             J'
                        -.
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VVI.   u-r,   IYU.
February 75, 7988


 Contents                                                                                            THE
                                                                  February  IS,1988            STANDARD
Meditation  - Cornelius Hank0
Prayer for Divine Forgiveness. . . . . . `; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218          i BMR
Editorial  -                                                                                    ISSN  0362-4692
                                                                                                Semi-monthly, except monthly  during  June, July,
As To Evolution At Dordt College (4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221                and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
In His Hear  - Arie den Hartog                                                                  at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Receiving The Word of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224            Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Walking In The Light  - Herman C. Hanko                                                        Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog.
                                                                                                Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
Euthanasia(4).........................................226                                      Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
                                                                                               Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev.  I.  Korter-
From Holy Writ  - George C. Lubbers                                                            ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
                                                                                               Miersma, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Cise  J. Van
Exegetical Sketches on Micah 6:1-8 (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228               Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
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218 / The Standard Bearer


be Thy Name!" By Thy grace and        because it weighs heavily upon            Forgive, Father!
through faith we stammer that         my soul that I am prone by                As the words leave my lips I
prayer.                               nature to hate Thee and my              realize that this is a very bold re-
  We also learn to pray for the       neighbor. I am incapable of any         quest. To forgive means to erase,
coming of Thy kingdom, and the        good, only inclined to all that is      to wipe out my sins as if they
carrying out of Thy counsel; and      evil. I stand with my back to           never existed.
on our part, for obedience and        Thee and aim the "arrows" of my           I may not, I dare not, even
surrender to Thy perfect will.        life in the very opposite direction     though there are voices that say
  It is with these petitions in       from the mark, the standard of          that I may, appeal to some sort
mind that we now pray: "And           Thy law which Thou hast set             of universal love for all men, or
forgive us our debts as we for-       before .me. I am aware of               love for sinners. I know that
give our debtors."                    character sins, which are so            Thou art too holy of eyes, too
  Our sins!                           definitely mine, yet which I can        righteous to ignore, excuse, or
  Thou hast set before us that        see in others far better than I see     condone sin! My conscience tells
perfect standard or mark, the         them in myself. Even my reading         me that I deserve Thy just con-
perfect goal for our lives, that      of Thy Word, my daily prayers,          demnation even unto everlasting
whether we eat, or drink, or          my church attendance, my listen-        torments of hell. I have no right
whatever we do, we do it all to       ing to the preaching of Thy             to plead for mercy! If Thou
the glory of Thy most holy            Word, my partaking of the sacra-        shouldst mark transgressions,
Name! (I Cor. 10:31)                  ments are still so very imperfect       who could stand in Thy holy
  Yet we always sin; without fail     that I hide my face in shame.           presence? As for me, poor sinner,
we miss the mark. Instead of hav-     When I would do the good, the           forgiveness, if dependent upon
ing Thee always foremost in all       evil is present with me. 0              me, would be forever impossible!
our thoughts, we desire, will,        wretched man that I am!                   Yet what is impossible with us
think, speak, and act as if Thou        All of this adds up to an im-         is possible with Thee. From all
hast no place in our lives. We        mense debt, far greater than the        eternity hast Thou in Thy infinite
seek ourselves instead of Thee,       national debt, to be compared           mercy prepared the way of salva-
we strive for our own vain glory      only with the impossible sum of         tion for Thy chosen in Thy Son,
rather than Thine, we trust in        the ten thousand talents of gold,       our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast
our own strength rather than put-     of which Jesus speaks in the            laid upon Him the iniquity of us
ting our trust in Thee, and we        parable. (Matthew 18) Sin is            all, holding Him accountable for
labor for the bread that perishes     transgression of Thy law. Trans-        our sin-debt, that by His com-
rather than for the Bread that en-    gression implies guilt, the guilt is    plete surrender unto Thee by the
dures forever. Far be it from us      debt. This debt must be paid, if        death of the cross He should
to speak of the good that sinners     ever restitution shall be made in       merit for us eternal life!
do, for in our flesh dwells no        thy sight. Thou hast said that the        Thou wert in Christ reconciling
good. Sins of omission and of         soul that sins must die. For in         us unto Thyself, never to impute
commission cleave to us in all        Thy righteous judgment Thou             our sins unto us. Justice and mer-
that we say and do, for even our      hast declared, "Accursed is every       cy met together at Calvary,
best works are still polluted with    one that continueth not in all          where Thou didst pour out all
sin. We even try to defend and        things, which are written in the        Thy wrath against our sins upon
condone our wrong doing, ra-          book of the law, to do them."           Jesus, and where He became the
tionalizing why we may do what          Humbly I confess that I have          perfect propitiation for our sins.
we are doing, even when we            grossly transgressed, not one or        Thou gavest Thy Son, and He
condemn those deeds in others.        two of Thy commandments, but            laid down His life to bring us to
There are also still those secret     all of them. I have kept none of        glory!
sins, unknown as yet to us, yet       them. Nor am I able to keep any           It is no less a wonder of Thy
very really offensive to Thee.        one of them. I confess my per-          grace that Thou dost freely
  But that is not all. I must add     sonal sins, and I also do that in       bestow on us Thy gift of living
that, "I was shapen in iniquity;      the company of all Thy saints as        faith, that rich assurance in our
and in sin did my mother con-         a part of the household of faith. I     hearts that we belong to this
ceive me." I do not say that to       realize my communal responsibil-        faithful Savior with body and
excuse myself, but rather             ity for the sins of myself, my          soul, in life and in death, even
                                      family, my fellow saints. And           unto all eternity. His righteous-
                                      therefore I ask: Forgive US our
                                      debts, as we forgive our debtors!

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 279


ness is so fully imputed unto us       our transgressions, and wilt never    to us amount to in comparison
as if we in our own bodies had         reckon them against us, even as       with the tremendous debt of sin
atoned for our sins, yea, as if we     if they never existed. We need to     we owe to Thee? It is Thy great
never had had any sin and had          hear the voice of Jesus saying        goodness that we may confess
always kept Thy just commands.         unto us by His Spirit in our          our sins at the foot of the cross
Thou seest us, not as we are in        hearts, "Thy sins, though ever so     to Thee and to one another, and
ourselves, but as clothed in the       great, are forgiven thee; go in       find mercy. It is Thy boundless
righteousness of Christ, who is        peace." We must know that as a        grace that creates in our hearts
now in heaven, and intercedes          father has compassion upon his        the desire and firm resolution to
for us before Thy throne. It is        children, so Thou, Father, hast       forgive one another, even as
alone in that confidence that we       compassion upon us. Our               Thou in Christ hast forgiven us.
dare to lift up our voices to Thee     troubled souls must find                That, and only that, makes the
to plead for mercy!                    assurance in the confidence that      communion of saints possible,
  Forgive us our sins!                 as far as the east is from the        and opens the way to Thy
  No, we do not ask this in            west, so far hast Thou removed        throne.
doubt, as if we question that          our transgressions from us, that        Therefore we ask that Thou
complete atonement once made           the righteousness of Christ is        wilt forgive us, even as we
on the cross by Thy precious           freely imputed to us.                 forgive those who trespass
blood. Nor do we waver in the            Therefore our daily prayer          against us.
faith, questioning whether the         must be, personally and with. our       We do not ask that Thou wilt
merited righteousness of Christ        families, and on the Sabbath day      forgive them on the condition
applies to us. But we realize that     with Thy people, "Forgive us our      that we forgive. Thou art never
in this body of sin and death we       debts!" Only then can we meet         in any sense dependent upon us.
have a daily fight against sin that    together before Thy throne and          Nor do we ask that Thou wilt
wars in our members. Sin is            confess,                              forgive us because we forgive
always present in us; we sin             How blest is he whose trespass      others. The only basis for any
every moment of our lives in all            hath freely been forgiven,       forgiveness is in the cross of Thy
we say and do. Thou requirest of         Whose sin is wholly covered         dear Son.
us that we love Thee with our               before the sight of heaven.        But we do ask that Thou wilt
whole being, with a11 our being,         Blest he to whom Jehovah im-        forgive us, even as Thou hast
actions, and life; yet we are               puteth not his sin,              already created in us the desire
prone by nature to hate Thee             Who hath a guileless spirit,        and firm resolve to forgive the
and the neighbor. Our daily plea            whose heart is true within.      brother.
must be:                                 As we forgive our debtors.           In the fellowship of the Spirit
  With my burden of trans-               Even as we pray, we are             we experience Thy forgiving
        gression                       aware that there are those who        mercies in our own hearts, in our
     Heavy laden, overborne,           sin against us, who offend both       families, and wherever Thy peo-
  Humbled low I make con-              Thee and us by their sins. Shame-     ple meet.
        fession,                       facedly we admit that the offence       0, the blessedness!
     For my folly now I mourn.         against us troubles us much more        Teach us, Father, to bring this
  In this awareness we need to         than the offence against Thee.        petition before Thee in an ever
be assured that Thou forgivest all     Yet what does that minimal debt       richer, fuller measure. For Jesus'
                                                                             sake! 0





220 / The Standard Bearer


                                       As To Evolution At
Editorial                              Dordt College (4)

