A Reformed
Semi-Monthly        BBR
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Vol. 67, No. 5
December 1,19!?0


Contents                                                    December I, 1990                           THE
                                                                                                 STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. Jason L. Kortering
   WRESTLING WITH GOD                                                                      99        5MRER
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engekma                                                                ISSN  036211692
                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
   THE APPROACH TO COVENANT CHILDREN                                                      101    and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                 lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
The Day of Shadows - Rev. John A. Heys                                                           at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
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  THAT WONDERFUL COVENANT (4)                                                             103    Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
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Guest Article - Rev. Wayne Bekkering                                                             EDITORIAL   COMMITTEE
                                                                                                 Editor: Prof. David  I.  Engelsma
   GOD'S WORK IN OUR GRIEF                                                                105    Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                 Managing Editor: Mr.  Do_n  Doezema
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Da/e IY. Kuiper                                                       DEPARTMENT   EDITORS
                                                                                                 Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
   STEWARDSHIP                                                                            107    Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                                 Critters, Rev. Carl  Haak,  Prof. Herman  Hanko.
                                                                                                 Rev. John  Heys,  Rev. Marvin Kamps, Rev. Kenneth
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                            Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr.
  TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?                                                                    108    James  Lanting,  Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
                                                                                                 Marybeth  Lubbers, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.
                                                                                                 Charles Terpstra, Rev. Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald
Searching the Scriptures - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren                                                 VanOverloop,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
   SELF EVALUATION                                                                        110    Woodenberg
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From Holy Writ - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                          of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
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   EXPOSITION OF ISAIAH  6:1-13  (6)                                                      114    Reader Asks Department are welcome. Contribu-
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98 I The Standard Bearer  I December 1,199O


Meditation                                  Wrestling with God
Rev. Jason Korfering


   And Jacob was left alone; and              Jacob wrestled with God!                taking anything away from him,
there wrestled a man with him                 Have you ever done this?                and that he sought acceptance on
until the breaking of the day.                The thought is both fearful and         his part. The messengers returned
And when he saw that he pre-                humbling.                                 to Jacob with the troubling words,
                                              Though the struggle assumed a           Esau is coming, and with him 400
vailed not against him, he                  physical form, its real intent was        men, soldiers, equipped to fight.
touched the hollow of his thigh;            profoundly spiritual. The sacred             Quickly Jacob divided his pos-
and the hollow of ]acob's thigh             history of the Old Testament is           sessions into two bands. The first
was out of joint, as he wrestled            God's revelation to us of inner spir-     was arranged as a present for Es;au;
with him. And he said, Let me               itual truth. The angel touched Ja-        the second included his family, ar-
                                            cob's thigh; but that touch went          ranged according to their personal
go, for the day breaketh. And he            much deeper, for it reached his           significance to Jacob - the most
said, I will not let thee go, ex-           heart. The real wrestling was the         precious coming at the end for
cept thou bless me. And he said             cry, "l will not let thee go, except      safety. In the event there should be
unto him, What is thy name?                 thou bless me!" With the blessing         an attack, then, the one farthest re-
And he said, Jacob. And he said,            of God, Jacob could face the im-          moved might escape. At the endi
Thy name shall be called no                 pending threat of Esau, and he            was, of course, his beloved Rachel.
                                            could function as "Israel," a prince         Having helped them all to cross
more Jacob, but Israel: for as a            with God and with the power to            the Jabbok River, Jacob remained1
prince hast thou power with                 prevail.                                  alone on the other side when it
God and with men, and hast                    We often wrestle in the night           happened. Out of the dark there
prevailed. And Jacob asked him,             with our prayers and supplications,       came a man who wrestled with
and said, Tell me I pray thee,              as we seek Jehovah's blessing.            him. We can divide this wrestling
thy name? And he said, Where-                 Peniel is the place of spiritual re-    match into two rounds, if you will.
                                            newal. It was for Jacob. May it be        The first round consisted of a real
fore is it that thou dost ask after         for each one of us.                       physical fight. The Angel assumed
my name? And he blessed him                   Lying in the historical back-           a human form, a real physical body.
there. And ]acob called the name            ground of this event is the ap-           We should take note of the fact that
of the place Peniel; for I have             proach of Esau. Jacob never forgot,       the man wrestled with Jacob, not:
seen God face to face, and my               during all those twenty years he          Jacob with the man. To be sure, Ja-
                                            spent with Laban, that he had been        cob wrestled, but the initiative and
life is preserved. And as he                forced to leave Canaan because of         degree of resistance was deter-
passed over Penuel the sun rose             his own dealing with his brother.         mined by the Angel. Jacob was re-
upon him, and he halted upon                He had tricked him by deceiving           acting to the exact amount of oppo-
his thigh (Genesis 32:24-31).               his blind father in order to secure       sition the Angel produced. This
                                            the birthright blessing. His own          ended therefore in a standoff. Nei-
                                            mother had counseled him to flee          ther Jacob nor the Angel won. The
                                            for his life to their relatives in the    change came when, about dawn,
                                            land of Haran.                            the Angel touched the hollow of Ja-
                                              Now he was returning. The an-           cob's thigh and it came out of joint.
                                            gel of God had appeared to him in         Jacob realized immediately that he
                                            Haran and reminded him of his             could no longer fight on the level
                                            place in the land of promise. Each        he had done before. Now he
                                            step southward brought him closer         changed his methodology. He  w,as
                                            and closer to Esau. To settle his         a cripple, and the only way he
                                            fear, Jacob had sent his servants to      could offer resistance now was to
                                            Esau at Mt. Seir, in the land of          cling to the Angel. He, if you will,
Rev. Kortering  is pastor of the Protes-    Edom, to inform him of his return,        gave him a "bear-hug." He circled
tant Rtfo.med Church of Grandville,         to assure him that he had wealth of       his arms around him and would
Michigan.                                   his own and was not interested in         not let go. In that position he cried

                                                                                      December $1990 I The Standard Bearer I 99


out, "I will not let thee go unless            womb, they wrestled with each              Do you learn that as well? The
thou bless me." This is the spiritual          other. This made her upset. She          touch of the thigh of Jacob, reduc-
round of the wrestling match.                  turned to Jehovah and inquired           ing him to a cripple, tells us that we
Stripped of all ability to fight with          what this meant? God told her that       must die to the flesh if we are to ob-
the arm of flesh, Jacob wrestles in            two nations were conceived within        tain the victory. In New Testament
prayer and supplication, crying out            her (according to Romans 9:10-13,        language, we must crucify the old
for a blessing. The end result is              two spiritual lines, one elect and       man with its lust. We must confess
that he receives that blessing and is          the other reprobate, one rooted in       our sins and weep for our own rm-
assured of being a "Prince with                God's love and the other in God's        worthiness. For Esau represents
God," literally "Conqueror with                hatred). The events connected with       the spiritual opposition we f.ace.
God."                                          their birth confirmed this. For          What Esau was to Jacob, the beast
   Have you been to Peniel?                    though Esau was born first, Jacob        out of the sea and out of the earth,
   The Peniel experience is difficult.         was holding his heel. Hence his          as recorded in Revelation 13,, are to
It involves wrestling, and that is             name was given, Jacob, heel-holder       us. Out of the apostate church
hard work. But it is profitable. For           or supplanter. God said to them, as      there arises the present-day Esaus,
Jacob became Israel. And that says             He says to us, I will establish my       the kingdom of Antichrist. The arm
it all.                                        covenant. Not all the children of        of flesh will never obtain the vic-
   Who is this Angel? Note he is               believers are my covenant children.      tory over them.
called in Genesis 32:24 a man. In              I will gather my seed from among           Jesus came to Jacob and touched
Genesis 32:30, however, Jacob says,            their seed and will do it according      his thigh. He touched his heart,
"I have seen God face to face." In             to my sovereign elective love.           and thereby produced a change in
Hosea 12:4 we read, `Yea, Jacob                   The family response to this infor-    the struggle. Jacob resorted  .to hug-
had power over the angel and pre-              mation is significant. Isaac loved       ging him, What a wonderful pic-
vailed; he wept and made supplica-             Esau for his venison. Esau was an        ture of faith (embracing Jesus
tion unto him; he found him in                 outdoor boy who gave his old fa-         Christ). By embracing Jesus Christ,
Bethel and there he spake with us."            ther the comforts of the wild. Re-       Jacob turned from himself and
If we put this all together, we have           bekah loved Jacob, a tender home-        sought a blessing from God
God in the flesh, specifically called          body who had spiritual interests.        through Jesus Christ. He saw his
an Angel, which was the Old Testa-             The boys were aware of this divine       need for divine blessing. He
ment designation of Jesus Christ.              distinction. Their spiritual differ-     needed God's assurance of care if
Jehovah, the God of the covenant,              ences came into focus through the        he was to deal with Esau. His own
came to Jacob in physical form, the            value which each placed upon the         arm of strength did not gain the
pre-figuration of Jesus.                       birthright blessing. That blessing       victory. By prayer and supplication
   This is critical in our understand-         had a physical aspect, a double          he asks God for a blessing in the
ing of this event. If Jesus did not            portion of the inheritance was           name of Jesus. What a struggle!
do the fighting, Jacob would have              given to the firstborn, as well as       How we identify with Jacob.
been destroyed in a moment. The                leadership of the family upon the        Stripped of self-worth, we die unto
same is true for us. We can not                death of the father. It also had a       ourselves to live unto the Lord.
wrestle with God and prevail, ex-              spiritual aspect, the Abrahamic            The outcome shows that God is
cept it be in the arms of Jesus, and           blessing of God's favor and love.        merciful.
that too by hugging Him by faith.              Esau valued it for the material part,      What is your name? It is Jacob,
   You see, God came to Jacob to               Jacob for the spiritual.                 supplanter. But, yes, your name
tell him something in this wrestling              The method Jacob used to obtain       shall be changed to Israel, con-
match. We do well to listen with               it, however, disappoints. Both he        queror with God! In the language
rapt attention.                                and his mother are guilty of taking      of the New Testament, "I can do all
   The first round of this wrestling           into their own hand the strategy         things through Christ who
match depicted the life of Jacob up            and the effort to obtain it. Jacob       strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).
to this point. Jacob had tried to              bought it from Esau when the latter        Peniel. I have seen God face to
supplant Esau, to take his rightful            was ravenously hungry. Jacob ob-         face. My life is preserved! That
place in the covenant, with the arm            tained it from his blind father when     says it all. Jacob really says, "`I saw
of flesh. The significance of the              he, Jacob, posed as Esau and lied to     God face to face and I escaped! I
family history that forms the back-            Isaac. It was the arm of flesh that      deserved to die, but God mercifully
ground of this event is this: God is           was on the foreground, and in real-      met with me and taught me a les-
sovereign in saving whom He will               ity they had not obtained it. The        son of my own unworthiness."
in the line of the covenant. Re-               threat of Esau loomed before Jacob.        Christ makes all the difference.
member, Jacob's mother Rebekah                 Esau was coming with 400 men.              The sun rose. Yes, Jacob has to
was barren. She and Isaac could not            Now Jacob wrestles all night with        face the day. Esau is coming.
have children. They prayed earn-               the Angel and does not prevail.            Jacob halts upon his thigh. Phys-
estly and God opened her womb                  Sinful, human efforts to gain the        ically he is in even worse shape
and she conceived twins. While                 kingdom of heaven by force always        than before to meet his mortal en-
she was carrying them within the               fail.                                    emy But the amazing thing is that

100 I The Standard Bearer I December 1,199O


he is ready. He does not run away;          in embracing Him by faith and                   Have you been there? Not just
he will face him and prevail. This          seeking strength from Almighty               once in your life, but many tinnes?
he did, as subsequent history               God.                                         We need this daily conversion -
shows. His strength was in Jesus,              Peniel produces change.                   the change from Jacob to Israel. Cl



                                            The Approach
                                            to Covenant
Editorial                                   Children (3)  -

