                         STANDARD




     Volume 64, No. 1
     Octbber I, 1987

                                -
I                                    T-z:..``,:'


Contents                                                               October ?,I987

Meditation - Cornelius  Hank0
ThyKingdomCome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       2
Editorials  -                                                                                       ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
Beginning Our Sixty-fourth Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .          4    and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
AFutureChange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    5    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                    EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
More About "Evolution At Dordt College". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                   6    Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
A letter From Dordt College. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         8    DEPARTMENT   EDITORS
                                                                                                    Rev. Ronald Cammenga. Rev.  Arie den Hartog,
A// Around Us  - Cise  /. Van  Baren                                                                Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
                                                                                                    Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
Concern About The C.R.C. . . . ........ 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                8    Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev.  J.  Korter-
                                                                                                    ing. Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
The Strength of Youth  - Barrett L. Critters                                                        Miersma, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Cise  J. Van
                                                                                                    Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
A  Pastor's'Prayer for Young People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .           9    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                                    Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
Guest Article  - Ronald  ). Van  Overloop                                                           4975  lvanrest  Ave.,  S.W.
Effective Personal Witnessing (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I1            Crandville,  Michigan 49418
                                                                                                    CHURCH   NEWS   EDITOR
The Day of Shadows  -  lohn A. Heys                                                                 Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                    6597  - 40th Ave.
Brought Home By A Sanctifying Grace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I4                    Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                                                    EDITORIAL   POLICY
Taking Heed To The Doctrine  - Ronald H. Hanko                                                      Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                                    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
The Two Natures Of Christ  - Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16                     terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                                    Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
Decency And Order  - Ronald L. Cammenga                                                             tions will be limited to approximately  300 words
Our Church Order  - An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I8                   and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                                    must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
From Holy Writ  - George C. Lubbers                                                                 the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                                    relative to the contents should be sent to the
Believing All The Scriptures (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20          editorial office.
                                                                                                    REPRINT   POLICY
Report of  Classis West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22      Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
                                                                                                    articles in our magazine by other publications,
Report of  Classis East. . . . . . .I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22     provided: al that such reprinted articles are
                                                                                                    reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledge-
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23            ment is made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in
                                                                                                    which such reprint appears is sent to  OUF editorial
                                                                                                    office.
                                                                                                    BUSINESS   OFFICE
                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                    Mr. H.  Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.
Meditation                                          Ques. 123. Which is the second                  P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
                                                    petition?                                       PH: (616) 243-2953  -
                                                                                                    NEW   ZEALAND   BUSINESS   OFFICE
Cornelius Hank0                                     Ans. "Thy kingdom come'> that                   The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                    c/o Protestant Reformed Church
                                                    is, rule us so by Thy Word and                  B. Van Herk, 66 Fraser St.
                                                    Spirit, that we may submit our-                 Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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                                                    selves more and more to thee;                   Subscription price,  $10.50  per year. Unless a
Thy                                                                                                 definite request for discontinuance is received, it
                                                    preserve and increase thy church;               is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
                                                    destroy the works of the devil,                 tion to continue without the formality of a
                                                                                                    renewal order, and he will be billed for renewal. If
Kingdom                                             and all violence that would exalt               you have a change of address, please notify the
                                                    itself against thee; and also, all              Business Office as early as possible in order to
                                                                                                    avoid the inconvenience of delayed delivery. In-
                                                    wicked counsels devised against                 clude your Zip Code.
                                                                                                    ADVERTISING   POLICY
Come                                                thy holy word; till the full perfec-            The  Standard  Bearer does not accept commercial
                                                    tion of thy kingdom take place,                 advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
                                                                                                    and school events, anniversaries, obituaries. and
                                                    wherein thou shalt be all in all.               sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00
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                                                    48                                              Deadline for announcements is thelst and the
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                                                                                                    BOUND   VOLUMES
                                                       Our Father, which art in heaven.             The Business Office will accept standing orders
                                                       Our foremost desire is that Thy              for bound copies of the current volume; such
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Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in           creature, that all eternity may                 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                   declare Thy praises, as the eternal,            microfiche, and article copies are available
                                                                                                    through University Microfilms International.


2  /  The  Standard Bearer


infinite, almighty, ever blessed,          Thou givest Him, and Thy love in             With that incentive in our hearts
adorable God!                              them responding to Thee and to Thy        we pray: Thy kingdom come.
   Thou art the Holy One of Israel,        dear Son Jesus Christ, forms the             With an eye of faith we see Thy
who hast exalted Thy Son, our Lord         basis for Thy everlasting kingdom;        promise being realized in the com-
Jesus Christ, with the glory which         for of Thee, and through Thee, and        ing of Thy kingdom throughout the
He had with Thee before the world          unto Thee are all praise and glory        ages.
was. He now has a Name which is            forever and ever. Thou hast chosen           Already in paradise our first
above all names, with all power en-        Thy subjects with sovereign wisdom        parents experienced the blessed
trusted to Him over all the works of       and infinite love, appointing for each    covenant relationship with Thee as
Thy hands.                                 his or her own place in that realm as     their sovereign Friend, and them-
   Thou hast promised to Him and to        devoted servants, redeemed by the         selves capable of being Thy friend-
us as heirs of salvation the kingdom       blood of Calvary, and drawn from          servants. Adam was king over the
that abides forever. And Thou hast         death into life, to worship and adore     entire earthly creation, with Eve as
created in our hearts an abiding           Thee, the ever-blessed God.               his helper. The whole earth, as far
desire, an eager expectation and             Thou hast sent Thy Son, our Lord        as eye could see, was his domain, to
longing for that kingdom.                  Jesus Christ into our world, as a .       keep and to care for in Thy fear.
   Thou teachest us to pray: "Thy          shining light in a world of sin and       When he fell, Thou didst not allow
kingdom come."                             death, made like unto us, in order        Thy sovereign rule to cease, but
   No, we do not join our voices with      that we may be made like unto             Thou didst reveal the wonder of Thy
the clamor so often heard in ec-           Thee. Thou hast cast Him into the         grace in having prepared Christ
clesiastical circles. We are not a part    horrible darkness of Thy wrath at         Jesus, as our new representative
of those who might formulate their         Calvary, to bring for us the eternal      Head, as appointed to be Lord over
prayers somewhat like this: "0 great       day. As the mighty Conqueror over         all for our sakes,  that we  may live
Father of all mankind, help us to win      all the powers of darkness He arose       forever to Thy glory.
souls for Christ, that the whole world     from the grave and ascended to              Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
may turn to Thee in a universal            heaven on His great coronation day.       Shepherd-kings, were strangers on
revival, all powers of communism           He now lives and reigns in the            the earth, citizens of a better king-
and atheism may learn to bow               heavens to put to naught all the          dom, and types of the great
before King Jesus, and He may reign        powers of darkness and to bring His       Shepherd-King Who was still to
supreme in every country and every         people unto Himself, where we will        come. Jacob longed for His day, as
nation, so controlling all commerce        live and reign with Him forever in        he prophesied that "The sceptre
and industry, all business and labor,      the new creation. Thy kingdom is          shall not depart from Judah, nor a
also all the economic and social af-       also the kingdom of Thy Son Jesus         lawgiver from between his feet, until
fairs among us, that wars and race         Christ, our Lord.                         Shiloh come; and unto him shall the
hatred may be banished from the              By Thy Spirit in our hearts we          gathering of the nations be." (Gen.
earth, a universal peace may be            become new creatures, with the life       49: 10)
established, sickness and death may        of Christ within us, willing subjects       Thou didst bring Israel out of the
be overcome, prosperity may be             of the kingdom of heaven. Thou hast       house of bondage to make of them a
shared by all alike, and a paradise        made us pilgrims and strangers on         nation, a theocracy, and gavest them
may be created for all races and           the earth, citizens of the heavenly       the land of Canaan as their inheri-
peoples here on earth for ages to          realm, with our home in the               tance, driving out Thy enemies
come."                                     heavens. By Thy grace we seek the         before them. Thou gavest them
   Indeed, we do not seek a kingdom        things above, where Christ is, for        David, a man after Thine own heart,
in which man is exalted to the             our lives are hidden with Christ in       who fought the battles against Thy
throne, in which all activities center     Thee.                                     enemies and overcame them, as a
about man, that man may be great             Therefore our attachment can no         type of David's Son who would eter-
and powerful, living an abundant life      longer be to the things below. We         nally sit upon Thy Throne. In Thy
of carnal satisfaction, so that he is      have here no abiding city, but we         faithfulness Thou gavest David a
sufficient unto himself. Our selfish       seek one to come. We know that            son, Solomon, who was the type of
ambitions are not the goal we strive       Thy kingdom will not come through         Christ, the great Prince of Peace,
for. We do not seek ourselves. But in      outward display, for it is already        whose riches are unfathomable, and
all sincerity of heart we pray: Thy        within us, within our hearts. Accord-     whose kingdom knows no end.
kingdom come, in which Thou art all        ing to the new principle of life            In the fulness of time Jesus was
in all!                                    within us we seek the heavenly            born, sought out by the wisemen as
   Thou, Father hast decreed and           kingdom, in the world to come,            the newly born King of the Jews.
founded Thy very own kingdom,              where we shall be with Christ, dwell-     John the Baptist announced His
based on the eternal principle of          ing in Father's House, beholding and      coming, assuring Israel that the
mutual love. Thy love for Thyself,         reflecting Father's glory, enjoying to
and for Thy Son Jesus Christ as            the full covenant fellowship with
Head over all, and for the family          Thee our God, to the praise of the
                                           glory of Thy grace in Christ Jesus.


                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer  / 3


kingdom of heaven was at hand.            Therefore we pray tor  any  sustam-           The devil uses his cunningly de-
Christ Himself spoke of the great         ing grace that we may overcome the         vised deceptions to the utmost, since
wedding feast of the King's Son,          sins of our flesh and gain the victory     he knows that his time is limited. His
about to begin, as a feast of bounties    over sin and death through Thy             willing cohorts, both outside and
and blessings that endure forever.        mercies and goodness.                      within the church, exalt science
  The charter of the kingdom is             We also ask of Thee: "Preserve           above the Scriptures, introduce the
summed up in the ten command-             and increase Thy church." As a mili-       foolish philosophies of unbelief, and
ments, which require of the citizens:     tant church we are still surrounded        contrive to corrupt the Scriptures to
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God         by enemies, who undermine the              mislead the unwary. These are all
with all thy heart, and mind, and         truth of Thy holy Word, who create         obvious forerunners of the Man of
soul, and strength; and thy neighbor      a spirit of complacency among Thy          Sin, whose coming becomes increas-
as thyself." The citizens of the king-    people, proclaiming peace where            ingly obvious. These powers of
dom are the poor in spirit, the meek,     there is no peace. Give Thy church         darkness always have and always
the merciful, the pure in heart, the      valiant leaders who spur Thy people        will outnumber the saints on earth.
peacemakers, those who mourn,             on to fight the battle of faith as         Their massive host seems to over-
who hunger and thirst after               soldiers of the cross, even when it        whelm us. Yet we know Thou art
righteousness, and who are perse-         involves suffering, shame, or death.       always at our right hand. With Thee
cuted for righteousness' sake. Theirs       Gather Thy chosen out of every           at our side we always far outnumber
is the kingdom of heaven.                 nation of the earth, bringing them to      and are far stronger than any enemy
  For that kingdom our hearts long        a unity of faith on the sound founda-      that can ever assault us. We can
in eager anticipation. Therefore we       tion of the Scriptures, ready to stand     confidently sing:
pray: Thy kingdom come!                   even in this last day. Bless the labors        To Thee, 0 Lord, I fly, and on
  Our desire is: "So rule us by Thy       of Thy servants who proclaim Thy                      Thy help depend;
Word and Spirit, that we may submit       Word on the mission field, that they                Thou art my Lord and King
ourselves more and more unto              may see that Thou art using them                        Most High;
Thee."                                    unto the gathering of Thy church               Do Thou my soul defend.
  Thou hast adopted us as sons and        and the coming of Thy kingdom.                      A heritage for me Jehovah
daughters in Thy-House, citizens of       Preserve Thy church also in the line                    will remain;
the heavenly kingdom, and heirs of        of generations of believers, so that           My portion rich and full is He,
the world to come. Thou hast              we may not be wiped out in our                      My might He will maintain.
created within us the true obe-           generations, but may see Thy prom-            Though still waiting, we confident-
dience, as subject unto Thee, and to      ises realized also in and through          ly expect "the full perfection of Thy
Thee only. Thou hast entrusted to us      us, that Thou wiit be our God and          kingdom, where Thou shalt be all in
Thy Word as our sure Guide on the         the God of our seed after us.              all."
narrow way that leads to Thee                Moreover, we ask: "Destroy the            In that assurance we lift our
above. Thou requirest of us child-like    works of the devil, and all violence       prayers to heaven, saying: "Come,
submission, complete self-surrender,      which would exalt itself against           Lord Jesus, yea, come quickly."
humble trust. Yet we are still in the     Thee, and also all wicked counsels         Amen. 0
flesh; sin wars in our members.           devised against Thy holy Word."



