                      ._~                .
                             -.


                              THE
       SANDAm
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





volume f34, IVO. 4
November 15, 7987



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                                   hL           ,.      (           1

                                                         8





 Contents .                                                                                                           iw
                                                                                        November 1.5, `1987     slAMBMD
 Meditation  - Rev.  Herman Hoeksema                                                                                fWUER
 Thanksgiving Offering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .74
Editorial  -                                                                                                     ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
Editor'
                 sNotes.........................................77                                               and  Au:gust.  Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                                 lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
As To Evolution At Dordt College (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .78                                   at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                                 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Bible Study Guide  -  ]ason  L. Kortering                                                                        Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                 DEPARTMENT   EDITORS
Deuteronomy: Exhorted Unto Obedience (2) . . . . . . . . . . . .  .80                                            Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
                                                                                                                 Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
In His Fear  - Arie den Hartog                                                                                   Cornelius Hanko. Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
                                                                                                                 Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev.  J.  Korter-
The Fearful God Who Forgives Our Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .82                                     ing. Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
                                                                                                                Miersma, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.  Cise  j. Van
 The Day of Shadows  -  lohn A. Heys                                                                             Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
                                                                                                                EDITORIAL   OFFICE
ASearchForRest. . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85                         Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                4975  Ivanrest  Ave.. S.W.
Taking Heed To The  Doctririe  - Ronald H. Hanko                                                                Crandville,  Michigan 49418
                                                                                                                CHURCH   NEWS   EDITOR
The Two Natures of Christ: The Deity of Christ, . . . . . . . . . . . .  .88                                    Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                6597  - 40th Ave.
From Holy Writ  - George  CT Lubbers                                                                            Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                                                                EDITORIAL   POLICY
The Historical  Developm+   0.f the Building of                                                                 Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                                                of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
    God's Temple (11) . .  .$?`~:~:.,  :::L;: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .VO                     terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                                                Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
All Around Us  - Cise  j$.Vtin  B&n                                                                             tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
                                                                                                                and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
Growth In Ecumenism.  2'.  i  1 . . ., ,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93                    must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                                                the fifteenth of the month. All communications
Now: the New Age  Spiriti~~~~`."~`:...   : . . . . . . . . . . . . .  _ . . . . .  .94                          relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                editorial office.
Book Review . . . . . . . .  .-.?.  :I!.-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .94
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News From Our Churches .  :*:,j . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .95                            articles in our magazine by other publications,
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Meditation  -  "                                                                                                P.O. Box 6064
                                                                           0, Lord, oulr God!                   Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
                                                                           Unto Thee would we give              PH:  (616)  243-2953
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Rev. Herman Hoeksema                                                     thanks!                                The Standard Bearer
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    The sacrifices of God are a                                          benefits Thou didst bestow upon        advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
broken spirit; a broken and a                                                                                   and school events, anniversaries, obituaries. and
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wilt not despise.                                                        this day all the abundance of Thy      Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
                             -Ps. 51:17                                  grace and the inestimable riches       15th of the month, previous to publication on the
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                                                                         of Thy lovingkindness!                 BOUND   VOLUMES
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This meditation is From the pen of the                                   of the woods, now shedding the         volumes  inay  be obtained through the Business
                                                                                                                Office.
late Rev. Herman Hoeksema, and is a                                      last remnant of their foliage that     16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
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                                                                                                                through  IJniversity  Microfilms International.

74  I The Standard Bearer


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garment of beautifully variegated      Thou didst do all things well, giv-     we.`hhve lalbored and toiled; how
green; and cast a last glance at       ing rain and sunshine, cold and         well re deserved Thy bounties
the fields, now barren, from           heat, causing the seed to sprout        ar$l~h$w wisely we dealt with
which we might gather into our         and the trees to bring forth their      th@$Shall we bring into
barns a golden harvest of barley       fruit, making the season abun-          remembrance before Thy face
and oats, of corn and wheat; and       dantly fruitful and filling our         our good works, our marvelous
consider the now stripped              barns with Thy good things; how         achievements and mighty accom-
branches of the fruit tree and the     Thou didst amply provide for            plishments, our charity and
vine, a while ago offering us          man and beast, giving food to the       brotherly love, in order t.o prove
their rich and luscious products;      hungry, refreshment to the              how wortlrjr  we were,:.m distinc-
then, 0 Lord, shame covereth           weary, labor for the strong, abun-      tion from many around us, of the
our faces, because of the doubts       dance for ,all, bread and wine and      abundance of Thy grace?
and fears, the moments of dis-         oil; how Thou didst help in time                God forbid!
trust and the times of murmuring       of trouble, wert our shield                     How fool.ish would .be the at-
and rebellion against Thee, that       against the enemy, our comfort          tempt, for we have corrupted our
so frequently caused us to sin         in sorrow, our strength in afflic-      way before Thee!                      .,
against Thy grace in the season        tion; how Thou didst reveal Thy                 How abominable we would
that is now past.                      Name unto us, always near to            become in Thy sight, before
  How often did we, anxiously          help and lead us, and how Thou          Whom no flesh may or ever can
and'full of worry and care, lift up    didst cause all things to work          glory!
our eyes, when day after day the       together for our good . . .                     Shall we, then, attempt to
sun rose with golden brightness          Lord, our God! then we must           remunerate Thee? Shall -we bring
and the firmament spread itself        cover our faces with shame.             unto Thee our bulls and goats as
over us in clearest blue, and fear-    Then, on this thanksgiving day,         a sacrifice of thanksgiving? Shall
fully scan the horizon, to watch       as we remember our own                  we take with us to Thy'house
for a promise of rain! How often       smallness and .weakness and fre-        our money and our possessions
did we criticise  Thy work, 0          quent murmurings and distrust,          and lay them at Thy feet as a
Lord, and complain that there          we dare not lift up our eyes to         reward and. recompense for all
would be no pasture for our cat-       heaven!                                 Thy goodness toward.&? Or shall
tle, no fruit on the vine, no crops      Yet, Lord, we would praise            we pledge ourselves, our talents
in the field, when abundant            Thee for Thy goodness.                  and power, our time and our ser-
showers did not come at our bid-         And bring Thee thanks for Thy         vice, to requite Thee for.all the
ding and in our time! And when         mercy.                                  wonders of Thy lovingkindness?
the clouds did gather and the            A sacrifice of gratitude!                    But, 0 Lord, how shall we
rain did descend, refreshing the         Lord, our God!                        bring what is not Thine?
thirsty creature, how we                          * * * * *                           How shall we take into Thy
grumbled that it was too late!           But, 0 Lord, how shall we?            sanctuary a. sacrifice of thanks
And how soon, when the clouds                                                  which Thou didst not first bestow
did not scatter and were not             How can we express our grati-         upon us?
dispersed according to our             tude to Thee in a manner that                  Is not all the world`Thine? Are
schedule, did we complain that         may meet with Thy approval?             not the cattle on a thousand hills
whatever might still have been           How shall we appear before            Thy possessions? Is not all the
saved of the harvest now would         Thee in the holiest? What               gold and the silver Thine own?
drown and rot! How distrustful         sacrifice, what gift of thanks shall    Where shall, I search among my
we were, 0 God, of Thy faithful-       we bring that is acceptable in          possessions for something with
ness and lovingkindness; how un-       Thy sight?                              which I could increase Thy
grateful we were in the midst of         Shall we, on this day of thanks-      riches? Nay more. Even I am
abundance; how small and               giving prepare our feasts and re-       Thine. My body and my soul
faithless we revealed ourselves        joice, filling ourselves with the       belong to Thee, for Thou art the
when clouds of trouble lowered!        good things Thou didst bestow           Lord my God. And Thou rightful-
  And now, 0 Lord . . .                upon us in such rich abundance?         ly requirest of me that I shall
  Now, as we have reached the          And feasting shall we com-              love Thee with all my heart and
close of this season and count the     memorate before Thee how great          mind and soul and strength.
blessings Thou didst bestow upon       were our efforts and how hard           Thou wilt tlhat I shall serve Thee
us in Thy grace . . .                                                          with all that I am and possess.
  As we consider our benefits
and remember Thy works, how

                                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  / 75


And if I should most perfectly        Thee for Thy goodness and              that leadest us in ways of joy and
comply with all Thy holy              grace, Who desirest truth in the       sorrow, of prosperity or adversi-
pre.cepts and keep them to the        inward parts.                          ty; it is Thou that doest all things
very last, I would still have           A broken spirit! A spirit, cured     well. We will confess, 0 Lord our
nothing wherewith to                  of the stiffnecked pride and           God, that it was not our power or
recompense Thy love and good-         haughtiness of sin! A contrite         ingenuity, our labor or toil, our
ness and all the bounties Thou        heart! A heart that is crushed and     wisdom or efforts that brought
lavishest upon me. I would still      overwhelmed in deep humilia-           even the least of all these things
be an unprofitable servant and        tion, because of a deep sense of       to us. For even these, our talents
would have accomplished merely        Gods greatness and power, of           and power, our labor and efforts,
that which was required of me!        His righteousness and holiness,        our wisdom and insight, were
How then could we render unto         and of our own insignificance          Thine, Thy gifts to us.
Thee anything in reward for all       and smallness, our corruption            Like all Thy helpless creatures,
Thy benefits toward us?               and our guilt.                         we all wait upon Thee!
   Lord, our God, how contempti-        A heart filled with the sorrow         And, therefore, we will not
ble in Thy sight must be the          after God!                             boast in Thy presence!
pretentions of the creature who         It alone is the sacrifice, 0           Nay more.
would remunerate Thee with            Lord, that is @easing to Thee!           We will humble ourselves
Thine own! How displeasing in           We will, then, approach Thee,        before Thee, 0 Lord our God, on
Thy sight must be the man who         bringing this sacrifice of thanks!     this day of thanksgiving and con-
would offer unto Thee gifts of          We will acknowledge that             fess in dust and ashes our own
gold and silver received out of       Thou only art God and the Fount        sin and transgressions, and that
Thine own store!                      of all good. We will not rejoice in    we had forfeited a thousand
   No, Lord God, Thou art God         things, but in Thee alone. We          times all Thy goodness toward
and Thou alone! All sufficient art    will make me:ntion of Thy Name         us. For we are guilty in Thy
Thou in Thyself and no creature       as we consider our filled barns        sight. In sin we are conceived
can bring ought to Thee to in-        and our bounteous blessings. We        and in iniquity we are shaped,
crease Thy great riches!              will count them before Thee, one       and also in the season, now past,
   Thou art the sole Fountain of      by one, not forgetting any of all      in which Thou didst display the
all good. An outward gift we can-     Thy benefits. .And as we count         wonders of Thy grace toward us,
not bring to reward Thy kind-         them we will mention the glory         we only could increase our guilt
ness.                                 of Thy Name, we will sing of the       daily. Our transgressions witness
   Lord, we would bring unto          marvel of Thy grace and of the         against us. Evil we are and evil
Thee a gift of thanks . . .           wonder of Thy mercy toward us.         we did. And, 0 God, if Thou
   But how shall we?                  We will speak of all Thy virtues       shouldest mark transgressions
             * * * * *                to Thee. We will mention all Thy       and bring into remembrance our
   What shall we render unto the      wonders before one another. We         sins, how could we stand before
Lord?                                 will speak of Thy glories and of       Thee?
   How shall we appear before         all Thy wondrous works in the            Thus, Lord, we will come to
Thee so, that Thou wilt not           midst of the world.                    Thee, with nothing of self and all
despise us and cast us off?             Lord, our God, we will do so,        of Thee, pleading and boasting
   What is the sacrifice of           in humility and contrition of          on nothing we might be or do for
thanksgiving that is pleasing in      heart and mind.                        Thee, but only in what Thou hast
Thy sight and upon which Thou           For we will acknowledge              done for us, clinging, even as we
wilt look down in love and good       before Thee how helpless we are        come to Thee to give Thee
pleasure?                             without Thee, and that only            thanks and praise, to the ac-
   A broken spirit!                   when Thou dost provide for us          cursedl'tree of our Lord Jesus
   A broken and a contrite heart!     we can live. It is Thou and Thou       Christ, lest we should be cast out
   It alone can please Thee, Who      alone, we will confess, that didst     from Thy presence.
hast no respect to that which is      send the rain and the sunshine,          Thus, Lord, we would come.
merely external, Who despisest        that didst cause the grass to grow       For we would bring unto Thee
the foolishness of insignificant      and the seed to sprout; it is Thou     the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
and sinful men, as they exalt         that feedest us out of Thine hand,       And praise Thy holy Name!
themselves and would requite          that providest bread and water,                 * * * * *
                                      oil and wine; that carest for us,
                                      Thy people, in covenant-grace,

