              ./
-     ;.,.


     CONTENTS:                                                                                                                      Decemt9er  75,  7994
I                                                                                                                                                                                                   1

Meditation  - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
           A Book of Remembrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.................................... 123                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
           The Holy Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~... 125                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July. and August.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         PublIshed bythe Reformed Free Publlshlng Assoclatlon, Inc.,
     Letters .,,I..,,..,,......................................................................................                                                                               127        4949  lvanrast   Ave.,  Grandvllle,  MI  46416.  Second  Class
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128                                                                Postage Pald at Qrandvllle, Mlchlgen.
"Apples of Gold" ,..........,................................................................                                                                                   . . . . . . . . . 130    Poatmester:  Send address ohanges to the Standard Bearer,
Ministering to the Saints - Mr. Gord Schipper                                                                                                                                                            P.O. Box 603, Qrandville, MI 46466-0603.
           The Office of Mercy - Its Basis . . ..*.............................................. 131                                                                                                     EDKORtAL COMMtlTEE
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Editor: Prof. Davld J. Engelsma
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                                                                                                                                Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
           Christ's First Disciples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*................*........ 133                                                         Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
Special Article  - Herman Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                       DEPARTMENT EDITORS
           No Room For Him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134                       Rev. Wilbur Brulnsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Decker, Rev. Arte d-snliartcg, Rev. Russell  Dykstra. Rev. Barry
When Thou Sittest  in Thine House - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop                                                                                                                                           Grttters. Rev. Carl Haak, Rsv. Jason Korterlng, Rev. Cornelius
           "Grieve Not" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138        Hanko,  Pro?.  Herman  Hanko,  Rev.  John  Heys,  Rev.  Dale
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Kulper.  Mr.  James  Lantlng.  Mm.  MaryBeth  Lubbers,  Rev.
     Contribution  - Rev. Kenneth Koole                                                                                                                                                                  Jalklshln  Mahtanl,  Rev.  Thomas   Mlersma,  Rev.  Charles
           The Reformation and Family Worship ..*...................................... 139                                                                                                              Terpstra, Rev. QlseVanBaren,  Rev. RonaldVanOverloop,  Mr.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Benjamin Wlgger,  Rev. Bernard Woudenbsrg.
"Apples of Gold" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    141        EDtTORlAL  OmCE              CHURCH NEWS  EDtTOR
News from Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142                                                                                         The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wlgger
                                                                                                                                                                                                         4840 lvenmst                 8597  4OthAve.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Qrandville,  MI  46416       Hudsonvllle,  MI  46426
                                                                                                                                                                                                         BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW  ZEALAND  OFFtCE
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                                                                                                                                                                                                         FAX:  `(616) 531-3033        Baliymena, Co. AntrIm BT4i 3EL
           Christmas, family, and church are featured in this issue of the Standard                                                                                                                                                   Northern Ireland
Bearer.                                                                                                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL  POLtCY
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Every ednor Is solely responsible tar the contents ot hls own
          Rev. Cornelius Hanko's meditation and the article by Herman  Hoek-                                                                                                                             e&lee.  Contribtilonsofgenerallnterestfromorreadersand
sema, "No Room For Him," recall the history of Jesus' birth. Hoeksema's                                                                                                                                  questlons  for  The  Reader  Asks  department  are  welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Contrtbutlons will be llmked to appmxlmately  300 words and
article first appeared in volume one of the SB in 1924. The "inn-door" is still                                                                                                                          mustbsnaaUywlttenortypewrHtan,andmustbsslgned.              Copy
closed aga&t the Christ of Scripture and the Reformed faith. But the "poor                                                                                                                               deadllner  are  the  first   and  ftfteenth  of  the  month.  All
                                                                                                                                                                                                         wmmunlcatlona  relative to the contents should be sent to the
babe of Bethlehem" Himself creates room for Himself in the world by His                                                                                                                                  edltorlal office.
grace.                                 -                                                                                                                                                                 REPRINT POLICY
           An interesting letter and the response to it take up the question, whether                                                                                                                    ParmIssIon la herebvorantedforthereodntlna ofarticleslnour
observance of Christmas by the Reformed church is permissible.                                                                                                                                           arUcles ere reproduced In full; b) that proper acknowledgment
          Mr.. Gord Schipper, member and deacon in the Southwest PRC in                                                                                                                                  Is made; c) that a copy ot the parlodlcal In which such reprint
                                                                                                                                                                                                         appears Is sent to our edltorlalo6ioe.
Grandville, MI, introduces the office of deacon. Under the rubric, "Minis-
tering to the Saints," men who have served in these offices will be writing                                                                                                                              SUBSCRIPTION POUCY
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Subscription  price:  $12.00  per  year  In  the  U.S.,  $15.00
on the exercise of the offices of elder and deacon in the church. Mr. Schipper                                                                                                                           elsewhere.  Unless  a  ddnlte  request  for  dlscontlnuanw   Is
points out that the office of deacon is the ministry of mercy by our compas-                                                                                                                             received,  It  Is  assumed   that  the  subscriber   wishes   the
                                                                                                                                                                                                         subscription to mntlnue,  and hewlll be bllledforrenewal.  ltyou
sionate high priest, Jesus Christ, on behalf of His church.                                                                                                                                              haveachangeofaddress,pleasenotiitheBusinessOfriceas
          Rev. Kenneth Koole and Rev. Ron VanOverloop treat of important as-                                                                                                                             eady  as  possible  In  order  to  avoid  the  lnwnvenlenca  ot
                                                                                                                                                                                                         Interrupted delhrery.  lndude  your Zip or Postal Code.
pects of Reformed family life. Rev. Koole, in an article that will be contin-                                                                                                                            ADVERTISINQ POUCY
ued, concentrates on family worship. This was restored by the Reformation.                                                                                                                               me StendardBearerdoes  not accept commercial advertlslng
Rev. VanOverloop confronts covenant young people with their calling not                                                                                                                                  of any kind. Announcements  ot church and school events,
                                                                                                                                                                                                         annhfersarles,  obltuarles, and sympathy  resolutions  yi!l be
to grieve their parents.                                                                                                                                                                                 placedlora$lO.W1ee.  Theseshould  basenttothe  Buslnass
          The editorial, reflecting on Christ's birth, combines the themes of Christ-                                                                                                                    O?6ceandshouldbeaaompanledbytheStO.OO%se.  Deadllne
mas, family, and church.                                                                                                                                                                                 data.
          The cover photo is courtesy of Mr. Dave Moelker, member and                                                                                                                                    BOUND VOLUMES
officebearer in the Hope PRC, Walker, MI.                                                                                                                                                                Ths  Business OWica  wtll  accept standlng orders  tar bound
                                                                                                                                                                                                         wplesofthewrrentvolume.  Suchordsrsarefllledasswnas
          The staff of the SB wish our readers a joyful Christmas and a prosper-                                                                                                                         possible after completion of a volume year.
ous new year in the favor of the triune Father of Jesus Christ the Lord.                                                                                                                                 16mm  mIcrofilm.  35mm mlcroftlm  and 105mm mlcrofiche. and
                                                                                                                                                                                         --DE            artlcla  copies  are  available  through  Unlverslty  Mlcrofllms
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122/Standard  Bearer/December 15,1994


             A Book of Remembrance
                                            I                                                                                        I
    Then they that feared the Lord spake             Not as if these unfaithful                As a devoted wife is submissive
often one to another: and the Lord hear-         showed no pretense of piety. They         to her husband, and as a dutiful
kened, and heard it, and a book of re-           still brought their offerings to the      child honors his parents, so those
membrance was written before him for             temple, and the priests still accepted    who feared the Lord showed their
them that feared the Lord, and that              their sacrifices. But there was no        reverence for God in holy adoration.
thought upon his name.                           fear of the Lord in their hearts. The     They delighted in keeping His com-
                          Malachi 3:16           unblemished yearlings they kept for       mandments and walking in His
                                                 themselves; the blemished, the sick,      ways. In childlike trust they placed
    Jehovah's book of remembrance                and the lame were brought to the          all their expectation in Him alone.
is the +ecord of the lives of those              temple to be presented to the Lord.       Their hope for the future was fixed
who "fear the Lord," since they are              The priests, instead of refusing and      in their God.
most precious in His sight.                      reprimanding the people, wearied
    From His throne in heaven He                 God with such abominations. And
listens to them when they are talk-              when the Lord objected, they defi-
ing one with the other, pouring out              antly asked: "Wherein have we wea-            These were serious times, times
their souls in times of deep distress.           ried thee?"                               which compelled the people of God
    Their thoughts and their words                   There were those among the            to seek one another's company.
are of great concern to Him. He not              priests and the people who profaned           After the Jews returned from
only listens, but He also takes note             the holiness of the Lord by divorc-       captivity, settled in Canaan, and re-
and records in His book of remem-                ing their wives to take to themselves     stored Jerusalem and the temple,
brance what they think and what                  heathen wives. Yet they dared to          they did not return to their former            .
they say.                                        ask: "Wherein have we profaned            idolatry but fell into the sin of sham
    He restrains His strong desire               God's holiness?" To which the Lord        piety.
to deliver them.          For He is              answered: "Thou hast dealt treach-            The sect of the Sadducees  arose,
longsuffering toward them, awaiting              erously with the wife of thy youth:       a group that can best be compared
the proper moment to deliver them                yet she is thy companion and the          with today's modernists, who de-
and show them His salvation.                     wife of thy covenant."                    nied the angel world and a life here-
    This book of remembrance is a                    The Lord accused the people of        after. The sect of the Pharisees also
guarantee that the Lord in His time              robbing Him. Innocently, as it were,      made its appearance, a proud, self-
will surely deliver Israel from all              they ask: "Wherein have we robbed         righteous class of people who felt
their troubles.                                  thee?" He reminded them that they         no need for a Savior. They were
                                                 failed to pay their tithes that they      sufficient unto themselves and
                                                 owed Him.                                 looked down on the masses that
                                                     Yet there were still among them       knew not the law. They proudly
    They "that feared the Lord" are              those who feared the Lord. This was       maintained that they kept the law
mentioned twice in our text, for they            not a slavish fear but a fear of love.    to the letter, and even outdid its re-
must be distinguished from those in              They loved their God with a sincere,      quirements.
Israel ,who defiantly turned away                humble devotion. They realized                Among them were the priests
from the Lord into ways of wicked-               their own insignificance and stood        who controlled the temple worship
ness.                                            in awe at His majesty and glory.          and the scribes who taught the
                                                 They also knew themselves as sin-         people. These were members of the
                                                 ners tiho had forfeited their right to    Sanhedrin, who ruled the nation.
                                                 the least of God's blessing, and they         This was also the time of which
Rev. Ha&o is a minister emeritus in              marveled that God looked down             Daniel had spoken in prophecy, the
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                upon them in favor in Christ Jesus.       days in which the temple was pol-

