           The
     STANDARD
          BEARER
r          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


       In turn, those who will have the kingdom
     and its salvation must sacrifice many things
     for the sake of this treasure. For one thing,
     they definitely must sacrifice the sinful life-
     style of this world, which is so pleasing to
     the flesh. They may be required to sacrifice
     earthly riches, a good job, friends, or social
     standing. To have and enjoy the kingdom
     may require the sacrifice of all things earth-
     ly, even one's earthly life. There is definitely
     a price to pay for. the kingdom. And some-
     times that price is extremely high.
                                 See Meditation, page 362

                                               Vol.  LXIII,  No. 16, May 15,  1987  -


362                                                                THE STANDARD BEARER




                                CONTENTS                                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                            ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
  Meditation  -                                                                                  Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                       Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
       The Great Worth Of The Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . .362                         Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
  Editorials -                                                                         Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den H&tog, P&f. gobert
                                                                                       D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
       Dr. Harry Boer Is Right                                                         Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365                                                        f
                                                                                       bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
                                                                                       Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
       Dr. Harry Boer Is Dead Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .366                   Bditoriaia[   Office:   Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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       Religious Liberty At Risk In Michigan . . . . . . . .367                        Church News Editor: Mr. Ben Wiener
                                                                                                               6597  -  40th-xe.
       Proposed Statement on "Sexuality" . . . . . . . . . .368                                                Hudsonville, Michigan 49426
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema




                       The Great Worth Of,The Kingdom

                       Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath
                found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
                       Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
                       Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought
                it.                                                                                                                   Matthew 13:44-46


  These two parables are commonly designated the                                             A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly
parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of                                        meaning. In the parables, Jesus told stories of earth-
the pearl of great price.                                                                ly events that commonly occurred or that could


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                            363



very well have occurred. Through these stories            Christ comes again at the  endiof the ages. At that
Jesus very graphically illustrated the great realities    time He will destroy His  and,,our enemies, the
of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus could do this, of         powers of darkness. He will also transform this
course, because God formed the earthly creation to        present creation into a new creation into which He
be an earthly picture of the great kingdom of             will also bring the church to live forever in perfect
heaven.                                                   righteousness. Then the kingdom will  .be fully
   The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl      come.
of great price illustrate the same truth about the          By comparing the kingdom to this hidden
kingdom. Each parable tells us a different story.         treasure and the pearl of great price, Jesus teaches
But each parable points us to the same reality - the      us that the kingdom is of tremendous value and
kingdom of heaven is of tremendous worth and              worth.
value, worth the sacrifice of all things earthly.           The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of many
   How this truth needs to be emphasized, especial-       riches. These riches are not material riches of silver
ly in our day when the relative worth of earthly          and gold. The riches of the kingdom are far greater.
things is greatly exaggerated.                            The riches of the kingdom are the great riches of
  * * *  * * * * * * * *  * * *                           salvation in Jesus Christ. These riches consist in the
   How valuable the kingdom of heaven is!                 forgiveness of sin, the new life of Christ, fellowship
                                                          and communion with the ever blessed God.
  The focal point of each parable is a treasure of
great value and worth.                                      How rich and blessed are those who possess and
  In the parable of the hidden treasure, this             enjoy the riches of the kingdom! These riches bring
treasure is riches which someone had hid in a field.      a joy and meaning to life that earthly riches can not.
In Bible times men of wealth usually buried part of         These great riches are the possession of every
their wealth in the ground for safe-keeping. The          born again believer in Jesus Christ who by His faith
treasure mentioned in the parable of the hidden           is made a conscious citizen of the kingdom.
treasure was just such a treasure, which evidently         * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
had been buried generations ago and long forgot-            The kingdom and its riches are something that
ten.                                                      must be found.
  In the parable of the pearl of great price the            In both the parables of the hidden treasure and
treasure Jesus focuses our attention on is a pearl. In    the pearl of great price the great treasure was
Bible times pearls were highly valued. There were         found. In the parable of the hidden treasure a cer-
different grades of pearls depending on their size,       tain man, who was either a hired hand or a renter,
shape, tint, and smoothness. But a perfect pearl          suddenly and unexpectedly found a treasure hid-
was worth a fortune. The pearl of great price in the      den in a field. In the parable of the pearl of great
parable was just such a pearl.                            price we have a merchant who traveled to the
  Both of these treasures represent the kingdom of        market place of the world looking for a perfect
heaven and serve to illustrate the great worth of the     pearl. And finally, after much searching, he found
kingdom.                                                  the pearl for which he had been looking.
  We must understand that the kingdom of heaven             Although both of these men found their respec-
is both a present as well as a future reality.            tive treasures in different ways, the finding of these
  The kingdom of heaven was established by Jesus          treasures points to a very necessary reality of find-
at His ascension into heaven when He was seated           ing the kingdom and its great riches.
at God's right hand and enthroned as King over all
things. As the name suggests, this kingdom is for           By nature man does not see or appreciate the
the present centered in heaven, although the king-        great value of the kingdom. From the gospel he
dom is also represented here on the earth. It is          may learn about the kingdom. From the gospel he
represented, for example, in the Christian home,          may even learn of the great riches of salvation
the Christian church, the Christian school, as well       which belong to the kingdom. But because of his
as institutions of Christian mercy.                       depravity, he is blind to spiritual realities. For that
                                                          reason he does not see the kingdom and its salva-
  There is a sense, however, in which the kingdom         tion as being of great worth. He scoffs at the gospel
of heaven is still coming. For the kingdom is not yet     claims concerning the kingdom. The kingdom and
complete. The kingdom will not be complete until          its riches are to him a pipe dream of fools who do
                                                          not have their feet on the ground. To the natural
James D. Slopsema  is pastor of the Hope Protestant       man the kingdom of heaven is indeed a treasure
Reformed Church, Walker,  Michigan.                       that is hidden.


364                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



  If we will come to see the great worth of the                   Although the kingdom and its salvation are
kingdom, our eyes must be opened through a new                  God's free gift in Jesus, they nevertheless have a
birth in Jesus Christ. When a person is born again         great price.
in Christ, he comes to see the kingdom as he never                The man who discovered the treasure hid in the
saw it before. The kingdom and its wealth become           field sold all that he had to buy the field and ac-
to him a great treasure that he very much wants to         quire the treasure he had found. In like manner,
possess. As a result he strives to be a citizen of this    the merchant who found the pearl he had been
kingdom that he may enjoy the riches of its salva-         seeking sold all that he had to purchase this goodly
tion. In short, he finds the treasure of the kingdom.      pearl. In both instances, it cost these men all they
  Have you found the kingdom?                              had to acquire the treasure they had discovered.
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *                              But because the treasures they had found were of
                                                           such great worth, they both gladly paid the price.
  Having found the great treasure of the kingdom,                 Those who will acquire the kingdom and its
this great treasure must also be acquired.                 salvation must also pay a price.
  The men in the two parables both acquired what                  This is the price of sacrificing for the sake of the
they had discovered. The man who found the                 kingdom.
treasure hidden in the field proceeded to buy the
field so that the treasure hidden in it might be his.             A young man who contemplates marriage must
In turn, the merchant who found the pearl of great         be willing to sacrifice many things to have a wife.
price also purchased the pearl he had found.               There is a price he must pay. A couple who desires
                                                           children also must be willing to sacrifice many
  In like manner, those who are led by the grace of        things that otherwise they may be able to enjoy,
God to discover the kingdom as a great treasure            were it not for children. There is a price to pay.
also acquire the kingdom with all its spiritual
riches.                                                           In turn, those who will have the kingdom and its
                                                           salvation must sacrifice many things for the sake of
  Now the kingdom of heaven and its salvation is           this treasure. For one thing, they definitely must
not something that can be bought with money. Nor           sacrifice the sinful lifestyle of this world, which is
are we able to earn or merit them with our own             so pleasing to the flesh. They may be required to
works.                                                     sacrifice earthly riches, a good job, friends, or social
  Indeed, the kingdom and its salvation must be            standing. To have and enjoy the kingdom may re-
earned. They exist only on the basis of merit. But         quire the sacrifice of all things earthly, even one's
that merit is not our merit; it is Christ's merit. The     earthly life. There is definitely a price to pay for the
kingdom and its salvation is based exclusively on          kingdom. And sometimes that price is extremely
the perfect righteousness of the cross of Jesus            high.
Christ.                                                           For that reason there are many who lose interest
  That which Christ has earned through His                 in the kingdom and its riches.
righteousness is given as a free gift to all those who            The teaching of Jesus in these parables is that the
are led by God to find and seek it.                        kingdom and its salvation-is worth whatever price
  This free gift of the kingdom is acquired by faith       they may cost us. The kingdom is of such great
alone.                                                     worth and value that even the supreme price is really
  Faith is the God-given gift to place our trust in        nothing. There is absolutely no comparison possi-
Jesus Christ, to cling to Him in all our needs and to      ble between the cost to us of having the kingdom
find in Him all the blessings of salvation. We see         and the great joy the kingdom affords us through its
faith primarily in prayer, as troubled souls lay their     fabulous wealth!
needs before the throne of grace and seek God's                   Let us by faith lay hold on these important
blessing for Christ's sake.                                truths.
  This faith God works in the hearts and lives of all             And let us  bv that same faith  lav hold on the
His people. The beginnings of this faith are that          kingdom and its wonderful salvation.
God's people discover the kingdom as a treasure of         I
great value. Having been lead to the point by God
through faith, they are also led to acquire this great                  Read and study!
treasure by clinging to Jesus Christ in their faith.
  Have you made the kingdom and its great riches                   the Standard Bearer!
of salvation yours by faith?
  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