  The Netherlands Reformed Con-             they came "out of the world".... In the         The theologians who defended
gregations (NRC) view their bap-            meantime they were regarded as "un-          this view were mainly those in the
tized children as unregenerated.            regenerate baptized children." (For          church of the South, including Dab-
This is their view of their children        this quotation and those that follow         ney and Thornwell. Charles Hodge
because the baptism of the children         from Schenck, cf. The Presbyterian           and others opposed it strenuously.
means nothing more than that the            Doctrine of Children in the                     Schenck calls this view "an aber-
children are brought into an out-           Covenant, chapter LII, pp. 80-103.)          ration from the Reformed doct@ne
ward connection with the                       The reason for this view of bap-          of children of the covenant and of
covenant. Baptism is not a sign of          tized children in the Presbyterian           the significance of infant baptism."
the living, spiritual ingrafting of         Church, says Schenck, was a doc-             It represented "a practical subver-
the children into Jesus Christ. The         trine of the covenant that differed          sion of Presbyterian doctrine, an
baptized children remain outside of         from that of historic Presbyterian-          overshadowing of God's covenant
Christ, lifeless and unholy, until          ism:                                         promise."
such time as they may be converted             Within the Presbyterian Church               In the editorial in the previous is-
through the gospel.                         there were some theologians and lead-        sue of The Standard Bearer, I demon-
  It is not only the NRC that hold          ers who contemplated the covenant of         strated that this view of, and ap-.
this covenant conception. Other             grace in an entirely different way from      preach to, baptized children, as,
Reformed and Presbyterian                   that which has been presented as the         held by the NRC, is in direct con-
churches maintain this view as              historic doctrine of the church. Those       flict with the Reformed conf&s:ions.
well. In a little-noticed, but ex-          who took this divergent viezupoint  be-      Schenck points out that viewing
tremely important work, The Pres-           lieved that there were two aspects of        baptized children as unregenerate
byterian Doctrine of Children in the        the covenant: one, a spiritual aspect in     contradicts the Westminster Stan-
Covenant: An Historica Study of the         which the covenant was viewed as a           dards. The advocates of this view
Significance of Infant Baptism in the       "communion of life"; the other, a legal      in the Presbyterian Church readily
Presbyterian Church in America (New         aspect in which the covenant was re-         admitted that "in the Standards the
Haven: Yale University Press,               garded as a means to an end. The             baptism of an infant had this simi-
19401,  Lewis Bevens Schenck points         covenant as a legal  relationship was        larly high spiritual significance
out that this exact view struggled          thought to exist as a purely objective       (with the baptism of an adult on
for dominance in the Presbyterian           arrangement.... Children of believers        the basis of his confession of faith
Church in the United States during          entered  the covenant as a legal rela-       - DJE) - that presumably the
the  19th  century. Schenck writes:         tionship, but this did nof mean that         child was a child of God." Recog-
  Many influential leaders and a large      they were also at once in the covenant       nizing this, at least one of them "ac-
popular constituency held the histori-      as a "communion of life." It did not         cused the Standards of inconsis-
cal Reformed doctrine of the signifi-       even mean that the covenant relation         tency." Others, including the emi-
cance of infant baptism in a "non-nat-      would ever come to its full realization      nent J.H. Thornwell, tied to solve
ural sense." Many held that children        in their lives. In other words, it was       their problem by revising the Pres-
of the covenant were only "quasi"           believed that persons who were pre-          byterian Book of Discipline.
members of the'church. There was no         sumably unregenerate and uncon-              Whereas the Book of Discipline
trace or recognition of a vital church      verted could be in the covenant as a le-     originally stated that all baptize'd
relation until, by conscious conversion,    gal agreement.                               persons are members of the church,

                                                                                        December I,1990 I The Standard Bearer I' 101


the revision read merely that all              tized young people who are unre-              means of grace, i.e., to attend
baptized members are "under the                generated. Even though one can-               church. And such a confession of
church's government and train-                 not make confession of "his per-              faith is the unregenerated young
ing." The difficulty, of course, was           sonal, saving faith," it                      person's calling upon God for the
not in the Westminster Standards,              nevertheless remains his obligation as        grace and salvation that he
but in the thinking of those who               one who was baptized, when he has             presently lacks.
denied real, spiritual membership              come to years of discretion, to come to          That this practice cannot be de-
in the church to baptized infants.             membership in the congregation in the         fended on the basis of Reformed
  Not only does the view of bap-               fill extent (in voile omvan&.  Espe-          truth should be evident to all. No
tized children as unsaved bring a              cially Arfic2e.s 28 and 29 of the Nefher-     unregenerated person, whether
church into conflict with the Re-              lands Confession strongly insist on           baptized or unbaptized, has th.e
formed and Presbyterian creeds,                this. But what then does it mean to           ability to make confession of faith.
but it also involves her in practices          make confession of faith in this case?        No unregenerated person, whether
that are indefensible for a Re-                It is a confession of the (true) religion-    baptized or unbaptized, has the de-
formed church and injurious to                 (de religie) that would declare in this       sire to make confession of faith. No
covenant children.                             way that one embraces the confession          unregenerated person, whether
  A Reformed church holding this               of the pure truth, as this is expressed       baptized or unbaptized, has th.e
view will allow the children in their          in the Three Forms of Unify, in har-          right to make confession of faith.
teenage years to make a public con-            mony with the word of God. It is the          For an unregenerated person to
fession of faith that both church              declaration that according to his own         make confession of faith is grossest
and youth regard as mere intellec-             conviction one intends to live and die        hypocrisy. The unregenerated is an
tual assent to sound doctrine. The             by the truth. And it is the declaration       enemy of God, His Christ, and. the
confession, it is recognized, does             that one places himself under the fur-        truth (Rom. 8:5-8). He does not de-
not give expression with the mouth             ther pure administration of the means         sire God: "There is none that
to any living faith in the heart. It           of grace in the true church of Christ.        seeketh after God" (Rom 3:11X He
does not testify to knowledge of Je-           Just as baptism puts one in the ouf-          cannot desire God: "They who are
sus as Savior and Lord and to                  ward relationship with the covenant           in the flesh cannot please God"'
heartfelt trust in Jesus for salvation         and brings him under the adminisfra-          (Rom. 8:8). To affirm that the unre-
on the part of the young person                tion of the covenant, so making confes-       generated person can make a con-
who is making this confession.                 sion (of faith) acknowledges and af-          fession of faith, which confession is
This cannot possibly be the nature             firms the institutions of God that are        an expression of a longing for the
of the confession because, on the              ordained for the adult life in the local,     saving grace of God and a calling
view both of the church and of the             established congregation. To give sav-        upon God for covenant fellowiship
young person himself, he is un-                ing grace is a sovereign work of God,         with Christ, is principally the
saved.                                         but to pledge oneself, in submission to       heresy of the doctrine of free will.
  This is the practice of the NRC.             the Word of God, to the use of al2 the           Making confession of faith is the
The Rev. C. Hegeman, NRC pastor,               existing me&s of grace, in the way of         activity of the converted, and there-
flatly denies that all those who               making confession of faith in an objec-       fore born-again, child of God. It is
make confession of faith are re-               five sense (in objectieve  zin), is the       the confession with the mouth of
quired to partake of the Lord's Sup-           calling of one who has been baptized.         that which one truly believes in the
per. They merely have "an ecclesi-             And this is the way ordained of God           heart (Rom. 10:9,10). It is the pub-
astical right" to come to the Table.           for those who are baptized to call for        lic declaration of one's personal un-
The reason why they should keep                grace and-salvation according to God's        derstanding of, and wholehearted
themselves from the Table, even                sovereign good-pleasure. There is,            agreement with, the sound doctrine
though they have made confession               therefore,  solid connection between          set forth in the Reformed confes-
of faith, is that they do not `know            baptism and the confession of faith by        sions, to be sure. The first question
the characteristics of the true life of        the unregenerated (Random  Ver-               put to her confessing young people
grace" (Explanation of the Reformed            bond, Roeping  en Doop, 2979, w.              by the Reformed church is, "Do
Doctrine, 1965, p. 70).                        44,45; my translation of the Dutch).          you acknowledge the doctrine con-
  The consistory receives the con-                It is plain from this quotation            tained in the Old and New Testa-
fession of faith of one who is                 that Dr. Steenblok approves the               ments and in the Articles of the
known to be spiritually dead. The              public confession of faith by unre-           Christian faith and taught here in
church permits, indeed encourages,             generated young people. There is a            this Christian Church to be the true
young people to confess their faith            place for this in a Reformed church.          and complete doctrine of salva-
whose confession includes their ad-            In fact, this is the calling presum-          tion?" But this essential knowledge
mission that they are unconverted.             ably from God, of unregenerated,              is such knowledge of the truthi as
  Dr. C. Steenblok, theologian in              but baptized, young people. Such a            loves that truth and as is accompa-
the Gereformeerde Gemeenten (Re-               confession is merely an intellectual          nied by a heartfelt, Spirit-worked
formed Congregations) in The                   assent to the doctrines that the              confidence that the Jesus revealed
Netherlands boldly defends the                 church has taught them in cate-               in this truth is one's own Savior
(public) confession of faith of bap-           chism and a promise to use the                "(Heid. Cat., Q. 21).

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   A "confession of faith" that is         them. Rather, she throws up her            membership in the congregation in
nothing more than objective assent         hands in horror, if ever she discov-       the full extent," the elders must put
to certain doctrines is the very con-      ers that this is the kind of confes-       the requirement, clearly and firmly,
fession that devils might make             sion that one of the church's youth        that Philip put to the Ethiopian eu-
(James 2:19). Surely, the Reformed         is making. To all who come to the          nuch, "If thou believest,with  all
church may not permit such con-            consistory room to make confession         thine heart, thou mayest" (Acts
fessions, much less encourage              of faith so that they may "come to         8:37).  17     (to be continued)    - DJE




 The Day                                   That Wonderful
of Shadows                                 Covenant (4)
Rev. John Heys


   That wonderful covenant which           Genesis  3:15. The almighty, un-           tually dead people who hate Him
God eternally decreed, and in time         changeable God said, "I will put           before He begins salvation in them.
made known to those whom He                enmity between thee and the                Enmity against Satan means love
chose in Christ to be citizens in the      woman, and between thy seed and            of God. There can be no neutrality.
kingdom of heaven and to be                her seed; it shall bruise thy head,        It is always, in every work we d.o,
members of the body of Christ,             and thou shalt bruise his heel." It        as far as its spiritual significance is
was presented three times in this          is not a promise of what we will do        concerned, either hatred against
department called The Day of               to flee from under the curse which         God or hatred against Satan. Did
Shadows.                                   we received because of our sinful          God not tell Adam, and still tells us
   This was possible because it            work. The gospel, the good news,           today, that when we disobey Him
pleased God to make that covenant          begins with God's word as to what          we reveal spiritual DEATH? "In
known to us in the Old Testament           HE will do. Here very powerfully           the day that thou eatest thereof
and New Testament, which are               we are instructed that those who           thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:li').
rightly called Holy Writ. It was           are going to be saved do not have          When we die our hearts stop beat-
sometimes spoken directly by God,          to fulfill a condition, as we pointed      ing. And our hearts cannot by us
but also presented through a man           out in the previous installment of         be made to begin once again to
to whom that truth was revealed,           these articles on That Wonderful           pump our blood through our bod-
and in order that we today might           Covenant. God's covenant                   ies. Well, that is what God told
know that He established this              promises us what He will do to             Adam and us. Clearly He told
covenant that contains some won-           spiritually dead sinners who can-          Adam and us that if Adam ate of
derful promises. Many men were             not yet want what He promises.             that fruit, he and we could not
used from Moses through the apos-          We ought to take note of the fact          even want to have our hearts beat
tle John to write books that number        that our covenant God begins with          in love to Him again. HE would
no fewer than sixty-six and present        that truth, namely, I will do this be-     have to do that; and in His grace
a wonderful covenant of our God            fore you even want it. This He             He does it.
with very precious and comforting          promised to those who strove to               Yes, it is true that through Paul
promises.                                  escape punishment by fig-leaf              He wrote in Philippians 2:12,13
  That He made such a covenant             aprons, and thus by their own              that we must work out our own
the almighty God made known the            works. He promises covenant                salvation with fear and trembling,
very day that man fell into sin and        blessings to those who tried to hide       because God works in us both to
became worthy of the very oppo-            from Him, not run unto Him in              will and to do of His good plea-
site of what is promised in that           sorrow because there was yet a lit-        sure. But take note of these wor(ds.
covenant. We can never overem-             tle love for Him in their hearts. Let      That we must work out means that
phasize that pronoun "I" in what is        us never forget how God began              it is already in us. Paul says that
called the Mother-Promise, namely,         when He told the devil how we              too. It is God that worketh it IN us
                                           would be saved, not how we could           and calls us to work it out. We
                                           save ourselves by fulfilling a condi-      must already have that salvation
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the    tion. The simple truth we must             begun in us or we cannot even
Protestant Reformed Churches.              hold on to is that God saves spiri-        want it. We have already been

