          The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
I          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





     .  .  . rather than studying the Word of God for
     ourselves, we immediately flee to commen-
     taries or to the writings of men . . . . We may
     and must certainly use such writings and
     avail ourselves of them. But when they be-
     come a substitute for serious, personal Bible
     study, we are in trouble, serious trouble.
     See "Taught of God by the Word
                                  and Prayer" - page 424




c                                              Vol. LXI, No. 18, July 1, 1985  -


410                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                              CONTENTS                                                                            ISSN 03624692
                                                                                        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.
                                                                              Edifor-in-Chiefi  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
       No Charge Against Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410      Deporfmenf Ediforst Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                              D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
  Editorial  -                                                                Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J.  Kortering,  Rev. George C.
                                                                              Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
       Synod of 1985, A Brief Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413         ma. Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
  The Day of Shadows -                                                        BdiforiolOffce: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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       A Case of Carnal Feasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .415                        Grandville. Michigan 49418
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MEDITATION



                                        No Charge Against Us
                                                                  Rev. H. Veldman



                  "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that
               condemneth?"                                                                                                 Romans 8:33,34a



  In the context, the Lord has chosen a people from                              wonderful things. We hear them say that all things
before the foundation of the world. Atid these peo-                              work together for good. And this: God will grant us
ple rejoice in the midst of the world because of                                 all things for the sake of His Son, for "He that


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    411



spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for            possible. No sinner receives his freedom without
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give          the full payment of all his sin. Neither must we con-
us all things?" Indeed, with uplifted head they walk        fuse this justification with forgetfulness. The Lord
unto the city that has foundations.                         does not, cannot forget. That we are justified
  However, it is as though the apostle hears pro-           means, first of all, that we are declared by God to
tests all about him. Indeed, the enemy cries out to         be completely innocent. However, this judgment
us: the Lord will grant you all things, while you are       rests upon holiest justice. The Lord, we know, gives
sinners? And, intercepting these evil protests,             no pardon; He never forgets a wrong. All guilt must
which also very really are cast at the people of God,       be paid, and that in the way of the complete satis-
Paul cries out in this text, "Who shall lay anything        faction of God's justice. When we are justified,
to the charge of Gods elect?" Indeed, that God will         however, we are also declared to be heirs of ever-
grant us all things lies rooted in the fact that He has     lasting life and glory, entitled to the life of fellow-
justified us. Hence, who shall condemn us?                  ship with God in everlasting glory and heavenly im-
                                                            mortality. This justification is for God's church and
       * *       * *         "I *     *     * *     *       people the basis of their salvation. This determines
  Justification - what is it?                               one's eternal weal or woe. The fundamental ques-
                                                            tion is: how do I stand legally before God; am I guil-
  Justification is the primary concept in this text.        ty or innocent, worthy of life eternal or of everlast-
Fundamentally, the word refers to our right rela-           ing damnation?
tion to Gods will and law. We can speak of this
relation in a spiritual sense, in the sense of sanctifi-      No charge to be laid against us! No condemna-
cation. Then we are spiritually in conformity with          tion! How amazing!
the will of God. Then we are holy. However, we                What an amazing shout of triumph we have here
can also speak of justification in a judicial, legal        in this word of God! The apostle sees the church as
sense. This refers to our state. Then we deal with          in the midst of the world, always accused by the
the guilt of sin. To be righteous legally means that,       world. Let us visualize a trial in a courtroom. Three
from a legal point of view, no charge or accu'sation        parties are represented here: the judge, the ac-
can be brought against us. This, then, is a legal con-      cused, and the accuser or accusers. Had not the
cept. It is this legal concept which is meant in this       apostle spoken boldly in the context? Had he not
word of God. That this is true appears from the fact        written that there is no condemnation for us, that all
that we read here that no charge can be lodged              things work together for good to them that love God?
against the elect of God.                                   And now the child of God is attacked. Many are his
  To be justified means that we have completely             enemies. And now the apostle declares, "Who shall
fulfilled .the law of God and continue to fulfill it.       lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" He
God declares us to be in complete harmony with              challenges them to bring forth their charges. No
His law, that our legal position over against the law       condemnation? How is this possible? No charge can
is one of absolute innocence, so that there is              be lodged against us, no sin? Let us understand the
nothing between us and the Lord. We must not                implication of this challenge of the apostle. The
confuse justification with sanctification. Sanctifica-      apostle does not utter this question in fear, as if he
tion refers to our condition; justification refers to       were afraid that such charges can be brought
our state. Sanctification is a spiritual work of the        against the people of God. However, this question
Holy Spirit; justification is the declaration of God as     of the inspired apostle is a glorious challenge, a
He is the Judge of all the earth. Justification is that     shout of triumph, rooted in the conviction that such
declaration of God that we have completely ful-             an accusation is impossible. But, how can this be?
filled the law and continue to fulfill it, so that our      The idea, we understand, is that nothing can be
legal position is not that of a guilty one but of           lodged against us. Nothing? I cannot be accused of
perfect obedience and righteousness. And this justi-        any sin? But, am I not full of sin? Do we not sin
fication is, of course, strictly dependent upon and         every day, in thought and in word and in deed? Is it
determined by the living God.                               not true that whoever would say that he had no sin
                                                            deceives himself and the truth is not in him? And
  Now, first of all, we must not confuse Gods               yet the question is asked, triumphantly, "Who shall
justification with pardon. This does happen in our          lay anything to our charge?" What an amazing cry
civil life. A prisoner, sentenced to life imprison-         of triumph we have here in this word of God! We
ment, may receive a pardon from the governor                may well ask, how is this possible?
because of good behavior while in prison, because
the governor judges that this prisoner has been suf-               *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
ficiently rehabilitated and can now function as an            Indeed, apparently this cry of jubilation is surely
asset to society. With God, however, this is im-            unfounded. Look at all the charges that can be


412                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



lodged against us. First of all, the world accuses us,    of Christ Jesus. It is for this reason that the Lord
led by Satan, the prince of the powers of the air.        does not see any unrighteousness in Jacob or iniqti-
They refer to our sins. Fact is, that ungodly world       ty in Israel. It is for the elect that Christ has suf-
and the devil are surely acquainted with our sins.        fered and died and is risen again. Our Lord Jesus
And they accuse us with a formidable witness, the         Christ took upon Himself all our sins and
law, the law of God. And that law of God demands          trespasses, bore the wrath of God, the eternal and
obedience, and also the punishment of everlasting         infinite wrath of God, in full consciousness and in
death upon our sins. Secondly, also the flesh             perfect love and obedience. He paid for all our sins
testifies against us. And this flesh is far more for-     and trespasses and merited for us everlasting life,
midable than the world. The world is familiar only        perfect fellowship with God in heavenly immortali-
with our outward sins. But this flesh witnesses in        ty. In Christ we glory, never in ourselves. He alone
us. It speaks of our intimate thoughts, also of those     is our salvation. We are saved by grace, through
prayers that are displeasing to God, the sins             faith, and never out of works. We must glory, never
whereof we alone are conscious.                           in ourselves, only in the grace of God. Gods people
  What shall we answer these accusers? On the             will sing forever the song of Moses and of the
one hand, we must not deny these charges. We              Lamb.
must never try to refute these accusers, enter into         Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
debate with the devil and our flesh. We must never        elect? None! Shall we take this cry of triumph upon
defend ourselves. As far as the devil and our flesh       our lips? Shall we say this, jubilantly and tri-
are concerned, let us by all means agree with them        umphantly? Shall the devil, the world, our flesh
concerning our sins. It is so true what they say of       ever point to any sin and demand of the Judge of all
us. In fact, we should answer the devil that we are       the earth that He condemns us? Shall anyone plead
much worse than his presentation of our sins. I           against us, demand of the Judge of heaven and
know how great a sinner I am. I know this through         earth that He condemn us? I repeat: we must never
divine grace. In fact, I am evil in all my walk, from     argue with the devil. We must never attempt to de-
the morning until the evening. Even my best works         fend ourselves. We must never try to place over
are as filthy rags. But, what then? We are sinners        against all our evil the little good we perform only
and we sin always. How is it, then, that no one can       in principle. We must embrace this word of God,
bring in any charge against us? Why is this?              carry it in our hearts and upon our lips. We must
                                                          take God at His word. Indeed, let the Judge of all
  Indeed, this cry of jubilation is well-grounded.        the earth speak. And, HE HAS SPOKEN. He has
Fact is, we read, God it is Who justifies. This ap-       spoken here, in Romans 8:33-34,  and throughout
pears in our text with all emphasis. God justifies.       the Word of God. This word of God is sufficient? It
He is God, and He alone. He is the only Judge of the      is more than sufficient. Shall we, then, continue
heavens and of the earth. Next to Him or above            through our earthly pilgrimage, with dejected
Him there is no other, no higher appeal. God, Who         hearts and minds and souls? God forbid! Let us em-
alone is God, Who alone has all power and authori-        brace this word of God through faith, this
ty, Who also alone determines my lot and destiny,         testimony of our God concerning His elect.
has declared, I find no guilt in them. And He has
declared us righteous upon the ground of perfect            Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods
and unchangeable justice. And when God, the only          elect?
Judge of heaven and earth, declares us righteous,           God it is Who justifies.
that judgment is unchangeable, irrevocable. It can          None can therefore condemn.
never be annulled.                                          We are justified, now and forevermore.
  However, this is not all. Can one never accuse me
of any sin? This is indeed possible. It is certainly
not difficult to accuse me of sin. This we acknowl-       The  .Standard Bearer
edge and confess every day. But, the text does not
say this. We do not read that no charge can ever be
lodged against us. But we do read this: "Who shall         makes a thoughtful gift
lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?" Against
the elect no charge can ever be lodged. Why not?            for the sick or shut-in.
Because the elect are God's people as the Lord has
known them from before the foundations of the
world. The elect are God's people as He has known             Give The Standard Bearer!
and loved them in Christ Jesus. The elect are they
who are clothed, eternally, with the righteousness


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             413



EDITORIAL



                   Synod of 1985, A Brief Report
                                              Prof. H.C. Hoeksema




