                   THE
-...  STANDARD
A Reformed         BIBHI!ER  .,
_ Semi-Monthly
M a g a z i n e





                    Rev. Mahtani and Rev. Kortering,
                           with Indian friend

                                 See "Return to India" - page 1.78



Vol. 69, 
]anuary 15,1993


CONTEiUTi:                           . .                                              January 15, 1993

ueditation  i Rev: bortieliui  Hank0
     An Orthodox Paradox ................................................................................ 171
Editorial - Pro f David J. Engelsma
     A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming (2) ...........;......................~ ........................ 173                             l&N 0362-4692
Letters     ...................................; .......................................................................... 175
Contribution  - Mrs. Vivian Hunter                                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June. July, and August.
                                                                                                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc..
     The Joy of Membership in a Small Congregation .................................... 175                                         4949 lvanrest Ave., Grandville. MI 46416. Second Class
All Around Us - Pro f Robert D. Decker ............................................................. 176                            Postage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
Guest Article  - Rev. Jaikishin Mahtani                                                                                             Postmaster: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
     A,Retwn to lncfia ........................................................................................ 176                 P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI 46466-0603.
Se&h the Scriptures - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                                                        EDfTORlAL  C~MMIITEE
     The Beautiful Transition Between Chapters 1 and 2                                            ......................
                                                                                        .*..s....-.                         161.    Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
Go Ye lhto All the World - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop                                                                               Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                                    Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
     2. Uncdnditional Election ......................................................................... 183
Seminary letter - Prof Robert D. Decker .......................................................... 166                              DEPARTMENT EDlTORS
                                                                                                                                    Rev. Ronald Cammenge. Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Ade
Strength of Youth'- Rev. Steven R..Ke y                                                                                             denHartog, Rev. Barry Gritters,  Mr. Fred Hanko,  Prof. Herman
      Proper Christian Self-Esteem (4) .............................................................. 187                           Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth
Guest Article  - Rev. Richard G. Moore                                                                                              Koole, Rev. Jason. Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr. James
                                                                                                                                    Laming, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
      Not Willing That Any Should Perish ......................................................... 188                              JamesSlopsema,  Rev. ChariesTerpstra.  Rev. GiseVanBaren,
Book Reviews.......................................................................................................190              Rev. RonaidVanCverloop, Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wgger ........................................... 191                                         Woudenberg.
                                                                                                                                    EDlTORlAL  OFFICE            CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                                    4949 Ivanrest                6597 4MhAve.
                                                                                                                                    Grandville, Ml 49416         Hudsonville. MI 49426
                                                                                                                                    BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW ZEALAND OFFlCE
                                                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer         The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                    Don Doezema                  c/o. Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                                    P.O.  Box 6rr3                  Church
                                                                                                                                    Grandville, MI               B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                      49466-0803                 65 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                    PH: (616) 5351778           Wainulomata. New Zealand
                                                                                                                                             (616) 531-1490
                                                                                                                                    FAX (616) 531.3033

                                                                                                                                    EDtlORlAL  POUCY
                                                                                                                                    Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                                    articles. Contributionsofgeneralinterestfromourreadersand
                                                                                                                                    questions for The Reader Asks deparlment are welcome.
                                                                                                                                    Contributions will be limited to approximately 300 words and
                                                                                                                                    mustbsneatt$writtenortypewritten,andmustbesigned.          Copy
                                                                                                                                    deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
                                                                                                                                    communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                                    ediiorlal      ofrice.

                                                                                                                                    REPRINT POUCY
                                                                                                                                    Permissionis  herebygrantedforthereprintingofarticlesinour
                                                                                                                                    magazinebyotherpublications,provided:  a)thatsuchreprinted
                                                                                                                                    articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
      A picture is worth a thousand words!                                                                                          is made: c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
       One has only to stare at the picture above for a moment or so to realize the truth of that old                               appears is sent to our editorial office.
saying. (How manywords would it take to convey, as effectively as that simple photo does, the spirit                                SUBSCRlPTlON POUCY
of Rev. Kortering's contact with the saints of God [little lambs too] in India?)                                                    Subscription price: $12.00 per year in the U.S., $15.00
       Such, at any rate, was the thinking of Rev. Mahtani, when he was asked to share  with  our                                   elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
readers something of his and Rev. Korterlng's  experiences in their memorable trip to the sub-                                      received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
                                                                                                                                    subscriptionto continue, and hewill be billedforrenewal.  lfyou
continent India. He did provide some text, in order to give background information and post-trip                                    haveachangeofaddress,pleasenotifytheEusiness0fficeas
evaluation which require words to communicate. But he relied otherwlse quite heavily on pictures.                                   early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
Most of the captions are his too. We are delighted to have a contribution of this sort for the pages of                             interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
the SB, and trust that you will enjoy it too.                                                                                       ADVERTlSlNG  PWCY
       You will findin  this issue that Rev. Mahtanicalls the Sindhi Christian Conference at which he                               The StandardBearerdoss  not accept commercial advertising
spoke "historic." In other correspondence he explains that it was the "f&t-time-ever"  meeting of all                               of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
Sindhi believers in India. Invited to speak at the conference were five men, from five different                                    anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be
locations T England, South America, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. Quite an honor to be one                                       placed for a 8.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
of those five, said Rev. Mahtani. And, he added, "quite a responsibility." For he was asked to come                                 0fficeandshouldbeaccompanied bythe63.00fee. Deadline
                                                                                                                                    for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
as representative of a denomination of churches committed to the Reformed  faith. A spokesman he                                    date.
would be, therefore,-for the truth of the Word of God over against the lie of Arminianism and the
attraction of the charismatics, the latter of which, he says, is "all over India."                                                  BOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                                                                    The Business 0ffice will accept standing orders for bound
       Perhaps we could add just this, that, when Rev. Mahtani renewed acquaintance with those                                      copiesofthecurrentvolume. Suchordersarefilledassoonas
whom he had met on his previous visit to India some three years ago, he found to his great delight                                  possible after completion of a volume year.
that some of them "could recount the sermons preached last time!" What a testimony to the work
of the Spirit through the Word preached  inthat  far-off land.                                                                      16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche, and
                                                                                                                            D.D.    article copies are available through University Microfilms
                                                                                                                                    International.
170 /Standard  Bearer I January 15,1993


                      ::        A n   Or~.hoclox  ParEdok

             For by grace are ye saved through          where Paul is speaking of a "rem-           was a stranger and ye took me in:
       faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the     nant" that is saved "according to the       naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick,
        gift of God:                                    election of grace." He adds: "And if        and ye visited me: I was in prison,
               Not of works, lest any man should        by grace, then it is no more of works:      and ye came unto me."
     b o a s t .                                        otherwise grace is no more grace. But                Are we saved by our works?
                    For we are his workmanship, cre-    if it be of works, then is it no more of    No. Do our works play a part in our
     ated in Christ Jesus unto good works,              grace: otherwise work is no more            salvation? Yes.
        which God hath before ordained that  we         work."                                               A paradox indeed.
        should tialk in them.                                We are saved by grace, all works                Yet this is an orthodox paradox,
                                   Ephesians 2:8-10     excluded.                                   for it is entirely Scriptural.
                                                             Yet, in that same passage from                  InEphesiar&lO  the apostle tells
               We are saved by grace, without           Ephesians 2 quoted above, Paul speaks       us that we are God's "workmanship,
        works.                                          in verse 10 of "good works, [which          created in Christ Jesus unto. those
               That is the plain teaching, not          God hath before ordained that we            good works, which God hath before
        only'of the passage cited above, but            should walk in them." Here good             ordained' that we should walk in'
        also of the entire Scripture.                   works do play a part in our salvation.      them."
               Thereisprobablynotruththatis                  This, too, can be confirmed by                  Every word here is important.
        more strongly emphasized in the                 manyotherpassagesfromGod'sholy              Foremost among them stands the fact
        Word of God than that one, for on               W o r d .                                   that we are God's workmanship.
        practically every page we are told                                                          Every single believer is a masterpiece
        that we are saved solely by grace.                                                          from the hand of the sovereignCrafts-
               We need that emphasis. The                Are we saved by our works?                 man, the living God.
        church most often errs exactly on that                           No.                                 No two believers are alike. Just
        central truth. As proud sinners we                                                          as no two snowflakes, no two leaves
        like to take some credit for oursalva-             Do our works play a part                 of, a tree, no two sprouts of grass are
        tiori; if not for the entire work of                      in our  salvati&?                 alike, so also no two-individual chil-
        salvation, then surely for our faithful-                        _ Yes;                      dren of God are alike. God made you
        ness;our  acts of faith; our acceptance                                                     unique, exactly as He intended you to
        of the gift of salvation, or even as little                                                 be.
        as a sigh of consent to be saved.                    In Revelation  14:13 we read:                   This is true according to your
        Though ever so little, we try to fit in         "And I heard a voice from heaven            first birth from your parents. Your
        our good works somewhere.                       saying unto me, Write, Blessed are          forefathers and parents were divinely
               Therefore the fathers often em-          the dead which die in the Lord from         appointed for you. The time and
        phasized that we cannot add as much             henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that     place of your birth, and your place in
        as a straw to our salvation.                    they may rest from their labors; and        your family among your brothers and
               ThisisconfirmedinRomans11:6,             their works shall follow them."             sisters, or as an only child, was pre-
                                                             Also inMatthew25:34-36  we are         determined. Your own outward ap-
                                                        told, "Then shall the King say unto         pearance, your own distinctive char:
                                                        them on his right hand, Come, ye            acter, your own peculiar gifts and
                                                        blessedof my Father, inherit theking-       talents God gave to you, and to no one
                                                        dom prepared for you from the foun-         else.
                                                        dation of the world: for I was an                    You are also a distinct individual
        Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the        hungered, and. ye gave me meat: I           with definite characteristics as a child
,       Protestant,Reformed  Churches.                  was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I         of Godbyregeneration. Yet you have