  Both because it has been a              1. Do mammals, for example, have a              In connection with this whole
couple months since we treated         common ancestor? Do all taxonomic               matter, Prof. Hodgson prepared a
this subject and because we will       phyla and kingdoms go back to a single          document entitled "A Statement
be discussing specifically the         ancestral line? They are good questions,
                                       and they are not easily answered. On the        of Explanation Regarding My
statements of Prof. Hodgson at         basis of presently available scientific         Participation at Hillsdale and a
the conclusion of his address, we      evidence, I think we cannot be totally          Statement of My Views on Crea-
will repeat those statements. For      sure. the studies of the earliest mammals       tion and Evolution." This docu-
reasons which will become plain        and birds, too, for that matter, show           ment was not sent to me by
a little later, I will number those    strong reptilian skeletal structures, indi-
                                       cating a highly reptile ancestry.               either Prof. Hodgson or Dordt
statements. Bear in mind that            Again, a transition from fish to lung         College, though both knew about
these are the corrected state-         fish to amphibians does to some extent,         and were concerned about my
ments, transcribed from a very         seem to be in evidence in the discovery of      writings on this subject; however,
clear recording, so that there can     some species that have been found.              one of our readers received a
be no doubt as to their accuracy:        2. Furthermore, if we look at the
                                       history of earth rocks - and some micro-        copy and forwarded it to me.
                                       fossils go back more than three billion         The second division of this docu-
                                       years - we are confronted with the fact         ment is entitled, "Explanation of
                                       that the simpler kingdoms, like Kingdom         Statements Made At Hillsdale." I
                                       Monera, occurred.before the more com-
                                       plex forms of life. So there seems to be a      will quote it in full:
                                       gradual divergence over time into more            One must remember that the quota-
                                       and more complex life forms. The                tions attributed to me in the press were
                                       earliest life forms were exceedingly sim-       based upon an admittedly noisy and
                                       ple and did not even have nucleated             poor quality tape, and cover only the
                                       cells. More recent life forms have been, of     very end of the debate, about 2.5% of my
                                       course, multi-celled, with some very com-       speaking time that evening. I understand
                                       plicated  organs that are involved.             that this tape or copies of it have been
                                         3.. So to summarize the point, I would        circulating, but none has ever been sent
                                       like to say the following, The case for         to me or Dordt College for inspection. I
                                       evolution, I believe, is a good one on the      therefore am not in a position to verify
                                       basis of available scientific evidence. The     the accuracy of the published quotations,
                                       possibility, however, of divine creation of     but I have no reason to doubt the tran-
                                       some basic life forms, particularly at          scribers tried to do their best. [I have since
                                       higher taxonomic levels, over widely            explained that I have a very clear record-
                                       spaced intervals of time - not just a few       ing, and the accuracy of the quotations
                                       thousand years now - is a possibility           above is unquestionable.  HChjl
                                       which cannot be ruled out on the basis            (A reconstruction, based upon student
                                       of present scientific observational             notes, of other parts of the debate has
                                       evidence. And so, I think that that is          also been published. Unfortunately it
                                       about where we really have to leave it. I       shows considerable inaccuracies, claim-
                                       think that there are some things that           ing, for example, that I found no fault
                                       strongly suggest evolution as an explana-       with the theistic evolutionist's interpreta-
                                       tion for a lot of the varieties of life that    tion of Scripture, when in fact I do have
                                       we find. Whether it will explain every-         strong reservations, and said so at Hills-
                                       thing, of course, will remain somewhat          dale. I have little confidence in the ac-
                                       for the future to discover.                     zuracy of the report based upon student


                                                                                                            The Standard Bearer / 221


notes.) [The reference here is to an article       The statement is followed by "Again, a       case" that would cause a grand jury to
by a student, Archie Allison, in the            transition from fish to lung fish to amphib     recommend a matter for trial, in contrast
Reformed Herald.  True, Dr. Hodgson ex-         ians does to some extent seem to be in          to a "proven case" with (sic) might result
pressed reservations about theistic evolu-      evidence in the discovery of some species       from a-trial. As I spoke I was thinking of
tion; whether they were so very `Strong"        that have been found. " This is a state-        that difference, but it was too subtle (and
is, I think, open to debate. I can quote        ment based upon fossil finds. There are a       an unexplained) distinction for the au-
his statements if need be. HCQ'                 number of transitional species that have        dience. It was a serious mistake.
   I shall comment on some of the state-        been found, even if some Christians like           Then I concluded with the words,
ments which appear in the tape recorded         to keep repeating that there are no             "`And so I think that that is about where
portions. (Remember, that unfortunately         transitional forms. Again, however, the         we really have to leave it. I think that
only my final words appeared in print,          case is not fully determined, but all think-    there are some things that strongly sug-
without the benefit of the context of my        ing Christians, especially those who are        gest evolution as an explanation for a lot
earlier statements.) I shall comment para-      qualified biologists and geologists, must       of the varieties of life that we find.
graph by paragraph.                             take a careful look at the evidence. That       Whether it will explain everything, of
   Paragraph 1.  Asking whether mam-            was my great concern in the debate -            course, will remain somewhat for the
mals, or the various phyla and kingdoms         the Church is ill served if we have             future to discover. " I am suggesting in
can be traced back to a common                  anathemas pronounced without a careful          these words that on the narrower tax-
ancestry (a common question students            look at the evidence (both Biblical and         onomic levels (genus, family, etc.) there
ask), I responded by saying "On the basis       scientific) by qualified people.                probably has been a measure of micro-
of presently available scientific evidence,       There is nothing, therefore, in this          evolution, and that God has been pleased
(emphasis added by Prof. Hodgson) I             paragraph which is urging my audience           to work that way in some cases. I had
think we cannot be totally sure." I was         to forsake their Biblical faith to embrace      even examined the Apostle Paul's state-
speaking about the scientific evidence          an evolutionist philosophy.                     ment in Acts I7:26 which implies
here (in my mind it was set in italics), not      Paragraph 2. This paragraph says the          divergence (microevolution) within the
the Biblical evidence, which I had dis-         fossil evidence indicates that simple life      human species over time. I had discussed
cussed earlier. Scientifically speaking, the    forms preceded the more complex, and            the idea of microevolution (accepted by
question of common ancestry is still an         that there appears to have been a               many conservative Christian creationist
open one. The scientific evidence present-      gradual divergence over time. There is no       scholars) earlier in the evening.
ly available does not either establish or       real doubt about this sequence among              It is evident in this closing paragraph
refute either a creationist or an evolution-    scientists generally; it is also a view         that I blundered in expressing myself. I
ary interpretation of events. The phrasing      generally shared by most Christian              had no intention of leading my hearers
of some of my words in this paragraph,          biology and geology professors. Evolu-          from Biblical teaching.
coming at the end of a three hour, hot,         tionists consider this sequence to be              What about all this?
sweaty debate, and facing a time limit,         evidence of an evolutionary unfolding              As far as I am concerned, Dr.
were awkward. Clearly they lack the             over time, but a progressive creationist
polish and editing of an unhurried open-        would argue that the sequence is due to         Hodgson's attempt to put some
ing statement, but I think my meaning is        a series of separate divine acts of crea-       kind of good interpretation upon
generally clear, although the phrasing          tion spread over long eras of time. (My         his words is totally unacceptable.
could be improved. I fail to see how this       remarks made earlier in the evening             And here are my reasons:
statement constitutes "teaching                 about the progressive creationists made            1. There is not the slightest in-
evolution. " [Correction! These statements      that sort of thing clear to the audience.)
did not come "at the end of a three hour,       Again, there is nothing in this paragraph       dication in the tape recording
hot, sweaty debate." They came at the           urging people to become evolutionists.          that Dr. Hodgson's explanation of
conclusion of Prof Hodgson's opening 45           Paragraph 3. I am reported as saying          Paragraph 1 is true. In his speech
minute statement. HCH]                          "The case for evolution, I believe, is a        he emphatically did not indicate
  The quotation `strains of curious mam-        good one on the basis of available scien-       that he was emphasizing scientific
mals . . . " in the paragraph is garbled. It    tific evidence." Note here again I am           evidence in distinction, say, from
makes no sense. Whatever I said (I am           speaking of "available scientific
not sure of the exact wording) related to       evidence. " I was thinking particularly of      Biblical evidence. Neither is it
the earliest mammals and birds. Their           microevolution, although I might have           true that he even so much as
skeletal structures do show strongly rep-       left the prefix "micro-" off the word. I        suggests that he meant that the
tilian characteristics. There is little room    was not talking at this point about             alleged strong reptilian skeletal
for doubt about that - I think most             Biblical evidence, which I had covered          structures of "the earliest mam-
Christian biologists and geologists, if they    earlier. I then went on to indicate in the
have studied these fossils, would agree.        words that followed that the present            mals and birds" (prehistoric mam-
To the evolutionist their reptilian char-       available scientific evidence did not, and      mals and birds? HCI-I) indicates a
acteristics indicate a reptile ancestry is      should not be construed as excluding, the       highly likely reptile ancestry fo
highly likely. What may look "highly like-      orogressive creationist position (the posi-     the  euolutionist.  Dr. Hodgson
ly" to the evolutionist is a `not proven" to    tion held by B.B. Warfield, Edward J.
most creationists. While we may disagree        Young, and my own position).
with the evolutionists' conclusion, we            My expression here should have been
cannot honestly pretend the reptilian           clearer, I admit, because some might
characteristics are not there. We must be       have gone away thinking that "The case
truthful about the evidence.                    for evotution is good. . . " meant my per-
                                                sonal endorsement. It was spoken un-
                                                wisely (as the timekeeper was signalling
                                                me to end). I had in the back of my mind
                                                I remember the sense of having a "`good

222 / The Standard Bearer


makes a flat, objective statement;     difficulty in maintaining                Could anyone leave Hillsdale
and he himself must accept             tion in the light of the Scriptural    after such statements thinking
responsibility for that statement.     statements concerning the crea-        that Prof. Hodgson promoted on-
The alternative is that he flatly      tion of living things on Days 3, 5,    ly divine creation (even a pro-
retracts it - publicly and to all      and 6 in Genesis 1. Further, it is     gressive divine creation)? The
concerned. The same is true of         characteristic of the progressive      answer is plainly: No.
Prof. Hodgson's statement con-         creationist position, to which Dr.       Could anyone leave Hillsdale
cerning so-called "transitional        Hodgson appeals here, that it          after such statements thinking
forms." (These used to be called       makes room for such evolutionist       that Prof. Hodgson denied evolu-
"missing links" between species.)      ideas. And, note well, in the con-     tionism? The answer is plainly:
Note carefully that he does not        text of Paragraphs 1 and 3 the         No.
merely speak of similarities, if       ideas of Paragraph 2, of "diver-         Could anyone leave Hillsdale
there be such. But he speaks of        gence" (evolution) from simple to      after such statements thinking
"a transition" and of "transitional    complex are indeed evolutionist.       that Prof. Hodgson taught a
forms." This is evolutionist             4. In the light of Paragraph 3,      degree of evolutionism? The
language.                              I simply stand aghast at Prof.         answer is inescapably: Yes.
  2. But let us grant Prof. Hodg-      Hodgson's claim that he did not          Could anyone leave Hillsdale
son's explanation of Paragraph 1       take the evolutionist position in      after such statements, in the con-
(and also Paragraph 2) for the         the Hillsdale debate. True, he         text of Prof. Hodgson's claimed
moment. Let us accept his claim        leaves open the "possibility" of       adherence to "progressive crea-
that he is speaking of "scientific     "divine creation of some basic         tionism," thinking that "pro-
evidence" in distinction from          life forms." And the latter are        gressive creationism" leaves
"Biblical evidence" for the mo-        restricted to "particularly at the     room for an admixture of and a
ment. Underlying this explana-         higher taxonomic levels." And          compromise with evolutionism?
tion is the assumption that            these, in turn, are "over widely       Again, the answer is plainly:
science is neutral, and that           spaced intervals of time - not         Yes. Cl                           HCH
"scientific evidence" is the same      just a few thousand years now."
for the (Reformed) believer and        And then he does not even
for the unbeliever. This is plain      positively assert these, but states
from such a statement as this:         that they "cannot be ruled out on
"The scientific evidence presently     the basis of present scientific
available does not either establish    observational evidence." Then he
or refute either a creationist or      concludes by asserting that
an evolutionary interpretation of      "there are some things that
events." No Reformed scientist,        strongly suggest evolution as an
proceeding from his a priori           explanation for a lot of the
Biblical and believing "bias"          varieties of life that we find."
would ever make a statement
like that. His Biblical "bias" (or
"believing bias") would forbid it.
And, by the way, no unbelieving,
evolutionist scientist would make
such a statement either. His
unbelieving, evolutionist bias
would forbid it.
  3. When Prof. Hodgson speaks
of "a gradual divergence over
time" in Paragraph 2, he is in
fact speaking about eoohtion. It        The Standard Bearer makes a
is plain from his speech that he
equates "divergence" and evolu-
tion. Besides, it appears to me        thoughtful gitt for members of your
that he would have considerable        family, friends, and neighbors.  Give
                                       a gift of the Standard Bearer.