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                                                                                     ._



born again, or we do not even want               what is meant when He forms us            saved him, in order that man might
that new life. And when our                      for Himself while we were in a            praise Him with heart and lips.
almighty God told Adam and Eve,                  devilish form which was realized          God's virtues of almighty power
by letting them hear what He said                by Satan-- for HIMSELR  That is,          and of infinite wisdom that rnade
to Satan, that He would make us                  for His own glory! And by all             the world do praise Him. But, 0,
hate Satan and his works, He told                means take hold of that last part:        let us take hold of it, our salvation
us what HE is going to do. He not                God forms us for Himself in order         so wonderfully and deeply reveals
only gives us what we do not want,               that we may show forth His                His goodness, His mercy, His love,
but (and get this fact and hold on to            praises. His praise and His desire        and His grace which the earthly,
it tightly) He promises to His peo-              to receive our praise is behind the       material creatures do not display.
ple, as represented by Adam and                  work of salvation which He real-          He made us to show forth that
Eve, that which they do not even                 ized in His Son. He established           love, mercy, and grace, that
yet know exists! Adam and Eve                    that wonderful covenant for His           wisdom and covenant faithfulness,
did not have the slightest idea that             own praise and glory. There we            so that we would conscioushy  and
God had eternally decreed a                      have the deep purpose of our sal-         willingly cry out with the psalmist,
covenant, will, and a testament,                 vation. It is realized so that we do      "0 God, how good thou art!" (I%.
with that glorious promise of mak-               show forth and are able to show           73:l). With the psalmist let us say,
ing us love Him and live with him                forth His praise. We are saved so         `q will praise Thee, for I am fear-
in a more wonderful life, and with               that we may sing His praises, want        fully and wonderfully made; mar-
far more intimate fellowship with                to do so, and can do so! There you        vellous are thy works; and that my
Him in the new Jerusalem than                    have the deepest reason for the           soul knoweth right well" (Ps.
Adam enjoyed before he died spiri-               covenant which He drew up and             139:14). He saved us and drew up
tually. Yet our covenant God told                signed. There you have the pur-           that covenant so that a people
them what was in His covenant.                   pose of God's covenant. He forms          would be brought forth that knows
He would change them, not offer a                us for Himself. He planned and            right well His love, mercy, and
change to them and give it if they               designed our salvation so that He         grace, but also His wisdom,
asked for it. The conditional theol-             might be praised by us constantly         almighty power, and faithfulness.
ogy of Arminianism - so widely                   in the New Jerusalem.                     When we praise Him for it in the
proclaimed today - denies the fact                 And by all means get that last          new Jerusalem the fruit of His
that Adam died spiritually that                  part of what He said through Isa-         covenant will praise Him fully in
day, and that he had no spiritual                iah. He will form us for Himself so       the life of every covenant believer.
life to hand down to any of his de-              that we show forth His praises.             The book of Psalms presents so
scendants. It maintains that God                 The idea is not simply in order that      wonderfully His praises and calls
depends upon man to have His                     He may be praised by having His           us to bless Him. "The heavens de-
covenant promises fulfilled, rather              work a success. Rather the idea is        clare his glory," we read in Psalm
than that man depends upon God                   that we consciously and willingly         19:l. The reason for this is thlen
for every bit of his spiritual life as           praise Him for having formed us so        presented: "The firmament
well as every bit of his physical life.          that we could and do serve Him            showeth forth his handiwork."
   In order to get to the bottom of              with heart and mind and soul and          And although the unbelievers will
our salvation, and in order to un-               strength. The deep purpose of our         not praise Him, what they see
derstand and see God's deepest                   salvation is His praise. He drew up       through their telescopes, through
purpose in making His covenant                   covenant promises and causes              their journey to the moon, and ex-
with those rich promises of bring-               them to be fulfilled completely to        perience through their satellites
ing us where we can never, no                    have rational, moral creatures sing       does display God's glory. And we
never, sin again, we ought to turn               and say that He is God. As God He         are saved to proclaim it especially
to Isaiah 43:21. There we read,                  delights to hear that. He does not        because of that wondrous work of
"This people have I formed for my-              need us, but He made us so that            saving us by the blood and Spirit of
self; they shall show forth my                   through us He might cause His             His own Son. His covenant
praise." Get that! The believers,                glory to shine beautifully through        promises us (and realizes the
those born again, are completely                 creatures made in His own image.          promises) that we with the angels
different from Adam and Eve after                  The Scriptures present that truth       sing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord"
they ate of the forbidden fruit and              to us. God Himself moved men to           (Is. 63). The salvation which1  He
tried to save themselves from pun-               write the Scriptures-so that His          designed and realized by the blood
ishment by fig leaves - that is, by              praise may shine forth. And in all        of His Son in our flesh presents
their own works - and tried to                   preaching must the truth of Isaiah        works, thoughts, and desires of
hide from God. This is so because                43:21 be expressed. The rising sun        God that will bring forth His praise
God formed them, and did so be-                  every morning, the twinkling stars,       in the new Jerusalem that will
fore they even knew what His                     the beautiful mountains, and the          never come to an end. Then all that
covenant promises were.                          gardens of flowers show forth His         are there will "sing a new song to
  The awesome truth here is also                 praises. He designed them and             Jehovah for the wonders He `has
that HE re-formed us - that is                   made them.  But He made  man,  and        wrought."

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  When that Son came in our flesh           what Peter wrote. In I Peter 2:9 we         That He promises all His elect,, and
the angels cried out in the hearing         find these words: "But ye are a             that He realizes fully in them. Let
of the shepherds, "Glory to God in          chosen generation, a royal priest-          this be your song then:
the highest." Paul, writing to the          hood, an holy nation, a peculiar                All that I am I owe to Thee,
Ephesians, expresses that praise.           people; that ye should show forth                    Thy wisdom, Lord, hath
For he wrote in Ephesians 1:5,6,            the praises of him who hath called                     fashioned me;
"having predestinated us unto the           you out of darkness into his mar-                    I give my Maker thankful
adoption of children by Jesus               vellous light."                                        praise,
Christ to himself, according to the           Showing forth His praises we are                   Whose wondrous works my
good pleasure of his will, to the           doing what He predestinated us to                      soul amaze.
praise of the glory of his grace,           do. And all this we will do because                               Psalter # 38:3:1  q
wherein he hath made us accepted            He eternally decreed this in His
in the beloved." But turn also to           sovereign and gracious covenant.




                                            God's Work In
Guest Article                               Our Grief
Rev. Wayne Bekkering


   Grief is the keen suffering that         badly injured in a car crash, so that       ognized, can be helpful and reas-
one goes through because of an af-          disfigurement or paralysis occurs.          suring to the one going through
fliction or loss. It can be looked at       The loss of one's job, or a forced re-      grief. Sometimes those in grief can
as God's way of healing a broken            tirement, can cause one to go               fear that they are losing their mind
heart.                                      through grief. Loss of property,            or their faith.
   Grief is universal and natural.          such as a house fire, a car theft, or a        The first stage of grief is the ini-
Sooner or later everyone has a time         burglary of one's home can cause            tial shock, especially in the case of
of grief in his life. We want to ex-        grieving. Divorce is another loss           a sudden loss. Usually the shock,
plore the pattern in grief, our deal-       experience that usually causes              with numbness, lasts for a period
ing with grief as Christians, and           grief.                                      of minutes to a day, but sometimes
God's work in our grief.                      We do not want to look at these           longer. During this time one may
  Most people who are hurting, no           losses and grief apart from God's           say over and over, "Oh, no...1 cant
matter what the cause, go through           gracious work in our lives. Afflic-         believe it." One ought not to be
a similar grieving pattern. On the          tion is for our benefit, even though        embarrassed by his inability to
other hand, each person's loss and          it hurts. In our great need, as             function properly during this
style of coping is unique.                  Christians, we flee to our heavenly         shock stage, but he ought to see
  Grief is usually thought of only          Father for help. God commands us            God's provision in this shielding
in terms of a loss through the death        in Psalm 50:15, "Call upon me in            us from the intensity of a painful
of a loved one. However, any sig-           the day of trouble: I will deliver          loss.
nificant loss may cast one into grief       thee, and thou shalt glorify me."              We must recognize that grief is a
even if one does not expect it.               We are going to look at grief as          major trauma in our life and in the
Some other losses that may be fol-          having three stages (though others          lives of others. A broken heart is a
lowed by grief can be mentioned.            have broken the grieving process            serious wound. It is equivalenit to
When one finds out that he or one           into six or more steps). And we             or greater than a broken leg or `ma-
close to him has a terminal illness         want to stress from the outset that         jor surgery. Grief must not be min-
such as cancer, the process of grief        the stages are indistinct. Not ev-          imized or ignored, but it must be
may begin. Serious injury that has          eryone moves through them at the            allowed to take its course in our
long-range effects on one's life can        same rate or with the same degree           lives. The child of God recognizes
cause grief - for example, if one is        of intensity. Grief is as personal          God's work in grief. The psalmist
                                            and individual as we are. We also           says in Psalm 39:9, `7 was silent, I
                                            want to stress that there is a pat-         opened not my mouth, because
Rev. Bekkering  is pastor of the Protes-    tern in the grieving process, a pat-        thou didst it." The child of God
tant Refomed Church of Pella, Iowa.         tern which, if it is known and rec-         also expects and finds comfort m '

                                                                                       December 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 105


his deepest grief. David records                counts all His wonderful works.            activities of one's life. The gloomi-
one such prayer in Psalm 61:1,2:                Job's humble and submissive re-            ness of grief's night gives way to
"Hear my cry, 0 God; attend unto                sponse is recorded in Job 421-6.           the dawning of a new day in which
my prayer...when my heart is over-                Another example of a godly               there is again pleasure, joy, and
whelmed; lead me to the rock that               man, who in the midst of grief mis-        smiles. There will, of course, be oc-
is higher than I."                              judged God's work and way, is              casional bouts of painful longings
   The second stage of grief may be             found in Genesis 42:36. Jacob had          and memories, but they will gradu-
called the painful, longing stage. It           sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy       ally fade.
overlaps the first stage, or it can be-         grain because of the famine in               God's work in our grief is pow-
gin days after the death or loss, and           Canaan. They returned with the             erful. Through the situations that
reaches its peak between the sec-               grain, but without Simeon and              have caused us grief, God teaches
ond and the fourth week. It sub-                with a message that Benjamin must          us things, about Him and us, that
sides gradually after that. The                 come back to Egypt with them.              we could not learn in any other
manifestations of this stage are in-            "And Jacob their father said unto          way. He tests our faith in Him. He
tense for about three months, pro-              them, Me have ye bereaved of my            tries our trust that His way is good
gressively declining over the next              children: Joseph is not, and Simeon        for us, even in the deep way of
six to twelve months.                           is not, and ye will take Benjamin          death. God puts us before the
   The most prominent aspect of                 away: all these things are against         question, "Do you love me more
this stage is the recurrent, wave-              me." Jacob was wrong. These                than these?"
like experience of tearful longing              things were not against him; but he          One Christian lady testified that
for the deceased, associated with               did not know all the good that God         she had learned some very impor-
thoughts, memories, or mental im-               had purposed for him, even                 tant things through her grief at the
ages of him or her. These waves                 through the way that caused his            loss of her husband. She learned a
are of ten triggered by any reminder            grief.                                     new appreciation for the resurrec-
of the departed one. Special occa-                One more example, from the               tion. The resurrection of Christ is
sions, such as Christmas,                       Bible, of a godly man who was dis-         the very ground of our faith and
Thanksgiving, birthdays, and an-                appointed with God and thus be-           hope. Since Christ is risen we have
niversaries frequently provoke                  came angry is Jonah, who did not          the blessed assurance that we and
such episodes. These wave-like                  like God's direction to go to Nin-         our believing loved ones will be
episodes tend to be especially in-              eveh and cry against it. After a de-       raised unto life everlasting. Sec-
tense and painful at night, .when               tour, and after being rescued by a         ondly, she gained a new interest in
the distractions of the day are re-             big fish, he went to Nineveh and           heaven. Heaven, she said, now
moved. In addition to preoccupa-                preached as God had commanded              seems nearer and dearer, because         -
tion with memories and visual im-               him. Much to Jonah's dismay, the          her husband was there. Thirdl,y,
ages of the deceased, about half of             people of Nineveh repented be-             she learned something new of the
mourning spouses and parents                    cause of God's word against them.         reality of God's presence in her life.
have illusions of seeing or feeling             That displeased Jonah exceedingly,        In the time of grief God was there.
the presence of the departed one.               and he was very angry. He be-             Now she is without her husband,
   During this second stage there is            sought the Lord, `Take my life            but not alone.
the intense struggle to come to                 from me, for it is better for me to          Finally, a word of caution to us
grips with the reality of one's situa-          die than to live." God challenged         who would help and comfort those
tion after the loss, and to be recon-           Jonah, "Doest thou well to be an-         who grieve. First of all, recognize
ciled with God's way. The pain of               gry?" Jonah was looking at his life        that when our friends and family
grief often produces anger - anger              and situation only from his own            are hurting, we are hurting also.
against the circumstances and                   viewpoint. God used the gourd             The danger is that we will find
causes of one's loss. Sometimes                 vine, and Jonah's pity for it, to help    things that help us, and then say
Christians are angry and disap-                 Jonah to see God's viewpoint, and         them to the grieving ones, without
pointed with God. This ought not                God's pity for Nineveh.                   first asking ourselves the question,
to be taken as a loss of one's faith              God graciously helps His griev-          `Will this be a help to them?" The
or as committing the unpardonable               ing people come to an acceptance          truth is that our hurt is very small
sin.                                            of their painful loss. There is help      compared to those with the loss.
  Job, the man who was perfect                  and hope for those who grieve.               What our grieving ones need is
and upright, and one that feared                Even though we sorrow; we sorrow          for us to be there with them in their
God, was brought to grief by God.               not as others who have no hope (I         great need. We need to listen. If
In Job 2:13b we read, "...that his              Thess. 4:13).                             they want to talk - we listen. If
grief was very great." In Job's great             The third stage is the time of rec-     they want to be silent-we listen.
grief he cursed the day that he was             onciliation and recovery. This usu-       Listening is done not only with our
born and asked why he had not                   ally takes about a year, sometimes        ears, but also with our hearts. Our
been born dead (Job 3:1-11).  .God              shorter, sometimes longer. During         listening will sometimes tell us it is
patiently and powerfully answered               this stage there is a gradual             better to say nothing to the griev-
Job in chapters 38-41, where He re-             regaining of interest in the ordinary     ing one for a while. Being there to