76  / The Standard Bearer


  But, 0 Lord, how shall we?          and wicked we are. And we              Search our hearts and minds, and
  How shall we be able even to        know that Thou demandest truth         see whether there is any remnant
bring to Thee this sacrifice of a     in the inward parts. Even as the       of this evil haughtiness within us,
broken spirit, of a broken and a      outward sacrifices of bulls and        and cleanse us from all our horri-
contrite heart?                       goats, or of our vows and gifts        ble corruption.
  We are by nature proud,             could not please Thee and be ac-         Then, Lord, we will come!
rebellious, haughty.                  ceptable in Thy sight, so Thou           Then we will bring to Thee
  And even while we were              hatest the mere word of our lips       our contrite hearts, Thy gifts to
speaking unto Thee words of           if our hearts do not humbly seek       us!
contrition and humility, words of     Thee.                                    Then we will thank and praise
sorrow after Thee, we felt how           And, therefore, 0 Lord God,         Thy holy Name for all Thy
hard and stiffnecked we are by        even here we are helpless.             wonders and the abundance of
nature, how totally incapable of         We have no humble heart to          Thy 1oving:kindness.
humbling ourselves before Thy         offer unto Thee!                         And having brought our
countenance.                             We cannot appear in broken-         sacrifice we will thank Thee still.
  Sinful we are and in darkness.      ness of spirit before Thy face!          Praise Thee that we might ex-
Inclined to maintain ourselves           Unless even this contrite spirit    press our gratitude!
over against Thee, to seek self       and heart Thou wilt first bestow         Thank Thee for the offering of
and our own glory, to forget          upon us by Thy Almighty grace!         thanks we might bring!
Thee and trample the glory of            And, therefore, Lord, God, we         And thine be the glory alone!
Thy Name in the dust. Even            pray Thee: humble all our pride!         Forevermore!  0                  H.H.
while our mouth would speak           Renew us by the Spirit of our
words of contrition and humility,     Lord Jesus Christ! Create within
our heart would exalt itself          us, even now, a broken heart,
against Thee. For so deceitful        filled with sorrow after Thee.





                                     Editor's Notes
Editorial                            As To Evolution At Dordlt Cokge (3)

                                       Apology. Dykstra and Kuiper are both good Dutch names. In fact, my
                                     own middle name is the Anglicized form of Kuiper: Cooper. But one
                                     should not call a Kuiper Dykstra, nor should he call a Dykstra Kuiper.
                                     Yet the former is what I did in my article about Seminary Convocation
                                     (Oct. 15 issue). We have no pre-sem student by th.e name of Doug
                                     Dykstra; his name is Doug Kuiper. The explanation? Due to some inex-
                                     plicable mental quirk I think of him as Doug Dykstra. Sorry, Doug!

                                       Eleven Point. I hope our readers - especially those with older eyes -
                                     will enjoy this issue more than the three previous issues. We had
                                     switched to IO-point type when we changed the format of our
                                     magazine. However, apparently this made.for more difficult reading
                                     for a good many of our readers. Beginning with this issue we have
                                     returned to 11-point type. Pleasant reading! We do like to keep our
                                     readers.  0                                                                HCH

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 77


         As To Evolution At                      With these matters in mind, let     rather that God created heaven
          Dordt College (3)                   us look, first of all, at Prof.        and earth and all that they con-
   The reader should bear in                  Hodgson's presentation in his          tain by the Word of His power in
mind that when I refer to "Evolu-             opening speech at the Hillsdale        six days, limited by morning and
tion At Dordt College," 1 am re-              debate.                                evening. 2) This is not based on
ferring to the teachings of one of               In his introductory remarks in      "a particular line of interpretation
Dordt's professors, Prof. Richard             his opening speech, Prof.              of the Bible," but on the plain
Hodgson. Secondly, I am refer-                Hodgson seems to belittle the          and direct teaching of Scripture
ring primarily, though not ex-                significance of holding to evolu-      itself.
elusively,  to Prof. Hodgson's                tion. Among other things he               The second group which Prof.
teachings in a debate with Dr.                stated: "I realize that many of        Hodgson mentions is the pro-
Duane Gish on "Creation vs.                   you, perhaps most of you, here         gressive creationists. He states in
Evolution." In the third place, the           tonight are confessing Christians,     his opening address that "The
reader should keep in mind that               and you are {disturbed about the       progressive creation school holds
Dordt College claims td hold to               possible implications of evolution     that the earth and the universe is
the truth of creation. However,               for the Christian faith. I don't       very old, and that the days men-
after preliminary investigation .             know all you may have been told        tioneld in Genesis 1 are of long
Dordt has allowed Prof. Hodgson               about evolution. But I do know         duration. Many progressive crea-
to continue to teach, although                that there are many who believe        tionists accept the broadly based
the Dordt Trustees "have decided              that if you hold to evolution,         scientific evidence that the earth
to appoint a committee to study               thei-e may be a rather clear cut       is about 4.6 billion years old.
and evaluate further Professor                road to you in terms of spiritual      They believe the basic kinds of
Hodgson's position regarding                  decline. And-1 don't think that        life o:n earth appeared because
creation and evolution."                      that is necessarily true, but I        they `were created by the
   Reference has already been                 think we neeid to talk about it."      sovereign God, Who created and
made to the fact that the form of               Further, he outlined different       upholds the universe, and not
the issue in this matter is not               points of view. "Debates," he          because of some naturalistic ac-
outright that of creation versus              said, "by their very nature tend       cident'al mechanism. Most accept
evolution, but rather one of at-              to be two-sided affairs. In the        the reality of some micro-
tempted compromise between                    topic which is before us it is easy    evolution. Most progressive crea-
creation and evolutionism. Dr.                to over-simplify the reality into a    tionists are devout Christians who
Hodgson takes the position of                 literalistic Christian creationism,    believe that the Bible is divinely
"an old earth creationist" or "pro-           on the one hand and a sort of          inspired. I say this because I
gressive creationist" in his open-            secular humanist evqlution on          think it is important for us to
ing speech in the debate, in his              the other hand. This is a seriqus      realize that the "Christian posi-
correspondence with me, and in                mistake. There are, in fact, not       tion" in this debate should not
his presentation to the Dordt                 just two point.s of view here; but     automatically be interpreted to
Board of Trustees (a copy of                  perhaps there: may be as many as       require a belief in a young
which was sent to me by a cor-                four. I would like to outline them     earth," In this connection he
respondent). As I stated earlier,        I    very briefly foi you." Notice          makes mention of Charles Hodge
because of this, the issue                    already here .the prejudicial          and Benjamin Breckinridge War-
becomes complicated: 1) It is                 language with respect to               field, of old Princeton Theological
partly whether this "progressive              creation-faith.                        Seminary, as examples of pro-
creationist" position is compatible             Prof. Hodgson then mentions          gressive creationists, who be-
with the Reformed and Scriptural              first "what we might call a            lieved strongly that the earth was
doctrine of creation. 2) It is partly         young-earth creationism,               old. He also mentions that
whether this "progressive crea-               represented here by Dr. Gish. It       Charles Hodge was "open to the
tionist" position is a shield, a              really is the view that the earth      possibility of a certain amount of
shelter, for some form of evolu-              is only a few thousand years old,      evolu,tion being a reality." This is
tionist teachings - in other                  and it is based upon a particular      true: IHodge made large conces-
words, for an attempted com-                  line of interpretation of the          sions to evolutionism. Warfield
promise between creation and                  Bible." Notice here: 1) That Prof.     believed that the earth could be
evolution.                                    Hodgson does, not really so much       millions of years old and that the
                                              as touch on the fundamentals of        days of Genesis 1 were indefinite,
                                              this view. The essence of the          long periods of time. The West-
                                              view is not that the earth is only
                                              a few thousand years old. It is

78  / The Standard Bearer


minster scholar, Edward J.            mind has been behind the scene,        in order to ,explain the process.
Young, is also cited as such a        guiding to some extent what was        5) That in lmost cases these scien-
progressive creationist. In his       going on, governing the unfold-        tists are prlobably not confessing
statement to the Dordt Board of       ing of life upon the earth             Christians i.n the meaningful
Trustees, as well as in cor-          throughout this long history.          sense of the term.
respondence with me, Dr.              They feel for various reasons -          Now in the debate Prof.
Hodgson takes the progressive         some may say good, some may            Hodgson states that he intends to
creationist position. I think it      say weak reasons - that the Bi-        represent "`as accurately as I can
rather significant, however, that     ble does not authoritatively speak     the three points of view which
in describing his position to the     against such an interpretation.        Dr. Gish does not represent," i.e.,
Board, Dr. Hodgson makes no           Some theistic evolutionists must       progressive creationism, theistic
mention. of evolution in connec-      be regarded as convinced, con-         evolutionism, and humanistic
tion with progressive creationism.    fessing Christians . . . . A weak-     evolutionism. And he states that
He states: "On the basis of care-     ness of theistic evolution may be      "These three points of view,
ful Biblical study over many          that they do not do justice to         while they have some significant
years, aided by the writings of       some of the Biblical creation          differences, nevertheless are
leading Reformed theologians          passages that we find."                agreed upon the point that the
Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield,           We should bear in mind - and         earth and the cosmos are very
and William G.T. Shedd, and by        Prof. Hodgson does not bring this      old - billions of years old, in fact
some of the writings of my            out - that there is little funda-      - and that: micro-evolution is an
former teacher, Old Testament         mental difference between "pro-        observable reality in the world
scholar Edward J. Young, I have       gressive creationism" and              and has probably been operative
concluded that the Bible does not     "theistic evolutionism." The main      throughout: the earth's history."
teach that the Heavens and Earth      difference is that the former term       From all. this it is already plain,
are only a few thousand years         may sound more palatable. Both         first of all, that Prof. Hodgson
old. Indeed 1 believe some            views agree in denying the literal     certainly holds to some form of
Biblical passages suggest an ex-      account of the days of Genesis 1       evolution, and that this is, ac-
tremely old cosmos. One can           and make these days millions           cording to him, implicit in his
believe the Earth is several          and billions of years. Both views      progressive creationism. To what
billion years old (as an abun-        agree in making concessions of         degree he holds to evolution may
dance of evidence from                varying degrees to evolutionism.       be another question; about the
astronomy and geology strongly        Both views agree in compromis-         fact there can be no doubt.
indicates) while remaining a          ing (not with science) but with          In the second place, Dordt's
staunch believer and defender of      unbelieving, evolutionistic            Board of Trustees is confronted
the Biblical account of creation.     science.                               by the question - even apart
The aforementioned scholars are         The fourth view which Prof.          from evolutionism as such -
evidence of that," Would Charles      Hodgson describes is that of           whether so-called "progressive
Hodge's concessions to evolution-     "humanist evolution." About this       creationism" is in harmony with
ism be covered by "remaining a        he says: 1) That this point of         Dordt's own statement concern-
staunch believer and defender of      view accepts the overwhelming          ing creation. That statement is, in
the Biblical account of creation"?    scientific evidence for an old         my opinion, surprisingly lacking
  To this position of Prof.           earth and for increasing               in specifics. when it comes to the
Hodgson we shall return later.        biological diversity over time
  The third point of view to          which the theory of evolution
which Prof. Hodgson calls atten-      teaches. 2) Its proponents argue
tion is that of "theistic evolu-      that the origins of life were the      Take the time
tionism." About this he states:       result of accidental combination
"This point of view is held by        of the right chemical elements. 3)
some religious people who             That it teaches that all life forms    to read, and
basically accept the scientific       probably had a single ancestor
evidence for evolution of life on     which was the result of acciden-       study the
earth over, perhaps 3 or 3 l/2        tal genetic variation over a span
billion years' time, but who          of about 3.5 billion years. 4) That    Standard Bearer!
believe that although from a          they need not invoke some deity
human perspective the process
might seem naturalistic, a divine