                                                                                                           January 15,1993 / Standard Bearer / 171


those unique characteristics accord-               Noah had his own purpose in           must be accomplished (Ps. 90:16). It is
ing to your place in the church, the        God's church and covenant, his own           God's battle that must be fought (Ex.
body of Christ. Just as all the mem-        task and calling, according to God's         1716; Eph. 6:ll). It is God's goal that
bers of a family have similarities com-     eternal plan. So did Abraham, Isaac,         shall be attained (Rom. 11:36).
mon to that family, so also you have        Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha,                 Christ uses such lowly means as
earmarks that distinguish you as be-        Daniel, Peter, Paul, Luther, Calvin,         you and me to gather His church and
longing to the family of God.               andmillions of others throughout the         tobringaboutthecomingofHisking-
      In fact, we are all "created in       history of God's church. No one else         dom.
Christ Jesus" as members of the body        could fill that place and serve the            You are God's workmanship,
.of Christ. We are chosen in Christ         purpose they served.                         created in Christ Jesus to serve your
from before the foundation of the                  That is true of you also. You         purpose toward the coming of that
world, redeemed by His cross, re-           serve your very own divinely ap-             kingdom and the glory of God's
newed into children of God by His           pointed purpose in your family, in the       Name! Your works are works of
Spirit, washedinHisblood,andgiven           church, andin the midst of this world.       grace!
our own place in His body. Yet each         You have a task and calling that only             But that is not the end of the
one has his own place in that.body.         you can fill. And God sees to it that you    wonder of grace.
Paul speaks of the fact that there are      do!                                               GodevenrewardsHisownwork
many different members in the hu-                  Does this not make one careless.      of grace in and through us with a
man body; so also in the body of            and profane? Can you take the lacka-         reward of grace already in this life.
Christ each member has its own place.       daisical attitude, I need do nothing,        With all the other blessings of salva-
      There are never too many, never       God will do it all? Impossible!              tion He gives us the assurance that we
too few. As in the human body one                  Our Godis so incomprehensibly         are His children, heirs of salvation.
eye would be a deformity, and three         great that He is able to rule our lives      He bestows a contentment that only
eyes would make a monstrosity, so           by His providence, and yet hold us           He can give, grants us a peace that
there are exactly as many members of        fully responsible!                           passes all understanding, and creates
the body of Christ as are necessary to             As Scripture admonishes us:           in us a foretaste of the eternal joy.
functionproperly-notonetoomany,             "Work out your own salvation with                 And,asifthatwereasmallthing,
not one too few, each functioning in        fear and trembling. For it is God            when our earthly taskis finished God
itsowndivinelyappointedplace. Also          whichworkethinyoubothtowilland               calls us home to reward His work in
the mentally handicapped, the "spe-         to do of his good pleasure" (Phil.           and through us with the blessed as-
cial child," has a place in the family,     2:12b, 13).                                  surance: U Well done, thou good and
but also in the church, sometimes                                                        faithful servant, enter thou into the
filling a far more important position                                                    joy of thy Lord."
than a "normal" person.                                    Our God                            Heevengivesusourownunique
      How readily we forget. We are          is so incomprehensibly great                place and our own personal task in
dissatisfied with our looks, complain                                                    the assembly of the elect.
about our lack of talents, are possibly                that He is able                        We are like precious stones that
even envious of others who appear to                  to rule our lives                  eternally adorn the temple of our God,
be far more talented than we are. If it              by His providence,                  tothegloryofH&nwhodwellswithin.
were possible, we would probably                       and yet hold us                   When each one of us is ready for his
like to remake ourselves according to                fully responsible!                  place, that place is also ready. Then
our own pattern.                                                                         Christ reaches down to take us to
      Fools weare,  to lose sight of the                                                 Himself and to fit us into that one
fact that we are God's workmanship,                                                      place specifically appointed for us.
members of that marvelous body of                                                        Or, if you will, we receive our own
Christ,ordainedfromalleternityunto                 Do you complain about your            place in the heavenly choir to harmo-
everlasting life!                           duty or your one talent? Do you think        nize perfectly with and in that innu-
      Saved by grace.                       that you would do great things for the       merable host that sings the praises of
      The wonder of our salvation is        kingdom if only you had more tal-            Him who sits upon the throne forever
even greater than that.                     ents? Do you shirk your duty by              and ever.
     We are created in Christ Jesus         saying, "I cannot do that"? Or have               Saved solely by grace!  Sola
"unto those good works, which God           you learned to say, "I can do all things     gratia! Soli Deo Gloria! 0
hath before ordained that we should         through Christ which strengtheneth
walk in them."                              me"? If the latter is true, you will only
                                            be surprised what Christ can and will
      This reveals to us still more of      do through you.
God's eternal thoughts concerning                  After all, it is God's work that
our salvation.

172 /Standard Bearer  I January  15,1993


    0  0  I

                                            A.D. 1993:
                      The Lord is Coming


     TheLord Jesusiscomingin 1993.          ing, it also makes known to us several       Christ into the distant future. This is
     No, His personal, bodily, visible      events that must precede His coming.         done by all who embrace the doctrine
coming on the clouds will not take          It instructs us to notice these events       about the last things known as
place in 1993. Too much must still          and to assure ourselves from them            "postmillennialism." On this view
happen before history can reach its         that the coming of Christ is near.           the Lord's return is at least 1000 years
end in the "day of Christ."                 "Andwhenthesethingsbegintocome               in the future. Some who hold this
     But He comes in 1993. He comes         to pass, then lookup, and lift up your       doctrine boldly advise their disciples
as He has been coming from the day          heads; for your redemption draweth           that the day of Christ is even more
that He ascended into heaven. As            n i g h "   (Luke22:28).                     remote. David Chilton writes that
Lord over all things to His Church,                The Reformed faith rejects the        U this world has tens of thousands, per-
He governs all things in heaven and         bizarre notion that supposes that            haps hundreds of thousands of years           .
on earth, in nature and among the           Christ will return at any moment to          of increasing godliness ahead of it,
nations, in the church and in the           take the church into the air in the          before the Second Coming of Christ"
world, with a view to His coming            "rapture." Thisisanaspectoftheteach-         (Paradise Restored,  pp. 221,222).
again. Everything serves this goal of       ingabouttheendknownas"chiliasm"                   Putting the Lord's return off
His coming. Nothing is allowed that         or "premillennialism." On this view,         hundreds of thousands of years arises
would interfere with this coming.           Christ's return for the church is not        from the belief that, prior to His com-
     Our world and its history are          preceded by any sign. The apostle            ing, this world will become the glori-
hurtling toward the "dayof Christ" at       exposed this notion as false in II           ous kingdom of Christ. The faith of
breakneck speed. In this sense, the         Thessalonians2:1-3.  His subject is the      the Reformation rejects this dream as
coming of the Lord was "near," "at          "dayofChrist."  Thisisthedayof"the           a form of the Jewish delusion of a
hand," and "at the doors" already in        coming of the Lord Jesus Christ" for         carnal kingdom. The Lutheran
the time of the apostles.                   "ourgatheringtogetheruntohim." The           AugsburgConfessionrejects"certain
     Almost the last words of Christ        church must not think that this day is       Jewish opinions which are even now
to His church in the Bible are the          "at hand" as thoughthat actualdaywas         making an appearance and which
promise, N Surely1 come quickly" (Rev.      already dawning or as thoughit could         teach that, before the resurrection of
22:20).                                     come at any moment. "For that day            the dead, saints and godly men will
     From the time of the apostles to       shall not come, except there come a          possess a worldly kingdom and anni-
today, therefore, the church could          falling away first, and that man of sin      hilate all the godless" (Art. 17).
live and workin the hope of the speedy      be revealed, the son of perdition" (v.            TheSecondHelveticConfession,
coming of Christ. Her lively expecta-       3).                                          a Reformed creed, agrees:
tion of the quick coming was not                   Two great events must precede
mistaken.                                   and lead up to the coming of Christ.           We further condemn Jewish dreams
     In A.D. 1993, the coming of the        They are a great apostasy in the church        that there will be a golden age on
Lord Jesus is near also in the sense        and the appearance of Antichrist.              earth before the Day of Judgment,
that it is not far distant in time. This    These are signs to the church of the           and that the pious, having subdued
is the clear, powerful testimony of the     nearness of the coming of Christ.              all their godless enemies, will pos-
                                                                                           sess all the kingdoms of the earth
signs ofthis coming and of the end of              If it is a foolish and disobedient      (Chapter 11).
the world. Although Scripture warns         notion to suppose that Christ's com-
believers against attempting to figure      ing can be immediate, it is also an               As this Reformed confession
out the exact time of the Lord's com-       error today to put off the coming of         adds, the reason why the Reformed

                                                                                            January 15,1993 I Standard Bearer I 173


church rejects the prospect  ,of a.          ture as the inspired Word of God,          churches are attracted to Rome; The
"golden.age on earth" before Christ's        upon which everything depends, is          Christian churches are open  to'the
comingis that "evangelical truth in          deliberatelyrejected. Indeed,  thevery     `other religions. Already they are
Matthew 24,25 and Luke 18 and ap-            idea of doctrinal truth is repudiated.     preaching the man of sin into power
ostolic teaching in B-Thessalonians  2            Paul foretold that at the time of     by their gospel of man and of a this-
and II Timothy 3,4 present something         the Antichrist at the end the nominal      worldly kingdom.
quite different."                            church.would  be filled with people             The signs show clearly that the
     Like its opposite error that looks      who "received not the love of the          day of Christ is near.
for Christ to return any moment, the         truth" (II Thess. 2:lO). This is a sign         Do we see them?
teaching that Christ willnot  come for       that Christ's coming is near.                  If the Protestant Reformed
a.long time runs afoul of the signs of            Both the increase of lawlessness      Churches see the signs, they will vig-
Christ's coming. There is no sign that       in the world and the apostasy in the       orously preach the gospel within the
the world is becoming more godly.            church usher in the Antichrist andhis      congregations., They will. also zeal-
There are, however, plain signs that         worldwide kingdom of unrighteous-          ously engage in evangelism and mis-
the world is becoming moreungodly.           ness (II Thess. 2:3ff.; Dan.. 11:21ff.;    sions. G. C. Berkouwer is right when
These are the signs that Scripture  it-      Rev. 13). There will be a.persanal,'       he asserts that "the tie between
self presents to the church to show the      human Antichrist. Cominginhistory          eschatological expectation and mis-
nearness of the day of Christ.               is a united, universal kingdom of man      sion  callis essentialandindissoluble"
     Lawlessness increases (Matt.            that will defy the God of Jesus Christ     (The Return of Christ, p. 132). The
24:12; II Tim. 3:lff.). There is con-        and. persecute the saints. As the:Sec-     comingof Christ waits on the gospel's
tempt for thelaw  of God. Such is the        ond  Helvetic  Confession teaches,         bringing the last elect to repentance
development of lawlessness that men          Christ will come when Antichrist           (II Pet.  3:9). With the true church
and women despise the very idea of           holds sway:                                everywhere, the PRC will stand fast
divine authority over their lives. The                                                  in and for the truth. They will confess
world's determined rebellionagainst            And from heaven the same Christ          it. They will defend it to the death.
its Creator has reached the point that         will r&urn in judgrnent,when  wick-      They will compromise nothing.
it exerts itself to violate the 1aws"of        edness wi4 then be at its greatestiin         Seeing the signs, the believer
God built into creation itself. The            the. world and when the Antichrist,      personally will carry out his calling
world legalizes the murder of the              having corrupted true religion, will     faithfully in church and society, per-
unborn and of the old. It destroys the         fill up all things with superstition
                                               andimpietyandwillauellylaywaste          forming his task, enduring hardship,
family by assaulting the headship of           the Church with bloodshed and            serving the coming Lord. He will be
the husband, by promoting the work             flames (Chapter  11).                    on his guard against false prophets,
of the wife outside the home, and by                                                    false doctrine, and false Christs. He
encouraging sexual promiscuity. Es-               Antichrist has not yet been re-       will daily examine his life whether he
pecially, it rages against the very dis-     vealed in his time. For this reason, we    ,is infected with the dread plague of
tinction between male and female by          do not expect Christ in 1993 or in         the last days, which is not AIDS but
its shameless advocacy of homosexu-          1994. But we observe that the world        earthlimindedness. He will prepare
ality.                                       is ready for him. The nations are          for the great tribulation by the study
     Daniel prophesied that the Anti-        preparedfor union. With the collapse       of Scripture, constant prayer, and a
christ of the end will fl think to change    of Communism, the economic inter-          closer walk with God.
times and laws" (Dan. 7~25). This is a       dependency of the nations, the fear of          The signs cause church and
sign that Christ's coming is near.           the devastation that war would cause,      Christian to long for the day of Christ.
     Professing Christians and entire        and the agreement of all peoples that      Our redemption draws nigh. Even
denominations of churches fall away          man be god, all that remains is the        better, our Beloved approaches.
from the truth (II Thess. 2:3). This         arising of a powerful nation with a             Do we see the signs?
began already in apostolic times and         charismatic, supernaturally endowed             We will be more fervent and
culminated in the Roman Catholic             president.                                 constant in prayer. For He comes in
Church's becoming the false church.               The false church must do her          answer to our prayers. "Come, Lord
Hardly had the Reformation restored.         part to establish the kingdom of the       Jesus, come quickly."
the true church by the gospel of grace       beast (Rev;  13:12).  For this, the             And we groan.
founded upon Holy Scripture than             churches that participate in the great          "Quousque, Domine?" Howlong,
the apostasy began to work in Protes-        falling away must unite. This is being     Lord?
tantism. By the present time, apos-          accomplishedin themodem  ecumeni-               For the signs painfully remind
tasy in the Protestant churchesis deep       calmovement. The apostate churches         us that our Friend has not yet come.
and wide. Not only are all the essen-        are finding each'other in their mutual                                     - DJE
tialtruths of the gospel corrupted and       indifference to the truth. Protestant                                            0
denied, but also the authority of Scrip-

174 /Standard Bearer I January 15,1993


Appreciation
 --                                          ness to His Holy Name and destroy           graph of Pastor Bruinsma's article in
       Many thanks for the editorials        Antichrist..                                the November 15, 1992 issue of the
on Macleod's BehoZd Your God. I am                                   Steven Watters      Standard  Beurevbest summarizes the
photocopying them and sending them               Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland         value of the SB. `To paraphrase, the
to a number of "common grace Re-                                                         articles . . . direct our attention to our
formed" ministers of my acquain-                  Thank you for this publication.        Savior, and this is the SB's strength.
tance. May our great covenant God            Each. and every copy is a joy and                                Maurice  W.  Bartlett
continue to bless your faithful wit-         comfort. I believe that the last para-                               Rio Linda, CA





       The Joy of Membewhipdn a
                  Smal.1  Congregdion*
                      *Placement of this unsolicited article does not necessarily indicate agreement
                      with the author's view of the "small congregation." Others may think differ-
                      ently. The Stundurd  Bearer is open to their views as well.                    - Ed.