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer / 223


                                                Receiving The
~ In His  Fear
    Arie den Hartog                             Word of God

       In I Thessalonians 2: 13 the             Word of God is the great power          of none effect," Psalm 339-10.
    apostle Paul speaks of giving               and blessing of the church. It will     God shakes heaven and earth by
    thanks to God without ceasing on            accomplish its purpose for the          His almighty Word, and causes
    account of the saints in                    glory of God and the salvation of       the earth to tremble before Him.
    Thessalonica, because they                  His people when it is received          Even more powerful and wonder-
    received the Word of God, not as            truly as the Word of God. All           ful is the Word of God when He
    the mere word of men, but as it             troubles and apostasy that are in       accomplishes His Sovereign pur-
    is in truth the Word of God.                the church can be traced to her         pose of salvation. By His Word
    Earlier in this epistle Paul com-           refusal to receive the Word of          He condemns and judges the
    mended the great virtue of this             God as the Word of God.                 ungodly reprobate, and finally
    church. He remembered their                   The Word of God is a great            casts him into eternal destruction.
    work of faith, labor of love, and           and fearful wonder. God is a liv-       By His almighty Word He calls
    patience of hope in the Lord                ing, personal, wonderful, speak-        His people from the ends of the
    Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Thessa-           ing God. He is the God of infinite      earth and gathers His elect unto
    lonicans had become examples to             knowledge and wisdom. God               Himself. Not all the power of the
    all that believed in Macedonia              speaks of Himself to reveal             devil and the raging of the na-
    and Achaia. All of this was                 Himself outside of Himself,             tibns are able to prevent the
    directly related to the manner in           especially to man. God speaks of        Lord from accomplishing His pur-
    which these saints of God re-               His own sovereignty, majesty,           pose by His wonderful Word of
    ceived the Word of God. The                 and holiness. God speaks as the         power. No one can stand before
                                                righteous God and judge of all          His Word. By the power of His
                                                men, to reveal His will to men.         Word the Lord will judge His
                                                God speaks in order to explain          people in righteousness. "The
                                                His own deeds and wonders in            Word of God is quick, and
                                                the earth and in history. God's         powerful, and sharper than any
                                                word is powerful. It is almighty        twoedged sword, piercing even
                                                and effectual to accomplish all         to the dividing asunder of the
                                                His purpose in creation and             soul and spirit, and of the joints
                                                history. He created the heavens         and marrow, and is the discerner
                                                and the earth and all that they         of the thoughts and intents of the
                                                contain by the Word of His              heart," Hebrews 4:12. The Word
                                                power. "Let all the earth fear the      of God is mighty and effectual to
                                                Lord: let all the inhabitants of the    save His people. By His Word
                                                world stand in awe of Him. For          God quickens the dead and
                                                He spake, and it was done; He           makes alive. By His Word He
                                                commanded, and it stood fast.           causes His people to become new
                                                The Lord bringeth the counsel of        creatures in Christ Jesus. By the
    Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Protes-    the heathen to nought: He               Word of the Lord He convinces
    tant Reformed Church of Randbiph,           maketh the devices of the people        men of sin, and turns,them again
    Wisconsin.

    224  f  The Standard Bearer


unto Himself. By the Word of the       without mixture of human word         the mere word of men,`but as it
Lord He effectually works faith in     and wisdom, the perfect Word of       is in truth the.Word of God? The
the hearts of His people and           God. Thus what the Bible says is      blessing, prosperity, and spiritual
causes them to trust in Him            what God Himself has said. God        strength of the church is depen-
alone..By His Word the Lord in-        Himself spoke to men and caused       dent upon the Word of God and
structs His people in truth and        them infallibly to write His Word.    how we receive it. Two great
righteousness, not only objective-       God will have His Word              evils always arise in the church.
ly, but also by enlightening their     preached in the world for the         In many churches God's Word is
minds and `giving them under-          salvation of His people and the       no longer faithfully preached.
standing of His truth. By the          glory of His own name. That is        Modern man does not believe
Word of the Lord He comforts           how He continues to speak even        that the Scriptures are the ab-
and assuies His people in all their    today. First He sent prophets and     solutely infallible and authorita-
trials and afflictions. By the Word    apostles to preach His Word.          tive Word of God. Modern man
of the Lord His people are             They were His official am-            imagines that the Scriptures are a
preserved from all evil and saved      bassadors, with His mighty Word       mixture of God's Word and man's
to the uttermost, and none shall       of salvation. In all their preach-    opinion and interpretation.
be able to destroy.                    ing and teaching they must speak      Preaching in many churches to-
  God has in olden days spoken         nothing but the Word of God.          day has lost its power and
His Word through the mouths of         The apostles and prophets were        authority chiefly because it is not
His holy prophets. He gave them        instruments of special revelation.    truly the preaching of the Word
special revelations and put His        They were in a special way given      of God. But there is also another
own Word in their mouths. He q         the Word of God, and could            evil: this is the evil of people
sent them forth by His Spirit so       speak with absolute authority         who refuse to hear the Word of
they could speak His Word with         from God in all that they             God in truth. When the Word of
great power and authority. In the      preached. They were called to         God is preached, these imagine
fulness of time, God sent forth        defend the truth of God's Word        that it is nothing more than one
His Son as the Word made flesh,        against all the opposition of men.    man's opinion that can be ac-
as the brightness of His own           They did this, not for their own      cepted or rejected according to
glory, and the express image of        glory and advantage, but for the      their own fancy. Every man
His person. The Lord Jesus came        glory of God and the advantage        claims the right to interpret the
to earth not only to do mighty         of the people of God who were         Word of God in his own way.
deeds and wonders, but also to         to be saved by the Word of God.       Meanwhile, every man does what
reveal the Word of God. Much of          God today still sends forth His     is right in his own eyes.
the Lord's ministry on earth was       Word through the preaching. He          God's people, according to
that of preaching the Word of          Himself calls and ordains             Isaiah 66, must be a people who
God. How wonderful was the             preachers of His Word. He sends       tremble at the Word of God. How
Word of God as spoken by the           them forth with Hi5 Word and          can our response to God's Word
Lord Jesus Christ. By His mighty       Spirit, effectually and powerfully    be any other than that? God, the
and powerful Word He made the          to accomplish His purpose. He         almighty and Sovereign Lord of
blind to see, the deaf to hear, the    does not give men today any           heaven and earth, speaks. Shall
dumb to speak, the lame to walk,       new revelation, because His           we, as creatures of His hand who
and even raised up the dead. By        Word is perfect and complete as       are totally dependent on Him,
the Word of God the Lord Jesus         it is recorded in the Scriptures.     and who are guilty sinners in His
defeated the devil and caused          God speaks His Word today             sight, not fear and tremble at His
him to flee in great terror before     when faithful men of God ex-          Word? We receive the Word of
Him.                                   pound and. teach from the Holy        God in truth when we bow hi ho-
  God gave us His Word in the          Scriptures. God Himself causes        ly reverence and humility before
Bible. The Bible is the written        the preaching of His Word to be       it. We receive the Word of God
record of the Word of God. It is       effectual for the salvation of His    properly when we listen to it
in its entirety the Word of God        people, through the operation of      with great seriousness, without
alone. God so inspired the human       His Spirit.                           saying in our hearts that we
instruments which He used to             We, as people of God, have the
write the Bible that they could        great privilege and blessing to
write, without any error and           hear the Word of God through
                                       the preaching. Do we receive the
                                       preaching of the Word, not as


                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 225


know better ourselves. We                   Much opposition against certain       guilty of rejecting the Word of
receive the Word of God proper-             preachers is nothing but a smoke      God to our own detriment and
ly when we take heed to its com-            screen for opposition against the     judgment.
mandments and admonitions. We               Word of God itself. How easily          Blessed is the church and the
receive the Word of God in truth            members of the church today           people of God who receive the
when we trust completely in its             dismiss the preaching of God's        Word of God in truth. That
promises, and look earnestly for            Word as the opinion of the            church will be able to stand in
the fulfillment of its great proph-         preacher. It is true that we          our evil day against the many
ecies.                                      preachers cannot speak infallibly     false doctrines around us. That
   We have to be on our guard               as the apostles of the Lord did.      church will also inevitably mani-
against every temptation to reject          This does not, however, give the      fest the glorious virtues of Christ
the Word of God. The Word of                members of the church the right       which were so beautifully re
God often offends because of our            quickly to dismiss the preaching      vealed in the church of
sinful arrogance and pride. The             and substitute their own opinions     Thessalonica.
Word of God goes directly                   and interpretations of God's            God Himself must give us His
against all of the inclinations of          Word. In connection with hearing      grace and Holy Spirit that we
our sinful flesh. How easy it is to         the preaching of the Word of          might receive His Word in truth.
become critical of the preaching            God, we must always also follow       Let us pray that we might be a
of God's word and to fault the              the example of the Berean Chris-      church and people who always
preacher. But often the opposi-             tians, by daily searching the         receive the Word of God as it is
tion which we have against a cer-           Scriptures, that we might know        in truth the very Word of God,
tain preacher is in fact due to of-         whether the preaching is truly        the God of our salvation. Cl
fense at the Word of God itself.            the Word of God, lest we become





 Walking -In
 The Light
Herman C. Hank0                             Euthanasia (4)

                                              In previous articles we have at-    quire only a few allusions to
                                            tempted to point out the com-         some common-day practices to
                                            plexity of the problem of so-         show how true this is.
                                            called euthanasia and see some         On the one hand, there is a
                                            of the ramifications of it in our     great deal of talk in the world to-
                                            present-day society. In the next      day about the sanctity of life, the
                                            two articles, we have to try to       worth of the individual, the
                                            come to some conclusions on the       obligation we all have to make
                                            matter and offer some guidelines      life easier and happier for the
                                            for our thinking.                     down-trodden, the oppressed,
                                              We live in a very strange           those who experience discrimina-
                                            world, made strange by the            tion in any form, etc. The in-
                                            presence of sin. Indeed, as the       dividual is so important and his
                                            night of sin grows darker and in-     place in life so sacred that any
                                            iquity abounds, the strange incon-    kinds of racial slurs, discrimina-
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church      sistencies of life in this wicked     tory actions, ethnic jokes, or
History and New Testament in the Protes-    world are magnified. It will re-      whatever, directed against him
tant Reformed Seminary.

