed the whole Roman Catholic
system. For if Christ alone was head, then there              The result of this for Wyclif was that he came
must be another basis of authority in the church            under increasing attack. He was shielded by his
than the visible pope. And so, Wyclif turned to the         friends, however, and left unmolested. For a time
Word of God and the Spirit of Christ as the sole            he was placed under house arrest at Oxford, though
authority for the faith and life of the church.             allowed to teach. He finally retired to his parish
                                                            church, devoting himself to preaching and writing.
  This was tantamount to theological revolution. If
Scripture alone was the sole authority for faith and          Under his -instigation and probable direction a
life, the law of Christ for His church, then the pope,      translation of the Latin Bible into English was
tradition, and even church councils were subject to         begun. Wyclif's followers had the major part in this
it. This reversed the false medieval idea of the            work, although he was also involved in the project
church that Scripture received its authority from           himself, and the translation bears his name. At this
the church, but rather made the church subject to           time Greek and Hebrew were yet little known;
Scripture. As the reformers were to demonstrate,            Wyclif knew neither language, and the basis of this
before that authority of the Word of God, neither           translation was Jerome's translation into Latin.
pope, nor tradition and practice could stand. They          There were two versions of it: an earlier, slavishly
must fall away.                                             literal one which followed the Latin word order,
  Furthermore, if the church consisted only of the          and was therefore confusing and difficult to read,
elect, then the church as institute could no longer         and a later one written in better English.
claim to be the sole interpreter of Scripture, since          The circulation of the Scriptures, the Wyclif
an unbelieving clergy could not have the Holy               translation, Wyclif's emphasis on preaching and his
Spirit. The right to understand and interpret Scrip-        doctrines, found expression in the Lollard move-
ture was rooted in the Holy Spirit. Wyclif began to         ment in England after his death. Wyclif himself
assert the right of believers to study and interpret        died unmolested in 1384. It was not until the 1400s


64                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



that the Romish church fully managed to brand                 ever, lived on in the Lollard movement although it
him as a heretic, ban his works, and gain some               was forced underground, and was also felt on the
measure of success in eradicating his English                 Continent in the labors of John Huss, concerning
translation of the Scriptures. His influence,  how-          whom we will have more to say next time, D.V.

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD



                             Preaching and Missions
                                                Prof. Robert D. Decker




      Preaching may be defined as "the authoritative         God beseeches us through His ambassadors: be ye
proclamation of the gospel by the church in the ser-         reconciled to God (cf. II Cor.  5:18-21). Our Re-
vice of the Word of God through Christ" (Herman              formed Confessions teach the same. The Heidelberg
Hoeksema,  Reformed Dogmatics,  p. 637). Missions            Catechism teaches us that "the Son of God gathers,
may be defined as that work of God in Christ by              defends, and preserves a church chosen to everlast-
which, through the offciaZ  ministry of the Word by          ing life. . .  " (L.D. XXI). "God out of His good
the church, He gathers His elect in the new dispen-          pleasure sends the gospel. . .  ," according to the
sation out of all nations of the world, both Jew and         Canons of Dordt, II, 5. (In this same connection cf.
Gentile, with a view to the realization of the mani-         Articles XXVII - XXIX of the Belgic  Confession.) It is
festation of His glory in the New Heavens and                God, therefore, Who according to Scripture and the
Earth. There are several elements in the definition          Reformed Confessions accomplishes the work of
of missions which deserve our attention. 1) Mis-             missions. Even though God gathers His church
sions is emphatically and exclusively the work of            through His Spirit and Word, even though that
God in Christ by the Holy Spirit of Christ. 2) Mis-          Word must be preached, and even though the
sions is accomplished by means of the official               preaching is done by men, it is God in Christ
preaching of the Word or Gospel by the institute of          through the Holy Spirit Who gathers His church
the church of Jesus Christ. 3) Missions has as its im-       out of the nations.
mediate goal the gathering of the church (elect)                That missions is the work of God is also obvious
both Jew and Gentile out of the nations. 4) Missions         from the fact that it is God Who saves, not man.
has as its ultimate goal the full manifestation of           God elects His church in Christ from all eternity
God's glory in Christ in the New Creation. We                (Eph. 1). God regenerates His elect so that they
shall, in this article, concentrate on the first two of      become spiritually receptive to the Gospel. God im-
these elements.                                              plants the seed of the new life in Christ in the
  Preaching and missions! These two are in-                  hearts of the elect. God gives them the hearing ear,
separable. There can be no missions apart from the           the seeing eye, and the heart that understands and
preaching of the Word. Whether it be missions on             believes His Word. This work of regeneration is ab-
the home field or foreign, preaching and missions            solutely indispensable to salvation, for without be-
belong together. This is true because mission work           ing born again a man cannot even see the Kingdom
is the work of God. God in Jesus Christ by the               of God (cf. John 3). God sent Christ to make atone-
power of the Holy Spirit accomplishes the work.              ment for the sins of the elect and it is God Who ap-
This is Scripture. God must "open the door" for the          plies the blessings of salvation to the hearts of His
church to preach (cf. I Cor.  16:9; II Cor.  2:12; Col.      people. God calls them out of darkness into His
4:3). God must give the increase or the work is              marvelous light, God gives faith, God converts,
futile (cf. I Cor. 3:7 in the context of chaps. 1 and 2).    justifies, sanctifies, preserves, and glorifies His peo-
All things are of God Who has reconciled the                 ple in Christ (John  3:16; Rom.  8:29, 30).
church unto Himself by Jesus Christ. God has                    God also directs the course of missions through-
given to the church the ministry of reconciliation.          out the world. The Word of God is not sent every-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 65



