     STANDARD
r                 EARER'
               A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE



               SPECIAL ISSUE
                 Current Events In The
                     Light Of Prophecy
       "Know, then, with a living, spiritual
     knowledge which moves you to prepare and
     be ready,, that the end of all things is at the
     doors!
       "Learn . . . and know . . . and watch . . .
     and be ready!"


     See "Knowing the Nearness of the End"
                                                               - page 434

                                                   Volume LXI, No. 19. August  1,  1995  -


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                    CONTENTS                                                                                  ISSN 03624692
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                                                                                          E&for-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
             Knowing the Nearness of the End. . . . . . . . . . . .434                    Deparfmenf  Editors: 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.
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             Prophecy and Current Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .437                 ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
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   MEDITATION



                        Knowing the Nearness of the End
                                                                     Pro/f  H.C. Hoeksema



                       Now learn a parable  of  the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth  forth leaves,
                    ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is
                    near, even at the doors.                                                                                          Matthew 24:32, 33


      Learn the parable (not: "a parable") of the fig                                           And it is very simple and easy to understand - if
t r e e .                                                                                   only you have eyes to see and ears to understand.
      It is right before your eyes.                                                             The things of the kingdom of heaven take place


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     435



in parables. The latter are not merely contrived                 and great glory."
earthly stories with heavenly meanings. No, the
things of the kingdom                                               Hence, our Lord is telling His disciples of "cur-
                                   happen in parables - right
before your eyes. And our Lord calls attention to                rent events" which would take place in the lifetime
them, so that we may notice . . . and learn, learn               of many of them. The utter destruction of old,
spiritually, and thus know "that it is near, even at             earthly Jerusalem would take place. It would
the doors."                                                      become a heap of rubble. And the times would be
                                                                 terrible. They would hear of wars- and rumors of
   You understand the fig tree? You know very well               wars. Nation would rise against nation. There
that when its branch is yet tender, and putteth                  would be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes
forth leaves, then summer is nigh?                               in divers places. Disciples of Christ would be af-
   Well, then, do not be blind and ignorant. Open                flicted and killed and hated of all nations for His
your eyes and behold! There is a parable before you              name's sake. The times would be so terrible that
every time you see these- signs of imminent sum-                 they should flee to the mountains. And he who was
mer. It, the end of all things, is near! It, the day of          on the housetop should not come down to take any-
the Lord, is even at the doors!                                  thing out of his house, neither should he who was
   It is not far off, but nigh at hand! It is the next           in the field turn back to get his clothes. And woe to
great event of history, of the fulfillment of God's              the pregnant mother and the nursing mother in
world-plan. There are no more wonders of grace to                those days! Dreadful times were coming in the very
be accomplished before that last great wonder of                 lifetime of God's people of those days (vss. 6, 7,
the coming of our Lord.                                          17-21).
  Learn . . . and know . . . and watch . . . and be                Moreover, as is clear from the whole context in
ready!                                                           Matthew 23 and 24, all these things were a matter
          *    *    *    *    *      * * * * *                   of divine judgment. There was wrath from God
                                                                 upon old, earthly Jerusalem. She had killed the
The end is near, even at the doors!                              prophets and stoned them which were sent unto
  Our Lord is referring, first of all, to the end of old         her, and she soon would crucify the Lord of glory.
Jerusalem. Of this He had spoken already in the                  Her time was finished. Jerusalem, center of the old
preceding chapter after He had pronounced woes                   dispensational kingdom of God, and, as such, type
upon the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. He had               of the real, spiritual kingdom and its heavenly Jeru-
said, "Behold, your house is left unto you                       salem, had served its purpose. She had become
desolate." The disciples had grasped something of                manifest, especially in her crucifying of the Prince
this, but could not conceive of it; and they had                 of glory, as the reprobate, ungodly, antichristian
come to Jesus and pointed out to Him the buildings               church. She is ripe for judgment. There is no more
of the temple. And then Jesus had responded, "See                place for her in the scheme of redemption. She
ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There            must give way and make room for the reality of the
shall not be left here one stone upon another, that              spiritual, heavenly kingdom of God and His Christ.
shall not be thrown down." Thereupon Jesus                                  *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    * *
prophesies destruction and enters into the entire
discourse about the last things which precedes this                Ultimately, however - and this is of more signi-
parable.                                                         ficance to us today - our Lord Jesus is speaking
                                                                 here of the end of all things and of the signs of its
  Thus it is that in this chapter you will find many             nearness.
things which our Lord Jesus said which, while they
are true of the final end of all things, are true                  The end of all things is at hand - at the doors!
primarily and typically of the end of earthly Jeru-                The disciples had asked the Lord about this:
salem. There are also elements in the chapter                    "When shall these things be? and what shall be the
which certainly are true of the destruction of earth-            sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
ly Jerusalem in A.D. 70 only, as, for example, when              And the Lord had spoken about this, and not only
the Lord says, "But pray ye that your flight be not              about the destruction of Jerusalem. He had spoken
in the winter, neither on the sabbath day" (vs. 20).             about the destruction and passing away of this pres-
And there are elements in this discourse also which              ent world, of the coming of the Son of Man in the
cannot be connected with the latter, but refer to the            clouds and with power and great glory, and of the
end of all things only, as, for example, when the                final gathering together of the elect from the four
Lord speaks of the sun being darkened and the stars              winds by His .angels. And He had spoken of the
falling from heaven, and when He speaks of the                   signs of that final coming.
"sign'of the Son of man" and of seeing "the Son of                 The end of all things is prefigured in the end of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power                    old Jerusalem. The latter marked with finality the


436                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



end of the age of types and shadows, the end of the       doors! Just as sure and infallible as the budding and
earthly temple and everything connected with it,          putting forth leaves of the fig tree are signs of immi-
the end of the earthly throne of David, the end of        nent summer!
the national form of the church - the end which             Moreover, just as when the signs of the fig tree
was principally accomplished in the cross and             intensify as spring progresses toward summer, so
resurrection and exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ      the signs of the end of the age intensify and become
and in His return in the Spirit. But it was an end,       more graphic and more urgent when the history of
not the end. And as an end, it pointed to the end.        this age progresses toward the end of all things!
  Just as Christ comes in judgment over the repro-          Yes, indeed, you can and may ask questions
bate old dispensational church in the destruction of      about this nearness in the light of the fact that it is
Jerusalem when its rejection of Him is fully evident      almost two thousand years since our Lord uttered
and its measure of iniquity is full, and when its use-    these words to His disciples. You may say, "I can
fulness is over, so He shall come in judgment at the      understand that the destruction of earthly Jeru-
end of all things over the entire reprobate world.        salem was `at the doors,' but how was this true of
Just as in A.D. 70 the kingdom of God becomes             the end of all things and the final coming of the
revealed in its heavenly, spiritual nature when all       Lord?' But do not ask such questions in doubt and
the accouterments of the old, typical kingdom are         unbelief! The questions can be answered, too. It
finally done away with, so when He comes in final         may be pointed out that one day is with the Lord as
judgment, He comes unto salvation and the final           a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
manifestation of His kingdom in all its heavenly,         It may be pointed out that the Lord comes as quick-
spiritual glory and perfection and purity. Then all       ly, as possible and that our God follows a straight
the chaff is destroyed, and His- church, elect and        course toward the realization of His counsel. It may
redeemed and glorified, stands with Him in all the        be pointed out, too, that from the point of view of
beauty of holiness. Old things will finally pass          God's counsel all things have been accomplished,
away, and all things shall be made new. And Christ        that the kingdom is principally realized, and that
shall be revealed in all His heavenly glory, the Lord     the one wonder of grace which remains to be ac-
of lords and King of kings!                               complished, the final coming of our Lord to judge
       *     *    *     Y    *    (I    * * *  *          the quick and the dead, is the last one!
  All the signs of that end are clearly before you!         But for all that, do not be lulled to sleep. Do not
  Learn the parable!                                      be blind. Open your eyes, and behold! All the signs
                                                          are there, and they are there more intensely than
  When you see the fig tree (or any fruit tree, for       ever before in history!
that matter) budding and putting forth leaves, you                  *    *    *  * *  *  *  *,  * *
know the summer is near.
  So likewise, when you see all these things, know          So likewise . . . know!
that the end of all things is at the doors!                 Know it not as an item of theoretical knowledge
  What things?                                            which you file away in the storehouse of your
                                                          memory!
  War and rumors of war, nation rising against na-
tion, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, tribulation        You don't do that with the knowledge that sum-
and persecution and apostasy, false prophets and          mer is nigh, do you? When you see the budding and
false Christs, abounding iniquity, the love of many       greening tree, you prepare for summer.
waxing cold, worldwide gospel preaching, eating             Know, then, with a living, spiritual knowledge
and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage          which moves you to prepare and be ready, that the
as in the days of Noah - all these things! They are       end of all things is at the doors!
right before your eyes!                                     Learn . . . and know . . . and watch . . . and be
  And they are signs, sure and infallible signs, that     ready!
the end of all things, the end of the age, is at the

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                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



EDITORIAL


                   Prophecy and Current Events
                                              Prof.  H.C. Hoeksema




  This issue is devoted in its entirety to the theme      God's people as being His covenant friends, who
Current Events In The Light Of Prophecy. I may add        share His secrets, are called to know Him, to do His
that it is not, and is not intended to be, an exhaus-     will, and to be His witnesses in the midst of the
tive treatment of the subject; rather, the planning       world. To that end God makes known to His peo-
committee of our staff chose what it tho'ught to be       ple, His covenant friends, what He has done, what
certain key aspects of thle general subject and asked     He does, and what He will do. 4) For this reason,
various writers to contribute articles. However, the      too, prophecy often does not deal with events at all,
theme presupposes that current events can and             but with principles, the general principles of God's
may and should indeed be viewed in the light of           almighty providence and the broad lines of His
,prophecy by God's people. Implicit in that presup-       counsel, but as those principles and those lines all
position, therefore, is the truth that prophecy           converge in the one grand purpose of the salvation
speaks of and sheds light upon current events, the        of His people in Christ Jesus.
events taking place in our world and in our time.
Otherwise it would hardly be possible to view cur-           When we consider prophecy in the predictive
rent events in the light of prophecy. The searchlight     sense, therefore, we may say that it is a looking into
of prophecy focuses upon the events of con-               the future even unto the final realization of all
temporary history.                                        things, to the great day of the Lord, in the search-
                                                          light-beam of the special revelation of God's
  This raises several questions, some of which we         counsel and with a view to the development and
shall consider here.                                      culmination of the kingdom of heaven. As such, it
  In the first place, what is prophecy?                   pictures the King, the kingdom people, the differ-
  A prophet in the Scriptural sense of the word is        ent phases and stages of development of the king-
simply one who declares God's mind and God's              dom, and the final consummation and perfection of
will authoritatively, i.e., in the name of God. As        the kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth.
such, prophecy may refer to the past and the              It is to the latter, in fact, that all prophecy in the
present as well as to the future. Usually, however,       deepest sense of the word looks forward. and to
when we think of prophecy, we almost automati-            which it points God's people. The latter must not
cally think of it as having reference to future           be forgotten. It is true not only of the prophetic ut-
events. It is predictive. And it is in this sense also    terances of the New Testament Scriptures, but also
that we are considering prophecy in connection            of the Old, and that, too, sometimes very explicitly.
with the theme of this issue. We purpose to look at       Just think, for example, of the fact that Isaiah's
current events as they have been predicted in             prophecy speaks of the new heavens and the new
prophecy, i.e., current events as they were future in     earth and speaks very often and explicitly of the
Bible prophecy.                                           final perfection of Zion.
  In this connection, we should note the following:         There are many facets of the interpretation of
1) We must be careful not to consider prophecy as         prophecy which could be mentioned, but I wish to
if it were simply history written beforehand.             call attention in this connection especially to three:
Among other things, this has led to the attempt on        1) Prophecy draws its prophetic picture of the com-
the part of some to stipulate the exact point in          ing of the kingdom of heaven against the back-
history at which we stand, and even to predict the        ground of a description of the world-power and the
day and the hour of Christ's coming. 2) Prophecy is       historical development of all things. Very often and
not interested in history in general, but in the real-    emphatically in prophecy we behold all the powers
ization of the kingdom of God. 3) Prophecy, like all      in heaven and on earth as having their purpose in
of revelation, really proceeds from the idea that         working for the realization of the kingdom of