226  / The Standard Bearer


are severely condemned,`and            most atrocious crimes to gain                              death which God has sent as
become in some instances the           money for a drug habit. But the                            puni3Kiint f?$sm, and thus is
stuff of expensive lawsuits.           same liberal frame of mind which                           desp~~~t~~~to~s~~-that  he can
   Coupled with this are the           is so determined to respect life is                        escape God's anger, do as he
tremendous efforts which are be-       the force behind an utter callous-                         pleases, and finally make God's
ing expended and the enormous          ness towards the victims of crime                          punishment of sin ineffective. _
sums of money which are being          and a wooly-headed concern for                               Euthanasia belongs to this
spent in research and develop-         the criminal. The one who gets                             whole picture. As we noticed in
ment to extend man's life. Every       shot doesn't count; the suffering                          earlier articles, it is a growing
effort is being made to combat         and anguish of his family and                              movement, an idea which is, to
disease, to invent ever new and        loved ones is unimportant; the                             use a word of our Surgeon-
ever costlier machines which will      murderer must have his rights                              General, snowballing to alarming
increase man's life span. And as       protected and must not, under                              proportions. The idea behind it
the average age of people in-          any circumstances, be put to                               all is something called rather
creases, science boasts with a         death. Alcohol can figure in 60%                           euphemistically, "the quality of
loud voice about its accomplish-       or better of accidents which                               life." We must, we are told, be
ments. One need only think, e.g.,      leave the highways running with                            concerned about and interested
of the mechanical heart which          blood, but drunk drivers go scot-                          in the quality of life. Now, I am
has recently been used in several      free, beer and whiskey commer-                             not prepared to say what exactly
instances  - of the tremendous         cials continue to dominate TV                              this rather vague, but catchy
cost involved in developing it, of     screens, and no one gives a snap                           word means. But it refers to the
the unprecedented medical bills        of the fingers for the innocent                            fact that life has got to be pleas-
which are being accumulated as         victims of these accidents who                             ant, has got to be enjoyable, has
it is actually being tried in some     must bear their sorrow alone.                              got to be "normal" in some
people, of the untold amount of        Thousands, tens of thousands,                              vague sense, or else life is not
suffering which some are willing~      and hundreds of thousands of                               worth living. The phrase turns up
to endure to live a little while       babies are killed in cold blood,                           a lot in connection with the treat-
longer in this world.                  before they see the light of day,                          ment of cancer patients. The doc-
  If I may insert a parenthetical      in hospitals and abortion clinics;                         tor, in discussing with the patient
remark or two at this point: this      the future generations of this                             what treatment he ought to have,
whole matter of prolonging life        country are sacrificed to the god                          talks about prolonging life, but
seems sometimes to be ironic in        pleasure - as Judah under                                  also about the quality of that life
the extreme. Prolonging life is        Manasseh sacrificed her children                           when it is prolonged. "I can," the
hailed by some as the ultimate         in the fiery arms of the idol                              doctor says, give you, through
triumph of medical science. But I      Moloch, and those who have the                             treatment, another ten years. But
have made too many trips to too        biggest word about the sanctity                           you have to know that `the quali-
many rest homes and nursing            of life are those who scream the                          ty of your life' will be reduced,
homes, and seen too many               loudest about the rights, to abort                        . that this `quality/of&fe' will
tragedies of prolonging life to        a child.                         I                         deteriorate-h the passing of
join in the hosannas.                    The only explanatibn  for this                           the years, and that you must
life is prolonged_, .!hs<&gCex.a       strange phenomenon is man's                             ./ make a choice of dying within
become t@ie `problems~~wLhich.men.,    determined opposition to God,                             five years without treatment, or
create \;yKthous~nds  of nursing       man's insatiable desire to rule                    1      in ten years with treatment. The
homes-filled with thousands of         sovereignly in this world, man's $ determining factor is the `quality
people who have little else to do      fixed purpose to cast God from                            of life.' "
but wait to die. This is progress?     His throne, and man's total dis-                          ;, While 1 suppose, from a certain
and cause for jubilation? But this     regard for life, regardless of what                       point of view, there may be a bit
by way of parenthesis.                 he may say. His disregard for life                        of truth to this whole business of
  On the other hand, life is           is everywhere evident. And when                           quality of life, I have come to
cheap. Criminals roam the streets      he apparently succeeds in pro-                            despise the notion, for all that. I
ready to shoot a person for 50         longing life, he does so not                              think of the family with a child
cents, not hesitant to commit the      because life is so sacred to him                          with severe Down's syndrome.
                                       and not because he loves his                              Doctors are of the opinion that
                                       fellow man so dearly; but rather
                                       because he hates Go&BteF-
                                            -.-.-- L_mM*---
                                       mined to overcome sickness and
                                           -~_"_~_-F.-+-=--~--  _ --4-c-- .x,. nah_- _ _ _.

                                                                                                                   The'Standard Bearer  / 227


the "quality of life" is so poor for            Euthanasia speaks much of the               as he pleases. And not only may
such a child that, if they discover          quality of life. And the pro-                  he do with his own life what he
this condition before the child is           ponents of euthanasia are deter-               pleases, but he has come to think
born, the child ought to be                  mined to open the way of the                   of himself as so powerful that he
aborted. But what of the hap-                killing of those whose quality of              may do to others who cannot
piness of such a child, a hap-               life is low. The old, the sick, the            make their own decisions what
piness that is so great that he or           mentally incapacitated, the                    he thinks ought to be done.
she is like a light around the               babies, children and older peo-                   Euthana_sia is plasmd simple
house? What about the parents                ple, whose life is one of suffering            murder. No one, &der any cir-
who learn to love that child with            or abnormality - these have to                 ctZi%tances, may take the life of
such a love that it is almost                go. More and more the notion is                another person: No one may
greater (if that were possible)              being spread abroad in the land                himself determine when and how
than the love they have for their            that it is perfectly all right to ter-         another's life shall end. To do so
`normal" children? What do any               minate the life of anyone who                  is to play God, to take or attempt
doctors know about the quality               has lost this elusive quality of               to take into one's own hand the
of life in such situations? My               life. Organizations flourish which             prerogatives which belong to
`grandmother, a dear, pious and              even give instructions on how                  God alone. No one may, under
Godly saint, never lived a day of            to commit suicide when you are                 any circumstances, be instrumen-
the last thirty or forty`years of            convinced that your quality of                 tal in another's death. We must
her life without excruciating                life has so deteriorated that you              get that straight and we must
pain. But-the quality of her life            want to bring it to an end.                    proceed from that principle.
wassomething else. She bore                  ""Man has come to think that he                  This does not mean that many
children, raised a family, gave              has the complete say-so about his              other problems do not remain.
them Godly instruction, and was              life. He may do with it as he             I    They do. And we shall try to
an unending source of wisdom,              c ple&es - so he thinks. It is his to 1 sIjeak of them in another
strength, guidance, and advice to            live as he pleases; it is his to end           article. 0
the entire neighborhood in which                                                       i
s h e   l i v e d .                                                                    \





                                            Exegetical Sketches on
From  Holy  Writ
George C. Lubbers                           Micah 6:M (3)

                                                We now come to our consider-                before the high God? shall I come
                                              ation of Micah 6:6, 7. We wish to             before him with burnt offerings,
                                              state at the very outset that these           with calves of a year old? Will
                                              two verses are worthy of our                  the Lord be pleased with
                                              careful consideration. The Word               thousands of rams, or with ten
                                              of God is worthy of being                     thousands of rivers of oil? shall I
                                             studied. Such study yields rich                give my first born for my trans-
                                              rewards.                                      gression, the fruit of my body for
                                                The verses here read as                     the sin of my soul?"
George C Lubbers is a minister emeritus       follows: "Wherewith shall I come
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.          before the Lord, and bow myself

228  / The  Standard Bearer


    When we take an overview of          ple. It must be the sacrifice of       was not the institution of this calf
 these questions, which are asked        praise and thanksgiving, the fruit     worship a basic historical depar-
 in these verses, we notice that         of the lips (Hebrews 13:15, 16).       ture from God? Was it not then
 they are really rhetorical ques-          Meanwhile we must not -forget        that God turned and gave them
 tions. To ask these questions is        that the LORD has a controversy        up to worship the hosts of
 really to answer them. Implied in       exactly on this point with his         heaven, as it is written in the
 these questions, in the light of all    people. We are certain that the        book of the prophets, "0 ye
 the Scriptures, is a strong: God        clear-cut word of Jesus to the         house of Israel, have ye offered
 forbid!                                 Samaritan woman is here fitting,       me slain beasts and sacrifices by
    The following elements call for      which reads, "God is a spirit; and     the space of forty years in the
 our specific attention:                 they that worship him must wor-        wilderness?" (Acts 7:41 ff.) Thus
   First, that just who the ques-        ship him in spirit and in truth"       was God displeased with all
 tioner is, is not clearly indicated     (John 4:23, 24).                       abominations in his temple!
 in the text. Either they are ques-        Let us now consider these              However, there is more to be
 tions which are asked by an in-         various questions in the text          said concerning sacrifices and
 dividual "1," a definite Israelite,     briefly.                               burnt offerings. Really God never
 who responds with a pricked               First, as we have earlier in-        desired the latter at all. How
 heart to the divine controversy of      dicated, these questions all imply     clearly God speaks concerning
 God with his people, or the             a "God forbid!" And this response      His not desiring burnt offerings in
i prophet, by rhetorical device,         must be elicited from the heart        Psalm 40:6-S We read: "Sacrifice
 places these questions in the           and mouth of every believer. For       and offering thou didst not
 mouth of someone, who then in           in a sense this is a question after    desire; mine ears hast thou
 that capacity asks the questions,       the well-known revealed will of        opened: burnt offering and sin of-
 so that the divine answer may be        God. Already in paradise God           fering has thou not required.
 heard.                                  killed the lamb, clothed Adam          Then said I, Lo, I come: in the
   Secondly, we should also              and Eve with the skins thereof,        volume of the book it is written
 notice that there is one leading        and proclaimed that the Seed of        of me." It is for the unprofitable-
 question in the text, which is          the woman will triumph in the          ness and weakness of these
 then amplified by other more            blood of the Lamb, which is            sacrifices that they all would be
 detailed questions. The leading         without spot or wrinkle. Away          annulled at the time of reforma-
 question is: "Wherewith shall I         then with all human sacrifice and      tion (Heb. 7:18).
 come before the LORD?" The              merely human ordinances! Adam            Hence, the real answer to
 other questions which follow are        and Eve needed to have the             these questions is to be found in
 elucidations upon the first ques-       shame of their nakedness taken         the thoughts of peace which God
 tion.                                   away. Thus it is also here in this     has in Christ, His Son, at Calvary.
   Thirdly, we ought to notice,          controversy!                           He is the priest which becomes
 that the question which suggests          As an aside, we might observe        us: holy, harmless, undefiled,
 the answers to all these questions      whether these questions might          separate from sinners, and made
 is: "Will the LORD be pleased           not be right, or at least under-       higher than the heavens (Heb.
 with" many and various                  standable, from the viewpoint of       7:26).
 sacrifices, or with very few obla-      the Old Testament shadows and            Now we are in a position to
 tions for that matter? What             types. Had not God Himself             see the utter folly of any human
 sacrifice can mere man place of         prescribed minutely and in great       attempt to bring sacrifices many.
 his own choosing which would            detail the duty of Israel to bring     Shall the bringing of thousands of
 please the LORD? For, mark you          sin offerings and burnt sacrifices     rams be of any profit? Thousands
 well, the sacrifices which are          in Leviticus 4:10, ff.? And was        of rams are just as unprofitable as
 brought into God's holy temple          not God very displeased when           the bringing of one more ram.
 and upon the altar must be a            Israel failed to bring these sacri-    How could thousands of rams
 pleasing odor and scent in God's        fices at their appointed times, or     bring about the righteousness of
 holy nostrils. The verb "be             when ,lsrael offered them con-         God which is the gift of mere
 pleased" in the Hebrew text is a        trary to the statutes in Israel?       grace? Was that not just the sad
 tense which expresses that all          Was not God very angry and             history of all the priesthood of
sacrifices must in very deed be          sorely displeased with all the         Aaron? It did not cleanse the
 pleasing, that unto all eternity        worship of the golden calf? And        conscience from one sin. Nor
 God loves to receive them as a                                                 could rivers `of oil change the
 perpetual odor in His holy tem-                                                situation. In themselves these