       For who.h$h  despised the day of      time of need, trial, and affliction, the         Precious is the unity and cohe-
small things?                                communion of the saints and the care        siveness of the small body of saints!
                          Zechariah 4:lOa    and concern of the consistory are ex-            Every member enjoys the after-
                                             perienced. Fellowship with other            sermon handshake of the pastor. The
       The above verse was the theme         members of the congregation is en-          opportunity to discuss the sermon
for family visitation.                       joyed. Provision is made for cov-           immediately is right there.
       A very serious` and concerned         enant educationof covenant children.             Every member greets every other
pastor and elder asked, "Does it bother      These same covenant children are            member before and after the service
you that we are so' small?" Almost           properly catechized until, to the           by name and with obvious joy.
taken aback, we responded, "Should           thankful joy of parents, these children          Except for illness or out-of-town
it?" Upon further consideration cer-         make confession of their faith.             absence, every member is present at
tain conclusions were reached.                    All of these things are also true      every service or activity, weekday or
       In larger congregations, needs        in the smaller congregation. How-           Sabbath. The absence of any member
are met in every respect. There is the       ever, in the smaller congregation ev-       from any function never goes unno-
consistent, pure preaching of God's          ery member knows that in a very real        ticed by pastor, consistory, or other
Word - preaching that edifies, ad-           way and in many practical ways he is        members of the congregation. Surely
monishes, comforts, and exhorts. In          needed. Being  really  needed in the        the small congregation understands
                                             service of Christ's church is ablessing     being one's brother's keeper, and
                                             that defies description.                    knows that there are friends who are
                                                  Every member's physical, pres-         closer than brothers. The `need of
                                             ence is needed. Every talent every          every member, whatever it may be,
Mrs. Hunter  is a member of  Trin{ty         member possesses is put to use, and         becomes the need and concern of all
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,         talents some couldn't believe they          members.
Texas.                                       had are brought into use also.                   Churchvisitationisusuallycon-

                                                                                            January V&1993 l Standard Bearer I175


sidered the business of the consis-        congregation can accommodate for                 However, ifin the Providence of
tory. In the small congregation it         Sunday dinner as many families as           God a congregation finds itself small,
becomes an opportunity for all the         there are member families (or more),        and also in His Providence remains
members to greet and have fellow-          and as quickly organize an after-ser-       so, despise it not! God maintains His
ship with the church visitors - a          vice supper Sunday evening for spe-         church in some locations small, in
.meal with guests from the congrega-       cial fellowship.                            other locations larger. In all these
tion in one home, a bed and breakfast           Should all of these special bless-     situations our God is Sovereign, and
in another, coffee after or before the     ings and joys cause a congregation to       He controls.
meeting in a third, a trip from the        strive to be small and stay small?               "Fear not little flock, it is your
airport with another family, and to        Absolutely not! It is ever the mandate      Father's good pleasure to give you
the airport with yet another. So all       of every congregation to seek to shed       the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
meet with the visitors.                    the light of the Gospel through the              If for any reason (vacation, busi-
      Visitors in a small congregation     preaching, through the life and wit-        ness, or emergency) you find yourself
for one Sabbath or a stay in the area      nessing of its members, and through         traveling, locate the smaller churches.
for a longer time (a week or two or        the exercising of whatever opportu-         If at all possible plan your route to
maybe a month or more) find a very         nities for evangelism present them-         include a visit to the small congrega-
special welcome. Hospitality to the        selves. The command isalways there          tions and share the blessings afforded
saints who are strangers in the midst      to be active in gathering Christ's          there.  Q
takes on a special meaning. A small        church according to His counsel.





                                                In the light of Holy Scripture's       Churches' Foreign Mission Commit-
HIRING OF LESBIAN                          teaching, it simply cannot get any          tee, under synod's mandate, is inves-
PASTOR NULLIFIED                           worse than this! The Bible says that        tigating Ghana as a possible field for
                                           effeminate persons will not inherit         foreign missions. What effects this
                                           the kingdom of God (I Cor. 6:9-10).
      Several months ago we reported                                                   decree may have for our churches'
                                           Speaking of homosexuals and lesbi-
that a large United Presbyterian                                                       work remains to be seen. Our prayer
                                           ans, Scripture condemns those "Who
churchin downtownRochester,  New                                                       is that the door.will  not be closed.
                                           knowing the judgment of God, that
York hired'Jane  Adams Spahr, a les-                                                                     Christianity Today
                                           they which commit such things are
bian, to serve as the congregation's       worthy of death, not only do the same,
co-pastor. Two decisions were taken                                                    CHURCH IN INDIA
                                           but have pleasure in them that do
by the Presbytery (a presbytery is a       them" (Rom. 1:32).                          STRUGGLES
regional body of churches like our                             Christianity  To&y
classis) approving the congregation's                                                       Among the many points of ten-
hiring of Spahr. In November the                                                       sion facing the church in India today,
highest court of the Presbyterian          CHURCHES                                    twoin particular stand out: proclaim-
Church (U.S.A.) ruled that a homo-         MUST REGISTER                               ing the uniqueness of Christ and His
sexually active person may not serve                                                   salvation in a multi-religious society,
as aminister of any PCUSA  churches.            Authorities in Ghana have rec-         andliving as a disciple of Christin the
This ruling by the denomination's          ommended 957 groups for registra-           midst of a people whose lifestyle is
Permanent Judicial Commission over-        tion under a decree by the country's        centered in their non-Christian reli-
turned the decisions of the Presbytery.    military leaders, a decree vigorously       gions and cultures.
"Had the Presbytery acted appropri-        opposed by Ghana's mainline Protes-              Missionaries are hearing the
ately, this `call' would not have been     tant and Catholic churches. Known           question, What is the uniqueness of
aphroved," said the commission in          as the Religious Bodies Registration        Christ and His salvation?" Oppo-
its 12-page  decision. Under the guide-    Law, the decree requires that reli-         nents of the gospel say Christ is the
lines of the decision, a celibate homo-    gious groups submit constitutions,          same as Krishna, Siva, Buddha, and
sexual could be hired.                     lists of trustees, statements of assets,    Guru Nanak. All religions lead to the
     Spahr's reaction? "This deci-         and pastors' salary information to the      same God. All faiths save in their
sion says either lie or repent," said      ruling Provisional National Defense         own way. Therefore, they say, there
she. "I will not lie, and I will never     Council.                                    is no need to proclaim the uniqueness
repent."                                        The Protestant Reformed                of Christ, no need to acknowledge

176 IStandard  Bearer I January 16,1663


Him as the only Savior and Lord. In        75 year old minister who served sev-         may talk of God as a metaphor or
fact, the opponents of the Gospel are      eral large congregations during his          mystification; you may water Him
saying that such a belief (Christ's        long ministerial career, in the CRC.         down with gallons of long words, or
uniqueness, RDD) is a sign of spiri-       VanderKam was president of the CRC           boil Him to the rags of metaphysics;
tual arrogance and a hindrance to          home mission board from 1960 to              and it is not merely that nobodypun-
harmonious relations among peoples         1965. He was president of the Calvin         ishes, but nobody protests. But if you
of different religions. In one state in    College and Seminary Board of Trust-         speak of God as a fact, as a thing like
India the governor accused Chris-          ees from 1970 to 1973. Delegated to          a tiger, as a reason for changing one's
tians of disrupting communal har-          synod ten times, VanderKam was an            conduct, then the modern world will
mony by indulging in conversion.           officer of the synod six of those times      stop you somehow if it can. We are
Time and again Indian missionaries         and was elected president of synod in        long past talking about whether an
have faced hardship and persecution        1976. Rev. VanderKam is also one of          unbeliever should be punished for
when they have publicly proclaimed         the founders of Mid-America Re-              being irreverent. It is now thought
the uniqueness of Christ.                  formed Seminary in Orange City,              irreverent to be a believer."
     The second point of tension is        Iowa. He served as professor of dog-                         Christianity Today 0
living as a disciple of Christ in the      matics for several years at that insti-
midst of a people who do not ac-           tution.
knowledge His lordship or live by               Whatpromptsthisformerleader
Christian ethics. India is a shame-        in the CRC to leave the denomina-                I Shall Go to be With Jesus
oriented culture where the vast ma-        tion? VanderKam sees the CRC going
jority of the people do whatever they      in the same direction as the                 When this busy life is ended,
please. The only "sin" is to be caught,    Gereformeerde Kerken in The Neth-              And my work on earth is done;
since this brings shame on the indi-       erlands on such issues as women in           When I lay aside my burden,
vidual and his people and their com-       office, creation/ science, and homo-           At the setting of the sun,
munity.                                    sexuality.                                   I shall go to be with Jesus;
     This, and the situation in Ghana,          Interestingly, Grace CRC was              I shall see His blessed face;
are but two of many indications that       once the congregation of the Rev.            I shall sing His praise in glory,
itisbecomingincreasinglydifficult to       Henry Danhof, who together with his            Saved by His redeeming grace.
preach the Gospel and live the Chris-      consistory was cast out of the CRC
tian life in many of the nations of the    along with Revs. Herman Hoeksema             When the sun goes down forever,
world. No doubt this will have some        and George Ophoff in 1925 because of           And the moon her way forsakes,
effect on the workour sister churches,     their opposition to the three points of      With the dawn of judgment morning,
the Evangelical Reformed Churches          Common Grace. Grace was an inde-               When my dust from sleep awakes,
of Singapore, are contemplating in         pendent church until Danhof retired          I shall go to be with Jesus;
India.                                     in the mid-1940s when it rejoined the          I shall see His blessed face;
                                 Pulse     CRC.                                         I shall sing His praise in glory,
                                                The Free CRC has purchased the            Saved by His redeeming grace.
LEAKAGE                                    former First Assembly of God build-
OR HEMORRHAGE?                             ing and plans to begin worshiping            Loved ones who have grown a-weary
                                           there on January 3, 1993. To date,             And have left me by the way
     Still another group has seceded       thirty-one independent congregations         I shall meet again, and, with them
from the Christian Reformed Church         totaling over 6400 members have been           At the breaking of the day
(CRC). The new church, called the          establishedbyformerCRCmembers.               I shall go to be with Jesus;
Free Christian Reformed Church, con-       Nine `of these congregations are in            I shall see His blessed face;
sists of some 37 families. These fami-     Western Michigan.                            I shall sing His praise in glory,
lies came mainly from Grace CRC               Reformed Believers Press Service            Saved by His redeeming grace.
and Second CRC. The church is the
secondindependentReformedchurch            SOMETHING WORTH                              0 Thou Everlasting Father,
in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Immanuel           THINKING ABOUT                                 Love me, guide me, keep me still,
Fellowship, organized in 1974 by                                                        That whenThou  shalt have completely
seceders from several Reformed                                                            Wrought in me Thy perfect will
                                                   G. K. Chesterton in George  Ber-
Church in America congregations,                                                        I shall go to be with Jesus;
                                           nardShawwrote,"Youarefreeinour
was the first in Kalamazoo.                                                               I shall see His blessed face;
                                           time to say that God does not exist;
     The Free CRC has named the                                                         I shall sing His praise in glory,
                                           you are free to say that He exists and
Rev. Henry VanderKam as its interim                                                       Saved by His redeeming grace.
                                           is evil; you are free to say. . . that He
pastor. Rev. VanderKam is a retired        would like to exist if He could. You                        Standard Beaer, 8-l-33