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 79


doctrine of creation; and it is par-          ture itself in Cienesis 1. Pro-        matter how anyone may twist
ticularly lacking in negatives, or            gressive creat.ionism  does not ex-    and turn exegetically, six days
exclusions, in a day when                     plain the days of Genesis 1; it ex-    are not billions of years. There
various forms of evolutionism                 plains them away!                      are 365 days in one year. How
abound even in so-called Chris-                 Finally, I wonder how Prof.          can one of those days (limited,
tian colleges.                                Hodgson squares his progressive        mind you, by morning and eve-
  In the third place, I must insist           creationism with the Westmin-          ning) Iconstitute  a billion years?
that "progressive creationism"                ster Confession and Catechisms,        Don't cite Hodge or Warfield or
even in its mildest form is plainly           to which he subscribes as an Or-       Young. Give me Scripture! 0
in conflict with Scripture. Mark              thodox Presbyterian minister.                                           HCH
you, not with my view of Scrip-               Wherever they speak of creation
ture or my exegesis of Scripture,             they make a point of saying that
but with the testimony of Scrip-              it took place in six days. And no





Bible Study                                  Deuteronomy: Exhorted
Guide
jason L. Kortering                      '  U,nto Obedience (2)

   We are in the process of out-              Among the Moabites were the            King of Bashan.  Israel took 36
lining the first discourse of Moses           Emims, giants like the Anakims.        cities in all and every inhabitant
recorded in the book of                       The length of time it took to get      was killed. Mention is made of
Deuteronomy (l:l-4:43). We con-               from Kadesh to the brook Zered         the size of Og's bed, nine cubits
tinue our outlining in chapter 2:l.           was 38 years. During this time all     by four cubits. The land captured
Moses has recalled Jehovah's                  the men of wa.r were wasted out        was given to Reuben, Manasseh,
faithfulness in dealing with them             of the host (29-15).  They now         and Gad, (3:1-17). The men were
in their initial stay in the wilder-          received orders from Jehovah to        instructed to go along with Israel
ness.                                         bypass the land of the Am-             to help in the conquest of the
   Moses describes how God                    monites since ,this, too, was given    rest of the land while the
cared for them in their departure             to the children of Lot. The giants     women, children, and cattle
from Kadesh Barnea and that                   in this land were called Zamzum-       stayed in this land. Moses prayed
they bypassed Mt. Seir, since that            mims but were destroyed by the         that he might enter into this
country was given to Esau for a               children of Lot. As soon as they       land, but the Lord was wroth
possession. They could buy meat               passed by this country, they           with him. He could see it only
and water from them, but not                  received instructions to cross the     from afar. Joshua was assured of
engage in battle (2:1-7). They                River Arnon and proceed to take        Gods sustaining presence,
came to Moab. They, too, were                 Sihon, King of the Amorites. This      (3:1$-29). We then have the
not to be fought, since God gave              came about when Moses asked            record of Moses' exhortation to
this land to Lot and his children.            for permission to cross the land       the people to keep the law. They
                                              on the way to Jordan. When             may not add nor subtract from
                                              Sihon refused this, because the        the law. They saw the conse-
                                              Lord hardened his heart, all the       quence of disobedience at
                                              cities from Aroer unto Gilead          Baalpeor, and that the faithful
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-     were destroyed in battle, and all      are still .alive. The only reason
estant Reformed Church of Randolph,           the people were killed (2:16-37).
Wisconsin.                                    The same thing happened to Og,

80 I The Standard Bearer


for Israel's national distinction is    walk in them all their days             I testify against you this day, ye
the law which Jehovah gave              (5:22-33). The keeping of the law       shall surely: perish" (8: 1 l-20). As
them. By keeping it, they will in-      involves the fear of Jehovah,           they are about to enter the land.
cur the blessing of God. He             love of the Lord with all one's         and God will destroy the in-
reminds them of the events at           heart, soul, and mind, (6:1-5).         habitants, Israel must not think
Mt. Horeb when the voice of the         Moses reminded them to teach            God does it because Israel is wor-
Lord spoke this law unto them.          them to their children when they        thy, but th'e wickedness of the in-
At that time, he (Moses) took           talk with them, sit in the house,       habitants dleserves such judgment
great pains to teach them that          walk by the way, and lie down.          (9:1-6). He recalls for them how
law. Special mention is made that       They are to bind them for a sign        Israel of old rebelled at Horeb
God gave to them no visible             on their hand, as frontlets before      when they made the golden calf,
display of his presence, and they       their eyes, and write them on the       how he had to intercede for the
are not to make any graven im-          door posts of the house. When           people. He also mentions other
ages. They must teach this to           they finally receive the fulness of     places where they provoked God
their children, for the Lord shall      the promise, he warns them to           to wrath. Israel was a stiffnecked
scatter them among the nations if       beware that they forget not the         people, saved by grace (9:7-29).
they ever serve gods made by            Lord and follow after the gods of       In mercy Ciod provided two new
men's hands. Rather, they have          the land. They should be                tables of stone and engraved His
the privilege to turn to the living     prepared to answer the questions        law upon them (10: l-5), he con-
God for all their needs. They           their children will raise concern-      tinued the priesthood in Eleazer,
may ask Him for anything they           ing their God: how He delivered         renewed the Levite's role in bear-
need, and He will hear them. By         them from Egypt and brought             ing the ark:, (10:6-11). God re-
doing this they will prolong their      them to this land. This instruction     quires of Is,rael to fear the Lord,
days under His blessing, (4:1-40).      should include the law which was        walk in his ways, love and serve
Moses also reminds them of the          to be their righteousness (6:6-25).     him, keep His commandments,
cities of refuge (4:41-43).             When they come to the land of           circumcise the foreskin of their
  3. Moses' second discourse            Canaan, they were to destroy all        hearts (10: `12-22). Repeated over
(4:43-26: 19). The general content      the idols and the people that           and over is the duty of Israel to
of this discourse differs from the      worshiped them, they were not           love God, to demonstrate this by
first in that the first was mainly a    to intermarry with them, for the        keeping his commandments, for
review of the historical events         holiness of Jehovah was incom-          their eyes have seen all the great
which brought them to the land          patible with them. The Lord did         acts of the Lord. This will bring
of Canaan. This speech reviews          not choose Israel because they          them to the land which is cared
the laws which God gave to              were more in number - they              for by the Lord, and He will give
them. An introductory statement         were the fewest, but He loved           it to them. It will rain when it
is given, that these are the laws       them. God is merciful and               should, and grass will grow for
which Moses rehearsed before            righteous, and they are to keep         their cattle. If they forsake God,
Israel when they occupied the           His commandments (7: l-l 1). God        the land will be barren and fruit
land of the two kings of the            will bestow upon them blessings         shall fail (11: 1-21). Now the con-
Amorites (4:44-49). Jehovah             in the way of obedience, they           trast is set before Israel. The
spoke the ten commandments              will have children, health, victory     blessings of God are represented
while Moses stood between God           over the enemies, the Lord will         upon Mt. Gerizim, the curse upon
and His people, and the ten' com-       destroy all their enemies bit by        Mt. Ebal (11:22-32).  When they
mandments are rehearsed                 bit if they remain faithful in their    arrive at the promised land, they
(5: 1-21). Upon hearing the voice       worship of Him (7:12-26). Israel is     are to destroy all the places
of the Lord, the people were            commanded to look back and              where idol.atry was practiced and
afraid and asked Moses to go into       remember how the Lord cared             God would give them a central
the mountain and take God's             for them during the forty years in      place in Canaan where they
words down and speak them to            the wilderness. He realized His         could worship Jehovah with their
the people. He reminds the peo-         promise to them with the land of        offerings (12:1-14). In their prac-
ple that God granted this request       riches (&l-10). They are further        tice of sacrifice, they were not to
and he went into God's presence         warned not to forget the Lord,          eat blood, nor eat the sacrifice
to receive them. These laws they        lest He bring upon them all the         within their own gate, but before
are to obey and teach their             terrible things that He brought
children. They are exhorted to          upon their enemies: "if thou do
                                        at all forget the Lord thy God . . .

                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  I81


the Lord in a designated place.           Reference is made to the Sab-           priests <and Levites (16:18-17:13).
They may eat flesh in their own           batical year, thle poor must not        Mention is made of Israel's future
private meals in their own tents,         be neglected, `"the poor shall          desire for a king, and specific in-
only then too, they are not to eat        never cease ou.t of the land,           struction is given to this king and
the blood. They are not to im-            therefore I command thee saying,        how he'is to rule (17:14-20).
itate the heathen nations in any-         Thou shalt open thine hand wide         Since the priests and Levites
thing (12:15-32).  Warning is given       unto thy brother, to thy poor,          have no inheritance, the people
concerning the false prophet that         and to thy neeldy in thy land"          were instructed to bring a
may arise among them to lead              (15:1-11). Each seventh year the        specific part of their offerings for
them into idolatry, and they are          slaves were to be released, and         them (18: l-8). Warning is given
to put him to death (13:1-5). Also        were to be sent out loaded with         against making their children
if a relative within the family           food. If they ch.ose to remain          pass through the fire, to use
practices idolatry, he must be            slaves, they had to have the au1        divination or familiar spirits
killed with stones (13:6-11); or if       put through their ear and that          (18:9-14). The Lord will raise up a
an entire city goes after strange         would mean they would be their          Prophet in answer to the plea of
gods, they must be destroyed              voluntary servants forever              the people that they not hear the
with the sword and all their              (15:12-l@. The firstling of each        direct vloice of Jehovah, but a
possessions burnt with fire               flock was to be eaten before the        Prophet. This is an obvious
(13:12-18).  The people were              sanctuary. It was to be without         referenc:e to the Lord Jesus. The
warned not to mutilate them-              blemish (15:19-23).  A review is        test of a true prophet is the fulfill-
selves in their sacrifice as the          given of the annual feasts, the         ment of the word which he
heathen did (l/2:1, 2). They were         Passover (16: l-8), Feast of Weeks      spake, (18: 15-22). The cities of
not to eat unclean animals, fish,         (16:9-12), Feast of Tabernacles         refuge are marked as a place of
or birds. The unclean ones were           (16: 13-17), and a summary state-       refuge for the killer who did it ig-
listed and instruction was given          ment is given that three times a        norant1y.e.g. if the axe head flies
to come to the temple to eat the          year all the males are to appear        off and kills someone while chop-
feasts, but if the distance is too        before the Lord in feasting to          ping wocod and the avenger pur-
far, they could take money and            give as they are able (16:16, 17).      sues after him. Three cities were
buy food there. The priests               The judges and officers which           on the east side of Jordan, and
likewise are to be cared for and          were appointed for justice were         later thrmee added on the west
the tithes brought each third year        forbidden to take bribes, all           side. Wil.lful killers were not to
to the Levites and poor (14:3-29).        idolaters must be stoned with           be protected in these cities
                                          stones, all controversy between         (19: 1-13). q
                                          people must be judged by the





                                          The  Flearfu! God Who
In His Fear
Arie den Hat-tog                          Forgives Our Sims

                                            What a wonderful blessing is          fore He did not impute our tres-
                                          God's forgiveness! It is really the     passes unfo us, and reconciled us
                                          basis for all the other blessings of    to Himself through the cross of
                                          salvation which the Lord in His         the Lord Jesus Christ. Though we
Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Prot-    grace bestows ulpon us. Because         are by nature guilty and damn-
estant Reformed Church of Randolph,       He is a God Who forgives, there-        worthy sinners, He counted us
Wisconsin.

