'  S7-.bAAlDARD
                              EARER
          l                A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       Y
     f





'
               .  .  .    as we begin another year, we naturally
               look to the future. We wonder what the new
               year holds in store for us. Will great evil
               befall us? Will we and our children be able to
               stand . . . ?
                   How reassuring is the Word of God.
               Blessed is the nation whose God is the
               LORD!
               See "The Nation Whose God Is the Lord"
                                                                          - page 146



     \.                                                        Vol.  LXII, No. 7, January 1, 1986  -


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




                              CONTENTS                                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                     ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
  Meditation  -                                                                                  Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
     The Nation Whose God Is the Lord. . . . . . . . . . .146                     Editor-in-Chief:   Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                  Department  Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
  Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149    D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                  Rev. Ronald Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering,
  Editorial  -                                                                    Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                  Gise  J. Van Baren,  Rev. Herman Veldman.
     The Christian and Rock Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149                  Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                      4975  Ivanrest Ave., S.W.
  Walking in the Light -                                                                              Grandvilie, Michigan 49418
     Gambling (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151     Church   News  Editor:  Mr. David Harbach
                                                                                                          4930  Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
                                                                                                          Grandville, Michigan 49418
  The Day of Shadows -                                                            Editorial  Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own ar-
     AMuchNeededLesson....................15  4                                   ticles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                  Question Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to approx-
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                                                                                  signed. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the month. All com-
     Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures . . . . . . . .156                    munications relative to the contents should be sent to the editorial office.
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     Casualness and Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159              periodical in which such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
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     Rock Music and Our Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160                                    Mr. H.  Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.            PH:  (6161   2432953
                                                                                                   P.O. Box 6064
     Teens and the Pill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160                        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
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  News From Our Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167                Advertising  Policy:  The StandardBearer does not accept commercial advertising of
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema




                The Nation Whose God Is the Lord

                 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people he hath chosen for his own in-
              heritance." Psalm 33:l.Z


  Everyone has a God.                                                                   If the LORD  is your God, then are you truly
  Who is your God?                                                                  blessed. For that means, first of all, that  the LORD
                                                                                    has chosen you for His inheritance. And therefore,
  There is a people whose God is the LORD. Are                                      secondly, it means that He will protect you from all
you numbered among that people?                                                     harm so that He may enjoy you forever and that


                                             THE- STANDARD BEARER                                           147



you may enjoy Him forever.                                   In the old dispensation that people was the na-
   How important this all is, especially as we face       tion of Israel. All other nations had other gods.
again a new year! There are many evils that               They made gods of stone and wood and precious
threaten us and our children. Sickness, poverty,          metals. To these gods they bowed the knee. In
war, loss of loved ones, death, persecution are only      these gods they placed their trust. But the LORD
some of the many evils that could so easily befall us     was Israel's God. It was upon the LORD that Israel
in the near future. Besides all these there are the       relied. It was to the LORD that Israel looked for
host of temptations that we and our children face         help in the time of need. It was in the LORD that
every day. The powers of darkness are unrelenting         Israel sought all her joys. This, of course, was not
as they seek to lead us astray into sin and destruc-      true of the whole nation. Many in Israel served the
tion. And so, as we begin another year, we natural-       idol gods of the heathen. Nevertheless, those who
ly look to the future. We wonder what the new year        formed the heart of the nation, those who were true
holds in store for us. Will great evil befall us? Will    Israel, had the LORD as their God.
we and our children be able to stand in the face of          In the new dispensation that nation whose God is
the onslaughts of the powers of darkness? These are       the LORD is the church of Jesus Christ.
all very legitimate concerns of God's people.                The church is indeed a nation. No, the church is
   How reassuring is the Word of God. Blessed is          not a nation among the nations of the world as was
the nation whose God is the LORD!                         Israel of old. The church, for example, can not be
          * * *       *:  f<    *: * * * *                identified with a particular country in the world;
                                                          nor is it limited to one people. The church of Jesus
   Everyone has a God.                                    Christ is found today in every tribe, tongue, and na-
   Your God is that in which you place your trust.        tion under heaven. Yet, for all that, the church is a
Your God is that which you rely upon to provide           distinct nation. She is a spiritual nation which has
you with safety and security as well as happiness in      her own kingdom  - the kingdom of heaven. She
life.                                                     has her own King Whom she serves -Jesus Christ.
   In that light, virtually anything or anyone can be     She has her own laws that govern her life - the law
your god. Money can be your god. How many                 of God. She has her own language, customs, goals,
people rely upon money for security and hap-              values  - all determined by the Scriptures.
piness? They have made money their god. In like             The church has been formed into such a nation
manner you can make insurance, entertainment,             through Jesus Christ Who redeemed her out of sin
the esteme of men, earthly power, a home, a circle        and called her out of darkness into the marvelous
of friends your god.                                      light of God. The fruit of this great work of Jesus
   All of these, of course, are only idol gods. They      Christ is that the church also owns the LORD as her
are not really Gods. For none of them can truly pro-      God. Her trust is in the LORD. In Him she finds her
vide safety and security. Neither can they afford         joy-
true happiness. The security and happiness they             Are you numbered among that people?
give are a mere illusion.                                          * * * * * * * * * *
   Over against all the idol gods of man there is the        Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD!
LORD, He alone is truly God. He alone is able to             She is blessed because the LORD will protect and
provide true safety and security. He alone is able to     preserve her in His covenant fellowship.
afford true joy to man. That joy is the bliss of His
own covenant companionship and friendship. With              This is the emphasis of the whole Psalm.
the LORD there is true peace and safety!                     Israel is viewed as a little flock among the mighty
   Is the LORD your God? If He is your God, then          nations of the world. Militarily the heathen nations
you will put all your trust in Him. You will trust        were far superior to Israel. And these nations
Him and Him alone to keep and preserve you. You           sought to destroy Israel. The reason was that
will rely upon Him to supply all your needs. You          Israel's God was the LORD. How the ungodly hate
will look to His fellowship to give you true joy and      the LORD! They not only refuse to acknowledge
peace. In blind trust you will obey His every com-        Him as God; they bitterly oppose Him and all His
mandment, expecting that in the way of obedience          works. Hence, the heathen nations also hated
the LORD will care for you.                               Israel. Israel was the people the LORD had re-
         *  *  *  *       *: * *  * * *                   deemed out of Egypt. She was the people with
                                                          whom the LORD had established His covenant at
   There is a nation whose God is the LORD.               Mt. Sinai. She was the people who served the
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    LORD. Indeed, the heathen had no room for Israel.
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                            She must be destroyed. And by destroying Israel a


148                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



deadly blow would be brought against the LORD             will bring it to naught and preserve His people so
Himself.                                                  that they may enjoy forevermore the bliss of His
  But the LORD assured Israel in this Psalm that          companionship and fellowship.
He would protect and preserve her.                          Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD!
  It was the LORD Who made the heavens and the                     * * * * * * * * * *
earth. "By the word of the LORD were the heavens            The nation whose God is the LORD is blessed ex-
made: and all the host of them by the breath of his       actly because the LORD has chosen her for His
mouth" (vs. 6). As the Creator, the LORD is the           own inheritance.
almighty God, infinitely greater than all the hosts of
the heathen. Hence, the counsels of the heathen             An inheritance can refer to the material wealth a
shall be brought to naught (vs. 10); whereas the          father leaves to his children at death. It can also
counsel of the LORD shall stand forever (vs. 11).         refer to one's possessions, as it does here.
Surely the people of Israel whose God is the LORD           In a sense, all things are the inheritance or
are safe and secure! The LORD will protect them           possession of the LORD. He is the Creator and thus
from all their enemies and preserve them in His           also the Owner of all things and all peoples.
covenant fellowship where they shall find joys un-          However, there is a people whom the LORD has
speakable.                                                chosen for His special possession. Even as a king
  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD!            who owns all things in his kingdom will have his
  The same is true also today for the church.             own personal possessions in which he takes special
                                                          delight, so too the LORD has eternally chosen out
  The powers of darkness also assail the church.          of all peoples of the world a people to be His special
The enemies of the church are the Devil and his           possession and treasure. With this people God will
hosts along with the world of ungodly men. These          establish His eternal covenant. In this people He
evil forces have no more use for the church than          will find His delight. This is the great truth of eter-
the heathen nations did for Israel in times past. And     nal and sovereign election.
again the reason is that the church is the nation
whose God is the LORD.                                      This divine choosing explains, first of all, why as
                                                          a nation this people acknowledge the LORD as
  Without ceasing, the powers of darkness bring           their God. The LORD desires a people in whom He
their attacks against the church. Repeatedly the          can delight. To delight in them requires that they
powers of darkness have tried to destroy the              acknowledge and serve Him as God. Certainly the
church through persecution. How many of God's             LORD can find no delight in a people who have
saints down through history have lost their life at       other gods and do not own Him as God. Hence,
the hands of the powers of darkness for Christ's          having chosen them for His own inheritance He
sake! When persecution fails to destroy the church,       redeemed them in Jesus His Son and transforms
the powers of darkness seek to destroy the church         them spiritually so that they own Him as God and
spiritually. Through false doctrine and the               serve Him willingly as their God.
pleasures of sin the forces of evil seek to lead the
church away into sin so that she repudiates the             However, this divine choosing also explains why
LORD as her God and seeks other gods.                     the LORD so zealously preserves and protects this
                                                          nation. He has chosen them for His own possession
  And how powerful the forces of darkness are!            in whom He will take infinite and eternal delight.
Theirs is the wealth and the power of the world. To       They are the apple of His eye! There is nothing
them belong great numbers. Numbered among                 more precious to Him than this people whom He
their ranks are the men of great intellect and cun-       has chosen. Certainly He will keep and preserve
ning. From every human point of view the church           them. He will give to them the bliss of His fellow-
can not possibly stand before the powers of               ship. He will allow nothing to harm them. He will
darkness.                                                 cause all things to work for their welfare.
  However, the LORD is still God almighty. His              Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD!
counsel still stands. And He still brings the counsels
of the heathen to nought. The LORD therefore will           Is the LORD your God? Then you are blessed in-
surely preserve His church. He will keep them in          deed. For you are safe and secure in God's protec-
the hour of temptation. With every temptation the         tion and fellowship.
LORD will provide a way of escape. The power of             With the LORD as our God let us face the new
darkness may rise up in terrible persecution against      year with courage and confidence!
the church; but the LORD will never allow the
church to be overcome. No matter what scheme the             Give the gift of the Standard Bearer!
Devil may concoct in his sly old head, the LORD