  This year's synod was off to an early start. On         of synod to express its disapproval of the actions of
Monday evening the pre-synodical service, at              First Church and the Mission Committee in send-
which the Rev. David Engelsma (last year's presi-         ing Rev. Bruinsma to Jamaica without an accom-
dent) preached on Judges 6: 11-17, was held; and on       panying ordained co-worker who is a retired
Tuesday morning Synod of 1985 began. Tuesday              minister or a minister on loan, as required in the
was devoted to organization, which includes the           pertinent decisions of 1983 and 1984. Further,
election of officers (Rev. J. Kortering, president;       synod decided to instruct the First Church Con-
Rev. G. Van  Baren, vice president; Rev. J.               sistory and the Mission Committee to attempt to
Slopsema, first clerk; and Rev. C. Haak, second           obtain an ordained co-worker to work with Rev.
clerk) and the appointment of advisory committees.        Bruinsma for a period of 6 to 9 months, and that "in
The latter spent the rest of Tuesday preparing ad-        the event no co-worker (retired minister or minister
vice to steer Synod in its deliberations. For the next    on loan) can be obtained by October 1, 1985, Rev.
three days Synod alternated between the advice of         Bruinsma be recalled from Jamaica and be declared
Committee I (Mission matters) and that of Commit-         eligible for a call in our churches." For the rest,
tee II (Contact Committee matters), and by the end        synod made many policy decisions with respect to
of the first week had not yet completed its treat-        the Jamaica work which are too complicated and
ment of either report. Synod made haste slowly, in        detailed to report here. As was said, however, all of
other words. This was due mainly to the fact that         these decisions are conditional in the light of the
there were several weighty matters to which               decision reported above.
careful attention had toi be paid.                          3. As far as the report of the Foreign Mission
  It is not the purpose of this report to furnish all     Committee is concerned, there is nothing new to
the details of the decisions of synod; for this the       report. Synod had the advantage in its considera-
printed Acts will have to be consulted. Here we           tion of this report of having the Rev. den Hartog,
simply summarize and report .some of the signifi-         who was home on furlough, present both for the
cant decisions.                                           consideration of the FMC report and in connection
Mission Matters                                           with the matter of sister church relations with the
                                                          Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore. The
  1. There were brief reports on the various mis-         Rev. den Hartog's work in Singapore is going to be
sions in our own country. Without much discus-            continued. Synod also decided not to authorize the
sion synod approved continuation of labors in the         sending of emissaries to Singapore and Malaysia in
Northwest Chicago area, the  Ripon, California            the coming year.
field, and the NorristownlBlue Bell, Pennsylvania
field. For the rest, with regard to these fields synod    Contact With Other Churches
had to take care of various "housekeeping" and              There was a lengthy and detailed report before
budget matters.                                           Synod from the Committee for Contact With Other
  2. Synod gave lengthy and careful attention to          Churches. Of the several items of this report we
matters concerning the Jamaica field. In fact, more       single out the two most significant.
than one item was sent back to the advisory com-            1. Following the committee's advice, synod ap-
mittee for new and better advice. Undoubtedly the         proved the establishment of full sister church rela-
most important decision in this connection - one          tions with the Evangelical Reformed Church of
which made all other decisions concerning policy          Singapore on the following grounds: "a. The ERC is
in the Jamaica work conditional - was the decision        a church established on the basis of the Reformed


414                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



Standards and maintains them in their ecclesiasti-           plishing this goal, and they reported to Synod this
cal life. b. The ERC was organized as the fruit of our       year. Synod, however, decided that further investi-
mission work. c. The ERC has been and is currently           gation as to the best way of achieving this goal
making use of our Seminary to train its ministers. d.        should be made; and the same committee was ap-
The ERC itself has agreed to such a relationship. e.         pointed.
The Committee believes such full relationships                 Meanwhile, the current supply of the 
would benefit us and them. f. Scripture calls us to                                                      PsaZter  as
                                                             published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Co. has run out.
seek fellowship with those of like precious faith            We have been assured, however, that there will be
with us (Eph. 4:1-16,  Jn. 17:20-23).  g. Although the       a limited reprint late this summer; hence, churches
ERCS has only provisionally adopted our liturgical           and individuals will be able to obtain the old edi-
forms and although our Church Order has not been             tion until a new one is printed. Since the committee
adopted, nevertheless our liturgical forms are being         must report again to Synod in 1986, it looks as
used with growing appreciation and their church              though it will be at least 1987 before the new edi-
government is basically Reformed."                           tion appears.
  2. Also following the committee's advice, synod
approved the establishment of full sister church             Theological School Matters
relations with the Bible Presbyterian Church of                In connection with the Rector's Report and the
Larne, North Ireland. This decision was preceded             Report of the Theological School Committee, we
by two others. First of all, "That Synod interpret           may mention the following:
the expression `The Reformed Standards' in V, B, 4             1. Synod decided to "remind our churches of the
of the Constitution of the Contact Committee as in-          need of students and encourage our officebearers to
cluding the Westminster Confession and Cate-                 counsel their young men concerning this need. Fur-
chisms.' ' And, secondly, "That Synod instruct the           ther, that the consistories be requested to have
Contact Committee to discuss with the BPC the                their pastors bear this need in mind in their cate-
matter of women voting in their congregational               chism teaching and consider asking the Professors
meetings, because we consider this practice un-              to speak to any concerned group or catechism class
biblical (I Cor. 14:34, 35, II Tim. 2:11, 12)." Synod        concerning this need." This is in connection with
then proceeded to approve sister church relations            the fact that after next year, according to present
on the following grounds: "a. The BPC has formally           schedule projections, we will have two  pre-
requested such relationships. b. The BPC is agreed           seminarians but no seminary students for three
with us in all essential matters of doctrine, life, call-    years.
ing, and church policy. c. The BPC is faithful to              2. Synod approved a policy for the orderly retire-
their confessions in their doctrine and life, and are        ment and replacement of professors at our
earnestly attempting to maintain a distinctive               seminary, a matter which had been under study by
Reformed witness in North Ireland. d. Such sister-           the Theological School Committee for a couple
church relations would benefit both us and them. e.          years. For details you will have to consult the Acts
Scripture calls us to seek fellowship with those of          when they are published, since it would take too
like precious faith with us (Eph.  4:X-16,  Jn.              much space here to cite all the facets of this plan.
17:20-23)."                                                    3. Synod also approved in principle a request
Appeals                                                      from the RFPA Publications Committee to lease
  There were two personal appeals of decisions of            some of the school property for a building; and it in-
Classis West with which synod had to deal. One               structed the Theological. School Committee to sub-
concerned the matter of allowing ministers to                mit details to next year's synod.
preach in churches of other denominations. Classis           Financial Matters
West was sustained in its decision that this appeal
was not legally before it. The other appeal con-               There is, of course, always a host of financial
cerned the matter of a consistory distributing a let-        matters to which synod must pay attention in con-
ter in connection with the sending of a teacher to           nection with the various labors of our churches.
North Ireland. This appeal was also rejected and             Synod always has one advisory committee which
Classis West was sustained.                                  devotes all of its attention to these matters and
                                                             which acts as a kind of "watch-dog" committee
Psalter Reprint                                              with respect to the denominational budget. It is
  Last year it was decided to include in our Psalter         neither necessary nor edifying to recount all those
the ecumenical creeds and also historical introduc-          details here. We may, however, report that synod
tions to all the creeds. This will obviously involve a       succeeded in holding down the increase in synod-
new edition of our PsaZter. During the past year a           ical assessments to $15.00, or a little more than 4%:
committee has been investigating ways of accom-              $380 for fiscal 1986 as against $365 this year.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             415



  And so what was undoubtedly a significant and .a        noon, June 18.
busy synod ended its sessions early Tuesday after-          May the Lord bless the decisions made!

THE DAY OF SHADOWS


                       A Case of Carnal Feasting
                                               Rev. John A. Heys





  Jesus said it. And we do well to give heed to it        the child of.God, who has been born again with life
and remember it, if we would rightly understand           out of heaven, you will find in I Thessalonians 5:18,
the message in the book of Esther. What did He say        "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of
that applies to this book? You will find it in Mat-       God in Christ Jesus concerning you." In these two
thew  720 where we read: "Wherefore by their              you have the evidences of the new life of the believ-
fruits ye shall know them." In the verses preceding       ing child of God. He praises God and expresses his
it He had spoken of entering into the kingdom by          thankfulness for the gift of salvation. Yes, he con-
the strait gate and of being wary of false prophets.      fesses his sins. He flees to Christ for forgiveness.
Already in verse 16 He had stated, "Ye shall know         But a heart filled with thankfulness to God for sal-
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of             vation is the evidence that he does hate his sins,
thorns, or figs of thistles?" And plainly the idea is     and is putting his trust in Christ and His cross. The
that when we stand before a tree or bush, we can          Heidelberg Catechism in Lords Day XXX11 states
tell what kind of tree or bush it is by the fruit that    this truth when it points out that we must still do
we find upon it.                                          good works, that is, produce grapes and figs and not
  Thus far in our consideration of this book of           thorns and thistles, after we are delivered by grace
Esther I have pointed out time and again the              through Christ, because Christ "also renews us by
thistles and thorns and the complete lack of any          His Spirit, after His own image; that so we may
grapes or figs in the lives of Esther and Mordecai,       testify, by the whole of our conduct, our gratitude
who were of the fleshly seed of Abraham. One fig,         to God, and that He may be praised by us; also, that
or one grape would at once reveal that we were            every one may be assured in himself of his faith, by
looking at a grape vine or fig tree. And it is not a      the fruits thereof. . . ." There you have it. One may
case of not looking closely enough. It is a case of       know whether one is a good tree, by God's grace, or
God Himself, as His Spirit guided the author of this      not by the fruits of praise and thanksgiving one
book infallibly and with a definite message in            finds in one's own life.
mind, deliberately pointing out the thorns and              What did Noah do after that great salvation from
thistles and showing us that these descendants of         the wicked world by the waters of the flood and in
Abraham were not the type that can and did pro-           the safety of the ark? He built an altar to God,
duce as much as one grape or fig.                         which is called a sweet savour which God smelled.
  This comes again so clearly to manifestation in         This was not thorns and thistles but grapes and figs.
the last section of the book. What are the fruits of a    What did Moses do when God destroyed the
branch engrafted  into' Christ? Not thorns and            military might of Egypt in the Red Sea and saved
thistles but grapes. And what do these grapes on          His people from the bondage they had suffered for
the branches engrafted into Christ, The Vine, look        400 years? Look up Exodus 15 and you will find his
like? We have to be able to recognize a spiritual         song of praise and thanksgiving. What did Jonah do
grape also when we see it. God Himself tells us in        when God sent .the fish to save him from certain
Isaiah 43:21 in these words: "This people have I          death in the midst of the sea? What do you read so
formed for Myself; they shall show forth My               repeatedly in the book of Psalms of the believers
praise." Or, if you are looking in the New Testa-         who were protected and saved by the God of our
ment for the spiritual figs to be found in the life of    salvation? Is the book not full of praise to God?