                                                                                               December 15,199Wtandard Eqmrll23


luted by the abomination of desola-           The Lord is always near to those            faithful even unto death.
tion, the days when Antiochus                 who fear Him.                                       And the Lord listened. He heard
Epiphanes prevented temple wor-                      Yet we would never know nor          every word that was uttered. He
ship and slaughtered many people.             understand, except for the fact that        took note of every sigh. Their tears
Soon after, the Jewish nation com-            God has revealed the secrets of His         did not escape Him. In all their af-
pletely lost its freedom under the            heart in His holy Word. The Scrip-          fliction He was afflicted with them.
power of Caesar of Rome. The hea-             tures carry us from the dawn of cre-        It grieved Him to see them suffer.
then had come into God's heritage.            ation to its end, from paradise to          And the Angel of Jehovah sustained
    Added to all that, the voice of           Paradise, unfolding before us the           them.
revelation was silent. For four hun-          mighty work of salvation accom-                     It was all recorded in Jehovah's
dred years after Malachi there was            plished in Christ Jesus. All of which       Book of Remembrance.
no inspired historian, no prophet, no         we know and understand only
vision, no dream. It was as if heaven         through faith wrought by the Spirit
were closed to the cry of God's               in our hearts.
people.                                              Those that fear the Lord are                 Suddenly, as in a moment, their
    Those who feared the Lord                  deeply God-conscious. He takes first       waiting was rewarded. Numerous
sought each other's company to                place in their lives. Their chief con-      signs and wonders appeared. The
comfort and sustain each other in             cern is for their God. They are             angel Gabriel told Zacharias, whose
the faith. All they had left was the           deeply offended by the sinful words        name means "My God remembers,"
hope of the promise delivered to              and deeds of evil men. They can             that he would be the father of the
them from the fathers, which they              only wonder that the holy God re-          forerunner of the Messiah. Gabriel
cherished and discussed together.             mains silent and does not seek ven-         soon after appeared to Mary to tell
    We are fallen into similar times.         geance. How long can He endure              her that she would bring forth the
All over the world there are those            the dishonor to His great and blessed       Christ-child. She went to Elisabeth,
who love the truth and meet together          Name?                                       who herself was with child and in-
in small groups, some worshiping                     We think, for example, of child-     formed Mary that the amazing won-
in homes, to maintain the truth of            less Zacharias and Elisabeth, who in        der of the incarnation had already
the gospel. The Lord hearkens now,            their earlier days had prayed so fer-       taken place. The Spirit of prophecy
even as He hearkened then. And a              vently for a covenant seed. How             spoke through Mary, and later
book of remembrance is written be-             deeply offended Zacharias must             through Zacharias. Joseph was in-
fore Him.                                     have been by the carnal priests with        formed of the divine conception in
                                              whom he was forced to labor in the          a dream. Lowly shepherds were sur-
   ++t+*+++*                                  temple from day to day. How                 rounded with heaven's glory as the
                                               deeply concerned Elisabeth must            first to be told of the Savior's birth,
    What was there unique about               have been while her husband was             and the first to herald it abroad.
these people that God should re-              in that corrupt environment.                Simeon and Anna met the Christ-
member them?                                         We think of Simeon and Anna,         child and his parents in the temple,
    We are told that "they thought            who were daily visitors in the house        and Simeon received the gift of
upon God's name."                             of God, seeking comfort from the            prophecy. Among the Gentiles in
    God's name is God Himself as              Word, and yet failing to receive it         the East a star appeared to lead the
we know Him by His Self-revela-               from the leaders there. We can well         Wise Men to the Christ-child. Won-
tion. His name is near, as His won-           imagine that these saints longed for        der upon wonder surrounded the in-
drous works declare.                                  the day when the promised           expressible wonder of the Savior's
    The voice of the Lord is                             Messiah would appear.            birth, the fuhillment of the promise
in the rumbling thunder,                 The Lord           More zealously than ever      so long awaited, so intensely longed
also in the beauty of the          is always near           they prayed: "Redeem Is-      for.
lily, and in the still small             to those           rael, 0 God, from all his
voice of the summer                      who fear           troubles" (Ps. 25:22) and:
breeze. He speaks to us                   Him.              "0 that thou wouldest
through the roar of the lion,                            rend the heaven and that                 All these things are written for
but no less through the bleat                          thou wouldest come down"           our instruction.
of the lamb. All creation joins in            (Is. 649).                                          We are reminded "that the Lord
singing the praises of our God. All                  We have a mental picture of the      is not slack concerning His promise,
history shows the unfolding of the            shepherds spending long nights  un-         as some men count slackness, but is
counsel of the Most High as He car-           der the stars discussing Israel's hope      longsuffering to us-ward, not will-
ries out His purpose even through             that cannot fail. They never wea-           ing that any should perish, but that
the defiant wickedness of evil men.           ried of encouraging each other to be        all should come to repentance"

124jStandard  Bearer /December l&l994


(II Pet. 3:9).                                on the profession of our faith with-           with me, to give to every man ac-
        In these last days we are urged       out wavering: (for he is faithful that         cording as his work shall be" (Rev.
to seek our fellowship with those             promised).... Not forsaking the as-            22:12).
who look for the coming of the Lord.          sembling of ourselves together, as                    To which we eagerly respond:
We must not allow ourselves to be             the manner of some is; but exhort-             "Come, Lord Jesus, yea, quickly."
deceived by false  christs,  false            ing one another: and so much the                      In the meantime we heed the
prophets, or cunningly devised                more,  ,as ye see the day approach-            C2l.l.k "Be thou faithful unto death,
fables, but must search the Scriptures        ing" (Heb. 10:23,25).                          and I will give thee a crown of life"
in the company of the saints.                          Our Lord assures us: "Behold,         (Rev.  2:lO).  0
        We are encouraged to "lay hold        I come quickly, and my reward is





                                The Holy Family

                                              - roasting chestnuts over an open              the attention of the believer to Him,
        Christmas, you see, is about          fire.                                          in wonder, love, and thanksgiving.
family. Christmas is mainly about                      It is not even the covenant fam-              The birth of Jesus Christ is about
family. Christmas is all about fam-           ily of `believing husband and wife             God the Holy Family. It makes
ily.                                          with their baptized, sanctified chil-          known that there are in God two
        This is the truth of Christmas        dren engaged in spiritual life - talk-         distinct persons who are Father and
only inasmuch as Christmas is the             ing about the birth of their Lord and          Son to each other and that this Fa-
birth of the baby Jesus from the vir-         Savior in the stable in Bethlehem.             ther and this Son are bound together
gin. The child had no earthly fa-                      Neither is it the family that con-    in love by a third distinct person,
ther. As the angel announced to His           sisted of Jesus, His mother, and her           the Holy Spirit.
mother, in accounting for her con-            husband. Popular piety in some                         For the baby of `Bethlehem lived
ception, "The Holy Ghost shall come           circles makes much of this family as           before He was  .bom. He lived in
upon thee, and the power of the               "the holy family." But Christ-                          (and as) the being of God. He
Highest shall overshadow thee"                mas does not center on this                               lay in the bosom of the Fa-
(Luke 1:35).                                  family. The proof is that this            The life          ther. He lay there as the
        The vi& conception establishes        family, like every other                 of God is          one eternally begotten of
that Christmas is about family, be-           earthly family in the past,            family-life.         the Father, that is, as the
cause conception by a virgin, with-           has been dissolved. It was                                  Son. The birth of Jesus
out a male, is the sign and means of          merely temporal, fleeting,                                Christ was not His beginning.
the incarnation. God the Son be-              passing. By death, Joseph and                           He was sent into the world; the
came a man in the womb of Mary                Mary are no longer married. By the             Father sent His Son (John 20:21). He
(John 1:14). The eternal Son of God,          death of the Christ, expressed in His          came into the world; the Son came
who lies in the bosom of the Father,          Word from the cross, "Woman, be-               from His Father (John 16:28).
was born in the baby Jesus (John              hold thy Son! . . . Behold thy mother!"                God is Father and Son in the
1:x3).                                        (John 19:26,  2% Mary is no longer             Holy spirit in Himself. This is fam-
        As the birth of Him who is the        the mother of Jesus. Jesus Christ is           ily. The one, true, living God, made
Son of God, Christmas is about fam-           no longer Mary's son. That family              known as He really is by Jesus
ily. It declares this family to be holy       is no more. It has given way to a              Christ, is family. This is the truth
- pure, consecrated, awesome.                 better one, the real human family.             about God. This is the most  pro-
        I do not refer to the earthly fam-             Besides, Christmas is not mainly      found, the central, the unique truth
ily. The family that Christmas is all         about men, women, and children.                about God.
about is not a husband, a wife, and           Christmas is about God. It was His                     Theologically, this is the doctrine
some children enjoying everyday life          deed. It made Him known. It calls              of the Trinity. But the meaning of
                                                                                                     December 15,1994/Standard  Bearedl25



                                                                                                                           __     -     .-


the Trinity is family, God as family.      nance that He Himself had made                       Cynical politicians, who have no
    The life of God is family-life.        fundamental to human life in His                interest in family whatever, whose
God does not merely exist; God             work of creation: the earthly family            own behavior, in fact, is destructive
lives. The God revealed in the child       of husband, wife, and children. Not             of the family, find it expedient to-
conceived in Mary's womb, His Son,         all kinds of superstitious legends              day to speak out for family. A na-
is not the Great Hermit in heaven,         about the life of Jesus, Mary, and              tion reaping the harvest of its tm-
existing in splendid solitude. Rather,     Joseph, not a Christ-denying ascrip-            dermining of the family, and find-
He is the Father living with the Son       tion of saving worth to Mary are the            ing that harvest exceedingly bitter,
and the Son living with the Father         significance of Jesus' earthly family.          cries out in alarm for some return to
in the Holy Spirit. He is the Father       Its significance is simply the fact it-         "family values." The Reformed
loving the Son and the Son loving          self of a godly family as the sphere            church bases her advocacy of the
the Father in the Holy Spirit. He is       in which God's own Son "increased               family, unchangingly and uncom-
the Father communicating with the          in wisdom and stature, and in favor             promisingly, upon the God who
Son and the Son communicating              with God and man" (Luke 252).                   gave His only begotten Son at
with the Father in the Holy Spirit.            God values family. God values               Christmas.
Father and Son are devoted to each         family especially highly when the                    Those who attack and weaken
other in the Spirit. Each seeks the        welfare of His own Son is at                               the family by divorcing and
other in the Holy Spirit, and not only     stake. He values family,                                       remarrying and by per-
Himself; each gives Himself to the                                                      God
                                           ultimately, because this                                       mitting  divorce and re-
other freely and fully.                    is who He is in Himself:           values family.               marriage are assaulting
    In one word, the life of God -                                         Christmas proves it,
                                           Holy Family.                                                    God Himself. He takes
truly life! - is fellowship. Only, it          Because God is fam-              and shows                 it personally.
must insistently be noted, this fel-       ily in Himself, there are                    why.                  God values family.
lowship is family-fellowship.              also our earthly families:                                 Christmas proves it, and
    Biblically, this family-life of God    believing husbands, believing                        shows why. Christmas also as-
triune is the source, pattern, and na-     wives, and baptized children.                   sures the preservation of the cov-
ture of the covenant. The covenant         Christmas is indeed about the Chris-            enant family despite devilish attacks
is God's sharing of His own family-        tian family, even though it is not              upon it from within and without the
fellowship with His adopted sons           mainly about this earthly family.               church.
and daughters, in Jesus Christ.            The family is holy. It is set apart by               Still, the earthly, covenant fam-
    Christmas is mainly about the          God to be consecrated to Him. It                ily is not the broadest extension of
divine family.                             reflects His own life. It enables and           family by the birth of Christ. Nor is
    But it is not exclusively about        enriches the life of each member, for           it the best. Every earthly family,
the divine family. For God sent His        it is not good that the man, or the             even the holiest, passes away.
Son into the world in the act of in-       woman, or the children should be                     His own spiritual family was the
carnation: the eternal Son took to         alone (see Gen.  2:18). It produces             purpose of God with men and
Him a human nature. The Son of             and rears the church by virtue of               women at Christmas. The Elder
God was conceived and born.                the promise of the covenant, "I will            Brother came to redeem, renew, and
    Family now enlarges.                   be the God of your children."                   gather into the fellowship of an ev-
    There was, importantly, the                The foundation of the covenant              erlasting family all tl?ose eternally
earthly family made up of the child        family is nothing less than the truth           predestinated to be sons and daugh-
Jesus, His mother Mary, and her            of God Himself as family that is re-            ters of God (Ram. 8:29).
husband Joseph. Added in time              vealed in the birth of Jesus. Christ-                Christmas is about this family
were four (half) brothers and at least     mas shows us (and never in history              - its fellowship with God and its
two (half) sisters of Jesus (Matt.         has the church needed the reminder              fellowship among the members
13:55, 56). God sent His Son into          more) that the Protestant Reformed              themselves.
the world, not as a lonely visitor but     defense of the family is grounded in                 This is the church.
as a member of a family. God en-           the being of God. Our condemna-                      A holy family. 0
trusted His dear Son in human flesh        tion of divorce, our prohibition of
to a holy mother and her godly hus-        all remarriage after divorce, our ex-
band. He saw to His rearing in a           hortation to the husband to love and
God-fearing home.                          to the wife to submit, our demand
    Evident in the carefully arranged      to parents to teach their children the
circumstances of Jesus' birth is the       truth as-it is in Christ - all of this is
importance to God of family. The           founded finally in God, in God as
God who is now at work in redemp-          family, in God as Father and Son in
tion upholds and honors the ordi-          the Holy Spirit.