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          149



                                                 Editor's Notes


      Although the actual occasion of New Year's Day                 learning more of Presbyterianism and help support
will be past when most of our readers receive this                   a worthwhile cause and foster the overseas contacts
issue, we take this opportunity to wish you, our                     of our churches.
readers, a blessed new year. May you take to your-                   *      *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *     *
selves the word of Psalm  57:la,  ". . . yea, in the                      Price Increase, RFPA Publications. Here is
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until
these calamities be overpast."                                       the bad news. For various reasons, chief among
 *      *    *    *    *     *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    which is the increased costs of publication, most of
                                                                     our RFPA books will go up in price as of January 1.
      The Presbyterian. My colleague, Prof. Hanko,                   Elsewhere in this issue you will find a complete
asked me to pass on to you a word about this little                  price list. There are three exceptions to the price in-
magazine. It is published by Mr. Tony Horne in                       crease. Behold, He Corn&h! will hereafter be avail-
Bristol, England. He is one of the saints whom the                   able only in paperback, but at the same price of
emissaries met while in Ireland and England in late                  $12.95; right now there is a very small supply of
1984. He publishes this magazine in an effort to                     hardcover copies left. Come, Ye Children, the Bible
revive Presbyterianism in the U.K. The publication                   story book, and Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the
of this magazine is a personal venture of Mr.                        GospeZ will not go up in price. We call special atten-
Horne. In order for the paper to survive, he needs                   tion to the fact that God's Covenant Faithfulness is
subscriptions and support. The magazine can be ob-                   being sold out at $2.95; after the current supply is
tained by writing to: "The Presbyterian," 9 Church                   exhausted this book will not be reprinted. Now
Rd., Thornbury, Bristol,  BS12  lEJ, England. The                    comes the good  news; RFPA Book Club members
cost for one year (six issues) is 3.72 pounds, surface               will receive a 30% discount from now on instead of
mail, or 6.50 pounds, airmail. [For the exchange                     the former 20%. You cannot take advantage of your
rate of dollars to pounds, see your bank; currently                  Book Club discount at Reformed Book Outlet in
the pound is around  $1.45.1  A subscription to this                 Hudsonville, MI; only by writing to RFPA Publica-
magazine will both serve to help those interested in                 tions, P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.

EDITORIAL



                            The Christian and Rock Music



      What should be the attitude of the child of God                truth of the antithesis toward "rock music"?
toward what is called "rock music"? More specifi-                         Perhaps you are asking, "Why make that the
tally stated, what should be the attitude of the child               subject of an editorial in The Standard Bearer? Is
of God  of Reformed  persuasion toward "rock                         that really a question among us? Is it a debatable
music"? And more specifically still, what should be                  subject? Is it necessary to discuss this and to point
the attitude of the child of God of Reformed persua-                 out the reasons why `rock' is wrong, contraband,
sion who holds both in principle and practice to the                 for the child of God?"


150                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



   Obviously, my answer to these questions is af-          which rock music has made among our families is
firmative. Perhaps I could put it this way: it should      probably greater than I imagine. As I said, I have
not be necessary to discuss this, but it is necessary.     not taken a poll. Besides, in my non-pastoral
And I believe this answer is realistic. No, I have not     ministry I am not in a position which affords me
taken a survey or a poll to determine to what extent       much direct contact with our people or opportunity
"rock" is indulged in by Protestant Reformed peo-          to observe their lifestyle. Moreover, I am not mak-
ple of various age groups. However, in the first           ing a blanket indictment of our people on this
place, I know by experience, both as one who was           score. In fact, far,be it from me to make any indict-
once a young man himself and as a former parent of         ment at all; I only wish to sound an earnest warning
covenant youth, the carnal appeal and the tempta-          and to furnish pertinent grounds for that warning.
tion which the world's music holds and which it            But I am told by some who are in a better position
seems to hold especially for young people; and I           to know and to observe than I am that addiction to
have no reason to believe that is any different today      "rock" is not uncommon among our young people.
than in yesteryear. The only difference is in the          I am also told that there are homes where it is not
particular hind of worldly music and in the degree of      guarded against, or is even allowed and endorsed. I
the temptation. In my day the world's music went           am told that there are even homes in which parents
by different names than it does today. And in my           themselves freely indulge in listening to rock
day, perhaps it could be said, the world's songs,          music.
both with respect to their lyrics and their music,            This, I think, offers sufficient justification for my
were not always as blatantly worldly and as crassly        addressing the subject editorially. Hence, with
carnal and perverted as they are today. That, how-         some apology to the older generation (who, if they
ever, only points us to the fact that there is develop-    are like me, cringe when they come across some
ment  in sin; it does not point to a principal dif-        blaring rock while they are tuning the radio for
ference. And, in fact, this only means that the            some news), I shall proceed. As I do so, I make a
temptation of today's music is greater and that its        special appeal to our readers to urge their young
carnal and sensual and lewd appeal is stronger. If         people also to read this editorial.
you don't believe it, or if you don't allow rock              There is more than one way to approach this sub-
music openly in your home, then I suggest that you         ject.
unexpectedly ask to listen in upon occasion to what
is coming through the headphones of your son's or             Frequently the subject is approached from the
daughter's portable cassette player or radio, or that      point of view of the question: what is wrong about
you turn on the car radio sometime after your              rock music?
young people have been out with the car. You                  Now I am not saying that it is altogether wrong to
might be in for a shock.                                   ask this question. In fact, I intend to face this ques-
  Add to this, in the second place, the tremendous         tion in the course of this discussion and to com-
advances in the media in our day. The daily news-          ment on some of the evils of rock, as well as to com-
paper in many instances promotes rock music and            ment on the fundamental evil of it. It is another
even publishes a separate section of news concern-         question altogether, however, whether this ques-
ing rock stars and rock groups and reviews the             tion as to the wrong, or evil, of rock should con-
latest gold platter winners, etc. Many a magazine          stitute our fundamental approach.
does the same thing, and there are even magazines             For one thing, it is quite possible to focus upon a
readily available in any supermarket which are             good many aspects of rock music which are wrong,
devoted in their entirety to rock stars, rock groups,      unquestionably wrong, morally corrupt, and yet
and their music. Radio stations abound with it, and        not to touch upon the fundamental evil of rock. For
there are stations devoted solely to the broadcasting      another, in many instances the very form of the
of rock music. Records and cassette tapes are readi-       question is defensive and already puts the ques-
ly available on the market, and the equipment to           tioner by implication in the position of defending
play them is highly refined and easily available.          rock, implying at the same time that unless some-
More recently, rock has had a larger place in tele-        one is able to tear down his position and point out
vision shows and in network productions. And if            conclusively the evils of rock, the questioner will
you happen to have a video cassette player, you can        feel free to go on listening. Strange, is it not, that the
readily obtain cassettes which enable you to watch         questioner never seems to ask the question: what is
the perverted musicians with their perverted attire        right  about rock; that is, right in the sight of God,
and makeup and their lewd actions while you listen         right as far as my calling as a Christian is con-
to their carnal music. The temptation, from the            cerned, right as far as my calling to walk in the light
viewpoint of sheer availability, is great.                 is concerned?
  In the third place, I am told that the inroads             In recent weeks I have made it my business to


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               151



pay attention to what is said about this subject in         In a way, the same kind of approach is adopted
both the secular and the religious press. I even          by the religious press frequently. There can be a
made it a point to listen to some of the cassettes on     lengthy recital of the evils of rock and of "heavy
this subject by Bob Larson Ministries; in fact, I         metal" without much reference to principle. And
have on my desk at the moment a cassette entitled         then, of course, the next subject becomes that of so-
"Rock Update III," dated August, 1985.                    called Christian rock or gospel rock - the implica-
                                                          tion being that rock is possibly all right, provided it
  The secular press has recently been full of the         has some kind of Christian sugar-coating and gospel
controversy about what is called "sexually                flavor.
explicit" rock music  - in distinction, of course,
from "sexually implicit" rock. And it was supposed          The Bob Larson cassettes take the approach of
                                                          reciting the evils of rock by quoting the lyrics of
to be some sort of victory when a certain group of
influential persons succeeded in getting conces-          many rock hits or by quoting the language of
sions from producers of records and cassettes so          various rock stars, by telling about their perverted
that they would put warnings on the labels stating        dress and makeup and lifestyle. And make no
                                                          mistake about it: Bob Larson pulls no punches in
that a recording contains "sexually explicit
material." The words "sexually explicit" are, of          this regard. What he quotes is frequently so explicit
course, a euphemism, a so-called buzz word. What          that he leaves blanks where the language is so evil
they mean (but do not state) is explicit fornication,     and filthy that he will not repeat it. What he tells in
filthiness, and perversion that cannot even be men-       documented form concerning the filthy and
tioned among Gods people. Now no Christian can            perverted lifestyle, the blatant profanity, the
be in favor of such "sexually explicit" material, to      Satanism, the perversion in the lyrics  - all this is
be sure. But the implication is, of course, that as       horrifying. In fact, it becomes so nauseating that
long as such corrupt and filthy material is only im-      one is moved to turn off the cassette player. Yet,
plicit,  even brazenly implicit, it need not bear a       while there is some value in materials of this kind
label, and, of course, is fit to be heard. Meanwhile,     in the line of concrete evidence, it seems to me that
the fundamental evil of rock is not attacked. _           it does not address the basic question.
                                                            About this next time.                          HCH

WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman Hanko





                                         Gambling (2)



  In our last article, when we introduced the sub-        prerogative to give of the things of the creation to
ject of gambling, we ended the article by calling at-     each man as seems good to Him. We have and
tention to the principle of Christian stewardship,        possess nothing which we have not received. All is
within which principle the whole question of              given as a gift.
gambling must be decided. We noticed that the idea          But the fact that God distributes His good gifts to
of stewardship was very common in Scripture, but          men according to His own wisdom and purpose
that it is also to be applied to the relationship in      does not mean that He relinquishes His own prior
which the believer lives to God.                          claim to all these things. He retains sole ownership
  Christian stewardship rests upon the fundamen-          of everything, and gives what is His to man in his
tal principle that God is the Creator and Sovereign       capacity of steward. Just as a steward in Scripture
Owner of the entire creation and of all that is in it.    was placed over all his master's possessions, while
As the Owner of all things, He alone has the              his master retained the right of ownership, so does