where, nor is it sent at random, here and there,            called to support financially the mission work of
without purpose. The preaching of the Gospel takes          the church. They must assist the church and its
the course which God determines (cf. Acts 16:6-10).         missionaries in every way possible. This calling is
  That missions is the work of God is further em-           important, so important that without the prayerful
phasized by the fact that Christ calls (summons and         support of the members of God's church mission
qualifies) preachers of the gospel (Romans                  work cannot be done. But the work itself, the
10:13-15). In close connection with this is the truth       preaching of the Word by which means Christ
that preaching, apart from the operation and power          gathers His elect out of the world, can only be done
of the Holy Spirit, carmot be effective (II Cor. 2:15,      by the church through its missionaries. There is
16).                                                        another highly significant and necessary aspect to
                                                            the believers' calling. They must witness by word
  Hence not man but God is the one Who ac-                  of mouth and walk of life to the truth of the Gospel.
complishes the work of missions. The work does              God uses this witness to bring His own under the
not depend upon man for its success, nor is man             preaching of the Word that they might hear Christ,
able to frustrate the work of missions. Mission             believe in Him, call upon His Name, and be saved.
work is absolutely and exclusively God's work in            This, according to the Heidelberg Catechism,
Christ through the Holy Spirit. From a practical            belongs to the necessity of the Christian doing good
point of view this fundamental principle is the en-         works, Why must we do good works? The last
couragement for the church and its missionaries in          reason mentioned by the Catechism is "that, by our
the often difficult work of missions.                       godly conversation, others may be gained to
  This work of God is accomplished by the means             Christ" (L.D.  XxX11). Believers are chosen in
of the preaching of the Word by the institute of the        Christ in order to show forth God's praises and
church of Jesus Christ. This follows upon the first,        glory (Eph. 1: 12; I Peter 2:9-12). Believing wives are
fundamental principle,  viz.  that missions is exclu-       called to be in subjection to their unbelieving hus-
sively and absolutely the work of God in Christ.            bands that these may be won by the godly conver-
While this first principle cannot be stressed too           sation of the wives (I Peter 3: 1). Believers must be
greatly in our times, neither must we lose sight of         prepared always to give an answer to everyone who
the principle that missions is accomplished by              asks a reason of the hope that is in them (I Peter
means of the preaching of the Word. It is indeed            3: 15). Where, by the grace of God through the faith-
true that God was in Christ reconciling the world           ful preaching of the Word, believers are faithful to
unto Himself. It remains forever true that we can-          this calling mission work flourishes. But the work
not add to or detract from this great work of recon-        itself, the preaching of the Word by which means
ciliation. Nevertheless God has entrusted to the            God in Christ gathers His elect, can be done only by
church the ministry  (diuconia)   of this reconciliation    those lawfully called of God through the church.
(cf. II Cor. 5: 18-21). So important is this principle        That this is true means also that mission work is
that to neglect it means we will simply wait and see        not the work of "mission societies," or what are
what Christ will do, we will lose all sense of respon-      called in our day "para-church organizations."
sibility, we will fail to realize that what God will do     These societies which flourished in the 19th cen-
He will do through His church. God does the work            tury and persist today arose out of two historical
of missions, but God does that through the instru-          situations: Pietism and, later, Fundamentalism.
mentality of His church. Specifically this means            They were organized especially in European coun-
God accomplishes the work by means of the                   tries with state-controlled churches. Groups within
preaching of the Word.                                      the state churches attempted to do what the
  This means, and this needs emphasis in our                churches were not doing, viz., carry out the mission
times, the work of missions is not the work of the          mandate. They were an attempt to escape the
individual believer within the church. Every be-            political (colonial) influences of the state churches
liever is not a missionary. Only those whom God             and an attempt to be faithful to the commission of
calls and sends through His church are mission-             Christ to preach the Gospel to the nations. How-
aries. Only these are authorized and qualified by           ever pure the motivation of those who organized
God Himself to preach the Gospel on the mission             these societies may have been, mission work is not
fields. Believers have a calling with respect to mis-       the work of associations which stand outside of and
sions. Of course they do. An important and                  alongside of the church. It is the task of the church
necessary calling belongs to every Christian. Every         to preach the Gospel to every nation.
believer must pray for the mission work of the                No other institution than the church of Jesus
church. Believers must pray that God will send              Christ may assume the responsibility to preach the
forth laborers for the harvest is great and the             Gospel. The church ordains those called by Christ
laborers are few (Matt.  9:37, 38). Believers are           to preach the Gospel. These missionary preachers