                                                                                           January  15,1!493   / Standard Bearer  I 177


                  AReturrl  to  lrjclia                                                                            -
                                                                :
      When the invitation came for us to return to India, nobody expected it to materialize in what one might call the "first
joint-venture in missions" between the Evangelical Reformed Churches in Singapore and the Protestant Reformed
Churches in America. As it turned out, however, Rev. J. Mahtani and Rev. J. Kortering found themselves`on Indian soil
for24 days in the months of October and November 1992. What on earth were they doing there? Instead of writingwords
to explain and illustrate the mission triu, we present  a oictorial  record, in the hope that it will place vividly before your





        A densely-populated, poverty-stricken land...

                                                                            with crowded streets, in which sacred cows
   The Historic Sindhi-Christian Conference                                             have the right-of-way.





 A small crowd, but a blessed gathering...                attended even by a minister from the other side of the world.

178 /Standard Bearer  I January 15,1993


Sincthi Conference hears the Reformed
               faith. .


   For Pastor Mahtani it was a re-                                Speaking to the children in Sunday School.
turn to India for the third time. Twice
before, the Covenant Evangelical Re-
formed Church had sent him there to preach the Word and to investigate possible missionary labors. This time,
when Pastor Mahtani was invited to Central India, the Mission Committee of the ERCS decided that it would
be wise to,have Rev. Kortering go along as co-laborer to investigate India as a possible mission field. .With the
gracious cooperation and sponsorship of the PRC, Rev.. Kortering was able tojom-Rev. Mahtani in:this return-
to India: Together the two pastors attended and spoke at the Sindhi Conference.- Then they made their way
                                                                                      :
                                                        south to renew the contacts made in the past. They h&e both
                                                        come home with exciting.reports,  a multitude of pictures,
                                                        and vivid slides of this recent work in India.





                                                                      Walk to a village worship service.

   Slowest train-ride in the world.        Rev. Muhtani is a minister in the Evangelical Reformed Churches of Singapore.

                                                                                           January 15; 1993 / Standard Bearer. / 179


              Enjoying fellowship with saints in poverty.

                                                                        Dressed to look Indian!

                                                                   Will the ERCS return again. to
                                                              India? Or will it be a task the Lord
                                                              would have the PRC to perform?
                                                                   The mammoth task seems im-
                                                              possible. As in any field, the labors in
                                                              India are filled with many questions.
                                                              Both Pastors speak excitedly of the
                                                              work there, but warn of many difficul-
                                                              ties and urge the churches to consider
                                                              carefully the field without plunging
                                                              too quickly  .into the work. As we
                                                              consider together the workof the.Lord
                                                              in India, let us be reminded of His
              A joyful congregation after worship service.
                   .~                                         greatcommission: "Allpowerisgiven
                                                              unto me in heaven and onearth;,Go  ye
                                                              therefore and make disciples of' all
                                                              nations . . . andlo,Iamwithyoualway,
                                                              evenunto the end of the world" (Matt.
                                                              28:X3, 19). And again, "The harvest
                                                              truly is plenteous, but the laborers are
                                                              few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the
                                                              harvest, that He will send forth labor-
                                                              ers into his harvest" (Matt. 9:37,38).
                                                              The Mission Committee of the ERCS
                                                              is presently studying the mission re-
                                                              ports. Recommendations, when
                                                              ready, will be presented to the ERCS
                                                              Classis. The PRC is also being kept
                                                              informed of further developments and
                                                              possible future labors in India. In the
               Investigations for future missiqnary  labor    meantime, let us pray, "Thy will be
                                                              done."
180 /Standard Bearer I January 15,1993


                                                           L e s s o n   III


  ,.               :
                              ..     ",
                T.hef.Beautiful Transition.
         B&wen Chapters  1  a*nd  2
                        :'
   8.                                                 I Timothy 2:1-7


         We should by all means not fail           Let every congregation then take       studied guess? Or does the immedi-
to notice the connecting word (con-           notice of the word of exhortation. For      ate grammatical context afford us the
junction) "therefore" in the first sen-       this Apostolic word is not merely a         answer?
tence: "I exhort therefore . . . . N Paul     word for the time in which Paul and              It seems that it is good .Greek
gives, the good solid answer to the           Timothy live and labored; but it is an      grammar that the second part of the
"wherefore" of the divine exhorta-            ordinance of God which obtains in           text gives a clear and unequivocal
tion that prayers, intercessions, etc.        full force as long as the sun'and the       answer. The "all men" are, first of all,
be raised to God for a22 men! This            moon shall endure. (ReadLuke 18:l;          "men." That is, they are not angels,
answer is the end of all contradiction.       John 16:33b;  Matt. 2442.) In all times     not devils, but men. They are all out
         Paul comes here with a most.         the watchword resounds from the             of the human race, as this human race
authoritative word of Christ to Timo-         great trumpets of God: `Watch and           is under the control of almighty God.
thy: Timothy must press this matter           pray, that ye fall not into temptation.     They are those of.whom Paul speaks
upon, the sanctified conscience of all        Then shall we dwell safely under the        in Acts 17~26:  I'... and hath made of
the churches, beginning at Ephesus.           shadow of God's wings!                      one blood all nations of men to dwell
They must be instructed to be instant              Great reason for us to lift up the     on all the face of the earth, and hath
m prayer; they must not faint (Rom.           banner of prayer! Let it everbe a "first    determined the times before  ap-
12:12).  (Reap Luke 18:lff.) Does this        of all" - morning, noon, and night.         pointed,.and the bounds of their habi-
life of fervent prayer not befit them as           Here we should ask and answer          tation." From this viewpoint we can
the temple ~of the living God, as a           two questions. They are suggested in        clearly see the God-controlled his-
people constituted of royal priests, a        I Timothy 2:1,2. The first question:        tory of the world as it includes all
holy nation?: Surely, they are the new        For whom must the churches pray?            men. These all are they whom Jesus
work which God has wrought. They              And the second question: For whose          calls the kings of the earth, as they
are not a church which is limited to a        temporal and eternal welfare do these       exercise ruthless dominion over all
hillinSamaria,nortoanearthly  Je.rusa-        prayers ascend on high to God in            men. However, their great power is
lem, to be sure. Are they not the             Christ Jesus?                               under the sovereign control of Christ,
house of God which shall be called the             The first questionis answered in       the Lord of lords, and King of kings,
house of prayer for all nations (Isa.         the text: for (in behalf of) all men        who sits enthroned at God's right
56:7,8)?  Did not also Jeremiah write         (unthropoon) - "for kings and for all       hand. Allthroughhistory Christrules
of the better temple, in chapter 7:8-         that are in authority."                     the nations for the benefit of His church
16? Is this not the church, the house of           The wording of the text raises a       in the world.                          .-
God, of which Paul wrote to these             question which calls for an answer              But is it then perhaps not incon-
very Ephesians in chapter 2:11-22?            based on good exegesis. The key             gruous for the church, the Bride of
                                              question in our interpretation is this:     Christ, to pray in behalf of these na-
                                              Who are "all men"? Is "all" here the        tions? Not at all. Whereas the church
                                              same as "every" man, woman, and             ever lives as wheat in God's acre, in
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the    child in all the human race? Does the       which she experiences the wrath of
Protestant Reformed Churches.                 Holy Spirit here allow us to make a         the world headed by the Prince of this

                                                                                             January 15,1993 / Standard Bearer I181


world, nevertheless, from out of this        great cries, prayers, and supplications         consistently taught concerning the
world the Son of man in His provi-           ascend to the throne of grace!                 election of God  and'of God's cov-
dential power and supreme authority                  The rock-bottom anchor point is         enant and morality, etc. It is built.
gathers His church as living members         that 0 there is one God and one media-          upon the unity of God. Jehovah is
of His spiritual body in the unity of        torof (notbetween)Godandmen, the                the Creator of the world (Gen. l-2).
the faith. In the midst of the "allmen"      man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a            His is the world, and He is the judge
of the world dwells the "all men" out                                                        of all the earth (Gen. 14~19-20;  18:25);
                                             ransom for all, to be testified in due          He is the only Lord (Dem. 64).
of every tribe and nation (Jew and           time."                                                  In the New Testament this unity
Gentile) who are elected unto ever-                  The verses 5 and 6 require a-bit        of God is set forth in`the person of
lasting life. Remember the faithful          of careful interpretation. We should            Christ (John  173; Acts  17~24;  Rom.
word, worthy of all acceptation,  U that     notice the grammatical implications             3:30;  I Cor. 8:5, 6; Eph. 4:5,6; I Tim.
Christ Jesus came into this world            of the conjunction "for." I trust that          ?.E\
(kosmos)  to save sinners." He plucked       my readers will bear with me if I
them out of the present evil world           quote from the GreekLexicon  (dictio-                   If there were more than one God,
(aioon) to make them His temple.             nary), that the Greek termguris prop-         then the gates of hell would not need
These are the elect sinners who are          erly a particle of affirmation and con-       to tremble. Then there couldbe many
made a holy temple to the Lord. And          clusion, denoting  truly therefore, verily    "saviors"; and there could never be
as sinner-saints they cry day andnight       as the cuse stands. Something previ-          the establishment of one eternal king-
to God as they are surrounded by the         ously was mentioned; and then the             dom or church. Nor could there be,
"tares" which Satan sowed (Mat-t.            cause or reason is given. In verse"5 it : one will of the one `God who will
13:37-43; Gal. 1:4).                         refers to the affirmation that God            certainly save all, or any, and bring
      There is more in the text. We          would have prayers and supplica-              them to the knowledge of the truth.
quote: "that we may lead a quiet and         tions made for all men; God would             That is the confusion and error both
peaceable life in all godliness and          not have any of these "all men" to            of Pantheism and of Polytheism. The
honesty. For this is good and accept-        perish, but that they might be saved          biblical terms of sin and grace, as well
able in the sight of God our Savior;         and come to the knowledge of the              as the divine law, would all be mean-
who will have all men to be saved,           truth. Why? Because there is one God          ingless. But now the pillars of truth
and to come unto the knowledge of            and ooze Mediator, the man Christ             stand - also of sin and guilt.
the truth" (I Tim. 2:2-4).                   Jesus who gave himself a ransom, for               There is a comforting  rock-
      That the church of Christ may          all-the great testimony of Christ in          bottomness to our salvation when the
lead a quiet and peaceable earthly           His own time!                                 Holy Spirit writes: "For there is one
existence is of the utmost importance                Let us tryto understand this.         God, and one mediator of God and
and necessity for her well-being in                  Let us focus our attention on         men." This one Mediator is really not
history. A clear-cut case study of this      "one God, one Mediator of God and             a Mediator between God and men, but
we have in Jeremiah  29:4-7. Take            men." When we take'pains to "search           He is the Mediator of God and men!
your Bible andread this passage care-        the Scriptures" we will see that we are            Here we should notice that the
fully. In this life the. church is gath-     really seeking for the biblical  under-       Scriptural idea of a Mediator is that
ered in the generations of those who         standing of one of thebasicincommu-           the man Christ Jesus has an office; He
fear the Lord. It is gathered in thou-       nicable attributes of the Triune God.         has work to perform: to save sinners.
sands of generations according to            In this case we are confronted in the         He is not a mere referee, as were the
God's covenant faithfulness. Here            text with the basic biblical teaching of      judges at the Grecian games. But He
the church in every age dwells, lead-        the Unity of God. That God is One can         comes in God's Name and in perfect
ing an earthly life. Children are born,      briefly be stated that there is only one      obedience to fulfill all justice, to pay
houses must be built, mouths must be         God and that all God's attributes are         the guilt and debt of all His peo$le, as
fed, the sick and the, dying must be         One.                                          the Servant of the Lord:He must be,
cared for. The church must be the                    It was the late Dr. Herman            both in His state of guilt-humiliation
light of the world, that our heavenly        Bavinck who wrote of this in his Re-          and in His present state of glorifica-
Father may be glorified in our good          formed dogmatics (Gereformeerde               tion at God's right hand, the perfect
works of faith and love. We must             Dogmatiek  Volume II, page 143). We           Mediator of God and men. He is both
walk in a good conscience. And not           here quote (the translation is ours):         God and man. (See Heidelberg Cat-
one of the elect number of men may                                                         echism, Questions.lZ19.) Hebrought
perish; all must be saved and come to                Although there certainly is           the perfect sacrifice. He could only
the knowledge of the truth. The church         progress in God's revelation in the         bring this sacrifice by the bringing of
is builded  as a city upon a hilltop. She      development of thought, nonethe-            the better sacrifice of. His blood
is as a candle upon the candlestick.           less the entire Old Testament teaches       through the eternal Spirit.. Christ is
Christ must grow in us from strength           the unity of the world and the unity        also the better high priest in the heav-
to strength. And from this church              of the human race. This unity is also       enly tabernacle. He is our Mediator