                                          Beginning Our Sixty-fourth Year
                                          A Future Change
                                          More About "Evolution At Dordt College"
Editoriak                                 A Letter From Dordt College


                                          Beginning Our Sixty-fourth Year:              Usually there are some changes
                                             Each year, beginning with 1924,         with that new beginning; and this
                                          when our Standard Bearer first             year is no exception.
                                           made its appearance - and with               The first and most obvious change
                                           that appearance produced both joy         this year is in the dress, or format,
                                           and consternation - our October 1         of our magazine, a change which
                                          issue marks the beginning of a new         you undoubtedly began to notice as
                                           volume-year for our magazine: this        soon as you picked up your mail.
                                           time, Volume 64.                          For several months we have been

4  / The Standard Bearer


working with Mr. Jeff Steenholdt, a         Another change involves our               what tenuous and informal organiza-
commercial artist who is a member         Meditation department. The Rev.             tion, and most of the responsibility
of our Kalamazoo Protestant Re-           Cornelius Hanko will complete his           for the actual publishing of our
formed Church and who has been            current series of meditations on the        magazine has come down on the
responsible for the cover and jacket      Heidelberg Catechism, D.V., and             shoulders of the Editor-in-Chief. In
art of most of our RFPA books. He         after that the Rev. James Slopsema          all our years we have not even had
began with suggestions for a new          will be solely responsible for Medita-      - not apparently even so much as
cover page, and then made some            tions. This does not mean, however,         considered ,having - as assistant
further suggestions to "dress up" our     that the Rev. Hanko will no more            editor.
entire format, including a change to      write. For one thing, he remains              For several years this has been a
a 3-column format and a change of         responsible for our Question Box            concern of mine. Twice we have
type-style - all in the interest not      department. And, speaking of Ques-          had a crisis in this respect. The first
only of making our magazine more          tion Box, he cannot very well write         time was in 1947 when, as men-
attractive but also more readable.        answers unless'you send in ques-            tioned above, the late Rev.
We hope you like the changes.             tions. Send them to me, and I will          Hoeksema suffered a severe stroke.
  Next are some changes in staff, in      see that they reach him. Besides, we        At that time there was no provision
staff-appointments, and in depart-        still hope to have other fruits of the      for anyone to make substitute ar-
ments. As some of you undoubtedly         Rev. Hanko's pen.                           rangements which would insure the
know, our Staff meets once a year in        Still another change involves the         continued publication of our
late May or early June. At the time       reintroduction of the department            magazine. Representing my father, I
of this meeting all appointments or       Decency and Order, which will be            met with some of the Staff members
reappointments of staff personnel         concerned with our Church Order,            at the time; and we quickly made ar-
are made, and decisions are made as       and of which the Rev. Ronald Cam-           rangements for the late Rev. Vos to
to the various departments for the        menga will be editor. The Rev. Bar-         write meditations and editorials tem-
new volume-year. After that it is left    rett Gritters will take over the rubric     porarily (we hoped) and for the Rev.
to the Editor-in-chief to carry out       The Strength  of  Youth.  This, in turn,    H. Veldman to write for Our Doc-
these decisions, to notify everyone       means that the Rev. A. den Hartog           trine. Then in the period 1963-65,
of his duties, and to try to plan         will be solely responsible for the          when the late Rev. Herman
every issue and get it to the printer     department In His Fear. This year           Hoeksema was still editor-in-chief,
on time. The Standard Bearer has no       the Rev. Gise J. Van Baren will be          we faced another crisis when his
full-time help nor paid staff. This is    solely responsible for  All Around Us.      health began to decline and he final-
the way we have operated for all          All other departments and writers           ly died. At that time, because of the
the years of our existence.               will be the same. We have also              close working relationship between
  This year there are several             asked four of our ministers, the            my father and me, I was able to help
changes.                                  Revs. R. Van Overloop, S. Houck, K.         out as acting editor even before I
  The first of these is the retirement    Hanko, and S. Key, each to con-             was officially appointed Editor in
of the Rev. Herman Veldman as a           tribute a couple guest articles.            1965. In 1984, at my suggestion, the
department editor. The Rev.                 One more attempted change has             Staff began to work on this problem,
Veldman has been a faithful and           failed, at least for the time being.        thinking first in terms of appointing
very regular contributor to our           We had hoped to present some                an Assistant Editor, who would be
magazine for many, many years.            Study Outlines which would be               able to take over in case the Editor
Since late 1947, at the time when         suitable for the Sunday evening dis-        were incapacitated. As the sub-
the Rev. Herman Hoeksema was in-          cussion groups which are current in         committee appointed on this matter
capacitated by a stroke, the Rev.         some of our churches. However, the          studied it, however, it became ap-
Veldman has contributed, I believe,       two nominees for this department            parent that as long as the duties of
regularly without a letup. But before     both declined the privilege.                Editor and Managing Editor were
that time he also wrote on a more           May our faithful covenant God             combined, the choice of a new
or less regular basis. Further, he was    bless our magazine in the coming            Editor would, in the nature of the
always willing to write; and he was       year!                                       case, be limited to the immediate
always prompt about sending in his                                                    Grand Rapids area. The committee
contributions. At our Staff Meeting a     A Future Change                             therefore recommended to the Staff
motion was passed to "express the           Among some of our readers, as I           that these duties be separated, so
Staff's appreciation for his faithful     know from personal experience,              that a new Editor could be ap-
writing in the past forty years." That    rumors have been flying thick and           pointed regardless of his place of
should have been "forty-plus" years.      fast - and some of them, sad to say,        residence and a Managing Editor
We hereby publicly express that ap-       very falsely - about the future             could be appointed from the Grand
preciation. The Rev. Ronald Hanko         editorship of our magazine. The Staff       Rapids area, so that he could readily
was appointed to assume sole              was informed that in this issue our         supervise the actual preparation and
responsibility for the department         readers would be officially informed
Taking Heed To The Doctrine.              of the proposed change.
                                            Our Staff has always been a some-


                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  /  5


production of each issue of the Stan-       More About "Evolution At                       Because of our commitment to the
dard Bearer. This proposal was ap-          Dordt College":                              biblical doctrine of creation, we
proved by the Staff already in 1985.        [This editorial should have appeared in      were very disturbed by your report
Thereupon the same sub-committee            the September 15 issue. Due to a colossal    of Professor Hodgson's presentation
was instructed to come with                 error on my part, only the very last part    concerning creation and evolution at
nominees, something which was not           of it appeared; and that small part did      Hillsdale Conference.
done until the 1987 Staff meeting.          not make sense by itself. Besides, I had       This matter has been brought to
  To help pave the way for the              promised Dr. Hulst and Prof. Hodgson         the attention of the Board of
change - and, frankly, to furnish an        that I would publish their letters. My       Trustees of Dordt College and will
                                            apologies to all concerned. HCH]
incentive for action - I submitted                                                       be dealt with accordingly.
the following statement to the Staff          The reader will recall that in our                  Sincerely,
after they had re-elected me as             June issue I presented evidence (by                   (w.s.) J.B. Hulst
Editor this year:                           way of quotations) showing that                             President
  "If the Lord in His providence            Prof. Richard G. Hodgson, of Dordt             Next follows the letter which I
grants me to serve for another full         College, teaches evolution. The              received from Dr. Hodgson under
year as Editor-in-Chief, I will have        quotations were from a tape record-          date of July 2 1, 1987:
reached the age of 65 by our next           ing of Prof. Hodgson's remarks in             Prof. H.C. Hoeksema, Editor
annual Staff meeting. I have reached        the course of a Creation/Evolution            The Standard Bearer
a decision that after that I will not       debate with Dr. Duane Gish at Hills-          4975 Ivanrest Avenue
accept a new appointment as Editor-         dale College.                                 Grandville, Michigan 49418
in-Chief, though I will continue to           After the June editorial appeared,         Dear Prof. Hoeksema:
serve on the Staff in another capaci-       I received responses from both Dr.             Having just returned from nor-
ty as you see fit. My reasons are as        John B. Hulst, President of Dordt            thern Michigan where I have been
follows:                                    College, and from Dr. Hodgson. Dr.           very busily occupied during the past
1. I will have served officially since      Hodgson first sent me a rather               six weeks, I have had time to think
1965 and  de facto really since 1963.       lengthy reply. I wrote him to inquire        further concerning my response to
2. I deem it important for the Stan-        whether he wished to have his reply          your editorial, and to my statements
dard Bearer that in making a transi-        published, assuring him that The             made at Hillsdale last April. The re-
tion to a new Editor-in-Chief a crisis      Standard Bearer wishes to be fair            ply I sent you a few days ago is
situation, such as occurred in              and was quite willing to publish his         rather long, and not as clear and to
1964-65, should be avoided and that         reply. Dr. Hodgson replied affirma-          the point as I should be. I wish what
the transition should be orderly.           tively, but later sent me a much             follows to be printed instead of the
3. I believe it is in the best interests    briefer reply which he wished to             earlier letter if that is possible. If it is
of our magazine that a younger man          substitute. Dr. Hulst also informed          too late, I then wish to reconsider its
take the helm.                              me that he wished to have his letter         publication, in a somewhat revised
4. I would like to have the oppor-          published, at the same time inform-          form.
tunity to write again for a depart-         ing me that the Board of Trustees of           I wish to respond to the editorial
ment rather than to be an editorial         Dordt College would reach a deci-            "Evolution at Dordt College" which
writer and a managing editor."              sion about the Hodgson matter on             appeared in The Standard Bearer in
  The result of all this was that the       August 2 1, and assuring me that he          June, which reflected upon final
Staff elected the Rev. David J.             would send me a copy of that deci-           remarks I had made at Hillsdale Col-
Engelsma, of South Holland, Illinois        sion.                                        lege at the end of a three hour
as Assistant Editor-in-Chief, to              Here follows, first of all, the letter     discussion in a hot, humid, stuffy
assume the duties of .Editor-in-Chief       I received from Dr. Hulst under date         auditorium. Speaking under mount-
beginning, D.V., with the October 1,        of July 8, 1987:                             ing pressures of a time limit, and
1988 issue (Volume 65); and they             Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema, Editor             with some fatigue, I uttered most of
elected Prof. Robert D. Decker to            The Standard Bearer                         words you printed. (The reconstruc-
assume the duties of Managing                4975 Ivanrest Avenue S.W.                   tion from a student tape is reason-
Editor at that time.                         Grandville, Michigan 49418                  ably, but not perfectly accurate.) I
   I am happy to report that both           Dear Editor:                                 am very sorry that my wording on
have accepted their appointments.              I am writing in response to your          this occasion has caused misunder-
                                            editorial, "Evolution at Dordt Col-          standing. (One must remember the
                                            lege."                                       context of my words: I had been set-
Read and                                       Dordt College is opposed to the           ting forth, for the sake of discussion,
                                            theory of evolution, declaring in its        various viewpoints on creation and
study the                                   statement of purpose that "In the            evolution held by Christians and by
                                            beginning, the Bible tells us, God           humanists. I obviously could not be
                                            created all things . . . . The creation      a proponent of all the views I
Standard Bearer!                            belongs to God and is under his              described, for they differed sharply. I
                                            sovereign rule . . . ."                      am myself actually an "Old Earth
                                                                                         Creationist" strongly influenced by

6  / The Standard Bearer


Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield, E.J.         went over the parts quoted very            from a presentation by Dordt pro-
Young, etc., and have held that posi-      carefully and repeatedly (and with         fessor Richard Hodgson at Hillsdale
tion for many years.)                      help and confirmation from others)         College, Hillsdale, Michigan.
   At the close of the evening I was       and even with equipment by means             "In my letter I stated that the mat-
talking about the available  scientific    of which I was able to slow down           ter of Professor Hodgson's position
evidence. I was indicating that at         the playing of the cassette. I assure      regarding creation and evolution had
broader taxonomic levels (i.e., above      the reader that my transcription is        been brought to the attention of the
the family taxonomic level) the            accurate in every essential respect.       Board of Trustees of Dordt College
evidence for evolution was uncer-          2) Dr. Hodgson's insertion of the          and that the issue would be dealt
tain; that those who are special crea-     word micro at one point in the             with accordingly.
tionists (including myself!), can make     quotations does not esse,ntially             "Subsequently the Board of
a viable case for their views. I have      change matters.                            Trustees appointed a committee to
great difficulty understanding how         3) Theoretically it may be true that       work with me in dealing with this
such a diverse group as mammals,           one can adopt the "old earth crea-         issue. We (the committee and I,
for example, could all be descended        tionist" (or "progressive creationist")    along with other members of the ad-
from a common ancestor in the              position without adopting evolu-           ministration) have carried on exten-
Triassic Period, the time of the           tionism. In Dr. Hodgson's case, how-       sive conversations with Professor
earliest known mammals.                    ever, it is plain to me, not only from     Hodgson. As a result of these con-
   My sentence which you have              the quotations made in my June 1           versations we were able to for-            ,
transcribed from an admittedly im-         editorial but also from the rest of his    mulate a statement which we placed
perfect student tape as "I think that      remarks and from other sources that        before the Board of Trustees. The
there are some things that strongly        he teaches evolution. The reader           Board, after some revisions, adopted
suggest evolution as an explanation        may review for himself the evidence        the statement which reads as
for a lot of the varieties of life that    cited in our June 1 issue. I do not        f o l l o w s :
we find' should have been (and, if in      see how anyone can deny the facts              The Dordt College Board of
fact I did not say it, I meant to say      here.                                        Trustees, through a duly appointed
it) "microevolution." (Microevolution        But we will await the Board of             committee, has met with Professor
is the biological term for small scale     Trustees decision. 0                         Richard Hodgson and discussed
changes in species, genera, etc., and                                          HCH      with him the views he expressed
was discussed at some length by me                                                      concerning creation and evolution
in Biblical perspective in the earlier     A Letter From Dordt College                  in a conference held at Hillsdale
part of the debate). As I indicated          Space does not permit further dis-         College, Hillsdale, Michigan on
that evening, I believe the Sovereign      cussion in this issue concerning the         April 10, 1987.
God is able to work through the            matter of "Evolution At Dordt Col-             Professor Hodgson has acknowl-
genetic structures He has created to       lege." However, I received a letter          edged, with great sorrow and
permit increasing diversity within         from Dr. John B. Hulst, President of         regret, that he failed to make his
species, etc., over the passage of         Dordt College, in which he conveys           position clear and, at many points,
time. I had supported this with            the decision of the Board of Trustees        spoke in such a manner as to give
reference to Acts 17:26  in my open-       concerning Professor Hodgson's               the impression that he favored an
ing statement - a fact that my             teachings. This letter is reproduced         evolutionary interpretation of the
critics want to forget.                    below. Shortly before this went to           origin of the world and mankind.
  My highest desire in life is to be       print, I received a telephone call             When asked how he could have
faithful to the God of the Bible, and      from Dr. Hulst in which he informed          been so greatly misunderstood,
to walk in all His ways set forth in       me that the Board of Trustees had            Professor Hodgson responded by
Scripture. I am sorry some of my           taken a further decision concerning          pointing out that the format of the
words have been misunderstood by           Prof. Hodgson's instruction, and that,      meeting was a debate between
fellow Christians. I am also sorry the     if possible, he would like that deci-        himself and Dr. Duane Gish from
full scope of what I said that night       sion published along with this letter.       the Institute for Creation Research
has not been accurately reported.            My editorial comment will be               in San Diego, California. Since Dr.
       Your fellow-laborer in Christ,      reserved for a later date, except to         Gish was presenting the view of
       (w.s.) Richard G. Hodgson           say that I find Prof. Hodgson's             "recent creationism," Professor
  At this time I will not comment at       claims, and consequently Dordt's             Hodgson was asked to present
length on this matter. I prefer to         decision to be very unsatisfactory.          other views of origins along with
wait until I have received the deci-       The letter, under date of September         the reasoning upon which these
sion of the Dordt College Board of         1) follows:                                 views were based.
Trustees. My comments at this time                                                        When asked to state his own
are as follows:                            "Dear Editor:                               position, which he will do in
1) The tape recording of the entire          "On July 17, 1987, I wrote in             greater detail elsewhere, Professor
debate was of poor quality, having         response to your editorial "Evolution        Hodgson declared that he acknowl-
been made from the audience. Yet I         at Dordt College" (The Standard
                                           Bearer,  June 1,  1987)  in which you
                                           commented on quotations taken

