           The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
c           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


       That the tongue, by the grace -of God, is
     also a great power for good is well known to
     every one who has been blessed by the
     preaching of the Gospel, helped by the wit-
     ness, admonitions, and comforting words of
     fellow believers, and nurtured by covenant
     instruction in home and school. It is impera-
     tive, therefore, for the well-being of  .home,
     school, and church that.God's children keep
     their `tongues from evil and have their
     speech seasoned with the salt of God's grace
     (Ps.  34:13, Col.  4:6).                   ,
           See Taking Heed To The Doctrine, p. 342

                                                Vol.  LXIII, No. 15, May 1, 1987  -


338                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER




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       Why Evolution? (6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341 .I      bers, Rev.  .Thomas  C. Miersma, Rev.  James's 1 opsema, Rev. Gise  J. Van  Baren,
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MEDITATION                                   .<..                 ., . .                                                                                                     . .
Cornelius Hanko

                                                                                                                                                             _

          .-          Our Approach To God In Prayer

                                                                                      .i

                   Ques. 120. Why hath God commanded us to address God thus: "Our Father"?
                   Ans. That immediately, in the very beginning  of  our prayer, he might excite in us a childlike
                reverence  for, and confidence in God, which are the fouridation of our prayer; namely, that God
                is become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith,
                than our parents will refuse us earthly things.
                Ques.  1.21. Why is here added,  "Which~ art in heaven"?
                   Ans. Lest we should form any earthly conceptions of God's heavenly majesty, and that we
                may expect from his almighty power all things necessary for soul and body.
                                                 .                                                      Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 46


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                           339



   We pause at the portal of God's sanctuary.                 Holy is His Name. The angels hide their faces
   As we bend our knees in prayer we do well to             before Him in worship and adoration, as they
reflect on this deeply spiritual undertaking. We are        declare: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
about to enter into the presence of the Holy One of         heaven and earth are full of thy glory! The saints in
Israel, the Most High and living God, who dwells in         heaven never cease to marvel in amazement and
the dazzling brightness of His own glorious perfec-         worship as they behold His infinite majesty,
tion as God above all, blessed forever. We will stand       endless perfections, and eternal blessedness! The
before His face, pour out our souls in prayer and           heavens declare His glory, the firmament  shoxYs
supplication, with thanksgiving, worshipping in             His handiwork, all creation joins in singing its
holy adoration the God of our salvation in Jesus            Maker's praise! And thou, my soul, bless thou Him
Christ. We want to experience that intimate com-            above all!
munion of life which God establishes with us                  God is the righteous Judge, Who judges accord-
through a living bond of faith that unites us to Him.       ing to strictest justice as sovereign Ruler over the
We seek His approval, which is more to us than life         angels, over the demons of hell, over every man,
itself.                                                     woman and child that ever lives upon the face of
   We realize, as Jesus teaches us, that we must not        the earth. Whom He curses is indeed cursed; whom
pray as do the hypocrites, standing on the street           He blesses is richly blessed. Both His curse and His
corners to be seen of men. Men see them; they have          blessing are eternal in perfect righteousness, that
their reward. Nor must we pattern our prayers after         every tongue may be stopped, and God be justified
the pagans, who attempt to impose their wishes              into all eternity.
upon their vain idols by shouting, crying, pouring            Jehovah is His Name, for He is the almighty, un-
out volumes of words. Our Father knows what we              changeable, ever faithful and gracious God, who
have need of even before we ask it of Him.                  lives His own glorious covenant life in intimate
   Our Lord gives us a "model prayer", brief, so            communion of the three divine Persons within His
that it can be spoken in a few minutes; simple, so          one Being, and who brings His chosen ones into His
that a small child can grasp it; yet at the same time       fellowship and life, to be blessed forever to the
so rich, so fully expressive of all our needs, that it      praise of His glory! Blessed is that people whose
takes us a life-time to learn it. Well may we ask that      God is Jehovah!
the Holy Spirit apply that Word of Christ to our
hearts, teaching us also a proper approach to God in          Never would we know Him unless He reveals
prayer!                                                     Himself unto us. No one has ever seen God or can
                                                            see Him. No creature can discover Him. Canst thou
   Our Lord teaches us to say: "Our  ,Father   which
art in heaven. `I                                           by searching find out God? No one is worthy to
                                                            stand in His presence; especially not we who are
   We are to address our God in the deep awareness          conceived and born in sin, and increase our guilt
of our own insignificance and His exalted majesty           daily with our many transgressions. Who shall as-
as God above all, blessed forever! He is so infinitely      cend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in
far beyond us! Heaven is His throne, yet even the           His Holy Place?
heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He is Light,
in whom is no darkness whatever. He is Life, the              In a mercy far beyond human comprehension,
eternal fulness of light, in whose light alone we see       God has willed to reveal Himself to us as the God of
the light.  ,He is the only and perfect source of all       our salvation in Christ Jesus. He has condescended
light and life, the fulness of blessedness and in-          to come to us, for we could never come to Him. He
finite, eternal glory. With whom would we liken             emptied Himself of His divine glory, was born like
God? What is man? A mere speck of dust!                     any one of us  from- the virgin Mary, the most
                                                            blessed among women. He took upon Himself the
   We are aware that almighty power belongs to              form of a Servant, humbled Himself in complete
.Him. Apart from Him there is no might, no power,           self-surrender to the Father, bowed His mighty
no creature that stirs. He is the sovereign Creator,        shoulders under the burden of divine wrath against
who calls the things that are not as though they            our sins,.even unto the accursed death of the cross,
were. By His eternal providence He upholds and              the horrible isolation and anguish of hell, until He
governs all things, so that in Him we live, and             had delivered us from the curse and merited for us
move, and have our being, carrying out the counsel          eternal access to the Father. Even that was not suf-
of His will unto His glory, even according to His           ficient to prepare for us a living way to the throne
eternal purpose. What are we? Helpless, dependent           of grace. Our Lord conquered over death and the
creatures!                                                  grave, ascended to heaven, where He now in-
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    tercedes for us before the Father. We have an Ad-
Reformed Churches.                                          vocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous!


340                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



  Well may.we  pause before we utter a single word       reminded that of ourselves we have no right to that
of prayer to remind ourselves that our God is in the     name; dare not, may not, and cannot utter it! We
heavens, while we are on the earth. Well may we          are by nature children of wrath, sold under sin.
breathe the prayer of. worship in fear and  adora-       Our sins rise up against us, testifying how unfaith-
tion:                                                    ful we have been, even as those who are called the
         0 Lord Most High,. with all my heart            sons and daughters of God. But the Spirit of Jesus
           Thy wondrous works I will proclaim;           Christ in our hearts gives us confidence, testifying
         I will be glad and give Thee thanks             in us of the right to. confess our sins, to seek forgive-
           And sing the praises of Thy Name!             ness, assured that we will find mercy. Though our
                                                         sins be as scarlet, our God is able to cleanse us and
   Only then can we sincerely say: "Our Father!"         make us as white as snow in the blood of Jesus
   True it is that there are many other names that       Christ.
God has given us whereby we may speak of Him               Child-like humility prevents us from imposing
and address Him. The saints of the old dispensation      our will upon Father, who certainly knows what is
had many names whereby they spoke of God and             good for us. We do not dictate, but we pour out our
to Him. We have evidence of that in Psalm 91: 1, 2,      souls, telling Him all our needs, our cares, our anx-
where the sweet singer of Israel confesses: "He that     ieties, our doubts and fears, and then asking for
dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall      complete submission to Father's will.
abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say         In child-like trust we cast away all concern, for
of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my         He who cares for the sparrow on the housetop cares
God; in him will I trust." The circumstances in          much more for us. We. only ask that we may be pa-
which we find ourselves often determine the Name         tient in adversity, thankful in prosperity,. and in
of God which best fits our needs or naturally comes      whatever befalls us to rest in contentment!
to mind. Yet among all those various names, and
there are many, our Lord has taught us to address          We do not try to repay Father for His benefits;
God by saying: Our Father!                               we know He does not expect that of  us:What,  in-
                                                         deed, shall we render unto the Lord for all His
   It  .seems to me that it came as a surprise to His    benefits that He bestows on us? We take up the cup
disciples that among all the possible names where-       of salvation, thankfully mindful of all His gifts of
by they were accustomed to address God, among            mercy, and extend needy, dependent hands to
which stood out the name Jehovah, that Jesus             heaven, always asking for more, alone from Father!
should teach them to address God as Father. They
likely had never done that before. In the old  dis-        As we are about to pray, there is still one more
pensation the Father-Name is rarely used. Christ         lesson we must learn. We must say: OUR Father
had not yet come. The church was still under the         which art in heaven! That `our' is very important.
law, tenaciously clinging to the promise of the com-       Not as if we never approach God as individuals
ing Savior. Even while Jesus was among them they         with our personal needs, but it is our privilege to
were not accustomed to hear or use that Name. But        pray through our Mediator Jesus Christ, so that our
our Lord was reaching out into the future, beyond        prayers mingle with the prayers of all the saints of
Pentecost, beyond the outpouring of the Holy             all ages, and arise as a daily sacrifice before the face
Spirit, when the richer Spirit would give them a         of God.
richer revelation of the wonder of our salvation, a        This people is our people, their God is our God,
far more intimate communion of life with God. The        their needs are our needs! 0 the blessedness to
Spirit of adoption  -would teach them, even as it        belong to the family of God, now, eternally!
teaches us to cry out: Abba, Father!                       With them we ask: Teach us, Lord, to pray: "Our
  As we take that name of Father on our lips we are      Father which art in heaven!"

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                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              341


                                                               ?
EDITORIAL




                                  Whv Evolution? (6)
                                            L





   Chapter 4 of Dr. Howard Van Till's  The  Fourth           call attention to various poetic references from  the-
Day  is entitled "The Form and Content of Scrip-             Psalms and elsewhere to God's works of creation
tural Talk about Creation."                                  and providence in such a way as to -attempt to'
   Incidentally, unless otherwise indicated, when            destroy the specific testimony of such passages. I
he speaks of Scripture and quotes from Scripture,            shall not go into detail on this score: for I discussed
he is referring to the Jerusalem Bible. I have not           it in my previous editorial. The main point is that
mentioned this previously; neither do I intend to            Van Till seems to think that somehow the fact that
discuss this. I only want to say that' the use of the        Scripture employs ". . . the form of poetry in which
Jerusalem Bible ought to be repugnant to any right-          God's actions are presented in highly figurative and
thinking,- Reformed Christian. But if one analyzes           anthropomorphic language" eliminates the
Van Till's book carefully, he will discover that             possibility that Scripture in doing so speaks very ac-
there are reasons for his using this version. Its            curate and specific and factual language about our
language suits his purpose.                                  God and His mighty works. In this connection, by
                                                             the way, he even classifies terms such as
   If I were to characterize the thrust of this              "wisdom," "discernment," "knowledge," and
chapter, I would say that in it Dr. Van Till's pur-          "power," when applied to God, as "figures of
pose is becoming more and more obvious. Instead              speech" (p. 59). It is in this way that Van Till tries to
of carefully listening to Scripture and its clear and        do away with the clear testimony of Scripture. I
unmistakeable testimony, he  uses  it to prepare             challenge anyone to make clear exegetically and on
eventual room for his particular brand of evolution-         Scriptural grounds how the testimony, for example,
ism and its billions of years.                               of Psalm  33:6 and 9 can be understood by anyone
   How does he do this?                                      - adult or child - in such a way that it leaves room
   In the first place, he continues to pay attention to      for billions of years of evolutionary development of
the many poetic references to God's mighty works             the universe. Does God speak? Or is that an empty
of creation and providence, without paying any at-           figure? Does His speech have the immediate effect
tention whatsoever to the historical account of              of producing what it says? Does He command? Or
creation as found in Genesis 1 or to other obviously         is that, too, a mere empty figure? Is His command
historical references to creation, as, for example, in       effectual, so that it establishes what He commands?
the Fourth Commandment. There is one exception               Were the heavens indeed made by His "Word" and
to this in the chapter. One might say that the rabbit        all the host of the heavens actually produced by the
is about to come out of the hat. For on page 65 he           Spirit of His mouth? Figurative, and anthropo-
writes: "As it is found in the Bible, artistic literature    morphic language has meaning, specific meaning.
creatively and effectively employs such genres as            Never forget this!                   _
poetry, parable, allegory, story of origins, and               In the third place - and this is undoubtedly the
primal history . . .  ." And in a footnote he writes:        main item in this chapter  - Dr. Van Till expands
"The terms `primal` history' and `primeval history'          the meaning of the divine work of creating and fails
are commonly used to identify the genre of Genesis           to maintain the distinction (a Biblical and confes-
I-11. We will discuss this term more thoroughly in           sional one) between God S work of creation and His
C h a p t e r   F i v e . "                                  work of providence. He professes to believe that
   In the second place, in discussing the "form" of          creation is creation ex nihiZo ("out of nothing"), but
Scripture's references to creation, he continues to          he wants to add to this. I quote from page 65:


342                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



         Now let's put these four categories of God's                        to a balanced consideration of the multiple categories       1
       creative activity together to form the complete pic-                  of divine creativity. It has the form of a statement that
       ture. God is the Creator; as Creator, God is the                      clearly identifies the status of the material world - a
       Originator, Preserver, Governor, and Provider of the                  status that in essence entails a relationship of dynamic
       Creation. God's multidimensional activity as Creator,                 dependency . . . .
       therefore, is not confined to some instant of "exnihila-        Now I have no particular love for the phrase "ex
       tion" in either the recent or remote past. God's activi-      nihilo." For it is not totally accurate to say that
       ty is just as necessary for our daily life in the present
       as it was at any time in the past. Each moment of each        creation is to "make something out of nothing." It
       day, for example, we experience his action as our             is more accurate to describe the work of creation as
       Preserver, Governor, and Provider. This experience            being that- God calls those things which be not as
       provides a reservoir of illustrations of God's covenant       though they were. But this is not the point now.
       faithfulness in the same way that the experiences of          The point is that Van Till wants to expand the
       the biblical historians, prophets, and poets provided         definition of creation so as to include what is in-
       the occasions for their witness and testimony to God's        cluded in the doctrine of providence. In this way he
       faithful acts in history and in the lives of his people of    can get away from the Biblical idea of instan-
       centuries past.                                               taneous creation of all things in six days, limited by
   Again, on page 66 he writes:                                      morning and evening, but still maintain that he
         We have a tendency to summarize the biblical doc-           believes in some kind of creative work of God, and,
       trine of creation by saying, "The cosmos was created          thus at the same time prepare room for his billions
       by God." That is altogether correct, of course, but the       of years and for the "big bang."'
       past-tense verb indicates our inclination to think of           Dr. Van Till does'not listen`to Scripture. Neither
   creation solely  in,terms  of the act of exnihilation. It         does he adhere to the teaching of our Confessions.
       strikes me that the statement "The cosmos  is God's
       Creation" constitutes a better summary of biblical              He wants evolutionism, not the Biblical doctrine
       teaching about creation. It includes the idea of ex           of creation. And he must not  ,say. that he believes
       nihilo origination, but goes beyond that, lending itself      the doctrine of creation.                                 H C H

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Ronald J. Hanko

                                                                       _,



                                                                                                            ..





                               G.od Is A God Of' Truth (1) ..



                                                                                .
   The ninth commandment is the second of the ten                    even the Father; and therewith curse we men,
that deals with sins of the tongue. In distinction                   which are made after the similitude of God," James
from `the third commandment which forbids all                        says  (3:9).
evil-speaking against God,, especially in the misuse                    In that third chapter of his Epistle, James tells us
of His Name, the ninth commandment censures all                      why the tongue is such a great power for evil. It is,
evil-speaking among men and in the every-day                         James  remindsus first of all, a whole world of ini-
relationships of life. Nevertheless, the  fact' that                 quity, that is, every sin that is in the world can be
there are two such closely related commandments                      committed by the tongue. It is active in idolatry and
shows clearly what a great power either for good or                  all false teaching and worship, in blasphemy and
evil the tongue can be. "Therewith bless we God,                     sabbath desecration. Even in such heinous sins as
                                                                     murder, adultery, and robbery' the tongue is no
Ronald J. Hanko is pastor  of  Trinity Protestant Reformed           mean tool. It is able; therefore, to set on fire "the
Church, Houston, Texas.                                              whole course of nature," that is, the whole of man's


                            . .

                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               343



life, as is evident in the tremendous influence ex-        2: 13). Because He does not change, even in His
erted upon the life of man by godless philosophy           Word, we are not  .consumed (Mal.  3:6). If that
and teaching. promoted by the media, by the                truthfulness of God means anything at all to us,
schools, and by the godless.pulpits  of apostate chur-     then it means that we will keep the ninth com-
ches. But at the very heart of the matter, says            mandment to the best of  "our ability. In other
James, is the fact that the tongue is in direct contact    words, our love for and hope in God's truthfulness
with hell, so that it is not just humanistic               is measured by our obedience to this command-
philosophy and morality that are promoted in every         ment, which is a very practical application of `the
area of society by the influence of the tongue, but        truthfulness of God to our daily lives. Only those,
the doctrines of devils, and the gross immorality          therefore, who are thankful to God for the im-
which pleases the Prince of Darkness.                      mutability of His promises and the' surety of His
   That the tongue, by the grace of God, is also a         Word can ever really be obedient to this ninth com-
great power for good is well known to every one            m a n d m e n t .
who has been blessed by the preaching of the                 -From another viewpoint, all this means that only
Gospel, helped by the witness, admonitions, and            in that way of being "of the truth" (Jn.  18:37)  can
comforting words of fellow believers, and nurtured         there be any fellowship with God. In Psalm 15
by covenant instruction in home and school. It is          David asks who will abide in God's tabernacle and
imperative, therefore, for the well-being of home,         mentions especially those who keep themselves
school, and church that God's children keep their          from the sins of the tongue forbidden by this com-
tongues from evil and have their speech seasoned           mandment: "He that . . . speaketh the truth in his
with the salt of God's grace (Ps.  34:13, Col.  4:6).      heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue . . .
   Nonetheless, the chief reason why we must tame          nor taketh up..a reproach against his neighbor . . . .
our unruly tongues, even in our relationships with         He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth
others, is the glory of God. It is true that the ninth     not" (vss.  2-4): It is also for this reason that the
commandment forbids all lying and deceit and re-           spiritual growth of the church and the mutual
quires that we speak the truth in our dealings with        edification of the members are tied so closely to
other men, but this too must be done toward God            their "speaking the truth in love" to one another.
and for His sake. As far as the ninth commandment          Only in that way does the church live in the fellow-
is concerned, this simply means that the ninth com-        ship of God and only in the fellowship of God is
mandment, like all the others, is grounded in God's        there any blessing (cf. Eph.  4-:,l5, 16).
own perfection and glory, particularly in His glory          By the same token the wicked reveal their
as the God of truth. We must speak the truth               apostasy from God especially in the way of these
because God is true, and hate the lie because we           sins. In all their turning away from God they "turn
love God, Who is "a God of truth and without ini-          the truth of God into a lie" (Rom.  1:25).  The truth
quity" (Deut.  32:4, cf. also Ps.  108:4,  117:2, Jn.      of God referred to here is not the truth as it`comes
3:33, Rom.  3:4).                                          from God, but the truth that is God. In all their
   That God is a God of truth is part of His im-           rebellion, then, it is the glory of God Himself as a
mutability. That He is true means especially that          God of truth that is denied and corrupted by ungod-
He is immutable or unchangeable in His Word, and           ly men. God, therefore, hates all deceit not merely
that His Word is always in perfect harmony with            because it is disobedient, but because it is always
His own holiness and purpose. In other words, His          an act of rebellion against God Himself. Certainly
promises do not change from one age to another, as         Satan's speaking the lie to Adam and Eve in
the dispensationalists teach, nor does He, to use          Paradise and their listening to his lie proves this. In
another example, purpose only the salvation of His         fact Satan himself, as the great rebel against God
elect, and then "say" in the Gospel that He wants          and as the leader and Prince of all the rebellious
to save all men. That God is the same in His Word          powers of darkness is named "Liar" (Devil) and
and revelation as He is in Himself has always been         "Slanderer" (Satan). Likewise Paul, in describing
a fundamental principle of all Reformed, Biblical          the depravity of the world under sin and in revolt,
doctrine. It is also the basic principle of this ninth     speaks before anything else of the fact that "their
commandment, and therefore something very prac-            throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they
tical.                                                     have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their
   Because Gods "truthfulness" is so important for         lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness"
our hope of salvation, we must be very much con-           (Rom.  3:13, 14).
cerned about obedience to the ninth command-                 In turning away from God, therefore, the wicked
ment. That He is true means for us that He cannot          turn to and practice the lie in everything they do, so
deny Himself, and thus abides faithful, keeping His        that their religion is the lie of idolatry, their
Word  and'doing  what He has promised (II Tim.             philosophy a godless deception, and their life a liv-


3 4 4                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



ing, lying claim that they can have peace and hope        truth, not only by speaking the things that are true,
without God. So much is this true that in the world       but by delivering us from the slavery of the lie. He
the normal way of carrying on one's business, even        is the truth  (Jn:  14:6), not only because He reveals
of governing the nations is the way of boasting,          the truth, but because He reveals it in us, making us
propaganda, and falsehood.                                "of the truth" and causing us to hear His voice. He
     It all comes down to this, that a man's spiritual    quenches the hellish fire that burns in our lips and
character is most clearly revealed in his speech. As      tongues by fighting fire with fire, baptizing us with
Jesus says in Matthew  1233-37,  it is "out of the        the fiery work of His Holy Spirit. He sets a guard to
abundance of the heart" that "the mouth                   the  .door of our lips, sealing them to all but the
speaketh" so that even on the judgment day a man          Word of God. He changes our hearts by the
will be justified or condemned by his speech. In the      regenerating work of His Spirit so that the abun-
same way that the speech of the Ephraimites be-           dance of the heart out of which our mouths speak is
trayed their family and origin (Judg.  12:1-7)  the       the abundant thanksgiving that redounds to the
speech of the ungodly betrays their spiritual de-         glory of God. By the gift of faith He binds us to
scent from their father the Devil, who was a liar .       Himself and cuts the connection between our
from the beginning (Jn. 8:44). In the same way also,      tongues and hell. Even more, by speaking the truth
the speech  .of Christians must also "betray" their       in all His ministry, even when it brought upon Him
being-born by regeneration and nurtured by the            the sentence of death. and bitter hatred of His
Spirit in the family and house of God.                    enemies, He substituted a perfect obedience for our
                                                          disobedience and paid for the world of iniquity that
     Only by the grace of God is that possible. James     is in our mouths. In His work, therefore, Christ is
says that though men at one time and another have         not only the truth, but also the way and the life, for
tamed every creature of land and sea, no man has          in bringing us to the truth, He brings us to God,
ever tamed his own tongue.. God must do it. That          Whom to know is life .eternal.
we need the grace of God is powerfully brought
home in the experience of raising children. They            Keeping the ninth commandment,  .then, is our
must be taught the truth, but not deceit and false-       way of showing that we know and have received
hood  - that they know without any instruction,           that grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and that we ap-
from the moment they begin to speak and even              preciate it. Obedience to the ninth commandment
before. They are "of themselves liars, and more           is the way in which we show that we have received
vain than vanity itself" (Belgic Confession, Article      the true testimqny of Christ Himself and have set to
V        I    I    )    .                                 our seal that God is true (Jn.  3:33). For that grace
                                                          we pray when we ask; "Set a watch, 0 Lord, before
     That grace which tames our tongues must be and       my mouth; keep the door of my  ,lips" (Ps. 141:3).
is the grace of God in Christ. Christ teaches us the