                                                                                                                          -.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       3 6 5



EDITORIALS



                               Dr. Harry Boer Is Right



  In this editorial we interrupt our critique of Dr.                 The year 1922 marks the absolute watershed deter-
Howard Van Till's The Fourth Day in order to com-                  mining the limits of freedom in CRC academia. In that
ment on a related matter. The reader will recall that              year Prof. Ralph Janssen, a man of erudition and
in one of my editorials on this subject, in which I                teaching competence, was dismissed from Calvin
called attention to the fact that Dr. Van Till is guilty           Seminary faculty. He had taught God's inspiration of
of a higher critical approach to Scripture, I made                 the Bible as availing itself of historical, political,
                                                                   religious and general cultural influences in the com-
the statement that the ghost of Dr. Ralph Janssen is               position of its several books.
stalking the halls of Calvin College. Dr. Janssen,
you may recall, was deposed as seminary professor                    The pall that this event cast over the freedom of
in 1922 because of his higher critical views of Scrip-             academic discussion in the CRC as a whole has never
                                                                   been entirely dispelled. It is in the context of this
ture. This was a case which was inextricably con-                  history that the present unhappiness in the Board of
nected, both historically and doctrinally, with the                Trustees of the college and the seminary must be seen.
Common Grace Case of 1924.                                         The Press correctly called it a "Battle of the Bible."
  Somewhat unexpectedly, though not to my sur-                     The conflict does not arise out of the genius of the
prise, Dr. Harry R. Boer, an Associate Editor of the               Reformed faith. It arises out of the impact of
Reformed  /ourna1, (known to many of our readers                   American Fundamentalism on the Reformed tradi-
because of his gravamen a few years ago against the                tion.
Canons' doctrine of reprobation, but also himself                 Boer goes on to try to explain what he means by
an advocate of higher criticism) expresses the same             this alleged Fundamentalist tendency in the CRC
evaluation, though from an opposite viewpoint. An               by claiming that "In many parts of the church,
article from Dr. Boer's pen appeared in the Religion            however, there has been a loss of appreciation for
Section of  The  Grand Rapids Press on Saturday,                the historic correlation between creation and
April 25. This article was occasioned by an earlier             redemption in the theology and message of the
article in the Sunday Press of April 12 by the                  Scriptures." Having claimed that Fundamentalism
religion editor, as Dr. Boer notes:                             has but one central theme, redemption, while the
     The Press of Sunday,  April'12  carried on its front       Reformed faith has two central but intimately
   page a report by the religion editor entitled, "Battle of    related themes, creation. and redemption, he claims
   the Bible at Calvin places three professors on spot."        that "The tragedy of Calvin College and Calvin
   The three men concerned, all scientists [One of them         Theological Seminary is that both schools have
   is Dr. Van Till, HCH), have openly described the com-        made and continue to make indirect but broad con-
   ing into being of the physical world quite differently       cessions to the Fundamentalistic impairment of the
   than is done in the first two chapters of the Bible.         Reformed witness." And he claims that matters
   They do not question God's creation of the world.            have stood thus for 65 years, i.e., ever since the
   They do ask about the manner in which God brought            Janssen Case.
   the universe into being.
  After referring to the fact that many letters of                But referring to the three professors whose
complaint have been received and "have led the                  teachings are under investigation (among whom is
Calvin Board of Trustees to appoint an investigative            Dr. Van Till), he writes:
panel to study the compatibility of the professors'                   With a few notable exceptions, their professors
views with the Reformed character of the Christian                 have written nothing for lay consumption on the
Reformed Church (CRC)," Dr. Boer writes as                         evolution versus creation controversy, and they have
follows:                                                           written nothing at all on the manner and history of the


366                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



       coming into being of the Old and the New                 the three professors, among whom is Dr. Van Till,
       Testaments. Their failure to do so has never been a      are returning to the position of  then deposed Dr.
       problem for either the Board of Trustees or for the      Ralph Janssen. And he praises them for this, calling
       respective administrations.                              them "competent and courageous."
         Now that this habit of silence is being breached by      Aside from the question of their competence and
       competent and courageous men their commitment to
       the Reformed tradition is on trial in the Board of       courage, I agree with Dr. Boer. He is right. The
       Trustees itself.                                         spirit of Ralph Janssen is stalking the halls of Calvin
  From all this it is plain that Dr. Boer holds that            College.                                         HCH




                           Dr. Harry Boer is Dead Wrong


  Nevertheless, Dr. Boer is wrong and inaccurate                (bv H. Danhof, H. Hoeksema, H.T. Kuiper, and  T.
in his characterization and assessment of the                   ivr'anni)  is even more clear on these matters;  Synod
Janssen Case and of its impact upon the Christian               of 1922 was not strong enough to go along with the
Reformed Church and its College and Seminary.                   Majority Report, however. And, by the way, is it
                                                                not almost humorous to suggest that men such as
  In the first place, it is wholly inaccurate to                Hoeksema, Danhof, and H.J. Kuiper led the CRC in
characterize Janssen merely as teaching that                    a Fundamentalist direction?
"God's inspiration of the Bible (availed) itself of
historical, political, religious and general cultural             In the second place, it should be remembered
influences in the composition of the several                    that while Dr. Janssen was deposed, the leaven of
books." Though I would not express things thus, a               his teachings remained in the CRC; and his sup-
statement like this could possibly be given a good              porters for the most part also remained.
interpretation. And surely, Janssen would not have                Besides, in the third place, it should not be over-
been deposed very easily if the above had been his              looked that in connection with the Janssen Case the
only error. I took the trouble, in connection with              Common Grace controversy swept the CRC in
this matter, to review once more the Janssen Case.              those` years. And it was the elevation of Common
All the Reports and Decisions in this case were                 Grace to the status of binding church dogma (still
published in the English language by the Synod of               binding today!) that principally opened the door in-
1922 in a booklet of over 200 pages. In this booklet            to the CRC and its college for the fruits of worldly,
it becomes very clear that Dr. Janssen was guilty of            unbelieving science. .
higher criticism, of the documentary hypothesis, of               While Dr. Boer is right on the connection be-
naturalizing the miracles, of teaching evolutionism,            tween the current teachings of men like Dr. Van
of denying the infallibility of Scripture. And he was           Till and others and the Janssen teachings, he is
deposed not on some fundamentalistic basis, but on              dead wrong on his history and on his own funda-
the grounds of Articles such as Articles 3, 5, and 7            mental stance. If he had been an officebearer `in
of our Belgic Confession. The record proves this,               1922, he himself would have been a Janssen sup-
And the Majority Report of the Study Committee                  porter.                                          HCH


                   Take the time to read and study
                                      the Standard Bearer!


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            367



ALL AROUND US
Gise J. Van Buren





                        Religious Liberty At Risk In Michigan
                           Proposed Statement on "Sexuality"
                                          Reformed Pentecostals?



Religious Liberty At Risk In Michigan                                   Suppose a church school employs a teacher who is
  It is worthy of note when a nationally recognized                   not state-licensed? In that event, "the superintendent
                                                                      of public instruction may close said school." What of
political commentator points out dangers to                           the children? The children who attend such a non-
religious liberty - and especially when that is in a                  complying school "shall be compelled to attend the
state where many of our schools and churches are                      public schools or approved private, denominational or
located. There is very real reason for concern.                       parochial schools." . . . .
James Kilpatrick, writing for Universal Press Syndi-                 The article goes on to point out how two Baptist
cate, and appearing in the Grand Rapids' Press  of              church-schools fought this in the courts. The
April 16, 1987, speaks of court cases which deal                schools won their case on the trial level in 1982, but
with regulation of church schools. He writes:                   lost on appeal to the State Supreme Court in 1986.
      How far may a state go in its regulation of church        Now the matter is being appealed to the U.S.
    schools? That question was presented squarely to the        Supreme Court. These schools meet all the require-
    U.S. Supreme Court last week in a petition for review       ments of the state regarding sanitation and safety -
    of an ominous decision of the Supreme Court of              and are racially integrated. The commentator then
    Michigan. The Michigan court held that a church             noints
                                                                I          out the confusion in the Michigan law:
    school may be shut down if it employs even one                      Parts of the state law were not clear at all. The
    teacher not licensed by the state.                                Michigan act requires that courses of study in a
      The case began almost eight years ago, when                     denominational school "shall be of the same standard
    Michigan's state superintendent of public instruction             as provided by the general school laws of the state,"
    decided to crack down on two fundamentalist schools.              but the state's own witnesses were in hopeless con-
    One school is operated by the Sheridan Road Baptist               flict on what this language might mean. Under the
    Church in Saginaw, the other by the First Baptist                 "general school laws," Michigan's public schools
    Church of Bridgeport. Each school enrolls about 350               must serve a whole smorgasbord of courses. Among
    pupils.                                                           the mandated courses is a course in "sex education,"
                                                                      to which the church schools especially objected.
      To understand the case, it is important that                    Other statutorily required courses include courses in
    Michigan's law be quoted exactly. The law is brutally             health problems, communicable diseases, humane
    blunt.                                                            treatment of animals, the contributions of women,
      The statute begins by giving the state super-                   and instruction in the culture of racial minorities.
    intendent "supervision" of all denominational schools
    in certain defined areas. The act says flatly that "No              During the six-day trial, witnesses for the state were
    person shall teach or give instruction in any of the              asked to prove any favorable correlation between the
    regular or elementary grade studies in any private,               licensing of teachers and the quality of pupil achieve-
    denominational or parochial school within this state              ment. They had no such evidence. Donald A.
    who does not hold a certificate such as would qualify             Erickson, a professor in UCLA's Graduate School of
    him or her to teach in like grades of the public schools          Education, testified for the plaintiffs that schools that
    of this state."                                                   employ only certified teachers are generally less effec-
                                                                      tive than schools that employ only a few.
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed                  The case law in this constitutional field is that a
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                      state must prove a "compelling interest" in order to


368                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



       justify encroachments on freedom of religion. One                study as a long-overdue recognition of social reality.
       such compelling interest appeared in Bridgeport,                 But others said church approval of sex outside of mar-
       where the local superintendent circulated a news-                riage goes against divine law and threatens to worsen
       letter setting forth a "basic principle" to help in hard         the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
       times. This principle was "to prevent loss of students                Episcopal Church presiding bishop Edmond Lee
       to non-public schools," because "We lose $2,000 for              Browning praised the Newark Diocese for being "at
       every student who leaves our school district."                   the cutting edge" of church issues. But he stopped
  The report presents a very disturbing trend. In-                      short of endorsing the report.
creasingly, the state would seek to control
parochial, denominational, or private schools.                      Reformed Pentecostals?
Already, the state appears to have laws on the                        One finds favorable reports of pentecostalism
books that could shut down any of these schools if                  within the Reformed community. In a feature arti-
it is so inclined to do so. We too shall face growing               cle appearing in  Ccrlvinisf  Co&act, April 10, 1987,
pressure to bow to the unscriptural demands of the                  there are presented the common problems which
state. We can only labor while we may, that our                     arise within churches where charismatics assert
children are properly instructed. But we labor with                 themselves. At the same time, the article points out
the understanding that we might not have this                       areas where charismatics have proved beneficial
privilege very long anymore.                                        within the church: in the area of prayer, of
                                                                    evangelism, and of worship services. The writer
Proposed Statement on `Sexuality"                                   goes on to advocate a certain "balancing act"
  One is constantly amazed at what comes out of                     within Reformed churches so that a church may be
the churches in the way of approval of homosexual-                  both "Reformed" and "charismatic" at the same
ity or adultery. While the Word of God is so utterly                time:
plain on the subject, churches continue to meddle                            So there is much good that has come from the
with the teachings of Scripture, twisting these to                      charismatic movement. The only problem is how to
mean the very opposite of what is taught.  &-is-                       integrate it into the church and still stay Reformed. It
fianity Today, March 20, 1987, reports:                                 can be difficult. It can be a real balancing act when
         Episcopal Church parishes in northern New Jersey              part of the congregation is against anything that smells
       have been asked to study a report that advocates                 of pentecostalism, and some of the charismatics
       church approval of sexual relationships among un-               would be very happy to see the congregation go com-
       married people, including homosexuals.                          pletely Pentecostal.
         The 600-member convention of the Newark (NJ)                        In spite of this polarization and the resulting strug-
       Episcopal Diocese voted to receive a 15-page report             gles, it is my experience that a combination of Re-
       titled "Changing Patterns of Sexuality and Family               formed and charismatic principles is possible. Chur-
       Life." The report will be the focus of a year-long study        ches can be blessed by the charismatic renewal, but
       by parishes and other groups in the diocese.                    also stay true to a Reformed perspective on scripture,
                                                                       doctrine, baptism, the catechism and social justice.
         "It is our conclusion that by suppressing our sex-
       uality and by condemning all sex which occurs out-             Such claim is indeed sad. Anyone who knows
       side of traditional marriage, the church has thereby         anything of the teachings and practices of
       obstructed a vitally important means for persons to          charismatics would understand that there is no
       know and celebrate their relatedness to God," the            possible harmony between that which is Reformed
       report states. Newark Bishop John S. Sprong has              and that which is known as "charismatic". Pam-
       urged an end to the church's opposition to sex outside       phlets on this whole subject are available by
       of marriage, and some Episcopalians welcomed the             writing to  The Standard Bearer.