                                                                                                           The  Siandard Bearer  / 7


    edges that God is the Creator of              "Again, I trust that Dordt's com-           Hillsdale Conference (April 10, 1987).
    the world and of mankind, and             mitment to the biblical doctrine of             However, because we remain trou-
    that he rejects both evolution and        creation is clear. I trust also that the        bled by statements made at the Con-
    theistic evolution. He further in-        above statement demonstrates our                ference which could be reflected in
    dicated that it is his constant           concern to deal forthrightly with the           his instruction of our students, we,           "
    desire to teach only in harmony           scientific issues, but always in light          the Dordt College Board of Trustees,
    with the Word of God and the              of the Word of God as interpreted in            have decided to appoint a committee
    Reformed confessions.                     the Reformed confessions.                       to study and evaluate further Pro-
       On the basis of our inquiries up                     "Sincerely,                       fessor Hodgson's position regarding
    to this point, while we remain                            J.B. Hulst, President"         creation and evolution. We do this
    very concerned about the impres-                                                         because we must assure ourselves
    sions left at the Hillsdale Con-          Addendum:                                       that the teaching of Professor
    ference, we believe that we are               Here is an additional decision of          Hodgson is fully in harmony with
    justified in retaining Professor          the Dordt College Board of Trustees:           the Word of God as interpreted in
    Hodgson as a member of the                    "We have addressed the problem             the Reformed confessions." 0
    faculty of Dordt College.                 which developed because of Pro-                                                         HCH
                                              fessor Hodgson's presentation at' the





                                              Concern About
AI/ Around Us
Cise 1. Van Baren                             The C.R.C.

   That there is deep concern among           equally knowledgeable scientist taking a         What saddens me is that we did not
the "conservatives" in the Christian          different position would most Quickly get      have the opportunity to hear the other
Reformed Church becomes obvious               at the heart of the issues involved.           side that night. How helpful it would
in reading some of the publications,          Besides, in a debate format, each scientist    have been for Professor Van Till or one
as  The Outlook, and Christian Re-            could marshal1 his evidence and show           of his colleagues from one of the science
newal. Again and again, these maga-           how he reached his particular conclu-          departments to respond to Gish's facts
zines decry the signs of growing              sions. The audience would be able to           and to his conclusions, Yet, despite pleas
                                              judge whether the conclusions were war-        from the Board of Reformed Fellowship
apostasy (though few seem to dare             ranted by the evidence each man                for a public forum on these important
to use the word) in that church. A            presented.                                     matters, the science professors at Calvin
recent issue of The Outlook, August              So the secretary of the Board was in-       College turned us down. Can it be that
1987, is an example of that great             structed to write two letters: one to Dr.      these are the same men who frequently
concern. Several articles give in-            Van Till of Calvin College and the other       champion the cause of free inquiry at
stances of disturbing developments.           to Dr. Gish of the Institute for Creation      Calvin? Or does their definition of free in-
In an article, "Creation and Evolu-           Research. Dr. Gish immediately re-             quiry go only as far as the closed doors
tion at Calvin College", the Rev.             sponded that he would be happy to come         of the classroom where they can teach
Randal Lankheet expresses his own             and debate Dr. Van Till. However, Dr.          what they want in secret?
great unhappiness:                            Van Till declined the Board's invitation.        In another article, in which a sum-
                                              So the Board scheduled Dr. Gish as the         mary of the decisions of the C.R.C.
  The Board of Reformed Fellowship            sole lecturer for that evening. . . .          Synod of 1987 was given, Rev. John
also disagrees with much of what Pro-            I came away from the lecture with a
fessor Van Till has written in his book.                                                     Engbers concluded:
                                              profound sense of gratitude that in Dr.
So, at a recent meeting, the Board dis-                                                        . .
                                              Gish and others we have,scientists who                  Though there were few major
cussed how it might help to bring about       are not afraid to take bn the evolutionists    issues, many small decisions concerning
some clearer understanding of the issues      on their own scientific turf. Surely, as a     the ways in which the CRC will carry on
raised in The Fourth Day. It was thought      pastor, I have neither the time nor the        its business through ministers, elders, and
that a debate between Van Till and an         expertise to study and to refute evolu-        deacons will undoubtedly have long-
                                                                                             ranging effects on the style and identity
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protes-    tionary theories. Thank God for men like       gf the denomination. The "women's
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,          Dr. Gish who have that time and exper-         issue" surfaced time and time again in
Michigan.                                     tise.

8 / The Standard Bearer


      the debate and those who wish to open              Laurie Vanden Heuvel comments              tile minds and advanced degrees who do
I     all the offices of the church to women          and makes the following observa-              not agree with women in church office.
      could take great satisfaction and encour-       tions about that conference:                    5) Two items of strategy surfaced
I     agement from the actions of this synod.           I) About I30 peopte attended the con-       which we do well to heed. One is the at-
      tn my judgment, the CRC will have               ference, few men and few college or           tempt to furnish constituents of the CRC
      women serving in all the offices in less        seminary students. About 60 people at-        with positive "experiences" in female
      than five years, and there are churches         tended the communion service at which         leadership in worship and official
      waiting in the wings eager to be the first      Neva Evenhouse preached and served            decision-making and the church will
      to make such history. The roll call votes,      communion. Several CRC ministers and          change its mind. This is an off-shoot of
      of which there were eleven, were decided        college professors were among the par-        behavioral psychology and it is effective.
      by small margins, usually five or six           ticipants.                                    Another item of strategy is Dr. Mouw S
      votes. The debate gave clear evidence             2) There was almost no discussion of        exhortation to imitate the rule-benders,
      that we are a divided house; in fact, one       Scripture through the day. Rev. Len           the rule-breakers; again - a very effec-
     often wonders how it is possible for such        Vander Zee (brother of Neva Evenhouse)        tive strategy. "OK - most of the chur-
      widely divergent views to co-exist in the       led a workshop in I Tim. 2 but the ex-        ches are doing it (when really only a few
      same denomination. This was a synod             egesis was a mutilation of the obvious        are) so we better change the rules to ac-
      that had its mind already made up on            meaning of the passage.                       commodate them. " Does this sound
      many of the issues. Who did the speaking          3) There was a lot of talk throughout       familiar? Children and teen-agers use this
      seemed to have more influence than              the conference about how much the pro-        strategy all the time and it works.
      what was being said. From my vantage            moters of women in office are "hurting. "       6) What impressed me the most was
      point I could see delegates signaling to        Quite honestly, I am weary of hearing         the depth of the chasm and the width of
      fellow delegates at tables across the aisle     this theme. They are not the only ones        the gulf that divides us. Each side of the
      or stage with a "thumbs up" or a                hurting in the CRC Many of us have            issue approaches the Scripture with a dif-
      "thumbs down" gesture. There was not            grown up in the CRC, have embraced its        ferent hermeneutical stance (and the
      heated debate on any issue, though there        doctrines and positions not only because      same thing is true in the creation-
      was an indifference to some speakers            of tradition, but because we have ex-         evolution debate) and never the two shall
      and positions. As I listened to the debate,     amined the Scriptures carefully and           meet. May God grant strength and
      it became obvious to me that we need to         found them to be true. We find that new       courage to go forward in the truth of His
      review our ecclesiology and understand          views are being imposed on us which we        Word.
      more clearly the nature and government          feel are contrary to the clear teaching of      While sympathizing with the ex-
      of the church. For many delegates synod         Scripture and this hurts. We are called       pressions of concern, one can really
      is an exciting and learning experience. It      demonic and told to repent and this           ask: how long can the conservatives
      once was that for me too, but of late it        hurts. We cry too - and for better            remain one in a body of such diver-
      has become an exercise in futility.             reasons.                                      sity as is presented in the above
         In another article, "Partnership in            4) Another recurring theme                  quotes? With "wounds" this grievous,
      the Gospel Conference", Laurie                  throughout the day was the number of          the whole body must shortly be af-
      Vanden Heuvel reports:                          talented, educated women in their ranks       fected with its "poisons". Either the
         On Friday evening, April 24 and Satur-       who are convinced of their position and       wounds must soon be excised (which
      day, April 25, a "Partnership in the            need to be used. Again - I am weary of
      Gospel Conference" was held at Geribee's                                                      seems hardly possible anymore), or
                                                      this theme. Believe it or not, there are
      in Grandville, Michigan and Calvin Col-         very intelligent, talented women with fer-    the conservatives, for the sake of
      lege Gezon Auditorium respectively . . . .                                                    their own souls, must separate. 0





       me Strength of A Pastor's Prayer for
       Youth
      Barrett  L. Critters                            Young People

                                                         0 blessed Father, the great God of         strength of their youth - the cove-
                                                      spiritual Israel, of Thine elect over         nant young people.
                                                      the whole world; we, raise this prayer           Their needs are great, Father -
                                                      especially on behalf of the youth of          sometimes greater than the needs of
                                                      the church, who are Thy chosen, on            others. And if not greater, yet the
      Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Protes-    whom Thou dost look with loving               position and experience of the young
      tant Reformed Church of Byron Center,           eyes of favor, for those in the               people in the battle of faith make
      Michigan.                                                                                     their needs different and unique. We

                                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  /  9


 raise a special prayer for them that      we confess, that is a fault of us all      every cry. Answer every request for
 they might receive a unique blessing      because we become overly confident         strength. Receive with favor each
from Thy hand.                             in our ability and worth. When all is      petition they raise, especially frqm
    * * * * * * * *  *.                    well, we think we are sufficient in        those with special struggles. Bind up
    Grant to them, Lord, the grace to      ourselves. Help them submit, rather,       the broken hearts. Heal the wounds
know Thee as Father, as the Father        to  Thy  righteousness through Thy          they receive in the battle of faith. Ap-
 Who has written their names in the       Beloved Son.                                ply the balm of Gilead to their
palm of Thy hand. May.they know              So work faith in their hearts            wounded souls.
 Thee as the Father Who has adopted       mightily by Thy Spirit and Word -              Grant that help especially when
them in everlasting love, and now         confidence that Thou  canst wash            all seems lost, when the temptations
made them alive again by the power-        their hearts clean; faith that Thou        are too great (and the flesh so weak),
ful Spirit of our Lord, Jesus Christ.     wilt not remember the sins of long          when friends forsake, when mockery
Grant them faith to call Thee their       ago . . . . Ah, Lord, our sins rise up      stings and ridicule cuts deep, when
Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ      against us, prevailing day by day;          they sink in deep mire where there is
their Lord. Oh, so much would take        but Thou wilt show us mercy, and            no standing; when the deep waters
that trust away from them. Bind on        take our guilt away. 0, teach them          overflow them; when they are weary
their hearts the knowledge and trust      to sing victoriously from Thy won-          of their crying, their throat is dried
in Thee that will pulsate in their        derful songbook, from Psalm 79:             and their eyes fail. Let them wait for
hearts daily.                                  "Remember not, 0 God, The sins         their God. 0, that they know Thee as
   Grant, Father, that  their  fathers                  of long ago;                  a refuge and their strength, a helper
would reflect  Thy  great Fatherhood,             In tender mercy visit us, Dis-      ever near them. Then they will not
so that through them, our young                           tressed and humbled low.    fear though earth be moved, for
people might come to know Thee as              0 Lord, our Saviour, help, And         Thou art nigh to cheer them. Their
a gracious and merciful God. Grant                      glorify  Thy name;            mighty God will hear them.
that their fathers might not be stern,           Deliver us from all our sins            *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
unforgiving, aloof, and violent, under                    And take away our             Nor are their  lives easy, Father.
whose rage they cower in fear, but                        shame. . .                  And we confess that we are not
fathers who have patience and                  Then safe within Thy fold, We          always sympathetic to that. For what
understanding toward them, forgive                      will exalt Thy Name;          occupation shall they study? To what
them, walk with them, speak to                    Our thankful hearts with songs      church shall they join themselves? To
them, love them. Then, Father, we                         of joy Thy goodness will    what school shall they go? With
are confident of Thy blessing on                          proclaim. "                 what leisure shall they entertain
their hearts and minds as regards             *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *               themselves? To what acquaintances
their view of Thee, the most blessed,        And then, washing their hearts           shall they join themselves? What
merciful, speaking, loving, Father.       clean, Father, kindle in them an un-        about  marriage?  What about dating?
   0, blessed Father, may they know       quenchable fire of zeal for Thee and        What about drinking and smoking?
Thee as a heavenly Father, not only       Thy great kingdom, so that the              These are the questions they struggle
One to be revered, but One able to        strength of their youth may be for          with, Lord. Give them grace to seek
supply their needs. May they never        Thy glory.                                  Thee for answers; then show them
become flippant in their prayers,            May Thy kingdom come in their            the good way.
even when many in the church today        lives more and more. Rule them so             Give the young men direction in
commune with Thee in language we          by Thy Word and Spirit that their           their lives regarding occupation.
would be ashamed to use in our            lives more and more be transformed          Grant that their work might be fully
prayer now. May they know Thee as         by Thee and then conformed to               in the service of Thy kingdom, what-
a Friend, a Father, the Sovereign         Thee.  May they know Thy law, and           ever work it be. Train men to work
Lord of heaven and earth. May Thy         know it not as a list of rules that         with the gifts given in Thy wise prov-
name be set apart in their heart as a     constantly hinder them, but as `a           idence. Make each know that their
holy name.                                wonderful guide for showing their           divine calling and station in life is a
    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *             thanks to Thee. 0, may they be              place divinely ordained. And then, in
  Father, our heart's desire and          thankful  for their covenant'               their labor for bread, may they with-
prayer for them is that they be           privileges, for their blessings, for        draw their trust from their own care
saved.  Our hearts burn within us         their salvation. And, thankful for          and industry, and place it alone in
with a hope that they be  assured of      them, may they submit in gratitude          Thee, the Giver of all good things.
their salvation through Jesus Christ      to Thy will. Destroy in them all the          Raise up among them those with
alone, and confess that faith with a      works of the devil; break to shivers        the desire to serve Thee in the
good confession before Thee and           all violence in them that exalts itself     ministry of Thy Word. Prepare them
before men. In the strength of their      against Thy kingdom. Father, be             from their youth for that great work,
youth, may they not trust in their        their all.                                  so that Thy church will always have
own works, or will, or worth, for             *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *               pastors who feed the flock purchased
their standing in Thine eyes. And yet,       There are many cares in their            with Thine own blood.
                                          lives. For these we pray too. Hear