GUEST ARTICLE
Robert C. Harbach





                               Jesus Prothcting (1)



     In the Gospel according to John, chapter 18,         introductory in character; 2-12 record Christ's
verses 8-9, we read, "Jesus answered, `I have told        ministry; 13 shows our only high priest  ap-
you that I am (He). If, therefore, ye seek Me, let        proaching the laver where he washes the disciples'
these go their way;' that the saying might be  ful-       feet; 14-16 show our high priest passing on to the
filled,  .which He spake, `Of them which Thou             holy place; in 17 He spiritually enters the holy
gavest Me, have I lost none."' This 18th chapter          place; in 18 He moves on toward the mercy-seat, in
begins a new section in John's Gospel. Chapter 1 is       the holy of  holies;  in 19 He enters in through the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               345



vail (His flesh), and sprinkles the blood on the              Judas could make his signal of the betrayal kiss.
mercy-seat; 20-21 record the victory of the                   The matter is taken out of Judas' hands; it is all in
resurrection and the purpose of the book. Now.let             Jesus' control. For not Judas, but Jesus identifies
us look at the text from the point of view of Jesus           Himself to His captors.
Protecting His  Owri, considering, I. Who (the                  At every step taking the initiative, Jesus was the
disciples),  .II. How (by a word), and III. Why (so           first to speak: "Whom seek ye?" He did not wait to
that . .  .),                                                 be challenged. Why did He begin -His own advance
   "When Jesus had spoken these words . .  ." His             upon them with this question? The reason is given
ministry as our Chief Prophet and Teacher extends             in the.therefore. "Jesus therefore knowing all things
from chapters 1-12. At chapter 13 He enters upon              coming upon Him, went out and said to them,
His priestly work, so that "these words" are those            `Whom seek ye?"' He knew the evil intent of this
of chapters 13-17. "Then He went forth with His               mob. He knew the purpose.of all these things hap-
disciples over the (winter-) brook Cedron, where              pening to Him: in this way He would go to the
was a garden" - Gethsemane, although John does                Cross. He knew His  .own purpose, the ultimate
not mention the name. But John is the only one                realization of the joy that was set before Him in
who does record this passage of verses 4-9! Into the          gaining the victory of sitting at the right hand of the
garden Jesus entered with His disciples. We learn at          throne of' God. To this end He was willing to
this point that Judas has been excluded from the              despise the shame and endure the cross. This made
number of the disciples. Further, the Lord's appear-          their lanterns, torches, and weapons ridiculous!
ing here was to show (1) that, not Judas, but He was            They answered Him, `Jesus, the Nazarene.' Jesus
in charge of all the following circumstances,-and (2)         saith unto them, `I am He.' The reply was from the
that He would thus provide an easy escape for His             head of the Roman force, leading the club-carrying
disciples, while (3)  He  identifies  HimseZf   to the        crowd of Jews. They all saw Him. Jesus had put
J u d a s - m o b .   _                                       Himself forward in view of all. Their torches and
   Now Judas, too', who was betraying Him, knew               lanterns clearly revealed His well known face and
the place. This knowledge of Judas was part of his            figure. Lenski says that "two things help to explain
education in the school of Christ. What it earned             the form" (of their reply)  - "the. unexpected
him was the highest degree in hell! In contrast to            challenge in the question of Jesus and the ringing
what Judas knew,  "Jesus  . . . knowing all things            note of authority demanding an answer."
coming upon Him, went forth" in perfect control of              And Judas,- too, who was betraying Him, was
all those things.  He  had ordained that His chosen           standing with them. (He is no more numbered with
place for prayer should be the place of His agony             the disciples.) John does not mention the betrayal
and betrayal. There He would meet the enemy at                sign of the Judas-kiss. His account is concerned
the beginning of .His last earthly battle on His own          with other, heretofore unsupplied details. But can
ground.                                                       we determine .where in John's account this dastard-
   "Judas then, having received a band of men and             ly deed occurred? By comparing Luke's account,
officers from the chief priests and Pharisees,  com-          we may say it took place between what we read of
eth thither with lanterns and torches and weap.ons"           in John 18:9, 10; Judas, at last, showed plainly what
(v. 3). This was a rather large force of men, Roman           side he was on. There the wretched turncoat was
soldiers armed (the Jews were not permitted to                betraying Jesus, also by standing, continuing to
have arms), followed by the chief priests, captains           stand, with the enemy. Judas showed himself
of the temple, and the elders (Lk. 22:52). There they         "anti-". He was not regarded as an  "anti-Semite"
approached with lanterns, torches, clubs and                  (although. he deserves having the label applied to
weapons; but the text says, "Judas comes" with all            him, for he dishonored "the tents of Shem," where
that!  He was at the head of this sinister crew.              God was pleased to dwell), but he was a  "semite-
   "Jesus, therefore, knowing all things coming               anti." He was anti-Christ. He was "standing with
upon;Him" (v. 4.) . . . "knowing that His hour was            them," with all those many antichrists.
come"  (13:1),  and "knowing that the Father had                "As soon, then, as He had said unto them, `I am
given aU things into His hands" (13:3),  then took the        (He),' they (including Judas) went backward
initiative, and went forth to meet the enemy. For             (stumbled  away from  Him), and (then) fell to the
they His enemies, all their might and movements,              ground." It was His repeated reply, "I am He"
were in His hands. Thus He "went out." (Compare"              which caused them to stagger backward away from
this with "into which He went," v. 1). This posi-             Him and then to fall to the ground. Two facts are
tioned Him just outside the garden gate, where                recorded: they went backward and they fell down.
                                                              They actually shrank and retreated from  Him. This
Robert C. Harbach is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    is what John says happened to that mob of several
Reformed Churches.                                            hundred men  - trained -Roman soldiers facing


346                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Jesus, followed by the non-military crowd of Jews.          that which He doth please. It is also remarkable
"I am" throws them all back and down onto the               that to His elect His divine "I am" is accompanied
ground. Here we see two miracles at the Garden of           by, "Don't be afraid!", a word of comfort that with
Gethsemane: (1) this falling to the ground of Gen-          respect to the reprobate is lacking. For their name is
tile soldiers and temple Jews at the powerful               Magor-missabib, "Fear on every side" (Jer.  20:3).
presence and voice of the Lord. His power was ad-           Divine judgment pursues them to the Day of Judg-
justed to jerk them backward, then to throw them            ment when they will not be able to plead ignorance
all down to the ground. Nor were they able to rise          of the glory and majesty of His person, nor claim
again until He addressed them again. He had the             that they never had witnessed His mighty power,
power to split open the earth under their feet to           nor had opportunity to surrender to Him.
swallow  them.down  into the pit, as God did with             "As soon as He had said unto them; I am, they
Korah and his co-conspirators. So Jesus showed              went backward, and fell to the ground." In the
that He was in control, and that they could take            Psalms,  ,and so in our indispensable Psalter, we
Him only if He voluntarily gave Himself into their          hear the Messiah (Ps.  2:2), the Son (2:  12), singing
hands. (2) Jesus protected His disciples from all           many of the psalms of praise to God. Psalter No. 71,
harm. The high priest's servant was hurt. But not a         stanza 2,  isa messianic prophecy fulfilled then at
scratch came to the eleven, although they were sur-         the moment of John 18:6. Picture the Messiah sing-
rounded by a huge posse, a small army. Jesus pro-
tected and preserved them. Peter especially was en-         ing,
dangered, for he was the one who had struck with                    When evil .doers come
the sword. But the danger was removed in the                        To make My life their prey,
restoring and healing of Malchus, and that by only                  They stumbled in their shame
a mere touch of Jesus' hand. Luke, the beloved                      And fell in sore dismay;
physician, alone records this miracle. In every age,                Tho' hosts make war on ev'ry .side,
believers are small in number compared with the                     Still fearless I in God confide.
wicked world. But God's promise is, "Fear not, lit-           Very likely Psalm 27 was in Jesus' mind on His
tle flock, for-it is your Father's good pleasure to give    way to, and later, out from the garden. The above
you the kingdom'.' (Lk.  12:32). Jesus is always in         stanza was His song Godward.  Psalm 35:4 applies to
control. Even the stormy wind and the raging sea            this Judas-led mob  manward.  "Let them be con-
obey Him. For on one occasion He had appeared               founded and put to shame that seek after My soul;
walking on the sea to still the terrified hearts of His     let them be turned back and brought to confusion
disciples with, "I am! Fear not!" (John 6:20, Greek).       that devise My hurt." Psalm 40 is certainly messi-
But here His "I am" had the opposite effect.                anic (v. 7,  8), and-v. 14 was fulfilled there at the
Christ's word (and He is  the  Word!) always has a          garden gate. "Let them be ashamed and con-
two-fold effect. The same word is to some a "savor          founded together that seek after My soul to destroy
of life unto life," while to others it is "a savor of       it; let them be driven backward and put to shame
death unto death." Either way,  God's.Word never            that wish Me evil." God always watches over His
returns unto Him void,. but always accomplishes             Word to perform it!  - (To be continued, D.V.).
FEATURE
David J. Engelsma




              Serious Call or We&Meant Offer?