416                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



When Christ was born did not the shepherds return           tion; and to smell not only the flowers but the de-
to their sheep glorifying and praising God? What            lightful aroma of food being cooked, the fresh scent
did Simeon and Anna do when He was presented to             of the pine forest, and many other delightfully
the Lord in the temple when He was forty days old?          fragrant creatures on this earth. He made us to feel
Indeed, by their fruits ye shall know them.                 smoothness and cooling breezes, as well as warmth
   Now let us return to the line drawn for us in the        of the sun and the softness of cotton. We must not
book of Esther. A marvelous "enlargement and                then exclude also the delicious taste of the tremen-
deliverance" was wrought. The Jews were safe                dous variety of fruits and vegetables and other
with Mordecai the Jew as the prime minister and             foods. All these God has created, and all these He
Esther the Jewess as the queen of the nation where          has given to man to experience in order that he may
they had their citizenship. Seventy-five thousand of        bring these back to God in praise. Remember that
their enemy were killed; and fear took hold upon            statement in Isaiah 43:21 that He has formed a peo-
their enemies. No one dared to lift a finger against        ple for Himself that will show forth His praise. That
the Jews. So we read in Esther 9:3, 4. But of what          belongs to man's calling as God's royal priesthood.
fruit are we told by God Himself, through the man           He must see, hear, smell, taste and touch the earth-
He used to write this book? Are we shown grapes             ly creation and then bring it back to God in the
and figs of praise and thanksgiving to God? Or is           form of praise and thanksgiving. That is dedicating
there presented to us the thorns and thistles of a          it and consecrating it to God. And that is the duty of
carnal feasting that does not even suggest that God         the priest. So beautifully we have it in I Peter 2:9
was in the thoughts of these Jews, much less in the         where the threefold office of man is presented. This
mind and heart of Mordecai, who ordered this day            people of God is a royal, that is, a kingly, priesthood
of feasting and called it not after God but after the       which shows forth, as prophets in confession and
dice, the "lucky" stones used by those who did not          song, the praises of Him Who called us out of dark-
look up to God? There is a reason why the Almighty          ness into His marvelous light. We must eat and
moved the secondary author to include this bit of           drink, taste and smell, feel, see, and hear, and then
the history that speaks of Purim and not of                 render thanks and praise to God for what He gave
Jehovah.                                                    us to enjoy. In that sense feasting is not in itself sin.
                                                            It is sin when we eat and drink, taste and smell, and
  The climax of the narrative actually comes                it all stops there! Then we are carnal, moved by and
earlier in the book when Haman and his sons are             ruled by our flesh. Then what comes from God
hanged, Mordecai is exalted to his most lofty posi-         does not return to Him, because in Adam Satan got
tion, and the Jews are victorious over their enemies        us to turn our backs upon the Giver of every good
and can breathe freely and have "joy and gladness"          and perfect gift, and to say that this gift is ours and
instead of terror because of doom staring them in           not the Creator's.
the face. Why tell us of this feasting, if it is not ex-      What we have to understand is that God never
actly to show the carnality rather than spirituality        gives anything away. He gives. He is the over-and-
of these Jews who stayed in the land, when the op-
portunity had presented itself for them to return to        everflowing fountain of all good, the Supplier of all
the promised land where God's temple again stood,           man's needs and Provider of everything that man
                                                            enjoys. And He gives, gives, and continues to give.
and the types and shadows of the coming Christ              But He gives in the sense of lending to the creature
were to be seen and enjoyed?                                tools, means, instruments whereby he may praise
  Now feasting as such is not necessarily carnal.           Him and say, "0 God, how great Thou art! 0 God,
We may and must appreciate the earthly gifts                how good Thou art!" Is not that what we see when
which God bestows upon us. He made a beautiful              we are given glimpses of heaven today and of the
world for Adam and Eve to enjoy. Outside of the             kingdom of heaven as it shall be in the day of
garden were thorns and thistles. Adam and Eve               Christ? Does not every picture of heaven painted
were given to feast on all the dainties in that first       for us in Scripture shout loudly "Hallelujah"?
paradise. For even this was a picture of the amazing        Hallelujah translated means Praise Jehovah. Did
life we will have in the paradise to come. That life        you ever see a picture of heaven in Holy Writ that
Jesus Himself more than once in His parables                gave you the impression that there man is praising
presented as a feast. And we are given sense organs         himself or some other creature?
of smell, sight, taste, hearing, and touch to enjoy           What must be and is the significance of Romans
this creation. God wants us to hear the beautiful           11:36? "For of Him, and through Him, and unto
music which He created - not the jungle noises,             Him, are all things; to Whom be glory forever,
the screaming and moanings with animal gyrations            Amen." And by all means do not pass thoughtlessly
that is called music by the world today. He wants           over I Corinthians  15:28  where we read, "And
us to see the beauty of color and shape in His crea-        when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           417



shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that              And we must remember that a solid, square
put all things under Him, that God may be all in               building will not cast a shadow in the shape of a
all." In a sense this is a commentary - as Scripture           tree with a long, thick trunk and an oval shaped
interprets Scripture  - upon Romans  11:36. Be-                foliage, Neither does a kingdom wherein all the
cause of Him, through Him, and unto Him are all                citizens praise and glorify God with thanksgiving
things, He shall be all in all the thinking, willing,          cast the shadow of a people that never confesses
and acting of all the saints, when His counsel is              His name, never prays to Him, displays shameful,
fulfilled and His people are enjoying the wedding              unvarnished fatalism, and after being rescued from
feast of the Lamb. What a feast that will be; and              the brink of death does not reveal one shred of
what a praise will begin and never end with thanks-            thankfulness, and uses the name of its idol Pur in-
giving to Him from all in the kingdom of heaven!               stead of the name of Jehovah to remind the coming
  And in the day of shadows we do have shadows                 generations of this deliverance. And God does not
of what will happen when that kingdom is fully                 want us to call that a shadow of His kingdom. Had
come and the new Jerusalem descends from God                   He wanted us to see Esther and Mordecai as
out of heaven and the tabernacle, dwelling place of            believers, He would have shown us one or two
God, is with man (Revelation 21:1-3).  Shadows are             grapes or figs instead of bushels of thorns and
caused by realities. The reality in this instance is           thistles.
the true, spiritual seed of Abraham in the new crea-             Yes, by their fruits we shall know the believers.
tion praising and glorifying God with thanksgiving             By the shape of the shadow we will know what
for the wonderful enlargement and deliverance He               reality casts this shadow upon the earth in this life.
has given us from Satan's power of sin over us, and
from the curse and punishment we deserve.

ALL AROUND US
Rev. G. Van Baren



                 Debate on Christ's Resurrection


  The Christian News, April 15, 1985, reports on a                 sists on the importance of "the encounters of faith, the
debate in England within the Church of England in                  assurance of faith, and the practice of faith. This faith
which one of its Bishops, Right Rev. David Jenkins,                claims that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
allegedly casts doubt on the resurrection of Christ                dead is so real that it changes our approach to all reali-
from the dead. The article states:                                 ty. This faith I wholly share."
                                                                 Interesting that a man could question the literal,
     Bishop Wood, . . . an evangelical, says he believes       historical fact of the empty tomb, yet claim that the
   his brother bishop to be a hind and academic man,           "resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is so
   "but, nevertheless, I believe he should not be a bishop
   in the Church of England."                                  real that it changes our approach to all reality."
                                                               This all sounds like the cry of the heretic who
     He says Bishop Jenkins should return to his               would deny fundamental truths of Scripture, yet
   academic life unless he could preach unreservedly           use terminology which tends to confuse the undis-
   this Eastertide that Christ was raised from the dead.       cerning. Nor is it so strange that one teaches as does
     . . . Bishop Jenkins says in the newsletter that the      the above-named Bishop when so many want to
   question of whether the Easter tomb was empty or not        deny the literal accounts found in Scripture. Usual-
   does not prove or disprove the resurrection. He             ly there is first a denial of the literal account of
   writes: "The evidence of the texts, the nature of tradi-    Genesis 1-3; then a denial of the miracles and cer-
   tion, and the general facts about the way people all        tain historical accounts, then a denial of Christ's
   over the world rapidly believe appropriate stories to       resurrection and ascension. One can not tamper
   support their religious beliefs leave me wholly uncer-      with parts of Scripture without such tampering
   tain about the empty tomb as literal historic fact."        eventually affecting the whole of his understanding
     In the place of this uncertainty, Bishop Jenkins in-      of Scripture.


418                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



           Consultation on Church Unio.n (COCU)


  Some of our readers may remember that 22 years                      Uniting," the first drafts of which have already been
ago there began a movement among several Protes-                      approved by the Episcopal Church. This document
tant denominations toward organic union. What                         provides that everyone' in the new "church" will
began with great fanfare soon seemed to flounder.                     agree to the truth of the others' creeds and confes-
But the movement (COCU) did not cease to exist.                       sions. This sanction of relativism means that even if
Recent reports indicate that the movement is alive                    two of COCU's members have beliefs which are con-
and                                                                   trary one to the other, everyone will agree that both
        well. The Ckrisiian  News, December 10, 1984,                 beliefs are true.
reports:                                                                . . . Then, prior to any statement of formal merger,
         A major step toward ending the historic divisions            the members of COCU will recognize each other's
       within American Protestantism was taken here Nov.              members, ministers and sacraments, providing for
       30 by representatives of nine denominations that have          sharing of clergy, free exchange of members and shar-
       a combined membership of 23 million.                           ing in eucharistic fellowship. With the new member-
         Delegates from the nine groups voted unanimously             ship canon going into effect in 1986 in the Episcopal
       to ask their denomination's highest decision-making            Church and the current practice of eucharistic fellow-
       bodies to accept a  70-page  theological "consensus"           ship with the Lutherans, the Episcopal Church has
       document as the basis for the next actions the chur-           already entered upon the COCU way . . . .
       ches will take toward "organic church union."                    All the above mentioned actions are provided for in
         . . . The consultation, whose headquarters is in             the "Quest" document which is to get its final ap-
       Princeton, N.J., has a very small staff, said Dr. Moede.       proval in Baltimore this week. Provided for in other
       "AS of now, the superchurch has only a six-person              documents also slated for approval are "councils of
       curia," he quipped.                                            oversight" empowered to ordain clergy for all the
                                                                      churches, and joint baptisms and confirmations.
         He and other ecumenists, however, stressed that              Members of the councils will be bishops and "bishop-
       the envisioned union would not create a church of              type" leaders from the denominations as well as
       uniformity, but would preserve many diversities of             "presbyters" which term now comes to mean any
       tradition, worship style, and practice that denomina-          minister and not just priests . . . .
       tions currently cherish.                                      So the effort towards organic union between the
         The nine member churches are the African Method-          various denominations continues. Opposition to
       ist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal
       Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ),        such union is heard, but the pressure to unite is
       Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Episcopal             great. It might well be that this effort will succeed
       Church, International Council of Community                  - especially since several of the denominations in-
       Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United                volved are themselves the fruit of earlier mergers.
       Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church.              But is this not a reminder of the nearness of the
  The same paper quotes reaction in a document                     church of the antichrist? What else could be said of
published by St. Michael's Episcopal Church:                       an organization which can hold as equally true the
                                                                   conflicting views of the uniting churches?
         What are the specifics? This weeks meeting will
       approve the document, "In Quest of a Church



                                   Should the Dance Be Part
                                          of Church Liturgy?