82  I The Standard Bearer


perfectly righteous because of the      time and involving elaborate net-      Furthermore, the Lord knows the
sacrifice of His only beloved Son.      works of deceit and corruption.        heart of man altogether. He does
There is therefore now no con-          Yet those who publicly commit          not judge on the basis of mere
demnation to them that are in           such great evil glibly claim that      outward appearance. He does not
Christ Jesus. Truly blessed is the      God has forgiven them. Mean-           see as man sees. He will not
man whose transgression is              while they continue in their sin       forgive the sin of the wicked
forgiven, whose sin is wholly           and wickedness without the least       hypocrite who in his heart re-
covered in the sight of God, and        sign of genuine humility and           mains impenitent and ungodly.
to whom the Lord doth not im-           repentance before God. How               We must fear the Lord Who
pute iniquity. Because of the           dreadful all of this is, and what a    forgives us because of the great-
wonder of God's forgiveness, He         blasphemy against the holy God.        ness of ou.r own sin which the
daily restores us in His loving         How can men who do such                Lord in mercy forgives. Anyone
kindness, and cleanses us from          things still be imagined to be the     who glibly claims the forgiveness
all our sins in His great mercy.        great Christian leaders of our         of God while belittling his own
Though we have sinned a thou-           day? What a perverted age we           sin is deceiving himself, for, in
sand times, yet when we confess         live in!                               fact, the wrath of God abides on
our sins before Him He freely in          Woe unto the Christian who           him. God's forgiveness is so fear-
mercy forgives.                         lightly regards God's forgiveness.     ful because our sins are so great
  The Psalmist David associates         May we never imagine that God's        and so many. Forgiveness i$!?such
the wonder of God's forgiveness         free forgiveness is reason for us      a fearful thing because our sins
with the fear of God. We read in        to be careless about our sin and       are agains,t the holy majesty of
Psalm 130:4 "But there is forgive-      continue in that sin without           God. They are a denial of the
ness with thee, that thou mayest        repentance.                            sovereign right of the Lord to
be feared." We might not readily          There are several reasons why        rule over us and to require `of us
connect the fear of God with His        the truth that God forgives is         obedience and love to Him. The
forgiveness. We might rather im-        reason for us to fear Him greatly.     greatness and wonder of God's
agine that because of God's free        First of all, the sovereign            forgiveness is seen against the
forgiveness sinners will become         prerogative to forgive sins            background of the awful judg-
careless about their sins. They         belongs to God alone. No mere          ment of hell that our sins other-
might say in their hearts that          man can forgive sin, but God on-       wise deserke before God.
God will forgive them anyway.           ly. Let no man quickly boast that        There  isone reason greater
Yet that is not and cannot be the       God has forgiven him. To God           than all why God's forgiveness
case for the true child of God          belongs the sovereignty to judge       ought to make us greatly fear
who has experienced the blessed         one man for his sin and to con-        before Hirn. The forgiveness of
reality and assurance of the            demn him to everlasting hell, and      God was purchased at an ex-
forgiveness of sins.                    none shall be able to acquit.          ceedingly high price. It was pur-
  Today the truth of the forgive-       While on the other hand He             chased anld accomplished at the
ness of God has been' greatly           declares another righteous and         cross of His only beloved Son
cheapened and corrupted. Men            makes such a one the object of         Jesus Christ. God's forgiveness of
lightly regard it. Men lay claim. to    His everlasting favor and bless-       the sins of His people could only
it when they have no right to do        ing. The saints of God can con-        become a reality through the
so. Ours is an age of superficiali-     fidently say: "Who shall lay           horrible bitter anguish and suffer-
ty, when there is little fear `of       anything to the charge of God's        ing which our beloved Lord en-
God. We witness this particularly       elect? It is God that justifieth.      dured in tlhe hours of darkness
in the great scandals that have         Who is he that condemneth?"            on the cralss, when He cried in
recently been committed by              Romans 8:33, 34.                       the midst df the torments of hell:
some of the great televangelists          God's forgiveness is so fearful      "My God, My God, why hath
and politicians of our land. These      because it is made according to        Thou forsaken me?" Never before
scandals are not of such a nature       the standard of His own perfect        or after di,d such a terrible
that they are a momentary lapse         and infinite holiness and              agonizing cry rend the heavens
into sin because of a man's             righteousness. As the holy God         and go up unto God the Father.
weakness but are in fact great          He is too pure of eyes to behold       No one will ever be able to im-
schemes of wickedness per-              iniquity. In all His judgment, the
petuated over long periods of           Lord judges righteously. He
                                        never calls that which is evil
                                        good nor that which is good evil.

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I83


agine, much less describe the in-       the awful sin of adulterv and         of God who has fallen into sin.
finite greatness of the price of        then of murder. David has given       The modern day so-called
suffering anguish which our Lord        us a number (of vivid descriptions    penitents bear no resemblance to
had to endure so that our sins          of what an awful experience that      David.. The difference is that
could be forgiven by the Holy           was. Though he for a short time       David lived in the fear of God.
God of heaven and earth. No one         enjoyed the pleasures of sin, he        The more the child of God
shall be able to measure the            was soon smitten in conscience        knows ;and experiences the
breadth and length and depth            before the Lord, and experienced      wonder of God's great forgive-
and height of the love of Christ        the heavy hand of the wrath of        ness the more reason he has to
which,caused  Him to endure the         God upon him. It was this that        continue in his life with fear and
cross in order that our sins might      finally caused him to cry out of      trembl.ing. For the child of God
be forgiven. Never may the              the depths of his sin and misery      there is nothing so awful as the
Christian forget the amazing            unto the Lord. It was the fear of     anger and displeasure of the
wonder of the cross. Again and          God that made David finally con-      Lord. There is nothing so won-
again the Scriptures set before us      fess his sin in deepest humility      derful as His favor and loving
the cross in its horror and also in     and sorrow before God. Surely he      kindness. With fear and trem-
its wonder and glory. In order to       did not belittle the awfulness of     bling he confesses his sin and
remember this cross, our Lord           his own sin, b'ut cried out in        pleads for the mercy of the Lord.
also told His church repeatedly to      amazement, "Behold I was              With fear and trembling and by
observe His holy sacrament of           shapen in iniquity and in sin did     faith he partakes of the forgiving
the Lord's Supper. No one who           my mother conceive me," Psalm         mercy of God. Before God the
stands before the cross and truly       51:5. When David had come to          child alf God says in great amaze-
understands its meaning can ever        know the awfulness of his own         ment; "`Who is a God like unto
lightly regard God's great wonder       sin, he pleaded for the mercy of      thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
of the forgiveness of sins.             God. He was profoundly con-           passeth by the transgression of
   The Christian does fall into sin.    scious that because he deserved       the rernnant of His heritage? He
He even something falls into the        the judgment of God, his only         retaineth not His anger for ever,
most grievous and terrible sins.        hope was in the sovereign mercy       because He delighteth in mercy."
The Christian still often falls into    of God. After David had con-          Micah 7:18 Cl
sin. It is even possible that the       fessed his sin, he did not boldly
child of God can continue for a         continue in that sin. He desired
long time in his sin without            to be wholly cleansed from all
repentance. He can live among           his sin and iniquity. He knew
men as a hypocrite for a long           that because his sin was so great
time. We have the fearful exam-         and because ii: came forth from
ple of king David who committed         his own corrupt and sinful
                                        nature, only God could deliver
                                        him from it. He greatly feared
                                        lest God should take His Holy
                                        Spirit from him. He desired to
The Standard                            walk uprightly before God and
                                        not to continue in sin, but he
Bearer makes                            knew that he ,would be able to
                                        do this only by the Spirit of God.
a thoughtful                            He did not continue to enrich
                                        and aggrandizte  himself nor glory
                                        in himself and portray himself as
gift for the                            a great man in Israel. He
                                        humbled himself to the dust, con-
sick & shut-in.                         sidering himself wholly unworthy
                                        before God and man. He desired
                                        only to speak `of the mercy and
                                        justice of God, and glory in His
                                        righteousness. These are the
                                        marks of the truly penitent child



84  f The Standard Bearer


The Day of
Shadows
John A. Heys                              A Search For Rest

   Naomi had seen the grace of            because she was a Moabitess, the      point of vfew this was true. And
God break through the dark                branch of the tree of Judah,          how marvellous is then the grace
clouds that had been over her             which was Elimelech, was cut off      and the power God by His spirit
head for many, many years. Her            and would never bring forth           to cause this novice, this woman
husband died and left her with            shoots and branches. And Naomi        with such a limited instruction in
two sons. These sons died and             had no hope at all of her hus-        the truth concerning Him, and
left her without any grand-               band's name being continued in        who had not yet seen the types
children and with two daughters-          the promised land in the              and shadasws of Christ to cause
in-law who were Moabites.                 genealogies to come.                  her to know that though by
   She herself was too old to get           Naomi's relatives and               natural birth she was a
married and have children who             neighbors from the same tribe of      Moabitess, by a new birth she
could inherit the land of her hus-        Judah could hardly believe that       was a true Jewess, a child of God
band and continue his name in             she was the same Naomi who left       as surely and as really as Naomi
the promised land, which was a            them ten years ago. There was         was. Naomi, the experienced
shadow of the kingdom of                  even a touch of sarcasm in their      child of God, did not see that,
heaven, which is coming in the            speech, for they hinted that she      when Ruth refused to go back
day of Christ. Her two daughters-         did not look like, or have the ex-    with Orpah; but Ruth saw it and
in-law might not, according to            periences that indicated that, she    confessed it. Boaz also saw it in
Deuteronomy 23:3, be taken as             was Naomi, that is, the Pleasant      her works and said, "Blessed be
wives by kinsmen and fulfill the          One. And indeed her life had not      thou of the Lord, my daughter;
calling in Deuteronomy 25:5, 6,           been a pleasant one these last        for thou hast shown more kind-
so that a child would be born             ten years.                            ness in the latter end than at the
and so that Naomi's husbands                But now God showed His              beginning,,: inasmuch as thou
name would not be "put out of             grace by leading Ruth to the field    followest not young men,
Israel".                                  of Boaz and to be treated very        whether poor or rich," Ruth 3:lO.
   One daughter-in-law refused to         kindly by Him. Naomi knew that          Naomi did later on see the
go back with her to Canaan.               Boaz saw that Ruth was not a          possibility of marriage for Ruth
Ruth did go with her and was a            Moabitess, but a Jewess. No, not      and for her husband's,
very kind and loveable daughter-          physically and outwardly. But as      Elimelechs, name to be con-
in-law who confessed her faith in         Paul wrote in Romans 2:28, 29,        tinued in the promised land. And
God and declared that the people          "For he is not a Jew who is one       so she sets out to find rest for
of Israel were her people. Yet,           outwardly . . . But he is a Jew       Ruth. Orpah had gone back to her
                                          who is one inwardly." And Boaz        parents and fellow Moabites to
                                          treated her as a Jewess, that is,     seek the rest her flesh wanted.
                                          as a believing child of God.          Ruth had come with her to Ca-
                                            Amazingly enough Ruth, the          naan and confessed by that deed
                                          novice, saw that one is not a Jew     that she was a Jewess inwardly.
                                          if one is such only outwardly. For      We ma!y believe that Naomi
                                          she confessed emphatically to         did some investigating in regard
                                          Naomi that her, Naomi's, people       to Boaz. She knew and told Ruth
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in    were her people. From a spiritual     that he was one near of kin to
the Protestant Reformed Churches.