                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 229


rivers of oil are a stench in the       Nay, the law then shall not go           ly "good." Now if the LORD did
temple of God.                          forth from Sinai's heights; no           not desire law-works, He must
   Thirdly, it is obvious that now      more shall it be written upon            command something else, which
we see the godless horribleness         tables of stone, but it will be writ-    is good and which meets with his
of the question concerning the of-      ten on the tables of the heart.          approval. Perhaps we can do no
fering of the firstborn sons of         Micah had spoken of the ruler            better than to remind ourselves
Israel for transgressions. There is     who would go forth out of                of the New Testament phrase-
something shocking in the ques-         Bethlehem. His going forth is            ology, "and be ye not conformed
tion: "Shall I give my firstborn        really from eternity, as proceed-        to this world: but be ye trans-
for my transgression, the fruit of      ing from the counsel of peace.           formed by the renewing of your
my body for the sin of my soul?"        Now this was really written on           mind, that ye may prove what is
What a depth of folly! For it is        every page of Scripture by all the       the good, and acceptable, and
the wisdom of men which would           prophets. For all the prophets in-       perfect will of God." (Rom. 12:2)
set aside the wisdom of God as          quired and searched out diligent-          We shall do well to take a
manifested in the plain of salva-       ly concerning the salvation of           close and hard look at this brief
tion. For had not God said              our souls. They all knew that            assertion.
already to Pharaoh, "Thus saith         there is not a man living who              Let it then be seen clearly that
the LORD, Israel is my son, even        can give a ransom for his soul, so       the verb "shew" in the Hebrew
my firstborn?" (Ex. 4:22) All the       that he is free from guilt and cor-      has a causative force. It really
firstborn sons in Israel belonged       ruption of sin. In faith the saints      means: the Lord has caused thee
to the LORD. They were re-              of old looked for the One to             to know what is good. It refers to
deemed on the fortieth day in           come. They looked away from all          making it so clear to the under-
the temple. A Levite substituted        self-righteousness as did Abraham        standing that there need be no
for them in the temple service.         and David. With Abraham they             doubt as to what was said or
Besides, was not the shedding of        looked in faith unto God Who             meant. The Lord never desired
human blood forbidden? Did God          justifies the ungodly. Such faith is     sacrifices, but would have mercy
not stay the hand of Abraham            counted for righteousness. And           and a new spiritual obedience of
from cutting Isaac's jugular vein?      with David they sang Psalm 32:1,         thankfulness. Here in court the
Would God not prepare Himself a         2, "Blessed are they whose iniq-         high God confronts man. He says
sacrifice for sin? Was it not writ-     uities are forgiven, and whose           to everyone, "0 man!" Man has
ten in the volume of the book of        sins are covered. Blessed is the         but to listen and give heed and
God?                                    man to whom the Lord will not            obey the precepts of the Lord as
   The list is ended of these horri-    impute sin." (Romans 4:4-S)              a redeemed people. The key-note
ble questions.                            But we must move on.                   is as given in the words of Moses:
   I feel thankfully relieved!            We will now consider what the          "Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD our
   Really, the answer to these          Holy Spirit tells us in Micah 6:8-a.     God is one LORD: And thou shalt
questions was already given             We read here: "He hath shewed            love the LORD thy God with all
earlier in the prophecy of Micah.       thee, 0 man, what is good . . . ."       thine heart, and with all thy soul,
It is the same answer which we            There are some passages in the         and with all thy might." Thus
read in Isaiah 2:1-4. It all awaits     Bible which legalists and                spoke Moses in Deut. 6:4, 5.
the last days, the time of the          moralists explain in such a way          Hear, "0 man," and live! Cl
fulness of time, when Christ shall      that they wrest them to their
be manifested to be the "end of         own destruction. Such a passage
the law" for righteousness to           we have here in Micah 6:8.
every one who believes. Then no           However, let us bear the
one who believes shall seek to          following in mind. In the first
establish his own righteousness         place, the questioner is here
anymore. The "law that shall go         brought to an abrupt halt. "He,"
forth from Zion" is the word of         the LORD, had not left Israel in
the gospel of grace. Jew and            the dark concerning Christian
Gentile shall then both come to         ethics and as to what constitutes
Zion, the city of the living God.       what is "good," as a rule of Chris-
                                        tian conduct. This is crystal clear
                                        from Moses, the Psalms, and all
                                        the prophets. Secondly, the point
                                        that is made clear is what is real-


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                                         The Two Natures of
 Taking heed ~0 Christ: The Humanity
 The  Doctrine
Ronald H. Hanko                          of Christ

2. The characteristics of Christ's       An example is the error of Ap-           The Church recognized im-
    human nature (co&.).                 polinarianism (named after the         mediately that these were errors
   b. Christ's complete human            man who first taught this error,       and saw, too, that these errors
nature. Closely connected with           Appolinaris, Bishop of Laodicea        were not insignificant, but did
thk reality of Christ's human            in Syria). He taught that Christ       serious damage to the gospel.
nature is its completeness. It           did not have a human "mind"            Just as the reality of our salva-
should be immediately obvious            but that this had been replaced        tion depends on the reality of
that if His human nature is not          by the divine nature. Boettner         Christ's human nature and on the
complete, that is, if it does not in-    uses the analogy of a human            reality of His suffering and death
clude body, soul, spirit, heart,         mind in a lion's body to explain       in that human nature, so the
mind, will, and all that belongs to      what Appolinaris taught concern-       completeness of our salvation
our humanity, then it is not real        ing Christ (Studies in Theology, p.    depends on the completeness of
either.                                  263). Such an idea may seem            Christ's human nature. Our whole
   This also was denied in the           very strange to us, but we must        being has come under the
early history of the Church, first       remember that such errors arose        domination of sin and is enslaved
of all by those who taught that          in connection with the Church's        in spiritual blindness and
the deity of Christ replaced a cer-      attempt to defend what is still to-    darkness. Not only our bodies are
tain part of the human nature.           day a great mystery: that Christ       subject to sin and death, but also
                                         can be at the same both really         our souls (Is. 3:9), our spirits (II
                                         human and really divine, and yet       Cor. 7:1), our minds (Eph. 2:1-3),
                                         only one Christ. In fact, the          our wills (I Pet. 4:3), and our
                                         historical evidence seems to in-       hearts (Jer. 17:9). Thus we are
                                         dicate that Appolinaris did not        totally depraved not only in the
                                         deliberately teach heresy at this      sense that we are completely
                                         point, but was attempting to hold      wicked, but in the sense that our
                                         to the truth that there is but one     whole being and existence is
                                         Christ, without in any way com-        wicked and depraved. So it was
                                         promising the truth that He is         necessary that Christ took upon
                                         really and truly God.                  Himself all our humanity and suf-
                                           Another error, somewhat              fered in all that belongs to our
                                         similar to that of Appolinaris, was    human nature, not only in body,
                                         the teaching that Cl-irist had only    but also in soul and spirit,
                                         one will (Monothelitism), in effect    psychologically, emotionally, and
                                         a denial of the completeness of        spiritually (cf. Lk. 22:44, Jn.
                                         Christ's humanity, an error to         11:33), that we might be fully
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,     which Roman Catholicism still          delivered from this horrible
Texas.                                   tends today.                           slavery.

