                The                                 .'
 STANDARD

                A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





I I
       . . .    The less we concentrate on worship,
especially from Saturday evening until the
consistory enters; the more quickly the dew
of heaven will run off our hard and dry
hearts O . . . Failure to prepare is what makes
us most dissatisfied with our worship as we
have it now. . . . Instead of being spectators,
or coming for sport, come to church next
Lord's Day with a heart that longs and thirsts
for the Water of Life."
See "Participants  - Not Spectators" -
                                                                 - page 494


                                                    Vol. LXI, No. 21, September 15,  1985-


482                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                               THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                         CONTENTS                                                                                       ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                               Published b the Reformed Free Publishing  Association..  Inc.
       Meditation  -                                                                                                &condClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                    Ed&r-in-chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
           Entering God's House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .482                        Departmenr  Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga. Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof.  Robert
       Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .485                 D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald  Hank@
                                                                                                    Mr. David Harbach. Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                                    Lubbers. Rev. Thomas C.  Miersma. Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
       My Sheep Hear My Voice -                                                                     ma, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
           Our Order of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .485                        Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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           Faithfulness That Never Fails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .487                           Church  News  Edifort  Mr. David Harbach
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MEDITATION


                                                     Entering God's House
                                                                                       Rev. H. Veldman


                         "Neither shall evil dwell with Thee . . . . But as for me, I will come into Thy house in the
                    multitude of Thy mercy. "                                                                                                             Ps. 5:4b, 7a



  The Word of God, Scripture, is absolute,  either-                                                   is either-or. We are either wise or foolish, haters of
or.                                                                                                   God or lovers of Him; we seek either the things that
       This is true, generally. In Scripture we are either                                            are above or the things that are below. We are
in light or in darkness, speak either the truth or the                                                saved by grace, never out of works; we love and
lie, are either in life or in death. The Word of God                                                  serve the Lord and hate Mammon and the devil, or
knows of no compromise, nothing in-between; it                                                        we love and serve Mammon and the devil and we


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               483



hate the Lord. The Word of God, Scripture, is ex-         stood this truth. They knew that to dwell with the
clusively absolute, never relative.                       Lord is purely spiritual.
  How true this is, too, in this psalm! Indeed, the         This is applicable to the New Testament reality.
Lord is not a God that has pleasure in wickedness,        The house of God does not consist in church build-
evil shall not dwell with Him. The foolish shall not      ings. There are, of course, church buildings. And
stand in God's sight; the Lord hates all workers of       they are necessary. The idea of God's house, how-
iniquity. Indeed, "Thou shalt destroy them that           ever, is far deeper and more profound.
speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and
deceitful man. But (and let us by all means notice          The idea of God's house, never to be understood
this absolute contrast) as for me, I will come into       merely outwardly, is exclusively spiritual. This ex-
Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy." Indeed,         pression refers to Gods fellowship with His people
the Word of God is absolute,.full  of contrasts; there    in His everlasting covenant. To be with the Lord in
is nothing relative, nothing in-between; it is all        His house, to dwell with Him, refers to that won-
either-or.                                                derful communion with the alone blessed God. We
                                                          must never confuse a being with God with a dwell-
  "I will come into Thy house." Is there anything         ing with Him. The Lord is everywhere. In that
more wonderful, more glorious, of greater signifi-        sense all men are with God. In Him all men move,
cance for the child of God than this coming into          live, and have their being. But to dwell with Him is
God's house? The Lord, Who is a light and in              something so radically different. God's covenant
Whom is no darkness, is the lo and eternal God, in        fellowship, we understand, is not bound to time or
Himself the All-Sufficient, eternally blessed God,        place. This fellowship, this dwelling with Jehovah,
Whom to know is everlasting life. To come into His        is a fellowship of love, is the tasting of His faithful-
House, to be inducted into His covenant fellow-           ness. It means that we are the object of His favour,
ship, to live and dwell underneath His roof, to walk      that we experience His life, His light and holiness,
and to talk with Him, to sing His praises and speak       and taste His wonderful, unfathomable love. Under
of His wonderful goodness and perfection - all this       the preaching of the gospel, in prayer and the
will satisfy us, forever and completely. And all this     reading of the scriptures, in exercising the fellow-
becomes increasingly wonderful because, denied            ship of the saints, the child of God dwells with the
sovereignly to others, it is bestowed sovereignly         Lord, experiences His fellowship. Indeed, this we
upon me.                                                  experience in this life only in principle. Here we
         * * * * * * *                 8: * *             have only a foretaste of that everlasting Sabbath of
  The House of the Lord.                                  our God. Presently this perfect communion will be
                                                          realized. Heaven is the everlasting and full realiza-
  This house, according to Scripture, must not be         tion of communion with God. That will be glory in-
identified with anything that is external. The house      deed.
of Jehovah, as in the old dispensation, did not con-
sist in the outward temple. It is true that that tem-       Now we also understand what the psalmist
ple, with all that characterized it, was a symbol of      means when he speaks of coming into God's house.
this scriptural idea. That everything was under-          This, too, is not merely something in the external
neath one roof, the golden candlestick, the altar of      sense. A black garment, the eye fixed earthward, a
incense, and the ark of the covenant with its mercy       long face, a pious talk - these do not lead anyone
seat, was surely a beautiful symbol of the fact that      into the house of God as held before us in this par-
the Lord dwelled with His people. And this temple         ticular word of God. Shall the bride of our Lord
in the old dispensation was God's temple, His             Jesus Christ be clothed with a black garment, walk
work. This appears from the oft-repeated refrain in       pessimistically and in doubt? This activity of enter-
the Old Testament, "as the Lord commanded                 ing into the house of the Lord is exclusively
Moses." Besides, although this temple must not be         spiritual. To enter into God's house, into His
identified with the house of the Lord, also in the old    fellowship, occurs only when sin is confessed and
dispensation, nevertheless God's temple, also then,       forsaken, when we put off the old man with all his
was inseparably connected with it, so that the Lord       sins, when we approach unto the Lord in faith,
actually dwelt with His people, had fellowship with       seeking and desiring Him and serving Him in spirit
them in direct connection with this building on           and truth. Indeed, it is this to which the psalmist
Mount Moriah. However, that we must not identify          refers in Psalm  421-Z "As the hart panteth after
the  house of the Lord with Solomon's temple on Mt.       the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, 0
Moriah is also evident in the words of this text, in-     God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God."
asmuch as we read that "evil shall not dwell with         Or, as we read in Psalm  84:lO: "I had rather be a
Thee." And we may certainly believe that the peo-         doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell
ple of God in the old dispensation surely under-          in the tents of wickedness." To enter into the house


     484                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



     of the Lord, to experience His love and mercy, is        mercy of the Lord, we understand, is not merely an
     more, infinitely more, than all the riches and           idle wish, but a divine desire that actually redeems
     pleasures of this world.                                 and saves.
              * * * * *  * * *  * *                             This mercy of Jehovah is an eternal mercy. The
       To enter into the house of the Lord  - how im-         Lord willed a people in Christ Jesus from before the
     possible this is for the natural man, the man apart      foundations of the world. And in time, in Jesus
     from regenerating and saving grace!                      Christ our Lord, the redemption of God's people is
       The English reads, "Evil shall not dwell with          historically realized. It was Jesus Christ, Immanuel,
     Thee." The Dutch version reads, "The evil one            enabled and strengthened by the mercy of God,
     shall not dwell with Thee." There is principally no      Who descended into the bottomless pit of our un-
     difference between these translations. We prefer         fathomable misery, Who paid for all our sins and
     the English version. All evil, impurity, hatred, and     guilt, Who satisfied all the righteousness of God,
     enmity, seeking of self, etc., shall not dwell with      through Whose blood the legal basis was laid for
     the Lord, can never experience the Lord's approval       our dwelling with the Lord. And it is only out of
     and communion. Hence, because of this, the evil          that Lord Jesus Christ, as the glorified Head of Zion,
     one who performs these things shall never dwell          that this mercy of God is also poured out into us,
     with God in His house, experience His fellowship.        God's people, delivering us in principle out of all
                                                              the evil of our sin, giving us the blessed conscious-
       He shall not enter into God's house. Of course he      ness of the forgiveness of all our sin.
     does not will or desire to enter God's house. Loving       And what a multitude of mercy! The psalmist
     and performing evil, he has no desire for the fellow-    speaks of a tremendous mercy, a mercy which is
     ship of the Lord. To praise the Lord, to experience      unspeakably rich. Indeed, this is a mercy which
     His love and favor, does not interest him. However,      wipes out all our guilt, which carried away the in-
I    he also may not enter the Lord's house. To dwell         finite wrath of God, which was sufficient to merit
     with God is forbidden him. He may not serve and          everlasting obedience for all the people of God, and
     praise Jehovah. This spiritual freedom is denied         that in the heavenly glory of God's everlasting
     him. It may not be given him because of God's            covenant. Indeed, we may well sing of the ever-
     justice. He deserves to be banished from God's           lasting mercies of our God. We can surely under-
     presence. To dwell with the Lord is for him an           stand why the inspired writer of these words in
     everlasting impossibility. How this is emphasized        Psalm 5 writes that we enter into the house of our
     here in Psalm 5! The Lord hates all the workers of       God in the multitude of His mercy.
     iniquity. The foolish shall not stand in God's sight.
     The Lord shall destroy them that speak leasing; He         But then it is also plain how the people of the
     abhors the bloody and deceitful man. And do not          Lord enter this wonderful house of God. The child
     say now that the psalmist here is speaking of some       of God is no longer evil in principle. We enter only
     special sinners. Fact is, all men have departed from     in that principle. Only when we stand in that prin-
     the Lord: This is also emphasized in Romans 3.           ciple do we experience fellowship with Jehovah.
                                                              All  our. evil has been atoned. In Christ Jesus we
       That evil and the evil one shall not dwell with the    have access unto the throne of Gods grace,
     Lord is because he must deal with God. God is ab-        because of the greatness of the mercy of our God.
     solutely perfect, holy, and righteous, eternally         When we trust in God's mercy, when all our confi-
     maintaining Himself. God, the alone and thrice Ho-       dence is in the work of our Lord, then we can and
     ly One, can exercise fellowship only with those          will dwell with our God, now in principle, tasting
     who are like unto Him, who are holy even as He is        His amazing love and assured of His fellowship,
     holy. For the wicked He is a consuming fire.             and presently forever.
       Indeed, to dwell in the house of the Lord is possi-      We shall enter into God's house.
     ble only in the way of the multitude of His mercy.
     The evil one shall not enter God's house. But, and         Only in and because of the multitude of God's
     this we read emphatically in this text, as for me,  I    mercy.
     will surely enter.                                         To God alone be all the glory, now and forever.
       Only, I will enter God's house in the multitude of
     God's mercy. God's mercy is a virtue of the Lord's                  The Standard Bearer
     everlasting love to His own, reveals itself as the
     Lord's great desire to save His people out of the                  makes a thoughtful gift
     great misery of their sin and death. This word em-                 for 
     phasizes our misery, all our sin and evil, and the                         the sick and shut-in.
     desire of our God to redeem and save His own. This