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  / 85


Ruth's husband and thus to             would triumph:antly  cry out, !`It is    had in mind, even though Boaz
Elimelech. But being gone from         finished!" And we can now ehter          was much older than Ruth.
the region around Bethlehem for        in and enjoy that perfected salva-       Spiritual things counted,- not
ten years, when there were no          tion.                                    material, physical realities. And
telephones yet, no mailmen and           The rest that Naomi has in             she is interested in it not simply
post offices, and no newspapers        mind for Ruth is that salvatio'n. In     for Elimelech's and Mahlon's sake
that carried obituaries and mar-       that day of typles and shadows           but for Ruth's
riage announcements she could          that rest was for those who                 Not lone Israelite, except Boaz,
have been ignorant of this next        belonged to the nation of Israel.        accepted Ruth. All there in the
of kin whom Boaz sought. Or she        Its citizens were God's people.          region around Bethlehem knew
may have been very sure that,          And through marriage to Boaz             that sh,e came from Moab and
because of the law which forbade       Ruth would become such a                 looked on her as a Moabitess, not
marrying a Moabitess, only Boaz        citizen, and no longer be a              one who is a Jewess inwardly.
would do that, because he had          foreigner living in the land of          No one seemed to want any
shown clearly that he considered       God's people. For that land which        fellowship with this "outsider."
Ruth to be a Jewess inwardly.          belonged to Ekmelech, and to             And, as Boaz stated to Ruth, she
But she did know that the barley       her Jewish husband, Mahlon,              did not in any way and at any
harvest had all been gathered,         would become hers, so that she           time try to chase after young
and she even knew what night           had a name and a place in Israel         men of her own age. Striving to
Boaz would be winnowing that           and could enjo:y the blessings,          keep thle letter of the law rather
barley, and sleep there in the         God had for His people in Israel.        than the spirit of it, the residents
threshing floor.                         It was by no means in Naomi's          in that area made life for Ruth
   To Ruth Naomi said, "My             mind a rest tha.t consisted in Ruth      very lo.nely. Openly they ex-
daughter, shall I not seek rest for    no longer toiling as one who             cluded her from membership in
thee, that it may be well with         would provide food and earthly           the Old Testament church. And
thee?" Now rest, strictly speak-       requirements of her and for              surely it was the grace of God in
ing, is entering into and enjoying     herself. It is true that Boaz was a      her that kept her there and did
the benefits of a finished work.       very rich man, and marrying him          not let :her run back to Moab.
We so often consider rest nothing      would bring earthly riches to              The question does arise as to
more than a cessation of work,         Ruth and Naomi as well. But that         whether Naomi did not know
so that we may return to it            is not what Naomi has in mind.           that there was a closer kinsman
refreshed and strengthened. Or         And when she (adds "That it may          than Balaz. But one thing is plain:
we label it as an opportunity to       be well with thee", she not only         Naomi was sure, after Boaz told
indulge in sports, entertainment       excludes herself from this rest          her that there was a nearer
and amusements for the flesh.          and good, but clearly shows that         kinsman, that Boaz would "not
But let us take hold of the fact       she has in mind for Ruth a name          be in rest, until he have finished
that rest here, too, when Naomi        and a place in the coming                the thing this day." For her the
says to Ruth, "My daughter, shall      kingdom of heaven.                       grace of God had broken through
I not seek rest for thee, that it        Go back again to Deuteronomy           the clouds and was shining very
may be well with thee," is enjoy-      25:5. There we read: "If brethren        brightly.
ing a finished work of God."           dwell together, and one of them            We are not to believe that
God's rest on the seventh day          die, and have no child, the wife         Naomi suggested and wanted
after creating the heavens and         of the dead shall not marry              Ruth to commit fornication. That
the earth and all that they con-       without unto a stranger: her hus-        would have been the case, if she
tain was an entering into and en-      band's brother shall go in unto          knew a nearer kinsman. Nor did
joyment of His perfect work. It        her, and take her to him to wife,        she want to try to violate that
was all finished, and He saw that      and perform the duty of an hus-          law of Cibd in Deuteronomy 25:5.
it was very good, and on the first     band's brother unto her. And it          Indeed, devout children of God
Sabbath day entered into the en-       shall be, that th'e firstborn which      can and do slip and slide into
joyment of it.                         she beareth him shall succeed in         grievous; sins. David did. Solomon
  Then, too, Jesus said, accord-       the name of his brother which is         was by no means free from this.
ing to Matthew 11:28: "Come un-        dead, that his name be not put           And Paul write in Romans 7:19:
to Me, all ye that labour and are      out of Israel." This is what Naomi       ". . . the evil that I would not,
heavy laden, and I will give you                                                that I do," But there is no sugges-
rest." This He could say because                                                tion eve:u that Naomi was here
He was going to His cross and                                                   trying to1 break God's law in
                                                                                order to find rest for Ruth.

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  Naomi was aware of the fact         self attractive to men, young or           The neighbors and relatives
that Boaz was much older than         old. And it was not because she       there in that area had snubbed
Ruth, far more so than Abraham        still felt so very sad about the      her and made her feel as an out-
was than Sarah. She was also          death of Mahlon. No, as a             sider. They had asked, "Is this
aware of the fact that he was not     believer she took hold of the         Naomi?" But they spoke not one
married. And, indeed, it all is so    word of Naomi. In Ruth 1:9 she        word to Ruth. That silence spoke
wonderfully worked out and            had said to Ruth and Orpah:           loudly. And their failure to help
planned by God in His wisdom          "The Lord grant you that ye may       Naomi and Ruth with food, mak-
and grace that Boaz could legally     find rest, each of you in the         ing it so necessary for Ruth to
marry Ruth, when the nearest of       house of her husband." She            follow the gleaners, also revealed
kin refused. All things do work       meant a Moabitish husband.            that they wanted nothing to do
together for good to those who        Quite plainly she had told them       with her nor with Naomi for hav-
love God. And do not forget or        that in Israel such rest would not    ing brought this Moabitess into
overlook the fact that this book      be obtained; and Ruth took her        the land which God gave the
of Ruth reveals so clearly and        at her word, knowing that this        Israelites. They did not see Ruth
beautifully how all works             big difference existed between        as one who was a Jewess inward-
together for our good as well as      what were Jehovah's people and        l      y     .
Ruth's. This is the way God ar-       those of Chemosh, the Moabite's            Marriage to a kinsman would
ranged the coming of Christ in        idol. We can be sure that Ruth        make quite a difference. That
the line of Judah, as Jacob also      had no hope of marriage with an       would bring her rest. Then it
prophesied in Genesis 49:8-10.        Israelite and never dreamed of a      would "be -well" with Ruth. And
The sceptre did not depart from       marriage with Boaz. She may           that tremendous difference we
Judah, nor the Lawgiver from          also have been completely ig-         have revealed to us after the
between His feet. And Ruth, the       norant of the law, that the           marriage and birth of a son.
spiritual Jewess and physical         nearest of kin to Elimelech and       Then these neighbors and
Moabitess, was used by God to         Mahlon had a calling to marry         relatives said to Naomi, "Blessed
bring forth David, Solomon, and       her. Naomi had to teach her that.     be the Lord, which hath not left
Christ, Who now has dominion          And she did not lift one finger,      thee this daly without a kinsman,
over all things at Gods right         and one smallest drop of per-         that his narne may be famous in
hand.                                 fume, or even for an hour wear        Israel. And he shall be unto thee
  Now it is true that Naomi           her most attractive raiment to en-    a restorer of thy life, and a
warned Ruth to be very careful        tice anyone.                          nourisher of thine old age: for
so that no one would see her                                                thy daughter in law, which
"proposing" to Boaz, for that is                                            loveth thee,! which is better to
what Naomi did send her to do.                                              thee than seven sons, hath born
But notice that she instructs her                                           him."         '
to put off all the drab working                                                  Ruth reached the rest Naomi
clothes, which were also clothes                                            sought for her, and these women
of sadness. Now she must put on                                             even comm.ended  her for her
her best and most attractive rai-                                           love which she showed to Naomi,
ment, anoint herself with some                                              and called her better than seven
sweet smelling perfume, and                                                 sons. Ruth was now considered a
wash away all her past actions.                                             Jewess inwardly, a child of God,
Now she is not to do something        The Standard                          one who had a name and a place
wholly different from what Boaz                                             in the Kingdom of Heaven. 0
said of her and to her, namely,       Bearer makes
". . . thou followest  not young
men, whether poor or rich." Now       a thoughtful
she was to follow a man much
older than she and certainly seek     gift for the
marriage with him.
  Ruth had by no means and in
any way behaved as a flirt. She       sick & shut-in.
had done absolutely nothing in
the line of seeking a husband.
She in no way tried to make her-

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  t 87


                                        The Two Natures of
Taking  Heec/  TO  Christ:  The D&b
The Doctrine
Ronald H. Hanko                         of Christ

1. The testimony of Scripture           with the patriarchs and other          fronted His enemies as God by
    (continued).                        heroes of the nation, and that         claimi:ng such authority, but as
   One of the more striking evi-        they, knowing Him personally,          God Who upholds His Own un-
dences of Christ's divinity is His      acknowledged His superiority.          changeable, sovereign right to
claim to authority, to sovereign,       Abraham had seen His day and           rule, and command the lives of
autonomous, all-encompassing            rejoiced (Jn. 8:56) and David had      men. This threatened all their ef-
authority. He claimed this              recognized Him as Lord (Matt.          forts to "be as God' in the nation
authority over all the institutions     22:43-45).  Though not of the tribe    through their traditions and
of the Jewish nation to the con-        of Levi, He claimed authority          endless precepts. Thus His claim
sternation of the Jewish leaders.       over the temple and all its or-        to have authority to forgive sin
He angered the scribes and              dinances, exasperating the Chief       also aroused their enmity, not on-
lawyers by claiming not only an         Priests and Sadducees.  He claimed     ly because they considered it
authority next to theirs as             to be the temple-builder (Jn.          blasphemy, but because by it He
learned interpreters of Moses and       2:19), greater even than Solomon       took for Himself, as God, that
the Old Testament, but also by          (Lk. 11:3 l), and exercised this       which they and all sinners have
insisting that He was Himself the       authority also in driving from the     wanted since Adam, the right to
Law-giver and One greater than          temple those with whom He was          judge for themselves between
all the Prophets and Patriarchs.        displeased (Jn. 2:13-17;  Mk.          good and evil. In this same man-
And not only did He claim this          11:15-17). In His controversies        ner, the claims of Christ continue
authority, but exercised it in          with the Pharisees He appeared         to be even today the great threat
modifying and changing the              to encourage His disciples openly      to all of man's sinful and proud
regulations of Moses (Matt. 19:8,       and flagrantly to violate the Sab-     pretensions. As God He claims all
9), in insisting that He was the        bath regulations. When con-            authority in heaven and on earth
One of Whom and by Whom the             fronted, He claimed Lordship also      in this age, as God He promises
prophets all spoke (Matt. 12:41;        over that most fundamental of all      that He will come again to judge
23:34), and in speaking as though       the Mosaic institutions - claimed      the words and works of men, as
He were personally acquainted           that it was His day, and that not      God He pulls down their
                                        the powerful leaders of the Jews       kingdoms, humbles their pride,
                                        and the interpreters of Moses, but     thwarts their efforts, and dashes
                                        He, an unschooled, wandering           all their hopes to pieces. No
                                        teacher, would be the One to           wonder, then, that still today
                                        decide how the Sabbath would           they deny Him and reject His
                                        be kept, even at the expense of        Godhead and power. No wonder
                                        many old traditions.                   that the sects, which deify men,
                                          It is not surprising that in con-    and modern Christianity, which
                                        nection with these claims His          makes man the master of his
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity    Godhead became the great issue         own salvation, so flatly and em-
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,    of His ministry, He not only con-      phatically deny His divinity.
Texas.