  The Outlook, June 1985, presents a report of mat-                posal to introduce "liturgical dancing." By the time
ters coming before the Synod of the Christian                      this article is printed, a decision on this question
Reformed Church this summer including a pro-                       will already have been taken. I dare not guess the


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            419



outcome of this proposal. The writer in the OutZooh,                 strutted by the living preaching of His Word," rather
Rev. Peter De Jong, rightly expresses his strong                     than by visual imagery. Perhaps few if any things in
revulsion for the entire proposal. He writes:                        the agenda, document more clearly than this commit-
                                                                     tee proposal our current departures from this guide.
     The perhaps last report of the Liturgical Committee            Meanwhile, in other papers the liturgical dance
   . . . is devoted to defending and promoting the               is being encouraged and guidelines1 already set
   liturgical dance in view of the fact that the committee
   believes that some churches are now "ready" for it. It         forth. In Ccdvinist Contact, May 31, 1985, we read:
   traces the past discussions and decisions about danc-               It is important that when liturgical dance is first
   ing, and by a survey of history, studied manipulation             presented, it be done in the context of a worship serv-
   of the rather scanty Biblical references (to children's           ice as much as possible. Because liturgical dance is
   games and David s "dancing, " for example), citing of             integral to a worship service, taken away from that
   unspecified cultural changes and appeal  to  a few                framework it loses something important . . . . Litur-
   academic specialists, seeks to rationalize now making             gical dance is meant to be used as a tool to lead us to
   liturgical dancing a feature of congregational worship!           deeper worship.
   It tries to make its radical proposals more acceptable
   with a number of pious  quJ.ifications:  The dancing                In much the same vein, whatever type of liturgical
   must be "an act of worship," not "some form of enter-             dancing is done, it must never be a performance or enter-
   tainment" and must only "be done in an edifying                   tainment. This is very important! The dancing is done
   manner." "The committee would regret it if the                    for Gods glory, not the dancer's glory or the congre-
   synod's decision should result in serious division                gation's glory . . . . Always, the dance, music, poem,
   among us. Yet the development of liturgy cannot be                play, banner or song must support the theme of the
   frozen at a certain moment."                                      worship service and stress it rather than stand proud-
                                                                     ly on its own. The whole point of calling it liturgical
     It is curious that at the time when more of our chur-           dance is to emphasize that the dance must fit into the
   ches than ever before are showing that their confi-               unity of the worship liturgy . . . .
   dence in the denominational leadership has been
   rudely shaken, this proposal should arise to further                Some suggestions on how liturgical dance could be
   demolish that confidence. If any people had illusions             implemented in a church . . . . Talking back and forth
   about the propriety and spiritual sensitivity of some of          and giving people a chance to learn about liturgical
   our more recent liturgical innovations, this final pro-           dancing before it is brought into their services can
   posal of the committee should help to disillusion                 take away much of the threat that people feel by hav-
   them. The committee's rationalizations somewhat                   ing dance in the church.
   resemble those of Aaron when he attempted to justify             How soon is forgotten that important and mov-
   his concessions to the Egyptian calf-style of worship at      ing cry of the Apostle Paul, "For I determined not
   Sinai  with the announcement, "Tomorrow is a feast to         to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ,
   the Lord" (Ex. 325). He forgot, as our committee and          and him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2). His admonition to
   church forget, that God was not merely concerned              another group of churches surely applies too: "I
   about Whom we worship, but also how we worship                marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
   Him. The first commandment is followed by a second            called you into the grace of Christ unto another
   which warns of His "jealousy" about that point. As
   our increasingly forgotten catechism points out, this         gospel: which is not another; but there be some that
   commandment clearly teaches that we are not to wor-           trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of
   ship God "in any other way than He has commanded              Christ" (Gal. 1:6-g).
   in His Word" and that "He wants His people  in-

THE LORD GAVE THE WORD


                 Tlhe Missionary a Slave to All (3)
                                                    Prof: Robert D. Decker




  In this series we are studying I Corinthians                 of a faithful missionary of the gospel. In the
9: 19-23. This passage, we believe, has a good deal to           previous two articles we treated verses 19-20.
teach, concerning the proper attitude and conduct


420                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



   The entire passage reads: "For though I be free         When, therefore, the Apostle preached and lived
from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto        among the Gentiles (those outside of the civil and
all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I     ceremonial laws) he was at pains not to conform to
became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to          Jewish civil and ceremonial law. He refused to act
them that are under the law, as under the law, that      and live as a Jew when he labored among the Gen-
I might gain them that are under the law; To them        tiles. The Apostle refused as well to insist that the
that are without law, as without law, (being not         Gentiles conform to Jewish traditions and prac-
without law to God, but under the law to Christ,)        tices. In fact Paul even rebuked Peter for doing this
that I might gain them that are without law. To the      (cf. Galatians 2: 11-21). In all matters indifferent the
weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak:       Apostle lived as a Gentile, i.e. as a non-Jew. In all of
I am made all things to all men, that I might by all     this, however, he never compromised with the
means save some. And this I dog for the gospel's         idolatry and ungodly philosophies of the heathen.
sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you."        These he condemned sharply. Not once did Paul
   Verse twenty-one reads: "To the ones outside of       concede to the false religions of his day. Even when
the law as outside of the law, (being not outside of     he found himself among the intellectual, philo-
the law of God, but in the law of God) in order that     sophical, and religious elite in Athens Paul did not
I might gain them who are outside of the law"            hesitate to point out the foolishness of their
(translation mine, R.D.D.). By "the ones outside of      idolatry. With neither shame nor compromise Paul
the law" the Apostle means non-Jews, i.e. Gentiles.      preached the sovereign God Who is revealed in the
By "law" the Apostle does not refer to the moral         crucified, resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Neither
law of the ten commandments. God's will as               would he compromise with ungodly living.- In his
summed in the moral law remains in force for both        preaching the Apostle always stressed the need to
Jew and Gentile and in every age. All men every-         walk worthy of the vocation with which God has
where and in every age are under the solemn and          called His people. He condemned in the sharpest of
divine obligation to love God with all their hearts,     terms all lying, cheating, envy, pride, murder, steal-
minds, souls, and strength and to love the neighbor      ing, adultery and fornication and all uncleanness,
as themselves. The moral law of God is the rule for      backbiting, slander and all manner of evil speaking,
the Christian's life of gratitude for the redemption     covetousness, disobedience to parents and all in
gained for him by God through Jesus Christ. The          authority. Always he called Gods people to stand
reference to law here is to the typical ceremonial       fast in the liberty with which Christ had made them
and civil laws governing Israel as the typical           free. But the Apostle never laid any unnecessary
theocracy in the Old Testament era. These laws are       burdens on the Gentiles. And, as much as possible,
no longer necessary because Christ, the reality to       he lived as the people with whom he labored.
which they directed the faith of the Old Testament         His purpose and motive are expressed in the last
saints, has come and redeemed His people through         clause of verse twenty-one: "in order that I might
His cross and resurrection. (For a more detailed ex-     gain them that are outside of the law" (translation
position of this concept, cf. the previous article in    mine, R.D.D.). Paul desired the salvation of those
this series.)                                            to whom he preached. He preached and lived as he
  That this is what is meant by "law" is evident         did because he wanted to gain the Gentiles to the
from the fact that the Apostle hastens to add: "be-      cause of Christ and His church. In the case of the
ing not without law to God but under the law to          Gentiles these must not be offended by the
Christ." The Apostle was certainly under, or more        Apostle's observing of Jewish law and custom. Cer-
correctly, in the law to Christ. He was no libertine     tainly "it would have greatly impeded, if not entire-
or antinomian. He understood his obligation to love      ly prevented the progress of the gospel among the
the Lord with all his heart, mind, soul, and             Gentiles had it been burdened with the whole
strength. He knew very well that this love of God        weight of Jewish ceremonies and restrictions"
must be expressed ,to his neighbor. The Apostle          (Charles Hodge, Commentary on I and II Corinthians,
struggled with that every day of his life (cf. Romans    p. 165, Banner of Truth edition).
7). As redeemed in Christ Who is the end of the law        The Apostle continues in verse 22a: "I became
for righteousness to everyone that believeth, the        weak to the weak ones in order that I might gain
Apostle was in the law to Christ. Christ had made        the weak ones" (translation mine, R.D.D.). Some
him free from the law of sin and death. By the grace     interpreters take the term "weak ones" to mean
of God in Jesus Christ the Apostle was free to love      unconverted among both Jew and Gentile. They
God and his neighbor. This gospel of the grace of        are "weak' in the sense that they lack the ability or
God in Jesus Christ is what the Apostle preached         strength within themselves to save themselves.
and lived. For the stake of the gospel of sovereign      While it is certainly true that all men are by nature
grace Paul purposed to offend no one.                    dead in trespasses and sins, and for that reason


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              421



unable to save themselves, this interpretation of the     either for doctrine or the Christian life, the Apostle
text is incorrect. It is incorrect for at least two       will go to any length to avoid offending those to
reasons: 1) If this were the correct interpretation it    whom he preaches. His chief concern is the prog-
would mean that the Apostle became as an un-              ress of the gospel in the way of the salvation of the
converted man to the unconverted. This would              elect. Paul does not want to be a hindrance to Gods
have been sinful on Paul's part. This cannot have         cause.
been the case. 2) This interpretation does not fit the      Again, Paul's purpose is: "in order that I might
context. In chapter eight the Apostle speaks of "the      gain the weak ones." When the Apostle speaks of
weak brother" who  cannot in good conscience              "gaining the weak" the meaning is to strengthen
before God eat meat sacrificed to idols. For this         and confirm. The Apostle's purpose in becoming as
"weak brother" to do so would be to sin against           weak to the weak Christian is to increase the
God. In this chapter the Apostle lay down some im-        knowledge of the true doctrine of Scripture of the
portant principles: a) We all know that idols are         weak. His desire is to make them stronger in the
nothing. There is only one, true God, the Father, of      faith. They must learn to understand that idols are
whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord          nothing. There is only one, true God Who is re-
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by            vealed in Jesus Christ as the God of our salvation.
Him (I Cor. 8:46). b) Eating meat neither makes us        Thus the Apostle becomes as weak so that they may
better nor worse before God (88). c) Some of the          be confirmed in their faith. By means of the
saints do not have this knowledge. To these, eating       preaching of the Word they must become stable,
meat sacrificed to idols is a grievous sin. These are     strong, mature Christians. In this way the church is
the "weak brethren" (8:7-13). d) Those who are            strengthened and God's Name is honored.
strong must, walk in love over against their weak
brothers. They must refrain from eating meat sacri-         This same attitude, this same resolve ought to
ficed to idols lest they cause the weak to stumble in-    characterize every faithful missionary and minister
to sin (8:9-13).                                          of the Gospel. The missionary must be at pains not
                                                          to offend the weaker brother and become the occa-
  Those who are weak, therefore, also  here- in           sion to cause that weaker brother to stumble in sin.
chapter nine, are weak Christians. They are weak          A terrible sin indeed it would be if the missionary
in the knowledge of the truth and weak in faith. To       by his own sinful conduct were to turn people
these the Apostle became as weak. Paul tells us           away from the truth and God's church. If the
precisely in what sense he became as weak in the          preaching of the truth hardens people the mis-
last verse of chapter eight: "Wherefore,. if meat         sionary can rejoice in God Who always causes him
make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh            to triumph in the gospel (cf. II Corinthians 2: 1417).
(sacrificed to idols, R.D.D.) while the world
standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." Once           We shall conclude this brief series, D.V., in the
more the meaning is that in matters indifferent,          next issue.
matters which do not involve any compromise
FAITH  OF- OUR FATHERS


                                The Baptism Form
                                              Rev. James Slopsema




      The Impurity of Our Souls Signified                 these three principal parts of baptism follow the
                                                          three-fold division of the Heidelberg Catechism:
  According to the opening statement of the Bap-          how great my sins and miseries are; how I am
tism form there are three principal parts to the doc-     delivered from my sins and miseries; how I shall
trine of holy baptism.                                    express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
  A qick survey of the Baptism form reveals that            The first principal part of the doctrine of baptism