182  /Standard Bearer  /January  15,1993


with God in the New Jerusalem, the                 a. What- does it mean to "re-            cerning  God as our "GoeZ=Redeemer"
city of the living God (Heb. 12:22-24).      deem" dead and guilty sinners? Does            in Ruth 4? Was this simply a nice
He is always the same Son of God in          it merely mean to make it possible for         romantic story, or was this the man-
ourflesh,veryGodof God. Heisand              God to offer salvation?                        ner of the birth of Jesus Christ? What
remains the man Christ Jesus forever.              b.To whom must. the redemp-              is the deep and profound implication
                                             tion-price be paid? To Satan? To a             of the fact that Shiloh would come
Some Suggested Questions:                    wrathful God? Is this redemption               forthoutofJudah,andthattoHimthe
1.    Is the doctrine of election clearly    price paid by a God who loves His              nations would. come? Does this his-
suggestedand/orpresupposedinthe              people, who are steeped in sin and             tory of the redemption of that small
biblical terms "to redeem" and "ran-         guilt? See Romans 5:6-11.                      piece of land indicate that all the land
som" in I Timothy 2:6? Can anyone                  c. What is the Reformed teach-           belonged to the LORD, and that He
who denies the Reformed doctrine of          ing in the Heidelberg Catechism,               would redeem it at His own time for
election and reprobation do justice to       Questions 12-15?                               a testimony in Israel and in all the
these terms in his exposition of the         2.    What is the biblical teachingcon-        world?  0
Holy Scriptures?





                                        Calvinism and Missions

            2. Unconditional Election

      Why do some respond favor-             God, and others do not receive it              to adopt a definite number of specific
ably toevangelistic efforts and others       proceeds from God's eternal decree"            persons as a peculiar people unto
do not? ,And why do some reject              (Canons I, 5). Some are saved because          Himself (Canons I, 10).
every effort to win them to Christ?          God, before the foundation of the                   That God is the One who deter-
      Why do some believe the preach-        world, merely of grace, and only ac-           mines who shall and who shall not be
ing of the gospel and repent? And            cording to His own sovereign good              saved is one of the clearest teachings
why do others remain in their sins           pleasure, has "chosen, from the whole          of Scripture. The ones who believe
and under the just condemnation of           human race, which had fallen through           are "as many as were ordained to
God? *  *  .*  +  *  *  *                    their own fault . . . into sin and destruc-    eternal life" (Acts 13:48). "God hath
                                             tion, a certain number of persons to           from the beginning chosen you to
      Often the answers to.these  ques-      redemption in Christ" (Canons I, 7).           salvation" (II Thess. 213). "But the
tions center in the person of the mis-       The elect are by nature no more de-            election hath obtained it, and the rest
sionary or witness, or on the method         serving than others, but God decreed           were blinded" (Rom. 11%). "He [the
used.                                        to give them to Christ, to be saved by         God and Father of our Lord Jesus
      Reflecting Scripture, the Calvin-      Him. Also God decreed to give to the           Christ] hath chosen us in him [Christ]
istic Canons of .Dordrecht  answer           elect faith through the preaching of           before the foundation of the world,
these questions differently. "That           the Gospel. This was for the demon-            that we should be holy and without
some receive the gift of faith from          stration of His mercy, and for the             blame before him in love: having
                                             praise of His glorious grace. There-           predestinated us unto the adoption of
                                             fore, the sole basis of this gracious          children by Jesus Christ unto himself,
                                             election is the good pleasure of God,          according to the good pleasure of his
Rev. VanOverloop  is pastor of Bethel        according to which He is pleased, not          will, to the praise of the glory of his
Protesfant Reformed Church in Elk Grove      to select certain qualities and actions        grace, wherein he hath made us ac-
Village, Illinois.                           of men as a condition of salvation, but        cepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:4-6).

                                                                                               January  15,1993   I Standard Bearer  I 153


"For the children jJacob  and Esau]         his guilt or to atone for his sin. Natu-    including reprobation? Is it legiti-
being not yet born, neither having          ral man has never done anything             mate to believe it, but not preach it?
done any good or evil, that the pur-        whereby he obliges Godnot to punish         Would it not be better to dwell on the
pose of God according to election           him as he deserves.                         love of God and on the responsi.bili-
might stand, not of works, but of him                                                   ties of man?
that calleth" (Rom.  9:ll). "Therefore                                                       These questions are not recent
hath he mercy on whom he will have                     The sovereign                    ones. The authors of the Canons also
mercy, and  .whom he will he                 and gracious purpose of God                faced these questions and the charges
hardeneth" (Rom. 9:18). The elect are                                                   implied in them. In Article 14 they
"predestinated according to the pur-         in the election of His people              point out that the doctrine of election
pose of him who worketh all things                  is the only source                  was preached by the prophets, by
after the counsel of his own will"               and sole basis of faith.               Christ Himself, and by the apostles.
(Eph. 1:ll).                                                                            They also note that the declaration of
         S`s+  *  tc  *  *  *                                                           election was according to the most
     The Calvinistic answer, even                -The Canons of Dordrecht, in           wise counsel of God. Additionally,
though it accurately reflects Scrip-        Article 9 of the First Head of doctrine,    the doctrine of election is clearly re-
ture, is the object of much criticism       beautifully portray the teaching of         vealed in the Scriptures, both in the
and even ridicule. "What is the use of      Scripture concerning election. The          Old and New Testament. These spiri-
preaching at all, if the number of the      sovereign and gracious `purpose of          tual fathers conclude that it is still to
saved is unchangeably determined."          GodintheelectionofHispeopleisthe            bepublishedinitsproperplace. They
"How can one be zealous and be-             only source and sole basis of faith.        caution that the truth of election and
seeching in preaching if there is elec-     Electionisnotandcannotbebasedon             predestination must be published
tion, and especially if the election is     the fact that God foresaw somevirtue        with the spirit of discretion and piety,
unconditional." "If God determined          or action of man, which virtue and          and without vainly attempting to pry
everything beforehand, including            actionGodhadpreviouslyappointed             into the secret ways of the Most High.
who will believe and who will not           as the necessary qualification for elec-    Further, the Canons say that the dec-
believe, then why do anything?" The         tion. Foreseen faith, obedience of          larationofthesetruthsmustbeforthe
critics believe that one cannot be ef-      faith, and holiness are not the cause or    purpose of the glory of God's most
fective in winning souls (Prov. 11:30)      condition of election. Rather, those        holy name and for the enlivening and
if he holds to the doctrine of election.    who are elected are chosen to faith         comforting of God's people.
Therefore, some deny election alto-         and to the obedience of faith, holiness,
gether. Others acknowledge that the         etc. God has determined that those
Bible teaches that God chose from           chosen "should be holy and without                   The preaching of I
before the foundation of the world.         blame before him in love" (Eph. 1:4).           election and reprobation
But in their mind this seems to deny        God saves "not according to our
man's responsibility. So they hold to                                                            puts God in His
                                            works, but according to His own pur-
an election which is conditional, an        pose and grace, which was given us in                  righ.t@l place.
election according to which God             Christ Jesus before the world began"
chooses those whom He knew (fore-           (II Tim. 1:9).
saw) would believe.                                  * *  *  *  *  *  *                      The preaching of election and
         *  *  +  *  $  *  *                     We answer the critics of uncon-        reprobation puts God in His rightful
     Calvinism has always main-             ditional election and of the preaching      place. Whether that preaching is in
tained uncondifional  election.             of election by saying that the church       the established congregation or in the
     It is so very important to re-         must preach. She is commanded to            mission field, it gives the hearers the
member that man can do nothing to           do so. And part of that which she           only proper view of God, namely, a
earn either salvation or election. It is    must preach is the truth of election.       highone.  Godmustalwaysbeviewed
equally important to remember that               The churchreally needs only one        as "high and lifted up" and as per-
God could deny salvation to every-          reason for preaching, and that is that      fectly holy (Isa. 6). The proper preach-
one, without doing an injustice to          God has commanded her to "preach            ing of election establishes God's sov-
anyone. The reason for both is man's        the word" (II Tim. 42). Faithfulness        ereign right to do whatsoever He is
total depravity. No one may say, "It        to God demands obedience, not ques-         pleased, without being arbitrary or
isn't fair," if God should not save.        tions and objections. All we need to        wishy-washy. The proclamation of
The reason is that all deserve hell. Is     know is that God has ordained "by           election manifests the glory of God,
it unjust for a judge to sentence some-     the foolishness of preaching to save        for it exalts and magnifies God's al-
one to what he deserves? Natural            them that believe" (I Cor. 1:21).           ways effective grace in His
man deserves condemnation, for he                Is it necessary to preach the doc-     undeserved favor toward His people
has never done anything to remove           trine of election and predestination,       in Jesus Christ.
184 /Standard Bearer I January 15,1993