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             485



                                      Editor's Notes

  Your editor is taking a vacation in this issue. That    Veldman appears in this issue. The Rev. Veldman
gives him a break, and it also makes room for some        has been writing for our magazine for many years,
copy which has been waiting to be published.              and he has always been a willing and dependable
         * * * * * * * * * *                              contributor. We take this opportunity to thank him
                                                          for his labors. I may add that he will continue to
  This is the last issue of Volume 61. You will find      share the department Tubing  Heed To The Doctrine.
the annual index in this issue. All of which reminds      The Rev. Van  Baren contributes his last article for
me that we are still waiting for the projected master     AZZ  Around  Us in this issue; he will have a new
index of all the volumes, going back to Volume 1.         department in Vol. 62. Prof. Decker has made his
When is it coming, brethren?                              last contribution to The Lord Gave The Word, and
         * * * * * * * * * *                              this department will be replaced. And Prof. Hanko
  There will be some significant changes in               will soon conclude his My Sheep Hear My Voice and
Volume 62. These will be announced in the Oc-             will then have a new department. Yes, I'm holding
tober 1 issue. But these changes will also involve an     out on you; watch the next issue for the new
end  for some departments and their writers. The          departments.
last meditation from the pen of Rev. Herman

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE



                               Our Order of Worship
                                                 Prof. H. Hanko





  In the last few articles we have been discussing        cussing have Scriptural warrant. We must face this
those parts of the worship service in which the           question now also as we discuss the prayers which
minister functions both as the ambassador of God,         are offered in the worship service.
speaking in God's name to the congregation, and as           That Scripture binds us to the use of prayers in
the mouthpiece of the people, speaking to God in          the worship service can hardly be questioned. It is
the people's name. Specifically, to the former            simply incredible that anyone would ever want to
belong the salutation, the benedictions, the reading      eliminate prayers from the worship service. After
of the law, the preaching. To the latter belong the       all, an important part of worship in any sense is
votum - "Our help is in the name of Jehovah. . . ,"       prayer, and the Sabbath services are prememinent-
the reading of the Apostolic Confession (when the         ly worship.
congregation does not speak it with the minister),
the prayers.                                                 Nevertheless, Scripture speaks often of this.
                                                          When Solomon was dedicating the temple he
  With the exception of the prayers and the ser-          prayed a long and beautiful prayer - a prayer, by
mon, we have discussed all these elements, and we         the way, which was really an intercessory prayer in
now turn to these last two.                               his role as type of Christ. He made prayer an impor-
  In the course of our articles on worship we have        tant part of the dedication of the temple of God. But
always first examined the question, whether the           in the course of his prayer he also speaks of the
elements of the worship service which we were dis-        children of Israel using the temple for a house of


486                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



prayer. In I Kings 8:38, 39 we have these words of        were introduced into some worship services, this
Solomon: "What prayer and supplication soever be          was vehemently protested. In churches with high
made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which       liturgy, form prayers are customary, while in chur-
shall know every man the plague of his own heart,         ches which do not put much emphasis on liturgical
and spread forth his hands toward this house: then        activities, free prayers are usually used. In fact, in
hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place . . .  ."          many churches form prayers are considered to be
  Isaiah calls the temple a house of prayer in 56:7:      entirely out of place. Free prayers are considered
"Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and          the only legitimate kind.
make them joyful in my house of prayer: their               Here too there must be freedom. In our own
burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be ac-         churches both are used. In the Liturgical Forms
cepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be           used at the administration of baptism and the
called an house of prayer for all people."                Lord's Supper, form prayers are used because they
  To these words of Isaiah the Lord referred more         are a part of the forms. And it is well to remind
than once in his earthly ministry. In Mark 11: 17,        ourselves that these form prayers must be used as
after the cleansing of the temple, the Lord said, "Is     they appear in the Forms. It is not proper to change
it not  .written,  My house shall be called of all na-    these prayers, introduce into them extemporaneous
tions the house of prayer? but ye have made it a          elements, or depart from the wording which ap-
den of thieves." This is repeated in Luke  19:46.         pears in them. These Forms have been adopted by
                                                          the churches and they must be used as adopted,
  Regular prayers were also made in the temple at         unless changed by the churches in common. One of
given hours. E.g., we read in Acts 3:l: "Now Peter        the issues at the time of the Afscheiding in 1834 was
and John went up together into the temple at the          precisely this. There were ministers in the State
hour of prayer, being the ninth hour."                    Church who were altering the Forms, dropping
  From these passages it is clear that prayer was,        them entirely in favor of their own Forms, using
and is, an important part of worship. Without such        the adopted Forms only in part, or tampering with
prayers worship is not complete. It is through            them in other ways. The fathers of the Afscheiding
prayer that God's people speak to God in covenant         objected to all this and returned to the old Forms
fellowship.                                               which had been adopted by the Synod of  Dor-
  There are several points concerning prayers in          drecht,  1618-`19.
public worship to which we must call attention.             But, while in our Forms form prayers are used,
  In the first place, the question arises, how many       the other prayers in the worship service are free
prayers ought to be made, and when in the worship         prayers. It would not in itself be wrong in the wor-
order is it best to make them. In our churches there      ship services to use form prayers, but free prayers
are usually individual prayers by the members of          are to be preferred. They give the minister oppor-
the congregation, either when they first sit in their     tunity to bring before the Lord the specific needs of
pews or when the worship service is about to begin.       the congregation as these needs vary with the cir-
We have discussed this in an earlier article. There is    cumstances in which the congregation finds itself.
also the so-called congregational prayer, usually         And with the use of free prayers, the congregation
around ten minutes long, which is made after the          can much more easily involve itself in the prayers
singing of a couple of  Psalter  numbers and the          which the minister makes.
reading of the law or the recitation of the Apostles'       In the third place, the question has been raised in
Creed. Finally, a brief prayer is offered immediate-      the history of the Reformed churches whether con-
ly after the sermon and before the final  Psalter         fession of sin and absolution ought to be a part of
number,. doxology, and benediction. On this point         the congregational prayers. Some, including Calvin,
there has been a great deal of variation in Reformed      have devoted a separate part of the worship service
Churches and freedom must be allowed to each              to this. In various ways the congregation is brought
congregation in this matter. Surely, no set rules can     to confess her sins before God and seek forgiveness
be made.                                                  at God's hand through the blood of Jesus Christ. In
  In the second place, the question has sometimes         some instances, the minister himself pronounced
been asked, whether free prayers or form prayers          absolution upon the people, not in the sense of the
are to be used. Free prayers differ from form             Roman Catholics who have wrongly and very evilly
prayers in this respect that the latter are written       claimed the power of forgiveness for priests so that
prayers while the former are extemporaneous.              priests have the judicial power to forgive sins in
Especially in Anglican circles after the Reforma-         themselves; but in the sense of the minister, speak-
tion, form prayers were almost exclusively used,          ing authoritatively in the name of Christ, assuring
and when, with the Puritan reaction, free prayers         the congregation of God's forgiveness.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  487



  Here again no specific rules can be laid down.          kneel during congregational prayers, although this
There is, however, a principle involved here which        would require some alterations in our seats or
ought not to be ignored. God's people are called to       pews: kneeling benches would have to be built in.
come before the face of God in humility, with a           Yet we might be surprised to learn that this was the
broken spirit and a contrite heart, which the Lord        posture which Calvin favored. In discussing proper
will not despise. In fact the broken spirit and con-      spiritual decorum in the house of God, Calvin
trite heart which Scripture requires of all those who     writes that part of such decorum is "that we pray
come to God is exactly contrasted with lip service        with  bended knees" (Institutes, IV, x, 29). This is
and outward formalism. This humility arises out of        discussed a bit more in detail in the following para-
the consciousness of sin and is essential in the wor-     graph where he discusses the fundamental truth
ship service. In other words, there must be oppor-        that all elements included in the worship services
tunity in the worship service somewhere for God's         must have the authority of God.
people to confess their sins and so enter God's                 Let us take, as an example, the kneeling
presence in humility of heart and mind. If no                 practised during solemn prayers. The ques:
separate part of the worship service is devoted to            tion is, whether it be a human tradition,
this, it ought to be present in the congregational            which every one is at liberty to reject or
prayers. But it is exactly because God's people               neglect. I answer that it is at once both
must come before the Lord in such humility that I             human and Divine. It is of God, as it forms a
have long favored a short prayer very near the                branch of that decorum which is recom-
beginning of the worship service which includes               mended to our attention and observance by
such a prayer for forgiveness and plea for the                the apostle; it is of men, as it. particularly
assurance that our sins are pardoned in the blood of          designates that which had in general been
Christ.                                                       rather hinted than clearly expressed.
  In the fourth place, the matter of posture in             From this it is clear that here too we have a mat-
prayer has often been discussed. Usually in our           ter in which the church must exercise her  God-
churches the congregation remains seated during           given liberty to do all things in such a way that they
prayer. But this has not always been so. I recall         are to God's glory and to the edification of the
when I was a youth that the Consistory stood dur-         church.
ing congregational prayers, though the congrega-
tion remained seated. In other circles, e.g., among         We must still talk about the contents of congrega-
the German Reformed, it was customary for the en-         tional prayers, but this shall have to wait until our
tire congregation to stand. It is also possible to        next article.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                  Faithfulness That Never Fails
                                               Rev. John A. Heys




  It ought not go unnoticed that the book of Esther       are conducted with no thought of the God of
begins with a feast and ends with a feast. The book       heaven and earth, Who gives life, earthly  posses-
opens with the account of a feast of Ahasuerus. The       sions, food and drink, and deliverance from
feast of the enlarged and delivered Jews is  pre-         dangerous situations.
sented  to us in the closing verses of the book.             It is to be expected in the day of shadows that
  However, although we have in these passages             worldly kingdom's such as that of the Medes and
feasts of two very distinctly different groups of peo-    the Persians will feast and revel in things without
ple, they are feasts that have one significant  ele-      praise to God and with taking His name in vain, if it
ment in common. Both are carnal, worldly feasts or        indeed does fall from their lips. One would also ex-
banquets that revolve around fleshly gladness and         pect the Jews of that day to have all their  celebra-


