                     The
          STANDARD
                     BEARER
.                    A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





     .    .     .                 man-made philosophies
     credit man with helping God by "accepting
     His kind offer," present the matter as though
     man fulfills the condition of believing and
     that God then proceeds to save him, and you
     are looking to lying vanities and forsaking
     mercy, rather than seeking it where it can be
     found.
               See  `IA Confession of God's Sure Mercy"
                                                                  - page 367



                                                         Vol.  LXII, No. 16, May 15, 1986  -
                                                          /*


362                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



                          *1    COfiTENTS                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema




                                       Baptized With the Spirit

                   For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
               days hence.                                                                                                                Acts 1:5



  These words were spoken by Jesus to His                                           must not depart from Jerusalem but must wait for
disciples on the very day of His ascension, probably                                the promise of the Father. As is evident from the
just before He led them out to the Mount of Olives.                                 words that form the basis for our meditation, this
He informed His disciples at that time that they                                    promise was that they would be baptized by the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                           363


                                                                                                  .  .-
 Holy Spirit.                                             However, the requirement for membership in the
   This promise of the Father had been first spoken       new kingdom would be much different. In the new
 through John the Baptist. John had preached, "I in-      kingdom of heaven the requirement for member-
 deed baptize you with water unto repentance: but         ship would be righteousness. This is due to the fact
 he that  cometh after me is mightier than I, whose       that this new kingdom would be a kingdom of
 shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you      righteousness.
 with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Matt.  3:ll).           However, John emphasized that this righteous-
This promise had later been proclaimed by Jesus           ness must be a true righteousness. It could not be
 Himself. For the promise of the Father, said Jesus,      the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees who
 "ye have heard of me" (Acts  1:4).                       imagined they could enter the kingdom on the basis
   Now this promise was about to be fulfilled. Not        of their own works. No, the righteousness
 many days hence the disciples would be baptized          necessary to gain entrance into the kingdom of
with the Holy Spirit. Hence, they must wait in Jeru-      heaven must be the righteousness symbolized in
salem.                                                    the sacrifices of the law and proclaimed by the
                                                          prophets of old. This righteousness is the forgive-
   This baptism in the Holy Spirit took place on          ness of sin and a new life of obedience, both of
 Pentecost, ten days after Jesus' ascension. This bap-    which result from the payment of sin. This righ-
tism in the Spirit was a very significant event for       teousness could be acquired only from the great
the church. When listing the great works of God in        Savior Who would very soon now appear as the
our salvation, we give to this baptism in the Spirit a    Lamb of God to take away the sins of the.world.
place of great prominence, equal to Jesus' death,
resurrection, and ascension into heaven.                    But the people had long ago- forgotten this
                                                          righteousness of the Savior proclaimed by the law
   With Pentecost just a few days away, we call at-       and the prophets. In the hardness of their hearts
tention to this great work of God in Christ to bap-       they had sought to establish their own righteous-
tize the church with the Holy Spirit.                     ness by their own works. Hence,  John`called the
  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                people to repentance. They must leave the error of
   To appreciate this great promise of God it is          work righteousness and look in faith for the coming
necessary to understand the ministry and baptism          Savior Who alone could provide them with the
of John. For even as John baptized with water, so         righteousness of the kingdom.
would Christ baptize with the Holy Ghost.                   At this point we can understand the baptism of
   The main theme of John's ministry was the              John. Those who repented, confessed their faith in
kingdom of heaven. He fervently proclaimed that           the coming Savior, and  .sought  His righteousness
the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Very soon the          were baptized by John with water. This baptism
great king Whom God had promised to raise up              was very significant. For baptism with water serves
from David's seed would come and establish the            as a sign of the washing away of.sins in the blood of
kingdom.                                                  Christ. That was no less true in the days of John the
  John also emphasized that this kingdom would            Baptist than it is now. Even as water washes away
be radically different from the present order of          dirt from the body, so also does the blood of Christ
things.                                                   wash away the spiritual filth of sin from the soul
                                                          and render us righteous. As a sign therefore of the
   For this kingdom would be a heavenly kingdom.          spiritual cleansing and righteousness that would be
The kingdom that existed then was merely an earth-        theirs in the coming Savior, John baptized all those
ly kingdom. It had an earthly temple, an earthly          who in faith look for Him.
throne, an earthly power, an earthly glory. But the
kingdom that would soon be established would be             However, John wanted to make it very clear that
heavenly in nature. In fact, the present kingdom          the baptism he administered was merely a sign and
was merely a type and picture of this new, more           not the reality. The water with which he baptized
glorious kingdom that was about to come.                  didn't wash away sins. His baptism didn't make the
   Furthermore, the membership requirements of            people righteous so that they might enter into the
this new kingdom would be different. All that was         kingdom of heaven. His baptism was merely a pic-
necessary to be a member of the old kingdom was           ture of a greater, spiritual baptism that would be
`that you be a descendant of Abraham. If you were a       administered by the Savior Himself. Even as John
Jew, you belonged to the kingdom of Israel.               baptized with water, so would the Savior baptize
                                                          with the Holy Spirit. He would send the very Spirit
                                                          of God into the hearts of all those who believed on
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    Him and through the Spirit wash away their sins.
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                            Through the inner working of the Spirit He would


364                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



render truly righteous those that believed on Him        the saints of old found salvation and true righteous-
so that they will be able to enter into the kingdom      ness. Through the Spirit they were assured of the
and enjoy its great blessings.                           forgiveness of sin in the blood of the Lamb Who
  ,I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance:      was to come. Through the Spirit they were also led
but He that  cometh after me is mightier than I,         to live a new and holy life in the service of God.
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall bap-         However, the Old Testament church had not yet
tize you with the Holy Ghost and with -fire. Such        been baptized or immersed in the Holy Spirit. They
was the ministry and baptism of John.                    possessed the Spirit of God and the blessings of
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *                            salvation through the Spirit only partially. The Old.
                                                         Testament saints had only the small beginnings of
  On the day of His ascension Jesus informed His         what the church after Pentecost would be able to
disciples that they should wait in Jerusalem; for        enjoy. And this was due to the fact that the great
they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost "not          Savior had not yet come as the Lamb of God to shed
many days hence."                                        His blood for sin. Atonement for sin had not yet
  This spiritual baptism took place just ten days        been made. This atonement had been promised.
later on Pentecost. Pentecost was a Jewish feast         And on the strength of that promise the people of
day. That explains why the disciples of Jesus, 120       God in the Old Testament were able to possess the
in number, were all assembled in an upper room in        Spirit of God and His salvation, but only in a very
Jerusalem. Suddenly some very wonderful and              small measure. Certainly they could not yet be hap-
unusual things happened. First, the disciples heard      tized in the Spirit.
the sound as of a mighty rushing wind. Then,
cloven tongues as of fire appeared to them and sat         However, the Savior had now come. He had
upon each of them. Finally, they all began to speak      gone to the cross and once for all paid the price for
in different tongues of the wonderful works of           sin that the church might enjoy the fullness of the
God. These were merely signs that the ascended           Spirit and His salvation. Hence, at Pentecost, just
Lord had now baptized the church with the Holy           50 days after Jesus' death, the church was baptized
Spirit. Peter understood that. For when the              with the Holy Spirit.
assembled crowd began to mock and accuse the               What a blessing for the church!
disciples of drunkenness, Peter pointed out that all       May the church never cease to celebrate this
these things were a fulfillment of the prophecy of       event!
Joel who spoke of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit
on the church in the last days.                           * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
  * * * * * * * * * *  * * * *                             Being baptized with the Spirit it is now our call-
  What a significant event this baptism was for the      ing to show the fruits of the Spirit in our living.
church!                                                    The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-
  We must understand that to baptize means to im-        suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
merse. At Pentecost, therefore, the church was im-       temperance (Galatians  522  & 23).
mersed in the Spirit. That implies that at Pentecost       Indeed it has been the calling of the church down
the church received the fullness of the Spirit.          through the ages to manifest the fruits of the Spirit.
  Certainly the church had the Holy Spirit before        This was the calling of the church also in the Old
Pentecost. Didn't the Holy Spirit testify through the    Testament. However, this calling comes especially
prophets of old? (I Peter l:lO-13). Didn't David in      to us. For we have been baptized with the Spirit and
his repentance pray that God not take the Holy           enjoy His fullness.
Spirit from him? (Psalm 51: 11). Indeed the church         Let us show therefore the fruits of the Spirit with
of the Old Testament possessed the Holy Spirit.          Whom we have been baptized.
And through the inner working of the Holy Spirit

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                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                           365



EDITORIAL




                           Christian Education -
                       The Reformed Viewpoint


  Recently Christianity Today (April 18, 1986) car-      America's culture and its schools." Nor does it have
ried in its News section a rather interesting report     anything to do with Christian education as such to
concerning a conference on Christian education           encourage families "to avoid seeking permission
"organized by leaders in a movement known as             from state authorities to conduct home schools and
Christian Reconstruction." To some of our readers        simply take their stand on biblical grounds."' Or
perhaps the name "Chalcedon" is more familiar.           again, it has nothing to do with Christian education
Post-millennialism and theonomy are trademarks           to assert that "a generation of barbarians is busily
of this movement; and the Rev. Rousas J.  Rush-          destroying this civilization," as Rushdoony is
doony is generally recognized as the theonomy            reported to have said. Or again, it does not promote
patriarch, although others are also known as pro-        Christian education to assert, as Samuel  Blumen-
ponents of this philosophy. The CT report had the        feld is reported to have done, that "public
title, "War Is Declared On Public Education." The        educators have deliberately downgraded the
conference was hosted by Paul Lindstrom's Chris-         literary skills of Americans to make them more
tian Liberty Academy in the Chicago suburb of Ar-        amenable to socialism," and to assert that the
lington Heights. Connected with the academy is a         "main instrument for this conspiracy was the `look-
"satellite school system for home educators with an      say' method of reading instruction installed in the
enrollment of over 22,000 children in 36                 1930s to replace traditional phonics methods." And
countries." And among the home  schoolers, it is         it sounds rather revolutionary, in fact, to propose
claimed,. are thousands of Catholics and Mormons.        that "We must first remove the obstacles, including
                                                         the restrictions on home schooling, mandatory at-
                                                         tendance laws, and teacher certification require-
  According to CT's report there were some rather        ments. Then we must separate ourselves financial-
radical statements made at this conference con-          ly and stop paying for education that is calculated
cerning public education, statements which really        to destroy us."
have nothing to do with Christian and covenantal
education as such, and statements which, if all            However, according to the CT report, there were
Christian education and schools are lumped               some truths stated, especially by Rousas J.  Rush-
together, as they frequently are, tend to give Chris-    doony, which, when stripped of their theonomist,
tian education a black eye in the public mind.           Reconstructionist, post-millennialist context, are
Thus, for example, while it is surely true  - and        truths which have always been emphasized by
consistently Reformed Christians have always             those who promote Reformed, covenantal educa-
maintained this  - that "the public school is not a      tion. I have in mind such fundamentals as the
genuine option for Christians truly concerned            following:
about their children and their world," (something        1) Education is primarily the calling and obligation
which CT ascribes to "public education's most            of Christian parents. This is true  even  when this
radical opponents") it has nothing as such to do         education is and must be in part accomplished by
with Christian education to label public education a     means of schools. Education is not the task of the
"multi-billion dollar taxpayer rip-off," as Paul         state or of the church. This is the reason why for
Lindstrom is reported to have done, and to call for      years and years Reformed people have established
"warfare against the humanist elite that controls        and maintained parental Christian schools.