A CERTAIN FAILURE /continued  from page  382)                       alive. Physical death is ahead for all men. No
                                                                    creature can halt it.
  And Elimelech's attempt did fail. Man cannot
live by bread alone; and Elimelech failed to keep                     Now before we elevate ourselves above
his body alive, even though he was in a land flow-                  Elimelech, we had better count the many times that
ing with milk and honey. We can have an abun-                       we were more concerned about what our earthly
dance of food and nourish our bodies for threescore                 life needs than what we need spiritually. We do not
and ten, fourscore or even more years; but we will                  need to live in a particular land; but we do have a
experience certain failure in our attempt to keep                   calling to live where we and our children can find
that body alive. Because it lies under the curse, it                the truth preached in such a way that every word is
will as the years go by be unable to receive much of                a word that proceeds from God's mouth, and is not
that bread and will require medicines. These also                   man's idea nor what his flesh likes.
will certainly in a short time fail to keep the body                                                           (continued  on  page  380)


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  369


                    "Good Morning, Alice" -(20)
                                                     Gise J. Van Baren





  Just before saying goodnight to Alice, we had                  separate ways: Claire to her home, brother Gise to a
noticed a very strange thing happening. Alice had               bed in the basement at John's house. With the
not been able to move a muscle for several months,              intercom turned on, the nurse could call him in any
yet now her arms and legs definitely moved! It was              emergency.
an unusual sensation to see one move who was ab-                Good Morning Alice:
solutely incapable of moving. One wondered if he
had observed correctly  - but there was no doubt                   *`The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken
about it. Alice herself seemed not even to notice -             and a contrite heart, 0 God, Thou wilt not despise."
and we said nothing of it to her.                                  Isn't that about the hardest thing for a person to do?
                                                                 To humble myselfi to say, "I am guilty; I have sinned",
Good Morning Alice:                                             is very difficult. My pride is always in the way. And yet,
  Do you ever feel far from God, Alice? There are                that's what Scripture teaches us. The only sacrifice God
many times, for many reasons, that I do, and if I really        accepts from us is a broken spirit and a broken and a
think about it, it is because of something I've done, or        contrite heart. And it all comes from God to begin with.
more often something I have not done.                              One who has a broken spirit is one who knows what
  Hosea tells us: "Come and let us return unto the              God has done for him and in humility comes to God.
Lord. "                                                         One who has a contrite heart is one that is cut by his
  At times when we feel so far from God, that is dif-           sins and truly sorry for them. This then is just what God
ficult. But because the Spirit never leaves us, we can          requires of us. In whatever place or circumstance we
turn and return unto a closer relationship with Him.            find ourselves, God requires us to throw off our pride
                                                                and be humble, and sorrow over the sins we have com-
  `/For He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath              mitted.
smitten and He will bind us up."                                   It is only then that we can truly experience the love
  When I stray far from Him, He has to sometimes                lhat God gives unto us.
smite me spiritually to bring me closer to Him. Have
you experienced that, Alice? But the text doesn't stop             May we both, today, see our pride for what it is, and
there. He heals us. He binds us up. And as verse three          with broken spirit and contrite heart, experience His
tells us, `We shall know (if we follow on) to know the          forgiveness.
Lord." We shall know that God is our God.                                                         With love, Your friend
  Just as morning comes after darkness, He comes                Please read II Peter l:lO-11
with His love radiating into our hearts at our times of            Although it had long been obvious that Alice was
trouble.                                                        failing, still we fully expected her to live through
  Just as rain refreshes and nourishes the land, so God         the night. She had been so aware of everything that
comes to us to refresh us in our difficult times.               evening. She had responded to our remarks and
  God has sent storm in your life, Alice, but He is with        questions. She had even indicated that her medica-
you, and He refreshes you, and nourishes you and fills          tion made her stomach upset that night  - and
you with joy in your heart when you remain close to             asked that it not be given in her regular feeding.
Him in thought and prayer.                                      Clearly, all was not well. Yet she had gone through
                                                                so many difficult times before, who would have
  Remember today, Alice, He is NEAR. Lean on Him                thought . . . . ?
and realize His radiating love in you.                          Good Morning, Alice:
                                    In His love, Your friend       `Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to
Please read Psalm 51:17                                         make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
  While nurse Jane continued to suction Alice's                 things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be
throat, we quietly bade her goodnight and went our              ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
                                                                kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed             I've often wondered about these verses: me? I can
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                give diligence to make my calling and election sure?


3 7 0                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



   But it's there, and it's God's Word. He has placed             Good Morning Alice:
His Spirit in me and given me a new heart to do just                 "And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our
that. As long as I keep my heart and eyes on my God,              faith." I'm sure that seeing the life of Jesus as the
and on what He has done for me, and then actively do              apostles did, they realized just how weak their faith
as He commands, I experience the sureness of that elec-           was. I am also sure that never in this life will we be able
tion. When I fail (and that is continually when I give in         to have the steady, strong faith that we desire; that we
to my flesh), yet it is still my heart's desire to strive with    even long after, and it's all because of our sins.
diligence to obey.                                                   We should always be aware of things that we know
   And then? Then I know and am comforted that I                  make our faith weaker, and stay away from those
shall enter into His everlasting Kingdom because He               things. Dwelling too much on self; worrying, reading
has given me that entrance.  And  I will desire to                the wrong books, watching T.V. programs that we
prepare myself heart, mind and soul for that Kingdom.             know are against God's commands.
                                        In love, Your friend        Oh, so many of our thoughts and deeds weaken our
Please read II Peter 3:18                                         faith. The apostles saw that their faith was weak and
   That evening of March 23rd was to be Alice's last              asked the Lord to increase it. They knew it had to come
on this earth. If one really knew these things in ad-             from God.
vance, would he not say more or do more than he                     May we make that our prayer today too as we face
has? Would it not be wonderful to have one last                   the trials, temptations, and suffering that comes our
long conversation with Alice - to say all the things              way  - so difficult because they're so unknown -
we always meant to say, but never did? "We're                     "Lord, increase our faith!"
sorry, Alice, that we didn't help you more. We're                                                    With love, Your friend
sorry for those many times we were impatient with
you or didn't understand you. We're sorry we                      Please read John 3:35-36
couldn't make your difficult lot just a bit easier."                While the nurse' had been suctioning Alice's
Yet, this night had not seemed all that different                 throat, she had simply stopped breathing. She had
from many others. But the opportune time was                      been conscious to the very end  - when her heart
past.                                                             stopped beating. Now all worries about possible
Good Morning Alice:                                               hospitalization, about the continued use of a
                                                                  respirator, all these were gone. It had been a long
   "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our                two years - but upon reflection, such a very short
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both                time. Alice was gone  - only the body remained.
now and forever. Amen."                                           No, that frail, thin, helpless body was not Alice  -
   Doesn't that seem like an impossible thing? How do             Alice was gone.
we grow in grace when it is God who gives grace? I                Good Morning Alice:
think we can look at it this way: God has given us
grace, and knowledge of Himself. We are called to                   "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
grow in that grace and knowledge.                                 into His hand. He that believeth on the Son hath ever-
                                                                  lasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not
   Isn't that what we've been doing together with these           see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
notes, Alice? I certainly have gained knowledge of God
in searching for verses to share with you, and I hope               He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
you have too. And in examining my life, I have had                What a clear verse. Believing, we have everlasting life.
days where I really feel I've grown to know better that           Believing not, one can not even fathom life, but the
wonderful grace that God has given. It isn't an easy              wrath of God abides on him.
thing though, growing in grace. Often right after I write           How can we have everlasting life now already?
you, I have to get busy and my thoughts (and actions)             We're experiencing sorrow, pain and trial, just how
just don't stay where I wish they could be, or rather,            does that all fit in with everlasting life? The verse again
must be. But the wonderful comfort is that we are His,            gives us the answer. Believing means that the Holy
and our salvation is all of Him.                                  Spirit is already in us or we couldn't believe. He is in
   Yes, to Him be glory both now and forever. Amen -              us. We are not our own, but we belong to Him. It
we know it is so.                                                 makes me think of a favorite verse of mine, "Be still
                                                                  and know that I am God." That's when we can ex-
                                     With love, Your friend       perience the beginning of that everlasting life - when
Please read Luke 17:5                                             we shut out all thoughts of this world and concentrate
   It was only shortly after brother Gise retired that            on Him, on His riches, His love, His mercy, and the
the nurse called, "Could you come up to help? I                   mansions He prepares for us - everlastingly.
think Alice is gone!" Alice, gone!?                                                                  With love, Your friend