126lStandard  Bearer/December 151994


                                           Churches' practice of observing           for worship on another day than
                                           Christmas is a long and honorable         Sunday or on another occasion than
n Observance of Christmas                  tradition in the Reformed Churches        the regular remembrance of Christ's
    I wish to thank you for your Oc-       that trace their spiritual descent to     resurrection on the first day of the
tober 15, 1994 issue on "The Refor-        the Synod of Dordt. Article 67 of         week
mation and Worship." I found it a          the venerable Church Order of                 The Heidelberg Catechism ex-
blessing and a challenge and have          Dordt (1618/1619)  requires that the      plains the fourth commandment as
already made one change in our ap-         Reformed churches "shall observe in       requiring that "I, especially on the
proach to worship because of it.           addition to the Sunday also Christ-       sabbath . . . diligently frequent the
Thanks!                                    mas . . . . N                             church of God." The Catechism
    But, I am also writing to ask two             This observance consists of a      does not say, "exclusively on the
questions. I recently received a           public worship service on Decem-          sabbath."
mailing from the Presbyterian Heri-        ber 25. The elements of this service           The Westminster Assembly like-
tage Publications of Dallas, Texas.        are the same as those that make up        wise allowed for the observance of
In it they list a booklet, "Christmas:     the congregation's worship on the         days of public fasting and of public
A Biblical Critique," by Michael           Sabbath. The minister preaches on         thanksgiving in addition to the ob-
Schneider and Kevin Reed.                  some .aspect of the birth of Christ,      servance of the sabbath (see "The
                                           usually, and preferably, the history      Directory for the Public Worship of
  This booklet begins with Pastor          in the gospels. The congregation          God").
  Schneider's sermon, "Is Christ-          hears the blessed gospel of the in-            Calvin looked askance at the cel-
  mas Christian?" in which he              carnation and praises God with ap-        ebration of Christmas in his day be-
  challenges hearers to consider           propriate psalms in congregational        cause of the corrupting of that cel-
  the unbiblical nature of Christ-         singing.                                  ebration by Roman Catholicism (see
  mas celebration. Reed follows                   Objection against Dordt in this    I. VanDellen  and M. Monsma, The
  with an historical essay, reveal-        provision and practice is invariably      Church Order Commentary, Zon-
  ing Reformed and Presbyterian            in terms of the "regulative principle"    dervan, 1941, p. 273). He did not,
  opposition to the holiday in the         of worship: observance of Christ-         however, flatly forbid it as a trans-
  past.                                    mas is not prescribed in Scripture.       gression of the second command-
                                                 But this is a misunderstanding      ment. As I noted in my review of
This booklet is in contrast to what        of the "regulative principle." This       Wulfert de Greefs The Writings of
was a brief reference to Calvin's at-      is evident from the fact that Dordt       John Calvin: An Introducto  y Guide
titude to Christmas in a recent issue      permitted, indeed prescribed, obser-      (Baker,  1993),  Calvin went along
and your December 15,1993  Christ-         vance' of Christmas even though the       with the Geneva church's obser-
mas edition.                               great Reformed synod was commit-          vance of the four great feast days
    My two questions are these:            ted to the "regulative principle" as      that did not fall on a Sunday, in-
1. Have you ever dealt with the            laid down in Question 96 of the Hei-      cluding Christmas. When the Coun-
position that this booklet presents in     delberg Catechism. Dordt saw no           cil decided to abolish these obser-
your magazine? If so, I would ap-          conflict between the requirement of       vances, Calvin wrote a correspon-
preciate receiving copies if possible.     the second commandment that we            dent that, if he had been asked for
2. If not, I would appreciate know-        worship God only in the "way . . .        advice, he would not have supported
ing how you would answer the view          He has commanded in His Word"             this decision (see de-Greef, The Writ-
of the above-mentioned booklet es-         and the observance of Christmas at        ings of John Calvin, p. 57; my re-
pecially in view of the fact that you      a Reformed worship service. The           view of the book appeared in the
have not been afraid of challenging        fathers of Dordt saw no conflict be-      September 15,1994  issue of the Stan-
what you see to be unbiblical prac-        cause .there  is none.                    dard Bearer).
tices or views.                                  The "regulative principle" re-          This is the kind of wisdom that
                (Pastor) Ronald Johnson    quires that the elements of public        we defenders of the "regulative prin-
                      Amesbury, MA         worship  - the "how" of worship           ciple" must demonstrate in our ap-
                                           -be those, and those only, that God       plication of the principle, lest we fall
Response:                                  prescribes in His Word, whether the       into a rigid, stifling (and divisive)
                                           public worship be on the Lord's Day       legalism and, thus, imperil the prin-
    I have not seen the booklet that       or on some special occasion. The          ciple itself.
you mention.                               "regulative principle" certainly does
    The Protestant Reformed                not forbid the church ever to gather                                        - Ed.

                                                                                         December 15,1994/Standard  Bearer/l 27


 H Thh Electing Love of God                  flight from the influence of a godly        tion and affection that we followed
     Each month  we  receive the  Stan-      father and mother in a covenant             the leadership of Prof. Herman
 dard Bearer with joy, for in your ar-       home and through Christian educa-           Hoeksema those years long ago
 ticles and news you describe so             tion in Holland, MI - only through          when Rev. Peter Jonker Jr., his semi-
 beautifully the heart of the gospel,        His will in Christ have I become a          nary classmate, would tell us in cat-
 the five points of Calvinism.               minister of the Christian Reformed          echism of his brilliance and godly
     Had it not been for the electing        Church for the last 39 years.               erudition.
 love of the triune God `I... before the         It is with pleasure that we recall          May God in His grace continue
 creation of the world . . . in that in      the daily noon lunches with Homer           to bless the  Standard Bearer, the semi-
 love He predestined us to be               Hoeksema in the little "dungeon" of          nary, and the Protestant Reformed
 adopted as His sons through Jesus           Calvin College on Franklin Street.          Churches.
 Christ...," I personally would never            How often we as a family above                        (Rev.) Nicholas Vogelzang
 have sought Him. Only by a dra-             the hardware store on Washington                               Executive Director,
 matic conversion by which He sud-           Square would discuss the issue of                                Christ for Russia
 denly stopped me in my headlong             common grace. It was with admira-                                  Aurora, CO 0





                                            certain segments of the Christian           teachings are "laden with aberrant
q   Is "Word-Faith" Cultic?                 community.                                  and heretical departures from sound
     That is what the critics of one of          This new emphasis was reflected        Christian doctrine." They are shot
the cult-watching organizations re-         in the title of a conference in Phila-      through with Arminianism and neo-
cently said. When cult-watching or-         delphia last September sponsored by         pentecostalism.
ganizations first appeared twenty or        Evangelical Ministries to New Reli-             This means that the critics are
thirty years ago they concentrated          gions (EMNRR). The conference title         correct. The Word-Faith movement
mainly on exposing the non-Chris-           was, "The Cults, Occult and Word-           is cultic. A cult, according to the
tian beliefs and alleged brainwash-         Faith Movement."        At one of the       dictionary, is "any religion regarded
ing techniques of such groups as the        plenary sessions of this conference a       as unorthodox or even spurious,"
Unification Church, the Children of         panel discussion dealt with the ques-       and is often characterized "by ex-
God, and the Way International. In          tion whether the Word-Faith move-           cessive devotion to some person,
addition they sought to expose the          ment.should  be considered cultic?          idea, or thing."
teachings of religious groups like the          Plenary speaker Hank  Hane-                 Among those identified as sub-
Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons,            graaff, president of the Christian Re-      scribing to some form of Word-Faith
whose teachings are incompatible            search Institute (CRI), explained that      doctrine were Trinity Broadcasting
with the essential doctrines of the         according to Word-Faith teaching,           Network president Paul Crouch, Ko-
Christian faith.                            "faith is a force, words being the con-     rean megachurch leader David
    While these longstanding em-            tainer of the force. And through the        Yonggi Cho, and television preach-
phases have continued for many              force of faith, you can create your         ers Kenneth Copeland, Marilyn
cult-watching groups (they number           own reality." Hanegraaff, whose             Hickey, Fred Price, Benny Hinn, Oral
about 600 today), in recent years the       best-selling Chrisfianify  in Crisis de-    Roberts, Rodney Howard-Browne,
counter-cult movement has increas-          tails the "erroneous teachings of           and Kenneth Hagin.
ingly focused its investigative ener-       Faith teachers," added that within a            God's people ought to be aware
gies on individuals and organiza-           Word-Faith context, "when you're            of what these heretics are teaching.
tions that have a strong foothold in        born again, you not only have sal-          If that is to be true of God's people,
                                            vation, but you have unlimited              then the pastors of God's church
                                            health and unlimited wealth. All            must carefully and diligently preach
                                            you have to do is visualize it, speak       the sound doctrines of the Word of
                                            it into existence."                         God, as those sound doctrines al-
                                                That such teaching is rank her-         ways stand against and expose the
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical      esy is obvious to the Reformed be-          lie in its multitude of forms. Our
Theology in the Protestant Reformed         liever. In addition it may be said          pastors, in other words, must preach
Seminary.                                   that the Word-Faith movement's              antithetically. The late Walter Mar-

126lStandard  Bearer/December 15.1994


tin, a pioneer of the contemporary        CRC, though it is not in any way            them in their struggle to overcome
counter-cult movement, was right          connected to the ministry of that con-      this terrible sin.
when he said, "Cults live on the un-      gregation. About a year ago the                                   Christian Renezual
paid bills of the church."                Grand Rapids group formed a non-
                  Christianity Today      profit corporation called "As We
                                          Are, Inc." The corporation includes
                                          the Grand Rapids chapter of                 q Christ Is Coming . . . Soon
                                          AWA,RE, but does not include any                Religious leaders from thirty
    Specialized Ministry To Gay           of the other AWARE groups. Lucas            countries called for creation of a
and Lesbian Support Group                 has been serving as chaplain of the         world council of religions. Meeting
    Since 1991 the Rev. Jim Lucas, a      Grand Rapids chapter since 1991.            in Sudan last month the leaders said
gay Christian Reformed Church                 According  -to its mission state-       such a council would enable major
(CRC) minister has headed the             ment, "As We Are, Inc. is a Chris-          religions - in particular  christian-
Grand Rapids chapter of the gay and       tian organization whose mission is          ity and Islam -to join forces against
lesbian support group AWARE.              to provide faith-based support for          materialist and secularist world
This group has existed for over a         gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons          views. Muslims are showing new
decade but was not widely ,known          and to promote a positive response          interest in interreligious dialogue
until recently. The first chapter was     within the Christian community."            since September's United Nations
formed in Toronto following a deci-       Lucas says, "We are not an ex-gay           population conference. Hassan Al
sion by the CRC synod to oppose a         ministry, we're not trying to change        Turabi, head of National Islamic
decision of the Gereformeerde             people who are gay, we take an ac-          Front of Sudan, said Christians and
Kerken in Nederland (GKN) to al-          cepting, non-judgmental approach to         Muslims should form a coalition to
low practicing homosexuals to be-         people who are gay and we promote           "offer an alternative model of soci-
come     church members           and     a positive response within the Chris-       ety" and a "new political world or-
officebearers.                            tian community rather than a con-           der."
    According to a May 1994 report        demning judgmental response." Par-              Before our Lord returns, certain
of  Classis Toronto on homosexual-        ticipants and board members of the          signs must take place (cf. Matt. 24).
ity, "AWARE (which stands for As          Grand Rapids group are not limited          Just before the Savior's return the
We Are) provides a Christian fellow-      to CRC members.                             nations of the world will be united
ship for  .Christian  Reformed and            Rev. Lucas requested that East-         (in "a new political and religious
other gays and lesbians and their         em Ave. CRC "call him to a special-         world order") under the antichrist
families and other supportive             ized ministry with AWARE. In an-            and the church will suffer great
friends. AWARE recognizes that            ticipation of this request Eastern          tribulation (II Thess. 2:3-4).
Christians hold a variety of views        Ave. overtured Classis Grand Rap-               The conference cited above is
on questions related to homosexual-       ids East in January of 1994 to estab-       just another indication that the day
ity, welcomes the participation of        lish a committee to study the appro-        of the Lord cannot be all that far off.
those holding different views, and        priateness of various ministries to         This is all the more reason why we
encourages dialogue.                      homosexual persons." Eastern Ave.           must take to heart the instruction of
    "Since AWARE includes some            told Classis, "We have informed Jim         I John  2:18: "Little children, it is
participants who live in committed        that we wish to wait until the study        the last time: and as ye have heard
homosexual relationships and oth-         committee's report is received by           that antichrist shall come, evennow
ers who are celibate, it may feel un-     Classis  before requesting classical        are there many antichrists; whereby
comfortable at first to visit, but ac-    approval of a call to specialized min-      we know that it is the last time." 111
ceptance of homosexuals as people         istry." Eastern Ave. requested                         National &International
and fellow believers is not the same      Classis to extend Lucas' ministerial                                Religion Report
as expressing approval of homo-           credentials and eligibility for call un-
sexual behavior," the Toronto report      til September of 1995. If Classis East
says.    "A Toronto chapter of            receives and approves the study
AWARE meets monthly at First CRC          committee's report, Lucas could be
in Toronto. Don't be surprised if         called, by Eastern Ave. as early as
you meet someone you know there."         January of 1995.
    According to Lucas, AWARE                 It grieves us to no end to ob-
now has three chapters: one in            serve developments such as these in
Toronto, one in London, Ontario,          our mother church. The Bible speaks
and one in Grand Rapids. The lat-         so clearly to this issue. If we love
ter chapter meets in Eastern Ave.         homosexual persons we will tell
                                          them to repent and we will help

                                                                                          Decembw 15,1994/Standard  Bearer/l29


                                         Confident Beseeching in Farewell

                                    (At the occasion of the farewell program for Rm. Carl
                                    Haak by Lynden Protestant Reformed congregation,
                                    Lynden, WA, on October 21,1994.)