438                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ. Prophecy pictures all things as serving, will-     to all nations. 2) Wars and rumors of wars. 3) Social
ingly or in spite of themselves, Jehovah, His pur-         conflict and revolutions. 4) Death, famines, pesti-
pose, His Christ, His Zion. 2) The prophets are            lences, earthquakes. 5) Apostasy. 6) The develop-
given to see the future and to speak of it always          ment and consummation of Antichrist. 7) Great
from the viewpoint of their historic present. This         tribulation. 8) Signs in the heavens. 9) The sign of
must always be kept in mind in interpreting proph-         the Son of Man.
ecy. Isaiah speaks from the "present" of the time                 *    *  *  * *  * *  * * *
of Ring Hezekiah, long before the captivity in and
return from Babylon. Zechariah speaks from the               All of the preceding leads us to a brief discussion
"present" of,the time just after the return from cap-      of the subject of the Millennium and of two errant
tivity. John speaks in the Book of Revelation from         and very dangerous views concerning it. For pre-
the "present" of approximately one hundred years           supposed in what we stated above is an amillennial
after the first advent and the "fulness of time." And      view of the coming of Christ and the end of all
in this connection, it must be kept in mind that the       things. The two errant views in this connection are
prophets are given to see more clearly and fully ac-       the postmillennial and premillennial views. It is
cording as the time of realization draws nearer. 3)        certainly not my purpose in this brief space to
We must keep in mind the element of prophetic              discuss these views in any detail: that would be im-
perspective, therefore. Just as it makes a vast differ-    possible. However, because of the prevalence of
ence whether you behold the Rocky Mountains                the two errant views mentioned, the Reformed be-
from fifty or a hundred miles away in eastern Col-         liever should be thoroughly acquainted with them
orado or whether you are right among them in               and with their dangerous errors. (I may mention in
Rocky Mountain National Park, so it makes a vast           this connection that there is ample literature on the
difference in perspective, whether you behold the          subject of millennial views among our Protestant
day of the Lord from the perspective of Isaiah or          Reformed publications, in pamphlets and in books.)
Joel or whether you behold it from the perspective         Here I merely mention the various views and brief-
of our Lord in Matthew 24 or from the perspective          ly point to the errors of pre- and postmillennialism.
of John on Patmos.                                           The term miZZennium  is derived from Revelation
                                                           20, which speaks of Satan's being bound a thou-
  Now it is the specific goal of this issue to try to      sand years. The term has come to be used to refer to
put current events and the historical situation in         a period of a thousand years which is supposed to
which we are living, near the end of the twentieth         be characterized by a special dispensation of pros-
century, in the light of revelation. As I already said,    perity and bliss for the church on earth.
that presupposes that the searchlight of prophecy
shines on us and our times. Specifically, the Scrip-         As the very name indicates, postmillennialism
tures speak of the coming of the Lord; and they            holds that the coming of Christ will take place after
speak of that coming both in the sense that our            the millennium. Before the coming of Christ there
Lord Jesus Christ is coming throughout the history         will be a special dispensation of gospel preaching
of this dispensation, i.e., He is on the way, in the       and a general conversion of mankind, so that the
process of coming, and in the sense of His final ad-       knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth. Upon
vent, or parousia. And it is in this connection that       the scene of this realized kingdom of God on earth
the Scriptures in several places point to what are         Christ will come. In connection with the postmil-
called the precursory signs of Christ's coming. By         lennial view, we point out: 1) That it is simply a
the precursory signs are meant all those events in         denial and ignoring of Scripture's testimony con-
the realm of nature, as well as in the history of the      cerning the precursory signs. 2) That Scripture does
nations of the world and of the church which in-           not support the idea of world-conversion and of a
dicate that Jesus is coming and that the end of all        reign of righteousness and peace for the church on
things is near and is approaching quickly. And it is       earth, prior to Christ's coming. 3) That Scripture
easy to understand that it is precisely in connection      pictures Christ's coming as catastrophic, not as a
with these precursory signs that it is possible, as        matter of gradual development into the age of the
well as necessary and beneficial, to consider cur-         kingdom of glory.
rent events in the light of prophecy. Not all of these       Premillennialism holds that the coming of Christ
precursory signs will be discussed in this special         is before the millennium. This erroneous view dis-
issue. Nevertheless, we will list those signs, re-         tinguishes Christ's coming into the rapture and the
minding you at the same time that the order in             revelation. The rapture can come at any time and is
which they are listed is not strictly the order of         not preceded by signs. It involves the taking up to
time, and that most of these signs occur                   Christ in the air of the then-living saints who expect
simultaneously throughout this dispensation. The           His coming and the first resurrection, i.e., the
signs are as follows: 1) The preaching of the gospel       resurrection to glory .of the saints who have died


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                439



before the rapture. Seven years later Christ will         dangerous because it teaches that God's people will
come in the "revelation" and will then reign in           escape the tribulation.
earthly Jerusalem over His kingdom-people (Israel)          The amillennial and only Scriptural interpreta-
and His church together; this will be for a period of     tion holds that the coming of Christ is without a
a thousand years. During the seven-year period the        literal millennium of any kind. The present age is
reign of Antichrist and the great tribulation take        the last hour; following it is the eternal state of the
place. During the thousand years Satan is bound.          kingdom of glory. The events toward the end of this
Then the devil will be loosed, and Gog and Magog          age shall be as follows: 1) The measure of iniquity
will come against the Holy City. But Christ will          shall be filled by the ungodly world. 2) There shall
consume them, the resurrection of the wicked will         be great apostasy from the church. 3) The Anti-
take place, and judgment over all nations will be ex-     christ shall culminate and realize his kingdom for a
ecuted. Following this, the eternal state will ensue      time. This will mean great tribulation for the faith-
(according to some, with the church in heaven and         ful. 4) The coming of Christ shall terminate all. 5)
the kingdom-people, Israel, on the new earth).            The general resurrection of the dead shall take
Many, many objections may be registered against           place, followed by the final judgment of the wicked
this view. Let me mention four: 1) It separates be-       and the righteous. 6) The everlasting kingdom of
tween Israel and the church. 2) Its view of two or        glory in the new creation shall follow.
more resurrections denies Scripture's teaching that
the resurrection of the wicked and the righteous            It is only in an amillennial context, in conclusion,
take place at the same time, John 5:28, 29. 3) Scrip-     that a discussion of current events in the light of
ture does not teach a rapture, nor a millennium, but      prophecy and of the precursory signs makes any
everlasting glory for the saints after the resurrec-      Scriptural sense.
tion of the body. 4) Practically speaking, the view is





              War tis a Sign of Christ's Coming
                                                 Prof  H. Hanko





  The Scriptures are very clear that one of the signs     wars shall be a sign of His coming, but that also
of Christ's coming is the prevalence of war in this       when these wars take place, "the end is not yet,"
world. Jesus emphatically states this in Matthew          and "these things are the beginning of sorrows." In
24. Puzzled and perturbed by Jesus' prophecy of           other words, wars surely speak of the Lords com-
the destruction of the temple, the disciples asked        ing, but they shall not continue until the very end
Jesus, "When shall these things be? and what shall        of time; there shall be a period when wars cease.
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the            When the book of Revelation introduces its main
world?" (vs. 3). Among the many signs of which            theme of the signs of Christ's coming (a theme
Jesus spoke, He mentioned also this sign: "And ye         developed in the opening of the seals, the blowing
shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye       of the trumpets and the pouring out of the vials), it
be not troubled: for all these things must come to        speaks of four horses, one of which is a red horse,
pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise       concerning which we read: "And there went out
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and          another horse that was red: and power was given to
there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earth-       him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,
quakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning     and that they should kill one another: and there
of sorrows" (vs. 6).                                      was given unto him a great sword" (Revelation 6:4).
  It is interesting to note in connection with this       It is clear from the description of this horse, that the
sign that Jesus not only emphatically asserts that        symbolic reference is to war and its destructive


