           The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
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       All this applies to us as well. Confessing
     and denying Jesus before men is not some-
     thing that pertains only to the preaching.
     Each one of us either confesses or denies
     Jesus every day by the words we speak and
     the kind of life we live. Hence, also to us
     Jesus says, "Whosoever therefore shall con-
     fess me before men, him will I confess
     before my Father which is in heaven. But
     whosoever shall deny me before men, him
     will I also deny before my Father which is in
     heaven."
                                   See Meditation, p. 242

                                                                                        /
                                               Vol.  LXIII, No.  11, March  1, 1987 


242                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER




                                 CONTENTS                                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
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       Confessing Christ Before Men. . . . . . . . . .  .  .                       242    Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
  Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                    245    Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
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                                                                                          bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
       Why Evolution? (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                             Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
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MEDITATION
James D.  Slopsema




                             Confessing Christ Before Men

                     Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which
                 is in heaven.
                    But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
                 heaven.                                                                                                               Matthew  10:32, 33


  These words were spoken by Jesus to His twelve                                            courage the disciples. For they would meet hatred
disciples as He sent them out to preach the gospel                                          and opposition as they brought the gospel. They
of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of                                            would be delivered to the councils; they would be
Israel. These words of Jesus were intended to  en-                                          scourged in the synagogues; they would be brought


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              243



before governors and rulers. To encourage His               Jesus is your Savior to whom you cling by faith. By
disciples in the face of this persecution, Jesus laid       faith you possess and enjoy His wonderful salva-
down a fundamental principle of the kingdom:                tion. Jesus is also your Lord and Master whom you
whosoever confesses Jesus before men, him will              love and serve as a disciple. His teachings you em-
Jesus confess before His father in heaven. But to           brace. His cause you champion.
serve as a warning, the opposite is also true: whoso-         Those who publicly and openly confess these
ever denies Jesus before men, him will Jesus deny           things confess Jesus before men.
before the father in heaven.                                  Do you confess Jesus before men?
      All this applies to us as well. Confessing and de-
nying Jesus before men is not something that per-           THE DIFFICULTY
tains only to the preaching. Each one of us either            It is difficult to confess Jesus before men.
confesses or denies Jesus every day by the words              This is true because, first, confessing Jesus
we speak and the kind of life we live. Hence, also to       before men involves not just what we say but also
us Jesus says, "Whosoever therefore shall confess           the kind of life we live.
me before men, him will I confess before my Father            It is often said that actions speak louder than
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me             words. It is very easy to talk. It's an altogether dif-
before men, him will I also deny before my Father           ferent matter to live in harmony with what you say
which is in heaven."                                        about yourself. In fact, what some people say with
THE MEANING                                                 their mouth they completely contradict by the kind
      If we will discover what it means to deny Jesus,      of life they live.
all we need to do is to reflect on Peter's denial of          The same is true of confessing Jesus before men.
Jesus.                                                      Confessing Jesus doesn't simply involve what you
      In the courtyard of Caiphas the high priest, while    say; it also involves how you live. If we will confess
Jesus was being tried before the Sanhedrin, Peter           Jesus we must not only tell others verbally that
was approached on three different occasions. And            Jesus is our Savior, we must also live as those who
each time the charge was the same, "You were                have been saved by the grace of God in Jesus
with him, weren't you? Your speech betrays you.             Christ. If we will confess Jesus we must not simply
You are a Galilean. You are one of Jesus' disciples."       acknowledge verbally that Jesus is our Lord and
And each time Peter denied it, "I don't know what           Master, we must also live as those who have bowed
you are talking about. I don't even know the man".          the knee to Christ. We must not only say we are
This Peter even confirmed with cursing and swear-           Jesus' disciples. We must live as disciples. And if
ing. Thus, the very words of Jesus were fulfilled,          our lives do not, in fact, conform to the testimony
"This night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny          of our mouth, then we by our very life deny Jesus
me thrice."                                                 before men.
      When Peter denied Jesus he denied any connec-           Not so simple a matter is this confessing Jesus
tion with Jesus. He claimed not to be Jesus' disci-         before men when we bear in mind that it is a con-
ple. He repudiated Jesus' teachings. He wanted no           fession that must be made by the very way we live!
part of Jesus' salvation. He wanted nothing to do             Nor is confessing Jesus easy if we bear in mind
with the kingdom of which Jesus spoke so much. In           that it must be done before men.
disgust he separated himself in every way from
J                                                             The world hates Christ. They hated Christ while
     esus.                                                  He was on the earth and lived among us. His own
      And so we may say that to deny Jesus is to deny       generation opposed Him, mocked Him, slandered
any association with Jesus. It is to deny that Jesus is     Him, and finally when given the opportunity
your Lord and Master. It is to deny that you are His        murdered Him on the cross. And the world still
disciple, who loves Him, serves Him and adheres to          hates Christ. The ungodly have no sympathy what-
His teachings. To deny Jesus is to deny that Jesus is       soever for the cause and kingdom of our Lord. They
your Savior and that you possess His salvation.             despise all that stands for Christ.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the               It is before those men that we must confess
world, who is He? He's a stranger to me!                    Christ. And when we do that the world will hate
      To confess Jesus is just the opposite of this. To     and oppose us even as it did Christ. This is what
confess Jesus before men is publicly to acknowl-            Christ Himself told His disciples. The disciple is not
edge that there is indeed a very close relationship         above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
between you and Jesus Christ. It is to confess that         You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Hope Protestant            How difficult it can be to confess Jesus before
Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan.                          men.


244                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



  And for that reason many fail to confess Him but         denies that you were ever given to Him of the
rather deny Him.                                           Father. He denies that you were purchased with
  How little, for example, do we speak of Christ           His blood. He will tell the Father that you are a
and the great salvation we have in him with others         stranger to Him. And therefore He will pray for
either in the church or outside the church.                your destruction.
  How little difference there often is between our           How horrible if Christ denies you before the
life style and that of the world. We hesitate to be        Father.
different for the scorn it will bring. In fact, to gain      Such a denial will seal your doom!
the approval of others we are much inclined to be            Whosoever shall confess Jesus before men, him
as the world. Worldliness is creeping more and             will Jesus confess before His Father in heaven. But
more into the church. today. And in the process we         whosoever shall deny Jesus before men, him will
deny Jesus. We deny that He is our Savior; we deny         Jesus also deny before His Father in heaven.
that He is our Lord. We deny Jesus just as really as
Peter did in the court yard of Caiphas the high              Of course!
priest.                                                      How can it be any different!
THE RESULT                                                   All Jesus is doing is presenting the facts to the liv-
  Whosoever shall confess Jesus before men, him            ing God.
will Jesus confess before His Father in heaven. But          Those who confess Jesus before men do so exact-
whosoever shall deny Jesus before men, him will            ly because they belong to Jesus Christ. They are
Jesus also deny before His Father in heaven.               those whom the Father has given to Jesus to save.
  Jesus' confessing or denying one before the              They are those whom Jesus has purchased with His
Father in heaven has to do with the intercessory           own blood. The fruit and therefore the proof of that
prayers of Jesus to God the Father in heaven. As           fact is that they now confess Jesus before men.
High Priest Jesus appears in heaven before God the         Consequently, Jesus confesses them before the
Father continually in prayer. And in those prayers         Father in heaven and brings down upon them the
He will either confess you or deny you before the          blessings of their salvation.
Father.                                                      But those who deny Jesus before men do so
  If Jesus confesses you before the Father, He             exactly because they do not belong to Jesus. They
claims you as His own. He points out to the Father         have not been given to Jesus by the Father; nor
that you belong to Him. You are one that God has           have they been purchased with His blood. They are
eternally given to Jesus. You are one whom He has          still in their sin and can do nothing but deny Jesus.
purchased with His precious blood. And claiming            Them Jesus will deny before the Father.
you as His own, He in turn presents all your needs           Confess Jesus before men.
to God the Father and asks that God bless you in             And when it becomes difficult to confess Jesus
your needs - to forgive your sins, to empower you          before men, then remember that whosoever shall
to live a holy life, to comfort you, to strengthen         confess Jesus before men, him will Jesus confess
you, to provide for all your needs. And because            before His Father in heaven.
those prayers of Jesus are based on the perfect
work of the cross, God hears them. And God blesses           And when you fail as did Peter, then do not
us in our needs.                                           despair. Remember that Peter went out into the
                                                           night and wept bitterly. In the way of his repen-
  How important it is that Jesus confess us before         tance Peter was restored by Christ Himself on the
the Father. That heavenly confession is our salva-         day of the resurrection. And Peter went on to con-
tion.                                                      fess Jesus before men faithfully and boldly as a man
  If, however, Jesus denies us before the Father in        of God.
heaven, then He denies that you belong to Him or             Let us also confess Jesus before men.
have any connection whatsoever with Him. He

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                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              2 4 5



                                         Editor's Notes

   A couple changes should be noted which begin                  radical change for him and his family. But the Rev.
with this issue. First of all, the Rev. G. Van  Baren            den Hartog left a bit of his heart in Singapore. That
takes over, for the rest of this volume-year, in  AZZ            undoubtedly accounts, at least in part, for the fact
Around  Us. We thank Prof. Decker for his contribu-              that before he writes for  In  His Fear,  he is contrib-
tions and welcome the Rev. Van Baren back to this                uting a final article about Singapore and the church
department. Secondly, the Rev. A. den Hartog                     there.
takes over  In  His Fear  from the Rev. B. Gritters  -                     *  * * * * * * * * *
also for the rest of the current volume. Thanks to
Rev. Gritters, and welcome to Rev. den Hartog.                     Publication News. From the RFPA there will soon
                                                                 appear a paperback edition of 
          * * * * * * * * * *                                                                         Calvin's Calvinism,  a
                                                                 significant work of John Calvin which has long
   As you know, the Rev. den Hartog has left the                 been out of print. Watch for later announcements!
Singapore mission field and is now in the pastoral                                                                      HCH
ministry in Randolph, Wisconsin - in many ways a

EDITORIAL




                                   Why Evolution? (3)


   In trying to understand Dr. Howard Van Till's                 at Calvin College.
 The Fourth  Day, it is difficult to figure out which              All of this becomes abundantly clear long before
 came first in this case, the chicken or the egg. That           Dr. Van Till gets rid of the historical account of the
 is, was his view of Scripture first? And did this view          first eleven chapters of Genesis, and specifically of
 of Scripture make room for his evolutionist scien-              the creation account. The latter does not come until
 tific theory? Or was his evolutionism first, and did            Chapter 5. But his higher critical views become
 this necessitate his view of Scripture? I suspect it            clear already in Chapter 2, "The View From
 was the latter, even though in his book he deals                Palestine.  " How does this take place?
 first with his view of Scripture.                                 First of all, after mentioning the fact that one's
                                                                 vantage point in viewing the starry heavens is im-
   However that may be, when one reads  The                      portant, so that it makes a difference, for example,
 Fourth  Day he comes increasingly under the im-                 whether one views the stars from London or from
 pression that Van Till's view of Scripture is that of           Lima, in December or in July, he introduces the no-
 unbelieving higher criticism. This is true not only             tion of cultural conditioning as follows:
 with respect to the Genesis narrative, as we shall
 see; but it is true with respect to the whole of Scrip-               But there is another very important way in which
 ture. According to him, Scripture is culturally con-               vantage point controls what we perceive in an upward
                                                                    gaze: our cultural heritage and historical context in-
 ditioned; and the cultural conditioning of the Old                 fluence how we mentally interpret or understand
 Testament Scriptures comes from Israel's neigh-                    what we visually discern. Because of our particular
 bors in the world of the Old Testament. The ghost                  training, we twentieth-century Westerners assign a
 of Dr. Ralph Janssen, who was deposed in 1922 for                  meaning to astral objects and celestial phenomena
his higher critical views, stalks the halls of learning             quite different from the meaning given to those same