152                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



God distribute the treasures of this creation to men         wanting something which God has not given to us.
while He remains Owner of all.                               We are dissatisfied with the amount of things
   This includes everything which we possess: our            which we have received of the Lord and we want
material possessions, our money, our homes and               more or other things. We are discontent with our
cars, our bodies even and the health of them, our            possessions and think that we should have more
children. Nothing is exempt. All belongs to God.             than we have, and we set our hearts upon other
                                                             things and seek to get them into our control.
   Now, just as a steward was called to use his
master's possessions to advance the well-being of              Now, it ought to be evident that the covetous
his master, so we are called to use everything               man is not a good steward. He cannot be. He is
which God gives us to the glory of God.  SoZi  Dee           covetous only because he wants things for himself.
Gloria is not only a fact, but it is also a calling which    If he were fully conscious of his calling to use all
stands at the heart of all the responsibility of the         that he has for God's glory and the advancement of
child of God in the world.                                   the kingdom of Christ, he would not covet what he
                                                             does not have. He is covetous only because he sin-
   More specifically and concretely that means that          fully thinks that what he possesses is really his and
every child of God is called to use everything he            that he has the right to do with them whatever he
has to seek the kingdom of God. When Jesus in the            wants. He wants more because he wants more for
Sermon on the Mount admonishes His people to                 himself, for his pleasure, for the satisfaction of his
seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteous-           lusts, for his personal enjoyment, for the power
ness, Jesus does not mean that such things as the            wealth gives, for the greater control he can exercise
budget of the church and tuition in the Christian            over his life with greater possessions. If he is truly a
schools should stand at the top of the list, so that         good steward, he is not covetous.
when we have laid aside money for these things,
we have the right to use what is left for our own              Positively, the tenth commandment requires of
purposes. The little word "first" does not mean,             us contentment. That is, when we truly keep the
"first in a long list of things including things which       tenth commandment we are completely satisfied
we desire"; it means, "first as a fundamental prin-          with whatever the Lord has given to us. We want
ciple of all our seeking." With everything that we           nothing more than God has given us, nor do we
have as given to us of God, we are called to seek His        want things to be any different from what they are.
kingdom. That kingdom is concretely and specifi-             Our wills are completely in harmony with the will
cally revealed in this earth in all the work of the          of God for us. We are able to say, with Paul, "I have
church and the cause of the Christian faith. It in-          learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be con-
cludes all that belongs to God's covenant in the             tent" (Phil.  4:ll). Or, we heed the admonition of
world; it includes all that centers in the life of the       Paul to Timothy: "And having good and raiment let
child of God as He is called to live out of the princi-      us be therewith content" (I Tim.  6:8).
ple of regeneration by faith.                                  There is perhaps one more point which we could
  With everything he possesses, therefore, he is to          mention. In his letter to the Thessalonians, the
seek that kingdom. He may not spend a dime of his            apostle Paul tells the church there, "For even when
money or use one single gift which God gives with-           we were with you, this we commanded you, that if
out asking himself whether this is the best way in           any would not work, neither should he eat" (II
which he can seek the kingdom of God, and in this            Thess.  3:lO).  Very clearly, God has ordained that
way God's glory.                                             we receive what we need in this life by means of
                                                             working. A man must earn his daily bread. He must
  This is a fundamental and controlling principle            expend labor in order to be provided with his daily
of the Christian's life, in his use of all the things of     needs. Never may a man expect "something for
this creation which God has given him.                       nothing." It is not hard to see how this principle is
  But there is another principle in the context of           flaunted today in the market place where countless
which the whole question of gambling must be con-            people expect something for nothing, and live as if
sidered, a principle which stands closely connected          the world owes them their living. But this is totally
to what we have said about Christian stewardship.            opposed to Scripture's injunctions.
That is the principle of the tenth commandment:                If we take all these things into account, we can
"Thou shalt not covet."                                      readily see the terrible wrong in any forms of
  Negatively, covetousness refers to the sin of              gambling.
                                                               There are those forms of gambling where we risk
Herinan Hanko is professor in the Church History and New     our own money or possessions with the purpose of
Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed             earning more. Included in this are all forms of bet-
Seminary.                                                    ting, all forms of casino gambling, all games played


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               153



for money where the winner takes the "pot," all               Grand Prize deadline, and you could win up to
lotteries and raffles which are used by the govern-           $150,000.00 in BONUS Award cash if you win the
ment, by schools or by churches to raise money.               Grand Prize. You and your family are also invited
They violate the basic principles of stewardship              to see ABC's OF NATURE, the family answer book
and make one unfaithful in God's house. They are              from Reader's Digest . . .  ." The blatant appeal to
what our communion form includes under "gam-                  covetousness and the impossibility of getting in-
ing," which sins make one unworthy of the table of            volved in such things while escaping the sin of
the Lord and, unless they are repented of, make               covetousness is obvious.
one worthy of hell. It is spiritually impossible for a          The same truth holds for all the Radio and TV
person to ask in humility before God, "Lord, what             game shows which give away fabulous prizes. One
would you have me do with these possessions you               need not watch these programs very often to
have given me?" and give out these same- posses-              witness the disgusting spectacle of covetousness at
sions to try to get more. Such conduct brings down            its worst as reflected in the faces and conduct of
upon the one who does these things the great wrath            those who win and those who lose.
of Almighty God Who seeks in all things the glory               The wrath of God rests upon those who flaunt
of His own name.                                              these principles of Scripture. Christianity Today a
  This same kind of gambling can also be present              short time ago had an editorial in its pages entitled,
when one "plays" the stock market. In our day                 "Unlucky  Lotto." The first paragraph reads, "In
when the economy operates on interest, what the               1976,  ,Erika Earnhart's number came up. Her lot-
Bible calls "usury," it is not in itself wrong to put         tery number, that is. And with it came $1 million,
one's money to work so that one's money earns                 providing an annual income of $50,000 after taxes.
money in various types of savings accounts. It is             Her heart-breaking story since then includes two
not wrong to invest one's money in various pur-               divorces, a child-custody dispute, alimony pay-
chases of stocks and bonds. But when one "plays"              ments, and debts piled on debts. She often borrows
the market for purposes of hoping to earn money               from the bank in anticipation of her next lottery
while greatly risking the loss of his investment, this        check. Had she known the future, she says, `I'd
becomes only another form of gambling which                   have torn up that ticket, or put it in someone else's
Scripture forbids.                                            name.' She still plays the lottery, hoping to win and
  But the same may be said of all kinds of sweep-             catch up financially." The same editorial con-
stakes. It is true that one does not risk one's own           cludes, "More irony. Gambling addiction has
money to acquire more money. And, while the                   mounted in states with legalized gambling while
Scriptural principle of stewardship does not as such          the government is often called on to treat victims.
apply, it is true that at the bottom of all this is covet-    The New Jersey State Lottery Commission has
ousness. Who can say that he engages in drawings              made a $75,000 grant to research the nature of com-
or sweepstakes for any other reason than to get               pulsive gambling."
something which he does not possess? Who can                    It is easy to say, "Well, if I would win, I would
honestly before God claim to participate in these             not be such a fool." But we forget that the wrath of
things in good conscience when he knows that                  God rests on those who break His precepts. Paul
Scripture frowns on the whole idea of "getting                gives a pertinent word of warning: "But they that
something for nothing?" and that Scripture insists            will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and in-
that we must work for what we receive?                        to many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
                                                              men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
  I just received in the mail a document which                money is the root of all evil: which while some
reads, "Important: the enclosed Four Sweepstakes              coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and
Entry Tickets give you a chance to win the TWO                pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (I
MILLION DOLLAR Grand Prize or any of 21,264                   Tim.  6:9, 10). Let us remember Scripture's words:
other cash prizes in the Reader's Digest                      "And having food and raiment let us be therewith
$2,500,000.00 Sweepstakes. Beat the November 26               content."

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1'54                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                              A Much Needed Lesson



   Surely when in Psalm  14:l we read, "The fool           In his prophetic office he spoke boldly and clearly
hath said in his heart, there is no God," we have a        of the one true God; and he even called men to
judgment of God that those who deny Him in their           walk in the ways of Jehovah. Although he lived
actions, as well as those who do so in words,              many centuries before the apostle Paul, he agreed
behave in utter folly. For the psalmist speaks of          one hundred percent with Paul, who wrote in
those who say in their hearts that there is no God.        Romans  7:21, "I find then a law, that, when I
And out of the heart are all the issues of life. That      would do good, evil is present with me." We must
heart determines what every part of the body will          then be careful, as we study this book, that we do
do. It says that there is no God, before the lips ex-      not in any way excuse Jonahs sins; but we should
press it in human language. The heart moves the            also be careful that we do not accuse him of being
mouth to say what is in it. This is very plain from        an unbeliever, as for example the prophet Baalim.
what the psalmist says further in the verse. He            He, Jonah, sinned when he fled from the land of
states, "They are corrupt, they have done                  Canaan to try to escape his calling. But he was not a
abominable works, there is none that doeth good."          man who did not at all want to serve God, and to
It is by these corrupt deeds, these abominable             confess Him before others.
works, that the heart reveals that its opinion is that        According to his flesh Jonah acted like a fool.
there is no God.                                           And we do also every time we commit a sin. We act
   Likewise is it true that the child of God, the          like fools also when we deny this truth. Then we
believer, says that there is no God when he sins. Sin      have no room to say anything about Jonah's folly.
is always an act of folly, for it always denies that       But note that folly of Jonah. What  -folly for the
there is a God Who must be obeyed, and Whose               prophet, who a bit later confesses on the ship in the
will must be done. The reborn child of God has a           midst of the storm that his God is "the Lord, the
life that cannot and does not sin. Thus we read in I       God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the
John 3:9: "Whosoever is born of God doth not com-          dry land." What folly for Jonah to think that he
mit sin; for His seed remaineth in him; and he can-        could outwit and frustrate such a God!
not sin, because he is born of God." But it is also
true that, until he dies, he retains his old man of           Understand well that Jonah did not think that he
sin, his depraved nature. And with that nature he          could go where God's eye would not see him. God's
sins every day of his life; and in all these sins he       presence here does not mean that there are places
says that there is no God.                                 where He is not present. But God dwelt symbolical-
                                                           ly in the promised land. He called men in that land
   In the life of Jonah, which on these pages we are       to be His prophets, priests, and kings for their
considering, all this becomes so very plain. He was        work. Jonah's folly was that he thought that if he
a child of God with a new spiritual life in him. But       left the promised land, God would not - it was not
he had weaknesses, and he displayed so clearly his         a case of God could not - follow him to repeat the
folly in the sins recorded of him in this book. No,        call.
with his mouth he never said that there is no God.            But could he not see that his wickedness would
                                                           rise up before God as well as the wickedness of
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      Nineveh did? Could he not see that if Nineveh is to
Reformed Churches..                                        be destroyed in forty days, he could be visited in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 155