88  I The Standard Bearer


   Yet, the fact that they all                grass to wither and the birds to drop          the scorn of the Romans, and the
speak to this matter, and are so              dead out of the air, when a strolling          enmity of the people all strike at
careful to deny it, is itself an in-          carpenter's apprentice said calr$y and         His Godhead. Quoting from
                                              almost carelessly, like one looking over
dication that the claims of Christ            his shoulder, "Before Abraham was, I           Psalm 2, Peter says just this in
to divinity and authority cannot              am. " (G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting        Acts 4:26, :27: that it was against
be taken lightly. They "protest               Man, part II, chapter 2).                      the Lord, that is, against His holy
overmuch." This is especially                 How can we, hearing the                        child Jesus,. that Herod and Pon-
true of the reaction of the Jews              testimony of Scripture, be any-                tius Pilate, the Gentiles and the
during the days of Jesus' ministry.           thing but awed and worshipful                  Jews were gathered. It was the
They understood immediately                   before Him.                                    Jews especially, however, who
and unanimously what He was                      To those who believe and wor-               mocked, thlreatened,  cursed,
saying, sometimes better than the             ship, however, all the testimony               hounded, condemned, and
disciples. So their enmity itself             of Scripture is not proof, but                 murdered liim, for saying and
became a testimony and                        evidence. The proofs of His                    showing that He was the Son of
evidence of His Godhead. Cer-                 divinity to us, as the Belgic Con-             God.
tainly that is one reason why                 fession reminds us, are His works                After His death it was no dif-
Scripture shows it.                           (operations), chiefly those we feel            ferent. All three Epistles of John,
   Alongside this unwilling and               within ourselves (Article IX). All             John's Gospel, the Epistle to the
yet powerful testimony of the                 the testimony of Scripture is                  Colossians, and the first chapter
Jews is the testimony of the                  given to confirm and explain that              of Hebrews: were written in
devils. The screams of the                    powerful, divine, and effectual                defense of this doctrine. In fact,
demon-possessed man in the                    work of salvation, and to assure               not one book of the New Testa-
Capernaum Synagogue, the                      us that it is of God. To us, there-            ment neglects it.
pleadings of a whole legion of                fore, He not only promises but                   Along with the Jews, the
hellish spirits in Gadara, and their          gives that which God alone can                 Belgic Confession mentions the
complete submission to His                    give, eternal life, righteousness,             Mohammedans and six heretics
authority, all identify Him for us            peace, rest, and salvation. As                 from the early history of the
as God's Son (Lk. 4:34; 8:30, 31).            Hodge says:                                    Church. The Creed at that point
As James reminds us, they                       It is obvious that the infinite God          is defending the doctrine of the
believed and trembled.                        Himself can neither promise nor give           Trinity, but. it was especially in
                                              anything greater or higher than Christ
   Such violent reaction to the               gives to His people. To Him they are           connection with Christ's divinity
divinity of Christ, though full of            taught to look as the source of all bless-     that the doctrine of the Trinity
hatred, shames our apathy, and                ing, the Giver of every good and perfect       was denied, both by the heathen
the indifference of many teachers             gift There is no more comprehensive            religion of .the Mohammedans,
today. The Jews at least under-               prayer in the New Testament than that          and by the heresies of those who
stood what He said and recog-                 with which Paul closes His Epistle to the
                                              Galatians,  "The grace of our Lord Jesus       rose within the church. Nor was
nized the fact that if-it was not             Christ be with your spirit. " His Favour is    this truth denied only in word in
true it must not be said. Apathy              our life, which it would not be if He were     those earlier days. Then too,
not only does not care enough to              not our God. (Systematic Theology, WI,         following the example of Christ
worship, it does not even care                2,  0.                                         Himself, many thousands of early
enough to stone Him for                       In us He works by the power of                 Christians Ilost their goods and
blasphemy. Indifference will not              almighty God, delivering us from               their lives for the confession they
even listen to what He says nor               the power of Satan and sin and                 made of the divinity of Christ
make any effort to understand.                bringing us to God. By such                    their Saviour.
As one writer says:                           powerful proof we not only                       At the time of the Reformation
  Stark staring incredulity is a far more     acknowledge Him to be God, but                 this truth had to be defended
loyal tribute to that truth than a modern     worship and adore, and confess                 against the blasphemies of
metaphysic that would make it merely a        that without Him we have                       Socinus and Servetus. In fact it
matter of degree. It were better to rend      nothing.
our robes with a cry against blasphemy,                                                      was one of the few things that
                                              2. How this doctrine is denied.
like Caiphas in the judgment, or to lay                                                      the cities of,Europe, whether Re-
hold of the man as                               Already in the days of Christ's
                       a maniac possessed                                                    formed, Lutheran, or Roman
of devils like the kinsmen and the crowd,     appearance on earth His divinity               Catholic, agreed upon: that is,
rather than to stand stupidly debating        was almost universally denied.                 that a man like Servetus was not
fine shades of pantheism in the presence      The hatred and fear of two
of so' catastrophic a claim. There is more                                                   fit to live for the blasphemies
                                              Herods,  the jealousy of the Jews,
of the wisdom that is one with surprise in                                                   which he uttered against the Son
any simple person, Full of the sensitive-                                                    of God. The,children  of these
ness of simplicity, who should expect the

                                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  / 89


false teachers are still to be found        only of these older sects, in-                 The Principle does not flatly deny the
today. The Jews still spit at the           cluding the Christian Scientists,            conventional belief held by many Chris-
Name of Jesus, the Moham-                   but also of the more modern and              tians that Jesus is God, because a perfect,
medans count him only a proph-              popular sects such as the Unifica-           true person is one with God (page 140).
                                                                                         From "Creation in Christ," a ser-
et next to Abraham and                      tion Church (Rev. Sun Myung
Mohammed, and the doctrines of              Moon), the Worldwide Church of               mon by George MacDonald, the
Arius and Socinus are still taught          God (Herbert Armstrong and                   author of a number of popular
by the Unitarians and the sects.            "Plain Truth" magazine), the Way             works of fiction comes this state-
   As far as the Church is con-                                                          ment:
                                            and all the rest; those which
cerned, the attack comes first of                                                          I belt$ve that Jesus Christ is the eternal
                                            claim Christian origin, those                Son of the eternal Father; that from the
all and most boldly from these              which are merely the disguised               first of firstness Jesus is the Son, because
various Sects. With all their dif-          religions of the East, and those             God is the Father. I believe therefore that
ferent peculiarities and strange            who make an unholy alliance of               the Father is the greater, that if the
teachings, they are alike in this           the two.                                     Father had not been, the Son could not
                                                                                         have been . . . . It was the will of Jesus
one thing, that they deny the full             Their doctrine is evil, but their         to be the thing God willed and meant
divinity of God's Son. We have              threat lies primarily in the fact            Him, that made Him the true son of God.
already mentioned the Jehovah's             that they practice great deceit,             He was not the Son of God because He
Witnesses and their twisted ver-            using the language of the faith              could not help it, but because He willed
sion of the Scriptures. Their ver-          and claiming to believe in                   to be in Himself the son that He was in
                                                                                         the divine idea.
sion of John 1:l sums up all that           Christ's divinity, and even cover-           Though not himself part of the
they teach about Christ; "In the            ing up and obscuring their teach-            rise of the various sects, this lat-
beginning the Word was, and the             ings on these matters in an at-              ter author, a minister in the
Word was with God, and the                  tempt to win followers. A few                Church of England, illustrates
Word was a god" (New World                  quotations very clearly illustrate           how easily these lies can creep
Translation). The Mormon proph-             this. In the Outline of the Princi-          into the church and can be pro-
et, Joseph Smith, taught, and               ple, Level 4, the "vision and                tected there, for in spite of such
His followers still teach the old           guide" of the Unification Church,            teachings as these he was never
lie of Arianism, that Christ is only        we read:                                     publicly censured or removed.
the first and greatest among                  As already mentioned, a true person is        The church's battle for this
God's creatures. Such perverse              one who fulfills the purpose of the crea-    truth is not finished, therefore,
Christology is characteristic not           tion, is the incarnation of God, and is
                                            perfect as God is perfect, possessing        but cosntinues to the present
                                            divine value . . . . Jesus is a true man,    time. 17
                                            and thus is a person of such value.





                                            The  t%storical  Develop-
                                            ment of the BGlding
From Holy Writ
George C. Lubbers                           of God's TernpIle [II)

"For every house is builded by                 It is important for the proper            ship between the progressive
some (man); but he that built               understanding of the presence of             historical revelation of God's
all things is God, " Hebrews 3:4            the cherubim in the most holy                covenant promise and the
                                            place, to notice carefully that              various stages through which the
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus    there is a most intimate relation-           temple-building passed. The bot-
in the Protestant Reformed Chukhes.