70  I The Standard Bearer


   Influence young men for good so         that some train well and give their        But we also know, Father, that we
that they will grow up not only with       lives for it.                            cannot direct them in every decision,
a desire to serve in the other offices        *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *             cannot counsel them in every prob-
in the church (although that too), but        We pray for their parents and         lem. They will, in the strength of
with qualities necessary for that ser-     teachers and pastors and elders as       their youth, make many decisions on
vice. Raise up young men who are           well, that we would not only see the     their own. Then bestow them with a
spiritually minded. Train them for         weaknesses and sins of the young         sanctified heart.
faithful service in the kingdom. And       people, but their struggles and hopes      Bless them in Bible study,
use every experience for their good.       and strengths as well. May we en-        catechism, sermon listening . . . . At-
An awesome calling awaits them  -          courage them in their confession,        tend these means with the indwelling
to be responsible for the ongoing of       motivate them in their work, love        of Thy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.
the church in a few years. Provide         them in their good works.                  May they  know  Thy Word, able to
for the needs of Thy church.                  We desire to help the young peo-      make them wise to salvation.
  Give the young women direction           ple, Father, We desire to give them        Teach them to pray.
as to their future beyond their re-        guidance, to encourage and support         Grant, Highest Majesty, that these
quired schooling. Many face the            them. Our prayer is that we may be       Thy young people may learn to
question of college or work. And           used mightily for that great work        know Thy voice. Oh, that they might
what work? Others are perplexed            among them.                              live so near to Thee as to be familiar
because Thou hast not yet led them           So this, too, we pray: Grant the       with Thy voice. Oh, that amid so
into permanent friendships that            young people the willingness and         many other voices today, so many
would lead to marriage. It is a time       freedom to come to us as pastors for     alluring sirens, the voices of all the
of worry, Lord. Thy will be done,          counsel. Continue to give to us          other gods crying to be worshiped
here, too. Strengthen against the          pastors the grace truly to be con-       might be voices strange and hideous.
temptation to date and marry con-          cerned for them in their needs; that       The day, oh, the day is evil.
trary to Thy will. Always may they         we may so show our love in our ac-       Shorten the days for their sake.
marry "in the Lord. "                      tions that it hardly need be spoken      Hasten the day when our faith shall
  Raise up young men and young             aloud. May the young people find in      be sight, the clouds be rolled back as
women with a desire to teach in the        us a friend and counselor at any         a scroll. The trump shall resound
schools. Oh, Father, Thy covenant is       time, who is not surprised at their      and the Lord shall descend - Oh, so
a blessed covenant, Thy children           sins, nor hasty in criticism, but one    make it well with their soul.
precious children. And we need             who is able to exhibit the wisdom,         May these Thy sheep rejoice in the
teachers committed to covenant             love, the grace of God, the forgive-     strength of their youth!
education, Christian education,            ness of sins in Jesus Christ.              The young people of the church
Reformed education, for our youth.           May we then be a help. Use us.         we commit to Thy care, Father, with
May  ,it ever be that the young people     Please, Father, use us.                  the confidence that Thou wilt hear
see that great need. May it ever be           *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *             and answer our prayers.
                                                                                      In the name of our (and their)
                                                                                    blessed Saviour we pray, AMEN.  0





Guest Article - Effective Personal
Ronald I. Van Overloop                     Witnessing (3)

                                             The calling to give witness of the     the following: the glorification of
                                           Savior and of the salvation He           God, gratitude for so great salvation
                                           earned is the responsibility and         of such a worthless sinner, convic-
                                           privilege of every Christian.            tion of and zeal for the truth, con-
                                             Proper motivation is so important      fidence and trust in the efficacious
                                           in the performance of any work or        work of the Holy Spirit and the,
                                           play, and that is equally true for       power of the preaching, and love of
Ronald J. Van Overloop is a missionary-    witnessing and evangelism. Proper
pastor of the Protestant Reformed                                                   one's neighbor. Proper motivation
Churches in the Northwest Chicago area.    motivation for witnessing consists of    delivers from the constant danger of

                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer  /  II


heresy, which creeps in through           God, but he knows that this is true            Deeply conscious of the gracious-
false zeal and unscriptural methods.      only because of God's good pleasure.        ness of his own salvation and of lov-
  Methods flow from motivations.          He knows that he has nothing of             ing his neighbor for God's sake, the
While Scripture condemns some             which to boast in himself. He did not       believer will use the opportunity God
methods, it does set forth methods        make himself to differ from those           gives to witness of the glory of his
which are at the disposal of the          who do not receive this grace, ac-          heavenly Father, of his wonderful
Christian.                                cording to God's good pleasure.             Savior, and of the joy of his personal
   * * * * * * * * *                      Therefore, his presentation of the          salvation.
  The first method is prayer.             gospel is always with humility, with           * * * * * * * * *
  This is usually not mentioned           a strong sense that of himself he is          What should be the believer's at-
when a list of methods is given. It is    no different from any sinner, in fact,      titude towards witnessing?
to be hoped it is assumed. However,       that he is the chief of sinners.               1. Beginning with a big view of
it is feared that prayer is often for-       In close relationship to this humili-    God and of Jesus, one can be expec-
gotten. These are not general             ty and the reason for it is the virtue      tant and at ease. He is very con-
prayers for growth, but petitions for     of covenant courteousness and               scious that while he is responsible
specific contacts and specific situa-     friendliness. Praying that friendships      for the sowing of the seed, it is not
tions. After any contact and conver-      will develop (on the basis of com-          within the realm of his ability to
sation, one should pray that the Lord     mon salvation), friendliness and            bring forth fruit. Thankfully, he can
of the harvest will bless the seeds of    neighborliness are used as the              leave that to the Lord of the harvest.
the Word that were sown in that           means to that end. Believing that the       On the one hand, he does not have
contact or conversation.                  covenant is not an agreement, but a         to make the fruit. On the other
  The Calvinist has the highest doc-      relationship of friendship, we have         hand, he can be very expectant
trinal and experiential reasons for       most reason to be friendly. By neigh-       about the possibility of fruit because
praying. First, praying is essentially    borliness and friendliness are meant        God is sovereign and Jesus has all
the acknowledgment that God alone         all that is included in what Jesus          authority. That means that positive
can make fruitful the seeds sown.         calls the second, great command-            results are always possible, for with
Paul writes, "I have planted, Apollos     ment: loving our neighbor as ourself.       God all things are possible. It also
watered; but God gave the increase"       This humility is a readiness and            means that whatever the results,
(I Cor. 3:6). Secondly, prayer is the     eagerness to condescend to the              even if they are negative from the
acknowledgment of man's total             lowly, just as Jesus did with the           human viewpoint, they are for the
depravity and our helplessness to         Samaritan woman, with the woman             glory of God and according to His
overcome that depravity. "The             taken in adultery, and with the             good pleasure.
natural man receiveth not the things      women with the issue of blood. This           2. If there is a lack of desire to be
of the Spirit of God: for they are        humble friendliness has as its goal         a witness, then we need a strong
foolishness unto him: neither can he      their spiritual needs (just as Jesus        dose of preaching on justification by
know them, because they are               emphasized that of the young rich           faith. Nothing softens the cold heart
spiritually discerned" (I Car.. 2:14).    ruler); it is not an end in itself.         of the Christian more than hearing
This verse makes plain the extent of        Part of this humility of the Re-          again about unmerited mercy, of
the depravity of the natural children     formed believer in his witnessing is        which he is the most unworthy re-
of Adam; it is impossible for them to     the willingness not to cover up our         cipient.
know spiritual things. We are driven      own weaknesses. Also here we must             3. If we are afraid because of
to God, Who can give a new heart          be careful, for the devil can destroy       weaknesses we perceive in our-
and implant a new spirit, Who can         this virtue, too. Satan can make the        selves, then let us remember that
take away the stony heart and             believer proud of his sin or make           others who were hesitant and full of
replace it with a heart of flesh          the saint so busy admitting his own         excuses were reminded of Him Who
(Ezekiel 36:26).                          faults that the'gospel is either            makes the tongue (Exodus 4:ll).
  These prayers must have the             neglected or forgotten altogether.          Others were told not to be ashamed
same urgency of supplication that         This is not to be taken as the prover-      of the gospel (II Timothy 19).
Paul exemplifies: "Brethren, my           bial hanging out our dirty laundry            4. If we are not sure people will
heart's desire and prayer to God for      before all. Positively, all that is         respond, and are insecure, then let
Israel is, that they might be saved"      meant is the Scriptural and Re-             us remember that the gospel is
(Romans 1O:l).  Could it be that          formed consciousness that we do not         unavoidably offensive to the
sometimes the reason for the lack of      give the impression to others that,         unbeliever. And remember that for
fruit upon diligent labors is the lack    while we are emphasizing their              the Reformed believer success is not
of prayer? If that were true, it would    spiritual needs, we do not have any         measured in terms of numbers, but
not be unusual. "Ye have not,             spiritual needs ourselves. This is to       in terms of faithfulness. The world
because ye ask not" (James 4:2b).         be seen as the manifestation of god-        counts success only in terms of in-
  The second method for Reformed          ly sympathy or compassion (both of          creased numbers. But God has prom-
evangelism is humility. The Re-           which mean literally, "to feel with').      ised repeatedly to bless faithfulness
formed believer knows that he is the                                                  to Him and to His Word. After all,
object of the marvellous grace of

12  I The Standard Bearer


we are but stewards, who must be                 perform this responsibility with the                                                                                     Realizing that we have the ever-
faithful unto death (Luke 17:lO).                consciousness that the Lord Jesus                                                                                  present Christ with us, we are care-
  5. Finally, our attitude should be             Christ is at our elbow. God reminded                                                                               ful to carry out this never-ending
that of patient expectation. The                 His apostle of this at a time of dif-                                                                              task. The consciousness of His
former waits (is longsuffering) for the          ficulty and discouragement (Acts                                                                                   presence is the strongest motivation
precious fruit of the earth, and has              l&9, 10).                                                                                                         to keep up the work.
long patience for it, until he receive                      This is the source of great humili-                                                                           * * * * * * * * *
the early and latter rain, so must we             ty in the face of success. When there                                                                                   Such is the calling of the Re-
also be patient (longsuffering).                  is positive fruit to our witnessing,                                                                              formed believer. He must witness.
Highly instructive is the Bible's fre-            then the fact that Jesus promised to                                                                              He wants to witness. He delights to
quent use of the figure of the farmer             be with us and to give the increase                                                                               witness. q
in its treatment of the subject of the            keeps us from the sin of pride.
piesentation of the gospel.
   * * * * * * * * *                                                                                                                                                      I
                                                                                                              `,                                                                                                                ,.