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    Gregory Nazianzen, one of the                 The strange thing that we see         was not like we shall be in the
opponents of Appolinaris, saw all               today is a neglect of this truth by     new heavens and earth: incorrupt-
of this most clearly:                           those who emphasize even at the         ible, immortal, with endless
   If anyone has put his trust in Him as a      expense of His deity-;- His likeness    strength and life; not even like
Man without a human mind, he is really          to us. The prevailing emphasis on       Adam in his perfection in Eden,
bereft of mind, and quite unworthy of           His sympathetic and complete            `but subject to poverty, weariness,
saluation. For that which He has not
assumed He has not healed; but that            humanity entirely misses the             hunger, pain, sickness, grief, and
which is united to His God-head is also         point, by missing the significance      death. All of these things, we
saved. If only half Adam fell, then that        of this truth. In the preaching for     must remember, are the results
which Christ assumes and saves may be           example, the complete humanity          of sin; and when Paul refers to
half also; but if the whole of his nature       of Christ is stressed merely to         sinful flesh, therefore, he is talk-
Fell, it must be united to the whole nature
of Him that was begotten, and so be             awaken some kind of emotional           ing about our flesh as it had then
saved as a whole. Let them not, then,           response, not to show our dread-        reaped the consequences of sin
begrudge us our complete salvation, or          ful condition and the need of His       for nearly 4,000 years.
clothe the Saviour only with bones and          complete humanity to assure us           II Corinthians  8:9 also refers to
nerves and the portraiture of humanity          of deliverance. In other words, a       this truth when it says that He
(Letter to Cledonius).
Likewise, the Heidelberg                        man might point to Christ's             "became poor" for our sakes.
Catechism hints at this truth                   agony of soul in the garden             This passage does not and cannot
when it says in Lord's Day XV,                  (Matt. 26:38) and describe at           apply only to the physical pover-
37 that He "sustained in body                   length the horror of Christ's suf-      ty into which He was born (Lk.
and soul the wrath of God                       fering, showing how it is like our      2:7) and which attended Him all
against the sins of all mankind,                own suffering and arousing our          His life (Matt. 8:20), but to the
that so . . . He might redeem our               deepest feelings, without ever          fact that He entered our low
body and soul from everlasting                  mentioning the fact that this soul-     estate. Not only was the glory of
damnation."                                     suffering of the Saviour was part       His divinity obscured, but as a
    To this it should be added that             of the price of the redemption of       man He had no glory and honor,
we do not only believe that                     our souls, and thus miss the            no comeliness or beauty (Is. 53:2).
Christ suffered and was tempted                 gospel in the passage.                  Philippians 2:7 says that He
at all points like we are (Heb.                   Here again, therefore, the            "emptied Himself" (KJV: "made
4:15), but that He also served                  Church must fight for the truth         Himself of no reputation"), and
God with heart and soul and                     concerning Christ even at those         we must not forget that even
mind and strength (of physical                 points where superficially it            apart from all the reproach and
body), that is, with His whole                 would seem there is no battle to         grief He had to endure, the
human nature, for that also was                 fight.                                  essence of His poverty lay simply
necessary for our salvation. It                   c. Christ's weakened human            in this, that He became like us.
was not only necessary for our                 nature. That Christ had a weak-          Perhaps this does not seem of
salvation that He suffer in every               ened human nature is also part of       such great importance. Certainly
respect the punishment of our                  the truth that He was like us in         it seems as though Christians give
transgressions, but that He offer              all things. In speaking of the           it little thought, for not only do
to God on our behalf a complete                 reality and completeness of His         the various manger scenes one
obedience as a substitute for our               human nature, the emphasis has          sees at Christmas show little of
disobedience, thus justifying us               been on the likeness to us, that         this, but it has been very much
before God.                                     He was made like us in all things.      forgotten in the song so often
                                               Now the emphasis is on the truth         sung by our children at Christmas
    Hebrews 2:17 would not be                  that He was made like us, that is,       time, "Away in a Manger." The
true, then, if He lacked any part              like us in our fallen condition,         line of that hymn, "The little
of our humanity. He would not
be made like us in all things, and             under the curse of God, subject          Lord Jesus, no crying He makes,"
                                               to death and hell, and suffering         is an outright denial of the truth
would not, in that case, be able
to be a merciful High Priest and               all the consequences of sin, or as       that He was like us also in our
to make reconciliation for our                 Paul says in Romans, "In the like-       weaknesses and sorrows. Certain-
                                               ness of sinful flesh' (8:3).             ly, in hunger, discomfort, and
sins.                                             This does not mean that Christ        fright, He must have cried as a
                                               Himself was sinful or even liable        babe, just as He also cried during
                                               to sin, but that He suffered in the      His earthly ministry as a grown
                                               flesh all the results of 4,000.years     man.
                                               of sin's debilitating power. He


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   Nor may we say that this is all          And so we see that in taking          is in His suffering for sin and as
of little account, for here also our      all these weaknesses upon               the result of sin. Thus, and thus
salvation depends on Him. All             Himself, Christ was taking upon         only, is He able to succor us in
these weaknesses and limitations          Himself the judgment due to us;         our temptations (Heb. 2:18).
are part of His humiliation, and          that He might deliver us from it.         The irony of it all is once
therefore also part of our salva-         That is the grace of His poverty.       again that it is exactly those who
tion. Paul says in II Corinthians           How often that is forgotten by        speak most often of the poverty
8:9 that all this is the grace of         those who teach today that the          and humiliation of Christ who are
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the            only consequence of Christ's            the greatest enemies of the truth
way in which we become rich in            poverty is a pity for the poor and      of His humanity. The threat to
Him. To understand, we must               deprived of this world, both on         the truth, therefore, is that the
know that all of the pain and suf-        the part of Christ and on the part      church should fail to see that His
fering we endure, and which He            of His church that manifests itself     poverty is "the curse due to us,"
took, are not just the results of         in various kinds relief efforts and     which He took, that He might
sin in the sense that they came           welfare programs! That is not on-       enrich us with all of the blessings
along with it, but the results of         ly a denial of the reality of His       that are in heavenly places in
sin in this sense, that they are          poverty and all it means, but a         Him. Let the church, therefore,
part of the punishment of sin.            failure to find in it any real help,    be careful when she confesses
God will not give joy, peace,             comfort, or relief. In other words,     that Jesus Christ came in the
comfort, and satisfaction to those        the comfort of His suffering,           form of a servant. 0
who walk in their own ways                poverty, shame, and humiliation,
apart from Him, for there is no
peace or life apart from Him.





  The Day of                              God's Promise
 Shadows
John A. Heys                              Faithfully Kept

                                            When the book of Ruth was             not stated prophetically. The
                                          written, we do not know. It was         author does not present it as
                                          written in or after the days of         something that is going to hap-
                                          David, but just when it was writ-       pen. He writes of that which
                                          ten and by whom, we cannot              already took place.
                                          say. The last verses in this book,        The author of this book, whom
                                          however, reveal that it was after       God used to pen down these
                                          David's anointing as future king        truths, could have been Samuel.
                                          of Israel. In these last verses,        He was born in the days of the
                                          David is mentioned as a descen-         judges, and was in fact the last of
                                          dant of Obed, whom God gave to          the judges; and he not only lived
                                          Boaz and Ruth. Whoever wrote            when David was born, but was
                                          this book of Ruth knew these            used by God to anoint David as
                                          men and the genealogies found           the one who would take Saul's
                                          in verses 18-22. That David was a       place as king over Israel.
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in
the Protestant Reformed Churches.         descendant of Boaz and Obed is

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       What is interesting in this book    ing to Him for all his earthly and     without any fear of punishment
is what man's name is mentioned            spiritual needs, he asked his flesh    in this life and in the life to
first in this book and whose               what would be best for him from        come. The death of Elimelech
name is mentioned last in it.              an earthly, physical point of          and his sons speaks loudly of
Elimelech is the man mentioned             view. Instead of praying that God      God's holy wrath. And Naomi's
first. He is the one whose name            would turn his fellow citizens         bitter weeping and request that
was continued upon the land in             from their sins, he sinned himself     she be called Mara, the Bitter
Canaan that God had given him,             by leaving behind God and the          One, is a warning to us. Besides,
even though he died without a              worship in His temple.                 enjoying sin should and must
grandson who could take over                 This is not exaggerating his         raise in our minds the question
his inheritance. In His grace, God         sin. We need but read five verses      whether we really have been
moved Boaz to walk in His law              in the first chapter of the book,      born again and are elect, believ-
and take Ruth, the wife of                 and we become aware of God's           ing children of God. In His ser-
Mahlon, the son of Elimelech, to           visitation upon that sin.              mon on the mount Jesus said that
raise up seed to inherit that land         Elimelech died. His sons went          they are blessed who mourn over
and keep Elimelech's name upon             further into sin and married           sin, not do it with joy, and do it
it.                                        heathen wives, which they would        with the idea that God will look
       But the man mentioned last in       not have done had their parents        the other way. That is believing,
this book is David, who became             stayed in the promised land.           but it is believing in another god
king and had his sons on the               Parents today better bear that in      than the one Who sent His Son
throne until Christ, Who was               mind also, and move only where         to die for those whom Jesus in
born in the royal line of David's          their children can grow up in a        that same sermon on the mount
descendants, came and obtained             church that preaches the truth,        calls the pure in heart, who
an everlasting kingship over               and where they can get husbands        hunger and thirst after
God's elect. For a time these              and wives that believe in the one      righteousness, are poor in spirit,
descendants of David did not sit           true and holy God.                     and mourn over sin.
on an earthly throne; but God                Neither does all this deny that        Now to return to what we
continued his seed in the royal            Elimelech was an elect child of        began to say, the last man whose
line until Mary brought forth this         God, who had all these sins            name appears in the very last
Christ.                                    forgiven. You cannot find              verse of this book of Ruth is
       Now Elimelech's name means          anywhere in Scripture the life of      David. And David is the one to
God is my King. He did not                 one that is treated a bit exten-       whom God gave such wonderful
always live up to this name. Had           sively who did not deserve the         victories as a king, so that under
he done so, he would never have            punishment of death. Did God           him the Israelites conquered and
left the land of Canaan during             not even tell Adam and Eve that        held all the land that God prom-
that famine. He would have                 one sin of eating a piece of fruit     ised Abraham. The last word we
obeyed God and not gone con-               that was forbidden would bring         find in this book is the name
trary to His laws. He would have           death? What about Noah,                David, the name of one who so
trusted in God, seeing that                Abraham, Jacob, David, and             clearly and wonderfully gave us
famine as God's judgment upon              Peter? And does not Paul in            a picture of that Son of David,
wickedness, and as chastisement            Romans 7 say that the evil that        Christ, Who will crush the head
to turn His people back to serv-           he would not, he does? The             of the serpent and all his seed
ing Him as their God and King.             blood of Christ blots out such sins    and bring the church to heavenly
Leaving Canaan was idolatry. Not           as well as Adam's and Eve's sins.      glory, because He suffered the
only did he go to idolatrous               And did God not in His grace           punishment we deserve, and per-
Moab, but he worshipped bread              cause these deaths to come so          formed the works of God's law
as his god. For he was willing to          that Naomi might be instructed         that we did not bring to Him.
break God's law in order to get            and brought back to the prom-            Between the name Elimelech
bread for his flesh. He was not            ised land and a ceasing of her         and the name David we find the
asking himself what God wanted             sin? Was it not all in God's plan      name Obed, the son of Boaz and
him to do, but what his flesh              to bring salvation to Ruth and to      Ruth. That name Obed means
wanted. Instead of praying to              bring her to Bethlehem where He        "serving" or "one who serves";
God for grace to continue look-            had decreed Christ would be            and how true it is that he served
                                           born?                                  the cause of God's church. He did
                                             This does not mean that we           not do this in his own strength.
                                           may go ahead in our sinful ways        Do we not read in Ruth 4:13, "So