forty minutes or less? In his folly he also overlooks      God; or why he thought that he knew better than
the fact that it was only one sin of Adam that             God; and what ought to happen in Nineveh. No,
brought the curse and death to the whole human             the lesson he stands in desperate need of learning is
race. He acts like a fool, for in his actions he says      to know God's sovereign love, and his own calling
that there is no God Whom he must obey.                    to love that sovereign God and his neighbor as
  If Jonah can outwit God and frustrate Him, then          himself.
he has shown that there is no God. Is it not simply          Not only was Jonah not walking in love toward
an undeniable fact that anyone who can outwit or           God when he rebelled against His command to go
frustrate God has replaced Him and become God?             to Nineveh and cry against that wicked city; but he
Of course, no one can outwit or frustrate Him; and         did not know God's love for all His people in
such only try to be God. Jonah tried and failed            Christ, even though he thought that he did know
miserably; and all who try will fail as miserably as       that love. He rejoiced in all that which God had
Jonah did. But what a sinful, abominable, and              done for and unto Israel. He could not speak loudly
foolish work that is, to try to outwit and frustrate       enough or often enough about God's grace and
the almighty God! Yet, that is what every sin, no          mercy upon Israel, as is plain from Jonah  4:2, to
matter what the shape, form, or size of it is, tries to    which we referred last time. And do not forget that
do. It tries to get away with sin, and keep God's will     grace and mercy are aspects of love. God's grace is
from being done on earth as it is in heaven. It is         His love as it goes out to the elect sinner in his guilt
rebellion against God, an attempt to push Him              and sends him the free gift of blessedness which he
aside, so that there is no God any more.                   does not deserve, in fact is the opposite of what he
  There is something deeper that we-ought to con-          deserves. God's mercy is that same love as it goes
sider. In his folly Jonah thought that God had done        out to that same sinner from the point of view of his
foolishly. 0 yes, he did! Jonah considered himself         misery and afflictions which he suffers under the
to be wiser than God. God had said, "Arise go to           curse that came upon the world because of Adam's
Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it . . .  ."     sin; it pities him in his woes, and seeks to deliver
Jonah in his heart said, "How foolish. This ought          him from all of it as soon as His sovereign,. eternal
not to be done. Let hell fire fall upon this wicked        counsel makes it possible. Jonah saw all this love of
city and destroy it. This is not a wise thing God          God resting upon the fleshly seed of Abraham. That
wants me to do. I know better than He does what is         is why he speaks of it and even declares that he
good and ought to be done."                                knew that God was gracious and merciful. It would
                                                           seem as though Jonah knew God's love and that he
  We must not try to polish the sins of believers.         did not need to be taught a lesson in regard to it.
They are as abominable as those of unbelievers.
David's murder was as wicked as unbelieving                  But what Jonah must learn about God's
Cain's was. Make no mistake about that. Jesus did          sovereign love is that it also rests upon a host of
not come. to die for lesser sins. In sin we always         elect Gentiles, whose names were eternally written
raise -ourselves up above  God: And here Jonah             in  ,the Lamb's book of life. It is of extreme impor-
repeats the sin of  Adam- and Eve. His flesh made          tance' that we see Jonah as living in the day of
him flee from his duty, because he thought that he         shadows, and in the measure of revelation which
knew what was good and evil, and that God had              was given to the church in that day. Jonah loved the
made a mistake. Satan made Adam and Eve believe            Old Testament church. We make a serious mistake
that. And that is our conceit and folly as well. We        if we take the position that Jonah fled to Tarshish in
sin because we think that we are doing ourselves           a certain nationalism, or patriotism that attached
some good. Never mind what God says. We want to            itself to all the Jews whether they were believers or
be like God and do our thing, and decide for               unbelievers, as long as they were of the fleshly seed
ourselves what is good and what is evil.                   of Abraham. That is not true. We may not explain
  Truly Jonah has a lesson to learn. There is a            the events in the book of Jonah as though all this
much needed lesson that God must teach hi. And in          took place after the day of Pentecost. We must try
His mercy God does teach him in a way that brings          to go back in our thoughts to the situation as it was
him to repentance, and not  .into the destruction          in Jonahs day. And do not forget that after the Son
that falls upon the unbelievers. The question there-       of God did come in our flesh, did die for our sins,
fore is, Just what lesson must Jonah learn? And at         arose again the third day, appeared as risen over a
once it may be stated that surely he must learn            period of forty days, and was ready in a few
anew that there is a God from Whom he cannot               minutes to ascend up into heaven,. that the disciples
flee, and so outwit and frustrate. But that is by no       asked Him whether he would at this time restore
means the whole lesson. Nor does all this explain          the kingdom of Israel. (See Acts  1:6.)
why Jonah fled and tried to outwit and frustrate             Then too we must not overlook what God Him-


156                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



self declares through the apostle Paul in Romans           love as sovereignly also including many, many
16:25, Ephesians  1:9, 10, and Colossians  1:25, 26.       Gentiles in a city far removed from the borders of
We took note last time that God moves in a                 the promised land, that he took things in his own
mysterious way His wonders to perform. And in              hands. That is where he erred. He saw an earthly
the passages above God speaks of the mystery               kingdom of Christ, Whom he expected would one
which was "kept secret since the world began."             day come; and even as the disciples in the day
This mystery was "that in the dispensation of the          when Christ came still looked for an earthly
fulness of times He might gather together in one all       kingdom over which a son of David would rule,
things in Christ." Do not judge Jonah without tak-         Jonah could not fit this command of God in with
ing all this into consideration. In the light of all of    the Old Testament revelation of that kingdom of
God's dealing in the Old Testament dispensation,           Christ. Here is a nation separate from the nation in
and up to his own day, Jonah could not understand          which God has been gathering His church. Here is
that God would have a goodly number of Gentiles            a kingdom opposed to the kingdom over which God
converted in Nineveh, resulting in sparing the city        set David, to whom he promised that his son would
of the destruction concerning which Jonah was to           sit on the throne forever. Must it be saved from
preach. Surely the very fact that Jonah was sent to        destruction?
warn Nineveh meant that God was calling the                  Jonah may have known Isaiah  55:8, 9, "For my
Ninevites to repentance and an escape from the             thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
punishment they deserved. There just was no                ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens
reason for sending him there and for warning the           are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
people that in forty days destruction would come, if       than your ways, and my thoughts than your
God, was not seeking their repentance and salva-           thoughts." But he could not see that a time would
tion. This seemed all wrong to Jonah. He was per-          come when the Gentile believers would be  more
plexed. The mysterious way in which God worked             numerous  upon the face of this earth than the
he could not understand. And it was love for God's         Jewish believers. This does not excuse him; but it
church that figured in causing him to be so con-           does reveal that there was a lesson he must learn
fused. He wanted nothing to happen to that church;         and learn well. Of this we will have more to say in
and it was because he did not understand God's             the next installment.
FROM HOLfY WRIT




          Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures


                   Chapter XXIV                            Hebrews explains this as follows: "For there was a
The Mystery Of The Seventy Weeks In Daniel 9               tabernacle prepared, the first, wherein were the
       THE HOLY OF HOLIES ANOINTED                         candlestick, and the table, and the showbread,
                   (Daniel 9:24b)                          which is called the Holy place. And after the sec-
                                                           ond vail, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of
  The. anointed Messiah came to anoint the "Most           holies,  having the golden altar of incense, and the
Holy"!                                                     ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold,
  There can be little doubt that the term for "Most        wherein was the golden pot holding the manna,
Holy" in the Hebrew text should be better trans-           Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the cove-
lated "holy of  holies." In Old Testament language         nant; and above it cherubim of glory over-
this refers to the part of the tabernacle which was        shadowing the mercy-seat . .  ." (Heb. 9:3-5). The
behind the second vail (Heb. 9:3). The writer to the       Holy Spirit says in Hebrews 9:3 that this was called


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               157


                                                I
"holy of  holies." Surely this meant to express that          neither naos, but that it is the translation from the
here was a place of separation, which was even less           Greek verb  suntelesoo.  This verb really means "to
accessible than was the holy place!                           bring to an end, to finish, to complete." All that was
  We ought to notice the following particulars con-           incomplete in the Old Testament "first covenant"
cerning this holy of  holies. The common priest               will then be completed, will be realized. No more
could and must enter daily (continually) into the             shall it be ours as in a parabolic act, but it will be
holy place each morning and evening in their                  very really "God with us, Immanuel", (Ezekiel
courses (Luke 1:8, 9). They stood at the altar of in-         48:35).
cease offering symbolically the prayers of all the              It will be the realization of the seventy sevens, in
saints. However, they might never'enter into the              the last seventieth "seven" (week).
"holy of  holies." Only the high priest might enter             Yes, as in one mighty chorus we hear Isaiah,
here once a year on the great day of atonement in             Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel all sing of this perfec-
the seventh month and on the fifteenth day! On                tion of the covenant: God dwelling in His holy
that day he entered into the Holy of  Holies   ". . .         place with the lowly of heart. They all speak of that
alone, once in the year, not without blood, which             mystery of godliness which is great, as expressed
he offered for himself and for the errors (sins com-          by God Himself in Isaiah 57:15: "For thus saith the
mitted in ignorance and weakness:  agnoeematoon)              high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
of the people" (congregation =  Zaos)  (Heb.  9:7).           name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place,
  In a parabolical, symbolical manner the people              with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
were thus  anointed,  consecrated into the service            to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the
and presence of God  - represented by the high                heart of the contrite"! Isaiah has the ever-pervading
priest bringing the sacrifice! Once a year the Most           theme, "comfort ye, comfort ye, my people and cry
Holy Place was anointed from the pollution of our             unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her
sins which had defiled the holy place. Even the               iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of the
prayers of the "people" as represented in the in-             LORD'S (Jehovah's) hand double for all her sins."
cense upon the altar were polluted. The best works            Jeremiah speaks of the better covenant, the con-
were all imperfect and polluted with sin! The very            summation of the works of God in bringing about
high priest who bore the breastplate, representing            eternal righteousness, even calling "Jehovah
the twelve tribes, upon his heart, needed to be               (Himself) our righteousness" (Jer. 23:6; 33: 16). And
purified. And, what is more, the very nature of this          Ezekiel portrays to us a better city and temple
sacrifice, performed yearly, proclaimed loudly in             where the glory of the Lord shall forever abide in
the heart and consciences of Israel that there was            his temple: "and, behold,  the, glory of Jehovah
not a sacrifice offered on this day of atonement              (LORD) filled the house" (Ezekiel 43: l-5).
which could cleanse the conscience from sin; these              It is a rewarding experience to study those Old
sacrifices, offered continually, could not "make              Testament prophecies and to believe them! In all of
perfect them that drew nigh"! The sacrifices would            these we see portrayed the "anointing of the Holy
not bring about the very perfection, the fulfilment           of Holies."
of the law, removal of guilt and pollution, which
they portrayed in a symbolical-parabolic way. They              How does Gabriel show this anointing step by
could not realize the perfection, the perfect conse-          step to Daniel here in Daniel 9:24? As we have at-
cration, of the place where God dwells with His               tempted to show in this entire study, it is by the
people as the Holy One of Israel.                             way of the blood of the Messiah, the Anointed One
                                                              of God. He is destined in the Counsel of God to
  Daniel really confesses this tremendous lack in             realize that which was "decreed upon thy
the sacrifices of the Old Testament temple. Fact is           (Daniel's) people and upon thy holy city." And
that in Jeremiah  31:31-34  God Himself finds fault           what was decreed by God? It was to finish trans-
with the "old covenant" of the shadows and types,             gression, to make an end of sins, to make reconcili-
does He not? When Israel is carried away into                 ation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteous-
Babylon, and when the temple is burnt, and the ho-            ness, and to seal up vision and prophecy - and to
ly city and the walls are broken down, then God               anoint the most holy place!
promises another "covenant"; yes, it will be a new
covenant. And the noteworthy element here is that               Thus the covenant is brought to its perfect com-
the term (adjective "new") in the Greek text in               pletion. God will cause his face to shine upon His
Hebrews  9:8 is not the common term  hainos,                  people and His holy city, Amen. God will then have
                                                              cut the pieces of the sacrificial animals, parting
                                                              them in halves, and He will have passed between
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    the pieces, as we read in Genesis  15:17, "And it
Reformed Churches.                                            came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it