  In the performance of this awe-                                                                              4.`
                                                                                                                      R&&&~~iferenc`e   On
some task the Reformed believer has
all the encouragement he needs in                     ,_' `.  .A.
                                                      .sl_r  t . .                                  8..               The,"&&n                                                        &ynily"-'
                                                                                    ".`.                                       /..                    .,I
the words and promise of Jesus to
his disciples when He gave them the                   `.  Td be  held  dn October.16  & 17;  198,7,.ihe*Lord   will&.
Great Commission. While this serves                              SIfen&an inspiring tie&k-end hi South kIolland Pr&stant. Reformed
as encouragement in the perfor-                       ' Churdh. The sD&ech& will b&timely and the fellowship will be rich: Bring
mance of the task of missions and           .` iour Bibles agd plan on an instructive and enjoyable time., Invite your -
evangelism on the part of the church        Xirie@s.   Public  invited:  .,
                                                                                    :/  :
institute, it accomplishes the same                                                                                                   SCHEDULE OF EVENTS                                                                              ;      1
                                                                                                                                                           `.). ,                           -.                     .,
for the individual believer in his call-          Frid&  E v e n i n g
                                                            i:oo-                                                                                                                           I,
ing to witness.                                                                            " Welcome and Op&ing Remarks
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            srl
  First, Jesus said that all authority      ' _` .`7:30',`-                                 Speech: "The Biblical ~Fo&daiiQtis ,of the Family" by Rev: Ci                                                                                          J.
                                                 ,...
in heaven and earth was given to                                                             Haak. Pastor Lvnden  Protestant  Reformed,Church,
                                                                                                                                                                                 -
Him.                                                              ,'                "  `-.  Lyndkn,  Washhgton:.
                                                      :  8:30'  : Panel  Discussion:"`@scipli$   in the Christian Hbmk." Partici mts:
  Jesus said this to a motley group                                                                                                                                                                                                         .pa
                                                      1 .                                                                                                                      *parent  .<  ,`.
of unschooled men to whom He had                                                            -- two Past&+an  Elder-a Teacher-6
                                                         ,9:30                             : Coffee and Fellowship . .  1.  .,                                            '
just given a world-encompassing task                                                                                                                                                  ;                 .,
                                            .' .Satu$$y  `Morning                                                        :                 i       `_/  `%  ,. ,  -j_-                                                   . .
in a hostile world. If they would ever                                                                                                                                                                                           0
                                            : `a_ 8:45                                     .D.avot,io~ss'                      -,,         .`,  `;  ."  "  .' ,-
forget His authority over all, then                                                                                                                                                                I
                                                            9:oo :,                         - B o o k   R e v i e w s : .   (.`.`.-'  `_
they would fold under the pressure                    ,-. 9:15 `, : Zpeech: "The Role -of -Family Worship" by Reir. James D.
of the work, deviate from His goals,                              .,                        (  Slqpsema,  Pastor   Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Grand
or find the task too burdensome.                 `,                                          -.                        Ranids..                                   Michidan.                              I
 ' The fact that Jesus has all authori-     '  lO:l`$  `s.`: ?hrei $$brkSh$s cdiid@ted'concurrentiy  at two. times, 10: 15
ty in heaven and earth makes us                       /                :                   ". and  l&:00, arranged so every iegistrant hai the choice of at-
confident about the ultimate triumph                     ,_.-                                ,tending  at'least two  of.,th& three  Wolkshops.  Each Workshop
of Christ in the work of witnessing              I                      -.
                                            r                                                will be conducted bv  two Moderators.
and evangelism. Confidence arises                                             -,,                        *          1) :Coping.with:.Teeti-Age'Problems                                                       .
because we know He works in                                .'  _*
hearts and makes disciples of the                     ;  `_                                 8:  -' 2) Sex Education.  i" our Homes
                                                                                      /        ,                               3).HelpForMp&,                                                      "
chief of sinners. No one is beyond          `.12:0 0  ..' LUNCH - at veart+ restaurants pf ydur choice
His power to regenerate and convert                                                                                                                                                   ,(
                                            ".S& id&y Afterrioon `.                                                                   ,
unto salvation.                                                                                                                                                   * ,
                                            1:3                         0 Question  and Answer Period
  Therefore, we give witness to the              *'  2:39  `.'  Speech:.`:The  Happines;"`of a `Godly Home" by kev. David J.
exalted Christ. We do not offer Him.                       -/  r
                                                                 -/                        `.;I,  F$ngelsma,`Ptistqr Prqtestant  Reformed Church, South Hdlland,
We do not speak primarily about the         `_,.  .,                                         " `Illinois                                           I  '
man of Galilee, Who may have been                     `I  $15  1'  :I  ~is~1ssAL                                                                "  :  `.  '  ;,
such a wonderful example. But                                    ,Registration  forms Will be-&t  to each bf.our churches.
following the example of the                - Rekistrdtion'is limited.  Registratidn   fee:                                                                                                  `
apostles in the book of Acts, we                      ,' The spee'ches will be taped with.a view ;i offering them:in a Cassette
preach the exalted Christ (cf. Acts                        Album..                                  '                                                      ,:        '
2123, 33, 36; 5:30).                        .  '  SPPN$$ED   ,BY:. The  Ev&gelism, Committee  '
  Secondly, Jesus promised that He                         _             *-.                                          Prbtestant Reformed Church                                                   .  '  "
would be with us always, even unto          ;,                                                                         16511 South Park Avenue"
the end of the age.                         -.                                                                         S o u t h   H d l l a n d ,   IL  6 0 4 7 3   "
  This is great consolation in the                    .  For  &o& information call (area c.ode.312) 596-3113; 529-4676; 895-0980.
face of any discouragement. We can                                            --                                                           `
                                                                                                                                                 ;
                                                                                                         .                                        8  .,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  /  13


The Day of                                 Brought Home By A
Shadows
john A. Heys                               Sanctifying Grace

   In a sense we can call Naomi a          spiritual matters. Naomi left for        jamin, and died and was buried,
prodigal daughter, for there is a          fleshly reasons. Ruth came for           Genesis 35:16 and 48:7. Bethlehem-
unique similarity between her and          spiritual reasons. Naomi left for        Judah then was surely a fruitful
the prodigal son in Jesus' parable. No,    earthly bread. Ruth came for             place where one could certainly find
she did not leave her father's house       heavenly bread. Naomi left the prom-     bread in greater abundance than in
with an inheritance. She did not go        ised land for daily bread. Ruth          many other places. When the famine
away to squander that inheritance in       entered that land for the everlasting    came in Bethlehem, Elimelech's and
riotous living. But she did leave her      bread which was in the day of            Naomi's flesh certainly cried out for
spiritual Father's house and lived for     shadows pictured by God in the land      Moab. For the flesh, there was no
ten years in a place where He did          which He gave His people, and            other place in Canaan to go for the
not reveal Himself in His love in          where His Son's blood was typically      satisfaction of the flesh. And let us
Christ. And she did return to Bethle-      shed every day in His tabernacle.        not be too harsh in our criticism of
hem-Judah, even as the prodigal son          Note that we read in Ruth 1:6 that     this family, without looking at our
did return to his father's house. Like     Naomi heard "how that the Lord had       own flesh and its demands. Be sure
the prodigal son, she returned             visited His people in giving them        that if such a situation arises for us,
because she realized that there was        bread." Then Naomi decided to go         we of ourselves are no stronger than
no other place on earth where she          back to that promised land. But this     Elimelech and Naomi. All too easy it
could find blessedness. By God's           was not Ruth's reason for going          is for our flesh to stay home on the
grace she returned and confessed           there. She had plenty of food in         sabbath and fail to go where there is
her sin, stating: "The Almighty hath       Moab and could have stayed there         spiritual food for us. How often were
dealt very bitterly with me. I went        for her natural, physical life. Naomi    you an Elimelech or a Naomi?
out full, and the Lord hath brought        could also have stayed in Moab for         Now Bethlehem was about eight
me home empty; why then call ye            earthly bread; but in His grace God      miles away from Jerusalem, but in
me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath             made her realize the need for            that day the tabernacle was not yet
testified against me, and the              spiritual bread. For Naomi was           in Jerusalem. It was in Shiloh, which
Almighty hath afflicted me?" Ruth          undeniably an elect, born-again child    is twice as far from Bethlehem as
1:20, 21.                                  of God. She had her spiritual weak-      Jerusalem is. Not till David captured
  What is striking is the fact that        nesses. She slipped and fell into        Jerusalem was the tabernacle
Naomi with her husband and sons            gross sin. But in His grace God          pitched there and was the ark, with
left Bethlehem-Judah, for earthly          brought her back to her spiritual        its mercy seat on which God dwelt
bread during a famine, and came            senses and even used her to instruct     symbolically, established. Now all
back with a Moabitess who was              this Moabish daughter-in-law in the      the elect children of God could not
seeking spiritual bread. This              things of His kingdom. And never-        live in Shiloh, nor in Jerusalem. Nor .
daughter-in-law, Ruth, sought the          theless we do well to note that it       was this necessary. But living in the
Bread of Life when Naomi was used          was not until He opened her eyes to      promised land was necessary. Mov-
by God to teach her the value of           her sin and made her realize her         ing away from it in that day was
                                           calling to go back to the land of Ca-    moving away from God's promises
                                           naan that she did return.                in Christ. Leaving the land where
                                             It is also striking that Elimelech     God gave pictures of the Kingdom of
                                           and Naomi took their sons with           Heaven in the day of shadows was
                                           them for bread out of Bethlehem-         turning one's back on Christ, its
                                           Judah, and that all this happened to     King. When forced to do so as
                                           a family that came out of that city.     Joseph was, and when Jacob was
                                           For the name of that city means          told by God not to fear going down
                                           House of Bread, and it originally was    to Egypt, it is something else. After
                                           called Ephrat, which means fruitful.
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in     Here Rachel bore Jacob's son, Ben-
the Protestant Reformed Churches.

14  / The Standard Bearer


the church in the days of Joshua           was not wise, but definitely sinful.        speaks to God four times. Twice she
entered this promised land, it was         The name  Mara, which she gave              calls Him The Almighty One, and
turning one's back on Gods prom-           herself, was an expression not of her       twice she uses the name Jehovah.
ises to leave it for material gain.        outward physical appearance, but of         Our KJV has the word Lord, but the
After God entered that land typical-       the inner grief of her soul and of          Hebrew has Jehovah, God's cove-
ly, when the ark was brought across        how she looked in God's eyes.               nant name, the name He told Moses
the Jordan river, it was sinful to            For Naomi confesses it all to be         to bring to the attention of the
move out of His land for the satis-        Gods work of testifying against her.        Israelites when He sent Moses to
faction of the flesh.                      She said, "Call me not Naomi, call          deliver them from Pharaoh's yoke
  All this changed when Christ was         me Mara: for the Almighty hath              and into this promised land. As the
born in Bethlehem, died for our sins,      dealt bitterly with me. I went out          Almighty One He "dealt very bitter-
arose, and ascended up into heaven.        full, and the Lord hath brought me          ly" with her and afflicted her; and as
When all the types and shadows of          home again empty: why then call ye          Jehovah, the Covenant God, He
the Old Testament dispensation were        me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath              brought her back and testified
fulfilled by Christ, it was an act of      testified against me, and the              against her.
unbelief to go to the temple to            Almighty hath afflicted me?"                  Clearly she saw the hand of God
sacrifice for the removal of sin. One        Let it be emphasized, this was not        in her bereavements and confessed
could go, as Paul and the disciples of     an accusation. She is not finding           her sin of leaving that promised land
Jesus did, to bring sacrifices of          fault with God. Notice that she con-        with its types and shadows. She did
thanksgiving for Christ's atonmg           fesses that God brought her HOME,           not say, as so many sinfully say to-
sacrifice. One could go there to pray      not merely back to Bethlehem. Here          day: "I had a lot of back luck." No,
to God in Christ; but to go there to       she belonged. This was her home             she saw it all and confessed it all as
put trust in these shadows was to          where she would dwell with God             Gods work of testifying against her.
turn one's back upon Christ. In            and enjoy spiritual blessings. She         That is a confession of sin, a confes-
Naomi's day it was turning one's           confesses that HE brought her back          sion not only that it was God's work,
back upon Christ to leave the pro-         to this home. And she was finding           but that she deserved it all. God
mised land for material gain and en-       fault with herself, not with God.          spoke against her and she heard it
joyment for the flesh.                     What she means is: "I do not               as God's judgment. She is not at all
  But, as we already noted, in His         deserve to be called Naomi, the pleas      trying to deny her sinfulness. There
grace God rekindled Naomi's waver-         ant one. I did a thing very bitter in      is not the slightest hint in her words
ing faith, made her see her sin, and       Gods eyes. Call me Mara, the bitter         or speech that she did not deserve
caused her to go back to the prom-         one." She said, "I went out. It all        this affliction. God, Who afflicted
ise in Christ, even though it would        was my fault. I did the bitter thing of    her, gave her grace to bow before it
mean separating herself from Orpah         sinning against God. No matter how         and to confess that He brought her
and Ruth, with whom she had an             I look, 1 do not deserve to be called      home. Get that! He brought her
earthly attachment of fleshly love.        Naomi, the Pleasant One."                  home to blessings and then plainly
She will now sacrifice the enjoyment         She did have a bitter pill to            to forgiveness of her sins. She wants
of her flesh in order to seek the          swallow. She lost her husband and          these women to look at God and
things which are above, and were           then both of her sons, all her             away from her. In effect she says, by
types and shadows of Christ and the        descendants, for she had no more           choosing that name Mara, or Bitter
salvation in Him. Naomi, whose             children, and cannot have any in the       One, "Look at me as a sinner who
name means pleasant, left the prom-        future, at her age. Grandchildren are      deserves all this. I have that name
ised land for pleasant things of this      out of the question for her. And           Mara coming to me." What a grace
world and of the flesh. Seeing her         Ruth, as far as she could then see,        of God! Naomi did not write Psalm
sin, by Gods grace, she now realizes       would never be taken by an Israelite       119:71, but she believed this truth:
that her name should be  Mara which        to be his wife. Call again to mind         "It is good for me that I have been
means bitter or bitterness.                Deuteronomy. 23:2. And only shortly        afflicted; that I might learn Thy
  It is possible that her name Pleas-      after this, we find that the closest       statutes."
ant One refers to the physical beau-       relative, whose calling it was to take        One can only wonder whether
ty of her face and that now, after         her as his wife, refused, though he        Ruth was there when Naomi said
ten years of grief, loneliness, and the    wanted the land.                           these words to the women of Bethle-
loss and bereavement, it showed on           But let us not close our eyes to         hem. Had she heard it, we may be
her face, and that this is the reason      the fact of what God did here in the       sure that she agreed wholeheartedly.
why the women asked, "Is this              life of Naomi. And let us take careful     And that name Jehovah would mean
Naomi?" Her hair may have turned           note of the fact that Naomi brings         much to her. That name means I
gray and her face developed                Him into the foreground. She calls         AM. That God is, not only in that He
wrinkles, so that there was nothing        the God of her salvation to the atten-     is self-sufficient, but also in that He
pleasant to look upon as before she        tion of these women who questioned         is unchangeable. WE always have to
left Canaan. Then she gained no            her and her change. For in these           say that we were, or that we will be
fleshly advantage by going to Moab         two verses, Ruth  1:20, 21, Naomi          i f . . . . But God is unchangeable as
for bread. Leaving the promised land                                                  well as utterly independent. He did