440                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



power. It is very clear, therefore, that among all the    murder, etc., it is also a restraint of the greater sin
signs of Christ's coming, war is one of them. The         of the establishment of Antichrist's kingdom when
wars which have plagued this earth throughout the         all the energies of the world will be single-mindedly
history of the world, and especially in the New           directed to the establishment of a kingdom of Satan
Dispensation point to the fact that Christ is coming      in which the church has been eliminated.
again.                                                      The world bends every effort to bring about
  It is of no little importance to understand that the    peace on earth. We need only remind ourselves of
many events in the history of the world and of the        the League of Nations, formed after World War I,
church which are -signs of Christ's coming can be         which was a sure guarantee of peace. The leaders
signs only because they are sovereignly controlled        boasted that,. with the formation of the League, the
and directed by Christ Himself. It is absurd to think     last war had been fought. How utterly foolish.
of these signs as events which take place outside of      Within a few decades a more terrible war yet en-
Christ's rule, independent of His power, but which        compassed the globe, World War II. After this war,
simply happen to serve as signs. The same is true of      the United Nations was formed as an international
war. Wars can only be signs because Christ, in His        forum in which all the nations of the earth could
position of universal rule and authority, so controls     resolve their differences and disputes by discussion
and directs the affairs of men and nations that wars      and peaceful compromise rather than to resort to
take place. Christ sends wars.                            warfare. World War II ended in 1945. Has the
  This truth is further evident from the historical       United Nations shown any ability to bring peace to
origin of war. Prior to the attempt to build the          this sorry world?
tower of Babel, we do not read of wars. But from            I read somewhere not so long ago that, at the pres-
Babel till today wars have been common in the             ent moment, there were 35 wars going on in the
world. There is good historical reason for this.          world. I cannot list them all, but one need only
Babel was an early (the very first) attempt on the        think of the war in Afghanistan, of the war between
part of the world of sin to establish the one uni-        Iran and Iraq, of the fighting of Ethiopia and Chad,
versal kingdom of Antichrist. A one world kingdom         of the constant warfare in Nicaragua, El Salvador,
in which all men woluld live in peace and harmony         and Honduras. The world has not even come close
was the dream of these early builders. But God            to establishing peace on earth. The loud boasts of
would not permit sinful man to realize his dreams         the worlds leaders that peace shall surely come are
at this early date; the efforts to establish such a       drowned by the roar of artillery, the groans of the
kingdom would make the realization of Gods pur-           bleeding and dying, the hoarse shouts of infantry
pose impossible. That is, if this kingdom of Anti-        advancing under a hail of bullets.
christ was so soon built, wickedness would prevail
in the earth to such an extent that the church could        The Scriptures tell us, however, that the dreams
no longer live - for Antichrist is the implacable         of the world shall indeed be realized. There shall
enemy of the church. And so God confused the              come a period of time when the scheme of Babel
speech of men; and by confusing their speech, He          will be attained. Jesus tells us that the sign of wars
divided the people of the earth into nations and          and rumors of wars means that the end is not yet;
races. This division has the consequence of making        they are the beginning of sorrows. This dream of
a one world kingdom temporarily impossible. The           man shall be realized only when Antichrist suc-
nations are so divided, so different from each other,     ceeds in establishing his universal kingdom. Then it
so uniquely dissimilar, so unlike each other in           will appear as if Christ is indeed banished from the
                                                          earth, His kingdom is utterly defeated, and the
racial and national distinctives, that they cannot get    church of our Lord and Savior is destroyed. But that
along with each other. Each nation seeks itself, its      will be just before the end, and the Lord will soon
own aggrandizement, its own prerogatives, its own
welfare, its own place among the nations - a place        appear.
of superiority if at all possible. The French do not        But we live in a different kind of a day. Although
want to be English - not even in Canada; they             there are many wars being fought even while I sit
want to stay French at all costs. Add to this the sin-    here and write, the threat of nuclear war hangs
ful hatred of man and the result is war. And war          over the heads of men. Especially the USSR and the
makes the premature realization of the Antichrist         US are engaged in a terrible arms race in which
an impossibility, for while the nations of the world      billions of dollars are spent each year to increase
are at each other's throats in incessant warfare,         and perfect mighty engines of destruction which
God accomplishes His purpose in the salvation of          could, if fired, turn this world into a holocaust and
His church. War is a sort of restraint of sin; i.e.,      destroy all of civilization as we now know it. It is
even though war itself is rooted in sin, is an expres-    not difficult to understand why this is of great con-
sion of sin - hatred, envy, desire to dominate,           cern to the leaders of the world, and why, especial-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  441



ly today, men long for peace. According to those            But what must be the attitude of believers in the
who are supposed to know, nuclear war can only            light of these things?
mean total destruction of mankind and civilization.
Such horrors are almost too great to contemplate.           This question takes on pertinency because
                                                          almost the whole church-world of our day is in-
   The Christian lives in this present world for a        volved in a kind of pacifist movement which con-
time, until the Lord takes him to glory. When wars        demns nuclear war, the arms race, and the efforts
rage, affecting his own life too, he sees that the        to increase the nuclear arsenals of the world. We
Scriptures are being fulfilled with remarkable ac-        cite here a few evidences from several decisions
curacy, and he contemplates the fact that Christ is       taken by the Christian Reformed Church's Synod
coming again. War brings its sufferings on him as         in recent years.
well. In the US the consequences of war have been
limited to the need for our sons to march into bat-         Although the Christian Reformed Church has
tle; but elsewhere God's people have seen their           had a lot to say over the years concerning war and
homes destroyed, their land ravaged, their lives un-      the Christian's relation to it, recently a number of
alterably changed. Yet through it all, the Christian      guidelines were adopted on the question of "War,
keeps his eyes focused upon the one truth that all        Pacifism and Amnesty." In these guidelines one
these things must come to pass, for it is in this way     reads: "All wars are the result of sin, and though
that the Lord has determined to bring the history of      God may use wars in his judgment on nations, it is
the world to its conclusion.                              his purpose to make wars to cease. " (Underscoring
                                                          ours). In 1982 the Synod adopted "Guidelines For
   But what about nuclear war? Will a full-blown          Justifiable Warfare." Among other things the
nuclear war be fought before the kingdom of Anti-         Synod made the following pronouncements:
christ is established?                                          The Christian church in articulating the
   One would think, from the information which               ideal of peace proclaimed by our Lord Jesus
Scripture gives us, that this is not possible. There         Christ, the Prince of Peace, may not so con-
are many other signs given in Scripture which also           strue that ideal as to deprive the state in
point to the return of the Lord; and if we take all          principle of the sword given to it for the
these signs together, we cannot help but be im-              defense of order and freedom . . . . (Under-
pressed with the fact that we live very near to the          scoring ours).
end of time. The signs are unmistakable in that
respect. How long the Lord will tarry we cannot                 In the Christian view the ultimate pur-
say; but that it cannot be so very long any more is a        pose of a just war is the establishment of a
fact.                                                        lasting peace upon the foundation of justice.
                                                             Its final end is the achievement of a
  Yet nuclear war, with its terrible destruction,            righteous and stable political order within
would almost indefinitely postpone the return of             which concrete human values are preserved
the Lord. If nuclear war truly means universal               and a well-ordered human society can
destruction of civiliation (even if l/3 or less of men       flourish.
would survive), the events which Scripture
describes as having to take place before the Lord               No war may be considered just which,
comes back are of such a kind that it would take             while visiting destruction upon all that is
hundreds, if not thousands, of years for these               bad, destroys every living human witness to
things to happen once again. We need only think of           that which is good; no war can be con-
the kingdom which Antichrist establishes. Accord-            sidered an allowable remedy for evil which
ing to Scripture, especially in Revelation 13, this          destroys, together with this evil, all or
kingdom will be one of great prosperity and scien-           almost all of history's accumulated goods;
tific achievement. It will be unsurpassed in wealth          no war can be considered a fit political in-
and material plenty. It will be a kingdom of untold          strument for the establishment of peace
beauty and greatness in which all the world will             which brings no peace but the peace of
wonder after the beast, even while it is a kingdom           death.
of great sin. While events in our day surely point to           Although a just war is in principle think-
the possibility of that kingdom being soon estab-            able, and in the past was concretely possi-
lished, a nuclear war would make such a kingdom a            ble, it is at least questionable whether, in
very distant event. It appears as if the Lord's pur-         view of the destructive power of modern
pose is not to unleash the furies of nuclear-armed           weapons, it can any longer become actual.
missiles and the resulting destruction. At least, if         Any war which would scorch the earth,
people start building bomb shelters, I have no in-           destroy all or the major part of the technical,
tention of making that kind of investment.                   cultural, and spiritual treasures of mankind,


442                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



       and  amihilate the human race, or leave                   The basic assumption is that the peace of God
       alive only a maimed and wounded fragment                through our Lord Jesus Christ shall be attained in
       of it, lies outside the traditional concept of a        this present world. This can only mean that the
       just war and must be judged morally imper-              kingdom of Christ, which has as one of its chief
       missible.                                               characteristics peace, will be established here
  The Christian Reformed Church has also                       below in some sort of post-millennial sense of the
adopted in 1983 a new "Confession" called, "Our                word. And this in turn implies that this kingdom
World Belongs to  (God, A Contemporary Testi-                  will embrace all men in a sort of universal brother-
mony." In this rather frivolous document, we find              hood in which the whole human race enjoys
the following:                                                 citizenship in Christ's kingdom.
         We deplore the waste of the arms race                   These ideas are contrary to Scripture, although
       and the horrors that we risk; we call on all           they form the basis for these pronouncements on
       nations to work towards disarmament,                   war. It is after this illusory and Scripture-denying
       pledging ourselves to walk in ways of peace.            dream that much of today's church chases. The
       For this world belongs to God; we look to               believer must not be deceived. He does not look for
   him for help, so that all may be made new.                 the kingdom in this world, but only in the new
                                                               heavens and the new earth in which Christ shall be
  If one reads carefully the quotes above and the              all in all. So when wars and rumors of wars sur-
documents in which they appear, it is interesting              round him and nation rises up against nation, he
that there are several assumptions which are made              liits up his head, for his redemption draws near.
which are incompatible with Scripture and the
Christian faith.





                    Christ's Coming Foreshadowed
                                              in Creation
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys





  Without signs it would be very difficult for us in           forever, and where we will be completely free from
this complex life, which is ours today. Signs give us          the curse.
valuable information, help us find our way, keep us
from getting lost, prevent us from suffering injury,             One of the richest passages in Holy Writ that pre-
and assure and comfort us in many ways.                        sent to us these signs of that coming of Christ, and
                                                               of, the end of this world, is Matthew 24. There Jesus
  Signs are also valuable in our spiritual life; and           gives us signs in answer to the question of His
for them we may be thankful. The sacraments are                disciples as to "What shall be the sign of Thy com-
holy signs which the God of our salvation uses for             ing, and of the end of the world?" These signs that
the strengthening of our faith, and for our comfort            Jesus gives us fall into three categories. There are
in this vale of tears and sorrows. But there are other         happenings that take place in the history of
signs which the Lord our God gives us to assure us             mankind. There are the events that occur in the
of the return of our Saviour,  and of the end of this          church, as she fights the good fight of faith here
present world. They not only remind us of the sure             below. And there are those signs that are manifest
coming of Christ, but they also comfort us with the            in the creation wherein we live, and whereby we
testimony that the clay is certainly coming, when              are encircled.
we, with body and soul, shall enter into a world
where righteousness and holiness will be ours                    At the moment we are considering those signs in