         When Christ Himself was yet upon this earthly          And bring the Word of Gospel which, though
                scene,                                                  not of his own making, is loved by him
         Pray ye, said He, the Lord of Harvest, when you                who bore it, sent out by Lord of Harvest
                see fields unto that harvest white.                     as life into the dead.
         That He the Lord send laborers there to reap
         His Wheat and from the midst of chaff to sepa-         What can we do now, as members of the con-
                rate and claim His own with might.                      gregation, but bid farewell
                                                                To preacher and his wife and children, too, who
         So do the saints in congregations in this age be-              all have dwelt among us,
                seech, and so did we,                           Though we are loathe to say goodbye to those
         Almost a decade now, ago .., though we are                     we love, except we know it's Father's will
                startled by time's swift and urgent pass-       That they should go and we should stay where
                ing.                                                    Lord of Harvest wisely knows the way
         And Lord of Harvest heard our prayer for help,                 He'll save and bless with other reaper, sent
                and sent into our midst a reaper then                   forth by Him into this congregation dear.
         Made able, by His sending to this work, to
               preach the Word that men might hear, be-         May God continue now to place the Word of
               lieve, and call on Him in faith.                         Gospel in your heart and on your Lips, as
                                                                        from the Scripture taken,
         This faithful servant preached the Word of com-        So that the congregation there as well as here,
               fort, and as lovely messenger of peace                   the one you leave behind, may hear con-
         Proclaimed the truth that all things viewed apart              clusion of the matter, clearly:
               from God the Lord are vain,                      Oh saints! Fear God, His precepts and His good
         But also that the words, acceptable and sought                 commandments keep! This is the whole
                out by preachers wise, are upright                      of man!
         And from one Shepherd given, in order that His         For all your works has God into the judgment
               people, in these last days, might still be               brought and paid for them upon the Head
               taught such knowledge for their light.                   of His dear Son!

         But now has Lord of Harvest made it clear to us        Now may the Lord Himself, in tender pity for
               through this His chosen vessel, preacher                 the tears and fears that otherwise would
               of His Word,                                             overwhelm us,
         That he should, for the sake of other saints, not      Grant peace and courage, yes, and even joy to
               of this flock in Lynden, bestow his labor                know that you and we are kept by Him
               elsewhere for a season                                   whose goodness none can measure.
         And minister to them in all their needs, as he
               did here, from needs of little ones to needs                                       Henry W. Kuiper  Q
               of saints with hoary head,




130lStandard  Bearer/December 15,1994


                 The Offke of, Mercy -
                                                  Its Basis
                                           L                                                                                          1
    The office of deacon is a vital             Catechism, LD 12). As God's                clearly evident in the prophets,
office in the church. The church calls          Officebearer, He is the visible repre-     priests, and kings in Israel. In the
men to be officebearers. These men              sentative of the invisible God. The        New Testament, the form (but not
are ordained to be the official repre-          Triune God sent the Christ that He         the essence) of these offices changed.
sentatives of Christ. When these                might redeem the church and all cre-       Christ calls some to stand in the of-
men, equipped by the Holy Spirit,               ation through the deep way of sin          fice of prophet. These are the min-
bring the Word (and only when they              and grace. Our Lord accomplished           isters of the gospel, whose calling it
bring the Word!), Christ is with His            this purpose of God by going the           is to reveal the full counsel of God.
church.                                         way of the cross. His suffering and        Men called to labor in the office of
    In light of this vital truth, it is         death satisfied God's justice.             elder represent Christ in the office
not surprising that there is a wealth           Through His atoning work all things        of king and govern the church. The
of material that deals with the of-             are reconciled to God (Col.  1:20).        priestly office of Christ is present in
fices in the church. In preparing to            Jesus, Christ now sits exalted at God's    the church in the office of deacon.
discuss the office of deacon, I made            right hand, where all power has been       The deacons are called to represent
use of several resources which I                given unto Him to execute God's            Christ as the merciful High Priest of
would like to acknowledge and rec-              counsel. He sovereignly directs all        His people.
ommend. I depend heavily on  Xe-                things (even the forces of darkness)           It is good to have a solid under-
formed Dogmatics and The Triple                 such that all things work towards          standing of the office of Christ lest
Knowledge by Herman Hoeksema                    the realization of the new creation        we have a superficial view of the
for their instruction concerning the            when the tabernacle of God shall be        corresponding offices in the church.
office of Christ. I would also ac-              with men, and when Christ shall-be         It is my concern in this rubric that
knowledge The Ministry of Mercy                 the glorious head over all (Rev. 21:3).    deacons and congregations realize
For Today by P.Y. DeJong and The                To this glorious office Christ was or-     the profound nature of the office of
Church Order Commentary  by                     dained from before the foundations         deacon. In the first place, we must
VanDellen  and Monsma. There                    of the earth (Col. 1:17).                  see that the office of deacon is not
have been many articles through the                 The triumphant church will be          the least bit inferior to the offices of
years on this subject in the  Standard          ruled directly by Jesus Christ. We         elder and minister. Just as the
Bearer, but I would note in particu-            will know Him as our chief Prophet,        priestly aspect of Christ's office is of
lar a series in volumes 32 and 33 by            our only High Priest, and our eter-        equal importance with those of
the Rev. G. Vandenberg, as well as              nal Ring. As Prophet, He will be           prophet and king, so also is the of-
articles in volume 67 by the Rev. R.            the full revelation of the Triune God.     fice of deacon of equal importance
Cammenga. These treat the articles              As Priest, He will consecrate all of       with the offices of minister and el-
of the church order that focus on               the new creation to the glory of God.      der. This is not to suggest that dea-
the office of deacon. Finally, Prof.            And as Ring He will reign over all         cons are not under the authority of
H. Hanko taught a series of classes             creatures in the name of God. Thus,        the elders, or that a deacon should
in 1987 on the office of deacon. The            the essential idea of the office of        preach, but it is to say that the dea-
audio cassettes of these classes pro-           Christ is that He is God's represen-       con is every bit as vital for the well-
vide the background for many of the             tative. Ministers, elders, and dea-        being of the church as are the elder
concepts I hope to discuss.                     cons in the church militant stand in       and minister. The diaconate must
    Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's              this office of Christ.                     not be thought (by deacons or con-
eternal Officebearer (cf. Heidelberg                While the church is yet militant,      gregation) to play a minor role in
                                                Christ rules her by means of men           the church, or viewed as a stepping
                                                whom He calls and equips to repre-         stone to the eldership. The office of
Mr. Schipper  is a deacon in Southwest          sent Him. In the Old Testament,            deacon is a weighty and essential
Protestant Reformed Church.                     the threefold office of Christ is          office. The office is not concerned

                                                                                               December 15,1994/Star?dardSearerM31


chiefly with financial matters but is        DeJong  notes that during the                 ture of our deliverance from the iron
a profoundly spiritual calling. Dea-          Sabbatic years, fields were left             furnace of our sin, guilt, and cor-
cons minister to the spiritual needs          uncultivated, and everything that            ruption (Deut. 4:20). God cared for
of the Lord's poor by bringing them           grew might be freely gathered by             us when we were poor. God deliv-
financial assistance along with Scrip-        the poor (cf. Ministry of Mercy, pp.         ered us from our desperate spiritual
ture.                                         3132). There are several passages            poverty and helplessness. He paid
    Secondly, Christ in the priestly          that instruct the Israelites not to har-     our debts with the blood of His own
aspect of His office is the Deacon in         vest their fields to the last kernel,        Son and made us rich in the bless-
the church. When a deacon func-              but instead to leave something for            ings of salvation. Indeed, we are
tions in his office, Christ is present        the poor to glean (Lev.  19:9, 10;           "bought with a price" (I Cor. 6:20).
in His church. When deacons come              23%; Deut. 24~19).  That God's bless-        Christ, though rich in Himself, be-
to the home of the poor, Christ               ing attended the sincere obeying of          came poor for our sakes, that
comes! When the congregation sees             this law is abundantly evident in the        through His poverty we might be
the deacons collecting alms for the           touching account of Boaz and Ruth            rich (II Cor. 8:9). Our care for the
poor during the worship service,              (Ruth 2).                                    poor is evidence of the fact that we
they must see Christ opening His                    In the new dispensation God            remember our deliverance from
hand to receive the offering. To the          maintains a deep concern for the             spiritual poverty.
extent that the office of deacon is           poor. This is evident by the leading             God has a special concern for
not active in caring for the poor, to         of ithe Spirit through the apostles.         His poor in the church because they
that same extent Christ is not present        The institution of the office of dea-        are usually those-who have the most
in the church. To lose the office of          con has as its immediate occasion            intimate communion with Him.
deacon is to lose Christ. Deacons             the distress of the Grecian widows           Their prayers are fervent. They are
and congregations must lay hold of            in  ,Jerusalem  (Acts 6: l-8). The           sincere when they pray for their
the profound importance of this of-           apostle Paul makes many references           daily bread. They acknowledge their
fice in the church.         With these        to the support of the poor, which            complete dependence upon their Fa-
thoughts in mind, I hope to discuss           we'intend to examine in some detail          ther in heaven. Often their longing
the nature of the office in greater           in future articles.                          for the perfection of the kingdom of
detail. I also intend to treat the atti-            Why does God have such a con-          heaven is more focused, for they are
tude the poor must have towards               cern for the poor? A key passage in          not caught up in the materialism of
the office, and the attitude the con-         this regard is Deuteronomy 26. Here          the day. In a word, their financial
gregation must have for the Lord's            God calls His people to remember             distress drives them to an intense
poor through the office.                     that they had been in bondage in              spiritual communion with their Fa-
    God has a special concern for             Egypt. When under the cruel op-              ther. Those who are weak in them-
the poor in the church. The Old Tes-         pression and affliction of the Egyp-          selves find that God's grace is suffi-
tament is replete with references to         tians, they cried unto the LORD God.          cient. Such children are the Father's
the poor as well as to "the fatherless       They were delivered "with a mighty            delight.
and widows." The word "poor" ap-             hand, and with a stretched out arm,               Although the poor in the church
pears 162 times in the Old Testa-             and with great terribleness, and with        are often very spiritual, it is also true
ment. God instructed the nation of           signs and with wonders; and (were             that poverty brings with it unique
Israel to care for them. God warns           brought into) . . . a land that floweth       temptations. Satan seeks to use the
Israel that His "wrath shall                         with milk and honey" (Deut.           financial distress of God's people to
wax hot" if the poor are                                   26: 7, 8). See also Deuter-     tempt them to forsake God and the
afflicted and they cry                   When                onomy 24: 17-22, where        church. He will show them how
unto God (Ex. 22: 23,                   a deacon              God states explicitly        much money is "thrown away" on
24). Indeed, the afflic-      functions in his office,        that the reason He re-       kingdom causes. He will challenge
tion of the poor by              Christ is present            quires Israel to care for    the trust they place in God. After
their fellow Israelites                                       the poor is directly con-
                                  in His church.                                           all, why would a loving God not take
was an explicit ground                                       netted to their  deliver-     care of them? Satan will leverage
for the punishment of both                                 ante from Egypt. This de-       our covetous nature to his advan-
the northern and southern king-                      liverance was accomplished            tage. Resentment can build against
doms (Amos 2:6,7; Is. 3: 14,15).  Far        through the judgment of the Egyp-             God and against fellow church mem-
from being the occasion for the af-          tians by the Angel of the LORD, who           bers. This temptation to despair and
fliction of the poor, we are to open         passed over the Israelites whose              to question God's love will be re-
our hands wide unto them (Deut. 15:          houses were covered by the blood              solved by Christ Himself when He
7-8). Think also of the many laws in         of the Paschal lamb.                          sends His representatives with finan-
the Old Testament which had as                      The deliverance of Israel out of       cial assistance and the comfort of His
their focus the care of the poor. P.Y.       the iron furnace of Egypt is a pic-           Word.  0