                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  /  15


not change. It was Naomi who                of the world and back home in His           fliction was a work of His grace.
changed from a faithful believer in         promised land. By God's unchange-           Through these He sanctified her and
the promised land to live as a sinner       able grace, the prodigal daughter           brought her back home where she
in the midst of the world. She did          was brought home to her heavenly            could enjoy the blessings in Christ
not change God by doing this, but in        Father, and unto the blessings in His       that were typically set forth in the
His grace He changed her. Because           house.                                      promised land in the day of
His grace never changes, He                   Yes, God's work of testifying             shadows. 0
changed Naomi and brought her out           against her and of bringing her af-





~~;o~;;~T~ The Two Natures Of
Ronald H. Hanko                             Christ - Introduction

1. The importance of this doctrine.         which deny the doctrine of the Trini-       point is the difference between life
   The confession that our Saviour is       ty, attack at this point is evidence of     and death.
both God and man is the corner-             the importance of the doctrine of the         So important is this doctrine of
stone of the Christian faith. It is fun-    Person and Natures of Christ for the        Christ, that it is basic even to our
damental to every doctrine of the           whole of Theology.                          Christian life. In answer to the ques-
Scriptures and to our confession of           We shall see too in these studies         tion how we must behave as Chris-
those same doctrines. Very obvious-         that this same doctrine of Christ is        tians, especially as members of the
ly, -everything that we believe about       critical for a full understanding of        church, Paul speaks of this doctrine
Christ Himself as Saviour hangs             the covenant of God. The blessed-           first of all. The confession that God
upon the truth of His incarnation.          ness of that covenant of grace, both        is come in the flesh, he says, is the
Unbelief staggers at the doctrines of       in its divine reality and in its revela-    "great mystery of godliness" (I Tim.
the virgin birth, blood atonement,          tion, are inseparably tied to the           3:16). Whatever else that may mean,
and the resurrection, and will not          revelation of Christ as God come in         it means this first, that this doctrine,
acknowledge His miracles, because it        the flesh.                                  believed and confessed, is the power
does not know Who and what He is.             As far as the hope of the church is       of obedience and consecration to
For us, therefore, these truths and         concerned, this confession concern-         God. How can anyone, for example,
all that we believe concerning Christ       ing Christ is for her the only way of       be a disciple of Jesus when he un-
as our Saviour, hold or fall at this        salvation. Her preaching is without         derestimates or does not clearly
point.                                      power to save, her love cold, and           understand the truth that Jesus is
   But it is not only the doctrine of       her work in vain when she loses this        God, and that as a disciple of Jesus,
Christ which is at issue in our con-        truth. Even in those churches which         he is a follower of God (Eph. 5:1, 2).
fession concerning Him. It is the           do preach and teach the sound doc-            So important is this doctrine of
touchstone of faith in God Himself as       trine of Christ it is impossible to be      Christ and so closely connected to
the only true God. As John says in II       saved apart from a living confession        our worship of God, to confidence in
John, vs. 9, "Whosoever trans-              of this doctrine. The Athanasian            Christ as Saviour, and to our calling
gresseth, and abideth not in the doc-       Creed is very much to the point here        to live godly in Christ Jesus, that we
trine of Christ, hath not God. He that      when it says; "Furthermore it is            are not even to have fellowship with
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he       necessary to eternal salvation that         those who do not receive it, nor bid
hath both the Father and the Son."          he also believe rightly the incarna-        them Godspeed, lest we be partakers
The very fact that most heresies,           tion of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we       of their evil ways (II Jn., vss. 10, 11).
                                            believe and confess that our Lord           2. Reasons for studying this doc-
                                            Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God        trine.
                                            and man." It is possible that there           Because this doctrine is so impor-
                                            are doctrines which we may under-           tant we do well to study it carefully,
                                            stand imperfectly, or about which           especially because there are several
                                            we may even be in error, and still          points at which this doctrine is not
                                            be saved, but this is not one of            well understood among Christians.
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity        them. A clear confession at this            These points are especially two: first,
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,                                                    a lack of appreciation for the truth
Texas.

16  f The Standard Bearer


     that Jesus is God in all His work as           We believe and confess that our Lord       that He comes from God, and as
     Redeemer; and secondly, a failure to        Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and      God, with all the power and authori-
     see clearly the connection between          man. God of the substance of the Father,      ty of God, to us, to abide with us
     His work and His humanity, especial-        begotten  before  the worlds;  and man  of    and be among us forever.
     ly as far as His exaltation is con-         the substance of His mother, born in the         To confess that Jesus is the Christ,
     cerned.                                     world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a      then, is to confess in brief the whole
        With regard to the first, it is char-    reasonable (reasoning) soul and human
                                                 flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as      truth concerning His Person. It is the
     acteristic of modern Christianity that      touching His Godhead, and inferior to the     confession that He is the Son of the
     it loses the truth of Christ's divinity,    Father as touching His manhood. Who           living God (Matt. 16:16) and there-
     not so much by denying it openly as         although He is God and man, yet He is         fore the confession on which the
     by neglecting it. The result is, as we      not two, but one Christ. One, not by con-     church is built (Matt. 16:18) and the
     shall see, that believers do not come       version of the Godhead into flesh, but by     confession through which we also
     to God through Christ, to the detri-        taking of the manhood into God. One           know that we are sons of God (I Jn.
     ment of all holiness, piety, and            altogether, not by confusion of substance,    5:5, 13). It is also a full confession of
     assurance. On the other hand, it is         but by unity of person. For QS the reason-    His humanity, for "every spirit that
     not uncommon to find that believers         able soul and flesh is one man, so God        confesseth not that Jesus Christ is
     have such vague notions concerning          and man is one Christ.
                                                   Such a confession is complete and           come in the flesh is not of God" (I
     the humanity of Christ in union with        sufficient for salvation and joy in           Jn. 4:3). Certainly we confess all His
     His divine nature, that they do not         Christ, but it leaves many questions          Names and do so with holy delight,
     even realize that Christ is now in          unanswered. Such a confession is              but the critical question is always the
     heaven not only as God but also as          also Scriptural, since it avoids idle         same, "What think ye of the Christ?"
     man. This too is harmful to their           speculation and turns our attention           (Matt. 22:24).  That is the question ac-
     spiritual.life, for so they lose very       to the miracle of the incarnation.            cording to which Christ Himself was
     much of the comfort of Christ's             And that is where our attention must          judged before the unbelieving Jews
     resurrection, ascension, and exalta-        be focused, for it must be our pur-           and they before Him (Matt. 26:63,
     tion.                                       pose not to explain, but to confess;          64). This is also the question which
        It is necessary, therefore, not only     not to speculate, but to wonder and           we must answer in giving account
     to understand that Christ is God and        worship.                                      before God and the world, inasmuch
     man, but to understand what the             4. The name Christ.                           as we claim to be Christians.
     Belgic Confession calls "the union                                                                   The Deity of Christ
     and distinction of the two natures in         All that Scripture says about the
                                                 two natures of Christ is encap-               1. The testimony of Scripture.
     the Person of Christ" (Article XIX).        sulated, as far as Scripture is con-             It is both unnecessary and some-
     To these matters we shall give our                                                        what presumptuous to attempt to
     attention.                                  cerned, in the confession that He is
                                                 Christ. There are various other               prove the divinity of Christ from
     3. Scripture's presentation of this                                                       Scripture. It is unnecessary because
     doctrine.                                   names which point to one or
                                                 another of His two natures or to              the believer does not need it, and
       Searching the Scriptures we im-           their union, notably the name  "lm-           the unbeliever neither wants it nor
     mediately notice that Scripture does        manuel" which is beautiful for its            can receive it. It is somewhat pre-
     not give a detailed, logical presenta-                                                    sumptuous, not only because the
     tion of this doctrine. It does not even     warm, personal emphasis on the sav-
                                                 ing importance of the incarnation.            testimony of Scripture is so clear,
     use such words as "nature" and              But the name or title "Christ" is the         but also because it is the central doc-
     "person," but simply presents clearly                                                     trine of Scripture from beginning to
     the three fundamental truths that           most comprehensive as far as this             end. Charles Hodge says it very
     Jesus Christ is true and eternal God,       truth is concerned.                           w e l l :
     that He is also a real, righteous man,        The name "Christ" is not really a             From the beginning to the end, there-
     and that there is but one Christ.           name but an official title. With its          fore, of the sacred volume, from Genesis
     From this we can learn several              Old Testament counterpart                     to Revelation, a Godman Redeemer is
     things.                                     "Messiah" it means "Anointed one"             held up as the object of supreme
       We are reminded first of all,             and describes Him in His official             reverence, love, and confidence to the
     therefore, by Scripture, that the           position as our Mediator. It directs          perishing children of men, It is absolutely
     truth of the incarnation is indeed a        our attention primarily to the fact           impossible to present a tithe of the
     "great mystery" (I Tim. 3:16),              that as God and man in one Person             evidence which the Scriptures contain of
                                                                                               the truth of this doctrine. It is to the Bible
     beyond all comprehension, and to be         He is fully qualified to be our
                                                                                               what the soul is to the body - its living
     received by faith. For this reason,         Saviour. In so far as this name points        and all pervading principle, without
     too, it is always easier to say what        to His work, therefore, it does so,           which the Scriptures are a cold, lifeless
     the incarnation does not mean, than         not by speaking of any specific task          system of history and moral precepts. It
     to say what it does mean theologi-          (as the names "Lamb of God' and               seems, therefore, to be a work of super-
     cally and doctrinally. Any reading of       "Advocate" do), but by reminding us           erogation  to prove to Christians the divini-
     the creeds of the church will quickly       of the peculiar and unique qualifica-         ty of their Redeemer. It is life proving the
     show this. The Athanasian Creed, for        tions He has for all His work, that is,       sun to be the source of the light and heat
     example, really says all that can be
     said in these few words:

                                                                                                                      The Standard Bearer  / 17


L


                                                                                                         -  --.
to the system of which it is the center.         is proved should be presented, and          blasphemers, but also that we our-
Still as there are men, professing to be         should be at command to resist the gain-    selves may better know Him in
Christians, who deny this doctrine, as           sayers, Systematic Theology, part I,        whom we have believed and be
there have been, and still are men, who          chapter VIL section 1.                      always better equipped to make a.
make the sun a mere satellite of the                We present that same evidence            good confession of His glory. 0
earth, it is necessary that a part at least      not only to stop the mouths of
of the evidence by which this great truth





Decency And                                      Our Church Order-
O r d e r
Ronald 6. Cammenga                               An Introduction

   At least three reasons can be                 authority of the Church Order is            Although several excellent commen-
given for a study of the Church                  regarded tongue-in-cheek. In other          taries have been written in the
Order in the pages of The Standard               places, radical revisions of the            Dutch language, and assuming most
Bearer. In the first place, the Church           Church Order are introduced in              of our readers are unfamiliar with
Order occupies an important place                deference to those who hold hierar-         the Dutch, we will mention only
in the life of our denomination. The             chical views of church government,          those available in English. The
labors of our consistories and              .    or who are in favor of introducing          Church Order Commentary,  by
broader assemblies are regulated by              women into the special offices. In          ldzerd Van Dellen and Martin
the Church Order. Next to Scripture              light of this situation, we feel con-       Monsma (the older edition) is
and the confessions, the Church                  strained to defend the Church Order         generally regarded as the authority
Order has to be the most significant             and to demonstrate the  scriptural-         on the Church Order. Notes On The
and most consulted document                      ness of its articles.                       Church Order, by Prof. Herman
among us. In the second place, it has            SOURCES                                     Hanko is an excellent commentary.
been more than 30 years since a                    The Church Order itself may be            This is available from our Seminary
discussion of the Church Order took              found in its unamended form in the          at a cost of $3.50. There is also the
place in The Standard Bearer. In the             back of, The Psalter. Its amended           Explanation Of The Church Order
meantime a new generation of                     form may be found in the booklet            Of Dordt, by Rev. K. De Gier, Prof.
officebearers has arisen in our de-              The Church Order Of The Protestant          Wm. Heyns' Handbook For Elders
nomination. This is true not only of             Reformed Churches. This latter in-          And Deacons, and J.L. Schaver's The
our ministry, but also of the office of          cludes: the English translation of the      Polity Of The Churches (2 volumes).
elder and deacon. Especially for the             Church Order adopted by our Synod             Two series on the Church Order
sake of these younger officebearers,             of 1944; decisions by our Classis           have been run in The Standard
a consideration of the articles of the           (before we had a general Synod) and         Bearer. The first series begins in
Church Order is well worthwhile. In              Synods relative to some articles of         Volume 8, p. 190, and was written
the third place, increasingly today              the Church Order, which decisions           by Prof. G.M. Ophoff. The second
the Church Order comes under                     are placed under the articles to            series begins in Volume 29, p. 260,
serious attack. In some quarters, the            which they refer; the constitutions of      and was written by Rev. G. Vanden
                                                 the standing committees of Synod;           Berg.
                                                 rules and regulations adopted by            THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
                                                 Synod; various formulae in use in           CHURCH ORDER
                                                 our churches; by-laws of the Protes-          John Calvin is to be credited with
                                                 tant Reformed Churches In America;          the early development of Reformed
                                                 questions used for church visitation;       church polity. Although Calvin was
                                                 and "The Declaration Of Principles."        not one of its immediate authors,
                                                 This booklet is available from the          nor had any direct hand in its pro-
                                                 Stated Clerk of Synod at a cost of          duction, the principles of church
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the              $6.00.                                      government established by the
Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland,            There are also various commen-            Church Order are principles devel-
Colorado.                                        taries on the Church Order.                 oped largely by Calvin.