  In an'earlier article, in the March 15, 1987 issue        Reformed, Presbyterian, and Calvinistic circles  to-
of The Standard Bearer, I showed that the teaching          day, both in our country and abroad, and that adop-
(and practice) of a "well-meant offer of the Gospel"        tion~of this explanation of the Divine calling vitally
to all, who hear the preaching is a lively issue in         affects fundamental doctrines of the historic  Re-


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                              347



formed Faith. In the course of their defense of the               Romans  8:30 indicates the sovereignty and ef-
offer, some `are now referring to the denial of the             ficacy of the saving call in two ways. First, it is God
well-meant offer by the Protestant Reformed                     Who.calls. Although He uses the "earthen vessel"
Churches, invariably rejecting. this denial as ra-              of a preacher and although He speaks through the
tionalism and hyper-Calvinism. Despite this rejec-              foolishness of preaching, it is "He (Who) also
tion of their theological position, the Protestant              called." The Word of this call is the living Word of
Reformed ought to welcome the current discussion                God; and God's Word "calleth those things which
of the offer, inasmuch as it affords them the oppor-            be not as though they were," quickening the dead
tunity, if it does not confront them with the duty, to          (Romans  4:17). The Word that goes out of God's
give account of their understanding (and practice)              mouth. "shall not return unto Me void, but it shall
of the call of the Gospel, particularly the serious             accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
call to all who come under the preaching.                       in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55: 11). The ef-
           * * * * * * * * * *                                  ficacy of the call is also pointed out in that Romans
   God brings His elect into saving union with Jesus            8:30 teaches that all whom God calls are justified
Christ (faith) by His calling. This calling, or call,           and glorified:  ". . . and whom He called, them He
consists of the proclamation to them, in the                    also justified: and whom He justified, them He also
preaching of the Gospel, of Jesus Christ crucified,             glorified." Not a single person whom God calls fails
the Savior from sin (Romans  10:14,  17), and of the            to be justified. Because justification is by faith, no
work of the Holy-Spirit of Christ, by the sermon, in            one who is called fails to be united to Christ by true
their hearts,  ,minds, and wills, drawing them to               faith. Not one of the called will be missing in
Christ (John  6:44; Acts 16: 14). So, the Canons of             heaven.
Dordt describes the call, in II, IV/l 1:                          Only this view of the call gives to God alone the
       But when God accomplishes His good pleasure in           glory for the salvation of sinners - the glory of the
    the elect, or works in them true conversion, He not         divine grace and power that "pervades the inmost
    only causes the gospel to be externally preached to         recesses of the man; . . . opens the closed, and
    them, and powerfully illuminates their minds by His         softens the hardened heart, and circumcises that
    Holy Spirit, that they may rightly understand and           which was uncircumcised, infuses new qualities in-
    discern the things of the Spirit of God; but by the ef-     to the will, which though heretofore dead, (it)
    ficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades the in-    quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and refrac-
    most recesses of the man . . .                              tory, (it) renders it good, obedient, -and pliable; ac-
   This saving call is directed by God to His elect             tuates and strengthens  it,. that like a good tree, ii
alone; the Father speaks to His adopted children.               may bring forth the fruits of good actions" (Canons
Romans  9:30 teaches both  t,hat the saving call is             of Dordt, III, IV/ll). Only this view of the call pro
strictly controlled by predestination, i.e., election           vides encouragement to the church as regards her
unto eternal life, and that the humans who  `are                one great task of preaching the Word - the encour-
called are those who have been elected, and none                agement that her preaching of the gospel is the very
other: "Moreover whom He did predestinate,                      Voice of Christ and that all who  .are His will hear
them He also called." Inasmuch as the call depends              His Voice. Only this view of the call affords com-
upon, and carries out, predestination, God calls the            fort to the man whose heartfelt response. to the
elect with the purpose, or intention, that they be              preaching of the Gospel is true faith in Jesus Christ
saved, for predestination is God's will of purpose,             - the comfort that his present enjoyment of salva-
from eternity, that certain men be saved ("be con-              tion is the eternal purpose of a loving God and that
formed to the image of His Son," v. 29). Inasmuch               his coming to the Savior is not his own work, but
as the deepest source of predestination is the love             divine drawing with cords of love.
of God's heart for certain humans, God's fore-
knowing them with love (v.  29), the call expresses               In order that this saving call may go out to all of
God's love for all those whom He calls. Further, the            God's elect, in all lands and among `all races and
saving call is efficacious. It infallibly accomplishes          classes of people, God has the gospel preached to
the union with Christ of every sinner to whom God               all men, indiscriminately and without distinction.
extends the call; and it does so by its own almighty            In fact, the gospel does not now, and never did,
power. Not one sinner whom God calls, fails of                  come to every individual. This is God's providen-
salvation. This is impossible, indeed unthinkable -             tial government of the course of preaching in the
as impossible and unthinkable as the failure of light           world, according to His counsel of predestination,
to come into existence, on the first day of creation,           which does not will the salvation of every in-
when God said, "Let there be light."                            dividual. But the gospel is to be preached to any
                                                                and all humans, as  .guilty, depraved sinners,
David J. Engelsma is pastor of the Protestant Reformed          without any distinction between hearers as
Church  of  South Holland, Illinois.                            unregenerated or regenerated, or as reprobate or


348                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



elect. The gospel will certainly make distinction be-       ing is the fact that Jesus tells His audience this, as
tween the hearers, converting some and hardening            part of His "evangelistic message!" This is the exact
others; and it will do so, according to God's eternal       opposite of the message of almost all evangelism to-
discrimination between men in the counsel of                day, which assures the audience  .that God wants
predestination, as the Canons of Dordt teaches in           them all to be saved. Virtually every evangelistic
I/6: "that some receive the gift of faith from God,         association in the world would depose Jesus from
-and others do not receive it proceeds from God's           the office of evangelist for preaching such a thing
eternal decree . .  ." But the church may not               on the mission field, and for the theology that
discriminate in the preaching of the gospel,                underlies such preaching. Sad to say, many Re-
whether by attempting to limit her preaching (vain          formed and Presbyterian mission committees
effort!) to those who are elect, or regenerated, or by      would do the same.
tailoring her message to different kinds of persons,           That God has the gospel preached to an entire
preaching good news to those who seem to be born            city in order to save the elect in the city is expressly
again, but preaching wrath to the unconverted.              taught -in Acts  18:10, where the Lord encourages
   The Lord Jesus has commanded His church, "Go             Missionary Paul to carry on with the preaching in
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every       Corinth, "for I have much people in this city."
creature" (Mark  .16:15). In obedience, the church          Before Paul ever so much as setone foot in Corinth,
preaches to every man, to the one who responds by           in order to let loose the power of God unto salva-
"believing not," as well as to the one who responds         tion there, the Lord Jesus had "much people" in
by "believing" (v. 16). She preaches "the gospel'.' to      Corinth, by divine election; and their salvation was
every man  - "the most joyful tidings," as the              the Lord's purpose in sending the apostle to that
Canons describes the gospel, of the manifestation           city. Quite conscious of this divine purpose with his
of the love of God in this, that He sent His only           preaching, Paul the missionary freely confesses, in
begotten Son into the world, that whosoever                 II Timothy  2:10, that he "endure(s) all things for
believeth on Him should not perish, but have                the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the
everlasting life (I/2, 3). The creature who believes is     salvation which is  in- Christ Jesus with eternal
saved by the gospel; the creature who does not              glory." He knew himself to be the instrument of
believe is damned for the enormous wickedness of            the definite, divine purpose, intention, will, and
despising and rejecting the gospel,, as well as for all     desire for the salvation of the elect in his audiences;
his other sins.                                             and he made this his .own motive in his labors.
  God's purpose in sending the gospel into all the           Both in the context of the entire book of Romans,
world, as regards the salvation of sinners (for God         with regard to preaching the gospel  -of God's
has other purposes in sending forth the gospel, e.g.,       righteousness to Jews and Gentiles (Romans
rendering the reprobate world inexcusable, and              1:15-17),  and in the context of the ninth chapter,
glorifying His -own Name), is the gathering of His          with regard to the crucial question whether the
elect church. by the saving of -those whom He               Word of God failed in the perishing of many
predestinated unto eternal life. Although God has           Israelites (vss.  l-5.), the doctrine of predestination
                                                                 -i
the gospel preached to all, His purpose, intention,         (election and reprobation) in Romans  9:6ff.
will, and desire is the  salvatidn;not of all without       establishes, and is emphatically and pointedly in-
distinction, but of the elect in the audience. This is      tended to establish, beyond all doubt and beyond
clearly implied by Romans  8:30 which limits the            any contradiction, that God's purpose, intention,
saving call, solely by the good-pleasure of God, to         will, and desire in the preaching of the blessed
those predestinated to be conformed to the image of         gospel is the salvation of the elect among men, and
His Son. The same is deduced from John  6:44, 45,           of the elect alone. The justification of guilty sinners
where Jesus denies that any man is able to come to          by the preaching of the gospel of Christ crucified is
Him in faith, except he is drawn by the Father, add-        grounded in gracious election. The Word of God
ing that God draws by His teaching .of a man, i.e.,         does not fail when multitudes of Israelites perish in
by the secret operation of the Holy Spirit in a man's       unbelief, for, although that Word came to them, the
heart. As Jesus Himself  is.preaching  the Gospel of        promise of that Word was not for them, but only for
Himself as the Bread of Life come down from                 the elect among them: God has mercy upon whom
heaven to an audience that includes many who are            He wills to have mercy. It was not the desire of God
rejecting His Word, and a devil among His own               to save  Esau,. Pharaoh, or the Israelites who per-
disciples, as Jesus well knows (v.  70),  .He makes         ished, although He had His Word preached to
plain that His Father's purpose with this preaching         them. On the contrary, Esau's perishing, in con-
is the salvation, not of all who hear, but-of%ome on-       tempt for and disobedience of, the Word happened
ly, those described by Jesus in verses 37 and 39 as         in full accord with God's hatred of him (v. 13). The
"all that the Father giveth.Me," i.e., the elect. Strik-    hardening of men, whether Jews or Gentiles, by the


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         349



gospel, is God's will, or purpose, for them; indeed,           also show that I have heard and recognized the.
it is God Who hardens them by the gospel (v. 18).              teaching of the truth of grace  - free, sovereign
  If now, I respond with the indignant objection,              grace, "that the purpose of God according to  elec-
"Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted             tion might stand, not of works, but of Him that
His will?" I show that man runs true to form, in               calleth" (Romans 9: 11).
1987, in objecting to the gospel of grace, for this is                                                    (to be continued)
ever his response by nature (cf. Romans  9:19). I

A L L                  AROUND  Us
Gise J. Van Baren




                                    More on "The Fourth Day"
                                                The Use -of ihe Bible
                                           The PCA-OPC Union
                                                So He ctin only Hop



More on "The Fourth-Day":                                         result of millions of accidents and mutations. Evolu-
  The book,  `The Fourth Day  by Dr. H. Van Till,                 tion accounts for nothing except man's unwillingness
continues to draw attention and strong condemna-                  to take God at His Word.
tion from the "conservatives" in the Christian  Re-'                Is it not blasphemy to suggest that Holy and
formed Church. Anyone reading the book can                        Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, directed:
understand why. A recent issue of  Christian                      that godless process known to us as evolution?
Renewal,  March 9, 1987, contained several articles                 From the  ve~ry  beginning' man was, a creature
again on the issues raised in the book. Editor.John               capable of communicating with  `His God. Adam
Hultink presents a strong condemnation, stating                   named the animals. He did not grunt and groan. Satan ,
among other things:                                               would have us believe otherwise.
                                                                    As the first day passed into the second and the sec-
      Calvin College professor Howard Van Till does not           ond into the third until God reached the sixth day, he
    think there is anything unbiblical about believing that       said, "And behold it was very good."
   the world and life came into being as a result of the
   process of evolution.                                            Dear reader, can you imagine God saying of man in
                                                                  his so-called primitive state, as he grunted and
      Satan is the father of lies. More than anything else        groaned and heaved his club to smash in the skull of
    he would like to convince Christians that God did not         his,fellow primitive (to steal his mate), "And behold
    create the world.. That the world is a product of the         God saw what he had made [evolved) and it. was
    sum total of millions of mutations. That  satan  wants        good?"
    us to believe this is understandable. And that those
    who are the children of satan  and not the sons of God          That is blasphemy. It is an assault on the sovereign-
   wish to believe this is also understandable. But how is        ty and the, holiness of God to suggest that God is the
   it possible that Christian professors at Christian in-         great evolutionist-. It contradicts both testaments, old
    stitutions of higher learning teach this blasphemous          and new.
   view of the origin of the universe to Christian                  There are two honest ways of confessing the origin
    students? And are defended for doing so in the pages          of the universe. One is that God spoke the universe in-
    of our denominational paper.                                  to being. The other that the universe is the result of a
      Gods good creation did not come into being as a             big bang and that human life is the result of millions of
                                                                  mutations. There is no third alternative. At least not
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed            for Christians who take God at His Word.
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.           -                     One can emphatically agree with the comments.