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                                                           John I:35151             isCipl
                                            I                                                                                                I
     The central truth of these verses           make disciples'by revealing Himself        one "in whom there was no guile,"
is very plainly that of Jesus gather-            to them as God's Messiah. God is           trustworthy.
ing His first disciples and the way              sovereign through it all, yet He is                "Yet each of these men found in
in which He brought them to Him-                 pleased to use means. Those means          Christ that which met his need and
self. We read here of the very first             are first the preaching of the Word,       satisfied his heart!" (Arthur Pink).
contact which five of the disciples              as we, see John the Baptist proclaim-
had with Jesus. Other accounts                   ing Christ. Then,-havingheard the          Outline of John 1:35-51
(Mark  1:15-20;  Luke  5:1-11;  Matt.            Word, we are moved to witness to           1. John, Andrew, and Peter are
4:18-22)  inform us that at a later date         others to "come and see" Him them-         brought to Christ (w. 35-42).
Jesus called these same men to His               selves (John  4:42). Always it is                  A. John the Baptist heralds the
service. This account in John is of a            Christ who draws and causes His            Lamb of God to two of his disciples
more personal nature. Here we see                sheep to hear His voice (John 10:27).      (w.  35,36).
how they were personally and pow-                    Finally we should see that Christ              B. John and Andrew are ques-
erfully brought to the saving knowl-             gathers men.of widely different tem-       tioned by Jesus and abide with Him
edge that Jesus was the Messiah.                 peraments and callings. As the per-        (w. 37-39).
What rich instruction is given on the            fect Shepherd He knows His sheep                   C. Andrew witnesses to Simon,
truth of how one is brought to union             and deals with each one according          his brother (w. 40-42).
with Christ (cf. Canons III/IV, Ar-              to his .own situation. It is blessed to    2. Philip and Nathanael are
ticle 11). -Also the passage sets be-            see here how the truth of Christ's         brought to Christ (w. 43-51).
fore us both the example and the                 gathering His church out of every                  A. Jesus calls Philip (w. 43-45).
duty of witnessing of Christ to oth-             type and personality among men is                  B. Philip finds Nathanael (w.
ers (cf. Heid. Cat., L.D. 32, Q. and             so strikingly illustrated. Consider        45,46).
A. 86).                                          these first five disciples:                        C. Jesus and Nathanael (w. 47-
     It is very instructive to note how              John: Unnamed in verse 35, as          51).
these first disciples were brought to            is Johns custom in this gospel nar-
Jesus. The first two heard a preacher            rative. He is the disciple of intense      Questions for Further Study and
proclaiming Christ as the "Lamb of               devotion and affection who leaned          Discussion
God," and they followed Jesus.                   on  the Master's bosom. He was "the        1. Discuss the truth of how men
Simon Peter, the next one, was                   disciple whom Jesus loved" (John           are brought to Christ.
brought by his brother to Christ.                13:23),  and the only one of the                   a. Does the preaching of Christ
Philip was found directly by Jesus.              twelve who stood by the cross.             as the only sacrifice for sin (Lamb of
And Nathanael was summoned by                        Andrew: A man who seems to             God) always play a crucial part?
Philip to "come and see," which re-              be of a practical frame of mind.                   b. How does the wonderful
sulted in Christ's making Himself                Whenever we see him in this gospel         providence of God and the truth of
known to him. In all of them we                  narrative he is bringing someone to        irresistible calling fit together so
see the wonderful and irresistible               Christ (John 6:8; 12%).                    beautifully? Can you give examples?
grace of Christ drawing His sheep                    SiFon Peter: Strong-headed,                    c. Show how Christ Himself
to Himself (John  6:44). Christ must             impulsive, full of zeal.                   must speak and reveal Himself per-
                                                     Philip: -Philip would show him-        sonally to a person before that per-
                                                 self td be skeptical at times (John        son can know Him as the Messiah.
                                                 6:5,7; 14:8).                                      d. Does not the reality of be-
Rev. Haak is pastor of Bethel Protes-                Nathanael: Evidently of a medi-        ing made a follower of Christ always
tant Reformed Church in Elk Grove, II-           tative and retiring disposition. A         result in a witness to others of Him?
linois.                                          man of an open and frank nature,           2. Show from John the Baptist's

                                                                                                    December 15,1994/Standard  Bearerll33


ministry that the content and the vi-              calling to witness? What is the rela-       8. What attribute of Christ was
tal truth to which the church must                 tionship between witnessing of              demonstrated to Nathanael? How
always witness in her preaching is                 Christ and the preaching of the             is this related to the confession he
the sacrificial work of Christ.                    Word?                                       makes about Christ?
3. Why did Jesus ask the two dis-                  6. What is the significance of Jesus'       9. What did Nathanael mean by his
ciples of John, "What seek ye?" (v.                renaming of Simon? Discuss the              remark about Nazareth? (See Matt.
38).                                               truth that in reality every saint in        223.)
4. What is signified in their reply,               Chkst Jesus is like Simon Peter.            10. What is meant by, "In whom
"Where dwellest thou?"                             7. What important idea is found in          there was no guile"?
5. What important truth is seen in                 Christ's words to Philip, "Follow           11. What  .greater things was
Andrew's witness to Peter? What                    me"?                                        Nathanael to see? (v. 51). 0
can we learn from this about our




                                                                                or IHim
                                              I                                                                                        I
                                                   old ,of womanhood. Judging by their             Night had fallen when there they
        Because there was no room for them         outward appearance, one should not          prepare to make their abode for the
in the inn.                                        have classed them with the rich of          night.
                                Luke 2%            the land. For even though a careful             .Because there was no room for
                                                   observer might have been reminded           them in the inn.
        Evening was falling.                       of long forgotten royalty and nobil-                 **i++*
        The shadows were growing                   ity `by the features of these two               There was no room for them.
longer.                                            strangers, yet the man made the im-             And one of them was the blessed
        Twilight's hush was spreading              pression of being a common trades-          among women! Thus the angel had
a still expectancy over the country                man and the woman was dressed in            greeted her, when he had visited
surrounding Bethlehem. The land-                   the garb of the common Israelitish          Mary's lowly dwelling in Nazareth,
scape's rich and manifold colors had               woman. A long journey lay evi-              with the wonderful message on his
not as yet been utterly defaced, but               dently behind them, for they did not        heavenly lips that a virgin should
the deep blue of Palestine's heaven,               pause to take in the beauty of the          bring forth a Son! Thus also had
the shining green of the olive and                 evening, and a sigh of satisfaction         Elisabeth recognized Mary when the
the pale tint of the almond were fast              escaped their breast as, leaving be-        latter visited her cousin: "Blessed
being swallowed up by the dusk and                 hind them the gardens surrounding           art thou among women, and blessed
blending in the gray of evening.                   the city, they entered the city of their    is the fruit of thy womb." And the
Even at this late season, for it was               fathers.                                    silent Mary, wont to hide things be-
winter in the Promised Land, the                       `In the little town all was astir.      neath the quiet surface of her pro-
rich fields, vine-clad hills, and ter-             For the same command of the mighty          found heart and given to still pon-
raced gardens around the City of                   Caesar that had brought Joseph and          dering, had broken forth in joyous
David presented a picturesque view.                Mary to Bethlehem caused the city           strain: "My soul doth magnify the
        Two weary travelers were ap-               to be overcrowded with visitors that        Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in
proaching the ancient city of Israel's             had come to be enrolled. And so it          God my Saviour. For He hath re-
most renowned king, a man reveal-                  happened that every home was                garded the low estate of His
ing the vigor of youth in spite of his             lodging its strangers, that even the        handmaiden: for, behold, from
evident weariness, and a woman                     inn :was filled to capacity, and that       henceforth all generations shall call
scarcely having passed the thresh-                 no choice was left to the strangers         me blessed."
                                                   from Nazareth but to turn to one of             Supremely blessed among
                                                   the caves on Bethlehem's outskirts,         women was Mary.
                                                   to seek lodging for the night in a              Blessed she was, not simply be-
Herman Hoeksema was the first editor               place where passing caravans would          cause of the glad expectation of ap-
of the Standard Bearer.                            stable their cattle.                        proaching motherhood. Surely, also

134lStandard  Bearer/December 15,1994


this blessing was hers in that night      by heavenly injunction, not to call     world. No place for Him in the
of nights when Joseph and she.were        the name of her Son Jesus, because      hearts and minds of the  worldly-
crowded out of Bethlehem's inn and        He would save His people from           minded bread-seekers of Capemaum
sought lodging in a place for cattle.     their sin? Mother of Israel's Savior    and they forsake Him, offended by
Gladness fills the heart of the par-      Mary was to be, the King of kings       His speech. No place for Him in
ent, and the sorrows .of a laboring       was to assume her own flesh and         Jerusalem that killeth the prophets,
mother are soon forgotten for the         blood! This was her unique privi-       among priests and elders, in secret
joy of possessing a child in the          lege from the Lord.                     counsel or Sanhedrin. And all this
world. In anticipation of this happi-         And this glad hope was to be        world ultimately crowds together
ness Mary took up her abode in the        realized that very night!               and unites in shouting: "Away with
stable that night. Yet, nothing dis-          But there was no place for them,    Him, away with Him!"
tinguished her in this regard from        not even in the inn. And because            And they crowd Him to the ac-
any mother in the world. Besides,         there  `was no place for them, there    cursed tree.
the mere joy to bring a child into        was no room for Him to whom she             Because there was no room for
the world and for the world is far        was to give birth.                      Him in the inn of the world.
from unmixed. Expectation of mere             Thus it happens that even at the        +-+++#+++u+
motherhood did not make Mary the          very -moment of His birth, Jesus is         But is not the relation toward
supremely blessed among women.            crowded out to the very edge of the     Him different in the world of today?
    Greater joy filled the heart of       world. Born in a stable, laid in a          Superficially considered it
Mary because of the fact that as          manger!                                 would seem so.
mother she might take her place               Because there was no room for           For who doesnot  adore the Mas-
among Israel's women, who in bring-       Him in the inn!                         ter in the modem-religious world
ing forth their children labored in                +44+-H**                       and swear by His name? Who, on
the blessed hope of the realization           No room for Him!                    glad X-mas day, does not take his
of the promise made to the fathers            Strange, yet prophetic incident!    children to that sweet little baby in
in times of yore. In the midst of             Full of strange and mysterious      its manger-cradle, to teach them how
sorrow the eye of these covenant-         contrasts is that manger in             a poor boy with all things against
women, believing the promise and          Bethlehem's stable. Is that babe not    him from his very birth may become
looking for a heavenIy  country with      Israel's King, yet was ever a king      a truly great man? Who, in the mod-
faithful Abraham, looked hopefully        born  in circumstances less sugges-     em-world, refuses to follow the good
far beyond the present and the things     tive of royalty, more beggarly and      Man of Galilee on His travels
of this world, toward the blessed and     abjectly poor? Is that babe not         through the country of His people,
everlasting reign of David's mighty       Mighty God, infinitely glorious,        to take as his example all the good
Son. In this hope shared Mary. She        whom the heavens and the heaven         He did for society, to listen to His
looked forward to the realization of      of heavens are, not able to compre-     remarkable reformatory discourses
Israel's `hope. But even -this, though    hend; yet is He not wrapped in          full of love, to watch Him feed the
distinguishing her from so many           swaddling clothes and held by a         hungry, help the sick, express His
thousands of women that labored in        manger? Was it not the angel's in-      sympathy with the poor and needy
vain because they were laboring           junction from God that He must be       and invite publicans and sinners into
merely for the world, was not the         called Jesus because He was to save     His company? Or, what is more,
cause of Mary's supreme joy and           His people from their sins? Yet is      who would refuse to follow to
blessedness.                              He npt crowded out by the very          Golgotha to take an object lesson
    For even among these covenant-        people He came to save? Israel's        that, even as He, so must we be
women and believing Israelitish           King in miserable poverty! God in       ready to lay down our lives for our
mothers, Mary occupied a place of         swaddling clothes! The Savior           fellow men. Surely, the world
unique distinction. Had not the an-       crowded out to the very edge of the     adores Jesus, the Good Man, the
gel that stands before God, mysteri-      world!                                  Master who revealed to us the Fa-
ously dropped the message from                Yet, that crowded inn is pro-       therhood of God and the Brother-
heaven that she would be mother           phetic of the worlds relation to Him    hood of man, who taught us to beat
though still a virgin? And had he         that was born in the stable.            our swords into ploughshares and
not explained upon her anxious                There is no room for Him.           our spears into pruninghooks, the
query how these things might be,              No room there is for Him in Is-     Prince of Peace.
that the power of the Most High           rael.     No place for Him, the             The inn-doors of the world are
would overshadow her and that He          carpenter's son, in His home town,      thrown open wide and all the inside
who was to be her Son would be            and presently they push him to the      crowd are beckoning Him to take
called the Son of God and sit on          edge of the precipice for the pur-      His place among them.
David's throne forever? Were they,        pose of thrusting Him out of the            But they labor under an illusion.