246                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



       objects and phenomena by people who lived in                    was further divided into three "decades" of ten days
       Palestine three thousand years ago.                             each. But evidence suggests that the Egyptians also
         In light of this, if we truly wish to discover what we        divided the lunar month into periods of seven or eight
       might (or might not) learn about celestial luminaries           days. The old Assyrian calendar may have divided the
       from the Bible, we must spend some time in prepara-             month into five periods of six days each. Various
       tion. Just as vigorous athletic activity should be pre-         Mesopotamian calendars placed special emphasis on
       ceded by stretching and warm-up exercises, so also              those days marking each quarter of a month. To this
       serious Bible study ought to be preceded by mental ex-          day we take note of the lunar cycle of phases at each
       ercises that stretch our awareness and warm up our              quarter of the period: new moon, first quarter moon,
       intellectual curiosity. In preparation for viewing the          full moon, and third quarter moon. To the nearest
       celestial sphere through the lens of Scripture, we              whole number, these phases are separated by seven
       should take a few moments to familiarize ourselves              days, suggesting that the convention of the seven-day
       with the historical and cultural context in which the           week is tied to observation of the moon. Some
       Bible was written, particularly the context in which            scholars, however, hold that it is more likely that the
       the Old Testament teaching concerning the stars as              choice of a seven-day calendric unit was based on a
       God's Creation was formulated. [pp. 20, 21)                     symbolic meaning assigned to the number seven than
                                                                       on a lunar cycle. In Israel, the liturgical calendar was
  What do we get from this approach?                                   firmly based on a strict seven-day cycle. The fact that
  Things like the following:                                           such a cycle periodically gets out of synchronization
- On the basis of archeological evidence, the                          with the lunar phases was considered a matter of little
                                                                       consequence. Perhaps Israel wished openly to defy
region of Jericho was occupied as long ago as 8000                     association with the numerous pagan astral religions
B.C.                                                                  practiced by its neighbors, a matter we will touch on
- "Culture and technology experienced very signi-                      later in this chapter.
ficant development during this period. The                           This is what happens when one ignores and does
Sumerians (in Mesopotamia) developed writing                       away with Scripture!
even before 3000 B.C. And ancient Mesopotamians
made tools and decorative objects of bronze and                      Does not Genesis 1 teach us concerning the
copper with great skill." But see Genesis  4:19-22                 various astronomical cycles? God created the lights
[about the time of  Enoch, "the seventh from                       to divide the day from the night and to be "for
Adam") and Genesis ll:l-9.                                         signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years."
                                                                   %od created the sun and the moon to rule the day
- "The Bible, drawing from the memory of the                       and the night. He also created the week of seven
Hebrews as it was preserved primarily in oral tradi-               days. But Dr. Van Till does not want to accept
tion . . . is far more concerned with providing                    Genesis 1, as he makes clear in a later chapter.
religious history and with presenting a testimony to
the reality of divine action and leading."                           But nowhere does he more blatantly manifest his
                                                                   higher critical view than in the last sentence quoted
- An ignoring of the 480 years between the Exodus                  above: "Perhaps Israel wished openly to defy
and Solomon (I Kings 6:l) and a placing of the Ex-                 association with the numerous pagan astral reli-
odus at 1280 B.C. and Solomon at 960 B.C.                          gions practiced by its neighbors . . . ." No Reformed
- A Hebrew concept of the heavens which can be                     Christian should ever allow a statement like that to
understood only in the light of concepts held by                   come from his pen! Israel wished to defy associa-
Israel's neighbors in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and                      tion with the numerous pagan astral religions?
Palestine.                                                         What is the source of Israel's religion? Israel or
  But Dr. Van Till's higher critical view of Scrip-                Jehovah? From whom did all the regulations of the
ture and his preference for relying upon historical                Levitical law, regulations which involved days and
data other than Scripture and upon the "practical                  weeks and months and years, come? Israel or
astronomy" of ancient nations with respect to                      Jehovah? From whom did defiance (if that is the
"celestial timekeepers" comes out most clearly in                  term to be used) of the "pagan astral religions"
the next section of this chapter. This is most clear in            come? Israel or Jehovah? Besides, how unrealistic is
the following paragraph, pp. 25, 26:                               Van Till's view in the light of the history of Israel! If
                                                                   there is anything that becomes plain from that
         The one time period in common use today that has          history, it is this: Israel, if left to themselves, would
       a less obvious astronomical basis is the week of seven      never "defy pagan astral religions"! On the contrary,
       days. For the purposes of establishing and regulating       if left to themselves, they were always ready to
       cyclic periods of labor, commerce, or religious ritual,
       most cultures appear to have adopted a period of time       worship all the host of heaven and to outdo the
       between the day and the month. Beginning in the             heathen in their idolatry. In other words, Van Till is
       third millennium B.C., the Egyptian civil calendar          wrong here  - and in defiance of Scripture  - on
       was based on a year of 365 days - twelve months of          two counts: the origin of Israel's religion and the
       thirty days each, plus five additional days. The month      history of Israel's religious practice.                   HCH


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             247



TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Herman Veldman





                           The Apostles' Creed (13)



  Our Heidelberg Catechism begins its discussion           attention. This question reads: "Why is the Son of
of the Confession of the Apostles' Creed in regard         God calledjesus,  that is a Saviour?" This question is
to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in Lord's Day        very pertinent. We do well to note what is not asked
11. And we begin by calling attention to the distinc-      in this twenty ninth question. The fathers here
tive character of this Lord's Day. In Answer 29 we         do not ask, "Why is Jesus called the Son of God?" It
read that "we ought not to seek, neither can find          is true that this is asked in Question 33: "Why is
salvation in any other." It is well to lay all emphasis    Christ called the only begotten Son of God, since we
upon this truth. We will have opportunity to call at-      are also the children of God?" However, this is
tention to this later in connection with Answer 30.        asked in Question 33 only after the Heidelberg
As far as the thirtieth answer is concerned, Question      Catechism asks in Question 29: "Why is the Son of
30 reads: "Do such then believe in Jesus the only          God called Jesus, that is a Saviour?" Besides, notice
Saviour who seek their salvation and welfare of            that in Question 33 we read: "Why is Christ called,
saints, of themselves, or anywhere else?" And the          not merely the Son of God, but the only begotten
answer begins with the statement: They do not.             Son of God?" Here, however, in Question 29 we
This is very decisive. We have no compromise               read: "Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is a
here. In the answer we read the following: "for one        Saviour?"
of these two things must be true, that either Jesus is       Imagine if the question were asked: "Why is
not a complete Saviour, or that they who by a true         Jesus called the Son of God?" In the first place, the
faith receive this Saviour, must find all things in        question then simply assumes that He is Jesus. It is
Him necessary to their salvation." And although it         either overlooked or ignored that, according to
is true that the fathers composed this Lord's Day          Scripture, He was called Jesus, and that He was
principally to refute Roman Catholicism, it is still       called Jesus by God. Man did not call Him Jesus.
very pertinent today. Today we hear sentiments to          The Saviour received His name from God. And
the effect that the bible is time-bound, that its          when they speak of Jesus they simply refer to that
truths apply only to the day and age when it was           historical person who is known in history as Jesus
written, that the truths which were true when the          of Nazareth. This, then, is simply the name by
apostles wrote them do not necessarily apply today.        which He is known in history, the historical Jesus
This is not true. The circumstances may and do             of Nazareth. It does not occur to them that this
change, but the truth (and this also applies to            Babe of Bethlehem received His name from God. In
heresy) remains the same. The error of Roman               the second place, that this Jesus is called the Son of
Catholicism is, after all, the error of the human          God can be interpreted in many ways. That He is
heart. And our evil heart will always give expres-         called the Son of God does not necessarily mean
sion to the same heresy. Throughout the ages the           that He is the Son of God. It may merely mean that
truth of God is and remains absolute.                      He is  caled  that, called that, of course, by men.
   Question 29 is unique and must not escape our           The name Son of God may be merely a title, an
                                                           honorary name. Also the Arians called Him the Son
Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    of God. They did not consider Him really to be the
Reformed Churches.                                         Son of God, coequal and coeternal with the Father