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               443



creation round about us. They may be found in             is preparing the way for His Son to return when His
Matthew 24:7, and they are famines, pestilences,          church shall be delivered fully and everlastingly
and earthquakes in diverse places. There will,            from the wicked world. And God's people, as they
however, be more intense, more spectacular signs          also suffer in such famines, pestilences, and earth-
shortly before Christ returns. These are listed in        quakes can in their miseries and losses find comfort
verse 29. The sun will be darkened to such a degree       and hope. Yea, .such calamities are a blessing to
that the moon will not be able to reflect any of its      them, because as the psalmist states it in Psalm
light. Stars shall begin to fall out of their courses,    119:71,  "It is good for me that I have been afflicted:
and parts of some of them may fall down to the            that I might learn Thy statutes." And indeed, "all
earth.                                                    things work together for good to those that love
  We do well to consider that all these unusual           God' (Romans  828). Grace, does not consist in
events are expressions of God's holy wrath against        things, but in God's reason and attitude in giving us
sin. They are unusual in that they were not in exis-      what we receive from His hand.
tence before man fell into sin. They are various            These visitations of Gods wrath, namely,
aspects of the curse, which came upon this earth          famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, are for the
after man rebelled against God, and tried to              good of the children of God, and are signs, not
dethrone Him, by trying to become His equal - as          simply of God's holy wrath against sin, but also of
Satan devilishly suggested. From that moment on-          His grace toward His people in Christ. For they are
ward God began to show man by the curse that He           His speech to His church that He, in covenant faith-
is God, and that He is a holy God, Who will visit all     fulness, is preparing the way for Christ to return,
iniquity, even as He had said to Adam, that in the        and in Him to bring forth a new creation that is
day he disobeyed and went against God's will, he          without sin and the curse. This is especially clear in
would die.                                                the earthquakes, which speak of the passing away
  These signs of famines, pestilences, and earth-         of things as we now know them. Yes, earthquakes
quakes in diverse places deny the presence of the         tell us that we surely are on the way to a world
so-called common graee. And they must not be              wherein there will be no famines or pestilences.
thought of as interruptions of that "common.              And even beyond that, what grace'would it be for
grace. " They are clear and loudly-proclaimed testi-      God, to favor the enemies of His church with
monies of the unchangeable God, that rain and sun-        wealth and health, that would enable them more
shine are not gifts of a "common grace," but that         completely to molest and persecute His church?
instead they can be visitations of His wrath upon         Grace does not oppose grace.
those whose sins were not blotted out by the blood          What we must understand and keep in mind, as
of His Son. It is intense sunshine that causes            we look at these signs of Christ's coming, is that
famines and burns up crops. It is an overabundance        Jesus in Matthew 24:7 gives us broad classifica-
of rain that causes floods and brings pestilences.        tions. To these famines belong that which causes
Grace is a blessing. Too much grace does not              them, such as drought and crop failures. Recently
become a curse. Too much rain can become such,            we had some unusual and devastating cold blasts
and so can too much sunshine. But man can never           into the deep southern part of our country. Citrus
get too much of God's grace. And as these famines         fruits and growing vegetables were destroyed. Else-
and pestilences become more widespread and in-            where in our country water shortages are looming
tense, as .we approach the end of time, God's grace       as more and more of a threat to agriculture. The
is not getting thinner and less common.                   water table is sinking deeper and deeper below the
  Does not Psalm 136 tell us 26 times that God's          surface of the earth. Serious consideration is being
mercy endureth forever? And does it not state this        given to diverting water from the Great Lakes. This
while telling us that in His wrath He visited with        will in turn cause the water situation in the cities
death Pharaoh and his host, Sihon king of the             and states that border these huge bodies of fresh
Amorites, and Og king of Bashan? Upon them there          water to become more critical.
was no mercy and `.`common grace." And does not             Then there are the diseases that belong to the
God Himself declare in Psalm 5:5 that He hates            pestilences. To mind comes the acid rain that is
ALL workers of iniquity? Still more, in Psalm 7: 11       destroying vegetation and forests, and is polluting
He teaches us that He is -angry with the wicked           our drinking water. Do not overlook the miseries
every day. Yes, EVERY day, if you please.                 and diseases that man brings upon himself. There
  On the other hand, these famines, pestilences,          are the toxic wastes which our forefathers knew
and earthquakes in diverse places are signs to those      nothing of, and came about as man strives to get
who, in Gods sovereign grace, belong to Christ,           away from the curse in the way of "labor saving"
that He remembers them, will visit their enemies,         devices, and by means of industry making life more


444                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



pleasant for himself apart from God.                       third part of the sun is smitten, the moon and stars
  Man has made tremendous advances in the                  are darkened, not shining for the third part of the
medical field; and the pharmaceutical companies            day.
do a tremendous business. But the hospitals are not          We are not yet in those days. But the famine to-
big enough to care for all the sick and afflicted.         day in Africa is certainly one in which more than
Many diseases are no longer the threat to multi-           the usual number of deaths occur. Acid rain is
tudes that they were. Institutions for diseases as         destroying our water; toxic wastes are killing men.
tuberculosis give way to psychopathic hospitals,           We are definitely nearing those days when the
with many more patients and vast sprawling build-          signs in creation become more forceful.
ings; because although it seems as though man has            One thing to remember, as already hinted, is that
defeated to a great extent one disease, God con-           God gives these signs to His church in His grace.
fronts him with new evidences of His wrath against         They are foretastes of the coming judgment, and
mankind whose sins have not been paid for by His           are manifestations of His holy wrath. But for that
Son's cross. By means of shots, such diseases as           very reason they are signs to His church that all His
polio do not threaten our children as they did some        promises are being fulfilled, and that He is working
decades ago,' but new diseases trouble them. God is        all things together for good to those that love Him.
not mocked. Man does not and cannot escape from            In fact the increased intensity of these calamities
the curse. It is not weakening, even though here in        against-the wicked, unbelieving world, underscores
our country at least, the span of life for man is a few    His love for and grace unto His church.
years longer than in the past. Instead, as we come
closer to the end of time, and the return of Christ,         As sin develops, God manifests more clearly His
these forms of the curse will increase in intensity        hatred of sinners. But the chief reason why He in-
and in agonizing forms.                                    tensifies these signs is to speak more clearly and
                                                           powerfully to His church. You see, we cannot
  Earthquakes in diverse places do not necessarily         divorce these.signs from those that take place in the
mean that there will be more earthquakes. Diverse          history of mankind, and in the history of His
places means that they will be experienced in dif-         church. The Antichrist will appear; and the church
ferent parts of the earth, not simply where scien-         will be persecuted. The man of sin will perform
tists predict them, because they discovered fault          such amazing deeds that, if it were possible, even
lines, but in unexpected places. And who can deny          the elect would be deceived by what the Antichrist
that there have been earthquakes all over our              is able to do in the wonders he can and will per-
globe? Keep track of them for a year. On your              form. In those days the church will need to see and
calendar, on the day it takes place, write the loca-       hear more clearly the signs that God gives for her
tion of the earthquake reported. After the year is         sake.
over, and you refer to the list, you will be surprised
at the diverse places where these earthquakes oc-            God will speak more loudly, so that His people
cur now already. Yes, the whole earth is going to          can hear over the loud noise of the antichristian
pass away, as far as its present form is concerned. A      boasts of that day. He will show to His people more
new heaven and a new earth are coming in the               brightly, in the darkness of those awful days of the
relatively near future. God speaks in these earth-         deepest forms of apostasy and wickedness, that this
quakes together with the famines and pestilences.          world has ever seen, that He keeps His word. And
The question is whether we listen to Him.                  though the seed of the woman has its heel bruised,
                                                           the head of the serpent and of his seed is going to be
  These more devastating signs shortly before              crushed. In days when you could expect the
Christ's return are presented in Revelation 8: hail;       believers to faint and tremble with fear, He will
fire mingled with blood burning up trees and grass;        speak more loudly in creation to give them good
a mountain of fire that is cast into the sea killing       cheer. Yes, these signs in creation, even though in
one third of the creatures and destroying ships; a         them the saints suffer physically along with the
great star, burning as a lamp, falls into the rivers,      wicked, will encourage them and keep them look-
causing men to die of the bitter water that results; a     ing for Christ.

                The Standard Bearer makes a
              thoughtful gift for any occasion.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              445



                                  The Second Beast
                                                Rev. G. Van Baren





  In Revelation 13:11-18  we read of a second beast        The sum-total of man's knowledge today is vastly
which arises out of the earth. A first beast (vs. l-10)    greater than ever before in the history of mankind.
came forth from the restless sea. He represented             One reads some interesting facts concerning this
the development of the antichristian world power,          "knowledge explosion." We are told that more
and the antichrist who controls this. That first beast     than 90% of the scientists of all ages are living to-
comes from the unstable waters - representing the          day. We are reminded of one man, in the early part
restless nations of the world - and establishes a          of this decade, who quit working at the U.S. patent
measure of stability cand order among men. This            office with the claim that everything that could be
first beast makes possible the rise of the second          invented, now was - and how wrong he proved to
one.                                                       be!
  We read of that second beast: "And I beheld                Knowledge is not simply increasing at a constant
another beast coming up out of the earth; and he           rate, but there is a doubling of the sum of
had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon        knowledge in a constantly decreasing period of
. . . . And he doeth great wonders, so that he             time. This rapid increase must cause us to wonder
maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth             how far this all can go. One can assume that also
in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell         with respect to knowledge, God had determined
on the earth, by the means of those miracles which         that there shall be a full measure. Man shall
he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying       develop as far as it is possible for him before the
to them that dwell on the earth, that' they should         end shall come.
make an image to the beast, which had the wound
by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give           We are reminded of the rapid changes .which
life unto the image of the beast, that the image of        have taken place within our own generation. There
the beast should both speak, and cause that as             are readers of this periodical who can tell of the
many as would not worship the image of the beast           time they saw their first automobile or first air-
should be killed.                                          plane. Some recall well the first appearance of the
                                                           radio; and (does this mark me as ancient?) I myself
  "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich          recall the dawn of the television age while I was
and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their        still in high school.
right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man
might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the         The present generation has suddenly become
name of the beast, or the number of his name."             aware of the computer. What, a few years ago, re-
                                                           quired millions of dollars and vast areas of space for
  This second beast represents the antichristian           a computer, now can be done on a small instrument
world power of the end-time from the viewpoint of          which can be purchased by the ordinary man.
its scientific and religious development. Out of the       Someone has claimed that if the price of the Rolls-
relative stability of nations, develops science and        Royce had declined in the same proportion as has
philosophy to its fullest extent. The second beast is      the computer, it could be purchased today for a
not of terrible appearance: he is seen as a lamb (an       nickel.
imitation, too, of the Lamb of God). He speaks with
the voice of the dragon. That he speaks, reminds of          There is also the application of computer science.
his persuasive powers - for he convinces many of           Who has not encountered the bar-code and bar-
his authority and wisdom.                                  code,reader? Large grocery stores use these in their
                                                           checkout lanes. The use of the computer is seen
  This second beast makes an image of the beast            everywhere.
and gives life to that image. The beast demands that         And consider the effort of man to conquer space.
all worship this image.                                    His space shuttles are going constantly up and
  It is this Word of God which is being fulfilled, I       around the world. Satellites are circling the earth,
am convinced, in our own day. One sees in fact             performing a multitude of tasks: from taking pic-
what is repeatedly called the knowledge explosion.         tures of the weather conditions on the earth to spy-


