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                            See Editorial - "Deckers and Hankos Feted"
                                                                   - page 5:3




Vol. 67, No. 3
N o v e m b e r   2,299O


Contents                                                  November I, 1990
Meditation - Rev. Jason L. Kortefing
  LOVE THAT RECONCILES                                                                 51
Editorials - Prof. David J, En~elsrna                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
  DECKERS AND HANKOS FETED                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                             and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
  THE APPROACH TO COVENANT CHILDREN                                                          lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
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LETTERS                                                                                55    Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
                                                                                             49516.
ALL AROUND US - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                 57    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                             Editor: Prof. David  J.  Engelsma
                                                                                             Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Ha&o                                                  Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                                                                                             DEPARTMENT EDITORS
  AUGUSTINE, THEOLOGIAN OF SOVEREIGN GRACE                                             58    Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                             Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren                                                Critters, Rev. Carl Haak, Prof. Herman Hanko,
                                                                                             Rev.  john   Hey?,  Rev. Marvin Kamps, Rev. Kenneth
  PAUL'S PERSONAL INTEREST IN THE                                                            Koole, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr.
       PHILIPPlAN CHURCH                                                               61    James  Lanting,  Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
                                                                                             Marybeth  Lubbers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                             Charles Terpstra, Rev. Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald
The Day of Shadows - Rev. John A. Heys                                                       VanOverloop,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
  THAT WONDERFUL COVENANT (3)                                                          63    Woudenberg.
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                                                                                             The Standard Bearer            Mr. Ben Wigger
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  EXPOSITION OF ISAIAH 6 (5)                                                           67    Reader Asks Department are welcome. Contribu-
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                           71    articles in  OUT magazine by other publications,
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50 I The Standard Bearer/November 1,199O


                                           Love That
Meditation
Rev. Jason Kortering                       Reconciles

   Ye have heard that it was said          Jesus said, you can kill with anger     them about the law and to explain
by them of old time, Thou shalt            that is internalized. You can kill      it to them. Hence Jesus said, "Ye
not kill; and whosoever shall kill         with vicious words like Rata or         have heard that it was said..." -
shall be in danger                                                                 i.e., that oral tradition is . . . . The sit-
                      of the judg-         Fool!
                                             The end result is the same, a hu-     uation was much like the time 0:f
ment: But I say unto you, that             man being is decimated, whether         the Reformation when the,people
whosoever is angry with his                physically or psychologically.          did not have the Bible in their na-
brother without a cause shall be             Such action ought to be foreign       tive tongue and they depended
in danger of the judgment: and             to the citizens of the kingdom of       upon the church to explain things.
whosoever shall say, Thou fool,            heaven. Those who are poor in              This tradition, taught by the
                                           spirit, mourners, meek, hungering       Scribes and put into practice by the
shall be in danger of hell fire.           after righteousness, merciful, pure     Pharisees, was summarized by Je
Therefore if thou bring thy grft           in heart, peacemakers have the          sus this way: "Thou shalt not kill,
to the altar and there remember-           power to be free from such evil         and whosoever shall kill shall be in
est that thy brother hath ought            conduct and attitude. That power        danger of the judgment." On the
against thee; Leave there thy g-rft        is love, the law of the kingdom of      surface, this appears to conform to
before the altar, and go thy way;          heaven.                                 the Mosaic law, i.e., the sixth com-
                                             But, are we free from such ac-        mandment, "Thou shalt not kill."
first be reconciled to thy brother         tion?                                   So far they are correct, but when
and then come and offer thy sift.            You have to answer this for           they added, "and whosoever shall
Agree with thine adversary                 yourself.                               kill shall be in danger of the judg-
quickly, whiles thou art in the              In dealing with the subject of        ment," they express their own com-
way with him; lest at any time             murder, Jesus had to contend with       mentary on that law. This was in
                                           the Scribes and Pharisees who had
the adversary deliver thee to the                                                  error in two ways. First, they lirn-
                                           powerful influence upon the peo-        ited infraction to the deed which
judge, and the judge deliver thee          ple of that day. They taught the        would get them into trouble. Sec-
to the officer, and thou be cast           people that only the deed of mur-       ondly, they emphasized the judg-
into prison. Verily, I say unto            der was forbidden by the law of         ment (which was the local judge),
thee, Thou shalt by no means               Moses. They did this on good au-        rather than being concerned about
come out thence, till thou hast            thority, for they claimed that they     the Judge of heaven and earth.
                                           had the "ancients," the men of old      Theydid  this because their concept
paid the uttermost farthing.               time, on their side.                    of the law was in error. They were
                  Matthew 521-26             Jesus meets them at the point of      concerned about the letter of the
                                           controversy, when He says, `Ye          law rather than the spirit. They fo-
                                           have heard that it hath been said by    cused their attention upon external
   There is more than one way to           them of old time...." These old-        behavior, rather than on inward at-
kill a person.                             timers were the leaders of the peo-     titudes and the condition of the
  Yes, the violent taking of a hu-         ple upon the return from captivity      heart. They viewed the keeping of
man life is the most obvious. But          in Babylon. During the interval of      the law as not doing evil, and they
                                           their absence in a foreign land, the    conveniently overlooked the doing
                                           people became influenced by Baby-       of good. When the Scribes and
                                           lon. They lost the knowledge of         Pharisees examined themselves in
                                           their native tongue, Hebrew, and        the light of the sixth commandment
                                           instead became adapted to the Ara-      ("Thou shalt not kill") they con-
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Protes-    maic language. The laws of Moses        cluded, Y have not killed; I did not
tant Reformed Church of Grandville,        were written in Hebrew, so the          take the life of my neighbor." This
Michigan.                                  Jews became dependent upon the          made them look upon themselves
                                           "scholars," the Scribes, to speak to    as the keepers of the law, righteous
                                                                                   November 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 51


before God, and therefore self-righ-          he never entered into the land of            Jesus deliberately chose to say
teous and better than others.                 Canaan. It is playing God and as-          "hath ought against thee." Some-
 This aroused righteous indigna-              sassinating another's character.           times we have something against
tion in Jesus.                                   The concern of Jesus focuses            our brother. This we are instructed
  It hath been said..., but I say unto        upon the brother (or sister). We           to resolve in Matthew 18. But,
you. That is the contrast. Will we            may not do this with any neighbor;         here, we either know or imagine
follow the ancients with their tradi-         but particular emphasis falls upon         that our brother has something
tion of men, or will we listen to Je-         the family of God. This applies to         against us. We might be in the
sus who said, not one jot or one tit-         our marriages, the way we treat            wrong, as far as he is concerned,
tle of the law shall pass away, until         each other as husband and wife,            and this causes a rupture in our re-
all be fulfilled. The real issue is the       parent and child, fellow members           lationship. Probably he is not on
fulfillment of the law by Jesus, the          of the church, our Christian neigh-        speaking terms. He mightbe
demands of the law required of                bors with whom we work or next             avoiding us. We are SuspicioNus
Him that cried, "My God, My God,              to whom we live. Sin against the           that something is wrong. This
why hast Thou forsaken Me?"                   sixth commandment is not just tak-         would be the easiest for us to brush
Hence it smells of the sulfur of hell.        ing another's life. It has to do with      aside, for we could easily reason,
It requires of Him the sitting at the         the condition of our heart as it is        "That's his problem. If he doesn't
right handof God, dispensing the              manifest in the way we treat the           like the way I live, let him come to
Holy Spirit upon His beloved                  neighbor and speak to him or about         me." This applies to our home life
church, by which the law is written           him.                                       within marriage, to our dealing
in our hearts.                                   Accountability for such conduct         with our children, and to our deal-
   That law then is not limited to            is before God. Jesus says in verse         ings within the church.
avoiding murder; it includes loving           22 that whether we are called be-            Be reconciled to thy brother.
the brother and sister.                       fore the judgment (the local judge         Then come and offer thy gifts. The
  Jesus deals with the negative as-           which in the day of Jesus had the          initiative must come from us.. We
pect first.                                   power to kill by the sword, with           cannot pray at home; we cannot
  Whoever is angry with his                   the approval of the Roman govern-          come to church on the Lord's, Day;
brother without cause is in danger            ment) or the council (the Jewish           we cannot take the Lord's Supper,
of the judgment. Jesus does not say           Sanhedrin, which functioned like a         until we are sure that not only am I
that anger is sinful. God Himself is          supreme court in Jerusalem and             right with my brother, but he is
angry with the wicked every day.              had the power to stone to death),          right with me.
Jesus was angry with the Pharisees.           ultimately we have to deal with              Why is this? The answer is the
Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:26, `be             God. He alone has the power of             righteousness of the kingdom of
ye angry and sin not, let not the             Gehenna, the fires of hell. What a         heaven and the law of love that
sun go down upon your wrath."                 powerful way to expose the Phar-           governs its citizens. If we truly
Anger without cause is sinful                 isees' concern for men while they          love each other we will be recon-
anger. It puts us in the wrong. We            ignore the God of the law.                 ciled. We cannot be right with God
have no justification for it. The em-           Now Jesus deals with the posi-           if we are wrong with each other.
phasis of this word is also anger             tive aspect of the law, that is, with      "If a man say, I love God, and
that is internalized, when we do              love. What better way to demon-            hateth his brother, he is a liar: for
the slow burn, when we let our                strate love than to be reconciled to       he that loveth not his brother
minds play over and over how an-              our brother or sister who has a            whom he hath seen, how can he
gry we are at someone, and we                 grievance against us.                      love God whom he hath not r;een?
have thoughts of contempt and evil               "If thou bring thy gift to the al-      This commandment have we from
about him. At other times, we may             tar, and rememberest that thy              him, that he who loveth God love
vent this anger by name-calling. Je-          brother hath ought against thee,           his brother also." Or listen tab
sus uses two illustrations. We                leave there thy gift at the altar and      Psalm 66:18: "If I regard iniquity in
might, first of all, call a man "Rata"        first be reconciled to thy brother         my heart, the Lord will not hear
i a word of contempt used in the              and then come and offer thy gift."         me:'
days of Jesus. It had the connota-            Jesus refers to the act of sacrifice.        God's love for us is experienced
tion of judging worth, mental abil-           The people would come with their           in our love for Him and each other.
ity. At its root it means empty,              gift (a lamb, a turtle dove) to the        Anger, hatred, is a barrier in the
hence empty-head, stupid, num-                priest at the altar for sacrifice. Part    covenant of love.
skull, or, in today's usage, airhead.         of their worship required spiritual          The seriousness of this is that we
The other word, "thou fool," is               reflection. They had to meditate           have to deal with God. In verses
more severe. It judges the brother's          upon their sins, on how they re-           25,26 Jesus illustrates this. If a
character before God. The fool says           lated to God and their neighbor.           man has financial difficulty, hie
there is no God. Moses used this              Upon doing this, if such a person          ought to deal with his creditors,
terminology when he smote the                 remembers that his brother has a           lest he be taken to court and the
rock and called Israel "rebels"               grievance against him, he must first       judge find him guilty and he be im-
(Num. 20:10),  on account of which            be reconciled.                             prisoned until he pay the last cent.

52 / The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


  We had better settle our differ-          How these words must humble            look to our Lord and cry for His
ences here, rather than have to          us all.                                   Spirit of love.
stand before God's judgment seat            Rather than being self-righteous,         The love that reconciles! Cl
in the day of Christ. He has the         let us cling to the cross of Jesus and
power of Gehenna, the fires of hell.