158                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming                     However, the "desolations" of Daniel 9:27 refer to the
torch that passed between these pieces"! In that                       ultimate and complete destruction and end of the Old
day the LORD (Jehovah) made a covenant with                            Testament temple and of the Old Testament
Abram, unto thy seed have I given this land! And                       theocracy.
Abram believed God and was justified in the blood                     Never before in the history of the temple did God
of the covenant (Gen.  15:6; Rom. 4: l-4). Here                     make a complete end, so that His glory was really,
David, the contrite sinner, can sing his song of                    radically, and finally departed. Yes, God made an
redemption concerning the man who is blessed in                     end of the tabernacle at Shiloh when the wife of
having his iniquities forgiven and his sins covered;                Phinehas dies in child-birth and names her son
he can stand before God in the wholly consecrated                   Ichabod, saying, the glory is departed. That was
perfection of His holy place!                                      when the Ark of God was taken, the place where
HE SHALL MAKE A FIRM COVENANT                                      the Lord dwells in Israel between the Cherubim in
(Daniel 9:27)                                                      the Most Holy. God Himself reminds Israel
                                                                   through Jeremiah of the import of this terrible judg-
  There are those who would interpret the "cove-                   ment at Shiloh (Jer. 7:12; 26:6, 9; Ps. 78:60). And we
nant" here to refer to some human covenant, agree-                 do well to take notice here of the  Scriptural-
ment made by some "prince who shall come to                        prophetic implications.
destroy the city and the sanctuary" and that after
he has wrought his destruction and havoc he will                      However, this was not a fuZI end!
make a binding covenant with Israel, stipulating                      Even later, at the destruction of the temple by
the mutual terms of agreement. It will be somewhat                 Nebuchadnezzar, God did not make a "full end" of
like the laws of the Medes and Persians which can-                 Israel. There was even the remnant according to
not be broken.                                                     election on the one hand; on the other hand there
  However, this interpretation does violence to the                was ever a future and more glorious revelation of
sublimity of the term "covenant" in Scripture, as                  eternal presence of God with His people. With this
we have shown in our exposition of the work of                     remnant according to election God wills to dwell
Christ in "anointing the Most Holy." It should be                  forever. This we read explicitly in Psalm  68:16:
borne in mind that we are here dealing with a pro-                 "why leap ye, ye high hills? This is the hill which
phetic word, and that the chronological details are                God hath desired to dwell in; yea, the LORD will
not here spelled out by Gabriel. Rather we have                    dwell in it forever" (See Deut.  12:5; I Kings  9:3;
here some historical, future details connected with                Heb.  12:18-29). God will make a full end of all the
the coming of the Messiah and the works which He                   nations which imagine a vain thing against the Lord
came to perform. There is a close connection be-                   and His anointed Son, but He will not make a full
tween the Cross of Christ and the destruction of the               end of the remnant of Judah and Israel (Jer. 46:26).
temple in earthly Jerusalem. Christ's Cross and His                God will never forsake His people whom He
sacrificial work at Calvary are closely connected                  foreknew in elective love. For God's elective love is
with the final destruction of Jerusalem and the tem-               the heart of the church, both in the Old and New
ple. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this               Testaments. Our fathers called it the  Ccr  Ecclesia.
(John 2:17)! The LORD in His zeal will perform the                 This elective love is the sole reason for Israel's com-
breaking down of the temple of Christ's body by                    ing into being (Deut. 4:37; 10:17); it is the great and
wicked hands (Acts  2:23). However, these wicked                   only sovereign motif for Israel's continued ex-
hands cannot break down the temple of Christ's                     istence as God's church in the darkest hours of her
body without the earthly temple becoming a final                   history (I Kings 19: 18; Rom. 1 l:l-5); and it is the on-
and perpetual "desolation"1 (Matt. 23:38, 39). Then                ly reason for the salvation of the Gentiles as they
God leaves this earthly temple forever, and He                     are grafted as wild branches into the tame olive tree
leaves this earthly temple at the very moment                      of God's Old Testament planting!
when Christ gives up His spirit and dies at Calvary
(Matt. 2750-53).
       11)  footnote:  The terms "abomination" and "desola-                 Take the time to
       tion" are not to be equated with the biblical concept
       of "tribulation" as is erroneously taught by dispensa-
       tionalism. These errorists teach that in Daniel 9:27 [a)          read and study the
       the seventieth "seven" refers to the time immediately
       after the secret "rapture" and before the "revelation"              Standard Bearer!
       which then, according to dispensationalism, ushers in
       the Millennium. During this so-called seven year
       period the "great Tribulation" takes place, and all that
       is prophesied in the chapters 6-16 of Revelation.  (b)


'                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          159



     ALL AROUND US
     Robert D. Decker





                                             Casualness and Worship
                                      Rock Music and Our Children
                                                    Teens and the Pill





                                                                         What is the meaning of casualness? My dictionary
     Casualness and Worship                                            gives, among others, the following definitions: "hap-
                                                                       pening by chance, not planned or expected;" "with-
       Casualness and Worship. Such is the title of the                out plan or method: careless;" "indifferent;" "infor-
     editorial of the November 18, 1985 issue of CZarion,              mal in manner." When a minister enters the audi-
     the magazine of the Canadian Reformed Churches.                   torium and greets his congregation with a "Good
     Editor S. Geertsema comments:                                     morning," or when he speaks a word of welcome it
           A congregation comes together for worship on a              gives the service a much more informal character.
         Sunday morning. It is summer. The weather is warm.              Further when men do not wear a suit and a tie, but
         Those attending are dressed casually. Brothers of the         instead a loosely fitting sweater, or women do not
         church council enter, the organ is silenced, the              wear a dress but instead a pair of pants, in which they
         minister walks to the pulpit. Casually he greets the          feel much more comfortable, going to church is made
         people with a "Good morning, congregation." The con-          so much more pleasant for them. However, the ques-
         gregation responds with a "Good morning, sir." There          tion must be asked: is this direction toward casualness
         is singing and praying. The sermon follows, but is in-        the right direction? In my opinion, it is not. I shall deal
         terrupted &hen a few latecomers arrive. In a nice and         with the two points mentioned above as illustrations
         casual way they are welcomed.                                 of casualness.
           Is there not something attractive in this casualness?         "Good morning congregation." As I said, it sounds
         Does it not bring the service "down to earth?" Does it        so nice, so welcoming, so down to earth, when a
         not make people feel welcome and comfortable? Is it           minister greets the congregation with these friendly
         not true that through these little things they will feel      words. But what does the casualness mean? It means
         "at home" in the church? And is that not exactly what         that the two acting parties are the minister and the
         we want? People should be comfortable and at home             congregation. The minister speaks and the congrega-
         in the church, shouldn't they? Then they will come            tion reacts. Hereby the minister asks attention for
         back.                                                         himself as a nice friendly man and leader.                     .
           Our modern times bring along many changes.                    And when latecomers are welcomed during the
         There is also a change in the manner in which people          service, or when members are invited to propose a
         worship. Worship services are less solemn and rigid in        favourite song, or speak a prayer, or ask the minister
         form. They are becoming more open, more easy-                 to pray for something or someone, all the emphasis is
         going, more casual. In general, people are much more          placed on the individual members. The worship serv-
         casual than they were a few decades ago. I think that         ice becomes a human, social event of friendly and
         this word "casual" defines quite well the new direc-          religious people.
        tion.                                                            What do we lose in this approach? We lose sight of
                                                                       the main aspect of the worship service, namely, that it
                                                                       is a meeting between the Lord and His people . . . .
     Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and           Therefore, attention should not be asked for the greet-
     New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                ing minister. He has to go to the pulpit and pro-


1 6 0                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



         nounce, not his own salutation, but the salutation of            who purchased the album  Purple Rain  for her
         the Lord . . . . In this same line the service continues.        daughter. One song on the album refers to a girl
          God speaks His Word in the Ten Words of the cove-               masturbating.
         nant. In the Scripture reading and in the sermon. The              "She (the friend) was horrified and so was I," says
         congregation responds with listening, praying and                Baker, who discovered that lyrics to other songs on
         singing in obedient faith . . . . Casualness in the man-         the album were even more explicit. "The average
         ner in which we have our services often goes along               teenager listens to this stuff four to six hours a day.
         with casualness in the way we dress for church. We               They wake up to it, study to it, dance to it, sleep to it.
         start wearing clothes to church that are comfortable             They plug in their earphones and jog to it."
         and informal . . . . Casualness in the worship service
         and in our appearance at the serviceYshows  a certain         We certainly hope that Protestant Reformed
         attitude. It can show that we think that in our relation-    teenagers are not "the average teenager" of whom
         ship with the Lord we can be casual, and that we do          Mrs. Baker speaks. We also hope and pray that Prot-
         not have to be precise and punctual. It can show that
         we think the manner in which we serve the Lord does          estant Reformed parents forbid their children to
         not matter too much, that everybody can serve and            listen to rock. And fervently we pray that our youth
         worship Him in his or her own manner, in the way he          do not avail themselves of this tool of Satan.
         or she thinks is acceptable and right. Everything
         becomes just a "thing between you and the Lord." . . .
         It should be clear to everyone that when we let casual-
         ness take over in our serving of the Lord, we are on
         the way to losing sight of God's holy majesty . . . .
    Geertsema is right! When we enter the sanctuary                   Teens and the Pill
on the Lord's Day, God in Jesus Christ is there and                     Teens and the Pill: The same issue of Christianity
He speaks to us by means of the preaching of the                      Today reports:
Word. We had better remember that "our feet are
standing there on holy ground." When we come to                             Britain's highest court has ruled that doctors can
                                                                         prescribe contraceptives to girls younger than 16
church we "come to hear what God will say" to His                        without parental consent.
people. We must worship God in spirit and in truth.
Our attitude must be one of humility. From the                              In a 340-2 vote the House of Lords' law lords over-
heart we must praise and thank the Almighty Who                          turned a lower court decision issued last year. The
                                                                         Law Lords said parents do not have absolute authority
is thrice holy! This ought to be reflected in our                        over their children, and that laws must keep pace
order of worship as well as in the way we dress                          with changing social attitudes.
when we come into God's presence.                                           The court's ruling was praised by the British
                                                                         Medical Society, the Labor party, and various family
                                                                         planning associations. They said the decision would
                                                                         help control abortion and unwanted teenage preg-
Rock Music and Our Children                                              nancies. But, critics, including members of the Con-
                                                                         servative party, denounced the ruling as an affront to
   Rock Music and our Children: Christianity Today                       family values and traditional morality.
(Nov. 22, 1985 issue) reports that:                                     Christian parents in England will have to obey
                                                                      God rather than men on this issue. We think too
           It used to be the thumping rock beat coming from
         their kids' bedrooms that worried parents. But a group       that this is just another instance of one of the signs
         of mothers in Washington, D.C., claim there is more          of our Lord's return: abounding lawlessness. Lest
         to fear these days from rock music's increasingly ex-        anyone think things are better in the U.S., the
         plicit lyrics.                                               PresbyterianJouunaZ (Nov. 20, 1985) informs us that:
            "The stuff we were dancing to 15 years ago was            "Nearly seven out of ten adults say schools should
         nothing like this," says Susan Baker, cofounder of the       work with family-planning clinics so teenagers can
         Parents' Music Resource Center (PMRC). The organi-           have ready access to contraceptives and birth con-
         zation has launched a national campaign to pressure          trol information. They would also like to see birth
         the recording industry to inform consumers about the         control messages broadcast on television . . . . By an
         messages conveyed in rock music.                             overwhelming 2-l majority, 67% of Americans
           "A lot of songs today encourage alcohol and drug           favor laws requiring public schools to establish
         abuse," says Baker. "There's a lot of incest, sadomas-       links with family planning clinics so that teenagers
         ochism, homosexuality, and Satan worship. And the            can learn about contraceptives and obtain them
         lyrics are getting bolder and bolder."                       . . . . " No doubt such laws will come in time.
           An evangelical Christian, Baker is the wife of U.S.        Parents and their covenant children need much
         treasury secretary James A. Baker. She started com-          grace these days to "stand against the wiles of the
         bating  explicit rock  lvrics after talkine with a friend    devil" (Ephesians 6: 11).