66                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



are the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ (II             Mission work is God's work. It is a work which
Cor.  5:20). Theirs is the task to preach (keerussein,     God has assigned to His church. It is accomplished
herald) and to witness (marturein, Acts 1:6-8) to the      by means of the "foolishness of preaching" (I Cor.
ends of the earth.                                         1:21).  This is God's will. Mission work, therefore,
      Does this mean that all that a missionary may do     belongs to the very essence of the task of the
is preach? The answer is yes! This does not mean,          church. One cannot conceive of the church apart
however, that all that a missionary may do is              from missions. A church which does not engage in
preach in a formal worship setting. This will be the       mission work is disobedient to her Lord and is not
positive fruit of his preaching if the Lord so wills.      worthy of the name, church. One cannot conceive
The missionary's task is to declare both publicly          of mission work apart from preaching. A mission
and from house to house the whole counsel of God           where the Word is not preached is no mission. May
(Acts  20:20, 21). Whether he be addressing one in-        God give us grace to be faithful to this work in the
dividual or a large crowd the sole task of the mis-        confidence that it pleases "God by the foolishness
sionary is to expound the Holy Scriptures.                 of preaching to save them that believe" (I Cor.
                                                           1:21).
IN HIS FEAR



                             God is a Covenant God
                                               Rev. RonaZd Hanko



      In previous articles we have been examining the      Name, according to the Third Commandment, with
Ten Commandments from this viewpoint, that in              careful reverence, and by forsaking and condemn-
the Commandments God reveals Himself to His                ing all swearing, cursing, and blasphemy, they
people in all His glory. The Commandments, there-          acknowledge everywhere that He is a holy God,
fore, are not mere arbitrary precepts for our life,        separate from all evil, as the light from the
but a ten-fold (and therefore complete) lesson in          darkness. Their obedience, then, is not only sub-
God's perfections and in our calling to be perfect us      mission to the sovereign will of God, but the means
He is perfect  (Matt.  5:48). This is also the great       by which they begin to fulfil the whole purpose of
reason why the Ten Commandments, as a sum-                 their existence as a redeemed and sanctified peo-
mary of God's whole law, are of abiding signifi-           ple, in showing forth God's praises (Is.  43:21).
cance for us, so that it is easier for heaven and earth      It is, perhaps, especially important that we see
to pass away, than for one small letter of the law to      God's self-revelation in the Fourth Commandment,
fail (Luke  16:17).                                        the Commandment concerning the Sabbath. Also in
      In the way of understanding what God reveals of      the keeping of the Sabbath, as required by the
Himself in each Commandment, the people of God             Fourth Commandment, there is the opportunity
are equipped to confess His Name and show forth            and privilege of honoring and glorifying God. This
His glory not only in word but also in deed. Thus,         must be emphasized at such a time as this in which
in worshiping Him alone, as the First Command-             we live, when the Sabbath is almost universally
ment requires, and refusing to trust in or love any-       forgotten and despised, even among Christians. It is
thing or anyone else beside Him, they confess in           the failure to see God's self-revelation in the Fourth
word and deed that He is the only true God and             Commandment that stands as the reason why some
that there is none like Him. By heeding the Second         still keep the seventh-day Sabbath of the Old Testa-
Commandment and worshiping Him without any                 ment and not the first-day Sabbath of the New. It
images or representations, and only as He has com-         is also the reason why others, who would never
manded in His Word, they show that He is a Spirit,         think of blaspheming God's Name, or of holding
the God Whose glory is so great that no man has            other gods beside Him, do fail entirely in the matter
seen Him or can see Him at any time. In using His          of Sabbath observance.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               67