                                         n Deckers and Hankos
                                                    Feted
                                         n The Approach to
Editorials                                          Covenant Children

n Deckers and Hankos                     nary, with their wives, gathered at       Netherlands Reformed Congrega-
     Feted                               First PRC of Grand Rapids for a           tions (NRC) challenge my analysis
                                         program in honor of Professor and         of the covenant-view of the NRC.
                                         Mrs. Decker and Professor and             At the same time, they sketch the
  On the evening of October 5,           Mrs. Hanko. The group praised             covenant-conception of the NRC,
1990, the Theological School Com-        God in the singing of Psalms and in       pointing out how, in their judg-
mittee of the Protestant Reformed        prayer for His goodness in blessing       ment, the view of the NRC differs
Churches observed significant an-        His church with these ministers of        from that of the Protestant Re-
niversaries in the lives of Professor    the Word and their wives. They            formed Churches.
Herman C. Hank0 and of Professor         heard taped reflections on the min-          Because the editorial to which
Robert D. Decker. This year marks        istry of each man in his first pas-       they refer appeared some time ago
Professor Hanko's 35th year and          torate  by one who had been an el-        (May 1,1990),  I quote the pertinent
Professor Decker's 25th year in the      der in the church during the min-         section:
ministry of the gospel.                  istry. The warm fellowship in-               But what then does the Reformed
  Professor Hank0 was ordained           cluded many expressions of heart-         faith mean by the inclusion of the chil-
`into the gospel ministry in 1955 in     felt congratulation.                      dren of believers in the covenant of
Hope PRC of Grand Rapids. He                On behalf of the PRC, the cele-        God?
served the Hope congregation as          brants gave thanks to the ascended           There are three possible explanations
pastor until 1963. From 1963 until       Jesus Christ Who gives pastors and        of the inclusion of children in the
1965, he was pastor of the Doon,         teachers to His church (cf. Eph-          covenant. All are proposed by various
Iowa church. Professor Hanko has         esians 4:ll). Just for this reason,       Reformed churches.
served the churches as professor of      they could recognize the gifts,              The first explanation is that because
theology in the PR Seminary for 25       labors, and faithfulness of Profes-       of their privileged position in a Chris-
years, since 1965.                       sors Decker and Hanko.                    tian home and in the environment of
  Professor Decker was ordained             May Christ continue to bless the       the church these children are more
into the gospel ministry in 1965.        work of our two brothers, making          1ikeZy  to be converted than the childiren
His first pastorate was the PRC of       it fruitful for the welfare of the PRC    of unbelievers. In fact, the children are
Doon, Iowa until 1969. From 1969         and the church universal. Cl              unsaved, and must be 
until 1973, he served as pastor of                                                                            regarded as un-
                                                                                   saved until such time as they give croi-
the PRC of South Holland,,Illinois.                                                dence of faith, but they are in a better
Professor Decker has served the          n The Approach to                         position to be saved than other chil-
churches as professor of theology              Covenant Children                   dren. This was the view of some Puri-
in the PR Seminary for 17 years,                                                   tans and of Jonathan Edwards. It is
since 1973.                                 In the letters column of this issue
  After a dinner in a local restau-                                                the view of certain Reformed churches
                                         of The Standard Bearer, Dr. J. R.         today, including the Free Reformed
rant, the members of the TSC and         Beeke and Elder J. W. Beeke of the        Churches of North America and the
the faculty and staff of the Semi-

                                                                                   November 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 53


Netherlands Refomed Congregations             age, and even in youth, does not              grace, parents and church must
of the United States and Canada.              differ from that of a heathen. Both           via0 all baptized children as out-
   As Dr. and Elder Beeke point               the covenant children and the pa-             side the essence of the covenant.
out, there is agreement between the           gans are spiritually dead. Not until          They must view all the children as
NRC and the PRC in teaching that              the child gives evidence of regener-          outside the essence of the covenant
God establishes the covenant of               ation is he or she viewed as a saved          because all the children are outside
grace with the elect alone. One of            child of God. The children of the             the essence of the covenant. With
the theologians of the NRC, Rev.              covenant, therefore, are not in the           the exception of elect children of
G.H. Kersten, sharply criticizes the          covenant in the sense that God has            believers who die in infancy Ohe
covenant-view of "Heyns...Schilder,           translated them into the covenant             NRC allow for their regeneration in
and many Christian Reformed min-              and kingdom of His dear Son by                infancy), all the little children of be-
isters:' The reason for this criti-           the regenerating Spirit (Col. 1:13).          lieving parents are "in the
cism is that these men teach that all         They are not in the covenant in the           covenant" merely in the sense that
the natural children of believing             sense that there is living, spiritual         they are "only outwardly related to
parents are in the covenant. In this          fellowship between God and them               the covenant."
connection, Kersten denies that the           inasmuch as they are united to                  As Mr. Beeke  does not hesitate to
covenant is conditional. He does              Christ by the bond of faith. They             state, this means that all the little
not like to speak of faith and repen-         are not at all in the covenant in the         children are, and must be viewed
tance as conditions, even if it is            same way in which their believing             as, unsaved (p. 361).
added that the conditions are ful-            parents are in the covenant. They               This view of the children deter-
filled for Christ's sake. `Without            are in the covenant merely in the             mines the approach that the church
any condition, out of mere grace,             sense that there is an external, for-         and the parents (and Christian
He applies salvation to His people            mal connection with the outward               schoolteachers) take toward the
when He establishes the covenant              manifestation of the covenant in              children in the rearing of them.
with them....A conditional                    the visible church.                           The approach is not, and cannot be,
covenant of grace is actually a                  The Beekes express this when               that the young members of the
covenant of works" (G. H. Kersten,            they write, "the NRC believe that             covenant, possessed of covenant-
Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. I, pp. 233-          we may not view our children as               life by the Spirit of Christ, are
258).                                         saved before they reveal biblical ev-         trained to develop in that life-the
   Agreement that God establishes             idences of salvation...." Also: "Our          life of daily conversion, of thankful
the covenant of grace uncondition-            children who are raised under the             obedience, and of prayer to their
ally with the elect alone does not,           sphere of God's covenant and are              loving Father in Jesus. Rathe:r,  lit-
however, rule out the possibility of          as yet unregenerate...." Adult be-            tle, lost sinners under the wrath of
serious difference between the                lievers are in the covenant; their            God are taught to regard thern-
churches in the matter of the inclu-          children are merely "under the                selves as little, lost sinners under
sion of the children in the covenant.         sphere of the covenant."                      the wrath of God and to hope that
All Reformed churches confess that               This is how J. W. Beeke explains           someday they may be born again
the children of believers are "in the         the inclusion of children in the              into the covenant family of God.
covenant." This is the basis of their         covenant in his book, Bible Doctrine          The church's aim with the covenant
baptism of infants. But what do               for Teens and Young Adults, Book I            children is not nurture, but conver-
they mean by this? This was the               (Eerdmans, 1987):                             sion-the more-or-less dramatic
point of comparison in my analysis               Scripture forbids us from viewing          and even instantaneous turning to
of the covenant-doctrine of various           or speaking of anyone as being saved,         God for the first time that the
Reformed churches in the editorial            one of the eIect, or in the essence of the    church also seeks in the heatben  on
with which the Beekes take issue.             Covenant until he has personalty expe-        the mission field.
  Specifically, what do the NRC               rienced something of the inward-work-           Strangely enough for a church
mean by the inclusion of the chil-            ing graces and evidenced something of         that confesses the total depravity of
dren of believers in the covenant?            the outward-workingfruits. Therefore,         the unregenerated sinner, the NRC
  First, they mean that all elect             a clear distinction, a line of separation     also urge the children, unsaved sin-
children are in the covenant eter-            must be drawn in church between               ners all, to pray for their regenera-
nally by virtue of God's election:            those who are only outwardly related          tion into "a saving, eternal, un-
"The elect are in the Covenant of             to the covenant through baptism and           breakable covenant relationship
Grace from eternity" (G.H. Kersten,           those who are placed in the covenant in       with (God)": "Prayerfully seek God
Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. I, p. 244).          an inward manner through personal             through the use of the means of
  But, secondly, as regards the ac-           regeneration and conversion to God            grace that He has given you in your
tual, spiritual state of the baptized         (pp. 364,365).                                outward relationship with Him.
children, they teach that these chil-            Since the baptized infants obvi-           Plead with Him and do not let Him
dren are to be viewed as unregen-             ously cannot experience anything              go until He has confirmed the sav-
erated and unsaved. The spiritual             of the inward-working grace of                ing truths of His Word in the `expe-
condition of the baptized children,           God, much less evidence anything              rience and fruits of your life" (BibZe
in infancy, at five or ten years of           of the outward-working fruit of               Doctrine, p. 366). Can an unregen-

54 / The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


erated child pray? Can the uncon-         state of the baptized children that I      the covenant; of the children's glad
verted desire God and seek His sal-       analyzed the teaching of the NRC           recognition of themselves as
vation? Is it not rather the case that    on the inclusion of the children in        friends of God; and of the church's
pleading with God for the experi-         the covenant. I remain convinced           acceptance of Christ's little people
ence and fruits of His covenant is        that the analysis is accurate. It was      as really members of the congrega-
itself evidence and fruit that one is     in the matter of their view of, and        tion. Indeed, the difference con-
already in the covenant-in "the           approach toward, the children of           cerns nothing less than doing jus-
essence of the covenant"? Is not          the covenant that I distinguished          tice to the biblical teaching that our
prayer the chief expression of the        the covenant-doctrine of the PRC           children am in the covenant, no less
life of the covenant, according to        and the NRC.                               and no differently than we our-
the Heidelberg Catechism in Ques-            Despite the churches' agreement         selves.
tion 116?                                 as to the covenant's being made               This is the Reformed confession:
  Whatever may be their explana-          with the elect, this difference in         Our infants are to be baptized
tion of the praying of the uncon-         covenant-conception is important.          "since they, as well as the adult, alre
verted, the NRC view their chil-          For it concerns the urgent, practical      included in the covenant and
dren as lost. It was with regard to       matter of the parents' rearing of          church of God" (Heid. Cat.,
their view of the actual spiritual        their children as truly members of         Q. 74). 0       (to be conti?luLd)    - DJE




                                          Letters

Correction from                            Dogmatics:  "The elect are in the         saved, covenant child of God, who
the NRC                                    covenant of grace from eternity,          is not bringing forth fruits of sav-
                                           given by the Father to the Son.           ing faith, such as love to God and
                                           Those that were given by the Fa-          others, "true faith in Christ, filial
  Recently we have read Prof. En-          ther and purchased by the blood of        fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hun-
gelsma's series of articles on "The        Christ, are incorporated by regen-        gering and thirsting after righ-
Covenant of God and the Children           eration into the covenant of grace        teousness, etc." (Canons of Do&, I,
of Believers" with interest and ap-        in time by the Holy Spirit, so that       12b). The NRC view disagrees
preciation  (The Standard Bearer,          they and they alone become par-           with both presumptive and dor-
March 15, April 1, April 15, May 1,        takers of the benefits of the             mant regenerational views which
July 1, and September 15,199O).  In        covenant.                                 imply regarding children as regen-
the fourth article of this series, we                    The elect, and ody they,
                                           receive an actual right to the riches     era te before fruits of regeneration
read your brief explanation of the         of the covenant, and the Lord shall       are evident. "And think not to :say
Free Reformed and Netherlands              be their God and they shall be His        within yourselves, we have Abra-
Reformed (hereafter, NRC) denom-           people" (vol. 1, p. 244). This has        ham to our father: for I say untlo
inational views of the covenant of         been the covenant position of all         you, that God is able of these
grace. As a NRC pastor/theologi-          NRC teaching; consequently, the            stones to raise up children unto
cal instructor and an elder/princi-        NRC view fits more accurately un-         Abraham. And now also the axe is
pal, we were surprised to find             der the "third explanation" in your       laid unto the root of the trees:
these denominations' covenantal            article than under the "first" where      Therefore every tree which
views grouped together in your ex-         you placed it.                            bringeth not forth good fruit is
planation. The Free Reformed                 Where the NRC emphasis would            hewn down, and cast into the fire"
teach a three-covenant view in             differ from that of the Protestant
which the covenant of grace is es-                                                   (Mt. 3:9,10; cf. Mt. 7~17-20; Jn.
                                           Reformed, we believe, lies more in        8:39X In short, the NRC does not
tablished with all the baptized seed       how we view those who are                 believe that Scripture and our Re-
as an offered promise of salvation,                                         under
                                           "the sphere of the covenant" (i.e.,       formed confessions speak of regen-
while the NRC teach a two-                 the visible church), but are not          eration as something dormant or to
covenant view in which the                 spiritually incorporated  into  the       be presumed, but as a new birth
covenant of grace is established           covenant (i.e., the invisible church).
with the elect only.                                                                 which is real, personal, and fruitful
                                           In its desire to clearly maintain this
  Rev. G.H. Kersten, who pro-                                                        by the grace of God (cf. Canons III-
                                           biblical distinction, NRC teaching
vided a leading role in the organi-                                                  Iv, 12).
                                           emphasizes that no person has a              Finally, because the NRC beheve
zation of the NRC (1907), wrote the
following in his                          biblical right to view himself as a
                 Refbtned                                                            that we may not view our child:ten