446                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



ing upon installations of other nations.                     today. We might recall also the flaming re-entry of
  Nor is the end of such development in sight.               the space shuttle. How men admire this wonder
With the use of computers, man can store and                 performed by the scientists! Clearly, the second
quickly retrieve a large store of knowledge. He can          beast is coming to prominence. He speak per-
use this artificial intelligence in order to arrive at       suasively and gains the admiration of many
ever more knowledge. No longer are we even sur-              because of his wonderful acts.
prised at the announcements of new discoveries                 It is all of this which clearly indicates the near-
and greater inventions.                                      ness of the end of time. I would even dare say that
  But what does all of this mean? One can not,               especially this sort of inventiveness of man shows
surely, condemn out-of-hand all the inventions of            that soon Christ shall return.
man. It can be even maintained that the inventions             There are many signs of the end of time. Christ
of our own day have been used by the church in               spake of wars and rumors of wars. He spake of
wonderful ways. Think of the message of the                  earthquake and pestilence. He warned against
gospel which can now be broadcast over the air-              apostasy. All these are the "beginning of sorrows."
waves to all the nations in the whole earth. The in-         Some have claimed that these signs are always pres-
vention of the transistor radio, which is sold for a         ent. One hears of wars through all of history.
pittance, makes the hearing of this message possi-           Disasters in creation have taken place through all
ble by even the poorest of the peoples of the earth.         the ages. So why consider these as signs of the end?
While in earlier ages one man could address only a.          These signs, of course, are but the beginning of the
few hundred at a time, today it is possible to ad-           "birthpangs." They become more prevalent and we
dress millions at the same time over all of the earth!       become more aware of them as the end approaches.
  Computers are being used by churches and
ministers. These make writing and record-keeping               But the sign of final development of the anti-
much easier. Printing of literature and distribution         christ, the rise of the second beast, is especially an
of. the same are also made simpler through the               indication. of the closeness of the end. Man in-
marvelous inventions of our time.                            vented from the time shortly after the fall of Adam.
                                                             There were inventions of articles of brass and of
  However, one can see how the antichrist can use            musical instruments by the children of Cain. There
these same- inventions to establish and promote his          was the invention of the wheel, of guns and gun-
kingdom. By means of the computer, he can keep               powder. There was the invention of the printing
track of every man, recording all information on             press. But never has the inventiveness of man so
each. He can know where each works, where one                flourished as at our own day. Indeed, those of years
goes to church, how much money he earns, what
                  .-           c       .       _.    .  I    ago thought too that the end must be near. Those
he pays in taxes. lt5y means or a number, the social         too pointed to the inventions of their day. But the
security number today, the government can record             rapidity of change, the wonderful inventions, the
an unbelievably great store of information already.          things which have taken place in our generation -
The time may soon come when all information of               all represent something the like of which has never
every individual is kept on one large file.                  been before. Nor can this pace of development con-
  The inventions already in existence can be used            tinue for hundreds of years yet. The accelerating
so that by number one can buy and sell. Cash will.           development of knowledge means that the point
become almost useless. One can have, soon, his               soon comes when man has developed to his fullest
bills paid through the computer. Automatically, the          extent on this earth. He will have attained to those
price of that which is purchased will be deducted            things necessary to establish the kingdom of the
from one's bank account. Very literally, one will be         antichrist:
able to buy and sell only with the number assigned             What does all this mean for us? We must take
to him..                                                     care lest we too be influenced by the "speech' of
  We can see, then, how the antichrist will be able          the second beast. He is persuasive, convincing.
to assign "numbers" to those only who are willing            Consider what he declares about such a thing as
to deny Christ and worship the image of the beast.           "evolution." Most men simply believe his claims
Without one's "number," there will be no buying              despite their absurdity. We may not be influenced
nor selling.                                                 by all of this. The church is to use, but not abuse,
  Revelation 13 points out the many other wonders            the good things of this earth and the inventions
which the second beast performs. He will be able to          which can be of benefit to it.
call fire down from heaven. The Rev. H. Hoek-                  What we see and hear ought to cause us the more
sema, in his book, BehoZd He Cometh, writes of the           to watch - for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
fact that man can make use of electricity to do this         We are to be on guard lest we succumb to the temp-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 447



tations of this world. We are to anticipate the            which can be found on this earth. Watch and pray
glories of the heavenly which transcend all that           that our Lord may come quickly.





                cults - Sign of Christ'
                                                                          s Coming
                                             Rev. Robert C. Harbach





  "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall           days," and not a millennium. "Then shall appear
deceive many . . . . And there shall arise false           the sign ofthe Son of man in heaven." This we take
Christs and false prophets, and shall show great           to be a subjective genitive, so that the meaning is,
signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possi-        the sign which He HimseZf is. He is revealed actual-
ble, they shall deceive the very elect" (Malt. 24:11,      ly in His parousia. "The Lord Himself shall de-
24). Our Lord Jesus Himself prophesied of the cult         scend from heaven" (I Thess. 4:16). The objective
explosion now occurring in the proliferation both          genitive would mean the sign which points to Him
of world-religions and the major and minor cults. In       as coming, something like a glowing UFO floating
this article we are interested in what the Bible has       in space for a while, after which the Son of man
to say of this dark side of apostasy; and since the Bi-    Himself shall appear. But the first part of the verse,
ble, in general, may be divided thus - prophecy            "then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
(the Old Testament), fact (the Gospels), and inter-        heaven," is explained by the second part, "they
pretation of fact (the Epistles), we present the above     shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
theme from the point of view of the following divi-        heaven . . . ." So that what this sign is is the Son of
sions: I. The Coming Prophesied, II. The Apostasy          man actually seen, appearing, in heaven and com-
Current, and III. The Cults Flourishing.                   ing to earth with power and great glory. Then this
  I. The Coming Prophesied. We refer, of course,           and the next verse (w. 30-31), "and He shall send
to Christ's coming. As many people do, we some-            His angels with a great sound of a trumpet" to
times call it "the second coming," which, however,         "gather together His elect," are fulfilled in verses
Scripture never does. Scripture usually calls it           40-41, "then shall two be in the field; the one shall
simply "the coming." The disciples had asked,              be taken, the other left. . ." and this must be under-
"Tell us . . . what shall be the sign of Thy coming,       stood in the light of I Thess. 4: 14-17. Those "taken"
and of the end of the world?" (24:3). The range of         (vs. 40-41) are the elect (cp. v. 31; see also Jn. 14:3).
the immediate context takes in (1) the destruction         Those left are left destitute of Gods help. This will
of Jerusalem, (2) the coming again of Christ, and (3)      include the false prophets, the false messiahs of the
the end (cp. I Cor.  15:24a). The question was,            cults and their followers who would sway us with
"What shall be the sign of Thy coming?" Jesus had          their claim, "Lo, here is Christ! or, There!" (v. 23), a
gotten around to answering this question in 24:30,         claim, which for example, is loudly and incessantly
the sign being the sign of the second advent and of        made by the New Age Movement. Therefore, be
the consummation of the age. There we read, "And           not deceived, but be also ever ready (durative pres-
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in            ent tense); "for in such an hour as ye think not, the
heaven . . . and they shall see the Son of man com-        Son of man comefhl' (v. 44).
ing in the clouds of heaven with power and great             II. The Apostasy Current. The apostasy (or fall-
glory!" "Then shall appear . . . ," that is, according     ing away from the true church and the true gospel)
to the preceding verse, "immediately  after  the           is prophesied in the prediction of the coming upon
tribulation of those days," the period mentioned in        the scene of counterfeit prophets, pseudo-messiahs,
verses  414, and which extends through verses              cult leaders, and cult movements. Paul prophesied
29-31. So that according to verse 29, the last event       of this apostasy in I Timothy 4:l when he warned,
before the Advent is "the tribulation of those             "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly (the source of


448                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



the-prophecy is then divine and divinely inspired),         from Adam on. They mock the Bible, the true
that in the latter times (notice: no date is given),        Gospel, and the entire, historic, orthodox, Re- . .
some shall (it's future to Paul) depart (apostatize)        formed Faith. They mock with their UFO
from the faith (the whole system of Christian truth         scenarios, their E.T. fantasies, with their drug ad-
- creeds and confessions), giving heed to seducing          diction, with their ritual sex and ritual murder.
spirits, and doctrines of devils" (demons). The             Their reincarnation tales are mockery of the
latest useful books today exposing the cults show           biblical account of life, death, and the eternal state.
their direct connection to and permeation with the          Their ESP, dreams of other fantastical worlds and
occult. Of this very thing Paul had prophesied. He          of life on other planets are mockery of divine
further prophesied, in II Timothy 3: lff, "that in the      revelation and of biblical eschatology. Their resort-
last days perilous times shaZZ come. For men shall          ing to hypnotism is a toying with man's God-given
be" self-lovers, money-lovers . . . no lovers of good       mind and conscience and a mocking intrusion into
(v. 3), pleasure-lovers, not God-lovers (v. 4). Paul,       the privacy of a man's soul.
in his gift of prophecy, saw these things off into the         It is Jude, then, who makes it plain that the
not distant future. Peter also prophesied of this           apostasy is current. Paul tells us that the coming of
coming apostasy in II Peter 2:1-3, "there were false        the Lord, the day of Christ, "shall not come, except
prophets among the people, even as there shaZZ be           there be a falling away (lit., the apostasy) first" (II
false teachers among you, who privily (secretly)            Thess. 1:lO; 2:3). Well, the apostasy has come, we
shaZZ bring in damnable heresies . . . and many shall       are in it, and it is all a loud warning, as plain as can
follow their pernicious ways . . . and through              be, that it (the end of the world, Matt. 24:3, 33, in
covetousness shaZZ with feigned words make mer-             the Kingdom of Glory, Lk. 21:31)  is near! The false
chandise of you." The cult leaders are in it for            cults, in many ways, advertise their presence in the
money; their dupes make them rich and they live             world. But their very apostate existence is God's
like kings! But then this apostasy, prophesied by           advertisement to all that the coming of the Son of
Jesus, Paul, and Peter, soon actually occurred in           man is near.
Jude's day. For he said, there are certain men crept
in unawares, who, although they were ordained to              III. The Cults Flourishing. True, some weird
this evil work resulting in their condemnation, are         cults, like the Shakers, are dying out. But at the
actually "turning the grace of God into lascivious-         same time, other new cults are arising. One of the
ness," and are actually now "denying the only Lord          fastest expanding cult bodies is the "New Age
God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 4). "These             Movement" (the ancient "New Thought" decked
defiZe  the flesh,  despise . . . speak  evil" (present     out in Century Twenty-One format). This is said to
tenses, v. 8, 10). "These are spots in your feasts . . .    embrace worldwide, international networks in-
feeding themselves without fear . . . foaming out           volving tens of thousands of different organiza-
their own shame . . . . These are murmurers, com-           tions, with representation in the United Nations, in
plainers, walking after their own lusts; and their          prominent business, scientific, legal, and medical
mouth speaketh great swelling words" (v. 12, 13,            circles and in congressional and cabinet levels of
16). The present tenses here show that already in           the United States government. This cult, and scores
Jude's day the apostasy prophesied had come.                of others, has a Hindu background and connec-
Since then there was and continues to be an on-             tion. The cult disease is spreading. In it, we must
going apostasy, both in the churches and in the             not overlook, as some contemporaneous books on
world of the ungodly (II Pet. 2:5). "But, Beloved,          the subject do, esoteric Illuminism, Satanism, and
remember ye the words which were spoken before              the latest manifestations of Satanism in "Rock
of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that          Music" and "M-TV." The latter two, full of the
they  told  you there should be (there shall be)            vilest, most horrible abominations, are part of the
mockers in the last time, who should walk after             cult invasion. Does it not overflow into our homes?
their own ungodly lusts" (Jude 17, 18). It.was Peter        And are our young parents and young people en-
who prophetically recorded the actual words that            tirely free of it?
these apostates would speak (See II Pet. 3). Jude             All the cults are part of the wiles and allurements
reminds us that the apostles had identified these           of the Great Whore, or Antichrist's world-kingdom
apostates as mockers. That's exactly what those of          from the point of view of its devilish seductiveness.
the major and minor cults today are, mockers! That          The end of this kingdom of the cults is pronounced
means that the leaders and followers of the                 in Revelation  18:1-8, which, please read. Gods
"Children of God' cult, of "Christian Science," of          answer to all these evils in the world is the promise
Mormonism and of Armstrongism, are mockers.                 of the Return of the Lord at the last trumpet on the
They mock the one only true God. They mock sex,             last day, "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
sin, sickness, and death. They mock the true saints,        from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             449