  Such disregard of the Sabbath is not only a great            That He is a covenant God means also that He is
evil, but also a great loss among Christians, since         a God of rest, for in the fellowship that He has with
the revelation that God gives of Himself. in the            Himself as the Three-Personed God He has perfect
Fourth Commandment is of special value and joy              rest. That He "rests" means that there is no toil,
for God's people. The Commandment itself in-                struggle, or strife in God, but perfect harmony,
dicates this, for it is one of only two command-            perfect peace, and perfect joy (Ex.  31:17, Prov.
ments in the law which is expressed positively              8:30, Matt.  3:17, Jn.  1:18),  and because He has
rather than negatively. Instead of merely saying,           perfect rest, He also has perfect fellowship in Him-
"Thou shalt not . . .  ," the Fourth Commandment            self.
tells us to remember the Sabbath, and in connection            We learn this first in Genesis 1 and 2 where we
with the Sabbath to remember something about                read for the first time of God's rest. We ought to
God Himself and His glory, which is of incalculable         read the first three verses of chapter 2 with chapter
value for us.                                               1. That His works were "very good" means that
  That which we must remember about God in our              there was harmony and order and perfection in all
observance of the Fourth Commandment is the                 that He has made, reflecting the harmony of His
beautiful truth that He is a covenant-making and            own life as Father, Son, and Spirit, and the orderly
covenant-keeping God, and, along with this, the             perfection of His own Triune Being. And that He
truth that as a covenant God He is the God of rest in       found His own works good (Gen. 1:31), and blessed
Whom alone we find rest for our weary souls.                them (Gen.  1:22,  28), and rejoiced in them (Ps.
  That the Sabbath is indeed a revelation of God's          104:30,  31), is simply another way of saying "God
covenant is clear from such passages as Leviticus           rested."
262, Nehemiah 9: 14, and Isaiah 56: 1, but especial-           It is that covenant of fellowship and rest that God
ly from Exodus 31: 13-17 where God calls the Sab-           reveals to us. He causes us to "rest" from all our
bath a sign of the covenant between Himself and             sins through the work of His beloved Son (Matt.
His people forever. And, as a sign of the covenant,         11:28-30, Rom.  5:1), and thus establishes a new
the Sabbath is also a sign that God is the God Who          basis for covenant fellowship and friendship with
sanctifies His people, thus causing them to rest            us. Through Christ, the Rest-giver, He takes us into
from all their own sinful works (Ex.  31:13, Heb.           His own life (II Pet. 1:4), dwells with us and in us (II
4:lO).                                                      Cor.  6:16, Col.  2:9,  lo), and has fellowship with us
  In order to understand our Sabbath duties, there-         (I Jn.  1:3).
fore, we must know what it means that God is a                 He revealed that covenant of fellowship and rest
covenant God. Above all we must know from Scrip-            first of all to our father Adam, and to us through
ture that the essence of the covenant is friendship         him, but only to show by way of contrast how
or fellowship with God. This is usually expressed in        much better is the rest that we have in Christ and
Scripture in terms of God's dwelling with and being         how much closer is the fellowship that we have
the God of His people and taking them into His              with God in Him. In Christ we have a deeper ap-
own life (Gen.  17:7, Ps.  25:14, II Cor.  6:16, James      preciation for the rest that we have in God's fellow-
223, Rev. 21:3, etc.). But we must also understand          ship, for we enter into that rest out of sin and death,
that God is a covenant God in Himself. He does not          through the miracle of the incarnation and dying of
need us either to be a covenant-making or a                 God's own Son. Thus Isaiah reminds us,  "His  rest
covenant-keeping God. The fellowship of the cove-           shall be glorious" (11: 10).
nant is first of all a fellowship that He has with             It is through the gift of the Sabbath especially
Himself; and the covenant is always "My cove-               that we are able to enjoy that rest and that fellow-
nant," not only because it has its origin and securi-       ship of God's covenant now. The Sabbath of the
ty in Him, but because it is the covenant of His own        covenant is still the great sign between God and His
life in Himself and with Himself.                           people of the rest and refreshment that they have in
  It is the doctrine of the Trinity which helps us to       His fellowship and friendship. The very word "Sab-
understand this. In the tri-personality of God, that        bath" means "rest," and so long as God in Christ
He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is the            gives rest to His people, the Sabbath will be the sign
possibility of fellowship within His own divine Be-         of that rest. It is, therefore, a sign of God's covenant
ing. In the unity of the three Persons in God we            forever. That is why the glory of the saints in
find the very essence of the fellowship that God, as        heaven can still be called a Sabbath, as it is in our
a covenant God,has with Himself. All His life in            Heidelberg Catechism (Lord's Day XXXVIII, 103).
Himself is of the Father, through the Son, and by           That glory is the "rest" which still remains for the
the Holy Spirit, a life of perfect friendship (cf. Prov.    people of God (Heb.  4:9). There they are forever
8:30,  Jn.  1:18, I Cor.  2:10, Rom.  8:27).                blessed, for there, as the Spirit Himself says, they