                                                                                     November 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 55


as saved before they reveal biblical          covenant-keeping God is pleased to           ward our children in our rearing of
evidences of salvation (unless                normally work along covenantal               them, I think it necessary to answer
physically or mentally incapable of           lines in regenerating the seed of be-        their letter in the editorial column
doing so), this does not mean that            lievers through Spirit-worked ap-            of The Standard Bearer. The first in-
we view our children as "heathen"             plication of His precious, inerrant          stallment appears in this issue.
or that "a dead person in a Chris-            Word.                                                                             - Ed.
tian home and in the sphere of the              We would sincerely appreciate
church has no advantage over a                the printing of this correction of the       Appreciation of
dead person outside of a Christian            NRC view of the covenant of grace
home and the church" as your arti-            for your readership. We are en-              Convocation Address
cle states (page 341). God has cho-           couraged to find in your article a
sen to work salvation through the             clear, biblical explanation that               Twice I read the article by Prof.
means of His Word (Rom. 10:13-                God's covenant is established with           Decker, "Earnestly Contending for
17). A heathen is one who has                 the elect only in Jesus Christ. We           the Faith" (The SB, October 1,1990X
never heard or read God's Word.               continue to appreciate the quality           Each reading afforded a fuller
Our baptized children are out-                of biblically-based instruction pro-         meaning of the seriousness of the
wardly separated by God from the              vided in The S tarzdard  Bearer under        times in which we are living, espe-
heathen to be brought up under                your editorship. May God bless               cially as we can see what is hap-
His Word, the means which God                 and guide us in His truth.                   pening in the church, and more re-
has promised to savingly bless. Af-                         (Dr.) J.R. Beeke  (Pastor/     cently in the churches of Reformed
ter distinguishing the inwardly                                 Theological Instructor)    traditions. The second epistle of
from the outwardly circumcised (or                                  Grand Rapids, MI       Paul to the Thessalonians, the first
baptized), Paul states that those in                   (Elder) J.W. Beeke (Principal)      few verses, tells that there will
the outward sphere of the covenant                     Chilliwack, British Columbia        come a "falling away first? before
have an important "advantage" be-                                                          the "man of sin be revealed."
cause the oracles (Word) of God are           Response                                       I find Prof. Decker's writing very
committed to them and not to the                                                           pleasant reading, and most edify-
heathen. "For he is not a Jew,                  The contribution to our discus-            ing. It is also evident from the pho-
which is one outwardly; neither is            sion of the covenant from the quar-          tos accompanying the article that
that circumcision, which is out-              ter of the Netherlands Reformed              the PR Seminary now has a good
ward in the flesh: But he is a Jew,           Congregations (NRC) is welcome.              number of students. For such bless-
which is one inwardly; and circum-            Because the brothers Beeke ques-             ings the entire PR populace is. no
cision is that of the heart, in the           tion my analysis of the covenant-            doubt most thankful.... Your ,article
spirit, and not in the letter; whose          view of the NRC and because they             was indeed food for the soul. 0
praise is not of men, but of God.             call attention to the important,                                     Henry Doom
What advantage then hath the Jew?             practical issue of our approach to-                                 Kentwood, MI
or what profit is there of circumci-
sion? Much every way: chiefly, be-
cause that unto them were commit-
ted the oracles of God" (Rom. 2:28-
3:2).
  In summary, NRC teaching                        They are evermore around us, though unseen to mortal sight,
stresses:                                         In the golden hour of sunshine and in sorrows,' starless night,
   1. The covenant of grace is made               Deepening earth's most sacred pleasures with the peace of sin
with the elect in Christ only, not                     forgiven,
with all the baptized seed (as
taught by the Free Reformed).                     Whispering to the lonely mourner of the painless joys of
  2. We may not view ourselves or                       heaven.
others as regenerate if we are not
evidencing the biblical fruits of re-
generation.                                       Seeing of our guilt and weakness, looking down with pitious
  3. Our children who are raised                       eyes,
under the sphere of God's covenant                For the foolish things we cling to and the heaven that we
and are as yet unregenerate, are                       despise;
distinguished from heathen chil-
dren in the same manner as the                    They have been our guardian angels since the weary world
children of Old Testament Israel                        began,
were, for they are reared under the               And they still are watching o'er us for His sake who died for
oracles of God, which are the                          man.
Lords primary means of grace.
Out of sovereign grace, the                                                                       - SB, January 1,193iZ

56 I The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


     Prof. Robert Decker                       All Around Us

     n Boesak Resigns                          byterian Church (USA) and a pro-         Mission, died on July 10. The son
                                               fessor of historical theology at         of missionary parents, McGavran
        The Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, a           Princeton Theological Seminary.          received his education at Butler
     prominent anti-apartheid leader in        Dr. Douglass is the first woman          University, Yale Divinity School,,
     South Africa and a noted church           ever elected head of a major ecu-        College of Missions, and Columbia
     leader, has resigned as pastor of the     menical body.  (REC News Ex-             University. After serving as mis-
     Bellville congregation of the Dutch       change; National and Internafional       sionaries in India for 30 years Mc-
     Reformed Mission Church. South            Religion Report)                         Gavran and his wife returned to
     African newspapers reported that                                                   the U.S. in 1954. After spending a
     Boesak had spent four days at a re-                                                few years at Yale Divinity School
     sort hotel with a woman reporter.         W Calvin Congress                        doing research in missiology and
     His wife, Dorothy, then announced                                                  lecturing widely in seminaries
     that she would be ending their 21-          Scholars from all over the world       around the world, McGavran
     year marriage. On Sunday, July 8,         explored John Calvin's view of           founded the Institute for Church
     Dr. Boesak announced to his con-          Scripture, his personal spirituality,    Growth at Northwest Christian
     gregation that he was resigning as        and some of his historical roots at      College in Eugene Oregon in 1961.
     pastor. On August 12 the Bellville        an international congress in late        In 1965 McGavran founded the
     classis declared to the church that       August. About 100 scholars gath-         School of World Mission at Fuller.
     "Boesak's office as minister was          ered at Calvin College in Grand          At 84 years of age McGavran re-
     ended."                                   Rapids. The congress has been            tired from teaching. Paul Mc-
        Boesak also resigned as presi-         held every four years since its first    Kaughan, executive director of the
     dent of the World Alliance of Re-         meeting in Geneva in 1974. Interest      Evangelical Foreign Missions Asso-
     formed Churches (WAR0 The ex-             in Calvin studies has grown so           ciation in Washington, D.C., is cor-
     ecutive committee of WARC ac-             much that the event has become           rect when he says: "Regardless of
     cepted his resignation "with deep         one open only by invitation. The         what one may think about a partic-
     regret" and expressed gratitude for       meeting in August was the first          ular point of Donald McGavran"s
     the "outstanding leadership" Boe-         held in the United States. Wilhelm       missiological rendering, you face
     sak provided for WARC. The ex-            Neuser, a German theologian who          the inescapable conclusion that :he
     ecutive committee reaffirmed the          is secretary of the Congress, said       influenced the missions movement
     Alliance's commitment to struggle         there were two basic thrusts to the      to a greater degree than.any other
     against discrimination and oppres-        meetings. The one angle is basic         thinker of his time." (Pulse)
     sion in all parts of the world, "a        historical research. They ask,
     struggle particularly symbolized          `Who is this man who influenced          H About two thirds of the world's
     by Dr. Boesak's leadership." The          Europe?" The second perspective          population live in nations that re-
     committee elected Dr. Jane                is contemporary: `What does              strict the church in some way, ac-
     Dempsey Douglass as President,            Calvin say about today's theologi-       cording to a recently published
     effective immediately. Douglass           cal problems?" The Rev. David En-        study by Issachar Frontier Missions
     was one of three vice-presidents of       gelsma, professor of Dogmatics at        Strategies. Saudi Arabia leads a. list
     WARC. She is an elder in the Pres-        our Protestant Reformed Seminary,        of 54 "restricted access nations."'
                                               accepted an invitation to attend the     Among the criteria used by Is-
                                               Congress.  (REC News Exchange)           sachar are a country's accessibility
                                                                                        to missionaries, freedom to publish
                                                                                        Christian literature, and freedom of
                                               H Mission News                           Christian assembly. Issachar re-
                                                                                        searchers expect the list of re-
                                                 Donald A. McGavran, 92, father         stricted nations to grow over the
                                               of the church growth movement            next decade to include as much as
     Prof. Decker is professor of Pracfical    and founding dean of Fuller Theo-
     ThwZogy in the Protestant Reformed                                                 85 percent of the world's popula-
                                               logical Seminary's School of World
     Semina y.1                                                                         tion.

                                                                                        November 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 57



L


  If these findings are accurate,                 Dr. George Knight, formerly a pro-
and we have no reason to doubt                    fessor at Covenant Seminary in St.             A Soul's Satisfaction
that they are, should we not with                Louis, is Administrator of Knox
renewed zeal be preaching the                    Seminary. Some seventy s&dents               Thy shining grace can cheer
gospel "while it is day, ere the night            are in their first year. Some big             The dungeon where I dwell;
cometh in which no man can la-                    names are on the faculty. John Ger-         "I% paradise when Thou art here;
bor"?  (Pulse; Christianity Today)                stner will teach during the interim,          If Thou depart, `tis hell.
                                                  and Jay Adams willbe a guest lec-
                                                  turer in November. Other profes-
H A New Seminary                                                                              The smilings of Thy face,
                                                  sors from Covenant are Addison                How amiable they are!
                                                 Soltau, Robert Reymond, and                  "Iis heaven to rest in Thy embrace,
  Knox Theological Seminary in Ft.               Joseph Hall. Knox Seminary ex-                 And nowhere else but there.
Lauderdale, Florida began its first               pects to offer the full four year cur-
semester of instruction in Septem-               riculum leading to either a Master           Nor earth, nor all the sky,
ber. The Seminary classes are held               of Divinity or a Master of Arts in             Can one delight afford;
at Coral Ridge Presbyterian                      Biblical and Theological Studies by          No, not a drop of real joy
Church, the largest Presbyterian                 the 1992-`93  school year. (The PCA            Without Thy presence, Lord.
Church in America congregation.                  Messenger) 0
Coral Ridge's well known Senior                                                                               -SB, December I, 1931
Pastor, Dr. D. James Kennedy, is
chancellor of the new Seminary.




                                               Augustine,
A Cloud                                        Theologian of
of Witnesses                                   Sovereign Grace
Prof. Herman Hank0


  There are times in the history of            I lar grace. Herman Hoeksema
the church of Christ when God has                 writes:
such an important work in the de-                    God  had prepared Augustine also
fense and development of the faith                spiritually  for this battle (against
for a man that in a special way God               Pelagianism).  He had been forcibly
determines his life, almost from in-              drawn out of the forces of sin unto the
fancy, to prepare him for that call-              redemption there is in Christ Jesus.
ing. This was the case with Martin                He had tasted that, "It is not of him
Luther, whose deep struggle with                  that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
the assurance of his salvation was                but of God that showeth mercy." It
used by God to lead him to the                    had become a fact of experience to him
great truth of justification by faith             that only efficacious grace was suffi-
alone. This was also true of Au-                  cient to draw the sinner out of dark-
gustine, whose wayward and sin-                   ness into light and the free-will moral-
ful youth was used by God to pre-                 ism of Pelagius,  was an abomination to
pare him for the development of                   him because of that experience . . . .
the truths of sovereign and particu-              We can understand that when . . . the
                                                  refined but highly superficial Pel&ius      tide had experienced o the grace of
                                                  and his disciple began to make propa-       God, he threw himsel into the battle
                                                                                                                       f
Prof. Hank0 is professor of Church                ganda for a a0b-i~ that was not only        with all his heart. '
Histo y and New Testament in the                  clearly in conflict with Scripture but        Augustine was born on Novem-
Protestant Reformed Semina y.                     also militated against all that Augus-      ber 13,354 in Tagaste, a part of