488                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



tions revolve around the God of our salvation by             Faith would have moved him to urge his people
singing His praises, calling attention to His cove-       to go back to the promised land where there is true
nant faithfulness, and telling the generations that       wealth and peace, with God speaking peace to His
follow of His power and goodness. But in vain you         people through His priests as they sacrificed the
look for one word that would  .even suggest that          typical lamb and sent the people home with the
Mordecai the Jew, and now the prime minister in           rich message of being of good cheer, for their sins
the kingdom with tremendous power and in-                 were forgiven. Christ they would find in the types
fluence, would insist on a feast with spiritual over-     and shadows in the promised land. That wealth,
tones and recognition of God's grace and power.           that peace which He brings did not interest
This is especially true after a wondrous deliverance      Mordecai or Esther. His was a social gospel,
from impending death and destruction.                     another gospel than the one in Holy Writ, and is no
  Indeed, according  .to Esther  9:30, Mordecai does      gospel.
speak peace to all his people in connection with the        And what shall we say of all this? What purpose
feast which he organized and ordered. And he did,         does this book serve? Why is it included in the
according to this verse, speak truth to the Jews as       canon of Scripture? And does it say anything to us
well. But these facts must be viewed in light of the      today, with a view to the coming days of the Anti-
very name which he gave to the feast. That explains       christ, when our "thirteenth of the twelfth month'
it all! The feast days were to  be  called the days of    arrives and we cannot buy or sell; and the two
Purim. Now Purim is the plural for Pur. And Pur           witnesses lie slain on the streets?
was the idol of the Medes and Persians. No, they            First of all, in this book we are shown by God
probably would not say so openly. But Pur was the         that He is faithful to His promises. Jeremiah said it
stone they trusted in to guide them in their deci-        literally years before this event took place, "Great
sions and lives. Haman  cast Pur to pick that day of      is Thy faithfulness." That we find at the end of
the thirteenth of the twelfth month for the execu-        Lamentations  3:23. And in the preceding verse he
tion of all the Jews in the kingdom. And it must be       wrote, "It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not
remembered that Israel had the Urim and  Thum-            consumed, because His compassions fail not." That
mim which God commanded them to use, and                  unfailing mercy and compassion explains what
through which He would speak to them and give             happened and is recorded in this book of Esther.
them counsel. Of that you read, for example, in           And His faithfulness to His promises comes out
Numbers  27:21. But  Haman was not seeking                loudly and clearly.
counsel from Jehovah for a day best suited for ex-
ecuting His people. Pur was his idol. And Mordecai          Go back to the very  <first promise which He
calls the feast after that idol and commands all the      gave us, the one in Genesis 3:15, and out of whose
Jews to do likewise. 0, it could be done. They            womb, as the mother promise, all the promises that
could, in faith, have named it The Days of Purim's        follow flow forth. There we are promised The Seed
Folly. Faith however would have cried out with            of the Woman Who will crush the head of all our
Jonah after his salvation from death in the depth of      enemies, as surely as  Haman was hanged on the
the sea. "Salvation is of the Lord." You look in vain     gallows he made for Mordecai. In covenant faith-
for any evidence that Esther and Mordecai ascribed        fulness God did not allow this seed of the serpent to
this enlargement and deliverance to Jehovah. No, it       succeed and prevent the birth of Him Who would
was purely a carnal celebration.                          give us amazing enlargement and deliverance unto
                                                          glories eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, and
  Note, for this is revealing, as God Himself gives       that never entered into the heart of man.
us the concluding remarks concerning Mordecai in
chapter l&3: "seeking the wealth of his people, and         The richness of that promise of Genesis  3:15
speaking peace to all his seed." Seeking their            becomes plain as we turn the pages of Holy Writ.
spiritual well-being is not even suggested. In fact,      Far too numerous are all the details of that promise
what Mordecai seeks for his people is that which          in the protevangel for us to list them. Every detail is
turns their minds and hearts away from God, not           fulfilled in God's faithfulness. And this book of
unto Him. Wealth makes man feel self-sufficient,          Esther adds to the proof of that faithfulness.
not needing God. It fixes his mind on creation            Because of what we read in it we can be sure, and
rather than on the Creator. "Where your treasure          in fact subsequent books of the Bible show us, that
is, there will your heart be also." Jesus said that in    all of God's promises will be fulfilled to the
His sermon on the mount, and we find it in Mat-           minutest detail. Taking some broad steps, in order
thew  6:21. Social improvement, not spiritual, was        to conclude this series of articles on the book of
Mordecai's aim. Material advancement, not                 Esther, we now can see that in Abraham, as God
spiritual growth was his goal. And all that fits in       promised, all nations of the earth would be blessed.
with calling them the days of Purim.                      The Son to be given to us and Child to be born unto


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               489



us, Who would be, and is, now, the Prince of Peace,        time to display before our eyes the truth that He is
could and did come at the right time, and in the lit-      still on the throne, has all creatures in His hand, to
tle town of Bethlehem as promised. The Stone cut           get that kind of king on the throne and to give
out of the mountain without hands has already ap-          Esther the beauty that captured the queenship; to
peared on the scene and is rolling forward to grind        get Mordecai in the right place to overhear the plot
to powder the antichristian nations of this earth          to kill the king, and to give the king a sleepless
(Daniel  2:45). The enemy at times may seem to be          night; to bring  Haman into the king's court just
on the verge of victory; and the church may appear         after the records are read and the king learns that
to be in grave danger. It may seem as though God           Mordecai was never rewarded for saving the king's
has forgotten His church. But go to this book of           life; to move the king to accept Esther, who ap-
Esther and be strengthened once again in the con-          peared uncalled-for, even though thirty days had
viction that "His saints shall not fail, But over the      gone by during which her companionship was not
earth their strength shall prevail," to quote from         wanted; to cause the king to be furious against his
the Psalter versification of Psalm 149. And all this is    highly elevated prime minister, and to grant Esther
true because God is faithful to His covenant prom-         her request that circumvented an unchangeable
ises.                                                      law; and to get seventy-five thousand enemies of
   In the second place, this book of Esther shows us       the Jews killed, while the Jewish race was saved,
that the Almighty has perfect control over all the         and the seed of the woman is able to bring forth the
creatures which He has made and brings forth. And          Prince of Peace.
for that reason, too, we can be sure that His prom-
ises will be fulfilled. He said in the mother prom-          Enemies who plotted to prevent the Saviour's
ise, "I will . . . it shall." And He does, and it did,     birth, enemies of these enemies who likewise had
because every creature great and small, animate and        no love for that coming Son, Satan and Satan's
inanimate, spiritual and material is constantly            tools, lots that are cast and sleepless nights, all
under His complete control. He does not fight to           came by His appointment and took place because
maintain His cause, even though the creature often         of perfect, flawless control that realizes all the
tries to fight Him. He need not fight. He need but         details of His eternal, unchangeable counsel. Yea,
cease to give the next heartbeat. And when things          we can be sure of His faithfulness, because this
get dark, as in this book, and it looks as though          book shows us what absolute control He has to use
God's cause might suffer defeat, remember that He          the chaff to serve the wheat, the  wicked to benefit
raised up a Haman,  an Ahasuerus, an Esther, and a         the just, the unrighteous to serve the cause of the
Mordecai to do what He has eternally planned must          righteous.
be done.                                                     And therefore in the third place this book was
   Did He not before He created the world, and in          written and preserved and included in the canon of
inscrutable wisdom, decide that the chaff would            Holy Writ so that as we face the dark days when
serve the wheat? That chaff for a time may flourish,       the Antichrist shall starve the elect by refusing to
take in all the rain and sunshine, become tall and         let them buy or sell, kill many outright, and seem to
sturdy, and all this long before the grain begins to       have destroyed Christ's kingdom, He will come
make its appearance. In volume and size the grain          back at just the right moment and bring us into the
nowhere begins to compare with that chaff. One             wedding feast of the Lamb, where we will enjoy
would begin to say that the chaff takes an awful lot       peace with God, and have true and everlasting,
out of the soil, growing as it does to such great pro-     heavenly, spiritual wealth and gladness, because
portions. Yet it serves to bring forth the wheat. And      we will be in The Promised Land with that Seed of
we ought to look to the Creator Whose wisdom               the woman, Whose death was not defeat but vic-
fashioned the whole plant to produce that small bit        tory for the church, so that she is everlastingly and
of precious grain. The Almighty God uses that chaff        completely free from the serpent and his seed.
to produce our food. And we ought to see Him in
the growth and power of the world that surrounds             The heathen rage and imagine a vain thing. He
His church and is the chaff that serves the wheat.         that sitteth in the heavens, instead of fighting them,
The book of Esther shows us that truth in connec-          laughs at them (Psalm 2: l-4). And He does so
tion with the truth that He is faithful to His prom-       because He is using them, even when they seek to
ise.                                                       crush His people, so that all things without excep-
                                                           tion work together for their good. That the book of
   His name is not used by any of the characters in        Esther teaches us. God never worries, because He
the book. And yet that His name is near His won-           knows what He is doing and what is going to hap-
drous works declare. The right people with the             pen. Through this book He says to us, "Trust Me.
right natures are brought on the scene at the right        My faithfulness cannot and will not fail."


490                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



ALL AROUND US



                             Reports on Church Assemblies
                                                            Rev. G. Van Buren





  Late spring and early summer months are the                              on the Hermeneutics of Women in Ordained Office.
time most church assemblies meet in their broader                          The matter was recommitted to an enlarged commit-
gatherings. Several months have passed since these                         tee, whose report next year is to include exegesis of
meetings were held  - and reports have been ap-                            significant Scripture passages.
pearing in the various church magazines.                                  The  Presbyterian Journal, July 3, presents further
  The  Presbyterian Journal  reports on various of                     a report of the Christian Reformed Church synod.
these gatherings. Its reports on the Orthodox                          Here, attention was focused on the question of or-
Presbyterian Church appeared in the June 19 issue.                     daining women deacons. Last year the CRC synod
Some of the decisions were:                                            approved such ordinations. This year's synod was
                                                                       flooded with protests against that decision. There
          The major issue - consideration of the PCA invita-           was concern that this issue would split the CRC -
       tion  - went as anticipated. Ecumenicity and  Inter-            and on the floor of synod there were expressions
       Church Relations Committee, presented no recom-                 from delegates encouraging continued unity. Some
       mendation at this time _ . . . This means that the OPC
       would vote on joining the PCA at its 1986  50th-                of the Journal's report is as follows:
       anniversary general assembly before sending it to the                 The pre-synod rumblings had threatened to split the
       presbyteries, two-thirds of which would need to ap-                 denomination . . . . Reports circulated that at least two
       prove before a final vote could take place at the 1987              churches - one in California and another in Michigan
       general assembly at the earliest . . . .                            - have already broken ties. In debate during the
          (There was a) vote by the Orthodox Presbyterian                  synod meeting, such threats were not taken lightly.
       Church . . . to encourage a thorough revision of the                  "What we are talking about in this issue is the
       Trinity   Hymnal.  .  .  .                                         preservation of the Christian Reformed Church," said
          The hymnal has been widely credited with having                 Rev. Roger Kok of Grandville, Mich., in a strong ap-
       introduced a new era of Biblical awareness in wor-                 peal for unity early in the debate. "We are brothers
       ship. But it has also been criticized for being too heavy           and sisters in Jesus. Let's not destroy our church."
       for popular acceptance. One OPC church planter told                   Rev. Alvin H. Venema of Alberta, Canada, added,
       the assembly here that he couldn't use the hymnbook                "This is not a matter that affects salvation, and it
       as it is, because visitors to worship services were                should never be allowed to drive us apart." . . . .
       "turned  off` by the music . . . .                                    With reports circulating that several CRC congrega-
          Some were surprised by a motion, which passed                   tions are using women in "adjunct" roles as elders
       handily, asking the committee in charge to consider                and deacons, synod declared such positions also to be
       including in the new version all 150 of the Psalms,                in conflict with church order.
       rather than the 70 or so in the current hymnal. The
       proposal was passed along as a suggestion, however,                   Miss Flikkema stated here, however, that she
       rather than an order from the assembly.                            believes the CRC will eventually be asked to open all
                                                                          its offices to women. She said four CRC churches
          GCP hopes the revised book will be ready for pur-               already have women serving as elders, and that others
       chase by mid-1987 . . . .                                          will follow. "I think the church will now get used to
          . . . A motion was adopted to prepare a plan for                the idea of women as deacons. What we are doing is
       future response to  .the crisis created by continued               taking several small steps down the road to women in
       membership of the GKN in the RES, and to report to                 all offices."
       the 54th general assembly in 1987 . . . .                         The synod upheld the decision of last year. It
         Debate finally got heated up on the next-to-last day          dropped the "conscience clause," adopted last
       of the OPC assembly over the report of a Committee              year, which gave pastors the option of not  partici-