248                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



and the Holy Spirit. But He was given this title           adopted of God, by grace, for his sake." From
because of His high nobility. They considered Him          Scripture we quote only three passages, although
to be tremendously gifted, a very noble creature,          many  inore could be quoted. Isaiah  7:14 reads:
higher than Adam, created ages before Adam but             "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign;
nevertheless created, and therefore a creature. And        Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
then, as that particularly gifted creature, he assisted    shall call His name Immanuel." Is he not born of a
in the creation of the world. Does not the Bible say       virgin, without the will of man? Is His name not
that the world was made or framed by the Word of           called Immanuel, God with us? Besides, is not His
the Son of God? And so, because of his high nobility       name called Jesus, which means: Jehovah saves?
and tremendous gifts, the honorary title of the "Son       Then there is Matthew  16:16: "And Simon Peter
of God" was conferred upon him. Of course, the             answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of
"Son of God" of the Arians, who denied the eternal         the living God." And to this the Lord adds in verse
Sonship  of the Son of God, was not really such an         17: "And Jesus answered and said unto him,
honorable creature after all. It is surely not honor-      Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and
able for a mere creature to assume the name Son of         blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
God. It is surely not honorable for a mere man to          which is in heaven." Indeed, more can be quoted,
assume this title and then be called a very noble          such as John  l:l, 14 and also 1 John  5:20. But this
creature. For a creature to permit himself to be           may suffice to establish that the name Son of God,
called Son of God is the horrible sin of blasphemy.        according to our Confessions and Scripture, means
This, however, is not the question asked here in           that He alone is the Son of God, that He is God
Lord's Day 11.                                             Himself, the second person of the divine Trinity.
  Jesus is also called the Son of God by the                 This establishes the unique character of this
modernist. Modernism speaks very highly of this            twenty-ninth question. The Heidelberg Catechism
Jesus of Nazareth. Modernism, however, is  Man-            here does not prove or establish that our Lord'Jesus
ism, Humanism. Modernism denies the living God.            Christ is the Son of God. The Catechism simply
Modernism exalts man. Modernism denies the liv-            assumes it; our fathers here proceed from the fact
ing God in Christ. It denies that Jesus is God, co-        that He is none other then the eternal Son of God.
equal and coeternal with the Father and the Holy           And now I add at this time that only the Son of God
Spirit. Modernism also denies God in the work of           could be called Jesus. This has already been estab-
salvation. The modernist proclaims that man is able        lished in preceding Lord's Days. Only the eternal
to save  .himself. This teaching is earthy, wants          Son of God, as God with us, can save us out of all
nothing to do with God, with His Christ, with the          our sin and misery and death and lead us into the
kingdom of God, of Christ and of heaven. Modern-           eternal life of heavenly immortality. If this Saviour
ism seeks this world, would establish an earthly           be a mere creature, and you confer upon him the
kingdom, without God, without Christ, and with-            honorary title Son of God he, as a mere creature,
out the results of sin but, of course, maintaining sin     can never lead us out of death into life. The ques-
itself. Indeed, they give to Jesus of Nazareth the         tion reads: "Why is the Son of God called Jesus?"
honorable title of the Son of God, but they are anti-      We therefore assume that He is the Son of God.
God, anti- His Christ, anti-, against His kingdom.         This is not merely a title. The name denotes Him in
  Question 29 reads: "Why is the Son of God called         His essential significance.
Jesus, that is a Saviour?" The meaning of the name           Even as Question 29 is unique, so also the calling
Son of God is beyond the shadow of any doubt.              here of this Son of God, called Jesus, is unique. He
Confessionally, in connection with the question,           is called Jesus. Now it is certainly true that He is or
"what sort of a mediator, deliverer, then, must we         was not called Jesus by man. How unique, also in
seek for," we read in Answer 15 of our Heidelberg          this respect, the Word of God is here! We do well to
Catechism: "For one who is very man, and perfect-          notice what we read here. The Son of God is called
ly righteous, and yet more powerful than all               Jesus. Everything depends upon that name. He is
creatures; that is one who is also very God." In           called Jesus already at His birth. In fact, he is called
Question 17 we read: "Why must he in one person            Jesus already before His birth. This name was
be also very God?" In Question 13 we read: "Who            revealed to Mary at Nazareth by Gabriel and also to
then is that Mediator, who is in one person both           Joseph in a dream. He is called Jesus, therefore,
very God, and a real righteous man?" And then we           before His birth and long before His active
also have Question and Answer 33. Question 33              ministry. How different it is among men. We can-
reads: "Why is Christ called the only begotten Son         not determine the importance or significance of a
of God, since we are also the children of God?" And        man until he acts and works. We must study him
the answer reads: "Because Christ alone is the eter-       before we can discover his importance in history,
nal and natural Son of God; but we are children            what he has done in the service of mankind. But


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                           249



that the Babe of Bethlehem receives His name long           did not and could never receive the name Jesus
before His birth is, of course, because the Saviour         from the children of men, from you and me as we
has been ordained by God Triune from before the             are in and of ourselves. The truth of Scripture is
foundation of the world. Besides, He certainly did          that we are by nature carnal, sold under sin, lovers
not receive the name Jesus from men, from us. To            of evil and of the things that are below. We are
be sure, the Scriptures speak of His incarnation,           haters of God, lovers of sin and have no desire to be
His wonderful birth of a virgin, His mighty works           delivered from it; we hate the Christ of Calvary,
and miracles, His suffering and death and resurrec-         and we cannot, will not, cannot will to recognize
tion, His ascension and return to judgment. And             Him as Redeemer and Saviour. We will always
what do we call Him, we as and of ourselves? Peo-           despise Him, trample Him under foot, nail Him to
ple called Him a blasphemer, a gluttonous man and           the cross, but we will never flee to Him,
a winebibber, a rebel and an insurrectionist, a             acknowledge and embrace Him as the one and only
friend of Beelzebub, a friend of publicans and sin-         Mediator of God and man. If we are to receive and
ners, a dangerous man. And what is the Reformed             embrace Him, we must receive this from the Father
church world saying about this man? They deny               Who is in heaven. Indeed, no man can come unto
His incarnation, deny that He is born of a virgin,          the Christ except the Father Who hath sent Him
deny His miracles, His resurrection, His ascension,         draw him.
and also His bodily return upon the clouds of                 The Lord willing, we will continue with this con-
heaven to judge the living and the dead. This Jesus         fession of the Son of God in our following article.

FROM HOLY WRIT
George C. Lubbers





                  Believing All the Scriptures (VI)



THE HOPE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH                                this name of JEHOVAH, the  I-Am-That-I-Am.  Also
JEHOVAH-GOD SPEAKS TO FALLEN ADAM                           here in Genesis 3: 17 we confess that Jesus Christ is
(Genesis 3: 17) "and God said to Adam."                     the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb.  1318).
   God is addressing Adam here in Paradise as the             We ought to notice that both in verses 14 and in
Covenant God of Adam. Really He is speaking here            21, 22, Jehovah God speaks as it were to Himself.
as the same God of glory Who spoke to Abraham,              He speaks as the Triune Covenant God. Says He,
the father of all believers, much later. When Moses         "man (Adam) is become like one of us": the Father,
pens these words in Gen.  3:17 he is with Israel in         the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus God speaks in the
the wilderness; Israel is then dwelling in their tents      plural when He is about to create man, and when
about the tabernacle which was made after the pat-          he is to drive him in His justice and mercy out of
tern of the heaven tabernacle. God had shown him            the garden of Eden. Both times God speaks in all
this tabernacle on Mt. Sinai with the express in-           His august majesty, and that, too, in the fulness of
junction: "See that thou make all things according          His heavenly majesty and glory.
to the pattern shewed  thee on the mount" (Exodus             We have stated before and reaffirm that the
25:40; Numbers  8:40; Acts  7:44; Hebrews  8:5b). It        LORD speaks here to Adam in the context of the
seems  that Moses goes out of his way to emphasize          great promise, the protevangez,  verse 15. This prom-
                                                            ise was fulfilled in the suffering and glorified
George C. Lubbers is a pastor emeritus in the Protestant    Christ. Are not all God's promises yea in Christ,
Reformed Churches.                                          and in him Amen to the glory of God the Father (II


250                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Cor.  1:20)?  Yes, we believe that here is the seeking    the LORD." Surely, Adam also worshipped as did
and finding love of Christ in the way of the perfect      Abel at the altar, bringing the bloody sacrifice of
righteousness of the cross. Did God not clothe            the. flock (Gen. 4:4).
Adam and Eve in the skins of the sacrificial lambs,          Yes God has His justice satisfied!
which were slain and placed upon the altar?                  The Seed of the woman will perform it.
  God will have His justice satisfied! Adam is
driven out of the garden of Eden. Mercy does not in          Truly, the zeal of the LORD will perform it.
any way set God's justice aside. Yet God allows              Scripture speaks of the zeal of God's house. In
the avenue of mercy to remain open here' in the           this zeal and holy jealousy for His holy Name He
terms which he speaks to Adam. Adam must die              will bring many sons to glory (Psalm  69:9; Isaiah
and did die. Still in the plan of God Adam dies and       9:9; John  2:7). In this coming LAMB, God will be
in him the entire human race. By one man unto             glorified and will manifest all the glory of His grace
many was the judgment unto condemnation; yea,             in the saints - including Adam and Eve!
many were made sinners in him. Legally and                   Meanwhile the ground is cursed for Adam's trans-
ethically the entire human race was in God's just         gression's sake. Adam and his posterity will eat
judgment plunged into condemnation. (Romans               bread in toil and labor, in the sweat of their brow.
5:15-21).                                                 The cursed.earth will be very hard to subdue, even
THE JUST JUDGMENT UPON ADAM                               to eke a livelihood from it. What a far cry this
(Genesis 3:17) "Cursed is the ground for thy sake..."     cursed earth is from the paradisaical condition as
  The justice of Gods curse upon the ground is set        described in Genesis 2:5,, 6: ". . . and there was not
forth very clearly by Jehovah God. The justice rests      a man to till the ground, but there went up a mist
upon the word to Adam as we have this recorded in         from the earth, and watered the whole face of the
Gen. 2: 16, "And Jehovah God commanded the man            ground".
(Adam) saying, Of every tree of the garden thou             That Adam was not cursed from the ground as
mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of        was Cain is because Adam's hand did not have the
good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day    blood of a saint staining it. The voice of the blood of
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."          one of the saints did not cry against Adam's soul for
  In this word God gave the law of life and of death      vengeance. AbeZ's  blood cried from the earth to the
for Adam.                                                 Lord Sabbaoth (Gen. 4: 10). It was the blood which
  It was the law promulgated from God's throne.           was the first of all the blood of the souls under the
                                                          altar, which cry with a loud voice, "How long, 0
  God will not be dethroned, neither is the Most          Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge
High mocked. He fulfilled His word. Adam died             our blood on them that dwell on the earth" (Revela-
that very day! Yes, by one man sin entered into the       tion 6: 10).
world, and through sin death, and death passed on
to all men, because all had sinned (Rom. 5: 12). Not        Not so Adam. Such a curse is not placed upon
only was the entire human race put under the law          Adam and upon Adam's seed as they are taken up
of sin and death, but the  entire creation  was sub-      presently in the generations of the heavens and of
jected to vanity in God's wrath over Adam.                the earth. These are taken up in the hope of heaven
"Cursed is the ground for thy sake," God says to          and of earth, which both shall share in the redemp-
Adam!                                                     tion which is ours in Christ Jesus.
  What we ought to notice carefully is that God did          The Holy Spirit tells us through the Apostle Paul
not  curse Adam.  This curse is not directed against      that the ground, too, lives in hope. Paul calls this
Adam's person nor against. the person of Eve. The         "cursed ground" the creature which has been sub-
curse is upon the serpent and upon the seed of the        jected to vanity in Romans  8:20-22. Literally the
serpent, the Old Dragon, the great Deceiver and           text reads, "for the creature was made subject to
Liar from the beginning in whom there is no truth.        vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who
He is the father of the  lie: Upon him God pro-           hath subjected the same in hope. Because the
nounced His curse. Later he pronounces this curse         creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage
also upon Cain, and much later upon Canaan the            of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
son of Ham (Genesis 3: 14; Genesis 9:25).                 children of God. For we know that the whole crea-
  But the curse is not upon Adam's  person.  Adam         tion groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
was, even then, already written in the Lamb's book        now."
of life. As we hope to point out more in depth a bit         What we should notice is that the curse upon the
later, Adam may be included, according to the elec-       ground was God's subjecting it to vanity. However,
tion of grace, in the church spoken of in Genesis         this was done in the wisdom and mercy of God
4:26b, "then began men to call upon the name of           upon hope. Now this is no mere hope of the creature