58 I The Standard Bearer I November 1,199ll


North Africa which is known today         and courageous bishop of the                    Later, explaining it all, he wrote
as Algeria. One wonders what              church in Milan.                             in a touching confession:
happened in the days of the                  Although Augustine went to                   I have lovd Thee late, Thou Beauty,
courtship and marriage of his par-        hear Ambrose preach only in order            so old and so new; I have loved Thee
ents, for his father, Patricius, was      to learn more of Ambrose's skills as         late! And lo! Thou wast within, but I
an unbeliever whose interest in his       an orator and rhetorician, he soon           was without, and was seeking Thee
son was limited to preparing Au-          came under the power of the                  there. And into Thy fair creation I
gustine for a career which would          gospel. Gradually his errors were            plunged myself in my ugliness; for
lead to fame and fortune and his          stripped away, although he resisted          Thou wast with me, and I was not
mother, Monica, was a woman of            with all his might, especially be-           with Thee! Those things kept me away
exceptional piety and godliness           cause of the lusts of his flesh. It was      from Thee, which had not been, exept
whose great sorrow in life was her        a time of struggle.                          they had been,in Thee!. Thou didst call,
wayward son.  So long and bitterly           Obstinate in seeking truth outside        and didst c y aloud, and break through
did she weep and pray for her son         of her only sanctua y, agitated by the       m deafness. Thou did& glimmer,
that he has become known as a             stings of his conscience, bound by             il
                                                                                       T u didst shine, and didst drive a;way
"son of tears." *                         habit, drawn by fear, subjugated by          my blindness. Thou didst breathe, and
  Although Augustine attended             passion, touched with the beauty of          I drew breath, and breathed in Thee. I
classes for catechumens, he early         virtue, seduced by the charms of vice,       tasted Thee, and I hunger and third.
fell into the sins of idleness, dissi-    victim of both, never satisfied in his       Thou didst touch me, and I burn fir
pation, and immorality. When he           false delights, struggling constantly        Thy peace. If I, with all that is within
was only 17 years old, the same           against the errors of his sect and the       me, may once live in Thee, then shdl
year his father died, he took a mis-      mysteries of religion, an unfortunate        pain and trouble forsake me; entirely
tress, and a year later fathered a        runningfiom rock to rock to escape           filled with Thee, all shall be life to me."
son, Adeodatus.                           shipwreck, he fled from the light which         After a year of preparation Au-
  All this time he was pursuing his       pursues him -such is the picture by          gustine and his son Adeodatus
education and proved to be an able        which he himself describes his conflicts     were baptized by Ambrose. He
student. But, as is so often true, his    in his Confessions. 3                        soon left Milan to return to Africa.
very ability proved his downfall.            It was this fierce struggle which         His mother, who had followed him
He drifted, as a bumblebee looking        finally brought Augustine to un-             to Italy, now set out to travel back
for nectar, from one heresy to an-        derstand with a profound aware-              with him to Africa, but died at the
other. First it was the Manichaean        ness that the grace of God which             port on the River `Ilber in the ar:ms
error, which taught that there are        delivers from sin is sovereign and           of her son, with the joy of answered
two eternal and independent prin-         irresistible, overcoming and defeat-         prayer in her heart, and after a pro-
ciples in the world: Light or the         ing all our resistance, accomplish-          found and moving discussion with
good god, and darkness or the evil        ing a work the Author of which is            him of the glories of heaven.
god. These two principles are in          God alone.                                      Augustine journeyed to Africa,
eternal conflict, with the outcome           Augustine himself tells us the            revisited Rome, returned again ,to
forever undetermined. Then it was         story of his final conversion in his         Africa, and began his work in the
astrology, with its vain and empty        Confessions, and we can do no bet-           cause of Christ. In 389 he was,
superstitions. From astrology he          ter than hear him tell it. One day,          against his will, ordained presbyter
drifted into skepticism, a philoso-       tom by violent struggles, he fled to         at Hippo Regius by Valerius, its
phy which is nothing but an intel-        a garden to attempt to find calm.            bishop. In 395 he was ordained as-
lectual shrug of the shoulders: it is     While in the garden he heard a               sistant bishop, and in 396, at the
impossible ever to  know what  is         voice say, `Take up and read. Take           death of Vale&s,  he was ordained
true and what is false, what is right     up and read." Augustine tells us             his successor. He spent the rest of
and what is wrong.                        that he picked up "the volume of             his life as pastor of this large flock,
  During this period of immorality        the Apostle."                                as prolific writer, as ardent de-
and apostasy Augustine began to              I sfked  it and opened it, and in si-     fender of the faith, as faithful man
develop a career. In 376 he taught        lence I read the first passage on which      of God in the service of the truth.
grammar in his birthplace; a short        my eyes fell. "Let us walk honestly, as      He asked, as he lay on his death1
time later he went to Carthage to         in the day; not in rioting and drunken-      bed, to have the Penitential Psalms
teach Rhetoric. In 382 (now 28            ness . . . . But put ye on the Lord Jesus    written on the wall so that they
years old): he determined to go to        Christ, and make not provision for the       might be constantly before him to
Italy, but did not want his mother        flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." I had    read at will. He died on August 28,
with him. He left without telling         no wish to red more and no need to do        430 at the age of 75, just a short
her of his departure or destination,      so. For in an instant, as I came to the      time before the Vandals (a barbar-
but took with him his mistress and        end of the sentence, it was as though        ian tribe from Europe) sacked the
son. He briefly taught Rhetoric in        the light of faith flooded into my heart     city of Hippo and destroyed it.
Rome, but then went to Milan and          and all the darkness of doubt was dis-          Augustine produced an enor-
came under the influence of the           pelled.                                      mous amount of work after his
powerful preacher, Ambrose, godly                                                      conversion,' most of it of enduring

                                                                                       November 1,19!30 I The Standard Bearar I 59


value. Some of his better known               take issue with the errors promoted          1. Herman Hoeksema, History of Dogma
works are: Confessions, a book                by Pelagius and the Semi-Pela-            (Theological school of the Protestant Re-
which every child of God ought to             gians, but he developed the doc-          formed Churches: 1982) Syllabus.
                                                                                           2. So a well-known biography, now out
read at some time in his life;5 City          trines of sovereign and particular        of print, is entitled, "Son Of My Tears."
of God, written to explain the fall of        grace. More specifically, he denied          3. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theologiozl'  and Ec-
Rome before the barbarian hordes,             any kind of "free offer of the            clesinstical  Literature, McClintock  and Strong,
but including a Christian philoso-            gospel" and "common grace,"g              VOL I, p. 540.
phy of history which is a clear ex-           even calling the so-called good              4. They fill five massive volumes in the
                                                                                        first series of Nicene and Post-N&me Fathers.
position of the antithesis and in             works of the heathen, "splendid              5. It is not strictly an autobiography,
which one will find some of Au-               vices." He taught sovereign and           though it is the story of his early life and
gustine's teachings on sovereign              double predestination, limited            conversion; it is rather a confession of sin
predestination; a treatise on The             atonement, total depravity, im-           and a doxology of praise to God Who
                                                                                        delivered him. It is cast into the form of a
Trinity which is the clearest exposi-         puted guilt, and salvation by the         prayer and has as its theme a statement
tion of this doctrine prior to the            sovereign work of grace in the            which appears very near the beginning
writings of Calvin;6 Retractions, in          hearts of the elect. Single-hand-         `Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our
which he corrected all his earlier            edly, he laid the whole foundation        heart is restless till it rest in Thee."
writings and withdrew statements              for a biblical anthropology and so-          6. It is interesting that the so-called
                                                                                        `Athanasian  Creed," which is included in
with which he disagreed after com-            teiiology.                                the back of our Psalter, was not writben  by
ing to maturity of thought; and                 Sad to say, Augustine's doctrines       Athanasius, but by either Augustine himself
many writings against the Pela-               were never received in the Romish         or those of his school. It is a mature exposi-
gians and Semi-Pelagians.                     Church. Semi-Pelagianism won the          tion of the doctrine of the trinity and the
  Augustine did battle with the               day shortly after Augustine's             Person and natures of Christ.
                                                                                           7. In a way this is not surprising because:
Manichaeans, a sect to which he               death, and a mighty defender of           1) the church was totally absorbed in the
had belonged prior to his conver-             Augustine's views, Gotteschalk by         controveries  concerning the truth of the trin-
sion, and with the Donatists, a               name, was martyred in the Ninth           ity and the Person and natures of Christ; 2)
schismatic sect which he attempted            Century for teaching them. In a           the church, consequently, had no time or en-
                                                                                        ergy to investigate the doctrines of soteriol-
to woo back into the church.                  way this was inevitable, for the          ogy and anthropology; 3) the idea of free
  But his greatest battles were               church, even in Augustine's day,          dom of the will was thought to be necessary
waged against the Pelagians and               had committed itself to a view at         to avoid the Manichaean doctrine of sin as
Semi-Pelagians. About these bat-              odds with Augustine's teachings:          necessity; 4) in the wisdom of God, the truth
tles we must speak.                           the meritorious value of good             concerning Christ had to be settled first, for
                                                                                        the truth of our salvation rests upon the
  It must be remembered that,                 works. To embrace Augustine's             truth concerning Christ and His work of
prior to Augustine, the church had            teachings would have involved a           atonement.
made no advances in the areas of              repudiation of a doctrine already            8. Our Canons call Arminianism the old
such doctrines as the fall of Adam,           held dear throughout much of the          error of Pelagianism resurrected out  Iof hell.
                                                                                        Cf. Cannons II, B, 3.
the depravity of man, the work of             church.                                      9. It must be remembered that these er-
salvation through grace, the doc-               For this reason, in the inscrutable     rors were not issues in Augustine's day, al-
trine of predestination. In fact, it          wisdom of God, true Augustinian-          though the Semi-Pelagians taught similar
was generally held in the church              ism had to await the time of the          ideas.
that, although the salvation of man           Reformation for acceptance in the
was rooted in the cross of Christ, it         church of Christ. One Who has
was dependent upon man's free                 even a cursory knowledge of
will. Almost all the church fathers           Calvin's Institutes will know how
held to this?                                 often Calvin appeals to Augustine
  Pelagius appeared on the scene              in a conscious effort to point out              Strength for Today
with his superficial and God-deny-            that he stands in the tradition of the
ing teachings in which salvation              great bishop of Hippo.
was entirely rooted in the natural              And so do we. Students and dis-         "My grace is sufficient for thee."
ability of man to do good and to              ciples of Calvin as we are, we know          Oh, ask not thou, "How shall
earn his own salvationby good                 that the truth we love and cherish                  I bear
works. The Semi-Pelagianism                   is a truth which goes back all the        The burden of tomorrow?"
which followed outright Pelagian-             way to the Fifth Century and the             Sufficient for the day the care,
ism was only an early form of                 teachings of the beloved Augus-           Its evil and its sorrow;
Arminianism and a modification of             tine, bishop of Hippo. And in
Pelagianisms                                  holding to those teachings of Scrip          God imparteth by the way,
  Against this sort of nonsense,              ture which were dear to Augustine,           Strength sufficient for the day.
Augustine fought. It is a never-              we can findshis words echoing in
ceasing source of amazement to me             our own hearts,: `Thou hast made                              - SB, August l,, 1932
how clearly Augustine saw the is-             us for Thyself, and our heart is rest-
sues and developed the doctrines              less till it rest in Thee." Cl
involved. Not only did Augustine

60 I The Standard Rearer I November 1,199O


                                          Paul's Personal
Search The                                Interest in the
Scriptures
Rev. Gise VanBaren                        Philippian Church

Read and study Philippians                various missions (I Cor. 4:17) and      that those who were with him were
2:19-30.                                  had been assisting Paul while the       unreliable?
  We come to a very personal sec-         latter was imprisoned in Rome.            In sending Timothy, Paul has a
tion of the epistle to the Philippi-      Timothy was with Paul still at the      twofold purpose. He sends Timo-
ans. The letter itself is personal        time of the writing of this letter.     thy to inform the church of the out-
throughout - more so than other             Timothy was well-known also to        come of his trial. The Philippians
of Paul's letters. But here Paul          the church at Philippi. He had la-      would be very interested in that.
shows in a concrete way his inter-        bored in Philippi on three occasions    Timothy could possibly bring gomod
est in and concern about the church       (Acts 16:13; 19:22;  20:3). He knew     news of Paul's release. Paul
which he dearly loved. He resolves        the situation in that church person-    knows, of course, that all that
to send two men, Timothy and              ally. Doubtless he had many             comes upon him is in harmony
Epaphroditus, to that church. His         friends there. He had been present      with God's will. This is the thrust
explanations are presented in the         at the gathering in of some of the      of his remark also in verse 19, "But
verses we study.                          prominent members of that church:       I trust in the Lord Jesus...." Christ,
  Remember: Paul is in prison at          the Philippian jailor and Lydia.        Lord over all, will bring to pass all
Rome. He has been there for al-             Timothy was obviously very pre-       that God has determined for the
most two years. The time has come         cious to Paul. Verse 20 states that     benefit of the church and for Paul's
when judgment will be given in his        he has "no man likeminded who           own profit.
case. Paul has reason to believe          will naturally care for your state."      At the same time, Paul is anxious
that he will be freed from prison,        He was of like mind with Paul. To-      to hear from the Philippian church
but the outcome was not certain.          gether these two sought the same        as well. In verse 19 Paul mentions
Under these circumstances he de-          thing: the glory of God in the way      that he will be of good comfort
termines to send his two close            of the gathering of the church. In      when he knows their state. Obvi-
friends to encourage and assist the       determining to send Timothy, Paul       ously, he expected Timothy to re-
church at Philippi.                       sends that one who is closest and       turn soon to Paul with a report of
  First, Paul declares that he in-        most important to him. This is re-      the state of the church at Philippi.
tends to send Timothy to them.            markable, especially in light of the      A more worthy messenger could
Timothy had been an assistant to          fact that Paul is yet in prison. One    hardly have been sent! He is to
the apostle for many years. Timo-         might think that Paul needed Timo-      Paul as a son with the father. There
thy had learned Scripture from his        thy more than did the Philippian        was a precious, close relationship
youth (II Tim. 3:15). Paul met Tim-       church. But Paul will sacrifice that    between these two. Therefore, Paul
othy on his second `missionary jour-      which is most cherished to him to       could also send Timothy so confi-
ney at Derbe and Lystra (Acts 16:l).      assist the church.                      dently - knowing that he would
Paul took Timothy along with him            It does appear as though there        convey Paul's message properly,
to assist him in the work. Timothy        were no others with Paul who            and quickly return with a report to
was Paul's assistant from that time-      could be sent to Philippi at this       Paul.
on. He was sent by the apostle on         time. In verse 21 he points out that      Again, Paul speaks of his hope of
                                          "all seek their own, not the things     freedom in verse 24. His trust in
                                          which are Jesus Christ's." The          the Lord is such that he is very con-
                                          statement raises questions which        vinced that he will be set at liberty
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of fhe Profes-    ought to be discussed. Were there       to continue his labors in the church.
fanf Refm-tned  Church of Hudsonville,    no others with Paul who were            Then his intention is to visit
Michigan.                                 suitably spiritual? Does Paul mean      Philippi once more.