                                           to the sinner to repent and believe.          preacher, whether pastor or mission-
                                           The truth of election and reprobation         ary, the assurance that his efforts are
         The preaching of                  does not give anyone the right to             not in vain. This assurance arises
          predestination                   make judgments as to who is elect             from believing that God has elected
          takes away all                   and who is reprobate. That is blas-           some and that it is His good pleasure
                                           phemy. All the pastor and mission-
        in which our flesh                                                               to send others to hell in order to show
                                           ary must do is preach the whole coun-         "his wrath and to make his power
            might glo y,                   sel of God, resting in the fact that the      known" (Rom.  11:22).  We do not
    and leaves us only God.                Lord will use the means of the preach-        need to feel guilty if all do not re-
                                           ing to draw to Himself all He has             spondfavorablyto the preaching. The
                                           chosen, and that God will use the             assurance of the preacher that his
      The preaching of predestination      means of the same preaching to be             efforts are not in vain arises from
also puts man in his proper place,         "justly terrible to those, who . . . have     believing that the dispensing of salva-
namely, as undeserving of any good         wholly given themselves up to the             tion is in the hands of the Holy Spirit
thing and worthy only of condemna-         cares of the world, and the pleasures         who calls, through the preaching,
tion. Through his own fault man has        of the flesh, so long as they are not         those whom God has predestinated.
fallen from his original state of righ-    seriously converted to God" (Canons           In God we cannot be defeated in all
teousness, which makes every man           I, 16). The twofold test for proper           our labors. Over against the total
"deserving of eternal death, so that       preaching of predestinationis whether         depravity and corruption of natural
God would have done no injustice by        it glorifies God and whether it com-          man is the truth of God's sovereign,
leaving them all to perish, and deliv-     forts the believing sinner.                   irresistible, and irreversible election
ering them over to condemnation on               The preaching of election is a          of grace. The preaching of the truth of
account of sin" (Canons I, 1). Before      source of "unspeakable consolation"           predestinationfreesthepreacherfrom
the holy God man is to reply only as       (Canons I, 6) in the mission field as         having to save. Faithfully preaching
did Isaiah, "Woe is me! for I am           much as in the established congrega-          the whole counsel of God, the'godly
undone; because I am a man of un-          tion. The elect are taught they can           minister and missionary can rest in
clean lips, and I dwell in the midst of    gain the assurance of their "unchange-        the Lord to save unto Himself those
a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes    able election, not byinquisitivelypry-        whom He has chosen.
have seen the Ring, the LORD of            ing into the secret and deep things of                 *  *  *  *  rc  *  rt
hosts" (Isa. 6:5). The preaching of        God, but by observing in themselves                "May Jesus Christ, the Son of
predestination takes away allinwhich       the infallible fruits of election pointed     God, who, seated at the Father's right
our flesh might glory, and leaves us       out in the Word of God - such as a            hand, gives gifts to men, sanctify us in
only God. The apostle Paul concluded       true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly    the truth, bring to the truth those who
his presentation of predestination in      sorrow for sin, a hungeringandthirst-         err, shut the mouths of calumniators
Romans 9-11 with a doxology of praise      ingafterrighteousness, etc." (Canons          [false accusers] of sound doctrine,
to Him to whom is to be the glory for      I, 12). This sense of election gives          and endue the faithful minister of his
ever (Rom. 11:33-36).                      believers only more reason for hu-            Word with the spirit of wisdom and
     The preaching of election on the      miliation before God, "for adoring            discretion, that all their discourses
mission field and in the established       the depth of his mercies, for cleansing       may tend to the glory of God, and the
congregation is to be with the same        themselves, and rendering grateful            edification of those who hear them.
care that one preaches any other doc-      returns of ardent love to him, who            Amen." (Conclusion to the Canons of
trine of Scripture. No single truth        first manifested so great love towards        Dordrecht.)  0
must be taken out of its place in the      them" (Canons I, 13). The proper
"whole counsel of God." The Scrip-         preaching of election warns against
tures set the boundaries for allpreach-    carnal security and against any lazi-
ing, including that of the truth of        ness toward responsibilities. The
predestination. Wearewamednotto            preaching of predestination does not                 The difficulties we feel
pry inquisitively into this truth, lest    prevent anyone from coming to,                   ,with regard to predestination
"men of perverse, impure and un-           Christ. Further, those who wish a                     are not derived from
stable minds wrest (distort) to their      greater assurance of election must                           the Word.
own destruction" (Canons I, 6). The        not be alarmed at the mention of rep-                 The Word is full of it,
preaching may not present predesti-        robation, but must persist in the use               because it is full of God,
nation as a "mystery" which contra-        ofthemeanswhichGodhasappointed                       and when we say God
dicts God's love. The preaching of         for the working of this assurance and                   and mean God -
election may not take the place of, or     wait prayerfully for a season of richer             God in all that God is -
weaken, the earnest call of the gospel     grace.                                           we  h&e said Predestination.
                                                The truth of election gives every                          Benjamin B. Warfield

                                                                                            January 15,1993 I Standard Bearer I185


                                                                                            `
                                                                                             .

                                      Protestant Reformed Seminary
                                                       4949 Ivanrest Avenue
                                                    Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                       Phone: (616) 531-1490

         Robert D. Decker, Rector
         Professor  of Practical Theology and  New Testament

                                                                                                  tDecem6er lo,1992

         !Vearfriends  in Christ:

               `Under god's Gkssing we are enjoying aprofitabk  year at the seminary.

               Our stuabat 6ody consists of e@fit men. AL&n %umnzC(son  of Edgerton, MNProtestant Reformed
         church) and~ou&s  ?@per (9Cope  TSQC, WaLI.er,  MI) epect tograduate injune of 19%. Henry DeJon8
         (South3iolZand, IL TZQZ) and@chard.$mit  (Iynden,  WA !PtQC) wtigraduate,  D.V., inJune of 1996. In
        Juneofl994ctiti op
                             t  hE c
                                     r onnors  andDavi&&gs,  of th ~vangelii&~res  fiyterian  Church of AustraGa, wti
         have comp&teda  three-year course of study Rev. %uce Davis (T&or of the orthodox Chrktian  Reformed
         Church, ALGnd&, MI) is studying dogmatics andHomi&cs  with us andRev.  Audred.Spriensma  (recent4
         inst&das Tastor of &-andviLi&  MI TRC) is auditing some C~..WS

               Four men from our churches are in their last year of coCl&e and wiLlbegin their semina y studies in the
        fa/(af 199.3. Astudentfiom the `EvangeLiial'~efond~hurches  insingapore is abo coming in ttkfa!Iof 19%.
         Severafmen from other denominations huve expressedinterest  in our seminary. We are than/$u.Cthat Godis
         answering our prayers andincfining  ttie hearts of young men to see~thegospelmintity.

               Be faculty is kept busy tea&g,  writing, andpreaching  in area chur&. fio$ Engel2m.a  expects to
         comp&te his thesis in the near fiture, and to receive the Master of 27ieology d@ee in May from Calvin
         Itieo~ogicaf  Semina  y.

               Synod authorized th 2lieolbgical.Moo~  Committee to proceed with construztion drawings for t&
         proposedaddition to the 6uilding  whn $ZZO,OOO  has Geen receivedthrough  vohntay@jls, andto  awardthe
         construction contract when $330,000  has Geen received lo date we have receiveda6out  $165,OOQ.  We
         sincere4  ttkn~aiiiwho  have contri6utedto  thliisproject. We n&y do needthe space for our Liira y anda quiet
         study area for ourarowingstudent  6ody. Wih~yoou  he@ us reach thego&? lotalcostfor  t& 8,000 square
        foot addition is estimatedat $430,000.

               May our covenant S;od&ep our churches andsemina yfaithjklto  the richheritage  of t/2 ~efonnedfaitk.
         We covet yourprayers andsupport.





186 /Standard Bearer / January 15,1993


Pro                                                      tian Self-Esteem
                                                            (4)
                                            the apostle Paul would call you to lay     throughout the Scriptures-it is that
     When you study the Scriptures          hold of that hope by faith, when he        same biblical Christianity which el-
thoroughly, you easily find answer to       writes in  Romatis  691: "Likewise         evates the excellency and worth of
this question: What is the great evil       reckon ye also yourselves to be dead       men and women and young people
against which we are warned repeat-         indeed unto sin, but alive unto God        and children during their life on this
edly? I ask, Is it indeed that we tend      through Jesus Christ our Lord." The        earth and,forever.  It does so by the
to think too little of ourselves? Quite     apostle speaks here to Christians. He      gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.
the contrary! The Bible repeatedly          does not mean to say, "Reckon your-                 Proper Christian self-esteem is
warns us against thinking too highly        selveswhatyouarenot." Hedoesnot            not  somethingwhich elevates human
of ourselves.                               call you to deceive yourselves. But as     pride. Rather, proper Christian self-
     Our problem is that we do not          those who stand by faith in Christ         esteem is that attitude which looks to
serve God first, and we do vlot seek        Jesus, "Reckon ye also yourselves to       the excellency of our Savior, andwhich
the welfare of our neighbor; but we         be dead indeed unto sin, but alive         is the humble, thankful acceptance of
are self-centered and self-seeking.         unto God through Jesus Christ our          God'sgoodnesstousbyfaithinChrist
     So in the apostolic age, when the      Lord."                                     Jesus.
church saw the greatest growth and                Though once you were a servant
was in its most healthy state from          of sin, held in its bondage, now you       Conscious of Your Relationship
many points of view, the apostle            have died to sin. Sinners we remain,       to Christ
writes in Romans 12:3: "For I say,          struggling daily. But that relation-                Proper Christian self-esteem is
through the grace that is given unto        ship of bondage to sin no longer has an    really proper Christ-esteem. Your
me, to every man that is among you,         unbreakable hold on you. You are           proper  self-esteem may not deny the
not to think of himself more highly         alive unto God! That is what you           reality of sin, but must be rooted in
than he ought to think; but to think        have when you are in Christ! Are you       Christ's victory over your sin  - the
soberly, according as God hath dealt        i n   C h r i s t ?                        recognitionof the truth that Godlooks
to every man the measure of faith."                                                    upon you in Christ as good and His
     A proper evaluation o&elfin  the                                                  beloved. To have proper Christian
light of Scripture will leave one very       Proper Christian self-esteem              self-esteem is to live in the conscious-
conscious of his own weaknesses and         is really proper Christ-esteem.            ness that God has declared you righ-
sins. When the Word of God works in                                                    teous, His child, and an heir of eternal
us, we know that we are sinful and                                                     life. Do you live in that conscious-
that we deserve the everlastingwrath                                                   ness?
of God as we stand before Him in                 When you belong to Christ by               When you see yourself as one
                                            faith, you have a most blessed life.
ourselves.                                                                             who is righteous in Christ, a friend of
                                            Indeed you are blessed. Reckonyour-        God, you may have confidence in the
                                            self so to be! In other words, look at
:Being in Christ                                                                       place you occupy as a child of God.
                                            yourself in Christ. Let His great gift
     Our only hope is in Jesus Christ.                                                 For to be a friend of God is to have a
                                            foryoubeimpresseduponyourmind.
But a blessed and sure hope it is! And                                                 place of highest worth and value, as
                                            That you belong to Him ought to            well as a calling that ranks of highest
                                            influence your life and your thinking      importance -no matter what others
                                            - also with respect to self.               may think of what that calling is.
                                                 You see, though Reformed, bib-             Willyoubeawifeandmotherin
                                            lical Christianity does indeed give        the home? What an important calling
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-    such a devastating diagnosis of the        that is! What a place of value! Though
                                            human condition  - a truth found
formed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                                                  the ungodly do not see it as such, your