taking vengeance on them that know not God, and            Mind Sciences, Nichiren  Shoshu/Soka Gokkai,
that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,         Order of the Star of the East, Penitentes, Rosicru-
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction         cianism, Spiritism, TM, Unification Church,
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory          Vedanta Society, Worldwide Church of God, Yoga
of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in        or Zen, it makes no difference, the damnatory
His saints, and to be admired in all them that             sentence of the one only true God denounced
believe" (II Thess. 1:7-10).                               against them all is, "If the prophet be deceived
  Whether contemporaneous false prophets be of             when he hath spoken a thing, I, the Lord have
Astrology, Bahaism, Christian Science, Divine              deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My
Light Mission, Eckankar, Freemasonry, Gurdjieff/           hand upon him, and will destroy him from the
Subud/Renaissance,  Hinduism, Islam, Jehovah's             midst of My people, Israel" (Ezek. 14:9).
Witnesses, Krishnamurti Foundation, Lifespring,





                                   Unequally Yoked
                                             Profi Robert D. Decker




  That we are living in the last times is a plain fact.      That we are very near to the end is obvious from
Every sincere Christian knows that soon his Lord           events in the world itself. Modern means of trans-
will appear to make all things new. Before the             portation and communication developed in the last
Lords coming Antichrist must appear. During his            fifty years or so have made a much smaller world
brief reign the remnant according to Gods gracious         than our fathers knew. The parents of those of us
election in Christ will suffer in what Scripture calls     who are in our forties and fifties lived in horse and
the Great Tribulation. While it remains true that no       buggy days. Today within seconds one can talk via
man knows the day nor the hour of the Lord's               the telephone with someone on the other side of the
return, we do know that it is very near. Scripture         world. A person can fly to the other side of the
itself states, "But the end of all things is at hand       world within a day. Man has set foot on the moon
. . ." (I Peter 47a). Literally the text says, "But the    and dreams of doing more. The advances in medi-
end (goal, purposeful end) of all things has come          cine and technology are staggering. And all of this
near or has made its approach." The end is not             serves to unite the countries of the world and make
coming nor even coming rapidly, but it has already         them increasingly interdependent. We live in the
made its approach. For this reason Gods people are         day of a "world economy." What happens on Wall
exhorted to be ". . . sober, and watch unto prayer"        Street in New York affects the whole world and not
(I Peter 4:7b). That we are very near to the end is        just our own country. More and more there is
evident from the fact too that most of the signs of        political unity. The world is divided into the
which Jesus spoke (cf. Matthew 24) have occurred           Eastern, Communist countries and the Western,
and are occurring with increasing rapidity and in-         capitalist countries. Both are vying for control of
tensity in our times. There are wars and rumors of         the Third World countries and underdeveloped na-
war, earthquake and famine and pestilence in               tions. The threat and terror of nuclear war drives
many parts of the world. There is abounding law-           the world powers to the conference table repeated-
lessness. Crime of every sort abounds, interna-            ly. Though the conflict, hatred, and wars in the
tional terrorism has become a major problem.               Middle East and elsewhere seem never to end, the
There is apostasy and falling away in many chur-           leaders of the nations and the people who follow
ches. There are many false prophets and teachers           them yearn for and strive for world peace. The
and false Christs. When we see these things we             depletion (real or alleged) of natural resources
must know that it will not be long before we see the       drives the nations of the world together. Without
world and nominal church united under the rule of          cooperation among the nations we are told we will
him whose number is six hundred sixty-six.                 soon run out of oil and natural gas and other forms


450                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



of energy. What we must see in all these things is         Doctors of Theology who are needed to tell the rest
the fact that our sovereign God is working all things      of us what the Bible says and what it does not say.
according to His purpose in Christ. God is setting         The fact remains, the Bible has not changed; much
the stage, so to speak, for Antichrist.                    of the church has changed. Our comfort in all of
                                                           this is that Gods Word which is sharper than any
  Events within the visible church in the world            two-edged sword, which pierces to the joints and
also clearly point to the fact that the end of all
things is at hand. We have witnessed in the last           marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts of man's
                                                           heart, endures forever! All of this has affected the
twenty or so years the merger of several large,
mainline denominations. Many of the churches,              worship of the church. Preaching, the chief means
perhaps most, are members of the World Council             of grace, the means by which the sheep of Christ
                                                           hear His voice (cf. John 10, Romans lo), has suf-
of Churches, and in the U.S.A. of the National
Council of Churches. Huge segments of the church,          fered tremendously. Much preaching amounts to
many of which are not affiliated with the W.C.C. or        little more than brief homilies on social or other
                                                           issues. No longer is the Word of God expounded in
the N.C.C., are completely dominated theologically         all its riches, power, and beauty. After all, if it is on-
by Arminianism which our Reformed fathers did
not hesitate to call "the Pelagian error out of hell"      ly Paul's or Peter's word and not Gods, why
                                                           preach at all!? The inevitable result of this is that
(Canons of Dordrecht, 1618, 1619; Head II, Rejec-          Gods people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
tion of Errors, Article III). It can be demonstrated
repeatedly from the history of the church that Ar-         (Hosea  4:6). These phenomena among the churches \
minianism leads to liberalism and a complete               also clearly point to the nearness of the end.
denial of the fundamentals of the truth of Scripture.        No doubt, however, the clearest sign of the
Protestants are flirting with the Romish Church. In        nearness of the end of all things is the denial of the
spite of Vatican II and recent pronouncements              antithesis by much of the church. Scripture's ad-
from the Bishops of IRome, Rome has not changed.           monition to Gods people is: "Be ye not unequally
The mass is still an "accursed idolatry" (Heidelberg       yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellow-
Catechism, Lord's Day XXX, q. and a. 80). There is         ship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and
among the churches widespread doctrinal depar-             what communion hath light with darkness? And
ture from .the truth of Scripture. Cardinal truths         what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part
such as: double predestination, creation in six days,      hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what
the creation of Adam and Eve and their fall into sin       agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for
through the temptation of the devil in the form of a       ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath
serpent, the miracles of the Bible, the virgin birth of    said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I
Christ, the resurrection of Christ, irresistible grace,    will be their God, and they shall be my people.
limited atonement, the imminent destruction of the         Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye
present heavens and earth and the creation of the          separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
new heavens and earth, the reality of hell, and            thing; and I will receive you, And I will be a Father
more are denied. There is compromise on key                unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters,
issues affecting the Christian life of obedience to        saith the Lord Almighty" (II Corinthians 6:14-18).
the will of God. Among these key issues are: the           The church has long ago lost sight of this call to
condoning of homosexuality in spite of the clear           separation. More and more the church moves
teaching of Romans 1 and other passages; approval          closer to the world and cooperates with the world
of movie attendance and dancing; the desecration           and fellowships with the world. Pronouncements
of the Lord's Day; ordaining women in church of-           are made on social and economic and political
fice; couples living together even though they are         issues. Rather than preaching the gospel of the
not married. The Bible speaks clearly on all of these      Scriptures with its call to faith and repentance, the
issues, so clearly that no one can misunderstand           church proclaims a social gospel. The concerns of
what he reads in Scripture concerning these issues.        the church do not include faith in ,the Lord Jesus
To evade this issue the theologians have invented a        Christ and salvation from sin and death by Gods
"new hermeneutic," a new rule of Bible interpreta-         grace in Christ. Instead the church is concerned
tion which allows them to compromise on these              with world hunger, poverty, peace among the na-
issues. What may have applied in Bible times is no         tions, justice, the rights of women and minorities,
longer appropriate for today. What this means,             etc. To be a."Christian" does not make a difference
therefore, is that all of this compromise is really a      with most. Few there be indeed who find by Gods
denial of the inspiration and infallibility of the Bi-     grace the narrow way with its straight gate which
ble. There has arisen within Protestantism a new           leads to life. Rather than seeking the Kingdom of
hierarchy between the man and woman in the pew             God and God's righteousness the church seeks to
and the Bible. That new hierarchy consists of the          establish an earthly kingdom of God. Its affection is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 451



on earthly things and the church has lost its vision         God is sovereign and Christ is Lord of lords and
of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not difficult at all to      Ring of kings. God is working out His eternal pur-
see how church and world become one. The day                 pose and counsel in Christ. Out of all these things
cannot be far off when the beast out of the sea and          Gods Kingdom of righteousness and truth is com-
earth will arise to universal power and rule. In             ing. For the elect's sake those days of the end will
those days the godly will suffer great persecution.          be shortened. Christ is coming to bring all of His
They will be able neither to buy nor sell because            own to Himself. Then they shall be where He is.
they refuse the mark of the beast.                             We live in perilous times to be sure. Our comfort
  Does this means Gods cause is lost? Is there no            is: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth
hope for God's people in all of this? Will the church        sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that
ultimately go down to defeat? Is the future for the          are his. And, let everyone that nameth the name of
faithful only bleak and fearful? Not at all! Gods            Christ depart from iniquity" (II Timothy 2:19).
people must understand and they must believe that