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               251



to return to the original beauty and virginal fresh-       shall be revealed in us when we shall publicly
ness of the garden of Eden as revealed and por-            receive the crown of righteousness and glory.
trayed in Genesis 2:5-15, nor does this refer to a           That will be the day! It will be the-great day of
mere return to the "milk and honey" condition of           our Lord Jesus Christ's revelation in the saints.
the land of Canaan, as the premillennialists dream         Then all the groaning of the saints will cease, the
of the earthly fulfilment of the promises, but this        Spirit will no longer groan in the sons of adoption as
refers undoubtedly to the wisdom of God whereby            the firstfruits of the full harvest, nor will creation
he subjected the creature to vanity in hope of being       ever again groan and travail in the vanity of vanities
liberated to the glory of the children of God in           of its subjected existence.
Christ Jesus. That will be the glory of a new heaven
and a new earth. Into this glory the creature will be        Then will the hope of the creature be fulfilled!
liberated when the earth, being on fire shall be dis-        In the very groaning of the creature we see that
solved, and the elements shall melt with fervent           all things reach out in earnest expectation of the
heat (II Peter  3:12).                                     realization of the hope of heaven and earth.
  It is of interest to notice that Paul does not simply      When Paul writes concerning the waiting and
have an abstract discussion on the truth of the sub-       groaning creation, it is evident that he does not
jection of, the creature in hope by God, but he intro-     refer to the groaning of the children of God. For it is
duces the truth of the creature's sharing in the           for the glory of these children of God that the
salvation of the sons of God to teach and                  creature waits in hope. Nor does this refer to the
demonstrate the incomparable greatness of the              angel hosts. For these are not subject to the curse
glory which shall be ours as the sons of adoption          upon the creature. For their habitat is heaven,
(Rom.  8:18). As sons of adoption, who have the            although the angels also long for the realization of
Spirit of adoption, we cry, "Abba Father." We              the promises of God. They stoop down to look into
stand in relationship to God as heirs of God and           the revelation of the mystery of godliness.
joint heirs with Christ. Yes, we suffer greatly for          No, this refers to the whole creation: heaven,
Christ's sake, even as the souls under altar. There is     earth, the firmament, land and sea, sun, moon and
the terrible reality referred to by Jesus in Matthew       stars, fish and fowl, animals and creeping things.
23:34, 35. Jesus speaks in this passage "of all the        Creation cannot come to its increated design and
righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the              purpose. It is subjected to the vanity of vanities,
blood of the righteous Abel unto the blood of              where all the rivers run into the sea and the sea
Zacharias son of Berachia, whom ye slew between            does not become full. All is one great weariness in
the temple and the altar."                                 all things, so that it cannot be expressed.
  However, all the suffering of this present time is         Yet withal, it is subjected upon hope, the hope of
not worthy  to'be compared with the glory which            heaven and earth!

ALL AROUND US
Gise J. Van  Baren




                          A Growing Controversy:
                                  "The Fourth Day"


  The Grand Rapids  Press,  January 17, 1987,              The Fourth Day  which has generated considerable
presented a special report in its religious section        controversy. The book is doubtlessly contributing
about "A controversial course", taught by Howard           to the growing rift between the "conservatives"
Van Till at Calvin College. Van Till is an astronomy       and "liberals" in the Christian Reformed Church. I
and physics professor who recently wrote a book,           quote some of the report in the Press:


252                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



         Standing between the creationists on the one hand               ,at the CRC's school, are veering farther and farther
       and the strict evolutionists on the other, Van Till tries         from the truth.
       to chart a new way for Christians to view the world.                 "W-hat Van Till is saying is that Adam and Eve
         "I believe the world should, if you study it care-              never existed, that there was no flood, no tower of
       fully, provide reliable information," said the 48-year-           Babel," said Hultink. "He places man and his authori-
       old Van Till. "It is, after all, God's handiwork. I trust         ty and insight above the insight and authority of
       that it is characterized by good order, continuity and            God."
       integrity."                                                          . . . Van Till, a teacher at Calvin for nearly 20 years,
         Many of his ideas are contained in  The  Fourth   Day,   a      noted that different readers will view his book in
       book published last year by Eerdman's Publishing Co.              various ways.
       The title of the book comes from the account of crea-               "I understand why this book troubles some people,
       tion in Genesis, in which God created the heavens on              but I think the creation/evolution controversy is a
       the fourth day.                                                   discussion that has generated much more heat than
         . . . Critics say he ignores in his new book the                light over the years," he commented.
       authority of scripture, especially when he says that he             For his part, Van Till said he believes the first
       believes the first 11 chapters of the Bible are not to be         chapters of the Bible ought to be read in light of the
       read literally.                                                   times in which they were written.
         "This is a touchy area, an area in which the Chris-               The biblical accounts of creation, he said, should be
       tian community gets uptight," said Van Till.                      read in view of the doctrine they describe, not the
         "I'm talking about some big questions. What I'm                 history they recount.
       trying to do [in  the book) is be challenging without be-           "I see this as a rich, artistic account of creation. I
       ing unnecessarily disturbing."                                    believe that different cultures have different ways of
         What he believes, he said, is that the first part of            picturing how God goes about his work as creator,"
       Genesis should be read as a "rich, artistic" account of           he said.
       creation. He doesn't read it literally.                             What is important, he said, is the fact that God is
         Creationists, however, don`t like this. They say Van            the one who made, and continues to make, the
       Till is moving too far afield in the way he combines              universe. He is the entity behind the moon, stars, the
       science and theology.                                             earth and man.
         "The issue for me is the doctrine of creation, not                "In the end, the doctrinal statements are the same,"
       the story itself as presented in Genesis," commented              said Van Till. "We and all the world are dependent on
       the physics professor.                                            God for our existence."
         But that doesn't silence his detractors.                          . . It was the resurgence of the creation/evolution
         John Hultink, a CRC member and managing editor                  debate a few years ago that provided the impetus for
       of a biweekly newspaper called  Christian   Renewal,   is         him to write  The  Fourth   Day.   The debate itself has
       one of the astronomer's harshest critics.                         grown as people have become more and more un-
                                                                         happy with the science's "non-theistic" answers that
         As editor of the conservative paper, published in               science provides to the ultimate questions, he said.
       Ontario, Hultink sits on the far right fringe of those
       challenging Van Till's ideas. Hultink, in fact, has fre-            Van Till believes the universe is around 15 billion
       quently denounced The Fourth  Day as a work that is               years old, that it was formed by God and that it has, in
       out to undermine the Christian Reformed Church.                   fact, evolved in a variety of highly complex ways over
                                                                         time.
         "What Professor Van Till has done in his book is
       reduce all the givens of the first chapters of Genesis to           "I am doing theology, but for much of my biblical
       one statement, and that is that he thinks God created             research I'm relying on other experts," he said.
       the universe via the process of evolution," said                    . . . Van Till may question the historical authenticity
       Hultink.                                                          of the early chapters of the Bible, but that doesn't
         "I think this (publication of this book) is the most            mean that he reads scripture as fiction.
       important thing that ever happened to our denomina-                 "I don't rule out miracles," he said. "I believe these
       tion," added Hultink . . . .                                      are signs and wonders, special acts of God performed
         "What is at stake here is the question of the authori-          in the presence of human witnesses for the purpose of
       tyl the authenticity, the reliability of revelation," he          revealing something important for their salvation."
       commented.                                                          He believes in Christ's resurrection, in the virgin
         The  Christian   Renewal,  he added, is geared to pre-          birth, in the account of Jesus bringing Lazarus back
       serving orthodox Christianity within the CRC. Van                 from the dead.
       Till's book, he said, is an example of how people, even             These events, he said, were witnessed by someone
                                                                         who wrote them down. The events chronicled in
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed                   Genesis, however, were not actually written by a per-
Church of  Hudsonville,  Michigan.                                       son who experienced them . . . .


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              253



  One can then understand the consternation of                   certain distinctions. The biblically based doctrine of
many conservatives in  the  CRC  - especially since              creation, which clearly informs us where we and the
Van Till has been teaching these things for 20 years             rest of the world stand in relationship to God, is often
at Calvin College - to more than 2000 students in                confused with  culturally   or  scientifically   inspired pic-
the past decade in his astronomy course (p. 75 of                tures of the creation's formative history. And the
his book). Disturbing too, must be his report that               scientific concept of evolutionary development,
"Though the majority of my students arrive                       which seeks to provide a description of the processes
familiar with the cosmic time scale and have no                  that make up cosmic history, is often confused with
                                                                 naturalistic denials of the reality of God's purposeful
problems with it, there are always several in each               governance of that history.
class who have never given the matter serious con-                 "I am fully confident that every Calvin College pro-
sideration (assuming it, perhaps, to be mere                     fessor firmly believes that we, along with the world in
nonsense) or who, having considered it, have very                which we live, are God's creation. We heartily profess
consciously rejected it in the sincere Christian                 our faith in God, who, as our sovereign Creator, is our
belief that it is clearly contradicted by the teaching           Originator, our Sustainer, our Governor, and the
of the Bible, particularly by Genesis 1 . . .  ." Con-           faithful Provider of our daily needs.
cerning this traditional interpretation, and those                 "We vigorously reject the philosophy of naturalistic
who still believe it, Van Till states, "I have since             evolutionism because it denies God's governance of
come to the conclusion that such an interpretation               `natural' processes and because it attempts illegiti-
is naive . . . ." (p. 76). And that most of his students         mately to use the results of natural science to provide
come to class without any problems with the                      the appearance of support for an atheistic religious
"cosmic time scale and have no problems with it"                 perspective.
ought itself to be very disturbing.                                "Now, as responsible stewards of God's creation,
  No wonder that the anguished cry was presented                 we are called to employ the tools of competent
                                                                 scholarship in the investigation of its properties, its
in "Questions and Answers" in the Banner, Dec. 8,                behavior, and its formative history. `We scientists,
1986, "Why is evolution taught at Calvin College?                therefore, must meaningfully engage the concept of
More than a year ago the Banner acknowledged                     evolutionary development (a  scientific   concept with
this, and no one has ever challenged these views on              limited scope, not to be confused with the  philo-
the pages of our church magazine. However, Chris-                sophical  concept of naturalistic evolutionism), and we
tian  Renewal  (Feb. 3, 1986) discussed this problem             must honestly evaluate theories of development on
openly. What can be done about this?"                            the basis of their adequacy in accounting for the
                                                                 physical evidence of creation's formative history in an
  The answer, written with words which must not                  orderly and consistent manner."
be easily understood by the layman, states:                     So one is "naive" to believe in a literal account of
     It is important to know whether the charges made         creation as presented in Genesis 1. Indeed, the con-
   in the journal you cite are true. In fairness to all, I    servatives have great reason for concern. If I may
   asked Calvin College for an official response. This was    apply some of Van Till's own language in describ-
   furnished by Dr. Howard J. Van Till of the depart-         ing Genesis 1 to his answer above, I would be in-
   ment of physics and astronomy:                             clined to say that if one removes the "packaging" of
     "The question to which you have invited a                the answer, and gets at the "content", the sub-
   response is trivial. Misapprehension arises, I believe,    stance would be: Yes, evolution is taught at Calvin
   out of an extended failure to stress the importance of     College  - but a "theistic" evolution.