68                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



may rest from their labors (Rev. 14: 13). There every      specific day, and also appeared to His church for
day shall be a day to walk with God and to see Him         the first time in person, as He continues to appear
face to face in the face of Jesus Christ (I Cor. 13:12,    through His Word on that day. Nor is it mere
II Cor. 4:6). Then the promise of the covenant shall       coincidence that the Spirit was poured out for the
be fulfilled perfectly, and God will dwell with His        first time to give salvation and joy to God's people
people, and they shall be His people, `and He              on that day also. Just as God chose one day in the
Himself shall be with them, and be their God in His        Old Testament, the seventh, to reveal Himself as
own tabernacle, which is the glorified body of our         the God of rest in His works of creation and
Lord Jesus Christ (Jn.  2:19-21,  Rev.  21:22) with        preparation for salvation, so also He chooses one
Whom we are one bone and one flesh.                        day in the New Testament, the first, to reveal
      Now, however, God gives us one day out of            Himself as the God of rest in His works of redemp-
every seven to enjoy these blessings. On that day,         tion.
through the preaching of the Gospel, we hear the             That day is a day for remembering that we were
voice of Jesus calling, "Come unto me, all ye that         slaves in the house of bondage, and that the Lord
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you            brought us out through a mighty hand and a
rest." On that day more than any other we are in           stretched out arm, to dwell with Him and be His
the Spirit (Rev. 1: 10) to enjoy through the Spirit the    people forever. It is a day to praise Him as our
life of God Himself as He reveals to us His glory.         Saviour and Friend.  Therefore  the  Lord- has com-
On that day, we may set aside, with Gods ap-               manded us to keep the Sabbath, and not to lay
proval, the weary labors of our life in the world,         heavy burdens on us (Deut. 5: 15). With joy we
which came originally as part of the curse and             respond to His Commandment and sing:
which so often draw us away from God (Gen.                          A thousand other days can yield
3:17-19). On that day also, in the communion of                     No gladness like one day with Thee;
Christ and His people, we cease from our evil                       Tho' only at Thy door I wait
works and yield ourselves to the Lord.                              No tents of sin give joy so great.
      In a certain sense we do this all the days of our                                     (Psalter No. 229:5/
life, but, nonetheless, especially on that one day         We wait at the door because the morning of the
that God in His mercy has given to us. It is, there-       eternal Sabbath has not yet dawned. But even
fore, no accident that the risen Christ, Who rose          while waiting at the door, we take hold of God's
from the dead to prove that we have rest and peace         covenant of grace by calling the Sabbath a delight
and fellowship with God (Rom. 4:25), arose on one          (Is.  56:1, 6).

GUEST ARTICLE



                               Judgment of Aholibah
                                                    R.G. Moore



      In Ezekiel chapter twenty-three we find two          usual in the Scriptures. The church is often pic-
names of women given to the two nations in                 tured as the bride of God or of His Son Jesus Christ.
Canaan. According to this word of God, Aholah              The bond of union in marriage reflects the most
represents  Samaria  or the ten tribes of the north,       precious and intimate union between God and His
and Aholibah represents Judah. The prophecy con-           people in Christ, by His covenant which He estab-
cerning Aholah and Aholibah contains for us today          lishes with them. The true church-elect in covenant
much needed instruction, as well as a warning              love is joined in most blessed union of covenant
which should serve to bring us to repentance and           fellowship and friendship with the living God
watchfulness.                                              through Jesus Christ.
      The prophecy of Ezekiel in this chapter pictures       However, the women pictured in this prophecy
the church of his day as women. And this is not un-        are whores or harlots. An harlot in this case is an


              I                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 69



unfaithful adulteress, who places her affection in          day, and let us see together the similarities by ap-
someone other than the one to whom she has been             plying that which is taught in this prophecy to our
wedded. She has made herself to be appealing to             day. We may legitimately liken  Samaria  of old to
other men, in order to satisfy her flesh with them.         the larger' portion of the so-called church world
  Hence, this prophecy pictures the spiritual de-           today. This "church world' has long ago forsaken
cline and decadence of Israel (all 12 tribes) at the        the true God and the TRUTH of God for the ways
time of this prophecy. The day was a day of great           and idols of the world of darkness. She has given
apostasy, of spiritual adultery and whoredom. Thus          herself over to the vain philosophy of man, to his
the Word of God declares coming judgment, and it            science, to his free-willism, etc.
sounds a warning to God's elect.                              Rather than hear the Word of God to do it, this
  Now understand that the names of the two har-             portion of the so-called church has set up her own
lots are applied to  Samaria  and Judah. The church         tabernacle; She has denied the infallibly inspired
of that day is so pictured! This is not said of Egypt,      Scriptures to be the only standard for life and faith.
Ethiopia, Edom, Zidon, nor any other country, but           Thus she has followed the ways of Aholah, follow-
of Israel!                                                  ing strange winds of doctrine, and has adopted out-
                                                            right modernism in order to allure the world to her.
  Aholah is the name given to Samaria.  It refers, of       And for the large part she has grown popular in the
course, to the spiritual adultery of the ten tribes of      world. She has great edifices for worship, but in
the north; which were led into this adultery already        general has become the slave of anti-Christ.
by Jeroboam at the time of the division. At this time
already he established places of worship of his own           The fruit, also today, is that she is filled with all
choosing in Bethel and Dan. This was designed to            the problems of her whoredoms. There is no true
keep the people of Israel in his control, but at the        peace within her. She is filled with great immoral-
same time it kept them from the mercy seat of the           ity and the social diseases of the world round about
temple. This was done while pretending to serve             her. "She is delivered into the hands of her lovers."
God through the means of the golden calves.                 She  ,has come into judgment, and the fact is that
  These ten tribes are given the name Aholah to             God removes His candlestick from her, and no
show this deep-seated sin, which was rooted in the          longer is there blessing in her midst. She is become
division. For Aholah means literally, "she has her          captive to the world of darkness, sin, and destruc-
own tabernacle." This serious sin had led Israel            tion.
into judgment, and at the time of this prophecy she           On the other hand we may liken Aholibah or
was already carried off into captivity by the  judg:,  1    Judah to the church that has up till our day kept a
ment of God.                                     :` . .     measure of the truth in her midst. Yet she too, as
  On the other hand, Aholibah, the name given to            Aholah, is on the verge of judgment. In this class
Judah, means, "my tabernacle is in her." It was in          we would include the more orthodox reformation
Judah that God had set His tabernacle. There He             churches  - Presbyterian, Lutheran, Calvinistic,
had established the worship according to His word.          Reformed churches. But as Judah in the days of old,
There He had set His priests and gave command               so also this group of churches is becoming ripe for
concerning right sacrifice. There was the altar with        judgment. And this for the same reason, she follows
its mercy seat, that caused God's people to look            her apostate sister in her spiritual whoredom.
forward to Christ as their Savior. There, indeed,             The word recorded in I Timothy 4:1-3 is fast
God led His elect in the days of types and shadows          coming to pass: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,
to look for the promised seed. All things pointed to        that in the latter times some shall depart from the
the Anointed One, to Christ, Who according to the           faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines
covenant promise of God in the way of sovereign             of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
grace would deliver His people from sin and                 conscience seared with a hot iron . . . . " The same
destruction. And there, God called His people to            is true of II Timothy 3:1-6. The basic doctrines of
serve Him faithfully, promising blessings without           God's Word are being denied. The infallibility of
measure.                                                    the Scriptures is being set aside, and consequently
                                                            the moral life of her members is degenerating. Wit-
  But not only in Aholah, which had established             ness the decisions on divorce and remarriage, on
her own tabernacle according to the whims of mere           homosexuality within the sphere of the church, etc.
man, but also in Aholibah - in Judah - the people           We also see this departure with respect to the
had left the ways of Jehovah to go awhoring after           calling of God to obedience. The taking of women
the ways and the idols of darkness, so that the Holy        into office is but one example of placing man's
God announces the coming judgment of Judah.                 word before God's. The result is that worldliness is
  Now, we are able to see the parallel to our own           found instead of spirituality more and more, within