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support them may be enough. Our         need the presence of friends and          time, words-of encouragement
love and concern can be communi-        family for support! Go to them for       help. A phone call or a visit, a card
cated with a handshake or a hug.        their sake! Here is where the self-       or a letter, will be appreciated. The
  We often feel so inadequate to        less character of Christian love is       written word is often best because
help others in grief that we may        shown.                                    it can be read and reread. Cards are
come to the conclusion that it may        Remember that death is not the          alright, but a handwritten note is
be better if we don't visit them.       only source of grief in our lives, or    best to express your love and sym-
Sometimes close friends of those in     in the lives of our friends and far&      pathy. One man said that when he
grief stay away for selfish reasons,    lies. We need to be sensitive to oth-     got cards he only read the name at
such as, they are hurting also, they    ers' losses as well.                      the bottom, but he read every note
are too embarrassed to meet their         Remember to remember those              or letter. Part of God's work in our
friends in great distress, or they      who have suffered loss. We have           grief is to move others to show His
don't know what to do or say Be         seen that the grief process usually       love to the grieving. Cl
assured of this, that those in grief    takes about a year. During this





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TakingHeed To To.Whom Shall
The Doctrine                                   We Go?
ReK Bernard Woudenberg


   These twelve Jesus sent forth,              which could be followed by His               fhe end shall be saved. But when they
and commanded them, saying,                    disciples as they carried on His ef-         persecute you in this city, flee ye into
Go not into the way of the Gen-                forts to the ends of the earth, and to       anofher: for verily I say unto you, Ye
tiles, nor into any city of the                the conclusion of all history. He            shall not have gone over the cities of Is-
                                               never seemed to stay long in one             rael, till the Son of man be come.
Samaritans enter ye not;                       place, but moved from here to there          Within this we find a number of
   But go rather to the lost sheep             throughout the land. Nor did He              things worthy of note:
of the house of Israel.                        limit His attention just to His fol-            1. The goal was to cover the
  And as ye go, preach, saying,                lowers. As He said to His disciples,         whole of Canaan, to go to every
the kingdom of heaven is at                    Mark 1:38, "Let us go into the next          city in the land, prior to the coming
                                               towns, that I may preach there also;         of Jesus Christ in His glorified
hand.                                          for therefore came I forth."                 power, that is, prior to His return in
                    Matthew 105-7                 But Jesus' time on earth was lim-         the Spirit on Pentecost. We are not
                                               ited; and He was hardly able to be           given details, and rather little is
                                               everywhere. On at least two differ-          recorded of this activity in the
  Christ has commanded us, Mark                ent occasions, when His own abili-           Bible, but it would seem there was
1615, "Go ye into all the world,               ties had to be extended, He called           a great deal more of coming and
and preach the gospel to every                 His discipies to Him and sent them           going by the disciples while Jesus
creature"; but in real and practical           forth into those cities which He             was living than we ordinarily
terms, what does that mean for us              could not Himself reach.                     think. It must have been pursued
personally as Christians, as minis-               In the first instance it was just         with purpose all through Jesus'
ters, and as individual members of             the twelve; and He gave to them              Il-litiStry.
the church of Christ? To whom                  extensive instructions, Matthew                 2. As Jesus sent His disciples He
precisely are we to direct our evan-           10:5-23:                                     told them what to say, "And as ye
gelical and missionary efforts? To                These twelve Jesus  sent forth, and       go, preach, saying, The kingciom of
whom are we to go?                             commanded them, saying, Go not into          heaven is at hand." The command
The Ministry of Jesus                          the way of the Gentiles, and into any        seemed simple enough, but its
  In many ways the life and min-               city of fhe Samarifans enfer ye not.         meaning was profound and i.ts im-
istry of Jesus Christ as He lived and          But go rather to the lost sheep of the       plications extensive. The New Tes-
worked on this earth was a mis-                house  of  Israel. And as ye go, preach,     tament church, that for which all of
sionary endeavor, a microcosmic                saying, The kingdom of heaven is at          the Old Testament era had been but
example of what mission work                   hand.... And into whatsoever city or         a preparation, was about to spring
ought to be.                                   town ye shall enter, enquire who in it       into existence. Just what that
  During his lifetime Jesus did His            is worthy; and there abide till ye go        meant, the disciples themselves
work in the land-of Canaan, and                thence. And when ye come info an             hardly knew, except that they could
confined His efforts to the Jewish             house, salute if. And if the house be        sense its impending wonder m ev-
people there, but in such a way that           worfhy, let your peace come upon if:         ery word and deed of Jesus. Cer-
His life would form a pattern                  buf if it be not worthy, let your peace      tainly they had none of our under-
                                               return to you. And whosoever shall           standing. Their concept could only
                                               not receive you, nor hear your words,        have been most vague, much as
                                               when ye depart out of that house or          ours is of the glory of heaven,
                                               city, shake off the dust of your feet....    which we believe but hardly under-
                                               Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the     stand. Still, they knew it was com-
                                               midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as     ing; and they knew the spiritual
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the               serpents, and harmless as doves....          principles upon which it was to be
Protestant Reformed Church of Kala-            And ye shall be hated of all men for my      built. Jesus was always explaining
mazoo, Michigan.                               name's sake: but he fhat endureth fo         it to them, as in the Sermon on the
108 I The Standard Bearer I December 1,199O


Mount; and as much as they could,        The Responsibility He Leaves              we have no right. We are to preach
by the power of the Spirit, the op-        But what does that mean specifi-        to all, and sincerely we must seek
portunity was now theirs to explain      cally for us?                             to do just that.
it to others.                              It means, to begin with, that we           Nevertheless, once the gospel is
  3. Furthermore, Jesus told them        have a responsibility to see to it        brought we are to show a sharp
how to go about this. They were to       that the truth of the Word of God is      sensitivity to the results. There are
bring the Word with a sensitivity to     distributed as broadly as we possi-       those who clearly have no interest
the response of the.hearers:  "And       bly can. God has given to us the          and are completely indifferent; to
into whatsoever city or town ye          Reformed faith in a tradition which       such God does not require that we
shall enter, enquire who in it is        is remarkably rich and pure. This         give extensive concern. Forcing
worthy; and there abide till ye go       is not something that is to be kept       ourselves on them will not change
thence. And when ye come into an         to ourselves and to be used simply        their hearts. In turn, there are those
house, salute it. And if the house       for our own well-being - no more          whose response will be uncertain;
be worthy let your peace come            than a light is to be hid under a         they show interest without a clear
upon it: but if it be not worthy, let    bushel basket. Far too rich for that,     willingness to change their lives.
your peace return to you. And            it must be broadcast through every        With such we must continue to
whosoever shall not receive you,         means available to us, to every pos-      work as long as we can, but with
nor hear your words, when ye de-         sible comer of the earth, with a          the realization that only God can fi-
part out of that house or city, shake    deep sense of urgency. "This              nally move their souls; and it must
off the dust of your feet...." Their     gospel of the kingdom shall be            be left in His hand. But above all
preaching of the gospel was to be a      preached in all the world for a wit-      our concern must be with those
matter of willing persuasion, not a      ness unto all nations; and then shall     who show true signs of repentance
matter of force or imposition. Each      the end come" (Matt. 24~141. Our          and a longing to come to Christ.
and every one was to be warned,          responsibility lies here; and for it      These are those with whom we are
and with that their responsibility       we must work.                             to have our chief concern; and to
would be established; but persua-          Nor is the message any different.       whom our greatest attention must
sion is more than a mere rhetorical      Now as then it is, "The kingdom of        be given, teaching, guiding, and
art. It must come from within and        heaven is at hand." The forces of         encouraging them in the way of
not without. For such willing re-        Christ, His angels, His Spirit, and       godly life.
sponse from Spirit-moved hearts          His Word, are pressing down upon             But in all of this we must show
they should look; and upon such          this world as they have done ever         great care. Jesus warned, "Be ye
they should concentrate their ef-        since His ascension into glory and        therefore wise as serpents, and
forts.                                   even more than they did while He          harmless as doves." The defense-
  4. This activity was to be pur-        was physically here on earth. This        lessness with which the child of
sued with utmost care and discern-       we must feel ourselves; and this we       , God must go forth is very real.
ment. "Behold, I send you forth as       must seek to convey to others: II         When one comes as a Christian, he
sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye      Corinthians 6:2, "For he saith, I         comes with a kindness and open-
therefore wise as serpents, and          have heard thee in a time accepted,       ness which can readily be abused,
harmless as doves." There is a cer-      and in the day of salvation have I        and often is. People are not honlest,
tain defenselessness and vulnera-        succored thee: behold, now is the         they are not kind by nature; but
bility about the children of God as      accepted time; behold, now is the         they can be quick to pretend. Not
they go forth with the gospel; theirs    day of salvation." World history is       uncommonly one will be used for a
is not to use the weapons and            pressing on under His complete            time, and then turned upon and
forces of the world. They must pre-      control; and there is no time for tar-    taken advantage of in return. It is
sent themselves with an openness         rying. Personally the time may            the price a Christian pays - andi
which can readily be taken advan-        come at any moment for any one;           joyfully, for they did the same to
tage of and abused. And yet in this      and for the world as a whole the          our Lord. Nevertheless, we are  1:o
they must not be fools; the decep-       end is always imminent. The day           be discerning as well. There is not
tions of the wicked are to be            is well spent, and we must work           call for the Christian to expose the
watched and deflected lest they fall     before the night comes.                   gospel unnecessarily to abuse.
out to the harm of the gospel.             Our doing of this, moreover,            While we must be willing to bear
   5. But the battle is there; the       must be with deep sensitivity. On         the hurt personally, we must do (all
dangers are real; and inevitably         the one hand, we must be fully            we can to preserve the cause of
many are hurt. The disciples saw         aware of our own limitations. It is       Christ from misuse and shame. Je-
with their own eyes what wicked-         not for us to try to determine be-        sus never allowed the gospel to be
ness did to Jesus; and it would be       forehand to whom the gospel               disgraced, and neither should we.
no different for them, nor for any-      ought to be brought, and to whom             What we must not forget is that
one who continues in teaching His        not. This is God's decision, not          we are involved in a battle which is
Word. The hatred of God's Word is        ours; and to try to do so will in-        real and great, as Jesus said, "Be-
intense; and those who bear it will      evitably involve the laying down of       hold, I send you forth as sheep in
certainly feel its sting.                conditions of judgment to which           the midst of wolves." From a hu-