350                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



There is, however, a great problem for Hultink, one                      a consummation of such a union. There was an at-
would think. He speaks of one within his own                             tempt to present another invitation from the P.C.A.
denomination, of one who could sit down at the                           to the O.P.C. However, the R.E.S. News Exchange,
same communion table with him, of one who has                            Mar.  IO, 1987, indicates that this invitation will not
signed the formula of subscription, even as has                          be forthcoming:
Hultink. Yet Hultink has spoken of "blasphemy"                                 The  Presbyterian  Journal,  reports that at least li
in assaulting the sovereignty and holiness of God,                          presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church in  Arner,:ca
of contradicting the old and new testaments, and of                          (PCA) have,voted  to reject a proposal to send a second
dishonesty in presentation.                                                 invitation to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church  [ OPC)
  Granted that the charges are all true, still one of                       to become a part of the PCA. Last year a virtually
two things must happen. Either Hultink retracts all                         identical invitation extended by an earlier PCA
such kind of charges, or he follows through on                              general assembly garnered a majority acceptance in
them. Then, either Van Till must be disciplined                             the OPC but failed to obtain the required two-thirds
                                                                            majority. The first rejected offer will not be followed
because of these sins of which he is accused, or                            at this time by a second offer.
otherwise Hultink surely can find no more place in.
the same church where such sins are condoned. To                         So He can only Hop:
withhold financial support, while still sitting at the
same communion table, is not the answer.                                   One is ever amazed at what people will believe.
                                                                         The lie is prevalent throughout the land. Many
The Use of the Bible:                                                    even pay  large sums of money to do what sound
                                                                         reason would say can not be done. And so many do
  Christianity Today, Mar. 20, 1987, contains a                          these things in place of any obedience to God's
report concerning the attitude of those in Sweden                        Word. Church and State, Mar. 1987, reports:
towards the Bible. The report indicates that within
"Christian'! lands, the Bible is no longer held in                             A Philadelphia man has been awarded $138,000 for
very high regard  - nor is it often used even by                            psychological damages he claims to have suffered
those who claim to recognize its divine origin. But                         while practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM).
also, there is a reminder to each of us. We confess                            Robert Kropinski, 36, claimed his 11 years of par-
the Bible to be the infallible, inspired Word of God.                       ticipation in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's  Hindu-
Yet, how often is it being used by us? Do we                                based movement had left him with a range of mental
regularly read and study it? Or are we content to                           problems. Contrary to TM promises, he said he did
hear it read in church on Sunday  - but then read                            not learn to levitate, improve his memory, relieve
                                                                            stress or reverse the aging process. Instead, he
only a little from it through the week? May the                             asserted that TM caused "headaches, anxiety, im-
following survey serve as warning also to us.                               pulses toward violence, hallucinations, confusion,
         Research conducted by the Institute for Religious                . . . loss of memory, screaming fits, lack of focus,
       and Sociological Studies found that 10 percent of                    paranoia, social withdrawal." He also claimed to have
       Sweden's population do not own a Bible  and.  two-                   been induced to convert from Christianity to Hin-
       thirds of the Swedish people never read the Bible.                   duism.
       Sweden's population is 97 percent Protestant.                           Attorneys for TM's World Plan Executive Council
         The study indicates that only 8 percent of the                     produced witnesses  - including a Roman Catholic
       Swedish people read the Bible regularly, compared                    priest - who vouched for the meditation technique's
       with 12 percent who attend worship services and 25                   benefits. They also charged that Kropinski had
       percent who pray. A modern Swedish translation of                    brought similar claims of mental damages when he
       the New Testament has sold 2.5 million copies in a                   filed suit against Gimbel's department store after a fall
       country with a population of 8.3.million.  The transla-              there.
       tion is more popular among youths than adults.                          A physicist from Maharishi International Universi-
         The report says about half of the Swedish popula-                  ty took the stand to assert that he believes levitation is
       tion think the Bible is an important book. But  one-                 a physical possibility. Kropinski claimed that TM
       third view the Bible as "more or less" inspired by                   devotees cannot fly at all, but only hop.
       God; one-third rank it on a par with other good books                   Although he had originally sought damages of $9
       containing wisdom for life; and  onk-third  hold a varie-            million, Kropinski said he is "enormously happy"
       ty of other views of Scripture.                                      about the case's outcome.
                                                                    I
The P.C.A.-O.P.C.  Union:
  The Presbyterian Church in -America,  .a few                                        Read and study
years ago, sent an invitation to the Orthodox Pres-
byterian Church to join the former. That invitation                 1 the Standard Bearer!
was narrowly declined by the O.P.C. However,
many within both denominations would still desire


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                          351



IN HIS FEAR
Arie den Hartog





                     Worldliness And Materialisxn                                                     ;



  There is a great danger of worldliness in the            things he uses all his energies, and to obtain them
midst of our own churches. We want to consider             he employs all of his God-given talents and oppor-
several areas which pose the greatest threat. We           tunities The materialistic man vainly imagines that
need constantly to be warned against the great             man's life consists in the abundance of things
danger of materialism. The world in which we live          which he possesses. The materialistic man cares
is a dreadfully materialistic world. We must be            not for the higher and spiritual things of God. His
careful that we do not become worldly in that we           life is consumed only to obtain the earthly and tem-
follow this materialism. We become worldly when            poral. He cares not for the true and eternal riches of
we are spiritually conformed to this world, in its         God. He is not concerned about laying up treasures
goals and purposes, in its conversation and life           in heaven. His greatest treasures are lands and
style. As Christians we must be spiritually dif-           houses and cars, the latest technology, expensive
ferent. This difference does not come out when we          and exotic vacations to the ends of the world, fancy
attempt to live in physical separation from the            restaurants and lavish meals and on and on. The
world. We are called to live in the midst of the           materialistic man does not think of God. He refuses
world and yet not be of the world. We are called to        to acknowledge that the Lord is the sovereign
bear a Christian testimony before the world of the         creator and Lord of the universe and.all that it con-
grace of God in Christ Jesus. We are called to con-        tains. He does not give God thanks. He imagines
demn the sin and evil of this world and to testify of      that he will obtain all of his material gain by his
the righteousness and truth of God. The real test of       own wisdom and ingenuity and strength. Material-
the genuineness of our Christianity comes in how           ism is such a great evil because it is bound up and
we live and act in the midst of the~world  and before      flows forth from so many other great sins in the life
men. We must be spiritually different and separate         of the totally depraved natural man. The material-
from the world.  ,We must be absolutely spiritually        istic man imagines that the things which God has
different in our attitude towards the material things      given him only as a trust really.belong to him and
of this world and in the manner in which we use            that he is free to do with them as he pleases and ac-
these material things.                                     cording to his own lusts. A materialistic man is
                                                           greedy. He is never satisfied, no matter how much
  Materialism is a great evil. It is really a denial of    he has. He is selfish and careless about the
God and of His sovereignty. It is the worship and          miserable and wretched condition of his neighbor.
service of mammon. It is the love of money which           Our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus
is the root of all evil. A man is materialistic when he    brings that out very graphically. Materialism in its
makes `earthly and material gain the end-all of his        very nature chokes out all spiritual interest and
life. The materialistic man covets more and more           concern. The Lord's Day is forgotten because all
material things, he has an insatiable lust for riches,     the days of the week must serve to satisfy the lust
luxury, for great abundance of worldly things. A           for material wealth of the world. The materialistic
materialistic man spends all or most of his time           man is too busy to be involved in the life of the
working and striving for material`things. For these        church.. He does not care about his own spiritual
                                                           welfare nor about the spiritual welfare of his
Arie den  Haytog  is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     neighbor. The cause of the Lord and of His
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                             kingdom does not interest him because they do not


 352                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



 promise any material gain. The materialistic man            treasures of knowledge of God and of fellowship
 will finally resort to lying, cheating, and stealing        with Him and His Son Jesus Christ.
 only to get more of the material things he lusts              Scripture warns severely. against the evil of
 after.                                                      materialism. What does James say to the rich of this
   We live in the -midst of extreme wealth and lux-          world? "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for
 m-y. America is one of the richest countries in all         your miseries that shall come  ,.upon you. Your
 the world. Even during times of economic hard-              riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-
 ship, Americans have more material things than              eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the
 almost anyone else in the world. In fact it is shock-       rust of them shall be a witness against you, and
 ing how  Imuch even the commonman in America                shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped
 has and how much this is all taken for granted.             treasure together for the last days.. . . . Ye have
 Meanwhile half of the rest of the world languishes          lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye
 in poverty, and even in our modern world millions           have nourished your hearts, as in the day of
 starve to death. Though the modern mass media               slaughter," James 5:1-3, 5. Our Lord Jesus warned
 can bring this all very graphically before our eyes,        that it is harder for a rich man to enter into the
 there is really very little concern. Americans con-         kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through
 tinue to live lavishly and to waste enough to feed          the eye of a needle. Think about this. Paul writes to
 half of those who are starving to death. It is a very       Timothy: "But they that will be rich fall into temp-
 good.experience  to live for a time in another part of      tation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurt-
 the world as we did and witness the awful contrast          ful lusts, which drown men in destruction and per-
 between the great wealth of America and the com-            dition. For the love of money is the root of all evil;
 parative poverty of the greater part of the rest of the     which while some coveted after, they have erred
 world.                                                      from the faith, and pierced themselves through
                                                             with many sorrows. But thou, 0 man of God, flee
   The Christian has been taught of .God a whole             these things; and follow after righteousness, and
 different perspective towards material things. We           godliness, faith, love and patience, meekness," I
 know that God is the sovereign creator and owner
 of all things. He it is that makes one wealthy and          Timothy 6:9-11. What a mighty word of God this is
                                                             in regard to materialism. These are real warnings!
 another poor. He has given us all that we have. He          How many are there among us who desire to
 gave us the power to get wealth. He holds us                become rich and will even sacrifice spiritual things
 solemnly responsible and will judge us for the way          for the sake of gaining more and more wealth even
 we use the material things of this world. As Chris-         after they already have such great abundance? Can
 tians, we know too that all the things of this world        it be said of us that we truly flee these things in our
 are temporal. Some day this world and all that is in        life? Or are we in great danger of being drowned in
 it will be destroyed by fire. Furthermore, the              destruction and perdition and of erring from the
 material things of this world are for our use for only      faith-because of the great evil of the love of money
 a short time, only for the short time of this present       in our hearts?
 life. As Christians we are taught not to set our affec-.
 tions upon the things of this earth but upon the              We said that there is a great danger of material-
 things which are above. God has prepared some-              ism in our midst. Perhaps there are some who
 thing better for us. God has in Christ prepared for         would say that this is a rash statement. Where are
 us an eternal and glorious inheritance in heaven.           the evidences? Do we not give lots of money to
I The Lord has  in' Christ given us spiritual riches         church and school? Do we not. have beautiful
9 which shall never fade away, the riches of the             church buildings and modern school facilities?
 knowledge of God and of His salvation and of the            What more can be asked of us? Well, let each man
 hope of eternal life in glory. By His grace and Holy        judge his own heart and life. Along with our fellow
 Spirit the Lord has made us to differ from the              Americans we, too, have become very wealthy.
 world. We must therefore also  ,live and act differ-        Consider some of the beautiful homes that we live
 ently from the world. This must also be seen in the         in. Consider all the material abundance that sur-
 whole different perspective which we as Christians          rounds us. Even the "poorest" of us really has so
 have in regard to the material things of this world.        much more than we need and so much more than
 We must constantly reveal before the world that             many others in the world. We ought to have a holy
 material things are very-much secondary in our life.        fear about all the wealth that we possess lest we use
 There  is. no value in simply multiplying to                it all in a wrong way and become materialistic.
 ourselves earthly riches and luxury. We must                Moses had to warn the people of Israel severely
 reveal before the world that we strive for far greater      about this after they would come into the land of
 and more glorious treasures, the spiritual treasures        the Canaan, lest they would forget the Lord their
 of the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, the         God and begin to glory in their great wealth. It is