366                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



2) Education is inescapably religious; there is no                  our schools will lose the fundamental reason of
such thing as neutral knowledge. Public education                   their existence1 A mere Protestant Reformed name
is humanist, and therefore in rebellion against God.                on our schools, and even a mere separate existence,
Traditionally, in our Christian school movement                     for whatever reason, is not our goal. Our schools
we have not phrased it this way; and, in fact, we                   must be Protestant Reformed in truth and in deed!
have phrased it more specifically. But surely,                        But there was another significant point made at
education is inescapably religious; and that religion               this conference, according to the report in  Chris-
is either the truth or the lie. In the deepest sense, it            tianity Today. It is this:
promotes either knowledge or ignorance, either
wisdom or folly, either the fear of the Lord, or en-                      Even Christian schools did not escape criticism at
mity against Him.~.From this same point of view, as                     the conference. Speakers attacked the use of human-
Rushdoony is reported to have said, ". . . nothing is                   istic texts by some Christian educators and alleged
secular for God. All things are to be governed by                       that teachers certified at university-related colleges of
                                                                        education were tainted with anti-Christian values and'
His Word."                                                              methodologies. The implication was that Christian
3) The Bible must undergird and inform every                            educators need to make a radical break from secular
discipline. This is precisely what our forefathers                      schools and build a system based solely on biblical
.meant when in  comrection with Christian educa-                        principles.
tion they insisted that our Christian schools must                    This is an important point, one which can be ap-
not merely be "schools  with  the Bible," but
"schools on (i.e.,                                                  plied to our own Protestant Reformed schools. In
                          based upon) the Bible."                   the first place, the simple fact is that there is no col-
  It is precisely because of the above that we have                 lege, no teacher-training institution, where teachers
always striven, wherever possible, to establish our                 can be trained to be Protestant Reformed teachers,
own Protestant Reformed Christian schools  - not,                   whether you think of secular colleges or religious
mind you, as church schools, but as schools owned                   colleges. And this is only the negative side of the
and operated by societies of likeminded, Protestant                 situation. Wherever our teachers go for their educa-
Reformed parents. As more than one of our school                    tion, they have ample opportunity - and they must
societies states it in their constitution:                          be on constant guard in this respect  - to imbibe
                                                                    non-Reformed and non-Biblical ideas. And if our
       This Society is based on the following principles:           teachers are to be distinctively Reformed teachers,
       A. The Bible is the infallibly inspired,, written Word of    they must become such, in large measure, on their
       God, the doctrine of which is contained in the Three         own and in spite of their higher education. To no
       Forms of Unity, and as such forms the basis for ad-          little extent their education precisely in those areas
       ministration, instruction, and discipline in the school.     of learning which are important to them as teachers
       B. Our sovereign, Triune, Covenant God has from              involves negutive learning. There is no such thing as
       eternity chosen and in time forms a people unto              a Protestant Reformed college for them to attend.
       Himself, that they may stand in covenant relation to         In. the second place, the area of textbooks and
       Him, and live to His praise in fellowship and loving         manuals for teachers and for students is important.
       service in all spheres of life, in the midst of a sinful     The simple fact is that to a large degree our schools
       world.                                                       remain dependent on others for these teaching
       C. The training of the covenant child in the school as       materials  - whether on worldly educators and
       well as in the home and in the church must serve to          authors or on Christian educators and authors who
       prepare him to follow his lifelong calling to reveal the     are not  ,distinctively Reformed. The CT report
       glory of his God in a life lived from the principle of       states that at the conference mentioned "there was
       regeneration by grace.                                       little new material that lived up to the ideals of a
       The purpose of this Society is to provide a system of        Christian curriculum espoused by Rushdoony."
       education maintaining and developing the principles          The same is true of our Protestant Reformed
       sketched above.                                              schools. This is an area of sore lack among us. It is a
  Historically, our Christian school movement has                   lack which we should attack, and that, too, before it
always been committed to these principles. In fact,                 is too late. Do not say that it cannot be done. Our
I make bold to assert, these principles have been                   seminary has done it, and is still doing it, at the
originally the fundamental principles of the Chris-                 level of theological education. Our seminary
tian school movement among Reformed people in                       would, in fact, lose its distinctiveness if this were
this country and in the Netherlands from the very                   not done. But the same is true of our parental
beginning - though many have long since departed                    schools. Far more attention should be given to this
from them. Only to the extent that we also actually                 problem on the part of our schools and our Federa-
practice these principles will our schools be suc-                  tion of School Societies than has been given it here-
cessful. And if they forget and depart from them,                   tofore. Consider it!                                      HCH


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                          367



THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





              A Confession of God's Sure Mercy



  Safely inside the special fish God provided for           Now it makes no difference whether your idol is
him, breathing the oxygen his body needed, and do-        mental or made of metal. Slipping the letter  n be-
ing so without effort, and tasting the sweetness of       tween the e and t does not change the situation one
salvation, Jonah looks back at his escape from the        bit. Whether your trust is in an image made of gold
jaws of death and states a beautiful truth. Because       or silver, of brass or iron, or whether it is a god of
he `had been walking in sin, he was cast overboard        your own imagination, a god you imagine exists but
and into the raging sea. He had fallen to the bottom      is the figment of your mind, and of the minds of
of the sea and became entangled in the weeds. In-         them that taught you, "they that observe lying
stead of going to Nineveh as God had commanded            vanities forsake their own mercy." And please note
him to do, in order that he might warn them and           that the word image is also in the word imagine.
call them to repentance, lest God's wrath come and
destroy them, Jonah found himself worthy of being           It is important that we bear this in mind, because
destroyed because of his own sins. But he tasted          in our sophisticated day and age, the worship of
God's mercy as it is in Christ and confessed that         gods of silver and gold, or other metals or
sure mercy of God.                                        substances, is old-fashioned, and hard to find in our
                                                          country. That, by no means, means that those liv-
  Emphatically and in a positive statement he             ing around us do not observe lying vanities. In fact
declares, "Salvation is of the Lord." To that we          there are more false gods and idols today, and in
would call your attention next time. But we may           our own country, than in Jonah's day. In that
note first that he states this same truth emphatically    which calls itself the Christian church today there
and from a negative point of view when he states,         are so many mental images of God that are such
"They that observe lying vanities forsake their own       gross distortions of the revelation of Him given in
mercy" (Jonah 23). He has idols in mind. They are         Holy Writ, that Jonah's words ought to be con-
the lying vanities. And he had just had close contact     sidered seriously. For they too are lying vanities,
with those who did observe lying vanities on the          and in the judgment day will be revealed to, have
ship. No, he did not hear them praying to their gods      been such.
in the storm. He was sound asleep. But when they
awakened him and urged him to pray to his God,              In many churches they imagine God to be
he became aware of the fact that they had tried in        weaker than man. He must wait for man to give
desperation to get their gods to save them. The           Him the right to save them. They preach a change-
shipmaster had said to him, "Arise, call upon thy         able god, or even worse one that winks at sin and
God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we        can show love and grace and mercy upon those
perish not." Note that he makes a distinction be-         whose sins have not been blotted out. Or else, a god
tween their idols and Jonah's God. He even states         who sent his son to die for everyone in the world,
that perhaps that God, not their gods but that God,       but is disappointed because he just cannot get some
will help them. Remembering this, Jonah now               of them to accept his kind and conditional offer. In-
speaks of the folly of putting trust in any one other     stead of examining every word of God in Scripture,
than Jehovah.                                             they imagine God to be what their flesh wants Him
                                                          to be. And the truth of what Jonah says stands: they
                                                          forsake their own mercy.
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant
Reformed Churches.                                          Now that all images, whether mental or metal,


368                                          THE STANDARQ BEARER



are lying vanities means that they deceive because          and woes of this life.
they are empty, worthless, powerless, and in the              Taking all this into consideration one can see
judgment day will be shown to have been no gods             what lying vanities are these idols made of wood
at all, and that they who put their trust in them           and stone, of gold and silver, brass and iron, but
have indeed been deceived by lies. The sailors on           also all those gods that simply exist in the minds of
that ship with Jonah found out that their gods could        men as their mental images of Jehovah. We do well
do nothing. The storm became fiercer and fiercer,           to listen then to what He says through the Psalmist
even though they prayed more and more                       in Psalm 115:5-8, and I quote, "They have mouths,
vehemently. They tasted no mercy of any kind                but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see
from their gods.                                            not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have
  Not only do the gods of man's imagination have            they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they
no power to show the slightest degree of mercy, but         handle not: feet have they, but they walk not:
they are lying vanities also in that they militate          neither speak they through their throat. They that
against the one true and living God. Not only do            make them are like unto them; so is every one that
they fail to render to Him the honor due to His             trusteth in them."
name, but they assume to take His place and deny              Gold and silver, wood and stone, cannot have
that He is God. In the realm of the spiritual there is      mercy upon man. Neither can the sun, moon, or
no neutrality possible. Jesus said it in Luke  11:23,       stars, or any created object that man makes his god.
"He that is not with Me is against Me." That is why         And a god that man thinks up is no better. That god
it is so important that we preach the God of Scrip-         owes its existence to the man who gave it existence
ture and sound doctrine. If we do not, we fight             in the minds of man. It depends upon man; and
against Him. We worship vanities that lie about             surely what depends upon man cannot help man
God! They do not simply deceive us, but as Satan            when he gets into difficulties. These are lies and ly-
lied to Adam and Eve about God, false doctrines             ing vanities. For, after man dies, these mental gods
spread lies to us about God! They are not harmless          that depend upon man surely have no life or
and neutral. Not being with Him and for Him, they           strength. Only Jehovah, the everywhere present,
are against God.                                            almighty, unchangeable God can help us in our
  And when Jonah speaks of observing lying                  miseries. David states it so beautifully in Psalm
vanities, he does not simply mean looking at them.          62:5, 6 in these words, "My soul, wait thou only
There is a good sense in which we can observe               upon God; for my expectation is from Him. He only
these lying vanities. If we observe them to be false        is my rock, and my salvation: He is my defense: I
doctrines, and lies about the one true God, we are          shall not be moved."
wise and not deceived by them. But what Jonah
means is looking up to them, putting one's trust in           By the way, these words David speaks in what is
them. The word is  shaman,  which is translated as          sometimes called David's only Psalm. Indeed, he
observe 45 times, but well over 200 hundred times           wrote many more Psalms than this one. But the
as keep. And the idea is hold on to, believe in, look       reason - and it is a good reason - why it is called
up to, direct your prayers unto, retain as your             his only Psalm is because he makes so much use in
source of help and safety. In fact, the very word           it of the word "only." The translation does not show
mercy reveals that this is what Jonah had in mind.          this, but he begins by stating, "Only upon God
                                                            waiteth my soul." Even then in the translation we
  Mercy is compassion or pity upon someone in               can find repeated use of the word only. The basic
some form of misery. Mercy will lift one out of that        message of the Psalm is that mercy is found in God
distress, if it is at all possible. And looking unto one    alone; and the exhortation in verse 8, namely,
for help in time of woe is seeking mercy from that          "Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your
one. That is what the sailors did during that terrible      hearts before Him: God is a refuge for us. Selah,"
storm. That is what Jonah stood in desperate need           expresses that idea that only in God is there help
of, as he began to sink deeper and deeper in the            for us. Yea, it teaches us that He ONLY is God. All
waters of the sea, and then got the weeds on the            the idols and men and mental images are lying
bottom wrapped around his head. To save him one             vanities. And if we look to them, we are forsaking
would have to have pity, mercy, compassion upon             mercy, rather than in the true sense seeking it.
him. Yes, such a one would have to be able to see
him in that awful plight. Such a one would have to            God's mercy is sure, and the last verse in Jonah 2
be very powerful in order to save. But such a one           reveals that. There we read, "And the Lord spake
would also have to be in the vicinity to see, hear,         unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry
and know of the misery. Yea, such a one would               land." It was God's mercy that caused that fish to
have to be everywhere present, to help all those            vomit out Jonah. It was not that the fish was ir-
who, on this sin-cursed earth, suffer the miseries          ritated by the presence of Jonah in its belly and spit