90  / The Standard Bearer


tom line is that God himself will      the Scriptures (John 2:21, 22).            Listen to the exalted words of
make a house for David in              Until this point they were slow of      the prophet Isaiah, "howbeit the
David's royal Son (II Samuel           heart to believe that the-Christ        Most High dwelleth not in
78-l 1).                               must suffer all the hellish agonies     temples m,ade with hands, as
  To facilitate a rather clear         on the cross and thus enter into        saith the prophet" (Acts 17:33;
overview of this temple-building       his glory (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45)!       Isaiah 66:I). It was because
by the great temple-Builder, God         We do well to allow these             Stephen proved from the Scrip-
in Christ, we must notice that         Scriptures to sink deep into our        tures that the Old Testament law
neither the typical tabernacle nor     hearts. Hence, we should notice         and shadows must give way for
the later temple of Solomon were       that the true temple was not            the reality, the better and greater
per se fit abodes, dwelling-places,    made by the hands of men, but           temple, encompassing both
of God in the Spirit (Ephesians        by the Christ of God in his death       heaven and earth, that he is
2:19-22). We read in Hebrews 3:4       and resurrection. And into this         stoned to death!
"For every house is builded of         temple, the church of the living          The Scriptures everywhere
some man, but he that built all        God, both the elect Jews and            speak of the heaven and of the
things is God." It is also instruc-    elect Gentiles enter. Fact is that      earth. Heaven must receive the
tive to read: "And Moses verily        they constitute the living stones,      Christ until: the times of the
was faithful in all his house, as a    and are thus the very fabric, the       restitution of all things, as spoken
servant, for a testimony of those      material most unfit, which is           of by all thle holy prophets, since
which were to be spoken after;         made into stones fashioned by           the world began (Acts 3:21). This
But Christ as a son over his own       God's grace. These stones are           is true of all the Scriptures as
house (we underscore); whose           gathe%d-by the Word and Spirit          spoken by "all the prophets from
house are we, if we hold fast the      from those who are far and those        Samuel and those that follow
confidence . . ." (Hebrews 3:5, 6).    who are near, to be the habita-         after, as m,any as have spoken
  There are many passages in           tion of God in the Spirit (Ephe-        . . ." (Acts 3:24).
Scripture which teach that God is      sians 2:22).                             .These are the words of the
the Builder of the temple and of         This temple David nor                 Scriptures which must guide our
the holy city. This was explicitly     Solomon could ever build!               thinking and our attempts at for-
stated by the prophet Nathan to          Small wonder that at the              mulating the Scriptural data con-
David. After denying David the         dedication of the temple the            cerning the historical develop-
privilege and right to build the       sublime words were uttered by           ment of God's true temple!
temple, a house for the Lord, the      Solomon, "LORD God of Israel,             Thus we begin to see that
Lord tells David that He will          there is no God like thee in the ,.;    Solomon mall his glory is less
build a house for David; yes, He       heaven above, or on the earth           than the Christ to come. This one
will build it out of David's Seed;     beneath, who keepest covenant           will not merely be a son out of
He will give him a Son in that         and mercy with thy servants             David's loins by a Bathsheba,
temple and on the throne (II           what walk before thee with all          who had been the wife of Uriah
Samuel 7:11-12,  27-29; I Kings        their heart . . . . and now, 0 God      (Matthew 1:6b) but this one is the
11:38). In the New Testament,          of Israel, let thy word, I pray         Son born from a virgin, whose
Christ announces Himself to be         thee be verified, which thou.           name is Immanuel, God with us
the one Who will build the tem-        speakest unto thy servant David,*       (Matthew 121-23). He is both
ple. In fact, just this temple-        my father (Confer II Samuel             David's son and Lord (Psalm
building is his proper and con-        7: 10-17). "But will God indeed         11O:l; Matthew 22:41-45).  The
vincing credential that he has         dwell on the earth: behold, the         name "Lord!' here implies that he
authority in the temple. He is the     heavens and the heaven of               is the Adonai: God, very God of
Lord of the temple (John               heavens cannot contain thee;            G o d .
20:14-25).  This lesson was never      how much less this house that I           This all teaches us that there is
forgotten by the hateful and           have builded" (Acts 7:47).              need to study the progressive
unbelieving Jewish adversaries           Yes, this temple which God            fading awa:y of the shadows and
(Matthew 26:31; 27:40). Further-       will build is the hope of heaven        types as embodied in the Old
more, the very apostles of Christ      and of earth - through the death        Testament tabernacle till the time
never understood that Jesus was        and resurrection of Jesus Christ!       that it is re:moved .forever by the
the divine master-builder of the                                               Lord. The writer to the Hebrews
spiritual temple until after his                                               speaks of this old covenant as "it
resurrection (John 2:22). It was                                               waxes old, decayed, and ready to
only then that they believed that
word of Jesus and believed all

                                                                                                      The Standard Bearer  /  91


vanish away" (8: 13). This               gates are desolate: her priests          many shouted aloud for joy . . ."
vanishing away is spoken of by           sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and    (Ezra 3:12, 13). There was room
the Holy Spirit very clearly in          she is in bitterness . . . the LORD      for wieeping when things were
both the prophecy of Jeremiah            hath afflicted her for the               viewed as to outward ap-
and that of Isaiah and Ezekiel           multitude of her transgressions:         pearance. It looked as if they had
(Jeremiah 3 1:3 1; 7: 11; Isaiah         her children are gone into cap-          not at all recovered from the ig-
56: 17; Ezekiel 40:27; compare           tivity before the enemy! (Lamen-         nominy of their Babylonian cap-
also Haggai 2:6, 7). These are           tations 1: 1-5)                         tivity. Here was a small remnant
simply some very clear texts               This is the painful experience         returning, and the house which
which teach very clearly that the        of the remnant according to elec-       they were building truly looked,
old temple will be destroyed to          tion in Babylon. Here they sing         as it were, the "little things that
bring in the true and eternal            and sigh, "How shaI1 we sing the        should be despised' (Haggai
tabernacle of God with men               LORD's song in a strange land of        2:2-g).. For the glory of the latter
(Revelation 21:3). Here we read          strangers. If I forget thee, 0          house: shall be greater than the
the beautiful words, "Behold, the        Jerusalem, let my right hand            former, saith Jehovah!
tabernacle of God is with men,           forget her cunning. If I do not            It is all the wonder of grace!
and he will dwell with them, and         remember thee, let my tongue               When we keep these great and
they shall be his people, and God        cleave to the roof of my mouth;         basic Scriptural teachings in
himself shall be with them and           if I prefer not Jerusalem above         mind, we will also be able to
be their God."                           my chief joy" (Psalm 137:5, 6).         understand that it required cen-
   It is very clear in all the Scrip-      Now it is exactly in this             turies to make this transition
tures that the historical develop-       darkest hour of Israel for the peo-     from .the typical temple to the
ment of the building of God's            ple of God, that the prophetic          rea1 and true temple. This transi-
temple is purely a wonderwork            horizons lift, and that we begin        tion is fully fulfilled in the fulness
of God's saving grace in Jesus           to see more and more of the sure        of tim.e in Christ's death and
Christ. It is what God has               prophetic word which shines as a        resurrection. We do well to take
wrought, and He alone!                   light in a dark place, until the        special notice of the Biblical
  We should also notice par-             day dawn and the day-star arises        teaching of the prophetic
ticularly that the transition from       in the hearts of God's people (II       writings. This is especially true in
the Old Testament temple to the          Peter 1:19). However, in this pro-      our ti:mes when the winds of the
New Testament temple, builded            phetic word it becomes abun-            error of dispensationalism and of
by Christ, requires really cen-          dantly clear that the clock of God      a social gospel blow upon the
turies; it was from the time of the      is neither turned back, nor does        church, seeking to remove us
Babylonian captivity till the            the clock of God stop for seventy       from our own steadfastness. We
death and resurrection of Christ.        years. After Israel has come forth      must istand immovable in the
There was a breaking down of             from the refining experience of         faith that we are the New Testa-
the Old Testament temple of              captivity, they will go forward in-     ment church, in which both Jew
Solomon which caused Israel to           to the hope of the heavenly tem-        and Greek have a place, a
pine in Babylon. Here Israel             ple. A greater and better temple        dwelling-place of God in the
learned to sing and utter the            is in the making according to           Spirit (Galatians 3:26-29; Ephe-
words of the Lamentation of              God's sure and everlasting prom-        sians 2: 19-22).
Jeremiah, the prophet: "How              ise to Abraham and to his seed.           We shall, therefore, need to
doth the city sit solitary, that was     This does not appear to be the          pursue this matter further in the
full of people! how is she become        case when we view the building          next chapter. 0
a widow! she that was great              of the temple of Zerubbabel in
among the nations, and princess          the time of Ezra the prophet.
among the provinces, how is she            Truly, there was great sadness
become tributary! . . . . Judah is       in the heart of those saints in
gone into captivity because of af-       Israel who had seen the beauty
fliction, and because of great ser-      and spendor of Solomon's temple,
vitude: she dwelleth among the           Do we not read "but many of the
heathen, she findeth no rest: all        priests and Levites and chief of
her persecutors overtook her be-         the fathers, who were ancient
tween the straits. The ways of           men, that had seen the first
Zion do mourn, because none              house, when the foundation of
come to the solemn feasts: all her       this house was laid before their
                                         eyes, wept with a loud voice; and

92  I The Standard Bearer


                                            -Growth In Ecumenism
                                            Now: the New Ai,ge
All Around Us
Gise 1. Van Baren                           Spiritism

Growth In Ecumenism                            The trend toward greater                     "But gradually, the Spirit works and
  In our sheltered environment,             cooperation, and eventual union,             they become the new orthodoxy. We may
                                                                                         need to wait 11 while, but reunion will
we sometimes fail to realize the            was presented in the Grand                   come. "
developing ecumenism of our                 Rapids Press, Sept. 19, 1987. The              Brouwer . . . said he couldn't predict
day. A few years ago there was              Rev. Arie Brouwer, a minister in             when that would happen, but added, "I
considerable discussion about               the Reformed Church in America,              live in hope. "
proposed mergers of different               and general secretary of the Na-                In the remaining part of the ar-
denominations. Some proposed                tional Council of Churches, was              ticle, Brouwer gives many in-
mergers materialized, others                interviewed by George W. Cor-                stances of the cooperation be-
seemed to be bogged down in                 nell, Associated Press religious             tween denominations and
endless discussion and debate. It           editor. He wrote:                            specifically ,of that between Prot-
appeared that though the leaders              The nation's top ecumenical officer        estant and Roman Catholic. The
of the denominations favored                says cooperative work among Prot-            article concludes:
mergers, on the "grass roots"               estants, Eastern Orthodox and Roman            "We do dozens of different things
                                            Catholic churches is burgeoning in this
level, the people rejected this.                                                         together," Brouwer said.
                                            country.                                       This fall, the council's division of
  The past several years the at-              `<Its becoming a common pattern,"          overseas ministries and Roman Catholic
tempt has been made to establish            says the Rev. Arie Brouwer . . . "A          orders are meeting together to coordinate
clear contact between denomina-             sense of genuine Christian community is      mission work abroad.
tions and people, without formal            developing.  "                                 However, he said the underpinning of
                                              . . . The overwhelming preponderance
merger, The theory appears to be                                                         it all comes aii:the grass roots, among
                                            of U.S. Christianity, both denomination-     local Protestant and Catholic congrega-
that once people in different               ally and in coalitions, is overcoming the    tions, and that ecumenical sessions with
denominations work together on              old walls that once kept Protestants and     the pope should spur "those kinds of
certain projects, these will begin          Catholics apart, Brouwer says.               relationships 1211 over the country."
to see the advantage of organic               "There's a tremendous surge of               "His meeting with other church leaders
                                            ecumenical interest among Catholics," he     was a bit like a meeting of leaders of a
union as well.                              said in an interview. "At many, many         commonwealth," he said. "It underscores
                                            points, we now work together, more than      the fact we are all part of one church. It
                                            most people realize. ItS a constantly        (is) a very important image, and makes
                                            growing thing. "                             impressions.
                                              However, asked about a thesis by the         "These kinds of symbols have tremen-
                                            late great Catholic theologian Karl          dous impact. It symbolizes the sense in
                                            Rahner that sufficient agreements have       which we are all part of the same
                                            been reached in talks between Protes-        church. It's like a statement of faith, a
                                            tants and Catholics for reunion now,         demonstrative confession that we're one. "
                                            Brouwer said:                                   There appears to be no doubt
                                              "So far, at least, we haven't heeded
                                            him. But history has a remarkable way        in Brouwers mind that union be-
                                            of catching-up with the prophets. It's a     tween Protestant and Roman
                                            matter of time. People of vision make        Catholic will come. It is true that
                                            statements, and they may not be ac-          Christ prayed for unity: "That
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Prot-    cepted immediately.                          they all ma,y be one . . . .", but
estant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,                                                   He added, ". . . as thou, Father,
Michigan.