                                                                                     December 15,1994/Standard  Bearer/l  35


For it is a Jesus of their own imagi-      the light shining in their midst. En-     being made subject unto Him.
nation, a Phantom-Man, a dream.            mity fills the hearts against God and     Thence, as the Lord of heaven and
        For speak now of the Christ of     His anointed. And because their           having become the quickening Spirit,
the Scriptures, whose poverty is           works are evil they love darkness         He edges His way into the hearts of
ours, who humbled Himself even             rather than light. He is the Light,       thousands from all nations and
unto death and shed His life-blood         mercilessly exposing the dark hypoc-      tongues and tribes, exposing sin,
because of God's justice and our in-       risy of the human heart and open-         breaking sinful pride, making
iquity. Go now to the door of that         ing the whitewashed sepulchre of the      humble publicans of conceited phari-
world-inn and let Jesus speak of sin       pharisee's soul. Without hesitancy        sees, cleansing and justifying and
and righteousness and judgment,            He deprives every man of all his          dwelling in them even as the Father
and tell the inside throng that they       boasted glory and self-righteousness,     dwells in Him. Thus, by the irre-
must be washed in His blood and            and brings him naked to Him that          sistible power of His grace, He real-
that Christ is nothing to them, no         judges righteously and whose eyes         izes the spiritual temple of God's
Example, no Master, no Good Man,           burn through to the deepest recesses      covenant: "I in them and thou in
and no Teacher, if He is not first         of the soul. That dark and hostile        me, that we may be perfect in one."
their Redeemer, who purchased              world, unless changed by His own              And presently all things will be
them as His people and must wash           gracious power, must refuse to let        united in Him, things in heaven and
the guilty stains from their heart and     Him in, cannot but crowd Him out.         things on earth, and God shall
mind. The inn-door will be closed,             And, on the other hand, no flesh      spread His tabernacle over all.
and from within you will again here        may glory in His presence.                    No room for Him in the inn.
the murmur of the Galilean bread-              For, surely, this poor babe of            Such was the sad beginning.
seekers: "This speech is hard, who         Bethlehem for whom there was no               But He makes room for Him-
can hear it?"                              place in the inn is destined to have      self. Room in your contrite and bro-
        The world of today is as the       room in the world. But it is room,        ken heart, room in your weary and
world of His own day.                      not given Him by the world, but cre-      laboring soul, room in the hearts of
        There is no room for Him in the    ated for Him by the very wonder of        all that are given Him by the Father,
inn.                                       His own grace. The glory is all His.      room in heaven and earth, till the
        +o++++**                           From the very edge of the world in        Kingdoms of the world shall be His.
        No room!                           the humiliating stable, He pushes             Then there will be room for Him,
        How proper it should be thus!      His way into the world. Over the          and for His, and for no other. And
        For, on the other hand, in the     cross and through the grave He            all this shall be forevermore attrib-
world's inn they serve the world's         steadfastly advances till He is re-       uted solely to the God and Father of
Prince. He has dominion there. Un-         ceived in the highest heavens, an-        our Lord Jesus Christ.
der his dominion darkness blinds           gels and principalities and powers            Solely of grace. 0
their eyes so that they cannot see





                                               r kv

        My parents have invested a lot     baptism. Those vows consisted of          same vow five more times when
of time and effort in me. Also much        the@  promise to instruct me in the       each of my brothers was baptized.
prayer.                                    doctrine which is contained in God's          My parents put a lot of time and
        They sought to fulfill the vows    holy Word and which was and is            effort into teaching, training, and
they took before God and before His        taught in the church of which they        guiding me. They did so because
church when I was presented for            were members (Hudsonville Protes-         they believed God's promise that He
                                           tant Reformed Church). These vows         usually uses such efforts of godly
                                           they willingly `took upon themselves,     parents as the means to work faith
Rez~ VanOverloop  is pastor of George-     even though it demanded so much           in their children. So gracious is this
town Protestant .Reformed Church in        of them, and that to the best of their    promise and so worthy is the go-al,
Bauer, Michigan.                           ability. They willingly took this         that they considered no amount of

135lStandard  Bearer /December 15,1994


effort to be too much. In support of       are thrusting into the souls of their         very least, respect and consideration.
their efforts they joined other  like-     parents. Children are often think-
minded parents to establish schools        ing only of themselves. They are                    ++o+++++++++
which would teach and train their          out for their fun and enjoyment.
child(ren)  in the truth. This was         And many times, if they want to do                  If you are a believer, it is not
done at great expense and with great       something which is contrary to par-           only your parents that you grieve
sacrifice. But for them the goal was       ents' instruction, children think only        when you sin. When believers sin,
worth it. For them the effort was          of how backward and old-fash-                         they also grieve the Holy
worth it.                                  ioned the "old man" and "old                             Spirit of God. "And grieve
    Most parents invest much into          lady" are, and do not think               Sadly,             not the holy Spirit of God,
their children. Whether or not faith       of what it will mean to their      most children             whereby ye are sealed
abides in the heart of the parents,                                            never think
                                           parents. They do not con-                                     unto the day of redemp-
they are inclined to do everything         sider the shame and em-             of the g-rief             tion" @ph. 4:30).
they can for their children. When a        barrassment they will              they might be                   To grieve the Holy
mother drowns her two children, it         cause those who have               causing their             Spirit of God is far worse
is seen as rare and the exception.         given so much of themselves          parents.                than grieving loving  par-
(Somehow, a distinction is made be-        for them.                                                ents. The grief a chid brings
tween a mother killing her child be-           The grief caused by children                    upon his parents is the picture
fore it is born, and her killing it af-    who act contrary to their parents'            the Bible uses to describe the grief
ter it is born.) Often their love for      instruction is so great that sometimes        God's child causes the Spirit, who is
their children goes beyond proper          they could better shoot their parents         in him, when he sins.
bounds and they "spoil" the child.         than do something that would cause                  Like parents for their children,
    Parents, even unbelieving par-         this grief and sorrow of heart.              the Spirit does a lot for the regener-
ents, invest much in their children.           This grief does not stop when             ated and justified child of God. The
                                           the children reach a certain age. It          Spirit of Christ applies to each of
                                           continues. The verses of Scripture            the elect the salvation Jesus earned
                                           quoted earlier in this article set no         through His suffering and death. It
    When a child does something            time limit. Regardless of our age,            is the presence of the Spirit in one
which is contrary to all the instruc-      when we go contrary to our parents'           that makes him a child of God. "If
tion the parent gave it, then the par-     wishes and instructions we hurt               any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
ent is "grieved."                          them; Believing parents may be so             he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). It is
    Grief is a word which is usually       old that they have one foot in the            only through the Spirit working in
used to describe the frame of mind         grave, but they still feel the hurts         him that one is able to confess that
of those who have had a loved one          cause'd  by wayward children.                Jesus is the Christ and is his Lord (I
die. But it is not too strong a word                                                     Cor. 12:3).
to describe what a parent experi-             44+++4+4+*                                       The Spirit takes up His dwell-
ences when a child does or says                                                          ing place inside those whom God
something that is opposed to their             Think about what you are do-              elected and for whom Christ died.
prayers. Grief is a sharp emotional        ing or plan to do from this perspec-         It is His presence in us which makes
pain which cuts deeply. It takes a         tive. Consider how much your par-            us temples of God. "Know ye not
long time to recover from grief.           ents have invested in you.                   that ye are the temple of God, and
    The Bible speaks of this. "A               After all they have done for you,        that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
foolish son is a grief to his father,      you owe it to them. Do not be in-            you" (I Cor. 3:16)? "What? know ye
and bitterness to her that bare him"       considerate of how they feel.                not that your body is the temple of
(Prov. 1725). "He that begetteth a             Consider how many of your dia-           the Holy Ghost which is in you,
fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the       pers they must have changed. Con-            which ye have of God, and ye are
father of a fool hath no joy" (Prov.       sider how long your dad had to               not your own" (I Cor. 6:19)?
17~21). "Whoso keepeth the law is a        work:for all the food you ate. Con-                 Like parents for their children,
wise son: but he that is a compan-         sider how many times your mother             the Holy Spirit does much for be-
ion of riotous men shameth his fa-         had her sleep interrupted by your            lievers. He enables them to believe!\
ther" (Prov. 28:7).                        crying for food or when you were             He regenerates and converts.
    Sadly, most children never think       sick. Think of how many times your           "When God . . . works in them true
of the grief they might be causing         mother picked up after you.                  conversion, He . . . powerfully illumi-
their parents. They are usually un-            Think of how many times your             nates their minds by His Holy Spirit,
aware of what effect their actions         parents prayed for you.                      . . . by the efficacy of the same regen-
have on their parents. Normally                You owe your parents. From this          erating Spirit, pervades the inmost
they do not think of the sword they        perspective, you owe them, at the            recesses of the man; He opens the

                                                                                -              December 15,1994lStandard  Bearer/l37


closed, and softens the hardened               lievers, sin, then we grieve the Holy        that their salvation is secure, because
heart, . . . infuses new qualities into        Spirit of God which is in us. The            then they will sin as they please.
the will, which though heretofore              context of Ephesians 4:30 teaches us                  The Scriptures repeatedly de-
dead, He quickens . . . that like a good       that the sins of believers which             clare the preservation of the saints,
tree, it may bring forth the fruits of         grieve the Holy Spirit in them are           and they do so unashamedly. The
good actions" (Canons, III/IV, 11).            not just those we would measure as           Spirit that seals to the day of re-
        The Spirit's initial work of con-      being great. Rather, the context             demption is the Holy Spirit. He
verting is below the consciousness             teaches that a sin which grieves the         sanctifies. And He often sanctifies
of the recipient. Much of the later            indwelling Holy Spirit is the sin of         through the consciousness of grati-
work of the Spirit is in perfect                       lying, of letting the sun go         tude. He shows us what Christ has
harmony with the nature of                                down on our wrath, of steal-      done for us so we will be eternally
man. He works in believ-                 Believers         ing, and of unedifying,          grateful. He declares Jesus' undy-
ers without violating their          do not often           "rotten" talk (Eph. 4:25,       ing love, so we will walk in the obe-
will. He gives faith, and           think of what           26, 28, 29).           The      dience of a thankful love.
is the instrument through            their sins do          indwelling Spirit is                     To prick us unto a holy talk and
which we have commun-                to the Spirit          grieved by the sin of bit-      a forgiving spirit, we are admon-
ion with the ever-blessed                in them.           temess, wrath, anger, the       ished, "Grieve not the holy Spirit of
God (Rom.  8:14, 15).                                     lack of tenderheartedness,        God" who dwells in us.
Through the Spirit we are                                and the refusal to forgive as
given to know God (I Cor. 2). The                    God has forgiven (Eph. 431, 32).
Spirit leads us to confess that we             Many of these sins are the kind that
belong to Christ (I Cor. 12:3). The            are frequently committed in our                       We grieve our parents when we
Spirit sanctifies all those whom He            homes, when we sit in our houses.            Sill.
occupies (Tit. 3:5; I Pet. 1:2).                      The Spirit in believers is "holy."             Worse, we grieve the indwelling
        When we sin, then we grieve the        He works in us and through us to             Holy Spirit of God. Grieve Him not!
Holy Spirit of God. When we act in             make us holy. It is not that our sin-                                               cl
an unholy manner, then we wound                ning makes the Spirit impotent and
the Spirit.                                    His work in us inefficacious. But a
        This implies that the Spirit is a      sin or a walk in sin does displease
real person, and not just some power           Him; it does remove from us the
of God or a divine influence. Grief            consciousness of His presence and
is not experienced by a thing, by a            the joy of our salvation.
power, but it is experienced by a per-                The indwelling Holy Spirit is
son.                                           grieved when His sanctifying work
        What a terrible thing to do to         in believers is hindered by our abuse
One who has invested so much into              of the very gift God gives to further            "andgrietie  not
us!                                            our sanctification.                                   th fiolj Spirit
        Thankfully, we never kill the                 Grieve  not  the Holy Spirit of
Spirit. Our sins, no matter how                God.                                                      of gad
grievous, never cause the Spirit to
leave us. He never stops perform-                                                                    uhre6y ye are
ing His sanctifying work in us. In
fact, by Him we "are sealed unto                       Preachers and parents often                        sealid
the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30).            admonish young people not to sin
Our sins are not able to chase Him             by trying to scare them,_by putting                    unto the day
out of us. He will be grieved, but             fear into them. In Ephesians 4 the               of redemp  tion. `I
He will not leave. Believers do not            Spirit inspires the apostle Paul to use
commit  the  sin against the Holy              a different tact. The apostle tells the
Spirit. They cannot.                           Ephesians that they are saved, and                              Ephesians 4:30
        Nevertheless, we cause grief to        that their salvation is secure, even
the Holy Spirit of God when we sin.            to the day of final redemption of
        Children often do not consider         their bodies. They are told that they
the effect their sins have on their par-       will not lose their salvation. Then
ents. Believers do not often think of          comes the admonition to be holy.
what their sins do to the Spirit in                   Some would say that this ap-
them.                                          proach is like walking on thin ice. It
        Young and old, when we, be-            is dangerous to tell God's people