                                            THE STANDARD' BEARER                                               369



him out to get relief. It was not that the fish sought    His cross He had justified us. Do not forsake that
relief, but that God exercised His mercy. And note        mercy. Do not turn away from that merciful God to
that the fish did not simply vomit out Jonah, but         trust in lying vanities. Listen carefully to Jonah,
that it did so upon the dry land. It swam into very       because it is God Who is speaking through him.
shallow water and very close to the shoreline to spit       Jonah seeks mercy where it can be found. He
him out on dry land. Never mind what the inten-           confesses here that he will sacrifice to God with the
tions of the fish were, .it was the thought and mercy     voice of thanksgiving, and will pay his vows to
of God that gave to the fish the desire to spew him       God. Indeed, salvation, every single bit of it, comes
out. It could have vomited him out way back there         from Him, and from Him alone. Follow man-made
in the deep water. And large fish do not come that        philosophies that credit man with helping God by
close to shore. God's sure mercy does, through            "accepting His kind offer," present the matter as
unordinary, unusual events,  ,bring blessings and         though man fulfills the condition of believing and
salvation to His people.                                  that God then proceeds to save him, and you are
  And do not forget that unusual work of God of           looking to lying vanities and forsaking mercy,
which Jesus spoke, when He told the Jews that no          rather than seeking it where it can be found. That
sign would be given them except the sign of Jonah,        act of believing is part of the work of salvation that
who was three days and three nights in the fish's         God works in us. Salvation, in all its parts,,and from
belly. There indeed we have the sure mercy of God.        every possible aspect, is of the Lord. Do not forsake
It was in amazing mercy that He sent His Son into         that truth, but with Jonah confess it. Then you are
the heart of the earth, after sending Him into the        not following a mental image that is empty and
belly of hell, and this time in the sense of Gehenna,     deceives, but you are already enjoying  a salvation
the lake of fire, for our sins. It was the mercy of       that is of the Lord.                          -..
God that raised Him up the third day, because by

FROM HOLY WRIT
George C. Lubbers





             The Hope of Heaven and Earth (2)



THE COSMOLOGICAL-CHRISTOLOGICAL IM-                       with telling us of the grand and wonderful creation
PORT: THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.                          of man. Such ought to be obvious to any attentive
                                       Genesis 2:4ff.     reader.
  When we desire to have a glance into the                  And, yet, when the Holy Spirit unfolds before
"heavens," as the heaven of heavens, Scripture            our believing eyes the wonders of the six-day crea-
restrains us and bids us to wait a bit. We should         tion  (Hexaimeron)  of the earth, we see that the
never forget that Genesis  1:l reads "In the begin-       perspective here is not limited to the work of God's
ning God created the heavens and the earth."              earthly creation. If the earth is God's footstool, then
However, there is not one iota in the entire first        the throne which is heaven too is created. God did
chapter of Genesis which speaks of any particulars        not create the one without the other (Matt. 5:33-35).
concerning the creation of the heavens, nor of the        Therefore no man can swear by the earth without
creation of the thousands upon thousands, the             swearing by the other. Do not forget that the veil is
myriads of angelic hosts. Genesis 1 tells us of the       lifted just a bit in Genesis 2: 1, where we read "and
six-day creation of the earthly cosmos, and ends          the heavens and the earth were finished and all the


370                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



host  of  them:`:  .Yes, also the angels sang their              The burden of this chapter of this series of essays
trisagions already in heaven at the time of the Sab-           is to shew that there is something indeed unique in
bath of creation. Job seems to refer to this very              the term "generations" of the heavens and of the
poetically when he tells us what Jehovah spoke to              earth.
him out of the whirlwind: "Where wast thou when                  In  the. Hebrew text the term which reads
   . I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . When the       "generations" in our English Version is  toledoth.
morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God           The term refers in every place in the book of
shouted for joy?I' Did the angels from their heaven-           Genesis to human generations. It does not refer to
ly heights of their proper habitation (Jude 6) view            the creatures generally, nor can it ever designate
with heavenly angelic desire the formation of the              the hosts of the angel-world. It ever refers to
light, the firmament, the day and the night, the form-         generations of the Seed of the Woman, except when
ing of the dry land and the seas, the wondrous,                it is employed in reference to Ishmael's generations
boundless lights in the firmament to rule the day              in Genesis  25:12, and to Esau's generations in
and the night? And did not their interest heighten             Genesis  36:1, 9. The term occurs in the books of
when God made living creatures on the fifth and                Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Ruth, and I Chronicles.
sixth days? And was not the creation of man in                 The term occurs thirty-eight times in the Bible.
God's own image and likeness the breath-taking joy             Once it is translated "births" (in Ex.  28:lO)  in the
of the angels, when they saw "Adam the son of                  KJV of the Bible. However, even in this latter
God," in whose service they would stand forever?               passage the term has the basic idea of  toledoth,
  Yes, the veil is lifted here a bit.                          generations. Only here the stones in the breast-
  God created'the heavens and the earth in the                 plate of the high priest are according to the birth,
beginning!                                                     twelve in number, the twelve tribes, whose names
                                                               are now written upon the gates of the new
THE "TOLEDOTH" OF THE HEAVENS AND OF                           Jerusalem (Rev. 21: 12-25).
THE EARTH. (Gen. 2:4)                                            There is some very good commentary on the idea
  We believe that in Genesis  2:4 we have a                    of the "toledoth" of Scripture in Matthew  1:l. We
backward glance; however, it is far more a forward             read here "The book of the generations of Jesus
look into the distant, dim future. It is really a state-       Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
ment full of the prophetic word, reaching from the             There must have been a "Biblos" in Israel. The
first Adam to  thelast Adam. It extends from the               recording is of the "genealogy" of Christ. In a sense
first Adam, .who is of the earth earthy, to the last           that is the very  heart  of the Old Testament Scrip-
Adam, the Second, Who is the Lord from heaven.                 tures. I once read a "version" of the entire Old
Yes, it is a prophetic light which shines as a beacon          Testament in which all the "genealogy" of Christ
light across-the ages. And it really is such that it           was removed. In that "version" there was a
speaks of the "generations" of the heavens and of              Toledoth  neither of heaven nor of earth; it left an
the earth.                                                     empty shell, a Christless "bible," a mere saga, a
  The order is this: the heavens and the earth!                modern heroic story of some Jewish heroes. This
  This is the  consisaent  and trustworthy form of             "Book" is the inspired record of the prophetic,
doctrine to which we have been delivered.                      revelation world which shines until Christ comes,
                                                               when we will hear angels sing redemption's song in
  We believe that here in this pregnant statement              Bethlehem-Ephratha: "Glory to God in the highest,
we have the keynote of all Scripture. It is, so to             and on earth peace among men in whom he is well
speak, the substratum of world-history which is                pleased." As is commonly known among students
church-history! Here is not the dualistic view of              of Scriptures the Greek here reads "men of good
"common grace", which makes the influence of                   pleasure."
God's common, non-saving grace the substratum of
world-history, on which the special grace of God is              Truly, in the light of Matthew  1:l the term
then somewhat related. Nay, here is another  life-             "generations" in Genesis  2:4 is very meaningful.
and-world-view, a quite different  Weltanschauung.               It is interesting to observe that in the Septuagint
It is the Scriptural view of "Sin and Grace." Here             version we find the translation here of this toZedoth
we stand squarely on the teaching of Creation, Fall,           by the Greek terms he bibles geneseoos = the book
and Redemption.                                                of the becoming of Jesus Christ. This is the exact
  All things were made by the Son of God and unto              verbiage which we read in Matthew  l:l, 18. This
Him (Col.  1:15-20).                                           places the meaning of this term in a strikingly
                                                               significant light. In line with the foregoing observa-
George C. Lubbers is a mi%?ister emeritus in the Protestant    tions we find that the  Staten  Vertuling  (official
Reformed Churches.                                             Dutch translation of 1618) translates toZedoth by the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                371