422                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



is "that we with our children are conceived and                   with water in baptism signifies the impurity of our
born in sin, and therefore are children of wrath in               souls.
so much that we cannot enter into the kingdom of                     In this same section the Baptism form also
God, except we are born again." Over this we may                  describes for us this impurity of our souls. Accord-
properly place the title, "how great my sins and                  ing to the form, the impurity of our souls consists in
miseries are."                                                    the fact that "we with our children are conceived
  The second principal part of the doctrine of bap-               and born in sin, and therefore are children of
tism is that God "makes an eternal covenant of                    wrath, in so much that we cannot enter into the
grace with us and adopts us for his children and                  kingdom of God, except we are born again."
heirs." As our covenant God, God washes away all                     Notice, first, that "we with our children are con-
our sin in the blood of Jesus Christ. He also sanc-               ceived and born in sin." This expression is also
tifies us through the Spirit to be members of Christ,             found in Q & A 7 of the Heidelberg Catechism.
applies to us all that we have in Christ and renews
us daily. This speaks very clearly of how we are                            Q. 7. Whence then proceeds this depravity of
delivered from our sins and miseries.                                 human nature?
  The third principal part of the doctrine of bap-                          A. From the fall and disobedience of our first
tism is our calling to walk in new obedience                          parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise; hence our nature
through the power of the Spirit. This speaks of the                   is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born
gratitude we are to show for our great deliverance.                   in sin.
  The first principal part of the doctrine of holy                   This expression is undoubtedly based on Psalm
baptism is as follows:                                            51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin
                                                                   did my mother conceive me."
         That we with our children are conceived and born
       in sin, and therefore are children of wrath, in so much       The truth conveyed in this expression is that,
       that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, except        through the natural process of conception and
       we are born again. This, the dipping in, or sprinkling      birth, each child receives from his parents a corrupt
       with water teaches us, whereby the impurity of our          nature which is totally depraved and defiled with
       souls is signified, and we admonished to loath, and         sin. This is due to the original sin of Adam. When
       humble ourselves before God, and seek for our purifi-       Adam sinned originally in Paradise, that original sin
       cation and salvation without ourselves.                     defiled him. It rendered hi corrupt and depraved,
  The main thought here is that the dipping in or                  incapable of doing any good and inclined to all evil.
sprinkling with the water of baptism signifies the                 However, that original sin corrupted not only
impurity of our souls.                                             Adam but the whole human race as well. This is
  Notice that the Baptism form recognizes the                      because when God created Adam the whole human
validity of both immersion and sprinkling. There                   race was created in Adam. Hence, as the human
are many today, especially the Baptists, who teach                 race develops from Adam through the natural proc-
that the only valid form of baptism is immersion.                  ess of conception and birth, the corruption of
This has not been the historic Reformed position.                  Adam's original sin is passed down from generation
The mode of baptism is not essential. It is im-                    to generation, much like a hereditary disease. In
material whether baptism is administered by im-                    this sense we and our children are all conceived
mersion or sprinkling. The essence of baptism is to                and born in sin.
be found rather in the symbolism of the washing of                   For that reason, says the Baptism form, we are
water.                                                             also children of wrath.
  In this connection the Baptism form teaches that                   Also this expression is taken from Scripture. In
baptism symbolizes the impurity of our souls. It                   Ephesians 2:2 & 3 we read that "in time past ye
does this, of course, only indirectly. The primary                walked according to the course of this world . . .
symbolism of baptism is the washing away of sins                  among whom also we all had our conversation in
in the blood of Jesus Christ. Water has, among                    times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the
other properties, the power to wash away dirt from                 desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by
the body. Hence, it has been ordained by God to                   nature the children of wrath, even as others."
serve as a symbol to the church of the washing
away of their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. But                 In this passage the expression "children of
for this reason the water of baptism also reminds us              wrath" serves to describe one who because of his
of the impurity of our souls. Were it.not for the fact             sinful walk is deserving of Gods wrath. The wrath
that our souls were defiled with the filth of sin, we              of God properly comes upon him because he
would not need them washed in the blood of our                     disobeys God, fulfilling the lust of the flesh and of
Savior. Certainly, then, the dipping in or sprinkling              the mind.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              423



   We also with our children are by nature children           Unless they are born again in Jesus Christ, they can
of wrath. This is due to our being conceived and              not enter into Gods kingdom but will perish ever-
born in sin. Inheriting from our parents an evil              lastingly.
nature, passing that evil nature again to our                   And so by baptism we are "admonished to loath,
children, both we and our children are by nature              and humble ourselves before God, and seek for our
evil and corrupt. We live and walk in sin. We walk            purification and salvation without ourselves."
according to the course of this world, according to
the prince of the power of the air, who is the Devil.            First, we are admonished by baptism to loathe
Thus, we and our children are deserving of God's              ourselves. That means we are to hate ourselves.
great and terrible wrath! Children of wrath we are!           Now we must be very careful to understand this
                                                              properly. For the Word of God also tells us to love
   So much is this true of us, adds the Baptism               ourselves. This after all is the implication of the
form, "that we cannot enter into the kingdom of               great commandment - to love our neighbor QS
God, except we are born again."                                                                                 OUT-
                                                              self Certainly this indicates that there is a sense in
   The kingdom of God is a kingdom of righteous-              which we are to love ourselves. We are to love
ness. Nothing that is evil or defiled has any part in         ourselves as new creatures in Jesus Christ, as those
that kingdom. Only the pure and undefiled may                 who have been born again and have thus received
enter it and enjoy its blessings. This the Scriptures         many wonderful gifts to serve God. However, from
make clear in I Corinthians 6:9 & 10: "Know ye not            the viewpoint of our sinful nature we must hate
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom            and loathe ourselves. We must hate ourselves as we
of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor             are in Adam, as we are conceived and born in sin,
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor                as we are children of wrath unfit for the kingdom of
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves,              God.
nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor                  Secondly, baptism admonishes us to humble our-
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God ' (cf.         selves before God. Of course! We certainly have
also Ephesians 5:5 & 61, Galatians 5: 19-21).                 nothing to be proud of. Certainly we have nothing
   But we and our children are spiritually corrupt.           to boast about. Our sinful origin and condition re-
We are evil, born in sm. So evil and sinful we are            quires the utmost humility. And we must humble
that we can not enter into Gods kingdom unless                ourselves before God so that we confess to Him our
we are born again in Jesus Christ. Our spiritual con-         sinful condition and our sinful lives, acknowledg-
dition is so bad that entrance into God's kingdom             ing to Him that we are hopelessly lost in sin, de-
reqrires the radical transformation of a new birth.           serving of His wrath.
  All this, says the form, baptism teaches us. By               And therefore in the third place baptism ad-
symbolizing to us the impurity of our souls, the              monishes us to seek for our purification and salva-
water of baptism teaches us that we with our                  tion without (i.e. outside of) ourselves. Certainly
children are conceived and born in sin. It teaches            we need to be purified and saved. By nature we are
us that we and our children are therefore children            children of wrath, barred from Gods kingdom,
of wrath, in so much that without a rebirth in                bound for hell. But we are so hopelessly lost that
Christ Jesus we can not even enter into Gods                  there is not one thing we can do to save ourselves.
kingdom.                                                      There is not one thing we can do to turn away
                                                              Gods wrath and make ourselves fit for the
  These are grim realities that we tend to overlook           kingdom of God. We must not look therefore to
at the birth of our children. When God gives us a             ourselves for salvation and deliverance. We must
little child, we don't like to view that child as a little    look elsewhere to someone outside of us.
spiritual monster, who by virtue of his very birth is
horribly twisted and perverted. We like rather to               All this we are admonished to do in baptism.
think of our children (and grandchildren) as inno-              And if by faith we do so, we will also find salva-
cent little angels, as pure as the wind-driven snow.          tion.
  However, baptism serves to dispel all such delu-              For the same baptism that declares to us that we
sions. By commanding us to present our children               and our children are hopelessly lost also declares to
for baptism the Lord teaches us that our little               us that there is full and free salvation in the blood
children are conceived and born in sin. They are              of Jesus Christ for each and every believer and his.
not innocent little children but children of wrath.           children.

     Take time to read & study the Sttindard Bearer!                                                                    I


424                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH



       Taught of God by the Word and Prayer
                                              Rev. Thomas Miersma



  We have been considering the reformers' doc-            gradually rearing its head in the Reformed com-
trine of Scripture and its interpretation. Rome           munity, a priesthood of scholars, who, more and
taught that Scripture was a dark book which would         more today, teach strange doctrines and the opin-
not be understood by the ordinary believer. Ac-           ions of men. The believer is intimidated by them
cording to Rome, Scripture needed to be supple-           because of their supposed learning. This spirit of
mented by the traditions of the church which              doubt strives also to make an entrance into our own
served as an additional revelation alongside of           Protestant Reformed Churches, so that rather than
Scripture. Moreover, Rome taught that only the            studying the Word of God for ourselves, we im-
hierarchy of the church, popes, and councils could        mediately flee to commentaries or to the writings of
explain that Word of God. The believer therefore          men. This is not intended to downgrade the many
might not draw his own interpretation and under-          excellent writings produced in the midst of our
standing out of the Word of God but must trust in         churches. The believer does not live in isolation
the pronouncements of the church, even if they ap-        from his fellowsaints or from the leading of the
peared to contradict the Word of God itself.              Spirit in the church. We may and must certainly
  Over against this view of Rome the reformers            use such writings and avail ourselves of them. But
taught that Scripture is clear and understandable in      when they become a substitute for serious, per-
itself, and complete in itself. That Word of God the      sonal Bible study, we are in trouble, serious troub-
believer could understand directly for himself            le. Nor may we ignore the truth that God has not
because he is taught of God. The reformers taught         given to alI the same gifts and calling. But, never-
that all believers in the church possessed the Spirit     theless, the believer, as he stands in the church
and that under the ihuminating work of the Holy           with the gifts God has given, is able to understand
Spirit they were able to understand the Word of           God's Word because he is taught of God. Lose this
God for themselves. This ability belongs to the           and you will lose the preaching of the Word also,
priesthood of all believers and to the believer's         for preaching then becomes the mere learned pro-
anointing with the Spirit.                                nouncements of the preacher and no more God's
                                                          Word, for also in the preaching we must be taught
  This position of the reformers is of fundamental        of God.
importance. The inner principle of understanding
and interpreting Scripture is this: that we are taught      To this principle the reformers always added the
of God to know and understand His Word, which is          necessity of prayer, prayer for illumination and
itself objectively clear. This stands over against all    divine guidance in the study of His Word. Sin also
other sources of authority as a sure and certain          mars our understanding. As we must be taught of
source of authority, which is of God and not of           God, so also He must illuminate our understanding,
men. The believer is taught of God, by His Spirit         and prayer is that means which He has appointed
and Word, and by Him alone.                               to seek this grace from Him. This is the cure both
  It is well in our day and age to underscore this        for our doubts and for our lack of understanding.
principle. Often the child of God in the church ap-       Sin will iead astray in the understanding of God's
proaches the matter of Bible study with doubt of          Word. It will tempt us to come to God's Word and
his ability. He is not learned, not theologically         impose upon it our own meaning and interpreta-
trained like the minister, not a scholar or learned       tion, to speak instead of listening to what God has
professor. Because of this he doubts his ability to       to say to us. Prayer is therefore necessary that we
understand the plain meaning of Gods Word or to           might be spiritually prepared to hear and to receive
study' it. The result is that a new priesthood is         at God's hand what He will say. This is most impor-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    425