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              353'



seldom true that when a people become more and             taken into account. Are we truly a people that is
more rich they also. become more and more                  noted for its liberality in giving to the poor? Do not
spiritual. History has  .proved  that the reverse is       say that there are no poor people. Our Lord said
almost always the case.                                    that we would have the poor always with us. We
  Are there very serious signs of materialism in our       can make all kinds of justifications why we need
midst? There are! It is simply a fact- that among          not give to the poor but we better be sure that they
some there is a grievous lack of spirituality. Let         stand the test of the Word of God. Generally there
God be the judge of each one of us and of our              is a good amount of giving in our churches forthe
hearts. Many can go on and on speaking of the              cause of the church and kingdom of God. There are
glories of new houses, of vacations, and the latest        those who make great sacrifices and those who
fashions in dress, of the latest restaurants and on        have great difficulty, especially when it comes to
and on. But when it comes to speaking of spiritual         paying Christian school tuition., On the other. hand
things, they are almost  ,absolutely  silent. This is a    we as a people are extremely wealthy. To whom
grievous thing. The Bible says that out of the abun-       much is given much is required. The more wealthy
dance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Does our            among us are under solemn obligation to give more
speech reveal that the abundance of our heart is the       abundantly. It should never be the case that our
love of God, and the love of the things of God are         Christian schools are in trouble because of lack of
those of His truth and of His church and kingdom?          money. It should never be the case that projects of
We see those in our midst who, though they come            our churches have to be hindered or even stopped
to church on the Lord's Day, are involved in little        because of lack of money. It fills me with great,
else in the life and ministry of the church. The chief     shame when on a few occasions decisions had to be
reason in many cases is that they have made                made at our church assemblies not to engage in
themselves so busy with the things of  the. world,         some mission programs because of lack of money.
with their careers and occupations, to get more and        We are so wealthy as people of God that money
more wealth that they have little time for the             ought not be the major determining factor.
church. This, too, is serious. The Christian's life          Worldliness'in the church has a devastating ef-
and involvement in the church ought not to end             fect upon the witness of the-church. If the world
merely with coming to the worship service on the           sees that we too as people of God have become
Lord's Day. Increasingly in  our. own churches we          materialistic, it will surely use that as an occasion
find mothers following the way of the world, for-          to blaspheme the name of our Lord. May God give
saking their covenant obligations in the home, and         to us a spiritual  .perspective  on the proper use of
going after a career in the world. The chief reason        material things and may the glory of His grace
for it all is that we are ashamed to live on a lower       shine through us in that we are a people who are
standard than the world and we desire to be as             ready to forsake all the riches of this world for the
wealthy as our ungodly neighbors. This is a serious        true spiritual riches of our God and our Lord Jesus
indication of worldliness, and the warnings of the         Christ.
above passage of Scripture ought to be seriously

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Kortering





     Numbers y The Wilderneks.Sojourn (2)



  We continue with our outline of the first main             5.- The law of the Nazarite is given (6: l-27).
part of the book of Numbers, the preparation for           Details of the vow are enumerated: man or woman
Israel to depart from Mt. Sinai (l:l-1O:lO).               should separate from strong drink, eat nothing of


354                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



the vine, have no razor come upon his head, nor                   10. Trumpets were used to signal when to move
touch a dead body (6: 1-8). In the event that the               ( 10: l-10). Two trumpets of silver were constructed
Nazarite is defiled, certain ways are prescribed to             ( 10: 1, 2). If both were blown, the congregation was
make atonement for  su'ch sin: e.g., to offer turtle            instructed to come to the door of the tabernacle,
doves, or in some instances a lamb and unleavened               but if one was. blown, only the princes were to
bread. His head is to be shaved and the hair burned,            come (10:3,4). A system of alarm was also set up, as
(68-21). The well known Aaronic blessing is now                 well as a call to holy convocation (10:3-10).
prescribed for pronouncement upon the people,
"The Lord bless thee and keep thee . . ."  (6:22-27).             We now come to the second main division of this
                                                                book, the events that cover the departure from Mt.
   6. The gifts of the princes of each of the tribes is         Sinai to the time when they arrive at the Plains of
enumerated (711-88).  These are given in connection             Moab  (lO:ll-21:35).
with the journey from Mt. Sinai to Canaan. These
included six covered wagons and twelve oxen for                   1. During the travels from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh
transporting the tabernacle (7: l-l 1). Then we have            Barnea, Israel manifests over  .and over again their
a description of each tribe's donation, generally               unbelief (10: l-1445). Departure from Mt. Sinai
silver bowls, chargers, flour, incense, and animals             takes place on the twentieth day of the second
for offerings. The total offerings amounted to 2400             month, in the second year. The cloud led the way
shekels of silver, 120 of gold, and 240 animals                 (10: 11-13). The order of march was as the Lord had
(7: 12-88). The voice from the mercy seat of the                instructed: Judah led the way  (10:14-17), followed
tabernacle was God's way of indicating His favor in             by Reuben  (10:18-il), by Ephraim  (10:22-24), and
this offering  (7:89).                                          Dan  (10:25-28). Special request is made of Hobab
   7. The Levites were to be cleansed as prescribed             (son of Raquel, Moses' father-in-law) that he not
(8:1-26).  Instruction is given for the lighting of the         return to Midian,  but accompany them and serve as
golden candlestick with its seven lamps (8: l-4). The           a scout who would go before them. He consents
Levites were to be sprinkled with water, shave off              (10:29-36). When they arrived at Taberah 3 days
all hair from their bodies, and wash their clothes              later the complaining began (for what we are not
(8:5-7).  This was to include a public ceremony, at             told). God sent fire upon the people in the utter-
which the meat offering was to, be given in their               most part of the camp, hence the name Taberah, "a
behalf and the congregation was to place their                  burning" (ll:l-3). The mixed multitude began to
hands upon the heads of the Levites while they in               complain about the manna and to lust for the fish,
turn were to place their hands upon the bullocks                cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of
(8:8-14).  Specific mention is made of the fact that            Egypt  (11:4-g).  Moses expressed his complaint to
the Levites were to take the place of the firstborn of          the Lord: how could God expect him to meet the
all Israel. As instructed, so the congregation did to           needs of so large a congregation (11: l&15)? God in-
the Levites to purify them (8: 15-22). The specific             structed him to appoint seventy elders who would
age of service is now given. From 25 years to 50                receive the same Spirit that. was in Moses. This he
years of age they were to serve in the temple                   did and all 70 received the Spirit of prophecy while
(8:23-26).                                                      they stood before the tabernacle, even Eldad and
                                                                Medad  who were not present at the tabernacle
   8.  Instruction for the observance of the Passover           (11: 16-30). At the same time God promised to give
is given (8:1.-14).  On the fourteenth day of the first         flesh to the complaining people. Moses asked if
month at evening, the keeping of the Passover was               they should kill the livestock. God said he would
to begin according to detailed instruction previous-            provide, and the wind blew in quails from the sea
ly given (9: l-5). Exception was made for the man               so they were three feet off the ground, within easy
who touched a dead body or was traveling. He                    reach, surrounding the camp a day's journey on all
could observe it the next month  (9:6-14).                      sides. The people gorged themselves with the meat
   9. Jehovah accompanies them in their journey                 and God sent ,a plague and many died. Hence it was
by the presence of the cloud  (9:15-23).  .When the             called Kibroth-hattaavah, that is,  g.raves  of lust
tabernacle was finished being built, that very eve-             (11:31-35). Added to the grief of Moses was the
ning a fiery pillar appeared at night and a cloud ap-           rebellion of Miriam and Aaron. They accused
peared  by day (9:15,  16). The presence of the cloud           Moses of taking too much power upon himself by
upon the tabernacle dictated whether they would                 thinking God only spoke through him and not all
journey or abide still. As long as the cloud stayed             the people. The Lord confirmed that Moses was His
upon the tabernacle, they stayed at that place, even            mouthpiece by speaking at the door of the taber-
for months or years (9:17-23).                                  nacle. Later He took the cloud from the tabernacle
                                               .-               and smote Miriam with leprosy  (12:1-10). Aaron
Jason L. Kortering is pastor  of  the Protestant Reformed       repented of his sin and Moses entreated the Lord to
Church of  Grandville, Michigan.                                remove the leprosy from Miriam. The Lord said she