                                                                                   December 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer / 109


man point of view it is quite un-              cent, the victory is sure, the glory is    never forget, Romans 8:37, "ln all
equal, even unfair; and we will be             great. And the cause will be fin-          these things we are more than con-
assailed, we will be reviled, we will          ished when the last of God's elect         querors through him that loved
be hurt. But the vision is magnifi-            have been gathered in. Let us              us. q




Searching
 The Scriptures Self Evaluation
Rev. Gise VanBaren


Read and study Philippians 3:1-11.             but the voracious, mean dog of the         points to his own circumcision the
   "Finally" says the apostle. It              street (so common in Paul's day).          eighth day That would be accord-
marks not the conclusion of his                Usually it was the Gentile who was         ing to the requirements of the Mo-
teachings but rather the introduc-             called a "dog' by the Jews -but            saic law. Some who were con-
tion of another element or thought             here Paul labels Judaizers in the          verted from the Gentiles unto Ju-
in the epistle. He commands them.              same way. These seek not the wel-          daism would not be able to make
to rejoice in the Lord. This spiri-            fare of the church, but would tear         that claim. Paul was of the stock of
tual characteristic must be evident            and destroy. They are "evil work-          Israel - not only a son of Abra-
in one delivered from sin and                  ers," workers indeed who put forth         ham, nor only of Isaac, but of Is-
death. Such a one can rejoice be-              great effort. But these seek to work       rael. He was of the tribe of Ben-
cause of the glorious work of                  not the benefit of the church, but         jamin - a matter which elicits
Christ for him on the cross. To                its destruction. They are of the           pride on the part of some who
these joyous ones, he has some-                "concision." Note the play upon            were such. He was a Hebrew to
thing serious to discuss, something            the word "circumcision." The               top all Hebrews. And he came
presented to them before, that re-             "concision" is the tearing of the          from the sect of the Pharisees. In
quires emphasis. But Paul would                flesh without any spiritual profit.        fact, he was an outstanding practi-
have it understood that he presents            The Judaizers would insist on the          tioner of their precepts. He had
this matter, of course, in deep love           cutting of the flesh but not a cut-        been known-as one who kept the
for the church. He addresses them              ting of the heart, mind, and ear.          law perfectly. He was zealous
as "my brethren," another indica-              These are wretched, miserable              above others his age and of his
tion of the great personal attach-             leaders who deceive and harm.              sect. Outwardly, and according to
ment Paul had with the church at                 Paul insists in verse 3 that he          the judgment of men, Paul had "at-
Philippi.                                      and the faithful church are "of the        tained." He was judged "blame-
   In rejoicing in the Lord, one re-           circumcision." Though many of              less."
jects the false doctrine of the Ju-            them, including Paul, may have               There was probably no other
daizers. Paul had warned against               been circumcised, these considered         who could match the credentials of
these heretics before. Now he will             themselves to be "of the circumci-         the apostle. He had showed his
do that again. Repetition is not a             sion" in a spiritual sense (read Ro-       zeal by his presence at the stoning
tedious thing for Paul when he                 mans 4). Spiritually, these properly       of Stephen. He had been on his
knows the need of that - for this              worship God first of all, and do           way to Damascus in order to find
will prepare the church to resist the          this in the way of rejoicing in Jesus      Christians there who could be per-
f a l s e   d o c t r i n e .                  Christ. All such have "no confi-           secuted. But then he was turned to
   Paul uses strong language in                dence in the flesh." Their salvation       the light of the gospel through the
speaking of those who were teach-              rests wholly in the blood of Cal-          special revelation of Christ to him
ing the need of circumcision also              vary - not in any way in the                 Now Paul has a completely dif-
for the church of the New Testa-               works of the flesh.                        ferent perspective on those things
ment. He warns of "dogs" -not                    In verses 4-6 Paul presents his          which had happened to him.
the loving, affectionate house pet,            own "credentials." Are there any           There was a time when he prided
                                               who would boast in themselves?             himself in his own attainments.
                                               Well, Paul could outdo them all. If        Now he understood that what had
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protes-         salvation were of the flesh, Paul          seemed so important was in fact
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,           would have been able to attain sal-        nothing - and less than nothing.
Michigan.                                      vation sooner than any other. He           All of his accomplishments are
110 I The Standard Bearer / December 1,199O


"loss" and "dung." These works           liver them from the wrath of God.                 10. Find the accounts (31, in the
and honors of men are as garbage           There is also that "fellowship of            book of Acts, of Paul's conversion..
or refuse. Paul recognizes these as      his sufferings." The Christian can                11. What was the teaching of the
utterly useless. All these accom-        not suffer in order to atone for sins          Pharisees?
plishments put together can not          as Christ did. But he suffers, as                 12. What is "righteousness"?
serve to pay for even one sin.           Christ did, for righteousness' sake.           How is it obtained?
Three times Paul insists that he         Those who hated Christ, also hate                 13. Find Scriptural passages
counts the material things to be         all those who belong to Christ.                which speak of the righteousness
"loss." Not only did all this not        Many including Paul himself ac-                which the Christian must seek.
gain anything for the apostle, but       cording to tradition, were also put               14. In what ways do we today
they detracted from that which he        to death by the hands of wicked                have the "fellowship of his suffer-
thought he had attained. When            men. All such suffer with Christ               ings"?
one places his trust in himself and      and because of union to Christ.                   15. When do we attain to the
in his own works; he deceives him-         Likewise, these are "conformed               resurrection of the dead?
self. These very works of men only       unto his death." In Romans 6:4ff.                 16. What is the great chapter
add to one's condemnation before         we are reminded that we become                 which speaks of the resurrection
God.                                     dead to sin through Christ's cruci-            body?  q
   Paul sees rather the glory of the     fixion. There is death to our sinful-
"knowledge of Christ Jesus my            ness and evil deeds. His death re-
Lord." He has the knowledge of           sults in the godly walk of His peo-
true deliverance through the cross.      ple.
Paul had emphasized in all the             The glorious result is that we at-
churches that he determined to           tain to the resurrection of the dead.
know nothing among them save Je-         "If by any means..." does not ex-               The Mystery of Providence
sus Christ and Him crucified (I Cor.     press doubt about this outcome,
2:2). That knowledge involved the        but indicates that in every way we             0 wondrous wheel of providence,
fact that he himself was the "chief      shall surely enjoy the benefits of                Held in Jehovah's hand;
of sinners." He knew that nothing        Christ's resurrection: new life now,           Mysterious to the sons of sense,
less than the blood of the Son of        and the literal resurrection of our               Moved by divine command.
God in our flesh could deliver him.      bodies in that day of Christ's re-
His knowledge of Jesus was also a        turn.                                          Each of time's changes, like a
very personal thing: "My Lord," he         What is earthly attainment                         spoke,
says. All things he willingly relin-     through man's striving compared                   Proceeds from God, its source;
quishes that he may win (gain)           to the blessed fruits obtained by              Each fills its station, none are
Christ. He himself did not first re-     Christ's perfect work on the cross?                  broke,
ceive the Christ, but Christ came to     Truly, in the cross of Christ I must              All aid its wondrous course.
Paul. Christ called and appointed        EWY-
him to serve as apostle to the           QUESTIONS:                                     Its circle reaches earth's wide
Gentiles. Paul gained Christ               1. Does "finally" mean that Paul                   bound,
through the direct intervention of       intended to stop writing at this                  Its axis is God's will;
-Christ Himself.                         point - only to change his mind                On His decrees it must go round,
  Now Paul understands that it           and write some 43 more verses?                    Till He shall say, Be still.
was not his own "righteousness"            2. Paul speaks of "rejoicing" (vs.
(vs. 9) but the righteousness of God     2). Where else does Scripture speak            Let Atheists vainly talk of chance,
in Christ by faith that counts. Paul     of rejoicing or joy?                              I would this wheel adore,
believes the promise of God in             3. What is the reason or basis for          Which rules and guides each cir-
Christ. He knows that Christ has         true joy?                                                cumstance,
cleansed him of all sin and has            4. Why is repetition of a good                  Which angels caii't explore.
adopted him as His own.                  point advantageous?
  Verse 10 presents a beautiful            5. What is the significance of              Through seas, o'er hills it makes its
statement of that faith. Paul knows      "dogs" (vs. 2)?                                      way,         -
Christ personally. He sees the suc-        6. In what other passages does                  Though earth and hell oppose;
cess of Christ's work. There is the      Paul speak of circumcision and its             `Tis hastening on the last great day,
power of Christ's resurrection. In       value or lack thereof?                            Its wonders to disclose.
resurrection, Christ shows that He         7. Can you find references to
fully satisfied the justice of God on    "spiritual" circumcision of the          .                             - SB, April I, 193.2
behalf of His people. He could not       heart, etc. in Scripture? _
arise unless full payment had been         8. In what ways might we today
made for sin. Christ's resurrection      show "confidence in the flesh"?
has the "power" to raise all of His        9. Why might Paul take pride in
people also from the grave and de-       being of the tribe of Benjamin?

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A Cloud                                        Patrick, Missionary
of Witnesses                                   to Ireland
Prof. Herman Hanko


   Our Lord gave commandment to                  Not a great deal is known of              In the providence of God, how-
the whole church when, just before             Patrick's life, and, indeed, many         ever, this captivity, which la.sted
His ascension into heaven, He said             myths have been constructed con-          about six years, was to be FYatrick's
to His disciples, "But ye shall re-            cerning his labors. What is certain       preparation for his great work as
ceive power, after that the Holy               is what he himself wrote in his           missionary to the Irish. He was
Ghost is come upon you: and ye                 Confessions.  He was born in Britain      sold to a farmer who assigned him
shall be witnesses unto me both in             somewhere around the year 389.            the task of taking care of cattle. It
Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in           Although the precise place of his         was during this time of loneliness
Samaria,  and unto the uttermost               birth is not known, he was born in        and suffering that Patrick was con-
part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).                 a small village somewhere on the          verted. He speaks of it himself.
   The early history of the church of          western coast of Britain, across the        After I arrived in Ireland, aYe y day
Christ is an exciting and moving               Irish Sea from Ireland.                   I fed cattle, ad frequenfly during  the
history of her missionary enter-                 At the time of his birth, Chris-        day I prayed; more and more the love
prise. Scripture itself records for us         tianity had already come to Britain,      and fear of God burned, and mry faith
how the gospel was brought to                  probably through Christian sol-           and my spirit were strengthened, so
Judea, Samaria, and the entire                 diers in the Roman army; for              that in one day I said as many as a
Mediterranean world, so that the               Britain formed the northernmost           hundred prayers, and nearly as many
church was spread throughout the               boundary of the Roman Empire.             in the night. '
Roman Empire. The early annuls                 The Romans had succeeded in es-              Although the time there, spent in
of the church provide us with in-              tablishing in southern Britain a          loneliness and grief, was a time of
formation of how courageous mis-               rather advanced civilization, and,        suffering, it gave him a knowledge
sionaries moved beyond the                     through the spread of Christianity,       of the Irish language then used,
Mediterranean world into darkest               many Romans in Britain were               and it instilled within his heart a
Europe to bring God's Word to the              Christians. Within the sphere of          love for these crude and heathenish
many barbarian tribes who had                  the influence of Roman control,           people among whom he was forced
moved into Europe and settled                  Patrick was born.                         to live.
there.                                           He tells us in his Confessions that        After six years of captivity, he es-
   Through the labors of the church            his father, Calpomus, was a deacon        caped from his master and, after a
the whole of Europe was Christian-             and a local magistrate, and his           perilous journey over land and sea,
ized, so that it was changed from              grandfather was a priest in the           arrived safely in Britain.2 H:e
darkest heathendom and paganism                church of that time. He received          speaks of his captivity as an inter-
and became the cradle of Christian-            some Christian instruction, al-           ruption of his education, which he
ity. Although the work covered                 though he leaves the impression           now pursued with some diligence.
many centuries, it had its lowly be-           that this instruction was meager            He could not escape, however,
ginnings in the lives of men who               and unsatisfactory. He learned            the thoughts of the Irish from
sacrificed all for the cause of the            only the rudiments of the Christian       whom he had fled. He considered
gospel.                                        faith, but true faith in God had not      the Ireland in which he was a slave
  This is the story of one such mis-           yet found a place in his heart.           to be as far west as one was able to
sionary: Patrick,`missionary  to Ire'            At the age of sixteen, tragedy          go, and on the very edge of the
land.                                          struck his home. Raiders from             world. In his Letter fo Coroficus he
                                               across the Irish Sea, crude and illit-    declared that he had been "predes-
                                               erate barbarians, raided the coast        tinated to preach the Gospel even
                                               where Patrick lived. We can only          to the ends of the earth." He
                                               imagine the suffering and pain            promised never to leave the people
                                               which was the lot of the inhabitants      whom the Lord had "purchased in
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church             when thousands of young men, in-          the farthest ends of the earth." Re-
His toy and New Tes tamed  in the              cluding Patrick, were capturedand         ferring to Matthew 28:19,20,  he
Protestant Reformed Semina y.                  sold as slaves in Ireland.                "sees his work as culminati:ng  the
112 I The Standard Bearer I December 1,199O