 tant. We do not come to Scripture to impose our         only thus could the truth be known and not by the
 views upon it, but to be taught.                        believer in his own study. The reformers however
   These points the reformer Ulrich Zwingli raises       upheld consistently the principle that prayerful
in his sermon on the clarity and certainty of God's      study of God's Word brings us to a certain convic-
Word. We do well to hear what he has to say.             tion of the truth, that this also is the mark of true
                                                         preaching of the Word.
    How then should I approach him and pray                     To turn to the reformer Zwingli once more, he
    to him? In this way: First, put away that            writes,
    view of your own which you want to read
    into Scripture, for it is quite valueless, as I             When you say then that an arbiter is needed
    shall clearly show. I know that you will re-                to decide the issue and to compel those who
    ply that you have worked through the Scrip-                  are defeated, I deny it: for even the most
    tures and discovered texts which support                     learned of men are fallible except in so far as
    your opinion. Alas! here we come upon the                   they are led by God. If they are not certain,
    canker at the heart of all human systems.                    God will guide them, but I myself can come
    And it is this: we want to find support in                  to the same teacher and guide, and he wiIl
    Scripture for our own view, and so we take                  undoubtedly guide me also. You say: How
    that view to Scripture, and if we find a text               do you know whether he will teach you or
    which, however artificially, we can relate to               not? Answer: From his own words in Mat-
    it, we do so, and in that way we wrest Scrip-               thew 21 and Mark 11: "All things whatso-
    ture in order to make it say what we want it                ever - that is, all things which it is right and
    to say. . . . Note, then, that we must not ap-              proper for God to give - ye shall ask in
    proach Scripture like that. But how are we                  prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Then,
    to come? In this way: If you want to speak                  St. James teaches me to go to God for
    on any matter, or to learn of it, you must                  wisdom (James l), saying: "If any of you
    first think like this: Before I say anything or             lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth
    listen to the teaching of man, I will first con-            to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and
    sult the mind of the Spirit of God. (Psalm                  it shall be given him. But let him ask in
    858): "I will hear what God the Lord will                   faith, nothing wavering." Note that James
    speak." Then you should reverently ask                      points us to God and not to men. You say:
    God for his grace, that he may give you his                 But today we have men to preach to us:
    mind and Spirit, so that you will not lay                   should we not ask of the preachers and doc-
    hold of your own opinion but of his. And                    tors? Answer: No matter who a man may
    have a firm trust that he will teach you a                  be, if he teaches you in accordance with his
    right understanding, for all wisdom is of                   own thought and mind his teaching is false.
    God the Lord. And then go to the written                    But if he teaches you in accordance with the
    word of the Gospel. (ZwingZi and Bullinger,                 Word of God, it is not he that teaches you,
    The Library  of  Christian Classics,  Volume                but God who teaches him. For as Paul says,
    XXIV, translated by G.W. Bromiley. Phil-                    who are we but ministers of Christ and
    adelphia: The Westminster Press, 1953, pp.                  dispensers or stewards of the mysteries of
    88-89.)                                                     God? (Ibid., p. 90).
  So approaching the Word of God, to be taught of              What then does this mean for us? If God prom-
Him, we will both understand it and know the            ises us wisdom and understanding and Himself
truth, and be taught of God. Being thus taught of       teaches us, then we both can study His Word and
God, the believer need not run to some human ar-        are in fact enabled to do so, and under His-guidance
biter or interpreter to explain the Word of God to      we shall rightly understand it. The fruit of that
him. This Rome would have done by removing the          study will be a true knowledge of His Word. This
Word of God from the hands of the people of God,        does not mean that we shall attain to perfect under-
that only the holy and learned few might under-         standing, for sin will always cleave to us even in
stand it, leaving the people in darkness. Nor is the    this matter of the study .of Gods Word. Yet that
fruit of such study a matter of mere human opin-        which we learn of God is true, though it be but in
ion, of my opinion and your opinion. For if we are      part, though in this life we see through a glass dark-
truly taught of God we arrive at sure and certain       lY*
truth. Rome would have clouded the issue by point-             Too often we make the excuse `that we ,do not
ing to many conflicting interpretations and opin-       know how to study God's Word, or know where to
ions, casting doubt upon the truth and setting up       begin. We forget that this study and understanding
the church as arbiter among many opinions, as if        is not first of all a matter of methods of Bible study,


426                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



but of God, Who teaches us by His Spirit and Word,       promises.
in the way of prayer. We do not need a course in            While principles and proper methods of Bible
the proper method of Bible study before we begin to      study are important, and we will consider some of
study His Word. Rather we need prayer and a              them in coming articles, the Lord willing, the prin-
believing heart, that God Who has promised to            cipal thing is to begin. No more does a child learn to
guide us into all truth will also -teach us both the     walk in any other way than by doing, so also we do
meaning of His Word and the method of study also.        not learn how to study God's Word other than by
For all the principles of proper Bible study and in-     prayer and by doing that study, out of a believing
terpretation are themselves taught in the Word of        heart. That begins by taking up God's Word,
God. It is easy to make our perceived lack of ability    reading and meditating upon it, and simply asking
and lack of formal training an excuse for spiritual      one question: What does God have to say to His
laziness. To do so is to deny that God does indeed       people here. and to me? And then we must listen to
give wisdom to those who ask of Him. If it is true       His Word that He may teach us. He Who promises
that we are taught of God, as Scripture and the          to give us wisdom and to teach us will do it, by His
reformers set before us, then there is no child of       Spirit which is given us.
God who is unable to study God's Word. The prob-
lem lies with our own unbelief and doubt of His
IN HXS FEAR


           The Christian Family After the Fall
                                            Pastor Arie den Hartog




  The fall of man into sin has had devastating con-      peace and happiness through loving devotion and
sequences for marriage and the family. The most          faithfulness with his wife. He has become proud
beautiful and blessed of all human relationships,        and self-seeking and filled with evil lust. Fallen
that of husband and wife in marriage, was                man rebels against every ordinance of the Lord for
thoroughly corrupted and spoiled because of sin.         marriage and the home. He seeks in his vain im-
The reason of this is that fallen man's nature has       agination to devise new arrangements for marriage
become totally depraved, and this militates against      and the home that will satisfy his own evil lust and
all possibility for a happy and blessed marriage, the    free him from his God-given obligations and
foundation of the family. Our Lord describes the         responsibilities in marriage. In doing this, man im-
great evil that proceeds from the depraved heart of      agines that he will be free and that he will make his
man: "For from within out of the heart of men, pro-      marriage and home better. But he has become a
ceed evil thoughts, adulteries,  fornications,           slave of his own wicked lust, and his mind has
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,       become darkened through his great foolishness. In
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, fool-     all of his evil devices he has brought to marriage
ishness" (Mark 7:21 and 22). There is no sphere of       and the home all of the hellish misery of bitter strife
life where this depravity of man is more evident         and conflict, divorce and, re-marriage, and a world
than that of marriage and the home. For man's life       full of rebellious and deliquent children. Most of
in marriage to be happy and prosperous it must be        the violence and wickedness that there is in this
God-centered. God made man to live in covenant           world can be traced to its origin in ungodly and
communion and fellowship with his creator. This          wicked homes. The curse of the Lord is in the
communion would be reflected in marriage as man          house of the wicked. Not all of the advances in
lived in love in the blessed closeness of the two        modern psychology, sociology, and methods of
becoming one flesh. But man's sinful nature has          worldly marriage counselling have been able to
made this impossible. He has become the enemy of         restore peace and order and blessing to the home.
God and so also of his God-given life's companion        As long as man lives in disobedience and rebellion
in marriage. He no longer knows how to live in           against God this will remain impossible.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               427



  The corruption of marriage and the home                   treated as his servants and slaves for' his own ad-
became immediately evident at the time of the fall.         vantage. These evil practices became prevalent
The first consequence of the fall was that Adam             even in Israel as they more and more adopted the
and Eve knew that they were naked. No longer                abominations of the heathen nations around them.
could they live in holy purity and faithfulness with        This was not something which the Lord approved
each other as husband and wife. Their hearts were           of even when it was kings and rulers that commit-
filled with evil lust which would soon break forth          ted these things. This was a great evil in His sight
in all sorts of evil deeds against each other. God          and He often sent His prophets to admonish Israel
made man to be the head of his wife. According to           and to warn them of misery and judgment that
the wonderful order of His creation, God ordained           would come upon them for this evil.
that man should rule over his wife in love for her
good, to lead her, protect her, and provide for her.          Consider the great evil that the women of this
After the fall man has become an evil tyrant over           world have fallen into. They have given themselves
his wife. He uses and abuses her only for his own           over to lust and enticement, forsaking their own
glory and the satisfaction of his own lust. According       husbands and family to live in sinful pleasure. The
to God's wonderful creation order He made woman             depth of degradation to which this has brought the
to be the helpmeet of her husband. He required of           woman is the great evil of prostitution, the moral
her that she should live in loving devotion to her          scourge of all the world. Recently I read in a history
husband, to serve him in order that together they           book about how many thousands of prostitutes
could serve the Lord. After the fall woman has              once lived here in Singapore. What dishonor,
become self-centered, vain glorious, disobedient,           misery, and wretchedness this has brought to the
and rebellious against her God-given husband who            life of the women of this world. b
has the calling to rule over her. The curse of the            The adultery and wickedness of man has left
Lord came upon child-bearing. Before the fall the           behind a world of illegitimate and destitute
wonderful and glorious role of woman was to bring           children with no father or mother to care for them.
forth children in loving companionship with her             We read of thousands of illegitimate children that
husband. After the fall the woman suffers great sor-        were fathered by American soldiers during the
row and pain as she brings forth children. Her              Vietnamese War. The depravity of man's nature
desire is to her husband and he rules over her. Man         and the frustration that sin has brought to the soul
after the fall brings forth offspring and a race that is    of man has caused other parents to abuse and beat
as depraved and corrupt as he himself is. He is             their own children until they are left battered and
totally unable to change the nature of his children.        torn and maimed for life, if not murdered. How
He no longer has the ability to nurture his children        awful are the consequences of man's sin and
in the knowledge and fear of the Lord. By his own           rebellion against God.
ungodly example he teaches his children to be even
more idolatrous, worldly, `and corrupt than he                We need not look into past history to discover
himself is. Ungodly man brings forth a race that is         the great wickedness that man has brought into
bound with him for hell and destruction.                    marriage and the home. The 20thcentury man and
                                                            woman are the product of many years of develop-
  All of the history of mankind testifies of the great      ment in sin and wickedness. They imagine that
wickedness he has brought into marriage and the             they ,are not as savage and wicked as men of old;
home. Consider some of the most awful examples              but in actuality they have increased in wickedness.
of it. Think of the great evil of polygamy  so,             The modern inventions of the age have enabled
prevalent in many heathen societies years ago.              man to live in even grosser immorality and wicked-
What a corruption of marriage this is. God made             ness. Few are the husbands that remain faithful all
marriage from the beginning to be an exclusive life-        their life to their wives in the holy bond of mar-
long union between one man and one woman. But               riage. We read of much great wickedness in eastern
man, because of unbridled lust, is not satisfied with       society, and we know that it is no better in western
the wife that God has given him. For his own glory          society. Today the world has built resort areas that
and prestige he desires to marry more wives, once           cater to men's basest immorality with the women
considered the measure of his greatness. But in do-         of their choice. These are frequented mostly by
ing this he only brought jealousy, bitter strife, and       married men. Meanwhile, women the world over
confusion to his home. In the whole process                 are influenced by the ungodly and evil women's
woman was degraded cand dishonored to a status as           liberation movement to refuse and forsake their
low as an animal. She was used and abused only for          God-ordained roles as wife and mother in the
evil pleasure. Man gained such tyrannical power             home. They imagine that they are justified in doing
over her that he could despise and dispose of her at        this to liberate themselves from the evil tyranny
his will. Those he did not put away he often mal-           and chauvinism of their male counterparts. How-