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  161



                        "Good Morning, Alice" (5)
                                                  Gise J. Van Baren





  There was but a single step from Alice's garage            but that command is still there! Do.you know Alice,
apartment into the kitchen. Brother John attached            that healthy, wealthy, people are almost more in need
handles on the door frame so Alice could hold to             of prayer than those who are i17? A man dying of cancer
them while pulling herself carefully up the step.            once told us that he experienced that illness and suffer-
Another handle was attached to the door frame of             ing brought him close to God and it was the people
her bedroom so that she had something on which to            without trials who he prayed would become close to
hold when walking into that room. Though she was             God. I know this is not always the way, but do
still able to walk by herself, it was ever more slow-        remember us in prayer (as we do you) and please use
ly. The challenge was to find new ways of helping            some of your God-given time to pray always with all
her help herself with steadily decreasing strength.          prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watch there-
  The virtual loss of the use of her hands became a          unto with all perseverance and supplication for all
source of frustration and disappointment to Alice.           saints.                                Love, Your friend
One thing she always enjoyed was painting ceramic            Please read II Cor. 9:15
objects. Another pastime was paging through the
many magazines to which she subscribed. For a                   Little things, tasks which most take for granted,
time she had been able to continue doing this, in-           can gradually become great hurdles. Getting to the
creasingly with the help of others  - but soon she           bathroom by herself during the night was becom-
was forced to give this up entirely.                         ing increasingly difficult. Even with the use of a
Good Morning Alice:                                          cane and handles on which to hold, the struggle
                                                             was becoming too great. John had another solution.
  I'm not one to have "coffee's" very often, but this        The camper "porta-potty" was conveniently placed
morning I'm going to our annual aunts' and cousins'          next to Alice's bed. She had but to sit up, then care-
coffee. Do I enjoy these things? Yes and no - it all         fully move herself from the bed and back again.
depends on the conversation. If it's about food and          That worked for a time. It was but one more
figures - No! But sometimes we have a worthwhile dis-        reminder of growing weakness for Alice. Each
cussion.                                                     restricted activity would add to her disappoint-
  All through the scripture we read about prayer in          ment.
many different ways. Here the command to always pray         Good Morning Alice:
comes right after the explanation of how to fight our
battle of faith. It necessarily follows from that battle       It's mild outside again this morning, a disappoint-
that we must always pray.                                    ment to the kids, but appreciated by my husband!
  I suppose it's different with different people, but for      My coffee yesterday went okay. With eleven women
me, it's much easier to defend what I feel is right or       you can't really get into a good discussion. I did talk to
study God's Word and truly believe, than it is to pray.      my aunt about her daughter who has gone from Chris-
                                                             tian Reformed to Methodist to Moravian to Pente-
  I don't mean prayer with the children or even the          costal. It is a burden to my aunt.
pleading one-sentence prayer when in deep need. I
mean my private talk with God. I always, no matter             You and I were talking about prayer yesterday,
how hard I try, end up praying mostly for myself - and       Alice; will you join me in often bringing our young peo-
here the verse says, "`with all perseverance and suppli-     ple and their needs to our heavenly Father? The temp-
cation for all saints." I am aware of my lack and I do       tations to them are so many.
try and this is an excellent verse to keep in mind.            When you read II Cor. 9:15 alone, you immediately
  You have a wonderful opportunity to follow the com-        see the text is speaking of our Savior. "Thanks be to
mand of this verse too, Alice.                               God for His unspeakable gift." It's true, isn't it, that
                                                             words can not express how our hearts feel toward God
  We know prayer doesn't change things or God's will,        that He has sent His only begotten Son to earth to
                                                             redeem us from all our sins. But then when you go back
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed       and read the chapter first, you begin to think you might
Church of Hudsonvilb,  Michigan.                             not be reading verse 15 right. Paul is talking about giv-


162                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



ing - not salvation; about ministering to the saints -          yet he believed his redemption by his Savior) . . . liveth
not Jesus. And yet Paul could not -have ended this              (lob knew because of the testimony of God in his heart
chapter better. I guess I should have said God caused           that his salvation was assured because his Savior
Paul to close this way because it is His gift that makes        lives). If
all giving possible.                                               Can we say this morning, Alice, with our hearts: I
   Thanks be to God for His unspeakable Gift. None of           know. . . I have no doubts. . . that my Redeemer. . .
us could give anything if Jesus had not come as man to          Christ who died for me . . . liveth . . . lives in heaven
save us from our sins.                                          and with His Spirit in my heart?
   We must show our thanks for His Gift by giving to              As I began . . . what a beautiful confession! If we
others, and this does not mean necessarily actual               could bring that to mind even once a day - say it to
`gifts. "                                                       ourselves: I know that my Redeemer liveth, it would
   You may wonder how you can give, Alice. This may             make our'lives more joyous.        With love, Your fi-iend
be hard for you to understand, but you are giving by            Please read I Cor. 15:19 and Job 19:26
sharing your faith. By a content smile or a joyful tear            Alice had driven her car that fall until the
you are giving to others the knowledge that God gives           weather became bad. She would take her car to
sufficient grace to all His children. As difficult as it may    visit with each of the brothers and sisters in turn.
be, you are giving by making it possible for others to          She could slowly enter and exit from the car and,
obey God's commands for them.                                   with her cane and some assistance from others,
   Can you understand what I mean when I say that               could get into the various homes. The biggest dif-
you are giving me something - the opportunity to serve          ficulty was the steps. She could barely lift her legs
God by loving you and sharing His word with you? And            that high. After the first snowfall, Alice did no more
for your loved ones too, you are not a burden, but a joy,       driving. From that time on, she would be picked up
you are giving them the way in which they are drawn             and later returned to John's home after her visit.
closer to God.                                                  Good Morning Alice:
  May you understand your gifts, and your abilities to            It's very early morning (as it always has to be when
give, and give with a joyful and content heart.                 you have a family to get ready for church).
   Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.                      Today is the day we remember the birth of Jesus. A
   God bless you in your giving, Alice.                         joyous day - a difficult day. Maybe if we could stay in
                                       Your friend in Him       church all day we might be able to accomplish what we
                                                                really intend to do with this day - but how do you re-
Please read Job 19.25                                           joice in the birth of the Savior with 20 to 30 family
   Almost weekly one could notice Alice's back and              members together talking about absolutely everything,
leg muscles weaken. Though she could sit quite                  and the children busy having fun with new toys . . . .
well to the end, it was becoming increasingly dif-                I'm convinced only a spiritually strong child of God
ficult for her to get into a sitting position by herself        can properly use one day to celebrate Jesus' birth and
when she was in bed. John had  tinother idea for                I'm afraid I'm not strong enough.
helping her. The garage door had earlier been dis-
connected from its automatic opener. But the door                  That wonderful confession we talked about yesterday
opener remained on the ceiling. Now, with a series              doesn't end there. It's a confession with a wonderful
of pulleys, and with a rope attached to a hand grip,            promise.
Alice could push the remote control button, and                   I Cor. 15:19 tells us if it is only in this life that we
slowly, slowly the door opener would move - pull-               have hope - we must be most miserable (pitiable) but
ing Alice to a sitting position. From there she could           this is a confession with hope, that expected certainty
still move herself from the bed. She had many a                 - and Job 19:26 explains what that certainty is - that
laugh about this novel approach!                                after my skin and body are destroyed - then without,
Good Morning Alice:                                             or out of this flesh (as our ministers have explained the
                                                                proper wording) I SHALL SEE GOD.
   It's not very "early" morning - I overslept! It's a
good thing the kids had vacation so it really didn't mat-         That's what makes my daily struggle worthwhile,
ter.                                                            that is why I desire to examine my life and all that I do
                                                                and say and, hard as it may be, learn that God is first in
  For I know that my Redeemer liveth. What a                    my life before anyone else, because that is the goal of
beautiful confession, when you really think about it,           my life . . . I SHALL SEE GOD.
that Job in the middle of all his suffering could cry out
. . . "I  know . . . (he did not doubt) . . . that my                            In Him for Whom we wait, Your friend
Redeemer . . . (he didn't have the New Testament and            Please read Psalm 119: 73


I                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          163



     THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
     Ronald L. Cammenga





                Remarriage of the "Innocent Party"