AN ANGRY PROPHET'S PRAYER
(can't: from page 262)                                        away in what we call mid-life, while an enemy of the
                                                              church is still very active and healthy beyond the
antichrist to save them from the curse instead of             fourscore years of the strong, and is able to harass
looking to Christ and His cross? What about the na-           and lead others against those who hold to the truth
tions that have, and even today are denying the               and fight the good fight of faith? You never said that
believers sabbath-worship services and cast into              God was unwise and did foolish deeds. But did you
prison or exile the faithful? You like to see that and        aZways   praise Him for every work He performed,
see God's wisdom in it?                                       and did you confess His wisdom as well as His
  And even apart from that, we say with Paul that             grace, mercy, and slowness to anger? We fight our
all things work together for good to those that love          anger by God's grace. But we too, if we are honest,
God. But were there not many, many things in your             will have to admit that we were often angry
life that you wanted done differently? Did it all look        because of what God did. And it is that grace, mer-
at that time as though it was working for your good?          cy, and slowness to anger which are rooted in
A loved one who manifests a strong faith in God               Christ's cross that forgives our anger and saves us
and has been a power in His church is snatched                from God's holy wrath.


254                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



FEATURE
Arie  den Hartog





                                    Reflections on our
                         Departure from Singapore



   I am writing this article at my desk in the study      and true church of Jesus Christ so the ERCS has the
of our Randolph Church. We are thankful to the            great responsibility to "contend for the faith which
Lord that He has given us a place in one of our           was delivered to them." We are thankful for having
churches after our return home from Singapore.            been used of the Lord in part to deliver to them the
Our life as a family has started a whole new              great heritage of the Reformed Faith. Our deep love
chapter. It would be hard to put into words what a        for the church there causes us all the more ear-
great difference there is between life in Singapore       nestly to hope and pray that the ERCS will remain
and life here in the U.S.A. After laboring in Singa-      faithful to the truth in the coming years. We and
pore and the Evangelical Reformed Church there            they know that they are still relatively young in the
foralmost seven years it was very difficult for us to     faith and in their development. There are still very
leave. Over the  ,years we have grown to love the         many things that they have to face in their church
saints of God there very dearly.. Yet we also believe     life which they have never before experienced. The
that our departure was in the providence of the           devil will surely try very hard to lead them astray
Lord. He called us to return and gave us a place in       and to destroy them. Let us as churches continue
Randolph church. We are very happy to be here.            often to remember them in prayer.
We believe that our churches made the right deci-
sion when they decided to bring us home. It was             Most of our readers know that a good beginning
time for us to leave the church there and commend         has been made in the ERCS of starting a second
the saints there to the grace of God. We were very        congregation. By the time we left Singapore more
thankful to the Lord that we could leave Singapore        than fifty brethren from the first congregation had
with such close bonds of Christian love between us        indicated their desire and intention to be part of the
and with peace in our hearts believing that the Lord      second congregation. The organism of the church is
would continue to keep and preserve His church            now already in existence. Worship services are be-
t h e r e .                                               ing held regularly at a beautiful facility obtained in
   This is no doubt a very significant stage for the      the Lord's providence at the Singapore American
ERCS. They will now have to continue on their             School. We were very privileged to preach at the
own. We believe they can by the grace of God. The         inaugural meeting. The church there is not yet of-
church there continues to have a great task before        ficially instituted. It is hoped and planned that this
it. We are thankful that the Lord has given to them       will take place some time between six months and a
two faithful pastors. Over the years of labor             year from now. This is largely dependent upon the
together we have also learned to esteem highly the        Lord raising up men in the midst of the group quali-
brethren whom the Lord has raised up in their             fied and called to serve as office bearers. We
midst to be office bearers. We surely did not leave       believe that it was a good move to start another con-
Singapore because there was little more work for us       gregation even though both of the congregations to
to do there. We were kept very busy until the very        begin with will be small compared to some of our
last day we were there. As is true of every faithful      larger congregations here in the U.S.A. Yet we
                                                          believe it is good to have two places where the
Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      Word of God is being preached and where the
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                            standard of the Reformed faith is being raised. We


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              255



trust that in the providence of the Lord this will        need each other and how much we could benefit by
serve unto the extension of the church and                sharing in each other's church life: Both of our
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in Singapore. One        churches in the providence of the Lord have their
of the greatest advantages of this move is that the       strengths and weaknesses. As I think about all of
ERCS will now be able to begin to develop a de-           this, the question arises: What shall we do to main-
nominational church life. All of this will be very        tain a close relationship and to prevent our relation-
new for them. We hope and pray that our Protes-           ship from degenerating into little more than a mere
tant Reformed Churches can continue to give assis-        formal one? We will have to put a lot of real and
tance and guidance especially in this area.               concrete effort into this. We will have to continue
  Brother Jaikishin Mahtani, who was trained in           to take a very keen interest in each other's church
our seminary for three years, has now become              life. We will have to have the courage and love to
Pastor Mahtani. We were -very happy  to. witness          continue to admonish and encourage and advise
that he is a faithful minister of the Word of God         one another without causing offense and removing
rightly dividing the Word of truth. Pastor Mahtani        all offense that might arise. Above all, our relation-
is now the pastor of the second congregation. He          ship will continue if we continue together to love
has been received very well by the members of the         and defend and promote the common truth of the
church and he is working very hard.                       gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that has been given
  Mission work continues to be one of the greatest        to us. There will be an important official aspect of
                                                          this relationship. But also there must be the con-
I tasks of the ERCS. The church continues to grow
there in a very wonderful and unusual way.                tinuing spiritual and personal bond of friendship in
Recently another group of seven young people              the Lord. I hope that this will be maintained
were added to the church by confession of faith and       through personal correspondence and visits be-
baptism. Before we left we saw again that there           tween the members of our two denominations, and
were a number of regular newcomers at the wor-            above all through constant fervent prayer one for
ship services. Some of these had already asked for a      another.
new catechism class to be conducted to prepare              We come also to a very significant stage as Prot-
them for baptism and church membership. There is          estant Reformed Churches. We now have one
obviously still a lot of mission work to do in Singa-     fewer missionary as a denomination than we have
pore. Though there are many churches in Singa-            had in the past years. We hope that this will not
pore, still only a small percentage of the population     continue for long. We need to expand our efforts of
are professing Christians. Also very few churches         foreign missions through investigating new fields of
in Singapore are preaching the truths of the Re-          labor and praying earnestly to the Lord that He will
formed faith that we, with the ERCS, hold dear.           open new doors for us for the preaching of the
  The church is also growing from within as the           gospel. We need young men who are called to the
Lord continues to raise up new covenant homes in          gospel ministry in our churches. It is truly a sad
her midst. There are now, I believe, around 40 mar-       situation that we have so few men in our seminary
ried couples. There are also at least that many           at present. We need to do some real soul searching
children. Infant baptisms are a very frequent event       to determine the reason for this.
in the church. There is talk about the beginning of         We have the vision that our work of foreign mis-
catechism training for the children of the church.        sions ought to be continued in the East. Perhaps in
In a couple of years the oldest of the children will      the providence of the Lord we can some day fur-
be ready ,for this. There is also discussion about the    ther help the ERCS, maybe in the area of training
future covenant instruction of the children of the        ministers or in helping them establish another con-
church. Whether it will in years to come be possi-        gregation. The future is in the hands of the Lord.
ble. to have any form of Christian School remains to      We also see great potential for future mission work
be seen.                                                  in the countries around Singapore, especially in
  One of the greatest concerns that we have after         Malaysia. Before our return to the U.S.A. we had
leaving Singapore is the matter of the future of the      the opportunity to make a lengthy trip into
relationship between the PRC and the ERCS. Now            Malaysia. We wanted to meet for the last time with
that we do not have a missionary in Singapore it          beloved brethren in Malaysia whom we have got-
will not be so easy to keep up close ties. We as chur-    ten to know and love over the years of our stay in
ches will have to work very hard at this. It is our       Singapore. We were greatly moved by their situa-
earnest hope and prayer that we will continue to          tion and need. We know of very little true Re-
have a close and fruitful relationship as sister chur-    formed preaching in the entire country of Malaysia.
ches, and one that is of mutual benefit to both our       Perhaps in the providence of the Lord our churches
denominations. Knowing both churches probably             could some day in some form do mission work in
better than anyone else, we know how much we              Malaysia. Personally I hope and pray that we can.


256                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



It will not be easy to get into Malaysia, or for that      desire and great zeal to continue on in the great task
matter into any other foreign country today, to            of mission work for the glory of the Lord and for
begin new mission work. Much preliminary                   the salvation of His people among the nations. Let
ground work has to be done and it may be several           us be encouraged as churches with the blessing of
years before a work can actually be started. We            the Lord upon His church in Singapore and  con-
need to begin to do that preliminary work now. We          tinue to be faithful to our Lord's great commission.
need to have a vision for the future and an earnest
THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                                 Confession of Faith (3)



   "Do you acknowledge the doctrine contained in           question asked at the time of public confession of
the Old and New Testaments and in the Articles of          faith speaks of "acknowledging" the doctrines of
the Christian faith and taught here in this Christian      the Bible. The word "acknowledge" has in it the
Church to be the true and complete doctrine of sal-        word "knowledge."
vation?"                                                     That faith is knowledge is plain from Scripture.
   This is the first question asked of those who           In John 17:3 Jesus teaches, "And this is life eternal,
make public confession of their faith.                     that they might know thee the only true God, and
   The Scriptures emphasize the importance of              Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." In I Timothy
faith. In Hebrews 11:6 we read, "But without faith         4:3 the Apostle speaks of "believing and knowing
                                                           the truth." From Hebrews  11:3 we learn that faith
it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to      "understands."
God must believe that He is, and that He is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." In I             A faith that is uninformed, that is without knowl-
John 54 the Apostle emphasizes the importance of           edge is not merely a weak faith, but it is non-
faith when he says, ". . . and this is the victory that    existent, no faith at all. Faith must have content.
overcometh the world, even our faith." Paul writes         And when we make confession of faith we must be
in Romans  1423,  ". . . whatsoever is not of faith is     able to give expression to the content of our faith.
sin."                                                        Here the responsibility of the eldership comes in.
FAITH IS KNOWLEDGE                                         At the time young people present themselves to
                                                           make confession of faith, the elders must deter-
   An important question in connection with con-           mine that these young people know the faith they
fession of faith is: What is the content of the faith      are confessing. An examination must be conducted;
which we confess? What does faith believe?                 questions must be asked that it may be clearly
   Faith must have content, solid, intellectual con-       ascertained that the truth is known and understood
tent. Our Heidelberg Catechism teaches us that             by the one making confession of faith. One who
faith consists of knowledge and confidence. Knowl-         knows next to nothing of the Reformed faith, al-
edge, doctrinal knowledge is important in the one          though he may be living an upright life and say that
who is making confession of faith. He must "know           he loves Jesus, must not be permitted to make con-
Whom he has believed," II Timothy  1:lZ. The first         fession of faith, but must be encouraged to receive
                                                           further instruction.
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      But more than just the responsibility of the
Church of Loveland, Colorado.                              elders, the responsibility of the whole church