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        491



pating in a woman's ordination. The synod also                     Roman Catholic Church, and only later discovered
declared that "only male members of the church                     what saving faith was all about, was the first baptism
shall be admitted to the offices of minister and                   valid? Or should that person be re-baptized?
elder."                                                              And what if the first baptism was in a Protestant but
  Further CRC decisions as reported in the Presby-                 theologically liberal setting? Is the answer different
terian Journal were:                                               then?
                                                                     Following the  PCA's  confessional stance that bap-
     Last year, the Christian Reformed Church officially           tism is ordinarily a "once only" matter, the assembly
   called apartheid a sin and any effort to defend apart-          here nevertheless adopted a statement saying that
   heid theologically a heresy. This year, the CRC strug-          "local sessions are the best equipped, as well as being
   gled with a proposal to break relations with the Re-            accountable under God, for judging whether the
   formed Churches in South Africa (RCSA) because of               necessary criteria for valid baptism are present in a
   those churches' continuing unofficial practice of               particular situation."  _ . . .
   racial separation.                                                A second issue received similar delay, although it
     After three days of debate, the CRC synod rejected            hasn't been around as long. That was the matter of
   attempts to sever - or even to limit - such relations,          serving communion to children - a practice receiving
   and decided instead to maintain full ecclesiastical fel-        advocacy by increasing numbers of PCA teaching and
   lowship  for the next four years . . . .                        ruling elders, and being studied in other conservative
     . . . Mouw, although not involved in the debate               Presbyterian denominations as well . . . .
   here, said the decision to maintain relations was com-         The PCA dealt with many other questions as
   parable to saying to a church that declared itself           well. It is moving towards a more delegated type of
   Unitarian, "If you don't come around in four more
   years,                                                       assembly. At present, each church can send its
              we'll  stop  talking to you."                     delegates to the assembly, which makes for a rather
  Some other decisions were:                                    large group. The PCA expressed that, should the
     The synod of the CRC has combined its two                  Orthodox Presbyterian Church join the PCA, this
   substantial international missions and relief agencies       does not mean that the combined church. will
   under a single Board of World ministries . . . .             automatically join the Reformed Ecumenical
     . . . Gave local churches the freedom to use               Synod. The PCA is concerned about the member-
   liturgical dance in worship services, having in recent       ship of the GKN (Reformed Church in the Nether-
   years eased a longtime ban on some forms of social           lands) in the RES.
   dancing.                                                       The report in the JoumaZ has a reference also to
     . . . Approved a new translation of the 17th century       "the willingness of the PCA to study the teachings
   Belgic Confession, one of the official confessions of        of Masonry with a view to taking further action." It
   the church. The final version, the result of eight years'    appears that lodge membership is at least condoned
   work, retains a disputed reference to "faithful
   person" instead of "faithful men" in a paragraph deal-       in the PCA.
   ing with the offices in the church.                            So these and other denominations have con-
     . . . Postponed a decision until 1988 on whether to        cluded their broader gatherings for another year.
   join the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a              Much displeasure is evident  - especially in the
   llO-year-old ecumenical fellowship . . . .                   Christian Reformed Church with the issue of
  The Presbyterian Church in America also met                   women serving as deacons. The issue of "receiving
and dealt with various subjects that have con-                  and joining' ' which involves the Presbyterian
cerned them in past years as well as new items on               Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian
their agenda. The Presbyterian Journal reports on               Church will be worth following in future years.
their on-going concerns about the sacraments:                   The struggle against the inroads of liberalism and
                                                                modernism continues. So doubtlessly we will
     One perennial problem was the issue of previous            observe the difficulties and struggles within the
   baptisms, and how they should be recognized by ses-          churches even until Christ returns.
   sions of the PCA. If someone was baptized first by the


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


492                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE



                          The Counsel of Peace (1)
                                               Rev. Ronald Hanko



  The idea that the covenant of God is an agree-          tation has been "read into" the text, and that
ment or contract, first between God and Adam,             Zechariah 6: 13 has nothing at all to do with the doc-
now between God and His people in Christ, has             trine of the covenant. In recent years this has been
prevailed in Reformed theology for many years. At         conceded even by those who still teach the whole
the heart of this view of the covenant lies the           idea of a two-party covenant. Prof. L. Berkhof, an
teaching that there are always two parties who con-       ardent defender of this view of the covenant, says
tract with one another in the establishment of the        for example, "Coccejus and others found in this
covenant. Until very recently, Zechariah  6:13 has        passage a reference to an agreement between the
been a key passage in defense of this view.               Father and the Son. This was clearly a mistake . . ."
  Most of those who teach a two-party covenant            (Systematic Theolofl, p. 266).
have understood, and rightly, that whatever the             Nevertheless, because this passage has been so
covenant may be, it must have an eternal pattern in       long misused and misinterpreted, almost all discus-
God Himself. This is, of course, true of all God's        sion of the passage has centered in either a defense
works, but also of the covenant. God is never dif-        or rejection of that older interpretation, and the
ferent in His revelation of Himself to us from what       positive teaching of the passage has been forgotten
He is in Himself. All His works have not only their       or neglected. This is not surprising, but is often the
source but also their pattern in the being and life of    result of controversy over a passage of Scripture. It
God.                                                      is to be especially regretted here, however, since
  Those, then, who believe that the covenant is an        the passage is the key first of all to a proper inter-
agreement or contrac-t, look for some kind of agree-      pretation of the first six chapters of Zechariah's
ment in God Himself and in His own life which can         prophecy, and in the second place to a clear under-
be the eternal pattern of the covenantal agreement        standing of the offices of Christ in relation to His
that He makes with His people. This agreement, so         work as Mediator. To that positive teaching we
they say, would have demands, promises, and               wish to give our attention.
penalties, as any agreement or contract should              The prophecy of Zechariah, as we know, was ad-
have, and would have as its purpose the salvation         dressed to the Jews after their return from captivity
of God's people. At one time, proof for such an eter-     in Babylon, and the subject especially of the first six
nal agreement within the Godhead was found in             chapters is the rebuilding of the temple. This is
Zechariah  6:13 which speaks of "the counsel of           clear not only from Zechariah  6:13 but also from
peace" that "shall be between them both." This            Ezra 6:14. At that time the leaders of the Jews were
"counsel of peace," therefore, was interpreted as         the High-priest, Joshua, the son of Josedech, and
referring to an eternal agreement between the First       Zerubbabel, a scion of the royal line of David, who
and Second Persons of the Trinity, the Father and         ruled the people as governor in the name of the
the Son, and demanded, with appropriate penalties,        King of Persia.
the incarnation and obedience of the Son, promis-           In Zechariah 6:9-13 we have the climax and con-
ing salvation to God's people.                            clusion of all the preceding visions, particularly the
  In these studies it is not our purpose to discuss or    vision of chapter 4. These verses are not themselves
defend one view of the covenant over against              another vision, therefore, but record an incident
another, nor even to repeat all the arguments that        that sheds light on the other visions of the first six
have been raised against this interpretation of           chapters.
Zechariah  6:13. The fact is that even a superficial        Three men, Jews of the captivity, had recently
reading of the passage will show that this interpre-      come from Babylon to Jerusalem with gifts of gold


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                            493



and silver for the temple. Zechariah is commanded         peace and prosperity for His people  (3:9-10).  The
to go and meet the men before they have the oppor-        unity and co-operation of Joshua and Zerubbabel in
tunity to present these gifts in the temple.              their respective offices are, therefore, the typical,
Zechariah must take the gifts himself, make from          Old Testament fulfillment of the counsel of peace
then a crown, and put the crown on the head of            prophesied in Zechariah 6: 13.
Joshua the High-priest. This action would be a sign          This was something that the people could under-
to Joshua and all Israel concerning the building of       stand. Their own history showed that the inevitable
the temple (cf. vss. 12, 13).                             result of a lack of co-operation between priest and
  We must remember how very strange this com-             king was the neglect of the worship of God and ruin
mand must have seemed to Zechariah and to the             of the temple. When the king was wicked, then, no
people who witnessed the sign. Never before in all        matter who was priest, the doors of the temple
their history had the High-priest worn the crown of       were shut, its treasures sold, and the building itself
the king, or the King the robes of the priest. The        fell into disrepair (II Chron.  24:17,  2824, etc.).
one man who had tried to assume both offices, King        When the priests did not fear God then all the
Uzziah of Judah, had been punished by God for his         authority and wealth of the rulers was not suffi-
presumption with a terrible plague of leprosy. God        cient to maintain the true worship of God among
had always insisted -that the two offices of priest       the people and then also the temple was abandoned
and king remain separate in Israel. The only one          and ruined (Mal. 2:1-8). The "counsel of peace,"
the Jews could remember who had borne both of-            therefore, was absolutely necessary for the spiritual
fices had been Melchizedek, the King of Jerusalem         well-being of the nation.
in the days of Abraham, but he was connected with           We must not forget, however, that all of this was
their history only through his meeting of Abraham         only the typical fulfillment of this sign of the
when Abraham returned from his victory over the           crowning of Joshua that God had given to
armies of the five kings (Gen. 14: 17-24).                Zechariah. That is immediately evident from the
  Nevertheless, strange though the sign may have          fact that the two offices were not personally united
seemed to the people, it pointed to the necessity of      in one man, but remained separate and distinct.
the union of these two offices in connection with         Joshua did not replace Zerubbabel as ruler when he
the building of the temple of God. In the case of         was crowned, nor did he even continue to wear the
Zerubbabel and Joshua this union was not com-             crown. Rather, the crown, as a sign of a future and
plete, but was seen only very dimly in the co-            better unity between the offices of priest and king
operation that existed between them in the work of        was placed in the temple for a memorial (6: 14). And
building the temple. This union did not mean that         as long as these two offices were not united in one
either of them had to give his rightful office to the     man, the possibility of disharmony and disunity
other. Rather it meant that they must be one in zeal      always remained as a threat to the spiritual life of
and purpose in rebuilding and maintaining Gods            God's Old Testament people.
house.                                                      Zechariah is also commanded, then, in connec-
  This co-operation was necessary first of all            tion with this sign, to call the attention of Joshua
because only Zerubbabel as ruler had the authority        and the people to one man who will be a priest
and power to cause the work to continue. It was           upon the throne, who will both rule and bear the
necessary in the second place because only through        glory, whose name shall be The Branch. In Him the
the work of Joshua as priest could the Lord dwell in      counsel of peace is fully revealed and the offices
the house as the God of His people. Thus we find in       united forever. Because He is a priest upon the
chapter 3 a special Word of God to Joshua as the          throne, He also shall be able to build a better tem-
one through whom the Lord will remove the iniqui-         ple than Joshua and Zerubbabel could ever build.
ty of the land (3:7-g), and in chapter 4 to Zerubbabel      This man, The Branch, is of course our Lord
as the one whose hand had laid the foundation, and        Jesus Christ, of whom we read in Hebrews  8:l:
who would also bring forth the headstone and              "We have such an high priest, who is set on the
finish the work  (4:7-10).                                right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
  Through their co-operation, therefore, the prom-        heavens." He is a high-priest forever after the order
ises revealed and illustrated in the visions of           of Melchizedek, for He is both King of peace and
chapters l-5 would be fulfilled. The house would          priest of the most high God (Heb. 7: l-3). Thus it is
be built  (1:16).  God Himself would dwell in that        that both the glory of His Kingly office and the
house  (2:10-ll), and His presence would be the           power of His priestly office are increased, the signi-
glory of that new-built house  (2:5), though it was       ficance of His coming and work revealed, and the
small and despised in the eyes of others (4: 10).         full wonder of our salvation made known for our
Thus also the fruit of God's presence would be            comfort and for the glory of God.