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    371



Please read Ps. 119:49-50                                        land." No more need the address be made here,
  The rest of the family were called. Soon all ar-               "Good morning, Alice." For the family, it was a
rived again  - after having left only hours before.              rather sad, "Good night, Alice"  - a "good night"
There is at such a time a deep consciousness of loss             which had been expressed to her only a few`
and the resulting sorrow - yet joy for deliverance               moments before she had died. And yet, could one
from this vale of tears to eternal glory with our Lord           not almost hear in his heart the cry which must re-
Jesus Christ! Now hers was the joy and freedom,                  sound in heaven itself when His saints enter,
while we continued to walk in this vale of the                   "GOOD MORNING, ALICE"  - a good morning
shadow of death. How could we be sad for her?                    indeed of everlasting bliss in the perfection of holi-
                                                                 ness. Truly, to be with the Lord is far better - good
Good Morning Alice:                                              in the highest possible sense.
   What a beautiful day it was yesterday. This morning             Thank you, our anonymous friend, for words of
it looks like it's going to rain all day, but yesterday was      comfort and cheer for Alice not only, but also for
a first real touch of spring. I took the little ones out to a    the whole family. Our prayer is that the recording
park and took some pictures, and although there were             of these loving words of cheer you wrote to a
no spring blossoms or green trees, yet there was a bright        fellow-saint may be of great comfort and assurance
look to the woods.                                               to others in like circumstances.
  If my pictures turn out, I will send you one so you can          And thank you too, many other friends and rela-
share in my walk with me.                                        tives who sent so faithfully your cards, flowers, and
   `Remember the Word unto thy servant, upon which               who offered prayers and visited so faithfully.
Thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my            Thanks be to our .gracious God Who has provided
affliction: for Thy word hath quickened me."                     that there should be communion of saints - partic-
  There it is again, Alice; we can have comfort in our           ularly through great trials.
affliction because God's Word quickens us - revives                Our thanks could be expressed simply as this
us. And in that, we have hope. The hope of living with           was presented to the congregation of Alice's home
Him everlastingly.                                               church, South Holland Protestant Reformed: "We
  And you know, all of the beauty we see here now,               would hereby express our deep appreciation and
will be nothing compared to the beauty and wonder and            heartfelt thanks for the kindnesses shown the past
perfection of living with Him.                                   two years during the time of Alice's illness. She,
                                                                 and we, greatly rejoiced in cards, visits, thoughtful
                                    With love, Your friend       gifts, and your assurance of prayers uttered to our
Please read Psalm 137:4-6                                        God on her, and our, behalf. Words can hardly ex-
   That was the last letter from Alice's "friend", a             press the wonderful communion of saints we have
letter she did not get to read. Nor could she read               enjoyed through this difficult period. Though many
now the verse for the next day, Psalm  137:4-6,                  have stated that they would have liked to do more,
"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange                  we discovered that the little each does surely `adds
land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right                up' to support and encouragement that can not be
hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee,              described. Thanks - and may God continue to lead
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I               you and us to support and encourage each member
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." But Alice              of Christ's body in his afflictions."
need no longer sing the "Lord's song in a strange                                      -The family of Alice Van  Baren

 This, then, is the first and absolutely indispensable           can be uttered from our lips, before even the slightest
requirement of our salvation: we must be in Christ.              longing can arise in our soul for God and His Christ,
Hence, we must be incorporated into Him; we must be              that union must be accomplished. It is an absolute pre-
united with Him. A spiritual union must be established           requisite for the reception of all salvation. For Christ is
between Christ and our soul, before we can receive any           our all, and all our salvation is in Him. But we cannot
fruit of Christ's death and resurrection. This union is          begin to draw our life and light, our knowledge and
absolutely first. Unless that living connection is               wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification, from
established between Christ and our inmost heart, we              Him until our inmost heart is joined in spiritual unity
are outside of Him. And outside of Christ there is only          with Him, Who is the revelation of the God of our
guilt and damnation, corruption and death, darkness              salvation.
and desolation. Before there can be the faintest spark of          But how is this union accomplished?
new life in us, before there can appear even the faintest            H. Hoeksema, The Wonder of Grace, pages 36,37
glimmer of light in our soul, before the simplest prayer


372                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                                 Confession of Faith (6)



   "Will you submit to church government, and in           the church is the rule that He carries out through
case you should become delinquent (which may               the office-bearers of the church. The authority that
God graciously forbid) to church discipline?"              the office-bearers have is the authority that Christ
  This third question asked of those who make              has given to them.
public confession of faith is closely related to the         The Scriptures are plain enough in teaching this
previous two questions. In the first question we           truth. In Ephesians 4: 11 we read: "And He (i.e., the
acknowledge the doctrine of the Old and New Tes-           ascended Lord Jesus Christ) gave  some)  apostles;
taments as taught in the confessions of the church.        and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
By means of Christian discipline, purity of doctrine       some, pastors and teachers." Repeatedly the Apos-
is preserved in the church. In the second question         tle Paul refers to himself as the servant or minister
we resolve by the grace of God to lead a new, godly        of Jesus Christ (Col. 1: 17; Rom. 1:l). Hebrews 54 is
life. The purpose of Christian discipline is to main-      relevant: "And no man taketh this honor unto
tain godly living among the members of the church.         himself, but he that is called of God, as was
The objects of Christian discipline are those              Aaron."
members of the church who err either in doctrine             In the third place, although Christ rules the
or in life. The purpose of the exercise of discipline      church and although He rules the church through
is the maintenance of true doctrine and holy living        office-bearers, He exercises His rule through the
in the church.                                             church herself. The church as a whole is respon-
PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT                            sible for this rule and actually carries it out.
  Three outstanding principles of church govern-             It is for this reason that the third question speaks
ment are implied in this third question. Those who         of "church government" and "church discipline".
make confession of faith ought to understand these         The emphasis of the question is on the responsibili-
principles.                                                ty of the church as a whole for the proper govern-
  First of all, the Head and Supreme Ruler of the          ment and discipline of the church.
church is Jesus Christ. The form of government of            That government and discipline are activities of
the church is not democratic but monarchical.              the church as a whole is born out by several con-
Christ alone rules in the church, and His rule is ab-      siderations. First, it is the church that administers
solute and sovereign. He said that to His disciples at     the means of grace and exercises the keys of the
the time of His ascension: "All power is given unto        kingdom of heaven. Contrary to the teaching of
me in heaven and in earth." Having ascended into           Rome, to no individual, but to the church, Christ
heaven, Christ is seated at the right hand of God,         has given the power of the keys. Second, the in-
the position of rule and authority.                        volvement of the church is seen in the fact that
  In the second,place, although Christ rules in the        every member of the church is an office-bearer. Oc-
church, He exercises His rule through men whom             cupying the office of all believers, he is a prophet,
He calls and appoints to office. The rule of Christ in     priest, and king under Christ. And thirdly, the in-
                                                           volvement of the church is seen in the teaching of
RonaId L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    Scripture that even those who are appointed to
Church of Loveland, Colorado.                              special office in the church are appointed by the


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              373



membership of the church herself. The first                is pleased to manifest that authority. We must sub-
deacons were chosen and called by the church at            mit to the government and discipline of the church.
Jerusalem, Acts 6:3-5. Paul was called and sent out        IN CASE WE BECOME DELINQUENT
by the church at Antioch, Acts 13: l-3. Timothy had
been ordained and entrusted with the duties of his           Especially urgent is our submission to the
office by the presbytery (elders) of the congregation      government of the church if we should become
of Ephesus, I Tim.  4:14.                                  delinquent. This may very well happen. This has
                                                           happened in the past, and happens today. It is a
CALLED TO SUBMIT TO CHURCH                                 very real possibility that we fall into sin, serious
GOVERNMENT                                                 sin, sin that we do not immediately repent of, sin
  To the rule of Christ exercised through the office-      that becomes the occasion of the discipline of the
bearers appointed by the congregation, we are              church. When this happens, we promise to submit
called to submit. The person making public confes-         to that discipline of the church and to receive the
sion of faith vows to submit to church government.         correction of that discipline.
When he confesses his faith in Jesus Christ, he con-         This certainly is an outstanding reason for
fesses faith in Jesus Christ not only as his Savior,       church government and for office-bearers in the
but also as his Lord. Believing in Jesus Christ he         church. One purpose of church discipline is the
also willingly places himself under the rule of Jesus      recovery of the wayward. In II Timothy  2:25, 26,
Christ.                                                    Paul calls the office-bearers to labor with those
  Many passages of Scripture lay before us the call-       members of the church who have fallen into sin:
ing to be in submission to the office-bearers of the       I, . . . if God peradventure will give them repentance
church. After carefully explaining the duty of the         to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they
elders, the Apostle Peter exhorts in I Peter  5:5,         may recover themselves out of the snare of the
"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the          devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."
elder." In I Thessalonians  5:12, 13 we read: "And           Sad to say, in many cases this vow is broken.
we beseech you, brethren, to know them which               Often it is the case that those who fall into sin will
labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and         not submit to the government of the church. They
admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in            will not receive the pastor or elders when they call
love for their work's sake. And be at peace among          on them to admonish them. If they receive the
yourselves." An especially powerful passage is             office-bearers, they will not be convinced by the
Hebrews 13: 17: "Obey them that have the rule              teaching of the Word of God, but stubbornly persist
over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for        in their sin. Often instead of submitting to govern-
your souls, as they that must give account, that           ment of the church, they simply "ask for their
they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that      papers" and leave the church entirely, or go to a
is unprofitable for you."                                  church which fails to manifest faithfully the marks
  We are called to be in submission to the office-         of the true church of Christ in the world.
bearers of the church. We are called to obey them            This is serious sin! Sin is a serious matter.
because they "have the rule" over us. We are not to        Unrepented-of-sin is a serious matter. But stub-
obey them merely because they are older or wiser           bornly to persist in sin after the admonition and
than we are. We are not to obey them because of            discipline of the church is still more serious. To do
any kind of penalty or punishment that might               this in spite of the solemn promise we have made to
result from our not being in submission to them.           submit to the government of the church is the
For no other reason are we to submit to them than          worst sin of all.
that they have been given the rule over us. Christ
has set them in authority, and us under their              FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE
authority. Not for the sake of their person, because         This does not mean that every decision of the
we happen to like or dislike the person of the office-     church is to be obeyed unquestioningly. Our obe-
bearer, but for the sake of his office and the             dience to the government of the church is our obe-
authority of his office we are to submit to the office-    dience to Jesus Christ and to the Word of Jesus
bearer.                                                    Christ. If the church exercises authority apart from
  Here is an important test of our allegiance to           Jesus Christ, in contradiction to the Word of Christ,
Christ. Here is the proof that we are servants of          in good conscience the believer cannot obey. Our
Christ and that we honor Christ as our Lord and            conscience is not bound to the church and the
King. It is easy enough to say that Christ is our          decrees of the church, but our conscience is bound
Lord. It is easy enough to speak of Christ as the          to the Word of God. And no church may ever at-
King of our life. But then we must show that, by           tempt to find the conscience of the members of the
our submission to the authority of Christ where He         church. This, in fact, is a mark of the false church.


374                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  Two possibilities may be conceived of here.             cumstances may rebel against those in authority.
First, decisions are made by the church with which        Even when those in authority demand of us what is
a member disagrees or is not satisfied, but these         contrary to the Word of God, we may not rise up
decisions do not concern matters of principle. The        against those in authority, we may not be abusive
member may question the wisdom or the appropri-           of those in authority, we may not seek the over-
ateness of such decisions. Perhaps the decision con-      throw of those in authority.
cerns a building project, a change in the liturgy of        At the same time, involved in submission to
the church, change of time of the Sunday worship          church government when the government of the
services, or many similar matters. In this case,          church demands of us what is contrary to the Word
although the individual is personally opposed to the      of God is our calling to bring our objections to the
decision, because it does not involve a fundamental       decisions of the church in the orderly way. A
teaching of the Word of God, he acquiesces to the         member does this by protest and appeal. This is the
decision and abides by it. This is submission to          way of submission. In this way, the member hopes
church government.                                        to convince the church of its wrong-doing. If, in the
  The second possibility is that decisions are made       end, this fails, the member is left with no alterna-
by the church that are plainly contrary to the Word       tive but to leave his church for one that adheres
of God. Perhaps the church has decided to open the        faithfully to the truth, or institute the church anew
special offices to the women. In this case, the           with other like-minded Christians.
member cannot in good conscience before God                 The Word of God to covenant young people is
obey the government of the church. To do so would         clear. Confess your faith in Christ! Hold to the
be to obey men rather than God. Even then, he is          sound doctrine! Live the new, godly life! Submit to
called to submit. He cannot obey, but he must sub-        the government of the church!
mit. It is possible for him not to obey, and at the
same time to submit. The opposite of submission is          This is the straight and narrow way that leads to
rebellion, and no child of God under any cir-             life everlasting.