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                             257



comes out here. If knowledge of the truth is re-           Holy Spirit guided the human writers of the Bible
quired of our young people making confession of            so that what they wrote was the Word of God and
faith, we must be sure that in their childhood and         only the Word of God? Does he believe that there
youth these young men and women received                   are errors in the Bible? Is the account of the crea-
thorough instruction in the truth. If our young peo-       tion and fall of manto be received as literal, reliable
ple are to grow up knowing the truth, not perishing        history? And what about the flood, the passage
in ignorance, we must see to it that they have the         through the Red Sea, the conquest of Jericho, the
preaching of the truth in the church. We must see          miracles of Christ and the apostles?
to it that they receive instruction in the truth in our
homes. We must see to it that, as God makes that             Not only the doctrine of Holy Scripture, but the
possible, they receive sound instruction in the truth      doctrines contained in Holy Scripture are also to be
in the Christian schools. And we must see to it that       known and believed. The person making confes-
this sound instruction is given in the catechism           sion of faith must believe the fundamental doc-
room. In many instances today the blame for the ig-        trines set forth in the Bible. Examples would be: the
norance of the young people is not to be laid at the       trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth,
doorstep of the young people, but at the doorstep of       creation, the covenant, the sacraments, the church,
the parents and the church. As in the days of the          the place of the law in the Christian life, the Person
Judges, a generation grows up that knows not the           and work of the Holy Spirit, Christ's second com-
Lord. But the fault today, as then, is that parents do     ing, etc. He ought to know and be able to defend
not instruct their children.                               the Five Points of Calvinism: total depravity, un-
                                                           conditional election (predestination), limited atone-
THE DOCTRINES OF THE OLD AND                               ment (particular redemption), irresistible grace, the
NEW TESTAMENTS                                             perseverance and preservation of the saints.
  The content of faith the first question describes
as "the doctrine contained in the Old and New                Since faith is always personal, and the knowl-
Testaments. . .  ."                                        edge of faith is always spiritual knowledge (not
                                                           mere intellectual knowledge), it ought to be ascer-
  This indicates that the knowledge of faith is doc-       tained how each of these doctrines applies person-
trinal knowledge. Reformed churches have always            ally to those making confession of faith. What does
emphasized the importance of doctrine. Reformed            the truth of total depravity mean for you, person-
churches ought to be characterized by precise doc-         ally? The death of Christ  - was that a death for
trinal formulations and doctrinal sensitivity. The         you? Of what significance for you is the truth of the
indifference on the part of many churches and              church and the means of grace?
many church members today to doctrine is only an
indication of the weakness of the churches.                  Essentially, however, faith is not faith in doc-
  It is striking that when the Apostle begins to list      trines, but faith is faith in a Person. The Scriptures
the profit for the church of the inspired Scriptures       emphasize that the object of faith is Jesus Christ,
the very first thing that he mentions is doctrine:         the crucified, risen, exalted Jesus Christ. To believe
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is      is to believe in (or, as the New Testament frequent-
profitable for doctrine . .  ." When he exhorts the        ly puts it: "into") Jesus Christ. To the Philippian
young pastor Timothy to be faithful in his ministry,       jailor Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul's charge to him is, "Take heed to thyself, and        and thou shalt be saved," Acts 16:31. In II Timothy
unto the doctrine . . ." The outstanding sign of the       1: 12 Paul says, "For I know WHOM (not "what"
end-time, according to II Timothy  4:3, is that peo-       but "whom") I have believed, and am persuaded
ple  ". . . will not endure sound doctrine . . .  ."       that He is able to keep that which I have committed
                                                           unto Him against that day."
  The doctrines to be known, believed, and con-
fessed are said to be the doctrines "contained in the        Confession of faith is essentially confession of
Old and New Testaments." This indicates that               faith in Jesus Christ. Does the young person believe
essential to all the other doctrines is the doctrine of    in Jesus Christ? What does he believe about the Per-
Holy Scripture itself.                                     son of Jesus Christ? What does he believe about the
                                                           work of Jesus Christ? Does he trust in Jesus Christ
  Faith in the divine inspiration, and therefore the       and in Him alone for all his salvation?
infallibility of the Bible, is essential on the part of
the young person making confession of faith. This            This is confession of faith! That is the teaching of
must be determined with absolute certainty by the          Romans  10:9, 11: "That if thou shalt confess with
elders. Anyone who questions, has reservations             thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
about, or openly denies the inspiration of Scripture       heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou
must not be permitted to make confession of faith.         shalt be saved. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever
  Does the one confessing his faith believe that the       believeth on Him shall not be ashamed."


258                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



IN THIS CHRISTIAN CHURCH.                                   But this does mean that before God and His
  Not the least significant aspect of the first ques-     Word we are convinced that we are a denomination
tion for confession of faith is that we acknowledge       of churches that manifests the marks of the true
the doctrines of the Scriptures as "taught here in        church in the world. We are not perfect - far from
this Christian Church."                                   it! But we can say, we had better be able to say, that
                                                          the Word is preached in truth in our churches, the
  It is important that the young people know why          sacraments are rightly administered, and Christian
they are making confession of faith in a Protestant       discipline is faithfully exercised.
Reformed Church, and not some other church, or
even some other Reformed church. This implies               This is the church to which I am called to belong.
several things.                                           And this is the church of which I must remain a
                                                          member. This is the third thing implied in confes-
  This implies, first of all, an acquaintance with        sion of faith in THIS church. Since this is a true
the history of our Protestant Reformed Churches.          church of Jesus Christ in which the young person
The young person ought to know the highlights of          confesses his faith, he must be determined to be a
that history. He ought to be able to answer such          faithful member. He may not for any reason leave
questions as: What led to the organization of our         this church: a job, a boy friend or a girl friend, a
churches? Are our churches justified in their             spouse.
separate existence? Were the issues surrounding
the formation of our denomination crucial issues,           This is a serious matter. The seriousness of this is
issues that affected the very heart of the Reformed       that this first question is answered affirmatively
faith?                                                    not just before the church, but before the very face
                                                          of God. How is it possible that we solemnly affirm
  In the second place, confessing faith in THIS           before God that we acknowledge the doctrine of
church carries with it the conviction that the Prot-      the Scriptures as taught in THIS Christian church,
estant Reformed Churches are faithful manifesta-          and then shortly thereafter leave that church and
tions of the true Church of Jesus Christ in the           even turn our back on the church altogether? Those
world. The young person had better be able in good        who do shall one day give account before God!
conscience to say that, or he ought not to make con-
fession of faith in these churches. This does not           The believing young person confesses his faith,
mean that the Protestant Reformed Churches are            acknowledging the doctrines of the Old and New
THE true Church, while all other churches are THE         Testaments as taught in this Christian church
false church. That is not correct, neither have the       because he understands them to be "the true and
Protestant Reformed Churches ever said this,              complete doctrine of  salvation."  Believing these
although some have slanderously affirmed this.            truths, he is saved! Confessing these truths, he is
Nor does this mean that only  PR's are going to           saved! Being a faithful member of the church that
heaven, or at least that all PR's are going to heaven.    teaches these truths, he is saved!

BIBLE STUDIES
Jason L. Kortering





                                           Leviticus -
                   Reconciliation Through Sacrifice



  7. Holiness expressed in the keeping of specific        Then  we have the  Feast  of  the Passover  mentioned,
feasts  (23:1-24:23). The first one mentioned is the      the fourteenth day of the first month  (23:4,  5), the
Sabbath, no work is allowed on the seventh day in         Feast of Unleavened Bread,  the fifteenth day of the
order that they may gather before the Lord (23: l-3).     same month for seven days, no work is to be  per-


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                259



formed during this time, the beginning and ending               and harvest for six years, and the seventh was to be
of the feast is to include a public convocation to the          a year of rest for the Lord. What grew of itself in
Lord,  (23:6-8),  the  Feast of the  First/kits,  at harvest    their fields was not to be harvested. All belonged to
time, they were to bring a sheaf of the Firstfruits to          God and they were to live day by day as He pro-
the priest and he would wave it before the Lord.                vided  (25:1-7).  The Year of Jubilee was to be every
The people were to bring a lamb as a burnt offering             fiftieth year. It began when the trumpet was blown
presented to the Lord as both a meat offering and a             on the Day of Atonement. This year also was
drink offering, (23:9-14),  the Feast ofpentecost,  they        marked by no laboring for harvest nor cultivating
were to count out seven Sabbaths up to fifty days               of grapes. Rather they had to eat from the land as
from the time they brought the offering for the                 God provided, (25%13). We receive further details
Firstfruits, and bring another meal offering. This              as to how the observance of this Year of Jubilee
time they were to bring baked loaves of bread (not              would affect their property. Value of land was
sheaves of grain), and offer various animals as                 determined by its acquisition according to Jubilee.
burnt offering (with meat and drink offerings), sin             Fear of not having enough food for a year, or even
offering, peace offering, accompanied by a day of               two in the event of Jubilee, was quieted by the prom-
holy convocation. They were specifically in-                    ise that Jehovah would bless them with enough in
structed to leave the corners of the field for the              the previous year for three years if they needed it.
poor to glean (23:15-22). We then have the Feast of             They were forbidden to sell the land, and if poverty
Trumpets,  on the seventh month. The first day of               necessitated their having it redeemed, this would
the month was declared a Sabbath. The unique                    be returned on this year. Distinction is made be-
feature for this feast was the blowing of trumpets to           tween walled property and open fields as it relates
call the people to come together for a holy convoca-            `to redemption (25: 14-34). We then receive informa-
tion. They were to avoid servile work and present               tion on how the Year of Jubilee would affect the
offerings before the Lord, (23:23-25). The Great Day            people themselves, especially the poor. Usury was
of Atonement  is mentioned. During this time, the               forbidden, and they were to help the poor. Even if a
tenth day of the seventh month, special mention is              man were sold for debts, he was not to be a slave,
made of "afflicting their souls", so necessary that if          but a hired servant. Bond servants were to be taken
one did not humble himself before the Lord and                  from the heathen. On Jubilee all debts were can-
come with an offering that soul was to be cut off               celed and all freed with certain exceptions stated.
from the people. To do this the people had to avoid             Canceling of debts on Jubilee would be proportion-
work and busy themselves in worship,  (23:26-32).               ate  to. the years of service, (25:35-55).
Finally mention is made of the Feast of TabernacZes.              9. Pronouncements of blessings and curses from
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month for seven             Jehovah (26:1-46). The key-note of the entire law is
days, the people would offer sacrifices to the Lord,            worship Jehovah alone, idols forbidden, keep the
dwell in booths, and wave branches before the                   Sabbaths and reverence the sanctuary  (26:1, 2).
Lord as expression of their joy. The week was to                Then we have a series of blessings which are prom-
begin and end in a holy convocation, a Sabbath. In              ised if Israel will be faithful to God, for example
this way they would properly commemorate their                  rain, abundant harvest, chase away their enemies,
exodus from Eqypt, (23:33-44). We then have some                give them many children, God will dwell among
general instruction about the maintenance of the                them and keep them free (26:3-13). This is followed
tabernacle. The oil must be brought so that the                 by a series of judgments for the opposite: if Israel
lights burn continually, (24: l-4), the loaves of shew-         will not keep God's commands and breaks  His
bread were to be baked and set before the Lord not              covenant, He will slay them before their enemies,
only, but also be used for food for the priests                 dry up the land so no harvest will come, plagues
(245-g).  The incident of the young man, the son of             will come, wild beasts will destroy them, the
an Isfaelitish mother and Egyptian father, when he              enemy will  .destroy them, they will even eat their
cursed the name of the Lord and was stoned to                   children for hunger, their dead bodies will be
death upon the direct instruction of the Lord, is               strewn about, desolation will be in the land, they
recorded. Reminder is given also that anyone who                will be scattered among the heathen. If they con-
kills another person must be killed, blemish for.               fess their sins, God will remember His covenant,
blemish, beast for beast whether this involves an               no matter how bad things are, (26: 14-46).
Israelitish person or a stranger, (24: 10-23).                    10. In conclusion, specific instructions relating
   8. Details are given on the Sabbatical Year and              to previous teachings is given (27: l-34). Details con-
the Year of Jubilee  (25:1-55). When the children of            cerning vows are mentioned. As voluntary obliga-
Israel come to the land of Canaan they are to plow              tions they were not included in the previous re-
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed         quirements. Specific amounts of money to be
Church of Grandville, Michigan.                                 pledged are stated for each age group, male and