                                                                                                               The Standard Bearer / 93


art in me, and I in thee, that they    ists" who perform under the                       otherwise advise its human audience. As
also may be one in us . . . ."          guidance of the devil.                           the ent@ operates the channel's body, it
True unity must be sought - but            Christianity Today,  Sept. 18,                comes through as a "new inhabitant," a
ever on the basis of the truth.         1987, has an interesting article                 distinct and different personality. As one
                                                                                         channel' put it, "Channelling  is a form of
That is the unity between Christ       on the subject, "Theology from                    volunta,  y possession. "
and the Father. The unity of           the Twilight Zone". I quote part                    . . . The impact of channeling is easy
which Brouwer speaks is not a          of that:                                          to see, but difficult to assess. Its current
unity based on the truth nor a            "Bashar" is an extra-terrestrial.              high profile comes chiefly from celebrity
reflection of that unity between          "Mafu" is a highly evolved being From          endorsement. Stars of stage, screen, and
                                                                                         tube haae given public testimonials about
Christ and God. One is rather          the seventh dimension, last seen on Earth         their spirit guides . . . .
reminded of the end of time            when he incarnated as a leper in first-
                                       century Pompeii.                                    . . There is extensive grassroots in-
when there will be one Antichrist         `Ramtha" is a 35,000-year-old ascend-          volvement as well. Channeled books are
governing one church on this           ed master, once a barbarian warrior-              the top-selling titles in the growing occult
;earth in cooperation with a one       king, later a Hindu god, now beyond               and metaphysical market; many of them
                                                                                         instruct readers how to contact their own
world government. That time is         even deity itself:                                spirit guides and become channels them-
closer than we sometimes realize.         `Lazaris" is a disembodied personality
                                       with no incarnations - a being with no            selves . , .
                                       past lives in his portfolio.                         All Iof this resembles to a
Now: the New Age Spiritism                These are not characters from Super-           remarkable degree the demon
   There is in this country a          hero Comix, or a "`Star Trek" episode.            possession of Jesus' day. Now
powerful movement called "The          They are "entities. " And these entities,         many willingly submit to "en-
New Age" movement. It com-             with others like them, have helped to
                                       create a modern mass-mania - the so-              tities" who reveal bits of
bines Hinduism and other Orien-        called channeling craze.                          "wisdom" for those who would
tal religions into a form of             Besides their general implausibility,           listen. And the evil pervades the
modern idolatry. Not only does         these entities have three things in com-          so-called "film arts" realm. If one
this movement have a large             mon: They have no physical existence              even needed additional reason to
number of followers, but many of       (that is, they are "`spirits, " or "spirit be-
                                       ings'y; they are mainly interested in             shun a.ll of these worldly amuse-
the most admired and imitated          dispensing their philosophy of life to            ments, the above should be it.
men and women openly admit             human beings; and they operate through            Ought we to be entertained by
practicing it. Actors and ac-          other humans to do so, temporarily                those Tvho subject themselves to
tresses, whose number is already       assuming control of the body during               such devilish guidance?
being decimated by the AIDS            trance. People who subject themselves to
                                       such entrancement and control are called             May this all be a warning also
disease, are also "channelers" or      `channelers, " or simply "channels. "             to us. `There is the temptation to
followers of those who claim to          According to the channels, the Function         adopt many of the "innocent"
be "channels". The whole prac-         of the trance state is to disengage the           practices of this New Age move-
tice reminds one of the demon          mind from involvement with the space-             ment, $uch as repeating "man-
possession of Jesus' day. Televi-      time world by shutting out sensory input.
                                       The same effect is achieved by making             tras" alnd involving one's self in
sion stars, some of whom are           the input of a single sense dominant and          "medit@ions".  Perhaps, even, it
even seen in our own homes on          repetitive, as in the chanting of mantras.        would be "fun" to see if "chan-
t.v., are among the chief of-          This state of disengaged attention permits        neling" would really work for us.
fenders. If one needed further         contact with the nonsensory realm of              But all of this is devilish and the
                                       spirits and also vacates control of the
evidence of the corruption of the      physical faculties For use by the spirits         "New ,4ge" movement is nothing
dramas both of t.v. and movie,         themselves. While the channel is in an            other t:han the old idolatry for
he has but to consider those "art-     entranced condition, the controlling spirit,      which Israel was repeatedly
                                       or entity, will lecture, counsel, teach, or       rebuked. 0




                                       Book Review

                                       Reformed Theology In America:                     Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans
                                       A History of Its Modern Develop-                  Publishing Co. 3 17 pp. (paper)
                                       ment, David F. Wells, Editor; Grand

94  I The Standard Bearer


$19.95. [Reviewed by Prof. H.C.              marize the five sections. Just a few     probably too favorable. And why
Hoeksema]                                   comments:                                 Herman Dooyeweerd and the
   This is a very interesting book.          1) I found the sections on the West-     Dooyeweerdian movement in North
Perhaps the title is somewhat mis-          minster School (introduced by W.          America received a place in this sec-
leading, because the name "Re-              Robert Godfrey) and the Southern          tion of the book I will never under-
formed" is taken in a very broad            Tradition (introduced by Morton           stand. Dooyeweerd, whatever his
sense. Grouped under it are the             Smith) to be very interesting and,        significance may be, surely cannot
Princeton theology, Westminster             perhaps, the most accurate.               be classified as a "leading
Calvinism, the Dutch schools,               2) In my opinion, the section on          theologian" of the Dutch school in
Southern Reformed thought                   Neo-orthodoxy does not belong in a        North America.
(Presbyterian), and Neo-orthodoxy.          book of this kind.                        4) I found James M. Boice's analysis
Each section is made up of a chapter        3) The analysis of the Dutch Schools      of "The Future of Reformed
of analysis of the tradition and            by James D. Bratt is marked by            Theology" iin America to be too
chapters on two leading theologians         some of the same shortcomings, in-        irenic and too optimistic.
of each tradition.                          accuracies, and faults as is his book,      But read the book for yourself. It
   Because of the diversity of              Dutch Calvinism in Modern America.        is worthwhile. 0
authors, there is a wide variation in       Henry Zwaanstra's presentation of
the quality and style of the various        Louis Berkhof, while informative, is
sections. I will not attempt to sum-




                                            News From
Ben Wigger                                  Our Churches

                  November  15,1987          terest level of the students at          permit needed to begin his work
   On October 13 Rev.  Wouden-               Heritage. "By my God have I              in Canada and the Kuipers
berg spoke at the chapel services            leaped over a wall."                     planned to leave for iaCombe
of Heritage Christian School in                Mr. James Decker spoke at              sometime in mid-October. As of
Hudsonville. He based his                    Heritage the night of October 8,         now I havIe no further word on
remarks on Psalm  18:29,  and he             to help kick off a new school            the date hiis installation will take
came up with an interesting title,           year and a new P.T.A. meeting.           place.
one which no doubt raised the  in-           He spoke on "Communication                 The Fall Ladies' League in the
                                             between parents and teachers."           Hull, Doon, and Edgerton area
                                               Hope Protestant Reformed               met Octob& 15 at 1:00 P.M. in
                                             Christian School's P.T.A. also met       Hull. The topic was "A Comfort
                                             during the month of October.             in Times Like These". The
                                             Rev. M. Kamps spoke to those             speaker was Rev. Moore, and
                                             there that night on "Teacher Ap-         Rev. Dykstra was to answer
                                             preciation."                             some questions that had been
                                               Prof. Hoeksema's Canons class          sent in.
                                            - met for the first time this season        "Society Life" was the topic
                                             on October 7 in the Seminary             Rev. Kamps spoke on at the an-
                                             Assembly Room. Plans were to             nual Fall Mass Meeting of the
                                             finish the discussion of Canons V,       Eastern League of Men's and
                                             and the conclusion, and then             Ladies  Soc.ieties which met
                                             begin a study of the Doctrine of         recently at Southwest Church.
                                             the Last Things.                           The Consistory of Doon
                                               Doon's bulletin just informed          Church thalnked all those who
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,              me that the Rev. D. Kuiper has           helped pail? in their church
Michigan.                                    obtained the temporary work              Saturday, October 3.

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  /  95


   THE
STANDARD                                                                                            SECOND  CLASS
  BfARER                                                                                            Postage Paid at
                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, Michigan

  I?O. Box 6064                     ~_        ~_~~
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506




   There was also a note of ap-            things beyond their capability,         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
preciation from Pella's consistory         the Session has commissioned                  The Consistory and the Con-
thanking those who helped clean            Elder See to set up a study com-        gregation of the lmmanuel Prot-
their church. The congregation             mittee to look into the following       estant Reformed Church of
was told to take note of the clean         subjects:                               Lacombe, Alberta, Canada ex-
windows, the slippery benches,                1. Frequency, length, and sub-       presses their sincere sympathy
and shiny walls. In spite of the                 ject of all official meetings.    to the families John Wierenga
sore muscles and tired bodies,               2. Workloads of all office-           and  jim Wierema, as well as
they had an enjoyable day.                       bearers.                          their mother, Mrs. Greta
   The Conference on the Chris-              3. Participation and non-parti-       Wierenga, in the death of their
tian Family was held at the South                cipation of members in the        father and her husband, MR.
Holland Protestant Reformed                      activities and work of  the_      KLAAS WIERENGA, on
Church October 16 & 17. My                       church.                           Septelmber 26, 1987.
wife and I were unable to attend,          The committee is to give its                  "And we know that all things
but from those who did we have             report by the end of February of        work together for good to them
heard nothing but positive things.         next year.                              that love God, to them who are
Comments like "tremendous, well              The following is taken from           called'according to His
worth the trip, we wish everyone           Across  fhe Aisle,  a publication of    purpose." (Romans  8:28)
could have attended, so much to            First Church in Grand Rapids,           Wilbur Linker, Vice President
absorb" were not uncommonly                and is quoted from a pamphlet           Irwin  T&ma,  Treasurer
heard around our church on Sun-            titled, "Soundings".                    NOTKE!!!
day morning. Approximately 300               "Why is it," said a rich man to             The members of the BYRON
people attended this two-day con-          his minister, "that people call me      CENT.ER  PROTESTANT RE-
ference. Friday evening Rev. Carl          stingy when everyone knows              FORMED CHURCH have ap-
Haak spoke on "The Biblical                that when 1 die I'm leaving             proved a proposal to build a
Foundation of the Family". Satur-          everything to this church?"             new church.
day morning Rev. James                       "Let me tell you the story of               The  .financial committee, for
Slopsema spoke on "The Role of             the pig and the cow," said the          the purpose of constructing a
Family Worship", and Saturday              minister. "The pig was unpopular        new church, is now accepting
afternoon Rev. David Engelsma              and the cow was beloved. This           .offers to purchase debenture
brought the conference to a close          puzzled the pig. `People speak          notes for this cause. Presently it
by speaking on "The Happiness              warmly of your gentle nature            needs  $35,000.00 more to  com-
of a Godly Home." Sandwiched               and your soulful eyes,' the pig         `plete  its preferred financing
between these three main ad-               said to the cow. `They think            plan. The monies will be needed
dresses were panel discussions,            you're generous because each            in March and April of 1988. If
book reviews, workshops, ques-             day you give them milk and              you can help or know of
tion and answer periods and lots           cream. But what about me? 1             anyone who may be interested
of good Christian fellowship.              give them everything I have. I          in helping please contact either:
   One of the weekly bulletins             give them bacon and ham. I pro-                Telrry  Kamminga
from the Evangelical Reformed              vide bristles for brushes. They                42!SI  92nd St.
Church of Singapore contained              even pickle my feet! Yet no one                Byron Center, Ml 49315
an item you might find interest-           likes me. Why is that?"'                       phone  -  878-1448
ing. Upon the suggestion of some             "Do you know what the cow             or        Sid Miedema
members that one of the prob-              answered?" said the minister.                      8589 Homrich Ave.
lems faced by their office-                  "She said, `Perhaps it's because                 Byron Center, MI 49315
bearers is their attempt to do             I give while I'm still living."' El                phone  - 878-9635

96 I The Standard Bearer