70                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



her midst. And one finds the antithesis being re-            actually walked in natural adultery and lewdness,
placed by synthesis.                                         it characterized her. And her portion became like-
  Judgment shall also be her portion, in whose               wise empty and vain. The fruit is an utter lack of
midst God had set His tabernacle. Her name is not            spiritual peace, and the holy judgment of Gods
sufficient to deliver her from judgment. This, there-        wrath!
fore, must serve as a warning for God's elect and              The question arises then, if this was true of Judah
the faithful remnant that they may not be swept              can it also be true of us? Are we too beginning so to
along in the lewdness of the age. May it bring us as         walk in the whoredoms of Aholah and Aholibah? In
Protestant Reformed Churches to repentance of                the first place, we must understand that we are not
any ways in which we have departed. And may we               immune to such error and sin. The fact that
be warned that we be sober, and watchful in                  Jehovah has established His tabernacle in our midst
prayer.                                                      is not automatic assurance that it shall remain. Not
      Unto this end, let us pay a little closer attention    in us as an instituted church. Judgment came upon
to the sin of Judah that is rebuked in this prophecy.        Judah as she was carried off into captivity, and the
The 37th through the 39th verses set forth the sin:          Jews as a nation with the coming of Christ ceased to
"That they have committed adultery, and blood is             be the instituted church of God. The name Prot-
in their hands, and with idols have they committed           estant Reformed is not enough. We too could be-
adultery, and have caused their sons, whom they              come adulterous and be judged.
bare unto Me, to pass for them through the fire to             Therefore, we of needs face the question: Are we
devour them. Moreover this they have done unto               going awhoring after idols, and are we casting
Me: they have defiled My sanctuary in the same               Jehovah behind our back? Are we attempting to fol-
day, and have profaned My sabbaths. For when                 low the ways of the world, and at the same time say
they had slain their children to their idols, then           we are serving God? Are we casting our children
they came the same day into My sanctuary to pro-             into the devouring fires of Satan? At the outset we
fane it; and lo, thus they have done in the midst of         may answer, "No, we love the truth."
My house."                                                     But, is this evidenced in our lives? Is the Sabbath
      It is evident from the above passage that the          to us what it should be? Is the preaching of Christ
adultery and lewdness of this chapter is essentially         that which rules all of our thinking and activity? Do
a reference to spiritual departure from God, His             we find our worship on the Lord's day to be the
Word and way. Judah began to serve idols - rolled            center of our life? Do we yet love to hear the doc-
blocks of wood  - formed according to man's                  trines of old expounded faithfully? Do we desire the
imagination. Their word replaced the word of God.            antithetical proclamation of God's Word? Do we
And as always is the case with apostasy, they led            fill the chairs around our Bible study groups? Are
their children to follow the way of their darkened           we well-prepared to defend the faith? Do the Scrip-
minds to follow the path of sin.                             tures have a visible and active place in our homes?
      The result is that they forgot God and cast Him          Do we train our children in the ways that they
behind their back. Verse 35 says, "Therefore thus            should go? Or do we send our mothers to work, that
saith the Lord God; Because thou hast forgotten              we might have the idols of the world, and thus
Me, and cast Me behind thy back, therefore bear              sacrifice our children to the devouring fires of dark-
thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms." The               ness? Does our TV viewing reflect our Christian
inevitable result of departure from the truth is that        confession? Are we becoming more worldly-mind-
God is forgotten and put out of one's life.                  ed in our use of and the seeking of leisure time? Do
      This did not mean that they left off the outward       we not have growing problems of infidelity in our
service of God. In the verses quoted above it is ob-         midst? Does it shock us and cause us holy indigna-
vious that Judah continued to make a pretense of             tion when we face adultery, drug addiction, forni-
serving God. They kept the ceremonies and the                cation, and hit-and-miss church attendance in our
sabbaths to a limited sense. But such compromising           midst? Do we question why these things are so? Or
service is an abomination to God. Therefore, judg-           are we becoming hardened to the inroads of the
ment must come! Judah must bear the fruit of her             world in our lives?
apostasy and is given over to her lovers. Their por-           I believe that we all must confess that the world
tion becomes her's.                                          with its idols has made deep inroads in our lives.
      Hence she is given over to the world whose life        Christ says to us in this prophecy, Beware! Repent
she has chosen. Her life becomes worldly and her             of your sin, lest ye become as Aholibah! For God
comfort shall be so limited - worldly. How awful!            will not be mocked!
The world perishes, and all who put their trust
therein likewise so perish. In that time Judah also                                       (continued on page 71)