260                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



female,  (27:1-8).  This is followed by the value and        2. The keynote of Leviticus is holiness (occurs
kind of animals that may be pledged  (27:9-13),  a         some 87 times). What is the difference between
house (27: 14, 15), land (27: 16-25). Specific instruc-    justification and sanctification? How is this dif-
tion is given concerning those things which be-            ference indicated in this book (the two main divi-
longed to the Lord and how they were affected by           sions) and how is this distinction important for us
the vow, such as the firstlings of animals  (27:26,        to keep in mind?
27), devoted things  (27:28,  29), the things tithed         3. Reflect on the method of sacrificing. Trace the
(27:30-34).                                                history of sacrifice as a form of worship. Here in
SUMMARY CONCLUSIONS                                        Leviticus, sacrifices are distinguished as burnt of-
     As we pointed out before, the great contribution      ferings, meal offerings, peace offerings, sin offer-
of Leviticus to our spiritual understanding rests in       ings, trespass offerings (first 5 chapters). What was
the sacrifice. In this book we have both the way of        the main difference between these offerings and
being right with God (covering of the blood which          what special meaning was there in each?
is basic for our righteousness) and the joy of being         4. The Old Testament saints expressed the fol-
right with God (expressed in our walk of holiness).        lowing elements in their sacrifices: a form of ap-
Even though this gospel truth is here set forth in the     proach unto God (both of reconciliation and
Old Testament form of type and shadow, its                 renewal), they dedicated themselves and their
message is as true for us today  asthen. As we ex-         possessions to God, they gave to God of their
amine the details in which Israel had to bring the         possessions, they expressed praise to Him. Con-
sacrifices to God, we thankfully gaze by faith upon        sider how our worship of God includes these same
the perfect sacrifice God gave us in His Son. What a       elements.
privilege it is for us not to lay our hands upon the         5. Discuss how Christ was present in the Old
head of a goat, but by faith to place our faith upon
the Son of God. We do not look upon the fire on an         Testament sacrifices and illustrate by referring to
                                                           specific elements of the sacrifice.
altar. We bow silently before the cry, "My God, My
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Through blood               6. Show from this book that God
we are reconciled to God, not by the blood of                   a. Instructed Israel in  how  to express their
animals, but by the precious blood of His Son.                     holiness in response to their forgiveness of
     So also for our joyful response. Israel was in-               sin.
structed to show its joy in dwelling in booths, wav-            b.  Expected  them to live a holy life, with the
                                                                   appropriate warnings of punishment.
ing palm branches, carefully keeping minute
details of the law. We do it from the spiritual                 c. Does this apply to us, even though we are
response of thankful worship and a daily walk in                   in the New Testament?
holiness unto the Lord. The law is now written in            7. Describe the feasts and explain what their
our hearts. Justification and sanctification are for-      purpose was in the holy life of Israel. Include the
ever joined together by our merciful Father.               feasts of Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread,
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION                                   Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atone-
                                                           ment, Tabernacles.
     1. How does Leviticus fit into the canon of Scrip-      8. Reflect on the holy life of Israel and our holy
ture, especially that of the Pentateuch?                   life. What were similarities and differences?
THE DAY OF SHADOWS
Tohn A. Hem
J              ,





                        An Angry Prophet's Prayer


     It would certainly be wrong to credit Jonah for       to be rebuked for fleeing to Tarshish when called to
what he did not do. But it would also be unfair to         go to preach in Nineveh. God's visitation upon him
accuse him of sins which he did not commit. He is          in that raging storm at sea and his own words to the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                             261


sailors reveal his sinfulness. He may also be re-            righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah, He would not
buked for not going to Nineveh as soon as the fish           send hail and fire down upon them. Do not forget
spewed him out on dry land. But we err if we say             likewise that in Numbers  14:2 we read that the
that he did not rejoice in the fact that there were          Israelites said, "Would God that we had died in the
converts in Nineveh, men and women who re-                   land of Egypt!" or "Would God that we had died in
ceived God's word and repented of their sins.                the wilderness." This was after the report of the ten
   In the first place, let it be stated that only a small    spies who told Israel that they could not capture the
fraction of the people in Nineveh did turn from              land because of the giants in the land. Yes, even in
their sins and unto God. It was by no means a                Israel at times there was only a figurative handful
wholesale conversion of the city. It is true that the        of true believers. When then the leaders urge the
whole city was ordered by the king to repent and             whole nation to put on sackcloth and pray this does
put on sackcloth and pray for the sparing of the             not mean that there is a mass conversion and turn-
city. But that does not mean that all were sincere           ing to God in true faith. And there is nothing
and did turn to God. Jonah certainly had reason to           strange from that point of view in Jonah's actions
doubt that such a widespread conversion would                and disappointment when the city is spared. He
take place. He knew of isolated conversions of Gen-          had reason to believe that some of this, yea much in
tile individuals such as Rahab and Ruth, but not of          this heathen nation, was only outward appearance
a whole Gentile nation or city. To be sure, the              and fear of punishment, but not fear of God in the
whole city was filled with fear of destruction. They         sense of faith that wants deliverance from the
believed that it could and even would happen, if             power and love of sin.
they continued on their sinful way. But that is not            Besides, it is not true, as pointed out in a
conversion, or saving faith. Do not forget that the          previous installation of this series on the book of
devil also believes, and has seen thousands of times         Jonah, that Jonah fled to Tarshish because of a sin-
that God punished sin. And he does not want to go            ful nationalism which preferred Israel from a
to hell. But he has not the smallest fraction of sav-        fleshly, carnal point of view. He did not limit, or
ing faith.                                                   want limited, the salvation in Christ which God
   Many unbelievers have been told by their physi-           had promised to Abraham and his seed. As a proph-
cian that they have but a few days to live. These            _et of God he  did  want to see Gentiles brought to
unbelievers do not doubt that death is coming.               the faith and saved from God's holy wrath. And he
They feel it themselves in their bones, that is, in the      did rejoice in the salvation of Gentiles in Nineveh.
disease which brought them to that physician. That           His prayer recorded in Jonah  4:2 reveals that he
they believe his word is plain from the fact that            realized very emphatically that his preaching could
they make out a will and try to set their house in           be used by God to turn Gentiles from unbelief to
order. But this does not mean that they believe in           faith, and from sin to repentance and worship to
Christ. They may believe that God is going to take           God.
away their lives, but there is no sorrow in their              No, Jonah's problem was that the ungodly ele-
hearts over their sins. There is no desire for salva-        ment in Nineveh was such a great threat in his
tion in the blood of Christ, and that they be de-            eyes, not to Israel as a nation, but to the Old Testa-
livered from their sinful nature. In the days of Ahab        ment Church. He was looking at -the Jews as the
and Elijah the people were convinced when God                church of God, not as the nation that descended
sent fire down upon Elijah's altar, while Baa1 could         from Abraham and his seed. Granted that even the
not even hear his prophets cry for fire upon their           king repented and could order a city-wide putting
altar. They even cried out, "Jehovah, He is the              away of sins, this would not insure the conversion
God; Jehovah, He is the God." And they waited for            of the majority of the nation, nor that in the coming
rain, but not for salvation. They wanted to be               years this nation would not be a threat to Israel. Do
delivered from the drought, but not from the power           we not read in II Kings  15:29 that Assyria, whose
of sin that held them.                                       capital city was Nineveh, carried away as captives
   So it was with most of Nineveh after Jonah's              Israelites from parts of the Kingdom of Israel such
preaching. And the very fact that we never hear              as Gilead, Galilee and all the land of Napthali?
again after this of Nineveh as a place where there           Jonah had reason to fear what Nineveh could do to
were believing children of God, shows that it was a          Israel. And we may be sure that, when after forty
very small minority of people who did sincerely re-          days there was no visitation by God, the unbe-
pent and separate from their sins. And remember              lievers went back to their evil ways and considered
that God told Abraham that if there were only ten            Jonah to be a false prophet. Jonah may even have
                                                             seen some of this after the forty days, and went out
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant        of the city thinking that God would still destroy it.
Reformed Churches.                                             Jonah's foolish cry that it was better for him to