494                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



GUEST ARTICLE



                  Participants - Not Spectators
                 or How to Prepare for Worship
                                             Rev. Barry L. Gritters





  It probably will not strike us that we treat Sun-        ing through this desert land, where all the streams
day worship like watching a sporting event. But we         are dry; then they will begin to look forward to Sun-
do come, sometimes, to be entertained, rather than         day as a day of rest and enrichment, instead of
to worship; to see what we can get out of it, rather       dreading it as a day to be done with so they can be
than to bring offerings of praise. And if we are not       on with the "good part" of the week.
sufficiently entertained, we would almost be bold            A commendable, way a Christian can begin
enough to complain as some would for a refund or a         teaching His children to prepare for Sunday already
rain-delay check. Instead of being the active partici-     in the beginning of the week is to talk about the ser-
pants in the worship, we sit back and wait for a           mons. Fathers and husbands, discuss with your
good show. When we worship, though, we are                 children and wife how the sermon applies to your
neither spectators nor are we sporting.                    lives. Sing with them that God's word is a light for
  On the minister's head falls a horrible judgment         their path, and then put it in concrete for them.
if he is ill-prepared to lead God's congregation to        Give them plain and practical examples. If one
Jehovah's presence in worship. His failure bears on        thinks that all he need do with his children is bring
the ability of the entire body to worship. On the          them to church and teach them to sit still, he is
other hand, even though parents' failure affects           gravely mistaken.
(probably) only them and (most likely) their                 A timetable for discussing the sermons with
children, we ought to give careful and deliberate          children or spouse might be: the sermon of the~past
consideration to how we prepare to enter His gates         Sunday could be discussed for the first three days
with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.              of the week, and the next Sunday's for the last three
  Standing before the Almighty God is not a light          days. Because we have sermons from the Heidel-
matter. Since God is King and we are His lowly sub-        berg Catechism each week, because we have ser-
jects (though we  do  have the right to approach           mon texts and topics on bulletins, and because our
Him), we ought to consider how we come before              pastors often preach series of sermons, we are not
His presence and enter His gates. The fathers of the       ignorant what Word will be brought next Sunday.
Westminster Confession said worship preparation            In that way we come "primed" for worship, and
was so important that without "a due preparing of          able to use our full potential of strength in God's
their heart, and ordering of their common affairs          house.
before-hand," Sunday could not be kept holy.                 One can prepare for the next Sunday by reading.
Queen Esther herself feared for her life at the            By some,  TripZe Knowledge  - the commentary on
thought of approaching Ahasuerus without the              the Heidelberg Catechism - is read with great prof-
proper conditions fulfilled. Would that we wor-           it before the Lord's Day. Having our hearts and
shiped God, without fear, surely, but with such            our minds on spiritual things through the week
contemplation and forethought.                             makes them more eager to hear the word on the
  Preparation for worship begins already on Mon-           Sabbath. Any good reformed literature will work in
day morning. We teach our children to look for-            us an appetite for good, meaty preaching of the
ward to worship. When they learn that Sunday is            Word.
the beginning of the week instead of the end; when           One of the most important times to prepare for
they learn that Sunday has the power to keep us go-       worship, though, is Saturday night. Then, more


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              495



than any other time, our hearts and minds can be           or organ artfully lead him to meditation about wor-
brought into the proper frame of mind to worship           ship. Pray for your organist.
the next day. When a student looks ahead to a ma-             Second, being in the proper frame of mind, we
jor exam, he makes a concerted effort not to be out        can bring our needs to the One Who demands to be
late the night before. Only in that way can he be          worshiped in Spirit and Truth. Pray for the worship
alert and on his toes at 8 AM.                             service, that your minister might preach the Word
  Saturday evenings ought to be spent in quiet             to cut you to the quick. Pray that you might be able
meditation, at home. It would be a good time to            to sing the songs of Zion from the heart, with
have a "family night" when all are at home, sitting        spiritual maturity. Seek earnestly the spirit of II
around God's Word, speaking and singing of the             Corinthians  9:7 so that your offerings might be
morrow when God will be speaking. Many Satur-              given properly. Beseech God to give you ears, eyes,
day nights are spent by Christians in restaurants or       and minds big enough to take in the Word brought.
visits till the late hours of the night, with the sorry    Pray that He will lift from you the spirit of weari-
result that they are chasing sleep instead of holiness     ness. Ask that all your earthly concerns might be
the next morning. 0, if God's people were only             left outside of God's house. And make it your cen-
awake to the fact that not only the preacher sees          tral petition that God's name might be praised in all
.them with their heads hanging.                            your actions in church.
  On Sunday morning we have good opportunity                 If the consistory desires and expects that kind of
.to dress our souls as well as our bodies. Waking on       prayer from the congregation, then the elders,
.time and being active is a profitable way to "put,on      deacons, and minister must prepare as well.
our best." Though it is true that most people are          Preparation for worship also involves the  con-
usually active and not accustomed to sitting still         sistory room. It happens that the consistory
first thing in the morning, one of the best remedies       members converse of things  - just minutes before
for that is to get a good night of sleep, wake early,      they enter the worship service  - at which they
eat and read, and maybe take a nice walk to enjoy          would be shocked if they heard them from the
.the beauties of the morning.                              members in the sanctuary. Just as much as all
  Sitting in church before the worship also gives us       God's people need to be reverent and holy before
,a good time to prepare. That means that we ought          the worship, so should the discussion in the  con-
.to come to church ON TIME. Last minute rushes             sistory room be sanctified and circumspect. And
:into church make for temptation to read the               not only is this necessary for the consistory as
`bulletin when we ought to be listening to the law or      members, but the spiritual atmosphere in the  con-
giving alms. Hasty entrance into the house of God          sistory room can make a world of difference in the
:makes for a frame of mind ill-befitting a call to         ability of the minister to lead the congregation in
,praise. An early start makes for proper meditation        proper and reverent worship.
`before the consistory enters. And meditation is             If all this sounds ideal, it only shows how far we
,what  the time prior to worship is for. That raises       are, or have gone, from properly keeping the Sab-
two important thoughts.                                    bath day holy, from bringing our hearts and minds
                                                           into subjection to the Father of true worship.
  First, the organist or pianist has a wonderful op-
portunity (a difficult and weighty  responsildity  as        Worship is for the praise of God. Failure to be
well) to help God's people advance their hearts to         prepared is serious for our ability to glorify Him. It
the feet of Christ. We don't think of organists very       is also for our spiritual benefit. And there is a
often in that sense, nor do we appreciate their work       directly proportional relationship between prepara-
sufficiently. But they are vital in making or break-       tion and profit  - between readiness and ability to
ing our preparation. In my mind, there are at least        receive grace. All other things being equal, the
two essential criteria for a successful (in the right      more carefully and deliberately we prepare, the
sense) prelude. One, the organist must give God's          greater the benefit and the richer the grace re-
people a sense of God. That might seem a bit               ceived. The less we concentrate on worship,
ethereal, but that is just the idea. It means that we      especially from Saturday evening until the  con-
must be brought into humble adoration of the               sistory enters, the more quickly the dew of heaven
greatness and glory of our God. Anything less than         will run off our hard and dry hearts. "Remember
that is insufficient. Second, therefore, good              the Sabbath to keep it holy" means more than the
organists do not call attention to themselves or their     24 hours from Saturday midnight to Monday morn-
playing. When a worshiper enters God's house               ing. It means all involved in preparing for worship.
ready to worship, he needs to think about God. And           Failure to prepare is what makes us most dissat-
the way to that frame of mind is not by thinking           isfied with our worship as we have it now. It more
about the organ or organist, but by having the piano       than anything else makes us cry out for change in


     496                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



     worship, because we are tired of the same old               to His courts with prepared thanksgiving, and into
     "game." Instead of being spectators, or coming for          His courts ready to praise Him from Whom all
     sport, come to church next Lord's Day with a heart          blessings flow.
     that longs and thirsts for the Water of Life. Enter in-

     IN HIS FEAR
~





                                  The Christian Family:
                   The Role of the Wife and Mother
                                                   Pastor Arie den Hartog





       The Lord Himself in His wise and wonderful                  When the Lord created  man  and woman and
     purpose has ordained the place of each member of            united them together in the first and most beautiful
     the Christian family. This was a creation ordinance         marriage of history, He bound them together as one
     and not one that is subject to change as culture and        flesh. He commanded that the husband and wife
     tradition among men changes. This will work for             should love one another and live with one another
     the good and blessing of the Christian home. That           in faithfulness in their respective roles as husband
     this is also the case for the role of the wife and          and wife. The love which unites the Christian hus-
     mother in the home is abundantly clear from what            band and wife together is much deeper than mere
     Paul tells us in passages such as I Corinthians 11         physical and romantic attraction. It is the love of
     and 14 and I Timothy 2. Repeatedly the apostle              God in Christ which He works in their hearts
     grounds his exhortations to women in God's crea-           through His Holy Spirit.
     tion ordinance. The apostle does not speak merely
     as a man of his times, much less as some sort of              So also in marriage and the home the Lord com-
     male chauvinist or unsympathetic bachelor as               mands the woman to love her husband and her
     many today claim. He speaks by the inspiration of          children (Titus  2:4). This is basic. Without that,
     the Spirit of the Lord and gives timeless principles       Christian marriage and home are impossible. True
     which apply to every age.                                  Christian love is in essence selfless giving of oneself
                                                                to another. Our Lord is the supreme example of
       The Lord created the woman after His own im-             this. He gave Himself to the death of the cross for
     age even as He created the man after His own im-           the salvation of His people. In Ephesians 5 the apos-
     age (Genesis  1:27).  She is therefore in no sense a       tle Paul commands the husband to love his wife
     lower form of being than the man. God created              with such love. The husband must give himself for
     woman a very glorious and wonderful creature, as           his wife. It is not true as some imagine that mar-
     the account of Genesis 2 also suggests. He carefully       riage for the man requires, ideally, less  self-
     formed and made her with His own hands as His              sacrifice than for the woman simply because he is
     beautiful handiwork.                                       the head of the woman. It is also fundamental that
       The Lord created woman in a certain order in             the woman as wife and mother sacrifice herself in
     relationship to the man. He created man first and          love, for her husband and family. It is very obvious
     He formed woman out of the man. Modern man                 that the fundamental reason of all the rebellion of
     and woman may scoff at and ridicule this story of          modern-day women is because of their refusal to
     creation. As Christian we believe that this is the         give themselves in selfless love as God commands.
     literal, historical record of the creation of woman.       This is due to the woman's fallen and corrupt
     Furthermore we believe that it is of the greatest          nature. We ought not to call this women's libera-
     significance for the place of the woman in the             tion but rather women's rebellion. It is very ob-
     Christian home today.                                      vious that the modern-day woman of the world