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  71



                      News From Our Churches
                                               October 15, 1984


  "For with the heart man believeth unto righ-              Rev. Cammenga preached his farewell sermon in
teousness; and with the mouth confession is made          Hull Protestant Reformed Church on October 7. He
unto salvation" (Romans  1O:lO). Byron Center            was installed October 14 in Loveland Church with
Church was privileged, on October 14, with the            Rev. Kamps officiating.
public confession of faith of Lori Holstege. Lori, as       The results of the tests of Rev. Houck's son,
many of you know, is a twenty-two year old deaf-          Jeremy, showed that his kidneys are healthy, yet,
mute. Rev. Gritters preached Romans  1O:lO on             for some reason, they do not always function prop-
"Confession of Faith." Two years ago Mrs.                 erly. This problem is being treated with medica-
Hoeksema began working with Lori, teaching her            tion. If this is not successful, he may have to go on
Bible history and the Heidelberg Catechism. At the        dialysis sometime in the future.
same time, Rev. Gritters supplied condensed ser-
mons for Lori each sabbath day. Lori stood up with          On October 6, First Church held a tree-cutting
Mrs. Hoeksema, who pointed to each question on a          party at their new property on Michigan Street.
paper prepared for Lori to read, while Rev. Gritters      Work has now begun, since the congregation ap-
read them to the congregation. With her mouth,            proved the building plans and the borrowing of the
Lori made confession of her faith. May God be             amount of money they will need to complete their
praised for His mighty deed.                              new building.
  Rev. and Mrs. Bruinsma and family were plan-              Southeast Church's Evangelism Society is put-
                                                          ting Rev. Haak's sermons on the radio every Sun-
ning on leaving for Jamaica October 16. However,
Rev. Bruinsma was scheduled for hernia surgery            day from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on WMAX, 1480
today. When the Bruinsmas leave for Jamaica,              AM.
D.V., their new address will be: Ferris Heights,            I found this interesting paragraph in South
Cave P.O., Westmoreland, Jamaica.                         Holland's bulletin: "The Council plans to make
                                                          nominations for office bearers at its meeting this
  The Jamaican Mission Committee will be setting          week. In accordance with Article 22 of our Church
up a correspondence schedule for the families of          Order the members of the congregation are given
First Church, Grand Rapids, to write Rev. and Mrs.        the opportunity to direct attention to suitable per-
Bruinsma. The committee feels this is an excellent        sons for office either by a letter or by appearing at
way for members of the congregation to become in-         our meeting."
volved with the labors, and will also be much ap-
preciated by the Bruinsmas. This should also en-            In regards to education, a special meeting of the
courage others of us from other churches to write         Hudsonville Protestant Reformed School Society
to the Bruinsmas while they are in Jamaica.               was held October 11. The purpose of the meeting
                                                          was to approve proposals to start erecting their new
  At the request of the Mission Committee the con-        school.
sistory of First Church, Holland, is sending their          Hope School has a special group of students. The
pastor and family to Wellington, New Zealand to           P.R. Special Education School is meeting in the
labor there for 6-9 months. Rev. R. Miersma will be       main building. Although this class of three students
leaving for New Zealand on October 22. He will be         and their teacher are not a part of Hope School as
laboring in the North Palmerston area with the            far as organization is concerned, they are part of
group of believers our churches have been helping         Hope School in their daily activities.
in the past years. We pray that the Lord may bless
this work of missions and that the congregation of        AHOLIBAH (continued from page 70)
Holland Church will also be blessed by the Lord as
they make this sacrifice.                                   On the other hand, be comforted, for God is a
                                                          faithful covenant God. He always keeps unto Him-
  Prof. Hanko and Rev. Engelsma will be leaving           self the elect remnant. He will give grace to be
for Northern Ireland for a lecture tour, on October       humbled by this Word. He will cleanse His own of
18. They will be speaking at the Bible Presbyterian       their sin in Christ, and He will give His remnant
Church for seven consecutive evenings. They in-           grace to flee their sin. Our prayer is for this sustain-
tend also to contact other churches in Ireland and        ing and saving grace, that we may be renewed in
Scotland who have corresponded in the past with           our desire to serve Him as faithful servants under
our churches.                                             His Word.