262                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



die and not to live was not due to an accusation of      would take his life away, and say that it is better for
the Ninevites that he was a false prophet, and           him to die than to live, if God is unjust, and he
because he was ridiculed by the unbelievers for          would have to appear before that unjust god? The
presenting to them a false warning. His very             very fact that he prays to God shows that his trust is
message indirectly contained the possibility of the      still in God as the God of just mercy, grace, and
sparing of the city, if they repented. He preached       slowness to anger. And it is exactly because of these
fully aware of the fact that a mass  repenta.nce         that Jonah is not smitten right then and there for
would bring a continued life to the city. It was not     such anger.
personal embarrassment that brought forth his cry          But put yourself in Jonah's shoes for a moment
for death. All he would have to do is to go back to      and try to understand his problem. Would you not
Canaan, not build a booth outside the city to see        rather die than see God's church wiped off the face
whether God would still destroy the city.                of this earth by the antichrist, who is coming and
  Jonah was angry because a wicked city was              will kill the saints left and right, burn down the
spared. He did not despise God's grace, mercy, and       churches, or hand them over to the ungodly to use
slowness to anger. He did not accuse God of in-          as places of carnal, lustful entertainment? Would
justice. In fact, he attributed Nineveh's continued      you want to see God show the antichristian forces
existence after the forty days as due to God's grace,    some "common grace"? and make their eyes stand
mercy, and slowness to anger. He confesses that          out with fatness? Would you not rather with Jonah
God is all these. And he does not want God's grace       want to be lifted out of those awful days and be
upon any but those whom God brings to repen-             brought into the glory of Christ's kingdom?
tance. No mercy does he want shown to enemies of
God. And in this he is correct. God's grace and mer-       To die in sin is to go to hell. Jonah was not pray-
cy come to man through Christ and never apart            ing for that when he prayed that his life might be
from Him. He told man, in the very first sermon          taken away. His problem was that he could not see
preached to man after he fell, that salvation would      God's wisdom when He spared this "great city" that
come only through The Seed of the Woman, Whom            was such a threat to the church of that day.        `-
Paul in Galatians  3:16 points out is Christ. To           No, Jonah was not unconcerned about the well-
Adam God also clearly indicated that all God's           being of those who did repent. He knew how God
grace and mercy comes through the cross of Christ,       saved Rahab and her family, when the walls of
when the seed of the serpent bruises His heel.           Jericho all around their house fell down. He had
Jonah was absolutely correct in believing that the       every reason to believe that God would spare the
unbelievers in Nineveh, the enemies of the church        believers. In fact he did not even know the exact
of God, can have no grace and mercy shown them,          way that God would destroy the city, if there was
for Christ did not die for them. The human race is       no repentance. But to spare such a fierce enemy of
divided into only two classes of people: those who       the church, to spare the capital city of a nation that
bruised Christ's heel and have no use for His            a few years later did attack the Kingdom of Israel
church, but instead have enmity towards all who          did not seem wise to Jonah.
show faith in Christ, and those whom Christ saved          And before we in pride lift ourselves above Jonah
by His blood and Spirit, and who hate sin of every       and speak of his folly, let us, who on this side of the
kind. There just is no legal basis for the just and      cross of Christ and with far more enlightenment
righteous God to show grace, mercy and slowness          than Jonah had, look at ourselves. You never ques-
to anger unto those who do not belong to Christ, are     tioned God's wisdom? You approved of every work
not connected to Him by God's sovereign, eternal,        He performed that touched your life? What about
unchangeable election. That Jonah does not ques-         the so-called Christians who attack the church to-
tion.                                                    day with false doctrines and try to lead your
  Jonah does not accuse God of being unjust.             children away from the truth, and to look for the
Would he dare to pray to God, as he did, that God                                          (can't. on page 253)
                       News From Our Churches
                                                  Ben Wigger


                                      March 1, 1987        In March of 1926, out of the upheaval of the
  With this issue of the  Standard Bearer, we  con-      common grace question, a very small group formed
tinue the profiles of our churches with a profile of     the local Protestant Reformed congregation of
the  Doon, Iowa, Protestant Reformed Church.             Doon.  This group had its early struggles; no pastor,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                           263



no church home, and heading into the depression             remember this matter in our prayers as it will come
years. This group also had its early problems in            before  Classis  West in March.
regard to growth and falling away. It remained a              An office bearers conference is being planned for
small and struggling group between the corn rows            Tuesday, March 3 in Hull, Iowa on the subject
of the far tip of Northwest Iowa. Many may even             "Dispensationalism". A morning and an afternoon
have often wondered if Doon still existed.                  session are being planned.
  By the grace of God who is the Father of all                 Pastors in the greater Grand Rapids area have
history,  Doon  finally started to thrive under the         once again organized a Marriage Seminar for all
teaching of faithful pastors and a renewed dedica-          those who are planning to be married during this
tion to the truth of the Scriptures; this took place        coming year, as well as those who have been mar-
through the upheaval of the early fifties.                  ried within the past two years.
  For thirty some years of slow but steady and                These seminars are all scheduled to be held on
noticeable growth  Doon now numbers some  fifty-            Thursday evenings at  7:30 and will meet at
plus families with around two hundred forty souls.          Southwest Protestant Reformed Church beginning
  Doon is a relatively young congregation. In their         February 12 and running for five more weeks after
own Protestant Reformed grade school they have              that. Subjects for these seminars were listed as
about fifty pupils, with four teachers instructing.         follows: Feb. 12  - The Foundation, Feb. 19  - The
There are also about fifty children below school            Husband, Feb. 26  - The Wife, March 5  -
age. Their school opened its doors in the fall of           Finances, March 12  - Sex, Children, March 19  -
1967, and has operated faithfully ever since.               Devotions, etc.
  In times past Doon was made up almost entirely              I also noticed that beginning Feb. 1, Rev. Haak of
of farmers, but this has changed drastically in latter      our Lynden, Protestant Reformed Church began a
years. Many of the congregation now work in small           series on Marriage and the Family with a sermon
industries -nearby.                                         entitled Marriage's Divine Origin.
  Doon  worshipped in an old church purchased                 It was also mentioned here last time that Lynden
from the Baptists about fifty years ago. This was           is trying to deal with an overcrowding problem. To
replaced in 1975 by a new edifice and in 1985 a             follow up on that idea, I can inform you that on
new parsonage was built. Both are located on half           February 5, a Thursday evening, the entire congre-
of a city block in the northeastern part of  Doon.          gation of Lynden was asked to gather at the Word
  The most enjoyable and interesting aspect of the          of Life Church. The church was open at 7:00 PM
Doon congregation has been its slow but steady              for the congregation to browse around in. At  8:15
growth, its desire to stand firm in the faith and           the members gathered in the auditorium at which
truths of Scripture, and the faithfulness of our cove-      time Rev. Haak gave a short meditation based on II
nant God in supplying all of their spiritual needs          Peter  1:lO. After this the New Building Committee
through faithful shepherds over the years. The              answered questions on the many options facing the
results of all of this have been a peaceful, loving         congregation. Coffee and fellowship followed in the
congregation, spared from the public gross sins             basement.
which are often devastating to small congregations.           Lynden also began airing their church services
  Edward Van Egdom, who supplied the above in-              on radio station KNIR (1550 AM) on February 8 be-
formation, concludes his letter to me by saying             tween 7:00 and 8:00 A.M.
"thanks be to God and to Him be the glory alone.              Due to Rev. Engelsma's absence on church
We are almost as peaceful as the little city in which       visitation to  Classis  West, the Council of South
we live. Come to see us some time."                         Holland arranged a pulpit exchange with Rev. Van
  From Edmonton we learned that the Lord                    Overloop, their missionary, for the evening service
willing, there could be one more Protestant Re-             of January 18.
formed congregation in Canada. Several families of            On February 13, young people from area chur-
our church in Edmonton live in the neighboring ci-          ches gathered in Grand Village Mall in Grandville,
ty of Lacombe, a city about eighty miles to the             Michigan for a Mystery Person Hunt. If I have this
south. This means they must travel quite a distance         straight, several people disguised themselves and
every Sunday just to get to church. These members           just walked the mall as regular shoppers. The ob-
have decided to seek  Classis' advice and approval          ject for the young people was to discover these dis-
to organize as a separate congregation. Let us all          guised shoppers. It could be embarrassing if you
                                                            guessed wrong. Games and refreshments were pro-
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church    vided afterward at Covenant Christian High
of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   School.


        SECOND CLASS                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
        POSTAGE PAID AT                                                                                                    P.O. Box 6064
 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

                            NOTICE!!!                                                                     NOTICE!!!
   All students enrolled in the Protestant Reformed Seminary, who             The South Holland Protestant Reformed Christian School seeks
will be in need of financial assistance for the coming school year, are    applications for an elementary school teacher for the 1987-1988
asked to contact the Student Aid Committee, Mr. Larry Meulenberg,          academic year. Please send resumd  to Board Secretary, James Lan-
Secretary, 342 Begole S.W., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504. Phone            ting, P.O. Box 156, South Holland, Illinois 60473.
number is: (616) 453-8466. This contact should be made before the
next meeting of the Committee on April 1, 1987, the Lord willing.                                         NOTICE!!!
                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                          The Protestant Reformed Church of Wellington, New Zealand an-
                                                                           nounces the following trio: Revs. Kenneth Koole, Rodney Miersma,
   On March 10, 1987, our parents, MR. AND MRS. JOHN VAN                   and Thomas Miersma.
DEN TOP, observe their 35th wedding anniversary.                                                  -Committee for Contact With Other Churches
   We, their children and grandchildren, are grateful to our covenant
God for the years He has given them and the faithful Christian in-
struction they have given us. We pray God's blessings continue with
them in the years ahead.                                                         CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY
   "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God         All young men desiring to begin studies for the 1987-88 academic
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him." (Deut.          year in the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches
7:9)                                                                       should make application at the March 19, 1987 meeting of the
                                                                           Theological School Committee.
Alan and Viola De Boer                    Steve and LaVon Abma
   Bradley and Andon                         Jodi and Janae                Pre-Seminary Students:
Marvin and LaDonna  Van Den Top                                               A transcript of grades from high school and college (if any), a letter
   Jessica                                                                 of testimony from the student's pastor or consistory, and a cer-
                                                           Doon, Iowa      tificate of health from a reputable physician must accompany the ap-
                                                                           plication.
              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       Seminary Students:
                                                                              A testimonial from the student's consistory that he is a member in
   The Men's Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church         full communion, sound in faith and upright in walk, a certificate of
expresses sympathy to Henry Bergman in the death of his sister,            health from a reputable physician, and high school and college
MARY BERGMAN.                                                              transcripts must accompany the application. All applicants to the
   "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them         seminary department must have completed the equivalent of a  four-
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." (I Thess. 4:14)        year college education (125 semester hours) and must meet the
                                                                           course requirements for entrance to the seminary department. These
Henry Boer, Pres.                                                          entrance requirements are listed in the seminary catalog available
Dave Pohler, Sec'y.                                                        from the school.
                                                                              All seminary department applicants must appear before the
                            NOTICE!!!                                      Theological School Committee for interview before admission is
  The new Clerk of the Pella Protestant Reformed Church is; MR.            granted. In the event that a student can not appear at the March 19th
BEN VAN DER MOLEN, 504 MONROE ST., PELLA, IOWA 50219.                      meeting, notification of this fact along with a suggested interview
                                                                           date must be given to the secretary of the Theological School Com-
                                                                           mittee before this meeting.
                            NOTICE!!!                                         All correspondence should be directed to the Theological School
   Covenant Christian School of Lynden, Washington, is seeking a           Committee, 4949 lvanrest Ave.,  SW., Grandville, Michigan 49418.
Junior High School teacher for the 1987-l 988 school year. Teachers                                                        Jon Huisken, Secretary
of social studies and/or science are especially invited to apply. Those
interested may call Albert De Boer (206) 384-4148 or John Hilton
(206) 988-6032 (home) or  (206) 354-5436 (school). Applications                                           NOTICE! ! !
should be sent to: COVENANT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, 9088  NORT-
WOOD ROAD, LYNDEN, WASHINGTON 98264.                                          "Covenant Christian High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is ac-
                                                                           cepting applications for a full-time teaching position. Applicants
                                                                           should be willing and able to teach Business Courses, English, and
                Share a gift of                                            Physical Education. Applicants should have a broad-based educa-
                                                                           tional background. Applications may also be submitted for the posi-
                                                                           tion of Choir Director, Band Director and Librarian. Applicants must
        the Standard Bearer.                                               possess secondary certification."
                                                                             "Inquiries or formal letters of application should be sent to Cove-
                                                                           nant Christian High School, 1401 Ferndale  S.W., Grand Rapids, Ml
                                                                           49504. Attention: Miss Agatha Lubbers, principal and Dr. R. Van
                                                                           Putten, Education Committee Chairman. Please include a resume."