                                             THE STANDARD' BEARER                                              355



should be put out the camp for seven days. The             His people  (15:1-19:22). Even though the people
people waited during. this period and afterward            were  .turned back from the land of -promise, God
Miriam was brought back completely, restored               gave them instruction as to how they were to offer
(12:11-16). From the wilderness of  Paran, Kadesh          their sacrifices to Him, once they arrive  (15:1-31).
Barnea, Moses sent out the twelve spies, one from          Reference is made to the man who deliberately
each of the twelve tribes. Special note is made that       broke the Sabbath law by gathering sticks and in-
Oshea's name is changed to Jehoshua. They are in-          struction is given to stone him without the camp
structed to spy out the entire land, from the south        (15:32-36). God also instructed them to put blue
and even to the populated part., While the&they'           fringes `in the border of their garments as a sign of
discover the giants of Anak in the vicinity of             their obedience to the law (15:37-41). Then we have
Hebron. In Eshcol they cut down huge clusters of           the account of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan,
grapes, (13:1-25).  Returning to Kadesh, they              Abiram, and On, how they gathered 250 princes
describe the land flowing with milk and honey, but         against Moses and Aaron, accusing them of taking
discourage taking the land due to the walled cities        too much power. They questioned the authority of
and giants. Caleb, however, insisted that they were        Gods servants and claimed the priestly office for
well able to take it (13: 16-33). The people reacted       everyone by offering incense before the tabernacle
by. weeping and murmuring against Moses and                ( 16: 1-19). In answer to this God ordered the people
Aaron: "Would.to  God we died in Egypt:" They              to separate themselves from them and the earth
threatened to make new captains to help them               swallowed up the offenders while fire from heaven
return to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes       devoured the 250 men who offered incense.
and insisted before the people that with God's help        (l&20-35). The brazen censers of these offenders is
they could take the land, warning  them. not to            melted and a covering is made, for the altar
rebel. The people retorted by threatening to stone         (16:36-4-O).  The people gather in complaint. about
them with stones  (14:1-10). Jehovah appeared              the death of so many "good" men, the. Lord
before the tabernacle in the cloud. He threatened to       threatens to destroy them immediately, and a
slay the people.' Moses acted as the mediator,             plague moves through the congregation. Moses and
pleading that God not kill the people and give occa-       Aaron take a tenser full of incense and draw a line
sion~ to the enemies to mock (14: 11-19). The Lord         of separation, and the plague stops at that line.
answ'ers  that He has pardoned  `.the people: They         14,700 died in the plague (16:41-50). The Lord sets
will,  howeverj return to the wilderness; and since        out to establish Moses and Aaron in their office.
they tempted God these ten times, they will not see        Each tribe is instructed to'bring an almond rod with
the land. Only Caleb, who has a different spirit,          the. name of the tribe written on it. The tribe of Levi
will be allowed to enter  (14:20-25). God specifies        is to have Aaron's name on it. The rod that sprouts
the penalty for this rebellion: all twenty years and       buds will indicate God's choice  (!7:1-5). The next
older will die in the wilderness; and only Joshua          day Moses went into the tabernacle and Aaron's'
and Caleb will be allowed to enter the land. They          rod had budded and blossomed. This rod was
will wander in the wilderness for forty years,. one        placed in the tabernacle as a testimony that Aaron's
year for each day they searched out the land (40           priesthood (Christ) was appointed of God and all
days). All ten of the spies that brought an evil report    rebellion will be punished  (17:6-13). The impor-
will die before the Lord by, the plague. Moses ex-         tance of the Levitic,al priesthood is affirmed. Aaron
plained these things to the people and they mourned        and his sons are to be busy in the tabernacle and
before the Lord  (14:26-39). Some of the people            bear the iniquity of the people (18: l-7). As, a result
insisted they were going to go to Canaan anyway            of this, they were to live from the offerings of the
and presumed to ascend a hill in that direction. The       pe.ople, since they possessed no land. This included
Lord warned them, to no avail. The Amalekites and          the meal offering, trespass offerings,  ,gifts of the
Canaanites, however, attacked them and they were           firstfruits, consecrated things, money given as
smitten  (14:40-45).                                       redemption of the firstborn, the tithes of the  peo-
 2. During the desert wanderings, God chastened            ple.`From this they were in turn to give a proper of-
                                                           fering to the Lord (18:8-32).


                        Take the time to read and study
                                   the Standard Bearer!


 356                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
 Ronald L. Cammenga




                             Confession Of Faith (5)


    Las': time we began our discussion of the second          sion we make, by the grace of God, teaches us our
  question asked of those who make `public confes-            weakness. It is important that the Christian
  sion of faith: "Have you resolved by the grace of           recognizes his weakness, for only when we are
  God to adhere to this doctrine; to reject all heresies      weak can we be strong. It is only by the grace of
  repugnant thereto and to lead a new, godly life?"           God that we will ever "adhere to this doctrine." It
 We considered the antithetical nature of confession          is only by the grace of God that we will be able "to
 of faith, that confession of faith is not only               reject all heresies repugnant" to the true doctrine.
 acknowledging positively the truth of God's Word,            It is only by the grace of God that we will be able
 but also "rejecting all heresies repugnant thereto."         "to lead a new, godly life." The grace of God under-
 We also considered the "new, godly life" to'which            lies the entire Christian life.
those who make confession of faith are called.                   That means that the Christian life is one of con-
    In this article we want to focus especially on the        scious dependence upon God. Do we know this?
 fact that those who make confession of faith resolve         Really know this? Does it live in our consciousness
  "by the grace of God" to maintain the true doctrine         that the only possibility of our living the life of one
 and to lead a new, godly life.                               who is a disciple of Jesus Christ is the grace of God?
 BY THE GRACE OF GOD                                          Do we think about this very often?
    The grace of God is necessary for anyone to con-            We can be sure that if we forget our need of the
 fess his faith. As faith itself is a gift of the grace of    grace of God there are going to be serious problems
 God, so is the ability to confess this faith. The Apos-      in our Christian life. Our Christian life is going to
 tle brings this out in I Corinthians  12:3 when he           degenerate drastically. At best we are going to
 says that ". . . no man can say that Jesus is the Lord,      become apathetic in our Christian life, with' the
  but by the Holy Ghost."                                     resultant loss of joy in the Christian life. At worst,
                                                              we are going to faI1 into serious sin.
    The grace of God opens our mouths and loosens
 our tongues so that we are able to give a testimony            Those who make' confession of faith must be
 concerning our faith in Jesus Christ. The grace of           asked whether they are consciously depending
 God gives us the courage to do this when such a              upon the grace of God to live the life to which they
 testimony entails reproach,. rejection, and even             are called. Are they living in daily dependence
 bodily persecution. It was the grace of God that             upon God for the strength to live this life? Do they
 enabled the three friends of Daniel to confess their         recognize their own weakness and inability in this
 faith, even when such a confession meant the burn-           regard?
 ing, fiery furnace. It was the grace of God that             THE MEiNS  OF GRACE
 enabled Paul to give a good confession before the               Our dependence on the grace of God to live the
 mighty of this earth, the Agrippas and the Caesars,          Christian life brings up the subject of the means of
 even when that confession meant for him in the               grace. We depend on the grace of God: But God
 end martyrdom. It was the grace of God that en-              gives us His grace through means, the means of
 abled the early Christians stedfastly to confess their       grace. One who is living in dependence on the
' faith even when that confession meant death by              grace of God is one who is making use of the means.
 burning.                                                     of t.hat grace.
    That we resolve to remain faithful to the confes-           Of importance here are, first of all, what we
                                                              might call the "private means of grace." I refer here
 Ronald  L: Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     especially to prayer and Bible reading. Personal
 Church of Loveland, Colorado.                                prayer and reading of the Scriptures are absolutely


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 357



indispensable in the Christian life. There simply          grace, and then to neglect the means of grace is to
can be no Christian life apart from them.                  give the lie to your confession. To promise to live a
  Does the young person making confession of               life under the grace of God, and then to be unfaith-
faith have a place in his daily life for prayer and Bi-    ful in attending the worship services of the church
ble reading? Does he make a point every day of             is to go back on the promise that is involved in your
engaging in these necessary activities? It cannot be       confession of faith.
questioned that God blesses these activities. It can-        It is also for this reason that young people who
not be questioned that God uses these activities to        confess their faith and declare publicly their agree-
strengthen the faith of His child. It cannot be ques-      ment with and commitment to the doctrine of the
tioned that through these activities God gives grace       Scriptures as "taught here in this Christian
to His child to live a godly life in the midst of this     Church," and then who leave that Christian church
w o r l d .                                                commit serious sin. How is it possible to "adhere to
  A young person. who has no time for daily,               this doctrine and reject all heresies repugnant
private prayer is in no condition. to make public          thereto" in a church that does not faithfully preach
confession of faith. A young person who cannot             that doctrine? How is it possible to lead a "new,
take the time to read the Scriptures cannot be             godly life" in a church where the sacraments- are
resolved by the grace of God to adhere to the true         corrupted and the Word of God is distorted? In the
doctrine and lead a new, godly life.                       end, it is not possible.
                                                           THE PREACHING AND OUR GODLY WALK
  Besides the private reading of Gods Word and
prayer, the second question for public confession of         The diligent use of the means of grace is crucial
faith implies the importance of the use of the public      with respect to the godly walk the confessing mem-
means of grace. By the public means of grace we            ber of Christ's church is called to live. The impor-
refer to the official means of grace established by        tance of our attendance at the worship services of
Christ in His church, the preaching of the Word            the church is certainly, first of all, the glory of God.
and the administration of the sacraments.                  God is glorified by the worship of His church. But
                                                           there is also practical benefit here for ourselves. In
  It is especially through the preaching of the            the second question for public confession of faith a
Word and the sacraments that God bestows on us             promise is made to make good use of the means of
the grace to live the life which we resolve to live at     grace. The carrying out of this promise is absolutely
the time we make confession of faith. Apart from'          necessary if we are going to carry out the additional
the- official means of grace, the Christian life is im-    promise to lead a holy life.
possible;                                                    The Scriptures emphasize the importance of the
  The Christian life is not "een hoekje met een            Word of God and the preaching of that Word for
boekje," that is, going off into some little corner by     the holiness of the Christian. In John  17:17 Jesus
ourselves with our own little book and privately           prays, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word
cultivating Christianity. The Christian life is not        is truth." In Acts 26: 18 the Apostle Paul gives as the
some individual endeavor, altogether divorced              purpose of his ministry that he might turn men
from the rest of the people of God and from the            I, . . . from darkness to light, and from the power of
church institute. The vitality and very  existence,of      Satan unto God, that they may receive-forgiveness
the Christian life depends on the official means of        of sins, and inheritance among them  whi.ch are
grace in the church.                                       sanctified by faith that is in me."
  A resolution, therefore, to live a new, godly life         One outstanding purpose of the preaching of the
"by the grace of God," is a resolution to be diligent      gospel is to equip God's people to live a holy Chris-
in our use of the means of grace. Has the young per-       tian life. The gospel does, this, first of.all, by giving
son making confession of faith been diligent in us-        us' the proper motive  - thanksgiving for gracious
ing the means of grace in the-past, including attend-      salvation in the cross of Jesus Christ, according to
ing catechism classes? Is he resolved to be diligent       the electing grace of God, and by the power of the
in the future? Is it important to him to attend both       Holy Spirit. And the gospel does this, in the second
Sunday worship services? Is his attendance more            place, by setting before us the standard of such a
than merely habit?                                         holy life - the .law and will of God contained in'Ho-
  This is a serious matter, a terribly serious matter.     ly Scripture.
Let no young person take this matter lightly! Before         May our young people take seriously their vow
God and His church you resolve, promise faithfully         of confession of faith. May they be diligent in their
to make use of the means of grace. That is involved        use of the means of grace, privately and publicly.
in your confession of faith.                               Just in this way may they receive God's grace to
  To resolve to lead a new, holy life by God's             live a new, holy life.

                                                     -


358                                         THE STANDARD  BEARER



                                         Book R&&w

THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM, Lowell  Hagan, Jack                      2) The application at the end of the story concern-
Westerhof (Illustrations by Paul Stoub); Wm. B.              ing the changing of water to wine at  Cana  sounds
Eerdmans Publ. Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.; 326 pp.,            humanistic, p. 50: "With this miracle Jesus showed
$16.95 (cloth). (Reviewed by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema)            that he had come to bring joy back into human
  From a technical point of view this is a beautiful         lives."
book. The,format is lovely. From cover to cover the             3) The impression is left that the beatitudes deal
book is tastefully done. It is characterized by easy         with social justice. An example: "Was this what the
readability, gives evidence of much planning and             kingdom meant, that everything would be set right,
hard work, and its language is geared to children of         that justice would be done at last?" (p. 62)
almost any age.                                                 4) The story of the crucifixion is told horizontal-
  Yet I cannot recommend this work. My reasons               ly, from the viewpoint of the passersby. There
are as follows:                                              seems to be little sense of the wonder.
  1) The authors have taken very much liberty to                These are a few examples of negative criticisms.
add details not found in Scripture, details which are        More could be added. I would not like to have my-
purely fictional. An example is the story of Joseph          grandchildren nurtured on this kind of Bible story
and Mary, pp. 11-13. Another is the fictional con-           book.
versation with the innkeeper in Bethlehem,. pp.                 The artwork, while in a way well done, goes
14-16. It seems to me a child is going to be very sur-       beyond what I would deem proper limits.
prised when he begins to read the Bible on his own
and finds the Biblical account very different.