       Our Protestant Reformed Churches teach a                         repeated adultery, R.C.), as well as in the case of un-
     distinctive doctrine concerning marriage and                       repented of adultery, the innocent party may leave
     divorce. By maintaining the Biblical truth that mar-               the guilty party and obtain a divorce.
     riage is for life, and by opposing divorce except on                 However, I maintain that even then the marriage
     the ground of unrepented of adultery, we separate                  relation is not broken. No more than the marriage
     ourselves from most churches today. Not only is                    relation with God is broken when we sin, and sinning,
     there an increasing corruption of the truth of mar-                commit adultery a hundred and a thousand times, no
     riage by the churches, but there is a corresponding                more is the marriage relation between man and
     disregard for the Bible's clear teaching on the sub-               woman broken, even though they separate, even
     ject of divorce and remarriage.                                    though they obtain a legal divorce, and even though it
                                                                        may be impossible for the innocent party to continue
       One particularly distinctive position of our Prot-               sexual relationships with the guilty party. The inno-
     estant Reformed Churches as regards marriage is                    cent woman is still the legal wife of her husband, and
     our stand against the remarriage of the "innocent                  remains such until the husband dies. The same is true
     party." * By the "innocent party" we refer to the                  of the innocent husband in relation to his guilty wife. I
     marriage partner who is "innocent" as far as the                   maintain, therefore, that even though separation,
     leading cause of the divorce is concerned. Since un-               even legal divorce, is allowable because of adultery,
     repented of adultery is the only Biblical ground for               according to the Bible, the marriage relation is never
                                                                        broken and can never be broken until death. (p. 12).
     divorce, the "innocent party" is the marriage part-
     ner who is not guilty of the adultery. As far as he (or          There are many who do not agree with our posi-
     she) is concerned, he (or she) has been faithful to            tion that the one Biblical ground for divorce is un-
     his (or her) mate. It is our position that not only            repented of adultery. But even among those who do
     does the Bible generally prohibit the remarriage of            agree with us on this score, there are those who do
     divorced people, but that the Bible prohibits even             not agree with our stand against the remarriage of
     the remarriage of the "innocent party." The teach-             the "innocent party."
     ing of Scripture is opposed to the remarriage of ALL             This is true generally among the Presbyterians.
     divorced people, even those divorced on the one                The teaching to which most Presbyterians sub-
     legitimate ground of unrepented of adultery.                   scribe is the teaching embodied in The Westminster
       This position of our churches was expressed                  Confession of Faith, chapter 24, "Of Marriage and
     several years ago by the late Rev. Herman                      Divorce." In this chapter,  The Westminster Confes-
     Hoeksema in a pamphlet entitled "The Unbreak-                  sion  teaches:
     able Bond Of Marriage." In that pamphlet                           V. Adultery, or fornication committed after a con-
     Hoeksema wrote:                                                    tract, being detected before marriage, giveth just occa-
                                                                        sion to the innocent party to dissolve that contract. In
          But it is nevertheless true that sometimes that cove-
        nant relation is so thoroughly spoiled and marred and           the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the
                                                                        innocent party to sue out a divorce: and after the
        violated that one cannot live the full covenant relation        divorce, to marry another, as if the offending party
        of marriage any more. In that case (i.e., the case of           were dead.
                                                                        VI. Although the corruption of man be such as is apt
     Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed            to study arguments, unduely to put asunder those
     Church of Loveland, Colorado.                                      whom God hath joined together in marriage: yet,


164                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



       nothing but adultery, or such wilfull desertion as can        of the "innocent party," is taken by Jay E. Adams
       no way be remedied, by the Church, or Civil                   in his book Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the
       Magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond        Bible (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
       of marriage: wherein, a public and orderly course of          1980). He states his general position that "It is
       proceeding is to be observed: and the persons con-            assumed in the Bible that wherever Scripture
       cerned in it, not left to their own wills and discretion,
       in their own case.                                            allows divorce, remarriage also is allowed," (p. 85).
                                                                     "Who may remarry after divorce and under what
  In these two paragraphs from  The Westminster                      conditions?" Adams asks. "The answer to those
Confession, two facts stand out which are pertinent                  questions is at once both simple and complex. What
to our present discussion. First,  The Westminster                   is simple is the first general principle: All persons
Confession teaches the permissibility of divorce not                 properly divorced may be remarried," (p. 86).
only on the ground of unrepented of adultery, but                    Later, Adams writes:
also on the ground of "wilfull desertion." Secondly,
The Westminster Confession teaches the permissibili-                       Let us ask the question, then, Is marriage to former-
ty of the remarriage of someone who has obtained a                       ly adulterous or sinfully divorced persons prohibited?
divorce either on the ground of the unrepented of                        Ask another: Is marriage to former murderers or liars
                                                                         or slanderers prohibited? There is no more biblical
adultery of their mate, or the wilfull desertion of                      reason to believe that the first is prohibited than there
their mate. Remarriage of divorced people is per-                        is to believe that the second is. (p. 94).
mitted  - certainly the remarriage of the "inno-
cent party."                                                         Adams concludes:
  The Presbyterian theologian, John Murray, also                           So, we have seen that remarriage after divorce is
defends the right of remarriage in his book Divorce                      allowed in the Bible and (even) that the guilty party -
                                                                         after forgiveness - is f;e& to remarry. (p. 95).
(Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.,
Phillipsburg, New Jersey, 1961). Murray states:                        Murray and Adams are representative of those
                                                                     who teach that the Scriptures permit the remarriage
       The considerations preponderate rather in favour. of          of divorced people, particularly the remarriage of
       the conclusion that when a man puts away his wife             the "innocent party." Their position is accepted to-
       for the cause of fornication this putting away has the        day in most Reformed and Presbyterian circles.
       effect of dissolving the bond of marriage with the
       result that he is free to remarry without thereby incur-        There are at least three Scripture passages that
       ring the guilt of adultery. In simple terms it means          are commonly  ,appealed  to in order to  prov.e the
       that divorce in such a case dissolves the marriage and        permissibility of the remarriage of divorced people.
       that the parties are no longer man and wife. (p. 43).           First, appeal is often made to Deuteronomy 24: 1,
Again, Murray writes:                                                2: "When a man  bath taken a wife, and married
       We have taken the position, on what we believe to be          her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in
       proper grounds, that the man who puts away his wife           his eyes, because he  bath found some uncleanness
       for adultery may remarry without committing an of-            in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement,
       fence. . . . The innocent spouse is free to marry again.      and give it in her hand, and send her out of his
       (P.  98).                                                     house. And when she is departed out of his house,
Murray even goes so far as to justify the remarriage                 she may go and be another man's wife." Support is
of the guilty, adulterous party after the divorce has                found for remarriage in this teaching of Moses con-
taken place.                                                         cerning divorce, in which Moses "suffers" divorce
       But if the marriage has been dissolved, it is difficult to    among the Israelites  (Matt.  19:8).  Does not Moses
       see on what ground the contracting of another mar-            say about the woman in whom "some unclean-
       riage on the part of the guilty divorcee could be con-        ness" has been found and who has been given "a
       sidered adultery. What constituted the prior act of in-       bill of divorcement" that she "may" remarry, she
  fidelity and act of adultery was the fact that the mar-            "may go and be another man's wife," that this is
       riage was still inviolate. But once the marriage has          permitted?
       been dissolved there is a very different relationship.
       And we must remember that in the case of divorce for            The second passage often quoted in support of
       adultery it is by divine warrant that the marriage is         the remarriage of the "innocent party" is Matthew
       dissolved. The parties are no longer man and wife. If         19:9: "And I say unto you, Whosoever, shall put
       so, it is difficult to discover any biblical ground on the    away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall
       basis of which to conclude that the remarriage of the         marry another, committeth adultery: and  whoso
       guilty divorcee is to be considered in itself an act of       marrieth her which is put away doth commit
       adultery and as constituting an adulterous relation. (p.      aduhery." This passage, it is said, establishes one
       100).                                                         ground for divorce and one ground for remarriage:
  This same position in favor of the remarriage of                   "except it be for fornication." Fornication is the
certain divorced people, especially the remarriage                   ground for divorce. But one who has obtained a


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 165



divorce on the ground of fornication may remarry.            polygamy or divorce and remarriage. In either case,
  A third passage appealed to by those advocating            although these persons were not permitted to hold
the right of divorced people to remarry is I Timothy         office in the New Testament church, they were at
32 and 12. In this passage the Apostle Paul is listing       least permitted church membership. And this, so
the qualifications of elders and deacons. In connec-         the argument goes, ought to be the case today.
tion with both the elders and the deacons the Apos-             Next time we hope to examine more closely
tle insists that they must be "the husband of one            these passages of Scripture, as well as lay down the
wife." The argument from this passage runs some-             reasons for our position against the remarriage of
thing like this. Since it is especially insisted upon        the "innocent party."
that the officebearers be the husband of one wife, it          *I was recently somewhat surprised to discover that a group
may safely be concluded that there were ordinary             of Calvinistic (Primitive) Baptists take basically the same posi-
members of the church who were not the husbands              tion that our churches do on the impermissibility of the remar-
of one wife. This was true either because of                 riage of the "innocent party."

IN HIS FEAR
Barrett L. Gritters




                  Understanding Church Discipline


   The following or similar events could happen in           her sin, she confesses it before God and to the con-
your church.                                                 sistory. Yet the consistory is adamant that a public an-
   Because a man of the church falls into the sin of         nouncement of her sin and confession be made in
drunkenness, drives while intoxicated, and finally           church . . . .
slams into a parked car, he is arrested, put in jail, and       "Is there something wrong with the way the
the story appears in the next day's daily paper. The         church of Jesus Christ handles sin in the church?"
elders visit the man and find that he is sincerely peni-     some murmur. "Why can't the matter be left in the
tent. He even appears before the consistory out of the       privacy of the consistory room? Isn't there another,
desire to show the elders that his repentance is sincere.    more loving, sensitive way to deal with sinners?
But the consistory makes a public announcement to the        Why does sin so often have to be brought to the at-
church . . . .                                               tention of the entire congregation? Doesn't that on-
  A young, confessing member of the church is caught         ly make things worse?" These and more are some
by his parents in the sin of stealing. When confronted       common, sometimes sincere, questions raised
with the matter, he refuses to confess his wrong and re-     about the practice of Biblical church discipline. So
pent. Finding all admonition fruitless, his parents          that we can be clear on what the Lord commands
decide to call the elders of the church. After much          us to ,do, let's look at some of these questions and
work, the young man is barred from the Lord's Supper.        try to come to some conclusions about proper,
Then, after more work, it is announced that the congre-      Christian church discipline.
gation pray for an unrepentant sinner in the church.                    *      *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *
Later, when he consistently refuses to repent of his sin,
his name is announced and the congregation exhorted             Proof is hardly needed that there are objections
to pray for him and work with him. Finally, when no          to the methods used by the church in discipline,
repentance comes, he is excommunicated . . . .               described in some of the situations above. That the
  A young woman in the church commits fornication            direction of the church today is  away  from the
and becomes pregnant. Because she is truly sorry for         Biblical doctrine of church discipline is obvious.
                                                             And this movement is no less than fatal for the
Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     church. Even though most Reformed Christians
Church of Byron Center, Michigan.                            often hear instruction from the Heidelberg