noun geboorten, births. Now this is a good transla-         in these last days. We know in part and we proph-
tion of the Hebrew. For the verb from which the             esy in part, but when "heaven" will be revealed
term  toledoth  is derived means "to give birth."           in the face of Jesus Christ, then shall we know even
From this we may conclude, in passing, that this            as we are known (Rom.  16:25, 27; I Pet.  1:20).
term could not refer to the angelic hosts of heaven,           Someone will opine, "But the text in Genesis 2:4
where there is no marriage, nor bringing forth of           precedes the account of the creation of Adam from
children. There in the angel-world there are no             the dust of the earth, and of Eve from Adam's rib.
believers and their spiritual seed. Christ did not          How can this now all refer in Genesis  2:4 to the
assume the nature of angels, but He took upon               Generations which  w,ere to be born from this
Himself the seed of Abraham.                                "Woman" spoken of in Genesis  2:23?" We answer
   In our considered judgment we must understand            that the ToZedoth'of the heavens and of the earth are
by the "book" the record of the genealogy which has         not born from a woman per se. The Woman (ishuh)
its beginning in Adam, and is continued in the              never had any children prior to the "Fall" of all
heads of Noah, Shem, Terah, Isaac, Jacob, Judah.            mankind, represented by Adam; but all the
For it is expressly stated in I Chronicles 5: 1, 2 that     children were born after the "Fall" from her who
the genealogy was not reckoned after the (fleshly)          was surnamed "Eve," the mother of the living. For
birthright, Rueben, but after the fourth son, Judah.        the Toledoth of heaven and earth do not include the
In Judah, therefore, the toledoth runs to David, and        children of Cain at all, but they are in the line of the
then to Christ. Hence, here is revelation of the            generations which were born from Adam-Seth as
covenant of the promise, written by the Spirit              they are under the blood, as they are clothed with
through Moses in the desert. Was not the shout of           the righteousness of the saints. They. stand with
the "King" in Israel in Judah (Num.  23:21; Gen.            their children in the Christ, the Seed, Who is  the
49:8-lo)?                                                   Seed of the Woman, Who will crush the head of the
  We are standing on sure ground here.                      serpent in His church, by His death and resurrec-
                                                            tion.
  In Matthew l:l-18 we read of this great "book"               Let it be said here and now: Adam and Eve fell
of the generations of Jesus Christ. And this is then        by wilful and horrible sinful disobedience. The Fall
summed upon in the grand final, the climax of the
song of the saints of all the Old Testament dispensa-       was by "one man" (Rom.  5:12). After the  "dis-
                                                            obedience" God had another Man through Whom
tion. "Now the birth (Toledoth) of Jesus Christ was         out of many offenses there is brought about the free
on this wise" (Matt.  1:18-24). Yes, it was the             gift of grace. Adam and the whole human race,
Wonder of grace, that the Son of God was born               head for head and soul for soul, did not fall into the
from the virgin Mary, as the Immanuel child, proph-         arms of Jesus Christ, but Adam is from here on an
esied by Isaiah centuries before (Is.  7:14;  9:6, 7).      individual, a redeemed member with Eve, in the
  Here is the hope of heaven and earth. As a little         multitude of the redeemed. 0, blessed thought, the
child I sang with my little peers in the highest and        man Adam, husband of his wife, fell into the arms
chiefest notes of the "precious name of Jesus." Was         of mercy. He did not fall into the arms of Christ as
it not "the hope of earth and the joy of heaven"?           representative of the entire human race. He now
Little did we small children understand the full im-        with Eve belongs to the "many" which are saved in
port. We still sing like these little children, touching    Christ.
only the hem of the garment of this Mystery, which            Such is the unfolding of the  Toledoth  of the
was hid from the ages, but which has been revealed          heavens and of the earth.

COUNSEL OF PEACE  (can't. from page 383)                    of upholding and executing the law of God but also
ment had to remain separate, because those who              the responsibility of standing in the place of those
served in those offices were only men and the               over whom He rules when the wrath of God's
union of all that those offices represented was too         righteous anger against sin is uncovered. Thus He
great a task even for the best and greatest of them.        can be not only the king of His people but the great
                                                            High Priest who provides for the people of God a
  In Christ, then,. God performs a notable and              place of refuge and shelter from the destroying
necessary miracle when He bestows on Christ the             power of God's wrath. Indeed, He is not only the
gifts of both offices and in Christ reconciles the          one who provides the place of refuge but is Himself
duties of those offices. In Christ God satisfies all the    that place of refuge which we by the grace of God
demands of His justice while at the same time clear-        now seek.
ing the way for the full revelation of His tender             This is the miracle that the Psalms celebrate in
mercy. As the sinless Son of God in our flesh Christ        Psalm  85:lO: "Mercy and truth are met together;
the King is able to bear not only the responsibility                                          Icon't. on  nape 377)


372                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER  _



ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker





                               Media Hostility to Christian Values
                       Missouri Synod: `No' to Ordaining Women
                     Persecution, a Reality in Our Modern World




Media Hostility to Christian Values                                       We should not be surprised at the anti-Christian
                                                                        bias of television. According to a non-religious survey
  How carefully do we monitor the programs our                          of those who control TV, 93% felt that abortion was
children watch on television? How many hours per                        right, 5% felt that homosexuality was morally wrong.
day or week do we spend in front of the TV? Ought                       Wildmon pointed out that every television show using
Christians have a television set in the house? At the                   homosexuality as a subject is reviewed by the national
very least, excerpts from the following article by                      Gay Media Task Force, and this organization is paid
Jean Shaw ought to cause us to ponder these ques-                       for its services. The survey revealed that 16% of those
tions. The article appeared in the March 5, 1986                        involved in media believe that adultery is morally
issue of the Presbyterian Journal.                                      wrong. Wildmon added the statistic that 85% of the
                                                                        allusions to sex on TV are between unmarried people.
         Donald E.  .Wildmon  was obviously tired. On a
       speaking tour for- the National Federation For Decen-              Who is the leading evangelist on TV? You may
       cy, he was winding up a series of one-night stands that          recite any of the popular names  - Graham, Robert-
       had taken him all over the United States. One more               son,  Falwell,  etc., and you would be wrong. The
       stop after St. Louis, and he would go home to Tupelo,            answer is Norman Lear, whose programs reach more
       Mississippi for a rest. Fatigue was not his greatest prob-       people in one week than all other evangelists reach in
       lem, he told us. "What kills my spirit is the apathy             a year. "There is religion on TV," Wildmon asserts.
       and indifference among Christian people."                        "It is a religion of secularism, hedonism, materialism,
                                                                        and humanism. The question is not `Should values be
         Wildmon proceeded to attack that apathy with his               imposed on the viewers?' but `Whose values should
       own recitation of the ills of television interspersed            be imposed?' `I
       with actual film clips taken from recent programs.
       "When I first became concerned about eight years                   Up to this point the presentations were limited to
       ago," Wildmon explained, "I thought the problem                  prime-time television. The seminar now turned to por-
       was sex and violence. Now I know that the real prob-             nography, and if anyone in the audience didn't know
       lem is an anti-Christian attitude among those who in-            exactly what that was, Wildmon had covered a table
       fluence the media. The result is discrimination against          with magazines, purchased in convenience stores that
       religious people. Those who control TV are not                   morning in St. Louis. Available to anyone who asks
       apathetic, but overtly hostile." Film clips were shown           (regardless of what the stores say), these publications
       which depicted the clergy as dumb, hypocritical,                 depicted naked men and women in various sexual
       harsh, unloving people. Persons who gave any                     positions of such erotic nature that one could only
       evidence of religious upbringing or moral values were            gasp at its carnality. On the table also were photo-
       shown to be easily tempted by sexual aggressiveness.             copies of cartoons from sex magazines, all treating
   God was depicted as a being who always forgives sin,                 clergymen and religion with the grossest disdain.
       even when it is anticipated, and who welcomes into                 We were then prepared for brief film clips of porno-
       heaven the person who "does good' [whatever that                 graphic movies  - the kind available on cable televi-
   means).                                                              sion or from video cassette outlets. Wildmon ex-
                                                                        plained that he didn't like to show these excerpts but
                                                                        he has learned that verbal .descriptions  simply do not
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and                 have the impact. Those who wanted to were allowed
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                      to leave the room. Those of us who stayed saw scenes


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  373



   of indescribable lewdness that glorified  self-                   Persecution, a Reality in Our Modern World
   indulgence.                                                         Christians in America think very little of perse-
     The person sexually aroused by pornography must                 cution. They are free to worship, educate their
   have this appetite satisfied by something more than               children in God's fear, and live the Christian life ac-
   pictures of people in erotic situations. The next step is
   visualized torture. From this evolves the actual prac-            cording to God's Word. Such is not the case in
   tice of torture itself. Rapes in the United States have           many parts of the world. Did you know, for exam-
   increased by 700% in the last decade. Child abuse,                ple, that: "Christians in Nepal face regular persecu-
   largely related to pornography and prostitution, is on            tion and even torture, according to a `delegation of
   the increase everywhere and now accounts for more                 British and U.S. officials who just visited the moun-
   hospital treatment than tonsillectomies and other                 tainous Asian -country for six days. People who are
   child-related problems.                                           baptized face a one-year jail sentence, while
     We saw a 30-minute cassette by Dr. Elizabeth                    someone who leads another person to Christ can
   Holland, a Memphis pediatrician, describing specific              receive a six-year sentence  - equivalent to the
   cases of child molestation, not by strangers or out-              punishment for manslaughter. The visiting team,
   siders, but by parents and siblings! Almost every case            sponsored by Christian Response International, in-
   was related to -pornography, usually magazines pur-               cluded two members of the British Parliament and
   chased legitimately and kept at home . . . .                      two representatives of U.S. congressional staff. But
                                                                     opinions vary on the appropriate response. Any
Missouri Synod: `No' to Ordaining Women                              criticism, say some observers, will make things
  The same issue of the Presbyterian JoumaZ reports                  even worse for Nepalese Christians." (World, April
that the relatively large Missouri Synod Lutheran                    7, 1985)
Church continues to refuse to ordain women to the                      CaZvinist Contact, (March 28, 1986) reported that:
ministry of the gospel.                                              "Four more ministers of the unregistered Baptist
     The ordination of women to the ministry "is ex-                 church in Leningrad have been put on trial. On
   pressly prohibited by the Scriptures," according to a        January 29, 1986, sentences were pronounced
   new report by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's                against Vladimir Filippov, Stanislav Chudakov, An-
   theological commission.                                           drei -Filippov, and Veniamin Yefremov. Senior
      "The idea that God desires man to be the head of               pastor  Fedor  Makhovitsky has been serving a five-
   woman and woman to be subordinate to man is rooted                year strict regime sentence since his arrest in
   deeply in the Old and New Testaments," says the                   August, 1981. Vitaly Varvin, a young layman in the
   report, titled "Women in the Church." It was issued               church, was released in mid-February after four
   by the Commission on Theology and Church Rela-                    years strict regime for refusing to collaborate with
   tions of the 2.6 million-member denomination to pro-              KGB agents. For many years the Leningrad congre-
   vide theological support for the synod's traditional op-          gation met regularly for worship services in the
   position to ordination of women.                                  home of one of the members, a Mr. Protsenko. In
     The report claims "the occupation of the pastoral               1981 he was arrested and sentenced to three years
   office by women violates the  headship  structure                 of imprisonment plus confiscation of this property.
   rooted in God's order of creation." It also asserts that          When the Protsenko house was confiscated the
   "women are not to be pastors nor perform the essen-               congregation started meeting in the forests outside
   tial and unique functions of the pastoral office, since           the city. One member of the church commented
   the pastoral office has oversight from God over the
   congregation, `the household of God (I Timothy                    recently to a Western tourist, `Our church's refusal
   3:15)."                                                           to submit to atheistic control by registering has in-
                                                                     furiated the authorities. They are doing everything
     In distinguishing between functions of clergy and               they can to break us. But God has given our church
   laity, the report expresses what it calls the "opinion of         faithful leaders and a dynamic group of young peo-
   the (committee) that the reading of the Scriptures is
   most properly the function of the pastoral office and             ple who are committed to the Lord. We know that
   should therefore not ordinarily be delegated to a lay             Christians around the world are praying for us, and
   person, woman or man."                                       that helps us stand."
     On the question of whether women may serve as                     Many more reports could be cited which tell of
   assistants in the distribution of communion, the com-             the sufferings of Christians in China, Romania,
   mission "strongly recommends that, to avoid confu-           Albania, and other countries. Let us daily pray for
   sion regarding the office of the public ministry and to      those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.
   avoid giving offense to the church, such assistance be
   limited to men."                                             I                                                               I
  One wishes that churches in the Reformed tradi-                                    Give a gift of
tion would take as strong a stand on this issue as the                           the Standard Bearer!
Missouri Synod brethren.