428                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



ever, in all of this they only show themselves to be    pose for the home and the Christian family. Im-
as selfish, vain, and corrupt as `men. Thousands of     mediately after the fall of man into sin the Lord ap-
mothers every year the world over murder their          peared to Adam and Eve to announce the wonder-
own children before they are even born. They            ful promise of His salvation. Though He chastened
refuse the responsibility and burden of raising a       the woman for her sin of rebellion against Him by
family and dare even to go to such great wicked-        giving her pain and sorrow in child-bearing, yet He
ness as to murder their own children so :that they      promised that she would bring forth the seed of the
might live in selfishness, lust, and pleasure. The      woman who would ultimately be the Lord Jesus
heroes of our modern-day world are the immoral          Christ. Jesus was born in the fuhress of time, born
beasts of Hollywood and Broadway who glory in           of a woman, to redeem us from the curse and cor-
having one sexual partner after another, and in         ruption of sin. Already when God first announced
rebellion against God continue to put away their        this promise to Adam and Eve, Adam in faith called
husbands and wives. Much of the world seeks to          his wife the mother of all living. Wonderfully the
pattern its life-style after such men and women and     Lord exalted the woman and declared that she
for entertainment watches them revel in immorali-       would be saved through child-bearing.
ty and debauchery on the movie screen. God is not         God promised to the patriarchs of old already
mocked by all of this wickedness. It is an abomina-     that He would bring forth from them a new and ho-
tion in His sight and He will come in His holy          ly generation according to His wonderful covenant
wrath for judgment.                                     of grace. He promised to make the seed of Abraham
  But we must also see the consequences of the fall     as numerous as the stars in heaven, and as the sand
from a closer and more personal perspective. Our        by the sea shore innumerable. In spite of the great
own sinful nature is so corrupt and depraved that       wickedness of the world God has maintained His
we cannot live in marriage as we ought according to     covenant from generation to generation and raised
the holy ordinance of the Lord. How strong the          up a godly seed. He has further promised to bring
temptation of our own sinful nature to spoil our        His people to a new and better land of which Ca-
marriages and home through our own evil cravings,       naan was a type and where sin and wickedness
selfishness, vain pride, and foolish wickedness.        would be no more. Through His grace He continues
What a tremendous influence the wicked and              through all the history of the world to use the
ungodly world has upon us. How totally unable we        families of the godly to cause many sons and
are of bringing forth a new generation of children      daughters to be born to endless life in Zion. This is
that is righteous and holy before God. How often        the hope of the God-fearing and of the Christian
the joy and blessedness of our own homes is             family.
marred by the entrance of sin and spoiled by bitter-      As Christians God has given us the great calling
ness, selfishness, and hatred both between hus-         to raise up Christian families. Young people must
band and wife and among the children in the home.       seek truly godly and faithful partners in life. They
  Against the dark background of the history of         must not pursue the lust and vanity of this world.
fallen man God has made known the wonder of His         They must seek to marry in the Lord. As Christians
grace and mercy by rnaintaining and preserving his      we must be earnest and faithful to pattern our
covenant of grace with man. In His wonderful            homes after the principles laid down in the word of
covenant of grace He has maintained the central         God. Thank the Lord that His Word contains so
place of marriage and the Christian family. Accord-     much instruction for marriage and the home. In
ing to His purpose of election He has preserved         every respect our homes must be radically different
unto Himself an elect remnant. Throughout the           from those of the world.
history of the world He has redeemed out of this          As parents we have the tremendous calling and
wicked world a people whom He has formed for            responsibility to bring forth and raise up godly
Himself. Through the wonderful power of His             children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, by
grace and Holy Spirit He continues to regenerate        correction and discipline and by godly example.
and sanctify that people for the glory of His own
name. This is the only hope for the Christian home        In order to do all these things we need to be con-
in this evil world.                                     stantly searching the word of God and praying for
                                                        His grace.
  How wonderful is the story of God's great pur-

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


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  429



FROM HOLY WRIT


         Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures
                                                    G. Lubbers




                    Chapter XXI                                     3. The second event (in verse 26) is the
The Mystery Of The Seventy Weeks in Daniel 9                      destruction of Jerusalem, fulfilled in 70
  THE SEVENTY YEARS AS PRESENTED IN THE                           A.D.
"SEVENTY SEVENS" - Daniel 9:24ff. (continued)                       4. The "unto the end," a period not fixed,
  All attempts to "read into" this symbolical                     but which has already lasted 2000 years.
number definite chronological dates must needs                    To Daniel was revealed only that wars and
fail. And they have. The Lord will keep the waiting               desolations should continue (sic).
saints in holy suspense until He will reveal the                    5. Between the sixty weeks after which
grand Gospel news to .the aged Simeon that he will                Messiah was cut off, intervenes the entire
not see death until he has seen the Lord's Christ -               church-age. Verse 27 deals with the last
the Messiah (Luke 2:26)!                                          three and a half years of the "seven," which
  Hence, we must not be tempted to outwit and                     are identical  _ with the great tribulation
outdo the Dispensational advocates in attempting                  (Matt. 24:1-28),  and "the time of trouble"
to give a better and more plausible interpretation of             (Dan. 12: 1) and the hour of temptation (Rev.
these symbolical numbers in terms of time-years on                3:lO).
the calendar. Many have attempted this and have              What shall we say about this dispensationally-
likewise failed to do justice to the text.                 constructed interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27?
  We have referred to the attempt of the Dispensa-           I would observe the time-worn rule to remember '
tional teaching in regard to these "weeks." Let us         that it often requires more time and space to point
hear from Dr. Scofield's Bible notes firsthand. We         out the fallacy of what is set forth than it does to
quote from pages 914, 915.                                 write out such a fallacy in few words. We will not
      These are "weeks" or, more accurately,               weary ourselves nor the reader with a belabored
   seven years; seventy weeks of seven years               refutation of the points set forth in Dr. Scofield's Bi-
   each. With these weeks the national chas-               ble notes. Rather, we will point out what we con-
   tisement must be ended and the nation                   sider to be the vulnerable point in this entire
   established in everlasting righteousness (vs.           presentation. It is that this entire attempted ex-
   24                                                      egesis is ruled by the erroneous training of the
                                                           Scofieldian fiction of a "Church-age," which denies
      The seventy weeks into seven = 49 years.             the faith, "I believe an holy catholic church," the
   The sixty-two (weeks) = 434 years. The one              church which the Son of God gathers and defends
   week = seven years (vss. 25-27)                         and preserves out of the entire human race, both in
      1. In the seven weeks = 49 years Jeru-               the Old and New Testament.
   salem was to be built in "troublous times."               Scofield's notes try to make room for a "church-
   This was fulfilled as Ezra and Nehemiah                 age" between the "seven sevens" and the "sixty-                `
   record.                                                 two sevens" combined and the seventieth "seven."
      2. Sixty-two weeks = 434 years refers to             And the chronological period between these first
   the time after Mes,siah was come (vs. 25).              sixty-nine "sevens" and the seventieth "seven" is
   This was fulfilled in the birth and mani-               then "already 2000 years"! Now it is true that we
   festation of the Christ. The date of the                are in A.D. 1985 already. But this by no proper in-
   crucifixion is not fixed. It is said to be              ference from the "seventy sevens" allows for a
   "after" the threescore and ten weeks. It is             Dispensationally-constructed "church-age." This
   the first event in verse 26.                            we have convincingly shown in an earlier chapter


430                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



in this series: Believing All The Prophetic Scrip-            The first is that it is qtite evident from Jesus'
tures.                                                      answer to Peter that Jesus did not understand Peter
                                                            to have made a count, a 
   No serious Bible student who loves the Reformed                                      literal count. Why did Peter
                                                            not say, unto five times? Or any other number from
Faith which confesses to believe "an Holy Catholic          one to ten apart from the number "seven"? Did
Church" will be deceived into holding that                  Jesus understand Peter to say that he would indeed
"weeks" here (sevens) may be exchanged with                 be willing to forgive a brother "seven times," but
"years." The entire presentation of Scofield is             that when the eighth time came he would definitely
premised on the assumption that such is the case.           feel that this was going beyond the necessary bound-
We quote from the notes, the basic teaching of              aries of love? I think not. However, that is the way
Scofield, "These are `weeks' and `weeks' are                in which this is often explained from pulpits. I hold
`years'." Here we see a glaring example of what             as my view that Peter was well acquainted with the
Paul calls "cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in         truth that the number "seven" was the number of
wait to deceive." This is some very clever and              God's covenant; that this number indicates the
deceptive exegetical juggler-y. Notice, by the simple       meaning of the Sabbath rest, the expression of
fiat of Scofield, "sevens" are made into "weeks,"           God's covenant mercies. Peter was no legalist;
and "weeks" are simply transformed into "years,"            Peter's spiritual life needed to be sharpened unto
without any proof from Scripture. Sapienti Sat! May         love abounding (Heb. 10:24). The number "seven"
the wise take heed!                                         connected with the number "ten" expresses this
   If a chain is as strong as its weakest link, then the    perfection of love (I John 4: 18). For is not love the
chain-interpretation, which rests upon a heretical          bond of spiritual perfection (Col. 3:14)? Here in this
principle, cannot be deemed to be strong and Scrip-         perfection we walk the more excellent way, where
turally cogent; it has no power of convicting man in        the saints dwell in brotherhood (I Cor. 13:lff.;
his conscience, nor can it be deemed a rule, of faith.      Psalm 133: 1). That is the lesson which Peter and we
Notice, that Scofield attempts to superimpose the           all need to learn well!
Dispensational hodge-podge interpretation,on what             We believe that this usage of Jesus establishes
is clearly a symbolical presentation of the perfec-         the rule of interpretation that the term "seventy
tion of the salvation of the church in the blood of         times seven" is no mere multiplication table in
the Cross. The entire presentation of the "church-          simple arithmetic, but that it is the combination of
age," being an intermission between the main                seven as intensified by "ten" to the degree of the
events of the Jewish conceived kingdoms, which              perfection of heaven!
weighed in the balance of sound Bible interpreta-
tion must be found wanting.                                   In the second place, we ought to notice that this
                                                            follows from Jesus' instruction and admonition in
   The above teaching should not be dignified with          verse, 35, where we have the. teaching of Jesus'
much detailed rebuttal. Rather we will attempt to           parable on "forgiveness" applied. Here we read,
explain the symbolism in agreement with the great           "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto
teaching of the Bible concerning the significance of        you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one
the numbers "10" and "7." As we have said earlier,          his brother from the heart."
this is the presentation in symbolical numbers of
the perfection of God's covenant according to                 We, therefore, may say that as little as Jesus is
God's firm and everlasting decree. For this deals           speaking here of the number "seven" in the literal
with the kingdom which God will give to the saints          numerical sense, so little does Gabriel speak of
(Dan. 7:22).                                                "sevens" in the terms of literal weeks in Daniel
                                                            9:24. "Seventy weeks (sevens) are determined upon
  When we come to grips with the usage of the               thy people and the holy city to finish the trans-
term "seventy sevens" we take notice of one key             gression . . . and to anoint the most holy."
passage which sheds a great deal of light on this im-         Let us then proceed to give a positive presenta-
portant cluestion of the proper interpretation of pro-      tion on the entire text in Daniel 9:24ff.
phetic symbolism. It is Jesus Who infallibly opens
the Scriptures, Who speaks in this passage. We                 "IT IS FINISHED" TO THE UTTERMOST (Dan-
refer to Matthew l&:21, 22. Here we read, "Then             iel 9:24; John 19:30)
came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my           The text here reads as follows:
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven          "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people
times? Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, Un;        and upon the holy city to finish the transgression,
til seven times: but until seventy times seven."            and to make an end of sins, and to make reconcilia-
  Among other matters we should notice two mat-             tion for  iniqrity, and to bring in everlasting
ters here in Jesus' reply to Peter.                         righteousness, and to seal up the vision and the pro-