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              497



seeks only herself, her own vain glory, and the             realizes His gracious covenant in the line of con-
satisfaction of her depraved lusts. The Christian           tinued generations. What can be more wonderful
woman who loves the Lord must be radically dif-             for any human being than to bring forth the
ferent from the world in this fundamental way: that         children of God? Who can ascend to greater
she loves her husband and family with the love of           heights in God's purpose than to be used of Him as
God in Christ.                                              the woman was even to bring forth the Lord Jesus
  God created the woman to be the helpmeet of the           Christ into the world.
man. This is a very beautiful truth. God created              The apostle Paul speaking by the inspiration of
woman in such a way that she is able in every way           the  Lord- and as the servant of the Lord says in I
to complement `the man. She is able to help him in a        Timothy 5: 14, "I will therefore that the younger
most wonderful way and to fulfill his deepest               women marry, bear children, guide the house, give
needs. This does not mean that God made her simp-           none occasion to the adversary to speak reproach-
ly the servant and slave of man who must kowtow             fully." And again he says in Titus 2:4 and 5, "That
to his every whim and fancy and every selfish de-           they may teach the young women to be sober, to
mand. It does mean however that she must, in love,          love their husbands, to love their children, to be
voluntarily and obediently from the heart serve her         discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to
husband. The husband and wife in marriage have              their own husbands, that the word of God be not
one calling before the Lord. The wife must serve            blasphemed." These are plain words  - so plain
her husband to assist him in fulfilling that calling.       that even a child can understand them. It does not
She must be his close companion, living with him            take a committee of professional theologians to
in the covenant of marriage to encourage and sup-           discover the hermeneutical principles before these
port him in the whole of life.                              words can be properly understood. In these and
  Everywhere the Word of God commands the                   similar passages of scripture the Word of God em-
wife in marriage to live in submission and obe-             phasizes that the role of woman is especially in the
dience to her husband. It is simply a fact that this is     home. There especially she serves as the  helpmeet
the chief admonition that scripture gives to the            of her husband. There especially she cares for her
woman. (See Ephesians 5, Colossians  3:18, I                children. She has no greater and more glorious role
Timothy 2: 11, Titus 2:5, I Peter 3:1-6, and I Corin-       than this. There is none.
thians 11.) It takes a lot of twisting of the scriptures      The raising of children absolutely requires that
to get rid of this teaching, as many women (and             the woman is full time in the home. We want to ad-
men) who call themselves Christians attempt to do.          dress this question. further in a later article. The
The Bible very plainly teaches that God created the         reasoning of the world on this is foolish wicked-
man to be the head of the woman. He has  God-               ness. The suggestion that all that matters is quality
given authority over her; and the woman must be             of time and not quantity is ridiculous nonsense.
subject to that authority with obedience from the           Children need the full-time loving care and concern
heart.                                                      of mother in the home. God made it that way. Not
  Scripture also urges the woman to live in godly           all the fabricated and slanted studies of the world's
sobriety, meekness, and chastity. The Lord em-              psychologists and family counselors will disprove
phasizes this especially in commanding the woman            this. Those mothers who imagine that they can
- not because this is not also important for the            have their own careers outside of the home and jug-
man, but rather because it is true that the world is        gle this with trying to raise a family will some day
full of unchaste rebellious women who live in lust          reap the consequences. These consequences will be
and pleasure, and who are the furthest thing im-            most serious for the Christian home, especially if it
aginable from sobriety and meekness. The Chris-             is in terms of the spiritual welfare of the children
tian woman knows the seriousness of her calling             and the decline of the future generations of the
before the Lord and does not make herself drunk             church of Jesus Christ.
with the world's ungodly philosophy and manner                The role that God has given to the woman as wife
of living. She seeks not herself but the glory of God       and mother is a rich and fulfilling one. Here again
and the welfare of her husband and family.                  we have to oppose the modern-day teaching that
  The Lord in His providence has given to the               suggests that the God-ordained role of woman
woman in marriage a special role in child bearing           relegates her to menial labor and drudgery where it
and a special calling to raise the children the Lord        will be forever impossible for her to realize her full
gives to her and her husband in the love and fear of        potential. If God Himself gave woman her role in
the Lord. It remains a fact that this is the most           the family we can be sure that it is not one in which
amazing and wonderful role imaginable. How true             she can find no fulfillment and joy. We challenge
this is especially when we remember how God                 any man to come forward to name one gift and


498                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



talent that God has given to woman which cannot                          vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall
be properly used in the home and for the family. In                      be praised" (Proverbs  3  1:28-30). What wonderful
fulfilling her role, the godly woman has a very                          words these are! What woman can ask for a greater
significant place in the kingdom and church of                           reward than this?
God. Surely the classic passage of scripture that                           Let us conclude this article with a word to
proves this is the beautiful passage on the virtuous                     husbands. Godly wives and mothers need to be
woman found in Proverbs 31. Both women and                               properly honored in our day. The whole world is
men ought to read this passage several times each                        despising and demeaning them, ridiculing them
year and meditate.on its meaning. That would help                        and calling them to free themselves from bondage
a great deal to drive out of their minds any imagina-                    and go out into the world to find a "meaningful and
tion that the role of woman as God has ordained it                       honorable career." Do we as husbands realize the
is a lowly and unfulfilling one. The chief require-                      barrage from the worldly media that our wives
ments for fulfillment for the Christian woman in                         have to face on every hand that propagates this
the home and family are loving devotion, self                            kind of thing? We must truly honor and respect and
sacrifice, and obedience to the Lord in her  God-                        love our wives and mothers. They need a lot of en-
given role.                                                              couragement and support in our day. How urgent it
   Everywhere the scriptures honor the godly                             is that we not neglect our wives and suggest by our
woman in the role God has given her. It is not the                       actions and attitudes that we consider them to be
glamorous career woman that is the honorable                             very unworthy and nothing but domestic servants.
woman in God's sight. It is not the vain adulterous                      We must not make their role drudgery by being
Hollywood and Broadway star. It is the truly vir-                        unloving and unsupportive. We must not leave
tuous woman. She is precious in the sight of the                         them with the very difficult task of bringing up the
Lord. Let all Christian women know that. What can                        children without our leadership and support. If we
be more wonderful than to be precious in the sight                       do these things we are contributing to the break-
of the Lord? "Her children arise up and call her                         down of our Christian home. Love and honor your
blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.                          faithful wife and the mother of your children as the
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou ex-                        word of the Lord commands you to do.
cellest them all. Favor is deceitful, and beauty is





                     BOOK REVIEWS                                        Reformed Faith, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 287
                                                                         Solving Marriage Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 503
Born Slaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 406    Studies in Paul's Epistles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 47
Case For Christianity, The. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 167           Studies on the New Testament. . . . . . . . . . . RDD 120
Glory of the True Tabernacle. . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 142              Studies on the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 120
Gospel According to Genesis, The . . . . . . . . . HH 166                22 Landmark Years  (Christian Schools
Luke's Thrilling Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 23             International, 1943-65) . . . . . . . . I . . . . HCH 22
Martin Luther, Prophet to the                                            Walking On Thorns, The Call to
   Catholic Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 94            Christian Obedience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 238
Moment of Truth  (The Confession of the Dutch
   Reformed Mission Church, 1982) . . . . HCH 238                                             TEXTUAL INDEX
OnFireForGod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 479          Psalm 5:4b, 7a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 482
OneStepata  Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GH 479           Psalm 77:13a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 362
Our Lord's Pattern for Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 143             Psalm 116:l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HV 194
Pastoral Teaching  of Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 143           Isaiah 66:6-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 122
Pop Goes the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 478         Matthew 5:9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 314
Primer On the Atonement, A . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 22               Matthew 24:32,33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 434
Primer on the Deity of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 143           Luke3:16,17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 266
Reformation of 1834, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 128             Luke 1l:lb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HV 242


                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               499



Romans 8:l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HV 26                                             C
Romans 8:33,34a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HV 410
Philippians 4:6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 98           Calling of Elders, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 295
Philippians 4: 1 lb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 74           Case of Carnal Feasting, A . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 415
II Timothy 4:8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 146           Chicago, A Report of the Mission Work
IIJohn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..JL K 16           in Northwest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RVO 302
III John. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 134     "Chief Part of Thankfulness," That . . . . . GVB 101
Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 208        Children to Pray, Teaching Our . . . . . . . . . GH 118
Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 255        Christian and Work, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 140
Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 300        Christian and Work, The (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 164
                                                                              Christian Contentment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 74
                                   A                                          Christian Family After the Fall, The . . . . . AdH 426
                                                                              Christian Family  - Its Biblical
Abortion, Some Reformed Leaders on . . . GVB 326                                 Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 379
Adam a Neanderthal Man? Was . . . . . . . . GVB 346                           Christian Family: The Role of the
Agenda, 1985, On Synod's . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 389                         Husband and Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 473
Ahab's Wicked Humiliation . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 333                      Christian Family: The Role of the
Aholibah, Judgment of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RGM 68                       Wife and Mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 496
Amazing Love of Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RGM 212                    Christian Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 45
Annual Secretary's Report, R.F.P.A. . . . . . . JK 72                         Christian Hospitality, III John . . . . . . . . . . JLK 134
Antichrist, The Coming of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SW 451                  Christian Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KH 469
Apostles' Creed, The (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 225               Christ's Coming, Cults - Sign of . . . . . . . RCH 447
Apostles' Creed, The (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 357                Christ's Coming Foreshadowed in
Apostles' Creed, The (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 465                  Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 442
Assurance of the Crown                                                        Christ's Coming, The Preaching of the
   Righteousness, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 146                   GospelasaSignof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..K H 453
Authority of the Word of God and                                              Christ's Coming, War as a Sign of. . . . . . . . HH 439
   Its Sufficiency, The Sole . . . . . . . . . . . . . TM 355                 Christ's Intercessory Prayer
                                                                                 and our Praying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 106
                                   B                                          Christ's Resurrection, Debate on . . . . . . . GVB 417
                                                                              Church Assemblies, Reports On. . . . . . . . GVB 490
Baptism Form - Introduction, The. . . . . . . . JS 374                        Clarion!  Correction, Please . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 29
Baptism Form - Introduction, The (2) . . . . . JS 397                         Clarity of God's Word, Perspicuity:
Baptism Form - Introduction, The (3) . . . . . JS 421                            The Objective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TM 376
Baptism, The Significance of Your . . . . . . . RC 210                        Classical Decisions, About the Binding
Being a Shepherdess (Satire), On . . . . . . . HCH 78                            Character of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 151
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Comforter, The. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 278
   (XIV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GL 13       Coming of Antichrist, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SH 451
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Communion, About Guests at . . . . . . . . . HCH 53
   (XV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GL 38    Condemnation, Free From . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 26
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Consistory of Doon, Transcript of Letter . . MK                    7
   (XVI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 157     Consultation on Church Union (COCU) . GVB 418
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Contentment, Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 74
   (XVII) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 251      Conversion, Our Sincere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 290
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Correction, Please,  Clarion! . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 29
   (XVIII) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 203     Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . See 150
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Correspondence and Reply . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 125
   (XIX) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 343     Correspondence and Reply . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 151
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Counsel of God, Prayer and the . . . . . . . . . HH 103
   (XX). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GL 381      CounselofPeace,The(l). . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RH 492
Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures                                        Covenant God, Godisa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RH 66
   (XXI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 429     Covenant God, God is a (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . RH 89
Bibles in the Worship Services . . . . . . . . . . CH 405                     Covenant Spirit, Salvation and the . . . . . . . BG 280
Binding Character of Classical Decisions,                                     Creation and Geology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 133
   About the. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 151           Cremation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 87
Birth of the Man-Child, The . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 122                    Crown of Righteousness, Our
Blessed Peacemakers, The. . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 314                       Assurance of the. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 146