374                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



RESPONSE
Barrett L. Gritters





                   A Presbvterian Brother Responds
                                             L





Dear Readers,                                                          Church Government" to support this. If this presenta-
   In the special issue of March 15, 1986, I wrote an                  tion is not correct, though, I would welcome some of
article entitled "We and Our Elders," in which I                       our Presbyterian brethren to give us their insight.)
gave an analysis of one difference between the Re-                     This view seems to do justice to the reformational
                                                                       principle of the priesthood of all believers; that is, that
formed and the Presbyterian systems of church                          we are all "prophets, priests, and kings." Both
government. I will quote the opening pertinent                         Presbyterian and Reformed people of God believe in
paragraphs.                                                            this important principle. How it is applied is the ques-
         The relation between believers in the church and              tion . . . .
       the elders is often incorrectly viewed as similar to that      Pastor Stephen Larson from the Beverly  01
       between citizens of the United States and their State        thodox Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles,  Calif
       or Congressional Representatives. Ours (USA) is a            responded graciously with the following letter thz
       government "of the people, by the people, and for the        I believe will be helpful for all. (Note: Th
       people" in which (according to our constitution) the         reference in the letter to the "Protestant Reforme
       power rests in the people who are governed. That is,         Churches" is not a reference to our  denomination
       the power rests in the people themselves. Because this       "The Protestant Reformed Churches in America,
       kind of representative government is part of our coun-
       try's heritage, some get the notion that the church          but, I believe, to churches that have their roots  i
       runs that way too. In the church of Christ, though,          the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.)
       believers are not the basis of authority.                       April 12, A.D. 1986
         Reformed churches differ from most Presbyterian               Dear Brother in Christ and in the Reformed Faith:
       churches in their views of church government. One of            Grace and peace be to you in the name of him who
       these differences is exhibited in the relation between          alone can save, Christ Jesus our Lord!
       believers and elders in the church. This difference in            Thank you for your recent article  in  the  Standard
       viewpoint touches on the positive purpose of this arti-         Bearer concerning the office of elder. I found the arti-
       cle.                                                            cle as a whole true to the Scriptures and therefore
         A distinctive character of Presbyterianism is the             useful for edification and encouragement, and I am
    teaching that "ecclesiastical power is given to the peo-           sure that it will be so used within the churches.
    ple, and is by them conferred on the Elders, so that the             I would, however, offer a response to your "plea"
       latter exercise this power in the name of the people,           for correction concerning the difference between the
    and consequently are subject to the people." That is,              Presbyterian and Reformed views of the office of
    believers hold in themselves ecclesiastical right to rule          elder. I must first grant that you correctly portrayed
    by virtue of their general priesthood, or office of                the views of Chas. Hodge concerning the office. I do
       believer. Believers then confer this right (or power) on        judge, however, that his views were more than slight-
       the particular men whom they elect to serve as elders           ly influenced by a desire to see Presbyterianism and
       in the church. (See Heyns' Handbook  for Elders and             American Republicanism as counterparts, and as part
    Deacons  (1928) p. 16.  Ueyns  quotes Charles Hodge                of this phenomenon, it seems to me that he re-wrote
       from his  Church  Polity  and the PCUSA "Form of                the nature of the office of elder to more parallel the
                                                                       idea of representative government. Of course, he was
Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant Reformed               not alone in this sentiment, and I cannot say how
Church  of  Byron Center, Michigan.                                    widespread it became within the PCUSA. In the Form


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            3 7 5



   of Government of 1839, we read "Ruling elders are                    Presbyterians, and myself and others insisting that his
   properly the representatives of the people, chosen by                was a temporary aberration. Still, I do think that you
   them for the purpose of exercising government and                    overstated the position when you portrayed this as a
   discipline, in conjunction with pastors or ministers.                difference between Presbyterianism and Reformed
   This office has been understood, by a great part of the              churches. If anything, I am afraid that I would have to
   Protestant Reformed Churches, to be designated in                   portray it as an example of a church that sometimes
   the holy Scriptures, by the title of governments . . . ."            valued nationalism more highly than adherence to the
   However, this section was not included in the original               Scriptures that God had given.
   Form of Government, and seems to have been added                     Yours in Christ,
   as a result of the rising tide of Republicanism in the               Steve Larson, pastor
   USA.
     On what I would consider to be the more "historic"               I thank the brother for responding to my request
   or faithful side of Presbyterianism, we have the Form            for a Presbyterian's view on this question. I ap-
   of Government of the GPC, which rightly states that,             preciate his desire to help us understand an impor-
   "Christ who has instituted government in his church              tant branch of the reformation churches and I
   has furnished some men, besides the ministers of the             believe his letter does this.
   Word, with gifts for government, and with commis-
   sion to execute the same when called thereto." No                  There is obvious disagreement among Presbyter-
   mention is made of elders as "representatives," and as           ians about the historic Reformed position on this
   such I believe that the OPC has returned to the                  subject. Because in our day the historical question
   original Reformed and Presbyterian view, viz., that              is often ignored, I appreciate the desire to answer
   we in electing elders are not so much choosing men,              the historical question here. We should all remem-
   as much as recognizing those to whom Christ has                  ber, though, that the final answer is always Scrip-
   given the commission and gifts for service in His                ture. Thus, I agree with Pastor Larson when he
   church (cf. also the Book of Church Order of the PCA,            states that this doctrinal position was a result of the
   which says much the same in other words).                        church valuing nationalism "more highly than
     I recognize that this is a debatable issue, with some          adherence to the Scriptures . . .  ."
   saying that Hodge represents the main line of





                             Good Morning, Alice (10)
                                                         Gise J. Van Baren





  The problem for Alice in eating was not only the-                 would have coughing spells, hardly able to bring up
difficulty of raising her hand to her mouth. There                  what blocked the air passages, hardly able to get
was an increasingly difficult problem in swallow-                   her breath. It was this awful episode of choking
ing. We could tell that the muscles in her throat and               that usually ended in tears for Alice. Each time was
chest were becoming very weak. She could not ex-                    such a frightening experience. Would her life end
hale very strongly. In fact, she found it impossible                with one of these choking spells? Thus did eating
to lie on her stomach and still breathe. It was this                lose all of its pleasure for Alice - and became only
weakness which created the problem for Alice with                   a necessity to retain a measure of strength.
eating: she had great difficulty swallowing, and
even greater problem in coughing up anything                        Good Morning Alice:
which lodged in her throat. An activity, which most                   A while ago a dear f?iend of mine began her letter to
do spontaneously, created for her a major crisis.                   me with this verse, "I thank my God on every remem-
When any small object lodged in her throat, she                     brance of you. " I felt strange about it at first, wonder-


376                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



ing if we really should use Scripture this way. But I            Humbleness of mind - that really speaks to me. Not
think we can.                                                 just be humble, but put on humbleness of mind. It's not
   These daily visits with you have made me feel this         easy to put others above myself in my mind; to erase all
way toward you, Alice. What began as something to             my pride and see myself as the weak sinner I am.
cheer your day, has become an important part of my               Forbearing one another - to me I guess this means
day.                                                          not just "put up with each other," but "patiently,
   As Paul prayed daily for the Philippians, I do for you.    without inward anger, hold back bad feelings. " All too
And for your fellowship in the gospel, because even           often only a quiet prayer to God enables me to do this,
though you can't share your thoughts with me, it is           and so very often I fall short.
"with" you that I think about these things.                      Forgiving one another - as Christ forgave me. To
   And finally, I am confident that the good work that        me - difficult as it is, that means: forget it; blot it out of
He has begun in you, He will perform until the day of         my mind. In other words, when I start brewing in my
Jesus Christ. God will sustain you and hold you up and        mind what another person did or does, I am to blot that
guard you until the day of Jesus Christ comes in your         thought out of my mind and remember what Christ did
life.                                                         for me. Very difficult instruction, and yet I can see how
                                                              obeying these things can make me a much more joyful
   I'm sure you have "any people in your life that you        child of God.
wish to show thanks - perhaps you can express your                                                With love, Your friend
thanks to them this day.                                      Please read Col. 3:16
                                    With love, Your friend       By the end of May, 1981, the burden of Alice's
Please read Col. 3:12-13                                      care, which rested especially upon John and Judy,
                                                              was becoming too great. Theirs was a busy family
   There were occasions in which Alice needed                 anyway  - with four sons and one daughter at
help during the night, though at this point no one            home. The added responsibility for Alice's care,
was staying with her through the whole night. It              with its unending demand upon their time both day
was clear to us that she feared the night most of all.        and night, was almost too much. There was also a
Though she did not say so, there was obviously the            constant influx of visitors, relatives and friends, to
thought that she would need assistance - but that             seedlice.  And though visitors were always
she would not be able to call loudly enough to be             wel&&.e, and Alice loved to have them come, this
heard. And she could not speak or call very loudly            created havoc with the family schedule. The point
at all anymore. For the present time, the solution            comes when one wonders whether he can do
was the installation of an intercom system. One               justice to, and find time for, all of these responsi-
unit was placed by Alice's bed, the other in John's           bilities at the same time.
bedroom. Brother John had the task of distinguish-
ing between the normal noises a person might                  Good Morning Alice:
make and a real call for help - for Alice could not             How beautiful it is outside this morning. The wind
make more than grunting calls. In later months, the           has calmed way down and the snow is just beautiful.
intercom had to be hung above her head, near her                 Col. 3:16 is a beautibl verse too. I really like the way
mouth, to pick up the weakening sounds. To an ex-             it starts: LET the word of Christ dwell in you. We all
tent, we could understand Alice's fear of being               have our Bibles, and yet so often we neglect reading it.
alone at night when perhaps none might hear her
cry for immediate aid.                                           When we do read with a desiring heart and strive to
                                                              remember what we read, we are "letting" the word of
Good Morning Alice:                                           Christ dwell in us richly. In His Word is all our
   I'm writing this morning, but I don't know if the mail     richness.
will be picked up. It is really winter again.                   And then right. after talking about Scripture, the
   Did you realize I already wrote a note on the verses I     verse tells us to teach and admonish each other in
gave you yesterday?                                           Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
   When I read it, I knew I had to do more thinking           grace in our hearts to the Lord. What a beautiful way
about it.                                                     to fill our day.
   Why is it so hard to be all these things listed here?        Do take some time today, Alice, to read a passage
Paul says,. "Put on", not, "Try to put on." With the          two or three times, and let it dwell in you. And also,
Spirit dwelling in us, we can do these things, though it      with grace in your heart, read some Psalter numbers to
comes through our weak flesh.                                 yourself, and you will surely grow closer to our God in
                                                              this day.                           With love, Your friend
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed
Church of HudsonviUe,  Michigan.                              Please read Psalm 121