                                                                                          January 15,1993  I Standard Bearer I187


Friend who is God says that you have        of popularity. And the way they             around you? Will you let the adver-
a place of highest worth!                   achieve popularity is set before us as      tisers determine that for you?
     Will you build houses or fix cars      a way very different from theway we              If you let your peers determine
or farm or,teach? When you do so for        are taught in our homes and by our          your standards, in order that you
Christ's sake as the friend of God, you     pastors. By the world there is little or    might be popular, you will find your-
have a calling of highest worth. You        no value given to being a Christian-        self in trouble  - without exception.
are blessed! Even if others scorn us        even a Christian in name. And our           Because yousimplywillnotbeable to
for the place which we occupy or the        society will ridicule you if you live as    satisfy your peers and all their stan-
work that we do or how we live, we          a Christian according to the Bible.         dards. If you let your peers deter-
stand before God whose judgment of               It is easy to get carried away         mine whether you are a success or
us is all that counts.                      with the world's concept of popular-        failure, you might soon be filled with
                                            ity and worth. Instead of recognizing       all sorts of insecurities and doubts.
A Misguided Evaluation,                     the gifts which God has given us, we             What is God's evaluation of you?
An Improper Self-Concept                    strive to excel in areas that we think      When youbelong to Christ, His evalu-
     One reason for our feelings of         will please others. When we are not         ation of you is this: "You are My
low self-worth may well be that we          very successful in those areas -take        friend." No matter that you are not so
use a misguided standard for evalu-         sports as an example -then we feel          .popular  with peers; you are accepted
ating ourselves. Our society places         that we are not important, or that we       with God. If you are conscious of
all the emphasis on being "number           are failures.                               belonging to Christ, and are striving
one." A huge emphasis is placed                  But who determines whether or          to exercise the gifts which God in
upon being "popular." Ads in maga-          not you are "popular"? Who deter-           perfect wisdom has given you, you
zines and on television portray beau-       mines whether you are a success or a        may also be sure that you are pleasing
tiful women and handsome men, all           failure? Are you quick to accept the        unto God. That is happiness. In that
great athletes, standing in the heights     opinions of your peers and those            consciousness you must live. 0




                      Not Willing That Any
                                    Should Perish

     In this article we consider a very     article with the Word of God as it is       they rejoiced that God was faithful to
important text for the church of Christ,    recorded in II Peter 3:9: "The Lord is      His promises. "Blessed be the Lord,
especially in the day in which we live.     not slack concerning his promise, as        that hath given rest unto his people
There are many reasons for us to            some men count slackness; but is            Israel, according to all that he prom-
wonder why the Lord tarries. In the         longsuff ering to us-ward, not willing      ised: there hath not failed one word
evil days in which we live, there arise     that any should perish but that all         of all his good promise, which he
evenin the church questions concern-        should come to repentance."                 promised by the hand of Moses his
ing the wisdom of bringing forth the             The promise of God has been set        servant" (I Kings 8:56).
covenant seed. But the church does          before the people of God from of old.            This rest was only typical, how-
bring forth that seed, and she does so      In the old dispensation the people of       ever, and our fathers looked for an-
trusting in the promises of God. It is      Godlookedtoenterintotherestofthe            other country, a heavenly country.
with confidence that the Lord is not        eternal inheritance (Heb. 4). The law       But even as the Father gave unto the
slack concerning His promise that we        of the Old Testament spoke of the           Old Testament saints a typical rest
bear our children and bring them to         inheritance that would belong to Is-        according to His promise, so most
be baptized.                                rael in typical form. And we read in        certainly He will give us the fullness
     We will spend some time in this        Ephesians 6:2 this: "Honor thy father       of that promise in Christ. We have in
                                            and mother; which is the first com-         fact already now received the fulfill-
                                            mandment with promise...." When             ment of that promise in principle by
Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant      thepeopleofGodenteredintoCanaan             faith as we receive the Spirit of life.
Reformed Church of Hull, Iowa.              and were able to build the temple,          Paul reflects upon this truth when he

108 /Standard Bearer I January I!51993


says the followingin the epistle to the      that it can be a danger to the faith of     nerable to the attacks upon our faith,
Romans: "For the promise, that he            God's children. It is for this reason       and that we mayin weakness begin to
should be the heir of the world, was         that the apostle addresses this word        listen whenvirtually the whole world,
not to Abraham, or to his seed, through      to the church, that she may have as-        including the church world, ques-
the law, but through the righteous-          surance in the face of such an over-        tions the promises of God. We find
ness of faith. For if they which are of      whelming opposition to her faith. We        such an expression by the Psalmist in
the law be heirs, faith is made void,        must remember that what was true            Psalm 77~6-9: "I call to remembrance
and the promise made of none effect:         for the churchin the day of the apostle     mysonginthenight: Icommunewith
Because the law worketh wrath: for           is emphatically more true today. The        mine own heart: and my spirit made
where no law is, there is no transgres-      attack upon our faith is even more          diligent search. Will the Lord cast off
sion. Therefore it is of faith, that it      intense than it was in the day that         for ever? and will he be favourable no
might be by grace; to the end the            these words were penned for the             more? Is his mercy clean gone for
promise might be sure to all the seed;       church.                                     ever? doth his promise fail for ever-
not to that only which is of the law,             Let us examine what was being          more? Hath God forgotten to be
but to that also which is of the faith of    said then that was a threat to the faith    gracious? hath he in anger shut up his
Abraham; who is the father of us all,        of God's people. There were scoffers        tender mercies? Selah." God an-
(As it is written, I have made thee a        who said, "Where is the promise of          swers these questionings by His
father of many nations,) before him          His coming? For since the fathers fell      people when He says He is not slack,
whom- he believed, even God, who             asleep, all things continue as they         but longsuffering.
quickeneththe dead, andcalleththose          were from the beginning of the cre-              The apostle, in the light of all of
things which be not as though they           ation." By that bold declaration they       this, would comfort us as we walk
were "(Rom. 4:13-17).                        denied God's government of all              down this pilgrim's pathway, and as
     Through faith we are quickened          things, they denied Scripture's testi-      we face a world, and even a church
and receive the promise of life in           mony of the Flood, and they denied          world, given to iniquity - especially
principle, being called out of death to      even the creation of all things by God.     as we will become the object of the
life. Further,`this  is expressed by our     Further, they lived as though there         hatred of that world. How can we
Savior through the apostle when He           would be no judgment..                      with confidence bring forth the cov-
says in Acts 2:33, "Therefore being by            We must understand that there          enant seed and baptize them accord-
the right hand of God exalted, and           is a reason why this is laid upon the       ing to the promises of God? We may
having received of the Father the            people, why there are those that will       do so, says the apostle, and we maybe
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath           harden their hearts to the plain testi-     comforted, for know this: God is not
shed forth this, which ye now see and        mony of the Word. And that reason           slackconcemingHispromise,assome
hear."                                       is given also in our context, where we      men count slackness.
     We now look with expectation            read that the scoffers "walkafter their
to the fulfillment of this promise in        own lusts." In order to follow his own           . . . time is not a factor
the final sense of the word, and strive      idea of what is right and wrong, in             by which God is bound.
for the goal of the end of the promise,      order to maintain a certain peace of
with spiritual activity. And we have         mind when walking in direct contra-
the assurance that as we live in this        diction with the Word, man must
way we shall obtain it. "For bodily                                                           Many have a wrong conception
                                             convince himself that such awalkwill        of God. They measure God by their
exercise profiteth little: but godliness     bear no consequences. But this is a         own standards. The apostle, already
is profitable unto all things, having,       willing disobedience, a willful ignor-      in the context, will take away this
promise of the life that now is, and of      ing of the fact that the world that now     foolish conception of God. He calls
that which is to come" (I Tim. 4%).          is, is not the world that was at the        our attention to the truth that one day
Also we read in Hebrews 9:15: "And           beginning of time. Men reject the           is with the Lord as a thousand years,
for this cause he is the mediator of the     truth that God sent judgment before,        and vice versa. This text is often
new testament, that by means of death,       and that He will do so again. They          terribly misconstrued, and is often
for the redemption of the transgres-         shall be held accountable for their sin.    even used, in the present controversy
sions that were under the first testa-            Now, lest our faith be shaken          within the church world, to deny the
ment, they which are called might            because men become more and more            creation of this world by God in six
receive the promise of eternal inherit-      perverse, and yet judgment does not         24-hour periods. What is being taught
ance."                                       come, and we are not yet delivered          in the passage from our context is that
     But some think that Godis slack.        from this life of sin to the new life of    time is not a factor by which God is
We find this notion first of all in the      Christ in Heaven, the apostle points        bound. Whether a day (24 hours) or
context of the major unbelief in the         out that God is not slack concerning        whether a thousand years makes no
world that is fast heading to destruc-       His promise.                                difference to God. For He is not
tion. This unbelief is so widespread              Understand that we can be vul-

                                                                                            January  15,1993  I Standard Bearer  I 189


  limited as we. are to time. He is the       will show that this is indeed the mean-            On the other hand, we see that
  infinite and eternal God;not a man.         ingof thewordinIIPeter3:9.  -We find          thistiaIissentofGodexactlytobring
  When we judge Gods- work to be              thepassageinExodus34atthetimeof               His people to repentance and thus to
  slack, we`fallinto the temptation to        the second giving of the law enlight-         faith and salvation. And so God is
  measure God'by our standards.               ening. "And the Lord passed by be-            longsuffering, and brings to pass all
          But God is not slack concerning     fore him, and proclaimed, The Lord,           things, not wiI.ling that one of His
  His promise. We understand that the         the Lord God, merciful and gracious,          own should perish. All things now
  meaning of the term "slack" is that         longsuff ering, and abundant in good-         serve this end. Wonder of God's
  one tarries, or delays, to carry out        ness and truth, keeping mercy for             Grace!!  0
  what is to be. We may never look at         thousands, forgiving iniquity and
  God and His work in this way. It            transgression and sin, and that will
  would be exactly contrary to His very       by no means clear the guilty; visiting
  BemgasinperfectwisdomHebrings               the iniquity of the fathers upon the
  all things to pass. For Him to tarry        children, andupon  the chiklren's chil-       Communion with God,by  JohnOwen.
  would mean that He takes an inordi-         dren, unto the third and to the fourth        Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner
  nate, even an incorrect, amount of          generation" (Ex. 346, 7). The long-           of Truth Trust, 1991, 209 pages, pa-
  time to do what He' has promised,           suffering here is connected with the          per. $6.96. Abridged by R. J.K. Law.
  andthiscannotbe.  Menmayprocras-            grace and goodness of God towards             [Reviewed by Rev. T. Miersma.]
  tinate.  But never may we ascribe           His people, whereby in mercy they
  procrastination to God. That would          are saved. At the same time, this "will            John Owen (1616-1683) was one
  be.to  subject God's work to our stan-      by no means clear the guilty," for God        of the pre-eminent English Puritan
  dards and limitations. Rather, God          willvisit the iniquity upon the wicked        theologians of his day, preaching be-
  brings to pass all things in their per-     unbeliever and their children. In II          fore Parliament on several occasions,
  fect time. Even as Christ was brought       Peter 3:15 we read that we are to             including the day after the execution
  forth at just the right moment, which       "account thatthelongsufferingof our           of King Charles I. He served as ad-
  God calls the fullness of time, so also     Lord is salvation."                           viser and chaplain to Oliver Cromwell,
  shall Christ come again, and bring                   Godisnotwilhngthatanyshould          was dean of Christ Church, Oxford,
judgment, against the wicked and              perish, but that all should come to           andcontinued tobe allowed to preach
  bring salvation for His people, at just     repentance. What a truth this is! If          even after the restoration of the mori-
  the right time.                             God is not willing that any should            archy and the Act of Conformity.
          God is longsuffering. The idea      perish, then we know that none shall          Though he was not seated as a del-
  of this longsuffering has also been         .perish. Otherwise God is not God.            egate at the Westminster Assembly,
  much misinterpreted in the $resent          This shows that in no way can the             he was nonetheless one of the leading
  day. Our text is often presented as         longsuffering of God in II Peter 3:9 be       and staunchest Calvinists of his day,
  though God's longsuffering is exer-         made to apply to all men in general.          opposing both Arminianism and its
  cised so that alI men of this world may     Clearly this is written to the church of      Amyraldian variation, better known
  have a chance to repent. It is even         believers who find themselves in the          to us as the theology of the well-
  presented as though God is willing          midst of trial, and-even suffering in         meant offer. Owen was a prolific and
  that all men without distinction come       the midst of this life. We are given the      learned writer, thoroughly versed in
  to repentance and salvation, and as if      assurance that God's will is that none        the Scriptures. His main theological
  He waits in order to give man this          of us, none of the elect, shall perish.       weakness was in the area of church
  chance. But this is pure Arminianism,       God remembers His covenant. He                government, for he was an ardent
  free-willism, and it cannot stand. It is    shall not turn aside. We have the             congregational&t.
  true that God's longsuffering means         assurance therefore that His church                His bookCommunion with God,
  that He is patient to workout His will      shall never perish. And this means            was intended both as a devotional
  with respect to the saving of. the          that it is so not only for us but also for    work and as a defense of the doctrine
  church, and that because of this He         .our children who are in Christ.              of the Trinity. Owen deals with the
  doesnot  yet bring judgment upon the                 This does not imply that God         subject of communionwith God from
  wicked. But this is not in any way due      does not use means. As we live in the         the viewpoint of the believer's com-
  to the wicked or to a.desire on God's       midst of this world it is necessary that      munion and fellowship with the three
  part to save the reprobate. He is           we be called out of darkness into the         persons of the Trinity: Father, Son,
 longsuffering to us-ward; and this           light of His fellowship. We have to be        and Holy Ghost. He treats this com-
  means that it is His will that the fuIl     prepared for our place in His king-           munion, however, not in a mystical
 body of Christ be brought to salva-          dom. We must pass through the ways            way,butinhaimonywithGod'sthree-
 tion.                                        of trial. This we must understand;            fold revelation of Himself as our Al-
          A study of the use of the term      and this we must also teach our chil-         mighty GodandFatherin  Jesus Christ;
 longsuffering elsewhere in Scripture         dren.                                         as the Son of God, our Mediator come