                         The Coming of Antichrist
                                                 Rev. Steven Houck





  The coming of Antichrist is one of the signs of the        His kingdom and rule in the place of Christ. He
second coming of Christ. The Bible teaches us that           would be honored and worshiped as God in the
the last days will be characterized by wars and              place of Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of this
rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes,           when he writes, "Let no man deceive you by any
apostasy, great tribulation, and more. The coming            means: for that day shall not come, except there
of Antichrist, however, is one of the most impor-            come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
tant of all these signs. Jesus warned us about Anti-         revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and
christ when He said, "For there shall arise false            exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great            is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple
signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possi-          of God, shewing himself that he is God" (II Thess.
ble, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24:24).       2:3-4). Antichrist is the man of sin who opposes the
These false Christs and false prophets are a part of         true God and exalts himself as God.
the kingdom of Antichrist. The apostle John teaches            This is because Antichrist is raised up, em-
us that Antichrist was already present in his day.           powered, and controlled by the archenemy of God,
He says, "Little children, it is the last time: and as       the devil. We see the relationship between the devil
ye have heard the antichrist shall come, even now            and Antichrist in Rev. 13. There we read of two
are there many antichrists, whereby we know that             beasts - one who rises up out of the sea (v. 1) and
it is the last time" (I John 2: 18). We are living in the    one who comes up out of the earth (v. 11). These
last time. Antichrist is already developing. There-          beasts represent Antichrist as a political power and
fore, it behooves us to read the signs of the time and       as a spiritual, religious power. Of the first beast it is
beware of the coming of that great enemy of God              said, "And they worshiped the dragon (the devil -
and His people.                                              S.H.) which gave power unto the beast" (Rev. 13:4).
  The word "anti" means "against" or "instead                Of the second beast it is said, "And he spake as a
of" and indicates the chief characteristic of Anti-          dragon" (Rev. 13: 11). In II Thessalonians 2:9 the
christ. Antichrist is one who is opposed to Christ           apostle Paul informs us that Antichrist's coming is
and seeks to be Christ instead of the true Christ.           "after the working of Satan." Thus Antichrist has
Antichrist seeks to destroy Christ and the Kingdom           its origin in the devil and represents Satan's effort
of Christ. But, further, Antichrist seeks to establish       to dethrone the Christ and rule in His place that


452                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



finally he may "ascend above the heights of the             sense, Antichrist has always been present in this
clouds" and "be like the most High" (Isa. 14:14).           world. Even in the old dispensation there were
   Although Antichrist may be one individual man,           types of Antichrist. The typical Antichrists sought
or a group of men, the Bible teaches that Antichrist        to destroy God's people so that the Christ would
is also a world kingdom. In fact, Antichrist is a           not come into the world. The devil knew that if he
world confederacy of many nations. The whole                could keep Christ from being born, he would have
world will be united under one head as the terrible         the victory. Thus we read in Revelation 12:4, "And
kingdom of the devil. All the "Christian" nations           the dragon (Satan - S.H.) stood before the woman
will gather together under Antichrist. This is re-          (old dispensational church - S.H.) which was ready
ferred to in Revelation  17:12-13,  "And the ten            to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it
horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have           was born." We see this effort in the antichristian
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as            kingdoms of Babel, Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome,
kings one hour with the beast. These have one               and many others. The wicked kingdom of
mind, and shall give their power and strength unto          Nebuchadnezzar is especially typical of Antichrist.
the beast." But also tlhe `"heathen" nations will join      He built an image of himself and required all to
together with Antichrist. We read of that in Revela-        worship him and his kingdom by bowing down to
tion 20:7-g, "And when the thousand years are ex-           that image. If anyone refused they were thrown in-
pired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and         to the furnace. Thus he opposed Christ and sought
shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the        to be worshiped in Christ's place (Dan. 3).
four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to                 It is with the first coming of Christ, however,
gather them together to battle: the number of               that Antichrist appears on the scene in all of his
whom is as the sand of the sea."                            power. No, Antichrist is not here in all of its
   Thus the "Christian" and  "heathen" nations will         fulness, but it is developing. It is coming more and
all unite together to form one great antichristian          more. We see it in the developing world unity. Na-
world power which seeks to destroy the kingdom              tions have joined with nations in world alliances.
of Christ. God will allow Antichrist to have tempor-        Nations are cooperating together in many different
ary, but supreme rule over all. The wicked desires          ways - for defense, science, trade, and commerce.
and plans of the devil will be instituted. The world        The United Nations is testimony of that fact. It
at large will love it. But it will be a time of terrible    seems that nations are willing to give up some of
persecution for the true Church. John tells us con-         their national sovereignty for the sake of world uni-
cerning the Antichrist, "And it was given unto him          ty. We can see in this the coming of the one world
to make war with the saints, and to overcome                government of Antichrist.
them" (Rev. 13:7). Concerning the religious aspect            We see Antichrist's coming especially in the false
of Antichrist, it is said, "And I saw the woman             religion of our day. Jesus warned us to beware of
(false religion - S.H.) drunken with the blood of the       false Christs and false prophets for good reason.
saints" (Rev. 17:6). For when Antichrist is here in         They are everywhere. Not only are nonchristian
all of its fuhress, all will be required to worship         religions becoming popular, but the "Christian"
him. Those who refuse will be persecuted. Thus it           cults are growing very dramatically. Besides that,
will be a time of great tribulation. Jesus said, "For       many "Christian" denominations have departed
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not            from the truth and are no more Christian than the
since the beginning of the world to this time, no,          Eastern religions. Even "Reformed' churches have
nor ever shall be" (Malt. 24:21). When Antichrist is        become apostate or are in the process of becoming
here in all of his fuhless, Gods people will be re-         apostate. There is very little left in Christendom
quired to seal their faith with their lives. For the        that is- true church. Antichrist is here now with its
choices will be very simple. You either forsake             false religion. "That man of sin" is sitting in the
God, worship Antichrist, and live, or you stand fast        "temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
in the Faith and suffer the wrath of Antichrist. The
dividing line between' true faith and unbelief will           We see Antichrist in the persecution that we ex-
be very distinct.                                           perience today. In some places God's people must
                                                            give their lives for the sake of the Truth. But even
  All of this indicates that Antichrist is not here in      in America many of our freedoms are being taken
all of its fuhress. We do not yet see, the fulness of a     away from us. God, the Bible, and prayer have
world political power or a false world religion. We         been banned from the public schools and from all
do not yet suffer the great persecution of that day.        agencies of the government. Many of the antidis-
We may still worship God as we please. Yet, Anti-           crimination laws of our land are sufficient to close
christ is surely present in this world. This is what        down our parental schools as well as our seminary.
John teaches us in I John 2:18. In fact, in a certain       More and more our churches will be open to perse-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                453



cution from the state as we refuse to bow before a        sake. Then we join with the devil, the wicked
state that seeks equality for women, children,            world government, and false religion. One stands
homosexuals, and others in all things (even               either with Christ or with Antichrist. If you stand
religion). How many of us fathers could be put in         with Antichrist then you will be destroyed with
jail for such a thing as properly disciplining (spank-    him. For when all seems to be secure in his hands,
ing) our children. As the world unites politically        Christ will come and put an end to it all. For Anti-
and philosophically we will more and more be the          Christ is the "wicked" one "whom the Lord shall
outcasts of our own society. When we can no               consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall
longer be tolerated, we will be put into prisons and      destroy with the brightness of his coming" (II
killed for our faith.                                     Thess. 2:8). Antichrist shall fail. The devil shall fail.
  Indeed, we must be on guard. We must be care-           For Christ is the Ring and His kingdom shall never
ful that we do not go along with the world and its        fail. The devil, the beast, and the false prophet shall
antichristian religion and philosophy. We must            all be "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone . . .
stand fast in the truth even though it means perse-       and shall be tormented day and night for ever and
cution. While the world goes after the lies of the        ever" (Rev. 2O:lO). But you, who faithfully stand
devil, we must hold to the Word of God. We must           with Christ against Antichrist shall "inherit the
stand with Christ at all cost. In these days, and even    kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
more so when Antichrist is here in his fulness, we        the world' (Matt. 25:34).
dare not depart from the Truth for convenience





                         T,he Preaching of the Gospel
                         as a Sign of Christ's Coming
                                              Rev. Kenneth Hanko





  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached          By the term "gospel of the kingdom" the text
in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and      tells what is the content of the preaching which the
then shall the end come. Matthew 24:14                    church does. We may describe that content in dif-
  In Matthew 24 God teaches us that all of history        ferent ways, but here the Scriptures direct us to
must be understood in the light of its end. False         look at it from the viewpoint of the kingdom.
prophets and apostasy, wars and rumors of wars,             The kingdom of which Jesus speaks here is the
famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, tribulation        kingdom which God promised to, and typically
and iniquity, even the rise and rule of Antichrist        established in, the nation of Israel. But the Old
himself are signs of Christ's second coming. They         Testament kingdom was only typical. It was not the
can be understood properly only when we look at           end, but only the beginning, of that which God has
them as progress towards the goal of the fulfillment      eternally purposed to establish. The kingdom was
of God's purpose: the glory of His name through           realized in the kingdom established by Jesus' death,
the salvation of the church in the new heavens and        ascension, and pouring out of the Spirit: the
earth. The things and events of history are signs         church.
because God so governs every one of them that               That kingdom is a heavenly kingdom, not of this
they all, willing or unwilling, knowing or unknow-        world. The establishment of it begins in this world,
ing, serve the advancement of His cause in the            and for a time it exists in this world, but it is
world.                                                    always, in its essence, heavenly. It has a heavenly
  This is also true, perhaps especially true, of the      king: God in the exalted savior Christ. Its citizens
preaching of the gospel.                                  become citizens by a heavenly work, and by the