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   377



  There was also for John and Judy the constant                     Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
tension of being "on call" constantly. There simply                 Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven
was not a time that one or the other of them was not                Feed me till I want no more, Feed me till I want
listening for Alice's call. Nerves wear thin. Tired-                   no more.
ness sets in. And Alice was often very demanding.
After all, when one can't move one's arm or leg,                    Open now Thy crystal fountain,
                                                                     Whence the healing stream doth flow.
and it aches, or a limb is "sleeping," why not call
for immediate assistance? There were those times                    Let the fire and cloudy pillar
                                                                    Lead me all my journey through
when Alice demanded that her limbs be moved
about every five minutes. At such times she ex-                     Strong deliverer, strong deliverer,
                                                                    Be Thou still my strength and shield, Be Thou still
pected someone to sit by the side of the bed (usual-                   my strength and shield.
ly John), ready to help at her call. It became a very
real question whether that kind of constant care                     When I tread the verge of Jordan,
could be given to her at home.                                      Bid my anxious fears subside;
Good Morning Alice:                                                 Death of death, and hell's destruction,
                                                                    Land me safe on Canaan's side.
  Once again this morning it strikes me that there is no            Songs of praises, songs of praises,
such thing as `normal. " You get busy with one thing in             I will ever give to Thee; I will ever give to Thee.
your life and then when that's over, you think you'll get
"back to normal. " There just is no such thing. When              On Memorial Day a family conference was held.
life goes by so fast, the child of God realizes he must        None really wanted to see Alice placed in a rest
take time often to stop and know that God is God.              home or hospital - but was there any alternative?
Psalm                                                          Each of the relatives, by turn, had been visiting and
          121 is a wonderful Psalm to use to do just that.
You see how mighty God is, and how all our                     helping Alice regularly, usually at John and Judy's
dependence is on Him.                                          home. Now it was decided to try making arrange-
                                                               ments for Alice to visit in the home of the brothers
  The last verse sums it all up. Totally we are in God's       and sisters  - each would have her for one day of
care - in everything we do, now and forevermore.               the week. Though Alice could not move many
  Oh, how independent we can get\ I'm going to do this         muscles, she could still sit in her wheelchair and be
or I'm going to accomplish that or I'll never let that         moved about in the van. So, for a time, each family
happen, or I'd never be able to stand that.                    would have Alice in their home for that one .day of
  None of this can really be said by a child of God. He        the week. When Alice felt well, she could still be
controls all our ways and we must be willing and con-          taken out to shop or even eat in some restaurant.
tent to let Him do just that.                                  She would be part of that one family for the day. At
                                                               the end of the day, Alice would be taken back and
  Last night, alone in the car with many, many emo-            put to bed by this family. For a time the arrange-
tions going through my head and heart; I heard this            ment worked  .quite well  - and there was some
song and it really comforted me. Since I don't have            small relief in John's home from those pressures of
room here, I'm going to copy it out on a separate paper.       Alice's daily care.
Don't read it in a hurry. Take your time as you read it
even if you know it - as you probably do.                      Dear Alice:
                     Til tomorrow, With love, Your friend         I have not forgotten you! It has been impossible to
                                                               write before now. When I have time to write, I will ex-
Please read Isaiah 35                                          plain, but please read I Cor. 15:55-57 and rejoice in its
     Guide me, 0 Thou great Jehovah                             beautiful promise.
     Pilgrim through this barren land;                                                 Til later,. With love, Your friend
     I am weak, but Thou art mighty,

COUNSEL OF PEACE  (can't. from page 371)
righteousness and peace have kissed each other."               people find everlasting peace in the fellowship of
The Psalm sings of Christ as our great Priest-king             God Himself. As the great temple builder He is now
and about the miracle of redemption in Him. This               and shall forever be a priest upon His throne. Thus
is the counsel of peace which Zechariah prophesied             John saw Him in the visions of Revelation (Rev.
and which Israel saw so dimly in the co-operation             , 5:6,  19:11-13)  and thus we shall see Him when the
of Zerbubbabel and Joshua in the work of                       tabernacle of God which He has built is revealed
rebuilding the temple. It is that union of the two of-         from God out of heaven. Then the counsel of peace
fices of priest and king in Christ by which the true           shall be fulfilled.
temple of God is built as the place where God's


378                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



BOOK REVIEW
Herman C.. Hanko





                                           Charismatic?


  .  _.        .
           ._  .  .    .
(Editor's hote. Because of the significance of this         pressed in this book, are not out of keeping with
subject, -we place this lengthy review in its entirety      traditional Reformed thought. In a recent article in
in this issue. This and, the fact that the Rev. Gritters    The Banner  of  Truth,  a minister of the Christian
received some interesting correspondence for our            Reformed Church defends Lloyd-Jones and, while
magazine necessitates the omission of some regular          not entering as such into his thought, asks the ques-
departments. HCH)                                           tion whether Jones himself experienced the things
JOY UNSPEAKABLE, POWER AND RENEW-                           he writes about in Joy Unspeakable. His answer is in
AL IN THE HOLY SPIRIT,  by Martyn  Lloyd-                   the affirmative. In the February, 1985 issue of  The
Jones; Harold Shaw Publishers,  Wheaton, IL, 1984;          Banner  of  Truth  Ian Murray also presents a review
282. pp., (paper).                                          of this book. The review is much more in depth
                                                            and, while Ian Murray has some areas of disagree-
  Anyone who has read extensively in the works of
Dr. Lloyd-Jones must have wondered from time to             ment with Lloyd-Jones, he seems to agree with the
                                                            general thesis of the book. We cannot concur in
time whether the Doctor was making concessions
to Charismatic thought. There were, e.g., passages          these analyses and consider the book contrary to
in his "Preaching and Preachers" and in his com-            the teaching of Scripture and dangerous to a proper
                                                            understanding of the life of the Christian in the
mentaries on Ephesians which made the thoughtful            world.
reader raise his eyebrows. But nothing explicit was
really to be found, and usually these doubts were             It is true that the book is not explicitly Pente-
assuaged. But this has changed. A book has been             costal in the modern sense of the word. Ian Murray
recently published which contains edited sermons            reminds us of the fact that, since these sermons
which Lloyd-Jones preached in Westminster                   were preached in 1964-65, they were preached at a
Chapel in 1964-65 which leave no doubt about it             time when the Neo-Pentecostal movement had not
that elements of the Charismatic movement were              yet taken on fixed form. And, at least in this book,
indeed characteristic of his thought.                       Lloyd-Jones does not argue for the special gifts of
                                                            the Spirit such as prophecy, tongues-speaking, and
  This book was not sent to the Standard Bearer for         miracles. (I say "at least in this book," because
review, but it seems worth while to review it none-         another book is also available entitled, "Prove All
theless. Lloyd-Jones' books and tapes have had a            Things, ' ' which deals with something of the same
great deal of influence and many have found him a           doctrines. But I have not as yet been able to obtain
helpful and interesting preacher and writer. This           this latter book and cannot say what it includes.)
respect for his writings could lead to the danger of
receiving his views expressed in this book as one's           But that Joy Unspeakable is explicitly charismatic
own and could lead to serious misconceptions of             in its thought cannot be denied. When one reads
the work of the Holy Spirit. It is in the interests of      this, it is not surprising that, after Lloyd-Jones'
presenting to our readers the dangers of this book          retirement, Dr. Kendall was able to lead at least a
that this review is written.                                part of the people in Westminster Chapel in a
                                                            charismatic direction. But we ought to get on with
  It has been argued that Lloyd-Jones' views, as ex-        the review of the book.
                                                              The whole argument of the book rests upon the
Herman C. Hanho is professor of New Testament and           (charismatic) assertion that a certain baptism of the
Church History at the Protestant Reformed Seminary.         Spirit is to be expected in the new dispensational


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                379



church, which baptism of the Spirit is distinct from       And this coming to them will be in the Spirit Whom
the work of the Spirit in regeneration, conversion,        He will send from the Father. This key truth Lloyd-
and sanctification. This baptism of the Spirit comes       Jones ignores and denies by limiting Pentecost to a
at unexpected times, to unexpected individuals,            baptism of the Spirit which comes only once in a
and imparts various gifts which are not common to          while and which comes only to a few in the church.
all the saints. This baptism of the Spirit is eminently
desirable and is, in fact, the solution to the               In the second place, the exegetical basis for his
deadness and spiritual lethargy which characterizes        position is to be found primarily in Acts  8:14-17,
the church in our day.                                     9:17,  10:44-46, and  19:6. While we cannot go into
                                                           detail in an exegesis of these passages, it ought to be
  It is precisely at this point that Lloyd-Jones           clear to everyone that these refer to the special gifts
makes a fundamental concession to the charismatic          of the Spirit given in the apostolic age when the
movement, for the very heart of the charismatic            New Testament Scriptures were not yet completed,
heresy is this "second baptism of the Spirit." Lloyd-      in order to seal the truth of the preaching of the
Jones may not agree with modern day Pentecostal-           apostles. As B.B. War-field convincingly proves in
ism in all its extreme forms  - and indeed he              his book  Miracles,  these also ceased with the
repeatedly warns against "excesses," but the fact          apostolic era. Even Ian Murray takes exception to
remains that this is fundamental to the whole book.        Lloyd-Jones on this crucial issue. To base a doctrine
  He bases his-view of the baptism of the Spirit on        of the baptism of the Spirit on these passages- is to:
serious exegetical and theological errors. In the first    make a major concession to the charismatic move-
place, he identifies Pentecost itself with this bap-       ment and leave one wide open to the charge-of be-
tism of the Spirit and, in fact, limits Pentecost to       ing, in fact, charismatic in one's thinking.
this phenomenon. This is a serious error. We can-            The historical proof for the baptism of the Spirit
not go into detail on this point in a review of his        is equally unconvincing. Almost without exception
book, but it ought to be pointed out that Pentecost        this historical proof is limited to various revivals;
was quite different from what Lloyd-Jones says it          especially those present in the British Isles and
is. Pentecost was really an important part of the          America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Whatever
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ had          other proof from history is given is limited to
not yet come in the old dispensation, the work of          heretical sects such as the Montanists and the
the Spirit in the hearts and lives of God's people         Donatists, or to such movements as the  Walden-
was limited to the objective Word of God which             sians. The latter were a quite orthodox  pre-
came through types and shadows. Thus the only              Reformation movement which knew nothing of the
knowledge of the truth which the Old Testament             baptism of the Spirit, as far as the historical records
saints possessed was through the instrumentality of        show. Now this proof from history raises two im-
these types and shadows. It is true that the Spirit        portant questions. The first one is: how does Lloyd-
also regenerated and sanctified them, but the              Jones square the blatant Arminianism (an  Armin-
knowledge of the truth of the promise was limited.         ianism which was often forthrightly hostile to
Only a few in the old dispensation received the            Calvinism) of such revivalists as the Wesleys,  Fin-
Spirit, and then in promise. These were the "office-       ney and Moody (to whom he refers with approval)
bearers," the prophets, priests, and kings, who            with his avowed Calvinism? It simply cannot be
through the Spirit were able to prophesy concern-          done. The second is: why is this baptism of the
ing the truth of Christ. And the people were entire-       Spirit limited almost exclusively to revivals which
ly dependent upon them. But all this changed with          are doctrinally suspect? That is, why was no bap-
Pentecost. It is very clear from the Scriptures that       tism of the Spirit evident, say, among the
especially two things happened at Pentecost: 1) the        Reformers of the 16th Century? an age unparalleled
Spirit of the exalted Christ was poured out upon the       in the history of the church? But neither Calvin,
Church so that all God's people become prophets,           Luther, Knox, nor any of the great Reformers ever
priests, and kings. Peter makes this clear when he         so much as mentioned it and never made any
quotes the prophecy of Joel, and John also em-             claims to have had it? This is, after all, a serious
phasizes this great point when he reminds God's            matter.
people that now all of them can know the Lord
because they have the anointing of the Spirit. 2)            When one gets into Jones' views concerning the
The outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost meant            effects of this baptism of the Spirit, one is equally at
that Christ Himself came to His church to dwell            a loss to understand how it is possible for such a
with her and abide with her forever. In His great          noted preacher to hold to such a position. In fact it
sermon, preached on the eve of His crucifixion,            is at this point that Jones' views become extremely
Christ repeatedly reminds His people that He will          confusing.
not leave them comfortless, but will come to them.           It must be born in mind as we discuss this matter