                                                                                  November 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I61


  There is another whom Paul re-               comfort and reassure them. The             beautiful place the church would
solves to send to Philippi: Epa-               church had been greatly distressed         be if that kind of love and intlerest
phroditus. We know not much                    upon hearing of the illness of this        were shown by all!
about this man except what Paul                man of God. They would find                QUESTIONS:
himself states in this passage. He             great comfort in seeing him again          1. What is the significance of the
had been a messenger from                     face-to-face. They were told to re-         first phrase in verse 19: "I trust in
Philippi to Paul - and a welcome               ceive him in the Lord with all glad-       the Lord..."?
visitor he was! The Philippian                 ness. The reason for the "gladness"        2. What was the mandate to Timo-
church had sent this envoy to be a             is simply that he has been restored        thy by Paul?
companion and assistant to Paul.               to them - but they are to receive          3. Why should Paul be concerned
Paul identifies him as "brother,               him "in the Lord." That ought to           about the "state" of the church at
companion in labor, and fellowsol-             say something to us also when we           Philippi?
dier" (vs. 25). Each term specifi-             receive saints of God.                     4. What is the "likemindedness" of
cally identifies Epaphroditus in a               They are reminded as well to             verse  20? Find references else-
special way. He is "brother" (as are           "hold all such in reputation." Paul        where in Scripture that this is true.
all the saints) to Paul; he labors             does not imply that Philippi might         How ought that be seen in the
with him in the work of proclaim-              not esteem Epaphroditus much               church as well?
ing the gospel; but he is also one             anymore. Rather, they are to es-           5. What connections did Timothy
who fights the good fight of faith.            teem all ministers of the Word             have with the church at Philippi in
Epaphroditus does not hesitate to              highly for their works' sake. This         earlier times?
risk his very life for the cause of the        reminder is, perhaps, more neces-          6. Is not verse 21 a harsh judgment
gospel.                                        sary today than ever before. There         on fellow workers? Was not ILuke,
   The dedication of this great saint          is the real danger that Christ's min-      for one, with Paul in Rome? `Was
is wonderfully presented in the                isters are despised. Their work is         this true of Luke?
passage. "Because for the work of              not highly regarded. Paul reminds          7. Would the judgment of verse 21
Christ he was nigh unto death..."              the church of the high calling of          indicate that such would not `be
(vs. 30). The details are not given,           those who literally spend their very       Christian?
but the illness was "for the work of           lives for the cause of the gospel.         8. What do we know of Timothy's
Christ." Some have claimed that                  The return of Epaphroditus               father? mother? grandmother?
Epaphroditus almost worked him-                would cause the church at Philippi         9. What indicates Paul's conviction
self to death. When he became ill,             to rejoice -but would also make            that he would soon be freed?
he ceased not to carry out the work.           Paul "less sorrowful." He too had          10. Explain the threefold descrip-
Finally, he had come to the point of           been disappointed that Philippi            tion of Epaphroditus in verse 25.
death. He provided the "lack of ser-           had been in heaviness because of           11. Must a servant of God "work
vice" of the Philippians. This is not          the illness of their messenger. Now        himself almost to death" for the
to say that the Philippians had                Paul would be relieved that they           cause of the Kingdom? Did Epa-
failed Paul in some way. Rather, be-           were encouraged once more.                 phroditus overdo in this regard?
cause of the distance which sepa-                One must be struck in this entire        Why did not Paul, who had mirac-
rated them, they could not perform             passage by the great love which            ulously healed others, not do the
the kind of service they might have            Paul had for the church in Philippi.       same for Epaphroditus?
otherwise done. Epaphroditus did               His terms of endearment and his            12. How would we evaluate our
what Philippi could only wish they             sacrificial actions of sending two of      own labors for the cause of the
could do. But all this was at the ex-          his most reliable assistants while he      Kingdom?
pense of his health.                           himself could have made good use           13. Is there a danger that we hold
  Now this great servant of Christ             of them indicate that deep and spir-       not in reputation those who gjve
had recovered. Paul speaks of the              itual interest. It is an interest and      their very lives for the cause of
fact that this was the mercy of God            concern which must be shown to             God's Kingdom? What does this
on Epaphroditus and on Paul him-               the church by all ministers of             statement of Paul mean to us and
self. God knows the cares and                  Christ's Word. Further, it is the          our attitudes toward ministers of
needs of His people - and He pro-              kind of spiritual concern that each        the gospel?  q
vides. So he would be sent by Paul             member of the church ought to
back to the Philippian church to               show to the body of Christ. What a


                 With the shade and with the sunshine, With the joy and with the pain,
                 Lord, I trust Thee! Both are needed; Each Thy wayward child to train.
                 Earthly loss, did we but know it, Often means our heavenly gain.
                                                                                        - SB, February 1,1932


62 I The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


The Day                                   That Wonderful
of Shadows                                Covenant (3)
Rev. John Heys


  Thus far we have presented the          wants his earthly goods distributed      beauty than the black and white
two testaments which bring us the         after his death. Man writes upon a       picture of God's covenant in the
good and better revelation of God's       piece of paper what he wants done        Old Testament, we understand
covenant, which assures us that we        with his earthly possessions, and        more clearly that secret of the Lord
will be brought to the new                he signs the document. That docu-        which is the showing forth of His
Jerusalem, where we will enjoy far        ment is his will and testament or        covenant.
more richly the blessedness which         covenant. It declares now what he           There are three reasons why we
the Old Testament saints enjoyed,         cannot say after his death.              were given both of these wills or
and which we today experience.              In the Old Testament our               testaments. They, the Old and New
  The Old Testament brought the           covenant God made known to us            Testaments, were given us so that
saints, from Adam to those who            that He has such a covenant or tes-      we might know that God has
died before our Savior came into          tament. Both the Hebrew and the          drawn up this will, this testament.
our flesh and earned for us the inti-     Greek words in Scripture that are        We could never know what is in
mate covenant fellowship with             translated as covenant can also cor-     God's mind or what He wills until
God, that which David presented           rectly be translated as testament, as    He speaks, or uses men to write
in Psalm 25:14. There he told us          already pointed out in the preced-       unto us. And He wrote these
that God's secret is with us; and         ing sections of this set of articles.    truths about His covenant in ordler
that means that we have a most            But the New Testament is richer          that we might know that He eter-
wonderful, indescribably beautiful        and clearer because many of the          nally made such a covenant. But
and precious fellowship with Him,         things presented in the Old Testa-       that is not enough. He also wrote
which He realized by becoming             ment were fulfilled, and that before     the truth about that covenant in or-
one of us through a virgin birth,         the New Testament was written.           der that we might believe that it
and by a descension into hell that        Now, then, we have a richer and          will be fulfilled and that it is His
we might be brought up into               more comforting evidence that, be-       promise to us - in other words, to
heaven.                                   cause Christ died for us, we will        work faith in us in regard to that
  At this time we present how we          enjoy fully that covenant fellow-        covenant. In the third place, but by
are to use the Old Testament and          ship which is promised us in the         no means with lesser significance,
New Testament in order to enjoy           Old Testament. We have more and          He gave us the Old Testament an.d
that covenant blessedness already         richer proof that Satan's head is go-    the New Testament so that we may
in this life. We must use both the        ing to be crushed and that we are        become a thankful people that
Old Testament and the New Testa-          going to have our crushed heel re-       praises God from Whom all bless-
ment, because our covenant God            stored to its health and strength, so    ings flow.
has only one covenant, has re-            that we will be able to walk the            All this the saints from Adam
vealed it very beautifully in the         street of gold in that new               onward had realized in them from
Old Testament, from the days of           Jerusalem.                               the day Adam fell and was born
Adam onward to the coming of                Today those two testaments or          again, until Christ came and blot-
Christ into our flesh, and reveals it     covenants which present to us the        ted out our guilt. Today the elect
more richly in the New Testament,         same promises of God's covenant          from various nations, tongues, and
from the day of Christ's birth,           - even though one is richer than         tribes have this wrought in them
death, resurrection, and His ascen-       the other - assure us that what Je-      and know what will happen again
sion into heaven.                         sus said, and is recorded in John        to the true church, namely, that
  To go back briefly to what was          14:1-3,  will surely happen. Places      God will bring them to His house
already written, let us remember          are being prepared for us, so that       of many mansions which is pic-
that a covenant is a will and testa-      we may enjoy the covenant bless-         tured in Revelation 21,22.
ment wherein one declares how he          ings in God's house of many man-            This, however, does not mean
Rev. Hey is a minister emeritus in fhe    sions. Now that we have this pic-        that we should brush aside the Old
Profesfanf Rt@med  Church.                ture in full color and see more          Testament and cease having ser-