500                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



Cults - Sign of Christ's Coming. . . . . . . . RCH 447                     God Is Sovereign (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 234
Current Events in the Light of Prophecy . . . . . 433                      God's Way in the Sanctuary . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 362
Current Events, Prophecy and. . . . . . . . . HCH 437                     Golden Opportunities Not Taken . . . . . . . JAH 59
                                                                          Good Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 338
                                  D                                       Good Works, The Necessity of . . . . . . . . . . CH 218
                                                                          Government Support = Government
Dance Be Part of Church Liturgy?,                                             Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 161
   Should the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GVB 418        Guests at Communion, About . . . . . . . . . HCH 53
Debate on Christ's Resurrection. . . . . . . . GVB 417
Disagree?", "How Shall We . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 131                                                      H
Discerning Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 371
Doctrine of Scripture and the Reformation:                                Heidelberg Catechism Q. 83,84 . . . . . . . . . CH                     2
   Unity and the Non-Issue, The. . . . . . . . . TM 232                   Heidelberg Catechism Q. 85 . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 50
Domestic Mission Activities, Our. . . . . . . . . JLK 55                  Heidelberg Catechism Q. 85 (2) . . . . . . . . . . CH 170
                                                                          Heidelberg Catechism Q. 88-90. . . . . . . . . . CH 290
                                  E                                       Heidelberg Catechism Q. 9 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 338
                                                                          Heidelberg Catechism Q. 92,93 . . . . . . . . . CH 386
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 125        Heidelberg Catechism Q. 94,95 . . . . . . . . . CH 458
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 221        Heritage, Our Reformed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 20
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 341        Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 485        Holy Spirit and the Restraint of Sin, The . GVB 285
Elder and Preaching, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 149                Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, The . . . . HH 271
Elders, The Calling of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 295           -Holy Spirit Baptism - or the
End of the Age, Our Seminary and the . . . . HH                     8        Second Blessing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 282
Enemy Beginning to Fall, The . . . . . . . . . . JAH 201                  "How Shall We Disagree?" . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 131
Entering God's House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 482             Human Craftiness and Divine
Euthanasia, And . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 326              Faithfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 177
                                                                          Husband and Father, The Christian Family:
                                  F                                          The Role of the. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 473

"Faithful in Love"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 372                                              I
Faithfulness, Human Craftiness
   and Divine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 177       Idol: Sports, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 223
Faithfulness The Never Fails . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 487                Ignorance Winked At. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 262
Family After the Fall, The Christian . . . . . AdH 426                    Illumination of the Spirit in the Church,"
Family  - Its Biblical Foundations,                                          "The.............................T M 400
   The Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 379        Initial Victory, An. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 129
Family: Role of the Husband and Father,                                   Integration and Segregation (1) . . . . . . . . . . HV 180
   The Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 473        Integration and Segregation (2) . . . . . . . . . . HV 206
Family: Role of the Wife and Mother,
   The Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 496                                           J
Fatalism, Shameful, Unvarnished . . . . . . . JAH 11
Fear of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 236    Jehovah, My Love of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 194
Fellowship, Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 45              Jesus Betrayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 309
For the Truth's Sake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 257         Jesus Crucified. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 331
Free From Condemnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 26                  Jesus Strengthened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 260
                                                                          Judgment of Aholibah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCM 68

                                  G                                                                         K

Gambling Is Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 224         Key of the Kingdom, Preaching as Chief . . CH                          2
Geology, Creation and. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 133              Keys of the Kingdom - A Personal
Go and Tell the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 170                Obligation, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH        50
GodisaCovenantGod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 66                   Knowing the Nearness of the End . . . . . . HCH 434
God is a Covenant God (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . RH 89
GodisLove(l) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 307
GodisLove(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 402
God Is Sovereign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 189         Law Circumvented, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 369


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                             501



Law of Liberty, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 386                      Nicene Creed, Art. 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 135
Learning to Pray in Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 113                       Nicene Creed, Art. 9 (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 184
Legacy of Wyclif: A Trail of Martyrdom . . TM 138                                     Nicene Creed, Art. 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 230
Liberty, Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KH 469                    Nicene Creed, Art. 10 (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 329
Likened to a Deceitful Bow . . . . . . . . . . . RGM 476                              NiceneCreed,  Art. 11,12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 352
Lord's Supper, About Partaking of the. . . HCH 125                                    No Charge Against Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 410
Love of Father, Amazing . . . . . . . . . . . . . RGM 212                             Northwest Chicago, A Report of the
                                                                                         Mission Work in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RVO 302
                                       M
                                                                                                                             0
Martyrdom, The Legacy of Wyclif:
   ATrail of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TM 138                  Old Testament Introduction (1) . . . . . . . . . JLK 350
Mission Activities, Our Domestic. . . . . . . . JLK 55                                Old Testament Introduction (concl.) . . . . . JLK 395
Mission Work in Northwest Chicago,                                                    One Hundred Fifty Years and Sixty. . . . . HCH 173
  A Report of the. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RVO 302                      One Hundred Fifty Years and Sixty (2) . . HCH 198
Missionary, a Slave to All, The (1) . . . . . . RDD 348                               One Hundred Fifty Years and Sixty (3) . . HCH 221
Missionary, a Slave to All, The (2) . . . . . . RDD 393                               One Hundred Fifty Years and Sixty (4) . . HCH 245
Missionary, a Slave to All, The (3) . . . . . . RDD 419                               Opportunities Not Taken, Golden . . . . . . . JAH 59
Missionary, a Slave to All, The (4) . . . . . . RDD 467                               Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . i. . . . . . . . . HH 33
Missionary Methods (25) . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 162                             Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 80
Missionary Methods (26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 182                             Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 153
Missionary Methods (27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 228                             Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 199
Missionary Methods (28) . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 327                             Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 319
Missions, Preaching and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 64                            Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 391
Moment of Truth, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 248                          Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 463
Mothers, Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 187                       Order of Worship, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 485
Movie Attendance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 373
My Love of Jehovah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 194                                                               P

                                       M                                              Pamphlet Concerning the Reformation of
                                                                                         the Church, A by Dr. A. Kuyper . . . . . . . HH 57
Neanderthal Man? Was Adam a . . . . . . . . GVB 346                                   Pamphlet Concerning the Reformation of
Necessity of Good Works, The . . . . . . . . . . CH 218                                  the Church, A by Dr. A. Kuyper . . . . . . . HH 247
Never Be Anxious by Rev. H. Hoeksema . . CH 98                                        Pamphlet Concerning the Reformation of
New Zealand, The Protestant Reformed                                                     the Church, A by Dr. A. Kuyper . . . . . . . HH 367
   C h u r c h o f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R   M   3 4 1    Partaking of the Lord's Supper, About. . . HCH 125
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 23                                Participants  - Not Spectators or How to
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 71                                   Prepare For Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BG 494
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 96                                Peacemakers, The Blessed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 314
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 143                               Pentateuch, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 471
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 167                               Persistent Distortion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 365
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 191                               Personal Obligation, The Keys of the
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 215                                  Kingdom-A.......................C  H 50
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 239                               Perspicuity: The Objective Clarity of
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 263                                  God's Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TM 376
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 287                               Polemics, The Standard Bearer and . . . . . . RDD 3 1
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 3 12                              Pray in Public, Learning to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 113
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 335                               Pray Without Ceasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 109
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 359                               Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    97
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 383                               Prayer and Our Praying, Christ's
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 406                                  Intercessory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL 106
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 43 1                              Prayer and the Counsel of God . . . . . . . . . . HH 103
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 455                               Prayer for the Saints, The Spirit's. . . . . . . HCH 126
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 479                               Prayer, True . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 242
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . DH 503                               Prayers That God Will Hear. . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 115
Nicene Creed, Art. 8 (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 42                        Prayingforthesick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RDD 111
Nicene Creed, Art. 8 (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JS 85                        Preaching and Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 64