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Boaz took Ruth, and she was his        with Mahlon could not beget a           these women spoke. Seeing with
wife: and when he went in unto         son, and then was given a con-          their fleshly eye, these women
her, the Lord gave her concep-         ception after Boaz married her -        saw that Elimelech kept his name
tion, and she bare a son?" That is     but through the more miraculous         in the promised land through this
often forgotten; but it is so very     birth of His own Son, when Mary         son of Boaz and Ruth. However,
true that God always gives the         of that royal line of David gave        what we see with the eye of faith
conception, or withholds it. Obed      birth to that Son right there in        is Christ born in the line of Obed,
served the bringing forth of seed      Bethlehem, and that by a virgin         Jesse, and David. He, Christ, is
to inherit Elimelech's land and to     birth!                                  now at God's right hand with the
keep the seed and line that              Closing the book with the             famous name of Lord over all
would bring forth David and            name of David, God directs our          lords and King over all kings.
Christ. But he served as God's         attention to Christ. Beginning the      And if those women had reason
servant. He served as a tool that      book by telling us that Elimelech       to cry out: "Blessed be the Lord,"
was in God's hand. From                sinfully departed from the place        how much more reason do we
Abraham to David and Christ            where God's love and grace were         not have to do that? For that is
there had to be an Obed, a ser-        displayed in types and shadows,         the most famous name that a
vant. That God's Son might come        the book shows us the need of           man can have. Adam was
in our flesh, and come in the          Christ. The famine in that prom-        created as king of this earth, hav-
fulfillment of God's promise to        ised land during the period of the      ing rule and dominion even over
Abraham, through Jacob and             judges, when every man did that         all the beasts of the field. Genesis
Judah, there had to be an Obed.        which was right in his own eyes,        1:26 declares that God made man
And in His grace God supplied          was a shadow of what Adam and           to have "dominion over the fish
him and used him.                      Eve did when they sinned and            of the sea, and over the fowl of
  We must become Elimelechs,           were driven out of the Garden of        the air, and over the cattle, and
that is, people who say and            Eden and away from the tree of          over all the earth, and over
whose lives reveal that God is         life. Elimelech's going to Moab so      every creeping thing that
our King. But we also - in order       that he could eat bread, where          creepeth upon the earth." But
to reach that point of salvation,      God did not dwell in His love and       Adam was not king over the
where He is our king in the sense      grace, was a shadow of what had         angels. And surely after the fall,
that we love and serve Him             happened there in the first crea-       man has no dominion over Satan
perfectly, and that which Jacob,       tion that God brought forth, and        and the fallen angels. They have
as God's servant, prophesied is        where Adam could meet with              spiritual dominion over man. But
fulfilled, namely, that the sceptre    God and enjoy His fellowship.           Christ, Who came in that line of
would not depart from Judah,           Showing us David through whom           Obed, Jesse, and David, has
nor a lawgiver from between His        in time Christ would be born,           dominion over every speck of
feet until shiloh come - must          God gives us a shadow of that           dust and of every living creature,
have that of which David and           which is coming. Christ will            as well as over all the inanimate
Solomon were only types and            come. God will keep His promise.        creation. He showed that also in
shadows. We need a Saviour               In light of all this we can           many of His miracles, not only
Who gives us a new spiritual life      understand the speech of the            by calming the raging sea by a
and implants a pure love to God        women when Obed was born.               command, but with power over
in us. We must have a King Who         They did not see all things as we       death and the grave.
crushes Satan, brings an end to        can see them today on this side           In that sense, too, Christ is the
his kingdom, but also takes all        of Christ's cross, resurrection, and    restorer of life and a nourisher of
the love of sin out of us and fills    ascension into heaven. But they         old age. Surely Ruth was a better
us with enmity against Satan and       did bless God for not leaving           gift to us, as well as to Naomi,
all that which denies that             Naomi "without a kinsman that           than seven sons born to Mahlon
Jehovah is our God and King.           his name may be famous in               and Chilion through heathen,
Does not David say in Psalm            Israel." The word here translated       Moabitish women, who would
145:1, "I will extol Thee my God,      as famous has the basic meaning         bring up their children in the
0 King?"                               of being "called a name". Yet we        worship and idolatry of Chemosh.
  Elimelech needed Him Who             can take hold of this translation       No, Christ must be born of Boaz,
was born in the line of Ruth's         and keep it as the truth of which       who was in the royal line of
son, Obed, for the forgiveness of                                              David, as we find it in Matthew 1
his sins. God supplied that need                                               and Luke 3. Elimelech was in the
not simply through Ruth - who                                                  line of David, but not in the royal


                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 235


     line as Salmon was, who was the         to save us from the serpent and       He chose in Christ. Naomi better
     one who begot Boaz. A son born          his seed. And let us not deceive      keep her name Pleasant and not
     to Mahlon, and thus a grandson          ourselves into thinking that when     tell anyone to call her Mara, or
     of Elimelech, could not pay for         we cannot buy or sell, because        Bitter. As Paul writes: "Our light
     Elimelech's and Naomi's sins. But       we have refused to take the           affliction which is but for a mo-
     Boaz in that royal line could and       mark of the beast, we of              ment, worketh for us a far more
     by God's grace did bring forth          ourselves would not become            ,exceeding and eternal weight of
     the Christ, Who blotted out the         Elimelechs and leave the church       glory. While we look not at the
     sins of all those given Him eter-       to get bread. That famine is com-     things which are seen, but at the
     nally by the Father.                    ing as surely as one came in the      things which are not seen: for the
       The book of Ruth begins by            day of the judges. God's children     things which are seen are tem-
     calling our attention to sin. It        then are going to be sorely tried.    poral; but the things which are
     closes by assuring us of the faith-     But let us hold fast to that truth    not seen are eternal," II Corin-
     fulness of our God to keep His          which we have here of God's           thians 4:17, 18.
     promises of taking away our sin.        faithfulness to His promises.            He did not deal bitterly with
     At that juncture we could not yet         Did God really deal bitterly        Naomi, but in the sweetness of
     be told literally of Christ and His     with Naomi? He was, in all that       His mercy and love. He was a
     birth in Bethlehem. But we can          we read of in this book of Ruth,      restorer of her life and a
     be and are shown thus far in the        preparing the way for Christ, and     nourisher of her old age. He is
     history of God's church that God        through Him the way for us to         our Saviour, and has every step
     keeps His promise of the sceptre        have our sins blotted out and to      of our way to living with Him in
     not departing from Judah, nor a         enter into the sinless, glorious      holiness and glory planned in
     lawgiver from between his feet          kingdom of His Son. He punishes       every detail. And He is faithful to
     until Shiloh, that is, Christ, is       His elect in the sense of chastis-    every letter in every word of His
     come. Things in the future may          ing them. But never, no never,        promises. 0
     look dark to us. It may look as         does God deal bitterly with those
I    though Christ is not coming back





                                             Perspective From
      Contribution
     Bruce Van Solkema                       The Pew

                                                I wish to convey the needs and     historical background, the mean-
                                             desires of every child of God who     ing of the text, with many ap-
                                             sits under the preaching of the       propriate proof texts and proper
                                             Word of God, the needs and ful-       examples and application for us
                                             fillment of those needs which are     in today's world: sermons that
                                             taken from the bottom of my           have one basic foundation, and
                                             heart as I listen to the preaching    that is, "Jesus Christ and Him
                                             from Sunday to Sunday.                crucified' (I Cor. 2:2). It we do
                                                In the first place, we should      not hear that basic foundation in
                                             desire to hear good exegetical        every single sermon, we as Gods
     Bruce Van Solkema is a member of the    Biblical sermons based on the en-     people sitting.in the pew are not
     Protestant Reformed Church of Byron     tire Word of God. We need ser-        fully spiritually edified. That is
     Center, Michigan.                       mons that explain to us the

     236  / The Standard Bearer


what our heartfelt desire is -        wonderful, sovereign grace of          that, but the fact of the matter is
spiritual edification.                God. In Isaiah 4O:l and 2, we          that the primary way that God is.
  We are weak, sinful. human be-      read, "Comfort ye, comfort ye,         pleased to use is the explicit
ings who confess our sins day         my people, s&h your God. Speak         preaching of His word through
after day. We ask for forgiveness     ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and       an ordained preacher. A
of those sins through Christ's        cry unto her that her warfare is       preacher that must "preach the
blood shed on the cross for his       accomplished, that her iniquity is     word; be instant in season, out of
elect, chosen people. We have         pardoned . . ." We need to be          season; reprove, rebuke, exhort
fallen short of the glory of God      spiritually strengthened, uplifted,    with all longsuffering and doc-
every moment of our lives             and comforted in our hearts by         trine" (II Tim. 4:2). Preach the
(Romans 3:23). We have sinned         that lively preaching and ex-          word. Why? Because of the
against the Almighty God,             pounding of the Word of God.           nature of the holy Scriptures,
Creator and Sustainer of the          We must hear not man's word,           "which are able to make thee
heavens and the earth. We have        but only "Thus saith the Lord,"        wise unto salvation through faith
heard the welcome sound to            so we can properly worship in          which is in Christ Jesus. All scrip
come up to God's house, the           spirit and in truth (John 4:24).       ture is given by inspiration,of
house of prayer and the house of        We must also realize that the        God, and is profitable for doc-
worship. We have been reminded        Holy Spirit dwells within the          trine, for reproof, for correction,
by the reading of the law of God      heart of every child of God, con-      for instruction in righteousness:
in the worship service that we        victing us of our sins, giving us      that the man of God may be
have broken every command-            the assurance of our salvation         perfect, thoroughly furnished un-
ment which God has given us.          through Christ's death on the          to all good works" (II Tim. 3:16
God commands us: "Be ye holy:         cross, and leading us in a life of     and 17). So we see that the
for I am the Lord your God'           gratitude by good works. The           preacher must preach the word
(Lev. 20:7). As we meditate on        preaching of God's Word is the         which is profitable for doctrine.
these things, what do we see in       chief means of grace by which          Doctrines? What are doctrines?
ourselves? Nothing but a stinking,    that operation of the Holy Spirit      Doctrines are the teachings of
rotten, no-good pile of bones and     is accomplished. As Romans 8:16        the Scripture which we hold very
flesh that soon will return to the    and 17 explains, "The Spirit itself    dear to our hearts and lives, the
dust from which it was created.       beareth witness with our spirit        truths of Scripture `which have
For we have been humbled to           that we are children of God: and       been taught and handed down
the dust. It is precisely at that     if children, then heirs; heirs of      from generation to generation.
moment that we are at the very        God, and joint heirs with Christ;      Doctrine is the truth which has
bottom of our spiritual and emo-      if so be that we suffer with Him,      been developed over the years
tional nature and need to be          that we may be also glorified          and defended by the saints of old
spiritually edified and uplifted.     together."                             even in the face of persecution,
  We love to hear the lively            But some may say that we can         .ridicule,  scorn and, yes, even
preaching of the gospel - the         supply God's word to ourselves         death itself. May we proclaim
good news of salvation: "While        by the working of the Holy Spirit      with all the saints, "Faith of our
we were yet sinners, Christ died      while we sit under the preaching       fathers living still, we will be true
for us" (Romans 5:18). "God sent      of God's word. We cannot deny          to Thee till death."
His Son to be a propitiation for
our sins" (I John 4:lO). He con-
quered death and hell and Satan
by rising again from the dead the
third day, according to the Scrip-                                           3ook
tures. We must hear that our
Redeemer liveth and because He
lives, we, too, shall live.                                                  teview
  So you see that it is a must
that in every sermon we hear
Jesus Christ crucified, and that
He rose again the third day. It is
not good that a child of God be       A Stranger in a Strange Land,          price - US $5.95. [Reviewed by
left in his misery of sin and not     Leonora Scholte; Neerlandia,           Gertrude Hoeksema]
be comforted by the fact that he      Alberta, Canada, Inheritance             This book tells the story of the
is a sinner - saved by the            Publications, 120 pp. (paper);         Dutch settlement in Pella, Iowa,