166                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



Catechism and the Scriptures about this vital aspect            There are a number of different ways that
of the church's work, there are still those who voice        discipline. is practiced. Everyone knows that God
objections to church discipline when it is exercised         disciplines us when we sin. And He does that by
in their church.                                             putting us in difficult circumstances and by the
   Just as obvious (and, in a way, more heartening)          agency of His convicting Spirit in our hearts. Who
is the fact that when many of these objectors are            has not experienced the -chastening hand of his
confronted with the Biblical directives for                  Father in heaven when he has been pursuing an             .
discipline, they are amazed at the clarity and               unhindered course of sin? (Read about this process
simplicity with which the Bible presents the Lord's          in the Canons of Dort, Chapter 5, Articles 1-8).
instructions. These articles are written for those           Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth (Hebrews
who desire to know and return to the Biblical doc-           12).
trine of church discipline. For those who have                 There is also a discipline exercised by individual
wilfully departed from the plain directions of the           members of the church. Parents carry this out with
Scripture, and desire to pursue expediency rather            their children (the most common and urgent
than rightness in the church, it is hoped that this          discipline in this category), husbands and wives
will lead them back to the way in which the Lord             with each other, friends with friends. God calls us
commands His blessing.                                       all to admonish and discipline each other (Col. 3:16,
          * *  *      8:    * * * * * *                      etc.). In fact, we might even be able to say that the
                                                             backbone of church discipline is the exercise of
   Discipline is so important for the church of              Christian censure among members of the church.
Christ that, to the extent the church fails to               When a fellow member fails to admonish another
discipline, to that extent it forfeits the right to be       whom he knows is walking in sin, he asks for grief
called the true'church (see Belgic Confession, Art.          in the church. But when he brings a brother or
29). John Calvin saw this urgency when he wrote,             sister's sin to their attention, and the sinner is
"Accordingly, as the saving doctrine of Christ is the        brought to repentance, he has been used as a means
soul of the church, so does discipline serve as its          in God's hand to save a soul from death and hide a
sinews,  through which the members of the body               multitude of sins (James 5:20). The revised Church
hold together, each in its own place" (Institutes, IV,       Order of the Christian Reformed Church (1965)
12, 1). The church is impotent when it does not              makes a special point of this in article 78b: "The ex-
discipline its members. It is no surprise then that          ercise of admonition and discipline by the  con-
the Lord of the church severely warns the church             sistory does not preclude the responsibility of the
that they risk destruction if they fail to exercise          believers to watch over and to admonish one
discipline (Rev.  2:14, 15, 16, 20).                         another in love." Proper church discipline cannot
  There are those who believe that there should be           function unless  individuaZ  discipline is active.
no discipline at all by the church. But these are
governed by what is easiest (expediency), and by               But the discipline with which most have the
what they like best (selfishness), more than by              greatest problem, and about which the most ques-
what the Bible tells us to do (Biblical propriety). It is    tions are asked, is discipline performed by the rul-
assumed that all who read this desire to be gov-             ing body of the church, either in the privacy of the
erned by Biblical propriety. Others take the posi-           consistory room and home, or the publicity of the
tion that discipline is necessary, but should never          congregation.
be made public. These often ask the question,                  This discipline by the church is Biblical.
"Why make things worse than they already are?" A               As we saw above, the Lord threatens with
third party wants discipline - harsh, severe, and as         destruction the church that is lax in discipline (Rev.
stiff as possible. When a sinner is caught in his sin,       2). The Lord told His disciples in Matthew 16 that
he stands ready to sling the first stone, lest any get       to them was given the keys of the kingdom of
the impression that sin will go unpunished. This             heaven. As representatives of the church of all ages,
kind of radicalism we need to avoid at all costs.            they were given the authority to open and close the
  Our (Biblical) position is that discipline  - in a         gates of the kingdom of heaven (discipline)  in the
loving, caring, kind manner - must be practiced at           name of Christ HimseZf. In Matthew 18 Christ gave
all costs. It may never be neglected. The church in-         more explicit instructions on how that discipline
different to God's holiness and displeasure with sin         should be carried out. The point in this text is that
is a church in the quicksand of self concern. While          Christ gave to the church the calling to deal with
ignoring sin within her own ranks, the church can            unrepentant sinners. (The procedure is outlined in
never stand against her enemies (read about Achan            the Church Order of the Protestant Reformed
in Joshua 7). We need to have proper, careful, con-          Churches in Articles 71-78; before going on, please
sistent church discipline.                                   read these articles carefully, and note how the prop-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             167



er, Biblical method was followed in the illustra-          Protestant Reformed Churches, Articles 71-78; The
tions above.) In Titus, where the apostle Paul in-         Westminster Confession (Presbyterian churches,
structs Titus how to "set in order the things that are     1647) Chapter XXX, Paragraphs l-4; The Cam-
wanting" in the churches of Crete  (1:5), he told          bridge Platform (Congregationalists in the USA,
Titus that the church should reject "a man that is         1648); The  Savoy Declaration (1658) Chapter 27,
an heretic after the first and second admonition"          Paragraphs 18, 19; Calvin's Institutes, Bk IV,
(3:lO). And in the book on "how to behave . . . in         Chapter 12; and the forms for Confession of Faith,
the house of God" (I Timothy 3: 15), we are told that      Excommunication, and Readmittance found in the
those who sin are to be rebuked before the entire          back of the Psalter.
congregation  (5:20).  Further texts for our instruc-         The significance of these references is that the
tion are I Thessalonians 5: 14, II Thessalonians 3: 14.    confessions are not merely men's opinions, but the
the church is called to discipline its members who         fruit of the Spirit's influence in the church. Christ
walk in sin.                                               promised to lead the church into all truth by His
  And that we are not wrong ininterpreting these           Spirit (John 15, 16) and the confessions of the
texts to teach discipline by the church is supported       church are the fruit of that leading. And if anyone
by the fact that the church of all ages disciplined in     does not agree with the church discipline exercised
basically the way that is done by faithful Reformed        in Reformed churches, he should first answer the
congregations today, as given in The Church Order          question of history. What did the church in the past
mentioned above.                                           do? That is, where did the Spirit of truth lead the
  That is, discipline by the church is also confes-        church of our fathers? And unless one can show
sional.                                                    clearly that they were wrong in disciplining as we
                                                           do  now, he ought to be very cautious in making
  A careful study of the confessions of Reformed           radical changes in how and whether we discipline.
churches attests to that. There is not room here to
quote from all these confessions, but a check of              God grant us grace to be faithful in maintaining
these references will help ,make the point (for those      the marks of the true church, according to the com-
not in the  PsaZter,  see Philip  Schaff, Creeds of        mandments of His word.
Christendom, Volume 3). Belgic Confession (1561)              (In next issue: The Steps of Discipline, The Pur-
Article 29; The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) Ques-          pose of Discipline, The Reason for Public Exposure
tions and Answers 82-85; The Church Order of               in Discipline, and Answers to Some Common Ob-
Dort (1618, 1619) as revised and adopted by the            jections.)
                        News From Our Churches
                                                November 29,1985
   For most of our churches, the time for the elec-        look for this article in the January or February
tion of office bearers has taken place. According to       issue, 1986.
Article 22 of the Church Order, the elders shall be           Do you need a valuable aid in your study of the
chosen by the judgment of the consistory and the           book of Genesis? Then read on. Rev. Harbach's
deacons according to the regulations for that pur-         commentary on Genesis is completed and will soon
pose established by the consistory. Some of our            go to the printer. A letter explaining how you can
churches give the members an opportunity to                contribute to this worthy cause and obtain a copy
direct attention to suitable persons for nomination        will soon be sent to our churches from the Grand:
to these offices. This is also in agreement with the       ville Publishing Committee.
same article in the Church Order, where every
church shall be at liberty, according to its cir-             The Mr. and Mrs. Society of South Holland
cumstances to do so. May God bless the elders and          Church, in Illinois, has dropped the age restriction
deacons of our churches.                                   so that membership is open to older couples.
   In the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, Rev. Carl              And now for the latest news in church and par-
Haak spoke to the Mr. and Mrs. League meeting,             sonage construction. The Building Committee of
held at Southwest Church, on the topic "Bible              Covenant Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey, has
Study and Society Preparation." Because of the in-         been in the process of obtaining bids for the insula-
terest in this speech, Rev. Haak has agreed to have        tion and dry-wall work. Kalamazoo Church, in
it printed in the Beacorz Lights. So you will want to      Michigan, held a "Bakeless Bake Sale". last month
                                                           to provide money for a steeple and a baptismal
David Harbach is a teacher at Adams St. Protestant         font. Doon Church in Iowa, has now seen the com-
Reformed Christian School, Grand Rapids, Michigan.         pletion of its huge parsonage built by George and


                                             .,


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





  168                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                        ---


  Bill Joostens. First Church, in Grand Rapids,                                                bus are sold, a certificate is issued to the buyer
  Michigan, is considering the feasibility of com-                                             stating the part and the $ amount donated toward
  pleting the lower level of the building, for holding                                         the campaign. What can you buy? How about 5,784
  Catechism classes, Sunday School, and Societies.                                             rivets @ .lO, or two tailpipes @ 50.00, or two floors
  That involves providing equipment for the lower                                              @ 300.00, or two engines @ 1000.00. There's some-
  level, from the kitchen sink to stack cribs for the                                          thing for everyone.
  nursery. Grandville Church, in Michigan, has now                                                Our schools are seeing even larger expenses than
  put up insulation, dry-wall, lighting and plumbing                                           anticipated for many reasons. Sometimes it is lower
  fixtures on the inside of the parsonage. They hope                                           enrollment, or unexpected repairs to the buildings,
  to be completed by the end of February.                                                      or the cost of starting up a new school. Whatever
     What is the "Buy-a-Hunk-a-Bus" campaign? The                                              the reason, it is for certain that our schools need our
  Adams Street Boosters Club has a unique way of                                               continued financial support now. As the Lord has
  purchasing two new school buses. As parts of each                                            prospered us may our schools also prosper.

                                                                                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
                                      P.O. BOX 2006                                               The members of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                               Ladies Society would like to express their sympathy to Mrs. Greta
              GRAND  RAPUDS, MICHIGAN 49501                                                    Hoekstra in the death of her father, MR. EDWARD VANDER WERFF.
            New Prices, Effective January 1, 1986                                                 They also rejoice with her in Christ's words in John 14:  "I will not
                                                                                               leave you comfortless . . . because I live ye shall live also."
    ISBN                      Title                             Old Price New Price            Rev. G. Van  Baren,  Pres.
    O-91 6206-01-7 Behold, He Cometh!                           $ 1 2 . 9 5        n/a         Mrs. Phil Dykstra, Sec'y.
                                (hardcover)
    O-9 16206-28-g Behold, He Cometh!                              n/a          $ 1 2 . 9 5
                                (paperback)                                                                            IN LOVING MEMORY
    O-9 16206-02-5 Believers And Their Seed                         1 . 9 5         4 . 9 5       On November 25, 1985, it pleased our Heavenly Father to sud-
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    O-9 16206-I 4-9 The Five Points Of                              2 . 9 5         3 . 9 5    grandfather, great-grandfather, MR. EDWARD VANDER WERFF. We
                                Calvinism                                                      rejoice that he is in glory with his Lord, and we pray that Jehovah, our
    O-91 6206-I 9-x God's Eternal Good                              9 . 9 5       1 2 . 9 5    covenant God will uphold us by His grace and give us peace that
                                Pleasure                                                       passeth all understanding.
    O-91 6206-23-8 Hyper-Calvinism and Call                        4 . 9 5         4 . 9 5
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                                                                                               Lord."  (Remans   8:38-39)
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                                Christ  & Church                                               George and Greta Hoekstra                     14 grandchildren
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                                Kingdom                                                        William and Kathy Vander Werff
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    O-91 6206-05-x The Triple Knowledge  - Set                   2 9 . 9 5       3 5 . 9 5     Father for blessing us with God-fearing parents who instructed and
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                                                                                               (206) 398-2774, or Albert De Boer,  (206) 354-5825.