GUEST ARTICLE
Robert C. Harbach





                                    Jesus Protecting


  Continuing from where we left off in the first in-         "And they said, `Jesus, the Nazarene."' But not
stallment under the above heading, at John  18:6,         even one of those Jews responded with anything
we now go on with verse 7. "Then asked He them            like one sinner who witnessed no miracle of His,
again, `Whom seek ye?' ' ' Putting this His second re-    yet had exclaimed, "Is not this the Christ!" (4:29).
quest to them, Jesus releases His holding them            The name they use in referring to Him was already
down where they had fallen on the ground and              "a proverb of reproach" among the people of the
allows them to get to their feet. They had lost their     land. Their use of the name was to revile and deride
dignity, but not Jesus His. What He is saying to          Him. Later, men just like these, if not of the very
them in effect now is, Does not My identity dawn          same number, at the Lord's sepulchre experienced
on you yet as to what and who I am? You all fell to       a mighty earthquake and saw the angel of glory roll
the ground at a breath from My mouth. With you, a         away the stone from the mouth of the empty tomb.
wonder of My power avails nothing! This should            These awesome things made them fall down like
have caused at least Judas to reflect, as Luther          dead men. Yet they could not honestly report the
observed, "Man, quit defying Him who hurls us all         astounding event, but lied about it for bribes. Not
back with one word!"                                      even divine judgment will turn sinners from their


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               375



rebellion against God, and bring them to repen-               John's inspired Gospel these words forever become
tance. Rev.  16:10, 11.                                       a part of the inspired Holy Scriptures. The seven-
  "Jesus answered, `I have told you that I am                 teenth chapter of John contains what is, strictly, the
(He)."' These words of verse 8 may be taken as a              Lord's Prayer. (In Matthew 6:9-12 we have the
pledge of the acquittal of God's elect through                Disciples' Prayer.) Now at this point in time, at the
Christ's substituting Himself in their place to take          arrest of Jesus, this petition in the Lord's Prayer,
their debt upon Himself, so discharging them from             "Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none,"
it. Sacrificing Himself, Jesus spreads His protection         is fulfilled. This makes the New Testament what
over His own. The disciples escape unharmed.                  the Old Testament is, namely, Holy Scripture. The
                                                              New Testament, as well as the Old, is no less than
  "If, therefore, ye seek Me,  Zet these go their             infallibly, verbally, and plenarily inspired Scrip-
way." Jesus is still in control, with all things in His       ture. Also this word of Jesus is hardly uttered when
hands. Jn.  13:3. He is still in command of  them.            it is already fulfilled. Now this prayer has become a
"Let these go," He commands. "Touch not Mine                  promise. What the Lord prayed for is now
anointed, and do My prophets no harm." This is                guaranteed to His people, not only those with Him
Christ, the mighty Conqueror. As someone said,                then, but also all who would believe on Him
"They were about to tie His hands, but before do-             through His Word.
ing so He first tied theirs."                                   "Of them whom Thou gavest Me have I lost
  The Lord then and there proved to them that He              none." Jesus means here not Judas, nor reprobate
could have saved Himself, had He so desired. He               sinners, but refers to His own elect. So also in
had saved the others; He could have saved Himself.            chapter 6, verse  .37, where He says, "All that the
His command was to let the disciples go. If He had            Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that
also commanded that they let Him go, in that case,            cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." You find
what else could they have done? But Jesus must go             this clause, "given by the Father to Christ," in
on to the brazen altar of Calvary alone (Jn. 16:32).          chapter 17 about seven times. God has a chosen
He must tread the winepress alone. As for the                 people whom He has given to Christ; they are the
disciples, this is not their part in God's covenant           eternal gift of the Father. The remainder of John
(their part will come later). So at this point their          6:37 plainly states that these people Christ received
enemies should, must and did let them go. Who                 from the Father must and shall come to Christ;
could stop Jesus - Herod? No; go and tell that fox,           none of them shall be rejected, for they have been
said He, Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures            accepted. They were chosen in and given to Christ
today and tomorrow! (Lk.  13:32). No one can pre-             before the foundation of the world. They are His
vent Me from finishing the work the Father has                possession; He keeps them. None of them shall be
given Me to do.                                               lost. They belong, body and soul to Him. For the
  So the Lord proved to His disciples that He is              Father gave their bodies as well as souls into
competent to protect and preserve all His own in              Christ's charge. Both their bodies and souls He has
and through the greatest dangers. Did not these               redeemed from all the power of the devil by His
Roman soldiers and Jewish officers intend to cap-             precious blood. Both their bodies and souls shall be
ture the apostles as well? Quite likely  - see Mark           glorified by Him in the resurrection at the last day.
14:51, 52. But the word of power He issues, "Let              God's promise to His church is that "your whole
these go their way," is effectual to deliver them             spirit and soul and body (shall) be preserved blame-
without harm. Now we may believe that He has                  less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I
spoken this word of power many times when we                  Thess.  5:23). That is the great end predestined for
were in places of danger. See Psalm 124.                      all the saints. God has also ordained all the means
  "That the saying might be fulfilled, which He               He shall employ to bring them to that end.
spake, `Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost                Therefore, Jesus would protect and preserve
none"' (v. 9). This saying is a quotation from His            these men because He intended that they remain
high priestly prayer, chapter 17, verse 12, which is          alive to see Him after His death, to be witnesses of
now fulfilled in Jesus protecting His own when He             His resurrection from the dead; and that they might
was arrested. It would be natural to expect that              receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, thus qualifying
"the saying" would be from the Old Testament.                 them to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.
But that is not the case. It was only a short while           The Lord can and will protect His people from
before crossing over the Cedron into Gethsemane               sickness and physical afflictions until they are ad-
that Jesus had spoken these words. But now in                 vanced enough spiritually to bear them. Tradition
                                                              has it that all the apostles except John became mar-
Robert C. Harbach is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    tyrs. But at this early stage, with their Lord's death
Reformed Churches.                                            impending, they were unfit to become martyrs.


376                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                         -



They still very much revealed themselves to be            change the body of our humiliation and make it like
spiritually immature and incompetent to bear the          unto His body of glory.
responsibilities of the calling to which they were          "Of them whom Thou gavest Me I have lost
called and in which they would valiantly serve the        none." "Whom Thou gavest Me" puts Christ's
Lord. So, lest they should be put to shame, and           whole church right in His possession from eternity
Christ's whole cause exposed to ruin, He would            in heaven. In our lifetime we go from one blessing
protect them from themselves, and from a trial only       on earth to another of higher degree. But here, in
a veteran soldier of the Cross could bear. God will       His mind, Jesus leaps up out of all this present life
give them strength for every trial arising, and He        to that which is reserved in heaven for us. He sees
will keep them from any trial not suited to what lit-     Himself and all His own safe in heaven. So this is a
tle strength and little faith they at the moment          prayer for the whole church. Jesus does not forget a
possess. Also He will preserve us from death until        single member. In His mind and heart He holds and
our work is done.                                         protects each member individually, but not apart
  "I have lost none of them" means that within the        His concern and purpose to bring the corporate
eternal divine decree of election they are for ever       body of the whole infallibly to glory. Not one
safe. Then they will be kept safe, too, throughout        member of the Body of Christ shall be missing.
all the time of their pilgrimage. He will not lose so       No, none of the elect can be lost. From the throne
much as one. Jesus was the Substitute for His peo-        at God's right hand, Jesus, Lord of all, so protects,
ple. As such He took their place under the wrath of       preserves and guards His own throughout every
God, bearing their sin, and their punishment for          age to the end of the world, that at the last day He
their sins, the penalty demanded by divine justice        shall report triumphantly to the Father, Behold I
for sin. Then that penalty which He suffered in the       and the children whom Thou, Jehovah, hast given
stead of His people cannot fall on them. The penal-       Me - of them I have lost none! Christ protects and
ty God will not twice demand, once at my bleeding         keeps His charges. No one can pluck them out of
Substitute's hand, and then again at mine. If the         His hand. His power makes His own forever safe.
Lord tarries we shall die; but since He died for us,      Arminianism has the gall to deny this with its, "Yet
death cannot hold us. At the resurrection Christ          a believer (one of Christ's sheep  - rch) after all
will exult over Death and the grave with, For these       may be lost." But then he would perish, whereas
I died; let these go their way! Then shall be realized    Jesus says of all His sheep,  "They  shall NEVER
the redemption of our bodies. Then shall He               perish!"

WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko





         Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                    (151


  Before we get into the question of genetic              Mary Beth Whitehead, agreed to bear a child for
engineering, I want to come back briefly to the           William and Elizabeth Stern for $10,000. She was
question of surrogate motherhood, a subject we            artificially impregnated with sperm from William
have been discussing in the past few articles.            Stern so that biologically the child was from
  In the course of our discussion of this subject, we     William Stern and Mary Beth Whitehead. But after
had opportunity to notice a case which was  pend-         the child was born, Mary Whitehead refused to
ing in the New Jersey courts in which a mother,           give it up, ran away with the child to Florida, and