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               :  431



phecy, and to anoint the most holy."                     Psalms. He is no mere Jewish king as do the Jews
  This is the translation of the KJV of the Bible.       and Dispensationalists dream. He is the King-Priest
                                                         after the order of Melchisedec. Into this very pat-
  The Hebrew terms allow sometimes for a little          tern of the heavenly the Son of God fits as the
more pointed meaning than what the English terms         Messiah.
indicate. However, this is a very good translation of
the Hebrew.                                                This Christ takes this text upon His lips. He ex-
                                                         periences in sacrificial obedience the fullest import
  In our text we notice that very emphatically           of this "it is determined" of these "seventy
salvation is from the LORD. It is all foreordained       sevens' ' ! He takes this entire text before the throne
by God in the Volume of the book; it is written `in      of God on the place of the skull, outside of the gate
His Scroll. Thus is the implied sense in the message     of Jerusalem, which is spiritual Sodom and Egypt,
of Gabriel: are determined. This makes the nature of     and says in clear and understandable prose: It is
these weeks to be in the higher dimension of             finished. Yes, in the Greek this is only one word. It
heaven, and of the throne of grace and glory in          is  "tetelestui"!   The entire role of the prophetic
God's holy temple. We hear the clarion-sound,            Scriptures were in His bowels; it was sweet in His
"Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth       lips, but it was bitter in His stomach. "My God, my
eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high        God, why hast thou forsaken me?" All that Daniel
and holy place . . ." (Isaiah 57:15).  And who can       9:24 prescribed for this Christ, as His Messianic
stay His hand, who declares the end from the             duties, were finished.
beginning (Isaiah 45:21)?  For the Messiah, of whom
Daniel speaks, has His assigned duties as the great        Yes, He nailed all our sins and accursedness for
Office-bearer. He is the temple-builder. Of Him          them to the Tree. The chastisement of our peace
Daniel 9:25 speaks. Such is the constant teaching of     was upon Him, and by His stripes are we healed!
all the Scriptures both in the Prophets and in the

                       News From Our Churches
                                                 June 13,1985
  Rev. De Vries preached his farewell sermon at           slide presentation put together by the Evangelical
Southwest Church in Michigan the evening of May          Reformed Church of Singapore. Rev. den Hartog
26 and was installed in our Edgerton Church in           also presented a program to our Doon congregation
Minnesota June 6th. Rev. R. Moore was installed in       in Iowa, May 31.
our Hull Church in Iowa the evening of May 26.              The new address of Rev. and Mrs. John A. Heys
Rev. Kamps led the church service. Since the time         is 5107 Ridgeview Drive, Hudsonville, Michigan
that Rev. Joostens declined the call to our Lynden        49426. Telephone No. 669-2769. The new address
Church in Washington, Lynden Church has formed            of Rev. and Mrs. H. Veldman is 7797 Coachman's
a trio of Rev. R. Hanko, Rev. K. Koole, and Rev. G.       Lane, Jenison, Michigan 49428. Telephone No.
Van Baren. Rev. C. Haak has declined the call to          1-616-457-6578.
Southwest Church and Rev. D. Kuiper has asked
for an extension for the call to our Isabel Church in       Rev. and Mrs. George Hutton from the Bible
South Dakota.                                            ,Presbyterian Church of Larne, N. Ireland arrived in
                                                          South Holland June 5th. On June 7th, Rev. Hutton
                                                          spoke on "The Reformed Faith in N. Ireland and
   Rev. and Mrs. R. Miersma and son, Eric, arrived        Scotland Today" and on June 9th he spoke on "The
home in Holland, Michigan from New Zealand on             Political Situation in N. Ireland Today." He also at-
May 30. They were at the Kent County Airport in           tended our synod and spoke to our Holland Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 12, along with many          in Michigan.  `.
friends, including Rev. cand Mrs. Hutton from North-
ern Ireland, to welcome home Deane and Donna                Rev. D. Engelsma gave a Spring Lecture speech
Wassink and family who returned home from a               on "The God-fearing Family," in our Hudsonville
year's stay in Northern Ireland, where Deane              Church May 9. A copy of this speech is available
taught in the Covenant Christian School of North-        for $3.00 from Arnold Haveman, 4133 Meadow-
ern Ireland. Rev. den Hartog and his family are           field, Hudsonville, MI 49426. Rev. Engelsma also
visiting the states. while Rev. den Hartog attends       led the pre-synodical church service, preaching on
this year's synod in Hudsonville Church and the          Judges 6: 14-16.
Singapore Camp-Day, where he will show slides of            A series of lectures were held in Bluebell, May 17
the "Reformed Faith in Singapore," an affecting          and 18. On Friday, Prof. H. Hanko -spoke on "Un-


                                                                                                       I

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





432                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER

conditional Election" and Prof. H.C. Hoeksema on                           tion. The purpose of this instruction is not ac-
"Limited Atonement." On Saturday, Rev. K.                                  complished merely in academic achievement; but
Hanko spoke on "Total Depravity," Rev. G. Van                              through such study our young people may grow in
Baren on "Irresistible Grace," and Rev. R. Hanko                           godliness, know their place in the covenant of
on "Perseverance of the Saints."                                           grace, and use their ability which God has given
   Trinity Church in Texas recites part of the form                        them in the service and acknowledgment of His
for the Lord's Supper together. At the end of the                          majesty and faithfulness in Christ. The school of
prayer on the bottom of page 62 they say the                               sanctification continues till our graduation in
Apostles' Creed together and conclude the Thanks-                          death."
giving Prayer at the bottom of page 63 by saying the                          If failing eyesight prevents you from enjoying
Lord's Prayer together.                                                    The Standard Bearer, if your job takes you on the
   Rev. J. Kortering made this appropriate state-                          road and you are tired of worldly radio fare, if you
ment for the graduates of Grandville Church, "We                           are the kind of person who finds it easier to listen
are thankful to God for His goodness shown in pro-                         than to read, remember that The Standard Bearer is
viding us with good Christian schools not only, but                        available on cassette tape from the Evangelism
also for our students who benefit from that instruc-                       Society of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church.
                                                                           Send requests to Evangelism Society, Box 7214,
              RESOLUTlON  OF SYMPATHY                                      Grand Rapids, MI 49501.                                            DH
   The Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of Faith Protestant Reformed Church
extends its sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Howard Pastoor, Jr. and to Mr.
and Mrs. Don Van Dyke in the loss of their father, MR. HOWARD                                           NOTICE!!!
PASTOOR, SR.                                                                  Classic West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
   "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor       Loveland, CO on September 4, 1985, at 8:30 AM, the Lord willing.
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor    All material for the Agenda must be in my hands 30 days before
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us    Classis.  Delegates in need of lodging or of transportation from the air-
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Remans           port should notify the Clerk of the Loveland Consistory.
8:38, 39)                                         J. 801, Pres.                                                Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
                                                  C. Kooienga, Secy.                          W E D D I N G   A N N I V E R S A R Y
                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                          On June 15, 1985, our dear parents and grandparents, MR. AND
   On June 22, 1985, our beloved parents and grandparents, MR.             MRS. JOHN BISHOP celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
AND MRS. HERMAN VAN DYKE celebrated their 35th wedding an-                    We, their children and grandchildren thank our Heavenly Father for
niversary. We are grateful to our Lord for covenant parents who            giving them these many precious years together and for the faithful
sought to teach us the ways of God. We pray that the Lord will c.on-
tinue to bless them in the years that He may give.                         covenant instruction they have given us. We pray they will continue
                                                                           to experience the blessings of our faithful God in'their remaining
   "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land        years.
wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting       "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
possession; and I will be their God." (Genesis 17:8)                       them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."
John and Judy Van Dyke                           Steven Van Dyke           (Psalm 103: 17)
   Charlynn, Tracy, John                         Alan Van Dyke             Elaine Brockhouse                           Henry and Nancy Tuinstra
Gary and Cris Van Dyke                          Timothy Van Dyke                                                          24 grandchildren
   Eric, Trisha, Mark                            Kathy Van Dyke            Alvin and Ardis Mejiur
                                                                                                                            2 great-grandchildren
Dan and Linda Van Dyke                                                     Clarence and Sandra Tinklenberg
   Brenda, Brian, Jeremy, Michael                                          Douglas and Sarah Bishop
                 IN LOVING MEMORY                                                                IN LOVING MEMORY
   On June 1, 1985, it pleased the Lord to take unto Himself our              On May 24, 1995, it pleased our Heavenly Father to take unto
beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother MRS.               Himself our beloved wife, mother, grandmother and sister, MRS.
GRACE MEELKER, at the age of 82 years.                                     EDITH VANDER LEE at the age of 75 years. We can but rejoice in her
   We have found great comfort by the words found in II Corinthians,       going Home and thank God for giving her such peace in her pathway.
Chapter 5, verse 1 - "For we know that, if our earthly house of this          May our God strengthen them by His Spirit and Word.
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens."                                     "For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide
                                                                           even unto death." (Psalm 48:14)
Her husband - Eltje Meelker                                                Mr. Gerrit Vander Lee               Mrs. Andrew (Helen) Peterson
Her children - Al and Anna Visser             Jim and Luella Johnson       Ralph and Wilma Vander Lee          Mrs. Adrian (Della) Vanden Bosch
                Dan and Kobie Fluke              3 grandchildren           Dorothy and Ken Vink                Mrs. Ralph (Minnie) De Young
                Lee and Alice Jenkins            1 great-grandchild           9 grandchildren                  Mrs. Louis (Jeanette) De Young
                Grace Meelker                                                                                  Mrs. Stuart (Louise) Vander Lee
Calimesa, California                                                                                           Mrs. James (Margaret) Dirkse