1 WStandard  Bearer /December 15,1994


                             The Reformation
                      and Family Worship
    The Reformation was many                    And when you think of it, in            church through the Reformation.
things. It was a return to the su-          many ways this is the very goal and             That the Reformers should be
preme authority of the Scriptures.          purpose of God's saving Word alto-          used by God to reintroduce family
It was a restoration of preaching to        gether, namely, the salvation of be-        worship into the lives of believers is
its place of primacy. It was a re-          lievers and their seed who live to-         a striking thing. It is striking be-
vival of true, heartfelt worship. It        gether and confess and praise the           cause, if there was one thing that
was a "re-formation" of the church          same Jehovah God. This follows              seems to have been absent from the
institute, a re-emphasis of the doc-        from the fact that God is a covenant        lives of the early Reformers, it was
trines of sovereign grace, and more         God.                                        their being raised in what we would
besides.                                        It is these families that would         call God-fearing homes, homes in
    But one of its greatest contribu-       come :and fill the sanctuaries of the       which the Word of God ruled,
tions was its restoration and revival       church, worshiping God as His great         homes where there was family wor-
of the blessedness of family life.          congregation.                               ship. I am speaking of men of such
Here we come to the full harvest of             One is reminded here of the very        stature as Wycliffe, Huss, Luther,
what the Spirit worked in the Refor-        last promise found in the very last         Calvin, Tyndale, Knox,  Zwingli,  and
mation.                                     verse of the very last prophet of the       others besides.
    God's chief purpose in the Ref-         Old Testament, Malachi, as he                   The Reformers were voluminous
ormation was not to revive preach-          speaks of what would characterize           in their writings. Yet one looks in
ing for its own sake, so we could           Messiah's great kingdom and                 vain for references to themselves as
have great works of preaching to ad-        church. "And he (i.e., the second           being the products of spiritual,  God-
mire and discuss. The great purpose         Elijah) shall turn the heart of the fa-     centered homes. Such references are
of the Reformation was to restore           thers to the children, and the heart        conspicuous by their absence.
preaching that would restore godi-          of the children to their fathers, lest I        In a couple of instances you do
ness,  godliness in the lives of believ-    come and smite the earth with a             have favorable mention of the piety
ers, and to produce Christian homes.        curse" (Mal. 46).                           of their mothers, namely, of Luther's
    Permit me the use of an ex-                 What a striking promise with            and Calvin's. They had mothers to
tended metaphor. The church of              which to end the Old Testament! A           whose religious sincerity one is at-
Christ at the dawn of the Reforma-          covenant promise, a promise that            tracted, though even the piety of
tion was like a great oak tree stand-       speaks of the revival of family ties.       these mothers was mixed with great
ing dormant under the cold, dark,           It speaks of fathers with children,         ignorance and superstition.
European wintry-blast of the Middle         no longer estranged, but worship-               Calvin, for instance, had an early
Ages. Then came the springtime of           ing one and the same God through            memory of his mother walking with
the Reformation. And from the roots         the Mediator sent.                          him for two hours to enter a cathe-
of the Scriptures the Spirit began to           And this is what the Spirit ac-         dral (when he was three years old)
send His life into the church, stir-        complished in the tree of the church        and then lifting him up to kiss the
ring its sluggish sap and sending His       by means of the Reformation - the           supposed skull of St. Anne, Mary's
vitality - first into the trunk of the      flourishing again of godly and pi-          mother. It indicated devout zeal,
preaching, then on into the branches        ous family life; family life that is it-    but not according to knowledge.
of the sanctuaries and congregations,       self centered in God's Word and                 As for Luther's and Calvin's fa-
and at last producing the blessed fo-       worship; family life in which the fa-       thers, they were members of Rome's
liage and fruit of the God-fearing          ther (not to exclude the mother, but        church. Luther had a great deal of
family and home.                            we speak of the ideal), as head of          respect, one might say dread, for his
                                            the home, understands his spiritual         father, and he did recall seeing his
                                            calling and leads in prayer and in-         father praying. But the general im-
Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant    struction and praise.                       pression of the fathers of the Re-
Reformed Church in  Jenison,  Michigan.         This was no small gift to the           formers is that their church mem-

                                                                                            December 15,1994/Standard  Bearer/l39


bership a was a matter of economic            these "sons of the Reformation" to         dwelling burn more brightly than in
wisdom more than anything else. It            take this sudden interest in the spiri-    Scotland.... Probably no land, in pro-
was a matter of livelihood.                   tud quality of their families and to       portion to its inhabitants, ever had
       The Reformers were raised in           provide the leadership?                    so many praying families..." (p. 22).
typical Roman Catholic homes of the               One could say, the Holy Spirit.            Having stated that "in Scotland
time.                                         That is true enough.                       especially the humblest persons, in
       We should pause here for the               But what truth and doctrine did        the remotest cottages, honoured God
praise of women!                              the Spirit use to prompt men to see        by daily praise..." (p.  25), Alexander
       It is a striking thing that even in    what their task and calling and            goes on to quote a Mr. Hamilton.
the most spiritually barren times of          qualifications were?
the history of the church, when not               Here we run into the rediscov-           I have sometimes seen family-wor-
a man can be found in Israel, still           ery of the truth of the priesthood of        ship in great houses, but I have felt
women, mothers, were quietly, pa-             all believers. This is what had been         that God was quite as near when I
tiently laboring to preserve some pi-         stolen from God's people along with          knelt with a praying family on the
ety in the home. Women, mothers,              God's Word. And that robbery left            earthen floor of their cottage. I have
seem always to be the one great con-          the members of the church destitute,         known of family-worship among
                                                                                           the reapers in a'barn. It used to be
stant in church history. So often they        spiritually lethargic, and chained in        common in the fishing-boats upon
are found laboring with little help,          their own ignorance, convinced it            the friths and lakes of Scotland. I
and with no leadership or encour-             could never be otherwise.                    have heard of this being observed
agement from their husbands.                      All knowledge, all understand-           in the depths of a coal-pit.
       The spiritual home-fires burned        ing of God's Word and ways had to
at low ebb. That they burned at all           be left to the professional priesthood         There is historical evidence to
was due to the mothers, not the fa-           of the church. They alone had the          substantiate this description of the
thers.                                        spirit of understanding and interpre-      land of John Knox.
       The absence of being raised in         tation. No one could approach into             This family worship is the
sound, God-fearing homes was ap-              the presence of God without a priest       legacy of Calvin, who taught, "Ev-
parently characteristic of the lives of       acting as his mediator, or giving him      ery family of the pious ought to be a
the Reformers. And yet from such              temporary permission to do so.             Church" (Commentaries,  Genesis, I,
homes came the men that God used                  The Reformation changed all            p. 455).
to restore spirituality to the home,          that.                                          Luther, who married and had
and family worship itself.                        There is but one Mediator, the         children and a lively household, took
       The homes of the early Protes-         Lord Jesus Christ. All believers have      the time to draw up a "Small Cat-
tants were markedly different from            His good and Holy Spirit. He is the        echism" with the specific intent that
the homes of their Roman Catholic             Spirit of knowledge and tmderstand-        it be taught to children. At the head-
neighbors.                                    ing to all, young and old. And, hav-       ing of its first part are the words
       The primary reason?                    ing the Spirit and anointing of Christ,    written large, as the head of the family
       Protestant homes had fathers           one has the right of direct access to      should teach them in a simple way to
who began to function as heads of             the Father and the throne of grace.        his  househokl.  In this section he in-
their homes - not only in financial               This was of practical impor-           cludes such basic items as the Ten
matters (what trade their sons were           tance.                                     Commandments, the Lord's Prayer,
to pursue) but also in spiritual. They            This meant that the Protestant         and the Apostles' Creed, with simple
began to function as spiritual heads          husband did not simply turn his            explanations of each point.
of their homes. They took it upon             family over to the church and her              Luther also included a section
themselves to provide leadership in           priests. Rather, he understood his         entitled, "How the Head of the Fam-
the spiritual development of their            own office and task as spiritual head      ily Should Teach His Household to
children. They became New Testa-              of the home. He took it upon him-          Pray Morning and Evening." Here
ment Joshuas - "As for me and my              self to lead his family in the ways of     he composed what he calls some
house . . . . II                              God and into His presence.                 "little prayers" for children to recite
      The Reformation served to re-               The fruit of the Reformation was       for various occasions, to be taught
vive the hearts of the fathers for their      found in its widespread effect on          by parents.
children. Men became spiritual lead-          home-life across the map of Europe.            The very Heidelberg Catechism
ers in their homes. Such involve-                 James W. Alexander, in his book        with which we are so familiar was
ment paid rich dividends in the               entitled  Thoughts on Family Worship,      written with the instruction of the
spiritual climate of the home and for         wrote of a wide prevalence of house-       youth in mind. This instruction was
the church herself.                           hold piety found across the map of         to be promoted in each and every
      All this raises a deeper question,      Reformation Europe. He states that         home.
namely, what was it that prompted             "... in no country did the light of the        We see then that the Reformers

MO/Standard Bearer/December 15,1994


were conscious of the need for par-        fruit of their promptings could be      Around mealtime and bedtime large
ents (and for fathers in particular)       seen in the vigorous growth of godly    sections of Europe took on a differ-
to serve as "teaching-priests." They       homes. They were homes not only         ent face. Praises to God could be
gave not only exhortation here, but        of doctrinal knowledge,-but of per-     heard as you walked down the vil-
also direction and assistance. The         sonal piety and family worship.         lage lanes. 0          (to be continued)





                                     The Church Walking with the World

    The church and the World walked far apart                  Then her pure white garments drifted away,
    On the changing shore of time;                             And the World gave in their place
    The World was singing a giddy song,                        Beautiful satins, and fashionable silks
    And the Church a hymn sublime.                             And roses and gems and pearls;
    "Come, give me your hand," said the merry World,           And over her forehead her bright hair fell
    "And then walk with me this way."                          And waved in a thousand curls.
    But the good Church hid her snowy hand
    And solemnly answered  - "Nay,                             "Your house is too plain," said the proud old World.
    I will not give you my hand at all                         "Let us build you one like mine
    And I will not walk with you:                              With kitchen for feasting and parlour for play
    Your way is the way of eternal death                       And furniture ever so fine."
    And your words are all untrue."                            So he built her a costly and beautiful house -
                                                               Splendid it was to behold.
    "Nay, walk with me a little space,"                        Her sons and her daughters met frequently there,
    Said the World with a kindly air,                          Shining in purple and gold;
    "The road I walk is a pleasant road                        And, fair and festival - frolics untold
    And the sun shines always there.                           Were held in the place of prayer.
    Your way is narrow and thorny and rough                    And maidens, bewitched as sirens of old -
    While mine is flowery and smooth;                          With world-winning graces rare,
    Your lot is sad with reproach and toil,                    Bedecked with fair jewels and hair all curled -
    But in rounds of joy I move.                               Untrammelled by Gospel or Laws,
    My way, you can see, is a broad, fair one                  To beguile and amuse and win from the World
    And my gate is high and wide;                              Some help for "the righteous cause."
    There is room enough for you and me
    And we'll travel side by side."                            The Angel of mercy rebuked the Church
                                                               And whispered, "I know your sin."
    Half shyly the Church approached the World                 Then the Church looked sad and anxiously longed
    And gave him her hand of snow;                             To gather the children in.
    And the false World grasped it, and walked along           But some were away at the midnight ball
    And whispered in accents low,                              And others were at the play;
    "Your dress is too simple to please my taste.              And some were drinking in gay saloons,
    I have gold and pearls to wear;                            And the Angel went away.
    Rich velvets and silks for your graceful fo,rm
    And diamonds to deck your hair."                           And then said the World in soothing tones -
                                                               "Your much loved ones mean no harm -
    The Church looked down at her plain white robes            Merely indulging in innocent sports."
    And then at the dazzling World,                            So she leaned on his proffered arm,
    And blushed as she saw his handsome lip,                   And smiled, and chatted and gathered flowers
    With a smile contemptuous curved.                          And walked along with the World;
    "I will change my dress for a costlier one,"               While countless millions of precious souls
    Said the Church with a smile of grace;                     Were hungering for truth untold.