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        377



claimed it as her own. The case went to the courts              have children by other means, by "renting the
and, in a recent ruling, the judge awarded the baby,            womb" of another. Is this a social good? And even
now a year old, to the Sterns, ruling that the con-             if it can be argued that it is, what about the other
tract was legal and binding.                                    "social" implications of such practices? What about
  The judge's ruling was, however, not simply a                 the  natural mother who loses her child?  Is it a
matter of a legal contract. As his decision showed,             "social good" that Mary Beth Whitehead may
he took other matters into consideration: 1) the                never see her child again even though it was her
rights of a parent to her own child; 2) the welfare of          own flesh and blood and she had developed a deep
the child. He granted that Mary Beth Whitehead                  attachment to it? What about the child? Has any
had a certain claim on the child as its natural                 one ever given any thought to what that child is go-
parent, but said in his decision: Given the need to             ing to have to go through when she is told about the
choose between "a parent's rights and a child's                 method used to bring her into the world? Are these
welfare, the choice is and must be the child's wel-             "social goods" even by the world's standards?
fare." Thus he ruled that the child would be better               When the law of God is defied, wicked men
off with the Sterns than with the Whiteheads.                   make colossal messes of their lives. And this is a
  We could almost wish that the judge had ruled in              case in point.
favor of the Whiteheads, for that almost certainly               * * *  * * * * * * * * * * *
would have put an end to the matter of surrogate                  In this and future articles we want to say some-
motherhood once and for all. It would be extremely              thing about genetic engineering, a term which is
unlikely that a couple would contract with a sur-               used as a sort of catch-all for a number of biological
rogate mother if there was no assurance that the                practices which tire already in use in some areas,
child would ultimately be their's. Nevertheless, the            but which will become increasing common as
evils of this now court-approved practice remain                medical technology advances.
regardless of what the judge's ruling was. But the                While it lies entirely beyond our ability to under-
battle will go on. The April 13, 1987 issue of U.S.             stand the techniques which are involved in genetic
News and World Report says:                                     engineering, and while it would be useless to
     The threshold question is whether the law should           burden our readers with long descriptions of the
   even recognize contract mothering. Infertile couples         theory and procedures which scientists use, at least
   and those in the business of providing surrogacy serv-       a few brief remarks ought to be made about this.
   ices argue that widespread inability to conceive has         We found a rather helpful description in the
   created a legitimate demand. Meanwhile, an unusual           February  7, 1986 issue of  Christianity Today, which
   coalition of religious organizations, civil libertarians,    we quote here.
   feminists and adoption advocates are pressuring law-
   makers to outlaw it . . . .                                       The DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid) molecule is
                                                                   "large" (for a molecule) and coiled in the shape of a
     Few legislators are likely to want to prohibit private        spiral staircase, or double helix. This smallest
   arrangements that do some social good. They may                 denominator of life was linked together by only four
   well enact guidelines, on the other hand, aimed at              chemical building blocks whose varied sequence pro-
   keeping other disputes from erupting after a child is           vided a coded blueprint for all life forms on earth from
   born.                                                           bacteria to humankind. Their discovery, which en-
  The last word has not yet been spoken on this                    abled us to visualize growth and reproduction as a
matter, but we may be sure that this present world,                common link between all life, would enable us to
with its contempt for the law of God and the stan-                 change life at its most basic levels . . . .
dard of morality God has set for man, will pursue its                The DNA contained in every human cell is com-
own ends and allow this great evil also to afflict our             pacted and coiled in 23 pairs  qf tight bundles called
society. U.S. News and World Report says that the                  chromosomes. If all the DNA in a single cell were un-
chances for legislators to outlaw a practice which                 coiled, it would stretch out about three meters. And in
does some  sociaZ good  are small. The expression                  these three meters of human DNA there are about
"social good" is an interesting one here. I presume                5,000,OOO  genes, of which at least 100,000 define the
                                                                   human form. In every molecule of DNA there is the
that by "social good" the magazine means that a                    blueprint for eyes, brain, liver, heart, and bones.
couple which cannot or will not (Elizabeth Stern
could have children, but chose not to have any                       Directly altering an organism by changing its
because she was afraid that a pregnancy would en-                  genetic code requires that the gene (or set of instruc-
                                                                   tions) along the DNA coil be modified and that this
danger her health since she has a mild case of                     same set of instructions be changed in every cell of the
multiple sclerosis) have their own children can now                organism. With single-cell organisms, such as
                                                                   bacteria, that is not too hard to accomplish. But the
Herman C. Hanho is professor of Church History and New             human organism is 100 trillion times as compli-
Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                     cated . . .


378                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



         Recombitant DNA technology, the most refined            reason why pro-abortionists want the right to
       process of genetic engineering, came in 1974 when         experiment on aborted fetuses is to perfect the
       genetic researchers discovered they could clip off a      techniques of genetic experimentation on humans.
       known sequence of the DNA and replace it with DNA
       from other sources: This form of gene splicing quickly      In the third place, not only will the  physicaZ
       became the most important genetic engineering tool.       characteristics of living creatures be modified
       Science was learning enough to make changes at will       when these techniques are perfected, but it is possi-
       without relying on the slower random mutational           ble that the  psychoZogica2   characteristics of in-
       techniques . . . .                                        dividual people will also be subject to modification.
         It is only a matter of time until the entire human      A couple of interesting examples of this have
       DNA sequence is catalogued  and computerized. With        recently been reported in the news media. One is a
       this information, the science of genetic engineering      study being carried on at the University of Min-
       may be able to manipulate the human life form in          nesota of identical twins who have been separated
       ways we have not yet imagined.                            shortly after birth and have only been reunited
   A couple of remarks about this will perhaps help              after many years. Amazing similarities in personali-
to make it a bit clearer.                                        ty have been noted in these studies, and the conclu-
   In the first place, because the entire genetic code           sions are that personality is also in great measure
which determines the whole physical make-up in a                 due to genetic make-up. (We hope to discuss this
living creature is locked up in the DNA, access to               more fully in a later article, for it has to do with the
this DNA and its genetic code opens doors wide for               relation between body and soul. In the April 13,
modifying such living creatures in every con-                    1987 issue of U.S. News & World Report a feature ar-
ceivable way. While science has by no means suc-                 ticle was carried on this subject.) Also, recent
ceeded in doing very much with these new proc-                   studies of criminal behavior have led some scien-
esses, constant experimentation leads to major                   tists to believe that genetic alterations can turn
breakthroughs almost every month. Some scientists                criminals into law-abiding citizens. This is an inter-
hail this field as the new frontier in the human                 esting development and brings up the question of
enterprise and speak excitedly of the great things               the relation of the soul to the body not only, but
which this new technology will accomplish.                       also the question of total depravity and sin.
   In the second place, this technique can be per-                 In the fourth place, from a Christian point of
formed on any living organism from the smallest                  view, it hardly needs saying that the more scientists
single-celled bacterium to man himself. Already a                discover how man is formed, the more the words of
great deal of work has been done on single-celled                the Psalmist ring in the ears of the child of God: "I
creatures, on animals and on man. In fact, one big               am fearfully and wonderfully made!"

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Kortering





          Numbers - The Wilderness Soiourn (3)
                                                                                           Y                I     I





  We are dealing with the section of the book of                   Instruction is given for the preparation of the
Numbers that describes how God chastened His                     water of purification. A red heifer, without blemish
people during their wanderings in the wilderness                 and never having worn a yoke, was to be killed (the
for the forty years  (15:1-19:22).                               blood sprinkled before the tabernacle) and the body


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            379



consumed in fire (the ashes mixed with water as a          of Moab. Various cities are cited. Specific mention
purification, 19:1-10). Mention is made as to the use      is made of water provided at the Brooks of Arnon,
of this water; whoever touches the body of a dead          the people sang as wells were dug (21: 10-20). Sihon,
man is unclean, and he must be sprinkled with this         King of the Amorites, is asked permission to pass
water. (Imagine how many died during the 40                through his country. He refuses and subsequently
years' sojourn.) Anything associated with death is         attacks Israel with an army. Israel wins a complete
judged unclean. The righteousness of God is thus           victory over all the cities. They express this joy in
taught the people (death is due to their sins).            singing praise to God for victory over the Amorites
Refusal to be sprinkled with this water indicated re-      (21:21-32). The same thing happened to Og, King of
jection of God, and such a one had to be cut off           Bashan: complete destruction of their cities allowed
from the congregation (19: 1 l-22).                        Israel to possess the land  (21:33-35). Finally the
                                                           children of Israel arrived at the plains of Moab, on
  3. Happenings on the journey from Kadesh-                this side of Jordan, near Jericho (22: 1).
Barnea to the Plains of Moab (20: l-22: 1). Mention is
made of the death of Miriam just after leaving               The final section of the Book of Numbers covers
Kadesh  (2O:l). The people once again compare the          the events that took place in the plains of Moab,
advantages of Egypt over the wilderness and com-           prior to entrance into the land of Canaan
plain of lack of water  (20:2-6).  The Lord instructs      (22:2-36:13).
Moses and Aaron to take the rod and gather the               1. Events connected with Balaam and Balak and
people before the rock and speak to the rock, and          consequent sins at Baa1 Peor (22:2-25: 18). Fear is in
water will come forth. Moses in anger smites the           the hearts of Moab as well as Midian.  Balak, King of
rock twice  (20:7-11). In answer the Lord informs          Moab, sent messengers to Balaam, son of  Beor, a
Moses he will not lead the people into the promised        prophet of Moab. He is requested to pronounce a
land, and the place is called Meribah  (20:12, 13).        curse upon the children of Israel in order that he
Word is sent to the King of Edom, requesting per-          might defeat them in battle. Balaam requests time
mission to pass through Moab unto the land of Ca-          in order to inquire of Jehovah. God came to him
naan. Assurances are given that they will not inter-       that night and warned him not to go with the
fere with their crops or water wells, and if they use      princes of Balak, for he would not be able to curse
any of it they will pay for it. A flat refusal is given    the people of God. He conveys this information to
(20:14-21). The congregation arrived at Mt. Hor.           the princes of Moab whom Balak had sent
Details are given concerning the death of Aaron.           (22:2-14). This, however, does not deter Balak. He
Since he, with Moses rebelled at Meribah, he was           sends yet another delegation to Balaam, and this
forbidden entrance into Canaan. He was told to             time they offer honor and wealth if he will come.
take Eleazar his son, walk up Mt. Hor, take his            He tells them that he cannot go against the word of
garments off and place them upon his son Eleazar.          God, but he will inquire that night once again. This
This he did in the presence of Moses and the con-          time God allows him to go along, but he warns him
gregation. Subsequently, he died upon Mt. Hor.             that he will only be able to speak the word he puts
The congregation mourned for him thirty days               in his mouth (22:15-21). In anger, God put an angel
(20:22-29). King Arad, a Canaanite to the south,           with a sword drawn upon the pathway of Balaam
fought Israel and took some prisoners. Israel vowed        as he travels to Balak. The ass turned aside into the
to God that if He would deliver these prisoners and        field when it saw the angel. The second time the ass
help defeat this enemy, they would destroy all the         turned against the wall, crushing Balaam's foot.
inhabitants in the land of Canaan. At Homah, the           The third time the ass was forced to stop. It fell
Lord gave them victory over Arad (21: l-3). As they        down under Balaam because the place was too nar-
began to travel from Mt. Hor around Edom, the              row. Balaam's anger mounted and he hit the ass. In
people complained about the lack of food and               amazement the ass spoke to Balaam and asked why
water. In answer, the Lord sent fiery serpents that        he smote him three times. His answer was that the
killed many of them. The people cried to Moses in          ass mocked him, and if he had a sword, he would
admission of sin, and Moses in turn called to the          kill it. The Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw
Lord. The Lord instructed him to make a brazen             the angel with the drawn sword. The angel inquires
serpent and hang it upon a pole. If any who are bit-       why Balaam smote the ass for, in turning, it saved
ten by the poisonous serpents look to the brazen           his life. Balaam admits his sin, offers to turn back,
serpent, they shall be restored. The people ex-            but is instructed to go on. He will only be allowed
perience the saving mercy of God (21:4-g).  Account        to speak whatever the word of the Lord is
is given of the progress in their travel to the plains     (22:22-35). Balak welcomes Balaam and inquires
                                                           why he did not come sooner. Balaam warns him
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    that he can speak only the word God puts in his
Church of  Grandville,  Michigan.                          mouth. The next day he takes him to the high