               380                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



               that Jones insists repeatedly that this baptism of the       In connection with this latter, Jones insists that
               Spirit must be distinguished from the work of the          this high and direct assurance of salvation is  ex-
               Spirit in regeneration and sanctification. A Chris-        clusively.limited to the .baptism  of the Spirit. Jones
               tian may be regenerated and sanctified and never           speaks of three different levels of assurance: one
               experience this baptism all his life long. Again, he       level comes from more argumentation: Christ died
               may experience it for a short time, but it soon disap-     for sinners; I am a sinner; Christ died for me. The
               pears and he may or may not experience it again. It        second level is a bit more intense and sure and
               is in this connection that Jones argues from the           comes from a work of the Spirit which gives me,
               principle of the sovereignty of God. Claiming              through the Word, the consciousness that I belong
               allegiance to this fundamental truth, Jones insists        to Christ. But the third level is direct and im-
               that it lies within the Spirit's prerogative to bestow     mediate, without the Word, which "drowns" one
               this baptism on whom He will, when He will, and            in ecstasy and is so complete and total that it all but
               how He will. But here too are difficulties. No             consumes one. It is interesting to note in this con-
          I    rhyme or reason can be found for the Spirit's work         nection that neither Scripture nor the Confessions
               in this respect. This baptism comes at unexpected          of the church (either in the Reformed or Presby-
     I         times, in unexpected places, sometimes in new con-         terian tradition) speak of such levels of assurance -
               verts, sometimes in old saints, but never with any         although all have recognized, of course, that the
               explanation or reason that we can determine. At the        child of God struggles with doubts and fears all his
               same time, the baptism of the Spirit is so eminently       life long.
               desirable that we all ought to seek it and pray for it;      But this separation of the baptism of the Spirit
               in fact, Jones sharply condemns the church of  .our        from the work of regeneration brings with it all
               day for deadness and spiritual lethargy and ex-            kinds of other problems, problems which are also
               plains this in terms of the lack of the baptism of the     apparent in the book.
               Spirit, a situation which is to be deplored. This con-
               tradiction cannot be easily explained away.                  While we cannot mention all the problems
     ~                                                                    which this distinction raises, we mention a few to
                 But what does this baptism of the Spirit actually        demonstrate the impossibility of this position.
               bring to the Christian when it comes? Although
               Jones is rather vague at this point, the following is a      In the first place, Jones makes a point of it that
               brief summary of its benefits. In the first place,         Scripture also makes such a distinction, and one
               Jones emphasizes that this baptism of the Spirit has       proof of this distinction is the fact that Scripture
I              as its primary object boldness and power to witness        refers to the work of the Spirit in sanctification in
               and testify of the truth. Repeatedly he makes the          terms of admonitions, while the baptism of the
               point that this is the main purpose of it and the          Spirit is never spoken of in terms of such admoni-
               chief result. In the second place, however, much           tions  - obviously because of his contention that
               more must really be expected. Sometimes Jones              the baptism of the Spirit is sovereignly given
               outlines these benefits explicitly, sometimes he im-       without any effort on our part. Nevertheless, it
               plies them when he describes what went on at               seems to have escaped Jones that one important
               various revivals when, in his judgment, the bap-           text, which Jones claims to refer to the baptism of
               tism of the Spirit came. These benefits include such       the Spirit, Eph.  5:18b  - "but be filled with the
               things as a supreme and unalloyed joy - hence the          Spirit" - is in fact an admonition.
               title of this book; a religious ecstasy, which some-         In the second place, Jones finds abundant texts in
               times made those who experienced it even unaware           the epistles which also refer to the baptism of the
               of what was happening to them; a spiritual ex-             Spirit in his judgment. The trouble is that the
               perience which lifted one up from the transient            epistles are written to all the saints in a given con-
               things of this earth and placed one in direct com-         gregation or group of churches. This, however,
               munion with God; a holiness and sanctity (for a            does not square with his insistence that the baptism
               period of time at least) which bordered on a perfect       of the Spirit comes only to some in the church in
               life; a clarity of understanding spiritual and heaven-     the post-apostolic period. He faces this question at
               ly things which was so luminous and superior to            length, but rather lamely explains the dilemma by
               anything which one knows apart from this baptism           claiming that the baptism of the Spirit was so com-
               that it cannot be described in mere earthly terms;         mon in apostolic days that Paul could assume that
               an overwhelming sense of God's nearness which              all had it. But this flies in the face of his own
               was so ecstatic that those experiencing it even asked      description of this baptism and of the historical
               God to take it away; and a direct assurance of             data of post-apostolic times. This problem is com-
               salvation which transcends any kind of assurance           pounded when one thinks of the fact that the Spirit
               which mere Christians without this baptism can             Himself comes upon those whom He chooses. Why
               ever have.                                                 so general in the apostolic times? and so rarely in


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               381



the post-apostolic times? Jones has no answer for         parison with what Jones holds out as the effects of
this.                                                     the baptism of the Spirit. And so, this baptism of
   In the third place, confusion reigns when Jones        the Spirit seems to him to be wonderful and worth
distinguishes between sanctification and the bap-         having above all else. If then he is persuaded that
tism of the Spirit. He speaks, e.g., of the fact that     this indeed is the portion of some, he earnestly
the baptism of the Spirit can come in times of crisis,    desires to have such riches. But there is nothing he
such as illness, nearness to death, loss of a loved       can do about it; the Spirit works where He will and
one, etc. Now it is simply a fact, and all Reformed       when He wills.
theologians as well as our Confessions recognize it,        But then he faces the problem of why that bap-
that the life of the Christian is not on one level..      tism of the Spirit never comes to him. And he
There are times in our lives when the flame of            reproaches himself. He cannot help but wonder
spiritual consciousness and nearness to God               why others receive it and he does not. He lives a
flickers low and seems nearly to have gone out.           half-life, a life of a spiritual pauper, and cannot
There are other times when we live very near to           understand why, when he longs so earnestly for
God, when God's presence is rich and sweet, when          more, it never comes. All the seeds of doubt and
we have extraordinary grace to bring peace and            disillusionment are then sown in his soul, and the
comfort, joy and thankfulness, even in the greatest       devil has an open door to rob him of what he actual-
trials. These are, as the Scriptures teach and as         ly does possess. Jones' book, if true, makes for
especially the Psalms (those wonderful spiritual          unhappy and doubting people of God.
biographies of the Christian life) make'clear, a part       This is a great danger. Anyone who reads this
of the work of the Spirit in sanctification and daily     book must be warned that the spiritual dangers of
conversion. They are the fulfillment of the Lord's        journeying on the pilgrimage which Jones
promise that His grace is sufficient for every need.      prescribes will lead to endless troubles.
They are the experience of every child of God and
not limited only to a few. They are not at all to be        We must learn not to expect any such baptism of
ascribed to some baptism of the Spirit which is           the Spirit, but to strive earnestly in the difficult and
added as some special gift to the work of sanctifica-     wearying battle of faith seeking our help and
tion. What child of God has not experienced in rich       strength from the cross of our Savior and looking
and abundant measure the joy of salvation, the            only to the full perfection of heaven where joy shall
assurance of God's love, the peace that passes            be unalloyed, where sin shall be forever taken from
understanding, the consciousness of God's                 us, and where all tears shall be wiped from our eyes
presence in Christ? To make these unusual, limited        for "joy unspeakable."
to only a few of the saints, marked out as special          I and many with me have enjoyed Jones' books
works of the Spirit bestowed upon only some, is to        and profited from them, even if one could not
belittle the work of sanctification and denigrate         always agree with everything he wrote. His warn-
what every child of God possesses from time to            ing that the church of today is seriously weak
time in his life.                                         because of her deadness and spiritual lethargy is
  Finally, there is a great danger in the book. I felt    well-taken, as Ian Murray points out in the review
this danger strongly as I read the book. You see, as      mentioned above. But Jones' prescription for new
long as we live in this world we still, according to      life in the church is wrong, dead wrong. This book
Scripture, carry about with us our old man of sin.        is a bad book. It gives an entirely different perspec-
We have only a small beginning of the new obe-            tive on Jones' thought and shows that in this impor-
dience. We walk in this life which is nothing but a       tant respect Jones was far from the teaching of
continual death. The result is that life is a constant    Scripture. It is well to read it if you have read other
struggle, a warfare, a battle  - also against all the     of Jones' writings because it will give you warning
sins of the flesh. Every child of God knows this; but     to be aware of these ideas as they appear somewhat
every child of God longs for a greater life of sancti-    more subtly in his other books.
fication and renewal. He earnestly wishes that his
life were more in harmony with God's law. He
earnestly desires the blessedness of walking con-                   The Standard Bearer
sciously with God  every moment. He pants after
God as a hart pants after water brooks. To have an                makes a thoughtfil gift
immediate and direct experience of the riches of                   for the sick & shut-in.
perfect fellowship with God is eminently desirable
to him. But because of the battle, his life seems dull         Give the Standard Bearer!
and prosaic, constantly plagued by the sins of his
flesh, a spiritually poverty-stricken life in  com-


382                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Ronald J. Hanko





                             The Counsel of Peace (3)