                       News From Our Churches
                                                      Ben Wigger


                                                      May 1,1987


  Now that Rev. Rodnev Miersma has accented the
                         L                       I           -pelled  to call their first pastor. This was done only
call extended to him from our sister congregation in         after  Classis  decided to grant Holland a subsidy of
Wellington, New Zealand, it seems like a good time           $300.00. Candidate Martin Gritters became their
to continue the profiles of our churches with a pro-         first pastor.
file of our Holland Church, Rev. Miersma's present              Continued growth led the group to purchase two
charge.                                                      lots in 1936 for $750.00 on the corner of Twentieth
  On July 3, 1929 the First Protestant Reformed              and Maple. Plans were approved and Holland's
Church of Holland, Michigan was born. Those who              first church building became a reality in 1938.
met there that night had been led to believe that as         Meanwhile Rev. Gritters accepted a call from Sioux
many as seventy-five families would be joining               Center, Iowa. Soon after this the Rev. Peter DeBoer
with them. But, as so often, in our history as               became the second pastor of Holland. He remained
churches, when it comes `to actually breaking with           until 1943 when he accepted a call from Redlands,
the.church  and being willing to do through the pro-         California.
cess of reformation, there were so few who actually             Candidate Walter Hoffman became their. next
dared to show their colors. Consequently only                pastor until 1947 when he accepted a call to
eleven families became part of that first group.             become Home Missionary.
  For the better part of the first five years the con-          The call then went out to  .the Rev. Bernard Kok
gregation gathered in a little baker.y  shop.                who became the church's fourth pastor.
  In September 1932, the congregation felt  com-                It was during his pastorate that the congregation,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               359



along with the entire denomination, was caught up           items. One was a thank you to Mr. Ken Rietema, Sr.
in the controversy relative to a "conditional cove-         and Mr. Ken Rietema, Jr. Over the last couple of
nant". Under the leadership of Rev. Kok the ma-             years they have taken care of recording each issue
jority of Holland left the denomination also taking         of the Standard Bearer onto cassette tape, making
with them the property.                                     several copies and mailing them out to a list of
  Sixteen male confessing members with their                blind and infirm individuals who have requested
families remained. A temporary meeting place was            the tapes.
found and in June 1954 Candidate James McCollam                Our church in Grandville held a congregational
became their fifth pastor. Troubles continued in            meeting recently and approved the hiring of an ar-
Holland and the congregation experienced some               chitectural firm to prepare a preliminary design for
difficult years. In 1959 Rev. McCollam left the             a new church building.
church to join-with the United, Presbyterians.                 Since only a fewlreservations were received, this
  Rev.  .George  Lanting, then -`pastor in Grand            year's Young People's Spring Banquet was  can-
Haven, accepted the call to come over. and help.            celled, What a shame! The Spring Banquet used to
During this time lots were purchased, plans ap-             be a very important occasion. Maybe some young
proved and on February 18, 1965 the new church              person can tell me why this no longer seems to be
building was dedicated.                                     true.
  In 1966 Rev. Lanting departed and Rev. John                  How fast the school year flies by! No sooner has
Heys arrived to become the seventh pastor. More             it begun in September than it's May and almost
than once Rev. Heys was granted permission to               over, and many of  `our bulletinscontain announce-
visit Jamaica to conduct our mission there. And he          ments about Kindergarten Round-ups. For some of
was also sent to New Zealand. to labor in  ;the in-         our covenant youth school is almost over, for some
terest of our churches.                                     it is just beginning.
  Rev. Heys retired in 1980 and Rev. R. Miersma
became their next pastor. In March 1987 he ac-
cepted the call `from New Zealand.                                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                               The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church wishes
  The present congregation is diversified and               to express their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Holstege and  fami-.
somewhat scattered. They have a couple of                   ly in the death of their father, MR. HENRY HOLSTEGE. May the Lord
farmers, some businessmen, factory workers and              comfort them through His Word  a,nd spirit.,
office people.. They .have retired families as well as         "Let not  your`heart be troubled: youbelieve in God; believe also in
                                                            Me. In My Father's house are many mansions.. If it were not so, I
young with four; five and six children.                     would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
                                                            prepare a place for you, I-will come  again;and  receive you unto
  One society of interest is their Society for Pro-         Myself, that where I am, there you `may be also. (John 14: l-3)
viding Protestant Reformed Christian Education.             Rev. W. Bekkering,. Pres.
This society was organized after the split of 1953          Mrs. H.  Veldman,`Sec'y.
when the "other" group confiscated and later sold
the lots the Holland Church had purchased for the                              W E D D I N G   A N N I V E R S A R Y ,   '
purpose of building their own school. In 1956-57               April 15, 1987, commemorated the 30th wedding anniversary  of.
they started transporting their children to `Hope           our parents and grandparents, MR. AND MRS. JOHN VANDER
School via station wagon and later purchased a 24           WOUDE. We, their children and  srandchildren,   reioice  with them and
                                                            are grateful to our Heavenly Father for God-fearing parents and the
passenger bus and later a 48 passenger and even-            covenant instruction we have received from them. We pray that the
tually a 66 passenger bus.                                  Lord may continue to bless them in the years ahead.
  As the congregation spread it became more and                "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                            them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."
more difficult to have only one bus route, some             (Psalm  103:17)
children had to leave before 7 A.M. and would not           Rod and Sandy Kooiman                  Tom `Vander Woude
return until after 5 P.M. They then purchased two              Billy, Lynne, Jonathan              Bill and Joan Hofman
vans and had a North and South run.                         Jim Vander Woude
  Holland has an Evangelism Committee to dis-
tribute literature, Standard Bearers and sponsor lec-                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
tures and assist the consistory in "Church Exten-              The Ladies Society of The South Holland Protestant Reformed
                                                            Church wish to express their Christian sympathy to Mrs.  Bea
sion" activity in their area.                               Poortenga in the death of her mother, MRS. KATIE TERPSTRA, at the
  In a news letter to their congregation of South-          age of 90 years.
east, the Evangelism Society reports on several                "And we know that all things work together for good to them that
                                                            love God, to them that are called according to His purpose."  (Remans
                                                            .8:28)
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church    Rev. George Lanting, Pres.
of  Hudsontiille, Michigan.                                 Elaine Van Der Noord, Sec'y.

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





                    *
360                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The members of the Men's Society of The Southwest Protestant               The Council of The Faith Protestant Reformed Church of Jenison,
Reformed Church hereby expresses sympathy to Mr. Clare  Kuiper            Michigan extends its Christian sympathy to our fellow officebearer,
and his family in the death of his mother-in-law, MRS. HENRY KOK.         Elder Harv Holstege and his family, in the death of his father, MR.
   :`Thou  shalt guide me with Thy counsel and afterward receive me       HENRY HOLSTEGE on April 11, 1987.
to Glory." (Psalm  73:24)                                                    "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord henceforth: yea, saith
Phillip Lotterman, Pres.                                                  the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do
Bill De Kraker, Sec'y.                                                    follow them." (Revelation  14:13)
                                                                                                                            Irv Velthouse, Vice Clerk

               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The Ladies Society of The South Holland Protestant Reformed                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Church wishes to express their Christian sympathy to Mrs. Sadie              The Adult Bible Society of the Byron Center (MI) Protestant Re-
Buiter in the death of her husband, MR. EVERETT  BUITER.                  formed Church expresses its Christian sympathy to Leonard and Jay
   "And this is life eternal that they might knew Thee, the only true     Holstege and families in the death of their father and grandfather,
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." (John  17:3)                 HENRY HOLSTEGE on April 11, 1987.

Rev. George Lanting, Pres.                                                   "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
Elaine Van Der Noord, Sec'y.                                              dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with hands,
                                                                          eternal in the heavens." (II Corinthians  5:l)

                                                                          Rev. B. Gritters, Pres.
                                                                          Donna Miedema, Sec'y.
       TAPES AVAILABLE OF PROF. H. HANKO'S
            CLASS ON THE OFFICE OF DEACON
       The seminary of the Protestant Reformed Churches is making                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  available to the public tapes of a course taughf'iecently by Prof.        The Men's Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
  H. Hanko on the office of deacon.                                       expresses sympathy to Gerrit Holstege and Arnold  Haveman in the
       Prof. Hanko recently (April 2) finished the evening course         death of their brother and brother-in-law, MR. HENRY HOLSTEGE.
  given to deacons in the Grand Rapids area. During the eight                "The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless
  week course Prof. Hanko first lectured on the principles of the         His people with peace." (Psalm  29:ll)
  office, then questions submitted earlier by the area deacons on
  special problems in the- administration of  !mercy, were dis-           Henry Boer, Pres.
  cussed. A real profit to the course were the questions submitted        Dave Pohler, Sec'y.
  by experienced deacons.
                                                                                                     N O T I C E ! ! !
       Mr. Claire  Haveman of our Holland, Ml, congregation taped
  the course on both video and audio cassette. As some `may                  According to the decision of Synod 1986, the Consistory of the
  already know, Claire does quality work in both video and audio.         Faith Protestant Reformed Church of Jenison, Michigan was ap-
                                                                          pointed the calling church for the 1987 Synod. The Consistory
       The package of 8 (90 minute)  audio  cassettes is available for    hereby notifies our churches that the 1987 Synod of the Protestant
  purchase at the low price of $25.00 (postage included).                 Reformed Churches in America will convene, the Lord willing, on
       The 8 video tapes  (VHS) are available for  rent  for only         Tuesday, June  9,  1987 at  9:00  AM in the  Hudsonville Protestant
  $25.00 (postage included). Men's societies, consistories or in-         Reformed Church,  5 105 Beech Tree Ave., Hudsonville, Michigan.
  dividuals will be interested in renting these tapes at this low         The Pre-Synodical Service will be held Monday evening, June 8,
  price. (Videa recorders are available for rent in many locations.)      1987  at  7:30  PM at  Faith Protestant Reformed Church,  7194 20th
       With the office of deacon being eroded by many things today,       Ave., Jenison, Michigan. Rev. David Engelsma, President of the
  instruction in its principles and practice is more necessary than       1986 Synod will preach the sermon.  Synodical  delegates are re-
  ever. We pray that these tapes will make our seminary and its in-       quested to meet with the Consistory before the service. Delegates in
  struction beneficial to many outside of the seminary's local            need of lodging should contact Mr. Harv Holstege, 7093 N. Bliss Ct.,
  reach.                                                                  Grandville, Ml 49418, Phone 616-457-5595. Or Mr. Irv Velthouse.
                                                                          1701 Newcastle, Jenison, Ml 49428, Phone 616-457-2468.
       Send your order for the cassettes with a check or money
  order and your name and address, to:                                                                                      Irv Velthouse, Vice-Clerk
             Protestant Reformed Seminary Bookstore
             4949 lvanrest Ave., SW                                                                      NOTICE!!!
             Grandville, Ml 49418                                            The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed Christian School is in
       When asking for the video rental,  please ask in advance  for      need of two teachers for the 1987-88 school year. One of these
  the dates needed.                                                       positions is 3, 4,  & 5, and the other is kindergarten. Please contact
                                                                          Mr. Hunter, Box 67,  Doon,  Iowa 51235, phone 726-3381 (home) or
                                                                          726-3206 (school) or Mr. A. Bleyenberg, Box 151,  Doon,  la. 51235.