380                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



places of  Baa1 where they could see Israel in the        then recorded: Reuben 43,730, Simeon 22,200, Gad
distance  (22:36-41). Seven altars are built along        40,500, Judah 76,500, Issachar 64,300, Zebulun
with offerings. Balaam goes a distance away to in-        60,500, Manasseh 52,700, Ephraim 32,500, Ben-
quire of God. God tells him to return to Balak and        jamin 45,600, Dan 64,000,  Asher  53,400, Naphtali
upon doing so pronounces a blessing upon Israel.          45,400, giving us a total of 601,730  (26:1-51). We
Balak is angry and suggests they depart to another        notice that even though everyone 21 years and
place  (23:1-13).  This time they arrive at the top of    older died in the wilderness during the 40 year so-
Pizgah, and again altars and burnt offerings are          journ, (see  26:63-65), the total of people is only
prepared. The word of God, through Balaam, this           slightly lower than the former census (Numbers
time includes a beautiful reminder that God is not a      1:46 indicated a total of 603,550). One significant
man that He should lie or repent. The people of           reason for the taking of this census is given: the
Israel shall be like a lion. Balak replies, "If you       land of Canaan is to be divided according to the size
can't curse them, why bless them?" (23: 14-26) Now        of the tribes. The exact portion was to be deter-
they depart to the top of Peor. Again altars are built    mined by the casting of lots  (26:52-56). No specific
and offerings prepared. Again Balaam speaks praise        inheritance of land was given to Levi. They were to
of Israel and describes what blessings God has            dwell among the people. The total number of males
given them. Balak displays his anger and com-             of one month and older among the Levites was
mands Balaam to return to his place. Before doing         23,000  (26:57-65).      T h e   f i v e   d a u g h t e r s   o f
so Balaam prophesies of the coming of Christ, "We         Zelophehad, of the tribe of Manasseh, came to
shall see him, but not now . . . there shall come a       Moses and asked for an inheritance in the land of
Star out of Jacob and a Scepter out of Israel." Balak     Canaan, even though their father died in the wil-
goes his way and Balaam returns to his place              derness in his sin without having a male heir
(23:27-24:25).  There is more to Balaam's influence       (27:1-5).  Moses brought this to the Lord and was
(Numbers  31:16 indicates that Balaam is respon-          told that they had a right to inherit their father's
sible for the sin of fornication that now follows).       land. Further, if a man had no children at all the in-
The people commit terrible whoredom with Moab.            heritance was to pass on through the generations
They sacrifice with them at Baalpeor and commit           through brother, uncles, on down the line (27:6-11).
sexual sins. God commanded Moses to order the             Moses is directed by God to ascend Mt. Abriam to
death of all the leaders, and later a plague from God     see Canaan in the distance, but he will not be able
slew 24,000 of the people. Account is given of a          to possess it because of his sin (27: 12-14). Moses
man of Israel (Zimri by name, prince of the  Si-          asks God to appoint a replacement leader, one who
meonites) who publicly paraded a Midianitish              will care for the people (27: 15-17). The Lord
woman (Cozbi, daughter of Zur, chief house in Mid-        designates Joshua, who stood before Eleazar the
ian) even after the plague of God had begun.              priest and the congregation, and Moses laid his
Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, took his          hands' upon him and charged him (27: 18-23). The
spear and killed both of them, and thus the plague        Lord instructs Moses on the procedure for offering
was stopped (25: l-9). God established an everlast-       a continual burnt offering unto Him, a lamb in the
ing covenant of peace with Phinehas (Aaron). The          morning and another in the evening (28: l-8). Added
Midianites in turn are vexed by Jehovah's wrath           to this, sacrifices are prescribed weekly (on the Sab-
and destruction comes upon them  (25:10-18).              bath,  28:9,  lo), monthly  (28:11-15), the Passover
  2. The second numbering of the people and               (28:16-25), the Feast of Firstfruits  (28:26-31), the
associated events  (26:1-31:54). God gives explicit       Feast of Trumpets  (29:1-6),  the Day of Atonement
instruction to Moses to take a census of the people,      (29:7-ll),  the Feast of Tabernacles, with specific of-
21 years and older. A breakdown of each tribe is          ferings for each day (29:12-40):

A CERTAIN FAILURE (continued from page  368)              will never lift himself above the curse by medicines
  We may not accept a job where we are cut off            or medical procedures. Believe Him when He tells
from those words from God's mouth. Nor should             us that salvation is in Christ, and that He lifts us out
we for even one Sabbath day go where there is             of certain failure into certain victory and  everlast-
pleasure for the flesh and worldly achievements,          ing life.
instead of going up to God's house to hear what He
has to say to us.                                                      The Standard Bearer
  Refuse any and every mark of the beast that                  makes a thoughtful gift for
there is today and is required by the world for you
to get your daily bread. And take hold of those                        the sick and shut-in!
words from God's mouth that teach us that man


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                           381



THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys




                                      A Certain Failure


   Man, being an earthly creature, depends upon            they died, and it is doubtful that they were so
the creation wherein God placed him after making           named because they died at such an early age.
him out of the dust of the ground. And although              Naomi's return to the land of Canaan after the
Jesus said to Satan, "Man shall not live by bread          death of her husband and sons reveals that they
alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the          were a believing couple. Likewise Ruth's faith in
mouth of God", man does need bread for his earth-          God, which she revealed when told by Naomi to
ly life. He may not try and cannot live by bread           stay in Moab, makes it plain that Naomi had taught
alone; but keep bread from him, and he is going to         her, and that she had seen that the family was a
die.                                                       family who believed in God. Elimelech sinned by
   It is not strange, then, when there is a shortage of    taking them out of Canaan, the promised land, and
bread that man becomes concerned. And we can               into Moab. But he was not an unbeliever. He went
understand what we read in Ruth  1:l  where it is          only to sojourn in Moab because of the bread ques-
stated: "Now it came to pass in the days when the          tion. And if his children were frail, as their names
judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land.         could mean, the need of bread seemed very great
And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to so-          for him.
journ in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and
his two sons."                                               From Ruth 4:3-6 it becomes plain that Elimelech
                                                           was not a poor man. He had a goodly piece of land.
   This man, Elimelech, did have mouths to feed.           During the famine it brought forth no crops; but
He had responsibility. And in the days of the judges       later on it was deemed valuable enough to buy
every man did that which was right in his own              from Naomi. He certainly had money to buy food;
eyes, Judges 21:25. Because of this the hand of God        but there just was none to buy in sufficient amount
was upon the land, and He sent a sore famine.              there in Canaan.
Elimelech therefore went to sojourn in the land of
Moab where there was bread. His intention was not            His leaving of the land of promise was a sinful
to make this his permanent place of living. He in-         deed, and that for several reasons. First of all, as
tended to come back when the famine was lifted.            was already pointed out, he was trying to live by
   Now his name reveals that he came from a line of        bread alone. He deliberately cut himself and his
generations who did live by the words that proceed         family off from every word that proceeds from the
from the mouth of God. He was given the name               mouth of God. And that was no little sin, even
that means God is my King. The Eli in his name is          though he intended to come back. What if Jesus
,the same as what Jesus cried out on the cross: "My        had just for one time, and at a time when His body
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" In                certainly needed bread, done what Satan sug-
Matthew  27:46 the Hebrew form of His words is             gested? There just would be no salvation for us. We
"Eli, Eli  lama sabachthani." Here you have the            would never be given any spiritual life. For that one
same Eli as in the name Elimelech. Melech is the           sin would have disqualified Him from being our
Hebrew word for king.                                      Saviour. Satan knew that. He knew that it took only
  The names of his sons could be one reason for            one sin of Adam to get us all guilty and worthy of
Elimelech's decision to go to Moab for bread.              death and to bring us into the lake of everlasting
Mahlon could mean weakly, and  Chilion can be              fire. Could he get Jesus to sin but once, He would
translated as pining. These names they had before          have to die for His own sin; and as the last Adam,
                                                           our representative, He would have only under-
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      scored the reason why the everlasting wrath of God
Reformed Churches.                                         should fall on us.


382                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  Lest we minimize sin, let it be stated again that it    proceeded out of His mouth. And Elimelech, by his
took only ONE sin of Adam to plunge us into guilt         leaving that land smitten by a famine, said that he
and to call everlasting punishment upon us. The           did not want to hear God speak. He wanted bread
question is not how many sins we commit. The in-          for his family, and he was not going to listen to God
crease of sins increases the degree of punishment.        speak in this famine. He was not going to go to His
But only one sin calls for everlasting punishment,        house and hear God speak of forgiveness. Spiritual
for it is rebellion against the eternal God, Who          bread he could leave behind. Like the devil he said,
created us as His servants. And in that light we          "Man shall not live by the words that proceed from
should not try to defend Elimelech in his sin, or         the mouth of God, but by bread."
think that we have not done so badly! God said that         Elimelech acted as though that famine was not
in the day we ate of the forbidden fruit, we would        there because of his sins. He was going to separate
die. He did not say that to sin several times would       from those who were to blame for the famine. He
bring the death penalty. And Adam's sin hurt no           went where he would not hear God's prophets or
one physically. He did not even steal one piece of        priests rebuke the people for their sin. What God
fruit from its owner. If man lives by bread alone,        was saying in that famine he did not want to hear.
Adam took what his physical life needed. Actually
he tried to live by that which meant certain death!         Neither was Elimelech walking in love to his
Only one sin calls for certain death.                     neighbour. Instead of calling their attention to what
                                                          God was saying in the famine, and instead of ad-
  Surely the sin of taking his family away from           monishing, that is, warning those who were doing
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God            what seemed right in their own eyes, he was more
calls for certain death. In that day God spoke to His     concerned about bread and physical existence than
church through the types and shadows in the land          the glory and service of God. He was a believing
of Canaan. Not only did Elimelech take his family         child of God; but he was now walking in a very sin-
away from the church of that day, but he took them        ful way, one that brought certain failure to his
into the world. And although he did not live long         endeavor to live by bread.
enough to see it, he prepared the way for his sons to       There is another serious error that Elimelech
marry into the world.                                     committed by taking his family to Moab. Elimelech
  We must not overlook the fact that in the prom-         taught his sons not to seek the kingdom of God and
ised land was God's house, the tabernacle, out of         its righteousness but the world and its deceptive
which God spoke of salvation in Christ. Elimelech         pleasures. He has no one else to blame than himself
turned, and turned his family, away from Christ           that Mahlon and  Chilion married unbelievers. No,
Who was typified in the priests and sacrifices. He        we may not say that he was preparing the conver-
turned his back upon the Passover feasts which            sion of Ruth. Naomi did not know that Ruth ac-
taught salvation in the blood of Christ. He brought       cepted the truth and believed in God, until she told
no thank-offerings to God. Bread and this earthly         her to remain in Moab. Surely Elimelech did not
life was his concern. He was not living by every          know this, for he died before Ruth's faith was
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And         revealed. And even then, we may not try to convert
he ignored the fact that, even given bread in abun-       unbelievers by committing sin ourselves. We must
dance, death is sure, because all are guilty in Adam.     preach and support preaching. We must teach and
Try to live by bread alone, and you are sure to fail.     be thankful when there is the opportunity to teach
Sin and guilt are here. The words that proceed from       children or strangers. But we may not steal money
God's mouth are the only things that show us life         in order to be able to travel to where the
and victory over death.                                   unbelievers are for mission work among them.
  Elimelech was trying to escape punishment by            Elimelech might not bring his sons into idolatry nor
seeking bread rather than by eating the words that        among those who worship idols in order to reach
proceed from God's mouth. By sinning, Elimelech           Moabites who hate God.
was trying to get away from the punishment of sin-          Yes, a missionary may take his family along to
ning. In that man will always fail. Just read             the field; but if he goes there in order to live by
Deuteronomy  28:38-42.  Here are words that pro-          bread, he is teaching his.family  to walk in sin, and
ceed from the mouth of God. There God tells us            the unbelievers will accept that teaching with open
that a blessing will rest upon Israel, if they hearken    arms. He will not get them to live by the words that
diligently to God's voice to "observe to do all the       proceed from God's mouth. Elimelech cut his fami-
commandments" which' He has given man. There              ly off from those words that God spoke in His
God tells us also that a famine will come upon that       tabernacle. He cut them off from Christ. Do that on
promised land if they turn from Him. And in the           the mission field, and you teach the unbelievers to
famine that was there, and because of which               walk in the way of certain failure.
Elimelech went to Moab, God was speaking. Words                                            (continued  on page  368)