5 0 2                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



Preaching as Chief Key of the Kingdom . . . CH                          2    Revelation  -  Christ"s  Victorious
Preaching of the Gospel as a sign of                                            Return (concl.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 300
   Christ's Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KH 453
Preaching: On the Wane? . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 293                                                       S
Preaching: The Elder and . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 149
Prepare~For Worship, Participants  - Not                                      Salvation and the Covenant Spirit . . . . . . . . BG 280
   Spectators or How to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BG 494                Schipper, 1906-1985, Rev. Marinus . . . . . HCH 197
Presentation of Plaque to Prof. Homer                                        Scripture's Authority, The Reformation
   C. Hoeksema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GL          6        and the Source of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TM 303
Preservation and Perseverance (5) . . . . . . . HV 40                        Scriptures  - The Waldenses, The
Preservation and Perseverance (6) . . . . . . . HV 83                           Return to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TM 18
Prophecy and Current Events . . . . . . . . . HCH 437                        Scripture: Wyclif, The Return to. . . . . . . . . TM 62
Protestant Reformed Church of New                                            Second Beast, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 445
   Zealand, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RM 341           Second Blessing, Holy Spirit Baptism,
Protestant Reformed Teacher Goes                                                or the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 282
   to Ulster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J L 91    IIJohn- WalkinTruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JLK 16
Purged, Thoroughly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 266                 Secretary's Report, R.F.P.A. Annual . . . . . . JK 7.2
                                                                             Segregation, Integration and (1) . . . . . . . . . HV 180
                                   Q                                         Segregation, Integration and (2) . . . . . . . . . HV 206
                                                                             Seminary and the End of the Age, Our . . . . HH                      8
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 92           Seminary Convocation - 1984. . . . . . . . . . HCH                   5
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 262          Serving God Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 458
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 333          Shameful, Unvarnished Fatalism . . . . . . . JAH 11
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 405          Shepherdess (Satire), On Being A . . . . . . . HCH 78
                                                                             Should the Dance be Part of Church
                                   R                                            Liturgy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 418
                                                                             Sick, Praying for the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 111
RES, South African Church Breaks from . GVB 325                              Significance of Your Baptism, The . . . . . . . RC 210
Reformation and the Source of                                                Signs of the Spirit, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 274
   Scripture's Authority, The . . . . . . . . . . . TM 303                   Sin Found Out and Punished . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 322
Reformation of the Church, A Pamphlet                                        Sincere Conversion, Our . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 290
   Concerning the by IDr. A. Kuyper . . . . . . HH 57                        Society Life in Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . HCH 77
Reformation of the Church, A Pamphlet                                        South African Church Breaks from RES . . GVB 325
   Concerning the by IDr. A. Kuyper . . . . . . HH 247                       Sovereign, God Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RH 189
Reformation of the Church, A Pamphlet                                        Sovereign, God Is (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RH 234
   Concerning the by Dr. A. Kuyper . . . . . . HH 367                        Spectator, or How to Prepare For Worship,
Reformed Book Outlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 3 17                     Participants - Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BG 494
Reformed Education in Ulster, Report on . . JL 306                           Spirit in the Church," "The Illumination
Reformed Heritage, Olur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 20                     ofthe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..T M 400
Reformed Leaders on Abortion, Some . . . GVB 326                             Spirit of Christ, The Holy Spirit as the . . . . HH 271
Report of Classis  East. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JJH 48            Spirit of Truth, in the Church, The . . . . . . . TM 276
Report of Classis  East. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JJH 215           Spirit, The Signs of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 274
Report of Classis  East. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JJH 407           Spirit Was Not Yet, When the . . . . . . . . . . JAH 269
Report of Classis  WesU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DE 47              Spirit's Prayer for the Saints, The. . . . . . . HCH 126
Report of Classis  WesU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DE 311             Sports, The Idol: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 223
Report of the Mission Work in                                                SfandavdBeavev  and Polemics, The. . . . . . RDD 31
  Northwest Chicago, A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RVO 302                   Still Distorted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 318
Reports on Church Assemblies. . . . . . . . . GVB 490                        Synod of 1985, A Brief Report . . . . . . . . . HCH 413
Restraint of Sin, The Holy Spirit -                                          Synod's Agenda, 1985, On . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 389
  and the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 285
Return to Scriptures  - The                                                                                   T
  Waldenses, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TM 18
Return to Scripture - Wyclif, The . . . . . . . TM 62                        Taught of God by the Word and Prayer . . . TM 424
Rev. Marinus Schipper, 1906-1985 . . . . . HCH 197                           Teaching Our Children to Pray. . . . . . . . . . GH 118
Revelation  - Christ's Victorious                                            Thankfulness," That "Chief Part of . . . . . GVB 101
  Return (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 208       III John - Christian Hospitality . . . . . . . . . JLK 134
Revelation  - Christ's Victorious                                            Thirty-five Years of Faithful Service . . . . . . GL                5
  Return (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 255       Thoroughly Purged. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 266


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                            503
                                                                                               7  .'           .         :;

                                                                                                    :     I



Time's "Man of the Year"? . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 253                           Working Mothers ....... 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 187
Transcript of Letter from the Consistory                                            Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 33
   ofDoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..M K               7     Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 80
Transcript of Remarks by Menno Smits . . . MS                                 8     Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 153
Trip to the British Isles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 155                    Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 199
Trip to the British Isles (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 175                    Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 319
TruePrayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..H V 242                  Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 391
Truth, The Moment of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 248                        Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 463
Truths Sake, For the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RC 257                      Worship, Our Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 485
                                                                                    Wyclif: A Trail of Martyrdom,
                                      U                                               T h e L e g a c y o f . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T   M   1 3 8
                                                                                    Wyclif, The Return to Scripture . . . . . . . . . TM 62
Ulster, Protestant Reformed Teacher
   Goes to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JL 91
Ulster, Report on Reformed Education in . . JL 306                                                Book Review
Unbelief, Unmistakable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 35
Unequally Yoked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 449
Unity and the Non-Issue, The Doctrine of                                            SOLVING MARRIAGE PROBLEMS,  by Jay E.
   Scripture and the Reformation . . . . . . . . TM 232                             Adams; Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.,
Unmistakable Unbelief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 35                          1983; 122 pp., (paper) $4.50. (Reviewed by Prof.
                                                                                    R.D. Decker)
                                      V                                               Still another book from the pen of Jay Adams,
                                                                                    Director of Advanced Studies at Westminster
Victory, An Initial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 129                  Theological Seminary in California! This book is in-
                                                                                    tended for pastors and other Christian counselors,
                                     W                                              but may be profitably read by any Christian. One
                                                                                    does not always agree with Adams' views, especial-
Waldenses, The Return to the Scriptures,                                            ly his view of divorce and the remarriage of di-
   T h e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T   M   1 8    vorced persons. Nonetheless, Adams' approach is
War as a Sign of Christ's Coming . . . . . . . . HH 439                             Biblical and he insists that marriage problems are
What Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GVB 160                  caused by sin and can be cured only by grace
When the Spirit Was Not Yet. . . . . . . . . . . JAH 269                            through the means of God's Word. Some of the sub-
Whence Have You Come? . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 461                               jects with which Adams deals are: The Counselor's
Wife and Mother, The Christian Family:                                              Own Marriage, What Causes Marriage Problems,
   The Role of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 496                  Unbiblical Concepts in Marriage, Particular Sinful
Women in the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 92                      Living Patterns, How To Discover Marriage Prob-
Work, The Christian and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 140                        lems. Recommended for pastors and elders
Work, The Christian and (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . RC 164                          especially.

                                  News From Our Churches
                                                                        August 28,1985



   If you have a copy of this year's Acts and Year-                                 this district the remaining deacon and the faithful
booh ofSynod,  please make the following change on                                  decided to purchase a little 8' by 10' shop and then
page 143: Rev. Kortering's telephone number                                         expand on it as funds came in. The first Sunday
should read  - (616) 538-2575. This will greatly                                    scheduled for services arrived and I was a little
reduce the number of telephone calls to the person                                  doubtful that many would come. To my surprise
at the 2572 telephone number.                                                       about 50 people attended church that night. About
   Rev. Bruinsma and family have been visiting the                                  30 crammed into the little shanty and another 20
Grand Rapids, Michigan area for a few weeks. In a                                   hung in the windows and doors. I'm sure many of
letter to the congregation of First Church, in Grand                                these were just curious on-lookers, but for 3 Sun-
Rapids, Rev. Bruinsma wrote,  ". . . First of all, the                              days now we have been drawing the same people.
congregation in Waterworks has had a new begin-                                     Because of this response the members of this con-
ning . . . . Since there was no available building in                               gregation are now expanding the building to a large


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             P . O .   B o x   6 0 6 4
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506.
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  5 0 4                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

        12' by 16'. They are having a hard time financing                                                                  area in order that Rev. Lubbers might preach in our
   their building (total cost $600.00, U.S.) but they are                                                                  Trinity Protestant Reformed Church for the first
   enthused and determined to make a go of it. I have                                                                      four Sundays of September.
   been spending much time preaching in this church                                                                            Our seminary has two new pre-sem students and
   and I hope to begin a Bible study class there soon,                                                                     four returning students who will be graduating,
   too!                                                                                                                    D.V., this year. We pray that God will add new
          "A further item of news is that I have made con-                                                                 students in the near future.
   tacts with a few people outside the confines of our                                                                         The Bookstore reports growing interest in this
   own churches here. I have met with two men from                                                                         adventure. Though there are some slow days,
   Kingston (Jamaica's capital) who have quite an in-                                                                      others have been busy. A number of our own publi-
   terest in Calvinism. I intend to keep in touch with                                                                     cations have been sold to many who are not
   them in hopes of a future labor in Kingston . . . ."                                                                    members of our denomination. If you have not
          In regards to the missionary work in Jamaica,                                                                    been to the store, your visits will be appreciated.
   and in accordance with the decision of the last                                                                             All of our schools have opened for the year.
   Synod that a co-worker be found for Rev. Bruinsma                                                                       Heritage School in Hudsonville, Michigan, has also
   by October 1 or else he would be called home and                                                                        opened its new doors for the school year. In addi-
   made eligible for a call, the Jamaican Committee                                                                        tion, Heritage will also have an exciting event take
   has contacted other ministers as to their willingness                                                                   place on September 19, at the school. This sched-
   and ability to labor on the field. Since no one could                                                                   uled date is for the cornerstone laying and dedica-
   go this year, the consistory of First Church has                                                                        tion service of the school.
   released their pastor for this work and the Council
   will send Rev. Joostens to labor in Jamaica with                                                                            The teachers will hold their convention in Doon,
   Rev. Bruinsma for six months beginning October 1.                                                                       Iowa this year from October 16-18.
   Prof. Decker has agreed to preach the Heidelberg                                                                            The Federation Board of Protestant Reformed
   Catechism for First Church and Rev. Lubbers has                                                                         School Societies sponsored an exciting mini-course
   agreed to teach Rev. Joostens' catechism classes.                                                                       this summer on "Writing Across the Curriculum."
          Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers are in the Houston, Texas                                                                  The enthusiasm of the speakers and the active
                                                                                                                           teacher participation was an evidence of the sincere
                                                                                                                           desire to improve the instruction of our children.
                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                                                                             DH
          On August 23, 1985, our parents, MR. AND MRS. HENRY  ZAND-
   STRA celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. We are thankful to
   them for raising us in the fear of Jehovah. Our prayer is that our
   Heavenly Father will bless them in the last years of their lives with                                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   spiritual strength through walking in His way.                                                                              On October 1, 1985, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
          "And we know that all things work together for good to them that                                                 ALVIN RAU will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. We, their
   love God, to them that are called according to His purpose."  (Remans                                                   children and grandchildren rejoice with them and are grateful to our
   8:28)                                                                                                                   Lord for covenant parents who sought to teach us the way of God.
                                                                                                                           We pray they will continue to experience the blessings of our faithful
   Albert and Jean Buiter                   Art and Sharon Van  Baren                                                      God in the years that He may give them.
        _ Dave and Cheryl  Dotson,             Art, Mary, Michelle, Neal
          and Karen Buiter                  Steve and Cynthia Dees                                                             "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
   Henry and Joann Zandstra                    Jason, Erin and Andrew                                                      them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."
          Steve, Ryan, Laura and Amber                                                                                       (Psalm  103:17)
   Chester Jr. and Barb Hunter                                                                                             Jim and Lois Rau                         Dave and Norma  Rau
                                                                                                                               Carol, Cheryl, Kim, Rodney              Dawn
                         ANNIVERSARY IN MINISTRY                                                                           Rev. Ken and Pat Koole                  Mike Rau
          September, 1985, marks 25 years that the Lord has sustained our                                                      Justin, Bruce, Catherine, Audra     Rosemary Rau
   father, REV. J. KORTERING, in the service of our Protestant Re-                                                         Dave and Mary Kregel
   formed Churches. For many of these years he has been our pastor as                                                          Lisa, Brent, Jason
   well. We thank God that His covenant blessings have been with our
   father, and pray that God will use him (and our mother as his  help-                                                                                   NOTICE!!!
   meet) for many years to come.                                                                                                                CHANGE OF ADDRESS
          "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise                                                       The new mailing address of Rev. Arie den Hartog is:
   God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." (I Timothy 1  :I 7)                                                                      Rev. Arie den Hartog
   Barry and Lori Gritters                 Leon Kamps and Ellen Kortering                                                                43 Blair Road
   Dennis and Sharon Griess                Carol Kortering                                                                               Singapore 0208
   Bruce Klamer and Joann Kortering          and 6 grandchildren                                                                         Republic of Singapore