   We have shown that the "counsel of peace"                 clearer when it quotes this passage in reference to
referred to in Zechariah 6:13 refer8 to the union of         Christ: "A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of
the two offices of priest and king in Christ, typical-       thy kingdom," that is, it is a scepter which is
ly represented  in. the co-operation of Zerubbabel           characterized especially by righteousness and
the Governor and Joshua the High Priest in the               wielded in righteousness.
days of the, restoration of the temple. We have seen           This, then, points us to the chief duty of the king,
that this-union is significant first of all as far as the    that is, to uphold and reveal true righteousness, the
offices themselves are concerned, in that the two            righteousness of God Himself in all the king's
offices complement and complete each other. The              work. His work, therefore, was that of maintaining
kingly office adds power and authority to the                the law of God as the standard of all righteousness,
priestly office, and the priestly office tempers the         and judging the people righteously and justly in ac-
authority of the royal office with its own peculiar          cordance with the demands of that law. Israel's
gifts.                                                       judges, for example, who were the forerunners of
   Nevertheless, there is a far deeper significance to       the kings, had as their primary task the restoration
the union of these two offices in Christ. That union         of the people of God through instruction in God's
lies at the very heart of the work of redemption, it         law (cf. Judg.  4:5,  6:25-27,  12:8-15, etc.). It was the
shows that the work of grace is a miracle work of            solemn duty of the king, therefore, to rule the peo-
God, and it uncovers the significance of Christ's of-        ple righteously by rewarding and protecting the
fices in their relation to the work of redemption.           good and by punishing and destroying all evil as the
   In order to see all this we must first understand         law demended (II Sam.  15:1-3, I Ki.  3:16-28, etc.).
the meaning of the offices themselves, that is, that           It ought to be added here, that this righteousness
the kingly.office  is a revelation of God's righteous-       was the real power of the kingly office. God's own
ness, and the priestly office a revelation of God's          power as King is maintained and supported not by
mercy. To this could be added the fact that the pro-         brute strength, but by His righteousness. In other
phetic office is a revelation of God's wisdom and            words, He is justified in His works not merely by
knowledge. The prophetic office, however, is not of          the fact that He is all powerful and can do as He
firsthand importance in our discussion, as it is an          pleases, but in this, that He always acts righteously.
office which belongs to both priest and king, and            This is the usual answer of Scripture to all the objec-
the proof and significance of that fact would be the         tions of wicked men against God's rule (Gen. 18:25,
subject of another study.                                    Rom. 3:5, 6). As it is with God Himself, so also it is
  That the kingly office is a revelation of God's            with all who bear rule in His Name.
righteousness or justice is clear from many                    The priestly .office,  on the other hand, has Gods
passages of Scripture. Especially prominent is               mercy as its foundation and chief gift. This is not so
Psalm 45:4-7, where righteousness is mentioned no            easy to see, unless we remember that it was the
fewer than four times (once as truth) in connection          priests who had not only the work of sacrifice, but
with the kingly office. Especially significant is            also such duties as the cleansing of lepers and the
verse 6 of this chapter, which states that the scepter       maintenance of the cities of refuge. Especially the
of the King's kingdom, the symbol of all his authori-        latter reveals this aspect of the priestly office, since
ty and power, is a right scepter. Hebrews 1:8 is even        the cities of refuge were places where certain types
                                                             of criminals could find mercy and safety from the
Ronald J. Hanko is pastor of the Protestant Reformed         demands of the law as executed by the revenger of
Church of Houston, Texas.                                    blood (Numbers 35).


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               383



  When we understand the meaning of the two of-,            of God's righteous judgments in Israel and among
fices then we can also see that there is a certain con-     the nations, David was forbidden by God to have
flict between them. Already in the Old Testament it         any part in the work of building the temple, the
was the duty of the King to see that all who broke          great place of God's, mercy.
the law were dealt with according to the demands              This conflict; then, is the main reason why the
of the law and punished for their evil. The priest's        offices of priest and king could never be combined
duty as keeper of the cities of refuge often con-           in the Old Testament. The separation points to the
flicted with that duty of the King. The judgment of         truth that righteousness (justice) and mercy are
the man who killed someone "without malice                  forever irreconcilable through any human effort or
aforethought" is a case in point. The Scriptures            wisdom. We see that even today. In any judicial
hold such a man guilty, as is clear from the fact that      system, it is simply a fact that the judge, in ex-
the revenger of blood was justified in killing such a       ecuting the law, has mercy or justice as two op-
man if he did not seek the safety of the cities of          tions, but he can never really be just and show mer-
refuge. If the king's duty was the maintenance of           cy at the same time. Either he maintains the
justice, then certainly the revenger of blood was at        demands of the law and punishes the criminal to
Ieast to be supported by the king, if he was not in         the full extent of the law (and that is really'his only
actual fact to be considered an agent of the king.          duty) or he shows "mercy" by setting the criminal
And yet, on the other hand, it was the priest's duty        free or by lessening his punishment. But even
to show mercy to such a man and protect him from            when he tries to temper justice with mercy, he real-
the demands of justice by giving him a home in the          ly ends with. neither, as is so very evident in our
cities of refuge.                                           own judicial system. The attempt to be merciful by
  Even in this case, there was, of course, a certain        mitigating the punishment the law demands (or
justice mixed with the mercy of the priest, but even        ought to demand) always has as the end result'that
then the demands of justice and the offices of mer-         justice is not really done.
cy conflicted at least in this, that neither was entire-      In so far as our salvation is concerned, however,
ly fulfilled in trying to meet both. Even the mercy         it is exactly that reconciliation of justice and mercy
of the priest, exactly because it was mixed with            which must take place. Because God is a righteous.
justice, was not entire and the man who had come            judge above all others, the demands of His law
under the protection of the priest had to live in the       must be met and fully satisfied. If God is not just
city of refuge away from his home until the death           and righteous He is not God (Ps.  11:5). Yet at the
of the priest, at best a very severe mercy.                 same time He has determined to reveal Himself
  We see this same conflict in the life of David.           also as a God of mercy and promises mercy to the
More than any other of Israel's kings he repre-             sinner.
sented the ideal of a righteous ruler, and is thus the        That reconciliation is forever beyond man's
clearest picture of Christ as king in the whole Old         reach. If he seeks the glory of God (as he ought) in
Testament. As a righteous king, it was he who               insisting upon justice for himself, he rules out all
delivered Israel from her enemies and executed              possibility of mercy, in that the punishment of sin
God's law against the heathen and idolatrous na-            is everlasting. If he seeks mercy, he can seek it only
tions around Israel. It was also he who restored            at the expense of justice. The separation of the
Israel itself to righteousness, by upholding the law        priestly and kingly offices underlines this inade-
of God in the nation. Thus it is that he follows and        quacy of every human effort. We could even say
stands in contrast to Saul. Nevertheless, exactly           that the priestly and kingly offices in the Old Testa-
because he had bloodied his hands in the execution                                            (can't.  on page 371)

                        News From Our Churches
                                                   David Harbach


                                         April 30,1986      Free-Will." If you would like a copy of this worth-
  The Spring lecture held in Loveland, Colorado,            while lecture, then a tape cassette is available for
was well attended and also included many visitors,          $2.00 by writing to the church at 705 E. 57th St.,
which has encouraged our church there. The                  Loveland, CO 80537.
reason for the interest is due in part to the topic that       Rev. Cammenga also informs me that all the
Rev. Cammenga spoke on, "Free Grace Versus                  sheet-rock texturing is finished in the new  sanc-


  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P . O .   8 0 x   6 0 6 4
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





384                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


tuary. By now most of the light fixtures are hung            The church in New Zealand appreciated very
and the carpeting installed. When you read this           much the sacrifice made by the church of Holland
news the congregation of Loveland Church will be          when they sent Rev. Miersma there recently.
worshiping in their new sanctuary. Congratula-            Rev. Miersma says that while he was there he read
tions, Loveland Church!                                   Rev. Slopsema's article in the March  1 Standard
  Rev. Joostens states that Cave Mt. Church had           Beaver where he emphasized that it is more blessed
voiced great appreciation for our work in their           to give than to receive. It is a blessing to the saints
midst, especially since they were without                 there that Rev. Miersma came, but the Lord blessed
preaching for a long time. The Sunday School pro-         us also in giving. The church there is overwhelmed
gram and preaching now continues under the                by the love shown in his coming. May we continue
capable leadership of Rev. H. Brydson who is dig-         to remember the small flock of fellow believers in
ging in and receiving support for housing from the        New Zealand in our prayers.
congregation. Rev. Williams and his family have              This past May 2 was the 25th anniversary cele-
moved into their new home adjacent to the church          bration of the school in South Holland, Illinois.
in Belmont. The Dias congregation has been                Rev. Heys was the speaker at a commemorative
especially happy with the song booklets. Since they       chapel held Friday morning. The school was open
have received these booklets, they persuaded Rev.         for touring and visiting while the students were at
Joostens to teach them the songs after the Friday Bi-     school.
ble Class. He usually took along his two or three            Rev. Heys also spoke at the Men's and Ladies'
oldest children to help with the singing. Rev.            League Mass Meeting held at Hope Church,
Joostens also says the Rev. Nish does a good job in       Walker, Michigan on the subject, "Signs of the
Lacovia Church and is very capable. Perhaps by            Anti-Christ in Our Present World."
making Rev. Nish more mobile so that his
capabilities can be expanded we would be making a            Remember. that the Scholarship Fund Committee
step toward the goal of making the churches in            is taking applications for future teachers/ministers
Jamaica indigenous. We appreciate the labors of           for the  198687 school year. If you are interested,
Rev. Joostens and his family in Jamaica and are also      please contact Mike Rau, 4165 Jenison Street,
glad that they are home in Grand Rapids, Michigan.        Grandville, MI 49418 for application forms. An
I'm glad of that especially because his daughter,         essay of 300 words or more is also required on the
Joy, is in my class at Adams Street School. Talking       topic, "The Protestant Reformed Minister/teacher's
with Joy, it becomes obvious that the Joostens en-        Calling to Set Forth the Antithesis in Preaching and
joyed their six months with the various congrega-         Teaching." June 1 is the deadline.
tions in Jamaica.
  Rev. Joostens plans to give a talk regarding his                                   NOTICE!!!
work in Jamaica on May 16,  7:30 P.M. at First              According to the decision of Synod 1985, the Consistory of the
Church. Refreshments will follow.                         First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was
                                                         appointed the calling church for the 1986 Synod. The Consistory
  Rev. H. Hanko has consented to conduct a               hereby notifies our Churches that the 1986 Synod of the Protestant
                                                          Reformed Churches in America will convene, the Lord willing, on
Church History course for the summer months.             Tuesday, June 10, 1986, at 9:00 AM in the First Protestant Re-
The first meeting was held Tuesday, May 6,  800          formed Church, 2800 Michigan NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan. The
P.M. at Hope Church. Young and old are cordially         Pre-Synodical service will be held Monday evening, June 9, 1986, at
                                                         7:30 PM. Rev. J. Kortering, President of the 1985 Synod will preach
invited to attend.                                       the sermon.  Synodical  delegates are requested to meet with the  Con-
                                                         sistory before the service. Delegates in need of lodging should con-
                                                         tact Mr. K. Vink, 1422 Linwood SE, Grand Rapids, Ml 49507. Phone
David Harbach is a teacher at Adams St. Prot. Ref.       (616)  2 4 5 - 4 3 3 9 .
Christian School, Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                                                      K.G. Vink, Clerk