                                                                                   November 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 63


mons based on Old Testament pas-              Testament concealed but revealed.          This also means that then there is
sages, or cease discussing its pas-           This warns us also to expect Christ      no grace of God. There is absjo-
sages in the home or in a society.            in every sermon today whether            lutely no grace of God apart from
As surely as we must read and                 based on an Old Testament passage        that cross. God has no grace for
study the New Testament passages,             or a New Testament passage.              those for whom Christ did not die.
we must read and study the Old                  It is not enough merely to have        Christ crucified, according to I
Testament passages, and explain               His name mentioned. Unitarians           Corinthians 1:23, is for the unbe-
New Testament passages by means               who deny that God is a triune God        lieving Jews a stumbling block, and
of Old Testament verses and revela-           do that. Many false doctrines to-        unto the Greeks foolishness. Does
tions. Did not Peter on the day of            day use His name but corrupt the         the holy God deal with such in His
Pentecost, and thus in the New Tes-           truth of God's covenant which            grace? These things, stumbli:ng
tament dispensation, refer the                teaches that salvation is God's          into sin and folly, the unbelievers
church to what the prophet Joel               work from beginning to end, and          do every step of their way. Does
had written? Even though the New              does not depend upon man's will.         the holy God for one split second
Testament is a better covenant with           And it is amazing and shameful           give grace to those who call His
better promises it depends upon               that we hear many, who deny              Son a fool and want nothing .to do
the Old Testament.                            Christ as God and as our Savior,         with Him but to call Him a crimi-
  Therefore all the truths in the             curse and swear and use His name         nal who deserved to be hanged on
Old Testament must be explained               in vain.                                 the cross? No, God's covenant is
by reference to Christ. Remember                The truth of the matter is that we     very particular, and so is His grace.
that Paul says in I Corinthians 1:23,         must in our sermons present Christ       Christ died only for those whlom
24, "But we preach Christ, unto the           as the one through Whom God ful-         the Father had given Him as His
Jews a stumbling block, and unto              fills all His covenant promises. He      sheep. And all the blessings come
the Greeks foolishness: but unto              must be presented as the one Who         through that cross. God's grace
them which are called, both Jews              does not simply remove our pun-          comes only upon those whose sins
and Greeks, Christ the power and              ishment. Deeper and more won-            were blotted out by it. There is
wisdom of God." Still more, John              derful is the truth that He removes      then nothing common about that
begins his gospel narrative with the          our sinful natures so that we de-        grace. Does the holy God commit
words, "In the beginning was the              light in sweet communion with            the sin of letting sins that have not
Word, and the Word was with God,              God, in the ability to serve and glo-    been blotted out by that cross; be ig-
and the Word was God." That cer-              rify Him. If we only want removal        nored? Does He give those who in-
tainly means that Christ is in the            of our aches and pains and death,        tend to sin, and want only to sin,
Old Testament and referred to in              we do not want Christ. In every          some gifts in grace? Will He, in His
Genesis l:l, when we are told that,           Old Testament sermon Christ must         grace, give them material things
"In the beginning God created the             be presented as the one Who brings       that will help them to sin? Is He
heavens and the earth." A triune              this covenant blessedness to us.         holy, if He overlooks sins which
God did this, and Christ in His di-             Last, but by no means least, ev-       that cross has not blotted out:?
vine nature was there. He is the              ery sermon and all study in the Old        Jesus said, "I lay down My life
Word Who with the Father and the              Testament as well as in the New          for the sheep" (John l&15). For
Spirit created all things. He was             Testament must present the cross of      them only can grace be used in
also there in the types and shad-             Christ. It is simply an undeniable       their treatment. And does God not
ows, when God shed the blood of               fact that when the cross is not pre-     say in Genesis 3:15 that instead of
the creature whose skin covered               sented, the Christ who is presented      giving grace to some He is goling to
naked and guilty Adam and Eve.                is not the Christ Who saves us and       punish with a crushed head?
There already we have God's                   brings to us all the covenant bless-       Then, too, we deny the cross
promises, His covenant promise, of            ings. Leave the cross of Christ out      when we present salvation as
bringing fallen man back to inti-             of an explanation of what God de-        man's blessing only if and when he
mate fellowship with Him to enjoy             clares in that protevangel of Gene-      fulfills a condition. Then the cross
the secret, the sweet communion of            sis 3:15 and you leave out all that      alone is not enough. Man must
His covenant. He spoke these                  which is promised in that mother-        also do something. Still more, then
words so that Adam and Eve, hear-             promise. Leave out that cross and        the spiritually dead man is viewed
ing them, might know that He in-              you leave out that whole wonder-         by God as one who has a little spir-
tended to bring forth covenant                ful covenant established by our          itual life. No, all our salvation rests
seed, whom He would cause to                  gracious God. Then you take away         upon what Christ did and upon
hate Satan and sin. But also here             that which is so essential for God's     His cross. How important the truth
already He revealed that He would             covenant promises to be fulfilled.       about that cross is!
come into our flesh to die for our            We are guilty and deserve everlast-        The Lord willing we will next
sins and blot out our guilt.                  ing hell-fire! Then without the          time conclude this comforting and
  What God did at that time al-               cross there is no room to speak of a     powerful truth of God's wonderful
ready clearly reveals that Christ             resurrection and life everlasting in     covenant.  Cl
and His cross are not in the Old              the new Jerusalem.

64 I The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


 ti/cingHeed  TO  T h e   B i b l e   i s
 The Doctrine                            God's Word
Rev. Marvin Kamps


Propositional Revelation                 trines concerning the Being of the        so very willing to ignore all manner
  It has always been the Reformed        Triune God.                               of departures from the historic
church's confession that the Bible         It is striking to the careful ob-       Christian faith? These questions
gives us information concerning          server of the church today, that the      trouble believers. And they de-
who God is. If one consults the          church is rather reluctant to make        mand an answer.
Creeds of the Reformed churches          dogmatic assertions about Christ             I believe the answer is that we
he will discover that the church de-     Jesus, about God, and about the na-       must view God's revelation as
clared "what kind of a God God is"       ture of God's work in history and         "propositional revelation." This
and `Who he is." Consider the first      time. The Christian church is timid       expression may be new to the
article of the Belgic Confession,        and uncertain in its witness. Men         reader, but in fact has been used by
where the church speaks of God's         within the same denomination, and         conservative theologians for the
Being: "there is one only simple         therefore supposedly of one mind          past forty years and more. Besides,
and spiritual Being, which we call       and confession, hold absolutely           it should be pointed out that
God; and that he is eternal, incom-      contradictory positions about God,        though the term is relatively new
prehensible, invisible, immutable,       His Christ, and the creative and re-      and unfamiliar, it expresses a "con-
infinite, almighty, perfectly wise,      demptive work of God. Both posi-          cept" as old as faith itself.
just, good, and the overflowing          tions are viewed as possibly cor-            By propositional revelation is
fountain of all good." Notice also       rect, which is of course impossible.      meant that the Bible gives us accu-
the Heidelberg Catechism's in-           Error is not condemned. No one is         rate information as to who God is
struction in regard to the truth that    declared heretical. All views may         in Himself. The Bible tells us who
God is a Triune God: "Since there        contain an element of truth. Believ-      Christ Jesus is and who He is not.
is but one only divine essence, why      ers are warned not to be "dog-            The Bible gives us Truth. Through
speakest thou of Father, Son, and        matic" in their expressions of faith.     the divinely and infallibly inspired
Holy Ghost? Because God hath so          Toleration is passionately encour-        Scriptures we are given a "true
revealed himself in his Word, that       aged, the result being that confu-        knowledge" of God, through the
these three distinct persons are the     sion and discouragement prevail in        blessing of His Spirit. Through the
one only true and eternal God."          the "fellowship of the saints."           Scriptures we know God and have
This is emphatic and exclusive lan-      Worse, a whole new generation of          fellowship with Him personally.
guage. Other conceptions of God's        children are given no definite direc-     The Bible declares who Christ is
Being and attributes are rejected as     tion, no authoritative instruction, in    and what He has done and why He
false and heretical.                     regard to `Who is God" and what           has done it. The Bible instructs us
  The Reformed church was led to         He has done for His people in             to "grow in grace, and in the knoz&
make this exclusive confession not       Christ Jesus. The church cannot           edge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
only by the Reformers, but also by       long exist amidst such confusion.         Christ" (II Pet. 3:18). The apostle's
the ancient church of post-apostolic     The church's corporate worship is         exhortation is worthy exactly be-
`times. The ancient church by its        uncertain and half-hearted. The           cause if is possible to grow in knowl-
great ecumenical creeds had estab-       church's great Creeds of the Refor-       edge of `Who God is" through the
lished as church dogma the doc-          mation are viewed more and more           prayerful study of God's Word.
                                         as quaint reminders of that pre-crit-        Ronald H. Nash, in an article in
                                         ical age.                                 Christinify Today, October 7,1977,
                                           How has all this come about?            wrote the following in an attempt
                                         Why is it that many Reformed be-          to explain the meaning of the ex-
                                         lievers do not speak with the same        pression, "propositional revela-
Rev. Kbkps is pastor of Southwest        conviction and zeal as did their fa-      tion":
Protestant Reformed Church in Grand      thers? Why is the church so hesi-            We can clarify what evangelicals
Rapids, Michigan.                        tant to do Christian discipline and       have meant by the doctrine of proposi-

                                                                                   November 1,199O  / The Standard Bearer I 65


tional revelation by r#eying to a cen-        hicle of "God's Word" to man.            if God through the Scriptures did
fraI tenet in neo-orthodoxy,  the view        High sounding and apparently pi-         not in fact, and did not intend, or
fhat no revelafion  can communicafe           ous is this appeal to God's tran-        could not for whatever reason, give
information. Revelation, according to         scendence, but it is nonetheless         us the Word of Truth as His :Revela-
mO-OtihOaO~,  is always an event in           pernicious because it is false. The      tion in Christ Jesus. What d:iffer-
which God reveals himself; it is never        revelation of God, men claim, is al-     ence does it make to confess sola
information  about God or anything            ways and only an "encounter" be-         scripfura, if the Bible does not give
else. Concerning fhe question at issue        tween the sinner and God. It is          us facts that are the Truth concem-
here, then, the central claim of neo-or-      something exclusively personal           ing God, His Christ, and ourselves.
thodoxy was: No revelation expresses          and inward. Each believer, there-        If God's revelation is not "proposi-
cognitive information.                        fore, may rightly form his own con-      tional," then for a church to ,write
   The doctrine of propositional revela-      ception of who God is. This subjec-      Creeds and to develop a Creedal
tion is besf understood as a denial of        tivism is taken so far that we are       consciousness is an exercise in utter
this thesis.  The contradicto  y of the       told that even the pagans are really     foolishness and is presumptuous.
ntmrthodox thesis k: Some revela-             not pagans at all and are not to be      For then we, cannot know God with
tion expresses cognitive information.         viewed as objects of missionary          any certainty. Worse, we cannot
And this statement  is the core of the        labors and witness by the Christian      know Him at all. We are then left
aobi~ of proposifiorual  revelation.          church. Rather, every man is said        to "agnosticism" and "skeptiicism."
Man can have wgnitive information             to "encounter God" in whatever             The trust that the Bible is God's
about God. Since a proposition is the         way God is pleased to make Him-          Word is itself a gift of grace to the
minimal vehicle of truth, the informa-        self known and by whatever               elect sinner. He who holds to the
tion about God is contained in divinely       means.                                   Scriptures as giving accurate infor-
revealed propositions.                          The Reformed believer will rec-        mation (that is, the Truth)  to us as it
   The question whether God's self-           ognize immediately that if credence      is in God Himself, this man and
disclosure is through an event ex-            is given to these "theologians of        this man only has "received...the
clusively is very interesting. Cer-           subjectivism," and consequently          spirit which is of God; that ye
tainly God has revealed Himself in            their writings are not rejected as       might know the things that are
the event of Creation, the world-             destructive by way of being mis-         freely given to us of God" (I Cor.
wide flood, the fall of Jericho's             leading and false, then the Re-          2:12).
walls, and so on. Certainly too,              formed church will soon be a               With this conviction and confi-
revelation is given through the               church of confusion, turmoil, weak-      dence in the Bible, we can and do
prophets as they interpreted and              ness of faith, and lacking in convic-    "try the spirits" of our age. That
applied the revelation of God in the          tion of the truth. Her preaching         which is contrary to Scripture is
events of sacred history. But we              will be without power.                   without hesitation rejected as un-
would emphatically deny that reve-              The Bible warns us about the           worthy of a place in God's church
lation is an on-going reality simply          presence of "false prophets" who         and the church's teaching. They
because God continues to work in              bring intd the church "damnable          that live out of faith in Christ Jesus,
time and history. However, our                heresies" (II Pet.  2~1). The apostle    who is the revelation of His most
point is simply to underscore what            Paul calls down the curse of God         glorious heavenly Father - accord-
is meant by propositional revela-             upon anyone, even if he be an an-        ing as He is revealed to us in the
tion. Scripture gives us facts, infor-        gel out of heaven, who would             Scriptures  - are to be received in
mation, the truth about God,                  bring another gospel than the apos-      thanksgiving unto Jehovah God. Cl
Christ, and ourselves.                        tle himself preached in God's
  Many of the clergy and office-              name. But if God's revelation to us
bearers in the Reformed commu-                in the Scriptures does not give us
nity of churches have lost their              Truth (facts concerning God, Jestis,
"confidence" in the Scriptures, be-           and ourselves), on what basis
cause of the undermining influ-               would the church condemn as false             Not All the Words
ences of subjectivism and mysti-              the teaching of anyone? Then all
cism. Many theologians of great               we have is relativism. Yet Scripture     Not all the words of all mankind,
renown have sent forth into the               presupposes that the truth has been        However great and wise,
Christian church community theo-              made known and is known to the           Can lift a sinner from the dus)t
ries of revelation and Scripture              man of faith in Christ Jesus.              And place him in the skies.
which are totally foreign to and de-            It is important in our day that        Then let Thy Word, 0 Son of God,
structive of the Bible as God's               the church consciously  view God's         Suffice this heart of mine;
Word. One asserts that the Bible is           revelation in Christ Jesus as real       And let me count no word as true
not God's revelation to us, but the           Self-disclosure to the church of Je-       If it conflicts with Thine!
church's response to revelation.              sus Christ. All questions about the
Another asserts that God is so great          authority of Scripture, its perspicu-                     - 93, August I, 1932
and majestic that mere human lan-             ity, and its sufficiency, are abso-
guage can never serve to be the ve-           lutely meaningless for the believer,

66 / The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


From                                      Exposition of
Holy Writ                                 Isaiah 6 (5)
Rev. George Lubbers