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              383





                         News From Our ,Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger



                                                   May 15,1987



   Our congregation in Holland, Michigan has                information concerning the possibility of building a
formed the following trio: from Redlands, Califor-          new church sanctuary to inform the congregation
nia  - Rev. Ken Koole, from our North West Mis-             of progress being made in investigating costs and
sion  - Rev. Ron Van Overloop, and from South               various aspects of a sanctuary.
Holland, Illinois - Rev. David Engelsma. At a con-            Lynden's Consistory also appointed a committee
gregational meeting held April  21  a call was ex-          with somewhat the same mandate as the above
tended to Rev. Engelsma.                                    from Byron Center. They were mandated "to come
  As some of you undoubtedly know, Mrs. Ger-                with the exact dollar figure and financing for these
trude Hoeksema, the wife of Prof. H.C. Hoeksema,            three options: 1. building on the current property,
suffered a broken hip when she fell from a step-            2. building elsewhere and 3. buying the Word of
ladder while housecleaning. This broken hip was             Life Church.
repaired surgically by inserting a pin in her hip. She        Lynden also sponsored a Spring Lecture, held
recovered quickly and all seemed well until in mid-         April 9. Rev. Carl Haak was the speaker and he
April Mrs. Hoeksema developed several blood clots           spoke on "The Covenant Family".
in her leg. After another week in the hospital, Mrs.
Hoeksema now appears to be making a good                      On April 30 the annual Spring Lecture in the
recovery, although she still experiences some swell-        Grand Rapids area was held at the East Leonard
ing in that leg.                                            Chr. Ref. Church. Rev. J. Slopsema spoke on "The
                                                            Necessity of Christian Discipline."
  A couple of weeks ago there appeared an article
in the  Grand Rapids Press  which I think you might           Fifty young adults from various churches met
find interesting.       "I n   N o v e m b e r   Gwennan    together on Friday and Saturday, April 24  & 25 at
Kalsbeek, a student in the 9th grade at Adams               the Circle-R-Ranch in Rockford, Michigan for an
Street Christian School, received a B  ,on an essay         Over-Night-Get-A-Way. .Rev.  R .   V a n   Overloop
she wrote about the United States Constitution for          spoke Friday night on the theme of Evangelism. He
her English class. Three months later, the same             also led a workshop on the same subject late on
essay took first place in a national contest com-           Saturday morning. I say late, because one of the ac-
memorating the Constitution's 200th birthday. It            tivities planned for this Get-A-Way was a midnight
just goes to show that teachers can't always be             buffet Friday night. Everyone I spoke with agreed
right.                                                      that Rev. Van  Overloop  knew his subject well.
                                                            They said he did a great job, which helped make
   "Gwennan, her father John, and her sister Erika          the entire event a success.
visited Washington D.C. April 26-29 where Gwen-
nan and other winners were honored in a special               Randolph  s Extension Committee planned a
awards ceremony." To the above we can only add              series of three lessons on the subject of personal
our congratulations. Perhaps some day there might           evangelism. Pastor den Hartog led these three
be an opening for you on the Beacon Lights staff.           discussions which were held in April. April 14  -
                                                            Our calling to be Engaged in Personal Evangelism,
  Byron Center's Building Committee invited their           April 21  - What We are Called to Do, April 27 -
congregation to participate in some physical exer-          How We are to Perform this Calling. These
cise at their new church property. Members were             meetings will be followed by a special program to
encouraged to bring chain saws, as plans on this            which members of the community will be invited.
Saturday included the removal of trees and brush.
Also in April, Byron Center's Consistory passed out           Our congregation in Kalamazoo is sponsoring a
                                                            series of discussion seminars, the first of which was
                                                            held April 28. These will be led by Rev.  Wouden-
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church    berg and Mr. Clare Prince and will be on the sub-
of Hudsonville,  Michigan.                                  ject of Christian motivation.                       -


                                                                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                         P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





384                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

   Spring seems to bring out all kinds of church and                                                      NOTICE!!!
school programs. Many of our church Choral                                    According to the decision of Synod 1986, the Consistory of the
                                                                           Faith Protestant Reformed Church of Jenison, Michigan was ap-
Societies presented Spring concerts. March 22                              pointed the calling church for the 1987 Synod. The Consistory
Loveland's Choral Society presented their program.                         hereby notifies our churches that the 1987 Synod of the Protestant
March 29 Faith presented theirs.  Doon  and  Hud-                          Reformed Churches in America will convene, the Lord willing, on
                                                                           Tuesday, June  9, 1987 at 9:00  AM in the  Hudsonville Protestant
sonville held their programs April 12, while the                           Reformed Church,  5105 Beech Tree Ave., Hudsonville, Michigan.
Hope Church and Radio Choirs gave two combined                             The Pre-Synodical Service will be held Monday evening, June 8,
concerts. The first at Hope on April 26, the second                        1987 at 7:30 PM at Faith Protestant Reformed Church, 7 194 20th
                                                                           Ave., Jenison, Michigan. Rev. David Engelsma, President of the
at First Church in Grand Rapids on May 3.                                  1986 Synod will preach the sermon.  Synodical  delegates are re-
   Our schools also got into the act. April 24 both                        quested to meet with the Consistory before the service. Delegates in
                                                                           need of lodging should contact Mr. Harv Holstege, 7093 N. Bliss Ct.,
Heritage Christian School and  Doon Protestant                             Grandville, Ml 49418, Phone 616-457-5595. Or Mr. Irv Velthouse,
Reformed Christian School gave their yearly All                            1701 Newcastle, Jenison, Ml 49428, Phone 616-457-2468.
School Programs.                                                                                                        Irv Velthouse, Vice-Clerk

                                                                                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                        IN MEMORIAM                                           The members of Priscilla Society of First Protestant Reformed
   It pleased the Lord to take unto Himself on Monday, April 27, our       Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, extend heartfelt and sincere Chris-
beloved son and brother, JESS KEITH KORTERING.                             tian sympathy to their member, Mrs. Jacob (Mary) Poortfliet, in the
   As a special member of our family, we were taught humility and          recent death of her mother, MRS. BERTHA NATTE.
dependence upon God through him. We thank God for his child-like              "And we know that all things work together for good to them that
faith and are reminded that, "Many that are first shall be last and the    love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."
last shall be first." (Matthew 19:30)                                      (Remans  8:28)
Justin Kortering                     Mr. and Mrs. Erv Kortering            Mrs. Ryven Ezinga, President
Lafern Kortering                          and family                       Miss Elaine Rietema, Secretary
Rev. and Mrs. Jay Kortering
   and family                                                                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                       The Ladies Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
   On May 27, 1987, the Lord willing, our dear parents and grand-          Church would like to express its Christian sympathy to Mrs. Grace
parents, CHARLES AND LOIS KREGEL, will celebrate their 40th wed-           Medema and Mrs. Pat Haak in the loss of their sister, JEANNETTE
ding anniversary. We are thankful to our Covenant God who has              TRIEZENBERG  at the age of 62 years.
preserved them for each other and for us for forty years. We are              "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." (Psalm 23:l)
grateful for their Christian instruction by word and example, and we       Rev. George Lanting, President
pray that God will continue to bless them in the years to come.            Elaine Van Der Noord, Sec'y.
   "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good
of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon
Israel." (Psalm 128:5,  6)                                                    On May 9, 1987, our parents, HIB AND  MARIAN  KUIPER cele-
                                                                           brated their 40th wedding anniversary.
Ken and Mary Velthouse                         Charles Kregel, Jr.
   Michael, Kristin, Matthew, Marc             David and Mary Kregel         We are thankful to our Heavenly Father for making these two
Joel and Ellen Bruinooge                          Lisa, Brent, Jason       Christian people our covenant parents. They have taught US the ways
   Heather, Derek, Kyle                        Laura Kregel                of God so we, with the help of God, may teach them to our children.
                                                                           We ask God for His continued blessing on them as they continue their
                                                                           lives together.
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in His
   The consistory and congregation of Grandville Protestant Re-            ways.
formed Church expresses its sincere sympathy to its pastor, Rev.             Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon
Kortering, and his family in the death of his brother MR. JESS             Israel." (Psalm  128:1,  6)
KORTERING who passed away April 27, 1987. May our heavenly
Father comfort them during this time of sorrow.                            their thankful generations
                                                                              Len and Linda Brink              Daryl and Sharen Kuiper
   "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance                 Lon, Stacey,  Jill             Kristin, Katie
shall be for ever." (Psalm 37:18)                                            Al and Donna Boven                Hib and Bev Kuiper
John VanderWoude,  Vice President                                                   Dean, Terri Ann, Dustin        Rosie, Hibby, Jimmy, Joanne
Jon Engelsma, Clerk                                                           H. Jay Kuiper