18  I The Standard Bearer


   Calvin formulated an early church        only a return to the true doctrine of     which will assure that the pure
order entitled the "Ecclesiastical Or-      the Reformed faith, but was also a        preaching is maintained, the sacra-
dinances," which was the foundation         return to the Church Order of Dordt.      ments administered properly, and
of the whole organization and               Initially, at the insistence of Rev.      discipline exercised faithfully.
discipline of the church of Geneva,         Scholte and Rev. Van Velzen, in             The Church Order also serves as a
and which was adopted on Novem-             1837 a new church order was drawn         minor confession. The major confes-
ber 20, 1541, scarcely more than            up for the churches of the Secession.     sions of our churches are The Three
two months after Calvin's return            But in 1840, especially at the in-        Forms Of Unity: the Heidelberg
from exile to Geneva. A copy of the         sistence of Rev. Hendrik de Cock,         Catechism, the Belgic or Netherlands
"Ecclesiastical Ordinances" can be          the Church Order of Dordt was             Confession, and the Canons of Dor-
found in  The Register Of The Com-          adopted anew.                             drecht. Our churches also have
pany Of Pastors Of Geneva In The              Also the secession from the State       minor confessions. These would be
Time Of Calvin, edited by Philip            Church in 1886 under the leadership       especially our adopted liturgical
Hughes. Calvin also enumerated the          of Dr. Abraham Kuyper, known as           forms, as, for example, the Baptism
main principles of Biblical church          the "Doleantie," returned to the          Form, the Form For The Administra-
government in his  Institutes Of The        authority of the Church Order of          tion Of The Lord's Supper, the Form
Christian Religion. In the University       Dordt. The above two secession            Of Ordination Of The Ministers Of
of Geneva, Calvin taught the prin-          movements were united into one            God's Word, and others. To be in-
ciples of church government to              denomination in 1892, and became          cluded as a minor confession is also
students from all over Europe, who          known as the Gereformeerde Kerken         our Church Order. The Church
carried these principles into all the       van Nederland (GKN). The basis for        Order is the confession of our
lands where the Calvin Reformation          their church government was the           churches concerning what we be-
spread. The Book Of Common                  Church Order of Dordt.                    lieve to be the Scriptural principles
Order, adopted by the Church Of             THE USE OF THE CHURCH                     of church government. The Church
Scotland in 1560 derived from               ORDER                                     Order sets forth fundamental Biblical
Calvin. John Knox's First Book Of             The Church Order contains the set       truths concerning such things as:
Discipline  owes much to Calvin. The        of regulations according to which         authority in the church of Jesus
Form Of Presbyterial Church Gov-            the local congregation, as well as the    Christ, the nature and duties of the
ernment, drafted by the Westminster         broader assemblies of Classis and         offices, the sacraments, and Christian
Assembly is heavily influenced by           Synod, are governed. The Church           discipline.
Calvin. Thus also our own Church            Order  rests on the apostle's injunc-     THE BINDING AUTHORITY OF
Order.                                      tion in I Corinthians 14:40,  "Let all    THE CHURCH ORDER
  Our Church Order is a direct prod-        things be done decently and in              The authority of the Church Order
uct of the Reformation in the Neth-         order." How the church is to be           is not an independent or innate
erlands. The first work on a church         governed is set forth in God's Word.      authority. This is the unique authori-
order for the Reformed Churches of          However, Scripture is not a ready-        ty of Holy Scripture. Scripture alone
the Netherlands was done by the             made church order, or manual of           is the ultimate authority for the faith
Convention of Wezel in 1568. This           church government. Instead, Scrip-        and life of the individual believer,
convention met in Wezel, Germany,           ture sets forth the fundamental prin-     the local congregation, and the
because of persecution in the Neth-         ciples upon which the government          denomination. Instead, the authority
erlands. To this original church            of the church is based. The Church        of the Church Order is a derived
order many provisions were added            Order seeks to enunciate and apply        authority. The Church Order is of
by subsequent national synods of the        these principles in the actual govern-    binding authority because and to the
Netherlands. Particular attention was       ment of the church.                       extent that it is derived from Scrip-
paid to the formulation and adoption          The Church Order also serves an         ture. Its authority is binding as long
of the Church Order by the Synod of         important role with respect to the        as it is not shown to conflict with
Dordt, 1618'19.  This Synod adopted         unity of the church. The Church           Scripture. The Church Order is a
the Church Order which is essential-        Order itself is an important basis for    human document. Because it is, it
ly the one we have today. For this          church unity. At the same time, the
reason our Church Order is often            Church Order preserves and safe-
referred to as the Dordtsche Kerk           guards the unity of the churches          Take the time
Orde (D.K.O.).                              bound by its regulations. The unity
  In 1816 the Dutch government, in          of the church depends on the pure
an effort to curb the power of the          preaching of the Word, the proper         to read and
church and insure the government's          administration of the sacraments,
control over the church, discarded          and the faithful exercise of Christian
the                                                                                   study the
        Church Order of Dordt as regula-    discipline. It is the purpose of the
tive for the Reformed Churches              Church Order to establish those
in the Netherlands. The secession           regulations in the life of the church     Standard Bearer!
from the State Church in 1834
known as the "Afscheiding" was not

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  /  19


must always be subjected to the              mand otherwise) may and ought to            bind themselves by the authority of
scrutiny of God's Word. The Church           be altered, augmented or dimin-             the Church Order. ,Any who desire to
Order itself leaves opportunity for          ished," Article 86.                         become or to remain a member of
change and revision: "These articles,          The Church Order is also of bind-         the denomination must willingly con-
relating to the lawful order of the          ing authority because of the willing        sent to the authority of the Church
church, have been so drafted and             consent of the churches. This is also       Order. Thus, the binding authority of
adopted by common consent, that              mentioned in Article 86. The                the Church Order is the authority
they (if the profit of the churches de-      churches have mutually agreed to            that we willingly give to it. 0





                                             Believing AlI The
 From Ho/y Writ
George C. Lubbers                            Scriptures (9)

 The Hope Of Heaven And Earth                  There are a few facets in the en-         which had been subjected to vanity
THE CHERUBIM IN THE EAST                     tire section here, which we have            in hope of being delivered from the
GATE  - Genesis 3.24.                        thus far discussed which need to be         bondage of corruption into the
  It is of the greatest importance           repeated. We must not lose sight of         glorious liberty of the children of
carefully to notice the text here in         the preponderant fact that the name         adoption, who in the Spirit will cry
Genesis 3:24b what the Holy Spirit           of "Jehovah God" appears repeated-          Abba Father (Rom. 8:15;  Gal. 4:5)!
tells us concerning God's placing            ly in this section (Gen. 3:22-24).  Also      Equally important it is that we
these Cherubim at the east gate with         here, at the time of the fall, God ap-      keep in focus the Scriptural teaching
their flaming swords. The text reads         pears to Adam and Eve as                    of the presence of the Cherubim,
as follows:                                  JEHOVAH, the Covenant God. He is            who are the keepers, protectors of
  I`     and he placed at the east of the    the God who gives His great prom-           the holy place of God. The righ-
gard$ bf Eden the Cherubim, and the          ise (Gen. 3:9-17). He is the God            teousness and the holiness of God's
flame of a sword which turned every          who is not ashamed to be called the         command to Adam both before the
way, to keep the way of the tree of life"    God of Abraham, Isaac and of Jacob          fall as recorded in Genesis 2:17, as
                                             (Heb. 11:16; Ex. 3:6; Matt. 22:32;          well as the holiness of God's promise
                                             John 14:2; Rev. 21:2). This is the          made to Adam after the fall, as
                                             Jehovah God who dwells between              stated in Genesis 3:15, must be pro-
                                             the Cherubim (Ps. 8O:l; 99:l; Is.           tected. In both instances God's Word
                                             37:16).                                     must stand as yea and amen to the
                                               We must not ever lose from our            glory of God the Father. Cherubim,
                                             sight the new legal and spiritual           too, are ministering "spirits" sent out
                                             status quo in which Adam and Eve            for those who will inherit salvation.
                                             had already been placed by God in           When we attempt to gain a total
                                             the great promise of the victory in         view of the Scriptural teaching con-
                                             the Seed, the Head over all things,         cerning the class of angels called
                                             the Christ, who is the firstborn of all     "Cherubim" we will need to see
                                             creatures, as He is the firstborn out       them in their office, as identified in
                                             of the dead (Col. 1:18).  At this point     Hebrews 1: 14.
                                             Adam had already in faith renamed            There has been much written con-
                                             his wife (ishah) with the new name          cerning the nature and office of the
                                             and position in the church: Eve,            cherubic angels in the history of the
                                             mother of the living (Gen. 3:20).           New  Testament church. Biblical
                                             Were they not already under the             scholars nearly all agree that a mere
                                             blood of the sacrificial animal with        study of the etymology of the
                                             whose skins the shame of their              Hebrew term (name) is of little or no
                                             nakedness was covered (Gen. 3:2 l)?
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus     Adam stands on a cursed earth,
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

20  / The Standard Bearer


avail to tell us much concerning the       resurrection and ascension of the            The first manifestation of the
office of these angelic beings. Cer-       Son of God at God's right hand.            Cherubim in history is already a
tainly the name is not a name of any          There are certain great truths in       part, a beginning of the history of
one angel as seems to be the case          the Bible which we must carefully          the salvation. It is already inter-
with the two names Gabriel and             consider in connection with the            woven with the strands of what the
Michael. However, even here it is          presence of the Cherubim in the ho-        Dutch call "Heilsgeschiedenis". It is
doubtful whether these are anything        ly place of God. These lines of Scrip-     part and parcel of the work of him
like our surnames. There is some-          ture we may not arbitrarily draw,          who is the Alpha and the Omega of
thing very elusive and mysterious          but we must carefully trace the            our salvation in Christ, the Lamb.
about these ministering spirits. For       architectural lines of the Builder and     Wherefore these Cherubim are not
"spirits" they are. When they do ap-       Maker who is God alone. He is              placed within the garden of Eden
pear to men they come accommo-             Jehovah God! God's plan and design         itself, but they are placed outside at
dating themselves to our world of          we must study as He builds his tem-        the east gate of the garden of Eden.
sight and hearing. Yet withal they         ple in Jesus Christ, who is the great      They are there to prevent anyone to
remain spirits. Understandably,            temple-builder. He builds His temple       attempt to reverse the history of
therefore, the name "cherubim" tells       in Christ's dying the accursed death       salvation; no one may ever attempt
us very little about these heavenly        on the cross and in raising him again      to return to the tree of life. The only
beings around the throne, whose            the third day from the dead (John          way to return to God is through the
wings cover the mercy-seat.                2:19;  Matt. 26:61; 27:40; Acts 6:14).     blood of atonement. And that means
  Still there are some very clear-cut      Thus we do cling to the pattern of         justice must be satisfied, and the
matters which we may enumerate             sound doctrine when we thus con-           way into the holy place must be
when we consider the keepers of the        sider the Biblical description of the      openly manifested first on the cross.
holy-place of God, the place where         office of the angels.                      Here the veil will be rent forever, so
God comes to dwell among men.                 Surely the truth of the exaltedness     that no Cherubim will ever be man-
Here we receive a glimpse of these         of the Christ over all things angelic      dated to keep the way of the tree of
angelic beings in their liturgical ser-    hosts is clearly set forth in Hebrews      life in the heavenly paradise where
vice in the temple of God. Primarily       1:3-14. Nowhere in all the Old Testa-      God will forever tabernacle with
the Old Testament Scriptures speak         ment Scriptures is such glory and          men.
of the Cherubim. In the New Testa-         honor ascribed to the angels, be             There is a "not yet" in history of
ment Scriptures we read only once          they Cherubim or Seraphim, as is ac-       salvation. All our salvation has been
of the Cherubim by this name. That         corded to the Son of God, whose            predetermined by the Lord. God
is in Hebrews.9:5. It must be              throne is forever and ever. To no          does proclaim the end from the
remembered, however, that even             angel has it ever been said: "thou art     beginning when he gives His prom-
here we are dealing with a reference       my Son; this day have I begotten           ise to Adam and Eve concerning
to the Cherubim as they over-              thee," (Heb. 1:5; Ps. 2:7). No angel       the wonderful triumph of the Seed of
shadowed the mercy-seat in the             became flesh in order to suffer and        the woman over the seed of the Ser-
most holy place in the Old Testa-          die and to conquer death and hell          pent. But all is not yet fulfilled. God
ment "worldly" temple. The only            for all the elect saints of God. There     never tells everything, but when he
other passage in the New Testament         is a great distance between the glory      tells us as much as we need to know
where the Cherubim are mentioned           given to the eternal Son, and the          He never deceives us, nor confuses
is in Revelation 4:6. Here these           glory which of the Cherubim. Indeed        us. In the "not yet" of God there is
angelic spirits are called "living         they are called the Cherubim of            the promise of certain fulfilment.
creatures" in the Greek. The term is       glory in Hebrews 9:5. They are not
"zooa." The KJV translates this term       even sharers in the glory of grace
as "beasts". The Holland language          revealed in the mercy-seat within
translates the Greek name "zooa" by        the veil; they are protectors of this .
the noun "dieren" in distinction from      h o l i n e s s .                           The Standard
"beest". This is a very happy distinc-       When we read of "glory," this
tion which the KJV fails to observe        seems to refer to the majesty of
in its translating both times as           Jehovah God. This heavenly majesty          Bearer makes
"beast", when it is the Greek noun         of God is signified in the ark of the
"zooa" or "theerion". Compare              mercy-seat. Where these Cherubim
Revelation 4:6 and 13:2, 11.               appear we see a revelation of Gods         a thoughtful
  At any rate we must study the Old        throne in His relationship to Gods
Testament revelation of these              church and toward all things in            gift for the
Cherubim in order to gain some con-        heaven and in hell.
ception of these Cherubim at the             We ought to notice the following
east gate of the garden of Eden!           line of revelational development.          sick & shut-in.
  For in the Old Testament we see a
gradual unfolding of the fulfilment of
the promise, the great promise of
God to be fulfilled in the death,