  "Then said I, Lord, how long?           holy temple, fill the whole earth           those who heard all these good
And he answered, Until the                (vss. l-30). In this land God will          words but spiritually understood1
cities be wasted without inhabi-          plant His people as a goodly vine,          not their spiritual import as being
                                          initially in calling Abraham from           the land of which His Son is the
tant, and the house without               Ur of the Chaldees, and four hun-           Heir. And when they did see the
man, and the land be utterly              dred thirty years later by bringing         Heir-Son pointed out in the temple
desolate. And #he LORD have               them in by His servants Moses and           and on the throne, they killed Him
removed man far away, and                 Joshua (Gal. 3~16-18). It is in this        as the Lord of glory (I Cor. 3:7-9;
there be a great forsaking in the         land of promise that Israel-Judah is        Matt. 21:33-46).
midst of the land...."                    planted by the LORD as a goodly                Such was the essence of the sin
                                          vine (Isa. 5:1-4).                          of Israel.
                   - Isaiah 6:11-l 3        To receive an insight into the               It was the rejection of the Lord
                                          spiritual nature of this goodly land        most high, the owner of the Vine
                                          we must read Romans 9:4,5, where            yard as this was centered in the
The Divine Timetable for                  Paul explains the real, high and            Temple-worship, in the keeping of
Judgments in the Goodly Land              lofty, fertile soil on which Israel, the    the Sabbaths. They refused to enter
  We should never forget that the         vine of His planting, was placed.           into the Lord's rest! They were like
land of Canaan was truly a goodly         There he writes of Israel this:             the people at Meribah and Massah.
land. If even a part of the earth            . ..Who are Israelites; to whom per-     Of these the Lord swore in His
could be singled out as being in a        fainefh the adoption, and the glo y and     wrath that they would not enter
unique sense "God's Country," it          the covenants and the giving of the         into His rest (Heb. 3~7-11;  Ps. 95%
was the land of Canaan, the ac-           law; and the service of God, and the        11). Of others God swore that they
cursed son of Ham in his genera-          promises. Whose are the fathers, and        would enter into His rest (Heb.
tions. In this choice of God there        of whom as concerning the fresh Christ      4:3ff .).
was Divine wisdom and prudent             came, who is over all, God blessed for-        With these words the Lord's an-
foresight displayed. It was the his-      ever. Amen.                                 swer to Isaiah agrees. The question
torical manifestation that, when             Truly God as the great owner of          was this: how long, Lord, must this
Japheth would dwell in the tents of       the Vineyard, which is His peculiar         preaching ("hear indeed and un-
Shem, he would dwell with Shem            people, could justly ask:                   derstand not") continue? The an-
in the land of Canaan. Here we see           What could have been done more fo        swer is not an arbitrary whim on
displayed what Moses teaches in           my vineyard, that I have not a0m in         the part of God, but it is the real&+
Deuteronomy  28:Bb: "He set the           it? wherefore when I Zooked that if         tion of His oath that unbelievers
bounds of the people according to         should bring forth grapes, brought if       will not enter into His rest at all!
the number of the children of Is-         forth wild grapes? (Isa. 6:4)                  This "until" has in it a note of
rael." (Compare Acts 17~26.)                 Yes, Israel dwelt in the land of         hope for the believers. Indeed,
  This land God established as be-        Immanuel, God with us. The land             there shall be great and prolonged
ing His heritage. In possessing this      belonged to God; it was His her-            judgments in Israel's history. Such
little part of the inhabitable world      itage. Writes Jeremiah in chapter           was the announcement of Moses to
of men, He also claimed the whole         2%                                          Israel of his day. He speaks to Isralel
earth was His, and that the glory of         And I brought you info a plentiful       which breaks the commandment
salvation would, from out of His          county, to eat the fruit thereof and the    concerning the Lord's Sabbaths. In
                                          goodness thereof; but when ye entered,      Leviticus 26:2 we read, `Ye shall
                                          ye defiled my land, and made mine           keep my sabbaths, and reverence
                                          heritage  an abomination.                   my sanctuary: I am the Lord."
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in       And now the LORD announces                  There were various "sabbaths"
the Protestant Reforrrred Churches.       wrath and condemnation upon                 given to Israel. These were regu-

                                                                                      November 1,199O  ! The Standard Bearer I 67


lated by the lunar calendar, and               been given a temporary SANCTU-              it be of works, then is it no more of
were all controlled by the number              ARY in all the lands where they             grace: otherwise work is no more
seven: the seventh day; the second             have been scattered. The great              work" (Rom. 11:5,6).
sabbath; the fourteenth day; the               burning question, the great issue             So God made a distinction be-
seventh week; the seventh month;               was "where is the church?" Is it, at        tween the two seeds in the execu-
and the year of Jubilee, the first             the time of the final forsaking of the      tion of the judgments upon the
year after the forty-ninth year, the           land, in Babylon, or is it repre-           pleasant land!
year when every man again re-                  sented in Jerusalem?                          Such a making of the distinction
ceived his inheritance in Israel.                Such was the question. This               is the constant pattern of the holy
These sabbaths must be kept, and               question arose because there was a          place. There is mercy in each judg-
this could only be done by rever-              twofold taking captive of Israel.           ment for the meek in the earth. We
encing God's sanctuary. Israel must            The first was in the days of King Je-       hope to see this when we take a
by faith enter into the completed              hoiachin, when Nebuchadnezzar               closer look as to how these judg-
work of God's redemption. They                 carried off the king with his mother        ments were  punishments  for the
must rest from their labors on these           and his servants and his officers.          reprobate unbelievers in Isralel,  and
sabbaths with thankful rejoicings.             He then took the gold of the tem-           how they were chastisements from
  But this had not been done.                  ple, taking with him all the nobility       the hand of the Father of lights for
Now the Lord comes in His wrath                of the people of Judah, the holy seed,      His Son Whom He loves (Heb.
upon Israel in ever increasing                 some ten thousand captives,                 12:2-12).  Truly, the holy seed had
tempo and intensity. Four times                among whom were also the four               reason to lift up their hands .which
we read that the Lord will punish              God-fearing young men: Daniel,              hang down, and also the feeble
them or will chastise them "seven              Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,             knees (Heb. 12:12;  Isa. 353).
times more!' (See Leviticus 2618,              men who by faith stopped the                  God makes this distinction very
21,24.)  And then the end of the               mouths of the lions, quenched the           emphatically in the final destruc-
Lord's predicted judgment comes                violence of fire. God took His              tion of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, when
upon unbelieving Israel. It is the             church out of the hot boiling pot of        the Roman hordes sack the city.
end God has in mind when He tells              Jerusalem. Yes, He will forsake the         Where is then the church? Oh, they
Isaiah how long the preaching to               land utterly, but in such a way that        are safely sheltered in God's Sanc-
this peepIe  must continue by him              He will not forsake His people              tuary, in the churches gathered
and all the prophets, as this culmi-           whom He foreknew (I Sam. 12:22;             from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
nates in the crystal clear authorita-          Heb. 13:5). He will in no way cast          and to the ends of the earth. Just as
tive preaching of the Christ of God            off His people whom He foreknew.            God made a little sanctuary in
in the fullness of time.                       There is ever the remnant accord-           Babylon, a shelter in the time of
  This word we ought to heed,                  ing to election of grace (Rom. ll:l,        storm, so here in the final desola-
which was spoken concerning the                2). The classic example of this             tion of the temple and land God
consummation of the judgment                   faithfulness of God is iterated by          makes a permanent sanctuary,
upon the pleasant land. We read:               God to Elijah His prophet in the            which sanctuary is the church it-
"...and the land be utterly desolate,          mount (I Kings 19:18).  Paul quotes         self, the pillar and ground of the
and the Lord have removed men                  this memorable passage in Romans            truth.
far away, and there be a great for-            11:2-4. And the great conclusion is           Yes, the word of the promise is
saking in the land" (Isa. 611,121.             this: "Even so then at this moment          fulfilled: God laid a Stone in Zion,
  By whom will this forsaking of               there is a remnant according to the         elect, precious. This Stone is Jeho-
the land be? It will be a forsaking            election of grace. And if by grace,         vah God, Jesus, the Savior of the
of the land by the LORD of the                 then it is no more of works, other-         world (John 4:21-23,431.  q
land, Who sits on the throne in ho-            wise grace is no more grace. But if
liness, and of Whom the Seraphim
sing, day and night in His temple:
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD
God almighty, Who fills the earth
presently with the glory of His
grace.                                                                              All Is Well
  The form of this forsaking will
be such that God's eternal covenant            In the center of the circle                 Shall I pass through waves of
will stand forever, and His king-                 Of the will of God I stand;                        sorrow?
dom will come which has no end                 There can come no second causes,               Then I know it will be best;
(Dan. 7:27). For we must notice                   All must come from His dear              Though I cannot tell the reason,
that when God finally cleanses the                   hand.                                    I can trust and so am blest.
house of the Lord from evil-doers,             All is well! for `tis my Father             God is love, and God is faithful,
and destroys the earthly temple of                Who my life hath planned.                   So in perfect peace I rest.
Solomon over their heads, then the                                                                         -SB, December 1:5,1932
true children of God have already

68 I The Standard Bearer  / November 1,199O


                                          R.F.P.A. Secretary's
                                          Annual Report

                  September  20,199O      Rapids, MI, June 12-14 (two pages       Board, there is an on-going effort to
                                          of pictures).                           increase and expand our mader-
Dear Members and Supporters of              It is an ongoing effort and con-      ship. From our churches' Exten-
the R.F.P.A. (Standard  Bearer publi-     cern of the RFPA to improve and         sion and Evangelism Committees
cation):                                  maintain the quality of our publica-    we are getting mailing lists, and
  Until one is personally involved        tion both in content and in appear-     they in turn are enclosing with
to some degree, it is so easy to dis-     ance.                                   their sent-out material a special
miss from one's mind all the re-            This year we have an increased        card promoting The Standard Beam-.
quired time and effort and cost that      working balance. We take this op-          We are also exploring the possi-
go into a finished product -              portunity to thank our PR member-       bilities of outside advertising. Our
namely, in this case, Volume 66 of        ship for their collection contribu-     first ad was in the August 13th is-
the SB, and also the related work of      tions, as well as our PR and non-PR     sue of the Christian Obseroer,  a
the Permanent Committee for the           friends who gave donations to           weekly Presbyterian publication.
Publication of Protestant Reformed        print and mail out our magazine         This fine magazine has in the past
Literature.                               and books. We also acknowledge          given us favorable recognition and
  We as Board, on behalf of the As-       the prayers offered on our behalf       publicity. We appreciate their gen-
sociation, gratefully acknowledge         that our publications might be a        erosity
and thank our Editor, the Editorial       voice and witness in this age of in-       In an attempt to prune our list of
Committee, our Business Manager,          difference. Those interested in re-     freebies, letters were sent out to
Guest Writers, Department Editors,        ceiving our annual Financial state-     many institutions such as colleges,
and others who contributed to put         ment and report can obtain one by       libraries, etc., receiving complimen-
the SB and other of our publica-          contacting our Business Manager,        tary copies of the SB. For lack of re-
tions in your possession.                 Mr. Don Doezema.                        sponse, 29 were dropped. At the
  Under the capable leadership of           From the Minutes of our Board         same time, we continue to seek
our Editor, Prof. D.J. Engelsma,          and from the desk of our much ap-       other institutions who might profit
subjects and issues were addressed        preciated, hard-working Business        from our magazine on their
in a forthright manner, demonstrat-       Manager (also thanking his wife,        shelves.
ing his (and all our assigned writ-       Judi) we can report the following          Commercial Printing Company
ers') deep commitment to the Truth        activities for the year:                recently purchased equipment
of the Scriptures, as it is expressed       Distribution of the SB: Of the        which makes it possible for them .to
in the great creeds which belong to       2,076 addresses used in the August      accept from their customers the
the heritage of the Reformed              mailing 958 were in Michigan, 968       copy for typesetting on a computer
Churches.                                 from other states, and 150 were         disk. Our Seminary received as a
  Letters to the Editor were knowl-       sent overseas. Sixty-two percent of     gift a high quality laser printer with
edgeably, skillfully, and directly an-    our subscribers are PR (1,279).         the understanding that cooperatialn
swered without compromise.                Thirty-eight percent (797) are non-     with the R.F.P.A. in typesetting the
  Volume 66 featured special is-          PR.                                     SB  could generate income sufficient
sues and events. January 1,199o:            The one-half price introductory       to take care of the Seminary com-
special issue on Reformed                 offer brought in 106 new paying         puter equipment needs for the fone-
Faith...Theology of Hope; May             subscribers. Taking into considera-     seeable future. Our taking full ad-
15th: on Preaching; November 1,           tion some requested cancellations,      vantage of that arrangement
1989: Editorial re the San Francisco      non-payment, etc. we ended up the       promises to be of financial benefit
earthquake; April 1st: on Office          12-month period with a gain of 42       also for the R.F.P.A., and at the
Bearers Conference held in South          on our paid mailing list.               same time give us more control
Holland, IL; July 1st: on Interna-          Because it is a concern of our Ed-    over the layout of each issue.
tional Conference held in Grand           itorial Committee as well as our           An inventory is completed of thie