expansion of the Faith begun  by the           have lately become the people of the         The date of Patrick's death is :not
Apostles, to be followed by the                Lord, and are called sons of God. 5      known. But he died peacefully
coming of the end. He gives thanks                While undoubtedly his work            somewhere between 461 and 493.
to God, who heard his prayer, so               was blessed richly by God, many          He died a faithful servant of the
that...`in  the last days' he under-           strange traditions and stories have      Lord and was buried in an un-
took `such a holy and wonderful                been woven into his life. He is said     known grave in the Ireland which
work, imitating those who were                 to have converted all the Irish          he loved.
sent to preach the Gospel for a tes-           chieftains and bards. He is sup-             He was one of many such brave
timony to all nations before the end           posed to have founded between            men who sacrificed all to bring the
of the world.... The Gospel has                365 and 700 churches and conse-          light of the gospel into the dark re-
been preached to where there is no-            crated 3,000 priests. Even miracles      gions of paganism where only idol-
body beyond."' 3                               were ascribed to him: it is claimed      atry and superstition ruled. He :is a
  It was this burning desire to                that he healed the blind, raised nine    noble figure in the annuls of the
bring the gospel to the Irish which            persons from death, and expelled         church's missionary calling, and is
probably accounts for the dream                all the snakes and frogs in the is-      an inspiration to all those who are
which he claims to have had in                 land. But he himself makes no            called by God to.bring  the gospel to
which he saw a man who handed                  such claims. They are part of            the ends of the earth. 0
him some letters which included                Romish mythology.
the plea: `Holy boy, we are asking                Nevertheless, his writings give           1 Quoted from Philip Schaff, Tke Hisfory
you to come home and walk                      evidence of the fact that he was a       of fke Christian church, Vol. IV, `Medieval
among us again."                               dedicated and humble child of            Christianity." Wm. B. Ferdmans Publishing
                                                                                         co., 1950, p. 49.
  He considered this to be a call              God. A certain sweetness of char-            2 There is some question about whether
from God. To this end he entered               acter shines through his writings,        the ship on which he took sail landed again
the ministry of the church and was             and a humility is evident in them        in Britain or on the coast of Gaul (now
ordained bishop and apostle to Ire-            which is unmistakable. He never          France). Church Estorians are divided  o:n
land in 432. He spent the next                 was a highly educated man, and he         the question, and there seems to be no way
                                                                                         to settle it.
thirty years of his life working in            often bemoaned his lack of educa-            3 The quotations are from John T. Mc-
the land of his captivity. He found            tion. In fact, he was hesitant to        Niell, The Celtic Churches; University of
an Ireland "untouched by the Ro-               write-anything because his Latin          Chicago Press, 1974, p. 59.
man culture that had helped to                 was so inferior. But that very lack          4 &oted from &uf Leaders of the Ckris-
                                                                                         fian Ckurck. ed. bv Tohn D. Woodbridee.
mold the British society into which            of education gave him a directness                                               v-
                                                                                        Moody R&s, 19g8; p. 96.
Patrick was born. The Irish had no             of speech which, even today, is              5 Quoted from Schaff, op. cit., p. 46.
towns; their primary social order              moving. It was without affectation
was the tribe, or extended family.             that he began his letter to
They raised cattle, lived in wattle-           Coroticum, "I Patrick, a sinner,
and-turf houses, and repaired to               very badly educated...." This letter,
forts, mostly wooden, during raids             in which he speaks much of his                             Jesus Only
and wars. Their lives were full of             -calling and faith, was written to a
superstition and magic presided           -    certain king in Britain who, while        Absorbed in Christ -yea, I would
over by Druid priests who were                 professing to be a Christian, had                 be
Christainity's chief Irish oppo-               captured many young boys and                  So occupied with my dear Lord,
nents." 4                                      girls in Ireland; The letter was          That Jesus, only would I see,
  It was difficult labor, filled with          written to excommunicate Ring                And only listen to His Word.
danger and hardship. His oppo-                 Coroticum until he repented and
nents were many and the people                 made restitution for his evil deed.      No one would note or mark my
totally pagan. Yet the Lord was                   Patrick established a Christianity             ways,
pleased to bless this work, and                in Ireland which was a far cry from          His glory only would I show
thousands were brought to the                  the Christianity of Roman Catholi-       By word and act through all my
faith. Most of his work was done               cism. It was orthodox and biblical,               days,
in NorthernIreland, that part of the           the Bible being Patrick's only book.         Till others would His beauty
island which is now called Ulster.             It was a Christianity that was com-                     know.
The center of his labors was Ar-               pletely independent of Rome and
magh, and from it the gospel I                 the influence of Rome's bishops. In      My heart's Desire, my Lord and
spread.                                        fact, it was several centuries later              Ring!
  In his Confessions he writes:                that Rome finally succeeded in               Life of my soul, my joy my
  I am greatly a debtor to God, who            bringing the Irish Church under                         strength!
has bestowed his grace so largely upon         her papal rule. It was the begin-        My perfect Saviour's praise I'd sing
me, that multitudes wqe born again to          ning of the church in Ireland which          To all until He come at length.
God through me. The Irish, who never           continues to the present - al-
had fhe knowledge of God and wor-              though only through great struggle                                   - SB, May IS,1932
shipped only idols and unclean things,         and persecution.

                                                                                        December 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer  / 113


From                                           Exposition of
Holy Writ                                      I-saiah 6:1-13 (6)
Rev. George Lubbers


   But yet in it shal2 be a tenth,                In our Scripture passage, taken         the Captivity to Christ's birth shall
and it shall return, and shall be              from Isaiah 613, this glorious fu-         be realized in the fullness of .time.
eaten: as a teil tree, and as an               ture hope is promised and foretold         In this tenth, the Virgin Mary is the
oak, whose substance is in them                by Him who sits on the throne,             central consideration, according to
                                               Adonai. He is the One who gives            Isaiah 7:14. The very core of this
(stock, stem), when they cast                  preaching orders to Isaiah, the            "tenth" is the future birth of the
their leaves: so the holy seed                 prophets, and even to the Christ,          Son of God (born from a Virgin),
shall be the substance thereof.                who was born from a woman and              whose name is Wonderful, Coun-
                           Isaiah 6:13         made under the law.                        selor, the Mighty God, the everlast-
                                                 Is he not the LORD who visits            ing Father, the Prince of Peace!
                                               apostatizing and unbelieving Israel          Yes, this Divinely designated
The Hope of Israel in                          with His chastisements for the ex-         number shall surely return! They
Their Deportation                              act duration of seventy years?             shall return to the land of Beulah,
   There is hope in the latter end for           Yes, there is hope in Israel's latter    the land of the Sabbath-rest of the
the Israel of God. This latter end is          end. Christ is the end of the law for      God of Jacob.
really the glory, the time when the            righteousness to everyone who be-            Is not God married to Israel by
whole earth shall be full of the               lieves, the Jew first and also the         His sure word of oath? Is He not
glory of God's sovereign grace and             Greek. That is God's beacon light          her God, who in the greatest pathos
mercy. It is the fulfillment of what           which shines more and more unto            says, I will never leave thee in my
we read in Isaiah 40~5: "And the               the perfect and great Day of the           everlasting, sovereign loving kind-
glory of the LORD shall be re-                 Lord.                                      ness? The promise is that after sev-
vealed, and all flesh shall see it to-         The Remnant Shall Return to the            enty years, when the land has en-
gether: for the mouth of the LORD              Promised Land (verse 131                   joyed its Sabbaths, then Israei shall
hath spoken it."                                 There is a remnant in Israel.            return (Ter.  25:9; II Chron. 36~20-25).
   Such is the secret of the hope of           These are they who are born of the           Indeed, they shall return and re-
Israel in the captivity, whilst they           promise. These, and they only, are         build Jerusalem, rebuild her .walls,
hang their silent harps upon the               counted for the seed (Rom. 9:8).           and resurrect the temple from her
willows growing beside Babel's                 Such was the sure word of God to           ashes and ruins. But she shall per-
streams where the righteous weep               sorrowing yet believing Abraham            form this only through the utmost
in their great love for Jerusalem              (Gen. 21:12). Yes, in Isaac shall the      trials and afflictions and persecu-
and the temple-worship!                        seed be called!                            tions. The text suggests this .when
   But we are anticipating. We are               We will come to this presently.          it adds "and shall be eaten." The
anticipating according to the sure               For the moment let us notice that        term makes us think of Psalm 27~2:
word of the prophecy of father Ja-             the text speaks of a "tenth" which         `When the wicked, even mine ene-
cob when he prophesies, "...until              shall return. Of all the vast number       mies and my foes, came upon me
Shiloh come: and unto him shall                which were taken captive to Baby-          to eat up my flesh, they stumbled
the gathering of the people be"                lon, only a fraction returned to the       and fell." Surely these enemies
(Gen. 49:lO).                                  promised land, the land of God's           were not cannibals. This is
                                               Sabbath-rest. There is great wis-          metaphor, expressing that they de-
                                               dom in this selected number. These         sired to slay David, the king, even
                                               represent the full number of those         as Goliath boasted he would do to
                                               whom God, in the purpose of His            David when David was but at
                                               counsel, will bring back under             stripling, a tender youth (I Saim.
                                               Ezra's leadership upon the decree          17~44). And David returns th.e re-
                                               of Cyrus, king of Persia. Indeed,          ply in his great confession, "This
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in         these are the tribe of Judah, in           day will the LORD deliver thee into
the Protestant Reformed Churches.              which the 3 x 14 generations from          mine hand; and I will smite thee,