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  I21


There is a sure basis for a living,         to be built. This temple was already        defile God's house by their whore-
eternal hope in this "not yet" of           a parabolic indication of a better          doms. Here they will put away their
fulfilment.                                 temple to come. In this temple              whoredoms forever.
  Permit us to point out three stages       nothing impure would ever be any-             Yes, Jehovah shall dwell with
in this gradual unfolding of this           more. This is really the temple             them forever in the glory of his
promised salvation.                         which is built by Christ, and into this     grace.
  1. There  were.the  cherubim              temple the believers both of the              Truly it shall be said: Jehovah is
spoken of here in Genesis 3:24. Here        Jews and of the Gentiles would enter        there (Ezekiel 48:35).  0
we do not yet see them hovering             to dwell forever more. No Cherubim
over the mercy-seat.                        will deter or forbid the entrance of
  2. There were the two cherubim,           any of the blood-washed sinners. No
silent witnesses of the typical, Old        flaming fire shall devour those who
Testament sacrifices in the taber-          are to be constituted a holy temple
nacle of Moses and in Solomon's             in the Lord (Ez. 43:6-g).
temple services on the great day of           The east gate shall be the en-
atonement, when the blood of the            trance of the glory of Jehovah into
sacrifices were sprinkled upon the          the temple. And the glory of the
mercy-seat (Lev. 16:15-19).                 LORD will fill the house of God
  3. There were also the Cherubim           forever. Of this house God says,
(living creatures) spoken of as they        "Son of man, this is the place of my
symbolize the entering in of the            throne, and the place of the soles of
glory of the LORD into a temple yet         my feet, where I will dwell in the
                                            midst of the children of Israel for-
                                            ever," (Ezekiel 43:7).
                                              Here the house of Israel shall no
                                            more defile the Lord's holy name,
                                            neither will they nor their kings





                                            Report of Classis

CLASSIS WEST                                Classis  as delegates for the first time      Classis will meet next in Redlands,
                                            and signed the Formula of Subscrip-         California on March 2, 1988, the
                       September  3,1987    tion.                                       Lord willing. 0
   Classis  West of the Protestant Re-         In its shortest meeting in many                         Rev. David J. Engelsma,
formed Churches met in Pella, Iowa          years, if not in all the history of                                      Stated Clerk
on September 2. Fourteen elders and         Classis  West, Classis conducted
twelve ministers represented the            business that was strictly routine. A       CLASSIS EAST
churches of the West. Rev. R. Moore         classical appointment schedule was
opened the meeting with a devo-             adopted for Immanuel Protestant Re-                             September  9,1987
tional speech on Psalm 127:l: "Ex-          formed Church of Lacombe, Alberta:            Classis East met in regular session
cept the LORD build the house, they         [Sept. 6, 13, 20 - Lanting]; Sept. 27,      on Wednesday, September 9, 1987
labor in vain that build it: except the     Oct. 4 - De Vries; Oct. 11, 18 - Cam-       at the Hudsonville Protestant Re-
LORD keep the city, the watchman            menga; Oct. 25, Nov. 1 - Koole; Nov.        formed Church. Each church was
waketh but in vain." Rev. C. Terp-          8, 15 - Engelsma; Dec. 6, 13 - Terp-        represented by two delegates. Rev.
stra presided over the Classis.  Elder      stra; Jan. 10, 17 - Dykstra; Jan. 24,       J. Slopsema presided over this ses-
W. Linker (Lacombe), Elder J.               31 - Hanko; Feb. 14, 21 - Haak.             sion.
Tolsma (Lynden), and Elder J.                  Classis welcomed the newly                 The business of classis was, for
Wierenga (Lacombe) were present at                                                      the most part, routine and adjourn-
               .                            organized Immanuel Protestant Re-
                                            formed Church of Lacombe, Alberta,          ment was before noon.
                                            Canada, present at Classis  for the           Classis did receive a protest from
                                            first time.                                 a brother against a decision taken
                                                                                        regarding his protest to the May,

22  / The Standard Bearer


     1987 classis. Classis  declared the pro-        Holland requested classical ap-         27: Bekkering, January 3: Kamps,
     test not to be legally before it on the       pointments. The following schedule        January 10: Van Baren. Rev. G. Van
     ground that the protest violated Arti-        was adopted: September 20: Korter-        Baren was appointed as moderator
     cle 31 of the Church Order. In                ing, September 27: Woudenberg, Oc-        for the Holland church.
     essence the protest was the same as           tober 4: Gritters, October 11: Key,         Expenses for this classis amounted
     that submitted to classis earlier. The        October 18: Bekkering, November 1:        to $836.11. Classis  will meet next at
     brother was informed that if he was           Joostens, November 8: Kamps,              First Church on January 13, 1988. 0
     not satisfied with the decision of. the       November 15: Slopsema, November                          Respectfully submitted,
     May; 1987 classis, an appeal should           29: Woudenberg, December 6: Grit-                                    Jon Huisken,
     be made to Synod of 1988.                     ters, December 13: Key, December                                       Stated Clerk





                                                   News From
     Ben Wigger -                                  Our Churches

                                October 1, 1987    Cecilia Building downtown. What a         any split based on a doctrinal issue,
       The writer of this profile of First         sight that was every Sunday to see        the members who stay are not all
     Church in Grand Rapids is Mr. John            hundreds of family members traips-        "choosers" as much as "followers."
     M. Faber of "see you in church"               ing downtown each morning and             That became .evident when many of
     fame. You readers will probably en-           evening! Walking? Of course. Hardly       the former "followers" of Rev.
     joy something from a long-time                any family owned a car then.              Hoeksema became "rejectors" in `53.
     writer for this rubric.                         When the new church was                 This time the doctrinal issue was on
       Our history goes way back to                a-building, the basement was first        the little word "if," which introduced
     1924 when the common grace ques-              prepared, so that we could worship        the conditional theology. One
     tion was before the Synod of the              there, for a rent saving. That base-      minister and two-thirds of the people
     Christian Reformed Church, which in           ment had a flat cement floor with         left us and we, the one-third, met in
     1926 resulted in our beginning as a           many square pillars supporting the        Christian High School auditorium un-
     Protestant Reformed Church. When              superstructure. These pillars blocked     til we learned that we could return
     Rev. Hoeksema left his old church             the view of two or three persons,         to Franklin and Fuller again. To get
     he led some 300 families with him.            each, so that any sleeper could hide      an idea how this affected our church
     Ninety-two families remained with             from the view of the.minister. But        rolls: we dropped from 487 families
     the Eastern Avenue Church.                    what a great nuisance for the wide-       to 170: 1,912 souls shrank to 587.
     Characteristically, from then on they         awake worshipper!                         The veteran Rev. H.H. weathered
     were called "The Ninety-Two-ers." It            When the new church was fin-            this storm also with the conscien-
     was decided by the court that we              ished and church-going was normal         tious help of Rev. Hanko. After Rev.
     must vacate the building on Eastern           again, the congregation grew steadi-      Hanko's taking a charge in Cali-
     Avenue because it belonged to the             ly. At one time we had 370 Sunday         fornia, we were vacant for a while.
     denomination.                                 School children with 26 teachers and      After Rev. Hoeksema's translation in-
       We met temporarily in the Frank-            2 helpers! We sent 155 of our young       to his heavenly rest, the Rev. Van
     lin Community Building across the             men to the armed service in 1945;         Baren came over to help us out of a
     street from our new building site,            and in that year our two ministers        slough of despondency and inner
     but soon began worshiping in the St.          conducted  27-funerals:  We kept our      strife. By this time we no longer had
                                                   pastors for long periods: Rev. H:         Dutch services. Can you imagine
                                                   Hoeksema for 45 years, Rev. R.            that for years in our early history
                                                   Veldman for 5 years, Rev. H. De           we had two English and two Dutch
                                                   Wolf for 9 years, Rev. C. Hanko for       services each Lord's Day?
                                                   16 years, Rev. G. Van Baren for 12          A worthwhile project which began
                                                   years. Our present pastor, Rev.           many years ago, and is still
                                                   Joostens, is now serving his ninth        presented each Sunday afternoon, is
     Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant      year.                                     the radio broadcast of the Reformed
     Reformed Church of Hudsonville,                 We weathered another congrega-          Witness Hour, which we share with
     Michigan.                                     tional split in 1953. And, as usual in    all our people and many outsiders.

                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 23

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   THE                                                     ~~- .~~ ---
STANDARD  -~                                                                                                     SEC-O/w CLASS
                                                                                                                 Postage Paid at
  lWU?ER                                                                                                         Grand Rapids, Michigan
 l?O. Box 6064
 Grand Radds, MI 49506                      _ ____  ~-.  _~-.--   ~~-~




Even in the turmoil of `53 we were             the lower level . . . . but why go              I/          for the Lord thy God is with
                                                                                                .  .  .
able to "put it on the air." The pro-          on? Why don't you pay us a visit so          thee withersoever thou goest."
gram was originally "live" in the              we can . . . . see you in church.            (Joshua 1:9b)
church auditorium. One memorable                                                 -J.M.F.    Ed and Kathy Vander Meulen
time when a visiting minister from               In other news: Rev. Dale Kuiper            Ryan and Nancy Regnerus
the Netherlands was preaching the              has accepted the call extended to            Homer and Evelyn De long
                                                                                            Bill and Elaine Regnerus
afternoon sermon, he was so long-              him from our church in Lacombe,              Joe and Marcia Van  Baren
winded that we were forced to carry            Canada.                                      Louis and Cheryl Regnerus
the planks fbr the choir platform                Rev. Jason Kortering has declind           Jim and Brenda Regnerus
down the aisle while he was orating.           the call extended to him from First          Dave Regnerus
                                                                                              and  15 grandchildren
We set up the stand, the choir                 Church in Grand Rapids to serve as
members posed thereon, the director            a missionary to the saints of                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
with baton raised; and at the Dutch            Jamaica.                                       The members of the Southwest
"amen" the choir came on the air                 And lastly Prof. R. Decker has             Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society wish to
with its "Thou, 0 God, art God                 been extended a call to be the               express their sympathy to their
Alone" at exactly 4 pm!                        pastor of our congregation in                President, Dr.  Roderick Kreuzer,
  The declining neighborhood                   Holland.                                     and to his wife, Yvonne, in the
forced us to sell our church, and                Rev. R. Cammenga from Loveland             death of his mother, MRS.  CER-
while waiting for a new church, we             writes that this year's Young Peoples        TRUDE KREUZER.
again met in St. Cecilia Building              Convention was a great success. It              "Nevertheless, I am continually
downtown. No teeming sidewalks                 was close to a record as far as size.        with thee;  Thou hast  holden me by
this time; only a full parking lot.            Nearly 300 young people attended             my right hand. Thou shalt guide
  Our present constituency? Many               from across the country, Canada,             me with Thy counsel, and after-
senior citizens (some in nursing               and even Great Biitain.                      ward receive me to glory." (Psalm
homes, but others in retirement                  Tapes of the three convention              73123,  24)
apartments); architects, bankers,              speeches are available. Cost is $4.00.       Al De Young, Vice Pres.
grocers, office workers; working               The tapes can be ordered by writing          Joanne  Bult, Sec'y.
mothers in teaching, in business of-           to the address of the church.
fices, and, last but not least, in child         Convocation exercises for the              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
rearing!                                       seminary were held September 9 at               The Mary Martha Society of the
  Now we are worshiping in a new               Southwest Church. Prof. Decker               Hope Protestant Reformed Church
edifice on Michigan Avenue, near               spoke on "Committing the Truth to            of Redlands, California, expresses
the intersection of I 196 and the East         Faithful Men". Prof. Hoeksema in-            its Christian sympathy to Jeanne
Beltline. The vaulted roof seems to            troduced the students, one in                Jabaay, Lori Jabaay and Janine
hold up pretty well under the                  seminary and six in pre-seminary,            Meelker in the death of their sister
burden of debt resting upon it. The            and the seminary building was open           and aunt,  ADRIANNA HOFSTEE.
basement is under the whole                    afterward for anyone interested in              "Surely He hath borne our griefs,
building, folding partitions providing         browsing. 0                                  and carried our sorrows." (Isaiah
classrooms for Sunday School,                                                               53:4)
catechism, and society meetings.                                                            Rev. Koole, Pres.
That leaves enough room for a huge                                                          Neva Feenstra, Vice All.
                                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
room suitable for congregational                 October                                    NOTICE!!!
meetings and banqueting. The con-                            IO,1987 D.V., will mark
                                                                                               Hope Protestant Reformed Chris-
sistory room is square and roomy,              the  35th. wedding anniversary of
                                                                                            tian School, Walker, Ml, is in need
with air-conditioning, as is also the          our parents, MR. AND MRS. LOUIS
                                                                                            of an Administrator/Teacher for the
nursery which has proved to be an              RECNERUS, SR. We rejoice with
                                                                                            1988-`89 school  year.  Please con-
extremely useful adjunct in the floor          them in their thanksgiving to God,
                                                                                            tact Gordon Terpstra, (616)
plan. An elevator was installed, ac-           for the years together that He has
                                                                                            453-1364. His address is 600
cording to law, and is very useful to          given them and join them in their
                                                                                            Kenowa Ave., S.W., Grand Rapids,
our seniors who park their cars on             prayer that God bless their mar-
                                               riage in the years to come.                  MI 49504.

24  I  The  Standard  Bearer