                                                                                        December 15,1994/Standard  Bearer/l41


    "Your preachers are all too old and plain,"              But to laugh and dance and feast."
    Said the gay World with a sneer;                         The sly World heard her, and laughed within,
    "They frighten my children with dreadful tales           And mockingly said aside,
    Which I do not like to hear.                             "The Church has fallen -the beautiful Church,
    They talk of judgments and fire and pain                 Her shame is her boast and pride."
    And the doom of darkest night.
    They warn of a place that should not be                  Thus her witnessing power, alas, was lost,
    Thus spoken to ears polite!                              And perilous times came in;
    I will send you some of a better stamp,                  The times of the end, so often foretold,
    More brilliant and gay and fast,                         Of form and pleasure and sin.
    Who will show how men may live as they list,             Then the Angel drew near the mercy seat
    And go to heaven at last.                                And whispered in sighs her name,
    The Father is merciful, great and good,                  And the saints their anthems of rapture hushed
    Loving and tender and kind;                              And covered their heads with shame.
    Do you think He'd take one child to heaven               A voice came down from the hush of Heaven
    And leave another behind?"                               From Him who sat on the throne;
                                                             "I know thy works and what thou hast said,
    So she called for pleasing and gay divines,              But alas! thou hast not known
    Deemed gifted, and great, and learned;                   That thou art poor and naked and blind,
    And the plain old men that preached the cross            With pride and ruin enthralled;
    Were out of her pulpits turned.                          The expectant Bride of a heavenly Groom
    When Mammon came in and supported the Church             Is the harlot of the World!
    And rented a prominent pew;
    And preaching and singing and floral display             Thou hast ceased to watch for that blessed hope -
    Soon proclaimed a gospel new.                            Hast fallen from zeal and grace;
                                                             Soon now, alas! I must cast thee out
    "You give too much to the poor," said the World,         And blot thy name from its place."
    "Far more than you ought to do;                          But out from the side of the harlot Church,
    Though the poor need shelter, food, and clothes,         While she sleeps in indolent shame,
    Why thus need it trouble you?                            Will be taken the remnant who keep God's Word
    Go take your money and buy rich robes                    And honour His holy name.
    And horses and carriage fine;                            By the word of their testimony, and the blood of the
    And pearls and jewels and dainty food,                   Lamb,
    The rarest and costliest wine.                           They overcame the World.
    My children, they dote on all such things,               They prayed for the day when their enemy strong
    And if you their love would win                          Would be into the abyss hurled.
    You must do as they do, and walk in the way -            For those who keep their garments clean
    The flowery way they're in."                             Shall walk with Him in white.
                                                             In the day when He comes to claim His own,
    Then the Church sat down at her ease and said,           To make them jewels bright.
    "I'm rich and in goods increased,
    I have need of nothing, and naught to do                                                     Matilda C. Edwards



                                         the Edgerton, MN PRC, to serve as        WI, and C. Terpstra in South Hol-
Minister Activities                      their next pastor. With Rev. DeVries     land, IL. From that trio a call was
    The congregation of the First        on that trio were the Revs. W.           extended to Rev. Terpstra.
PRC in Edmonton, AB, Canada ex-          Bekkering of Pella, IA and A. den-
tended a call to Rev. Michael De         Hartog of Hope PRC in Redlands,          Mission Activities
Vries, currently serving as pastor of    CA.                                          In the middle of November, Rev.
                                                The Lynden, WA PRC also           R. Moore and Mr. Don VerMeer,  an
                                         formed another trio from which to        ex-elder in our Hull, IA  PRC, left
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protes-    call a pastor. This trio was made        for a period of seven weeks to visit
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,     up of the Revs. W. Bruinsma, of First    with contacts that our churches' For-
Michigan.                                in Holland, MI, S. Key in Randolph,      eign Mission Committee has  estab-

142iStandard  Bearer December 15,1994


lished with a number of men in               PRC in Lacombe, AB, Canada was                    for calls, indicating perhaps that in-
Ghana. Many of these contacts were                advertised not only in the Lacombe           terest continues to be strong.
first made when the FMC visited                   Glove, but also in the Red Deer Adzm-
Ghana in 1992. It was hoped that             cafe.  The subject of the sermon of               School Activities
among other things this current visit        that service was "An Exhortation                       On the evening of November 4,
would enable our churches to learn           Concerning the Second Coming of                   the community of Randolph, WI was
more about these men and the                 Our Lord," based on II  Thessa-                   invited to a public Open House of
groups they represent and whether            lonians 21-3. This topic was chosen               the Faith Christian School, which
we are in agreement or disagree-             at that particular time especially be-            had opened its doors for the first
ment in areas of doctrine, practice,         cause a well-known Reformed Bible                 time this Fall.
mission work, and worship.                   teacher and radio broadcaster had                      The advanced band of the Hope
                                             predicted that Christ would prob-                 PR Christian School, located in
Congregational Activities                         ably return sometime during the last         Walker, MI, traveled to the South
     (Correction  - The speaker at           two weeks of September, 1994.                     Holland, IL PR Christian School on
the Fall Ladies' League Meeting held                  While on classical appointment           November 18 for a joint practice and
in  Doon, IA was incorrectly identi-         to our vacant congregation in                     concert. The band left Hope School
fied as Rev. R. Dykstra in our No-           Lynden, WA, Rev. A.  denHartog                    around 8:30 A.M. and returned that
vember 15 News. It was in fact               also graciously agreed to speak at a              night at about 11:30 P.M.
Seminarian Doug Kuiper, who is do-           Reformation Lecture. On October
ing his internship in Doon.)                 31 he spoken in Lynden's sanctuary                Young People's Activities
     Once again this year our                on the theme, "The Importance of                       On November 20, the Federation
Hudsonville, MI PRC, through the             the Reformation for Us Today."                    of Young People's Societies held
combined efforts of their deacons                                                              their annual Thanksgiving Mass
and" helping hands committee," has           Evangelism Activities                             Meeting, hosted this year by the
organized a food drive to take place                 The radio call-in program, "Re-           Young People's Society of the First
between the holidays for distribu-           formed Perspectives," sponsored by                PRC in Holland, MI. Rev. W.
tion to those in need in their congre-       the Reformed Witness Committee of                 Bruinsma, pastor at First, spoke on
gation. Gifts of any non-perishable          the Doon, IA, Edgerton, MN, and                   the theme, "Thanks for Nothing."
grocery items or gift certificates or        Hull,  .IA PRC seems to be doing
money were encouraged.                       rather well. So far topics discussed                           !Foo6For~fi.t
    At a mid-week Bible study in             on this twice-monthly program,                         "Deny the virgin birth of Christ and
the Trinity PRC in Houston, TX, the          heard over KTSB 93.9 FM, have in-                 you must relinquish the authority of the
members of that group had the                cluded interpreting Scripture, and                Bible; accept the virgin birth and you
added bonus of hearing Dr. Charles           Bible versions. There was even a                  may continue to regard the Bible as the
Finney, a missionary to India, speak         promise made in one bulletin from                 very Word of God."
about his ministry to the lost sheep         Hull that there is planned more time                                   -J. Gresham Machen
in that part of the world.                                                                                     "What Is Christianity?"  lJ
    After much delay the building            I                                                                                               I
committee of the Peace PRC in
Lynwood, IL has received revised
church building plans from their ar-
chitect. These plans have been sub-                                                                               NOTICE!!f
mitted to the City of Lansing. If                  RESOLUTlOil OF SYMPATHY                         Please note the following changes of
they are found to be satisfactory, a                 The Mary-Martha Society of Hope Prot-     address and phone number in your 1994
building permit will be issued to            estant Reformed Church in Redlands  ex-           yearbook:
Peace. However, according to Peace,          presses their sincere sympathy to fellow                             page 196:
they simply do not know how long             members Jeanne Jabaay, Laurie Jabaay,             Rev. denHartog's area code should be 909.
the city will take to evaluate their         and Janine Meelker, and families, In the                       pages 200 and 220:
plans. It could be a long time, and,         loss of their mother-in-law and grandmother,      Rev. J. Kortering, Blk 517  #O-234,
for that matter, they are still left won-              MRS. JENNIE JABAAY.                     Serangoon North Avenue 4, Singapore
dering if their plans will even be ap-               May the family be comforted in the        1955, Republic of Singapore. Phone:  Oll-
proved or if they will be rejected.          beautiful words of Psalm 23, "Surely.good-        65-484-0378s
Remember Peace as they patiently             ness and mercy shall follow me all the days                          page 221:
wait upon God to accomplish His              of my life: and I will dwell in the house of      First Evangelical Reformed Church, 652 Yio
perfect will.                                the Lord forever"' (Ps. 23:6).                    Chu Kang Road, Singapore 2678, Repub-
    The September 18th afternoon                             Rev. A.  denHartog,  President    lic of Singapore. Phone: 01 l-65-452-4388;
worship service of the Immanual                            Jeanne Karsemeyer, Secretary        Fax: 01 l-65-452-4638.

                                                                                                   December 15,1994/Standard  Bearer/l43


    `PkE
gggi#J)
   @=$3-J-                                                                                               SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                         Postage Paid at
                                                                                                         Grandvile, Michigan
   P.O.Box603
  Grandvilie, MI 49468-0603


              NOTICE!!!                                                                          NOTICE!!1
    With thankfulness to God, the                                                      Please note the change in our
faculty of the Protestant Reformed                                                 masthead for the charge for. an-
Seminary informs the churches that                                                 nouncements. It has, as of Octo-
it has licensed Seminarian Richard                                                 ber 1, 1994, increased to $10.00 per
Smit to speak a word of edification                                                announcement. Please include pay-
in the meetings for public worship.                                                ment when you send us your an-
The scheduling of Mr. Smit's speak-                                                nouncement (at least one month
ing in the worship services will be                                                prior to publication date).
done by the Seminary.
                       For the faculty,
    Prof. David J. Engelsma, Rector




    Studies in I Thessalonians                 Written in workbook form, these
   Studies in II Thessalonians             valuable guides will greatly aid the
    The Reformed Free Publishing           Bible student in either personal or
Association has just printed these         group Bible study.
two excellent study guides. The two           Available for $3.95 each in the
epistles to the Thessalonians were         U.S. and $4.50 each outside the
written to instruct the Thessalonian       U.S. (prices include shipping).
believers concerning Christ's second           For any or all of these books,
coming. A study of this portion of         send order with payment to:
God's Word is-very profitable, there-                     RFPA
fore, for all Christians, for we see in      c/o Daniel and Sharon Kleyn
our day many signs pointing to the                    P.O. Box 2006
end of the world.                               Grand Rapids, Ml 49501

                                                                                          Good Morning, Alice
                                                                                       In this book, a series of cards
                                                                                   written to Alice by an anonymous
                                                                                   friend is set into the framework of
                                                                                   the story of Alice's struggle with Lou
                                                                                   Gehrig's disease. Alice's brother,
                                                                                   Rev. G.J. VanBaren, writes her story
                                                                                   in an interesting and personal way.
                                                                                       In the cards, Alice's friend
                                                                                   shares her thoughts on certain pas-
                                                                                   sages of Scripture, and brings com-
                                                                                   fortto  the reader through close con-
                                                                                   tact with the sovereign God, who
                                                                                   does all things well. Both a devo-
                                                                                   tional and a story, this book will be
                                                                                   interesting and beneficial for read-
                                                                                   ers of all ages.
                                                                                       Available for $11.50 in the U.S.
                                                                                   and $12.50 outside the U.S. (prices
                                                                                   include shipping).
WI/Standard  Bearer/December 15,1994