114 I The Standard Bearer I December 1,199O


and take thine head from thee: and        the heathen nations. But when                Pinpointedly the text speaks of
I will give the carcasses of the host     strength, endurance is to be indi-        the hoZy  seed as being the substance
of the Philistines this day unto the      cated, then the oak tree is a fitting     of this "eaten teil tree."
vultures, and to the wild beasts of       symbol, as that. which can resist the        The term holy seed sometimes
the earth; that all the earth may         winds of opposition (Is. 1:29-31)!        refers to Israel as the remnant ac-
know that there is a God in Israel."        Here the hellish assaults of the         cording to the election of grace. In
  Such was the history of Israel          enemies of God's church in the            chapter 41:8 we read, "But thou, Is-
under the reign both of the Per-          wise providence of God over His           rael, art my servant, Jacob whom I
sians and of the Macedon&s,  as           church is likened unto a burning          have chosen, the seed of Abraham
we read of this in Daniel 10-12.          fire. The term used in our text is        my friend.... Thou art my servant; I
Small wonder that the psalmist            that this tree, to which we have          have chosen thee, and not cast thele
cried, "For thy sake are we killed        called attention earlier, shall be -       away." Yet, for the deepest sense of
all the day long; we are counted as       eaten. The remarkable feature of           the term seed, we must read the
sheep for the slaughter" (Ram.            the tree's being eaten by fire is that    Holy Spirit's own interpretation as
8:36; Ps. 44:22). Often the righteous     the end result was not that all is        written by Paul in Galatians 3:16:
in Israel, especially in the days of      ashes and ruins. Such seemed to be         "Now to Abraham and his seed
the Maccabees, must have cried:           the case when the Babylonians             were the promises made. He saithi
  Awake, why sleepest thou, 0             sacked Jerusalem; but the result          not unto seeds as of many; but as of
LORD? arise, cast us not offforever.      was rather that there was still a         one, And to thy Seed, which is
Why hidest thou. thy face, and for-       "stock" left, a living (substance), a      Christ"!
gettest our affliction and our oppres-    spiritual entity., which would grow           This is, therefore, the infallible
sion? For our soul is bowed down to       out as wonderfully as did the mus-        interpretation of the term "holy
the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the     tard seed in Jesus' parable of the         seed" in Isaiah 6:13!
earth. Arise for our help, and redeem     mustard seed. It is the root of               Christ is the end of the law of
us for thy mercies' sake 0's. 44:23-      David out of dry ground (Is. 53:2X        righteousness to every one who be-
26).                                      Or, again, we read that there shall       lieves. All were included (shut up11
  Yes, they shall be eaten, de-           come forth a rod out of the stem of       under sin that he might be merciful
voured, and well-nigh cast off as         Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out         to all the Seed of Israel, both Jew
the scum of the earth. Notwith-           of his roots (Is. 11:l); and the beau-     and Gentile.
standing this, there is hope to Is-       tiful promise is added in verses 10,          Here is the great capstone, the
rael. She is not a mere useless vine,     11 of this same chapter, "In that day     unfolding of the mystery of godli-
but she is as a teil tree, as an oak      there shall be a root of Jesse, which     ness, when the glory of Christ, who
tree!                                     shall stand for an ensign of the peo-      sits on the throne in His temple,
- Yes, Israel is a nation which shall     ple; to it shall the Gentiles seek;        shall fill all the earth! Cl
endure. When all the nations              and his rest shall be glorious (a
which plowed deep furrows upon            sweet smell)."
her back are no more, having been
destroyed from off the face of the
earth by the fury of the Lord of
Hosts; when the thrones of such
nations as Egypt, Babylon, Medo-                                             Chastening
Persia have been cast down, and
the mighty Macedonian power has
been crushed forever, then Israel's       I know not why His hand is laid,           I know the heights for which I long
throne shall be in the center of the         In chastening on my life,                  Are often reached through pain,
universe, on the heavenly mount           Nor why it is my little world              I know the sheaves must needs be
Zion, high and lifted up (Is. 2:2-5).       Is filled so full of strife.                   threshed
  The reason? In the unchangeable         I know not why, when faith looks up           To yield the golden grain.
faithfulness of Jehovah to His              And seeks for rest from pain,            I know that, though He may
beloved Jacob (Mal. 1:1-4; 3:6), He       That o'er my sky fresh clouds arise              remove
has made them to be like a teil and          And drench my path with rain.              The friends on whom I lean,
an oak tree. That is the figure of        I know not why my prayer so long,          Tis that I thus may learn to love
speech here in verse 13. In chapter         By Him has been denied;                     And trust the one Unseen.
5 Israel is portrayed under the fig-      Nor why, while other's ships sail on,      And, when at last I see His face
ure of a "choice vine." In another,         Mine should in port abide.                  And know as I am known,
separate essay we will call atten-        But I do know that God is love,            I will not care how rough the road
tion to this. Yes, the Lord could           That He my burden shares,                   That led me to my home.
have done no more to Israel than          And though I may not understand,
what He had. But the vine does               I know, for me, He cares.                                  - SB, August I,1932
not lend itself to what can endure
the fiery trials of the persecution by

                                                                                    December 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer / 1215


                                               The End Times (7)
 The Strength                                  Pleasure- Madness,
of Youth                                       Sign of 
Rev. Barrett Gritters                                                       the End

   Entertainment. Leisure. Amuse-
ment. Recreation. Sports. Spare
time. Fun.
   Is there any more proof needed
that our day is mad for pleasure?
   As Matthew 24 indicates, "iniq-
uity shall abound, (and) the love of
many shall wax cold." Paul spoke
of this to pastor Timothy in II Tim-
othy 3 when he said, "For men.
shall be lovers of their own selves,            Sures themselves! It is not Re-          when men have a "form of ;godli-
covetous...heady, highminded,                   formed, but Anabaptist and monas-        ness," but "deny the power
lovers of pleasures more than                   tic, to say that pleasures are evil.     thereof." This is not a description
lovers of God...."                              We may enjoy pleasures, earthly          of the unbelieving world. The
   Young people must be reminded                pleasures too. We may enjoy a hus-       world  openly  bows to pleasures,
that this is taking place as a sign of          band or wife, a boyfriend or girl-       gladly admits she loves this# life
Christ's coming. Paul made that                 friend, a ball game or good music;       and no other, and boldly proclaims
clear as well, for he begins this               for Paul says to Timothy in the first    "TGIF" to be her motto. But this is
chapter, "This know also...." That              letter, "For every creature of God is    a description of the "church.."
is, be aware of what will come. Do              good, and nothing to be refused, if      Their confession is `We love God";
not be surprised, young saints, if              it-be received with thanksgiving:        their outward life is probably ex-
the world becomes mad for plea-                 For it is sanctified by the word of      emplary; they come to church regu-
sure. The ministers need to be re-              God and prayer." (Young people,          larly (except when vacation or the
minded of this; the elders must be              "set apart? your earthly pleasures       big ball game gets in the wa.y); they
aware of it; parents should be                  with the Word of God and prayer!)        have a form of godliness.
warned to watch out for it. But the               No, the evil to beware of is not         But they "deny the power
young people need to know what                  the pleasures, but the loving of         thereof."
the Word of God says about the                  these pleasures, and loving them           Do you see it? Drunkenness,
world in which they are growing                 more than one loves God. The last        drugs, fornication, dancing, movie
up.or find themselves presently.                days are marked by this. People          attendance, wasting time with trash
Do not be shocked if this is what               are mad for pleasure, live for it.       on television and VCR? This also
you find.                                       "Thank God It's Friday" is not only      takes the form of enjoying legiti-
   Men are lovers of pleasure more              the name of a popular restaurant,        mate pleasures, at the expense of
than lovers of God.                             but the motto of much of the world.      obedience to God. There is more
   Pleasures are things that please             Young people (and all of us), do         time on the ball field or fishing
men, not heavenly pleasures, but                you live for the weekend to fill-        stream or hunting blind than with
earthly pleasures. There are many               yourself with earthly pleasures?         the family; more money spent on
of them. But the danger that must               Or do you desire to end your week        one's own pleasures, unnecessary
be warned against is not the plea-              of work so that you can worship          food, drink, toys, so that there is
                                                God and fill your life and soul with     only a dollar or two left over when
                                                spiritual pleasures?                     the plate is passed on Sunday.
                                                  This evil is a sign of the end of        When young men and young
Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Protes-          the age especially when it becomes       women are lovers of pleasure more
tant Reformed Church of Byron Cen-              evident in the church. Paul says         than lovers of God, the fruit that
ter, Michigan.                                  that the last, perilous days come        grows on the branches of their lives

116 I The Standard Bearer I December 1,199O


is rotten fruit. They become "cov-        fore our eyes.                           havior of the young people, when
etous, boasters, proud, blasphe-            What is especially convincing is        families see it in their own lives
mers, disobedient to parents, un-         that what was condemned by the            that they have been caught up in
thankful, unholy, without natural         churches only 25 years ago, and for       the race for Friday, not because the
affection, trucebreakers, false ac-       hundreds of years before that, is         Lord's day is coming, but because
cusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers    now approved. What was unthink-           Saturday can be filled with plea-
of those that are good, traitors,         able 50 years ago is now so com-          sure.
heady highminded."                        monplace that if you question its            But these are perilous times.
  Why? Because they are `lovers           propriety, you are questioned as to          God's people are weakened by
of their own selves."                     your sanity. Rock music (with             exposure to this kind of life-style,
  The root of the problem is not          Christian words), dancing, theater       because this life-style becomes ours
"pleasure-madness." Below that            attendance, all used to be con-           so easily. The danger of television
branch is the roof of self-love. If we    demned by the church, but now are        and movies is as much in the life-
are to remove pleasure-madness            approved and promoted.                    style they teach as in all the vile be-
from our lives and our churches,            Do you young people under-              havior and language they present.
we dig deep to this problem.              stand that? Does it sink in? Never       Perilous times! Children become
  Whom do you love more, your-            before did the church condone            used to this life-style and find out            -
self or God? Let us take a test with      movie attendance, and dancing, or         soon they have no room for spiri-
the ten commandments:                     take the music of the world and put       tual things. Young couples caugiht
Loving Our God:                           it to "Christian" use. Now she            in this spirit want no children, or
  1. Do you worship idols (of             does. That is important for us to         few, because there are things to
sports and liquor)?                       know if we love the Lord and His          buy, places to go, times to live.
  2. Do you make graven images            church. It was important for me,          These are dangerous times for the
(that look more like you than God)?       when I was in my teens, to know           church because the pressure is on
  3. Do you take God's name in            that the church always did (on the        to change, to adapt the teaching of
vain (because yours is more impor-        basis of the Bible) stand against        the church to the life of the people,
tant)?                                    movie attendance, dancing, and            instead of the life of the people to
  4. Do you desecrate the Sabbath         worldly music. Even though I              the teaching of the church.
(when the fourth commandment              didn't like it at the time, I knew           Oh, for the power to turn away
pinches)?                                 that the weight of history (the lead-     from this!
Loving Our Neighbor:                      ing of God's Spirit in history!) was         Turn away from this spirit in
  5. Do you dishonor your parents         behind that stand.                       your life. Turn away from those
(when they "cramp your style")?             And why has the church                  persons who would tempt you to
  6. Do you kill your neighbor            changed its stand now? Has more           have a form of godliness but deny
with thought or deed (if he stands        serious Bible study been done?            the power of it. Have no friends
in your way)?                             Has the church become more spiri-         whose lives are geared for pleasure.
  7. Do you fornicate (if it "feels       tually minded? On the contrary.           Do not date the young man or
good")?                                   The church was pressured into            young woman whose principal
  8. Do you steal your neighbor's         changing its position because plea-       good is to seek pleasure of this
property (to hurt him or add to           sure-madness had caught on and            world, whose life shows that he is a
your wealth)?                             everyone was doing it anyway. We          lover of pleasure more than a lover
  9. Do you lie to your brother (to       are living in the last days. Will you     of God.
save your own skin)?                      put pressure on the church to si-            "No!" to the frantic pleasure-
  10. Do you covet what he has            lence its witness against the             seeking that never has enough.
(because God hasn't given it to           worldly pleasures?                        Like the horseleach's daughters
you)?                                       These are perilous days! Dan-           crying, "Give, give," and the fire
  We are living in the last days! Is      gerous days!                              that will never be satisfied, the
there any doubt in your mind?               Danger for the church is not per-       pleasure-mad young person never
  There is another teaching about         secution. The church is not in peril     has "enough." "Yes!" to God and
the last times that claims the world      because of poverty and hard times         His kingdom. Live the antithesis,
will improve, that there will be          materially. Those days were al-          young people!
great godliness in the earth, that        ways good days for the church,               And the possibility for all this is
the church will prevail, that the         days that strengthened the church,        the cross of Christ.
gospel will have an effect on the         days of oceans of grace for the              The cross crucifies your self-love. -
general population of the world           church! Perilous days for the             The cross destroys your ego. The
that it will be Christianized and         church are days of pleasure-mad-          cross makes you a lover of God
most will follow the teachings and        ness.                                    more than a lover of self. This does
power of Jesus. II Timothy 3 says           These are grievous days, when          not mean that you will not want
otherwise.                                parents, pastors, and elders vex          these pleasures, will not seek this
  We are living in the last days.         their souls over the weakening of        worldly entertainment. But the
There is evidence of that right be-       the flock and the pleasure-mad be-       cross means that this drive for plea-

                                                                                   December 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 117


sure will not dominate your life,                Fly young people! Fly for your        There is power! There is your God!
will not be the all-consuming force            life! Fly to the cross of Christ!       There is salvation from the perils of
it once was.                                   There is hope! There is forgiveness!    these last days! Cl