      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                            SECOND CLASS
          P . O .   B o x   6 0 6 4                                                                POSTAGE PAID AT
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                    GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.




72                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                   Annual Secretarv's Report, R.F.P.A.
                                                        A

      Another year of printing The Sfandard Bearer has       must be moved. We are checking to see if we might
come to an end, and once more our songs of joy and           store this material with our RFPA books. This
praise ring out. For sixty years now our Covenant            would make things much easier for our Business
God and Father has in His rich mercy given us as             Manager because he takes care of both of them.
Protestant Reformed people the privilege of sound-           This would also save him some traveling.
ing forth His truth in the printed page. He has not             The Board takes this opportunity to thank our
only given this glorious heritage to our grandfathers        Business Manager, who in his own humble way
and fathers, but also to us, their sons and daugh-           makes sure you receive your issues on time. It may
ters. We have been given a tremendous blessing,              only be a few hollow sounding words, but we thank
but also a great responsibility to remain faithful to        our God that He has given us men like Mr. Vander
His Word. May our prayer be that God will con-               Wal who give freely of their time for this cause.
tinue to remember us in His gracious kindness until          May God continue to bless and strengthen him. We
He returns again.                                            also thank Prof. H.C. Hoeksema for his diligent
      A committee of the Board looked into ways to           labors in making sure that there is material to be
commemorate this milestone during the past year.             printed in this magazine twice each month, and for
We decided that a public lecture would be in order,          his very interesting editorials. We have again en-
since it is not because of the faithfulness of us as         joyed the three special issues this year.
churches, but the faithfulness of God's grace                   We are grateful that our ministers see their call-
should be our boast. This address to the praise and          ing to proclaim and defend the glorious gospel of
glory of our God is to be given by our  Editor-in-
Chief.                                                       Jesus Christ in all its purity in this wicked world.
                                                             That above all distinguishes this magazine from all
      The Board also looked into price quotations            other magazines in this day and age in which we
given by another printing company asking for our             live. We say this not in pride, but in humility,
business. After seeing what they had to offer and            because it is God, and He alone, Who keeps us
taking into consideration the good working rela-             faithful.
tionship we have with our present printer, we
decided to stay with our current printer.                       We thank those on the Board who have done
                                                             their work well for these last three years and whose
      Because of the age of our Business Manager and         terms are now finished. Our prayer is that God will
the heavy work load placed on him, he requested              watch over Bud Bylsma, Bill Corson, and Arnold
that he receive help in his labors. Mr. G. (Bud)
Bylsma has been giving him a hand when it is mail-           Dykstra in the years to come.
ing time. In this way we also have more than one                It is the Board's prayer that we as churches may
man who knows exactly what has to be done to get             continue to pray for and support this magazine in
The Standard Bearer to you as subscribers.                   the years to come. May we hold the truth dear and
                                                             by God's grace teach it to our children. May we in
      Our Business Manager reports that in the past          confidence say with the Psalmist in Psalm  48:14,
year there were 1,950 copies of The Standard Bearer          "For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will
printed each printing. Of this total, 1,877 copies           be our guide even unto death."
are mailed to subscribers, with 787 going outside                                 With you in Christ,
the west Michigan area, 775 in the west Michigan                                           (  w.s.) James Koole, Secretary
area, and 165 to foreign subscribers.  The Standard
Bearer  keeps 150 copies each time to be made into
bound volumes. The increase this year was slight,                                       NOTICE!!!
yet we are thankful that there is still. an interest for                           PUBLIC LECTURE
the Reformed truth not only in our churches but                The Protestant Reformed Lecture Committee invites you and your
also outside our churches.                                   friends to the Fall Lecture to be held on November 1, 1984, at 8
                                                             P.M., at the East Leonard Christian Reformed Church, 1027 Leonard
      The Board has again looked for a place to store all    Ave., N.E. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rev. Ronald Van  Overloop  will
of  The Standard Bearer  materials. First Church is          speak on the topic: "REFORMATION AND THE PREACHED WORD."
                                                             Refreshments will be served following the lecture!
sold, and the time grows nearer when everything                                                           The Lecture Committee