                                                                                  November 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer I 69


number of every printed issue of              6. Looked into outside advertising       7. Procedures for approving new
each of the 66 Volumes we have on             as an outlet for books, etc.             manuscripts are being developed.
hand and in storage as of Septem-                From their Publication Commit-                *******
ber 30,199O.                                  tee:                                       As we end this report, we thank
   From the Secretary of the Perma-           1. Ttiple Knowledge, Volume I & II,      the three retiring Board members,
nent Book Committee, Dave Har-                reprinted.                               Chairman -John J. Dykstra!; Trea-
bath, we pass along the following             2. "Show Me Thy Way," Grade 5,           surer - Henry Kamps; and {Gilbert
information:                                  will be printed as funds permit.         Schimmel. In all matters re our
   From their Distribution Commit-            3. Prof. H.C. Hoeksema's material        publications let us heed the encour-
tee:                                          on the Doctrine of Scripture is be-      agement of Scripture as found in I
1. Prepared a new catalog.                    ing prepared for publication on a        Corinthians  15:58:  "Therefore, my
2. Developed an inventory reduc-              limited edition.                         beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
tion sale.                                    4. Prof. H. Hanko's Exposition on        unmoveable, always abounding in
3. Prepared a letter to our churches          the Parables will be reprinted.          the work of the Lord, forasmuch as
informing them of their work.                 5. Rev. Haak's outlines on Philippi-     ye know that your labor is not in
4. Prepared a letter to be put in the         ans will be printed.                     vain in the Lord." 0
SB.                                           6; Articles from past Standard Bear-                     Respectfully submitted,
5. Sent a delegate to the Psalmody            ers will be considered for publica-                         Board of the1R.F.P.A.
Conference in North Carolina dis-             tion in pamphlet form.                                    Peter Koole, Secretary
playing our various publications.




                                              The Church
Contribution                                  Organist

   The most important part of a               pleasure in knowing that one's             How does the organist accom-
church service is the preaching of            God-given talents are used for His       plish this goal? How does an or-
the Word of God. Another very                 @Y-                                      ganist play aggressively enough,
important part'of our church ser-               Words and music should touch           with neither too much nor too little
vice is the congregational singing.           the hearts and emotions of the con-      tone? How does the organ&t keep
Because the church organist aids              gregation in their worship. The or-      the congregation moving at ia rea-
the congregational singing, he or             ganist is to serve and assist in the     sonable pace without dragging?
she is also important.                        worship service, not to "perform."       How does he or she help express
  In the past we have become in-                 It is common knowledge that the       the meaning of the psalm? How
creasingly aware of a decreasing              capacity to play an excellent organ      does he or she inspire the congre-
supply of church organists. Per-              recital does not guarantee the per-      gation to sing enthusiastically or
haps organists become threatened              former to be a good church-service       prayerfully?
by unsympathetic music commit-                organist. A recital glorifies the or-      The organist should announce
tees and critical church member-              ganist and the composer. A church        the psalm with an introduction, set
ship.                                         service glorifies God.                   the pace, and hold a steady
  The service as church organist is              In the proper playing of a psalm,     rhythm. The organist should lead
a wonderful service. Even though              the church organist becomes at           and direct the congregation Iwith
one is paid little or nothing, there is       once not only the accompanist, but       correct timing to sing each song
                                              also the leader of the congregation      with enthusiasm so that they be-
                                              in the singing of that psalm. The        come very cognizant of the words,
This contribufion was submitted by a          organist should lead the congrega-       so important to God's praise.
long-time, and accomplished,  church-         tion, stirring them up in the              The singers should be allowed
organist in the Protestant R@rmed             singing of the psalms to very joyful     the opportunities to breathe (espe-
Churches. We honor the author's re-           or prayerful praise,to the Lord.         ciallybetween stanzas). The or-
quest to remain anonymous in The              The organist serves an important         ganist should give adequate tonal
Standard Bearer.                              role in the worship service.             support to the congregation `but
70 / The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


without drowning their voices in a       us make good the gift of our              please our God. Then we will walk
loud sound. However, the                 singing praise to the Lord our God.       out with the doxology and
psalmist does state "Sing unto Him         Preludes, offertories, and              postlude in our mind and soul, and
a new song; Play skilfully with a        postludes have an important part          we will go through the entire
loud noise" (Psalm 33:3).                in our worship services. Let us           week, until the next Sabbath day,
  Identify the mood of the text or       choose, practice,`and play these          singing!
tune - prayerful praise, rejoicing       with a prayer that it will open the          Next to the Word of God, music de-
praise, etc. The tempo must be           door to the blessing that awaits          serves the highest praise. The gift of
vigorous, steady, and sharply            those who seek it in true worship.        language combined with the gift of
rhythmical. The organ must lead          Let nothing break the communion           song was given to men that they
at a tempo neither too slow nor too      between our spirits and God.              should proclaim the Word of God
fast. Tempo is extremely crucial to        Our songs then shall arise to           through music. (Martin Luther)  Cl
praise. Praiserworthy  tempo helps       heaven, and our joyful noise will




                                         News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                      Our Churches

EVANGELISM NEWS                          and 11, D.V. He will also give a          This labor has consisted of a Bible
  Many of our readers know that          midweek lecture. Both pastors             or doctrine study with families of
for some time the congregation of        hope also to be contacting inter-         the Doon congregation along with1
our PRC in Redlands, CA has had          ested people while they are in the        up to four different families from
correspondence with a group of           area, to determine the possibility of     outside of our churches. If this
Christians in Santa Cruz who are         future missionary labors there.           study continued to go well through
interested in the Reformed faith           The Evangelism Committee of             August, and if at least two of the
and our churches. Redlands has           our Redlands congregation also            families from outside of our
been considering various plans to        played a major role in organizing a       churches showed interest in having
help these people and at the same        special Lord's day in their own           these studies, the work was to be
time investigate the possibility of      congregation. They planned a spe-         continued for the coming year.
future work in the Santa Cruz area.      cial worship service, for September       Rev. DeVries has been asked to con-
  Redlands has decided to have a         21, focusing on the importance of         tinue this work pending the ap-
series of four Lord's days of            Sabbath observance. This service          proval of his Consistory.
preaching services in this area. Our     was like any other worship service           The Evangelism Committee of
church in Loveland, CO has also          except that every effort was made         our PRC in Wyckoff, NJ sponsored
agreed to help in this effort. Plans     to publicize this service in the com-     a public lecture on September 21.
are that Rev. denHartog,  Redlands'      munity through newspaper ads,             The entire congregation got to-
pastor, will be in Santa Cruz for the    posters, letters, and personal invita-    gether a couple of weeks before the
Lord's days of October 21 and 28.        tions from the congregation. The          lecture to help in the mailing and
He will also give a Reformation          sermon that evening was based on          distributing of fliers advertising
Day lecture on October 29. Rev.          Isaiah 58:13,14,  and it set forth the    this lecture. Prof. D. Engelsma was
Cammenga, Loveland's pastor, will        Word of the Lord concerning Sab-          the featured speaker and he spoke
be in Santa Cruz on November 4           bath observance. It was hoped that        on the subject of God's grace and
                                         through these efforts Redlands            the fact that it is particular and not
                                         would be able to bring the Word of        common.
                                         God to some people from their             MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES
                                         community.                                   Our PRC in Kalamazoo, MI, the
                                           Acting upon a request from the          calling church for a missionary to
                                         Reformed Witness Committee, the           Venice, FL, has formed a new trio
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Profes-    consistory of our PRC in Doon, IA         from which to call, consisting of the
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,     has been doing some work in Sioux         Revs. R. Dykstra, B. Gritters, and C.
Michigan.                                Falls, IA these past few months.          Haak.

                                                                                   November 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer / 71


                                                                                                                     SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                     Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, Etiichigan





  The Consistory of our Hud-                                                     Hope Thou in God
sonville, MI PRC has made the fol-            I
lowing trio for missionary to
Lame, Northern Ireland: Revs. C.                   Forsaken! no, it cannot be,                      Then why should I to doubt give
Haak, M. Kamps, and T. Miersma.                    That I'm forsaken, Lord, by Thee;                          7
  And since Rev. T. Miersma de-                    For hast Thou not, my heart to             -     fiy&& should fill me with
clined the call he was considering                   cheer,                                            dismay?
to serve as our churches' rnission-                Assured me that Thou wilt                        Though many billows o'er me roll,
ary to Jamaica, First Church in                      appear? -                                      Not one shall overwhelm my soul.
G&n&Rapids, MI has also formed
a new trio from which their con-                   Appear to chase the gloom of                     Do Thou, dear Lord, enable me
gregation will call. This trio con-                  night;                                         To trust Thee when I cannot see -
sists of the Revs. B. Gritters, C.                 Appear to bring the morning light;               To gain access to Thee in prayer,
Haak, and J. Kortering. Cl                         Appear to tell me Thou art mine,                 And find a solid resting theIF.
                                                   ADuear to witness I am Thine.
                                                     II
                                              I                                                                         - SB, Aptil3!5,2932





RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             in you richly in all wisdom; teaching            they may experience the blessings
  The Mary-Martha Society of the                   and admonishing one another in                   of the Lord together for many years
Redlands Hope Protestant Re-                       Psalms and hymns and spiritual                   to come.
formed Church expresses sincere                    songs, singing with grace in your                   "For the Lord is good, His mercy
sympathy to our president and one                  hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16).                 is everlasting, and His truth en-
of our members, Pastor and Mrs.                    Gerald and Theresa Dykstra                       dureth to all generations" (Ps.
Arie denHartog, in the sudden loss                   Mike, Eric, Heather, Carl, Eileen,             1005).
of her father and mother, MR. and                    Ken Dykstra                                    David  & Michelle Kuiper
MRS. FARRAND DEUR.                                 Dave and Wanda Kamminga                          Brad Kuiper
   May they find comfort in the fol-                 Shawn, Shannon, Kendra, Ryan,                  Chris Kuiper
lowing words of Scripture, "For we                   Audra, Shane Kamminga                          Beth Kuiper
                                                                         Hope Church, Walker, MI
know that if our earthly house of                                                                   Philip Kuiper
this tabernacle were dissolved, we                                                                  Victor Kuiper
                                                   NOTICE                                           Dwight Kuiper
have a building of God, a house not                  Anyone desiring a copy of the                  Lois Kuiper
made with hands, eternal in the                    1990 Acts of Synod may contact                   Dana Kuiper         Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
heavens" (I Cor. 51).                              the Seminary (616) 531-1490, or
Ed Gritters, Vice-President                        write, 4949 lvanrest Avenue,                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATIHY
Anna Mae Bodbyl, Secretary                         Grandville, Ml 49418. The cost of                   The Adult Bible Class of Faith
                                                   the book is $3.00.                               Protestant Reformed Church1 ex-
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                Rev. M. Joostens                                 presses its sincere sympathy to Mr.
   On November 6, the Lord willing,                Stated Clerk                                     and Mrs. Victor Oosterbaan in the
our parents, MR. and MRS. JOHN                                                                      death of their son PAUL OOSTER-
DYKSTRA, will-celebrate their 40th                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              B A A N .
wedding anniversary. We their chil-                  On August 20,1990, our dear                       May our covenant hod comfort
dren thank our heavenly Father for                 parents, the REV. and MRS. DALE                  with His Word and Spirit in the as-
Christian parents who have given,                  KUIPER, celebrated their 25th wed-               surance that "All things work to-
and still give, so much of them-                   ding anniversary. On this joyous                 gether for good to them that love
selves as a God-fearing example to                 occasion we thank God for the                    God" (Rom. 8:28).
us. We hope and pray that God will                 many years of covenant instruction,              Rev. Kenneth Koole, President
bless and keep them in His tender                  and for the godly example they                   Sandy  Tmklenberg, Secretary
care. "Let the word of Christ dwell                have set for us. It is our prayer that
72 I The Standard Bearer I November 1,199O