                                               Book Reviews

PURITAN CHRISTIANITY  IN                          The book gives some informa-         in the hearts of all who hear the
AMERICA: RELIGION AND                          tion on the background of the Puri-     gospel a certain preparatory grace
LIFE IN SEVENTEENTH-CEN-                       tan movement in England and the         which made the hearer more sus-
TURY hBASSACI-IUSETTS,  by                     biblical basis for Puritan life and     ceptible to the preaching (pp. 85-
Allen Carden; Baker Book House,                thought. It deals with the theology     87). In church polity they held to a
1990; 239pp, paper (no price in-               of the Puritans, their church struc-    strict congregationalism which was.
cluded). (Reviewed by Prof. H.                 ture in preaching, government, and      characteristic of the "Separatist!'
Hanko.)                                        polity It describes the life of the     brand of Puritanism. And in keep-
  The history of the Puritans has              Puritans in their piety and social      ing with their whole purpose of
always been a fascinating subject              ethics. It speaks of their views of     coming to this country, they held to
to Reformed and Presbyterian be-               education, culture, and recreation.     a certain post-millennialism.
lievers. This is partly because the            It concludes with two chapters on         While their views of the clhurch
Puritan experiment (as it is some-             challenges in Massachusetts to the      were originally sound (they held,
times called) has entered into the             Puritan way, in which are dis-          e.g., to the idea to which Calvin
warp and woof of our own coun-                 cussed the history of Roger             also held, namely, that the visible
try's national heritage, and partly            Williams and Anne Hutchinson            church was composed of mo're
because the history of the Puritans            with her antinomian ideas, and the      than the company of elect), these
is part of our own ecclesiastical his-         legacy they left us.                    views changed over the years.
tory, though admittedly indirectly.               As one reads the book, one is        More and more they tended to-
  The author takes issue in some               struck by how near to us the Puri-      wards the view that the church
respects with current thinking                 tans were in many matters of doc-       ought to be composed only of the
about Puritanism in this country as            trine and life. They were Calvinis-     company of the elect. In keeping
represented, e.g., by Perry Miller,            tic in their doctrine; their worship    with that conception, they began to
an acknowledged authority on the               was much like ours - although           require various testimonies of
subject. His book is intended to               they practiced purity of worship in     one's experiences to judge whether
give a more balanced view of the               some respects; they resembled           a given applicant for membership
Puritans. It is my judgment that               what we hold true in matters of         was truly an elect and worthy of
the author succeeds admirably. He              family church life, and walk in the     church membership (pp. 101,102).
has written an interesting and en-             world. In their early years, accord-       It was this view which led to
lightening book which is easily                ing to the author, they even held a     their well-known view of the "half-
read and which will give the                   sound view of the assurance of sal-     way covenant." Many, while bap-
reader a good idea of what Puri-               vation (pp. 85-87). One feels a         tized in the church, could not give
tanism in this country, especially in          deep kinship with them on these         a satisfactory account of their con-
the 17th century, was all about.               matters.                                version. Yet they were married
  The book treats many different                  There were, however, significant     and had children which needed to
aspects of the life of these "pilgrim          differences. In the light of            be baptized. To accommodate this,
fathers." It defines Puritanism "as            covenant conceptions current in         the notion of a "half-way
primarily a reformist movement                 Puritan circles, they held to an ex-    covenant" was introduced. It re-
comprised of individuals who took              ternal and internal covenant, some-     ferred to the fact that some were
issue with the Church of England               thing which was to give them grief      "half-way" into the covenant by
in matters of polity, style, and to a          in later years. Already early in        virtue of their baptism, but were
lesser extent doctrine, and who de-            their history (and this too was in      not yet "all the way" into the
sired to discard `Romish' practices,           keeping with current Puritan            covenant because they could give
to exercise congregational auton-              ideas), they held to what is basi-      no account of their conversion.
omy and authority, and to build                cally an Arminian conception of           Christian high schools ought to
their society on the Bible as the fi-          preparationism, i.e., the view that     have this book in their librariles,
nal authority" (pp. 11,121.                    the Spirit of Christ works generally    and those of our readers who de-

118 I The Standard Bearer I December 1,199(


sire to know mom of these Ameri-           ships). Heth explains Scripture to             Corinthians  7~15 is a completely
can Puritans can very profitably           allow for divorce in the case of              9 different word from "is not bound!'
add this valuable work to their            adultery, but absolutely to forbid             (Greek deoo), so that the apostle is
home libraries. Cl                         remarriage while the original mate             not teaching there that a believer
                                           is living. Edgar argues for divorce            deserted by an unbeliever is no
DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE:                    and remarriage in the case of the              longer bound in marriage and
FOUR CHRISTIAN VJEWS,  by J.               fornication ("illicit sex") of one`s           therefore free to remarry.
Carl Laney, William Heth, Thomas           mate and in the case of desertion.                In his zeal to prove that marriage
Edgar, and Larry Richards. H.              And Richards, a sheer antinomian               is dissolvable, Edgar overlooks that
Wayne House, Editor. Downers               in this area of Christian life, thinks         I Corinthians 6~16 does not say that
Grove,  Ik Intervarsity Press, 1990.       that all divorce and all remarriage            sexual union with a prostitute
267 pages. Paperback. $9.95. (Re-          are sinful, but that the grace of God          makes the two one flesh. (His ar-
viewed by the Editor)                      permits and justifies remarriage for           gument is that the one-flesh bond
  Of late, evangelical Protes-             any and every reason: "Persons                 of marriage is as much dissolvable
tantism has been looking into the          who divorce for any reason do                  as the one-flesh union of a man
biblical teaching on divorce and re-       have the right to remarry" (p. 243).           with a prostitute.) Paul does not,
marriage. One reason has been the                 It is interesting that two of the       however, say that the union of a
appallingly high rate of divorce           four maintain that the Bible forbids           man with a prostitute is one flesh.
and remarriage among professing            all remarriage while an original               Rather, he says that it is a "one-
evangelical Christians. Francis            mate is still living.                          b0ay" relationship. This is serious
Schaeffer pointed to this scan-                   Adding to the liveliness of the         enough - a dark parody of mar-
dalous situation in his The Great          book is the immediate response to              riage. But it is not the establish-
EvangeZicuZ  Disasfev:  `Do we not         each of the positions by the other             ment of a one-flesh union, that is, a
have to agree that even much of the        three.                                         genuine marriage. For this, more
evangelical church...has bent Scrip-              Some of the authors share seri-         than sex is required.
ture at the point of divorce to con-       ous weaknesses. One is the failure                As soon as Edgar has argued for
form to the culture rather than the        to define marriage. One cannot                 the permissibility of the remarriage
Scripture judging the present view-        treat divorce without having first             of the "innocent party," Richards
points of the fallen culture? Do we        established from Scripture what                asserts "the contradiction of hold-
not have to agree that in the area of      marriage is by institution of God.             ing that an innocent party is un-
divorce and remarriage there has           This is not true of Laney and of               married, and free to marry again,
been a lack of biblical teaching and       Heth. Laney begins by denying                  but a guilty party is somehow still
discipline even among evangeli-            that marriage is merely a legal                `married,' thus can never marry
cals?" (p. 63). Carl F.H. Henry men-       agreement. "Marriage could be de-              again" (p. 212). He then insists on
tioned it in his autobiography, Con-       fined as God's act of joining a man            the right of all to remarry, guilty as
fessions  of a Theologian: "While evan-    and a woman in a permanent,                    well as innocent. Indeed, he ex-
gelicals seek to penetrate the cul-        covenanted, one-flesh relationship"            pressly states that an imaginary
ture, the culture simultaneously           (p. 20). Exactly!                              "Tom" may remarry for the fourth
makes disconcerting inroads into                  Another weakness is the notion          time and, I must assume, for the
evangelical life. This is specially        that believers under the new                   fortieth time.
evident in the widening notion that        covenant may still appeal to                      There are two possibilities for a
divorce and remarriage are simply          Deuteronomy 24:14 as a ground                  Protestant church at the end of the
matters of free moral choice" (p.          for their remarrying after divorce.            20th century: either no remarriage
388). At the evangelical "Intema-          As though Jesus did not ascribe                or remarriage for all, regardless of
tional Council on Biblical In-             those goings-on under the old                  the reason for the preceding di-
errancy" in Chicago in 1986, some          covenant to Moses' tolerating them             vorce. Most of the Protestant
publicly confessed with shame of           because of the hardness of Israelite           church, evangelical as well as lib-
face that the divorce rate in the          hearts! As though Jesus did not at             eral, is enthusiastically or grudg-
evangelical churches is the very           once direct attention to the will of           ingly practicing the latter today.
same as in the surrounding society.        God at creation from which the be-             And the practice is at the same rate
  Divorce and Remarriage is one of         havior described in Deuteronomy                as the practice of the ungodly
the most recent evangelical exami-         24 deviated! And as though Jesus               world. That this is abomination to
nations of Scripture's teaching on         had never cut off all appeal to                the God of Scripture and transgres-
the subject. Four theologians pre-         Deuteronomy 24 by the New Testa-               sion against the will of Christ and
sent their position. Laney holds           ment Christian by His own lordly,              the apostles, he who runs may
that Scripture forbids all divorce         "And I say unto you..." (Matt. 19:7-           read. 0
and all remarriage (the exception          9).
clause in Matthew 5 and in                        Yet another persistent error is the
Matthew 19 is supposed to refer to         stubborn refusal of evangelical
"marriages" that are invalid be-           writers to recognize that, "is not un-
cause they are incestuous relation-        der bondage" (Greek: doulooo)  in I

                                                                                         December 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer / 119


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STANDARD                                                         '                                  SECOND CLASS
  Bl!ARER                                                                                           Postage Paid at
                                                                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan

  PO. Box 6064
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                                               Mews From
                                               Our Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger


Ministerial Calls                              ments with Antichrist?" His an-        Mission News
  Rev. M. DeVries  has declined the            swer? `Yes!"                             The original plan for the first
call he received from the Hope PRC               Byron Center planned to follow       "Interim Guidelines Conference" in
in Isabel, SD.                                 up this lecture with two related       Jamaica was to send Rev. Joostens
  Rev. R. Cammenga has declined                classes held at their church on        and Mr. Clare Prince for four weeks
the call he was considering from               November 8 and 15, D.V. The first,     in October-November. Due to the
Randolph, WI. The Council of our               taught by Rev. R. VanOverloop,         injury to Mr. Prince (he fell and
church in Randolph subsequently                dealt with a comparison between        broke his hip) the conference has
produced a new trio from which                 A-millennialism and Pre-millenni-      been postponed to January. In con-
their congregation was to call a               alism. The second, taught by Prof.     sultation with the Mission Commit-
pastor: Revs. M. DeVries, R.                   H. Hanko, would look at a compar-      tee, the Council of First Church in
Hanko, and R. Moore.                           ison between A-millennialism and       Grand Rapids, MI has alternatively
Congregational  Highlights                     Post-millennialism.                    approved sending Rev. Joostens
  Many of our churches sponsored                 The Reformed Witness Commit-         and Jamaica Committee chairman,
Reformation Day Lectures in late               tee of our Doon and Hull, IA, and      Mr. Dan Pastoor, for one week of
October.                                       Edgerton, MN PRC's sponsored           preparatory work. They left Octo-
  In the West Michigan area the                their annual Reformation Lecture.      ber 17 and returned on the :24th.
congregation of the Byron Center               Rev. R. Moore spoke in our Hull          The Council of our Hudsonville,
PRC sponsored a lecture on Octo-               PRC on the topic "Reformation for      MI PRC has decided to begin video
ber 30 held in the auditorium of the           the Church Today."                     taping all of their services. This de-
South Christian High School. Rev.                Rev. J. Slopsema was the fea-        cision comes as an answer to a re-
B. Gritters, Byron's pastor, ad-               tured speaker of a Reformation lec-    quest made by the group in Lame,
dressed the capacity crowd that                ture sponsored by our Bethel PRC       Northern Ireland. Now, instead of
evening on the timely subject of the           in Elk Grove Village, IL. His lec-     just receiving an audio cassette of a
Antichrist. Rev. Gritters answered             ture was entitled, "Sola  Fide -       Sunday service, the group in Ire-
many questions, including, "Is it              Faith Alone."                          land will be able to experience also
proper to connect any of the cur-                The Dayspring Christian School       visually the blessing of the worship
rent religious and political develop-          in Greeley, CO was the setting for     service. Plans call for this to con-
                                               the lecture sponsored by the Love-     tinue until a missionary is sent to
                                               land PRC. Their pastor, Rev. Cam-      Lame.
                                               menga, spoke on "The Reformation         After a return home for about six
                                               and Christian Education."              weeks, emeritus minister Rev. C.
                                                 Our congregation in Redlands,        Hanko, along with his daughter,
                                               CA also sponsored a lecture deal-      have once again returned tat Venice,
                                               ing with an aspect of the Reforma-     FL to carry on, as much as possible,
                                               tion. Prof. D. Engelsma was the        the work in the area until a mis-
                                               guest speaker.                         sionary of God's choosing is sent
                                                 And the Lynden PRC in Lynden,        there as well. Cl
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Profes-          WA sponsored their lecture on Oc-
tanf Reformed Church of Hudsonville,           tober 31. Pastor C. Haak spoke on
Michigan.                                      "Sola  Scriptura."
120 / The Standard Bearer / December 1,199O