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 237


under the leadership of the                 of Iowa, later `developed into the
Reverend Henry Scholte. Written             city of Pella.
by Scholte's daughter-in-law, the             It is a fascinating story of
story gives the accuracy and in-            romance, hardships, history, and
timate details which only a                 faith. Although Scholte and his
member of the family could fur-             followers never went along with
nish.                                       the denominations of the Re-
   Because of persecution after             formed Church in America nor
the Secession of 1834 in the                the Christian Reformed Church,
Netherlands, the Rev. Scholte and           but remained an independent
his followers emigrated to                  group, it is a valuable book about
America and settled in the plains           a segment of the history of our
                                            forefathers. 0





                                            News From
Ben  Wigger                                 Our Churches  !

                      February  15,1988     13 revealed that there is no need     dated roster in the church nar-
    Rev. G. Van Baren declined              for Rev. Houck to undergo heart       thex.
 the call extended to him from the          by-pass surgery.                      The congregation in Hull,
 congregation in Holland,                     On Sunday, January 24, Rev.         Iowa, passed two proposals at
 Michigan.                                  Bekkering, pastor of Faith            their annual congregational meet-
    Rev. M. De Vries also declined          Church, began to preach again.        ing. They approved a proposal to
 the call he received from First            The decision was taken that for       put an air-conditioner in the par-
 Church in Grand Rapids to                  the present Pastor Bekkering          sonage, and to extend the period
 become the second missionary of            would only be responsible for         of evening services by one
 our Protestant Reformed Chur-              one service each Lord's Day.          month in the spring.
 ches to the island of Jamaica.               Let us continue to remember         Rev. Gritters will be happy to
    You may also remember an                these two servants of God as well     know that the Young People's
 item from our last news column             as all of our under-shepherds in      Society from Holland met recent-
 about Rev. Houck, and the in-              our prayers.                          ly with the Young People's Socie-
 complete results of a tread-mill             The Evangelism Committee of         ty of Hope Church in Walker,
 test. We are happy to report that          Faith Church presented a project      Michigan, and for an after-recess
 results of that test taken January         to their congregation recently. It    program they discussed Rev. Grit-
                                            was their desire to begin a week-     ters' fine article in the December
                                            ly letter writing campaign to Rev.    15, 1987  Standard Bearer,  "What
                                            Bruinsma and his family in            shall I do after high school?"
                                            Jamaica. The purpose of this            There was an announcement
                                            endeavor is to encourage our          in a recent bulletin from Lynden
                                            missionary and his family and in-     that all the sermons given by
                                            sure that some type of weekly         Rev. Haak as pastor of the
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant    correspondence comes their way.       Lynden P.R.C. are now available
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,             Members of Faith who wanted to        in a complete list. This list con-
Michigan.                                   participate were asked to sign the    tains sermon titles and texts. You

238 / The Standard Bearer


can receive a copy by enclosing         The Radio Committee of the             The albums of the conference
one dollar in an envelope and         Reformed Witness Hour wants to         on the Christian Family have
mailing it to their church at 108     reactivate an area-wide radio          been completed. The sets consist
Beernink Lane, Lynden,                choir. An organizational meeting       of five speeches: "And Ye
Washington.                           was held January 18 at                 Fathers: Our Task" by Rev. C.
  Since January 3, the worship        Southwest Church.                      Haak; "The Role of Family Wor-
services of the Northwest Mission       Byron Center P.R.C. thanked          ship" by Rev. J. Slopsema; "The
have been at a different location.    the Hudsonville P.R.C. recently        Motivation of Discipline" by, Rev.
The first service is at 10:00 A.M.    for donating their organ, com-         D. Engelsma; "The Happiness of
and is held in Link Elementary        plete with all the accessories. At     a Godly Home" by Rev. D.
School. The second service is         very short notice the consistory       Engelsma; "The Biblical Founda-
held at 6:00 P.M. in a small          decided to accept this offer, and      tion of the Family" by Rev. C.
Lutheran Church which is across       they plan to use this organ when       Haak; and the question and
the street from the school.           their church is ready, unless the      answer cassette. These six tapes
  The consistory of the Im-           congregation decides it wants          come in .an attractive album. The
manuel P.R.C. of Lacombe has          something different.                   cost for these albums is $10.00.
been informed that the Church of        On February 4, Rev. Kortering        Extra albums have been made
the Nazarene in Lacombe is for        spoke at Adams P.T.A. on the           and are available from South
sale. A visit was made to the         subject "The Financial Respon-         Holland P.R.C., 16511 South Park
property and the congregation,        sibility of the Church and the         Ave., South Holland, III.
along with all of you, will be in-    Education of Children".                  Southwest P.R.C. held their an-
formed as details become known.         The Young People in the             i nual potluck on Friday, January
  The Immanuel Protestant Re-         Grand Rapids area had a sliding       i 22 at Hope School.
formed Christian School Society       party at Johnson Park on                 And a final thought from
sponsored a lecture on "Five          January 14. Recreation and             Lacombe:
Basics for Reformed Education"        refreshments were served after-          "If a man's religion does not
by Rev. D. Kuiper, pastor of          wards at Hope School.                     take him to church, it is cer-
Lacombe, on Friday, January 15                                                  tain it will not take him to
at the church.                                                                  heaven." 0





                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  / 239


                                                                                                                                             .<."
                                                                                                                                                          .:\     .,,
T-IE                                                                                                                        I.*-.
`j. STANDARD                                                                                            SECONb CLASS
                                                                                                        Postage Paid at,
,,  BEARER,
   l?o. Box 6064'                                                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                                                              .-
                                                                                                                  "7.       _^,r   ..J(.cs.m-.   I.

                                                                                                                  --_
                                                                                                            -     PZ.;r.             i     .,.-s'
                                                                                                                                                .;.zc,
   Grand Rapids, MI 49506                -    -             ~_~  ~-~  .-  .____~~~



   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
        The Junior Mr. and Mrs.                     The Men's Society of the             The Council and the Congre-
   Society of the First Protestant            Hope Protestant Reformed                gation of the Hope Protestant
   Reformed Church of Grand                   Church of Walker, Michigan,             Reformed Church of Walker,
   ,Rapids, Michigan, expresses its           mourns  tlhe loss of one of its         Michigan, extend its Christian
   `sincere sympathy to Bern and              members, MR. PETER  ZAND-               sympathy to Mrs. Peter  Zand-
   Linda Zandstra and family in the           STRA, whom the Lord took                stra and family in the death of
   death of his father, MR. PETER             from our midst January 24,              her husband and their father,
   ZANDSTRA.                                  1988.                                   our fellow officebearer, ELDER
        "God is our refuge and                      May the bereaved family say       PETER ZANDSTRA, who passed
   strength, a very present help in           with the Psalmist  - "I will lift       on to Glory on January 24,
   trouble." (Psalm  46:l)                    up my eyes unto the hills from          1988.
   Dan Pastoor, Pres.                         whence cometh my help. My                  "I will lift up mine eyes unto
   Carol Monsma, Sec'y.                       help cometh from the Lord,              the hills, from whence cometh
                                                                                      my help. My help cometh from
   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     which made heaven and earth!"
                                              (Psalm  121:1, 2)                       the LORD, which made heaven
        The consistory of the                                                         and earth." (Psalm 121 :I, 2)
   Loveland Protestant Reformed               Hope Men's Society
                                                   John Kalsbeek, Pres.               Rev.  J. Slopsema, President
   Church, on behalf of the con-                   Leon Carvelink, Sec'y.             Don Lotterman, Clerk
   gregation, expresses its sym-
   pathy to Mrs. Esther Criess and            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                  40TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   Mr. Paul Criess in the recent                    The Ladies Society of the            We, the children and grand-
   death of MR. WILLIAM CRIESS.               South Holland Protestant Re-            children of MR. AND MRS. AN-
   May they be comforted by the               formed Church extends its Chris-        DREW VAN DEN TOP, rejoice
   truth that  ". . . all things work         tian sympathy  ito Mrs. Shirley         with them in their thanksgiving
   together for good to them that             Van  Baren and her family in the        to God for the years together
   love God, to them who are                  death of her  hhsband, TUNIS            that He has given them.
   called according to His                    V A N   BAREN.  /                          We thank our God with them
   purpose." (Romans  8:28)                         "The Lord knoweth the days        for the gift of forty years of
                                              of the upright: and their in-           marriage.
   IN  MEMORIAM                               heritance shall be forever."               We also thank our Cod for
        The Ladies Society of the             (Psalm  37:18)                          their faithful covenantal instruc-
   Hope Protestant Reformed                   Rev. George Lanting, Pres.              tion they have given us.
   Church of Walker, Michigan,                Connie  Busker, Sec'y.                     And with them we pray that
   wish to express their sincere              NOTICE!!!                               Cod will continue to bless
   sympathy to their fellow                        All students enrolled in the       them, and us, through them, in
   member, Winifred Zandstra, in              Protestant Reformed Seminary,           the years to come.
   the loss of her husband, PETER             who will be in need of financial        Vernon and Viney  Maas
   ZANDSTRA.                                                                          Jeff and Peggy Van Den Top
                                              assistance for the coming
        "Thou wilt keep him in                                                        Mike and Marilyn Forslof
                                              school year, are asked to con-          Loren and Carolyn Van Den Top
   perfect peace, whose mind is               tact the Student Aid Committee,         Ernie and Kimberly Tjoelker
   stayed on thee: because he                                                           17 grandchildren
                                              Mr. Larry Meulenberg, Secre-
   trusteth in thee." (Isaiah  26:3)                                                     1 great-grandchild
                                              tary. (616-453-8466). This contact
   Prof. H. Hanko, President                  should be made before the next
   Mrs. D. Lotterman, Secretary               scheduled meeting of the com-
                                              mittee on April 6, 1988.


   240  / The Standard Bearer