  190 /Standard Bearer /January 15,1993


in the flesh; and as the Spirit given to    with most Puritan works, many will            rences with a guide to usage in dif-
Christ and poured out upon the              still find it somewhat heavy going.           ferent contexts; and a bibliography
church. The approach is similar to          The most glaring defect of the               of reference works that discuss the
that of the Heidelberg Catechism. He        abridged edition is its replacing of          word and passages where the word
treats not simply our experience of         Owen's Scriptural quotations which            plays. a decisive role. Words are
communion with God as in prayer,            were from the King James Version,             grouped by root and meaning with
                                                                                          cross references.
but the basis of that communion,  the       with quotations from the New King
doctrine, as it lies in our redemption      James Version. This change of ver-                   For those who are familiar with
and in the sovereign love of God in         sions was unnecessary and detracts          Greeklexicons, this one is somewhere
Christ, and as it is experienced and        from the work.                              betweenKitte1  and Thayer. It is much
appropriated by faith through the                The book is spiritually rich.and       morecompletethanThayer'slexicon;
Word of God. He lays the objective          ,to be recommended. The pastor who          it contains much more material than
foundation of communion with'God            is. looking for a new approach to           Thayer, also of an exegeticalkind; but
as well as setting forth its inward         preaching on the catechism may well         it is not nearly as detailed as Kittel's
subjective  ,blessings. The subject of      find it profitable. The Banner of Truth     Theological Dictionary of the New
the book may be said to be the living       Trust is to be commended for making         Testament. This balance has decided
reality-of the covenant of grace as a       this work available and more acces-         advantages. It will probably not re-
relation of communion and fellow-           sible to today's reader. $                  place either Thayer or Kittel, but it is
ship with God.                                                                          worthwhile to those who have nei-
     In the course of his treatment of      Exegetical .Dictionay of the New            ther.
this subject virtually no doctrine is       Testament, Vol. II; edited by Horst                  As is to be expected, the workis
left uncovered, a characteristic of most    Balz & Gerhard Schneider; Wm. B.            influenced by modem critical studies
Puritan writings and commentaries.          Eerdmans Publishing; 555pp.,  $14.95.       of Scripture. To citebut one example,
The original work includes an exten-        [Reviewed by Prof. Herman Hanko.]           distinction is made between authen-
sive treatment of parts of the Song of                                                  tic and unauthentic writings of Paul,
Solomon and a virtual commentary                 This work was originally pre-          an obvious denial of the Pauline au-
on certain sections. Much of this is        pared in Germany by German au-              thorship of those books in the New
retained in this abridged edition.          thors, but is now in the process of         Testament which claim Paul as their
Owen's treatment of the Song of             being translated into English under         author.
Solomon is often allegorical in char-       the auspices of Wm. B. Eerdmans                      Nor is the book doctrinally
acter, an exegetical approach he shares     Publishing. The volume I here review        sound. To give again but one illustra-
with other Puritans. His conclusions        is Volume II; the first volume has          tion, in its treatment of the Greek
in this connection are Scriptural           already been published and the third        word eudokeo,  the freedom of the hu-
though sometimes exegetically ques-         is in process of translation.               man will is alleged.
tionable.      :                                 The informative sheet which                     Nevertheless, the set canbeprof-
     Owen's original edition of this        came with the book tells us that:           itably  used for students of Greek, and
work contained many quotations in                                                       it will be of some exegetical help as
the original Greekwhichmakeit inac-              For every word in the New Testa-       well. We are told that Volume IIIwill
cessible to the .average  reader. This        ment, EDNTprovides  the following:        also contain an English index which,
abridged edition by R.J.K. Law is well        transliteration; declension informa-      along with the transliteration of the
done and faithful to the original and         tion for nouns and adjectives; defini-    Greek words, will enable those who
succeeds in making the work more              tion; identification and discussion of    have not mastered Greekto make use
readable for the modern reader. As            all or most New Testament  occur-
                                                                                        of this set as well. 0




Mission Activities  *                       send Rev. R. Hanko, his wife, and           He believed that by the first of this
     Our readers can well imagine           family to Northern Ireland as mis-          year he would have abetter picture of
the amount of work that is required to      sionaries of,our  churches. All kinds       the situation, especially with regard
                                            of details have to be worked out.           to dates. He presently expects to be
                                                 We can report that Rev. Hanko          ready in early March. However,
                                            applied for his passports on Decem-         should all details come together
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant    ber 8th. Upon receiving them he can         sooner, he would be willing to go
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-    apply for his work permit, whichpro-        then.
g    a    n    .                            cess will take from six to eight weeks.              Classis West meets March 3 in

                                                                                           January 15,1!393 I Standard Bearer I191


 &DMD
   BHER                                                                                                      SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                             Postage Paid at
                                                            ,_~.__ -                                         Grandville, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
   Grandville, Ml  49466.0603


South Holland, IL, and if possible         meeting the members of the Peace            get together and spend a night deliv-
Rev. Hanko would like to attend this       PRC of Lynwood, IL approved the             ering cards to their churches' elderly,
meeting as he and his family travel to     proposed general building plan ,for         shut-ins, widows, and widowers. I
Michigan. Rev. Hanko is stated Clerk       their new, church building.                 know that it is not always easyto  do
of Classis West and this would enable           It is also interesting to note that    this, but the people visited really ap-
him to pass his duties over to the         on Sunday, November 29, the congre-         preciate the cards and singing of car-
assistant clerk in an orderly manner.      gation of Peace was faced with two          ols, as well as just being remembered
     We are also able to report at this    reading services due to their'pastor's      by the young people.
time that, with the help of Rev. G.        sudden illness. Instead of these, they
VanBaren andmembers of the CRF of          were able to watch two sermons on           School Activities
Northern Ireland, a home has been          video provided by the HudsonvilIe,                This year the Hope PR Christian
purchased for the Hankos on the mis-       MI PRC, with Rev. Flikkema preach-          School in Walker, MI and Heritage
sion field.                                ing. Those videos were made this            Christian School in Hudsonville, MI
     Buying a home was the most            past summer when Rev. R. Flikkema           tookcollections for the proposedProt-
advantageous way to go, primarily          preached for Hudsonville while their        estant Reformed School in Randolph,
because rental property of the size        pastor was on vacation.                     WI. The money collected  came from
needed for the Hanko family is not              We can also include here a com-        the students themselves and was in-
easily available. And there are Syn-       ment or two about the new proposed          tended to encourage a sense of giving
odical monies in escrow for this pur-      churchin the Georgetown area, north         to the students.
pose.               `j                     and west `of Hudsonville, MI. In its
     In a letter from Northern Ireland     search, the steering committee has                     Food-for          Z?bu&t:
dated December 9, Rev. and Mrs. G.         located two possible locations in                 A man'sfree  will cannot cure him
VanBaren write to their congregation       which to hold worship services. The         even of the toothache, or of a sorefinger;
in Hudsonville, MI that "The sun did       first is a  Seventh.`Day  Adventist         and yet he madly thinks it is in his-power
shine most of today, . . . rather un-      Church, and the second an elemen-           to cure his soul.
usual; Today the sun sets at 3:58 p.m.     ta-ry school,`both  located in Bauer.                                     A. Toplady
and rises tomorrow-at 8:35 a.m. That            We can also inform our readers
makes for a day shorter than you have      that the steering committee has been
inMichigan."                               unable to propose a `starting date to
                                           the Hudsonville Council due .to the
Congreghtional Activities                  concern  ,of obtaining suitable pulpit
     The congregation of the               supply. With Hudsonville's pastor in
Grandville, MI PRC held a welcome          Northern Ireland, there just are not            -RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
program for their pastor, Rev. A.          enough ministers or professors avail-             The Mary Martha Society of the
Spriensma, and his family, on De-          able to fill all the pulpits in West        Redlands  Congregation would like to ex-
cember 17th. A short program was           MichiganeverySunday.  Anditseems            press its sincerest sympathy to our mem-
planned, followed by refreshments          like a bad idea to start a new church       bers Clarice Gritters, Mary Gail Gaastra,
and a get-acquainted hour.                 with reading services. Until more is        Carol Gaastra, Brenda Gritters, Jeanne
     The Council of the South Hol-         learned about Rev. VanBaren's  re-          Karsemeyer, and Mary Gaastra and their
                                                                                       families, in the death of their mother,
land, IL PRC approved a request            turn, there is no definite date for the     mother-in-law, and grandmother,
from their choir that they be given        beginning of these services.                       MRS. SUSAN GAASTRA.
more opportunities to sing for their                                                   May they find comfort in the words of
congregationbyperiodicallypresent-         Young People's Activities                   Revelation 14:13,  `And I heard a voice
ing several numbers from the balcony            The Hull, IA  PRC"s Young              from heaven saying unto me, Write,
prior to the eveningworship services,      People's Society is sponsoringa"Pen-        Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
in place of the organ prelude. The         nies of Participation Program" to raise     from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that
Council has agreed to allow the choir      funds for the upcoming convention.          they may rest from their labours;  and their
to try this for this choir season.              During the Christmas season            works do follow them."
     Atarecentlyheldcongregational         many of our churches' young people                      Pastor denHartog,  President
                                                                                                 Tammy  VanUffelen,  Secretary

192 /Standard Bearer /January 15,1993