454                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



bestowal of heavenly characteristics: regeneration       of the second coming. But we must be very careful
and everlasting life. Its full glory and final estab-    here. This sign cannot, just as the other signs can-
lishment cannot be until all of the citizens have        not, tell us the day and hour. When these things
been born and taken to heaven and the kingdoms of        begin to come to pass we may look up and lift up
this world have become the kingdom of our Lord           our heads, for our redemption draweth nigh, but at
and of His Christ in the new heavens and earth.          the same time we must remember that the day of
  We must therefore look at the establishment of         the Lord comes as a thief in the night, and that it
the kingdom of God as a process. This process            will seem to us that our Bridegroom tarries long.
began with the establishment of the typical                We may not therefore take it into our heads that
kingdom of the Old Testament, or, better yet, with       the signs are fulfilled and that we may sleep while
the promise of God in Genesis 3: 15. It will end only    we wait. It may seem to us that the gospel has in-
when the last elect child of God has been glorified.     deed been preached to all nations, and we know
And from the beginning to the end God builds that        that, if it is not true yet, it is very nearly true: our
kingdom by gathering its citizens.                       redemption draweth nigh. But the Lord has not
  This work God accomplishes by the preaching of         come: the signs are not yet completely fulfilled.
the gospel.                                                Therefore hear again the words of our Lord, "GO
  The gospel shall be preached in all the world.         ye therefore, and teach all nations . . . ." Hear it
There is implied here the fulfillment of the com-        with a renewed knowledge of its urgency. There is
mand which Jesus gave to His disciples after His         no more important thing for the church of today
resurrection when He said, "Go ye into all the           than that urgent "Go ye . . . ." Let nothing, no mat-
world, and teach all nations . . . ." Before the end     ter how important it may seem, let nothing, not
comes every  natioln, tribe, and tongue under            wars or the threat of war, starvation, pestilences, or
heaven will have heard the gospel of the kingdom.        earthquakes, iniquity or tribulation, wicked men or
God will not rest, and will not let His church rest,     the powers of hell, let nothing divert you from the
until this word of Jesus has been fulfilled.             preaching of the gospel. By the preaching of the
                                                         gospel of the kingdom the end is coming.
  The gospel is preached to all nations for a
witness. The gospel gives a faithful and sure testi-       And let not one of you think that he can be free
mony to the work of God in Christ, the establish-        from this burden. On every minister of the Word
ment of the kingdom in righteousness, and the            there is laid the command to preach where the Lord
promised perfection of that kingdom in heaven. It        calls or sends. And on every child of God who hears
testifies that the Lord is coming in judgment, and       that Word there is laid the command to carry it
calls on men everywhere to repent and believe. The       with him from the church to the world, to live it
testimony of that gospel is both a savor of life unto    and to speak it and to let the light of the truth shine
life and a savor of death unto death. Many reject        as from a hill. Do not think, people of God, that the
and refuse to believe the witness of the gospel, and     ordained preachers of the gospel must or can or will
hear the sentence of Christ, "Depart from me, ye         do all your work for you. They speak to you in
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil    order that you may speak to others. The preaching
and his angels." But a few, the chosen, believe, and     of the gospel must not stand alone. It is the com-
at the second coming hear the sentence, "Come, ye        mand, power, content, and end, for your wit-
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared       nessing. If you will not speak, God will give what
for you from the foundation of the world." The           you now hear to others who will.
gospel of the kingdom goes forthas a witness to all        Preach confidently and boldly. Though the
nations, therefore, in order that eventually the         whole course of history seems to be against you and
multitude .which no] .man can number, of all na-         contrary to the purpose of our God, nothing can
tions, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, may        prevent or delay the swift return of our Lord.
sing before the throne and before the Lamb.              Nothing can stop the preaching of the gospel to the
                                                         nations until the last one of God's elect children has
  And that is the cormection of the preaching of the     been saved. Wicked men will take you before their
gospel with the end. On the one hand the end can-        councils, they will mock and beat you, and com-
not be until the catholic church has been fully          mand you to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. If
gathered. All of God's elect must be saved. On the       you obey God rather than men they will kill you
other hand the end is when the church has been           and drive you to the mountains, but the gospel of
fully gathered. There will be no need any longer         the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, the
that this world continue to be: God will have ac-        end will come, and you will be, with all who have
complished His purpose in it.                            gone before you, heirs of the everlasting kingdom
  That is why the preaching of the gospel is a sign      of heaven.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             455



  Preach everywhere. 3end out your missionaries             Preach enthusiastically. God will use you for the
wherever it pleases God to open a door. Pray for          salvation of His own, and for the establishment of
them and support them by whatever means you               His kingdom. Preach therefore with the sure hope
can. But also, at every opportunity, and in every         that the end of your work is the perfection of God's
place, give answer with meekness and fear. Let            kingdom, and the joyful hearing of the words of
your light so shine before men, that they may see         your Lord, "Well done, thou good and faithful ser-
your good works, and glorify your Father which is         vant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
in heaven.

              Take the time to Read and Study
                           The Standard Bearer!


                       News From Our Churches

                                                  July 13,1985

  Picture this scene in your mind. A married man          the knowledge of truth' (II Timothy 3). We live in
enters the living room, picks up the  Standard            perilous days! For a while we have the tremendous
Bearer, and after reading the News From Our Chur-         privilege of being taught in distinctively Reformed
ches throws down the magazine, grumbling about            schools. But soon, as young people of God, we are
the outdatedness of the news. Here are Staff sugges-      propelled into further education or a vocation
tions given to me to improve the news reporting           where the Truth is challenged on the basis of mere
from our churches. 1. Get a little more variety in        human knowledge. Often this comes to us under
your news. (Something difficult, because you are          the guise of godliness, but a denial of the power
dependent on people furnishing you with news.) 2.         thereof. Be careful! You must constantly evaluate,
Try to avoid outdated news . . . .3. Spark up the ac-     you must constantly test against the only and com-
count a bit for the sake of interest. These are worth-    plete standard of the Truth, the Scriptures. This
while suggestions which point out the need for the        world is full of learning which is devoid of Truth
church news editor and the churches to work to-           . . . ." Reading the Standard Bearer is another way
gether to make the news current and interesting to        for our young people to evaluate the words of men.
the reader. For my part in sparking up the account I         The `golden key in mission work is ?. Here
will vary the way in which the news is written. For       is Rev. Ken Hanko's conviction. "The mission con-
your part in this worthwhile endeavor, you will           ference which I attended in G.R. this week was
need to send me a variety of news in advance of           profitable in some ways, and rather disturbing in
when it will take place, e.g., the events happening       others. The main thing that is disturbing to me is
in September should be sent to me three weeks             that it seems to me that there is sometimes too
before the month of September. With some extra ef-        much emphasis put on methods, use of pamphlets,
fort on our parts the News From Our Churches can          Bible studies, etc. I have come gradually to the con-
become even more interesting, while encouraging           viction that there are two important things in all
our readers to read the whole magazine.                   mission work: 1) the official preaching of the
  Should young people read the Standard Bearer? In        Gospel, and 2) the living witness of the people of
answer to this question I will quote Rev. Joostens'       God. And these two are inseparably connected. The
remark to graduates. "But Paul described it well to       witness must be impelled by and governed by the
Timothy. `But men shall be lovers of their own            preaching of the Word. Without these we cannot
selves . . . ever learning and never able to come to      expect that God will bless our work." What is your

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




  456                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


  answer to the question above?                                                 The Evangelism Committee of South Holland
    The Grandville Church, in Michigan, reports                              Church, Illinois, received this remark in a letter
  that the Grandville Planning Commission approved                           from a person living in Moorestown, NJ. ". . . How
  their purchase of the property at 4320 40th Street.                        ironic that many Arminian churches post a neon
  They have closed on the property. Work is already                          sign, `Jesus Never Fails,' or, `Jesus Saves,' and from
  beginning on engineering plans for street and                              the pulpit they teach the -opposite! . . . THANK
  utilities on Pineway Avenue and the designing of a                         GOD, that it is He that does the saving and does so
  future parsonage.                                                          sovereignly. Amen Brother! Love to you all . . . ."
    The clothing drive conducted in the Grand                                                                                                    DH
  Rapids, Michigan area a couple of months ago for
  the Jamaican mission field was quite successful.
  The Jamaica Mission Committee would like to                                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  thank all who gave to this cause. The clothing is                            The Ladies Aid Society, "Ruth", of the Hope Protestant Reformed
  currently being stored, awaiting a decision by the                         Church extend their Christian sympathy to Mrs. Fred Huizinga in the
  diaconate of First Church as to the best way to                            death of her brother, MR. DICK VANDER LOON.
  distribute this.                                                              "For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide
                                                                             even unto death."
                                                                                                                            Jon Huisken, Pres.
                                                                                                                            Marilyn King, Sec'y.
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan
     On August 11, 1985, MR. AND MRS. FRED HANK0 celebrate
  their 30th wedding anniversary. We, their children and grandchildren
  rejoice with them and also thank God for their instruction in Godliness                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  and for their making of the home a haven of fellowship and love.              The Priscilla Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
     "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall            Grand Rapids, Michigan, wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy to
  declare thy mighty acts." (Psalm 145:4)                                    one of our members, Miss Lubertha Bykerk in the death of her
                                                                             mother, MRS. ELLA BYKERK.
  Pete and Jan Westra                      Dave Hanko
    Peter, Scott and Kevin                 Dan Hanko                            "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians I:21 I
  Mitch and Ellen Dick                     Mary Hanko                                                                         Mrs. E. Bol, Pres.
  Fred Hanko                                                                                                                  Mrs. E. Peters, Sec'y.
  Brian and Carrie Dykstra                                            I
    Lynnae
                                                                                                    IN LOVING MEMORY
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                          One year ago, on July 31, 1984, our Heavenly Father suddenly
    On August 21, 1985, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND               removed from our midst and took to Glory, our beloved wife, mother,
  MRS. WILBUR G. BRUINSMA, SR. will celebrate their 40th wedding             grandmother, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law and aunt, MRS. ANNE
  anniversary.                                                               BYLSMA. It is our prayer that our God will continue to comfort and
                                                                             sustain us in the future, as He has in the past year.
    We are thankful to our covenant Father for the blessings bestowed
  upon them and us these many years.                                            "And we know that all things work together for good to them that
                                                                             love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."
     It is our prayer that God may continue to guide them on their earth-    (Romans 8:28)
  ly pilgrimage so they may experience that - "the Lord is good: His
  mercy is everlasting: and His truth endureth to all generations."          Mr. Ken Bylsma                            Mr. and Mrs. M. Koerner
  (Psalm 100:5)                                                              Ken Jr. and Cindy Bylsma                  Mr. and Mrs. E. Cammenga
                                                                             Rich and Kathy Feenstra                   Mr. and Mrs. J. Buiter
                               their grateful children and grandchildren,       Steve, Keith and Doug                  Mr. and Mrs. F. Block
  John and Judith Kalsbeek              Rev. Wilbur and Mary Bruinsma        Kevin Bylsma                                 nephews and nieces
    and nine children                      and three children                Mrs. Gerritt Bylsma                       Grand Rapids, Michigan
  Lewis and Donna Bruinsma              Keith and Wanda Bruktsma             Mr..and  Mrs. S. Bylsma
    and seven children                     and four children

                                                                                                         NOTICE!!!
                              NOTICE!!!                                         Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday,
    Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet, the          September 11, 1985 at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church,
  Lord willing, in Loveland, Colorado on September 4, 1985, at 8:30          Grand Rapids, Michigan. Material for this session must be in the
  AM. Delegates in need of lodging or transportation from the airport        hands of the Stated Clerk at least three weeks prior to the convening
  should notify the Clerk of the Loveland Consistory.                        of  this  meeting.
                                          Rev. David Engelsma                                                                          Jon Huisken
                                          Stated Clerk of Classis West                                                                 Stated Clerk


